This thesis intends to examine the role of the city, Dublin, in the Irish economic growth during the 1990s. It is a case study where Dublin is compared with current theories on post modern cities as growth machines and increasingly prominent actors in the global context. The study has an interdisciplinary approach but focuses on political science issues such as power distribution, global-local governance and local political organisation. It is a theory driven study that also intends to add aspects to the understanding of the cities of our time. I argue that Dublin has faced a lot of changes during the last decades in accordance with the post modern city.

This report describes the bachelor degree project called ?A case study in strategic product design in collaboration with Elfa? carried out by Mathieu Gustafsson and Pär Rickberg,students at Carl Malmsten Furniture Studies.We had the opportunity to do our degree project in collaboration with ELFA after a previous school project where we made suggestions for new products. Initially the brief was to develop new products for the company which was based on previous proposals.Reasoning led us in to design strategies and how to use such a strategy to develop newproducts for ELFA. During our first superficial analysis of ELFA and its current products, we found that we wanted to recast the framework of identity and context in which the product would be created. According to the researches made by SVID (The Swedish Industrial Design Foundation),companies that continually are working with design strategies strengthens the brand, its Competitiveness and become more innovative.

Organisations tend to focus more and more on product and process development to increase their Competitiveness. Several major organisations, among them ABB, have developed models aimed to more effectively control and manage product development processes. ABB is using its standardised model ABB Gate Model for this. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how the introduction of ABB Gate Model has affected the outcome of decisions and also the decision-making in the product development process. The study is limited to elucidate the version of ABB Gate Model handling product development projects.

Talented and committed employees are important resources for a company?s Competitiveness. With the escalating competition for competent employees, a strong employer brand has come to play an increasingly important role as a means of attracting employees with a desirable profile. In this study, brand theory is applied to the results of a quantitative study of students? evaluation of an attractive employer, in order to identify the factors which explain why certain employers are perceived as more attractive than others.

In 1984 the Swedish government introduced a special law which gave tax benefits to foreign researchers who for a limited time was engaged in research or development work in Sweden. The purpose was to facilitate for companies to recruit skilled employees from outside of Sweden and to make Sweden more attractive to this important group of researchers and to strengthen the Swedish Competitiveness. In 2001 the law for foreign researchers was reformed to include foreign experts, researchers, managers and other key personnel. In Sweden called ?expert tax?.As a result of this; problem with the predictability of who may have the potential to apply for the expert tax benefits was developed.

This study examines university employees? perception of their employment situation and career opportunities. By tradition, fixed term contracts are used in the Swedish research community due to dependency on insecure funding. There is a current debate that questions this use of insecure employments. The employments are said to negatively affect the university?s societal role and international Competitiveness.

This thesis analyses how the European Unions institutions deal with the issue of illegal and harmful content on the Internet in key documents presented during the period 19961999. Particular attention is attached to content where the legal status is determined in relation to the user and to content that is legal, but characterized as harmful and entailing a need for special protective measures. The theoretical and methodological approach draws on discourse theory as formulated by Laclau and Mouffe. The thesis studies how the problem is represented in key documents from the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, with particular regard to the discourse on harmfulness, the child and Europe. The findings are that the overall discourse has shifted focus over time, from an emphasis on the protection of minors toward a more market-oriented discourse stressing the importance of protecting the Competitiveness of the European economy.

The component workshop at Atlas Copco inTierp intends to reduce the costs inorder to increase their Competitiveness.This thesis examines how the productionmanagement around cylinder washersshould be managed in a way that meetsthe customer needs. The customer to thecylinder washer is Atlas Copcos assemblydepartment in Tierp.The purpose of this thesis is to providean alternative way of managing theproduction. A chapter of theory is addedto give the reader an insight ofdifferent types of production managementsystems as well as the underlyingknowledge needed to get a better readingexperience. An introduction of kanbancan in theory help Atlas Copco in thedirection they strive. It should beclear how the purpose of this thesisaffects the cost for the componentworkshop and also how it relates to thecurrent production.

This thesis is about university spin-offs and the competition in high technology industries. In the light of efforts to increase the Competitiveness of the European Union, an effective transfer of cutting edge technology from universities to the industry plays an important role. University spin-offs, start-ups founded to exploit academic inventions, are likely to face considerable market entry barriers. This is among other reasons due to high capital requirements for further technology development and lack of complementary resources. With a combination of relevant literature and empirical investigation, commercialisation of technologies within spin-offs is investigated and analysed.

Energy efficiency is important both to reduce costs and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. Reducing costs will also help maintain business Competitiveness.Scania in Södertälje is a company where the optimization of energy use is an ongoing and continual process. One area with potential to make energy and cost savings is the effectiveness of the ventilation systems in offices and industrial premises at Scania. During the summer months an increased demand for cooling occurs, leading to increased ventilation and a peak in district cooling system usage. Sorptive cooling is a technology where the supplied air is cooled by applying external heat.

This is an investigation of a mobile prefabrication factory´s Competitiveness and profitability which also will result in a suggestion for a design of the factory. The mobile prefabrication factory is an idea of a new concept for production which is meant to be used in the manufacture of slab. The main intention with this concept is that by using a fast established prefabrication factory to produce elements near the construction site, thus avoiding transport from the factory to the building site. This means not only an environmental and economic gain, but also that you can avoid risking damage the elements which often occur during transportation. The contractor is owner of the mobile prefabrication factory and can thus avoid long waiting times and cyclicality.

The purpose of this study is to examine how Viking Line, Tallink Silja and Birka Cruises work with economic and environmental sustainability, and also to see how they work with new environmental legislations. In 2015 a new environmental legislation will be introduced, by the name Sulphur directive. The Sulphur directive entails a reduction in Sulphur dioxide emissions from ships where the emissions cannot exceed 0,1 percent. There are three alternatives to achieve the new environmental legislation, the use of Marine Gas Oil, LNG or scrubbers. All three alternatives will lead to increasing costs for the shipping industry.

In 2007 Swedish Meats, the dominant Swedish meat-producers cooperative sold its slaughtering and processing industry. The goal of a producer cooperative structure is to create value for members through vertical integration, and to strengthen members? market position. When Swedish Meats sold the slaughtering and processing components, it ceased in some respects to serve the function of a cooperative. This is a lost opportunity for both members and non-members, because Swedish Meats as a functioning cooperative could have exploited its dominant market position to positively effect producer?s prices.

Swedish agricultural businesses are facing challenges in order to achieve long-term profitability. The opportunity to improve profitability and efficiency on farm level may be enhanced by management. One way to work with leadership is to use Lean. It is a management system that aims to improve Competitiveness. Currently, there is a project where Lean is implemented into 100 agricultural firms.

To challenge the competition within the construction business there are requirements ineffectiveness and use of operating computer based programs and work-methods. Thecomputer based programs are continuously improved and can at some point be the start of anew work-method. The work-method of tomorrow can be Building Information Modeling(BIM).This Master of Science Thesis gives an understanding in what BIM is and what therequirements for Sweco Theorells are in a future BIM-use as a consulting-firm. Theunderstanding is presented through a study of theory within the subject. The way of thinkingand acting among different disciplines and individuals within the building process isexplained through an interview study.The term BIM is regularly used.