Introduction. Pension systems are a key element of social protection for the elderly. They are designed to provide senior citizens with stable income not from work. However, pension systems currently being developed in Europe are increasingly exposing the working-age population to the risk of poverty in old age. The European pension paradigm strives for an adequate level of pension payments and builds financial protection against poverty, while the future evolution of wages and prices remains unknown for Europe as a whole. Methods. Scientific research is based on general and special methods of scientific cognition. In the process of forming the concept of the scientific article, modern scientific methods of studying economic and social phenomena were used, including methods of system-structural, functional, factorial and comparative analysis, as well as categorical, logical and structural analysis and synthesis, detailing and generalization, grouping and comparison, identification of cause-and-effect relationships. The authors proceed from an understanding of the scientific hypothesis of reforming the pension system, which ensures long-term investment by the working-age population with income in the future. The empirical base of the study was made up of current data from cross-country comparative studies of Europe in terms of typology of state pension systems. Results. Based on the functional method of cognition, the authors of the scientific article systematize the main types of state pension systems of the European Union, representing the complex content of the indicator value of pension payments. It is noted that in the context of reforming the pension systems of the European Union countries, the reorganization of the functional and ideological components of pension provision, aimed at protecting consumers of pension savings, makes it possible to increase the socio-economic standard of living. Although EU pension systems differ in many respects, they all have one common problem - finding ways to maintain the financial sustainability of the budgetary system while paying pensions in the long term against the backdrop of an aging population and the problem of increasing the ratio of pensioners to the working-age population.

Title: An active chain process of self-leadership: Dynamically practising self-leading strategies for sustainability.

Keywords: Active and dynamic, Chain process of self-leadership, Self-leadership strategies

Background: Sustainability is important and of current interest, requiring all organisations to be well-functioning, committed to sustainability and create strategic decisions for their long-term sustainability. Organisations thence benefit from training the employees into self-leaders, as it results in beneficial outcomes that lead to greatness within organisations, and hence society at large.

Research question: Why do individuals succeed in maintaining and practising an active chain process of self-leadership?

Purpose: This study aims to understand why individuals sustain maintaining an active chain process of self-leadership by dynamically practising self-leadership strategies, where they continue to be self-aware, manage and lead themselves, practice self-leadership strategies, attain self-efficacy and achieve beneficial outputs that in extension contribute to a more efficient and long-term sustainable society. To better understand what activates the chain process of self-leadership and creates the dynamic, the authors have developed a summarising model (see model 5.1 in chapter 5).

Method: The study is of qualitative character with an abductive research approach, where the empirical data have been collected through semi-structured interviews and a collective case study design with ten informants who practise self-leadership, and then analysed by the Gioia method.

Findings: The chain process of self-leadership is holistic and what maintains it active are feelings of well-being, competence, and efficacy, as well as succeeding, contributing to a greater good and seeing things in a greater context. Of significance is to be reminded and followed up regularly.

Paper type: Master thesis

The purpose of this study was to develop a new investment strategy called NC-Score. The strategy is based on Chapter 14 of The Intelligent Investor written by Benjamin Graham, but with other key figures and criteria. The key figures were chosen on the basis of creating a varied and comprehensive picture of the companies as possible. They describe the companies' valuation, profitability, growth, cash flows, and capital structure.

The strategy was tested between 2011 and 2020 at OMX Stockholm Large Cap. An index and Graham's original strategy have been used to compare NC-Score's performance during the period. The purpose of the index was to emulate the market and act as a minimum requirement for returns. Graham's portfolio gives a picture of how a similar strategy performs under the same conditions.

The result for the strategy was a high return at a lower risk than our benchmark index and the original Graham strategy. Between 2011 and 2020, NC-Score generated a return of 191.67% with a Sharpe Ratio of 2.70. During the same period, OMX Stockholm 30 GI generated a return of 110.48% with a Sharpe Ratio of 0.91. NC-Score's results cannot be considered to be significantly positively risk-adjusted since it cannot be ruled out that the higher return in relation to the risk was due to a coincidence.

The recent forced migration to Europe has created more challenges for the labor market integration. However, the Swedish government encourages unemployed immigrants to seek employment in the farming, gardening, and forestry industries. Thus, this article focuses on the matching process in the Swedish agricultural sector by using an exploratory, qualitative, in-depth interview with representatives involved in the matching process. Immigrants experience challenges of Swedish language proficiency, lacking a driving license and adapting to new cultures in the workplace, while employers attribute challenges of effective hiring process and the absence of evidence of immigrants’ work experience. Furthermore, the employment service offices struggle with scant knowledge of agricultural employment that needs to be combined with limited contact with employers and the bureaucratic delays caused by requirements of qualifications validation. The paper concludes with a Labour Market Matching Model, which focuses on critical aspects before, during, and after the matching process.

Credit intermediation - accepting deposits or other short-term funding from surplus agents and lending it on to corporations, households and public bodies with borrowing needs - is typically associated with banks. Traditionally credit intermediation has been provided through a business model where banks act as single intermediaries, managing all stages of the credit intermediation process. The role of other financial intermediaries, such as investment funds, has been limited. However, in recent decades, the provisioning of credit has become increasingly segmented, with the various stages of the intermediation process supplied by a variety of financial entities, specializing on one particular or several stages in the intermediation chain. The potential benefits from such segmentation are substantial. It allows for more efficient intermediation, provides opportunities to diversify risk, improves pricing and allocation of risk as well as avoids its concentration in (typically a few large) banks. It also increases supply of funding and liquidity, thereby lowering costs for banks, their clients and the overall economy (Duffie, 2008; Bengtsson, 2014a). © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Anastasia Nesvetailova; individual chapters, the contributors.

In response to the lessons of the global financial crisis, macroprudential policy is now firmly established as a financial policy area to prevent excessive risk taking in the financial sector and mitigate its effects on the real economy. However, macroprudential policy is facing several challenges relating to its political sensitivity and institutional context. These include political and interest group resistance, weaknesses in the governance framework, and limited institutional memory among policy makers. This article seeks to contribute to the contextual understanding of macroprudential policy by exploring how factors relating to these challenges influence policy in the EU. More specifically, it develops and empirically tests a number of hypotheses on how wider institutional and structural factors influence the actual use of macroprudential measures across Europe. The findings yield considerable support for theoretical predictions that institutions and contexts matter - Political pressure and interest group resistance tend to influence the intensity of macroprudential policy stances. Weaker policy stances characterise countries where banking systems depend on domestic banks, whereas the opposite holds for financial systems with significant market shares of other financial intermediaries. Results on institutional arrangements show that governance arrangements on relating to transparency influence policy stances. The results also indicate that policy makers' inertia is best counteracted by appointing a single macroprudential authority. The results differ somewhat depending on whether countries are based in the Euro zone or not. This suggests that policy frameworks that are multi-layered and complex pose tricky conundrums on how to ensure sufficient institutional autonomy, policy capacity and discretion among macroprudential authorities. This also has implications on other policy areas macroprudential policy, such as microprudential policy, crisis management and fiscal policy. © 2019 Elsevier Inc.

This paper presents and assesses a framework for monitoring vulnerabilities related to the residential real estate sector, which can be easily employed for policy purposes. The framework provides intuitive and transparent early warning signals through a composite vulnerability measure, which aggregates indicators in a model-free way across three dimensions of real estate sector vulnerabilities (i.e. valuation, household indebtedness and the bank credit cycle). Our vulnerability measure proves to be a significant predictor of historical real estate crises, with a better forecasting performance than the majority of advantageously in-sample calibrated model-based measures. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

This paper is a study on how U.S stock market reacts on sovereign credit rating announcements, and if there is a significant difference between low or high debt firms. We have used an event study based on historical stock prices from 30 companies, 15 with high debt and 15 with low debt. All companies are taken from the S&P`s 500 index which we also use as a market index. We use a regression model with 10 % significance level to see if there is a significant impact on high debt firms. Our result shows that the market will be affected by the downgrade. We also conclude that there was a significant negative impact on the high debt firms.

The main objective of this paper is to develop a readiness index model that can serve as an analytical tool for exploring the achievements of the electrification of transportation systems. We have applied this readiness index model to evaluate the readiness positioning of China, Norway, and Sweden towards transportation electrification. We have chosen these three countries as they represent diversity among countries adopting electric transportation system solutions. Our developed readiness index model has four key dimensions: technological readiness, political readiness, societal readiness, and economic readiness. The embeddedness of all four dimensions in one model provides a multi-perspective way of analyzing and evaluating the readiness levels of countries moving towards transforming their transportation system. Therefore, we named the model a “multidimensional readiness index”. Our main conclusions are that political processes and decisiveness are the most important factors, followed by societal needs and economic ability, with the current technology as the fourth. Without the participation of dedicated and determined political decision makers, the other three factors are challenging to obtain. Political decision makers need to facilitate economic means to support the transformation in society and affected industries to balance the economic disadvantages of the electrically powered vehicle systems until they pass the cost disadvantage turning point. The development of relevant technology is no longer the significant barrier it was at the beginning of this transformation about 20 years ago. The technology for electrically powered transportation systems and devices is widely available now, although it is continuously evolving and being improved. Associated industries cannot be expected to initiate, finance, take risks, and take the lead in this global societal transformation without clear and strong political support.

Globally, the transportation system is transforming from a fossil-based to an electrification system. Some countries are leading in the transformation process. Some countries are rapidly catching up to become market leaders in developing and introducing new techniques and equipment that support the transformation process in their countries. In contrast, others are still relying on their old fossil-based system or could not have enough understanding of how to deal with this complex transformation of the transportation system.

The electrification of the transportation system is not an isolated system that can be handled as a single technological element. It is a group of multiple technologies, political, societal, and economic sub-systems each of these sub-systems is embedded in each other, forming the whole system. Therefore, it is important to see and manage the system from a holistic perspective to transform the transportation electrification system efficiently. We have selected eight countries from three different continents – Asia (China, India), Australia, which is a country and continent, and Europe (Germany, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, and the UK) to explore the transformational process of transportation electrification based on each countries’ conditions. We have chosen these continents as they are diversified in adopting transportation electrification system solutions.

Our main conclusions are that the political processes and political decisiveness are the most important, followed by the societal and economic, with technology as the fourth. The other three are difficult to obtain without dedicated and determined political decision-makers. Political decision-makers need to use economic means to support the transformation in society and industry to balance the economic disadvantage of electric systems until they pass the cost disadvantage turning point. Technology is no longer a significant barrier as it was about 20 years ago. Now, technology is available, although it can be improved. The important part is to understand how to utilize the existing technology efficiently to transform the old fossil-based transportation system into new electrification of the transportation system. Without clear and strong political support, the industry cannot be expected to initiate, finance, take risks, and take the lead in this global societal transformation.

Our analysis shows that China is being positioned as the leading country in the world in the electrification of the transportation system because of the strong technological advancements, control of the entire value chain, strong government decisiveness, and execution power in developing and implementing favorable electric vehicle (EV) policies, the willingness of the public sector to take the lead and citizens support to adopt clean technology. Norway has rapidly become one of the newcomers with large numbers of registered electric vehicles according to its population size within a few years, despite lacking manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs) and equipment for transportation electrification. Germany is leading in the technological sector of transportation electrification within Europe with its prestigious top-selling electric vehicle brands in Germany, such as Volkswagen, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Smart, and Audi, and establishing a battery Gigafactory with an annual potential production capacity of 60 GWh. However, Germany is still lagging behind from the societal perspective of not having enough sales of electric vehicles compared to gasoline-based vehicles. Sweden is a rapidly growing country in the electrification of transport, with three vehicle manufacturers introducing EVs in 2021 and developing electric roads system for more than ten years. Sweden is also working on establishing a new 50 GWh battery manufacturing plant in Gothenburg, Sweden. The UK is also catching up with its other European countries in transforming the transportation system with its strong government support. The British government has kept transportation electrification on its national agenda and considering building a Gigafactory to obtain a position as a future battery leader. However, the UK's adoption rate of electric vehicles is still slow compared to fossil-based vehicles. India, Australia, and Slovenia are far behind in the process of transportation transformation than China, Norway, Germany, Sweden, and the UK. One of the common reasons in all these countries is their governments' baby steps even though they have high ambitions. Their governments require a revolutionized and systems approach to enable remarkable change in the transformation process.

 The main objective of this paper is to develop a readiness index model that can serve as an analytical tool for exploring the achievements of electrification of transportation systems. We have applied this readiness index model to evaluate the readiness positioning of China, Norway, and Sweden towards transport electrification. We have chosen these three countries as they represent diversity among countries that are in the process of adopting electrified transport system solutions. Our developed readiness index model has four key dimensions, technological readiness, political readiness, societal readiness, and economic readiness. The embeddedness of all four dimensions in one model provides a multi-perspective way of analyzing and evaluating the readiness levels of countries moving towards transforming the transportation system. Therefore, we named the model a“multidimensional readiness index.”

Our main conclusions are that the political processes and political decisiveness involved are the most important factors followed by the societal needs and economic ability, with the current technology available as the fourth. Without the participation of dedicated and determined political decision-makers being involved, the other three factors are challenging to obtain. Political decision-makers need to facilitate the use of economic means to support the transformation in the society and affected industries to balance the initial economic disadvantages of the electrically-powered systems until they pass the cost disadvantage turning point. The development of the relevant technology is no longer a great barrier as it was at the beginning of this transformation, about 20 years ago. The technology for electrically powered transportation systems and devices is widely available now, although it is continuously evolving and being improved. Associated industries cannot be expected to initiate, finance, take the risk, and take the lead in this global societal transformation without clear and strong political support.

Based on our multidimensional readiness index analysis, China is being positioned as the leading country in the world in the electrification of its transportation systems. This is mainly so because of the strong technology advancements, control of the entire value chain of research, development (R&D), and manufacturing of EVs, strong government decisiveness, and execution power in developing and implementing favorable electric vehicle (EV) policies. The willingness of China’s public sector to take the lead and their citizen’s support to adopt clean technology are additional factors facilitating this advancement. Norway has rapidly become one of the newcomers in electrification with large numbers of registered electric vehicles, despite lacking manufacturing industries of electric vehicles. Sweden is a rapidly developing country in the electrification of transport, with three vehicle manufacturers introducing EVs in 2021. The government has been committed to building demonstration sites for electric roads systems for more than ten years. Sweden is also working on establishing battery manufacturing facilities dedicated to the needs of electrified transportation equipment and systems. 

This article examines a novel regulatory mechanism in a setting with multiple local monopolists. The mechanism rests upon the behavioral assumption that customers form opinions about prices by comparing them with prices set by nearby monopolies and that this comparison influences their behavior. In this way, an “implicit yardstick competition” emerges among monopolists although they do not operate in the same markets. We test this mechanism using a unique dataset of unregulated district heating monopolists in Sweden. We find a large effect of neighbors’ prices, which indicates that the implicit yardstick competition has a considerable disciplining effect on monopolies’ pricing behavior. © 2022 The Author(s)

Nowadays, intergenerational mobility and gender equality have captured widespread attention. This study aims to examine the relationship between the two to provide policy insights that benefit both polarized issues. This study reviewed the existing literature and formulated hypotheses that early childhood development has long-lasting impacts on adults' outcomes and is a decisive factor in determining social mobility in adulthood. Gender equality policies play huge roles in this period, mitigating adverse effects from childhood and providing opportunities for disadvantaged children in early childhood development. This study tests the hypotheses with multiple regression and performs sensitivity analysis with an alternative proxy. The result is that public spending on childcare, female labour market participation, and child poverty are statistically significant with social mobility, while weeks of maternity leave and poverty rates of single-earner families are not.

The research question how green marketing is used as a competitive advantage was answered by the analysis of the multiple case-study of two organizations of the boardsports industry, Jade and Notox. The comparison between theories and interviews revealed that, by doing green branding, having eco-labels, and implementing the five I’s, Jade and Notox are differentiating. This differentiation provides them a competitive advantage. In addition, Jade and Notox innovate in green materials and processes which, coupled with eco-labels, maintain the differentiation and generate a sustainable advantage.

Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) has become a standard approach to assessment of technologicaldevelopment projects. The origin of TRL is the US moon rocket programs. However, to develop and put intopractice advanced technology projects, also other aspects are important to evaluate in a systematic way.This paper provides a tentative analytical model of four main perspectives to analyze readiness levels oftechnology projects; Technology Readiness Level (TRL), Political Readiness Level (PRL), Social andSocietal Readiness Level (SRL), and Commercial Readiness Level (CRL).To be successful we need to explore and understand the process, interconnectivities between and the impactbased on all those four aspects in an integrated way. 

This paper explains why capitalistic economies are restless by focusing on the role and the activities by entrepreneurs. The linkage between the entrepreneur and the economy is that as knowledge is a scarce resource, entrepreneurs must economize knowledge to reduce uncertainty if they are to undertake entrepreneurial action. Fortunately, ways of lowering uncertainty are important sources of opportunities for entrepreneurs. However, the exploitation of such sources may in turn increase uncertainty in the economy. Thus, entrepreneurial action reduces and regenerates uncertainty and complexity over time across different dimensions in the economic system. The paper argues that these processes are core mechanisms of economic development, creating interdependencies between the entrepreneur and the economic system. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

This book is a result of a workshop on Knowledge spillovers and knowledge management, held September 19-21, 2002 at the Centre for Information Logistics in Ljungby, Sweden.

This paper addresses the role of incumbent firms in driving transitions that entail multiple sectors, conditioned by multiple regimes. We analyse the case ‘HYBRIT’, a radical innovation venture championed by three incumbents from the steel and energy regimes. We investigate what conditions the incumbents’ agency and how they enacted their agency targeting restructuring of the regime elements–actors, institutions, and materiality. We find that eight endogenous and exogenous factors coincide and condition the incumbents’ agency, from which they act in a novel direction of change. We contribute by showing how the collaboration within and across regimes enabled the accomplishment of actions that would have been challenging for individual incumbents to achieve alone. In this setting of scale-intensive industries, incumbents have characteristics that give them a significantly larger capacity to stimulate change than newcomers. The timing and combination of endogenous and exogenous factors, enabling incumbents to collectively drive a transition. © 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Many hedge funds are believed to yield considerable returns to investors; there is an assumption that suggests hedge funds seem uncorrelated with market fluctuations and have relatively low volatility. In recent years, emerging market hedge funds have experienced a higher capital inflow in periods when the diversification benefits of investing in emerging markets are higher. However, the strategy‟s share of the hedge fund industry‟s total capital flows has decreased significantly during the same periods: this might imply that investors have reallocated capital to other hedge fund strategies. This paper investigates whether emerging markets hedge funds have been as consistent in performance as the benchmark indices by presenting results of comparative analysis of two sample emerging markets hedge fund indices and two standard emerging markets benchmarks performance. The empirical study ranges from the period of January 2006 to December 2010.

Purpose - The paper aims to analyse the perception SMEs in Sweden have of the corporate income tax system's treatment of online data collection.

Methodology – This study employs a qualitative research approach in which the authors implemented a deductive phenomenological research approach. The paper incorporates both exploratory and descriptive research methodologies as its primary research approaches. These approaches were deemed most suited by the authors to collect both primary and secondary data tailored to the research objectives. The primary data source consists of semi-structured interviews with six Swedish SMEs, selected through a judgment-based approach. An in-depth investigation of the current literature formed the foundation of the secondary data collection.

Findings – The findings suggest that the SMEs studied in this paper address their perceptions of the CITS’s treatment of ODC through (I) Online Data Privacy, (II) Distributional Tax Fairness, (III) Retributive Tax Fairness, (IV) Procedural Tax Fairness, (V) Complexity, (VI) Trust, (VII) Growth Obstruction

Practical implications – The practical implications of this study are valuable for policymakers, SMEs and any type of stakeholders interested in the corporate income tax system's treatment of online data collection. This research can help improve the CITS's effectiveness and reduce the compliance burden on SMEs in Sweden.

Policymakers can leverage the insights and perceptions of Swedish SMEs to modernize the CITS to the 21st century and implement ODC practices that are most suitable according to the SME’s preferences. SMEs on the other hand can leverage the insights and perceptions of this study to gain a better understanding of the CITS and its treatment on the components of value creation, including ODC practices. External stakeholders can use the study findings to gain an understanding of the field of research and implement it according to their needs, such as through the assistance of SMEs in their ODC practices concerning the CITS.

Originality/value – The originality and value of this paper lie in the novel focus on Swedish SMEs' perception of the CITS's treatment of ODC. To the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to explore this topic in Sweden, contributing to the literature on the CITS, ODC practices and the treatment of ODC through the CITS.

Keywords – Corporate Income Taxation, Corporate Income Taxation System, Tax Perceptions, SMEs, The Slippery Slope Framework, Complexity, Distributional Fairness, Retributive Fairness, Procedural Fairness, Growth, Tax Benefits, Privacy, Punishment, Trust

Paper type – Research Paper

Innovation has been recognized as one of the main determinants of nation’s economic development and has been adopted as a main tool for adding value and achieving sustainable competitive advantage. In order to understand the influence of global competitiveness on global innovation of nations, this study analyzed some indexes of 133 countries using a multiple linear regression analysis. The results suggested that global competitiveness influences the innovativeness of nations significantly and positively. Higher education and training was the competitiveness indicators that most influenced in innovation of nations.

The aim of this book is to consolidate information from low temperature waste heat recovery demonstration sites. Apart from technical validation, the ReUseHeat project has generated knowledge about the urban waste heat potential in Europe, main stakeholders and different business aspects. Five stakeholder groups are targeted. These are urban waste heat owners, District Heating (DH) companies, policy makers, investors and customers. In the first chapter of the book, the concept of urban waste heat is introduced and the urban waste heat potential in Europe is presented. Thereafter (chapter two), information on business aspects is provided (stakeholders, value chain, risks, contracts and business model characteristics). Chapter three showcases the demonstrator concepts (waste heat recovery from data centre, hospital, metro and awareness creation about urban waste heat recovery) and performance data. Throughout the writing of the handbook, it was identified that it is important to compare the cost of different heating alternatives, to facilitate customer decision making. Therefore, a model was derived to compare costs of heating alternatives. It is presented in chapter four. Urban waste heat recovery is news. It is therefore important that stakeholders are made aware of the possibility to use the locally available heat and to start collaborating in new ways. To ensure as much stakeholder engagement as possible, the writing process of this book encompassed a six-month stakeholder involvement process. The stakeholder input is presented in chapter five. In chapter six, thoughts on the future development of district energy, policy implications and major learnings from the project are presented. This book was written within the ReUseHeat project. The work on the book was initiated after the first out of five years of activity to ensure that the consortium would be engaged in its development and to capture the knowledge generated on an ongoing basis. The final version of the book was ready and placed on the ReUseHeat webpage in September 2022. The project webpage remains in operation until 2024. The book not only exists in digital format. 600 copies were also printed and distributed to relevant stakeholders. All partners of the consortium have contributed to the writing of the book.

The “11 for Health in Denmark” in-school educational football program has shown to have numerous positive physiological and psychological effects in 10- to 12-year-old schoolchildren. A key part of the successful application of the program, however, has not yet been examined, namely the motivational processes underlying participation and behavioral changes. This study examined such motivational processes (i.e., autonomous motivation, beliefs, and intentions) using the trans-contextual model (TCM) and investigated if the 11 for Health in Denmark program increased intentions to participate in physical activity (PA) outside of school in 10- to 12-year-old schoolchildren. Using a web-based questionnaire, Danish-speaking schoolchildren (N = 276 [boys, 50.4%]; M_age = 10.44, SD = 0.35) from three schools and seven classes completed TCM-based questionnaires at three time-points (weeks 0, 1, and 5) while participating in the 11 for Health in Denmark program. Single-indicator structural equation modeling was performed to examine goodness-of-fit and parameter estimates. A path analysis using maximum likelihood estimation was used to test the direct and indirect effects of the TCM model. The results partly supported a mediation sequence, as we found significant direct effects in eight of 13 motivational variables (β = −0.25–0.83, p <0.05), indirect effects in one of nine variables (β = 0.15, p < 0.01), but no effects with regard to PA behavior. Findings provide evidence for a motivational link between Danish-speaking schoolchildren's autonomous and controlled motivation from in school to out of school, and may inform future interventions promoting motivation and participation in out of school PA. © 2022 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science In Sports published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The export-led growth hypothesis is analysed for Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico using cointegration and causality techniques. Cointegration is found for Argentina and Mexico in both a pre-break and post-break period, where the break is related to the introduction of the NAFTA. Furthermore, the causal relationship is either bi-directional or unidirectional from export to GDP revealing support to the hypothesis and an outward oriented policy.

Title: Cross-Cultural Comparative Study of Entrepreneurial Leadership Traits Among Brazil

and China in Small Businesses

Authors: Ana Clara Mueller Meirinho and Li Mengting

Level: Master Thesis, 30 hp

Keywords: Entrepreneurial leadership, Leader traits, Hofstede’s 6D Model, Small Business, Cross-Cultural leadership, Brazil, China.

Background: Entrepreneurship is important among all the countries for the growth and prosperity of nations due to movement of economic activities that they generate. To sustain a business, the character behind it, known as a leader, plays an important role since for guiding a business the entrepreneurs needs to provide a clear vision for the company. Entrepreneurial leaders can have different postures when leading business inside a country. Yet, when comparing between countries, their behaviors can be influenced by many aspects, mainly because of the culture of the nation. However, a study showed that appear to be a convergence of entrepreneurial leadership among the BRICS countries. Also, there have been a lack of studies of entrepreneurial leadership in emergent economies like the BRICS countries, and for that reason, Brazil and China were selected to be the main focus of this study. Furthermore, studies also lack measurements of entrepreneurial leadership traits and behaviors.

Research Question: What are the predominant traits of entrepreneurial leaders of small business and which cultural aspect impact on the behaviour of leaders among Brazil and China?

Sub research question: What are the similarities and differences on the way that leadership is conducted by entrepreneurs of small businesses among Brazil and China?

Purpose: The purpose of this study is, therefore, to describe, explore and instigate predominant traits of leaders as entrepreneurs in small businesses that can lead to distinct behaviour, through investigations in Brazil and China. In addition, this study also verifies similarities and differences of leaders behaviour that can differ from one culture to another, due to cultural impact. This way, the authors developed a framework, to better visualize entrepreneurial leadership traits comparison between Brazil and China, giving the readers a better understanding of preferred traits in both countries, directing them to take right actions considering the cultural values.

Method: A mixed method approach was used in this research. Qualitative semi-structured exploratory interviews with abductive approach were conducted with leaders who are entrepreneurs of small businesses in South Brazil and Urban China, which focuses on entrepreneurial leadership traits. Also, quantitative surveys were collected, aiming to measure cultural value and predominant traits of leaders, complementing the qualitative interview.

Theoretical Framework: Articles used for this study were meticulously selected, focusing on reliable sources and quality content; also, it was given preferences to new data from well- known journals. This section covers subjects that are interesting and fit to the thematic, such as regarding of Entrepreneurial Leadership and Traits, Hofstede 6D Model, Importance of Micro and Small Businesses to Society, and economic and political facts about Brazil and China, alike as definitions and data of micro and small business characteristics in each nation, and the nations own beliefs. Particular information from the countries was brought from organizations and governmental related websites.

Discussion and Conclusion: Based on the results of respondent’s surveys and the interpretation of interviews with entrepreneurs among south Brazil and China. The results are structured and analyzed in the same sequence as the surveys and interviews are designed using Hofstede 6D model, discussing first south Brazil and urban China and then a general overview about similarities and differences of both countries for each section. The study revealed that the preferred entrepreneurial leadership traits are divergence between two countries, while there appear to be a convergence of entrepreneurial leadership style that encompass more democratic, flexible, opportunity oriented yet still remaining the traits of paternalistic and authoritative leadership including directing, participative, consideration of subordinates in small businesses among both countries. Furthermore, the author presented an overview of similarities and different entrepreneurial leadership traits among two countries by categorized based on distal attributes, including personality, cognitive ability and motives values, as well as proximal attributes, including social appraisal skills, problem solving skills and expertise/tacit knowledge are shown in the end.

Clearing houses or huge broker-dealers usually apply portfolio approach for the estimation of traders’ liabilities and restriction of their risk. It supposes that they analyse possible changes of portfolio’s value within a given time horizon. For clearing houses (in USA as well as in Europe) there exists a standard methodology called SPAN, developed by Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where scenario approach is implemented. Sometimes this approach fails due to the finite number (16) of considered scenarios. It seems that parametric approach provides better quality, but in this case man needs a fast algorithm for the Implied Volatility (IV) curve forecast. By now there exists an algorithm which uses a polynomial approximation for the IV curve merged with Kalman Filtering procedure as a forecasting tool. We develop a new model and provide statistical evidence which shows that approximation of IV curve by a special class of functions give better results. Correspondent analysis is based on the data from US options market.

It has been recognized by trading community for some time that the limit orderhas some option characteristics. Obviously, this is a special type of option as itis owned by the entire trading community as a whole. The exchanges recognizedthis fact by rewarding the limit orders with rebates. This paper is an attempt todetermine the faire value of this rebate, based on the absence of statistical arbitrage.

Prior to acquisitions, potential investors must conduct a survey on the company of interest. This process is called Due Diligence and it aims to reduce the asymmetric information between sellers and investors. This essay describes how investors through Due Diligence canidentify and evaluate the information hidden within the asymmetric information. The study is conducted as a cross-sectional study consisting of personal interviews with three business brokers and seven actors who have participated in business transfers.

The conclusions are that buyers’ behavior in general are consistent with the theoretical framework. All respondents recommend using Due Diligence, but the scope and knowledgeof the process differs. The factor that can be crucial for a successful or unsuccessful Due Diligence is the investors’ understanding of their own limitations and the ability to enlist thehelp from other specialists in the fields they cannot manage on their own. Consultants such as business brokers, accountants and lawyers are therefore of great importance for Due Diligence.

There are some areas that the respondents choose to study with particular care during DueDiligence. The one area that is common to all respondents is the investigation of the data contained in Annual Reports. Other areas vary depending on the investors experiences and among others include the corporate culture, external relations, capacity utilization and environmental issues.

Thanks to the extensive and overall good use of Due Diligence, it can be considered that thereis no general market failure in the corporate market, although some transfers are less successful.

Forskningen inom området samhällsekonomisk analys av antibiotikaresistens är begränsad och behöver utvecklas. I sådana analyser ingår att beräkna ökade vårdkostnader och samhällskostnader. Enligt Folkhälsomyndighetens beräkningar av framtida kostnader för antibiotikaresistens kommer antalet upptäckta fall i Sverige med anmälningspliktiga resistenstyper att fyrfaldigas från 15 500 fall år 2016 till 70 000 fall år 2050. De samlade ackumulerade kostnaderna bedöms uppgå till 15,8 miljarder kronor tom. år 2050. Därutöver tillkommer kostnader för ej anmälningspliktig resistens. För att kontrollera resistensutvecklingen behöver åtgärder som beteendeförändring och satsning på vårdhygien vidtas. Globala strategier för att motverka antibiotikaresistens behöver också implementeras. I kölvattnet av Covid-19-pandemin kommer det att uppdagas vilka ekonomiska konsekvenser en smittsam sjukdom får. Även om det finns skillnader kan paralleller dras till framtida ekonomiska verkningar av antibiotikaresistens.

Title:A new customer-focus strategy: Customer Relationship Management and Customer Interaction. The French market.

Author:Elodie Pascau Baylère

Supervisor:Urban Ljungquist

Level:Bachelor thesis in Business Administration, Marketing

Key Words:CRM, customer interaction, loyalty, customer-centric, customer service, database management, customerization

Purpose: It is not obvious to see the link between CRM and customer interaction. We will explore it through 2 axes: CRM to companies and companies to customers. The CRM implies getting a new strategy at heart of the company. We will see how it operates.

Theoretical framework:  This part gathers all the basic Marketing knowledge that I use in this thesis. The first part is a CRM and customer interaction. The second one is the 4Cs model where marketers must adapt a new vision through the customer. Linked with that we will see how it conduces to customer interaction. However, CRM implies a strategic vision and plan but also an organizational process.

Method:In the method we will explain that we used a qualitative research. We collect our secondary data from our University library (databases) and primary data from our questionnaire and interview.

Conclusion:To conclude, we will expose the answer of our purpose, we will also bring suggestions for companies and criticisms of the thesis. We will also propose a further question.

Abstract 

Background and problems

Municipal limited companies have increasingly become a popular way of governing municipal operations. With the intent of imitating privately owned limited companies, models such as New Public Management and New Public Governance have taken place in shaping the governance of municipal companies. However, the governance of municipal companies in the form of limited companies leads to problems regarding the legislation in terms of colliding regulations, limited regulations, and potential exploitation of the legislations.  

Method

The method used for this study is a quantitative method of collecting information from the annual reports of both privately held limited companies and municipal limited companies. The data is then to be compared and analyzed in terms of key performance indicators. Three studies have been executed, one to compare the financial effectiveness, one with the DuPont-model as a background, and lastly a calculation of key performance indicators to showcase deviations in the accounting.  

Aim

The aim of the study is to compare financial effectiveness between municipally owned limited companies and privately held limited companies. Further aim for this study is to compare financial risk taking and financial structure between the two, as well as examine how trustworthy and comparable key performance indicators are between companies.  

Research questions

How economically effective are municipal limited real estate companies in comparison to privately owned companies in the same industry? What difference exists in the financial structure and accounting, as well as the financial governance between the two company types?  

Result and conclusions

The result of this study concludes that municipal companies are less economically effective in comparison to privately owned limited companies. The financial risk taking is lower for the municipal companies than its comparison. The difference in financial efficiency is a result of lower gross profits for the municipal companies, where the capital turnover rate only constitutes minor differences. Both the municipal and privately held real estate companies showed noticeable differences in the key performance indicators, resulting in low scores regarding the comparability and trustworthiness of the accounting.  

Suggestions for further research

This study has led to a lot of interesting conclusions that give rise to further research. Further research suggests finding empirical evidence in how municipal companies balance its’ governance between the Swedish law Aktiebolagslagen and Kommunallagen. A deeper comparison with the DuPont-model is suggested to specify in what areas of the companies the financial effectivity is differentiating. Other suggestions would be to research the financial compensation for the board members in municipal companies compared to the privately held companies and its consequences. 

After the Second World War, the service sector in many countries, including the highly developed and the developing countries, started growing and making up the bulk of the economies of those countries. Some of the factors for that radical change are: the changing patterns of government ownership and regulation, privatization, technological innovations, servitization, internationalization, globalization, etc. The purpose of this article is to investigate and to suggest a classification of the existing literature in the field of service economy. The results of the systematic review of the area of the service economy are presented in a thematic order. Moreover, the findings are connected with the economical schools of thought - welfare state and neoliberalism. The key findings reveal that the social, economic, and technological changes brought by the Third Industrial Revolution were essential for the dissemination and development of the service sector.

The Kano model is a technique for a better understanding of the customers’ requirements, thus increasing the customers’ satisfaction. The process of identifying the customers’ requirements and increasing the customers’ satisfaction, by improving the offerings, is costly for the companies. In order not to waste resources, companies should firstly identify who their target audience is, through a market research. When companies understand who their target audience is, they are able to identify their requirements, in order to try to meet them, and increase customers’ satisfaction. The process of segmentation and targeting, helps companies to save time, money and effort, since the messages are directly delivered to those who are their target audience, and are really interested. Moreover, the companies using the focus groups and in-depth interviews can collect target audience’ requirements, in order to later on meet those requirements and increase the customers’ satisfaction. Furthermore, the findings revealed that for the companies in the online payment industry it is crucial to have a good reputation and be trustworthy.

New digital, automated and intelligent technologies and services – including self-driving cars, drones, smart home technologies, digital health applications and more – are becoming increasingly possible, available and integrated into everyday circumstances and imagined near and far futures. Investigating digital futures moreover demands research methods that surpass the conventional anthropological tendency to take refuge in the epistemological and ethical past. The term digital futures has the obvious connotation of being concerned with the roles played by technologies in a time that has not yet happened and is used across many contemporary contexts. Autonomous driving (AD) cars are a pertinent example of a technology in development. AD futures research therefore enabled our team to better understand – theoretically and ethnographically – how people imagined and experienced possible digital futures scenarios and how and why they began to feel confident and comfortable in these situations and when they did not.

This study analyzes the stock performance of bidding firms in China mainland and Hong Kong around the announcement of mergers and acquisitions transaction. The sample consists of 19 bidding firms in mainland and 11 bidding firms in Hong Kong. Hang Seng Index and Shanghai Composite Index are two proxies for market returns. The result that both average abnormal return and cumulative abnormal return to bidders in China mainland are positive whereas AAR to bidders in Hong Kong is positive in the announced date and CAR is negative during the event window (-5, +5). Compare to two regions, the announcement of mergers and acquisitions in mainland regarded as ‘good news’ to its stock price; however, it is not as good as for Hong Kong market. In the total method of payment, there are 8 transactions by stock and up to 22 deals by cash; that above 70% of acquisitions are pure cash payments in the entire sample. Through the regression model, the author finds regions of acquisitions affect the return because it is tested statistical significant at 5 percent significance level. And methods of payment do not affect abnormal returns and cumulative abnormal return to bidding firms during the event period.

Longitudinal studies show that technology transfer changes over time but do not systematically address how this occurs. This paper addresses the evolution of technology transfer by analyzing changes in the focal actors, their perceived problems, problem-solving activities and implemented technological and organizational solutions. Empirically, we analyze the evolution of fish and silk production in Cauca, Colombia, a rural region characterized by a low level of education. While production was initiated by national and international governments, these policy programs failed by themselves to establish technology transfer activities successfully because of governmental short sightedness, lack of producer commitment and transferor-producer arm’s length relations. Over time, interaction among producers and producer cooperatives (recipients), universities (transferors) and intermediaries created a “technology transfer system”. The creation and professionalization of the cooperatives and intermediaries were key events allowing for creating a functioning technology transfer system. The evolution of the system was largely determined by the types of problems the main actors formulated and acted upon. Major problem diversified from being technology-related, to customer, market and distribution oriented. A main organizing principle of both solving and formulating these problems consisted of projects, which means the evolution can be characterized by sequences of projects addressing specific and changing problems over time. The cases are in in line with evolutionary theorizing and the paper concludes with general lessons for technology transfer from an evolutionary perspective.

Drawing on a Gramscian Regulation Approach and Harvey’s accumulation by dispossession thesis, this article discusses the structural and hegemonic mechanisms of the neoliberal transformation of Sweden’s welfare sectors. Providing new longitudinal data on welfare retrenchment, corporate governance, wealth shares, and private economic power, the article further analyzes how the transformation of the Swedish post-war universal welfare model is related to class struggle and accumulation regime change in the Swedish economy. Following a decade-long countermobilization of Swedish capital and a severe economic crisis in the early 1990s, neoliberal economic common sense was cemented among social democratic policy elites that manifested itself in an institutionalized austerity polity, leading to a slow but steady dismantling of the Swedish welfare project. Roughly a fifth of employees in the three largest welfare sectors work in private welfare companies that generate tax-financed profits on politically created welfare markets. Welfare profits are in turn defended by a welfare–industrial complex and undergirded by a hegemonic bloc consisting of capital elites and sympathetic policymakers. In the virtual absence of vocal antihegemonic forces, many social democratic leaders have limited criticism against welfare profits throughout the last decades. On the contrary, austerity measures practiced by Swedish social democrats have thereto led to deteriorating social cohesion and spawned distrust among core social democratic voters.

With the shift from geopolitics to geoeconomics the focus is no longer the Heartland or the Rimland, or any coherent geographical region, but the set of all geographical locations containing economically-important natural resources, what we shall call the Nareland (Natural Resource Lands). This new logic of dispersed geographical locations marks the shift from geopolitics to geoeconomics. The centre stage has been taken over by the private-sector organization, the corporation. This means that power has been transferred from the public to the private sphere. It means that the nation state is ceding its power to individuals – less in some countries and more in others, for instance less in Sweden than in the USA; but the trend is clear, and it is global.

Methodological changes within the study of man are inspired not only through new scientific insights and discoveries, but also through crises, wars, and the appearance of new political masters. Within the study of economics, the edifice of neoclassical economics is now standing on the scaffold seeking pardon among the spectators and hoping the executioner has been called away and the verdict redrawn. The critique is not new, but has been continuous and gaining in strength especially over the past three decades, particularly after the recent financial crisis. In the wake of this devastating event, more people are questioning the usefulness…

Three hypotheses are presented in this article, each supported by observations and theory. The first is that party distinctions in Scandinavian politics have ceased to be vehicles for coherent ideas related to political ideologies, but that parties instead have become machines to stay in power and keep supporters employed. The second is that the tradition among political parties in Scandinavia and especially in Sweden for accepting federalist measures as a response to central state inefficiencies has been checked by the development of the welfare state. It can only regain momentum through external pressure. The third is that the Scandinavia welfare state model has shifted from one of providing support to the needy to a party guaranteeing the middle class a certain life-style.

The article, which is based in the tradition of Critical Theory, presents a number of reasons for preserving a strong production economy given that the aim of the nation state is to work for improved competitive advantage. It is also an attempt to show why a majority of Western countries have defended the transformation from a predominant production economy to a service economy by explaining the shift as a result of class interests, using New Class theory. It argues for why a materialist perspective in economic theory is relevant today.

Purpose

The authors investigate household acceptance of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) by drawing on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and institutional trust theory.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors build a research model including six hypotheses and quantitatively analyze it using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and importance-performance map analysis (IPMA) based on 282 answers to a survey questionnaire.

Findings

The continuous adoption of CBDCs by households is highly probable and is fostered by its expected high performance, the social recommendations and the existence of facilitating conditions. Nevertheless, institutions' efforts to propose a flexible and understandable currency can benefit its adoption only if these institutions also strive to build households' trust in the currency's system.

Originality/value

The authors provide a full review of the emerging literature on CBDCs and suggest that digital currency offerings can be divided into centralized, semi-centralized and de-centralized control in a meaningful taxonomy. The authors also complement extant studies on CBDCs that mostly apprehend its operational challenges by focusing on the customer side and provide implications to the launching of CBDCs by uncovering the customer-specific determinants of their adoption. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Titel: Kan Bitcoin bli framtidens betalningsmedel i utvecklingsländer?

Författare: Isak Bengtsson och Gustaf Starbrant

Bakgrund och problemdiskussion: I utvecklingsländer finns det betydande grupper

människor som inte har tillgång till ett fungerande bankkonto. Detta skapar problem i form av

finansiellt utanförskap för vissa befolkningsgrupper. Bitcoin är en digital valuta som alla

människor i teorin skulle kunna få tillgång till, med en mobiltelefon med nätverksuppkoppling

som enda krav. Därigenom skulle fler människor i utvecklingsländer ha tillgång till fungerande

betalningsmöjligheter och inte utsättas för finansiellt utanförskap.

Forskningsfråga: Vilka möjligheter samt risker finns avseende att införa Bitcoin som

betalningsmedel i utvecklingsländer?

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka och analysera möjligheter samt risker avseende

införandet av Bitcoin som betalningsmedel i utvecklingsländer.

Metod: Genom en abduktiv ansats och en kvalitativ metodik har vi sammanfattat resonemang,

argument och forskning kring Bitcoin. Material har samlats in genom tidigare forskning och

semistrukturerade intervjuer.

Referensram: Bitcoin och blockkedjetekniken presenteras men även Bitcoin som valuta och

dess möjligheter och risker. Teorierna förtroendeteori och penningteori belyses också. Dessa

utgör grundstenar och används som ett analysverktyg i uppsatsen.

Empiri: Vårt empiriska undersökningsområde innefattar personer med kunskap om Bitcoin

och dess underliggande teknik, blockkedjetekniken. Insamlandet av det empiriska materialet

skedde genom sex semistrukturerade intervjuer.

Analys och slutsatser: Bitcoin är den största digitala valutan i dagsläget och erbjuder stora

möjligheter generellt. Det finns dock begränsningar, till exempel skalningsproblematik och

deflation, som hade gjort det svårt för en implementering som valuta i utvecklingsländer.

Däremot innehar blockkedjetekniken stor potential att förändra infrastrukturen för betalningar.

Nyckelord: Betalningsmedel, Bitcoin, blockkedjetekniken, digital valuta, möjligheter, risker,

utvecklingsländer