This study puts emphasis on an international discourse describing how cities frequently compete against each other, and also describing factors that cities should enhance to make themselves more competitive. The discourse in this study has therefore been used to seek understanding how three different municipalities Borlänge, Karlstad and Malmö strive for growth by applying central factors from the discourse on the municipalities strategic documents. What the study shows is that the central factors from the discourse strongly imprints the strategic documents, but the presence of the factors varies between the municipalities and also to what meaning that lies behind the strategic goals..

The competition between the Swedish municipalities has increased as the world has become more globalized, which means that they need to become more attractive for sustaining sound finances and not to find themselves to have a downward trend. One possibility to show the attractiveness of a place is by using place marketing and therewith attaining a stronger brand position. There are 20 suburban municipalities in the county of Stockholm, of which six are multicultural or are having a minimum of 20 percent immigrants among the residents. These immigrant areas are segregated based on class, income and culture. Problems associated with these areas have historical aspects that dates further back than modern immigration does.

European cities of today are under the challenge to find ways to stay competitive and flourish in a rapidly changing world, where the old patterns of centrality and periphery not necessarily holds true. New and improved communication networks, a changed political geography in Europe, and the globalisation of not only the financial and industrial markets but also to a certain extent the globalisation of people, have all led to great challenges for cities and regions.In a changed spatial reality the classic monocentric models are challenged by newer models of urbanisation. The polycentric urban region is one such model which has been used to describe urban regions like the Randstad in the Netherlands and the Rhein-Ruhr region in Germany. Regions which lack the single dominant central city of the monocentric models of old, and instead shows a high degree of more equal-sized and sometimes more specialised cities in regional cooperation. The polycentric urban region is in that aspect a possible model for how other urbanised regions in Europe may act to be able to position themselves as attractive urban regions and regional hubs in the European urban network.Polycentric urban regions are not a universal solution, though.

På senare tid har konkurrensen om kunder ökat bland företag vilket gör att behovet av konkurrentanalyser har ökat. Trähusbranschen är en bransch där behovet av konkurrentanalys är extra stort eftersom det finns många företag som konkurrerar på en begränsad och konjunkturkänslig marknad. Konkurrensen inom branschen blir dessutom hårdare eftersom kunderna oftast är privatpersoner med stora krav på produkten men med en begränsad ekonomi. I denna rapport har konkurrensförhållandena inom trähusbranschen undersökts på en geografiskt begränsad marknad. Undersökningen inriktades på att hitta de absolut viktigaste faktorerna som gör en husleverantör framgångsrik.

In today?s fast changing environment it is important for knowledge intense companies that want to stay competitive to actively work with their knowledge, knowledge sharing and Knowledge Management (KM). Barriers decrease the efficiency of how knowledge is created, stored and shared, and they are therefore important to reduce or preferably remove making the KM activities result in as much value for the organisation as possible. To achieve this, it is important that the KM activities become a natural part of the employees? daily work.

Social phobia is a fear which limits a person's capabilities in daily situations. The fear can be so strong that a person can distance themselves from all social situations, for example education, marriage, sports activities etc. The purpose of this study is to discover whether there are any correlations between social fear and choice of educational program, between social fear and sex, and between social fear and Internet use. Questionnaires were administered to 80 upper secondary pupils. Each questionnaire answer was assigned a certain score, which was then coded in SPSS, the highest scores corresponding to highest degrees of shyness.

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is one of the leading causes of acute encephalitis in humans. The virus is spread by mosquitoes, mainly belonging to the Culex species. The main reservoirs are considered to be birds and pigs, with pigs constituting the most important reservoir in regard to human infection. During the last few decades the production of pork has increased significantly in Vietnam. With 90% of pigs being kept in households owning 10 pigs or less, pigs are widely spread across most parts of the country.

The aim of this study was to identify what kind of masculinity is shown in 54 articles of the Swedish lifestyle magazine Magazine Café of 1993 and 2008, and in which way this masculinity may be different from eachother.The study included four magazine issues of each year with analysis focus on main articles and abolishment of reviews and press items.  The method was semiotic analysis with focus on manly characteristics and stereotypes. The result showed that the normative man pictured in Magazine Café in 1993 was a man?s-man interested in manly characteristic business as sports, outdoor adventures and women. Fifteen years later not much has changed. The manly characteristics are the same but they have been complemented with a man-by-man accepted and homosexually inspired vain..

For many companies, the Internet has revolutionized the relationship they have with their customers concerning costumer service. The use of Information Technology in regard to Internet as a media has provided companies with the opportunity to build customer databases in order to target their customers individually. The airline industry was one of the first pioneers to use the full potential of Internet to improve customer relations and its profits which we aim to investigate in greater detail in our thesis.Our thesis answers the question on how Scandinavian Airlines' (SAS) Eurobonus department uses their website to create valuable and profitable relationships with SAS loyalty club members through direct marketing. In order to answer our research question, three key informants have been interviewed - each representing different sub departments at Eurobonus; service and support, IT and marketing. Our results were that the Eurobonus department use direct marketing methods by sending customized e-mail offerings to target specific customer, using their customer databases.

The main purpose of this study was to examine own and social influence on perfectionismwith individual athletes. The participants (n= 96) of this study represented ten different sportsand their ages was between 15 and 44. An interview with four of the participant wasconducted. The instruments used for this study was the Positive and Negative PerfectionismScale (Terry-Short et al., 1995) and for the interviews questions was based on own and socialinfluence. The results showed that there was a relationship between positive perfectionismand own influence, negative perfectionism and own influence, negative perfectionism andsocial influence.

This study puts emphasis on an international discourse describing how cities frequently compete against each other, and also describing factors that cities should enhance to make themselves more competitive. The discourse in this study has therefore been used to seek understanding how three different municipalities Borlänge, Karlstad and Malmö strive for growth by applying central factors from the discourse on the municipalities strategic documents. What the study shows is that the central factors from the discourse strongly imprints the strategic documents, but the presence of the factors varies between the municipalities and also to what meaning that lies behind the strategic goals..

Talented people are recognised as being the most important corporate resource over the next twenty years and a competitive compensation system is an important tool in attracting and retaining talent. Traditional pay systems are recognised as being neither cost effective nor motivating people to do more. Often these systems do not contribute to strategic objectives. This study outlines what constitutes an intelligent remuneration system that will enhance the mind value added by knowledge workers, reward knowledge creation, and contribute to organisational strategies..

När vi utövar idrott finns det givetvis mer eller mindre passande tider för detta. Med tanke på hur vår övriga dag kan se ut med arbete, skola, familj med mera, kan tidpunkten vara oerhört central för vår möjlighet att utöva idrott. Det kan faktiskt vara direkt avgörande för om vi överhuvudtaget har möjlighet att medverka på träningen, men det kan också vara en påverkande faktor angående motivationen att träna. Problematiken som ofta upplevs i samband med detta är dock att alla inte kan träna på de tider de helst skulle vilja eftersom det finns fler lag på samma anläggning som också skall träna. En fråga som då ofta uppstår är, vem som ska träna på vilka tider?  Den här uppsatsen behandlar en specifik miljö, en isstadion där fem bandyföreningar huserar tillsammans med en skridskoförening.

Background                      European football has during the past decades seen a fast development towards a more professionalized and commercialized climate. This had led to the fact that a lot of clubs are run like any other company, and the focus on marketing and market shares has increased. To be able to create a strong brand clubs have to put a lot of work into marketing, not only of their own brand, but of their sponsors and partners as well.Purpose                              The purpose of this study is to (in step 1) analyze how two smaller Swedish football clubs build their brand and work with their marketing communication. In step 2, the purpose is to create a model of how these clubs may work to develop their brand and marketing communication.Method                              With a qualitative approach, the authors of this paper have analyzed text and documents as well as performed two in-depth interviews.Findings                             Both clubs lack a well-developed strategy regarding their work with their brand and marketing communication. However, there are in both cases factors that, if developed correctly, could help build a stronger brand and better the marketing communication.

Background Svenska Spel is a regulated company run by the state and government, where CSR, community and social responsibility is in focus. The highly regulated Swedish gaming market has in recent years become more exposed to competition by foreign unregulated betting companies thru Internet.Problem discussion There are two views regarding CSR and how they are affecting competitive advantage and profitability. On one hand, it suggests that companies foremost shall focus profits and act in the best interest of the shareholders. On the other hand, it connects CSR to be a contributor to competitive advantage that increases the company?s profitability.Problem formulation Svenska Spel is competing with other betting companies who doesn´t act under the same conditions, betting companies that don´t have a responsibility to the state.