Term: Spring term 2007Study objects: Reitan Servicehandel AB, Vi-butikerna, ICA Sverige ABPurpose: The purpose of this study is to analyse how procurement is used as a strategy to achieve better competitive strength, within the retail food industry.Theoretical: The theoretical chapter illustrates different procurement organisations, multiple and single sourcing, brand equity, consumer behaviour and involvement, Efficient Consumer Response including supply chain and category management and finally Demand Chain Management.Method: For the case studies, three food retail companies have been interviewed: Reitan Servicehandel AB, Vi-butikerna and ICA AB. To illustrate how consumer behaviour influences retail food market, several secondary consumer research studies have been analysed.Conclusions: The results indicate that the procurement organisation can achieve a better competitive strength by a centralised organisation, which make it possible to improve conditions of terms when ordering higher purchase volumes. The sourcing strategies can improve a company?s power within the supply chain. All companies within the study had a very good knowledge about consumer behaviour.

The objective of this essay is, from the golf perspective including the golf courses' physical attributes, golf club management, members of the golf club and golf course designers, to explore possibilities for making existing golf courses more multifunctional. The purpose of this is to increase the understanding for golf courses' role as part of the landscape and comprehension regarding possible opportunities around them to exploit and develop.The increased pressure of population in peri-urban areas has resulted in a greater need for accessible recreation, particularly in the isolated farmland. As a result, land is sometimes used against landowners' will, which is a deficiency that is the basis for many conflicts between farmers and landowners.In the current situation, there is a negative trend in golf with reduced interest and fewer golfers than in the past. As a result, many of Sweden's golf courses have financial problems and are therefore trying to find new ways to avoid bankruptcy. Sweden's existing golf courses occupy about 30 000 hectares of land, of which a very large percentage are located in peri-urban areas.

The subject of sms-loans is examined by using primary and secondary sources?. This form of credit is formally independent from other obligations with a very short credit period and the amount of the loan is low. This form of credits is applied by mobile phones and on the internet by several companies, some of them are presented in this essay. These type of creditors do not come under any sanctions from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority as is customary for other creditors, they only need to register.

This thesis provides the first test of the effects of ?advertising talk?, i.e. comments, discussions and opinions about advertising. Despite its prevalence quantitative research on advertising talk has been scarce and this study is thus an attempt to fill in some blanks. Hypothesizing that advertising talk will enhance consumer-perceived advertising value as well as purchase intentions and that the effects are more pronounced for talk generated by consumers as compared to marketers, I use a fictional campaign to measure responses in an experimental study.

Abstract Semester and year: Spring, 2008Writers: Victor Andersson and Filip ForslundTutor: Thomas HelgessonProgram: Marketing program, Halmstad University - School of Business and EngineeringTitle: Differentiation from a consumer perspective - How important is differentiation from a consumer?s perspektive when choosing a residence? Presentation of problem: How important is differentiation from a consumer?s perspective when choosing a residence?Purpose: The purpose is on basis from previous theories on the subject to describe what kind of differentiating that from a consumerperspective is the most important when choosing a residence. Key words: Differentiation, brand, apartment market Methodology: This thesis is built on an qualitative method, where eight open individual interviews have been made. Our choice of respondents was based on what kind of respondents that could give us the most accurate information on the subject which we based on relevant variables. Theory: The framing of the theories is based on a marketing perspective within the area of differentiating and focuses on how companies use different tools to differentiate their offer to create competitive advantages.

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.

Abstract Semester and year: Spring, 2008Writers: Victor Andersson and Filip ForslundTutor: Thomas HelgessonProgram: Marketing program, Halmstad University - School of Business and EngineeringTitle: Differentiation from a consumer perspective - How important is differentiation from a consumer?s perspektive when choosing a residence? Presentation of problem: How important is differentiation from a consumer?s perspective when choosing a residence?Purpose: The purpose is on basis from previous theories on the subject to describe what kind of differentiating that from a consumerperspective is the most important when choosing a residence. Key words: Differentiation, brand, apartment market Methodology: This thesis is built on an qualitative method, where eight open individual interviews have been made. Our choice of respondents was based on what kind of respondents that could give us the most accurate information on the subject which we based on relevant variables. Theory: The framing of the theories is based on a marketing perspective within the area of differentiating and focuses on how companies use different tools to differentiate their offer to create competitive advantages.

When in the process of buying a product based high effort behavior, the consumer needs information to decide on which product that best satisfies their need. There is a wide arrange of sources where this could be found. One of the most important, due to the great influence it has on consumer choice, is in-store communications. This is also one of the least developed sources. It is not uncommon that the only facts that can be acquired are found on product packaging and from contact with the store´s staff.

A common assumption in marketing is the wider variety of product a corporation has, the better for the consumer: more product - more choices. Companies often develop a line extension to broaden consumer range through product attributes including quality, function and design. These developed attributes within the product are not always optimal for the consumer. As a result, companies often become entangled in having a price higher than the cost and benefit of the products. This essay aims to analyze the consumer value of line extension products and how these evaluations relate to extended line product pricing.

This study has it´s beginning in the term corporatization and what the consequences will be for the Swedish athletic club, after the implementation of it. The corporatization among the athletic clubs is a very up-to-date-topic after the ?Riksidrottsförbundets? approved the new law constitution in 1999, that gives the athletic clubs the opportunity to change their legal form. We want to create an image that explains the situation in the two athletic clubs we choose for our study. This image helps us to give examples of how the corporatization will affect them.

The purpose of this paper is to fill the gaps in current research on trade shows. The business-to-consumer aspect has been greatly ignored by academic theorists. We are aiming to make an exploratory study into during-show promotion practices. We will also create a continuation of the Hansen (1999) framework. In order to analyze "during-show promotion" two business-to-consumer trade shows; the ITB in Berlin and EuroHorse in Göteborg were visited.

During the 1960s and 1970s an increased interest in Native Americans can be seen in Sweden, e.g. through the establishment of organizations such as the Indian Club of Sweden. The aim of this thesis is to study the portrayal of Native Americans and its role through Albin Widén, a Swedish author, ethnologist and member of the Indian Club, and his non-fictional works on the Swedish migration to America, Swedish-America and Swedish contacts with Native Americans. The study is divided into four parts. The first part looks at the portrayal of the Native Americans in Widén?s writings, in comparison with Euro-Americans? and Europeans? traditional stereotypic images of a good and a bad Indian.

The aim of this paper is to examine venture capital in football player contracts in Sweden. This is a phenomena that have existed in Sweden since 1999 when the company Djurgården fotboll AB was founded, since then eight other companies have been started. These companies form an alliance with a football club and invest in player contracts. These contracts have high risk since it is valued by the performance of the contracted player. The venture capital firms have no formal control over their investments and they are showing negative results.

During the 1960s and 1970s an increased interest in Native Americans can be seen in Sweden, e.g. through the establishment of organizations such as the Indian Club of Sweden. The aim of this thesis is to study the portrayal of Native Americans and its role through Albin Widén, a Swedish author, ethnologist and member of the Indian Club, and his non-fictional works on the Swedish migration to America, Swedish-America and Swedish contacts with Native Americans. The study is divided into four parts. The first part looks at the portrayal of the Native Americans in Widén?s writings, in comparison with Euro-Americans? and Europeans? traditional stereotypic images of a good and a bad Indian.

AbstractThis essay is about what rights that a consumer has, after it?s been to a beauty-shop getting a treatment somewhere on her body. We were interested to see what kind of regulations that could be useful if a problem occurred after or during treatment. There are several risks with these treatments.The last decade these kinds of treatments have increased, due to people being vain and so aware about there looks. We started to investigate what type of rights the consumer generally has when it?s about a service.