Marketing research has acknowledged the concept of authenticity. It is argued that consumers in modern society increasingly search for something real, in contrast to what they perceive as mediated and distorted. Producers of regional food brands has acknowledged this trend, and started to market their products as being authentic. Given the potential practical and theoretical contributions in studying the concept of authenticity in this context, this study aims to explore how consumers perceive these claims of authenticity. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to extend knowledge on how consumers come to perceive a regional food brand as authentic.

Social media has made it possible to have a conversation in real time through audio, images and text, with anyone worldwide. The easy availability of social media has created a new society. Companies and organizations have the opportunity to interact with their audiences and their target in a way not previously possible. Welcome to the Web 2.0 world!Social media is a collective name for the communication channels that allow users to communicate directly with each other in real time through text, image or sound. Examples of social media are blogs, SMS, Skype, Facebook, Flickr, Youtube, Linkedin and Myspace.The purpose of this essay is to explore social media's role and opportunities in terms of being able to influence companies and organizations marketing communication. We have used a qualitative approach and our thesis is based on a qualitative text analysis study where we have analyzed 13 articles (the articles are from scholarly journals, magazines and trade/professional) from 2007 to 2009.

Bakgrund: Information har länge varit en viktig resurs för företagen och Business Intelligence har gjort det möjligt för dem att analysera stora mängder data. En annan resurs som företagen värdesätter är tid och på senare år har tekniken möjliggjort att BI-systemen inte bara kan hantera stor mängder data utan även göra det på kort tid, eller i realtid.Frågeställning: Vad räknas in i begreppet realtids BI?Kan realtids BI användas för att skapa tidsbaserade konkurrensfördelar?Syfte: Kartlägga begreppet Realtids BI samt identifiera möjliga användningsområden för denna inom den tidsbaserade konkurrensteorin.Metod: Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ metod där vi intervjuat konsulter och leverantörer inom Business Intelligence.Resultat och slutsatser: Studien visar att det inte finns någon klar definition av realtids BI, men två huvudspår har identifierats. (1) Realtidsanalys med innebörden att data finns tillgänglig för analys när användaren så kräver, samt (2) att realtidsdata uppdateras i nära realtid, vilket kan variera från några sekunder upp till ett par timmar.Dessa två spår inom realtids BI finner användningsområde inom olika områden av den tidsbaserade konkurrensteorin. Realtidsanalys kan användas för att uppnå den externa tidsprestationen i det att företaget snabbare kan identifiera rådande marknadstrender och har då möjligheten att snabbare uppdatera sitt produktutbud.

This report presents an investment calculation based on an assumed initial investment of a new saw line to an existing sawmill. In order to get as close to reality as possible, we have received data material from northern forest owners who recently made an initial investment in their sawmill in Kåge. In order to calculate and evaluate investments are several different methods, but we, we have chosen to use the discounted cash flow method. The method sums up with the help of a fixed cost of capital together with any future costs and revenues, thereby giving a present value of the investment. We also do a sensitivity analysis to examine how selected factors affect the investment research they change. The study is carried out to a fictitious investment, and therefore the result should not only be studied as a result of the figures. The purpose of this study was that with the help of an investment calculation studying the profitability of a hypothetical investment, and by means of a sensitivity analysis to study the sensitivity of investment to changes. The result demonstrates that the calculations according to the present value method requires a lot of information of the prospective investment.

Shell companies are characterized by containing liquid assets such as cash, securities or other similar assets. Transactions of shell companies constitutes a severe problem since the purchaser often has the aim of obtaining undue tax advantages by not paying the tax debt of the company.Historically it has been complicated for the legislator to stop the set-up in an efficient way since the transactions as such are not illegal, instead rather commonly used for example to restructure companies or for the transfer of companies to the younger generation. The purpose of the current legislation is to prevent individuals and corporations to involve in shell company trade. Aiming for an efficient legislation, the tax rate is at a very high level.The issue with the rules is that also honest buyers are at risk of being covered. This calls for high demands in complying with the principle of legal certainty and the possibility to forecast the tax consequences.The purpose of the thesis is to identify and analyze eventual problems when applying the legislation.

The purpose of this essay is to examine if the municipality has a real freedom of action to control the use of the land and the shaping of the buildings in a large and prestigious building project.In Karlstad there is now (2006) a large building project in form of a shopping mall. This project is in its final stage of completion and offers me a suitable case to examine. To undertake the purpose of the essay, the following research question is formulated:Do the municipality have a real freedom of action to control the use of the land and the shaping of the buildings in a large and prestigious building project as the Mitt I City project?In an attempt to examine the project and the planning process, three themes are applied. The first theme derives from the hypothesis that the part that initiate the process gets the upper hand as future discussions are taking place in relation to the original ideas.

A great amount of todays drivers? are constantly exceeding the speed limits on the roads. As a consequense of this, a large number of speed redusing devises, for example speed bumps, has been built around the country. As reports in local medias point out, the acceptance for these types of speed reducing devises, differs and there are many thoughts about location, construction and effect on the traffic safety. This paper approaches the complexity of these problems from the drivers? point of view, based on literature studies and a questionnaire. The goal is not to argue for or against speed reducing devises, but to try to find the source of annoyment and how to proceed further. Some of the problems turned out to be easy to fix, for example porly marked speed bumps.

Certification systems, that assess companies? work with social and environmental issues, have emerged in an increasing number of industries. Today, there are environmental certifications for the food industry, the forestry, the fisheries sector and several more. In apparel industry, certification for sustainable working conditions has been of major impact. The property sector is no exception from other industries.

The aim of this essay is to study the decision making process and implementation of the principle of political participation and influence for Roma minority in Sweden. The results regarding the decision making process is structured through a discourse influenced policy analyses. Problem picture and recommended measures in the political documents representing the decision making process are analysed through theories of minority rights and equality. The implementation is seen through, by the author given minority discourse and the work in the roma council and analysed by the same theories already mentioned.The results show that regarding the decision process the aim of art.15 in the framework convention is based on the idea of equality while the Swedish documents relates more to an idea of the right to speak for the group. Regarding recommended measures, the framework convention gives several recommendations on specific measures for political participation while the Swedish documents focuses on the general politics of the state.

Introduktion/Problembakgrund: Earnings management (EM) är ett problem för både det enskilda företaget och samhället. EM innebär att företagsledningen manipulerar resultatet i syfte att vilseleda externa intressenter. Konsekvenserna av EM är ett minskat förtroende för den finansiella rapporteringen, vilket resulterar i en ineffektiv kapitalallokering. Tidigare studier i Nya Zeeland har konstaterat att sammansättningen av fastighetsportföljen påverkar benägenheten till EM. Däremot går resultatet inte att generalisera i andra länder, eftersom det finns skillnader i lagstiftningen.

The purpose of this thesis is to through the analysis of interviews with finance professionals in listed companies answer the question on what lies behind capital structure decisions, and to see how well the prevailing theories fit the answers. This article is an explorative and descriptive hypothesis creating study. We have used a qualitative method to analyse practice through theory. We have conducted telephone interviews with CFO:s and financial executives in Swedish listed companies on how they reason when they make capital structure decisions. We have then thoroughly reviewed the theory and empirical tests of the theories.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka sambandet mellan rörelsekapital och   lönsamhet för företag i olika storleksklasser på svenska maskintillverkande företag.Metod: Studien baseras på en kvantitativ metod för att undersöka rörelsekapitalets samband med lönsamheten. Datan som användes i studien hämtades från retriever business och uträkningarna gjordes i Microsoft Office Excel. Variablerna storlek på företag, utvecklingsfas och rörelsekapitalspolicy användes för att kategorisera datan i flertalet tester.Teori: Studiens rörelsekapitalsmått var kassacykeln och lönsamhetsmåttet var bruttovinstmarginalen.Resultat: Studiens resultat visade att det inte fanns något samband mellan rörelsekapital och lönsamhet i 13 av de 24 undersökningarna.Slutsats: Studiens slutsats är att sambandet mellan rörelsekapital och lönsamhet skiljer sig åt hos företag i olika storleksklasser på svenska maskintillverkande företag..

Sedan införandet av euro som gemensam valuta har interna obalanser inom euroområdet växt sig starkare till följd av reala apprecieringar i speciellt Portugal, Irland, Italien, Grekland och Spanien. Detta har lett till att ländernas internationella konkurrenskraft försvagats. För att få bukt med de interna obalanserna krävs det att länderna återfår sin internationella konkurrenskraft, deras varor måste bli billigare i jämförelse med deras handelspartner. Detta kan komma till stånd genom reala deprecieringar. Hösten 2008 drabbades världen av den djupaste ekonomiska nedgången sedan andra världskriget, något som förvärrade situationen för de krisande euroländerna.Uppsatsen belyser de interna obalanserna inom euroområdet och diskuterar teoretiskt på vilka sätt länderna kan få stånd till reala deprecieringar när det inte finns någon växelkurs att ändra mot de andra euroländerna.

This thesis aims to study brand change, which can be of interest since a brand during its lifetime can be expected to meet a lifecycle consisting of five phases; innovation, introduction, growth, maturity and recession. In order to avoid the recession phase and the sales decline that follows there is a need for a change of the brand.In order to study brand change, theoretical framework is compared to two real world cases that have gone through an active change.The conceptions of positioning, repositioning and revitalization are clarified. Positioning deals with how brands are located in customer?s minds as well as on the real market. Repositioning implies a change of the current position and is also often a move towards a new market segment.

Tourism is often being viewed as one of the worlds largest sectors and a great contribution to growth and development. There is a large motivation amongst developing countries to promote themselves as a tourist destination, since they expect the tourism to generate economic growth. The government of Thailand has been promoting tourism since 1960, and the number of foreign visitors has increased from 100 000 back then to 13.5 million in 2006. The purpose of this paper was to investigate weather the increasing tourism industry in Thailand has pulled resources away from other sectors of the economy towards the tourism sector, and in that way harming Thailand?s international competitiveness and causing deindustrialization.