<p>The object of this thesis is to analyse how a co-operational network can come about, operate and progress to contribute to industrial dynamics within the locality. The thesis is a case-study of the HomeCom Project, to learn whether this project has the required features to contribute to the clustering process and thus higher levels of industrial dynamics and competitive advantage of the home communications industry in Linköping. The theoretical platform is based on Porter’s Diamond-model, which explains the occurrence of clusters. Theories of external economies complement Porter’s theories, while oligopoly theory will be introduced to offer a different perspective. The empirical findings show that the HomeCom Project may be considered to contribute to the clustering and in consequence promote industrial dynamics and competitive advantage. But there are also difficulties and attitudes that may impede the reaching of the project’s goals.</p>

“Territorial Cohesion” has been a topic of intense debate within the EU Policy lexicon. This has been partly because it’s still in cycles of interpretations and is in a quest for an acceptable and a discreet operational framework. However, parallel to ongoing discourses, Cohesion Policy for the period 2014-20 has been rolled out. The thesis is an attempt to examine and suggest, as to what extent, the current architecture of Cohesion Policy is contributing to achieve “Territorial Cohesion”, a Treaty objective, in its programmes, particularly the transnational programmes under the European Territorial Co-operation objective. “Territorial Cohesion” has been analyzed in specific Cohesion Policy regulations, programmes and validated by stakeholder inputs. A suitable theoretical outline, i.e. “conformance” and “performance” framework and a qualitative research approach have been employed to arrive at the conclusions. Cohesion Policy in its current cycle is focused on delivering Europe 2020 strategy’s priorities of “smart, sustainable and inclusive growth”. The articulation of “Territorial Cohesion” objectives therefore is inadequately done in the scope and theme as well as in “programming” of Cohesion Policy. Interventions are proposed in its architecture to finesse Cohesion Policy-Territorial Cohesion interface, key to meeting Cohesion Policy goals.

The purpose of this thesis is to identify and analyze relevant dimensions of cooperation between design and production related to product development. The study also focuses on suggesting improvements of the co-operation dimensions between production departments and the product development departments in the Product Development Process (PDP) at Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB (SIT AB). SIT AB produces gas and steam turbines. Their increasing production pace and increasing number of product development projects have highlighted the importance of improved co-operations between departments within the company. We have developed an analysis model including the dimensions of co-operation we found relevant for the study. These are Timing of Upstream – Downstream Activities; Richness &amp; Quality of Information; Frequency of Information Transmission; Direction of Communication; Formalization of Communication; Organizational Support; Goal Optimization; Attitudes in Cross-functional Teams; and Understanding of Tasks. For product development SIT AB follows an extensive process; the PDP. This is a sequential process where all activities are performed in sequence and therefore it obstructs the implementation of Concurrent Engineering. Concurrent Engineering aims to shorten development time and to consider the total job as a whole by performing independent activities in parallel. Hence, we argue that SIT AB should work toward a more integrated process with more parallel activities. The performance in all the dimensions of co-operation differ between large and small projects since the co-operation in large projects work much better than in small projects due to better followed process description; more face-to-face discussions; a better balance between informal and formal communication; and more focus on project goals and team building. The improvement proposals are presented in a separate chapter as actions classified according to the potential impact on the organization and the estimated difficulty to implement them. The proposals include for example: training more project managers; initiate work shop practice for design engineers; and give more and better explanations of decisions and actions. / Syftet med det här examensarbetet är att identifiera och analysera relevanta dimensioner av samarbete mellan produktion och konstruktion i samband med produktutveckling. Syftet är också att föreslå förbättringar i samarbetet mellan produktions- och konstruktionsavdelningarna i produktutvecklingsprocessen (PDP) på Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB (SIT AB). SIT AB producerar ång- och gasturbiner. Betydelsen av ett gott samarbete mellan avdelningar i organisationen har belysts i samband med att produktionstaken de senaste åren har ökat och fler produktutvecklingsprojekt har initierat. Vi har utvecklat en analysmodell som innehåller de dimensioner av samarbete som vi anser är relevanta för området. Dessa är: timing av uppströms – nedströms aktiviteter, rikhet &amp; kvalitet på information, frekvens av informationsöverföring, riktning på kommunikation, formalisering av kommunikation, organisatoriskt support, måloptimering, attityder i tvärfunktionella team samt förståelse för uppgifter. Vid produktutveckling följer SIT AB den omfattande processen PDP. PDP är en sekventiell process där alla aktiviteter utförs i en sekvens vilket motverkar implementeringen av Concurrent Engineering. Concurrent Engineering syftar till att korta utvecklingstiden för produkter och beakta arbetet ur ett helhetsperspektiv bland annat genom utförande av oberoende aktiviteter parallellt. Därför anser vi att SIT AB ska arbeta mot en mer integrerad process med fler parallella aktiviteter. Det är stor skillnad på prestationen i samarbetsdimensionerna mellan stora och små projekt. Stora projekt fungerar mycket bättre än små vilket kan relateras till att stora projekt följer processbeskrivningarna bättre, har en bättre balans mellan informell och formell kommunikation, och fokuserar mer på projektmål och sammansvetsade projektgrupper. Förbättringsförslagen är presenterade som konkreta åtgärder i ett separat kapitel och är klassificerade med hänsyn till varje förslags potentiella effekt på organisationen och dess uppskattade svårighetsgrad att implementera. Förslagen är bland annat att utbilda fler projektledare, inrätta verkstadspraktik för konstruktörer och ge fler och bättre förklaringar till beslut och handlingar.

I uppsatsen undersöker jag hur handelsavtal påverkar handelsströmmarna mellan länder. En genomgång av de olika handelsteorierna görs med en början hos de klassiska teorierna för att därnäst gå vidare med de nya handelsteorierna. Utgångspunkten i uppsatsen är teorin om navoch- eker system med fokus på Barcelona processen, avtalet mellan EU och Chile samt avtalet mellan EU och Ryssland. Här kan det påvisas att handel påverkas positivt när länder ingår avtal med varandra. För att få den största effekten på handel krävs ett samarbete utöver ett borttagande av tullar mellan länderna men eftersom det tar ett tag att anpassa sig till de nya förhållandena som ett avtal innebär är det svårt att på ett tidigt stadium avgöra avtalets effekter. Länder som av olika anledningar ej har möjlighet att ingå handelsavtal kommer att påverkas mer negativt ju fler länder som ingår i avtalet. Det är oftast nav-landet som kan se de största positiva effekterna av handelsavtal.

No description available.

Title: Collaboration in BoDa-units. A qualitative study about collaboration regarding people with disabilities. The purpose of this thesis was to internally examine the cooperation between different professions in municipal BoDa-units. By doing a qualitative study using focus-group-interviews in three municipalities, we were able to examine the personnel’s experience of cooperation issues and opportunities in BoDa-units. We have also examined why municipals have introduced BoDa-units and how they work. Those BoDa-units we have examined addresses persons who are severely mentally disabled and with multiple disabilities but also to persons with autism and disruptive behaviour. The personnel working with the users of these services works both at the home with special services and at the daily activity. The unit operations managers are responsible for the whole BoDa-unit. The results have been analysed through the theoretical starting points of actor network theory and system theory, but also via relevant literature and the LSS-legislation. The result showed that the creations of the BoDa-units are based on a comprehensive view on the individual users’ need of safety, environmental adaptation and a structured way of work. The conclusion of this study is that the co-operation benefits exceed the disadvantages and that the prospects for the BoDa-units are both positive and negative depending on which target group it addresses.    Keywords: BoDa, Co-operation, LSS, Actor Network Theory, System Theory / Syftet med uppsatsen var att studera intern samverkan mellan olika professioner i kommunala BoDa-enheter. Vi har med hjälp av kvalitativa fokusgruppintervjuer i tre kommuner undersökt personalens erfarenheter av samverkansproblem och -möjligheter i BoDa-enheterna Vi har också undersökt varför kommunerna infört BoDa-enheter och hur de fungerar. De BoDa-enheter där vi studerat intern samverkan riktar sig mot personer med svåra funktionsnedsättningar och mulithandikapp samt personer med autism och utagerande beteenden. De brukarnära medarbetarna arbetar både i brukarnas boende och deras dagliga verksamhet.  Enhetscheferna är ansvariga för hela BoDa-enheten. Resultatet analyserades med hjälp av de teoretiska utgångspunkterna aktörsnätverk och systemteori, relevant litteratur samt centrala begrepp och lagstiftning. Resultatet visade att BoDa-enheterna införts utifrån en helhetssyn på enskilda brukares behov av trygghet, miljöanpassning och strukturerat arbetssätt. Slutsatsen var att samverkansfördelarna i dessa enheter med gränsöverskridande arbete överväger samverkansproblemen samt att framtidsutsikterna för BoDa-enheterna är både positiva och negativa beroende på vilken målgrupp verksamheten vänder sig mot.  Nyckelord: BoDa, Samverkan, LSS, Aktörsnätverk, Systemteori

<p>The aim of the study is to understand the level of co-operation between emerging and commercial farmers in a Water User Associations. The effort is expected to inform policy and improve practice in the building of new water institutions as government strives to implement IWRM.</p>

<p>Development thinking in the 21st century has embraced the challenge to inform development practice towards managing the relationship between the macro and micro level of development,&nbsp / with an emphasis on people-centred development (PCD) and a participatory development approach (PDA). People-centred development advocates a process focused on people, which&nbsp / enables beneficiaries of communitydevelopment initiatives to empower themselves through participation. People-centred development has been universally accepted in the development&nbsp / community as the only viable option, with the potential to reverse decades of top-down approaches to development through the engagement of community stakeholders in a meaningful participation process. The social development scene in South Africa is characterised by a strong presence of the civil society in general and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in&nbsp / particular, which are major role players in socio-economic development at the grassroots. Most of these organisations are committed to participatory development methodologies in order to&nbsp / meet the needs of povertystricken communities in South Africa. This thesis critically assessed participatory development in the Small Business Development Departments&rsquo / (SBDD)&nbsp / programmes/projects at the Elgin Learning Foundation, in the Overberg district of the Western Cape. A qualitative research methodology was applied throughout the study. This research&nbsp / approach was chosen&nbsp / because the purpose of this project was to understand and describe community participation at the SBDD from an insider&rsquo / s perspective, and not to predict social action&nbsp / or make generalisations about it. Accordingly, observation, in-depth interviews, documentary analysis, and focus-group discussions were utilised for data collection. The study also used&nbsp / secondary sources of information, namely policy briefs, project proposals, annual evaluation reports, and minutes of meetings. The findings indicate that the community-development activities&nbsp / of the SBDD are very visible in the Overberg region, and that the organisation maintains good relationships with community stakeholders. In addition, the department contributes significantly towards entrepreneurship and skills development in the&nbsp / community, through its training and mentorship programmes. However, results also suggest that community-development at the SBDD is not always people-centred because training&nbsp / programmes are largely externally designed, monitored and evaluated, without taking into consideration the felt needs of the people. Participation that is perceived as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself can be described as tokenistic. In this light, the study recommends that the SBDD develops context-specific strategies to implement participatory methodologies at all stages&nbsp / of project-cycle management, in order to provide an enabling environment for the genuine participation of people at the grassroots. This approach can empower community members and build&nbsp / local institutional capacities to ensure project/programme sustainability in the long term.</p>

No description available.

This study has an integration policy direction as it focuses on the qualification for the new arrivals to quickly establish themselves in the labor market, and how the government's interventions, which in this case is the establishment reform, have affected municipalities and what its role is in this context. The purpose of the establishment reform is to faster the new arrivals integration in to the labor market.   The aim of this study is to analyze the interaction factors that is affecting the integration of new arrivals into the labor market by study the professionals opinions on the interplay between involved organizations in two municipalities before and after the establishment reform. Studies have shown that the establishment reform has not achieved its goal and the purpose is to analyze the aspects behind this problem.   The results of the study were analyzed with help of the interaction theory and the new institutional theory which is a part of the organization theory. An important aspect in the results of our study is the deficiency with the interaction between the participating organizations that obstruct the new arrivals path to becoming self-contained. In order to identify the problem, the study focuses on the co-operation among two communities in Sweden with the new arrivals way into the labor market. The study is based on the professional’s experience of this social context therefore we conducted seven qualitative interviews to get a reality depiction. The result showed various opinions on the advent of the establishment reform and the central deficient are co-operation difficulties and regulation limits the professional way to work. Further, the study concludes that some of the professionals assume that the establishment is an operating reform while other finds it insufficient, but what they have in common is that they find that the working methods need to be more distinct in order to achieve a better function of the establishment reform.