Social innovation has gained an important position in policy agendas at the international, nation... more Social innovation has gained an important position in policy agendas at the international, national, and local levels. The article investigates two empirical cases of local social entrepreneurship initiatives in two comparable small towns located in Norway and in Sweden. These projects endeavour for social integration of young persons into education programmes and adult persons into work. Through these empirical cases, this article aims to conceive how place conditions the capacities and practices of social entrepreneurship. The place-based approach of the discussion shows how the interplay of local and multiscalar relations impacts social entrepreneurship initiatives. The analysis of the empirical cases involves considering the role of the local context as well as the institutional systems of the welfare states and wider policy regimes endorsing social investment strategies. The discussion employs a model for organisational arrangements focusing on capacities of learning, exploiting, and linking. The capacity of linking across organisations and sector boundaries is found to be a particularly intriguing aspect of the investigated social entrepreneurship initiatives and is something that the place-based approach of the article is able to explicate.
Edward Elgar Publishing Limited eBooks, Jan 12, 2023
Standards and Certifications for Services A conceptual overview and typology of standards and cer... more Standards and Certifications for Services A conceptual overview and typology of standards and certifications Standards A business standard is defined as an established norm, a formal requirement detailing material, technological or service content, as well as functionality and performance. Standards may also address in-house scientific testing processes, working conditions and other societal or environmental issues in the outside world (European Commission, 2016). From a company's perspective, standards are important for efficiency, as they detail technical functionality and other requirements that are already tested, set, implemented and recognized by the market. They can also be detailed as preferred or mandatory requirements defined in regulations. A further advantage is that standard definitions represent somewhat foreseeable and stable reference points across time and geography. The inclusion
Foreign direct investments (FDI) have had an important role in Norway since the start of the manu... more Foreign direct investments (FDI) have had an important role in Norway since the start of the manufacturing age in the beginning of the 1900s. Traditionally these were mostly exportoriented manufacturing companies. However, shifts have taken place since the 1960s. In 1996 nearly ¾ of the employment in foreign majority owned companies are within trade or services mostly oriented towards the Norwegian market. This article aims to discuss more closely some business strategies and regional linkages among FDIs in order to focus on factors that may tempt such investments. This is followed by a discussion of regional policy implications. Empirical evidence is mainly based on case interviews from two research projects that took place in the period 1998-99. One main conclusion from the two research projects is that investments from abroad are a logical consequence of an increasingly international economy. The overall picture is that there seem to be many similarities between foreign and domestic firms concerning structural conditions, location and linkages. A market orientation with mergers and acquisitions as dominating investment strategy seem to be an important explanation for these findings.
I dette notatet har vi kortfattet utarbeidet en analyse av hjemmesidesatsingen blant de 32 kommun... more I dette notatet har vi kortfattet utarbeidet en analyse av hjemmesidesatsingen blant de 32 kommunene i Hordaland og Hordaland fylkeskommune i 2004. Formålet med prosjektet har vært å få økt oppmerksomhet og interesse for e-forvaltning på kommunenivå. Vi har også vært opptatt av å drøfte hvordan kommunale hjemmesider kan være et bidrag til utvikling av lokalsamfunnene. Gjennom hjemmesideanalyser, noe informasjon fra nøkkelinformanter og informasjon basert på sekundærkilder, har vi laget en kortfattet oversikt. Her har vi forsøkt å finne ut hvor godt kommunene utnytter IKT-verktøyet knyttet til bruken av hjemmesider og nytteverdien av slike satsinger. Et seminararrangement med deltagere fra de undersøkte kommunene ble avviklet i tilknytning til prosjektet. Her formidlet ulike eksempler, og belyst områder med klart forbedringsmulighete
Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, May 1, 2000
This paper examines how business service provision partly relies on user firms' internal resource... more This paper examines how business service provision partly relies on user firms' internal resources, strategies and location depending on what can be obtained locally or is feasible to import elsewhere. Empirical evidence from small-and medium-sized firms in three manufacturing industries in Norway shows that strategies searching for suitable suppliers can be divided into different categories, including one in which choice of service providers reflects a policy commitment to buy locally. A second type of strategy is when the choice of subcontractor is a result of a wide professional search process across regions in order to find the best alternative. A third is where service relations are coordinated by a parent company or entail purchased goods. Finally, there is a group of firms that have left the matter of choice of service suppliers to brokers. These results add new elements to the discussion about the competitive role of industrial relations.
Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift-norwegian Journal of Geography, 1997
... A lower-cost competitive strategy considers a firm's ability to design, produce and ... more ... A lower-cost competitive strategy considers a firm's ability to design, produce and market a product more efficiently than its com-petitors. ... Instead we include IKEA, which stands out as a typical follower of the lower-cost strategy. ...
The environmental and climate challenges facing our planet require more sustainable resource mana... more The environmental and climate challenges facing our planet require more sustainable resource management solutions in the coming years. Environmental performance levels in the business community often reflect the need to meet laws and regulations (licence to operate) or green strategies that may involve innovation and branding of new business opportunities. In this respect, certification schemes can be used as a tool to integrate environmental engagement into daily activities, which according to Testa et al. (2014) is a procedure to plan, do, check and act. A certification project may include full-scale documentation, status reports, future goals, evaluations and plans for further action. This may be a way of identifying potential improvements that have positive environmental effects linked to energy use, material input or pollution. Companies may not least be motivated to improve their environmental performance if such investment generates positive economic returns (White and Noble 2013). Certification projects also include transparent performance indicators that are useful for both regulative purposes and branding. Many environmental certifications are thus oriented towards products. These certificates may be linked to voluntary programmes associated with, for example, organic foods, or compulsory programmes, for example, the labelling of energy products regulated through the European Union (EU) energy and energy-related product classification (Eur-Lex, Directive 2009/125/EC). However, a different category is certification management systems, which focus on the firm unit or the company as a whole.
This study explores industry-education collaboration on vocational education and training (VET) i... more This study explores industry-education collaboration on vocational education and training (VET) in upper secondary schools in Sweden and Norway, with particular attention to the initiatives, organisation and operational management, and aspects of robustness and lock-in effects. The case studies include two upper secondary schools situated in manufacturing based towns, which are similar in size and industrial structure, and have the dual system of education. Pupils come from these towns and other places in the surrounding region. The research design is based on a mixedmethod approach, including interviews and other sources of information from schools and industry. This covered organisational and operational levels, corporate motives and arrangements, industrial composition, labour market conditions, and other regional and national characteristics. The results demonstrated how shared goals of improving the reputation and quality of VET and meeting industries' needs for skills formed in two distinct organisational models. These findings raise concerns about the robustness of these collaborations, since how changes occur in companies' economic situations may affect their ability and motivation to participate in VET training. The authors conclude that the arrangements have had success but may create a lock-in-situation regarding the companies' ability to restructure and develop new skills for new sectors.
... service functions-finance, insurance, real estate, legal services, accountancy, advertising,m... more ... service functions-finance, insurance, real estate, legal services, accountancy, advertising,management, public relations ... Spatial Divisions of Expertise and Transnational'Service'Firms 81 The difficulty with the ... We do not dispute that the global cities are important places but it is ...
1. Designer Economies 2. Economies of 'Design', Signs and Space: Management, Marketing, D... more 1. Designer Economies 2. Economies of 'Design', Signs and Space: Management, Marketing, Design and Production 3. Nefarious Learning: Imitation versus Inimitability and Differentiation by Design 4. Design Histories: Anonymous Design, Hidden Innovation and Professional Design 5. Corporate Strategy and Designing Competitiveness 6. Design, Corporate Competitiveness and Regional Economic Development 7. Varieties of Capitalism - From Global Production Networks to Production Projects and Distributed Tasks 8. Creating and Shaping Things: Placing and Spacing Product Design 9. Designing Capitalism: Distributed Tasks and Divisions of Expertise and Labour
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to crimina... more Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Social innovation has gained an important position in policy agendas at the international, nation... more Social innovation has gained an important position in policy agendas at the international, national, and local levels. The article investigates two empirical cases of local social entrepreneurship initiatives in two comparable small towns located in Norway and in Sweden. These projects endeavour for social integration of young persons into education programmes and adult persons into work. Through these empirical cases, this article aims to conceive how place conditions the capacities and practices of social entrepreneurship. The place-based approach of the discussion shows how the interplay of local and multiscalar relations impacts social entrepreneurship initiatives. The analysis of the empirical cases involves considering the role of the local context as well as the institutional systems of the welfare states and wider policy regimes endorsing social investment strategies. The discussion employs a model for organisational arrangements focusing on capacities of learning, exploiting, and linking. The capacity of linking across organisations and sector boundaries is found to be a particularly intriguing aspect of the investigated social entrepreneurship initiatives and is something that the place-based approach of the article is able to explicate.
Edward Elgar Publishing Limited eBooks, Jan 12, 2023
Standards and Certifications for Services A conceptual overview and typology of standards and cer... more Standards and Certifications for Services A conceptual overview and typology of standards and certifications Standards A business standard is defined as an established norm, a formal requirement detailing material, technological or service content, as well as functionality and performance. Standards may also address in-house scientific testing processes, working conditions and other societal or environmental issues in the outside world (European Commission, 2016). From a company's perspective, standards are important for efficiency, as they detail technical functionality and other requirements that are already tested, set, implemented and recognized by the market. They can also be detailed as preferred or mandatory requirements defined in regulations. A further advantage is that standard definitions represent somewhat foreseeable and stable reference points across time and geography. The inclusion
Foreign direct investments (FDI) have had an important role in Norway since the start of the manu... more Foreign direct investments (FDI) have had an important role in Norway since the start of the manufacturing age in the beginning of the 1900s. Traditionally these were mostly exportoriented manufacturing companies. However, shifts have taken place since the 1960s. In 1996 nearly ¾ of the employment in foreign majority owned companies are within trade or services mostly oriented towards the Norwegian market. This article aims to discuss more closely some business strategies and regional linkages among FDIs in order to focus on factors that may tempt such investments. This is followed by a discussion of regional policy implications. Empirical evidence is mainly based on case interviews from two research projects that took place in the period 1998-99. One main conclusion from the two research projects is that investments from abroad are a logical consequence of an increasingly international economy. The overall picture is that there seem to be many similarities between foreign and domestic firms concerning structural conditions, location and linkages. A market orientation with mergers and acquisitions as dominating investment strategy seem to be an important explanation for these findings.
I dette notatet har vi kortfattet utarbeidet en analyse av hjemmesidesatsingen blant de 32 kommun... more I dette notatet har vi kortfattet utarbeidet en analyse av hjemmesidesatsingen blant de 32 kommunene i Hordaland og Hordaland fylkeskommune i 2004. Formålet med prosjektet har vært å få økt oppmerksomhet og interesse for e-forvaltning på kommunenivå. Vi har også vært opptatt av å drøfte hvordan kommunale hjemmesider kan være et bidrag til utvikling av lokalsamfunnene. Gjennom hjemmesideanalyser, noe informasjon fra nøkkelinformanter og informasjon basert på sekundærkilder, har vi laget en kortfattet oversikt. Her har vi forsøkt å finne ut hvor godt kommunene utnytter IKT-verktøyet knyttet til bruken av hjemmesider og nytteverdien av slike satsinger. Et seminararrangement med deltagere fra de undersøkte kommunene ble avviklet i tilknytning til prosjektet. Her formidlet ulike eksempler, og belyst områder med klart forbedringsmulighete
Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, May 1, 2000
This paper examines how business service provision partly relies on user firms' internal resource... more This paper examines how business service provision partly relies on user firms' internal resources, strategies and location depending on what can be obtained locally or is feasible to import elsewhere. Empirical evidence from small-and medium-sized firms in three manufacturing industries in Norway shows that strategies searching for suitable suppliers can be divided into different categories, including one in which choice of service providers reflects a policy commitment to buy locally. A second type of strategy is when the choice of subcontractor is a result of a wide professional search process across regions in order to find the best alternative. A third is where service relations are coordinated by a parent company or entail purchased goods. Finally, there is a group of firms that have left the matter of choice of service suppliers to brokers. These results add new elements to the discussion about the competitive role of industrial relations.
Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift-norwegian Journal of Geography, 1997
... A lower-cost competitive strategy considers a firm's ability to design, produce and ... more ... A lower-cost competitive strategy considers a firm's ability to design, produce and market a product more efficiently than its com-petitors. ... Instead we include IKEA, which stands out as a typical follower of the lower-cost strategy. ...
The environmental and climate challenges facing our planet require more sustainable resource mana... more The environmental and climate challenges facing our planet require more sustainable resource management solutions in the coming years. Environmental performance levels in the business community often reflect the need to meet laws and regulations (licence to operate) or green strategies that may involve innovation and branding of new business opportunities. In this respect, certification schemes can be used as a tool to integrate environmental engagement into daily activities, which according to Testa et al. (2014) is a procedure to plan, do, check and act. A certification project may include full-scale documentation, status reports, future goals, evaluations and plans for further action. This may be a way of identifying potential improvements that have positive environmental effects linked to energy use, material input or pollution. Companies may not least be motivated to improve their environmental performance if such investment generates positive economic returns (White and Noble 2013). Certification projects also include transparent performance indicators that are useful for both regulative purposes and branding. Many environmental certifications are thus oriented towards products. These certificates may be linked to voluntary programmes associated with, for example, organic foods, or compulsory programmes, for example, the labelling of energy products regulated through the European Union (EU) energy and energy-related product classification (Eur-Lex, Directive 2009/125/EC). However, a different category is certification management systems, which focus on the firm unit or the company as a whole.
This study explores industry-education collaboration on vocational education and training (VET) i... more This study explores industry-education collaboration on vocational education and training (VET) in upper secondary schools in Sweden and Norway, with particular attention to the initiatives, organisation and operational management, and aspects of robustness and lock-in effects. The case studies include two upper secondary schools situated in manufacturing based towns, which are similar in size and industrial structure, and have the dual system of education. Pupils come from these towns and other places in the surrounding region. The research design is based on a mixedmethod approach, including interviews and other sources of information from schools and industry. This covered organisational and operational levels, corporate motives and arrangements, industrial composition, labour market conditions, and other regional and national characteristics. The results demonstrated how shared goals of improving the reputation and quality of VET and meeting industries' needs for skills formed in two distinct organisational models. These findings raise concerns about the robustness of these collaborations, since how changes occur in companies' economic situations may affect their ability and motivation to participate in VET training. The authors conclude that the arrangements have had success but may create a lock-in-situation regarding the companies' ability to restructure and develop new skills for new sectors.
... service functions-finance, insurance, real estate, legal services, accountancy, advertising,m... more ... service functions-finance, insurance, real estate, legal services, accountancy, advertising,management, public relations ... Spatial Divisions of Expertise and Transnational'Service'Firms 81 The difficulty with the ... We do not dispute that the global cities are important places but it is ...
1. Designer Economies 2. Economies of 'Design', Signs and Space: Management, Marketing, D... more 1. Designer Economies 2. Economies of 'Design', Signs and Space: Management, Marketing, Design and Production 3. Nefarious Learning: Imitation versus Inimitability and Differentiation by Design 4. Design Histories: Anonymous Design, Hidden Innovation and Professional Design 5. Corporate Strategy and Designing Competitiveness 6. Design, Corporate Competitiveness and Regional Economic Development 7. Varieties of Capitalism - From Global Production Networks to Production Projects and Distributed Tasks 8. Creating and Shaping Things: Placing and Spacing Product Design 9. Designing Capitalism: Distributed Tasks and Divisions of Expertise and Labour
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to crimina... more Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
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Papers by Grete Rusten