Word-of-mouth marketing (WOM) has been considered as one of the most effective marketing tools, yet the least understood. While its lucrative effects have been well proven in academic studies worldwide, little is yet known of why consumers engage in WOM, and what factors actually drive this sought-after behavior, particularly in an online context. While today's research lacks holistic views on the simultaneous effects of multiple WOM-drivers, this paper takes on a meta-analytic approach by building on the pertinent literature to construct an aggregated model, including several previously acknowledged drivers divided into two categories: (1) Brand related drivers and (2) Personal and situational drivers. The authors then empirically examine what drivers are the most influential on WOM in an online social media context. By doing so, this thesis does not only contribute to marketing managers' better understanding of online communications management, it also sheds light on the theoretical knowledge of the behavioral drivers of WOM.

This degree project has been carried out on the commission of AB Borlänge Energi. The purpose of thisproject was to redesign the magazine Energitrycket. The magazine should inform about the current eventsat the company. The work consisted of redesign of the existing magazine and adjustment to copying andpublishing on the web.This project also contains a research about how paper and colour affect the print results. It shows thatthe maximum contrast and sharp image reproduction is best achieved on woodfree, coated, calenderedpaper with high whiteness.

In game development, performance is everything and the Playstation 3 provides a unique platform for utilizing parallelization of code to achieve extremely high performance. In this master?s thesis the issue of animation with smooth skinning is migrated from being a GPU process to becoming a parallelized and 358% faster process. This method is incorporated in an existing commercial game engine and integrated in a currently in development title for the Playstation 3. An in-depth study covers parallel processors, the CELL processor, used in the Playstation 3, and how contemporary industry leading game developers are utilizing the same unique architecture to increase their own games? performance..

SMC is in the process of developing a micro simulation model. The existing micro simulation model developed at Cornell University for US data, CorSim, is one of the fundamental parts for the new micro simulation at SMC. To develop the Swedish model, Swedish data on all individuals in Sweden during 11 years are also available. These data are organized in a database. This paper describes the process of rebuilding the database to a more useful structure.

Abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate the attitudes towards the labour movement?s strategies, goals and organisational issues in Swedish Miners? Union?s (Gruvindustriarbetareförbundet, hereafter Gruv) paper, Gruvarbetaren 1917-1925.The theoretical starting point is Engels? view on the class state. This perspective turns the question of socialism and the way to get there into an issue of working class power over the state. Another theoretical perspective is the partition of the labour movement into a trade-unionistic branch, seeing unions as financial organisations of interest, and a pro-state one, considering unions as political organisations.During the period investigated Gruvarbetaren was quite radical and advocated a firm class struggle strategy towards employers. Since these were considered unreliable, class struggle was seen as the only way to better the conditions for the working class.

The purpose with this study is to investigate how the two biggest political parties, the Social Democrats and the Moderate/Conservative Party, looks at a membership in the defense alliance North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The question have the illegal annexation of Crimea affected how the parties look at a membership in Nato will be answered and analyzed. How they discuss, how they believe that a membership can affect the Swedish foreign policy will be examined in this paper. Nato is a topic that during the last century?s have divided the Swedish population into two groups: one that advocates a membership and one that fight?s against a Swedish membership in the alliance. The debate about Nato has, since the illegal annexation of the Crimea, changed and are now more relevant than ever to discuss.

Abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate the attitudes towards the labour movement?s strategies, goals and organisational issues in Swedish Miners? Union?s (Gruvindustriarbetareförbundet, hereafter Gruv) paper, Gruvarbetaren 1917-1925.The theoretical starting point is Engels? view on the class state. This perspective turns the question of socialism and the way to get there into an issue of working class power over the state. Another theoretical perspective is the partition of the labour movement into a trade-unionistic branch, seeing unions as financial organisations of interest, and a pro-state one, considering unions as political organisations.During the period investigated Gruvarbetaren was quite radical and advocated a firm class struggle strategy towards employers. Since these were considered unreliable, class struggle was seen as the only way to better the conditions for the working class.

Abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate the attitudes towards the labour movement?s strategies, goals and organisational issues in Swedish Miners? Union?s (Gruvindustriarbetareförbundet, hereafter Gruv) paper, Gruvarbetaren 1917-1925.The theoretical starting point is Engels? view on the class state. This perspective turns the question of socialism and the way to get there into an issue of working class power over the state. Another theoretical perspective is the partition of the labour movement into a trade-unionistic branch, seeing unions as financial organisations of interest, and a pro-state one, considering unions as political organisations.During the period investigated Gruvarbetaren was quite radical and advocated a firm class struggle strategy towards employers. Since these were considered unreliable, class struggle was seen as the only way to better the conditions for the working class.

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To identify the underlying forces behind a product hype is difficult and the findings often seem random and unclear. To create a better understanding behind the affecting mechanisms would consequently be a valuable addition to the surrounding research area. The purpose of this paper is to understand if there exist common denominators between different product hypes and in such a case, which these are and how they function. By conducting a case-study on four products which have enjoyed immense sale success on the Swedish market, the possible presence of structural resemblance will be analyzed. From the study we can conclude common denominators such as the presence of an underlying trend and an overbalance of indirect decision basis do exist.

Today multi-touch technology is the basis for many new techniques designed to improve interactions with computers and mobile devices. It seems that multi-touch screen interface makes the user handling very natural in the sense that there is no need for a manual in how to interact with the object on the screen. The aim with this paper is to establish a fundamental set of design principles intended specifically for large multi-touch interfaces. To reach this goal we have implemented a couple of sub-goals beforehand: It was essential that we acquired a good understanding of the current state of the multi-touch interface and the different implementations that exist today. To make this possible we constructed a multi-touch display, "Rosie". Knowing how the hardware is produced today will help us understand the limitations and also the possibilities of the design implementations today and in the future. We also needed to devise a sound interaction design process that conveys the modern designers work.

This paper examines how debt cancellation, given under the HIPC-initiative, has affected corruption over the period 2000-2006. The examination is foremost interesting due to earlier research showing that high corruption leads to unequal distribution of economic resources. This, combined with the objective of the HIPC initiative to reduce poverty, indicates that combating corruption must be successful in order to fulfill the goals of the initiative. A linear regression shows that countries that have benefited from the HIPC-initiative indeed have a lower corruption than other countries. A panel-data analysis shows on the other hand that no effect on corruption due to debt cancellation or reforms undertaken in the program can be confirmed..

Aspects of computerized learning in terms of educational situations in kindergarten andschools where the teachers use software either made for children or for adults, is thesubject of this paper.The market for software produced in Sweden and intended for educatilonal situationswith small children is discussed and analysed by qualitative method. The software, theusers, the producers and other related groups are looked upon from an educationalperspective and a mode1 of this process is presented in the paper.The software is categorized and discussed according to area of use and underlying educationalperspectives. The educational situations in which the users are a part are discussedfrom an educational perspective and examples from use of software in kindergartenand schools are given. The images of their target group which the producers haveare categorized according to phenomenographical method. A proposal of a classificationsystem for software used in educational situations is made..

Background: The hotel market has become undiversified and the competition has increased rapidly. At the same time the environment aspects has been given higher priority and the trend continues to extend. A green marketing strategi has proven profitable if the company achieve a high credibility.Problem definition: What factors are important for hotel companies to attain long term business survival trough a green marketing strategy?Purpose: The purpose with this paper is to, trough a case study of Scandic Hotels analyze and find the relationship between trustworthy environmental work and internal factors.Method: This study is based on both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The qualitative data has been gathered through interviews with five different levels of personel, both management and employee, within the company.

My paper deals with SMS and IM language's impact on students' language in school. Text messaging and instant messaging involves several simplifications and abbreviations for the user to be able to write quickly and short but in the same time have made them understood by the recipient. The spelling, punctuation and use of capital letters are also of a secondary importance when writing via the text chat. My purpose with this paper is to investigate the prevalence of SMS and chat language in student texts, using students in the senior level. My respondents were asked to answer a questionnaire and write a text to a picture.