It has become more and more common that companies in the service sector are beginning to understand their own effect on the environment and thus the need to contribute to a sustainable development through acting in a deliberate way. Serious environmental work can help a company to improve their image and in that way win competitive advantage that leads to improved profitability. In a short time perspective, adjustment to the environment is an opportunity to gain competitive advantage and an opportunity to develop a profile. In a long time perspective it is about survival. The environmental work has become a sequel to the work with quality.

We must all take our responsibility to our common environment, we have to make sure that the following generation is guaranteed a healthy and good environment. Swedens universities have a significant role too achieve this. Environment questions have to integrate in the educa¬tion as a compulsory element, then more people will have an increased comprehension for the influence we have ion the environment. . My degree project have I decided to do about the environmental work at Halmstad University.

The common literature about strategic alliances offers a very fragmented picture. This thesis gives a theoretical overview on strategic alliances and builds the basis for the following examination of the different dimensions most strategic alliances have. The examination of the different dimensions is the crucial point of this thesis. Here the reader gets a detailed insight into the different dimensions and the implications they have on the design of a particular strategic alliance. This examination leads in the end to a more differentiated view on strategic alliances and the insight that no simple models exist, which give a sufficient basis for decision-making and understanding strategic alliances, today.

The purpose of the essay has been to clarify why and how small companies, whose major resource is knowledge, establish strategic alliances and which opportunities it brings. We have increased our understanding for the concept of strategic alliances through empirical search and through well-known scientist work. The method, which has been used in the essay, is principally qualitative interviews and gathering secondary data from articles from well-known authors. Our study has given that we have found that entering strategic alliances can make growth and by that way create competitive advantages for the company in question. We also found that there are risks with strategic alliances and the company can protect themselves by legal actions.

During the past decade environmental challenges have been intensified and given increased attention. This implies that businesses in all sectors strategically need to manage these challenges. The service sector is often considered as a sector with a low environmental impact if the direct environmental aspects are assessed. Still, it has been argued that the environmental impact that the sector gives rise to can create severe indirect environmental impacts. The products and services that are produced by this sector have a relatively limited use of physical resources which may make the environmental impact challenging to visualize. Banks belong to the service sector and it is partly banks that make the development of societies possible.

The Swedish system of environmental quality objectives is a so-called MBO, Management By Objective and has the purpose to guide the Swedish society towards sustainable ecological development. The system involves the whole society from the parliament and the government down to individual citizens. At the regional level, it is the county administrative boards that are responsible for the work with the system of environmental objectives. At the County Administrative Board of Västmanland County, it is the environmental unit who is in charge of work with the environmental objectives and they want input for how to improve their work with the environmental objectives, both internally at the Administrative Board and externally with external parties.The main purpose and goal of the study is to present the work of four other county administrative boards regarding their work with the environmental quality objectives and to identify external parties? opinions of how they want the County Board of Västmanland county to work with them in this matter.The work is designed as a case study of four county councils, where the environmental objectives coordinators at the four county administrative boards were interviewed about their work with environmental quality objectives.

The common literature about strategic alliances offers a very fragmented picture. This thesis gives a theoretical overview on strategic alliances and builds the basis for the following examination of the different dimensions most strategic alliances have. The examination of the different dimensions is the crucial point of this thesis. Here the reader gets a detailed insight into the different dimensions and the implications they have on the design of a particular strategic alliance. This examination leads in the end to a more differentiated view on strategic alliances and the insight that no simple models exist, which give a sufficient basis for decision-making and understanding strategic alliances, today.

The subject field studied in this essay is environmental scanning. The aim of this study is to analyse how three public organizations within the subject field sustainable development work with their environmental scanning. Most organizations have to relate to their surroundings such as clients and competitors. Environmental scanning is another very important field that organizations have to relate to in their work. This essay has three questions in focus which are the following;How is the work with environmental scanning in the three organizations arranged?How does the work with environmental scanning differ in the three organizations?How important is environmental scanning for the subject field sustainable development?The study was carried out through four conducted interviews with key persons within the three organizations.

By conducting qualitative interviews five pedagogues and eight children in the ages three to five have answered questions regarding environmental work in preschool.The purpose of this report was to examine how environmental work is pursued at two preschools and what children at these preschools think about environmental work. Recycling of garbage and small cultivation projects together with the children is what the pedagogues consider being the most common environmental work at their particular preschools. In the professional role of the pedagogue if can be clearly seen what special interests he or she has.Most of the children associate the forest with some kind of snack and animals. Half of the interviewed children also think about animals when they visit the forest. Half of the interviewed children also have an understanding of where peels from fruits should be tossed, but no one knows the meaning of the word environment.

During the 90s most companies organized and adopted routines for their environmental work. This work included for example eco-efficiency improvements and the introduction of environmental managing systems. At the UN conference in Rio in 1992 the concept Sustainable development was defined, but it was not until about the year of 2000 that companies in Sweden shifted their work from environmental management to sustainable management. A consequence of this is that they now have to focus on environmental aspect in conjunction with social and economic aspects.The purpose of this study is to gain understanding of what a change of focus to sustainable development means for companies. Has the environmental work suffered in the competition with social/economical aspects under the new sustainable focus? How will the new way of working affect the balance between environmental and social aspects? Changes were studied in five companies by analysing their annual-, environmental- and sustainability reports and through interviews of sustainable managers.

This Masters thesis is concerned with the complex planning process of setting up a citizen bureau in a public library. The aim is to find out how citizen bureaux are designed and to suggest a simplified model of strategic planning. The planning process is studied from a business perspective in the library context, and this perspective is also used to study citizen bureaux and their written plans elsewhere. A combination of qualitative methods are used: observations, focus group discussions and interviews. Observations in the public library showed a great need for an environmental analysis as well as structure to the planning process.

The purpose of the study is to investigate methods and work procedures that aim to motivate people to leave a cult and/or supporting them after a cult exit. The study was limited to investigate how Sweden?s, within the area, three premier voluntary organizations Föreningen Rädda Individen, Rådgivning Om Sekter and Hjälpkällan work with present -, ex ? and relatives to cult members. In addition to the mentioned organizations we have also investigated the work procedures and methods used by Åke Wiman. The study has got a qualitative approach and includes semi-structured interviews.

Welfare is every person's right. To create conditions for a good welfare it requires coordinated strategic interventions at national and local level. Efforts must be politically supported to be able to strengthen public health. Local welfare management is a measure used to control and monitor public health. The purpose of this study was to investigate local actors perceptions of collaboration in strategic public health efforts with local welfare management in a municipality in central Sweden.

The environmental work in Sweden has developed a lot over the past fifty years. Today, most companies have some kind of environmental work. Environmental activities are regulated by the Environmental Code, which applies in parallel with other laws. This report is an environmental review for Bräcke Diakoni. The report aims to find out how much environmental impact Bräcke Diakoni has.

The aim with my work is to get a deeper knowledge about the preschool's views of environmental work. I also want to examine how the preschool teachers along with the children work with the project Green Flag in the preschool. I have used structured interview with two teachers in a preschool that works with Green Flag. Green Flag is an environment certification and is an evidence on that one works daily with a document aimed environmental work along with the children. I have found out that each year they work with different themes within Green Flag.