One year Master's thesis, Degree of master in Business and Economics, School ofBusiness and Economics at Linnaeus University, Management, 4FE10E SpringSemester 2014.Author: Johanna Björklund and Sarah Gustafsson.Mentor: Magnus Forslund.Title: Lean in the public sector - Potential barriers to a long-term Lean work.Background: Organizational changes are something that is constantly done inorganizations, and in the last decade, there has arisen a plethora of different changemodels. A reorganization that is popular among companies today is Lean. Lean is aconcept that was developed within the Japanese automotive industry, but has evolvedfrom the Japanese shop floor and is now a concept that can be found in, for example,several Swedish municipalities.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to create an understanding of why the conceptLean may have difficulty getting a hold in the in the long term.Methodology: The study was done with a qualitative research approach and through anabductive approach. As we intended to create an understanding, of what potentialbarriers that may affect that a Lean work, in some cases, does not become a long-termcondition, it seemed natural to choose a hermeneutic approach to knowledge. Theempirical data collected via individual unstructured interviews, through a groupinterview, and by non-participant observations.

This master thesis project is a part of a project called ?Järboprojektet? at the regional board of forestry, the district of Gästrikland. The project will give answers to questions regarding if an analysis of satellite images can be used to contact and inform landowners of the located areas where precommercial thinning is useful. The whole project is a part of the National Board of Forestrys IT-stake where the analysis of satellite images will, at the latitudes possible, be adapted to each district in purpose to identify these areas in need of precommercial thinning. This master thesis project is based on a field inventory of identified objects where precommercial thinning is useful.

Sweden has had statutory audit, which also includes a management audit, for all companies since 1988. A legislative proposal now suggests that the statutory audit shall be abolished for all small and medium sized companies starting on July 1, 2010. The aim for this master?s thesis is therefore to study how the service of auditing will be affected by the legislative proposal. To answer the research question the authors have taken on a qualitative approach and fifteen interviews with representatives for different Swedish auditing firms have been completed.

The purpose of this report is to make an evaluation of the self-monitoring for scarification which Stora Enso is using and this study deals with the effects and importance of scarification. A comparison is made in this study with the purpose to highlight any differences between some of the leading forestry companies and significant forest organizations in Sweden. The companies represented in this report are Korsnäs, Mellanskog, SCA, Sveaskog and Södra. In the beginning of this study an interview form was set up together with Daniel Forsberg at Stora Enso. Stora Enso is the head object of this report and seven interviews were made within that company. At the other companies only three interviews were made within each one, with an exception to Mellanskog who wished four.

The purpose of this report is to make an evaluation of the self-monitoring for scarification which Stora Enso is using and this study deals with the effects and importance of scarification. A comparison is made in this study with the purpose to highlight any differences between some of the leading forestry companies and significant forest organizations in Sweden. The companies represented in this report are Korsnäs, Mellanskog, SCA, Sveaskog and Södra. In the beginning of this study an interview form was set up together with Daniel Forsberg at Stora Enso. Stora Enso is the head object of this report and seven interviews were made within that company. At the other companies only three interviews were made within each one, with an exception to Mellanskog who wished four.

It is popular to keep reptiles as pets in Swedish households. The number of households reporting reptile ownership is more than 15 000 (SCB, 2006). This means that a veterinary practice should consider how to take care of reptiles as patients. The aim of this study was to examine literature and studies concerning safe handling and restraint of reptiles as well as the effects of acute and long term stress response and to suggest a simplified plan for handling reptiles in a veterinary practice. The result of literary studies is that common recommendations for safe handling and restraint of reptiles is based on old techniques and experiences from safe handling of wild animals. The main concern is safety for the veterinary nurse and for the reptile. Stress studies indicate that acute stress response is not harmful for the animal i long term. On the other hand studies of the effect of prolonged stress are not conclusive.

[?If we zigzag in the middle, it?s OK?] The purpose of the following study is to examine the relationship between tourism and religion in a Balinese context. We look specifically at changes in religious practice, culture and mentality, as well as how religious philosophy is used as a tool for limiting the negative impact of tourism. The methods used are semi-structured interviews and participant observations. Central themes in the following essay are globalization in the form of tourism, westernization, subsystem theory and capitalism, which also make up the theoretical framework.

Information technology and globalization has led to an increasing competition and service production has been more and more independent of locations. This has made a market of outsourced telephone costumer service possible. Due to high establishment the market has been saturated and with that price has sunk. Customer companies have the last few years got more negative to outsourcing of their telephone customer service as they through operating the customer service internally want to get closer to their customers.In the empirical study the writers try to figure out which companies the callcenters should try to aim towards to get long and profitable cooperation. This will be done through deducing guiding principles from theories about how different factors around companies costumer service should look like.

This paper aims to examine how and to what extent, a transition of Sweden according to the principles of Omställning Sverige (Transition towns Sweden), have the potential to contribute to a society with increased happiness.The paper is based on a qualitative textual analysis of the key texts in the Swedish Transition towns movement, Omställning Sverige. In the first part of the study the most important transition principles of Omställning Sverige were identified. Four key principles emerged: An altered view of economics, a spiritual change, a stronger local community and increased awareness. These transition principles were then analyzed through the lens of the scientific fields position on happiness, followed by a summarizing conclusion.The altered view of economics which Omställning Sverige advocates, where sustainability and quality of life are priorities over economic growth, is even necessary to secure our basic physiological needs. Such an economy has also improved conditions for economic stability, high employment and higher efficiency in the sense of happiness promoted in relationship to how many natural resources are used.

Today dairy farmers in Sweden are obligated to have lights turned on during night time in addition to the mandatory daylight inlet. This presents a cost for the production but many argue that it can be economically beneficial, especially in loose housing of dairy cows. In loose housing and even more so in herds with automatic milking, well functioning cow traffic during all hours of the day is crucial to optimise production. In order to keep the cow traffic flowing, lights may be an important management tool. It is also perceived among farmers with tied up stall that night light decreases the incidents of cows accidental stepping on their own or neighbours udders.

How do men who define themselves as feminists create and maintain an identity as men? In this qualitative study four men involved in feminist organizations were interviewed about their views on women, men, sex and feminism. Theories of language, psychoanalysis and ethics were utilized to further our understanding of the material these men produce in their effort to define themselves. Our object of study is the text, which we believe holds the key to understanding how an individual shapes his world and himself. The result is our interpretation of the text and its underlying mechanics.

I work with and through glass and it´s from this field and tradition my work springs from. I am interested in how we look at and judge different expressions. I have been taught what visual expressions and shapes that are being appreciated and accepted and how to create objects like that. It should be clean, smooth, simplistic, and utterly pleasing. I recognize these attributes from what is being thought of as beautiful and desirable concerning the body.

The law firm industry has during the last years met new demanding conditions and one tool to handle these new conditions has been to implement a Knowledge Management system. Large investments have been made in these Knowledge Management systems but the implementations have met many challenges from within the organizations.With a multiple study, based on interviews with Knowledge Management Managers included in a Knowledge Management network, this thesis aims to study the challenges with Knowledge Management and the underlying causes. The result, based on McDermott's theories shows challenges within technical, personal, social and management areas where the law firm need to shift a focus from Information to Knowledge Management, create a culture of trust and integration and use the informal powerbase.The causes for these challenges are found in the base of Mintzbergs theories of Professional bureaucracy where the Knowledge Management is affected by strong self-regulated individualist, a divided organizational structure and industry conditions..

The high incidence of cranial cruciate ligament injury in dogs results in both suffering and significant costs due to treatment and care of affected dogs. Today there are several different technics for surgical treatment in dogs with ruptured cranial cruciate ligament. At University Animal Hospital (UDS), SLU, in Uppsala two fundamentally different methods; TPLO (Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy) and external fixation with suture material are practiced. The aim of this study was to estimate if the different surgery technics result in any difference regarding the function of the dog in a long term perspective. Since motion and function are very affected by arthritis, was the purpose also to determine if there are any differences in developing arthritis between dogs surgical treated with external fixation respectively with TPLO. Development of arthritis is common after surgery or traumatic injuries in a joint, such as cruciate ligament rupture. Unfortunately was the number of dogs in the study to small to achieve two comparable groups.

What affects Hiv in South Africa's different provinces? This thesis examines if education, unemployment rate, GDP per capita, and the literacy rate has any relationship with the Hiv prevalence. This is analyzed using theory and data in the form of a simple microeconomic model and an econometric regression analysis based on cross sectional data of the provinces of South Africa. The regression analysis shows that unemployment rate and education have significant effects of the Hiv prevalence in South Africa. The microeconomic model in the thesis indicates that when education is higher, individuals are more aware that the probability of being infected by Hiv is higher when the Hiv prevalence is high.