The report aims to examine how property owners position themselves to reach their targetmarket, and which strategies they use when positioning their product. The investigation has beencarried out mainly in the form of a case study in which a number of interviews with Stockholmreal estate companies has been conducted, focusing on commercial property market segment.The interviews have resulted in identification of common and specific strategies among thecompanies. These strategies have been analyzed in the light of the theory by Philip Kotler andKevin Lane Keller, focusing on how an offer should be designed to reach a competitive position.It can be concluded that positioning is a key activity for successfully addressing the targetmarket. Successful positioning mandates three key requirements to be met; determining thecategory to which the offer belongs, identifying similarities and differences compared to thecompetitors and developing a brand mantra. The result of the case study concludes that theproperty companies work similar in many ways.

Issuing convertible bonds for financing purposes has never become widespread practice amongst Swedish companies, in spite of the instrument being common in international markets. Economic theory based on efficient markets suggests that companies should gain no financial benefits from using convertibles and the Swedish situation could be interpreted as in line with this reasoning. However, there are Swedish companies that have chosen to issue convertibles and the Swedish market therefore seems both supportive and contradictory to the existence of benefits of convertible bond financing. Little research concerning the Swedish market has been conducted and the purpose of this explorative thesis is thus to enhance the understanding of the Swedish market for convertibles. This is achieved by conducting in-depth interviews with six listed Swedish companies that have recently issued convertible bonds.

Graphic profiles are a part of companies? brand expressions. The graphical values reflect the brand values the business wants to convey. They consist of different graphic elements such as logo, company sign, colour schemes, templates, rules, fonts, pictograms, formats and references to how different graphic elements should look, for example, business cards, signs and materials for websites. This thesis aims to examine why firms choose to replace their graphic profiles by studying their underlying motivations.

This master of science thesis intends to examine how the established innovation theoriesinteracts with the social and cultural phenomena arising from the reduction in communicationcosts as a result of the development of the internet.The aim is to present a knowledge inventory of attitudes to and experiences of an openapproach, with emphasis on collaborative innovation, in product and service developmentdriven companies in different fields. The studied theories and the empirical results forms thebasis for an analysis of how companies can benefit from the diversified knowledge that existsoutside their borders as well as an exploration of the potential for this kind of knowledgeexchange to act as a catalyst for innovation.The theoretical part of the study is based essentially on two tracks: (1) innovation theories witha focus onopen innovation and user innovation, and (2) a broad review of how theories ofdiversified knowledgeand collective intelligence has become possible to apply in an innovationcontext. The empirical part of the study is based on material obtained from semi-structuredinterviews with respondents from six companies.The results show that companies have implemented unstructured innovation initiatives withoutany formal links to the structured product development processes, which are part of thecompanies core activities. The main conclusions include the following insights: There is a needfor structured links between the unstructured initiatives and the core activities, which makes itpossible to take promising ideas to market. The companies also have to lose some control of theunstructured initiatives; consequently it is impossible to pinpoint what the outcome will be.

Title: Predictions and explanation models for bankruptcy in stock-companies ? A study of three failed Swedish companies Author: Tim Svanberg Supervisor: Emil Numminen Department: School of Management, Blekinge Institute of technology Course: Bachelor?s thesis in business administration, 10 credits Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to find explanation for bankruptcy with the help of prediction models. The purpose is also to add explanation by using Behavioral analysis Method: Quantitative research of bankruptcies using financial prediction models and qualitative study of psychological pitfalls. The study is deductive. Results: I found that it is possible to explain the bankruptcies using the prediction models.

The purpose of my study is to give a good picture of what social media really is and how companies can make use of it, in their marketing strategy. It gets more important for every day that companies fully understand how social media works and how to act in the new digital channels. To be an updated marketer today, you need to fully understand social media and how it can be implemented in the company marketing strategy. This study gives you a snapshot over todays situation in the area of social media marketing.I have interviewed four different persons, who I believe have a great competence and are highly qualified for this kind of study. All of the interviewed persons work with social media marketing at a daily basis.

The purpose with this thesis is to illustrate companies? way of using Key Account Management in the organization. We developed the four following research questions: Why do companies choose to use Key Account Management? How do companies identify and choose their key customers? How does a key account manager work? How do the skills needed by a key account manager look like? The results showed that KAM offered several important benefits, mainly of economical characteristics. Identification of the key accounts was mainly conducted through certain economical criteria the customers had to fulfil.

Background: An accountant is supposed to secure that the information from a company is true and fair. Recently consulting, or giving advice, has grown to be a major part of an accountants daily work particularly in smaller companies which may have insufficient financial competence themselves. This means that an accountant occupies two parts, as an independent reviewer and as an initiated advisor, which have caused controversy. Purpose: The purpose is to outline and explain how the accountants and audit customers regard an eventual discrepancy between performing the audit and consulting, and to give suggestions how to manage this. The purpose is also to define what customers perceive as quality in consulting an auditor.

The purpose of this essay is to analyze and understand the effects that a recession can have on a company?s marketing department. In times of a recession most companies have less means to promote their products to their target market and to build their brand. This means that cutting the marketing budget will show some effects on today?s way of marketing.

Who has the ownership of a company´s long-term strategy, and who should have it? Is it the board of directors or the senior management? Swedish law and regulations seemingly point in one direction, whereas the findings of studying the relationship between CEO and chairman of the board in eleven Swedish listed large- and mid-cap companies, point the other way. In a majority of the companies the senior management have the ownership of the long term strategy whilst the board of directors merely hold a control function. The possible effects on the companies managed as well as the rules and regulations they are managed according to, are analyzed..

Companies and organizations recognize the importance of collaboration to develop responsibility and ability of change in the workplace. The concept of collaboration was a relatively new idea in business in the late 1980s. In a Nordic context, collaboration is a traditional approach that companies use successfully for competition, survival and development. Collaborative organizational efforts cover management of committed people who can help companies achieve flexibility, customer loyalty, innovation and economic success on a challenging and competitive market. Many theorists believe that collaboration is the key to integrating technology, financial competence and innovation.

In this thesis we examine the relationship between board composition and firm performance in Swedish companies. The selection of companies includes all Swedish limited liability companies, with the exception of micro enterprises, that have been active between the years of 2009-2010. We develop hypotheses based on resource dependence theory, agency theory, and the resource based view, and test these with regression analysis against collected data. Specifically, we examine the effects of board diversity, outside directorships, and CEO duality. Our findings show that none of the theories provide sufficient explanatory power of the relationship between board composition and firm performance, and that further research is required to better understand the role and effects of company boards..

AbstractDigital media in general and social media in particular are becoming more and more important to businesses across the globe. It is an effective way to reach out to consumers and establish a good relationship with existing customers. Most companies today use digital media in order to market themselves and to establish good public relations. A lot of those companies have also realized the enormous marketing capabilities that social media provides. However, in spite of the plethora of possibilities that comes with social media it can also, in some cases, hinder the companies ? success.

Companies in the western world can no longer compete by using traditional means such as product and price since the commerce of services continually grows. To avoid similarity and increase competitive advantages modern companies have to be more specified. The competition between companies has increased and customers are harder to reach. Customers of today can afford luxury but trend indicates that originality, identity, and status are more important than factual needs. Products created and consumed at the same time within the service market are often very homogenous (similar).

Title:Product abandonment ? A comparative study of five ABB-units Level:Master thesis in Business administration, spring 2011.Purpose:The purpose of this paper is to through a comparative analysis examine how different companies, within the same group, works with product abandonment and what factors influence the process.Problem:How important is situational and product specific factors in a product abandonment process in which the organizational factors are constant?Method:This study is based on primary as well as secondary data where interviews represent the primary data. Interviews, following the same interview guide, were made with five companies within the same group.Result:The results from the empirical studies presented in the text below recurring themes derived from the framework.Conclusions:Our conclusions are that the importance of product specific factors is of significant matters in a product abandonment process, even when organizational factors are constant. We base that on that although the companies are within the same group, under the same strategic direction and constructed according to the same organizational structure the product abandonment process is different for the respective companies.Keywords:Product abandonment, product deletion, product elimination, weak products, ABB .