Purpose: The purpose with this thesis has been to compare entrepreneurship in Sweden and in Japan. It has also been to get a wider understanding why two so different countries both have a low level of entrepreneurship compared to other countries. Since the subject is wide I have chosen to delimitate to data from GEM 2007.
Methodology: In this thesis I have compared entrepreneurship in Sweden and in Japan. This I have done by obtaining secondary data from GEM’s report from 2007. My approach in this thesis has foremost been abductive.
Theoretical perspectives: Wennekers (2006) have studied the U-shape curve that occurs when you put entrepreneurship in relation to economic growth. Countries tend to go from a high level of entrepreneurship to a low level when they go from agricultural economy to an industrial economy. Then they tend to go up again when they reach a advanced level of economic development. However countries seem to differ when it comes to entrepreneurship despite this relation and the differences seems to be lasting. Wennekers (a.a.) believe that these differences has to do with cultural differences rather than economics differences since cultural differences are relatively immutable over time.
Empirical foundation: GEM stands for Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and is a not-for-profit academic research consortium. Their goal is to make international research of high quality about entrepreneurial activity in the world that is able to reach a wide public. GEM’s study is the biggest study in the world about entrepreneurial activity and started 1999. In this thesis I have used data from GEM’s report from 2007, which is the latest report with both Sweden and Japan.
Conclusions: In a comparison between Japan and Sweden I have found some similarities but mostly differences. This suggests that there are no simple answers to a low level of entrepreneurship in a country. However, in my opinion, I think that the national experts were right to put government policies as the biggest problem for Sweden and Cultural, Social norms as Japan’s biggest problem.
This study is an investigation of how members of the Norwegian and the Swedish parliaments relate to and perceive their relationships with the media. Based on surveys conducted among members of the Norwegian Storting and the Swedish Riksdag, we find that male MPs have more frequent and somewhat less formal relationships with media and journalists compared with female MPs. The results also suggest that male MPs have adapted to the media and their logic more than female MPs. Female MPs also appear to be more critical towards the requirements imposed on politicians who want to get media exposure, compared with male MPs. Analysis reveals that gender differences are smaller among Swedish than Norwegian MPs.
A key concept in research on the media coverage of politics is the game or strategy frame. Contrasted with coverage of politics as issues, theframing of politics as a strategic game is marked by features such as winning and losing as the central concern and a focus on how candidates or parties are doing in opinion polls. The pervasiveness of such framing is, however, disputed since (1) the way in which the frames are conceptualized and operationalized differs significantly; and (2) while some use terms such as 'game frame' and 'strategy frame' as synonymous, others argue that there is a conceptual difference between them. Against this background, this article reviews research on the media's framing ofpolitics as a strategic game, what concepts have been used, and how they have been operationalized; and suggests a synthesis and ways of improving conceptual clarity and comparability in research on the media's use of strategy and/or game frames. © SAGE Publications 2011.
Arbetsmiljö och utbrändhet har ett samband och faktorer som hög arbetsbelastning, dåligtstöd från kollegor och otydlighet är bidragande till utbrändhet och tidigare forskning visar påatt det finns en koppling mellan ledarskap och stress. Denna kvantitativa studie, som har entvärsnittsdesign, har undersökt sambandet mellan känsla av sammanhang (KASAM) ochledarskap inom socialtjänsten samt i vilken utsträckning socialarbetare upplever känsla avsammanhang på sin arbetsplats. För att undersöka detta har en enkätundersökning, byggd påAntonovskys självskattningsformulär KASAM-29, gjorts på 42 socialarbetare i tre olikakommuner i Jämtlands län. Kvantitativa dataanalyser i form av bivariata sambandsanalyserhar gjorts. Resultatet visar att socialarbetarna i genomsnitt hade en hög KASAM-nivå och attdet finns ett starkt samband mellan ledarskap och KASAM. Däremot krävs vidare forskningför att förstå orsakssambandet.
The purpose of this study is to attempt to answer if, and if so, which phase of the democratization process Iran is in, and what the country’s prerequisites for democracy look like. The study is a qualitative case study and is mainly based on Dankwart Rustow’s transition theory, Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison’s social movement theory and Sharon E. Nepstad’s theory about revolutions and non-violent movements. I also present Robert A. Dahl’s polyarchy theory to explain the overarching definition of democracy the study is based on and to find out the level of democracy in the Iranian society. The primary purpose is thus to present if, and if so, which phase has been fulfilled, according to Rustow’s transition theory. I will also present the social movements in the context of the ongoing protests and if and how social media has had an impact.
Iran does almost fulfil the two first phases in Rustow’s transition theory, and the social movements can be interpreted as mostly nonviolent, which is a normal way to go to reach a democratic transition. But with the empirical basis it seems that the state is not interested in talks and use violent methods against the protesters. Certain democratic principles are followed, but these at limited through a complex system which almost completely limits the possibility to fulfil Dahl’s institutions. Being located among authoritarian states doesn’t neither improve the possibilities for a democratic transition, and despite a more united population than before it can be stated, due to a excluding opposition, that an Iranian democracy is out of reach and the underlying reasons are mainly due ethnic, religious and political differences.
Purpose – The aim of the study is to investigate whether there are any differences between the attitudes towards participation in development programmes of entrepreneurs who are immigrants and those who are native-born. Design/methodology/approach – Several statistical methods, including a binary logistic regression model, were used to analyse a unique, firm-level dataset collected by the Swedish Small Business Forum in October and November 2012. The dataset was based on a questionnaire composed of 60 closed questions that was completed by 531 participants representing 395 companies. Findings – Based on the analysis of 15 different attitude variables, the empirical findings are that immigrant managers/owners are more likely to show a positive attitude to participation in development programmes, in terms of nine of those attitude variables, than their native counterparts. Because there are no data about second generation of immigrants in the sample, thus, this category may have had an impact on the results. However, there is no possibility to identify any impact on the results. Originality/value – There is no prior research focusing specifically on this question, and to the authors' knowledge, this study is the first that has attempted to deal with the issue. This study is based on a recent and unique database, and provides new evidence on the relationship between ethnicity and attitude towards participation in development programmes among entrepreneurs. Its context is different from that of prior research.
Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence which identifies the impact of ethnicity and other relevant variables on external capital acquisition among Swedish women-owned businesses at start-up. Design/methodology/approach: Several methods have been employed to analyze the sample including a binary logistic regression model. The sample consists of 836 women-owned businesses in southeast Sweden; 97 immigrant-owned, 739 native born-owned. Findings: The results indicate that there are partly significant differences between native women-owned firms and immigrant woman-owned businesses at start-up. Unlike the native-owned firms, the immigrant woman-owned businesses rely more on loans from family members and less on bank loans. Practical implications: The results reveal that age has a positive impact on loans from family members, while the additional job outside one's own business, the amount of the owner's personal start-up capital and firm size positively influenced access to capital from banks. The owners' level of education, previous business experience, the legal form taken by the firm and the industry affiliation conversely played no significant role in explaining the women owners' attitudes toward loans from either friends or the bank. Originality/value: To the authors' knowledge, this study is the first empirical investigation addressing this issue in the Swedish context.
This research explores the differences in informal capital acquisition between female- and male-owned firms in the start-up stage in Sweden. A binary logistic regression model is used to analyse a sample including 836 female- and 1928 male-owned firms in 2008, providing 47,022 observations. The results indicate that the main explanatory variable, gender, is significant in distinguishing between female- and male-owned firms with regards to the use of informal capital in terms of loans from family members. Thus, female-owned firms tend to rely more on loans from family members than male-owned firms. The findings also indicate that one control variable, namely owners previous experience of starting up a company, negatively influences the use of loans from family members as a financing source in the start-up stage. This study is based on a unique and large sample including many different variables compared with previous research. Knowledge on the differences between Swedish female- and male-owned firms in using informal capital in the start-up stage is limited and ambiguous. The presented results contribute to research into small firm financing by adding insight into the relationships between informal capital acquisition, gender, and other relevant variables.
The present study investigates whether owner and firm characteristics influence the use of external financing sources among Swedish small-owned firms at start-up stage. Several methods, including multinomial binary logistic regression have been employed to analyse a unique and comprehensive firm-level database, consisting of 2,814 firms gathered through interviews. The results show that three variables, i.e., loans from family members and friends, bank debt and funding from angel investors, are significant in distinguishing between Swedish native and immigrant-owned firms in the acquisition of financial sources in start-up. In addition, immigrant-owned firms tend to relay more on informal financial sources e.g. loan from family member, friends and angel investors, and less on bank loan. Furthermore, whereas, ethnicity influences the change of all these four variables significantly, gender merely affects loans from family members. Other variables, such as the owners’ age, prior experience in business, education, having an additional job beside one’s own business, the amount of personal start-up capital and firm size, as well as legal form and industry affiliation are partly important to explain the acquisition use of external capital at start-up stage.
Small firms in general have limited access to funding, which is a major problem for entrepreneurs. In particular, this problem is evident for women and ethnic minority groups. The purpose of the study is to examine empirically the impact of gender, ethnicity and other relevant variables on the access to external financing of new small firms. A sample of 2,764 female- And male-owned small businesses, based on a unique and large database gathered through interviews, was investigated employing binary logistic regression models. The results suggest that both gender and ethnicity are significant explanatory variables influencing the access to external capital at the start-up stage. Entrepreneurs' age, experience of starting businesses and education, as well as additional jobs beside their own business, are other variables that influence the way in which entrepreneurs finance their business. Moreover, firm characteristics in terms of personal start-up capital, firm size and legal form have an impact on financing behaviour at start-up. Since the knowledge about this issue is limited, the results of this study add to our understanding of the variables affecting the behaviour of small business endeavours in seeking funding at start-up.
In Sweden there are approximately 45 000 people that show signs of being dependant on narcotics, and there are approximately 26 000 people who can be defined as heavy users. Heavy users is defined by Centralförbundet för alkohol- och narkotikaupplysning as persons who have injected narcotics of any kind in the last 12 months or persons who have had a daily or practically daily use of narcotics the last four weeks. The aim of this study was to understand why people with a current heavy drug use are not in treatment. Through interviews their perceptions and attitudes towards drug treatment were raised to create understanding as to why they are not in treatment. The information was collected through semi-structured interviews with ten people with a current heavy drug use. The interviews were transcribed and a content analysis was applied. The results indicated that there are mixed thoughts about treatment but also that most participants did want treatment. Even though all participants had experience of treatment not working for them, many were motivated to try something new or try the same treatment again. The conclusion was that the participants are searching for a more individual based treatment since they felt like the treatment that they had been offered did not work for them.
Studiens syfte är att undersöka respondenternas uppfattning av nätmobbning och dess påverkan på den psykiska hälsan och skolgång. Samt att undersöka vad skolorna har för förebyggande arbete kring nätmobbning. Urvalet i studien är gymnasieelever som går sitt sista år på gymnasiet samt kuratorer som arbetar på de utvalda skolorna. Studien består av en kvalitativ intervjumetod med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Författarna har valt att intervjua sex respondenter utifrån ett snöbollsurval och bekvämlighetsurval. Utifrån studiens empiri, tidigare forskning och teorier framgår det att respondenterna tror att nätmobbning kan ha en påverkan på ungdomars psykiska ohälsa och kan påverka deras skolgång negativt. Skolorna har ett likabehandlingsteam som ansvarar för den här typen av problematik och arbetar förebyggande i form av föreläsningar och individuella samtal.
The purpose of this study is to acquire a profound understanding of the current criminal policy through an analysis of the political parties in the Swedish Parliament, namely the Social Democrats, the Moderate Party, the Sweden Democrats, the Christian Democrats, the Liberals, the Center Party, the Left Party, and the Green Party. The focus lies on the parties' perspectives on crime and how these perspectives can be explained within the theoretical framework comprising strain theory and rational choice theory. Additionally, the aim is to identify the differences in their views. This will be accomplished through a qualitative text analysis, specifically employing a self-developed analytical framework based on these two theories. The development of this analytical framework stemmed from the need to efficiently work with the countless amount of text presented in each party's election manifesto. By utilizing the analytical framework, the emphasis was placed on causes and measures. In other words, how do the parties explain the causes of crime, what measures are proposed, and how can these causes and measures be linked to the respective strain theory or rational choice theory? The results of this study reveal intriguing differences concerning causes and measures. While the majority of the parties' explanations of crime align more closely with strain theory, the majority of their proposed measures bear closer resemblance to rational choice theory. This finding is supported by previous research in the field, which has observed a political shift regarding attitudes towards crime. There has been a transition from a social liberal perspective to a more restrictive perspective on criminality, characterized by a shift in focus from the victim to the offender.
Syftet med föreliggande studie är att beskriva och analysera pedagogers uppfattningar om barn som inte leker och hur man kan stötta dessa barn i lek. Jag har genomfört en kvalitativ studie där jag intervjuat sex pedagoger bestående av förskollärare och en barnskötare. Jag använde mig av semistrukturerad intervju som intervjuteknik för att samla in empiri. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt utgår ifrån Knutsdotter Olofssons syn på hur barns lek blir till. Det empiriska materialet analyserades utifrån de tre begreppen; sortering, reducering och argumentation. Tidigare forskning och studiens resultat visar på att det kan finnas olika anledningar till varför barn inte leker, det kan bland annat handla om att barn saknar trygghet eller att de har svårt med att tyda lekregler. Det framkommer även i resultatet att pedagoger stöttar barn som inte leker på olika sätt. Det kan vara genom att närvara i barns lek, observera eller genom att ha lekgrupper i syfte att lära och stimulera barn till lek.
Purpose – This study investigates how entrepreneurial leadership fosters market orientation, bankinnovativeness and bank performance; it also investigates how market orientation contributes to brandorientation, bank innovativeness and bank performance.
Design/methodology/approach – In total, 1500 questionnaires were distributed to 100 bank branches inIndonesia (500 to managers and 1000 to employees); 300 responses (20% response rate) were used for furtherstatistical analysis.
Findings – The results confirmed the existence of relationships among entrepreneurial leadership, marketorientation, bank innovativeness, brand orientation and bank performance. The role of entrepreneurialleadership in fostering market orientation, bank innovativeness, brand orientation and bank performancedemonstrates that leaders can motivate employees to complete their tasks.
Practical implications – The findings suggest that entrepreneurial leadership, new ideas and innovativeproducts and services can foster bank
performance.Originality/value – The emerging banking industry in Indonesia has witnessed changing market conditions.Banks will benefit from being more market-driven and diverse in their customer relationships togenerate value.
Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie är att undersöka hur personal som innehar socionomexamen yrkesutövare på HVB-hem där ensamkommande flyktingbarn- och ungdomar är placerade, förhåller sig till ensamkommande flyktingbarns- och ungdomarnas kulturella bakgrund, samt personalens syn på kulturkompetensen i det utövande sociala arbetet. Denna studie är baserad på fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer med personal på HVB-hem som arbetar med ensamkommande flyktingbarn- och ungdomar. Det empiriska insamlade materialet har analyserats med hjälp av studiens teoretiska utgångspunkter, socialkonstruktivism och symbolisk interaktionism med fokus på huvud begreppet kulturkompetens. Studiens resultat visar att socialarbetaren upplever att såväl de ensamkommades som socialarbetarens kulturella bakgrund påverkar det sociala arbetet. I resultatet framkommer det även att det finns flera olika definitioner av kulturkompetens. Det har framkommit två olika synsätt på kulturkompetens under intervjuerna med respondenterna i resultatet, den ena är att kulturkompetens är ett förhållningssätt och den andra är att det är en kombination av tidigare kunskaper och förhållningssätt.
Denna uppsats är riktad till att ta reda på hur det kommer sig att allt färre personer anmäler till Diskrimineringsombudsmannen (DO) vid diskriminering på arbetsplatser. Uppsatsen kommer även illustrera hur diskriminering kan upplevas bland de utsatta genom kvalitativa intervjuer samt hur arbetstagare i Östersund och Eskilstunas kommun ställer sig till ämnet genom kvantitativ enkätundersökning. Undersökningen har visat att majoriteten av de som blir utsatta för diskriminering söker stöd från annat håll i första hand istället för att anmäla till DO. När medarbetare vid bevittning av diskriminering hanterade situationen visade sig i två delar där ena sidan var medvetna om diskriminering på sin arbetsplats och inte agerade eller agerade minimalt, resterande ställde sig till antagandet att diskriminering eller trakasserier/kränkningar inte förekom på arbetsplatsen. Det råder brist på kunskap om DO och deras arbete i arbetslivet och det här kan vara orsak till att arbetstagare inte anmäler.
Youth unemployment has been a controversial topic in many Swedish debates. However, youth unemployment has been studied in several different ways. There are some research that usually investigate the cause of unemployment while others highlight the experience of being out of work. This study, however, seeks to increase the knowledge about the experience of unemployment when it comes to foreign born young people, which is investigated through these research questions:How do foreign born young people experience the reactions from their social environment when they are not working?How does the social relations of foreign born young people become affected when they are not working?How do foreign born young people handle the experience of the social environments reactions?The above research questions have been studied using 6 qualitative research interviews. The results of this study shows that foreign-born young people feel labeled because of their unemployment, but also because of their ethnic background, which is associated with double stigmatization. This also affects their social relationships by simply hanging out with their unemployed friends, which leads to an exclusion from the friends who are employed. These experiences are then handled by the fact that some respondents choose to conceal their unemployment while others choose to share their experiences with others around their surroundings. These results differ from previous studies, which above all highlight the unemployed in general. For this reason, further research needs to focus more on foreign born young people's experiences by highlighting experiences of unemployment, but also other factors such as ethnicity.
The aim of this research is to determine the optimal rotation age of Populus deltoides plantations regarding to the timber and carbon sequestration values in the north of Iran. Two plantation types with a tree density of 3 by 3 m and of 3 by 4 m were considered in Choobar forest, northern Iran. Net present value (NPV) of timber and carbon were used for determining the optimal rotation age. Data on volume increment, carbon content, revenue, timber and carbon prices were collected to estimate NPV. In this study, we considered the effects of different plantation cost, land value and discount rates on the optimal rotation ages. Our results indicated, if economic value of timber is considered, optimal rotation ages were 10 and 8 years for 3 by 3 m and 3 by 4 m density, respectively. Optimal rotation ages considering carbon sequestration, in addition to timber value, increased to 14 and 11 years for the same two densities, respectively. Thus, integrating carbon sequestration value with timber economic value increased the optimal rotation ages and in turn change the optimal forest management. Sensitivity analysis indicate that optimal rotation ages increased with increasing plantation cost and decreased with increasing interest rate, while our results suggested that the optimal rotation age is not sensitive to the land value. Our results are important for land managers and carbon projects to optimize the used forest management practices.
This study examines the impact of working capital management on cash holdings of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in Sweden. The aim of this work is to theoretically derive significant factors related to working capital management which have an influence on the cash level of SMEs and test these in a large sample of Swedish manufacturing SMEs. The theoretical framework for this study consists of a treatise of motives for holding cash, working capital management and cash level. From these theoretical findings, two hypotheses are deduced:
• H1: Cash holdings are negatively related to the presence of cash substitutes
• H2: Cash holdings are positively related to working capital management efficiency
The quantitative investigation consists of the statistical analysis – namely comparison of means and correlation analysis – of key figures which are calculated from the financial statements of a large sample of firms. The dataset contains 13,287 Swedish manufacturing SMEs of the legal form ‘Aktiebolag’. Both hypotheses are confirmed by the results. Empirical evidence is presented which substantiates the supposition that the presence of cash substitutes – namely inventory and accounts receivable – entails lower cash holdings. Furthermore, it is confirmed that working capital management efficiency – measured by the cash conversion cycle – is positively related to cash level. The discussion of the empirical findings pays regard to the different subordinate components of both cash substitutes and working capital management efficiency. Implications of the detected findings are highlighted with respect to their potential utility for the achievement and maintenance of a firm’s target cash level.
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between consumers’ emotions towards emerging e-banking technology, perceived risk and subsequent intention to adopt emerging e-banking technology. Design/methodology/approach: An online questionnaire was used to collect data, which were analysed in a quantitative study. The final sample of 224 educated young consumers, familiar with emerging e-banking technology, allowed testing of the research hypotheses by applying confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM). Findings: The empirical results indicate that deterrence emotions and hedonic motivation are associated with consumers’ perceived risk and, subsequently, their intention to adopt emerging e-banking technology. Additionally, analysing the moderating role of hedonic motivation in the association between consumers’ deterrence emotions towards emerging e-banking technology and their perceived risk highlights the significant association of deterrence emotions with perceived risk, regardless of the presence of hedonic motivation. Originality/value: This study demonstrates the association between consumers’ emotions, perceived risk and subsequent intention to adopt emerging e-banking technology whilst underscoring the importance of distinguishing between different types of emotions and their corresponding appraisals.
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether consumers’ negative emotions (loss and deterrence emotions) toward new e-banking technology influence their behavioral intention to adopt new emerging e-banking technology. This thesis tries to integrate the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) with emotion as a non-cognitive factor and perceived risk as a well-known influential factor in the banking context. The Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for analyzing its conceptual model and hypotheses. To test the hypotheses and model of this paper, a sample of 109 students as young consumers of new emerging e-banking technology was collected in Sweden. The findings support the negative relationship between loss emotions and effort expectancy as one of the cognitive factors of the UTAUT. Loss emotions could impact consumers’ behavioral intentions through consumers’ effort expectancy and performance expectancy. Moreover, the results show that perceived risk and performance expectancy are the strongest predictors of consumers' behavioral intention to adopt new emerging e-banking technology respectively while social influence and hedonic motivation do not show a statistically significant impact on consumers’ behavioral intention. The present study contributes to previous research by examining the influence of a broad range of negative emotions on consumers' behavioral intention to adopt new e-banking technology. To the best of the author’s knowledge, there exists no other study referring to this issue neither in the banking industry nor with the Swedishenvironment.