Globalization and associated economic changes have led to a lot of opportunities and hazards that companies are facing. Especially the increased role of customer demands and the interconnected shift from seller markets to buyer markets were the driving factors and incentives for the research work of this Master Thesis. One quite new strategy that companies tend to apply in order to meet the occurring challenges is supplier development. By reason of the actuality of this topic, it was of high worth to investigate, especially when it comes to the lack of theoretical findings about challenges, difficulties and problems. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis was to find out which problems can occur in the process of supplier development, and how they can be solved. Hereby, the focus was laid on the furniture retail industry, as it is one of the fastest growing sectors in Sweden. For the empirical research the retailers Ikea and Mio were selected, because they play a very important role within the Swedish furniture retail industry due to the fact that they are the two biggest when it comes to market shares. Furthermore, the suppliers Bitc Möbel AB, Lundbergs Möbler and AB Wilo were chosen in order to examine their dyadic relationship with Mio. For the purpose of investigating the supplier development within the dyadic relationship of Ikea and its supplier, Bodilsen a/s was interviewed. Almost during the whole research of this thesis a lack of knowledge occurred. It was noticed that only few references exist regarding this topic, therefore the objective of this thesis was to attach importance to this issue, illustrate further problem areas and possible solutions. Hereby, a conceptual model was created that served as a basis for the empirical part. After collecting empirical data, a close analysis was accomplished. In the end, suggestions for companies to improve their supplier development were made and a final model was generated in order to illustrate the results of the study. The Swedish furniture retail industry is exposed to a strong price pressure and stress of competition, which makes it necessary to improve companies’ performance in order to withstand the competition and to succeed in the end. Its proximity to end customers makes a continuous product development necessary, which can only be successful when working closely together with manufacturers. Therefore, deploying supplier development is a recommendable strategy, but one should be aware of challenges that can occur. The results of this thesis provide support for the improvement of supplier development, especially when it comes to problem areas and correspondent solutions within dyadic relationships. Supplier development is an up-to-date topic and plays a crucial role within the fast changing business environment. It was chosen to raise the reader’s interest and to give an insight into current economic developments. The Swedish furniture retail industry turned out to be very interesting for the topic of this Master Thesis. Finally, there is nothing more to say than: ‘Enjoy the trip through the Swedish furniture industry!’ / Research questions: Which are the potential problem areas of Supplier Development within dyadic relationships in the Swedish furniture retail industry? Which possible solutions for these problem areas can be found in order to improve Supplier Development?

The reporting of the media will never be an exact copy of reality. Through medias way of presenting, or framing, the world that surround us all they must also affect our interpretation of it. The role of the journalist includes both chosing and excluding in the way they describe things. Studies have been made by the wellknown mediaresearcher, Kent Asp, that show how media reported in more negative wordings about Mona Sahlin, than her opponent Fredrik Reinfeldt in the period building up to the swedish elections 2010. The purpose of our study has been to compare how these politicians were being described, or framed, in the media, in regards to their gender.Our study has shown that Mona Sahlin more often than Fredrik Reinfeldt was described as being less knowledgeable, and were mentioned in the context of scandals or conflicts. Sahlin was also, more often than Reinfeldt, mentioned in articles where the subjects of healthcare, schooling and education, and equality between men and women. Where as Reinfeldt was, more often than Sahlin, mentioned in articles where the subjects were the labour market, economy and foreign politics.

Språket är onekligen vårt mest effektiva kommunikationsmedel och med hjälp av det kan vi uttrycka våra känslor, skapa kontakt med vår omvärld, förmedla information och så vidare. När vi talar och kommunicerar med andra väljer vi medvetet eller omedvetet vilka ord vi använder och hur mycket vi uttrycker dem och genom dessa val bidrar vårt språk till att skapa våra identiteter. Inom den språkvetenskapliga inriktningen språksociologi studeras hur olika faktorer, såsom hur vi vill uppfattas, den aktuella situationen och vem vi kommunicerar med, påverkar de språkliga val vi gör. I språksociologiska studier tas även hänsyn till hur andra variabler, såsom geografiskt ursprung, samhällsklass, ålder och kön, samspelar med varandra och hur de påverkar vårt språkliga beteende. I denna uppsats står relationen mellan språk och kön i fokus. Det bottnar i mitt personliga intresse för hur språket speglar samhället vi lever i och de olika roller vi tilldelar oss själva och andra. Språk och kön är ett språksociologiskt område som studerar om samband finns mellan språkanvändning och kvinnors och mäns sociala roller och hur det i så fall tar sig uttryck. Många språksociologer har riktat sin uppmärksamhet mot dessa samband och en mängd studier har också genomförts inom området. Språk och kön ses därför ofta som en egen språkvetenskaplig inriktning. Tidigare forskning om språk och kön har främst fokuserats på talat språk, medan relationen mellan språk och kön i skriven text inte har fått samma uppmärksamhet. Det är dock inte självklart att relationen mellan språk och kön ser likadan ut i skriven text som i talat språk och därför förtjänar även det skrivna språket att sättas i fokus inom forskningen om språk och kön. Jag har följaktligen valt att göra en analys som fokuserar på skrivet språk i form av tidningsartiklar. Denna studie kan förhoppningsvis vara intresseväckande genom att den bortser från förutfattade meningar och fördomar om kvinnors och mäns språk och istället lyfter fram deras faktiska skriftspråk.

This essay is about human beings. These human beings in particular are priests and LGBTQ-persons who work in the Swedish Church in Växjö diocese. During research I have conducted qualitative interviews with people who are LGBTQ-persons and work as priests in Växjö diocese. These interviews have been analyzed through queer theory and Mary Douglas theory about anomalia. My aim with this essay is to find out what it means to be a LGBTQ- person and work as a priest in this diocese. I wanted to learn more about where the difficulties lie. How the priests are treated by others and how they see themselves. My conclusion is that both Växjö diocese and the priests in my essay partly look upon themselves through a heterosexual matrix and therefore, in some way, regard LGBTQ-persons as anomalia. Therefore, there is a risk that LGBTQ-persons in Växjö diocese end up in an exclusion.

This paper identifies subjects which are relevant for Swedish suppliers of tourism services beforeapproaching foreign markets. Most suppliers are micro, small or medium sized companies anduse intermediaries, such as tour operators, for internationalization. The research considers theopinion of British and German tour operators, which require some criteria beforehand in orderto simplify both the initialization and the development of cooperation. Destination marketingorganizations (DMOs) are hereby the go-betweens since they not only represent small-scalesuppliers on international markets, but also initiate first encounters between suppliers and touroperators. Suppliers need to provide DMOs with accurate information in order to ensure thebest possible representation. After initializing collaboration, business relationships are sought todevelop in order to facilitate long-term cooperation. Proper preparation forms therefore the basefor strengthening the competitiveness of Swedish tourism prior approaching internationalmarkets. The enhancement of distributing Swedish tourism services on foreign markets appearedto be a profitable way to enable further growth, which is strongly limited on the domestic market.Increasing the export share therefore secures and further facilitates tourism’s valuablecontributions to the Swedish economy.

<p>Expanding to foreign markets is increasingly popular for companies. The company has to decide which organisational structure, entry mode, to use in the new market. Factors affecting the change from one entry mode to another have obtained little attention. This thesis concerns Swedish companies’ changes of entry mode in Taiwan.</p><p>The purpose is to investigate which factors that serve as triggers respectively barriers for the change of entry modes, to be able to examine which theories that can be used to explain and support mode changes.</p><p>Different theories concerning choice and change of entry mode have been investigated. Based on the theories, a model including factors influencing entry mode changes was established. The model has contributed a foundation for the empirical findings as well as the analysis of the companies. As a method, a qualitative approach was conducted through interviews with five Swedish companies having a subsidiary in Taiwan. The criterion for the companies was that they should have a subsidiary in Taiwan, but entered the market with another entry mode. Considering the small number of companies and to obtain an understanding about the entry mode changes, a qualitative investigation was the most suitable.</p><p>Conclusions that could be drawn were that the competitive Taiwanese market had triggered some of the companies to change their entry mode to a subsidiary in order to be present in the market. Increased sales volume did also have evident affect on why the companies changed their entry mode. The investigation also gives indications that barriers tend to be of internal and firm specific character. Concerning the theories explaining entry mode changes, no complete theory could explain the changes, but parts from different theoretical fields could be applied.</p>

<p>Uppsatsen Vad ska vi läsa i skolan? har som syfte att utforska vilket förhållande svenskämnet haft till populärkultur under 80- och 00-talen.</p><p>Som metod för att finna svar på detta valde jag att göra ett litteraturstudium av ett antal texter vilka har analyserats utifrån deras attityd gentemot populärkultur. Texterna har delats in under vilket decennium de skrivits och under varje decennium har texterna sedan delats in under tre kategorier tyckare: aktiva lärare, forskare och andra kulturdebattörer. Resultatet sammanfattas och diskuteras i den avslutande diskussionsdelen.</p><p>Resultatet av undersökning visade att en förändring av svenskämnets attityd gentemot populärkultur skett mellan 80- och 00-talen, från att det tidigare var vanligt med en aggressiv inställning har den nu mildrats och det är svårare att hitta någon från skolvärlden som talar illa om populärkultur. Däremot gick det inte att se något mönster i vad de olika kategorierna tyckare ansåg om populärkulturen. De argument som använts för att tala om populärkultur var emellertid lättare att kategorisera, särskilt under 80-talet då de argument som var riktade mot populärkultur ofta följde en tydlig mall, den så kallade mediepanikens. I motsats till detta gick det att se en antydan till att de som försvarade populärkulturen i större utsträckning använde sig av forskning och undersökningar för att underbygga sina åsikter.</p>

<p>This essay investigates and compares the readability in two different schoolbooks: Eko Historia (the primary school grade 4-6) and Epos Historia (the upper secondary school). The questions of the survey are:</p><p>- Which differences in linguistic and layout can be found between books meant for the primary school and books meant for the upper secondary school?</p><p>- Are the texts easy to read according to the former research in readability?</p><p>In order to answer the questions structural dimensions as lexicon, syntax, bounds between sentences and narrative voices have been studied. Also the texts disposition and typography have been examined.</p><p>The results demonstrate that the book designed for the primary school has a verbal structure with an explicit vocabulary, lots of verbs and short sentences. A clear narrative voice gives an impression of spoken language. The publication also has many pictures and figures. The book aimed for upper secondary school has, in opposite to this, a typical written language with compounded substantives and long noun phrases. There are fewer illustrations and the layout follows a stringent policy. Moreover a high density of information demands the readers to draw conclusion on basis of prior experiences. If the pupils don’t have such previous knowledge the reading can complicates. In spite of this the book, in doubt, shows several signs of readability, for example simple subordinated clauses and strong bounds between the sentences.</p><p>Accordingly, both similarities and differences can be found between the primary and upper secondary schoolbook.</p>

<p>Sammanfattning</p><p>Denna magister uppsats undersöker huruvida ledarskap, ägarstruktur och kontroll påverkar svenska familjeföretags investerings prestation på marknaden. I undersökningen har 90 svenska företag analyserats inom en 15 års period (1990-2005).</p><p>Ledarskap har delats upp i tre olika strukturer, den första strukturen står för grundar ledarskap. Regressionsanalysen i denna uppsats visade att en grundare har en positiv påverkan på företagets investerings prestation då grundaren agerade som Verkställande Direktör (VD), Styrelseordförande (SO) eller båda. Detta kan förklaras utifrån teorier som gör tydligt att en grundare äger entreprenörskaps anda och utmärkande kunskaper inom området ifråga. Resultatet för den andra strukturen, ättlings ledarskap visade att då ättlingar till grunderaren verkade som antingen VD, SO eller båda i företaget förekom en negativ påverkan på företagets finansiella prestation. Detta kan förklaras utifrån teorier som menar att en ättling inte har samma kunskap eller ambitioner som grundaren till företaget. Ättlingar har oftast ärvt högre poster inom företagen på grund av sina familjerelationer till grundaren snarare än på grund av sina kunskaper inom området. Den tredje ledarskapsstrukturen är externa ledare. Externa ledare är antingen en VD, SO eller båda som har blivit inhyrda till företaget av ägarfamiljen. Regressionsanalysen visade ett insignifikant resultat.</p><p>När resultaten för ägarstruktur och andel röster av ägare analyserades i både företag med röstdifferensiering och utan röstdifferensiering visade det sig att när grundaren agerade som VD, SO eller båda i företag utan röstdifferensiering förekom ingen minoritets expropriation eller principal-agent konflikter inom företaget, vilket betyder att företagets finansiella prestation påverkades positivt. Liknande resultat hittades även för företag med röstdifferensiering som hade externa ledare i sin ledning.</p>

<p>This essay was written in order to elucidate how the priests-to-be and working priests experience the preparation for preaching during their training and if their identity as preachers depends on their preaching; how they refer to rhetoric and what the preparation training looks like.</p><p>There is no Swedish research within this field, and even the existing international studies concentrate mostly on writing preparation within other occupations, e.g. economics, health care and public sectors. These studies also show that there are several discrepancies between the university preparation for professional writing and speaking and the professional discourse.</p><p>In order to carry out the investigation the author has interviewed priests-to-be and working priests and examined the syllabi for homiletics and rhetoric. The result of this analysis offers a better insight into the nature of the training in preparing sermons that Swedish priests obtain during their professional education. The author refers to the results of other scientific investigations concerning preparation for professional writing and speaking and concludes that there are similar difficulties within the priest training, e.g. the discourse and the receiver of the sermons produced within the vocational training differ from the ones in the professional live. The investigation shows even that the training has changed during the last decades, from being theoretical towards a more practical one, with a stronger link to rhetoric.</p><p>Since both priests-to-be and working priests agree that their professional identity is highly dependent on their preaching, the preparation they obtain within the university training seems insufficient. A possible solution to this problem could be longer practical vocational periods and additional practical training ingrained in the professional discourse.</p>