The industrial development together with the globalization has led to that the markets are changing which in turn has led to an increased complexity of the organizational structures. Therefore, in order for firms to manage the customer’s expectations they need to develop their production planning. Although production planning and control is a mature area within research, there is a gap of knowledge regarding ways of planning the production operationally. Previous research within the area has mostly covered manufacturing issues through simulations and mathematical models, while the production planning and control structure has briefly been discussed on a more general level. This study addresses this through extending the knowledge on ways of planning the production operationally. Thus, the purpose of the research is to gain a deeper understanding for different ways of planning the production together with their implications. A case study was conducted at a Swedish high-tech make-to-order manufacturing firm characterized by low volume and high variety production, and the data was collected through interviews, observations and internal documents. This resulted in different ways of planning the production and their implications, which is divided into organizing planners and the planning process. The main empirical contributions of this research are summarized as: 1. Insight to current ways of planning through mapping the existing organization of planners and planning processes. 2. Implications with the different ways of working. 3. Understanding for what is suitable for the organization based on the implications, together with recommended actions on how to adapt. The study covers initial findings within the field, however, they should be seen as a foundation for future research as well as when taking decisions regarding areas covered within this research.

The increasing diversity of people in the cities due to global processes like immigration makes the cities multicultural. However, multicultural cities become prone to conflicts as the citizens of different cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds are put together in the city. Citizens are divided into neighborhoods where some neighborhoods become concentrated with low-income citizens, mostly with immigrant backgrounds. Planners have been working with the policies like social mix housing policy to mitigate segregation. However, with time the conflicts and tension remain visible among the citizens and neighborhoods. Research has been focusing on the larger metropolitan areas of Sweden, so this study focuses on medium-sized cities, Linköping, Motala and Norrköping, through analysis of planning documents and interviews with the planners to assess the impact of planning practice in mitigating segregation. The results show that planners ignore the ethnic differences between citizens in their planning practice and base their planning on avoiding conflicts. While in the process, ethnically diverse groups are excluded and, in some cases, stigmatized.

No description available.

Fuktskador uppstår vanligtvis på grund av felaktig planering, projektering och utförande under hela byggprocessen. Dessa felaktigheter resulterar i stora åtgärdskostnader som kan minimeras eller till och med elimineras om fuktsäkerhetsarbetet är väl genomförd. Projekteringsskedet är ett viktigt skede, där en noggrann och korrekt genomförd fuktsäkerhetsprojektering är av stor betydelse för det försatta fuktsäkerhetsarbetet under byggprocessen. Projektörernas roll i detta skede är att utföra en fuktsäkerhetsprojektering utifrån de ställda kraven från byggherren.  Syftet med detta examensarbete är att ta reda på projektörernas val av metod vid genomförandet av fuktsäkerhetsprojektering och granska om behovet av eventuell kompetensutveckling, inom fukt, bland projektörerna är nödvändig.     De två metoder som har använts för att uppnå syftet i detta examensarbete är intervjuer och litteraturstudier.  Målgruppen i detta examensarbete är byggföretagen i Sverige. Det som granskas är hur de hanterar fuktsäkerhetsarbetet i projekteringsskedet, med fokus på hur fuktsäkerhetsprojekteringen utförs. Av de aktörer som medverkar i projekteringsskedet riktas all fokus på projektörerna.   Tre av fem projektörer är missnöjda med den egna fuktkompetensen vilket överensstämmer med de fuktsakkunnigas uppfattning om projektörernas fuktkompetens. Under intervjuerna har flera fuktsakkunniga påpekat behovet av ökat fuktkompetens bland projektörerna. Den bristande fuktkompetensen leder till att projektörerna inte kan beakta eller upptäcka eventuella fuktrisker vid fuktsäkerhetsprojekteringen. Metod som 80 % av projektörerna tillämpar vid fuktsäkerhetsprojektering är ByggaF metoden. Projektörerna kunskap om ByggaF är fortfarande låg enligt de fuktsakkunniga och av den anledningen kan projektörerna inte tillämpa ByggaF metoden i sin helhet. Kompetens och erfarenhet är de viktigaste faktorerna som en projektör måste ha med sig, för att kunna beakta och upptäcka vad som är fel krävs det kunskap samt erfarenhet om vad som är rätt.        Utifrån responsen från både byggnadsnämnden och deltagarna, framgår det att en granskning av dokumentationen gällande fuktsäkerhetsarbetet inte, alltid, begärs in av byggnadsnämnden.    Slutsatsen är att projektörer måste införskaffa sig kompetens inom fukt och ByggaF metoden. / Moisture damage usually occurs due to incorrect planning, design and execution throughout the construction process. These inaccuracies result in large cost of action that can be minimized or even eliminated if the moisture safety work is done properly. The design phase is an important stage and a properly implemented moisture safety design can be of great importance for the moisture safety work during the construction process. The planners’ role at this stage is to carry out a moisture safety work based on the requirements of the developer. The purpose of this exam is to find out the choice of method made by the planners’ in the implementation of moisture safety design and to review the need of competence development among the planners’ about moisture.    The two methods that have been used to achieve the purpose of this exam are interviews and literature studies. The target group in this exam is the construction companies in Sweden. The way of how the companies handle of moisture safety design is being reviewed in the design stage.  Of all involved actors in the design phase, the focus is on the planners'. Three out of five planners' are dissatisfied with their own moisture competence, which is in line with the opinion of the experts' of moisture about the planners' competence.   During the interviews, several experts' of moisture have pointed out the need for increased moisture competence among the planners'. The lack competence means that the planners' cannot consider or detect possible moisture risks during the moisture safety design. The method that is used by 80% of the planners' during moisture safety design is the ByggaF method. The planners' knowledge of ByggaF is still low according to the experts' of moisture and for this reason the planners' cannot apply entirely the ByggaF method. The tools that planners' need to have with them is knowledge and experience. In order to discover what is wrong, you need to have both the knowledge and experience about what is right.  Based on the response from both the building committee and the participants, a review of the documentation regarding the moisture safety work is not always requested by the building committee.  The conclusion is that projectors must acquire competence in both moisture and the ByggaF method.

Desde a década de 1970, o número de casamentos no Brasil vem diminuindo significativamente. Novos arranjos familiares e formas de viver a conjugalidade ganharam espaço. A importância de ritualizações foi colocada em xeque por muitos casais que rejeitavam a ideia de formalizar suas uniões. O início do século XXI, no entanto, marca um renovado interesse dos casais em marcar a transição para o casamento com eventos cada vez mais elaborados, em uma tendência que já foi chamada de a "revanche do ritual" (SEGALEN, 2003). Em 2016, o investimento dos casais brasileiros em festas de casamentos rendeu cerca de 16 bilhões de reais (o equivalente a aproximadamente 5 bilhões de dólares) em ganhos para o setor de eventos, segundo o Instituto de pesquisas Data Popular. Acompanhando o crescimento desse mercado desde 2011, o Instituto vem registrando uma tendência de crescimento, mesmo em meio à crise econômica pela qual passa o país. O quadro é de um crescente interesse por complexos eventos de casamento, performados por homens e mulheres pertencentes a camadas medias urbanas. A partir de dados demográficos do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), sabe-se que, nas últimas décadas, as pessoas casam-se menos. Por outro lado, a etnografia aqui apresentada permite afirmar que, quando decidem casar-se, sujeitos de camadas medias da população brasileira optam por marcar essa passagem com eventos cuja preparação exige um grande investimento de tempo e recursos financeiros. Nesta tese, apresento análises sobre este fenômeno, com base na etnografia que realizei entre os anos de 2013 e 2016, junto a sujeitos que protagonizam a organização de tais eventos. Trata-se de mulheres pertencentes a camadas médias urbanas, com formação superior e financeiramente independentes. Em vários dos casos observados, tais mulheres assumem a totalidade ou a maior parte dos gastos com o evento. A etnografia aqui apresentada se desdobrou em entrevistas em profundidade realizadas com noivas, acompanhamento de organizadoras de casamentos, observação participante em feiras do setor nas cidades de Fortaleza, Porto Alegre e São Paulo, participação em grupos virtuais de noivas e entrevistas com agentes deste mercado. Como resultado, destaco a compreensão de que os ritos contemporâneos aqui descritos nada tem de tradicionais no modo como são performatizados, mas representam novas formas de demarcar uma passagem cujos significados estão em transformação. Com os grandes eventos, os sujeitos procuram produzir lastro simbólico para suas uniões, em um momento no qual as relações são percebidas como cada vez mais voláteis. Além disso, esta tese apresenta reflexões sobre a invisibilidade dos ofícios que envolvem o cuidado, aqui representados na figura das cerimonialistas. Essas e outras questões são discutidas ao longo dos capítulos que compõem esta pesquisa sobre os ritos contemporâneos de casamento no Brasil e o mercado a eles dedicados. / Since the 1970s, marriage rates in Brazil have been decreasing significantly. New family arrangements and ways of conjugality have gained space. The importance of marriage as an institution was put in check by many young couples who rejected the idea of formalizing their relationships through a traditional wedding ceremony. However, the beginning of the 21st century was marked by a renewed interest in marriage in a trend that has been called the "revenge of ritual" (SEGALEN, 2003) specially among the urban middle class. This scenario poses an important question. Based on demographic data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), it is possible to affirm that in the past 40 years people tend to marry less and later in life. Still, despite Brazil’s economic crisis, in 2016 the amount invested in wedding parties was circa 16 billion Brazilian Reais - the equivalent to 5 billion Dollars - according to the Data Popular Research Institute following the total growth of the country's wedding industry since 2011. The data gathered throughout my fieldwork add to the perception that when Brazilian middle-class subjects decide to engage in marriage, they tend to mark this passage with grand scale events that demand great emotional, financial and time investment. This thesis presents an ethnographic study carried out from 2013 to 2016 among people involved in the planning, production and consumption of such events. They are wedding planners and middle class, educated and financially independent women that, in several of the observed cases, choose to finance most or even the integrality of the event. I conducted in-depth interviews with brides and relatives, collected data from Whastapp and Facebook groups, worked along side with wedding planners and visited wedding Fairs, bridal shows and exhibitions in Fortaleza, São Paulo and Porto Alegre. This ethnographic experience leads me to stress that contemporary wedding ceremonies are not necessarily traditional in the ways they are performed by wedding planners and brides to be, but represent new meanings and practices attached to modern wedding rituals. With this kind of event, subjects strive to produce symbolic ballast to anchor their formal unions in a time in which personal relationships are perceived as being increasingly volatile and not made to last. This thesis also presents a reflection on feminized labour, notably emotional labor and care work conducted by wedding planners, ceremonialists and other female professionals involved in wedding ceremonies.

Desde a década de 1970, o número de casamentos no Brasil vem diminuindo significativamente. Novos arranjos familiares e formas de viver a conjugalidade ganharam espaço. A importância de ritualizações foi colocada em xeque por muitos casais que rejeitavam a ideia de formalizar suas uniões. O início do século XXI, no entanto, marca um renovado interesse dos casais em marcar a transição para o casamento com eventos cada vez mais elaborados, em uma tendência que já foi chamada de a "revanche do ritual" (SEGALEN, 2003). Em 2016, o investimento dos casais brasileiros em festas de casamentos rendeu cerca de 16 bilhões de reais (o equivalente a aproximadamente 5 bilhões de dólares) em ganhos para o setor de eventos, segundo o Instituto de pesquisas Data Popular. Acompanhando o crescimento desse mercado desde 2011, o Instituto vem registrando uma tendência de crescimento, mesmo em meio à crise econômica pela qual passa o país. O quadro é de um crescente interesse por complexos eventos de casamento, performados por homens e mulheres pertencentes a camadas medias urbanas. A partir de dados demográficos do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), sabe-se que, nas últimas décadas, as pessoas casam-se menos. Por outro lado, a etnografia aqui apresentada permite afirmar que, quando decidem casar-se, sujeitos de camadas medias da população brasileira optam por marcar essa passagem com eventos cuja preparação exige um grande investimento de tempo e recursos financeiros. Nesta tese, apresento análises sobre este fenômeno, com base na etnografia que realizei entre os anos de 2013 e 2016, junto a sujeitos que protagonizam a organização de tais eventos. Trata-se de mulheres pertencentes a camadas médias urbanas, com formação superior e financeiramente independentes. Em vários dos casos observados, tais mulheres assumem a totalidade ou a maior parte dos gastos com o evento. A etnografia aqui apresentada se desdobrou em entrevistas em profundidade realizadas com noivas, acompanhamento de organizadoras de casamentos, observação participante em feiras do setor nas cidades de Fortaleza, Porto Alegre e São Paulo, participação em grupos virtuais de noivas e entrevistas com agentes deste mercado. Como resultado, destaco a compreensão de que os ritos contemporâneos aqui descritos nada tem de tradicionais no modo como são performatizados, mas representam novas formas de demarcar uma passagem cujos significados estão em transformação. Com os grandes eventos, os sujeitos procuram produzir lastro simbólico para suas uniões, em um momento no qual as relações são percebidas como cada vez mais voláteis. Além disso, esta tese apresenta reflexões sobre a invisibilidade dos ofícios que envolvem o cuidado, aqui representados na figura das cerimonialistas. Essas e outras questões são discutidas ao longo dos capítulos que compõem esta pesquisa sobre os ritos contemporâneos de casamento no Brasil e o mercado a eles dedicados. / Since the 1970s, marriage rates in Brazil have been decreasing significantly. New family arrangements and ways of conjugality have gained space. The importance of marriage as an institution was put in check by many young couples who rejected the idea of formalizing their relationships through a traditional wedding ceremony. However, the beginning of the 21st century was marked by a renewed interest in marriage in a trend that has been called the "revenge of ritual" (SEGALEN, 2003) specially among the urban middle class. This scenario poses an important question. Based on demographic data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), it is possible to affirm that in the past 40 years people tend to marry less and later in life. Still, despite Brazil’s economic crisis, in 2016 the amount invested in wedding parties was circa 16 billion Brazilian Reais - the equivalent to 5 billion Dollars - according to the Data Popular Research Institute following the total growth of the country's wedding industry since 2011. The data gathered throughout my fieldwork add to the perception that when Brazilian middle-class subjects decide to engage in marriage, they tend to mark this passage with grand scale events that demand great emotional, financial and time investment. This thesis presents an ethnographic study carried out from 2013 to 2016 among people involved in the planning, production and consumption of such events. They are wedding planners and middle class, educated and financially independent women that, in several of the observed cases, choose to finance most or even the integrality of the event. I conducted in-depth interviews with brides and relatives, collected data from Whastapp and Facebook groups, worked along side with wedding planners and visited wedding Fairs, bridal shows and exhibitions in Fortaleza, São Paulo and Porto Alegre. This ethnographic experience leads me to stress that contemporary wedding ceremonies are not necessarily traditional in the ways they are performed by wedding planners and brides to be, but represent new meanings and practices attached to modern wedding rituals. With this kind of event, subjects strive to produce symbolic ballast to anchor their formal unions in a time in which personal relationships are perceived as being increasingly volatile and not made to last. This thesis also presents a reflection on feminized labour, notably emotional labor and care work conducted by wedding planners, ceremonialists and other female professionals involved in wedding ceremonies.

Desde a década de 1970, o número de casamentos no Brasil vem diminuindo significativamente. Novos arranjos familiares e formas de viver a conjugalidade ganharam espaço. A importância de ritualizações foi colocada em xeque por muitos casais que rejeitavam a ideia de formalizar suas uniões. O início do século XXI, no entanto, marca um renovado interesse dos casais em marcar a transição para o casamento com eventos cada vez mais elaborados, em uma tendência que já foi chamada de a "revanche do ritual" (SEGALEN, 2003). Em 2016, o investimento dos casais brasileiros em festas de casamentos rendeu cerca de 16 bilhões de reais (o equivalente a aproximadamente 5 bilhões de dólares) em ganhos para o setor de eventos, segundo o Instituto de pesquisas Data Popular. Acompanhando o crescimento desse mercado desde 2011, o Instituto vem registrando uma tendência de crescimento, mesmo em meio à crise econômica pela qual passa o país. O quadro é de um crescente interesse por complexos eventos de casamento, performados por homens e mulheres pertencentes a camadas medias urbanas. A partir de dados demográficos do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), sabe-se que, nas últimas décadas, as pessoas casam-se menos. Por outro lado, a etnografia aqui apresentada permite afirmar que, quando decidem casar-se, sujeitos de camadas medias da população brasileira optam por marcar essa passagem com eventos cuja preparação exige um grande investimento de tempo e recursos financeiros. Nesta tese, apresento análises sobre este fenômeno, com base na etnografia que realizei entre os anos de 2013 e 2016, junto a sujeitos que protagonizam a organização de tais eventos. Trata-se de mulheres pertencentes a camadas médias urbanas, com formação superior e financeiramente independentes. Em vários dos casos observados, tais mulheres assumem a totalidade ou a maior parte dos gastos com o evento. A etnografia aqui apresentada se desdobrou em entrevistas em profundidade realizadas com noivas, acompanhamento de organizadoras de casamentos, observação participante em feiras do setor nas cidades de Fortaleza, Porto Alegre e São Paulo, participação em grupos virtuais de noivas e entrevistas com agentes deste mercado. Como resultado, destaco a compreensão de que os ritos contemporâneos aqui descritos nada tem de tradicionais no modo como são performatizados, mas representam novas formas de demarcar uma passagem cujos significados estão em transformação. Com os grandes eventos, os sujeitos procuram produzir lastro simbólico para suas uniões, em um momento no qual as relações são percebidas como cada vez mais voláteis. Além disso, esta tese apresenta reflexões sobre a invisibilidade dos ofícios que envolvem o cuidado, aqui representados na figura das cerimonialistas. Essas e outras questões são discutidas ao longo dos capítulos que compõem esta pesquisa sobre os ritos contemporâneos de casamento no Brasil e o mercado a eles dedicados. / Since the 1970s, marriage rates in Brazil have been decreasing significantly. New family arrangements and ways of conjugality have gained space. The importance of marriage as an institution was put in check by many young couples who rejected the idea of formalizing their relationships through a traditional wedding ceremony. However, the beginning of the 21st century was marked by a renewed interest in marriage in a trend that has been called the "revenge of ritual" (SEGALEN, 2003) specially among the urban middle class. This scenario poses an important question. Based on demographic data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), it is possible to affirm that in the past 40 years people tend to marry less and later in life. Still, despite Brazil’s economic crisis, in 2016 the amount invested in wedding parties was circa 16 billion Brazilian Reais - the equivalent to 5 billion Dollars - according to the Data Popular Research Institute following the total growth of the country's wedding industry since 2011. The data gathered throughout my fieldwork add to the perception that when Brazilian middle-class subjects decide to engage in marriage, they tend to mark this passage with grand scale events that demand great emotional, financial and time investment. This thesis presents an ethnographic study carried out from 2013 to 2016 among people involved in the planning, production and consumption of such events. They are wedding planners and middle class, educated and financially independent women that, in several of the observed cases, choose to finance most or even the integrality of the event. I conducted in-depth interviews with brides and relatives, collected data from Whastapp and Facebook groups, worked along side with wedding planners and visited wedding Fairs, bridal shows and exhibitions in Fortaleza, São Paulo and Porto Alegre. This ethnographic experience leads me to stress that contemporary wedding ceremonies are not necessarily traditional in the ways they are performed by wedding planners and brides to be, but represent new meanings and practices attached to modern wedding rituals. With this kind of event, subjects strive to produce symbolic ballast to anchor their formal unions in a time in which personal relationships are perceived as being increasingly volatile and not made to last. This thesis also presents a reflection on feminized labour, notably emotional labor and care work conducted by wedding planners, ceremonialists and other female professionals involved in wedding ceremonies.

This thesis used the events of the 2007 financial crisis as a means of being able to add to the research already done on South African unit trusts. The objective was to study the risk-adjusted performance of South African general equity unit trusts against the market during the period between 2005 and 2014. This period took into account the bull market preceding the financial crisis, the market crash of 2007 and the subsequent market recovery that followed. Data was obtained online through the I-Net BFA data base and included 161 general equity unit trusts that contained a full data set. In addition to the general equity unit trusts, the Satrix40 was studied to compare a passive unit trust against those that are actively managed. The 10 year Government bond was also used as a risk-free rate to add to the comparisons of performance results. The Sharpe, Treynor and Jensen measures were applied to the data with the results adding more support to the opinions that markets are fairly efficient and active investment strategies are being challenged by consistently well performing passive investments. Throughout the duration of the study, taking into account the varying economic cycles, the Satrix40 passive investment showed the best average overall return on simple return calculations as well as during the risk-adjusted measurements. In support of active investment management, unit trusts showed their best relative performance figures during the period of the financial crisis. This suggested that active financial managers were able to make the active calls necessary to weather the storm of the financial crisis. While the study did have its limitations, the results it produced are intended to offer investors further knowledge in enabling them to make more educated investment decisions in the future.

PhD (Financial Management) / Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics / See the attached abstract below

This thesis discusses how children's perspectives are implemented in the municipality's physical planning in Sweden in relation to the statutory UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The thesis seeks to answer how the planners express their views on the participation, as well as their views on the child and childhood. The study is based on three research questions. The aim is examined in relation to comprehensive planning and use the Norwegian context as a comparison since the country has progressed further in the implementation of the convention. The theoretical framework consists of a research overview regarding social sustainability, and the concepts of child and childhood. An historical review of children’s geography is also conducted. In addition, previous research regarding children’s participation in planning, as well as participation models lays ground for the theoretical framework. The small-scale case study of three municipalities is carried out by six qualitative interviews with physical and strategical planners, as well as professionals with experience in citizen dialogue. In addition, the empirical analysis includes a small document study of the municipal frameworks for citizen participation. Key findings are that children's perspectives are lacking in municipal planning processes, especially in relation to the comprehensive planning. In the three cases in this study, the efforts to incorporate children’s perspective into the planning process seems to be largely guided by the planners' own knowledge and interests. The implementation work with the Convention on the Right of the Child varies somewhat between the municipalities, where one of them stood out and had come further than the other two in connection with the physical planning. The planners view of the child shaped the opportunities for the children to participate in the planning process. The lack of formal guidelines is also described as a reason for the children's lack of participation. An ambivalent picture of children is found among planners and decision makers. These split images create a difficulty in creating a uniform picture of children's participation in the municipalities, as well as finding suitable methods for participation. However, many of the interviewees expressed a strong interest in involving children in planning to a greater extent, and to gain access to more knowledge in the subject.