Title: Competition for small audit firms ? a qualitative study on possible competitive strategies and how the upcoming changes will influence competition on the audit market    Subject: Auditing Tutor: Margareta Paulsson  Authors: Per Dahlström and Martin Holmberg Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding how smaller auditing firms use competitive strategies and why. The result aims to work as a support for owners and leaders of audit firms as they make decisions of how to compete in the future. We would also like to explore how smaller audit firms view the change of the mandatory audit, that is, our intentions are also to examine how they think the consequences on the market will be and their view on its affect on the competition of the market.    Methodology: Our methodological approach was characterized by a hermeneutic approach in order to explain and understand why the smaller audit firms do what they do. Our approach is a combination of inductive and deductive as it allows us to develop an understanding of the subject, then gather our empirical data and from that draw valid conclusions.

The RoHS Directive was introduced in order to restrict hazardous substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment, EEE. It currently restricts the use of six hazardous substances/compounds; cadmium, lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, PBB, and PBDE. The RoHS Directive currently includes category 1-7 and 10 in the categories of EEE listed in Annex 1A to the WEEE-Directive (Waste of EEE). The aim with the report is to investigate and elucidate prospects and obstacles to increase the scope of RoHS. This report mainly considers the inclusion of product categories 8 (Medical Devices) and 9 (Monitoring and Control Instruments).

Problem: På dagens marknad finns det flera olika bankaktörer som konkurrerar om kunderna, vilket även gör att det blir större konkurrens mellan bankerna. Vad är det som tilltalar en kund att stanna kvar hos en bank och bli lojal mot den? SEB bör öka sin kundlojalitet, men själva innebörden av ordet kundlojalitet kan betyda olika saker för olika individer, vilket kan bli problematiskt i SEB:s kommunikation till kunderna.Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka hur SEB omvandlar kundlojalitet till att skapa och utveckla långsiktiga relationer i sitt dagliga arbete.Metod: Den metod som användes till denna studie var av kvalitativ karaktär, då författarna använde sig av intervjuer på anställda inom organisationen. Genom dessa intervjuer insamlades information till studiens empiri, som sedan analyserades tillsammans med den teori som presenterats i studien.Slutsats: Det kan vara lätt att få den uppfattningen att Relationsmarknadsföring (RM) är svart eller vit. Att antingen har ett företag lojala kunder eller så har dem de inte.

The thesis strives to answer the question whether there are any differences between how young customers, in comparison with older, are affected by brands when buying different products. The purpose is to get a clearer idea about the brands' importance in the future and in that way also to give guidance to companies about how to best market themselves and there products.To answer the question, an experiment was conducted with 480 respondents taking a survey where they had to rate a product after reading a short text about it. Some of the texts stated that a specific brand was behind the product while some said the product was produced by an unknown brand.The result of the study was that young people showed a greater propensity of rating products with a brand higher than products without brands, in comparison with the older respondents. This gives reason to believe that brands progressively will become an even more important tool for marketers and an unmatched asset for companies in the future..

The securities market was to undergo a major change with the entry of MiFID I in November 2007. EU´s establishment if the directive sets high standards for investment firms to establish internal guidelines in accordance with MiFID I. As right now, the securities market is facing further change with the proposal for MiFID II.MiFID II seeks to overcome MiFID I´s shown deficiencies. The greatest need for change are the rules that secure investor protection, with specific focus on regulation on information service from investment firms to customers. This essay deals with the rules on information service enacted in MiFID I compared to the changes presented in MiFID II to investigate whether the changes could strengthen investor protection as desired.MiFID II is a more detailed framework than its precursor.

This study is an attempt to examine a hospital library's difficulties in reaching customers with consumer health information. The method was a case study of the consumer health service in the hospital library in Västerås, a town in Sweden. Qualitative interviews, observations and written material were used. The approach was from the actor's point of view with the intention to look upon the problem with the eyes of those who work at the hospital with information to patients, that is librarians and medical staff. Theories about marketing in service organizations and how to develop new services were used in the study, as well as theories about communication and different cultures within organizations of different kinds like the library and the hospital.

The purpose of this thesis was to create a communication interface which insures that all the right hardware is in its right place in the IS-node before Ericsson AB delivers it to their customers. One of the first parts of this work was to make sure it is possible to create such an interface for IS. This thesis then explains how to construct an interface that retrieves information from the IS-node into a C#-application. One important part of this project was to collect information and transform it to an XML output with the purpose of then being used in other applications in the future. The application created within the scope of the thesis exports the information retrieved from the IS-node in an XML-file or a text-file.

This thesis has been performed for the company System Andersson as a part of the bachelors degree in information technology at the School of Engineering in Jönköping. The thesis is based on the development of an iPhone application.System Andersson has an application for Android that is being used for their MPS system (material and production control system). Their customers, however, have also showed interest in being able to use this application for iPhone.The students handle the subject of iOS developing, including the design of the application, the use of the development language Objective-C, the use of the scripting language of Json used for server connections and SQL.The primary goal with this thesis has been to improve the students knowledge in such subjects as application development for mobile platforms, in such areas as Xcode, which is the development platform that Apple uses and Objective-C, which is the development language being used. The result of this thesis is an almost fully functional iOS application, similar to the Android application with some functionality missing..

Since the 1990?s Open Access has developed into an alternative model for scientific publication. Today an increasing political interest in promoting Open Access is commonly channeled through the implementation of policies by research funders. However, in the scientific community the uptake and acceptance of the model has been of notably different character.This Master?s thesis examines the understanding of and attitudes towards open access among eight senior Swedish researchers and how these have been affected by the implementation of the Swedish Research Council?s Open Access-policy as implemented in 2010.

The aim of this study was to examine consumers and producers view on beverages and it?s meaning for Skåne (a region in southern Sweden) and how to create a strong culinary region using beverages. It gets more common to connect food and tourism, where food and beverages can be used to attract visitors. The research methods used were qualitative and quantitative and the data was collected by survey and semi-structured interviews. The respondents weren?t aware of current beverage projects in the region.

This is a study about how realtors or estate agents market their services in social media. Social media is an upcoming channel in marketing and is becoming more important every day. The user generated content on internet is a new way of communication where companies don?t have to be considered as soulless, if companies use it correctly. This study investigates estate agents efforts to market their services in these channels and how they do it.

The purpose of our study is to examine whether social welfare secretaries experience obstacles in work to do their tasks in a way that they, from their own values, thinks is right. And if so, what are the reactions and what strategies do they use to manage this. The study is based on a qualitative method. The data consist of interviews, with five social welfare secretaries, which all work in southern Sweden. The social welfare secretaries both work at a children- and youth department and at a social allowance department.

Östgöta Brandstodsbolag started its insurance business in 1841 and is today a part of Länsförsäkringsgruppen, which consists of 24 independent and locally anchored county insurance companies. The local concept is a condition for the county insurance (länsförsäkring) idea, which means that the 24 county insurance companies cooperate freely. Länsförsäkringar is the market leader within property and liability insurances in Sweden and has a market share of 30.5%. The largest, and most well known, insurance companies in Sweden, apart from Länsförsäkringar, are If, Trygg-Hansa and Folksam. This essay treats with Östgöta Brandstodsbolag, which is one of Sweden's largest county insurance companies. The company is active in the county of Östergötland where it has the dominant market shares within home, detached houses, car and farming.

This paper deals with the question of why companies choose to go on trade fairs and exhibition examines how the media works. The essay's main focus is on stand contractors and why those hired to produce other company stands. The study is based on three interviews, a visit to a trade fair and a questionnaire survey. Together with the relevant literature is given a clear picture of how companies are thinking in their choice of attending the fairs, but also why stand contractors are involved in the process. We concluded that some companies do not know why they participate in fairs and many feel compelled to contribute to not be forgotten in the market.

The purpose of this essay is to analyze and understand how people in different ways can take on the role as carriers of brands and understand what part they play in today?s society. Brands are everywhere today and the competitions are becoming harder and harder for the customers? attention and consumption, which is why I am curious of how an individual in a company?s frontline or a celebrity can help the success of a brand. The essay is based on a qualitative method where six interviews have been performed.