Aided by the development of information technology, the balance of power in the market place is rapidly shifting from marketers towards consumers and nowhere is this more obvious than in the online environment (Denegri-Knott, Zwick, & Schroeder, 2006; Moynagh & Worsley, 2002; Newcomer, 2000; Samli, 2001). From the inception and continuous development of the Internet, consumers are becoming more empowered. They can choose what they want to click on the Internet, they can shop and transact payments, watch and download video, chat with others, be it friends or even total strangers. Especially in online communities, like-minded consumers share and exchange information, ideas and opinions. One form of online community is the online brand community, which gathers specific brand lovers. As with any social unit, people form different roles in the community and exert different effects on each other. Their interaction online can greatly influence the brand and marketers. A comprehensive understanding of the operation of this special group form is essential to advancing marketing thought and practice (Kozinets, 1999). While online communities have strongly shifted the balance of power from marketers to consumers, the current marketing literature is sparse on power theory (Merlo, Whitwell, & Lukas, 2004). Some studies have been conducted from an economic point of view (Smith, 1987), however their application to marketing has been limited. Denegri-Knott (2006) explored power based on the struggle between consumers and marketers online and identified consumer power formats such as control over the relationship, information, aggregation and participation. Her study has built a foundation for future power studies in the online environment. This research project bridges the limited marketing literature on power theory with the growing recognition of online communities among marketing academics and practitioners. Specifically, this study extends and redefines consumer power by exploring the concept of power in online brand communities, in order to better understand power structure and distribution in this context. This research investigates the applicability of the factors of consumer power identified by Denegri-Knott (2006) to the online brand community. In addition, by acknowledging the model proposed by McAlexander, Schouten, & Koenig (2002), which emphasized that community study should focus on the role of consumers and identifying multiple relationships among the community, this research further explores how member role changes will affect power relationships as well as consumer likings of the brand. As a further extension to the literature, this study also considers cultural differences and their effect on community member roles and power structure. Based on the study of Hofstede (1980), Australia and China were chosen as two distinct samples to represent differences in two cultural dimensions, namely individualism verses collectivism and high power distance verses low power distance. This contribution to the research also helps answer the research gap identified by Muñiz Jr & O'Guinn (2001), who pointed out the lack of cross cultural studies within the online brand community context. This research adopts a case study methodology to investigate the issues identified above. Case study is an appropriate research strategy to answer “how” and “why” questions of a contemporary phenomenon in real-life context (Yin, 2003). The online brand communities of “Haloforum.net” in Australia and “NGA.cn” in China were selected as two cases. In-depth interviews were used as the primary data collection method. As a result of the geographical dispersion and the preference of a certain number of participants, online synchronic interviews via MSN messenger were utilized along with the face-to-face interviews. As a supplementary approach, online observation was carried over two months, covering a two week period prior to the interviews and a six week period following the interviews. Triangulation techniques were used to strengthen the credibility and validity of the research findings (Yin, 2003). The findings of this research study suggest a new definition of power in an online brand community. This research also redefines the consumer power types and broadens the brand community model developed by McAlexander et al. (2002) in an online context by extending the various relationships between brand and members. This presents a more complete picture of how the perceived power relationships are structured in the online brand community. A new member role is discovered in the Australian online brand community in addition to the four member roles identified by Kozinets (1999), in contrast however, all four roles do not exist in the Chinese online brand community. The research proposes a model which links the defined power types and identified member roles. Furthermore, given the results of the cross-cultural comparison between Australia and China showed certain discrepancies, the research suggests that power studies in the online brand community should be country-specific. This research contributes to the body of knowledge on online consumer power, by applying it to the context of an online brand community, as well as considering factors such as cross cultural difference. Importantly, it provides insights for marketing practitioners on how to best leverage consumer power to serve brand objective in online brand communities. This, in turn, should lead to more cost effective and successful communication strategies. Finally, the study proposes future research directions. The research should be extended to communities of different sizes, to different extents of marketer control over the community, to the connection between online and offline activities within the brand community, and (given the cross-cultural findings) to different countries. In addition, a greater amount of research in this area is recommended to determine the generalizability of this study.

A higher share of renewable energy in power generation is one of most ambitious goals for sustainable development under the increasing pressure of climate change. On the deregulated electricity market in Sweden, the consumers are able to choose their electricity from a specific supplier and a specific energy source, which gives them the opportunity to execute their consumer power to have positive impacts on increasing energy efficiency and renewable electricity generation by stopping buying electricity produced from fossil fuels. A new paradigm is thus proposed in this paper which provides a new perspective on purchase of the product electricity. The new paradigm makes electricity a specified product for a specific customer, the electricity audited is never mixed with that not audited, because all electricity which is audited can be traced. The aim of this study is to provide a greater understanding of the new paradigm on the deregulated electricity market. By conducting a willingness to pay survey and several deep interviews, it analyzed the main factors hindering the customers’understanding of the new market dynamics in terms of active choice in ‘green’ electricity and stopping buying fossil electricity. The results and discussions show that the new paradigm could facilitate shedding light on some important implications for strategic decision making in power companies, for policy-makers as well as customers.

This licentiate thesis presents a new way of understanding Electric Power. The new perspective on Electric Power highlights the similarities between our banking system and our power system. The two different systems share a common abstraction. In the case of the banking system this abstraction is fully accepted. In the case of the power system this abstraction is not yet fully accepted. This thesis aims to clarify this abstraction and show the parallelism between the two systems and the two abstractions. This thesis examines what the Product Electricity really is. What is it, in reality, we sign a power contract to buy and pay for, and how is this product transferred to us? This new understanding challenges the old, physical understanding of Electric Power. Understanding the similarity between our banking system and our power system becomes important when we examine our Power Markets, and it becomes absolutely vital to understand for those investing in new power generation. In no way does this new understanding of Electric Power question or challenge the physics behind power generation and power transfer. Maxwell’s equations holds true. The laws of Ohm and Kirchhoff are still the laws by which the electrical and power system engineers must abide. But when it comes to the Product Electricity, the product traded on our Power Markets, the product that we sign power contracts to buy and pay for, there is a major difference. The new understanding challenges the old quite dramatically. It does in fact show that the old, physical perspective on the Product Electricity is flawed and has been a misconception for over a century. My primary goal in this thesis is to thoroughly explain the new perspective and by so doing clarify and dissolve the old misconception of what the Product Electricity actually is. The scientific theory of the Greenhouse Effect now has over 195 years of published peer-reviewed science.[[i]] The threat of accelerating Climate Change is a scientifically solid fact. The Paris agreement must be met. My second goal with this thesis is to make credible that an electrification of our society is a possible and viable option. The possibility of a swift energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable electricity is made more likely, and more viable, thanks to the new understanding of what Electric Power really is, because now we have the de facto choice of not consuming any fossil power. © Per Ribbing, April 2019 [i] Joseph Fourier, Remarques générales sur les températures du globe terrestre et des espaces planétaires”, Annales de Chimie et de Physique, 27, 1824, p. 136-167

This thesis explores the relationship variables of Western European defence-related SMEs when they cooperate with their competitors (coopetition). In particular, how do these various relationship variables affect these SMEs when partnering with competitors? Many researchers have examined partnering with competitors however, this concept has been widely overlooked in the Western European defence sector. The research proceeds as follows: 1. Qualitative research with five different defence-related SME manufacturers in Western Europe. 2. Perceptions and answers of our interviews were further analysed, and 3. the empirical data is interpreted to support our research findings. The study concludes that, based on the empirical data, the relationship variables that can affect negatively to the SMEs are customer power, political forces, SME size, and coopetition in the defence sector. Also, coopetition itself can affect a relationship in a positive way. Moreover, the political landscape plays a critical role, by acting as a force of intervention when partnering. Additionally, the lack of resources has a decisive role in the decision-making process when choosing to collaborate.

I takt med tilltagen befolkningsmängd och ökad livslängd har läkemedelsanvändningen eskalerat världen över. I flera årtionden har farmaceutiska substanser hittats i miljön där de uppvisat stor skada på människor, djur och natur. En tydlig effekt är ökningen av antibiotikaresistenta patogener och ett nationellt förslag på åtgärd är att införa miljömärkning på läkemedel. Syftet är att genom en mixed method-studie granska debatten om miljömärkta läkemedel i texter hämtade från svenska medier. Genom en kvantitativ och en kvalitativ innehållsanalys redogör resultatet för debattens omfång, geografiska spridning, dess innehåll och medverkande aktörer. Det finns två samhällsaktörer som dominerar i debatten och de använder argument som har tydliga kopplingar till ekologisk modernisering och greenwash. Etiska överväganden, ekonomiska intressen, konsumentmakt och låg tro till livsstilsförändringar utgör också diskussionen. Miljömärkning av läkemedel visar sig inte vara en åtgärd för naturens bästa och kritiker menar att kraven för miljömärkningen är för svaga för att göra någon miljömässig skillnad. Den miljömärkning som i dagsläget är aktuell på läkemedel kan riskera att vilseleda konsumenter i tro om att de köper någonting som är bra för miljön.

With the gradual rise of Web-2.0 based platforms, Internet users were given the possibility to interact with each other in virtual communities. Originating from this development was the concept of user-generated content (UGC), which implies that people were able to enrich each other’s user-experiences by sharing creative efforts and communicating openly (O’Reilly, 2007).   As Web 2.0 features continued to grow, marketers became aware of the opportunities this new development online created and how they could use it to their advantage (De Chernatony & Christodoulides, 2004). The development online however also faces companies with challenges, as consumers now are able to create and share opinions and thoughts about brands, which to an extent is uncontrollable by companies (Christodoulides et al., 2012). Just as marketer-controlled communication can create new brand associations in the minds of consumers, for better or worse - so can also externally-generated communication, such as brand-related UGC, do.   Knowing that consumers generally trust what other consumers say about products more than marketing communication (Cheong & Morrison, 2008; Song & Yoo, 2016), and that there does not exist much research on how consumers perceive brand-related UGC, this is a considerably important topic to study. A classic way of studying communication effectiveness is through credibility, which is argued to be a major determinant of whether consumers accept and adopt what is communicated (e.g. Hovland et al., 1953). Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to gain an understanding of how consumers assess credibility of brand-related UGC and furthermore, what their consequent responses are.   A qualitative approach was taken as the purpose is to gain insight rather than proving a point. The interviews were semi-structured and formed around three Instagram posts relating to a specific brand, which were deliberately chosen based on the content of the theoretical framework developed. Through using these example cases, interviewees’ first reactions could be captured and their reasoning around credibility could be followed and discussed.   The results from this study indicate that there exists a certain level of irritation as well as a scepticism towards brand-related UGC. This seem to stem from a suspicion that most content that promotes products and brands is part of sponsored collaborations, into which consumers put noticeably much distrust. Beyond questioning sponsorship, it was also found that the source played a particularly important role when assessing credibility. When a source is familiar, it is easier to determine credibility of brand-related UGC, and credibility furthermore increases with perceived expertise, attractiveness and trustworthiness. The channel through which a message is communicated also matters, as it is more difficult to be ingenuine through a video than an image or a text, which implicated that consumers may find videos more credible than other media formats. The message itself was also deemed to influence the credibility assessment, as the message was questioned both based upon common sense but also on knowledge and previous experience.   As for practical implications, this study indicates that encouraging or generating positive brand-related UGC through paid collaborations, is a balancing act, into which much consideration needs to be put. With the evident irritation that consumers feel when it comes to brand-related UGC, marketers should be careful to push too much positive brand communication onto the consumer, or it will turn negative. To come across as genuine, the “who”, ”what” and ”how” of communication should be carefully considered.

Intérêt du sujet : Avec l’avènement du web2.0, l'influence interpersonnelle inclut désormais son extension dans le cyberespace avec le bouche-à-oreille électronique (eBAO). Internet modifie ainsi en profondeur les relations établies avec les consommateurs et conduit à une redéfinition de la relation marque -consommateur. Le web 2.0 apparaît ainsi comme un outil formidable au rééquilibrage des pouvoirs entre eux. Cependant, au-delà de ce constat, nous nous interrogeons quant à l’asymétrie entre les consommateurs et les marques dans ces conversations : le marketing est-il prêt à jouer le jeu ? Quelle perception le consommateur a-t-il de ce rééquilibrage ? Objectif de recherche : L’objectif de cette recherche est de comprendre les perceptions du web 2.0 par les consommateurs et les comportements qui en résultent. Thèse défendue : Face à cette redéfinition des relations entre consommateurs et entreprises, nous suggérons que les entreprises souhaitant des consommateurs engagés doivent accepter de céder une partie du pouvoir. Contribution attendue : Cette thèse vise à contribuer aux études précédentes et à pallier leurs limites. Alors que la littérature académique étudie les motivations des consommateurs à poster des avis en ligne en général (Hennig-Thurau et al, 2004 ; Sher et Lee, 2009), il manque des études empiriques considérant l’impact de facteurs individuels des consommateurs sur leur participation et sur leur engagement vis-à-vis d’une marque en particulier sur le web 2.0. Nous chercherons ainsi à comprendre le rôle des capacités de pouvoir du consommateur sur cette participation et cet engagement en ligne. Méthode : Une combinaison des approches qualitatives et quantitatives a constitué notre méthodologie de recherche. Dans un premier temps, une étude qualitative et une étude quantitative ont été réalisées auprès des consommateurs dans un contexte touristique. Celle-ci s’est déroulée en collaboration avec les offices de tourisme du Grand Bornand et d’Aix les Bains. Dans un deuxième temps, une expérimentation a été réalisée auprès des jeunes consommateurs (de 18 à 30 ans) dans le secteur spécifique des Smartphones et des tablettes mobiles. Principaux résultats : L’étude exploratoire nous a permis de souligner dans un premier temps les multiples paradoxes générés par l’eBAO diffusé sur les plateformes d’opinions. L’eBAO apparaît comme utile pour les consommateurs et les entreprises, cependant, un fort scepticisme règne face à celles-ci. La première étude quantitative nous a permis de mettre en avant les facteurs de participation et d’engagement : l’aide à l’entreprise, la sincérité perçue des avis postés, le scepticisme des consommateurs concernant les pratiques en ligne et l’attachement à la marque. D’une manière générale, nous constatons la volonté des consommateurs d’influencer. La seconde étude quantitative, l’expérimentation, nous montre que les caractéristiques des plateformes d’opinions en ligne ont un impact sur l’intention d’engagement et le comportement engageant. Cette étude nous montre l’importance de la véracité des commentaires en ligne et le risque infime de voir une plateforme d’opinions se transformer en défouloir. / Topic of interest : With the advent of Web 2.0, the interpersonal influence now includes its extension in cyberspace with electronic word of mouth. Therefore, the Internet deeply modify relationships between consumer and the brand and led to a redefinition of the relationship brand -consumer. Web 2.0 appears as a great tool rebalancing powers between them. However, beyond this, we wonder about the asymmetry between consumer and brand in these conversations: is marketing willing to play the game? What perception the consumer has of this rebalancing? Research Objective : The objective of this research is to understand the perceptions of Web 2.0 by consumers and resulting behaviors.Thesis defended : Faced with this redefinition of the relationship between the consumer and the brand, we suggest that companies wishing to engage consumers must agree to give up some power. Contribution expected : This thesis aims to contribute to previous studies and to overcome their limitations. While the academic literature explores the motivations of consumers to post online reviews in general (Hennig -Thurau & al , 2004; Sher &Lee, 2009) , it lacks empirical studies considering the impact of individual factors on their consumer participation and engagementtoward a particular brand on the web 2.0 . Thus, we seek to understand the role of consumer power capacities on online participation and engagement. Method : Our research methodology consists in a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. Firstly, a qualitative study and a quantitative study were conducted with consumers in a tourism context. It was held in collaboration with the tourist offices of the Grand-Bornand and Aix-les-Bains. Secondly, an experiment was conducted among young consumers (18 to 30 years) in the specific sector of Smartphones and mobile tablets. Main results The qualitative study allowed us to initially highlight multiple paradoxes generated by eWOM broadcast on opinion platforms. EWOM appears useful for consumers and businesses; however, a strong skepticism is facing them. The first quantitative study allowed us to highlight the determinants of participation and engagement: Helping company, perceived sincerity of posted comment, consumer skepticism regarding online practices and brand attachment. In general, we see consumer willingness to influence.The second quantitative study, the experimentation, shows that the characteristics of online opinion platforms have an impact on the intention of engaging and engaged behavior. This study shows the importance of online review accuracy of and the small risk for an online opinion platform to become a way to get out consumers anger.

<p>Coffee is a much enjoyed everyday-luxury in many parts of the world. It is not only enjoyed as a stimulant but also for social activities. “Fika” is a Swedish word which is difficult to translate and basically means to-have-coffee-with-friends. Coffee is so loved in Sweden that the average Swede consumes about nine and a half kilogram per year. But coffee often comes with a bitter aftertaste of environmental degradation and social injustice. Pesticide use is one of the environmental problems; some of the most dangerous ones are used in coffee productions. When it comes to social aspects world market prices on coffee has been very low for about two decades. At its worst coffee farmers were paid about a quarter of the production price for their coffee. This has led to a situation of wide spread financial debt, poverty, and sometimes even starvation among farmers. One solution which some farmers take is drug production. Coca is easy to grow and gives high revenue, which may make it appealing to a desperate coffee farmer. Another option can be provided by responsible corporations and concerned consumers –a fair pay.</p><p>The coffee sector in general and Swedish coffee roasting company Löfbergs Lila AB in particular are used as a case study for this thesis focal point which is the correlation between consumer power and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The large social and environmental problems in the coffee sector make it an area where voluntary responsibilities from consumers and businesses can have a very large positive impact. Sales numbers of organically produced and Fairtrade labelled coffee are increasing due to consumer demand. It is clear that consumer power is one of the cornerstones of CSR. When consumers ask for socially and ecologically sustainable goods corporations can produce these goods with an economical gain, thus a win-win situation occurs for corporate profit and the social-/environmental sphere. Both consumer demand and the possibility for corporate profit seams to be prerequisites for CSR.</p><p>It is clear that voluntary approaches to sustainable development such as consumer choice and CSR can lead to many positive changes; however concerns arise when it comes to the fulfilment of sustainable development. The ecological footprint gives us a number for the worlds’ total over consumption and it shows that to fulfil sustainable development as defined in “Our common future”, also known as the Brundtland commission, most western countries would have to reduce their total consumption by approximately 75 %. Consumers are driven by many other factors than social and environmental concerns, and companies and corporations have shown many times that there is much talk in CSR but little is actually done. This leads to the conclusion that although some positive changes occur, voluntary actions such as CSR and consumer power/choice will probably not be enough to lead us to a sustainable development.</p>

Coffee is a much enjoyed everyday-luxury in many parts of the world. It is not only enjoyed as a stimulant but also for social activities. “Fika” is a Swedish word which is difficult to translate and basically means to-have-coffee-with-friends. Coffee is so loved in Sweden that the average Swede consumes about nine and a half kilogram per year. But coffee often comes with a bitter aftertaste of environmental degradation and social injustice. Pesticide use is one of the environmental problems; some of the most dangerous ones are used in coffee productions. When it comes to social aspects world market prices on coffee has been very low for about two decades. At its worst coffee farmers were paid about a quarter of the production price for their coffee. This has led to a situation of wide spread financial debt, poverty, and sometimes even starvation among farmers. One solution which some farmers take is drug production. Coca is easy to grow and gives high revenue, which may make it appealing to a desperate coffee farmer. Another option can be provided by responsible corporations and concerned consumers –a fair pay. The coffee sector in general and Swedish coffee roasting company Löfbergs Lila AB in particular are used as a case study for this thesis focal point which is the correlation between consumer power and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The large social and environmental problems in the coffee sector make it an area where voluntary responsibilities from consumers and businesses can have a very large positive impact. Sales numbers of organically produced and Fairtrade labelled coffee are increasing due to consumer demand. It is clear that consumer power is one of the cornerstones of CSR. When consumers ask for socially and ecologically sustainable goods corporations can produce these goods with an economical gain, thus a win-win situation occurs for corporate profit and the social-/environmental sphere. Both consumer demand and the possibility for corporate profit seams to be prerequisites for CSR. It is clear that voluntary approaches to sustainable development such as consumer choice and CSR can lead to many positive changes; however concerns arise when it comes to the fulfilment of sustainable development. The ecological footprint gives us a number for the worlds’ total over consumption and it shows that to fulfil sustainable development as defined in “Our common future”, also known as the Brundtland commission, most western countries would have to reduce their total consumption by approximately 75 %. Consumers are driven by many other factors than social and environmental concerns, and companies and corporations have shown many times that there is much talk in CSR but little is actually done. This leads to the conclusion that although some positive changes occur, voluntary actions such as CSR and consumer power/choice will probably not be enough to lead us to a sustainable development.