The objective of this study is to determine if and how Swedish businesses measure the efficiency of their purchasing departments.In this study I have interviewed six medium to large successful companies and asked them· Which ratios they use to measure the efficiency of their purchasing departments· Why they use these ratios and· How the results of these measurements are usedI can conclude that although there are no ratios or other measurements that directly measure the efficiency of purchasing indirect measures do exist.The measures applied are usually the result of demands from management and the results are reported back to management and used to follow development within a particular field of purchasing. Benchmarking, especially external benchmarking, is unusual..

The purpose of this thesis was to study how an internationalization process to China may appear for a small Swedish enterprise and to identify important factors that may be essential for the process. The focus extends from the point where the enterprise makes its first connection with China up to the point where they are well established. Their business is up and running and they have begun production. To gain a deeper understanding of the subject a gathering of existing theory and research articles was conducted. The gathering of theory yielded knowledge of different approaches and methods that can be used to implement internationalization and provided a greater understanding of cultural and regional differences in China compared to Sweden.

Striga hermonthica, a parasitic weed, has long been believed to be correlated with the declining soil fertility status. However scientists have recently come to question this statement since some recent studies have shown contradictive results. To investigate whether soil fertility status and infestation of Striga hermonthica were correlated and the impact of it were caused by farmer management, 120 farmers in Western Kenya, where Striga hermonthica infestation is prone, participated in this study. In three districts with two sub-locations each, farmers answered a structural questionnaire and identified two fields, one with high and one with low soil fertility. These fields later came to be the basis for this study and soil were therefore also sampled from them.

The purpose of this study is to examine the usage of IT technology within preschool and study how IT tools are used by preschool staff for administrative as well as pedagogical assignments. Several aspects affects the work preschool staff do with IT which concerns availability to technology, how technology is used and how technology is made available for the children. There are a number of questions linked to these aspects where some examples this study examines are which advantages, disadvantages, obstacles or other limitations that comes with introducing IT? This study also examines how, when and in what contexts IT is being used? Other questions examined are the pedagogue?s general views of IT, competence development and eventual needs of investment? Further on this study examines to some part how children interact with IT during pedagogical activities? The overall objective is to shed light on problems that preschool staff encounter  in their daily work and on the basis of identifying important questions at issue that could constitute a basis for further research. The results of this study are based on both a literature review and a field study.

This study's main objective was to identify adolescents participation in alternative sport activities and which kind of physical activity that was preferred by adolescents who didn't had any earlier experience of sport clubs. The study combined interviews and surveys with the purpose to get both adolescents and sport leaders perspective. A total of five interviews were performed and fifty-four surveys was collected. The results showed that adolescents already physical active were those who participated in alternative sport activities. Who participate in alternative sport activities can depend on habitus, comprehended capital forms and in which social field the sport activities exists..

This study's main objective was to identify adolescents participation in alternative sport activities and which kind of physical activity that was preferred by adolescents who didn't had any earlier experience of sport clubs. The study combined interviews and surveys with the purpose to get both adolescents and sport leaders perspective. A total of five interviews were performed and fifty-four surveys was collected. The results showed that adolescents already physical active were those who participated in alternative sport activities. Who participate in alternative sport activities can depend on habitus, comprehended capital forms and in which social field the sport activities exists..

This study intends to analyze and compare the core litterature outlined in two specially selected teacher training establishments. The purpose of the investigation is to examine what specific perspectives they focus upon and the competences they require for teachers of tomorrow.The result shows that there are certain differences in perspective when varying the point of focus, but there are also common elements inte the core litterature between the two establishments. This analysis will provide a base for discussion on how the differences may be a result of the environment where the colleges of higher learning are situated and also on the individual needs in the surrounding area when they were first established..

Safe operation of a large synchronous power system as Nordel is not an easy task.There are several aspects to take into consideration. This thesis focuses on the problems due to voltage collapses in a transmission system.The ability to foresee an upcoming collapse is vital to maintain stable operation of the grid. The grid operator at Svenska Kraftnät (SvK) uses the computer program SPICA to predict the maximum transfer limit at specified transfer sections. SPICA uses actual states from the grid to predict the transfer limitation, and a quarter later a renewed estimate is produced and so on. This means that the operator can se his transfer limits vary every fifteen minutes.Our task in this project is to validate the accuracy of the limitations obtained by SPICA.

The purpose with this essay is to study the public support givers view of the concept innovation and to study how the public support givers discuss and act around the division of public support to entrepreneurs innovations. The purpose is further to describe if the division of public support favour or not favour environmental innovations and to examine if the public support givers consider the industry for environmental innovations is profitable for the society?s economy.We have done several case studies where we have interviewed eight public support. Support givers in this essay are defined as public authorities and other organisations on local, national and/or international level that gives public support to innovations. The public support givers that take part of the essay is VINNOVA, ALMI Stockholm, Innovationsbron, Energimyndigheten, SU Holding AB, KTH Holding, Västra Götalandsregionen and MISTRA.Our theoretical starting point is Silverman and Baums theory ?Picking Winners or Building Them?.

This report explains how different communication tools can be used in a company?s intranet. It gives a short description of the different parts in an intranet and their field of application, and what communication means. It?s only the communication tools that the company uses that we are illuminating in this report.

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss how agents create their culture outside of their ?own? fields.What does this way of creating a culture mean for groups already existing on the field? Who ownsthe power to construct their own subject positions? Through a discourse analysis, I analyse thesequestions through articles and interviews treating two cultural fields which I call ?The hip Berlin?and ?Swedish hip hop culture?. I argue that, depending on a persons priviliges, one owns the powernot only to construct subject positions of ones own, but also for persons with less privileges in theexisting hegonomy of society..

The purpose of this masters´ thesis is to examine the attitudes of public librarians towards easy-to-read literature and see whether a connection between these attitudes and accessibility can be made. The study has been performed with a qualitative approach and consists of four depth interviews with emphasis on how librarians relate to and experience easy-to-read literature and its´ users. As complement to the depth interviews, two micro interviews were made. The study can be seen as a follow up to a survey I made 2005, commissioned by The centre for Easy- to-Read. As analytical tools the cultural sociological theories of Pierre Bourdieu, with his concepts field, cultural capital and habitus, have been used.

Aim and starting point: The aim of the Bachelor thesis is to examine and define the paramount knowledge Chinese businessmen need in order to succeed with their establishment in Sweden. The authors also seek to answer what incentives attract Chinese businessmen to come to Sweden, as well as how Chinese establishments in Sweden can be predicted to appear in the future.Results/conclusions: The study outlines key areas in which Chinese businessmen should have knowledge in order to succeed with their establishment in Sweden. The results also gives an indication on how Chinese business establishments in Sweden will appear in the future, into which areas the Chinese mainly invest/establish in, as well as why and how these are done. On the basis of this material the authors generate proposals for educational packages which among others can be sold to Chinese businessmen.Knowledge overview: Here relevant theory connected to the area of study is presented. The knowledge overview presents the Swedish in relation to the Chinese perspective in areas such as: culture, hierarchy, relations, Face, communication, HRM, education, CSR and labour law.

This master?s thesis is a remote sensing study of an area-based method used to detect forest in need of thinning by use of laser data and field samples. Only pine-dominated forest has been included in the study and height limits were set to match empirical restrictions. The study area was in the municipality of Älvsbyn (Latitude 65° 40´ N, Longitude 21° 00´ E), in northern Sweden.The Swedish authority Lantmäteriet is currently laser scanning most parts of Sweden, providing new opportunities and applications. The primary aim of the national laser scanning is to create a new elevation model, useful in consequence analysis of climate changes.

Virtual communities are a phenomenon that is becoming more common as the information technology comes with in reach for the general public. This report will bring the theories and construction of a virtual community together. The purpose of this report is to describe the different theories that have emerged from the research within this field and to examine the work procedures that have been used during the development of a site for a MDA-community. The MDA-website is a homepage on the Internet that was developed to bring the students closer together. The report describes the work of the project group, why the website was not completed and at the end the theories are looked at on the basis of the construction of the website..