This study investigates the ceremonial village of Orongo and the sacred site of Mata Ngarau. They are located on the southern edge of the Ranu Kau volcano crater, as well as the Motu Nui islet in front of the named volcano. Orongo was the scenario of important political and religious events that submerged Rapa Nui and its inhabitants in a magical story from the mid-1500s to the mid-1800s. This study aims, to some extent, elucidate the context in which the legend and the ritual of the Tangata Manu originates and its importance for the development of the Rapa Nui society. The study examines archaeological, ethnohistorical and contemporary evidences of the birdman cult and contradictory theories about the catastrophe that loomed over the Rapa Nui society The archaeological evidence of those events is the silent testimony of the god Make Make and Tangata Manu, the birdman, the god representative on earth. These are carved on the edge and the slopes of the Ranu Kau crater, in the carved and rupestrian paintings of the stone houses of Mata Ngarau at Orongo, in the caves of the Motu Nui islet and in the one of the cannibals, Ana Kai Tangata. Ethnohistorical evidences provide data on the ritual activities in connection to the birdman cult. The social and environmental degradation which causes of the almost total extermination of its inhabitants as well as the eroding of its culture and with it that of the birdman, Tangata Manu. Today the birdman culture and Orongo is one of the prominent visitors’ sites on the island but interviews with Indigenous Rapanui show that the site also continue to have spiritual and political meaning in today’s society. The modern Rapa Nui society today shows contradictory features. On the one hand we see the face of a thriving, mercantilist society, with hundreds of thousands of tourists visiting it annually and buying handicrafts of dubious local creation. On the other hand, we observe the efforts of hundreds of islanders who struggle to maintain their language, their cultural heritage, their petroglyphs, their cave paintings and their legends. That is the spirit of the rebellion of Tangata Manu.

During the last few years, market micro-structure research has been active in analysing the dependence of market efficiency on different market character­ istics. Make-take fees are one of those topics as they might modify the incen­ tives for participating agents, e.g. broker-dealers or market-makers. In this thesis, we propose a Hawkes process-based model that captures statistical differences arising from different fee regimes and we estimate the differences on limit order book data. We then use these estimates in an attempt to measure the execution quality from the perspective of a market-maker. We appropriate existing theoretical market frameworks, however, for the pur­ pose of hireling optimal market-making policies we apply a novel method of deep reinforcement learning. Our results suggest, firstly, that maker-taker exchanges provide better liquidity to the markets, and secondly, that deep reinforcement learning methods may be successfully applied to the domain of optimal market-making. JEL Classification Keywords Author's e-mail Supervisor's e-mail C32, C45, C61, C63 make-take fees, Hawkes process, limit order book, market-making, deep reinforcement learn­ ing kiselrastislavSgmail.com barunik@f sv.cuni.cz

A high level of competition in the food industry, specifically in the Middle East and the UK has forced companies to improve their processes by reducing lead time, waste, and costs and increasing production efficiency. The main challenge to the achievement of the process improvement objectives is the high level of process variability. Therefore, this research investigates the different types of variability in food production system and proposes a methodology to reduce the effect variability in food production system. The variability can be caused by several factors, for instance, in biscuit production lines variability can be induced due to short breakdown and long breakdown, variable processing times, variable temperature, etc. The proposed approach addresses process time variability issues associated with both make-to-stock (MTS) and make-to-order (MTO) manufacturing environments using an iterated approach. The proposed methodology integrates process mapping, (which is a lean tool for identifying value added and non-value added activities), discrete event simulation (to mirror the real production line), Taguchi orthogonal arrays (to generate different scenarios in order to investigate the effect of variability on the simulation model), correlation analysis (to identify the highest variability factors), and the rule based system (to improve food production system performance based on identified key performance indicators (KPIs)). The research uses a biscuit production line as a case study to validate the proposed methodology. The application of the proposed approach determines that the highest effected KPI is %working. The results showed that after implementation of the rule-based system, key performance improved in high variable areas. Results analysis based on before scenario shows that %working performance indicator is highly effected by variable temperature, speed, and breakdown factors for high variable areas such as baking, cooling, aligning, and packing. Based on identified factors and high variable areas, rules are developed by applying standardisation setting (SOP, WI, PP) in high variable areas and the results shows %working improved in baking by 4.78%, in cooling by 16.06%, in aligning by 0.35%, in packing machine1 by 2.5%, in packing machine2 by 2.37%, in packaging1 by 3.35%, and in packaging2 by 3.16%. The integrated method allow quick response , control the environment without production interruption, reduce number of experiments , and reducing variability in high variable areas, which narrowed the improvement in the required areas and increased its effectiveness.

Les débats récents autour des concepts comme : le capitalisme cognitif, l’économie du savoir ou l’économie de connaissance dessinent une nouvelle vision des organisations, dans laquelle la principale source de création de richesses réside désormais dans les savoirs et les compétences, davantage que dans les ressources matérielles. A cet égard la problématique de conservation des mémoires des organisations, la capitalisation, la conservation, la codification et le partage des connaissances font appel à un nouveau type de management : le Management des Connaissances ou Knowledge Management qui est devenu progressivement un domaine de recherche en pleine d’expansion dans le monde des organisations privés ou publiques. / Recent debates on the concepts of cognitive capitalism, the knowledge draw a new view of organizations, in which the main source of wealth creation now lies in the knowledge and skills, rather than in material resources. In this respect the issue of conservation of memory organizations, funding, preservation, codification and sharing of knowledge call for a new type of management: called the Knowledge Management which has gradually become a research area full expansion in the world of private and public organizations. Our research on the knowledge management within the PACA Regional Council is in this context. Indeed knowledge management becomes a strategic element in territorial management by giving local players an efficient visibility to help decision making.

Hoy en día, las empresas de manufactura lidian con un entorno de producción dinámico, en los cuales el tiempo de entrega es el criterio fundamental para captar pedidos. Los sistemas de planificación y control de la producción (PPC) han venido jugado un papel crucial, sin embargo, en este nuevo contexto, los modelos más conocidos de PPC ya no satisfacen las necesidades de las organizaciones. Es así como este artículo propone un modelo de PPC basado en el sistema Demand-Driven MRP apoyado por las etapas del ciclo PDCA a fin de que se pueda desempeñar de manera óptima en entornos dinámicos como los modelos de fabricación make-to-order. Como resultado de la simulación en el caso de estudio se obtuvo el 100% de cumplimiento de entregas a tiempo y una reducción del lead time en 50.33%. Por tanto, se concluye que el modelo propuesto es aplicable y beneficioso en dicho contexto. / Nowadays, manufacturing companies deal with a dynamic production environment, in which delivery time is the fundamental criterion to get orders. Production planning and control (PPC) systems have played a crucial role, however, in this new context, the most popular PPC models no longer meet the needs of organizations. This is how this article proposes a PPC model based on the Demand-Driven MRP system supported by the stages of the PDCA cycle so that it can perform optimally in dynamic environments such as make-to-order manufacturing models. As a result of the simulation in the case study, 100% compliance with deliveries on time was obtained and a reduction in lead time by 50.33%. Therefore, it is concluded that the proposed model is applicable and beneficial in this context. / Trabajo de investigación

Background: Make or buy decisions is the most fundamental part in a company’s manufacturing strategy. The decision is complex and involves sacrifices whichever strategy is chosen, and before making the decision the firm should understand and evaluate the trade-offs and comparative costs of manufacturing or outsourcing. The uniqueness of family firms is that they often operate their business with non-financial goals at the centre. This study will investigate the make or buy decisions at Väderstad AB, a family owned firm that deals with decisions of make or buy on a large scale, with many thousands of parts included in their final machines, and decisions made daily whether to make or buy. There is no existing research looking at the qualitative non-financial goals and factors in family firms and how it affects the make or buy decision. Purpose: This master thesis studies the make or buy decision at a family firm. The aim is twofold, namely, to explore the potential uniqueness of family firms within the context of the make or buy decision and then to create a make or buy decision model for a family firm. This aim is explorative, i.e. to generate theory, in the realm of family firm research. Method: This is a qualitative study performed by conducting a single case study methodology. 12 Semi-structured interviews with 14 employees from all parts of the case company and the use of documents from archival records were collected as data.  The data was analyzed with the technique of 1st order concepts, etc. as developed by Gioia. Conclusion: Our analysis showed that in the context of family firms, the primary factors influencing make or buy decisions at the case company were not financial goals. Instead drivers were goodwill for customers, innovation, quality, flexibility and control which are non-financial goals. However, financial goals were not neglected, but rather costs were measured after a decision had been made, proving that it was not in the centre of their operations before and during the decision and thus, it was secondary. As a result, non-financial goals played a larger role than financial goals in the make or buy decision.

Detta examensarbete gjordes i två syften, att ge Scania teoretiskt underlag till en ny teknik för hantering av personalens från och närvaroplanering, samt implementera den nya tekniken. Scanias dåvarande lösning utnyttjades genom att använda olika Excel-ark, dessa har uppfattats som ineffektiva och krångliga att arbeta med. Detta har lett till en hel del extra administrativt arbete och behovet av en ny lösning definierades till ett examensarbete. Den initiala fasen av projektet handlade om att förstå relevanta processer rörande från och närvaroplanering. Allt eftersom processerna var förstådda definierades krav på den nya lösningen genom kvalitativa metoder och intervjuer med respondenter av olika befattningar från verksamheten. Kraven som erhölls från intervjuerna visade sig vara relativt konsistenta och fastställdes i en kravspecifikation. Kravspecifikationen användes för att utvärdera olika lösningar som valts ut från marknadens utbud. Vidare genomfördes en make or buy analys som gjorde det möjligt att avgöra om lösningen skulle köpas in eller utvecklas internt. Efter interna diskussioner inom Scania, där resultaten från utvärderingen och make or buy analysen analyserades, fattades beslutet att den nya lösningen skulle byggas i en Microsoft SharePoint miljö. Miljön var redan tillgänglig för Scania och implementeringen gjordes i form av en pilotimplementering. Två grupper från Scanias verksamhet fick en förfrågan om de ville agera piloter, i syfte att utvärdera lösningen efter styrkor, svagheter och önskad funktionalitet. Pilotfasen är planerad att starta i början av september 2013. / This thesis was done with two-fold purpose, to give Scania a theoretical base for a new technology for management of the personnel presence and absence planning and to implement this new technology. Scanias former solution was utilized by using different Excel sheets and these have been perceived as inefficient and cumbersome to work with. This has led to a lot of additional administrative work and the need for a new solution was defined to this thesis. The initial phase of the project focused on understanding the relevant processes related to the presence and absence planning. When the processes were well understood, requirements on the new system were captured through qualitative methods and interviews with respondents of different positions from the enterprise. The requirements obtained from the interviews proved to be relatively consistent and was defined in a requirement specification. These requirements were used to evaluate different solutions chosen from the commercial stock. In addition, a make or buy analysis were created and made it possible to determine whether the solution would be bought or developed internally. After internal discussions within Scania, where the results from the alternative solution evaluation and the make or buy analysis was considered, it was decided that the new solution would be built in a Microsoft SharePoint environment. The environment was already available for Scania and the implementation was done as a pilot implementation. Two groups from Scanias enterprise was asked to act pilots, in order to evaluate the solution by strengths, weaknesses and desired functionalities. The pilot phase is planned to start in early September 2013.

Introduktion: Små till medelstora företag (SME) innefattar 99.9% av alla aktiva verksamheter i Sverige. SME:s är företag som har begränsade ekonomiska resurser. Begränsade resurser kan leda till att verksamheter producerar produkter till lager i rädslan om att gå miste om leveranser, vilket skapar ett uppbundet kapital i färdigvarulagret. Syftet med studien är att undersöka om make to order (MTO) kan användas av SME:s för att reducera kapitalbindning i färdigvarulagret och undersöka vilka utmaningar det finns med att implementera MTO.  FF1: Hur kan MTO användas som ett verktyg för att reducera kapitalbindningen hos SME:s? FF2: Vilka utmaningar finns det med att implementera MTO för SME:s?  Metod: En fallstudie har genomförts hos ett producerande mikroföretag. Data har samlats in genom observationer, intervjuer och dokument. För grund till den teoretiska referensramen har en litteraturstudie genomförts. Litteraturstudien samlade in data genom vetenskapliga artiklar och böcker som har använts för att analyser den insamlade empirin från fallstudien.   Resultat: Studiens resultat har kommit fram till att MTO kan användas som ett verktyg hos SME:s som har en hög kapitalbindning och inte kan utesluta ett färdigvarulager. För att reducera kapitalbindningen kan därmed en hybrid mellan MTO och MTS (make to stock) användas. Studien har ytterligare kommit fram till att det finns tre huvud utmaningar med att implementera MTO. De tre utmaningarna är ställtider, oförutsägbara händelser och förändringar.

Jag har i mitt skrivande reflekterat kring min egen kunskap och erfarenhet samt har genom mina tankar kopplat till relevant litteratur. Reflektionerna har till större del varit runt mitt dilemma men även kring mycket annat som rör den dagliga verksamheten. Jag har även reflekterat kring hur jag ser på mig själv som pedagog och min egen yrkesroll. I min essä har jag utforskat kring mitt dilemma om hur jag ska kunna synliggöra de barn som hamnar utanför ramarna i barngruppen, och som inte tar lika stor plats som de barn som hörs och syns mest. Jag tar upp några situationer i min berättelse som tydligt visar detta då Pelle som mitt dilemma handlar om mer eller mindre exkluderar sig själv från den övriga barngruppen och från verksamheten i helhet. Pelle isolerar sig från de andra barnen och vill hellre leka för sig själv, om inte Sofia är på förskolan, för då vill han bara leka med henne. Att Pelle inte heller pratar med någon av vare sig pedagoger eller kompisar, utöver Sofia, gör inte situationen enklare. Mitt dilemma handlar om min osäkerhet och min frustration som blivande förskollärare över att inte veta hur jag ska förhålla mig till eller lyckas kommunicera med barn som Pelle. I min uppsats har jag använt mig av olika metoder som skrivande och reflektion. Genom att pendla mellan olika tolkningar, reflektioner samt upplevelser har jag försökt göra egna tolkningar, och skapa förståelse kring dem, för att sedan kunna lägga dem till mina erfarenheter. Med hjälp av min handledare och min arbetsgrupp har jag arbetat fram min text och har haft mycket nytta av gruppens gemensamma men även min och handledarens enskilda reflektionssamtal. Det har varit lärorikt och jag tycker själv att jag har både kunnat och vågat se på mig själv med kritiska ögon, men också fått merförståelse kring ämnet. Syftet med den här essän är att jag söker efter svar på frågor om hur jag som pedagog hur jag som pedagog ska kunna synliggöra de tysta barnen och få dem att känna sig inkluderade i grupp och verksamhet. Till min hjälp har jag studerat litteratur och reflekterat kring det jag läst för att på så sätt finna svar på mina frågor. Jag tar även upp och poängterar vikten av begreppet "bygga broar" då förskolan ska ha ett gott samarbete med föräldrar och andra anhöriga. / examinationsarbete

Problem - Decision makers shape the structure of the sales function, but it is unclear how they go about it and why. The rationale for making certain decisions need to be analyzed in order to understand why different decision makers apply different sales strategies. Topic - The Swedish prefabricated wooden house industry consists of many actors with no clear market leader. The sales force seems to mainly consists of external sales agents (manufacturers' representatives, also called reps), though some manufacturers also employ direct sales agents at the manufacturing company. Prefabricated wooden houses corresponded to 86% of all building permits requested during 2015. Purpose - This thesis aims to explore decision-makers' rationale behind the organization of manufacturers' sales forces in the Swedish prefabricated wooden house industry. Method - Semi-structures interviews with decision makers at manufacturing companies in the Swedish prefabricated wooden house industry have been conducted in order to fulfill the purpose of this study. The empirical findings are then analyzed based on theory that has been collected through partly inductive, partly deductive approaches. Main results - Decision makers use different arguments to justify their strategies. Many different rationale applied translates into no clear pattern besides the one that there seems to be no clear pattern. Arguments for a rationale decision are given without analytical proof for an assumption. Some interviewees are in essence for an integrated sales force, though might also work with reps.