<p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Introduction:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Companies are facing an environment with fierce competition therefore to respond to the customers' needs and to deliver on time at a competitive cost is becoming more and more important. Integration between the actors in the SC is increasing in importance and is seen as a core competitive strategy to respond to the customers' demands. SCI can be achieved through efficient linkages among various supply chain activities however internal excellence is not enough and SCM seeks to integrate internal functions with external operations of suppliers, customer and other SC members. In SCI the TPL firms are said to play an important role because of their expertise and knowledge.</p><p>Problem:</p><p>Previous researchers have identified gaps in the SCI literature which does not consider the role of the TPL firm. Similar gaps have been found in the TPL literature which does not put emphasis on SCI. Nevertheless the importance of TPL firms in SCI has been pointed out as significant. Therefore this thesis will study the role of the TPL firm in SCI to improve the knowledge and create a better understanding.</p><p>Purpose:</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to study and uncover the role of the TPL firm Schenker Logistics AB Nässjö in supporting SCI with its customer Relacom and its supplier Nexans to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon. By analyzing the drivers, barriers and outcomes of the SCI for each firm, the paper pursues the notion that SCI is a dynamic process and TPL firm plays an important role.</p><p>Method:</p><p>This thesis is based on a qualitative approach where interviews with key persons are the main approach to gathering information. The qualitative approach has its strengths is being able to obtain rich nuances in the information which fits our purpose to go deeper in a phenomenon.</p><p>Conclusions:</p><p>By analyzing the drivers, barriers and outcomes of SCI we have reached the conclusion that the role of the TPL firm is to achieve benefits through the three C's (the company, its customers and its competitors). The TPL firm also smooths out the friction between other members of the SC and help to create a better, faster, cheaper, smarter and greener SCI. Since the factors influencing SCI are constantly changing, all actors continuously have to keep updated to react to the pressures from the market.</p><p> </p>

Introduction:     Companies are facing an environment with fierce competition therefore to respond to the customers' needs and to deliver on time at a competitive cost is becoming more and more important. Integration between the actors in the SC is increasing in importance and is seen as a core competitive strategy to respond to the customers' demands. SCI can be achieved through efficient linkages among various supply chain activities however internal excellence is not enough and SCM seeks to integrate internal functions with external operations of suppliers, customer and other SC members. In SCI the TPL firms are said to play an important role because of their expertise and knowledge. Problem: Previous researchers have identified gaps in the SCI literature which does not consider the role of the TPL firm. Similar gaps have been found in the TPL literature which does not put emphasis on SCI. Nevertheless the importance of TPL firms in SCI has been pointed out as significant. Therefore this thesis will study the role of the TPL firm in SCI to improve the knowledge and create a better understanding. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to study and uncover the role of the TPL firm Schenker Logistics AB Nässjö in supporting SCI with its customer Relacom and its supplier Nexans to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon. By analyzing the drivers, barriers and outcomes of the SCI for each firm, the paper pursues the notion that SCI is a dynamic process and TPL firm plays an important role. Method: This thesis is based on a qualitative approach where interviews with key persons are the main approach to gathering information. The qualitative approach has its strengths is being able to obtain rich nuances in the information which fits our purpose to go deeper in a phenomenon. Conclusions: By analyzing the drivers, barriers and outcomes of SCI we have reached the conclusion that the role of the TPL firm is to achieve benefits through the three C's (the company, its customers and its competitors). The TPL firm also smooths out the friction between other members of the SC and help to create a better, faster, cheaper, smarter and greener SCI. Since the factors influencing SCI are constantly changing, all actors continuously have to keep updated to react to the pressures from the market.

No description available.

In this study, we contrasted socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 2006) with dynamic integration theory (DIT; Labouvie-Vief, 2003) using trajectories of quantitative and qualitative social support in later life. SST is a lifespan theory of motivational development (Carstensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999). There is a normative decline in social support networks in later life. In other words, individuals who perceive the limitation on time left for their future are likely to decrease the quantitative social support and compensate for this decrease by improving qualitative social support with emotionally meaningful social partners. The theory also postulates that age is the primary proxy for perceived limitation of individuals' lives (Carstensen, Fung, & Charles, 2003). Further, self-reported health and functional status are factors that affect older adults' perception of limitation of time left in their lives (Carstensen, 2006). In contrast, DIT is a neo-Piagetian theory that emphasizes the presence of individual differences in quantitative and qualitative social support in later life depending on individuals' levels of cognitive resources that are associated with educational levels (Labouvie-Vief & Diehl, 2000). Despite these different arguments on the trajectories of quantitative and qualitative social support in later life, SST and DIT have not been tested within a same study. The current study examined the trajectories of frequency of social contact (quantitative social support) and reliance on family members and close friends (qualitative social support) in later life. Participants were drawn from the Normative Aging Study (NAS; N = 1,067, M[subscript age] = 60.83, SD = 8.08) who completed social support surveys three times from 1985 to 1991. Using unconditional and unconditional analyses (Raudenbush & Bryk, 1986), growth models of frequency of social contact with and reliance on family members and close friends were tested. Within subject analyses found that the trajectory of frequency of social contact was a U-shaped curve with the age of 54 years at a peak, while the trajectory of reliance on family and friends were stable and linear. Random effects of age for the intercept and slope were significant in both models of frequency of contact and reliance on family and friends, although the random effect for the latter were small in both models. Between subjects analyses were conducted to examine whether cognitive resources, marital status, health status, and functional status predicted variance in the intercept and slope of both types of support. As SST hypothesized, having better self-reported physical health predicted higher levels of frequency of contact over age. Being married was associated with higher quantity of social support. However, contrary to our hypothesis based on SST, having poorer functional status predicted more frequent social contact over age. The random effect of intercept was still significant after controlling for these psychosocial predictors. The evidence to test the DIT hypotheses was examined in the model of the qualitative social support. Having memory problems predicted decreasing reliance on social partners. However, marital status and education did not significantly predict change in qualitative social relationships. Contrary to the hypothesis based on SST that posited poor self-reported health was associated with higher qualitative social support, it was better self-reported health that predicted higher qualitative social support. The random effects for the intercept and slope were still significant after controlling for these psychosocial factors. Taken together, the findings of the current study suggest that SST and DIT can be used as theoretical frameworks that are complementary rather than contradictory in their predictions of socioemotional development in later life. SST is useful to illustrate the overall trajectory of quantitative social support in a normative development in late life. DIT's stance better explains the individual differences in qualitative social support in non-normative contexts. The findings also suggest that having memory problems and poor self-reported health as non-normative developmental outcomes may be risk factors of older adults' ability to seek for social support. / Graduation date: 2012