The construction and real estate industry are project-oriented where companies success depends on individual projects performance. To determine the efficiency of operations, performance can be measured through key performance indicators (KPIs), which are metrics used to analyze, measure and compare a company’s performance. Project-oriented businesses face challenges implementing successful projects and the industry is affected by cost and time overruns, lack of quality and unmet customer requirements, which can be linked to inefficient project management and inadequate follow-up. Furthermore, companies in the industry find it difficult to identify suitable KPIs that best show changes in performance and result as well as KPIs that are linked to strategic business goals and projects. The purpose of the study was to investigate how KPIs are used in the construction and real estate industry and how management of KPIs can be developed to carry out successful projects. In order to fulfill the purpose, a case study was conducted. Initially, a literature study was performed to gain knowledge of the problem area. The data collection was qualitative where a document analysis, observations, interviews and a focus group were conducted. This resulted in an understanding of the case study company´s project operations and KPIs. The study´s method of analysis consisted of a thematic analysis and comparative study. The result indicates the importance of a long-term perspective where successful projects involve work from an early stage, which includes resource allocation and project processes where subsequent project management must include efficient communication and sharing of knowledge as well as collaboration among departments and participants. During the project process there should be an exchange of experience and knowledge in order to avoid that mistakes are repeated and to enable organizational learning. The analysis showed that there are opportunities within the case company to improve a number of factors and the current follow-up of KPIs as well as how the business’s KPIs relate to strategic business goals and success factors. There is a link between success factors, KPIs and challenges within the industry. An understanding of success factors is important in order to design KPIs that align with strategic company goals and individual projects. The result may be of interest to other project-oriented businesses and industries where increased understanding can result in efficient processes and increased motivation regarding the project process and follow up, which can result in successful projects.

The going concern warning and its consequences for auditors and companies have been studied from many different angles. However, the results are conflicting. A going concern warning is issued by an auditor when there is substantial doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Studies have shown that most companies survive despite a going concern warning. There are also signs of short-term consequences for the companies. How the consequences unfold in the long run for companies that have received a going concern warning is not well studied. The purpose of this study is to investigate how companies are affected in the long run by the consequences that can arise due to a going concern warning. For this study, a quantitative method has been used. Legitimacy theory, Interest theory and Institutional theory, have the common factor that they all explain how organizations survive in the long run. The theories, together with scientific articles and other relevant literature, have been used to develop the hypotheses. Companies with a going concern warning have been compared with companies that have not received a going concern warning. Empirical data have been collected for 2010-2015 and by using multiple linear regressions the hypotheses of the study have been tested. The result of the study showed that a going concern warning did not adversely affect the company on a long-term basis. On the contrary, the study indicates that companies with a going concern warning improve compared to equivalent companies which did not receive a going concern warning.

Målet med detta arbete har varit att ta fram en metod för att bestämma prestandan för en pumpanläggning samt åtgärdsprogram för dessa. Detta med utgångspunkt från tidigare gjord forskning inom området. Testkörningar, beräkningar och simuleringar visar att det går att bestämma de undersökta anläggningarnas prestanda, samt dess möjligheter till förbättring med den framtagna metodiken. Arbetet visar även att undersökningens referensramar är av stor vikt för att värdera anläggningens prestanda samt kunna bestämma dess förbättringspotential. Testkörningarna gav prov på detta då jämförelsen för en av dessa anläggningar fick baseras på teoretisk och antagen data. Vilket bidrar till osäkerheten i bedömningen av den anläggningens förbättringspotential. Vid avvikelser i prestanda för anläggningen gentemot referensvärden bör förluster i anläggningens individuella delar bestämmas. Detta för att göra förbättringsinsatserna mer effektiva. Exempel på detta är att undvika byte till en effektivare pump när det är dess förutsättningar som det är fel på. De framtagna nyckeltalen visar på att en anläggning med hög verkningsgrad inte alltid kan likställas med lägre energianvändning jämfört med låg verkningsgrad. Vilket liknas med att nyckeltalen för den aktuella eller liknande anläggningar inte kan jämföras rakt av med anläggningar som har andra förutsättningar. Vidare visar studien på vikten av att säkerställa tillgänglig mätdata finns för att utföra analysen av en anläggning. Därmed blir förarbetet för att garantera att önskvärda parametrar blir mätta en dela av anläggningens prestandabedömning och förbättringsarbete. Då varje enskild anläggning har en mängd unika förutsättningar har dessa testanläggningar fått representera en variation av dessa. Vilka måste vid analysen beaktas för varje enskild anläggning för att förbättringarna ska kunna nå dess potential. / The purpose of this thesis has been to create a methodology to determine the performance of a pumping station and action program for it. The starting point of the thesis takes its steps in previously done research in the current field. Continuing with test runs, calculations and simulations shows that it´s possible to determine the performance of the station and improvements of it with the created methodology. The study also shows that frame of reference of the station is an important part of determining it´s performance and it´s potential of improvement. This was proven with the test runs that showed some difficulties in determining the stations intended performance. In those cases the stations is measured with theoretical and assumed values. This adds to the uncertainty of the stations actual potential of improvement. To determine the performance of the station against a reference value it´s important to determine what parts that affects the final result. The cause of that is to get more effective actions plans. Example of that is to avoid changing a water pump when it´s the prerequisites that are affecting the performance of the station. The produced key figures of the stations show that a station with high efficiency is not the same thing as low energy usage compared to a station with low efficiency. That can be compared with the key figures is only comparable with the actual station or ones alike. Other stations differences have to be taken accounted for when make comparisons. The study also reveals the importance of securing the necessary measuring data to be able perform the analysis of the station. Therefore is the preparatory work to acquire the key parameters of the station a part of the study that determines the performance and it´s improvement. Thou each and every station have its unique prerequisites the test run stations have served as an representation of these variations. These prerequisites have to be individually addressed for each and every station to be able to reach it´s potential of improvement.

The purpose of this study is to develop a guideline/map for small businesses to effectively utilise social media analytics and to create appropriate strategies through an examination of Key Performance Indicators with the business analytics process (Strategy-making map). Also, the researcher examines the new sequential relationships among business analytics types, the role of human analysts in business analytics, and the reciprocal relationships among the social media marketing goals. This is a case study with a local small business’s social media analytics provided by a social media network platform (i.e., Facebook Insights). The map visualises how to interpret the KPIs and how to create effective marketing strategies based on the organisational decision-making model. The results supported that if a business could create a winning strategy based on accurate business analytics with human analysts, the business could achieve multiple social media goals at once with a single marketing strategy.

Introduction/Background Elite ice hockey is a highly physiological demanding team sport of intermittent character and high levels of performance are required over 6-8 months. There are benefits by designing a training program that includes the manipulation of training through its periodization and programming to achieve peak performance at set dates. Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine whether there are differences in training program design between higher- and lower-performing teams in the Swedish Hockey League. Method Four differently performing teams were selected from a performance ranking system. The teams were divided into a higher-performing and lower-performing group. After receiving their verbal approval, an information document and a consent form were digitally sent to the teams’ representatives to obtain their written consent. Subsequently, the teams received a survey consisting of 177 questions that contained single, multiple, ranking and graded-choice questions about their training program design. Intra- and inter-group differences were analyzed with a descriptive statistical calculation of percentage. Results The intra-group analysis revealed a 77,9% difference in the lower-performing team group and 74,5% difference between teams in the higher-performing group. The inter-group difference was found to be 92,7%. The highest amount of inter-group difference (60,5%) was found in questions with no intra-group similarity, whereas 1,1% reveled intra-group different but intra-group similar results. Conclusion This study shows that there are significant differences in training program design between higher- and lower-performing teams as well as significant differences between teams in the lower-performing and higher-performing-group. Some discussed results seem to indicate that higher-performing teams tend to focus more on power, maximal strength and endurance training as well as on its individualization. However, due to the complexity of elite ice hockey, the intra- and inter-group heterogeneity and the shortcomings of the study design, these variables cannot be taken as team key performance indicators.

This work presents an analysis of arrival sequencing at Stockholm Arlanda airport. Thesequencing of arrivals is very important part of air traffic control management and assuressafe space and time distancing of arriving aircraft. In this work we use historical flight datafrom Opensky Network database. The historical flight data contains the information about allthe arrivals of the year 2018. The aim of this work is to propose the key performanceindicators (KPIs) for evaluation of the arrival sequencing at Stockholm Arlanda airport. Thethree KPIs we are considering in this work are the minimum time to final, spacing deviationand sequence pressure. We choose data subsets of different size representing different trafficsituations. We visualize the results and summarize them in tables which assures better clarityfor the comparison of the same KPIs for different data subsets. In addition, we demonstratehow the proposed KPIs can be used for evaluation of optimization results from related study.We conclude that the proposed KPIs are very useful for analysis of the arrival aircraftsequencing and help to uncover inefficiencies within the terminal manoeuvring area (TMA).

Currently, manufacturing companies/organizations are exceedingly focused on the reverse logistics since it has its own share in the overall profitability and development of the organization. Proper management of the product returns are considered inevitable factor for success by many companies. Warehouses are important part of the reverse logistic chain where major part of the logistic management often require. In order to manage the product returns in an efficient manner in a warehouse, it is very important to have proper planning and proficient method to deal with any uncertain situations. Along with this updating technology, better staff allocation, proper communication etc. are considered as very important for the better function of the product returns management in an organization.  The study was conducted in returns management section of a warehouse facility. The aim of the thesis is to tackle the uncertainty with the help of an efficient forecasting method to predict rate of product returns and further to understand the importance of forecasting in upbringing the performance of the warehouse. The first phase of the study also investigates through the current trend of the rate of reverse flow and proposal of the best suited method for forecasting of the future state. The second aim of the thesis is to improve the current method utilized for managing the product returns in the warehouse and improve the overall cycle time of the system under study. Second phase of the research also focuses towards lean warehousing by eliminating the warehouse wastes in the return management section. Finally, the results obtained in the study is linked with building and improving the key performance indicators (KPI’s) in the return management section of the case company.

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Date:    4th June 2023 Level:    Master Thesis in Product- and Process Development, 30 ECTS Authors:   William Reimer   Noah Paillon Title:    Redesigning automated production cell for increased efficiency - Discrete-Event Simulation as a tool to evaluate system designs Keywords:   Discrete Event Simulation (DES), Redesign, Production process, Automated Manufacturing System (AMS), Automated production cell, Robotics in production, Simulation, Key Performance indicators (KPIs), Decision-making, Redesigning production systems, Bottlenecks, Deadlocks, Production system development (PSD). Aim:    The aim of this study is to evaluate and redesign an automated production cell at a Swedish manufacturing plant using DES with KPIs, with the goal of increasing the efficiency. Research question:  “When redesigning, what factors influence production efficiency within an automated production cell?”, “What are the challenges when redesigning and increasing efficiency within an automated production cell?” and “How can such challenges be surpassed through the usage of DES with KPIs?” Methodology:   This study is a quantitative research with an inductive approach, including simulation as an experimental tool. In order to identify reliable knowledge, the literature review compared books and scientific publications. The empirical results were obtained by observation and data collection at the production site of the case company, which also involved frequent meetings with company supervisors and production engineers. In order to assess the situation and make conclusions, the empirical results were evaluated and experimented using DES.  Conclusion:   The need of identifying a problem's underlying causes in order to improve efficiency was one of the conclusions made. This was additionally mentioned as one of PSD's primary challenges in redesigning an automated production cell. This implies that in order to increase production efficiency, bottlenecks and deadlocks must be appropriately addressed and adjusted to meet the demands of a production. In order to improve the production efficiency of an automated production cell, DES with KPIs is considered to be a useful approach.

Background and problem: Earlier research within the change management field suggests that implementation of new projects have a high rate of failure. This is problematic considering that successful implementation of projects correlates well with an organization's long term survivability. The lack of consensus among academics regarding which are the crucial factors for successful change management have inspired the authors to study this phenomenon further. Purpose: The aim of the study is to define underlying success factors and improvement potentials within change management projects with a high staff impact. Method: A qualitative case study has been the method of choice to answer the research questions. To gather empirical evidence, nine middle managers at Systembolaget AB were interviewed. The interviews were constructed in a semi-structured way. Conclusion: One of the most prominent findings in this study is the importance of having a dedicated management and senior managers during the whole change management process. Their ability to communicate a clear goal is crucial for, in our case, store managers to steer their businesses in a united direction.