<p>Risk management has become an important topic for financial institutes, especially since the business sector of financial services is related to conditions of uncertainty. The turmoil of the financial industry emphasizes the importance of effective risk management procedures. Consequently, this thesis studies<em> “</em><em>What are the critical success factors for effective risk management procedures in financial industries?</em><em>”</em> This research question was formulated in order to gain a better understanding of risk management procedures and to examine the critical success factors for effective risk management procedures.</p><p>To explore the importance of critical success factors in a practical context, we used the quantitative method of a self-completion questionnaire in order to collect data from a selection of financial institutions in Thailand. Financial institutions include banks, the stock exchange, insurance, stock securities, asset management and so on. Due to the fact that top-level management is directly responsible for risk management, the target groups included a range of positions from supervisors to board of directors.</p><p>This research found a set of seven critical success factors which can be used as a guideline on how to increase the effectiveness of risk management procedures. These factors are (1). Commitment and support from top management, (2) Communication, (3) Culture, (4) Information technology (IT), (5) Organization structure, (6) Training and (7) Trust. Because risk management is an important part of the financial industry, effectiveness is vital to increase project success. These seven factors can increase the effectiveness of risk management procedures from the perspective of the financial industry in Thailand.</p>

<p>Bakgrunden till undersökningen är att arbetsplatsen är en viktig arena att arbeta hälsofrämjande på, eftersom en stor del av befolkningen nås via denna och olika hälsobeteenden kan påverkas innan ohälsa uppstår. En framgångsrik strategi för att skapa hälsosammare arbetsplatser är att arbeta med friskvård. Om människor ska kunna leva hälsosamt krävs att de får möjlighet att göra det även på arbetsplatsen, då hälsa bör ses ur ett helhetsperspektiv. EduTainer har utarbetat en metod för att arbeta med friskvård på företag. Ett företag som arbetat efter denna metod, med gott resultat, är Måleriproduktion AB. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka vilka faktorer som underlättar respektive försvårar för friskvårdsarbete på Måleriproduktion AB samt att studera vilka faktorer som är viktiga hos den externa aktören för att uppnå ett framgångsrikt friskvårdsarbete på arbetsplatsen. Undersökningen baseras på kvalitativ metod och intervjuer har genomförts med åtta deltagare i friskvårdsarbetet. Resultatet och slutsatserna visar att faktorer som underlättar för friskvårdsarbete är inställning, socialt stöd, motivation, förändrade rutiner och en extern aktör. Faktorer som försvårar för friskvårdsarbete är tidsbrist, brist på gemensamma aktiviteter och andra faktorer på själva arbetsplatsen. Viktiga faktorer hos den externa aktören är att den förmedlar bred information samt att upplägget är varierande med föreläsningar, individuell rådgivning, tester och uppföljning.</p> / <p>The background for the study is that the workplace is an important arena to work with health promotion, since a large amount of the population can be reached by the workplace and different health behaviors can be affected before ill health appears. A successful strategy for creating healthy workplaces is to work with preventive health care. If people are going to be able to live healthy lives, they need to get the opportunity to live healthy even at the workplace, because health is supposed to be seen from a holistic point of view. EduTainer has created a method, used for companies, to work with preventive health care. A company which has adopted this method, with good results, is Måleriproduktion AB. The aim of this study is to examine what factors that simplify respectively complicate working with preventive health care at Måleriproduktion AB and to study what factors that are important for the external operator to achieve a successful preventive health care-work at the workplace. The study is based on qualitative method and interviews have been made with eight participants of the preventive health care-work. The result and the conclusions show that the factors that simplify working with preventive health care-work are attitude, social support, motivation, a change of routines and an external operator. Factors that complicate working with preventive health care are lack of time, lack of common activities and other factors at the workplace itself. Important factors for the external operator are that the information is widely mediated and that the framing is varied with lectures, individual counselling, tests and follow up.</p>

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

Sammandrag Denna studie tar upp problematiken vid införande av administrativa stödprojekt vid Uppsala universitet, främst hur motstånd till förändring kan motverkas. Problemet definieras genom frågan: Hur kan Uppsala universitet effektivisera implementeringen av administrativa stödprojekt? Syftet med denna studie är att lyfta fram kritiska framgångsfaktorer vid genomförandet av projekt. Färdigimplementerade administrativa stödprojekt studerades genom personliga intervjuer med projektansvariga och administratörer på institutioner. Upptäckterna analyserades med hjälp av en processorienterad teori baserad på Demingcykeln. Erfarenheterna utkristalliserades till konkreta riktlinjer och råd för framtida projektimplementeringar vid Uppsala universitet. Den främsta riktlinjen var att i större utsträckning informera och motivera de som kommer att påverkas av projektet.

Bakgrunden till undersökningen är att arbetsplatsen är en viktig arena att arbeta hälsofrämjande på, eftersom en stor del av befolkningen nås via denna och olika hälsobeteenden kan påverkas innan ohälsa uppstår. En framgångsrik strategi för att skapa hälsosammare arbetsplatser är att arbeta med friskvård. Om människor ska kunna leva hälsosamt krävs att de får möjlighet att göra det även på arbetsplatsen, då hälsa bör ses ur ett helhetsperspektiv. EduTainer har utarbetat en metod för att arbeta med friskvård på företag. Ett företag som arbetat efter denna metod, med gott resultat, är Måleriproduktion AB. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka vilka faktorer som underlättar respektive försvårar för friskvårdsarbete på Måleriproduktion AB samt att studera vilka faktorer som är viktiga hos den externa aktören för att uppnå ett framgångsrikt friskvårdsarbete på arbetsplatsen. Undersökningen baseras på kvalitativ metod och intervjuer har genomförts med åtta deltagare i friskvårdsarbetet. Resultatet och slutsatserna visar att faktorer som underlättar för friskvårdsarbete är inställning, socialt stöd, motivation, förändrade rutiner och en extern aktör. Faktorer som försvårar för friskvårdsarbete är tidsbrist, brist på gemensamma aktiviteter och andra faktorer på själva arbetsplatsen. Viktiga faktorer hos den externa aktören är att den förmedlar bred information samt att upplägget är varierande med föreläsningar, individuell rådgivning, tester och uppföljning. / The background for the study is that the workplace is an important arena to work with health promotion, since a large amount of the population can be reached by the workplace and different health behaviors can be affected before ill health appears. A successful strategy for creating healthy workplaces is to work with preventive health care. If people are going to be able to live healthy lives, they need to get the opportunity to live healthy even at the workplace, because health is supposed to be seen from a holistic point of view. EduTainer has created a method, used for companies, to work with preventive health care. A company which has adopted this method, with good results, is Måleriproduktion AB. The aim of this study is to examine what factors that simplify respectively complicate working with preventive health care at Måleriproduktion AB and to study what factors that are important for the external operator to achieve a successful preventive health care-work at the workplace. The study is based on qualitative method and interviews have been made with eight participants of the preventive health care-work. The result and the conclusions show that the factors that simplify working with preventive health care-work are attitude, social support, motivation, a change of routines and an external operator. Factors that complicate working with preventive health care are lack of time, lack of common activities and other factors at the workplace itself. Important factors for the external operator are that the information is widely mediated and that the framing is varied with lectures, individual counselling, tests and follow up.

The purpose of our thesis is to investigate the incentive mechanisms that may be used for a timely and successful implementation of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects. This purpose is achieved by investigating challenges and success factors within one of the largest Public-Private Partnership projects in Europe, the SESAR programme which stands for Single European Sky ATM Research and that aims at modernising the European air traffic management (ATM) system. The categories of SESAR actors that we investigated include: stakeholders (airspace users such as Air France, KLM, SAS; ANSPs from Sweden,Finland, Netherlands and the CANSO organisation; airport representatives including Swedavia, Zürich Airport and Guernsey Airport); as well as manufacturers (e.g. Airbus, Frequentis, Thales); international organisations as principals (e.g. European Commission – SESAR Joint Undertaking-, EUROCONTROL) and advisers (e.g. Helios UK). Referring to our contribution to the theory, we identify four categories of incentive mechanisms for timely implementation of large PPP projects: i. Financial incentives such as loans, proportionate with the level of risks the implementer bears; the deduction of loan fees or reduction of service charges can motivate stakeholders to implement earlier, once they identify a positive business case. ii. Operational incentives can refer to certain preferential treatment to those who comply and detrimental treatment to those who do not comply. iii. Legal incentives such as mandates can force commitment and have an impact on the timely implementation of PPP projects within a certain time-frame. iv. Intangible incentives, such as transparent communication, collaboration and less political behaviour, are seen as major factors contributing to the commitment and trust level among the actors involved, thus, enabling the success of the PPP project implementation.

Risk management has become an important topic for financial institutes, especially since the business sector of financial services is related to conditions of uncertainty. The turmoil of the financial industry emphasizes the importance of effective risk management procedures. Consequently, this thesis studies “What are the critical success factors for effective risk management procedures in financial industries?” This research question was formulated in order to gain a better understanding of risk management procedures and to examine the critical success factors for effective risk management procedures. To explore the importance of critical success factors in a practical context, we used the quantitative method of a self-completion questionnaire in order to collect data from a selection of financial institutions in Thailand. Financial institutions include banks, the stock exchange, insurance, stock securities, asset management and so on. Due to the fact that top-level management is directly responsible for risk management, the target groups included a range of positions from supervisors to board of directors. This research found a set of seven critical success factors which can be used as a guideline on how to increase the effectiveness of risk management procedures. These factors are (1). Commitment and support from top management, (2) Communication, (3) Culture, (4) Information technology (IT), (5) Organization structure, (6) Training and (7) Trust. Because risk management is an important part of the financial industry, effectiveness is vital to increase project success. These seven factors can increase the effectiveness of risk management procedures from the perspective of the financial industry in Thailand.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&amp;A) in the corporate world are achieving increasing importance and attention especially in the advent of intense globalization. This is evident from the magnitude and growth of deal values and resultant ‘mega-mergers’ transacted in recent times. As expert advisory are sought in M&amp;A activities to facilitate the undertaking and maximise the value of the transaction, advisory firms begin to play a more significant and at the same time lucrative role in M&amp;A activities, to the extent of determining the outcome of such projects. Being an area of limited research, it is thus valuable to investigate what M&amp;A advisory firms view as critical success factors to the projects they undertake. Consequently, the research question of “What are the critical success factors for merger &amp; acquisition projects in the view of merger &amp; acquisition advisory firms” has been raised. A list of ten critical success factors for M&amp;A projects is firstly identified from an extensive literature review. These factors are (1) Complete and Clear objectives, goals and scope of the project, (2) Client consultation and acceptance, (3) Project manager’s competence and commitment, (4) Project team member’s competence and commitment, (5) Communication and information sharing and exchange, (6) Project plan development, (7) M&amp;A advisory firm’s resource planning, (8) Time management and tight secrecy, (9) Price evaluation and financing scheme, and (10) Risk management. In an attempt to explore the importance of each factor in the practical context, data have been collected through three research methods. Primarily, the authors conduct a semi-structured interview with six interviewees currently working in three organizations which provide professional services related to M&amp;A projects. Meanwhile, a self-completion questionnaire method is employed, following which a sample of 325 M&amp;A advisory firms based in the U.S. is selected to participate in an online survey. In addition, the authors follow a case study approach based on the three organizations of the six interviewees in order to establish comprehensive knowledge about issues relating to M&amp;A projects. In response to the research question, the findings strongly indicate that seven out of ten factors in the original list have a positive impact, being the factors listed above as (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (8), and (9). On the other hand, it revealed the lesser importance of the other three. In addition, three new factors have been discovered from analyzing the data collected, being (i) Having a number of key potential buyers with suitable profile (ii) Right, correct and complete information and data in the data room, and (iii) The quality of the selling company. While as another outcome of this research, further practical insights have been provided regarding the role of M&amp;A advisory firms, the M&amp;A process, common issues faced by M&amp;A projects and the success criteria for M&amp;A projects. The findings from this research contribute valuable new knowledge to both researchers and practitioners in both project management and M&amp;A fields, while facilitating the achievement of successful M&amp;A projects.

This study explores the application of wireless local area network (WLAN) in mobile learning. Although still in its infancy, Taiwan¡¦s government has devoted much resource on mobile learning as the extention of e-Taiwan project. National museums are among the key projects where the effectiveness of mobile learning can be soundly demonstrated. Taking national museums as observing objects, this study examines whether museum visitors appreciate WLAN environment within which personal digital assistants (PDA) operate as mobile educational tools. It further explores the key success factors that leads to successful deployment of mobile learning system. The researcher conducted a two-wave survey, firstly on museum visiters then on museum and e-learning experts for data gathering. Using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) as the research method, this study filters out the priority setting of those six categories as follows according to their significance: learning content, network connection, interface design, mareking and promotion, and business model. It also shows that the priority setting might change as a matter of time. As far as implication for education is concerned, the study suggests that, in the learning space of museum, PDA equipped with WLAN proves to be an appropriate mobile learning tool, notably useful in conducting blending learning and self-directed learning. Such finding should contribute to the understanding and further deployment of mobile learning activities in the context of museums. Keywords: wireless local area network (WLAN), mobile learning, blending learning, self-directed learning, personal digital assistant (PDA), fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP), key success factors, museum

En balans mellan hållbar utveckling, klassisk design och unikitet kan bidra till att minska dagens konsumtion. Begreppet ekodesign innefattar en produkts miljöpåverkan genom dess livscykel utan att äventyra med andra komponenter som kvalité, kostnad och formgivning. Att skapa en innovativ ekodesignad produkt utan att kompromissa skapar en hög attraktionsnivå och gör det enklare för kund att välja rätt, vilket medför ett högt kundvärde där produkten får leva genom generationer. Syftet med studien var att ta fram ett unikt ekodesignat produktförslag för uppdragsgivaren Ekdahls möbler som skall kunna brukas och uppskattas genom flera generationer där följande frågeställningar besvarats; [1] Vilka gemensamma framgångsfaktorer utgör en klassiskt designad sittmöbel? [2] Hur kan man utveckla en unik ekodesignad sittmöbel? För att besvara studiens första frågeställning genomfördes en dokumentundersökning som följts av en sambandsmatris för att konstatera de gemensamma framgångsfaktorerna hos klassiskt designade stolar. En intervju genomfördes för att analysera och stärka framgångsfaktorerna. Arbetet resulterade i att följande framgångsfaktorer var avgörande för en klassisk designad sittmöbel; unik, komfortabel, kvalitativ, estetisk, kreativ och användarvänlig vilka utgjorde formspråket på det slutliga produktförslaget. För att besvara studiens andra frågeställning tillämpades en designprocess där integrering av verktyg för ekodesign i form av statusanalys, kravspecifikation, funktion- och livscykelanalys samt ekostrategihjulet skapade ett miljöarbete samt en skräddarsydd och mer anpassad process för framtagningen av studiens produktförslag. Genom att följa designprocessens alla steg grundligt med komplettering av integrerade verktyg för ekodesign skapades inte bara en unik utvecklingsprocess utan även ett unikt projekt mot en ekodesignad produkt. Unikiteten är den framgångsfaktorn som värderades högst. Genom att leva upp till den samt de andra framgångsfaktorerna i det slutliga produktförslaget skapades en möjlighet att bli eftersträvansvärd på marknaden och på så sätt även öka livslängden för produkten.Produkten utstrålar klassisk och säregen design där kärleken för naturmaterial och kvalité står i centrum. Genom dess optimering i synpunkt på miljöpåverkan och dess unika formspråk är det en produkt att stolt leva med genom flera generationer. / A balance between sustainable development, classic design and uniqueness can help to reduce today’s consumption. The concept of eco-design includes a product's environmental impact throughout its life cycle without compromising with other components such as quality, cost and design. Creating an innovative eco-designed product without compromising makes it highly attractive and easier for the customer to choose the right product resulting in high customer value where it will live through generations. The purpose of the study was to develop a unique eco-designed product suggestion, for the client Ekdahls möbler, that will be used and appreciated by many generations in which the following questions were answered; [1] What common factors of success represent classically designed seating furniture? [2] How can a unique eco-designed seating furniture be developed? To answer the first question of the study a document investigation followed by a connection matrix was done to determine common success factors of classically designed chairs. An interview was conducted to analyze and strengthen the success factors. The result showed that the following success factors were crucial for a classically designed seating furniture; unique, comfortable, qualitative, aesthetic, creative and user friendly which constitute the design language of the final product proposal. To answer the second question of the study a design process was applied in which the integration of eco-design tools in the form of status analysis, requirements specification, functional and lifecycle analysis and the eco strategy wheel created an environmental and tailored process for the development of the study’s product proposals.' By following the design process’s every step thoroughly with supplementation of integrated tools for eco-design not only a unique development process was created, but also a unique project towards an eco-designed product. Uniqueness is the success factor valued most. By living up to it as well as the other factors for success in the final product proposal, an opportunity to become desirable in the market was created and thus also increase the longevity of the product.The product radiates classic and distinctive design where the love for natural materials and quality are central. Through its optimization of environmental impact and its unique design language it is a product to proudly live with through several generations.