This thesis attempts to clarify the impact of cultural differenceson customer expectations of service level. Furthermore, wewant to determine whether or not expectations of service differenough to be quantifiable between two countries, Sweden andthe US, mostly regarded as similar in business practices. The conclusion showed that higher ratings on four of Hofstede?s five cultural indexes were associated with higher customer service expectations overall, and in all four SERVQUAL dimensions. This research contributes to retail internationalization and customer expectations theory.

This report is the result of a thesis work carried out on the Risifrutti production at the company Procordia Food AB. The thesis is at a master level and is the final work for the author to receive a Master of Science in Innovative production at Mälardalen University. The thesis comprises 30 credits and has lasted for 18 weeks. The thesis is mainly a research on whether it is possible to perform an Environmental Value Stream Map (E-VSM) in a food processing industry and an evaluation if the tools E-VSM and Green Performance Map (GPM) are useful in this type of industry. An extra part to this research is to use the results from the E-VSM and give Procordia Food AB information on improvement potentials in the Risifrutti production. The author has found it difficult to collect some of the quantitative data to the E-VSM, mainly regarding energy, but by using the Value Stream Mapping (VSM) tool and other Lean tools the author was able to identify and quantify several wastes in the Risifrutti production. Recommendations for improvements based on these wastes have been given to the company. In the research part of this report the utility of the Value Stream Map, Environmental Value Stream Map and Green Performance Map in a food processing industry have been analyzed. The author has found that the Value Stream Map has been a useful tool since waste and unevenness in the tact of the production has been identified. The Environmental Value Stream Map and the Green Performance Map are also great tools when a company wants to analyze their environmental impact and then invest in environmental improvements. However, no profound energy analyzes has been done in the Risifrutti production because of the lack of energy meters for steam, electricity and compressed air in the production lines..

Thesis purpose: The aim of this paper is to extend the knowledge of what influences the purchase decision of functional food in the store. By applying the M-R model in a new setting - the dairy department in grocery retailing in Sweden - and adding variables related to health attitudes, the aim is to contribute to existing research concerning in-store purchase decision making and store environment as well as consumer attitudes. Methodology: This thesis employs a quantitative strategy with a deductive approach and data has been collected with questionnaires. Theoretical perspective: Environmental psychology serves as an overarching framework where, more specifically, certain aspects of store atmospherics and some variables concomitant to health attitudes provide the theoretical base. Empirical data: The empirical data consists of customer purchasing a functional food product, Proviva, and this is contrasted with a test group, Bravo.

The Swedish consumer electronic industry has recently experienced an increasingly intensive price war. The price war has forced some operators in the business to declare bankruptcy, as the only way to compete has been by driving down prices. A challenge that retail chains in the consumer electronics industry is facing is to increase their margins. If store personnel can success with upselling, the companies will increase their profits. The purpose of this paper is to examine if the sales people in the consumer electronic industry can influence the customer to buy a more expensive product and what the effects the upselling has on the customers' attitudes.

This study is about how a swedish brand within the food industry that experiences a crisis following a product failure. It focuses on three areas following the crisis and these are crisis management, recovery strategies and brand management. This study seeks to explain how these areas interact in relation to massive exposure to mass media and how they interact restore the brand's potential loss of reputation. This study was conducted as a case study with a deductive and qualitative approach. The data gathered to this study was mainly based on newspaper articles and complemented with semi-structured interviews with twelve local retailers of the brand..

The food prices in Finland and Sweden have been a subject for discussion for several years back in time. From the opponents against further European integration one have often heard that the EU and EMU entrance have made an negative impact on the food prices. This study show us that the impactof the entrances was extensive in the short run but rather finite and insignificant in the long run.Other important factors that describe why food prices fluctuate is also discussed. The mainconclusion is that other factors than the EU and EMU entrance should be seen as more likely whenit comes to the development of food prices. The essay is principally based on quantitative statistics of food prices, analysed in the light of economic theory..

In this thesis, the flows of reactive nitrogen (Nr) in Scania were investigated and quantified. The thesis was also intended to form a basis for comparison between the urban nitrogen flow and other flows of nitrogen within Scania. The management of nitrogen in society has disturbed the natural nitrogen cycle. This is linked to a series of environmental problems such as eutrophication, acidification, global warming and smog. The method used was Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) for Nr. For calculation and flow charts Scania was divided into three subsystems; air, water and society.

Background: With the increased globalization food prices went down for a while, only to skyrocket to new levels. Prices of organic food, which already were more expensive than conventional, are now even more expensive. The current financial crisis results in reduced consumption which creates a threat to the smaller grocery stores. Globalization and the increased competition have had a negative impact on the environment but at the same time the desire to solve these issues has increased appreciably. The environmental aspect has been given higher priority by the individual, which led to a wider range of organic products and dramatically increased the number of stores selling organic products, leading to a greater competition among the stores selling organic food.  Problem definition: What factors are important for organic retail business long term survival?Purpose: Trough case studies analyze and evaluate the organic niche retail companies? strategies of marketing.Methods: This study is based on both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

In light of the recent scandals in Europe involving food labelling, this study will be focusing on food labelling. This study?s purpose is to investigate the extent of knowledge concerning labeling and presentation of food in the different food stores in Halmstad.The study was conducted out of our own interests with the guidance from the environmental health office. The study included nine different food stores of different size. The focus in this study was to verify how well five selected products follow the labeling rules.

The vegetable production in Sweden is concentrated to the very southern parts of the country. This is also were the major wholesalers are located. In recent years, there has been an extreme focus on price on the food market. As there are only a few big wholesalers and also very few food retail chains, these have a great impact on the producers. The pressure from prominent vegetable-producing countries, providing low price products, such as the Netherlands and Spain is strong.

The food industry is one of the fastest growing industries in Swedish e-commerce today. However, e-commerce still represents a very small part of the total food sales in Sweden. Experts have noted that, in order for e-commerce to expand in this field, Internet food sales must increase.The aim of this study is to form an understanding of why Swedes do not purchase more food products online. The theoretical framework consists of various marketing theories concerning consumer behavior and the acceptance of new innovations. The methodology used for the purpose of this study has a qualitative approach and in order to answer the questions at hand two focus groups were assembled.

Background: Pesticides in conventional food may be related to morbidity and mortality. Furthermore pesticides have a negative impact on the whole ecosystem. Organic food can presume better health as they contain less chemicals and toxins and contribute to sustainable development efforts.Objective: The aim was to examine what attitudes consumers have regarding to purchase organic fruit, vegetables and root vegetables.Methods: The association between consumers? views on conventional food and organic food was investigated using questionnaire given to a population sample of men and women aged by 23-65 (N=60) in grocery stores and in a fitness center. The study was based on a cross-sectional study in a municipality in central Sweden.Results: Consumers were interested to buy organic food.

The process of food production has changed dramatically over the past one hundred years. Industrialization has led to large units of production, manufacturing, distribution, marketing and retail business. The final food product, in this system, is quite often fairly anonymous and the consumer will most likely know very little concerning the origin of the product. In recent years, the market for locally produced food has grown. There is an increasing interest in and demand for locally produced food items.

The Purpose of this study was to examine what knowledge and which attitudes there are about environmental friendly food in the society. To do so an essay were constructed and distributed to five different working places. Altogether there were 50 essays distributed and 43 were returned. The main result; the respondents think that it is important for people to learn how to consume food in a more environmentally friendly way. The majority of the respondents recognized the eco-label KRAV but the European eco-label and Demeter were not recognized in a less extent.

The cat has evolutionary become an obligate carnivore. Today it is common to feed the cat a dry food. Studies have shown that the dry formula can have negative consequences for the cat. A literature study where conducted to investigate whether the cats origin makes it incapable to compensate for the changes a dry food entails. The impact and implications regarding water intake, energy intake and blood glucose concentration when feeding the cat dry food where examined.