Doctoral Theses / Doktorsavhandlingar Företagsekonomiska institutionen
https://hdl.handle.net/2077/813
2024-03-29T10:24:10ZCost and financing of the sustainability transition of the Swedish road freight transport sector
https://hdl.handle.net/2077/79246
Cost and financing of the sustainability transition of the Swedish road freight transport sector
Parviziomran, Elmira
The cost and financing of the road freight sector’s sustainability transition, driven by significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and cost considerations, represent an urgent yet underexplored research focus. This study investigates the costs of fleet replacement with zero-emission powertrains, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), emphasizing cost variables that have been overlooked in transition research. It explores the financing dynamics of the transition for this sector at both the strategic and tactical levels, and it investigates circular economy (CE) transition barriers specific to BEV batteries. Six studies are developed, involving multiple sources of data and methodological approaches: systematic literature review, numerical modeling and scenario testing, data-driven agent-based simulation, network analysis, and interviews.
The findings reveal that charging strategies have a substantial impact on BEV costs, especially in scenarios with higher adoption rates. This is attributed to electricity price fluctuations based on charging location, timing, power, and source. High hydrogen prices in scenarios with a high number of FCVs lead to increased fuel costs. Interestingly, the impact on loading capacity for larger powertrains in both BEVs and FCVs is relatively minor compared to other costs. The capacity of batteries depends on charging ranges and temperatures, but their impact would not significantly affect cost savings through increased BEV salvage values where a CE initiative is in place. A set of regulatory, market, structural, technological, actor-related, and task-related barriers and their complex interactions are identified that hinder BEV transition from a linear to a circular system. The availability of financing is crucial for facilitating the transition and is highly contingent on the financial strength and creditworthiness of companies, particularly given the prevalence in the sector of micro and SMEs, which often encounter challenges in accessing financing.
2023-12-08T00:00:00ZGeographies of Management Ideas
https://hdl.handle.net/2077/78793
Geographies of Management Ideas
Kristiansen, Alexander
This dissertation concerns management ideas – ideas on optimal utilisation of organisational resources – that are antecedents to organisational change. In the context of a globalised economy, the dissemination of management ideas has intensified through multinational corporations and global production networks. Despite the growing consensus among economic geographers on the importance of firm practices, limited scholarly attention has been paid to the role of management ideas in shaping firm practices and, ultimately, economic geographies.
Drawing on evidence-rich qualitative data from interviews and ethnographic observations of software development teams in both China and Sweden, the dissertation provides insights into the dynamics and impact of management ideas in shaping firm practices. Adopting a relational approach, the research examines management ideas as epistemic movements and highlights the central role of embeddedness and epistemic communities in their dissemination.
2023-11-07T00:00:00ZCorporate whistleblowing systems in the digital era: Determinants, effects, and disclosure
https://hdl.handle.net/2077/78466
Corporate whistleblowing systems in the digital era: Determinants, effects, and disclosure
Rahmatdi, Rahmatdi
Whistleblowing is a practice of communication between two parties that involves
negative or sensitive information regarding potential misconduct in an organization.
Due to the nature of the information involved in whistleblowing, whistleblowers can
experience high levels of personal risk. They are often prevented from reporting or
facing retaliation after communicating sensitive information. To minimize risk,
companies may need to take the initiative to establish confidential and secure
reporting channels. In practice, to deal with the challenges of providing better
channels for whistleblowing, communication technology has been developed. One
of the technological advancements in whistleblowing is web-based channels
developed and administered by third parties. Additionally, the existence of social
media can also contribute to whistleblowing practices. This thesis is based on four
essays studying the topic of corporate whistleblowing channels. It discusses the
issues of internal whistleblowing system adoption and disclosure, in which the
determinants and effects are examined by considering technological advancements
in whistleblowing. Using a sample of companies from the European Economic Area
(EEA), this dissertation highlights the role of country peers as one of the
determinants for companies to decide whether or not to adopt third-party web-based
whistleblowing platforms. It also provides evidence suggesting that the introduction
of whistleblowing systems—especially web-based platforms—potentially affects
external auditors’ perceptions, as reflected by their audit pricing decisions.
Moreover, the implementation of the platforms may also lead to corporate disclosure
regarding the occurrence of internal whistleblowing reports, which further results in
the use of a substantive approach to legitimize the incidents. Lastly, regarding the
use of social media, it is found that when employees post more negative information
about their employers online, the companies tend to legitimize their internal
communication channels through non-financial disclosure.
2023-10-05T00:00:00ZSpänning i offentlig upphandling - Om användande av ett strategiverktyg
https://hdl.handle.net/2077/71461
Spänning i offentlig upphandling - Om användande av ett strategiverktyg
Johansson, Tore
Tension in Public Procurement - The usage of a strategy tool:
Public procurement is about public purchases, but also about sale of goods and services to the public sector. In research, public procurement is usually analyzed from a market or a transactional perspective. In contrast, this study uses a strategy-as-practice lens that focuses on the micro activities when public procurement is used as a strategy tool. Both buyers and sellers use public procurement, why public procurement as a strategy tool has potential to assist in their shared strategy work. However, if and how buyers and sellers participate in each other’s strategy work when using public procurement is unclear. The purpose of this thesis is to explore public procurement as a strategy tool and its use when buyers and sellers construct strategies.
This is done by focusing on strategic work when buyers and sellers participate in public procurement. A qualitative and case-orientated approach were used to generate the empirical material, which included interviews, shadowing and documents.
This study shows how public procurement as a strategy tool helps its users in their strategy work. When the tool was used, its content and the characteristics of the actor, but also practice, guided the strategy work. Three different hierarchal levels of practice were identified, why the ability to guide was determined by the level of detail and the scope of the practice. When constructing strategies, public procurement as a strategy tool emphasized managing information and strategy production. As a result, collecting information, identifying and sorting factors, were the core activities of strategic work. Strategy production was about managing positions and strategic factors. Three categories of factors were identified. Buyers and sellers did participate in each other's activities when constructing strategies, if they were given the opportunity and if they had something to gain from it. The parties' motives and characteristics, but also their perceived relational closeness, determined the design of the interaction and work. For practitioners, the use of public procurement as a strategy tool can contribute to align and make strategic work visible in relation to what is of strategic value.
2022-05-17T00:00:00Z