Workers’ level of skill on online labor platforms varies greatly. To manage quality, requesters often decompose complex jobs into simple, repetitive, micro-tasks that pay in average $0.10 per task. Within the current system, workers waste a significant amount of time on finding micro-tasks while requesters still criticize the performance, struggle with decomposing complex work into micro-tasks, allocating these tasks appropriately and reintegrating the outcome to a final result. This paper explores how we can apply scaffolding approaches — examples, rubrics, task rationale, and step-by-step instructions — to improve work quality and enable workers to perform more complex tasks. In a between-subjects study, novice workers from a micro-task market performed tasks (writing product reviews and designing a slide deck) selected from a professional contractor market. Participants received either the original or a scaffolded task description. Blind-to-condition experts judged the performance of submissions. We found that scaffolding the crowd led workers to perform significantly better than workers without scaffolding. Moreover, a follow-up analysis shows that scaffolding micro-task workers results in work that is on par with workers from the high-pay contractor platform. Concluding, it is being discussed if, how and by who scaffolding in a crowdsourcing environment can and should be implemented.

Sammanfattning I slutet av 2010 valde Sverige i likhet med övriga Europa att avskaffa revisionsplikten för små företag, vilka fick fatta eget beslut ifall de ville bli reviderade eller inte. Beslutet mottogs med både positiva tongångar och mer negativa. En negativ aspekt som lyftesfram var att samhället förmodligen skulle gå miste om skatter och avgifter som på ett lättare sätt kunde undvikas att redovisa. I slutet av december 2017 släppte Riksrevisionenen granskning där de tittat närmare på konsekvenserna av beslutet att införa frivillig revision för småbolag. Rapporten kommer fram till att Riksrevisionens rekommendation är att regeringen bör verka för att revisionsplikten för små aktiebolag återinförs (Riksrevisionen 2017, s.9) Problemformulering: Vad kännetecknar bolag som väljer frivillig revision? Syfte Syftet är att undersöka om det finns karakteristiska skillnader mellan aktiebolag som väljer revision och de bolag som avstår från revision. Vi har även för avsikt att se om tidigare forskning och undersökningar kan appliceras på små aktiebolag i Sverige. I undersökningen kommer vi också att jämföra karaktärerna hos bolag som avstod revision direkt efter lagändringen med bolag som avstod revision sex år senare. Syftet med denna jämförelse är att se om karaktärerna hos bolagen som avstår revision blivitstarkare eller svagare. Teori Med hjälp av Agentteorin och Intressentmodellen har vi försökt att se, förklara och sedan undersöka vilka faktorer som kan påverka om företaget väljer frivillig revision. Kopplingar till annan empirisk forskning inom området finns samlade där ovan nämnda teorier har en central roll. Med relevanta teorier och tidigare forskning har påståenden vuxit fram och sedan prövats. Metod Studien förhåller sig till en kvantitativ metod och deduktiv ansats där aktiebolagens finansiella data är hämtad från databaser som Retriever Business och Affärsdata. Slutsats Resultat av studien pekar på att svenska aktiebolag i Västerbotten som efterfrågar frivillig revision är yngre och har större omsättning och tillgångar än de som väljer bort revision. Detta samband ser vi både på studien som gjordes strax efter lagändringen om frivillig revision och idag. Bolag som väljer revision har även fler anställda, vilket inte den gamla studien visade, men i den nya studien var resultatet signifikant på ett av åren.

This dissertation examines the role and impact of the M&A’s created during the economic crisis in the tourism sector on the brand strategy, and their portfolio. We analyze different theories explaining brand concept, the advantages and disadvantages of building a new brand or buying an existing brand, how the portfolio can change after the merger and the concept of rebranding to draw conclusions thought the examination of a case study based on the biggest urban hotel chain in Spain: NH Hotels and its merger with Hesperia. This research has been made through secondary data regarding the hotels chains and all the theories studied during the study research and it has been completed through an in-depth interview made by telephonic and e-mail techniques, with the marketing department of NH Hoteles in Spain. The finding of this study provides useful information regarding brand strategies and portfolio strategies acquired during the economic crisis for many hotels and others industries.

No description available.

No description available.

Abstract   Change is an alteration from one state of being to another, brought by individuals or organisations as a result of different types of internal or external forces. The change phenomenon, when discussed in context of the organisation, is referred to as organisational change. Organisational change is all about restructuring and re-engineering business processes so as to assist organisations in the growth and development process. This research paper aims to gain further insight and knowledge about change and the change management process. The research paper focuses on understanding the concept of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and its impact on organisations. The study also focuses on gaining insight in the change that is introduced when the ERP project is initiated in an organisation. Various change and change management models are explained and studied. Moreover, the case study method of research design was followed for further research and knowledge, and the empirical survey was conductedwithin the company of Siemens. The empirical survey was conducted with 20 respondents, and the results indicate that it is very important for a global industrial organisation to successfully implement the ERP system so as to survive and sustain in the global competitive environment. To achieve successful ERP implementation, the organisation must clearly understand the need for change and its implications. Changes need to be properly communicated to all affected employees of the organisation. In order to have successful implementation, it is important that employees do not fear and resist the change process. Proper support and training from the management need to be provided to the employees to increase their motivation for change. In conclusion, it was identified that in order to reach a successful outcome, an efficient change management process needs to be followed. To support this, a change management model was proposed with the intention of helping the organisation to successfully manage change during implementation of the ERP system.

The emergence of enhancement or depletion of subsidiary charters is driven by two different types of organizational units and the environment. (1) The parent is ultimately responsible for the establishment of subsidiaries and will greatly impact its evolution by involvement. (2) Evolution is also largely contingent on the subsidiary’s choice. (3) The environment is critical in the evolutionary process as changes in the environment will influence the parent and subsidiary in their choices (Birkinshaw, 1996; Birkinshaw and Hood, 1998; Cantwell and Mudambi, 2005). The thesis sets out to investigate the drivers and effects of mandating on subsidiary evolution within the MNE. The departure in this thesis from the literature is its specific focus on how mandates are lost in complex networked Multinational Enterprise’s (MNE) and the effect this has on subsidiary resources and relationship development. This thesis bases its empirical analysis on data collected from two qualitative rounds of interviews collected in two Swedish multinational enterprises, Alfa and Beta, and 36 of their foreign subsidiaries based in Europe, China, India and N. America. This yielded 112 interviews, the first round of interviews investigates the headquarters drivers of mandating and the network characteristics of mandated subsidiaries. It became apparent during this first round that mandates were lost by subsidiaries quite often and that they continued operating. These counterfactuals informed the second round of interviews, here the focus zooms in on the consequences of the loss of R&D mandates on subsidiary evolution. Specifically, the thesis examines the resource and relationship characteristics of the focal subsidiaries and the impact of mandate loss.  The study builds on four essays that taken together suggests if the MNE relocates mandates with the purpose of accessing resources, efficiency seeking, or as a response to endogenous and/or exogenous pressures, the process of mandating presents subsidiaries, that are not wound-down, spun-off or closed, with the opportunity and space to evolve its charter. This has far-reaching possible consequences for both the subsidiary and the MNE not least in resource and relationship combinations and orchestration and managing capabilities. Secondly, the thesis calls into question the importance of mandates and that researchers should pay more attention to the formal and informal tenets of mandates i.e. the combinations of mandate relationships and resources. The mandate is a well established indicator of the subsidiaries formal activities and responsibilities, however, it is not indicative of the informal behavior of a subsidiary which in this thesis is shown to be important in equal parts for the subsidiary’s evolution.

Handeln på internet har visat en stadig ökning de senaste åren och utsätter därför den traditionella detaljhandeln för konkurrens. Det blir därför viktigt för e-företag att ha en trogen kundkrets och att bygga upp sina kundrelationer. Via leveransservieelementen, leveranstid, leveranspålitlighet, leveranssäkerhet och lagertillgänglighet, kan företagen vinna konkurrensfördelar genom att erbjuda den bästa leveransservicen. Tio företag har intervjuats för att få en tydlig bild av hur de kan arbeta med leveransservice som konkurrensmedel. Vidare har skillnader och likheter mellan de tio företagen analyserats och diskuterats. Mönster som hittats mellan de olika företagen gällande leveransservicen är hur de arbetar med leveranssäkerhet och leveranspålitlighet. De går också att se likheter mellan företagen som arbetar inom samma bransch, både när det gäller modebranschen och matbranschen. Företagen måste bevaka sina konkurrenter för att kunna behålla sin position på marknaden. De största skillnaderna är leveranstider och lagertillgänglighet, två serviceelement som hänger ihop med varandra. Företagen som intervjuats arbetar på väldigt olika sätt när det gäller dessa två element, allt från en dags leveranstid upp till ett år. När det gäller lagertillgänglighetr esonerar företagen väldigt olika angående hur och vilka produkter de väljer att lagerhålla. Det skribenterna kommit fram till i studien är att alla företag kan använda sig av leveransservice som ett konkurrensmedel. Företagen som intervjuats menar att leveransservice är något självklart som man måste arbeta med för att kunna vara med och konkurrera på marknaden. / Trading on the internet has shown a steady raise and is subjecting the traditional retail competition for the last years. Therefore, it is very important for the internet companies to have a faithful clientele and build a relation with customers. With delivery service elements, delivery time, delivery reliability, delivery security and stock availability, the companies can get competitive advantages by offering the best delivery service. To get a clear picture of how they can work with delivery service as a competitive we interviewed ten companies. After those interviews differences and similarities between the companies has been analyzed and discussed. The patterns that have been found between the different companies’ applicable delivery service, is how they are working with delivery security and delivery reliability. There are also similarities between the companies that is working in the same branch when it comes to business in fashion and food. The companies have to monitor their clients to keep their position on the market. Delivery time and stock availability are two service elements who is connecting to each other and has the biggest differences. The companies who were interviewed are working on very different ways when it comes to these two elements, everything from a one-day delivery up to one year of waiting. When it comes to stock availability the companies are reasoning very different about what products they choose to store. The outcome from this study is that every company can use delivery service as a competition. The companies who was interviewed are saying that it is obvious that you have to work with delivery service to keep the competition and staying strong on the market.

Globalization has opened up national borders, which has led to a spread of companies globally and a culturally diverse nature of labor. Efficient cultural diversity management (CDM) has become a significant challenge for organizations and managers have to find ways of managing a cross-cultural staff, as a disregard of cultural dissimilarities is the cause of most failures by cross-national businesses. The literature on diversity management has mainly been focused on domestic models, resulting in a lack of research regarding how this is done in an international context and how multinational companies (MNCs) are answering to an increasingly globalized staff. To address this gap, this study contributes to the existing literature by examining CDM within a MNC. In order to provide a better understanding of how to manage cultural diversity in a multinational company, two research questions were stated, which focused on approaches and managerial skills within CDM. The study was conducted using a qualitative case study approach and data was collected through three semi-structured interviews with managers within a Swedish MNC. The findings showed that the investigated MNC uses five out of seven approaches outlined inprevious literature regarding CDM, whereas four of them are used to some extent and one to agreater extent. Furthermore, the literature outlined 29 managerial skills, whereas the findings supported 12 of them but also contributed with a number of additional managerial skills perceived as necessary. Overall, the findings showed that the investigated MNC both encourages and is positive toward cultural diversity at the workplace. / Gränser mellan länder öppnas upp som ett resultat av globaliseringen, vilket har resulterat i en spridning av företag globalt och en kulturellt varierande arbetskraft. Effektiv hantering av kulturell mångfald har blivit en stor utmaning för företag. Chefer måste hitta sätt att hantera en tvärkulturell arbetskraft eftersom ignorans av kulturella olikheter är orsaken till flest misslyckanden hos gränsöverskridande företag. Litteraturen gällande hantering av kulturell mångfald har i huvudsak fokuserat på inhemska modeller, vilket har resulterat i att det saknas forskning gällande hur detta görs i ett internationellt sammanhang samt hur multinationella företag svarar på en alltmer globaliserad arbetskraft. Denna studie bidrar till den befintliga litteraturen genom att undersöka hur kulturell mångfald kan hanteras inom ett multinationellt företag. För att nå en bättre förståelse för hur man hanterar kulturell mångfald i ett multinationellt företag, formulerades två forskningsfrågor med fokus på tillvägagångssätt och chefliga kompetenser för att hantera kulturell mångfald. Denna studie utfördes genom en kvalitativ fallstudie och data samlades in genom tre semistrukturerade intervjuer med chefer inom ett svenskt multinationellt företag. Resultaten visade att det undersökta multinationella företaget använder fem av sju tillvägagångssätt som är presenterade i tidigare litteratur om CDM, medan fyra av dem används i viss utsträckning och en i större utsträckning. Vidare redogjorde litteraturen för 29 ledarskapskompetenser. Resultaten bekräftade 12 av dem men bidrog även med ett antal ytterligare ledarskapskompetenser som uppfattades som nödvändiga. Sammantaget visade resultaten att det undersökta multinationella företaget både uppmuntrar och är positivt mot kulturell mångfald på arbetsplatsen.

No description available.