Organisations tend to focus more and more on product and process development to increase their competitiveness. Several major organisations, among them ABB, have developed models aimed to more effectively control and manage product development processes. ABB is using its standardised model ABB Gate Model for this. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how the introduction of ABB Gate Model has affected the outcome of decisions and also the decision-making in the product development process. The study is limited to elucidate the version of ABB Gate Model handling product development projects.

The study examines selectivity of the customer base and scarcity of a product?s effect on attitude and value towards a product or service. A questionnaire study is made from three different situations. The result varied depending on the situation; however it was found that selectivity of the customer base and scarcity has a great impact on the attitude and the perceived value towards a product or service. Selectivity of the customer base was found having the highest level of impact on both attitude and perceived value.

To identify the underlying forces behind a product hype is difficult and the findings often seem random and unclear. To create a better understanding behind the affecting mechanisms would consequently be a valuable addition to the surrounding research area. The purpose of this paper is to understand if there exist common denominators between different product hypes and in such a case, which these are and how they function. By conducting a case-study on four products which have enjoyed immense sale success on the Swedish market, the possible presence of structural resemblance will be analyzed. From the study we can conclude common denominators such as the presence of an underlying trend and an overbalance of indirect decision basis do exist.

Identification and analysis of key success factors for an entrepreneurial firm to achieve leverage when establishing on a foreign market with a premium consumer product..

Due to a growing interest in communication in today?s society the demand for equipment that is used in communication networks increases while the competition between companies that produce this equipment grows. To meet the increasing demand and at the same time having a competitive product development many companies use some effective product design, such as the modular product design. When a modular product design is used it?s good to compare different module configurations for a certain product and to simplify these comparisons some tool can be used.

This paper aims to apply a specific architectural theory onto Lund City Library in order to achieve a better understanding of how the physical concept of the library is affecting our knowledge and our production of meaning; and furthermore how it suggests a certain form of usage. This paper discusses the ways in which architecture is affecting us when we use the library. The paper attempts to answer the following question: ? Which one of Koch?s spatial structures could apply to Lund City Library, and in which ways could this spatial structure be a producer of meaning? The specific architectonical theory used is developed by Daniel Koch in his paper Spatial Systems as Producers of Meaning: the Idea of Knowledge in Three Public Libraries. This theory is the method of the paper as well.

Background: Knowledge of customer needs is a key factor in companies? struggle to develop successful products. Several studies illustrate that the main reason for failure in product development is lack of customer understanding. Lately considerable changes have occurred. Large-scale mass production is continuously being replaced by customer orientation, especially in the high technological market.

The purpose of this study was to increase the understanding of the phenomenon that there are so many young people placed in institutions in Sweden despite the valuable knowledge regarding the problems and risks of doing so. The questions that follow in the essay were what guided the social workers to choose institutional placement for youngsters. It went on to also ask if this knowledge could contribute to an increased understanding of why there were so many young people placed in institutions despite the criticism from scientists. To accomplish the goal of the essay, former science in the subject was reported and six social workers within social services were interviewed. The material of the interviews was analyzed with help from the theory of human service organizations, street-level bureaucrats work situation and the new institutionalism.The result of the investigation showed that the social workers choices to place young people in institutions is guided by specific work and organizational factors connected with a belief in the helping function of the surroundings.

The design of packages is something that product manufacturers put great effort on. The package is often the consumers' first interaction with a product and consumers judge the product based on the package. A common way to evaluate a package design is to let respondents look at a package and answer which attributes they think the product has. This paper wants to take this evaluation a step further, i.e. it examines if consumers experience differences in taste between two identical products that have different package designs.

The purpose of the study is to explain whether the introduction of a new and different brand by means of a brand extension affects consumers? perceptions of the product category that the brand is launched in. An experiment was carried out to study the following aspects: associations and constellations of associations to the product category, interest, perceived variation, and the perceived similarity with the category from which the brands were extended. In the study, brand breadth in the original product category was used as moderating variable. Aspects found to be affected by the brand extensions were associations to the product category, the constellations of these associations and the perceived similarity with the category from which the brands were extended.

The thesis strives to answer the question whether there are any differences between how young customers, in comparison with older, are affected by brands when buying different products. The purpose is to get a clearer idea about the brands' importance in the future and in that way also to give guidance to companies about how to best market themselves and there products.To answer the question, an experiment was conducted with 480 respondents taking a survey where they had to rate a product after reading a short text about it. Some of the texts stated that a specific brand was behind the product while some said the product was produced by an unknown brand.The result of the study was that young people showed a greater propensity of rating products with a brand higher than products without brands, in comparison with the older respondents. This gives reason to believe that brands progressively will become an even more important tool for marketers and an unmatched asset for companies in the future..

Project Safe Sleeping Position (SSP) contains all parts in a product development phase. The project comprises the whole cycle from idea to a complete product where all aspects are included. The scope is to develop an innovative solution for a common known problem and work with all parts within the man-machine-way. The result is an inflatable product which secures a child in the correct way for the seatbelt to work properly in the rearseat of a car. Ergonomics, technical extent, usability, design, construction, product solutions and market potential are some of all parts witch the project includes.

During the last two decades, temporary staffing has been the fastest growing industry in Sweden. The latest development within this industry is the integration of third-party providers of temporary staffing. Client organizations outsource the process of recruiting temporary workers to intermediaries with procurement management expertise. The concept is called Vendor Management Services (VMS) and aims to standardize decision-making and lower costs through improved efficiency. However, studies have shown that VMS intermediary functions have negative impact on placement matching.

This report is the concluding part of the course national minorities, main focus on design, at Luleå University of Technology spring 2007. The purpose of this written examination is to produce a prototype to a product, which can be used both when marketing Kiruna as a student municipality and when recruiting students to the study programmes Kiruna offers. The product has been produced through systematic problem solving, where methods to fix the problem, gather facts, examine and come to a solution have been used. The product should in one way or another get the student to think of Kiruna as a student municipality and it should also appeal to the target group ? the students.

The project has been oriented for development of fixtures to ateljé Lyktan to provide a more efficiency line. In the year 2012 the company invested in a new coating booth, which leads to opportunities to upgrading the fixtures and also new design. The request is to minimize the area for storage of fixtures, and therefore should fixtures be designed to apply as many articles as possible The priority of products that fixtures have development to has been products that are most frequently coated and new products that don?t have any fixtures. The product families that the project has been having focus on is TIME and FOVEA with RONDO. In the developing of fixtures have ideas been discussed with the staff, and instructions were made about how you are suppose to hang up the different products.