This report is the result of a case study at Peltor AB during the spring semester of 2007. The task Peltor gave us was to improve the delivery accuracy and to lower the high finical value of delayed orders (backorder), and to divide the products into logical groups. The logical group will be a useful tool to remain a high level of service. If the level of service increases the company will be more competitive. The electronic department at Peltor has problems with delayed orders. According to Peltor, the problem is based on delivery lead time which is presumed. To increase the delivery accuracy, a lead time analysis is made to find the accumulated delivery lead times for each product. This is a way for Peltor to give the customer a more correct delivery lead time when the order is placed. The analysis shows that many of the delivery lead times which the company use today, are often miscalculated. The difference can be either longer or shorter than the presumed lead time. One example of a longer lead time is when the accumulated lead time is 91 days and the presumed lead time is 30 days. The difference will be 61 days, and this is the major reason why Peltor thinks products end up in the “backorder”. Our result shows that there are more factors than the delivery lead time which affects whether an order will be delivered on time or not.

The Swedish defence has, during the last couple of years, been under major restructuring that has influenced defence procurements as well. Cost-efficiency has become increasingly important in defence procurement due to higher demand from shrinking defence budgets. The purpose of this study has been to compare the view on cost-efficiency between Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) and the Swedish Ministry of Defence and to discuss the potential differences. In order to compare the views, the study has looked at what is considered as cost-efficiency in Swedish defence procurement and how it could be achieved. The study has also considered the importance of Swedish defence industry in achieving cost-efficient procurements. For collecting data to make the comparison, focus group interviews were used as data collecting method. The use of focus groups has the advantage of allowing discussion and interaction between the participants. The study includes three focus group interviews, two were made at FMV and the third one was made at the Ministry of Defence. When comparing the view on cost-efficiency in Swedish defence procurement between the three groups, there are no clear definition of what cost-efficiency is. However, a definition is suggested that combines the view of the three groups into the following definition; cost-efficient procurements should be good enough in order to satisfy the demand of the Armed Forces throughout the systems entire lifecy-cle. The study also concludes that the objective of becoming more cost-efficient is shared between the Defence Materiel Administration and the Ministry of Defence. However, there are differences on how this objective is to be achieved. The Ministry of Defence wants to use economical measures to make the organization around defence procurement more efficient and thus more cost-efficient procurement. The Defence Materiel Administration on the other hand would like to increase the per-sonnel since that would make it possible to utilize the market in a better way through competitive procurement. The role of the Swedish defence industry is considered by all three groups as important for international cooperation and is said to contribute to cost-efficiency in procurements since the defence materiel market is characterised by barter transactions. With the intention of involving the industry in more parts of the system lifecycle through Public Private Partnerships, the importance of the defence industry will in-crease in order to make cost-efficient procurements.

Denna uppsatts ämnar ge bättre förståelse för företagsstrategier som kan, och har blivit be-visade, strida mot konkurrenslagarna i USA samt Europa. Konkurrenslagarna har skapats för att upprätthålla perfekt konkurrens på marknaden. Konsumentnytta står ofta i fokus när vi ska definiera den perfekta marknadsplatsen. Vi kommer att se hur perfekt konkur-rens är skapad och sedan krossat med fusioner, kombinationsförsäljning och försök att bygga monopolistiskt övertag. För att vinna marknadsandelar och differentiera från kon-kurrenter på marknaden använder sig företag av olika strategier. Här kommer vi att se kvantitetsättade strategier samt produktbindande strategier. Denna studie fokuserar på Microsoft fallet där vi får följa företaget genom rättsprocesserna i USA och Europadomstolen, där företaget har använt sig av tekniska inställningar för att tvinga konsumenter fortsätta använda deras produkter. Microsoft har större delen av marknaden för persondatorer och har bevisligen utnyttjat sin monopolistiska position på marknaden för att exkludera konkurrenter från marknaden. Många ekonomer har påstått att Shermanakten är tillräckligt utförlig för att döma alla konkurrensfall, medan andra påstår att man inte kan applicera konkurrenslagarna vid Microsoft fallet då nätverkseffekter skapar en odefinierbar marknad. Utmaningen visar sig vara att jämföra värdet och standardiseringsfördelarna med skadan mot marknadskonkurrenter. De nuvarande konkurrenslagarna förutsätter, i de flesta avse-enden, att det är fler än en aktör som tillsammans agerar för att bestämma prissättningen på marknaden. Det har därför varit svårt att se hur Microsoft skulle kunna bryta mot dessa la-gar som en ensam aktör. Konkurrenslagarna är skapade för kunders nytta, och det finns inga bevis att Microsoft hämmar detta, tvärtom har Microsoft bara främjat konsumentnyt-tan.

ÅDT-uppdraget tillhör Väg & Trafik, ett affärsområde inom Vägverket Konsult som i sin tur ägs av myndigheten Vägverket. Uppdraget innebär trafikmätning på de statliga vägarna, resultatet benämns ÅrsmedelDygnsTrafik (ÅDT). Kund och beställare är Vägverkets respektive regionkontor. Idag har problem börjat uppmärksammas som drabbar medarbetarna och verksamheten i ÅDT-uppdraget. Det finns antydningar till missnöje kring hur uppdraget drivs samt oro för framtiden och en eventuell konkurrensutsättning. Uppdragets status har sjunkit både intern och externt. Syftet med denna studie är att visa hur ÅDT-uppdragets faktiska organisationsstruktur ser ut och vilka effekter den har på medarbetarna och verksamheten. Genom en sådan koppling kan uppdraget stärkas och bli mer konkurrenskraftigt. Därför riktas denna nulägesanalys mot kommunikationen i ÅDT-uppdraget, uppdragsstrukturen samt den kringliggande organisationskulturen. Dessa tre ämnesområden blir den teoretiska referensramen. Informationsinsamling gjordes genom en serie direktintervjuer med fem personer samt telefonintervjuer som riktade sig till ytterligare tolv. Tillvägagångssättet var kvalitativt. Resultatets helhet visar en grundläggande missuppfattning. Uppdragets organisationsstruktur beskrivs och förväntas fungera bäst som en matrisorganisation. Men förut-sättningarna för att en sådan struktur skall fungera finns ej idag. Istället syns tydliga kommunikations- och samordningsbrister samt att tendenser till motsättningar finns. Slutsatsen är därför att uppdragsstrukturen inte passar ihop med verksamhetsorganisationen i Vägverket Konsult. Problemlösningen innebär att antingen behålla nuläget men att hantera förutsättningar som geografisk spridning och samordning bättre, eller en tydlig strukturell förändring. Avslutningsvis presenteras tre konkreta åtgärdsförslag som innebär olika organisationsstrukturer och grader av centralisering för ÅDT-uppdraget.

The business climate of today demands high flexibility and quick responsiveness from suppliers. It has become essential for organizations to have effective leaders in all hierarchal levels, which understand and are able to work under these conditions. As the market requirements have changed, a new paradigm of leadership has evolved (Bryman, 1992). This paradigm puts more focus on charisma and how to motivate followers, which is the essential part of transformational leadership. According to Burns (1978), transformational leadership is a process between leader and follower rather than exchanges. This leads to the question of what effective leadership is and if it can be measured in some way. One method is the use of the Multifactor leadership questionnaire, the MLQ-test, developed by Bass 1985 from the full range model. The conducted research for this thesis is done at PaperPak Sweden AB, a manufacturer of disposable incontinence products located in Aneby, Småland. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate if any differences and/or similarities in leadership can be found between or within the hierarchical levels. The intent with the report is also to investigate those variances and if they are positive or negative for an organization. A theoretical framework focusing on leadership has been collected, to enable the fulfillment of the thesis purpose. This framework will act as support for the analysis of the quantitative investigation, based on the MLQ-test. From this analysis, the authors have made conclusions and recommendations. The degree of transformational, transactional and laissez- faire leadership has been measured for the three leadership levels top, middle and low management. It could be argued that the top management should show the highest degree of transformational leadership, and low management the least, due to their positions and work tasks. The result of the analysis supported that theory to a large extent. However, lower management showed a significantly higher degree of transformational leadership than middle management. One explanation could be that middle management lives in a more stressful situation, working between top and low management, compared to the other two, which is supported by Grout (1994). Since the theoretical findings mean that leadership can be learnt and developed, the authors suggest that organizations always have to follow up and try to develop their leaders and managers towards higher degrees of transformational leadership. Finally the authors suggest that further studies of the MLQ-test should investigate the possibilities to include measurements of the technical side of leadership, since the test currently does not take those factors into consideration.

When performing an organizational change, it is important to be aware of the culture within the company. The organization at Saab Aerosystems has a huge technical focus, which can of course be beneficial when awakening interest for a change. Another characteristic of Saab Aerosystems is that its employees are interested in being involved in change processes and have the ability to influence such changes. It is therefore important that the leader of a proposed change has a good relationship with the employees and excellent communication skills in order to both inform and listen to them. It is also important to create a commitment to change if a change project is to be successful. Within Saab Aerosystems this commitment can be created by engaging informal leaders within the project team. These employees often have a big influence on the organization as well as good knowledge of the technology and their departments’ operations. It is also important to give the organization’s members time to think through and accept a change. Without this time, resistance towards a change project can otherwise be created due to lack of understanding for the change. To create commitment to a change, the employees must also feel that they can manage the change and the situation that comes after the change. It is therefore important that the organization’s employees receive the necessary tools and education in order to give them confidence and motivation to carry out, and be a part of, the change project. A difficult aspect during a change project can be to anchor the change within the organization. At Saab Aerosystems, changes can be anchored by involving representatives from upper management in change projects. These persons must in their turn request work that has been achieved according to the results of the change and even more importantly ensure that the change is used even upon completion of the change project. Making these demands can motivate the line managers and other employees to work according to the change and prevent reverting to old work methods and models. Finally, it is important to measure the change project progress. Examples of measure variables that can be used are business cases, questionnaires and lessons learned. These general variables ought to be complemented by specific variables for the actual change.

Educational institutions are becoming increasingly important for regional and national economies. Recent developments in Europe have drawn attention to the need for elite institutions. After a long domestic debate, Germany appointed three of its universities to Eliteunis in the fall of 2006. Similar discussions and initiatives have taken place in Finland and Denmark. In 2007, the Swedish university chancellor, Anders Flodström, initiated a public debate about improving the Swedish system of higher education by concentrating it to fewer institutions of higher quality. As a contribution to these discussions, it is of general interest to understand why and how educational institutions become successful. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate what strategy and external factors that has made one particular institution – Massachusetts Institute of Technology – successful. The findings of the study show that MIT’s success depends on the possession of several important strategic resources: faculty and student quality, endowment, reputation and campus location. Thanks to these resources, in combination with some external factors, primarily the influx of large amounts of federal research funding and the (entrepreneurial) success of MIT alumni, the Institute has been able to attract: federal and private research funding, donations and more high quality faculty and students. Faculty are motivated to excel through a well-devised promotion and incentive system. There is a strong virtuous cycle dynamic between the resources. For example, an institution with strong reputation will attract good students and faculty. This will lead to increasing faculty and student quality which will improve the reputation further. To enter the virtuous cycle, significant financial resources are required. MIT, received much of these resources through the immense research efforts that were funded by the U.S. government during World War II, the Space Race and the Cold War. This enabled MIT to attract excellent faculty and build its reputation.

Three students with two different theoretical focuses have worked together to develop our examination thesis. This thesis is a requirement of the curriculum at the School of Engineering in Jönköping. The School of Engineering’s programs include Industrial engineering and management, with a focus on logistics and management and mechanical engineering. This exam thesis was implemented at Thule’s plant in Hillerstorp, Sweden. Thule is a world-leading company offering transport solutions in a safe, simple and elegant way for cars (Thule 2007). The project objective was to analyze and to implement a fully functional inventory system for one of Thule’s average stock items and to address meeting capacity requirements of 2 268 stores. In this inventory, attention is paid to tracking product labels and their assembly instructions. These two article groups are important for Thule’s material management. The output of data related to these two article groups are included with each end product that is to be delivered from Thule’s factory in Hillerstorp. Thule was having problems managing stock/inventory. Employees found it difficult to locate articles that were required for production and manufacturing due to inadequate labeling of stock and inventory. This problem was caused by insufficiently labeled storage areas and inadequate information of what inventory was being stored. The group performed an analysis comprised of a comparison between four different inventory management systems: a system with permanent stores, one paternoster inventory management system, a management system for delivery direct to the production groups and a system with dynamic stores. A decision was made choosing a dynamic system; which was chosen because of Thule’s requirement to address seasonal variations. A dynamic management system has the advantage that the articles that belong to various summer and winter products can” borrow” stores of each other when one of them are not in production. After the analysis, a dynamic system was implemented. The system design decisions were made with input from employees that work with Thule’s inventory. This was important from the examination group’s point of view because the employees will work with whatever future inventory management system would be implemented. In addition, they contributed with knowledge that would be difficultly to see for as an outsider. After the implementation was made, various proposals have been presented in order to further develop Thule’s material management system. These proposals comprise measures to improve the dynamic supply system further, and in conjunction with Thule’s business model works to further develop supplier collaboration with the company’s production requirements. / Tre studenter med två olika inriktningar har tillsammans utfört ett examensarbete. Arbetet är ett led i ingenjörsutbildningen på Jönköpings tekniska högskola på programmen Industriell organisation och ekonomi, med inriktning logistik och ledning och Maskinteknik med inriktning industriell ekonomi och produktion. Detta examensarbete har bedrivits på Thules anläggning Hillerstrop. Thule är idag ett världsledande bolag som erbjuder transportlösningar för bilen på ett säkert, enkelt och elegant sätt (Thule 2007). Arbetets inriktning har varit att analysera och implementera ett fullt fungerande lagersystem för ett av Thules mellanlager med en kapacitet på 2268 lagerplatser. I detta lager lagerförs etiketter och monteringsanvisningar. Dessa två artikelgrupper är viktiga för Thules materialhantering, då de två artikelgrupperna på ett eller annat sätt ingår i varje slutprodukt som skickas ifrån Thules fabrik i Hillerstorp. Problemet som Thule hade med materialhanteringen vid mellanlagret var att lagerpersonalen hade svårigheter med att lokalisera de artiklar som produktionsgrupperna behövde. Detta berodde i grunden på otillräckligt märkta lagerplatser och bristande information om vad lagret innehöll. Analysen som examensgruppen har bedrivit innehöll en jämförelse mellan fyra olika lagerhanteringssystem. Ett system med fasta lagerplatser, ett paternosterverk, ett hanteringssystem för utleverans direkt till produktionsgrupperna och ett lagerhanteringssystem med dynamiska lagerplatser. Valet föll på att välja ett dynamiskt system, bland annat eftersom Thule har en kraftig säsongsvariation. Ett dynamiskt hanteringssystem har den stora fördelen att de artiklar som tillhör olika sommar och vinterprodukterna kan ”låna” lagerplatser av varandra då någon av dem inte tillverkas. Efter analysen implementerades det dynamiska systemet. Hur systemet utformades bestämdes tillsammans med lagerpersonalen som idag arbetar i det aktuella lagret. Detta var viktigt från examensgruppens sida, då det trots allt är personalen som kommer att arbeta med hanteringen framöver. Samtidigt bidrog de med kunskap som kan vara svår att se för personer som inte arbetar på Thule i Hillerstorp. Efter implementeringen har olika förslag tagits fram för att kunna utveckla Thules materialhantering ytterligare. Dessa förslag handlar om att vidareutveckla det dynamiska systemet med hjälp av Thules affärssystem eller att använda sig mer av leverantörssamverkan.

In this master thesis I have been studying projects run by Swedish Red Cross employees. The purpose has been to do a qualitative mapping of the project activity within the organization, with focus on flaws, and to suggest improvements. The purpose has also been to somehow increase the knowledge in general of projects run by employees within non-profit organizations. To make a systematic approach possible I established a framework during my work, according to which the empirical material was structured. The framework was constructed theoretically by a literature study and consists of the three keywords efficiency, effectiveness and learning, with main focus of this thesis on the two first keywords. With efficiency I refer to how projects are run, with effectiveness I aim at the projects’ goals and effects and with learning I consider knowledge management and support functions for learning. By using the framework’s three keywords I have analyzed my empirical material, which has been gathered during two interview rounds consisting of all together twenty-eight interviews. During the analyzing phase I recognized three types of projects within the Swedish Red Cross, which I name research projects, activity projects and internal improvement projects. This project typology I believe is applicable to many non-profit organizations. Further, I identified a number of potential improvement areas, which in my thesis are followed by a chapter with suggestions on steps to take. One of the improvement areas is the shortage of strategic management of the projects within the Swedish Red Cross, where the internal project database could be an important support function as long as the organization persuades its’ employees of the necessity of adding their projects to the database. Another improvement area regards the confusion among employees concerning the concepts project and project orientation. Further, part-time work in projects sometimes causes difficulties for employees since the regular work does not decrease at the same time. Furthermore, a challenge for the organization is to convince all employees to follow the Swedish Red Cross’ directions for how to run a project, directions that currently are not followed by everyone. The thesis is further pointing at the difficulties to take care of project results after the projects have ended, in which there is a risk that the results are not used because of flaws in the implementation. The Swedish Red Cross also lack sufficient knowledge of the effects of their projects in a longer perspective and at times there is not enough importance paid to whether the projects reach their goals. There are also goals that roughly speaking are impossible to reach. Furthermore, I have distinguished what the literature calls hidden goals, which are goals others than the official goals presented in project plans and directions. This does not necessarily have to be a negative thing. Last, I believe that the so called project support employees need to get clearer directions about their task and that the organization should provide training addressed specifically to the managers. / Som examensarbete har jag studerat projektverksamheten inom Svenska Röda Korsets tjänstemannaorganisation i syfte att göra en kvalitativ kartläggning av projektverksamheten, främst inriktad på brister, samt föreslå förbättringsåtgärder. I syftet har även ingått att i någon mån öka kunskapen generellt om tjänstemannadriven projektverksamhet inom ideella organisationer. För att möjliggöra ett systematiskt tillvägagångssätt utformade jag under arbetets gång vad jag kallar för ett ramverk, genom vilket det empiriska materialet betraktades. Ramverket byggs upp teoretiskt i min referensram och består av de tre nyckelorden effektivitet, ändamålsenlighet och lärande, där tonvikten i rapporten ligger på de två första begreppen. Inom effektivitet behandlar jag hur väl projektverksamheten fungerar rent operativt, inom ändamålsenlighet berör jag projektens mål och effekter och inom lärande går jag in på kunskapshantering och projektstöd. Med hjälp av ramverkets tre nyckelord har jag analyserat mitt empiriska material, vilket insamlats under två intervjuomgångar med sammanlagt tjugoåtta intervjuer. Under analysarbetet urskiljdes tre typer av projekt inom Svenska Röda Korset, vilka jag benämner forskningsprojekt, verksamhetsprojekt och interna förbättringsprojekt. Denna projekttypologi tror jag är giltig för många ideella organisationer. Vidare identifierades ett antal potentiella förbättringsområden inom organisationen, vilka i min rapport åtföljs av ett kapitel med förslag på åtgärder. Ett av dessa förbättringsområden är de brister jag funnit i Svenska Röda Korsets strategiska styrning av projektverksamheten, där den interna projektdatabasen i framtiden kan bli ett viktigt stöd förutsatt att organisationen förmår sina medarbetare att registrera samtliga projekt. Ett annat förbättringsområde berör osäkerheten bland medarbetarna kring innebörden av begreppen projekt och projektorienterat arbetssätt. Vidare är det en brist att medarbetare som placeras deltid i projekt ibland får svårt att få tiden att räcka till eftersom ordinarie arbetsuppgifter inte minskar i motsvarande utsträckning. Svenska Röda Korset har även en utmaning i att övertyga samtliga medarbetare om att följa organisationens riktlinjer för projektarbete, något som inte görs av alla. Vidare framhåller rapporten svårigheterna att omhänderta projektresultat efter att projekten har avslutats, där risken finns att projektresultaten inte kommer till nytta på grund av brister i implementeringen. Svenska Röda Korset saknar också tillräckliga kunskaper om vilka effekter deras projekt får på längre sikt och stundtals fästs inte tillräcklig vikt vid om målen för de enskilda projekten nås. Det finns också mål som är i stort sett omöjliga att uppnå. Vidare har jag urskiljt vad litteraturen benämner dolda mål, det vill säga andra mål än de officiella målen som anges i projektens planer och direktiv, något som dock inte nödvändigtvis behöver vara negativt. Till sist anser jag att de så kallade projektstödspersonerna behöver få sin roll förtydligad och att organisationen bör tillse att utbildningstillfällen riktade specifikt till chefer anordnas.

To be able to compete on the market environmental Management System has become an important part of operations work. However, many companies still haven’t implemented an environmental management systems due to lack of time and the high costs. One of the companies with this problem is Falu Bildemontering. Their goal is to accredited according to the ISO 14 001 certificate. One step on the way is to get the SBR license, Sveriges Bildemonterings Riksförbunds license. The purpose of this report is to create a method for the creation of an integrated system that regards an organisations processes and environmental work. By doing this the enviromental work can be implemented in the every day work. The report and the study is created through a study of relevant literature from which a model has been created. The model has then been tested and evaluated at Falu Bildemontering. The first activity that is conducted in the work towards an integrated system is to map the organisations processes. A flow chart is created to get an overview. The second step is to analyze the different processes with the goal to upgrade them. This is performed by process development and with a stepwise model created by Aronsson. To be able to integrate the system in the every day work a comparison between the different management systems is done. The most efficient way to perform this is to have a living document where the newly developed processes are written down. The final goal with an integrated system is to create a simple, efficient and enviromental adapted process where the organistaions sections are being brought together. The result can yield bigger profits and decreasing costs.