Efforts to achieve a moisture proof construction process have proved to be considerably complicated, despite the knowledge and awareness that now exists within the moisture field. Materials, documents, templates and checklists are designed to be accessed but are not used anyway. This may be because such effort has not been prioritized and properly requirements have not existed from the commissioner of a building.This report illustrates how the commissioner of a building project can achieve a moisture proof building process by increasing knowledge, moisture proof planning, and implementation of security moisture routines. Proposals are given on how the commissioner of a building project can work to consistently bring a moisture proof building process in all stages. The difficulty with regular moisture proof efforts, the authors believe is mainly due to the following points:      Many different design solutions.      Lack of experience feedback.      Lack of communication.      Financial incentives.      Attitudes.The interviews in the report have conducted with the help of a qualitative analysis, while the survey has been done using a quantitative analytical method.

Lean Product Development is a knowledge-based business concept in order to maintain high quality, meetcustomer requirements and to make product development more efficient. An important part of the processis to add a lot of resources at an early stage and execute the development as an iterative process betweendepartments exploring many alternatives thoroughly. The work focuses on how Lean ProductDevelopment is carried out and explores how to manage interaction between different departments andexpertise with regard to cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing i.e. learning.The information for the studies was gathered at a major Swedish company from two projects. The projectswere carried out as cross-functional and possible key factors for cross-functional collaboration wasidentified.The results have been correlated with theories of Lean, Product development, Lean product developmentand Learning.

This master of science thesis intends to examine how the established innovation theoriesinteracts with the social and cultural phenomena arising from the reduction in communicationcosts as a result of the development of the internet.The aim is to present a knowledge inventory of attitudes to and experiences of an openapproach, with emphasis on collaborative innovation, in product and service developmentdriven companies in different fields. The studied theories and the empirical results forms thebasis for an analysis of how companies can benefit from the diversified knowledge that existsoutside their borders as well as an exploration of the potential for this kind of knowledgeexchange to act as a catalyst for innovation.The theoretical part of the study is based essentially on two tracks: (1) innovation theories witha focus onopen innovation and user innovation, and (2) a broad review of how theories ofdiversified knowledgeand collective intelligence has become possible to apply in an innovationcontext. The empirical part of the study is based on material obtained from semi-structuredinterviews with respondents from six companies.The results show that companies have implemented unstructured innovation initiatives withoutany formal links to the structured product development processes, which are part of thecompanies core activities. The main conclusions include the following insights: There is a needfor structured links between the unstructured initiatives and the core activities, which makes itpossible to take promising ideas to market. The companies also have to lose some control of theunstructured initiatives; consequently it is impossible to pinpoint what the outcome will be.

The hotel sector has reviewed big changes, as higher requirements on independent hotels have been set. In order to be able to compete with big hotel chains, it is no longer sufficient to only use the 4P of marketing mix, it is also required a bigger focus on the personnel. Trained and service aimed employees are service companies' intangible assets and they become more important. Globalisation and internationalisation has however contributed to that the labor market has become more open, and employees easier can compare employment conditions or change job.The aim of this essay is to analyze and to evaluate conditions for the internal marketing at independent hotels, in order to be able to achieve employee loyalty. The essay builds on a comparison between managers' and employees' views about internal marketing.A qualitative hermeneutical study has been used in order to be able to analyze and evaluate conditions for the independent hotels' internal marketing.

ERP system is the information technology that has had the biggest impact in companies? development and way of working in today?s world. ERP system is divided in several applications with a modular software design that allow people in every department in a company to store and retrieve information accurately and in real-time. This master thesis investigates attitudes toward ERP systems among business organisations and ERP suppliers with the overall purpose of analysing to which extent a new ERP system will bring change in the business process. The purpose of this thesis is to make a survey of attitudes toward ERP systems among business organisations and ERP suppliers.

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 purpose of this thesis is to look into the knowledge city concept and the preferences and requirements of companies on such a city. Furthermore, suggestions of ideal conditions in a knowledge city are proposed. The thesis has been conducted through a qualitative approach where a deductive procedure has been implemented. In order to examine knowledge cities, Barcelona has sketchily been looked at as an early example of a knowledge city, whereas a more exhaustive observation of Copenhagen was conducted. Since the concept of knowledge cities is a rather new phenomenon, models from several disciplines constitute the theoretical framework.

The number of students in the program for pupils with intellectual disabilities has drastically increased over the last decades. Most of those pupils, but far from all, are attending special classes. Today approximately 22 % are attending classes in compulsory school. The purpose of this paper is, from a social psychological perspective, to increase the knowledge and understanding of how pupils with intellectual disabilities, partly or fully attending the compulsory main-stream school, experience their school-days. This paper is composed of two case studies for which the empiric material has been collected through interviews and observations.

Recent years there has been discussed how the critical situation in the housing market threatens the Stockholm region's growth. The thesis objective is to examine whether there is a scientific link between the lack of housing supply and growth. The thesis also intends to identify solutions for increased housing construction, for instance by examining the conditions for a greater regional perspective and influence on the region's housing supply. The thesis empirical study is based on semi-structured interviews with representatives from the Government, municipalities and the housing industry.In Sweden, research on the relationship between housing shortages and growth has not been conducted to that extent it can be said to exist scientific evidence regarding the growth threat. However, in Britain and the U.S, empirical studies show that a lack of housing supply has hindered growth through negative impact on countries' gross domestic product.

The Swedish government?s objective regarding information technology is to be world-leading in using the possibilities that digitization provides. In some aspects this has already been done, but in some areas much is yet to be accomplished. Although sports and recreational fitness activities are amongst the fastest growing areas of personal and consumer-oriented cloud computing-based technologies around the globe, there are areas within the genre that?s not evolving as quickly.

The global financial crisis hit hard on banking operations worldwide and the sector fell under considerable scrutiny, with particular criticism directed against the banks' own trading practices. A bank owned by the Swedish financial corporation HQ seemed to go without serious financial damage duringthe crisis.In 2008 Finansinspektionen began a review of HQ's activities and a number of shortcomings were identified. Among other things, HQ's risk management was questioned by Finansinspektionen and further how this potentially affected the valuation of complex financial products.In our paper we have chosen to highlight both national and international laws and guidelines that HQ used for their operations and study if HQ followed those laws and guidelines. We also want topresent the theoretical model used by HQ for the valuation of its European options and how HQ calculated their capital requirements ratio. Our purpose is to show how the valuation affected the capitalrequirement ratio and whether HQ followed the necessary laws and guidelines for the valuation of complex financial products.We have chosen to carry out a case study from a deductive approach.

For hundreds of years the scientific journals has been the foremost tool for scholarly communication. Publishing of research results is very important for scientists. Often the research is bound to the university and the research libraries supplies the scientist with all journals needed. The last decades the libraries have seen the costs for subscriptions to journals explode. Commercial publishers often lie behind the mostly unmotivated escalation in price.

The ability for companies to anticipate the future and stay in the forefront of the competition is essential for successful business. The tool of Environmental Scanning is basics in the process of developing prescriptive strategies as well as vital in evolving emergent strategies. The complexity lies in gathering relevant information and transforming the information into adequate data, which can be utilised by management to optimise strategies. The purpose of this study is to scrutinise how successfully operating Swedish manufacturing companies, listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange?s ?Large Cap?-list, organise their Environmental Scanning actions and how this affects the development of strategies. Prior research on the subject has been used as foundation to presenting relevant theories.

The Swedish immigration policy is a subject constantly under scrutiny, especially in the media. The Dublin treaty, which came into effect in 2003, has meant stricter regulations for the handling of asylum seekers, which in turn increases the requirements of the officials at the Swedish Migration Board. Consequently, the staff at the Swedish Migration Board is daily facing difficulties when deciding who is to stay or not. Therefore, it is interesting to investigate how these criteria in the Dublin Treaty, are used in the daily work of the officials. Emphasizing these problematic aspects of the Dublin Treaty, this study aims to answer the following two questions:- How has the Dublin Treaty been implemented in Swedish legislation by the officials at the Swedish Migration Board?- How do these officials work to implement this treaty?This case study is based on interviews with a number of officials working at the Swedish Migration Board.

This thesis is performed as a case study in Västerbotten Museum's textile storage space. The intention with this study is to investigate the relationships between the museum?s tasks: to collect, preserve and make the collections accessible. The aim is to reveal the problems that exist in museums today with increasing collections, less resources for the preservation of the collections and increasing requirements on accessibility. The aim is to deduce the problem by finding out how the different tasks relate to one another today.