Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether abnormal stock returns could be identified as a result of a layoff announcement during weak economy.Method: An event study methodology.Theory: Efficient market hypothesis, signal theory.Empirical results: Quantitative data from observations of stock prices in thirty two companies listed on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm, in the period 2008 -2012.Conclusion: The results indicate that the market reaction was negative because there were negative abnormal returns on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during the period 2008-2012 in connection with the layoff announcements. The market reaction was milder when staff reductions were carried out as a result of a restructuring and stronger when staff reductions were carried out as part of a cost reduction program.The layoff announcements elicited different market reactions depending on the company's industry affiliation. The most negative reaction was in the Healthcare industry. Negative abnormal returns were lower in industries Industrials, Consumer Services and Consumer Goods. There were no abnormal returns for shares of companies in the industry Financials.

line of business/industry and family, to more clearly discern how male and female norms are acquired among female entrepreneurs. The purpose of this study was to gain a greater understanding and knowledge of women's conditions regarding entrepreneurship, in relation to society's norms. The study is based on a textual thematic analyses, using two themes derived from Helene Ahls ?The Scientific Reproduction of Gender Inequality. A Discourse Analysis of Research Texts on Women`s Entrepreneurship?.

When the competition is getting stronger and companies must work harder to find new markets, new products and create new needs to reach growth, it appears strange that they overlook an obvious target segment right in front of their eyes. For some years ago, marketers of fashion brands feared that older women would wear their clothes, because it gave bad promotion for the young economically viable target group. Today, older women have difficulties finding clothes with right fit, style and personal taste. They would gratefully accept a brand, they felt were aimed for them. The purpose of this study is to give new ideas to companies in the fashion industry, how to reach this target group, but also be a contributing reason for older women to see the market opening for them.

 The sawmill industry is a relative fragmented industry that is in an economic upswing andwith a hard competition. The customers have high demands on their suppliers and the highcustomer demand make it necessary for the companies to make a streamlining in planningand production. For that reason it is very important that the planning- and productionprocesses aren?t to complex and with a simple structure.The purpose of this report is to study and map out a marked out part of a planning- andproduction process, from adjust works to final delivery, at a company in the sawmill industry.Different methods have been used for the report, among others interviews and subordinatedmaterial.We have mapped out a marked out part of the planning- and production process at theCompany. This part we have studied, and we have analysed the process it self and otherthings connected to the process.We see the planning- and production process in the Company as complex.

Songs from the Crypt: Mapping the Forces that Hinder the Digital Revolution of Music Distribution This paper seeks an explanation to the low market share growth of the commercial digital music distribution in Sweden. The analysis identifies a spectrum of obstacles that hinder the digital distribution technology from becoming the main form of music distribution in Sweden. These obstacles make the digital music distribution less favourable in comparison with physical distribution from the consumer?s point of view. The authors suggest that in order for the digital distribution of music to become competitive the digital product would either have to be developed further to offer more customer value or the so called a là carte retail model would have to be replaced by a subscription-based distribution model.

After the formation of the European Union internal market in 1992, member state specific obstacles and barriers were largely removed. This was especially the case in harmonised industries where standardisation and technical regulation have led to legal certainty. Despite this, a large range of trade regulation continues to remain distortional to trade, in addition to the ongoing tariffs and subsidies. The key trade regulations relate to a number of areas involving technical regulations such as production labelling and the protection of intellectual property rights. Whilst policy makers claim justification based around the need to correct market failure in delivering desired outcomes, the question is whether these regulations are appropriate responses to market failures or if they have simply been imposed in an attempt to protect domestic markets.

This thesis addresses online marketing within gaming industry. Some customer identifying methods and website development were introduced as well as examined over the Internet. An empirical study focusing on two gaming companies has been carried out. The purpose has been to describe the use of internet by online gaming companies for online marketing. The thesis will focus on finding out how online gaming companies identify their target groups on internet and how they use internet to reach out to their consumers.

During the last two decades, temporary staffing has been the fastest growing industry in Sweden. The latest development within this industry is the integration of third-party providers of temporary staffing. Client organizations outsource the process of recruiting temporary workers to intermediaries with procurement management expertise. The concept is called Vendor Management Services (VMS) and aims to standardize decision-making and lower costs through improved efficiency. However, studies have shown that VMS intermediary functions have negative impact on placement matching.

Today most people are in agreement that the media industry is in crisis. Many newsrooms cut down on staff. At the same time the PR industry is growing. We wanted to research if this could affect the unbiased and independent news in our news media today. Today's newsrooms receive a lot of press releases every day.

Due to recent legal enactments regarding carbon dioxide emissions, the car industry is facing higher demands. An effective way of reducing these emissions is to minimize the weight of the vehicle. This thesis constitutes a feasibility study on whether or not it is applicable for the car industry to utilize an inner floor structure comprising composite materials. The principal was the projectSåNätt, in which the main participant was Volvo Cars Corp. In consultation with a reference group, consisting of delegates from the industry and KTH, a specification of requirements was produced.

Title: Real Estate Brokerage Industry's reputation - a study from a relationship marketing perspectiveLevel: Bachelor thesis in business administrationAuthors: Sanna Soininen & Sofia PulkkinenSupervisor: Jonas KågströmDate: 2013 ? AugustBackground: The background to this investigation was primarily another survey, conducted by Fastighetsbyrån, a Swedish real estate agency. According to the survey, only 5% of the Swedish population claims to have high confidence for realtors. The problem discussion revolves around statistics about how few real estate agents who are notified and receive sanctions each year. We believe that those numbers doesn't make sense when compared to how few people trust realtors, which is where our aim with the study comes from.Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the real estate brokerage industry's reputation by previous research in relationship marketing.Method: The study was conducted with a deductive and for the most part with a positivistic approach.

It is self evident that our society is an information one. This is true from the things we see around us.The world is now a global village.It just take seconds for communication to be established from one part of the globe to another.What a tremendous achievement for information technology.Among the recent developments of information technology is the scientific wizardary of cyber medicine.The internet has definitely revolutionalised the healthcare industry. Many people in developed countries of the world seek medical information, advice or even buy drugs via the internet.So many websites rise every now and then claiming to provide various medical assistance to patients. But the application of information technology to medicine poses some ethical problems today. It is because of this that cyber medicine attracts my attention in this research.With this research, I hope to offer some recommendations for a morally acceptable cyber medicine .This will help to some extent in solving this all important problem ofcyber medicine for the good of the health care industry and the society at large..

The manufactory industry, due to decline in profit margins, is seeking new business opportunities by moving towards servitization and value-adding services in after-sales. We have therefore conducted a case study to investigate a manufacturing company in their current transformation towards servitization. By studying the management perspective, we aimed to understand how Information Technology, by adding value, could play a role in the transformation process. This study shows that information technology can take an integrating role, by supporting new value-adding services to provider and customer, as well as a co-creating role, where both provider and customer benefits by learning from each other, in the changing work process initiated by new services. The study has also shown that Information Technology, together with organization, information and people, are crucial components in the manufactory industry?s transformation towards servitization.  Furthermore, the study has also shown that the value chain has the potential to drastically change due to the value-adding that the information technology brings to the progress of servitization..

The tourism industry in EU is one of the biggest sectors and employs about20 million people. A key factor of the industry is information, much oftourist information is today on the Internet. On Internet there is twoways information can flow, the information can either be pushed to aconsumer or the consumer of the Information can pull it from a source.In a feasibility study for the report the participants expressed thatthey thought the tourist information on the Internet was unpersonal anddidnt fill their informationneeds. The purpose of the report was to findout how push and pull of touristinformation can be balanced on Internet.The empirical data was collected with a feasibility study, a survey anda case. The survey was conducted at IT-University and School of Business,Economics and Law at Göteborg.

This essay has a purpose of looking at Swedish independent labels in the music industry and how they communicate with their market through social networks on the internet. There have not been much research about this in the past and we hope to contribute with knowledge to the area. In mind we had the changing music industry, an evolution of the internet and viral marketing communication.To answer our research question we decided to conduct three interviews with people who worked at independent labels and had market communication as their area ofresponsibility. The three independent labels in our study were based in Sweden, except for one that is based in London, England as well as Stockholm, Sweden. We selected the independent labels based on their tendency to work with marketing communication in the social networks on the internet.