This study aims to shed a light over the challenges, possibilities and problems regarding renovation and rehabilitation of the million program housing. Many million program housing is in acute need of restoration and the monetary cost is high since the housings represent one fourth of the Swedish housing. This will be from a social sustainability perspective and investigate how different parts of the property owners incorporate social sustainability during their changes and modifications in their projects. While visiting these strategies and looking into the social sustainability a issue is also due to see if there is any overall dialog between companies in order to share information and experiences. Qualitative methods were used to conduct this study, even more specific interviews with following thematic analysis. The results found that the strategies for public utility and private housing differs when it comes to renovation million program housings. They operate in different practical methods and has difference in the ambitions of social sustainability. Three actors from different branches in the million program housing is interview to contain different perspectives to widen the reach and deepen the analysis on how the problems and strategies should be perceived and what they struggle with and find promising for the future.

[pt] Esta tese busca explorar a dinâmica do processo de aprendizado organizacional e melhorar o entendimento sobre o desempenho da organização, identificando os alicerces que suportam a construção e o desenvolvimento dos ativos intangíveis e considerando o crescimento do capital social, além de propor um arranjo teórico que permita uma melhor abordagem para a perspectiva de aprendizado e crescimento do Balanced Scorecard - BSC. Com a atual dinâmica, extremamente mutável e surpreendente, dos ambientes de negócios, o entendimento e a implementação de uma organização de aprendizado são condições essenciais para que elevados níveis competitivos sejam alcançados, devido à sua maior habilidade em criar ou explorar ativos intangíveis, sustentando a capacidade de sobrevivência por longo prazo com patamares excelentes de desempenho. Assim, os mecanismos de avaliação, conjugados com o conseqüente aprimoramento ou inovação dos produtos, processos, padrões e práticas de gestão, tornam-se essenciais. Muito embora a metodologia BSC venha sendo adotada por diversas organizações como solução para a realização de uma avaliação integrada do desempenho, buscando a medição da transformação dos ativos intangíveis nos resultados, ela apresenta lacunas em relação às teorias de aprendizagem organizacional aceitas e não se aprofunda em direção às raízes desses aspectos, notadamente humanos. Mediante o estudo de organizações referenciadas como excelentes para se trabalhar e organizações praticantes de BSC, pôde-se verificar a existência de correlação positiva do nível de confiança e de aprendizado com resultados excepcionais, demandando nova revisão dessa metodologia de avaliação do desempenho, a fim de adequá-la às questões essenciais para a gestão comprometida com resultados sustentáveis na nova Era do Conhecimento. Com base na análise realizada é proposta uma nova abordagem para o modelo BSC que permita explicitar essa essência, intrinsecamente humana, que serve de alicerce para a cadeia de geração de valor que culmina nos resultados organizacionais. / [en] This doctoral dissertation explores the organizational learning process dynamics in order to improve the understanding of the organizational performance formation, identifying the foundations that would support building and developing the intangible assets, considering the growth of the social capital, but also considering a theoretical concept to a better approach of the learning and growth perspective of the Balanced Scorecard - BSC. With the current dynamics of business-oriented environments, which seems changeable and extremely surprising, the understanding and the implementation of a learning organization are key factors to achieve high competitive levels, due to the greater ability in creating or exploring intangible assets that supports the organizational surviving for a long time with excellent performance levels. Thus, the appraisal mechanisms, associated with the consequent improvement or innovation of the products, processes, standards and management practices, have become essential. Although, the Balanced Scorecard - BSC methodology has been adopted for many organizations as a solution for the accomplishment of an integrated performance evaluation, including the measurement of intangible assets´ transformation into results, the BSC still presents gaps as it is related to the notorious accepted theories of organizational learning and, besides it, the BSC does not go beyond deeper inside the mainly human roots of those aspects. It was possible to verify the positive correlation of the trust level and the learning level with exceptional results, by the study of organizations known as excellent to work and others known as practitioners of BSC. These findings are claiming for a new revision into this performance evaluation methodology in order to adjust it to those essential questions for the management´s commitment with sustainable results in the new Knowledge Age. Finally, a new approach for the BSC model is proposed, as a way to explicit the human essence which serves as foundations of the value chain that ends into organizational results.

Abstract Background: Female entrepreneurship in China is a practice which scholars have explored severally in recent years. Just as many Asian countries, the role of Chinese women has been undermined for a longer period. However, the 20 th century marked a positive turn in Chinese culture. The rate of discrimination and seclusion of women from economic empowerment started reducing significantly. Today, Chinese women are struggling to compete effectively with their male counterparts in entrepreneurial sector. The purpose of having women empowerment on the market economy is to generate more income to the country. Also, the practice lessens the rate of unemployment and high rate of dependency in China. Hence, it is apparent that the entrepreneurial actions in China are motivated by a number of factors that are presented in the paper. Purpose: The primary aim of the study is to determine influential and motivational factors for female entrepreneurs in China. Methods: The research has employed a qualitative research approach to determine influential factors and motivating aspects of female entrepreneurship in China. Random sampling tactic has been chosen as the methodology to discover data of women that have succeeded in the country. This approach can help to analyze a broader population of women entrepreneurs in China. Meanwhile, a semi-structured interview was involved in collecting data so that first-hand and unbiased information is obtained from interviewees. Findings: From the study of the influential factors and motivation for female entrepreneurs in China, it has been noted that the process of entrepreneurship among the current female entrepreneurs in the country can be categorized as either passive or initiative. While looking at the passive entrepreneurship among the female entrepreneurs, it is noted that those people are driven by the daily needs of their families. On the other hand, initiative entrepreneurship relies much more on human capital and social capital. The zeal and motivation that they possess lead them to developing far-sighted enterprises, hence contributing to the economic development of the country.

The growth literature has put much emphasis on explaining the role of physical capital, human capital, innovation and institutions on economic growth. However, sociologists raise the importance of understanding the structures of social relationships because they help shape economic actions. It is not until recently that the concept of ‘’social capital’’ has been at the forefront of economic debates. While the vast majority of studies have shown that social capital is unconditionally good for economic growth, several studies argue that the impact of social capital depends on a country’s level of development. Therefore, an OLS regression is estimated using a panel data from 53 developed and developing countries to analyze the relationship between social capital, proxied by trust and GDP/capita growth. The results suggest that social capital is significant and positively related to GDP/capita growth in developed and developing countries. However, the relationship between social capital and GDP/capita growth is much stronger in developing countries. Policymakers can use this valuable insight while making growth-strategy decisions, especially in developing countries.

Este trabalho estuda os Conselhos Gestores de Saúde das Subprefeituras de São Paulo e os conselheiros que deles fazem parte. Estes Conselhos são desdobramentos do Movimento Popular de Saúde, que consiste em fóruns públicos para reivindicação de melhorias no sistema de atendimento à saúde, e tem seu início na década de 1970 em meio a forte repressão política, exercendo importante papel no processo de redemocratização do Brasil. Tal movimento conseguiu exercer intensa influência no capítulo da Constituição Federal que trata do Sistema Único de Saúde, e inscreveu a obrigatoriedade da existência dos Conselhos Gestores nos Municípios da Federação. Estes Conselhos têm por função institucional fazer o controle popular das políticas públicas empreendidas pelo Sistema Único de Saúde. Como se tratam de fóruns participativos, é plausível que sejam pensados e analisados através da teoria da democracia deliberativa. Partindo desta concepção de democracia, discutiu-se a possibilidade de processos deliberativos gerarem capital social e cultura cívica nas pessoas que participam destes fóruns. A parte empírica deste trabalho foi feita por estudos de casos que levaram em conta quatro Conselhos e dezesseis conselheiros. Nesta etapa, avaliou-se a relação entre os desenhos institucionais dos Conselhos Gestores de Saúde e o perfil cívico dos conselheiros que participam destes fóruns. / The present issue discusses the District Health Councils of the Submunicipalities at the city of São Paulo, Brazil and its councilors. These Councils have their basis in the Popular Health Movement, organized in fora of discussion to demand improvements in public policies of health care. That movement, which started in the 1970?s under military dictatorship, had an important role in Brazilian political redemocratization. Furthermore, it had a strong influence in 1988 Constitution\'s chapter about the obligatoriness of the District Health Councils in the municipalities of the Federation. The institutional goal of these Councils is to oversee the effectiveness of the government in implement public policies. The normative dimensions of these fora are upon the deliberative democracy theory. Having this assumption of democracy, I discuss the possibility of these arenas to generate social capital and civic culture among its participants. In a comparative study of four Councils and 16 councilors I analyzed the relation between the institutional framework of these District Councils and the level of civic culture of its councilors.

Pesquisadores de diversos campos do conhecimento têm investigado o arranjo em redes, na medida em que essa forma de governança se consolida como opção estratégica de número crescente de organizações em diferentes ambientes, submetidas à égide da competitividade e ao isomorfismo institucional. Uma das faces desse fenômeno é a erupção das redes colaborativas de pesquisas, também no Brasil, a partir da segunda metade da década passada. A presente investigação tomou como objeto de estudo a rede subjacente ao Consórcio Brasileiro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento do Café com o objetivo de aferir o poder explicativo e preditivo do construto do capital social, de larga aceitação na teoria de redes partindo da construção de um modelo dito aplicativo, que se pretende testável e passível de conferir relações substantivas à teorização, capaz inclusive de permitir o confronto de seus achados com tentativas semelhantes de outros acadêmicos. O estudo contou com duas fases. A primeira fase foi prospectiva e se deu pela imersão nas transcrições de 39 entrevistas, na observação participante em eventos patrocinados pelo Consórcio e na análise documental de material atinente à pesquisa. A segunda fase utilizou-se das análises sociométrica e multivariada para examinar os dados: (1) da rede de co-autoria de 1495 artigos publicados em anais de Simpósios e de Congressos, (2) de 889 pesquisas (subprojetos) financiadas pelo Consórcio e (3) de uma survey aplicada ao universo de 397 líderes desses subprojetos que envolveram mais de 50 entidades (institutos, universidades, empresas). Assumindo seu caráter hipotético-dedutivo, predominantemente quantitativo e com fins descritivos e explicativos, o estudo resultou em uma contribuição para o entendimento do Consórcio e das estratégias de ligação entre pessoas e entidades dentro de uma rede colaborativa de pesquisa, comprovando-se a viabilidade de seu modelo de capital social. Além de suprir uma descrição sociométrica do objeto de estudo, a pesquisa encontrou uma relação positiva entre prestígio, participação em órgãos do Consórcio e participação em projetos com o volume de recursos amealhado pelo pesquisador no que se constituiria em um efeito do capital social, que, no entanto, não se demonstrou eficaz em discriminar a visão dos pesquisadores em temas relevantes para a rede, favorecendo uma interpretação que confere maior grau de liberdade a esses agentes frente à estrutura, em contrário ao determinismo presente em outros estudos de rede. / Researchers from various fields of knowledge have investigated the arrangement in networks, to the extent that this form of governance is consolidated as a strategic option, of an increasing number of organizations in different environments, submitted to the auspices of competitiveness and institutional isomorphism. One facet of this phenomenon is the eruption of collaborative research networks, also in Brazil, from the second half of the last decade. This research has taken as a subject of study the network underlying the Consórcio Brasileiro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento do Café in order to assess the explanatory and predictive power of the social capital construct, of wide acceptance in networks theory, starting from the construction of the so called \"aplicative\" model. It intends to be testable and capable of giving substantive relations to the theorization, including confronting its findings with similar attempts by other scholars. The study had two phases. The first stage was forward-looking and done by immersion in the transcripts of 39 interviews, participant observation in events sponsored by the Consortium, and the analysis of documentary material relating to the research. The second stage used sociometric and multivariate analyses to examine the data: (1) the network of co-authors of articles published in 1495 annals of symposiums and conferences, (2) 889 pieces of research (sub-projects) financed by the Consortium and (3) a survey applied to the universe of 397 leaders of these sub-projects involving more than 50 entities (institutes, universities, enterprises). Assuming its character as hypothetical-deductive, predominantly quantitative and with descriptive and explanatory purposes, the study resulted in a contribution to the understanding of the Consortium and the strategies for linking people and entities within a collaborative network of research proving the viability of its social capital model. Beyond supplying a sociometric description of the object of study, the research found a positive relationship between prestige, participation in bodies of the Consortium and participation in projects with a level of resources hoarded by the researcher - as would be a social capital effect, which however, did not prove to be effective in discriminating the vision of the researchers on topics relevant to the network, favoring an interpretation that gives greater degree of freedom to those agents in term of the structure, in contrast to other deterministic network studies.

O modelo de gestão cooperativista tem sido estudado em diversos campos do conhecimento, tais como a Economia, a Administração, as Ciências Sociais, entre outros. Nesta pesquisa, trazemos as cooperativas para ser o objeto de estudo por meio da Comunicação, Cultura Organizacional, Comprometimento e Capital Social. Especificamente no campo comunicacional, são poucos os estudos que se debruçaram sobre o conhecimento de como se dão os relacionamentos dos associados com a sua cooperativa. Este estudo teve como objetivo analisar a relação cooperativa-cooperado a partir do campo da comunicação, da cultura e do grau de comprometimento dos associados em relação ao empreendimento cooperativo, tomando-se como base de análise a Teoria Geral de Excelência em Relações Públicas, de Grunig (1992; 2009), as dimensões de Hofstede (2001) e a Escala de Bases do Comprometimento Organizacional (EBACO), desenvolvida e testada pela primeira vez por Medeiros (2005). Adotou-se como metodologia o estudo de casos múltiplos (Yin, 2015), desenvolvido em quatro cooperativas de dois dos ramos mais representativos do cooperativismo no Brasil, que são o agropecuário e o crédito. Os resultados ratificam a influência dos traços culturais de distância de poder e individualismo (Hofstede, 2001; 2010) e das práticas comunicacionais no grau de comprometimento dos cooperados com suas respectivas cooperativas. Constatou-se também que, nas sociedades com os índices de distância de poder e de individualismo mais altos, a participação dos cooperados nos seus empreendimentos cooperativos é inversamente proporcional. As cooperativas que investem em práticas de comunicação excelente (Grunig, 1992) apresentam níveis mais altos de comprometimento e de participação. Por fim, o alto grau de comprometimento dos associados cria um ambiente propício para fortalecimento do capital social em cooperativas. / The cooperative model of management has been studied in various fields of knowledge, such as Economics, Business, Social Sciences, and others. In this study, we refer to co-ops as the object of study through Communication, Organizational Culture, Commitment and Social Capital. Especially in the communication field there are few studies that lean over the knowledge of how the relationships between associates and their co-ops take place. The aim of this study is to analyse the co-op and cooperate relationship from the field of communication, culture and the associates\' degree of commitment in relation to the cooperative enterprise, having as a base Grunig\'s General Theory of Excellence in Public Relations\' analysis (1992; 2009), Hofstede\'s dimensions (2001) and the Organizational Commitment\'s Base Scale (EBACO) as developed and tested for the first time by Medeiros (2005). The methodology adopted is the study of multiple cases (Yin, 2015), developed in four co-ops from two branches that represent best cooperativism in Brasil, namely the farming and the banking credit branches. The results ratify the influence of cultural traces of distance of power and individualism (Hofstede, 2001; 2010) and of the communication practice in the cooperates\' degree of commitment with their respective co-ops. It is also observed that in societies with higher indexes of distance of power and individualism the cooperates\' participation in their cooperative enterprises is inversely proportional. Co-ops which invest in excellent communication practice (Grunig, 1992) display higher levels of commitment and participation. Finally, a high level of commitment from associates create a proper environment for the strengthening of social capital in co-ops.

Thesis advisor: Andy Hargreaves / Research often overlooks students who are of Brazilian origin when considering educational equality and opportunity for different racial and ethnic groups. This qualitative study addresses this gap in the literature by examining the experiences and forces that influence the educational aspirations of Brazilian students and students of Brazilian origin living in the United States during their eighth grade year of middle school. It specifically considers students' educational aspirations including the influence of families, the school, and the community on students' ambitions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with students, their parents, and educators (i.e., teachers, guidance counselors, a social worker, and a principal) from a middle school in the Northeast. Data showed that many students had developed postsecondary plans by the conclusion of their eighth grade year, including students' thoughts relating to college, careers, and work. Students' ambitions were significantly influenced by family members, especially parents, as well as by experiences with their families as immigrants in the United States. Legal status particularly affected students' intended pathways. Findings from this study suggest the following three areas of need for Brazilian middle school students: (a) educational planning during middle school, (b) emphasis on the role of family connectedness and engagement for Brazilian families, and (c) adaptation to circumstances related to immigration status. One way of comprehending the needs of Brazilian middle school students and students of Brazilian origin in relation to the development of their educational aspirations is through integrating the theories of family and social capital. Family capital emphasizes the role of families in shaping students' educational pathways; social capital highlights the need to develop ties beyond close networks as a means for accessing knowledge and resources that further students' educational opportunities. Therefore, it is hoped that further attention to the family and social capital of Brazilian families in research, policy, and practice will build upon students' ambitions and improve their educational opportunities. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Eric Dearing / Family educational involvement has been identified as a particularly beneficial practice for the achievement and behavioral outcomes of all students, including ethnic-minority students from families who have low levels of income, education, and English language proficiency. However, despite the associated benefits and education policymakers' emphasis on increasing family-school partnerships, not all families are involved and the explanation for differing involvement patterns has not been fully explored. In general, immigrant families engage in fewer educational involvement activities in comparison to their native-born counterparts. Although they want their children to excel in school, many face socio-cultural barriers to educational involvement. Moreover, most schools are not equipped to meet their non-academic needs. On the other hand, immigrant families tend to have close family and community ties, which have been linked to family and child well-being. As a result, social capital may be an asset of immigrant families that can be leveraged to promote their educational involvement. With a selective focus on immigrant children and families from the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (N = 189), this dissertation relied on path analyses to garner empirical support for a theoretically-based model linking social capital with family perceptions and attributions, home- and school-based family educational involvement, and student outcomes (i.e., achievement, behavior problems, positive behavior). Results demonstrated that social support was positively associated with immigrant families' self-efficacy and perceptions of opportunities for involvement. In turn, families with higher levels of self-efficacy engaged in more home-based involvement activities. Children in immigrant families with a role construction around education in alignment with the dominant culture of the U.S. demonstrated better child achievement but worse behavior outcomes than children from immigrant families with a role construction unaligned with dominant U.S. culture. Lastly, in contrast to extant literature, immigrant families' school-based educational involvement was not associated with any family perceptions or attributes or child outcomes. Implications of both significant and null findings are discussed for developmental science, practice, and policy. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

Este estudo analisa o efeito da informação e do capital social sobre o volume de negócios no mercado de crédito rural. Discute-se a conexão entre capital social e informação e como esta relação pode contribuir para a redução dos custos de transação da intermediação financeira, de modo a permitir aumento no volume de crédito rural. Para análise empírica, foi elaborado e testado um modelo econométrico (lógite) utilizando dados referentes ao Estado de São Paulo. Os dados foram obtidos de levantamentos estatísticos oficiais (censo agropecuário, LUPA e banco de dados do SEADE) referentes à safra 1995-1996. Os resultados indicam que o nível de capital social afeta o volume de crédito rural. Assim, incentivos, em especial com apoio do setor público, para formação e manutenção de capital social permitiriam aumento da eficiência da intermediação financeira e, em consequência, maior desenvolvimento do setor rural. / This study analyses the effect of information and social capital on the volume of contracts in the rural credit market. It discusses the connection between social capital and information and how this relation contributes to the reduction of financial intermediation’s transaction costs. A logit regression model was used to empirically test the effect of social capital on the volume of rural credit. The data, from the municipalities of the State of São Paulo, are from 1995 ~ 1996 official statistics (Farm Census, LUPA and SEADE’s data basis). The results indicate that the level of social capital affects the amount of rural credit. Thus, incentives to further increase and maintain social capital would increment the efficiency of financial intermediation and, as a consequence, help rural sector’s development.