This paper is an event study on Initial Public Offering?s return behavior after the dot com bubble. Cumulative Abnormal Returns are used to measure the performance against a market index. The results suggest that the market correctly prices IPOs in the long run thus upholding the Market Efficiency hypothesis. Moreover, value weighted CARs show that large IPOs are more likely to outperform smaller IPOs, however in the long run there is an unpredictable pattern.

Servicescape is a research area within service management which processes the effect that the environment has on the service experience. The purpose of this essay is to find out how servicescape, with focus on the ?background music?, affects customer behavior in a clothing retail store. Through manipulation of the background music?s tempo the essay aim to explore to what extent this part of the servicescape a) affect the customers approach and avoidance behavior, b) is affected by customers with a hedonic or utilitarian shopping behavior, c) affects pleasure, arousal and dominance perceptions for the customer, and d) how the servicescape is perceived.Key words: Servicescape, approach-avoidance behaviour, pleasure, arousal, dominance, hedonic-utilitarian behaviour..

The aim of this study was to examine how children in ages 3 to 4 use the public library with the research questions: What does children?s, in ages between 3 and 4, information behavior look like when they visit a public library in leisure time with a parent? What is the nature of interaction between child and parent, child and the staff of the library, and between child and other visitors? What is the function of the cultural tools in relation to the children?s information behavior? The theoretical frame of reference consisted of Lev Vygotsky?s ?the zone of proximal development? and Roger Säljö?s theory about using cultural tools. To answer the questions I have observed 4 children together with their mothers and siblings at a public library. From the result of the observations I found that every child had their own information behavior. Two of the children only used one kind of cultural tool ? books.

Background: How do leaders act during organisational changes which involve downsizing? The leader often ends up in focus during these processes. These issues are by no means recently developed. Already the medieval author Machiavelli wrote about leaders? problems with leading changes.

Scarcity due to supply, demand or in time is all factors that affect consumers´buying behavior. The scarcity principle describes how scarce resources appear moreattractive to the customer's eyes than unlimited does. When something is scar thecustomer often draws parallels to the quality and price, that the product will bemore expensive and better. People hate to be deprived of choices. When a certainproduct is scar, the customer will desire the product even more.

This thesis investigates the underlying factors behind sexual risk-taking and non-risk-taking behavior with regard to Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) among adolescents in Lusaka, Zambia. The Qualitative Approach was used for data collection and analysis and using the theory of Social Construction, the author explains how different contexts and aspects in the Zambian Society, that is Traditional, Socio-economic, Political, etc., influence the sexuality or sexual behavior of young people in Zambia. Hermeneutics was used to interpret the meanings in the texts/transcripts acquired through data collection and from the author?s knowledge and understanding of the Zambian historical and cultural contexts within which the participants of the research were constructed. Max Weber?s Ideal Type concept was also used to explain that each young individual?s sexual behavior is uniquely constructed by societal aspects.

The meaning of being someone and standing for something is getting more important today in the Swedish business market. Our thesis has a qualitative approach that aims to study the usage of personal branding in the upper-management of Swedish organizations. Theories collected from literature and articles include marketing branding, personal branding and leadership. Our main target is to identify components that obtain usage of personal branding which are, attributes and strengths, communication, values, and vision and mission. The empirical data is gathered from six personal interviews with managers.

Denna studie behandlar ämnet ledarskap och inriktar sig på den militära ledarskapsteorin Utvecklande ledarskap.  Uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka om Karl XII:s framgångar som ledare kan förklaras genom en modern ledarskapsteori såsom Utvecklande ledarskap. Detta görs genom att undersöka om de eftersträvansvärda ledarkaraktäristika som nämns i Utvecklande ledarskap även går att finna i återberättelser om Karl XII:s ledarskap under den Senkarolinska tiden.Teorin Utvecklande ledarskap har analyserats gentemot dess föregångare Transformational leadership för att få en djupare förståelse för vad den utvecklande ledarskapsteorin innebär samt öka utbudet på beskrivningar av eftersträvansvärda ledaregenskaper. Här identifieras tre kännetecken som sammanfattar teorins önskvärda ledaregenskaper: Föredöme, Personlig omtanke samt Inspiration och motivation.Dessa kännetecken prövas sedan mot återberättelser av Karl XII:s ledarskap för att påvisa att många av de önskvärda ledaregenskaper som nämns i de moderna ledarskapsteorierna även gick att finna i Karl XII:s ledarskap. Resultatet av studien blev att många av de karaktärsdrag som nämns i Utvecklande ledarskap också gick att finna hos Karl XII med skillnaden att innebörden av begreppen ändrats på grund av kulturella och religiösa förändringar med tiden. En sista skillnad är att dessa karaktärsdrag inte var nedtecknade i en teoretisk modell under den Senkarolinska tiden, då Karl XII regerade, vilket försvårade transferering och utbildning i ämnet..

Title:                          Leadership development of individuals in management positions Authors:                    Carl Renér and Peter Simonsson  Institution:                Linneaus University, School of Business and Economics Program:                   Human Resource Management Course:                      Business administration ? Organization including thesis, 15 credits Supervisor:               Olle Duhlin (Linneaus University, School of Business and Economics) Examiner:                 Mikael Lundgren (Linneaus University, School of Business and Economics) It is widely known that the role of managers may result in stress and a heavy workload. As a result of this negative effects organisations have to counteract and find new solutions and systems to facilitate and assist leaders in their work. A popular method for leadership development has come to show both in research and in practice, especially in recent years, this popular method is known as mentoring. This form of leadership development is often applied in so called mentoring programs.

Successful diversity management has become an increasingly pressing concern for companies and organisations, as the workforce has grown more diverse over the past few decades. Research on whether increased work group diversity has a generally positive or negative impact on results remains inconclusive. It has, however, been established that good diversity management is pivotal in creating conditions for the successful performance of diverse work groups. Although much attention has been directed towards explaining the translation of work group diversity into positive results, less attention has been given to the processes that underlie this translation and the way it is expressed in everyday leadership behaviour. This thesis revolves around a case study, at the Swedish bank Swedbank, which combines qualitative and quantitative elements to explore the successful leadership in nine diverse work groups at the local branch level.

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) has been claimed to be the single most reliable indicator of firm growth and has gained wide adoption among companies in a broad range of industries. This is despite a lack of rigorous scientific testing. The purpose of this study is to examine the predictive strength of the question "How likely are you to recommend [.] to your friends and colleagues " that the metric is based on: how well does it actually predict future consumer behavior Furthermore, the report aims to create a greater understanding of the factors that explain a person's word of mouth (WOM) intention and which behaviours cause that intention to change. A longitudinal study was conducted of 304 consumers' WOM intention regarding two non-carbonated drinks and their subsequent WOM and purchase behavior. The analyses show that the behaviors are captured by the metric to some extent.

In today?s society there is an ongoing debate concerning gender distribution amongst the top executives and there is a clear distinction between the men and women in leading positions. The reason for this can be because men and women to a certain degree conduct leadership differently. It is said that men are more focused on task oriented leadership while women seem to focus on a relation oriented and more interactive leadership. A leader?s success could be due to his or her ability to set up and use a network.

The purpose of this study is to examine the attitudes towards criminality among adolescent people. The main goal of this study is to find out, which risk factors are for criminal behavior among the youth. It?s also to understand if gender and ethnicity of the adolescent people plays any part in their attitudes towards criminality and risk factors for criminal behavior. The study has been carried out using a quantitative method for the data collection.

Japan is the first industrialized country that is experiencing the threat of a rapidly declining and aging population. This has shifted the focus and the limelight is now on the matter that for a long time has been ignored. That is, the Japanese women?s situation in the society. This thesis seeks to point out the relevance of gender in the construction of leadership in order to get a deeper understanding of the Japanese women?s situation today.

This essay aims to higlight the perception of achievement among politicians and directors in one of Malmö´s district. The questions higlight the success factors for goal attainment and how to legitimize goals. The success factors that are important are clarity regarding both the organisation, leadership and communication. To achieve that a pioneering leader who can motivate and establish their employees is needed. It is also important to create realistic goals to achieve legitimated goals..