The purchasing of management consulting services has traditionally been characterized by informal and relation based interaction. However, case studies have shown that there is a movement towards more formalized and structured purchasing procedures among buyers of management consulting services. The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence and the implications of this professionalization. To investigate to what extent certain mechanisms of professionalization have been implemented on the Swedish market, a survey directed to Sweden?s 500 largest companies was conducted.

AbstractTitle: The Moment Of Truth; A study of service quality assuranceAuthors: Fanni Helminen and Linda ElsborgLevel: Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration, C-level.Advisor: Lars- Johan Åge and Jens Eklinder FrickDate: 2014- JunePurpose: Quality assurance has become a vital concept and an important tool to ensure that employees are able to deliver high service quality. The purpose of this study will be to elucidate how service companies can apply the use of sevenfundamental features supporting service quality in their quality assurance; recruitment and selection; training, teamwork; empowerment; performance appraisals and rewards; communication, and culture (of the organization). Furthermore, we will illustrate how the type of business entity, organizational structure and organizational resources afflicts the seven features.Method: Method: We will, from a hermeneutic point of view, apply and qualitative deductive research method. Data have been collected through a case study. The data have been transcribed and the analytical method has been selected based on the conducting purpose.

The industry of management training programs is increasing rapidly. Every year numerous organizations sponsor expensive management training programs for their managers, hoping that this will pay off and make the organizations more profitable. The companies that offer these management training programs could be seen as important conveyers of conceptions of leadership. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to identify similarities between a number of management training programs and see how they are related to different leadership theories , and based on this try to recognize the conceptions of leadership that are conveyed. The study is of qualitative nature and is based on interviews with representatives from five management training companies in Sweden along with a text analysis of written material presented by the companies.

Many product launches are postponed today, however very little research regarding to customer responses to such events has been carried out. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how people react to a postponed product launch. An experimental study of responses to a postponed launch of a mobile phone, a mineral water and a music album is used to investigate customer reactions. The respondents exposed to the postponed launch showed a higher value of reactance. This reactance affects the attitude, purchase intention and perceived quality of the product in a negative way.

The purpose of this study was to examine earnings quality and earnings management in U.S. ex-post failed firms. A quantitative study was made, using the Modified Jones Model, to identify abnormal accruals up to six years before bankruptcy. 9 003 continuing firms and 187 bankrupt firms, active sometime between 1990 and 2010, were examined. The study concludes that U.S.

Background: During extreme market conditions like the period during fall 2008 the discussion of what affects company value becomes apparent. The capital structure is the relation between borrowed capital and equity in a company´s financing mix. What impact changes in capital structure have on company value is a widely debated subject within the theory of finance. If a relationship between capital structure and company value exists the implication is that an optimal capital structure where company value is maximized also exists.Aim: The aim of the thesis is to study whether a certain relationship between capital structure and company value exists among selected stocks and companies listed on Stockholmsbörsens OMXS30.Implementation: With aim to fulfill the purpose of the thesis regression analysis has been performed among chosen stocks and companies. The empirical results eventuating from this have been analyzed from the view of elected relevant theory.Completion and results: We find that during normal market conditions a positive relationship between debt ratio and enterprise value (EV) can be established.

Master Thesis in Managing People, Knowledge and Change (BUSM18)..

Hur mycket investmentbankerna påverkar aktiekursen.

The aim of this essay is to analyze the relationship between the title and the music in a selec-tion of piano pieces by Torsten Petre. Based on the work list, a categorization of the piano titles has been made and the categories have been named ?emotions, moods and minds?, ?na-ture?, ?mankind?, ?dances and similar titles?, ?supernatural beings, fairy creatures and popu-lar belief?, ?foreign countries and foreign culture?, ?nationalism and tradition?, ?artifacts?, and ?miscellaneous?. Two pieces from the category ?emotions, moods and minds? Skizzer för piano, third series Op.

Vi har fått ett flertal viktiga insikter och lärdomar om nödvändiga ingredienser i god management. Först och främst en förståelse för hur viktigt det är med ökad självinsikt. Därigenom ökar förståelsen för andra personers beteende. Även det omvända gäller; genom andras beteende kan självinsikten öka. Lärdomen har implikationer på alla nivåer av management då en organisation grundar sig på samspelet mellan människor.

This essay focuses on the relationship between Islam, secularism, girls and sexuality. These categories problematize gender and how it affects identity processes of young women with a Muslim background. Sexuality is especially emphasized. The Muslim background is placed in contrast to the prescribed norms and ideals of the Swedish society/context concerning gender, sexuality and identity and this essay analyses how young women create gender and identity and which possibilities and strategies they have and use to negotiate about space in the relationship to other people. A girls? relationship to her own and others? sexuality is precisely what makes her a girl, but more importantly, also to which kind of girl.

Globalization and demographic changes are forcing today?s companies to be more competitive in order to reach success. The increasing competition is proving a challenge for companies to recruit and retain competent, talented staff. To meet these challenges, Talent Management was developed during the 1990s and supplies a new and innovative way to deal with personnel management. Due to Talent Management being a relatively new theory, there is at present no generally accepted definition of the theory.

This essay is about how basic democratic values are formed in preschool. I have focused on children´s abilities to take on responsibility and also, on the importance of relationships in the development of democratic values in preschool.This essay starts in self-perceived dilemmas, based on my own feeling that the children should have more rights and that the preschool often has too many unreflected rules and routines. The dilemma has been reflected on and has been discussed in relation to other theories. I have also reflected on my own behavior as a teacher and to what extent this behavior has influence on the outcome.The relationship between the governing documents and the work in preschool has been reviewed with the conclusion that they are not synchronized with each other.The investigation shows several examples of the meaning of a good working relationship between teacher and child and that children´s own sense of responsibility should be taken seriously and be recognized as a resource.In the discussion with the theories a connection between democracy, relationships and children´s responsibility was detected. The meaning of a good working communication and the teacher?s significance for the development is central and is made visible and problematized.The concluding words show how the approach to democratic and fundamental values must come to a change in preschools, a change that the teacher partly is responsible for.

In this study we have examined the possible quality standards and methods for applications with service workshops in the forest industry. The purpose of the methods presented here was to start the work of standarardising the maintenance service in the industry and be of use for service providers in their quality effort.The methods we used to accomplish the study were interviews and field visits together with a comprehensive literature research. Our results are presented in the form of four solution proposals: a standard based on existing SIS standards for terminology and key indicators, checklists that are filled in by mechanics with customer participation, the construction of a instructions database, and the implementation of the method 5s.We believe our suggestions can help the service providers in the four problem areas that we have identified: long term strategy, documentation, recruitment of competent technicians, and standard procedures in their operations. These improvements will be beneficial for both the service provider and the customer..

På senare år har alltmer fokuserats på att goda resultat grundas på huruvida företag skapar långsiktiga och hållbara relationer, till såväl kunder, leverantörer som samarbetsparter. Begrepp som relationsmarknadsföring och Customer Relationship Management (CRM) är nära besläktade och oavsett om begreppen tillämpas på slutkonsumenten eller samarbetsparten handlar det om att vårda relationer. Idag har massmarknadsföring blivit mindre effektivt och lönsamt, eftersom alltfler marknader, däribland resemarknaden, är mogna, vilket innebär att det blir svårare att hitta nya kunder. Detta betyder att det kan bli avgörande att vårda befintliga samarbeten och utveckla dessa till relationer för att överleva konkurrensen. I detta kan en problematik uppstå, då det är lätt att säga vad ett gott samarbete innebär, men inte lika lätt att förklara hur en god relation, baserad på lojalitet två parter emellan, ska fungera på ett effektivt och hållbart sätt.