scholarly journals A Narrative Approach to Corporate Relations: The Historical Background on Telenor’s Success

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
SVERRE A. CHRISTENSEN

This article examines the development of buyer-supplier relations in the telecom sector. The literature on telecoms in Scandinavia has been dominated by the narrative praising the trusting and collaborative relations between Telia, the Swedish public telephone operator (PTO), and Ericsson, the equipment supplier. The Norwegian PTO, Telenor, diverted from this path and was a pioneer in preferring competitive tenders and arm’s length relations with its suppliers starting in the 1970s. The article argues that Telenor’s history and nationality had a significant impact on its business strategy. In addition, the article examines why some business narratives persist while others remain unknown. One finding is that shareholder-friendly narratives have a handicap because they focus on self-interest and money, and not societal values.

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-13
Author(s):  
Michele Estrin Gilman

Menstruation is being monetized and surveilled, with the voluntary participation of millions of women. Thousands of downloadable apps promise to help women monitor their periods and manage their fertility. These apps are part of the broader, multi-billion dollar, Femtech industry, which sells technology to help women understand and improve their health. Femtech is marketed with the language of female autonomy and feminist empowerment. Despite this rhetoric, Femtech is part of a broader business strategy of data extraction, in which companies are extracting people’s personal data for profit, typically without their knowledge or meaningful consent. Femtech can oppress menstruators in several ways. Menstruators lose control over their personal data and how it is used. Some of these uses can potentially disadvantage women in the workplace, insurance markets, and credit scoring. In addition, these apps can force users into a gendered binary that does not always comport with their identity. Further, period trackers are sometimes inaccurate, leading to unwanted pregnancies. Additionally, the data is nearly impossible to erase, leading some women to be tracked relentlessly across the web with assumptions about their childbearing and fertility. Despite these harms, there are few legal restraints on menstrual surveillance. American data privacy law largely hinges on the concept of notice and consent, which puts the onus on people to protect their own privacy rather than placing responsibility on the entities that gather and use data. Yet notice and consent is a myth because consumers do not read, cannot comprehend, and have no opportunities to negotiate the terms of privacy policies. Notice and consent is an individualistic approach to data privacy that envisions an atomized person pursing their own self-interest in a competitive marketplace. Menstruators’ needs do not fit this model. Accordingly, this Essay seeks to reconceptualize Femtech within an expanded menstrual justice framework that recognizes the tenets of data feminism. In this vision, Femtech would be an empowering and accurate health tool rather than a data extraction device.


2018 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Kjærbeck ◽  
Marianne Wolff Lundholt

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate employees’ conflicting perspectives on the business strategy in a Danish housing association through a narrative approach, in order to gain insight into the relation between master- and counter-narratives. The authors discuss the possibility of integrating counter-narratives as a resource in strategy processes. Finally, the usefulness and challenges of the applied narrative approach are addressed. Design/methodology/approach The study was undertaken as a case study of strategy communication in a private housing association. The empirical material consists of 16 qualitative interviews from all levels of the organization as well as recordings of meetings where management presents a new strategy to the employees. The study adopts a mixed methods interpretivist approach using focus groups and interviews as data and with a focus on narratives as sense-making resources. The applied method of analysis is based on narratology, sociological action analysis and the concept of “framing.” Findings Employees’ counter-narratives focus on practical problems regarding the implementation of the business strategy. They materialize through temporal structures and framing strategies through which employees’ perspectives are presented indirectly and with great care. In spite of their oppositional content, these counter-perspectives cannot be considered to be resistance; on the contrary, employees take great interest in solving the reported problems. Counter-narratives are seemingly useful resources in a form of “reality check” in the organization, in order to elucidate the implementation of the business strategy and make necessary adjustments. The research furthermore points to a more dialogical strategy communication where employees are involved earlier in the process rather than marginalized to “resistant bystanders.” Originality/value These findings give insight into the use of narratives as practical meaning construction in an organizational context, and in relation to strategy communication and change.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 220
Author(s):  
Watcharaphong Leartsurawat ◽  
Amnard Taweesangrungroj ◽  
Chanya Jenpanich

This study is a qualitative research with the use of case study methodology. This research is focused on the influence of entrepreneurial origin (opportunity or necessity) and firm’s innovation strategy (technology-push or market-pull) mixes on levels of product innovativeness in the cases of agro-industry entrepreneur (agro-preneur) in Thailand. The Origin-Strategy Mixes (OSM) model was developed from past literature to help identify possible mixes and explain the relationships. The paper used narrative approach in investigating on these relationships on three Thai organic-based agro-preneurs. The empirical study has shown that entrepreneurial origin and business strategy mixes do discordantly affect levels of product innovativeness. The study provides initial understanding on the importance of OSM influences, which can be applied to improve the competitiveness of agro-preneur in Thailand. The main limitation of this study is that only three cases in Thailand were investigated. To address this, future research should emphasize on larger sample size to improve generalization ability. The use of quantitative research to further verify the OSM model is also encouraged. Keywords: Entrepreneur; Innovation; Origin; Strategy; Agro-industry


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Plamen Akaliyski

Focusing on Europe, this article aims to disentangle the patterns of cultural clustering and to throw more light on concepts such as ‘civilizations’ and ‘cultural zones.’ Cross-cultural analyses unanimously find that various historical background and socioeconomic indicators are strongly correlated to societal values, however, a systematic investigation on what makes societal cultures similar and different hasn’t been conducted. The author first outlines the factors and mechanisms that may explain value similarities, then the author tests their importance using dyadic data on 40 countries from thewvs. Multiple factors are associated to the cultural similarities: the historical background – i.e. countries’ political-institutional traditions, religion, language, and imperial legacies – and also socio-economic development, geographical distance, European integration, and climatic differences. The substantial overlap among them, however, diminishes the absolute importance of any of the explanatory factors. The multiple determinants of value differences speak against a classification of national cultures into cultural zones based on single formative factors.


Author(s):  
Noel B. Woodbridge

This article explores the connection between life and theology. Today, many people do not understand the connection between theology and everyday life. In particular, many of today’s theological students are leaving theological institutions and entering the ministry with a fragmented theology instead of an integrated theology. A brief historical and literature review indicates that there are three perspectives in contemporary theology, namely the theological triad of orthodoxy, orthopathy and orthopraxy. A brief analysis of the three perspectives indicates a close connection between theology and everyday life: theology and life are linked in praise (orthodoxy), action (orthopraxy) and passion (orthopathy). This article focuses on the paradigm of narrative theology and shows that, when used correctly, narrative theology provides the building blocks for systematic theology and biblical theology. Narrative theology also provides helpful insights when it takes into account legitimate literary concerns, such as the historical background of the Bible passage and the author’s theology and purpose. The close connection between theology and everyday life is clearly portrayed in a narrative approach to Isaiah 6:1–8, especially when it illustrates how the story (narrative) shapes each of the three perspectives of the theological triad.


2009 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 563-581 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. C. Bahuguna ◽  
P. Kumari ◽  
S. K. Srivastava

Various approaches and models of strategic human resource management have been developed within the framework of strategic HRM. Like many theories of organization, none are complete. Rather being right or wrong each approach points to different aspect of the process needed to develop effective strategic human resource functions. The issue of fitting HR practices to business strategy has become increasingly relevant over few years. Therefore, in the present study we have made efforts to highlight various issues that are relevant to the strategic HRM in the changing scenario of business environment. The present paper has been divided into six parts. In the first and second part, the changes occurring in the business environment and its implications for human resource functionaries have been discussed respectively. In the third part we have highlighted the changing role of human resource management. In the fourth part the historical background of strategic human resource management, its role in addressing the challenges of changing business scenario and determinants of strategic fit have been presented. In the fifth part the relationship of strategic human resource management and business performance has been reviewed and at last conclusions have been drawn that what needs to be done on the part of the HR functionaries and the organization itself to enhance the strategic fit between the various HR practices and the overall organizational strategic plan.


Author(s):  
М.Н. Крылова

В статье описано исследование образов женщин, созданных В.Т. Шаламовым в цикле «Колымские рассказы». Целью стало выявление авторской трактовки образа женщины. Использовались методы наблюдения, анализа, а также интерпретации авторского художественного текста. Научная новизна исследования заключается в том, что в нём впервые описано понимание писателем образа женщины, выявлены разные подходы автора к данному образу, представленные в сборнике «Колымские рассказы». Писатель изображает несколько различных образов женщин: во-первых, нежных, понимающих, практически идеальных существ, способных поддержать мужчину даже попутно сказанным словом; во-вторых, бездуховных жён начальства и наёмных работниц, для которых заключённые являются неполноценными людьми, не достойными жалости и в которых раскрываются худшие качества женщин - самолюбование, корыстолюбие. Показывает он и женщин, в образах которых причудливо переплетаются хорошие и негативные качества. В статье делается вывод о том, что для В.Т. Шаламова наиболее важным является гуманное начало в образе женщины, тот посыл искренности, жалости и нежности, который заложен в женщину самой её природой. Такие образы вступают в контраст как с историческим фоном, изображаемым писателем (сталинскими лагерями), так и с образом мужчины, для которого, по В.Т. Шаламову, сберечь то лучшее в характере, что заложено природой и предшествующим воспитанием, в бесчеловечных условиях сложнее, чем для женщины. Образ женщины становится в рассказах В.Т. Шаламова тем ориентиром, который символизирует вечную, не подверженную влиянию внешних обстоятельств доброту и гуманность. The article describes a study of the images of women created by V.T. Shalamov in the story cycle “Kolyma Tales”. The goal was to identify the author's interpretation of the image of a woman. The methods of observation, analysis, as well as interpretation of the author’s literary text were used. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that it first describes the writer’s understanding of the image of a woman, reveals the author’s different approaches to this image, presented in the collection “Kolyma Tales”. The writer depicts several different images of women: firstly, gentle, understanding, almost ideal creatures that are able to support a man even in passing words; secondly, the soulless wives of bosses and hired workers, for whom prisoners are inferior people, not worthy of pity, and in which the worst qualities of women are revealed - self-love, self-interest. He also shows women in whose images good and negative qualities are bizarrely intertwined. The article concludes that for V.T. Shalamov most important is the humane principle in the image of a woman, that message of sincerity, pity and tenderness, which is laid down in a woman by her very nature. Such images come in contrast with both the historical background portrayed by the writer (the Stalinist camps) and the image of a man for whom, according to V.T. Shalamov, to preserve the best in character that is inherent in nature and previous education, in inhuman conditions is more difficult than for a woman. The image of a woman becomes in the stories of V.T. Shalamov that landmark, which symbolizes the eternal, not subject to the influence of external circumstances, kindness and humanity.


Author(s):  
Howard Thomas ◽  
Richard R. Smith ◽  
Fermin Diez

Author(s):  
Alexander Blaszczynski

Abstract. Background: Tensions exist with various stakeholders facing competing interests in providing legal land-based and online regulated gambling products. Threats to revenue/taxation occur in response to harm minimisation and responsible gambling policies. Setting aside the concept of total prohibition, the objectives of responsible gambling are to encourage and/or restrict an individual’s gambling expenditure in terms of money and time to personally affordable limits. Stakeholder responsibilities: Governments craft the gambling environment through legislation, monitor compliance with regulatory requirements, and receive taxation revenue as a proportion of expenditure. Industry operators on the other hand, compete across market sectors through marketing and advertising, and through the development of commercially innovative products, reaping substantial financial rewards. Concurrently, governments are driven to respond to community pressures to minimize the range of negative gambling-related social, personal and economic harms and costs. Industry operators are exposed to the same pressures but additionally overlaid with the self-interest of avoiding the imposition of more stringent restrictive policies. Cooperation of stakeholders: The resulting tension between taxation revenue and profit making, harm minimization, and social impacts creates a climate of conflict between all involved parties. Data-driven policies become compromised by unsubstantiated claims of, and counter claims against, the nature and extent of gambling-related harms, effectiveness of policy strategies, with allegations of bias and influence associated with researchers supported by industry and government research funding sources. Conclusion: To effectively advance policies, it is argued that it is imperative that all parties collaborate in a cooperative manner to achieve the objectives of responsible gambling and harm minimization. This extends to and includes more transparent funding for researchers from both government and industry. Continued reliance on data collected from analogue populations or volunteers participating in simulated gambling tasks will not provide data capable of valid and reliable extrapolation to real gamblers in real venues risking their own funds. Failure to adhere to principles of corporate responsibility and consumer protection by both governments and industry will challenge the social licence to offer gambling products. Appropriate and transparent safeguards learnt from the tobacco and alcohol field, it is argued, can guide the conduct of gambling research.


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