Entrepreneurial firms face unique challenges in attracting and acquiring human resources due to difficulties associated with resource constraint and organization legitimacy, often described as liabilities of "smallness" and "newness". The aim of this paper is to examine the "smallness" and "newness" challenges met by small entrepreneurial firms, which strategies they apply to counter these challenges, and if these strategies can be explained by the firm's HR philosophy. Since few studies on Human Resource Management (HRM) in small entrepreneurial firms exist, a framework combining theory from the research fields of HRM, entrepreneurship and small firms has been developed. Employing a qualitative case study design of five small Swedish entrepreneurial firms, our findings demonstrate four "smallness" and "newness" challenges and seven strategies that either counteract or prevent them. Furthermore, results showed that the strategies applied seemed to have no significance with regards to the firm's HR philosophy.

Ett par år in på 2000-talet präglas företagen av större marknader, globalisering och ökat fokus på IT. Mycket pengar går åt till resor världen över när man öppnar kontor, besöker fabriker eller utökar sina marknader. Man arbetar i globala team och utnyttjar kunskaper och erfarenheter som andra kulturer har. När lågkonjunkturen kommer får man tänka om, och man drar ner på både personal och resor. Hur fungerar det när man måste fortsätta sitt arbete men inte får resa som man gjort förut? Går det att fortsätta i vanlig ordning? Vad händer när man nu inte kan träffa sina kollegor, mötas och interagera som man brukade göra?Enligt Nationalencyklopedin har vi en inre drivkraft att kommunicera, att göra oss förstådda och att interagera med andra människor.

Japan is the first industrialized country that is experiencing the threat of a rapidly declining and aging population. This has shifted the focus and the limelight is now on the matter that for a long time has been ignored. That is, the Japanese women?s situation in the society. This thesis seeks to point out the relevance of gender in the construction of leadership in order to get a deeper understanding of the Japanese women?s situation today.

Background The Shetland Sheepdog is a popular breed of dogs in Sweden. The breed is mostly used as a companion dog and is also popular within certain dog sports such as agility. The Shetland Sheepdog is not included in any breeding programs regarding joint health. The animal insurance company, Agria had recently informed the Swedish Shetland Sheepdog Club (SSSK) that they had noted an increasing number of arthritis in the elbow joints, therefore they wanted to exclude elbow joints from the insurance until SSSK started a breeding program against elbow dysplasia. After the start of this study Agria withdrew their demand, but the study went on as planned. Aims of this study The aims of this study was to investigate if there is any data that may show if there is a larger or smaller reason than before to suspect that the breed has a problem with elbow dysplasia and therefore would benefit from a breeding program regarding this.

The aim was to identify if the veterinary nurse is as competent as the veterinaian in placing a nasoesophageal feeding tube. The aim was also to identify the complications with malnutrition and the advantage and disadvantage of the procedure. This essay is based on several interviews with both veterinary nurses and veterinaries. 16 persons were asked 4 short questions in conjunction with an intensive care/emergency and surgery congress in Gothenburg in February 2013. In addition 4 major hospitals that provided intensive care were asked to answer 5 more detailed questions, one answer from a veterinary and one answer from a veterinary nurse was requested.

It is well known that small businesses and entrepreneurs in the initial phase has difficult to gain access to external capital and bank loans. With the background of the problems that entrepreneurs face when they ask for capital has since the financial crisis the phenomenon of crowdfunding developed and evolved. Crowdfunding is an alternative source of funding for entrepreneurs to fund their ideas through small or medium-sized capital contribution from a larger amount of investors, often investors who have any kind of relationship with the entrepreneur or to the very idea. This study examined the factors that motivate and guide an investor's decisions when they select their projects. The results of the study show that the motives of the various existing forms of crowdfunding is big.

Business is changing and so are society?s expectations. Companies are expected to take responsibility for their trade and the context they are operating in, by looking at socially, economically and environmentally aspects. Many companies handle it by implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) to their line of action. This is often handled by collaborating with other organisations, such as non-governmental organisations.

The purpose of the study is to explore preschool teachers experiences of how immigrant parents become involved in the preschool activities and how their linguistic and cultural background appears in relation to participation.The survey was conducted through individual interviews with eight preschool teachers working in various multicultural preeschools.The results of this survey shows that the preschool teachers perceive that parents with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds are reluctant to participate in various forms of cooperation, such as parent meetings. Preschool teachers believe that the lack of parental participation depends on the parents linguistic and cultural backgrounds, such as different approaches to understand the pre-school educational activity or the view of parenting, and other things such as language difficulties.Another result reveals also a great lack of written methods, because teachers sometimes face difficult dilemmas. To seek itself the right approach in a current situation can be both difficult and time consuming, therefore, the preschool teachers wish that there were already complete methods for use..

The purpose of this study was to examine by means of Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI), the relationship between Neuroticism, and self-rated eating problems. Altogether 105 respondents, mean aged 42,3 years, including 11 men and 94 women, participated by answering an Internet-based questionnaire comprising three different sections. Neuroticism correlated with self-rated eating problems (r=,468, p.

In my degree project I have focused on how to make it easier for ambulance personnel to remove a motorcycle helmet after an accident. During my research I have interviewed ambulance personnel from different cities and a trauma surgeon to get a better understanding of how they work today and the problems they experience. Some of the problem areas are that you need a lot of force to remove the helmet, that the padding catches the ears and that the chin guard catches the face. Since ambulance personnel always assume that there is a neck injury after an accident, all these problems make it difficult to remove the helmet safely.The result is a motorcycle helmet with a focus on safe removal after an accident, to reduce the risk of worsening a neck injury. The solution suggested is that a small part of the back of the helmet is detachable, to make the opening larger.

The object of this essay has been to investigate the interlibrary loan service at the universitylibraries of Borås and Kalmar. For this purpose a quantitative and a qualitative methodhave been used.The main body of information consists of statistic data concerning the incoming interlendingorders for a three-month-period. In order to examine the circumstances under which theinterlending activity exists several interviews were made.The study showed that there are several important factors which together make up the complexitythat governs the interlending activity. What type of demand there is depends on theeducational level, whether the different study programmes have a broad or limited subjectorientation or not, and if the demand is of a constant or an inconstant nature. Well-establishedroutines at the information-desk and co-operation with the departments of the different studyprogrammes are important factors in keeping the knowledge of what books and serials areneeded up to date..

The purpose of this paper is to investigate some aspects of teaching environmental issues, as they are manifested in another culture. In this paper, I will discuss how you teach environmental issues, how the teaching environment is formed, and what an environmental issue means to a South African teacher, as well as, if there are any cultural aspects to what an environmental issue is. Seven observations were made and qualitative interviews with four teachers teaching Life Science in Cradock, South Africa - The results showed that these South African teachers, independent from each other, followed a similar pattern in their teachings. These patterns contain gathering information concerning environmental issues in the immediate surroundings, as well as using the text book and teaching environmental issues through lectures. It was not possible to draw a conclusion about the cultural aspects in association to environmental issues.

The study´s main purpose is to examine how three educators who work with children ages 1-3  in three different preschools working with mathematics in preschool. I have used a qualitative research in the form of interviews to obtain educators perspectives on their working. The educator´s stories about their working methods are the most important findings and it turned out that the interviewed educators was working fairly similar in terms of mathematics learning with the youngest children  in preschool. They both schedule mathematics in various activities and work with it in everyday situations. Their different approaches can be divided into five different categories which are: planned theme work and experiences, body and play, interaction and conversation, environment and materials, visualize mathematics..

Sociala nätverk, eller så kallade communityn är ett fenomen som fått större betydelse idag och snabbt spridit sig runt om i världen. Communityn Facebook har blivit känd för att den samlar många användare och har en god målgruppskännedom, vilket gör Facebook till en attraktiv marknadsföringsplats som har uppmärksammats av en rad olika företag och organisationer.Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vilka möjligheter och begränsningar Facebook har som marknadsföringskanal, samt undersöka svenska företag och organisationers användning av Facebook i sin marknadsföring. Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ metod och vår uppsats bygger på en empirisk studie, med material från ett antal informant-, samt respondentintervjuer. Frågorna har kretsat kring vad våra informanter och respondenter anser kännetecknar Facebook, deras erfarenheter av Facebook som marknadsföringskanal, samt deras åsikter om Facebook som marknadsföringskanal i framtiden. För att få bästa möjliga svar på våra frågor ansåg vi att vi behövde intervjua personer med kunskaper om Facebook från både ett utifrån och ett inifrånperspektiv.Resultatet från vår undersökning visar att marknadsföring på Facebook inbjuder till stor kreativitet hos företagen och organisationerna.

The aim for this study was to examine betweenship as a phenomenon by focusing on identity. There is not very much research done on betweenship. I have used a qualitative phenomenological approach, based on four qualitative interviews. The four interviewees were all experiencing betweenship. To analyze their stories I used two theoretical frameworks; identity and affinity groups.