Human capital is professional service firms' most valuable resource and its quality is closely linked to the quality of its services. The purpose of this study is to investigate how professional service firms appraise their employees. A comparative study between an architecture firm and a management consulting firm is conducted with the aim to identify and explain similarities and differences in performance appraisal. Two qualitative case studies are performed and interviews as well as documents are used to explore the area. The thesis builds on a critical perspective and it has an explorative approach.

In this bachelor thesis an attempt is made to recreate the shoreline of Gotland during the Bronze Age. This has been done with the help of GIS to analyze remains dated to different periods of the Bronze Age that have been situated close to the coast. Case studies of three areas of the island have been made where dated remains together with typical Bronze Age remains like cairns and ship settings are analyzed with variables such as height over sea level and geological and topographical information. Contemporary datings from each case study have been compared to find a possible shoreline for both early and late Bronze Age. Two shorelines, one for the early Bronze Age and one for the late Bronze Age, have been created and tested on the three areas to see the placement of the remains in relation to these coastlines..

Real-time systems are required to answer to external stimuli within a specified time-period. For this to be possible, the systems behaviour must be predictable. The use of active databases in real-time systems introduces unpredictability in the system, e.g. due to their use of active rules. The behaviour in active databases is usually specified in ECA-rules.

Real-time systems are required to answer to external stimuli within a specified time-period. For this to be possible, the systems behaviour must be predictable. The use of active databases in real-time systems introduces unpredictability in the system, e.g. due to their use of active rules. The behaviour in active databases is usually specified in ECA-rules.

Real-time systems are required to answer to external stimuli within a specified time-period. For this to be possible, the systems behaviour must be predictable. The use of active databases in real-time systems introduces unpredictability in the system, e.g. due to their use of active rules. The behaviour in active databases is usually specified in ECA-rules.

Real-time systems are required to answer to external stimuli within a specified time-period. For this to be possible, the systems behaviour must be predictable. The use of active databases in real-time systems introduces unpredictability in the system, e.g. due to their use of active rules. The behaviour in active databases is usually specified in ECA-rules.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine how two novels written by the Swedish author Pär Lagerkvist have been received by the critics in the Swedish daily press concerning their contemporary anchorage. During the time these novels were published, Pär Lagerkvist, through his authorship, expressed a conception of and an attitude towards contemporary political directions. The first of the two novels, The Hangman, was published in 1933, and the second, The Dwarf, in 1944. A second aim is to examine how the two novels contemporary anchorage is reflected in the reviews. The final aim is to examine whether the criticism differs depending on the ideological view of the newspapers.

CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility, has become increasingly important in a globalised world where the responsibilities of companies and governments are somewhat blurry. The textile industry is an industry where long supply chains and raw material production in developing countries are factors adding to the complexity and difficulties of solving ethical issues. Cotton production faces many environmental, social and financial challenges in the value chain. Therefore this case study takes a closer look at five Nordic home textile companies, Ikea, Hemtex, S Group, Moko and Finlayson, and how these companies choose their cotton related CSR tools and communicate their work on this area. These companies are of various sizes and therefore the resources for CSR work are also different, as well as the perceived values for working with CSR.

This paper intends to examine the knowledge challenges in small IT companies which is going through rapid growth. The movement of information and knowledge is a social and very complex process. The challenge for technology is the social as information and knowledge requires. To believe blindly that technology will solve the problem is what many people think. In order to understand how technology can support information and knowledge management one needs to understand what information and knowledge is.

The level of help and support given to elderly people over the age of 65 has been regulated by two separate laws; 1-the Act concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments (LSS) and 2- Act of Social Services (SoL). Recent changes in the legislation could cause local authorities to deal with these issues in different ways. The aim of this study was to examine and evaluate possible differences in the level of support for the elderly, dependant on which of the two laws was used in the decision process.The questions raised in this paper are· What are the major differences in the purposes of the two legislations?· How will the decisions be influenced dependant on what law is used? Do the decisionmakers identify the difference between the quality levels "good" and "fair"?· How is the process of care organised and managed within each of these legislations and how is the personnel used?· Are there differences in quality regarding freedom of choice, your own right to decide, influence, comprehensive view and continuity in the efforts given?· What development can you see in these fields of care.As a method I have used a case study involving four big cities in Scania. The most interesting and essential knowledge in the study was obtained from qualitative interviews with eleven decision-makers in the four communities.The result of this study indicates that there are more similarities than differences in the purposes of these laws.

This is a study of the importance of culture for persons who are in their terminal stage of life. The purpose of my study is to find out if culture, particularly literature, can be a comfort for persons who are about to die. The study is based on interviews with people who are working in the palliative team at Norra Älvsborgs Länssjukhus (NÄL) in Trollhättan. It is also based on study of literature. It is literature about hospital library, culture in hospital treatment, palliative care, bibliotherapy and ?own stories? from dying persons.

Venture capital firms and private equity firms have been the subject of much controversy in the last decade. During this period economies throughout the world have seen a steady increase of these types of firms as owners of companies. In Sweden this has certainly been the case and many argue that this trend will continue to grow stronger in the future. This trend is by many regarded as dangerous and as a threat to the ownership model that has characterized the Swedish economy for decades. Family ownership has been widely regarded as the most beneficial and responsible ownership model in Sweden.

This qualitative study examines news values in local journalism. The study is based on the results of five personal interviews with journalists and editors at the newspaper Nerikes Allehanda. The purpose of this paper is to examine how news values is made in the editorial process. The essay also intends to compare possible differences and similarities between news for web and printed news, the focus will consistently be locally.This will be explored through qualitative interviews with local journalists and editors. All working for the newspaper Nerikes Allehanda in Örebro..

Background and problem: Higher and other demands are made on management control systems in organizations which have a superior non-financial objective. Systembolaget, a state-owned company with monopoly to sell alcoholic beverages in Sweden, combines two main objectives which can be considered as conflicting, one financial target and one superior non-financial public welfare target. The research questions are focused on the translation of information through the organization?s levels and if the management control system makes it possible to run the organization according to both of the two main conflicting objectives.Purpose and Delimitations: To describe, analyze and evaluate how management control can be used in an organization, which is not profit maximizing and has both non-financial and financial objectives. The essay does not try to describe or draw generalized conclusions regarding general perspectives on Systembolaget?s assignment and objectives.Method: A qualitative and evaluative case study based on interviews with five employees at different levels in Systembolaget has been carried through.

This paper is a quantitative case study named Outdoor recreation of urban areas viewed through a gender perspective. The intention of this paper is, by studying gender pattern in outdoor recreation practices in Gothenburg, to describe gender patterns in outdoor recreation of Swedish urban areas. This subject is important to study because of the practices of outdoor recreation forward public health. Today many people suffer from diseases caused by stress and too little exercise, which could be prevented if they practiced outdoor recreation. Not everyone has the same possibility to practice outdoor recreation because of the inequalities between women and men.