Browsing Department of Intercultural Communication and Management (ICM/IKL) by Title
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Thoughts from DenmarkBlasco, Maribel; Tackney, Charles T. (, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Denmark is among the world’s most competitive nations. At the same time it has a strong tradition of citizenship‐oriented tertiary education. Nevertheless, we are currently witnessing the erosion of this tradition, arguably as a result of neoliberal ideologies ushered in by globalization and internationalization processes. These processes have stirred domestic fears, evident in government reports, about the need to improve Danish higher education to ‘meet the challenges of globalisation’. Concrete instances of possible erosion include recent directives to examine and grade group work on an individual basis, the abolition of the ‘13’ grade for individual or group performance, and the introduction of measurable skills via “learning objectives,” for all tertiary education courses. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7921 Files in this item: 1
wp 2009-4.pdf (318.0Kb) -
Christensen, Bo T. (, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Two studies tested whether introducing images to designers during the design process lead to more useful design solutions as evaluated by the end-users willingness-to-use the final design. It was hypothesized based on theories in cognitive science and design that there were at least two paths from images to usefulness. One path concerns analogically transferring within-domain properties to the design solution. The other path concerns mentally simulating end-user characteristics and preferences and inclusion of the user in the resulting design. Study 1 supported that random images led to increased outcome usefulness, and supported both hypothesized paths, by using withindomain products and end-user images as input. Study 2 showed that the image categories competed for attention, and that the within-domain product stimuli attracted the most attention and was considered the most inspirational to the designers. The practical use of the technique may lead to only marginally original products perhaps limiting its applicability to incremental innovation. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7941 Files in this item: 1
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voluntary versus mandatory approachesChudnovsky, Daniel; López, Andrés (København, 1999)[More information][Less information]
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Abstract: In security, as in other areas, the emergence of transnational private organizations with a central role in governance poses profound challenges to established conceptions of international politics and democracy. This paper discusses one side of this challenge by looking at accountability of private security companies (PSCs). PSCs have become authorities in their own right in the security sphere. This has raised the question of their accountability and also resulted in considerable efforts to improve the accountability of the firms. This paper looks at why these efforts bear so little fruit. It begins by pointing to the tension involved in any effort to hold an authority (private or public) accountable, namely the tension between the centrality of acceptance for authority and accountability measures that necessarily involve contestation. It then proceeds to analyse this tension in the case of PSCs. The paper argues that PSCs’ status as experts on risk and entrepreneurs of security mobilizes a favourable bias, making contestation less likely. The difficulty of seeing and/or admitting that PSCs are independent actors in turn makes contestation of their activities seem ill-directed and unnecessary. The point made in this paper that this, rather than sheer complexity or hidden political agendas, is key for understanding the present rather puzzling lack of (democratic) accountability of PSCs and its likely continuation. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6985 Files in this item: 1
leander_isa07_woc-wp89.pdf (174.0Kb) -
Skov, Lise (, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Analyser af industrialisme byggede indtil for tyve-tredive år siden på en narrativ figur – ’fra håndværk til industri’. I vores postindustrielle samfund hvor butikkerne ligger tæt, og der er langt til fabrikkerne, må denne analysefigur suppleres med et nyt slutpunkt, så den forløber ’fra håndværk til industri til globaliseret industrinetværk’. Der er opstået et nyt grundlag for en globaliseret industrikultur baseret på en voksende afstand mellem produktion og forbrug. I denne artikel analyseres den danske og europæiske pelsbranche ud fra denne tre-punktsfigur. Pels har aldrig været et skoleeksempel på industrialismens udviklingsparadigme. På grund af pelsbranchens særlige materielle udfordringer – hvert skind er unikt, og det kræver en stor viden at bearbejde det – har det været svært for branchen at følge med industriudviklingen og høste de stordriftsfordele, som andre brancher gjorde i efterkrigstiden. Den fortsatte næsten håndværksmæssige organisering satte branchen så meget udenfor modens og industriens netværk, at den ikke havde mange venner tilbage, da dyrerettighedsbevægelsen i 1980erne lancerede en række anti-pelskampagner. Under efterfølgende krise og omstrukturering er branchens organisation blevet ændret, således at pelsbeklædningsproduktion i dag er koncentreret i Kina, mens distribution og salg er knyttet til internationale designermærker. Denne del af branchens strategiske repositionering kan i høj grad tilskrives markedsføringsorganisationen Saga, der er finansieret af de nordiske pelsdyravlere og beliggende i Danmark. Denne artikels overordnede argumentation er, at denne omstrukturering sammen med den voksende interesse for etik og forbrugerpolitik har været den afgørende forudsætning for pelsens tilbagevenden i modebilledet. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7794 Files in this item: 1
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Strand, Robert Gavin (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In this dissertation I examine the establishment of corporate social responsibility (CSR) bureaucracies at corporations and I come to consider the CSR bureaucracy as a space for reflection within the corporation. In the face of charges that bureaucracies are inherently unethical and devoid of consideration for humanistic concerns, I argue that within the large bureaucracy that is the corporation, the CSR bureaucracy can create a space in which tensions that arise from conflicting values and purposes can be identified, negotiated, and actions coordinated. I position this dissertation within the field of CSR, to which I introduce the Weberian distinction between formal and substantive rationality as means through which to identify and describe tensions that become apparent with the CSR agenda. This dissertation contains four articles, two of which draw from the engaged scholarship approach. One includes findings from a study I conducted as an action/intervention researcher with a U.S. corporation during the period in which a CSR bureaucracy was established. The other includes findings from a study of CSR focused MBA courses I instruct in which reflection is a primary learning objective. The other two articles include findings from studies I conducted to explore the establishment of a CSR position to the top management teams of U.S. and Scandinavian corporations. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8462 Files in this item: 1
Robert_Strand.pdf (3.503Mb) -
Lessond from East AsiaGammeltoft, Peter (København, 2003)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: While still short of being entirely mainstream there does appear to be a growing recognition in both policy circles and academia that economic development is not brought about by autonomous profitmaximising agents interacting anonymously through equilibrium markets.1 Rather, economic development is an inherently disequilibric process involving interactive and institutionally embedded processes in broader systems of firms, governments, research centres, universities, consultants, and other entities. These systems can tap into stocks of global knowledge and technologies, assimilate and adapt it to local circumstances, and create new knowledge or technologies. Such broader production systems are conceptualised in several different ways in the literature, e.g. Lundvall et al.’s ‘national innovation systems’, Richard Whitley’s ‘business systems’, and Sanjaya Lall’s concept of ‘industrial technology development’. This paper identifies and outlines four different systemic approaches to economic development. All four approaches have primarily been developed to address nationally based institutional systems in advanced economies. Both the ontological premises and the policy implications of these systemic approaches depart distinctly from the conventional orthodoxy on economic development as articulated in the ‘Washington Consensus’ and its later derivatives. The article goes on to explore which policy implications the adoption of such a systemic view might have for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6982 Files in this item: 1
pga+nepad+wp.pdf (324.2Kb) -
the emergence of a new industry?Schultz, Majken; Ervolder, Lars; Hultén, Jannik (København, 1997)[More information][Less information]
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the case of ChinaGuoming, Xian; Cheng, Zhang; Yangui, Zhang; Shunqi, Ge; Zhan, James X. (København, 1999)[More information][Less information]
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the corporation, the agency, the anthropologist, and their friendsMoeran, Brian (København, 2001)[More information][Less information]
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Evidence from VietnamPham, Ha Thi Van (Frederiksberg, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The thesis revolves around the internationalization of Vietnamese firms - that is, how the international competitiveness of these firms is enhanced in terms of both upstream and downstream value chain activities and the export performance implications hereof. For Vietnamese firms, as well as for other firms from emerging markets, internationalization trajectories may differ considerably from the internationalization patterns portrayed in classical theories (such as the Uppsala Model) based on observations of the internationalization of firms from Western, developed market economies. Classical theories have primarily focused on firms’ marketing & sales and networking capabilities as levers of internationalization – and less on upstream capabilities, such as manufacturing and auxiliary service competencies. Likewise the situation in other emerging markets many Vietnamese firms are inserted in global value chains (GVCs) governed by multinational buyers. For these firms, manufacturing skills may be of equal - or greater - importance to export performance than the mastering of marketing & sales and networking in foreign markets. The thesis presents various theoretical perspectives on firms’ internationalization – perspectives that vary in terms of their focus on either upstream or downstream activities (or, the interrelationship of these two types of activities). The thesis tries to fill out the knowledge gap as to which of these theoretical perspectives fit best the trajectories of Vietnamese manufacturing firms involved in exports. In doing so, the thesis also draws on GVC models, entrepreneurial literature, and studies of economic as well as strategic export performance. Unique survey data covering 226 Vietnamese manufacturers involved in exporting was collected through face-to-face interviews conducted in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. On the basis of these data a set of hypotheses is tested using structural equation modelling as a statistical tool. The empirical study suggests that Vietnamese firms create international competitiveness in relation to both upstream and downstream activities. Furthermore, the study suggests that upstream competitiveness of the sample firms is significantly more attractive in terms of economic export performance (export sales, profitability and growth) than downstream competitiveness. However, when export performance is measured in more far-sighted, strategic terms, there are no significant differences between the two dimensions of competitiveness. The study also reveals some interesting industry differences: for firms in the “low-tech” textiles & garments industry, upstream competitiveness has greater impact on economic export performance than downstream competitiveness. Conversely, downstream competitiveness results in a higher economic return than upstream competitiveness for firms from the “high-tech” industries of electronics and mechanical manufactures In the last part of the thesis, theoretical, empirical, and managerial implications are discussed along with conclusions and suggestions for future research. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7934 Files in this item: 1
Ha_Thi_Van_Pham.pdf (3.762Mb) -
the case of Danish architectural firms on the german market in the 1990sSkaates, Maria Anne; Tikkanen, Henrikki; Alajoutsijärvi, Kimmo (København, 1999)[More information][Less information]
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conflicts and compabilities in the case of IndiaJah, Veena (København, 1999)[More information][Less information]
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A view from the edgeMoeran, Brian (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This working paper reflects upon the difficulties of being interdisciplinary when studying the creative industries. After outlining the basic premises behind the ©reative Encounters research programme, it brings into play two editing activities in which the author has been involved over the past six months. One of these is a four volume set of readings in the creative industries which shows that, even though most writing on ‘creative’ industries stem from various governments’ national policies promulgated from the end of the 1990s, there is plenty of material ‘out there’ from the late 1940s onwards. The other is an edited book on the role of fairs, festivals and competitive events in the creative industries which also revealed the extent to which history tended to be overlooked in a specific context by contemporary scholars in different disciplines. The paper concludes by asking what enables and what hinders interdisciplinarity, suggesting that institutional structures and the publishing industry in many ways are designed to prevent innovation in intellectual fields. It is these, therefore, that need to be reconsidered if we are to be successful in crossing over from one discipline to another. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8175 Files in this item: 1
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Cultural Cognition and U.S. Labor RelationsTackney, Charles T.; Sato, Toyoko (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Our study explores cultural cognition in comparative U.S. – Japan employment relations through interdisciplinary analysis of Japanese Supreme Court regulation of the post-World War II lifetime employment system and the latest data available on Japan's collective bargaining-based approach to employee participation in managerial prerogative. The comparative social policy aim is to examine and account for observed employment relations variance in the U.S. and Japan, given their similar labor legislation. Japan’s Supreme Court recognizes lifetime employment as an institutionalized practice and we report all 236 references to the term “lifetime employment” in Japanese case law: 178 regional cases, 43 regional superior cases, and 15 Supreme Court cases. Quantitative analysis of Supreme Court cases contextualizes these references in post-World War II history; qualitative analysis focuses on the Court's discourse. Causally related to this recognition, management councils (a form of employee participation in managerial prerogative) are also a defining feature of Japanese employment relations at the enterprise level. Despite unionization rate declines in both nations, the persistence of Japan's participatory employee relations system contrasts sharply with recent U.S. state-based legislative assaults on long-standing collective bargaining, particularly for public sector unions. The concept of cultural cognition, recently deployed in legal studies to account for domestic U.S. risk, public policy and voting preferences, offers theoretical grounds for better understanding of the observed comparative variance in employment practices. We conclude with proposals for organized labor in the U.S. to strengthen prospects for informal network proliferation and employee participation, with the goal of enhancing national competitiveness. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8613 Files in this item: 1
Tackney_2012_2.pdf (531.3Kb) -
implications for transnational corporationsLal, Pranay; Jha, Veena (København, 1999)[More information][Less information]
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Un estudio sobre emigrantes norteamericanos en un pueblo mexicanoBalslev Clausen, Helene (Frederiksberg, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Den traditionelle migrationsforskning betragter Mexico, som et typisk faktor eller transit land, samt har sit fokus på migrationsflowet fra Syd (Latinamerika) til Nord(USA). Dette case studie derimod bidrager empirisk med identifikationen af en ny type immigranter, angelsaksiske noramerikanere, som i stadigt større omfang emigrerer fra Nord(USA) til Syg(Mexico), hvilket som noget nyt også gør Mexico til et pull faktor land..... URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7733 Files in this item: 1
helena_balslev_clausen.pdf (5.975Mb) -
Imellem nyt og gammeltSkov, Lise; Larsen, Frederik; Nette, Sarah (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Formålet med denne rapport er at afdække markedet for kommissionsgenbrugstøj i København. Gennem en række kvalitative interview med forretningsindehavere og observationer i kommissionsgenbrugsforretninger, forsøger vi at karakterisere kommissionsgenbrugstøjforretningerne, deres forhold til henholdsvis genbrugsforretninger og førstehånds tøjforretninger samt deres indbyrdes placeringer. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8280 Files in this item: 1
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Kragh, Simon Ulrik (København, 1996)[More information][Less information]