To achieve a working collaboration in a big, complex organization where there are vast requirements on both quality and profitability is not always an easy task. An example of this is the organization that was created in the Swedish railway industry following a series of deregulations during the past 25 years. A partial market in this organization is the railway maintenance. In order to achieve a working collaboration between actors in this organization the so-called Purchaser-provider model (PPM) is presently used for the procurement of rail maintenance projects. Previous research has shown that this market-based instrument has clear positive effects regarding the cost-efficiency but hinders the collaboration.

Many perceive a boom in nostalgia and what is retro, especially within the marketing discipline. This thesis studies how nostalgia functions in the advertising context and aims to shed light on which effects there are from nostalgia evoking communication, what connections there are with other important factors as well as aspires to develop the understanding of the underlying psychological aspects and the emotional bonds to events (as nostalgia evoking stimuli in the thesis), which pave the ground for nostalgic emotions. Point of origin has been classical measures of communication effects and models of connections and causality and to these important factors have been added. Results show clear connections and correlations between nostalgia and positive communication effects, even with control for other factors that may interfere. However, the results show that some factors have moderating effects that should be important to take into consideration, namely how well the brand and the event in the ad are perceived to fit the advertising context.

Many perceive a boom in nostalgia and what is retro, especially within the marketing discipline. This thesis studies how nostalgia functions in the advertising context and aims to shed light on which effects there are from nostalgia evoking communication, what connections there are with other important factors as well as aspires to develop the understanding of the underlying psychological aspects and the emotional bonds to events (as nostalgia evoking stimuli in the thesis), which pave the ground for nostalgic emotions. Point of origin has been classical measures of communication effects and models of connections and causality and to these important factors have been added. Results show clear connections and correlations between nostalgia and positive communication effects, even with control for other factors that may interfere. However, the results show that some factors have moderating effects that should be important to take into consideration, namely how well the brand and the event in the ad are perceived to fit the advertising context.

Swedish agriculture faces future challenges regarding food production and land use. Increased competition for agricultural land creates complex situations, where conflicts may arise when productive crop land is in demand not only for food production but also energy- and fodder production. On top of that there is an obvious conflict of goals between agricultural production and non-agricultural exploitation of agricultural land. In several emerging economic regions it is noticeable how agricultural land is being expropriated for development of urban settlement and infrastructure, carrying potentially significant long-term effects. During the last decade the exploitation of agricultural land in activities other than food production has increased in Sweden and is expected to continue in the same manor. Approximately 700 hectare of land in Sweden is diverted from food production, annually, and in 2013, the Uppsala Municipality showed the greatest change in land use of all municipalities (SCB, 2013).

This report explores how organizations act when they are choosing an Outsourcing supplier. The study was conducted through multiple interviews with managers of different organizations. The data from those interviews was then analyzed through the use of two theoretical models. Our findings indicate that most organizations share the same base factors (qualifiers) when selecting an Outsourcing supplier. What therefore become crucial are the key factors that the Organizations see as Order winning factors.

The purpose of this study is to understand encounter by individual depictions of meetingsperceived by social workers and clients in social services. Thus, we want to understand moreabout how clients and social workers as actors encounter each other in meetings in the socialservices. The study also aims to understand how the two actors affect each other in this typeof interaction and whether there are other influencing factors. We conducted a qualitativestudy by interviewing informants with semi-structured interview questions. The informantswere comprised of three social workers and eight clients.

Purpose: This study aims to examine the price transmission among ADRs (American Depositary Receipts) and their underlying shares, US market index and Hong Kong market index. We will attempt to capture how a shock in the home market is transmitted to the foreign (and vice versa). In addition we will attempt to assess the relative weight of each variable in the system generating unexpected variations of its own and other variables and at what speed the shocks are absorbed.Methodology: ADF unit root test, Johansen?s co-integration test, Granger causality test, VECM, impulse response, variance decomposition Empirical foundation: Five Chinese ADRs listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Each ADR represents a specific industry.

This study is about underlying discourses of two tv-series for children from opposite parts of the globe. Focus lays on which morals and values adults choose to teach children through popular culture, even on an unaware basis and how does differ, or not, between different societies.The theoretical framework chosen for this study are semiotics in combination with the concept of the gaze by Laura Mulvey. Semiotics is the study of signs and their underlying meanings constructed by society. By studying popular culture with the tools provided by semiotic analysis it is possible to discouver underlying myths, social constructions of society, that are reproduced over and over again to remain alive. Mulveys theory of the gaze is helpfull in the process of decoding those constructions to discover the dominant partys and norms represented.In this particular study underlying structures such as patriarcal power relations, unequality between the representation of different ethnicities and the consistent presents of the male gaze where discovered.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine the user service discourses in the field of public libraries that can be identified in four Swedish library journals. Also which underlying causes that control the discourses and the consequences of them are examined. Questions in this study are: which discourses can be found, what characterises them, what kind of different discourses concerning technology in society control the user service discourses and what are the consequences of them. The theoretical starting-point is Ernesto Laclaus and Chantal Mouffes discourse theory. The method is text analytic.

Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to study the interaction between seller and buyer in a mobile phone store. The specific research questions under investigation are:Are there any Underlying factors behind mobile purchase, and if so, what are they? Are mobile purchases driven by lifestyle factors and do customers try and create identities when purchasing new mobile phones?Material/Method: The study employs an ethnographic method when trying to answer the posed research questions. I have under a period of two weeks studied the seller-buyer interaction in a mobile phone store. In order to further increase the accuracy of my findings, I have complemented my observations with a sample of buyer and seller interviews.Main results: The observations and interviews were initially studied in isolation, resulting in different themes.

The Swedish household?s savings has increased the last couple of years, according to Statistiska centralbyrån. But the amount of households that trades on the stock market has decreased from the year 2012 to 2013. The diminished interest in stock trading carries a risk by leading to a smaller yield for the private savers, and also effect the business development and the economic growth. High brokerage fees will aggravate the ability to attract venture capital.

National and international studies, such as PISA and TIMSS, which are part of the national evaluation system, are carried out continuosly. Skolverket, in collaboration with researchers, are responsible for the implementation, evaluation, and analysis of the studies. National results show an increasing percentage of pupils who do not reach the goals in mathematics. The last completed international studies PISA 2009 and TIMSS 2007 show an impaired trend of knowledge, in international comparison. Moreover, studies also show that the differences between schools and also within the same school in Sweden have increased.

This thesis investigates the Underlying factors behind sexual risk-taking and non-risk-taking behavior with regard to Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) among adolescents in Lusaka, Zambia. The Qualitative Approach was used for data collection and analysis and using the theory of Social Construction, the author explains how different contexts and aspects in the Zambian Society, that is Traditional, Socio-economic, Political, etc., influence the sexuality or sexual behavior of young people in Zambia. Hermeneutics was used to interpret the meanings in the texts/transcripts acquired through data collection and from the author?s knowledge and understanding of the Zambian historical and cultural contexts within which the participants of the research were constructed. Max Weber?s Ideal Type concept was also used to explain that each young individual?s sexual behavior is uniquely constructed by societal aspects.

Mental illness is today the leading cause of long-term sick leave and insomnia, anxiety, depression and burnout are among the most common conditions. The aim of the study was to investigate the stability of these conditions and how this is influenced by gender and age, as well as the extent to which these states are risk factors for each other. The participants were a random sample (n = 2336) from the general population in the age of 18-79 years. The results showed that stable illness was more common among women than men, and that stable illness decreased with aging. The stability itself was not affected by gender or age. Relations between the conditions were bidirectional and they constitute major risk factors for each other (odds ratios, OK = 2.37 to 6.46). The largest risk factor for a condition is, however, previous occurrence of the same problem. Previous burnout was found to be a significantly larger risk factor for future burnout than previous insomnia for future insomnia (OK = 9.63 and 5.74, respectively). The results suggest that insomnia, anxiety, depression and burnout, despite their differences, are similar regarding symptoms and underlying causes. The importance of early interventions to prevent comorbid conditions which are more complicated and more difficult to treat is emphasized..

The purpose with this disertation is to find if there are selected factors which can force companies to grow. We have chosen five factors which we think can force the companies; market, strategy, profitability, demographic and institutional factors. We want to examine if there are differences between small and larger companies, and if there are differences between the lines of business.The intention to growth is also influenced by different factors. The organization and the board have an effect on the development. There are also factors that can obstruct the growth, for example control.