Some theorist, like George Ritzer and Max Weber, claim that everything has its optimal process and that all companies therefore will strive towards standardization. Researchers like Paco Underhill and Pine & Gilmore on the other hand, claim that an increasingly global competition forces businesses to focus more on consumer demands, experiences and differentiation. This thesis challenges these statements with empirical data by looking at shopping malls and their strategies as well as consumer preferences. It arrives at the conclusion that output is primarily driven by customer demand, and that consumers value a certain part of predictability..

In our globalized society massconsumption is widespread. However there is a trend showingthat people are starting to re-use clothes instead of buying newly produced garments. Reasonsfor buying secondhand clothing are many. During the 1950s people strived to look likeeveryone else but in the 1960s this changed. Subcultures grew stronger.

The report is part of the university´engineer program within Industrial Organization and Economics with specialization in Logistics and Managment at Jönköping´s university.Skoghall´s mill underlies a large supply chain, which means there should be a lot of areas in need of small improvement measures. This report illustrates a small part of one of these areas and is focused on the loading distribution services in the terminal Vänern.At the moment there´s a very unequal load of the load carriers SECU box and Container at the terminal. Skoghall´s mill has the desire to equalize the high and low load levels of the 2 loading carriers named previously. One of the options to solve the problem is to set a limit of how much the carriers can load per week or per day. The mill also wants it to be investigated if the proposition would influence the customers in any way and if both the company and its customers could handle a lower level of delivery services in case the proposition was to be applied.The goal to be achieved with this thesis is to provide balance to the unequall loading of the 2 load carriers, SECU and Container, and investigate whether or not the Skoghall´s mill´s customers, could manage the lower degree of delivery service that the proposition would imply.For this goal to be achieved, random sample investigations were taken from orders of a customer that is provided with SECU load carriers and the same was made with a Container´s customer.

In most countries, the dairy industry focuses on the volume of milk produced instead of its composition. This results in a high content of water and a lower proportion of fat and protein. A high proportion of water is not desirable when processing the milk into various dairy products like cheese, cream and milk powder. High water content also increases the costs for transport and storage, and also an unnecessary, albeit marginal, strains on the world?s water reservoir.

As a part of Göteborg Energi?s work towards a smarter electric grid, the company has chosen to investigate the possibilities of automation in their middle voltage grid. In Europe, there are example cases where these technologies already are installed which many articles on the CIRED conference 2011 proved. Netcontrol Oy in Finland has, together with Tekla, created an automated SCADA system that Vattenfall in Finland today uses. The grid mainly consists of 10 kV open loop fed city grid and this automation is mainly designed for this type of grid.

Value stream mapping is a tool that is frequently used by many different companies. It is a great tool used to achieve the work that follows the theories of lean production. The tool is used, however, only frequent on the factory floor and the method is also designed based on this type of use.An interest of applying the method on administrative parts of the company has occurred lately. Administrative parts of the company refers to the part that does all the planning such as purchasing, receiving orders, customer contact, contact with factory floor and other work that is made around the actual manufacturing. But the knowledge about applying value stream mapping on the planning part of the company is lacking because the method is relatively new.In this work, a comparison is made between the introduction of value stream analysis on production and planning.

I have done a case-study about building a new stable for slaughter pigs at a farm close to Kalmar. The farm is able to supply the breeding with cereals and it has enough area to spread the manure on. The most important factors to gain profit, is the cost for building the stable, the price of the feeding-stuff and the growth of the pigs. The discount from the slaughter-house was less important than I thought from the beginning, and it?s a factor that is hard to influence. With the new production of slaughter-pig and cattle that already exist on the farm, the farm will get a well-functioned rotation of crops with lye and autumn rape as interruption-crop.

On today?s competitive market, it is difficult to achieve profitability trough high prices on manufactured products. Profitability must be obtained through low manufacturing costs, high quality and short lead times. One of the companies on the market is Sandvik Coromant, manufacturer of tools and chips for metal cutting. This master thesis investigates the methods of manufacturing for boring bars at the manufacturing unit GVH4 at Sandvik Coromant in Gimo, Sweden.

During the last years commercial Wind Power Turbines (WPT) has become larger regardingto the generator sizes and hub heights. Available hub heights around 100 meters is nowcommon, which has led to profitability for WPT located in forests where there normally are tolow wind speeds. The current knowledgement regarding turbulence and the variation in thewind profile for the outcome of the power production for the WPT in forests is limited.In this Master of Science thesis an investigation concerning forest located wind power plantshas been made. The purpose has been to investigate if plants located in forest perform lesscompared to wind power turbines located at more common locations.The analyses are based on statically material for determining the availability,production/generator size, production/hub height, production/swept area and how thetopography affect the production results.The analyses show that the variation in production result for WPT located in forest comparedto turbines located at other locations is small. The availability is high and the productionresults are good..

Organisation/Organisation Författare/AuthorsVäxjö Universitet Marcus GunnarssonEkonomihögskolan Olof PalmquistVäxjö UniversitySchool of Management and EconomicsDokumenttyp/Type of document Handledare/TutorExamensarbete/ Diplomawork Stig Malm Examinator/ExaminerRolf G LarssonTitel och undertitel/Title and subtitleMätning och utvärdering av intellektuellt kapital inom aktiemarknaden/ Measurement and evaluation of intellectual capital within the stock marketSammanfattningBakgrund: I dagens hårda konkurrens i samhället går trenden mot en informations- och kunskapsbaserad ekonomi där kunskapsföretagen blir fler och fler. Den största tillgången i företagen är de anställda och deras kompetens. Denna kompetens kan omvandlas till en värdefull tillgång och benämns som intellektuellt kapital. Trots att det finns ökad förståelse för att det intellektuella kapitalet skapar mervärde för företaget finns det hinder med att redovisa detta då det inte får tas upp i balansräkningen.Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att analysera huruvida intellektuellt kapital är något som fondförvaltare utvärderar när de gör en investeringsbedömning.Avgränsningar: Begränsningarna är att vi undersöker hur intellektuellt kapital kan vara till fördel för endast fondförvaltare; vi analyserar olika fondförvaltare i deras arbete endast med en investeringsbedömning. En sista avgränsning är att vi valt att inte tillfråga de fondförvaltare som inte utvärderar intellektuellt kapital aktivt i sina investeringsbedömningar.Metod: Vi har utgått från en kvantitativ metod och har genomfört en enkätundersökning för insamling av material.

This report examines the possibility of developing a modular system for concrete homes that cancontribute to greater diversity of today's market. The issue was whether it ? from a competitive pointof view ? is possible to produce smart prefab modules that customers themselves can combine to avilla. The report addresses the question how the modules and wall panels should be designed for thegreatest variety of floor plans.With regard to what is asked of the customer interviews where held for the purpose ofunderstanding concrete's popularity and elements of high value in their homes today. The answersfrom the interviews laid ground for four prototype homes which were made to demonstrate how theelements can be combined to achieve different types of houses..

For a company to get the best possible profitability, requires financial planning. Budgeting isa common tool in financial planning. For operating lamb producers, a planning program suchas Agriwise is a good tool. Individual lamb producers may change certain standard figureswithin the planning program to better correspond with reality of the individual cases. In thisway, lamb producers may plan according to which revenues and costs they may expect thenext period.

Sweden has a great tradition of pattern in both wallpapers and fabric, where colours and shape matters a lot for the customer. I have through my examination project tried to expand the views and find new alternatives and shapes for the obvious pattern traditions. I have therefore worked with what could be on the verge of attractive or repelling. To create a curiosity of what is considered to be commercial. From the prospective of the body organs I have created physical patterns for fabric and wallpapers.

The background to this study is to find alternative ways of size rationalization. My vision is to take the basic conditions and make the best and most profitable of them. I have chosen press of rape oil because it?s interesting and the investment to get started is relative small. The opportunity to use outmoded and unrational buildings which often are found at many farms to something that gives money instead of costs money is also an argument.

Kevin Roberts has extended the comprehension of strong consumer brands to a higher level where loyalty beyond reason is established. He calls this new status Lovemarks. As the concept of Lovemark has only been applied in B2C markets, this thesis is directed to find out the applicability of Lovemarks in B2B context. In order to fulfill the research purpose, three main questions are answered based on a cross-sectional research approach: What role do intangible factors play in B2B branding? Is the idea of B2C Lovemarks transferable to B2B context? How should a B2B Lovemark be characterized? The results of the qualitative interviews indicate insights of high investment and involvement, integrated brand communication, balance between function versus emotion, brand?s trustworthy personality, customer partnership, and finally, the potential establishment of B2B Lovemarks.