This thesis is composed within the framework of the supplementary course in psychotherapy concentrating on family therapy (60 credits) arranged by Lund University's affiliate in Västerås, Sweden.The purpose of this thesis has been to explore how the idea to initiate evidence based methods in the workings of the Individual and Family Care Department of the City of Västerås was born. Furthermore the thesis will explore if consideration for methods of theoretical implementation are implied. The study assumes a qualitative attempt and is based on semi-structured interviews from three levels within the organization, including both management and operation.Theories on organization,implementation and the theory on change strategies have been used as a theoretical starting point.The study result shows that introduction of evidence based methods in the City of Västerås is based on the experiences of the organization regarding the need to develop and increase social services contributions to non-institutional care. Experiences from expensive transferrals to institutions which only occasionally produced satisfactory results were a contributing factor. New published research and a strong interest and desire inside the department to improve and change social services contributions have naturally been a positive influence for the development.

The manufacturing industry is currently in a short-term downturn while the competition is increasing. The result of this is that companies must find new ways to bring out their products. Traditional competitive strategies, such as low pricing, is not sufficient today as the customer is inquiring something more than just a good product. Higher demands are presented on an accurate, well functional, communication between customer and companies, as this has become an important strategic factor in achieving long-term profitability.The aim of this independent project was to analyze and evaluate the communication process between a company and its sales companies.In order to illustrate this process, a case study was carried out at Alfa Laval, their sales companies and employees at their distribution center in Tumba. In order to see the differences in attitudes between the management, the sales companies and the employees regarding communication and involvement a gap analysis were used.The theoretical part of the study considers theories about business mission, communication, involvement, quality and creating value.The result showed that a smaller gap exists between the sales companies and the management while a slightly larger one exists between the employees and the management.

In the present thesis, we have studied the management control system in Enskede-Årsta-Vantör, one of Stockholm?s municipal districts, with focus on theories about New Public Management (NPM). When NPM was introduced, a number of complications arose. Some of these, along with the district?s solutions of the complications, are described and analyzed using e.g.

Investment in hedge funds is a relatively new phenomenon for investors compared with other forms of savings. In recent years, the interest has increased among investors in investing their money in hedge funds, given the protection against declines in the market they are aiming for. Their main purpose is to generate a high return at a low risk regardless of market trends. This they can achieve by having fewer restrictions that offer more flexible investment strategies and freer investment opportunities.The purpose of this paper is to identify how the selected hedge fund strategies have performed during the recent economic downturn. We also want to clarify the claim that hedge funds exhibit a positive absolute return regardless of what the market is performing.In order to answer the purpose of the essay and its problems, we have used a quantitative method with a deductive approach in the processing of data.

Social media today is a current topic, it has developed fast and continues to spread in a fast moving pace. Recent trends states that social media becomes more integrated into peoples personal lives. This essay deals with the subject area social media, focusing on the channel Instagram. The topic is chosen because of it´s popularity in today's digital communications landscape, and also keeping in mind that there is a great lack of previous studies on the subject. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into how companies should handle images on the social media channel Instagram by testing two different strategies against each other.

With 25 countries being members of the European Union, travelling and working in other countries has become significantly easier. But what happens when one culture meets another one in a work situation? More specifically, what happens when French and Swedish cultures meet? Would a Swedish manager lead his team in the same way as a French one would?My question is: What is management philosophy like in Sweden and France? Do the two philosophies resemble? And if not, in what ways do they differ?The purpose of this essay is to find out, by looking at the material used at management courses, what the Swedish management philosophy really is. And then look at whether there are any similarities between this philosophy and the French one. The idea is to examine how management is being taught in both countries, by looking at what management litterature is used at some of the highest ranked management schools in Sweden and France.There have been numerous ethnological studies concerning nationality and cultural behaviour, one of the most important ones is the study done by Hofstede.

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The aim of this Master thesis is to study how management, teachers and librarians at the university college Swedish school of sport and health sciences (GIH) view information literacy (IL) as a standard in higher education. I have used a sociocultural theoretical perspective, as the focus being on co-operation within the institutional context. The following questions are focused on: Of what importance are the control documents concerning IL as a standard in the educational program? How do the respondents view the value of, and the responsibility for, IL as a standard in the educational program? What are the conditions for co-operation at GIH to reach the standards of the higher education act? The methodology used is qualitative case study. Six qualitative interviews were carried out in order to describe the attitudes of the management, teachers and librarians related to this subject.

The aim of this report is to investigate, on the basis of two consult agencies perspectives, what the possibilities and obstacles are to integrate the work with antagonistic and accident related risks. The report is based on two consult agencies where each agency´s work procedure is represented by a risk management method. The work with accident related and antagonistic risks is analysed and evaluated compared to four different components. The components are risk management process (IEC´s and FEMA´s model), driving forces, education and competence, and resources to control risk management with COSO?´s ERM framework.

Stormwater from trafficked areas often contains high pollution levels. In traditional stormwater management design, stormwater is first transported away through piped networks, and then in most cases passes through oil separators before finally reaching the recipients. While this traditional method removes certain pollutants from the stormwater, it does not reduce the total flow, as in the case of ecological stormwater management. In the ecological method the stormwater is not simply transported away, but is recirculated through infiltration, percolation, and detention. The aim of this study is to investigate possible advantages of ecological management designs, in contrast to traditional management.

This paper is the result of a study of competition and cooperation in regard to tourism between the five largest municipalities in Norrland in northern Sweden. The municipalities are Luleå, Skellefteå, Umeå, Sundsvall and Gävle. The aim was to study the relation between competition and cooperation between these municipalities. An important theoretical aspect in this study is coopetition, where competition and cooperation occur at the same time. The studies on coopetition in the Nordic kontext is limited and the main literature on coopetition study the relationship between firms. This study however takes a geographical standpoint and aims to fill the gap in the literature on how competition and cooperation are connected to each other between chosen municipalities. To do this the tourism strategies of the municipalities were studied thoroughly. These written strategies provided information about how the municipalities view their competitive advantages and disadvantages and some general information about how they cooperate with the nearest regions. To find out how the municipalities think about competition and cooperation with the other four specific municipalities interviews were made with experts on the tourism field in each municipality. The results show that the municipalities do not have established strategies for how they are to be competitive compared with other specific municipalities. They do not see it as profitable to compete, instead they should complement each other. At the same time however, most of the municipalities mostly cooperate with municipalities in a short distance from them, and due to lack of resources only briefly or not at all with the municipalities studied here..

In recent years the elderly care in Sweden has gone through several structural changes with the main purpose of delivering a more efficient service. The aim of this study is to compare the management control system in a privately and a publicly managed elderly home. A qualitative study was conducted which included interviews, observations of meetings and reviews of relevant documents. To be able to identify possible differences the framework of Hood consisting of seven dimensions was used. An analysis of the selected dimensions showed that the differences in management control were minimal and Brunsson's theory of politicization and 'company-ization' were used to explain why..

The financial crisis in 2008, effected companies around the globe and forced them to change their operational strategies, in order to survive. Companies with international links needed to consider external effects and due to that adapt their strategies on a global level. Demands for goods and service were decreasing and companies could only manage the cost during a recession to not face bankruptcy. Organisations need to reconsider their optimal strategy as this will determine their future outcome when managing a crisis as the one in 2008. British Airways - Air Cargo is a global company with an international network which serves about 80 countries, with about 200 destinations.

Background: It has been shown that companies that lived under protected conditions for a long time have had difficulties to adapt to major changes. With that in mind an even more extensive low-cost competition in the Swedish grocery market will make a threat for the traditional grocery stores' long-term survival. The question then becomes, which strategies will be successful and lead to higher customer loyalty.Problem: Are the traditional grocery stores using strategies that can compete in addition to pricing and will those strategies lead to long-term survival?Objective: Is to analyse and evaluate two traditional grocery stores' strategies and to examine whether these are consistent with customer demand.Approach: First we have created a more fundamental understanding of the situation in the Swedish grocery market. Then we have implemented two interviews in each grocery store.

The value of a good reputation for organizations is increasing today as consumers and citizens become more aware of brands. If a crisis hits an organization, there is now more to lose than before concerning reputation. Therefore the organization?s communication strategies must be developed to sustain the organization?s reputation during and after a crisis.In the field of crisis communication there are two distinguished theories which concern what an organization with help from crisis communication should do to undergo a crisis without losing its reputation. These theories are image repair theory and situational crisis communication theory (SCCT).