This paper describes and develops a trade off model of optimal capital structure by Bradley et al. (1984). The model is then tested to examine how changes in corporate tax rates affect the optimal capital structure of firms. Based on theoretical implications of the model, four hypotheses are derived stating that firms? optimal debt-to-value ratio is (1) negatively related to financial distress costs, (2) negatively related to non-debt tax shields, (3) negatively related to firm volatility and (4) positively related to the corporate tax rate.

Title: What are you doing - A study in the Swedish Armed Forces marketingAuthors: Johanna Hillforth & Linda OlanderTutor: Josef PallasPurpose: The purpose of this thesis was to analyze the communicativefunctions as the Swedish Armed Forces uses in its marketing communications.Method and material: The used method in this study is a qualitativesemiotic content analysis, and the material analyzed is five ads from five oftheir latest advertising campaigns.Main results: The results of the study have shown that the Swedish ArmedForces primarily uses three of the four communicative functions in theircommunication, by being of informative, expressive and affecting nature..

The purpose of this study is to identify the points-of-difference that should form the basis for Bryggarsalen?s future marketing efforts. Bryggarsalen is a newly established conference business in Stockholm. To be able to identify these points-of-difference, Bryggarsalen?s marketing problems have been studied from the resource-based view, claiming that the source of sustained competitive advantage derive from a firm?s unique bundle of resources.

Title: Social Media ? And customer interaction in smaller firmsSeminar date: 2011-06-10Course: Information Logistics, D-level.Authors: Marie Stenhammar and Ulrika CarlssonAdvisor: Jaime CamposKey words: Social Media, Web 2.0, Co-creation, Viral marketing, Word of Mouth, smaller firmsPurpose: This paper aims to describe the relevance of social media to smaller firms, the challenges and opportunities they face and what strategies they use, in the interaction with their customers.Methodology: The study is qualitative in nature and has an abductive approach. The empirical material consists of in-depth interviews with chosen companies and Internet observations.Theoretical perspectives: Social Media, Web 2.0, Co-creation, Viral marketing, Word of MouthEmpirical foundation: The study takes its empirical base from in-depth interviews with representatives from the small companies and internet observations connected to these.Conclusions: Smaller companies have great interest in social media. They preferably use Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter. Their strategy is mainly to be very active and update their social media regularly.

Authors: Marie Andersson, Maria Gustafsson and Johanna Olsson.Tutor: Peter CaesarTitle: Don?t forget the story ? a study about internal StorytellingKeywords: Internal Storytelling, Internal marketing, Communication, Organizational culture, Internal branding, Fellowship, Motivation, Participation.Background: Something that can be problematic for managers in an organization is to find an effective way to spread information that will received by all the employees. One way to spread information and messages to the employees is by using internal Storytelling. The use of internal Storytelling aims to create an environment to build up an engaged personnel. Organizations use internal Storytelling when they want to create collective stories and frame of references among the employees within the organization, and also spread the values of the brand and information about the organization.Problem statement: How can internal marketing be affected by internal Storytelling?Method: Our study is based on a case-study of SCA Packaging Sweden AB.

Uppsatsen syftar till utifrån teorier om legitimitet, hyckleri och kända personers medverkan i marknadsföring titta på hur kända personer väljs ut till Cause-related marketing (CRM) kampanjer i Sverige. Frågeställningen lyder; Vilka faktorer ligger till grund för valet av känd person i en CRM-kampanj enligt företagen, de ideella hjälporganisationerna och de kända personerna själva?Primärt emiriskt material samlades in via intervjuer med sju kända personer, fem företag samt fyra ideella hjälporganisationer och sekundärt material samlades in från bland annat tidningsartiklar, hemsidor och pressmeddelanden för att komplettera det primära materialet.De slutsatser som kunnat dras är att när företagen och de ideella hjälporganisationerna väljer kända personer som ska medverka i en CRM-kampanj är processen överlag likartad den när företag väljer en känd person i andra marknadsföringssammanhang enligt teorin. Dock skiljer sig resultaten en aning från teorin är när det gäller matchning mellan känd person och målgrupp alternativt produkt. Dessutom har vi sett att vid CRM-samarbeten mellan företag och ideella hjälporganisationer är att de ofta inte gemensamt för ett resonemang om vilken känd person som skulle passa kampanjen på båda på bästa sätt, utan det är ofta en part som föreslår ett koncept som den andra accepterar.De kända personerna ställer upp i CRM-kampanjer av olika anledningar, den slutsats vi dragit är att det i princip finns lika många faktorer och anledningar att medverka i en CRM-kampanj för en känd person som det finns kända personer.

The authors of this paper intended to study and compare local secondary schools(municipally owned schools) and independent secondary schools(privately owned schools) in Stockholm County. The purpose oft his paper is to explore how secondary schools market themselves and whether the view and use of marketing is different between municipal and independent secondary schools. The essay is by nature multi-case study and interviews were conducted with representatives from four high schools, two municipal and two independent, one representative from Education Committee and one from Privet Schools? Association.The introduction of School reform in 1992 enabled opening of privately owned schools and empirical datas hows that before 1992 secondary schools did not have the same extent of competition and the need of marketing was not widespread, but today there is fierce competition among secondary schools. The introduction of School reform changed the conditions for the Swedish school market, greater freedom of choice led to atougherfight for the students, which in turn increases the competition between secondary schools.

This paper discusses the issue of trade dress imitation in the grocery sector. Our study has its starting point in the conflict that may arise between a brand owner and an imitator following an imitator?s marketing actions. In this study we look at the Market Court?s precedents in which this question has been addressed.

To which extent elderly people at nursing homes have an influence on their daily living is currently debated. Studies have shown that they have limited influence due to restricting routines associated with nursing homes. Therefore the aim of this study was to examine how elderly people experience the ability to influence their daily living at nursing homes and how limited influence is revealed in the daily care. Five elderly people, from four different nursing homes, underwent a structured interview. The outcome of the interviews was analyzed in relation to established theories related to geriatric care.

For many companies, the Internet has revolutionized the relationship they have with their customers concerning costumer service. The use of Information Technology in regard to Internet as a media has provided companies with the opportunity to build customer databases in order to target their customers individually. The airline industry was one of the first pioneers to use the full potential of Internet to improve customer relations and its profits which we aim to investigate in greater detail in our thesis.Our thesis answers the question on how Scandinavian Airlines' (SAS) Eurobonus department uses their website to create valuable and profitable relationships with SAS loyalty club members through direct marketing. In order to answer our research question, three key informants have been interviewed - each representing different sub departments at Eurobonus; service and support, IT and marketing. Our results were that the Eurobonus department use direct marketing methods by sending customized e-mail offerings to target specific customer, using their customer databases.

Breaking through the clutter and getting consumers? attention is a constant battle for marketers. Could consumer magazines be the solution to the problem? It is not a new marketing method but consumer magazines do not look like traditional marketing and they offer consumers value. Since these are qualities that could increase consumers? will to take part of commercial messages, it might be a method that deserves more attention.

The current legislation on marketing of tobacco products creates problems for Swedish Match, and obstruct its marketing communications. The purpose of this paper is to investigate Swedish Match's marketing strategy of product category snuff, through a special exposure. In store placement has a great affects on customer buying behavior and studies have shown that 70-80 percent of all purchasing decisions are made in the store, which in turn provides great opportunity for retailers to use their marketing tools for influencing customer buying decisions.Our thesis study is to test a double exposure of snuff with the help of three special exposure. These three special exposures are fridge, fridge with a sign and sign. The purpose of the study is to test which of these three special exposures that have the greatest impact on sales.

The meeting industry is a growing industry around the world, and the technological development in recent decades is one of the contributing factors to the increased travel opportunities and meeting industry's expansion. It can be assumed that the technology could replace some of the personal meetings, but humans have always had a need to meet in physical locations in work related purposes, therefore there is no evidence that personal meetings will disappear. Technological development should be seen as complementary rather than a substitute to the existing professional meetings. Public and private sectors within countries has drawn attention to meeting industry's potential, as favored destinations in terms of economic administration, image creation, expansion and acquisition of further market share in the global market. Meeting industry is complex precisely because there are so many different actors and stakeholders that integrate.

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.

I have done a comparative gender study of Library of Congress Classification from 1900 and 2001. I have also used a hermeneutic method and ideological critics to find out what picture of women the both systems shows. In my comparative study of the both systems I have found low update of classes which relates to women in the new classification system. Men seem to be a norm in the system, because men are not defined in classes related to both men and women. But many classes related to women are named Women as and Women in The study also shows that women are more related to subjects about family and marriage than men are.