Research background: Digitization, technological advancements, such as AI, the global customer base and varying ownership structures can be seen as a few of the largest challenges that contemporary international MNEs face with regards to their internal operations. Such disruptive factors require firms to be innovative in their products, services, and operations, to retain a competitive advantage and thrive in the international markets – at the foundation of which lies having an entrepreneurial orientation (EO). This is applicable not only to HQs, but also to subsidiaries, which possess the local knowledge needed to succeed in that market. From this, the whole MNE can and should benefit, enabled through effective diffusion of initiatives – realizable through central roll-out from the HQ.  Research purpose: This study explores how HQs behave when faced with initiatives from their foreign subsidiaries. The main goal of this study is to identify behavioural patterns and how this influences the ultimate decision-making of the HQ. This study aims to join the discussion on HQ-subsidiary relationships with regards to initiative realization. The growing interest in research on the role of HQs in contemporary MNEs, the lack of research on central initiative realization, and the centralization of knowledge at HQ are fundamental to this study.  Research question: What internal organizational factors influence HQs’ decisions on the central realization of their foreign subsidiaries’ initiatives?  Research method: This thesis is based on the research paradigm of relativistic ontology and social constructionist epistemology, meaning reality is shaped by people and their observations. I adopted an explorative, holistic, single-case study design of a Dutch MNE with subsidiaries in Germany and Sweden. I used the approach of heterogeneous purposive sampling, denoting various inclusion criteria beforehand. In total, I conducted seventeen interviews. The collected data was consequently analyzed using the principles of the template approach.  Conclusion: The findings are consolidated in a conceptual model (see Figure 2) that denotes knowledge sharing and autonomy as the direct internal influences on the HQ’s decision to centrally realize foreign subsidiaries’ initiatives. These effects are moderated by managerial and HQ intentionality, the pursuit of a common strategy, trust as a dual relationship, the perceptions of alignment of organizational culture and the subsidiary’s motivation to engage in initiatives.

Yes / Social, institutional and business interest in Sustainability has increasingly grow in the last decades. New regulations, technological progress, social awareness related to environmental impact of the industrial activities and irregular working conditions, are some of the key elements affecting the way organisations plan and measure their corporate, business unit, and operational strategies. Sustainability strategies can play a key role in driving innovation through learning, motivation, attraction and retention of skilful employees. The aim of this paper is to analyse the interrelations between the deployment of effective sustainability strategies, employee motivation and the financial perspective of business performance. The analysis applies a Systems Thinking approach through the development of a series of Causal Loop Diagrams to identify key factors and the nature of their interrelationships. The analysis also considers the Ability, Motivation and Opportunity (AMO) framework to explain the complexity of employee behaviour, motivation and impact on strategic performance. This research confirmed that a supportive relation can be established between the implementation of effective sustainability strategies, represented by Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Human Resources (HR) initiatives, and the financial performance of a business organisations. The study focused on publications related to private business organisations in the UK and USA, which encourages future broad studies. This research provides relevant insights to understand better the complexity of the relationships between sustainability strategies, employee motivation and business performance.

En 2001, la République Démocratique du Congo s’est vigoureusement engagée avec le soutien de diverses organisations internationales pour réduire la pauvreté à partir de la stratégie de croissance. Dix ans plus tard, ce pays pointait à la dernière place du classement réalisé par le Programme des Nations unies pour le développement (PNUD) en fonction de l’indice du développement humain (IDH) des pays. En marge, ont émergé et se sont développées de multiples initiatives locales fondées sur des stratégies relationnelles et dont certaines sont présentées dans ce travail. Alors que la stratégie officielle contre la pauvreté a échoué, la société a survécu et évolue. En partant de ce constat, cette étude découvre que les approches conceptuelles et les solutions à la base de la lutte contre la pauvreté sont souvent réductrices. Elles se doublent malheureusement souvent d’une certaine tendance à oublier que toute pauvreté n’est pas qu’à combattre : la pauvreté anthropologique – qui est celle de notre condition fragile – est souvent oubliée, la pauvreté volontaire est reléguée au second rang. Finalement, cette étude montre qu’il ne faut pas trop simplifier le problème de la pauvreté afin de redonner du sens aux actions entreprises pour la combattre, et ainsi étendre la portée de ces actions. Cette question du sens est un élément décisif pour bien appréhender la lutte contre la pauvreté : avoir une vision réductrice d’une action revient à en diminuer considérablement la portée. La lutte contre la pauvreté aujourd’hui doit pouvoir redonner du sens à la vie en ayant une vision intégrale de l’existence humaine, intimement liée à l’anthropologie que présente le message chrétien. / In 2001, The Democratic Republic of Congo strongly committed itself, with the support of diverse international organizations, to reduce poverty based on the economic growth strategy. Ten years later the nation found itself at the bottom of the countries produced classification by The United Nations Development Program of the Human Development Index (HDI). Besides that program, several local initiatives have come out and developed, based on relational strategies, some of which are presented in this work. While the official strategy against poverty has failed, the society has survived and progressed. Based on this statement, this study discovers that the conceptual approaches and solutions at the base of the fight against poverty often are constricting. Unfortunately, these restrictive attitudes multiply themselves with some tendencies which tend to forget that all kind of poverty isn’t to be fought : the anthropological poverty – which is that of our fragile condition – is often omitted and voluntary poverty is often relegated to the second place. Finally, this study shows that the poverty problem should not be simplified with the intention of giving sense to the actions adopted to fight it, and in this way extend the scope of these actions. This question of sense is decisive in viewing the fight against poverty : a simplistic vision of an action, means, indeed, a considerable reduction of its scope. Today, the fight against poverty should be capable of giving sense to life incorporating an integral vision of the human existence, intimately related to the anthropology presented by the Christian message.

This dissertation reports on the findings of a study conducted in order to understand the impact of the attitudes and perceptions of some residents in Bloemfontein, towards rhino poaching and anti-rhino poaching initiatives in South Africa. Prominent theoretical models, such as the theory of reasoned action (TRA), the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the decomposed theory of planned behaviour (DTPB), and the Rosenberg and Hovland Tripartite model of attitudes and perceptions, were used to help understand Bloemfontein residents’ attitudes and perceptions towards rhino poaching and anti-rhino poaching ini-tiatives in South Africa. Data was collected from residents in areas such as the Central University of Technology, the University of the Free State, the Waterfront Mall and the Mimosa Mall, respectively. A total of 252 usable responses were obtained, and the sta-tistical package for social sciences (SPSS) as well as a descriptive statistical instrument, were used to analyse the data. The findings of the study revealed that residents’ attitudes and perceptions to-wards rhino poaching and anti-rhino poaching initiatives contribute significantlytowards their intentions to act positively or negatively in curbing or reducing rhino poaching crime in South Africa. The research findings also showed that while there are differences in attitudes and perceptions between residents across different demographic groups, demographic factors alone are weak predictors of residents’ attitudes and perceptions towards rhino poaching. The study found that perceived trust, practical approaches, intentions to act and effective community involvement significantly contribute to residents’ positive attitudes and perceptions towards anti-rhino poaching initiatives in South Africa. The implications of other factors such as corruption, economic challenges, willingness of the authorities to act, and the heightened demand for rhino horn trade, have been discussed, and suggestions for future research are made. / Environmental Sciences / M.A. (Environmental Management)

There is an increasing demand for the private sector to include corporate social responsibility in their business and everyday work. This thesis has studied the corporate responsibility of firms in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden), compared with firms in 18 other OECD countries. The results are then analysed by referring to the institutional framework that firms operate in; national and international institutions. In particular, the thesis aims at examining whether there is a distinctive Nordic approach towards CSR. The Nordic countries are argued to operate in a specific national business system, influenced by the welfare state model which also impact firms’ approach towards CSR. Furthermore, the role of multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) is emphasized. National institutions are, due to increased globalization and awareness of global governance gaps, increasingly challenged by international institutions. To address this issue variables are collected from the MSI UN Global Compact (UNGC) Implementation Survey from 2017, the main variable being overall CSR actions the companies take, and more specifically with regard to human rights (HR), labour rights (LR), environment (EN) and anti-corruption (AC). A simple OLS with robust standard errors was performed to define the relationship between the variables. The result show both similarities and differences between the Nordic and OECD companies, but also differences to a larger extent than expected between the Nordic countries. The main contribution of this study is thus to highlight factors that influences companies’ CSR, with possible implications for policy makers as well as managers on a national and international level. Further research should elaborate and expand the CSR actions and compare on a cross-country level instead of a Nordic and OECD level and include companies in other MSIs. / Det finns ett ökat krav på den privata sektorn att inkludera CSR (corporate social responsibility = företags samhällsansvar) i deras verksamhet och dagliga arbete. Detta arbete har studerat de nordiska ländernas (Danmark, Finland, Norge och Sverige) företags hållbarhetsarbete och jämfört med företag i 18 OECD länder. Resultatet är sedan analyserat genom att referera till vilka institutionella ramverk som företag verkar inom; nationella och internationella institutioner. Framförallt, detta arbete har studerat om det finns ett distinkt nordiskt förhållningssätt till CSR. De nordiska länderna är omtalade av att verka i en speciell nationell struktur (national business system), påverkad av välfärdsmodellen och som i sin tur påverkar förtagens förhållningssätt till CSR. Följande, vilken roll multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) har är diskuterat. De nationella institutionerna är i dagenens kontext, med ökad globalisering och medvetenhet om globala problem som kräver globala lösningar, konfronterade med internationella institutioner. För att undersöka detta hämtades variablerna från MSI UN Global Compact (UNGC) Implementation Survey 2017 och huvudvariabeln är CSR aktiviteter inom hela CSR arbetet, men framförallt inom mänskliga rättigheter (human rights, HR), arbetsrättigheter (labour rights, LR), miljö (environment, EN) och anti-korruption (anti-corruption, AC). En vanlig OLS med robust standard errors användes för att bestämma sambandet mellan variablerna. Resultatet visar både likheter och skillnader mellan de nordiska och OECD länderna, men däremot visar resultatet mer skillnader mellan de nordiska länderna än förväntat. Det viktigaste bidraget med denna studie är att uppmärksamma de faktorer som påverkar företagets CSR, med vidare rekommendationer till beslutsfattare och managers på en nationell och internationell nivå. Fortsatta studier kan utveckla CSR aktiviteterna, jämföra på en nationell nivå istället för på en nordiska och OECD nivå, samt inkludera företag från andra MSIs.

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To this point research on firms’ political behavior has contributed knowledge concerning large firms’ relationships and strategies with political actors and their surrounding environment. Less is known about small firms’ behavior towards political organizations. As a matter of fact, the fields of international marketing, international business and corporate political science have left the political behavior of small firms almost untouched. Therefore, extant literature assumes that small firms due to their resource constraints are passive receivers of political initiatives. About 99 percent of all firms within the European Union are small firms, and it is therefore questioned whether all these firms are passive receivers of political initiatives. The intention with this thesis is to challenge some assumptions regarding how small firms manage their relationships with political actors concerning EU related rules and regulations. Consequently, the study raises the overarching research question; how do small firms manage their political environment? Theoretically, the study takes a network perspective on business political interaction to examine both individual and/or collective political behavior of small firms. It develops a theoretical view constituted of knowledge, commitment and legitimacy. Methodologically, two sequential stages are followed: first an in-depth qualitative case study of three successful cases is presented and second, the in-depth understanding is broadened to a wider population of firms based on a quantitative survey. A central contribution of this thesis is to aid research on the political behavior of small firms. It is found that small firms, in contrast to prevailing assumptions, do possess political resources. They are not passive receivers of political initiatives. Instead, the findings show that small firms are active and can exercise influence. This, however, is shown to be dependent on the firm’s political commitment, political knowledge and competency and business-political legitimacy. It is also shown that small firms mobilize these critical resources not only directly, but also indirectly through various intermediating actors. Besides the theoretical contributions, these conclusions are important not just because of the managerial implications but also, and perhaps more importantly, for the policy implications that can be drawn from the study. Being exploratory and opening up the black box of small firm’s political behavior, the thesis ends with a number of future research directions.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Spatial Development Initiatives (SDIs) became the Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) official policy in 1995/6 to accommodate problems, such as unemployment and empowerment, through sustainable development. We consequently pose the question whether the government has realised a strategic fit, i.e. whether the initial intention with the SDI strategy has consequently been achieved and, if not, what the main lessons are to fill the strategic gap? This question will be addressed in five chapters. The first chapter will provide the reader with the necessary background information on these initiatives. Before concluding (Chapter 6), the following three chapters will follow the inherent logic of the SDI strategy, i.e. economic investments are crowded in (Chapter 3) through a facilitating and mediating role of government (Chapter 4) in order to solve employment and empowerment (Chapter 5). Each realm, i.e. economic- political/institutional-and social, is evaluated on its contribution to the success of the Spatial Development Initiative. On the one hand it is difficult to say categorically whether or not there was a strategic fit, because the strategic aims were not initially written out in measurable detail. If the aim was to employ and to empower, while strengthening the institutions, we could qualitatively discern only when institutional capacity building (like in Lubombo) was a clear aim, that the resulting effect of the SDI strategy was significant. The employment and empowerment efforts may have been more disappointing than hoped for. But again this is difficult to discern because it may be too early to observe the trickle down effects. Neither is it easy to measure the many achievements that were recorded, and still then, they will probably look very relative because of the immensity of the problem. In 2001 the South African Government acknowledged that it has failed in its empowerment programme, while a Presidential Summit was convened in 1998 to search for employment solutions. Against this background and given that not more effort is made to measure the results of the efforts to create employment, has to indicate that the SDIs have not left behind an impression of having performed well in terms of their strategic aim. On the one hand this was because government strongly tended towards attracting foreign investment while paying too little attention to the subsequent needs of SMMEs. Moreover is there a need for an integrated and long-term development plan that allows rational choices to be made. Nevertheless, the fact that evaluations are commissioned and that government publicly admits a mistake could be the signs of a learning organisation, which again is the start of a positive process. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Ruimtelike Ontwikkelings Inisiatiewe (ROI's) het die Departement Handel en Nywerheid se amptelike beleid in 1995/96 geword om probleme soos werkloosheid en swartbemagtiging deur middel van volhoubare ontwikkeling aan te spreek. Ons stel gevolglik die vraag of die regering 'n strategiese plan gehad het waarbinne die ROI inisiatief gepas het, of dit gewerk het en wat die lesse te leer is? Hierdie kwessie sal in vyf hoofstukke aangespreek word. Die eerste hoofstuk voorsien die leser van die nodige agtergrondinligting oor dergelike inisiatiewe. Die samevatting is hoofstuk ses, maar dit word deur drie ander hoofdstukke voorafgegaan: 'n logiese beoordeling van die ekonomiese determinante (hoofstuk drie), die fasiliterende rol van die regering (hoofstuk vier) en die suksesse, al dan nie, van werkskepping en bemagtiging (hoofstuk vyf). Elke tema word beoordeel in die lig van die vraag of dit bydra to die sukses van ROI's. Aan die een kant is dit moeilik te verklaar of daar 'n strategiese plan was omdat so 'n plan nie vooraf uiteengesit was nie. Indien dit die bedoeling was om werkgeleenthede te skep en om bemagtiging te bevorder, sou mens slegs na enkele inisiatiewe hoef te kyk, bv die Lubombo Plan. In so 'n geval was die suksesse tog beduidend. In die algemeen was die werkverskaffings- en bemagtigingsresultate egter teleurstellend. Dit is moontlik steeds te vroeg om 'n finale oordeel uit te spreek. Op hierdie stadium is dit geen eenvoudige taak om prestasies in die lig van die groter problematiek te meet nie. Bv in 2001 het die regering bevestig dat bemagtigingsprogramme in die lig van die presidensiele beraad van 1998, misluk het. Teen hierdie agtergrond word die indruk geskep dat die ROI's moontlik nie hul strategiese doelwitte bereik het nie. Sedertdien het die regering daarna gestrewe om buitelandse direkte investering na Suid-Afrika te lok deur middel van privatisering en klein, mikro en medium ondernemings te vestig. Die planne was moontlik meer suksesvol. Al hierdie inisiatiewe behoort in 'n enkele langtermyn ontwikkelingsplan opgeneem te word sodat rasionele keuses gemaak kan word. Dan sal daar duidelikheid wees oor die rol en plek van ROI's. Dit bestaan nog nie. Nietemin doen die regering reeds beoordelings van hulle planne met die oog om dit te hersien en die erkenning dat sekere planne nie hulle mikpunte bereik nie, is tekens daarvan dat 'n leerproses aan die orde van die dag is wat tog 'n positiewe begin was.

<p>The risk assessment process and the subsequent risk management measures need tobe constantly evaluated, updated and improved. This thesis contributes to that workby considering, and suggesting improvements, regarding aspects like userfriendliness,transparency, accuracy, consistency, data reporting, data selection anddata evaluation.The first paper in this thesis reports from an empirical investigation of themotivations, intentions and expectations underlying the development andimplementation of a voluntary industry owned environmental classification systemfor pharmaceuticals. The results show that the purpose of the classification systemis to provide information, no other risk reduction measures are aimed for.The second paper reports from an evaluation of the accuracy and the consistency ofthe environmental risk assessments conducted within the classification system. Theresults show that the guideline recommendations were not followed in several casesand consequently alternative risk ratios could be determined for six of the 36pharmaceutical substances selected for evaluation in this study. When additionaldata from the open scientific literature was included the risk ratio was altered formore than one-third of the risk assessments. Seven of the 36 substances wereassessed and classified by more than one risk assessor. In two of the seven cases,different producers classified the same substance into different classificationcategories.The third paper addresses the question whether non-standard ecotoxicity data couldbe used systematically in environmental risk assessments of pharmaceuticals. Fourdifferent evaluation methods were used to evaluate nine non-standard studies. Theevaluation result from the different methods varied at surprisingly high rate and theevaluation of the non-standard data concluded that the reliability of the data wasgenerally low.</p> / QC 20100929

Since the end of the 1980’s  Swedish county council managers has been preoccupied with planning and implementing organisational change in order to alleviate the financial problems and to create more efficient production systems. Many of these efforts to change have implied changing the systems for management accounting and control, changes that have been inspired both by market-oriented ideologies and by the governance principles of large corporations in the private sector. Literature on manage­ment accounting and control indicates however, that management is unintentionally contributing to the creation of organisational inertia and conservatism. This contradiction is formulated as a change dilemma; ”How can managerial principles that make organizations subject to  bureaucratization and inertia be used as important strategies for organizational change?” The purpose of the study is thus to analyze the use of management control systems as organizational change strategies in health care, employing a change perspective on management control. When used as a change strategy,  management accounting and control becomes manifest as management control initiatives. Actors handle these control inititatives by organising themselves around the issue at hand. This organising process ends or fades away when there are no need for further attention to the control initiative. Empirical studies were made in the councils of Västerbotten, Sörmland and Upp­sala counties. Management control initiatives investigated were performance-related pay, quality improvement work, systematic planning procedures, provider/purchaser-models, downsizing projects and profit center systems. The systems for management accounting and control appeared to structure health care organisations in terms of spatial structuring temporal structuring and actor categorization. The management control initiatives introduced were structured as extraordinary organising processes delimited in terms of space, time and involved actors. Actors in the administrative norm system participated with the intention to change the organisation, while those in the medical norm system aimed at just handling the initiative. Management control initiatives can therefore be seen as passing opportunities to change, passing in the sense that the organising processes are temporary by nature, opportunities in the sense that temporary re-coupling can be used to  achieve long-term change. One such opportunity is the formulation of control initiatives; the possibility of using simple and standardized change strategies can be useful, but only if they are also linked to the medical norm system. A second opportunity is the temporary organising processes; if the project form of organising change can also be conveyed to the medical norm system, management control initiatives could result in short, intense courses of events that actually change things. The third opportunity  s the recurrent  cyc ica  pro­ perties  of  management  accounting  and control  systems, enabling  recurrent  activities around the same themes, thereby keeping them alive. / <p>Diss. av båda förf. Umeå : Umeå univ., 1998 ; Framlägges för vinnande av filosofie doktorsexamen respektive ekonomie doktorsexamen.</p> / digitalisering@umu