Abstract The growth of supra-national organizations, such as the European Union, has been a recent trend in today?s global environment, which has challenged traditional marketing concepts and product cues. One such cue that is significantly challenged is the 'origin cue'. An origin cue is conceived to be a socially constructed notion that consumers use to discern where goods come from and to accordingly evaluate products with. The origin cue is often predominantly materialized in the public sphere by a 'made in' labelling scheme.

In this essay we have approached the problem with retailer brands that copy marketing leaders to get consumers attention in the storeshelf. We have sought to explore how much a designed package would change the consumers opinion of a brand and if this effect is different depending on if the brand is a retailer brand or a market leader. Also we sought to find if this effect would be greater with a salient color on the package. We made a quantitative study and with regression analysis we found that a designed package did have effect on the consumers opinion of the brand, and that the design with the salient color made the biggest effect..

DefinitionerInitial public offering (IPO)Den första försäljningen av ett företags aktier på den publika marknaden.AvnoteringHändelsen då ett börsbolags aktie tas bort från marknaden.Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)Ett omfattande och för ämnet väl undersökt amerikanskt regelverk.Private Equity (PE)Aktiekapital som inte är börsnoterat, investerare som investerar direkt i privata bolag eller köper ut publika bolag från börsen.International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS)Internationella regler som styr rapporteringen av olika typer av transaktioner och händelser.Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)Förvärv och sammanslagningar av bolag.Definitioner hämtade från http://www.nasdaq.com/investing/glossary/.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the relationship between brands and music in TV-commercials. We investigated why companies use music in TV-commercials to affect their brands and how music affects the brand?s image. We also investigated how companies choose music genres for their TV- commercials. A case study based on interviews was conducted with four informants from SAAB, Lowe Brindfors, Riviera and Catt & Co.

Syftet med denna studie är att identifiera styrkor och svagheter i byggandet av varumärket Asea Brown Boveri, ABB i Storvik. Det ska vidare påvisa om varumärket bör ompositioneras i kundernas sinne, och i så fall hur denna ompositionering skulle kunna åstadkommas. Studien baseras på litteraturstudier samt intervjuer med sju externa kunder och två interna medarbetare på ABB. Resultaten visar på tydliga brister i varumärket inom projektarbeten medan de inom ramen för service och reparationer har en relativt stark position på marknaden. En ompositionering av varumärket är därför nödvändig, vilket kan åstadkommas bland annat via utökade resurser och åtgärder inom marknadsföringen..

Active ownership is widely regarded as positive for the development and performance of businesses. In this paper, we investigate the impact of ownership concentration and owner identity on return on equity (ROE) in Swedish companies between 1986 and 2008, and show that active ownership might suffer from opposing effects. We find evidence, albeit weak, that ownership concentration has a positive effect on profitability, but that it levels off at high levels of ownership shares. Furthermore, we propose that family ownership has a negative effect on profitability. Our results are dependent of choice of statistical method, but show nonetheless a need to reevaluate what seems to be a universally positive view of active ownership..

The general consensus is that the gap between the Swedish variable mortgage rate and the repo rate has increased over the last years. Although the Riksbank in recent times has cut its base rate, many banks have chosen either to leave the interest rate on variable mortgages unchanged, or they did reduce it but by less points than the reduction in the repo rate. The linear relationship between the repo rate and the variable mortgage rate has changed over the last decade and the mortgage margins these days are relatively high. This can somewhat be explained by the new rules introduced in the bank sector requiring banks to increase liquidity and equity. Since mortgage loans play an important role in banks? lending business it is of interest to gain knowledge in whether a repo rate reduction latterly has generated a limited affect on the banks lending rates..

Olika teorier kring varumärkeshantering och varumärkesbyggande ställs mot empiri och sekundärdata från tre fallföretag som bytt eller ska byta namn. Empirin är insamlad via kvalitativa intervjuer under våren 2006. Fokus ligger på huvudfallet, E.ON, och hur deras namnbyte gått till och vad det fått för konsekvenser på företagets varumärkeshantering. Resultatet diskuteras utifrån överförbarhet och förslag till fortsatt forskning. Det innebär i korthet att ett namnbyte påverkar flera aspekter av ett företags varumärkeshantering bl a såtillvida att arbetet med att skapa varumärkeskännedom initialt intensifieras.

AbstractAuthors:Stefan Harrå and Magnus BjörkAdvisor: Markku PenttinenTitle: Accounting Consequences of the change in pension accounting Background to problem: When the revised IAS 19 comes into force January 1, 2013, it means that two of the three accounting principles for defined benefit pension plans are disappearing, including the corridor method. The corridor method has made it possible for companies to defer its actuarial gains and losses. Now that the corridor approach abolished then the unrecognized actuarial gains and losses immediately be covered by equity, which involves very large amounts of some companies. Why the amounts have grown so big is much because of the discount rate. The discount rate is a controversial parameter, and there is disagreement on how it should be fixed.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine the accounting implications this will have for the company applied the corridor method, and if there is some parameters in the actuarial assumption that is more important than others.Methodology: The thesis has mainly been based on a qualitative research through qualitative interviews with a small sample that is affected by this change.

Denna uppsats behandlar varumärkesassociationer samt dess påverkan på varumärkeskapital. Uppsatsen är genomförd som en fallstudie och undersöker hur det svenska telekommunikationsföretaget Tre tolkar konsumenters associationer till varumärket Tre. Detta jämförs sedan med de varumärkesassociationer som föreligger kring Tres varumärke på marknaden.Varumärkesassociationer formas primärt hos konsumenter och är således inte enbart en process som företag styr. Detta innebär dock inte att associationerna är opåverkbara från företagets sida. En central faktor som påverkar skapandet av varumärkesassociationer har i denna uppsats påvisats vara konsumenters kontakt med företaget, där framförallt den första kontakten tenderar att forma associationerna.

The study has shown that retailers in the mid-price segment differentiate their brand through developing a strong company identity around the brand. The personality involves store atmosphere, merchandise and advertising. Larger companies have chosen to lay the responsibility on management level, which facilitates on store level. By controlling the strategies on a central level the company can make sure that the stores are steered in the direction that the company wants them to be steered in, and also that they follow the positioning-concept. The company can also devote its efforts to working with its core value, which is service.

This thesis has been carried out in collaboration with LEDtec International AB. LEDtec focuses on innovative solutions in LED screens. Everything from large advertising signs to welcome signs in cities, to screens indicating speeds or warning of heavy traffic. The task was to was to help them develop a new version of the control board that is used in some of their products. The reason for this is that their old control board is obsolete and the components that are on it, is no longer manufactured or in need to be renewed.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att ge en bild av hur generella projektledningsmetoder används inom reklambranschen. Vi ville undersöka vilka aspekter av projektledningen som kan påverkas av de speciella förutsättningar som finns i reklambranschen. Varje reklamprojekt innehåller en skapandeprocess, och vi ville se hur sådant påverkar projektledningen.Vi sammanställde först ett antal generella projektledningsmetoder för att få en teoretisk bild av hur projekt kan bedrivas. För att ge läsaren en inblick i reklambranschen och hur reklam skapas, beskrev vi även reklam ur ett teoretiskt perspektiv.Med utgång från vår teori, genomförde vi en kvalitativ studie av sju reklambolag i Karlstad. Vi gjorde djupintervjuer med en projektledare från respektive byrå, under vilka de fick beskriva sitt projektarbete.

Background and problem: The financial crisis 2008-2009 came out from an over-optimism among those who took the real estate loans in the U.S., and especially so-called subprime loans. After the 2008 financial crisis, it has become a global uncertainty in the financial market with low growth, and even financial crises in the euro countries have appeared. The real estate industry is a capital-intensive industry where companies have a high leverage to implement their investment. This means they have a larger proportion of debt relative to equity than companies in other industries. As investments require a lot of capital, real estate companies become dependent on having a working relationship with both the banks and the capital market.

AbstractAuthors:Stefan Harrå and Magnus BjörkAdvisor: Markku PenttinenTitle: Accounting Consequences of the change in pension accounting Background to problem: When the revised IAS 19 comes into force January 1, 2013, it means that two of the three accounting principles for defined benefit pension plans are disappearing, including the corridor method. The corridor method has made it possible for companies to defer its actuarial gains and losses. Now that the corridor approach abolished then the unrecognized actuarial gains and losses immediately be covered by equity, which involves very large amounts of some companies. Why the amounts have grown so big is much because of the discount rate. The discount rate is a controversial parameter, and there is disagreement on how it should be fixed.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine the accounting implications this will have for the company applied the corridor method, and if there is some parameters in the actuarial assumption that is more important than others.Methodology: The thesis has mainly been based on a qualitative research through qualitative interviews with a small sample that is affected by this change.