People in today?s society are becoming more and more aware of how important it is to use energy as efficiently as possible. This is clearly noticeable by an increase in home produced heat with e.g. solar panels or heat pumps heating systems. These changing customer demands forces district heating technology to be redesigned, which is why there is an ongoing research regarding the next generation of district heating - low temperature district heating (LTDH).

The general consensus is that the gap between the Swedish variable mortgage rate and the repo rate has increased over the last years. Although the Riksbank in recent times has cut its base rate, many banks have chosen either to leave the interest rate on variable mortgages unchanged, or they did reduce it but by less points than the reduction in the repo rate. The linear relationship between the repo rate and the variable mortgage rate has changed over the last decade and the mortgage margins these days are relatively high. This can somewhat be explained by the new rules introduced in the bank sector requiring banks to increase liquidity and equity. Since mortgage loans play an important role in banks? lending business it is of interest to gain knowledge in whether a repo rate reduction latterly has generated a limited affect on the banks lending rates..

Thesis purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to determine how a technolo-gically enhanced shopping tool, synergizing eCRM tech-niques with personalized promotion at the point-of-sale, can increase customer loyalty by considering perceptions of current grocery retailer loyalty programs in Sweden. Methodology: An exploratory research was undertaken in the light of a qualitative method collecting primary data through focus group interviews. Theoretical perspective: The major considerations regarding theoretical aspects, for this thesis, can be addressed by Behavioral/Attitudinal loyalty and Relevance of Promotion. Empirical data: The empirical data, in regards to primary data, was ga-thered based on four focus group interviews. Conclusion: The conclusions of the thesis imply, that in order to make a loyalty program successful, it needs to firstly be conven-ient for the customer; easy to join, and provide an easy and time efficient display at the point-of-sale.

This study began with a mission statement from the firm Tobii Technology AB to identify customer needs in the relatively new and rapidly growing market for eye tracking analysis. After consuling external experts, the authors however found that the availability of previous academic published market studies of new and fast growing markets was poor. Therefore a decision was made to execute the task and at the same time create a methadology for future studies in this area. The identification of customer needs, which formed the basis of the insights and analysis, led to frequent discussions between the authors and the firm's supervisors. This resulted in a project plan and a decision that an iterative model would be used, were earlier decisions would be questioned and refined throughout the project.

Återkommande kunder, det är något de flesta företag på dagens marknader strävar efter. Idagens rådande situation präglas många marknader av hård konkurrens och relativt nyförsäljningskanal växer med stormsteg nämligen E-handel. Utan dyra butikshyror, derelativt små uppstartningskostnaderna och möjligheten att nå potentiella kunder världenöver är några av de faktorer som gör att fler företag finns och verkar inom E-handel. Det isin tur leder till ökad konkurrens om kunder och återkommande kunder blir vitalt för ettlönsamt företagande. Vi har studerat och försökt förstå varför en kund som handlat engång väljer att återkomma med ytterligare ett köp.

Social medias impact recent years has been huge and an increasing number of companies have started using the services. The benefits for companies to be available thru social media are many and the costs are low. Social media makes it easier for companies to get in touch with their customers and at the same time they reach out to a lot of people since the number of frequent user?s constantly increase. A major part of the information that is available is seen from a company?s perspective and what benefits they can take advantage of thru social media.

Olika teorier kring varumärkeshantering och varumärkesbyggande ställs mot empiri och sekundärdata från tre fallföretag som bytt eller ska byta namn. Empirin är insamlad via kvalitativa intervjuer under våren 2006. Fokus ligger på huvudfallet, E.ON, och hur deras namnbyte gått till och vad det fått för konsekvenser på företagets varumärkeshantering. Resultatet diskuteras utifrån överförbarhet och förslag till fortsatt forskning. Det innebär i korthet att ett namnbyte påverkar flera aspekter av ett företags varumärkeshantering bl a såtillvida att arbetet med att skapa varumärkeskännedom initialt intensifieras.

Background: The dependency on knowledge and competence today is more critical than earlier. Today, companies need to put more effort into identifying and filling knowledge gaps, which can be achieved through mergers and acquisitions. It is important that the companies succeed in coordinating their operations after this process of change. Out of a theoretical point of view it can be argued that companies need to balance between different coordination mechanisms that result in standardized and flexible coordination respectively. Purpose: The purpose of this Master Thesis is, in the context of a merger, to investigate and analyze which coordination mechanisms that are used in knowledge-intensive companies, how these coordination mechanisms are combined and what explains the chosen combination.

The number of products offered by retailers has increased immensely during the last two decades, which has resulted in an increase of naming decisions having to be made. The importance of product names has become more significant for retailers offering their products online, as these are more visible to the customer in comparison to products offered offline. Consequently, it is of great value for retailers to gain knowledge about how a product name affects the customers' perception of the product. The purpose of this study is to examine whether product names affect customers perception of the relevant products in the online environment. This has been illustrated by applying the following theories to the relevant product names; meaningful and meaningless brand names as well as concrete and abstract words.

This study aims to investigate whether or how the tour operator Fritidsresors customers gets affected by their sustainable environmental work and what kinds of effects the work has generated. A secondary data analysis of Fritidsresors website has been made, and an in-depth interview with Fritidsresors sustainability manager. Also a quantitative survey was conducted by fifty respondents, all customers of Fritidsresor. The answers have since been interpreted and processed in accordance with a comparative and phenomenological approach and with an exploratory purpose. Scientific articles have been studied and analyzed in order to generate an explanation for the phenomenon as a research field, and how previous research has looked.

AbstractAuthors:Stefan Harrå and Magnus BjörkAdvisor: Markku PenttinenTitle: Accounting Consequences of the change in pension accounting Background to problem: When the revised IAS 19 comes into force January 1, 2013, it means that two of the three accounting principles for defined benefit pension plans are disappearing, including the corridor method. The corridor method has made it possible for companies to defer its actuarial gains and losses. Now that the corridor approach abolished then the unrecognized actuarial gains and losses immediately be covered by equity, which involves very large amounts of some companies. Why the amounts have grown so big is much because of the discount rate. The discount rate is a controversial parameter, and there is disagreement on how it should be fixed.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine the accounting implications this will have for the company applied the corridor method, and if there is some parameters in the actuarial assumption that is more important than others.Methodology: The thesis has mainly been based on a qualitative research through qualitative interviews with a small sample that is affected by this change.

Denna uppsats behandlar varumärkesassociationer samt dess påverkan på varumärkeskapital. Uppsatsen är genomförd som en fallstudie och undersöker hur det svenska telekommunikationsföretaget Tre tolkar konsumenters associationer till varumärket Tre. Detta jämförs sedan med de varumärkesassociationer som föreligger kring Tres varumärke på marknaden.Varumärkesassociationer formas primärt hos konsumenter och är således inte enbart en process som företag styr. Detta innebär dock inte att associationerna är opåverkbara från företagets sida. En central faktor som påverkar skapandet av varumärkesassociationer har i denna uppsats påvisats vara konsumenters kontakt med företaget, där framförallt den första kontakten tenderar att forma associationerna.

Syftet med denna studie var att identifiera problem och behov som byggare i Sverige stöter på i sin vardag samt anordna en workshop där produktutveckling utifrån dessa behov diskuteras, samt hur denna information kan användas i produktutvecklingen. Studien grundar sig i teorier om innovation, behov och kvalitet, behovsidentifiering, innovationsspridning, produktlivscykel och metoden NABC: Need, Approach, Benefit, Competition. Grunden till arbetet är en föreställning att produktanvändare har behov som dem själva inte är medveten om. Genom att utgå från dessa omedvetna behov kan en bättre produkt utformas. Empatisk design (deltagande observation) användes för att kunna upptäcka outtalade behov samt skapa en god förståelse för byggarnas naturliga arbetsmiljö.

Social medias impact recent years has been huge and an increasing number of companies have started using the services. The benefits for companies to be available thru social media are many and the costs are low. Social media makes it easier for companies to get in touch with their customers and at the same time they reach out to a lot of people since the number of frequent user?s constantly increase. A major part of the information that is available is seen from a company?s perspective and what benefits they can take advantage of thru social media.

Internet and social networks have become important features in today?s society. We spend numerous hours on browsing and communicating through these platforms. This development has also led to a shift of power from businesses to consumers. Today?s consumers have more control of if, when and what messages they are exposed to.