Talent Management (TM) is of growing interest within academia and in the strategic HRM literature in particular. Despite many attempts to study TM from different perspectives, it remains an ambiguous and elusive concept that is difficult to define and hence challenging to explore and address. Studies on TM are based within Western contexts and therefore it is questionable whether TM models and theories are transferable to other nations and contexts. This research examines the nature of TM in the Middle Eastern context of Oman, from the perspective of Institutional Theory. Through a qualitative, multiple case-study approach, data was collected from four banking and petroleum-sector organisations through semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest that the different influences of institutional pressures (e.g. nationalisation, competition, organisational characteristics) have significantly shaped TM in these organisations. The findings show that TM effectiveness and sustainability depends upon a range of factors including: generational differences, employee expectations, the role of expatriates and national culture. Thus, TM and its approach has to be understood and framed within the context of institutions which interact with organisational characteristics; this shapes the way in which the organisations define their TM approach in order to seek legitimacy, business continuity and effectiveness.

Digitalisering menas vara en av de mest grundläggande drivkrafterna för långsiktig förändring inom redovisningsbranschen. Redovisningskonsultens arbete är brett och detta digitala skifte påverkar yrkesrollen inom många aspekter. Att skapa förståelse kring en förändring likt digitalisering menas kräva en analys av den externa miljön tillsammans med individens upplevelse av denna där tidigare studier ofta menas framställa digitaliseringens influenser som skev. Detta leder fram till studiens syfte att genom ett institutionellt perspektiv skapa förståelse för redovisningskonsultens upplevelse av förändringen, möjligheterna och utmaningarna som digitaliseringen medför till yrkesrollen. För att uppnå syftet har en kvalitativ studie med semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts. Studiens resultat visade att den pågående digitaliseringen innebär en förändring för redovisningskonsultens yrkesroll i form av ett institutionellt strukturellt skifte på samtliga nivåer vilket inte går att undvika. / Digitization is stated to be one of the most fundamental driving force for long term change in accounting. The accountants work is broad and a digital change has the power to change the profession on multiple levels. It requires analyzing the external environment together with the individual’s experience of this to create an understanding about the turbulent change that digitization entails, a subject that other studies mean needs clarification. This study aims to create an understanding about the accountant's experience about changes, opportunities and challenges of the profession as a result of digitization through an institutional perspective. This was made with an qualitative method using semi-structured interviews. The results of the study showed that the accountant experiences the ongoing digitization as a institutional, structural change on all levels of the profession which is inevitable.

During the late 1980s, government agencies in many countries commenced the implementation of public sector management reforms in an effort to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. Many of these reforms arose as a result of demands placed on governments for improved use of public funds. These reforms, which have been wide ranging, have involved important improvements in the methods in which public sector agencies collect and report information related to accountability, particularly in the area of performance measurement. This study seeks to add to the literature on public sector accountability and performance measurement by undertaking a comparative cross-country study involving Australia and Malaysia, a developed and a developing country. Each of these countries have adopted, in varying degrees, reforms to their public sector reporting mechanisms as a result of major demands for changes to public sector funding, accountability and reporting methods. Within the study, a multiple theory approach is undertaken which uses aspects of both agency theory and institutional theory to provide a more informed understanding of the impact specific influential parties have on the level of disclosure and dissemination of accountability related information. This study examines the impact of agency and institutional related variables on the extent and frequency of the disclosure and dissemination of performance measurement information by Australian and Malaysian government departments. / The major sources of data for this study comprise firstly, an analysis of the 2003/2004 annual reports of Australian and Malaysian government departments, secondly semi-structured interviews with senior finance officers of selected government departments and thirdly, a questionnaire survey forwarded to senior finance officers of all government departments in Australia and Malaysia. The findings of the content analysis and interviews concerning performance indicator disclosure by Australian Federal government departments show that cost and effectiveness performance indicators are the most disclosed indicator. For Malaysian Federal government departments, results and quantity performance indicators are the most disclosed indicators. For Australia, performance dissemination happens most often on a monthly basis whilst for Malaysia this occurs more regularly on an annual basis. In relation to performance indicator dissemination, Australian government departments are making increased use of the web to disseminate performance indicators whilst the main method of dissemination for Malaysia is their availability upon request. The major questionnaire was prepared using the annual report content analysis and interviews as a base and it was sent to the senior financer officers of all Australian and Malaysian Government Departments. The questionnaire resulted in a 37.1% response rate for Australia and a 21.7% response rate for Malaysian departments. The questionnaire was used as the base to test the influence of agency theory-related variables and institutional theory-related variables and culture on performance indicator disclosure and dissemination. / The results of the agency theory-related variables rejected the hypothesised influence of oversight bodies on performance indicator disclosure and dissemination for both Australian and Malaysian government departments. The relevant size of government departments was also rejected as being an influence on the frequency of performance indicator disclosure by both countries. However, for Australian government departments, a significant influence for frequency of size of government departments of performance indicator dissemination was found to exist. The citizenry was found to have no significant influence on performance indicator disclosure by both countries. However, in the case of Malaysia, the citizenry were found to have an influence on the level of performance indicator dissemination. The results of the institutional theory related variables provided evidence that none of the variables have an influence on the frequency of performance indicator disclosure and dissemination in both countries. Finally, the results for culture showed there is a level of influence of culture on the frequency of performance indicator disclosure and dissemination. Overall the results of this study indicate both some differences and similarities between Australia and Malaysia government departments in the disclosure and dissemination of performance indicators. There is evidence in this study to indicate that in Australia, both efficiency and effectiveness performance indicators are being disclosed more often in the annual reports of government departments. However, the results for Malaysia show a considerably lower level of disclosure of efficiency and effectiveness performance indicators in government departments' annual reports than in Australia. / Therefore the contrasts between the mail survey results and interview results provide for some future research that could expand the interview survey to include a larger sample to see if the Sofas perceptions are the same or different in regards to performance indicator disclosure and dissemination. The dual paradigm (agency and institutional) modeling of the determinants of performance indicator disclosure and dissemination have provided important findings from the perspectives of both the variables and the countries on which this study was based. The important findings of this study are that accountability and managerially have had differing emphases in Australia as compared to Malaysia, and that there are varying levels of disclosure, dissemination and use of performance measurement information between both individual government departments and the countries in which they reside. A range of future research possibilities are generated by this study. These possibilities range from extending the context of the hypotheses to encompass other government entities, other countries and other forms of performance measurement.

摘要 創新如果只能由那些擁有大量資源、或組織寬裕的企業來執行，那麼社會上應該就只有大企業的創新，但現今的世界裡，我們卻常能看見中小企業也能夠進行創新，甚至愈在資源有限、外界環境限制愈多的狀況下，中小型企業常會存在令人意想不到的策略性回應與創新作為。創新對於大組織而言，是為了能夠讓組織繼續成長的一大動力，但是對於中小型企業而言，在面對資源有限、龐大的環境制約下，創新可能是中小型企業不得不為的作法，此時只有巧妙運用手頭上所有資源，來回應環境的制約才能繼續存活下去，而這也是我們能夠看見中小企業還能在資源有限的狀況下繼續創新的一大原因。 雖有學者提出，組織在面對外界環境制約時應如何採取行動的討論(Oliver;1999)，學者提出來策略性回應(strategic response)的種種作為，但從這些策略性回應的可能作為中，卻忽略了組織是如何運用在地化的實務知識的觀點。因此在這樣的動機趨動下，本研究針對一個國際消費品公司的經銷商，鎖定其業務團隊，進行為期二個月的行動研究，我們研究這個業務團隊在面對環境制約是如何具體行動，且如何運用因實務而來的在地化知識，進而改善每日的工作實務，設計出能夠突破外界種種環境制約的具體行動。

<p>Why do people invest? People are insecure about their future welfare and aim for future guaranteed cash flows. To give ourselves a more thorough introduction to investments we decided to write our bachelor-thesis within the area of finance. This thesis will combine financial institutions and investments. It is a topic repeatedly discussed in the media and a study carried out in Sweden showed that in 2003, 80% of the population were shareholders.</p><p>When trading with stocks and shares there is risk involved that can be defined as the volatility in the cash flow of an investment. A portfolio is a collection of securities that an investor has placed capital in. In order to minimise the risk of the portfolio, the investor can diversify his or her portfolio, which involves investing in different securities in order to minimise risk. Institutional Theory will help us to see how these financial institutions interact with each other and what internal and external factors may influence their behaviour. Institutional investors; such as banks, are seen as large actors on the financial markets as they gain more and more control over the management of equities. It is necessary that intermediaries take care of their customers and inform them thoroughly about the rules of the investment game. With this as a background we felt it would be interesting to investigate the following problem.</p><p>On what basis do financial institutions create their customers’ portfolios and is the process the same across the branch as a whole?</p><p>In order to find an answer to this question; we have done a qualitative study with an overall positivistic influence. The study is based upon an analysis of the empirical material; collected through interviews with three financial institutions, grounded in theory in order to answer our specific question.</p><p>From the information gathered we understood that the first information financial institutions gather is personal information about the investors, which is needed to get a picture and an understanding about their client. We have also learned how important it is to understand risk, as it is the risk that will determine the composition of the portfolio for the investor. We could see with the help of the institutional theory that there is little space for differentiation and can therefore say that the financial institutions work in the same way in the advising of their clients and for the composition of their client’s portfolio.</p><p>Our results show that the basis for the creation of portfolios is more or less the same across the branches as a whole. The service given may differ, due to the competence and knowledge level of employees, between institutions but the end product is similar in all aspects.</p>

<p>In May 2000 share repurchases were legalized in Sweden, with the purpose to provide companies with an efficient and flexible way to distribute capital. To buy back shares gives companies several benefits which are discussed in our study. The lack of academic research about this topic for Swedish companies gave us an incentive to provide knowledge specifically for this market. When companies announce a share repurchase program they are subject to uncertainty about the society’s reaction and economic consequences. Individuals within a well established organizational field deal rationally with uncertainty by adjusting to their institutional environment. The institutional environment can be defined as an abstract structure of regulations and behavioral norms that guide human’s decisions. This often leads to homogeneity in companies’ culture, structure and output. We ask the question if companies are realizing repurchase programs in a similar way over time, and if share repurchases have been developed as a more common used financial instrument since 2000. Our second question is if companies that decide to buy back shares pursue this under similar economic conditions as a result from becoming homogeneous.</p><p>The purpose of this study is to describe how institutional pressures in form of coercive, normative and mimetic isomorphism have affected companies’ decision to repurchase shares. We want to explain if there is an upward going trend of share repurchases, a standardized way to repurchase over time and if this decision can be determined by similarities in certain financial indicators of a company’s economic situation. To answer our purpose we used a quantitative research strategy with a deductive approach. The collected data was analyzed in a logistic regression analysis and by interpretations of descriptive statistics. We decided to examine for mimetic isomorphism public companies listed within the industrial sector on Stockholm Stock Exchange from the years 2000-2006. For the test of coercive and normative isomorphism with a logistic regression analysis we had to limit ourselves to investigate the years 2001-2003.</p><p>In reality the three institutional pressures are working simultaneously and should together lead to a common perception about share repurchases among companies. For our testing we separated institutional isomorphism based on our theoretical preconceptions. This allowed us to analyze each individual institutional pressure and how they interact together. We defined mimetic isomorphism as companies adjusting their repurchase behavior to other companies within the industrial sector. Our result has not shown any indications of such a behavior concerning time, amount or frequency of the buybacks. Testing if certain financial indicators such as excess cash, liquidity, solvency, dividends, volatile operative income, prior year return, growth opportunities, companies’ size, ownership concentration, institutional and individual shareholders could explain stock repurchase activity gave us the possibility to evaluate coercive and normative isomorphism. But the question how institutional isomorphism affects companies’ repurchase decisions still remains unanswered. We have not found any certain financial indicator which motivates companies’ decision to buy back their own shares. The decision might therefore be carried out under very different economic conditions and with different objectives. In the industrial sector and generally in the whole Swedish market only a relatively low proportion of companies buy back shares. The stated findings for the Swedish market imply a need for further investigations over a longer time horizon and for a larger population. Further investigations in this topic which has the potential to provide recent insight into the stock repurchase decision for Swedish companies would enhance and verify our statements.</p>

<p>Program: MIMA student – International business and Entrepreneurship</p><p>Course name: Master Thesis (EFO705)Title: Imitation as Organization’s StrategyAuthors: Voravej AssavapisitkulSataporn Bukkavesa</p><p>Supervisor: Sven-Åke NyströmProblem: Does imitation really benefit organization?</p><p>Purpose: The authors are writing this topic because the authors feel that this topic is not widely been investigated, moreover, it is a very interesting topic for the authors. According to the course literatures that the authors have read, the authors perceived that most of them focused on innovation and seems like they ignored or mentioned little on the topic of imitation and how can imitation benefits organization. Therefore, the authors are personally interested in the topic. The authors hope that the readers would gain more knowledge on the topic and would be able to apply with their business or study.</p><p>Method: Interpretivist; Documentary; Interview</p><p>Summary: In this Master Thesis, the authors have discussed several dimensions of imitation with examples. First, the authors discussed about imitation during the early stage of industrialization with the examples in Korea. This topic discussed of the opportunity provided through imitation process for the new firms to be able to catch up and compete with experienced firms. The next topic is on unique capability. Firms can apply imitation as their own capability that can prevent others’ imitation, moreover, they can become successful in the new market. Then the authors found that there are ways to imitate other firms’ knowledge legally in the form of strategic alliances. In the topic of creation of strategic alliances, the authors suggested four patterns of engagement that firms can select according to their objectives. Under the topic of firms experience, there are some empirical data supported that the degree of imitation has negative relationship with firms’ experience curve. Moreover, the authors discussed about the how competitors’ actions affect the firms to select different strategy of organization management in the topic of the choice of alliances and mergers and acquisitions by competitor’s move. Then the authors discussed about how successful were the imitations by reverse-engineering implemented by Korea’s electronics industry. Furthermore, the authors also provide examples of imitations in other industries. The next topic is limitation and prevention on imitation. Then the authors provided the reasons why do firms imitate. Moreover, the authors discussed about the factors that affect the speed of imitation process and show how the speed of imitation related to benefits and losses of the firms. Next, the authors suggested some successful strategies for product imitation. Then the authors discussed about the drawbacks of imitation with some examples. Finally, the authors provided the results and analysis of the interviews as primary data collection to show the success of firms that implemented imitations, people’s attitudes toward imitation, and the degree that originality and product origin can limit imitation.</p>

<p>In recent years there have been many corporate scandals from environmental and social aspects. Corporate irresponsible behavior has led to major public discussions on responsibility and these pressures made that many companies wanting to show that they are working for a sustainable development by voluntarily reporting economic, environmental and social and social issues in the financial statement. They hope this will create credibility for the companies. In the current situation, there are a number of guidelines that companies can use to report sustainability. One of these is the GRI guidelines which is an international framework that covers many accounting areas and allows companies to compare their sustainability reports with other companies.</p><p>The purpose of this study is to determine if all state-owned companies follows the government’s requirement that these companies must form a sustainability report under the GRI guidelines, and the sustainability report must be audited and certified by an outside party. To answer the purpose of our study, we have chosen to investigate all these companies’ sustainability reports which are available in the corporate website for the year 2009 but also 2008 to see if there is any development between these periods. The sustainability reports were examined in three categories that would give the answer to our question and this was shown in a table. The theories that we have used is the intuitional theory and legitimacy theory at finding out if they can explain the empirical results. In our conclusion, it appeared that not all the companies had acted in accordance with the requirement applicable to the three aspects that were investigated in 2008; none of these issues had been fully recognized by the companies. For 2009, it emerged that the companies had become much better at reporting under the guidelines. All companies reported fully under the requirement in two of the three categories.</p>

<p>In the new millennium the ideas of New Public Management (NPM) have become more and more popular within the public sector and its health care. NPM is a management philosophy that, among other things, aims at making public organizations more business like. The study explores the encounter between the organizational practice and an NPM idea, the idea of quality, at Landstinget in Värmland (LiV). More precisely the study aims at contributing to the discourse on effects of institutionalization as well as to knowledge on the process of local institutionalization. Another purpose of the study is to contribute to quality development in organizations.</p><p>In order to do this, a project of quality (LiV 2002) at LiV is followed in time and space. In the empirical section three actor groups are identified, the new management, the old officials and the health care personnel. Between the old officials and the new management, and between the health care personnel and the new management conflicts burst out. The reason for these conflicts is, among other things, the actor groups’ diverging cultural conceptions.</p><p>In the conclusion the idea of quality is, to a certain extent, found to be institutionalized in the formal structure of LiV. But the greater part of the actors’ action and thought schemes are unaffected. However, the actors at LiV are not fully unaffected by the idea of quality. It is argued that the cultural conceptions of the old officials and the health care personnel are reproduced during the work on quality. In the discussion concerning contributions, a model for studying local institutionalization from the perspective of sensemaking is put forward. It is argued that the model enables students of local institutionalization to focus on the cognitive micro processes of institutionalization. In the discussion on quality development, the focus is on difficulties and obstacles with quality development. These are found to be cultural conceptions, preservative sensemaking, processes of translation and that most public organizations are arena organizations.</p>

<p>This thesis consists of an introductory part, including venture capital definitions, the history of venture capital in Sweden, and an overview of the venture capital process, and four self-contained papers on venture capital and the venture capital process.</p><p>Paper 1 investigates the standardisation of the contractual strategies applied in the Swedish venture capital industry. The study was based on a questionnaire data regarding the use of contractual covenants. Our results indicate that the greatest differences occur among those with different investment preferences. There would appear to be two distinct venture capital cultures controlling contractual choices in these groups. Our findings generally conform to expectations as predicated by institutional theory.</p><p>Paper 2 investigate venture capital firms’ valuation practices in two different economic contexts, in the economic boom of 1999 and in the downturn market of 2002 by using an experimental case study design with a case based on a real firm. Contrary to our expectations, in times of heightened stringency and economic downturn, venture capital investors employ fewer valuation models than they do in boom times. The main contribution of our research is an increase in the knowledge of venture capitalists’ valuation practices under different market conditions. It can also contribute to researchers developing more relevant theories of valuation, valuation models and valuation practice.</p><p>Paper 3 empirically examines the linkage between governance, trust and performance based on a questionnaire sent to entrepreneurs in venture capital backed companies in Sweden. The results suggest that the level of trust between the venture capitalist and the entrepreneur affects the relationship between VCs governance and the portfolio company’s performance.</p><p>Paper 4 analyse exit strategies and exit-directed activities among entrepreneurs in venture capital relationships. The study focuses on the effect of the venture capital organization (independent, public sector and captive) on strategy and exit-directed activities. The results indicate that firms with a trade sale strategy tend to have a higher degree of exit activities compared to other exit strategies. Furthermore, the type of venture capital organization involved (especially when comparing private independent VCs to public sector VCs) also affects exit strategies and activities.</p>