Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Påståendet om att ju längre ett förhållande fortgår, desto bättre lär individerna i relationen känna varandra, är ett logiskt antagande. Forskning visar att vissa personlighetsegenskaper är mer önskvärda än andra hos en potentiell partner och att dessa egenskaper och attribut skiljer sig beroende på om ett par känt varandra lång eller kort tid. En enkätstudie genomfördes bland trettiotre par. Deltagarna uppmanades att skatta självbild, jagideal, partnerbild samt partnerideal genom att rangordna 15 personlighetsegenskaper. Resultatet visade att individer tenderar att känna sin partner sämre i förhållanden som varat i fem till nio år i jämförelse med par som varit tillsammans kortare eller längre. Egenskaperna ärlig, pålitlig och omtänksam tenderar att vara de tre viktigaste personlighetsegenskaperna beträffande självbilder och ideal i relationer.

In order to meet the innovation of military affairs in recent years, no matter the military strength, troop formation or the research and development for the national army of new generation, major military maneuvers, recruitment demand of military talents, actual training situation of troops, or the handling and explanation of important news events, the Ministry of National Defense and the various armed services adopt more open ways by inviting the local and foreign media to report the events on the spot, thus letting all the people of Taiwan understand the changes of the national army through the press release, and tightening the interaction between the army and the journalists. Nevertheless, due to the difference in organization properties, there exists an inborn opposing relationship between the national army and the media. Despite the close interaction between the two parties, the relationship is sometimes good, sometimes bad. They are always suspected of violating or disclosing the military secrets, affecting the image of the national army or flourishing the expose culture, so the relationship between both parties is always in a tense situation. The study aims at conducting the investigation from the interaction between the troops of different organizational characteristics and the journalists of the media. By using the way of in-depth interviews, and taking the four troop members of ¡§Public Affairs Divisions¡¨ established in the southern district of the national army as well as the news reporters that are responsible for the contacts with the army during the ordinary days and the interviews with these four troops, as the targets, the study investigates the interacting relationship and models between the troops and the media, and the factors affecting the organizational characteristics of interaction between the two parties. Finally, the study gives practical suggestions for the operation of Public Affairs Division after establishment and the handling of the relationship with the media. The research results are referential to the study of military mass media. The study acquires the following findings: 1. There is no significant difference in the interaction between the troops of different organizational characteristics and the journalists. 2. The supports of supervisors are the main factor affecting the interaction between the troops and the journalists. 3. The interacting model between the troops and the journalists inclines to be a ¡§competitive interacting model.¡¨ 4. The expansion of contact area between the troops and the journalists is helpful to the establishment of a good interaction between the two parties, especially the establishment of private relationship in between, which will be advantageous to the promotion of the news work of the troops. 5. The professional functions of Public Affairs Division of the troops have not been exerted. There is a lack of training for the staff of news release system.

Abstract   Date:                              May 21, 2009   Program:                                 International Marketing   Course name:                  EFO705 Master Thesis   Title:                                         Foreign Market Exploitation with E-marketing Strategy of Thaiearthtone Company   Authors:                         Nicha Chienchiranai      851212-T107                                       Pharktanat Pattararittisak   820930-T251   Tutor:                                      Daniel Tolstoy   Problem:                        How can Thaiearthtone exploit opportunity in foreign market by using e-marketing strategy?   Purpose:                         To develop an appropriate e-marketing strategy to increase satisfaction of existing customers and simultaneously attraction of new customers.   Method:                           This research is based on qualitative research, using exploratory research method.  The theoretical framework used in the research is E-Marketing Strategy which is developed by the authors with some adaptation from E-marketing Mix Strategy.  The findings were obtained from an in-dept interview as well as second hand sources including Thaiearthtone's website and others.   Conclusion:                             With the increased number of e-commerce firm, to be stand out of the crowd is rather difficult for small company like Thaiearthtone especially that the target market are foreigners.  To successfully exploit its opportunity in overseas market, Thaiearthtone could probably take the idea from the authors' own developed E-marketing strategy into consideration, and adapt it to the current situation of the company.   Key words:                       E-marketing, E-marketing Strategy, E-commerce, Relationship Marketing and Site Usability

The aim of this study was to increase the knowledge of possibilities and obstacles for disabled people to meet a partner. The ambition was to know more about wishes for and needs of professional or other support. The methods have been literature studies, survey research, and interviews. A simple questionnaire was sent to administrative staff and social welfare officers who gave the information that they experienced those persons with intellectual disability or Aspergers syndrome had asked for support to meet a partner. To get a perspective from inside six semi structured interviews were made with disabled people having experience of relationships, love affairs. Two men and two women with intellectual disability and two women with Aspergers syndrome take part in the interview study. Results of this study correspond with previous research. All the participants experienced possibilities and obstacles to meet a partner. The opportunities were rather universal. The difficulties they met were on one hand the feeling of belonging to a marginalized group in society and on the other hand problems with social interaction and interplay. The conclusion was that there is a desire as well as requirement for professional support. The support should be given by someone the person has confidence in. It could be a guardian, a social welfare officer or any other staff. People with disability have wishes about love and to meet a partner and it is very important to identify needs and wishes of their own.

<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 70.85pt 70.85pt 70.85pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -->Människan har en tydlig tendens att begå det fundamentala attributionsfelet, det vill säga överskatta personlighetsbundna faktorer vid förklarandet av andras beteende. Den aktuella undersökningen genomfördes på en högskola i Mellansverige. Deltagarna fick besvara en enkät utformad i sex olika varianter där betingelserna beteende och person manipulerades. Den aktuella studien visade att fundamentala attributionsfelet till en viss del påverkas av relationer och typ av beteende. En person som utför ett positivt beteende skattas som vänligare och snällare än en person som utför ett negativt beteende. Likaså skattas en väns personlighet som vänligare än en ej omtyckt bekants och en främlings personlighet. Dessa resultat väcker intresset för ytterligare studier om hur relationer påverkar människans uppfattning om individen i andra situationer.

There is a gap in the theory of acquisition, little investigation have been made on the acquired firm within the acquisition process and in service industries. Because of the lack of research in this area, this research is focusing on acquisition theory and how it positions to the acquired firm rather than the firm making the acquisition. Therefore a need to investigate the acquisition theory on acquired firms on SME: s in the IT-service industry is interesting. To do so, three case studies have been made on three firms that have been acquired. The empirical results from the case studies have shown how the relationship between the parent company and the subsidiary has differences. The company culture and the relationship to the parent firm differs if the parent firm is foreign or not; and if the acquisition process is mutual between two firms rather than a market extension acquisition. By analyzing the data of this research the study show that the previous theories of acquisition are adaptable to implement on firms that have been acquired on SME:s in the IT-service industry.

This is the first known occupational therapy (OT) study to examine the emergent patterns of the client-therapist working alliance during the course of a community-based OT intervention. The experiences of both the adult client and OT in each of four dyads are explored and described as they relate to the evolution of the alliance over time and the impacting contextual factors. These experiences were considered alongside the therapy outcomes. Mixed methods, including quantitative scales and interviews, were used in this multiple-case study situated within a pragmatism paradigm. Individual case and cross case analyses were conducted leading to the identification of eleven cross case themes. These findings suggest that the interpersonal relationship between a client and OT develops with the goal of becoming a safe harbour for the clients. The strengthening interpersonal bond appears to create an impetus within the client to engage in therapeutic activities. This enticed engagement results in the client’s performance of novel activity purposefully selected by the OT as bearing personal meaning for the client. The clients’ engagement often results in enhanced insight into their abilities and meaningful functional gains. This success appears to reinforce and energize both the momentum toward the collaboratively-established therapy goals, as well as provides a positive feedback mechanism into the working alliance. The OT’s training, philosophy and skill, client’s attributes, and environmental influences (both physical and social) all appear to have potential implications upon the working alliance’s development and/or the therapeutic achievements. Further research will be needed to confirm or disconfirm these findings and may include further study with variable client populations (e.g., different ages, different conditions), the role of humour in the therapeutic process, the impact of client’s degree of social isolation on the alliance, as well therapists’ disparate levels of use-of-self and the related impacts upon the alliance.

AIDS Saskatoon, considered as a health social movement, is the focus of this research. It uses notions of life-world, system and life-world colonization as well as the typology of politics introduced by Cohen and Arato to answer the questions:<p> Why did AIDS Saskatoon emerge?<p> Is AIDS Saskatoon a defensive or an offensive social movement?<p> The defensive movements action is directed inward to the lifeworld and civil society, while the offensive modes of movement activism directed outward to state and economic institutions. With regards to the first question, I argue AIDS Saskatoon was formed as a reaction to patterns of the colonization of the life-world of people living with HIV/AIDS. Relative to the second question AIDS Saskatoon is seen to be a creative response to the colonization process that takes an organizational form conducive to both defensive and offensive dimensions.<p> Data for this study were derived from ten qualitative interviews were conducted - five with individuals diagnosed HIV/AIDS positive, three with the AIDS Saskatoon administrative staff, and two with the founders of AIDS Saskatoon.

Customers are no longer what they use to be in the past, they are now highly educated, more specialized and more highly influenced by global culture than ever before. For businesses to be able to win the heart of customers, they need to do extra because these customers are the pillar that holds the organizations. One of the method to achieve this is called Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The focus of CRM is about managing customer knowledgem to better understand and serve them. The purpose of this study is to explore how e-business organizations use CRM in a B2C setting, and we did that from online fashion retail companies' perspectives. Our study has explored how how CRM objectives are described and how CRM is managed. To answer these questions, relevant literature was reviewed which resulted in a conceptual framework that guided the data collection. We carried out a multiple-case study with two fashion retail companies, one located in the UK, and the other in Sweden. Data was collected through a telephone interviews with high positioned employees who have experience working with CRM and related subject.