The interest in businesses active on the countryside and their funding situation has increased in recent years. In a survey, conducted by Leif Berndtsson (2003), it was reported that there is a lack of external capital in rural areas. According to Berndtsson (2003) the lack of external capital inhibits the rural firm?s growth. The essay attempts to answer whether the shortage of external capital is a factor that inhibits development for rural businesses.

Unauthorized changes in listed buildings and environments occur all around Sweden. The main purpose of this thesis is to examine how these forms of transgressions have been and are being handled in some Swedish county administrations. What do legislation within conservation of heritage expresses when transgressions occur? How do county administrations interpret and apply legislation to actual situations? What methods do county administrations make use of to prevent unauthorized changes?16 out of Sweden´s 21 county administrations have been studied and used as an Empirical basis. This basis has led to a general conclusion of the county administrations experiences and working processes when handling unauthorized changes in listed buildings.

The purpose of this thesis is to understand the reasons to why management consultants choose to leave their positions at large and established management consultant companies. The Empirical data are made up of eleven interviews with men and women, both management consultants that have left their previous positions as well as a consultant who has chosen to stay with her first company and a representative from one of the large companies active within the management consultant industry. We have used the Job Embeddedness Theory combined with theories about identity, legitimacy, institutional norms and gender in order to understand the thoughts and reasoning behind the management consultants´ resignation. We have found that issues with the work itself and characteristics of the industry prevent the management consultants from being embedded within the management consultant company. Rather, some of the characteristics of the industry such as ?up or out? and the need to constantly perform work as a ?pushing-out mechanism?.

AbstractSchool is taking on a great responsibility in mediating knowledge of mathematics as technology is assuming greater importance in our everyday life. The aim of this study is to examine how the teachers in year F and 1 view their teaching of mathematics from an individually adapted perspective. I have based my research on different factual study books within the education for younger children?s learning of mathematics, and have from an individually adapted perspective made a comparison between theory and practice. The Empirical data has been obtained through interviews with six teachers, three pre-school teachers and three teachers, working with pupils in year F and 1.

The primary purpose of this essay is to study and describe what student?s self experiences of the media coverage of social work. The theoretical perspectives applied to analyse the Empirical data are social constructionism, roles, and construction. The method of this study is qualitative and based on ten personal interviews. The material has been analysed by condensed meaning units and three themes have been used, the media coverage of social work, the relationship between social workers and media and the influence media coverage has on the students.The results given from these interviews show that the majority of the interviewed group considers the media coverage of social work as negative.

We have through our theoretical framework been able to create a simplified measuring tool for a KIZ; the S-TKL. We have found that the S-TKL is possible to implement on the Öresund Region but with some flaws. Even though the Öresund Region has implemented the mindset of a KIZ, accurate statistics are in some areas hard to find. We can also through our Empirical findings say that it is difficult to use the S-TKL on Shenzhen. The data we have found gives a good indication of both of the regions.

A description and analysis of the sales process of ERP systems is presented; also the consequences for the parties involved are discussed. The chosen methodological basis is an inductive research design consisting of a case study based on interviews. The analysis of the Empirical data is done with a proposed analytical framework. Based on the agency theory, the analysis is tightly knitted together with opportunism. There are three controlling factors: relationships (relationship marketing), contracts (principal-agent theory), and competition.

Outsourcing in IS/IT offers organizations the possibility to use external resources, maximize flexibility and focus on core business, this prompts many organizations today to be less keen on developing IS/IT-services in-house. Sourcing IS/IT is however a complex activity in itself thus requiring competencies in many areas of expertise and lots of organizations has experienced the challenge of managing the necessary competencies to ensure successful Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO). A literature review in the field of outsourcing revealed the lack of a comprehensive competency management framework with the ability to guide competency resource planning in ITO projects. In order to highlight the problem area, an extensive and thorough literature review and an Empirical case study which investigated the skills and assets in ITO projects at ten major Swedish organizations was conducted. The study found that it is possible for organizations through structured analysis of their intellectual capital, using the competency framework developed within the study, to plan sourcing processes and prepare the necessary changes to ensure the ITO projects can be implemented with the desired effect..

BACKGROUND: There is a high incidence of pain amongst older people. Several studies have shown that between 50 to 80 % of older people, who require domestic care or live in care homes, suffer from pain. Despite this many older people are under treated. AIM: The aim of this study was to explore what care providers perceive to be obstacles and opportunities of managing pain in older people. METHOD: A qualitative approach was used and the date was semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions.

The purpose of this research is to examine some historical aspects of Robert Putnam?s thesisabout voluntary associations and social capital. According to a micro perspective theory ofsocial capital the trust and reciprocity required and created by associations is important toexplain the disparity between institutional performance and socioeconomic development ofsocieties. The social patterns governing this therefore set a precedent for the future. Using themutual sickness benefit societies in Sweden as variable for voluntary associations around1884, the essay discusses the possible links between social capital, associations and long termeconomic development.

The purpose of this study is to show how the modern society, with demands, expectations and the time constraints of adults, affects children and the everyday life at the preschool. Our intention is also to show the importance of identify stress symptoms of the children.        The study is of qualitative Empirical kind and is based on a questionnaire to 19 parents of preschool children at the age of three to five years old. Interviews are made with four preschool teachers on one preschool. An observation of children in possible stressful situations is made during three days each at two preschools.     The results show that the modern society affects children and can be stressful. It also affects the everyday life at the preschool.

The purpose with this essay is to examine how arts and politics integrate to raise urgent messages and call upon social changes. Performance art as an artistic manifestation against the surveillance society has been studied to clarify this integration and through an Empirical examination of the anarchistic performance group The Surveillance Camera Players. This group formed in New York City 1996 as a manifestation against the increased use of surveillance cameras in public places in Manhattan. Through performance in front of these cameras, The Surveillance Camera Players are able to express their protest against the surveillance society which, occurring to them, violates citizens constitutionally right to privacy. The development and signification of the surveillance society are examined through theoretical perspective by foremost Michel Foucault, but also by contemporary scientist in that field.

Much attention has been directed to Charity Foundations and how they use the donations given to them. Donators and external organisations put pressure on and evaluate the performance of Charity Foundations. The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of how Charity Foundations handle the pressure from external parties through a qualitative case study of one Swedish Charity Foundation. The most important external factors have been identified and the accountability relationships between each party and the Charity Foundation have been examined. The Empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews and from written sources.

The purpose of this thesis is to present a review of research themes and practice in the field of art image registration. The objectives of the review are twofold. The primary task is to distinguish which problems, in regard to theory and practice, that have been dealt with in the field of art image registration and the secondary task is to investigate which discursive, institutional and tool-related factors have had an impact on theoretical discussions and practice in the art image domain. The Empirical content in the review is structured according to four epistemological viewpoints and is analyzed with a domain analytical approach. The result of the study is that two major problems are frequently discussed in the art image domain, namely lack of standardization and which discourse is the best suited for registration of art images.

The thesis aims to increase our understanding about parents reasoning about the elementary school choice by studying which factors parents perceive as important during the decision making process and also by giving meaning to Pierre Bourdieu?s concept of capital through the parents perspective. The Empirical material comes from seven BNIM-interviews made with parents, which has been analyzed according to the thematic field analysis.The results show that the parents are not especially concerned about making an active school choice. Stability, closeness, friends, rumors, development and adaptability to the reality are the factors that are perceived as the most important in the decision making process. The school choice has a limited meaning as an investment in social capital, from Bourdieu?s perspective.