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The importance of family firms for the development of capitalism, both past and present, has in recent years become widely recognized. Today there is a fast increasing body of literature about forms of family business and variations in family capitalism. Despite this new interest, few of these studies have made the family itself the focus of enquiry – and how different types of family structures and cultural traditions may influence the strategies and development of the family firm. Such connections are explored by comparing and discussing two cases of family firms and their history, set in Norway and Italy, respectively. It is argued that these two cases may be seen as examples of quite different ‘modes of familism’, with different implications for the running of an economic enterprise. These differences concern, first and foremost, cultural conceptions of gender, forms of inheritance, and the role of marriage in constituting the family firm.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an outline of the origins, rationale and ways of working of the Danish schools, social services, police (SSP) system.

Narrative account of origins and contexts and discussion of implications for other nations and contribution to knowledge of prevention work.

The SSP system represents an involvement by Danish state institutions in the welfare and development of young people. Practice indicates its broad acceptance by parents, young people and professionals. Recent extension of SSP work is demonstrating some of the limitations of the approach in working with alienated young people.

The present SSP system relies on local evaluation and assessment. Wider national and longitudinal evaluation needs further consideration.

The need for a career structure and continuing and nationally consistent professional development opportunities was identified in a previous evaluation.

SSP enjoys broad acceptance amongst parents, young people and professionals in that it provides a universal input into young people’s well-being and social integration. It is proving less successful in work in some urban areas with high levels of alienation amongst older young people. There is also a need for re-statement of confidentiality aspects.

The paper provides an insight into and overview of a cross-disciplinary approach to young people’s development and well-being where the state plays a key and accepted role. The rationale is equally relevant to the UK and other countries.

In February 2015, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, CEO of the LEGO Group, invited the national and international press to a financial briefing at the company's headquarters in Billund (Denmark). 2014 had been an exceptional year of growth for the LEGO group. Nevertheless, most of the journalists present in the room were surprised when the Danish CEO suddenly began to dance in front of the audience while singing ‘Everything is awesome’ from the LEGO Movie. Why did he do it? Was it out of spontaneous joy? Or was there a strategy behind his actions? And what were the reactions of the media and LEGO employees? What can a CEO who is dancing and singing for a few seconds or minutes in front of a group of journalists tell us about leadership roles and leadership communication? The aim of this chapter is to provide plausible answers to these questions. We combine theory of dancing with three different approaches to the study of leadership: (1) a strategic approach: the CEO as a Performer, (2) a positive organizational scholarship approach: the CEO as a Chief Happiness Officer and (3) a critical approach: the CEO as a Seducer. At the end of the chapter, we discuss how this small case study can contribute to a broader understanding of strategic communication that includes a dramaturgical and multimodal perspective.

The UKU side effect rating scale for adults with intellectual disabilities (UKU-SERS-ID) was developed to detect side effects among patients with intellectual disabilities (ID). The purpose of this paper is to examine the reliability and face validity of the UKU-SERS-ID.

UKU-SERS-ID comprises 35 items. In total, 22 patients with ID were included from two specialized services for adults with ID and comorbid mental illness. All patients were rated on three different occasions by three clinicians; two nurses and one medical doctor. Reliability was estimated with Cohen’s κ. A focus group discussed the face validity of the items comprising the UKU-SERS-ID.

Respectively ten (nurse-nurse scores) and eight (nurse-doctor scores) items were considered difficult to score due to low prevalence of the symptoms. For the other items the reliability was acceptable. Through discussion in a focus group, with the reliability scores in mind, only one of the items of the UKU-SERS-ID was discarded.

The authors have developed a feasible side effect instrument for clinical practice. It is easy to score and relevant regarding important side effects.

The UKU-SERS-ID seems to be a feasible tool. Further investigations are mandatory in order to gain knowledge about distribution and phenomenology of side effects from psychotropic medication for individuals with ID.

This chapter analyses the recovery of the Danish economy from the crisis of the 1980s, its elevation to a bit of an ‘economic miracle’ or at least an ‘employment miracle’ from 1995 to 2005 and its subsequent decline during the financial crisis, which revealed more long-standing problems that precluded a quick recovery. The solution of Denmark's structural balance of payment problems in the early 1990s paved the way for long-term prosperity, and Denmark managed the challenges of globalisation and deindustrialisation almost without social costs. However, an accumulation of short-term policy failures and credit liberalisation facilitated a credit and housing bubble, a consumption-driven boom and declining competitiveness. In broad terms, the explanation is political; this includes not only vote- and office-seeking strategies of the incumbent government but also ideational factors such as agenda setting of economic policy. Somewhat unnoticed – partly because of preoccupation with long-term challenges of ageing and shortage of labour – productivity and economic growth rates had slowed down over several years. The Danish decline in GDP 2008–2009 was larger than in the 1930s, and after the bubble burst, there were few drivers of economic growth. Households consolidated and were reluctant to consume; public consumption had to be cut as well; exports increased rather slowly; and in this climate, there was little room for private investments. Financially, the Danish economy remained healthy, though. Current accounts revealed record-high surpluses after the financial crisis; state debt remained moderate, and if one were to include the enormous retained taxes in private pension funds, net state debt would de facto be positive. Still, around 2010–2011 there were few short-term drivers of economic growth, and rather unexpectedly, it turned out that unemployment problems were likely to prevail for several years.

Globally, Denmark stands out in terms of achieving high employment rates, containing unemployment and providing a labour market model combining flexibility, security and activation with a strong role for the social partners. The Danish labour market institutions and policies are seen as the catalyst for the transformation from industrial economy to a globalised, post-industrial and knowledge-based economy in which socio-economic equality and workforce security go hand in hand with competitiveness and the adaptability of business. In the 2000s, this mutual relationship came to be known as the Danish flexicurity model. Meanwhile, as a policy blueprint, ‘flexicurity’ has never really influenced Danish politics, and the reforms implemented since the 2000s have deviated from the premises of the model. This paper critically assesses the Danish model and its institutional components. It tracks the emergence of the Danish collective bargaining model as well as the flexicurity model. It scrutinises the challenges and performance of the current Danish labour market institutions and policies in a comparative perspective and discusses the extent to which the Danish experiences can and should be imitated abroad.

Denmark is characterised by high levels of trust between citizens and public authorities as well as between public leaders and employees, providing a comparative advantage when it comes to expanding public welfare, enhancing economic performance and handling a crisis like COVID-19. Public governance, however, requires a delicate balance between trust and the legitimate need for control to secure accountability This chapter explains how the high levels of trust in the Danish public sector are wedded to a pragmatic combination of various public governance paradigms, which has produced a ‘hybrid governance system’ balancing the legitimate demand for control with widespread trust in public employees. Traditional Weberian bureaucratic values of regularity, impartiality and expertise are combined with a limited and selective introduction of New Public Management reforms. Simultaneously, a dynamic neo-Weberian state works to satisfy an increasingly demanding citizenry while new platforms for developing collaborative solutions to complex problems are designed and developed at the municipal level. This hybrid governance system produces a virtuous circle of trust sustained by trust-based systems of evaluation, assessment and accountability developed in close dialogue between public managers and employees. The chapter demonstrates how a long-lasting political-administrative culture based on trust and a pragmatic, non-ideological combination of different governance paradigms has generated a positive trust‒public governance feedback loop. Striking the right control‒trust balance remains a continual challenge, however, to avoid governance failures eroding citizen trust in the public sector and to safeguard public values of transparency, accountability and performance.

The chapter discusses how student engagement can be facilitated through educational designs that make conscious use of various online communication technologies. The discussions are based on cases from the practice at the Danish Master Programme in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Learning (MIL), where students from all over Denmark within a networked learning structure are studying in groups combining on-site seminars with independent and challenging virtually organized project periods. The chapter discusses the involvement of students as co-designers of how courses and learning environments unfold, and deals with the development of students’ information literacy. Various teacher roles are addressed, as implementing new educational technology requires teachers who are flexible and aware of the different challenges in the networked environment. The aim of the chapter is to discuss the application of new technological possibilities in educational settings inspired by problem- and project-based learning.

International migration is a global challenge affecting peoples and nations all over the world. In the advanced economies and welfare states of Western Europe, integrating migrants presents political, social as well as economic challenges. Over the past 50 years, Denmark has made a remarkable U-turn on the immigration question. Once the author of one of the most liberal immigration policies in Western Europe, Denmark presently has one of the strictest. This chapter addresses the causes behind the Danish policy U-turn, and how it has affected the social, economic and political integration of immigrants in Denmark. The chapter shows how Danish immigration politics have turned from low to high salience and have undergone radical changes resulting in a tightening of both internal and external immigration policies. It has become far more difficult to obtain residence and citizenship in Denmark. These measures have limited influx although international refugee crises are difficult to control at the borders. Moreover, Danish integration policies have focused increasingly on obligations and incentives, primarily by cutting benefits. The Danish case however shows that reduction of social benefits only has a marginal positive short-term effect on employment but with some negative side effects. When it comes to education, the Danish welfare state has been relatively successful in integrating immigrants and descendants in the educational system.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and theorise the links and possible dilemmas posed by the politics of redistribution and the politics of recognition taking the case of Denmark as the point of departure.

The empirical observations in this paper consist of the political and discursive climate around legislation on ethnic minority matters, information from the Danish Statistical Bureau, the “Danish Level of Living Survey”, and the experiences from Danish urban districts which have a high concentration of immigrants.

Since the 1990s, the political discourse has changed with the emergence of right‐wing, anti‐immigration populism seriously affecting immigrants’ and refugees’ legal rights and their possibilities for socio‐cultural and socio‐economic inclusion. On the one hand, these changes have been driven by a strong “work first” discourse which has led to a reduction of the duration and level of social benefits, and increased poverty. On the other hand, other policy changes have been more inclusive examples being education policy, active labour market policy measures and innovative empowerment programmes in deprived urban districts.

Social innovation – here defined as the ability to organise bottom linked collective action/empowerment (including efficient political representation) – is a condition for reaching sustainable democratic and social development. But without more far‐reaching changes in the socio‐cultural and socio‐economic opportunity structures based on universal welfare principles and which also clearly address structural ethnic discrimination in all spheres of the social fabric, local empowerment and recognition strategies are likely to fail.

The paper addresses a crucial issue in the Danish and other European societies in relation to the exclusion and marginalisation of immigrants. The value of the paper is that it integrates different theoretical approaches to inclusion and exclusion of immigrants and employs different empirical material (quantitative and qualitative) to both underpin, discuss and challenge these theoretical approaches.