Alexander Styhre – författare

Boken beskriver organisationsteorin från de tidigaste försöken att organisera merkantil verksamhet under antiken och medeltiden till dagens kunskapsbaserade arbete.

Den presenterar teoretiska perspektiv på organisationer kronologiskt och refererar skandinavisk organisationsteori. Den illustrerar teoretiska resonemang med exempel från såväl svenska som internationella företag och organisationer. Boken är grundläggande och lämpar sig väl för introduktionskurser.

Den fjärde upplagan har uppdaterats genomgående och ett flertal exempel från näringsliv och förvaltning har bytts ut och nya referenser och avsnitt har tillkommit. Organisation och organisering har publicerats i dansk översättning (2014) och i en omarbetad norsk upplaga (2014).

Sagt om boken"Nu kommer fjärde upplagan av en mycket läsvärd bok som med all säkerhet kommer att få klassikerstatus. Organisationskunskap kan verkligen innehålla mycket och i detta fall gör författarna en grundlig exposé över olika organisationsteorier från antikens dagar fram till idag. Boken ger heltäckande kunskap inom området och är tänkt att användas som lärobok. Författarna är alla professorer vid Göteborgs respektive Lunds universitet. Språket blir aldrig tungrott och exemplen från olika verksamheter är mångskiftande och läsvärda. Det finns inga illustrationer annat än färgade rutor med praktikfall från arbetslivet. Dessa är uppdaterade i den nya upplagan och flera referenser har lagts till den redan digra listan. Läsningen var riktigt njutbar och gav en bra bild av människors urgamla strävan att organisera sina ansträngningar till gemensamma mål. Här finns också teorier och diskussioner av olika metoder för att uppnå önskvärda resultat. Såväl de historiska avsnitten som de dagsaktuella väcker intresse." Lena Löfgren Bjerner, lektör, BTJ-häftet nr 21, 2015.

Om författarnaUlla Eriksson-Zetterquist är professor vid GRI, Handelshögskolan vid Göteborgs universitet. homas Kalling är professor och chef för Institutet för ekonomisk forskning vid Lunds universitet. Alexander Styhre är professor vid företagsekonomiska institutionen, Handelshögskolan vid Göteborgs universitet.

I den här boken presenteras fyra olika sätt att tänka om kritiskt tänkande: att tänka på djupet, att tänka politiskt, att tänka annorlunda, och att tänka kring det som är obekvämt och obehagligt. Dessa fyra kritiska tänkesätt lyfter fram olika ambitioner med kritik, men som alla är viktiga för att kunna tänka bortom det givna och självklara.Det brukar ofta framhållas att ett kritiskt förhållningssätt är viktigt inom forskning, inte minst samhällsvetenskaplig sådan. Men vad innebär egentligen ”kritik” och ”kritiskt tänkande”? På vilket sätt skiljer sig kritiskt tänkande från det som är ”okritiskt”? Och kan man över huvud taget lära sig att ”tänka kritiskt”?Ur boken:“Det kritiska tänkandet ska förebygga indoktrinering och möjliggöra ett slags frihet som handlar om att tänka fritt och bilda sig egna uppfattningar. Grundtanken är att lära oss att tänka självständigt och inte blint och utan eftertanke acceptera kunskapsanspråk och sanningsutsagor.”

This textbook presents organization theory in an exciting new way, moving away from a traditional linear historical narrative approach, to present students with an approach that offers both relevancy and appeal. The authors take a practice-based approach, identifying questions, problems and issues that are perceived as pertinent by practitioners, and using these as the starting point to identify the relevant theories. This means that students will find it easier to engage with the material and more attention is paid to issues such as boundary spanning, leadership, quality management, strategic change, and development psychology/organizational learning; areas that are not always covered in other textbooks.Online Resource Centre: For students:Multiple choice questions Further Reading and Research: Comprising of web links and web link updates linking to organization and company websites, plus additional readings and articles."What happened next": as appropriate, cases from within the textbook will continue to be updated on the Online Resource Centre.For lecturers:Test bank PowerPoint slides Seminar exercises

The Institutional Theory of the Firm examines recent and previous organization theory literature to advocate what Evans (1995) refers to as the "embedded autonomy" of the firm, as well as its role in being simultaneously anchored in, for example, corporate legislation and regulatory practices on the national, regional (i.e., within the European Union) and transnational levels, while at the same time being granted the right to operate with significant degrees of freedom within this legal-regulatory model. Seen in this view, the embedded autonomy of the corporation represents a theoretical view of the corporation that complements the market-based image of the corporation in economic theory.When advocating the institutional theory model, three forms of embedded autonomy are examined. First, the corporation is enacted as a legal entity sui juris—as a freestanding "legal person" in corporate law and within the regulatory framework that serves to enforce legislation in everyday life settings. Second, the corporation is embedded within what social theorists refer to as moral economies, the norms and values that regulate what are the socially acceptable and legitimate means for conducting business. Third and finally, the corporation is embedded in governance, a relatively complex economic concept that denotes legal and regulatory control on the societal and economic system levels, and on the level of the individual corporation. By combining the three forms of embeddedness, sanctioned by law, norms, and governance, the embedded autonomy of the firm is secured on the basis of a variety of social practices and resources.This book brings together a diverse literature including management studies, economic sociology, legal theory, finance theory, and mainstream economic theory to advance the argument that the corporation is best understood as what is embedded in a social and economic context, yet best serving its defined and stipulated ends by assuming considerable degrees of freedom to operate in isolation from various stakeholders. It will be of relevance for a variety of readers, including graduate students, management scholars, policy-makers, and management consultants interested in organization theory and management studies.

Reproductive medicine has been very successful at developing new therapies in recent years and people having difficulties conceiving have more options available to them than ever before. These developments have led to a new institutional landscape emerging and this innovative volume explores how health and social structures are being developed and reconfigured to take into account the increased use of assisted reproductive technologies, such as IVF treatments. Using Sweden as a central case study, it explores how the process of institutionalizing new assisted reproductive technologies includes regulatory agencies, ethical committees, political bodies and discourses, scientific communities, patient and activists groups, and entrepreneurial activities in the existing clinics and new entrants to the industry. It draws on new theoretical developments in institutional theory and outlines how health innovations are always embedded in social relations including ethical, political, and financial concerns.This book will be of interest to advanced students and academics in health management, science and technology studies, the sociology of health and illness and organisational theory.

Social science theorists from various scholarly disciplines have contributed to a recent literature that examines how the finance industry has expanded and now wields increasing influence across a variety of economic fields and industries. In some cases, this tendency towards a more sizeable and influential finance industry has been referred to as "the financialization" of the economy. This book explains how what is referred to as the finance-led economy (arguably a more neutral and less emotionally charged term than financialization) is premised on a number of conditions, institutional relations, and theoretical propositions and assumptions, and indicates what the real economic consequences are for market actors and households.The book provides a theoretically condensed but empirically grounded account of the contemporary finance-led economy, in many cases too complicated in its design and rich in detail to be understood equally by insiders—empirical research indicates—and lay audiences. It summarizes the relevant literature and points at two empirical cases, the construction industry and life science venturing, to better illustrate how the expansion of the finance industry has contributed to the capital formation process, and how the sovereign state has actively assisted this process. It offers a credible, yet accessible overview of the economic conditions that will arguably shape economic affairs for the foreseeable future.The book will find an audience amongst a variety of readers, including graduate students, management scholars, policymakers, and management consultants.

The Institutional Theory of the Firm examines recent and previous organization theory literature to advocate what Evans (1995) refers to as the "embedded autonomy" of the firm, as well as its role in being simultaneously anchored in, for example, corporate legislation and regulatory practices on the national, regional (i.e., within the European Union) and transnational levels, while at the same time being granted the right to operate with significant degrees of freedom within this legal-regulatory model. Seen in this view, the embedded autonomy of the corporation represents a theoretical view of the corporation that complements the market-based image of the corporation in economic theory.When advocating the institutional theory model, three forms of embedded autonomy are examined. First, the corporation is enacted as a legal entity sui juris—as a freestanding "legal person" in corporate law and within the regulatory framework that serves to enforce legislation in everyday life settings. Second, the corporation is embedded within what social theorists refer to as moral economies, the norms and values that regulate what are the socially acceptable and legitimate means for conducting business. Third and finally, the corporation is embedded in governance, a relatively complex economic concept that denotes legal and regulatory control on the societal and economic system levels, and on the level of the individual corporation. By combining the three forms of embeddedness, sanctioned by law, norms, and governance, the embedded autonomy of the firm is secured on the basis of a variety of social practices and resources.This book brings together a diverse literature including management studies, economic sociology, legal theory, finance theory, and mainstream economic theory to advance the argument that the corporation is best understood as what is embedded in a social and economic context, yet best serving its defined and stipulated ends by assuming considerable degrees of freedom to operate in isolation from various stakeholders. It will be of relevance for a variety of readers, including graduate students, management scholars, policy-makers, and management consultants interested in organization theory and management studies.

The Making of Shareholder Welfare Society traces and accounts for the debates and discussions between law and economics scholars and mainstream legal scholars, management theorists, and economic sociologists. This is done in detail to demonstrate that the shareholder welfare society was built from the bottom up, beginning with theoretical propositions regarding alleged market efficiencies and leading all the way to the idea that a society characterized by economic freedom and efficiency maximization pave the way for uncompromised shareholder welfare, in turn being good for everyone.This book is of relevance for a variety of readers, including graduate students, management scholars, policy-makers, and management consultants, as well as those that are concerned about how the economic system of competitive capitalism is now in a position where it is riddled by doubts and concern, not the least as the levels of economic inequality is soaring. It addresses the topics with regard to corporate governance, accounting and society and will be of interest to researchers, academics, students, and members of the general public that are concerned about the economic system of competitive capitalism.

Social science theorists from various scholarly disciplines have contributed to a recent literature that examines how the finance industry has expanded and now wields increasing influence across a variety of economic fields and industries. In some cases, this tendency towards a more sizeable and influential finance industry has been referred to as "the financialization" of the economy. This book explains how what is referred to as the finance-led economy (arguably a more neutral and less emotionally charged term than financialization) is premised on a number of conditions, institutional relations, and theoretical propositions and assumptions, and indicates what the real economic consequences are for market actors and households.The book provides a theoretically condensed but empirically grounded account of the contemporary finance-led economy, in many cases too complicated in its design and rich in detail to be understood equally by insiders—empirical research indicates—and lay audiences. It summarizes the relevant literature and points at two empirical cases, the construction industry and life science venturing, to better illustrate how the expansion of the finance industry has contributed to the capital formation process, and how the sovereign state has actively assisted this process. It offers a credible, yet accessible overview of the economic conditions that will arguably shape economic affairs for the foreseeable future.The book will find an audience amongst a variety of readers, including graduate students, management scholars, policymakers, and management consultants.

Highly original and based on unique empirical research in the fields of organization theory and organization behaviour, this work makes an invaluable contribution to the literature on bureaucracy and innovation. Focusing on a study of two major companies working with innovation and new product development Styhre's critical analysis pushes the boundaries of bureaucracy studies beyond its current entrenched position.Departing from the traditional view that bureaucratic organizations are inefficient, incapable of responding to external changes, unable to orchestrate innovative work and provide meaningful jobs for its co-workers, this empirical study underlines the merits of a functional organization, the presence of specialist and expertise groups and hierarchical structures. Analyzing the literature of bureaucracy, the new forms of post-bureaucratic organizations and drawing on the philosophy of Henri Bergson, the author offers a model of bureaucracy, capable of both apprehending its functional organization and its continuous and ongoing modifications and changes to adapt to external conditions.Innovative and compelling, this book is an excellent text for advanced students of organization and management theory and managerial strategists and decision-makers across the globe.

Knowledge management presents a new way of understanding organizations and companies, and is especially suited to sophisticated and highly technical firms and operations such as those in the construction industry.This new book draws on hard data from three separate research programs in Sweden and shows how the concept of knowledge can make sense in the construction industry, an industry which can be viewed in essence as being engaged in the material transformation of "nature into buildings". In particular it explores and examines three different businesses: a medium sized construction firm; Wingårdh Architecture, Sweden’s most prestigious architecture firm; and BESAB, a specialist concrete injection firm working on underground construction. An emerging theme is the situational and context-bound nature of knowledge in the construction industry, thus showing "knowledge" to be a remarkably heterogeneous concept.A range of readers should find the book useful, from students and construction managers through to researchers.

The advancement of the life sciences and the technosciences has enhanced the longevity of citizens in the Western world, and half of the generation born in the first decade of the new millennium is now expected to live to the age of one hundred years. In a society with such longevity and affluence, consumption of health-related goods and services such as pharmaceuticals and scanning procedures may be seen as a sustainable source of income for the industries that promote it. Though the healthcare sector has traditionally been organized in the public sector in Europe and in the private sector in the US, the recent advancement of new therapies and direct-to-consumer marketing have opened up new streams of consumption and revenue for health care goods and services around the globe. This book examines the so-called ‘bioeconomy’ as a new economic and commercial field that emphasizes the management of individual life, including the regulation and control of weight and food consumption and other issues pertaining to individual well-being. In addition, the bioeconomy includes a variety of practices based on commercial interests such as organ donations, reproductive medicine and technologies, and what has been referred to as the tissue economy – the various forms of trade with human tissues. Author Alexander Styhre provides a thorough introduction to the bioeconomy, exploring this new and unique intersection of the life sciences and the technosciences with more traditional consumer markets.

Highly original and based on unique empirical research in the fields of organization theory and organization behaviour, this work makes an invaluable contribution to the literature on bureaucracy and innovation. Focusing on a study of two major companies working with innovation and new product development Styhre's critical analysis pushes the boundaries of bureaucracy studies beyond its current entrenched position.Departing from the traditional view that bureaucratic organizations are inefficient, incapable of responding to external changes, unable to orchestrate innovative work and provide meaningful jobs for its co-workers, this empirical study underlines the merits of a functional organization, the presence of specialist and expertise groups and hierarchical structures. Analyzing the literature of bureaucracy, the new forms of post-bureaucratic organizations and drawing on the philosophy of Henri Bergson, the author offers a model of bureaucracy, capable of both apprehending its functional organization and its continuous and ongoing modifications and changes to adapt to external conditions.Innovative and compelling, this book is an excellent text for advanced students of organization and management theory and managerial strategists and decision-makers across the globe.

Vision and visuality are two concepts widely discussed and debated in philosophy and social science literature. Some authors even suggest that the entire Western intellectual tradition is strongly shaped by the paradigm of vision; the inspection and analysis of specimens collected from social reality are regarded as the only legitimate source of truth. However, in organizations, a variety of visual practices are employed in for instance science-based innovation in for instance the pharmaceutical industry and in architect work. Such visual practices include the use of various technoscientific machinery and tools to more mundane uses of full-scale models and photos in architect work. In comparison to the various linguistic perspectives on organizations, vision and visuality remain surprisingly little theorized and examined in the organization literature. Visual Culture in Organizations offers an introduction to the literature on vision and visuality that is relevant to organizational theory (comparing and contrasting it to the well-documented area of linguistic theory in organizations), proposes a theoretical framework for visual culture in organizations, and provides empirical illustrations to the theoretical framework. The book shows that visual practices are a central procedure in the day-to-day routines of organizations and are long overdue for close examination.

After the financial collapse of 2008 and the bailing out of banks in the US and the UK, the long-term viability of the neoliberal doctrine has come under new scrutiny. The elimination of regulatory control, the financialization of the economy including the growth of increasingly complex financial innovations, and the dominance of a rentier class have all been subject to thorough criticism. Despite the unexpected meltdown of the financial system and the substantial costs for restoring the finance industry, critics contend that the same decision-makers remain in place and few substantial changes to regulatory control have been made. Even though neoliberal thinking strongly stresses the role of the market and market-based transactions, the organization theory and management literature has been marginally concerned with neoliberalism as a political agenda and economic policy. This book examines the consequences of neoliberalism for management thinking and management practice. Managerial practices in organizations are fundamentally affected by a political agenda emphasizing competition and innovation. Concepts such as auditing, corporate social responsibility, shareholder value, and boundariless careers are some examples of managerial terms and frameworks that are inextricably entangled with the neoliberal agenda. This book introduces the literature on neoliberalism, its history and controversies, and demonstrates where neoliberal thinking has served to rearticulate managerial practice, including in the areas of corporate governance, human resource management, and regulatory control of organizations.

Vision and visuality are two concepts widely discussed and debated in philosophy and social science literature. Some authors even suggest that the entire Western intellectual tradition is strongly shaped by the paradigm of vision; the inspection and analysis of specimens collected from social reality are regarded as the only legitimate source of truth. However, in organizations, a variety of visual practices are employed in for instance science-based innovation in for instance the pharmaceutical industry and in architect work. Such visual practices include the use of various technoscientific machinery and tools to more mundane uses of full-scale models and photos in architect work. In comparison to the various linguistic perspectives on organizations, vision and visuality remain surprisingly little theorized and examined in the organization literature. Visual Culture in Organizations offers an introduction to the literature on vision and visuality that is relevant to organizational theory (comparing and contrasting it to the well-documented area of linguistic theory in organizations), proposes a theoretical framework for visual culture in organizations, and provides empirical illustrations to the theoretical framework. The book shows that visual practices are a central procedure in the day-to-day routines of organizations and are long overdue for close examination.

"Adler, Shani, and Styhre, with contributions from many of the management researchers associated with the FENIX experiment, have documented the essence of collaborative research in organizations. The eighteen chapters in the book provide a window into the complexity of designing and managing collaborative research efforts in organizations . . . and present an approach that is worth reading about, reflecting upon, and exploring further. At Volvo Cars, this collaboration has been an added value to our practice."--From the foreword by Hans-Olov Olsson, CEO and President, Volvo Car Corporation

"Through collaboration, we can deliver research outcomes not possible from solo or single team scholarship. . . . The experiments in collaborative research chronicled in this book are timely and important."--From the foreword by Andrew M. Pettigrew, Professor of Strategy and Organization, Warwick Business school, Associate Dean, Warwick University, U.K.

"> This book responds in a timely manner to a most important subject area. > The editors have a proven track record and are well recognized in their > fields around the world. The cases exhibit broad coverage and the depth is > quite impressive."--> Kenneth L. Murrell, University of West Florida

Collaborative Research in Organizations: Foundations for Learning, Change, and Theoretical Development leverages and sustains the role of management research while increasing the theoretical development of complex organizational and management issues. The true partnership ideal and emergent inquiry process make collaborative research complex and difficult to organize, lead, and manage. This book addresses these needs by revisiting traditional research ideals.

Collaborative Research in Organizations is organized in four sections. Part I, Framing the Challenge, provides grounding in the historical context, the emergent need, and the challenges of working in the borderland between academy and industry. Part II, Lenses and Mechanisms, presents a range of collaborative research approaches, concepts, frameworks, and mechanisms, positioning collaborative research as something other than one of many qualitative approaches. Part III, Illustrations, are intended to provide specific examples of collaborative research projects in a variety of companies and industries that show how collaborative research is realized. Most of the illustrations are based on collaborations between FENIX Program researchers at the Stockholm School of Economics and Chalmers University of Technology and leading Swedish organizations leveraging the Scandinavia tradition of boundary-spanning learning endeavours. Part IV, Lessons, highlights the common denominators between the different studies, addresses some of the critiques of collaborative research, and identifies critical challenges for future inquiry.

"Adler, Shani, and Styhre, with contributions from many of the management researchers associated with the FENIX experiment, have documented the essence of collaborative research in organizations. The eighteen chapters in the book provide a window into the complexity of designing and managing collaborative research efforts in organizations . . . and present an approach that is worth reading about, reflecting upon, and exploring further. At Volvo Cars, this collaboration has been an added value to our practice."--From the foreword by Hans-Olov Olsson, CEO and President, Volvo Car Corporation

"Through collaboration, we can deliver research outcomes not possible from solo or single team scholarship. . . . The experiments in collaborative research chronicled in this book are timely and important."--From the foreword by Andrew M. Pettigrew, Professor of Strategy and Organization, Warwick Business school, Associate Dean, Warwick University, U.K.

"> This book responds in a timely manner to a most important subject area. > The editors have a proven track record and are well recognized in their > fields around the world. The cases exhibit broad coverage and the depth is > quite impressive."--> Kenneth L. Murrell, University of West Florida

Collaborative Research in Organizations: Foundations for Learning, Change, and Theoretical Development leverages and sustains the role of management research while increasing the theoretical development of complex organizational and management issues. The true partnership ideal and emergent inquiry process make collaborative research complex and difficult to organize, lead, and manage. This book addresses these needs by revisiting traditional research ideals.

Collaborative Research in Organizations is organized in four sections. Part I, Framing the Challenge, provides grounding in the historical context, the emergent need, and the challenges of working in the borderland between academy and industry. Part II, Lenses and Mechanisms, presents a range of collaborative research approaches, concepts, frameworks, and mechanisms, positioning collaborative research as something other than one of many qualitative approaches. Part III, Illustrations, are intended to provide specific examples of collaborative research projects in a variety of companies and industries that show how collaborative research is realized. Most of the illustrations are based on collaborations between FENIX Program researchers at the Stockholm School of Economics and Chalmers University of Technology and leading Swedish organizations leveraging the Scandinavia tradition of boundary-spanning learning endeavours. Part IV, Lessons, highlights the common denominators between the different studies, addresses some of the critiques of collaborative research, and identifies critical challenges for future inquiry.

The economic system of competitive capitalism has proven to be both resilient and flexible over time and has contributed to the economic welfare of citizens in liberal and coordinated market economies in diverse regions and countries. At the same time, over the entire post-World War II period, there has been a notable endemic shortage of affordable housing in many advanced economies. This book points at both the causes and the consequences of this circumstance and provides an integrated economic and legal view of how housing production is dependent on housing finance, which, in turn, means that legal conditions and the sovereign state play an active role. Further, the book contributes to the literature from two otherwise partially separated disciplines-housing and urban development studies on the one hand and the institutional centrality of the finance industry in the contemporary economic system on the other. The author asserts that although somewhat assimilated due to the ambitions of policy makers to optimize social and economic welfare for their constituencies, the combining of these two realms of expertise generates many favorable outcomes, but also some costs derived from finance industry instabilities. The book connects theoretical perspectives and provides an empirical explanation for how affordable housing is generated in an actual real world economy context. The book will be relevant to the work of a number of academic disciplines including economics, government studies, housing policy and urban planning, social geography and law and society.

The economic system of competitive capitalism has proven to be both resilient and flexible over time and has contributed to the economic welfare of citizens in liberal and coordinated market economies in diverse regions and countries. At the same time, over the entire post-World War II period, there has been a notable endemic shortage of affordable housing in many advanced economies. This book points at both the causes and the consequences of this circumstance and provides an integrated economic and legal view of how housing production is dependent on housing finance, which, in turn, means that legal conditions and the sovereign state play an active role. Further, the book contributes to the literature from two otherwise partially separated disciplines-housing and urban development studies on the one hand and the institutional centrality of the finance industry in the contemporary economic system on the other. The author asserts that although somewhat assimilated due to the ambitions of policy makers to optimize social and economic welfare for their constituencies, the combining of these two realms of expertise generates many favorable outcomes, but also some costs derived from finance industry instabilities. The book connects theoretical perspectives and provides an empirical explanation for how affordable housing is generated in an actual real world economy context. The book will be relevant to the work of a number of academic disciplines including economics, government studies, housing policy and urban planning, social geography and law and society.

With more than 14,000 business schools worldwide, what is included in their curricula matters for how the economy and the corporate system are managed. Business schools should be subject to scholarly inquiries and critical reflection. While many studies of business schools examine its general role in the tertiary education system and in society more broadly, this volume examines how one specific theoretical perspective and a normative model derived therefrom were developed and gradually appropriated within the business school setting. This volume demonstrates that agency theory, based on a daring conjecture that firms can be construed as bundles of contacts, rose to prominence in the business school context. It examines how the elementary proposition of agency theory, that the firm is to be considered theoretically and practically as a "nexus of contracts," was never consistent with corporate law and contract law, and it was empirically unsubstantiated.Business schools are under pressure to teach not only practically useful theories and models, but also theories that are also scientifically qualified. Despite having this ambition, certain theories are widely taught despite failing to live up to such declared ambitions, which means that business schools may be criticized for including theories on ambiguous grounds in the curricula. This book examines how business schools seek to honour the ambition to teach both scientifically verified theories and practically useful concepts and models, and how the tensions derived from this duality may be problematic to handle. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, and advanced students in the fields of management education, organizational studies, and legal theory.

With more than 14,000 business schools worldwide, what is included in their curricula matters for how the economy and the corporate system are managed. Business schools should be subject to scholarly inquiries and critical reflection. While many studies of business schools examine its general role in the tertiary education system and in society more broadly, this volume examines how one specific theoretical perspective and a normative model derived therefrom were developed and gradually appropriated within the business school setting. This volume demonstrates that agency theory, based on a daring conjecture that firms can be construed as bundles of contacts, rose to prominence in the business school context. It examines how the elementary proposition of agency theory, that the firm is to be considered theoretically and practically as a "nexus of contracts," was never consistent with corporate law and contract law, and it was empirically unsubstantiated.Business schools are under pressure to teach not only practically useful theories and models, but also theories that are also scientifically qualified. Despite having this ambition, certain theories are widely taught despite failing to live up to such declared ambitions, which means that business schools may be criticized for including theories on ambiguous grounds in the curricula. This book examines how business schools seek to honour the ambition to teach both scientifically verified theories and practically useful concepts and models, and how the tensions derived from this duality may be problematic to handle. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, and advanced students in the fields of management education, organizational studies, and legal theory.

Despite the conventional wisdom that affordable housing, either in the form of homeownership or through access to rental units, has beneficial effects for households, society, and the economy more broadly, there is a noteworthy lack of empirical studies of housing development and construction companies or building societies that actively work to supply this asset class in the economy. There are several reasons for this condition, including the “thin market” for such business activities. This book offers a case study that includes two Swedish housing development companies that have targeted a market niche for affordable homes that few other companies and market actors are concerned with.One company is part of a major construction company conglomerate which produces prefabricated housing modules to better serve the low-end niche of the housing market. The other company is a municipality-owned housing development company that acts on the basis of market practices and rules but that also on policymakers’ stated ambition to provide affordable homes for the residents in the municipality, the largest municipality in a major Swedish metropolitan area. Taken together, the study of these two companies provides first-hand insights into how the production of affordable homes takes place in a real-world economy.The book is of relevance for a variety of readers, including graduate students, management scholars, policymakers, and management consultants.

Despite the conventional wisdom that affordable housing, either in the form of homeownership or through access to rental units, has beneficial effects for households, society, and the economy more broadly, there is a noteworthy lack of empirical studies of housing development and construction companies or building societies that actively work to supply this asset class in the economy. There are several reasons for this condition, including the “thin market” for such business activities. This book offers a case study that includes two Swedish housing development companies that have targeted a market niche for affordable homes that few other companies and market actors are concerned with.One company is part of a major construction company conglomerate which produces prefabricated housing modules to better serve the low-end niche of the housing market. The other company is a municipality-owned housing development company that acts on the basis of market practices and rules but that also on policymakers’ stated ambition to provide affordable homes for the residents in the municipality, the largest municipality in a major Swedish metropolitan area. Taken together, the study of these two companies provides first-hand insights into how the production of affordable homes takes place in a real-world economy.The book is of relevance for a variety of readers, including graduate students, management scholars, policymakers, and management consultants.

In economic theory and in management studies, innovation is widely regarded as the motor of economic activities and as being the primary source of renewal in the economic system. This view emphasizes how innovation work is organized in specialized teams inside the firm, or, alternatively, located to start-ups and similar small ventures that are strongly incentivized to innovate to survive. Rather than assuming that innovation work is a mere product of incentives provided by the market system, propelled by the individual and collective skills of the innovation team participants and the resources that they mobilize in their work, this volume examines how a market for innovation ideas is being constructed on the basis of policy making and legislative activities. Innovation Management and the Law examines how the idea of value creation is understood to be a matter of innovation activities and how such innovation activities are premised on legal rights that create not only incentives, corporations, and markets, but also more widely signal to market actors what kind of activities are consistent with policy makers’ economic and social welfare objectives. The volume thus adds to the innovation management literature by introducing a comprehensive analysis of the patent system, illustrating that the patent system is itself an institution and that it should be examined in such terms when studying how innovations are generated on the basis of team production activities and legal rights that are enforceable. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, professionals, and advanced students in the fields of management, economic theory, and law.

In economic theory and in management studies, innovation is widely regarded as the motor of economic activities and as being the primary source of renewal in the economic system. This view emphasizes how innovation work is organized in specialized teams inside the firm, or, alternatively, located to start-ups and similar small ventures that are strongly incentivized to innovate to survive. Rather than assuming that innovation work is a mere product of incentives provided by the market system, propelled by the individual and collective skills of the innovation team participants and the resources that they mobilize in their work, this volume examines how a market for innovation ideas is being constructed on the basis of policy making and legislative activities. Innovation Management and the Law examines how the idea of value creation is understood to be a matter of innovation activities and how such innovation activities are premised on legal rights that create not only incentives, corporations, and markets, but also more widely signal to market actors what kind of activities are consistent with policy makers’ economic and social welfare objectives. The volume thus adds to the innovation management literature by introducing a comprehensive analysis of the patent system, illustrating that the patent system is itself an institution and that it should be examined in such terms when studying how innovations are generated on the basis of team production activities and legal rights that are enforceable. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, professionals, and advanced students in the fields of management, economic theory, and law.

In Reproductive Medicine and the Life Sciences in the Contemporary Economy, Alexander Styhre and Rebecka Arman illuminate issues that have given rise to terms such as 'the bioeconomy' and 'the baby business'. The life sciences play an increasing role in providing services and commodities consumed by businesses and the public. Based on an in-depth study of clinics offering assisted fertilization in Sweden, this book is the first to examine the commercialization and commodification of know-how derived from the life sciences, from the point of view of organization theory. In the field of reproductive medicine there has been significant growth of both public and private clinical work. Clinics are places where individual interests and concerns and social and institutional arrangements intersect. With a front office where patients encounter various professional groups and a back office comprising the laboratories wherein human reproductive materials are handled and stored, they are more than just places in which medicine is applied in a clinical setting. Clinicians in this field actively influence policy-making and the regulatory frameworks that monitor and set the boundaries for their work. These are places where social and cultural interests and concerns are translated into policies and practice. The clinics are open social systems, responding to and influencing discussions. This book combines organization theory, sociological theory, gender theory, science and technology studies, and philosophy. It emphasises the critical importance of a sociomaterial perspective on organization, stressing how material and social resources are always of necessity folded into each other in day-to-day organizing.

No professional is an island. Despite their capacity to monopolize and erect entry barriers in terms of either formal credentials or membership of certain organizations, professionalism is inextricably bound up with collective accomplishments on a day-to-day basis and the capacity to share all the resources that constitute the professional domain of expertise. Knowledge Sharing in Professions looks at professionalism as a form of systematic and institutionalized knowledge sharing. It analyses professionalism through the everyday practices in professional communities and the organizations where they work. Three empirical studies, of pharmaceutical clinical trials researchers, management consultants, and architects, are presented, serving to illustrate the relational nature of these and other professions, and how members of professional communities are constantly exchanging data, information, and know-how in their everyday work. Alexander Styhre seeks to understand the role of professions and other forms of experts in contemporary society on the basis of complementary perspectives, that is to say, the communal and collegial nature of professional work. This book represents a valuable contribution both to the sociological literature on professions and the business orientated literature on knowledge management and should promote further new research on professionalism.

Organizations, Institutions, and Intellectual Norms: An Analytical Philosophy View of Institutional Change provides a new perspective on institutional theory by incorporating an analytical philosophy framework. This volume critiques the traditional assumptions that institutional logics or work inherently shape societal structures, arguing instead that intellectual norms and everyday language play a central role in the establishment, reproduction, and modification of institutions. It includes empirical studies on legal and regulatory changes in the US, examining the role of intellectual norms in shaping antitrust legislation, economic inequality policies, and bankruptcy law. The book introduces a groundbreaking analytical model that bridges institutional theory and analytical philosophy, offering a novel approach to understanding institutional change. Readers will benefit from the book’s comprehensive theoretical foundation combined with empirical case studies that substantiate the framework. It challenges established assumptions in management studies and social sciences, providing tools for scholars to reconsider how institutions are formed and justified.This book is ideal for academics and researchers in management studies, social sciences, and philosophy, particularly those interested in institutional theory, legal frameworks, and intellectual norms. It also appeals to policy makers and professionals seeking to understand the deeper epistemic underpinnings of institutional change.