Browsing by Author "Rimmel, Gunnar"

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Grinding the Blade of Competition - Beyond Knowledge Management in the Pharmaceutical Industry
(2000) Rimmel, Gunnar; Department of Business Administration
Human Resource Disclosures
(2003) Rimmel, Gunnar; Department of Business Administration
ABSTRACT Although several corporations proclaim their employees as being thecorporation’s most valuable resource, only a few corporations have utilised models and concepts of measuring human resources in their corporate annualreports. In the ongoing academic debate, human resource disclosures are often described and thought of as problematic due to the limited understanding of such information. The debate about insufficient understanding and the resulting information gap between users and providers is taken by this dissertation as a starting point. The overall research purpose in this study is to describe the practice of voluntary information on human resources in corporate annual reports by the comparison of the findings on justification, disclosure and utilisation. In the current academic debate, proposals have been made to study the information content on human resources, providers or users of information together in order to obtain deeper understanding. Accordingly, this dissertation introduces a tripartite model of human resource disclosure practice to study information, providers and users. A subset of three research questions examines the amount of voluntary disclosures in corporate annual reports, why human resource disclosures are provided and how users utilise voluntary information on human resources. To answer the research questions a combination of methods is used to obtain the empirical data. The amount of voluntary disclosure in corporate annual reports is found through the application of a disclosure scoreboard. The users, being represented by analysts, and the providers, who are representatives from two corporations, were interviewed. A comparative case study approach was chosen to obtain a deeper understanding of the research questions. Two case corporations have been chosen. One corporation is regarded as being experienced and the second corporation as being inexperienced with the measurement, evaluation and reporting of intangible assets. The findings from this dissertation indicate that both corporations provide a considerable amount of voluntary disclosure in corporate annual reports.During the five-year period of analysis, the experienced corporation’s leading position in voluntary disclosure disappears. Both corporations provide human resource disclosures, as they regard them as being an important aspect in illustrating their corporations. Furthermore, it is shown that the inexperienced corporation provides more disclosures about their employees than the experienced corporation. The users regard human resource disclosures as important information as they contribute to the overall impression of a corporation. Still, the comparative analyses indicate that the human resource disclosures of both corporations do not fully meet users expectations. The users find it difficult to analyse the human resource disclosures for a single corporation over a longer time-span as well as to compare the information provided by both corporations.
Human Resource Disclosures - A Comparison of Information, Providers and Users in Two Corporations
(2003) Rimmel, Gunnar; Department of Business Administration
Abstract: This paper is concerned with the relationship between information, providers and users of human resources disclosure in advanced annual reporting practice. Opposing prior disclosure research the focus of this study is not plainly limited to the pure amount of disclosure about human resource information made in corporate annual reports. The centre of attention is also to analyse and compare users’ perception of voluntarily disclosed information on human resources with providers’ intentions of making human resource information publicly available. Thus, it is aimed to establish a picture about human resource disclosures in annual reporting practice. Until now, there is no study available offering a multifaceted illustration on human resource disclosure. A comprehensive review of previous disclosure literature showed that information, providers and users have been studied separately. This study combines different aspects of prior research by applying a tripartite model studying information, providers and users together. The primary purpose of this research is to describe the practice of voluntary information on human resources in corporate annual reports by the comparison of the findings on justification, disclosure and utilisation. The results from this study contribute to better understanding, possibly reducing deficiencies between providers and users of voluntarily human resources disclosures.
Intelligent Software Agents: Implications for Marketing in eCommerce
(1999) Runte, Matthias; Clement, Michel; Rimmel, Gunnar; Department of Business Administration
The potential for the efficient and effective organization of market processes by using interactive media is hardly used. Intelligent software agents represent one of most interesting the innovative technologies under economical criteria. This article shows how supplier can use software agents for the individualization and automation of their marketing instruments applied. The use of methods from artificial intelligence enables agents to learn. Thus the automatic optimization of the marketing instruments becomes possible to satisfy massive individualized needs of the demander. Moreover it is outlined, which effect the supplier’s use of software agent has on the buying behavior of the demander. Interaction effects are considerated, which develop, if demander likewise use software agents for the support of their purchase process. This article shows that software agents increase the effectiveness and efficiency of market processes on several levels of the Consumer Buying Behavior Model.
Knowledge-as-Action and Knowledge Development
(2000) Rimmel, Gunnar; Diedrich, Andreas; Department of Business Administration
This paper takes a critical look at the way in which knowledge development programmes are constructed by management in organisations. It is suggested that even though an increasing number of individuals in charge of human resource management is realising that knowledge development is not only concerned with the spreading of information, the difficulties arise when theory has to be put into practice. The paper is a pilot study for a larger project on knowledge development in mergers and acquisitions and is based on the empirical material collected by means of open-ended interviews with human resource managers at 11 large Swedish multinational corporations over a period of roughly half a year. Above all, we will argue that managers can explicate their novel thoughts on knowledge management, but when knowledge development is implemented in organisations, they act within the confines of their existing understanding of reality which is based on modernistic ideals of abstract, expert knowledge and rational tools of making the world more transparent.
MANAGING THE SOFT SIDE OF MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING
(1999) Rimmel, Gunnar; Lundahl, Lennart; Schiller, Stefan; Department of Business Administration
Reputation Management in CSR reports - mapping theoretical perspectives
(2010) Grahovar, Marina; Rimmel, Gunnar
From a societal point of view environmental accounting can fill the role of information- provider in the struggle for sustainability. On the one hand, CSR reporting is used by companies to account for their social and environmental responsibility. On the other hand, CSR reporting is used by companies to manage their reputation. The purpose of this study is to make a theoretical overview of what theories are used for explaining how companies’ respond to external pressure by using CSR reporting as a mean to manage their reputation. Therefore, a map over theories is developed to illustrate how ideas within theories developed and how theories connect to each other. This overview is used outline essences from different theoretical perspectives used to describe and explain the use of CSR reports as an instrument for responding to external pressure and managing corporate responsibility. This paper is a work in progress starting to map out theoretical perspectives dealing with corporate social disclosure in general and reputation management through corporate social disclosure in particular. How a unified assumption is dealt with through different theoretical approaches is discussed. It is argued that the emphasis of different theories provides different explanations which can be used to drive research in the field from different theoretical approaches.
The Danish Guidelines on Intellectual Capital Reporting Towards A European Perspective on Human Resource Disclosures?
(2004) Persson, Oskar; Lindstrii, Emma; Blom, Pontus; Rimmel, Gunnar; Department of Business Administration
Currently, many academics assert that although several companies proclaim their employees as the company’s most valuable resource only a few companies have utilised models and concepts of measuring human resources in their corporate annual reports. Various studies of the users of such information indicate a substantial difference between the type of information that corporations issue in their annual reports and the type of information that is demanded by the users of such reports. Since the concept of intellectual capital became a hot topic for management and accounting practitioners, the interest in reporting voluntary information about corporations’ human resources has increased. In the early days of the IC movement the interest in reporting intellectual capital was widely driven by individual corporate attempts. Denmark might be an exception to the rule as the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation sponsored a joint project by accounting researchers and corporations to develop guidelines to report intellectual capital. The focal point of this paper derives from a case study of five Danish corporations that issue intellectual capital statements that are prepared according to this reporting guideline. The paper discusses how these five corporations actually report intellectual capital and how such reports can be used for comparison over years within as well as across corporations. As there is currently a lack of standardisation on reporting intellectual capital and voluntary disclosure about human resources, the paper provides a discussion of the opportunities and threats for European member states were they to apply the Danish guidelines for intellectual capital reporting.
The Practice of Human Resource Disclosures - Some Evidence from Information, Providers and Users
(2002) Rimmel, Gunnar; Department of Business Administration
This paper is concerned with the relationship between information, providers and users of human resources disclosure in advanced annual reporting practice. Opposing prior disclosure research the focus of this study is not plainly limited to the pure amount of disclosure about human resource information made in corporate annual reports. The centre of attention is also to analyse and compare users’ perception of voluntarily disclosed information on human resources with providers’ intentions of making human resource information publicly available. Thus, it is aimed to establish a picture about human resource disclosures in annual reporting practice. Until now, there is no study available offering a multifaceted illustration on human resource disclosure. A comprehensive review of previous disclosure literature showed that information, providers and users have been studied separately. This study combines different aspects of prior research by applying a tripartite model studying information, providers and users together. The primary purpose of this research is the attempt to expand empirical knowledge about human resource disclosure practice by applying a new approach to existing research. The results from this study contribute to better understanding, possibly reducing deficiencies between providers and users of voluntarily human resources disclosures.
Users' Perception of Human Resource Disclosures - A Comparison of Annual Report Users of Two Corporations
(2004) Rimmel, Gunnar; Department of Business Administration
This paper is concerned with users’ perception of human resources disclosure in corporate annual reports. The disclosure of intangibles and human resource disclosure in particular, are often described and thought of as problematic due to the researchers’ limited understanding of such information. The debate about the insufficient understanding and the resulting information gap is taken by this study as a starting point. In the centre of attention is to analyse and compare users' perception of voluntarily disclosed information on human resources that is made available in corporate annual reports. Thus, it is aimed to establish a picture about users’ perception of human resource disclosures in annual reporting practice. Until now, there is no study available offering a multifaceted illustration on human resource disclosure. Consequently, the primary purpose of this research is to describe users’ perception of voluntary information on human resources in corporate annual reports. Therefore, the results from this study will contribute to a better understanding of users’ perception of voluntarily disclosed human resources information. Accordingly, this study will contribute to the knowledge about corporate voluntary disclosure practices that may assist to reduce possible deficiencies between providers and users of voluntary human resources disclosures as well as between companies.
Winning Future Warfare: Knowledge Management's Role for Competitive Advantage
(2000) Rimmel, Gunnar; Department of Business Administration