During the last years, the importance of sourcing in firms has increased. Globalization, fierce competition and an increased level of outsourcing are common explanations to why firms have highlighted the potential to realize savings and the value creation that the Purchasing department can generate. One trend that follows in parallel with globalization is an increased pressure from society on firms to take responsibility for the impact that its products and services have on the environment. This responsibility creates even more attention as outsourcing involves trade with suppliers in low wage countries, where the level of environmental and social responsibility is not always satisfying. The Purchasing department, the firm?s interface with suppliers should therefore, together with the firm?s Environmental department, play a key role in the firm?s contribution towards sustainable development.

Abstrakt Titel: SäljstödNivå: KandidatuppsatsFörfattare: Fredrik Palmé och Niclas ÖstlinHandledare: Jens Eklinder Frick och Jonas MolinDatum: 2015 - januari Syfte: Tidigare forskning har visat att det finns lite eller ingen interaktion mellan säljstödsstrukturerna Self-Support, Core-Team Support och External-Support. Syftet med denna studie är därför att öka vår förståelse kring säljstödsstrukturer och se om det finns ett samspel mellan dem och om de kan kombineras, samt öka förståelsen för de fyra underliggande dimensionernas (workload, complexity, prequalification och customization) påverkan på valet av säljstöd.Metod: Studien är designad som en fallstudie med en kvalitativ ansats och ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv. Den teoretiska referensramen samlades in med hjälp av deduktion och det empiriska materialet samlades in genom semi-konstruerade intervjuer. Resultat och slutsats: Studien indikerar att det finns ett konstant samspel mellan de tre olika säljstödsstrukturerna. Valet av säljstöd beror  på säljarens upplevelser av de fyra dimensionerna och Self-Support, Core-team support och External-support är ofta kombinerade för att erbjuda det mest lämpliga stödet vid rätt tidpunkt. Förslag till vidare forskning: Eftersom ett av företagen var under omstrukturering och led av viss personalbrist, finns det möjligtvis en skillnad i appliceringen av säljstöd i ett företag som har lämplig mängd personal. Det vore även intressant att se vilken påverkan kommunikationen i ett mer centraliserat företag hade haft på valet av säljstöd. Uppsatsen bidrag: Studiens bidrag är den ökade förståelsen kring samspelet mellan olika säljstödsstrukturer.

AbstractThis study deals with motivation as an overall concept, from a student perspective. It encompasses factors that could directly affect students and their positive or negative motivation, concepts such as relationships, communication, expectations and interactions and their importance to my informants.The study also discusses certain theories to show the different ways of defining motivation, specifically in relation to my informants and their and my conclusions. My ambition is to establish the importance of the concepts mentioned above, as well as perspective changes to the enhancement of the performance standards of a good teacher.The purpose of this work is to describe, understand and clarify the external and internal factors that affect motivation. In order to achieve this purpose, I chose to use a method of qualitative interviews with three students, with different backgrounds, schools and conditions but with a lack of motivation as a unifying characteristic. The research questions were as follows:What factors influence students' motivation?   What impact do achievement targets have in relation to the pupils? own motivation to learn?How important are teachers' expectations for the individual student's motivation?Within this study sub-concepts such as importance of expectations, relationships, and significant others are, according to my analysis, of great importance.

Syftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka studie- och yrkesvägledarens roll i skolintroduktionen för nyanlända invandrarungdomar i gymnasieåldern. Studie- och yrkesvägledare har intervjuats i fem kommuner i Stockholms län. Utifrån ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt vill vi undersöka studie- och yrkesväledarens roll i skolverksamheten och dess ramar. Resultatet visar att studie- yrkesvägledarna upplevde att samverkan och tidsaspekten var begränsande faktorer i introduktionsarbetet. Det framkom även hur de yttre och inre ramar påverkar kommuner och skolverksamheter, vilka ses som hinder.

Why engage if it risks your life?Motives to participation in labour unions among women in ColombiaEssay in Political Science D-levelAuthor: Susanna SvenssonTutor: Hans LödénWhy do people choose to participate in politics when it is such a small chance that you actually make a change? Also political participation favours the collective and therefore you do not get any personal advantages for your contribution. Even more interesting is the question of why you participate when it puts yourself in a position of danger? Colombia is considered to be the most dangerous country to be a member of labour unions in and it would therefore be a context where it is unlikely to find participation. This study is based on thirteen qualitative interviews with Colombian female union members with the aim to understand why people engage in labour unions despite threats of violence and other obstacles, when the most likely would be to abstain from action.

This study aims to theoretically investigate the concepts of the interpersonal actions 'to motivate' and 'to manipulate' and also to examine possible differences and similarities between the two. The method used is a conceptual review based on the Self-Determination Theory, related to the concept of motivation, and Machiavellianism, related to the concept of manipu-lation. The results show that 'to motivate', according to Self-Determination Theory, concerns influencing the intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, where intrinsic motivation is related to the feeling of self-determination, inner locus of causality, being or feeling competent and exercise activities for the pleasure of it, whilst extrinsic motivation is related to external locus of cau-sality, external pressure and engaging in activities for the purpose of reaching a goal or re-ward. 'To manipulate' is according to Machiavellianism based on the manipulator doing whatever it takes to reach a certain goal and gain something for himself with no regard of what methods being used. The comparative analysis showed that the crucial difference in how an behaviour is interpreted as either, or both, motivating and manipulative is based on who is doing the interpretation, what information she has and which aspects that are focused on..

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether Karlstad City Fiber Network visual elements in the form of a pair of speech bubbles fit into the organization's holistic external communication and branding. The study examines whether Karlstad City Fiber Network image of the organization and the speech bubbles match the stakeholders view and how the visual elements are perceived and recognized by stakeholders. The theory associated with the study is theories of corporate visual identity, image, identity and branding and visual communication. These three elements are important to be aware of when a generation of an effective external communications. Qualitative interviews with employees at Karlstad City Fiber Network and Karlstad municipality has undertaken to give an idea of ??what the organization wants to achieve and what their opinions are.

AbstractTitle: Where does the news that you read in your localpaper come from? (Vilket ursprung har nyheten som du läser i din lokaltidning?)Number of pages: 45 (57 including enclosures)Author: Elin RantakokkoTutor: Göran SvenssonCourse: Media and Communication Studies 30 hpPeriod: Fall of 2007 University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University Purpose/Aim: This paper has the aim to make a systematic survey of the information source and channels that local newspapers use. How much space they get in the paper and how the newspaper works with these sources and channels. The front pages of the newspaper are going to be compared with the insides of the newspaper. The reports roles in the making of news are also examined.Material/method: To be able to answer my questions I?m going to use three different methods.

Environmental objective 17: Sustainable consumption - An attempt to integrate the global impact of the Swedish consumption with the environmental objectives system The aim of this report was to integrate the global impact of the Swedish consumption withthe environmental objectives system through presenting a suggestion for a seventeenth environmental objective ? Sustainable consumption. How the Swedish consumption pressures the global environment and methods to measure the affects was investigated. The pressure was divided into five main fields: climate, air, water, land and chemicals. The impacton humans and the biodiversity was also discussed, as well as differences between how men and women affect the environment and get affected when the environment changes.

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to investigate how value creation influences consumers´ choice of market place. We have chosen to focus on how inner city centers can compete with external shopping malls by examining what values consumers find essential in shopping areas. The development within the retail market with more external malls outside cities has resulted in impoverished city centers; therefore, new strategies towards more attractive servicescapes in the inner city are crucial. The study is based on a qualitative approach due to deeper understanding and closeness to the subject, where Kalmar city is chosen as a case. We have completed a focus group study where respondents from each target group where represented.

Over the last few years, many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the aid sector have grown and become important economic, social and political actors in Sweden. However this sector has also been hard criticized in terms of aid effectiveness. Church of Sweden (CoS), a well established organization in this sector, has faced new challenges in form of demands from their environment regarding reporting aid work. These demands have pushed the International Department of Church of Sweden into a process for adapting the structure in order to meet the new effectiveness requirements. Using both, Contingency Theory and Resource Dependence Theory as theoretical framework and a single case study as research strategy, this master thesis goes in deep into the description of the change of the structure of the International Department. This work shows how the different parts of the organization functions and what impact will these changes in the structure mean for the future of the organization. The analysis of the empirical evidence related to the theoretical framework shows that the organization responds to external demands through a more centralized structure than before.

This essay focuses on tourists' information seeking. The main focus was to examine whether there is a connection between how the informants in different tourist styles the different tourist styles are presented by Eva Wolf as the tourist of recreation, action, culture, compromise, and individualism seek information to their forthcoming vacation. The result was reached through a qualitative method, where ten informants with various tourist roles were interviewed separately. The informants were chosen by personal contacts. In addition to these interviews, three representatives from the tourist industry were contacted and interviewed by e-mail.

This thesis has identified and studied measures to allow for reduced use of electricity in a waste incineration plant in western Sweden. The energy extracted from the waste at the powerplant is utilized and sold in form of electricity and heat. Technical and environmentally the combined heat and power plant is by today's standards among the leading waste incineration plants in the world. The owners are constantly striving to improve the efficiency of the waste incineration plant. They have seen the opportunities for savings in reducing internal usage of electricity.

This thesis follows a qualitative method and aim to describe firms? international business at an emerging market seen from a network perspective. The purpose of the thesis is to study in what way business relations and networks influence the process of internationalization and describe the way in which companies handle the external network in relation to acquisitions. Further does our purpose include analyzing if a firm?s network may be the main factor for why international business occurs.

AbstractBachelor thesis in political science by Alexander Hassan, autumn 2008, ?Effects of external factors on a nations democratisation process during the transition from authoritarian to electoral democratic rule ? A categorical analysis?Supervisor: Tomas SedeliusIn recent years globalization has become a hot topic in understanding the world we live in today. Globalization has indeed had a great impact on international relations and with it a great influence on the domestic conditions that determine a nation?s possibilities. It is therefore rational to hold true that this also would apply to a nation?s democratic process.