Many design agencies and designers like to see design as a longtime strategic investment for any company. However, knowledge of design as a strategic resource depends on ones professional background and ones knowledge of design as such. It is common today that clients meet design agencies and therefore design with a certain skepticism concerning its role in the company. Within the prodctdevelopment-process the company?s different functions meet.

In year 2009, a new housing form (here referred to as "owned apartments", in Swedish called "ägarlägenheter") was introduced in Sweden. Owned apartments are in many countries the dominating form of housing tenure, but in Stockholm, to where this thesis is delimited, only four have been established in four years. There are many possible reasons for this low establishment, but the thesis writers believe the main reason to be that the owned apartment is situated in an organizational gap. With the hypothesis that the owned apartment is situated in an organizational gap and that there are opportunities to overcome this gap through interorganizational collaboration of the players on the market, this thesis strives towards examining if this is the case.By using Burt's theory of structural holes the concept of organizational Gaps are elaborated to fit this context, since this area is previously unexplored.The data has mainly been gathered through in-depth interviews but also through secondary sources such as previous theses and newspaper articles. It has appeared that the majority of the central players are characterized by conservatism.

The hillforts of Bohusl?n are numerous, yet few have been studied, leaving Gaps in our understanding of their dating, morphology, and connections to nearby prehistoric sites. With the help of settlement archaeology, the aim of this study has been to analyse three hillforts on Hisingen and answer these questions. This was done by observing the location and morphology of the hillforts and by analysing the age and functions of nearby prehistoric sites within a kilometer of the hillforts. The results indicate that Bj?rlanda 22:1 and Torslanda 56:1 were likely ritualistic enclosures, while Torslanda 15:1 had defensive functions.

Österbyverken is an industrial estate in Östhammars municipality in Uppland, Sweden. Many different activities have taken place on the estate the last 600 years. During the last 15 years both health and environmental studies have been made by different companies. At the most recent study a great increase of metals in Nerån, a river that runs partly through and partly next to the estate, was identified with mass balances. The purpose of this thesis is to accomplish a deepened study about the reasons for the increase of metals in Nerån.

This thesis is about how the library can help immigrants integrate into theswedish society. By studying leading documents of the libraries in Malmö,Stockholm and Umeå in search for how the relate to work consideringimmigrants and integration I have studied the library as a bridge betweenbeing included and excluded in the society. The thought is that the libraryopens the door to new worlds both for immigrants and born swedes toobtain knowledge about a culture different from their own.In my thesis I reached the conclusion that library on a day to day basisworks with the integrationprocess for immigrants. Although the leadingdocuments should evolve since they show Gaps and seem somewhatmisguiding in their presentation of the libraries function. The librariesshould work more with analysis of the environment that they are active in sothat they are more individualized for the people around it.

Without being aware of it, cognitive processes continuously take place in our heads. We are forced to fill in the information Gaps that we meet in our everyday life in order to create an understanding and to form a whole, and that?s where the importance of inference comes in. To create inference implies creating meaning from something that is not explicitly given. Having knowledge about this process offers great possibilities, while not taking it into account may involve risks.

It has been found that customers in the home market perceive the retailer?s store image more positively than customers in the host market, even though this study has found that theretailer?s store image is generally perceived very positively by customers in both examined markets. In addition, this thesis has found that there is a significant difference in how IKEA?smanagement and customers perceive its store image. It can also be concluded that IKEA management perceived store image more positively than customers.

With an IT outsourcing project there are many factors affecting how efficiency andquality develop in the outsourced activity. The Purpose of this study is to identifythese factors through a case study in a global company that is dissatisfied with theefficiency and quality of their outsourced helpdesk. For data collection methodsinterviews and observations were used. Interviews were conducted with people fromdifferent parts of the company in three different countries, all somehow involved inthe outsourced system. The observations were made with the outsourced company tosee how the employees work and fill information Gaps that the interviews could notcover.

HIV/AIDS is a chronic disease that has increased and will continue to increase. Most health care workers will one way or another come into contact with it. The purpose of this literature review was to describe factors contributing to nurses' attitudes towards patients with HIV/AIDS. Sixteen articles were analyzed and quality assessed. The results revealed Gaps in knowledge among nurses.

This thesis builds on the core problem: What Factors Affect IT-related Group Communicationwithin Oragnizations? With sub-questions: How does the daily communication in the workplacepresent itself? How can the individual affect communication? The purpose of this paper is toinvestigate which factors influence group communication positively and negatively, andhow communication affects the daily work in an organization. For this study, the fourinterviewees, from four different organizations, have been selected to participate in astructured interview conducted with the help of an interview guide. To analyse thequalitative data derived from interviews, a method of creating patterns and themes wasused. This is presented by selected quotations from the interviews in order to provide aricher depiction of the collected data.The result could indicate large Gaps in both formal and informal communication, whereemail turned out to be one of the biggest single problems.

The aim of this essay is to examine which of the two approaches within the field of conflicts that best explains the conflict between Georgia and Russia using negotiations, dialogue and conciliation. According to the first approach negotiations are used to handle a conflict, according to the second approach negotiations are used to solve a problem.  The focus will be on how the two states acted and how the dialogue from the European Union as a conciliator was brought before the war escalated in 2008. The EU is today an important actor within the international politics and has established close relations to the two states. The conflict goes back in history and is still not solved. In the fields of international studies, there is a realistic view that claims the international politics to be shaped by suspicions between states as main actors. War is never far away, what is claimed to be solved through diplomacy.

The aim of this thesis is to study different aspects of the public libraries' investment in public access computers connected to the Internet. What level of accessibility can be found at the surveyed libraries concerning the number of computers open to the public, as well as chat and email services? What activities have been taking place with the computers in focus, and what have the goals of these activities been? Is there any control of content, and what aspects of the Internet are, if that is the case, subject to censorship. And how do the governmental policies relate to the surveyed libraries' intentions and activities regarding the Internet? In order to answer these questions, each main library in the 42 largest towns of Sweden was surveyed response rate: 100 %.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate what consequences the discussed Balken-case have had with regards to freeze-out prices decisions for cash bids. In order to evaluate this, a comparison with a previous study is made. Last but not least, the aim is also to see what kind of arguments the minority successfully can make use of in order to reach a higher freeze-out price nowadays. Underlying the results is basically an empirical survey based on arbitrations disclosing the tendencies after the Balken-case compared to before. The empirical investigation shows that practice has become more clear and uniform after the settlement of the Balken-case where a movement from theoretical values towards market prices is recommended.

The purpose of this paper is to fill the Gaps in current research on trade shows. The business-to-consumer aspect has been greatly ignored by academic theorists. We are aiming to make an exploratory study into during-show promotion practices. We will also create a continuation of the Hansen (1999) framework. In order to analyze "during-show promotion" two business-to-consumer trade shows; the ITB in Berlin and EuroHorse in Göteborg were visited.

This report is the final step in the Bachelor of Science program in Building Construction Engineering, Department of Engineering Sciences, Uppsala University.The purpose of this study is to highlight the difficulties and possibilities that could involve the introduction of new energy efficient technologies and changing work around this technology. This study focuses on energy use at a construction site or other temporary workplace where so-called portacabins are in place to address the need for temporary facilities.The method for obtaining knowledge on the subject was mainly interviews with site managers working in Svevia AB's various activities. In conjunction with the interviews I visited construction sites and portacabins if it was possible.My most important suggestion to Svevia AB concerns a better organization in order to make poratacabins more efficient on energy and costs. The company should also evaluate and monitor the energy efficient portacabins that are in operation.Expected energy savings of new technology may not materialize if there are Gaps in information, education, technical services and technical maintenance. It is very important to utilize the experiences of new technology.