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.

Many design agencies and designers like to see design as a longtime strategic investment for any company. However, knowledge of design as a strategic resource depends on ones professional background and ones knowledge of design as such. It is common today that clients meet design agencies and therefore design with a certain skepticism concerning its role in the company. Within the prodctdevelopment-process the company?s different functions meet.

The aim with our paper has been to get a picture of which factors one of the heterogeneous group that we've chosen of old persons, 75-90 years, in Scania, in south Sweden, have experienced to be of importance for their life quality today and what they wish to preserve of their actual life style when they eventually shall use the elderly care. Also how their individual life course has influenced their experience of the quality of life.We found this subject interesting as the group of old people in the society is constantly increasing and when the group becomes bigger, then greater demands will be put on the elderly care. We have proceeded from a standpoint that all people are unique individuals and that people become what they are from their life histories and from the choices they have made during their life. We have used the life course theory that says that one should see the individual in his/her wholeness and the whole life history of a person in order to understand him/her. We have also studied earlier research concerning the different determinants of the life quality.

This report is focusing on problems with introducing standard enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) in businesses. A study has been carried out on a service and support department at a Swedish heat metering company, SVM North Node. The study aims to help the company become a better customer in choice and customization of a new ERP system. We make a description of the department studied and the work carried out there, on the basis of learning, knowledge and cooperation. As a final point we present some ideas on how computer systems could support their work, hoping that this will result in them making adequate demands on a new ERP system.

Although Lean has received an increased amount of attention in the service context, research still has not established how successfully Lean manages to increase service productivity; since service productivity consists of both efficiency and quality. Research regarding productivity discusses the risk of a tradeoff between efficiency and quality in service production processes. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore if the tradeoff in a production setting with low variability in demand and low customer participation exists, after Lean has been implemented. With a qualitative approach, a case study has been conducted at Scandinavian Airlines Ground Handling to evaluate the effects of Lean in the baggage handling process. The result of the study shows that the tradeoff has not been overcome; efficiency has increased at the expense of quality.

Service quality occurs in service encounters where both customers and employees come together in an interaction. It is therefore important that the staff give their best because the interaction usually takes place in real time, which is referred to as the moment of truth.The aim of this study was to find out how luxury hotels are working to ensure good service quality, and how the staff are motivated to deliver this service. We wanted to examine this from a management perspective, and an employee perspective. Information was gathered through various interviews, where the staff at the Hotel Kämp in Helsinki and at the Sheraton Hotel Stockholm participated.Survey results show that employee motivation, training and empowerment have a significant impact to provide service in high quality. The results also show that the surveyed hotel, to certain level work in the same way, but it reveals some differences even when both hotels are part of the same concern..

Considering water quality, landuse and reducion of wetland area in the watershed of Tidan, areas witch are in need of constructions to improve the water quality are identified. Constructions are suggested to be located within the smaller streams in the watershed, so that the water is treated before it reaches the stream Tidan..

Multiple factors are involved in control of beef sensory quality so great variation can be induced. The perception of meat quality can be affected anywhere in the product chain. Both the environment and the set of genes of the animals have an effect on the final output. A problem facing the beef industry today is the significant variations in meat quality between individual animals, which is reflected in the uneven quality of the meat that reaches the consumer. If the quality of meat in stores varies significantly over time, the consumers? trust may decrease.

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this thesis has been to increase the knowledge about the life situation for next of kin who are caring for the elderly and mentally disabled. Also, the impact of ?supportive actions? on the quality of life for the next of kin has been assessed. This study tried to answer the following questions:? How do next of kin perceive their every day life.? Do supportive actions lead to a better situation in your every day life.? Do supportive actions raise the quality of life for next of kinTo answer the questions above a qualitative method was used.

Ett branschanpassat affärssystem är avsett för organisationer verksamma inom samma bransch. Syftet med denna typ av affärssystem är att ge högre passform än standardiserade affärssystem och vara billigare än skräddarsydda affärssystem. Det råder dock brist på kunskap om hur dessa ska utvecklas. Genom vår litteraturstudie presenteras en kravinsamlingsmodell med utgångspunkt i Requirements Engineering som ska ge stöd för utvecklare vid insamling av krav för branschanpassade affärssystem. Utöver det identifierades ett flertal aktiviteter relaterade till modellen.

In today's society there is tougher climate both financially and time wise. Accountants working under tight deadlines leading to the compromise between quality and quantity in the audit process and them therefor are being guilty of so-called reduced audit quality, RAQ. Reduced audit quality involves intentional actions designed to somehow reduce the evidence contained in the audit. We examine in this study the impact of time budget pressure (TBP), underreporting of time (URT), ethical organizational culture and charismatic leadership has on the frequency of RAQ.Previous research has already shown that there are clear links between TBP and RAQ, between URT and RAQ and between ethical culture in organizations and audit quality available. Five hypotheses were designed to the study.

Sustainability issues have become increasingly high-profile and important in recent decades. In addition, quality issues have come to play a central role in corporate marketing, strategy and management. The word quality can be defined differently in different contexts. This paper focuses on the concept of quality, based on the Total Quality Management perspective, which in Swedish has come to be known as Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling. Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling has been described as a theoretical framework in which an organization continually strives to meet and preferably exceed customer needs and expectations at the lowest cost through continuous improvement, and in which all members of the organization are committed and focused on the organisation's processes. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, to clarify the applicability of the theoretical model Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling as a theoretical explanatory model. Second, to explore how Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB performs according to the values in Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling. A multiple case study was conducted in order to explore these topics. The results showed that Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB is working in a dedicated and value-driven manner, aligned with the values ??that form the basis for Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling. The results also showed that the model for Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling could serve well as a theoretical explanatory model, but that the model would benefit from being developed, enriched or integrated with other models.

We have a business proposal. Instead of the consumers visit the country side in order to purshase we are interested in starting a shop with only regional produced products in the city. We have our base in a part of Sweden called Östergötland, therefore we have investigated the market for such a store in Östergötlands biggest city, called Linköping. The conclusion is that the store must sell food produced in the region. Another conlusion is that the store must be located near a bigger supermarket. Our main selling points are quality and that the food is produced in the near region.

Entrepreneurial firms face unique challenges in attracting and acquiring human resources due to difficulties associated with resource constraint and organization legitimacy, often described as liabilities of "smallness" and "newness". The aim of this paper is to examine the "smallness" and "newness" challenges met by small entrepreneurial firms, which strategies they apply to counter these challenges, and if these strategies can be explained by the firm's HR philosophy. Since few studies on Human Resource Management (HRM) in small entrepreneurial firms exist, a framework combining theory from the research fields of HRM, entrepreneurship and small firms has been developed. Employing a qualitative case study design of five small Swedish entrepreneurial firms, our findings demonstrate four "smallness" and "newness" challenges and seven strategies that either counteract or prevent them. Furthermore, results showed that the strategies applied seemed to have no significance with regards to the firm's HR philosophy.

The purpose of this article is to examine issues concerning quality assurance in the Swedish family counselling. To obtain the purpose following factors have been analysed: what kind of requirements/criteria are put on the companies/practitioners, what the respondents think about the lack of common standards and criteria and their opinions concerning ?Lagen om valfrihetssystemet?. Monitoring of criteria, privatisation and increased competition are other factors that have been analyzed. The material was obtained from the family counsellors own association and was analyzed in the light of previous research and theories regarding the quality of family counselling however we also considered theories about quality within social work in general.