Residential location and daily travel distances: the influence of trip purpose

This paper investigates the extent to which residential location influences daily distance travelled if travel purposes are differentiated. Statistical multilevel models are applied to Swedish National Travel Survey data from 2005–2006. Travel purposes are categorized by considering time–spatial constraints and hypothesized factors of personal freedom of choice. Results indicate that the influence of residential location on daily distance travelled is highly conditional on trip purpose in a nationwide Swedish context. Although statistically significant proportions of the variation in daily distance travelled to work, on service errands, and on weekdays were dependent on residential location, daily travel distances for leisure activities and on weekends varied greatly among people living in the same neighbourhood. From a policy perspective, these results suggest that measures intended to alter the built environment to reduce the volume of travel will be most efficient as regards work trips, while trips taken during free time are unlikely to be much affected. In addition, the multilevel models applied reveal several important interactions between the variation in travel distances across residential locations and individual characteristics of which researchers should be aware, especially when examining service trips.     

Ethical Structures and Processes of Corporations Operating in Australia,Canada, and Sweden: A Longitudinal and Cross-Cultural Study

Based on the ‘Partnership Model of Corporate Ethics’ (Wood, 2002), this study examines the ethical structures and processes that are put in place by organizations to enhance the ethical business behavior of staff. The study examines the use of these structures and processes amongst the top companies in the three countries of Australia, Canada, and Sweden over two time periods (2001–2002 and 2005–2006). Subsequently, a combined comparative and longitudinal approach is applied in the study, which we contend is a unique approach in the area of business ethics. The findings of the study indicate that corporations operating in Sweden have utilized ethical structures and processes differently than their Canadian and/or Australian counterparts, and that in each culture the way that companies fashion their approach to business ethics appears congruent with their national cultural values. There does, however, appear to be a convergence of views within the organizations of each culture, as the Swedish companies appear to have been more influenced in 2005–2006 by an Anglo-Saxon business paradigm than they have been in the past.     

Modelling leadership—Implicit leadership theories in Sweden

This paper investigates Swedish data on implicit leadership theories in comparison with data from 61 other nationalities, testing the identification of a Swedish leadership style in light of globalization and possible converging value-formation processes. Global questionnaire data from 17,310 (900 Swedish) middle-managers constitute the basis for our analyses, using both a within-country perspective and a between-country perspective. While acknowledging the presence of almost universally endorsed leadership attributes, such as being inspirational and visionary, “typical” Swedish leadership attributes are possible to identify. Thus we challenge the simplified version of global convergence regarding leadership ideals and management ideology. On a basis of this study, we conclude that the notion of a Swedish leadership style is still meaningful and valid as a device for a better understanding of leadership efforts and cross-cultural interaction.     

Sustainability and dietary change: the implications of Swedish food consumption patterns 1960–2006

This article focuses on the changing food consumption pattern in Sweden between 1960 and 2006, and the implications of those changes for sustainability. National statistical data on the consumption of different food groups such as meat, milk, dairy products, eggs, fruit, vegetables, cereal, potatoes and sugar were compared. Overall, an increase in the consumption of meat, cheese, cream, fruit and vegetables was observed, while the consumption of milk, butter and potatoes decreased. For the sustainability assessment, three parameters were chosen: land requirement, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy use. It was shown that the Swedish diet in 2006 required more resources and produced more GHG emissions than in 1960, mainly due to the increase in the consumption of animal products.     

Vision Zero – a road safety policy innovation

The aim of this paper is to examine Sweden's Vision Zero road safety policy. In particular, the paper focuses on how safety issues were framed, which decisions were made, and what are the distinctive features of Vision Zero. The analysis reveals that the decision by the Swedish Parliament to adopt Vision Zero as Sweden's road safety policy was a radical innovation. The policy is different in kind from traditional traffic safety policy with regard to problem formulation, its view on responsibility, its requirements for the safety of road users, and the ultimate objective of road safety work. The paper briefly examines the implications of these findings for national and global road safety efforts that aspire to achieving innovative road safety policies in line with the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020, declared by the United Nations General Assembly in March 2010.     

在创新中寻求新的机遇——瑞典国家创新署署长布洛格伦博士谈创新与广东发展

广东省正在大力推进社会创新，实现从制造大省到创新强省的转变。本文内容源于瑞典国家创新署署长布洛格伦博士2010年10月在广东省委党校所做的演讲，探讨了创新的内涵和方式，并结合瑞典的先进创新实践经验，为广东省未来的创新发展提供参考与借鉴。     

Counting the cost of healthy eating: a Swedish comparison of Mediterranean‐style and ordinary diets

The aim of this research was to examine the cost of a diet generally regarded as healthy, a Swedish version of the Mediterranean diet, and to compare it with the cost of an ordinary Swedish diet. A total of 30 individuals provided detailed dietary data collected in a randomized intervention study, examining the effect of dietary change to a Mediterranean‐style diet in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (Mediterranean group, n = 16, control group, n = 14). The data, covering 1‐month dietary intake, were examined with three different diet quality indicators to see whether the Mediterranean group consumed a healthier diet than the control group. All diet quality indicators showed that the Mediterranean group consumed a healthier diet than the control group. Consumer food prices were used to analyse the cost of the different diets. In immediate consumer cost terms, eating a healthier diet was more expensive when differences in energy intake were discounted. However, non‐energy adjusted costs showed no significant difference between the groups. Hence, if one of the reasons for choosing a healthier diet is to achieve weight loss – by consuming less energy – it is possible that healthier eating is not more expensive.     

Cross-Country Evidence on the Effectiveness of Foreign Investment Policies

This study empirically evaluates the effectiveness of government policies toward foreign enterprises and foreign direct investment activity. Foreign investment policies are difficult to quantify, but we overcome this difficulty by employing an index that reflects a country's general regulatory environment and treatment of foreign businesses. The evidence on the effectiveness of foreign investment policy measures is captured by a panel regression model, which pools together a cross-section of 153 countries over the period 1995–2001. The statistically significant explanatory power of the policy index is robust to the presence of a host of conditioning variables, some of which serve as fundamental foreign investment determinants that lie largely outside the direct control of national policy.     

土坡稳定性分析方法综述

计算土坡稳定性安全系数的方法通常有二种:一是对构成土体的土条进行受力分析;二是对土坡圆弧滑动体进行整体稳定性分析。但这两种方法均存在不足之处。本文综述了各种土坡稳定性分析方法并做出比较,并给出了工程应用中应注意的问题。     

Comparative analysis of Canadian,American and Swedish bankruptcy policy: why do governments legislate consumer debt?

Comparative research in consumer bankruptcy law is scarce. After profiling bankruptcy statistics in each country, the paper compares bankruptcy laws in Canada, United States and Sweden across 20 criteria and then analyses the predominate ideology underlying each law: deviant behaviour modification, consumer protection or social safety net. There is obvious tension between ideologies in each country with the punitive, deviant behaviour modification paradigm the most pervasive across all three countries. There is much we can learn from a comparative policy analysis approach, leading to the conscious development of bankruptcy policy from discernible, declared ideologies. Seven areas for future research are proposed.