This thesis presents a tentative definition of the concept of sustainopreneurship - in the most simplified form described as entrepreneurship and innovation for sustainability - “Business with a Cause”. The concept takes its departure from generic entrepreneurship theory development, its extensions and further contextualization into the domains of sustainability, primarily through recent research. A literature review provides core references related to the conceptualization of sustainability entrepreneurship. A claim is made that there is a need for further conceptual development, especially viewed in contrast to the empirical material and experience, when digesting the literature that deals with concepts preceding sustainopreneurship. These concepts are eco-preneurship and social entrepreneurship, as well as current descriptions of sustainability entrepreneurship, including some sources where the word sustainopreneurship in itself is introduced for the first time. The methodological approach used when conducting the literature review is an analytical stance. Additional analysis, integrating and extending the reviewed sources, leads us to a performative definition of sustainopreneurship. This tentative definition is presented as an imagined prospective wordbook entry in a “future history” format. One of the key distinctions in between entrepreneurship in general and sustainopreneurship, is that sustainopreneurship is mission- and cause oriented - business activity is used as a means to solve sustainability-related problems. In short, to turn business activity from being a part of the problem to be a part of the solution.

This world of ideas is set in contrast to the practical enaction of On a Mission Sweden – Inc. Ass, and the seven brands developed from this business platform – Club PuLS™, DJ Anders, SEEDS Sustainability Investment Fund, SEEDS Magazine, Ignition®, SLICE Services and Publishing™ and S*E*N*S*A. Three of these only reached conceptual stage for future potential launch. Four got established, and of these; one idle, two spun off in their own ventures, and one intended to spin off during 2007. Entrepreneurship as a concept to describe the nature of these ventures was experienced as insufficient, until 2003, when the concept of “sustainopreneurship” was found by serendipity. The conceptual dissatisfaction with “entrepreneurship-as-usual”, together with finding this new concept, made me instantly embrace this concept in the moment when stumbled upon. Another major driver for this work is a strong aspiration to take the abstract, general words and statements from world summits and conferences to the practical, hands on, down to earth, grass-root, local level with real world interaction to make possibilities of the problems related to the sustainability agenda. The ventures created from a time span of over seven years, forms a vast, deep, dense, intense and extremely rich “gross” empirical base from where the study collects its selective “net” material relevant for this study. The methodological approach to make sense and use of these serial and parallel self-initiated and self-experienced venturing processes is enactive research. The enactive research provides an opportunity to test the suggested formulation of sustainopreneurship – from the abstract idea to the concrete interaction. A special form of ethnography is used named self-ethnography. The ventures who have proven to perpetually evolve, develop and sustain are focused; On a Mission Sweden – Inc. Ass. and Ignition®. These ventures have provided the most significant change in both idea development, practice, and effect - both regards my inner world of insight breakthroughs and personal development, and the findings on a more abstract, conceptual, theoretical level. In order to highlight the three key dimensions of the concept, some key courses of events have been selected where they are considered to hold illustrative power: Firstly, the central events before the formalized venturing. Secondly, the milestones singled out during the venturing. Thirdly, some post-venture reflections around the process as such. The ethnographic style of the tales of the field is predominantly realist, with some degree impressionist.

The final chapter summarizes and presents an intermediary conclusion whether the concept has met the test and also discusses the meaning of the exercise as a whole. My own function is examined and evaluated briefly. The promise of the conceptual introduction is contrasted towards the approaches-as-usual regards the sustainability agenda that introduced the thesis, and some key points are delivered. Venturing in the name of sustainability allows agents to “act outside the box” related to the institutional framework that governs the structures that is set to solve the problems today, equipped with an upgraded mindset, operating with an agility made possible by the flexibility offered by creative business organizing. The quest to make (business) opportunities from the agenda set by sustainability, and organizing upon them in itself creates a sustaining meaning internally within the team to be able to ride through the storms – the same force traditionally driving NGO’s “not-for profit”, now coupled with a good business sense operating “for-profit”, with profit as a means, not as an end in itself - in a new in-between-land named “for prosperity”. When properly understood from knowledge increasing among other stakeholders than the sustainopreneurial teams and their closest supporters and early adopters, the welcoming of sustainopreneurial ventures are destined to increase. Proliferation and diffusion of sustainopreneurship in idea, applied interaction and reflective practice beyond this point can turn sustainability to be the main driver for business activity, internalizing the external sustainability demands as the primary purpose of the business creation and idea, forming its strategic intent, and integrated in its “organizational DNA”. Sustainopreneurship holds the power to give even more leverage to forces emerging from the business world that contributes to sustainability. Throughout the process, a question has been emerging to serve as a new opening for further interaction, where the claim is that sustainopreneurship delivers a good part of the answer;

How can we innovate and interact in order to reach a critical mass of people and energies to create a sustainable world?

Sammanfattning:

Det finns olika valmöjligheter inom redovisning. Vilket val man gör styrs av vilket resultat man önskar visa. Det har just införts en ny lag som innebär att juridiska personer skall ta upp en schablonintäkt för sina periodiseringsfonder och vi bestämde oss för att undersöka vilka val företagen gjort och vilken betydelse olika faktorer har när de ska välja att sätta av till periodiseringsfonder eller ej.

Vi valde ett deduktivt angreppssätt och de vetenskapliga teorier vi främst utgick ifrån var agentteorin och Positive Accounting Theory (PAT). Vi valde att undersöka om följande faktorer kan ha samband med vilka beslut man tar när det gäller periodiseringsfonderna: bonus till ledningen, företagens skuldsättningsgrad, storlek, bransch och ägarstruktur.

Vi ställde samman en hypotes för varje faktor och i de fall vår ursprungliga rådata var kontinuerligt kvantitativ testade vi dessa hypoteser med hjälp av så kallade t-tester. I andra fall gjorde vi korstabeller med χ2-test.

Från PAT är det endast skuldsättningsgraden som påvisar ett svagt samband. Signifikansnivån på de andra två faktorerna, bonus och storlek, var för höga för att visa ett samband och vi falsifierade därmed dessa. Att det inte föreligger något samband kan bero på att vårt urval är för litet eller att teorin inte är direkt applicerbar på svensk företagskultur. Av de två sista faktorerna vi testade var det bara ägarstrukturen som visade ett samband.

Title: Public attitudes towards the use of marketing and communication by global non-profit organizations

Background: The importance of the non-profit sector and the commercialization in it is increasing. The organizations have to deal with more competition in the fundraising market on the one hand, and they are on the other hand confronted with people who are blocking the recognition of conventional marketing expressions. Guerrilla marketing is seen as a possibility to penetrate the jungle of marketing and create word of mouth about the organization and its activities.

Purpose: This thesis evaluates the public attitudes towards the increasing use of marketing and communication by global non-profit organizations and investigates for which objectives the use of guerrilla tactics in the marketing and communication mix would be accepted.

Limitations: Though the data for this thesis was collected through questionnaires in Sweden, Germany and The Netherlands, there are no country dependent differences investigated.

Theory: Classification of NPOs; aims of NPOs; basic model of communication; dynamic model of expectations; relationship between expectation, satisfaction and donations; marketing mix; guerrilla marketing; viral marketing; live buzz marketing; promotional mix; word of mouth.

Method: Survey with more than 100 participants; interview with the fundraising responsible of Greenpeace Germany

Findings and Conclusions: The public accepts the use of marketing and communication and the therefore necessary expenditures for the purpose to spread the message and gain donators. Openness and honesty in the NPOs’ behaviour are considered more important than the use of less money for marketing and communication. Guerrilla marketing is not suitable for all aims of a NPO, but is accepted in order to spread the message and increase the media coverage.

The increase of foreign direct investment in China has resulted in the presence of a number of Western expatriates working in Sino–foreign joint ventures. These expatriate managers have to make things work in absolutely new settings. Therefore, without cross-cultural trainings, they may have very stressful experience in China. Understanding of the Chinese culture and Chinese society may ultimately save much frustration and money. With our thesis therefore we would like to explore how companies manage training processes before sending expatriates to China, and prepare them for further knowledge transfer to the employees in China. This has lead us to the following research question: “How do the Western companies manage process of sending expatriates to China?”

The research is based on the experiences of three companies: IKEA, Texol Technical Solutions and NCR and demonstrates possible means that can be engaged by the companies to facilitate adjustment processes of their expatriates in China. The empirical data were gathered from interviews with managers from the mentioned companies. In order to analyze our empirical findings we present literature that was structured as follows: Training in the international context, training in the Chinese context and communication between expatriate and local employees. Both the literature review as well as our empirical data with analysis aspire to provide the reader with an in depth study of the importance of the selection of the right candidates and the provision of trainings, as it can help both to understand the unique Chinese cultural and business characteristics environment as well as effectively and efficiently to operate in China.

In our conclusions we present our findings regarding the following issues: support for the expatriates; training of the Chinese employees and importance of communication. Based on our analysis we introduce our recommendations for the three companies, including: Selection of the right candidates, presence of action plans, motivation and incentives, trainings, contact with the company and other expatriates during the assignment and importance of repatriation.

Abstract

Privatization of goods and services can be a way to limit a firm's or a market's total costs. Water privatization in developing countries has many different reasons. The outstanding reasons are; the need to promote private investment in water sectors so that, national/private water rights and the millennium goals for water can be reached. Privatization is a process of changing a business ownership from a public to a private sector. By this process, the government loses power to the new private owner and the firm and/or market transfers to more business oriented. The private owner has one main goal in the business and that is to maximize the profit.

Water is a good that we all need in order to survive, regardless our economic conditions, son or later we all have to find a way to satisfy this need. Because of this, water is very important for all human being and a part of the human rights.

The crucial need of water for our existence and the private firm's goal are conflicting. This has created many commotions around the world and raised questions about how water privatization violates the human rights of UN conventions.  But some people are pro water privatization and some of their arguments are that, privatization limits the government's external borrowing and improve the water distribution system.          

Key words: Water privatization, Developing countries, Public sector, Private sector

If we have to document our professional action, will we then only perform the actions that we are supposed to document? This question reflects the content of this chapter. The chapter includes a frame of reference for studying control of professionals in organizations and illustration on different types of professional controls.

Bakgrund: I Sverige råder lagstadgad revisionsplikt för samtliga aktiebolag. En auktoriserad eller godkänd revisor ska granska bolagets årsredovisning, bokföring och förvaltning. För närvarande pågår dock en debatt om hur revisionsplikten ska avskaffas för små företag.

Syfte: Studiens syfte är att förklara vilka faktorer som har betydelse för svenska små företag vid val av revisor.

Avgränsningar: Vår studie inriktas på svenska aktiebolag som har mellan 10 och 49 anställda.

Metod: Vi har valt att genomföra en enkätstudie som riktar sig till VD:ar eller ekonomichefer på 100 slumpmässigt utvalda företag. Våra empiriska data har behandlats statistiskt i statistikprogrammen Minitab och SPSS.

Slutsatser: Vi har kunnat påvisa fyra faktorer som har betydelse för svenska små företag vid val av revisor, vilka överensstämmer med vad tidigare forskning har visat för börsnoterade företag. Faktorerna utgörs av: revisionskvalitet, tillhandahållande av ytterligare tjänster, specifik branschkännedom och geografisk närhet. Därutöver har vi kommit fram till att svenska små företag även finner de två faktorerna rekommendationer från personligt nätverk och revisionsbyråns internationella representation betydelsefulla.

Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vi rekommenderar att fortsatt forskning inriktas på vilka faktorer som har betydelse för mikroföretag alternativt medelstora företag vid val av revisor. Ytterligare ett förslag på fortsatt forskning är att replikerande studier genomförs i små företag efter revisionspliktens avskaffande för dessa företag.

Sammanfattning

Examensarbete G3 i företagsekonomi, Ekonomihögskolan vid Växjö universitet,

Ekonomistyrning, FE3043, VT 2008

Författare: Caroline Ahlberg och Anna Bengtsson

Handledare: Ola Nilsson

Titel: Val av revisor - en enkätstudie angående vilka faktorer som har betydelse för svenska små företag vid val av revisor

Bakgrund: I Sverige råder lagstadgad revisionsplikt för samtliga aktiebolag. En auktoriserad eller godkänd revisor ska granska bolagets årsredovisning, bokföring och förvaltning. För närvarande pågår dock en debatt om hur revisionsplikten ska avskaffas för små företag.

Syfte: Studiens syfte är att förklara vilka faktorer som har betydelse för svenska små företag vid val av revisor.

Avgränsningar: Vår studie inriktas på svenska aktiebolag som har mellan 10 och 49 anställda.

Metod: Vi har valt att genomföra en enkätstudie som riktar sig till VD:ar eller ekonomichefer på 100 slumpmässigt utvalda företag. Våra empiriska data har behandlats statistiskt i statistikprogrammen Minitab och SPSS.

Slutsatser: Vi har kunnat påvisa fyra faktorer som har betydelse för svenska små företag vid val av revisor, vilka överensstämmer med vad tidigare forskning har visat för börsnoterade företag. Faktorerna utgörs av: revisionskvalitet, tillhandahållande av ytterligare tjänster, specifik branschkännedom och geografisk närhet. Därutöver har vi kommit fram till att svenska små företag även finner de två faktorerna rekommendationer från personligt nätverk och revisionsbyråns internationella representation betydelsefulla.

Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vi rekommenderar att fortsatt forskning inriktas på vilka faktorer som har betydelse för mikroföretag alternativt medelstora företag vid val av revisor. Ytterligare ett förslag på fortsatt forskning är att replikerande studier genomförs i små företag efter revisionspliktens avskaffande för dessa företag.

Arbetsmarknaden i Sverige har de senaste åren genomgått en markant flexibilisering i form av förändrade arbets- och organisationsformer. I takt med olika omvärldsförändringar har intresset för alternativa arbetsformer av diverse slag ökat. Bemanningsbranschen tillgodoser kravet på flexibla arbetsformer och är en bransch som har genomgått en kraftig tillväxt de senaste åren. I oktober 2008 antog EU ett bemanningsdirektiv vars syfte är att förena flexibla arbetsformer med en social trygghet för personal som hyrs ut av bemanningsföretag. Det antagna direktivet innehåller en likabehandlingsprincip som innebär att inhyrda arbetstagare ska ha minst samma grundläggande arbets- och anställningsvillkor som dem som anställts direkt av kundföretaget för samma tjänst.

Syftet med uppsatsen är undersöka hur den svenska bemanningsbranschen påverkas av det nya direktivet. De inledande frågeställningarna utreder vad direktivet reglerar samt hur denna reglering skiljer sig från nu gällande svensk reglering. Utifrån jämförelsen diskuteras slutligen vilken övergripande påverkan direktivet kan komma att ha på bemanningsbranschen i Sverige. Bemanningsbranschen har haft en ledande roll i den flexibilisering som har skett på den svenska arbetsmarknaden de senaste åren och den har skapat långsiktiga förändringar när det gäller arbetsmarknaden organisation. De aspekter som kan komma att påverka bemanningsbranschen tas upp i den avslutande delen och gäller huruvida flexibiliteten ökar eller minskar samt om den svenska arbetsmarknadsmodellen kan komma att hotas i och med implementeringen av direktivet. Direktivet diskuteras även utifrån ett internationellt perspektiv samt ett jämställdhets- och mångfaldsperspektiv.

Using quasi-experimental data, this article examines the relationship between religiosity and prosocial behavior. In contrast to previous studies that identify religious people by how often they attend religious services or by their self-reported religiosity, this study compares the behavior of highly devout students who are preparing to enter the clergy to the behavior of other students in a public goods game and in the dictator game. The results show that religious students were significantly more cooperative in the public goods game and significantly more generous in the dictator game than other students.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether education and training affect pro-social behavior. Economics students are often accused of being less pro-social. The explanations given are that less pro-social people choose to study economics or that economics studies indoctrinate students to selfish behavior. The paper experimentally tests these postulations.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses the prisoner's dilemma game and stag hunt game to study cooperation across different groups of students.

Findings – The experiment supports neither of the postulations: economics students would be indoctrinated or less pro-social people choose to study economics. However, the study shows that police cadets, who go through an education where teamwork and cooperation is promoted, become more cooperative and pro-social after their completed education.

Originality/value – In contrast to earlier studies, this paper does not simply study economics students, but also examines if students in educational programs that promote loyalty and cooperation and encourage teamwork are more pro-social than other students.

An experimental test of the descriptive adequacy of the restated diversification principle is presented. The principle

postulates that risk-averse utility maximizers will pool risks for their mutual benefit, even if information is missing about

the probabilities of losses. It is enough for people to assume that they face equal risks when they pool risks. The results

of the experiment support the principle.

This paper studies how group identity, social distance and intergroup bias may aVect economic decision-making. Two types of experimental groupings are created, and subjects are then paired with either an in-group member or an out-group member in a number of two-person games. The result of this experiment shows that out-group members face a risk of being discriminated against. The cause of the discrimination is not hostility toward out-group members; the discrimination is triggered because of higher expectations or favoritism of in-group members. This type of behavior holds, regardless of the grouping procedure.

This paper presents a field experiment, conducted over the Internet, studying possible discrimination against lesbians in the rental housing market in Sweden. We let two fictitious couples, one heterosexual and one lesbian, apply for vacant rental apartments advertised by landlords on the Internet. We then investigated whether there were differences between the couples in the number of received call-backs, invitations to further contact, and invitations to immediate showings. Our findings show no indication of differential treatment of lesbians by landlords. A discussion relating to earlier findings is provided.

This paper presents the first field experiment regarding ethnic discrimination in the market place of small business transfers. We let two fictitious prospective buyers, one with a typical Swedish name and one with a typical Arab/Muslim name, respond to advertisements of small business transfers on the Internet in Sweden. We then recorded the number contacts achieved by each fictitious buyer with sellers. We found that sellers discriminated against the buyer with an Arab/Muslim name in the sense that the buyer with an Arab/Muslim name obtained fewer contacts with sellers than did the buyer with a Swedish name.

I denna artikel presenteras resultaten av en experimentell studie om etnisk diskriminering. Undersökningen visar att det främst är infödda män som tenderar att ha ett diskriminerande beteende. I Sverige finns lagstiftning som förbjuder etnisk diskriminering. Vi har också en särskild myndighet – diskrimineringsombudsmannen – som skall motverka etnisk diskriminering. Den presenterade undersökningen kan ge en ny infallsvinkel. Ett sätt att motverka diskriminering av invandrare kan vara att se till att andelen kvinnor som är personalchefer i företag och myndigheter ökar. Frågan om etnisk diskriminering är kanske också en jämställdhetsfråga.

This paper presents the first field experiment studying discrimination against homosexuals on the housing market. The study is conducted on the rental housing market in Sweden using the internet as a research platform. Two fictitious couples, one heterosexual and one male homosexual, apply for vacant rental apartments advertised by landlords on the internet. Our findings show that homosexual males are discriminated against on the Swedish housing market, since the homosexual couple gets far fewer call-backs and fewer invitations to further contacts and to showings of apartments than the heterosexual couple.

This paper presents a field experiment on discrimination in the housing market, using the Internet as a research platform. The procedure involved our creating three fictitious persons with distinctive sounding ethnic and gender names. These individuals applied for vacant rental apartments in Sweden that were advertised by landlords on the Internet. Our findings show that the Arabic/Muslim male received far fewer call backs, enquiries, and showings than the Swedish male. Our observations also indicate that the Swedish female met with less difficulty in terms of finding an apartment than the Swedish male. Thus, based on our findings, we conclude that ethnic, as well as gender discrimination exists in the Swedish rental housing market.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the supernatural punishment theory. The theory postulates that religion increases cooperation because religious people fear the retributions that may follow if they do not follow the rules and norms provided by the religion. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports results for a public goods experiment conducted in India, Mexico, and Sweden. By asking participants whether they are religious or not, one can study whether religiosity has an effect on voluntary cooperation in the public goods game. Findings – No significant behavioral differences were found between religious and nonreligious participants in the experiment. Originality/value – This paper differs from the previous limited experimental literature, studying religiosity and cooperation, in the sense that it uses a public goods game rather than a prisoner's dilemma game. The public goods game is more interesting since many real life problems are multilateral rather than bilateral. Further, the study was conducted in three different countries: India, Mexico, and Sweden; with three different types of potentialy religious people: Hindus, Catholics, and Protestants.

We study the relationship between trust in an experiment and trust measured by means of popular survey items in different countries. Students from Chile, Colombia, India, Mexico and Sweden participate in a public goods game experiment and answer a set of standard attitudinal survey questions about trust. We find that behavioral trust and attitudinal trust significantly differ among countries. Behavioral trust is highest in Sweden, followed by Latin America, and lowest in India. Attitudinal trust is highest in Chile and Sweden, followed by India and Mexico, and lowest in Colombia. Further, the predictive power of survey items also differs among countries. Trust measured by survey items is significantly related to behavioral trust in some but not in all societies. No single survey item predicts actual trust across all countries. Plausible explanations of the inconsistent relationship between behavioral and attitudinal trust across countries are discussed.

The authors test the proposition, put forward by Francis Fukuyama, that the higher the level of trust in a country the less corrupt, the more developed, and wealthier its economy will be. They study trust and voluntary cooperation using a one-shot and three-person public goods game experiment in India and Sweden. The results, in line with the proposition, show that the average contribution is significantly larger in Sweden, implying a higher level of trust and cooperation in Sweden than in India. This article provides further evidence on the relationship between trust and economic development. This study differs from previous ones in that it uses a multilateral game experiment to study trust and cooperation rather than a bilateral game experiment. Furthermore, it provides evidence from two countries not studied before in this context.

Our ``Restated diversification theorem'' (Skogh and Wu, 2005) says that risk-averse agents may pool risks efficiently without assignment of subjective probabilities to outcomes, also at genuine uncertainty. It suffices that the agents presume that they face equal risks. Here, the theorem is tested in an experiment where the probability of loss, and the information about this probability, varies. The result supports our theorem. Moreover, it tentatively supports an evolutionary theory of the insurance industry--starting with mutual pooling at uncertainty, turning into insurance priced ex ante when actuarial information is available.

This paper discusses a social and cognitive approach to the planning and implementation of knowledge support systems in a health care organization. A case study is presented and then discussed using a broad theoretical frame of reference gathered from the knowledge management field. The discussion is an illustration of the delicate trade-off between social and cognitive perspectives of a development project. The assumption is that these two aspects must be handled in an interconnected and balanced way. The aim of the paper is to illustrate the use of multiple perspectives as a tool for understanding how this problem can be dealt with.

Enterprises need to understand the impact of different types of knowledge management (KM) approaches on business strategy, and how they interact with other types of initiatives to produce synergistic effects. The hypothesis of this paper is that a model based on the balanced scorecard approach (BSC) can be used to balance the diverse set of KM approaches that are described in the KM literature. A literature study has been carried out connecting general examples of BSC objectives to KM approaches and applications. The resulting framework indicates that each of the major aspects of KM has its place in the BSC model, and thus has a role in the success of the company from a strategic viewpoint. A KM strategy according to this perspective should articulate how a company intends to strike a balance between different KM approaches. Contributions of the framework to related theory are discussed and illustrated by using a rich case from literature.

Over recent decades many health care organisations have "modernised" their management accounting systems by using the balanced scorecard (BSC). However, public health care involves multi-dimensional goals and resolving conflicts of interest. The question is whether a management control system based on measurements is suitable in a health care context. Light can be shed on this question using a study of the application of a BSC over a ten-year period at Hogland Hospital. The study shows that the BSC and measurements of output and behaviour became a way of approaching unanswered questions about processes and quality development. Medical professionals with management responsibility, in co-operation with medical professionals responsible for different specialities, determined measures and targets and the measurements were integrated into activity processes and affected activities.