This essay concerns the fantastic and its position in narration. The fantastic's defintion is based on Martin Horstkotte's defintion in The Postmodern Fantastic and the essay focuses on the noncontextual aspects such as the clash between two incompatible fictional worlds and the absence created. Instead of the ordinary identification of the established fictional world with realism and our reality it is suggested that both of the colliding fictional worlds are fictive and that the established one not necessarily need to be realistic. Exampels on how the fantastic takes place on the syntagmatic level in a narration is drawn from the short story ?Samvetets fantasi? by Clas Livijn when analysed with Peter Brooks' closurebased narratology theory in Reading for the Plot.

AbstractThis study is about describing the pre- internationalization phase and to studycompanies that are in this phase. We are trying to capture characteristics of decisionmakersin the pre- internationalization phase, to then compare the theoretical materialwith empirical material from case companies. Then in the final stages of the thesis, wewant to account for if we managed to answer our research questions. In the method, wegive a description of the approach selected in conjunction with the study. The study isqualitative and we used both primary and secondary data, with a deductive approach.The theory chapter will consider the most relevant theories that are related to the topic,which is internationalization, pre-internationalization, international entrepreneurship,and the psychology behind personalities, attitudes, and how these can affect theorganization's strategic decisions.

Groups that are often referred to as being dismissed in society in general is by some aspects also considered being so in political arenas. A recent compilation of existing research over structurally based objections of gaining power and positions within Swedish parliamentary politics highlight a lack of research considering whether sexual orientation could be such a discriminatory basis. Using a queer theoretical approach, and drawing on concepts such as heteronormativity and homophobia, the principal aim of this essay is to illuminate aspects of local parliamentary political areas where discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation become relevant. In order to do so six in-depth interviews with homosexual politicians have been conducted. Finding a queer potential in certain ideological parliamentary political environments that enable homosexual politicians to be open about their sexual orientation, it still relies upon the individual to be confident enough not to interpret the political context as homophobic and heteronormative..

This study investigates the corporate sustainability activity, linked to the company's core business, which is a relatively unexplored field in a Swedish context. The study examines how the organization has used management control for its sustainability activity within two social initiatives; and whether these initiatives have generated value for the organization and involved stakeholders. Management control of social initiatives are examined within the theoretical framework of The Sustainable Balanced Scorecard and the organization's value creation contributions are outlined in accordance with a definition of the concept of Creating Shared Value. The method used for the implementation of the study is a qualitative study, embodied in an illustrative case study of a large Swedish company operating within financial sector. The empirical data was collected through 12 in-depth interviews with representative interviewees within the organization and with other stakeholders involved in the company's social initiatives.

In this essay I examine how a municipal- and an independent upper secondary school compare to the ideal types the Company and the Political organization and how that affects the school practise as it?s described in policy documents. The conclusions are that the municipal school on a number of variables correlate to the ideal type the Political organization. At the same time the school reforms of the 1990s are considered as an intention to ?companylize? the municipal school and a number of tendencies how that have affected the municipal school are shown.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate and increase the understanding of a present function of today´s public library, namely the function of meeting place; here called the social function or social space. Two small town libraries are included in the study, and the questions examined are:How is this function described at the two libraries and what similarities and differences are there between the two? How can one describe the relation between how the library as social space is described in research and at the libraries? The theoretical framework used in examining these questions, consists of three different discourses in culture policy (the discourse of state, market and civil society) and theories on civil society and the public library. A summary of current research makes visible eight different aspects of the public library as a social space. These aspects functions as parts of the theoretical framework as well.

Place is on the one hand a commonsense everyday word with diversely connotative meanings, and on the other a contested concept with different interpretations across a broad range of academic disciplines and discourses. This thesis researches theories of place and their implications for the theory and design practice of landscape architecture. Responding to problems of insufficient theoretical grounding and inconsistent use of the concept of place within the discipline presently, it argues the need for a theory of place better articulated in relation to landscape architecture. It seeks to contribute to such theory formation by drawing on ideas from related disciplines ? tracing diverse understandings of place beyond the commonsense meanings of the word and into the deeper reaches of place theory as tools to explain physical, social and spiritual aspects of the environment, and human relationships with it.

The purpose of this research was to examine the current field of management in non-profit organizations, mainly focusing on managerial approaches, but also the impact of organizational size on the shaping of governance. Non-profits are widely discussed in contemporary research, particularly due to the increasing external pressure on voluntary organization to professionalize the way they work in line with standards in the private sector. Due to this our thesis aims to investigate whether professional, bureaucratic approaches are useful when governing a non-profit organization, or if social structures are enough to ensure goal congruence and efficiency. To conduct this research qualitative interviews were carried out and a case- study was made, using the Swedish Karate Federation as object of study. Results show that formal and more professional structures are useable to achieve efficiency and prevent inertia within the organization.

A big part of assets in companies today consists of their employees knowledge and skills. In today?s society knowledge insensitive companies are increasing. The survival of these companies lie in the knowledge of their employees, which make it of great importance that knowledge transfer is managed properly. Knowledge transfer is important since it makes it possible for co-workers to apply old solutions to new problems that arise, using knowledge that already existing within the organization.

This study is an examination of how conditions for formal and informal music education look like in two townships in South Africa. The purpose of this examination based on different actors' experiences is to find out whether the children in South Africa receive some form of music education and if so, how they think it can help the children in the surveyed areas. The information was gathered both through qualitative, semi-structured interviews with a music teacher, music therapist, creative music facilitator, students, and people who have worked for Sida and partly through unstructured observations. The results show that children in the surveyed townships do not receive any formal music education through the school but they sometimes can get music education through a NGO project (Non Government Organization) which usually runs by an enthusiast and is funded by various aid agencies. My examination also showed that for the children in the surveyed areas music education can be an alternative from being on the streets, giving a positive group experience, the ability to express themselves, fend off young people from drugs and criminality and bring together various grouping.

This essay covers computer gaming as seen from a perspective of gender theory. The main purpose of the essay is to examine women?s relationship to computer games, and more specifically women?s attitudes to the games they play. The theoretical basis for this essay is sprung from a hermeneutic perspective. The empirical basis for analysis consists of two in depth interviews and game analysis of the two computer games Counter Strike and Final Fantasy XI.

Globalization has among other tendencies led to the emergence of new ways of doing business. One of the ways for organizations to meet the demands of a new competitive landscape has been through management accounting change, a field which has become increasingly popular in research. This paper builds on that research and seeks to investigate the case of the implementation of a new management accounting system in a Swedish company which was triggered by strategic change. Commonality through the interactive approach is by some researchers seen as a key to successful change. This approach is contrasted to the importance of symbolic constructs and change recipients? cognitive effort to understand the meaning of change for which Framing theory is applied.

The purpose with the paper is to theoretically investigate how sensory experience and positive affect in contact with outdoor environment can promote health by 1) develop a model of the sensory and emotional processes based on multiple code theory (Bucci, 1997) and 2) examine if this model can increase understanding of the processes that takes place in outdoor recreation, the way this is described in environmental psychology research and theory. The paper starts by introducing research and perspectives concerning outdoor recreation. Different theories of nature?s health promoting effects are described. These include the restoration theories of Roger Ulrich and Steven and Rachel Kaplan, theories more concerned with outdoor activities and a theory combining these two perspectives called instorative theory. After this sensory and emotional information processing is examined through the works of Wilma Bucci and Jean Ayres. Antionio Damasio?s theories of emotion and Daniel Stern?s concept of vitalityaffects are than introduced to extend this reasoning.

In this essay I?m asking if the Scandinavian countries Sweden, Denmark and Norway use a third world perspective on gender equality in their development aid politics. A third world perspective on gender equality is a perspective that considers the special experiences and priorities of women in the third world. My point of view is that third world perspectives represent women in the third world better than western perspectives.To determine if the countries uses a third world perspective on gender equality or not I have examined the countries aid policies with a third world theory. The material that I have used is policy documents on gender equality from the three countries and my method is discourse analysis.My study shows that Sweden Denmark and Norway uses a third world perspective on gender equality to a certain extent.

Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) is not a completely new phenomenon, yet an idea whose time has truly come. To have commercial organizations cooperate with charity organizations for mutual profit is a "win-win-win" situation. The company gets added value to its brand, the charity organization gets to collect more money that it otherwise wouldn't and the customer gains a feeling that he or she has contributed to the society.The purpose of this thesis is to study how a company, in practice, works with CRM marketing. How do they choose which charity organization to work with,what type of product is most appropriate to market with CRM and how is the CRM campaign designed? A theoretical model is then formed to answer these questions, after a thorough research of relevant theory on the subject.