Background: With the increased globalization food prices went down for a while, only to skyrocket to new levels. Prices of organic food, which already were more expensive than conventional, are now even more expensive. The current financial crisis results in reduced consumption which creates a threat to the smaller grocery stores. Globalization and the increased competition have had a negative impact on the environment but at the same time the desire to solve these issues has increased appreciably. The environmental aspect has been given higher priority by the individual, which led to a wider range of organic products and dramatically increased the number of stores selling organic products, leading to a greater competition among the stores selling organic food.  Problem definition: What factors are important for organic retail business long term survival?Purpose: Trough case studies analyze and evaluate the organic niche retail companies? strategies of marketing.Methods: This study is based on both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Bipolar disorder is a chronic affective disorder, characterized by episodes of mania and depression. Previous studies have shown beneficial results for CBT in conjunction with pharmacotherapy over pharmacological treatment alone. The aim of the present study was to evaluate a CBT treatment in group for patients with bipolar disorder, run by Norrlands universitetssjukhus. The treatment group consisted of pharmacologically stabilized patients (n=12) who received group CBT. They were compared to a control group (n=5) who received pharmacological treatment only.

The study examines the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes in the short- and long run in Sweden. The time period for the study is 17 years and covers the years 1996-2012. The results of the study shows that the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes in the long run is higher than in the short run for the Swedish consumers, which is in line with previous studies in the area. The fact that the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes is higher in the long run, indicates that the substitution effect has a significant impact on the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes in the long run. The study was conducted in two parts where the authors investigated the effect of cigarette tax on cigarette prices and in addition the cigarette prices impact on the demand for cigarettes in Sweden.

Companies of today are facing a development where it is more significant to focus on existing customers since the approach constitute a more cost reducing way, compared to finding new customers. During the last decades the marketing has therefore moved towards a relationship based marketing. Companies emphasize creating long-term relationships with customers, instead of consider the sale as a non-recurrent phenomenon. To engender customer loyalty has been an essential objective in the creation of long-term relationships.In this essay the authors have chosen to do a study which enlighten how companies in the ready-made apparel business produce added value to their brand and through this generate customer loyalty. Through a case study we analyze how Filippa K, Tiger of Sweden and Gant do to maintain value in their brand, in both a business- and customer perspective.

Background: The background explains different financial crises and the effect those crises had on the Swedish acquits regarding variable compensation. The resent discussion regarding variable compensation and the main problems with bonuses is also explained. Our theories for this essay is mainly based on the new directions from Finansinspektionen FFFS 2009:6,7 and stakeholder theory. Other theories used are agency theory, stewardship theory and economic man.Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to analyze the new directions for variable compensation and to investigate if these new directions can lead to a more long-term thinking for managers in banks. Method: We used semi-structured interviews with open questions for our survey.

In this essay the morphing of the interstate relations in the post-World War II Western Europe is taken in to consideration in discussing how these relations were stabilized and consolidated through community cooperation to achieve a state of stable peace. It concludes that the early 1900's of Western Europe comes close to being conditioned by Herz's security dilemma and then continues to analyze the development from this state to one of stable peace. In this analysis pivotal features of the ECSC, EEC and the EC are being scrutinized through the use of Boulding's Stable Peace theory and developments of the very same, in separate case studies, in order to account for the Communities? influence on the peace process.In doing this, conclusions are drawn that external pressures can be very effective in creating an incentive to move beyond an initial state of conflicting self-images and that a stabilizing process has got to provide a long term solution in order to sustain a trustful relationship. In order to provide this long term solution the community cooperations suggests that locking in through institutionalization, harmonization, and the creation of a state of irrevocable interdependence are highly effective..

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.

The aim of this thesis is to describe digitization of images in two Swedish museums. We want to examine their reasons to digitalize; the administrative and organizational aspects of their work and how they handle the problems of preservation and access to the digitalized images. These problems will be examined through our main questions: Why do the museums choose to digitize their image collections? How are their work organized in terms of staff and economical matters? What kind of software do they use, and which technical solutions do they choose? Which preservation and access strategies for ensuring long-term preservation and access of the digital images do the museums work with? How do the museums select material for digitization? How do they handle the matter of discarding of materials? The study was conducted both by reading text material and interviewing personnel at the two museums. The museums? main reasons for digitization seem to be to protect fragile materials from deterioration and provide greater access to the collections.

The media arena is becoming more and more crowded by various brands and different commercial messages. At the same time, consumers learn how to screen marketing communication and their cognitive ad filters enable them to avoid message elaboration. Thus, new thinking and new communication executions are required in order to surprise the consumers and break through the clutter. In the present study, we have investigated how the choice of media affects attention, memory and several communication effects that the ad can generate in the short as well as in the long term. The study is conducted on a well-known brand within a low-involvement product category.

The great economic impact of startups on society has made these types of companies an increasingly popular subject for research. Though no single definition of the word startup currently exists, one could define it as a temporary organization in search of a scalable, repeatable, and profitable business model. Seen from a historic perspective, tech-startups in particular should be considered a new phenomenon and the topic is still relatively unexplored. This study investigates the structure in tech-startups during their first months of existence and compares it to the structure that prevails when the companies have recruited at least five additional employees. In addition, the study explains why these changes occur.

North of the city of Stockholm lies the area called Södra Roslagen composed of several municipalities. The purpose of this essay is to discover how local informants describe the food culture of the region and analyse why some types of food are mentioned and others are excluded. Several people within the food industry of Södra Roslagen were given surveys asking them to describe the food habits of the area, from commodities and certain dishes to traditions. These answers were analysed using the theories regional food, regiocentrism, revitalisation, placeless food and the idea of viewing culture through the long and the short perspective.One informant mentioned that professionals in the food industry of the region tend to follow trends from the rest of the world and another that many producers work with ecological requirements. Södra Roslagen was also defined by some as having a taste of summer as this coastal area sees an influx of visitors during that season.

Sales is the foundation for all commercial business and companies that have the best sales process in conjunction with efficient deliveries will do well in the long run. The author of this report was tasked by the Organisation in South Africa to study new/alternative ways of attracting Swedish companies to South Africa and sell the services of the Organisation to these same companies (defined as the sales process in this report) by analysing how similar international service companies do the same. A benchmarking process has been conducted with four similar service organizations in South Africa to examine how these companies work in comparison to the Organization. Surveys have been used for purposes of this study, as the methodology is well suited to provide the author a view on the opinions, perceptions and experiences of the respondents.The project aimed to develop new methods to attract Swedish companies to South Africa or improve and streamline the existing methods. The aim was also to develop new ways to sell the organization's services to Swedish companies.The study concludes that there is little focus on marketing of services within the Organisation.

The aim of the present study was to investigate high school students? ways of discussing smoking and prevention of smoking. A total of eight high school students participated in the study. Two focus groups were used to collect data, one of smokers and one of nonsmokers. Data were analyzed with inductive content analysis.

The purpose of our study is to examine the case managers reasoning and descriptions of empowerment as a method in their social work from a comprehensively perspective including family members. To manage with this purpose we interviewed two case managers, two clients with mental disabilities and five family members. We have come to the conclusion that the case managers works more consist of advocacy than empowerment. Despite that we have found that the long term goal for the case mangers work is to give the clients tools for empowerment. Our results also show that the clients feel that they have gained and increased their ability to do things by themselves and to be a part of the community.

The discovery and excavation of Long Barrows has been one of the major developments in the understanding of the Early Neolithic in Southern Scandinavia during the last decade. The Long Barrows are one of the oldest monumental burial forms that we see in northern Europe in the neolithic. They are also the first example of a common idea that is connected to a monumental burial form amongst the people. In this essay I attempt to show that there actually are quite a large number of Long Barrows in Scandinavia that show similarities with Long Barrows in well-known areas such as Kujavia (Poland) and Pommerania (Germany/Poland), in both architecture and location in the landscape. I also scrutinise some theories regarding this phenomenon and discuss, and i some cases, criticise them.