This paper exemplifies how the physical environment affects clients? experienced service quality and how companies work with the physical environment. In the empiric study, we conducted a case study and studied two hairdressing saloons. The study showed a connection between physical environment and experienced service quality in the business of hairdressing. Owners of hairdressing saloons perceive that a combination of the personal meeting and the physical environment influence the clients? general impression and their experience of quality.

The purpose of the study was based on scientific literature to describe the quality of life of persons who have undergone a total hip replacement. The method was a descriptive literature review. The results showed that pain was the most obvious change after surgery. Mild pain before surgery was strongly associated with mild pain after surgery. But despite less pain were experienced early, it took 1 year to achieve the full benefits of improved physical function.

The Sweden democrats are a political party that has had a time of success duringthe last year. However many people believe them to be a racist party, in contrastto how they view themselves and their political message. How is it possible thatthe views of the same party differ to this extent, it seems to be a large ambiguityin their message. Rhetoric is a tool that everybody uses in some way or anotherand can be crucial to how a political party is perceived by people. Can thereforethe use of rhetoric be a factor that has contributed to the different perception of theparty and if so, in which way?With the help of theories such as semiotics, classical rhetoric and antiestablishmentstrategy, different texts, such as motions, and pictures published bythe Sweden democrats can be analyzed to find ways they use rhetoric.In the analysis it was obvious that they used rhetoric, even though therhetorical quality differed between the leading persons in the party and the peoplewho represented the Sweden democrats in the local government.

This study explores employees subjective experience of their employment relation before and during an outsourcing process and has its starting point in the concept of the psychological contract. Eight employees, in the process of being outsourced, were interviewed. The focus was on ?the employees? individual experiences and stories about the subjective and perceived employment relationship. Data were analyzed using basic qualitative analysis.

AbstractThe control of quality standard ISO 9001 has made the internal audit to be experienced as police authority and paragraph control. Because of that, motivation for internal auditors is low. To counteract the experience, there is a possibility to integrate internal audit with improvements in company?s processes. Theory has shown that a qualified and competent auditor can provide information that can help the organization's managements to make the right decisions that will improve product quality and result in new customer contracts.An opportunity to observe an internal and external audit at one of the case companies gave rise to this study.

Considering water quality, landuse and reducion of wetland area in the watershed of Tidan, areas witch are in need of constructions to improve the water quality are identified. Constructions are suggested to be located within the smaller streams in the watershed, so that the water is treated before it reaches the stream Tidan..

This study aimed to explore the perceived role and mandate of civil servants employed in municipalities in Kronoberg county. The study aimed to answer the question whether civil servants engaged in municipal economics have different perspectives on their mandate and role based on how said civil servants implement and manage policy tools available in Swedish municipalities. The study aimed to through policy tools theory explain how civil servants through four categories view the policy tools employed in the municipality. The study is based on the reasoning that policy tools influences exercise of authority that in turn influences view on policy tools. In order to study civil servants perspective on perceived mandate and role interviews were conducted with a sample of civil servants from each of the eight municipalities in Kronoberg county.

The aim with our paper has been to get a picture of which factors one of the heterogeneous group that we've chosen of old persons, 75-90 years, in Scania, in south Sweden, have experienced to be of importance for their life quality today and what they wish to preserve of their actual life style when they eventually shall use the elderly care. Also how their individual life course has influenced their experience of the quality of life.We found this subject interesting as the group of old people in the society is constantly increasing and when the group becomes bigger, then greater demands will be put on the elderly care. We have proceeded from a standpoint that all people are unique individuals and that people become what they are from their life histories and from the choices they have made during their life. We have used the life course theory that says that one should see the individual in his/her wholeness and the whole life history of a person in order to understand him/her. We have also studied earlier research concerning the different determinants of the life quality.

Although Lean has received an increased amount of attention in the service context, research still has not established how successfully Lean manages to increase service productivity; since service productivity consists of both efficiency and quality. Research regarding productivity discusses the risk of a tradeoff between efficiency and quality in service production processes. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore if the tradeoff in a production setting with low variability in demand and low customer participation exists, after Lean has been implemented. With a qualitative approach, a case study has been conducted at Scandinavian Airlines Ground Handling to evaluate the effects of Lean in the baggage handling process. The result of the study shows that the tradeoff has not been overcome; efficiency has increased at the expense of quality.

Service quality occurs in service encounters where both customers and employees come together in an interaction. It is therefore important that the staff give their best because the interaction usually takes place in real time, which is referred to as the moment of truth.The aim of this study was to find out how luxury hotels are working to ensure good service quality, and how the staff are motivated to deliver this service. We wanted to examine this from a management perspective, and an employee perspective. Information was gathered through various interviews, where the staff at the Hotel Kämp in Helsinki and at the Sheraton Hotel Stockholm participated.Survey results show that employee motivation, training and empowerment have a significant impact to provide service in high quality. The results also show that the surveyed hotel, to certain level work in the same way, but it reveals some differences even when both hotels are part of the same concern..

This thesis treats the topic of user-generated comments connected with news stories on news sites, meaning electronic word-of-mouth combined with PR. The writers have examined how different types of comments affect consumers' perception of the article and also what communication effects these comments generate in terms of attitudes, purchase intent and word-of-mouth intent. The results interesting to the news site owners, is that lots of comments and negative comments generate a negative effect by making the actual article less credible, attractive and worth reading (relative to the subsequent comments). On the positive side, serious comments imply that the news story is perceived as more interesting, than a news story followed by non-serious comments. From a brand equity perspective, the interesting results show that few comments compared to lots of comments, generate a better attitude to the brand, even though there is no difference in how positive or negative the comments are.

The rise of social media has put a focus on the division of owned, paid and earned media, where earned media has recently been hyped at the expense of owned and paid media. Due to a novel area we examine the differences and effects of using owned and paid media, specifically for packaging versus newspapers. Owned and paid media showed no significant differences regarding credibility, persuasion and perceived commerciality, which restored owned media?s status, especially since owned media is more cost efficient. The effects of allowing ads for external brands on the owned medium were also studied.

Event marketing's ability to create strong communication effects is a well-known fact and a contributing factor to its popularity in the world of marketing today. But while we know that it is the interaction between consumers and the brand within the scope of live marketing that gives rise to loyalty and purchase intention, we have no knowledge in how the company's efforts affect the outcome. As the investments in event marketing are growing at a comparatively high pace, it is urgent to obtain a deeper understanding and a sense of direction of the elements infuencing its success.In this study we investigate in what way and to what extent the amount of effort that a company puts into the making of an event is used as a signal of manufactor credibility, ability (i.e., expertise) and consumer care. And in what way and to what extent the perceived effort influence purchase intent, attitude and word-of-mouth. We also analyze marketing events in terms of the theory of equitable exchange and "desperation", a subject matter thus far only touched upon.As we identify two different types of events on the market today, we include both in our study: the in-store promotion related event and the party event, which is held in an external venue.

Nine out of ten larger companies have an intranet today which is supposed to improve the communication withinthe company and save money. A great part of these intranets were established in the beginning of the 1990?swithout giving any thought to the users and their needs. How does the communication inside the corporationslook like when the intranets that are supposed to be the source for every information request, aren?t usable? Whatother sources do the users use and how much?The aim of this master thesis is to examine information source selection at a specific company.

Considering water quality, landuse and reducion of wetland area in the watershed of Tidan, areas witch are in need of constructions to improve the water quality are identified. Constructions are suggested to be located within the smaller streams in the watershed, so that the water is treated before it reaches the stream Tidan..