Jasper, you are a senior lecturer in Information Systems at Karlstad Business School and the Service Research Center, CTF. What did you do before you came to Karlstad University?
- I was a senior lecturer in user-centred design at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. My focus has always been on how organisations can develop services, systems and products that suit people - that work for them.

- In addition to my academic career, I have also been a stand-up comedian and a columnist. I won the biggest comedy festival in the Netherlands shortly before my PhD defence and split my time between the stage and academia for many years. When we decided to move to Sweden, I focused completely on the academic track but managed to end up winning a big TV quiz show, similar to “På spåret”, right before the move. That sort of thing tends to give a person’s comedy career a big boost, but I was already in Värmland by then.

- With this project, we want to help lay the foundation for an ecosystem that supports collaboration between industries and sectors. The objective is to create synergies and boost the competitive edge of the companies and the appeal of rural locations, says Lotta Braunerhielm, docent in Human Geography at Karlstad University.

Lotta Braunerhielm, please tell us about the project

John-Erik Hassel recently completed his PhD in business administration at Karlstad Business School and The Service Research Center (CTF) and has done research on venture builders.

John-Erik Hassel, tell us about your research

– My research is about understanding a relatively new actor in entrepreneurial ecosystems called venture builders and how they can be understood in a larger context. Venture builders are actors who use a structured process to establish startups one after the other in collaboration with individual entrepreneurs.

Mia Larson, professor of business administration at Karlstad Business School, and Cecilia Cassinger, senior lecturer at Lund University, recently published the article “Platform Stories: The Role of Ideological Narratives in the Development of a Tourism Sharing Business Model”.

Mia Larson, tell us what your article is about

– It is about how an entrepreneur in adventure tourism creates a new digital sharing platform. In our article, we show the importance of attractive narratives in creating legitimacy, engagement and interest for the platform among its users, investors and those operating it. In this case, the narratives revolve around sharing resources, sustainability, an identity linked to adventure sports, as well as profit-making. 

Together with 32 business schools from across the Nordic region, Karlstad Business School has submitted a joint statement to the accreditation body AACSB in response to its recent update to the guiding principles and interpretive guidance for AACSB’s Business Accreditation Standards.

Education and research should always remain independent of political pressures and uphold the principle of academic freedom for all. Across cultural contexts, promoting diversity and inclusion is essential for fostering equitable learning environments and preparing future leaders to navigate an increasingly complex and globalized world.

Lazarus Fotoh, newly graduated doctor of business administration at Karlstad Business School, tell us what you have done in your research.
– Considering that the impact of technology on auditing is still unclear, my research explores and helps improve our understanding of how both advanced and less advanced technologies are changing audits and the way they are carried out. I also looked into why, despite the growing attention given to advanced technologies, their adoption in auditing remains slow.

Why did this interest you?