The purpose of this thesis was to illuminate and create a deeper understanding of a reputation?s value during crisis in business environment. We aimed to investigate how companies and organizations build up their reputation to prevent crises and how reputation affects the outcomes of a crisis. The theoretical section is based on various scientific articles. A case study was conducted based on interviews with two respondents from two different companies and organizations.

The industry of management training programs is increasing rapidly. Every year numerous organizations sponsor expensive management training programs for their managers, hoping that this will pay off and make the organizations more profitable. The companies that offer these management training programs could be seen as important conveyers of conceptions of leadership. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to identify similarities between a number of management training programs and see how they are related to different leadership theories , and based on this try to recognize the conceptions of leadership that are conveyed. The study is of qualitative nature and is based on interviews with representatives from five management training companies in Sweden along with a text analysis of written material presented by the companies.

Background: The strategic importance of purchasing departments is increasing, yet supply risks are rather uncharted. The procurement of coffee involves supply risks and the purchaser needs to be able to handle these to enable the roasting-house to produce coffee as specified. Purpose: To chart risks in connection with the procurement of coffee as well as the possibilities of handling these. The thesis also examines if general risk management theories are applicable on the supply risk present within Swedish roasting-houses and can become an integral partof the purchasing process. Method: A qualitative case study of the purchasing process of Swedish roasting- houses.

AbstractThis paper will examine the co-operation culture in teacher work teams in a primary school currently undergoing reorganization in the Stockholm region. This inquiry is based on qualita-tive interviews with teachers and work team leaders, and is aiming to answer how teachers co-operate during the reorganization process, to find the factors that affect co-operation. Our results show that the two teams practice communication, leadership and participation very differently. Currently there are clear differences in the work team?s tendency to develop and to work with the reorganization process, pedagogic methods, social and emotional awareness and ideological beliefs.

AbstractThis study is about describing the pre- internationalization phase and to studycompanies that are in this phase. We are trying to capture characteristics of decisionmakersin the pre- internationalization phase, to then compare the theoretical materialwith empirical material from case companies. Then in the final stages of the thesis, wewant to account for if we managed to answer our research questions. In the method, wegive a description of the approach selected in conjunction with the study. The study isqualitative and we used both primary and secondary data, with a deductive approach.The theory chapter will consider the most relevant theories that are related to the topic,which is internationalization, pre-internationalization, international entrepreneurship,and the psychology behind personalities, attitudes, and how these can affect theorganization's strategic decisions.

Before the general election 2006 all of the Swedish parties represented in the Parliament held their political party conference. At each political party conference, the leader for respectively party held their opening speech, a speech that was covered by the press. This essay deals with how the press covers these speeches. Analysing how the different speeches were covered by the press, some tendencies regarding how the press report could be visualised. In this comparison the ?quantitative content analysis? was used.

The market communication in organisations is vital to manage the competition. Studies have shown the importance of market communication in both private and public organisations.Since the past decade market communication has been acknowledged as an instrument to provide the organisations target group with valid information.This thesis is a study about the differences in market communication between private and public organisations. To manage this we asked ourselves the question:?- What distinguish the market communication in a private respective a public organisation??We have done qualitative interviews to get the best result for our study. We have interviewed both types of organisations and our respondents have leading strategic position in their organisations.Our research highlights important differences between private and public organisations in matter of tactics in market communication.In conclusion the result shows a great difference in how an organization is managing their communicative strategies all depending on if it is a private owned company or a public organisation..

The Sweden Democrats uses a term to describe a situation where ?swedes? are being discriminated against by other ethnic groups and where the elite is promoting this. The term ?svenskfientlighet? can be translated as ?swedofobia? and in this thesis a speech by the party leader Jimmie Åkesson held during the election campaign that solely was dedicated to this term is being analyzed with the help of tools developed by the scholar Ruth Wodak. Ruth Wodak has previously analyzed the rhetoric by other European right-wing-populist parties like FPÖ in Austria and has asked for other researchers to analyze the speech used by right-wing-populist and extremist parties to get a better understanding for just how these parties construct their different enemies.

When Deng Xiaoping introduced his reform program, he began China's transition from a plan economy to a socialist market economy. Liberal theorists often argue that there is an automatic link between ?free market? and ?democracy?, however this link is not evident in China. This contradiction constitutes the problem area of this thesis.With a theoretical framework containing ?totalitarism? and ?Tang Tsous culturalist approach? I have analysed the leadership of CCP (China's Communist Party) and its strategies to maintain the Chinese political system.

This study examines how managers in the public sector experience and manage their digital maturity in the context of digital transformation. The study is based on qualitative interviews with twelve managers and three developers in a municipality in western Sweden and is analyzed based on a theoretical framework that combines individuals digital maturity (DIMI model) with organizational conditions. The results show that managers' digital maturity is influenced by both individual and organizational factors. At the individual level, the importance of digital competence, self-efficacy, and willingness to participate in and lead change are emphasized. At the same time, organizational conditions such as coordination, resources, technical support and clear governance are required.

This quantitative study explores how employee perceived efficiency within customer service is affected by standardized routines, digital tools, and motivational factors. The study is based on survey data collected from 42 employees across five customer service departments in a larger organization. The theoretical foundation integrates Weber?s bureaucracy theory, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and the Job Characteristics Model (JCM), allowing for a multidimensional analysis to capture the employees' experiences of efficiency. Findings reveal a statistically significant positive relationship between perceived efficiency and both standardized routines and perceived digital tool usefulness and ease of use. Furthermore, the study identifies that skill variety and task significance are positively correlated with experienced meaningfulness, which indicates a potential mediating relationship between these motivational aspects and perceived efficiency.

The aim of this study is to understand first line managers experiences of the impact leadership have on the health of employees. The study focuses on leadership behaviours and actions, experienced by first line managers working in elderly care, with either positive or negative outcomes on the employees health. To answer the purpose of the study a qualitative method was used and the data was collected through seven individual interviews. The analyse was conducted using theories of transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership. To enable a broader dimension to the study the concept of health-promotion leadership was also used in the analysis.

In these days of globalization, with a higher level of openness and interaction over geographical, cultural and economical borders, the importance of the company?s intangible asset, its brand, is gaining importance as a differentiating factor. Building a strong brand and the emphasis on strategic brand management is something that before was given less attention in firms but today we can see a general increase in awareness and relative emphasis in the strategic work of companies.Countries as brands: Is it possible to consider a nation or a country as a brand the same way you consider a product? Well, looking in to the subject it seems to be a rather complex matter and there are many questions to be asked and answer. Nations around the globe are indeed marketing and positioning themselves for several purposes.

Subject: Independent essay in War Science (15 points) which debate the question if PrivateMilitary Companies is an asset or a threat to the Swedish Armed Forces regarding rerecruitmentwith focus on the soldiers of FS21.That which is investigated is the general attitude amongst soldiers who have completed theirconscript duty according to the old conscript system and now is employed in order to conducta tour abroad with Afghanistan as area of operations. Further investigated is their attitudeagainst the Swedish Armed Forces as an employer, as well as the private sector whichwant/could benefit from the skills the soldiers is possessing. Could the soldiers se themselvesleave the Armed Forces before the contract has expired in benefit of private companies whichclaim they solve similar tasks.Purpose: The purpose with this essay is to contribute with knowledge about a number ofemployed soldiers? attitude against Private Military Companies. Further; if the soldiersbelieve the Armed Forces provide them as they think they deserve/ want in order to stay andnot leave their job in favour of PMC:s, and through it clarify what the soldiers value asemployees.Order of Approach, Method and Material: The method I?m using is a survey in whichsoldiers and squad leaders have answered the questions.

Elite sport is becoming more professional, and elite athletes have to be more committed to spend several hours in training to achieve elite level and this means that the time to pursue a university academic career to the side of elite sport is minimized. Still only few elite athletes will be able to make a living of their sport. The objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of the opportunities and difficulties for a student who combines academic study with elite sport. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with eight students studying at the University of Umeå, combining elite sport with academic studies. Results show that there are high demands on elite students to structure and plan for the combination of studies and elite sport.