Nordic School Research Articles

Reflections on customers’ primary role in markets

Technology developments have transformed the business landscape by accelerating connectivity, transparency and unpredictability. We argue that the most dramatic consequence is not the possibilities created for companies but rather the challenges that emerge as a result of customer behaviour undergoing fundamental changes. Technology transformation has paved the way for empowered customers who are increasingly influencing businesses and markets, and the challenge for practitioners and researchers alike is to make sense of the role of these customers in such business environments. These developments have yielded a need to revise companies’ business models and to innovate new offerings. In scholarly research on marketing, this need has become evident and, beyond suggesting new concepts, completely new marketing management perspectives have been proposed, and each has its own core assumptions and focus. Broader views have emerged, and these stress the applicability of these perspectives not only to the top-level management of businesses but also to any non-commercial organisation.In this article, we reflect on the customer-dominant logic (CDL) of marketing, which stresses the customer's primary role in business. As such, CDL differs from approaches that focus on the provider's perspective. The CDL approach is an expression of the research ideals and goals that are based on the Nordic School of Service Management. We argue that CDL is well aligned with emerging challenges in most markets, both established and nascent, and that it is more managerially relevant than many other perspectives. This is also in line with the recent calls for a soul of relevance for European management research (Chia, 2014; Hernes, 2014).

Relationship marketing and service: An update

In marketing, service and relationships interrelate. Service is based on relationships between actors, and according to the Nordic school research tradition, relationship marketing cannot be implemented without service. The development of service logic in the literature emphasizes that adopting a service perspective on their business and marketing enables service firms and product manufacturers alike to develop, maintain and enhance relationships with customers. From the customers’ point of view, all firms are service firms. “Promise theory” points out that promises made by conventional sales and marketing efforts must be successfully kept. Otherwise marketing will fail. The present article describes connections between service logic and relationship marketing, and between promise making and promise keeping. To implement relationship marketing, deep understanding of service culture and internal marketing as strategic management issues is central. Therefore, integrated management of the marketing and organizational behavior interface is imperative. This warrants cross-functional and inter-disciplinary research and decision-making. Finally, challenges for the organization relating to the implementation of relationship marketing are put forward.

Nordic children’s conceptualizations of healthy eating in relation to school lunch

PurposePupils’ perspective should be better taken into account when developing nutrition education at school. The purpose of this paper is to explore Nordic children’s perspectives on the healthiness of meals in the context of school lunches.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 78 focus group discussions were conducted with 10-11-year-old girls and boys (n=457) from schools in Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, which were participating in the Nordic school meal project ProMeal during the school year 2013-2014. A flexible discussion guide and stimulus material in the form of 14 photographs displaying different school lunch contexts were used. The discussions were analyzed using thematic analysis.FindingsThese Nordic children seem to share the adult-set aim of healthy eating in the school context as a socio-cultural norm. Although healthy eating was constructed as a rational, normative and acceptable way to eat at school, unhealthy eating was emphasized as negotiably acceptable when eaten occasionally and under certain circumstances (e.g. at special occasions). Unhealthy eating also comprised emotionally laden descriptions such as enjoyment and disgust.Practical implicationsChildren’s conceptualizations of healthy eating are connected to nutritional, socio-cultural, emotional and normative dimensions, which should be reflected also when developing nutrition education in school.Originality/valueThe need for research exploring children’s experiences of, and understandings about, school lunch motivated this unique multicenter study with a large number of participating children. In the focus groups a child-oriented, photo-elicitation method was used.

INTERNATIONALISATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: THE PORTUGUESE CASE

Historically, a policy of enforcement in internationalisation processes is still seen by many as an approach to solve certain economic crises. However, Portugal's solution for this problem is part of a greater problem, namely trying to solve a European problem that has recently worsened and is largely uncontrolled. This paper aims to contribute, firstly by mentioning the Portuguese economic context and also possible ways of internationalisation and, secondly, by measuring a set of variables/factors that should support the development of the Portuguese economy. The results of the interviews which supported this study's methodological basis show that the Portuguese economy's poor dynamism and low demand by alternate markets are the two critical variables for the country's weak competitiveness. The suggestions of those surveyed propose that the Portuguese economy's dynamics should be characterised by a hybrid model, joining factors connected to the Nordic school's behavioural model, Dunning's eclectic paradigm (1997), and Buckley and Casson's model of internationalisation theory (1976).

Practice versus politics in Danish day-care centres: how to bridge the gap in early learning?

It is essential that early educators in day-care services possess adequate pedagogical tools for supporting children’s communicative development. Early literacy programmes (ELPs) are potential tools. However, studies investigating the effects of ELPs seldom address implementation processes or the programme users’ perspectives. This study sheds light on the practices of Danish pedagogues when engaging in shared book reading with children with the aim of: (1) foreseeing the success of the implementation of the first Danish ELP; and (2) comparing day-care centres’ practices to Danish ‘New Nordic School’ (NNS) political statements on early learning. This study presents results from 18 pre-programme interviews with pedagogues and illustrates their daily practices prior to the ELP implementation. Results suggest that: (1) there is a potential gap between practice and politics concerning Danish practices for promoting early learning; and (2) certain aspects related to existing pedagogical practices may be foreseen as potential challenges for the implementation of structured ELPs.

Differences in the effects of school meals on children's cognitive performance according to gender, household education and baseline reading skills.

We previously found that the OPUS School Meal Study improved reading and increased errors related to inattention and impulsivity. This study explored whether the cognitive effects differed according to gender, household education and reading proficiency at baseline. This is a cluster-randomised cross-over trial comparing Nordic school meals with packed lunch from home (control) for 3 months each among 834 children aged 8 to 11 years. At baseline and at the end of each dietary period, we assessed children's performance in reading, mathematics and the d2-test of attention. Interactions were evaluated using mixed models. Analyses included 739 children. At baseline, boys and children from households without academic education were poorer readers and had a higher d2-error%. Effects on dietary intake were similar in subgroups. However, the effect of the intervention on test outcomes was stronger in boys, in children from households with academic education and in children with normal/good baseline reading proficiency. Overall, this resulted in increased socioeconomic inequality in reading performance and reduced inequality in impulsivity. Contrary to this, the gender difference decreased in reading and increased in impulsivity. Finally, the gap between poor and normal/good readers was increased in reading and decreased for d2-error%. The effects of healthy school meals on reading, impulsivity and inattention were modified by gender, household education and baseline reading proficiency. The differential effects might be related to environmental aspects of the intervention and deserves to be investigated further in future school meal trials.

Cost of New Nordic Diet school meals

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to conduct economic evaluation of a school meal programme based on principles of a New Nordic Diet (NND) by assessing the costs of the NND lunch, compared with packed lunch from home, and investigating potential effects of adjusting the NND principles underlying the school meals on the costs and on the rate of food waste. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis combines recipes, dietary records and food waste data from a school meal intervention with collected price data within an economic optimization framework. Findings – A New Nordic School meal programme consisting of a morning snack and a hot lunch based on fixed seasonal menu plans and with 75 per cent organic content is 37 per cent more expensive in terms of ingredient costs than corresponding packed school meals. This cost differential can be almost halved by introducing more flexible scheduling of week plans and reducing the level of organic ambition to 60 per cent. Reducing portion sizes could reduce the cost differential by an extra 5 per cent, which would also reduce food waste by about 15 per cent. Originality/value – Higher costs and food waste in a restrictive ingredient sourcing school meal programme can be reduced by increased flexibility in meal scheduling, reduction in organic content and reduced average portion size.

Associations between school meal-induced dietary changes and metabolic syndrome markers in 8-11-year-old Danish children.

We recently showed that provision of Nordic school meals rich in fish, vegetables and potatoes and with reduced intakes of fat improved blood pressure, insulin resistance assessed by the homeostatic model (HOMA-IR), and plasma triacylglycerol despite increasing waist circumference in Danish 8-11-year-olds. This study explored whether intake or biomarkers of key dietary components in the schools meals were associated with these metabolic syndrome (MetS) markers during the 6-month intervention. Data from 7-day dietary records and measurements of whole-blood docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3), blood pressure, fasting blood MetS markers, waist circumference and android/total fat mass assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry collected at baseline, 3 and 6months from 523 children were analyzed in linear mixed-effects models adjusted for puberty, growth and fasting. After adjustment for multiple testing, whole-blood DHA was negatively associated with HOMA-IR (P<0.001) and triacylglycerol (P<0.0001). Potato intake was positively associated with waist circumference (P<0.01), but not with android/total fat mass (P=0.94). Intakes of whole-grain as well as dietary fiber, protein and fat were not associated with any of the MetS markers. DHA in whole-blood, an indicator of DHA and fish intake, seemed to be the main diet-related predictor of the beneficial effects of the school meals on MetS markers. Increased potato intake was associated with increased waist circumference, but this may not only be due to an increase in abdominal fat, as no association was seen with fat distribution.

Convergence and Divergence: A Comparison between the Nordic School Curricula

The aim of this article is to compare ethics and morality in the school systems in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. What similarities and differences on ethical issues and values are to be found in the five countries? With a background knowledge in the Swedish curriculum, we want to study democracy, multiculturalism and human rights based on other countries’ curricula. Traditional theories and frameworks from literature on ethics and morality, for instance Begley’s frame of theory, and educational policy documents have been studied to understand the concepts in the school system. By using document analysis we have put this together to reach the aim of the study, which has a Nordic perspective, not only a Scandinavian one, which is the most usual ones. The main results are that there are both similarities and differences between the countries, but the Nordic countries regarding ethics and morality have especially to consider the main concepts democracy, multiculturalism and human rights in the school systems. Even if there are many similarities between the Nordic countries when it comes to democracy, multiculturalism and human rights there are differences between the Nordic countries how related concepts have been expressed.

Nordic School of Public Health NHV and its legacy in global health.

This article describes the legacy of the Nordic School of Public Health NHV (NHV) in global health. We delineate how this field developed at NHV and describe selected research and research training endeavours with examples from Vietnam and Nepal as well as long-term teaching collaborations such as BRIMHEALTH (Baltic RIM Partnership for Public HEALTH) in the Baltic countries and Arkhangelsk International School of Public Health in Russia.

On education and pedagogic development at NHV.

The role and development of the Nordic School of Public Health (NHV) during its 60 year existence with special emphasis on the pedagogical basis (Scandinavian pedagogy) of courses, the student population, cross-borders incorporation of staff and professional and institution identity-creation through storytelling.

Speech at the closing ceremony of Nordic School of Public Health.

Speech at the closing ceremony of Nordic School of Public Health.

Method development at Nordic School of Public Health NHV: Phenomenology and Grounded Theory.

Qualitative methods such as phenomenology and grounded theory have been valuable tools in studying public health problems. A description and comparison of these methods. Phenomenology emphasises an inside perspective in form of consciousness and subjectively lived experiences, whereas grounded theory emanates from the idea that interactions between people create new insights and knowledge. Fundamental aspects of phenomenology include life world, consciousness, phenomenological reduction and essence. Significant elements in grounded theory are coding, categories and core categories, which develop a theory. There are differences in the philosophical approach, the name of the concept and the systematic tools between the methods. Thus, the phenomenological method is appropriate when studying emotional and existential research problems, and grounded theory is a method more suited to investigate processes.

NHV and child public health.

One of the main interests of the Nordic School of Public Health (NHV) in both education and research was child public health, i.e. an area based on the broad World Health Organisation (WHO) health ideology and on public health methods, while concentrating on the special needs and characteristics of children. The fields of study and action, training, research and service, had the ultimate task to consider the health of children in their full social, economic and political context. Regular courses on child public health were offered as part of the general program in Public Health from 1979 until the closing down of the school, named: Social Paediatrics; Child Health; Child Public Health; and finally, Measuring Children's Health - A Public Health Perspective. Numerous national, Nordic and international conferences were held, and several textbooks were written and edited. A major research project, NordChild, was initiated as a cross-sectional postal study of a random sample of children aged 2-17 years from the five Nordic countries, performed in 1984, 1996 and 2011. So far, 10 doctoral theses and more than 130 other publications from the studies have been produced. Furthermore, the Nordic Network on Research of Refugee Children was created, and a special interest has been devoted to indicators for children's health, both internationally, nationally and locally, which has been demonstrated in major EU projects as well as locally in Sweden and Greenland.

Epidemiology and statistics at the Nordic School of Public Health: Teaching and research 1979-2014.

The Nordic School of Public Health (NHV) was jointly founded in 1953 by the Nordic countries. Until 1979, the school provided ad hoc courses on public health topics, using external teachers drawn mainly from the Nordic countries. At the time, the permanent staff of the school was small. In 1979, it began a Master's degree programme and a few academic positions were established and filled, to support these courses. The programme included four main areas: Epidemiology, Social Medicine, Environmental Health and Health Services Administration. Epidemiology was compulsory in all Master of Public Health (MPH) exams, but there were a handful of optional courses that could be substituted for the other subjects.This paper tells the story of Epidemiology at NHV from about 1980, up until closure of the school in 2014. The original MPH model ran until 1995. Nursing Science entered NHV from about 1985 and worked mainly with qualitative research that often focused on individual patients. The new methods attracted nurses, midwives, psychologists and other groups that previously had been less represented in NHV. Being quantitative and population oriented, Epidemiology lost its unique position as a mandatory subject for the MPH examination. In addition the 'New Public Health' proposed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that advocated health promotion and the philosophy of salutogenesis became a challenge for the programme in epidemiology: pathogenesis no longer was of primary interest. From 1995, the MPH format changed repeatedly and a DrPH programme was begun. For the last 8 years of its existence, NHV offered a reasonably comprehensive, basic course in Epidemiology.Throughout the years, epidemiology training and research at NHV were very traditional. In being a relatively free institution in terms of academic choices, NHV should have contributed to the development and innovation of epidemiology in public health. For several reasons, this did not happen.

A new theme within public health science for increased life quality.

In 2006 the Nordic Council of Ministers concluded that there was need for education and training in how to plan and design society to enable people to live active, independent, and full lives without adding supplementary, segregating adjustments or expensive specialised solutions, especially for the elderly or persons with disabilities. The universal design (UD) concept became a public health issue for all Nordic countries. The first academic educational-training initiative in universal design was initiated at the Nordic School of Public Health (NHV) in 2006. Thereafter, a number of UD courses were held for professionals mainly from the Nordic countries who worked with development and creation of the public arena. In 2011 the first diploma programme in universal design was established at NHV. A new field in public health research was also established and a number of publications in scientific journals, presentations at Nordic and international conferences, together with seminars and workshops have established a solid ground for further development of the field in the Nordic countries.

Disability from a public health perspective.

At the Nordic School of Public Health (NHV), methods to alleviate problems with disability have been seen as an important part of actions to support public health. A programme for universal design was started in 2006. Some issues of public health perspectives on disability are presented in this paper, based on discussions from a PhD course held at the NHV. During the course, the students presented papers in which they reflected on the relationship between disability and public health. These essays were collected and published in 2012 at NHV.

From a student with love.

We are gathered here to say goodbye to a dear friend. A friend who mastered all the Nordic languages, who loved to bring us all together, to mix and blend our nationalities, our cultures and our ideas in a melting pot. We became curious and creative, filled with a desire to know more about each other’s health care and welfare systems. Together, we would try new ways. We learned that Nordic welfare is present in all the Nordic countries but has different colours. Together, we had a palette of choice that could bring new life into systems that at times were stiff and unwilling to be open to other ways of developing our health and welfare. Because you were such an open-minded friend, you not only embraced all Nordic countries, but you extended your invitation and welcome to students and teachers from the wider world to come and study and share their ideas, cultures, knowledge, skills and views on health. We have had the privilege of visiting your house, sharing the excellent and exciting meals, being part of the discussions at the table and then returning home with renewed energy, new views and ways to walk. We are keenly aware of our good fortune. We are grateful to you and the governments who gave us that gift. Our hope is that you have planted so many trees and flowers in our gardens that your spirit - our Nordic School of Public Health – will spread, grow and nurture not only the health of the Nordic north but of the wider world.

The Nordic Health Promotion Research Network (NHPRN).

The Nordic Health Promotion Research Network (NHPRN) was established in 2007 at the Nordic School of Public Health (NHV). This article aims to describe the foundation of the NHPRN, the development and the present status of the work of NHPRN. The NHPRN consists of about 50 senior and junior researchers from all Nordic countries. It is a working network that aims to develop the theoretical understanding of health promotion, to create research cooperation in health promotion from a Nordic perspective and to extend the scope of health promotion through education. Network members meet biannually to discuss and further develop research within the field and are also responsible for the Nordic conference on Health Promotion, organized every 3 years. The NHV hosted the network between 2007 and 2014; and the World Health Organisation (WHO) will assume this role in 2015.

Nordic School of Public Health may close, but not Nordic public health collaboration.

Nordic School of Public Health may close, but not Nordic public health collaboration.