The ambition of this study is to examine the discussion surrounding the Swedish participation in the European security- and defence policy. By forming feasible areas of arguments the goal is to gain further comprehension in the case of Sweden. These arguments are formed in close relation to the empirical sources; With less public funding there are economic aspects of cooperation, this could also be related to Swedish the industry of defence systems; A high level of participation in the UN is a tradition in Swedish foreign policy, the European battle groups are the perfect tool to further strengthen the UN ability in conflict management and peace keeping missions; Outside the EMU Sweden could face the political margin, to retain influence a high level of activity ought to occur in the integration process; Finally, the future position of United States and NATO is not clear, Europe needs an capacity apart the US to contribute to lasting peace and stability. The arguments are close related to each other, but the main argument is to through ESDP create a tool that will strengthen UN, there is also a wide range of economic arguments related to the industry..

This thesis is written at WSP management and investigates the practice of pre-project planning and feasibility studies at Swedish construction companies, through the study of the ongoing feasibility study of the mall Sturegallerian in Stockholm, and through interviews with experienced project managers in the construction industry. There is currently a big span in the way Swedish construction companies plan the pre-project phase and the aim of this thesis is to present a more generic and standardized way that helps minimize project risks and maximize efficiency and profit. The result is a generic model which can be used in pre-project planning. The model describes the phases in the preproject planning process and the activities that span these phases. Is also describes the categories of professions that need to participate in the preproject planning group and which activities that each profession executes. The other result is a list of factors that need to be considered for a well performed pre-project phase, as found during the interviews. Among others the thesis stresses the importance of involving the client as a key participant in the process.

The society strives for sustainable development, in the construction industry it is expressed through sustainable building. Energy and LCC analyzes increases the ability to make conscious decisions in the process. A problem in the construction industry is that energy and LCC analysis is not used to the desired extent, as they are perceived as complicated and time consuming. The report aims to achieve a more sustainable building through increased use of energy and LCC analyzes.The goal is to show how BIM can be used to improve the efficiency of the energy and LCC analyzes.The study was conducted with a literature review and a case study to answer which information that is required in a BIM model to perform energy and LCC analyzes. The study also shows which software can be used in BIM based energy and LCC analyzes and how the analyzes can be carried out efficiently.The result shows that effective analyzes may be performed if the BIM-model contains the relevant information for making analyzes.

Blogpics ? young girls views on photography online Young people create new forms of social interaction on the internet, and in Sweden, especially young girls, have become very active bloggers. Girls write, publish pictures and build networks with, mostly, other girls.  This new phenonomen has been described in Swedish media partly as a problem, where adults are worried that the information the young girls publish about themselves is too personal, and can be used for the wrong purposes. It has also been suggested that the content of young girls blogs has little value, beeing mostly narcissitic, superficial and obsessed with fashion and shopping. The purpose of this paper has been to investigate how young girls reflect upon their photographic communication on the internet.  The idea has been to ask the girls themselves about their own experiences, to get a more complete picture of them as internet users, to investigate their communication strategies and solutions when it comes to net integrity  and to talk about how they create gender and identity online..

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how investments are justified in the Swedish data center industry, with a focus on cooling equipment. This is achieved through semi-structured interviews with 20 different interviewees. These interviewees represent different facets of the industry and facilitate an understanding of which factors, such as: investment costs, operating costs, reliability, environmental impact and the influence of external and internal actors, come into play and to which degree they impact the investment decision-making process. The results show that primarily low operating cost in the form of low energy consumption is the driving factor when it comes to the procurement of new equipment. A lower environmental impact is a positive side-effect of lower energy consumption.

The Swedish Public Relation industry has gone through a rapid growth in the recent decade. A peculiar, although perhaps not unexpected, development is that former politicians and politically employed individuals to a larger extent have been the subject of recruitment effort from the industry. Simultaneously there has been a public debate concerning the influence on Public Relations and Lobbying over the political agenda. The purpose of this thesis is to widen and deepen the discussion concerning Public Relations consultants. It centers on the individual consultants and takes their competence as the point of departure.

Introduction     Knowledge has come to be an increasingly important factor for both individuals in the labor market and companies in competition. When a person leaves an organization the knowledge often follows, and a knowledge gap is created. When knowledge is shared within an organization, the individual?s knowledge is available for all members of the organization. Knowledge can thus be converted from human capital to structural capital.

The purpose of this essay is to explore the actor network of a high technology company in the textile industry called F.O.V. Fabrics. The background for doing this is a recent project, which we choose to call the Salt & Paper Battery Group, aiming to commercialize a newly discovered technology ? a battery based on cellulose from an alga. We start by examining a range of network theories in order to eventually shape a framework of our own.

In past decades information technology has changed the conditions of organizations, not at least within the industry. Advanced IT systems have become a fact in order to cope with rapid changes in the market and to effectively manage an organization?s knowledge. When organizations became more flexible and customized expectations from customers and stakeholders also become higher. These expectations and guidelines are documented in a company?s management system, which can be designed differently depending on what standards the company chooses to implement.

The main purpose of this essay is to investigate if Latvia´s pattern of trade has become more similar to the mature market economies, after Latvia´s independence 1991.Today, the intra-industry trade (IIT) dominates the trade of mature market economies. One of the pioneers of intra-industrial trade is Paul Krugman, who was the first to emphasize the importance "of scale and consumers' desire for variety" in explaining the basis for modern commerce. Customers get more variety and usually cheaper goods when the market gets bigger. I mainly use the modern trade theories to explain the trade pattern in Latvia. To measure how Latvia has developed its intra-industry trade, and thereby is approaching the mature market economies´ trade pattern, I use the Grubel-Lloyd index (GL-index).

Problem formulation: Recent results from the European Food Information Council?s consumer research on nutrition information and food labelling revealed that most consumers have little understanding of the nutrition information found on food products, feel that there is little authority regulating these matters and wish for a more trusted source of information and regulation and lastly it was found that consumers accept their limitations and have little motivation to even read or learn about nutrition information. Thus what are the reactions of the various legal authorities to this problem? How are food retailers and producers responding to the needs of the consumer? How are consumers then reacting to these two players in the industry and the changes they are making?Purpose: The purpose of this research is to gain new perspective and a better understanding of relationship between consumers, companies and legal instruments in relation to nutrition and health claim labelling of food products. Method: The nature of this multi-disciplinary research has led to the study of all three areas, business administration (containing consumer behaviour) and business law, which are contained in this paper.

The media industry, and especially the news, in Sweden is living in a dark world that seems to get even darker by the minute. According to Nordicom (2013) the number of readers in the ages 15-24 has dropped by 24 percentage points between 2007 and 2012. This is a big problem for the news industry, but also for democracy that require citizens that are well-read and know what is going on in society. Enda and Mitchel (2013) found that 65% of people in the USA have stopped reading a certain news source since it no longer fits their needs. Maybe with a better understanding for young adults needs this trend can change.This qualitative study was conducted using interviews with eight respondents to find out why young adults who study at a university consume news.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine how to build a personal brand and how to use this brand. The method used was a case study with personal interviews. The persons who were interviewed was Jan Carlzon and Peter Wallenberg Jr, two of the most important persons in the Swedish business industry. The study has shown that the person as a brand creates benefits and can gain opportunities if used in the right way..

The purpose of this thesis is to examine and analyze the characteristics of the management control system private equity firms use to manage their portfolio companies. The thesis takes a share holder value perspective, and it is assumed that the goal of the management control system is to increase the shareholder value in the portfolio company. In a qualitative study two private equity firms and two portfolio companies, one for each private equity firm, were studied in detail. In total, nine in debt interviews were completed. The results from this study suggest that the characteristics of the control system are dependent on the surrounding context; the focus on shareholder value and the specific characteristics of the private equity industry shape the characteristics of the management control system.

Most of today?s concrete structures that are built on site are mainly constructed in a traditional fashion with a lot of artisanal operations. One step towards industrializing the in-situ construction of concrete is to use prefabricated reinforcement. Through this method there can be a lot of savings when each bar doesn?t have to be placed and fixed separately on site.