Title Becoming involved in the planning process - from the construction workers perspective.University/Institution Halmstad UniversityKeywordsEmpowerment through participation, construction workers involvement in decision making in the planning process, knowledge management and communication in the planning process, partnering, human resource managementAimThe aim of this bachelor thesis is to provide knowledge and examine how construction workers perceive involvement in the planning process of partnering projects, what they can contribute and what they get out of the planning process.Methodology The study was conducted with a qualitative approach in the form of semi-structured interviews.          The interview studie consist of 10 interviews with construction workers who are specially educated in participating in the planning process at the company ByggDialog AB.ConclusionAll respondents are positive to be involved in the planning process. The main advantages they can see is that they are able to influence technical solutions and methods that will be used later on in the production. Therefore it is important to consider when construction workers should be involved in the planning process so that they get the chance to influence in this decisions.When it comes to the decision making the construction workers should be involved in the decisions that are related to their tasks in the production such as technical solutions, choice of methods and materials. Their main duties and working hours should be in the production.Involvement in planning does not automatically mean that the construction workers are involved in the decision making, it is up to them how much they participate.

Textiles are made in an unsustainable way and there is a need to find alternative ways and material to reduce the negative impacts on the environment, humans and animals. Problems like pollution, excessive water consumption and loss of soil fertility is a result of this lack of diversity. It is a necessity to find innovative alternatives in other fabrics due to the unsustainable use of cotton and polyester fibers. As in many other countries in the Western part of the world, in Sweden there is a rapid turnover and increased selling of clothes that result in increased textile waste. About 15 kilogram of textiles (net inflow) is consumed per person each year.

Today there is something called clutter. Marketers are trying to communicate so many messages to consumers that it makes it difficult for consumers to take in the different market messages that exist.In this paper the authors study how marketers can reach out with a message in today's clutter. They are doing a case study of a marketing campaign which tried to solve the communication problems that clutter is causing. The goal of this campaign was to create a snackis, a Swedish word for a current topic, to reach out with their message. The campaign attracted attention from the media.

No other object is in our constant possession such as the mobile phone. The smartphone has been transformed into a worldwide forum for information-rich exchanges between individuals and companies, by which this rapid access to the smartphone has created and continues to create opportunities in terms of communication. Many researchers of today undertake the challenge of studying the smartphone's role as a marketing channel, and the role of the channel is now undoubtedly central in marketing. However, as the importance of marketing communication increases and despite the fact that survey methods are exceedingly dependent on a channel to fulfill its purpose, namely carry out questionnaires, there has been surprisingly little attention to the study of the channel's role and importance when carrying out surveys. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the choice of a communication channel affects the survey outcome and, if so, further investigate how survey methods differ in terms of consumers' attitude and also their perception of their privacy.

Today's consumers are demanding more and more from companies and are no longer as easy to im-press as they used to be. It is now the consumers that hold an increasing amount of power over com-panies and not the other way around. This change in consumer behaviour has caused an identity crisis for traditional advertising, and companies are now searching for new ways of reaching their target audience. The purpose of this combined qualitative and quantitative case study is to examine possible risks and possibilities that a retailing company face when communicating through Facebook. Data has been collected through in-depth interviews with company representatives combined with a quantitative study of the company's Facebook followers in order to answer the questions of (1) which possibilities and risks a retailing company face through the use of a Facebook fanpage and (2) if there is a differ-ence in the attitude and behaviour of active respectively passive followers that may have been caused by a retailing company's marketing communication on Facebook.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether there is a correlation between attitude andbuying decisions of consumers regarding certified coffee. The study will examine whether marketsurveys measuring consumer?s attitudes, is a good method for predicting a purchasing decisionsregarding certified coffee.Method: To study consumer attitudes towards certified coffee, we have implemented a web-basedsurvey at Facebook. A total of 108 responses were recorded. To complement the Facebook study wehave conducted three surveys on persons who are customers at ICA.

A segmented market, according to traditional methods, appears increasingly difficult in mature consumer markets. A common explanation is that the mature markets are often characterised by over-supply which results in a great variety of choices for the consumer. Furthermore, the consumer of today has a more complex and flexible purchase behaviour which is difficult to catch. This makes consumer segmentation difficult. International studies indicate that dividing consumers into generation cohorts might be advantageous in understanding consumers of today.

High-performance equine athletes have an energy requirement that often reaches twice the maintenance requirement. Horses are grazers and adapted to a grass diet, and diets high in grains and concentrates are associated with digestive upsets and behavioural disorders. It could therefore be of interest if the energy requirement of a high-performing horse could be met by forage. It is important that the forage have a high concentration of energy so that the horse is able to consume the whole amount of energy needed from the forage without exceeding the maximum voluntary intake. The purpose of this literature study was to investigate if the energy demand of a high-performance horse can be covered by forage produced under Northern Swedish climate conditions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare how and why consumers of different ethnic backgrounds value and prioritize product attributes among food in certain ways. We expected to find culturally bound attitude differences and our aim was to relate those to, and challenge, present knowledge of information structures. Consequently, we also aimed to use this new knowledge of attribute attitudes in connection to assortment variety theory, as attributes constitute important motives to how consumers perceive variety. A theoretical framework was constructed to suit our purpose and function as an analytical tool, consisting of Culture perspectives, Information structures (product attributes), and Assortment variety. In this thesis we focused on attitudes and consumer perspectives and excluded actual behaviour and the retailing perspective.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept that is growing increasingly important, with more and more companies acknowledging that they have an obligation to the environment in which they operate. We were interested in inquiring into why companies chose to do so, even though there are no laws that condition them to engage in CSR. One answer to this might be that companies use CSR as a way to distinguish themselves from the competition as well as to gain trust and goodwill from the stakeholders. When it comes to Corporate Social Responsibility, the question is no longer whether or not companies should engage in it, but how they can gain competitive advantage by doing so. This study aims at providing a framework for possible ways of integrating CSR and branding, as well as different strategies for CSR-communication. We also tried to define how, and why, consumers respond to CSR-initiatives.

The technological progress of the world has had a massive effect on how we communicate with one and other, it also has had an big impact on how companies communicate with their customers and consumers. Today you cannot only communicate a ?promise to your costumers and consumers you also have to ?deliver? what it is you promise. Strategic communication is today not only to market your product but to ensure that your strategic communication is shown even in you innovation, design and product development.  This thesis is conducted in collaboration with No Picnic AB.The purpose of this study was to get an insight in how Swedish companies use their strategic communication. We aim on bringing a new point of view of strategic communication with innovation, design and product development also as a communication channel.

This essay discusses the legal and economic functions of the trademark and furthermore the degeneration of trademarks. These two concepts are strongly connected as the primary function of the trademark is the ability to separate the proprietor of the trademark?s product from the competitors´ products. The ability to separate is the basic condition for receiving legal protection. Through degeneration the trademark loses this ability to separate the product and becomes a generic term for the category of the product.

Background: Knowledge of customer needs is a key factor in companies? struggle to develop successful products. Several studies illustrate that the main reason for failure in product development is lack of customer understanding. Lately considerable changes have occurred. Large-scale mass production is continuously being replaced by customer orientation, especially in the high technological market.

It?s a fact that fashion companies today are searching for new ways to win consumers.Traditional marketing methods have been replaced with new marketing techniques onInternet. Fashion blogs have a high traffic and because of that they are relevant in themarketing context. Lindex has developed from being a store of underwear to be oneof the largest fashion companies in Sweden with Internet sales which actively workswith bloggers through it?s website.Our purpose in this study is to analyze and describe how a fashion company as Lindexis practical using blogs as a marketing method.

Background: The Swedish fashion industry grows steadily, today it?s populated by many small and medium sized companies. Due to the big clothing chains dominant position small businesses risks to be ousted out of the fashion industry.Smaller companies may find it difficult to reach out to the customer by traditional advertising because their budgets are often smaller. It is therefore important for smaller companies to create loyal customers. If the smaller sized businesses in the fashion industry do not follow the rapid developments in society and focus on building strong brands and relationships, they will have problems with surviving in the long run.Problem definition: Which communicative factors are important in the choice of brand strategy to create a long-term survival for small and medium-sized companies in the fashion industry?Purpose: The purpose of the essay is to analyse and evaluate the brand as a communications tool for building a brand image.Method: The data which is being used in the essay is collected from interviews with companies and survey of each company's existing and potential customers.Theoretical perspective: Relationship Marketing Perspective and Transaction Marketing PerspectiveTheories: Brand Strategies, Total Communication, Brand Equity, Involvement Theory, Service Value Profit Chain.Empiric: The empirical data is primary data gathered from interviews with a representative for each company and from the questionnaires distributed to the customers of each company.Analysis: The analysis is an interpretation of the empirical material collected from interviews with each company and customers survey.