The consumer today is affected by a considerably larger number of world surrounding factors than she used to be, borders between different cultures and other consumer differences are being erased to a growing extent. The consumer can easily get its inspiration from many different directions which become clear in the common life. We eat sushi for lunch, we?re driving German cars and we?re having dinner with international business partners. The community also exposes the consumer for a more intense noise from offers, impact and marketing.

This study is based on an inductive approach where the collected empirical data has been categorized in themes on which we have based the discussion in this paper. Using a qualitative method, nine appropriately selected respondents were questioned with an unstructured interview guide. The transition to a society characterized by interaction has caused a greater part for bilateral communication between consumer and consumer but also between consumer and company. The increased usage and integration on Internet has resulted in so called social media channels. User generated material is published on these media channels which leads to discussions about companies, products and services.

This thesis? objective is to evaluate the recently proposed Shy (2002) approach of estimating consumer switching costs. We apply Shy?s method for estimating switching costs on the Swedish markets for bank deposits and telecommunications. The evaluation has been achieved by comparing estimated results to economic theories, related empirical studies, and our expectations.

In the aftermath of three high-profile honor killings the social service administrators became strongly criticized for their lack of skills and knowledge when it comes to dealing with honorrelated cases. In order to fix this lack of knowledge and to respond to the criticism from the society, the Swedish government allocated resources to train administrators in social services to improve their knowledge of honor-related violence and know how to handle clients who are victims of honor-related crimes.The aim of this study is to examine how social service administrators perceive their professional knowledge regarding to their work in honor-related cases. How they perceive their competence and discretion in relation to the work of honor-related problems and their perception of what resources the organization has to provide training and skill development in this area. The study shows that the social service administrators experience that there has been a development of knowledge in some areas regarding their work with honor-related cases but that there still exists an uneven distribution in terms of knowledge between small and large communities in Sweden..

The purpose of this discourse-analytical study is to investigate teachers? beliefs about writ-ing and writing instruction and how their beliefs and writing instruction can be understood in relation to the Lgr11 syllabus in Swedish. The study included five teachers who teach in grade 6 of primary school, where I applied Roz Ivani??s theories of written discourses, based partly on interviews with teachers and classroom observations of teaching, partly on the Swedish curriculum for grades 4?6. The result shows that teachers move within creativi-ty, process, genre and social practice discourse, while the skills of discourse and the socio-political discourse lack matching.

Background: The debate about environment, labor conditions and aid to developing countries has the last years been a much discussed subject The pressure on the companies to live up to their responsibility is beginning to be noticed in the market.Purpose: To find out if a retail company investing in Corporate Social Responsibility thereby direct can effect it?s stock value. Using interviews to investigate if and how stock analysts and corporate finance professionals valuate a company?s CSR initiatives.Theoretical perspective: The description of CSR is leading to the main theory, The Brand Value Change, and the Market Hypothesis. Additionally a theory of the Consumer Buying Process and CAPM-model about financial risks is presented.Method: An event study of 30 companies to investigate if there is any change in their stock values and interviews with three professionals from the financial sector to find out about their attitude to CSR.

Companies and special interest organizations pays multiple millions each year in order to reach out with messages about that their products are biggest, best and most beautiful. The publicity happens among thing like TV, in brochures, on the Internet andin newspapers etc. places. This means that consumer permanently becomes affected of publicity, and is thereby in an exposed situation. Around the EU, the border of what to consider undue or not, have been in different levels.

This report is an attempt to clarify how religious and non-religious views-of-life [livsåskådningar] are created through the collaboration and opposition of religious and scientific elements/ideas. This with the hope of reaching a fruitful result related to the solution of world-view related conflicts, such as the ones existing between science and religion, on an individual and societal level.This is accomplished with the help of two assertions: (1) Mankind has a need to explain its existence and surroundings. (2) Religion and science has their origins in the same seed and aim to serve the same purpose, or function. Together these two assertions lay the theoretical foundations of this report which implies that all humans have an innate need of sustaining a stable world-view.The result of this report is that a final solution to world-view related conflicts are beyond reach as our mental and physical nature limits us. However there are strategies for minimizing world-view related conflicts effect on society..

World wide globalization and the rapid development of the Internet have lead to significant changes for companies around the world. The world has ?shrunk? and increased supply of goods and services has lead to a more intense competitive situation. As the market changes, so does consumer behavior. Today?s consumers do no longer wish to be treated as a group, rather they are looking for products and services that specifically fit their personal values.Recent years, the consumption of digital consumer electronics has sky-rocketed.

The purpose of this essay was to examine the packaging design´s communications related to the colloquially brand's symbolic capital and how they became meaningful through experience and perceptions that led to the identification processes in the consumer society. There were eight interviews of snuff users who became my main collections materials. My theoretical framework was discourse psychology´s emphasis on language and Bourdieu´s concept provided important tools in the analysis of the material.I could highlight that packaging design and the brand had influenced the informants and given them symbolic beliefs and what it meant to sniff a certain brand. Color, brand awareness and price were crucial in choosing where the informants attributed themselves the cans symbolic values to their identity. It could be inferred high and low status perceptions based on stereotypes in the design itself..

The aim of the study is to investigate reasoning about variation in learning, made by Waldorf, Freinet- and Bifrost pedagogues. The focal points are how the pedagogues reason about variation in learning and why they want to use variation. It is a qualitative study, and it is done through interviews with one Waldorf pedagogue, one Freinet pedagogue and one Bifrost pedagogue. The conversation with each pedagogue is complemented by literature that describes and discusses each pedagogue?s specific teaching method. The results of the study are linked to different theories and reasoning by scientists and professors.

Background: Elderly people with visual impairment increases in the society. To measure vision with visual acuity charts doesn?t indicate how patients with Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) experience their disease. Aim: The aim of the literature review was to describe patients? experiences of living with age-related macular degeneration.

The purpose of this essay is to elucidate if there is a liability to damages for cardholders, in case of unauthorized use of bankcards, in the event a liability for payment, according to 34 § the Swedish Law concerning Consumer Credits, should not be established between card issuer and cardholder. The purpose is also to elucidate if card issuing companies, in the event a liability for payment is established between card issuer and cardholder, have any possibility to get a larger sum than is allowed by 34 § the Swedish Law concerning Consumer Credits, by demanding damages from the cardholder. Finally there is a judgement of how a court could do if it wanted to hold a cardholder liable to damages because of unauthorized use of bankcards..

The purpose of this thesis is to gain a holistic understanding of who are the consumers of fortified health food products; moreover to highlight what are the characteristics of the consumers who are likely to purchase these products. This thesis employed a quantitative strategy with an inductive and a grounded theory approach. The data was collected from a research company. Existing theories in the area of functional food were not possible to find. Considering that the area is new this seems plausible; however, previous studies provided insight for substantive framework.

Abstract Title: A conjoint analysis of packaging attributes. How can the attributes of a product?s packaging best look like to attract the consumer? Authors: Linda Granberg & Helena Niklasson Supervisor: Jan Svanberg Department: School of Management, Blekinge Institute of Technology Course: Bachelor?s thesis in Business Administration, 15 credits Purpose: The purpose is to find out how visual and technical attributes on product packaging affects the consumers tendency to want to buy the product. Method: Conjoint analysis and a quantitative survey. Results: When developing a package for a food product we?ve reached the conclusion that it is most important to have clear product information on it.