Studies have shown that user participation is a good method when improving or developing a product. The method gives a company insight in what the customer wants and needs. It has also been shown that user participation benefits all parts included. For example, it creates a greater relationship with customers than most other methods do. Webportals is one of the most interactive systems online and it gives companies a unique chance to improve and maintain their relationship with customers.

Sigill Quality Systems has been certifying beef since the autumn of 2006 using the brand name label Swedish Sigill. IP Sigill (the certifying system for integrated production) encompasses the values: animal ethics, food safety, free range and environmental concerns. Product quality is not yet one of these values, and there is a variation in the quality of Swedish beef. Swedish Sigill wanted to investigate the factors that influence product quality, review which of the present regulations that have an influence on product quality and formulate new regulations with the purpose of enhancing the product quality (sensorial, technological and nutritional quality). A survey of quality parameters and factors that influence product quality was done in order to establish a scientific foundation to work from.

Organizations that want to maintain a good innovation capability can seek knowledge both within and outside its boundaries. Opening up innovation processes, through so-called open innovation, allows organizations to combine internal and external knowledge sources in order to include previously excluded perspectives to the innovation process. This study examines how knowledge is created and transferred when conducting open innovation through crowdsourcing. It is done based on Nonaka?s (1991; 1994) theory of how knowledge is created through conversion processes, where implicit knowledge can be converted into explicit knowledge and vice versa.

This is the end report of my final exam at Medieteknik. It covers the planning, work process and review of a Flash based web application that I set out to do. The goal was to create a user friendly, interactive e-shop with embedded functionality for playing music, displaying rich media content and researching possible payment solutions, to enable buying music files online. The project involved creating the user interface, the programmatic functionality of a Flash client (an SWF file). Also, setting up an Apache HTTP Server and establishing a working ?bridge? between the Flash client and the web server with Flash Remoting components and AMFPHP.

With starting point in the increasing ill-health in Swedish working life today, in form of for example absence due to sickness and early retirement pension, and the knowledge that the working environment effects peoples health in a big extent, I found it very interesting to inquire into how people within the working life experience health promotion and how this can be developed. A qualitative method was used to receive a deeper understanding for the employees? experiences and data was collected through semi structured interviews with employees on a bank called Ikanobanken, in Älmhult. The result shows, among other things, that respondents find responsibility and the opportunity to influence the learning processes and development important. It also became clear that the respondents find participation, motivation, communication and safety essential factors when related to changes in health behaviours.

Background: It has become important to be able to take advantage of employees' ideas for organizations today.  The contributed ideas can be developed into innovations. However, there are difficulties for businesses to take advantage and develop the employee provided ideas. It can lead to a stop in the organizations development.Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to gain a greater understanding of how organizations can take advantage of the employees' ideas and develop them into useful innovations for organizations.Method: The thesis consists of precipitated studies from the three organizations, a manufacturing company, a service company and the municipality of Karlskrona. The paper is based on qualitative research by collecting valuable insights through interviews.Conclusions: In this study, it has been proven that organizations today have a magnified view of the concept of innovation. They have difficulties in implementing the concept in day to day operations.

Of all observable societal trends, the proliferation of standardizing processes is striking. Auditing standards are an illustrative example of this. Not only privately owned companies must today make available numbers and key figures to satisfy needs of information and knowledge. Government agencies are increasingly conforming to this trend, adopting standards for quality assurance and monitoring, producing numbers and annual reports ? despite their somewhat ambiguous task and role.

The purpose of this study was to examine how local producers in the food and confectionery segment in Västernorrland, Sweden, working to communicate that the product is locally produced through its packaging design. We have chosen to look at how they work with the right packaging design because it is such an important part of the product marketing. A further aim was to examine how consumers perceive the packaging design of the locally produced products and how they consider that the packaging design communicates the product as locally produced. We have also analyzed the graphical elements contained in the locally produced product packaging through a semiotic analysis.The theoretical framework is based on theories in brand communication and Visual Communication, specializing in packaging design?s visual elements.The method used in this study is a qualitative method.

Smartphone applications, or apps, are an increasingly important part of omnichannel retailing. While the adoption and usage of apps for communicating with consumers has grown exponentially over the past few years, there is little academic research in this area. The primary purpose of this thesis is to describe how the involvement in a product category affects consumers' intention to use a retailer-branded smartphone application during their shopping trip. Drawing upon recent IS-literature with models TAM and UTAUT, our results indicate that product category involvement constitutes an important factor on the intention to use a retailer-branded smartphone application. By viewing involvement as a multidimensional construct, our study shows that the degree of hedonic and expressive value a product cateogry provides consumers with has important effects on intention, and these relationships are not moderated by consumers' age.

Active sensors are used a lot in the society and industry, for example to gain better control over processes or to get proximity sensing features in different products. Within industry there is great interest in developing safe automation products that can be controlled with high accuracy but still at a low cost.The goal of this project is to develop a prototype of a non-contact rangefinder that measures distance using infrared light. The sensor is to be used for various applications in industries with relatively high accuracy and be compact, but at a low cost. By implementing a rangefinder into a product, more accurate detections of an object?s presence can be done.In this project a new distance sensor, EPC600 from ESPROS, was used.

The purpose of this study was to examine how local producers in the food and confectionery segment in Västernorrland, Sweden, working to communicate that the product is locally produced through its packaging design. We have chosen to look at how they work with the right packaging design because it is such an important part of the product marketing. A further aim was to examine how consumers perceive the packaging design of the locally produced products and how they consider that the packaging design communicates the product as locally produced. We have also analyzed the graphical elements contained in the locally produced product packaging through a semiotic analysis.The theoretical framework is based on theories in brand communication and Visual Communication, specializing in packaging design?s visual elements.The method used in this study is a qualitative method.

This report aims to provide an insight into the particle physics of today, and into the research that goes on within the field. The focus is partly on the recent discovery of the Higgs boson, and partly on how software can be used to simulate processes in particle accelerators. Basic concepts of particle physics and the search for the Higgs boson are discussed, and experimental results, including those from the Large Hadron Collider, are compared with simulations made in MadGraph 5. Furthermore, simple new models of particle physics are created in FeynRules, in order to make simulations based on the models. To support the presentations of these aspects, some of the underlying theory is built from the ground up.

The main drivers of luxury consumption is to obtain prestige and status, therefore the possibility of visible consumption of products is a key dimension of the product. Typical examples of luxury goods include cars, handbags and watches. These are consumed in the public arena where the possibility to show off the product and the brand is the greatest. When examining luxury products and what drives men and women to pay premium prices for a brand and for a logo, a fascinating finding is that there are products that fundamentally lacks these attributes, but which are considered to be classic luxury products. An example of this is perfume.

This bachelor thesis argues for consumers' views on origin labeling effect and their willingness to pay for goods with this kind of label. The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors that influence and to measure willingness to pay for a national origin labeled product previously only competeing with a less expensive conventional product, when a further regional product is introduced in the purchasing decisions of consumers. This is achieved by testing whether Simonson's (1989) theory of the compromise effect is applicable to increase consumers' willingness to pay for eco-labeled food products. The factors affecting the willingness to pay; trust in eco- label, opinions about the products of their own nation and the surrounding region. Furthermore presents theory about what underlying the consumer consumption choices.In order to achieve credible results 240 respondents have participated in a questionnaire survey.

Polaris Eyewear is one of the world's leading companies in innovative eyeweardesign. My assignment has been to, in collaboration with them, expand their range with a pair of children's glasses, while maintaining the innovative character they are so known for.The problem with childrens eyewear today is that most of the time the glasses tries to mimic the adult eyewear and the ?childish? type of designing is spared. From an ergonomic point of view, a child's nose is smaller than an adults and therefore needs a different type of shape and nosebridge. In addition, children have softer ears, which means that they need a different type of shaftend as well.