By using industrialized building, pre-installed modules can be delivered to the construction site where they are easily mounted. This method has many advantages compared to on-site manufacturing, for example, the precision during the production process should be much higher than building each wall and floor on site. Furthermore, the quick erection procedure when using prefabricated elements and the possibility to use weather protection has the advantage of not being dependent on weather conditions, and many other factors.Masonite Beams AB is a Swedish company (a member of the Norwegian company, Byggma ASA) with a relatively new technology using light weight beams as bearing elements in the walls and a certain stiff board lamella slap which is mounted on the top of the floor structure creating an integrated stiff beam / board floor structure. The elements are flat which make it much easier to transport the elements from the factory to the building site where the building parts are easily mounted with special mounting stud.One of the main drawbacks of lightweight structure is the sound transmission. The main topic is low frequency annoyance, however the complex structural elements and their mutual sensitive connections other acoustical problems might appear.

The purpose of this report is to investigate the possibilities with drain water heat recovery (DWHR) in residential buildings. Information and relevant theory has been collected and summarized in this report. Calculations have been done for given scenarios to evaluate profits. DWHR heat exchangers use simple technology and have long life-time. The heat exchanger is connected to outgoing drainage pipe and incoming cold-water supply so countercurrent flow is accomplished.

Hemp is an old agricultural plant and has been used for hundreds of years for making textiles, ropes and other fibre products. In the middle of the last century the Swedish government prohibited all growing of hemp. Natural fibres were replaced by syntetic fibres instead. Today there is a newly awakened interest for using natural fibres from renewable materials. Growing of industrial hemp for fiber is allowed in Sweden again. I want in my Paper give Swedish growers an insight of which harvesting methods that have been tried in Sweden and how they worked.

Title: A study about conditions for leadership in knowledge-intensive firms.Authors: Cecilia Ekström and Niklas SandbergKeywords: Leadership, knowledge-intensive firm, hierarchies, followers.Background: Leadership is becoming one of our greatest social myths and is considered a total solution for many problems that occur in an organization. The view of leadership is usually from a top-down perspective, which contributes to an often underestimated view of the follower. Just as it is important to understand the leader's view of leadership, it is important to understand how employees view the structure from which the leader derives its legitimacy. The existing conditions in knowledge-intensive firms, such as autonomy, place special demands on the formal leadership.Purpose: The purpose of this study takes an employee perspective, to understand what the conditions are for formal leadership in knowledge-intensive firms.Method: A qualitative research method was used and empirical material was collected through interviews with employees in knowledge-intensive firms. The empirical material was analyzed by the respondents? mental images which were set against the theoretical framework of the thesis.Conclusions: The conditions for formal leadership in knowledge-intensive firms make it advantageous to have a leader with a withdrawn role.

Thesis Purpose: The purpose of our thesis is to explore different plausible scenarios concerning the future of the Swedish produce industry with regards to branding. Methodology: In order for us to answer the research question and fulfill its purpose, we have utilized a qualitative approach combined with of both an inductive and deductive theoretical approach. Our study is both explorative and speculative. Theoretical Perspective: The theoretical framework of our research is based upon Porters Five Forces and Competitive Advantage combined with Kapferers Brand Identity Prism and his ideas on Brand Innovation. Additionally, we have utilized the Game Theory.

The cat has evolutionary become an obligate carnivore. Today it is common to feed the cat a dry food. Studies have shown that the dry formula can have negative consequences for the cat. A literature study where conducted to investigate whether the cats origin makes it incapable to compensate for the changes a dry food entails. The impact and implications regarding water intake, energy intake and blood glucose concentration when feeding the cat dry food where examined.

An increasingly globalized market is leading to hard competition among manufacturing companies, which means that they are forced to become more customer focused to survive in the market. A Customer Relationship Management system is a system that will be of assistance to help companies succeed in building long term relationships with their customers. Best of Breed and ERP-based are two types of CRM systems. The study has focused on analyzing and examine the need for CRM systems at manufacturing companies. Our question formulation has been:? What need do businesses want to satisfy with a Best of Breed-based and ERP-based CRM system?? Are there any differences in the use of Best of Breed-based and ERP-based CRM system?In this study, we have chosen to carry out interviews and quantitative surveys with manufacturing companies to get their view of CRM-systems.

A favourable economic situation in Sweden has lead to a very good market for agricultural real estates. The estate agents? ads in the daily newspapers, where they actively are seeking assignments, give a hint that the supply is smaller than the demand for agricultural real estates. This situation ends up in a competition between real estate agents to get as many assignments as possible to meet the demand from the market. Describing and explaining the sellers? decision process may give a specific agent an advantage towards other agents.

Tourism is a growing industry that brings in a lot of money each year, range ofactivities increases and people travel more than ever before. More and more chooseto move from rural areas to larger towns, at the same time when people are travellingthey want to visit quieter places that can offer outdoor experiences in the nature. Thisis something that tourism businesses located in rural areas have a great advantage of.But when the range is large, it becomes important for firms to communicate with themarket, to make the tourists choose to visit them.The purpose of this study is to investigate which media channels and target groupsthat tourism businesses use and how they reflect on the importance of communicatewith the market. To find this out, interviews have been conducted with tree differententrepreneur, all located in Jämtland. The theory?s that has been used is strategiccommunication, public relations, market communication, media channels, socialmedia and target groups.The result shows that all companies think that thecommunication with the market is an important part in the work with the company.The communication gets the business a chance to be seen and it becomes more easilyto create relationships with the stakeholders.

This bachelor thesis contains the findings of an investigation into the laying of wedge sawn wood flooring. The advantage of wedge sawn wood flooring is the usage of more material from each board reducing waste. The boards follow the natural profile of the tree where the root part of the board is wider, and the top part is narrower. The technique involves placing boards side by side with adjacent boards in opposite directions. The thick base of one board is neighbored by the narrow top of another, this creates a pattern of wedges in alternating directions, known as a ?root and top? system. Existing literature into this type of flooring is sparce.

The competition between brands on a market has led to a differentiation of the product range and the brands shape is more and more important to take consideration to. As a company and as a leader, you must understand the importance of working with a brand building-process int he organization. It is important to take advantage of the core assets you have with the brand and also within the organization.The paper is presenting David Aakers brand building-process witch involves a model for identity and the seed within. Aaker describes that a clear brand identity can help communicate both intern the organization and out to extern costumers, it could help bring clarity to what the brand stands for. And what it wan to send out.

This Master Thesis is a product development project that has been carried out in cooperation withSvea Teknik AB. The company has developed an apparatus for attachment of a keel to a hull base ofa boat. The purpose for this thesis has been to compare a new concept of keel attachment incomposite material to thetraditionaldesign solution. This new keel attachment minimizes thedamages that may arise on the keel and the hull of the boat in shape of stresses impacts at grounding.Today it is a problem, relating to keel attachment on sailing boats having a fin keel or a bulbous keel.The manufacture focus on developing larger draught and shorter keel blades. The overall purpose isto increase performance of the sailing boat.The task for this thesis was to develop a concept of keel blade in composite material and investigateattachment to a sheet-shaped element.

Today, companies can take advantage of mass intelligence by making use out ofcrowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is a business model that uses the power of the collective bythe offer of a problem by means of competitions in various social media. The benefit ofcrowdsourcing is that the company gets more creative and creative solutions to the sameproblem, which would not have been possible if the company solved the problem internally.The larger mass gains an insight into the company, which in return also releases power tothe company's development. The study aims to examine the way in which citizens can beattracted to participate in the development of public transport using crowdsourcing. The studyis based on both qualitative and quantitative approach since the study has a qualitative pilotstudy.

Term: Spring term 2007Study objects: Reitan Servicehandel AB, Vi-butikerna, ICA Sverige ABPurpose: The purpose of this study is to analyse how procurement is used as a strategy to achieve better competitive strength, within the retail food industry.Theoretical: The theoretical chapter illustrates different procurement organisations, multiple and single sourcing, brand equity, consumer behaviour and involvement, Efficient Consumer Response including supply chain and category management and finally Demand Chain Management.Method: For the case studies, three food retail companies have been interviewed: Reitan Servicehandel AB, Vi-butikerna and ICA AB. To illustrate how consumer behaviour influences retail food market, several secondary consumer research studies have been analysed.Conclusions: The results indicate that the procurement organisation can achieve a better competitive strength by a centralised organisation, which make it possible to improve conditions of terms when ordering higher purchase volumes. The sourcing strategies can improve a company?s power within the supply chain. All companies within the study had a very good knowledge about consumer behaviour.

Background: Within real estate companies assets according to IFRS/ IAS 40 should be valued at fair value, to compare with previous valuation criteria according to which real estate should valued at cost. Two models can be used within IAS 40, these are value at cost and fair value. When valued at cost the real estate value in the balance sheet should be specified at cost. The method chosen by the company should be used for all real estate within the company except for the premises used by the company. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to analyse and evaluate how real estate companies experienced the problems that arose when converting to IAS 40, and to analyse the effects on the companies key ratios as a result of the change of accounting method.