The purchasing of management consulting services has traditionally been characterized by informal and relation based interaction. However, case studies have shown that there is a movement towards more formalized and structured purchasing procedures among buyers of management consulting services. The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence and the implications of this professionalization. To investigate to what extent certain mechanisms of professionalization have been implemented on the Swedish market, a survey directed to Sweden?s 500 largest companies was conducted.

This master thesis is based on a general issue of quality in social services. I have chosen to illustrate through an empirical case, namely the position social responsibility coordinator and shortened SAS.This position is fairly new to the Swedish social services and has the overall mandate to monitor, develop and ensure quality.To study this, I have developed two analytic schemes. One is based on the concept of quality value components, the second is based on the concept of quality character components. These analytical schemes are used as the presented material. When I study mycase, I have used two methods, documents and questionnaires.In this study I will try to describe how new solutions to improve the quality of social services can conform and develop.

Technological developments have affected many different areas. Something that has undergone major changes in this respect is gambling. Because of technology, the accessibility to games has never been greater. Using smartphones, tablets and online casinos makes it possible to play virtually any time of day no matter where you are. This development has caused that more people, got stuck in a gambling addiction which have become an increasing problem in the last decade.

The purpose of this master thesis is to use marketing theory on the library?s activities. The marketing theory used is the 4Ps; product, price, promotion and place, as it's presented by Philip Kotler. Because the library can be seen as a service oriented organization Christian Gronroos theory of marketing in the service industry also has been used. A case study of the public library in Broby was made to illustrate how the public libraries? activities can appear in the light of marketing theory.

The ambition to use evidence based treatments has spread within the field of Swedish social work. The number of treatments with claim to being evidence based has grown but the research concerning implementation; the procedures being used to introduce new methods in organizations and assure that the method is being used appropriately and continuously, is scarce. The aim of this study was to examine the implementation of Functional Family Therapy (FFT), being an evidence based treatment, in an organization providing social services in the public sector, in Sweden. We used a qualitative research design and conducted interviews with persons involved in the implementation of FFT in the social services in a town in the south of Sweden. We used the practice guidelines provided in Evidence Based Practice (EBP) together with recently published meta- analyses of implementation research, in the field of social work, to examine the implementation of FFT, as being an evidence based treatment.

Web Services är en av de mest populära utvecklingstrenderna som finns idag. Inom litteraturen tas en mycket positiv bild fram av Web Services som är en relativt ny teknik och är därmed inte helt färdigutvecklad. Enligt Deitel et al. (2003) kan det därför vara svårt för företag att utnyttja tekniken för att kunna uppnå alla fördelar som teoretiskt sägs finnas med interna och externa Web Services.Syftet med undersökningen är att undersöka i vilken omfattning som Web Services finns idag på svenska företag när det gäller interna och externa Web Services, och hur företagen anser att tekniken fungerar med avseende på fördelar, jämfört med vad som sägs inom litteraturen.För att besvara problemställningen har litteraturstudier och intervjuer genomförts. Resultatet visade att svenska företag har mestadels interna Web Services men att omfattningen även innefattar externa Web Services, vilka för tillfället växer.

This study examines how the local rescue services relate to the brand of the rescue service and the concept of brand management. To understand the attitudes against the brand and brand management, empirical data, theoretical modelling of brand and current laws have been discussed together in a try to get an overview how the rescue services practically works with the brand. The study results are based on a questionnaire survey and qualitative semi-structured interviews. The survey was sent to employees working with the communication of the rescue service. The interviews were held with two employees working with the communication of the rescue service and two fire chiefs.

The purpose of my research has been to analyze the communi-cation of three cultural heritages and how they are being ex-posed on their respective webpages. The essay has also touched the subject as to how webpages can, through marketing of cul-tural heritages, create a connection to the marketed locations and their cultural environment. A phenomenon you could call ?creating a location?. My study has also resulted in an under-standing of how historical sites as cultural actors position them-selves to attract visitors to the location.

This study is a thorough comparison between what people think about the website www.sl.se, which is a Swedish web-based travel planner for Stockholm metropolitan public transport (such as subways, busses and suburban trains), and how these views compares to the design of the actual website itself. The travel planner offers a wide range of functions and services for their targeted audience to find the fastest route between their current location and their destination. These functions are for example real time information on hold ups and malfunctions on different travel routes, and an interactive map of specific destinations so that the user can get a clear view of the area and nearby traffic stops. But how much does the average user care for these functions, and how often are they used on an average visit? What are the users? motivations when they visit the site? Earlier research suggested that there are services and functions on this website that are useful and well crafted, but that some people may not be aware of.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the outreach services for children and youths in a specific area, in this case Västra Götalandsregionen. In particular this thesis will examine the development in the outreach services for children and youths from 1990-2010. Our thesis will also examine if the financial crises affected the outreach services for children and youths, and how control documents influence the work of the librarians. This study is based on interviews, document and literature studies. For the analyses we used Torgil Persson?s theoretical model.

The aim of this study was to illuminate how social workers in social services work with the social phenomenon, homelessness in two municipalities. The study is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with interviewees from a department of social services. Our theories that we used was resistant inequality, structural discrimination, exclusion, empowerment and representation. After compilation of our empirical our conclusions are that homelessness is a complex phenomenon. Social workers handles homelessness based on client?s needs and the work is individualized.

The increased specialisation and complexity in products and services has created the need for Swedish companies to focus more on their core businesses. This has resulted in them opting to buy services and products that lie outside of their core business from consultancy businesses or other types of suppliers. When companies describe their offers in internal and external marketing it is done often in terms of company or service attributes that are not based on customer value or offered value for the customer. The reason for this is that companies have not adapted their services to the different needs of their customers. As a result of this, they run the risk of offering the same services as their competitors and communicate values that the customers either do not understand or experience as value adding. By using the theory on the data collection from the case company we have an understanding and shown how the customer values can be developed from a service company?s internal and external prerequisites and competitive advantages.

The unemployment rate in Sweden is increasing even though there are more and more municipal activation policies established. The activation policies aim is to decrease the unemployment but that is not yet happening. This problem has led us to go through with this study.The aim of this study was, from an organizational perspective, to examine and describe how the interaction works between the Municipal Employment Services, Employment Office and Social Services in a Swedish medium sized municipality. Special focus was upon the legitimacy of the Municipal Employment Services.  This study was based on nine semi-structured interviews with managers and employers within the organizations in this study.

The purpose of this study is to examine escort-business with a focus on sales of BDSM-services (Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, Sadism and Masochism). The study is based on qualitative interviews with three informants providing BDSM-services, as well as a survey with 96 men who requested domination of escorts (the survey was carried out by an escort in the 1980s). The analysis of this material resulted in the identification of three themes on which the study centers: The personal experiences of the three escorts, the interaction between the escorts and the clients, and the changes over time when it comes to the performance of BDSM-services. The study has a gender perspective with a focus on feminism and queer-theory. The important conclusions are that there are several differences between prostitution having a focus on BDSM-services and other prostitution.

The purpose of this master thesis is to use marketing theory on the library?s activities. The marketing theory used is the 4Ps; product, price, promotion and place, as it's presented by Philip Kotler. Because the library can be seen as a service oriented organization Christian Gronroos theory of marketing in the service industry also has been used. A case study of the public library in Broby was made to illustrate how the public libraries? activities can appear in the light of marketing theory.