Genom historien har den svenska idrottsrörelsen kännetecknats som en folkrörelse. På senare tid har fotbollsföreningar i Sverige övergått från att vara en del av den organiserade demokratiska folkrörelsen vars främsta syfte är att främja folkhälsan till att idag bedrivas som företag med syftet att tjäna pengar. För att kunna bedriva elitidrottsverksamhet har organisationerna blivit allt mer professionella och kommersiella i sättet att införskaffa och säkerställa ekonomiska resurser. Den här studien ämnar undersöka om organisationsformen hos svenska fotbollsklubbar ger upphov till olika resursberoenden och hur de säkerställer resurser. Den teoretiska referensramen utgörs av resursberoendeteorin för att bland annat fältidentifiera värdefulla resurser och institutionell teori för att skapa en bredare bild för hur det svenska fotbollsfältet utvecklats. Studien är en kvalitativ fallstudie genomförd med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet visar att organisationerna liknar varandra både vad gäller resursberoende men även i säkerställande av resurser där legitimitet var av stor betydelse. Studiens slutsats konstaterar att organisationsformerna inte har någon påverkan på vare sig resursberoende eller säkerställande av resurser. Resultatet pekar istället på att det är fältet som påverkar organisationerna. / Throughout history, the Swedish sports movement has been characterized as a popular movement. Recently, Swedish football organizations have transitioned from being part of the organized democratic popular movement whose main purpose is to promote public health to today being run as a company with the aim of making money. In order to operate an elite sport organization, organizations have become increasingly professional and commercial in the way of acquiring and securing financial resources. The theoretical framework for this study consists of Resource Dependence Theory to identify, among other things, valuable resources and Institutional Theory to create a broader picture of how the Swedish football field has developed. The study is a qualitative case study conducted with the help of semi-structured interviews. The result shows that the organizations are similar to each other in terms of resource dependency as well in securing resources where legitimacy was of great importance. The study's conclusion states that the organizational forms have no effect on either resource dependency or the securing of resources. The result, instead, indicates that it is the field that affects the organizations.

The purpose of this study is to in depth examine how two companies in retail business work with investments in AI and similar technology and to investigate what role these investments had for the two companies. Retail plays an important role in the Swedish economy and accounts for one tenth of Sweden's GDP. The industry has undergone extensive digital development in recent years, which has led to companies being forced to make large investments in new technology such as AI in order to maintain their competitiveness. Through a qualitative interview study, two case companies in the retail business that target clothing are studied. The results show that both companies at different levels work with investments in AI technology. They both find great benefits with these investments mainly in the form of increased value for their customers. They also see that these investments are necessary to maintain their competitiveness in the market. The risks that emerge through the survey are mainly based on an integrity perspective when collecting data and the employees' barriers to change. / Syftet med denna undersökning är att på djupet studera hur två företag inom detaljhandeln arbetar med investeringar i AI och liknande teknik samt undersöka vilken roll dessa investeringar haft för de två företagen. Detaljhandeln fyller en viktig funktion inom den svenska ekonomin och står för en tiondel av Sveriges BNP. Branschen har de senaste åren genomgått en omfattande digital utveckling vilket lett till att företag tvingats genomföra stora investeringar i ny teknik som AI för att bibehålla sin konkurrenskraft. Genom en kvalitativ intervjustudie studeras två fallföretag inom detaljhandeln som riktar sig mot konfektion. Resultatet visar på att båda fallföretagen på olika nivåer arbetar med investeringar i AI-teknik. De finner båda stora fördelar med dessa investeringar främst i form av ökat värde för sina kunder. De ser även att dessa investeringar är nödvändiga för att bibehålla sin konkurrenskraft på marknaden. De risker som framkommer genom undersökningen grundar sig främst i integritetsperspektiv vid insamling av data samt de anställdas förändringsbarriärer.

The aim of the study is twofold. First, to provide a picture of what happens when groups of citizens cooperate with municipalities and administrations to produce services essential to the community, i.e., elderly care or road maintenance. Second, to compare this picture with the picture of citizens’ involvement that the civil society theories describe. This is done by comparing four different cooperation projects. The empirical material has been gathered through four qualitative case studies – two elderly care cases and two road maintenance cases – and the analytical frame has been drawn mostly from organization theory, especially the resource dependence and the institutional perspectives. In the dissertation it is shown that in the projects with less complications the processes developed in a way that balanced, to some extent, the asymmetry in the dependence relation, i.e., the resources controlled by the groups became more interesting for the administrations and municipalities. These processes did also develop in a way that made it possible for the actors to come to an agreement of what problem the project was supposed to solve. These findings covariates with how interested the municipalities and the Road Administration organizations were to participate in the cooperation projects. It also covariates with the use of institutionalized cooperation forms. The short cut of an already defined and legitimated cooperation form implied that less transaction resources had to be invested in the cooperation itself – but as a result the actors did not communicate sufficiently and therefore did not develop a mutual understanding and trust. Another finding is that both the groups and the municipalities and administrations had pragmatic motives for their involvement in the cooperation projects, which led to an organizational form that was effective for the purpose of solving the identified problem with the elderly care/road maintenance, but not for the unintended consequences described by the civil society theories. As the group of citizens really involved was small, the consequences – greater solidarity and responsibility, and a decentralized democratic process, only comprised a few, mostly resourceful, citizens. Finally, the study shows that the groups’ contributions to the democratic process were limited by their involvement in actually solving the problem in question, i.e., to build and run an elderly home or to work with the improvement of the roads. The findings suggests that the picture of citizens’ involvement often put forward in the political debate in Sweden – as both a complement to the service provided by the public sector and a way to improve the democratic process – ought to be the subject of further research.

This study examines power factors (resource dependence, attraction of relationship maintenance, and institutional forces) in relation to actors' behaviors and ties of varying strength between them within a network of business and sociopolitical spheres. The focus is on Samsung Electronics and Asahi Breweries in the context of the ROK-Japan trade dispute (2019-2023). An analysis model, incorporating perspectives from network theory, resource dependency theory, relationship marketing, and institutional theory, is operationalized and applied to the empirical data. A qualitative content analysis of primarily two Japanese and ROK-based newspapers, along with quantitative data, reveals a domino effect of events impacting the two focal firms, highlighting their interconnected networks. The study also demonstrates how layering of relevant spheres in a given context shapes the perception and impact of power factors, influencing actors' behavior and their ties. Additionally, it emphasizes the benefits of diversifying ties and the importance of distinguishing between short-term and long-term. / Denna studie undersöker maktfaktorer (resursberoende, attraktion att upprätthålla relationer och institutionella tryck) i relation till aktörers beteenden, samt förbindelser sinsemellan i varierande styrka, inom nätverk bestående av affärsmässiga och sociopolitiska sfärer. Fokus ligger på Samsung Electronics och Asahi Breweries i samband med handelskonflikten mellan ROK och Japan (2019-2023). En analysmodell som bygger på perspektiv från nätverksteori, resursberoendeteori, relationsmarknadsföring och institutionell teori har operationaliserats och tillämpats på empirin. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys av främst två japanska respektive ROK-baserade tidningar, kombinerat med kvalitativa data, påvisar en dominoeffekt av händelser som påverkar de två fokala företagen och framhäver deras integrerade nätverk. Studien visar också hur skiktningar av relevanta sfärer i en given kontext formar perception och inverkan av maktfaktorer, vilket påverkar aktörers beteende och deras förbindelser.  Dessutom betonar studien fördelen med diversifiering av förbindelserna och vikten av att skilja mellan långsiktighet  och kortsiktighet.