AbstractTitle: External communication and brand strategies in Swedish municipalities? Author: Philip Hagne & Einar Svensson? Tutor: Jessica Gustafsson? Purpose: The aim of this thesis was to study and obtain greater understanding on how Swedish municipalities use external communication and branding strategies to gain and attract more residents. The key questions to be answered in this thesis were: What does the external communication look like in the selected municipalities? Are the selected municipalities trying to establish their own brand? What does the work on creating the brand look like??Method/Material: This thesis is based on material collected trough interviews with people working with external communication in eleven swedish municipalities. The selected municipalities where divided into two groups based on their negative or positive population growth between 2005 and 2012.

The presence of nostalgic emotions during consumption is often seen as something purely positive to a product. To evoke these emotions has become a very common tool in marketing and advertising. Paradoxically very few studies have focused on the effects of nostalgia. The purpose of the thesis has been to understand how the presence of nostalgic emotions during consumption effect consumers. The research model used is a quantitative study with testing of hypotheses generated from theory.

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.

This essay is a case study of how two non-profit organizations, in the same line of business work with external communication and new media such as Internet and social media (Facebook and Twitter).Both these organizations are located in different countries and the purpose of the case study is also to find out if the differences in their work methods in communication depend on organizational or cultural differences. The case study was conducted in the organizations Sverige Amerika Centret in Karlstad, Sweden and The Swedish Council of America in Minneapolis, US. A qualitative approach executed through interviews and a qualitative content analysis of the organizations annual report from 2010. The result of the interviews and the document content analysis shows that there are differences in the way these organizations handle their work with external communications and new media. One of the organizations uses new media more actively in their work with communication and through that channel creates a relationship with its external audiences. The theories that has been used for this case study is Organization communication, Intercultural communication, Public Relations and Organization culture. Keywords: external communication, new media, culture and employees..

This thesis investigates the socio- and environmental economic effects of a deep repository for spent nuclear fuel in Forsmark in the municipality of Östhammar. I seek to show the general picture but focus on the effects on employment, environment and income. Cost-benefit analysis is used to investigate the differences in utility between a scenario with and a scenario without a deep repository in Forsmark. Most of the possible effects can not be valued and many can not even be quantified with the data available today. Therefore this thesis has a bit of a ?preliminary study character? and seeks to show what we know today and what needs to be further investigated when available data allow it. The costs that could be valued are noise from the traffic during the period of building and emissions of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides from the transportation of rock masses during the building period.

The work of the board in owner-managed firms often differ compared to the work of the board in large listed companies. Since the owners are working in different roles, the board in owner-managed firms might discuss topics outside the typical boards agenda, such as questions relating to ownership structure and operational matters. This thesis examines what external board members can contribute with in owner-managed firms, and which the most frequent difficulties are for the owners when deciding to recruit external board members. Through qualitative interviews, three owner-managed firms have been studied, which together with two expert interviews and five seminars, creates the empirics. In the analysis, the empirics are compared to what the earlier theory states.

The purpose of this research was to examine what motivates and influences an individual to invest in a project or company through equity-based crowdfunding. The intention was therefore to identify internal and external motivation factors and examine how external social factors such as the Internet, other individuals? investment decisions and interaction in social groups affect an individual when he or she invests through equity-based crowdfunding. The results showed that both internal and external motivation factors are important components of an investment through equity-based crowdfunding. External motivators proved to be for example yields and helping entrepreneurs.

The aim of this paper is to try to explain how specific, foreign policy decisions are made, and why one state decides to use violence against another state. A qualitative method is used, and text and documents are analysed. The two theoretical points of departure are central within foreign policy analysis: realism´s theories on external threats and constructivism´s theories on ideas´ policy influence. The empirical case chosen is the US decision to use military violence against Iraq. The paper investigates whether the real threat from Saddam Hussein´s Iraq was the cause of the American military attacks, or whether the ideas of leading politicians in the USA were decisive for the decision to invade the country.

Title: ?When The Line Between Transmitter and Receiver Blurs? ? A Study of how organizations look at social media as part of their external communication and how they respond to the environment in the new media toolNumber of pages: 49 (51 including enclosures)Author: Ida Hansson KällTutor: Cecilia StrandCourse: Media and Communication Studies D 30hpPeriod: Spring 2010University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Informatics and Media,Uppsala UniversityPurpose/Aim: The aim of this essay is to study how five organizations look at social media as part of their external communication and how they respond to the environment in the new media tool.Material/Method: A qualitative method has been used. Five interviews as primary sources have been conducted with representatives from each organization.Main results: The main results of the study is that organizations have to integrate social media as part of their external communication plans in order to face and respond to their surroundings in a new interaction and multi-way communicative platform. Results also show that organizations are well aware of the importance of making use and participate in social media.Keywords: blogs, external communication, facebook, respond to the environment, social media.

Consumers today are bombarded with innumerable advertising messages. The need for companies to create advertisements that consumers find relevant is thus increasing. In order to break through the ad clutter, companies have to give something extra to their customers and show that they care about them. How a company decides to communicate might then be more important than what the company actually communicates.The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the use of creative media choices induces signaling effects and enhances advertising value as well as perceived corporate consideration. The two last mentioned variables are explored as potential driving forces behind the signaling effects.

In the recent years auditing scandals all around the world, deficient internal control has attracted a lot of attention. This has contributed to further requirements on insight and internal control. Those scandals have seriously damaged the auditor?s profession and contributed to a reduced trust among the public. Therefore an extensive work to recover and stringed the trust was started all around the world.

The recent development in society?s structure has given rise to a more complex reality for the Swedishbanks. There is an increased pressure from external stakeholders for the banks to take a greater socialresponsibility in society; the bank must therefore focus on both direct as well as indirect effects of itsactions. The term corporate social responsibility implies that the company does not only focus on itsfinancial status but also on values such as ethics and environment. These commitments are crystalized,more or less clearly, in the banks? lending policy?s, whom are entirely defined by the banksthemselves.The nature of the abstract CSR expression gives rise to uncertainty, both in regards to the banks ownefforts towards social responsibility but also for the external stakeholders, for which it can be quitedifficult to understand what commitments are actually made.This study aims to investigate how the Swedish banks public statements, with regards to their lendingpolicy, correlates with the actual actions carried out by the banks.

This dissertation is a case study on the Co-branding between Prada and LG, ?The Prada phone by LG?. The purpose of the study is to broaden the understanding of Co-branding and the effects this type of collaboration can have on a company?s brand. The research questions are: ?What effects can a Co-branding have on a company?s Brand Equity?? and ?How can these effects be measured??.

The aim and purpose of this essay is to study if three museums are using Facebook strategically to promote two-way communication with their target audiences in their external communication. A qual-itative and comparative research method and has been used and communication managers from each of the three museums have been interviewed. These interviews have been transcribed and coded in order to reveal opinions and views on how that particular museum feels about social media and the use of these tools in their external communication. A number of Facebook statuses have also been collect-ed in order to discover how each of the museums is using social media in order to reach and engage their target groups. Should the results of this essay be summarized it would show that the museums are using the communication channel that they feel suits the needs of reaching a specific audience.

Title: ?When The Line Between Transmitter and Receiver Blurs? ? A Study of how organizations look at social media as part of their external communication and how they respond to the environment in the new media toolNumber of pages: 49 (51 including enclosures)Author: Ida Hansson KällTutor: Cecilia StrandCourse: Media and Communication Studies D 30hpPeriod: Spring 2010University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Informatics and Media,Uppsala UniversityPurpose/Aim: The aim of this essay is to study how five organizations look at social media as part of their external communication and how they respond to the environment in the new media tool.Material/Method: A qualitative method has been used. Five interviews as primary sources have been conducted with representatives from each organization.Main results: The main results of the study is that organizations have to integrate social media as part of their external communication plans in order to face and respond to their surroundings in a new interaction and multi-way communicative platform. Results also show that organizations are well aware of the importance of making use and participate in social media.Keywords: blogs, external communication, facebook, respond to the environment, social media.