Abstract Apple Computers Inc. is known for their loyal and passionate followers. This study focuses on the brand communities and brand loyalty that is frequently seen among Apple customers. It focuses on the factors that create an apparent deep-set loyalty and passion towards their computers among Mac-users. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of why some consumers feel such a strong attraction to a company, its brand and its products.

This study is about howStockholm?s policy for zero tolerance of graffiti from 2007 affected the graffiti culture inStockholm. We have researched what consequences there were for the practice of graffiti, and what consequences there were for the stylistic performance of graffiti. In doing so, we have had two focus group interviews and one deep interview including eight graffiti writers from Stockholm. The individuals in the groups have been practising graffiti for a varied amount of time, but we have representation from both before, and after/during the policy of zero tolerance from 2007. Our study shows that the result ofStockholm?s policy for zero tolerance of graffiti for the graffiti culture inStockholmwas a ?subcultureification?, a ?stylistic generalization? and the ?subculture?s ambivalent identity?.

HR yrket är en position som kräver stor spännvidd av kompetenser då de ska tillgodose både ledningen och medarbetarna. Deras yrkesroll är mångsidig då de ansvarar för de anställdas utvecklingsarbete parallellt med pressen att generera goda resultat för organisationsledningen. Många gånger innebär detta motstridiga krav, vilket i vissa fall skulle kunna leda till stressutfall och otydliga roller. Då relativt få studier behandlar HR rollen och dess stressnivå samt rollotydlighet ansåg vi att det krävdes ytterligare dokumentation. Denna studie undersöker samband och skillnader mellan upplevd arbetsrelaterad stress, rollotydlighet och emotionella copingstrategier för HR chefer.

The aim of this paper is to investigate dominant beliefs and approaches to the "cultural entrepreneur" both within a public context, and also among business owners within the cultural field. What happens when ideas and attitudes in the public sector towards culture driven businesses meets the perspective of individual cultural entrepreneurs?This study is based on analysis of political documents about the cultural and creative industries (CCI) from the European union, national level and regional level. Interviews with six business owners in the field of culture and one representative of the Swedish region with the fictive name ?Alma? has been conducted.

AbstractTitle: Communications through Social media ? new challenges for organizations Kommunikation i sociala medier ? nya utmaningar för organisationerAuthor: Jenny Lilius Location: University of Kalmar Language: Swedish Number of pages: 46 (62 including appendix) Level: BA Thesis in media and Communications StudiesAim: The main purpose of this thesis was to explore what kind of challenges organizations face when communicating through social media. Because social media is a new phenomenon the thesis also examined how organizations active in Sweden today looks upon, defines, monitoring what is said about them and uses social media today.Method: The thesis was based upon the qualitative gathering of empirical facts. Through deep interviews with five organizations and literature studies the author was able to gather the results.Theories The analysis is primarily based upon theories about organizational communications such as PR, Rogers?s diffusions of innovations and the marketing mix.

Swedish agriculture has gone through big changes in the latest 60 years. The farm sizes have increased, which has led to raised tractor and machinery sizes and therefore increasing problems with soil compaction. A method to reduce these problems is to implement controlled traffic farming, CTF. All field operations are then concentrated to specific tracks by using GPS guidance. The aim of this work was to study how the tillage regime, with or without CTF, affects the soil, with the main focus on macroporosity. In Säby close to Uppsala, and Alnarp close to Malmö, randomized block trials has been carried out, and the data has mainly been taken from these trials.

This thesis is about how the front-staff in two service companies experience empowerment. Competition for business in today's society is becoming increasingly fierce, which means that they must find a way to differentiate themselves from competitors. Service has become a way to compete. Front-staff competence and ability to offer a good service is a crucial factor when the company's success is being measured.Empowerment in business is used as a tool to create motivation and satisfaction of individuals at work. Companies using empowerment can create the freedom and opportunities for employees to act at their own intelligence and discretion.

The value of a good reputation for organizations is increasing today as consumers and citizens become more aware of brands. If a crisis hits an organization, there is now more to lose than before concerning reputation. Therefore the organization?s communication strategies must be developed to sustain the organization?s reputation during and after a crisis.In the field of crisis communication there are two distinguished theories which concern what an organization with help from crisis communication should do to undergo a crisis without losing its reputation. These theories are image repair theory and situational crisis communication theory (SCCT).

Uppsala like many other Swedish cities is affected by heavy housing shortage, in terms of too few existing flats and residents within the city limits. Every semester thousands of new students are facing the same problems of finding themselves adequate accommodation. The waiting lists for flats and student-dorms are getting longer for each year, and the situation is just getting worse. Simultaneously, Uppsala?s ambition is to increase its population and expand as a Swedish metropolitan, according to the Swedish governmental environment goals. This paper investigates and analyses the possibilities of expanding a city?s population by building high-rise buildings.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and identify a selected number of key factors in successfully implementing open innovation. More precisely, it looks at how value is maximized using open innovation practices. The scientific approach taken is based largely on the network perspective, which puts relations to other companies in focus. An extended view of the resource based view (RBV), different from the traditional one by taking also external resources into account, is in addition central to understanding the use of external resources to create internal value. The two main research questions strive to look at how the company locates relevant partners and what the relations that are established with these partners should look like to get the most of open innovation.

The aim of our study is to explore which norms that exists in the home care service, who is sending those norms, how are they maintained and how do they affect the interactions between staff and manager? We want to deep en our knowledge about home care service as an organization and increase our understanding for the psychosocial work environment and also the importance of leadership. We mean to read the organizational culture that exists which allows us to deal with the values that influence the behavior in the organization.The study is based on a qualitative method. The data consists of two focus group interviews, one with managers from the home care service - organization and one with staff from the same organization. T he interview with the managers consisted of five participants and the corresponding figure for the second interview with the staff was eight participants.The theoretical viewpoints have been communication - theory, organizational theory and Foucault´s th eory of power.Our result indicate that norms are something that unconsciously controls us and that we have learned that there are consequences when you step out of what is normative for the group.

AimThe aim with the work is to investigate if outdoor life at an early age will contribute to a maintained interest as a grown-up, and what other reasons play a part in maintained/lost interest. Questions:? Are the people active within outdoor life/physical activity today?? How much time do the people devote to outdoor life/physical activity?? What factors during the growth, from preschool to grown-up, contribute to a maintained or lost interest in outdoor life?MethodSince we wanted to bring forth all eventual factors that may have effected the people in their physical activity today we chose to do a qualitative study using deep interviews. The investigated group consists of six former students, four girls and two boys, from the I Ur och Skur preschool Mulleborg. Today the respondents are between 20 and 24 years old.ResultsThe investigation shows that all respondents are active with some kind of outdoor life or physical activity today, but there is a difference in how much.

Corn is an important food and feed crop in the world, in Sweden it?s up till now grown on limited acreages mainly for silage. But I think it can get more important if you can grow it also for grain, because it?s a good animal feed for example, for life stock-, pigsand poultry. On of corns advantage is that it can produce the same amount of dry matter as for example wheat, barley and rise but with 25% less water. I will examine if it possible to grow corn for grain production in the south of Sweden.

Periods of hypoxia are a recurring issue in Brunnsviken. Main factors that trigger hypoxia in Brunnsviken are eutrophication  due to anthropogenic emission of nutrients, stratification in the water column due to salinity and temperature differences  that prevents mixing and a sill inlet that prevents water exchange. As an attempt to improve the oxygen levels, bottom water is pumped from Brunnsviken causing aerated surface water to flow back into the basin.  The objective of this Master?s thesis was to study the change in dissolved oxygen levels due to pumping.

During the early 1990´s, the Swedish commercial air traffic was de-regulated and the new market-condition made it possible for low-budget airlines to enter the Swedish market. The former monopolistic airline company, Scandinavian Airline Systems (SAS), was facing a new type of competition which had the advantage of offering much cheaper air trips than SAS. Adding the decrease of profitability that struck SAS as well as other airline companies after the terrorist attacks on the 11th of September, forced them to carry out a mayor reorganization programme. The programme, called ?Turn Around 2005?, was a direct economical measure that begun in 2002 and lasted until 2005 and resulted in a cost saving of 14,5 billion SEK as well as a notice or a transfer of 6000 employees.The purpose of this essay is to investigate if the opinion of the consumer, the image, corresponds with the profile that SAS wishes to mediate today.