Foreign invested SMEs have recently become increasingly interested in China. The enterprises are in this report categorized as second wave companies since they follow the footsteps of previous pioneers, of which mostly were larger companies. The ambitions of the SMEs are either to sell products on the ever expanding Chinese market or to utilize the potential of low cost production for global markets. The existing literature is fragmented and solely based on the experience of larger companies. We believe that SMEs are facing new and different challenges, and thus a new generic theoretical frame work is desirable.

AbstractCompanies in the Swedish process industry has for a long time spent a lot of capital in high-tech development, which have given them increased ability to compete with high quality and excellent technical knowledge, which has given them greater opportunities to grow on the market. But it?s not enough to achieve success with new products and service; it must also be consistent what market wants and preferably something exceptional. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that are predominantly success factors and how they may affect the sales target of a new product, in this case Frövi White. Another objective of the study was to examine how Korsnäs Frövi communicates and transforms information as requests and demands from customers into refined material. To obtain relevant information to the study several interviews with respondents from most of the value chain in Korsnäs Frövi has been carry out.

The aim of this study is to analyse how female neopagan practitioners form their identitiesindividually as well as collectively. Using Ernesto Laclau?s and Chantal Mouffe?s discourse theory and Anthony Giddens? descriptions of late modernity and self-identity, I intend toinvestigate my informants? construction and upholding of a meaningful identity and sense ofself. I will also look at how the neopagan movement can be viewed as a phenomenon closely interwoven with the overriding tendencies in our contemporary society. Neopaganism is an umbrella term that is used to describe a number of modern nature religions that take their inspiration from pre-Christian traditions.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how investments are justified in the Swedish data center industry, with a focus on cooling equipment. This is achieved through semi-structured interviews with 20 different interviewees. These interviewees represent different facets of the industry and facilitate an understanding of which factors, such as: investment costs, operating costs, reliability, environmental impact and the influence of external and internal actors, come into play and to which degree they impact the investment decision-making process. The results show that primarily low operating cost in the form of low energy consumption is the driving factor when it comes to the procurement of new equipment. A lower environmental impact is a positive side-effect of lower energy consumption.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the view on the personal encounter between staff and visitors in public libraries in order to detect possible differences between the two groups in order to see if the personal encounter as such could be used in order to market libraries. We believe that social competence must interact with the initial personal encounter in order for the visitor to experience the visit as positive. We have based the theoretical framework on Erving Goffman?s theory on social interaction, as well as on Christian Grönroos? theory on quality of service and marketing. We use the following questions: How do library staff view the personal encounter? How do library visitors view the personal encounter? How does the library staff?s treatment affect the visitor?s view of the library?Are there any differences in view between visitors and staff concerning the personal encounter? If so, what kind of differences are they? Using qualitative interviews, we have interviewed nine visitors and six staff members at two public libraries.

Many companies are presently investing in different types of environmental strategies, and it is varying to what level they channel their resources to environmental efforts. It is also diverging to what extent organizations effort to profile themselves as environmentally conscious. This can be due to difficulties in reaching out to customers and to finding the most efficient method of green marketing communication. The aim of this study is to analyse how an insurance company more actively can communicate environmental matters foremost in their contact with customers. One can in different mediums daily follow debates and discussions concerning the environment. Many insurance companies have also identified their role in performing green work.

Denna uppsats är en pilotstudie för Regionförbundet Östsam. Den syftar till att kritisera och testa en metod som behandlar serviceutbudet i tätorter inom Fjärde storstadsregionen. Denna metod bygger på att kartlägga utbudet, vikta detta enligt en poängmodell och sedan analysera resultatet och söka skapa en ortsklassificering. Metoden är tänkt vara ett verktyg i modern regionalplanering och kunna förbättra serviceutbudet i regionen. I studien har svensk regionalpolitiskt historia, centralorts- och nätverksteori använts för att visa på hur modern regionalplanering söker skapa samarbeten utifrån funktionella omland och inte genom administrativa områden.Det studien visar är att metoden står i förhållande till den politik som förs av dess användare.

Med en stor central hall på över fyra våningar skiljer sig byggnaden från det klassiska konstmuseet. Rummet ger med sina vita betongväggar och massiva skala inte bara plats åt konsten, utan förstärker den också. Det diffusa ljuset från takfönstret ger en sakral stämning och hallen kan hålla allt från en enskild tavla till enorma statyer, men också filmvisningar och teater. Samtidigt finns möjligheter till mer traditionella utställningar i de mindre omgivande hallarna. I övrigt finns möjlighet till föreläsningar och undervisning i anslutning till entrén och shoppen.     Byggnaden är också mer än bara en konsthall för Uppsala och årummet.

Background: As Porter?s diamond (1990) suggested, the business environment highly influences firms? strategies. Today, most of the companies have to decide their strategy depending from a worldwide business environment. Yet, strategy researches and the growing importance of marketing for business success also show that customer dimension must be taken into consideration. On some markets and in certain industries, the offer is much higher than the demand and then, companies need to attract customers.

I denna uppsats har jag jämfört mottagandet i dagspressen av Agnes von Krusenstjernas roman Kvinnogatan och Karin Boyes roman Astarte. Syftet med uppsatsen var att analysera och jämföra hur två romaner av författarinnor som är kända för sina moderna och progressiva verk togs emot av en framförallt manlig kritikerkår. För att kunna göra det använde jag två teorier. Den ena är utformad av Gunilla Domellöf och tittar på hur kritiker, framförallt manliga, i allmänhet tog emot kvinnliga författare under det tidiga 1930-talet. Den andra, utformad av Tomas Forser, utgår istället från kritikern och handlar om kritikerns uppgift.

Title: Competition for small audit firms ? a qualitative study on possible competitive strategies and how the upcoming changes will influence competition on the audit market    Subject: Auditing Tutor: Margareta Paulsson  Authors: Per Dahlström and Martin Holmberg Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding how smaller auditing firms use competitive strategies and why. The result aims to work as a support for owners and leaders of audit firms as they make decisions of how to compete in the future. We would also like to explore how smaller audit firms view the change of the mandatory audit, that is, our intentions are also to examine how they think the consequences on the market will be and their view on its affect on the competition of the market.    Methodology: Our methodological approach was characterized by a hermeneutic approach in order to explain and understand why the smaller audit firms do what they do. Our approach is a combination of inductive and deductive as it allows us to develop an understanding of the subject, then gather our empirical data and from that draw valid conclusions.

Aim of the thesis: The aim of this thesis is to describe and gain a deeper understanding of how companies use communication as a tool to overcome the gap between the company and the consumer. The aim is also to clarify some of the factors contributing to this gap.Method:  This thesis has been made from a qualitative approach with quantitative influences. The qualitative primary data collection was gathered through six in-depth interviews with companies in Gothenburg either selling organic and fair-trade produced clothes or marketing towards sustainable consumption. The quantitative part consists of a consumer questionnaire given to 100 women in the inner city of Gothenburg.  Frame of references: Related researches within the field of the subject are presented in the beginning of this chapter. Further theories presented are the consumer?s awareness and the consumer´s responsiveness to CSR.

Syftet med föreliggande uppsats är att definiera begreppet fransk flöjtestetik. Arbetet berör hur den tradition som förknippas med Conservatoire de Paris har vuxit fram och hur den hållits vid liv. Arbetet innefattar några av de mer kända flöjtister som verkade vid Conservatoire de Paris och vilken influens de hade på musiklivet i Frankrike under 1800-talet. Flöjtens utveckling under 1700 och 1800-talet täcks även in och visar vilka följder det kan ha haft på de rådande flöjtistiska ideal. Den konstnärliga delen i arbetet inbegriper jämförelse mellan två olika klangliga ideal och vilken effekt det kan ha på musiken.

På en alltmer konkurrensutsatt marknad har det blivit viktigare för företag att aktivt arbeta med att värna om kundrelationer. Ett vanligt sätt att arbeta med att värna om befintliga kunder och locka nya är genom lojalitetsprogram. Dessa ämnar uppmuntra till återkommande köp genom att erbjuda kunder olika typer av förmåner för att de är kunder hos företaget. Inom cafébranschen används dessa i olika utsträckning då vissa cafékedjor använder dessa och andra inte gör det. Idag ställer konsumenter höga krav på att företag ska arbeta med hållbarhetsfrågor. Därmed är det viktigt för företag som arbetar med detta att kommunicera ut det på lämpligt sätt.

Consumers are facing a wide selection of brands trying to get their attention. An increasing amount of corporations are incorporating non-traditional media in their marketing strategies as an attempt to build relationships with their customers. However, along with the new opportunities to enhance consumer emotions about the brand, social media has brought along new risks for corporations to face. This paper investigates the consequences of different ways of handling such electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) crisis on Twitter. Furthermore, we investigate potential differences depending on the credibility of the source that sent the message.