This research examines European Union (EU) policy instruments affecting the urban domain throughout the lenses of the Europeanization approach. Instead of looking at EU instruments that are formally/legally consecrated to cities, we use theoretical public policy analysis to explore the arenas and the causal mechanisms that structure the encounter between the EU and urban systems of governance. We develop the argument that there are four different modes of Europeanization. In consequence, to grasp the essence of a single instrument or a given EU initiative, one has to establish which mode is prevailing in the policy logic of that instrument or initiative. The core variables that explain change concern the status of actors’ preferences (a) and the payoffs from Europeanization (b). The combination of (a) and (b) thus originates a four dimensional space. We can therefore develop a typology for the modes of Europeanization, which chimes with current theorisations on the EU modes of governance. The eventual Europeanization of urban systems depends on the nature of strategic interaction, not on the legal ‘tools’ explicitly designated for cities. Thus, policy instruments are initially associated with the four modes. We then used process-tracing to verify whether instruments actually perform according to the ‘mode’ to which they have been initially paired, or if they trigger contingencies that have not been theoretically/deductively foreseen. This is particularly convenient within a realm – urban policies – where the EU does not have a specific formal competence and where interactions between ‘cities’ and the EU are likely to take place within multiple policy areas and during different stages of the policy process. Mechanisms are explored by considering the city of Turin. The four ‘policy instruments’ selected as proxies for the assessment of modes of Europeanization are the Covenant of Mayors programme for energy saving, directive 1994/62 (then waste framework directive) for waste management, directive 1993/30 for air quality control and the URBAN II Community Initiative for urban regeneration and development. The analysis of the four instruments reveals less variation between modes than initially expected. In this connection, theoretical similarity between modes, as emerged from the typological exercise carried out at the outset of the research, was partially echoed by the empirical analysis of policy instruments. Within cities and urban areas, the Europeanization effect is likely to assume a more blurred fashion and the action of, and reaction to, Europe is greatly interwoven with other dynamics, which in turn shape the perception and the actual impact of European modes and instruments for regulation. In the conclusions we highlight the differences between this approach and the traditional analysis of EU urban policy, and suggest avenues for future empirical research based on typologies of policy instruments.

The human kind is at risk as severe problems, such as poverty or climate change, escalate. At the root of these problems is the organization of human (economic) activity and sustainability, a simple and attracting concept that hides an ideological battle among three discourses, is pointed out as the solution. The result of this battle will dictate if we will deal with those problems by keeping all the same (market discourse), by reforming the actual system (weak sustainability discourse) or by transforming it radically (strong sustainability discourse). Sustainable entrepreneurs, as an important source of innovation, can provide cues to what kind of change we will have. Given the non-existence of previous research on the topic two research questions were defined that try to i) understand how much of the discourse of the sustainable entrepreneurs is based upon our current way of thinking and ii) identify what social mechanisms can be conditioning such discourse. Taking a critical realism stance, and understanding the tentative nature of the research, a retroductive process is used to obtain qualitative knowledge, in a cross-sectional study. Drawing from the theoretical areas of sustainability discourse, sustainable entrepreneurship, discourse and social structure a conceptual map as well as framework of reference are defined, that highlight the existence of sustainable entrepreneurs inside the social structure as well as the ways how the social structure can condition that discourse. Looking at the views of eleven sustainable entrepreneurs, collected during interviews and analysed through critical discourse analysis, it was found that the discourse of sustainable entrepreneurs is identifiable with the weak sustainability discourse, albeit some traces of strong sustainability discourse. Findings also show that the discourse is characterized by having “bipolar” normative assumptions with a set of explicit weak/strong sustainability discourse values and a set of implicit market discourse beliefs. Moreover, the discourse seems to reproduce the key features of the market discourse. Based on those findings and the analysis of the current social structure, two social mechanisms (knowledge control and collateral awareness) are hypothesized as to impact the discourse of sustainable entrepreneurs.     Future research is suggested to focus on the further analysis of the phenomenon as well as a need to create knowledge to help transform the situation. Similarly, recommendations to society and sustainable entrepreneurs are made that advocate the development and application of knowledge that is free from the market discourse.

In my dissertation I propose three counterintuitive social mechanisms to alleviate the risk that collective production will fail to maintain participant involvement and respond to demand. My first study, based on a panel dataset of edits and views of articles in the English Wikipedia, shows that, although collective production lacks a price-like mechanism to estimate demand for the goods it produces, consumers’ contributions act as such a signal to expert producers. In the second paper I examine the theory that collective production participation is greatest when social norms of collaboration are obeyed. Using a large panel dataset of production networks and normrelated behavior in Wikipedia, I show that social norm infringement is not completely detrimental to participation because norm enforcement increases the likelihood that the beneficiary producer continues participating. In my third paper, I rely on interviews with experienced Wikipedia producers to examine whether producers’ ties to non-participants in collective production increase the likelihood of turnover, and whether producers’ embeddedness in collective production reduces turnover risk. Surprisingly, I find that producers with networks rich in ties to non-producers and with a task-oriented approach to collective production are those least likely to stop participating.

[pt] De forma crescente, as empresas recorrem às alianças estratégicas para terem acesso a recursos complementares e habilidades de outras empresas. A visão atomística, de uma empresa contra a outra, dá lugar à visão relacional, de troca, de uma empresa com a outra. No entanto, tão importante quanto a escolha do parceiro ideal, é a forma como a aliança é gerida. Surge, então, um novo foco de estudo e atuação, a gestão de alianças estratégicas, ou governança corporativa. De fato, se corretamente conduzida, é o que irá possibilitar a extração do valor pretendido da parceria ao menor custo possível, ou seja, uma maior performance da aliança. Além de ser um dos temas do momento no âmbito estratégico, o estudo da governança corporativa é inédito na indústria brasileira de distribuição de combustíveis. Sendo assim, o propósito deste trabalho é investigar de que forma - leia-se quais mecanismos formais e sociais de governança adotados - as empresas distribuidoras gerem suas alianças com postos revendedores e, ainda, se a utilização de mecanismos sociais de forma complementar aos formais conduz a uma performance superior da aliança. Precisamente, as empresas distribuidoras investigadas nesta pesquisa foram a Esso e a Ipiranga. Para isso, foi realizado um levantamento das percepções (tipo survey) de 47 proprietários de postos revendedores no Estado do Rio de Janeiro e uma ampla investigação documental e telematizada. Adicionalmente, foram ouvidos os representantes dos sindicatos (das empresas distribuidoras e dos postos revendedores) e das empresas distribuidoras. Os resultados sugerem que as alianças geridas por mecanismos sociais, complementarmente aos formais, apresentam performance superior quando comparadas às alianças geridas primordialmente por mecanismos formais. / [en] Increasingly, firms establish strategic alliances to gain access to complementary resources and abilities. The competitive paradigm is being replaced by the co-operative one. However, as important as the choice for the perfect partner, is the way that this partnership is managed - governance. In fact, the governance, if well implemented, enables firms in an alliance to work closely without the need for costly formal hierarchical controls - better alliance performance. Besides its importance, the issue - governance - has not been studied in the Brazilian fuel industry. Hence the objective of this study: to examine how wholesalers in this industry manage their alliances with their partners - service stations, analysing the different kinds of governance mechanisms used - social and formal. The investigation involved a survey of the perceptions of the service station dealers as well as interviews with the wholesaler managers. The results suggest that the use of social mechanisms, as a complement to the formal ones, can enhance alliance performance.

Cette thèse analyse un processus de changement institutionnel graduel défini comme la fédéralisation de la gouvernance de l’immigration et de l’intégration. Ce processus s’est déroulé au Canada entre 1990 et 2010. Il a comme caractéristique centrale la croissance des activités en immigration et en intégration de tous les gouvernements provinciaux ainsi que le maintien parallèle d’activités du gouvernement fédéral. L’argument central défendu est que les provinces ont joué un rôle de déclencheur et de mainteneurs dans ce processus, qui ne peut donc pas s’expliquer uniquement par une volonté fédérale de décentraliser la gouvernance de l’immigration. L’analyse démontre que la fédéralisation est le résultat de l’interaction, dans le temps, de deux mécanismes : la construction provinciale et la décentralisation. Centrale à cette démonstration est la mise en lumière de l’existence d’une variation structurée dans les politiques, programmes et discours provinciaux en matière d’immigration et d’intégration. En effet, la thèse s’ancre dans la démonstration empirique de quatre modes d’intervention en immigration et en intégration : 1) holistique (Québec et Manitoba), 2) réactif (Ontario et Colombie-Britannique), 3) passerelle (Alberta et Saskatchewan) ainsi que 4) attraction-rétention (provinces atlantiques). Malgré ces différences, l’analyse montre qu’une similarité est partagée par les dix provinces : une conception de l’immigration comme ressource pour la société provinciale. Le retraçage du processus de fédéralisation s’effectue par le biais d’études de cas des trajectoires provinciales, au sein desquelles il est possible d’observer le fonctionnement et les interactions des deux mécanismes. L’analyse montre que le positionnement temporel des provinces dans le processus de fédéralisation explique en partie les différences dans les modes d’interventions en immigration et en intégration qu’elles ont développés. Plus largement, l’analyse met en lumière l’importance de tenir compte de l’évolution du contexte fédéral pour comprendre la mise en mouvement du mécanisme de construction provinciale en immigration dans les dix provinces canadiennes entre 1990 et 2010. Les contributions de cette thèse sont les suivantes. Premièrement, nous montrons l’efficacité d’une analyse institutionnelle historique centrée sur les processus de changements institutionnels graduels pour l’étude du fédéralisme et des politiques publiques au Canada. Deuxièmement, nous effectuons une contribution empirique en retraçant et comparant les trajectoires contemporaines des 10 provinces en ce qui a trait au développement de politiques et d’institutions liées à l’immigration et à l’intégration, à l’aide d’entretiens, de l’analyse de documents officiels et de documents d’archives. Troisièmement, notre analyse démontre qu’une analyse mécanistique permet de revitaliser la notion de construction provinciale en augmentant sa portabilité et sa portée explicative. / This dissertation analyzes a process of gradual institutional change defined as a federalization of the governance of Canada’s immigration and integration regime. This process of change unfolded gradually between 1990 and 2010. Its central feature was the growth of the activities of the ten provincial governments in the domains of immigration and integration, coupled with the maintenance of federal activities in these same policy areas. The central argument defended in this dissertation is that provinces acted both as central triggering agents of this process of institutional change, as well as the maintainers of this process Thus, federalization cannot be understood solely as the result of federal decisions to decentralize Canada’s immigration and integration regime. Instead, the analysis shows that this change is the result of the interaction – in time – of two mechanisms: province building and decentralization. Central to this argument is the existence of a structured variation in provincial policy responses, which hints at provincial agency within a specific institutional regime. Indeed, the dissertation’s central argument is rooted in the empirical demonstration of four contemporary modes of intervention in immigration and integration: 1) holistic (Quebec and Manitoba), 2) reactive (Ontario and British Columbia), 3) bridging (Alberta and Saskatchewan), 4) attraction-retention (Atlantic Provinces). Despite this structured variation, one similarity is shared by all of the provinces: a conception of immigration as a resource for provincial societies. Process-tracing methodologies are used to follow the unfolding of the federalization process, focusing on ten provincial trajectories. This method makes it possible to document the activities and interactions of the two mechanisms in time. The analysis demonstrates that the timing of each province’s engagement in the federalization process partially explains the specificities of their mode of intervention in immigration and integration. More broadly, the analysis highlights important connections between the evolution of Canadian federalism and the activation of a province building mechanism centered on immigration in Canada between 1990 and 2010. The dissertation makes three contributions. First, it demonstrates the relevance of the historical institutionalist approach, particularly of work focused on gradual processes of institutional change, for the study of Canadian federalism and public policy. Second, the dissertation makes an empirical contribution by comparing ten provincial trajectories of policy development over a twenty-year period, using interviews, official documents and archival materials. Third, the dissertation contributes to a revitalization of the concept of province building by showing that recasting it as a social mechanism can increase both its portability and its explanatory power.

Cette thèse analyse un processus de changement institutionnel graduel défini comme la fédéralisation de la gouvernance de l’immigration et de l’intégration. Ce processus s’est déroulé au Canada entre 1990 et 2010. Il a comme caractéristique centrale la croissance des activités en immigration et en intégration de tous les gouvernements provinciaux ainsi que le maintien parallèle d’activités du gouvernement fédéral. L’argument central défendu est que les provinces ont joué un rôle de déclencheur et de mainteneurs dans ce processus, qui ne peut donc pas s’expliquer uniquement par une volonté fédérale de décentraliser la gouvernance de l’immigration. L’analyse démontre que la fédéralisation est le résultat de l’interaction, dans le temps, de deux mécanismes : la construction provinciale et la décentralisation. Centrale à cette démonstration est la mise en lumière de l’existence d’une variation structurée dans les politiques, programmes et discours provinciaux en matière d’immigration et d’intégration. En effet, la thèse s’ancre dans la démonstration empirique de quatre modes d’intervention en immigration et en intégration : 1) holistique (Québec et Manitoba), 2) réactif (Ontario et Colombie-Britannique), 3) passerelle (Alberta et Saskatchewan) ainsi que 4) attraction-rétention (provinces atlantiques). Malgré ces différences, l’analyse montre qu’une similarité est partagée par les dix provinces : une conception de l’immigration comme ressource pour la société provinciale. Le retraçage du processus de fédéralisation s’effectue par le biais d’études de cas des trajectoires provinciales, au sein desquelles il est possible d’observer le fonctionnement et les interactions des deux mécanismes. L’analyse montre que le positionnement temporel des provinces dans le processus de fédéralisation explique en partie les différences dans les modes d’interventions en immigration et en intégration qu’elles ont développés. Plus largement, l’analyse met en lumière l’importance de tenir compte de l’évolution du contexte fédéral pour comprendre la mise en mouvement du mécanisme de construction provinciale en immigration dans les dix provinces canadiennes entre 1990 et 2010. Les contributions de cette thèse sont les suivantes. Premièrement, nous montrons l’efficacité d’une analyse institutionnelle historique centrée sur les processus de changements institutionnels graduels pour l’étude du fédéralisme et des politiques publiques au Canada. Deuxièmement, nous effectuons une contribution empirique en retraçant et comparant les trajectoires contemporaines des 10 provinces en ce qui a trait au développement de politiques et d’institutions liées à l’immigration et à l’intégration, à l’aide d’entretiens, de l’analyse de documents officiels et de documents d’archives. Troisièmement, notre analyse démontre qu’une analyse mécanistique permet de revitaliser la notion de construction provinciale en augmentant sa portabilité et sa portée explicative. / This dissertation analyzes a process of gradual institutional change defined as a federalization of the governance of Canada’s immigration and integration regime. This process of change unfolded gradually between 1990 and 2010. Its central feature was the growth of the activities of the ten provincial governments in the domains of immigration and integration, coupled with the maintenance of federal activities in these same policy areas. The central argument defended in this dissertation is that provinces acted both as central triggering agents of this process of institutional change, as well as the maintainers of this process Thus, federalization cannot be understood solely as the result of federal decisions to decentralize Canada’s immigration and integration regime. Instead, the analysis shows that this change is the result of the interaction – in time – of two mechanisms: province building and decentralization. Central to this argument is the existence of a structured variation in provincial policy responses, which hints at provincial agency within a specific institutional regime. Indeed, the dissertation’s central argument is rooted in the empirical demonstration of four contemporary modes of intervention in immigration and integration: 1) holistic (Quebec and Manitoba), 2) reactive (Ontario and British Columbia), 3) bridging (Alberta and Saskatchewan), 4) attraction-retention (Atlantic Provinces). Despite this structured variation, one similarity is shared by all of the provinces: a conception of immigration as a resource for provincial societies. Process-tracing methodologies are used to follow the unfolding of the federalization process, focusing on ten provincial trajectories. This method makes it possible to document the activities and interactions of the two mechanisms in time. The analysis demonstrates that the timing of each province’s engagement in the federalization process partially explains the specificities of their mode of intervention in immigration and integration. More broadly, the analysis highlights important connections between the evolution of Canadian federalism and the activation of a province building mechanism centered on immigration in Canada between 1990 and 2010. The dissertation makes three contributions. First, it demonstrates the relevance of the historical institutionalist approach, particularly of work focused on gradual processes of institutional change, for the study of Canadian federalism and public policy. Second, the dissertation makes an empirical contribution by comparing ten provincial trajectories of policy development over a twenty-year period, using interviews, official documents and archival materials. Third, the dissertation contributes to a revitalization of the concept of province building by showing that recasting it as a social mechanism can increase both its portability and its explanatory power.

O núcleo desta dissertação é desenvolver um conceito de path dependence mais parcimonioso, coerente e útil, seja teoricamente ou em estudos empíricos. Neste sentido, o insight fundamental é que se partimos de uma conceitualização mais dinâmica, baseada mais em externalidades negativas do que em rendimentos crescentes, o conceito de path dependence pode ser inerentemente mais operacionalizável, robusto e ressoar melhor com a literatura e os estudos Institucionalistas Históricos. O conceito de path dependence pode também ser mais compatível com várias elaborações realizadas dentro do próprio Institucionalismo Histórico sobre questões como mudança institucional, mecanismos explicativos, complementaridade, idéias e agência, e, portanto, enriquecer-se graças aos mesmos. / The objective of this dissertation is to develop a more parsimonious, coherent and useful concept of path dependence, both theoretically and empirically. Its fundamental insight is that with a more dynamic conceptualization, based more in negative externalities than in increasing returns, the concept of path dependence can be inherently more robust and resonate better with the literature and Historical Institutionalist studies. The concept of path dependence can also be more compatible with several theoretical developments which have arisen within Historical Institutionalism regarding questions such as institutional change, social mechanisms, complementarities, ideas, agency and, therefore, to be enriched by them.

[pt] Os aspectos que influenciam e/ou condicionam a dinâmica das trocas de conhecimento, aprendizagem e desenvolvimento do capital intelectual nas organizações constituem assunto de suma importância para a sobrevivência de empresas de qualquer setor ou indústria. Pesquisas recentes sugerem a adequação do tradeoff a que se submetem empreendedores individuais que decidem fazer parte de um sistema de franquias. Os franqueados aceitam repassar parte de seus lucros ao franqueador, na forma de taxas e royalties, em troca do acesso ao conhecimento restrito aos membros da rede. Os fatores críticos capazes de influenciar a transferência de conhecimento organizacional dizem respeito aos mecanismos formais e informais que criam as condições favoráveis às trocas na organização (ou entre organizações que fazem parte de uma rede). O presente estudo tem como objetivo a investigação da percepção de membros de uma rede brasileira de franquias intensiva em conhecimento quanto aos fatores por eles considerados críticos para que a transferência de conhecimento em rede se dê. Para tanto, por meio de uma pesquisa qualitativa, que se valeu de entrevistas em profundidade – realizadas entre dezembro de 2010 e maio de 2011 com 15 (quinze) franqueados – e dados percentuais observados a partir de um questionário – aplicado por email enviado a todos os franqueados da rede investigada – realizou-se o estudo de caso aqui demonstrado. Alguns indícios ficaram, então, evidentes, quanto à percepção dos franqueados brasileiros, que compreendem dois principais grupos de fatores críticos para a dinâmica da transferência de conhecimentos em rede: fatores estruturais essenciais e fatores críticos incrementais. / [en] Aspects that influence and/ or represent the conditions to realize knowledge exchange, learning and development of the intellectual capital within the organizations constitute a topic of utmost importance to the survival of enterprises at any segment or industry. Recent surveys suggest the adequacy of the tradeoff to which individual entrepreneurs submit when they take the decision of becoming part of a franchising system. The franchisees accept to pass on part of their profits to a franchisor, in the format of fees and royalties in exchange to access knowledge restricted to the members of the network. The critical factors, able to influence the transference of organizational knowledge, refer to formal and informal mechanisms that build up favorable conditions to exchanges within the organization (or among organizations of a network). The present study investigates the perception of the members of a Brazilian franchising chain, knowledge intensive, regarding the factors they consider to be critical to promote the transference of knowledge within this network. To reach this objective we developed a case study. In a qualitative research we made use of personal interviews in depth – carried out from December 2010 to May 2011 with 15 (fifteen) franchisees – and percentage data observed from a questionnaire – sent by email to all franchisees of that network. Some factors became then evident regarding the perception of Brazilian franchisees regarding critical factors for knowledge transference within a network: a group of structural essential factors and a group of critical incremental factors were distinguished. This study presents evidences that, for Brazilian franchisees, social linkages are determining factors when it comes to transferring knowledge within a network.

O núcleo desta dissertação é desenvolver um conceito de path dependence mais parcimonioso, coerente e útil, seja teoricamente ou em estudos empíricos. Neste sentido, o insight fundamental é que se partimos de uma conceitualização mais dinâmica, baseada mais em externalidades negativas do que em rendimentos crescentes, o conceito de path dependence pode ser inerentemente mais operacionalizável, robusto e ressoar melhor com a literatura e os estudos Institucionalistas Históricos. O conceito de path dependence pode também ser mais compatível com várias elaborações realizadas dentro do próprio Institucionalismo Histórico sobre questões como mudança institucional, mecanismos explicativos, complementaridade, idéias e agência, e, portanto, enriquecer-se graças aos mesmos. / The objective of this dissertation is to develop a more parsimonious, coherent and useful concept of path dependence, both theoretically and empirically. Its fundamental insight is that with a more dynamic conceptualization, based more in negative externalities than in increasing returns, the concept of path dependence can be inherently more robust and resonate better with the literature and Historical Institutionalist studies. The concept of path dependence can also be more compatible with several theoretical developments which have arisen within Historical Institutionalism regarding questions such as institutional change, social mechanisms, complementarities, ideas, agency and, therefore, to be enriched by them.

Диссертационная работа посвящена изучению направлений и тенденций профессиональной мобильности поствузовской молодежи в индустриальном регионе, а также механизмов ее государственного регулирования. Эмпирическую базу исследования составили результаты авторского комплексного социологического исследования выпускников вузов Свердловской области (N=300) и экспертов – специалистов в области молодежной политики и регулирования занятостью, в работе были использованы нормативно-правовые акты РФ, государственные федеральные и региональные программы, документы, регулирующие профессиональную мобильность в России и регионах. С позиции интегративного подхода профессиональная мобильность выпускников вузов определена автором как интеграция и перемещения выпускников вузов в социально-профессиональной структуре общества с изменением или без изменения социального статуса (в том числе, профессиональный и карьерный рост), происходящие в результате взаимодействия объективных условий жизнедеятельности молодежи и ее субъективных жизненных и профессиональных намерений. Выделены и проанализированы внешние (нормативно-правовые акты, образование, рынок труда, инновации и технологический прогресс) и внутренние (мотивационный потенциал и профессиональное самоопределение) социальные механизмы регулирования профессиональной мобильности. Выявлены проблемы, негативно влияющие на профессиональную мобильность молодежи в Свердловской области: практика неофициального трудоустройства, трудоустройства не по полученной в университете профессии, низкая информированность и мотивированность молодежи к участию в государственных программах, направленных на активизацию профессиональных перемещений. Разработана эмпирическая типология выпускников Свердловской области на основе характера трудоустройства (по специальности/ не по специальности) и степени удовлетворенности работой. В заключении представлены рекомендации, которые могут быть использованы муниципальными органами управления для повышения эффективности регулирования профессиональной мобильности в Свердловской области. / The thesis is devoted to the study of trends in professional mobility of post-graduate youth in the industrial region, as well as the mechanisms of its state regulation. The empirical base of the study was the results of the author’s comprehensive sociological study of graduates of the universities of the Sverdlovsk region (N = 300) and experts - specialists in the field of youth policy and employment regulation; the regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation, state federal and regional programs, and documents regulating professional mobility in Russia and regions. Using the integrative approach author defined the professional mobility of university graduates as their integration and movement in the socio-professional structure of society with or without changing social status (including professional and career growth) resulting from the interaction between objective conditions of youth’s life and their subjective professional intentions. External (normative legal acts, education, labor market, innovations and technological progress) and internal (motivational potential and professional self-determination) social mechanisms for regulating professional mobility are identified and analyzed. The problems that negatively affect the professional mobility of youth in the Sverdlovsk region were identified: the practice of informal employment, employment not in the profession received at the university, low awareness and motivation of young people to participate in government programs aimed at enhancing professional movements. An empirical typology of graduates of the Sverdlovsk region based on the nature of employment (in the specialty / not in the specialty) and the degree of job satisfaction is developed. The conclusion presents recommendations that can be used by municipal authorities to improve the regulation of professional mobility in the Sverdlovsk region.