AbstractMaster thesis of one year in Business Administration, Swedish Business School at Örebro university,Marketing, HT 2011.Authors: Grunér, Linus and Malm, Ludwig Tutor:Pia Lindell Title:Brand building and creating relationships ? A study of a small business in the B2B market Keywords:Brand building, business relationships, SME, B2B. Problem:How does a small business in the B2B market work with brand building and creating relationships? What critical factors can be identified regarding the process of relationship-building and brand building within the context of a small business in the B2B market? Research objective:The purpose of this study is to use existing research to create understanding for how a company in the B2B market is working with relationship-building and brand building. The study also aims to identify any critical factors concerning the process of relationship-building and brand building.

The purpose of this report was to investigate how the Umeå School of Business and Economics at Umeå university can work to increase the share of courses and programmes that discuss sustainable development. Furthermore the purpose was to develop an action plan that can be used to increase that share. Methods used were a questionnaire directed towards the educators at the Umeå School of Business and Economics and an assessment of the content of courses and programmes connected to the Umeå School of Business and Economics. There was no clear structured way of working with education for sustainable development, but at the same time there was a will to integrate sustainable development in the education. Curricula were according to the educators an important tool to achieve this integration, their experience were that there are not enough time, people and money to work with sustainable development in the education and they would like to see more clear directions from the management.

My diploma thesis has focused on creating a proposal for a Viking center in Stockholm that meets the international interest. A building dedicated solely to the Viking heritage. My ambition has been to give the Viking center an architecture that can serve as scenography for its exhibitions and to give the visitors a feel for the Vikings that they have been craving.  A boat-shaped building in tribute to the Vikings boat building skills with curved stems of equal height that gives a familiar silhouette to the city.  A wood building constructed of curved beams and wood columns painted with tar..

The construction industry has demands on energy use in permanent buildings. How much energy that is permitted to use during the time the building is produced has no requirements. The purpose with this study is to learn how far Skanska has come with the work of making the building site more energy efficient.A literature study has been performed in the beginning of the study to survey what energy efficient arrangements that can be applied and how they operate. Using site visits and interviews the situations on the building sites have been studied as well as the energy efficient measure that are in use.Skanska has come a long way with the work of energy efficient building sites and they keep improving. They have improved half of their cabins so they use 50 % less energy.

The concept of sustainable development is a challenge that demands cooperation from all levels of society for it to be successful. The focus for this thesis is how politicians within the local councils understand the concept of sustainable development and how they implement it in political decision-making.The basis for the study is a questionnaire that was distributed to 303 local politicians in three municipalities of varying size in Southern Sweden. The study concentrates on departments within the local councils that are directly connected to the Swedish environmental law and the Swedish planning and construction law. One of the primary goals with the aforementioned laws is the achievement of sustainable development within one generation.The outcome of the study was that over half of the local politicians could correctly define sustainable development according to the World Commission on Environment and Development?s (WCED) definition.

The concept of sustainable development is a challenge that demands cooperation from all levels of society for it to be successful. The focus for this thesis is how politicians within the local councils understand the concept of sustainable development and how they implement it in political decision-making.The basis for the study is a questionnaire that was distributed to 303 local politicians in three municipalities of varying size in Southern Sweden. The study concentrates on departments within the local councils that are directly connected to the Swedish environmental law and the Swedish planning and construction law. One of the primary goals with the aforementioned laws is the achievement of sustainable development within one generation.The outcome of the study was that over half of the local politicians could correctly define sustainable development according to the World Commission on Environment and Development?s (WCED) definition.

The purpose of this study is to make a close and critical scrutiny of the EU Lisbon Strategy and the assumption of `sustainable growth´. A basic question is to clarify what is meant by `sustainability´ in the economic and the environmental dimension respectively, and also, to analyse the meaning of `sustainable growth´. Secondly, I try to investigate the relationship between the economical and environmental dimensions of the strategy. Are the goals of the dimensions compatible and mutually supporting or are they conflicting? By illuminating these issues the study moves towards a final set of questions: What are the arguments that encourage or counteract the Lisbon assumption of `sustainable growth´? Is the European Union approaching `sustainable growth´ looking at different economical and ecological indicators? What are the prospects for the Lisbon Strategy as a way towards global `sustainable development´?.

Many buildings are now nearing the end of their service life. This applies to both the older houses from the 40's and 50's to the million project houses that did not prove to be as sustainable in the long run. Often there is a desire to extend the service lifetime, but to do that you need to make detailed inspections. The Folkets hus in Gävle is one of those buildings that is in need of renovation and to fulfill the new requirements that must be met in today's buildings. It is desired to make the buildings rentable space more attractive and to extend the building with two more floors.

Hidden away in the pristine landscape on the northeast shore of the Dominican Republic, the remote village of Miches is on the verge of shifting its economic resource base from traditional fishing into what could become an international model for sustainable tourism. The aim of this thesis was to produce a vision of a waterfront park near the center of the village; demonstrating concept-based landscape design that reflects the goals of sustainable development originating from the local incentive structure. A composite landscape analysis and design concept both served to inform and guide the design work, which was executed through model building, hand drawings, and production of a visual presentation in the format of an architectural competition entry. The design concept, All invited, signifies the distinction between the development that is about to take place in Miches and the otherwise common all-inclusive resorts, where tourists are set apart from the local community and spend most of their time within the fenced-off premises of the hotel. All invited also captures the typical Dominican hospitality, and mirrors the aspirations of turning Miches into a safe and welcoming place for visitors. The result is a public park design that is equally inviting local residents as it is to tourists, and where the unique qualities of the site are emphasized without being exploited.

Previous studies have shown that there exists a gap between purchase intention and behavior in consumption situations. This gap is especially prevalent for sustainable or green products and even more so in terms of sustainable apparel consumption. Therefore, the adoption of sustainable fashion remains low as fast fashion dominates the industry. A counter-movement for mass consumption - access-based consumption - has reached the apparel industry and in Sweden we see it in the form of clothing libraries. This qualitative thesis uses in-depth interviews to uncover the feelings of seven consumers towards the idea of accessing rather than owning their clothing as a more sustainable consumption form, factoring in the strong identity connection that we have to our clothes and how this affects their perceptions.

Sekretessbelagd.

The examination has been performed at Bjerking AB, which is an architectural and engineering company. Bjerking AB has the ambition to be a member of Green Building.The Green Building program developed in year 2005 by The European Commission, the program is an environmental system with the aim to improving energy efficiency within the sectors of non-residential buildings. The minimum requirements to participate the program are following: in new-built buildings the calculated energy consumption must be 25 % lower than the requirements in the BBR (Building regulations) and in refurbishment the reduction must be 25 % lower than before the optimization.The aim of this study has been to examine and review the company Bjerking AB's energy efficiency work in the project of building the school/kindergarten S:ta Maria Alsike, where the goal is to get this building Green Building classed. A description of requirements to become a member of the Green Building has also accomplished in the thesis.The methods performed in this study are literature review, searches on the Internet, studies on the project database for facts/values, calculation of energy consumption and interviews of members of the Green Building. The following issues have been dealt with in the report;-          Did the building in the project manage the requirement to achieve an   energy consumption that is 25% lower than the requirements in BBR?-          What technical measures/system was selected in the building?-          What kind of cooperation was the project based on?-          What is required for consultancy companies and real estate owners to become members of the Green Building?The study of the project and calculation of estimated energy consumption in the building, give the result 47 kWh/m2, year.

This report describes the construction process and the aspects that should be taken into consideration. It includes models of decision and how these can be used in practice. Planning of a building project is very important for a successful execution. This will be the foundation of problems that will occur during the production. In the planning process people with different positions, search for the best suitable building methods.

In this study environmental work in the Swedish hotel chain "Scandic" is investigated. Earlier studies point out sustainability and different environmental certificate programs as essential for the housing sector to contribute to sustainable tourism. The purpose and willingness to fulfill such a mission has been investigated by interviewing central actors in the hotel chain. The result shows that there is a desire to be part of environmental certificate programs mainly for the reason to be part of the system and not for the benefit of nature. Sustainable development is understood as being environmentally friendly. Different solutions to adapt and being more environmentally friendly is discussed.

The environment has become an important part in people´s lives, and in today´s society stakeholders demands have increased upon companies when it comes to sustainability reports. How these sustainability reports are designed depends on whom it?s for, laws and regulations, and the companies own norms and values. The purpose of sustainability reports is to measure, monitor and compare a company´s enviromental impact. It?s not only about integrating economics, but also enviromental and social standards together to get both financial and competitive advantages.Sustainable Value method is a new model and is the first real method that can be used to evaluate a company´s resources, both financial, social and enviromental to a sustainable value.This model is used to compare the resource efficiency between companies.In this thesis, a documentary study with an experimental approach has been made.Sustainability reports from six selected companies (in the engineering and forestry sector) have been investigated with respect to their accounting for carbon dioxide, and an experiment using the method ?Sustainable Value Approach? was subsequently performed.