A positive aspect of globalization, from a western viewpoint, is the growing demand of advanced products in China and other developing countries. The construction industry is thriving in China and Swedish companies have taken part in various projects. However the situation have been difficult for some of the companies. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate how strategic and cultural factors affect the potential for Swedish companies to operate on the Chinese construction market. The theoretical framework of the study consists of Porter?s and Kotler?s theories about strategy, and Hofstede?s, Bjerke?s, and Daun?s research about different cultures.

Everyone has to take a greater responsibility in energy issues, both individuals and companies. There have been some major developments in the construction industry but there is still a lot to be done. This diploma work thesis presents different methods of making existing construction shed establishments to use less energy. What is possible to do and how much energy is there to be saved? A shed establishment consisting of 8 shed units were studied in this project and the building simulation tool VIP-Energy was used to simulate different types of material in the sheds. An infrared camera was used to locate thermal bridges. There are several factors that can be improved to make a construction shed establishment to use less energy.

The telecom and the IT-industry are converging, which creates new possibilities and threats for both existing mobile handset vendors and new entrants originating from the IT-industry. The purpose of this thesis is to explain how IT-players? entrance in the mobile handset industry affects the industry in regards of key success factors and value chain structure. This study has used dynamic theories to describe the mobile handset industry. The theories have helped us in understanding the characteristics and drivers of the industry and thereafter to identify the key success factors.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the correlation between the price of electric power and investments within the Swedish basic industry. Using regression analysis, the authors test for correlation between the electricity prices and the basic industry, defined as the pulp and paper industry, the mining industry, the steel and metal industry and the basic chemical industry. Moreover, five variables found in the literature on investment decisions are being used as a means of comparison. The results suggest that the electricity price affects the investment decisions within the basic chemical industry as well as the steel and metal industry. On a more abstract level, this thesis contributes to the understanding of one of the properties of the Swedish GDP..

In the construction industry today there is a significant technological revolution goingon. New methods for automated processes and information management are developedcontinuously. Intense studies are currently taking place to ensure ways and means toembrace the new technology of BIM.At the present, environmental certification systems are considered cumbersome andchallenging. However, the increasing demands of sustainable development in the constructionindustry imply that the environmental certifications will not disappear. ThisMaster Thesis examines the possibilities to apply BIM technology within the field ofenvironmental certifications to streamline the processes.The applications that provide the best opportunities are:- To use BIM to be able to, during the design stage, dynamically evaluate the resultor score a certain building will achieve.- To avoid unnecessary work through collection of data for calculations directlyfrom a BIM-model.- To be able to automate certain time consuming calculations that are currentlyperformed manually.- To automatically examine the completed model to ensure that the demands arefulfilled.The possibilities to use BIM within these areas are however limited by the technologyitself.

When managing the quality of a service producing industry?s products, the industry faces greater challenges than the manufacturing industries do. Today?s globalization puts further pressure on service producing companies around the world to work at their absolute maximum. So, how do service producing companies work to manage quality? In this essay the writers take a deeper look at the travel agency Ving, part of My Travel Northern Europe.

When managing the quality of a service producing industry?s products, the industry faces greater challenges than the manufacturing industries do. Today?s globalization puts further pressure on service producing companies around the world to work at their absolute maximum. So, how do service producing companies work to manage quality? In this essay the writers take a deeper look at the travel agency Ving, part of My Travel Northern Europe.

AbstractIn the heart of Paris, you will find Sweden?s only cultural center abroad. Since the early 70?s a wealth of cultural activities has been offered, and every year the center receives more than 100,000 visitors. The center is a branch of the Swedish Institute (Si), a public authority which promotes mutual relationships between Sweden and other countries through culture, education, science and business.

This degree project has been carried out in cooperation with Gedevelop in Helsingborg.Gedevelop has developed a camera that can calculate the weight of a liquid glass mass.Because of the density and viscosity changes in the glass, the weight information issometimes incorrect given. Glass industry is today addressing the problem by an operatorperforming a manual weighing of a few bottles which, in turn, calibrates the camera system.The project aimed to develop an automated system to control the weighing of glass bottles forglass industries. This system must be so flexible that it can be easily mounted on plants withdifferent production equipment around the world.The project includes design and construction of equipment that meets the requirementsformulated together with Gedevelop. Work has been done both in Halmstad and Helsingborgand has included both calculations and review of the theory to understand the forces thatinfluence the design of different construction parts. A prototype was produced that meets theoperating requirements for the design and can be used in testing features.

A business is always dependent on its customers. It is therefore important to ensurethat customers are satisfied with the product and the warranty included.The study was conducted in cooperation with the building contacting companySkanska Sweden. The aim is to use interviews to collect and process experiences in order to answer the question: How should the recovery process in the construction industry be performed to ensure a professional handling of warranty? The results have shaped my conclusions and I have turned them into a proposal that companies in the industry can benefit from. The study indicates that the industry is not geared for a five year warranty, which was introduced in 2004 and 2006.

This thesis has been done in collaboration with Peab Stockholm Building 3, which is a region within the Peab Sverige AB. The report is based on a survey and studies of Peab business management systems and production literature. For general information gathering has literature from well-known sources collected in libraries and through the Internet. It shows through the work that Peab has routines for experience feedback in the construction process, but that these procedures work in a small scale and the practical work experience feedback does not work at all. This is also something the construction industry in general also perceived as problematic. The questions in the report are of a wide scale and concerns construction errors cost, how the employees perceive that the company takes advantage of the skills and the mental stress in production line. The goal is to find how Peab Stockholm Building 3 will work on the experience feedback to allow for better productivity. In conclusion, the report author tries to demonstrate what can lead to increased productivity and improved work experience..

This paper investigates the grammatical construction intransitive motionconstruction with GOAL as it is used in Swedish (Swe. intransitivrörelsekonstruktion med MÅL).I examine in which ways the construction is productive, i.e. thepossibility to use the construction with new verbs as well as withordinary motion verbs with new functions. The notion of productivity isbased on the construction?s type frequency and semantic openness(Goldberg 1995, 2006; Barðdal 2008; Bybee 2010).

The construction industry in Sweden has in the past 50 years had a low progress in efficiency. With a greater competition from construction firms from other countries, it is necessary to maintain the profit for Swedish construction firms. This is possible with a higher feedback of experience. This diploma work thesis examines how the two construction companies NCC and Skanska in Uppsala, Sweden handle experience feedback from previous projects and the extent to which the experience is spread and used in future projects. In this work, we examined directorial documents to see how employees shall work with feedback.

The cost of construction projects have increased during the past few years. Different actors in the construction industry work together to advocate various measures to mitigate these cost increases. One of these measures is to try to improve the efficiency in the phase of production. By striving for a kind of standardization with a constant quest for improvement, the productivity can increase while the costs of production fall.For this thesis has a case study been conducted at the construction company JM AB which is seeking this. They call the approach structured production and have implemented various measures to achieve a more productive output.Based on information from reconciliations, the cost and the spent hours of craftsmen have been analyzed at the company where the case study took place.

Safety in the construction industry has become a question of top priority in recent years. Despite a massive investment of time, money and knowledge, the occur-rence of fatal accidents in Sweden alone is around one a month.The purpose of this study is therefore to improve the safety on the construction site. By an examination of the role of the safety agents and their cooperation with the construction workers and supervisors as well as examine how safety agents can improve safety on the construction site, which is the goal of the study.Four questions were formulated based on the purpose and the goal of the study.The methods used to answer the questions were a questionnaire survey, multiple interviews, a literature review and a document analysis.The report describes the safety agent?s role as a complex one with many different tasks. The role of the safety agents is regulated in the health and safety law, but it can sometimes be difficult to interpret and the agents can therefore interpret their role differently.