China's media have undergone significant commercialisation since the introduction of the economic reforms initiated three decades ago. But how this process is unfolding is still not well discussed. Book publishing, the oldest media sector but the one least studied, has been in the forefront of media commercialisation and provides a useful vantage point for the investigation of this transformation. This thesis will examine the role of the party-state and the market during the commercialisation of state publishing, paying particular attention to the core processes of conglomeration and corporatisation and, since the party-state has also been decentralised, to the role of regional government. Drawing on original documentary research and primary data generated in an internship in a provincial publishing group, this thesis advances three main arguments. Firstly, that the process of commercialisation in publishing cannot be fully understood outside of the transformation of the wider economic and political context, especially the shift in the general organisation of industry and the evolution of party ideology. Secondly, that this process has been marked by persistent tensions and contradictions. And thirdly, that despite the ongoing commercialisation the publishing industry remains controlled predominantly by the party-state and is far from being a market-driven business. Decentralisation may have enabled local governments to gain strong control over the economics of local publishers, but the central party-state remains dominant on political issues.

Bakgrund och problem: År 1999 blev det tillåtet för idrottsföreningar med elitverksamhet att bilda aktiebolag. I dag har endast 23 stycken idrottsföreningar av ungefär 20 000 valt att bilda aktiebolag som man upplåtit sin serieplats till. Inför Riksidrottsmötet 1997 lämnade AIK, Svenska ishockeyförbundet samt några enstaka mindre föreningar in en motion om att idrottsföreningar skulle få möjlighet att driva föreningen i en alternativ assoicationsform. Argumentet för denna motion var att detta skulle ge en möjlighet för svensk idrott att kunna konkurrera sig med internationella föreningar. En bättre ekonomi skulle ge bättre sportsliga resultat. För att kunna närma sig den internationella nivån behövs stora finansiärer, vilket man inte hade möjlighet till genom den associationsform föreningar var tvungna att bedrivas som. Problemformulering: Ger bolagiseringen bättre ekonomiska och sportsliga resultat? Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur föreningens finansiella resultat och sportsliga resultat påverkas av den nya bolagiseringen. Metod: Studien har genomförts som en kvantitativ fallstudie på fyra stycken fotbollsföreningar som bildat aktiebolag. Ekonomiska värden och tabellposition har sedan analyserat för idrottsAB från 1999 till 2011 samt över alla lagen i allsvenskan 2011 och superettan 2011. Studien innehåller även kvalitativa inslag. Slutsats: Slutsatsen är att bolagiseringen av elitverksamheten för föreningar varken ger ekonomiska eller sportsliga lyft. / Background and problem: In 1999 it became allowed for sport clubs to run their clubs as a company. In Sweden today, there is only 23 of approximately 20000 sport clubs that runs their club as a company. in 1997, before the swedish national sport meeting, a few clubs, such as AIK, and the Swedish Icehockey Association submitted a motion that included a request that the clubs could be runned in an another legal form. The main reason for this motion was that it would give the clubs other opportunities for financing, and that would make the clubs competitive in Sweden such as international. To approach the international clubs, the clubs in Sweden needed major external financiers, which was not allowed before.A better economy at the clubs whold lead to better results on the pitch. Problem formulation: Does the corporatisation of the Swedish football clubs give better economic-and sport results? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to find out how the economic and sport results depend on the corporatisation. Method: This case studie has been performed with a quantitative method on four football companies in the two major leagues. Economical values and the positions in the leagues between 1999-2011. There is also a comparision between the companies and the other clubs in the league for 2011. The studie also includes qualitative elements. Conclusion: The conclusion is that the corporatisation of the Swedish football clubs does not affect the economic results and sport results.

This thesis investigates how the eight state-funded New Zealand universities present themselves in the prospectuses they publish yearly. The background for this research is the fact that the universities now have to compete for students and funding monies because the government has linked the amount of funding to the number of students and the universities’ success in research (McKenzie, 1996). Additionally, student fees and private sources increasingly contribute to the universities’ budget. The entry of competition into the tertiary education sector is a result of recent policy changes that led the education sector from an egalitarian scholarly system with a tradition of open and free access for all citizens to a market-oriented education industry, which contributes considerably to the national economy. This restructuring of the tertiary education sector is part of the major social, political and economic changes that New Zealand went through – and is still going through – beginning with the Fourth Labour Government's second term of office from 1987 to 1990 (Holland & Boston, 1990). The historical background of this thesis focuses on these policy changes that influenced all areas of the public life in New Zealand in the last 25 years. The literature review established that these reforms resulted in processes of commodification of education, competitive marketisation and corporatisation of the universities (Butterworth & Tarling, 1994). The purpose of this thesis is to find evidence of these three tendencies within the language and visual presentation of the university prospectuses. The prospectuses have been chosen as the data corpus because they provide a comprehensive overview of the institutions. Moreover, they represent a hybrid genre of an advertorial text type, being partly informational, partly promotional. The data has been analysed by applying textually-oriented discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1992). Discourse analysis has been proven to be a suitable methodology as it links linguistic analysis to the broader social context. The premise of this approach was that social changes leave traces within the discourse. The data analysis confirmed the intended outcome that the tendencies of commodification, marketisation and corporatisation are visible in the present material. This concludes that the order of discourse of business has colonised the order of discourse of tertiary education.

This thesis is an exploratory study focusing on the tension between managerialism and collegiality experience by mid-level academic administrators in Canadian higher education. The study is a constructivist analysis of the every day, lived experiences of the participants working in a single, large university. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 academic administrators that report directly to a Vice-President Academic. The analysis of these detailed interviews suggests that collegiality appears to be alive and well at the university included in this study. Administrators described consultative, collegial processes with shared decision making. However, the activity of developing and managing budgets was described by participants as the responsibility of the dean and these processes were neither collegial nor consultative. There is a need for further research on the experience and work of academic administrators in Canadian higher education.

This thesis is an exploratory study focusing on the tension between managerialism and collegiality experience by mid-level academic administrators in Canadian higher education. The study is a constructivist analysis of the every day, lived experiences of the participants working in a single, large university. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 academic administrators that report directly to a Vice-President Academic. The analysis of these detailed interviews suggests that collegiality appears to be alive and well at the university included in this study. Administrators described consultative, collegial processes with shared decision making. However, the activity of developing and managing budgets was described by participants as the responsibility of the dean and these processes were neither collegial nor consultative. There is a need for further research on the experience and work of academic administrators in Canadian higher education.

The presented dissertation reports the findings of an exploratory study that mapped the perceptions of stakeholders on the changing nature of the organisational culture, in terms of the corporatisation of higher education, in a single faculty from a large Australian university. The study used a mixed-method, case study approach and it tested the usefulness of an organisational culture measuring instrument based on the Competing Values Framework (Quinn & McGrath, 1985; Quinn & Rohrbaugh, 1981, 1983). The presented work argues that the institution of higher education can be viewed as being rudimentarily comprised of having two symbiotic cultural parts - a collegial and a mercantile part and that these parts form the corporation that is an institution of higher education. The generated hypothesis is that when the values of these two competing cultures are in a particular configuration of influence with each other, a university has its best opportunity to effectively attend to its core functions. The research found that the relationship between the collegial and the mercantile parts in the study site's culture had shifted in favour of a mercantile culture and further research is needed to determine if that means the organisation is operating at an optimal effectiveness.

This thesis investigates how the eight state-funded New Zealand universities present themselves in the prospectuses they publish yearly. The background for this research is the fact that the universities now have to compete for students and funding monies because the government has linked the amount of funding to the number of students and the universities’ success in research (McKenzie, 1996). Additionally, student fees and private sources increasingly contribute to the universities’ budget. The entry of competition into the tertiary education sector is a result of recent policy changes that led the education sector from an egalitarian scholarly system with a tradition of open and free access for all citizens to a market-oriented education industry, which contributes considerably to the national economy. This restructuring of the tertiary education sector is part of the major social, political and economic changes that New Zealand went through – and is still going through – beginning with the Fourth Labour Government's second term of office from 1987 to 1990 (Holland & Boston, 1990). The historical background of this thesis focuses on these policy changes that influenced all areas of the public life in New Zealand in the last 25 years. The literature review established that these reforms resulted in processes of commodification of education, competitive marketisation and corporatisation of the universities (Butterworth & Tarling, 1994). The purpose of this thesis is to find evidence of these three tendencies within the language and visual presentation of the university prospectuses. The prospectuses have been chosen as the data corpus because they provide a comprehensive overview of the institutions. Moreover, they represent a hybrid genre of an advertorial text type, being partly informational, partly promotional. The data has been analysed by applying textually-oriented discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1992). Discourse analysis has been proven to be a suitable methodology as it links linguistic analysis to the broader social context. The premise of this approach was that social changes leave traces within the discourse. The data analysis confirmed the intended outcome that the tendencies of commodification, marketisation and corporatisation are visible in the present material. This concludes that the order of discourse of business has colonised the order of discourse of tertiary education.

The existing research into corporate entrepreneurship is based upon experiences in the private sector. Reforms of public sectors throughout the western world are focussing on entrepreneurial practices as part of a program to align public sector management practices with those of the private sector.This research concentrates on corporate entrepreneurship in the public sector and specifically addresses opportunities for the emergence of corporate entrepreneurship in Government Business Enterprises (“GBEs”).The literature assumes that entrepreneurial practices in the private sector may be foisted upon the public sector. The paper proposes that corporate entrepreneurship in the public sector is the result of different influencing factors and involves different processes from its private sector counterpart.Building on private sector research this research examines those factors that stimulate and constrain corporate entrepreneurship in the public sector. It addresses the extent to which the influences of factors that stimulate corporate entrepreneurship in the private sector are replicated in GBEs. This analysis generates a model that is founded on:1. Three research propositions that concern the correlation between those factors that foster corporate entrepreneurship in the private sector and those applicable to GBEs. They also address the preponderance of those facilitating factors in corporatised and non-corporatised GBEs; and2. An investigation into the manner in which the facilitating factors influence opportunities for the emergence of corporate entrepreneurship and the extent of that potential emergence. The presence or absence of factors that stimulate or constrain corporate entrepreneurship, however, does not explain its occurrence or absence. Public sector organisations which ensure that the influence of those factors that facilitate corporate entrepreneurship outweigh the influence of the inhibiting factors are more likely to be ready and able to react to opportunities to create value by adopting entrepreneurial processes. This is the basis of a Model that is developed and refined during the course of the paper.The Research Propositions were tested by a survey of 322 publicly urban water businesses located throughout Australia. The Model was illuminated and enhanced by considering case studies from twelve urban water businesses. The literature demonstrates that reforms to the public sector since the late 1970’s have created opportunities for corporate entrepreneurship. The literature also reveals that entrepreneurship is a strategic phenomenon. This paper demonstrates that the environment within which corporate entrepreneurship may occur is influenced by the organisation’s existence within either the public or the private sector and, within the public sector, the environmental and operating features of the entity as either a corporatised GBE, a non-corporatised GBE or other structure.

Bakgrund: Under 2000-talet har många av klubbarna i både Svenska Hockeyligan och Allsvenskan i fotboll haft ekonomiska problem. Flertalet elitidrottsklubbar har gått från att tidigare vara ideella föreningar till att idag, genom bolagiseringar, drivas som elitidrottsföretag. Ett verktyg som idag används för att utveckla företags verksamheter i flera vitt skilda branscher är riskkapital där riskkapitalister eller riskkapitalbolag köper in sig i företaget. Elitidrottsföretagen påverkas dock av regelverk som potentiellt sett begränsar elitidrottsföretagens möjligheter att använda riskkapital. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att analysera om elitidrottsklubbar inom svensk fotboll och ishockey kan utveckla sin verksamhet med riskkapital. Metod: Studien har en kvalitativ ansats där intervjuer har genomförts med representanter från tio elitidrottsklubbar inom svensk fotboll och ishockey. Resultat: Studien visar att elitidrottsklubbar inom svensk fotboll och ishockey bör kunna använda sig av riskkapital för att utveckla sin verksamhet. Gällande regelverk, 51-procentsregeln, hämmar dock klubbarna i användningen av riskkapital, då riskkapitalistens möjlighet till kontroll över sin investering begränsas. Om riskkapitalisten tillåts inta en aktiv ägarroll, ser vi användningen av riskkapital som en möjlig framtida väg för att utveckla verksamheten i dagens elitidrottsföretag. / Background: During the 2000s, many clubs in the Swedish Hockey League and the Swedish premier football division Allsvenskan have suffered from financial problems. Many elite sports clubs have changed from previously beeing non-profit organizations to, through corporatisation, operate as elite sports businesses. Private equity is a tool that is used to develop business operations in various industries, where venture capitalists or private equity firms buys into a company. Elite sports businesses, however, are affected by regulations that potentially limit the elite sports businesses possibilities to use private equity. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze if elite sports clubs in Swedish football and ice hockey can develop their business with private equity. Research method: The study has a qualitative approach in which interviews were conducted with representatives from ten elite sports clubs in Swedish football and ice hockey. Results: The study shows that elite sports clubs in Swedish football and ice hockey should be able to use venture capital to develop their business. Current regulations, the 51-percent rule, inhibits the clubs in their use of private equity, since venture capitalists are limited in their possibility to control their investment. If the venture capitalist is allowed to take on an active ownership role, we see the use of private equity as a opportunity to develop the business in today's elite sports businesses.

The existing research into corporate entrepreneurship is based upon experiences in the private sector. Reforms of public sectors throughout the western world are focussing on entrepreneurial practices as part of a program to align public sector management practices with those of the private sector.This research concentrates on corporate entrepreneurship in the public sector and specifically addresses opportunities for the emergence of corporate entrepreneurship in Government Business Enterprises (“GBEs”).The literature assumes that entrepreneurial practices in the private sector may be foisted upon the public sector. The paper proposes that corporate entrepreneurship in the public sector is the result of different influencing factors and involves different processes from its private sector counterpart.Building on private sector research this research examines those factors that stimulate and constrain corporate entrepreneurship in the public sector. It addresses the extent to which the influences of factors that stimulate corporate entrepreneurship in the private sector are replicated in GBEs. This analysis generates a model that is founded on:1. Three research propositions that concern the correlation between those factors that foster corporate entrepreneurship in the private sector and those applicable to GBEs. They also address the preponderance of those facilitating factors in corporatised and non-corporatised GBEs; and2. An investigation into the manner in which the facilitating factors influence opportunities for the emergence of corporate entrepreneurship and the extent of that potential emergence. The presence or absence of factors that stimulate or constrain corporate entrepreneurship, however, does not explain its occurrence or absence. Public sector organisations which ensure that the influence of those factors that facilitate corporate entrepreneurship outweigh the influence of the inhibiting factors are more likely to be ready and able to react to opportunities to create value by adopting entrepreneurial processes. This is the basis of a Model that is developed and refined during the course of the paper.The Research Propositions were tested by a survey of 322 publicly urban water businesses located throughout Australia. The Model was illuminated and enhanced by considering case studies from twelve urban water businesses. The literature demonstrates that reforms to the public sector since the late 1970’s have created opportunities for corporate entrepreneurship. The literature also reveals that entrepreneurship is a strategic phenomenon. This paper demonstrates that the environment within which corporate entrepreneurship may occur is influenced by the organisation’s existence within either the public or the private sector and, within the public sector, the environmental and operating features of the entity as either a corporatised GBE, a non-corporatised GBE or other structure.