Government increasingly contracts out public functions to the private sector. While theory about contract performance management is abundant, there is little empirical evidence on contract performance. Additionally, the public management contract literature emphasizes management strategies to produce desired performance but largely disregards how the structure of ex post contract settings influences individual contract performance. In this dissertation, I develop theory and measures to assess how structural variables influence contract performance on quality dimensions. I focus on networked structures of exchange between contracted programs and government funders and the way exchange is situated in a larger environment. The empirical basis for my dissertation is a set of government funded residential services programs for delinquent youth. The outcome variable is a measure of program quality created by the government funder. Predictor variables include competition at the program and parent organization level and the overall presence of public and nonprofit programs in the contract network. I also examine the effects of organizational form on performance. Most programs are contracted to nonprofit and for-profit organizations with a small number of programs directly provided by government. The mixed market provides an opportunity to test existing theory about organizational form and performance. I use hierarchical linear models (HLM) and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to examine how structural variables influence performance. In the HLM analysis, I find some support for my hypotheses about structural predictors of performance. In the QCA analysis, I find that effects of organizational form are conditional upon structural variables. It appears that nonprofit and public programs perform well under a variety of conditions while for-profit programs are more likely to perform acceptably when they are constrained by structural factors like competition. This dissertation makes theoretical, empirical and practical contributions to the field of public management. Following recent, scholarly tradition, I examine the changing role of government and its increasing use of the nonprofit and for-profit organizations to deliver government services. I incorporate structural theory into the contract management literature and demonstrate the structure of contract settings influences performance. I also develop formal measures of competition in contract settings. I also find that HLM and QCA can be complementary analytical tools and provide a richer picture of causal processes when used on the same dataset.

The purpose of this study was to explore key factors to consider for a Swedish Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) firm to successfully enter the Norwegian market, and examine how these factors compare to incumbent theories on foreign market establishment. The study is based on an interpretivist research design and utilizes qualitative methods in order to achieve the intended purpose. The empirics were gathered by a combination of methods, namely, an extensive literature review, a pilot-study, and a multiple-case study. The data gathering methods utilized in the pilot study were semi-structured interviews conducted with individuals with expertise in the KIBS environment, as well as participant observations. The pilot study resulted in a deeper understanding of the KIBS sector. The multiple-case study consisted of semi-structured interviews with Swedish KIBS firms that have entered the Norwegian market. The empirics have been analyzed and discussed in relation to existing literature. Consequently, several success factors and pitfalls have been identified that may aid an internationalizing firm, especially a Swedish KIBS firm entering the Norwegian market. The identified success factors were: Narrow your focus through relational embeddedness, Understand customer’s business, Educate customers, Become familiar with foreign laws, Be aware of network position, Exploit existing networks, Identify new relevant networks, Refresh and expand the network, and Ensure relational embeddedness with key actors. The identified pitfalls were: Underestimation of time and resources required, Lacking awareness of aggravating effects, Knowledge transfer problems, Failure of internally anchoring foreign ventures, Underestimation of the language barrier, Underestimation of differences in organizational structures, Underestimation of the cost of spatial distance, Underestimation of Patriotism, and Underestimation of loyalty to suppliers. Moreover, the study provided insights as to how the concepts of liability of foreignness and liability of outsidership might interplay, and thereby exert pressure on a firm's dynamic internationalization capabilities in the foreign market establishment process. As such, the need for firms and researchers to undertake a holistic view in order to avoid faulty conclusions has been discussed and visualized. / Syftet med denna studie var att utforska nyckelfaktorer för svenska KIBS-företag som vill expandera till den norska marknaden. Vidare analyserades det hur dessa faktorer relaterar till befintliga teorier inom marknadsetablering. Studien är baserad på en forskningsdesign där kvalitativa metoder används för att uppnå syftet. Empirin är insamlad via en kombination av metoder, nämligen en omfattande litteraturstudie, en pilotstudie och en flerfallsstudie. Datainsamlingsmetoderna som användes i pilotstudien var semistrukturerade intervjuer med personer som har erfarenhet inom KIBS-miljön och även deltagarobservationer. Pilotstudien resulterade i en djupare förståelse av KIBS-sektorn. Flerfallsstudien bestod av semistrukturerade intervjuer med svenska KIBS-företag som har expanderat till den norska marknaden. Empirin har analyserats och diskuterats i relation till befintlig litteratur. Utifrån analysen identifierades flertalet framgångsfaktorer samt fallgropar. Genom att belysa dessa faktorer underlättas internationaliseringen för företag, i synnerhet för svenska KIBS-företag som vill expandera till den norska marknaden. De framgångsfaktorer som identifierades var: Begränsa sin fokus genom relationell inbäddning, Förstå kundens verksamhet, Utbilda kunder, Bli bekant med utländska lagar, Var medveten om nätverksposition, Utnyttja befintliga nätverk, Identifiera nya relevanta nätverk, Uppdatera och utöka nätverket och Säkerställa relationell inbäddning med nyckelaktörer. Medan de fallgropar som identifierades var: Underskattning av tid och resurser, Bristande medvetenhet om försvårande effekter, Kunskapsöverföringsproblem, Misslyckande med att internt förankra utländsk satsning, Underskattning av språkbarriären, Underskattning av skillnader i organisationsstrukturer, Underskattning av avståndskostnader, Underskattning av patriotism och Underskattning av lojalitet mot leverantörer. Vidare har det argumenterats för att det finns ett samspel mellan koncepten liability of foreignness och liability of outsidership som sedermera sätter press på ett företags dynamiska internationaliseringsförmågor. Följaktligen har det även visualiserats samt diskuterats att företag och forskare bör vidta ett holistiskt synsätt för att undvika att dra felaktiga slutsatser i internationalseringsprocesser.