Capital investments in the public sector counts for large amount of spending every year and municipalities have a responsibility to allocate resources both cost effective and efficiently in order to achieve societal benefit for the citizens. Well-prepared assessment data and a structured and stable project routine should therefore be expected to form an important basis for investment project assessment. Based on previous studies however, uniform investment assessment decision logic has not been clearly identified and thoroughly explained. Previous research on municipality organizations shows even the existence of parallel, sometimes contradicting decision logics. Capital investments in municipal organizations can therefore be concluded as a still relatively undiscovered, but important knowledge area within the investment field, both from a theoretical and practical viewpoint.

This study can thus be seen as an in depth case study trying to further line out and explain investment practice documented in the previous research and focus on how investment decisions are conducted and related to how the propulsion process of new investments are organized in Swedish municipal organizations. The overall purpose with the study is to increase the understanding and explanations on how Swedish municipalities use assessment data for initiation, integration and decision making of large projects, in the light of the different decision logics that seem to be prevalent in the investments practice of municipal organizations.

We examine capital investment practice for large infrastructure projects undertaken by local governments. Our study contributes to the existing literature by addressing the field theoretically from both decision- and process-based investment approaches and by using multiple research methods, both qualitative and quantitative, in search of empirical evidence of investment practice in Sweden. Our results confirm the large spread of financial and non-financial criteria used to evaluate new projects. Local governments that have adopted New Public Management largely use more sophisticated capital investment routines and methods. We contribute with added granularity to capital investment practices in local governments, characterized by diverse and sometimes conflicting decision rationales in terms of financial, operational, and political considerations. The investment practice reveals a complex, competitive, and "messy" picture with potential effects and consequences.

The purpose of this paper is to explore capital investment practices in Swedish local governments, outline some critical issues of the resource allocation process and also to reveal the behind rationales used for and influencing decision making of large tangible investment projects. Through a survey to all 290 Swedish local governments, in combination with interviews in two municipalities, the resource allocation process is mapped and analyzed.

Our results confirm and support the existing literature in the area of capital investment practice in local governments, in terms of the large spread of financial- and non-financial criteria used in the process of evaluating new projects. Additionally, we find support for the fact that local governments which have adopted New Public Management to a larger extent also tend to use more sophisticated capital investment routines and methods. 

The main contribution with this study is added granularity about capital investment practices in local governments in general and more in depth insights about the tension in use of diverse and conflicting decision rationales. These rationales that exists in the municipalities during the resource allocation process are financial-, operational-, and political. Altogether, the capital investment practice in Swedish local governments reveals a complex and even messy picture.

In conclusion this research also provides additional insight to some potential inclination effects and consequences of today´s capital investment practice in local governments and agencies.

Lean production (LP) has been the dominant production rhetoric for the last couple of decades but there is limited and ambiguous knowledge concerning the impacts of how LP practices influences the working environment conditions. Drawing from prior research (i.e. Håkansson, et al., 2017; Saurin and Ferreira, 2009; Conti, et al. 2006) we add granularity through in-depth empirical studies to the field and provide evidence for both positive and negative impact of the use of LP on the perceived working environment conditions among employees in the manufacturing sector. Through in-depth interviews with managers and production workers, and a survey to non-managers in three manufacturing companies in the southern part of Sweden.  

The results confirm existing literature in that we find workers in mature LP-organizations consider their working conditions to be generally good but challenging and that workers feel empowered and motivated when working in a LP context. The study add to prior knowledge in that LP also have less positive effects on the working environment conditions which is seen primarily through high level of stress and weak communication patterns.

We conclude that improvement work, when properly done, gradually strengthen the working conditions, and the need for worker empowerment in the improvement work process is crucial. Furthermore, when LP is perceived to be top-down from the managers, the overall perception is rather negative from a worker perspective and several of the advertised benefits from LP are never experienced among members of the organization.

Our study contributes to further connecting the Operations Management and Human Resource Management concerning the practice of LP and the impact it has on the perceived working environment conditions.

This thesis deals with investment issues in connection to growth and expansion related decision processes in small and medium-sized manufacturing companies. It focuses primarily on the empirical knowledge about the structure of the companies’ investments, the processes involved, and the investment behavior in this type of company. The Swedish sub-contracting companies and the manufacturing industry in general are facing new structural changes. There is also a clear trend towards fewer, but larger and more skilled, suppliers. These changes implies for instance that small and medium-sized manufacturing companies are facing dramatically increased demands with considerable and growing needs for investments. 

The development of an empirically grounded framework for investments in small and medium-sized manufacturing companies is an important part of this study’s conceptual contribution. The analysis points out the general importance of projects named super investments. This means large investments with great financial and strategic impact and which significantly affect the companies risk exposure. These projects has also proved to be of significant influential importance on the companies overall investment planning process. 

The results also shows that changes in the internal and external environments tend to influence the companies’ investments, with respect to both the initiation of new investment projects, the progression of these projects, and the management of and principles for decision-making in the form of analysis and investment logic. In short, the present study contributes with knowledge about the investment process by providing an overall picture of how decisions about investments are made in small and medium-sized manufacturing companies.  The study indicates that it is important to consider both conceptual and more practically oriented conditions related to the work of developing and finding suitable investment routines.

Föreliggande studie är en del i det utredningsarbete som EU Programkontor Mål 4 gjort kring Kronobergs län och framtidsförutsättningarna för fortsatt utveckling och expansion.

 Att på ett systematiskt sätt analysera en region och dess förutsättningar skapar en bra grund för beslut som på olika sätt påverkar framtiden. Vi har i detta arbete genomfört en omfattande såväl teoretisk som empirisk studie kring tillväxtförutsättningarna i Kronobergs län.

 Studien syftar explicit till att ”att identifiera relevanta faktorer som på kort och medellång sikt påverkar företagens konkurrenskraft” så att behov av framtida insatser för utbildning och kompetens­utveckling bättre kan preciseras och planeras.

This thesis deals primarily with the relationship between investments in working environment and the outcome and apprehended effects of these investment activities in small firms. A main concern in this aspect is what effects investments in working environment might have on efficiency in the companies. Another area of focus in this thesis is whether and to what extent external subsidies affect attitudes and investment behaviour, as well as stimulate change and development activities in small firm? The thesis is based on a study of planning and appre­hended effects of investments in working environment whithin the context of the Swedish Workinglife Fund. The Swedish Workinglife Fund was established in 1989 to stimulate investments in areas such as organizational development, competency formation, rehabilitation and physical equipment and machinery in order to improve the working environment in companies and different public organisations. In order to investigate the questions of this study two emprical studies has been conducted. The results from these studies indicate that investments with an ambition to improve the working environment in many cases created opportunities for increased economic efficiency and that projects with a comprehensive approach tends to have the greatest potential. The study also indicates marginal use of formal investment appraisal methods (including pay-back) in the decision process. Finally the results indicate that subsidies tend to fasten (push) the starting point and making each project more comprehensive in terms of size and complexity. 

Föreliggande studie är en del av det mycket omfattande utrednings- och utvärderingsarbete som behandlar Arbetslivsfondens (ALF) verksamhet ur olika perspektiv och infallsvinklar och som också initierats av fonden.

 Att kontinuerligt utvärdera och samla erfarenheter om arbetsmiljöfrågor samt relaterade områden, för att på så sätt bygga upp en kunskap för nutida och framtida användning i praktiken och som underlag för vidare forskning, var i själva verket en väsentlig del av Arbetslivsfondens uppgifter.

 Detta arbete som syftar till att studera ALF:s effekter i småföretag är en del av det mycket omfattande forsknings- och utredningsarbete som bedrivits vid Centrum för Småföretagsutveckling (CS), vid Ekonomihögskolan i Växjö, sedan tillkomsten 1981.