17 research outputs found
Sulphur emission control areas and transport strategies -the case of Sweden and the forest industry
Background and purpose The International Maritime Organisationâs (IMO) decision to lower the allowable amount of sulphur content in marine fuels to 0.1 % in the so-called Emission Control Areas (ECAs) beginning in 2015 has outraged the Swedish forest industry. The seas around Sweden are included in the ECA and achieving the new sulphur directive requires shipowners to take actions that will increase the cost of transporting goods by ship from Sweden. Swedish forest industry exports are transported mostly by ship and there is a possibility that the forest industry will shift freight from sea to land transport because of the sulphur directive. How greatly the transport costs differ between different transportation options is affected by several uncertainties such as price trends for fuel. Other restrictions for shipping, such as nitrogen oxide emissions and ballast water treatment, are also expected to become stricter in the future. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the sulphur directive and associated uncertainties on the Swedish forest industry, its transport system structure, and its logistics strategies. Results and conclusions Previous studies in the field have forecast that the freight will be transferred to land because of the sulphur directive. Our results also show that companies will transfer the cargo to land transport. The transfer will be greater thefurther southinthecountryproductionfacilitiesare located.Goods that previously were shipped from ports onthe Swedish east coast will instead be shipped more frequently from ports on the west coast to reduce transport time within the ECA region. Furthermore, the results show that firms do not sign agreements with shipping lines that extend beyond the year2015, but instead write long, flexible agreementswith rail operators, enabling an increase in freight strategy to address the sulphur directive. In this way, they have created the capacity to transform the transport structure.
Document type: Articl
PÄ rÀtt spÄr: Äterkoppling för lÀrande i kontrollrumsmiljö - En fallstudie pÄ en svensk jÀrnvÀgsoperatör
Organisational learning is assumed to be a part of creating improved work processes in an organisation. This type of learning can be difficult to achieve in operational and reactive work environments. Challenges in observable causality, time constraints and complex external conditions means that the operational control room is one of those reactive work environments. There is a need for a system that can improve organisational learning in the challenging environment of the operational control room. The system must create conditions for feedback and evaluation in the operational control room in order to succeed. In this study a manual is created and applied to generate a feedback system, which responds to the control roomâs needs. The manual is designed to address the specific conditions that apply in a generic control room. The study was divided into two parts; the first part consisted of a literature review of organizational learning, evaluation and feedback. This was combined with a field study of various control rooms. Knowledge gained from the literature review and the field study was combined to create the manual. Part two of the study consisted of a evaluation of the developed manual on a case company in the Swedish railway industry. An analysis of the case study led to an improved version of the manual. This approach generated both tangible and academic results. The tangible result is a feedback system created using the manual on the case company. The academic results are a new combination the research topic organizational learning and the empirical field of operational control rooms. These have provided a greater understanding of the challenges related to learning that is in operational control room. The authors believe that the manual can be used to develop organisational learning in control rooms in the future.A long term solution to the Swedish railway problem A new learning tool for control room staff has been developed at Lund University. It was tested on a Swedish railway company and can provide a long term improvement of control rooms worldwide. It is well known that the Swedish railway is facing big challenges. The trains are often delayed due to different kinds of disturbances. The headline: âTrain Chaos!â is often occurring in Swedish press. The problems arise due to the increased number of travellers and poor maintenance of the railroads and infrastructure. This, together with frequent winter storms that collapse the railroad system, has led to a decreased confidence in railway as mean for transportation. According to statistics gathered by one of the biggest train companies in Sweden, only 20 % of the delays are caused by train breakdowns and 75 % is caused by broken railway. Delays caused by weather can account for about 5 %. Nevertheless, it is the railway companyâs responsibility to ensure that travellers reach their destinations and are taken care of when a delay occur. This can be a complex task, as passengers hop on and off on different stations. Moreover, some passengers may have connections to other destinations which can be easily broken with a delay. To be able to take care of the passengers of delayed trains the train companies set up so called control rooms. The employees of the control room keeps track of the different trains and their passengers. Similar kinds of unpredictable problems arise in other types of control rooms. These kinds of working environments can be found at airports, nuclear power plants and big process plants. All of them are monitoring an unpredictable system and try to minimize the damage if anything goes wrong. It is hard to prepare for and learn from this kind of reactive environment. The authors were surprised to discover that people working in control rooms rarely know when they have done a good job and handled the situation in a good way. In order to solve this problem a guide to creating a better learning environment in control rooms was made. The guide is based on current research on learning and feedback. The guide was successfully used by a Swedish railway company. The authors believe that the guide could, if used wisely, provide a long term improvement of control rooms worldwide
Sulphur emission control areas and transport strategies -the case of Sweden and the forest industry
FrÄn "Word of Mouth" till "Electronic Word of Mouth" En studie i hur begreppets innebörd förÀndras över tiden
Relationsproblem? : En studie i hur revisorns relation till experten pÄverkar "audit quality"
Revisionsskandaler som intrĂ€ffat de senaste Ă„ren har fĂ„tt konsekvensen att revisionens kvalitet har hamnat i fokus. Samtidigt indikerar dessa skandaler pĂ„ den komplexitet, till exempel avseende vĂ€rderingar till marknadsvĂ€rde, som rĂ„der i balansrĂ€kningar och den utmaning detta innebĂ€r för revisorn. Utmaningarna tycks innebĂ€ra att revisorns kompetens inte rĂ€cker till och att revisorn nu Ă€r beroende av den dyadiska relationen till experten, vilken Ă€r mer kompetent inom ett specifikt omrĂ„de Ă€n revisorn. DĂ„ revisionsskandaler förekommit dĂ„ det ingĂ„tt relationer till experter, blir det relevant att undersöka hur revisorns dyadiska relation till experten pĂ„verkar âaudit qualityâ. Syftet med denna studie Ă€r följaktligen att undersöka hur revisorns relation till experter pĂ„verkar âaudit qualityâ. För att kunna uppfylla detta syfte har denna studie baserats pĂ„ en deduktiv ansats. En modell har utvecklats baserad pĂ„ tidigare forskning innehĂ„llande faktorerna; kommunikation, konflikt och social integration. UtifrĂ„n denna modell har olika hypoteser utvecklats, vilka sedan testats empiriskt genom en webbenkĂ€t riktad mot auktoriserade revisorer. Resultatet antyder att revisorerna inte upplever relationen till experten som problematisk. Detta antyds av att en högre omfattning av experthjĂ€lp leder till högre âaudit qualityâ. Samtidigt ger studien indikationer pĂ„ att revisorer inom âbig fourâ upplever en relativt lĂ€gre grad av evisionskvalitet Ă€n ânon big fourâ. Vidare ges antydningar pĂ„ att kommunikationskvaliteten mellan revisor och expert har ett positivt samband pĂ„ âaudit qualityâ. Uppsatsens bidrag Ă€r framförallt att den belyser ett forskningsomrĂ„de som Ă€r tĂ€mligen outforskat. Detta eftersom forskning dyadiska relationer applicerat pĂ„ revision tycks begrĂ€nsad. Samtidigt som ingen tidigare forskning tycks ha undersökt relationen mellan revisorn och experters pĂ„verkan pĂ„ âaudit qualityâ.Auditing scandals that have occurred in recent years has put increased attention on audit quality. Simultaneously these scandals indicate the complexity, for instance regarding market valuation, now found in balance sheets and the challenge this causes for the auditor. This challenge seems to imply that the auditor's knowledge is not enough and that the auditor is now dependent on the dyadic relationship with the expert, who is more competent in a specific field than the auditor. Since auditing scandals have occurred where a dyadic relationship to an expert have been present, investigating how the auditorÂŽs dyadic relationship to the expert effect audit quality becomes relevant. Hence, the purpose with this study is to investigate how the auditorÂŽs relationship to the expert affects audit quality. In order to fulfill this purpose the study is based on a deductive approach. A model was developed based on earlier studies including the relational aspects: communication, conflict and social integration. From this model various hypotheses were developed, which was tested empirically through a web survey directed against auditors. The results from this study suggest that auditors do not perceive the relationship with the expert as problematic. This is indicated by the fact that a higher extent of use of expertise tends to lead to a higher audit quality. Also, the study indicates that auditors in âbig fourâ experience a lower degree of audit quality than the auditors from non big four. Furthermore indications are given regarding that the quality of communication between auditors and experts has a positive affect on audit quality. The contribution of this study is primarily that it sheds a light on an area of research that is relatively unexplored. This is because research regarding dyadic relationships applied to auditing seems to be limited. Hence, previous research examining the relationship between auditors and expertsâ impact on audit quality is surprisingly limited
Revisorns anvÀndande av experter och dess pÄverkan pÄ komfort
The modern auditor is, because of an increased complexity, dependent on the use of experts. Simultaneously different scandals have occurred where the auditor in fact have been using experts. Although the auditor is using an expert, the auditor alone is responsible for the statement that the expert makes. Research simultaneously indicates that the auditorâs use of experts is a difficult task. Because of the scandals that have occurred and that research in this specific area is limited it would be interesting to investigate the affects on comfort. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the auditorâs use of experts affects comfort. To fulfill this purpose, this paper builds on a deductive approach. A model have been developed based on previous research containing various factors such as; Risk, âstructure/judgmentâ, âtrustâ, information asymmetry and auditor overconfidence. This model has been empirically tested through the use of interviews with auditors and experts. The results from this study indicate that the use of experts have a positive affect on the auditors perceived comfort. The conclusions drawn indicate, among other things, that the customer perspective is a vital part in the auditorâs work and that this seems to have an affect on comfort. This study also is considered to demonstrate the importance of the concept trust for the creation of comfort. It has also appeared that the auditorsâ control of the expert evaluation sometimes is inadequate. The contributions made by this paper is mainly that it illuminates an area that is relatively unexplored, as no earlier research seems to have investigated the use of experts from a comfort perspective. This paper also contributes in highlighting the problems with the auditorâs lack of controlling the expert, when the auditors mission is to bring comfort to the publicDen moderna revisorn Ă€r nuförtiden, pĂ„ grund av en ökad komplexitet, beroende av anvĂ€ndningen av experter. Olika skandaler har samtidigt intrĂ€ffat dĂ€r det visats sig att revisorn har anvĂ€nt sig av experter i revisionen. Trots att revisorn anvĂ€nder experter stĂ„r denna ensamt ansvarig för det utlĂ„tande som experten ger. Forskning ger samtidigt indikationer pĂ„ att revisorns anvĂ€ndande av experter innebĂ€r en svĂ„r situation. PĂ„ grund av de skandaler som skett och att forskning inom omrĂ„det Ă€r begrĂ€nsad gör det intressant att undersöka hur detta pĂ„verkar revisorns komfort. Syftet med denna studie Ă€r att undersöka hur revisorns anvĂ€ndning av experter pĂ„verkar komforten. För att kunna uppfylla detta syfte har denna studie baserats pĂ„ en deduktiv ansats. En modell har utvecklats baserad pĂ„ tidigare forskning innehĂ„llande olika faktorer sĂ„som; risk, structure/judgement, âtrustâ, informationsasymmetri och revisorns övertro. Denna modell har sedan testats empiriskt genom intervjuer med revisorer och experter. Resultaten frĂ„n denna studie indikerar att anvĂ€ndningen av experter har en positiv effekt pĂ„ revisorns komfort. Slutsatserna som dragits innefattar bland annat att indikationer pĂ„ att kundperspektivet har en central del i revisorns arbete och att detta Ă€r nĂ„got som tycks ha en pĂ„verkan pĂ„ komforten. Denna studie anses Ă€ven visa pĂ„ betydelsen av begreppet âtrustâ för skapandet av komfort. Det har Ă€ven framkommit att revisorns kontroll av expertens bedömning ibland Ă€r bristande. Uppsatsens bidrag Ă€r framförallt att den belyser ett forskningsomrĂ„de som Ă€r tĂ€mligen outforskat, dĂ„ ingen tidigare forskning tycks ha undersökt anvĂ€ndandet av experter ur komfortperspektivet. Uppsatsen bidrar Ă€ven i form av att den belyser problematiken med att revisorn brister i kontrollen av experten trots att revisorns uppdrag Ă€r att skapa komfort hos allmĂ€nheten
Svaveldirektivets pÄverkan pÄ skogsindustrins transportstruktur och logistikstrategier
Internationella
Sjöfartsorganisationens
(IMO)
beslut
om
att
sÀnka
tillÄten
mÀngd
svavelinnehÄll
i
det
marina
brÀnslet
till
0,1
%,
i
sÄ
kallade
ECA-ÂâomrĂ„den
frÄn
och
med
Ă„r
2015
har
upprört
svenska
skogsindustrin.
Haven
runt
Sverige
ingÄr
i
ECA
och
för
att
uppnÄ
det
nya
svaveldirektivet
mÄste
rederierna
göra
vissa
ÄtgÀrder,
vilket
kommer
öka
transportkostnaderna
för
att
transportera
gods
med
fartyg
frÄn
Sverige.
Svenska
skogsindustrins
export
gÄr
mestadels
med
fartyg
och
det
finns
en
möjlighet
att
skogsindustrin
kommer
flytta
över
gods
frÄn
sjöfart
till
landtransporter
pÄ
grund
av
svaveldirektivet.
Hur
stora
transportkostnadsskillnaderna
Ă€r
mellan
olika
transportalternativ
pÄverkas
av
flera
osÀkerhetsfaktorer
sÄ
som
prisutveckling
för
brÀnsle.
Andra
restriktioner
för
sjöfarten,
sÄ
som
utslÀpp
av
kvÀve
och
hantering
av
ballastvatten,
förvÀntas
ocksÄ
blir
striktare
i
framtiden.
Syftet
med
denna
uppsats
Ă€r
att
undersöka
vilken
pÄverkan
svaveldirektivet
och
osÀkerhetsfaktorer
har
pÄ
Svenska
skogsindustrins
transportstruktur
och
logistikstrategier.
Vi
har
valt
att
göra
fem
intervjuer
med
representanter
frÄn
de
fyra
största
företagen
i
svenska
skogsindustrin,
sett
i
omsÀttning,
som
metod
för
att
göra
detta.
De
fyra
företagen
Ă€r
SCA,
Stora
Enso,
BillerudKorsnÀs
och
Holmen.
Tidigare
studier
gjorda
inom
omrÄdet
har
prognostiserat
att
gods
kommer
överflyttas
till
landtransporter
pÄ
grund
av
svaveldirektivet.
VĂ„ra
resultat
visar
ocksÄ
att
företagen
kommer
att
överflytta
gods
till
landtransporter.
Ăverföringen
kommer
vara
större
ju
lÀngre
söder
ut
i
landet
produktionsanlÀggningarna
ligger.
Massa-Ââ
och
pappersprodukter
kommer
frÀmst
överföras
till
tÄgtransporter
och
sÄgade
trÀvaror
till
lastbilstransporter.
Gods
som
tidigare
skeppades
ut
frÄn
hamnar
pÄ
östkusten
kommer
istÀllet
skeppas
ut
frÄn
hamnar
pÄ
vÀstkusten
i
större
utstrÀckning
för
att
minska
transporttiden
inom
ECA-ÂâomrĂ„det.
Vidare
visar
resultatet
att
företagen
ej
skriver
avtal
med
rederier
lÀngre
Ă€n
Ă„r
2015
utan
istÀllet
skriver
lÄnga
flexibla
avtal
med
jÀrnvÀgsoperatörer
som
möjliggör
en
ökning
av
gods
som
strategi
för
att
hantera
svaveldirektivet.
PĂ„
sÄ
vis
har
de
skapat
kapacitet
att
förÀndra
transportstukturen
nÀr
kostnadsbilden
för
olika
alternativ
blir
kÀnda
Ă„r
2015.
HĂ„rdare
restriktioner
av
andra
utslÀpp
eller
hantering
av
ballastvatten
för
sjöfarten
Ă€r
inget
som
i
nulÀget
pÄverkar
logistikstrategierna
Is a problem shared a problem halved?
Syftet med denna studie Ă€r att undersöka hur elever i par arbetar tillsammans med problemuppgifter och hur kommunikationen anvĂ€nds inom arbetsprocessen. Under tidigare praktiker har det observerats hur elever, trots att de i mĂ„nga fall Ă€r placerade i par i klassrummet, oftast blir instruerade att arbeta enskilt under matematiklektionerna. Den insamlade emperin som resultatet grundar sig pĂ„ utgörs av sex undersökningstillfĂ€llen dĂ€r tolv elever placerade i par hade som mĂ„l att samarbeta med tvĂ„ problemuppgifter. UndersökningstillfĂ€llena observerades för att analyseras med hjĂ€lp av PĂłlyas teori om de fyra problemlösningsfaserna och utifrĂ„n sociokulturellt teoretiskt perspektiv. Resultatet visar att eleverna framför allt arbetar tillsammans för att skapa en förstĂ„else för uppgifterna och för detta Ă€ndamĂ„l spelade kommunikationen en avgörande roll. Olika anvĂ€ndningsomrĂ„den för sprĂ„ket kunde Ă€ven urskiljas och den kommunikation som visade sig skapa flest lĂ€randetillfĂ€llen ses som ett âdelandeâ av information eleverna emellan. I kontrast till âdelandetâ synliggörs Ă€ven en typ av linjĂ€r kommunikation, dĂ€r syftet blir att överföra ett fĂ€rdigt budskap. Det visar sig ocksĂ„ att eleverna ofta vĂ€ljer att inte arbeta tillsammans eller kommunicera vid senare skeden av problemlösningsprocessen dĂ€r skapande av plan och berĂ€kningar ligger i fokus. I de fall dĂ€r eleverna vĂ€ljer att arbeta tillsammans inom dessa senare faser, anvĂ€nds alternativa metoder snarare Ă€n operationella berĂ€kningar för att lösa problemet
Relationsproblem? : En studie i hur revisorns relation till experten pÄverkar "audit quality"
Revisionsskandaler som intrĂ€ffat de senaste Ă„ren har fĂ„tt konsekvensen att revisionens kvalitet har hamnat i fokus. Samtidigt indikerar dessa skandaler pĂ„ den komplexitet, till exempel avseende vĂ€rderingar till marknadsvĂ€rde, som rĂ„der i balansrĂ€kningar och den utmaning detta innebĂ€r för revisorn. Utmaningarna tycks innebĂ€ra att revisorns kompetens inte rĂ€cker till och att revisorn nu Ă€r beroende av den dyadiska relationen till experten, vilken Ă€r mer kompetent inom ett specifikt omrĂ„de Ă€n revisorn. DĂ„ revisionsskandaler förekommit dĂ„ det ingĂ„tt relationer till experter, blir det relevant att undersöka hur revisorns dyadiska relation till experten pĂ„verkar âaudit qualityâ. Syftet med denna studie Ă€r följaktligen att undersöka hur revisorns relation till experter pĂ„verkar âaudit qualityâ. För att kunna uppfylla detta syfte har denna studie baserats pĂ„ en deduktiv ansats. En modell har utvecklats baserad pĂ„ tidigare forskning innehĂ„llande faktorerna; kommunikation, konflikt och social integration. UtifrĂ„n denna modell har olika hypoteser utvecklats, vilka sedan testats empiriskt genom en webbenkĂ€t riktad mot auktoriserade revisorer. Resultatet antyder att revisorerna inte upplever relationen till experten som problematisk. Detta antyds av att en högre omfattning av experthjĂ€lp leder till högre âaudit qualityâ. Samtidigt ger studien indikationer pĂ„ att revisorer inom âbig fourâ upplever en relativt lĂ€gre grad av evisionskvalitet Ă€n ânon big fourâ. Vidare ges antydningar pĂ„ att kommunikationskvaliteten mellan revisor och expert har ett positivt samband pĂ„ âaudit qualityâ. Uppsatsens bidrag Ă€r framförallt att den belyser ett forskningsomrĂ„de som Ă€r tĂ€mligen outforskat. Detta eftersom forskning dyadiska relationer applicerat pĂ„ revision tycks begrĂ€nsad. Samtidigt som ingen tidigare forskning tycks ha undersökt relationen mellan revisorn och experters pĂ„verkan pĂ„ âaudit qualityâ.Auditing scandals that have occurred in recent years has put increased attention on audit quality. Simultaneously these scandals indicate the complexity, for instance regarding market valuation, now found in balance sheets and the challenge this causes for the auditor. This challenge seems to imply that the auditor's knowledge is not enough and that the auditor is now dependent on the dyadic relationship with the expert, who is more competent in a specific field than the auditor. Since auditing scandals have occurred where a dyadic relationship to an expert have been present, investigating how the auditorÂŽs dyadic relationship to the expert effect audit quality becomes relevant. Hence, the purpose with this study is to investigate how the auditorÂŽs relationship to the expert affects audit quality. In order to fulfill this purpose the study is based on a deductive approach. A model was developed based on earlier studies including the relational aspects: communication, conflict and social integration. From this model various hypotheses were developed, which was tested empirically through a web survey directed against auditors. The results from this study suggest that auditors do not perceive the relationship with the expert as problematic. This is indicated by the fact that a higher extent of use of expertise tends to lead to a higher audit quality. Also, the study indicates that auditors in âbig fourâ experience a lower degree of audit quality than the auditors from non big four. Furthermore indications are given regarding that the quality of communication between auditors and experts has a positive affect on audit quality. The contribution of this study is primarily that it sheds a light on an area of research that is relatively unexplored. This is because research regarding dyadic relationships applied to auditing seems to be limited. Hence, previous research examining the relationship between auditors and expertsâ impact on audit quality is surprisingly limited