Multi-branch companies are facing many challenges in order to become successful. Competitive advantages can be gained through a unified strong brand, standardised products and economies of scale. This normally calls for centralisation. On the contrary is decentralisation, which is said to improve work motivation and local market orientation, which are also competitive advantages. The focus of this thesis is to study how local branch managers want their companies to be structured in accordance with this dilemma.

The business cycle of the wood flooring branch is currently high however that situation may not be sustainable. In a possible future weaker business climate, the importance of marketing becomes accentuated for firms that aim to maintain their sales levels. We can see trends that competition among the Swedish and foreign manufactures is already stepping up. The intent of this study is to establish marketing guidelines for floor- and molding manufacturers, so they can establish a clearer brand image in DIY retail outlets. By comparing the approach of sports- and DIY stores to brand and product placement, this study aims to bring new knowledge to the DIY branch for improved consumer and product handling.

Background: Trust has been a foundation of commerce since the very beginning. Trust can in the traditional commerce be built by face-to-face meetings, this is not possible at the Internet. Although, trust ought to be important even for the commercial business relation at the Internet and crucial for the consumer to use this communication channel. Purpose: The purpose of this master thesis is, from a consumer point of view, to study and analyse the importance of trust using e-services. Demarcation: The thesis is focusing trust using e-services, from a consumer point of view.

ABSTRACTTitle:Estate agent is a trusted profession - a study of how real estate broker working on Codes of ConductLevel:Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business AdministrationAuthor:Mikaela KarlssonSupervisor:Agneta SundströmDate:2012 ? JuneAim:There is a lack of confidence in the branch of real estate which makes me wonder: How do the bransch of real estate work with Code of Conduct to strengthen their confidence? The aim is to describe and analyze how the branch of real estate works with confidence and codes of conduct.Method:I have an qualitative approach in which interviews have been used to collect data and literature studies to collect theoretical information. The collected material have been analyzed from a hermeneutical perspective.Result & Conclusions:To some extent the real estate branch works with the establishment of Codes of Conduct to strengthen the confidence. This is shown by increased transparency to increase customers commitment in the bidding. As confidence has been risen for the part of the process this indicate that Codes Of Conduct has the ability to strengthen the confidence for the real estate as a branch.Suggestions for future research:One topic that is interesting to study is how the real estate brokerage companies could controll their stakeholders to follow the company´s guidelines for social responsibility.Contribution of the thesis:The thesis gives people involved in real estate branch suggestions on how a trust could be built up by working with Codes of Conduct.Key words:Corporate Social Responsibility, Code of Conduct, confidence, real estate broker, the bransch of real estate..

ABSTRACTTitle:Estate agent is a trusted profession - a study of how real estate broker working on Codes of ConductLevel:Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business AdministrationAuthor:Mikaela KarlssonSupervisor:Agneta SundströmDate:2012 ? JuneAim:There is a lack of confidence in the branch of real estate which makes me wonder: How do the bransch of real estate work with Code of Conduct to strengthen their confidence? The aim is to describe and analyze how the branch of real estate works with confidence and codes of conduct.Method:I have an qualitative approach in which interviews have been used to collect data and literature studies to collect theoretical information. The collected material have been analyzed from a hermeneutical perspective.Result & Conclusions:To some extent the real estate branch works with the establishment of Codes of Conduct to strengthen the confidence. This is shown by increased transparency to increase customers commitment in the bidding. As confidence has been risen for the part of the process this indicate that Codes Of Conduct has the ability to strengthen the confidence for the real estate as a branch.Suggestions for future research:One topic that is interesting to study is how the real estate brokerage companies could controll their stakeholders to follow the company´s guidelines for social responsibility.Contribution of the thesis:The thesis gives people involved in real estate branch suggestions on how a trust could be built up by working with Codes of Conduct.Key words:Corporate Social Responsibility, Code of Conduct, confidence, real estate broker, the bransch of real estate..

Companies in the western world can no longer compete by using traditional means such as product and price since the commerce of services continually grows. To avoid similarity and increase competitive advantages modern companies have to be more specified. The competition between companies has increased and customers are harder to reach. Customers of today can afford luxury but trend indicates that originality, identity, and status are more important than factual needs. Products created and consumed at the same time within the service market are often very homogenous (similar).

A purchase decision can be seen as a multifaceted context that raises many unanswered questions. Understanding the consumer's evaluation of alternatives is complex and should be studied at a deeper rather than wider scale. There is a problem for retailers to understand how the consumer manages a purchase decision in a retail setting with durables goods that generates a higher effort. The aim is to describe the decision rules used by the consumer and how they are expressed in this context. A better understanding of which ones they use and how they are conveyed will help retailers to create effective marketing solutions that generate positive outcomes as increased profitability and customer satisfaction.

Making accurate predictions of private consumption expenditures is a difficult task. This thesis examines if consumer confidence can be used to forecast consumption. Using regression analysis, the link between consumer confidence and private consumption expenditures is analyzed for Sweden between the years 1994 and 2005. Two different models are estimated. In the first model consumption is regressed only on consumer confidence, while model two is extended to contain more variables.

En sammanfattning av uppsatsen på maximalt 8000 tecken.The purpose of this study was to analyse if there are in-store consumer behaviour differences between the consumers that use ASF and the consumers that not use ASF in store. More precisely this study had two objectives. The first objective was to create a conceptual model depicting the various behavioural effects that the use of ASF may result in. These variables were tested empirically in order to analyze if the use of ASF influence in-store consumer behaviour. The second objective was to analyze if there are differences in the routes taken by the consumers in store, in relation to whether the consumers use the ASF or not..

Corporate Social ResponsibilityThis thesis intends to exam the strategic use of Corporate Social Responsibility within fifthteen different companies, classified/divided into three various industries. The aim is to compare the three different industries, to look for disparities and similarities in their use of CSR. The disseration looks into both variance and resemblance in the use of Corporate Social Responsibility between the companies within the same branch of trade and between the industries.The industries of intrestThe three industries that the study has focus on is consumer, manufacturing and service related industries. Where the consumer industry is classified as companies with direct sales towards private consumers, the physical citizen. The manufacturing industry is classified as companies that manufacture products but that does´nt sell their products directly to the regular consumer.

The Swedish coastal defence took on a whole new meaning after the introduction of the coastal artillery in 1902. The establishment of the coastal artillery meant that the Swedish military had access to a whole new military branch, in addition to the Army and the Navy. Under the direction of one general, two regiments were established. One in Vaxholm and the second in the naval city of Karlskrona. The aim of this essay is to investigate how the Costal Artillery were established, by analyzing the parliamentary of the year 1901.

ABSTRACTTitel: ?Some kids really love those commercials? -A study of how children experience and construe commercials. (Vissa barn älskar faktiskt sånna dära TV-reklamer? ? En övergripande studie om hur barn upplever och tolkar tv-reklam.)Number of pages: 40Author: Lotta NorbergTutor: Amelie HössjerCourse: Media and Communication Studies CPeriod: Autumn term 2007University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala UniversityPurpose/Aim: The aim of this essay is to make a study of how children experience and construe commercials. Key questions to be answered are; can children distinguish commercials from TV programmes? What do the children think of commercials? How do they watch commercials? What do they think about a ban against commercials directed to children? Do they understand the purpose of commercials? Do their buying habits change?Material/Method: A qualitative method with 18 interviews and 3 observations with 7, 9 and 11 year old children.Main results: The children in my study can distinguish commercials from TV programs.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the new real estate brokerage Act and to see whether the main intent, to strengthen the consumer protection, has been fulfilled through the implementation of the 2011 Act. The real estate agent legislation is made to protect both the buyer and seller throughout the property transaction. Although the intent is to protect the consumer, it is not unusual that disputes arises. To avoid disputes concerning the property transaction, the 2011 legislation opens up for greater transparency in the mediation process. The protection for the consumer has been considerably stronger since the 2011 legislation was implemented.

Aim of the thesis: The aim of this thesis is to describe and gain a deeper understanding of how companies use communication as a tool to overcome the gap between the company and the consumer. The aim is also to clarify some of the factors contributing to this gap.Method:  This thesis has been made from a qualitative approach with quantitative influences. The qualitative primary data collection was gathered through six in-depth interviews with companies in Gothenburg either selling organic and fair-trade produced clothes or marketing towards sustainable consumption. The quantitative part consists of a consumer questionnaire given to 100 women in the inner city of Gothenburg.  Frame of references: Related researches within the field of the subject are presented in the beginning of this chapter. Further theories presented are the consumer?s awareness and the consumer´s responsiveness to CSR.

First objective: To bring forward managers? perceptions of the underserved consumers in emerging markets. Second objective: To reveal what implications managers? perceptions of underserved consumers in emerging markets provide for branding in these markets. Our study indicates that managers? perceptions are still lacking consumer insights within five elements (value, loyalty, purchasing power, consumers and consumption).