Background: Based on our professional experience supported by evidence from current brand literature, we have identified an on-going struggle for fashion brands when building and communicating brand image internally. Branding is about adding value and which is directly connected to the product itself. Theories support that clear and successful branding creates trust with stakeholders and is therefore important to a company’s profitability. If branding strategies and roles are not defined internally, image become ever more unclear once ideas are to be communicated to customers in store through sales personnel and products. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore what hinders companies in the fashion retail industry from profitably and effectively building and communicating brand image internally by identifying potential conflict areas in the value chain in order to provide a tool for overcoming those obstacles. Methodology: A qualitative research method carried through as a case study was conducted containing four interviews with people in key positions at two Swedish fashion retailers. Conclusion: Conclusively we have created a model which explains where and why conflicts occur when it comes to building brand image internally. Where there is a lack of communication between departments it clearly affects the brand image. Companies need to work according to guidelines and communicate amongst departments. / Program: Master Programme in Fashion Management

La médiation peut se définir comme l’action de celui qui est médiateur et qui s’interpose entre deux ou plusieurs personnes pour résoudre un conflit ou un différend. Dans le domaine de la santé et plus particulièrement dans la relation de soins, des conflits et des différends peuvent survenir. La santé touche en effet à l’état des personnes, à leur intimité, à leur intégrité et les relations qui en découlent avec les professionnels de santé sont nécessairement empreintes d’une certaine sensibilité. C’est pourquoi ce secteur est considéré comme pourvoyeur potentiel de tensions. Il est donc intéressant d’étudier la résolution des conflits ou différends inhérents à la relation de soins, par un mode singulier et alternatif de règlement des différends : la médiation. L’étude de la nature juridique de ce processus est indispensable pour le différencier des autres modes alternatifs et exposer clairement ses forces et ses faiblesses. Ceci permettra ensuite de lui appliquer un régime juridique adéquat. En raison des manquements actuels, particulièrement au regard de l’encadrement du statut de médiateur, le constat d’un inévitable remaniement du régime de la médiation devra être effectué. Celui-ci devra impérativement allier souplesse et encadrement du mécanisme dans le but d’une efficacité optimale. / Mediation may be defined as the action of the mediator who mediates between two or more persons to resolve a conflict or dispute. In the field of health, especially in caring relationships conflicts and disputes may happen actually. Health affects the state of being of the persons, their privacy, their integrity and so relationships which arise from this with health care providers are necessarily influenced with a certain sensitivity. That is why this area is regarded as a potentiel provider of stress. Therefore, it is of interest to study the mediation as an unique alternative to resolve a dispute. To focus on the legal nature of the mediation is essential to differentiate it from other alternatives and to assess strengths and weaknesses of such an approach. This will then allow to apply a suitable legal regime to mediation. Because of the current shortcomings, particularly with regard to the supervision of the mediator, the finding of an inevitable reshuffle mediation scheme should be made. This will necessarily combine flexibility and supervision for an optimal efficiency.

BACKGROUND: It has been claimed that the involvement of commercial companies in medical and health research poses risks relating to potential conflicts of interest. In response, many journals have developed conflict of interest policies, and there has been a proliferation of related guidance from publishers, professional associations and commercial companies, mostly centred on processes of voluntary disclosure. Studies and commentaries on these have raised concerns regarding the adequacy of such practices, but there has been limited analysis of the underlying context – how and why policies have been constructed in this way – or exploration of alternative approaches. AIM: This thesis examines how actors within medical journal publishing conceptualise conflicts of interest. It analyses their understandings of conflicts of interest: which types of interest are deemed most significant; which actor groups are seen as conflicted; and how conflicts are managed. Through doing so, it explores the barriers to, and possibilities of, change. METHODS: The study draws on two distinct sets of data. The first is a sample of conflict of interest policies and guidance. The second is 48 semi-structured interviews with actors working in a range of roles related to medical journal publishing. These data were thematically analysed to illustrate how medical journal publishing conceptualises and manages conflicts of interest, to identify perceived strengths and weaknesses of current approaches, and to identify potential opportunities for improvement. RESULTS: There appears to be an established discourse around conflicts of interest, which emphasises particular stakeholders, while others, who also have opportunities to influence journal content, are frequently absent from the debate. Financial interests are readily highlighted, while non-financial ones receive less attention and are thus often unregulated (Chapter 5). High levels of consistency characterise the ways in which actors discussed the management of conflicts of interest: for example, self-disclosure was regularly highlighted, despite the acknowledged weaknesses of this approach (Chapter 6). The existence of further mechanisms that offer the potential to assist in managing conflicts of interest were identified, though findings suggest that, in practice, these currently have limited uptake (Chapter 7). Interviewees’ suggestions of how conflicts of interest might be better managed (e.g. through greater data transparency) are also analysed. Overall, narrow interpretations of conflicts of interest and their management appear to have become institutionalised in ways that serve to limit the uptake of alternative approaches. DISCUSSION: Given the substantive importance that medical research can have on health policies and treatments, robust processes are required to protect the integrity and legitimacy of journals. This research shows that existing, institutionalised understandings of conflicts of interest have critical limitations, which leaves medical publishing open to potentially unethical practices that may be a source of bias in published evidence. This poses a significant threat to the desire to attain ethically robust, peer-reviewed medical/health research that can be used to inform policy and practice. Drawing on the interview data, the thesis explores some possible alternatives that may warrant further consideration.

Water resources located in more than one country are complex systems governed by customary international law embodied in a rule known as equitable and reasonable utilisation, a recent development in international law not yet been applied by an international tribunal to resolve a dispute or to allocate transboundary water resources between countries. Water scarcity on a global scale has reached critical proportions with 1.1 billion people without access to sufficient safe water for personal and domestic use; over half that number depend on transboundary watercourses that will disappear over the next century. Conflicts of use over shared water resource have the potential to escalate into armed conflict; certainty in the peaceful means to avoid and resolve disputes is needed. The thesis examines international procedural practice and jurisprudence applying equitable principles in a case study to illustrate how equitable and reasonable utilisation may be applied by an international tribunal. The survey of international practice will inform States about procedural options for dispute avoidance and resolution in disputes over the use of transboundary water resources.

Nas últimas décadas, iniciou um processo de mudança na gestão pública. Em especial, quanto aos recursos hídricos, pode-se perceber que a reflexão acerca dessa mudança está relacionada com a discussão teórica sobre governança das águas, a qual prevê que a gestão deva ser participativa, integrada, descentralizada, por bacia hidrográfica e com mecanismos de resolução de conflitos de forma rápida, pacífica e satisfatória. As mudanças políticas e os debates teóricos estão reciprocamente implicados nesse processo, o que demonstra o processo de construção da Política Nacional de Recursos Hídricos (PNRH) que determina uma gestão através de consensos, nos órgãos colegiados como o Comitê de Bacia Hidrográfica (CBH), formado por diversos setores da sociedade, divergentes em seus interesses, e com a importante função de tomar decisões sobre a gestão da água, bem ambiental vital e escasso. Os conflitos, que são inerentes à condição humana, passam a ser qualificados pelas complexas relações ambientais, sociais e econômicas que envolvem a função do CBH, além da difícil comunicação entre várias visões e linguagens diferentes, todas consideradas legítimas. Torna-se imprescindível o tratamento dos conflitos, transformando-os de forma positiva, ou seja, compreendendo como possibilidade de desenvolvimento pessoal e social. As formas tradicionais de resolução de disputas utilizadas pelo direito são influenciadas pelo pensamento positivista, binário e excludente, além de fomentar a adversariedade, tende a valorizar apenas uma verdade, uma compreensão ou visão do problema. Não permitindo a diversidade e, também, não se mostram adequadas a promoverem a cooperação, a co-responsabilidade, a participação efetiva, a inclusão social, diretrizes estabelecidas pela PNRH. Dessa forma, deve-se buscar meios alternativos, que concretizem tais diretrizes citadas. A Mediação, procedimento no qual um terceiro imparcial facilita a comunicação, para que as próprias pessoas envolvidas solucionem seus conflitos, ressalta a cooperação, a igualdade de participação, a cidadania, construindo relações e prevenindo futuras disputas. Ela é fundamentada na interdisciplinaridade, poderá contribuir para a mudança de paradigma no tratamento de conflitos sobre questões ambientais, sobre os quais o CBH tem competência legal para solucionar. Este trabalho tem como objetivo demonstrar que a Mediação, por lidar com os conflitos dentro de uma perspectiva mais inclusiva, participativa e ternária é a mais adequada para tratar os conflitos em torno dos recursos hídricos, que a visão positivista e binária do direito presente nas demais formas de resolução, de acordo com a opção de gestão e o tipo de governança da água que o Brasil adotou nas suas políticas públicas ambientais. A presente pesquisa analisará as teorias sobre governança da água, o contexto sóciojuridico brasileiro, a teoria da Mediação e sua aplicabilidade em questões ambientais e demonstrará que a Mediação é meio adequado para ser utilizado pelo órgão para exercer sua competência legal de solucionar disputas relacionadas com os Recursos Hídricos. / In the last few decades, began a process of change in public management. In particular, with regard to water resources, you can see that the thinking about that change is related to the theoretical discussion on governance of water, which requires that management should be participatory, integrated, decentralized, by river basin and mechanisms conflicts of a quick, peaceful and satisfactory. The political changes and the theoretical debates reciprocal are implied in this process, which shows the process of building the National Water Resources Policy (PNRH), which provides a management by consensus, in the bodies collegiate bodies as the Committee on Watershed (CBH), formed by various sectors of society, divergent in its interests, and with the important task of making decisions on water management and environmental, vital and scarce ambient good. The conflicts that are inherent in the human condition, will be qualified for the complex relations environmental, social and economic involving the function of the CBH, in addition to the difficult communication between different visions and different languages, all considered legitimate. It is essential to dealing with conflicts, turning them in a positive way, that is, understanding as the possibility of personal and social development. The traditional forms of dispute resolution used by the law are influenced by the positivist thought, binary thought and exculpatory, beyond fomenting the adversariedade, it tends to value only one truth, an understanding the problem through one vision of. Not allowing the diversity and also does not show appropriate to promote cooperation, co-responsibility, the effective participation, social inclusion, policy guidelines established by the PNRH. Of this form, it must be searched alternative ways, that materialize such cited lines of direction. The Mediation, procedure in which an impartial third party facilitates communication so that the people involved resolve its own conflicts, stresses cooperation, equal participation, citizenship, building relationships and preventing future disputes. It is based on interdisciplinary, could contribute to the change of paradigm in dealing with conflicts on environmental issues, on which the CBH has legal competence to solve. This paper aims to demonstrate that mediation, for dealing with conflicts within a more inclusive, participatory and ternary way is the most appropriate to deal with conflicts around the water, that the positivist and binary vision of this law in other forms of resolution in accordance with the option of management and governance of the type of water that Brazil has adopted in its environmental policies. This research will examine the theories on governance of water, the Brazilian socio-legal context, the theory of mediation and its applicability in environmental issues and demonstrate that mediation is appropriate means to be used by the CBH to exercise its jurisdiction to resolve legal disputes related with the Water Resources

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Mining is an important industry in Peru, but local communities where mining takes place do not perceive its benefits. Mining corporations need to achieve legitimacy within these communities. The main objective of this study is to identify the factors that determine the provision of social licenses to operate in Peru’s mining regions. We conducted this research using a case study of two Peruvian mining companies. Our study concludes with the identification of four essential factors needed to achieve a social license to operate within these communities: a deep understanding of the socioeconomic environment, a strong commitment to the community, an active presence of Government, and effective communication between the actors involved in mining activities. The combination of these elements can result in improved trust levels between companies and society, enabling all agents to recognize the costs and benefits resulting from mining. / Revisión por pares

Le résumé en français n'a pas été communiqué par l'auteur. / Le résumé en anglais n'a pas été communiqué par l'auteur.

This study examines the role of three institutional factors (regulative; normative and cultural-cognitive pillars of institutions) in addressing agency problems of Australia. In the wake of the series of corporate collapses of current decade, director and executive remuneration was identified as one of the major causes behind these scandals. The Australian government and other related organisations made both regulative and non-regulative institutional reforms to manage this agency conflict. These reforms, encapsulated in Corporate Law Economic Reform Program (CLERP) Act 2004 demanded an increased level of disclosure of director and executive remuneration particularly, the disclosure of performance based salary. Subsequently, these amendments provided an opportunity through a non-binding vote to shareholders to participate in executive remuneration decisions. This study proposes a new synthesis of institutional and agency theories by examining how institutional interventions addresses agency conflicts in the Australian context. A conceptual model is developed to measure both the conjoined and distinctive institutional impact on the disclosure level of director and executive remuneration in Australia. To measure and quantify the aforementioned impact a mixed method research strategy was used. First, content analysis as an investigative tool was used to develop a disclosure index which determined the level of disclosure of director and executive remuneration from top 100 Australian listed entities. Second, a conceptual model, positing the relationships between independent and dependent variables was verified through an econometric analysis of collected data, performed through the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 15. The findings of this research reveal that there exists a significant difference between the levels of disclosure in the pre and post stages of the introduction of the CLERP Act 2004. This result highlights the significance of regulatory intervention in addressing agency conflicts. The study also indicates that regulative and normative pillars have a higher impact than the culture-cognitive pillar on disclosure practices of Australian firms. In light of these results, the new blend between agency and institutional theories highlight the role of different institutions, particularly the government, in stabilising the organisational practices for good governance and creating national competitive advantages.

<p>Syftet med studien var att beskriva hur sjuksköterskan upplever sin roll, orsaker till och hantering av konflikter som kan uppstå, i kontakten med anhöriga till patienter på äldreboende. Designen är deskriptiv och bygger på individuellt genomförda intervjuer.</p><p>Som urvalsmetod användes ett bekvämlighetsurval. Urvalsgruppen bestod av nio sjuksköterskor, varav två togs bort i efterhand då de intervjuades samtidigt. Kvar blev sju sjuksköterskor (sex kvinnor, en man), verksamma på var sitt äldreboende i en kommun i södra Norrland.</p><p>För att förebygga och hantera konflikter med anhöriga är det viktigaste i sjuksköterskans roll att ha täta kontakter, stor förståelse, god information och en bra dialog. Genom att skapa trygghet, bl a via en bra första kontakt och att låta anhöriga bidra med sina kunskaper och känna sig delaktiga får sjuksköterskan anhöriga med sig. Konflikter uppstår ofta när resurserna inom vården tryter och orsakar missnöje, samt då anhörigas dåliga samvete gör att de missriktar sina aggressioner. För att lösa en konflikt kan det ibland vara lämpligt att ta in en tredje part. Även om det strider mot anhörigas vilja och kan orsaka konflikt så skall sjuksköterskan alltid göra det som är bäst för patienten, då hennes medicinska kompetens är större.</p> / <p>The purpose of this study was to describe how nurses apprehend their role, causes for and managing of conflicts that are possible, encountering relatives of patients living in nursing homes. The design of the study is descriptive and is based on individual interviews.</p><p>The sample was a convenience sample and nine nurses were participating, out of which two were excluded after collecting data due to being interviewed at the same time. Seven nurses remained (six women, one man), working in separate nursing homes in a municipality in southern Norrland.</p><p>The most important part of the nurses’ role in preventing and handling conflicts with relatives consists of keeping in close touch with great understanding, good information and having a dialogue. Creating comfort, by making a good primary contact and letting the relatives contribute with their knowledge and thus make them feel essential, will get the relatives on the nurses’ side. Conflicts often appear when the health care resources run short and cause dissatisfaction and when the relatives’ bad conscience makes them wrongfully project their anger towards the nurse. To solve the problem, bringing a third part into the conflict can sometimes be a solution. Even though it may contest the will of the relatives and cause a conflict the nurse should always do what’s best for the patient, since her medical ability is greater.</p>

<p>A well established organization culture is necessary for the success of a company. In this study, we choose Handelsbanken to demonstrate how an international company develops its culture, and find out what are the important characteristics of that culture.</p><p>It was concluded that a successful company must have a well established organization culture, which can not only adapt to different outside environment but also bring solidarities in organizations. Further more, there is no culture is better or worse, there is only the culture that is most appropriate and efficient for the company.</p><p>This thesis demonstrates how an international company develops its culture, therefore, it will be valuable for those who want to create or improve their organization cultures.</p>