Course: Degree project in logistics, 4FE05E, spring 2013Author: Maria WennbergSupervisor: Petra AnderssonExaminer: Helena ForslundTitle: Standardization and improvement of the outbound process execution Background: Transportation represents a critical part of companies? logistics. Special management and control is needed when using a third party logistics. Balco uses a third party logistics for their deliveries of balcony parts and before it takes place the outbound process is executed. Currently, Balco experience difficulties with the process? many ways to be performed by the project managers and logistics department.

Making accurate predictions of private consumption expenditures is a difficult task. This thesis examines if consumer confidence can be used to forecast consumption. Using regression analysis, the link between consumer confidence and private consumption expenditures is analyzed for Sweden between the years 1994 and 2005. Two different models are estimated. In the first model consumption is regressed only on consumer confidence, while model two is extended to contain more variables.

In this study we are seeking to discover the norms in the design of logotypes and how they havechanged over time. To achieve this we have chosen to analyze the logotypes of twenty companies withthe largest expenditure on advertising in Sweden. We mapped chosen design attributes within the logoto discover the similarities and then we selected the five oldest brands to analyze how their logos havechanged over time. The design changes in the logotypes over time is can be related to the changingattitudes of the general public and the designers ambitions to draw on convention to create iconic designthat will spark brand-recognition. However many changes can?t be directly explained through changesin convention.

Companies use different forms of representation to promote business negotiations. The regulations for the right to deduction for the cost of representation are stated in Chapter 16 section 2 of the Swedish Income Tax Act (IL). According to the law there must be an im-mediate connection between the expenditure and the business practice and the claimed de-duction must be reasonable. The Swedish tax authority publishes general recommendations regarding representation which are used as guidelines for the tax payer to follow. The gen-eral provision about tax deduction can be found in Chapter 16 section 1 of the Swedish In-come Tax Act (IL), stating that expenses to acquire or retain income shall be deductible.

AimThe purpose of this study is to compare the level of activity between playing wii Sports Tennis and wii Sports boxing, and the usual sports, and to see how the two variants are perceived.Issues:- How much strain ratio and energy consumption it gives to exercise wii sports compared with the playing of sport for real?- How do the test participants experience the different tests?- How are the two wii sports games against each other in terms of activity and fitness in the school environment?MethodThis is an experimental study in which 10 test participants (5 men and 5 women) have carried out four different physical tests. The tests consisted of either playing an exergame or playing a sport for 25 minutes. Physical activity was measured during the test using a heart rate monitor. All test participants completed all tests in the same order.

This degree project is based on identifying and allocation of costs in a packaging section at Electrolux Distriparts in Torsvik.The purpose of this thesis is to identify the costs that emerge when packaging different articles and show how the costs are allocated. The report also contains improvement suggestions about how the company can use the current computer system more efficient.The methods that have been used in order to approach the problem and the collection of information have mainly been literature study, interviews and observation.The work started with answering the questions; which expenditure cost and direct cost exist in the section, how can they be allocated, if improvement can be done and how the flow of information is supposed to happen.In order to answer the questions we used our former experience and the knowledge we achieved by reading literature, interview relevant persons in the company and observations carried out in the section.Through our studies, we came up with an Excel file, which is the groundwork for a template that can be used by the company in different occasions depending on the situation and need. It is important to remember to modify the template if the presumptions change. In the template, we have identified the different kind of costs that emerge when packaging different articles and we have also allocated the costs. In addition formulas and estimations that are necessary for the cost calculation are presented.The work consisted in making the groundwork for a template.

The purpose of this thesis is to gain insight into educators? views and work with circle time in preschool. To find out, I have referred to the following questions: How is your circle time performed in preschool? What objectives have teachers with the circle time? What impact has your circle time for the children in preschool?I have chosen to carry out qualitative interviews with three preschool teachers. After the interviews, I compared the educators? response to previous research.The survey shows that the circle time is one of the day´s highlights for preschool children.

This master thesis in economics discusses the time use of today as well as the observed trends in time use over the last 20 years in Sweden. This is done by analysing time-use and consumption data at the microeconomic level, i.e. by explaining individual behaviour given the economic assumption of a rational behaviour. We reach the conclusion that the value of time is an important explanatory variable concerning the rationality in that time is used differently by different individuals and in the changed use of time. Furthermore, other variables such as social norms and the process benefit of a certain activity, i.e.

The environmental issues have during the last decenniums gained an increased role in both the political arena and in the market economy. The society is therefore more knowledgeable about the environment and our impact on it. Through this enlightened state, stakeholders tend to put pressure on the organizations of today. They, more or less willingly, incorporate this responsibility to be a part of their business. Entrepreneurs in the environmental area have seen this rising market as an opportunity to gain market shares and other positive outcomes.

The purpose of this study is to examine how employees in an organization using flexible work practices, experience that passive face time influences the evaluated of them. Further, the study aims to understand to what extent that perception of passive face time motivates the employees to spend more time at the office than is necessary for their work situations. The study concludes that employees in general perceive that passive face time does influence how they are evaluated and that this perception motivates employees that are relatively newly employed by the company to spend more time at office..

This thesis examines why working time preferences differ between workers and nations, and explains the effect of working time regulation and working time flexibility on negotiating work-life balance. In five separate sections the following working time issues are examined: the number of hours worked by workers in Europe; factors affecting individual working time preferences; how working time preferences are negotiated in the national industrial relations systems of Sweden, France and the United Kingdom; how the institutions of the European Union have influenced working time negotiations through the Working Time Directive; and the benefits and practices available to organisations implementing working time flexibility. Broadly this paper views working time preferences as being a highly personal and influenced by factors such as wages, taxation, culture (national and workplace) and non-work responsibilities. It is argued that negotiating a preferred working time pattern is essential to achieving work-life balance and when such a balance is achieved, workers are more healthy, motivated and committed to their employer. Essentially this provides an incentive for businesses to voluntarily implement working time flexibility beyond the regulatory standards..

In an attempt to prevent ground damage and to reduce harvesting costs, StoraEnso's districts Värmbodal and Fryken, selected a number of final felling areas where the base roads have been marked by planners in the districts. The parties involved in the experiment are mainly planners, harvester operators and forwarder operators. The purpose of this paper is to determine the findings of this trial and to find cost savings or lost revenue. This has been done with a sample of interviews from the involved parties who logged the chosen felling areas. Literature about the interview process has been used to facilitate data collection, interpretation and analysis of the material. If we look at profitability based on assumed income and expenditure, revenue per MWh would be 63 SEK.

The goal of this paper is to provide a model for a sustainable electricity system to an island, in the Pacific Ocean near the equator.The method which has been used is to model supply and demand of electricity in the computer program Stella, through the creation of a dynamic system that balances them against each other. The result from the model will then be used to calculate the electricity price per kWh for the island.The result of the work is that electricity from solar energy is comparable with electricity produced from oil, if the oil pays for all its external costs, and the potential for pumped hydro storage plants is located. It also requires that consumers of electricity can be their own producers to avoid the expenditure of tax and reducing the cost of distribution. But since oil is a finite resource and has had a rising cost in recent years, while solar energy has had a declining cost, perhaps this will be a more competitive solution in the future.

As EU?s authority increased the number of lobbies in Brussels grew. Today there are approximately 15 000 lobbyists in Brussels. EU decisions and EU directives can have a huge impact on companies and organizations. They can however influence these decisions and directives through lobbying.

During the winter 2011 Isaksson and Andersson did a time budget study on Nordens Ark?s Przewalskis horses during daytime when there were visitors and caretakers in the park. This time budget study was made during daytime and when there were no visitors or caretakers in the park. The horses where observed in the morning (5.30-6.30 am) and in the evening (5.45-6.45 pm) during four days. In addition to a time budget, the horses? positions in the enclosure were registered.