Many companies choose to market their products and brands with help from celebrities. This is not a new phenomenon, though, this strategy is something that we consumers start to get used to and the risk that the consumer unconsciously unselects the message grows. A recently much-disputed theory is the use of incongruent marketing. This means that companies uses a marketing message with the objective to not match the consumer?s expectations.

This paper quantitatively examines the effects of marketing brands within the same product category and the same brand portfolio jointly. We have chosen to call this type of marketing category advertising. The results of the study show that category advertising leads to increased brand awareness within the category, which is particularly important for brands within less salient subcategories. For strong brands however, category advertising leads to lower purchase intentions, an effect which could potentially be moderated by focusing the advertisement on the complementary nature of the products combined with promotional elements. The study also shows that there is no difference between advertising products jointly and separately when it comes to brand attitude, category attitude, typicality, brand purchase intention for weak brands and category purchase intention.

Social media has become an important marketing and communication tool worldwide, mostly through the largest social platforms Facebook and Twitter. With two-way communication via Internet companies has gotten the opportunity to interact and communicate directly with their customers. Facebook has been the focus point through the study because it has shown to be the most efficient and frequently used platform for communication. Our study aimed to confirm how communication via social media actually looks like. To be able to reach the best results, we have conducted the study from a phenomenological approach, which means; usage of qualitative semi-structured interviews to reflect the respondents experience on the phenomenon social media as a communication tool. Social media has shown to be a great way of communicating externally for companies who are willing to spend time engaging in the platform.

Abstract                ?Due diligence - A resource demanding process?Date:                     June 8th 2012Level:                    Master thesis in business economics, 15 ECTSInstitution:           School of Sustainable development of society and technology, Mälardalen UniversityAuthors:                Erdinc Kirik                                  Pär Matsson                               11th January 1987                      31th May 1985Title:                      Due diligence - A resource demanding processTutor:                     Staffan BoströmKeywords:             Due diligence, the acquisition process, acquisitions, business valuationResearchquestions:              What are the main factors that Bank X, Nordea and Almi is focused on an examination of a due diligence for an acquisition, focusing on private limited companies?Does the approach between the various banks and Almi differ?Purpose:                The purpose of this paper is to create a checklist for private limited companies to use in the context of application for fundingMethod:                 The study was based on a qualitative study, based on primary data in terms of interviews in the subject of due diligence. Secondary data used in the study consisted of relevant literature and scientific articles.Conclusion:            The study showed that the respondents in general focuses on the same areas within Due diligence. The most important point which the respondents agreed on was profitability and repayment capacity. In overall, all elements in a Due diligence process that has an impact on profitability is important to examine.

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.

CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility, has become increasingly important in a globalised world where the responsibilities of companies and governments are somewhat blurry. The textile industry is an industry where long supply chains and raw material production in developing countries are factors adding to the complexity and difficulties of solving ethical issues. Cotton production faces many environmental, social and financial challenges in the value chain. Therefore this case study takes a closer look at five Nordic home textile companies, Ikea, Hemtex, S Group, Moko and Finlayson, and how these companies choose their cotton related CSR tools and communicate their work on this area. These companies are of various sizes and therefore the resources for CSR work are also different, as well as the perceived values for working with CSR.

This report is about logistic efficiency in companies without own production. The authors have interviewed employees working at two companies, Telias store in Skärholmen and Orion Diagnostica AB. The purpose of the report is to find out which logistic functions the two companies are using to create efficiency.Today?s markets are more global. Different parts of a product can be made in different parts of the world.

This thesis treats how accountancy companies works to maintain customer relations. This is getting more important in the accounting business because there are several inner and outer factors available that may affect customer relations in this business area. The main question with the thesis is: How works accountancy companies with keeping customers?The purpose with the research was to investigate and identify which inner and outer factors that may be important from a company perspective to keep customers. Another purpose was to investigate if there existed any differences between the companies in how they are handling different factors like for example a law change and how it could affect customer relations.

As companies exert themselves to find new ways of achieving market dominance and stronger brands, the phenomenon co-branding has become increasingly popular. By cooperation between two different firms the combined effects can result in synergies not only on the balance sheet, but even through softer values such as Brand recognition, equity and larger market share. Recently the fashion company H&M launched a collection together with the esteemed fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. The objective of this paper is to examine the effects the collaboration had on consumer?s attitudes towards the two brands.

This thesis aims to examine problems that occur when determining the fair value of investment properties. It also takes into consideration the reliability and relevance of the reported fair values on behalf of the key stakeholders. The study has been conducted by interviewing representatives at real estate and external valuation companies. The study shows that there is a need for assessments in the valuation process and that real estate companies have room for their own interpretations. The conclusion is that determining fair value is an estimate, not a fact.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to adjusting corporate goals so that they are not only based on maximizing corporate profits, but include ethical standards on socially desirable behavior (Boatright, 2008). Even though many companies have integrated CSR into their business operations, there are still many issues that are difficult to tackle. Especially Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in the global business environment face many challenging situations due to the fact that they often have linkages to countries where the local government is either unwilling or unable to take care of its responsibilities. MNCs often find themselves with increased responsibilities when they start solving some of the issues that earlier have been the sole responsibility of states. A specific case situation discussed in this paper is related to ?conflict minerals?.

Objective: The objective is to examine if long terms of payment are created because of a perceived zero-sum game in the cash-to-cash cycles between companies. The study will also examine if dependence effects the dependent companies Cash-to-Cash-cycle because of long terms of payment. Scientific method: The study uses a qualitative and a quantitative method, where primary data is collected from semi-structured interviews. Additional primary data is collected from an unstructured interview with an expert in the field of which is examined. Additional data has been collected from the studied companies? annual reports.Theoretical references: The primary theory has been Game theory, where the researchers have used this theory to analyze the behaviors of the companies.

Introduction: The auditor's going-concern warnings express the quality assurance of information and if these are wrongly based, the stakeholders become deluded. Previous research has shown that auditors do not have any major difficulties in identifying companies that are financially distressed to the extent that they risk receiving a going-concern warning. International studies on the determinants of going-concern warnings have instead focused primarily on the auditor's decision regarding companies that are already in bad shape financially. Auditor grounds for issuing a going concern warning may be linked to factors related to the client, the auditor, the audit firm, the relationship between the client and the auditor and the environment. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to find out what specific factors that affect the auditor issuing going concern warnings for financially distressed companies.

To be able to protect themselves from credit risk, the banks must constantly check the performance of  the companies they have lent money to. There are many mathematical models for predicting financial distress. These models use accounting-based ratios, which often are historical and not representative for the present situation. This study describes how the banks do in practice to find signals of insolvency in time and the variables they are observing for doing that.In addition to financial reports which the company sends in to the bank at least once a year, also the relationship between them and information from different information  agencies are of great importance to track  signals of insolvency. Poor profitability is the primary cause of insolvency.

This paper is about how the perception of knowledge and examinations differs in two different countries, Sweden and Kenya. The purpose of the paper is to examine similarities and differences in the two countries school systems, and to study the teachers? role in students? development. In the literature study I find out what different authors explains different types of knowledge and how important the teachers? role is for students? development.