Network communication technology has developed for decades. As a result, nowadays, marketers can communicate clients more effectively through the use of social network media to develop a powerful relationship marketing strategy. This dissertation compares relationship marketing strategy with existing marketing theories. Based on the comparison, the dissertation uses qualitative approaches to analyze the cooperation between Newman Co. (It is a social media service firm that helps companies with relationship marketing strategy.) and PetroChina, so as to propose a successful way to integrate the social network media into a relationship marketing strategy. Some materials are gathered from email interview with Mr. Zhao, the Manager of the Service Department from Newman Co. Moreover, the dissertation conducts a case study (It is based on interview with Mr. Peik Hua, the General Manager of Southwest Branch of PetroChina) about what benefit that PetroChina has got through using Newman's social media system (Remote video conferencing system). The purpose of this dissertation is, by analyzing those materials, to identify what social media can do for relationship marketing strategy, and how it works, so as to find out and highlight the benefits of social media networking. Meanwhile, this dissertation attempts to definite how SMEs form large clients relationship, such as Newman co., to approach large clients and gain their trust to incorporate social networking media into their relationship marketing strategy.

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Many Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) today face problems with growth and profitability due to lack of management training within the managerial staff. This study aims to create a holistic model for how to construct a Management Training Plan for such companies and test this model on a case company. The study found four main phases in the creation of a training plan, and thus, the model consists of four parts. The first part deals with the motivation of the trainees to go through with the training. The second part deals with deciding the content of the training plan. The third part looks at how the training plan should be designed. The fourth part looks at how to evaluate the training after it has been conducted. The main findings are that the most interesting areas of training for the managers at Cypress Security are customer communication and financial management. The training should be a mixture between group discussions and self-study material. We believe the results in this study should prove useful when constructing training programs for other companies since the model can be applied to almost any type of company. By providing specialized management training of this kind, SMEs reduce the need for hiring and recruiting managers with academic background and allows them to recruit from within.

Titel: Competitive advantage through strategic sourcing: A SME perspective. SME: The size of an enterprise can be measured by its employment, sales, or profit (Tam etal, 2007). Small and medium sized enterprises range between 10 and 250 employees. FiveSwedish SMEs was used for the multi case study. Background: The competitive market situation has created a shift in companies’ strategythinking. Strategies focus increasingly on core activities and business development. Oneeffect of this is that companies choose to outsource activities they don´t consider to be corebusiness (Van Weele, 2010; Thrulogachantar and Zailani, 2011). Purpose: The purpose was to investigate strategic sourcing plans that SMEs can apply toincrease their competitive advantage. Methodology: The research was conducted through a qualitative study with a deductiveapproach. A multi-case study was made on five SMEs in Kronobergslän, Sweden, with twosemi-structured interviews at each company. Result and conclusion: The investigation resulted in a current view of SMEs sourcing andsuitable recommendations for SMEs to direct their purchasing activities to strategic sourcing.The process of implementing a strategic plan for SMEs can be seen as relatively difficult butthere are purchasing activities that can be improved by a strategic thinking. To keep in mind isthat supplier’s performance matter, but it is the resources of suppliers that are the maincompetitive advantage and it is in this area where supplier development and sourcingstrategies should focus. Further research: However further research could investigate strategic sourcing in adifferent approach, both from a supplier and customer perspective

De positiva interna aspekter som identifieras är: Förändringsbenägenhet inom ledningen, produktionens outnyttjade kapacitet, tillfredsställda anställda, möjlighet att påverka arbetssituationen, invanda mönster och rutiner, öppen attityd till utökning av personalstyrka ur ledningens perspektiv, positiv inställning till familjeföretagandet, tillit mellan familjemedlemmar, kunskap inom flera arbetsområden, möjligheten att fritt få uttrycka åsikter samt ansvarstagande. De negativa interna aspekter som identifieras är: bristande kännedom om företagsekonomiska termer, avsaknad av officiellt ansvarig person för produktionen, beslutsfattande utanför arbetstid, avsaknad av dynamik i diskussioner i styrelsen, likartade tankesätt, avsaknad av affärsidé och vision, uppfattning av att en vision inte är behövlig, avsaknad av gemensam uppfattning om företagets centrala verksamhet, bristande kommunikation samt kortsiktigt målperspektiv. De strategier som genereras av TOWS-matrisen är: att ta vara på och främja personalens invanda mönster och rutiner, utnyttja möjligheten att uttrycka åsikter, värna om öppenheten gentemot utökning av personalstyrkan, skapa dynamik i diskussioner, anställ en ansvarig person för produktionsavdelningen, skapa en gemensam affärsidé och vision, uppmärksamma värdet i att ha en vision, förbättra kommunikationen samtliga anställda emellan samt att sprida kunskap om företagsekonomiska termer till samtliga i ledningen. / The positive internal aspects identified are: Propensity of change, production spare capacity, satisfied employees, the opportunity to influence the work situation, habits and routines, open attitude towards an expansion of the workforce from management's perspective, positive attitude to the family business, trust between family members, knowledge of several different areas of work, the ability to freely express opinions and responsibility. The negative internal aspects are: lack of knowledge of business terms, the absence of an official person in charge of production, decision making outside of working hours, lack of dynamics in the discussions on the board, similar ways of thinking, lack of mission and vision of the business, the perception that a vision is not needed, lack of common perception of the company's core business, lack of communication and short term objectives. The strategies generated by the TOWS matrix are: protecting the openness towards expansion of the workforce, creating dynamics in discussions, hiring someone to be responsible for the productions department, creating a mutual mission and vision for the business, acknowledging the value of having a vision, improving the communication between the employees, utilizing and promote staff habits and routines and using the opportunity to express opinions.

BAKGRUND: För ett företag gäller att tillgodose de behov som finns på marknaden genom att upprätthålla en stark konkurrens mot övriga aktörer och på så sätt minska risken att tappa marknadsandelar till aktörer som bättre tillfredsställer dessa behov. I syfte att uppnå detta krävs mål samt strategier för hur företaget ska agera, samtidigt som det är av yttersta vikt att dessa strategier formuleras och implementeras på ett effektivt sätt. Här lyfts ofta prestationsmätning fram som ett verktyg för att lyckas med denna implementering. Att samtidigt kombinera dessa mått i ett system förespråkas eftersom måtten då kan relateras till varandra och bättre beskriva verksamhetens komplexitet för att därigenom generera maximal nytta. Vissa forskare hävdar emellertid att det finns klara skillnader mellan olika företag där deras karaktäristika drivs av företagets storlek. Samtidigt menar samma forskare att de teoretiska ramverken för prestationsmätningssystem har byggts utifrån stora företag och dess situation, varpå de blivit mindre passande för SME. Denna studie fokuserar därför på detta glapp i forskningen. SYFTE: Vår ambition är att genom denna studie utforma ett prestationsmätningssystem för Care of Sweden i egenskap av SME. Detta ska åstadkommas med hjälp av att analysera Care of Swedens förhållande till typiska karaktärsdrag för dessa företag. Därigenom kommer studien att ge ett bidrag till utvecklad kunskap kring prestationsmätning för SME. STUDIENS UPPLÄGG: Studien utgörs av en fallstudie av aktionsforskningskaraktär där det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom deltagande observationer och intervjuer med anställda på olika positioner i fallföretaget. Under studien har det funnits en växelverkan mellan insamling av teoretisk bakgrund och empiriskt material från fallföretaget och därav har en lärandeprocess uppstått där empiriskt material inspirerat till ny insamling av teoretisk bakgrund och vice versa. RESULTAT & SLUTSATSER: Fallföretagets förhållande till de karaktärsdrag som behandlats av olika forskare har studerats för att utforma ett passande prestationsmätningssystem. Trots fallföretagets ringa storlek visar det sig att de uppvisar få av de typiska karaktärsdragen för SME. Utifrån denna analys byggs ett balanserat styrkort med utgångspunkt i en ”bottom-up” approach, vilken identifierar företagets underliggande strategier, vision och nuläge.

Vi vill få en ökad förståelse i hur svenska SME:s etablerar sig på den afrikanska marknaden. Uppsatsen är en kvalitativ studie där vi utfört intervjuer med regionala företag och organisationer. De företag och organisationer som ingår i arbetet är Sustainable Sweden, Norba, Norden samt Regionförbundet Kalmar län. Anledningen till att dessa valdes var att de har kontakt med den afrikanska marknaden. De teoriområden vår uppsats utgår ifrån är huvudsakligen etableringsform, etableringsprocess och kultur. Empirin utgör en sammanställning och jämförelse mellan de intervjuade företagen i fråga. De slutsatser vi har funnit är; vikten av kunskap vid en etablering i Afrika, vikten av rätt etableringsform, lärande i relationerna samt fördelarna med en tidig etablering i Afrika.

Background: Today also smaller companies (SME) are implementing enterprise resource planning systems. One difference is that the SME have smaller resources regarding people and finance which can cause some problems if they are not aware of this. The company we have studied have undergone an organizational change and simultaneously implemented an ERP. Two parts of the implementation of the ERP worked just as intended and the third and last part experienced some major difficulties. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine the situation in which a small company undertake two major changes almost simultaneously, one of which is the implementation of an ERP. This matter when an SME is implementing an ERP is not well researched since it is only in the more recent years that this type of organization feel the need for it and therefore have ventured into this. The aim of this thesis is to add to the theoretical field of small organizations introducing enterprise information systems. Method: This is a qualitative study conducted in the form of a case study. The main data sources have been semi structured interviews, combined with observations and a document study. The data have been analyzed inductively. Conclusion: The implementation of this ERP has gone bad in one area due to several cooperating mistakes. SME’s have some circumstances that does not apply to the larger organizations. In a SME every person carries greater importance in the success or failure of the implementation. Preparation is equally important in an SME as in larger organizations. Suggestions for further research: The field of ERP in SME's have not been very thoroughly studied since it is a comparatively new field. Further research in this matter would be of some value.

This research is based on the case study of P company¡¦s daily operation and business data, to construct its cost evaluation and decision making model. The goal of this research is to fully understand and to model the decision making processes of these small to middle size companies(SME Business) that provide integration services to their customers. The outcomes of this research can be used in prediction as well as optimization of cost evaluation and risk management. The research finds out, through evaluation and modeling, it is possible to reveal the interaction among cost factors, to estimate the lowest cost based on historical data, and to manage risks by coordinating the business partners, in order to make the highest profit from the project. The conclusions of this research are: 1. The high technical and know-how service industrials are relative new and comprehensive in terms of different business domains. Therefore, the risk of cost change is always higher than the other industrials. An accurate decision making model and to estimate project cost precisely is crucial for the business. 2. The case study of P company demonstrates the possibility of using common tools like Microsoft Excel, to manage large multifaceted business data in order to construct an accurate cost decision making model. This may provide a viable and practical solution for small sized businesses that do not have database systems for their decision making application. 3. It is suggested by this research that there are four easy construct, simple use decision making models, which are proven to be useful to lower the risk of budget decision making and to reduce the bias and deviation when these decision is simply based on personal working experience.

This study uses the current laws and regulations of Mainland China as the researching objectives trying to figure out some possible methods to be the references for those who are interested in investing into Chinese market in the near future. Although PRC has agreed to release trading right after joined WTO, the detailed regulations are not very clear yet. For those foreign traders may uncarefully disobey China¡¦s laws due to misunderstand the laws or just believe people¡¦s words in the market. This may put themselves in a high risk situation. After analyzes the laws, this study designs a suitable open questionnaire to have in-depth interviews with some high level managers currently working in Mainland China to explore Taiwanese SME¡¦s activities. On the method of qualitative research, we have to concern on three creteria: A. correct description, B.criticism and analysis, C. discovery¡CThis study found: information is difficult to be collected in China market¡Bthe credit is poor of your business objects¡Bchannels and sources of goods are difficult to control and difficulty to collect money. These problems will increase the transaction cost. While to build Guangxi or relationship and establish commercial friendship in Chinese market will help you to reduce the transaction cost. China market is a rapid growing but also high competitive market. To find a proper entry model is very important topic.