The purpose of this thesis was to examine how the build-up of customer relations can be characterized at the end of the industrial selling process and how companies engage their cross-functional selling teams into this relationship building effort. Through a case study of Omega, a multinational company engaged in the selling of products of an industrial character, it was revealed that the build-up and maintaining of the customer relationship is of acute importance, as it presents the company with a window of opportunities. Through its relationship with the customer the company can be able to sell other products, which are related to the original purchase made by the customer. For the company?s competitors the established relationship might also serve as a barrier when attempting to enter the market or increase market share.

Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) is a further development of the Six Sigma draft to carry through preventing quality measures in developing and designing of new products and processes. With increasing demands on enterprises development processes to be more safety and faster the need of DFSS arise as a product, process and service development concept in the organisations. Design for Six Sigma aims to improve and structure the development process of an organisation and consider the application of the innovation problem solving. The concept aims to leave the structure of the traditional Six Sigma concept and instead, from an innovative perspective, search for new solutions to existing problems. The concept constitute of a toolbox with a lot of quality tools that are divided into phases in a development model.

Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) is a further development of the Six Sigma draft to carry through preventing quality measures in developing and designing of new products and processes. With increasing demands on enterprises development processes to be more safety and faster the need of DFSS arise as a product, process and service development concept in the organisations. Design for Six Sigma aims to improve and structure the development process of an organisation and consider the application of the innovation problem solving. The concept aims to leave the structure of the traditional Six Sigma concept and instead, from an innovative perspective, search for new solutions to existing problems. The concept constitute of a toolbox with a lot of quality tools that are divided into phases in a development model.

Subject: This paper is about Brand Extension and if the process differs when a company extends its brand from a service to a product in comparison to an extension from a product to a product. As an example we have analyzed the mobile phone business and the mobile phone operators who launch their private branded mobile phonesPurpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze how companies use brand extension from service to product as a part of their brand extension strategy.Method: A literature study was done in the brand extension area, but also in the area of brands to have a deeper understanding for the subject. A qualitative study with interviews was combined with a quantitative survey study. On the basis of the theories we could analyze the collected data and fulfill the papers purpose. Results: Important features and differences in services and products were identified and the importance of a strong brand identity before an extension.

Nordic Marine Sauna AB has, since 2005, designed, manufactured and sold floating saunas. Theproduct are characterised by a well thought thru and appealing design and its high quality. Thecompany is now intending to open a new business area by starting a subsidiary, NordicSubmarine Sauna AB, which will design submerged saunas. The expected customers are leisureand conference centres as well as customers that seek an experience out of the ordinary.Due to the products technical complexity a master thesis was adverted. The task was to do aninvestigation whether such a product is technically viable.The job involved research of existing products and constructions material as well as designingthe product with CAD and FEM-programs.

Together with Attends in Aneby a thesis of 15 ECTS (credits) have been undertaken. The assignment was to develop a new incontinence product for single use. Users of the product value comfort, flexibility, softness, comfort and a discreet product. Users are for individuals with incontinence problems that usually receive the products via prescription. The product must also have an attractive price and good quality from the purchase / originator's perspective.Currently there are two models that Attends supplies, which the project intends to develop, (Slips / Briefs and Pull On's).

Nature?s Best is a quality-label for Swedish Eco-tourism. It is one of very few active ecotourism labels and the only one that claims quality as its main focus. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the certification scheme Nature?s Best with regards to the values the certification creates for the companies that certify their products.

The number of ideas at innovative companies usually exceeds the amount of available human ormaterial recourses, this include ideas for development of new products. Since they are not able to doeverything they want to do they have to choose between ideas to develop new products. This includesthe decision on when to start, stop or kill a project as well as the thought process of prioritizing betweenongoing and potential projects.Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is an organizational process, with the purpose of systematicallyorganizing and running the activities that aim to evaluate, select and prioritize ideas and projects fordeveloping new products. PPM include four major goals to be fulfilled; Maximizing Value of thePortfolio, Achieving a Balanced Portfolio, Achieving a Strategic Alignment and Running the RightNumber of Projects.The purpose of the thesis was to develop a more visual and formal PPM process for the early stages inproduct development in one department at St Jude Medical AB, Sweden.The thesis was conducted by following a methodology known as Process Modules. The methodology isan approach for developing a PPM process that fits a specific company.

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.

Organizational learning has become more and more important in the last decades as the environment in which organizations exist continues to change rapidly and unexpectedly. In order for organizational learning to happen, the individuals within the organization must learn. Just as different individuals possess different skills, each individual also has their own learning style. As the use of teamwork increases, so does the need for techniques to put high performing teams together and with organizational learning as one of the objectives the question is, how do we maximize learning, efficiency and performance in teams? This study uses a quantitative method to examine how teams, from a course at the Stockholm School of Economics, perform on the individual learning, team efficiency and team performance scale based on the individual learning styles within the team.

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.

This paper quantitatively examines the effects of marketing brands within the same product category and the same brand portfolio jointly. We have chosen to call this type of marketing category advertising. The results of the study show that category advertising leads to increased brand awareness within the category, which is particularly important for brands within less salient subcategories. For strong brands however, category advertising leads to lower purchase intentions, an effect which could potentially be moderated by focusing the advertisement on the complementary nature of the products combined with promotional elements. The study also shows that there is no difference between advertising products jointly and separately when it comes to brand attitude, category attitude, typicality, brand purchase intention for weak brands and category purchase intention.

With background in the acknowledgement of the current period of major change in the characteristics of traditional Swedish foreign policy, considering the membership in the European Union, as well as the new contextual scenarios that Sweden has been situated in after the end of the cold war, this thesis aims at scrutinizing the Swedish Foreign Policy from 1991 to 2010. The purpose of the thesis is further to localize continuity and change in the ideas which Sweden has explicitly stated in its foreign policy. Based on the theory of institutionalism, the thesis also aims to bring forward plausible explanations built on the main empirical findings. This has been done by identifying different types of goals and means within realism and liberalism as well as categorizing each theory within three ideal types.The chosen research method has been a qualitative text analysis with focus on an ideational analysis. The material on which the descriptive analysis is based upon is constituted by the annual statements of government policy in parliamentary debates on foreign affairs.The results of the thesis show that the ideas that are related to solidarity, consensus and active foreign policy are constant through the period of examination.

Illegal logging and its related trade is of great concern around the world. The European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) is a regulatory approach by the EU to prevent illegal timber and timber products to be placed on the European Union inner market. This means the regulation affects both actors in the member countries as well as the actors exporting timber and timber products to the EU from non EU member countries. This study aims to study the implementation process of the EUTR in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B-H), and its preconditions. Institutional theory is used to understand and explain how the EUTR affects B-H organisations? business environment, and how the organisations choose to respond to the EUTR.

The Transport division is responsible for the internal transports on Sandvik MaterialTechnology AB. At the moment there is no clear picture of how the straddle carriers aremoving at the division Primary Products and if it is working in a satisfying way. It isimportant to see the whole picture of the transportation flow so improvements can be made.The purpose of this essay is to survey and analyse the truck flow in a Lean Productionperspective. The essay is delimited to only include straddle carriers transportation ways in thePrimary Products division. To survey the truck flow we have used a method called Walkthrough.This means that we have walked thorough the whole production flow andinterviewed some of the employed on the way to get the necessary information.