Celebrity endorsement has been a popular advertising strategy all over the world for the past few years. The purpose of this thesis was to find out why companies choose celebrity endorsement as advertising strategy and how the celebrity endorsement process appeared in companies. We choose to interview two companies in the retail business and the interviews were conducted with the marketing managers for each company. This study provided that companies utilize celebrity endorsement to increase their sales, and it is important that the whole company is in the celebrity endorsement process discussion before the company choose which celebrity they will work with. .

The purpose with this essay is to study how a micro enterprise builds a brand. This because the current situation makes it difficult to stand out from the vast amount of marketing messages available in the market without having an extensive marketing campaign. Small companies do not have the opportunity to put a lot of recourses as money into marketing as the large companies do. Neither do they afford to repair a brand failure.Brand building is a process that constantly is in progress in a company, large or small. To make this process concrete we have chosen to study the four factors; brand awareness, perceived quality, brand associations and brand loyalty.

This thesis within the field of Integrated Product development at the Royal Insitute ofTechnology, performed at Primary Development Dishcare at AB Electrolux, is supposed to finda solution to enhance the hygiene inside an Electrolux dishwasher. The outcomes of this thesisare functional prototypes to evaluate the efficiency of disinfection by the use of Ultra VioletLight and Ozone.The thesis has followed Electrolux Primary Development process, with delivarables andcheckpoints.Ultra violett light with a wavelength of around 264 nm penetrates through the cell wall ofbacteria and micro organisms and causes a molecular rearrangement of the cells DNA. Thisprevent the bacteria from reproducing and it is considered dead. Commonly used UV-C lampstransmits the wavelength 254 nm which is very close to the optimum for germicidal action.A competitive brand have reacently launched a dishwasher claiming to achieve greaterdisinfection with an UV feature. This dishwasher was tested during the thesis and proven tohave a very low effect on the hygienic result.Two prototypes were devolped and tested for UV disinfection of dishware.

This paper presents a study of the computer game ?Minesweeper?. The aim of the game is to search through a rectangular area of mined squares without hitting any mines. By using a strategy based on making every operation as safe as possible, series of the game have been simulated. The size of the playground is four times four squares.

The purpose of this thesis is to try to understand, with the help of existing theories and empirical findings, the parameters which are of importance in the development of the pricing capability. We have used a qualitative and abductive methodology approach. The empirical findings have been collected via semi-structured interviews which we have conducted via personal and telephone interviews. Seeing pricing as a capability within the company our theoretical framework mainly consists of the resource-based view and an article explaining and given proof how pricing can be seen as a capability. We also describe the most used pricing strategy today within business-to-business companies, the cost plus strategy.

This thesis aims to explore the process where strategies for music artists are created by record companies. We describe and analyze how decisions regarding signing, distribution, marketing, bookings and co-operations are made. Through our study we find that the strategy process can be described as a pattern according to Mintzberg's definition. The "inside-out" perspective is dominating and the record companies base their strategies on internal core competencies and the artistry and will of the music artist. The underlying causes of this are the uncertainty that characterizes the industry; the focus on social relations; and the importance of cultural legitimacy..

The main aim of this thesis is to investigate the implications and dynamics behind consistency between individual resource allocation decisions and corporate strategy concept. The telecom industry, a high-velocity environment going through an extensive deregulation process, is put under the magnifying glass. Japanese telecom giant NTT Group is compared to its German counterpart Deutsche Telekom. Potential antecedent factors in the strategic decision-making process to consistency are studied. It is also examined whether there is a direct interplay between consistency and economic performance.

Yesterdays common fertilizing strategy was to apply phosphor (P) and potassium (K) in thefall a few times in the crop rotation. In the spring only nitrogen (N) was applied. Recent trialsand studies has shown that this strategy, N+P/PK, is ineffective compared with the systemwhere NPK is spread every year in the spring. The strategy with annual NPK-fertilizer in thespring has proven to be better for the crop, the environment and the farmers economy.In the NPK-system the crop responds with higher yields and better quality, especially in thespring cereals. This is mainly because of an interaction between the different nutrients in thefertilizer.

Liljedal Communication AB is a marketing company with twelve employees in Örebro. In the marketing business is it extra important to work creatively to reach the target market with a message.Creativity is defined as the creation of new ideas where the idea is adequate, useful and feasible. Organisational creativity is created by individuals in the right environment for using their creativity. In this paper we present theories about creative individuals and the situation that affects their creativity. Furthermore theories are presented about different strategies that aim to increase creativity.

The BSC is a widely used management tool that is turning the vision and strategy into operational goals. However, after analyzing the criticism received by the BSC, it seems as if its internal focus, rigidity, static-ism and mechanical mindset limits the company?s ability to create a strategy that takes important external factors into account. As we see it, the BSC?s limitations can create a risk for strategic inertia.

ABSTRACTBachelor essay in political science by Hanna Richter, spring 2006Supervisor: Mats LindbergTitle: A study of the phenomenon of micronationsThe purpose of this essay is to study the phenomenon of ?micronations?, to describe it to the reader and to discuss why this phenomenon is interesting to study in the field of political science. The questions this essay seeks to answer are:- What are micronations, and which variations are to be found within the phenomenon?- Why are micronations interesting to study in the field of political science?Bary Buzans theory of the nature of the state works as a frame of reference to this investigation of micro ?state-like? units. The phenomenon of micronations has not been investigated by the social sciences in any extent worth mentioning yet.

When a country faces a decline in business activity, companies have to struggle to gain external capital. It is even more important for small enterprises to get capital, as they normally do not have enough collateral to receive traditional bank loans. In Bangladesh, Grameen Bank started with micro credit programs in the early 90?s, that included small capital loans and leasing of machines. Nowadays these micro credit programs have developed to function even in industrialized countries.

Background: Balanced scorecard is a relatively new strategy in analysing activities in a company. To carry out a strategy in an organization a successful implementation is very important. Strategy implementations are unique for each organization and to succeed it has to be formulated and implemented with the individual companies particular conditions as starting- point. A problem is that the implementation sometimes is treated as a small detail in the planning process. This problem depends on how the strategic plans is carried out.

The failure of Structural Adjustment Programs and its neoliberal policies to effectively reduce poverty have led to the creation of Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) by The World Bank and International Monetary Fund. PRSP, connected to both the Comprehensive Development Strategy and the HIPC initiative, are built on the notion of national ownership and stakeholder participation and thereby expand potential conditionality to include matters of governance. This thesis examines the evolution of PRSP and how the process of participation affects national governance structures. By analyzing the role of rules and norms within the World Bank and IMF from a historical point of view the thesis explains why the participation process has developed the way it has. It concludes that neoliberal norms, still at heart within the World Bank and IMF, have an impact on the process of participation within nation states and thereby its governance structure.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva och analysera hur två olika organisationer arbetar med strategisk HRM vid högkonjunktur respektive lågkonjunktur.Metod: För att besvara studiens syfte har vi valt att tillämpa en kvalitativ undersökningsmetod. I studien har både primärdata det vill säga intervjuer samt sekundärdata i form av årsredovisningar, årsöversikt, hållbarhetsredovisning och hemsidor använts.Slutsatser: Den första slutsatsen i denna studie är att Coca-Cola Drycker Sverige AB och TV4 AB ser på HRM som mycket betydelsefullt och att medarbetarna är en central tillgång som kan utgöra en konkurrensfördel. Den andra slutsatsen är att Coca-Cola Drycker Sverige AB inte använder olika HR-strategier vid olika konjunkturer. Emellertid upplever vi att de gör små förändringar i sitt HR-arbete i olika konjunkturer men att de ständigt följer de övergripande HR-strategierna. TV4 AB arbetar på olika sätt med HRM vid olika konjunkturer.