As stocks have become a more common way for people to save their money, the range of financial information has had a substantial increase. To understand the assumptions that stock valuation and analysis are built upon, it is important for the reader to have an understanding for the models that are used by banks and institutions when recommendations are published.The cash flow model, which is the most commonly used stock valuation tool, is based on CAPM. This model describes the relationship between an assets return and its risk in relation to an index. The risk parameter is called the beta value and has grown to be the dominating risk factor within financial economics literature.The use of beta values has been widely discussed in the world of academics and some researchers claim that the degree of explanation brought about by the beta is so low that it should be discarded, others are faithful to the beta and believe that it still serves a purpose. As a result of this criticism other ways to calculate the beta have surfaced, models that take other factors of risk into consideration.

The competitive situation for businesses has experienced drastical changes as an effectof globalization and changes in consumer demands. Product related competitive advantages arerisking to quickly become presumptions for competition. The demand for increased innovationpace, along with the intense price competition, has led to buisnesses trying to find new ways todifferentiate themselves and Corporate Social Responsibility has became one way of doing so.The bad working conditions associated with the textile industry have rised a debate about thebusinesses? Corporate Social Responsibility. The future is heading towards more and morecompanies choosing to take their social responsibility, many of those experiencing this to be anadvandage in the relation with the consumers.

This thesis is an addition to pictures and animation that has been developed using CATIA V5. The animation and the images are a market basis to test whether the product is of interest in the Nordic market. The thesis is structured with elements of the Fredy Olsson method. In this thesis there is also a short presentation of the company Tylö AB, which been chosen to market test the product. A product definition with the sub-headings; ?Description and use of product?, ?Environmentand users?, ?Economy? and ?Product inquiry?, are the basis for the product.

The aim of this study is to examine the perception of work of young men and women. A central problem that the study focus on is how young men and women value work, what do they expect to get out of work, and what are their experiences of work. The study also examines what work value and work mean for them. Eight young men and women between the ages of 22-25, currently working in different field, were interviewed. The individuals interviewed had different educational backgrounds.

The aim of this thesis is to study the market for fantastic fiction in Sweden, focusing on the minor publishers and their relationship with the three major publishing groups. The fantastic fiction in Swedish today are generally dominated by bestselling anglo-american authors, especially at the major publishers. The selection of fantastic fiction that is not originally in English and that diverges from the classic, epic high fantasy is often provided by minor publishers. By researching the range of fantastic fiction in Sweden today, and combining that research with qualitative interviews with informants from five minor publishers and Sweden's largest book shop for fantastic fiction, I wish to examine if the minor publishers provide an important alternative for Swedish readers of fantastic fiction. I also intend to investigate whether those publishers actively try to broaden the Swedish market and if they see themselves as a complement and an alternative rather than competing with the major publishers.This is a study in sociology of literature, focusing on a literary genre that is generally regarded as popular or trivial literature.

This study is an attempt to examine how hospital libraries should develop its activities towards their target groups in time of reductions. The method was a case study of the hospital libraries in Uddevalla and Trollhättan. An opinion poll was carried out among a selection of hospital staff, patients, medical researchers and students. In addition a patient group at some wards was observed. The libraries in the study produce an annual report, which presents a proposal for developments.

Since the early 1940s in Sweden, subsidies have been a recurring feature in housing politics.Throughout history, these have been used as a management measure to control theconstruction of housing and to promote the Swedish welfare state. The political parties aretoday disagreeing on how much responsibility the state should carry for citizens housing. Tosolve the conflict, the dwelling has to be defined. Is the dwelling to be considered a socialright, like education and healthcare or is the dwelling to be considered a product for the freemarket, driven by supply and demand?The positive population growth in Stockholm has lead to an increased demand for dwellings.The supply of dwellings has not been growing at the same rate, which has implied higherhousing prices and longer wait for rented apartments.

The financial sector is an important part of the infrastructure. As a consequence of deregulations on the financial market, several new actors have entered the market. This has made it even more important for banks to identify the factors that are decisive when customers chose a bank. The purpose of this thesis was to clarify which factors that are decisive to students choice of bank. A survey was performed among students at Luleå University of Technology.

The thesis examines the relationship between consumer attitudes and a scented shopping environment. A relationship and phenomena concerning scent marketing, which could be seen as one of the more provocative forms of marketing since the human sense of smell, is connected to the limbic system where motivation and attitudes are created. The use of scent marketing has, so far, been proven effective in sales increasing whereas it is one of the less explored forms of marketing.The purpose of the thesis is to answer the following question: Is it possible to find differences in consumer attitudes in a scented buying environment compared to a nonscented buying environment, and thereby create new basis for segmentation?The thesis is based on a quantitative study where data has been gathered in a scent manipulated buying environment through structured interviews with consumers. The thesis applies a deductive approach to the main theories in the area of interest.The findings suggest new theory discussing that it is difficult to use consumer attitudes, towards a scented store environment, as a foundation for market segmentation.

IntroductionIn this study, we have explained the complexities of social media, as it is still a relatively unexplored area. With the rapidly growing use of social media in recent years, companies have chosen to establish themselves in social networks to advertise themselves and communicate with their customers. In this study we analyze IKEA Sweden and their use of social media on the national market, where focus lies upon IKEA Sweden Facebook-page. The study intends to find out how the company uses social media as a marketing and communication tool and also analyzes the relations and conversations that occur on the Facebook-page. Purpose and research questionsThe purpose of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of how a large Swedish company as IKEA has chosen to use social media and how it's perceived by them. We also intended to find out how IKEA Sweden uses social media in their daily work and how the company communicates through this media channel.

The aim of this Master thesis is to describe why and how public librariesuse the social networks Facebook and Twitter. The focus is to study whatbrought about their use, how the work is carried out, ideas and objectivesbehind the use and what libraries actually convey on the networks. Themethodology is twofold: semi-structured interviews with responsiblepersonnel at four Swedish public libraries, and an ethnographic contentanalysis of four months of the libraries' status updates and tweets onFacebook and Twitter. The theoretical framework consists of a model forthe roles of the public library in society, and of discourses about thepublic library in media.Results indicate that social networks are used to market, make accessibleand inform of the library's resources and services. Furthermore, networksare used to communicate/interact with followers and to inspire people toread.

Sweden's contribution to the world today is not labor-intensive industry, it is high technology and know-how. Many of the rules concerning employment security for the workers derived from the industrial era and have been to some extent modified by hand. This paper focuses on the discrepancy between the purpose of the priority rules in Swedish law and how it works in the reality. My opinion is that due to the development of the labor market, a powerful revision of priority rules is needed. In addition to today's job market is knowledge-intensive I point in the paper at a number of factors that contributed to the loosening of the priority rules. Examples of these are the increased incidence of temporary staffing, more open markets and more multinational companies, political will to disadvantaged groups in the labor market should be prepared job and gender issues.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate why Linas Matkasse has greater success in terms of market share than Middagsfrid despite the similarities of their concepts. The study will also examine potential and existing customers' image of the brands and corporate brand awareness.Method: This study is based on a triangulation in which both quantitative and qualitative methods are treated in the form of personal interviews and a questionnaire survey.Theoretical perspectives: Four theories are addressed in this study and they treat the brand from different aspects. The theories process how to create value, personality dimensions, how companies should act and strategies around brand.Empiricism: The empirical material consists of five interviews, one of which was with the brand manager at Middagsfrid. Then two interviews were conducted with consumers of Linas Matkasse and two interviews with consumers of Middagsfrid. A questionnaire survey has also been conducted.

The purpose of this master thesis is to present a model that illuminates the important factors when deriving technical information from market data within a company. For companies to be able to become and stay competitive in the market, product quality is an important factor. Whilst good product quality leads to customer satisfaction and loyalty, lack of quality brings costs in service and replacements. To improve product quality, the developers need information and knowledge about what quality issues affect existing products. Most companies gather data from market about known issues, but in order eliminate known quality issues in new products; this data has to be transformed into information and knowledge.

A growing need to strengthen ones position on the market, even as a city in competition with other cities, has resulted in an increasing number of municipalities developing brand platforms. When the city of Umeå developed their platform, they identified decision makers and investors as one of four important target groups.The aim of this study is to explore the portrayed image of the city of Umeå in two Swedish trade journals which addresses the specific target group decition makers and investors in both public and private sector. The aim is also to compare the image of Umeå in the two papers, to the ambition of the municipality, expressed in the brand platform.In order to make the observations as firmly established as possible, the method of the study is a combination of a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative text analysis. The study draws on the theories of Eli Avraham and Philip Kotler, concerning how to improve city images and how to market a specific city among others. The study shows that the city of Umeå in large extent is portrayed in accordance to the ambition which the municipality expressed in the brand platform.Umeå is displayed as an expanding city.