Background: Inter-organisational ways of working have become more and more common during the last decades. In order to attain efficiency and productivity, such inter-organisational relationships need to be governed and controlled. However, studies have shown that inadequate control is one of the main reasons for why inter-organisational relationships fail. One of the means that can be used for governing and controlling a business is management control. The use of management control in inter-organisational contexts is a quite unexplored area of research at the present time, which might seem somewhat surprising considering the fact that inadequate control is a common explanation for why inter-organisational relationships fail.

There is limited research done in the area of management control in the relationship between companies. This study investigates management control in outsourcing relationships and the decision to change sourcing strategy and to insource functions. The empirical research was conducted at an international company, which in this study has been anonymized. The research is mainly based on interviews. To extend and verify the conclusions drawn, another company, AB Ph.

That an auditor brings good quality to the work he is performing is of great importance, not only for the company in question but also for its stakeholders. The information that the company disclose gets more credibility because of the auditor quality assurance. That the auditor tenure would affect the quality has been researched with different results, dependent on the legislation in the current country or region. In this paper we study how audit quality is affected of the audit tenure in Sweden. Based on research made in Belgium we have formulated hypothesis with factors that can affect the audit quality.

Suicide and attempted suicide frequently occur in society today and represent a major public health problem. In inpatient psychiatric care the nurse have a central role when caring for suicidal patients. Few systematic studies exists that address the nurse?s practical work with these patients. The purpose of this study was therefore to describe the nursing care of suicidal patients as it was perceived by registered clinical expert nurses.

Accounting is a well discussed topic, and an important tool that allows stakeholders and others to interact with the companies. To gain credible reports, the companies require maintenance, activities and monitoring. Wholesalers account for approximately 20% of Sweden's net and is increasing at a steady pace. Few studies on wholesalers are acquired and the internal control has shown to be important for the preparation of the financial statements.Therefore the study will be focusing on the smaller wholesaler?s internal control, all the way to the financial statements.

Quality can be defined as the ability of a business to satisfy their customers? needs and expectations. Total Quality Management is defined as the way to prevent, appraise and improve the entire organization to increase the product quality. In order to systematically increase quality in an organization, there are different quality systems in use. One example is process management, which is to divide the activities of processes.

Abstract This is a qualitative study of elderly people's experiences of loneliness and quality of life. Also the relationship between loneliness and quality of life are examined. Previous research has shown that social loneliness is about when the social context are lost while emotional loneliness can occur with the loss of close relationships. Quality of life is about a sense of connection but also the quality of life arises in the difference between the expectation of what one is and what one wishes to have. This study has shown that the interviewees preferences, activities, social networks and low expectations on their life situation makes interviewees perceive themselves to be less lonely and have a good quality of life.

As collaboration between companies move beyond the single transaction into more long-term relationships the consequences of a company's control system become more complex. The aim of this paper is to provide an understanding of how intra- and inter-organizational control and work practices interact through examining how a company's intra-organizational control influences its customer relationships. The empirical research is performed through a qualitative case study where interviews have been conducted with management and sales staff within the case company as well as with one of the customers. The empirical findings have been analyzed using frameworks and theories regarding management control and customer relationships. The study reveals that the intra-organizational control of the case company affects its relationships with customers in a number of ways.

Nature?s Best is a quality-label for Swedish Eco-tourism. It is one of very few active ecotourism labels and the only one that claims quality as its main focus. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the certification scheme Nature?s Best with regards to the values the certification creates for the companies that certify their products.

In order to accomplish that a construction is correctly built, it is critical to obtain a well functioning control mechanism throughout the project. The way to enable this is not by having an independent inspector constantly at your side. Today it is praxis to use check lists and have people responsible of quality to make sure that these are followed. This is where discretionary inspections play their part. These among others are documents needed to com-plete the check list.

ABB Surge Arrestors in Ludvika have for a long time had a problem to keep the moisture at a steady state in the production of their ZnO-powder, that is used to produce varistors.Some black-box models of the spray drying process have been designed and evaluated to find a solution for the problem. After evaluating the collected data it has been found that variations in the supply voltage causes control difficulties for the operator. A cascade control system was designed, consisting of three PI control loops designed with lambda tuning. The disturbance in the supply voltagewas used as a feed forward in the control system.At the end of the project the control system was installed, and tests were made to verify the functionality of the regulator. It was shown that most of the variations in the moisture of the powder could be eliminated using small resources, through purchase of a process controller and four power meters.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine how disabled people who receive the shut-in-service in one community define service quality. The purpose is also to examine the shut-in-service and to look at the users' context. Answers are sought to the following questions: - How do users experience the service quality of the shut-in-service? - What kind of service does the shut-in-service offer to the user? - How can the user be described and which are his/her requests? The analysis is based on theory about service quality by Christian Grönroos. The theory makes a distinction between two kinds of service quality, technical vs functional quality, as experienced by the user through the profile of the organization.

The quality of meals is included in the constant improvement of each preschool. The study is carried out on behalf of the City of Malmö and Environmental Management and focuses on this quality work. By compiling a checklist of meal quality and by identifying what the meal quality means for persons working with the meal (managers, cooks, educators and parents), it is our wish that this will be a help in their quality work. To inspire the composition various organizations working methods and ways to manage, evaluate and make use of different models and tools to improve the dining quality, has been studied. In the literature, the work has received confirmation of theories that emerged during the analysis work of what a meal is and how quality can be measured. The results show that food quality is described as a complex concept consisting of different parts, where the food, atmosphere, service, together form the meal quality. The semi-structured interviews and the inquiry form, have given an indication of the preschool work with quality in the meal activities and it shows that on a wide range and large differences.

Syftet var att undersöka om personers Locus of Control påverkar deras konflikthanteringsstrategier i kärleksrelationer. Hypoteserna var: H1: Det finns skillnader mellan personer med extern och intern Locus of Control när det gäller vilka typer av strategier de använder för att hantera kärleksrelationsproblem. H2: Personer med intern Locus of Control har större benägenhet att använda sig av relationskonflikthanteringsstrategin Kompromiss i sina kärleksrelationer. H3: Kvinnor påverkas mer än män av Locus of Control när det gäller vilka typer av strategier de använder för att hantera kärleksrelationsproblem. Deltagarna var 172 studenter.

The connection between management control systems for controlling sustainability and a firm's motivation for engaging in sustainability is not completely understood (Arjaliès & Mundy, 2013). The aim of this thesis is to develop a more profound understanding for management control in achieving sustainable companies. To do this, we raise the question: How and to what extent do companies use management control systems to achieve sustainability compliance Simons's Levers of Control (1995) are applied to this question in order to get a consistent and thorough insight of management control systems. Hence, a case study of ABB:s work to achieve material compliance in accordance with EU-regulation was conducted. The findings of the case study reveal that ABB uses the regulations as explicit goals and implement them in sustainability procedures.