The aim of this paper is to advance our understanding of the complex material arrangements involved in the formation of AFNs by applying the concept of market infrastructure and turning our attention to the process of infrastructuring. Based on an ethnographic study of REKO rings, a network of local food markets, we show how disparate elements, e.g. digital interfaces, parking locations, and Swish (an electronic payment system), are interconnected and configured to form the REKO ring market infrastructure patchwork – an infrastructure made by linking together previously unrelated elements and re-purposing them. We then demonstrate how this patchwork infrastructure enables the formation of market actors, coordination of the market actors’ activities, and the qualification and valuation of foods, thereby making the exchange of alternative food possible. Our analysis of infrastructure patchworking illustrates a different type of infrastructure-making resulting in a temporary and fragile infrastructure which, despite its instability, enables exchange. Drawing on this analysis we argue that the potential of AFNs to take form and impact contemporary modes of food provisioning cannot be understood without exploring the process of infrastructuring.

We analyse how the Nordic contribution to health economics has evolved over the past three decades – in quantitative and qualitative terms. Using a dataset of publications from five prominent field journals for health economics, we combine different empirical methods to analyse the general trends in terms of number of distinct publications, topics covered, and co-authorship relationships between countries and individuals. We find that the Nordic countries are responsible for a stable share of international publications in health economics. The topics that Nordic health economists publish on are relatively similar to those most prevalent in the international community, even though health insurance is remarkably absent as a research topic in Nordic countries. In terms of links between countries and co-authors, we see that Nordic researchers are well embedded in the international community, and that the Nordic research community has moved toward less hierarchical relationships.

One way to compare health care needs and outcomes on common scales is by estimating the strength of preferences or willingness-to-pay (WTP). The aim of this study was to review directly measured preference values and WTP estimates for health states treated by plastic surgery. The included articles had to meet the criteria defined in the SPIDER (Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research type). Relevant databases were searched using predetermined strings. Data were extracted in a standardised manner. Included studies were appraised according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach for rating the importance of outcomes. In total, 213 abstracts were retrieved. Of these, 179 did not meet the inclusion criteria and were excluded, leaving 34 studies in the review. The risk of bias was considered moderate in four studies and serious in the rest. The overall certainty of evidence for directly measured preference values and WTP estimates for health states treated by plastic surgery is low (Grade ƟƟОО). The lowest preference scores were generally elicited for facial defects/anomalies and the highest for excess skin after massive weight loss. Scientific knowledge about preferences and the resulting health gains might play an essential role in deciding which procedures should be considered for public funding or rather rationed within the system. Better quality studies are required to allow for such applications.

The circular economy is an emerging field characterised by complexity and innovation. As such, strategy likely emerges out of practice in a less planned manner. However, this view is largely missing in the growing field of circular business models (CBM) where strategies are assumed to be planned before they are implemented in a rational top-down process. Drawing on an analysis of how a secondhand organisation grew from a single store to become one of few larger commercial secondhand retail organisations, this study aims to illustrate the role of experimentation and emergent strategy-making. The findings, presented as two narratives, show that an experimental approach where strategy emerges from action has played a vital role in the organisation’s development. This suggests the need to widen the scope when discussing strategy-making for CBM growth and look beyond tools and metrics used for planning.

Tension in Public Procurement - The usage of a strategy tool: Public procurement is about public purchases, but also about sale of goods and services to the public sector. In research, public procurement is usually analyzed from a market or a transactional perspective. In contrast, this study uses a strategy-as-practice lens that focuses on the micro activities when public procurement is used as a strategy tool. Both buyers and sellers use public procurement, why public procurement as a strategy tool has potential to assist in their shared strategy work. However, if and how buyers and sellers participate in each other’s strategy work when using public procurement is unclear. The purpose of this thesis is to explore public procurement as a strategy tool and its use when buyers and sellers construct strategies. This is done by focusing on strategic work when buyers and sellers participate in public procurement. A qualitative and case-orientated approach were used to generate the empirical material, which included interviews, shadowing and documents. This study shows how public procurement as a strategy tool helps its users in their strategy work. When the tool was used, its content and the characteristics of the actor, but also practice, guided the strategy work. Three different hierarchal levels of practice were identified, why the ability to guide was determined by the level of detail and the scope of the practice. When constructing strategies, public procurement as a strategy tool emphasized managing information and strategy production. As a result, collecting information, identifying and sorting factors, were the core activities of strategic work. Strategy production was about managing positions and strategic factors. Three categories of factors were identified. Buyers and sellers did participate in each other's activities when constructing strategies, if they were given the opportunity and if they had something to gain from it. The parties' motives and characteristics, but also their perceived relational closeness, determined the design of the interaction and work. For practitioners, the use of public procurement as a strategy tool can contribute to align and make strategic work visible in relation to what is of strategic value. 

Business health prediction is critical and challenging in today's volatile environment, thus demand going beyond classical business failure studies underpinned by rigidities, like paired sampling, a-priori predictors, rigid binary categorization, amongst others.

In response, our paper proposes an investor-facing dynamic model for characterizing business health by using a mixed set of techniques, combining both classical and “expert system” methods. Data for constructing the model was obtained from 198 multinational manufacturing and service firms spread over 26 industrial sectors, through Wharton database.

The novel 4-stage methodology developed combines a powerful stagewise regression for dynamic predictor selection, a linear regression for modelling expert ratings of firms’ stock value, an SVM model developed from unmatched sample of firms, and finally an SVM-probability model for continuous classification of business health. This hybrid methodology reports comparably higher classification and prediction accuracies (over 0.96 and ∼90%, respectively) and predictor extraction rate (∼96%). It can also objectively identify and constitute new unsought variables to explain and predict behaviour of business subjects.

Among other results, such a volatile model build upon a stable methodology can influence business practitioners in a number of ways to monitor and improve financial health. Future research can concentrate on adding a time-variable to the financial model along with more sector-specificity.

Regressionsanalys är en statistisk metod som använder relationen mellan flera vari-abler så att man kan göra en prediktion av den ena variabeln med hjälp av de andra. Bristen på goda exempel på hur en väl genomförd regressionsanalys bör se ut samt att metoden kräver både kunskap i statistik och kunskap i det specifika området man undersöker gör undervisningen i regressionsanalys till en utmanande uppgift. Syftet med det här arbetet är att presentera en modell för hur en regressionsanalys bör genomföras, visa hur en bra regressionsanalys bör se ut samt implementera kunska-pen om feedback för att förbättra ett kursavsnitt i regressionsanalys.

Using transactions data on apartment sales in Sweden, and taking in consideration the decision made by Swedish Riksbank, we examined the effect of mandatory mortgage amortization on apartment prices. In addition, we examined the effect on apartment demand preferences. For this purpose, we created indices of apartment prices using traditional hedonic models. We applied the spatial model in estimating a zone level apartment price index. With the created indices, we studied the effect on apartment prices by using the traditional panel data method. The propensity score model was used to analyze the effect of the decision on the property prices. We applied different time periods as the event window (quarter, 2 quarters, 1 year, 2 years). Finally, we tested several cut-off time points. We found no effect of the Riksbank decision on apartment prices, however we found a change in apartment preferences.

The present study aims to explore online shopping of groceries across generation cohorts in Sweden during Covid-19, particularly regarding the oldest generation cohort – the Dutifuls (born 1945 or earlier). The data were collected through three large surveys, representative for the Swedish population in the age range 18 – 85. The field period for the first survey was September 17, 2018–January 21, 2019 (N = 1,754). The field period for the second survey was April 14 – June 28, 2020 (N = 2,501). The field period for the third survey was September 20 – December 30, 2021 (N = 1,588). Online grocery shopping in Sweden has increased remarkably since the outbreak of Covid-19, especially among the Dutifuls. However, the same generation cohort decreased their online shopping of groceries in the end of 2021. The findings are discussed in relation to limitations and practical implications. The decline of online shopping of groceries among the Dutifuls needs to be followed-up and explained by further research.

The aim is to investigate the value basis of Socially Responsible Retirement Investments (SRRI) in a study of Swedish pension investors in the age range 18 to 65 years (N=1005). Logistic regression analyses were performed with self-reported SRRI choice as dependent variable and different levels of values as independent variables. On a higher level of analyses, self-transcendent values, especially universalism (e.g., equality, protecting the environment, and social justice), have the most important influences on SRRI choice. In contrast, on a lower-level analysis, SRRI choice is influenced by self-enhancement values with high priority for authoritarian power and low priority for wealth. The three-level analysis of values (self-transcendence vs self-enhancement value orientation, motivational domain, and value) questions the contradiction between dimension poles of values and the structuring of values in interrelated motivational domains. The results thereby clarify some previous findings and increase the understanding of the value basis of SRRI.

In this chapter, one of the unique features with the Swedish governance system is dis-cussed, namely the large presence of controlling owners and the frequent usage of so-called control-enhancing mechanisms (CEMs), i.e., control devices that allows separation of ownership and control. The chapter is divided into four sections, where Section 1presents a theoretical background to agency conflicts in firms with concentrated ownership. Section 2 continues with defining commonly applied CEMs and provides data on the usage of CEMs in Sweden and other European countries. Section 3 reviews accounting-and finance-oriented research studies with evidence on the effects of CEMs in Sweden. Last, Section 4 discusses the challenges with an EU-level corporate governance system.