This Bachelor's thesis in Environmental Science studies the quality of an index of performance measurement of Swedish municipalities' sustainability governance offered by the environmental magazine Miljöaktuellt. Executed for six consecutive years, this evaluation is arguably the most comprehensive and widely spread local sustainability assessment in Sweden. Contextualizing this quantitative measurement tool in the paradigm of New Public Management, the research questions posed are: 'to what extent does the index employed by Miljöaktuellt correspond to the requirements of a set of quality criteria for sustainability assessment?' and 'is the index appropriate as a measure of, or a goal for, Swedish municipalities' internal sustainability efforts?' Through the perspective of evaluation theory, Miljöaktuellt's index is seen as a performance evaluation, thus categorizing this study as a meta-evaluation. Through a qualitative thematic approach, the index is analyzed using the 8 BellagioSTAMP-principles that were developed as tools for assessing quality of sustainability assessments as themes for the analysis.

The milk production has developed rapidly the last years. The milk production per cow is increasing and the production units are larger with an increasing number of animals and a decreasing number of workers. Many milk producers invest in automatic milking systems (AM) to meet this change. In these systems the cows can voluntary decide milking frequency and usually the milking frequency are higher than two times per day. But how does the milking frequency effect the composition of the milk? The aim of the present study was to study the effect of milking frequency on the milk composition and the milk fat quality.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att bidra med en ökad förståelse för hur kvalitetsförbättringsarbete används för att eliminera brister och fel inom byggbranschen.Metod:  Studien utfördes genom kvalitativ metod med hermeneutiskt synsätt samt tolkning. Fallstudien omfattar fyra intervjurespondenter varav en pilotstudie samt 42 enkäter till samtliga tjänstemän och medarbetare med ledaransvar på olika nivåer inom kvalitetsförbättringsarbetet. Insamlad data bearbetades med hjälp av tematisk analys för att sedan analyseras och tolkas. Slutligen drogs slutsatser från resultat och analysmaterialet.Resultat & Slutsats: Med hjälp av litteraturgenomgången och resultatet av det undersökta fallföretaget har studien kommit fram till att det är utmanande och svårt men inte omöjligt att implementera kvalitetsförbättringsmetoder och tekniker i byggbranschen utifrån de unika förutsättningar som råder i byggbranschen. Det råder samsyn bland de tillfrågade gällande vad de upplever är de vanligast förekommande kvalitetsbrister och fel vid slutbesiktning.

Since the 1980s, the management philosophy New Public Management has resulted in major changes in the public administration system in several countries, especially in the West. A market oriented approach and an increased focus on performance measurement are ideals that are salient in these changes. The aim of this bachelor thesis is to examine the management philosophy?s influence on international relations through a critical analysis of some of its ideals in the management of international development cooperation, where effectiveness, quality, and results have been new dominant concepts. Through a qualitative content analysis of a Swedish Communication from 2014 ? the Aid Policy Framework ? and a debate in the Swedish parliament where this Communication was discussed, different themes that reflect the strategy of so called results based management in Sweden are identified.

Findus Sverige AB, referred to asFindus from now on, harvests peas during a period ofaround 50 days during the summer. The harvest generates about 30 000 tonnes of peas which gives around 40 000 pallets to distribute to the warehouses which Findus uses for final storage. Three hours after the peas are picked in the fields, they have to be frozen to keep their good taste and quality. Because of this the pallets are marked with a preliminary label with quality classification of the content. The Findus quality department then has one day to determine the correct quality of each pallet.

Syfte: Mitt val av ämne härstammar från egna reflektioner och erfarenheter av att bo och leva i USA ett antal år. Jag har successivt insett att det är större skillnad mellan våra kulturer än vad jag hade förväntat mig. Med tre barn i skolan är kontaktytan mot utbildning stor och det går inte att undvika att göra jämförelser. Ämnet för uppsatsen landade i en jämförelse av serviceerbjudanden med skola och omsorg som tillämpningsområde. Syftet med uppsatsen är att med marknadsföring och service management som teoretisk bas beskriva och analysera serviceerbjudandet gentemot barnfamiljer i Virginia och Sverige.

This paper examines the relationship between the experienced quality in the offering of a brand, emotional attachment and consumer commitment. The study aim to explore several dimensions of the experienced quality in the offering of a brand. Further we examine two conceptualizations of emotional attachment - Brand Attachment and Brand Love - and intend to declare the two of being two separate phenomena. We then conduct a relationship-based analysis wherein the mediating ability of Brand Attachment and Brand Love, between the experienced quality in the offering of a brand and consumer commitment, is examined. Therefore we conduct a focused quantitative study, wherein 171 customers of the fashion retailer H&M have responded to a comprehensive survey both online and in-store, to examine this fun-damental relationship and its components.

This essay describes and compares the extensive reindeer management to the more intensive, but grazing based, sheep management system in Sweden. Differences and similarities between the two production systems will be investigated by elucidating the economy, land use and possibilities to influence production and economy through breeding, feeding and product development. The reindeer management area covers the northern part of Sweden whilst the sheep management is dispersed over the country. Both reindeer and sheep are ruminants and have relatively high demands on the quality and digestibility of the feed however reindeers graze on mountain-and forest lands whilst sheep often graze inaccessible areas or cultivated grasslands. Selection intensity is generally lower in the reindeer management compared to the intensity in sheep breeding.

This essay was written at Södertörn University during the spring semester of 2010, in the field of Business Administration, and more precisely within management and organization. The essay is based on a case study of the management of the staff working at the commuter train stations in Stockholm. The study consists of a number of interviews with the management staff and with the personnel working at the stations, where the aim of the study is to describe how management works within ISS Trafficare AB and what the personnel working at the stations think of it. ISS Trafficare AB is the entrepreneur who runs the commuter train stations in Stockholm by an agreement met with Stockholmståg KB.The study is based on information from the interviews with the personnel and other material from ISS Trafficare AB. Research on the area of management have been used to put data into perspective and to further deepen our analysis and conclusions from the case.The essay shows that the management has tried to implement several changes on the organization in order to provide more service to the travelers.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om det finns några mönster och samband i hur förskolepedagoger upplever förutsättningar för barns lärande beroende på ålderssammansättningen i gruppen. Studien är kvantitativ med webbenkät som metod för insamling av data från pedagoger. Undersökningen omfattar alla förskolor inom en kommun i Värmland, totalt 55 kommunala avdelningar och 144 pedagoger. Följande ålderssammansättningar ingår i studien: åldersindelade grupper, småbarnsavdelningar (1-3), avdelningar för äldre barn (3-5) och syskonavdelningar (1-5).Studien har sin utgångspunkt i interaktionistiska teorier, vilket innebär att förskolans verksamhet studeras utifrån olika samspelade aspekter, faktorer och nivåer. I studien ses förutsättningar för barns lärande i förhållande till förskolans kvalitet, vilken i sin tur tolkas som ett komplext fenomen som skapas i samspel mellan olika faktorer på struktur-, process- och resultatnivåer.

Inventories of epiphytic lichens on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) were conducted at three sites in east central Sweden: along the newly build motorway (Road E4), along the old road (Road 600) and in a reference site, to compare the effects of traffic pollution on lichen diversities. At each site, species richness, lichen mean sensitivity value (MK), air quality index of the forest stand/sample plot (LKI) and nitrogen impact value (N) were calculated and it was tested if there was any difference between the sites. Twenty-four species were observed in total, and Parmeliopsis ambigua and Hypogymnia physodes were the most common species at all sites. At Road E4, fewer lichen species were observed than at the other sites and this might be due to the impact of air pollution. The species richness at Road 600 was similar to that of the reference site, which might be explained by the improved air quality.

During thousands of years, reindeer have adapted to living under harsh conditions with large seasonal variations in climate and forage availability. This adaptation implies that body functions and nourishment needs are strongly bound to the season. In the summer the reindeer has to maximize food intake to build up fat and protein reserves for the winter. More than 200 different plant species are included in the reindeer diet, but since reindeer have an unique ability to use the nourishment in lichen, different lichen species make up a large portion of their winter diet in many areas. Fundamental for reindeer husbandry is access to natural grazing during most of the year.

Culture Management Cultural management administration producent KKE management.

På uppdrag av Skärteknikcentrum Svergie AB i Gislaved gjordes en undersökning av driftstörningarna i produktionsprocessen hos tre olika medlemsföretag som kunde kopplas direkt till kvalitet på stångmaterialet som används. Undersökningen gjordes hos Gnosjö automatsvarvning AB, Finnveden Powertrain (Alvestafabriken) och Bufab Lann AB, alla arbetar med stångmaterial och har liknande tillverkningsprocesser. Uppgiften gick ut på att identifiera ifall det finns driftstörningar som enbart är beroende av kvaliteten på materialet samt vilka problem de leder till. Efter genomförda undersökningar och en större inblick hos de olika företagen konstaterades det att variationer i kvaliten på materialet har en effekt på hur produktionsprocessen fungerar. Störningar i produktionen kan reduceras ifall materialet egenskaper förbättras eller tillverkningsprocessen ändras.

Human capital is professional service firms' most valuable resource and its quality is closely linked to the quality of its services. The purpose of this study is to investigate how professional service firms appraise their employees. A comparative study between an architecture firm and a management consulting firm is conducted with the aim to identify and explain similarities and differences in performance appraisal. Two qualitative case studies are performed and interviews as well as documents are used to explore the area. The thesis builds on a critical perspective and it has an explorative approach.