The characteristic of services as an effort carried out in a "moment of truth" implies a risk for failures. This study sheds new light on how alternative offerings that customers are initially exposed to can affect satisfaction and loyalty in the service failure and recovery context. More specifically, two aspects of the initial offering are studied: promised general service quality and the presence of a promise about a specific product attribute. Based on a presentation of the main theoretical perspectives, hypotheses are formulated and a scenario-based experiment in a hotel setting is designed to explore these. The results indicate that a higher level of promised service quality can result in more positive evaluations of satisfaction and stronger word-of-mouth intentions than for a lower level of promised service quality.

The structures of organizations have gone through a dramatic change over the last years; as a result customer service is no longer a small side activity but a critical part in customer relationship management. Development in information technology has created opportunities as well as challenges for organizations when it comes to providing a customer service with capacity of sensing and responding to customers' needs. Previous research shows a relationship between customer response capability and customer knowledge processeses, this study investigates and confirms this relationship. However, findings show that dedication and understanding for customers needs has a direct impact on both customer response capability and customer knowledge processeses, this result indicates that customer knowledge processes and customer relationship management are difficult to differentiate. Furthermore, this study explores IT-related resources impact on customer response capability and customer knowledge processes.

In a global economy it is important to understand what project management is and how it functions in a contemporary company. This report includes an empirical case study of a project flow, which was conducted in the department Packaging Concept (PC) which is a part of Stora Enso. As all of PC´s customer enquiries are unique and must be considered an individual project, PC continuously works in projects. An analysis of the project flow was conducted based on interviews at and visits to PC as well as relevant documents distributed by the department. The report gives an understanding and analysis of how PC works in projects.

Creating instructions is not just about words, but also about text structure. A company creates many instructions to document their management systems, which often are presented through an intranet. This study examines how the text can be presented to make content understandable and give employees the knowledge to take action. An interview survey was made at Skanska Sweden and their management system "Vårt sätt att arbeta". The results show that it is mainly about creating an overview of the system and creating separations between different text sections.

Companies acquiring ERP systems are often dissatisfied with the project and therefore consultancy firms wish to make use of project models in order to achieve success in implementations. Since research on ERP implementations in service companies is limited, there is a need for mapping of critical activities in implementation projects in this line of business. Under these premises, the purpose of our master thesis is to develop a model for implementation of ERP systems, specified in activities, which can be used by mid-sized consultancy firms with mid-sized qualified service companies as customers.A literature study including project models, modern models and methodologies for ERP implementation, commonly existent activities, success factors and system development methods was carried out. Starting out with this, a theoretical model for ERP implementation was generated. In excess of this, a case study was conducted, where the implementation of the ERP system Microsoft Dynamics AX at the service company Eurostep, performed by the consultancy firm Medius, was studied.

This study investigates communication and data in information systems. The paper deals, more specificly, with communication in a CRM-system implemented in a Swedish-founded company in Beijing, China. It discusses cultural, political, linguistic and gender based dilemmas that can arise from the use of a CRM-system in an international and bilingual environment. Fifty-nine interviews were conducted in Sweden and in China, either in Swedish or English. The result of this study shows that communication in the information system is affected by factors, that are not originated in technical shortcomings of the system, but rather from cultural, political, linguistic and gender based pre-knowledge among individuals.

The study has shown that retailers in the mid-price segment differentiate their brand through developing a strong company identity around the brand. The personality involves store atmosphere, merchandise and advertising. Larger companies have chosen to lay the responsibility on management level, which facilitates on store level. By controlling the strategies on a central level the company can make sure that the stores are steered in the direction that the company wants them to be steered in, and also that they follow the positioning-concept. The company can also devote its efforts to working with its core value, which is service.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att genom intervjuer med tre medelålders kvinnor, ta del av deras upplevelser av Adventsmarknaden och friluftsmuséets Lilla Julmarknad i Gamla Linköping. Genom intervjuer och deltagande observation vid marknaderna undersöker jag på vilket sätt informanterna besöker en marknad och hur deras syn på shopping och service styr deras besök. Uppsatsen belyser hur de shoppar när de besöker en marknad, hur de ser på service och hur detta påverkar deras upplevelse. Slutsatsen av denna studie är kortfattat att de besöker marknaden, och shoppar på tre skilda sätt. De definierar och uppskattar service på olika sätt och handlar olika typer av varor.

With the advance in computer and network technologies, multimedia systems and Internet applications are becoming more popular. As broadband network is prevailing, more clients are able to watch streaming videos or to play multimedia data over the Internet in real-time. Consequently, there is an increasing demand in the Internet for streaming video systems. As the run-time environment of such applications tends to be dynamic, it is imperative to handle transient overloads effectively. The goal of this work is to develop an algorithm that would provide a robust and controlled behavior of the video system so that important data is delivered on time to the video clients.

Syftet är att undersöka mångfaldsproblematiken i ett public service företag genom att undersöka och utvärdera hur enheten NoS tar tillvara på sin mångfaldskompetens, det vill säga den djupa mångfalden. Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ ansats, där vi har utgått från en fallundersökning på Nyhetsenheten (NoS) på Sveriges Television (SVT) i Stockholm, där vi använt oss av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Vi har utgått från traditionella mångfaldsteorier och använt oss av Cox´s förändrings modell med hjälp av ett intersektionellt perspektiv. Vår undersökning bygger på 14 intervjuer som vi har genomfört på NoS. Respondenterna består av redaktörer och mångfaldsanställda, samt sekundärdata som består av material från SVT.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine the user service discourses in the field of public libraries that can be identified in four Swedish library journals. Also which underlying causes that control the discourses and the consequences of them are examined. Questions in this study are: which discourses can be found, what characterises them, what kind of different discourses concerning technology in society control the user service discourses and what are the consequences of them. The theoretical starting-point is Ernesto Laclaus and Chantal Mouffes discourse theory. The method is text analytic.

Det har under senare år flitigt debatterats om Public Service vara eller inte vara. Vissa hävdar att Public Service är en föråldrad kvarleva av monopoltiden som borde avvecklas och att TV-utbudet ändå skulle hålla en hög kvalitet. Andra däremot menar att Public Service idag är ?viktigare än någonsin?. Vad man än tycker om programutbudet som SVT, SR och UR har kan man inte förneka att det ligger mycket tid och arbete bakom deras produktioner.Uppsatsen behandlar ämnet Public Service i relation till det samiska programutbudet i Sveriges television.

Creating instructions is not just about words, but also about text structure. A company creates many instructions to document their management systems, which often are presented through an intranet. This study examines how the text can be presented to make content understandable and give employees the knowledge to take action. An interview survey was made at Skanska Sweden and their management system "Vårt sätt att arbeta". The results show that it is mainly about creating an overview of the system and creating separations between different text sections.

The study has shown that retailers in the mid-price segment differentiate their brand through developing a strong company identity around the brand. The personality involves store atmosphere, merchandise and advertising. Larger companies have chosen to lay the responsibility on management level, which facilitates on store level. By controlling the strategies on a central level the company can make sure that the stores are steered in the direction that the company wants them to be steered in, and also that they follow the positioning-concept. The company can also devote its efforts to working with its core value, which is service.

Outside of many Swedish households today, you will find a typical green wastecontainer. This container has not changed since its introduction, despitecomplaints about foul-smelling and its impractical system. Even if the system usedtoday, still is the most optimal choice, there is a lot of newly developedalternatives out there.Its purpose is to get a broader perspective on how a waste management systemcan be developed into a working, land efficiently and aesthetically pleasing systemof humans and the environment in a small residential area.The authors treat the residential area of Jära, Ekhagen, in Jönköping, which ismanaged by JM AB as a problem area in regards to waste management.The issues raised by the authors are the different waste management systems usedin the corresponding areas of the world, how to apply technical andenvironmental as well as the waste management facilities from financial aspects.In the process, the methods used were literature reviews, case studies and aninterview. The case study was done through a modeling of waste managementsystems in the area Jära and an interview was conducted with the company Envacworking with vacuum systems. Studies have been made by different systems n theareas around the world.The results show that using directives and guidance will reduce the environmentalimpact done without replacing the traditional system.