Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept that is growing increasingly important, with more and more companies acknowledging that they have an obligation to the environment in which they operate. We were interested in inquiring into why companies chose to do so, even though there are no laws that condition them to engage in CSR. One answer to this might be that companies use CSR as a way to distinguish themselves from the competition as well as to gain trust and goodwill from the stakeholders. When it comes to Corporate Social Responsibility, the question is no longer whether or not companies should engage in it, but how they can gain competitive advantage by doing so. This study aims at providing a framework for possible ways of integrating CSR and branding, as well as different strategies for CSR-communication. We also tried to define how, and why, consumers respond to CSR-initiatives.

Background: Around the world, markets deregulates, which leads to increased competition. Meetings between the consumer and the employees of a company determine how the customer perceives the company and / or its brand. This has result in that many companies have realized the importance of internal using the same marketing skills that are used externally. In 2009, pharmacy market went from being a monopoly market to be a regulated competitive market.Problem: Is there any internal conditions for a private company, whose culture and structure was formed under a state monopoly, to create a strong corporate brand?Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to, through a case study, analyze and evaluate the internal marketing in a company which has undergone a change of ownership and retained the same staff.Method: Through interviews with key personnel and staff , data was gathered for the case study, which means that the method is qualitative.

In 1993 the internal market within the European Union was formed and ensured free movement of goods, services, capital and people. This led to the removal of trade barriers between members of the European Union. When opening up for competition, price differences between countries decreased and more jobs were created. A single currency was introduced by eleven countries in 1999 with the goal of reducing transaction costs, eliminating exchange rate risk and to further simplify trade. In 2001 Greece joined the collaboration and introduced the euro.

AbstractValue Added Tax, VAT, is a general consumption tax that is added to almost all consumption of goods and services. Despite the extensive work of harmonization of the VAT system relating to electronic services, it can be difficulties in determining the taxable land, something that could affect the internal market in a negative way. The Swedish companyStardollABwas double taxed on certain electronic services that they provided consumers in theUK. The problems that lead to double taxation must be identified to ensure free competition and free movement within the internal market. The principle of neutrality pervades the whole of the EU VAT system which can be derived from principles of the Treaty, establishing the common market, and the introduction of the VAT Directive.

Sudoku är ett mycket populärt pusselspel som härstammar från Japan. Sudokuproblemet har visats vara NP-fullständigt och det finns därför troligen inget effektivt sätt att lösa stora pussel. På senare år har det skett mycket forskning kring SAT-lösare. I denna rapport prövades olika SAT-lösare från ?International SAT-Competition? för att undersöka om det existerar en korrelation mellan exekveringstid och svårighetsgradering samt för att avgöra vilken av dessa som är effektivast för att lösa pussel av olika svårighetsgrad och storlek.

The cultural policy area has a tendency to be seen as a consensus area, where there are no big conflicts between the parties. The aim of this master?s thesis is to study the moderate party?s cultural motion 2005/06Kr:233 with the party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt as first author. If consensus rules, the party?s ideology should not be visible in the motion, but the assumption in the thesis is that it is visible.

AbstractC-level essay in political science, by Frida Orlinder, spring semester 2008Supervisor: Susan Marton?Good contracting? ? A study of contracting in public procurement regarding the transportation of school children?Over the last decades models influenced by the market have been gaining influence in public administration all over the world. New Public Management has been presented as a theoretical ?shopping basket? from which concepts can be applied to the administration of municipal services. The purpose of this essay is to investigate in an explorative way how New Public Management (NPM) views contracting and the role of the internal customer in contracting.

To increase the quality and the cost-efficiency of contract archaeology in Sweden a revisedregulation for contract archaeology was established the 1st of January 2008. By including findstrategy as a concept with special demands in the regulation the Swedish Heritage Board is nowhoping that the conservators will be integrated earlier in the archaeological process and that theunpremeditated find accumulations will stop. This is making the competition between thearchaeological companies even harder. The questions are how the regulation have affected therole of the conservators in the field of contract archaeology today, what is affecting theintegration and the situation, and what can the different stakeholders do to make the collaborationbetween archaeologists and conservators more professional? The conservators are now hopingthat this is the change that will increase the collaboration with the archaeologists, which isimportant for the finds prosperity and the drive of information.To get an updated and generalised view of the impact of the regulation so far, phoneconversations and questionnaires were carried out with archaeologists, conservators, employees atcounty administrative boards and the Swedish Heritage Board.

The number of LBOs in Sweden has increased during the last years and the current market trend is positive. MostLBOs involves private companies, but a few concerns public corporations on the national share market. In this thesis we will examine the conditions of a LBO of Cloetta Fazer AB. The purpose is to study existing conditions of Cloetta Fazer AB and to examine pros and cons with the deal. Based upon information presented in the frame of reference and in the empirical part, two cash flow valuations have been carried out.

Abstract________________________________________________________________Författare/Author Richard TähtinenTitel/Title Youth hockey from a coach perspective. A qualitative study about coaches´appreciations concerning youth hockeyThe aim with this study is to strengthen the knowledge about coaches´ appreciationsconcerning youth hockey. This study contains interviews with three leaders that operate onthe strategic level within youth hockey and three coaches working with youth players in theages of 11 and 12. I have divided my main results into 4 categories, based on an earlier studyfrom Karin Redelius (2002). These categories include the following themes:1) Competition on the good and the bad2) The importance of winning3) Shake-out versus sports on children’s terms4) Instruction, play and learningThe main conclusions in this study show that leaders on the strategic level appreciate youthhockey in a very similar way.

An increasingly globalized market is leading to hard competition among manufacturing companies, which means that they are forced to become more customer focused to survive in the market. A Customer Relationship Management system is a system that will be of assistance to help companies succeed in building long term relationships with their customers. Best of Breed and ERP-based are two types of CRM systems. The study has focused on analyzing and examine the need for CRM systems at manufacturing companies. Our question formulation has been:? What need do businesses want to satisfy with a Best of Breed-based and ERP-based CRM system?? Are there any differences in the use of Best of Breed-based and ERP-based CRM system?In this study, we have chosen to carry out interviews and quantitative surveys with manufacturing companies to get their view of CRM-systems.

During the summer of 2005 more than 80 million articles of clothing from China, were being held in European harbours. This was a consequence of a striking increase of imported textile and clothing articles from China since the turn of the year, which was the time when all quantitative restrictions were extincted on these products. To protect its own market, the EU therefore reintroduced import quotes in the beginning of the summer. China?s accession agreement to the WTO comprehends a number of unique provisional regulations which are exceptional for the country and in conjunction with clauses and exceptions within the GATT and WTO these regulations enabled new restrictions on the trade with textiles and clothings.

During the 90s most companies organized and adopted routines for their environmental work. This work included for example eco-efficiency improvements and the introduction of environmental managing systems. At the UN conference in Rio in 1992 the concept Sustainable development was defined, but it was not until about the year of 2000 that companies in Sweden shifted their work from environmental management to sustainable management. A consequence of this is that they now have to focus on environmental aspect in conjunction with social and economic aspects.The purpose of this study is to gain understanding of what a change of focus to sustainable development means for companies. Has the environmental work suffered in the competition with social/economical aspects under the new sustainable focus? How will the new way of working affect the balance between environmental and social aspects? Changes were studied in five companies by analysing their annual-, environmental- and sustainability reports and through interviews of sustainable managers.

The study was conducted at a business in the social service. The purpose was to examine how the business works with human resource planning. In order to answer the purpose two questions was formulated, which human resource planning strategy does the business use? And, how do businesses need to act according to the theory of strategic manpower to achieve human resource planning? Survey data collection was done through a qualitative research design, where interviews with five employees in the business took place.The study shows that the business is using a own made strategy in order to achieve human resource planning. The strategy consists of two steps, in step one they do an background analysis and step two a needs analysis where a goal- and responsibility description are designed and then a set of requirements.

During the summer of 2007 I was employed by Högestad Christinehofs Förvaltning AB. My main task was to make an inventory of giant trees at the estate. Högestad and Christinehof,which with their total possession of 13 000 ha of land is the biggest estate in Scania. A giant tree is a tree with a diameter in breast height more then 1 meter. Trees of these dimensions are registered by Swedish authorities. Landowners with a giant tree on their property can receive a subsidy for cutting trees that are in competition with the giant tree.(Levenskog, 2007) Giant trees are important for biodiversity in the landscape and there are important habitats for different insects, birds, bats, lichens and funguses.