AbstractThe purpose of this paper was to examine preschool teacher?s thoughts about using Manual Signs as Alternative and Augmentative Communication as an aid for children in/with communication disabilities. The method I?ve used in the survey is qualitative interview.The three interviewed preschool teachers use Manual Signs foremost for those children who have a poorly developed spoken language. Manual Signs are used as a complement to the spoken language and the preschool teachers use it to increase the children?s power of concentration.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the conditions that prevail when companies put their marketing in social media with the purpose of creating a perception of the risks and opportunities it brings to businesses and ultimately how it may affect the corporate image and identity.Theories: The basis of the problem area are presented through a theoretical framework with the purpose of highlighting the notions of social media, communi- cation, marketing communication, groundswell, corporate identity and image.Methodology: To investigate the research questions this study adopted a qualitative approach in which the authors study the properties of a phenomenon in order to seek a deeper understanding of the problems we have presented. There is an exploratory approach to knowledge and the authors have chosen to conduct qualitative research interviews based upon three themes: driving forces, challenges and impacts.Conclusion: The study revealed that traditional models of communication are no longer applicable in social media. Companies are up for a challenge and must clarify their sole purpose when establishing communication in the social landscape. The general motivation for marketing in social media is making profit, however, building relationships is not a natural motive for most companies. The risks companies expe- rience is the exposure caused by social media and the study also reveals that this fear is firmly attached to their lack of knowledge of these new channels of communicat- ion and their primary areas of use which indicates that skilled employees plays a vi- tal role with their use of social media in their communication process.

Background: Increasing globalization has changed the business environment and also resulted in increased awareness of the consumers and demand for higher standards of social responsibility. The companies brand strategies has gain in importance in order to strengthen their brands. A part of a company's CSR, CRM, cause-related marketing, which is a relatively new marketing strategy and created when companies choose to partner with charities and market it. Garment/clothing industry has as many others come to be shaped by the effects of globalization, but has also endured heavy criticism over the years. This criticism is largely because of the outside world's reaction to the exploitation of developing countries.

The technological development and increasing popularity for integrated multichannel solutions constitutes both severe opportunities and challenges for todays' and tomorrows' retailers. On the account of consumers leaving traces when using digital channels and the technological development enabling retailers to use this information to create relevant offers, goal-congruity is relevant to apply in the multichannel shopping context. Based upon previous research on goal congruity and channel integration, our main purpose in this study is to increase the understanding for how congruity in an offer increases the intention to redeem the offer. Several studies focus on and contrast the product characteristics hedonic and utilitarian. However, it has been stated that it is crucial that research also examines the difference in target audience, buying situation and as examined in this study: buying decision process.

The main drivers of luxury consumption is to obtain prestige and status, therefore the possibility of visible consumption of products is a key dimension of the product. Typical examples of luxury goods include cars, handbags and watches. These are consumed in the public arena where the possibility to show off the product and the brand is the greatest. When examining luxury products and what drives men and women to pay premium prices for a brand and for a logo, a fascinating finding is that there are products that fundamentally lacks these attributes, but which are considered to be classic luxury products. An example of this is perfume.

The aim of this study is to find out if there is any difference between how a state-owned company and a publicly listed private company communicate its sustainability performance in its sustainability report. It also aims to find out if the communication regarding sustainability has changed over time. The poll was conducted in two Swedish companies, Sveaskog AB and AB SCA, operating in the forestry industry and through a quantitative content analysis, the companies' sustainability reports from 2005 and 2010 were examined. To get a result, the reports has been examined by the GRI framework (Global Reporting Initiative) and an assessment of the communication was made based on a scale of 0-3. The results has been evaluated based on stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory and the growing interest in CSR. The analyses found evidence that there is a link between the form of ownership of the company and how it communicates regarding sustainability.

The aim of this study is to gain knowledge about the internalcommunication at a public library in Sweden, focusing on the flow of information and the library employee?s role as a source and receiver. This is an important subject because internal communication affects not only the internal work, but also the users. Despite this there are few studies about internal communication in libraries. The research questions used are: How do the employees perceive the role as source of information, and what choices do they make before they spread information? How do the employees perceive the role as receiver of information? How do the employees feel that the information flow works in the organization as a whole?The research is founded on five qualitative semi-structured interviews with the library employees.

AbstractTitle: External communication channels of Prime Care How they where thought to be, how they work and how costumers apprehend them.Number of pages: 50 (64 Including enclosures)Author: Sophie DicksenTutor: Peder Hård af SegerstadCourse: Media- and Communication Studies DPeriod: Spring 2007University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala UniversityPurpose/Aim: The focus of this paper lies on the external communication channels of Prime Care and the aim is to study the following aspects: How do the channels work? How are they apprehended by customers of the company? What are Prime Cares own thoughts behind the channels? How does Prime Cares self-image correspond to the way that customers apprehend the company?Material/Method: Twenty interviews has been done with different customers of Prime Care in order to see how the company and its communication flow is apprehended. A consultant manager of Prime Care has also been asked about purposes behind the companies external communication channels in order to enable a comparison between Prime Cares image and profile. Prime Cares website, one of their mail sendouts, their salescalls, salesvisits and their exhibition participation have been studied on the basis of relevant litterature. Maletzkes model of mass communication was used as a general view of communication flow.Main results: All communication channels included in this study have different ways of function even though they all have the same main purpose, videlicet to promote the company, to inform about its activities and to recruit new customers and consultants.

AbstractBackground: Becoming a parent to a child in need of Neonatal Intensive Care can be a traumatic experience. During a time when the parents may need support, guidance and a sense of control ? the family might need to relocate to a hospital away from home if the child needs highly specialized medical care at a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the parents? experience of having to change neonatal care unit.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the function of TalkingMats in a group of people with Huntington?s disease, with main focus on theeffectiveness of communication. Four individuals with Huntington?s diseaseand their group leader participated in the study. The group was videotapedduring four sets of conversations; two with and two without Talking Mats.

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.

Medvetenheten kring hållbarhet har ökat och blivit allt viktigare både för kunder men också för samhället i stort. Därför har också vikten för företag att kommunicera sitt hållbarhetsarbete ökat. För att möta kundernas behov bör man därför som företag veta vilka attityder till, och vilken typ av hållbarhetsarbete som kunderna vill ha och förväntar sig. Detta är inte minst viktigt för modeföretag då branschen kännetecknas av ökad konsumtion och snabbare trender men samtidigt står inför globala och miljömässiga utmaningar. Syftet med studien är att erhålla ökad kunskap om modekunders attityder till hållbarhet i textilbranschen generellt och kunder till företaget Monki specifikt, samt att undersöka hur dessa kunder vill ta till sig hållbarhetskommunikation.

I denna studie avser vi att undersöka hur varumärken, främst de korporativa, kan förstärkas genom tillämpning av de olika country of origin strategierna i företagens varumärkesbyggande. För att uppfylla vårt syfte har vi valt att utföra en kvalitativ undersökning av två fallföretag. Vi har samlat data till empirin i form av intervjuer, butiksobservationer, hemsidor samt diverse nedskriven dokumentation. I analysen tolkas sedan empirin i skenet av teorier kring varumärkesbyggande och country of origin. Genom att tillämpa effekterna av country of origin kan företag på ett effektivt sätt förstärka sitt varumärke.

Background: Effective treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes needs a good communication between nurse and patient. This creats a good relation and leads to a more effective patient education. Aim: The aim with the literature study was to describe how nurses trough patient education can achieve self-care for patients with diabetes type 2. Methods: Literature studies with both qualitative and quantitative articles were examined. Findings: The articles that were chosen for the results were sorted in the two categories relation and communication.

Degeneration of trademarks - a legal construction or a marketing problem? This paper discusses the issue of degeneration of trademarks. The study has its starting point in the conflict that may arise between the principles of marketing and the legislation concerning IP rights and market law. In this study several verdicts are studied in which degeneration has been addressed. Analyzing these rulings as well as the current legislation in the light of marketing theory, a conflict between marketing and legislation can be noted.