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This paper describes the need for intangible measurements for non‐financial reporting. Nowadays book value accounts for just around one quarter of the market value making the relevance of the balance sheet questionable. There is therefore a need for developing standardized methodologies for quantifying intangible assets and this is already underway. Two recently developed methodologies, The European Performance Satisfaction Index and The European Employee Index, is described in the paper and the benefit of applying these methodologies is exemplified through empirical data. These data stems from Amtsparekassen Fyn which is a medium sized Danish bank that has measured employee/customer satisfaction systematically since 1997 and the data used for this analysis is from the surveys conducted in 2000. The analysis shows that the measures for employee and customer satisfaction are good predictors of financial performance.

This paper studies differences in job satisfaction and intrinsic work motivation between employees with different characteristics. Based on a study of the literature assumptions regarding these differences are developed and tested on data from a survey in the Nordic countries. In this survey 9,623 employees from randomly selected households in the Nordic countries participated. Among the findings are that Danish workers were found to be the most satisfied and that there is no difference between the genders with respect to job satisfaction in the Nordic countries.

Based on a review of the literature within the field of job satisfaction and organizational commitment this paper proposes a generic model for measuring employee perceptions. The model consists of seven latent constructs operationalised through 29 manifest indicators. This model is subsequently tested on data from a questionnaire survey to which approximately 9,600 employees from the Nordic countries responded. The statistical technique applied for this analysis is partial least squares (PLS), which is well suited for structural equation modelling when the focus is on prediction. The results support the structure of the suggested generic model but reveals differences between the Nordic countries with regard to strength of the relationships as well as the average case value of the seven latent constructs.

The use of patient questionnaires has increased widely in recent years. Their purpose, to incorporate patient perspectives into the orientation and design of health care, is, of course, commendable. However, the survey methods themselves have been less adequate, both in terms of validity and reliability, and with respect to the potential for using the results to improve the quality of health care. Presents a pilot study at three departments of ophthalmology in Sweden, involving a new method which meets reasonable demands for validity and reliability, and is explicitly change‐oriented.

Examines the relationships between different aspects involved in asthma treatment. Analyses each aspect's impact on overall patient satisfaction with asthma treatment. Also studies how outcome variables such as compliance with physician's recommendations, health‐related quality of life and resource use are affected by the degree of patient satisfaction. The results refer to asthma patients as a group but not necessarily to each patient as an individual. The statistical technique applied for this analysis is partial least squares. Tests the suggested generic model on 599 respondents from a questionnaire survey. The structure of the suggested model is well supported by the data.

In this paper we discuss three Norwegian cases of public programmes aimed at enhancing entrepreneurship at the regional/local level. The cases provide insight into a wide range of public initiatives implemented by the authorities such as education, consultancy, and financial stimuli. The programmes have been subjected to relatively comprehensive evaluations. In these evaluations, and also in most other evaluations of public means aimed at stimulating entrepreneurs, some important questions related to the effects on business creation and on the long term social impact of the interventions still remain to be answered. In order to overcome the problems, future research should apply longitudinal and comparative studies and use unobtrusive measures. We also discuss a theoretical framework in which entrepreneurship programmes can be interpreted and applied as a tool to improve such initiatives. Central elements in this framework are the concepts of human, social and financial capital.

We investigate whether active involvement of private equity firms in their portfolio companies during the holding period of a later-stage private equity investment is related to increased levels in operating performance of these companies. Our analysis of unique survey data on 267 European buyouts and secondary performance data on 29 portfolio companies using partial least squares structural equation modeling indicates that private equity firms, that is, their board representatives, can increase operating performance not only by monitoring the behavior of top managers of portfolio companies, but also by becoming involved in strategic decisions and supporting top managers through the provision of strategic resources. Strategic resources, in particular expertise and networks, provided by private equity firm representatives in the form of financial and strategic involvement are associated with increases in the financial performance and competitive prospects of portfolio companies. Operational involvement, however, is not related to changes in operating performance. In addition to empirical insights into the different types of involvement and their effects, this chapter contributes to the buyout literature by providing support for the suggested broadening of the theoretical discussion beyond the dominant perspective of agency theory through developing and testing a complementary resource-based view of involvement. This allows taking into account not only the monitoring, but also the more entrepreneurial supporting element of involvement by private equity firms.

The focus in this chapter is on male strategies of coping with unemployment and how these strategies are gendered due to local contextual factors, physical and natural as well as social and cultural. The results of the study show, in the case of men's relations to the labour market and the factors affecting such relations, how the Swedish welfare model and gender contracts work in a rural setting. The interrelation among labour market, household and family is formed according to the local gender contract and is supposed to develop within the frames of national policies, but it is also formed according to hegemonic gender regimes.

Most transactions initiated online are completed by some form of offline fulfilment, i.e. the delivery of the goods to the customer's doorstep. In previous studies, web site performance or e‐service quality was found to be an important antecedent of customer satisfaction and loyalty. In traditional settings, physical fulfilment is considered an important driver of customers’ behavioral intentions. This study models and tests the combined effects of online and offline service components on customer responses.

This is an empirical, cross‐sectional study across four online industries.

In the surveyed industries offline fulfilment appears to be at least as important as web site performance.

Further research is needed on how value and joy are created as part of the total e‐experience. Furthermore, the importance of offline fulfilment in effecting customer satisfaction and loyalty levels for different online services needs further investigation.

Online retailers must ensure offline quality to at least the same level as online quality.

Important insights into the absolute and relative importance of online and offline fulfilment dimensions have been generated in a broader e‐commerce context.