This thesis has two aims: The main purpose is to describe and illustrate how a large Ltd. company can use voluntary redundancy as a tool for restructuring. The additional purpose is to challenge the concept of voluntary redundancy trough outlining alternative ways of reaching the intended achievements of the voluntary redundancy programme. The theoretical framework that has been used primarily contains knowledge assets theories. The chosen theories are intellectual capital and knowledge management theory to approach and analyse the empirical findings.

The purpose of our study is to examine how parents experienced their participation and their involvement in a solution-focused parenting group. The parenting groups are a part of the social welfare system in a town in south of Sweden. The study is conducted as a qualitative study with focus groups. 11 parents have participated. The study´s theoretical framework considers solution focused theory, social constructionism and process within groups.In the study we found that participants generally perceived their participation as positive and that they received confirmation by meeting other parents in the same situation.

This essay is included as a sub-study of a survey about child poverty, which the Department of Sociology at Uppsala University, the Ombudsman for Children and Gillbergska Stiftelsen (the Gillberg?s foundation) has been commissioned by Uppsala Town to implement. The intent of this essay is to investigate how three pre-school managers in the municipal preschool in Uppsala describe child poverty, how they see the preschool?s social responsibility and how they manage child poverty in their practical operation. The essay is a qualitative study and informants' responses has been analyzed and related to symbolic interactionism, the thesis theoretical basis.

Bakgrund och problemformulering: Revisions-­ och konsultbyrån Grant Thornton genomförde i september 2008 en undersökning med 400 VD:ar i svenska företag. Resultatet visade att svenska företag är tämligen duktiga på att kunna fo?rutspå omvärldsförändringar men att det alltför sällan leder till någon form av strategisk planering och handling. Företagets Chief Financial Officer (CFO), som ansvarig för ekonomifunktionen och som den med bäst insyn i företagets finansiella ställning, har en nyckelroll i företagets förmåga att hantera omvärldsförändringar. Det är därför vitalt att CFO arbetar strategiskt och kan vidta snabba åtgärder vid behov och därmed inte bedriver en reaktiv styrning där åtgärder vidtas först när problem redan har hunnit uppstå.

Competing is a well established work model among Swedisharchitects as well as in the international architect work force.Through this study we set out to get better acquainted with thiswork model in theory and in practice, and to hopefully gainknowledge that will be of use to us and to others working in thefield of architecture.Techniques, materials as well as the artistic expression ofcontemporary architecture is international and today?s architectsoperate on a global labour market. Architects often commit to workon assignments far away from where they are based. Therefore,to physically visit the site of interest may be time consuming,expensive as well as harmful to the environment. Is it possible fora designer to accomplish relevant proposals on how to develop andimprove a place that he or she has never visited? May there evenbe situations in which the outsiders point of view is preferable?These are questions that we aim to investigate, and we do sothrough participation in an international design competition.

Seen in many trends and studies, consumers of today feel a growing desire to experience the uniqueness in products and services. This is forcing companies be more innovative and creative in their marketing, in order to distinguish and differentiate themselves and their products/services. We believe that creating a top-to-bottom experience strategy is one way that a company can succeed in this.The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and clarify how a business can reinforce their product experience through a complete experience strategy. In order to demonstrate this we have made a case-study research for the New Wave Group, advising them on how they can place blown glass art at the heart of the town of Kosta.The authors have used qualitative methods and an abductive approach. Four interviews have been completed with executives from the New Wave Group, including the project manager, hotel manager, head of the Kosta Boda smeltery and head of guides and visitors at Kosta museum.

Kisa Courthouse in the south of ?sterg?tland is a house built in the early 19th century with a typical neoclassical style. With clearly regular symmetrical wooden facade scheme with a central main entrance. The main entrance is a wooden double door with richly decorated portico. the crown moulding above the door consists of a band of dentils with a cornice moulding at the top.

This essay presents an investigation of the ruins of an assembly of crofts in a rural area in the south of Sweden, outside the town Falk?ping. Using literary sources and intangible sources, and then combine them with the information found by investigation of the physical remains of the crofts, the essay attempts to capture the life and the living conditions of the crofters. The investigation is focusing on the period between the nighteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century, and looks into the the living conditions according to, for example, the buildings, the orientation in the landscape, demografical changes, the transformation of the area over years and how the crofters were affected by powerty. The investigation shows that the crofters in many ways were in vulnerable and exposed positions, powerty summarized as a lack of freedom ? concerning economical, political and social dimensions.

The structure and performance of grocery distribution in Sweden has changed profoundly since the second world war. Increasing access and usage of the private car, in combination with an accommodating town planning has enhanced the exploitation of scale economies within distribution firms. There is, however, some ambiguity concerning the overall efficiency of the distribution system when the costs associated with travelling and purchasing performed by households are treated as an integrated part of the total distribution cost function. The purpose of this master thesis is to develop the foundation of a spatial optimisation model, which defines the most efficient distribution system. The underlying idea is that the optimal localisation and size of grocery stores is a function of economies of scale within the firms weighed against distributions costs within the households, such as transportation costs.

AbstractThis report has been developed in cooperation with Peab Region Bostad Göteborg, mentor at Krook& Tjäder (through Chalmers), and examiner at Chalmers University of Technology. The report is the result of a research of a building project, constructed by Peab. The report is investigating and it means to identify and evaluate qualities in the dwelling and its surroundings. Its purpose is to evaluate how the residents in a chosen housing cooperative enjoy living there. It shall, with help of chosen quality aspects, identify what expectations the residents had before moving in, how they experience the dwelling and its surroundings today, and what hopes they have for the future planning of the area.

The ambition to use evidence based treatments has spread within the field of Swedish social work. The number of treatments with claim to being evidence based has grown but the research concerning implementation; the procedures being used to introduce new methods in organizations and assure that the method is being used appropriately and continuously, is scarce. The aim of this study was to examine the implementation of Functional Family Therapy (FFT), being an evidence based treatment, in an organization providing social services in the public sector, in Sweden. We used a qualitative research design and conducted interviews with persons involved in the implementation of FFT in the social services in a town in the south of Sweden. We used the practice guidelines provided in Evidence Based Practice (EBP) together with recently published meta- analyses of implementation research, in the field of social work, to examine the implementation of FFT, as being an evidence based treatment.

Trygghet är en subjektiv upplevelse som påverkas av många olika faktorer och påverkar människors hälsa och beteenden. En individs hälsa påverkas av hela den omgivande miljön och otrygghet kan leda till att områden inte utnyttjas, vilket kan föranleda inaktivitet, isolering och stress. Trygghet påverkas negativt av förekomst av brott och positivt av gemenskap, mötesplatser och delaktighet. I Sverige upplever de flesta sitt bostadsområde som tryggt men det är vanligare att boende i flerfamiljshus i större städer upplever otrygghet. I stadsdelen Råby i Västerås finns mycket flerfamiljshus och har ett rykte om att vara otryggt.

The first of May 2007, a decision from the Swedish Board of Fisheries about a Swedish prohibition of eel fishery got legal force. This prohibition is one of the most challenged decisions that the Swedish Board of Fisheries has taken. In the town Karlskrona in the southeastern part of Sweden the prohibition has got a lot of attention in local media. Early in the debate, it was clear that the actors active in the archipelago of Karlskrona were against the prohibition. The aim with the master thesis is to investigate different actors' opinions and view of the prohibition of eel fishery, today's management of the resource and how the actors' think that the communication between the actors involved in the management of eel and eel fishery works and what need to be changed to be able to develop a sustainable management of the eel in the future.

AbstractThis report has been developed in cooperation with Peab Region Bostad Göteborg, mentor at Krook& Tjäder (through Chalmers), and examiner at Chalmers University of Technology. The report is the result of a research of a building project, constructed by Peab. The report is investigating and it means to identify and evaluate qualities in the dwelling and its surroundings. Its purpose is to evaluate how the residents in a chosen housing cooperative enjoy living there. It shall, with help of chosen quality aspects, identify what expectations the residents had before moving in, how they experience the dwelling and its surroundings today, and what hopes they have for the future planning of the area.

This study examines the differences between Bosnia and Herzegovina?s, Montenegro?s and Croatia's tourism development after the Civil War in the 1990s. In particular, this essay is about the town Neum, which is the only Bosnia and Herzegovina destination on the Adriatic, splitting the Croatian coast in two. Through information from books, the internet and interviews I´ve tried to find out why Neum is a special place to visit and how it differs from other destinations on the Adriatic coast. One of the findings is that many are not aware of Bosnia and Herzegovina having a small, but still, part of the Adriatic.