Franchise theorists have to a large extent failed to keep up with the actual development in global franchise chains. The recent emergence of fast growing multi-unit-franchisees has fundamentally been ignored, and it has been claimed that the new phenomenon can be regarded as a mere replication of the franchisors? structure and control system into sub hierarchies. This study however, suggests that the reality is more complex. Through conducting case studies of two Nordic multi-unit-franchisees, new theories are built explaining how and why control systems are designed the way they are.

ABSTRACTBackground: The incidence of type 2 diabetes is increasing worldwide. Early intervention in form of medication, advice on self-management and lifestyle changes is necessary to avoid complications. Few Swedish studies are made on the diabetes nurse?s views on promotion of self- management.Purpose: To examine the diabetes specialist nurse?s experience of promoting self-management to patients with type 2 diabetes in primary care.  Method: A qualitative explorative study where eight diabetes nurses were interviewed. The interview guide consisted of semistructed questions concerning the promotion of self-management.Results: The diabetes nurse?s role in promoting patient self-management is significant, if resources are available in the form of adequate time for the patient and good team work.

The purpose of this study was to identify the positive and negative aspects of the work and dynamics of a management team and from that recommend how the team can improve. The aim was also to investigate whether there was a gap between how the members of the management team comprehend themselves and how the project, section and team managers comprehend the management team. The management team contains of seven core team members and is the head function of a research and development site in central Sweden. The results are based on interviews with the present members of the management team and three former members, a survey among the project, section and team managers and by participating observation on meetings with the team. The results show that the management team is an overall well-functioning team that with some changes and improvements, especially concerning communication and information, can reach even further.

The need for snow-free surfaces at squares, bus stops, platforms, car parks and sports facilities increases and at the same time energy price rise and the environment is becoming a hotter issue. The construction of the ground heating systems often lack thermal insulation under the heating pipes, which means that the heat from the pipes not only warm up the soil surface but also heats the surrounding soil. The insulation also has more features, by insulating the risk of frost damage is minimized. The goal of this report is to demonstrate the large heat loss and energy costs in the absence of insulation under the heating system.The report begins with a scientific way to study and treating the soil heating system uses, and the theory involved. Furthermore it also deals with different routing principles of heat pipes depending on the facility.All calculations are made with so called finite element method (FEM), in COMSOL Multiphysics 3,5a, where models are created with different conditions.

This study aims to examine the effect the evaluation system used by the Stockholm County Council, has on how the healthcare providers themselves conduct the evaluation regarding their own operations. This is done through a qualitative case study of the evaluation systems of the Stockholm County Council and of four primary healthcare producers concerning one primary healthcare contract. The evaluation systems were analysed using Merchant and Ver der Stede's (2007) framework for different types of control. In order to give a more detailed picture this framework was complemented with different types of performance measurement. The evaluation that the Stockholm County Council conducts was found to have little influence on the providers own evaluation with the exception of the quality indicators that are rewarded with a monetary bonus..

An inflammatory reaction is induced after release of proinflammatory mediators such asinterleukin 1 and 6 and tumour necrosis factor ?. These mediators stimulate the liver tosuppress the syntheses of albumin and endure the syntheses of acute phase protein forinstance C-reactive protein. The aim of this paper was to perform a method validation on animmune turbidimetric assay to quantify C-reactive protein in canine serum at the laboratory atSkara Animals Hospital, Skara, Sweden. The validation involved evaluation of the assaylinearity, precision, stability and recovery.The method was proved to be linear for both TruLab control and Medinor control.

Syfte: Syftet är att beskriva och analysera en traditionell, resultatansvarsindelad ekonomistyrning, samt att sätta den i relation till en modernt orienterad styrning. Metod: Vår uppsats är en enskild fallstudie med en kvalitativ ansats av enheten Energiprodukter inom Lunds Energi AB. Vi har genomfört ett antal intervjuer i fallföretaget. Empirin är analyserad med hjälp av relevant teori, främst Lindvalls Verksamhetsstyrning, Källströms Uppdrag Styreffekt och Anthony & Govindarajans Management Control Systems. Slutsatser: Lunds Energi AB har flera inslag av modern verksamhetsstyrning i sin traditionella, resultatansvarsindelade ekonomistyrning.

Using the models from van Maanen and Schein (1977) and Dutton et al. (1994), we have been able to investigate the socialization process and organizational identification both from the organizational as well as the individual?s perspective. The link between these two perspectives establishes a better insight into the company?s actual socialization intentions and the individual?s identification with the firm.

SAMMANFATTNING/SUMMARY Titel/Title: Hur myndigheter definierar sina prestationer i förhållande till sina mål och hur dessa följs upp./ How government authorities define their performance indicators and measure them up in relationship to the goals. Författare/Author Almaliki, Rayya; Hulaj, Anita; Nepola, Fisnik Handledare/Supervisor: Gyllberg, Henrick Sektion/Section: Sektionen för Management, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola./ The Section of Management, Blekinge Institute of Technology. Kurs/Course: Kandidatarbete i företagsekonomi (FEC007), 10 poäng./Bachelor?s thesis in Business Administration (FEC007), 10 credits. Syfte/Purpose: Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera hur statliga myndigheter definierar och följer upp sina prestationer, i förhållande till uppsatta mål för verksamheten./ The main purpose with this thesis is to research how government agencies define their performance indicators and measure them up in relationship to the goals. Metod/Method: Vi har genomfört en kvalitativ fallstudie, där vi har utfört sex semistandardiserade intervjuer på Blekinge Tekniska Högskola och Boverket. Det material som vi har fått från intervjuerna samt annat sekundärt material, utgör grunden för vår analys och slutsats./ We have done a qualitative case study, where we did six semi standard interviews at Blekinge Institute of Technology and Boverket. The material we got from the interviews and other secondary material make up the ground, for our analysis and conclusion.

This report describes the design and construction of a prototype that automatically aims a microwave link towards a target. The link, that is located on a mobile aerial mast, is used by Saab Training Systems as a part of an infrastructure network. The report also discusses the development of a GUI that communicates with the control unit by Bluetooth.The control unit, called Pan/Tilt-controller, controls the position of the link by stepping motors. One motor controls the azimuth angle and the other one controls the elevation angle.By a GUI the operator enters the coordinates on its own position and the targets position. Hereafter a bearing is calculated and it will be sent up to the control unit.The control unit will sense its own direction by a magnetic sensor that works as an electronic compass.

Purpose: The study aims to analyze how companies can learn from past communications in critical situations and during corporate crisis, and see how they use this knowledge in the management of subsequent critical situations and corporate crisis. Furthermore, the media is analyzed to see how the newspaper industry chooses to reflect an organization and its actions, and also to see if the pressure through articles in the newspapers has an impact on the extent of the situation.Method: A qualitative case study of Sweden?s largest food company, ICA Sverige AB, where knowledgeable people in media management within the company are interviewed using semi-structured interviews, with support of quantitative methods by a collection of articles from the news press.Theories: Concepts, theories and models in crisis management and communication has been applied to relevant data. These comprise Knowledge Management, a communication template in crisis management, The Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) and the model Content of crisis communication.Empiric: Based on the quantitative data consisting of articles from four Swedish news sources: Svenska Dagbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Aftonbladet and Expressen, a semi-structured interview guide was created and carried out with the person within ICA who possesses knowledge of the subject area.Conclusion: ICA has during the priod studied exhibited to have used the concept of Knowledge Management in the development of their routines regarding product recalls at product defects. The relationships between ICA and the media have shown improvements, which has resulted in ICA percieve the media coverage as balanced, true and fair..

This thesis examines a project that has been conducted at a software development company. The aim is to investigate which problems firms of this kind faces performing projects. We choose a theoretical frame consisting of a modern view on how to manage projects. The view argues that the management of each project has to be adapted to the situation at hand. This theory is divided into two separate streams of reasoning; one emphasize learning, delegation of responsibility and flexibility, while the other argues for control, time planning and the importance of keeping to the plans.When we compare the theories to the case we draw three main conclusions: A thorough phase of investigation is required to produce the necessary planning documents.

This is a survey of different techniques that may be used for embedding geographicdata into web pages. Different models of GIS communication are examined and a testsubject in the form of an application is implemented and evaluated.The test application (?StudentKarta? eng. ?Student Map?) lets students submit theirresidential data and shows their position as pins on an embedded Map.An expire date is used to let the pins fade away and disappear.The application uses the popular Google map engines to display the geographicalpresentations.

If Swedish companies are to compete with companies in low-cost countries they have to achieve a more efficient production. The purpose of Total Productivity Maintenance (TPM) is to increase the company's profitability by increasing the productivity. TPM is a method that involves all employees and aims to prevent failures in order to increase the availability of existing equipment.The aim of this paper is to evaluate the implementation process of TPM and give recommendations for the further implementation process. The conclusion and the analysis are based on a case study done at a production department at ABB Cewe-Controls facilities in Nyköping. The case study consists mainly of qualitative data from participation observations, surveys and interviews.Commitment of the management is a key factor in the implementation process of TPM.

This essay discusses the interaction between the authorities in Nacka municipality in Sweden and supervisors within the eldercare. In Nacka politicians have gradually started delegate responsibility for how care-giving for the elder should be done and focus instead on formulating economical objectives and overall rules. It is up to the approved supervisors of eldercare to deliver good care and quality. The method chosen to accomplish this is public choice. This method is a part of the big New Public Management (NPM) reform which have had a big impact on Swedish public sector since the 1980´s.