Abstract Due to the tendency of marketization of higher education nowadays, colleges and universities in Taiwan have been more engaged in public relations and promotion activities. This research aims to study the public relations strategy and interaction between press media and universities in Kaohsiung. Hopefully the research can help the schools to promote public relations and encourage more researchers in this field in the future. Through out this research process we interviewed the managers of school public relations affairs and journalists and collected news coverage for analysis. Then we have findings and suggests as followed¡G 1. research findings¡G (1) Higher education environments have changed a lot and become more competitive nowadays. It is an urge for universities to promote public relations. (2) There are many obstacles when schools implement public relations. (3) Schools news is less appealing to media report. (4) Universities can gain more effects on public relations by using business methods. 2. suggestions¡G (1) Universities should advance the idea of promotion when launching a public relations program. (2) Universities should enhance public relations units and personnel training. (3) Schools should take a good advantage of more media coverage. (4) Schools should evaluate the effects of public relations implements. Keyword¡Ginteract¡Apublic relations¡Amarketization

This research explores through the lens of branding practices at universities how professionals in public sector spaces respond to the influence of corporate marketing practices. Specifically, this research addressed the question of how faculty perceive branding activities in higher education and their role in branding activities at the university. It also sought to understand the impact and influence of institutional attributes such as heritage and location on faculty perception of branding. The research was conducted at three Universities in Ontario Canada, which were selected based on differences in heritage and location. Marketing, organizational studies and higher education studies literature were combined highlighting the differences between product and service based marketing and the interplay between organizational identity, image and culture. My research revealed ambiguous and complex responses from faculty and highlighted the unique values and beliefs inherent in academic culture. While most faculty members appreciated the need for branding under current economic conditions, many perceived branding as representing the unwelcome encroachment of business ideology within the university which had the potential of eroding the university’s contribution to the public good. They also perceived branding as leading to changes in both the structure and culture of the university. Many faculty expressed concern that branding tended toward a claim to be everything to everyone resulting in significant gaps in authenticity; in other words between brand representations and actual practices. The findings raise questions about the applicability of existing theories of branding to higher education institutions and an academic service brand model is proposed that captures the complexity of academic responses to branding. The management implications arising from this thesis reveal that faculty members see branding as a complex balancing act combining multiple attributes and one that requires transparent communication, the cultivation of trust, accessible brand leadership and authenticity.

This research enquiry examines the extent to which managerialism has permeated the headship role in England. It analyses the literature pertaining to the changing role of headship in England, managerialism, the marketization of education and the impact that these elements have had on the headship role in England, as well as the manner in which they have impacted upon schools in general. The study also explored England’s National College for School Leadership, its headship standards and its generic headship training. The research was conducted by way of semi-structured interviews with six headteachers, two of whom were new to headship, two of whom had more than five years of experience and two of whom were retired. The sample included a mix of state school and independent school headteachers. The data revealed a stark contrast between the professional experiences of state school headteachers and independent school headteachers. The state school headteachers cited pressures of governmental interference and also noted the pressures posed by the socioeconomic background of the given school’s intake. The headteachers also expressed feeling insecure from one day to the next and there was an overriding sense of confusion predominantly due to constant changes in government directives. By contrast, any impact on the independent school headteachers from government intervention and interference was demonstrably absent.

The aim of this thesis is to conduct a case study examining the intrusion of marketplace ideals on various aspects of everyday life. In this thesis, I provide a case study of a new business in San Francisco, ReservationHop, that transforms the previously first come, first serve restaurant reservation service into an auction style scalping (resell at a higher price) system, thereby affecting the distribution of an economic service, or good. In order to investigate this phenomenon, this thesis is organized into six main sections. First, I will provide a brief introduction to the thesis, presenting my aim and purpose in writing and why I believe that this is an important topic. I then introduce ReservationHop and describe the site and its business model, the controversy that it has evoked, and the app's creator Brian Mayer's attempts to defend the app's legitimacy. Thirdly, I will provide considerations in support of the ethical permissibility of the ReservationHop business model, using two neoclassical economic arguments: consumer choice theory and the Pareto-efficiency argument. Fourthly, I will counter these arguments, claiming that this service is not a Pareto optimal improvement because it involves deception, which is incompatible with genuine Pareto optimality. In the fifth section, I will introduce my main argument against ReservationHop in which I introduce the idea that there is something inherently wrong with the service even if its deceptive characteristics were corrected for. I argue that there should be "things that money cannot buy" because unfettered marketization erodes the nonmarket value of community, or commonality. In conclusion, this thesis argues that the intrusion of marketplace values on all aspects of society should be resisted, and that we must rethink the increased influence of marketization for it crowds out other important non-market values, e.g., our sense of community solidarity.

Inequities in education have long been the driving force behind school reform movements. In efforts to desegregate schools and offer more equitable education opportunities, more privatized and marketized school systems have emerged. This movement has been referred to as neoliberalism. This term encompasses the individual’s right to make school selections based on their personal preferences or desires. Current school choice research suggests parents seek schools with better resources or curriculum, desire the social connections certain schools can offer them, or select schools based on right fit for their families. Neoliberals argue that schools will be reformed or transformed as a result of changing to meet the needs of their customers. They believe competitive school markets will lead to better education systems. However, outcomes of choice movements have been inconsistent and have not demonstrated that choice has impacted achievement or addressed educational disparities. Some argue that it has further segregated schools and has led to greater inequities, particularly for minority or disadvantaged students. Furthermore, the research suggests that access may be facilitated or hindered by an individual’s cultural or social capital. Conversely, the research on student mobility suggests that minority and disadvantaged student populations are often highly mobile students. Frequent school moves for these student groups are detrimental to their academic success and can affect their school experience on multiple levels. The result is two opposing views on how to best ensure student achievement. One view encourages movement, the other does not. This study examined the use of open-enrollment in highly-mobile, high poverty schools. The findings suggest that a connection between student mobility and use of open-enrollment exists. Additionally, the findings revealed that barriers continue to hinder true choice access and motivations for school choice differs in parents at high-poverty, high-mobility schools. The parents in this study did not exercise choice to improve academic outcomes. This is counter to the intent of school choice. Factors such as safety, happiness and relationships were more valued and sought. Moreover, school movement was often prompted by negative events resulting in situational movement. In these instances, open enrollment was utilized to facilitate a reactionary response instead of being utilized to improve achievement outcomes. Based on the results of this study, an evaluation of current school choice practices, legislation and funding may be necessary to ensure the future success of students when exercising choice opportunities.

This thesis sets out to answer how development NGOs frame climate change in the wake of the Agenda 2030 and assess what factors might be at play in shaping the universal framing of climate change as emphasized in the SDGs. While there are several factors which might influence the framing of climate change used by NGOs, this study focuses on marketization as a potential explanatory factor. By drawing on theories of marketization, organizational uncertainties and climate justice, this thesis analyzes how the two selected cases, ActionAid and Diakonia, discursively frame and communicate about the issue of climate change in material on their websites. The findings suggest that there exists a relationship between the organization’s levels of marketization and the framing of climate change. Through discourse analysis, the findings of this study point to how a lower level of marketization seems to correspond with a larger incorporation of ‘climate justice discourse’ and the adoption of the universal framing of climate change as emphasized in the SDGs. On the other hand, a higher level of marketization seems to correspond with a more traditional framing of development aid and climate change, with an emphasis on climate actions mainly targeted towards the Global South. However, as this is a comparative case-study and the first to research this specific topic, future studies are needed in order to produce more generalizable and robust results.

This dissertation examines China’s market reforms over the last few decades, and their implications for (re)shaping socioeconomic inequalities in health. Specifically, I study the effect of marketization and related structural changes at community level on individual health outcomes. The first part of this dissertation revisits the market transition theory of Nee (1989), using individual health status as the outcome variable to assess Nee’s theory. Using multiple waves of a longitudinal survey from 1991 to 2006, I compare temporal changes in the role of human capital, political capital, and state policy in determining health under marketization. In partial support of the market transition theory, the empirical results show that the significance of human capital for health increases with marketization, while the return to political capital and one’s household registration status diminishes with a growing market. Additionally, I distinguish between marketization effects on community level, and different aspects of community context in shaping the SES-health link. I find that the level of urbanization and available resources within each community exert influences on self-rated health and change the relative importance of individual socioeconomic conditions in shaping health. Overall, this study provides new longitudinal evidence from China to support the notion that health is influenced by dynamic processes moderated by the structural changes as well as the social stratification system. I discuss the findings in the context of China’s market reform, fundamental causes theory, and socio-ecological perspectives, highlighting that health is determined by a nexus of life experiences and social environment that impact individuals at different levels. / 10000-01-01

In this essay, I bring together the Swedish debate concerning tax subsidized household services – the so called RUT-deduction – with feminist care ethics, here represented mainly by philosopher Virginia Held. The first and main question asked, is how a care ethical argument against increased trade in housework can be formulated. The idea of the relational character of care as well as care representing an irreplaceable value, leads to the following argument: An increased trade in housework leads to less care and weakened care relations and this implies a loss both to individuals and to society. The second question posed, concerns the reach of the argument above: both with respect to what kind of housework that can reasonably be seen as part of the practice of care as well as within what type of relationships the idea of care practice applies. In this part I conclude that there is no ground for drawing a sharp line between housework which is, and housework which is not, part of care practice. The arguments presented are relevant for the discussion about what kind of gender equal society we should strive for. If justice is seen as a value superior to care, full time paid work for women as well as for men can be seen as a reasonable route towards gender equality. If the value of care and of care relations is placed alongside justice, other solutions than commodification of housework may be seen as needed.

abstract: In many respects, the current public child welfare system closely resembles that of over 100 years ago. Then, as well as now, nonprofit child welfare agencies are the critical providers of service delivery to vulnerable children and their families. Contemporary nonprofits, however, are confronted with social and fiscal pressures to conform to normative practices and behaviors of governmental and for-profit organizations. Simultaneously, these agencies may also feel compelled to behave in accordance with a nonprofit normative ethic. Yet, scholars and practitioners are often unaware of how these different forces may be shaping the practices of child welfare agencies and, the nonprofit sector in general. This multi-paper dissertation examines how managerial and organizational practices of child welfare nonprofits are influenced business, government, and other nonprofit organizations and the extent to which processes process of institutional isomorphism in child welfare nonprofits are happening. Data was collected from a national ample of 184 child welfare administrators to explore marketization practices, collaboration behaviors, and managerial priorities of these agencies. Multinomial logistic, ordered logistic, and ordinary least squares regression, and historical analysis help shed light on the contemporary practices of these agencies. The results reveal that these agency's behaviors are shaped by government control, influences from the business community, identification with a nonprofit mindset (i.e., nonprofitness), funding streams, and various other factors. One key finding is that identification with a nonprofit mindset encourages certain behaviors like collaboration with other nonprofits and placing greater importance on key managerial priorities, but it does not reduce the likelihood of adopting business management strategies. Another important finding is that government control and funding does not have as strong as an influence on child welfare nonprofits as expected; however, influence from the business community does strongly affect many of their practices. The implications of these findings are discussed for child welfare agencies and the nonprofit sector in general. The consequences of nonprofits operating similarly to business and government are considered. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Public Administration 2013

This thesis investigates Médécins Sans Frontières (MSF) communication in the setting of South Sudan. More precisely, the thesis investigates MSF’s engagement in a discussion regarding the potential harm NGOs, both other and themselves, might cause in terms of conflict dynamics. The thesis takes off in the perceived conflict between the adaptation of the Hippocratic Approach, as outlined by Mary B Anderson, and the increased necessity of branding in today’s humanitarian industry and seeks to understand how this might unfold in practice. Demonstrating MSF’s commitment to ideals in line with the Hippocratic Approach, which encourage self-criticism and accountability, the thesis moves on to illustrate how branding has become an inevitable measure for NGOs to remain operational. Based on previous research identifying a successful branding as information, trust and image, where self-criticism might be counter-productive, the thesis tries to identify the conflict between the two fields. The thesis sets out to uncover some of the tensions more concretely by investigating MSF’s communication in the conflict-settings of South Sudan. It does so utilizing the method Qualitative Content Analysis. The material stems from MSF’s self-published reports, reviews and articles. In conclusion, the thesis finds that MSF does engage in a discussion about harms caused by other organizations as well as harm caused by themselves. However, the harms discussed are not put in terms of conflict dynamics in South Sudan. Furthermore, the thesis identifies some disproportion in criticism towards other organizations versus self-criticism. The thesis refrains from drawing any permanent conclusions and suggest a comparative case study to better understand the tensions in NGO’s building of a Hippocratic brand.