In this report the two authors, and project contributors alike, describe their work withdeveloping a solar cooker intended for usage in the developing countries of the world.Specifically, the work aims at developing a new, solar heat driven cooking device, possiblybased upon the current product. This should, in comparison to the current product, be lighter,easier to transport and to produce. Also, the new product?s production mustn?t be more costlythan today and the included materials and components must be obtainable from within theBolivian national borders where the product is currently produced. During the project, certainadvantages with a more efficient, and, above all, a more moderately priced product, werediscovered.

In 1993 the internal market within the European Union was formed and ensured free movement of goods, services, capital and people. This led to the removal of trade barriers between members of the European Union. When opening up for competition, price differences between countries decreased and more jobs were created. A single currency was introduced by eleven countries in 1999 with the goal of reducing transaction costs, eliminating exchange rate risk and to further simplify trade. In 2001 Greece joined the collaboration and introduced the euro.

The swedish song contest ?Melodifestivalen? is the most popular TV-show in Sweden according to number of viewers. Not only has it managed to remain the viewers? number-one choice year after year, it has also engaged a lot of the viewers (2, 4 millions in this year?s final) to vote for their favourite song. Melodifestivalen is classified as a creative organisation since it has evident elements of creativity in its process, product and among its employees.

The thesis aims to analyze strategic, cultural and structural aspects of Grameen Bank and its micro-credit project, in order to identify key success factors. A case study was performed with an inductive and qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews. The data was collected by field observations and interviews on site in Dhaka, Bangladesh and surrounding areas.The main conclusion is that the critical success factor of Grameen Bank is the relationship focus, guiding and aligning its strategy, culture and structure. Also, local offices have been observed to utilize practices not permitted by the bank?s management, ultimately increasing the organizational efficiency..

Without being aware of it, cognitive processes continuously take place in our heads. We are forced to fill in the information gaps that we meet in our everyday life in order to create an understanding and to form a whole, and that?s where the importance of inference comes in. To create inference implies creating meaning from something that is not explicitly given. Having knowledge about this process offers great possibilities, while not taking it into account may involve risks.

ITT Flygt is a world leading company that mainly manufactures submersible pumps. A problem of ITT Flygt is that product development projects rarely manage to hold the estimated project time. It shows that something unexpected occurs in projects quite often, which results in delays. The delays can both be due to an optimistic time plan of projects and risks in product development projects which are not discovered at an early stage. This added with unforeseen delays makes it difficult for ITT Flygt to estimate the duration of their projects.The goal with the Master thesis is to examine a suitable method for simulation of project time.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the existence and prevalence of earnings management in Swedish companies. Theoretical frameworks often suggest that there are strong incentives to practice earnings management. The research area of earnings management has, to date, mainly focused on detecting earnings management. However, to our knowledge, no such studies have been conducted on Swedish companies. This thesis provides evidence of the existence and prevalence of earnings management in Swedish companies.

This Master of Science thesis project handles issues around managing data from the digital tachographsystem. European legislation states that companies must download the data of the digital tachograph systemand store it for at least one year for control purposes. The system stores data on the vehicle unit located inthe driving compartment and on smart cards personal for each driver.Acquiring data from the previous analogue tachograph was done instantaneously since the data wasphysically printed to a circular paper chart when driving. To acquire data from the digital system one mustperform a download from the vehicle unit and later transfer it to some form of backup solution for longterm storage. Data must also be downloaded from the driver smart cards.Download of data from the vehicle unit is the most time consuming task and may take up to 30minutes pervehicle.

Uppsatsen är baserad på en fallstudie gjord på Tetra Pak. Syftet med fallstudien var att utforma en lista med faktorer att som bör beaktas för att ett införande av ett Competence Management-system ska bli framgångsrikt. Tillvägagångssättet i fallstudien har varit en dokumentstudie och ett antal intervjuer. Använda teorier är hämtade från områdena Change Management, Knowledge Management, Competence Management och Human Resource Management. Undersökning resulterade i ett antal intressanta faktorer som bör beaktas.

The Hunter?s Bend project is about how our personal possessions affect our perceived identity and in what way the value of an object may increase with the relationship that is built up towards the user. I have looked upon traces of time as an extension of an existing object. The outcome is a series of leather cases made out of one piece of folded leather, hardened and locked within itself. The history contained in leather, as a living material has been an important part of the project as well as how its features are used in the making and then allowing the product to change after use..

Denna uppsats syfte är att undersöka och förklara hur brand extension produkter kan påverka ett företags image. Vi har valt att undersöka Jaguars, Porsches och Ferraris brand extension produkter då dessa avviker mycket från deras core product. Uppsatsen besvarar även hur konsumenterna uppfattar dessa brand extension produkter och företagens bakomliggande motiv till dem. Vi har under uppsatsskrivandet gång pendlat mellan teori och empiri. Vår empiri består av kvalitativa undersökningar.

The pace of product development is increasing. It is important to keep high quality in theproducts even though the time for product development decreases. Those companies whichcan utilize previous experiences are positioned with a significant competitive advantage. ToABB Robotics it has become evident that the knowledge transfer process within the productdevelopment department is inadequate. This study was a result and an attempt to address thisunsatisfactory insight.

This master?s thesis was performed during the fall of 2006 at Cloetta Fazer AB in Ljungsbro. Cloetta Fazer is the market leader in Scandinavia of manufacturing confectionary and chocolates. The purpose of the project has been to identify causes that impact the quantity of waste in production as well as a cost/benefit analysis of the solutions that can reduce the problem of production waste.The work includes four production lines that are individually designed depending on what kind of product that are produced on the line. By using qualitative and quantitative methods such as focus groups, interviews and observations data has been collected.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka frekvensen av krisstrategier inom livsmedelsbranschen och hur pass sofistikerade dessa strategier är. Vidare vill vi se närmare på en del av de moment som crisis management-teorierna behandlar. Förekomsten av krisstrategier är stor, men endast ett fåtal av företagens strategier uppfyller våra kriterier för att anses såsom mycket sofistikerade. Företagen anser själva att det är viktigt med crisis management, medan de i verkligheten inte i lika hög utsträckning har de element som författarna till den crisis management-teori, vi använt oss utav, menar ska finnas med. Företag som varit i en kris har mer sofistikerade krisstrategier än de som inte har upplevt en kris under de senaste 20 åren..

The thesis focuses on the measurement of situational factors affecting brand loyalty in purchases and consumption. A survey is conducted using previously developed scales and 199 respondents. Results show that for the particular product category (ready-to-drink recovery drinks), purchase frequency and the product experience have stronger effects on loyalty than do situational factors such as type of activity and perceived stress. Implications for managers are discussed and suggestions for further research is presented..