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.

Background: Once upon a time the most important resources in an economy were tangible goods. Historically, Swedish company culture has been dominated by engineering and techni-cal innovation has been the focal point. Today, Intangible values drive product development and form a company?s differentiation. Intangibles have therefore become the most prominent resources in a company.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate how the literary site Vulkan.se affects the conditions for publishing, distribution, incorporation in value systems and feedback in the literary process, as it appears in Lars Furuland?s model of this process. The purpose is also to propose an updated version of the model. This is achieved through a qualitative testing of Furuland?s theory.

The purpose of this study is to look at the line extensions of the Swedish dairy company Skånemejerier. We have chosen to focus on how trends in ecological products and Functional Food influence the line extensions. The competition in the food sector have made it harder for companies to be seen in the market area and the companies have to make their brands more visible. That is one of the reasons why companies work with line extensions. The study is based on a qualitative approach because we wanted to come closer to our subject in order to establish a greater understanding for the case itself.

In Stockholm there are currently five women, out of a total of 102 employees, working in public sports arenas. In sports arenas men are numerically superior amongst the workers as well as the visitors. These arenas are in many ways male dominated, masculinized environments. In this essay I investigate the reasons behind the uneven distribution, in terms of gender, among sports arena workers. I do this by interviewing seven female sports arena workers (the five current and two former), and by observing their workplaces.

The purpose with this study is that examine if the contingency factors as sort of market and competition can affect the companies, which means of control they apply..

The civilization has taken a step from the industry society to a service oriented culturewhere the physical differences between different products have decreased in value for the customers. The differentiation is more about senses, esthetical symbols and design. Modern economy is more and more focused on consuming and produce dreams and lifestyles. Maybe are we ready to face a new era; the society of experiences?Can the trend that is striving towards experiences really be adapted to all markets? This question started our quest to see how the real-estate market would be able to be adapted to this new economy.

The aim of this research review is to map research about how children relate to nonfiction, and how adults, represented by parents, librarians and teachers, relate to children?s nonfiction and its possible purposes, and also the similarities and differences between them, according to current research.A theory of three different ways to look at reading is applied to the material concerning adults? views of children?s nonfiction. To show children?s views, themes are extracted from the research material, using an analysis model of four different ways to read.Studies show that most children as well as adults perceive children?s nonfiction in a traditional way as a means to gain knowledge and facts, and primarily related to school work.Nonfiction can also help children with reading difficulties to practise reading, by stimulating their interests. Many children read nonfiction because they prefer to read ?real stories? about actual people and events.

Automatic trimmerhead is an examination project for making an automatic trimmerhead for grass trimmers with the user and functionality in focus. Our perception is that a happy user is a user who can pick up his or her trimmer, use it and put it back to its place when the job is done. It should not be necessary to interrupt work and perform maintenance on the machine just to make it work as promised.The project has been made in collaboration with the company Husqvarna, which is one of the biggest actors dealing with garden machinery on the market. Together we determined the project goal, ?To invent, construct and test a brand new concept for how an automatic trimmerhead can look and function?.At this day there are several different automatic trimmerheads on the market, both semi and fully automatic.

Computers and business systems are used more frequently in a world where IT gradually is taking over. This is also true when it comes to the real estate valuation process where actors on the Swedish real estate market are using automatic valuation systems for real estate appraisal. But the real estate agents have not yet seen the charm in using these automatic valuation systems for real estate appraisal. Can the real estate agents also use the automatic valuation systems? We developed our three main subjects: the valuation process, an automatic valuation system and the real estate market with assistance from scientific articles.

The purpose of this study is to investigate and increase the understanding of how the two commercial companies IKEA and SAS and the two aid organizations/nonprofit organizations UNICEF and Save the Children use perceptions of Christmas to produce messages in their Christmas advertising/commercial film. The study also discusses if there may be communicative and pictorial similarities and differences in how these brands constructs messages in commercials, and why it may be that the brands choose to use these messages in commercials based on the recipient possible interpretations. The theories used in this study are promotional culture, framing theory, preferred meaning, semiotics (denotation and connotation), myth and rhetoric (ethos, pathos and logos). The method used to answer the purpose and issues are the qualitative method that uses the theories semiotic and rhetoric to analyze the material. The study's results derived from the qualitative content analyzes of the material (the brands IKEA, SAS, UNICEF and Save the Children Christmas advertising films) show that IKEA message might want to show that they want to help the customer and that they pay attention to the customer needs.

The goal of our research is to give the general picture of the attitudes of immigrants to their own integration process into the Swedish society, focusing on the feeling of belonging, satisfaction with the social network, as well as confidence in the future. Moreover, in our study, we investigate a possible relation between the attitudes of the immigrants to the above-mentioned variables and their age and education. The research is based on a quantitative questionnaire investigation, which comprises all Sfi students at level D in the northeastern part of Skåne county. The research shows that the majority are open to the Swedish culture and traditions, keeping, at the same time, their own native traditions. Four out of five think that the Swedish language is important for integration.

A protection helmet for young people (3-7 years) in winter environment has been developed in this thesis. The result is a concept proposal for development at STIGA Sports AB in Eskilstuna. This thesis work has been performed during 20 weeks, for a Master of Science in Product and Process development at Mälardalen University Eskilstuna Sweden in September 2009 to January 2010. The helmet is shown as a CAD model with detailed solutions to the outer shell, interior and adjustability (in sizes 50-56 cm) which are the three focused areas in the development. Also a physical model in scale 1:1 has been developed and is shown in this thesis work.To achieve the best result possible the process started with an analysis of the market and the product.

The purpose of this report is to create and develop a model that streamlines and helps the innovationprocess of an idea owner and also in the development of ideas.This model should be able to apply for workshops and in innovation advice or business devlopment. I used the qualitative method in my essay just to get a maximum clear data collection, where the seven respondents were included in the interviews. However, much of the information retrieved from the theory books and research/science articles, in order to answer the research/Sceince question in the best possible way.

Work gets more seamless and the demand on workers increases because of changes in the labour market. Studies show benefits for workers and companies if the employee achieves a balance between work and family, a way to facilitate it is family-friendly policies. A study done by Unionen shows that three out of four white collar workers choose to vobba (working and caring for a sick child), which blurs the boundaries between work and family. Research on flexibility, organisational culture and gender structures shows how these aspects affect the balance between work and family. This is a study where seven white collar workers (three men) that vobbar and two managers (one man) were interviewed.