We are currently in the midst of the current information revolution and it is increasinglyimportant to allocate and utilize the resources spent on IT. To accomplish this, one solutioncould be to work together with IT. For municipalities, this can be a complicated process whenyou are dependent on the resources that are given and subject to laws regarding procurement,this places great demands on the Swedish municipalities.One solution could be to work collaboratively with IT across municipal borders, this studyexamines the advantages and disadvantages of this. The study was conducted using interviewand survey of various municipalities in the Gothenburg region. The study shows that there isjoint work across municipal boundaries but that communication sometimes fails, this provesamong other things that some communities feel they have a Partnership with a municipality,while the other sees that they have no Partnership.With the results from the study are discussed and problematized the current conditions thatexist between the municipalities today, and how they could change.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the Swedish relations to Nato and by doing so see on what terms the cooperation is executed and why. However, Sweden is not a member of Nato and is thereby not seen as an ally of the organization but even so Sweden has a close cooperation with Nato. The theories used in this essay is The Rational Actor Model and The Organizational Behaviour Model by Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow. To this a number of additional theorises are used as to complement these two main theories. The aim with these theories is to see which one gives the most satisfying explanation of the Swedish strategy to cooperate with Nato and still not be a member of the alliance or if all theorises are needed.

In 1998 a new regional development policy was introduced by the Swedish government. A central feature in the policy was the formation of Partnerships at the regional level. The Partnerships were meant to consist of local and regional stakeholders, representing a great variety of interests, who would collaborate in order to improve regional development. The new policy was promoted, besides being more efficient, as a way to broaden political participation and to break male-dominated structures.This thesis discusses whether the regional Partnership actually favours ?women's interests?, in terms of how the relationship of power between women and men is constituted by the model.

The purpose of this article is to describe the discourse in which public-private Partnership (PPP) resides, within the Swedish parliament, in the field of infrastructure. I have chosen to look at the latest three years deliberation where PPP appears in parliament bills.This case study is based upon discourse as a qualitative method. Five indicator signs which is history, comparison, geographic location, vision of growth potential and solution controls the context of PPPThe result of the analysis was that a clear discourse was unravelled. A first rather surprising conclusion shows that it is possible to disconnect the discourse from PPP. PPP is not important by itself, the result shows that it only play the part of possible solution to the problems related to the discourse and does not have any value in its own.This result lead the conclusion that PPP is no more than a tool for politicians to get as much out of their infrastructural aims as possible, as rational vote-maximizing actors.

Business is changing and so are society?s expectations. Companies are expected to take responsibility for their trade and the context they are operating in, by looking at socially, economically and environmentally aspects. Many companies handle it by implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) to their line of action. This is often handled by collaborating with other organisations, such as non-governmental organisations.

The main argument of the thesis is that multinational companies (MNCs) can promote democracy through corporate social responsibility (CSR). MNCs hold some prerequisites giving them the means to create positive changes. But they lack one important prerequisite: knowledge about local conditions. Therefore the best CSR result is reached through Partnerships with local NGOs.H&M's CSR-work in Bangladesh, including a Partnership with the Bangladeshi women's rights organisation Karmojibi Nari, serves as an illustrating case. It is argued that the CSR-work promotes democracy through strengthening the civil society, through indirectly implementing national laws concerning labour legislation and human rights and through raising awareness about rights and legislation among the workers.The CSR process changes the terms for both NGOs and MNCs.

This essay revolves around Partnerships established between local authorities and civil society to promote integration in segregated urban areas. The main focus is on who is active in formulating the local integration policy in these Partnerships. The analysis is based on qualitative interviews with representatives from the local public administration and from different parts of civil society in Rosengård and Södra innerstaden in Malmö. The conclusion is that local authorities to a large extent decide the content of integration policy. The authorities, in having the major responsibility of the integration projects, decide what parts of civil society to involve and what projects will promote integration.

Denna studie handlar om EU som normativ makt i området för EU:s östliga partnerskap (Eastern Partnership/EP). Med utgångspunkt från säkerhetsgemenskapsteori och konstruktivism undersöks EU:s försök att sprida sina normer och intensifiera kopplingarna till länderna Moldavien och Armenien, som omfattas av European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) och EP. Studien finner att EU:s strategi för att intensifiera kopplingarna till Moldavien och Armenien är mycket lika, där utvecklingen av praktikergemenskaper verkar vara något som EU särskilt vill prioritera och etablera redan i ett inledande skede för att partnerlandet skall acceptera de normer, värden och uppfattningar om intressen som utgör ramverket för EU:s kollektiva identitet. Men det verkar som att ländernas förmåga, möjlighet och vilja att tillmötesgå ramverket skiljer sig åt, och att det är där vi kan hitta förklaringen till varför EU mer framgångsrikt spridit sina normer till Moldavien än till Armenien ? ett faktum som denna studie argumenterar för ytterst visat sig genom Moldaviens godkännande av EU:s bindande samarbetsavtal Association Agreement, och Armeniens avvisande av samma avtal till förmån för en tullunion ledd av Ryssland.  .

Because of a more globalised world the national states have been forced to make structural changes at both national, regional and local level to cope with different challenges. The regional community has become an important area which has resulted in a policy of more self governing, both for the regional and the local level.The aim of the thesis is to study the relation between regional and local level in the Partnerships organisation. To fulfil the aim of the thesis, a case study of Region Skåne is used. The analyse is based on expressions such as cooperation, conflict, power and influence.The result of the thesis confirms that the opinion between the regional and the local level is very different. The representatives from Region Skåne experience the cooperation as quite good because it creates an opportunity for discussions and a possibility to learn from the other actors which in turn creates a qualification in the exchange of knowledge.

External forces have significant impact on organisations. This study analyzes the implications of one type of external forces in aid-focused NGOs through two qualitative case studies where it is investigated if Sida?s reporting requirements have the intended effects: learning and control using a theoretical framework where it is recognised that the requirements may also result in dysfunctional behaviour: decoupling and colonisation. The study shows that when the demands are the result of institutional pressure rather than an ambition to generate learning and control, the demands tend to be unrealistic and the NGOs therefore decouple the formal fulfilment of the demands from the actual activities. It is argued that a Partnership, which incorporates trust and dialogue, is a prerequisite, not only for learning, but also control.

External forces have significant impact on organisations. This study analyzes the implications of one type of external forces in aid-focused NGOs through two qualitative case studies where it is investigated if Sida?s reporting requirements have the intended effects: learning and control using a theoretical framework where it is recognised that the requirements may also result in dysfunctional behaviour: decoupling and colonisation. The study shows that when the demands are the result of institutional pressure rather than an ambition to generate learning and control, the demands tend to be unrealistic and the NGOs therefore decouple the formal fulfilment of the demands from the actual activities. It is argued that a Partnership, which incorporates trust and dialogue, is a prerequisite, not only for learning, but also control.

The overarching goal of this paper is to explain the intensive occurrence of Partnerships ? regarded as a specific organizational structure ? in the formulation and implementation of Regional Growth Programs.By using theoretical concepts from new institutionalism, the paper tries to examine the explanatory capacity of this theory in the specific case of Partnerships. The basis is a skeptical stance towards the conventional interpretation that views Partnerships as rational organizational tools. Hence, the purpose of the paper is also to compare our own institutional explanation with the conventional.The paper finds that the occurrence of Partnerships can be understood as the effect of an intensive institutional pressure. The government has, in what we regard as the institution for regional development, prescribed the Partnership as a rational solution ? a rationalized myth - to the regional growth problem.

Kevin Roberts has extended the comprehension of strong consumer brands to a higher level where loyalty beyond reason is established. He calls this new status Lovemarks. As the concept of Lovemark has only been applied in B2C markets, this thesis is directed to find out the applicability of Lovemarks in B2B context. In order to fulfill the research purpose, three main questions are answered based on a cross-sectional research approach: What role do intangible factors play in B2B branding? Is the idea of B2C Lovemarks transferable to B2B context? How should a B2B Lovemark be characterized? The results of the qualitative interviews indicate insights of high investment and involvement, integrated brand communication, balance between function versus emotion, brand?s trustworthy personality, customer Partnership, and finally, the potential establishment of B2B Lovemarks.

The project has involved the development of two kinds of shooting targets in Partnership with Marcus Bergkvist and Christopher Åkerblom. The project from the client was divided into two parts. This thesis discusses solutions for hands-on transport, development of tripods and an overall design. The second thesis affect resetting systems for the products.The work was done with a process and methodology based on design perspectives. This process has involved the search of relevant data which has provided the platform and opportunity for appropriate and purposeful design work.Concept development has been done using hand sketches and Photoshop, where a simple visualization of different concepts for the tripods has been produced.

The project has involved the development of two kinds of shooting targets in Partnership with Marcus Bergkvist and Christopher Åkerblom. The project from the client was divided into two parts. This thesis discusses solutions for hands-on transport, development of tripods and an overall design. The second thesis affect resetting systems for the products.The work was done with a process and methodology based on design perspectives. This process has involved the search of relevant data which has provided the platform and opportunity for appropriate and purposeful design work.Concept development has been done using hand sketches and Photoshop, where a simple visualization of different concepts for the tripods has been produced.