The aim of this Master?s thesis is to study the effects that geographical distance have on the control systems in a scattered organization and how this, ultimately, affects the employees in terms of loyalty and motivation. In order to do this, a case study has been conducted on a multinational travel group and its local branches in Thailand. The study is based on a selected number of theories focusing mainly on control systems in multinational contexts as well as on theories regarding communication and autonomy. The conclusion of the study is that geographical distance has led to a rather large autonomy for the local branches and that the headquarter to a large extent rely more on formal control.

A degree thesis about quality control and assurance in construction. Made in cooperation with Wästbygg. An analysis was made of the self-monitoring control that is conducted during the construction. The data was collected from interviews from personnel employed by Wäsbygg as either work-leader, project-manager or quality- and environmental-coordinator. During the study there was also a review of the literature in the subject.

Recent years have been very turbulent for most private equity firms. Especially the financial meltdown in global economy has affected the industry, but also the public pressure has made private equity houses change their control strategies towards more conventional methods used in public companies. This thesis aims to put light on the control methods used in listed private equity houses which use a buyout strategy. The paper describes how the control methods change over the different phases the asset experience and how different value generating strategies use altered control methods. Using Merchant's (2003) framework for management control systems and Berg and Gottschalg's (2004) research on value generating strategies in buyouts the thesis shows that action controls as designing instructions for the board and a business plan, together with goal alignment is the commonly used control strategy directly after the acquisition.

In this master thesis, control algoritms using arm side sensors are investigated for an industrial robot. The sensors can be position encoders placed after the gearbox and accelerometers on the robot arms. Control strategies are discussed and evaluated for different models of the robot, after which chosen strategies are applied to a realistic model. Control algoritms using arm side sensors (LQ, dual-loop and PD-PID) are compared to a PID-controller that only uses measurements of motor position for feedback control. The comparison are done with respect to disturbance rejection, oscillation damping, robustness and tracking performance of a reference trajectory.

Solid State Drives (SSD) blir idag allt vanligare som lagringsmedium och håller på att bli ett alternativ till magnetiska hårddiskar. Denna studie+ har undersökt hur man på bästa sätt kan utnjytta SSDer i en MySQL-databas. Undersökningen genomfördes med hjälp av experiment där prestandamätningar gjordes för att få en klar bild på i vilken konfiguration av SSDs som ger bäst prestanda i MySQL. Mätverktygen som användes var sql-bench och mysqlslap.   Resultaten visar att en databas på en enskild SSD presterar lika bra som en databas med  SSD-cache  under  majoriteten  av  mätningarna  och  visar  bättre  resultat  än resterande konfigurationerna som var en databas på hårddisk och transaktionsloggen på en SSD. .

Background: The use of reward systems can be of strategic importance as well as an affective mean of control for the organization in its work to achieve its goals. The municipal sector is characterized by its transparency and its responsibility for the taxpayer?s money. We therefore wonder which possibilities the municipal sector has to use reward systems as a men of control. Purpose: We intend to research the possibilities that the reward system offer as a mean of control for employees at the higher municipal level, with a special focus on commitment and motivation.

This thesis examines the approach for implementing strategy that has been applied by the study object, Svenska Spel. The specific approach originates from the theories of Elliot Jaques, whose key proposal is that individuals have different capability of carrying out tasks over different time-spans. The main purpose of the study is to analyze how the approach has influenced the management control systems in use, in order to ensure that the strategy is successfully implemented on corporate as well as operational level. Twenty in debt interviews conducted with employees, representing a vertical cross section throughout the organization, are the main source of the study?s empirical foundation.

Studien syftar till att se hur personlighet, söka-arbete self-efficacy och locus of control påverkas av arbetslöshet. Personlighet mäts enligt Costa & MacCraes fem-faktor modell och avser dimensionerna extroversion, neuroticism, öppenhet, trevlighet och samvetsgrannhet. Hypotesen är att det finns skillnad mellan nyarbetslösa och långtidsarbetslösa avseende personlighet, söka arbete self-efficacy och locus of control. Frågeformulär innehållande påstående om ovanstående faktorer besvarades av en grupp nyarbetslösa och en grupp långtidsarbetslösa. Resultatet visar inga signifikanta skillnader avseende personlighet och söka arbete self-efficacy mellan grupperna.

Background: Many companies have outsourced their IT-operations and their expectations of what this IT-outsourcing will contribute to the business are high. Cost cuts are not always a natural outcome of IT-outsourcing. Many companies that have outsourced their IT-operations consider it to be problematic and complex to exercise management control and reach cost control which was the purpose of the IT-outsourcing. Purpose: To describe and analyze what affect IT-outsourcing has on a company?s management control system and a company?s possibility to exercise cost control.

The change of control clause is nowadays a well used covenant in the Eurobond market, with the aims to protect bondholders in case of a leveraged buyout. This thesis intend to evaluate whether the change of control clause is a new phenomenon in the Eurobond market today and to estimate what have been the driven force for the popularity of it. The thesis found that the change of control clause already existed before and thus it is not a new phenomenon. Several factors where found though to explain the extended use of the clause today. Starting in 2005 the LBO activity increased rapidly, exposing almost every company to the risk of LBO.

Background: Running economy is one of the key factors to achieve top performance in endurance events. Little evidence exists for improving running economy using high-intensity interval training while running. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine how HIIT affects running economy and VO2max. Method: 14 well-trained athletes (age 35 ± 8,9 years, height 175 ± 11,7 cm and weight 69 ± 12,2 kg) were divided into two separate groups (HIIT and Control). HIIT group performed 3 HIIT exercises every week for 4 weeks and Control group continued with their separate training programs consisting of mostly traditional endurance training. Results: Running economy showed no improvement in HIIT (pre 38,62 and post 38,62 ml/kg/min, p=1.00) but Control improved (pre 45,41 and post 43,37 ml/kg/min, p=0,03). VO2max decreased in HIIT (mean 61,32 to 60,84 ml/kg/min) and in Control (mean 61,99 to 58,47 ml/kg/min)..

This thesis aim to investigate the living conditions among marginalized habitants of suburbs in the Swedish welfare state. To approach an understanding of the complexity of marginalized urban areas, this thesis focus on studying the Stockholm suburb Husby in a context of the May riots 2013.The research method used is qualitative interviews with seven informants, who have a connection to the Husby area.The theories applied to the empirical material is Gösta Esping-Andersens theory on welfare state regimes and Loïc Wacquants theory on advanced marginality, also known as ?The new urban poverty?.By observing the complexity of the Husby riots in a contextual aspect of the Swedish welfare state and the living situation in Husby, the analysis has shown that the Swedish welfare model is going through a changing process. This process means a shift from a social democratic welfare model towards a more liberal regime, with an increased privatization of public welfare and a focus on individual responsibility regarding the citizens own living conditions. Husby as an area is characterized by a low socioeconomic status, a high level of unemployment and poor school results.

Background: Running economy is one of the key factors to achieve top performance in endurance events. Little evidence exists for improving running economy using high-intensity interval training while running. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine how HIIT affects running economy and VO2max. Method: 14 well-trained athletes (age 35 ± 8,9 years, height 175 ± 11,7 cm and weight 69 ± 12,2 kg) were divided into two separate groups (HIIT and Control). HIIT group performed 3 HIIT exercises every week for 4 weeks and Control group continued with their separate training programs consisting of mostly traditional endurance training. Results: Running economy showed no improvement in HIIT (pre 38,62 and post 38,62 ml/kg/min, p=1.00) but Control improved (pre 45,41 and post 43,37 ml/kg/min, p=0,03). VO2max decreased in HIIT (mean 61,32 to 60,84 ml/kg/min) and in Control (mean 61,99 to 58,47 ml/kg/min)..

Using interviews conducted within the municipality of Nam Dich, Vietnam, this qualitative study explores how ethnic minority parents and children navigate around the state's supervision in order to preserve their traditional practices of child marriages. Moreover, the research explores the roles and expectations between individuals within an ethnic minority family as a collective unit. Using governmentality supported by the concept of state evasion, culture bearers and empowerment, I argue that understanding child marriage as a phenomenon requires analysis of cultural context. The paper starts with an introduction of the ongoing relation between the Vietnamese state and ethnic minority traditions related to child marriage. While the Vietnamese state ?s modernization projects aim to empower individuals by creating more freedom within the process of marriage and increasing the opportunity for education and work, certain ethnic minority groups want to uphold their cultural ways of marriage when parental arrangement occurs from an early age.

The aim of this thesis is to get a better understanding of how the management control system works at V&S Distillers. V&S Distillers went through an organizational change in the beginning of 2005. The marketing function went from being a country-driven to a category-driven organization. Among other things this resulted in increased cooperation between employees in different geographical locations. We aim to analyze how a geographical distance affects relations and the use of management control.