This paper identifies that guest selection at exclusive nightclubs is a brand building process, and that the guests’ primary value to the clubs therefore is the image they bestow on the brand. The paper contributes to theory by providing empirical support for several mechanisms that have previously been stipulated in literature. It validates that companies build brand personality by controlling typical user imagery, and that for self-expressive product categories, negative user stereotypes are particularly powerful. It supports the theory of symbolic brand avoidance, as well as the notion that social rejection encourages people to elevate their perceptions of their rejecters and strengthens their predilection to affiliate with them. For practitioners, the paper shows managers in the hospitality industry that it is possible to build brands by controlling who is allowed to become a brand-user, and under which conditions this applies. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

The purpose of this article is to investigate whether women’s relatively positive response to obese models is the result of social desirability bias on the part of women rather than deep seated attitudes. 60 university students in Sweden underwent an Implicit Associations Test (IAT) to reveal attitudes towards obese models that the participants were not able or willing to openly express. The study shows that even though women express significantly more positive attitudes towards obese models than men do, women and men display similar implicit negativity towards obese models. The study replicates a previously shown explicit gender effect, but also extends theory on gender preferences towards models of different sizes and body types by introducing measurements of implicit attitudes. Finally, the paper provides a possible explanation for why the fashion industry largely refrains from using obese models even though women express relatively positive attitudes towards them. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate how business-to-business (B2B) companies build brand personality via the products they provide and via their interactions with customers. Design/methodology/approach: A multiple case study, which spans 10 years, investigates via interviews, observations, workshops and document analysis how two fast-growing B2B companies selling industrial equipment to manufacturers build brand personality. Findings: The studied companies concentrate on different brand personality dimensions depending on the activities in which they engage. By focusing on brand competence in the realm of the actual product and brand warmth in the realm of the augmented product, the companies manage to create a complete and consistent brand personality. Research limitations/implications: The research approach provides in-depth knowledge on how the companies build brands for a specific type of B2B product. However, the article’s perspective is limited to that of management and therefore does not take customer reactions into account. Practical implications: The study describes how firms can build strong B2B brands by emphasizing competence in product design and R&D and warmth in activities related to sales and customer service. Originality/value: The study introduces a conceptually consistent view of brand personality in the form of warm and competent brands to the B2B marketing literature. It builds on and contributes to the emerging research on B2B brand personality. By relating the companies’ brand-building activities to the type of products they sell, this study illustrates how context affects B2B brand building, and by integrating brand personality theory with product levels and marketing philosophy, it extends previous theory on B2B branding. © 2022, Ulf Aagerup, Svante Andersson and Gabriel Baffour Awuah.

This study provides an analysis of the benefits of adding solar PV and batteries to industries, both examing the grid-connected and off-grid cases.The electricity demand of 28 companies in Falkenberg, Sweden, whose industries require high voltages for electricity, were studied. We examined the extent to which these companies can depend on energy generated from photovoltaic cells and stored in batteries, as well as the impact of peak loads and the possibility of eliminating peaks when operating off-grid.The data for each of these cases were analyzed for companies to determine the energy that can be generated from photovoltaic cells on-site, and then take advantage of this energy directly and store the surplus in batteries to reduce dependence on the grid or reduce this dependence to a minimum, and study the role of the battery. We obtained interesting results and reliable systems during this study, as we noticed the effect of changing working hours in these companies in proportion to the times of energy production during the period of daily solar radiation.By studying the main load models in these companies and using the results and data analysis, it was noted that batteries can be a reliable solution, in which the energy generated from solar cells is used directly and the excess electricity is stored in the batteries later, and we noted the possibility of operating the entire system off-grid, which was found realistic if the company would have been located in Egypt. .

While there is an abundance of research that shows a direct and positive relationship betweenentrepreneurial orientation (EO) and organizational performance the relationship is far from simpleand clear. Research suggest that the relationship is complex and is contingent on internal andexternal variables that affect this relationship. This study examines the effect of EO and itsdimensions on organizational performance in SMEs in Jordan. Further, the study examines themediating effect of internal and external contingency factors such as: market orientation, strategicflexibility and environment hostility on the EO-performance relationship. Using questionnairesurvey the study collected 137 usable questionnaires and utilized PLS to analyze the data. Thestudy found that EO significantly affects performance directly and positively. The study also founda mediating effect of environmental hostility on the relationship between EO and organizationalperformance. No evidence was found to support that MO and strategic flexibility have a mediatingeffect on the EO-performance relationship. With regards to the effect and mediation effect of EOdimensions; the study found that both innovativeness and proactiveness have a significant positivedirect effect on performance. While risk taking has a significant negative direct effect onperformance. With regards to the mediation effect of market orientation, strategic flexibility andenvironmental hostility on the relationships between EO dimensions (innovativeness,proactiveness and risk taking) the study found that only EH has a mediation effect while marketorientation and strategic flexibility have no mediation effect.Specifically, the study also found that EH mediates the relationship between innovativeness andperformance. The mediation is a full mediation since there are both direct and indirect effects ofinnovativeness on performance. The study found a partial mediation effect of EH on theproactiveness-performance relationship since the direct effect becomes insignificant when themediator is added. The study also found a partial mediation effect of EH on the risk takingperformance relationship since the direct effect becomes insignificant when the mediator is added. 

Leadership is important when it comes to well-being and development of organizations. The leader has the opportunity to influence the employees to reach their full potential and thereby develop the entirety of the organization. There are both men and women in leadership positions in the automotive industry, but there is a lack of understanding in how they differ in their leadership. This paper aims to explore how leadership strategies differ between male leaders and female leaders in the automotive industry, by comparing twelve interviews with respondents from two different companies. The study was conducted qualitatively with an inductive research approach. The empirical study together with the reference frame resulted in a model that illustrates how the difference in leaderships are used to motivate and develop the employees. In conclusion the study showed that both male and female leaders’ intent to motivate and personally develop the employees, but they have different approaches achieving it. Male leaders tend to encourage, challenge and promote independence to earn trust while the females tend to use feedback, communication, inclusion and be present in their leadership.

This thesis combines technological innovation systems with business models in a qualitative case study regarding charging point operators for heavy battery electric vehicles in south Sweden. The heavy battery electric vehicle market is still in early development in Sweden, and the development of public charging stations for heavy battery electric vehicles is low. The case study is developed from several qualitative interviews with relevant actors regarding the system for heavy battery electric vehicle charging stations. The case study delivers an empirical understanding of the heavy battery electric vehicles market system in south Sweden through a technological innovation system, as well as developing the technological innovation system literature to give regulatory and direct recommendations to the actor in focus. These recommendations were based on barriers for charging point operator business models, where the recommendations to charging point operators are on components to business models that can mitigate these barriers. The regulatory recommendations provided are more traditional to the technological innovation system literature. The combination of the technological innovation system and business model literature has also provided the ability to give a more in-depth analysis of business models for actors in new emerging markets. 

The purpose of this study was to explore how previously developed traditional entrepreneurialskills is connected with the recently established entrepreneurial activity, called sustainableentrepreneurship as well as to help sustainable entrepreneurs to build the necessary skills thatincrease the development of projects aiming to balance social, environmental, and economicalproblems. Therefore, the research question to answer in this study is ‘’Which entrepreneurialskills (or set of skills) must be acquired and nurtured by entrepreneurs to successfully flourisha sustainable business?’’. The procedure is based on interviews with eight individuals withrelevant experience within sustainable entrepreneurship and whom operate in businesses thatoffer sustainable products and/or services, operate in a sustainable way regarding social,environmental or economic were chosen. The results indicate that there are other skills that donot fit the traditional entrepreneurial skills presented by Lichtenstein and Lyons (2001) andthat a fifth category could be imprinted into the entrepreneurial skills necessary to flourish asuccessful business.

High-efficiency photocatalysts are crucial for the removal of organic pollutants and environmental sustainability. In the present work, we report on a new low-temperature hydrothermal chemical method, assisted by ultrasonication, to synthesize disruptive plasmonic ZnO/graphene/Ag/AgI nanocomposites for solar-driven photocatalysis. The plasmonic nanocomposites were investigated by a wide range of characterization techniques, confirming successful formation of photocatalysts with excellent degradation efficiency. Using Congo red as a model dye molecule, our experimental results demonstrated a photocatalytic reactivity exceeding 90% efficiency after one hour simulated solar irradiation. The significantly enhanced degradation efficiency is attributed to improved electronic properties of the nanocomposites by hybridization of the graphene and to the addition of Ag/AgI which generates a strong surface plasmon resonance effect in the metallic silver further improving the photocatalytic activity and stability under solar irradiation. Scavenger experiments suggest that superoxide and hydroxyl radicals are responsible for the photodegradation of Congo red. Our findings are important for the fundamental understanding of the photocatalytic mechanism of ZnO/graphene/Ag/AgI nanocomposites and can lead to further development of novel efficient photocatalyst materials. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.

Little research has been done on female board representation in emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs). Our paper considers the role of female board representation and its impact on open innovation (OI) in the unique context of emerging markets. We draw on upper echelons and institutional theories to understand how female board representation and cross-country institutional contexts influence coupled OI. Combining a 10-year (2009–2019) dataset with a rich in-depth content analysis of 183 (EMNEs) engaged in OI, our results reveal a significant positive association between female board representation and a firm's commitment to coupled OI initiatives. We also find that country-level institutional factors affect and positively moderate the relationship between female board representation and coupled OI. In emerging market environments where managerial perception and cultural beliefs sometimes hinder the promotion of females into top positions, our work has implications for EMNEs regarding how they harness diversity. We contribute to the OI literature by showing that female board representation enhances corporate OI investment within EMNEs. © 2023 The Authors

Many households have large expenses in energy consumption and more than half of theenergy consumption is used to heat the home. The energy requirement for newly built housesis stricter than before and older houses are not as energy efficient. There is the possibility ofmaking old houses more efficient, an investment the houseowner later will benefit fromfinancially. In this work, methods that lower the energy consumption from passed heatthrough outer walls are going to be reviewed. The methods are done on a detached house witha demanding heat system upon which outer walls has poor insulation capacity. The purpose isto find out which method of geothermal heat pump, window replacement and additionalinsulation that gives the minimum cost in energy consumption with greatest savings andquickest pay off. The geothermal heat pump will be calculated separate with the outer walland windows unchanged. The unchanged windows have poor insulation capacity includingthe outer wall which mainly consists of bricks. This lets out lots of energy and demandsreplacement but despite this, the geothermal heat pump with its great ability to producerenewable energy gives the best results in all the mentioned measurements.

Budgetering har under flera år varit omtalat och fått en del kritik för att bland annat vara tidsoch resurskrävande. Trots detta finns det idag mängder av företag som använder sig av någon form av budgetering som hjälp för att hålla koll på sin ekonomi. Budget finns till som ett hjälpmedel och kan användas på olika sätt, de tre vanligaste budgetarna är resultatbudget, likviditetsbudget och budgeterad balansräkning. Företag i tillväxtfasen kännetecknas av att vara impulsiva och att de hela tiden behöver anpassa sig mot marknaden för att kunna öka sin tillväxt. I ett företag som befinner sig i tillväxtfasen kan strukturen i företagen se väldigt olika ut och företagen jobbar mot olika mål. Syftet med den här studien är därför att skapa en förståelse för hur företag i tillväxtfasen arbetar med budgetering och ekonomiska planering samt hur arbetssättet har förändrats över tid. Då avsikten har varit att undersöka företagens arbetssätt har ett kvalitativt angreppssätt valts till denna studie. Studien har genomförts genom intervjuer med ett fåtal utvalda företag som befinner sig i tillväxtfasen. De svar som respondenterna givit har sedan analyserats med hjälp av en analysmodell innehållande tre olika steg för analys. Slutsatserna i denna studie är att företagen arbetar på liknande sätt med att skapa årliga budgetar som följs upp månadsvis. Företagens olika stadier hade även betydelse för hur företagen arbetar med budget eftersom stadierna innebär att företagen har kommit olika långt i sin tillväxt. Användningen av budget i företag i tillväxtfasen är av stor betydelse eftersom att det skapar kontroll och engagemang i företaget. Studien visade även att alla var positivt inställda till budget och mötte inte alls den kritik som riktats mot budgetering

The health sector is very specific and difficult market for firms to access and deal with. The main reasons for this is that the healthcare systems are in continuous change, the co-creation processes in hospitals are complicated involving many different actors which also affects on firms commercialization and internationalization approaches. However, there is a growing demand of health services and the sector is growing also due to the COVID situation, that has been dramatically speeding up the digitalization of the healthcare services in the hospital settings. Approaching international hospital markets is, however, challenging for the start-up companies. On their journey they are facing a resistance, that they have to overcome in many different ways. The aim of this paper is to increase understanding how a start-up can overcome hospital resistance in an international innovation co-creation process. The results of are based on in depth case study in which the data collection was done over the four years of data gathering. The paper highlights how start-up companies can overcome the resistance in the international innovation co-creation in the hospital markets. It shows the importance of different activities, actors, capabilities and international activities in different phases of the international innovation co-creation journey. © 2022

Cluster 5 picocyanobacteria significantly contribute to primary productivity in aquatic ecosystems. Estuarine populations are highly diverse and consist of many co-occurring strains, but their physiology remains largely understudied. In this study, we characterized 17 novel estuarine picocyanobacterial strains. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA and pigment genes (cpcB and cpeBA) uncovered multiple estuarine and freshwater-related clusters and pigment types. Assays with five representative strains (three phycocyanin rich and two phycoerythrin rich) under temperature (10–30°C), light (10–190 μmol photons m−2 s−1), and salinity (2–14 PSU) gradients revealed distinct growth optima and tolerance, indicating that genetic variability was accompanied by physiological diversity. Adaptability to environmental conditions was associated with differential pigment content and photosynthetic performance. Amplicon sequence variants at a coastal and an offshore station linked population dynamics with phylogenetic clusters, supporting that strains isolated in this study represent key ecotypes within the Baltic Sea picocyanobacterial community. The functional diversity found within strains with the same pigment type suggests that understanding estuarine picocyanobacterial ecology requires analysis beyond the phycocyanin and phycoerythrin divide. This new knowledge of the environmental preferences in estuarine picocyanobacteria is important for understanding and evaluating productivity in current and future ecosystems. © 2023 The Authors. Environmental Microbiology published by Applied Microbiology International and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

There has been recently a growing attention towards the potential benefits of building information modelling (BIM) in construction business processes from both academia and industry practitioners. While prior research has emphasised that there is a link between the proficiency of construction companies to use BIM and the realisation of BIM benefits, little evidence exists to capture this relationship. The aim of this study is to explore the extent to which prior BIM experiences influence the perception of industry experts on potential BIM benefits. The influence of years of BIM experience on the discernment of BIM potential benefits was examined through a survey of Australian building contractors. The results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that BIM experience was a significant factor in the realisation of potential BIM benefits. The results suggest that an increase in years of BIM experience foster a better understanding of BIM benefits, which consequently can lead to a more inspiring movement towards the adoption of BIM by construction organisations. The main contribution of this article is to increase awareness towards the adoption and implementation of BIM by making a link between BIM proficiency and an increased perception of BIM potential benefits in construction organisations. © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Absorptive capacity (AC) is a theoretical construct that measures the capacity of an organisation to absorb knowledge from external sources to sustain competitive advantage. Information dispersion makes it difficult for project-based organisations (PBOs) to absorb new ideas. The current study uses AC theory to examine how the use of building information modelling (BIM) affects the capacity of building contractors to absorb new information and become more competitive. A desktop study of secondary sources was undertaken to assess if there is a potential link between BIM and contractor AC. This revealed that the potential benefits of BIM’s technical features are motivated through its functional attributes. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to clarify the underlying relationship of a cluster of variables. The results of EFA led to the confirmed three categories for BIM functional attributes, including: (1) integration, (2) comprehensibility, and (3) transparency. Multiple regression analysis was used to explore the latent relationship between BIM functional attributes and contractor AC. The regression analysis of survey data, which was gathered from 56 building contractors in Queensland, Australia, showed that the transparency function of BIM functional attributes significantly correlated with acquisition and transformation dimensions of contractor AC. The study confirms a link between BIM and contractor AC, providing further evidence of the importance of BIM in sustaining the competitive advantage of project-based organisations. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Correct dimensioning of mounting plates near an edge in concrete is of utmost importance to prevent breakage. This study, which is primarily experimental, investigates the capacity of a certain type of embedded mounting plate when placed adjacent to an underlying edge. The purpose is to gain an understanding of how these mounting plates should be dimensioned against edge breakage and to investigate how a transverse bar affects the shear capacity near an edge. The study presents the results from practical tests and compares them with calculations made according to the Eurocode. The results show that the actual fastening has a higher strength than what is described in the calculation models from the standards. Full-scale testing and dimensioning guidelines based on testing led to comparable results in the experiment. The method used in the experiment yielded promising results and shows that calculations according to the Eurocode do not correspond to reality. Instead, the capacity turns out to be significantly higher than what is shown after calculations according to interpretations of standards.

Title: Coping in a VUCA-world: is the construction industry agile? - A qualitative case study on working methods and leadership at three management levels. 

Background: As the world experiences more rapid changes, higher uncertainty, more complexity, and ambiguity, the term VUCA has become increasingly common. The phenomenon of VUCA prime is considered a tool for dealing with the challenges that arise in a VUCA-world. The construction industry is depicted in previous research as traditional and conservative, both in terms of working methods and leadership. While agile working methods are proposed for managing the VUCA context, theory believes that it is difficult to apply agility in the construction industry, which is designed in project forms based on clear phases. Therefore, interest was raised in investigating to what extent agile working methods are used to deal with the challenges that arise in a VUCA-world and if the working methods differ depending on the management level. 

Purpose: This study aims to understand which challenges occur in an organization, in a VUCA-world, and to explain how agile working methods are practically applied at different management levels within projects in the construction industry.

Research question: To which extent is the construction industry using agile working methods? Can the agile way of working relate to the use of VUCA prime, and does the application of the way of working differ depending on the management level?

Method: The study is based on a qualitative research method where seven leaders at three different management levels within the construction industry have been interviewed. The study’s research approach has mainly been deductive, but there are elements of inductiveness, hence the study is abductive from an overall view. 

Conclusions: The conclusion presents challenges linked to each management level. The conclusion shows that agile working methods are applied in the construction industry, but there is more potential in enabling implementation to permeate all management levels. Norms and attitudes are discussed in relation to the introduction of new working methods. Transformative leadership based on partnership is used to advantage to create clarity and understanding in the industry, which in turn enables agility. 

The present article analyses why and how Ericsson Telecom assumeda greater responsibility than was legally required when it dismissedmore than 23,000 employees in Sweden at the beginning of the21st century. The analysis starts from neoinstitutional theoryand is based on case studies of the company’s closuresin Norrköping and Linköping. The article focuses,in particular, on the interaction between Ericsson, the tradeunions, the County Administrative Board, the County Labour Board,the Public Employment Service, the Swedish Employment SecurityCouncil, the government and the respective municipalities. Itis shown that the greater responsibility taken by Ericsson wasbased on its desire to maintain legitimacy by taking into considerationprevailing societal expectations regarding the company’sbehaviour.

Animals exhibit a diversity of movement tactics [1]. Tracking resources that change across space and time is predicted to be a fundamental driver of animal movement [2]. For example, some migratory ungulates (i.e., hooved mammals) closely track the progression of highly nutritious plant green-up, a phenomenon called "green-wave surfing" [3-5]. Yet general principles describing how the dynamic nature of resources determine movement tactics are lacking [6]. We tested an emerging theory that predicts surfing and the existence of migratory behavior will be favored in environments where green-up is fleeting and moves sequentially across large landscapes (i.e., wave-like green-up) [7]. Landscapes exhibiting wave-like patterns of green-up facilitated surfing and explained the existence of migratory behavior across 61 populations of four ungulate species on two continents (n = 1,696 individuals). At the species level, foraging benefits were equivalent between tactics, suggesting that each movement tactic is fine-tuned to local patterns of plant phenology. For decades, ecologists have sought to understand how animals move to select habitat, commonly defining habitat as a set of static patches [8, 9]. Our findings indicate that animal movement tactics emerge as a function of the flux of resources across space and time, underscoring the need to redefine habitat to include its dynamic attributes. As global habitats continue to be modified by anthropogenic disturbance and climate change [10], our synthesis provides a generalizable framework to understand how animal movement will be influenced by altered patterns of resource phenology.© 2020 Elsevier Inc.

Background: Approximately ten percent of the population report chronic widespread pain (CWP), the condition is more common among women than men. For most people, the pain interferes with many aspects of every-day life and implies large consequences. However, the group reporting CWP is heterogeneous and there is a need for better understanding of the different strategies used for coping with pain in every-day life.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe women’s experiences of how to cope with CWP.

Methods: The study had a descriptive design with a qualitative content analysis approach. Individual interviews were conducted with 19 women, 31–66 of age, who had reported CWP in a survey 2016. CWP was defined according to the 1990 ACR criteria for fibromyalgia. To be considered chronic, the pain should have persisted for more than three months during the last 12 months. A manifest qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the main question “How do you cope with your chronic widespread pain?” The analysis resulted in four categories.

Results: Women described their coping with CWP in four different ways; to take control, to continue as usual, to follow instructions and to rest. To take control meant to make deliberate decisions to handle everyday day life. It also meant to take care of oneself, to think positive and to exercise at an adequate level. To continue as usual meant not to listen to body signals and either to ignore or accept the pain. To follow instructions meant listening to the health professionals and following advices, but without taking any part of the responsibility for the treatment outcome. To rest meant to perceive an unreasonable need for recovery, to resign and let the pain set the terms for the daily living.

Conclusions: Women expressed different ways of coping with CWP including both active and passive strategies. The coping strategies included two dimensions, where one ranged from actively taking control over the pain, to passively following instructions and the other from actively continue as usual by either accepting or ignoring the pain to passively rest and being mastered by pain.

The purpose of this study has been to find out how SMEs in Sweden perceive SEO as a marketing tool. In order to answer the purpose of the study, we have selected five small and medium enterprises to take part in their stories and perceptions of SEO.

As a method, we have used interviews to be able to answer the purpose of the essay. We have chosen not to focus on a specific industry because the purpose has been SMEs as it is the majority of Sweden's companies. In the thesis, coding has been used as an analysis tool to interpret our collected material.

The results show that there are varied opinions about SEO. However, The majority of informants perceive SEO as a complex system. The essay shows that IP1 and IP5 informants use SEO as a marketing tool but still do not understand SEO completely. The informants use social media as a marketing strategy to reach out to potential new customers and to focus on the word of mouth model. The study also shows that the informants who use SEO see it as an opportunity to grow and make a name for themselves in the industry in which they operate. 

Because SEO ensures that companies can be at the top of the list on Google among their competitors and thus easier for potential customers to find the company's website, the company gains a more extensive customer base and grows its business.

Liming programmes aiming to restore fish populations are being implemented in many acidified aquatic systems in northern Europe. We studied Odonata communities in 47 forest lakes in SW Sweden, 13 that are currently being limed, and 8 that have previously been limed. Thirty-one species were recorded, with the highest mean number in untreated lakes, followed by previously treated lakes and currently treated lakes. Species communities differed between untreated and limed lakes, but only few rare species found in the untreated lakes were absent in the treated lakes. Likewise, species known to thrive in acid environments were either rare or showed no preferences. Comparing the number of records of odonate species within a large regional area to the proportion of lakes inhabited in our study, we found that seven of the most commonly observed species occurred less frequently in limed lakes than in the untreated ones, including two of the three most common taxa. Reduced species numbers in limed lakes might be due to conditions on other trophic levels, including fish predation. We argue that Odonata should be considered when developing new biological indices of water quality, although the causes of the observed occurrence patterns need to be studied further. © 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

Alpine and polar regions are predicted to be among the most vulnerable to changes in temperature, precipitation, and nutrient availability. We carried out a seven-year factorial experiment with warming and nutrient addition in two alpine vegetation communities. We analyzed the relationship between fruit production and monthly mean, maximum, and min temperatures during the fall of the pre-fruiting year, the fruiting summer, and the whole fruit production period, and measured the effects of precipitation and growing and thawing degree days (GDD & TDD) on fruit production. Nutrient addition (heath: 27.88 ± 3.19 fold change at the end of the experiment; meadow: 18.02 ± 4.07) and combined nutrient addition and warming (heath: 20.63 ± 29.34 fold change at the end of the experiment; meadow: 18.21 ± 16.28) increased total fruit production and fruit production of graminoids. Fruit production of evergreen and deciduous shrubs fluctuated among the treatments and years in both the heath and meadow. Pre-maximum temperatures had a negative effect on fruit production in both communities, while current year maximum temperatures had a positive impact on fruit production in the meadow. Pre-minimum, pre-mean, current mean, total minimum, and total mean temperatures were all positively correlated with fruit production in the meadow. The current year and total precipitation had a negative effect on the fruit production of deciduous shrubs in the heath. GDD had a positive effect on fruit production in both communities, while TDD only impacted fruit production in the meadow. Increased nutrient availability increased fruit production over time in the high alpine plant communities, while experimental warming had either no effect or a negative effect. Deciduous shrubs were the most sensitive to climate parameters in both communities, and the meadow was more sensitive than the heath. The difference in importance of TDD for fruit production may be due to differences in snow cover in the two communities. © 2022 The Authors

Global warming is expected to have large impacts on high alpine and Arctic ecosystems in the future. Here we report effects of 18 years of experimental warming on two contrasting high alpine plant communities in subarctic Sweden. Using open-top chambers, we analysed effects of long-term passive experimental warming on a heath and a meadow. We determined the impact on species composition, species diversity (at the level of rare, common and dominant species), and phylogenetic and functional diversity. Long-term warming drove differentiation in species composition in both communities; warmed plots, but not control plots, had distinctly different species composition in 2013 compared with 1995. Beta diversity increased in the meadow, while it decreased in the heath. Long-term warming had significant negative effects on the three orders of phylogenetic Hill diversity in the meadow. There was a similar tendency in the heath, but only phylogenetic diversity of dominant species was significantly affected. Long-term warming caused reductions in forbs in the heath, while evergreen shrubs increased. In the meadow, deciduous and evergreen shrubs showed increased abundance from 2001 to 2013 in warmed plots. Responses in species and phylogenetic diversity to experimental warming varied over both time (medium (7 years) vs long-term (18 years)) and space (between two neighbouring plant communities). The meadow community was more negatively affected in terms of species and phylogenetic diversity than the heath community. A potential driver for the changes in the meadow may be decreased soil moisture caused by long-term warming. © 2021

Premise: Climate change is having major impacts on alpine and arctic regions, and inter-annual variations in temperature are likely to increase. How increased climate variability will impact plant reproduction is unclear. Methods: In a 4-year study on fruit production by an alpine plant community in northern Sweden, we applied three warming regimes: (1) a static level of warming with open-top chambers (OTC), (2) press warming, a yearly stepwise increase in warming, and (3) pulse warming, a single-year pulse event of higher warming. We analyzed the relationship between fruit production and monthly temperatures during the budding period, fruiting period, and whole fruit production period and the effect of winter and summer precipitation on fruit production. Results: Year and treatment had a significant effect on total fruit production by evergreen shrubs, Cassiope tetragona, and Dryas octopetala, with large variations between treatments and years. Year, but not treatment, had a significant effect on deciduous shrubs and graminoids, both of which increased fruit production over the 4 years, while forbs were negatively affected by the press warming, but not by year. Fruit production was influenced by ambient temperature during the previous-year budding period, current-year fruiting period, and whole fruit production period. Minimum and average temperatures were more important than maximum temperature. In general, fruit production was negatively correlated with increased precipitation. Conclusions: These results indicate that predicted increased climate variability and increased precipitation due to climate change may affect plant reproductive output and long-term community dynamics in alpine meadow communities. © 2021 The Authors. American Journal of Botany published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Botanical Society of America

Climate change is expected to affect alpine and Arctic tundra communities. Most previous long-term studies have focused on impacts on vascular plants, this study examined impacts of long-term warming on bryophyte communities. Experimental warming with open-top chambers (OTCs) was applied for 18 years to a mesic meadow and a dry heath alpine plant community. Species abundance was measured in 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2013. Species composition changed significantly from original communities in the heath, but remained similar in mesic meadow. Experimental warming increased beta diversity in the heath. Bryophyte cover and species richness both declined with long-term warming, while Simpson diversity showed no significant responses. Over the 18-year period, bryophyte cover in warmed plots decreased from 43 % to 11 % in heath and from 68 % to 35 % in meadow (75 % and 48 % decline, respectively, in original cover), while richness declined by 39 % and 26 %, respectively. Importantly, the decline in cover and richness first emerged after 7 years. Warming caused significant increase in litter in both plant communities. Deciduous shrub and litter cover had negative impact on bryophyte cover. We show that bryophyte species do not respond similarly to climate change. Total bryophyte cover declined in both heath and mesic meadow under experimental long-term warming (by 1.5-3 °C), driven by general declines in many species. Principal response curve, cover and richness results suggested that bryophytes in alpine heath are more susceptible to warming than in meadow, supporting the suggestion that bryophytes may be less resistant in drier environments than in wetter habitats. Species loss was slower than the decline in bryophyte abundance, and diversity remained similar in both communities. Increased deciduous shrub and litter cover led to decline in bryophyte cover. The non-linear response to warming over time underlines the importance of long-term experiments and monitoring. © 2020 The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company.

Picophytoplankton in the Baltic Sea includes the simplest unicellular cyanoprokaryotes (Synechococcus/Cyanobium) and photosynthetic picoeukaryotes (PPE). Picophytoplankton are thought to be a key component of the phytoplankton community, but their seasonal dynamics and relationships with nutrients and temperature are largely unknown. We monitored pico- and larger phytoplankton at a coastal site in Kalmar Sound (K-Station) weekly during 2018. Among the cyanoprokaryotes, phycoerythrin-rich picocyanobacteria (PE-rich) dominated in spring and summer while phycocyanin-rich picocyanobacteria (PC-rich) dominated during autumn. PE-rich and PC-rich abundances peaked during summer (1.1 × 105 and 2.0 × 105 cells mL–1) while PPE reached highest abundances in spring (1.1 × 105 cells mL–1). PPE was the main contributor to the total phytoplankton biomass (up to 73%). To assess nutrient limitation, bioassays with combinations of nitrogen (NO3 or NH4) and phosphorus additions were performed. PE-rich and PC-rich growth was mainly limited by nitrogen, with a preference for NH4 at >15°C. The three groups had distinct seasonal dynamics and different temperature ranges: 10°C and 17–19°C for PE-rich, 13–16°C for PC-rich and 11–15°C for PPE. We conclude that picophytoplankton contribute significantly to the carbon cycle in the coastal Baltic Sea and underscore the importance of investigating populations to assess the consequences of the combination of high temperature and NH4 in a future climate. Copyright © 2021 Alegria Zufia, Farnelid and Legrand.

Business angels are an important source of funding for new companies in need of external capital, since they usually are the first to invest in new companies. Therefore, it is valuable to study how business angels manage their investment process, both before and after the investment has been completed. As more investments are made, experience is gained and applied to the next investment process. Previous research has studied how other experience, such as education and entrepreneurial experience, affects parts of the investment process. The purpose of this study is to describe the investment process of business angels in Sweden and analyse how it differs depending on how many investments they have previously made, that is what investment experience they have. Finally, the purpose of the study is to develope a model to describe how the investment experience affects the investment process. 

The study is based om an abducitve research approach and a qualitative research method. Empirical data has been collected with eleven interviews and two email conversations, and the respondents consist of business angels in Sweden who have made between one and 20 investments in new companies. The interviews conducted were semi-structured and of a narrative nature. The analytical method used to analyse the empirical data is the Gioia-method. 

The conclusions of the study are that the investment process consists of five stages; deal flow, screening & investment criteria, negotiation, active ownership and exit. Further in the conclusion, the similarities and differences that exist in the investment process of business angels with more and less investment experience are presented. As experience is gained, business angels get a bigger and better deal flow based on informal contacts instead of formal networks. For business angels with more experience, the process is slower and they make a more accurate assessment of the company and, above all, the entrepreneur. Business angels with more experience find negotiations easier and they are more involved than those with less experience. Experience has an impact on active ownership, where more experienced business angels value taking an altruistic role in the company and the less experienced business angels consider themselves above all to take a value-creating role and contribute resources to the company. Business angels with more experience have a more dynamic view of exit, and business angels with less experience have a more static view of exit. It can be stated that investment experience has an impact on all stages of the investment process.

Den industriella revolutionen kom med behovet av att bygga byggnader och broar, till en början förstod man inte vikten av armering och förstärkning av konstruktion. Men med tiden behövde man komma på någon strategi att göra konstruktionen starkare och mer hållbar, och det var då man började använda sig av förstärkning.

I dagens moderna samhälle är det vanligare att bygga med betong, betong är det viktigaste byggmaterialet i världen. Det har flera egenskaper som garanterar en lång livslängd för konstruktionen; dess hållbarhet och styvhet är av störst intresse för att designa betongkonstruktioner. Andra egenskaper såsom täthet och bearbetbarhet är också viktiga. För att utnyttja betongegenskaperna korrekt måste nästan alla strukturer förstärkas på ett eller annat sätt. Därför har man under en lång period gjort stora forskningar på hur man kan göra betong starkt i draghållfasthet och inte bara i tryck.

Moderna komplicerade konstruktionsformer kräver nya förstärkningsmetoder, komplexiteten i den nya strukturen både när det gäller höjd och bredd har nödvändiggjort behovet av nya metoder för betongarmering. En metod är användningen av järn-baserade minneslegeringar (Fe-SMA), genom forskning har det visat sig vara en effektiv metod för armering av stål. SMAs har unika egenskaper och det mest speciella är att det återgår till sin ursprungliga form även när det har deformerats. Som ett resultat av detta möjliggör det förstärkning av betong av vilken form och storlek som helst, de goda limegenskaperna hos betong och järn gör installationen komplett.

Detta examensarbete resulterade att SMA har väldigt unika egenskaper som kommer att göra stora skillnader i byggbranschen. Detta gäller främst hos broar och är en väldigt aktuell metod som har förmågan att anpassa sig till den omgivande miljön. Utöver det kan den även justera sig själv för att säkerställa optimal och säker drift under normala och svåra belastnings villkor och det minimala kravet för underhåll.

The present study uses a pin-on-disc tribometer to evaluate friction, wear, and airborne particle emissions for a rail-wheel contact. Test pins from UIC60 900A rail carbon steels were in contact with three types of test discs surfaces: R7 wheel carbon steel, laser cladding overlayed martensitic stainless steel, and laser cladding overlayed Ni-based-8% MnS self-lubricating alloy. Test results show about halving of the coefficient of friction, 0.42 to 0.22, and one ten-power lower specific pin and disc wear of discs with self-lubricating overlay compared to standard railway carbon steel contacts. Using stainless-steel overlayed discs also resulted in one ten-power lower specific disc wear, but pin wear is unchanged. Particle emission for the tests with discs with self-lubricating overlay is constant at almost 200 particles/cm3 while running in the distance is needed for the other tests. Almost all generated airborne wear particles were in the sub-100 nm range. The use of laser-cladded (LC) overlay reduced the number of airborne wear particles in the sub-100 nm range by more than a factor of 10. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.

Sustainability performance reporting is becoming increasingly important to address fordifferent forms of ownership whether they are state-owned companies or private ownedcompanies. This is due to the implementation of the new law on mandatory sustainabilityreporting. The report scrutinizes the differences and similarities that may occur in these typesof sustainability reporting. Subsequently knowledge would be gained on which companiestake more responsibility regarding sustainability issues. The purpose of this study is toinvestigate how Swedish privately own companies and state-owned companies prepare theirsustainability report according to law and compare the differences and the similarities thatmay exist. The companies being compared are operating within the same industry. The studyis limited to six companies: four privately-owned companies and four state-ownedcompanies. The study is based on a qualitative method with a deductive research approach(scientific investigation). It implements a comparative research design and applies the contentanalysis of the companies' annual and sustainability reports. It implements a comparativeresearch design and applies the content analysis of the companies' annual and sustainabilityreports. The conclusion that can be drawn is that public and private companies have moresimilarities than differences. The similarities are that all companies take roughly equalresponsibility for their impact on sustainability issues. Both public and private companiespresent their sustainability reports in accordance with the Annual Reports Act and follow theGRI guidelines. Another similarity is that both public and private companies present similartopics. The conclusion that can be drawn also is that the differences that exist are notsubstantial. What differs is the amount of information presented in the topics or theinformation presentation. The small differences may be largely due to the form of ownership,the need for legitimacy, sector affiliation or the prioritization of stakeholders.

SammanfattningSmå och medelstora företag utgör en stor del av alla företag som är registrerade i Sverige.Småföretagen är viktiga för samhället eftersom företagen är de största skattebetalarna i de flestakommunerna samt att de bidrar mycket till näringslivet. Dock behöver småföretagenfinansiering för att kunna fortsätta att bedriva sin verksamhet samt växa. Svårigheten att fåfinansiering är något som de flesta av företagen konfronteras med. Detta har resulterat i attföretagen fått söka andra alternativa finansieringsmetoder där crowdfunding är en avmetoderna. Eftersom crowdfunding är en relativ ny finansieringsmetod samt inte likauppmärksammad finns det flera forskningsluckor som kan undersökas.Syftet med studien är att förstå hur motiven skiljer sig mellan användningen av de olikavarianterna av crowdfunding. Studien undersöker även varför svenska små och medelstoraföretaget vänder sig mot crowdfunding och ifall crowdfunding har potential att ersätta detraditionella finansieringskällorna. Detta har genomförts genom att bland annat påvisa defördelar och nackdelar som finns med crowdfunding. Tillvägagångssättet för undersökningenhar skett genom en kvalitativ metod där intervjuer med sex företag har gjorts.Resultatet visar på att det finns en stor skillnad på det motiv som företagen har när de väljervilken crowdfunding metod som de ska använda. Anledningarna till varför företagen användecrowdfunding skiljde sig också åt men det fanns en viss gemenskap mellan några av företagen.Majoriteten av företagen vill antingen ha en starkare relation till sina kunder eller att derasprodukt eller projekt skulle få uppmärksamhet. Vidare var det delade meningar huruvidacrowdfunding kan ersätta traditionella finansieringskällor, somliga av företagen ansåg attcrowdfunding kunde ersätta helt, somliga tyckte att det kunde fungera som ett komplement ochnågon tyckte att det inte kunde ersätta alls. Likväl är merparten av företagen positivt inställdatill crowdfunding som finansieringsmetod.

Embedded Intelligent Systems (EIS) is the joint research field of the four collaborating laboratories at the School of Information Science, Computer and Electrical Engineering (IDE) at Halmstad University. The research of the four labs is integrated into a strong concerted research environment within embedded systems (EIS) - with a perspective reaching from the enabling technology via new system solutions and intelligent applications to end user aspects and business models. It is an expanding research area with many applications, not least ones that exist in everyday life.EIS is an important research environment contributing to the regional Triple Helix innovation system Healthcare Technology which the region has pointed out as a prioritised development sector. With its strong connections to both established and new, expanding firms hived off from the university, the research environment is active in the Healthcare Technology Alliance, a network of around sixty companies, counties and health care providers in south-western Sweden with the aim of developing the region into a leading arena for the development of health technology products and services. Several projects together with these participants concern both research and technology transfer.An integrated gender and gender equality perspective in innovations within the health technology area is necessary in order to be able to meet the needs of an ageing population with quality innovations. The relevancy of a gender perspective is clear in relation to the fact that about 70% of all those older than 75 years are women. Older women are on average cared for in hospital twice as long as men, partly due to differing disease panoramas, but also because men are more often cared for in the home by a woman while the women who live longer more often live alone. With the expansion of home-help and home nursing new needs follow and it is likely that a gender perspective will become necessary for the development of products and services that can make daily life easier for the elderly. The gender perspective also has relevance from the point of view of care staff. New technology is developed for application within the health and care sector where the larger professional groups consist mainly of women. The technology, most often designed by men, is used by women. With this in mind it is clear that an important aspect of good innovations is that the end users are involved in the innovation process.Based on an awareness of the need for a more articulated gender perspective within the research environment, in order to meet the needs expressed above, an application for a gender inclusive R&D project was handed in to the VINNOVA programme Applied Gender Research in Strong Research and Innovation Environments. The G-EIS project (Gender Perspective on Embedded Intelligent Systems - Application in Healthcare Technology) was approved and started in 2009. The project involves researchers from the EIS research environment as well as representatives from companies and the public sector.The project participants are on the whole agreed on the need for a gender perspective in the R&I environment, but struggle with the meeting of two epistemologically opposed theories of science. The understanding within gender studies that research and production both create reality and are informed by it is not always accepted within the areas of natural science. Engineering and other technological sciences not only consider aspects of science to be separate from reality, but also seek positivistic proof in research, something not always possible in the more qualitative research of the social sciences. Researching how these two perspectives meet within this specific project is the topic of this paper.

The Circular Economy is on the top of the corporate agenda and provokes the interest of the academic community, governments, and policymakers. The Circular Economy paradigm is seen as a better solution and more sustainable alternative to the current linear system. To realize the benefit of the CE, new thinking and new business models are required. So far, there is limited progress has been achieved regarding the implementation of the Circular Economy. Therefore, scholars strive to understand the phenomena, providing conceptualizations, new strategies, and new business models, lacking empirical testing.

The purpose- this study is mainly conducted to test empirically a set of influencing factors that include drivers which stimulate SMEs to implement Circular Business Models and the barriers that prevent or complicate the implementation process.

Methodology- in order to fulfill the research objective, qualitative research with a multiple-case study approach is employed, focusing on three Swedish SMEs that operate in three different sectors.

Findings- the outcome empirically confirmed that organizational drivers related to leadership and organizational culture, resource availability including technology and knowledge, financial factors, product and process development, society, environment, and stakeholder pressure, geographical proximity, entrepreneurship, and bran strengthening are seen as driving and facilitating factors to implement Circular business model. While, the lack of supportive regulation and policies, consumer behaviors related to single-use culture, the nature of the product and material, and the presence of incompatibility and monopoly in the supply chain are observed as major barriers.

 This thesis was conducted to analyze and investigate improvement methods for the testing process of steam sterilizers at Getinge AB.Getinge is a leading MedTech multinational company based in Sweden. Steam sterilizer is one of their prominent products. A series of testing must be done before handing over the product to the customer, which mainly requires water and steam as consumable resources. The intention of this project is to find improvement methods or optimization techniques for the testing process and reduce the consumption of resources which would significantly impact the production lead time and cost. Upon the careful examination of the testing process it has been noticed that a significant amount of pure water with heat content has been wasted during the testing process, which could be recirculated/ reused, and the heat could be regenerated for useful purposes. The proposed optimization suggestions through this project are a thermally stratified tank which could handle cold and hot water as the testing process needs the supply of both. Majority of the faults during testing are identified in software implementation and a few in mechanical. A dummy testing is recommended to identify the faults in the implementation of the software without the need of consumable resources. A few methods to tackle mechanical faults are discussed further in this report. When implementing these optimization suggestions, it would drastically improve the testing process by reducing the consumption of resources like water, steam, natural gas, time, and labor. 

TechnillionJobs is a solution consists of a digital web application, mobile App and a start-up. The solution is intended for helping unemployed Iraqi graduates & students at the final stages of their university studies network with employers locally and internationally. TechnillionJobs can give a bigger opportunity to easier find jobs/build a professional career, and therefore can be a contributing solution in reducing unemployment among graduates in Iraq.

The purpose of the project is mainly to investigate and identify the reasons behind unemployment amongst Iraqi graduates as well as present a solution to reduce this problem and its negative effects. Also, to explore potential target groups, their needs and requirements for the product. The primary target groups were categorized as unemployed Iraqi graduates who can provide their knowledge and skills online, innovative companies who put a huge emphasis on their R&D department and educational companies that provide online courses & lesson plans. Primarily, the project group wanted to develop a concept that would respond to the problem statement by “only” launching a web application which in later development phases expanded to even a mobile App and start-up to provide real time services and offer On-demand Contracts (Explained in The Final Product section of this report) as well.

In order to do a solid research in the problem area and come up with possible solutions and perform analysis, different scientific frameworks, methodologies and project tools such as Design Thinking, Agile methodology, Gantt-chart, Surveys and mini-risk calculation were used to make sure that the project execution follows a scientific structure. An overall timeline from the start of the project to the end is presented as well.

The group has carried out this project in an iterative way where the user has always been in focus during a long dynamic development process. The opportunities for further development are many and, in the future, the product will be a more complete tool for connecting graduates with employers. Future business plans and goals are clarified in the Discussion section of this report. 

Title: A leader's path towards sustainable development in the construction industry: A study on the potential of ethical and sustainable leadership in relation to a greener construction industry. 

Subject: Business Administration, Bachelor's thesis 15 credits Author: Nohayla Amezeane & Amina Qaderi 

Keywords: Sustainability, ecological sustainability, ethical leadership, sustainable leadership, construction industry 

Problem statement: How does a leader work sustainably and ethically towards sustainable goals in the construction industry? 

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the way a leader works towards the sustainable goals in the construction industry. Through the collected empirical material, we develop a framework. This includes the importance of ethical leadership and sustainable leadership for sustainable development. In this study, we want to clarify what the combination of these can contribute to the construction industry in order to more effectively realize the vision of achieving sustainable goals. 

Methods: The study was mostly inspired by and used an inductive research approach but also related to an abductive research approach. Furthermore, in this study we have chosen to conduct a qualitative study where six respondents from different companies have been interviewed. All respondents represent managers with human resources responsibilities from the construction industry who have been working with sustainability for at least 2 years. A literature review has been conducted by collecting theories from previous research studies from the databases Halmstad University Library and Google Scholar. 

Conclusion: The results of the study show that a leader can work sustainably and ethically towards sustainability by having respect towards his/her employees, supporting them, demonstrating assertiveness, communicating, giving rewards and recognition for good actions. We would also like to point out that the study does not exclude all characteristics that fall outside the grey zone, as the analysis also demonstrated that some situations require a single characteristic from each leadership theory. 

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

Purpose: The study examines the social and environmental responsibility indicators disclosed by three International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) corporate mining members in their social and environmental reporting (SER) from 2006 to 2014. To achieve this aim, the author limits the data two years before (i.e. from 2006 to 2007) and six years after (i.e. from 2009 to 2014) the implementation of the Sustainable Development Framework in the mining sector in 2008. Design/methodology/approach: Using the techniques of content analysis and interpretive textual analysis, this study examines 27 social and environmental responsibility reports published between 2006 and 2014 by three ICMM corporate mining members. The study develops a disclosure index based on the earlier work of Hackston and Milne (1996), together with other disclosure items suggested in the extant literature and considered appropriate for this work. The disclosure index for this study comprised six disclosure categories (“employee”, “environment”, “community involvement”, “energy”, “governance” and “general”). In each of the six disclosure categories, only 10 disclosure items were chosen and that results in 60 disclosure items. Findings: A total of 830 out of a maximum of 1,620 social and environmental responsibility indicators, representing 51% (168 employees, 151 environmental, 145 community involvement, 128 energy, 127 governance and 111 general) were identified and examined in company SER. The study showed that the sample companies relied on multiple strategies for managing pragmatic legitimacy and moral legitimacy via disclosures. Such practices raise questions regarding company-specific disclosure policies and their possible links to the quality/quantity of their disclosures. The findings suggest that managers of mining companies may opt for “cherry-picking” and/or capitalise on events for reporting purposes as well as refocus on company-specific issues of priority in their disclosures. While such practices may appear appropriate and/or timely to meet stakeholders’ needs and interests, they may work against the development of comprehensive reports due to the multiple strategies adopted to manage pragmatic and moral legitimacy. Research limitations/implications: A limitation of this research is that the author relied on self-reported corporate disclosures, as opposed to verifying the activities associated with the claims by the sample mining companies. Practical implications: The findings from this research will help future social and environmental accounting researchers to operationalise Suchman’s typology of legitimacy in other contexts. Social implications: With growing large-scale mining activity, potential social and environmental footprints are obviously far from being socially acceptable. Powerful and legitimacy-conferring stakeholders are likely to disapprove such mining activity and reconsider their support, which may threaten the survival of the mining company and also create a legitimacy threat for the whole mining industry. Originality/value: This study innovates by focusing on Suchman’s (1995) typology of legitimacy framework to interpret SER in an industry characterised by potential social and environmental footprints – the mining industry. © 2023, Gideon Jojo Amos.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how and what drives corporate social responsibility (CSR) in host communities of mining companies in developing countries.

Design/methodology/approach

To address this knowledge gap, this paper used Ghana as a test case and conducted 24 in-depth interviews with participants drawn from mining host communities.

Findings

The paper discovered that while CSR is broadly understood and encompasses six thematic categories in the mining host communities, there are emphases on philanthropic and environmental responsibilities. Contrary to the evidence found in other studies, this paper discovered that CSR rhetoric plays a more positive/significant role than so far explored in CSR research, as it incentivizes the host communities to push for the fulfilment of their CSR expectations and/or CSR initiatives proposed by mining companies.

Research limitations/implications

Quantitative studies are needed to strengthen the findings from the present paper.

Practical implications

Because developing countries share similar socio-economic and geo-political realities, the findings of this paper may be applicable not only for CSR advocates, but also for policy-makers in developing countries.

Originality/value

The paper provides new inputs from a developing country perspective to the current debate about the CSR performance of the extractive industry. © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Purpose – The objective of this study is to provide insights into the role of leadership in promoting creativity and innovation at the level of the firm, and how these may translate into improving firms’ own context of competitiveness in their respective markets through CSR initiatives.

Method/approach – This paper employs literature study, which is descriptive in nature, to explore the relationships between leadership, creativity/innovation, and CSR. We sought to describe the relationships between the three concepts: leadership, creativity/innovation, and CSR, as practically as possible. In employing exploratory research strategy, we draw insights from extant literature, drawn from the management sciences to describe leadership, creativity/innovation and CSR in organizations. In doing so, we explore, by arguing, how leadership can stimulate creativity/innovation in employees and how firm-level innovation-directed activities can connect to CSR activities.

Findings - The model suggests that leaders can stimulate employees’ creativity/innovative behaviour and this in turn may influence the rate at which innovation manifest in the products and processes of the organization. These, in turn, may be closely related to the CSR initiatives that the organization pursues. The study has argued that for creativity/innovation to be embedded in the organization’s product and processes, leadership of organization remains a key factor in terms of either enabling or inhibiting individual employees’ innovative behaviour. Leadership of organizations and individual employees’ innovative behaviour appear to influence the nature of CSR initiatives that is undertaken and may contribute in defining organization’s own competitiveness. Organization’s CSR initiatives can connect with efforts at improving its own competitiveness through, leadership of organization and stakeholder partnerships.

© www.iiste.org

The overall purpose of this thesis is to explore why and how institutional distance and contextual differences influence MNCs’ CSR-related behavior in African developing-countries. In order to achieve the purpose stated above, the thesis seeks to answer the overarching research question: How do institutional distance and contextual differences influence MNCs’ CSR-related behavior in African developing countries? To answer the research question this thesis employed an interpretive methodological approach in order to increase my understanding of the CSR phenomenon in a specific contextual environment characterized by different institutional distance through different theoretical and empirical perspectives (Guba and Lincoln, 1994; Lincoln and Guba, 2000). The thesis consists of two qualitative case studies, a systematic literature review, a conceptual paper focused on analyzing distance and MNC foreign subsidiaries’ CSR-related behaviour, and a longitudinal content analysis of annual CSR reports.

The thesis found that the most prevalent CSR themes addressed in journal articles focused on developing-countries have been social issues, followed by environmental issues as a distant second, with ethics-related issues receiving the least attention. The findings further indicate that CSR rhetoric plays a more positive and significant role than so far explored in CSR research, as it incentivises the host-communities to push for the fulfilment of their CSR expectations or CSR initiatives proposed by the mining companies. Soft’ regulations to which members of industry associations voluntarily adhere mitigate the absence of enforcement of more stringent hard regulations by the state for companies. In doing business in distant or different institutional contexts, institutional duality of MNC subsidiaries renders business activities complex and even conflicting when it comes to seeking internal and external legitimacy. This finding and the proposed model extend Hillman and Wan’s (2005) argument of the existence of ‘institutional duality’ of MNC subsidiaries. The 60-item disclosure index is in itself a contribution to research as it provides a measure of ‘disclosure quality’ in relation to the disclosures of CSR-related performance information and CSR-related governance information.

The main theoretical contribution of the thesis is that CSR expectations in developing-countries are distinct and may be more important to know how these empirical realities are taken into account when firms with their origin in developed-countries internationalize and enter markets in developing-countries. Second, an extended model is proposed which illustrates the roles of organizational fields, institutional pressures, legitimating environments, and legitimating strategies for MNC subsidiaries’ voluntary disclosure of CSR performance information. The overall contribution of the thesis is that it deepens our understanding of the CSR phenomenon, and of the role of host-communities and MNC subsidiaries’ managers from the context of developing-countries.

© Gideon Jojo Amos