The project has been performed in collaboration with Thule Sweden AB, a global leader in developing safe, simple and elegant solutions for the transportation of various types of equipment.   The company has developed a new T-track which is telescopically, they stand mount system to connect the roof box to the roof rack does not fit into this. Therefore, the company considered that it was necessary to have a new product that meets the requirements of the new roof rack. They wanted a new, smarter solution would be developed.   The bulk of this essay has been to find a new concept to connect the roof box to the roof racks. The result is a saxkonstruktion that slides down the roof rack T-profile and protected out of a puck-like housing. The product is small, simple and elegant solution. Thesis results are a step in the right direction for Thule Sweden AB that was first to market with a whole new way to connect the roof box to the roof rack.

The purpose of this research is studying and analyzing immigrant’s perception of their integration into the labor market in Sweden. It is qualitative study and the data consist from six in-depth interviews with immigrants who live in Östersund, Sweden and arrived to Sweden at least one year ago. The theoretical starting point of the thematic analysis of the collected data is following concepts: social integration and social segregation, discrimination (statistical, preference, ethnical, racial, religious), cultural distance, self-confidence and self-perception, human capital and social capital.The results have shown that the majority of the immigrants perceive themselves as segregated from the Swedish labor market due to the unemployment, discrimination towards them, cultural differences between them and Swedes, the unadjustment to the Swedish society, and the exclusion from the Swedish social network. However, the employment was not considered by all interviewed immigrants as a prerequisite for the integration into the job market in Sweden. Such country-specific skills as Swedish education and Swedish work experience were identified by the interviewed immigrants as important factors for their acceptance by the Swedish employers.

The energy sector is a vital part of country´s economy. Continuous increase in energy consumption, the limited resources in the sector, price volatility and the necessity of environment protection determined people to look for alternative sources of energy. An important fraction of the energy is consumed in the transport sector, thus it is not surprising that important investments and researches have been focused on finding substitute fuels in order to diminish the dependency of fossil fuels and reduce the quantity of CO 2. The aim of this thesis is to analyze how the consumer behavior regarding the biogas cars per capita, being determined by income per capita, the share of educated population, the existence of plant production at local level, the density of gas stations and the population, differs across Sweden’s municipalities.

Abstract In the past, the main focus of migration studies was the investigation of influences of immigrants on the host society and their integration into the country of settlement. However, transnationalism studies currently place much greater emphasis upon the other side – which is the effect of living in diaspora, in the society of origin with trans-border citizenship. The cultural, social and political interactions and connections between Sweden as a country of settlement and Kurdistan (especially Iraqi Kurdistan), create a transnational social space where the members of the Kurdish elite can play a major role in improvement of Kurdistan. From here, their adoption of a double identity makes it possible for them to permanently define and redefine their position in Swedish society while simultaneously participating in the inherent development of Kurdistan. The merging of the members of the Kurdish elite’s discourse in rebuilding of democracy and development with regard to reconstruction, leads to more focus on the role of diaspora and understanding the Swedish Kurdish elite’s impact on “functionalizing” and major contribution in the current state of Kurdistan. The ways of expression, increasing academic value, multicultural behavior, and the elite’s activities in civil society organization in between two or several states, their appearance in the international scene, experiences of living in both host / home societies, and multi-relations in a diasporic context continuing and re-adjusting national identities are essential indications of trans-border identity formation of Kurdish diaspora. After the liberation of Kurdistan (northern Iraq 2003), members of the Kurdish elite experienced transnationalism mainly through transferring their success in performing various activities for their homeland and at the same time integrating more into the host countries that received them. During this research, the researcher met and interviewed a number of members of Kurdish elites who had very interesting stories about the Kurdish diaspora, and more especially the important role they play in the transnational space that connects the Kurdish homeland to many European countries and the United States. Using a phenomenology method, the researcher classifies the elements that can characterize the practices of Kurdish diaspora elite as transnationalism.  Sweden is one of the main countries where the Kurdish elite diaspora gathered and are organized to contribute to the development of Kurdistan. Since the Kurdish diaspora is the largest nation that lacks a state, the Kurdish diaspora has formed a long-distance nation in host country.

This C-level thesis deals with Russian tourism in Sweden and explains what measures are being used in Sweden in order to attract Russian tourists. Since a high number of companies and organizations are actively involved in developing Russian tourism to Sweden, we have decided to focus primarily on the most active Swedish and Russian companies within the industry. Therefore several big and well-established companies, often located in the largest cities of Russia and Sweden i.e. Stockholm, Moscow and St Petersburg, have been the subject of our analysis. Chapter “Bakgrund” presents numerous facts and information about the nature and scale of the Russian tourist market today and in the nearest future. The reader will get a chance to take a closer look at the changes that have happened in the Russian society contributing significantly to the fast development of the tourism industry. In chapter “Metod” the methodology applied during the research, analysis and drawing conclusions is described. Our choices are discussed and motivated as well as key terms and concepts are defined. The theoretical framework of the thesis consists of selected theories. The theories used include among others such concepts as push- and pull factors, classifications of tourists and Butler sequence model (Resort Life Cycle Model). The theoretical framework follows of our empirical research, which includes documentation of our interviews with chosen companies and organizations along with analysis of existing publications and sources within the field. The interviewed and analyzed subjects were Visit Sweden, Stockholm Visitors Board, Junibacken, Vasa Museum and several larger Russian travel agencies i.e. Federal Tourism Agency of Russian Federation. Also an own survey between the immediate consumers of the Swedish tourist offers was covered by our research and will be summarized in this chapter. The analytical part of the work consists of discussing the information gathered through the different channels. The analysis is carried out in the light of the applicable theories and models. The conclusions are drawn about the existing situation and an attempt is made to create several future scenarios describing possible development of the Russian-Swedish tourism exchange. Finally a criticism of the sources and a review all references used in the thesis are carried out. / Denna C-uppsats handlar om rysk turism i Sverige och beskriver de aktiviteter som pågår i Sverige för att locka hit ryska turister. Med hänsyn till det höga antalet företag och organisationer som aktivt arbetar med att utveckla rysk turism till Sverige har vi valt att avgränsa oss framför allt till de företag inom branschen som förefaller mest aktiva. Av denna anledning har ett urval av stora väl etablerade företag från både ryska och svenska storstäder, Stockholm, Moskva och St Petersburg, varit föremål för vår analys. Kapitlet “Bakgrund” presenterar ett flertal fakta och information som beskriver den ryska turistmarknadens karakteristika och potential idag och inom den närmaste framtiden. Läsaren kommer att få möjlighet till inblick i de förändringar som har skett i det ryska samhället och som har blivit en starkt bidragande faktor till den snabba utvecklingen av turismindustin. I kapitlet “Metod” beskrivs den metodik som används i samband med undersökningen, analysen och slutsatsformuleringen. Vårt urval diskteras och motiveras och de viktigaste begreppen och termerna definieras. Den teoretiska referensramen of arbetet består av ett urval teorier. Tillämpade teorierna omfattar bl a sådana begrepp som push- och pull faktorer, klassificering av turisttyper samt Butlers sekvensmodell (Destionationsutvecklingsmodell). Den teoretiska referensramen följs av vår empiriska studie, som inkluderar både dokumentering av våra intervjuer med valda företag och organisationer och analys av existerande publikationer och källor inom området. De intervjuade aktörer som underkastas analysen är Visit Sweden, Stockholm Visitors Board, Junibacken, Vasa Museum samt ett antal större ryska resebyråer t ex Rosturism. Arbetet inkluderar också vår egen enkätundersökning bland slutkonsumenter av svenska turisterbjudanden och resultatet av undersökningen sammandras också i detta kapitel. Den analytiska delen av arbetet går ut på att diskutera den information som har blivit tillgänglig via de olika informationskanalerna. Analysen genomförs mot bakgrund av lämpliga teorier och modeller. Slutsatser dras avseende nuläget samtidigt som ett försök görs till att måla upp möjliga framtidsscenarier för hur utbytet inom rysk-svensk turism kan utvecklas framöver. Slutligen genomförs källkritik och granskning av de referenser som åberopas i arbetet.

The purpose of this research is to use a conceptual model to analyze the capacity for strategic change and then apply the model to assess the change capacity in Electrolux¡¦s three major strategic changes. Through applying the model of capacity for change to analyze the change process of Electrolux, the author will research into the following problems: • Why was the change initiated? By whom? • Why was the specific strategy (the content of change) chosen? Who formulated it? • What was the strategy for implementing the change (the process)? How was the implementation process conducted? • Characterizing and evaluating the capacity for change in the case company. After analyzing the strategic change and development of the Electrolux Group, the author found out the answers of the research problems and developed three major management implications, which are stated as follows: (1) High path dependence between stages After reviewing the development of Electrolux from longitudinal perspective, the author found that Electrolux development processes from stage to stage are characterized by high path dependence. The Group strives to build competitive advantages and realize the intended strategy in each stage in order to respond to the impacts resulted from the changes of external environment. Only competitive advantages and intended strategy of the current stage are built and realized will the company initiate a new strategy and proceed to next stage. Therefore, the shift into the next stage is influenced by two factors, namely, the realization of the stage-oriented intended strategy and the building of competitive advantages. Highly Path dependence from stage to stage characterizes the Electrolux¡¦s development stage model (see Figure 4.2). (2) Operating/industry environment factors serve as the main driving forces behind change After analyzing the development of Electrolux Group (see chapter 5), the author found environment factors serves as the main driving forces behind each change. In order to effectively respond to the impacts resulted from the environment changes and find a niche to grow, the organization has to closely monitor the environment changes. Only by recognizing the impacts resulted from environmental changes can organization decide the direction of corporate strategy and then evaluate whether the resources and capabilities the organization possesses can generate competitive advantage so as to realize intended strategy. (3) Leadership strongly impact the formation of change process As suggested in chapter 2.4, four internal factors i.e. leadership, structure, resources and capabilities, and culture would affect the change process (see Figure 2.2). After analyzing these internal factors affecting the change process of Electrolux, the author found that leadership serves as the main internal driving force in each change period. Though Electrolux¡¦s three major changes were mainly initiated by the external environment, the change process could not be implemented and the realized strategy could not be attained without the strategic leader who can clearly recognize and effectively react to the environment changes and adopt new strategic actions to realize the intended strategy in the end.

<p>One of the most important notions of our world is <em>“globalization” </em>which affects the lives of human beings in several ways. It is a concept which removes boundaries and limits; therefore, involves a global world, and consequently a global economy. Within the global economy, there are flows of goods, capital, technology and other means of production among different countries. As a result, these movements create a high competition among the different actors of the game. In order to develop themselves in this global economy, firms have to expand their businesses abroad to compete in the international arena. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is one of the mostly used ways of internationalization which plays an important role as an engine of employment, technological development, productivity enhancement, economic intensification, and more importantly, as an instrument of technology transfer especially from developed to developing countries. Each country in which foreign companies want to invest has its own characteristics; particular opportunities and barriers from each country might arise when a foreign company starts its investment. This study analyzes the inward FDI in developing countries, by analyzing a case of a Swedish company, Ericsson, in two developing countries: Mexico and Vietnam. The cases of Ericsson in Mexico and Vietnam describe the general business environment, availability of production factors and competitiveness factors in those two countries and provide sets of data in order to build a cross-case analysis and generalize the results of this research.</p>

Thesis--Göteberg. / Extra title-page, with thesis note, inserted. "Källor och litteratur": p. [343]-352.

Thesis--Lund. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-171).

Thesis--Handelshögskolan i Stockholm. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-203).