The market for management consulting services is changing with an increased level of competition and more specialized service providers. At the same time there is a high level of companies that fail in their efforts to establish themselves on the market. This thesis sets out to give the reader an increased understanding of the complex characteristics of the market for these services, focusing more specifically on which factors that have an effect on the strategy development for companies within the industry. The thesis is also aimed at providing the reader with a deeper understanding of how developing consulting companies can tackle the specific challenges facing them. In order to meet the purpose of the thesis, we have applied relevant theories to a generic strategy model in order to develop a model that is applicable for the management consulting industry.

AbstractThe purpose of this investigation is to find out how the pupils can discover and to feel joy in their creative art activity and also to believe in their own ability. The aim is to figure out if creative art activity is able to raise the pupil?s self-image. By literature, pedagogue interviews, and interviews with pupils at the age of ten years old and by action research is the way that I have searched for an answer for my question. The main result is that fantasy, creativity, courage and lust are important parts to develop in the job of raising the self-image.

AbstractIn this thesis I will discuss the relationship between the European Union and the regions of Europe. The development of the European Union has meant that many decisions are taken in Bruxelles. Many actors participate in the policyprocess ranging from national goverment to policynetworks of different kinds. An emerging actor has been the regions of Europe. Their influence on the policyprocess have grown and today almost all of them are represented in Bruxelles through Region Offices.

In January 2005 the emission allowance system was introduced within the European Union and the first period ends at the end of 2007. The system was introduced in order to decrease the wastes of carbon dioxide and the system is a part of ratifying the Kyoto ?protocol which first period runs between 2008-2012.The idea of the system is to reduce the wastes of carbon dioxide where it costs less to do so and the expenses for the society therefore are as diminutive as possible. Different theories explain that companies can benefit from environment legislation and can depending on the company?s attitude gain competitive advantages improve its productivity and thereby increase its profitability.With this in mind, the study aims at examining how the introduction of the emission trade system has influenced Swedish smaller companies in the distant heating industry, with focus on the factors attitude, innovation, competition and profitability.

Background: The increasing globalization of business and research has led to an increased demand for international meetings. This is a market that a number of countries wish to access and the competition is fierce to get the chance to host major conferences. Stockholm has a pronounced good position in the international meeting market and this essay will examine what it takes to be a successful meeting destination for international congresses.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine the fundamental factors that must be met for a meeting destination to be successful in the international market for conventions.Question at issue: How can a city develop into a more attractive meeting destination for international congresses?Method: Persons with key positions in the Stockholm meeting industry have been approached by qualitative interviews by the authors.Theory: As a theoretical framework the authors used the value of the physical meeting, generally on the congresses, the planning process for site selection for the meeting, the meeting platform and image.Conclusion: The authors' findings are based on the empirical material gathered during the study interviews. The results from these interviews show the importance of facilities and hotels, availability, and the image..

The study is made on behalf of SCA Skog Jämtlands förvaltning which is one of five administration units that SCA Skog consists of. The purpose of the study is to investigate which reduced expenses there are according to spatial concentration of cutting areas. By increasing the spatial concentration of cutting areas it will reduce the need of movements by trailer, also reduce the number of roads that you use during the activities. To be able to perform the study, access to a annual cuttings in nine years have been made available. From this volume new annual cuttings has been created but more concentrated. The two different results have been compared and the results show that concentration of cutting areas generates reduced need for trailer transports and less km road that has to be maintained. But then, if it´s practical viable can be discussed.

The modern beauty market is concentrated with intense competition where cosmetic brands fight to stay on top. A popular method in order to gain sales and increase margins is to influence existing customers to buy more with the use of suggestive selling. The purpose of this paper, was to further examine the different effects of suggestive selling with the use of complementary versus non- complementary goods in the form of customer satisfaction, customer view of the service encounter, as well as success in sales. In addition, the influence of the customer's purchase amount on the tendency to buy an extra product in a suggestive selling situation was examined. The study was conducted through the use of a field experiment with the support of surveys in 'The Body Shop'.

Through observations of the childrens play, I have made notes of all activities at the pre-school playground. The intention of the observations was to see if the playground environment invites and stimulate the childs motorie development. The study will be a part of a future planning work of the preschool environment.The results show that the pre-school playground environment invites to physical activities that stimulate the childs motory development. The variation of activities is dependent on the design of the landscapes. The pedagogues taking part of the childrens activities are one of the factors which contributed to the childs choice of activity.The preschool plays an important part in the childrens development so it is important that all personnel have basic knowledge on the importance of outdoor activities.Keywords: Fundamental movement, motorie development, preschool playground, outdoor enviroment.

The store manager can make great benefits of having an eye on how the staff works towards the customer, because the personnel is an important tool when competing with other stores. This paper is focusing on the part that relates to the staff in the store, which is one of the key tools in the competition for customers after the customer made it to the store. Many stores have guidelines which the staff should follow when they meet with customers. If the staff is too tightly controlled by these guidelines, customers can perceive the first encounter with the staff as artificial and as if the genuine friendliness does not exist. It is important that the staff looks at the individual customer and treat every customer in a personal way and that the staff can see the customer?s needs.

Den Svenska Basketligan är en av få europeiska nationella ligor (oavsett sport) som tillämpar det stängda seriesystemet inom lagidrott. Sedan säsongen 92/93 har den högsta svenska ligan i basket varit stängd och upp- och nedflyttning har vilat på framförallt ekonomiska skäl, och inte sportsliga. Detta är väldigt ovanligt i Europa och i akademisk litteratur görs en tydlig uppdelning mellan europeisk och amerikansk idrottsstruktur. En faktor som bidrar till att göra ligans karaktär stängd är att mästarlagen och övriga topplags deltaganden i europeiska och regionala sammanhang är oregelbundna.I uppsatsen tillämpas ett systemteoretiskt perspektiv som grund och teorier om konkurrens och kompetensutveckling används som stödteorier. 5 spelare, varav 3 med internationell erfarenhet,2 coacher samt en basketfokuserad skribent ger i uppsatsen deras synpunkter på hur ligans struktur påverkar deras och ligans internationella konkurrenskraft.Studiens resultat pekar på att det finns stora möjligheter till en förbättrad internationell konkurrenskraft, men att det krävs förändringar i strukturen och synen på vad basketligan har för syfte..

It is important, for companies operating on a homogeneous product market, to understand and adapt to customer needs. Since coffee is a homogeneous product in food retail it is vital for coffee companies to work extensively with differentiation and the fierce competition. The prevailing homogenity makes it difficult for companies to develop the product itself and must therefore work to create added value to the product.The purpose of this thesis is to carry out a study on consumer decision-making when purchasing homogeneous products, and to examine how companies work to strengthen their brand and gain market share in a homogeneous product market. The market that this thesis highlights is the coffee market.To answer the purpose of this thesis the writers have conducted a questionnaire survey regarding consumers? decision-making process and interviewed two marketing managers for two major actors on the coffee market.

AbstractThis study aims to describe and analyze how the 15 municipalities of Västerbotten County consider regional targets of development in their comprehensive plans. The study also investigate if there´s any need of improvements for the consideration of regional targets in comprehensive planning.This paper is based on studies of comprehensive plans in Västerbotten County and on three interviews with employers of different municipalities in the county. An thematic analysis were used to analyze documents and interviews.The result shows that a new comprehensive plan generally takes more consideration to regional targets of development than older plans. The consideration varies a lot between the municipalities of Västerbotten County and it can be explained by many reasons. The informant?s points out that lack of resources- and competence plus a deficient dialog between municipalities and regional organizations are the mainly causes.Keywords; regional development, comprehensive planning, strategy for regional development, regional development program, land-use planning.

Our environment affect us, not least gardens. By practising the ancient Chinese art feng shui, one could find tools how to create harmony and balance in gardens. By paying attention to different energies working with colours, shapes and materials one can create a nice garden with good feng shui. The philosophy, however, includes much more than what plants or what hard materials to choose in the garden. It describes different energies, the movement of energies, which we can learn to live in harmony with.

Background: The starting point of the thesis is the growing importance of negotiations that serve to establish a relationship between the parties involved as companies? business activities are getting more complex. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to find and to analyze which elements are of importance for parties, when creating a successful negotiation with regard to building long-term relationships, and if those elements differ for sales and procurement negotiations in companies with business activities of various kinds. Research method: The study was realized with the help of twelve qualitative interviews. Result: The elements of importance when creating a successful negotiation with regard to building long-term relationships were mainly elements of co-operation and to some extent elements of competition.

The ability for companies to anticipate the future and stay in the forefront of the competition is essential for successful business. The tool of Environmental Scanning is basics in the process of developing prescriptive strategies as well as vital in evolving emergent strategies. The complexity lies in gathering relevant information and transforming the information into adequate data, which can be utilised by management to optimise strategies. The purpose of this study is to scrutinise how successfully operating Swedish manufacturing companies, listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange?s ?Large Cap?-list, organise their Environmental Scanning actions and how this affects the development of strategies. Prior research on the subject has been used as foundation to presenting relevant theories.