It has become more and more common that companies in the service sector are beginning to understand their own effect on the environment and thus the need to contribute to a sustainable development through acting in a deliberate way. Serious environmental work can help a company to improve their image and in that way win competitive advantage that leads to improved profitability. In a short time perspective, adjustment to the environment is an opportunity to gain competitive advantage and an opportunity to develop a profile. In a long time perspective it is about survival. The environmental work has become a sequel to the work with quality.

Thesis purposeThe study aims to examine the effects vertical and horizontal line extensions might have on the total parent brand equity in terms of strength and its baseline product regarding of market share, loyalty and penetration under an elapsed period of time. The study aims to investigate a number of actual conducted line extensions effect on the above mentioned aspects of Kellers (1993) definition of brand strength as a part of the total brand equity. MethodologyThe effect of a number of line extensions of the parent brands and the baseline products is being examined in terms of market share, loyalty rate, cannibalization and market penetration. The thesis is focused on the correlations between these different parameters during a certain elapsed time ratio in order to test our theoretically routed hypothesizes in a deductive manner. Occasional correlations are derived from an indexation of data collected from the Gfk database.

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..

This report is about helping Q-Med AB in Uppsala to start its implementation of uncertainty of measurements analyses in their manufacturing department. Prior to this, the company relied solely on personal experience or did not take this uncertainty into consideration at all during different kind of measurements, which means that some of the processes that the company previously believed were within specified acceptance limits, will actually fail when considering these sources of uncertainties.Q-Med AB needed some sort of instruction to help the company, in a systematic way, to investigate different types of disorders that are affecting all kinds of measurements. This instruction includes a short summary about measurements and uncertainty of measurements in general and a detailed procedure about how these uncertainties are going to be handled in their daily work.The goal was to be able to use this instruction to systematically locate, eliminate (when possible) and analyze all kinds of disorders when measuring. Q-Med is using a lot of different types of instruments when measuring different types of quantities, including temperature, mass, pressure and density. This instruction will hereafter be used for every instrument, regardless of quantity and type of instrument.The instruction is tested through 4 different kinds of measurements, for mass, temperature and humidity.

During my final examination project, I have been working with a design process to develop a new set of candle lanterns for the company Sagaform AB. This company has a large and significant role on the Swedish interior design and retail market. The assignment was developed when the company stated that they would like to supplement and expand its existing range of products. The research and surveys I have done have helped me to create eight different concepts and one of them ready to compete with the existing candle lanterns on the market. The result of my concept proposal expected to be included in Sagaform?s 2013 spring catalogue. During the project I have developed 3D-rendered images, a physical model, and a solid foundation for making prototypes. The Balloon has an attractive design language that fits both every day and more festive events.

Venture capital firms and private equity firms have been the subject of much controversy in the last decade. During this period economies throughout the world have seen a steady increase of these types of firms as owners of companies. In Sweden this has certainly been the case and many argue that this trend will continue to grow stronger in the future. This trend is by many regarded as dangerous and as a threat to the ownership model that has characterized the Swedish economy for decades. Family ownership has been widely regarded as the most beneficial and responsible ownership model in Sweden.

Syftet med studien var att beskriva hur mammor och pappor upplever BVC kontakten. Totalt deltog tio mammor och tio pappor och data samlades in via intervjuer. Resultatet visade att både mammor och pappor överlag var nöjda med BVC personalens bemötande. De flesta respondenterna ansåg att BVCs verksamhet riktades mer till mammorna. Papporna beskrev att de ville få större möjlighet till delaktighet i BVC.

Inledning: Att vara tonåring och leva med en svårt sjuk och döende förälder är påfrestade och det finns en ökad risk att detta på lång sikt påverkar det psykologiska välbefinnandet. För att kunna stödja dessa tonåringar och förebygga risk för framtida psykisk ohälsa behöver vi ta reda på mer om deras upplevelser.Frågeställningar: Hur upplever tonåringar att ha en svårt sjuk och döende förälder?- Upplevelse av den egna livssituationen- Upplevelse av familjens livssituation- Upplevelse av delaktighet- Upplevelse av förberedelseMetod: Tematisk analys (Hayes 2000). Upprepade retrospektiva intervjuer med tonåringar som förlorat en förälder, som erhållit palliativ vård, inom ett år efter förlusten. Kvalitativ analys användes för att analysera resultatet.Resultat: Samtliga tonåringar upplever ett ökat ansvar.

Leadership is essential for every company. Its strength or weakness of direction, clarity, and evaluation affects success or failure of its organization. With the complex structure of the big and global companies today leadership is more challenging. The traditional view of leadership, with the single individual possessing all the competences and skills, is therefore being challenged by an alternative way of leadership, a shared leadership. Existing research on the subject is still scarce, which makes further studies in this field important.

Introduction When a child comes into a family changing conditions for the older sibling, who may feel left out. This can be a problem for parents who face new challenges towards the older sibling, which can lead to parents looking for advice and support. Parenting is an activity that strengthens the role of parents and provides information about children's health and social development. Purpose The purpose is to describe the parents' experiences of support in their parental role by participating in the sibling circle. Method Semi-structured focus group interview was conducted and qualitative content analysis was performed.

Background and Problem: Human Resources are considered one of the most important assets when competing with other companies. There are a lot of studies made in general on the subject while studies considering a specific context are missing. To consider the context when adapting a HR-strategy is interesting as the structure of the organization and the environment affects both the organization and the individuals within it. To study how the controversial context affects an organization is particularly interesting as the context is subject for discussion in the society.Aim: The study's purpose is to investigate how Human Resources are handled in a controversial business and to identify success factors when adapting the strategy to the controversial context.Methodology: The study started out by collecting theories connected to the subject with Fombrun, Devanna & Tichys HR-cycle. Interview questions where made based on the theories and answered by three of the case company's employees, whom all are well familiar with the case company's HR-strategy.Conclusion: We have come to the conclusion that there are no remarkable differences when handling Human Resources in a controversial context then in earlier published theories.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the working method partnering has been welcomed in the Swedish construction company NCC and find possible explanations to this. The theoretical background used to understand and discuss our findings mainly builds on value and network dynamics. The empirical study is of a qualitative nature and builds upon 13 semi-structured interviews and the participation in a two-day start up workshop with 21 representatives from involved parties. The study shows that partnering has been positively accepted at NCC. Possible explanations for this can be found in the contrast the method represents to the traditional way of working within the construction industry.

This study deals with sustainability reporting in three governmental and three non-governmental Swedish companies in different industries. With increasing demands from the society regarding company?s CSR - Corporate social responsibility, the perspective of accounting gets broader and covers even non-financial information to meet not only the owners? demands but also others stakeholders' requirements. Sustainability has become an important tool for creating company?s business value and a positive sustainable external image.

The importance of internal communication within companies has increased in recent years. However, there are still a number of companies that are not adapted to the modern world and the new modes of communication the Internet provides. This study evaluates the internal communication of a medium sized company by holding semistructured interviews with the employees. The goal of the interviews was to develop a requirement specification. This requirement specification was later used as the basis to analyze possible aids for the internal communication of the company.

 AbstractSystem methodology is in the very heart of system development, it is a crucial part of how you define your work, how you choose to approach the actual problem at hand and how to solve it. Researchers in the system development field has shown that not all methods in theory are in compliance with how it is practiced by the companies who use them. In our thesis we have studied a larger international IT- company and one of their local offices in Sweden, who some years back changed their system development method from a more traditional to an agile one. Our aim of this study has been to establish whether both of these methods has differed between theory and in actual use, and if so, why this has occurred and what the underlying rationality might have been to promote this change. Our questions that we sought to answer were; 1.