This essay set out to propose a problematic interpretation of the socio-cultural perspective on learning. Its purpose is to show how the socio-cultural perspective on learning defines the concept of knowledge in an incomplete way. The aim becomes then that of giving a more comprehensive description of this concept, and, to this end, to construct a new, broader pedagogic discourse. The investigation starts with a deconstructive analysis of Roger Säljö?s socio-cultural text in order to point out the incompleteness of the concept of knowledge.

Today every organization is committed to some kind of environmental scanning in order to get necessary knowledge of the world around them. The acquisition, organization and storage of information in combination with a strategic use, is today an important factor for a successful organisation in any sector of our society.In this Master thesis I have studied how an organisation such as The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv) handles its information resources. I have also looked at the flow of information within the organization. The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise is Sweden?s largest business federation representing 50 member organizations and 55 000 member companies.

This paper discusses the strategy and strategic change in the Swedish freight forwarding business and analysis factors that influence the forces of the business. Three companies of various sizes are chosen to be investigated as a case study, outline that cost leadership and differentiation are both important strategies for companies to compete in the market. However, companies outpacing competition do not only pursue either of the two strategies, the need the ability to add one (cost leadership) to the other (differentiation) in relationship to environmental change over time..

Commercial strategies are becoming more common in an increasing number of sports - Swedish golf is no exception. Previous research shows that new opportunities for non-profit organizations, to assign parts of their operations to a limited company, do not have any economic importance. The supplementary question arises why more golf clubs nonetheless choose to corporatize its activities? Is the purpose of commercial strategies generally linked to business- or sport-related success? This paper, containing two studies, aims to create an understanding of the underlying drivers of commercialization, and furthermore to quantitatively demonstrate how commercialization is reflected within Swedish golf in terms of strategy and marketing. Swedish golf clubs were categorized as more or less commercial, and examined based on business-related variables such as communications, brand awareness and price discrimination, as well as sports-related variables as success factors and success indicators.

This paper intends to examine the knowledge challenges in small IT companies which is going through rapid growth. The movement of information and knowledge is a social and very complex process. The challenge for technology is the social as information and knowledge requires. To believe blindly that technology will solve the problem is what many people think. In order to understand how technology can support information and knowledge management one needs to understand what information and knowledge is.

Human Resource Management (HRM) has an increasingly strategic role in today?s organizations as the supply of managers is an integral part of the strategic work. In order to retain competence and knowledge, firms are usually designed so that the employees can develop their careers within the firm. Company X is a company in the financial sector and is an example of such firm. However, at Company X: Department Y, very few employees apply for the management positions when they are announced.

To effectively manage a forest resource for both economic and other values good planning is required. The problem is complex since you want to know which forest to cut and when. Often a hierarchical planning structure is applied, including strategic (long-term), tactical, (medium-term) and operational level. Today SCA Forest is one of few forestry companies in the northern Sweden with an integrated forest wood supply and industry. The goals of the company are to supply their own industries with wood and to manage the resources of the forest through a long-term perspective with satisfactory profitability.

The concept Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) describes a company's social and environmental work. More and more companies have embraced the concept of CSR and for some businesses, it has become equally important to present its efforts within CSR as to present its latest profits.The purpose of this essay is to establish an overall picture of a company's CSR efforts and to discuss the potential conflict between CSR and the aim for profit We investigate how businesses can improve their CSR effort so that it contributes to a positive development for the society while still creating economic value for the company. The study is based on a qualitative study of four Swedish companies in the fashion industry: Kappahl, Gina Tricot, Åhlens and Indiska. The results show that according to the theoretical framework, the four companies do not reach a complete strategic approach to CSR. To achieve this it is necessary for the companies to change their current CSR-activities..

AbstractTitle: The constant change - A comparative study of profit companies and nonprofit organizations' brand management through social mediaAuthor: Agnes Nobel & Matilda VallgrenTutor: Daniel LövgrenPurpose: The purpose of this thesis was to study profit companies and nonprofit organizations? branding and strategic communication on social media. If social media has supported with new interaction with stakeholders and hence affected the branding work. Also if there are any differences between profit companies and nonprofit organizations.Method/Material: The method that is used in the article is a qualitative research. The research is based on conversations interviews conducted with eight organizations, four profit companies and four nonprofit organizations.Main results: The main result showed that all organizations are actively involved with social media in their strategic communication when in order to increase the interaction with stakeholders and thus strengthen their brand identity. It turned out that all organizations have not adapted the brand to social media, but worked with the organizations values ??and only applied the trademark on social media.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate how four companies in Värmland, Sweden, are working strategically with their brands. This is a qualitative method in which we have used a combination of interviews and literature review in order to investigate the link between brands and the Karlstad region.Even though there is a huge interest in brands, there are only a few companies who can describe clearly what their own brand represents. This probably due to the fact that the brand is still regarded as a tactical tool, rather than as a strategic one. Because of this we find it very interesting to investigate how organizations in Värmland think about this issue. Are brands regarded as a strategic resource, and how strong is the link between their brands and the region?The result indicate that organizations are working strategically with their brands, but they can still get better.

Introduction     Knowledge has come to be an increasingly important factor for both individuals in the labor market and companies in competition. When a person leaves an organization the knowledge often follows, and a knowledge gap is created. When knowledge is shared within an organization, the individual?s knowledge is available for all members of the organization. Knowledge can thus be converted from human capital to structural capital.

Background: Society of today is characterised by greater dynamics and a constant demand for innovation and fresh ideas. This development is often named "the new economy" or "the knowledge society". Independent of how one chooses to name this society, most individuals seem to agree upon the fact that knowledge grows more and more important. New competencies, such as new knowledge and new forms of organising, will be demanded for corporations to be successful in the future. In recent years it has become more common with corporations based on projects.

The aim of this thesis is to assess the strategic importance of Central Asia as a whole and interests of great powers in the region in particular within the theoretical framework chosen. The work shows Central Asia as an area of the New Great Game, analogue of the original Great Game which was played out between the British Empire and Tsarist Russia in XIX century. The parallels between the original Great Game and the New Great Game are drawn in order to understand the scope and the true intentions of the players of the latter one. Also, the security issues in the contemporary Central Asia are explored and analyzed to provide with the background for future predictions. Furthermore, the indirect purpose of the thesis is to examine whether the international system has changed from that of two centuries ago by comparing the structure of the international systems at the time of two Games.

Abstract________________________________________________________________Författare/Author Richard TähtinenTitel/Title Youth hockey from a coach perspective. A qualitative study about coaches´appreciations concerning youth hockeyThe aim with this study is to strengthen the knowledge about coaches´ appreciationsconcerning youth hockey. This study contains interviews with three leaders that operate onthe strategic level within youth hockey and three coaches working with youth players in theages of 11 and 12. I have divided my main results into 4 categories, based on an earlier studyfrom Karin Redelius (2002). These categories include the following themes:1) Competition on the good and the bad2) The importance of winning3) Shake-out versus sports on children’s terms4) Instruction, play and learningThe main conclusions in this study show that leaders on the strategic level appreciate youthhockey in a very similar way.

When a decision is to be made on what long term strategic forest management plan to use, consideration must often be taken to multiple objectives. Such decisions are very complex and a promising approach to handle them is by Multiple Criteria Decision Analyses (MCDA). The study is based on the problem that the MCDA that have been implemented into forest management planning have only had capacity to compare and evaluate a limited number of management plans; which means that there is a risk the most suitable plan is missed. The aim with this study was to test the applicability of combining the MCDA tools: the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for including consideration to multi-objectives into strategic forest management planning. The study was based on the process of creating and selecting a management plan, using Heureka PlanWise, suitable for all the major objectives found in the forest holdings of a municipality in northern Sweden.