Company Performance,Corporate Governance,and CEO Compensation in Norway and Sweden

This paper examines the relationshipamong company performance, corporategovernance arrangements, and CEO compensationwithin the Scandinavian countries of Norway andSweden. Our sample consists of 224 tradedcompanies, 120 of which are from Norway and 104from Sweden. The empirical evidence fromboth Norway and Sweden reveals significantpositive relationships among board size andCEO compensation, foreign board membership andCEO compensation, and market capitalization andCEO compensation. A significant negativerelationship is found between CEO ownership andCEO compensation. In addition, no significantrelationship is found between companyperformance and CEO compensation or CEO tenureand CEO compensation, except in the case ofNorwegian firms when a change in market-to-bookperformance measure is used. Despite itslimited geographical scope, the study adds toour general understanding of internationalcorporate governance issues.     

The cross-border hostile bid fight between Scania in Sweden and the two German companies MAN and Volkswagen: institutional change and the mandatory bid rule

International hostile takeovers provide a unique context for studying how corporate governance mechanisms migrate across countries. This paper is prompted by a case study of the cross-border takeover fight between the target companies Scania (Sweden) and MAN (Germany) and the involvement of the owners of Volkswagen, Porsche (both Germany) and Investor (Sweden), 1999–2014. It reveals how incumbent owners in Germany and Sweden—two countries with a history of corporate control through blockholdings, corporatist-governance, state control (Germany) and multiple voting shares (Sweden)—manage to take advantage of the minority shareholders through arbitraging the differences in implementation of a new governance device across borders. The study focuses in particular on the mandatory bid rule (MBR) that forces a shareholder who passes a certain threshold of ownership to bid for the rest of the shares. The study reveals over twenty incidents of breaches of the idea of the MBR, to the detriment of minority shareholders. Building on institutional theory and sociology, the study provides useful insight into how incumbent actors may use bargaining power to capture a new regulation and circumvent it. Furthermore, the case illustrates the importance of legitimacy in the efforts to converge corporate governance systems. Thirdly, it adds to the critique of the mandatory bid rule in countries with a governance system supporting blockholders. Overall, the study raises a number of important issues regarding how national politics shape corporate governance and responds to new actors and coalitions of actors entering the scene. A convergence of takeover regulation not compatible with the legal framework might result in a less efficient than anticipated outcome of the market for corporate control. These results are consistent with the institutional theory perspective that key actors may have a vested interest in resisting change.     

Defining and Dimensionalising Diversity:: Evidence from Corporate Websites across Europe

The corporate ‘diversity statement’ is a new tool increasingly used by large companies to promote diversity management policies on their websites. Through an examination of these on-line texts, we identify how companies construct the meaning of ‘diversity’ through its dimensions. Few companies actually define diversity. However, dimensions of diversity cover a wide-ranging set of individual differences, not just gender and race but other visible and less visible differences that might lead to discrimination in the workplace. By comparing statements from 241 top companies in eight countries (Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK), we reveal how the definition of ‘diversity’ and its dimensions as used on websites varies across Europe.     

In—Credible Government: Legitimacy, Democracy, and Non-Governmental Organizations

This article analyses emerging trans-global networks of governance that are coming to light within a post-democratic form of governance that relies upon specific technologies of credibility building, as opposed to universalistic mechanisms of representation. Using the NGO sector as a model, and using examples from fieldwork conducted in the unraveled contexts of Bosnia and Croatia, and the unraveling context of Ecuador over the past decade, we show how intervention within the global south and post conflict realms, although often couched using such master terms as democracy, development and freedom, are in fact geared towards the generation of political legitimacy and influence through relationships based upon the exchange of credibility.

Hybrid Governance: The Case of Household Solid Waste Management in Sweden

Governance is hybrid to the extent that it involves diverse organizational forms, jurisdictional domains, and stakeholders across the public and private sectors. This article analyses the governance of household solid waste management in Sweden from a hybridity perspective, with the City of Helsingborg in North-Western Scania in Sweden as an example. The governance arrangements comprise municipal and company-based organizations, conflicting legislation, and long planning and investment horizons. The latter has resulted in significant innovations over the last 20 years, while changes in organizational forms, tasks, networks and jurisdictions have caused tensions in governance processes and relationships.     

Institutional investors: the vote as a tool of governance

Institutional investors are increasingly expected to engage with their investee companies to try to help ensure that the investee companies have an appropriate corporate governance structure and that they operate according to corporate governance best practice. There are a number of ‘tools of governance’ which institutional investors might utilise including constructive dialogue and voting. In this paper, the growth of institutional investors is discussed together with the development of the vote as one of the most powerful means that institutional investors have at their disposal. The cases of two of the UK’s largest and most active institutional investors are discussed to show how the vote is used in practice. The resolutions which tend to be the most contentious are those relating to the appointment/re-election of directors and board composition; remuneration packages and incentive schemes; and strategic issues that may impact on shareholders’ rights/ownership interests. The paper also contains an analysis of the resolutions which occur most frequently together with the average levels of dissent on such issues in various European countries: Austria, Belgium, France, the UK, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The barriers to voting that may arise are examined; such barriers include control enhancing mechanisms which are prevalent in many European countries as well as on a wider global basis.     

Governance in Regional Development—Between Regulation and Self-regulation

This article examines the relationship between regulation and self-regulation in network governance. The comparative analysis is based on quantitative data collected in regional development networks in the Nordic countries. The theoretical debate, in which this analysis is embedded, focuses on the paradox in the way the relationship between regulation and self-regulation is described in network governance approach; the networks are seen to be self-organising, and yet the steering role of governmental bodies is emphasised. The results indicate that regulation and self-regulation are more than counterforces: they can coexist and affect the operations of the networks simultaneously.     

Governance and Organizational Eclecticism in the Public Arena: Introductory Perspectives

The Symposium is introduced here in terms of its antecedents and the eclecticism of governance and organizations in the public arena. The all-embracing nature of governance is complemented by organizational diversity and hybridity in constellational formations and networks. Key capacities, recognizing the significance of organizational ownership, regulation and performance, are essential in creating structures, developing policies, taking action and fostering legitimacy in governance. An overview of these matters sets the scene for the analyses in subsequent articles.     

The Effects of European Regulatory Networks on the Bureaucratic Autonomy of National Regulatory Authorities

This article discusses the effects of European regulatory networks on the bureaucratic autonomy of national regulators as regards regulatory rule-enforcement and rulemaking. Drawing on institutional theory, the article elaborates scope conditions for networks to yield an effect along this property and assesses these arguments in a study of the formation and institutionalization of the European Competition Network and how it structures relationships between competition authorities and resort ministries in The Netherlands, Sweden and the non-EU member-state Norway. It is argued that by virtue of accumulating and embedding strong norms of independence, the network yields an “autonomizing” effect vis-à-vis participating organizations.     

Business Legitimacy among Business Students in the United States, Great Britain, and South Africa

This study compares attitudes toward business legitimacy in three countries. Positive attitudes toward business legitimacy exist when there is a congruence between organizational activities and societal expectations. Businesses are concerned about the extent to which negative attitudes toward business legitimacy will lead to increased government regulation. The results suggest that business students in all three countries are similar in their attitudes toward business legitimacy; however, blacks have more negative attitudes toward business legitimacy than do whites. This study resulted in the validation of a scale that can be used to measure attitudes toward business legitimacy on a cross-cultural basis. Business legitimacy is a major concern in South Africa as the predominately white business community seeks to give the emerging black majority a stake in the existing economic system. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

An Olympic‐sized Challenge: Effect of Organizational Pathology on Maintaining and Repairing Organizational Legitimacy in Sports Governing Bodies

Private organizations increasingly wield public authority, with substantial impact on the lives of individual persons. Such authority is often paired with enhanced public scrutiny and decreased trust in the relevant organization, leading to a loss of legitimacy. This paper uses sports governing bodies to contribute to the literature on governance by developing theory on the interaction between organizational legitimacy and pathological internal structures. It takes a nuanced view of legitimacy and extends a model of organizational pathology. While primarily conceptual, the paper uses the well‐documented cases of the International Olympic Committee and, to a lesser extent, FIFA to illustrate how organizational pathology can not only undermine an organization's legitimacy, but can also interfere with its ability to perceive a path to legitimacy repair, even when it recognizes the necessity of doing so. The paper concludes with recommendations for practice and suggestions for future research looking beyond sports governing bodies.     

Part-Time Work in the Nordic Countries: A Trap for Women?

Abstract. The aim of the study is to examine the consequences of part-time employment at the individual level, especially for women. Are part-time jobs precarious as compared to full-time jobs, and are they traps, or perhaps rather bridges, in the labour market? The results indicate that the situation of part-timers varies in the Nordic countries. On one hand, the gap between part-time and full-time work has narrowed in Sweden and Norway, which may reflect a normalization of part-time work in these countries. On the other, part-timers' situation in the Finnish labour market still seems more precarious than that of full-timers. However, in most cases part-time work is a bridge rather than a trap in the Nordic labour market.     

制度环境、风险感知对供应链网络治理模式选择的影响研究

本文以新制度理论与交易成本理论进行对话,从合法性视角构建中国情境下制度环境、风险感知与供应链网络治理模式选择之间影响机理的理论模型。通过问卷调查的方式收集117份有效问卷,并采用结构方程模型方法实证检验制度环境、风险感知对供应链网络治理模式的"形塑"作用。研究结果表明,制度环境是影响供应链网络治理模式选择的重要因素,强制制度对供应链网络治理模式选择具有显著影响,规范制度的影响作用不显著。在供应链网络治理模式选择过程中关系风险感知具有完全中介作用,而绩效风险感知具有部分中介作用。     

International Evidence on the Determinants of Organizational Ethical Vulnerability

This paper proposes a model to explain what makes organizations ethically vulnerable. Drawing upon legitimacy, institutional, agency and individual moral reasoning theories we consider three sets of explanatory factors and examine their association with organizational ethical vulnerability. The three sets comprise external institutional context, internal corporate governance mechanisms and organizational ethical infrastructure. We combine these three sets of factors and develop an analytical framework for classifying ethical issues and propose a new model of organizational ethical vulnerability. We test our model on a sample of 253 firms that were involved in ethical misconduct and compare them with a matched sample of the same number of firms from 28 different countries. The results suggest that weak regulatory environment and internal corporate governance, combined with profitability warnings or losses in the preceding year, increase organizational ethical vulnerability. We find counterintuitive evidence suggesting that firms’ involvement in bribery and corruption prevention training programmes is positively associated with the likelihood of ethical vulnerability. By synthesizing insights about individual and corporate behaviour from multiple theories, this study extends existing analytical literature on business ethics. Our findings have implications for firms’ external regulatory settings, corporate governance mechanisms and organizational ethical infrastructure.     

破解颠覆性技术创新的跨界网络治理路径——基于百度Apollo自动驾驶开放平台的案例研究

本文以百度Apollo自动驾驶开放平台为案例研究对象,研究了平台以跨界网络治理驱动颠覆性技术创新的演进过程及其内在机制,研究发现:(1)跨界平台网络是不同于单个企业的新型技术创新组织载体,可以通过技术网络丰富、市场网络丰富和两个网络价值共创的继起性演进在驱动颠覆性技术创新中发挥重要作用;(2)在跨界网络驱动颠覆性技术创新的不同时期,为解决技术与市场不确定性高以及网络参与者关系复杂等难题,平台可以通过网络治理路径的选择促进颠覆性创新的不同过程与结果,在技术网络丰富期,平台可以通过内容治理与关系治理促进技术的内容颠覆与结构颠覆;在市场网络丰富期,可以通过价值治理与关系治理促进市场的价值颠覆与结构颠覆;在技术网络与市场网络协同的价值共创期,可以通过"网络平台包络(内容治理)、跨界网络效应激发(关系治理)、异质性利润焦点获取(价值治理)"的综合治理促进技术与市场的颠覆可持续性;(3)平台治理中的内容治理与价值治理是跨界网络治理的"硬实力",而关系治理是跨界网络治理的"软实力",软硬实力的组合共同促进颠覆性技术的技术突破与市场突破。本文丰富了网络治理理论、颠覆性创新理论和平台理论,并对尝试借助平台推进新兴前沿技术突破、尤其是跨界推进颠覆性技术创新的实践行动具有管理启示。     

Bureaucracy and Democracy: A Theoretical Analysis

This article addresses the relationship between bureaucracy and democracy, bureaucratic politics and democratic politics. Bureaucratic theories and politics are discussed, democratic theories and politics are analyzed, and the argument in favor of reconciling bureaucracy and democracy is analyzed with implications for democratic theory and public administration. Persistence of bureaucracy is stressed, deficiencies in democratic theory and practice are noted, and the importance of a functionally balanced and professionally competent bureaucracy is reminded for administration of sound governance in both developed and developing societies. It is hypocrisy to speak of functioning democracy without a balanced professional bureaucracy.     

National Differences in the Diffusion and Design of Technological Innovation: The Role of Inter-Organizational Networks

This paper reports results from a study of the design and diffusion of computer-aided production management (CAPM) technologies across four European countries (UK, France, The Netherlands and Sweden). The study combined surveys of members of professional operations management associations in each of these four countries and interviews with operations managers and technology suppliers (software suppliers and consultants). The findings revealed significant differences across countries in the design and diffusion of CAPM. For example, in the UK and France highly objectified 'best practice' technologies, supported by standardized software, had diffused more widely than in Sweden and The Netherlands, where solutions tended to be developed in-house and customized to the local context. This paper explains these findings in terms of differences in the structure and operation of these four professional association networks. These differences in inter-organizational networking encouraged different types of knowledge-sharing related to the design of CAPM in the four countries.     

Reshaping state/local communities relations in Tunisia: The socio-cultural and institutional challenges of the decentralization project

International development agencies believe that by adopting institutional reforms based on the best practices that have proved effective elsewhere, so-called « developing countries » could take their places in the globalised economy. Based on a case study carried out on the implementation challenges of a decentralization project in Tunisia, I will argue by using an interpretive approach that this thesis is not sustained. This article shows that institutions cannot be reduced to their technical functions but that they are based on particular collective imaginaries that ground what is legitimate or not and structure the relationship of individuals to power and the meaning given to their actions. It encourages the consideration of cultural framework of meaning; these local cultural references structure the governance modalities of a society, understood in terms of the modalities of exercise of power in a given group (state, company, local authority, etc.). It advocates the necessity to move from a technic-prone approach in the implementation of institutional changes towards a socio-cultural approach that integrates the local expectations of what “good governance” should be and on which depends the legitimacy of institutions and their appropriation by local populations.     

分隔机制与创业孵化型平台企业合法性保护

立足于合法性溢出视角和组织场域治理视角,提出两组关于分隔机制的竞争性假设,探讨“创业孵化型平台企业在给创业企业共享合法性过程中,如何避免反受其害”。研究表明:分隔机制可以作为一种调节因素,缓解创业企业不愿创新或不端行为对创业孵化型平台企业合法性的破坏,但不能通过直接约束创业企业的意愿或行为,来保护创业孵化型平台企业的合法性。     

Governance, management and performance in public networks: How to be successful in shared-governance networks

This paper compares four cases and explores the effects on network performance of network governance, coordination mechanisms, and the abilities of the network manager. The focus is on shared-governance networks, which are in general considered to have difficulties achieving high-level performances. The cross-case comparison suggests a relationship between coordination mechanisms and the way shared-governance networks are managed: in order to be successful, they must be able to rely on formalized mechanisms and make a pool of “network administrators” responsible for their governance.