Disasters can occur anywhere in the world and when they do, human lives as well as infrastructure are affected in diverse ways. The impact of disasters usually warrant an immediate response from aid agencies because human lives are at stake and that is where humanitarian logistics comes into play. Humanitarian organizations involved in relief efforts have an enormous task of responding to emergencies in a very swift manner and are constantly seeking for new and innovative ways to reach their beneficiaries with utmost satisfaction. One way of doing this is through collaboration and engaging in partnerships with private sector companies. Given the fact that humanitarian organizations and private sector companies operate in different sectors, such partnerships could be challenging yet beneficial in diverse ways. The purpose of this thesis was to analyze the cross-sector partnership between humanitarian organizations and the private sector. In order to achieve this aim, a frame of reference was developed with an operational partnership model and theory whislt examining and contrasting both humanitarian and business supply chains. Our methodology involved both primary and secondary data collection with empirical data collected from two private companies and one humanitarian organization. Data collected for the study were then analyzed in relation to the literature and models outlined in the frame of reference. The results of the study showed that the partnerships between the firms of the two sectors studied were philanthropic, long-term and mutually beneficial in diverse ways. Whilst the private companies benefit through improvements in Corporate Social Responsibility, creating public awareness of their corporate image, and brand among other benefits by engaging in the partnership, humanitarian organizations on the other hand, partner with companies which fit their expressed needs and gain benefits in both monetary and non-monetary terms. Moreover, knowledge transfer through the sharing of skills, experiences, resources and expertise are also very important elements which add to the benefits gained by both partners. In addition, the findings obtained from the respondents of the study demonstrated that trust, personal connection, regular communication and working together are very important elements which can be considered as critical success factors which sustain partnerships.

The concept of partnership has emerged to highlight donor-recipient relationships within international development, where both large and small actors has adopted the concept that defines a contractual relationship on equality where partners have chosen to work collaboratively with agreed objectives, roles, and responsibilities. However, a common cited constraint to the formation of partnerships is the distorted power relationship in the form of e.g. differences in resources, motives and control between Northern and Southern partners. The overall aim of this study is to show how the partnership rhetoric is reflected in the development cooperation between Swedish Forum Syd and two of their partner organisations in Tanzania under prevailing circumstances. In doing so, the study focuses on theories of legitimacy, resource-dependency and social control. Linked to the empirical results of the studied partnerships, the thesis attempts to examine whether a desired authentic partnership discourse really has been possible to accomplish on the ground or not. Three qualitative methods have been used in this study, semi-structured interviews, ethnographic text analyses, and participant observations. The results that have been analysed with the theoretical framework of choice, shows that it is difficult to form any "authentic partnership" when there are differences regarding power, motives, needs and access to information between the partners, which in turn are the result of scarcity of resources and the dependency on them.

This research work as part of a Master thesis aims to analyse the potential influence of outsourced logistics function on supply chain management from a strategic perspective. To carry out this thesis work a survey is designed to collect all the necessary data, in order to investigate the influence of outsourced logistics activities. The survey targets professionals in the area of logistics from Sweden and France, a response rate of 10% and 36% has been respectively obtained. A statistical analysis has been realized by using the ANOVA method which allows us to evaluate statistically significant results. Hence the analysis carried out answersthe research questions formulated.Our findings have shown a similar trend in Sweden and France on the outsourced logistics activities; mainly transportation and custom brokerage respectively at 80% and 60% are outsourced. According to the responses obtained from the survey, these activities tend to influence supply chain management and its strategy.As for example in Sweden, outsourcing transportation tends to initiate a need of organizational collaboration for an effective supply chain. The following functions such as warehousing, inventory control, order processing, product assembly, reverse logistics and information technology are less outsourced. However we noticed an increase in their use and importance on supply chain management. This can be explained by the recent and significant developments in the field of Information Technology, as well as the growing importance of sustainability for firms. For example for Swedish organizations, outsourcing order processing seems to lead to a focus on responsive supply chain, to use of postponement strate gies and an importance in collaboration across the supply chain. Results are different for companies in France as the main influence of outsourcing logistics activities is more on seen the supply chain as a whole with a great importance in partnership and an interest in standardization of method and re-engineering the supply chain as well as in a sustainable way.For further research work, it will be immensely appealing to develop a framework that defines strategies and managerial issues within the supply chain, considering outsourced logistics functions. Moreover, this research work can be carried out by using different methodologies such as the use of interviews.

Offentliga aktörer styrs allt mer mot att tillsammans möta och finna lösningar på framtida utmaningar. Samverkan blir ett sätt för berörda parter att samordna resurser, dela kompetenser och formulera gemensamma plattformar och åtgärder. Exempel på sådana aktörer är kommuner och universitet eller högskolor, som bl.a. samverkar kring kompetensförsörjning, forskning och regional utveckling. Den här typen av samverkan ligger utanför aktörernas formella beslutsordning, vilket gör att de tillsammans måste komma överens om former för hur samverkan kan organiseras och styras. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur samverkan mellan universitet och kommun organiseras och styrs. Som teoretiskt perspektiv används nätverksstyrning. Det empiriska underlaget utgörs av en fallstudie där analysobjektet är ett samarbetsavtal mellan Norrköpings kommun och Linköpings universitet, kallat Lyskraft. Fallstudien används för att undersöka hur organisation och styrning av samverkan genom nätverksstyrning kan förstås. Analysen grundar sig på fyra centrala begrepp inom teorin om nätverksstyrning: motiv, ömsesidighet, struktur och resultat. Motiven till samverkan relateras mycket till etableringen av ett campus i kommunen samt till viljan att skapa en ”kunskapsbro” mellan parterna. När det gäller ömsesidighet tar den sig bl.a. uttryck i viljan att utveckla campus och skapa förutsättningar för studenterna att dels bedriva studier och dels komma ut i arbetslivet. Men det finns också ett djupt förtroende och en ömsesidig vilja att upprätthålla samarbetet. Strukturen kring samarbetet består i ett formellt ramavtal, en basfinansiering, en beslutande ledningsgrupp med beredande sakområdesgrupper, kontaktpersoner med ansvar för det löpande arbetet samt rutiner för dokumentation och uppföljning. Mötesplatserna har en viktig funktion som kontaktförmedlare och dörröppnare, medan finansiering och implementering av gemensamma aktiviteter snarare sköts av respektive parts ordinarie verksamheter än i en gemensam utförarorganisation. Resultaten är flera, och kan beskrivas dels som konkreta projekt och aktiviteter och dels som mer mjuka värden som förtroende, tillit och öppna kontaktvägar. Studien visar att det stora värdet med samverkan är att genom förtroendeskapande kontakter, identifiering av gemensamma motiv av ömsesidigt intresse samt regelbundna mötesplatser lägga grunden för konkreta samverkansaktiviteter i nästa led, på operativ nivå i respektive organisation.

With the increasing understaning of the need for sustainable development, many are finding that existing systems of governance are not sufficiently complex to solve the environmental crisis (see Glasbergen, 2011; Brown et al., 2009). As a result, the recent years has seen the rise of public-private participation, strengthened by the endorsement of the concept by the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 (Andonova, 2010). In Europe, the concept of collaboration between state and private sector has been further endorsed by EUCETSA and former SWENTEC. Using a literature review to establish a theoretical basis, the study then embarks on a qualitative case-study of regional environmental technology networks. This study investigates the motivations causing the companies and networks to go into partnership with one another, and whether these motivations conflict. It also aims to find the perceived benefits of cooperation and the perceived end goals. The study finds that motivations for entering into partnership often seem to be business opportunity-oriented, although elements of risk, values, legal compliance and using existing capabilities also play a large role.

The aim is to describe how to build a foundation of resources in RBSUs by addressing the issues of access to and control on resources in order to understand this context and to further develop the language of RBSUs. The research lies in the interpretative field of inquiry. Abduction is used to combine empirical data with theoretical studies in order to try to investigate patterns that could give an understanding of the phenomena that is studied. Descriptive research approach using multiple-case study design is used. The first part of the theoretical frame of references explores existing theories on resources. This leads to RBSUs basic resources. The second part explores different means for accessing and controlling resources. The chosen approach is qualitative. Interviews have been conducted for data collection. Documents are gathered and analyzed to support the interviews. Following each stage of RBSUs development, it is described what resources are the most important ones to each RBSU and how they got access to and control over those resources. The major contribution is that RBSUs access and control their basic resources in different ways depending on the stage of the RBSU development. In addition, the findings describe and allow understanding how RBSUs‟ founders make their choices when it comes to build a foundation of resources in each of those stages.

<p>The global diffusion of neoliberal economic policies is one of the most significant events in modern history. This research applies current knowledge on policy diffusion to the analysis of the diffusion of two major neoliberal urban policies among Chinese cities, namely land banking and privatization of urban infrastructures. Both policies are believed to have contributed greatly to the rapid growth of China's urban economy, and reflect the idea of capitalizing a city's tangible assets and utilizing market institutions to manage them so as to achieve economic gains. </p><p>Borrowing insights from existing diffusion theories developed by scholars from different background, this research explores the determinants of the policy innovation decisions by utilizing three theoretical models: (1) The internal determinants model, which presumes that the factors causing a local state to adopt a new policy are political, economic, and social characteristics of the local state. (2) The regional diffusion model, which posits that the geographical proximity affects diffusion by encouraging emulation and competition among neighboring states. (3) Institutional diffusion model, which proposes that a new policy may be adopted to prove the legitimacy of the organization, to cope with environment uncertainties by modeling others, to conform to the will of other organizations on which the adopters depend. </p><p>This study emphasizes the role of the Chinese states, both at the central and local levels, in building neoliberal market institutions. It pays particular attention to the effects of provincial governments' pressure, and shows that local states' dependency on higher level authorities has limited the effectiveness of such interventions. Moreover, I highlight the influence of horizontal intergovernmental relations, such as competition and emulation, on the diffusion processes, and argue that it is an important factor that has promoted the national-wide expansion of neoliberal policies. The results of this study enrich our understanding on how local policy makings are influenced by complex intergovernmental relations, and how do local states balance between local economic interests and political loyalty to higher levels when they formulate local development agenda.</p> / Dissertation

The partnership between China and Africa at the Cold War era was built on ¡¥¡¦Non-Aligned Movement¡¦¡¦. 1978 China launched economic reform and devoted to national economic development. Until China was being isolated in the international society because of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, China turned diplomatic dipolicy to Africa. Besides, with rapid economic development, China¡¦s energy demand keeps increasing. Therefore, China¡¦s interest in Africa has changed. In addition to search supports from developing countries in the international society, China¡¦s economic and energy interest is getting more and more important in Africa. This research will analyse China¡¦s national interest and strategy in African Policy. China self indentifys as a big developing country and emphasizes the equal status with African countries. Hence, China establishes ¡¥¡¥Forum on China¡VAfrica Cooperation¡¦¡¦ in 2000 and ¡¥¡¦New China-Africa strategic Partnership¡¦¡¦ in 2006 in order to incite China and Africa relationship by regular summit. Furthermore, China tries to strengthen bilateral economics and trade cooperations, to continue working on the ¡§South-South Cooperation¡¨ under multilateral diplomacy with African countries, and to reinforce soft power in Africa by ¡§Cutural Diplomacy¡¨. So that, China-Africa relationship could be profound and enduring.

In the beginning of 1990, there is a trend of thought, ¡§public-private partnership¡¨. Public departments hope to cooperate with private departments with a view to establishing another partnership. There is an internationally-distinguished public art, Dome of Light, at the intersection, MRT Formosa Boulevard Station, of two lines. The MRT Formosa Boulevard Station created a new space and a new landmark in Kaohsiung. The cooperative system of universities and industries collaboratively constructed a learning-typed space, the Corridor of MRT Formosa Boulevard Station. With the horizontally two-way communication participation forming a consensus, the cooperative system of universities and industries is mutually in charge of responsibilities and shares in advantages so as to create values of sustainability for the society. Providing artistic performances, the Corridor of MRT Formosa Boulevard Station has altered the public¡¦s impressions on making use of the space of MRT Formosa Boulevard Station. The research explores the public¡¦s attitude about learning space and was done by attitudinal theory made by Sears, Peplan and Taylor(1991). The statistic analysis of the research is done by descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA and the related materials. There are four purposes of the research. The first purpose is to know if the public knows the implementation of the construction of the learning-typed space collaboratively created by the partnership of public and private departments. The second is to know the public¡¦s impressions on making use of the learning space, including the relevant curricula, symposia, activities and showcase artistic works. Furthermore, the purpose three is to know the public¡¦s contentment after the participation. Finally, the fourth explores obvious relation between interviewee¡¦s knowing and background information. After the self-made questionnaires were revised by the professionals and analyzed by efficiency and credibility, they became formal. There are 296 effective questionnaires, and the questionnaire retrieval is at 98.66%. The research includes two assumptions: (1)Assuming that the interviewee¡¦s knowing of the Corridor of MRT Formosa Boulevard has obvious differences between behavioral intentions. (2)Assuming that the interviewee¡¦s impressions on the Corridor of MRT Formosa Boulevard have obvious differences between behavioral intentions. The research has discovered that it effectively changed the impressions on the use of the MRT space by the continuing education of Open University of Kaohsiung and the activities of public departments. In the aspects of conclusions and suggestions, I hope KRTC to open a channel of communication for cooperatives in order that the both can advantage by horizontally and friendly two-way interaction. I suggest that the Corridor of KMRT Formosa Boulevard center on the industry of health service, the information of relaxing tours combining art, and the curricula of spiritual development. Let people in the fast-paced city have a secret base to relax. Let busy people set out on a journey! Re-depart¡K!

The era of economic globalization drove by information technology, but global governing mechanism is still in progress, so regional and inter-regional cooperation are the most welcomed options to shape inter-state relations at present, inter alia, the inter-regional cooperation of European Union and ASEAN. This Research is based on neo-functionalism to analysis the ramification effects of interactions between European Union and ASEAN through the sector of natural resources, economic, trade, investment. and regional development. With the success on functional cooperation, European Union and ASEAN negotiate on the policies which may push the functional cooperation spill-over to political aspects, namely Comprehensive Partnership.