The aim of this thesis is to examine the theoretical developments on social entrepreneurship. Our purpose is to create a better understanding of the phenomenon leading to new insights. We have categorized the knowledge of the concept into social economy, social ownership, social innovation and social missions. Drawing from our theoretical review we have chosen four empirical illustrations, Grameen Bank, Wikipedia, Basta Arbetskooperativ, Jörn Hälsogemenskap, and we have shown how these fit into the general description of the social entrepreneur. With help of our illustrations we show that it is complicated to pin point the core of social entrepreneurship as they each have separate structures, innovations, social missions and operate close to different sectors.

Seen in many trends and studies, consumers of today feel a growing desire to experience the uniqueness in products and services. This is forcing companies be more innovative and creative in their marketing, in order to distinguish and differentiate themselves and their products/services. We believe that creating a top-to-bottom experience strategy is one way that a company can succeed in this.The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and clarify how a business can reinforce their product experience through a complete experience strategy. In order to demonstrate this we have made a case-study research for the New Wave Group, advising them on how they can place blown glass art at the heart of the town of Kosta.The authors have used qualitative methods and an abductive approach. Four interviews have been completed with executives from the New Wave Group, including the project manager, hotel manager, head of the Kosta Boda smeltery and head of guides and visitors at Kosta museum.

SAMMANFATTNINGSyfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att beskriva och analysera några väsentliga faktorer som kan underlätta respektive hindra organisationer, i meningen företag, att få fram produkt-innovationer. Metod: Studiens angreppssätt är hermeneutiskt abduktivt och dess metod kvalitativ. In-samling av primär- och sekundärdata har således skett i en växelverkande process mellan empiri och teori, med löpande kontextuell analys. Teoretiska perspektiv: Teoriavsnittets primära delar avhandlar förutsättningar för produktinnovationer i organisationer. Här fokuseras organisationsinterna och -externa för-hållanden, som enligt olika teorier främjar, respektive hämmar, inno-vationsprocessen.

Informationsteknik (IT) är en marknad som förändras snabbt. Att investera i IT kan därför vara kritiskt. Att ha en strategi för hur satsningar på IT ska göras kan minska risken för felinvesteringar på IT men strategin kan även ge andra fördelar. Att ha en IT-strategi innebär dock inte automatiskt att den ger fördelar. IT-strategin bör även användas.

AbstractTitel:How do established companies communicate with their existing customers? Level:C-level in the Business Administration Author:Jessica Axelsson and Trang Nguyen Thi Thu Supervisor:Per-Arne Wikström Date:2012-05 Aim:Our aim with this essay is to describe how an established company communicates with its existing customers. We want to explore which communication strategy the company applies to reach their customers. We also want to see what kind of communication the company applies to get to market more effectively and remain on the market longer. Method:The study is a qualitative case study where we have conducted a personal interview with the company president.

As a result of global competition, companies within the automotive industry are required to improve their production systems to achieve sustainable and competitive production. To attain operational excellence, companies have adopted concepts like lean and World Class Manufacturing (WCM).In order to deliver, companies need to increase the availability and reliability of production equipment. This demands focus on both operational and strategic maintenance, and efficient equipment acquisition and management. The main objective of this thesis is to identify processes and success factors that are necessary for improved maintenance performance. By conducting a case study and by performing a literature review, the following has been studied: 1) how companies within the automotive industry work with maintenance and maintenance strategies, 2) implementation of maintenance strategies, and 3) new acquisition and spare parts management for maintenance. The results show that basic maintenance concepts and related terms are well defined in the literature.

Communication is essential for the survival of an organization. The management formulates strategies to ensure thatthe organization will get to where they want it to go. The strategy is then communicated to the co-workers through the line manager. But who is to say that the co-worker experience the message the same way as the line manager or the management for that matter? The purpose of this study is toinvestigate how the middle managers at Southern Älvsborg Hospital experience strategic internal communication andfurther how they communicate with their co-workers.Through a case study approach, the case being the communication of the hospitals research strategy, I conducted 13 interviews.I analyzed the material from the interviews using a hermeneutical approach and I used an interpretative approach to get a deeper understanding.

Titel: Innovationsprogrammets betydelse för dess studenter - Värdefulla kriterier för en innovationsutbildning utifrån ett näringslivsperspektivFörfattare: Kristina Gern och Jesper ModighHandledare: Peter Selegård, Mälardalens HögskolaÄmne: InnovationsteknikNyckelord: Innovation, utbildning, entreprenörskap, kreativitetProblem:Innovationsprogrammet har ett problem med att många studenter är osäkra på om deras program är en bra grund för att söka jobb inom det aktuella segmentet i framtiden. Detta grundar sig i samtal med innovationsstudenter och författarnas egna erfarenheter.Syfte:Syftet med denna uppsats är att klargöra innovationsprogrammets värde för dess studenter när de ska ut på arbetsmarknaden. Lärare och programansvariga skall även få ett lättare sätt att förklara innovationsprogrammet och dess mål och de framtidsutsikter som finns för innovationsstudenterna. Genom detta hoppas författarna att innovationsstudenternas oro för framtiden minskar. Metod:De metoder som används i denna uppsats är dels en kvalitativ intervju men även kvantitativa enkätundersökningar bland studenter och från arbetsmarknaden.Slutsats:Innovationsprogrammets studenters osäkerhet ligger i att det inte finns en tydlig bild av vad de kan tänkas jobba med i framtiden.

Fo?rfattarna till detta examensarbete har intresserat sig o?ver hur innovationer kan sprida sig till olika nationer genom exempelvis sma? innovativa verksamheter. I denna forskningsstudie underso?ker fo?rfattarna hur innovationer sprider sig till andra nationer och om innovationsspridningen kan relateras till en internationaliseringsmodell, delforskningsfra?gan grundar sig i Rothwells femte generationens innovationsprocess. Fo?rfattarna har valt att anva?nda sig av en kvalitativ metod, med en deduktiv ansats da?r underso?kningen har sin utga?ngspunkt fra?n teorin.

Sammanfattning Titel: Riskanalys i Utvecklingsprojekt Författare: Marina Mattsson, Johanna Olofsson, Louise Larsson Handledare: Eva Lövstål Institution: Managementhögskolan, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola Kurs: Kandidatarbete i företagsekonomi, 10 poäng Syfte: Med utgångspunkt från problemdiskussionen är vårt syfte att ta fram dimensioner som är lämpliga för att beskriva hur utvecklingsprojekt gör riskanalyser och vad dessa innehåller. Metod: Vi har i vår uppsats använt oss av en kvalitativ metod. Vi har genom muntliga intervjuer försökt reda ut hur man i produktutvecklingsprojekt gör riskanalyser. Vi har läst forskningsartiklar och litteratur för att sedan gå ut och göra vår empiriska undersökning. Detta för att göra jämförelser mellan författarna och projekten.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the information need of the incubators that comes from Chalmers University of Technology and are situated at Chalmers Innovation. It is also of interest to investigate how Chalmers University Library covers this information need. The investigation was carried out using qualitative interviews with representatives of the incubators. They were asked questions about the perceived need of information and which type of contacts they had with the library. The result is that the incubators feel that there is a great need for business information that is hard to find.

Purpose:Only 60 percent of the newly started companies survive their three first years. The purpose of this report is to obtain a deeper understanding regarding how newly started companies work with their positioning and if there are some kind of a relationship between positioning and the survival rate of newly started companies.Research questions:Do newly started companies know what position is? Do they incorporate positioning in their day to day marketing?Approach:We have used a hypothetical-deductive way of reasoning and a qualitative study to gather the information needed. We have through interviews asked our questions to six newly started companies in three different cities.Findings:In our essay, we reached the conclusion that newly started companies do not spend sufficient time or energy on positioning their products. The companies interviewed only market their product as a good product.

This study is on how small companies can use the Internet as a part of their marketing strategy to gain a leverage on their competitors with small means to survive and expand in the global market. Many Swedish small companies still don?t have a sufficient knowledge on how to use the communication channel despite the various advantages the Internet offers.Case studies were conducted of how AdLibris, A-lotterierna AB and SF-bokhandeln perceived the importance of using the Internet as a part of their communications strategy.This new communication channel demand new ways of applying traditional marketing principals. Careful analysis of the interviews and how the answers relate to new and old marketing theories makes the bulk of this study. The conclusion is that the Internet solely is not enough, a combination with traditional marketing tools is the way to succeed in their marketing efforts.

ABSTRACTTitle: First steps towards successful recruitment ? A study about a small Swedish firm?s recruitment strategyCourse: Bachelor Dissertation - LeadershipAuthors: Filip Agby, Damir Macanovic and Thomas MennerdahlAdvisor: Anders BillströmKey Words: Recruitment in small firms, recruitment strategy, wrong fit recruitment, HRM, right staffProblem enunciation: What pros and cons could the choice of recruitment strategy mean for a small Swedish firm. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to give recruiters a better understanding of how a small Swedish company could use different recruitment strategies, together with systematic preparations, to affect the experienced recruitment result. Another purpose is to study if earlier mentioned international research about small firms? recruitment strategies is applicable to a small Swedish firm.Theoretical framework: The section initiates by introducing the reader to the subject through describing Human resource management with a focus on recruitment.

In this thesis we study the development of post-earnings announcement drift (PEAD) in the Swedish equity market from 2000 to 2009. By forming portfolios based on the stock price reaction to quarterly reporting we show that the characteristics of PEAD have changed. We demonstrate that negatively surprising companies show a positive drift during a holding period of six months sufficiently large to render the trading strategy unprofitable. This development holds from 2005 and onwards and these results contradict many a study which finds the same portfolio construction to be indeed profitable. We argue that this development is a trend that will not only affect our study but future studies as well..