Consumers today are bombarded with innumerable advertising messages. The need for companies to create advertisements that consumers find relevant is thus increasing. In order to break through the ad clutter, companies have to give something extra to their customers and show that they care about them. How a company decides to communicate might then be more important than what the company actually communicates.The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the use of creative media choices induces signaling effects and enhances advertising value as well as perceived corporate consideration. The two last mentioned variables are explored as potential driving forces behind the signaling effects.

The purpose of this Master's thesis is to elucidate the phenomenon of storytelling and its methodology in the context of public library story-time for pre-school children. It also strives to give an insight into the functions of story-time both with regard to the storyteller and the participating children. The study is based on qualitative methods in the form of a literature analysis, observations and interviews. The interviews were undertaken with two storytellers from the same library who work with children up to three years old and children aged between four and six years. The result of the study suggests that storytelling is more appropriate than reading aloud in situations when large groups of children are involved.

ABSTRACTPurpose/aim: To clarify what information is communicated through the PR-firm JKL:s blog, how it is communicated, how it relates to and diverges from the communication theories in point, and what the strategies behind the blogging are. By doing this I hope to contribute to the knowledge on corporate blogging and how it can be used.Material/method: Qualitative textual analysis of ten blog posts published on the JKL Blog and process seeking interview with the person in charge of the same blog.Main results: JKLs? blogging coincides to the most part with business intelligence, with the exception that the information doesn?t relate directly to the company?s? main activities. This is mainly due to that they can?t publish information about their customers or competitors.

The real estate industry is a sector where the companies generally have a capital structure which is high leveraged. The financing? with the related terms ? is therefore specifically of high importance for the companies in the sector. Traditionally, the way of obtain financing is by borrowing from the bank. Lately, due to new bank regulations, the banks have become more restrictive in their lending which have lead to a growth of other financing alternatives.

Det är en realitet att det på senare tid förekommit företagsskandaler, vilka har haft en tillitsskadlig effekt på relationerna mellan företag och dess intressenter. En följdeffekt av detta är att Corporate Governance förvandlats från ett akademiskt specialområde till en vedertagen kärnfråga i de flesta företag. Mot denna bakgrund syftar uppsatsen till att undersöka hur investerarens tillit gentemot företagsledningen tar sig uttryck utifrån aspekten närhet. Vi avgränsade mot att enkom studera skandinaviska investerare som använder fonder och riskkapital som investeringsmedel. Uppsatsens referensram baserades på teorin om Corporate Governance samt olika tillitsteorier på organisations- och individnivå, vilka också låg till grund för vår egen utarbetade analysmodell.

I denna uppsats belyses Polisen i Uppsala län ur ett varumärkesbyggande perspektiv med syfte att undersöka om teorier avsedda för företag i konkurrenssituation även kan appliceras på en offentlig myndighet. En kartläggning av Polisen Uppsalas arbete med personifiering av sitt varumärke i sociala media görs genom intervjuer, innehållsanalys och sekundärdata. Insamlad data avseende hur deras varumärkesbyggande stämmer överens med teorier om corporate brand, corporate brand personality och corporate brand personality traits avser besvara uppsatsens syfte. Resultatet visar att en stark koppling mellan Polisen Uppsalas varumärkesbyggande och uppsatsens teoretiska ramverk finns. I undersökningen framkommer att arbetet med personifiering är grundligt utformat genom Polisens värdegrund.

Denna studie underso?ker hur Systembolagets roll kan uppfattas genom deras organisationsbera?ttelse. En tematisk textanalys har gjorts av Systembolagets webbpublicerade material fo?r att faststa?lla vilka diskurser som framtra?der i materialet fo?r att framsta?lla deras roll. Denna studie bygger pa? Zygmunt Baumans teori om va?rt samtida konsumtionssamha?lle samt John Clarkes resonemang om hur offentliga organisationer har beho?vt anpassa sig till detta konsumtionssamha?lle.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the identity, competences and professional development of corporate librarians. I have done an empirical study based on semi structured interviews with 11 information professionals who were working at Astra Zeneca at the time of the re-organizations of the company in 2009 which ultimately led to the closing of the libraries. I have also examined the views on competences and professional development of librarians in general, both in Sweden and in Denmark. I have used Thomas Brante?s theories on profession types as well as Anders Ørom?s theories on librarian identities as my theoretical framework.

Organising knowledge in a corporate environment : a case study at the development departments of Ecophon ABThe purpose of this master's thesis is to investigate how three development departments of a technical firm could organise their collection of documents and information resources to improve their management of information. Three sets of questions have been posed: 1) How does the target group of engineers deal with information, and what problems can be identified in this process? 2) What does their collection of resources consist of, how is it organised, and what problems are apparent? 3) How can principles of knowledge organisation be applied in a corporate environment?The investigation has been carried out as a case study. Three main methods of collecting empirical data have been used: surveys, unstructured interviews and collection observations. The results of the study have highlighted three major problem areas: the collection's lack of structure and searchability, the absence of policy regarding how employers should deal with information, and the inadequate knowledge among staff on how to search for, use and disseminate information.By looking at previous research on knowledge organisation, we have been able to draw conclusions regarding how the target group could organise and manage its information and knowledge in order to achieve greater efficiency in dealing with information and carrying out work tasks.

The purpose of this thesis is to gain a deeper understanding about why Swedish banks choose to work and report CSR and also analyze differences and similarities between two banks.Research question: Why do Swedish companies within the financial sector choose to report and work with Corporate Social Responsibility?The major incentives to work and report CSR are because it benefits bank´s businesses, which is driven by stakeholders. Stakeholder pressure is also an important incentive, especially pressure from customers and employees. The incentives that differed between the two banks were morality of the business leader, society and the priority of stakeholders. The incentives that we could not support were guidelines and competitors-.

The report assesses the typical questions regarding Corporate Social Responsibility within the automotive industry. An attempt as to whether Corporate Social Responsibility has an impact on growth companies is demonstrated. Volkswagen Group is within the required analytical criteria, which are to be studied. Also, the fact that they recently launched ?Strategy 2018? makes it even more interesting to immerse into.

The problem area was identified due to the fact that research within internal audit is fragmented and insufficient, simultaneously to internal audit becoming more common in the public debate. Crises and scandals in companies such as Enron in the US and Skandia in Sweden have resulted in new regulations regarding how companies should be governed. These regulations have been established in Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) in the US, and in Sweden the Swedish code for corporate governance will be implemented in 2005. The regulations imply that companies must provide sound internal control and to accomplish that, companies should have an auditing and consulting internal audit function. The Swedish code for corporate governance denotes that companies can decide to comply or explain why the code is not complied.

With the introduction of the Swedish Code for Corporate Governance in December 2004, most companies listed on the major Swedish stock exchanges were required to have a nomination committee responsible for, among other things, evaluating the incumbent board and nominating new candidates. This master thesis aims at analyzing the effects of these nomination committees on institutional investors in their corporate governance, through a qualitative study of 13 interviews. We have found that institutional investors have become more active through their participation in nomination committees and that they have gained more influence over the companies in which they own shares. We believe that in reality nomination committees have more influence over the selection of the board than was intended when the Swedish Code was written..

Syftet med denna undersökning är att finna en möjlig förklaring till hur det teoretiska området angående corporate social responsibility har utvecklats i ett tidsperspektiv. Uppsatsen undersöker hur definitionen av CSR växt fram och vad definition har påverkats utav. Det andra som studerades var hur ämnet CSR har växt fram. Ser CSR likadant ut idag som det gjorde för femtio år sedan eller hur har det utvecklats?För att göra denna studie, används följande metod.

This paper describes and develops a trade off model of optimal capital structure by Bradley et al. (1984). The model is then tested to examine how changes in corporate tax rates affect the optimal capital structure of firms. Based on theoretical implications of the model, four hypotheses are derived stating that firms? optimal debt-to-value ratio is (1) negatively related to financial distress costs, (2) negatively related to non-debt tax shields, (3) negatively related to firm volatility and (4) positively related to the corporate tax rate.