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Background:          The growing number of electric vehicles gives rise to a whole new reverse supply chain. Once the electric vehicle batteries reach their end-of-life, societal and governmental pressure forces automotive manufacturers to set up a network for disposing the hazardous batteries. Although, the volumes of returned batteries remain low, volumes will increase in upcoming years. Current networks and processes related to the return flow of electric vehicle batteries are not well established, nor well defined. Thus, creating an urgency to develop efficient collection networks.   Purpose:                  The purpose of this study is to investigate how reverse logistics networks are currently set up and to provide an overview of how the different actors and processes are connected. In addition, this thesis aims to identify challenges encountered by logistics providers and recyclers. By doing so, we hope to contribute to the research gap of which factors that constitutes a bottleneck for further development of the reverse logistics chain of electric vehicle batteries.   Method:                  The thesis conducts an interview study and is qualitative in nature. Semi-structured interviews generated empirical data, which was analysed through cross-case analysis incorporating a thematic analysis. Through this analysis we were able to achieve new theoretical understandings in connection to institutional theory.   Conclusion:             Through empirical findings a detailed framework of the reverse logistics chain of EVBs is portrayed. Furthermore, different challenges span over the processes illustrated in the framework. This presents an overview which is not found in current literature and extends current research on this topic.

Thesis advisor: Marilyn Cochran-Smith / A new phenomenon in teacher education, referred to as new graduate schools of education, or nGSEs (Cochran-Smith, et al., 2016), is gaining traction in the U.S. Profoundly different in program structures and arrangements from most university programs, these non-university affiliated teacher education programs have emerged during the current era of standards- and accountability-based reform. However, limited empirical research has examined how nGSEs conceptualize and enact teaching and learning and how these programs might signal a shift in the field of teacher education. This dissertation attempts to address this empirical lacuna through an in-depth qualitative case study of the first such program, located within High Tech High (HTH), a charter school network. The purpose of this study is to understand the HTH program’s core beliefs and behaviors, as well as the organization’s relationship with its institutional environment (i.e. the broader educational policy, funding, and field-level contexts). Utilizing institutional analysis and sensemaking theory, I argue that teacher education programming at HTH drew on a core logic of constructivism, which informed the school’s instructional work of teaching and learning and its organizational design. Through this constructivist approach, teacher education faculty and students were able to “practice with theory,” bridging the theory-practice dichotomy and informing a relational and actionable conception of knowledge. Finally, HTH took an active stance towards its institutional environment, developing organizational networks to both retain organizational fidelity to its mission and also enact change in accordance with this mission. My analysis has implications for teacher education, organizational analysis, and education policy. Because constructivism dually informed instruction and organizational structures, HTH offers new possibilities for the design of education organizations. The centrality of constructivist logics allowed for both remarkable consistency in values, beliefs, and goals across the organization as well as considerable agency for individual actors. The agency of HTH personnel, paired with the program’s “active stance” towards environmental forces, such as funders and field-level partners, informed how education leaders’ design choices simultaneously supported individual agency and organizational mission as well as ground-up approaches to change. Lastly, the case of HTH indicates that the nGSE phenomenon models new organizational approaches to teacher education, which can challenge and expand the ways in which we understand teaching and learning for educators. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

O desenvolvimento econômico, social e tecnológico de um país está intimamente ligado ao seu sistema de formação de recursos humanos qualificados, em particular, às políticas de pesquisa e desenvolvimento e aos sistemas de pós-graduação Stricto Sensu. Nestes a pesquisa constitui a base sustentável do desenvolvimento, especialmente na esfera de construção das contemporâneas sociedades do conhecimento. Assim, este estudo buscou analisar os programas de pós-graduação da Faculdade de Medicina da USP/RP - FMRP que, segundo os critérios adotados na avaliação do último triênio 2001-2003 (CAPES, 2005), alcançou, pelo conjunto de dezesseis programas - nota média próxima a seis - com reduzida dispersão relativa. O estudo de tal desempenho sugere ser este fruto de um consórcio de variáveis que compõem o cenário de excelência conquistado. Além da qualidade dos quadros, dos recursos materiais e financeiros adequados, da interlocução intensa e extensiva no âmbito da comunidade científica específica, um aspecto importante, e por vezes relegado, repousa sobre o fenômeno institucional e organizacional que sustenta as estruturas e os fluxos do sistema. O êxito dos programas de pós-graduação não está, todavia, relacionado somente com as variáveis quantitativas (número de docentes, produção bibliográfica, número de orientados por docente etc.), mas também pela maneira como são organizados e geridos. Neste sentido foi realizada, uma pesquisa qualitativa, de caráter exploratório-descritivo, no qual se pretendeu estudar como os padrões institucionais (normativo, regulativo e cultural-cognitivo) dos programas de Pós-Graduação Stricto Sensu da Faculdade de Medicina da USP de Ribeirão Preto influenciam nos conceitos obtidos na avaliação trienal CAPES. Especificamente, à luz da Teoria Institucional, foram analisados os regimentos e normas da USP, da Pós-Graduação da USP e da FMRP/USP, bem como as normas internas dos programas. Além disso, foram realizadas entrevistas em profundidade com quinze coordenadores de programas de Pós-Graduação da FMRP/USP. Verificou-se, no esforço sistemático de análise, que há significativa relação entre os conceitos obtidos nas avaliações trienais e as escolhas institucionais dos programas avaliados. / The economical, social and technological development of a country depends directly on its qualified human resources formation system, more specifically, research and development policies and Stricto Sensu postgraduate system. The research constitutes the basis of the sustainable development on those subjects, especially in the construction of the contemporary knowledge societies. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the postgraduate programs of the Medicine School at USP/RP that, according to the criteria adopted in the last triennial 2001-2003 (CAPES, 2005), reached by a set of sixteen programs - average grade next to six marks-, with reduced relative dispersion. The study of such performance suggests this is due to the set of variables that compose the excellence scenario achieved. Ahead of the employees\' quality, the adequate financial and material resources, the intensive and extensive inter relation with the specific scientific community; an important aspect sometimes dismissed lies on the organization and institutional phenomena that supports the system structure and flows. The postgraduate programs success isn\'t, however, related to the quantitative variables (professors number, bibliographical production, number of guided pupil per teacher etc), but also by the way they are organized and managed. For this purpose, it was developed a qualitative research, of exploratory descriptive character, in which it was intended to study how the institutional standards (normative, regulative and culturalcognitive) of the Stricto Sensu postgraduate programs of the Medicine School at USP/RP influence on the concepts obtained in the triennial evaluation CAPES. Specifically, based on institutional theory, it was analyzed the regiments and norms of USP, USP Postgraduate and Medicine School at USP/RP, as well as the internal management rules of its programs. Also, it was realized deep interviews with fifteen managers of Postgraduate programs. It was verified, in the systematic effort of analysis that a significant relation between the concepts exists, obtained in the triennial evaluations and the institutional choices of the evaluated programs.

O ambiente de gerenciamento de projetos com o envolvimento de múltiplos atores, no âmbito da administração pública, mostra-se muitas vezes confuso, com sobreposição de papéis, transformando-se num espaço de disputa de múltiplos interesses. Este trabalho analisa o ambiente de projetos da Codevasf sob a ótica da teoria institucional e do conceito de campo organizacional como arena funcionalmente específica, e relaciona a configuração do campo com alterações estruturais da organização. Para tanto, foi selecionado como recorte o projeto de revitalização da bacia hidrográfica do rio São Francisco, onde foi feito o mapeamento do campo organizacional, considerando os atores envolvidos direta e indiretamente no projeto. Em seguida, foi analisada a influência do campo organizacional desse projeto específico na estrutura organizacional da Codevasf. Foi realizada uma pesquisa de natureza qualitativa, com uso da estratégia do estudo de caso, utilizando-se de pesquisa bibliográfica, documental e de campo, onde a coleta de dados se deu por meio dos instrumentos de análise documental, observação e entrevistas. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam vetores de conflito, cooperação e dependência dentro do campo organizacional, cujo desenho impacta a estrutura formal e informal da Codevasf / The project management environment where many participants coexist within the public administration, is often confused, with overlapping roles, becoming a space of dispute of multiples interests. This work analyzes Codevasf\'s project environment from the perspective of institutional theory and the concept of organizational field as a functionally specific arena, and relates the configuration of the field with structure changes of the organization. In order to develop the analysis, the project to revitalize the São Francisco river basin was selected as a cut-off, where the organizational field was drawn, considering the actors involved directly and indirectly in the project. Next, the influence of the organizational field of this specific project on the organizational structure of Codevasf was analyzed. The nature of research was qualitative, using the case study strategy, using bibliographical, documentary and field research, where data collection was done through documental analysis tools, observation and interviews. The results of the research indicate vectors of conflict, cooperation and dependence within the organizational field, whose design impacts the formal and informal structure of Codevasf

No atual ambiente corporativo, a implementação de mudanças organizacionais tornou-se um fato freqüente. Nesse processo de mudanças, o discurso organizacional presente nos textos produzidos pela alta administração, que constituem o discurso formal, acaba expressando pensamentos nem sempre aceitos sem questionamentos por todos os gestores da organização, dificultando o processo de mudança. A presença de discursos menos coerentes ou de discursos que competem com o discurso organizacional pode dificultar ou mesmo comprometer a eficácia do processo de mudança. Esta tese defende que, na ocorrência de um processo de mudança da Contabilidade Gerencial numa organização, o discurso influencia os níveis de institucionalização de novos conceitos que se desejam implementados. Para realizar o estudo a respeito dessa influência, utilizou-se de uma abordagem da Teoria Institucional, sob o enfoque da Velha Economia Institucional, usando-se como arcabouço teórico o modelo proposto por Burns e Scapens (2000), com ênfase nos estágios de codificação e institucionalização, bem como o modelo discursivo de institucionalização proposto por Phillips et al. (2004). O método de pesquisa aplicado foi o estudo de caso único, realizado na Caixa Econômica Federal, uma instituição financeira pública de grande porte que realiza simultaneamente atividades de natureza social (como uma agência governamental de fomento e administração exclusiva de fundos) e de natureza econômica (como um banco comercial que compete com outras instituições no mercado financeiro), a qual passou recentemente por um processo de mudanças profundas em sua Contabilidade Gerencial. Por meio da análise documental, seguida da realização de entrevistas com gestores da administração central e da análise do discurso, foi possível detectar a coexistência de dois discursos na organização: discurso social e discurso econômico. Posteriormente, foram aplicados questionários aos gestores das agências e gestores de produtos, usuários do Sistema de Contabilidade Gerencial, obtendo-se 4.259 respostas, no intuito de se verificar a ocorrência de associações entre os discursos e os níveis de institucionalização dos novos conceitos implementados na mudança. Os dados coletados foram objeto dos seguintes tratamentos estatísticos: estatística descritiva, Análise da Variância (ANOVA), Análise de Homogeneidade (Homals) e Análise de Correspondência (ANACOR). Verificou-se que há uma associação positiva entre a concordância com os conceitos de Contabilidade Gerencial e a concordância com o discurso econômico. Os indivíduos classificados como mais aderentes ao discurso econômico encontram-se associados positivamente entre um nível de institucionalização forte e médio, enquanto os indivíduos classificados como aderentes ao discurso social apresentaram associação positiva com o nível de institucionalização fraco. Dessa forma, os resultados sugerem que há influência do discurso no processo de institucionalização de conceitos de Contabilidade Gerencial, corroborando as proposições de Phillips et al. (2004), de que uma maior coerência entre discursos e conceitos presentes em textos tende a produzir instituições mais fortes e a existência de competição, entre dois discursos, pode dificultar um processo de mudança conceitual. À luz desses resultados, infere-se que o discurso, quando inserido em um processo de mudança conceitual, deva ser estruturado de acordo com as características e com o repertório de crenças de seu público-alvo, o que poderá provocar uma união coerente entre o exercício da linguagem e a prática operacional, possibilitando a transformação do campo institucional para o campo de ação de forma eficaz. / Within the current corporative environment, the implementation of organizational changes has been frequent. In this process of changes, the organizational discourse, found in the formal texts produced by the high administration, eventually expresses thoughts not always accepted before being firstly questioned by the other managers and that may cause difficulties for the changing process. The presence of less coherent discourses or discourses that challenge the organizational discourse may hinder or even affect the efficacy of changes. This thesis advocates that during a changing process within the Managerial Accounting of an organization, the discourse influences the levels for institutionalizing new concepts. This study of such influence was carried out by means of the Institutional Theory under the focus of the Old Institutional Economy, having as its theoretical framework the model proposed by Burns & Scapens (2000), emphasizing the stages of codification and institutionalization, as well as the discourse model of institutionalization proposed by Phillips et al. (2004). The research method consisted of a single case study related to Caixa Econômica Federal, a large public financial institution which performs social activities (as a governmental agency for funding and exclusive administration of funds) and economical activities (as a commercial bank which competes with other institutions in the financial market), which has recently undergone a process of deep changes in its Managerial Accounting. Through an analysis of documents, followed by interviews with central administration managers and discourse analysis, the co-existence of two discourses in the organization could be detected: social discourse and economical discourse. Later, questionnaires were applied to the managers of the bank branches and the managers of products, and to the users of the Managerial Accounting System in order to verify associations between the discourses and the levels of institutionalization of the new concepts. Out of the questionnaires, 4,259 answers were obtained. The data were submitted to the following statistical treatments: descriptive analysis, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Analysis of Homogeneity (Homals) and Analysis of Correspondence (ANACOR). It could be verified that there is a positive association between the concordance with the concepts of Managerial Accounting and a concordance with the economical discourse. The individuals classified as most adherent to the economical discourse are those positively associated with and between a strong or average level of institutionalization. On the other hand, those individuals adherent to the social discourse have a positive association with the weak level of institutionalization. Thus, the results suggest that the discourse influences the process for institutionalizing concepts of Managerial Accounting and corroborate the propositions of Phillips et al (2004) for a greater coherence between discourses, that concepts within texts may lead to stronger institutions, and that the existence of competition between two discourses may hinder the process of conceptual change. In face of these results one may say that the discourse, whenever placed in a process of conceptual change, must be structured according to the characteristics and beliefs of the target public, which may cause a coherent union between the exercise of the language and the operational practice and allow for an efficient transformation of the institutional site into a field of action.

With a triple-bottom-line lens on sustainability, this study examines the effects of culture on companies' economic, social, and environmental sustainability practices. Drawing on institutional theory and project GLOBE, we delineate cultural practices dimensions that consistently predict sustainability practices related to each of the three domains. Based on a sample of 1924 companies in 36 countries and nine cultural clusters, we find that future orientation, gender egalitarianism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance practices positively, and performance orientation practices negatively, predict corporate sustainability practices. Further, our findings suggest that these effects might vary according to the country vis-à-vis cluster level of analysis.

As a part of multinational corporations (MNCs), subsidiaries operate in distinct host countries and have to deal with their external context. Host country political embeddedness, in particular, helps subsidiaries to obtain knowledge and understanding of the regulatory and political context, and to get access to local networks. Moreover, they get some guidance and support from their headquarters. Distance between MNC home and host countries, however, alienates subsidiaries from the MNC and influences the extent of subsidiary host country political embeddedness. We suggest that the host country political and regulatory context moderates the effect of distance on subsidiary host country political embeddedness by reducing the need and/or value of headquarters support. Using a sample of 124 European manufacturing subsidiaries, we find that distance (space) and context (place) matter jointly: the impact of distance is stronger for subsidiaries that operate in host countries with low governance quality and low political stability in place.

The significant contributions of female entrepreneurs to both the social and economic development of their various countries have been recognized over the past two decades. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) found that between 17 and 41 percent of the female adult population set up new businesses in developing economies. However, these females owning businesses in developing economies generally exhibit limited aspirations for growth, with 84.6 percent of the female entrepreneurs indicating that they expect to add fewer than five employees in the coming five years. Moreover, most of the literature on female entrepreneurs in developing economies has focused on the business start-up phase; limited knowledge exists on the post start-up phase. This study addresses this gap by using institutional theory to investigate the development of businesses run by female entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Qualitative interviews were used to collect data from Nigerian female entrepreneurs. The data gathered was analysed using the thematic method. The finding reveal ways in which Nigerian female entrepreneurs transform their creative ideas into products and services that have potential for growth. Nigerian female businesses exhibit growth characteristics through the concern they have for quality and reputation, organizational design, earlier preparation for business growth, response to changes in technology and strong commitment to business success. The major factors facilitating the development of businesses run by Nigerian female entrepreneurs are membership of clubs and societies, a supportive husband, operating from home as well as their network affiliation with their relatives, friends, professionals, religious groups and NGOs. The factors inhibiting the development of businesses run by female entrepreneurs in Nigeria include poor savings culture, inappropriate business practice, lack of qualified artisan workers, lack of honest and reliable staff, balancing business and family, high-based thinking and fear of pseudo growth. The thesis contributes to the institutional theory framework through the addition of components in three key areas: funding barriers (such as female entrepreneurs in polygamous home, lack of ethical mortgage arrangements, lack of inheritance right by women and loan officers’ perception on women lifestyle), profitability (such as high import and export taxes on raw materials, high cost of transportation and illegal fees charges by government officials), and networking (such as support from NGOs and religious bodies). Methodologically, the present study adds to the growing body of qualitative research in entrepreneurship notably to our understanding of the issues that female small business owners in Nigeria face in sustaining and growing their businesses. The current study has practical implications for policy makers and female entrepreneurs. Areas for further research are also identified.

Teachers working in international schools can be understood as gearing a student’s disposition towards the ability and preparedness to handle and value differences and diversity. The process of internationalisation of education implies a process of change pertaining to the mission, vision and delivery of education. In an effort to cope with a number of challenges from within and outside of the Netherlands, a Dutch School Group in Amsterdam embarked on a process of change by adopting an international dimension to the students’ experience. Instead of these schools becoming more similar to each other, i.e. converging towards an internationalising ‘master-viewpoint’, the schools’ alignment under pressure showed a process of ‘anisomorphism’: their education’s primary function, approach, tasks, role and objectives for society were changing into different internationalising directions. However, the pragmatic expectations and actions, particularly of the parents and the students, were creating new boundaries and rationales for the schools as bargaining zones. The ‘shifting borders’ between the schools were becoming more connected with a growing international focus, yet had different pragmatic and ideological implications for each of them. The result was that these borders became permeable, a nominal erosion of differences between the ‘international’ school selectively catering for children of internationally mobile families and the other schools catering for all children in the Netherlands. ‘International schools’ became places where students were trained to engage with difference and diversity and where the students had not necessarily been crossing geographical borders. This raises the issue of the role of education in a multicultural and globalising society, as –in this case- an increase in institutional diversity within the specific Dutch national context, and an increased uncertainty about the multiple aims of education, stretched the educational as well as social boundaries which constrain the futures for which students are being prepared.