AbstractBachelor Thesis, School of Economics at Vaxjo universityProgram: Enterprising and Business Development, EBD 362, Spring 2006Authors: Jens Asp, Vivianne Holmer, Carl-Marcus WahlstromExaminer: Stig G JohanssonKeywords: Services, cooperation, collaboration, customer offer, knowledgeTitle: Service firms in collaboration ? A study of the development of small service firms in collaborationNutek presented numbers during year 2005 witched show that the Swedish service sector, for the first time ever, was greater than the industrial sector. The kind of firms that develop most is small service firms without employees. The topic of interest in this bachelor thesis is to study how this kind of firms can develop. There is a great number of strategic options for firms to choose.

This study describes and reviews horse stable equipment from companies who builds and sells the equipment. In the study the companies various equipment was compared with regulations in the law of prevention of cruelty to animals. The purpose with this study was to find out if the companies stable equipment are approved according to the regulations within this area. The study used at five randomly picked companies.This study showed that three of the five examined companies refered, in one way or another, to the law of prevention of cruelty to animals on their website. Unfortunately not any of the companies referred to todays existing law of prevention of cruelty to animals.

The purpose of our essay was to understand better how two companies manage ethnical diversity in their organization and standards of a multicultural organization. For study objects we selected two companies nominated as ?good examples? of companies working with ethnical diversity in their organization. The study objects are Föreningsparbanken and Pågen AB in Sweden. The result verifies that both companies have by some term a heterogenic staff of workmen in some parts of the organization although the heterogeneity occurs only on a lower level at the organizational hierarchy.

Purpose:Only 60 percent of the newly started companies survive their three first years. The purpose of this report is to obtain a deeper understanding regarding how newly started companies work with their positioning and if there are some kind of a relationship between positioning and the survival rate of newly started companies.Research questions:Do newly started companies know what position is? Do they incorporate positioning in their day to day marketing?Approach:We have used a hypothetical-deductive way of reasoning and a qualitative study to gather the information needed. We have through interviews asked our questions to six newly started companies in three different cities.Findings:In our essay, we reached the conclusion that newly started companies do not spend sufficient time or energy on positioning their products. The companies interviewed only market their product as a good product.

This thesis seeks to investigate how Swedish first class hotels by use of IT can improve customer service and thereby increase the share of loyal guests. The authors have conducted a qualitative study predominantly consisting of an interview-based case study at one of Stockholm?s largest independent hotels. To get a broader and more generalized picture of the hotel industry four smaller studies at other hotels in Stockholm were also conducted. The findings suggest that the use of IT can improve the communication between the hotel and its guests and make possible a continuing relationship between visits that strengthens guest commitment.

Stress på arbetsplatsen relaterat till många inkommande och utgående kommunikationskanaler är ett reellt problem. Applikationer som samlar alla kanaler i samma verktyg kan hjälpa till på det här området. För att förenkla vid utveckling av en sådan applikation kan ett modulärt system skapas, där varje modul ser liknande ut och enkelt kan kopplas in i en huvudapplikation. Den här studien undersöker de problem som kan uppstå när flera tjänster ska integreras, mer specifikt genom att titta på hur en befintlig modul för e-post via Google Apps kan porteras för att stödja e-post via Microsoft Office 365. Arbetet har skett enligt metoder för testdriven portering och varje steg i porteringen har dokumenterats noggrant.

The main focus of this study was to investigate how Swedish military veterans experience that events during an international service affect them after completed mission. This also includes the contact with their relatives. Secondly, this study deals with the course of the crisis, personal defense mechanisms, cumulative stress and post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD).The study was performed using a qualitative method and comprises individual interviews with six Swedish veterans. The responders were all men of different military positions, who participated in one or more international missions during 1993 to 2011.The results of this study show that, according to the veterans, the return back home is the most strenuous part of an international mission. With all the new experiences that an international service brings fresh in their memories, it is hard to re-adjust to the life of a civilian.In connection with the return back home, different degrees of stress reactions were also commonly seen, for example sleep disturbance, restlessness and exhaustion.

Background and problem: The financial crisis 2008-2009 came out from an over-optimism among those who took the real estate loans in the U.S., and especially so-called subprime loans. After the 2008 financial crisis, it has become a global uncertainty in the financial market with low growth, and even financial crises in the euro countries have appeared. The real estate industry is a capital-intensive industry where companies have a high leverage to implement their investment. This means they have a larger proportion of debt relative to equity than companies in other industries. As investments require a lot of capital, real estate companies become dependent on having a working relationship with both the banks and the capital market.

The aim of this qualitative study of service work in the private sector is to examine how the service worker experiences his/her work. There are three dimensions of the service workers experience in focus, and they are the base of my formulation of questions. The first dimension refers to how the service worker experiences the emotional labor demands from the employer. The second dimension concerns the relation between service worker and customer, from the view of the service worker. The third dimension problematizes how service workers experience efficiency.I have interviewed three call center customer workers and two hotel receptionists, using semi-structured interview technique.

The essay discusses a process of change at probationservice office. The purpose of the change was to decrease specialisation and increase flexibility of the probation officers. The change encountered several problems where the correctional supervisor was percieved to act unsurely and indecisively whilst parts of the staff constructed and implimented several courses of action to prevent the process of change..

The essay that you are now holding in your hand is a survey about how different companies calculate their logistic costs and the activities which are included. We have examined five companies within the county of Kalmar. The research objective has been to study how aware companies are about their logistic activities and costs. The conclusion of the report is that they put their logistic costs together with other costs which they distribute among their products. The companies identify additional logistic activities than costs which regarding to us is one step in the right direction towards the awareness concerning future effectiveness in the business..

In a time of economic turmoil and financial crisis profitability matters rise higher and higher on company agendas. Many companies are pressured to find profitability to avoid layoffs or even bankruptcy. Profitability essentially depends on the margin on the product or service sold and the costs associated with selling these products or services and hence these areas are of vital importance if companies are to improve profitability. Previous research has focused, for the most part, on product profitability while customer profitability has received less attention. This study is based on a case study of a Swedish publishing house and aims to investigate how the company?s Cost-to-Serve varies between its distribution channels.

Purpose                           The purpose of this study is to create an understanding of how e-commerce companies use loyalty programs in order to retain their customers and to increase its consumption, and compare this with customer perceptions of loyalty and learn what makes them loyal. Theoretical framework      The theoretical framework starts with definitions of loyalty and customer loyalty. Further, it discusses what a loyalty program is, how rewards today and in the future affect the consumers, and other promotion offers that are commonly used. The theory also discusses how previous points work in e-commerce. Method                                                    To take advantage of the companies? point of view and at the same the customers? perspective, the survey is based on a combination of a qualitative and quantitative study. In the study, two companies in the fashion industry were interviewed and 391 respondents participated. Empirical study                 In the empirical study the interviews with the two e-commerce companies are first presented, which revolves around their use of loyalty program.

An uncountable number of companies are present in foreign markets as a result of what we commonly choose to call globalization. This is especially true for Swedish companies traditionally operating on small markets. A company that is about to establish on a new market is faced not only with possibilities but also with challenges and risks. Researchers have found that companies that establish on foreign markets will have to deal with competitors on the national as well as on the global market, and therefore need consider how they globalize their brands. In addition to this, a brand can only reach international success if its message is coherent within and across every single market.

Background: Critical conditions to become an attractive supplier of knowledge based IT-services in the B2B market are many. Besides the fact of supplying a service of high quality one must as a supplier communicate values which are understandable and desirable for a new buyer. Buying a knowledge based IT-service involves several risks; the consultant might not have sufficient knowledge or have difficulties understanding the corporate culture and collaborating with other staff within the client?s organization. Since services are intangible offers and it can be intricate to put right price level for something which can only be evaluated when the project is finished, puts severe strain on suppliers competing with other companies in the same market when looking for new clients.