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.

Facebook has over 665 million users worldwide and has created a new venue for companies to interact with their stakeholders. However, since it is a new phenomenon it brings some uncertainty and confusion as how to manage the communication on Facebook, and it is only recently that research and literature has become available on this topic.The purpose of this study is to investigate how three chosen companies within the travel industry communicate on Facebook. We also compare the results to the existing literature to see how they can improve from a theoretical point of view. We thereby hope to shed a light on, and add knowledge to, a research area where we have identified weaknesses. In order to fulfill our purpose, we used a quantitative content analysis as well as qualitative interviews.The major findings in our study on Facebook communication include a lack of strategy and target audience awareness, as well as a self-centered communication.

This paper deals with the question of why companies choose to go on trade fairs and exhibition examines how the media works. The essay's main focus is on stand contractors and why those hired to produce other company stands. The study is based on three interviews, a visit to a trade fair and a questionnaire survey. Together with the relevant literature is given a clear picture of how companies are thinking in their choice of attending the fairs, but also why stand contractors are involved in the process. We concluded that some companies do not know why they participate in fairs and many feel compelled to contribute to not be forgotten in the market.

In the last couple of decades, corporate law firms have rapidly grown to become both influential and highly profitable corporations in the business world. Today, the largest law firms are assumed to bear far greater resemblance to large and often multinational public limited companies than the small businesses generally associated with legal services. However, one interesting specific set them apart from the majority of other companies; the partnership and its interrelated profit sharing. The aim of this study has therefore been to investigate partner compensation systems in corporate law firms and further examine what implications chosen compensation systems have on the organizations. Using a multiple case study, including 7 of Scandinavia?s largest and most well known law firms, the results show that partner compensation systems are highly individual and the critical question is whether to employ seniority based or performance based compensation systems.

The mountainous Central Asian and former Soviet country Tajikistan is the least advantaged country economically among the former Soviet Union states. Approximately 6.5 % of the land is arable in a country where roughly 80 % of the households typically own small numbers of sheep and goats. Management practices and animal husbandry in the villages such as uncontrolled breeding, mixing of animals on pastures favor transmission of infectious diseases. Brucellosis is a zoonotic bacterial disease caused by Brucella spp. The disease is endemic in Tajikistan. B.

The aim of this study is to examine whether the two factors SMB and HML in the Fama-French Three Factor Model proxy for default risk. The study is based on companies noted on the Stockholm Stock Exchange between 2003 and 2008. These companies are used to create the factors SMB and HML, as well as a default risk factor we call RMS. In a first set of regressions, we examine the explanatory power of the original Fama-French model on a set of portfolios consisting of Swedish companies of different size and book-to-market ratio. The default risk factor RMS is then added to the original Fama-French model.

Milk yield levels in dairy cows are influenced by many factors such as nutrition, breed, health status, management and environment. This study was conducted among small scale farmers in Zambia, where the climate can be dry for up to six months per year and cause a lack of green pasture for livestock and on-farm produced feed. The purpose of this study was to identify management factors that can influence milk yield at small scale dairy farms in Zambia, and present advice that could improve productivity, without the need of expensive investments. The study included semi-structured questionnaires presented to the farmers (n=29) including questions about cattle management and milk production. Testing of somatic cell count (SCC) with DCC (DeLaval Cell Counter) from herd milk samples (n=56) and observation of housing and animal body condition on-farm was also made.

The purpose of this study was to examine the differences between non-audited and audited sustainability reports and in that way indicate the significance of auditing to the contents of a sustainability report. The study was delimited to include three companies that create sustainability reports according to GRI guidelines, and also have changed from non-audited to audited reports.The study is an exploratory study where we started from companies that follow GRI's standard and who have changed from being non-assured to assured and certified. In order to examine any differences we have started out from corporate sustainability reports and with the basis of these latter gather those changes which may have occurred during the changeover. We therefore chose to conduct a literature review on each company's non-audited sustainability reports and compare them with each company's audited and certified sustainability reports. Furthermore our study has been made on the basis of an assessment model based on the concepts of materiality, completeness and comparability.The study showed that the audited sustainability reports in all companies were more focused and more detailed about the aspects GRI established for the performance indicators.

Internet commerce is nowadays a well known phenomenon. There is awareness that a lot of newly created companies operate their business through the Internet. You can see a tendency where many young people try to establish an Internet business with the hope of success and expansion on today?s fierce market rivalry. To achieve success, companies have to consider factors like business concept, logistic knowledge, future vision, resources and contacts when initializing their business.Having this in mind, we can clarify the purpose with this paper: ?To analyze in what way On-line shopping companies that sell consumer electronics, cell phones and music/entertainment products, have expanded? The paper is based on telephone interviews with three On-line shopping companies.

This quantitative study aims to investigate whether there is a difference in the effect of the policy rate on the price per square meter for condominiums between small and large cities in Sweden. The study encompasses a total of seven Swedish municipalities, of which three located in large cities and four in small cities. Data regarding housing sales and additional variables have been collected for all municipalities, and the price per square meter is the dependent variable in the regressions performed on the dataset, which constitutes the empirical basis of the study. The aim is further to contribute to an increased understanding of how the effect of the policy rate might differ between Swedish cities and why. The results of the study show significant differences in how the policy rate affects the price per square meter in a small city compared to a large city, with the effect being greater in the latter.

The aim of this study was to explore refugees experiences of an introduction program in a small Swedish municipality. The study was based on semi-structured interviews with six refugees and was conducted to explore how the introduction program contributed or has not contributed to feelings of being integrated. Our informants have got different backgrounds but have all been forced to flee their home country to Sweden. The interview data was interpreted through earlier research, theories about social exclusion and concepts which were relevant for our study. Our study showed that the informants felt kindly received in the small municipality.

Through a case study, I wanted to find out what advantages and disadvantages local companies consider with scrum and what they think about its future. To find out what scrum is, I read the literature and scientific articles and then wrote surveys based on my thoughts. Further, I also wanted to find out if it?s possible to use scrum in a school environment and therefore I visited a high school class who used scrum in one of their projects. The result was good but could have been better as it requires more training of scrum to understand everything.

This paper examines how companies in a transparent industry work to satisfy the customer in an extended way, to offer value added products that in the end enables the customer to be loyal to the company. We have studied the insurance industry in Sweden and have focused on five different insurance companies. Four of them, Folksam, Länsförsäkringar, Trygg-Hansa and Dina Försäkringar, where we have focused on Ölands Försäkringar which is part of the Dina Försäkringar group, are some of the largest insurance companies in Sweden. The fourth company is Swedbank which is a bank that has started to offer insurances.Our results demonstrate that it is important for the company to see the customer not only in a profitability aspect; the company has to find out what the customer gets in return. In that case the possibility for the customer to change company decreases and the chance that the customer becomes loyal increases.

Sammanfattning Syfte:Syftet med vår undersökning var att skapa förståelse för hur företag arbetar med etiska och moraliska frågor i samband med ekonomistyrning. Metod:Vår undersökning har gjorts i tre svenska företag genom personliga intervjuer med personer i chefs- eller ledarposition på varje företag. Den insamlade empirin har sedan sammanställts och analyserats genom att jämföra den med vårt teoriavsnitt. Slutsats:Vi har kommit fram till fyra punkter som enligt vår undersökning är centrala för arbetet med etiska och moraliska frågor i de företag vi undersökt. Dessa är värderingar, förståelse, ledarskap och företaget.

First time labelling occurred was when animal owners marked their cattle in order to distinguish the differences. The need for labelling was added when the trade had expanded during Roman times in order for the customers to know who manufactured their craft. Trademarks are characterized as a way to distinguish one's own product or service from someone else. The marketing purpose is to create an identity. The brand has an important role as an effective competitive tool for businesses.A brand can have many different functions, which will simplify a customer's decision making process in selecting a service or product.