Mapping a process enables a greater understanding of the work, and is standard to evaluate and improve a process. This thesis is conducted at Test Bed Mechanical Design at Scania in Södertälje. Test Bed Construction is a complex process, characterized by a large amount of creative work, technical challenges and coordination between different people and different organizational functions.The aim of the thesis was to identify the Test Bed Construction Process and to develop a visual model of the workflow that also served as support for the engineers in their daily work. During the mapping process, comparisons were made with previous research in lean product development to identify process improvement.A literature review on process mapping and process visualisation resulted in a method for process mapping. The study showed that research on process visualisation is neither structured nor well defined.

Generations of war. William S. Lind and Thomas X. Hammes are two advocates of fourth generation warfare. Fourth generation warfare combatants uses all available tools to reach their goals.

Assessing the outcome of corporate responsibility is often argued to be complicated due to long-term effects and qualitative aspects. Epstein (2008, p.261) establishes that: ?Though many think that sustainability is too difficult to measure, companies have found that unless the impacts are measured, they are commonly ignored in the resource allocation process?. Corporate responsibility is often referred to as a business case, i.e., that social and environmental concern add value to the business (Heikkurinen, 2010; Porter & van der Linde, 1995). Hence, for corporate responsibility to be a business case a strategy, corporate structure and systems, programmes and actions linked to performance measures need to be in place to assess the outcome; environmental, social as well as financial.

Introduction: A complex interaction between muscles, tendons, bones, joints and nerves are required for optimal function of the human hand. It is known that an individual?s grip strength is vital for performance of physical demanding tasks such as strength training with free weights. Strength training including a thicker grip around the bar may enhance the strength of the grip in the athlete without other special routines for grip strength development. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the difference in performance in multiple repetitions in two strength training exercises using two different sizes on the bar, to look for correlations between grip strength of the subjects hand and the amount of repetitions executed with two different size of the bar and finally the correlation of hand size and the amount of repetitions executed with two different size of the bar.Method: 15 strength training men (23,9 ± 4,1 years), underwent measurements of hand size, maximum grip strength, 1 repetition maximum (1RM), a 80 % of 1RM weight strength test with two different  bar sizes.Results: The results from the present investigation indicates a 21,1 % reduction of 80 % of 1 RM weight performance in repetitions executed in the bench press with the thicker diameter of the bar and a 66,2 % reduction in repetitions executed with a 80 % of 1 RM weight in the lying bench row with the thicker diameter of the bar.

Problem, Lean är en arbetsmetod som blir allt vanligare inom offentliga förvaltning eftersom det förväntas effektivisera verksamheten. Ett krav som allt fler organisationer behöver ta ställning till.Inom akademiska kretsar diskuteras leans effektivitet samt vad som egentligen ingår i begreppet. Trafikverket har implementerat lean som arbetsmetod inom en specifik del av organisationen, vilken berör Trafikingenjörer från sex olika regioner. Syftet är att effektivisera fyra olika arbetsgruppers ärendehantering. En tidigare kvantitativ undersökning har visat att upplevelsen av lean och av dess implementering varierar i de olika regionerna.

Title: Register now and stay in touch ? a study about the relationship between CRM-system and business performance.Purpose: The purpose with the study is to identify if there is a positive relationship between CRM-system and business performance in Swedish multinational companies in the industrial sector.Audience: This essay is addressed to the Swedish multinational companies in the industrial sector.Methodology/ Approach / Design: We have applied a qualitative method, with a deductive approach. Through an in-depth interview with the case company Benzlers AB, which provided the empirical basis, supplemented with the CSI-values.Conclusion: The study has presented evidence, that there is a positive relationship between CRM-system and business performance which has been confirmed by the positive increase in the CSI-value after the implementation of the CRM-system.Originality/ Value/ Contribution to knowledge The study contributes with its own results that fill in the knowledge gap about the subject in Sweden. The study finds that the CRM-system effectives the interaction with the customer and thereby business performance increase, with the CSI-value as unit. This therefore increases the value and importance of investigation of Swedish multinational companies, whose purpose is to satisfy the customer and at the same time, increase the business performance.Future research: For future research we suggest publishers to base the empirical basis through additional in-depth interviews with added case companies. In order to confirm the relationship between its validity in the industry, and also indentify what happens between inputs and outputs, which leads to increased business performance.Keywords: Customer Relation Management (CRM), CRM-system, customer satisfaction, business performance, Customer-Satisfied-Index.Thesis type: Business economy 61-91, Bachelor essay, Marketing (15 credits), spring 2010th..

Denna rapport fokuserar på lean systemutveckling inom multiprojektorganisationer. Dessa organisationer står idag inför problemet att hantera flera parallella IT projekt samtidigt som kraven ökar på att leverera mer effektivt. Nyckelord som nämns är lean, agila arbetssätt och scrum allt för att effektivisera och arbeta smartare, detta medför förändrade arbetsprocesser, attityder och beteenden. En huvudtanke är att om man investerar mer tid och pengar i att systematiskt arbeta med förbättringar kan man drastiskt minska företagets kvalitetsbristkostnader varigenom verksamhetens totala kostnader minskas (Sörqvist, 2004). Erfarenheter från verksamheter som framgångsrikt arbetat med ständiga förbättringar, t ex Toyota, har i praktiken styrkt detta resonemang.Syftet med denna rapport är att analysera hur en förändring i ledarskapsfilosofin, som lean är, påverkar organisationen den appliceras på.

The purpose of this research is to analyze six children?s books from a gender perspective and thereby investigate in what way boys and girls respectively are portrayed in books.My general question is:How are boys and girls portrayed in children?s books?This question has been broken down into four minor questions:What type of clothes are the people wearing? Are people predominantly male or female? Have people specific attributes which are linked to their sex? Are people performing specific actions which are linked to their sex?In my research I have combined quantitative and qualitative methods and my theoretical framework has been gender.This study reveals a change in children's books with respect to how the different genders are portrayed. The progression is towards a more equal portrayal but despite this, patterns typical for the respective genders shine through..

Bakgrund och problem: Begreppet Lean härstammar från Japan och har sitt ursprung i Toyotasframgångskoncept TPS (Toyota Production System). Under 1970? och 1980?talet blev de tre störstabiltillverkarna i USA intresserade av Toyotas sätt att utföra sin verksamhet vilket ledde till ettforskningsprojekt. Resultatet från studien kom att kallas Lean Production och kan ses som en renamerikansk kopia av Toyotas sätt att bedriva sin verksamhet. Konceptet har vidare kommit att spridasig över hela världen och i Sverige har ett flertal företag kommit långt i sin omställning till LeanProduction.

This study investigates how performance management in primary schools can facilitate learning, relating to theories of efficient schools. This is done through a qualitative study of the performance management systems in two public primary schools in Sweden. The schools selected were similar in all major aspects, except pupil grades, where there was a clear difference between the schools. The analysis revealed differences in how the schools handled the process of management by objectives, the professional development of teachers as well as routines, rules, and policies. We conclude that having a rooted process for management by objectives, professional development of teachers, and clearly formalized values, gives a school a good foundation to support a pupil's learning and development..

Investment in hedge funds is a relatively new phenomenon for investors compared with other forms of savings. In recent years, the interest has increased among investors in investing their money in hedge funds, given the protection against declines in the market they are aiming for. Their main purpose is to generate a high return at a low risk regardless of market trends. This they can achieve by having fewer restrictions that offer more flexible investment strategies and freer investment opportunities.The purpose of this paper is to identify how the selected hedge fund strategies have performed during the recent economic downturn. We also want to clarify the claim that hedge funds exhibit a positive absolute return regardless of what the market is performing.In order to answer the purpose of the essay and its problems, we have used a quantitative method with a deductive approach in the processing of data.

Title: Global Reporting Initiative - A comparative study on compliance with the initiative's guidelines between Ericsson and Vattenfall.Authors: Peter Leidhammar, Mattias ThorénSupervisor: Bo EnquistExaminer: Margareta BjurkloSeminar Date: 2009-01-14Background and problem formulation: The interest and the requirements that stakeholders have for companies sustainability issues are becoming increasingly important. Thus more companies are increasing their work on their sustainability reports. As there are no laws governing how these are to be designed, standards have been created by various organizations that companies voluntarily can follow. Now, after the Swedish government gave them the directive to follow the GRI's guidelines the Swedish public companies have started to follow this trend. The question then stand how much the private companies' sustainability reports differ from state companies and whether this can be traced to the differences in the companies' ownership and their stakeholders picture.Objective: The purpose of the paper is:· analyze how the GRI's guidelines are followed by the two organizations· highlight differences between them from a theoretical perspectiveLimitations: This paper is limited to two companies, one company owned by the government and one privately-owned company.

Sectra Mameas is a medical technology company in an expansive phase that is planning to increase its volume capacity with 50 % in the beginning of 2009. This to be able to deliver the increased number of systems that the customers request. To be able to produce more units the takt time of the assembly line needs to be shortened. This could only be done by identifying and solving recurring problems. To be able to find the problems, create a common knowledge of which these are and eliminate them the production department of Sectra Mamea needs to visualize certainKey Performance Indicators (KPI) in the organization.

Majoriteten av förändringsarbeten misslyckas på sikt. Trots det utgör bevarandet av dessa en liten del av forskningen inom förändringsarbete och baseras på organisatoriskt perspektiv. Ur ett sociologiskt perspektiv ses individen som central i bevarandet av förändringar. Av den anledningen syftar uppsatsen till att undersöka drivkrafter bakom bevarandet ur ett individuellt perspektiv. I besvarandet har vi utgått från teorier som beaktar långsiktighet, vilka har resulterat i nio potentiella drivkrafter som prövats genom en fallstudie på en svensk akutmottagning och deras arbete med ständiga förbättringar (modifiering av Lean).

En effektiv och lönsam logistik kan företag använda som en konkurrensfördel. Det gäller att hitta en balans mellan att exempelvis ge hög service till kunderna och samtidigt tvingas ta hänsyn till höga kostnader för lagerhållning. Denna uppsats syftar till att beskriva och analysera hur Peak Performance hanterar denna balans mellan logistikkostnader, kapitalbindning, leveransservice och miljö. Tre av dessa delar är hämtade från en modell av Lumsden (1998). Vi har därefter modifierat modellen och tillfört den fjärde komponenten, miljö.