Browsing by Author "Lillthors, Jessica"

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    Regional integration – changes & challenges. A case study of Bulgaria in the perspective of Swedish manufacturing TNCs
    (2014-08-12) Jackne, Malin; Lillthors, Jessica; University of Gothenburg/Department of Business Administration; Göteborgs universitet/Företagsekonomiska institutionen
    This thesis aims to explain how foreign TNCs have been affected by a country’s integration into the EU, with a focus on production networks. The research question that will be answered concerns how Bulgaria’s entry into the EU has changed the structure of Swedish manufacturing TNCs’ production networks. To conduct this, a sub-question is added with the aim to research the changes and challenges in seven chosen dimensions of the Bulgarian business environment. These are: Trade, infrastructure, legislation, competitors, corruption, unregistered firms and labour. The four selected companies in the study are ABB, SKF, Trelleborg and Volvo Trucks. We will conduct the research through a qualitative method with comprehensive case studies including interviews. Bulgaria's EU membership has increased the trade and developed the infrastructure, which has affected the TNCs in a positive way. The product and security legislation has become stricter and the competitive environment has increased, though this has not affected the TNCs to a major degree due to their size and international setting. However, there have been implications of a process towards Brain Drain in Bulgaria since the country entered the EU. Bulgaria´s business environment is moreover still very politically unstable, where corruption and unregistered firms continue to affect the Swedish manufacturing companies’ affairs in the country. After analysing the changes in the business environment, a trend of regionalism has been discovered concerning the location choice of production networks. China has lost its competitiveness as a country for low-cost production, in favour of Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria.
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    Will They Stay or Will They Go? The role of HR practices for the creation of voluntary employee turnover
    (2016-09-20) Alenvret, Sara; Lillthors, Jessica; University of Gothenburg/Graduate School; Göteborgs universitet/Graduate School
    Voluntary employee turnover is an issue that has received extensive attention among top management and human resource professionals. As a response to this problem, organizations develop various HR practices that aim to enhance the retention attitudes among employees. In particular, retaining employees is argued to be crucial within the management consulting sector, which is a knowledge-intensive industry. Although, a gap has been found in previous research, concerning the investigation of the issue of voluntary employee turnover despite the presence of HR practices. Furthermore, there is a lack of research within the field of voluntary employee turnover that investigates this process in practice. The purpose of this study has been to investigate the role of HR practices for the creation of voluntary employee turnover within a management consulting firm. This article is based on a case study conducted at a business area within a Swedish management consulting firm that experiences a high level of voluntary employee turnover, despite the use of HR practices. The result indicates that HR practices, through their use in practice, not only are the solution but could also be a contributing cause to the creation of voluntary employee turnover, due to both an including and excluding character.