The offer of vacation packages is a marketing tool called bundling, selling at least two separate products at one single price (Guiltinan, 1987). Sellers adopt bundling strategies in order to sell more at lower costs, to contract consumer surplus, and to create value for consumers. Consumers purchase a package based on the trade-off between the perceived benefits and costs involved in purchasing the package compared to assembling different products/service. In other words, the perceived value of the package is the reason for consumers to purchase a package or not. The study serves two purposes. One is to examine the dimensionality of perceived value as a construct, in the pre-purchase stage. The other is to investigate the relationships between bundling strategies and perceived value, and perceived value and purchase intention of a vacation package. Bundling strategies taken by sellers include how many items to put in a package and what price discount for the package compared to the sum of all separate products. The findings of the study show that perceived value in service setting is composed of perceived acquisition value and perceived functional value, instead of perceived acquisition value and perceived transaction value proposed by scholars such as Thaler (1985) and Grewal et al. (1998). This is one of the theoretical contributions by the study. Another contribution of the study is the exploratory examination of the interaction effect between pricing strategies and product strategies for a bundle. The study provides evidence that bundles without a discount are perceived as having very low value and consumers expect a discount, large or small, from buying a bundle. And the larger the number of products in a package, the larger the discount size consumers expect to get. / Ph. D.

Acquisitions & Mergers, a tool of strategic management, that is the basis of my research. The first question that my research addresses is the acquisition activity in the European Union. The acquisition activity is shown at two levels. In the basic level the numbers of transactions in each country were compared according to freely selected criteria. In the next level, the research deals with the existence of a relationship between the acquisition activity and macroeconomic indicators. The research study presents in detail three new economic indicators for comparison of acquisition activity: M-total, M-score, M-index. The second question that my research addresses is the percentage of successful and unsuccessful deals in the Czech Republic. My research evaluating acquisitions & mergers is based on the financial results. Financial results are looked at from three aspects according to how they may benefit specific interest groups: owners, creditors, employees. The next issue is a verdict on which firms, in terms of financial results in the pre-transaction period, have potential for successful development in the post-transaction period, and which seem to have no potential. The research study presents in detail the new method for acquisitions & mergers evaluating: Acquisition Value Analysis.

Bakgrund: Växande grödor är en del av biologiska tillgångar och livscykel för en gröda kan sträcka sig över ett år vilket kan vara utmanande vid upprättning av årsredovisning. Värdering av växande grödor har många utmaningar som kan påverka värderingsprocessen, exempelvis naturliga faktorer såsom klimatförhållanden eller växtskadegörare som människan inte kontrollerar. Vidare finns det också andra faktorer som påverkar värderingsprocessen såsom brist på tydliga regler, vägledningar inom Årsredovisningslagen (1995:1554) och Bokföringslagen (1999:1078). Detta visar att det finns komplexitet och svårigheter vid värdering av växande grödor. Värderingsteorin och teori om redovisning i praktik ligger till grund för studien. Problemformulering: Hur sker värderingen av växande grödor vid årsredovisningen? Syftet: Syftet med denna studie är att redogöra för hur värderingen av växande grödor sker och därmed öka förståelsen för redovisningsutövandet av denna tillgång. Metod: Studien använde en kvalitativ metod. Datainsamlingen genomfördes med hjälp av två datainsamlingsmetoder: dokumentstudier och semistrukturerade intervjuer. Dokumentstudier användes för att samla in sekundärdata genom att granska tio årsredovisningar från olika lantbruksaktiebolag. Semistrukturerade intervjuer användes för att samla primärdata om hur värdering av växande grödor sker genom att intervjua tio olika respondenter. Dessa respondenter bestod av tre lantbrukare, fem ekonomer och två experter. Slutsats: Studiens slutsats visar tre olika redovisningsprocesser för växande grödor beroende på lantbruksaktiebolags ekonomiska ställning. Det kan antas att värderingen av växande grödor används för att kunna jämna ut resultaten när det uppstår ekonomiska problem. Därefter påverkar kvaliteten på växande grödor om anskaffningsvärde eller nettoförsäljningsvärde skall tillämpas. / Background: Growing crops is part of biological assets and the lifecycle of a growing crop can be over an year long, which can be a challenge when creating an annual report. Valuation of growing crops has many challenges that can affect the valuation process, for exemple natural factors such as climate conditions or plant pests that cannot be controlled by humans. Further there are other factors that affect valuation process such as unclear regulations or guidance in Årsredovisningslagen (1995:1554) och Bokföringslagen (1999:1078). All this shows complexity and hardship when valuing growing crops. Valuation theory and accounting practice theory is the basis of the study.  Problem formulation: How to do valuations of growing crops when creating an annual report?  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain how the valuation of growing crops takes place and thereby increase the understanding of the accounting practice of this asset.  Method: The study used a qualitative method. The data gathering used two different gathering methods: document study and semistructured interviews. Document study was used for gathering secondary data and done by reviewing ten different annual reports from different farming stock corporations. The semi structured interview was used to gather the primary data of valuation of crops by interviewing ten different respondents. These respondents were composed of three farmers, five economics and two experts.  Conclusion: The study conclusion shows three different accounting processes for growing crops that depend on finances of the farming stock company. It may assume that the valuation of growing corpses are used to create a more stable financial position when financial problems occur. Thereafter the quality of growing crops will affect if the historical cost or fair cost will be used.