This thesis is focused on evaluation of the service quality in selected retail outlets or shops. The main goal of this thesis was to evaluate the level of customer service while engaged in the transaction of selling pre-selected goods in selected retail outlets. Based on the results of this evaluation, a sub-goal of this thesis was to either validate or to disprove the given hypotheses. As an introduction I define basic terms of service quality, customer satisfaction with a service, marketing Research and mystery shopping. . After depicting the basic theoretical principles of mystery shopping, I moved on to the practical (hands-on) portion of my thesis where I evaluate retail outlets for pre-selected company. Evaluation is carried out by using mystery shopping. After conclusion of mystery shopping, the data was analyzed and synthesized, which allowed me to evaluate the results and draw appropriate conclusions, proposal and recommendation to the pre-selected company.

Följande uppsats är resultatet av en studie där kunder intervjuades om vilka förväntningar de har i en situation där betalsystemen skulle sluta fungera. Studien är en del i ett större projekt som heter Creating Collaborative Resilience Awareness, Analysis and Action for the Finance, Food and Fuel Systems in INteractive Games (CCRAAAFFFTING) som görs på uppdrag från MSB (Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap). Syftet med studien är att genom att förstå kundens perspektiv kan CCRAAAFFFTING-projektet förbättra sin försöks- och träningsmiljö i simuleringarna och på så sätt bidra till att förbättra samhällets resiliens rörande störningar i betalsystemen. Studiens frågeställningar utgår från en situation där betalsystemen inte fungerar och lyder: Vad förväntar sig kunden att den får tillgång till?När då? Vad är kunden förberedd på?Hur skiljer sig detta hos olika kundgrupper? Frågeställningarna besvarades genom intervjuer med personer inom olika kundgrupper. Intervjuerna spelades in med diktafon, transkriberades och analyseras därefter med tematisk analys. Den tematiska analysen gav upphov till följande överteman: Vad som finns hemma, När krisen är framme, När betalkorten inte fungerar och Vem som har ansvar. Första temat har undertemana Kontanter finns av en slump och Att klara sig 72 timmar utan att handla. Andra övertemat har undertemana Hållbara varor och Vikten av information. Tredje övertemat har följande underteman: Oro för att bankomaternas pengar tar slut, Hopp när kontanterna tar slut och Alternativa lösningar på problemet. Fjärde övertemat har följande underteman: Affärernas ansvar, Bankernas ansvar och Regeringens och statens ansvar. Slutsatsen är att människor som bor på landet har bättre resiliens och skulle klara sig längre i en situation där betalsystemen slutar fungera, jämfört med personer som bor mer centralt i staden och att det behövs mer information om betalsystem för att människor ska kunna få en bättre resiliens och minskad oro för vad som skulle kunna hända. / The following thesis is the result of a study of costumer interviews about anticipations in a situation where the payment systems stop working. The study is a part of a greater project called Creating Collaborative Resilience Awareness, Analysis and Action for the Finance, Food and Fuel Systems in INteractive Games (CCRAAAFFFTING), commissioned by MSB (the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency). The purpose of the study is that by understanding the costumer’s perspective the CCRAAAFFFTING project can improve its training environment in the simulations and thereby better the resilience of the society in terms of disruptions in the payment systems. Following are the study’s research questions based on a situation where the payment systems stop working: What does the costumer expect to get access to?When? What is the costumer prepared for?How does this differ among different costumer groups? The research questions were answered by interviews with people within different costumer groups. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed by thematic analysis. The thematic analysis resulted in the following main themes: What to be found at home, When the crisis is present, When the debit cards does not work and Who is responsible. The first theme has the sub themes Having cash is random and To manage 72 hours without shopping. Second main theme has the sub themes Durable products and The importance of information. The third main theme has the following sub themes: Worry about cash machines running out of money, Hope when cash run out and Alternative solutions to the problem. The fourth main theme has the following sub themes: The responsibility of the stores, The responsibility of the banks and The responsibility of the government and the state. The result shows that people living in the countryside have greater resilience than those who live in the city, in a situation where the payment systems stop working, compared to people living in the city centre, and that people need more information about payment systems to get a better resilience and reduced concerns for what might happen.

The growing need for climate mitigation solutions has contributed so thatbiochar has gained significant interest. Primary for its ability as a carbon sinkbut there is also a growing interest due to several other aspects within industriese.g. substitution effects, increased resource efficiency, an enabler forindustrial symbiosis, and its beneficial properties when put in soil that can increasegrowth. Previous studies of biochar have been dominant within the environmentalperspective of biochar, analyzing detailed characteristics of its propertiesand carbon sink potential. Some studies have a holistic perspective reflectingon countries specific energy mix and the different benefits of producingbiochar. However, previous studies are far too few to determine the value-chainof biochar. Hence previous studies have knowledge gaps within the holistic lifecycle approach from a provider or customer perspective of biochar, not reflectingon demand for quality requirements in different utilization areas and markets.The need for validation of the environmental and the economic performanceof biochar has to be established, and the economic perspective of biochar hasmajor knowledge gaps since previous studies are scarce. The study aims to establish the value-chain of biochar by evaluating theenvironmental, economic, and social perspectives through life cycle thinking.The core of the study is to distinguish value, which first has to reflect thebiochar quality requirements from providers and customers, captured throughinterviews and literature research. The quality requirements enable a goal forproducing biochar and determine what processes and biomass are needed fordifferent markets. This is evaluated through a case development which considersthe different quality requirements. Life cycle assessment (LCA) with acradle-to-grave perspective and life cycle costing (LCC) with a cradle-to-gatewere then used to distinguish biochar´s environmental and economic performance. The interviews and researched literature resulted in three cases being developed,biochar application in electric arc furnaces in steel production, agriculturalapplication, and commercial application through biochar-macadam. Thesteel industry has higher quality requirements due to the need to have a similarcomposition as fossil coal, resulting in biochar produced from wood being theonly option. The limitations for agricultural application are more related tothe allowed amount of phosphorus per ha and thus all the researched biocharapplies to different degrees. Biochar application in biochar-macadam is similarto agricultural application, however limited due to the EBC certification notallowing the production of biochar from sludge. The generated results from the LCA show that the climate performance isvastly different depending on what biomass was utilized and the different markets.Biochar produced from park and garden, and wood results in a higher climateperformance due to the higher carbon sequestration compared to biocharproduced from straw and sludge, however depending on how the biocharis utilized, the performance varies. During biochar application in electric arcfurnaces, the majority of the produced carbon sink is destroyed which resultsin worse climate performance, instead the majority of the reduced emissionscomes from the substituted fossil coal. Compared to biochar application inagricultural and biochar-macadam where the carbon sink stays intact, steel applicationstill has worse climate performance even when including substitution.Biochar-macadam production results in more emissions compared to agriculturalapplication due to the need to mix biochar with stones and compost,thus biochar in agriculture is the best option from a climate perspective. The economic aspects are generated through the conducted LCC which resulted inbiochar produced from park and garden, and sludge being more beneficial dueto the absence of acquisition costs. Production of biochar from wood provesto be difficult when considering a larger time frame, with the market for steelproduction not returning the investment. Biochar produced from straw hasa positive return on investment when considering the agriculture market, butnot for the production of biochar-macadam. The results show that the marketof biochar is very uncertain due to being considered immature and a futuremarket. The major uncertainty is connected with the immaturity of the market.The quality requirements are not reflected in the market pricing which isone of the major reasons for biochar utilization in the steel industry not beingeconomically beneficial. The value chain of biochar is a combination of many different economic,environmental, and social values. The conducted LCA shows that there areclimate benefits due to carbon sequestration, and a possibility to replace fossilreferences. Other than biochar there are also by-products such as heat and oilwhich can be utilized, improving the climate performance further. The multipleproducts also have economic benefits due to the potential of creating multipleproducts. The carbon sink can be sold as carbon credits, and the heat can beutilized in district heating. For providers, the creation of biochar is an enablerto reduce environmental impact, utilize products already within the system,and create value from waste. The structure of biochar generates a lot of valuefor customers. The porosity enables water storing capabilities which increasesthe efficiency of watering. This reduced the amount needed for soil applications,while also securing the harvest from drought and flooding. Even though thevalue chain of biochar shows that there is a lot of potential, it is still uncertainhow it will be integrated into society, and how the market will be shaped in theyears to come.

This paper is a degree project on the C-level, 15 points at University West, Department of Business and IT dept. Informatics. This study is about agile methodology and its impact on IT projects. Requirements management is a process within an IT project, where customer has certain requirements that must be met by an IT system. The difference between the traditional and agile development is in the requirements management process and it can cause problems in a project. Requirements change during IT projects and to manage requirements, agile principles apply. Specification and planning in the waterfall model is time consuming. Working agile means to have close contact with the client. This minimizes the risk of project failure. With agile methods, functions can be developed at a faster rate and the customer receives prompt delivery. There are currently several different methods for systems development and project management. Some are based on research, others are new and some have been around a long time in the IT world. This work has identified customer involvement; Risk Reduction and Delivery which contribute to several projects fail under traditional systems. Agile methods are flexible, agile and welcome change and the customer will be able to steer the project. Agile methods have however provided the opportunity for developers to more quickly deliver functionality to the customer. / Detta arbete är ett examensarbete på C-nivå, 15 poäng vid Högskolan Väst, Institutionen för ekonomi och IT avd. informatik. Denna studie handlar om agila metodiken och dess inverkan på IT-projekt. Kravhantering är en process inom ett IT-projekt, där kund har vissa krav som måste uppfyllas av ett IT-system. Skillnaden mellan det traditionella och agila utvecklingsmetoder ligger i kravhantering process och det kan orsaka problem i ett projekt. Krav förändras under IT-projekt och för att hantera kraven bör agila principer tillämpas. Kravspecifikation och planering inom vattenfallsmodellen är tidskrävande. Att jobba agilt innebär att ha nära kontakt med beställaren. Därmed minimerar det risken för projektets misslyckande. Med agila metoder, kan funktionerna utvecklas i en snabbare takt och kunden får snabb leverans. Det finns idag flera olika metoder för systemutveckling och projektledning. Vissa är baserade på forskning, andra är nya och vissa har funnits en lång tid i IT-världen. Arbetet har identifierat kundinvolvering, Riskreducering och Leveranstid vilka bidra till att flera projekt misslyckas under traditionell systemutveckling. Agila metoder är flexibla, smidiga och välkomnar förändring och kunden kommer att kunna styra projektet. Agila metoder har däremot gett möjlighet för utvecklarna att på ett snabbare sätt leverera funktioner till kunden.