This thesis serves to examine how manufacturing SMEs consider outsourcing. Furthermore, we aim to identify the main characteristics and patterns for these types of companies that can explain their Rationale in such a decision. The chosen method for this thesis is abduction and selected research approach is multiple case studies. Seven case studies have been conducted at EAB AB, Esbe AB, Hörle Automatic AB, Pelly Industri AB, SGV Industrier AB, Swede-Wheel AB and Wulkan AB. Our findings have illustrated that although traditional outsourcing theory provides a good platform for explaining the Rationale behind outsourcing decisions in SMEs, we have identified additional considerations that SMEs, operating as 2, 3 or 4-tier suppliers towards OEM-corporations, make.

In this thesis, we have analyzed the Swedish debate about whether to impose a national canon, and make it compulsory in school curricula. Cecilia Wikström, a Liberal MP in Sweden, made the suggestion in July 2006, and the focus of our analysis is the subsequent debate during July and August 2006. Our materials are polemical articles from three Swedish newspapers, which we have examined to find the main ideas and arguments behind the various standpoints. Three issues have been our main focus; first, we have analyzed which concepts of culture the various debaters have used, where we have seen a difference between an anthropological and an aesthetical concept, but, surprisingly, found that there isn?t a very strong correlation between an aesthetical concept of culture and being pro-canon, or between an anthropological concept of culture and being anti-canon.

In the field of maintenance management there are but a few models an organization can use. The one model that has risen to the status of being the de facto standard in Sweden is pm3(på maintenance management model). The aim of this study is to lay the groundwork for a new method of evaluate the use of pm3within organizations. Today there is no uniform way of performing such an evaluation, which is necessary in order to diagnose the performance of the systems maintenance organizations.In the process of creating our own method for performing this kind of pm3audit, we further developed the ideas from a study by Lagsten & Nordström (2013) that was performed at the county Region Skåne. The authors of that study had developed ideas about using method Rationale as a basis of creating a method for pm3auditing.

The aim of this thesis is to explore the relationship between the surrounding world and the library with respect to the library?s need to provide a Library 2.0 web site. We also explore the relationship between the physical and the virtual library. Our research objects are the public libraries of Stockholm and the Umeå region, that maintain the web sites Biblioteket.se and minabibliotek.se respectively. By applying Dorte Skot-Hansen's theory of Rationales we found that the Stockholm public library is acting in accordance with the experience Rationale, whereas the libraries of Umeå are influenced by the instrumental Rationale.

In this paper the topic of 4G is examined. The investigation is conducted with use of a qualitative methodand an inductive approach. The question to be answered is what motivate and justify that 4G is put intooperation from different perspectives. The study is based upon secondary sources, such as literature studies,as well as an empirical data collection from two interview studies. The reusults obtained, which motivateand justify the introduction of 4G technology, is that it is necessary in order to meet future communicationneeds.

When contemplating entering an alliance the Rationale behind the decision should differ depending on the size of the companies involved as well as on other important factors. The important factors influencing the decision are related to the resource pooling potential of the alliance, the power structure along with the business network the companies are a part of. The analysis has shown proof of a need for cooperation if one wish to succeed in the telecommunication industry and it has also determined which resources that are deemed to be most important to get in touch with, for our study object, to facilitate its access to the market. Those resources are defined as a direct channel to the customer, funds/capital and the access to relevant business networks. To get in touch with these lacking resources, three alternative approaches has been proposed; all of them involving a strategic alliance decision.

When contemplating entering an alliance the Rationale behind the decision should differdepending on the size of the companies involved as well as on other important factors. The importantfactors influencing the decision are related to the resource pooling potential of the alliance,the power structure along with the business network the companies are a part of. Theanalysis has shown proof of a need for cooperation if one wish to succeed in the telecommunicationindustry and it has also determined which resources that are deemed to be most important toget in touch with, for our study object, to facilitate its access to the market. Those resources aredefined as a direct channel to the customer, funds/capital and the access to relevant businessnetworks. To get in touch with these lacking resources, three alternative approaches has beenproposed; all of them involving a strategic alliance decision.

An industry in distress was the breeding ground for a noted pricing strategy, labeled name-your-price. The industry was the music industry and the pricing strategy bears reminiscence of how medieval buskers earned their living during the dark ages; by letting the customers decide how much the good was worth, embodied by a thrown coin into a hat or similar collector. Translated into the contemporary corporate environment of today, where technical innovations provides access to the intellectual property for free, a few mighty economic actors have once again turned to the strategy were it all started; letting the customer set the price. The hat has been replaced by a box for your credit card number and the live music by a MP3 file, but the similarity is striking. The business model have been applied in other industries as well with various levels of success, thus the purpose of this thesis is to set up a framework for where the name-your-price strategy is applicable.

Genom en kvalitativ analys har jag försökt påvisa möjligheten i att kombinera de båda begreppsramarna habitus och förgrund. Jag har en intervjuat en elev i årskurs 1 på en yrkesföreberedande skola och utifrån en narrativ ansats analyserat hans matematiska livsberättelse. Jag har valt att intervjua en elev från en yrkesföreberedande skola då min uppfattning var att han inte var lika beroende av teoretisk matematik som elever på studieförberedande utbildningar. Jag har kommit fram till att begreppet förgrund är en lämplig påbyggnad av habitus under en livsberättelse då begreppens styrkor ligger inom olika tidsramar samt att förgrunden, till skillnad från habitus, tillåter individen att lättare ändra på sitt förhållningssätt. Vidare verkar elevens habitus ifråga om matematiska föreställningar framförallt ha påverkats av familj och släkt samt förgrunden av generaliserade andre..

Abstract: The purpose with this study was to explore different peoples preconceived opinions of three psychiatric diagnoses; Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). These designations are accompanied by a definite social stigma, which could have profound effects on a person diagnosed with either disorder. These designations carry the risk of excluding and labelling individuals and could provoke a feeling of abnormality and potentially segregate them from the Community. This study is a qualitative study of six individuals, (sample size equals six). The Rationale behind the selection was to get a broad representation of different individuals? opinions.

Abstract: The purpose with this study was to explore different peoples preconceived opinions of three psychiatric diagnoses; Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). These designations are accompanied by a definite social stigma, which could have profound effects on a person diagnosed with either disorder. These designations carry the risk of excluding and labelling individuals and could provoke a feeling of abnormality and potentially segregate them from the Community. This study is a qualitative study of six individuals, (sample size equals six). The Rationale behind the selection was to get a broad representation of different individuals? opinions.

Sweden has had laws protecting nature for about a hundred years. In this paper the views of nature and the values that serve as a Rationale for protective measures are analyzed as results of a social process characterized by the dialectic relationship between institutions and discourse. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is used to study this relationship and the discursive practices used by institutions, which reproduce or reshape views of nature that define the relationship between society and nature. Institutional design contributes to shaping discourse in the field of nature protection, while being originally shaped by discourse. In Sweden, the national park is an institution that reproduces a view of nature as the wild and untamed opposite of society, and the natural reserves reproduce a view of nature as holder of a multi-faceted set of values intertwined with society.

As computerized communication and the Internet have evolved, the possibility to express and affirm one?s identity in new ways has also been created. Facebook, which has taken a leading role among the social fora on the Internet and succeeded worldwide, is my choice of study due to the number of people that actively choose to present themselves on it. The purpose of this thesis is to study the identity construction on Facebook through the activities a member partakes in, as well as how the presentation of oneself is written and if it is a result of a self-reflective process of the individual.The Rationale for the qualitative study has been personal interviews in order to get an insight into how the individuals use and present themselves on Facebook and - in the interaction with others ? how they construct their own identity. My hypothesis has been that we, in the interaction with others, have a great possibility to create and understand our own identities. The study results show that identity formation is a constant process and that it is indeed a self-reflective project.

My analysis consists of an in-depth study of the experience of a group of development programme participants who were exposed to the use of art and artistic work in organisation and leadership development, resulting in positive effects. My starting point is creativity as a concept according to paediatrician and psychoanalyst DW Winnicott who stresses how important playing and creativity is for us, even as an adult, for us to utilise our full potential. He believes that we have a psychological space ? a crossover area ? where the outer, objective reality and the inner, subjective reality meet. Playing, creative development and experiences occur in this space.

My analysis consists of an in-depth study of the experience of a group of development programme participants who were exposed to the use of art and artistic work in organisation and leadership development, resulting in positive effects. My starting point is creativity as a concept according to paediatrician and psychoanalyst DW Winnicott who stresses how important playing and creativity is for us, even as an adult, for us to utilise our full potential. He believes that we have a psychological space ? a crossover area ? where the outer, objective reality and the inner, subjective reality meet. Playing, creative development and experiences occur in this space.