While research on alternatives to growth at the level of the economy as a whole is accumulating, few studies have related the criticism of growth to the business level. This paper starts to address this gap by investigating mechanisms of growth for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), presenting a case study that applies Q methodology and interviews with owner-managers of both growing and non-growing SMEs in Austria. Some mechanisms stimulating growth are identified across SMEs including contributing to innovativeness and motivation of employees. Others are only of relevance for some SMEs: competition, financial stability and a desire for market power. The owner-managers of non-growing SMEs hold values and pursue goals that free them from mechanisms of growth or prevent them from being triggered. Moreover, they exhibit a strong identification with their SME, operate in niche markets and strive for financial independence. This illustrates that a growth imperative is neither inevitable nor are growth mechanisms always operative, but depend upon structures and institutions. / Series: SRE - Discussion Papers

This thesis is about researching methods/testing approaches to inhabiting/existing in a post-growth Norrland, the collective term for Sweden’s most northerly counties. With neo-liberal capitalism lurching from crisis to crisis, modernity, progress and the state are in trouble. Small shops close, iconic buildings are constructed, agriculture, the most vital of industries, is collapsing and competition is the watchword. If peak-oil, the consumer culture and individualism combine to lead us into a dystopian slough, what is the alternative? This work aims to investigate and show the existing conditions that are producing the current state of affairs in Norrland, with emphasis on Röbäck, one of Umeå’s agricultural satellites cum dormitory suburbs. This research will provide the necessities for dreamed proposals about a possible post-growth future, integrating alternative views of technology and modes of living with the ethos of the common and our use of shared resources.

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Yes / In this paper, we aim to contribute to the literature on post-growth futures. Modern imaginings of the future are constrained by the assumptions of growth-based capitalism. To escape these assumptions we turn to utopian fiction. We explore depictions of work in Cokaygne, a utopian tradition dating back to the 12th century, and William Morris's 19th century News from Nowhere. Cokaygne is a land of excessive consumption without work, while in News from Nowhere work is the route to the good life. These competing notions provide inspiration for a post-growth vision of work. We argue that biophysical and social dynamics mean that in a post-growth economy we are likely to have to be less productive and work more. But, this can be a utopian vision. By breaking the link between work and consumption at the level of the individual, we can remove some of the coercion in work. This would free us to do jobs that contribute to the social good, rather than generate exchange value, and empower us to fight for good work. Finally, we draw on eco-feminist analyses of capitalism to argue that by challenging labour productivity growth we can also challenge wider forces of oppression.

Cities drive some of the most urgent sustainability challenges that societies face today, including inequality, resource consumption and climate change. Meanwhile, economic growth is increasingly being viewed as a challenge for sustainable development, generating a call for post-growth transformation. In recent years, the notion of a sharing economy has spread to cities across the globe and has been adopted as a solution for addressing multiple urban sustainability challenges. The sharing economy is often associated with multinational corporations such as Airbnb and Uber, however, there is a parallel movement of emerging social practices. This study investigates the case of the multi-actor sharing economy in Gothenburg, Sweden, in order to assess the capacity of an emerging grassroots movement to contribute to economic transformation towards a post-growth model. The findings demonstrate how the grassroots movement show potential for radical change as they adopt and replicate goals and visions aligning with post-growth transformations. Further, the results show how the movement is reconfiguring urban governance relations through i) transformative leaders and ii) intermediary organizations enabling cross-sectorial actor relations to emerge. However, the findings also point to emerging risks of disempowerment and limited capacity of grassroots which induce three policy suggestions to strengthen the transformative capacity of the movement. These are to i) organize multi-actor exercises that foster collective visions, ii) support the development of co-operative business models for grassroots, and iii) establish a Community Support Centre. The study concludes that Gothenburg is an example of a type of sharing economy with potential for post-growth transformation.

Our study investigates how the organizational growth paradox is perceived and managed by incumbent firms from a degrowth perspective. There is a growing critique against the growth paradigm, an increasing support for its abandonment. Scholars are calling for a paradigm shift towards a post-growth economy. The degrowth movement has paid more attention to macroeconomics but it has been insufficiently researched on a micro level. It is viewed as being too abstract and does not provide concrete frameworks that can be applied in a business context. We address this gap by applying two theoretical frameworks, organizational paradox and degrowth theory. Then the degrowth notion is defined on a macro- and a micro-level, including relevant degrowth frameworks such as the Doughnut Economic and the Circular Economy model. Lastly, we define organizational paradoxes and possible managerial responses to them. The degrowth agenda has a variety of perspectives that range from radical to more moderate. We adopt a moderate perspective, influenced by Buch-Hansen and Nesterova (2023) and consequently, we anticipate gradual changes as incumbents adapt to a post- growth economy. We collect empirical data by conducting a case study and performing semi-structured interviews on a cooperative in Sweden’s primary food industry. In addition, we interviewed the CEO of a family-owned company operating in the same industry. Moreover, we analyze the resulting organizational paradoxes, and explore management responses. Two new paradoxes have been discovered. First, the governance paradox shows that a cooperative structure by itself, as advocated by degrowth theory, does not prevent but potentially creates paradoxical tensions. Second, the core business paradox describes a dissent between the business or product and public perception. A justification response approach in this case can endanger the business’ existence. We conclude that profitability in financial terms is key to being able to transition towards degrowth. Moreover, the governance structure of a cooperative can create paradoxical tensions which, when not managed properly, can cause other paradoxes to surface. We highlight the challenges of implementing degrowth thinking at a micro-level, as incumbents are influenced by external factors and face tensions. To achieve widespread diffusion, collaboration and shared values throughout the value chain is essential. When operating in an everchanging dynamic environment, the core business can develop into a source of paradoxical tension. We recommend the paradoxical response approach, described in the Dynamic Equilibrium model (Smith & Lewis, 2011) for managing tensions, but note the risks involved. Shifting priorities without sufficient communication and motivation can harm commitment, trust, transparency, collaboration, and employee alignment. To successfully apply consistent inconsistency, strong management skills to foster employee commitment to changing priorities are required.

Who am I to wear this? I find it crucial how an item of clothing feels when worn. Instinctively tactile, visually pleasing… but when pondering further the material confronts my skin. I wonder, whose lives are sacrificed for this garment I wear?  This paper presents the process of crafting my work together with nature, how I witness possibilities of self-sustained collaboration between organisms and human beings discovering each other and growing together in novel metabiosis. Growing my own craft through urban micro-farming - and rethinking the lifecycle of materials - I have found a path towards a “wild” mix of biodegradable methods in body- sculpted fashion. A method I call Couture Vivante, creating textiles together with non-human bodies and imagining possible futures of ethical production. Transforming natural elements into after-life craft, reforming ecosystems around symbiosis between source and wearer. The living materials are art pieces crafted as first prototypes in my research which places emphasis on wearable materials as progress-in-motion, rather than a static or finished product. This work connects to a wider context of socio-economic and ethical structural practice. My ideal is not a vision of utopia, it is a balanced flow between humans, vegetation, textile and living creatures. Here I see an expression of the importance of man's too often ignored dependency on nature and - perhaps - coming to a point where we can realise the inherent magic instead of harming it.

Post-Growth Geographies examines the spatial relations of diverse and alternative economies between growth-oriented institutions and multiple socio-ecological crises. The book brings together conceptual and empirical contributions from geography and its neighbouring disciplines and offers different perspectives on the possibilities, demands and critiques of post-growth transformation. Through case studies and interviews, the contributions combine voices from activism, civil society, planning and politics with current theoretical debates on socio-ecological transformation.

This thesis work aims at a better understanding of magneto-optical properties of dilute nitrides and II-VI diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum structures. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first part gives an introduction of the research fields, together with a brief summary of the scientific results included in the thesis. The second part consists of seven scientific articles that present the main findings of the thesis work. Below is a short summary of the thesis. Dilute nitrides have been of great scientific interest since their development in the early 1990s, because of their unusual fundamental physical properties as well as their potential for device applications. Incorporation of a small amount of N in conventional Ga(In)As or Ga(In)P semiconductors leads to dramatic modifications in both electronic and optical properties of the materials. This makes the dilute nitrides ideally suited for novel optoelectronic devices such as light emitting devices for fiber-optic communications, highly efficient visible light emitting devices, multi-junction solar cells, etc. In addition, diluted nitrides open a window for combining Si-based electronics with III-V compounds-based optoelectronics on Si wafers, promising for novel optoelectronic integrated circuits. Full exploration and optimization of this new material system in device applications requires a detailed understanding of their physical properties. Papers I and II report detailed studies of effects of post-growth rapid thermal annealing (RTA) and growth conditions (i.e. presence of N ions, N2 flow, growth temperature and In alloying) on the formation of grown-in defects in Ga(In)NP. High N2 flow and bombardment of impinging N ions on grown sample surface is found to facilitate formation of defects, such as Ga interstitial (Gai) related defects, revealed by optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR). These defects act as competing carrier recombination centers, which efficiently decrease photoluminescence (PL) intensity. Incorporation of a small amount of In (e.g. 5.1%) in GaNP seems to play a minor role in the formation of the defects. In GaInNP with 45% of In, on the other hand, the defects were found to be abundant. Effect of RTA on the defects is found to depend on initial configurations of Gai related defects formed during the growth. In Paper III, the first identification of an interfacial defect at a heterojunction between two semiconductors (i.e. GaP/GaNP) is presented. The interface nature of the defect is clearly manifested by the observation of ODMR lines originating from only two out of four equivalent <111> orientations. Based on its resolved hyperfine interaction between an unpaired electronic spin (S=1/2) and a nuclear spin (I=1/2), the defect is concluded to involve a P atom at its core with a defect/impurity partner along a <111> direction. Defect formation is shown to be facilitated by N ion bombardment. In Paper IV, the effects of post-growth hydrogenation on the efficiency of the nonradiative (NR) recombination centers in GaNP are studied. Based on the ODMR results, incorporation of H is found to increase the efficiency of the NR recombination via defects such as Ga interstitials. In Paper V, we report on our results from a systematic study of layered structures containing an InGaNAs/GaAs quantum well, by the optically detected cyclotron resonance (ODCR) technique. By monitoring PL emissions from various layers, the predominant ODCR peak is shown to be related to electrons in GaAs/AlAs superlattices. This demonstrates the role of the SL as an escape route for the carriers confined within the InGaNAs/GaAs single quantum well. The last two papers are within a relatively new field of spintronics which utilizes not only the charge (as in conventional electronics) but also the quantum mechanical property of spin of the electron. Spintronics offers a pathway towards integration of information storage, processing and communications into a single technology. Spintronics also promises advantages over conventional charge-based electronics since spin can be manipulated on a much shorter time scale and at lower cost of energy. Success of semiconductor-based spintronics relies on our ability to inject spin polarized electrons or holes into semiconductors, spin transport with minimum loss and reliable spin detection. In Papers VI and VII, we study the efficiency and mechanism for carrier/exciton and spin injection from a diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS) ZnMnSe quantum well into nonmagnetic CdSe quantum dots (QD’s) by means of spin-polarized magneto PL combined with tunable laser spectroscopy. By means of a detailed rate equation analysis presented in Paper VI, the injected spin polarization is deduced to be about 32%, decreasing from 100% before the injection. The observed spin loss is shown to occur during the spin injection process. In Paper VII, we present evidence that energy transfer is the dominant mechanism for carrier/exciton injection from the DMS to the QD’s. This is based on the fact that carrier/exciton injection efficiency is independent of the width of the ZnSe tunneling barrier inserted between the DMS and QD’s. In sharp contrast, spin injection efficiency is found to be largely suppressed in the structures with wide barriers, pointing towards increasing spin loss.

Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht das Dreiecksverhältnis zwischen ökologischer Nachhaltigkeit, wirtschaftlichem Wachstum und liberaler Demokratie und stellt fest, dass dieses sich in den westlichen Konsumgesellschaften im Angesicht der zunehmenden lebensweltlichen Manifestation der "Grenzen des Wachstums" grundlegend neu konfiguriert. Dabei zeichnen sich tatsächlich die Konturen einer "demokratischen Postwachstumsgesellschaft" ab - allerdings unter gänzlich anderen Vorzeichen, als es der überwiegende Teil der Transformationsforschung ersehnt. In der Absicht, einen Beitrag zur Rückkopplung der normativen und sich als transformativ verstehenden Teile der Nachhaltigkeitsforschung an die sozialwissenschaftliche Analyse moderner Gesellschaften zu leisten, zeigt der Beitrag zunächst, wie im Bereich umweltpolitischer und demokratiebezogener Diskurse zentrale Narrative, die über Jahrzehnte die Debatte bestimmt haben, heute ihre Glaubwürdigkeit verlieren und sich damit das Feld für eine Neujustierung der Dreiecksbeziehung eröffnet. Anschließend wird aus gesellschaftstheoretischer Perspektive ausgeleuchtet, wie die Demokratie im Zeichen moderner Subjektivitätsverständnisse und bestenfalls noch moderater Wachstumsraten zunehmend zu einem Mittel der "nachhaltigen" Verteidigung nicht-nachhaltiger Lebensstile wird. Entschiedener denn je, so zeigt sich, erheben moderne Konsumgesellschaften die "Politik der Nicht-Nachhaltigkeit" zu ihrem Prinzip.