AbstractPurpose:The purpose of the study is to describe the internationalization process of one firm when in a country culturally diverse from the firm?s original market.Methodology/approach:The study is a single case study which examines one firm?s internationalization process when entering the Chinese market. The approach has been an empiric interaction between empirical and theoretical data.Findings:The theory of the Uppsala model was applied to the case-company to test the model?s completeness. The authors found weaknesses and added three more aspects to the model.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate if a dynamic investment strategy on the Swedish asset market can accomplish better returns then a static investment strategy. The dynamic investment strategy is created by incorporating business cycle predictors and firm-level variables to predict future stock returns. The predictive regression is calculated wih 60 months of observation (1999 01-2005 12) and is then used to estimate future returns for 23 months in the period 2004 01 -2005 11. The structure of the regression, with linear functions of ? and ?, goes back to Shanken (1990) and Avramov and Chordia (2005) has had success with the variables chosen.

With the advent of a range of social networks, librarians all over the world have startedto ask themselves how this new technology can be used as a way to market theirlibraries. Today's information websites and search engines are difficult competitors forlibraries and information centers, and are forcing traditional information institutions tomarket themselves in new ways.Marketing theories have traditionally concerned themselves with money transactionsand marketing of specific services and/or products. Relationship marketing theories, onthe other hand, focus more on the relationship between the customer and the companythat produces the product or service. These two parties are seen as co-producers, andrelationship marketing theories tend to focus more on a win-win situation, than on thecompany gaining power of the customer. The relationship is the important thing, and thetheories concentrate to a great extent on how to nourish these relationships.This paper is a discussion about whether Facebook as a social network is a usable toolfor library marketing.

AbstractThe aim of this present study was to investigate whether there is a relationship between birth order and the personality trait narcissism using 181 individuals from Finnveden High School in Värnamo (115 females, 60 males, mean age 17, sd=0,94), in the context of the proposal of Sulloway (1996) that personality is influenced by the specialized nich-es siblings adopt in the quest for access to parental resources. A questionnaire which in-cludes Narcissistic Personality Inventory test, Birth order test and also Rosenberg?s self-esteem test in order to investigate if it might has an impact on narcissistic personality trait, was used. Results showed that there was no significant relationship between birth order and narcissism, however, a significant relationship between narcissism and self-esteem was found. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between narcissism and the individual?s relationship with the mother.

Antalet frivilliga ökar alltmer och därmed ställs det alltfler krav på frivilligledare/ledare inom ideella organisationer. Min förförståelse är att ledare inom ideella organisationer ska värna om de frivilliga, motivera, ?hålla lågan uppe? och stödja ?eldsjälarna?. Då det inte finns mycket skrivet om hur frivilligledare/ledare inom Röda Korset går tillväga för att leda frivilliga, är syftet med studien att belysa hur ledare inom en ideell organisation, Röda Korset, ?leder? de frivilliga som ingår i organisationen och hur ledarna ser på sitt ledarskap.

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.

The web sites of libraries are to a large extent their public face and to help market their services, the web sites must have interesting and regularly renewed content. They must also be visually attractive and easily used, and thus be well structured and have a well functioning navigational system. The web masters' awareness of the ability of web sites to attract users to the site and also to the library, as well as their knowledge of suitable content and site construction, is crucial for how successful the web site actually is at marketing the library. The research question is: How do the studied web sites function as marketing sources and service providers for the libraries, and are the web masters aware of the importance of the web site? The purpose is to investigate how the library personnel looks upon the web site as a possible way to increase the popularity of the library among the public, and to study the construction and content of the library web sites to find out how well these serve their purpose.

Being able to predict the future had been an invaluable competitive advantage for any corporation. Forecasting is a vital part of any business, hence a good forecast allows enterprises to invest in a beneficial way. However, there are several ways to prepare forecasts and the forecast methodology can vary. An industry that is dependent on forecasts is the energy industry. By predicting consumers' energy consumption, Swedish energy companies can hedge on the Nordic power market Nord Pool.

Vattenfall hedge its future electricity production in order to decrease fluctuations in theresult. Hedging can in a simplified way be described as selling the future electricity deliveriesin long-term contracts so that the future price of the delivery becomes fixed. The contractsused are electricity forwards traded at the Nordic electricity market Nord Pool. Animbalance between buyers and sellers can lead to a situation where the forward price notequals the expected spot price. The difference between the forward price and the expectedspot price is referred to as the market risk premium.

This essay follows a Media Teacher in her work as a coordinator and an artistic leader for a European project called Legalopoli concerning laws and ethics in a senior level school for 13-16 year-olds in Mora, Sweden. The students write film stories about how their characters have to make choices in ethical dilemma situations. Then the learners create interactive computer games together through practical film work. At the same time we can see how the educator also gets into difficult ethical situations, when she is working with the students. This forces her to self-reflection.

Currently there is a controversial debate about that we must reduce our impact on the global warming; therefore both the Government and the local authorities have invested heavily in developing renewable energy in Sweden. The major development on the wind power market can be seen as a result of both the technological development and also on the decision that the Government took in 1996, which opened up the wind power market for private parties.This paper has aimed to examine the types of financial innovations that have arisen from the investments and financing of wind power on Gotland, and what these innovations can contribute to the future development of wind power.The problems that this thesis is based on is; what kind of financial innovations have occurred within investment and financing of wind power? How can these innovations contribute to the continued development of wind power on Gotland? The conclusion of this study shows that respondents and participants have defined a number of financial innovations that have emerged. Where some of the innovations only can be seen as incremental since they are based on continuous improvements, while others can be seen as radical as they are completely new for the context in which they operate. The study has also shown that Gotland has a great potential to produce more renewable electricity, but the development is dependent on the new power lines being built, in order to export electricity to the mainland..

Research issue: The transition from Basel II to Basel III becomes consuming for banks, financially. But Basel III should be profitably for financial market economy. Risks in the financial world is very complex. Is Basel III is sufficient to manage risk and future crisesPurpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the application of Basel II and the transition to Basel III in Sweden with the banking system in focus.Method: The study has a qualitative research methodology for the collection of empirical data. The study is based on interviews with four large banks of Sweden (Swedbank, SEB, Nordea, Handelsbanken) and with Finansinspektionen.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine how the build-up of customer relations can be characterized at the end of the industrial selling process and how companies engage their cross-functional selling teams into this relationship building effort. Through a case study of Omega, a multinational company engaged in the selling of products of an industrial character, it was revealed that the build-up and maintaining of the customer relationship is of acute importance, as it presents the company with a window of opportunities. Through its relationship with the customer the company can be able to sell other products, which are related to the original purchase made by the customer. For the company?s competitors the established relationship might also serve as a barrier when attempting to enter the market or increase market share.

This paper is about the new methods and metrics used in industry and business today striving for better revenues and larger market shares. It investigates the relations between the old fordistic and tayloristic way of manufacturing and compares it to the models used in industry today for being competitive, seeking to please customers and becoming more flexible. More specific the paper is about if Six Sigma and lean production are the key for succeeding these days. SKF:s factory in Gothenburg and other companies will make an example for how these methods are used in practice.The aim is to try to answer if these systems with inherited tools and methods are the right way to get the flexibility that is needed for being able to deliver the right goods to customers and market. For a company to be flexible decisions must be made fast and needed changes must be able to be done easy and without too large costs and investments.

Due to the interest of starting a preschool with a scout profile in my circle of acquaintances I chose to write my report about how the scout method would work in a preschool. I did this by comparing the origin of scouting and preschool. I based my report on the following questions:Are there any similarities or differences with curriculum, education act and the scout method that can make it easier/harder to work with the scout method in the preschool?There are many theorists that have had influence on the preschool. Give some examples of their theories that could affect the scout preschool?What is the difference between a teacher and a scout leader?What would a preschool look like if you included the scout method in the daily activity?With the help of my literature studies I compared the scout method against the laws and rules to make sure that the scout method doesn?t contradict them.