During the last years, the importance of sourcing in firms has increased. Globalization, fierce competition and an increased level of outsourcing are common explanations to why firms have highlighted the potential to realize savings and the value creation that the Purchasing department can generate. One trend that follows in parallel with globalization is an increased pressure from society on firms to take responsibility for the impact that its products and services have on the environment. This responsibility creates even more attention as outsourcing involves trade with suppliers in low wage countries, where the level of environmental and social responsibility is not always satisfying. The Purchasing department, the firm?s interface with suppliers should therefore, together with the firm?s Environmental department, play a key role in the firm?s contribution towards sustainable development.

This essay which is an event study aims to examine if an announcement of a CEO exchange actually is course-affecting information. The essay study?s if a variation can be detected in the share price in relation to an announcement of a CEO exchange. The study also aims to examine if the characteristics; age, number of years at the post, and compensation to the CEO effects the share price progress. The study embraces 46 companies from eight different line of business.

Today more effective computer programs are in use, regarding design of geotechnicalconstructions. There is a risk that the theoretical background of the computerprograms, its limitations and the signification of the choice of soil parameter isforgotten when the computer programs become more user-friendly.This Master thesis deals with simulation and analysis regarding three computerprograms, FEM-design, with the addition Raft, Plaxis and BE-slab. Comparisons aremade for settlement and maximum moment in a concrete-plate. FEM-design is a threedimensional FEM-program, foremost created for design engineers. Plaxis is a twodimensional FEM-program, intended for geotechnical engineers while BE-Slab is aBoundary elements program in two dimensions that is mainly used by designengineers.

This essay concerns the visual trade grading of pine and spruce.In the 1800s developed rules for sorting of wood. The rules used to facilitate the export trade.The terms of the regulatory sorting systems developed in the 1900s. While it still used some of the older terms.The essay deals with how the grading rules affect the use of wood and how the rule work and how the terminology works.Some of the terms used for sorting are O/S, Kvinta, Utskott and A,B,C,D.You sorting by counting the numbers of knots, cracks and other characteristics of each piece of wood.The sawmills have much influence in how the rules developed.Today it is often already determined in the sawmills which uses each piece of wood most have..

Veterinary medicine is not merely an area of occupation but also an area of business. In a business the customer service is its identity and brand and more importantly what makes the client choose and recommend the clinic to other potential customers. The licensed veterinary nurse is habitually the one who first meets the clients at the clinic. Therefore it is particularly important for the licensed veterinary nurse at the clinic to offer high-quality customer service. The object of this study was to understand and elucidate how the pet owners experience the encounter with the licensed veterinary nurse at different stages in their contact with the clinic.

The purpose of current paper is to identify the differences (ifany) between Swedish and Turkish consumers in terms ofproduct design perception and to identify the differences toproduct design in relating the four dimensions / characteristics:1.Aesthetical attractiveness, 2.Functionality, 3.Value and4.Quality.The findings of the study indicate the existence of a universal perception of design. Despite the culturally different countries that are examined the empirical material consistently display similarities between the two countries. Both the quantitative and qualitative data point to a very similar perception in terms of design. The possibilities of global design are discussed for companies as well as managerial implications and future research..

In this study we have focused on the operational management of the public pre-school in Sweden. We have studied how the governance system is designed, why it is designed this way and what impact it has on the operational management. This has been analyzed from a theory stating that there are two types of organizations: pay-driven and function-driven. Through a case and document study we came to the conclusion that the pre-school is a function-driven organization but is nowadays acting on a market and have adopted characteristics of a pay-driven organization. We connect this change to the phenomenon New Public Management.

Around the world, forests are generally being fragmented and as plant populations decline in both sizeand number of individuals, the genetic variation will also decrease whitch in the end leads to totalextinction of the plant. In this paper, I wanted to investigate what specific species of trees and shrubsyou usually find in the edge and core habitats in some of the forests in the Baltic Sea region. I alsowanted to identify the edge effects and their sources and finally compare the results between thedifferent regions.The data sources used are derived from the ongoining research project Landscape structures, patterns ofbiodiversity and conservation strategies in the Baltic Sea region by Kari Lehtilä, Patrik Dinnétz ochTiina Vinter who have made a record of all herbaceous plant species in four randomly chosen forestregions situated around the Baltic Sea: Estonia, Skåne, Södermanland and Germany. I made statisticalanalyses, using the computer program R, concerning the distribution of species in the edge habitats ofthe forests as well as in the core habitats. I performed generalized linear models and then variationanalyses with the factors light and biomass in order to investigate wether edge effects might appear dueto these factors.

This essay examines the grotesque in Samuel Becketts wellknown play Waiting for Godot. The play is primarily seen as an icon of absurdism, and it is such not appropriate to examine the play as if it belongs to the litterary genre of grotesque. The primary purpose of absurdism is to reveal the pointless- and emptiness of existence. In order to illustrate these points absurdism will often make use of the common characteristics of the grotesque. With this in mind I present, within this essay, an eximination of whether Samuel Becket makes use of these characteristics to assist his portayal of emptiness in Waiting for Godot.A prior understanding of absurdism is required and i have as such primarly used Martin Esslins famous studies.The studies of the grotesque are mainly represented by two theorists.

This study provides a Construction-Grammar analysis of Swedish pseudo-coordination construction with the verbs gå "go" and ta "take" on the basis of an examination of empirical data. Factors bringing about different readings of gå and ta pseudocoordinations are discussed, showing that the readings correlate with certain semantic properties of the first and the second conjunct. Three distinct pseudocoordinations with gå are proposed, differing as to their readings: inceptive, surprising and imperfective. The single ta pseudocoordination is claimed to have both inceptive and intentional readings. It is illustrated that the readings of gå and ta pseudocoordinations are affected not only by inherent lexical properties of single conjuncts but also by their interaction with construction-level characteristics.

Allt eftersom världen blir mer globaliserad ökar konkurrensen på marknaden. Detta sätterpress på företag vilket leder till stora behov av effektivisering. Företaget Toyota har verkatframgångsrikt på marknaden, detta har medfört att deras verksamhetsstrategi fått storuppmärksamhet. På grund av dess resurssnåla och effektiva tillvägagångssätt kom dennaverksamhetsstrategi att kallas Lean. Lean berör alla delar i en verksamhet, en del företagbörjar endast tillämpa Lean-produktion.

The objective with this essay was to compare the modern epistolary novel Priority by danish author Iselin C. Hermann with the epistolary genre during its heyday in late seventeenth to early nineteenth century. I especially looked at gender: the similarities and differences between the female character in Priority and the female characters during the epistolary novels days of glory. I concluded that Priority has the same structure, characteristics as the heyday epistolary novel and that the female character does not have any typical similarities with its stereotypical female characters. In addition I also came to the conclusion that she is reminiscent to their original model Héloïse and follows the epistolary novels heyday convention when she dies at the end of the novel..

This essay research the characteristics of the place-name Kiven?bben (with variation) in the Swedish region of V?sterg?tland, and its possible connection to the fortification term kiven?bb. The purpose is to deepen and nuance earlier brief reaserches made for the subject. The essay uses the theories of the urban planner Kevin Lynch to rule out if it is likely that the places with kiven?bb-names in V?sterg?tland were named after a fortification in the closest area.

This research aims at identifying the opinion leaders in order to study their behaviour, characteristics, their role within the word of mouth process, and what importance they have upon another consumers purchase decision. Also, to investigate the content of the message being spread. The results from the study show that opinion leaders are strong in spreading word of mouth. Messages were adapted by opinion leaders to suite their target audience. The results further contribute to the discussion about Watts? ?influentials?..

One of the purposes of this work was to find out what it means to have a conceptual understanding of geometry. It describes how the geometry evolved from history and the geometry that is taught in grade one to nine and collage. The area examined was based on fundamental geometric objects for example two- and three- dimensional objects and its characteristics and especially focusing on the areas of perimeter, area and volume. The literature- review showed that the conceptual understanding was primary to developing a good knowledge of geometry. The second purpose of his study examined whether pupils achieved the goals in geometry by working with a Mathematics Book.