The main purpose with this master's thesis was to develop a survey with the intention to examine what expectations the JM AB:s customer had on a future garden and also to discuss if the lawn has a symbolic meaning in gardens. The lion's share of the thesis is based on a survey, aimed at people in the company's customer database. The intention was to examine what expectations they had on their future garden and if their expectations were met when they later bought a house from the company. The work also consists of interviews and visits to areas with newly built homes. I interpreted the result from my surveys as the lawn on its own being is a strong symbol for a garden and also signals a social status of the owner. To the company the pre made lawn on a role is a way of saving time and easily achieve what the customer request. The company wants to create a concept of a "preset-garden" that meets the company's vision as well as the expectations of the customer.

The purpose of this study has been to examine how customers, by interacting with each other, can communicate and create the image of a brand. We find this topic to be relevant since there are no previous studies conducted concerning the customers influence on the brand image. Our ambition has been to describe in what ways and to what extent the customer can affect and influence the brand image by communicating with other customers. To fulfill our purposed we have targeted three important questions which are:? In which ways can the customer affect the communicated image of a brand?? To what extent can the customer influence the brand image and the perceived value?? Who has control over the brand, the customer or the company?For this study we have used a qualitative approach in which we have conducted eight personal interviews with brand consultants and the editor of the magazine Dagens Media which has given us the foundation for our analysis.

Title: The impact of service quality on customer loyalty - when a service changes from being free to become surcharged Authors: Carl Johan Olsson, Marcus Johansson and Victor Carlsson Supervisor: Hans LundbergCourse: Bachelor thesis in business administration, 15 Credits (15 ECTS) Keywords: Service quality, customer loyalty, price movementPurposeThe purpose of this essay is to increase the understanding if the perceived quality by the service users correlates with a future loyalty to a service when it cease from being free, to become charged.? Does the perceived quality of a service by the service users affect a future loyalty to a service, when it cease from being free, to become charged?MethodIn this essay we have chosen to implement a quantitative research method based on a survey. This choice was made in order to reach a sufficient large amount of service users and empirical data to answer our problem.ConclusionsAccording to the theory, customer satisfaction can be expressed through a comparison between customer?s expectations and the experience of using a service, and there are also positive correlations between service quality and customer satisfaction. Additionally, loyalty is based on service quality and customer satisfaction.

The manufactory industry, due to decline in profit margins, is seeking new business opportunities by moving towards servitization and value-adding services in after-sales. We have therefore conducted a case study to investigate a manufacturing company in their current transformation towards servitization. By studying the management perspective, we aimed to understand how Information Technology, by adding value, could play a role in the transformation process. This study shows that information technology can take an integrating role, by supporting new value-adding services to provider and customer, as well as a co-creating role, where both provider and customer benefits by learning from each other, in the changing work process initiated by new services. The study has also shown that Information Technology, together with organization, information and people, are crucial components in the manufactory industry?s transformation towards servitization.  Furthermore, the study has also shown that the value chain has the potential to drastically change due to the value-adding that the information technology brings to the progress of servitization..

Corporate Social Responsibility is a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns into their core business and in their interaction with stakeholders on a voluntarily basis. The purpose with our thesis is to study how Swedish insurance companies work with Corporate Social Responsibility and to analyse the underlying strategies of the companies? social, environmental and economical activities. We will analyse where, how and for whom value can be created with CSR. Where does the value creation take place, how can it be created through these activities and who will benefit from Corporate Social Responsibility? Theories point out that companies need to assemble and value the total package of benefits to be able to create successful corporate initiatives.

Business across the Internet has increased in recent years and most companies that are selling trips have increased their sales online. Many companies that are selling trips strive for customers to receive and experience a personal service online. The meeting between the client and a webpage service system on the Internet should work. Service encounters are an essential part of the contact between customer and company and play a big part in how the first impression is perceived by the customer. To understand how a service encounter works, meeting face to face, companies need to understand how customers perceive that meeting.

Abstract Titel: Budget development ? a study of multinational industrial companies Date: 2011-05-27 Authors: Daniel Claesson & Tobias Kronvall Supervisor: Fredrik Karlsson Examiner: Lars-Göran Aidemark Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to follow up and to do a comparison                of a study of Arwidi & Samuelson (1991) where we describe and explain budget change, from the traditional budget to today´s modern business management, in some of the leading listed Swedish industrial companies. We will also examine which objectives of the budget are highlighted in the companies. Further, we examine the relationship between                         organization, strategies and budgeting and how it affects the company            management. Method: In this study we used a qualitative approach. We used a multiple case                  study to examine corporate approach to budgeting.

To identify the exchange and adaptation that takes place in the business relationship between electricity suppliers and electricity customers and analyze how these factors affect the strength of the relationship.The investigated concepts create synergies. The strength of the business relationship in the current situation is dominated by weak reciprocity in adaptation and an inefficient exchange of information with low frequency..

Background: The fierce competetivness that characterize todays market force the companies to differentiate their offerings to a greater extent. The customers do no longer choose their supplier on the attributes of the products alone. Their purchase decisions also depend on the relationship the customers have with their supplier. With new customer channels like the Internet and advanced computer systems companies can increase the value for their customers through a better understanding of the customers needs and preferences. In this way companies can create longterm relationships with their customers.

Few studies enlighten the problem associated with the dialectical relationship between adults and adolescents and how that affects the construction of identity for adolescent?s, in relation to two areas that are closely bordering to each other but differs socioeconomically whereas one area is much weaker on resources than the other. These two areas is Högberget and Haganäs, which are situated in a larger city in Sweden.For us to be able to enlighten this problem we have chosen to use an inductive research approach so that we can explain how adolescents construct their identity and how the organized spare time, in addition with the influence of adults, impacts on adolescents construction of their identity.Therefore we have used interviews as method, both group and individual, so it can regulate which theories that influence our study. The two theories that wires through the entire study are firstly Peter L. Bergman and Thomas Luckmanns theory on social construction where the idea is that the human being is an active social being that constructs its own reality.

AbstractThe development of new economies from the industrial revolution to the information society of today has led to an increase in goods, services and information technology. It has also affected the way that organizations are formed and shown that organizations transform more and more into networks. This has left an impact on the concept of marketing and an increase in the handling of internal relations within companies. The marketing concept has developed from the 4P:s, price, place, product and promotion, to relations marketing as a new perspective.This study focuses on a description of relations marketing in medium - sized advertising agencies. The advertising business has a long history of close customer relations and advertising agencies strongly depend on new customers.

The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of how venture capitalists can use their network in order to reduce information asymmetries between themselves and the venture management team. A qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews, consisting of open questions, have been used to receive gradate information in order to reach our explorative purpose. Our theoretical framework consists of relevant studies made on the dynamics of networks and the problems that can arise in the complex relationship between a principal and an agent. We have been interviewing two venture capital firms and therepresentatives from two business angel networks. We also made an additional interview with an influential financial actor in order to try to verify our conclusions Our conclusions are that an extensive network can be used by venture capitalists in order to; verify ventures? technologies, complement the competences in the venture management team, and arrange co-investments, resulting in reduced information asymmetries between themselves and the venture management team.

During adolescence the teenager tries to become an independent individual, something that for many individuals can be experienced as"a hard time". In early childhood the individual was closely connected to the parents, but during adolescence friends and new contacts become more important. Studies in developmental psychology have most often adopted a parent-perspective, which is why a child-perspective is required. The aim of this study is therefore to measure the teenager's relationship with parents and friends and to look for possible correlations between these. As a means of measuring quality in the relationships, the IPPA, the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, was used.

What role does the state play in economic development? This thesis seeks to investigate the relationship between a strong state and economic development. To define the concept of a strong state I focus on the relationship between the scope of state functions and the efficiency of which these functions are implemented. The concept of a strong state is in this thesis defined as the efficiency of the state functions. By using a database constructed by three economists; David Kaufman, Aart Kraay and Massimo Mastruzzi as a measurement of a strong state I test the relationship with economic development empirically.

This essay recognizes and criticizes a commonly held assumption that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) functions as a ?savings account of trust? between corporations and consumers. Based on five focus group interviews, the authors discuss how corporations that engage in society can sometimes raise and sometimes destroy the trust of potential consumers. One of our main findings is that CSR seems to raise the expectations among consumers. We then compare this phenomenon with the classical theory of the disconfirmation paradigm.