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It is increasingly important to study labour market outcomes for people who are not in employment, education, or training (NEET). Where most studies focus solely on young people, the purpose of this paper is to include both younger and older NEETs to find out if there is any long-term scarring effect, and if the effect is different between these two groups.

This study uses a twin-based estimation method for the first time to measure the long-term effect of economic inactivity on income. The analysis is based on biological twins, in order to control for individuals’ unobservable heterogeneity. It is assumed that twins are similar to each other and the only unobservable heterogeneity is at the family level. Register-based data from Statistics Sweden is used.

The result indicates a significant negative income effect for those who have been in NEET, and is larger for those who have been in NEET for several consecutive periods of time. Individuals who were in NEET during 2001-2003 had on average 62 per cent lower income compared with their twin in 2011. The corresponding number for individuals who were in NEET for just one period was 33 per cent. Hence, time in NEET reduces income. The results show that the long-term scarring effect is not affected by age.

This study utilises for the first time a twin-based estimation method to measure the long-term effect of inactivity. Most studies focus solely on young people, but the authors also include an older group of people.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse two questions. First, is there, and if so, how large is the price premium paid for a building exhibiting a cultural value? Second, are there any spillover effects of buildings with cultural values on sales prices of neighbouring houses?

Using a unique database of all buildings in the region of Halland, Sweden, combined with transaction data, hedonic models can be estimated, with spatially lagged variables describing proximity to three classes of culturally classified building – A, B and C – corresponding to building of national interest, building of regional interest and building of local interest. In addition, the authors also estimate models with a spatial specification on the error term, in an attempt to control for omitted variables.

The results indicate that cultural classification plays a role in determining the price of a property, with large effects (ranging between 36 and 60% price premiums) for the highest classification. In addition, the authors find evidence of a cultural externality, houses in the vicinity of building with high cultural value sell at a small, but statistically significant premium of 1%.

The cultural externality may be overlooked when it comes to valuation of cultural values in society, and therefore, it is likely that warranted protection acts to preserve cultural values in buildings become less than the social optimum. This paper suggests a new measure to cultural values contrasting previous research that rely on cultural preservation. This approach should limit problems with measurement errors that may lead to biased results.

The aim of this study has been to explore learning experiences from the two first years of the implementation of value-based healthcare (VBHC) at a large Swedish University Hospital.

An explorative design was used in this study. Individual open-ended interviews were carried out with 19 members from four teams implementing VBHC. Qualitative analysis was used to analyse the verbatim transcripts of the interviews.

Three main themes pinpointing learning experiences emerged through the analysis: resource allocation to support implementation, anchoring to create engagement and dedicated, development-oriented leadership with power of decision. Resource allocation included the need to set aside time and administrative resources and also the need to adjust essential IT-systems. The work of anchoring to create engagement involved both patients and staff and was found to be a never-ending task calling for deep commitment. The hospital top management’s explicit decision to implement VBHC facilitated the implementation process, but the team leaders’ lack of explicit management mandate was experienced as obstructing the process. The development process contributed not only to single-loop learning but also to double-loop learning.

Learning experiences drawn from implementing VBHC have not been studied before, and thus the results of this study could be of importance to managers and administrators wanting to implement this concept in their respective organizations.

The game plan firms must navigate in the quest of competitive advantage which is changing quickly. More and more firms acknowledge that future prosperity depends on achieving the joint goals of economic, environmental and social sustainability. This understanding has resulted in both firms and actors on the financial markets enhancing their focus on environmental, social and governance dimensions in their respective decision-making processes. In this chapter, the focus is on one key component of the changing game plan, the European Union’s (EU) Sustainable Finance Platform that envisions investors as a key driver of firms’ sustainability transformation. Based on survey data from Swedish listed firms, we discuss implications and outcomes of the Platform. Our results show that investors play an important role in setting the rules of the gameplan for firms. However, not to the extent that it meets the ambitions of the policymakers. This suggests either that the Platform will fail to meet its aims or that firms should expect further significant changes to the gameplan in the future.

This study explores four pilot teams’ experiences of improvements resulting from the implementation of value-based healthcare (VBHC) at a Swedish University Hospital. The aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of VBHC when used as a management strategy to improve patients’ health outcomes.

An exploratory design was used and qualitative interviews were undertaken with 20 team members three times each, during a period of two years. The content of the interviews was qualitatively analysed.

VBHC worked as a trigger for initiating improvements related to processes, measurements and patients’ health outcomes. An example of improvements related to patients’ health outcomes was solving the problem of patients’ nausea. Improvement related to processes was developing care planning and increasing the number of contact nurses. Improvement related to measurements was increasing coverage ratio in the National Quality Registers used, and the development of a new coding system for measurements. VBHC contributed a structure for measurement and for identification of the need for improvements, but this structure on its own was not enough. To implement and sustain improvements, it is important to establish awareness of the need for improvements and to motivate changes not just among managers and clinical leaders directly involved in VBHC projects but also engage all other staff providing care.

This study shows that although the VBHC management strategy may serve as an initiator for improvements, it is not enough for the sustainable implementation of improvement initiatives. Regardless of strategy, managers and clinical leaders need to develop increased competence in change management.

The purpose of this paper is to establish measurable factors that can be used as early indicators of which neighborhoods are most likely to undergo a process of gentrification in a reasonably near future.

Using 1990 data on key demographic variables for 128 neighborhoods in Stockholm, Sweden a model that allows both for testing of spatial clustering and for spatial spillovers between neighborhoods is estimated. It is hypothesized not only that gentrification depends on inter-neighborhood characteristics but also that gentrified neighborhoods will cluster and preferably be located in proximity to existing high income neighborhoods.

The findings confirm the stated hypotheses. Among the results, it is shown that neighborhoods that gentrified between 1990 and 2012 were more likely to have been poor in 1990 and located closer to the CBD, they were also more likely to be close to neighborhoods with lower proportions of low income residents. It is also found that gentrified neighborhoods tend to cluster over space.

Much of the previous literature on gentrification has concerned the actual driving forces behind gentrifying neighborhoods. This paper is more concerned with indicators that can be used to spot neighborhoods that are likely to undergo a gentrification process in the future. Such information can be valuable for real estate developers in the private sector, as it may lead to more successful investments. It may also be useful for city developers at the municipal organization.

Value-based health care (VBHC) argues that health-care needs to re-focus to maximise value creation, defining value as the quota when dividing the outcomes important for the patient, by the cost for health care to deliver such outcomes. This study aims to explore the perception of value among different stakeholders involved in the process of implementing VBHC at a Swedish hospital to support leaders to be more efficient and effective when developing health care.

Participants comprised 19 clinicians and non-clinicians involved in the implementation of VBHC. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and content analysis was performed.

The clinicians described value as a dynamic concept, dependent on the patient and the clinical setting, stating that improving outcomes was more important than containing costs. The value for non-clinicians appeared more driven by the interplay between the outcome and the cost. Non-clinicians related VBHC to a strategic framework for governance or for monitoring different continuous improvement processes, while clinicians appreciated VBHC, as they perceived its introduction as an opportunity to focus more on outcomes for patients and less on cost containment.

There is variation in how clinicians and non-clinicians perceive the key concept of value when implementing VBHC. Clinicians focus on increasing treatment efficacy and improving medical outcomes but have a limited focus on cost and what patients consider most valuable. If the concept of value is defined primarily by clinicians’ own assumptions, there is a clear risk that the foundational premise of VBHC, to understand what outcomes patients value in their specific situation in relation to the cost to produce such outcome, will fail. Health-care leaders need to ensure that patients and the non-clinicians’ perception of value, is integrated with the clinical perception, if VBHC is to deliver on its promise.

The purpose of the study is to develop knowledge on the implementation of Hoshin Kanri (HK) in small manufacturing companies. Two research questions are addressed: (1) what factors influence the implementation of HK in small manufacturing companies? (2) How do the factors influence the implementation of HK in small manufacturing companies?

The research presented in this paper is based on an extensive literature review and data from the implementation process in five small manufacturing companies. In the literature review, factors influencing the implementation of HK, lean production and total quality management (TQM) in small manufacturing firms are identified. Thereafter, five implementation cases are analyzed. Findings from the cases are then contrasted with the factors identified in the literature and further theorized.

Seven factors were found to either enable or hamper HK implementation in small manufacturing companies. Management involvement was identified as a critical factor. Management involvement can be typologized as collaborative or demanding, and the types of involvement is decisive in implementation processes within the small manufacturing company context.

In this paper, the authors focus on small manufacturing companies as the starting point and relate theoretical and practical results to the implementation processes in this defined target group. Conceptualizing implementation as a learning process, this research contributes to this emerging perspective on small firm development.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the basic principles and introduction of the Hoshin Kanri (HK) strategic management system, as related to the management practices in manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This paper reports the findings from the introduction of HK to four manufacturing SMEs by following an assistance support-based research approach where teams of coaches and researchers observed and learned from the introduction phase. The overall design of the project is theory building and learning oriented.

It is suggested that the successful introduction of a strategic management system in manufacturing SMEs has to balance the inherent level of formalization therein, with the individual company’s management practices. Based on HK as the strategic management system, pDCA is proposed as an alternative approach to the introduction, matching differences in management practices.

The explorative nature of this research provides room for subsequent studies by elaborating the knowledge on the introduction of strategic management systems in SMEs.

Awareness of the existing managerial practices is essential when introducing a new strategic management system in manufacturing SMEs. Such awareness is the starting point of customizing the introduction, so that proper levels of engagement and flexibility can be balanced with increasing systematic formalization, and optimized adequacy.

Following an assistance support-based research approach the result of this research project is summarized in the iterative pDCA model emphasizing engagement and flexibility when incrementally introducing strategic management systems in SMEs. This model addresses a hitherto under-researched topic in strategic management.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.