Browsing Ph.D. theses (ICM/IKL) by Title
Now showing items 1-19 of 19
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How Material Practices and their Symbolic and Physical Meanings Form a Colonising LogicLauesen, Linne Marie (Frederiksberg, 2014)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This PhD thesis is the outcome of three-year doctoral study of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and stakeholder engagement in the water sector. This study contributes to new knowledge about water companies formed as hybrid organisations in the aftermath of the new public management (NPM) era worldwide. Today we see different hybrid organisations of water companies around the world that have either been fully privatised or quasi-privatised. Quasiprivatisation in Denmark means that water utilities are still perceived as natural monopolies, which has not made them into for-profit driven companies. Instead a simulated market and state regulation has been introduces with annual, national benchmarking to set a price cap as an upper limit for the consumer-price of water. Similar systems are seen in fully privatised water companies in the United Kingdom, the United States, and partially in South Africa. However, here the water companies are typically owned by private companies and not established as municipalityowned limited liabilities1 as in Denmark and elsewhere in Scandinavia. This PhD thesis proposes new models and principles and corporate social responsibility and stakeholder engagement of these water companies. The findings of the study suggest a new definition of a colonising logic of CSR competing and coexisting with the regulators’ colonising logic of NPM. Through the study and definition of these logics as colonising the water sector this PhD theisis provides an understand of new perspectives of how CSR is enacted through stakeholder engagement and how the logic of CSR frames the top managers’ claim: ”We are CSR!” (Interview B, March 2011) and the consequences of this logic. Both the logic of CSR and the logic of NPM is found to be based on the materials that the water companies are organised around, namely water. Water is perceived as a natural good that should ideally be free and plentiful for all citizens around the world. However, the competition between the two colonising logics stems from another material, namely the money or price that providing clean and pure water for all are allowed to cost the citizens. Through the dialectical interaction of these in terms of material practices between producing water and infrastructure to distribute it and collecting money as a payment for it and the regulation of this, this PhD thesis proposes a new definition of the role of materials and material practices underlying several institutional logics such as the institutional logic of capitalism, state, democracy, family, religion/science, profession, and corporation (Friedland & Alford, 1991; Thornton et al., 2012; Friedland, 2013). URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8896 Files in this item: 1
Linne_Marie_Lauesen.pdf (8.076Mb) -
Kulturanalytisk casestudie om udfordringer og dilemmaer med at forankre Coops CSR-strategiRosenstock, Maja (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Ph.d.-projektet handler om forankringen af Coops CSR-strategi. Coop er, med sine 35.000 ansatte og 1200 butikker spredt ud over hele landet, Danmarks største dagligvarevirksomhed. Coop driver kæderne SuperBrugsen, Kvickly, Dagli’Brugsen, Irma og Fakta. De er ejet at Fællesforeningen for Danmarks Brugsforeninger (FDB), der igen ejes af 1,6 mio. danske forbrugere. Coop blev for nyligt udråbt som "CSR-områdets mediedarling", da de var den virksomhed i Danmark, der havde fået mest positiv CSR-omtale i medierne. Denne afhandling illustrerer, hvor svært det kan være, at praktisere CSR - selv for en virksomhed som Coop. Et af afhandlingens væsentligste bidrag er at undersøge forankringen af CSR-strategien, set indefra virksomheden selv, og på denne måde illustrere de mange udfordringer og dilemmaer, der er forbundet med at praktisere CSR. Netop kompleksiteten og de mange udfordringer og dilemmaer ved CSR-arbejdet beskrives sjældent. Tværtimod hører virksomhederne gang på gang om, hvordan CSR er en oplagt ’business case’, og om hvordan arbejdet med CSR skaber win-win situationer og giver konkurrencemæssige fordele. Afhandlingen kan dermed ses som en modvægt til de mange flatterende beskrivelser af CSR, som den direkte vej til bedre bundlinje og øget vækst. Således følger afhandlingen op på den strategiske tilgang til CSR og sætter denne under nærmere belysning. I afhandlingen diskuteres fordele og ulemper ved den strategiske CSR tilgang, ligesom det illustreres at implementeringen og forankringen af CSR-strategier langt fra er så ligetil, som det umiddelbart kan lyde, når CSR kontinuerligt beskrives som win-win situationer og konkurrencemæssige fordele. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8550 Files in this item: 1
Maja_Rosenstock.pdf (5.783Mb) -
Et casestudie om styring og meningsskabelse i relation til CSR ud fra en intern optikSkovmøller, Carina Christine (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Ph.d.-afhandlingen undersøger betydningen af ledelsens styringsform i forhold til medarbejdernes meningsskabelse omkring CSR. Herunder hvorvidt CSR som koncept påvirker medarbejderes forventninger til ledelsens styringsform og sensegiving, og i givet fald hvordan. Ligeledes hvilke virksomhedsinterne processer der viser sig at have indflydelse på ledelsens styringsform og medarbejdernes meningsskabelsesproces i relation til CSR. Afhandlingen er baseret på et longitudinelt studie i VELUX hovedkontor i Hørsholm, Danmark, i forhold til implementeringen af Sustainable Living, som er det overordnede mål for VELUX’ arbejde med bæredygtighed såvel internt som eksternt. Data er indhentet med to års interval i henholdsvis 2008 og 2010 og er baseret på 70 interviews med medarbejdere, mellemledere og ledelse i 2008 og 2010 samt observationsstudier i sammenlagt 2½ år. Sideløbende med disse undersøgelser har jeg deltaget i seminarer, projekter & møder, fulgt presseomtale om CSR i VELUX og undersøgt interne dokumenter med relation til CSR området. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8421 Files in this item: 1
Carina_C_Skovmøller.pdf (1.402Mb) -
The Case of RomaniaSamson, Ramona (København, 2006)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Europa undergår fundamentale forandringer i kølvandet på den Kolde Krigs afslutning. En afgørende begivenhed er udvidelsen af den Europæisk Union (EU), der indebærer, at de tidligere kommunistiske lande i Østeuropa bliver del af et samlet Europa. Samspillet mellem ydre og indre faktorer i disse samfund bevirker, at det i stigende grad er nødvendigt at befatte sig på en ny måde med studiet af europæisk forandring og integration. Svaret i denne afhandling er ’kulturel integration’. Afhandling tager sit afsæt i den aktuelle sociologiske debat vedrørende fremvæksten af et såkaldt postvestligt og postnationalt Europa. Denne indebærer, at ikke alene de østeuropæiske lande forandrer sig, men at hele Europa er genstand for grundlæggende refortolkning i takt med at landegrænser opblødes og Øst/vestdelingen af kontinentet gradvist ophæves. En sådan ’dobbelt synkronicitet’ (double syncronicity) står i modsætning til hovedparten af eksisterende teorier om europæisk integration, der forklarer Østeuropas integration i det øvrige Europa som ’transition’. Transitologien hviler på to grundantagelser: Dels at de østeuropæiske lande bevæger sig entydigt i retning af en vestlig model (konvergens), dels at integration alene udspiller sig indenfor rammerne af EU’s formelle institutionelle struktur (singularitet). I modsætning hertil er det opfattelsen hos denne afhandlings forfatter, at de aktuelle forandringsprocesser i de tidligere kommunistiske lande i Østeuropa ikke kan begribes fyldestgørende inden for rammen af disse traditionelle integrationsteorier. På denne baggrund spørger afhandlingens problemformulering: ”hvordan analyserer man forandringsprocesserne i Østeuropa i sammenhæng med de overordnede forandringer, der finder sted i Europa?” URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7732 Files in this item: 1
ramona_samson.pdf (2.279Mb) -
Anne (, )[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This thesis explores the history of humanitarian organizations as agents in public life. When taking on the role as mediators between Western publics and distant sufferers, what conception of social responsibility do humanitarian organizations promote? What are the consequences of the institutional context of these organizations on the form of social responsibility that they are able to promote? In a historical perspective, what changes in these conceptualizations can we observe and to what extent can we understand them as resulting from institutional changes? These questions are asked with the assumption that the discourse of humanitarian organizations is at once a reflection of and a force in the configuration of dispositions in target publics. Enquiring about the history of humanitarian organizations as agents in public life, thus, means enquiring about the ways in which over the past 40 years, these organizations have given meaning to our relation to different sufferers and contributed to shaping our individual and collective conception of the scope and nature of our social responsibility.... URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8318 Files in this item: 1
Anne_Vestergaard.pdf (6.561Mb) -
Uldam, Julie (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In the wake of increasing disillusion with the potential of alternative online media for providing social movements with a virtual space for self-representation and visibility (Atton, 2002; Downing, 2001; Rodriguez, 2001) activists have been adopting online social media into their media practices. With their popular appeal and multimodal affordances social media such as YouTube and Facebook have reinvigorated hopes for the potential of the internet for providing social movements such as the Global Justice Movement, which is often misrepresented as a homogeneous and in a negative light in the mass media (Gamson and Wolfsfeld, 1993; Juris, 2008), with new possibilities for promoting self-representations to wider publics – beyond the echo chambers of alternative media (Cammaerts, 2007; Sunstein, 2001). In the mediation of institutional politics the increasing use of popular online spaces has brought about the term ’YouTube‐ification of Politics’ (Turnsek and Jankowski, 2008). However, two challenges remain: the first relates to fragmentation – the internet’s properties as a ‘pull-medium’ is argued to merely connect likeminded users (Cammaerts, 2007: 138). The second relates to ’lazy politics’ – the internet’s ephemeral properties are argued to facilitate brief participation in single-issue campaigns that fails to foster political engagement (Fenton, 2008a: 52). This thesis focuses on the latter. It addresses the possibilities of popular online spaces for fostering collective solidarity and political engagement in social movement organisations. It explores how these possibilities are played out in the online arena of popular sites employed by the two London-based social movement organisations: the World Development Movement (WDM) and War on Want. Drawing on the cases of WDM and War on Want, the thesis addresses three dimensions of these practices, exploring (1) rationales for using popular online spaces to promote the SMO agenda; (2) the social movement organisations’ online campaigns; and (3) members’ identifications with the campaigns through discourse analysis and interviews with SMO directors, campaign, outreach and web officers as well as SMO members. It is by analysing how SMOs use different online spaces as locations for strategic framing and the formation of political identities that we can begin to study how the internet may contribute to an agonistic public sphere where also voices of dissent are heard. The thesis is based on Mouffe’s understanding of politics and the political as grounded in discourse but also based on a view of political engagement as conflictual, affective and sometimes irrational (Cammaerts, 2007; Fenton, 2009; Mouffe, 2005). Even though this does not mean that SMOs do not apply rational considerations in planning their strategic agendas for public visibility and legitimacy, it does mean that the study of these considerations need to take into account this dual character of political discourse as both rational and affective (Hajer and Versteeg, 2005). Therefore, we need to consider instrumental and affective issues to understand the relationship between strategic protest and the underlying dynamics of intragroup commitment (Griggs and Howarth, 2002; Snow et al., 1986) – the interconnections between strategy and identity, external resonance and internal commitment. In this way, the democratic potentialities of the internet can be seen as not only related to the ways in which SMOs communicate their agenda but also to potentialities for forging political identities and commitment (Fenton, 2008a). URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8211 Files in this item: 1
Julie_Uldam.pdf (6.193Mb) -
Om kulturel produktion på Roskilde FestivalMunkgård Pedersen, Kristine (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The dissertation explores how cultural production is unfolding at Roskilde Festival – the biggest music- and culture festival in Denmark. The overall question being adressed is how the festival is assembled. The question is explored through four subquestions related to the cultural expressions, identity and materiality of the festival. The first part of the dissertation investigates the specificity of the festival’s audience- based culture. The symbolic and historical connections between the festival and the 1960s’ cultural activism is argued to be of an importance to the socioaesthetics, performed jointly by audience as well as performers. The dissertation further investigates how the identity of the festival is being negotiated between a number of different commercial and cultural actors: sponsors, volunteers and artists among others. The many different economic and cultural practices and values converge when the festival ground is being transformed from anonymous space to festival space embracing both cultural and commercial content. In this regard the dissertation investigates how the valuebased economic logics of subcultural production is debated and negotiated during the pratices of materializing space. It is argued that the complexity of the festival identity adds to the credibility of the festival and its many different producers. The second part of the dissertation is a socio-material analysis of two festival projects. One is the hybrid festival area Cosmopol, the other is the Orange Stage area. The analyses are based on a research agenda developed by the Actor- Network-Theory (ANT) which explores how ideas are materialised through proceses of interaction, translation and involvement. The explorations explain how subcultural attitudes, practices of transgression and oppositional identity are distributed through an ephemeral network of actors including humans (volunteers, artists, performers) and things (scenes, art works, graffiti, pictures and music) which forge performative alliances with the festival audience. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8058 Files in this item: 1
Kristine_Munkgaard_Pedersen.pdf (17.24Mb) -
The case of travel guidebook productionAlačovska, Ana (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This thesis focuses on the production of travel guidebooks. Its aim is to explore the mutual coconstruction and entanglement of genres, producers and institutions in cultural production and cultural work. It also examines how authorial and institutional, professional and industrial selfreflexivity exists in and through ambiguous and shifting interrelations with genres and their poetics. To this end, it develops a preliminary theoretical framework for a comprehensive exploration of the complex dynamics of cultural production that is attentive to the cultural objects themselves: here, a down-market, ‘uninventive’ and ‘heteronomous’ genre known as the travel guide(book). The thesis argues that the specificity of the genre is continually contextualized and re-contextualized, qualified and re-qualified, commodified and rendered autonomous, in the daily, local, and intimate practices of guide-making. The argument presented is that the genre is not merely a backdrop for creative agency or a predetermined set of rules, but a complex entity – spatially and temporally dispersed – that affords autonomous opportunities for various modes of action, self-definition, and self-interpretation. Thus, genres are active elements or animating forces of cultural production, rather than merely outcomes of industrial dynamics. What arises from the empirical material is that cultural producers experience ‘autonomy’ in and through the notion of genre which itself is fuzzy, vague, tacit, implicit and often non-formalized. Nonetheless, it is obdurately present in a spectrum of strategies, rhetoric, a sense of responsibility, expertise and professionalism applied by such producers in order to explain, define and justify their practical decisions and evaluations. The first three chapters explore perceived limitations of sociological, anthropological and sociocultural paradigms of cultural production. They also indicate some potential areas for crossfertilization with genre theory, which has conceptualized the notion of genre as social action, cognitive action-schemata, and institutions that mediate between industry, producers, and audiences. The last four chapters follow and trace interpenetrating and interlocking relations between genres and institutions firstly, as they mutually and historically co-produce each other in industrial practice; secondly, as entangled in individual and professional auto-biographies with reference to the genre and its adjacent markets; and third, as embedded in actual production practices - how guidebook producers make use of and interact with the editorial brief (or institutionalized and contractually binding genre specificity) and independent genre trajectories (autonomous logic), while making daily evaluations of their work and their own professional selfreflexivity. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8703 Files in this item: 1
Ana_Alacovska.pdf (2.311Mb) -
Morten (, )[More information][Less information]
Abstract: ‘Good’ Outcomes – Handling Multiplicity in Government Communication This thesis examines how five Danish government organizations produce and assess communicative solutions in practice, and argues that government communication may be understood as a case of multiplicity. In the practices of producing and assessing communicative solutions it is uncertain what constitutes a ‘good’ outcome of government communication. This uncertainty is grasped by drawing upon analytical resources from the field of multiplicity-oriented ANT analyses. Empirically, the thesis is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted at the five government organizations. Combining empirical observations, theoretical insights, and political programmes, four ‘modes of ordering’ are developed and these are utilized in exploring how the multiplicity of government communication unfurls and how it is handled in practice. The thesis shows how the ordering attempts described by the four modes of ordering coexist and interfere, and it suggests the notions of ‘sequencing’ and ‘singularizing’ for understanding how the multiplicity of government communication is handled in the production and assessment of communicative solutions. The study upon which the thesis reports has been carried out in connection with a larger Industrial PhD project, entitled Measurements you can learn from, that aimed at developing, testing, and implementing new and better communication measurements. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8306 Files in this item: 1
Morten_Krogh_Petersen.pdf (10.91Mb) -
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) -
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) -
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) -
Antecedents, processes dynamics and firm-level impactØrberg Jensen, Peter (Frederiksberg, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This PhD thesis addresses one of the most intensely debated phenomena over the past decade within the realm of international business: Firms’ relocation of value chain activities to other parts in the network of multinational corporation (MNC) or to external suppliers/services providers in foreign countries (hereinafter referred to as offshoring), often to destination countries with lower cost structures. Whereas the offshoring of manufacturing tasks has existed for several decades, and has been analyzed in the international business literature, the offshoring of advanced services tasks from developed country firms to destination countries such as India, which offer an attractive cocktail of low costs and highly skilled labour, is a more recent phenomenon. The offshoring of this type of services tasks forms the subject of this PhD thesis... URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7741 Files in this item: 1
Peter_d_orberg_jensen.pdf (674.8Kb) -
Nielsen, Michael E. (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: ‘No amount of preparation could have lessened the shock and revulsion I felt on entering a sporting-goods factory in the town of Sialkot, seventy miles from Lahore, where scores of children, most of them aged five to ten, produce soccer balls by hand for forty rupees, or about $1.20, a day. The children work eighty hours a week in near-total darkness and total silence. According to the foreman, the darkness is both an economy and a precautionary measure; child-rights activists have difficulty taking photographs and gathering evidence of wrongdoing if the lighting is poor. The silence is to ensure product quality: "If the children speak, they are not giving their complete attention to the product and are liable to make errors.” The children are permitted one thirty-minute meal break each day; they are punished if they take longer. They are also punished if they fall asleep, if their workbenches are sloppy, if they waste material or miscut a pattern, if they complain of mistreatment to their parents or speak to strangers outside the factory. A partial list of "infractions” for which they may be punished is tacked to a wall near the entrance. It’s a document of dubious utility: the children are illiterate. Punishments are doled out in a storage closet at the rear of the factory. There, amid bales of wadding and leather, children are hung upside down by their knees, starved, caned, or lashed.’ URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7730 Files in this item: 1
michael_e_nielsen.pdf (1.355Mb) -
India's national Oil Company and International Activism in SudanPatey, Luke (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
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A Case Study of Branding and Identity Struggles in a Low-Prestige OrganizationFrandsen, Sanne (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This dissertation examines the relationship between corporate branding and identity work at organizational and individual levels in the context of a lowprestige corporation. It is based on 17 months of research undertaken as an inhouse ethnographer at MGP, a European based national telecommunication corporation. The study seeks to contribute to integrated corporate branding theory by adopting a critical perspective on the intra-organizational affects of brands and branding. The dissertation contains three papers, each of which contributes to discussions within corporate branding, organizational identity and identification, as well as to literature on management control and employee resistance. The findings demonstrate that the management adopts integrated corporate branding in a hypocritical manner, while employees in response develop a cynical distance to their work. While this may be interpreted as negative consequences, the dissertation argues that these are productive and have certain advantages for the management in the given context. Thus, the findings challenge the integrated corporate branding ideal of coherence between the external and internal dimensions of corporate branding as the only productive way to create a successful corporate brand. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8366 Files in this item: 1
Sanne_Frandsen.pdf (690.4Kb) -
A critical political economy perspectiveBuch-Hansen, Hubert (København, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The focus of this thesis is one "component” of EC competition regulation, namely that of merger control. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7729 Files in this item: 1
hubert_buch-hansen.pdf (2.956Mb) -
An implementation and evaluationHalskov, Jakob (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The research object of this thesis is the so-called knowledge patterns and their usefulness in automatically extracting specic semantic relations from unannotated and uncategorized text on the WWW so as to facilitate semi-automatic updating and extension of existing ontological and terminological resources. The main contribution of the thesis is the implementation of a com- plete ontology extension framework called WWW2REL which is 100% based on a knowledge-poor, domain-independent processing of WWW text snippets and includes the three stages of pattern discovery, pattern ltering and relation instance ranking. Unlike most comparable systems WWW2REL is special in that it is both highly portable, can be applied to any semantic relation type and operates directly on uncategorized WWW text snippets. The system is tested on the biomedical UMLS Metathesaurus for four dierent relation types and manually evaluated by four domain experts. It is demonstrated that high precision in the task of knowledge discovery from a noisy text source can be achieved using a very simple instance relevance measure and two ranking heuristics. In contrast, many comparable systems operate on richly annotated academic text and tend to apply heuristics which are custom-tailored to a specic domain and/or relation type. When selecting the overall best ranking scheme, average system performance across all four relation types ranges between 70% to 65% of the maximum possible F-score by top 10 and top 50 relation instances, respectively. Finally, the thesis experiments also examine the portability of individ- ual knowledge patterns and of the ranking heuristics. It is concluded that synonymy KPs are the most domain independent closely followed by ISA KPs, whereas patterns for "may_prevent" and especially "induces" are more dependent on the domain. Empirical experiments also suggest that a ranking heuristic which penalizes relation instances whose arguments occur frequently in a general language corpus can be highly eective, but may need to be adapted to the domain in question. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7731 Files in this item: 1
jacob_halskov.pdf (1.810Mb) -
Enhancing Social Entrepreneurship and Stakeholder TheoryDacanay, Marie Lisa (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This thesis develops a framework for understanding how social enterprises engage the poor and address poverty, a pressing global problem of the 21st century. Using casebased theory building, it studies a theoretical sample of three pairs of Philippine-based social enterprises, where the poor were suppliers, workers, and customers. In half of the cases, the poor were also owners. The research studies the roles and role changes of the poor in these social enterprises, how and why these roles changed, or did not change, and the impact of the roles and role changes, if any, on the social enterprises and the poor. Data for the research was gathered mainly from key informant interviews, published and unpublished organizational documents as well as previous studies done by external consultants on the case subjects. Based on a cross case analysis of the data from the theoretical sample, the thesis develops three models of stakeholder engagement among social enterprises with the poor as primary stakeholders or SEPPS, namely: control, collaboration and empowerment. This thesis provides insights and develops propositions about the importance of stakeholder engagement and the power and limitations of these three models in bringing about social inclusion and poverty reduction. These propositions are suggested to be applicable in countries in the South other than the Philippines where systemic poverty and inequality are exacerbated by the failure of state and market institutions to address the needs of the poor. This thesis makes a contribution to social entrepreneurship and stakeholder theory. It does so by sharing a perspective from the South and giving a voice to the poor as stakeholders. The researcher notes that overall, the poor and the South are under-represented in these discourses. On the whole, social entrepreneurship theorizing has been characterized as embryonic as a topic of academic inquiry. Stakeholder engagement is considered an under-theorized area in stakeholder theory. In developing a framework for understanding stakeholder engagement models involving the poor, this thesis makes a first step towards applying and extending stakeholder theory in SEPPS. The thesis likewise enriches social entrepreneurship theory by conceiving of SEPPS as a global social enterprise model that catalyzes South-North cooperation to address poverty and inequality. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8513 Files in this item: 1
Marie_Lisa_Dacanay.pdf (2.477Mb)
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