Technology based self-service (TBSS) used in supermarket self-scanning checkouts is a relatively new phenomenon in Sweden. Studies on TBSS as a self- checkout device have been formerly carried out but with focus on the customer perspective. The authors therefore saw a challenge in covering the self-scan checkout concept, from a company perspective. The purpose of this research paper is to investigate, through a management perspective, the changes brought about by implementing an innovative TBSS system in Swedish supermarkets, and its effect on the competitiveness of the company. This is done by presenting and linking the theoretical framework and empirical study in the research.

The objective of this study was investigating social worker?s perspective of how alcohol consumption can affect, and what elements in the social environment that may be of significance for, alcohol consumption and development of identity. The questions at issue were: Do social workers experience any positive effects from alcohol consumption in 16-17 year-old girls with problematic alcohol consumption and what influence do the effects have on self esteem, self image and development of identity? What do social workers experience are the negative effects from alcohol consumption on self esteem, self image and development of identity? How important do social workers find the social environment and how do they believe the social environment affect the alcohol consumption and development of identity? This was investigated with a qualitative approach from a social worker?s perspective, hence social workers were interviewed. The study?s theoretical basis was Symbolic Interactionism and Erikson?s theory of Psychosocial Development.

Title: Strategies for competition ? a study of the Swedish contact lenses market.Authors: Pernilla AArskog and Annika Lange.Background: As a market gets more mature and the competition increases, it is more important for a company to apply the right strategic perspective. There are four fundamental strategic perspectives for a service-oriented business: a core product-, a price-, an image- and a service perspective. This study is a about service management and take its point from the theories from the Nordic School about strategies for competition, customer value, perceived customer quality and customer loyalty.Purpose: The main purpose with this study is to analyze and evaluate how the actors at the Swedish market of contact lenses should compete to gain further competitive advantages.Method: The study includes four qualitative interviews with two traditional opticians and two Internet based businesses, but also a survey with 106 contact lens users is included.Analysis: In the analyse part of this thesis it was concluded that the traditional opticians conception about their customer not agrees with what the customer evaluate as important. Many of the customers have thought about changing their optician, and besides that do not recommend their optician, and can there for not be categorize as loyal customers.

För att underlätta program-till-programkommunikation har SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) utvecklats. SOA har som mål att bidra med riktlinjer för att det ska bli lättare för två applikationer att kommunicera med varandra (Samtani & Sadhwani 2002a). Web Services är en standard som bygger på SOA-arkitekturen och det som gör Web Services speciellt är att tekniken ska vara plattforms- och språkoberoende (Clabby, 2003).Sun och Microsoft har utvecklat varsin plattform för utveckling av Web Services-applikationer. I denna rapport genomförs en litteraturstudie för att undersöka vilket stöd plattformarna har för utveckling av Web Services och för att ta reda på vilka skillnader som finns mellan plattformarna. Skillnaderna undersöks sedan för att se om de kan leda till problem då en användare vill integrera Web Services skrivna i olika plattformar.Resultatet i denna rapport visar att de båda plattformarna har ett bra stöd för att utveckla Web Service-applikationer.

This essay is a qualitative study about Swedish fire-fighters´ ideas of women and people from other ethnic backgrounds than Swedish. The problem in focus is why there are difficulties for those groups of people to be employed in the Swedish fire service. Can there be ideas of these groups which are not favourable for them? And if this is the case, can those ideas be explained by gender theory about construction of masculinity? The purpose is to investigate whether the absence of women and people from other ethnic backgrounds can be explained by the fire-fighters´ ideas of those groups. The study consisted of a one day observation and four one hour long interviews with fire-fighters from different positions within the Swedish fire service.

The study has shown that retailers in the mid-price segment differentiate their brand through developing a strong company identity around the brand. The personality involves store atmosphere, merchandise and advertising. Larger companies have chosen to lay the responsibility on management level, which facilitates on store level. By controlling the strategies on a central level the company can make sure that the stores are steered in the direction that the company wants them to be steered in, and also that they follow the positioning-concept. The company can also devote its efforts to working with its core value, which is service.

Bauhaus har arbetat fram en ny affärsplan för 2011-2012 där ett internt mål är att bli ?bäst på service?. Ett steg på vägen är ett nytt utbildningsprogram som syftar till att göra medarbetarna mer kundfokuserade. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur personalen respektive ledningen upplever att Bauhaus satsning på nya utbildningar har tillfört större kundfokus inom företaget samt hur den interna kommunikationen skapar förutsättningar för att satsningen ska lyckas. Teoretiskt utgår studien ifrån vad som skapar tjänstekvalité samt hur företag kan påverka tjänstekvalitén.

Bortom historien slut ? Beyond the end of historyAccording to Robert Dahl there are seven criteria that have to be fulfilled in order for a state to be democratic. Dahl also states that there are several factors that effect the development of democracy. In today?s world it is mostly developing countries that have failed to bring about democratic changes.

The main focus of this study was to investigate how Swedish military veterans experience that events during an international service affect them after completed mission. This also includes the contact with their relatives. Secondly, this study deals with the course of the crisis, personal defense mechanisms, cumulative stress and post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD).The study was performed using a qualitative method and comprises individual interviews with six Swedish veterans. The responders were all men of different military positions, who participated in one or more international missions during 1993 to 2011.The results of this study show that, according to the veterans, the return back home is the most strenuous part of an international mission. With all the new experiences that an international service brings fresh in their memories, it is hard to re-adjust to the life of a civilian.In connection with the return back home, different degrees of stress reactions were also commonly seen, for example sleep disturbance, restlessness and exhaustion.

Rapid urbanization causes competition over land use between green area preservation and urban development in cities and greatly affects ecosystems as well as human well-being. This conflict is significant all around the world as many cities are now replacing existing green areas with new developments. The area around Dag Hammarskjöld's väg in Uppsala is currently experiencing the same conflict, as the need that the city has for new housing represents a threat for the many valuable green areas that are in the site. The purpose of this project was to understand how the need of urban development and the preservation of green areas could be balanced. This understanding would thereafter be used to make a design proposal for the area around Dag Hammarskjöld's väg.

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 aim of this thesis is to examine the term balanced collection in relation to Swedish laws and the democratic assignment. The Unesco Public Library Manifesto states that libraries are to formulate a policy defining objectives, priorities and services in relation to local community needs. The Swedish Libraries Act, paragraph 7, states that municipalities and counties shall adopt plans for library services. To fulfil our aim we will answer the following questions. By which terms is the democratic assignment visible in Swedish public libraries collection development policies? Is the term balanced collection used in Swedish public libraries collection development policies? If not, are there categories describing balanced collection? Do the terms in Swedish collection development policies differ to the six categories found by Farooq M.

The aim of this essay has been to find out whether the individual development plan does make it easier to teachers to discover any needs of the students to get education or material changes and by that make adjustments in the classroom. I chose to seek information by interviewing special educators at four compulsory schools, since they have an overall apprehension of how the work is carried out at the school, especially the work with students in need of any form of extra support.All students at the Swedish compulsory school shall have an individual development plan. The purpose with the plan is, besides that the student is to be given possibilities to form his own pedagogical and social goals, that the teacher shall get early signals if a student may be in need of getting education and materials changed and adjusted for to easier manage his studies. The individual development plan of the student should have the function as a tool to the teacher to facilitate for his students.The answer of my question can be sum-up in a no, the inherent potential in the individual development plan is not utilized by the teachers that seem to have the apprehension that the plan is for the student all by him/herself. The teaching staff has obviously not understood the use they can get out of it. .

The study has shown that retailers in the mid-price segment differentiate their brand through developing a strong company identity around the brand. The personality involves store atmosphere, merchandise and advertising. Larger companies have chosen to lay the responsibility on management level, which facilitates on store level. By controlling the strategies on a central level the company can make sure that the stores are steered in the direction that the company wants them to be steered in, and also that they follow the positioning-concept. The company can also devote its efforts to working with its core value, which is service.

The increased interest in relationship marketing and the potential of the Internet as a platform for relationship building activities have given rise to new ways for companies to interact with their customers, such as services based on a freemium pricing model. Based on the premise that relationships are processes consisting of interactive moments of value-creating activities, value is considered subjective, relative and dependent on the context in which the activity takes place. Value is therefore variable given its context and cannot be pre-defined without nuances being lost. Despite the Internet's given role in societal development, our understanding of what contributes to customers' intentions to build relationships with online services is yet to mature.As the music industry is well established on the Internet, alongside the change in how music is consumed, it is thus appropriate to examine activities in accordance with a freemium based service that distributes music online, since it still lacks in academic understanding.This study aims to provide insights about virtual relations and how online services that provide cultural content should relate to there users as well as contributing to the ongoing academic discussion regarding value and how it is manifested by highlighting contextual impact on relational activities. For a rapprochement of relations to online services in cultural industries, this study assumed a practice perspective.