Browsing Department of Business and Politics (DBP) by Title
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A Route to a New Negotiating Order in High Performance Work Organizations?Hull Kristensen, Peer (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Contrary to a widely held view, rather than seeing the certification of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) as a barrier to increasing employee participation, this article views new ways of structuring participation as a necessary step towards making improvements in OHS management systems. The article first considers how work organization has changed and then in a similar way traces how bargaining has shifted from being distributive to become integrative to create a fundamental change in the negotiation regime. Finally, by analysing an OHS-certified firm in greater depth, the article shows how solutions for improvements in OHS management and notable bottom-up formulations of OHS benchmarks may help us discover how the organizational form of firms in which high-performance work organization can be developed through new participative structures. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8204 Files in this item: 1
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Lessons to be learned from the "hidden” committees of the Nordic Council of MinistersNedergaard, Peter (København, 2006)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In spite of their long history and extensive activities, the international committees of the Nordic Council of Ministers have not hitherto been subject to scholarly examination. This paper demonstrates that valuable lessons can be learned about policy learning in practise and theoretically by analysing the cooperation in the committees of the Nordic Council of Ministers. Using the Advocacy Coalition Framework as the starting point, fifteen hypotheses on policy learning are tested. Among other things, it is concluded that in order to maximise policy learning in international committees, committees should avoid fragmentation into coalitions, be open to public opinion, participants in committees should be driven by a sense of purpose rather that material interest, empirical data should be made available to committees, a neutral presidency should be present in order to act as an authoritative persuader, and neutral scientists should participate, although not necessarily scientists from consultancy firms. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7353 Files in this item: 1
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Seabrooke, Leonard (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Quasi-public institutions are significant but unsung players in the contemporary international financial order. What can be understood as quasi-public institutions (QPIs) have been created by states or private associations to provide a means of mediating private capital with public value, typically attracting domestic and international investment in order to foster and further a domestic agenda that has strong support from the broader population. As such they fit awkwardly with common perceptions of the international political economy as dominated institutions that reflect either state or market interests. QPIs do both and have emerged as institutional responses to domestic crises that then go on to have a role in shaping the world economy. QPIs that issue collaterized securities from mortgage credit, be they public or private in origin, reflect this institutional form given that their purpose is to bring together private capital and public value. This purpose also makes QPIs sensitive to everyday politics, given that they were created to reflect a broad social purpose rather than only elite interests. This article discusses the development of QPIs for mortgage bonds in a liberal market economy, the U.S., and a coordinated market economy, Denmark. I suggest that QPIs’ values have been challenged by de-regulatory and re-regulatory trends in recent decades. I suggest that QPIs call upon us to question how we identify actors in the international financial order as either public or private, and the importance of everyday politics in fostering institutional innovations that have significant knock-on effects for the world economy. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7333 Files in this item: 1
wp cbp 2008-43.pdf (196.9Kb) -
Institutionalizing Agents and Institutionalized AgencyKristensen, Peer Hull; Morgan, Glenn (København, 2006)[More information][Less information]
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7342 Files in this item: 1
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Kristensen, Peer Hull; Morgan, Glenn (København, 2006)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This article discusses how institutional competitiveness and multinationals are mutually enriching concepts. Seen from the perspective of Multinationals, institutional competitiveness becomes expressed at two levels. At the level of corporate HQs institutional competitiveness proves itself by forming firms capable of expanding internationally. At the level of subsidiaries as providing institutional back up for these firms’ abilities to fight for survival and growth within the frame of rivalling subsidiaries of the MNC. The article discusses at these two levels the comparative institutional competitiveness of Liberal Market Economies and Coordinated Markets Economies under the current competitive regime. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7325 Files in this item: 1
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How? How much?Nedergaard, Peter (København, 2007)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Mutual learning among the Member States is the primary purpose of the employment policy of the European Union. The two most important questions in this regard are how learning occurs and how much learning takes place. In this article I argue that the existing analyses of the effects of learning in the European employment strategy have been either determined by the sender’s interests or have underestimated how mutual learning between countries takes place. In stead the article develops a constructivist approach to learning and uses it to generate some concrete hypothesis about when learning in committees is most likely to take place. Afterwards, this constructivist approach is used to analyse the institutional framework surrounding the European employment strategy in order to evaluate whether the potential for learning is optimal. Finally, the article concludes that even though some basic premises for learning is fulfilled, the potential for mutual learning could and should be increased by implemented at range of concrete institutional reforms. Firstly, a range of professional and autonomous sub-committees which reports to the EMCO should be established. Secondly, the EMCO should be given more time to discuss the national action plans in meetings which more loosely defined agendas. Thirdly, the cooperation should be concentrated around the areas where the differences in terms of policy performances among the Member States are greatest. Fourthly, the president of the EMCO should be given a more prominent role at the expense of the Commission. Finally, the members of the EMCO should to a higher extent come from the directorates in the Member states rather than the minister’s departments. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7332 Files in this item: 1
working paper_40_pn_mutual learning.pdf (138.4Kb) -
Ougaard, Morten (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper is about Poulantzas, historical materialism, international relations, and the current crisis. My purpose is to discuss how some Poulantzian theoretical contributions can be applied to the study of subject matters that are the focus of academic fields such as International Relations (IR), International Political Economy (IPE), International Politics, World Politics and others. I deliberately abstain from singling out any of these disciplines or fields or labels and from trying to define them precisely, because one of my arguments is that historical materialism (HM) is a research program2 that contains its own theoretical definition of the object under study. This object, with inspiration from Poulantzas’ notion of the imperialist chain and his general theory of society, I will define as the global social formation or for short, world society. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8678 Files in this item: 1
Morten_Ougaard.pdf (214.2Kb) -
A Revised Note on Understanding Institutional ChangePedersen, Ove K. (, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This is a slightly revised version of an article I published in 1991 (Ove K. Pedersen, 1991, “Nine Questions to a Neo-Institutional Theory in Political Science”, Scandinavian Political Studies, vol. 14, no. 2, p. 125-148). The purpose of the article 16 years ago is the same as the purpose of presenting this note today - to point to a number of methodological and theoretical problems which have to be discussed in connection with a theory of institutional change. No analytical approach for the study of institutions will be presented. No description of actual institutions or institutional change will be given. Rather, nine philosophical-methodological questions rarely raised and never answered in institutional theory will be asked. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7754 Files in this item: 1
WP CBP 2008-62.pdf (146.2Kb) -
Towards Enabling Welfare states and experimentalist Business SystemsKristensen, Peer Hull (København, 2006)[More information][Less information]
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7330 Files in this item: 1
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Rocha, Robson (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The analysis in this paper concerns how national institutions impact the implementation of occupational healthy and safety management systems (OHSMS) in different types of market economies. The main objective is to show how variation in national institutional frameworks influences the implementation of OHSMS, and thus, relative performance. There are two main conclusions. First, dominating organisational templates and co-operative industrial relations structures allow firms from coordinated market economies (CME) to more effectively implement OHSMS than those from liberal market economies (LME) which are embedded in adversarial industrial relations. Secondly, due to differences in the institutional framework among countries, the mechanisms of enforcement for OHSMS need to be designed in different ways. The article contributes to the literature by showing that the implementation and functioning of OHSMS are mediated by the different institutional logics in which firms are embedded. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7365 Files in this item: 1
wp cbp 2008-57.pdf (188.0Kb) -
Et essay i forbindelse med fagbladet Folkeskolens 125 års jubilæum.Pedersen, Ove K. (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Lærernes fagblad Folkeskolen fylder 125 år. Tillykke med det! Hermed kan vi fejre et af de mest citerede fagblade, som udgives af en af de mest indflydelsesrige, danske interesseorganisationer, og samtidig en af de vigtigste af alle faggrupper, nemlig folkeskolelærerne. Først af alt kan vi dog fejre den danske folkeskole. Uden den, ingen lærere, og uden lærere ingen forening og intet medlemsblad. Sammen med fagbladet Folkeskolen kan vi derfor også tillade os at fejre skolen; også selvom det er usikkert hvornår folkeskolen opstod, og hvorfra den skal dateres. Opstod den med kirkeordinantens om ”børneskoler” i 1539, med anordningen om ”almueskoler” i 1814, eller med lov om forskellige forhold vedrørende folkeskolen i 1899? Svaret er ikke ligegyldigt, men irrelevant i denne sammenhæng. I dette bidrag skal jeg hylde Danmarks Lærerforening, dets medlemmer, og deres fagblad, og jeg vil gøre det ved at påstå, at der er ét forhold, som i alle bladets 125 år og i alle DLF’s 134 år har optaget medlemmerne mere end noget andet - og det er folkeskolens formål. Folkeskolen fik sin første egentlige formålsparagraf i 1937, men lang tid før var dens opgaver fastsat ved ordinants, ved forordning, anordning eller lov. Det er derfor også ved sådanne bestemmelser, at skolen har fundet sin berettigelse og lærerne deres mission. Ligesom det er ved sådanne bestemmelser, at lærerforeningen har defineret, hvad der udmærker dens medlemmer, hvad der gør dem til en særlig profession, eller giver dem deres kaldelse. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7326 Files in this item: 1
wp cbp 2008-49.pdf (235.9Kb) -
Nedergaard, Peter (København, 2005)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to address two normative and interlinked methodological and theoretical questions concerning the Open Method of Coordination (OMC): First, what is the most appropriate approach to learning in the analyses of the processes of the European Employment Strategy (EES)? Second, how should mutual learning processes be diffused among the Member States in order to be efficient? In answering these two questions the paper draws on a social constructivist approach to learning thereby contributing to the debate about learning in the political science literature. At the same time, based on the literature and participatory observations, it is concluded that the learning effects of the EES are probably somewhat larger than what is normally suggested, but that successful diffusion still depends on a variety of contextual factors. At the end of the paper a path for empirical research based upon a social constructivist approach to learning is suggested. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7364 Files in this item: 1
eu-coordination.pdf (183.4Kb) -
Methodological and Theoretical ConsiderationsNedergaard, Peter (København, 2007)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is solely to address two interlinked methodological and theoretical questions concerning the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), using the European Employment Strategy as a case: First, what is the most appropriate approach to learning in the analyses of the processes of the European Employment Strategy (EES)? Second, how is mutual learning processes diffused among the Member States? In answering these two questions the paper draws on a social constructivist approach to learning thereby contributing to the debate about learning in the political science literature. At the same time, based on this concept of learning, it is concluded that the learning effects of the EES are probably somewhat larger than what is normally suggested, but that successful diffusion still depends on a variety of contextual factors. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7338 Files in this item: 1
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Competency and Change in Public Sector Work PracticesHull Kristensen, Peer; Bojesen, Anders (København, 2005)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper invites to discuss the processes of individualization and organizing being carried out under what we might see as an emerging regime of change. The underlying argumentation is that in certain processes of change, competence becomes questionable at all times. The hazy characteristics of this regime of change are pursued through a discussion of competencies as opposed to qualifications illustrated by distinct cases from the Danish public sector in the search for repetitive mechanisms. The cases are put into a general perspective by drawing upon experiences from similar change processes in MNCs. The paper concludes by asking whether we can escape from a regime of competence in a world defined by a rhetoric of change and create a more promising world in which doubt and search serve as a strategy for gaining knowledge and professionalism that improve on our capability for mutualism. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7376 Files in this item: 1
organizing process.pdf (581.6Kb) -
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Abstract: There is a great deal of confusion about the meaning of the concept public-private partnership (PPP). Much is written on the subject but only rarely do authors give an adequate account of what they mean when they talk about PPP, nor do they acknowledge that there exist qualitatively different PPP research traditions. The lack of conceptual clarity leads to false statements about PPP, since what is true for one specific PPP-type does not necessarily apply to other forms of PPP. This paper reviews the literature on PPP and argues that there exist at least five distinct approaches in the burgeoning PPP literature with different origins and that it is vital for analytical clarity that authors place themselves within one of these traditions when doing research on PPP. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7348 Files in this item: 1
ppp_approaches_guri_16.pdf (180.8Kb) -
Ideological Continuity and the Organization of Anti-Socialist Propaganda in the Danish Business Community, 1945-1974Lund, Joachim (, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In Denmark, only minor changes took place in the economic elite after the liberation. Retributions with economic collaborators were dealt with in the legal system, and business managers who had been involved in pro-German political activities during the occupation withdrew to their executive offices and kept a low profile. With Nazism defeated, other ideational forces of integration surfaced as prewar anti-Socialist feelings and activities were invigorated. As an integral part of a general fight against economic regulation and for free trade, anti-Socialism became an important integral factor among Danish business leaders during the immediate postwar years. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7917 Files in this item: 1
WP CBP 2009-68.pdf (183.4Kb) -
The European Commission; INGINEUS; The Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU); Department of Business and Politics; DBP; Department of Business and Politics; DBP (, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The main objective of WP9 was to provide insights into inter-sectoral differences in drivers, degree and patterns of global innovation network formation. Three different sectors, each representing their own category in the influential Pavitt (1984) taxonomy, are chosen as cases. Thus, the WP provided insights into GIN formation in each of these sectors on their own and, by way of comparative analysis, lifted the analysis to a more general European level perspective. The main research questions were: What GIN patterns are forming in the selected sectors, and to what extent are these influenced (driven, constrained) by contextual conditions specific to these sectors? The point of departure for this work package was the recognition that sectors diverge with respect to knowledge, cumulativeness and opportunity conditions. Existing empirical work e.g. show that the “global footprints” of different industries diverge according to the degree of tacitness and complexity of involved knowledge; according to degree of modularity of the product; and with the distribution of actors and environments globally which can be identified and towards which relevant linkages may be formed. Thus, different sectors face different tensions between centrifugal and centripetal forces of internationalization; which result in different patterns of international search, sourcing and collaboration. Understanding these are critical to the formulation of innovation policy in a context of globalization, as the patterns of GINs forming will determine home and host implications. National and EU level innovation policy must simultaneously account for the firm level need to interact and use the most competent and cost-effective partners world-wide; while ensuring that the linkages formed at this level strengthen rather than hollow out innovative capabilities at those same national and EU levels. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8635 Files in this item: 1
haakonsson2011_wp9 report.pdf (3.408Mb) -
Seabrooke, Leonard (København, 2006)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Since the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998 the International Monetary Fund (the Fund) has been embroiled in an international crisis of legitimacy. Assertions of a crisis are premised on the notions that the Fund’s voting system is unfair, and that the Fund enforces homogenous policies onto borrowing member states and that loan programs tend to fail. Seen this way, poor institutional and policy design has led to a loss of legitimacy. But institutionalised inequalities or policy failure is not in itself sufficient to constitute an international crisis of legitimacy. This article provides a conceptually-driven discussion of the sources of the Fund’s international crisis of legitimacy by investigating how its formal "foreground" institutional relations with its member states have become strained, and how informal "background" political and economic relationships are expanding in a way that the Fund will find difficult to re-legitimate. The difference between the Fund's claims to legitimacy and how its member states, especially borrowers, act has led to the creation of a "legitimacy gap" that is difficult to close. However, identifying the sources of the Fund's international crisis of legitimacy allows us to explore what avenues are available to resolve the crisis. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7321 Files in this item: 1
wp35_imf_ls.pdf (172.3Kb) -
The Case of U.S. Chambers of CommerceCrawford, Brett (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Much of the organizational institutionalism literature suggests that the phenomenon of interests is a central construct, however, portrays interests in an overly deterministic, rational, and liberal way. In this thesis, I challenge those views and suggest that interests are a complex and interdependent socially constructed phenomenon. Accordingly, interests represent an actor’s recognition, perceived importance, and participation in a number of figurations and social games. Illustrated through the institution of U.S. chambers of commerce, I explore how chambers of commerce have withstood a changing American culture to become both the world’s largest business federation and public-private partnership. Moreover, even as the United States represents the most liberal of liberal market economies, chambers of commerce represent a context where capitalists have set aside market competition and unified their interests to become one of the largest and most influential institutions in the world. Following a brief introduction of interests and chambers of commerce, this thesis begins with the first paper, which is a critical review of the phenomenon of interests within the organizational institutionalism literature. Tracing the conceptual variety of both the origins and functions of interests in institutional studies, I illustrate how an overly deterministic and rational view of interests is problematic. The critical review continues with a discussion of my critiques of the extant literature followed by an introduction of a less rational and calculative approach to interests by coupling Bourdieu’s (1998) conceptualization of interests with Elias’s (1978) sociology emphasizing figurations and social games. The three subsequent empirical papers test this approach to interests on macro-, meso-, and micro-levels of the institution of chambers of commerce. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8452 Files in this item: 1
Brett_Crawford.pdf (9.887Mb) -
Standards of Civilization in the Development of International Financial OrdersSeabrooke, Leonard (København, 2005)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The use of a ‘standard of civilization’, a preferred form of socio-political organization, in global capital markets presents both constraints and opportunities for creditors and borrowers. When imposed, civilizing standards may change how a borrower would prefer to conduct their affairs. Creditors, after all, do not have the time and money to check every little detail and want clear performance benchmarks in economic life. At the same time, borrowers may present themselves as conforming to a civilizing standard to access capital and give themselves a greater capacity to conduct their own affairs. As long as they stay within the parameters of legitimate financial practice to signal institutional isomorphism, the ‘groove’, creditors may well allow borrowers room for change in self-determined ways. This paper maps out the historical and conceptual terrain concerning civilizing ideas about the legitimacy of financial practices within global capital markets, and investigates relationships between Western ‘civilizers’ and Emerging Market Economies during the last two periods of financial globalization, the late-nineteenth/ early-twentieth centuries and the late-twentieth century. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7322 Files in this item: 1
room_to_groove_13.pdf (110.1Kb)