ABSTRACT Title: the Power distance star ? A study on how cultural power distance affects the business relation between Japanese and multinational companiesLevel: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business AdministrationAuthor: Therese Elofsson and Anna NyströmSupervisor: Jens Eklinder Frick and Jonas MolinDate: 2015 - JanuaryAim: The purpose of this study is to compile available research regarding the cultural aspect power distance, as it is being displayed and handled in business-relations between Japanese and multicultural business contacts. The culture in Japan differs from the culture in the western world and several companies testify that the Japanese market is difficult to act and expand upon. This study aims to provide explanations to these difficulties from a power distance perspective.Method: This study has compiled the theoretical knowledge and research in a model called ?the Power distance Star? (Figure 1), which is created and designed for this purpose.

The purpose of this study was to, through the life stories of four women and their experiences, thoughts and feelings according to a life in drug dependency reach an increased knowledge about how a dependency can arise, continue and be brought to an end. The question at issue were: How do a small amount of women describe and comprehend their experiences, thoughts and feelings according to their drug addiction seen through a process perspective. In order to answer that question three themes were investigated: the road into dependency, living as an addict and the road to recovery from dependency and the time that follows. The study followed a qualitative method and the theoretical approach was hermeneutic. The results were analysed through a process analyse perspective, from the view of the chosen theoretical perspectives, social constructivism, experience perspective and a psychodynamic perspective.

As the number of people owning a smartphone rapidly increases so too does the opportunity for various researchers to exploit this technology. The possibility to recruit people to participate in research studies improves and with it the chance to get more diversified target groups in terms of age, socio-economic status, geographical location, etc.In this essay, I argue that the opportunities smartphones offer in terms of collecting research material is vastly underestimated in several areas, bearing in mind the advantages they present. In order to support my argument, I shall present a case study carried out in the research area of happiness ? an area where the use of smartphones has provided significant opportunities for research.In order to gather the advantages and disadvantages of this method of study from the participants? perspective, I have followed a happiness research study which is a collaboration between Umeå University and The University of Stockholm. I have interviewed the participants of this study in order to assess the advantages and opportunities that smartphones offer in research programs.Overall, the participants? opinion of this research method was generally positive and it was considered to be quite easy to participate in the study and respond to the questions asked.

The purpose of the essay is to study and create understanding to the bilingual students' perspective on their linguistic skills and the use of them as resources in a scholastic context. A qualitative method has been used to collect empirical data, based on the experiences and perspectives of the students. Bilingualism is defined and past research, which has shown how their bilingualism has influenced them, has been linked with this study. Definition of mother tongue and the meaning of mother tongue tuition for student immigrants' development have been discussed. This research has shown that the students feel their bilingualism is a natural occurrence.

The purpose of this study is to examine which security approach dominates Sweden?s strategy for combating human trafficking. The two approaches covered in this essay are the state- centred perspective, and the individual-centred perspective. These approaches are being used because those two approaches are on each end of the security spectrum, and it is important to discover from what approach Sweden is working. This is important because it might help us to get a bigger understanding on why certain policies are being made.

This is a study about a company in Norrköping, called Stadium AB, and its first steps into the global market. We have studied how the conditions of the company have changed during their expansion. This study is not written from the viewpoint of business economics, it is rather a study from a cultural and social studies perspective. The study deals with subjects such as the globalization of society, organizational theories and leadership. The empiric material consists of Stadium?s staff magazine Tracks, the company?s swedish homepage on the Internet and an interview with Sussi Calås-Jonsson, Chief of the Department of Information at Stadium AB.

Stockholms stadsteater (Stockholm?s city theatre) is a public theatre in Stockholm, Sweden. During the last ten years, the theatre has increased its audience by 40 percent, has been called a ?success story? by culture politicians in Stockholm as well as others in the cultural field, and is today the largest theatre in the Nordic countries. At the same time, there is a recurring debate, primarily in the national morning papers? culture sections, concerning Stockholms stadsteater.

In 2011, the new upper secondary school curriculum Lgy 11 set out to distinguish the characteristics of the two subjects Swedish and Swedish as a second language. This thesis analyzes the consequences, or rather the underlying premises for such a characterization with the contradictory ideologies of the multicultural society as a point of departure. Using theories of cultural and linguistic hegemony, the thesis applies an ideological critique to the comparative text analysis of the two curriculums. The aim is to reveal the underlying assumptions of the two student bases as representatives of the majority society and the minorities. The results show that the characterizations of the two subjects are dominantly made along the line of the multicultural experience versus linguistic and cultural heritage.

The Swedish school reflects the society that we have today, a society with many different ethnical and cultural backgrounds. The purpose of this investigation is to study how the school is working with children that recently immigrated to Sweden. What kind of methods are they using at school, to get the best development as possible? Do the teachers manage to be concerned of the students in the school? What kind of reception do these children get in the school? What methods are the teachers using? And are these methods really the best to use to enhance the language and cognitive development of these students?The methods I have been using to examine these questions have been qualitative. I have interviewed three teachers about their everyday work in a multiethnic school south of Stockholm.

This essay deals with the rationale and aims for doing cultural or aesthetic activities and projects in schools, and gives special focus to a specific group of students, attending schools provided at special residential homes for young people (sa?rskilda ungdomshem). These homes receive young people with psychosocial and substance misuse problems and who show tendencies towards criminal behavior. The essay investigates how working with a cultural project in schools at these residential homes is justified and also elucidates how this specific group of students and their problems are constructed in the documents surrounding the project. The essay will further ponder over possible educational and pedagogical consequences of these constructions.The investigation has its theoretical frame work in curriculum theory.

ThisthesisisananalysisofSt.JohnoftheCross?treatiseTheDarkNightoftheSoulfromanEasternOrthodoxperspective,focusingonelementsofclassicaltheologyofthéosisandliminalitywithinthetext.UsingVladimirLossky?sviewonOrthodoxmysticaltheologyaswellasritualtheoryandtheoriesofliminalityfromVictorTurnerandArnoldvanGennepthestudyexamineswhetherornotitispossibletospeakaboutthéosisinWesternmysticalteachingsandpractises,andifDarkNightcanbeviewedasanexampleofsuchateaching.Thisthesisthusseekstoanswertwomainquestions,namelywhetherStJohnoftheCross?treatisecanbesaidtobeanexampleofthéosistheologywritteninWesternform,andifthetrialsoftheDarkNightcanbesaidtobeaformofsocio-­?ontologicalprocessofchange,eitherpartiallyorcompletely.ThemethodusedintheworkisamodifiedversionofthetextualanalysisdescribedinCarl-­?HenricGrenholm?sbookAttförståreligion:metoderförteologiskforskning,focusingoncentralthemesandideas,andkeywordsrelatedtothéosis.ThetheoreticalperspectiveforthethesishasbeenbasedinEasternOrthodoxmysticaltheology,andthecentralaimhasbeentoofferaresponsetoVladimirLossky?scritiqueoftheWesternChurchashavingforgottenitsmysticalroots.KeyfindingsarethattheDarkNightasaprocesshasstrongelementsofbothliminalityandsocio-­?ontologicaltransformation,andthatthelanguageofSt.JohnisverysimilartothatofearlyOrthodoxtheologians,withclearapophaticterminology..

In autumn of 2021, the anthology A Bridge of Poetry was given to all six-year-olds in Sweden. The anthology contains both older and contemporary poetry, as well as both children?s poetry and poetry written for experienced readers. The idea is that, with the help of an adult, texts and images, and in some cases short movies, will together stimulate children?s thoughts and initiate conversations, as well as arousing children?s curiosity about poetry.

This study investigates augmented reality using third person perspective and what precision can be achieved by using this method. There have been prior studies in regards to precision using augmented reality, however studies using third person perspective is scarce. This study presents a solution using a static camera capturing the user as well as the plane to augment from behind. This augmented image is then transferred to a handheld device that is held by the user. Using this method the user will be free to manipulate and work with the plane without removing the device that captures the scene, a common problem when using visual reference markers in augmented reality.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the narrative in You are a bad man, mr Gum! to be able to understand and explain the intermedial aspects of the work. I assume an intermedial, narratological and reception theory perspective in my analysis. The method of close reading is used combined with a reader-oriented perspective. I examine the medial aspects of the chosen work through the pictures, the text, and the iconicity of the typographical pattern of the text. To reach my goal, the following questions are dealt with: What is the character of the narration? How do the various media interact in the production of meaning? What is the relationship between the text and the implicit reader? What is the narratological difference between reading the book aloud and silently? The theoretical framework f the paper consists of narratological and intermedial theories.

On the first of October 2012 the media reported that the women in the Ikea cataloguehad been airbrushed in the Saudi edition. Initially the blame was put on either theSaudi government the Islamic culture or the Saudi franchise. In the end it wasrevealed that the Swedish company Inter Ikea Systems had the full responsibility forIkeas actions and therefore was the culprit behind the airbrushing. On whoseinitiative or why the airbrushing was done the media never found out. These areanswers only Ikea has, although they remain unresponsive to these questionsthroughout the news portrayal.This study methodology uses a qualitative content analysis as framework to furtherinvestigate the news media with support of theoretical perspectives such as mediatheory, power relations and cultural differences.