Research has concluded that Meaningless differentiation with trivial attributes sometimes can be a successful strategy. However, the effect varies with respect to certain aspects such as the price of the product and the decision context. How the characteristics of the consumer influence the effect of trivial attributes has until now been unknown. This thesis investigates how the consumer?s level of knowledge and personal involvement influence the effects of trivial attributes on product preferences and product attitudes.

The purpose was to create differentiation concepts due to the upcoming deregulation of the Swedish pharmacy monopoly. Apart from the theory, the study is based on interviews with pharmacy customers and experiences from former pharmacy market deregulations in some of the other Scandinavian countries. The result shows that a differentiation concept that could work in a shorter perspective is a low service quality but with lower prices and a unique location. In a longer perspective it seems like the concept should change to a more service orientated differentiation concept with a variation of high quality services to gain competitive advantage..

The number of products offered by retailers has increased immensely during the last two decades, which has resulted in an increase of naming decisions having to be made. The importance of product names has become more significant for retailers offering their products online, as these are more visible to the customer in comparison to products offered offline. Consequently, it is of great value for retailers to gain knowledge about how a product name affects the customers' perception of the product. The purpose of this study is to examine whether product names affect customers perception of the relevant products in the online environment. This has been illustrated by applying the following theories to the relevant product names; meaningful and meaningless brand names as well as concrete and abstract words.

Career counselors in schools have for a long time reported a feeling that their work is not as important as teachers work. According to the Swedish Curriculum for the compulsory schools, all staff is responsible for viable counseling for pupils. Therefore, this study focuses on teachers, headmasters and a school executive director view of school career counseling, how they experience the fulfillment of curriculum goals and how it interferes/interacts with their work. To analyze the empirical material we collected from interviews, we used theoretical terms of organizational theory with focus on social structures, differentiation and integration. We also used the career theory of Super.

Some theorist, like George Ritzer and Max Weber, claim that everything has its optimal process and that all companies therefore will strive towards standardization. Researchers like Paco Underhill and Pine & Gilmore on the other hand, claim that an increasingly global competition forces businesses to focus more on consumer demands, experiences and differentiation. This thesis challenges these statements with empirical data by looking at shopping malls and their strategies as well as consumer preferences. It arrives at the conclusion that output is primarily driven by customer demand, and that consumers value a certain part of predictability..

Abstract Semester and year: Spring, 2008Writers: Victor Andersson and Filip ForslundTutor: Thomas HelgessonProgram: Marketing program, Halmstad University - School of Business and EngineeringTitle: Differentiation from a consumer perspective - How important is differentiation from a consumer?s perspektive when choosing a residence? Presentation of problem: How important is differentiation from a consumer?s perspective when choosing a residence?Purpose: The purpose is on basis from previous theories on the subject to describe what kind of differentiating that from a consumerperspective is the most important when choosing a residence. Key words: Differentiation, brand, apartment market Methodology: This thesis is built on an qualitative method, where eight open individual interviews have been made. Our choice of respondents was based on what kind of respondents that could give us the most accurate information on the subject which we based on relevant variables. Theory: The framing of the theories is based on a marketing perspective within the area of differentiating and focuses on how companies use different tools to differentiate their offer to create competitive advantages.

Abstract Semester and year: Spring, 2008Writers: Victor Andersson and Filip ForslundTutor: Thomas HelgessonProgram: Marketing program, Halmstad University - School of Business and EngineeringTitle: Differentiation from a consumer perspective - How important is differentiation from a consumer?s perspektive when choosing a residence? Presentation of problem: How important is differentiation from a consumer?s perspective when choosing a residence?Purpose: The purpose is on basis from previous theories on the subject to describe what kind of differentiating that from a consumerperspective is the most important when choosing a residence. Key words: Differentiation, brand, apartment market Methodology: This thesis is built on an qualitative method, where eight open individual interviews have been made. Our choice of respondents was based on what kind of respondents that could give us the most accurate information on the subject which we based on relevant variables. Theory: The framing of the theories is based on a marketing perspective within the area of differentiating and focuses on how companies use different tools to differentiate their offer to create competitive advantages.

The purpose of this study is to examine discursive change regarding mathematics and language in the Swedish primary school curriculums. The study analyzes pedagogical discourses represented within the curriculums and how they represent different pedagogical theories in relation to discursive and social practice. The analysis shows a change towards a more language oriented curriculum discourse in mathematics which still carries an intertextual and discursive heritage from the prior curriculums. In relation to the early curriculums of the Swedish primary schools the former explicit differentiation of students becomes implicit as the language skills become of increasingly importance..

Due to the increase of the emission of greenhouse gas and climate changes more and more customers demand environmentally sustainable products. The increased demand of sustainable products from cradle to grave is something that has affected the food sector. Many retailers within the food sector feel that they are less or more forced to be environmentally friendly. Nowadays many retailers have chosen to show customers and stakeholders that they want to ?do good? by publishing annual sustainability reports. The Swedish food market has been one of many markets investing in being environmentally friendly.

This paper discusses the strategy and strategic change in the Swedish freight forwarding business and analysis factors that influence the forces of the business. Three companies of various sizes are chosen to be investigated as a case study, outline that cost leadership and differentiation are both important strategies for companies to compete in the market. However, companies outpacing competition do not only pursue either of the two strategies, the need the ability to add one (cost leadership) to the other (differentiation) in relationship to environmental change over time..

Multi-brand portfolios are characterized by comprising many brands in the same product category. Companies that have chosen to organize their products according to this strategy are facing both possibilities, such as expanding the accessible market size, and challenges such as how to organize the brands, their individual roles and their relation and position to the other brands in the category to maximize revenues. To address these aspects of multi-brand portfolios, I have investigated four product categories where multiple brands are represented at Mölnlycke Health Care, Unilever, Fagerhult and L?Oréal; how the multi-brand portfolios are organized, how the segmentation, positioning and product differentiation are done and what advantages and disadvantages that are associated with this strategy. My conclusions are that multi-brand portfolios can be organized in many different ways and to become successful, they have to be set in relation to the company?s whole brand architecture.

Until the sixties potatoes have had a unthreatened position at the Swedish dining tables, but then different alternatives such as rice and pasta have become popular. In 2005 the Swedish potato-consumption have more than hafted compared with the sixties, we have gone from circa 90 to 40 kilograms per person and year. This paper aims to provide those who are involved within the potatoe business with an overview of the attitude and behaviour towards potatoes that are being held by Swedish consumers. In order to reach to the conclusion, in- store interviews had been held with customers in the cities of Stockholm and Malmö. The interviews showed that the typical potato-consumer prefers to choose and in pick their own potatoes to a bag in the store in favour of the pre-packed alternatives. Based on the outcome of the interviews a number of conclusions could be drawn. The consumers were of the perception that the pre-packed alternatives were too big for their households.

Local differentiation may occur during a short period of time and is part of the formation of new species. The isopod Asellus aquaticus is an example of a species in which local adaptation has occurred during a short period of time. An establishment of stonewort (Chara spp.) vegetation in Lake Tåkern (in the 2000) resulted in two different Asellus ecotypes; a lighter pigmented, smaller one that lives among stoneworts grazing periphytic algae, and a darker, larger ecotype that feeds on decaying leaves in reed (Phragmites australis vegetation. The purpose of this study was to examine whether there are differences in growth between ecotypes, depending on whether the food was periphytic algae or leaves, and to study the choice of substrates between the two food types. For the study, animals from both habitats were brought in from Lake Tåkern to the laboratory.

Through the lenses of religion?s role in society, the purpose of this thesis is to examine, the role of the Church of Sweden in providing support to people at the end of life. Questions asked are:  "What types of spiritual support is offered by the Church of Sweden during terminal care provided in patients' homes and how is this support expressed in church orders, assembly instructions, plans of operations and congregation letters?" and " How can the work of the Church of Sweden be understood, based on theories of religion's role in society? The method used is a content analysis of the Church Order, assembly instructions, plans of operations and congregation letters in 17 different congregations within the diocese of Lund. I then engage in a discussion with theories on differentiation and the privatization of religion as a means to interpret my results.

The Swedish boat industry is considered quite conservative and subject to only limited development. The purpose of the study is to explain the structure of the boat industry, to analyze and evaluate ways of competing and provide recommendations for developing a competitive strategy. The aim of this thesis is to explain how to be competitive in the Swedish boat industry. To be able to do so three areas are used to deepen as well as broaden the understanding. The three areas within competitiveness we have chosen to highlight are differentiation, individualization and distribution.