This master thesis work was done by two students at Machine Design at KTH for Lesjöfors Stockholmsfjäder AB. The task was to develop a calculation program for gas springs. The program is going to ease the selection of gas springs for a given case of a lid that should be opened. The program is going to be used internal by sales people at Lesjöfors AB in Sweden and internationally. The program is therefore written in English.The program was developed in Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express Edition.

The purpose of this report is to come up with possible improvement suggestions to the distribution central at Götene Stål & Verktygs AB (GSV). GSV is a wholesale dealer located in Götene. The company doesn?t produce anything it self, it buys in products and sells them to customers.The distribution central at GSV is the place where the products comes in and gets ready to deliver.To come up with possible improvement suggestions we started with process mapping over the main process and the distribution centre process. The main process here is from the point where the customer gives GSV an order to the point where GSV deliver the order.Our result shows that the major problem in the distribution central at GSV is the big volume differences in the incoming goods.

ProblemThe manufacturing industry is a mature industry where the profit margins are small and the competition is hard. This makes it hard for both manufacturers and resellers to gain market shares and reach reasonable profit margins only by selling products. Therefore Swecon who is reseller for Volvo Construction Equipment tries to find alternative methods and ways to increase their profit. An alternative source of income could be to develop the range of services that are connected to the ground products.PurposeThe purpose of the thesis is to examine how Swecon in southern Sweden can improve their offers of existing services connected to the ground product and investigate the demand of new such services.MethodThis study is based on a qualitative study of five of Swecons local offices and five of Swecons customers. The empirical framework is mostly based on personal interviews but in some cases information was retrieved by using phone interviews.

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe how patients with acute illness experience their given care in the emergency department. Method: A literature review of ten studies where differences and similarities were analyzed. These studies had been published between the years of 2000 and 2011. Results: The analysis showed a lack of sufficient care concerning patients? subjective experiences.

Background:Borderline personality disorder is a complex mental disorder that has become increasingly common in those individuals who seek care today. These individuals are often perceived as being different by society and the health care system, because of the prejudice and lack of knowledge that exists around mental illness and borderline personality disorder. Aim: Highlighting adults experiences of living with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Method: Literature study with qualitative approach. Seven articles were chosen to be read, reviewed and analyzed.

All inclusive travel has become a popular way to travel abroad. When tourists pay for everything in advance their need for contact with the local people will be reduced. The consequences of this can be dissatisfaction from the local people as they are left out and do not share the financial benefits created by tourism. During the purchasing cycle of an all inclusive travel, it is possible that the tour operator can influence a sustainable development.The aim of this paper is to compare how a large and a small tour operator in their purchase of all inclusive holidays interacts with local players to create sustainable development, thereby creating a surplus value to the customer. The hypothesis is that the amount of knowledge and application of this knowledge regarding sustainable development differs in the purchase process between large and small tour operators.This paper was carried out as a case study.

Sales is the foundation for all commercial business and companies that have the best sales process in conjunction with efficient deliveries will do well in the long run. The author of this report was tasked by the Organisation in South Africa to study new/alternative ways of attracting Swedish companies to South Africa and sell the services of the Organisation to these same companies (defined as the sales process in this report) by analysing how similar international service companies do the same. A benchmarking process has been conducted with four similar service organizations in South Africa to examine how these companies work in comparison to the Organization. Surveys have been used for purposes of this study, as the methodology is well suited to provide the author a view on the opinions, perceptions and experiences of the respondents.The project aimed to develop new methods to attract Swedish companies to South Africa or improve and streamline the existing methods. The aim was also to develop new ways to sell the organization's services to Swedish companies.The study concludes that there is little focus on marketing of services within the Organisation.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the co-creation process and how value is created based on a service orientation using a network perspective. The thesis is studied from a social-constructionist philosophy, using a qualitative approach of data collection and the theoretical framework includes network theories, theories of service-orientation and co-creation. We have conducted semi-structured interviews with a small firm and its network, which consists of a customer, a supplier and a partner. We found that Håkansson?s ARA framework combined with Ballantyne and Varey?s triangulation of value-creating activities help to acquire an understanding of the actors? bonds, the resources? ties and the activity links that exist in a network.

The overriding purpose of this graduate thesis is to evaluate if municipalities and county councils can deviate from the legislation of public procurement during procurement of customer choice agreements within the health and social care area. The intention of this Quasi-market is to provide the users with competition in terms of quality rather then the general principal rule of economic value.My conclusion results in a legal situation without rules of general procedure. So far the authorities make their own regulation in the field of customer choice agreements. The problem lies within the authorization of new contractors and their right to make an appeal against resolutions made by the authorities social care divisions.One solution is to legislate within the present law of public procurement. Another way to solve the problem is to create a lex specialis apart from the present public procurement regulation..

Background:For patients with severe heart disease, may heart transplantation be the only opportunity for survival. Previous research highlights the importance of the nurse's role as supporters and knowledge brokers. People who has undergone heart transplant may be changed forever. Having to undergo a heart transplant can lead to that patients end up in a traumatic crisis. People's perception of herself and her perception of the world is also changing when the body is injured or suffers a disease.

Background: Etiquette has become vital in business relationships. In today?s competitive business climate signs indicate that social competence affect whether a business deal is settled or not. This type of competence could be of crucial importance at a first business meeting and it also plays an important role for future business relationships. Business etiquette is therefore, within the world of business, an interesting area to study.Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to clarify what knowledge and understanding companies, listed on the Swedish stock exchange, possess towards business etiquette, their viewpoint on etiquette education and finally to ascertain whether or not those companies perceive business etiquette to be pivotal to success.Methodology: In order to attain our purpose of this essay we found it most suitable to utilize both a quantitative and qualitative research method.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse and if possible improve the communication, mainly seen from a pedagogical perspective, between the IT company (Nostratic) and their clients in a first meeting. The analysis covers the preparation part, communication during the meetings, the technical terminology used during the meetings as well as the follow up of the meetings. Due to the lack of research within this area and the lack of personal experience on my part, the conducted study has been explorative with the use of qualitative methods. Although my first aim was to put emphisis on the pedagogical part of the communication, I found while conducting the study that there were other areas of higher importance to analyse in order to improve the customer meetings. Unfortunately the company went bankrupt in the middle of my study which resulted in me not beeing able to try out the potential improvements.

Purpose: To find out in what ways signs of healthier varieties in store, affect and possible change, customer behaviour. Methodology: The study has a positivistic view on the world. The research is conducted by an abductive approach using theory and empirical data alternately. Both quantitative and qualitative methods have been adopted in order to see changes in customer behaviour as well as explain it. Theoretical perspective: The study is based upon theories in the areas of customer behaviour (buying behaviour and decision making) and the store environment that could affect that behaviour (total merchandise process and point of purchase communication).

The purpose of this study is to, based on qualitative interviews, understand the home care staff's experiences of insufficiency and also which strategies they are using to deal with these experiences.The questions of this study are:In which situations are home care staff experiencing insufficiency?What copingstrategies do home care staff set out to deal with these experiences? Method: Interviews has been used as a method to gather empirical data.Theory: Theories of coping-strategies has been used as theory in the analyses of the empirical material.Results: The result of this study concludes that experiences of insufficiency mainly promotes in situations of lack of time for various reasons. The main strategies home care staff is using are planning, adapting, accepting, compensation, get themselves together, control and manage their emotions and understanding. Other situations that promote feelings of insufficiency are lack of competence and when the eldery person doesn't want to receive a planned effort. Other strategies they use are social support and changing the circumstances..

The Individual Program (within the continuation school) in Sweden is the third largest. Its purpose is that the students, who for some reason haven?t been able to be admitted to a National Program, shall get the chance to improve their possibilities to attend one. The difficulties the students, who are admitted to the Individual Program are carriers of, have a wide range. The purpose of the Individual Program is that no one should be excluded from any continuation school.