In order to stay competitive and to be the first choice for customers in a world driven by a high level of competitive advantage, it is important for companies to stay ahead of the competition by conducting thorough market Research. Even if this tends to be the case, many products still fail when reaching the market, leaving companies with great losses. The reason for this could be that the development of existing Research methods has stagnated, or that they simply lack the ability to find the true answer as to what intentions underlie consumer?s decision making when shopping. Many believe that a new method is desired in order to get a better picture of what customers really think.

The essay discusses the effects that changes to the office plan have on organizational culture. Information about actual change as well as expected change in organizational culture was gathered before the empirical Research was initiated. The empirical Research was carried out at the Customer Logistics department at Ericsson through: an interview with a manager in charge of the relocation and design of the office, a manager for the specified department and also five employees of this department. The empirical studies show that there was a significant change in organizational culture and that results were not always as expected. There was a loss in symbolic actions, which needed to be compensated for, a perceived reduction in spontaneous communication, and a mixed response of perceived change in social interaction.

Capella and Jamiesons Research of how the media describes politics has shown that it is very often case of one of two scenarios: game frames; or issue frames. The central idea of this framing theory is that when politicians are described within game frames the disdain towards politicians is believed to increase. Capella and Jamieson have shown that, at least in the US, the use of game framing has increased. The Swedish Scholar Jesper Strömbäck has however, with his Research, shown that, despite the earlier theory of Capella and Jamieson, in Sweden the tendency is not so clearly demarcated. In fact he says that if anything, the tendency looks to be the antithesis.

Purpose: The purpose with our study is to accomplish a quantitative Research of all municipalities in Sweden and see why they apply Balanced Scorecard. The study will also investigate the spread of Balanced Scorecard, even the benefits and how they use it. Method: In our study we have chosen a quantitative Research. The study has been accomplished with a questionnaire survey which we sent to all of the Swedish municipalities. We have also done a literature study to get more knowledge about relevant theories. Finally we have compiled the questionnaire in Netigate and Excel, and analysed the result from the questionnaire. Results: Balanced Scorecard is well-known in the Swedish municipalities and 36 percent of the municipalities use this scorecard in whole or in parts of the organisation.

The overarching purpose of the study was to examine the effects of infant massage and to put these effects incontext with mother ? child attachment. The intention was also to study whether these effects have any relevancefor social work. This was accomplished by studying earlier Research, theory and laws but also through interviewswith mothers who have followed through a course in infant massage. The main questions of the study was: Afterthe completion of the course and after using the massage technique at home, does the mother experience that thebond with their child is influenced by the technique and are the mothers more apprehensive of their child?ssignals? Has the mothers observed any signals from their infants during the massage and if so what has beentheir reaction? Does the mothers experience that the massage has provided any physiological effects? Has thecompletion of the course provided the mothers with knowledge that?s had an effect in their ways of parenting? Inwhat way does the earlier Research, reports and laws deal with the benefits and risks of a secure or insecureattachment, and can the quality of the attachment have any meaning in the social work? A qualitative approachwas chosen with respondent-interviews.

Celebrities used in advertising has recently been something that consumers have come in contact with on a daily basis. Corporations use celebrities and their attributes as positive reinforcement and association towards the company or their marketed product.Through increased usage of media, the consumers to this advertising technique have been given an opportunity towards better insight into celebrities? daily life. People are not only receivers of advertising, they are also media producers for the medias agenda. This makes everyone significant in the distribution of advertising.

The purpose of this study has been to describe and analyze how former foster children experienced foster care which have been filled with maltreatment and neglect and how this has influenced their adult life when it comes to health, education and relationships. We also wanted to study how the former foster children coped with their placement. Furthermore we wanted to study whether there has been any turningpoints during their growth. Finally we wanted to describe how the former foster children experienced the authorities control. To make the purpose of this study complete we chose to use qualitative interviews with six former foster children as our Research method.

Background and problem:Theory and literature in the field of board recruitment are limited. The theory and literature that existed focused primarily on the recruitment of senior management and CEO. It was identified that no one had examined the factors that influence the recruitment of board members. The underlying factors might cause the board recruitment is not done from a purely efficiency perspective and therefore it is of interest to be examined.Purpose:The purpose of this thesis is to examine and give an insight into the underlying factors affecting the choice of new directors in large Swedish companies.Method:The thesis has had a deductive approach and been based on existing theory and literature to explain the factors that affect board recruitment. The study was quantitative and the sample consisted of all the major Swedish listed companies.Results and conclusions:The survey indicated that board members ethnicity and number of other board assignments were factors that influenced the board recruitment.

Purpose/aim: The purpose of this thesis is to examine if, and in that case how, the municipality of Umeå worked strategically with its communication during 2014 when Umeå was chosen as ?European Capital of Culture?. The Research is mainly focused on the outlines of their communication plan, main goals, what  communication strategies the municipality has chosen to and their choice of media channels.Material/method: Two methods are used for this Research; qualitative interviews with four employees within the communication team during Umeå2014 and a text analysis of three formal documents which provide the framework of communication policies and media strategies during Umeå2014.Results: The results clearly indicate a well structured, strategic planning outlined in the formal documents. The four people intreviewed all had a good knowledge of the policies and strategies in the documents, they also described their work in accordance with these..

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate whether a combination of product placement and traditional advertising can enhance the company's marketing. We perform this study because we believe that the consumers consider traditional marketing in many cases obsolete.TheoryThe study?s theory consists of topics and terms of product placement, traditional marketing, branding and communications. Theories used in this study were the basis to answer the study's Research question using empirical data gathered during the study.MethodThe study has a deductive approach with a qualitative focus, therefore, the study is based on existing Research, which was later to use for the data extracted from the interviews. The approach is going to show differences and similarities between how it looks in reality versus theory.ConclusionThe results of this study show that product placement can increase the efficiency of traditional marketing.

The aim of this study is to understand and describe school staff´s view on the legal obligation to report child maltreatment. With this approach I will get a better understanding how child maltreatment can be caught up in the Swedish community. Previous Research shows that school is one of the authorities who report most children to social services. Previous Research indicates that cooperation between school and social services reduces the time of the investigations, and gives a better understanding of what is to be reported. The result shows that a functional cooperation between school staff´s as well as between school and social services is important for children to be caught up in the community.

Introduction: A job interview is for both the candidate and the company involved, an importantsituation. It might be tempting for the candidate to adjust the answers to the job in question or what heor she thinks the recruiter wants to hear. This behaviour is a part of what socialpsychology would callimpression management. This term means that you try to control the impressions you send out andaccordingly adjust your behaviour for the current situation.Purpose: Candidates usage of impression management is a widely debated subject where theResearch mainly has focused on the candidates, their strategies and the efficiency of impressionmanagement. Our purpose with this thesis is therefore to see how recruiters experience candidatesimpression management in a job interview, how they handle it and what level of acceptance they havefor it.Theoretical perspectives: The theories and previous Research used as models for explanation andbasis for discussion is mainly Erving Goffman´s (1974) dramaturgical perspective and thoughts aboutimpression management and Mark R Leary´s (1995) theories concerning impression managementtactics.

It generally takes 10 to 12 years for a new drug to hit the market. The pharmaceutical industry invests huge sums in these early stages of Research and development. In spite of the rapidly rising Research and development expenditures fewer and fewer blockbuster drugs are being developed. Longer lead times and aggressive generic post-patent competition have narrowed the timeframe for the pharmaceutical companies to profit on their investments.In the face of these threats the pharmaceutical industry has developed a battery of strategies to prolong market exclusivity and to maximize return on investment. These emerging strategies are commonly known as Life cycle management (LCM), which actually is more of a concept than a method.

Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to study the interaction between seller and buyer in a mobile phone store. The specific Research questions under investigation are:Are there any underlying factors behind mobile purchase, and if so, what are they? Are mobile purchases driven by lifestyle factors and do customers try and create identities when purchasing new mobile phones?Material/Method: The study employs an ethnographic method when trying to answer the posed Research questions. I have under a period of two weeks studied the seller-buyer interaction in a mobile phone store. In order to further increase the accuracy of my findings, I have complemented my observations with a sample of buyer and seller interviews.Main results: The observations and interviews were initially studied in isolation, resulting in different themes.

The purpose behind our study was to analyze people who were born in the 1940s' reflections on life after the age of 60, as well as examining which strategies they had before retirement. The study built on the themes; leisure pursuit and social networks,retirement, life after the age of 60, the future care and the care needs and its mediums. These themes have also provided the base for our interview guide. In order to answer our aims and issues we chose to use a qualitative method. We have interviewed eight people born in the 1940s in order to provide a varied picture of their reflections and strategies for the future.