Influencing factors on train punctuality—results from some Norwegian studies

This paper discusses the concept of train punctuality, influencing factors and some strategies for improving punctuality. The purpose of the paper is to give an overview of important elements to consider in the preparation of train punctuality improvements, supported by empirical results from studies in Norway. A high capacity utilisation is widely assumed to reduce punctuality. However, the studies from the Oslo area show that capacity utilisation alone cannot explain all variations in punctuality during the day. We particularly point to the number of passengers in the trains as an additional explanation factor. Our own and previous research seems to imply that the key success factor for punctuality on local and regional trains in congested areas is the management of boarding and alighting passengers. On single track lines, such as long distance lines and regional lines in not congested areas, the key success factor seems to lie in the management of train crossings. The paper also discusses precision versus slack strategies as means of improving punctuality. Future research on influencing factors for train punctuality aimed at developing a model for punctuality prediction is proposed.     

The landlord lag – productivity on peasant farms and landlord demesnes during the agricultural revolution in Sweden 1700–1860

In a longstanding debate among economic historians about the role of the peasants and the manors in the agrarian transformation, a variety of qualitative and quantitative indicators have been used, but no one has until now been able to compare the actual production outcomes. In this paper, we investigate the land productivity development for manorial demesnes and peasant farmers, respectively, over the course of the agricultural revolution. The sources used are unique in an international perspective and consists of tithes on individual farm level for 34 parishes in Scania, covering over 2500 peasant farms, which are compared with production data for 20 manorial demesnes.

The study generates vital information on the process of agricultural transformation and its leading actors. We assess the implications of the productivity development for the total production, and the spectacular growth in this under the agricultural revolution, by calculating production and surplus among the different types of cultivators. Our results show that the landlords gained a small advantage in the middle of the 1700s, but in the century to come, they lagged behind in terms of land productivity. A large peasantry cultivating the majority of the land did not constitute an obstacle to growth, but rather the reverse.     

Trust and Brand Recovery Campaigns in Crisis: Findus Nordic and the Horsemeat Scandal

The aim of this study is to describe and analyze a transboundary crisis, focusing on crisis communication from the perspective of an involved major corporation. More concretely, the intent is to increase understanding of how Findus Nordic in Sweden managed the crisis communication response and repair of its trust and corporate brand during and after the horsemeat scandal in 2013. The case study is based on a theoretical framework that consists of three theories or concepts: transboundary crisis, image repair strategy, and rhetorical arena. Findus Nordic followed its corporate values and applied a consistent image repair strategy: denial and blame shifting towards the supplier Comigel in an extremely multivocal arena. This strategy was supplemented with responsibility evasion. Towards the end of the public crisis, Findus Nordic used the crisis as an opportunity to recover their position and started a campaign that had a positive impact on trust and the corporate brand. The launch of the campaign was very fast and might have been dangerous. However, according to the analysis, the success of the campaign may be explained as a consequence of its sensemaking and auto-communicative approach.     

Revisiting a Social Constructionist Approach to Crisis Communication– Investigating Contemporary Crises in China

ABSTRACT

The current study provides a social constructionist approach to crisis communication in the Chinese context. Crisis communication is viewed as a form of strategic communication, involving multiple stakeholders in situations that are dependent on context, space and time. This approach provides a much-needed path for investigating and understanding crisis communication practices in contemporary China. The distinct Chinese context for crisis communication, with both an authoritarian government structure and a digital transformation of society, challenges theories originally developed in the Western countries. To address this issue, this study proposes a three-theme analytical framework to examine crisis communication practices in the Chinese context: (1) an audience (or stakeholder) orientation—focusing sense-making, (2) a proactive and interactive approach—focusing communication, and (3) a community—focused approach—focusing a long-range precrisis perspective.     

The Neoliberalization of Municipal Land Policy in Sweden

In Sweden, local governments’ practice of the ‘municipal land instrument’—that is, the use of public land ownership as a tool for facilitating urban development—has a long tradition. In the post‐war era, public land ownership constituted an important component of state‐led housing production, which had both a productive and a redistributive purpose. Departing from a political economy perspective, this article demonstrates how the redistributive aspect of the municipal land instrument has been dissolved under neoliberalization, and discusses why the use of this instrument is problematic from both a democratic and ethical point of view. Based on a case study in Helsingborg, the article argues that, in using public land to leverage private investment in urban development, local decision makers adopt an interest in supporting rent extraction from tenants and housing owners, while subsidizing investment costs for developers. The dual role that municipalities assume as landowner‐developers and planning authorities enable them to facilitate urban development effectively, but it is also problematic because it transgresses the public–private law divide inherent to Swedish law. Assuming this dual role, municipalities place themselves in a biased position that risks undermining the legitimacy of governmental actions in general, and the planning system in particular.     

Assessing non-industrial private forest owners’ attitudes to risk: Do owner and property characteristics matter?

This study relates owner and property characteristics to non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners’ attitudes to financial risk-taking in forestry decisions. Using a two-period mean-variance setting, the harvesting decisions of NIPF owners are examined with the aim of measuring their willingness to take risks. Since willingness to pay for reduction of risk is empirically unobservable, I rely on an index of NIPF owners’ attitudes to risk from a hypothetical survey question involving financial risk. According to the index, respondents (owners) are categorized as risk-averse, risk-neutral or risk-seeking. I apply a probit analysis to test how owner and property characteristics influence the NIPF owners’ attitudes to risk. The results show that characteristics influence the formation of risk attitudes. More explicitly, a longer period of ownership increases the probability that the owner is risk-averse, while increased time in the forest conducting silvicultural work increases the likelihood that an owner is risk-seeking. The results also show that female NIPF owners are more risk-seeking than male owners. The study fills a knowledge gap in the literature, relating owner and property characteristics to management decisions. Inclusion of risk attitudes and the judgement of risks into studies of NIPF owners’ management can help to understand why NIPF owners’ harvesting may deviate from net present value maximisation.     

Squeezing the Last Drop Out of Your Suppliers: An Empirical Study of Market‐Based Purchasing Policies for Generic Pharmaceuticals

We study the effect of the degree of exclusivity for the lowest bidder on the average price of generic pharmaceuticals in the short and long terms. Our results indicate that a 1‐percentage‐point gain in market share of the lowest bidder reduces average costs by 0.2% in the short term and 0.8% in the long term, but also reduces the number of firms by 1%. We find that reducing the number of firms has a strong positive (and hence counteracting) effect on average prices, a 1% reduction raising prices by approximately 1%.     

Management is the solution: Now what was the problem? On the fragile basis for managerialism

This paper critically investigates the impact and meaning of managerialism in a pharmaceutical firm by exploring its shaky basis. Managers’ explanations of the failure in research leading to new products showed considerable variety. This reflects the absence of any shared understanding of research inefficiencies and difficulties to determine the roots of the problems. Despite this people blame bad management and put hope to improved responsibility of managers. The study highlights the ambiguity of causes of the research inefficiencies and how this is suppressed as well as exploited by the introduction of a vague managerialist agenda.     

Large investments in the pulp and paper industry: a count data regression analysis

This paper analyses the effects of price and market size variables on the investment propensities in the pulp and paper industry. A panel of 15 European countries in the time period 1988-1997 is used in the regression analysis. We find the wages, the USD/ECU exchange rate, the price of paper and the installed production capacity to be the main determinants of large investments in this industry. Our measure of market size has no - or only very small - effects.