<p>The fashion industry is one of the most exciting and fast-moving industries in the worldand the companies within the fashion industry are driven by the reputation of their brand.(Hines and Bruce, 2001) Some celebrities and athletes use their names as a label so that the wearer associates the clothes with the person, and therefore that brand takes on the image of the celebrity. This research is concentrated on the customers of a particular fashion company, Björn Borg. In the fashion industry, it is not only important who is wearing the brand, but also who is not wearing the brand, which leads to the aim of this paper: Can a company sacrifice its brand image if it holds on to all of its customers,including those outside of its target market? From our research, we were able to draw the following conclusions: The customers within the target group associate the brand with some of the characteristics of customers outside the target group and, thus, the image of Björn Borg is slightly different from what the company would like their image to be. Our analysis reveals that there are many who associate the brand with older people. In a way, the older customers may influence the younger ones into thinking the brand is for an older age group. Also, many associate the brand with the “average joe” and with the tennis player despite the efforts of the company to create a special brand, not average, that stands apart from the tennis player, Björn Borg. Therefore, our study indicates that a company can sacrifice brand image if it holds on to all customers including those outside their target market.</p>

<p>This mini-thesis seeks to provide a substantiation for the need for a new legal framework for South Africa in order to address prostitution. It will argue that the current legal framework has failed in its desired aims and in addressing prostitution effectively. This mini-thesis critically analyses the underlying reasons for prostitution in South Africa and discovers that it is influenced by a myriad of interrelated factors. The current level of poverty and the prevailing socio-economic paradigm in South Africa have contributed to its complex nature. The demand for prostitution acts as a catalyst for both the further exploitation of prostitutes and women, while making them vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases. I establish that criminalisation alone is not sufficient to address prostitution, especially given the HIV/AIDS epidemic.</p>

The study is concerned with the ISO/IWA2 international education quality management and the application in the student affairs & guidance in friendly campus in Kaohsiung. With the views of installing the ISO/IWA2, and combining the present situation of the student affairs & guidance in friendly campus, I construct Kaohsiung municipal Ying-Ming junior high school student affairs & guidance quality management system. And then through analyzing the suitability and feasible assessment, in order to understand if it is applicable with the student affairs & guidance in junior high schools in Kaohsiung. Thus, the strategy used in this research is via combining the subjects concerned qualitative research and quantitative approaches. The process of such study includes: subject analysis, process design, make prove, questionnaire investigation and statistical analysis. Digest the conclusion of this research and state as follows now: 1. The progress of student affairs & guidance links the era of thought closely, grows with each passing hour. 2. The standard and the application of the ISO/IWA2 international education quality management can be in accordance with the rules in use. 3. Kaohsiung municipal Ying-Ming junior high school student affairs & guidance quality management system is constructed by way of PDCA. It is three sub operating systems altogether, includes ten items of the procedure. 4. The staffs of counseling section in junior high schools in Kaohsiung view Kaohsiung municipal Ying-Ming junior high school student affairs & guidance quality management system as suitable and feasible. According to the result of the study, I propose with two suggestions, and expect to be able to let the execution of the friendly campus have benefits even more through the leader and push of the educational administrative organ. 1. Strengthen the systems thinking of the administrative personnel in the campus comprehensively. 2. Encourage the schools to develop each suitable systematic management style actively. Key Word¡GFriendly campus¡C The student affairs & guidance¡CISO/IWA2¡G2003¡C Customers¡C

Title: The Influence of Culture and the Level of Acculturation on the Perceptions of Service Quality. Problem Statement: How important is the customers’ ethnic background, culture and level of acculturation when choosing a provider of financial services? Purpose: The main purpose of this research is to find out how a service company can measure Thai customer satisfaction and which factors to consider in order to improve their service qualities with respects to cultural dimensions. Theory and Method: The research is based on the quantitative approach in the form of questionnaires.  The structure is developed in accordance to the Service Quality Gap of measuring Thai customer satisfaction by comparing their expectation and perception of service during and after service approach. Conclusion: From elaborate results of the distributed questionnaires, Thai customers are flexible and have integrated into the Swedish culture; therefore the current level of bank service approach is appropriate to their needs. / Tobias Eltebrandt

The fashion industry is one of the most exciting and fast-moving industries in the worldand the companies within the fashion industry are driven by the reputation of their brand.(Hines and Bruce, 2001) Some celebrities and athletes use their names as a label so that the wearer associates the clothes with the person, and therefore that brand takes on the image of the celebrity. This research is concentrated on the customers of a particular fashion company, Björn Borg. In the fashion industry, it is not only important who is wearing the brand, but also who is not wearing the brand, which leads to the aim of this paper: Can a company sacrifice its brand image if it holds on to all of its customers,including those outside of its target market? From our research, we were able to draw the following conclusions: The customers within the target group associate the brand with some of the characteristics of customers outside the target group and, thus, the image of Björn Borg is slightly different from what the company would like their image to be. Our analysis reveals that there are many who associate the brand with older people. In a way, the older customers may influence the younger ones into thinking the brand is for an older age group. Also, many associate the brand with the “average joe” and with the tennis player despite the efforts of the company to create a special brand, not average, that stands apart from the tennis player, Björn Borg. Therefore, our study indicates that a company can sacrifice brand image if it holds on to all customers including those outside their target market.

Title: The Influence of Culture and the Level of Acculturation on the Perceptions of Service Quality. A Study of Thai – born Customer Segment in the Swedish Banking Industry in Sweden Problem Statement: How important is the customers’ ethnic background, culture and level of acculturation when choosing a provider of financial services? Purpose: The main purpose of this research is to find out how a service company can measure Thai customer satisfaction and which factors to consider in order to improve their service qualities with respects to cultural dimensions. Theory and Method: The research is based on the quantitative approach in the form of questionnaires. The structure is developed in accordance to the Service Quality Gap of measuring Thai customer satisfaction by comparing their expectation and perception of service during and after service approach. Conclusion: From elaborate results of the distributed questionnaires, Thai customers are flexible and have integrated into the Swedish culture; therefore the current level of bank service approach is appropriate to their needs. / Tobias Eltebrandt

Syftet med denna studie är att analysera hur tre banker; Swedbank, SBAB och SEB arbetar med Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) och hur deras kunder påverkas av och relaterar till dess CSR. Sedan framförallt börskraschen 2008, som till stor del skapades av bankers socialt och ekonomiskt oansvariga agerande, så har CSR begreppet ökat något enormt inom bankbranschen. Krisen har både skapats på grund av en avsaknad av CSR samt att CSR nu har blivit en lösning på den. Svenska Bankföreningen som företräder Sveriges banker menar att många svenska banker har kommit långt i sitt arbete med CSR. De beskriver bland annat hur bankerna arbetar med socialt ansvarstagande genom anställningsvillkor samt jämställdhetsfrågor men också hur bankerna jobbar med etiskt ansvarstagande för att motverka mutor och korruption. Forskningen inom CSR:s finansiella påverkan har visat på både positiva, negativa och neutrala resultat. Därför kommer studien att ta reda på hur banker arbetar med CSR och hur deras kunder relaterar till detta. Studien har triangulering som ansats. Tre personer har intervjuats, en per bank, genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. En enkätundersökning har genomförts centralt i Stockholm med totalt 111 respondenter och ytterligare 25 respondenter via en identisk internetenkät på Facebook. På grund av att studien har ett abduktivt angreppssätt har den teoretiska referensramen haft en ursprunglig form som sedan alternerats allt eftersom studien pågått för att skapa en grund till analysen. I slutändan består den teoretiska referensramen av CSR:s historia, CSR idag, Carrolls pyramid, Socially responsible investing (SRI), Screeningprocess.

This essay looks at the various differentiation strategies for a company in the fashion industry. The chosen fashion company for this study is Zara. The reason for this is that Zara is a relatively new company which has grown quickly and today has a big market share. The aim of this thesis is to decide which differentiation strategies are the more relevant ones for Zara to attract new customers. This will be done through a discussion and analysis of all five of the differentiation strategies which are; product-, channel-, image-, service- and personnel differentiation. The theoretical framework gives an overview of the differentiation strategies; it also provides the reader with a description of branding, consumer decision process, competitive advantage, strategic customer and key competitors. These marketing factors can be describing and supporting factors to the most suitable differentiation strategy for Zara. The methodology chapter provides a description of the method choices for this thesis; this study is done by a qualitative approach. The methodology chapter also consists of a part about secondary sources, interviews, different question types used in the interviews and source criticism. The empirical findings consist of information gathered from face to face interviews. The interviews where done with three managers of Zara in France, Paris. In the analysis chapter there will be a discussion about the differentiations strategies that are mentioned in the theoretical framework, this will be combined with the empirical information gained through personal interviews with the managers at Zara. There will also be an analysis and discussion about the marketing factors mentioned above. The conclusion will conclude the analysis of the empirical and theoretical parts of this thesis and answer our research question. In the conclusion there is a description and summarize of the various differentiation strategies. In the conclusion there is a description and summarize of the various differentiation strategies discussed in the theoretical chapter. As a conclusion there is a need for improvements to the personnel-, service- and channel differentiation strategies. The needed future improvements will be discussed closely in the conclusion.

The empirical data that lies behind this survey comes from field work between 1992 and 1995. This field work represents work I made myself as a sales-man for the company, Malmberg Original Water. The task was to implement the Malmberg mineral water brand on the restaurant market of the South-Swedish area. Our aim was to reach the upper-scale, premium market of restaurants. The mission was successfully completed, and at 1996 we had completed the position as the most exclusively positioned mineral water brand in Skåne (Southernmost Sweden). How could we fulfill this mission so fast, and with a very limited marketing budget (=0)?The secret key was that we managed to work and be in line with the values of our targeted customer group. We lived close to the customers and developed what was in line with their needs. This follows the research of Porter (1980) and Philipson (2011), serving the customer groups´ needs. Despite lack of money and budget from PR and promotion we made a large effort of serving and doing service towards our targeted customers.The thesis also focuses the target group´s importance for the construction of the brand identity. Strategic brand management-literature normally considers the target group taken-for-granted. Consumer research-literature, on the other hand, considers it as something vague and undefined. By applying a perspective of cultural values between the company, the brand and the target group it is possible to qualify the target group more than just refer to it as consumers or customers. The thesis also point to the conclusion not to consider brand identity as an independent entity, but dependent on the customers and the consumers. The consumers give birth to the brand. Finally since the target group is a group that is constantly set in motion, the brand also should reflect and represent change.

Theoretical studies posit that marketing strategies increases customers’ satisfaction and loyalty and decreases the systematic risk of the company’s stock. Many variables such as size, book-to-market and others, which have no special standing in asset-pricing theory, show reli-able power to explain the cross-section of expected stock’s returns. By adding customers’ sat-isfaction to one of them, this research involves discovering the relationship between custom-ers’ satisfaction and stock’s returns systematic risk, if any, by conducting a panel data analy-sis of seven banks in Sweden, Denmark and Norway through the period of year 2002 – 2011. The results verify a significant negative relationship between customers’ satisfaction and stock’s returns systematic risk.