In a time of economic turmoil and financial crisis profitability matters rise higher and higher on company agendas. Many companies are pressured to find profitability to avoid layoffs or even bankruptcy. Profitability essentially depends on the margin on the product or service sold and the costs associated with selling these products or services and hence these areas are of vital importance if companies are to improve profitability. Previous research has focused, for the most part, on product profitability while customer profitability has received less attention. This study is based on a case study of a Swedish publishing house and aims to investigate how the company?s Cost-to-Serve varies between its distribution channels.

In this essay I have tried to describe the rich tradition of thoughts about the afterlife in Judaism. The first part contains litterary studies and the second part is based on interviews with religious representatives. The first part is a description of the progress of thought in history around the issue afterlife. The sources reveal a vast amount of intellectual work on the issue. I have tried to follow the path of thought, and how it developed, so that the reader can see how one thought leads to the other but also how each period?s way of thinking is influnced by its context.

Aim: The aim of this essay is to study the work of an alcohol company?s (Pernod Ricard) corporate social responsibility and how this work is being communicated to the company?s stakeholders. Furthermore I aim to describe the profile of the specific company, in other words how they wish their stakeholders to experience the company. I will then compare this profile with the image of how the interviewed stakeholders actually perceive the corporate social responsibility activities. Are there any differences?Material/Method: Together with literature and document studies, a qualitative method has been used and four focus group interviews with a total of 16 stakeholders have been conducted.Main results: The main results from the focus group interviews showed that the stakeholders appreciated corporate social responsibility work that focuses on the protection of young people.

AbstractArtists ? the invisible assets; a qualitative study about the view on music rights and artist brands as intangible assets within music companies.This paper is a study of what view representatives from Swedish music companies have on activating music rights and artist brands as intangible assets. Throughout the paper, a discussion is held regarding what the representatives think about activating these intangible assets. From this, we have identified and analyzed possible pros and cons to such activation.Our interest to this question was brought to us when we realized that most music companies in Sweden have intangible assets without activating them. This is, even though these are their main source of income.

Lots of choices are to be made by a company who enters a new market with a new businessidea. Common questions that show up when a company is making it´s businessplan are how to target the market and how to use marketing as a tool to reach a specific customer or segment. It is difficult to know wether to target the market in different ways and what processes that can be used in the choice how to select the most potential and profitable customer. Another important question is how a company can positioning themself in a way so the customer will get a positive understanding of the company and what different positive abilities to mention in a possible businessproposal. This study is made on a small company in Sweden called AYEN Technology.

Ja?rbo Garn is a wholesaler in the textile industry. The companys position on the market is under changing circumstances. Therefore Ja?rbo Garn needs to find new ways of developing their marketing.

Thesis purpose: The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate the expectations of roles between supplier sales representatives and retailer store personnel in relation to in-store campaigns, this in order to enhance effectiveness of these functions creating an increase in consumer response. Methodology: The researchers believe that social phenomenon and their meanings are continually being accomplished by social actors, hence a study of individuals? expectations must have a point of departure in these people?s social reality. Store personnel and supplier sales representatives are to a certain degree affected by the structural power relationships within the organizational network, thus the researchers combine an interpretative and radical structuralist paradigm. Theoretical perspective: The researchers investigate expectations of roles through examining interaction between parties involved.

The aim of this paper is in part to distinguish the ideas raised in the Swedish political debate on the new discrimination law in relation to protection of groups. Is protection by law against discrimination needed for the individual or the group? If it is needed for members of groups, are these groups viewed on as static or variable. Are there any conflicts present between group interests? We link these ideas to three different theoretical perspectives: multiculturalism, feminism and intersectionality and further examine the differences and contradictions between the perspectives represented by members of parliament.

As an assurance company has an overconsolidation which must be settled the question that needs to be solved is how to do it. Which are the legal rules that the assurance company has to look after? What is a settling of overconsolidation in a legal meaning? Does an assurancepolicy have to be decided? Why did not the Swedish competition authority (Konkurrensverket) accept the policy from SPP and what can be the consequenses of that decision? Are there any tax rules that needs to be solved?.

This cross-sectional study investigated the use of health benefits in relation to the self-rated health of employees at two medium-sized industrial enterprises in Hälsingland. The method used to investigate this was through a self-designed questionnaire consisting 19 questions about health, lifestyle and health benefits at the workplace. A total of 100 questionnaires were distributed in the two companies, hence 50 surveys at each workplace. The response rate was measured to 88 % and 74 %, which means a loss of 6 persons and 13 persons. The results showed that Company nr 1 offers its employees a health benefits consisting of free access to gym in the company premises after working hours and financial contributions to training-cards.

Abstract: Private equity used to be synonymous with tremendous yields and rates of return. However, the private equity market trembled in 2008, due to the financial meltdown caused by the worldwide credit crisis. Considering the current low number of exits within the private equity industry, the purpose of this thesis is to examine if there has been any change in how private equity firms control their portfolio companies since the inception of the crisis. One private equity company and two portfolio companies have been studied. The case study is prepared from interviews with senior directors in the portfolio company and investment managers in the private equity firm.

The textile business is one of the oldest industries of our time, and it employs nearly 1.4 million workers within the European Union alone. It is not unusual that this is the foundation of a country?s industrialisation. Even though the industry brings many positive factors, there are also negative factors that will influence the industry?s growth in the future.

Problem: How should a company act to sustain a strong identity and thereby a strong brand image when operating in a changeable world?Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyze whether the corporate identity of Academic Work is strong or fragmented. Further more this thesis aims to give recommendations on how the company could continue working to maintain a strong brand image. Methodology: The thesis is a case study of Academic Work. The study is based on data collected from interviews, a poll as well as data from the company website.

In this study we aim to investigate what employees at a callcenter see as prospects, opportunities and barriers of learning within a company. To answer the purpose of this essay, two questions were formulated; "What opportunities for learning does employees experience in the company?" and "How can learning in the workplace improve for the sellers?". First, we present what previous research has highlighted regarding workplace learning and learning within the callcenter industry. Afterwards we present ten semi-structured interviews with leaders and sellers within a telecom company in Stockholm.

The strategy when you change the visual part of the brand identity is often referred to as Corporate rebranding and is seen as a good way to show that a company has undergone a change. Despite high risks and high costs, this strategy has become more common and there are companies today who make the choice to change an already well-known graphic profile. This phenomenon is what underlies this essay?s problem statement: Why does a company with an already well-known graphic profile choose to change it and how does the process behind the change occur? In what way have the company?s customers recognized the change and how has the company?s image changed in this context? The purpose of this essay is therefore to explore the process that occurs when a company in the sport and fashion industry changes its visual identity and to explore how the company?s customers have perceived the change.To fulfil the purpose of the essay a case study was carried out on a company?s Corporate rebranding process. The company that was chosen was the Swedish sports retail chain Stadium Sweden AB who decided to change its graphic profile even though their logo was one of the two most recognized in their field.