Today's fierce competition means that companies constantly must develop their business and internal processes. Focus on processes and continuous improvement is something that characterizes Lean Production which ICA logistics are applying with their concept Leading Logistics. Standardized routines for handling damaged gods were insufficient at the ICA distribution center in Kungälv. Handling and registration of damaged gods were not performed uniformly, resulting in problems with controlling and monitoring the process.The purpose of this thesis was to analyze and make recommendations how the process of internal handling of damaged gods could be improved. Therefore a comprehensive understanding was needed of the entire material flow through the warehouse and important quality aspects such as product safety and delivery reliability.The methods used are literature reviews, interviews and observations to produce a comprehensive process mapping of the current situation at the distribution center.

The aim of this bachelor thesis has been to examine and develop our own understanding about how young people in Sweden (16-29 years of age), take part in cultural activities. As librarians it is important to know what kind of activities and interests this particular group has. With Pierre Bourdieu?s theoretical framework towards habitus and capital we are interested to see if there is a connection between one?s cultural use and background, if different access to capital with or within groups has an affect or not. With both statistics and interviews with people within our target, we believe this data has been sufficient enough to conduct a good and valid study.

Background: Mass customization has been identified as a competitive business strategy by both companies and academics because of its ability to incorporate the voice of the customer into companies? products and services. Although mass customization may sound appealing, the strategic concept is still developing and firms adopting this business strategy face several challenges. Production concerns are of high relevance since mass customization implies a high level of customer involvement in the product design. Since the areas are closely linked it is reasonable to ask how a mass customization strategy affects production concerns.

In today's fast-paced, intense and complex media environment, it is hard for non-profit charity organizations to reach out and get their messages heard.In this study we examine whether the theories of advertising signaling also applies for charities. Past studies of the signaling theories indicates that higher perceived advertising expense leads to more positive effects on purchase behavior and brand perceptions. However, we believe that this does not apply for a charity organization. We argue that since charitable organizations have a fundamentally different mission than commercial companies, they will need different ways to signal quality and credibility, and therefore the common signal-theories will not hold for these organizations.To test our hypotheses, we conducted two surveys where the respondents saw one of five versions of the same ad for a well-known Swedish charity organization, or one of two ads for a commercial corporation. The ads had been manipulated to simulate different levels of perceived cost.Our results shows that perceived ad cost only affects attitude towards the ad if a charity was the sender, whereas perceived ad cost affects intentions, attitudes and credibility if a commercial corporation was the sender.

The purpose of this study is to create an understanding for marketing directors? viewabout how event marketing effect the company?s brand equity in four separatebusinesses. Our question formulation the study aims to answer is:How does event marketing effect the brand equity in international companies?We have chosen to perform a qualitative study with a semi structured research interviewto find out how event marketing as a marketing method, can be applied from theperspective of a marketing director in relation to our theoretical reference frame.To create structure and increase the understanding of our thesis, we will describe thebasics in brand and sponsorship theory, which will fall in to the marketing method ofevent marketing. Further we will describe the brand equity model that we will latermodify for our purpose.

This thesis treats the topic of user-generated comments connected with news stories on news sites, meaning electronic word-of-mouth combined with PR. The writers have examined how different types of comments affect consumers' perception of the article and also what communication effects these comments generate in terms of attitudes, purchase intent and word-of-mouth intent. The results interesting to the news site owners, is that lots of comments and negative comments generate a negative effect by making the actual article less credible, attractive and worth reading (relative to the subsequent comments). On the positive side, serious comments imply that the news story is perceived as more interesting, than a news story followed by non-serious comments. From a brand equity perspective, the interesting results show that few comments compared to lots of comments, generate a better attitude to the brand, even though there is no difference in how positive or negative the comments are.

This master thesis investigates quality procedures and measuring of solid carbide end mills, with the main focus on measuring equipment. The thesis has been written in collaboration with a special production department for solid carbide end mills at Sandvik Coromant in Gimo. The department?s needs and constraints have been the foundation of the project and the main research question is: how to measure end mills in order to ensure good quality of the produced end mills. The project has contained both a theoretical study consisting of a literature review and practical studies in the workshop with the objective to identify an end mill?s main parameters and the relationship between an end mill?s geometry and the manufacturing processes.

The purpose with our essay was to describe and understand the treatment of the homehelp staff towards the elderly addicted caretakers within the care system. Both in a practical aspect as well as in an attitudinal aspect. In order to get the answers to our overall purpose of our essay, we had as a starting point the following questions:* What help is given to the elderly addicted caretakers?* Are the elderly addicted caretakers a stigmatized caretaker group?* What approach does the home help staff conduct towards the elderly addicted caretakers?* Is there a preparedness among the home help staff when it comes to as to whether or not a care taker has an addiction issue or not?When analysing the material we used a qualitative analytical method in order to understand the care givers treatment towards the addicted caretakers. We combined the interviews with the so called vinjett technique; furthermore we used various sociological theories as well as earlier scientific discoveries.The result of the essay was that elderly addicted caretakers are an exposed group.

The purpose with the thesis is to analyze and investigate the purpose of the co-operations between different brands within the hotel sector. We differentiate these purposes of the collaborations in regard to connections to quality- and environmental oriented symbols..

In this study we aim to research teacher opinions on sexual education and how it is conducted within schools in Sweden. From their view of the education we want to elucidate the different factors of success and tribulation that the sexual education contains. The teacher opinions, which are collected through semi-structured interviews, reflect many different aspects of the sexual education. Though the informants possess different positions within schools they all seem to have some what the same idea of what successes and tribulations the sexual education contains. Furthermore all of them agree on one thing, the students want more sexual education.

Title: Inflation and Investments, with Focus on Inflation-linked Bonds.Investors face many types of risks when allocating assets in a portfolio, e.g. volatility and inflation risk. Inflation risk will mainly affect investments in the long perspective. This thesis will examine those risks that an investor is commonly exposed to when allocating assets in a portfolio and in particular inflation-linked risk and how to eliminate it. We examine the correlation between different assets and inflation to determine the assets? ability to hedge inflation risk.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om det finns några mönster och samband i hur förskolepedagoger upplever förutsättningar för barns lärande beroende på ålderssammansättningen i gruppen. Studien är kvantitativ med webbenkät som metod för insamling av data från pedagoger. Undersökningen omfattar alla förskolor inom en kommun i Värmland, totalt 55 kommunala avdelningar och 144 pedagoger. Följande ålderssammansättningar ingår i studien: åldersindelade grupper, småbarnsavdelningar (1-3), avdelningar för äldre barn (3-5) och syskonavdelningar (1-5).Studien har sin utgångspunkt i interaktionistiska teorier, vilket innebär att förskolans verksamhet studeras utifrån olika samspelade aspekter, faktorer och nivåer. I studien ses förutsättningar för barns lärande i förhållande till förskolans kvalitet, vilken i sin tur tolkas som ett komplext fenomen som skapas i samspel mellan olika faktorer på struktur-, process- och resultatnivåer.

The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate the differences between the traditional way of conducting a reference interview and the electronic way. The main questions of this thesis are: How does the electronic reference interview appear in comparison to the traditional one? How do the librarians experience the differences? Is quality affected in the electronic reference interview? Examples from Fråga biblioteket Ask the Library have been used in this study. The method used in the investigation is based on qualitative interviews in combination with studies of relevant and recent literature. The librarians interviewed all have experience from both traditional and electronic reference work.

ABSTRACT Bjelkenbrant, Pernilla, 2007: Musik och kommunikation ? en kursutvärdering (Music and communication ? a course evaluation) The purpose of this study is to do a quality assurance of the course ?Music and communication? (MUPR1205) as it was implemented in a class of music students at the program of Arts and Culture at Törnströmska upper secondary school in Karlskrona during 2006/2007. The overall question is to what extent the shaping of the course involves the attainment of the values and goals formulated in the national school documents. The study includes an interpretation of course goals related to overall goals, and a suggestion of how theories of the relationship music ? society can be applied to those goals to make a successful course structure.

The boiling properties are an important quality issue of the potato. In order to obtain adequate boiling properties the growth of the potato needs to be controlled and interrupted at the right time. However, it is difficult to determine when to stop the growth. Specific gravity can easily be measured and can sometimes be used as a tool for estimating the boiling properties. This report discusses different aspects of the specific gravity of the potato and how it can be used as a tool to determine the appropriate time for vine killing.