This thesis? objective is to evaluate the recently proposed Shy (2002) approach of estimating consumer switching costs. We apply Shy?s method for estimating switching costs on the Swedish markets for bank deposits and telecommunications. The evaluation has been achieved by comparing estimated results to economic theories, related empirical studies, and our expectations.

Title: ?Content, Contact, Cash?- En kvalitativ studie om framgångsrik marknadsföring viasociala medierAuthors: Andreas Hadzikostas and Helli ShahidiAssigner: NewsroomCourse: Degree thesis in Bachelor of Media and communication at the faculty ofJournalism and mass communication at University of Gothenburg, SwedenSemester: Spring semester, 2010Tutor: Ingela WadbringPages: 49, including two enclosuresPurpose: To elucidate which factors are significant for successful marketing via the social media.Method: Expert interviews, Informative interviews and content analysisMaterial: Interviews with Lena Carlsson at Kreafon PR agency, Peter Baeza at IHM Business School, Eva and Kalle Bodestig at Mandel, Lena Ekman at Saltå kvarn and Rick Short at Indium Corporation.Main result: This study has resulted in both comprehensive and concrete proposals for how Newsroom should work and market themselves, but mainly their customers via the social media tools such as Facebook and blogs. In order for companies to be successful with their marketing, they ought to build a strong, personal and enduring relationship with their customers by being attentive of their target group. The main purpose of the social media is to encourage individuals to interact and conduct dialogue with the participants rather than focusing entirely on one way communication. Furthermore, in order for a company, regardless of size, to be successful in building a healthy relationship with their costumers, they ought to showcompassion for their feelings and needs, as well as providing them with as much information as possible, via all of the selected social media tools to work with.

In the report we have investigated four high-rise buildings with the intentions to find out witch parts are prefabricated and what relation can be found between structural design, prefabrication and the logistics. After the investigation we noticed that the grad of prefabrication in each one of the projects is good in relation to what purpose the building have and the given background. During the report we found that layout ? structural design ? prefabrication ? logistics is an order that we think can make the production of the building more effective if followed. We believe that the prefabrication of high-rise buildings have potential to grow and get more optimized in the future..

Purpose: To examine how a tour operator works to implement sustainability in the development of the business, as well as what significance it has to consumers in selecting a tour operator. Furthermore, the purpose is to provide recommendations on how tour operators should work to communicate their commitments.Methodology: The research strategy applied is a case study which follows an abductive approach. Qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to complement each other. A semi-structured interview with a tour operator and a consumer survey constitute the empirical foundation.Conclusion: The conclusion of the study is that consumers show a positive attitude towards CSR, but do not see it as a determinant when choosing a tour operator. Thus, CSR does not constitute a competitive advantage against competitors.

Syftet med uppsatsen a?r att underso?ka hur lojala konsumenterna pa? apoteksmarknaden i Katrineholm a?r. Eventuella samband mellan ko?n och lojalitetstyp samt a?ldersgrupp och lojalitetstyp underso?ktes a?ven. Fo?r att uppna? syftet genomfo?rdes en kvantitativ underso?kning med hja?lp av enka?ter, da?r 240 svar samlades in.

With a larger awareness of the climate changes and increasing electricity prices, energy efficiency measures in the industry have become more common. By rationalize the activity and by the same time decrease the emission of greenhouse gases the company can both save money and reduce negative environmental impact. For the Swedish industries the electricity price have traditional been relative low, which has resulted in a considerable larger usage than other European countries. By a deregulation of the European electricity market the electricity price will level off between the countries, which will cause a higher electricity price in Sweden than we are use to. To prevent that the Swedish industry don?t lose competitiveness against the other European countries, it will require energy efficiency activities in all different forms.ABB Sweden has decided to decrease their total energy usage with five percent in two years.

Our purpose with this research has been to obtain a deeper insight and understanding for the phenomenon and term ?weekday-luxury.?Through our research, we have found a link between value, service, brands and consumer behaviour into a relationship that we termed ?weekday-luxury.? This link of values is particularly interesting to us and we are curious about the underlying motivation to ?weekday-luxury? and the driving forces underlying the phenomenon. We have noticed in society that people need something extra in their daily lives and we attempt to speculate where their perceived value lies through the concept of ?weekday-luxury." Our goal is to determine a deeper understanding and insight into this phenomenon and how it meets our needs through an identifiable pattern. We also analyze the nature of ?weekday-luxury? and its meaning.

»Does it have to be so green?« is a visual communication project focused on packaging design. I attempted to challenge the clichés of graphic design for organic products and designed a packaging concept for a fictional food brand. The project had a special objec¬tive which was to explore ways to use the package as carrier for in¬formation about the enviromental impact of the packaging itself.The process included research about packaging design and its ef¬fect on the consumer, an investigation of the Swedish market for organic foods, creating and defining a brand, and designing a cohe¬rent packaging concept for a product line which communicates the brand?s values and appeals to the intended target group.The project resulted in prototypes for a muesli package, tea car¬ton and honey jar, as well as a manual that explains the application of the graphic program..

Cultural organizations set on capitalizing on artistic ideas are subject to an industry specific economic condition that requires a balance of art and commerce; two opposites reflecting credibility and non-credibility. Hence, commercialization of the cultural industries implies non-credibility in an industry insisting on symbolizing the opposite.This study aims to demonstrate how cultural industries can attract a wide audience, while maintaining credibility. This is done through the perspective of folksiness since its context indicates the existence of credible commercialism.The study demonstrate that credible commercialism is part of folksiness and is possible thanks to the folksiness context that 1) utilizes attributes that balance and disarm "negative attributes" creating an atmosphere of acceptance and 2) meets the consumer's need fulfilment of identity through individualism and belonging, and 3) contains attributes that increases loyalty..

The purpose of this thesis is to gain insight into educators? views and work with circle time in preschool. To find out, I have referred to the following questions: How is your circle time performed in preschool? What objectives have teachers with the circle time? What impact has your circle time for the children in preschool?I have chosen to carry out qualitative interviews with three preschool teachers. After the interviews, I compared the educators? response to previous research.The survey shows that the circle time is one of the day´s highlights for preschool children.

Drinking water is produced from raw water and is either from groundwater or surface water. This thesis aims to find out if the cleaning process of raw water is sufficiently effective. This is important because consumers are otherwise at risk of waterborne infection caused by pathogens. There are three groups of pathogens; bacteria, virus and parasite. These have different characteristics which mean that they require different water treatment to be separated.

The purpose of this developmental research was to test the new way of working when the students were to take part in planning of cooking during the lessons in home and consumer studies, because the aim of the school is to teach the students to take the responsibility for their studies. The two first lessons should be used by students in the group to plan and organize their meal. During the third lesson the students must be responsible for cooking ready their meal and afterwards they must evaluate the results. The results of this new way of working was new for the students and they thought it was fun to be responsible for cooking during these lessons in home economics. The students in the groups were of wixed ability and they developed their knowledge from the levels of their ability.

The purpose of this essay was to examine the packaging design´s communications related to the colloquially brand's symbolic capital and how they became meaningful through experience and perceptions that led to the identification processes in the consumer society. There were eight interviews of snuff users who became my main collections materials. My theoretical framework was discourse psychology´s emphasis on language and Bourdieu´s concept provided important tools in the analysis of the material.I could highlight that packaging design and the brand had influenced the informants and given them symbolic beliefs and what it meant to sniff a certain brand. Color, brand awareness and price were crucial in choosing where the informants attributed themselves the cans symbolic values to their identity. It could be inferred high and low status perceptions based on stereotypes in the design itself..

The fashion industry in Kenya is slowly growing. The middleclass is getting bigger and theinterest for fashion among these consumers is increasing. One major problem for the growthof the industry is the extensive second hand trade, which has given several problematicaffects. The textile production has almost disappeared, the western influences are evident andthe consumer?s price sensitivity is prominent.The aim of this thesis is, by conducting a field study; to qualitative examine how to develop astrong domestic fashion brand on the Kenyan market and to give a foundation for a brandingstrategy for people involved within fashion in Kenya.

Drinking water is produced from raw water and is either from groundwater or surface water. This thesis aims to find out if the cleaning process of raw water is sufficiently effective. This is important because consumers are otherwise at risk of waterborne infection caused by pathogens. There are three groups of pathogens; bacteria, virus and parasite. These have different characteristics which mean that they require different water treatment to be separated.