No other object is in our constant possession such as the mobile phone. The smartphone has been transformed into a worldwide forum for information-rich exchanges between individuals and companies, by which this rapid access to the smartphone has created and continues to create opportunities in terms of communication. Many researchers of today undertake the challenge of studying the smartphone's role as a marketing channel, and the role of the channel is now undoubtedly central in marketing. However, as the importance of marketing communication increases and despite the fact that survey methods are exceedingly dependent on a channel to fulfill its purpose, namely carry out questionnaires, there has been surprisingly little attention to the study of the channel's role and importance when carrying out surveys. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the choice of a communication channel affects the survey outcome and, if so, further investigate how survey methods differ in terms of consumers' attitude and also their perception of their privacy.

Today's consumers are demanding more and more from companies and are no longer as easy to im-press as they used to be. It is now the consumers that hold an increasing amount of power over com-panies and not the other way around. This change in consumer behaviour has caused an identity crisis for traditional advertising, and companies are now searching for new ways of reaching their target audience. The purpose of this combined qualitative and quantitative case study is to examine possible risks and possibilities that a retailing company face when communicating through Facebook. Data has been collected through in-depth interviews with company representatives combined with a quantitative study of the company's Facebook followers in order to answer the questions of (1) which possibilities and risks a retailing company face through the use of a Facebook fanpage and (2) if there is a differ-ence in the attitude and behaviour of active respectively passive followers that may have been caused by a retailing company's marketing communication on Facebook.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether there is a correlation between attitude andbuying decisions of consumers regarding certified coffee. The study will examine whether marketsurveys measuring consumer?s attitudes, is a good method for predicting a purchasing decisionsregarding certified coffee.Method: To study consumer attitudes towards certified coffee, we have implemented a web-basedsurvey at Facebook. A total of 108 responses were recorded. To complement the Facebook study wehave conducted three surveys on persons who are customers at ICA.

The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare how and why consumers of different ethnic backgrounds value and prioritize product attributes among food in certain ways. We expected to find culturally bound attitude differences and our aim was to relate those to, and challenge, present knowledge of information structures. Consequently, we also aimed to use this new knowledge of attribute attitudes in connection to assortment variety theory, as attributes constitute important motives to how consumers perceive variety. A theoretical framework was constructed to suit our purpose and function as an analytical tool, consisting of Culture perspectives, Information structures (product attributes), and Assortment variety. In this thesis we focused on attitudes and consumer perspectives and excluded actual behaviour and the retailing perspective.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept that is growing increasingly important, with more and more companies acknowledging that they have an obligation to the environment in which they operate. We were interested in inquiring into why companies chose to do so, even though there are no laws that condition them to engage in CSR. One answer to this might be that companies use CSR as a way to distinguish themselves from the competition as well as to gain trust and goodwill from the stakeholders. When it comes to Corporate Social Responsibility, the question is no longer whether or not companies should engage in it, but how they can gain competitive advantage by doing so. This study aims at providing a framework for possible ways of integrating CSR and branding, as well as different strategies for CSR-communication. We also tried to define how, and why, consumers respond to CSR-initiatives.

The technological progress of the world has had a massive effect on how we communicate with one and other, it also has had an big impact on how companies communicate with their customers and consumers. Today you cannot only communicate a ?promise to your costumers and consumers you also have to ?deliver? what it is you promise. Strategic communication is today not only to market your product but to ensure that your strategic communication is shown even in you innovation, design and product development.  This thesis is conducted in collaboration with No Picnic AB.The purpose of this study was to get an insight in how Swedish companies use their strategic communication. We aim on bringing a new point of view of strategic communication with innovation, design and product development also as a communication channel.

This essay discusses the legal and economic functions of the trademark and furthermore the degeneration of trademarks. These two concepts are strongly connected as the primary function of the trademark is the ability to separate the proprietor of the trademark?s product from the competitors´ products. The ability to separate is the basic condition for receiving legal protection. Through degeneration the trademark loses this ability to separate the product and becomes a generic term for the category of the product.

In the ever increasing media clutter it is hard for marketers to make their products stand out. New ways of reaching consumers are constantly arising. This study seeks to further investigate the phenomenon known as product placement, delimited to movies/television. By conducting an experiment we tested whether different presumptions matters for what effect a product placement will have on attitude and if these could be affected. We also looked at if the level of product integration effect attitude and realism enhancement.

In the early 1990?s more and more companies of the Swedish public sector were exposed to competition, and this started the debate on how such actions might affect the business and even society.The first chapter examines how the public sector and especially health care, is financed and managed. We also explore what it means to be exposed to competition and find that there are many different ways of exposing the public sector to competition. The study examines dental care as an example of a market with both publicly and privately owned companies. The purpose of this paper is to explore how publicly and privately owned health care companies view their relationship with their consumers.

Companies within the e-commerce industry currently try to overcome the disadvantages of not being able to provide a physical inspection of products, and this is especially an issue for the apparel industry. One way of trying to overcome this issue is by presenting apparel with a short video of a model wearing the garment. The aim in this thesis is to investigate how these video presentations affect consumers' emotions, cognitions and intentions. Since previous studies have found that different shopping scenarios can moderate the effect of stimuli in the atmosphere on the consumers' emotions, we also aim to see if a video presentation, depending on the shopping scenario, could have a negative impact on site visitors. Moreover this thesis investigates the moderating effects of involvement on consumers' cognitions.

We have a business proposal. Instead of the consumers visit the country side in order to purshase we are interested in starting a shop with only regional produced products in the city. We have our base in a part of Sweden called Östergötland, therefore we have investigated the market for such a store in Östergötlands biggest city, called Linköping. The conclusion is that the store must sell food produced in the region. Another conlusion is that the store must be located near a bigger supermarket. Our main selling points are quality and that the food is produced in the near region.

The world?s consumption is increasing at an accelerating rate and it´s produced and consumed more goods and services than ever before. A large part of people's consumption consists of clothing that is bought and discarded increasingly leading to a number of environmental problems such as global warming, pollution, loss of biodiversity and the depletion of natural assets. One way to save the earth's resources is to buy used clothing, so called second hand, instead of new ones. The store chain ?The Ants? (in Swedish ?Myrorna?) has specializing in second-hand goods and sells, among other things, clothes.

One fundamental principle in Swedish contract law is that passive acceptance does not constitute a binding acceptance of an offer. Still, business owners use the consumers unknowing of this, and form offers saying passivity will lead to a binding agreement. Business owners are thus trying to ?negatively bind? the consumer to agreements. There are rules prohibiting this kind of actions in the Swedish marketing law (MFL).In order to find out what constitutes this forbidden kind of agreement-entering according to the Swedish Market Court, an analysis of seven cases settled between 2002-2009 and concerning consumers in these situations, is made.

This study examines the eWOM effect, more specifically: how customer reviews effects consumers. The study is based on a modified version of the Regulatory Focus Theory which describes consumer behavior using consumer consumption goals. The purpose of this study was to examine how positive and negative customer review's influence consumers when analyzing products that are equally characterized by two consumption goals: promotion and prevention goals. The authors combined quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (focus groups) research methods with the sample selection for both research methods being based on students of Södertörns University. Results indicate that negative customer reviews have a stronger influence on consumers than positive customer reviews when analyzing products that are equally characterized by the promotion goals and prevention goals.

Concerns for the environment and our impact on it are becoming more prevalant; however, we rarely act accordingly. Consumers mainly choose products based on perceived personal benefits despite the environmental motives that increasingly affect them. The purpose of this thesis is to identify the major drivers behind the purchase of ecological wine. A quantitative study was conducted, using Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as an initial starting point. The subsequent model was then completed with three variables: environmental concern, feelings and word-of-mouth.