We have made a suggestion for a map based search tool used with a database containinginformation on natural disasters. The database is being developed by NCO (SwedishCentre for Lessons Learned from Incidents & Accidents).We examined both Swedish and international examples of databases on naturaldisasters. The examples that we found were often hard to get the hang of, due to poorcompilation. The problem, that is typical of the international examples, is that the processof data collection is not standardized, as it is performed by different organizations andcompanies with diverse demands on and needs for the database. Therefore, to keep itsymmetrical, there ought to be only one department with the overall responsibility for anational database on natural disasters in Sweden.The natural disaster we based our study on was the flooding in Arvika in the year 2000.We inspected the availability of data about the flooding, and found it to be satisfying.Through contact with the municipality of Arvika, by mail and telephone, and a visit at theArvika municipality office, we acquired reports on the flooding and the joint rescueoperation that followed, and also GIS layers showing the extension of the flooding..

The furniture retail industry in Sweden has gone trough large changes during the last decades. Today the industry is tough and in the maturity stage where few new companies enter, especially if they do not have a unique offer. The furniture companies have become larger and fewer, the changes have lead to difficulties for smaller and medium sized companies to grow and be profitable.Our purpose is to analyse, evaluate and compare three smaller companies in Stockholm with the intention to find what kind of marketing strategies they are using to survive on the Swedish market. First we interviewed the three companies to see what they do to survive on the market, then we asked 100 persons to fill in a questionnaire to see if they had the same opinion as the companies described.With help from theories we prepared questions which laid the foundation to the empirical part of the essay.The result from this study shows that the three companies differ from each other when it comes to using relationship marketing and placing the customer in the centre. All of them are aware of the importance of doing so, but because of different limits and possibilities they can not fully adjust everything to the customer.

Today, we live in a consumption society. We buy products to soothe our needs and desires. Thru material things we can express our own personal identity and shopping is seen more as a pleasure than a need to survive. With the background media- and communication studies, the reason of this study was to explore how blogs as a social medium can influence the consumption ideal in society. With dialogical analysis and semiotic analysis we wanted to see if we could find a specific consumption culture in the content of six blogs we did our studies on. We found that the blogs showed us that there is normal to have everyday luxury and spoil oneself with expensive things.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine Skogsstyrelsens event Skogens Dag as an information channel by looking at information use and information behaviour during the communication process of the event. This is done by examining the aims of Skogsstyrelsens information distribution during the event in relation to its outcomes. The evaluation is focused on long term effects on the target group and it is restricted to Skogens Dag in Borås 2005. The question this thesis intends to answer is: How does the event Skogens Dag function as a tool for information distribution? The theoretical background gives an account of the communication process as well as the relevant aspects of marketing, social marketing, campaigns and public relations, as these are communication attempts that can use an event as a medium.

I detta arbete studeras hur word of mouth fungerar i praktiken. Word of mouth är passerande, verbal och informell information. I huvudsak handlar det om rekommendationer men även generell information från en person till en annan. Word of mouth är ett mänskligt fenomen som har funnits sedan urminnes tider då människor är kommunicerande varelser. På senare år har dock fenomenet word of mouth blivit mer uppmärksammat, av både marknadsförare, forskare och företag.

Outsourcing is today a common phenomenon among businesses in most industries. The term outsourcing means transferring the responsibility of performing a certain function to an external supplier. There are usually certain methods to investigate the effects and the outcome of a function that is performed by the company itself. When this function is performed by an external party, the complexity of the function will increase.This leads us to our purpose: Based on different theories clarify how a company ensures a desired effect out of marketing when this function is outsourced to a certain retail- and advertising agency.In this essay we have defined us to study one of Sweden´s leading mobile operators who have outsourced their sales management to a retail- and advertising agency. To get an additional point of view, we have included one of the mobile operator´s intermediates, which is a selling agent whose sales function is led by the retail- and advertising agency..

The use of marketing research panels are a more and more frequently used source of information for studies within many different branches. The purpose of this report is to investigate the demographic composition of panels and compare it with the population of Sweden, a possible change in behaviour of respondents, and if the source of recruitment is the cause of possible differences in study results. The study was commissioned by Norstats Linkoping office. Sources for the data material include Norstat?s recruitment process and their two main panels with different recruitment sources.

 Background and aim: Media development and digitalization has expanded the PR industry's working area. More participants are on the media market and it is becoming more and more difficult to define what PR really is and what the PR agencies/departments really do. Is PR marketing, information, event marketing or maybe propaganda? We believe that the complexity to define the term PR can lead to a loss of critical approach to the business, especially among young people. Has the PR industry managed to eliminate their negative image among students in upper secondary school and what do they associate with PR today? The aim of this essay is to examine what a selection of students associate with the term PR and if they are critical to the PR industry or not.Method/Material: The method is a quantitative survey.

Social media, such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, have become popular platforms for social communication, and, increasingly, also important channels for business marketing. For a business intending to use social media for marketing, however, developing a strategy and building a trademark can be a challenge. This report describes how a small, newly established business enterprise can develop a digital strategy with clear goals and practical guidelines. The report describes a digital strategy for Gelato Scarfó and shows how this strategy is made concrete through a set of guidelines. The guidelines develop a trademark for identification and loyalty, and give advice on how new materials can be made consistent with the trademark..

Throughout the years more and more charitable organisations have appeared and the competition between them has increased. This has forced the charities to use more marketing strategies in their work in order to strengthen their competitiveness. Research in philanthropy in terms of economy and marketing has been neglected in Sweden and the research that is done today is mainly focused on why individuals donate to charity. A donation, according to the writers of this thesis, has been seen as an economical activity and can therefore be explained and understood through economical models and theories. This thesis aims to see how a contributor to charity makes the decision to donate money, consequently see how the donation decision process actually works from a theoretical model of a buying decision process from marketing literature. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to from a buying decision process concerning products describe the donation decision process for contributors to charity. By achieving this purpose the writers aim to compare if a donation decision process go through certain steps similar to a buying decision process.

The basis for this study is the question of what happens at the point of impact between receiver and message in the case of a social marketing campaign on Facebook promoting sustainable travel. Hence the aim of this study is to analyse the reception of the social marketing campaign Fairadise in a sample of 19 individuals. The design of the study is therefore reception analysis with the help of four focus groups and thematic analysis to later identify patterns and themes in the gathered material. The theoretical approaches were collected from the field of media and communication and focused on public communication campaigns, public understanding of public communication campaigns as well as decoding of messages. The questions posed were; how is the Facebook campaign Fairadise received by the focus group participants? How do the participants read (decode) the campaign; dominant, negotiated or oppositional? And what assessments do the participants have regarding the visual versus textual information in the campaign? Previous research has shown that visual and emotional attributes are of great importance when it comes to interpreting messages about sustainable tourism and that rational information attributes are of less importance. The findings in this study agree with this previous research except when it comes to rational information.

The Third International Assessment of Educational Progress (TIMMS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) during the last decades regarding the results of mathematics teaching shows that China have a better performance than Sweden?s.Swedish teacher-guidelines focus on developing student?s individual interest and confidence for mathematics. In the Chinese teaching-guidelines for Mathematics Curriculum Standards, Ordninary Senior Secondary, the focus is given on: Elevate their mathematics literacy necessary for future citizenship and Development of citizen´s qualities (s.3).Teachers are the primary factors that impact teaching and learning of mathematics. Two teachers from Sweden and two from China were interviewed and their methods were compared in my study. The aim of my study was to understand mathematics teaching in China and Sweden.

The purpose of this study is to highlight the opportunities of using social media as a communicative tool to attract and engage customers on different social media platforms. In recent years social media has become an important way for business to communicate with people both national and global. The idea behind this thesis was found when we saw different approaches of how companies used social media as a marketing tool. Through a qualitative approach we did eight interviews with six different companies and two social media consults which have given us a basis of what companies really want to achieve with social media. With these interviews we were able to analyze and discuss the abilities to interact with people and how companies distribute content that engage users and increase their credibility to the company..

The aim of this thesis is to examine young adults? attitudes towards libraries marketing in social media. Libraries mainly use social media to reach out to young adults. However, young adults mainly use social media to communicate with their friends. The question that arises is if young adults are interested in communicating with organizations such as libraries on social media.

In subsequent to Post-colonialism the African nations have dilated into different political directions. While some nations have established well-functioning democracies, others are still under authoritarian regimes. The aim of this thesis is to examine if civil society has an impact on democratic development in West Africa. Therefore the theoretical starting point is Putnam?s theory of social capital, but this study will also examine other possible causal explanations for democratic transition.This study will be based on a comparative analysis of Ghana and Guinea.