With the rise of the knowledge economy and aging population, advanced industrial countries seek to address their skill shortage and promote national skill bases through highly skilled migration. As a result, recruiting international students, especially those at tertiary levels, has been integrated into national strategies to compete for global talent. In spite of the widely recognized significance of recruiting international students to a high skill economy, the uneven growth in foreign enrolments among host countries, geographically oriented source regions and destinations of the students, and limited post-graduate stay rates suggest important questions about governments commitment to attracting and retaining international students. A main purpose of this comparative study is to identify and assess specific national strategies and their goals of managing international student mobility. Changes in international student policies, in particular entry and immigration regulations, and the trends in student mobility in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom since the 1990s are examined drawing on secondary data. The results suggest that rather than strictly relying on market forces, nation states address and cope with the pressure point of skill upgrading in a strategic and political way. The management of international student mobility, among other national strategies aiming at a high skill society embraces a collective goal of national interest shaped by the political economy in each nation.

This dissertation comprises three essays. In the first two chapters, I examine the performance of Chinese firms in the context of trade liberalization: one chapter looks at the quality of China's exports and the other investigates the productivity impact of China's tariff reduction. In the third chapter, I study the change induced by a tax reform in the institutional incentive structure faced by Chinese village leaders.

International Marine Group, IMG AB, was established in year 2000, and became the parent company of the three sister companies, Momec AB, Isolamin AB and Premec AB. The IMG – group supplies complete marine/offshore interior accommodation and tailor-made system supplies to the Building/Industrial sector. With a starting point to develop IMG AB’s logistic and distribution the company has decided to survey the present logistic at their subsidiaries, mainly concentrated on the goods for delivery. The purpose is to allocate the processes inside the IMG – group which have direct develop potential. To be able to satisfy the new requirements on logistics in the future, IMG – group has presented a new proposal including a warehouse to consolidate gods for delivery. The warehouse would enable consolidation of all orders which are supposed to be delivered to the same destination. The purpose with this bachelor’s thesis is to serve as basis in a discussion about IMG AB’s future development. The future development will include a consolidation point for distribution and an automatic line for wall and ceiling panels. The methods which were used to obtain information for the thesis were: data-collection, litterature reviews, benchmarking and actual visits at the subsidiaries’ plants, Isolamin AB, Momec AB and Premec AB. The purpose is also to create a survey of the logistic flows inside the supply chain of the subsidiaries. The sister companies were also compared in a benchmarking with three different external companies. The purpose is also to appoint the requirements which are of most significance for the supply chain, with the aspect on consolidation. Momec AB is located in Bottnaryd and offer marine door sets in two different types, A and B. The location of Isolamin AB is Överkalix and the company is a supplier of products and customized solutions in the area of insulated panels for the Marine/Offshore and Building/Industrial sector. Premec AB is located in Dals Ed and manufacture prefabricated bathrooms for offshore-, shipping- and building industry world wide. Premec AB can supply already made (assembled) wet units for new buildings or flat packed (knock-down) units for refurbishment/renovation. All of the sister companies have potential for development in many areas inside their order to delivery process. There are also potential for development in the distribution and logistic aspects. The authors of this bachelor’s thesis consider the prerequisite to build the warehouse a reality is to have a well implemented ERP-system. It is also of significance that the exchange of information is fluent, that all sister companies have a high delivery precision and great coordination and organised systems. Further requirements are: to make the order to delivery process more efficient, to minimize the lead-time and to give the possibility to calculate the throughput time as an order is set. The warehouse and the subsidiaries, Isolamin AB, Momec AB and Premec AB, have both strengths and weaknesses. The authors of this bachelor’s thesis consider that the warehouse will open up for more possibilities in the future, but it will also include some threats to the IMG-group. If the proposal of a new warehouse and a new automatic line turns into reality a careful risk-management analysis should be done to minimize the risk in the investment. A comparison against a proposal with outsourcing to a Third Part Logistic – company, TPL-company, should be considered. A TPL-company might be more cost effective. The conclusion is that IMG –group’s project plans of a warehouse and an automatic line should be realised with the prerequisite that all the factors that today are considered to be a problem for the IMG – group are sorted out and that the ERP- System Jevees is fully implemented.

This study is concentrated on modelling and developing the controller for the light-duty hybrid electric truck. The hybrid electric vehicle has advantages in fuel economy. However, there have been relatively few studies on commercial HEVs, whilst a considerable number of studies on the hybrid electric system have been conducted in the field of passenger cars. So the current status and the methodologies to develop the LD hybrid electric truck model have been studied through the literature review. The modelling process used in this study is divided into three major stages. The first stage is to determine the structure of the hybrid electric truck and define the hardware. The second is the component modelling using the AMESim simulation tool to develop a forward facing model. In order to complete the component modelling, the information and data were collected from various sources including references and ADVISOR. The third stage is concerned with the controller which was written in Simulink. This was run in a co-simulation with the AMESim vehicle model. Through the initial simulation, the charge-sustaining performance of this controller was verified and improved. Finally, the simulations for the complete model were carried out over a number of drive cycles, such as CBDTRUCK, JE05, and TRL LGV drive cycle, to evaluate and analyse the effect on the fuel economy and the vehicle performance by the engine operating zone and the EM power capacity. The report presents a comparison of the fuel efficiency of the conventional vehicle and the LD hybrid electric truck. The results obtained by the simulation show the feasibility to build the complete vehicle with the designed controller.

Publicly financed dental care has recently increased its profile as a health policy issue in Canada. The media have championed the challenges experienced by low-income groups in accessing dental care. Governments across the country have responded with targeted funds. Social concern has even promoted the Canadian Medical Association to call for the inclusion of dental care within Medicare, and in changing a policy position that is over one hundred years old, the Canadian Dental Association now recommends that governments establish a dental safety net for all disadvantaged Canadians. In this environment, important questions have emerged: Why did Canada never incorporate dental care into Medicare? How have governments been involved in dental care? What are governments doing now? What are the disparities in oral health and dental care? What gaps exist in the system? What does the profession think? What does the public think? Through a document review, administrative survey, expenditure trend analysis, and public and professional opinion surveys, this dissertation answered these questions with the aim of clarifying the many issues that surround publicly financed dental care in Canada. It appears that dental care was not included in Medicare due to material and ideological reasons; namely decreases in dental caries and human resource limitations, the belief in viable options to large-scale service delivery, and the belief that maintaining one’s oral health and the ability to seek out dental care are individual responsibilities, not social ones. As such, there has developed in policy and programming a predilection to support dental care for children, for social assistance recipients, for seniors, and for select marginalised groups, or those groups where personal responsibility is not totalising. There is also a bias, developed over the last thirty years, towards structuring publicly financed dental care in private ways. This has resulted in a system that has certain biases, inconsistencies, and gaps, such that it cannot clearly and fully respond to current disparities. It is in the conciliation of public and private approaches to care that publicly financed dental care can achieve a stable footing and a clear direction forward.

Over the past decade the introduction of MP3’s, file sharing networks and illegal downloading has fundamentally changed the music industry, structurally and spatially. In the wake of this restructuring it is now estimated that 95% of all musicians in Canada operate independently of record companies (Canadian Independent Recording Artist Association or ‘CIRAA’). Digital technologies afford independent musicians greater freedom and control over how and where they live and work. Although economic geographers have been quick to examine the impact of the so called ‘MP3 Crisis’ on record sales and the major record labels, little is known about how changes at the macro-scale affect the working lives of individual musicians in specific locations. As a result, this dissertation focuses on the employment experiences and spatial dynamics of independent musicians in Toronto. Drawing on sixty-five in-depth interviews with musicians and key informants in the music industry, the thesis documents the intersections between technology, work and space. In particular, the analysis highlights the ways in which the new creative and spatial freedoms, associated with independent music production, are accompanied by intensified competition and employment risk, which musicians experience in an increasingly individualized way. Surviving in the current marketplace requires independent musicians to perform a range of new tasks and exhibit a higher degree of professionalism. Accordingly, the research outlines some of the reasons why some musicians are rejecting and reworking traditional bohemian lifestyles, spatial patterns and risk mediation strategies. In particular, there is growing evidence of new forms of networking and of the increased importance of strategic collaborations between musicians and fashion designers. There are also signs that some musicians are relocating from the downtown core to the surrounding suburbs, and that musical talent is becoming redistributed across the city-region. Ultimately, this dissertation demonstrates the need for specialized policies to incubate and retain creative talent in an increasingly global and digital marketplace.

No description available.

In this thesis, the author will scrutinize the chaebol in Korean economy. Since their emergence, their existence has straddled between amity and antagonism. Even if they contributed to Korean economy, they still remain the criticism targets from people. Hence, this research is for investigating the reason and will seek for the better prospect. While I am researching, I tried to keep moderation perspective. Therefore, the author deals with Korean conglomerate’s strong points as well as the criticism points. In this process, research’s basis is on the case study with Samsung and also literature analysis. The propose of research is to reject the polarization perspective in order to avoid harmful consequences and to acknowledge chaebol’s efforts such as global strategies. Moreover, this research will not stretch the meaning of economic democratization and will approach from the co-existence perspective.

Pokot female body art identifies a woman’s beauty, husband, and social rank among the Pokot community through color, pattern, and mass. In the last sixty years, as a result of Kenya’s entrance into the global economy, Pokot women have turned a “traditional” art form into a commodity, creating a product for Western tourists that, in turn, provides Pokot women with a means to earn income that is less readily under male control. Pokot women consciously create beadwork that alludes to the “Idea of Africa,” while also conforming to Western standards of “colonial chic.” The result is a body art that visualizes a harmonious interaction between “exotic” and “modern.” This thesis argues that with the successful integration of beadwork into the global market, Pokot women have strategically identified an alternative to their traditional, gender-related power constraints and challenged historical constructions of Pokot gender identity.

De senaste årens diskussioner kring hushållsnära tjänster har nu resulterat i ett skatteavdrag som började gälla den 1 juli 2007. Med anledning av att fler nu troligtvis har råd med hjälp i hemmet har HSB beslutat att se över möjligheten att erbjuda denna typ av tjänster till sina medlemmar. Syftet med detta arbete är att utreda och analysera hur HSB ska använda marknadsinformation för att kunna utveckla nya tjänster och ge grundläggande direktiv för marknadsföring av dessa. Genom att studera den teoretiska grund som finns för vilken typ av information som bör användas för tjänsteutveckling och genom att vidareutveckla dessa med hjälp av ytterligare teorier kan en analysmodell byggas upp. Denna teori pekar på såväl faktorer i företagets direkta närhet som på faktorer som ligger utanför företagets påverkan. Modellen används sedan praktiskt med den information som finns tillgänglig i form av exempelvis medlemsundersökningar, fokusgrupper och annan data. Resultatet av denna analys ger viktiga attribut som tjänsten bör innehålla som i sin tur ligger till grund för riktlinjer angående marknadsföringen. I detta arbeta har information rörande HSB och dess omvärld praktiskt använts tillsammans med modellen för att ta fram såväl viktiga attribut hos hushållsnära tjänster som för att ge grundläggande marknadsföringsdirektiv för dessa. Den information som tagits i bruk har främst kommit i från medlemsundersökningar och fokusgrupper men även exempelvis extern statistisk data, kostnadskalkyler och intervjuer har använts. Det visar sig att den information som finns tillgänglig i stort sett lämpar sig väl för användning med modellen och att denna därmed kan användas vid framtagandet av en tjänst. Som svar på syftet visar det sig att information bör användas med den teoretiska modell som tagits fram för att utveckla en tjänst och ge grundläggande direktiv för dess marknadsföring. Viktigt är här att använda sig av flera olika typer av information som exempelvis enkätsvar, fokusgrupper och interndata för att få såväl djup och bredd i undersökningen.