The creation of value is considered the core purpose and central process of economic exchange. Value creation is now conceptualized as shared by both producers and customers, and value is seen as fundamentally derived and determined in use, the integration and application of resources in a specific context, rather than in exchange, embedded in products and manifested as price. The field of research is abundant with publications but these do not fully further the understanding of value creation and co-creation in a way that is meaningful for theoretical development and decision making in business and marketing practise. Without a thorough understanding of the factors characterising value co-creation, the nature as well as content and locus of co-creation cannot be identified. In that case value co-creation easily becomes a concept without substance. Until now, individual publications on co-creation have focused on few or different aspects, have emphasized the process from either the customer?s or from  the firm?s vantage point, have different theoretical approaches and have ignored the complexity in interactions between actors.The purpose of this essay is to analyse how five fundamental aspects of co-creation of customer value are perceived in contemporary marketing literature. Discussing the different views on co-creation, this essay concludes that thoughthere are evident points of agreement, finding one generally valid doctrine of predestination or value co-creation is improbable.

Title: Time to renovate ? The effect of communication on the relationship between company and customer in a change situationCourse/subject:Busniess administration, Leadership, 15hpAuthors:Fredrik Elghag, Ossian OlssonTutors:Ingemar WictorKeywords:The Million Programme, Communication, Relationship Marketing, Tentant, Landlord.Problem formulation:How does communication affect the relationship between company and customer in a change situation?Purpose:Examining how different parts of a communication process affects customers trust, commitment and loyalty to their company.Theoretical framework:The starting point for the study?s theoretical perspectives have been Morgan and Hunt?s (1994) previous studies on relationship marketing and Laswell?s (1948) communication model.Methodology:The paper is performed with a qualitative research approach and a deductive approach to answer the research question. Personal interviews were conducted with four employees in real estate companies and two tenants in each company stock.Conclusion:We have found that communication affects the relationship between company and customer. Tentants have experinced credibility of businesses is important for them to have a confidence and loyalty in the relationship. .

Our planet is faced with enormous challenges as the extreme weather events related to the human-caused climate change continue to gain strength. The scale of the problem has made changing human behaviour the central focus of sustainable development, and both public and private sector are expected to gain relevant expertise and introduce this work in their agenda. Over its 40-year history, social marketing has become an established field providing tools for social change, but compared to health promotion, sustainability has not been a major focus of social marketing research so far. At the same time, sustainable lifestyles are embedded in complex systems where both individual factors and those of physical and social environment play a defining role in their adoption. Communities are a good example of such environments, and they became the key focus of Community-Based Social Marketing, which combines different insights from psychology to suggest a step-by-step framework for crafting behaviour change campaigns. However, it has not been applied to larger and diverse communities, like cities, and has not focused on sustaining new behaviour over time, which is crucial for creating sustainable lifestyles.

This thesis investigates how recipient countries' domestic type of democracy affects its inclusive ownership in international development cooperation. This is done by examining Swedish development cooperation with Rwanda and Tanzania during the period from 2010 to 2014, a time when ownership - a concept which emphasizes recipient countries' leadership over its own development - was a central part of the international development agenda. The two cases were selected through a most similar case design where the value of potential explanatory variables was similar, except for the recipient countries' types of democracy. Furthermore, the case study uses a comparative analysis to analyze strategies and reports done by SIDA and the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Previous research focuses on the exclusion that national ownership can result in, in undemocratic national contexts. The main argument for this should be seen as the fact that ownership can not be representative if the power of the recipient's development agenda is limited to a decision-making elite.

Branding is becoming increasingly important to companies within the B2B-sector and they put a lot of effort and capital to develop and strengthen their brands. One way of working with brands is through ingredient branding. An ingredient brand is an alliance between two brands where the ingredient brand is applied on a host brand and works as an ingredient on the product. The purpose of ingredient branding is to create competiveness, differentiation and to create quality associations. Ingredient brands can be divided into emotional and functional categories.

Title: Time to renovate ? The effect of communication on the relationship between company and customer in a change situationCourse/subject:Busniess administration, Leadership, 15hpAuthors:Fredrik Elghag, Ossian OlssonTutors:Ingemar WictorKeywords:The Million Programme, Communication, Relationship Marketing, Tentant, Landlord.Problem formulation:How does communication affect the relationship between company and customer in a change situation?Purpose:Examining how different parts of a communication process affects customers trust, commitment and loyalty to their company.Theoretical framework:The starting point for the study?s theoretical perspectives have been Morgan and Hunt?s (1994) previous studies on relationship marketing and Laswell?s (1948) communication model.Methodology:The paper is performed with a qualitative research approach and a deductive approach to answer the research question. Personal interviews were conducted with four employees in real estate companies and two tenants in each company stock.Conclusion:We have found that communication affects the relationship between company and customer. Tentants have experinced credibility of businesses is important for them to have a confidence and loyalty in the relationship. .

This study focuses on the transfer between a product-oriented to a service-oriented perspective regarding marketing activities in companies due to the development of information technology. It illustrates how this very transfer has been, and can be, contemplated through the eyes of organizations working with marketing in a digital world on a daily basis. Technology has turned several industries - their price-setting, communication channels and supplying possiblities - upside-down. This turnpoint brings out a new way of observing and working with marketing. Therefore, we find it interesting to gain a better understanding of how actors within industries where the turnpoint is a fact observes marketing, and how this service perspective can be seen in their various organizations and daily.

Purpose: The aim of this thesis is to examine how word of mouth and buzz marketing affects Uppsala´s businessstudents attitudes towards Red Bull. To solve this purpose we intend to answer some underlying questions.Theory: We have used relevant theories within word of mouth, buzz marketing and consumer behaviour. Our thesis will bring up the essential parts within these three different theories that we believe are relevant to our purpose.Method: In this thesis we have used both quantitative and qualitative methods such as interviews and questionnaires. The questionnaires will be handed out at Economicum at Uppsala University.Empirical study: This part is based on our questionnaires handed out to business students at Economicum, but also on our interviews made with employees working for Red Bull.Conclusion: Our empirical study has given us a clear picture of how Red Bull works and use marketing tools to promote their product. Through our questionnaires we have also found out what attitudes consumers has against the brand and the product.

Abstract Title: We are equal. A study of cultural differences and professionalism in international projects.Level: Thesis for Master Degree in Business Administration.Author: Zahra AhmadiSupervisor: Lars EkstrandDate: 2012-05The purpose of my study is to analyze and examine it well-educated people can reduce the cultural differences in interaction with other actors around the world. Part of aims study surveys and analyzes to understand how educated people can communicate and facilitate communication in order to achieve the goals and motivation in international collaboration. Problems can arise from cultural differences in connection with that persons face in society and in international collaboration. In this study, I assume theoretical framework that exists in cultural and communication theme and professionalism to find common objectives within educated groups.Method: The purpose of this study, I have chosen to use a qualitative approach.

Over the past few years the Åland islands have attracted growing internationalattention as an example of how to successfully secure the position of a minorityregion, and in the current situation the government of Åland has an intention toextend the efforts of spreading the example of Åland. The purpose of this essay isto shed light on the political discussion about the example of Åland, andinvestigate the underlying political reasons for emphasizing the example of Ålandinternationally. Through interviews with leading politicians on Åland I analyzeÅland as a norm entrepreneur. The research shows that besides altruism, selfinterestis a factor behind emphasizing the example of Åland. The essay showsthat the theory of norm entrepreneurship also can be applied on an autonomousarea, but instead of influencing international organizations themselves, theautonomous area use norm entrepreneurship as a tool for influencing domesticpolitics..

The purpose of this thesis is to examine if academic libraries market e-journals, and if so how this work is carried out. The ambition is to study what channels and methods the Libraries use, to inform their users that they have access to e-journals. The aim is also to survey if the libraries evaluate the use of the e-journals, and if so how. The objectives of the work are reached by using two main methods, document analysis and qualitative interviews. The study has been performed on three university libraries.

2014 is a special year in Sweden: for the first time elections to the European parliament and the national elections coincides, creating a"Super election year". This year has also seen the rebirth of an old way of campaigning: door-to-door canvassing. For the first time in 50 years the two biggest political parties, the Social Democrats and the Moderate Party, have decided to create a campaign based on personal meetings with the voters in their own home. To investigate this old-new way of campaigning, this study presents an overview of the history of door-to-door canvassing in Sweden and the research in political marketing associated with the phenomena. Based on that, a new model is constructed to help analyze and map the Swedish canvassing-campaigns.

Ordet upplevelse används idag av många företag i olika branscher för att beskriva företagets tjänsteutbud. Inom marknadsföring används upplevelser för att tränga igenom det tilltagande mediebruset och för relationsbyggande åtgärder. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka huruvida eventbyråer profilerade inom relationsskapande event marketing använder begreppet upplevelse och vad det har för betydelse för deras verksamhet. Med ett hermeneutiskt förhållningssätt och en induktiv ansats har jag genomfört en kvalitativ intervjustudie baserad på intervjuer med sju eventbyråer. Studien visar att upplevelse som fenomen är en viktig effekt av relationsskapande event marketing, men att det finns en paradox ifråga om användningen och beskrivningen av begreppet.

The purpose of this study was to find out what are the information needs of the nurses and if the hospital library can satisfy these needs, and see how the hospital library reaches the nurses with their information provision. The main questions are: what kinds of service exist at the hospital library? What kinds of needs have the nurses concerning the hospital library? How are the needs satisfied by the hospital library? What marketing strategies are used by the hospital library to reach out to the nurses? Is it enough to achieve the goal? The method in this study was a case study with the emphasis on the qualitative interviews. The study was conducted at the hospital library at Södra Älvsborgs Sjukhus in Borås. The interviews concerned the nurses views on the hospital library, information needs and marketing.

On the behalf of the European commission suggestions were made on how to increase the usage of public transportation in cities in Europe. A suggestion on how to make public transportation more popular was to use more emotions when marketing public transportation. However, according to theory emotional marketing is best suited for products that have a more hedonic character which public transportation does not usually have. The aim of this report was to investigate if emotional marketing could have a more positive effect on the attitude toward public transportation than less emotional marketing. Ads for the metro in Stockholm were made and it was tested to what degree they conveyed positive emotions.