Background: Increasing globalization makes companies more influenced than before by actors and factors in their environment. For some this has lead to a more dynamic and complicated business context. Therefore it is of strategic importance to understand what is currently going on as well as to have a general idea of what the future brings. Purpose: To contribute to a deeper understanding of how a corporate management can perceive its business environment and how it affects he gathering of business information from a strategic perspective. Realisation: In-depth interviews were conducted with all four members of the management in the studied company, Volvo Competence Center in Skovde, Sweden.

Property companies? results are affected by unrealized changes in value of properties. Since market values are never completely reliable there is always a risk with revaluation with property´s value. The fair value is determined only when a sale is completed. The paper studies how well the Swedish listed property companies reported under the accounting standard, IAS 40.

How does the recent wave of preferential trading arrangements affect, the incentives for further trade liberalization of member states, and the possibility of obtaining global free trade? And are there any differences in this aspect between custom unions and other forms of preferential trading arrangements? These questions are well debated and have divided international trade researchers into two camps, one in favour for preferential trading arrangements and the other side against them. I have used well acknowledged researchers in the area of international trade theory to make a literature study of the above mentioned key elements in the debate. When comparing the two sides I have focused mainly on their differences, assumptions and results. I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing to be alarmed by of the wave of regionalism that?s occurring in the world today, but caution should be applied and more research in this area is necessary before any certain conclusions can be drawn.

This thesis explores how verbal and nonverbal signs communicate attitudes and the rhetorical functions of such attitudinal signs. Attitudes are regarded as rationalized evaluations of attitudinal objects, and through their manifestation in signs an attitudinal gestalt is communicated. This gestalt is regarded as the audiences perception of the rhetors attitude. It is shown that the attitudinal signs function as ethical, logical and pathetic proofs and that they can create identification between the audience and the rhetor. The signs can have effects on the audiences perception of the attitudinal objects, their perception of the rhetor and influence the social dynamic of the discourse.

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.

At the Division of Electricity at Uppsala University there is an experimental rig forhydroelectric generators. The experimental rig?s vital part is a 12-pole synchronousmachine, whose electrical characterizing parameters (resistances, inductances andtime constants) are unknown. The aim of this thesis is to characterize the machine inits current state by perform a Standstill Frequency Response (SSFR) test. From theanalysis of the measurement data, which is a part of the test, a set of basic parametershave been received.

This study is an institutional analysis of the firm both as it is theoretically conceptualized and how it takes shape and changes. The role of power relations between manage¬ment and employees is especially examined with the aim of evaluating pos¬sible connections between the firm as an institution and power relations within it. Based on a comparison of two cases (two selected periods of the same organization) it asks ?How closely does each case match the conceptual characteristics of the firm??; ?What are the power relations between management and employees in each case??; and finally ?What factors account for the resulting differences??. It is found that there is a negative correlation between employee power and proximity to the firm as a concept.

Modern air battles are very dynamic and fast, and put extreme pressure on pilots. In some unpredictable situations, like new discovered threats or mission plan deviation because of enemy aircraft, the pilots might need to replan their predefined flight route. This is very difficult, if not impossible, to do since numerous factors affect it. A system that can help the pilots to do such a thing is needed. Previous work in this field has involved methods from artificial intelligence like A*-search.

AbstractThe dynamic environment means that organizations always faces new challenges. There are various factors which could affect the process of change thus the purpose of this investigation is to research into the key values of organizational changes. We have done an in-depth research about a planned and ongoing process of change in the organization HEM. The aim is to investigate how knowledge and learning are spread among the staff in the company before and during changes. Also further investigation has been made to study the communication between management and employees through the changes. This report includes seven individuals with different working positions within the organization.

Contemporary plant design can be examined by how it relates to two extremes - Nature and Art. This idea is explained by Noel Kingsbury in the book The Dynamic Landscape where he places designers and their projects on a gradient (Kingsbury, 2004). Nature, one of the extremes can be represented by a dynamic, species-rich plant design with native species and with nature as the ideal. The other extreme - Art implies a more static view on plant design. Here, the designs consist of colourful flowers, exotic species and cultivars with double flowers.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how key performance indicators are being used as performance management tools within the production industry. Specifically the purpose is to investigate how the KPI:s within the telecommunications industry drives reusability regarding production test systems. This thesis will also highlight today?s cost models and suggest improvements of the KPI and what new ones could be introduced. A case study at Ericsson AB has been performed.

Efforts to achieve a moisture proof construction process have proved to be considerably complicated, despite the knowledge and awareness that now exists within the moisture field. Materials, documents, templates and checklists are designed to be accessed but are not used anyway. This may be because such effort has not been prioritized and properly requirements have not existed from the commissioner of a building.This report illustrates how the commissioner of a building project can achieve a moisture proof building process by increasing knowledge, moisture proof planning, and implementation of security moisture routines. Proposals are given on how the commissioner of a building project can work to consistently bring a moisture proof building process in all stages. The difficulty with regular moisture proof efforts, the authors believe is mainly due to the following points:      Many different design solutions.      Lack of experience feedback.      Lack of communication.      Financial incentives.      Attitudes.The interviews in the report have conducted with the help of a qualitative analysis, while the survey has been done using a quantitative analytical method.

Vid kalibrering av en radars antenn placeras radarn på ett vridbord som kan rikta in den mot en mast. På masten sitter ett kors som används som riktpunkt. Huvuduppgiften i examensarbetet var att skriva ett program i National Instruments programmeringsmiljö LabVIEW som kan ställa in vridbordet med en noggrannhet på 0,1 milliradianer. Programmet ska kunna användas som ett DLL (Dynamic-link library) i LabWindows/CVI där ett antal olika funktioner ska kunna anropas för styrning av vridbordet. Eftersom nästan all maskinvara är från National Instruments blev programmet väldigt lätt att skriva.

This thesis studies the concept of balance in the management control systems (MCS) of a small Swedish company within the IT-sector. The aim is to evaluate the importance of balance and dynamics in MCS and investigate which factors affect them. The frameworks used are Simons (1994) four levers of control, and the five-factor model for balance and dynamics by Mundy (2010). The small IT company - the object of the case study - has grown extensively in the last years and needs to develop more formal MCS without losing efficiency and creativity in their fast-moving industry. The case study reveals that balancing MCS is important also in smaller companies with less formal MCS.

This thesis examines the reasons behind the Swedish migration policy reform which led to a replacement of the Aliens Appeal Board by the Migration Court. This introduced a two-party procedure, oral hearings and enhanced transparency. It was designed to guarantee the rule of law and to thwart political arbitrariness.The transfer of power from representative institutions to judiciaries is referred to as judicialization, and the Migration Courts may be considered a typical example of this phenomenon. However, this can be questioned. The straggling nature of the term implies everything and anything unless cautiously defined.