The thesis aims to examine how companies optimize the human capital from a value creation perspective. The value creation will be related to transfer of knowledge, recruitment, staff turnover and development. The thesis has a deductive approach and six qualitative interviews have been conducted. The results from the interviews will be strengthened with a quantitative data analysis of two measurements; value added per employee and human capital efficiency. The theoretical framework includes definitions of human capital.

I mitt examensarbete har jag undersökt om det lämpar sig att använda en manuell metod för att skapa normal maps till icke-organiska polygonmodeller avsedda för datorspel. Jag har använt mig av Photoshop för att måla normal maps som jag sedan applicerar på lågdetaljerade modeller jag skapat, för att höja detaljgraden avsevärt. Då icke-organisk modellering inbegriper modeller som ska representera hårda ytor, och därmed inte animeras med deformation, så antog jag att denna metod skulle lämpa sig väldigt väl åt dessa ytor som ofta har extremt mjuka former och precisa vassare kanter. Min metod har varit att studera litteratur om Normal Mapping och hur man använder Photoshop för detta. Jag har sedan utfört praktiskt arbete för att utvärdera hur effektiv metoden är samt vilka fördelar den bidrar med. Jag går igenom teori för normal mapping som jag stödjer med hjälp av faktatexter och instruktions-DVDer i ämnet för att sedan redovisa metoden jag använt i mitt arbete. Jag avslutar sedan med en diskussion kring mitt resultat och redovisar vad jag kommit fram till genom mina experiment. Jag kommer fram till att Normal Mapping med Photoshop är mycket väl lämpat åt hårda ytor och även bidrar med optimeringar i arbetsflödet både vad gäller organisering, tidsåtgång samt kontroll över resultatet.

The purpose of this thesis is to study how organisations are working with repatriation of employees who have been working abroad, especially regarding how their experiences and competences are being utilised and transferred within the company. A qualitative abductive method is used, since the aim is to obtain an understanding of this phenomenon. The main source of information has been 21 interviews. The interviews were executed in two steps; a preliminary study with nine Swedish organisations was followed by our main study, containing 12 interviews with repatriates, their colleagues, and personnel employed at the International Assignment departments at Scania and Volvo. The conclusion of this thesis is that large Swedish companies, which have Swedish employees working abroad do not seem to be working with repatriation according to suggestions given by the theories, even though their performances are better than earlier research implies.

Marknadsaktiviteter vid produktlansering är ett samarbete med Haglöfs Scandinavia AB. Våren 2010 utfördes ett samarbetade med Haglöfs då ett underlag för utökat produktsortiment inom konfektion togs fram. På uppdrag av Haglöfs ska ett förslag framställas på hur en lansering ska kunna se ut om juniorkollektionen introduceras på den svenska marknaden. Hur fungerar det med produktlanseringens strategiska och taktiska lanseringsbeslut och vilka marknadsföringskanaler är lämpliga vid en produktlansering inom outdoorbranschen.Rapporten behandlar hur dagens företag inom outdoorbranschen i Sverige fullgör sina marknadsaktiviteter vid en produktlansering. Strategiska och taktiska lanseringsbeslut illustreras samt utvalda marknadsföringskanaler skildras.En lanseringsstrategi beskriver de marknadsföringsbeslut som är nödvändiga för att presentera en ny produkt till respektive målgrupp och börja generera en inkomst i form av försäljning av den nya produkten.

Vanligtvis har de flesta vuxna svenskar na?gon typ av relation till en bank. De svenska storbankerna erbjuder alla likartade tja?nster och produkter. Ett av bankernas stora konkurrensmedel a?r ra?ntorna, dock a?r det inte stora skillnader mellan ra?nteniva?erna.

Själva produkten eller tjänsten skall vara unik i sitt slag och gynna konsumenten som inte något på marknaden redan gör. Därigenom kommer produkten eller tjänsten om den håller måttet att själv skapa en Word of Mouth genom konsumenters och främst opinionsledares rekommendationer. Företagen måste sträva efter att hitta och samarbeta med dessa människor som kan påverka deras varumärke, leda opinionen och få dem att sprida Word of Mouth. På så sätt är Buzz marketing ett mer strategiskt kommunikationsverktyg jämfört med den traditionella marknadsföringen. Gällande traditionell marknadsföring använder man sig av ett eller ett antal verktyg och vänder sig mot folkmassan och inte mot den enskilda opinionsledaren.

The aim of this study was to gain insight into how two enterprises work with competence development and thereby study how the relationship between competence development and workers, employees, look like. The focus was on the workers motives and motivation towards a participation in a competence development course, their attitude to education, and how the transfer of skills gained from the course, into the workplace looks like. Further on, the work situations influence on the workers competence development has been taken into account.In the study, six people were interviewed in the role of either manager, coach or course participant who are employed in two different enterprises in the south of Sweden.The results showed that the participants were motivated by a strive for personal development or that the participants viewed education implementation as a part of the professionalcareer, which has resulted in a positive attitude towards the competence development course. The managers? motive for decisions about education was to change the prevailing attitude among the staff for the better and thereby strengthen the company?s brand. The work situation has encouraged the desire to participate in developmental education as the feeling of control has encouraged the workers to further development.

Word-of-mouth marketing (WOM) has been considered as one of the most effective marketing tools, yet the least understood. While its lucrative effects have been well proven in academic studies worldwide, little is yet known of why consumers engage in WOM, and what factors actually drive this sought-after behavior, particularly in an online context. While today's research lacks holistic views on the simultaneous effects of multiple WOM-drivers, this paper takes on a meta-analytic approach by building on the pertinent literature to construct an aggregated model, including several previously acknowledged drivers divided into two categories: (1) Brand related drivers and (2) Personal and situational drivers. The authors then empirically examine what drivers are the most influential on WOM in an online social media context. By doing so, this thesis does not only contribute to marketing managers' better understanding of online communications management, it also sheds light on the theoretical knowledge of the behavioral drivers of WOM.

AbstractThe purpose with this essay has been to gain a greater understanding and clarify how an arena can create value within place marketing and development of a place brand. This will be achieved through a description of which values an arena causes in the surrounding areas and an understanding of how these values can be interpreted through the place brand. We decided to base our study according to the following two questions:1. What are the underlying reasons why there has been such a big trend with arena project?2.

Package design constitutes an important marketing and differentiation tool in an increasingly competitive food market, particularly in the category of daily consumer goods where the turnover rate is high and the purchases are based on self-service (Hine, 1997; Spethmann, 1994; Underwood, 1999). Media fragmentation undermines the traditional marketing tools and the demands for packaging are bigger than ever. A package must not only sell a product, but also tell, through design, how the product is used and express the values that the trademark owner wishes to convey to the end customer (Underwood, 1998). The understanding of the role of packaging as a marketing tool has increased, but the initiators inside the packaging industry in Sweden still think that the Swedish packaging industry is developing slowly. They often describe Swedish packages as homogeneous and unimaginative.

The continual challenge? A case study of sports clubs marketingIn recent decades the mass media have come to play an increasingly important role in society and culture. The purpose of this qualitative study is to research how four nonprofit sports clubs in Umeå handle social changes such as commercialization and mediatization. To answer the study?s purpose three questions were examined.

Purpose: Our purpose is to describe and understand how a project-based, knowledge-intensive firm in the high-technology industry creates and transfers knowledge, seen from two perspectives.Methodology: Our qualitative case study has an explorative approach since earlier studies within our positioning are absent, thus we look at KM abductively. To gain more depth to our study, we mirror our findings from our case company with data collected from three additional organisations.Theoretical perspectives: We see a clear distinction between researchers, either seeing knowledge as an object or a process. Thus, we review theories from both sides, either focusing on the creation or transferring of knowledge. In addition, theories on KM in project organisations areaccounted for.Empirical foundation: The study is based on the empirical foundation which consists of the data received through six interviews with employees at our main case company and, additionally, two interviews at each of our three mirrorcompanies.Conclusion: The study found KM being seen from both perspectives in all four firms. Through this, we found implications for how our case company could proceed in the future..

This thesis was written by order of Rud Pedersen Public Affairs Company, a PR- consultancy firm located in Gothenburg. The assignment was to investigate social media in Pr- activities. The thesis is formed by three main categories:? What is social media?? Who are using social media?? How can you use social media in public relations?The information which is being presented in this thesis is based on academic reports, interviews and research on social media blogs and lectures. It is a qualitative approach since the purpose is to get a deeper understanding for the subject in question.

This thesis will explore how swedish Talang 2010 used their strategic communication in Kalmar and Stockholm and how the effect of this work was shown in the two cities. With a focus on how the sender was working with the external communication in the two cities, the heart of the research was studying Talang 2010?s communication strategy in these two contexts. The research was made with surveys during two audition days in Kalmar and two days in Stockholm. The competitors, the audience and the general public were answering different surveys but with the same base to study the effect.

?One-to-one marketing? är en marknadsföringsidé där relationen mellan kund och leverantör står i fokus. Den kunskap om en specifik kund som leverantören får via relationen kan användas för att utforma erbjudanden anpassade för just den kunden. Erbjudandena är ämnade att påverka relationen positivt och göra kunden lojal till leverantören. Nya tekniska hjälpmedel har medfört att information om kundens preferenser kan lagras och bearbetas för att därefter användas till att utforma dessaerbjudanden.