Clusters are spatial agglomerations of firms in related industries. Although industry clusters have existed for centuries, the cluster concept has only recently been formulated in economic terms and has begun to attract considerable interest from scholars and policymakers over the last 20 years. A vast literature has examined all kinds of clusters and how clustering relates to innovation, growth, and other forms of economic performance of firms and regions. The cluster concept has provided a framework for thousands of national, regional, and local initiatives around the world. Yet, both research and policy efforts have yielded varying and sometimes contradictory results. This dissertation revisits some of the most basic questions about clusters. Using an approach that treats agglomeration and proximity effects as separate but related phenomena, it examines three fundamental aspects of clusters. First, it proposes a way to measure agglomeration more accurately and presents more detailed data on clusters in Europe than have previously been available. Second, it analyses the benefits of clusters for new firms and for regions. Third, it examines how clusters are “organised” through cluster initiatives. The results presented here carry implications for the study of clusters in economic geography, strategic management, and cluster policy research. They also contribute to our knowledge of cluster organisations and are of interest to both policymakers and cluster practitioners. Göran Lindqvist is a researcher at the Center for Strategy and Competitiveness at the Stockholm School of Economics. He has published books and articles about clusters and cluster policy, and he has conducted numerous cluster-related projects for international and national public agencies in Europe and the USA. www.sse.edu/csc / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2009 Sammanfattning jämte 7 uppsatser</p>

American presidents have maintained an equilibrium between the role of church and state in government affairs via the nation’s civil religion and a “rhetorical contract” between those secular and sacred interests. While other presidents have incorporated religion in their rhetorical execution of office, George W. Bush has done so in a manner different from his predecessors, emphasizing the role of faith in his administration’s beliefs, actions, and policies. Such rhetoric upsets the tenuous relationship between sectarian and secular affairs. Bush’s breach of the rhetorical contract can be explained by Foucault’s notion of pastoral power. Using practices once associated with the church, the savvy government leader may better control his public. I argue that President Bush has shifted the balance of power between organized religion and government, specifically by means of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, thereby corrupting traditional notions of civil religion in the process of implementing his unique form of new pastoral power.

The major aim of this study is to develop an integrative framework of the determinants and consequence of international human capital, the human capital which enables a firm to compete globally. The open systems view is introduced to develop a comprehensive measurement of international human capital, which includes input-based, transformational, output-based, and managerial international human capital. Human capital accumulation modes (the documentation mode and the socialization mode) are identified as the potential determinant, and global initiatives (global learning and global marketing) and financial performance as the potential outcome. The Structural Equation Modeling technique is employed to investigate the determinants and outcome of the human capital system. The results support our expectation that human capital accumulation modes foster the development of international human capital, which in turn enhances a firm¡¦s global initiatives and financial performance. Important role of output-based and managerial international human capital are also identified. Output-based international human capital not only enhances a firm¡¦s financial performance, but also facilitates its global initiatives. Managerial international human capital, on the other hand, indirectly fosters a firm¡¦s financial performance and global initiatives through its direct positive influences on the other international human capital components.

Multiple customer needs and rapid technological change are what MNCs are confronted with, thus, they rely on subsidiaries responding to local market needs. The ability of subsidiaries to integrate resources to respond to market opportunities determines its competitiveness, and contributes to whole corporate. The purpose of this dissertation is to construct an integrative framework toward generating subsidiary initiatives and competitiveness. Structural equation modeling was employed to verify the conceptual framework. Based on the results of SEM, entrepreneurial leadership of top management teams enhances the talent on the process of human-capital leveraging to facilitate them to be creative and agile; further, promote collective learning among members. Additionally, with the support of top management teams, learning culture of subsidiaries can be strengthened. Support of top management team, human-capital leveraging and learning culture, improve the absorptive capacity, further, they promote subsidiary initiatives and competitiveness.

Most school based initiatives are not implemented long-term and do not reach sustainability (McDermott, 2000; Mirel, 1994; Rice & Malen, 2003). Schools are implementing School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) as an initiative to target social emotional development and behavior. Schools that have implemented SWPBS have experienced decreases in rate of Office Discipline Referrals (ODR), In-School Suspension (ISS) and Out-of-School Suspension (OSS) (e.g. Bohanon et al., 2006; Childs et al., 2009; Lassen et al., 2006). Research has also shown that schools that implement with a higher degree of fidelity have better outcomes (Childs et al., 2009; Florida's Positive Behavior Support Project, 2009). However, it is not known what mediating factor(s) assist with schools with implementation of Tier 1 PBS at a higher degree of fidelity. This study examined action plans that schools developed during their initial training of Tier 1 PBS, to determine if the action plans are one of the possible mediating factor(s). There are differences between the quality of action plans developed by schools implementing with a higher degree of fidelity compared to schools implementing with a lower degree of fidelity. Based on a path analysis, the action plans are not a mediating factor between fidelity of implementation and student outcomes (i.e. office discipline referrals, In-School Suspension, and Out-of-School Suspension).

Dual enrollment is one means of facilitating increased degree productivity, which can lead to the more educated workforce needed in today's society. This qualitative study was designed to obtain student perceptions about their dual enrollment experience, including how it impacted their decision to go to college and what comparisons they would make between their dual enrollment experience and their full university experience. Twenty-one students were interviewed via e-mail to provide responses that would help answer three research questions: 1.What are the initial experiences of dual enrollment students? 2.How does the dual enrollment experience impact the decision of high school graduates to attend college? 3.What comparisons can previous dual enrollment students make between the college experience they had in high school and the subsequent college experience as a full-time college student? Students who have participated in dual enrollment and subsequently matriculated to a university were provided an opportunity to give voice to their experiences, which were fairly positive. They also described characteristics that would be desirable of potential dual enrollment students and offered recommendations for students who are considering the dual enrollment experience. The findings of the research resulted in several recommendations for practice to those who make critical decisions in regards to these programs. These recommendations include further consideration of orientation sessions for students who are considering dual enrollment, developing or enhancing quality assurance measures for instruction and student outcomes, and establishing a network for dual enrollment students that will help bridge gaps in their collegiate experience.

This master thesis analyses two citizen initiatives; the flood action plan of LLanddowror, Wales and the mount plan of the Overdiepse Polder, the Netherlands. It uses the collaboration theory, the ladder of citizen participation, cross-scale interaction and community resilience to explain the role of citizens in flood risk management. The aim of this research is to see how governments facilitate citizens and if culture and context influence the roles of governments and citizens. The Welsh system is bottom-up with an increasing role for market and civil society to take responsibilities. Citizens generally insure themselves against flood damage. The Welsh system has enhanced community engagement and creating awareness is important. Dealing with big strategic issues seems to be difficult. The Dutch flood governance is more top-down which means less room for citizen initiatives. Citizens are not insured for flood damage since the government profiles itself responsible for floods therefore awareness amongst citizens is low. The Dutch system has benefits when dealing with large scaled projects but has issues with creating awareness as well as engaging citizens in water development. Assumingly there are opportunities for both countries to learn from each others’ way of dealing with flood risk management and citizen engagement.

Unchecked anthropogenic climate change has the potential to destroy human lives and wealth on an unprecedented scale. This dissertation analyzes from an economic perspective various public policy options to correct the market failures caused by climate change. The widespread adoption of environmentally friendly consumer products can reduce the impacts of climate change. The first chapter analyzes various methods of encouraging the market performance of these products. I build a model of observational learning in which a "green" consumer good enters a market to challenge an established "dirty" product. Among other results, I provide conditions for when financial incentives or informational campaigns should be more effective at encouraging the market performance of green products. I also provide a discussion and an empirical analysis of the performance of compact fluorescent light bulbs in the U.S. residential market, and compare the findings to the predictions of the theoretical model. The second chapter provides a critic of the macroeconomic models economists have used to determine optimal climate change abatement policies. I build a model that can incorporate more realistic ranges of uncertainty for both the occurrence of catastrophic events and societal risk aversion than economists have used in the past. Numerical simulations are then used to calculate a range of risk premiums, the magnitude of which display that previous calculations of optimal carbon dioxide taxes are too imprecise to support any particular policy recommendation. Government-backed energy-efficiency programs have become popular as components of local and national strategies to combat climate change. The effectiveness of such policies hinges on whether they provide the appropriate incentives to both energy consumers and program implementers. The third chapter analyzes evaluations of California's energy-efficiency programs to assess their effectiveness at improving our understanding of the programs' performance and providing a check on utility incentives to overstate energy savings. We find, among other results, that evaluations are useful tools to achieve both of these goals because the programs largely did not meet their energy-savings projections, and the utility savings estimates are systematically higher than the third-party savings estimates of the evaluations. / text

In 2014-2015 a large-scale Ebola epidemic occurred in West Africa. The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency was given the order to conduct the Swedish response. The purpose of this case study was to investigate the impact on project planning of the three factors: the nature of the crisis, political initiative and developing countries. In this case study the crisis was an epidemic, and the project was initiated by the Swedish Government and conducted in two developing countries. The results were intended to contribute to developed understanding and recommendations for future project managers in similar projects. The data collected came from six qualitative interviews, where all respondents were directly involved in the project planning. The project managers suggest that the three external factors had significant effects on project planning. The nature of the crisis led to impaired recruitment processes and personnel safety, and that it was difficult to predict the development of the epidemic, which led to frequent replanning. The political initialization generated pressure on project managers and executives, as well as an increased workload as more reports had to be compiled and presented. Developing countries have a less developed infrastructure, and political and economic aspects, that contributed to a complicated planning process. Many project managers had previous knowledge of the influencing factors but did not have sufficient routines for how to handle them. The study's main conclusion is therefore that project organizations increasingly need to learn from past experiences. / Mellan åren 2014 och 2015 pågick det en storskalig ebolaepidemi i Västafrika. Myndigheten för Samhällsskydd och Beredskap fick uppdraget att genomföra Sveriges respons. Syftet med denna fallstudie var att undersöka hur de tre faktorerna krisens karaktär, politisk initiering och utvecklingsland påverkade planeringsfasen i detta storskaliga krishanteringsprojekt. I det aktuella fallet var krisen en epidemi, projektet initierat av Sveriges regering samt utfört i två utvecklingsländer. Resultaten ämnade bidra med förståelse och rekommendationer för framtida projektledare vid liknande projekt. Den insamlade datan i studien kommer från sex stycken kvalitativa intervjuer, där samtliga respondenter var direkt involverade i fallstudiens projektplanering. Projektledarna upplevde att de valda påverkansfaktorerna hade betydande influenser på projektplaneringen. Krisens karaktär medförde försvårad rekryteringsprocess och personalsäkerhet, samt att det var svårt att förutspå epidemins utveckling vilket ledde till frekvent omplanering. Den politiska initieringen skapade press på projektledare och chefer, samt ökade arbetsbördan då fler rapporter skulle sammanställas, men gav samtidigt bättre samarbetsmöjligheter med övriga aktörer och en ledande roll i dessa relationer. Utvecklingsländer har en mindre utvecklad infrastruktur samt politiska och ekonomiska aspekter vilket bidrog till att planeringen komplicerades. Många av dessa påverkansfaktorer hade projektledarna kunskap om sedan innan men inte tillräckliga rutiner för hur de skulle hanteras. Studiens främsta slutsats är att projektorganisationer i större utsträckning måste ta lärdom av tidigare erfarenheter.

In this dissertation I focus on the diversity of alternative food initiatives (AFIs) that have emerged amidst concerns about the corporate-led industrial food system. While there have been significant successes, critics suggest that many AFIs are an inadequate response to the complex problems within the food system, and further, are complicit in propagating neoliberal ideals and facilitating the retrenchment of the state. While these critics identify important challenges, they tend to consider place-based AFIs as operating independently on particular projects, with specific claims, or in isolated sectors of the food system. There has been little documentation or analysis situating AFIs within a broader community of practice. To fill this gap, my research builds on the existing literature to investigate the increasing collaborations among AFIs in Canada. Using a community-based action approach, I explore the development of provincial food networks in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia. I pay particular attention to efforts that foster and maintain these networks by exploring their history, structure and processes of collaboration. My findings reveal that the provincial food networks can be characterized as assemblages constituted by the self-organization of diverse actors through non-hierarchical, bottom-up processes with multiple and overlapping points of contact. Further, I find that AFIs have used networks strategically to contest the rules and institutions of the dominant food system and to develop participatory and democratic practices that challenge the logics of neoliberalism. Based on the results from this research, I argue that besides developing viable place-based alternatives to the dominant food system, AFIs are also involved in prefigurative ways of being - establishing democratic governance structures, building new institutions, and engaging in different kinds of social relations - in the belly of the existing (food) system.