Detta examensarbete undersöker hur materiella och immateriella ledtrådar används vid förmedling av ett tjänstevarumärke i en internationell franchisekontext. Begreppet experience room (Edvardsson, Enquist och Johnston, 2005) tillämpas för att undersöka konceptet ICEBAR BY ICEHOTEL i egenskap av testkörning (prepurchase service experience) av ICEHOTELs erbjudande, samt hur franchisegivaren hanterar de särskilda förhållanden som uppstår vid förmedling av tjänster via franchisetagare i egenskap av varumärkesambassadörer. Hur går det till när en upplevelse, lika flyktig och förgänglig som isen på Torne älv, görs materiell och flyttbar i form av ett franchisekoncept? Och vad händer med ett tjänstevarumärke när det förmedlas av en franchisetagare på andra sidan jordklotet?Studien konstaterar att franchisekonceptet ICEBAR BY ICEHOTEL uppfyller designdimensionerna för ett experience room; fysiska och immateriella artefakter, teknologi, kundplacering, kunddeltagande och interaktion med de anställda förekommer alla i någon utsträckning. Dock är den otydliga kopplingen till ICEHOTEL ? en konsekvens av det tidigare namnet Absolut Icebar ? avgörande för att konceptet inte kan anses utgöra en PSE (prepurchase service experience).I det studerade fallet sammanfattas det interna varumärkesarbetet i fem kategorier; dokument, materiella ledtrådar, personer och aktiviteter med anknytning till ICEHOTEL samt storytelling vilken bidrar till att skapa mening och en personlig koppling till varumärket.

This study concerns paratransit service in a relatively small municipality in Sweden. The aim of this study is to describe the user's experience of paratransit service. The question formulation is mainly built around the user's experience of paratransit service and their view on what impact paratransit service has on their lives. The empirical data consists of ten interviews with ten different paratransit service users with ages ranging from 25-95 years. The data has mainly been analyzed through concepts of independence, empowerment and trust. The result of this study shows that paratransit service in many ways can be described as a crucial part of the users' lives.

This Master?s thesis is the first to quantitatively study the prevalence of library anxiety at a Swedish university. Library anxiety is a concept describing the negative feelings students can experience when using the library. The study was conducted using web questionnaires sent out to 512 students at Växjö university. 38 % responded and the results were analysed with the help of, amongst other methods, correlation studies.

The aim of the study is to learn more about the way preschool teachers work with Information and Communication Technology(ICT). More specifically, this study aims to explore how preschool teachers describe their experience of ICT, the conditions and opportunities to work with ICT, and their own knowledge and competence in the use of digital tools with preschool children. The research method consists of interviews with preschool teachers and observations at five municipal preschools in Stockholm as well as an analysis of the relevant passages in the Curriculum for the Preschool and the Curriculum of Stockholm city. This study shows that there seems to be great variation in the amount of ICT tools present in preschools. Preschool teachers expect a lot from ICT, and the improvements that it can make on their work.

Vi utforskar begreppet upplevelseekonomi och hur vi har hamnat i vad en del forskare anser vara Upplevelsesamhället. Ett samhälle där de basala behoven är uppfyllda och där vi söker minnesvärda och självförverkligande upplevelser.Vi har valt att studera tidigare forskning och presenterar delar av det vi har läst i ett inledande teoriavsnitt. Därefter observerar vi ett par upplevelserelaterade hotell för att se hur teorin kan se ut i verkliga pågående projekt. De hotell vi valt att titta närmare på är Icehotel i Jukkasjärvi samt Såstaholm i Täby. Vårt sätt att arbeta blir deduktivt, där vi utgår från befintliga begrepp och teorier för att kunna dra logiska slutsatser.Befintlig teori i upplevelseekonomi samt iakttagelser av två existerande hotell för upplevelser gav oss grunden till hur vi utformade vårt hotell i Östhammar med upplevelsetema ? Hotell Badjäflar.

Ledarskapsteorin Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) menar att en hög kvalité i relationen mellan ledare och medarbetare är viktig för olika organisatoriska utfall. Då forskning inte fokuserat på vilka relationsaspekter som medarbetare värderar som viktiga inom specifika branscher, är denna studie ett avstamp till området. Syftet med undersökningen var att ta reda på vilka relationsaspekter som säljmedarbetare värderar som viktiga i relationen till sin närmsta chef, om värderingen av dessa relationsaspekter har ett samband med medarbetares upplevelse av den befintliga relationen till sin närmsta chef och om relationsaspekterna värderas olika beroende på den befintliga kvalitén i relationen. En enkätstudie genomfördes där LMX samt relationsaspekter behandlades. Deltagarna bestod av 70 säljmedarbetare på ett globalt företag i Mellansverige.

The purpose of this study is to identify a successful way of expanding a business on a global market, focusing on innovation products. An analysis was also made to see how internationalization theories are useful in businesses with innovation products. Four companies have been interviewed where two of them have innovation products (Proline AB and Q-Med AB) and the others are widely successful in exporting to a global market (Safegate Group and Weda Poolcleaners AB). Furthermore four interviews have been made with support organizations that have great experience in helping companies in this area (Svenska Uppfinnareföreningen, Almi Företagspartner AB, Exportrådet and The Swedish-American Chambers of Commerce).One of the results that can be identified is the diverse view and will to expand the business. The inventor often has a born global strategy in mind whereas the helping organizations rather expand step by step and only to one country at a time.

Background: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD), as a consequence of atherosclerosis in the arteria of the limbs, affects one of ten Swedes older than 65. PAD can develop slowly and silently, and involves an increased risk for cardiac infarction and stroke. Measurement of the patient´s ankle blood pressure and calculation of the ankle-brachial index is an evidence-based method to discover PAD. Objective: To investigate how district nurses and general practitioners perceive this method of examination and experience possible obstacles to why it is not more commonly applied at primary health care centres. Method: Data collected by semi-structured interviews have been processed by qualitative content analysis with a manifest onset.

AbstractHow do pupils with intellectual disabilities experience participation and involvement in school work? It was a question I had in mind when I was formulating the thesis statement. I wanted to catch pupils? experiences and analyze them from the sociology of childhood. Do pupils want more involvement and what obstacles and opportunities do pupils find to exert participation and involvement?The study is based on six interviews conducted with pupils enrolled in the compulsory school for pupils with intellectual disabilities.

This study is made in cooperation with Setragroup AB. Setra is Sweden?s biggest sawmilling company with a turnover of almost 6 billion SEK. 45% of the produced volume goes to the Swedish market where the customers are the DIY-sector and industrial customers. Setra as well as the other Swedish sawmilling companies operate in a very competitive environment.

The civilization has taken a step from the industry society to a service oriented culturewhere the physical differences between different products have decreased in value for the customers. The differentiation is more about senses, esthetical symbols and design. Modern economy is more and more focused on consuming and produce dreams and lifestyles. Maybe are we ready to face a new era; the society of experiences?Can the trend that is striving towards experiences really be adapted to all markets? This question started our quest to see how the real-estate market would be able to be adapted to this new economy.

The title of this thesis is ?Accessible Landscape - boardwalks in nature areas?. The main purpose of this thesis is to show how you can increase the accessibility for disabled people by constructing boardwalks in nature areas. The platform for the thesis is a study of litterature on boardwalks, accessibility and disabilities. After defining these terms I made three excursions to three different locations in the south of Sweden. During the excursions I evaluated the boardwalks situated in each of the areas through preferences such as the construction of the boardwalk, its design and the accessibility. After the excursions I interviewed managers of the areas I visited, and people working with disability questions in the municipalities where the excursions took place. To know how to make a boardwalk accessible you need to have knowledge about certain concepts, rules and recommendations. My thesis deals with aspects such as: *Accessibility *Disability *Rules and recommendations when building boardwalks *Real life - evaluation from the excursions and interviews with the managers The result shows that accessibility is a hot topic in Sweden and a lot of improvement is being done with fi nancial support from the European Union.

AbstractGrowing up with a functionally disabled sibling can bring joy and positive experiences, but also complications. The purpose of this paper is to describe the experience of growing up with a functionally disabled sibling. I have chosen to focus the examination on how individuals with functionally disabled siblings believe they have been affected by their relationship to their functional disabled sibling and whether it has continued to affect them in adulthood.The examination was qualitative and conducted through interviews. The results showed that siblings of functionally disabled individuals tend to grow up with strong feelings of responsibility and anxiety that continue to affect them into adulthood. The investigation further showed that all interviewed chose occupations in care, and that they give great attention to relationships to others.

The aim of this study was to examine young adult cannabis users? attitudes towards cannabis and their perception of the normalization of cannabis. The purpose was also to explore how their views of cannabis correspond with norms regarding cannabis. This study is based on interviews with five young adult cannabis users. The theoretical framework is based on Parker?s normalization thesis, Goffman?s notion of stigma, Becker?s definition of outsiders and the definition of social identity developed by Stone.

Entrepreneurship is considered essential for the Swedish economy, as well as globally. Accordingly,massive efforts are put into creating environments that successfully can support new ventures. The business incubator is a prominent part of these efforts and is important especially for the knowledge shared within its internal network. The aim of this study is to further explore how different activitieswithin the incubator can influence the interaction, and thereby the construction of social capital,among the incubatees. Using a qualitative case study of three incubators, and the framework of theincubator model, it is concluded that three distinguishing components within the framework influence the interaction, namely infrastructure, mediation and business support.