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The government responses to the corona crisis across the world has actualized an old debate regarding the role of the state and government policy making in economic crises. This debate should, the authors of this article argue, be understood in the context of how government policy making has been transformed in advanced capitalist economies in the past five decades and recent theoretical developments regarding the role of actors and institutions involved in the production and dissemination of ideas in such transformations. Drawing on an extensive review of policy making and changes in policy making doctrines, this article examines the role of government public investigations in the transformation of the Swedish government policy making in relation to economic crises where the state supports policy making through social partners.

Employment studies point to the growth of contractual work and the decline of stable "career jobs". Reporting on a study of freelance journalists and life science professionals working in thinly capitalized startups, this article substantiates the argument that market-mediated professional work includes undesirable and unanticipated consequences, resulting in costs being borne by the individual professional, which makes this kind of work precarious. However, precariousness is distributed and experienced differently by professional groups. This study contributes to the literature on precarious professional work by illustrating that there is a "spectrum of precarity" when it comes to market-mediated professional work, along which professional groups experience precarity to different degrees. Factors that influence the degree of precarity include marketplace bargaining power: the market demand for professional services and the supply of professional workers; the form of economic remuneration (salary vs. piece rate); and the individual's general life situation. We conclude by discussing the possible societal ramifications accompanying the increasing precariousness of professional work.

Municipalities and city administrations have the jurisdiction to determine the use of land and real estate, but must collaborate with various actors, including real estate developers, construction companies, and financial institutions, to realize stated goals. When implementing initiatives such as urban renewal projects, plans and situated actions may be loosely coupled during the early stages, when visions of the future are being articulated; over time, however, the information needed to calculate whether illiquid assets are attractive investment objects must be introduced. As such information is generated, the gap between plans and situated actions closes, having material effects under favourable conditions. This article presents an empirical study of an urban renewal project in a metropolitan area that initially gained external recognition via a prize awarded for visionary planning work. The project eventually encountered considerable difficulties, as a shortage of accurate information hampered production activities. The study underlines the importance of robust governance practices and accompanying governance devices in effectively transforming illiquid assets into, for example, housing.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to the debate on reflexivity in organization and management studies by scrutinizing the possibilities of self‐reflexivity.Design/methodology/approachBy means of auto‐ethnography, the authors analyze their own experiences as (pro‐)feminist men in the field of gender studies.FindingsThe authors argue that self‐reflexivity is partial, fragmentary and transient: it surfaces in situations where the authors' activities and identities as researchers are challenged by others and they become aware of their precarious position.Originality/valueThe paper's perspective complements more instrumental understandings of self‐reflexivity, and stimulates further debate on its limits as well as potential.

AbstractKnowledge and knowledge management have become two of the latest buzzwords in the management literature. However, the literature presents primarily normative, undersocialized models of how knowledge could be administrated and developed as an organizational resource, and does not sufficiently recognize the social, political and emotional aspects of knowledge. In general, the knowledge of knowledge management is not situational. For instance, in what respect does the notion of knowledge take gender issues into account? This paper presents a study of clinical research activities in a major multinational pharmaceutical company and it suggests that the processes of knowing are always embedded in existing social and political, gendered assumptions and beliefs. Therefore, knowledge management needs to be further developed to avoid general problematic positions. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

AbstractThis article draws attention to the social context and working methods in crisis management. Based on 1000 interviews with business leaders in Swedish small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), we analyze crisis management in practice and ask: What social contexts do business leaders use in crisis management, and what working methods do they rely on? Most companies in this study do not have any form of crisis group; rather, they deal with issues reactively as they occur. Few of the companies work continuously with a crisis plan and only slightly more than half of those that have crisis plans report that it has been helpful in dealing with the COVID‐19 situation. The study concludes that Swedish SMEs seem reliant upon a process that has an emerging nature whereby decisions are largely based on gut feeling. However, the companies in our sample that experienced a significant revenue decline due to the COVID‐19 situation report that they employ a more centralized and deductive approach with reports and documents as a basis for their work. The study contributes to a developed understanding of how crisis management works in practice.

PurposeTo discusss the first concept car development project in the automotive industry managed by female engineers and designers.Design/methodology/approachAn abiding concern in feminist discourses is to understand how and why women are excluded from certain positions and activities and how organizations become gendered. Drawing on the Russian literature theorist Mikhail Bakhtin, exceptional events such as concept car development projects in the automotive industry may be examined as a form of carnival wherein the predominant social order is overturned for a period of time and thereafter restored.FindingsExploring the "all female" project at Volvo Cars as a carnival event captures the double nature of such "affirmative" activities; on the one hand, they are giving space to marginal groups, while, on the other hand, being events that differ from the everyday work life order, they therefore risk being marginal activities with limited sustaining impact.Originality/valueIn theoretical terms, the paper has integrated feminist theory and Bakhtin's writing on the carnival as an institutionalized way to mediate conflict and discontent.