Livskraftiga företag har en förmåga att använda sig av externa resurser för att kunna lösa sina problem där de interna resurserna inte är tillräckliga. Småföretag har inte möjlighet att ha alla resurser själva utan måste specialisera sig för att kunna bli mer konkurrenskraftiga i en ständigt ändrande omvärld.Syftet med denna undersökning är belysa vilka olika kommunikationskanaler småföretag använder sig av och vilka faktorer som påverkar valet när de söker externa resurser. Det teoretiska ramverket består av kommunikationsprocessen och kommunikationskanaler. Kommunikationskanalerna består av nätverk, internet, mässor och reklam.  Denna kvalitativa studie är utförd på småföretag inom metallbearbetningsindustrin.

Master's thesis, Master of Business Administration program, School of Business ofEconomics at Linnaeus University, Management, Course code, 4FE10EAuthors: Anton Milemo and Christoffer WideénTutor: Magnus ForslundTitle: Focus on employee turnover - an ethnographic study on the insurance companyTrygg-Hansa?s outbound department in VäxjöBackground: The costs of losing employees, recruiting new people, making a selectionof potential employees and training them are all high. The costs often exceed onehundred percent of the annual salary for the otherwise vacant position. In addition to thedirect costs of employee turnover troubles, things such as work confusion, loss oforganizational memory along with strategic skills can arise. The employee turnover rateof Trygg-Hansa?s outbound department in Växjö is too high according to the officemanager.Purpose: Understand the causes of high employee turnover in a Swedish insurancecompany.Methodology: This thesis consists of an ethnographic study of a Swedish insurancecompany.

The Smart Grid technology has during the last decade been established as a way to create a greater flexibility on the electricity grid that will be needed as the development moves towards an increased share of renewable primary energy sources in the electricity production. One part of the Smart Grid technology is the ability to shift loads in time, to adapt to either price or emissions, known as Demand Response. This project, which was conducted at KTH in collaboration with the consulting corporation Capgemini, examines the economic, environmental and social aspects of the Demand Response technology. In the project, three household products are used in a model that derives the potential savings in costs and emissions of CO2e. The results show that the actual savings measured in SEK are small, but that the savings measured in percent can be as high as 20 percent. Reduction of CO2e emissions is slightly lower.

This report describes the design and implementation of a multi-master, packet based protocol for small and tiny microcontrollers where resources are limited. The protocol was named "Tiny Controller Network" or TCN for short. The protocol is meant mainly as a control bus for automation and sensor acquisition applications but due to its flexibility can also be used for other purposes as well. It borrows some of its functionality and design ideas from the well known CAN bus and Modbus but also has a number of major differences like the use of standard hardware and time synchronisation. One of the key aspects during the design was the use of very little system resources and common on-chip hardware peripherals like a UART.

The aim of this study was to look into why children receive the interventions contact person and contact family. This was done by studying case-files. The main questions were:-       How common is it that there are reasons for the intervention linked to parents and which are the most common?-       How common is it that there are reasons for the intervention and problems linked to children and which are the most common?-       Is there any indication of connections between reasons, age, gender or type of intervention? If so, what are the connections?The main results of this study were that most of the children lived with a single mother, often with a weak social network, and in need of relief. It was more common that reasons were linked to children then parents and the most common reasons indicated a need for an extra adult.

The study focuses on mapping how well prepared the counties in the west region of Sweden is in case of restructuring. The study explores what kind of activities and routines that contributes to prepare the organization for restructuring. The study also aims to investigate the effect of precedent restructuring, and if the counties who experienced restructuring are more prepared than others.The research within the field of restructuring characterizes of an evaluating nature and the focus has been after the restructuring occurred. There have also been a lot of studies of the negative consequences on individual and organizational level. Since downsizing is a frequently used method by management despite its consequences is it important to investigate how organizations can learn and thereby be more prepared for restructuring.

The assignment given to us by NCC was to compose a degree project based on ground excavations for power cables. The aim of the study was to examine suitable excavation methods depending on different possible terrain conditions. The amount of previously written material within this subject is nearly non- existent and therefore there is a genuine interest by the NCC to receive a compilation of different production methods. The greater part of this study is based upon interviews with several companies active within this area of expertise. The technique of placing the electricity grid beneath ground for safety is today getting more and more common.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how municipal archivists/records managers seek and use information in their daily worklife. Two mayor questions were addressed:1. What information resources and information channels do the respondents use in their daily worklife and which functions do these fulfil?2. How do the respondents experience their information seeking in relation to the work role and the tasks in the municipal organisation?A qualitative method with interviews was used.

Purpose/Aim: The purpose is to describe, analyze and compare the two communication campaigns Världens Chans and Utrota Fattigdomen Nu, and discuss how and to what extent communication campaigns in Sweden can be used to reduce global poverty. The theoretical framework is mainly based on communications strategies and other relevant aspects of the planning process of campaigns.Material/Method: Within the qualitative case study as an overall method, the main material to the two cases is obtained through five qualitative interviews with the premier representatives of the campaigns.Main results: Världens Chans can be seen as an information campaign by the government which purpose is to contribute to the fulfilment of the millennium goals by drawing the attention of the public to their existence. Utrota Fattigdomen Nu, on the other hand, is an influence campaign by the civil society which purpose is to exterminate poverty by putting a pressure on power holders and to change the attitudes and the behaviours among the public. Both campaigns are based on a network with lots of different actors, functioning as opinion makers. Furthermore, communication campaigns are important tools in the fight against poverty..

Background: Balanced scorecard is a relatively new strategy in analysing activities in a company. To carry out a strategy in an organization a successful implementation is very important. Strategy implementations are unique for each organization and to succeed it has to be formulated and implemented with the individual companies particular conditions as starting- point. A problem is that the implementation sometimes is treated as a small detail in the planning process. This problem depends on how the strategic plans is carried out.

Voltage sag indices are a way of quantifying the performance of the power supply, as far as voltage sags are concerned. Indices can be defined for individual events, for individual sites, and for a whole system. A standard method for single-event methods is part of IEC standard 61000-4-30.This thesis emphasizes the importance of voltage sag indices and different methods for calculating three-phase voltage sag characteristics. Three-phase events measured in a medium network voltage over period of one month were analyzed, results examined and statistically evaluated. An algorithm for calculating voltage sag characteristics and indices was created in Matlab.

The Smart Grid technology has during the last decade been established as a way to create a greater flexibility on the electricity grid that will be needed as the development moves towards an increased share of renewable primary energy sources in the electricity production. One part of the Smart Grid technology is the ability to shift loads in time, to adapt to either price or emissions, known as Demand Response. This project, which was conducted at KTH in collaboration with the consulting corporation Capgemini, examines the economic, environmental and social aspects of the Demand Response technology. In the project, three household products are used in a model that derives the potential savings in costs and emissions of CO2e. The results show that the actual savings measured in SEK are small, but that the savings measured in percent can be as high as 20 percent. Reduction of CO2e emissions is slightly lower.

Background: Businesses are traditionally valued with the so called Discounted Cash Flow-model. When valuing newly-started businesses, surrounded by high uncertainty, and whose capital mostly consists of unrealized business opportunities, the Discounted Cash Flow-model needs to be complemented if the total value of the business is to be captured. A valuation with the help of real options is capable of valuing these unrealized opportunities, which often exist in newly-started businesses. The unrealized opportunities are to be found in the business plan of the business, why this needs to be valued to capture the total value of a newly-started business. Purpose: To demonstrate what the use of real options can result in when valuing businesses.

This thesis consists of three parts: one normative, one empirical and one constructive, with the intention to explore the enforcement of accountability in megaprojects.The thesis aims to evaluate the level of accountability in the policy process of the European Spallation Source, ESS between 1990 and 2008. In order to make a comparison possible, a norm is created concerning how a policy process should be designed, with primary focus on openness and participation, to make enforcement of accountability possible. The policy process of the ESS is compared with this norm with the purpose of discovering whether the process contains elements that assure enforcement of accountability. After the comparison is done, it is possible to formulate constructive proposals about how the enforcement of accountability can be improved.The thesis also explores how networks, consisting of actors with particular resources, surrounding the ESS-project affects the form of the policy process, e.g. in shaping the social construction of the aim and purpose of the project.

The purpose of this study is to examine how EU-migrants visiting the social project Crossroads experience their life situation in the Swedish society. Two questions were formulated: (1) How do the respondents describe their situation when it comes to work, housing and social network? (2) How do the interviewees describe and experience the social project Crossroads? The method used was qualitative interviews conducted with five EU-migrants who visited Crossroads. The theoretical framework is the concept of integration and Bauböcks (1996) theoretical model of the ideal society. The results show that none of the interviewees had their own accommodation.