Problem: What are the characteristics of Polykemi?s management control system and how is it affected by growth? Purpose: To describe and analyse the management control system of a medium-sized family-owned company from the perspective of Simons? Levers of control. Research design: An abductive, interview-based case study of Polykemi AB. Conclusion: Polykemi?s management control system is primarily a traditional one which is rather strong in terms of Levers of control.

Fusarium graminearum causes reduction in both yield and quality in cereal grain worldwide. One of the diseases it can cause is Fusarium Head Blight (FHB). Both sexually and asexually produced spores can infect living plants. Asexual conidia are produced in the mycelium while sexual ascospores form in asci in perithecia on debris. In biological control, living organsims are used to control pests and diseases.

This thesis studies the negative impact that control signal saturation may have on a controlled system. Different methods that are used to compensate for this problem are also studied and evaluated. Both sensitivity to disturbances and the effect the method has on the systems'ability to follow a reference signal will be examined. Stability will be discussed, but no conclusions whether the systems are stabilized or not can be drawn. Control signal saturation will lead to a slower behavior in general.

This study aims to examine the effect management control systems have on which goals health centers prioritize. The management control systems of one privately owned and one publicly owned health center have been studied through a qualitative case study. Robert Simons (1995) framework with four levers of control (diagnostic control systems, interactive control systems, belief systems and boundary systems) has been used to structure the study. For both health centers we found a conflict of interest mainly between the diagnostic control system and the beliefs system, where the diagnostic control system is biased towards quantitative goals and the beliefs system is mainly biased towards qualitative goals. However, despite the unbalanced levers of control the studied health centers have been able to reach a well functioning compromise between quantitative and qualitative goals..

The purpose of this study was to examine if there was a relation between birth order, gender and locus of control. There where 162 participants in the study, 44 men, 115 women. Birth order was coded into three levels. There where no significant differences between birth order and locus of control. The result showed that female participants where more external when it came to locus of control.

Powdery mildew is a serious problem in both field and greenhouse cucumber production and can cause serious infection and radically reduced yields. Today, powdery mildew is the main disease in greenhouse produced cucumber. Disease control should preferably be both efficient and environmentally friendly, which is not easy to achieve at all times. Alternatives to chemical control of powdery mildews are biological control, physical control, non-fungicide control and cultivation of resistant or tolerant varieties. Biological control can be described as the suppression of damaging activities inflicted of a harmful organism by one or more other organisms, which are called antagonists or natural enemies. In Sweden, there are currently no registered biological control products available to control cucumber powdery mildew. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of two biological control products in order to evaluate their ability to prevent or reduce powdery mildew infection to an acceptable level in greenhouse produced cucumber. In the experiments, different application regimes were also studied.

This pilot study examined whether treatment with Vortex Process Technology (VPT) of the irrigation water used on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants had any effect on plant growth. In a block experiment, with two blocks comprising 12 vases containing 1 L water and two tomato plantlets, treatment in which, nutrient solution was based on Vortex-treated water was compared with an control using untreated water. All vases were kept in a static aerated culture system in a daylight chamber for four weeks. The results showed that the effect of the two blocks exceeded the effect of vortex treatment in terms of leaf area and weight of fresh and dry matter. Plant height, stem width and internodal length were significantly different in tomato plants grown in Vortex-processed water compared with the untreated control.

Internet  has  given  possibilities  to  a  whole  new world within communication. Nowadays  the communication  inside organisations and companies  takes place  through  the Internet. The  idea  of  this paper  arose when one of  the  authors discussed  the  general  involvement of  the  tenant-owner?s association  in  the committee. Providing a new channel  for  communication  through a homepage  could  affect  the  attitude  of  the  tenants.  We  were  curious  of  what  effect  on communication  introducing a homepage would give.

The work organization variable control and the individual characteristic psychological flexibility are two concepts that affect employees? well-being at work.This cross-­sectional study examined the extent to which these variables correlated with burnout, mental health and job satisfaction among homecare workers in Sweden (N=68). As hypothesized, results showed that both control and psychological flexibility were associated with burnout and job satisfaction. Findings also showed that psychological flexibility was associated with mental health. Moreover, the results indicated that there is an interaction effect between control and psychological flexibility in relation to these variables.

This thesis concerns the control of outsourced interorganizational buyer-supplier relationships in the low-price fashion industry. A qualitative case study has been performed on two supplier relationships of a low-price fashion company. By identifying specificities of the industry and relating them to control problems and their implications on control solutions, the thesis has established a relation between industry specific characteristics and the way companies in the industry control their supplier relationships. The analysis is based on a theoretical framework created by Dekker (2004). Amongst other factors, the difficulty to define, quantify and measure the design variables of a fashion good, the high heterogeneity between individual products and the difficulty to predict the trend based demand, create high coordination requirements as well as appropriation concerns solved through extensive formal control.

Background: Inter-organisational ways of working have become more and more common during the last decades. In order to attain efficiency and productivity, such inter-organisational relationships need to be governed and controlled. However, studies have shown that inadequate control is one of the main reasons for why inter-organisational relationships fail. One of the means that can be used for governing and controlling a business is management control. The use of management control in inter-organisational contexts is a quite unexplored area of research at the present time, which might seem somewhat surprising considering the fact that inadequate control is a common explanation for why inter-organisational relationships fail.

The function of budgetary controls is to control the resource allocation within companies. It can also be an instrument for measure and control subordinates and/or business units? performance (Van der Stede 2001). This paper concerns the latter; when the budgetary control function is used to measure and control subordinates performance based on budget. Previous research in this area has not yet accomplished to explain the effects of tight budgetary control which Hartman (2000) considers as the main issue to be concerned about in management accounting research.Previous research has presented contradictory findings regarding tight budgetary control explained by positive effects as well as negative effects during the last decades.

The thesis was performed at Forsmarks Kraftgrupp AB in the department ofmechanical engineering, FTCM. Forsmark nuclear power plant has had problems with cracks in some of the controlrods which are placed in the reactor at Forsmark 3. To investigate the cause of this,material samples were taken from five of the damaged control rods. This sampling ofthe rods resulted too short rods to be transported in the shipping container to theinterim storage facility for used nuclear fuel in Oskarshamn. Control rods are crucial components in a nuclear reactor, regulating the reactoreffect by blocking or unblocking fuel rods. Control rods which have been in thereactor are always handled under water in order to protect against the radiation theyemit. The task was to design a control rod adapter that extends the control rod sotransport can be performed from Forsmark. The goal of the work was a complete setof blueprints so the control rod adapter can be manufactured and mounted on theshort control rods and then be transported to the interim storage facility. The work began with mapping of how control rods normally being handled from thereactor to the interim storage facility.

The function of budgetary controls is to control the resource allocation within companies. It can also be an instrument for measure and control subordinates and/or business units? performance (Van der Stede 2001). This paper concerns the latter; when the budgetary control function is used to measure and control subordinates performance based on budget. Previous research in this area has not yet accomplished to explain the effects of tight budgetary control which Hartman (2000) considers as the main issue to be concerned about in management accounting research.Previous research has presented contradictory findings regarding tight budgetary control explained by positive effects as well as negative effects during the last decades.

It is important to investigate the potential of biological control measures in agricul-ture, especially where economic issues restrict the use of expensive inputs or when there are environmental concerns about toxicity of agrochemicals. The bacterium Bacillus subtilis has proved promising as a biocontrol agent (BCA) in suppressing various plant diseases and it has also been shown to promote plant growth in certain cases. During this study, the effect of B. subtilis on Fusarium wilt (caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum) on tomatoes, as well as its effect on the earthworm species Pontoscolex corethrurus was investigated. Furthermore, the combined ef-fect of the BCA with P.