The aim of this Master?s thesis is to study how public librarians? view mediation of fiction: the knowledge needed, the thoughts expressed about their own and other adults reading of fiction and how the informants define their roles as mediators of fiction. The method used was qualitative interviews with six librarians at main libraries in Swedish cities of different sizes. The theoretical starting points are Louise M. Rosenblatt?s reader-response theory, Michail Bachtin?s theory of speech genres and Åse Tveit?s and Jofrid Karner Smidt?s theories about mediation of fiction.

The aim of this small thesis is to investigate if the probability of business failure is higher at the time of divestment than at the time of acquisition for portfolio companies that have been subject to private equity ownership. The background for this thesis is the widespread critique aimed at private equity firms, claiming that they increase the risk in their portfolio companies. We have performed a study of 53 buyout transactions, involving Swedish manufacturing companies, covering a time span of 13 years, from 1995 to 2007. We find evidence of an increased risk of business failure for the portfolio companies with a short forecasting horizon (within one year). The absolute increase in the sample is however small.

This report is a joint venture with SCA Skog AB in the Jämtland forest management area. The company is a major player in the timber market in northern Sweden, and also a large business globally with offices in over 100 countries. The purpose of the study was to find out how timber suppliers want feedback/follow-up after completion of timber business. To determine this, a questionnaire survey was sent out to 75 landowners who supplied the wood for the company during the past year. The questionnaire consisted of a total of 15 questions with the opportunity to comment on certain issues.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate new knowledge about how children search for library material and which strategies they use, and if the latest research gives any answers whether we should adapt systems and services or teach information seeking in a better way. In this thesis knowledge is understood as research publications but also results from projects in library practise, and studies concerning children 6 to 18 years old are included. The method used is a knowledge survey. We have gathered and evaluated documentation from different sources like citation and reference databases within the field of library and information science. The result implicates that there are, both in old and new documentation, three main search strategies children use in their search for information in a library context; they browse, they search in library catalogues and they use some sort of reference service.

De dynamiska förhållanden som råder för företagen i omvärlden. Har bidragit till att beslutfattare inom företagen har påbörjat att tillämpa olika typer av informationssystem för att effektivisera beslutsprocesser och informationshanteringsprocesser Den ständigt pågående ökning av information som erhålls via dagens informationssystem kan utlösa information overload, som i sin tur skapar ett förvirrat och dysfunktionellt beteende hos beslutfattare. Genom att tillämpa business intelligence bidrar till att information overload problematiken reduceras markant. Studien har till ambition att med hjälp av de befintliga teorierna inom ämnesområdet upprätta en egen analysmodell i syfte för att kunna estimera studiens åtta stycken aktörers beteendemässiga avsikt till att tillämpa business intelligence. Det genom att beskriva och tolka aktörernas syn på hur business intelligence kan komma att inverka på den framtida styrningen av affärsprocesserna.

Title: Globalization ? Meeting a new market Author: Anna Nubäck Supervisor: Anders Nilsson Institution: School of Management, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola Course: Master in business administration, 15 credits (FED006) Purpose: The purpose of this essay is partly to create an understanding of the decision to establish a branch in Japan and especially to look at if and how the Swedish company in this study has adjusted its corporate culture to suit the Japanese market. Method: Data is collected thru a number of semi constructed interviews. A first telephone interview was followed by an interview made face to face that was also followed up by interviews performed over telephone. E-mails have been used to clear and correct collected data. I have also studied company reports, closely related literature, articles and papers on the Internet. Conclusion: My conclusion is that the company in this study based the decision to open a branch in Japan on the demand from one big customer and the potential to grow globally.

Utvecklingen inom IT-området har under de senaste åren varit explosionsartad. Allt fler branscher har börjat att leta efter nya sätt att tillämpa de olika framsteg som skett inom områdetDetta arbete behandlar en kombinerad litteraturstudie och intervjuundersökning kring objektorientering och Business Process Reengineering. Problemställningen för detta arbete har varit:- På vilka sätt kan objektorientering tillämpas för att utveckla de synsätt och de metoder som används inom Business Process ReengineeringSyftet med arbetet var att hitta ett antal generella tillämpningsområden utifrån problemställningen, samt att hitta ett antal fördelar, som dessa generella tillämpningar skulle kunna medföra.Resultatet av detta arbete visar att det finns områden inom Business Process Reengineering, där en objektorienterad tillämpning skulle kunna medför stora fördelar. Som exempel på detta kan nämnas förbättrade möjligheter att skapa och anpassa de informationssystem som skall stötta verksamhetsprocesserna. Även möjligheterna att skapa dynamiska metoder, där varje metodsteg utgörs av färdiga moduler som sedan kombineras, bör nämnas som en fördel..

This bachelor thesis in business economics raises the topic about Corporate Responsibility (CR), this topic is currently being discussed in a variety of channels and today an increasing number of companies are involved in corporate responsibility. How do Skanska work with sustainability and why are they doing this? It is also important to see the results of the work with sustainability will lead to. We will go into more depth in one of Skanska's projects, project M25, to investigate the CR strategies they use and see how they actually work with sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze how and why Skanska is working to implement CR policies in their operations and more specifically from the M25 project in order to achieve sustainable business development.

In order to become even more competitive, a partnering with other niche players is essential in achieving a competitive advantage and it enables opportunities for reintermediation. From an intermediate perspective, there are great possibilities for those who become content coordinators to enter the market. By becoming a bundler of services and products, the content coordinators will become the actors that will capture the most profit in the value web. The value creating drivers that have been identified in the business landscape of intermediates concern owning the content or owning the customer relationship. We find the possibilities of an intermediate actor, such as a content coordinator to achieve competitive advantage through strategic fit is subject to the context and the ability of creating more innovative and co-creative distribution systems.

Abstract Title: How to source from Russia? - A multiple case study of six companies? experience of purchasing in Russia. Authors: Richard Werthén, Technology ManagementJohan Öhlén, Production Engineering and Management Supervisors: Christer Kedström, Dept of Business Administration Johan Lundin, Dept of Industrial Management and Logistics, Engineering LogisticsRolf Blomgren, Purchasing Manager SR, ScaniaLars Erik Nerback, Purchasing Director SE, Scania Issues: The issues presented are:? What characterise Russia as a supplier market?? Which sourcing experiences have been made by other Swedish companies in Russia?? How can this knowledge be utilised at Scania? Purpose: The purpose of this master thesis is to find out whether it is worthwhile for Scania to look for new suppliers in Russia, based on other Swedish companies? experiences of purchasing in the country. Method: In order to answer the purpose of our thesis the study of Scania?s purchasing organisation has to be complemented with in-depth studies of other companies? purchasing organisations.

A good flow of information in organizations is one of the key aspects of how we define a well-functioning organization. The information flow could be internal as well as external between actors within as well as outside of the organization. In a logistics organization this flow of information is equally important as in any other kind of organization. In this paper we have explored information flows in logistics organizations by applying, boundary spanning and the mobile-stationary divide perspective. In boundary spanning the main goal is to erase or relocate some of the boundaries within an organization, in our case to make the flow of information internally as well as externally better.

The traditional airlines exist on a market that is distinguished by an increasing competition. They are often partly or completely owned by the government and are characterized by slow decision making. Because of their existing structure and old business culture the traditional airlines find it hard to use price as a means of competition. Consequently the traditional airlines need to create loyalty amongst their customers. The purpose of this essay was to analyze and evaluate SAS long-term marketing strategies through a comparative study of the companies? management, employees and customers.

The aim of our study is to explore the empowerment process among micro-business owners in Kayamandi, a black township of Stellenbosch in South Africa. What are the positive and negative implications for the empowerment process? Another aim is to find out the role of local and international support in this process. The theoretical framework of this study revolves around the concepts of gender, power and empowerment. Our methods are qualitative interviews and observations.

The aim of this study was to investigate the production of knowledge that can emerge in the use of Practice Research by Mirror method. This by finding out what it is in the practical work that leads to the production of knowledge and how knowledge production takes form. The empirical data that form the basis for this study is recorded group within the Mirror method discussions and a focus group interview with social workers who participated in the discussions. Those who have participated are social workers with experience from working with financial aid support and only real cases have been used in the discussions. The results have been analyzed according to Lipsky's theory of street-level bureaucracy and their discretion and Fook and Gardner´s theory of critical reflection.

Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse how corporations can learn from past issues and corporate crises and to see how they use this knowledge in the management of subsequent issues and corporate crises. Furthermore, the influence of media on the possible intensification of the issue or corporate crisis, but also its impact on the company?s usage of knowledge management, was to be analysed.Method: The study was carried out through a case study method, in the hope of being able to analyze how a company makes use of knowledge management in the communication that occurs during issues and corporate crises. A semi-structured interview was conducted, with the head of public relations of the chosen company as a respondent. The purpose of the interview was to analyze the underlying factors behind a specific way of communicating.