Thomas Polesie Curriculum vitae
2009-05-05 Academic degrees
1976
Doctor of Philosophy, Business Administration, 1969
Master of Business Administration, University of Gothenburg, School of Business, Economics and Law.
Position 1991
Professor of Accounting and Finance, University of Gothenburg, School of Business, Economics and Law.
1980
Associate Professor of Business Administration at University of Gothenburg, School of Business, Economics and Law.
Since 1971 my basic position has been at Gothenburg University. My research and teaching have been at the Department of Accounting and Finance. Since 1991 I have served as Professor, at times as Head of Department.
I have been Associate Professor at The Norwegian School of Economics (1978 - 1979), Research Fellow at Århus University (1980), Professor at Åbo Academy and Professor at The Bodö Graduate School of Business – from 1988 to 1992 (half-time).
Academic commissions
Since 2001 I am a member of the jury for Oskar Silléns prize that annually reviews about 50 dissertations. This gives an overview of current work.
I have participated in appointing candidates for academic positions in the field of Business Administration, served as opponent for doctoral theses (about ten) and supervised doctoral dissertations in the field of accounting (about twenty, see appendix).
Teaching
I have taught for a long time – mostly about accounting and finance. An underlying idea has been to let research bring new ideas into the classroom.
I have taught students at different levels. For example Financial Accounting is an undergraduate course with emphasis on current principles and accounting practice. In the doctoral program I have held an introductory course “Redovisning - några
forskningstraditioner” where I discuss about how accounting issues have been dealt with over extended periods of time. A collage of lecture notes and concepts has been brought together in Företag i tiden- ett flytande fenomen (2009).
I have taught on the following subjects:
Analysis of corporations, Accounting- theory and practice.
Policy studies in corporations, Judgement and evaluation, Investment in a long- term perspective and Critique of accounts.
Board member
Albert ter Vehns Fond, since 1994; Christian Berner Invest, since 2003; Conemptor, since 1994; Montessoriskolan centrum, since 1998.
Research
My dissertation (1976) - analyzed seven companies that had set up budgets by objectives. This led on to studies that focused on the use of resources, activity- based costing and inquiries into who is
responsible for the use of resources. Later I included the revenue side of business transactions and developed ideas about how to measure period income (matching).
Design
Since 1974 I have participated in about twenty design projects. To find relevant concepts based on a coherent logical framework for measuring events and transactions has been the key goal. Systems have been observed as they emerge in practice. An abstract
conceptual framework has taken shape over the years - The
Rectangular Model for financial overview (1995) and The Triangular Model for multidimensional analyses of complexity (2006).
Experience from the city of Uppsala was reported as “Action and Reaction - decisive factors in the evolution of accounting in practice” (1981).
A basic theme in the design projects has been to explore people’s certainty and uncertainty. Accounting in practice often brings
uncertainty to the surface (1987). The dynamics of the design process was illustrated in the Engineering Department of a Norwegian
Shipyard (1994) that set up a system of its own as the company was closing down its production.
Judgement and Evaluation
In Human Factors in Budgeting - judgement and evaluation (1981, with V. Madsen), the concepts of deliberation and evaluation in monetary terms were developed. Attention moved to how policies are conceived and transformed into action under different
circumstances. The City of Uppsala, Danish State Railways and a Goldsmith company were used as model cases. The interplay between human factors, deliberation, judgement, economic
calculation and evaluation in financial terms are starting points for a theory of value in the Aristotelian Tradition.
Descriptions and Analyses
Since the mid 80’s studies have been about accounting in context with focus on using information that is actually available in different situations.
Most studies have been of companies in action. Attention has been paid to in- depth questions of how companies adapt over time. I have looked closely at situations they have faced. A starting point is often to examine their financial statements carefully, to interpretet their business idea, policies, political judgments, corporate culture and to observe how they communicate with others.
16 studies of companies in the process of change were brought together in a Swedish monograph : Företag i förändring - en studie av identitet och ekonomi (1990). In the extended English version Continuity and Change - Corporate Identity in a Scandinavian Perspective (1991) 18 descriptive five- year studies were summed up (including Trader and Fund).
My frame of reference was extended into the surrounding markets and society. The challenges of comparative studies have became evident and also the need for evidence.
I have become familiar with companies of different kinds and sizes. I have tried to understand how they reason, how they accumulate, distribute and account for their resources in different settings. I have kept an eye on how they keep track of their operations and how they account for their activities in various contexts.
A subsidiary theme has been how organizations delegate responsibility within their organization (1992).
Energy
Corporate restructuring in the energy- sector was theme in Nya spelregler på energimarknaden - en jämförande studie av fyra kraftföretag (1996, with M. Strid and M. Bergmasth). This study was followed up by Energitjänster som strategi: en bok om Göteborgs Energi (1998, with M. Strid).
The theme of radical re- structuring was explored in the retail sector in Att handla på nya villkor- en studie av KF Väst (1992, with P. Friberg). Shipping
The Swedish shipping industry was illustrated in my dissertation about Vinga and Alba. Deeper analyses were made of Concorida Maritime in Kvalitet som strategi: ett rederi växer fram (1995, with F. Höwing and F. Johansson).
An attempt to bring together the quantitative field with observations of qualitative phenomena was made in The cluster of shipping
companies on the island of Donsö (2007, with D. Friberg). The Built environment
The built environment has similarities with shipping. Both rely of capital investments. The study of this theme started with strategic action in Poseidon – a public property company in city of
Gothenburg (1995, with N. Ihre). A number of studies have followed. The building process was studied in The Process of City Building (2001, with N. Bengtsson). A deeper study of a large project was made in Trädgårdsstaden - Några ekonomiska konsekvenser av att bygga ut ett bostadsområde. (2002, with G. Johansson and A. Schürer).
A full scale study of corporate re-structuring in the aftermath of crisis was made in Från fastighetskris till Castellum: en studie av gestaltning och styrning (1998, with N. Bengtsson).
A study of how children have participated in changing their local school environment in How young people can participate in re-building their classroom (2006, with Alan Schürer).
Broader perspectives of the local environment were included in Industriundersökning i Lidköpings kommun. (2003, with Åsa Eklund). This was an inquiry of how companies in the city of Lidköping are located. A similar study has been undertaken in Alingsås.
Long- term considerations and thinking of our planet were considered in The Living Business – work, nature and the creation of values. (2006, with Frank Birkin).
Financial institutions
A set of analyses has focused on the specific problems of financial institutions.
Stadshypotek i Göteborgs och Bohus Län 1983- 1992 (1995, with
Gudbjartsson, E.; Nilsson, J. and Bermann, P.). Stadshypotek was later amalgamated into Handelsbanken.
A follow up study was Bankernas Kreditförluster 1988- 1995 (2008, with Carlsson, B and Nyblom, H) that looked at how three major Swedish banks managed the crisis in the beginning of the 90’s.
The sixth Swedish Pension Fund system was described in: Att investera på lång sikt. Sjätte AP- fonden 1996- 2005. (2007, with C. Spens)
Ongoing Research: The local context:
The city of Alingsås - Three highly specialized production companies (Christian Jansson).
Social Capital- Theory and Practice. Bert- Ola Bergstrand. Four communities in Västra Götaland.
The Shipping cluster in Stockholm; 1985- 2000 - in the aftermath of the Salén- crash. Post doc.; Thomas Lennerfors.
The emerging urban environment of Centrala Älvstaden. P-G Persson and Marina Grahovar.
Intrinsically Sustainable business. Active nature, Accounting and Open Societies. With Frank Birkin.
Contact:
Gothenburg, May 2009. Thomas Polesie
Kullavägen 17
APPENDIX
Main Supervisor - Dissertations 2008
Christian Jansson. Lerverk – beskrivning av ett företag.(Lic. Thesis) 2007
Christer Holmén. Financial Services - en kompletterande verksamhet som förändrar bilindustrins affärslogik.
2006
Bengt Bengtsson. Verkligt värde i balansräkningen – Förvaltningsfastigheter. (Lic. Thesis)
Hans Englund. Struktur och handlinjgar i en kommunal reform.
Agneta Gustafsson. Normer och praxis – tre ideella föreningar och deras redovisning.
Alan Schürer. Utveckling av skolmiljöer – aktiviteter och mening i småskaligt arbete
2005
Eva Johansson. Åtagande och Återberättelse - en studie av styrelsens arbete i fyra bostadsbolag.
Manoocher Kavoosi. Awareness in Intercultural Cooperation Studies of Culture and Group Dynamics in International Joint Ventures.
Niclas Salomonsson. Samtal och samspel – Kundtjänst i två industriella företag.
Jan Hemlin. Redovisning av Utgifter för Forskning och Utveckling- en metodstudie. ( Lic. Thesis)
2004
Ann-Christine Frandsen. Rum, Tid och Pengar - en studie om redovisning i praktiken.
Mikael Bergmasth och Mats Strid. Energitjänster på en avreglerad marknad. För en effektivare energianvändning?
2002
Per Forsberg. Berättelser om omdömen i en redares vardag. Krister Bredmar. Att skapa organisatorisk mening - en studie av management- control processer på mellannivå i tre företag.
2000
Einar Gudbjartsson. Kommunikation genom siffror. 4:e AP- fondens årsredovisningar 1974- 1995. (Lic. Thesis)
2001
Stig Westerdahl. Business and Community.
Gudrun Baldvinsdottir. Management Accounting and the Institutionalisation of Trust.
1998
Lars- Göran Aidemark. Vårdens ekonomi i förändring – en studie av ekonomistyrning i landstinget Kronoberg.
1996
Håkan Javefors & Bo Enqvist. Huvudmannaskapets dialektik – en studie av Renault/Volvo affären.
