Ambiguity and choice in processes of region development and company location

In recognition of its importance to an understanding of what “really goes on” in organizational decision-making, it is argued in this paper that the Garbage Can (GC) model should be applied to large empirical materials concerning different types of context, organization and process from those where it has been chiefly used. It is thereby shown that the model (1) is a good theoretical tool for interpreting processes of region development and company location—unless a dominating actor dictates the choice throughout, and (2) is also relevant to inter-organizational processes. Some new GC-theoretical concepts are derived from the confrontation of data and model: ambiguity avoidance, garbage collection, participant shift and selective garbage separation.     

A model for relating technology, organization and employment level: A study of the impact of computerization in the Swedish insurance industry

This article investigates effects of computerization in the Swedish insurance industry from 1960–1980. While the technological imperative dictates that many jobs would disappear, it was found that employment actually increased. The authors produce a model relating technology to employment levels and suggest that a range of moderating factors must be considered.     

An Integrated System for Management and Policy Analysis

This paper develops an analytical framework to simulate management- and policy-driven environmental changes in Swedish mountain environments. The framework is based on a dynamic model that includes economic connections between timber and reindeer. Economic benefits are obtained in the timber sector and the reindeer sector, by harvesting forest and reindeer stocks and selling the harvests in markets. Unharvested forest and reindeer stocks provide benefits outside of markets. Reindeer stocks provide benefits by supporting the reindeer husbandry lifestyle for members of the indigenous Saami population. The paper analyzes decisions made by a hypothetical planner of a geographical area corresponding to a Swedish sameby (Saami village). Decision outcomes are measured using the present value of net benefits measured in economic terms, and are obtained both inside and outside of economic markets. The final section gives examples of management and policy decisions that might be simulated for Swedish mountain environments, such as market-based policies to increase the economic welfare derived from private timber and reindeer harvests.     

Optimal Release Dates Of New Product Breakthroughs: A Simple Inverse Relationship

Based on a theoretical discussion of user-supplier relationships in the innovative process and on a historical analysis of such relationships in the machine tool industry, we propose the following hypothesis: In order to have an engineering industry at the forefront in terms of production technology, it is of primary strategic importance to have user firms on the technological frontier, i.e., firms which have the competence to formulate technical problems whose solution is generalizable to a larger set of problems and firms. Because of their size and technical leadership, these firms are attractive for any supplier, domestic or foreign, to assist them in finding technical solutions to new problems. Without such leading users, there is no basis for a domestic supplier industry. For these technological leaders it may not be vital, although still advantageous, to have domestic suppliers of automation. But users which are not on the technological frontier depend to a much greater extent on domestic suppliers which can therefore be considered strategic. Empirical evidence in support of the hypothesis is presented for the Swedish automation industry. Implications for public policy are discussed.     

Building new roads for entrepreneurship research to travel by: on the work of William B. Gartner

This article takes the awarding of William B. Gartner as a winner of the FSF-Nutek Award (in 2005) as a reason to engage more thoroughly with his production. From the perspective of a European School of Entrepreneurship, we focus in particular on the hermeneutic/phenomenological side of Gartner’s research output and seek to operate as inspired readers of this work as we identify its central tendencies (presence of organization theory and literary inspiration). The aim is thus to situate Gartner’s influence on the entrepreneurship research community based on the lead provided by these tendencies and from there to provide a vision of a future of entrepreneurship research. Bengt Johannisson was a member of the Prize Committee for The International Award for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research when the prize was awarded to William B. Gartner. The prize is awarded by the Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research (FSF) and the Swedish Board of Industrial and Technical Development (NUTEK). An important aim with this prize is to attract broader attention to this research field. A precondition for choosing the winner of the award is that his/her research is a significant contribution to the theory and empirical understanding of entrepreneurship and the importance of entrepreneurship, new firm formation and small businesses in economic development. Besides the honor, the prize consists of SEK 0.5 million. It has been awarded annually since 1996. More information about the prize and previous winners is available at .     

Price and quantity in international comparisons of health care expenditure

An important omission from earlier cross-national comparisons of health care expenditure has been the failure to distinguish between price and quantity. Using recent data on purchasing power parities, the purpose of this article is to report some preliminary results regarding health care expenditure and quantity across 22 OECD countries. The article concludes that, contrary to what has been suggested in some recent articles, the relative price of health care is not correlated to the aggregate per capita income. The fraction of the national income that is devoted to health care provision increases with the per capita income regardless of whether health care is measured in terms of expenditure or quantity. The relative price of health care has a rationing effect on the quantity of health care that is offered, with a price alasticity close to minus one. The latter finding means that the health care expenditure is not greater in countries with higherprices. Furthermore, the differences in health care expenditure or quantity between countries persist after correction for the relative price and the income level. Part of these differences can be explained by differences in the definition of health care in the various countries.     

Abatement investments and green goodwill

This paper develops and estimates a dynamic model that links profits to green goodwill. Assuming that abatement investments generate green goodwill, and using data from the Swedish pulp industry, we are able to test the effects of green goodwill on firm level output price and profits. The results suggests that Swedish pulp plant output prices and profits may be positively related to changes in green goodwill. Furthermore, no evidence is found to support the existence of adjustment costs due to abatement investments.     

Obstacles to transnational trade union cooperation in Europe—results from a European survey

This article analyses obstacles to transnational union cooperation within Europe. It is based on a survey of unions in 14 European countries and all members of the European Trade Union Confederation. The result shows that ‘hard’ industrial relations factors are generally more important obstacles to transnational cooperation than ‘softer’ factors such as cultural, linguistic, ideological and religious differences and that there are sectoral differences in experiences of obstacles to transnational union cooperation: unions in the manufacturing sector tend to emphasise differences in industrial relations and a lack of organisational resources for transnational union cooperation, whereas low organisational priorities are held to be of more importance in the services sector and for unions for professional workers.     

Is the income elasticity of environmental improvements less than one?

We estimated the income elasticity of environmental improvements for a number of European data-sets. The value of this parameter is consistently found to be less than one, with few exceptions. Our findings are compared with state-of-the-art contingent valuation studies from other countries. We also compared our findings with those reported in the literature on charitable donations and corporate donations. These studies show a similar pattern; donations decrease as a percentage of income, as income increases.