The purpose of this thesis was to study the importance of virtual communities for independent record companies. It also aims to examine how these companies use virtual communities in their marketing activities and how to gain competitive advantages by working with virtual communities. A case study based on interviews was conducted with managers from two independent record companies, Music Is My Girlfriend Recordings and B&B Records. Our study has shown that virtual communities are important for independent record companies as tools for finding and addressing the right target market. Useful information about the members of these communities can easily be gathered with the use of the various search options that are available.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze green marketing and green brand building from a managerial perspective, with the intention to create an implementation guide for companies in the Swedish consumer market.  The essay is based on a qualitative approach with a mixture of inductive and deductive elements. We have interviewed five people with close links to green marketing. We have during the study identified a number of touch points to be particularly important in the process of incorporating green marketing. These findings are presented in full in chapter five. We have found that the framework of green marketing is established during the company?s choice of green strategy.

Title Greenlighted employees ? The internal value of Schenker?s environmental work.Author David Fridner.Course Master thesis in Science of Media and Communication.Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Gothenburg.Semester Spring semester 2009.Tutor Professor Monika Djerf-Pierre.Number of pages 55 (appendix 23).Aim The aim is to study the internal value of Schenker?s environmental work.Method Qualitative and quantitative method.Material 20 interviews from four workgroups: managers (4), sales (5), customer-services (4) and truck drivers (7). 148 websurveys from two workgroups: sales (106) and customer-services (42).Main result Schenker is perceived as an environmentally friendly enterprise. Much due to the fact that the company?s impact on nature only has little to do with how the staff evaluate its ?greenness?.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a highly used concept in contemporary organizations, especially in the recruitment process or education of employees and managers. The aim of this study was to examine the discursive production of the concept emotional intelligence and how it, linked to an organizational context, is expressed in web-based articles and course homepages. In total 11 texts related to emotional intelligence and organizational contexts were used as the object of study. A three-stage model was used as a method for analysis. The model included a content analysis, argument analysis and a deconstruction analysis in order to expose what was said about emotional intelligence and how it was said.

The purpose of this study is to look at the line extensions of the Swedish dairy company Skånemejerier. We have chosen to focus on how trends in ecological products and Functional Food influence the line extensions. The competition in the food sector have made it harder for companies to be seen in the market area and the companies have to make their brands more visible. That is one of the reasons why companies work with line extensions. The study is based on a qualitative approach because we wanted to come closer to our subject in order to establish a greater understanding for the case itself.

Social intranets are based on the Enterprise 2.0 expression and create a new way for organizations to communicate and work. It brings possibilities to leverage user generated content and engage in cooperation across organizational borders where users can get to know each other and share knowledge.This thesis aims to explore what expectations motivate decision makers in implementing social intranets. It is interesting to discover what is expected to happen in an organization that implements a social intranet and chiefly what the actual effects are. Through interviews of both management executives and intranet users at a consulting company called Ninetech, we have plotted out managers? expectations and effects experienced by users.We have categorized managements? expected effects in two themes; expected effects on corporate culture and expected effects on informational work.

The purpose of this master thesis is to, with the strategies of the organization and the preferences of the co-workers in mind, explore how reward systems can be designed in heterogeneous organizations. This is done by interviewing store managers and sales personnel in a heterogeneous organization. The frame of reference deals with theoretical approaches on reward systems and is divided in the following sections, individual or group based, differentiated or not differentiated rewards systems and goals, measurements and rewards. These sections are highlighted from the following aspects, equity, implementation possibilities and finally environment. The theoretical discussion ends in the conclusion that heterogeneous organizations should have several different reward systems, but not if a restructuring process is in progress or the system becomes too costly.

Title: The internal attractiveness of the sales position within ABB SwedenProblem: What is the cause of the low internal applicants for the sales position at ABB?Purpose: To identify why there are so few internal applicants for the sales position at ABB.Method: In order to achieve the purpose of the study, a survey was conducted amongst the employees of ABB. The target groups were sales managers, sellers and other employees. The result from the survey where then analyzed based on the theory chapter. Conclusion: A GAP-analysis showed a difference in the attitude towards the sales position at ABB.

Physical exercise is a trend that continues to grow, especially at the gym, but there are still members that do not use their training card in full. The overall aim of this study was therefore to investigate infrequent member?s experience of their training card. To answer this, focus was on motives to card purchase and perceived opportunities and difficulties of using the training card. The data was collected at IKSU trough a group interview with four managers within the organization, a questionnaire replied by 39 infrequent members and of those 11 individual interviews.

There is a tough competition in food-stores these days. Storeowners have been forced to try something new to attract customers. One way to accomplish that is to add private labels to the assortment. There are several benefits with these labels; its higher margins for this type of brand and the brand can also strengthen the stores image in the customers mind. When private labels first entered the market, the customer had a relatively low attitude towards the brands.

Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie var att undersöka chefers upplevelse av den egna psykosociala arbetsmiljön, särskilt frågan om den arbetsrelaterade stressen. Åtta linjechefer, fyra kvinnor och fyra män, intervjuades och besvarade frågor kring den egna upplevda arbetsrelaterade stressen utifrån följande områden; (1) Faktorer som bidrar till arbetsrelaterad stress; (2) Hur stress yttras samt; (3) Faktorer som kan minska arbetsrelaterad stress. Resultaten visade att samtliga chefer hade upplevt en negativ arbetsrelaterad stress som ledde till konsekvenser för både arbetsliv och privatliv. Mot bakgrund av detta är slutsatsen att organisationen i fråga bör se över chefers arbetsrelaterade stress inom den psykosociala arbetsmiljön för att på så vis förbättra förutsättningar för ett långsiktigt och hållbart ledarskap..

   To work and live in the same place where ones employer also is the landlord, can create a situation with many special requirements for the individual. Constrains regarding time, space and impact on social life is likely to appear. Based on theory and empirical research about the Boundaryless work and the Psychological contract the purpose of this report is to examine employees who live and work at the same place. This is done by studying the regulation regarding time and space factors and the psychological contracts in expectations and in violation of the psychological contract and the risks associated with this like Locked-in factors. The study includes interviews with managers and employees (n=9).

This essay is about personal assistance for persons with considerable intellectual disabilities.The purpose with the study is: to examine personal assistance for individuals, who can`t speakfor themselves, to examine how the individuals can determine and get influence into theirassistance and how they can get help with it, to examine the role of an representative inrelation to the serviceuser´s assistance and examine if there are factors of gender in theinterviews.The chosen method is qualitative interviews.The interviews has been analysed through earlier research about personal assistance andtheoretical perspectives like: influence, integration and citizenship and discussed throughperspectives of social psychology.The main conclusions are: the influence the serviceusers can have is through persons whoknow them very well, the role of the representatives are indistinct, the serviceusers can´tdetermine their assistance themselves and need help with it from relatives, representatives,personal assistants and managers, the persons who know the serviceuser intimately are best totransform the needs to assistance. The factors of gender, are that there are more men aspersonal assistants than in the care of elderly, and the representatives are mostly men. Thepersonal assistants appreciates the time they have for the serviceuser, the work can be lonelyand demanding..

This paper examines the impact of conscious shelf management on online grocery stores. An S-O-R framework is used to unveil if some established shelf management techniques from physical stores are applicable in an online context. We also explain some of the cognitive processes customers experience as they get exposed to online buying situations. A main study with two data sources is conducted: one quantitative website experiment with 168 participants who got exposed to five different organisation patterns within five different categories; and one more qualitative eye tracking experiment with 20 participants. The results indicate that a disorganised product page evokes not only different scan paths and cognitive patterns but also generates higher sales.

This paper exemplifies how the physical environment affects clients? experienced service quality and how companies work with the physical environment. In the empiric study, we conducted a case study and studied two hairdressing saloons. The study showed a connection between physical environment and experienced service quality in the business of hairdressing. Owners of hairdressing saloons perceive that a combination of the personal meeting and the physical environment influence the clients? general impression and their experience of quality.