This thesis aims to examine the conditions for entrepreneurship in Taiwan by the occurrence of cultural phenomenon guanxi. Based on the concept of familiness and guanxi, the family is central in this study of family business. Traditional descriptions of the Asian culture claim that guanxi is vital in the business context. Though, recent studies indicate that significance of guanxi seems to be changing. Therefore the purpose of this thesis is to create an understanding of the importance and relevance of guanxi in the context of Taiwanese family business.By travelling to Kaohsiung, Taiwan to interview six managers of Taiwanese family firms this study?s empirical material was gathered for further processing based on a qualitative approach.

AbstractInterest in the subject appeared from real events. We seemed to discern a trend in society. Wehave noted that the amount of social enterprises to a greater extent is formed in Sweden.Companies like GodEl, Postkodslotteriet and DEM Collective are typical illustrations ofcompanies included in the category of social enterprise. It seemed as socially profiledcompanies is the new generation companies. The purpose of this essay is to make aninventory of possible competitive advantages that arise from social branding.

In the year 1800, about 5 % of the world population lived in cities (World Wide Fund for Nature, 2012, 3). Today that number is about 70 % in Europe and North America, and in 2050 it is expected to be 86 % in the developed world and 67 % in the developing world (www, UN, 2009). In addition, the global population is expected to increase with 2.2 billion people until 2050. As a result of the population increase more food has to be produced which requires more transport from the countryside to the cities. However, this flow of resources faces some difficulties.

To curb greenhouse gases and mitigate climate change is one of the biggest challenges human society face today. Carbon dioxide (CO2) has accumulated rapidly in the atmosphere as a consequence of burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. The aim of this study is to explore two methods to store carbon dioxide in geological formations and biological sinks. The aim is also to discuss the two mitigation options from a sustainable perspective and whether it can lead to a better environment and benefits for local and global societies. The research questions are: Which method to store carbon dioxide, geological or biological, is the most effective? Which method to store carbon dioxide, geological or biological, has the greatest potential to promote sustainable development for local communities?The method used is a comparative case study and presents four case studies that explore the potential for CO2 storage offshore in Norway and Brazil; and in tropical forests in Mexico and Brazil.

This case study has been conducted within the Swedish fitness chain World Class to explore the opportunities for knowledge development and transfers within franchise networks. We have interviewed the product manager at the World Class headquarter, the owner of a franchise club and a local product manager from the same facility. Our finding indicates that various forms of knowledge transfer occur within the World Class network, particularly in product development and sales. The transfer occurs within the framework set by World Class with regularly scheduled meetings. In addition informal networks provide other means of knowledge exchange between some units.

Syfte: Riskkapital har vart av stor betydelse för högteknologiska nyföretagande dock har antalet riskkapitalbolag minskat väldigt mycket sedan IT-bubblan sprack år 2000. Huvudsyftet i uppsatsen var därför att undersöka hur IT- och kommunikationsbranschen hanterar den minskade riskkapitalmarknaden. Delsyftet i uppsatsen undersöker vilken betydelse riskkapitalbolagen har på nystartade företag inom IT- och kommunikationsbranschen. Forskningsfrågorna i uppsatsen handlar om hur nyföretagande hanterar finansieringen, hur de väljer samt söker finansiering och hur de påverkas av konkurrenter och deras riskkapitalfinansieringar.Metod: Studien bygger på metodtriangulering med insamling av kvalitativ data genom tolv intervjuer och kvantitativ data genom årsredovisningar. Resultat & slutsats: Av de tolv studerade företagen har fem företag fått riskkapital. Företagen har valt olika finansieringskällor och kontrollaversionen har haft betydelse vid valet att endast använda intern finansiering.

The construction industry can contribute to a healthier sustainable community. A development that is going on right now is by using more prefabricated volume- and plan elements on the construction sites. Building with this method not only provides a benefit to the environment, but also reduces production rates by taking up to 80 percent less time to build. By building in this way it will be easier to recycle and keep all the material that otherwise would go to waste. Also by building inside a protected environment, the material retains its good quality.This report will take forward proposals on further development of prefabricated volume element of wood, by first presenting this construction methods advantages and disadvantages..

The purpose of this dissertation is to create an understanding of how a personal idea in the mind of an entrepreneur becomes an outspoken vision in one biotech company. More specifically, for what purpose the vision is used at different stages, how it is communicated, its content and what impact previous visions have on future vision work and in order to reach a deeper understanding of how vision develops over time and how it is used we have employed a qualitative approach based on a case study. The theoretical framework starts with the concept of vision and related concepts. Furthermore, the entrepreneur?s and manager?s usage of vision is examined.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vilka samband det finns mellan värderingar, föreställningar och normer kring miljön till agerande för ekologisk hållbarhet i det vardagliga livet. Vår hypotes var att det finns samband mellan affekter kring miljöns framtid och agerande till hållbar utveckling. För att söka svar på syftet och bekräfta hypotesen har enkäter med frågor gällande individens värderingar, föreställningar och normer om miljön samt frågor om miljömässigt agerande skickats ut via e-post till 119 deltagare i åldern 23-65 år. Svarsfrekvensen var på 59 procent. Resultatet visade att det fanns ett flertal starka samband mellan miljömässiga värderingar, föreställningar och normer till individens agerande och hypotesen om att det fanns samband mellan affekter och agerande för hållbar utveckling verifierades.

Podcast is a new audio media in Sweden and has become larger and increasingly more popular in the past few years. In line with this, companies have seen the opportunity to use this type of marketing in the new coveted media and have created a new marketing tool in the form of sponsorship. Previous studies in this field indicate that this is a very effective method to reach a broad audience, but it still is a relatively new area with very little research in existence today. This study is an analysis of how receptive listeners are to marketing through podcasts and the ability companies have to create a sustainable and effective strategy for successful marketing through this type of medium. The collection of data for this study consists of two different qualitative interviews, the first one with listeners that were chosen, and the second with the sponsor company for two of the largest podcasts in Sweden. The essay´s empirical evidence shows how receptive listeners are to marketing via podcasts, what their podcast habits look like, what form of approach in marketing they prefer, and how often they take part in different offers. From the interviews with listeners and sponsoring companies in the study, it is concluded that the best and most effective strategy for marketing through podcasts is to weave advertising in the conversation and therefore increase the credibility and disturb the listener as little as possible.

This final thesis is a basic inquiry into a countryside programme for the municipality of Hässleholm. By interviewing people who live in the countryside in the municipality of Hässleholm I?ve tried to get a picture of how the thoughts on development of countryside are. Trough these interviews I?ve also tried to find out how people on the countryside defines the concept of countryside.

Business incubation is an important force of economic development but relatively unheard of in organization theory. This is partly due to the fact that in organization theory, meta-organization or the organization of organizations has been neglected or left lagging as much theorization has been focused on organizing individuals. With the growing number of business incubators, and meta-organizations in general, the need for understanding a relatively new type of organization is prevalent.This case study of the business incubator Global Business Labs Botswana (GBL) aims to clarify the organizational differences among meta-organizations and traditional organizations on a case level, as well as explain the underlying factors for these dissimilarities. With respect to the nature of this case study no general conclusions are drawn from the results. The inference, however, is that the organization of GBL and its incubated companies differs from the traditional organization in five elementary aspects: the weak hierarchical structure, the operational autonomy of its members, the strong focus on recruitment processes, the member identity and the lack of formal sanctions.

ALMI Business Partner operating in the years 2008-2010 a project called Vivan which is about innovations made by staff in the health care profession. The project Vivian is to bring new products to the market by establishing new companies. We have looked at why health care professionals to a lesser extent than other professionals choose to start businesses. Another question raised is why it is mostly men who have chosen to start their own business in the female-dominated health profession. Traditionally, men have as an advantage over women in the corporate market in Sweden.

Abstract The aim of this paper is to investigate whether Vara municipality has a continuous picture of their identity, profile and image. Globalization has contributed to the increasingly growing of place marketing. Therefore, the study goes on to using the concepts of identity, profile and image to find out if Vara Municipality communicates similar throughout the whole organization and find out their all through core values. Globalisation will be an interpretive framework for the work that describes why the place marketing is becoming more pressing. The sense of place will be a central part of this study as it is the feelings and images of different places that will be described by the municipality together with the identity, profile and image.

The farming system is the basis of human existence through its production of provisions for man. By a continuous exchange of information, energy and material, between the ecosystems and the social systems, the farming system becomes an emergent property. The system's own properties, in the sense of farming methods, circulations and institutions, evolve through an adaptive process. Understanding this process and constantly learn from it, is the starting point for creating a sustainable development within farming systems. Thus, future farming system has to develop strategies that produce food provisions while at the same time takes into consideration the ecosystem's resilience and its integrity, but which also enables an ethical discussion. The institutions within the farming system are understood as links between the ecosystems and the social systems.