The purpose of this study was to narrate a history of baseball from its origins to the merger of the National and American Leagues in 1903. The author endeavored to produce a work that was interesting to sports enthusiasts and informative to researchers. He also attempted to relate the significance of the development of the institution of baseball to nineteenth-century American society. Based on accepted historical research and writing procedures, a study was completed which exposed the true birth of the game, the expansion and development of the sport from amateur clubs to professional teams, the growth of professionalism under the National League, the commercialization of the business, and the dominant players and teams of that era. The work interpreted the history of baseball in the nineteenth century by defending proposals in a chronicled account. By accomplishing his goals, the writer has added to the body of knowledge in this field. To a limited degree he explained the sociological evolution of the United States over that period of time.

Microfinance is a relatively young and somewhat ambiguous concept. The phenomenon has, however, proven to contribute to making the lives better for many poor people, thus the interest for the industry has grown substantially. The increased attention has stimulated the movement towards more financially sustainable organizations. Along with this transformation, concerns regarding how it affects the poor have been raised. This study aims to map the key characteristics of financially sustainable microfinance institutions (MFIs) and what features that separates them from their non-sustainable counterparts. By analyzing data from 1109 MFIs, some significant differences between sustainable and non-sustainable organizations have been found. The study shows that for-profit MFIs are self-sufficient to a greater extent than the non-sufficient ones, which might be caused by the pressure to deliver value to shareholders. Furthermore, there are indications that self-sufficient MFIs are more efficient, which can be assumed to be caused by technological advantages, or different lending methods. The findings on outreach are somewhat contradictory; sustainable MFIs are reaching more clients on average, which discards a mission drift. On the other hand, self-sufficient MFIs have larger average loan sizes and less female borrowers, two indications that a mission drift actual exists. Self-sufficient MFIs have also proven to have lower loan loss rates and lower yields on loan portfolio. Positive findings, as they indicate that the MFIs have sound loan portfolios and that they have managed to become self-sustainable not by exploiting the poor, but by reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Financial sustainability can therefore be assumed to be achieved without forsaking the poor, if the social aims of the organizations are consistent with the financial objectives.

Title: The news betrayal from TT – A quantitative content analysis of TT’s news reporting from the north In the year of 2013 TT-nyhetsbyrån closed down their three local editorial offices in north Sweden with a promise that the news coverage of Norrland would remain the same. In this study we aim to examine if, and how, the journalistic content has changed due to their centralization.  Based on theories of media and democracy, the commercialization of journalism and news evaluation, this study investigates different aspects of TT’s journalistic output such as news outlets, news topic, democratic value dimensions, framing, original reporting and sourcing.  The material of examination consists of a total of 199 articles which derive from Luleå, Umeå and Sundsvall. Further the material is spread out over two periods of time. More particularly five years before, and five years after the close down. We have employed a so-called synthetic week during both time intervals, meaning that you randomly select Monday one week, Tuesday the following week, and so forth.  The result of the quantitative study showed that TT’s news reporting about the municipalities has decreased in all the aspects that have been investigated. The analysis of the result, together with previous research and chosen theories, indicates that TT seems to have become more commercialized and audience-oriented, which may have affected how news is valued. From a democratic perspective it is problematic. As the largest news agency TT plays an important role in Swedish journalism, not least when editorial offices around the country reduce their own news coverage.

This diploma thesis is about residents who live in the Lesser Town, the historic center of Prague. It focuses on the changes perceived by residents that took place during their lifetime. Work is based on literature and qualitative research in the form of biographical interviews. The theoretical part deals with the concepts of identity, tourism, gentrification, genius loci and ageing which are essential for understanding the changes identified in the analytical part. The analytical part is divided into seven units: changes of the atmosphere of the Lesser Town, its inhabitants, living environment, housing stock, changes of people who have shared their stories with me and more global changes that had influenced the Lesser Town. The work also describes which problems and benefits related to life in the Lesser Town do communication partners perceive.

The land grabbing phenomena grew in both reported cases and in scholarly interest after the 2008 financial crisis. The concept of land grabbing has been greatly debated and some have chosen the term large scale land acquisition instead, focusing on win-win outcomes while the land grabbing term rather focuses on the unequal power relations involved. Our study has defined land grabbing as; a global land rush characterized by transnational and domestic investors, governments and local elites taking control over land in order to produce food and other industrial commodities for domestic and international markets. The study's aim is to examine land grabbings implications on smallholders local livelihoods in Ethiopia and furthermore to reveal what narratives that are being promoted by the Ethiopian government to justify these land grabs. This to understand how the implications on smallholders' livelihoods and the narratives by the government match. The study is based in a qualitative methodology, basing most of the study's result in a literature review. The study is examined through a Political Ecology framework, focusing on political economy with theory influences from both Marx and David Harvey. Furthermore, the study will also combine the theoretical understanding of discursive power, focusing on development discourses, with a narrative analysis. Findings of the study show that the main narratives pushed by the government to justify said land grabs in the country was economic growth, further enabling a ‘development state’, modernizing pastoralists by providing stable income and changing living situations for pastoralists and increasing the food security in the country. Furthermore, the study found that the livelihood implications for smallholders have been overall negative, with outcomes such as displacement, loss of land and resources, weakened food security and also negative psychological and social impacts as well. Therefore the study could conclude that the Ethiopian government's argumentations have not matched with the lived realities for many smallholders.

Recent developments have seen a rise in empirical attempts to challenge the persistently negative sociocultural attitudes toward menstruation. The thesis proposes a Foucauldian feminist conception, as well as the identification of the three elements stigmatization, medicalization and commercialization, to provide a comprehensive theoretical framework conceptualizing dominant menstrual discourse and its effects, based on which the empirical contemporary UN human rights agenda on the topic is approached. The findings, methodologically arrived at through the means of Directed Content Analysis, thereby generate both, an understanding of strengths and weaknesses in contemporary empirical attempts to challenge the effects of dominant menstrual discourse on women, and an exemplification of the utility of social science theory for human rights research in the realm of menstruation. Most importantly, the theoretical framework on dominant menstrual discourse indicates the need of holistically addressing all three formative elements, in order not to risk a perpetuation of its effects.

A dissertation of limited scope submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Masters of Recreation and Tourism in the Department of Recreation and Tourism at the University of Zululand, 2009. / Coastal tourism development strategies are a new phenomenon in the world of community development and community conservation. The development of tourism products as compared to their conservation, is an ongoing debate, which has been tackled by many tourism scholars. The management of natural and cultural environments is of utmost importance in the development of ecotourism in places such as the Town of St Lucia, as well as in the St Lucia Estuary. This research study, therefore, sought to assess on comparative basis the conservation and commercialisation [commodification] of tourism resources, paying particular attention to the application of coastal tourism development strategies. In other words, the research study involves identifying key management practices and strategies that would contribute to the conservation of tourism resources. In this regard the basic objectives of this study include the following: (a) To reveal the extent to which stakeholders understand the meaning and importance of tourism development in the Town of St Lucia. (b) To find out if the coastal tourism resources in the study area are adequately supplied. (c) To determine the level to which tourism management and development strategies are employed or utilised in the study area. (d) To find out which ecotourism policy approach the stakeholders favour for the study area, between conservation as compared to the commercialisation [commodification]. (e) To establish how stakeholders perceive the existence and application on tourism development policies in the study area. (f) To establish the extent to which the local community benefits from ecotourism related activities or practices. The government and municipal authorities believe that tourism could enhance the development of rural areas on an ecologically and economically viable basis and improve the quality of life of the local people. The study has several hypotheses in this regard, and has utilised the qualitative and quantitative approach in collecting, analysing and interpreting data. In fact, data was analysed through use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to establish frequency tables, bar graphs, and cross-tabulations in representing statistical data. The findings of the study included the following: (a) the stakeholders were found to have a good understanding of the meaning and importance of ecotourism development; (b) the supply of coastal tourism resources was found to be inadequate; (c) the tourism management and development strategies were not up to the required standard; (d) the stakeholders favoured the policy of conservation as compared to that of commercialisation or commodification; (e) the existence and application of tourism development policies were found to be inadequately implemented; (f) the ecotourism benefits for the local community were found to be available and adequate. Finally, the emerging conclusion of the study was that, notwithstanding that the stakeholders favoured the policy of conservation, they were of the view that ecotourism management and development strategies, as well as community beneficiation, were not up to the required and expected standard in the study area.

Allt fler fotbollsklubbar har börjat genomgå en professionaliseringsprocess, där dessa i större utsträckning börjar efterlikna vanliga företag. Detta har resulterat i ett ökat fokus på kommersialisering, och en ökad betydelse av ekonomi inom fotbollsklubbar. Av den anledningen arbetar fotbollsklubbar med både ett sportsligt och ekonomiskt perspektiv. Tidigare forskning har huvudsakligen visat hur fotbollsklubbar med stora ekonomiska förutsättningar bedriver sina verksamheter utifrån dessa två perspektiv. Få har tagit hänsyn till hur detta arbete ser ut inom elitfotbollsklubbar med begränsade resurser. Dessa klubbar, vilka studien definierat som semi-kommersiella, antas inte ha kommit lika långt i sin professionaliseringsprocess, och bedrivs således sannolikt annorlunda. Syftet med studien är därför att öka förståelsen för hur semi-kommersiella fotbollsklubbar bedrivs ur ett sportsligt och ekonomiskt perspektiv. Syftet bygger på en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi, där representanter från åtta fotbollsklubbar som spelar i Superettan eller OBOS Damallsvenskan deltagit genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Med utgångspunkt i hur företag bedrivs har studien tagit fram centrala element och verktyg för att besvara syftet. Elementen är vision, mål och strategi, vilka studien antar är centrala i bedrivandet av semi-kommersiella fotbollsklubbar. Verktygen som studien presenterar är affärsmodell, budget, prestationsmätning, benchmarking och intressenter, vilka antas användas av semi-kommersiella fotbollsklubbar för att dessa ska kunna bedrivas på ett välfungerande sätt. Studien har utvecklat en modell som ger en ökad förståelse för hur semi-kommersiella fotbollsklubbar bedrivs ur ett sportsligt och ekonomiskt perspektiv. Gällande de centrala elementen kommer studien fram till att dessa används av semi-kommersiella fotbollsklubbar på ett likartat sätt inom det sportsliga och ekonomiska. Klubbarna uttrycker en stark önskan att jobba långsiktigt, och det finns en vilja att både sportsligt och ekonomiskt fokusera lokalt. Ett undantag från klubbarnas centrala element är hur de jobbar med vision, inom vilket enbart det sportsliga perspektivet framgår. Studien visar vidare hur semi-kommersiella fotbollsklubbar använder sig av de identifierade verktygen i syfte att bedrivas på ett framgångsrikt sätt och på sikt uppnå sina visioner. / An increasing number of football clubs have begun to undergo a professionalization process, in which they are starting to resemble ordinary businesses. This has resulted in an increased focus on commercialization, and the importance of the economy within football clubs. For that reason, football clubs need to consider both a sports and an economic perspective in the way they operate. Previous research has mainly shown how football clubs with great financial resources work with these two perspectives. A limited number of studies have considered how this work looks like within elite clubs with limited resources. These clubs, which the study has defined as semi-commercial, are assumed not to have progressed as far in their professionalization process and are thus probably run differently. The purpose of the study is therefore to increase the understanding of how semi-commercial football clubs are run from a sports and economic perspective. The purpose of this study was answered by using a qualitative research strategy, in which representatives from eight football clubs that play in Superettan or OBOS Damallsvenskan participated through semi-structured interviews. Based on how companies operate, the study presents central elements and tools to answer the purpose. The elements are vision, objectives, and strategy, which the study assumes to be central in how semi-commercial football clubs run their businesses. The study further presents the tools business model, budget, performance measurement, benchmarking, and stakeholders, which are assumed to be used by semi-commercial football clubs in order to be conducted in a well-functioning way. The study has developed a model that increases the understanding of how semi-commercial football clubs are run from a sports and financial perspective. Regarding the central elements the study concludes that these are used by semi-commercial football clubs in a similar way in the sports and economic perspective. The clubs express a strong desire to work long-term, and there is a desire to focus locally, both in the sports and economic perspective. An exception to the clubs’ central elements is how they work with vision, within which only the sports perspective is apparent. The study further shows how semi-commercial football clubs use the identified tools in order to be conducted in a successful manner, and in the long term achieve their visions.

Svenska myndigheter agerar utifrån regeringsuppdrag och har i uppgift att informera och influera samhället för allmänhetens bästa (Fredriksson & Pallas, 2018). Myndigheternas sätt att kommunicera ut viktig information till allmänheten har till följd av New Public Management lett till att den offentliga sektorn genomgår en form av kommersialisering (Raftopoulou & Hogg, 2010). De potentiella konsekvenserna kopplade till kommersialiseringen av myndigheternas externa kommunikation undersöks utifrån mottagarens perspektiv och uppfattning. Där potentiella konsekvenser bland annat anses vara risken att budskap går förlorade på grund av hur myndigheternas kommunikation presenteras till följd av användande av strategier inspirerade från kommersiella företags sätt att utforma reklam. Motivationen för studiens fokus ligger i parallellen mellan kommersialiseringens utveckling och att svenska myndigheter kräver högt förtroende och nära samarbete för att lyckas med sina uppdrag (Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap [MSB], u.å.). Men också att myndigheternas kommunikation, arbete och förtroende har visat sig avgörande för att hantera olika samhällssituationer som krig och pandemier (Hyland-Wood m.fl., 2021). Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur kommersialiseringen av svenska myndigheters externa kommunikation uppfattas av dess mottagare. Detta genomförs med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer med tio personer som via ett variationsurval tillsammans representerar allmänhetens uppfattning. Studien använder teorier inom Strategisk kommunikation, Public Sector Communication [PSC], Branding theory och Reception research. Målet med studien är att bidra med ökad kunskap kring hur nutida publikens upplevelse av transparens och förtroende ser ut i relation till PSC. Resultatet visar att studiens respondenter i viss mån har svårt att urskilja vad som är kommersiell reklam och information från myndigheter till följd av att stimulusmaterialet kan missuppfattas som kommersiell reklam. Det finns därmed också en tendens till att myndigheternas information riskerar att förgås i bruset av kommersialiseringen till följd av allmänhetens benägenhet att “skrolla” förbi reklam på sociala medier och liknande. Förtroendet för myndigheter är generellt högt bland respondenterna vilket stämmer överens med den allmänna grundläggande respekten svenska medborgare har för den offentliga sektorn. Däremot kan det försämras beroende på myndigheternas val av plattform för sin externa kommunikation och ifall det de gör passar överens med deras image. Studien visar att inkluderande av arbete för att utforma samhällsviktig information på ett mottagligt sätt är viktigt där privata sektorns strategier har visat sig inneha aspekter som är bra att inkludera i myndigheternas externa kommunikation för att bibehålla förtroendet från allmänheten. Men däremot anta försiktighet relaterat till dess potentiella konsekvenser. / Swedish authorities act based on government assignments and have the task of informing and influencing society for the benefit of the public (Fredriksson & Pallas, 2018). As a result of New Public Management, the way authorities communicate important information to the public has led to a form of commercialization of the public sector (Raftopoulou & Hogg, 2010). Potential consequences of the commercialization of authorities' external communication are examined from the perspective and perception of the recipients. Potential consequences include the risk of messages being lost due to how authorities' communication is presented as a result of using strategies inspired by commercial companies' advertising techniques. The motivation for the focus of the study lies in the parallel between the development of commercialization and the fact that Swedish authorities require high trust and close collaboration to succeed in their missions (Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap [MSB], n.d.), but also that the authorities' communication, work, and trust have proven crucial in handling various societal situations such as war and pandemics (Hyland-Wood et al., 2021). The purpose of the study is to examine how the commercialization of Swedish authorities' external communication is perceived by its recipients. This is done through qualitative interviews with ten individuals who, through a variety selection, collectively represent the public's perception. The study draws on theories within Strategic Communication, Public Sector Communication [PSC], Branding Theory, and Reception Research. The goal of the study is to contribute to increased knowledge about the contemporary audience's experience of transparency and trust in relation to PSC. The results show that the study's respondents to some extent have difficulty distinguishing between commercial advertising and information from authorities due to the fact that the stimulus material can be misconstrued as commercial advertising. There is thus also a tendency for the authorities' information to be lost in the noise of commercialization due to the public's inclination to “scroll” past advertisements on social media and similar platforms. Trust in authorities is generally high among the respondents, which corresponds to the general basic respect Swedish citizens have for the public sector. However, it can be undermined depending on the authorities' choice of platform for their external communication and whether their actions align with their image. The study also shows that including efforts to present socially important information in a receptive manner is important, where strategies from the private sector have been found to have aspects that are beneficial to include in the authorities' external communication in order to maintain public trust. However, caution should be exercised regarding its potential consequences.

No description available.