Overview

In the early 1990s the Nordic countries were considered to be in a serious situation. The costs of welfare states, generous unemployment benefits, high taxation rates, strong unions, and centralized wage bargaining were thought to be undermining their competitiveness in an age of rapid globalization. By 2005 however, they all ranked at the top of a number of performance indexes on economic competitiveness and sustainability. Citizens in the Nordic countries continue to participate in and benefit from globalization on a much wider scale than in any other similarly highly developed country, and these countries increasingly provide templates within the EU for imitation and social innovation. This book investigates how and why welfare services, active labour market institutions, and public policies were re-combined into enabling and risk-sharing mechanisms to stimulate innovation, and how this made it possible for firms to change their work organization and pursue highly rewarding and distinctive globalization strategies. Through detailed analysis of Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, this book reveals the dynamics and transformations of their national business systems, and the emerging new patterns of interaction between firms, labour markets, and institutions. It will be valuable addition to the literature on social innovation and institutional entrepreneurship.

Full Product Details

Author:   Peer Hull Kristensen (Professor, Copenhagen Business School) ,  Kari Lilja (Professor, Aalto University School of Economics)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 17.00cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 24.00cm
Weight:   0.536kg
ISBN:  

9780199655847

ISBN 10:   0199655847
Pages:   328
Publication Date:   24 May 2012
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Peer Hull Kristensen and Kari Lilja: Preface 1: Peer Hull Kristensen and Kari Lilja: The Co-evolution of Experimentalist Business Systems and Enabling Welfare States: Nordic Countries in Transition 2: Kari Lilja, Juha Laurila, and Raimo Lovio: Finland: Innovating the Global Positioning of Flagship Companies and Foreign Owned Subsidiaries 3: Peer Hull Kristensen, Maja Lotz, and Robson Rocha: Denmark: Tailoring Flexicurity for Changing Roles in Global Games 4: Eli Moen: Norway: Consolidating the Core of Raw Material Refinement and Integrating Peripheral Companies in Innovative Global Dynamics 5: Christer Peterson: Sweden: From Large Corporations towards Knowledge Intensive Economy 6: Peer Hull Kristensen: Developing Comprehensive, Enabling Welfare States for Offensive Experimentalist Business Practices

Reviews

This is an interesting book that presents very comprehensive research on developments in business systems and firm and employee behaviour in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden). It will be an important book for many researchers in international and comparative employment relations. * Erling Rasmussen (Auckland Uiversity of Technology, New Zealand) Journal of Industrial Relations * a marvelous collection of case studies showing how welfare policies in Nordic countries are co-evolving with increasingly open-ended, networked and continuously self-recomposing relations in the social economy. * Gary Herrigel, Socio-Economic Review *

This is an interesting book that presents very comprehensive research on developments in business systems and firm and employee behaviour in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden). It will be an important book for many researchers in international and comparative employment relations. Erling Rasmussen (Auckland Uiversity of Technology, New Zealand) Journal of Industrial Relations a marvelous collection of case studies showing how welfare policies in Nordic countries are co-evolving with increasingly open-ended, networked and continuously self-recomposing relations in the social economy. Gary Herrigel, Socio-Economic Review

a marvelous collection of case studies showing how welfare policies in Nordic countries are co-evolving with increasingly open-ended, networked and continuously self-recomposing relations in the social economy. Gary Herrigel, Socio-Economic Review

Author Information

Peer Hull Kristensen is Professor of the Sociology of Firms and Work Organization at the International Center for Business and Politics, Copenhagen Business School, where he is currently co-leading a World Class Initiative on Institutional Competitiveness. His research interest is the comparative study of national business systems, labour markets, the organization of multinational companies, and the ongoing mutations of capitalisms. His current focus is on how changing forms of work organization enable new firm strategies globally, and how this in turn is made possible by making novel use of institutions and creating novel institutional complementarities. He has published widely on this issues and his book with Jonathan Zeitlin, Local Players in Global Games: The Strategic Constitution of a Multinational Corporation is seen as significant contribution in international business studies. Dr Kari Lilja is Professor in Organization and Management at Aalto University School of Economics. He has been among the pioneers in setting up the research tradition of national business systems since the late 1980s. He has published in the areas of industrial relations, work organization and managerial work, internationalization of corporations, as well as in the comparative study of national business systems.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions