Articles/Chapters / Department of Business Administration
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Item Win, earn, gain: gamification in the history of retailing(2016) Cochoy, Franck; Hagberg, JohanItem Price display technologies and price ceiling policies: Governing prices in the WWII and Postwar US economy (1940-1953)(2021) Cochoy, Franck; Hagberg, Johan; Kjellberg, HansThis article explores the politics and technologies of price fixing and price display in US grocery stores in the midtwentieth century. Drawing on the literature on market devices and policy instruments, it complements previous studies focused on price setting processes by stressing the importance of price display. Through a systematic reading of the trade journal The Progressive Grocer the article shows how displaying prices during WWII and the postwar inflation period combined the mastery of Government authorities at the Federal level, and the expertise of retail professionals at the shelf level. It demonstrates that the regulation of prices is linked to mundane policies, technologies and practices, in particular the technique of “stereoscopic prices” aimed at linking a reference price (the ceiling price set by the government) and the selling price (the actual price set by the retailer). Such technologies proved able to reinvent prices and price competition through their “bifurcated agency”, i.e. their propensity to both enact the scripts delegated to them (conveying price ceilings) and produce major side effects, like generalizing the practice of price display and linking prices to new values and qualitative dimensions of grocery products.Item The ethno-graphy of prices: on the fingers of the invisible hand (1922-1947)(2018) Cochoy, Franck; Hagberg, Johan; Kjellberg, HItem Digitalizing consumption: Introduction(2017) Cochoy, Franck; Hagberg, Johan; Petersson McIntyre, Magdalena; Sörum, NiklasItem An ethnography of Electronic Shelf Labels. The resisted digitization of prices in contemporary supermarkets(2017) Soutjis, Bastien; Cochoy, Franck; Hagberg, JohanContemporary retail markets have experienced and are experiencing an important digitization shift in the form of computers and associated technologies. Among a large array of digital innovations, Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs) deserve particular attention. ESLs, despite their long history and many benefits, have not become ubiquitous. The purpose of this paper is to account for this “resisted evolution” of digitized prices. It draws theoretically upon science and technology studies, infrastructure studies, market studies, and previous literature on price representations in retailing. It draws empirically on a combination of ethnographic and historical methods. The paper shows that ESLs do not replace paper prices, but, rather, work together with them: on one hand, they compete to represent prices with their respective features, and on the other, they co-operate in order to reinforce the visibility and attractiveness of products and promotions.Item The technologies of price display: mundane retail price governance in the early twentieth century(2018) Cochoy, Franck; Hagberg, Johan; Kjellberg, HansHow are everyday retail pricing practices and devices linked to large-scale, market wide movements in retail prices? This paper investigates how the development and spread of seemingly insignificant price display technologies in US grocery retailing related to the development of US food prices at large during the interwar years (1918-1939). We find that the development of these new technologies (e.g., preprinted price cards, price tags, and price mouldings) afforded new retail pricing practices (e.g., price cutting, specials, and bundles). This development both fed off and contributed to the periods of intense price competition that marked the development of US food prices in the studied period. We conclude that price formation mechanisms are historically situated socio-technical phenomena rather than the product of abstract and historically constant market forces. As such, well-working markets hinge on the efforts of a wide range of market actors to continuously test the contextualization of particular price mechanisms and develop alternative solutions to overcome the shortcomings that such reflexive efforts are able to establish.Item Managing leaks: Shoplifting in US grocery retailing 1922-1969(2017) Hagberg, Johan; Kjellberg, Hans; Cochoy, FranckThe purpose of this paper is to further develop the general program of managing overflows by attending to the managing of leaks. Specifically, the paper explores efforts to manage the problem of shoplifting in US grocery retailing during the period 1922-1969. The study identifies three different yet interrelated ways of managing leaks: identifying, preventing, and caulking leaks. Each of these rests on a combination of skills and devices as well as on efforts to align with the other ways of managing leaks and routinize them as part of ordinary retail operations. By providing an analysis of leaks management the paper proposes a theoretical and empirical complement to the research program on managing overflows, which has pItem Exploring the Performativity of Marketing: Theories, Practices and Devices(2015) Mason, Katy; Kjellberg, Hans; Hagberg, JohanItem The impact of student feedback on teaching in higher education(2017) Flodén, JonasReceiving feedback from students has become a normal part of life for university teachers worldwide. This puts pressure on them from several sides and may be an influential factor that leads them to tailor their teaching to students’ preferences. The aim of this study was to investigate teachers’ perceptions of student feedback and how it affects their teaching choices. A survey was sent out to all teachers at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The study found that student feedback is perceived positively by university teachers, has a large impact on their teaching and helps improve courses. Student feedback pushes teaching in the direction of fewer lectures and more tutorials, seminars and case studies. Teachers receiving negative student feedback experience more negative feelings related to the feedback, and are also more likely to introduce unjustified changes to their teaching in order to please students. These teachers also tend to have less teaching experience. However, a very large majority of teachers have a high level of professional pride and integrity and do not make (as they perceive them) unjustified changes to their teaching.Item Comment on the IASB Discussion Paper . “Preliminary Views on Revenue Recognition in Contracts with Customers”(2009-09-21T07:58:25Z) Marton, Jan; Wagenhofer, AlfredItem Bundling and diffusion of management accounting innovations— the case of the balanced scorecard in Sweden(Elsevier, 2005) Ax, Christian; Björnenak, Trond; Björnenak, T. Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Helleveien 30, N-5045 Bergen, NorwayMost changes in accounting are the direct or indirect consequences of diffusion processes. A study of how management accounting innovations are being adjusted and bundled together with other ideas to facilitate entry into new markets may help us to a better understanding of the popularity and adoption of management accounting practices. The present study looks at the communication, diffusion and transformation of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) in Sweden from a supply side perspective. The high interpretative viability (Benders and van Veen, 2001) of the BSC allows for different interpretations and uses of the concept that could potentially increase the supply side effect in the diffusion process, e.g. by including elements that reduce barriers and resistance to change. We have identified three elements that the propagators of the BSC include in their Swedish BSC package, in order to make the innovation more attractive to a potential Swedish adopter market.Item Human capital disclosures and management practices(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2008) Ax, Christian; Marton, JanPurpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between annual report human capital disclosures and human capital management practices. Methodology - The paper used two sets of data. Disclosure data was collected from annual reports. Data on management practices was collected by e-mail questionnaire. 16 of the most traded companies on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (SSE) were included in the study. Findings - Results indicated that there is limited association between the two sets of data. Even though the association was significant on an aggregate level, more detailed testing showed no systematic associations. There was, however, a significant association between internal management practices and companies’ perceived importance of disclosure, even though this was not reflected in actual disclosure. Research limitations – The most important limitations of the study are that it was based on a small non-random sample of companies from only one country and used annual report disclosures from a single year. Also, the study focuses on quantity rather than quality of disclosures. Originality - A feature of previous research is that it tends to focus on human capital (intellectual capital) from either an external or internal perspective. This study is the first that links human capital annual report disclosure and internal human capital management practices.Item The Impact of Competition and Uncertainty on the Adoption of Target Costing(Elsevier, 2008) Ax, Christian; Greve, Jan; Nilsson, Ulf; Greve, J. Swedish Business School at Örebro University, SE-701 82 Örebro, Sweden; Nilsson, U. Faculty of Management, Sabanci University, Orhanli Tuzla, 349 56 Istanbul, TurkeyIn recent years factors which may influence firms´ decisions to adopt target costing have been presented in the literature. These studies generally argue that target costing adoption rates positively correlate with the intensity of competition and perceived environmental un-certainty. However, empirical support for this view is limited. This study argues that the adoption of target costing positively correlates with the intensity of competition, but nega-tively correlates with perceived environmental uncertainty. In addition, perceived environ-mental uncertainty moderates the adoption of target costing when the intensity of competition intensifies. Hypotheses are generated and tested using data provided by a web-based survey of Swedish manufacturing firms. The findings indicate that the adoption of target costing and the intensity of competition positively relate, although the effect reduces with an increase in perceived environmental uncertainty. There is no evidence of a direct relationship between perceived environmental uncertainty and the adoption of target costing. As a result, the find-ings partly conflict with the outcomes of earlier work. The article also discusses the implica-tions for research and firm managers considering the adoption of target costing.Item Intertwined Coordination Mechanisms in Interorganizational Relationships with Dominated Suppliers(Elsevier, 2008) Cäker, MikaelContemporary business society shows many examples of industrial customers that manage their smaller, dependent suppliers by using bureaucratic mechanisms. The restrictions these control processes put on the suppliers´ freedom to act have not been recognized in most studies within the field. The purpose of this article is to provide an understanding of how bureaucratic mechanisms interrelate with social mechanisms in coordinating interorganizational processes where the customer has a dominating role in the market. The article is based on observations with complementary interviews of relationships between an industrial customer and two of its suppliers. Dominated suppliers in power-based business relations may see the role of bureaucratic mechanisms as primarily protecting the relationship. A strong argument for interorganizational coordination lies in the need for different capabilities to manage dissimilar activities. However, if the dominated actors prioritize protecting the relationship over striving for efficiency, the dominating organization will be alone in deciding on the agenda for interorganizational control. Social coordination mechanisms may to some extent create flexibility in rigid bureaucratic control mechanisms. However, although social mechanisms may have the potential to enable bureaucratic mechanisms to be shunned temporarily, they are less helpful in changing the agenda of bureaucratic control. Further research is suggested on how local concerns can be included in dominating actors´ process of setting agendas for interorganizational control.Item The purchaser-provider split in principle and practice : experiences from Sweden(Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2004) Siverbo, Sven