This study seeks to understand the scope and types of public relations practices in Japan, how public relations practices of Japanese and foreign companies differ, how media respond differently to the public relations activities of Japanese and foreign companies, and how "foreignness" affects public relations activities of multinational enterprises in Japan. The sole academic journal in the field of public relations in Japan and the single commercially published public relations industry magazine were submitted to an empirical content analysis. Additionally, three cases of contest for corporate control, two of which were between an American activist fund and a Japanese company, and one between a Japanese investment fund and a Japanese company, were analyzed using a case study approach. Press releases and newspaper articles about these cases were also content analyzed. The results show that among public relations activities, crisis category appeared the most frequently in the public relations industry journal and corporate communication category appeared the most frequently in the public relations academic journal. The analysis of the cases shows that the American fund at first faced problems communicating with its stakeholders but improved its communication activities in subsequent years with better results. The content analysis of the press releases shows that American fund uses more quotes and persuasive messages in the press releases and Japanese newspapers do not treat domestic and foreign entities differently. The overall results confirm the importance of culture in public relations practices.

While play therapy is primarily used with children, recent research has begun to explore the use of this approach with adults and the elderly. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe in detail the process of Client Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) with an elderly assisted living facility resident through use of a qualitative case study. A single elderly resident participated in 12 CCPT sessions over a period of six weeks. Qualitative data were obtained through observational session notes, pre- and post-treatment interviews with the resident and the facility’s Licensed Practical Nurse, pre- and post-treatment administrations of the Geriatric Depression Scale, and review of the resident’s case file in order to gain insight into the process of CCPT with one elderly assisted living facility resident. Data collected were examined in relation to the play behaviors exhibited by the resident, typical stages of play therapy, potential therapeutic benefits, and the resident’s view of the CCPT approach. Results indicate that the play behaviors of one elderly resident were markedly similar to those of children participating in CCPT and that this may be an appropriate and enjoyable method for addressing mental health needs of the elderly. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

This qualitative study was designed to identify and explore the preservice technology training experiences of novice teachers and examine their perceptions of how well their teacher preparation program prepared them with the knowledge and skills necessary to fulfill the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS•T). Data were collected by following an instrumental case study design utilizing semi-structured interviews, documents, and field notes. Simultaneous collection and analysis of the data helped the researcher to create a deeper understanding of the technology training experiences of novice teachers. The findings of this study revealed that novice teachers believe there was a lack of emphasis on technology integration in their teacher preparation program outside of the one required technology course. They expressed a need for technology training to be integrated across the curriculum. They wanted to be provided with authentic learning experiences so they could connect the theory to the practice in relation to technology integration. They wanted more time to practice, reflect, and plan student-centered, technology-rich lessons and they wanted to see all teacher education faculty modeling technology so connections could be made between the technology tools and the appropriate uses of these tools within their content areas. Last, they believe future preservice teachers need more hands-on experiences in creating student-centered, technology-rich lessons, not just within the one required technology course, but throughout their teacher preparation program. Furthermore, 90 percent of the participants expressed a need for more exposure to the technology standards. They stated the only place they were exposed to these technology standards was in the one required technology course and felt that one semester was not enough exposure for them to learn how to implement each of the standards with confidence. All stated they would have liked to have seen all faculty members throughout the teacher preparation program incorporate these technology standards into their teaching, so they would have been provided with adequate exposure to the technology standards.

<p>This study raises the question how the implementation of the balanced scorecard in the municipality of Gotland has been influenced by the way of communication. A case study is made in the administration of Social-and care management on Gotland. We have been focusing on two different ways of communication. The first one is Shannon and Weavers model where communication is explained as a transmission of a message through a channel to a receiver. The other one is sensemaking where it is focal to give the information meaning. There is also a theory about media richness, problems and factors of success are described. The study showed that the implemen-tation has been a success in the politics and among leaders on different levels. Among the workers on branchlevel the implementation has not been well spread, they showed a lack of understanding. The study also shows that sensemaking and face-to-face communication have been used to implement and update the tool in the organization. That indicates that the workers have been given information and a good change to understand what the tool is about, so why do they not feel involved? One theory is that they are not interested because they are hardworking and feel that it doesn´t involve them.</p>

<p>This thesis is discussing and analysing expectations and perceptions about service quality in Destination Gotland. The aim is to analyze and research about the role of service quality for creating customer satisfaction and we want to find out the gap between expectations and perceptions through the customers point of view. The difference between expectations and perceptions can be described as satisfaction or lack of satisfaction. The specific questions that are researched in this thesis are:<strong> </strong></p><ol><li>What expectations does customer have on Destination Gotland’s service quality to become satisfied?</li><li>What perceptions does customer have about the service quality at Destination Gotland?</li><li>What are the differences between expectations and perceptions (gap 5 in the SERVQUAL-model)?</li></ol><p>The survey is constructed as a case-study and is based on the quantitative method. The results from the different dimensions show that there is a gap between expectations and perceptions which means that the customers are not fully satisfied about the service quality at Destination Gotland. On the other hand, the main respondents said yes on the question if they think the service meet their expectations. From the overall result in the statements we can see that there are several gaps between expectations and perceptions which means that the service quality do not fully meet the expectations. The result shows a total gap at -0,39.</p>

The externalisation of services and the adoption of service logic are topics that have received increasing attention recently, both among academics and practitioners. Whereas the adoption of service logic is associated with approaching the customer through various sorts of services and solutions, the externalisation essentially means leaving part of the customer interface to an external firm. However, empirical research focusing on such externalisation projects is lacking. This thesis addresses this gap by exploring problems encountered during the externalisation of basic product services at an industrial firm that is also adopting service logic. The thesis integrates several cross-sectional, retrospective, and longitudinal case studies. The studies were conducted at different point in time over more than three years at SysCo – the fictitious name of an industrial firm adopting service logic and externalising basic services, and also the employer of the author of this thesis at the time of the study and many years before. The thesis consists of five papers and an integrated synthesis, discussion and extension. One conclusion of the research is that unless the change approach and the problems encountered during the externalisation are taken seriously, the externalisation may be difficult to effectuate. A fundamental reason for this is that the simultaneous and complex adoption of service logic influences the externalisation and makes it more difficult to plan and carry out in a linear and top-down manner. The thesis contributes with knowledge about externalisation problems and their sources. Externalising services may be likened with walking a tightrope between industrial and service logics. The thesis contains advice that may guide managers responsible for such balancing acts. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2005

This thesis examines the connection between technological dependence of mankind and its attitudes towards it. The issue is to what extent technological change in the workplace is a generator of conflict or a creator of consensus? The subject of the study is the Swedish mining company LKAB during the period 1946-1987. The case study concentrates on the approaches to new technology by the local union leadership and the LKAB company management. The analysis is carried out through a classification scheme over job- functions, divided into four functional categories. The classification is ranging from manually inclined work on the end to highly automized work on the other pole. The results show a clear and unquestionable development of mechanization. At the next level of analysis the focus is on approaches and ways of relating mechanization by the two parties took on the question, and how this influenced the relationships between the two parties. The final results show that technological change in general is a creator of consensus. However, at the same time, techno­logical change is an unequeal process because the company commands control over three kinds of power resources; ownership, the legislative right of paragraph 32 and the monopoly of technological expertis. Organized labour can only try to attain technological knowledge and high levels of worker support. / digitalisering@umu

<p><font face="Times New Roman"> <p align="left">The aims of this study were therefore to describe the personal experiences of a methamphetamine addict as well as the effects of this addiction on the family&rsquo / s communication and problem-solving abilities.</p> </font></p>

Studies of service development have mostly focused on isolated projects or processes. Little attention has been paid to the historical, political and business contexts, and, much emphasis has been put on the development of new services in relation to the re-bundling of existing services. The main purpose of this dissertation is therefore to describe and understand the development of an integrated service including context factors. An integrated service is built on two or more existing services. Two research questions are formulated: one focusing on what is being developed (i.e. the integrated service) and the other on how the integrated service is being developed. The dissertation contributes to the theoretical field of service research in the area of service development. A suitable case in the business context of a public transport authority in Sweden was chosen for the purpose. An in-depth, longitudinal study was carried out, spanning ten years. A combination of deductive and inductive approaches was used in the analysis. The empirical results show that the service concept was designed by the owners within the economic and technical restrictions at hand. Some adjustments were made but in practice there was little focus on the customers’ needs and demands. The theoretical contributions are summed up in two models which describe an integrated service (“what”) and the development process of an integrated service (“how”). The model of an integrated service is based on a service platform consisting of integrated resources and service processes corresponding to the customers’ primary needs. Different supporting services are developed, corresponding to the customers’ secondary needs. The supporting services strive for customisation and are designed in flexibility. The model of the development process illustrates that the development of an integrated service can be described and understood as a process consisting of activities of breaking up and integrating service pre-requisites, the internal service infrastructure and factors related to a stakeholder network. The process of breaking up and integrating, propelled by stakeholders, is described and understood as change pressure.

Centrally located problem areas of today, with suburban-like modernist architecture, are an anomaly in Sweden. The purpose of the present study is to investigate this Swedish anomaly by comparing three such city sections – Norrby in Borås, Nyfors in Eskilstuna and Öster in Gävle – and to try to answer the question: what type of case is this? To answer this question, a theoretical perspective distinguishing habitation, population and images is developed using concepts from Bourdieu, Elias and Scotson, Goffman, Lefebvre and Østerberg. Methodologically, this is a detailed comparative case study of the history of these three city sections in three or four phases, from before to after their thorough urban renewal in the 1960s. Once, these habitations developed in concert with their city into a working-class area, just beside the city centre, but beyond the railway station. After WWII, they became subjects of renewal, thus afflicted by a slum process that preceded demolition. The new habitation was planned for housing a working-class population. Suburban-like in shape, it was nevertheless part of an inner-city renewal. The new habitation became a target for critique already during the renewal process, a critique that was cast in the same terms as the critique of the suburbs of the time: Images of poor and troublesome outdoor milieus, social problems of different kinds, empty apartments, high turn over, immigrants and refugees were produced, in the media but also by the inhabitants and their organizations, giving the city section a bad reputation. This was to last until the present. Yet with new investment in attractive housing in adjacent brown field areas, these areas have once again become the subject of renewal. Consequently, these areas can be identified as a case of a good location with a bad reputation, emerging from the inner-city renewal of a former working-class habitation.