From the customer?s perspective the only reason for a firm to exist is the value it creates. However, a problem within manufacturing companies is that of the total lead time, only a small part can be considered as value adding. It has further been discovered that when working with improvements businesses often sub-optimizes single processes instead of considering what benefits the entire company. Thus, when improving processes and activities it is important to have knowledge about and understand which factors that affect how the flow can be designed.Several studies have been performed with a wide perspective on process flows in order to obtain a more resource-efficient and value added flow.

The overall purpose of this study is to make a survey of the extent as to which youths have witnessed acts of violence and or violence in close relationships, and which underlying factors, sex, class, and ethnicity ? characterize youths with such experiences. The study also aims to explore their attitudes and strategies and what the consequences are for youths of witnessing acts of violence, with respect to attachment to adults and other social networks. The primary data have been collected in two upper secondary schools. The study includes 101 students.

Studien har utförts på företaget Ericssons avdelning för strategiskt inköp och syftar till att utforma en inköpsportfölj som kan positionera maktbalansen mellan Ericsson och dess leverantörer. Undersökningen utförs på tre olika kategorier inom inköp; Hardware, Logistics och R&D Consultancy Services. Studien ger även förslag på strategier som kan appliceras för att flytta maktbalansen till en mer fördelaktig position. För att kunna utforma en maktpositioneringsmodell undersöker studiens författare vad som orsakar och kännetecknar makt i en kund- och leverantörsrelation, samt vilken påverkan de identifierade faktorerna tycks ha.Ericsson är ett globalt företag som är världsledande inom kommunikationsteknologi. Inköp av produkter och tjänster står för en ansenlig del av organisationens kostnader, varpå inköpsarbetet blir av stor betydelse.

The aim of this study is to find and highlight the differences and similarities in the strategic communication in two real estate businesses with different proprietaries. In order to achieve the purpose, theories and previous research on public relations, strategic communication, mediatization, framing and new public management has been used. The study was conducted through interviews with two different organizations, Lerstenen who is based in Umeå, and Övikshem who is based in Örnsköldsvik. The analysis and results showed that the key difference between the firms was the spontaneity that influenced the private one, in contrast to the public firm that relied on solid structures to manage their communication. The results also showed that differences in basis conditions both allowed and hindered the possibilities with the communicative efforts that the two firms could do..

In 1989 the Cold War ended and in 1991 the Soviet Union ceased to exist, over night the ruling paradigm of International Relations was obsolete. What would happen now? Samuel Huntingtons answer was that in the future, cultural identity would be the most important factor behind international conflict. And that the threat of world war would come from clashes between civilizations instead of clashes between ideologies like during the cold war. Was he correct? This thesis is an attempt to find out if Huntingtons theory was right in its predictions of the world to come.

The construction industry has not undergone the same logistical development as the manufacturing industry; this, in combination with increased material price, leads to the fact that the construction industry must be improved. This master thesis is a part of the research cooperation Brains & Bricks goal of reducing production costs for the construction sector by 25 percent. Brains & Bricks is a cooperation between Linköping University, Peab and Katrineholms municipality. The master thesis aims to identify improvements in the flow of material, the Supply chain operation reference, SCOR, model has been used and the work has been carried out on one of Peab?s construction sites. At present the business is characterized by bad communication both between the construction site and the office as well as between the construction site and suppliers.

Strong relationships are something that is really important for companies to succeed with, in purpose to increase and protect their market shares. After major research on the subject, it has been found that variables like exchange of relationship, trust, control mutability, satisfaction and commitment are important in the establishment of measuring a relationship. The purpose with this thesis was to: increase the knowledge on how companies measure, and then consequently evaluate, their relationships. To answer the purpose of the study we chose to do a case study at Stadium AB, which is a retailing concern with a high level of customer contact on a daily basis. The conclusion is that trust most likely is the key variable in measuring relationships.

The aim of this essay is to analyze how food and meals produce and reproduce values and power relations and how these processes are portrayed in Virginia Woolf?s To the Lighthouse. Using sociological writings in the field of food consumption and production I study the structures that affect our relation to food and eating. This perspective is combined with a phenomenological view, aiming to examine how food is perceived, which is also inspired by queer theories. Using the method of close reading, the theories are applied to Woolf?s work.

This paper has its aim to investigate in which way the theory about the dynamic of the triadic nexus, presented by Brubaker, needs to be revised. In the first place this theory is presented and after then applied on the triad formed by: the Hungarian national minority in Transylvania, Romania and Hungary. Through the empirical evidences, that are presented here by following up the political relations and its dynamics over time between the three fields, is shown that the theory is usable for the case in question. Further as we approach the more actual development of the political life in the triad appears a need to deal with one more field which would be for example the NATO or/and EU.This means that Brubakers theory has to be revised so it would take in account a forth field and that of an international organization/institution. The arguments for this needed change is put forth through empirical evidences on the political relations that the two states has with NATO or/and EU and the huge influence these have on the states..

Our study is focused on how the public sector can collaborate with the private sector on a certain issue. The public sector wanted to create a project to increase bicycling in the municipality of Kalmar. Our problem was to develop a sustainable way to collaborate between the two parties. We managed to present a suggestion on how the public sector with communication could improve their Public Relations with the private sector and therefore letting the parties benefit from their differences, thus making it possible to release synergy.Using semi-structured interviews and a workshop, we could clarify the values and attitudes of the parties to bring forth the core values to develop a shared vision. Where the identified differences were found, we used a dialog strategy based on intercultural conflict management as a communication tool.

SammanfattningSyftet med denna undersökning är att prova ut ett verktyg bland en grupp blivande lärare i träning i mänskliga relationer (Human Relations Training eller HRT). HRT är en utbildning i hur man kan kommunicera med bl a elever, kollegor och föräldrar för att skapa goda relatio-ner och konstruktivt hitta lösningar till konflikter och andra problem. Tidigare forskning visar att blivande lärare samt nyblivna lärare i Sverige anser sig ha goda ämneskunskaper men upp-lever en osäkerhet i det kommunikativa mötet vid exempelvis konflikter och vanliga problem som kan uppstå i det vardagliga mötet med elever och andra personer. I USA har det sedan decennier ingått HRT i lärarutbildningen, men då vi inte fann någon tidigare koppling till HRT i den svenska lärarutbildningen blev det intressant att prova HRT:s rekommendationer med kunskaperna som snart nyblivna lärare i Sverige har. En av oss författare fick en utbild-ning i HRT, i USA.

The aim with this study was to find out how young people at age 16-19 years in Kalmar, Sweden use and interact through Facebook. The questions in our questionnaire were based on three themes, these are; friendship relations on Facebook, what influence Facebook has on young people and how they choose to present themselves on Facebook. The theory that was applied on this study is of social-psychological kind. We chose the theory because we figured it would be suitable to further explain and dispute the aim of the study. The result shows that many different variables can matter in a study like this. We chose to look at a few, such as for example sex and age and we found out that there is a great difference between the way girls and boys use Facebook and how they choose to present themselves in this social media. Another conclusion that our study led to is that Facebook is an important tool for young people, in the meaning that they use it since it makes it easier to communicate with their friends and it also strengthens their relationships with their friends. Keywords: Facebook, Young people, Friendship, Facebook and Social Relations, Facebook use among adolescents & Facebooks? impact on adolescents..

Due to poorly functioning local and regional markets, the smallholders in San Francisco, Petén, were dependent on intermediaries that took advantage of the smallholder?s distance to markets. In an attempt to secure income and strengthen their bargaining position, 189 smallholders joined forces through the creation of a social smallholder network, held together by a community based enterprise. This enterprise was initiated in 2011 with the help of government incentive programmes and NGOs that within a few years will leave the enterprise to auto regime. This study treats the sustainability of a community forest based enterprise, Chachaklum, in northern Guatemala. The study identifies factors that enable smallholders to organize themselves in order to obtain business practices that support an improved standard of living.

A radical change is taking place in the world today: some former colonies are now booming economically while several former colonizers are suffering from economic crisis. Postcolonial theory states that old structures from the colonization are keeping the South poor and the North rich. Today there?s a shift in these structures as former colonizers Spain and Portugal are forced to ask for economical support from their former colonies.The colonial discourse separated white from black and depicted the population in the colonies as the absolute antithesis of the Europeans. In Portugal circulated also lusotropicalism, an ideology that claimed Portugal as absolutely free of racism, a statement with great influence in the postcolonial Portugal.On the basis of semi-structured focus groups I will in this paper do a discourse analysis of young, university educated Portuguese identity/ies in relation to the former colonies and the changing relations to these countries.

The aim of this paper is to get a deeper understanding if research about international relations has any practical meaning. The main focal point is about the importance of the scholar idea soft power, and its meaning on foreign policy actions through expressions. A quantity and quality method is used. The point of the main theory that concerns international relations takes a rationalistic perspective, and expands it to the notion that ides can have an impact on policy outcomes. Three different types of research utilization can be traced to determine in which way an idea is getting implemented.