Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to give a contribution to the studies of what strategies those are of importance for challengers in consumer technological markets aiming for the market leader position. To be able to investigate this phenomenon we have chosen to study Microsoft?s second position in the video game console industry. In addition, we want to illuminate Microsoft?s competitive advantages, how Microsoft can take advantage from Sony?s setbacks and what strategies those are of importance for Microsoft in the battle of becoming the market leader.

The purpose of this thesis is to study how Malaysia Airlines communicated during the two largest crises of 2014. Key questions to be answered are: Did organizational hypocrisy occur? If yes, in what way? Which communication strategies were used? Did the company mediate an unequivocal message and how was the information framed? Did any aggravating factors, which worsened the organization?s reputation, appear? How did Malaysia Airlines manage possible rumours? Was the word contact used as a keyword? The method of choice is a quantitative content analysis and the material consists of 20 different analysis units. These analysis units were collected from social media and Malaysia Airlines website. The quantitative content analysis is based on the theory Situational Crisis Communication Theory, taken from PR, Strategy and Application, Managing Influence, by W.

Background: The background shows that since the consumption patterns constantly are changing and the Internet usage is growing it creates more opportunities for the companies to interact through new media. There are two ways to go for companies that intend to use social media as a marketing strategy, to be in the possession of their own information or get help from a third party.Problem definition: What factors are important in the long term survival of the companies when choosing a social media?Objective: The objective of this essay is to analyze and evaluate the personal blog and the company blog as an information technology strategy.Method: The essay will have a hermeneutic and quantitative approach in the form of a survey. Theories: Consumer Behavior, The Buying Decision Process, Involvement Theory, Business Concept, Branding, Total Communication Theory, Word-of-mouth/web and Service Profit Chain.Empiric: The empiric will consist of the results from the survey.Results: The result shows that the blog is effective as an information technology strategy however the companies should adapt their choice of blog to the products that they sell.Conclusion: Important factors for companies that seek long-term survival are involvement, communication and loyalty. It is also important to use a relationship marketing approach. .

This essay aims to investigate how students raised in Jehovah's Witnesses have experienced their career counseling during their middle and high school education. My main objectives are, based on the testimonies of former Jehovah's Witnesses, to investigate how career counselors can find a strategy to approach these students in a non-threatening way. I also try to take into account the contextual elements which are of great importance when counseling students raised as Jehovah's Witnesses. A qualitative study has been carried out with five informants with a background in the movement. The material has then been analyzed using a qualitative, narrative method.

Prescribed burning was commonly used for site preparation in Sweden to establish new forests until the 1960?s, when mechanical scarification was introduced. During recent decades the interest in prescribed burnings has increased again, mainly due to certifications of forestry stating that 5% of the regeneration areas should be burned on dry and mesic soils. The objective of the study was to evaluate actual influence of prescribed burning compared to other site preparation on stand stem density, growth parameters and tree damages for Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) after direct seeding and planting. The study also attempts to simulate growth until first thinning.

The aim of this study is to analyse the sexual power relations in contemporary urban novels of Swedish female writers.I have identified a discourse in these novels as a heteronormative matrix which power is ruled by norms and assumptions about normality in both the heterosexual and lesbian stories. For this purpose I have related to Ivar B. Neumanns theory that individuals always find a way to confront the discourse by three different strategies. These strategies are used in my study as tools to organise these novels, because it is possible to see that the protagonists find at least one of these strategy?s to her protest.The first strategy I studied was the docile.

Nystartade mjukvaruföretag som står i begrepp att lansera en B2B-mjukvara på internet har speciella förutsättningar då företagets främsta tillgång ? mjukvarukonceptet ? lätt kan återskapas av andra aktörer och därmed begränsa möjligheterna till värdeskapande. Konkurrensövertaget är lättförgängligt, vilket kräver ett grundligt strategiskt förarbete. Syftet med examensarbetet är att utreda hur Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) då kan användas för att hitta ny lönsam målgrupp och alternativ strategisk ansats. Bakgrundsmaterial samlades in från strategimöten hos intressenten och dess affärskontakter.

Who runs the development? A comparative study of the construction of residential buildings in Nacka and Södertälje.The aim of this study is to identify actors involved in the initiation and implementation of residential house construction in two Swedish municipalities. This means who is taking initiative for new residential buildings, who affects the planning process, who finances these new buildings and who builds them. By exploring empiric material from the municipalities of Nacka and Södertälje, the above questions will be answered and by referring to pluralism, growth machine theory and regime theory a link to general theories of political science is made. The results found show that the analysed municipalities have quite different possibilities for acting and that these backgrounds are also important for which actors will take initiative for new residential buildings and which actors will be allowed to state their opinion during the planning process.

Att börja växa som företag är svårt, inte minst inom klädindustrin där det granskas stygn för stygn av media. Under de två senaste decennierna har fler klädföretag börjat arbeta med hållbar utveckling. Det som tidigare har genererat tillväxt från den industriella utvecklingen går emot dagens hållbarhetstänk, som har blivit viktigare i klädföretagen. Samtidigt behövs tillväxt hos klädföretag för att konkurrera på den mer globaliserade marknaden. I denna studie undersöks det hur tillväxtstrategier kan tillämpas i ett klädföretag som arbetar med hållbar utveckling.

Att börja växa som företag är svårt, inte minst inom klädindustrin där det granskas stygn för stygn av media. Under de två senaste decennierna har fler klädföretag börjat arbeta med hållbar utveckling. Det som tidigare har genererat tillväxt från den industriella utvecklingen går emot dagens hållbarhetstänk, som har blivit viktigare i klädföretagen. Samtidigt behövs tillväxt hos klädföretag för att konkurrera på den mer globaliserade marknaden. I denna studie undersöks det hur tillväxtstrategier kan tillämpas i ett klädföretag som arbetar med hållbar utveckling.

The thesis aims to analyze strategic, cultural and structural aspects of Grameen Bank and its micro-credit project, in order to identify key success factors. A case study was performed with an inductive and qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews. The data was collected by field observations and interviews on site in Dhaka, Bangladesh and surrounding areas.The main conclusion is that the critical success factor of Grameen Bank is the relationship focus, guiding and aligning its strategy, culture and structure. Also, local offices have been observed to utilize practices not permitted by the bank?s management, ultimately increasing the organizational efficiency..

The purpose of this essay is to examine progression in user education atprimary and secondary school levels, specifically the role played byschool libraries, librarians and strategy documents in securingeducational progression. Progression is examined in the user educationprovided by the five schools, part of the same municipal schoolmanagement area which share the same strategy plan. The area, NorraFäladen, was awarded School Library of the Year in 2011 for its work,making it particularly interesting for this essay's purpose. The studycombines interviews with the area's three school librarians, who dividetheir time between the five schools, with an analysis of the strategydocuments that regulate user education within Norra Fäladen. Theanalytical framework is based on: AASL's model of progression in usereducation (Standards for the 21st-century learner); Ekström's model forsuccessful and active strategy documents; Kuhlthau's theory of thelibrarian's role in the information search process; and Limberg'staxonomy of the role of the school library.The study shows how a number of concurrent factors and prerequisitesinfluence how goals for progression in user education are met.

This pilot study examined whether treatment with Vortex Process Technology (VPT) of the irrigation water used on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants had any effect on plant growth. In a block experiment, with two blocks comprising 12 vases containing 1 L water and two tomato plantlets, treatment in which, nutrient solution was based on Vortex-treated water was compared with an control using untreated water. All vases were kept in a static aerated culture system in a daylight chamber for four weeks. The results showed that the effect of the two blocks exceeded the effect of vortex treatment in terms of leaf area and weight of fresh and dry matter. Plant height, stem width and internodal length were significantly different in tomato plants grown in Vortex-processed water compared with the untreated control.

This paper investigates strategic opportunities for film festivals in a digital film business, with emphasis on Göteborg international film festival and the Swedish film industry. Using a theoretical framework of strategy analysis, the film value chain is examined with special regards to disruptive technology, and the film festival's unique resources are linked to industry structure. It is shown that relationships between actors and across sectors are crucial features of the film industry, and hence a network perspective is added to the theoretical framework. Barriers to entry are shown to be relatively low in all sectors except the cinema market, and it is proposed that film festival's could expand into digital distribution, taking advantage of brand strength, customer loyalty and knowledge of industry. The study adds to the mounting research on film festival practice and its significance for marketing and distribution in the film industry, and highlights the emergence of strategic openings in destabilized networks..

This paper intends to examine the knowledge challenges in small IT companies which is going through rapid growth. The movement of information and knowledge is a social and very complex process. The challenge for technology is the social as information and knowledge requires. To believe blindly that technology will solve the problem is what many people think. In order to understand how technology can support information and knowledge management one needs to understand what information and knowledge is.