AbstractTitle: Strategic Communication within franchising, a case study of GallerixNumber of pages: 60 (65 with enclosures)Author: Charlotta Babington ThorszeliusCourse: Media and Communication DPeriod: Spring 2008University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University, SwedenPurpose/Aim: To find out, by doing a case study, how communication between the two parties in a franchising relationship works, and how communication can strengthen the concept and brand. By analysing the communication, identify strengths and weaknesses and make suggestions for improvement.Material/Method: Qualitative method by using interviewsMain results: The understanding of the concept and the relationship between franchiser and franchisees are vital for the success of the franchising chain. The main internal communication channel today is the Intranet, and more personal contacts and meetings are requested. The yearly meetings are appreciated by the franchisees, but the content of the meetings are of varied quality. The chains value words, which are important for how the brand is perceived by the customer, are slightly different from how the franchiser and the franchisees sees them.

By identifying effects that a buyout-firm has on management control systems in its portfolio companies, the aim of this thesis is to explain how such effects differs between the companies and finally to explain why the effects differs even though the companies are owned by the same buyout-firm. The study is conducted as a qualitative case study based on interviews with representatives from the studied buyout-firm and three of its portfolio companies.By analyzing the empirical findings with frameworks and theories within management control systems and value creation, we cannot only identify effects that are common for all portfolio companies but we can also observe differences between the portfolio companies.The identified effects that are common for all portfolio companies are: increased internal reporting burden, increased perceived risk of getting laid off among managers and co-workers and replacement of the board immediately after acquisition.The effects that are observed only for two portfolio companies are: increased focus on short-term planning, higher financial targets, replacement of company management upon acquisition and moving of decision authorities to higher organizational levels. Differences are observed although the portfolio companies are owned by the same buyout-firm due to: differences in management and co-workers equity stake in the portfolio companies, differences in business complexity and differences in planned exit-horizon..

Intresset i denna studie låg i huruvida organisationsstruktur påverkar den interna kommunikationen. Studien utfördes i samarbete med Region Halland. Avgränsningen gjordes till HR-verksamheten centralt, personalchefer och förvaltningschefer, där syftet med undersökningen var att beskriva och analysera upplevelsen av kommunikationen däremellan. Alla organisationer behöver kommunikation för att existera, det är kommunikation som utgör grunden och framgången för en organisation (Falkheimer & Heide, 2007 15-33). Genom kvalitativa samtalsintervjuer och inläsning på teorier om kommunikation besvarades nedanstående frågeställningar: Hur sker kommunikationen mellan HR-verksamheten centralt, personalcheferna och förvaltningscheferna?Hur påverkar organisationsstrukturen kommunikationen och hur upplever medarbetarna att organisationsstrukturen påverkar kommunikationen?Går det att identifiera eventuella kommunikationsproblem och i så fall vilka?Vad upplevs som effektiv kommunikation och vad upplevs fungera bra idag?Vem upplevs ha ansvar för att information skall nå fram till den eller de som är tänkt? Resultatet visade bland annat en upplevd otydlighet gällande information, svårighet med samordning, problematik kring förvaltningarnas storlek samt resurser på varje enskild enhet och svårighet att se organisationen ur ett helhetsperspektiv..

HemoCue AB is a multinational corporation targeted on manufacturing point-of-care analysisinstruments for medical treatment. Their main product, the DM 201, is outdated and has bigissues gaining new market shares. For example, no medical treatment center in Sweden usesDM 201 frequently. The project of developing a new instrument to replace it was assignedtwo students at the development engineering program at Halmstad University. The projectalso included integration of the new platform for DM 202 to HemoCue AB:s remainingproducts.The project began by defining the different technical areas concerned.

This thesis work is the last part of the Master of Science education inmechanical engineering at KTH, Stockholm.The aim of this project was the development of a Multi-zone modelfor NOxformation in Diesel engines. Because of the stringent emissionlegislations, great effort is made to decrease the fuel consumption and theharmful emissions of internal combustion engines. Computer simulationsplay a decisive role in this context because they substitute the expensiveand time-consuming laboratory tests.The model is based on a multi-zone approach and uses the wellknownExtended Zeldovich Mechanism which gives a relation to calculatethe NO formation rate using the concentration of different gas speciesinvolved in the process.All the most important phenomena involved in the Diesel combustionhave been modelled. A special attention is then paid to the equilibriumconcentration calculation; this is a significant part of the model whichstrongly influences the following steps.A Simulink model has also been developed. This second version isbased on the previous model and it is made especially to allow theconnection with other external softwares, GT-power in this case.

In classic academic social studies of East Europe, terms as Communism and Post-Communism are commonly used to describe the main characteristics of this geographically imagined area. This paper makes a not so frequently seen attempt to apply Post Colonial Theory for the same field. With start point in Post Colonial theoretical writers, the author wants to find a East European Post Colonial version for the internal Europe which will supply tools for a discourse analysis of the European mind map divided into West and East. The material consists of interviews with three Swedish and three Czech officials, all working with European politics in their country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The analysis is carried out with inspiration of Ernesto Laclaus and Chantal Mouffes Discourse theory.

Since Brand Management and Marketing in theory mainly been focusing on the consumer market, our main purpose of this essay is to analyze how a brand also can be appealing to the labour market, to attract and engage employees. Keywords attached to our essay are, brands, recruitment, Human Resource management, theories of motivation, corporate identity, employer branding and internal marketing. The study is based on a qualitative research. Our main reason for choosing this research was to get a closer insight for the phenomen and to establish a major understanding for the subject. To get a better knowledge and to answer and fulfil our purpose we have chosen to complete eight interviews, of whom six respondents representing Service firms.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine how the introducing of municipal library plans has influenced some compulsory schools in Malmö. I wanted to know if the library plan is a possible way to improve the quality of the school library. Through qualitative interviews with four school librarians and four headmasters, I investigate their knowledge of the library plan and their opinion of the possibilities to realize the directions of the plan. The theoretical framework is based on a model of organizational culture by Bakka, Fivelsdal and Lindkvist.

The web sites of Swedish public libraries display a high level of heterogeneity when it comes to design and graphical user interface. The thesis is based on the opinion that the visuals of a public library web site have implications for the user as well as for the library. The design of the graphical user interface influences the attention of the user and his/her ability to absorb information. Furthermore, there is a connection between the visuals and the users opinion about the credibility of the content of the web site, as well as of the organisation itself. The research question is: Which factors may have an impact on the design of the graphical user interfaces of a public library web site? The purpose is to create an understanding for these factors and emphasize them.

The use of subscription services directed towards customers has become a common phenomenon in a vast number of different industries. We have noticed a clear trend of new businesses emerging solely offering subscriptions, and existing companies altering sales of their products to become parts of subscriptions. But research has not caught up with this trend yet, especially regarding why it occurs and how it affects existing businesses internally. The purpose of this study is to examine the driving forces for change and examine how existing businesses have to change parts of their business models to offer subscription services. The premise of this study has been Vargo & Luschs (2004) Service Dominant Logic with their foundational premises and Business Model Canvas by Osterwalder et.

I have in my thesis performed a survey that builds on interviews of five former students at Mediepedagogiskt Center (Mpc) that is located at Sundsta-Älvkullegymnasiet in Karlstad which is incorporated into Karlstads-Hammarö comprehensive upper secondary school. The sample group of students all has various withdrawal years between 1997 - 2004. The aim of the survey is to evaluate any direct qualities that these students have had that helped them to get a occupation within the media industry after the completion of their education at Mpc. This survey also tries to evaluate whether the orientation of their particular style of education is a factor for achieving employment. Before 1998 the course was divided into three A and B-level courses within the directions, photography, graphic design, text communication, sound production and film/television. After 1998 these are now divided into one A, B and C level courses, and one another level courses on A and B-level. The result shows that something more than? just? a good schooling with high grades is needed to succeed into getting a occupation within the media sector.

Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) is the definition for using BIM in the construction process to simulate and analyse the building. Resulting use of the technology will according to proponents lead to fewer construction errors, a better understanding between stakeholders for the construction project, less communication problems and a smoother construction process. Although BIM has according to researchers a big potential, few companies have succeeded in broad and continues implementation. The study aims to identify the factors affecting the implementation. More precisely identify what factors influencing the decision to adopt VDC and potential barriers in the diffusion process. The empirical findings are based on a case study of NCC Construction Sweden.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine librarians opinions about media. Four questions are asked: What kind of different attitudes to new media has librarians had? How is new media discussed in relationship to each other in the debate? What mechanisms and underlying causes control the discourse for new media in public libraries? Does the discourse change over time, in that case, how? The theoretical background is theory about moral- and media panic and popular adult education. The media panic theory includes the idea that the same reaction occurs every time a new media is introduced. The theory about popular adult education is that the public need to be cultivated.

The health care sector is one of the most information-intensive institutions in Sweden. Big investments in information technology have been made to ensure efficiency and quality within organisations in health care. This has led to high requirements in documentation and resulted in an increase in administration which gradually more often is done by nurses and doctors. A major problem is that it is difficult to gain access to the information recorded in all the different systems, which is their objective. This causes double documentation instead of being a support in follow-up performance.

Sponsring är ett utbyte och en marknadsföringsmetod som används av allt fler organisationer.Med syftet att påverka personalen i en organisation är sponsring en relativt oanvänd metod förmarknadsföring. Trots detta så påverkar sponsring personalen oavsett organisationensmålsättning med sponsring. Syftet med studien är att utvärdera om sponsring fungerar som ettverktyg för motivation i en specifik organisation, sedan utvärderas hur sponsring bidrar tillmotivation.För att besvara syftet genomfördes en kvantitativ studie i form av en enkätundersökning.Denna genomfördes hos vårt studieobjekt Länsförsäkringar i Gävleborg. Analysen av deninsamlade datan har genomförts med stöd av den teoretiska referensramen.Resultatet av studien visar att sponsring kan användas till att motivera personalen påLänsförsäkringar. Dock så är organisationens nuvarande sponsring något som inte tydligtmotiverar personalen.