Detta examensarbete genomfördes på Volvo CE i Eskilstuna under våren 2013. Kursen, KPP230, på Mälardalens högskola har omfattningen 15 högskolepoäng. Programmet författarna läser heter innovation, produktion och logistik med inriktningen entreprenörskap och företagande.Uppgiften var att utmana några projektdeltagares arbetssätt på Volvo CE med fokus på de första stegen i projektmodellen vad gäller maskininvesteringar för att undersöka om det gick att få deltagarna mer innovativa, entreprenöriella samt mer engagerade, motiverade och inspirerade.Fyra kreativa övningar har genomförts, först i en pilotgrupp och sedan i en projektgrupp på Volvo. För att kunna koppla detta till verkligheten fanns möjligheten att vara delaktiga i ett projekt där målet var att fyra monteringsavdelningar skulle bli en eller två. Intervjuer av de anställda har genomförts för att få reda på hur de arbetar och vad de tycker om arbetsklimatetDet visade sig att projektgruppen blev mer kreativ, innovativ och tillät sig själva att tänka på andra sätt än tidigare när de kreativa övningarna genomfördes.

On a highly competitive market, quality is an important aspect to take into account, both in terms of goods and services. The Swedish timber market is very competitive and to achieve long-term success focus on the customer, in this case private forest owners, is a prerequisite. SCA Skog AB Jämtlands forest management administration is dependent on the acquisition of timber from private forest owners to fulfil their mission to the supply of SCA's paper and sawmills in Sweden with raw material. To be able to develop the cooperation with private forest owners, the administration investigates their quality management by measuring the customer satisfaction index (CSI). The purpose of the study was to identify a practical and systematic method to handle deviations and suggestions for improvements to achieve a higher customer satisfaction.

The furniture retail industry in Sweden has gone trough large changes during the last decades. Today the industry is tough and in the maturity stage where few new companies enter, especially if they do not have a unique offer. The furniture companies have become larger and fewer, the changes have lead to difficulties for smaller and medium sized companies to grow and be profitable.Our purpose is to analyse, evaluate and compare three smaller companies in Stockholm with the intention to find what kind of marketing strategies they are using to survive on the Swedish market. First we interviewed the three companies to see what they do to survive on the market, then we asked 100 persons to fill in a questionnaire to see if they had the same opinion as the companies described.With help from theories we prepared questions which laid the foundation to the empirical part of the essay.The result from this study shows that the three companies differ from each other when it comes to using relationship marketing and placing the customer in the centre. All of them are aware of the importance of doing so, but because of different limits and possibilities they can not fully adjust everything to the customer.

Context: During the 21st century several alarming reports have been published that deals with the depletion and pollutant of the earth by human interference. The earth is an ending resource and so are the mountains and bedrocks which are continuously mined in order to harvest its minerals. The idea behind Urban Mining is to (re)invent processes enabling further purpose for materials both from old deposits and new products providing secondary raw materials and energy. This thesis aims to investigate the challenges and opportunities of how firms and organizations can and will be able to strike a better balance between product-/service systems, economic growth and environmental stewardship in the context of Urban Mining as an approach. With the innovation of processes, technology, business- planning and creation in focus.Objective: How to future proof a business model for Urban Mining by the usage of business model design.Method: This thesis will be conducted using a case study approach, meaning that it will incorporate qualitative, exploratory and descriptive characteristics - aiming towards enabling both applied and fundamental research.Results: The result evaluates the business model element differences between traditional C&D industry and Urban Mining industry.

The development of technology and the mechanization in the Swedish forestry has during the last 60 years resulted in depopulation of the country side and due to that the amount of distance forest owners has increased. Therefore the forest companies need to make some adjustments in order to keep the distance forest owners as customers and to attract new ones. The purpose of this essay was to examine and analyze the distance forest owners satisfaction with Södras service offering and quality of service and further develop some proposals for action. A web-based survey was sent out to 634 distance forests owners in Stockholm, Sweden, all members of Södra. 269 respondents participated in the survey and of them, 27 did also participate in a follow-up telephone interview.

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss how a Swedish public library approaches their costumers. I will show how a library interacts with their costumers compared to a business, which has a different economic work frame, a building materials supplier. My aim is to pinpoint differences and explore new methods for the library in order to improve their service.The theoretical frame of the thesis is based on Richard Norman's notion the Moment of truth. The moment of truth is the moment when a business has to convince their customer that they offer both the product, proficiency and service that the customer needs. Service encounters at two organizations have been observed and their differences and similarities compared.

In this composition, a study of consignment inventory on basis of the factors which are important for implementation and application of consignment inventory are made. Logistics chain from subcontractor to end customer is becoming more complex when the volume of items constantly increases to satisfy the needs of the market. From that perspective, companies had large inventories but today it is a lot of different solutions to streamline inventory management. One way that recently becomes increasingly common is to let the subcontractor fill up the customers stock using different approaches such as VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory). A further step in the evolution can be to make use of consignment inventory where the vendor owns the stock of the customer.

This Master of Science thesis was completed at the Department of Machine Design at the Royal Instituteof Technology in Stockholm in collaboration with Lund Faculty of Engineering, Luleå University ofTechnology and Stanford University. At Stanford University a global product development project wasrealized as part of the course ME310. The project was initiated by the American company ImmerseGlobal whose vision was to develop a new type of Atmospheric Water Generators, a machine that absorbsthe moisture in the air and via a water system transforms it to pure drinking water. The project was partlyfinanced by the Product Innovation Engineering program, a Swedish research and development programfor increased innovation capability in organizations.In parallel with the global project in the ME310 course the product development process was studied inorder to compare it with a product development course at the Royal Institute of Technology, IPU. Thetwo courses are similar to each other in several aspects.

Att använda produktutveckling som konkurrensfördel har ökat dramatiskt de senaste tio åren. Anledningen till det kan spåras till att på 2000-talet har det skett en förändring till en mer kunskapsbaserad ekonomi, vilket har lett till att det även har blivit en förändring i när innovation typiskt sker i samband med produktutveckling. Numera sker innovation typiskt genom ständig förändring genom att kunderna får säga vad de tycker, istället för att ske vid produktionsanläggningen. Med hjälp av informationen från kunderna kan företaget sedan producera produkter som motsvarar precis kundernas behov. Därför kommer det företag som har mest kundanpassade produkter att ha störst framgång.För att involvera kunder finns det olika metoder som företagen kan använda sig av, där de metoder som tidigt involverar kunderna i produktutvecklingsprocessen förespråkas.

I samhället finns oro över den digitala utvecklingens framfart där fokus läggs alltmer på att skapa innovation, vilket är en tillgång ur konkurrenssynpunkt men där individers behov och förutsättningar bortses från. Den snabba utvecklingen kan medföra att individer med låg förståelse och acceptans av informations- och kommunikationsteknik riskerar att hamna utanför samhället. Seniorer är den åldersgrupp vilken har benägenhet att besitta en lägre förståelse och acceptans för den digitala utvecklingen. Detta är ett aktuellt dilemma eftersom ett fungerande samhälle förutsätter att alla individer ska kunna använda sig av de samhälls- och kommersiella tjänster som finns att tillgå. Till följd därav är det oumbärligt att utveckla användbar informations- och kommunikationsteknik vilken möter slutanvändares behov och förutsättningar.

Anton Lindberg och Daniel Lissert,studenter på programmet Innovation & Produktdesign vid Mälardalens högskola, har på uppdrag av SE AB genom Minst Innovation i Mälardalen utvecklat koncept på ett antal komponenter för en elektroniskt höj- och sänkbar vagn med användning inom begravningsbranschen.Examensarbetet bygger på tidigare produktutveckling med problemformuleringen ?att minska lyft inom begravningsbranschen?.Ett tidigare examensarbete låg även som grund för vidareutvecklingsarbetet.I detta projektbehandlas bland annat konstruktion, transportmoment i samband med dödsfall samt interaktion mellan produkt och användare med hänsyn till användningsområde.Projektet resulterade i ett koncept som uppfyller uppdragsgivarens kravspecifikation samt identifierade kundbehov. Resultatet presenteras som CAD-modell med tillhörande komponentritningar.Marknadsundersökning, kravspecifikation ochutvärderingsverktyg såsom FMEA, QFD och Pugh?s matris användes för att säkerställa kvalitet i konceptet som togs fram.Marknadsundersökningeninnehåller intervjuer, hantering och analys av omgivning.Intervjufrågor behandlade problem vid hantering av kistor och avlidna samt framkomlighet i närhet av kyrka, bårhus och äldreboende.Det insamlade underlaget möjliggjorde slutresultatet;en transportvagn med förenklade lastmöjliheter och ställbara lägen. Utvecklade delar består av lastplan, släde, handtag samt kontrollpanel.Idéer diskuterades med uppdragsgivare vid avstämningsmöten och kostnad för komponenttillverkning har tagits i beaktande.Något målvärde på kostnad har inte fastställts vilket leder till att tillverkningsmetoder och materialval kan behöva anpassas mot produktionsval.

Aim: This paper aims to produce a serviced office concept adjusted to Statens fastighetsverk. The concept will make SFV:s properties more attractive for renting. Method: Information has been collected from interviews with 13 different serviced office companies, one serviced office agent and eleven government authorities. Also litterateur, reports and internet have been used in gathering information.I will use following questions:¨      How is the serviced office concept designed?¨      Which customer segment should SFV direct to and what need does the segment have?¨      How shall a marketing plan look like for the concept?¨      How should a concept designed for SFV look like? Result & Conclusions: Serviced office space is a company that letting functional workspace with access to shared facilities e.g. reception, office machines, internet, phone and more.

Intense competition and pressure from various market participants is prevalent in today?s modern and technologically developed society. It is important to keep a high standard of service and customer care to be able to keep your position on the market. The focus of the paper is to study how a store manager can influence their employees to perform better on the job, in terms of service to customers and increased sales. The aim is to analyze the different tools store managers use to motivate their employees with the goal of improving service to the customer and to increase sales.

Title: Globalization ? Meeting a new market Author: Anna Nubäck Supervisor: Anders Nilsson Institution: School of Management, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola Course: Master in business administration, 15 credits (FED006) Purpose: The purpose of this essay is partly to create an understanding of the decision to establish a branch in Japan and especially to look at if and how the Swedish company in this study has adjusted its corporate culture to suit the Japanese market. Method: Data is collected thru a number of semi constructed interviews. A first telephone interview was followed by an interview made face to face that was also followed up by interviews performed over telephone. E-mails have been used to clear and correct collected data. I have also studied company reports, closely related literature, articles and papers on the Internet. Conclusion: My conclusion is that the company in this study based the decision to open a branch in Japan on the demand from one big customer and the potential to grow globally.

Agile systems development has in recent years become very popular, and many companies today claims to be working agile. At the same time there are studies about agile system development that indicate that there are difficulties in fully adopting the agile way. The purpose of this qualitative study has been to examine how true Swedish IT-companies conduct their agile system development compared to agile theory, and we have specifically for the purpose of the study designed a framework that has been used as an analytical tool. The framework helped us to maintain a structured and objective approach when we examined the participating companies and their practices. The study showed that there were differences regarding how true to agile theory the different companies conducts their agile projects, and that the differences in part depends on how long the companies have been working agile.