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.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether there was any connection between coping strategies; emotional and cognitive strategy and perceived level of stress among primary school teachers in primary and middle school. It was also investigated whether there was a difference between full-time and part-time employees and perceived level of stress. As a theoretical background Lazarus' transaction theory of stress was used as an explanation of mental stress, Lazarus coping strategies for stress and Karasek?s and Theorell?s model of psychosocial work environment was used to explain unhealthy at work. To measure coping we used Coping inventory resources and to measure the stress we used Percieved stress scale.

Since the mid 1900s the organizational perspective in media producing companies has changed. The focus has shifted from just being a laborer to the person behind the effort. The most important for an efficient and smooth organization is the motivation of the employees and the social working environment. Former research argues that managers must be coaches and that crucial factors for the survival of organizations are creativity, innovation and adaptability. With this study we investigate what motivates employees to use their creative skills.

This is a thesis in Personal- och Arbetslivsprogrammet at Dalarna University with thepurpose of evaluating an education initiative in Borlänge kommun. The educationCoaching Leadership is an initiative for the managers in the organization to exercisegood leadership and the education also serves as an incentive for managers. Eightbusiness managers and one from the HR staff have completed the training. Out of thetotal 9 participants in the training, six of them took part in this evaluation. Based on thethesis aim and questions we wanted to explore participants' attitudes to the education,and what skills and abilities they have acquired on the basis of educational goals andcontent.

Trading based on technical analysis has its roots in the U.S. financial industry where it has long been common practice, in Sweden however the trading style has not had the same impact. Based on the results from the preliminary study we believe this is about to change and that the topic therefore requires further studying. Several online stockbrokers today provide information and tools for technical analysis to their clients. As the list of indicators to use for creating strategies is so immense it is interesting for an investor to know what actually could be the basis for a profitable investment strategy.

In this thesis a possible cost effective runner change of some of the units in the hydroelectric power station Olidan is investigated. The possibility to drive a unit at the same efficiency point through a change of the turbine shaft speed and the rate of discharge is tested. Furthermore the theories behind model testing, determination of efficiency increase from model to prototype and efficiency measurements shall be discussed and analyzed with Olidan as a starting point.A predicted curve has been built on information from model tests and field measurements on the existing runners and runner data from the test of the new model. The predicted curve shows the difference in efficiency between an existing runner and a modern one. It is the difference in efficiency that is used in the calculations that are to show whether changing to a pair of new runners will be cost effective or not.

Syftet med detta arbete är att försöka ta reda på vilka egenskaper som framtidens ledare kommer att behöva inom den kommunala sektorn, men också om det finns eventuella förutsättningar som måste förändras för framtidens ledare. Tio intervjuer genomfördes med personer på ledande positioner inom fyra kommuner i Mellansverige. Utifrån detta sammanställdes intervjumaterialet, och ur detta framkom tre övergripande huvudområden organisation, egenskaper och framtid som sen utmynnade i ett antal ledord. Mot dessa tolkades teorier i ett försök att koppla de till det framtida ledarskapet. Slutsatsen är att det inte finns bara en teori att förhålla sig till, utan det gäller att kunna hantera kontexten och förutsättningarna, och utifrån den kunna anpassa sig.

In many earlier investigations a recall advantage of auditory lists spoken in a single voice has been found over recall of lists spoken in two alternating voices. One explanation proposed is an organization strategy which makes recall of alternating-voice lists so difficult. The strategy implies sorting same-voice words into same-voice groups at encoding. Based on this proposition, it was assumed that voice-by-voice recall would be better than recall in order of presentation, as then the recall instruction and the organization of items in memory would be in concordance. The present experiment tested and was unable to support this hypothesis.

Title: What drives the customer's choice of packaging and which factors influence the customer's packaging cost? ? in the automotive and manufacturing industriesAuthor: Lena AnderssonSupervisors: Annika Olsson, Division of Packaging Logistics, Lund Institute of TechnologyHelena Claesson, Volvo Logistics ABProblem: Which parameters are important for logistic people to think of when they are going to choose a package?Which cost factors are included in the packaging cost?What kind of added value can an emballage supplier provide their services with?Purpose: The purpose of the project was to study the parameters that drives the customer's choice of packaging and the factors that influence the total packaging cost. The study also consists of a valuation of what an emballage supplier can offer to add value to their services.Method: The study is based on interviews with people who are working at Volvo Logistics and Volvo Car Corporation. Volvo Logistics provide their customers with standard packaging material, which they own and administrate. Volvo Car Corporation is one of their customers.

This paper examines the reasons behind firms considering backsourcing. While firms experience problems with their outsourcing activities, backsourcing emerges as an alternative solution. Firms primarily take cost considerations into account when reconsidering their outsourcing practices, but this only scratches the surface. A deeper analysis is needed, since cost increases arise from issues such as quality defects and cooperation problems. Even though production costs are low, outsourcing always implies transaction costs.

This project was started within the Market-Design programme of Elforsk, with the aim of developing representative test systems of Swedish distribution networks. Using such test systems as a basis for reliability and customer interruption cost calculations makes it feasible to analyse the network tariff regulation of Swedish power  istribution companies. In particular, it enables studies of the incentives for companies to invest in system reliability. Until now, the available test systems are either not representative of Swedish conditions, or too small in scale and limited in function.Within this project we have created two test systems. In order to represent the diversity of actual Swedish distribution networks, we have created one test system for urban environments and another for rural environments.

This thesis, in the field of healthcare logistics, has been carried out at Hjärt- och Medicincentrum (HMC) at the University Hospital in Linköping during the fall and spring of 2012/2013. The thesis is done by two students at Linköping University at master?s level within the framework of Industrial Engineering and Management.As Sweden's county councils should not make a profit or loss, it is important that the councils are aware of how much care processes cost. Kardiologiska kliniken at HMC in Östergötland?s county council is one of the clinics that are profitable.

The economic analysis of building contracts is an unexplored field within Law and Economics. This paper makes an attempt to cast some light over the subject and encourage to more research within the field. The main purpose has been to describe why the actual price in a public construction project often turns out to be higher than the contract price and offer a way of handle that risk. In the paper a model is set up that shows an optimal contract given expectations on actual price and gaps in contracts. Cost increases for the buyer can mainly be explained by two situations.

This is a thesis in Personal- och Arbetslivsprogrammet at Dalarna University with thepurpose of evaluating an education initiative in Borlänge kommun. The educationCoaching Leadership is an initiative for the managers in the organization to exercisegood leadership and the education also serves as an incentive for managers. Eightbusiness managers and one from the HR staff have completed the training. Out of thetotal 9 participants in the training, six of them took part in this evaluation. Based on thethesis aim and questions we wanted to explore participants' attitudes to the education,and what skills and abilities they have acquired on the basis of educational goals andcontent.

Syftet med studien var att kartlägga åsikter kring ett Gemensamt Konstruktivt Medarbetarskap (GKM) för att lägga grunden till en plattform att stå på inför kommande arbete kring medarbetarskap ute i organisationer. Studien är en kvalitativ undersökning med fallstudie som grundläggande design med en ansats av positiv psykologi, vilken genomfördes på en kemisk industri. Datainsamlingen gjordes genom fokusgruppsintervjuer där fyra-sex deltagare deltog/intervju. Vid intervjuerna diskuterades fyra fokusområden; gemensamt medarbetarskap, ledarskap, medledarskap och coaching. I studien har fem teman definierats vilka kan utgöra en plattform att stå på; ansvarstagande, förtroende, kommunikation, samarbete och engagemang.