<p>Intern marknadsföring är ett välutforskat ämne. Majoriteten av de genomförda studierna är dock kvantitativa och har på ett eller annat sätt studerat samband mellan olika faktorer inom intern marknadsföring. Detta har bidragit till att en mängd olika faktorer och aktiviteter idag benämns under intern marknadsföring. Vi menar på att en djupare undersökning behövs göras för att ta reda på vad intern marknadsföring egentligen är och vilka delar som är centrala. Syftet med rapporten är att undersöka vad som får frontpersonalen att trivas på sin arbetsplats samt vilka resurser de behöver för att kunna leverera en bra servicekvalitet. För att kunna besvara rapportens syfte har en grundad teoristudie genomförts innehållande djupintervjuer. Intervjuer har skett på ett kundtjänstföretag vid namn Multipartner med åtta av de anställda. Undersökningen visade att ledningsstöd och kommunikation är viktiga interna marknadsföringsaktiviteter för frontpersonalen och för deras arbetstillfredsställelse, vilket stödjer den tidigare forskningen inom intern marknadsföring. Vidare visade det sig att den fysiska miljön och stämningen på arbetsplatsen är kritiska faktorer för frontpersonalens arbetstillfredsställelse. Slutligen var utbildning om produkter och system samt att det finns utvecklingsmöjligheter viktiga delar för att frontpersonalen ska kunna leverera en bra servicekvalitet.</p><p> </p>

<p>Nowadays, corporate responsibility is not only an issue for large international corporations but also for small- medium sized enterprise (SMEs) with limited resources and less market power. However sustainable development is not a compulsory lesson for SMEs to take, but it is one of the market approaches for a company to thrive and survive. As Donckels represented (1997) that entrepreneurship of SMEs do all their strength to be on its way to the next millennium. The purpose of this thesis is to describe and understand how sustainable business approaches can influence and enhance SMEs development despite of their barriers and limitations which are associated with their day to day management. For that reason, researchers are aiming to analyze closely and get pragmatic insight into the three dimensions of sustainable development (social, environmental, economic) and how the interaction among these three dimensions will benefit SMEs as a whole.</p>

No description available.

<p>Background: Today, M&A carried out by European companies stands for a significant share of the total M&A (Gaughan, 2002). One example, is the M&A between two of Europe’s superior truck manufacturers, MAN and Scania. In fact, M&A with Swedish companies have reached a level, close to all time high, during the year of 2006. However, it still prevails an ambiguity whether M&A are followed by success or by failure. An explanation is synergies in general and cost synergies in particular since they are seen as the driving force behind M&A. But still several authors argue that companies fail to understand and later integrate the firm specific resources that actually create the synergies. It can, therefore, be argued that resources play an extremely vital role in M&A and, thus that the resource based view theory would serve as a great analysing tool when seeking to understand the essence of cost-based synergies.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose with this study is to describe the emergence of cost-based synergies and to analyze factors that have an impact on the realization of cost-based synergies.</p><p>Method: Six companies operating in various businesses and with a thorough M&A experiences have been examined through qualitative semi structured interviews. The empirical findings have been analysed with the support of the theoretical framework.</p><p>Conclusions: The extent to which cost-based synergies can be realised depend on various factors and activities. More precise, the size and the type of firm regarding the acquirer and the target firm as well as the target firm’s ownership structure and bidding competition from other firms will have an impact on the search for cost-based synergies. The due diligence has been argued to serve as an important activity, particularly the technical audit, but also as being more associated with legal matters than with cost synergies. Nevertheless, the cost-based synergies that actually were realised can be found in a number of primary and support activities in the firms. Though, most of the synergistic gains have arisen in the areas of production and procurement through various types of economies of scale. More precise, the firms have taken advantage of both the acquirers’ as well as the target firms’ resources and, thus divested and redeployed in both directions. It is also evident that merely eliminating administrative duplications will not result in any major cost synergies. Instead it is the increased purchasing volumes and better utilised resources in production that result in the major cost synergies. However, cost synergies have also been achieved by redeploying resources in order to gain learning curve advantages and by transferring firm specific knowledge between firms in a conglomerate. These various types of synergies will require different integration times. To consolidate sourcing can be realised within a short time frame while eliminating department duplications will take longer time and merging production units will take the longest time. The problems that have occurred when doing this have arisen from cultural clashes and when trying to integrate IT systems. These cost synergies have exclusively been found in horizontal acquisitions, which correlates to the way the synergies have arisen. That is to say, by eliminating and integrating similar resources and activities.</p> / <p>Bakgrund: Idag så står M&A gjorda av Europeiska företag för en signifikant del av det totala antalet M&A (Gaughan, 2002). Ett exempel är diskussionen mellan två av Europas största lastbilstillverkare, MAN och Scania. M&A där svenska företag är inblandade har faktiskt nått en rekordnivå under 2006. Trots detta så kvarstår det fortfarande en tvetydighet om M&A innebär direkt framgång eller snarare nederlag för de inblandade. En förklaring till detta är synergier i allmänhet och kostnadssynergier i synnerhet eftersom de utgör en stor del av drivkraften mellan M&A. Men fortfarande så finns där ett stort antal författare som hävdar att företagen inte lyckas att förstå och senare integrera de för företagen specifika resurser som leder till själva synergin. Det kan därför hävdas att resurser spelar en extremt viktig roll i M&A och således att ”the resource based view theory” kan utgöra ett utmärkt verktyg när man försöker analysera uppkomsten av kostnadssynergier.</p><p>Syfte: Syftet med den här studien är att beskriva uppkomsten av kostnadssynergier och att analysera faktorer som har en inverkan på uppkomsten av kostnadssynergier.</p><p>Metod: Sex företag, verksamma i olika branscher och med gedigen M&A erfarenhet har undersökts genom kvalitativa semi-strukturerade intervjuer. De empiriska resultaten har därefter blivit analyserade med hjälp av den teoretiska referensramen.</p><p>Slutsats: Graden av kostnadssynergier som kan och vill realiseras beror på olika faktorer och aktiviteter. Mer exakt så har både köparens och målföretagets storlek samt deras företagstyp en stor inverkan. Vidare, så spelar ägarstrukturen, och eventuell budgivning från andra företag en stor roll i jakten på synergier. En så kallad ”Due Diligence” har sagts utgöra en viktig aktivitet, särskilt den tekniska granskningen men också sagts vara mer associerad med legala aspekter än med identifiering av kostnadssynergier. De faktiska synergierna som verkligen var realiserade har identifierats i ett flertal primära och sekundära aktiviteter hos företagen. Huvuddelen uppnåddes dock genom skalfördelar i produktion och inköp genom att utnyttja båda företagens resurser. Dessa resurser har sedan omfördelas eller avskaffats hos målföretag såväl som hos köparen. Der är också tydligt att bara avskaffa administrativa duplikationer inte kommer att resultera i några större kostnadssynergier. Istället är det de större inköpsvolymerna och de bättre utnyttjade resurserna i produktionen som har resulterat i de största besparingarna. Men synergier har också uppnåtts genom att omfördela resurser och på så sätt lyckats uppnå så kallade ”Learning curve advantages” och genom att dela med sig av olika typer av kunskaper mellan företag i så kallade konglomerat. Dessa olika typer av kostnadssynergier har dock visat sig kräva olika lång tid för att kunna bli realiserade. Att konsolidera inköp kan snabbt generera fördelar medans avskaffandet av identiska aktiviteter inom företagen har visat sig kräva längre tid. Längst tid tar det att sammanföra produktionsaktiviteter. De problem som frekvent uppstår under integrationsarbetet är kulturkrockar samt tekniska problem i samband med integration av IT system. Alla de identifierade synergier har uteslutande uppstått i horisontella M&A, vilket stämmer överens med hur de uppstått. Det vill säga, genom att avskaffa och integrera liknande resurser och aktiviteter.</p>

<p>Problem: The Fashion Company (TFC) is a Swedish fast growing Fashion Company with suppliers and customers all over the world. Until now, TFC has kept up a reputation of a reliable distribution process to customers in which delivery dates are continuously met. Tradition-ally, the company has relied upon an early forecast as a part of their planning process. In-accuracy in that forecast leads to implications for the ordering process towards suppliers, which so far luckily have been manageable. However, the forecast seems to follow a trend of more and more inaccuracy for each season. If this trend continues, TFC are reluctantly aware of that the problem will affect their ability to fulfill customer delivery promises and damage their reputation.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to investigate the forecasting process and problems and also the underlying conditions affecting this process.</p><p>Method: A qualitative method was chosen on the basis of the purpose. To get a deeper understand-ing of TFC and its supply chain and to identify the main problem area, a pilot study was used prior to the main study. Mainly personal semi-structured interviews have been con-ducted. Email conversations have been a complementary to the personal interviews. The respondents from TFC were four people from the logistic department and one from sales department.</p><p>Conclusion: TFC’s current forecasting practice can be improved. However, as the nature of fashion products in themselves are very hard to predict TFC’s main problem will not be solved by continuously depending on accurate forecasting. Instead dependency on forecasting should be decreased by focusing on cutting lead times or reaching more flexible terms with suppliers. By both improving forecasting accuracy, in accordance with recommendations proposed in this study, and at the same time re-considering and upgrading the role of lead times and flexibility as factors in the supplier selection process, TFC can minimize their experienced problem.</p>

<p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., Stockholm, 1954</p>

No description available.

In 2003 a national agreement between government, employers and workforce unions introduced significant changes to the school workforce. A key outcome was a significant increase in the number of Teaching Assistants (TAs), who could take on some aspects of the work of teachers. However, there is very little empirical data about TAs, most of what is available is based upon limited datasets. Most previous analyses presume that they are an homogenous group, thus ignoring the possibility that there may be important differences in the types of TA and their deployment. The research reported in this thesis documents the history of TAs and explores their current role. It is argued that a typology of TA roles can be derived, which can help their future deployment in schools and form the basis for the development of a career pathway specific to TAs. The national agreement was to lead to a new ‗professionalism‘ (DfES 2003) and this research provides new empirical analysis which specifically explores the extent to which TAs have become ‗professional‘ in the light of these reforms. In pursuing this objective the concept of professionalism in relation to TAs is critically appraised by examining the views of TAs and the teachers and CPD leaders they work with. It is argued that these perspectives on professionalism and professional status impact upon how schools deploy TAs. It is also argued that these perspectives lead to specific patterns of remuneration and working conditions which are different from those anticipated by orthodox labour market theory. A proposition supported by analyses of TAs‘ pay and job satisfaction. This thesis identifies that there has been an uncoupling of the factors normally associated with pay and satisfaction at work, leading to a mutually reinforcing relationship between pay and satisfaction which generates inertia and has the effect of negatively disadvantaging TAs in employment.

The educational environment is very dynamic and challenging with intensifying competition, as well as an increase use of public comparisons between institutions. Therefore, understanding and attempting to improve student satisfaction is becoming critical to educational institutions. In Malaysia, education is a leading industry and plays a vital role in national development. As the private education sector is growing rapidly, there is a mounting interest to use service quality improvement measures to enhance competitiveness. The main aim of this study is to identify and evaluate the drivers that influence business student satisfaction in the Malaysian private educational environment. Specifically, this study seeks to measure the influence that each driver has on business student satisfaction and the importance of each driver to students; identify the underlying dimensions of the satisfaction drivers that influence business student satisfaction; evaluate the influence of factors such as gender, year of study, programme of study, semester grade and nationality on the results; identify areas of service priority towards better allocation of resources; and to discuss the practical implications of the results. A positivist approach is adopted in this study, whereby 1,200 questionnaires have been distributed to undergraduate business students at four private educational institutions in Malaysia. A total of 823 responses were found to be usable for analysis giving a response rate of 69%. This study adopted and extended a “service-product bundle” model to evaluate the satisfaction level and the importance of the specific service attributes at the educational institutions. Results were analysed using SPSS and quadrant analysis. The results revealed that students are satisfied and placed more importance on the physical facilities of an institution, followed by the teaching and learning drivers. Analysis of the underlying dimensions of the satisfaction drivers resulted in the adoption of a 12-factor solution after conducting several trial rotations. Significant differences exist between the demographic factors and six factors. Quadrant analysis conducted showed eight out of the 12 factors require attention by the educational institutions towards better allocation of their resources. This study contributes to the marketing literature by providing an examination of several marketing constructs. This is an important contribution as it provides an improved understanding of student satisfaction and perceptions of the factors linking to the physical facilities and facilitating goods as well as the teaching and learning issues. From the professional practice contributions, this study will benefit the business schools and educational institutions in general as it provides practical information about what and how students of different levels of study; programme of study; gender; nationality; and level of academic performance consider important in their level of satisfaction and perceptions.

Nigeria has consistently ranked 6th amongst oil-producing nations of the world but despite the enormous revenues from the sale of petroleum resources in the past five decades, the country has made little advance in terms of infrastructure, quality of life and the human development index. This has been attributed to endemic levels of corruption through misappropriation of public funds for private use, most of which have been associated with public procurement. The public procurement process in Nigeria has long been associated with corruption which involves misappropriation of public funds for private use. For example, the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index reports for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 indicate that much of public sector corruption in Nigeria is associated with the public procurement process. Between 2010 and 2012, Nigeria’s position on the corruption perception index of 183 countries surveyed by the TI, declined by 9 places to 143, an indication that current initiatives aimed at solving the problem have not been effective. Efforts at improving the practice of public procurement in Nigeria and developing it into a reputable profession cannot be successful without considering the more fundamental question of the factors that may have made corruption in the process resistant to efforts aimed at curbing it. It is this gap that this study hopes to address in order to promote transparency in the process of public procurement in Nigeria. A total of 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted across four organisations. Findings from the interviews were further subjected to verification discussions at two other organisations. Drawing from the case study analysis; greed, lack of inbuilt checks and wide discretionary powers of procurement officers under the direction of management emerged as possible risk factors motivating corruption in the public procurement process thus offering an explanation of the vulnerability of the process to corruption. Building upon the theoretical debates, public procurement-related corruption in Nigeria is contextualised in a framework which proposes a corruption risk-factor vulnerability check-list for the management of public procurement in Nigeria to achieve verifiable transparency and accountability.