Competition is keen in the fashion industry of today. Homogenous products and prices aredriving competition and most firms are struggling hard to attract customers. Brands havebecome one of the most important assets for success and are often critical for the choices of theconsumers. A strong brand is often considered as a substantial value in the eyes of the consumerand gives the individual firm a competitive advantage in the marketplace. To build a strongbrand it takes that the brand identity not is in conflict with the brand image of a firm or a product.Sometimes one of these conflicts exit and sometimes the firms are not even aware of it.In this thesis we study how two firms, Lindex and Prada, perceive their own image and then wecompare how the images of the firms are perceived by the customers.

Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this paper is to describe how a number of strategically selected employees at the Swedish Institute, with the purpose to promote Sweden in the world, look at the challenges facing Sweden concerning nation branding in the new era of cooperation within the European Union. I examine how these people look upon the work of public diplomacy and nation branding in order to actively participate and influence the EU's common communications platform.Material/Method: The method used in this thesis is qualitative interviews. The reason why I chose this method is because I consider it to be the most appropriate in order to collect information about how these selected employees at the Swedish institute regard the challenges that lay ahead in terms of nation branding within the European Union.Main results: On the basis of the results I have gained by dint of the analysis, it can be concluded that it is of utmost importance to take the societal changes, which are a result both of the worldwide globalization and the EU cooperation, into consideration when designing a future communication strategy for the Swedish Institute. The nation-state continues to play an important role in Sweden, but its importance is declining as the EU cooperation is progressing. The citizens? identity plays a crucial role in designing a nation?s communications strategy, and from the analysis I conclude that we move not from a Swedish to a European identity, but towards a pluralistic union where multiple identities meet under one umbrella; the EU..

By using univariate analysis, tobit and logit regressions, this thesis investigates determinants of asset writedowns. After controlling for variables indicating reductions in asset values, the results show that changes in senior management are significant in explaining the writedown decision and magnitude, which is in line with previous research. The explanatory power of changes in senior management has not increased with the transition to IFRS in 2005. No evidence is found supporting the hypothesis that the explanatory power of management incentives is higher for more discretionary types of asset writedowns..

Denna studie redovisar den frivilliga information som svenska VD och koncernchefer tar upp i VD orden i sina årsredovisningar. Syftet är att analysera var Sveriges redovisningsutveckling är på väg, genom att bland annat ställa de svenska VD orden i jämförelse med utvecklingen av öppenhet i årsredovisningar inom detta område i framför allt USA och Storbritannien. De undersökta VD orden kommer från årsredovisningarna hos de 18 svenska börsnoterade företag med högst värde på sin aktieomsättning år 2005. Eftersom det fortfarande inte finns någon fullständig teori inom detta område har ett induktivt förhållningssätt använts. De metodologiska val som gjorts är inspirerade av det som Glaser och Strauss (1967) kallar för grounded theory..

Background: Within palliative care setting persons with terminal illness is cared for. The aim of the care is to enhance the quality of life for the patient through a holistic approach. The disease can lead to major suffering and require the person to handle the situation. If the person´s ability and capacity to do so is insufficient the identity may be perceived as threatened and quality of life diminished. Self-care can help a person to cope with loss of identity, enhance independence and improve quality of life.Aim: The aim of this study is to explore self-care strategies of patients within palliative care setting.

Beskriva och analysera IT-bubblan och dess efterverkningar samt konsekvenser av denna kris för de inblandade företagen. Vi har studerat hur de har förändrat sina system, arbetssätt, finansierin, tillgångar för att pasa dagens kunder och investerare..

A radical change is taking place in the world today: some former colonies are now booming economically while several former colonizers are suffering from economic crisis. Postcolonial theory states that old structures from the colonization are keeping the South poor and the North rich. Today there?s a shift in these structures as former colonizers Spain and Portugal are forced to ask for economical support from their former colonies.The colonial discourse separated white from black and depicted the population in the colonies as the absolute antithesis of the Europeans. In Portugal circulated also lusotropicalism, an ideology that claimed Portugal as absolutely free of racism, a statement with great influence in the postcolonial Portugal.On the basis of semi-structured focus groups I will in this paper do a discourse analysis of young, university educated Portuguese identity/ies in relation to the former colonies and the changing relations to these countries.

The aim of the study was to gain a better understanding of how some people aged between 20-35 years? experience Facebook in relation to identity creation, communication and stress. The analysis is drawn from seven semi-structured interviews with a sample of Facebook members, four women and three men aged 20-35 years and during the interviews respondents answered questions based by the following topics. Does Facebook allow changing identities? In what way is Facebook a communication tool for enabling relationships? How can Facebook be related to stress and coping? The results showed that respondents perceived Facebook as an easy means of communication and maintaining relationships.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to study the relations between internal information and the principal business objectives in a knowledge organization. The questions are: how does the organization behave to its internal information resources, how is the information management related to the principal objectives and strategies, what information policy does the organization develop, and how is the management experienced by the employees. The purpose was to study the supply and management of information designed for internal use and the study was carried out with qualitative, semi-structured interviews to get a picture of the internal information management. The informants were mostly key persons with deep knowledge of internal information.

Vårt primära syfte är att undersöka vad för motiv unga kvinnor har när de väljer att ta till en plastikkirurgi för att se vackrare ut. Samtidigt vill vi studera hur kroppen har blivit ett medel för att framhäva sig själv i dagens samhälle..

The market for management training programs is growing and the supply of the service is increasing and getting further diversified. A consequence is a market with a wide variety of definitions of the very concept of development, and subsequently a wide variety of practices and methods to achieve development. The individuals that are subject to these programs seldom know what they are purchasing, or what to expect. When assuming a transfer of the developers view on development to the subject, a need for a greater understanding of the concept arises. The purpose of this thesis is to understand what views on development do exist among management trainers and map underlying dimensions of the views to increase the understanding of the concept of development.

AbstractTitle: Brand identity vs. Brand image ? a study of Löfbergs Lila, ZOÉGAS and Classic.Number of pages: 38Author: Jessika Löwling HelmerskogTutor: Peder Hård af SegerstadCourse: Media and communication sciencePeriod: Spring semester 2010University: Informatics and media, media and communication science, Uppsala University.Aim: The aim is to study the brand identity as well as the brand image for each of the brands:Löfbergs Lila, ZOÉGAS and Classic. Furthermore the aim is to determine whether the brandsidentity comport with the brands image. Ultimately the study will establish whether or not thebrands can be considered as strong brands.Method/Material: This thesis will first and foremost explain a number of theories related tothe subject which will give a deeper understanding in the subject as well as providing thereader with necessary knowledge to fully understand the study.To create a broad and correct picture of each brand interviews have been made with both thepeople behind the brand as well as with the consumers.The interviews with the brand makers have been made by a questionnaire with questionsabout the brand and its identity.The interviews with the consumers have been made through focus group interviews; twogroups with four people in each group.

Denna uppsats belyser hur svenska och indiska hotellföretag arbetar med mångfald samt vad som påverkar viljan till att främja mångfald på arbetsplatsen..

The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of how venture capitalists can use their network in order to reduce information asymmetries between themselves and the venture management team. A qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews, consisting of open questions, have been used to receive gradate information in order to reach our explorative purpose. Our theoretical framework consists of relevant studies made on the dynamics of networks and the problems that can arise in the complex relationship between a principal and an agent. We have been interviewing two venture capital firms and therepresentatives from two business angel networks. We also made an additional interview with an influential financial actor in order to try to verify our conclusions Our conclusions are that an extensive network can be used by venture capitalists in order to; verify ventures? technologies, complement the competences in the venture management team, and arrange co-investments, resulting in reduced information asymmetries between themselves and the venture management team.

Syfte: Vårt syfte med uppsatsen är att med hjälp av enkäter och de kriterier som finns i teorin undersöka hur långt de medverkande företagen har kommit i deras framgång gällande Customer Relationship Management. Metod: Vi har gjort en kvantitativ enkätundersökning där vi har tillfrågat 30 företag i Ronneby. Vi har sedan analyserat detta utifrån diagram som vi har fått fram i Excel. Slutsatser: De flesta företagen i Ronneby är bara i början av CRM och de kan med enkla medel komma mycket längre.