Executive SummaryThis final thesis has examined the effects of an increased centralization and better coord­in­ation of the distribution logistics at ABB in Västerås. The company is today strongly decent­ralized and there is a minimum of collaboration between the 20 business units. This is why the questions were raised; how could the business units coordinate outbound logistic activities and what effects would that provide. The obj­ect­ive of this final thesis is to provide basic data for a future decision-making which desc­r­ibe these effects.The report has mapped out the factors that are important to ABB in an evaluation of their logistic activities and how the outbound logistics work today. The four factors are cost efficiency, delivery service, environmental impact and logistics capability.

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.

Purpose: The study aims to increase knowledge of dealers' purchasing behavior of impulse goods in wholesale trade.Methodology: An exploratory survey method has been selected in order to investigate the relatively unexplored topic; buyer behavior of impulse goods in the wholesale. Data has been collected through interview of 27 dealers that conduct business with bulk confectionery sales across Sweden. A semi-structured interview technique has been selected, with a predetermined interview schedule but with space for follow-up questions and discussion.Conclusion: The background to this work argued that there is not much research on how retailers reasons when buying convenience products, or also called as impulse items. It is usually the sale of goods such as several of the informants believe is critical to their business existence. Impulse goods which do not require any effort, has little search time and usually are cheap and suits many customers pockets.

The thesis has been written as a part of the Bachelor degree in Industrial engineering and management at the School of Engineering in Jönköping. The work is focused on the part of Husqvarna AB?s supply chain that is associated with the lorry transports to Italy. Husqvarna AB has approximately ten Italian customers, whose delivery patterns have been studied from January 2007 to July 2008. Some of the customers have a low delivery frequency and small amounts of goods that they therefore have not been fully analyzed in this report.

Problem formulation: Recent results from the European Food Information Council?s consumer research on nutrition information and food labelling revealed that most consumers have little understanding of the nutrition information found on food products, feel that there is little authority regulating these matters and wish for a more trusted source of information and regulation and lastly it was found that consumers accept their limitations and have little motivation to even read or learn about nutrition information. Thus what are the reactions of the various legal authorities to this problem? How are food retailers and producers responding to the needs of the consumer? How are consumers then reacting to these two players in the industry and the changes they are making?Purpose: The purpose of this research is to gain new perspective and a better understanding of relationship between consumers, companies and legal instruments in relation to nutrition and health claim labelling of food products. Method: The nature of this multi-disciplinary research has led to the study of all three areas, business administration (containing consumer behaviour) and business law, which are contained in this paper.

Since the Chinese economy?s reform in 1980, it has been attracting enormous foreign investments. Many Swedish firms from different sectors such as technology, manufactory production, consumer, service industries and so on, had started their investments in China. China has become the first choice for global manufacturing due to the huge market, continuous economic growth, stable political situation, sound investment environment and the WTO membership. In addition, China's enormous potential in finance, service, infrastructure, telecommunications, wholesales and retail industries will also attract a great deal of foreign capital.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine how disabled people who receive the shut-in-service in one community define service quality. The purpose is also to examine the shut-in-service and to look at the users' context. Answers are sought to the following questions: - How do users experience the service quality of the shut-in-service? - What kind of service does the shut-in-service offer to the user? - How can the user be described and which are his/her requests? The analysis is based on theory about service quality by Christian Grönroos. The theory makes a distinction between two kinds of service quality, technical vs functional quality, as experienced by the user through the profile of the organization.

Consumption of meat and poultry has increased during the last ten years while the production in Sweden has decreased. Cheap imports are competing with Swedish products and consumers, restaurant and retail let the price decided what to purchase. Swedish food producers can become better at communicating the added values that meat and poultry produced in Sweden has. Social media gives companies a possible tool for communication in order to communicate and create a relationship with consumers. The rise of social media does not only affect consumer decisions making, but also corporate communication. The objective of this project is to investigate how social media can connect the farmer to the consumer.

Our starting point has been to examine how a project manager without knowledge of the industry is able to plan a project. And also which difficulties that may arise. A qualitative study was conducted at project managers who worked in the construction industry and events industry. Seven interviews were conducted, four in the construction sector and three in the events industry. Respondents are active as project manager in Värmland and Närkes counties.

AbstractThe purpose of this study has been to provide a deeper understanding of how companies in the travel industry works with social media and electronic Word-of-mouth (eWOM) by analyzing and investigating social media and eWOM and how it effects customers? expectations on the companies service quality. In connection with the purpose we have chosen the following research questions: 1. In which way can companies in the travel industry interact with their customers participation on the Internet through social media. 2.

The telecom and the IT-industry are converging, which creates new possibilities and threats for both existing mobile handset vendors and new entrants originating from the IT-industry. The purpose of this thesis is to explain how IT-players? entrance in the mobile handset industry affects the industry in regards of key success factors and value chain structure. This study has used dynamic theories to describe the mobile handset industry. The theories have helped us in understanding the characteristics and drivers of the industry and thereafter to identify the key success factors.

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.

Foods that stimulate health and satisfy consumer expectations are needed. In a consumer´s perspective, products that provide several kinds of health benefits, without any call for major changes in their behaviour are needed on the market. With this increasing interest in health promoting food product, one of the biggest challenges for the food industry is to find the conditions and right position on the market and find the opportunities to enter the market successfully. New products with added health values can be developed to cure and counter welfare diseases as in this case for diabetics type 2. Swedish food companies have a desire to respond to welfare diseases and one welfare disease is diabetes type 2. Many of them have an ambition to develop new products to respond to the growing population and find a supply that could suit their customers.

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).

Consumers today seek added value to the ordinary products/services that companies are offering. Consumers must get their emotional need satisfied - a need for experiences worth remembering. At the same time, the consumers are engaged in ethics and morals. Companies use events frequently as a marketing approach to meet the customer?s demand of added value.