Some theorist, like George Ritzer and Max Weber, claim that everything has its optimal process and that all companies therefore will strive towards standardization. Researchers like Paco Underhill and Pine & Gilmore on the other hand, claim that an increasingly global competition forces businesses to focus more on consumer demands, experiences and differentiation. This thesis challenges these statements with empirical data by looking at shopping malls and their strategies as well as consumer preferences. It arrives at the conclusion that output is primarily driven by customer demand, and that consumers value a certain part of predictability..

Consumer generated advertising is a new phenomenon in the landscape of communication. Tools such as the Internet enable the consumer to create and spread messages for brands without the permission or control of the brand owner. We carried out a quantitative experiment to investigate the effects of how companies choose to handle these activities as well as how expectations of these consumer generated ads differ from traditional advertising. The findings show that strong brands may benefit from these activities if handled the right way and the brand owner adapts it?s reaction to the content of the ad.

It has become fairly common for a company to outsource one or several of its logistic activities to a party separate from the business of the company itself. Since the original agreement usually involves two parties, the seller and the buyer, the logistics company is called the third party. The relationship between the outsourcing company and the third party varies in form and in depth but can sometimes be very close, almost to be considered a joint venture. When the co-operation between the two parties includes more than just one separate logistic service and the third party adapts its business to a certain extent to his principals needs, it constitutes third party logistics. If the logistics company, or a party employed by it, becomes insolvent when having the entrusted goods in his possession questions may arise concerning the right to the property.

Syftet med studien är att förstå varför medarbetarna på avdelningen Capital Goods, DeLaval, trots rörlig ersättning som motivationshöjare, har svårt att uppnå de mål som är uppsatta i deras balanserade styrkort. Syftet är vidare att komma med förbättringsförslag till ledningen om hur de ytterligare kan motivera sina medarbetare. Varför har medarbetarna på Capital Goods, DeLaval svårt att uppnå de utsatta målen på deras balanserade styrkort? Vad motiverar medarbetarna på Capital Goods till att uppnå målen som är uppsatta på de balanserade styrkorten?Studien är kvalitativ karaktär där intervjuer med chefer har genomförts för att få en bättre förståelse av problemet. Studien är också kvantitativ karaktär, där en enkätundersökning genomfördes för att komplettera de kvalitativa intervjuerna och stärka reliabiliteten i vår studie. I vår undersökning framkom att de flesta orsakerna till lägre måluppfyllelse är sammanlänkade med varandra.

Syftet är att konstruera en handelsstrategi baserad på Contracts-For-Difference (CFD) för att utnyttja de möjliga samband som föreligger mellan oljepris och SEK/USD växlingskurs.Uppsatsen baseras på en induktiv ansats med kvantitativ metod. Slutsatser dras från utifrån de data som har bearbetats.Korrelationen mellan olja och valutan SEK/USD är starkt negativ. Funktionaliteten hos ?Moving Average? som indikator för trendskiften bedöms som relativt hög. Handelsstrategin som har konstruerats uppvisar positivt resultat efter fem års simulerad handel.

Research has concluded that meaningless differentiation with trivial attributes sometimes can be a successful strategy. However, the effect varies with respect to certain aspects such as the price of the product and the decision context. How the characteristics of the consumer influence the effect of trivial attributes has until now been unknown. This thesis investigates how the consumer?s level of knowledge and personal involvement influence the effects of trivial attributes on product preferences and product attitudes.

The logistic business Svenska Retursystem AB was founded by the Swedish retail sector in the year 2000, and their introduction of a grey plastic crate to the supply chain for perishable goods changed the situation for the swedish horticultural sector. The new system revealed several challenges to be tackled by all actors, from the small family firm to the bigger organisations. Whereas the initiative comes from the customer himself, from the horticultural sector ?s point of view, a refusal of the new packing is a hard decision to take. It is however interesting that a comparison between the two systems, shows in favour of the corrugated board boxes, not only concerning environmental aspects but also for economical and ergonomical reasons.

The mission from IKEA of Sweden was to make a further development of their existing trolley in the FRAKTA -serial. IKEA wants that the new product would make the opportunities better for people who don't have cars to carry their goods home easily on the bus, train or walk after their purchase.The report includes a suggestion for a new product that will fit into the existing FRAKTA -serial. The new development product will continue the same standard as the other products in the serial and it will also make it possible for customers to carry their goods home by public transportations..

The process of gift-giving is something that occurs all around the world, and most people are both givers and receivers of gifts. While receiving a gift is often associated with joyous feelings, purchasing and giving a gift may not generate the same feelings. The worries of giving a gift may include anguish of finding the right gift for the right person, and not to mention it shall be appropriate given the situation. This paper aims to describe consumer attitudes in various gift-giving occasions. To give another perspective the paper also discusses and describes the term of self-gifting, when the giver and receiver is the same person - you.

Abstract -                     Much better sauce! - A study of brand loyalty for Lohmanders Date:                             5th June 2013Level:                           Bachelor thesis in marketing, 15 ECTSInstitution:                   School of Economy, Society and Technology, EST                                      Mälardalen University Authors:                       Sara Meijer                               Julia Åberg                                      20th February 1990                   26th April 1990Title:                             Much better sauce! ? A study of brand loyalty for LohmandersTutor:                           Finn Wiedersheim-PaulKeywords:                   Brand, loyalty, consumer behaviorResearch questions:    Which significance has the brand for the consumer when buying fresh sauce?                                       How loyal are the consumers to the brand Lohmanders?                                      How does brand loyalty arise among Lohmanders customers?Purpose:                            The purpose with this thesis is to research consumer?s brand loyalty to fresh sauce and to analyze how brand loyalty arises regarding the brand Lohmanders.Method:                       The theoretical framework used in the study is based on theories of consumer behavior, brands and loyalty. The quantitative study consists of a poll. To complement the study a focus group interview and a company interview have been held.  Conclusion:                        The study showed that the brand has significance for the consumer to a certain extent. The brand can though have an unconscious effect on the consumers since most of the purchases are made by habit.

The mission from IKEA of Sweden was to make a further development of their existing trolley in the FRAKTA -serial. IKEA wants that the new product would make the opportunities better for people who don't have cars to carry their goods home easily on the bus, train or walk after their purchase.The report includes a suggestion for a new product that will fit into the existing FRAKTA -serial. The new development product will continue the same standard as the other products in the serial and it will also make it possible for customers to carry their goods home by public transportations..

After the deregulation of the Swedish pharmacy market customers can be lost due to stock-outs. Optimization of pharmacy inventory levels has thus become increasingly important. To minimize inventory costs while considering the cost of shortages the latter must be estimated. However, the shortage cost is very difficult to compute. Thus, the aim of this paper is to estimate the pharmacy-specific shortage cost parameter and its relation to other inventory costs.

GCM is a product information management system which handles data for consumer packaged goods. GCM was developed during the middle of the nineties and was acquired by Prevas AB in 2004. The GCM application relies on the services provided by the organization GS1, which supplies global specifications and validations for trade items across several sectors. GCM is updated regularly due to the frequent changes in specifications from GS1. However, the overall graphical user interface design has not been redesigned during these years.This dissertation studies possible improvements for the webpage that handles product data in GCM.

The end of the 20th century brought a dramatic change to the music industry. The then predominant models for music consumption and sales were forever altered when the possibility to distribute music over the internet emerged. It has now become evident that it is virtually impossible to stop the distribution of digital music files. Music has turned into a non-excludable and non-rival product, which in economic terms is described as a public good. Public goods theory serves as a starting point for this study, which explores some of the factors that might explain why some consumers pay for music, while others choose to download music illegally.

The buying decision process describes how the consumer makes a purchase decision through a rational process (Markin, 1979) and an understanding for how consumers make a purchase decision can according to Sands et al. (2010) be obtained by increased knowledge for the information search process (the second part of the buying decision process) before a purchase. Today?s society offers great opportunity to obtain information (Rahim & Clemens, 2012; Bawden & Robinson, 2009) and by that there are in other words good opportunities for a rational acting by the consumers. However, there are factors working against that consumers act rationally and seek information prior to their purchases primarily in the form of the concept of information overload (Bawden & Robinson, 2009) which claims that consumers are limited in their information search because there is too much information but also other factors such as lack of time (Wood & Neal, 2009) and ability to find information (Slegers et al.