Background and Problem discussion: Strategic evaluations are important as they providecrucial information regarding Swedish development assistance and recommendations on howto face problems and inadequacies found in the evaluations. Therefore, the follow up ofrecommendations is of great significance as well. Unfortunately, SIDA?s ManagementResponse system for follow-up of strategic evaluations has not been functioning in asatisfying way and needed actions have not been taken. Thus, Swedish developmentassistance has been criticised for the lack of implemented actions and the public has startedto question the work carried through by the organisations.

Societal expectations of responsible corporate conduct are currently a fact. It is manifested ina corporate need for limiting and managing external effects, such as environmental impact.An environmental management system is a tool for organizations to structure theirenvironmental work and increase their efficiency. Managing the corporate operations toaccommodate to environmental objectives requires an organizational understanding of theobjectives as well as the procedures. A condition for a successful implementation is the coworkers´ willingness to participate and collaborate.A study made on the co-workers attitude towards the ISO 9000 standard (i.e. qualitymanagement system) reveals that the earlier positive findings are not completely true.

This research addresses the issues of identity and culture in Latvia in the context of the upcoming European Union enlargement in 2004. Political self- determination of Latvia was historically indebted to culture. The phenomenon of cultural identity, so important 12 years ago when Latvian independence was regained, is largely ignored by politicians in the upcoming enlargement process. This is especially worth attention since the 8-th parliamentary elections took place in October 2002. The obvious lack of interest in cultural issues on the part of politicians is compensated by the apprehensions in the society (reflected in mass media) to loose Latvian specific culture and identity when joining the big European family.

This study examines how the local rescue services relate to the brand of the rescue service and the concept of brand management. To understand the attitudes against the brand and brand management, empirical data, theoretical modelling of brand and current laws have been discussed together in a try to get an overview how the rescue services practically works with the brand. The study results are based on a questionnaire survey and qualitative semi-structured interviews. The survey was sent to employees working with the communication of the rescue service. The interviews were held with two employees working with the communication of the rescue service and two fire chiefs.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine how the introducing of municipal library plans has influenced some compulsory schools in Malmö. I wanted to know if the library plan is a possible way to improve the quality of the school library. Through qualitative interviews with four school librarians and four headmasters, I investigate their knowledge of the library plan and their opinion of the possibilities to realize the directions of the plan. The theoretical framework is based on a model of organizational culture by Bakka, Fivelsdal and Lindkvist.

This report describes how the system may be exposed to oscillations and how this can lead to resonance. Resonance is a phenomenon that occurs when a system is affected by external periodic oscillations with frequencies close to the system's natural frequencies. Structures subjected to resonance can risk great damage and destruction, why resonance is something that is important to take into account when designing structures. Alternative ways to counteract resonance is to supply damping in the system. Damping means that the resonance decreases instead of letting the amplitude increase.The report discusses some examples on constructions that have experienced the effect of resonance.

The web sites of Swedish public libraries display a high level of heterogeneity when it comes to design and graphical user interface. The thesis is based on the opinion that the visuals of a public library web site have implications for the user as well as for the library. The design of the graphical user interface influences the attention of the user and his/her ability to absorb information. Furthermore, there is a connection between the visuals and the users opinion about the credibility of the content of the web site, as well as of the organisation itself. The research question is: Which factors may have an impact on the design of the graphical user interfaces of a public library web site? The purpose is to create an understanding for these factors and emphasize them.

The use of subscription services directed towards customers has become a common phenomenon in a vast number of different industries. We have noticed a clear trend of new businesses emerging solely offering subscriptions, and existing companies altering sales of their products to become parts of subscriptions. But research has not caught up with this trend yet, especially regarding why it occurs and how it affects existing businesses internally. The purpose of this study is to examine the driving forces for change and examine how existing businesses have to change parts of their business models to offer subscription services. The premise of this study has been Vargo & Luschs (2004) Service Dominant Logic with their foundational premises and Business Model Canvas by Osterwalder et.

Credits are considered as a natural financing form for all types of companies. The financial market in Sweden is dominated by four banks and the credit appraisals that are done by these banks are partly based on credit reports from external companies. This thesis? purpose is to increase the knowledge of which the consequences of payment remarks can imply for companies in relation to the banks. A qualitative study has been done to relay to the purpose, through the means of interviews with four companies, four banks, one rating institute and a collecting agency.

The energy sector of modern time is currently faced with several challenges. These are both production oriented and environmental oriented in nature. The energy of the future is intended to support an increasing demand while at the same time reduce its environmental affection. This stresses a development towards production methods of renewable energy. Among the existing methods, biogas is presented as an attractive alternative.

Lean is one of the recent years most popular methods for organizations to use in order to increase efficiency, productivity and quality. Despite Lean's increased popularity, Lean is still difficult to define and can be explained and described in different ways. Previous studies have also shown that Lean is difficult to implement and challenging to maintain successfully. Knowledge of Lean is viewed as a necessity in the implementation of Lean, which leads to that organizations often chooses to bring in this knowledge through external consultants or other experts in order to implement Lean in their organization. Thus, it is interesting to examine the consultants view on Lean and the implementation process of Lean.

Vocational rehabilitation is an ongoing issue that directly or indirectly affects everyone at a workplace. In recent years, laws and rules have changed. The 1st July 2008 changes were made in the General Insurance Act (SFS 1962:381). These changes have meant that there is now a so-called rehabilitation chain.  The rehabilitation chain contains time frames for when sick people will have their ability to work tested against their normal work or to other jobs. If a person is considered having enough capacity to be able to work he or she will lose their entitlement to sick pay.The aim of our study is to investigate managers? perceptions of the new rehabilitation chain, with a focus on vocational rehabilitation of long-term sick to get them back to work.The method used was qualitative and data collection was done through nine semi-structured interviews.

This degree thesis is based on an assignment from BEOMAT in Storfors. BEOMAT is a company that constructs and sellsclay pigeons to both the national and international market.Our main purpose with this paper is to find a solution/system that can replace the expensive and space demandingOlympic trap facility. Our solution will replace fifteen clay pigeon throwers with one automatic thrower whosimulate all throwers together. The system will be provided with an appropriate control system for mass productiontherefore this system needs to be user-friendly so no previous knowledge is required.Totally 405 different throw coordinates will be stored in the programme in nine different subprograms. According tothe Olympic-rules the throwers should coincidence within certain specified conditions, this will be solved with anrandomizer in the programme.

The purpose of this degree project is to clarify how five Kenyan Life Skills teachers discuss about hiv and aids education. Furthermore, to reveal whether the validity claims in their verbal communication refers to facts, morality or personal experiences. This, I will study by examine the teachers knowledge of, and attitudes towards, the disease. The teaching methods they are using and the basis of their validity claims. I have chosen to use semi-structured interviews as method and the theoretical framework is based on Jürgen Habermas theory of universal pragmatics.My result shows that there is a dilemma about whether the respondents knowledge is sufficient or insufficient.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att kunna erbjuda små till medelstora företag förslag på lämpliga modeller och IT-stöd att använda till omvärldsanalys. Genom att föreslå modeller och IT-stöd samt hur de används kan företag upprätta ett omvärldsanalysarbete utan att hyra in extern hjälp. Större företag har ofta en större budget och även resurser som aktivt arbetar med att bevaka omvärlden. Den sortens resurser finns inte i mindre företag eftersom kostnaden att hyra in konsulter för hjälp med omvärldsanalysarbete är för hög. Det i kombination med att kunskap saknas om hur ett omvärldsanalysarbete kan genomföras resulterar i att det ofta inte blir av.