This thesis is dealing with the integration of Japanese and German project workers in automobile inter‐corporate research/pre‐development projects. The focus is on better understanding the respective decision making process. As cultural differences play a big role in the way that people behave an extra focus was put on investigating this. The methods chosen for this study were quantitative research in the form of a questionnaire and qualitative research in the form of an interview series. For the quantitative research, literature in the cross‐cultural field was studied and from different cultural dimensions suggested by various authors, a synthesis was derived. This was then used as the base for a questionnaire. The data both enabled a quantitative research study and supported the qualitative study. A number of questions with a more straightforward approach to decision making in projects were also a part of the questionnaire. The data was processed using the statistical software SPSS and the results were analyzed using factor analysis and ANOVA. The factor analysis of the quantitative data had only one factor which had a significant difference between the German and the Japanese sample. The dimension was called individuality reward and describes to which degree a society reward competent group behavior versus competent individual behavior. The German sample showed a strong tendency towards favoring competent individual behavior whereas the Japanese sample leaned towards favoring competent group behavior. The questionnaire questions directly linked to decision making showed no significant differences between the samples showing that individual attitudes within the German and Japanese sample varies more than the cultural differences between the two groups. This shows that you cannot expect a Japanese or German person to act in a certain way in a certain decision making situation just judging on their cultural background. In order to get a deep understanding of the decision making process a qualitative series of interviews were conducted. All interviews with Japanese and other people on location in Japan were conducted in‐person at different locations around the Tokyo area. Interviews with people situated in Europe were made over the phone. The interviews were recorded and later transcribed and interpreted to gain a thorough understanding of the decision making process. From the qualitative material several differences in how German and Japanese people work and make decisions were found. More time is put into sharing information and getting consensus before a decision in Japan than in Germany were discussions and arguing in meetings are more tolerated. The reason for this behavior in Japan is to not lose face and as well as making it possible to make a decision fast once brought up in a meeting. Germans remain more flexible to revisions after a decision has been made because of the shorter preparation phase. There is big overlap of members between different inter‐corporate research projects in the automobile industry. Japanese project members tends to be older than their German counterparts which makes them more stable as younger people might disappear from a project as they move up the corporate ladder. In Japan there is a greater emphasis put into after‐work activities compared to Germany where it is seen as beneficial but not as often used as a way to gain a personal relationship. The thesis concludes that by relatively small measures common decision making between Japanese and German project workers can become smooth and with few misunderstandings. Introductions to respective cultures as well as keeping an open mindset and non assertive attitude should help avoid some of the worst case scenarios. A kick‐off in the beginning of a project in order to build a personal relationship and trust would surely help the project come off to a good start. Setting common goals for the project and confirming data with people involved in a decision process will facilitate common consensus decision making. Also confirming decisions as simply as paraphrasing what has been said or by informal one‐on‐one discussions in a break or after a meeting can keep misunderstandings due to the language barrier to a minimum.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka reliabiliteten i en metod för att observera affektuttryck, Stålforsmetoden. Stålforsmetoden fokuserar primärt på affektuttryck i ansiktet, och mer specifikt den första affekten som en patient uttrycker under en psykoterapisession (”överföringsaffekt”). Den teoretiska grunden är affektteori som utvecklats av Silvan Tomkins och Paul Ekman. Data har samlats in med strukturerad observation och analyseras kvantitativt. Interbedömarreliabilitet beräknades med Cohen’s Kappa och uppgick till K = 0,03, vilket innebär att det inte finns någon statistiskt säker överensstämmelse mellan bedömarna. Möjliga orsaker till avsaknaden av interbedömarreliabilitet såsom utbildningens utformning och omfattning samt operationaliseringen av observationsvariabeln diskuteras och förslag på framtida forskning lämnas. / The purpose of this study was to explore the reliability of a method for observing expressions of affect, “Stålforsmetoden”. Stålforsmetoden focuses primarily on facial expression of affect, and more precisely the first expression presented by a patient in a psychotherapy session (referred to as transference affect). The theoretical basis is affect theory as developed in the works of Silvan Tomkins and Paul Ekman respectively. Data has been collected through structured observation and analyzed quantitatively. Inter-rater reliability was calculated using Cohen’s Kappa and amounted to K = 0.03, which means that there was no significant agreement between raters. This result implies that the reliability of Stålforsmetoden in its present form is insufficient and that further development of the method is needed. Possible reasons for the absence of inter-rater reliability such as the adequacy of education and the operationalization of transference affect are discussed and suggestions for future research are presented.

The Swedish pharmaceutical industry is going through structural changes due to the increased cost of drug development. This has led pharmaceutical firms to outsource clinical trials to Clinical Research Organisations (CRO). This thesis explores the inter-firm relationships between pharmaceutical firms and CROs in the Stockholm area, with focus on the development of trust and commitment. The empirical material gathered from nine qualitative interviews with representatives from both parties suggests that trust and commitment are both important factors. Trust is based on competence and reputation whilst commitment is developed through communication. Commitment is highly valued by the companies that wished to develop long-term relationships. The results also point to challenges in the area mainly regarding patient recruitment that due to the high competition amongst the CROs can lead to opportunism when they are overly optimistic of what they can deliver. This is an issue that needs to be addressed as it affects the whole industry.

L'objectif de notre Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches est d'étudier les relations stratégiques inter-organisationnelles via le prisme du paradoxe. En effet, cette perspective peut améliorer la compréhension et la gestion d'un changement, qu'impliquent les relations stratégiques inter-organisationnelles. A travers l'analyse de nos travaux passés et à venir, nous avons souhaité montrer la pertinence et la richesse que recèle une lecture processuelle de la gestion dynamique des tensions paradoxales dans la compréhension de relations stratégiques inter-organisationnelles. Dans un premier temps, nos recherches conduites sur le paradoxe nous ont aidée à prendre de la hauteur par rapport à nos recherches passées. Dans un second temps, ce recentrage a ouvert la voie à de nouvelles perspectives de recherches, notamment pour de jeunes chercheurs. Ainsi, les liens entre tensions paradoxales, processus de gestion dynamique et relations stratégiques inter-organisationnelles ont permis de présenter une Habilitation que nous qualifions de trajectoire.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the formalization of inter-organizational partnerships and collaboration among staff members working together across primary care, mental health and addition organizations to provide services to adults with complex mental health and addiction needs. Phase I of the study provided an environmental scan of existing partnerships among Family Health Teams (FHTs) and Community Health Centres (CHCs), and the Mental Health and/or Addiction (MHA) organizations they partner with, in the province of Ontario (Canada). Phase II explored the relationship between formalization and a) administrative collaboration and b) and service delivery collaboration. The hypotheses proposed that staff members who are part of formalized partnerships would report higher levels of collaboration. Phase III explored how formal and informal partnerships and collaboration are experienced by the administrative and service provider staff members who work across FHTs, CHCs and MHAs organizations. Using a mixed methods approach, data were collected using electronic surveys and telephone interviews. The results of Phase I indicated that FHTs and CHCs in Ontario have between 1-3 partnerships with MHA organizations. Most are informal partnerships, have existed for less than 5 years, and most staff members (partners) interact on a monthly basis. The quantitative results of Phase II showed no significant relationship between formalization and either form of collaboration. The qualitative findings from Phase III provide two key contributions. First, the results of the interviews may help explain why collaboration was not higher in formalized partnerships, as demonstrated by the range of advantages and disadvantages experienced by administrators and service providers in both formal and informal partnerships. Second, the findings illuminate factors related to the process of creating and/or formalizing partnerships, suggesting that there may be other factors that mediate or have a direct impact on the relationship between formalization and collaboration. By bringing together the study findings, the study addresses a gap in the literature by proposing a pathway through which formalization may be associated with collaboration. The results of the study provide opportunities for future research to help improve the quality and accessibility of services to adults with complex mental health and addiction needs.

Recent Inter-American Court of Human Rights jurisprudence has resulted in major amendments to Mexican military justice law that were previously thought to be impossible, considering the historical role of the armed forces and Mexico's civil-military pact. Yet, with a recent Supreme Court decision, Mexican law has been modified to bring it into compliance with the Inter-American Court's decisions. However, their efficacy has been undermined by aspects of the decisions which were not made on a principled basis.

Recent Inter-American Court of Human Rights jurisprudence has resulted in major amendments to Mexican military justice law that were previously thought to be impossible, considering the historical role of the armed forces and Mexico's civil-military pact. Yet, with a recent Supreme Court decision, Mexican law has been modified to bring it into compliance with the Inter-American Court's decisions. However, their efficacy has been undermined by aspects of the decisions which were not made on a principled basis.

Surface reconstruction of anatomical structures is an integral part of medical modeling. Contour information is extracted from serial cross-sections of tissue data and is stored as "slice" files. Although there are several reasonably efficient triangulation algorithms that reconstruct surfaces from slice data, the models generated from them have a jagged or faceted appearance due to the large inter-slice distance created by the sectioning process. Moreover, inconsistencies in user input aggravate the problem. So, we created a method that reduces inter-slice distance, as well as ignores the inconsistencies in the user input. Our method called the piecewise weighted implicit functions, is based on the approach of weighting smaller implicit functions. It takes only a few slices at a time to construct the implicit function. This method is based on a technique called variational interpolation. <p> Other approaches based on variational interpolation have the disadvantage of becoming unstable when the model is quite large with more than a few thousand constraint points. Furthermore, tracing the intermediate contours becomes expensive for large models. Even though some fast fitting methods handle such instability problems, there is no apparent improvement in contour tracing time, because, the value of each data point on the contour boundary is evaluated using a single large implicit function that essentially uses all constraint points. Our method handles both these problems using a sliding window approach. As our method uses only a local domain to construct each implicit function, it achieves a considerable run-time saving over the other methods. The resulting software produces interpolated models from large data sets in a few minutes on an ordinary desktop computer.

Multi-market contact can either escalate or deescalate rivalry. Recent empirical work has revealed an inverted U-shaped relationship between multi-market contact and rivalry. These findings have lead many to suggest that mutual forbearance (MF), a switch from competition to cooperation across markets, is a natural outcome of increasing multi-market contact between two firms. Despite the relatively widespread acceptance of this suggestion, we do not have a theoretically grounded explanation for how this switch from rivalry to mutual forbearance occurs. This dissertation takes up this task. Theories of learning and trust are used as the grounding for the development of a theoretical model of the process by which multi-market rivals switch from competition to cooperation across markets. The model is tested using data from the U.S. Scheduled Passenger Airline Industry. Results support the general theoretical foundations of the model and provide new insights into the genesis of mutual forbearance.

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