<p>This dissertation examines the implications of digitization for firm corporate strategy and organizational governance. I aim to link together emerging research on platform businesses and classic corporate strategy research on firm scale, scope and organization, two important streams of work that have remained largely independent despite the close connection between them. To do so, my dissertation revolves around the following central question: How can platform owners leverage governance mechanisms to alleviate market frictions, and what are the performance outcomes? </p><p><br></p> <p>In the first chapter, using game-theoretic formal models, I analyze how long standing information frictions are alleviated by digital platforms through developing capabilities for solving these information problems and exploiting synergies between those capabilities. In the second chapter, using data from online peer-to-peer lending, I show that platform owners can mitigate problems of information asymmetry in platform markets and enhance market effectiveness through allocation of key decision rights among participants. Finally, in the third chapter, using data from mobile apps, I show that platform gatekeeping serves as a screening mechanism for platform owners and how it can shape the different ways app developers profit from innovation. </p><p><br></p><p>Collectively, my dissertation aims to advance corporate strategy research in two ways. First, my research broadens the application of theories of organizational governance core to corporate strategy to a new organizational form – platforms – and I show that core tenets of the theories still apply, although the specific empirical mechanisms might take a different form in the platform context (e.g., decision rights allocated between the platform owner and complementors, rather than between the corporate office and business units). Second, my research stands to expand existing theories in corporate strategy through a sharp focus on organization and governance features that are unique to platforms – such as by studying the orchestrating role of the platform owner (e.g., through gatekeeping, platform owner can control complementors' platform access and shape their value-creation activities on the platform), and the multi-layer relationships prevalent in platforms (e.g., relationships between the platform owner and complementors, between complementors on the same side, and between complementors across two or more sides).</p>

Aujourd’hui, la responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RSE) représente une préoccupation majeure pour les entreprises qui doivent intégrer non plus seulement les dimensions économiques et financières de leurs activités mais également les aspects sociaux et environnementaux. Le périmètre de la responsabilité d’une entreprise ne se limite plus à ces frontières mais s’étend à l’ensemble de ces partenaires commerciaux. Aussi, on assiste à une recrudescence de travaux tant académiques que professionnels portant sur les processus de diffusion de la RSE dans la supply chain (SC). Cependant, nombre d’études académiques tendent à analyser cette question au niveau dyadique ou à se focaliser sur une dimension de la RSE. Cette thèse cherche à combler cette lacune et s’interroge sur les mécanismes de diffusion de la RSE au niveau de la SC. Pour cela, nous nous intéressons, en particulier, au rôle que peut jouer une entreprise pivot, acteur central du réseau, dans la mise en œuvre d’actions RSE dans les entreprises satellites. Notre analyse se déroule en trois étapes. Dans la première, nous cherchons à construire un modèle conceptuel original intégrant aussi bien les mécanismes de gouvernance utilisés par l’entreprise pivot que ses motivations à les mettre en place. L’étape suivante consiste à faire des choix méthodologiques déterminants pour notre recherche : nous choisissons ainsi de tester notre modèle dans le secteur agroalimentaire à l’aide d’équations structurelles. Les divers résultats obtenus seront présentés et analysés, dans une troisième étape, pour nous permettre de répondre à notre questionnement initial. Outre la validité de nos échelles de mesure, les résultats indiquent que la gouvernance par l’entreprise pivot contribue à favoriser la mise en œuvre d’actions RSE dans la SC. De ce fait, cette recherche permet d’identifier, dans une perspective réticulaire, les mécanismes de gouvernance les plus pertinents ainsi que les leviers d’actions vers un management plus durable de la SC. / Corporate social responsibility (CSR) represents a major concern for companies that need to integrate not only the economic and financial dimensions of their activities but also the social and environmental aspects. The scope of a company's responsibility is no longer limited to these borders but extends to all of these business partners. Also, there has been a resurgence of both academic and professional studies on CSR diffusion processes in the supply chain (SC). However, many academic studies tend to analyze this issue at the dyadic level or focus on a dimension of CSR. This thesis attempts to fill this gap and questions the mechanisms for extending CSR at the SC level. Thus, we are particularly interested in the role that a focal company, a central actor in the network, can play in the implementation of CSR actions in satellites companies. Our analysis is carried out in three stages. In the first, we try to construct an original conceptual model integrating both the governance mechanisms used by the focal company and its motivations to implement them. The next step concern methodological choices that are decisive for our research : we choose to test our model in the agri-food sector using structural equations. The various results obtained will be presented and analyzed, in a third stage, to allow us to answer our initial questioning. In addition to the validity of our measurement scales, the results indicate that governance by the focal company contributes to the implementation of CSR actions in the SC. We identify the most relevant mechanisms as well as the levers of action towards a more sustainable management of SC.

The research conducted in ’Communication measurements’ aims to answer how communication practitioners experience the practice of communication measurements, and if experience differ between private and public sector. The study has also been intressted in how organizational governance reproduces through the way the organization does measure communication. The theoretical framwork gathered for this study consists of sociology of knowledge, field theory and boundary objects and constitutes a unique composition for this study. Using a qualitative interview study I have analysed the answers from eight communication practitioners from both private and public sector (4 from each sector) to help answering the questions for the study. The results of the study showed that communication practitioners have a willingness to measure communication but feel that they lack both resources and room for maneuver. The results also showed that the experience from communication practitioners confirms previous research in the aspect of lack of knowledge both at communications practitioners and organization management. Despite the different sectors, the difference in experiences was not as large as one might expect. One conclusion is that measurement is an area in need of development.

Studien har undersökt hur socialsekreteraren upplever sitt handlingsutrymme i det vräkningsförebyggande arbetet med barnfamiljer. Studien belyser faktorer som både begränsar och möjliggör handlingsutrymmet för socialsekreteraren i arbetet med barnfamiljerna samt hur detta i sig påverkar barnfamiljerna. Syftet med studien är att öka kunskapen om socialsekreterares upplevelser av sitt handlingsutrymme kopplat till det vräkningsförebyggande arbetet när det kommer till barnfamiljer. För att göra detta har vi utgått från en kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer där vi mött socialsekreterare som arbetar vräkningsförebyggande med barnfamiljer inom Socialtjänsten på enheten för ekonomiskt bistånd. Vårt empiriska material består av sju stycken intervjuer med socialsekreterare som arbetar inom olika stadsdelsförvaltningar i Stockholm stad. Vi har utgått från Michael Lipskys teori om gräsrotsbyråkrater i analyserandet av den empiriska data, en teori som berör det handlingsutrymme som gräsrotsbyråkrater besitter i sin position mellan organisation och klient. Studiens resultat visar att socialsekreteraren upplever ett splittrat handlingsutrymme i deras vräkningsförebyggande arbete med barnfamiljer som innebär en balansgång mellan känslan av ett stort handlingsutrymme och påverkan, samtidigt som det är starkt bundet till organisation och chef samt yttre och inre faktorer i organisationen. Här lyfts att arbetserfarenhet är starkt kopplat till upplevelsen av ett större handlingsutrymme och därmed möjlighet till påverkan för barnfamiljerna. Studien belyser även frågor från socialsekreteraren om handlingsutrymmets eventuella personbundenhet samt svårigheter i att navigera huruvida handlingsutrymmet ska användas gentemot barnfamiljen eller gentemot Socialtjänsten. / The aim of this study is to examine how social workers understand and experience their discretion in the daily work with eviction prevention when it comes to children’s families. The study was conducted through qualitative semi-structured interviews with social secretaries. Our empirical data is based on seven interviews with social secretaries from different district administrations in Stockholm stad. Drawing on Michael Lipsky’s theory on street level bureaucracy, we have analysed their reflections and examined how social workers view their position and level of discretion. Lipsky’s theory is based on the role that street level bureaucrats possesses and how the position of being in between the organization and the clients affect their daily work. The outcome of the study shows experiences of a partly fragmented discretion in daily work with eviction prevention for families with children. The experienced discretion is dual: there is both a feeling of a rather big discretion with the possibility to affect, but also a strong experience of discretion being bound to organization and their closest boss, including inner and outer factors. Among other things, work experience was highlighted as a direct connection to the experience of a bigger discretion and a possibility to effect. The study also highlights a question raised by the social secretaries concerning what direction their discretion should be used in, pointing to the different loyalties concerning if discretion is used with either the families or the organization itself in mind.