<p>This study investigates forces and organizational structures that facilitate or hinder sustainabledevelopment to be introduced and integrated in the core activities of public institutions.Specifically, the way global national sustainable development goals find their way into thelocal curriculum and overall-encompassing strategy of a few Swedish high-schools isidentified.To facilitate the search, the study is assisted by actor-network theory to find human and nonhuman―power-brokers‖ that can ensure the adoption and continuous application of newconcepts in a school. A pre-study of several schools, consisting of explorative interviews,located and classified factors and processes of potential importance for the implementation ofactivities related to sustainable development. At the same time, the large variety ofdefinitions of sustainable development encountered was recorded.The main study expanded on the findings from the pre-study and provided a more detailedanalysis of one senior high-school (upper secondary school). Several examples oforganizational structures and other factors– macro-actors in the theoretical model - werelocated with the potential to influence the furthering of the cause of sustainable developmentin that particular school. The possibility is discussed that the school would profit fromdeveloping a common mode of communication based on exploring experiences from applyingthe many issues that can be related to sustainable development. Such an endeavor could resultin organizational change typical of a learning organization. In that case, the resilience andcapacity of the organization to handle abrupt changes in national policy would be increased aswell as the preparedness of its students – our future – to handle rapidly changing situations intomorrow‗s society.The study further suggest that a similar ―tool-box‖ of theoretical models could be applied tothe local implementation of other national issues in an institutional setting.</p>

<p>Private organizations are facing organizational field pressures which need to be addressed from an economic and ethical point of view in order to be sustainable in the long term. The present research study analyzes the role of the Pharmaceutical Industry as a provider of a social good and its responsibility towards its organizational field and stakeholder network. On the one hand it is argued that the mentioned industry should be profitable in order to make investments in research and development; while on the other hand, the industry must demonstrate engagement in the social sphere because of the good it commercializes, human health care. The Role of Organizational Policies, Codes and Structure will also be studied in order to deepen the understanding of the organization strategy towards Corporate Responsibility Practices.</p><p>This research project presents a case study of AstraZeneca Sweden Corporate Responsibility practices. In this study an Analytical Framework is developed based on institutional theory, the stakeholders' model, deliberative democracy model and business ethics. The mentioned framework will contribute to the understanding of AstraZeneca's Corporate Responsibility practices. The role of the company towards the demands from the outside world that causes the organization to respond and act will be addressed as well as the role of Policies, Codes and Organizational Structure in the Corporate Responsibility practice of the organization. We argue that the managerial response should be based upon a deliberative engagement method, in which all the interest parties are included in the decision making process.</p><p>The study is supported by two interviews which were conducted with key actors and extensive secondary data.</p>

<p>This thesis presents an implementation study on the handling of electronic identification in three public authorities in Sweden. Electronic identification is a complex but very topical policy domain, largely tied to the general policy aspirations of e-government development. Theories on policy action, logic of appropriateness, garbage cans, and the dialectics of institutions and technology are used. The result highlights that the policy process of electronic identification in the three studied authorities could not be adequately explained from a traditional policy-implementation dichotomy. The action imperative to develop e-services is very strong and explains why and how electronic identification has been developed within the three authorities. The three authorities have very different institutional capacity to implement e-services with electronic identification. The available technology on electronic identification is inscribed with certain logics of appropriateness, that doesn’t sit equally easy with the administrative logics of appropriateness in all three authorities.</p>

<p>Titel: Översättning av Nöjd Kund Index - Verksamhetsutveckling med kundfokus på JM AB</p><p>Författare: Grundström, Johan; Åberg, Filip</p><p>Handledare: Blomgren, Maria</p><p>Kurs: Kandidatuppsats, 15hp, Företagsekonomiska institutionen, VT 2010</p><p>Bakgrund: I samhället cirkulerar mängder av managementidéer. För att en organisation ska kunna använda en idé så måste den översätta idén till organisationens förutsättningar. Kundfokus har kommit att spela en allt viktigare roll för företagens lönsamhet vilket har lett till ett ökat kundfokus de senaste decennierna. JM AB, ett företag verksamma inom bostadsutveckling, införde år 2002 Nöjd Kund Index för att kunna mäta deras kunders nöjdhet. Hur har idén om Nöjd Kund Index översatts på företaget?</p><p>Syfte: Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats är att genom en studie av JM AB beskriva hur Nöjd Kund Index översätts och hur konceptets funktioner utvecklas.</p><p>Metod: En kvalitativ metod valdes, där såväl intervjuer genomförts och dokument från JM använts.</p><p>Resultat: Studien visar att översättningsprocessen är en process vilken tar form och ändrar karaktär beroende på faktorer både inom och utanför företaget. Dessa processer kan pågå samtidigt och ta olika lång tid. Anledningen till att olika delar av processen tar olika långt tid beror på individers mottaglighet och referensramar. I JM:s fall har översättningen av Nöjd Kund Index medfört att konceptet fått nya funktioner vilka ännu inte institutionaliserats i företagets verksamhet.</p> / <p>Title: Translation of Customer Satisfaction Index - Business development with customer focus at JM Ltd</p><p>Authors: Grundström, Johan; Åberg, Filip</p><p>Tutor: Blomgren, Maria</p><p>Course: Bachelor thesis, 15hp, Department of Business Studies, VT 2010</p><p>Background: In society, many management ideas circulate. For an organization to be able to use an idea, the organization has to translate the idea to its conditions. Customer focus has come to play an increasingly important role in organizations’ profitability which has led to an increased customer focus in recent decades. In 2002, JM Ltd, a company active within housing development, introduced Customer Satisfaction Index in order to be able to measure their customers’ satisfaction. How is Customer Satisfaction Index translated at the company?</p><p>Objective: The objective of this thesis is to, through a study of JM Ltd, describe how Customer Satisfaction Index is translated and how the concept´s field of application has developed at the company.</p><p>Method: A qualitative method was chosen, where both interviews conducted and documents used.</p><p>Results: The study shows that the translation process is a process which takes shape and changes its character depending on factors both within and outside the company. These processes can run simultaneously and take various lengths of time. The reasons for this depend on individuals’ susceptibility and frames of reference. In the case of JM, the translation of Customer Satisfaction Index has led to new functions for the concept which not yet has been institutionalized in the company’s activities.</p>

Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2010. Sammanfattning jämte 4 uppsatser.

Private equity investing (PE) has experienced rapid growth on a global scale over the last few decades to become a significant industry. While scholars have devoted considerable effort to studying the area of risk capital investing into businesses, research about private equity as an asset class is surprisingly scarce. This dissertation addresses this gap by enhancing understanding of PE fund investing in general, and specifically about how heterogeneity in investor-specific characteristics and entry order strategies may impact performance. Based on a comprehensive set of interviews with PE fund investors, in-dept insights about variances in motives for investing in the asset class, ways of working, and investment strategies across investors were acquired; findings that are elaborated upon in the dissertation. In addition, to facilitate a thorough investigation of the links between organizational characteristics, entry order and performance, hypotheses were tested through the statistical analysis of unique data covering PE funds raised in Sweden over a twenty-year period. Among several novel results, this study indicates that the level of environmental uncertainty has a clear impact on which organization-specific factors explain entry order, as well as which factors impact the ability of an organization to take advantage of a chosen entry order. Furthermore, the study points at organizational reputation as an especially valuable asset in situations of uncertainty. While a good reputation does not directly lead to superior performance, it may be used in exchange for favorable entry order positions. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, 2011</p>

Titel: Översättning av Nöjd Kund Index - Verksamhetsutveckling med kundfokus på JM AB Författare: Grundström, Johan; Åberg, Filip Handledare: Blomgren, Maria Kurs: Kandidatuppsats, 15hp, Företagsekonomiska institutionen, VT 2010 Bakgrund: I samhället cirkulerar mängder av managementidéer. För att en organisation ska kunna använda en idé så måste den översätta idén till organisationens förutsättningar. Kundfokus har kommit att spela en allt viktigare roll för företagens lönsamhet vilket har lett till ett ökat kundfokus de senaste decennierna. JM AB, ett företag verksamma inom bostadsutveckling, införde år 2002 Nöjd Kund Index för att kunna mäta deras kunders nöjdhet. Hur har idén om Nöjd Kund Index översatts på företaget? Syfte: Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats är att genom en studie av JM AB beskriva hur Nöjd Kund Index översätts och hur konceptets funktioner utvecklas. Metod: En kvalitativ metod valdes, där såväl intervjuer genomförts och dokument från JM använts. Resultat: Studien visar att översättningsprocessen är en process vilken tar form och ändrar karaktär beroende på faktorer både inom och utanför företaget. Dessa processer kan pågå samtidigt och ta olika lång tid. Anledningen till att olika delar av processen tar olika långt tid beror på individers mottaglighet och referensramar. I JM:s fall har översättningen av Nöjd Kund Index medfört att konceptet fått nya funktioner vilka ännu inte institutionaliserats i företagets verksamhet. / Title: Translation of Customer Satisfaction Index - Business development with customer focus at JM Ltd Authors: Grundström, Johan; Åberg, Filip Tutor: Blomgren, Maria Course: Bachelor thesis, 15hp, Department of Business Studies, VT 2010 Background: In society, many management ideas circulate. For an organization to be able to use an idea, the organization has to translate the idea to its conditions. Customer focus has come to play an increasingly important role in organizations’ profitability which has led to an increased customer focus in recent decades. In 2002, JM Ltd, a company active within housing development, introduced Customer Satisfaction Index in order to be able to measure their customers’ satisfaction. How is Customer Satisfaction Index translated at the company? Objective: The objective of this thesis is to, through a study of JM Ltd, describe how Customer Satisfaction Index is translated and how the concept´s field of application has developed at the company. Method: A qualitative method was chosen, where both interviews conducted and documents used. Results: The study shows that the translation process is a process which takes shape and changes its character depending on factors both within and outside the company. These processes can run simultaneously and take various lengths of time. The reasons for this depend on individuals’ susceptibility and frames of reference. In the case of JM, the translation of Customer Satisfaction Index has led to new functions for the concept which not yet has been institutionalized in the company’s activities.

In society today large corporations are striving to regain the trust, which has been lost dur-ing the many accounting scandals that occurred lately. As a response to minimize the con-flicts countries have introduced codes of corporate governance. It is common knowledge that a company’s stakeholders and shareholders have different knowledge and interest in the company and the annual report is the agent’s main communication channel towards the principals. The Swedish code of corporate governance was implemented in July 2005 in an attempt to reduce the information gap between the managers of the company and the own-ers. The purpose of this thesis is to examine if and how the Swedish code of corporate govern-ance has affected the content in annual reports in Sweden. We will evaluate and explain why listed companies have changed the information provided in their annual reports from the year 2001 prior to the codes existence, during the code’s implementation in year 2005, and after the implementation in 2006. A deductive method created our research model, which was used as a tool to gather the empirical findings. Agency Theory, Institutional Theory and the Swedish code constitute the foundation for our evaluation of 65 companies’ annual reports from three individual years. Once our research model was created, an explorative and inductive method was used analyse and interpret the empirical findings. Our conclusion is that corporate governance information in annual reports has increased, and the implementation of the Swedish code of corporate governance has affected the in-formation provided to the shareholders. Between 2001 and 2005 a rapid growth in infor-mation can be view, while only minor improvement can be found between 2005 and 2006. The Swedish code has been successful in its implementation as stakeholders and share-holders have received more information from the annual reports. However, we are ques-tioning the Swedish code for its extensive dimensions. Some areas of the Swedish code are provided with sufficient guidelines, while others would bring with it improved information to the shareholders by more detailed instructions. Many of the investigated companies have had their corporate governance information reviewed by an external auditor in 2005 and it is unexpected to see that this has been excluded in 2006. The examined companies provide information regarding many of the Swedish code’s rules, but we found the information re-lated to internal control, managing director and attendance at the general meeting insuffi-cient.

This is a dissertation on organization in Swedish ice hockey based on four articles. The purpose of the thesis is to contribute knowledge on the direction, management and practice of sport using Swedish elite ice hockey as an example. Knowledge is created by examining four separate but mutually contingent aspects of organizations. Article I contributes to the overall purpose with knowledge on the professionalization of Swedish ice hockey, the reasons behind and the consequences of it. Focusing on the timeframe 1967-2000 the article highlights how norms, values and ideals changed over time and contributed to a change from ice hockey as an amateur sport based on idealistic motives and volunteer efforts to a professional sport based on entertainment and commercial forces. Article II contributes knowledge on the structural organization of Swedish elite ice hockey clubs and contributing factors. The article compares eleven elite ice hockey clubs and shows how they vary in relation to each other from low to high specialization, standardization and centralization but also how they present many similar characteristics such as organizational form, subsidiary businesses, cooperation with farm clubs and upper secondary schools, types of employments and division of workload. Article III contributes with knowledge on how organizational structures are experienced by individuals working or volunteering in the clubs. Comparing experiences in two structurally different clubs, the article shows how more developed structures are experienced more positively than less developed structures are. However, both groups agree that more developed structures are desirable and they also have similar opinions on issues concerning formal education and training, the elite program vs. the youth program, strategic vs. operative tasks and personal freedom. Article IV contributes knowledge on how experiences of mentioned structures are affected by remuneration, authority and centrality. Exploring four positions differing from each other with regard to hierarchical position, distance to the club’s core activities and payment, the article shows that individual experiences of organizational structure vary depending on where in the club the individual works. This variation is shown to result in tensions between the different positions. The knowledge offered in the thesis is based on three data collections. Data have been gathered from official and unofficial documentation from and on the Swedish sports confederation, the Swedish ice hockey association and 11 clubs represented in the highest division 2000/2001, and from individuals working or volunteering in these clubs as board members, general managers, marketing assistants, coaches, volunteers in the youth programs and arena personnel. The studies are carried out within an institutional theory framework and the analysis of the results taken together shows how the structures in elite ice hockey clubs are affected by surrounding environment and societal environments. Norms and ideals concerning legitimate ways of organizing are mediated by authorities, educational establishments, trade organizations and successful models in neighbouring industries. These norms and ideals have changed as new actors such as television networks, commercial sponsors and employed staff have entered ice hockey and as the roles of the government, the associations, the coaches and the players have changed. These ongoing changes are combining to a new context and new circumstances for the direction, management and practice of Swedish ice hockey.

Private organizations are facing organizational field pressures which need to be addressed from an economic and ethical point of view in order to be sustainable in the long term. The present research study analyzes the role of the Pharmaceutical Industry as a provider of a social good and its responsibility towards its organizational field and stakeholder network. On the one hand it is argued that the mentioned industry should be profitable in order to make investments in research and development; while on the other hand, the industry must demonstrate engagement in the social sphere because of the good it commercializes, human health care. The Role of Organizational Policies, Codes and Structure will also be studied in order to deepen the understanding of the organization strategy towards Corporate Responsibility Practices. This research project presents a case study of AstraZeneca Sweden Corporate Responsibility practices. In this study an Analytical Framework is developed based on institutional theory, the stakeholders' model, deliberative democracy model and business ethics. The mentioned framework will contribute to the understanding of AstraZeneca's Corporate Responsibility practices. The role of the company towards the demands from the outside world that causes the organization to respond and act will be addressed as well as the role of Policies, Codes and Organizational Structure in the Corporate Responsibility practice of the organization. We argue that the managerial response should be based upon a deliberative engagement method, in which all the interest parties are included in the decision making process. The study is supported by two interviews which were conducted with key actors and extensive secondary data.