Title: Social Media ? And customer interaction in smaller firmsSeminar date: 2011-06-10Course: Information Logistics, D-level.Authors: Marie Stenhammar and Ulrika CarlssonAdvisor: Jaime CamposKey words: Social Media, Web 2.0, Co-creation, Viral marketing, Word of Mouth, smaller firmsPurpose: This paper aims to describe the relevance of social media to smaller firms, the challenges and opportunities they face and what strategies they use, in the interaction with their customers.Methodology: The study is qualitative in nature and has an abductive approach. The empirical material consists of in-depth interviews with chosen companies and Internet observations.Theoretical perspectives: Social Media, Web 2.0, Co-creation, Viral marketing, Word of MouthEmpirical foundation: The study takes its empirical base from in-depth interviews with representatives from the small companies and internet observations connected to these.Conclusions: Smaller companies have great interest in social media. They preferably use Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter. Their strategy is mainly to be very active and update their social media regularly.

In this research our goal is to conclude the aspects of interactivity which can prove to be important during the creation of a website. The focus in this essay is websites functioning as travelingguides, because we live in a time of traveling, experiance and learning. How can an analyzing method of websites be shaped? What can an analyze of interactivity on current travelingguides provide for recommendations by the creation of interactive travelingguides? The analyzingmethod is based on three shapingmethods and a poll that was answered by both national and international people. The analyze gave us quite clear results, if you follow the basics of Use Case, Personas, Usability and design, the website will have a bigger chanse of attracting people than if it doesn't..

AbstractMaster thesis of one year in Business Administration, Swedish Business School at Örebro university,Marketing, HT 2011.Authors: Grunér, Linus and Malm, Ludwig Tutor:Pia Lindell Title:Brand building and creating relationships ? A study of a small business in the B2B market Keywords:Brand building, business relationships, SME, B2B. Problem:How does a small business in the B2B market work with brand building and creating relationships? What critical factors can be identified regarding the process of relationship-building and brand building within the context of a small business in the B2B market? Research objective:The purpose of this study is to use existing research to create understanding for how a company in the B2B market is working with relationship-building and brand building. The study also aims to identify any critical factors concerning the process of relationship-building and brand building.

AbstractMaster thesis of one year in Business Administration, Swedish Business School at Örebro university,Marketing, HT 2011.Authors: Grunér, Linus and Malm, Ludwig Tutor:Pia Lindell Title:Brand building and creating relationships ? A study of a small business in the B2B market Keywords:Brand building, business relationships, SME, B2B. Problem:How does a small business in the B2B market work with brand building and creating relationships? What critical factors can be identified regarding the process of relationship-building and brand building within the context of a small business in the B2B market? Research objective:The purpose of this study is to use existing research to create understanding for how a company in the B2B market is working with relationship-building and brand building. The study also aims to identify any critical factors concerning the process of relationship-building and brand building.

Back in the 1950s Marilyn Monroe and her hourglass shaped body was the aesthetic ideal for how models were to look like. Nowadays, the tide has turned. Research has shown that female models are becoming increasingly taller, narrower and straighter. This trend has occurred despite the fact that both men and women (still) prefer medium sized women with curvy bodies. This essay examines if this trend can be justified from a marketer's perspective.

The business cycle of the wood flooring branch is currently high however that situation may not be sustainable. In a possible future weaker business climate, the importance of marketing becomes accentuated for firms that aim to maintain their sales levels. We can see trends that competition among the Swedish and foreign manufactures is already stepping up. The intent of this study is to establish marketing guidelines for floor- and molding manufacturers, so they can establish a clearer brand image in DIY retail outlets. By comparing the approach of sports- and DIY stores to brand and product placement, this study aims to bring new knowledge to the DIY branch for improved consumer and product handling.

The authors of this paper intended to study and compare local secondary schools(municipally owned schools) and independent secondary schools(privately owned schools) in Stockholm County. The purpose oft his paper is to explore how secondary schools market themselves and whether the view and use of marketing is different between municipal and independent secondary schools. The essay is by nature multi-case study and interviews were conducted with representatives from four high schools, two municipal and two independent, one representative from Education Committee and one from Privet Schools? Association.The introduction of School reform in 1992 enabled opening of privately owned schools and empirical datas hows that before 1992 secondary schools did not have the same extent of competition and the need of marketing was not widespread, but today there is fierce competition among secondary schools. The introduction of School reform changed the conditions for the Swedish school market, greater freedom of choice led to atougherfight for the students, which in turn increases the competition between secondary schools.

This paper discusses the issue of trade dress imitation in the grocery sector. Our study has its starting point in the conflict that may arise between a brand owner and an imitator following an imitator?s marketing actions. In this study we look at the Market Court?s precedents in which this question has been addressed.

Previous research analyzing information and communication effects regarding high-involvement purchases has so far concerned communication length and the use of salient attributes. Studies investigating the effects of communication on a word-level is however limited. For a high-involvement purchase like an apartment the need for information is vital in the customers purchase decision. The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether the communication in the prospectus varies based on sales success. The study connects research in information search, high-involvement purchases, communication length and information vividness.

Uppsatsen omfattar en analys och jämförelse av EU:s och Sveriges målsättningar,strategier och faktiska bistånd för de tre baltiska staterna i tidsperioden 1998/99. Somteoretiskt ramverk har det vidgade säkerhetsbegreppet med Barry Buzans tolkning frånboken People, States and Fear: an agenda for international security in the post- coldwar era. Ur teorin så används de fem sektorerna politiska, ekonomiska, sociala, miljöoch militära detta som ett analytiskt sorteringsverktyg för att sedan överskådligt kunnajämföra och prioritera sektorerna och dess innehåll med varandra. Genom detta så skaett resultat vara möjligheten att se om Sverige koordinerar sitt bistånd med EU:s..

The aim of this essay is to find out how students at Malmö University relate to moral responsibility in their private consumption. I am going to test moral theories in order to find out if researchers have a too moral starting point in comparison to everyday use. Through a critical research, free from valuation, I also aim to raise a discussion about moral responsibility which should lead to fair trade in the long run. My essay discusses the subject out of a Swedish city, Malmö - a place where many stores, cafés and restaurant are using moral responsibility as a step in their marketing. The results show that students are interested in morality but their financial conditions are their prior factor..

AbstractTitle: DREAMING OF A UNITED ?NORDEN? (The North)? Four central Nordic actors about the progress and extent of Nordic cooperationThe Nordic cooperation are often spoken as in terms of a peaceful international cooperation that is built upon a wide range of similarities among its members, such as a common culture, language similarities and a related kind of political system etc. But in spite of the fact that these so called propitious factors are present, many of the attempts that has been made trying to bring the states of the North (Norden) closer together has turned out unsuccessfully. Therefore no far-reaching Nordic cooperation has come to be implemented. The aim of this essay is to find out what the main reasons could be why this has been the case.I have chosen to take a closer look at the motives given by the former Nordic Prime ministers Tage Erlander (Sweden), Karl August Fagerholm (Finland), Einar Gerardsen (Norway) and Mauno Koivisto (Finland).

The purpose of this thesis is to outline an appropriate model in order for companies to successfully act and compete physically as wholesalers at the same time as acting on the virtual market by selling directly to the end consumer. The approach of this thesis is hermeneutical and abductive with elements of hypothetically deductive approach. Our research has a qualitative research strategy based on case studies and interviews as well as on secondary data. Interviews were conducted with the case company JaymJay Wear AB as well as with other companies, so called mini cases. The secondary data consists mainly of textbooks, web sites and journals.

African Swine Fever (ASF) is one of the most serious transboundary swine diseases because of its high lethality for pigs, socioeconomic consequences, rapid and international spread and the absence of either treatment or vaccine. This Sida Minor Field Study (MFS) was carried out during fall 2010, as part of a larger collaborative research project called ASFUganda, focusing on the epidemiology of the disease in Uganda. The aim with this study was to get more knowledge about the pathology in cases of ASF in Uganda, by studying macroscopic and microscopic lesions in pigs with acute and chronic ASF and to detect the ASF virus (ASFV) in tissues by immunohistochemistry. The pigs were selected from the two different geographical locations in Uganda, Mityana and Gulu district, both with on going confirmed outbreaks of ASF. Necropsies were performed in the field, and the laboratory procedures at the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) Veterinary Pathology Laboratory, Entebbe, Uganda, and at the Department of BVF, SLU, Uppsala, Sweden. Three pigs from an outbreak of ASF in Mityana district showed both the history and the clinical symptoms typical for ASF.

Consumption of meat and poultry has increased during the last ten years while the production in Sweden has decreased. Cheap imports are competing with Swedish products and consumers, restaurant and retail let the price decided what to purchase. Swedish food producers can become better at communicating the added values that meat and poultry produced in Sweden has. Social media gives companies a possible tool for communication in order to communicate and create a relationship with consumers. The rise of social media does not only affect consumer decisions making, but also corporate communication. The objective of this project is to investigate how social media can connect the farmer to the consumer.