Danish Companies Research Articles

With a little coping from my friends: a case study of voice, manager response and collective coping in an organisational context

Although research has established the importance of employee voice on job performance, turnover, and job satisfaction, little is known about the impact of voice, particularly group voice, on collective coping. Thus, this study examines the interplay between group voice, managerial responses, and collective coping practices among groups of employees over time. This case study was conducted at two units of a large Danish company, involving worksite observations as well as individual and group interviews over five months. The findings demonstrate that managerial response to voice combined with the prevailing group voice/silence climate impacts collective coping practices. Specifically, a group voice climate combined with managerial openness to voice leads to collective action. In contrast, a lack of managerial openness results in collective resignation, and a group silence climate with managerial unresponsiveness leads to collective adjustment to workplace challenges. Implications to theory and practice are discussed.

The effect of organizational learning on business sustainability – the role of distributed leadership

Purpose The paper aims to investigate the importance of leadership – distributed leadership (DL) – for the relationship between organizational learning (OL) and business sustainability (BS). Design/methodology/approach Extensive literature research was carried out to investigate the relationship among leadership, OL and BS. Two theoretical frameworks of the relationship among DL, OL and BS were formulated and tested on the basis of the empirical studies conducted in 694 Polish and Danish companies. The moderated multiple regression and mediation analysis were used. Findings In-depth, critical literature analysis has shown that the theoretical foundation of the relationship between leadership and BS is limited and not empirically verified. However, the empirical study has revealed a positive, statistically significant effect of DL on both OL and BS and the mediating role of OL on the relationship between DL and BS (a partial and complimentary mediation). Research limitations/implications It would be valuable to simultaneously consider other leadership types (beyond DL) in terms of their impact on OL and BS. Additionally, due to the nature of BS challenges and the specificity of DL, other factors influencing BS should be included for a more profound understanding of the relationships under investigation. Finally, additional contextual factors need to be taken into account. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the paper is one of the first studies that present the relationship between OL and BS with reference to factors influencing BS, i.e. leadership. The value of the paper is the development of two alternative models of the relationship among DL, OL and BS and their verification through large-scale empirical cross-country research. Furthermore, the results obtained in the course of the research open up new research directions with respect to the development of the concept of sustainable leadership and deepen the knowledge of the relationship between leadership types and OL.

A Causality Perspective: Investments in Green Energy Business vs. Conventional Business

Abstract At the level of the European Union numerous sustainability programs are being created. Considering these the main role f the research is to explore the potential of green energy production along with its limitations. Studies have found that by combining multiple sources of green energy and harnessing technological advances, there is the possibility to believe that one can reduce human’s dependence on fossil fuels. The aim of this study is to create a stock market analysis in order to identify future investment trends by assessing whether there is greater interest in investing in renewable electricity companies. The current paper explores the impact of investing in renewable electricity companies versus investing in the stock market of fossil fuel-based energy companies. The dataset includes closing stock price data for two major companies, one of which is the British-Dutch company SHELL.L Global (known in the oil industry as well as the energy sector) and the other company is Vestas Wind Systems (a Danish company that manufactures wind turbines for renewable energy parks around the world). This dataset covers the period 3rd of January 2011 to 24th of November 2023 and is used together with time series statistical tests. The purpose is to highlight the main objective of this article: to demonstrate through Granger causality whether investment in the renewable electricity market affects investment in the conventional energy market. This result will shed light on whether long-term investments in fossil fuel-based businesses are worth investors’ attention going forward. While the major purpose of the paper is the research mentioned above, there is also a secondary objective, that of carrying out a descriptive analysis of the two listed companies and their evolution in order to identify the key periods that led to significant fluctuations in the series temporal.

A Showcase for Resilient and Sustainable District Heating in Denmark

This presentation gives a description of the Danish district heating company, Hvide Sande District Heating, which has become independent of fossil fuels by using wind and solar energy. This has resulted in lower consumer heating prices in a time when other fossil fueled district heating plants are raising their heating prices due to higher fossil fuel prices.Besides participating in the Day-ahead market it also participates in the balancing markets.Hvide Sande is a small fishing town. The district heating plant provides heat to 1,700 consumers. From being a natural gas fired Combined Heat and Power plant, it has in recent years become more resilient by investing in a solar collector, wind turbines, a heat pump, an electrical boiler as well as more large thermal storages, and is now independent of natural gas.The two thermal storages of 2,000 m3 and 1,200 m3, respectively, can store around 200 MWh-heat, which allows flexible market-based productions of the different production units. The heat delivered to consumers can thus be produced many hours or days before delivery.Even in the Day-ahead market, the market-based productions are a challenge to plan. Because of the large thermal storages, the manager must look more days ahead as well as consider the heat amount in the thermal storages, when deciding the hourly bids for tomorrow. Biddings are based on forecasts more days ahead of wind velocity, solar radiation, ambient temperatures, and Day-ahead prices.Besides participating in the Day-ahead market it also participates in the balancing markets. However, to take advantage across more electricity markets of this flexibility, a vast digitalization of the plant using advanced bidding methods has been required. This presentation illustrates examples of the daily earnings the plant has had participating across more electricity markets. It is also important that the manager maintains a digital twin of the plant. The digital twin of the plant will in this presentation be used for simulating the resilience of the plant against large changes in electricity prices and fuel prices.

Strategic communication in contexts of high sustainability pressure: balancing purposefulness, transparency and participation in pursuit of organizational legitimacy

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to: (1) identify strategies to (re)establish organizational legitimacy which dominates the literature; (2) propose and empirically illustrate an analytical framework that establishes the linkages between the dimensions of purposefulness, transparency and participation identified in this literature review as important resources in the creation of organizational legitimacy.Design/methodology/approachBased on a review of the academic literature, we propose a three-dimensional conceptual framework for understanding and studying strategic communication in contexts of high sustainability pressure. The empirical material we use for illustration is the letters from the chief executive officer (CEO) and the chairman published in the integrated annual report of a Danish company that is well known for its focus on sustainability.FindingsThe analysis shows that all three dimensions, i.e. purposefulness, transparency and participation, are present in this data, which the authors find supportive of the theoretical argument that strategic communication needs to encompass all three concepts in order to appear legitimate in contexts of high sustainability pressure.Originality/valueIn recent years, there has been an increased focus on strategic communication of sustainability. However, there is still a lack of general consensus of what is understood by strategic communication in contexts of high sustainability pressure. Overlapping concepts and dimensions make operationalization difficult. This, for example, is a problem for corporations who are increasingly asked by their stakeholders to account for their sustainability activities and engage in conversations of strategic significance to their sustainability goals.

Workplace Social Capital in the Development and Implementation of a Senior Policy

Senior policies have been introduced by many Danish companies with the intention of retaining senior employees, but implementation can be challenging and may create tension at the workplace.This study aims to explore how social capital at the workplace may support or counteract the development and implementation of senior policies. A qualitative case study approach was used to collect and analyze interview data from managers, union- and H&S representatives, and senior employees at eightheen workplaces.The analysis reveals that successful development and implementation of a senior policy rely on legitimacy, transparency, and involvement of relevant parties in the process, as well as a good fit between the policy and the companies’ structure for collaboration. Workplace social capital is discussed as a supporting factor for senior employee retention, and a reciprocal positive relationship between implementing senior policies and procedures and the social capital of the workplace is suggested.

Making Lexicography Sustainable: Using ChatGPT and Reusing Data for Lexicographic Purposes

In 2014, the International Centre for Lexicography, a research group at Valladolid signed a contract with Ordbogen A/S (a Danish language technology company) and the University of Valladolid for developing a lexicographic project, the so-called Diccionarios Valladolid-UVa (Fuertes-Olivera 2019, 2022a, 2022b; Fuertes-Olivera et al. 2018; Tarp and Fuertes-Olivera 2016). Each partner gave around €180,000 (the International Centre for Lexicography's contribution came from several research projects funded by the Spanish Research Agency), to be employed in the design and construction of Spanish dictionaries (in particular, a general dictionary of Spanish, a Spanish dictionary of accounting, a bilingual Spanish–English/English–Spanish dictionary and a bilingual Spanish–English/English–Spanish accounting dictionary). The above project has pro­duced several results, with the recent publication of the Diccionario Digital del Español (DIDES) its most relevant result (https://diesgital.com). Within the framework of these projects, this paper offers a general introduction of the project (Section 1), refers to the concept of sustainable lexicography (Section 2), indicates that sustainability lexicography implies a better understanding of lexico­graphic data (Section 3), and increasing lexicographic productivity, e.g., by crafting definitions for AI translations (Section 4) and using generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT in the day-to-day lexi­cographic work. Keywords: ChatGPT, DeepL Translate, DICCIONARIOS VALLADOLID-UVA, lexi­co­graphic productivity, sustainable lexicography, public funding, gen­era­tive AI

Between coping and resistance: Migrant networks and alternative forms of collectivism

The literature on migrant workers generally indicates limited worker collectivism. Based on a comparative study of two Danish platform companies, however, this article shows how digital migrant networks are a crucial social infrastructure in precarious working environments. Using a novel conceptual framework that differentiates between collective strategies of coping and resistance, we show that collective resistance can spring from migrant networks. This foregrounds an understanding of how collectivism underpinned by strong migrant networks can wax and wane, which broadens our understanding of collectivism as a dynamic practice. The study’s findings underscore the importance of political networks as a foundation for strategies of resistance, the value of network embeddedness, and the effects of particular migrant and employment characteristics on collective strategies.

The Role of Partnership Portfolios for Sustainability in Addressing the Stability-Change Paradox: Dong/Orsted’s Transition From Fossil Fuels to Renewables

This article investigates how firms address the stability-change paradox inherent in sustainability transitions through the maintenance and utilization of a portfolio of sustainability-oriented partnerships. Drawing on a retrospective case study of Dong/Ørsted, a Danish energy company, we demonstrate the varying manifestations of the stability-change paradox during different phases of the company’s transition, influenced by both exogenous and endogenous factors. Furthermore, our findings reveal how Dong/Ørsted employed their partnership portfolio to implement diverse responses to manage the paradox. Based on these findings, we argue that partnership portfolios can serve as spatiotemporal pockets, enabling organizations to effectively address and leverage the temporal and spatial aspects inherent in sustainability paradoxes. In addition, we highlight how partnership portfolios facilitate sustainability transitions by creating and leveraging different forms of collaborative value.

Selling the Scandinavian Ethos: Principal Marketing Strategies of Nordic Design Brands

This text presents and analyses the principal marketing strategies used by Danish, Swedish, and Finnish companies and describes the set of marketing messages characteristic of Scandinavian design brands. The most popular strategies involve geo-recognition, with sociolinguistic mechanisms that influence the names of companies and products and the self-description of brands. The contradictory issues of nobilitation and egalitarianism, which have a pivotal role in the advertising of specific products for different groups of recipients, are addressed. Co-branding, including image collaborations between brands operating in different sectors, and mass media influence (the leading tool of advertisement, through films, series, and TV commercials), are other strategies. Connections are established between design promotion and widely recognisable cultural phenomena, such as hygge or lagom. Analysis reveals that the main marketing strategies characteristic of the design brands of the North revolve around a multitude of connections to Scandinavian heritage and culture.

No-one left behind: An open access approach to estimating the carbon footprint of a Danish clothing company

The textile and garment industry has faced ongoing scrutiny for its environmental impacts, prompting pledges like the UN's Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action (FICCA) targeting net-zero emissions by 2050. Building on FICCA's report on sector limitations, this study introduces an action-oriented case study using a GHG Protocol compliant open-access emissions inventory of MASCOT, a Danish clothing company. We identify most emissions are found in scope 3 (85%), specifically purchased goods and services (76%). Yet, supplier-specific data is limited across global supply chains and often displays methodological inconsistencies. Establishing a common data language between buyer and seller must be achieved for decarbonisation and decision support. Open access databases supplement supplier gaps but often lack the resolution or consistency required for sector specific investigations and decision support. A need for open access standardized data emerges as a crucial first step toward net-zero, filling the sector's data gaps. This study has resulted in greater carbon literacy and data awareness within MASCOT and established a language for supplier-firm dialogue, however, the limitations ultimately prevent these findings from commercial use, as clear and structured methods are still lacking in the sector. For tangible progress, a collaborative sector-specific database is required, alongside structured and verified data exchanges between stakeholders. The CSRD and proposals such as the Digital Product Passport are expected to bring attention to these gaps and expedite progress, however, dedicated sector-specific working groups like FICCA will continue to be essential in driving the necessary focus and informed decarbonisation efforts.

How healthy are employee-related CSR initiatives: a mapping and discussion of applying health-related employee benefits as part of companies' CSR programs

PurposeThe aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of corporate health initiatives as part of CSR, and how and to what extent these initiatives are communicated in CSR reports.Design/methodology/approachThe study comprises two strands. First, a mapping of the extent and nature of health-related CSR initiatives among 11 selected Danish companies is developed, based on a qualitative email questionnaire. Next, the mapping serves as the framework for coding and analyzing CSR reports from 2018 to 2020 from 15 companies (45 in total).FindingsThe study provides a typology of the extent and nature of such CSR initiatives consisting of more than 50 types of health-related initiatives. Analysis of the CSR reports illustrates an increase in the explicit communication of employee health initiatives as well as the number of different categories applied over the three years.Practical implicationsThe study provides CSR managers with awareness about the extent and usage of employee health as part of corporate communication on CSR, including how such initiatives can be communicated in the CSR report. It also gives rise to carefully considering the potential negative implications for employees when planning health initiatives.Originality/valueThe study is the first of its kind to combine the perspectives of CSR and workplace health promotion to discuss the potential institutionalization of employee health as part of the corporate CSR program.

A game of futures: the strategy of scenarios in a Danish medical company

ABSTRACT While the future has gained increasing attention in organizational research, the minutiae and intricacies of how organizational actors produce and enact the future remain little explored. In this article, we present an ethnographic study of a future-making practice called ‘the strategy of scenarios’ in a Danish medical company. We propose the concept of technologies of prefiguration to capture how such practices prefigure the future so as to make it actionable. Our study shows that this unfolds as a ‘game of futures’ in which prefiguration depends not only on an outward orientation towards societal developments, but equally on an inward orientation towards the political economy of the organization. Although rational reasoning forms part of this game, futures are established and negotiated through arational techniques of enchantment focused on ‘selling futures’. This challenges rationalist ideas of future-making, demonstrating the heterogenous, more-than-rational processes and distinct organizational logics by which futures are shaped.

Sustainability assessment of new technologies using multi criteria decision making: A framework and application in sectioning end-of-life wind turbine blades

Decommissioned wind turbine blades are becoming a significant problem as they are made from composite material that is difficult to recycle. To solve this problem, sustainable end-of-life value chains are needed. Several significant processes of such value chains consist of the sectioning and pre-processing operations of the blades. Thus, the technologies for these operations must be identified and assessed using sustainable selection criteria. The aim of this study is to investigate how a multi criteria decision making analysis approach can assist and improve the process of assessing technologies through the lens of sustainability. For this purpose, this study proposes a three-step framework for sustainable decision making – 3-SuDeM, which presents a structured approach for how to manage the entire process of applying a multi criteria decision making analysis to an industrial case. The developed framework has been applied and validated in cooperation with a Danish waste management company who have years of experience in handling end-of-life waste. Four different technologies for cutting and sectioning end-of-life wind turbine blades are evaluated using the 3-SuDeM framework applying the method of technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution, and an excavator with a large diamond saw blade is identified as the preferred technology in the given case. The results conclude that the developed framework is both value adding to the practical selection of sectioning technology for blades and also adds to the literature on sustainable value chains, multi criteria decision making methodology and end-of-life wind turbine blades.

The Danish Supreme Court’s Decisions on Withholding Tax on Dividends and Interest

In this article, the author discusses the final decisions from January and May 2023 of the Danish Supreme Court in the Danish beneficial ownership cases. The Supreme Court ruled on the consequences of the ECJ preliminary rulings but also took a position on questions of principle on the interpretation of tax treaties and domestic Danish tax law. The Supreme Court ruled that the Danish companies were liable for Danish withholding tax.

Implementation fidelity of a smoke-free workplace intervention in a private medical company: A mixed-methods process evaluation.

Smoke-free workplaces are considered an important part of tobacco control strategies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate implementation fidelity and explore the significance of social and contextual factors for the implementation of a strict smoke-free workplace intervention in a large Danish medical company. The UK Medical Research Council's guidance for process evaluation was used as a framework. Data were collected from approximately six months before the implementation until ten months after (2019-2020). A mixed method study design was used (a survey of 398 employees, a focus group of four employees and field visits on two days). Data were analyzed separately and later integrated through triangulation. We used the Fisher's exact test in the analysis of the questionnaire. We assessed the implementation fidelity through four key factors: reach, dose and delivery, mechanisms of change, and context for the intervention components. Despite compliance issues, the policy component had high implementation fidelity. However, the implementation fidelity of the smoking cessation support component was low. We identified three social mechanisms influencing the employees' responsiveness towards the policy: expectation, the social aspect of the smoking facilities, and management leadership. COVID-19 was identified as the main contextual factor affecting the implementation. Although not all elements of the intervention components were implemented as planned, the strict smoke-free workplace intervention is considered implemented. Further strategies can be initiated to raise implementation fidelity through better communication concerning the cessation support component, compliance, and enforcement of the policy.

Supply chain resilience and absorptive capacity: crisis mitigation and performance effects during Covid-19

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships of supply chain resilience (SCR) and absorptive capacity (ACAP) with firm performance by specifically examining the crisis-mitigating effects under an environmental jolt such as COVID-19.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on data from a questionnaire survey among Danish manufacturing and transport and logistics companies with 174 respondents.FindingsWhile the adaptive capabilities associated with both SCR and ACAP are well recognized in extant SCM literature, less is known about their boundary conditions. Examining the functioning of SCR and ACAP amid the COVID-19 crisis, this study finds that both SCR and ACAP related positively to firm performance. However, while the positive relationship between SCR and firm performance was partly mediated by better crisis-mitigation, the results of this study did not find that a similar mechanism was present for ACAP. These results suggest notable refinements of current understandings of SCR and ACAP.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited by the cross-sectional design, the focus on Danish companies only, and by examining only two industries. Hence, comparisons to other countries and other industries would be of significant interest.Practical implicationsInvesting in SCR and ACAP to different extents provides for a complementary mix of longer-term opportunity-generating dynamic capabilities and more short-term crisis-mitigating dynamic capabilities. Firms will benefit from both types of dynamic capabilities during a crisis, but the latter will be more important for mitigating specific crisis impacts.Originality/valueThis paper extends current theorizing on ACAP and SCR by adding the distinction between the long-term opportunity generating dynamic capabilities and short-term crisis-mitigating dynamic capabilities. This paper provides novelty by empirically examining this theorizing by investigating the performance- and crisis-mitigating effect of SCR and ACAP in the light of the COVID-19 crisis.

Claus Braestrup 17 January 1945 to 7 February 2023.

In the summer of 2002, I was elected president of the 17th World Congress of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology, WorldPharma2010, among others because the three major Danish pharmaceutical companies, Novo Nordisk, Leo Pharma and H. Lundbeck A/S had promised significant sponsorships. One month later, I began a one-year sabbatical at the Saint Antoine Hospital in Paris, and one day in November 2002 I received an e-mail from the famous psychopharmacologist Claus Bræstrup who asked me to give him a call. At the time, he was the research director of H. Lundbeck A/S in Copenhagen. I knew him relatively well but I was not used to receiving e-mails from him, so my first thought was “Oh my gosh, is there a problem with the sponsorship?” But it was not so. It turned out that he was also the chairman of the board of directors of Pharmacology & Toxicology, and he was looking for a new editor-in-chief of the journal to replace Jens S. Schou,1 who at the time had been running the journal for more than 40 years. He wanted to ask me if that could be something for me? To be honest, I was a bit reluctant because I knew that organizing WorldPharma2010 would take a lot of my time, but fortunately I ended up by saying “yes,” and this is one of the best decisions I have made in my career. I went back to Copenhagen for a short meeting with Claus and to sign the contract. This was the only time we met in the context of the journal, because a few weeks later he stepped down as chairman as he had become the president and chief executive of H. Lundbeck A/S. Both of Claus' parents were physicians but he took a different lead and earned a bachelor of engineering in 1967 and a master of biochemistry from University of Copenhagen in 1971. He was a research fellow at the Laboratory of Psychopharmacology at the Psychiatric Hospital Sct. Hans in Roskilde, Denmark from 1971 to 1976. It was here, he discovered the benzodiazepine receptor2 which in fact is not an independent receptor but rather an allosteric modulatory binding site on the GABA-A receptor, and this made him world famous. From 1976 to 1984, he was head of psychopharmacology research at the pharmaceutical company Ferrosan, and when it was acquired by Novo Nordisk, he became head of Pharma Research and Development of Novo Pharma and later of the CNS division and finally of insulin research. In 1994, he was headhunted by the German drug company Schering AG in Berlin, where he was head of the central research division, but 4 years later, he returned to Copenhagen to become executive vice-president of Research and Development at H. Lundbeck A/S until he became the CEO. He retired from H. Lundbeck A/S in 2008. For years, Claus Bræstrup was also a member of the Royal Danish Society of Sciences and Letters, the National Health Science Research Council, and The Danish Academy of Technical Sciences. From 1988 to 1993, Claus Bræstrup was an adjunct professor in neuroscience at the University of Copenhagen and he was awarded the Lundbeck Prize in 1984.

How systemic cognition enables epistemic engineering.

Epistemic engineering arises as systems and their parts develop functionality that is construed as valid knowledge. By hypothesis, epistemic engineering is a basic evolutionary principle. It ensures that not only living systems identify the differences that make differences but also ensure that distributed control enables them to construct epistemic change. In tracking such outcomes in human life, we stress that humans act within poly-centered, distributed systems. Similar to how people can act as inert parts of a system, they also actively bring forth intents and vicariant effects. Human cognitive agents use the systemic function to construct epistemic novelties. In the illustration, we used a published experimental study of a cyborg cockroach to consider how an evoneered system enables a human subject to perform as an adaptor with some "thought control" over the animal. Within a wide system, brains enable the techniques to arise ex novo as they attune to the dictates of a device. Human parts act as adaptors that simplify the task. In scaling up, we turn to a case of organizational cognition. We track how adaptor functions spread when drone-based data are brought to the maintenance department of a Danish utility company. While pivoting on how system operators combine experience with the use of software, their expertise sets off epistemically engineered results across the company and beyond. Vicariant effects emerge under the poly-centered control of brains, persons, equipment, and institutional wholes. As a part of culture, epistemic engineering works by reducing entropy.

The ESG Discourse Is Neither Timeless Nor Stable: How Danish Companies ‘Tactically’ Embrace ESG Concepts

During the last decade, ESG has become a globally widespread doctrine of good investment principles. ESG defines investing for broader, extra-financial goals by the use of “environmental, social and governance” (ESG) factors. While commentators generally agree that ESG has become a crucial arena for defining responsible investment, research is so far scarce on the conceptual development of the ESG discourse as well as how companies articulate it in their public communication. By analysing ESG concepts, this article combines methods derived from corpus linguistics with dispositional analytics, inspired by Michel Foucault. The data material consists of 281 annual reports, which contain the self-representation of 24 Danish large-cap companies, including how they communicated their ESG policies from 2010 to 2021. The analysis displays the proliferation of specific ESG keywords as well as changes over time in their frequency, proportional to each other. We supplement the quantitative analyses with dispositional analytics, considering how the dispositives of law, discipline, and security condition Danish companies’ adoption of ESG. We also discuss how companies use ESG concepts ‘tactically’ to navigate a context, in which the dispositives ‘over-determine’ urgent environmental, social, and governance issues.