To be able to maintain an adequate ITservice for various users and needs,more municipalities are looking at thepossibility for mergers of local ITdepartments. One solution for mergingmultiple services/functions and creatingsynergy opportunities is called SharedService Center (SSC). The concept of SSCis that the administrative serviceitself becomes a core activity withinthe organization. The aim of this thesisis to provide municipalities who areconsidering a merging of their local ITdepartments with recommendations on howto design the Shared IT Service Center.Recommendations are outlined based on ananalysis of IT-management literature,reports and by conducting a study onthree ongoing collaborations.The conclusions drawn from the studysuggest guidelines for the design of aShared IT Service Center formunicipalities. These are as following:Create a vision associated with aspecific and structured target state.Identify needs for different targetgroups in municipalities and set acommon standard.Create a clear and practical model/SLAappearance of the cooperation andagreement.Ensure the individual municipalitiescommissioning skills in order to notlose it in the context of a common IToperation.Find an organization that is democraticfor member municipalities andfacilitates long-term partnership.Specify the operation and maintenance sothat it can be regulated and controlledEstablish a common help desk.Establish a common standard andconsolidated infrastructure before theintroduction of a common technology platform..

Background: Critical conditions to become an attractive supplier of knowledge based IT-services in the B2B market are many. Besides the fact of supplying a service of high quality one must as a supplier communicate values which are understandable and desirable for a new buyer. Buying a knowledge based IT-service involves several risks; the consultant might not have sufficient knowledge or have difficulties understanding the corporate culture and collaborating with other staff within the client?s organization. Since services are intangible offers and it can be intricate to put right price level for something which can only be evaluated when the project is finished, puts severe strain on suppliers competing with other companies in the same market when looking for new clients.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka de möjligheter och utmaningar som finns för ett sammanslaget finsksvenskt HR1-center på TeliaSonera. Utgångspunkten för uppsatsen var slutsatserna Anners och Thureson (2008) påvisade i kandidatuppsatsen Tystlåtna finnar och pladdrande svenskar ? en teoretisk analys av utmaningar för en gemensam organisationskultur. Kandidatuppsatsens slutsats har operationaliserats för att konstruera intervjufrågor och för att analysera det empiriska materialet. Intervjuer har genomförts med fyra personer från HR-center Finland och fyra från HR-center Sverige.

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to examine and analyze the discourse concerning a new public library in Stockholm. The paper further discusses how this discourse corresponds with what is written about public libraries in a number of national and international documents. To do this I have utilized the discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe. By using some of their instruments I have established the discourse around a number of keywords.

The aim of this thesis was to investigate how teachers in school and in leisure time center look at informal and formal learning. Informal learning is often associated with leisure-time while formal learning is generally linked to school. My questions also deal with the teachers? view of each other?s activities from a learning perspective and visibility of informal learning. I have made an empirical study with qualitative, semi-structured interviews with three class teachers and three leisure teachers.

Over the years, what people have considered as the center of Stockholm City has gone from the medieval Stortorget in Old Town to the contemporary Sergels Torg. But more recently it has become unclear how the area really works. It is difficult to say where the actual central part of Stockholm lies, because while the Central Station is where the majority of people arrive into town, it is not necessarily close to Sergelstorg (considered the center of town) or other attractive commercial areas. There's also another issue with where the center of Stockholm is located. The railways and roads running along Klarabergs Viaduct acts as a divide between the areas of Kungsholmen and Norrmalm; these rails, roads and water separate the two areas from each other. In response to this problem of area division, a plan is being made to construct a new district near the center to mend the gap between the districts. The idea is that the center of Stockholm city will become more lively and attractive. The plan includes building new housing, commercial areas and a larger terrace called Mälarterrassen. In addition, improved mobility within the area is being planned by having better public transportation lines like City banan and tram named Spårväg City construction, as well as more pedestrian areas shall make the area become a district to thrive in.How the area will actually operate in the future is still unclear and many questions still exist about how the area will be able to compete and, above all, integrate with the other districts. The parts considered to be most important for the area is the scale of residential property and an attractive area that keeps people in the area and to encourages them to pass through the area. Perhaps the best solution would be to have something special planned in this area that can attract people in the community ? a city park, for example?.

This paper examines the potential benefits of using augmented reality as a tool for visualizing furniture in a buyer?s own environment before buying it. A simple prototype is developed and tested.  The steps for developing the prototype are described in great detail as well as the tools being used. The prototype is tested both on people working in the furniture business as well as people with experience in buying furniture online. In conclusion the results from the user tests are analyzed and the potential benefits are described.

This study describes how a larger investment by a private company in the northern interior can affect a municipality?s economy. The mobility to the municipality is expected to increase and some of the direct and indirect effects that this investment can implicate on their economy are discussed. The method for this study is qualitative. Interviews have been made with the initiative owner of the company LHG Learning Center and with civil servants in the municipality of Lycksele. The conclusions drawn in this study are that the establishment of LHG Learning Centers in Lycksele will include both opportunities and risks for the municipality?s future.

The consumer society exploits the earth?s resources more than the earth itself has capability to produce. This over-consumption causes a mass production of products, which mean that more greenhouse gases are being emitted to the atmosphere. This is one of the reasons why the earth?s temperature is rising, where the result of it is worldwide disasters.

The relatively new phenomenon of daily deals has had an amazing explosion of growth during recent years. The concept relies on offering deeply discounted products and services that a number of customers must buy in order to acquire this discounted service. Companies spend valuable resources on marketing to get customers but the effects of daily deals on the brand do not have empirical evidence. What is the customers' attitude towards companies that communicate through daily deals How is their intention to buy from that company affected This is what is the main purpose of this study. To examine how customers perceive a company, in terms of attitude toward the brand and buying intentions, when the company markets through daily deals compared to more traditional promotion.

Title: How does the buying decision process really function within e-commerce? - A qualitative study of consumer behavior when they consume on Internet.Institution: School of Economics, Linnaeus University, Va?xjo?.Course code: 2FE16E.Authors: Sara Hja?rne, Mathilda Perem, Ewelina Wallin.Tutor: Dan Halvarsson.Examiner: A?sa Devine.Key words: Buying decision process, purchase decision process need recognition, information search, evaluation, purchase decision, postpurchase behavior, consumer decision making, E-commerce, E- commerce channels, online shopping, online purchase, e-retail, internet shopping, electronic shopping, consumer behavior, online appereal shopping, social media, decision making, online retailing, website design, customer satisfaction, webshopping, perceived risk, convinience, price, online consumption behavior.Background: Buying decision process is a model that marketers use to get a better understanding of their customers and their behavior when purchasing a product. This process consists of five different steps; need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and evaluation. Buying decision process has for a long time been an accepted model but scientists argue that the introduction of Internet as a channel for consumption has changed this process. The Internet has also led to a change of power in which customers today have greater influence, which greatly affects the buying decision process in e-commercePurpose: The purpose is to explore how consumers perceive their behavior when they consume through e-commerce.Research questions:How do consumers perceive the buying decision process they experience when they consume through e-commerce?How do consumers perceive different factors that are important to them when they consume through e-commerce?Methodology: Qualitative study, cross-sectional design, semi-structured interviews.Conclusion: This thesis shows that the traditional model of the buying decision process is not consistent with consumers' perception of how they are undergoing the process when applied to an e-commerce context.

The thesis concerns itself with studying the effects private brands has on the consumer?s impulse buying in the grocery industry, as in degree of unplanned spending and the selection process between manufacturer brands and private brands when such a purchase is performed. The study?s methodology is characterised by a qualitative approach, whereby the study acknowledges the inductive approach towards the empirical setting even though the Mehrabian-Russell model along with motivational theories serve as highlighters of relevant aspects in the empirical field. The study concludes that both the utilitarian and the hedonic consumer decide what to buy before entering the store, whereby a low degree of needs arise in the store.

This essay has been made on behalf of the co-operative society Mäster Grön, which is selling ornamental plants to retailers in Sweden. The aim of this study has been to find out what added value Mäster Grön gets from their co-branding with the Swedish Seal of quality. The main topic of discussion was; how much value added does this co-branding give to Mäster Gröns pot plants? Are there differences from a customer point of view in value added between a garden center and a retail store? How much weight does the costumer put on the branding when buying a plant? Does the customer know what the values of Mäster Grön and Swedish Seal of quality mean? Two questions of lesser worth were asked to the consumers about what they thought about the protective plastic around the plant, and if they were interested in getting more information about the origin as well as the method of production of the plant. The study was divided into two parts, one in which customers were observed and one where the customers answered a survey.

I Sverige och utomlands har man på senare tid sett framväxten av ett nätverk av s.k. Science Centers (SC). Dessa SC har som viktigaste syfte att öka besökarnas naturvetenskapliga intresse. När det gäller elever från högstadiets senare år kan detta ökade intresse för naturvetenskap t ex visa sig i form av en ökad benägenhet hos eleverna att söka sig till ett naturvetenskapligt inriktat gymnasieprogram.Vi har utvecklat och använt en enkät-baserad metod för att undersöka den påverkan på elevers intresse för naturvetenskap som ett besök på SC har. Enkäten är lämplig att användas för elever från grundskolans senare årskurser.

The buying decision process describes how the consumer makes a purchase decision through a rational process (Markin, 1979) and an understanding for how consumers make a purchase decision can according to Sands et al. (2010) be obtained by increased knowledge for the information search process (the second part of the buying decision process) before a purchase. Today?s society offers great opportunity to obtain information (Rahim & Clemens, 2012; Bawden & Robinson, 2009) and by that there are in other words good opportunities for a rational acting by the consumers. However, there are factors working against that consumers act rationally and seek information prior to their purchases primarily in the form of the concept of information overload (Bawden & Robinson, 2009) which claims that consumers are limited in their information search because there is too much information but also other factors such as lack of time (Wood & Neal, 2009) and ability to find information (Slegers et al.