The blog has become a widely discussed subject, but while marketers do invest in blogs, there is little evidence on the how the blog works as a marketing tool. Therefore, we thought it would be interesting to create a greater understanding of the blog's potential communication effects. To demonstrate the potential of the blog in comparison with more traditional media, we decided to compare the communication effects achieved by a blog with those achieved by an online magazine. We pursued an experiment where we exposed an identical text about a brand to respondents in seven blogs and in seven online papers and measured the resulting communication effects in terms of attitudes and intentions towards the exposed brand. The quantitative study showed that the blog in some basic aspects works as a more traditional media; when the consumer forms positive attitudes toward a text in a blog, the attitude spills over to the attitude toward the brand, with higher buying and w-o-m intentions as a consequence.

This paper presents the creation of a strengthening visual profile for StretchFlex UF. The project consists of an external as well as an internal part. The external part is on the order of the company StretchFlex. The company is created under the education concept by the name of Ung Företagsverksamhet (Young Entrepreneurship) and has passed on to the Swedish Championships in Young Entrepreneurship at the Stockholm International Fairs. Of that we have been commissioned to develop an updated logotype for the company, for the current does not keep proper quality according to the client.

Purpose of this thesis is to study the impact of wind turbines on their surroundings. It also aims to analyze how the communication looks between the authorities, the planner and local residents prior to the establishment of wind turbines in Lännäs/Odensbacken in Örebro, where three wind turbines set up in a group.The results of this survey show that the participants experience themselves not as especially disturbed of the turbines in the form of large noise, shadows, and sleep disturbance indoors and outdoors. Participants felt that no change had taken place on the natural environment (52%) since the turbines became operational. It was 49% of participants had got no information about the establishment of Örebro Municipality, Örebro County Administrative Board or Wind Power Company. Scientists/­experts had the highest confidence of 86%, politicians and the media/journalists had least confidence.

The xenophobic attitudes in Europe are stronger than even. Never before have the member states had as many right-wing parties in action. The aim with this report is therefore to consider whether the Schengen cooperation has had an influence on the development of xenophobia in the member states of EU. The Schengen cooperation became a part of the European Union in 1997, with the aim to abolish the internal border controls for citizens and strengthen the external boarders towards non-members. The intention is furthermore to investigate whether the distance to Schengen ?s external boarder has an impact on the xenophobic attitudes.Three countries are compared: Italy, Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

The purpose of this thesis is to through brand communication and Red Bull?simage examine how they position themselves as leaders on the Swedish energydrink market. We chose relevant theories within buzz marketing, word ofmouth, sampling and events. Our method of preference was quantitativequestionnaires which we spred through email to students at the LinneausUniversity and other social networks such as Facebook and blogs. Our empiricalstudy is based on our questionnaires and information about Red Bull.

This thesis deals with the question of why the Swedish Academy Dictionary has its own Library when, for almost a hundred years, it has been located at the University Library of Lund. Looking at the library functions: librarian, users, room and books and their external factors: economy, internal actors, external actors and the development of the Swedish Academy Dictionary helped to shed light upon which relations between these factors have been important in the development of the library. The results show that there has not been a conscious plan behind the Library. A large number of the books in the Library was given by those who have worked at the Dictionary and also by their friends and collegues. Another part was given by the Swedish Academy and was partly gathered when the project was still in Stockholm.

The aim of this study is to find and highlight the differences and similarities in the strategic communication in two real estate businesses with different proprietaries. In order to achieve the purpose, theories and previous research on public relations, strategic communication, mediatization, framing and new public management has been used. The study was conducted through interviews with two different organizations, Lerstenen who is based in Umeå, and Övikshem who is based in Örnsköldsvik. The analysis and results showed that the key difference between the firms was the spontaneity that influenced the private one, in contrast to the public firm that relied on solid structures to manage their communication. The results also showed that differences in basis conditions both allowed and hindered the possibilities with the communicative efforts that the two firms could do..

This is a qualitative study about Art transformation and commodification in the digital age. The study applies a rhetoric analysis with the aim to understand how art sellers, gallery owners and entrepreneurs take part in this transformation process through their websites? presentation texts ?about us?. The analysis is related to communication theories but it is also inspired by other theories such as Gramsci?s hegemony theory and Bourdieu?s cultural critical theory.

This project aims to explore how to create a working concept-based flower shop visual identity, with focus on brandig, eco-branding and visual communication. My main question is: How do I create effective visual communication for an ecological flower shop? The results of this thesis are that there are things to consider when creating a visual identity with an ecological concept. The most important question is if there is any benefit for your company to go green, otherwise positioning of your company will be hard. What I realized during the design part of my project was that if I use the methods described in this thesis and consequently applying my choices after the flower shops identifying words, a working concept-based visual identity will be possible to create..

This qualitative study is aimed to explore the leaders? experiences of difficult conversations in their work. We have examined if they take on a different role during the difficult conversations and how communication can affect their leadership during the conversation. We have also examined the importance of the leaders? ability to distance themselves from the sensitive subject and situation, to maintain their role as leaders.

This thesis follows a qualitative method and aim to describe firms? international business at an emerging market seen from a network perspective. The purpose of the thesis is to study in what way business relations and networks influence the process of internationalization and describe the way in which companies handle the external network in relation to acquisitions. Further does our purpose include analyzing if a firm?s network may be the main factor for why international business occurs.

Every year, reports are published that shows how universities fail to meet the demand from companies who are looking to hire students with solid communication skills. At the same time, the importance of communication for effective leadership is constantly increasing. Today, many business schools around the world states that they strive to educate future business leaders and have therefore realized the importance of teaching the skills of communications to its students. The majority of Swedish business schools, however, have not yet made communications an essential part of their curricula. This indicates that most business students in Sweden today, do not receive the toolkit needed to take on leadership roles.

The effectiveness of communication in the Swedish healthcare system context has long been the subject of debate. Issues stemming from usability, accessability and interpretation affect the lives of patients, and yet the vocal groups in the healthcare communication debate are patients and administrators, not healthcare professionals. With the advent of eHealth services and new demands being put forth on the ability of healthcare professionals' to handle increasingly numerous and innovative systems, it is of more importance than ever to understand the healthcare professionals' work context. This article is based on interviews with five healthcare professionals concerning their views on electronic health records (EHR), eHealth services, trends in healthcare services development in Sweden, as well as their views on the future of eHealth solutions and health information technology (HIT). Analysis of collected information shows an apprehension among healthcare professionals towards electronic communication, as well as a dissatisfaction with the usability of modern healthcare systems.

The expectation gap is the definition of the differences between what the interests expects from the auditor and what the auditor delivers. A number of studies have been done regarding the expectation gap and generally they point at the existence of an expectation gap.In our paper we want to discover and see how strategies are used in the process to reduce the expectation gap from three levels. The levels we treat are auditors, audit bureaus and the profession. We have chosen to examine the strategies used by the three levels to reduce the expectation gap to following interest groups, owners, management/board of directors, and creditors.The purpose with our paper is to create understanding about how auditors, audit bureaus and the profession use strategies in the process to reduce the expectation gap.With existing theories as ground we have construed and developed our own theory about which thinkable strategies the three levels can use.We have interviewed auditors, representatives from bureaus and a spokesman for the profession. In the examination we have used telephone interviews with questions based on our operationalization.

AbstractBachelor thesis in political science by Alexander Hassan, autumn 2008, ?Effects of external factors on a nations democratisation process during the transition from authoritarian to electoral democratic rule ? A categorical analysis?Supervisor: Tomas SedeliusIn recent years globalization has become a hot topic in understanding the world we live in today. Globalization has indeed had a great impact on international relations and with it a great influence on the domestic conditions that determine a nation?s possibilities. It is therefore rational to hold true that this also would apply to a nation?s democratic process.