The purpose of this study is to examine whether there are any key factors for success to look for in launching a new business that affects the subsequent performance of the venture. Further on, the study will examine if there are any differences between believed and actual factors for success for an entrepreneur and the key factors for success given by existing theory. The purpose of looking in to the assumed gap between existing theory and entrepreneurs? believed and actual factors is to distinguish factors that make start-ups evolve. It is then important to investigate how they have worked with their business start-up and how they have worked with key factors for success in order to understand the impacts of their decisions.

Information handling has been a key issue for different companies for a long time. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is used to transfer different business documents from one company to another. This is done in such way that the information itself is separated from how this information is stored and handled in the companies internal systems. As different companies have different systems there is a need for a standardised format for this exchange. There is a big difference between EDI-systems based on what kind of EDI-standard is used. The most common standard in Europe is EDIFACT, but with increased interest of using the Internet for business communication there is a need for a standard that is adjusted for use over the Internet.

Goal: To describe which evaluation method is used by Swedish retailers to assess a potential retail location and to describe to what extent the retail brand effects this strategic decision. Design: Analysis of ten interviews with companies within five retail sectors in Sweden. Main study: Indication of what methods are used to evaluate a location and how a company's retail brand affects the decision. Results: Retailers use a mix of theoretical methods to evaluate the location attributes and possible profit. Most common among mixtures was an application of the analog method, residual method or the checklist method in combination with a financial assessment.

Purpose:Only 60 percent of the newly started companies survive their three first years. The purpose of this report is to obtain a deeper understanding regarding how newly started companies work with their positioning and if there are some kind of a relationship between positioning and the survival rate of newly started companies.Research questions:Do newly started companies know what position is? Do they incorporate positioning in their day to day marketing?Approach:We have used a hypothetical-deductive way of reasoning and a qualitative study to gather the information needed. We have through interviews asked our questions to six newly started companies in three different cities.Findings:In our essay, we reached the conclusion that newly started companies do not spend sufficient time or energy on positioning their products. The companies interviewed only market their product as a good product.

This study aims to investigate how value is constructed in horse business, in order to increase knowledge and contribute to development of theory in this field. This is important since the horse plays a significant role in the rural development in Sweden. The study assumes that value is something created through relationships in the social network. Therefore theories of sensemaking are combined with a discourse analytic method. By interviewing customers to two companies, one with orientation on trotting horses and one with orientation on showjumping horses, it was found that value is constructed through retrospective stories.

This study is on how small companies can use the Internet as a part of their marketing strategy to gain a leverage on their competitors with small means to survive and expand in the global market. Many Swedish small companies still don?t have a sufficient knowledge on how to use the communication channel despite the various advantages the Internet offers.Case studies were conducted of how AdLibris, A-lotterierna AB and SF-bokhandeln perceived the importance of using the Internet as a part of their communications strategy.This new communication channel demand new ways of applying traditional marketing principals. Careful analysis of the interviews and how the answers relate to new and old marketing theories makes the bulk of this study. The conclusion is that the Internet solely is not enough, a combination with traditional marketing tools is the way to succeed in their marketing efforts.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess whether the overreaction found in ?Does the Stock Market Overreact?? by DeBondt and Thaler still persists today, and by equivalence test if a trading strategy based upon these assumptions would generate abnormal returns. MethodThe research has been carried out by studies of the stocks that for a prior period of one year has over or underperformed their benchmark. The stocks used in my study are all part of S&P500 index, and the period of study runs from three to five overlapping years over the last twenty years. ResultsMy tests indicate that the type of overreaction proposed by DeBondt & Thaler still is present, at least considering the stocks that during the formation period were winners..

This Master of Science Thesis was a complement project to the PIEp study MENTOL, carried out at a Swedish midsize medical device company.. PIEp nationally works for a long-term increase of the innovation capability of people and organizations. The purpose of this study was to find measuring parameters of innovation that fit medium-sized technological companies and organizations, Another purpose was to evaluate an innovation investment at the company, consisting of external consultant?s education of key personnel in innovation, and a two day innovation seminar with all personnel at the company participating. The methods used during this Master of Science Thesis were: feasibility and literature studies about innovation and innovation measurements, quantitative and qualitative interviews, surveys and workshops.For an accurate measure of innovation it is crucial to a have full understanding of what innovation is, and clarity of the purpose of the measurement itself.

The aim of this thesis is, from a business perspective, to examine how the pharmacy chain Medstop is working with their positioning in order to achieve competitiveness in the re-regulated pharmacy market. This is studied through a theoretical framework that demonstrates five forces that affects the competitiveness in an industry, the five-force model by Michael Porter.The thesis is a qualitative case study where data collection was done through interviews, literature, articles, websites and internal information from Medstop. The data was then complied into the theoretical perspective the authors have chosen for this paper, the five-force model by Michael Porter. This model was chosen because it gives a broad description of the competition a company faces by describing five different forces that affect the competition within a branch. The fact was collected on the basis of the marketing strategy positioning, and the essay is written from a business perspective.Our cunclusions are that the pharmacy chain Medstop are in their initial positioning and has chosen to position itself on the basis of their core values; credibility, safety and security.

Outsourcing, förflyttning av funktioner till extern part som tidigare funnits i företaget, är ett fenomen som under de två senaste årtiondena har vuxit starkt i världen. Outsourcing har möjliggjort för företag att fokusera på sin kärnverksamhet och därmed erhålla konkurrensfördelar. Business Process Outsourcing är en kategori inom detta område, som innebär att företaget outsourcar hela eller delar av sin ekonomifunktion. Användandet av Business Process Outsourcing har ökat bland de svenska företagen under de senaste åren. Det finns mångtydiga förklaringar till denna framväxt, där en förklaring är att det är en trend.

ABSTRACTTitle: First steps towards successful recruitment ? A study about a small Swedish firm?s recruitment strategyCourse: Bachelor Dissertation - LeadershipAuthors: Filip Agby, Damir Macanovic and Thomas MennerdahlAdvisor: Anders BillströmKey Words: Recruitment in small firms, recruitment strategy, wrong fit recruitment, HRM, right staffProblem enunciation: What pros and cons could the choice of recruitment strategy mean for a small Swedish firm. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to give recruiters a better understanding of how a small Swedish company could use different recruitment strategies, together with systematic preparations, to affect the experienced recruitment result. Another purpose is to study if earlier mentioned international research about small firms? recruitment strategies is applicable to a small Swedish firm.Theoretical framework: The section initiates by introducing the reader to the subject through describing Human resource management with a focus on recruitment.

AbstractTitle: It?s not just a comment ? a study about Crisis Management on Social MediaAuthor: Malin Pettersson 910624 and Amanda White 920310Year: Spring 2014Level: Bachelor degreeDepartment: School of Business and EconomicsSupervisor: Carina HolmgrenExaminer: Frederic Bill Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a theoretical model for Crisis Management on social media. Method: The overall literature that was found consisted of traditional Crisis Management and the communication that goes with it, and it was mainly written for traditional channels such as newspapers. The theories could not concretely describe how organizations should handle crisis in Social Media. Therefore, this study focuses on if and how organizations can use the traditional theories when working with crisis management in social media. Through a qualitative method the study has examined and tested the model on three crises, and subsequently improved the model based on the empirical material and  the analysis that was made. Conclusion: The conclusion found that organizations need to adjust their crisis management after following guidelines for it to work on social media:-    Strategies should be limited to only one, and be either a rebuilding strategy or a bolstering strategy.-    The focus should be on emotional communication, and regarding the rational aspects the focus should be on actual actions and plans for the future.-    Clear guidelines for what type of questions and critics that should be answered should be set.

Denna uppsats inleds med en introducerande undersökning där vi finner att mjukvaror för förvaltning av Business Rules inte är använt av många svenska organisationer. Förundersökningen drev oss att undersöka hur Business Rules förvaltas inom svenska organisationer. Först sammanställdes en översikt över de fakta som finns tillhands inom ämnet för Business Rules samt lämpliga sätt att hantera Business Rules. Genom de förberedande studierna identifierades några brister som kan finnas i svenska organisationer som inte använder Business Rules och dessa ledde till en första och övergripande forskningsfråga. Frågan formulerades som följer: Hur förvaltas BR i IS och IT i svenska organisationers dagliga verksamhet? Den har sedan delats upp i sju stycken delfrågor som framställts utifrån problemområdet.

In this thesis we study the development of post-earnings announcement drift (PEAD) in the Swedish equity market from 2000 to 2009. By forming portfolios based on the stock price reaction to quarterly reporting we show that the characteristics of PEAD have changed. We demonstrate that negatively surprising companies show a positive drift during a holding period of six months sufficiently large to render the trading strategy unprofitable. This development holds from 2005 and onwards and these results contradict many a study which finds the same portfolio construction to be indeed profitable. We argue that this development is a trend that will not only affect our study but future studies as well..

Background: The world of sports possesses a lot of knowledge when it comes to leadarship and coaching. Coaching as a term is relatively new to the business industry and something that is up and coming among alot of companies. Leadership and coaching are two terms that can be combined with each other both in sports and in the business industry.Objectives: This study aims to compare leadership in sports and in the business industry. The purpose is to see if they can learn from each other and how they define the term leadership.Method: Interviews were chosen as a method in this study. Six individual interviews were performed and there were three leaders from the business industry and three leaders from the world of sport participating in the study.