Due to increasing international competition and new technology IT-consultants has been forced to oversee their business models lately. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the process and consequences of a shift in business model for a consultant by using a methodology based on action research. The empirical foundation consists of a field study with observations, notes, interviews and business related documents. The case describes a consultant?s process of shifting business model from profits based on man-hours to selling a standardized system.

Choosing a new plastic material for a container includes several different steps. In this case,the Finnish company Hackman needed a new type of packaging material for theircutlery- and kitchentool series »Hackman tools«. The project was carried out in cooperationwith the design agency Ytterborn & Fuentes, which has Hackman as a client.Several different demands were put on the material in order to fulfill as many of the clientswishes as possible. The most urgent problem with the existing container was the difficultysfor the customer to clearly see the contents in the container. Because of this problemthe customer tried to open the container in the shop.

Media society is under a constant development and in line with this change, firms must adapt to the market. We have investigated what fashion companies in fact are doing to communicate in the dynamic market. We wanted to find out how to communicate and how they can market themselves in a new and innovative way to create long-term customer relationships. We have used a theoretical frame of reference based on marketing communication, fashion marketing, branding and relationship marketing theories. We have assumed four themes throughout the survey which are: customer contact and relationships, emotion in communication, branding and relational communication.

Marketers of today are confronted by the fact that it is increasingly difficult to gain the customer's attention, as they first have to break through the ad clutter. In a landscape where the general attitude towards advertising is negative, one way to successfully deliver the message to the customer involves communicating through personal impact. By using stimuli containing identical information with different senders, this thesis seeks to quantitatively explore whether brands can make use of the personal networks of its employees, in their social media marketing strategy. The purpose of the study is to investigate if communication via the employees could enhance traditional communication effects, such as buying intention and electronic WOM intention. Furthermore, the study aims to examine which role the employee should hold when communicating on behalf of the brand, and if the communication effects vary with the degree of product involvement.

The most dominating channel for communication, connecting companies and customers, during the 1900 century was those who included either physical contact or phone contact. However, when Internet started to make its way as a channel for communication, a whole new opportunity opened up for the companies. Since then Internet has grown to be an important part for any company that wants to gain market shares. One of those markets is the market of travelling.This paper discusses the Swedish industry of travelling, and different travel organizers use of Internet as a mediate for long-term relationships. The paper is built on a comparison between three companies that all distributes journeys, this is to examine the Internet communications effect on the electronic relationship (e-relation) with customers.Three travel organizers with similar visions and objectives are compared in this paper, these are Apollo, Fritidsresor and Ving.

This Bachelor?s thesis elucidates the subject of Swedish migration to New Zealand in 1871. Drawing on the work of Anthony Grigg, who has assessed the public opinions regarding the arrival of Scandinavians in 1871-1876, this study aims to highlight the image of Sweden and Swedes conveyed in New Zealand at this time. Through a hermeneutic engagement with newspapers of the day, it is concluded that Swedes in general were being portrayed as industrious, thrifty and well suited for the forestry labour expected of them. It is also shown, however, that Swedes and Sweden to a limited extent were being associated with notorious drinking habits and inferior intellectual abilities.

This study intends to elucidate which view customers has about Sony Ericsson as a trademark compared with it?s biggest competitors and how the company can expand and create added value around its products. The aim with this essay is to study and to analyze Sony Ericsson?s creation of value and to increase understanding about strategy development. We have chosen to do this study on the basis of customer perspectives.We have used existing theories that treat matters: added value, marketingmix and trademark image.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to do a brand survey of Metro in Karlstad. The study will originate from the terms ?brand identity? and ?brand associations?, where the brand identity is the organization?s desired view of the brand, and the brand associations define the associations held by the consumers.Issues: What is Metro?s brand identity? What are the brand associsations of Metro in Karlstad? How well do the brand identity and the brand associations correspond?Theoretical framework: The study is done from the perspective of media and communication studies, where the theoretical terms are defined from literature regarding brands.Method: The study is carried out using a qualitative document analysis, interviews, and a quantitative survey. The document analysis was made on Metro?s own documents regarding values and target audience.

Problem: How does project managing appear in small IT-consulting companies and how does the project manager carry out their projects to create successful solutions for their customers?Purpose: The research has the purpose to analyze and review how IT-consults in small companies work and lead their projects to create profitability for the company, which leads to a good development for the company.  Methodology: The research is made on eight research objects in IT-consulting business and the sizes of them are between 1-49 employees. The research is made with a qualitative method to get closer to the research objects. Therefore the research is made in forms of interviews. The analysis is grounded on a comparison between the research data and the theories that are used in the research.Theoretical perspectives: The theories which have been used in the research are Involvement theory (Fill, 1999), PAFF-metoden (Marcusson & Ahlin, 2002), Projektledning (Tonnquist, 2006), Jakten på det effektiva projektet (Engwall, 1999) och Mervärde (Grönroos, 2002)Empirical foundation: The research data are founded from the interviews of the eight research objects, they have the fictive names: Gondor, Minas Morgul, Minas Tirith, Mordor, Osgiliath, Rivendell, Rohan and The Shire. Analysis/Result: Each study object starts their projects with a pre-study phase, as the PAFF-method describes it.

 AbstractTitle                                      Continuous improvement ? Motivating ICA´s  personnel to    a greater engagement.Problem                                  Getting ICA: s employees involved with continuing improvements.Purpose                                  To motivate ICA: s employees to a higher degree of commitment and    contributing with ideas and embracing approved improvements. Research questions   - How should the employees be properly motivated to contribute with   suggestions for improvement?  - What message and content should improvements send to inspire the   employees? - Witch channels should be used to capture the employee?s attention? - How can best practice be recognized and how can the knowledge be spread  through the organization?Methodology                          Initially a theory study was completed and from the results a case study were  conducted.Conclusion                             Combining success factors for continuing improvements.  To get the      employees feeling appreciated with their work. Results             By combining ten sucessfactors and trying to see the whole picture.                .

As the title insinuate, this essay illustrate Event Marketing as a marketing instrument, and how it can be used as a tool to facilitate brandbuilding and improve relationships. We have come to the understanding that Event Marketing is in the course of constant development. It seems like Event Marketing as a marketing tool is starting to get its well-merited position in the marketing mix throughout the world, since companies and other organisations have realized that Event Marketing is a powerful tool for differentiation. We have also seen that Event Marketing in the business world lately has come to be more important for building and maintaining relationships, as well as carrying marketing messages.In this essay we discuss Event Marketing in three sections; brand, relationships, and customer experience. Among these topics, inter alia Integrated Marketing Communications, Sensory Marketing, and Service-dominant Logic are presented.

Printed newspapers are on the decline, while digital versions are in rapid growth. Consequently the industry must draw up new business models around the digital format - models that can produce revenue streams equivalent to those that the print format used to produce. However, after a decade of 'free' online news, consumers now hesitate to pay. In their struggle for survival, strategic pricing is a central issue for newspapers. This study aims at describing how Swedish newspapers price their digital content, by analyzing their pricing processes and five factors that may influence the choice of paywall and price levels.

AbstractPurpose ? The purpose of this study is to investigate possible reasons for long lead-time in a customer driven production, and how the lead-time can be reduced. To fulfil the purpose the study has been broken down into two questions.1. Whichfactorsaffectthelead-timeinacustomer-drivenproduction?2.

The purpose of this essay was to examine how childless homosexuals (men and women) were looking at family formation and parenthood. The essential questions were how the homosexuals felt about their own parenthood in the future and about different family constellations. We also wanted to examine how they experienced reactions from the society and what they thought about the current Swedish laws in force of adoption and insemination.We have chosen to work with a qualitative method and interviewed nine childless homosexual men and women in the age between 21 - 39 years to get some answers about the questions above.The main result from the interviews was that the homosexuals had the same thoughts like any other future parent but with a more complicated engagement. Even though they some times felt a resistance in the society against homosexual parenthood it was not a thing that would stop them from getting children..

This study is a part of a Swedish research and development project that is about heat-treated wood and is led by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Luleå University of Technology. Products that are heat-treated already exists on the market, foremost the Finnish brand ThermoWood®, bur the project group want to find out if it would be possible to start a Swedish production with somewhat different applications than what is common today. The heat-treated wood has many attributes that have changed in the heating process. It becomes more biologically durable, it gains stability in form and dimensions and it becomes darker and looses several unwanted extractives such as resin. Disadvantages that can be mentioned are that the wood becomes fragile and the strength properties changes. My main purpose with this study is to look into customer involvement in the early phase of product development. I also want to find out if the customers I interview think that the product is worth working with, which means start a Swedish production.