Background: In order to survive and attain growth organizations need to make different investments which require that different decisions are being made. It is a process, by which a person, group or an organization identifies a choice or judgment to be made, gathers and evaluates information about alternatives and selects from among the alternatives. Thus, a decision is of great importance for an organization for which it is interesting for us to see how they make their decisions regarding a purchase and foremost how the actual decision-making process is constituted regarding a purchase of a simulation solution offered by our case company FrontWay AB. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine and understand how a client’s decision-making process looks like, concerning the purchasing of technical complex products in industrial organizations, more specifically in the pulp- and paper industry. Method: A qualitative study has been used, based on interviews with the clients of FrontWay who have bough their simulation solution or are in the buying process. Result and Conclusions: The empirical findings that has come to hand shows that the decision-making process actually was shorter than perceived by the case company. One explanation was that the investment was not seen as big. Further we have concluded that the selling organization and the buying organization do not see the same start and end point when a decision is being made. The decision-making process for the buying organization seems to be difficult to shorten down, however, if the selling organization will do some changes maybe it can be shortened down. It is however questionable if FrontWay can make changes at all since it requires a lot of work as well as a lot of resources. As it takes time to make a good decision, and also resources from the buying organization to have someone working with simulations solution fulltime it is unsure if it is of interest to actually shorten down the decision-making process.

Bakgrund och syfte: Det är viktigt för ett företag idag att hitta en position på marknaden som fungerar i ett långsiktigt perspektiv. Dessutom gäller det för företaget att på ett tydligt sätt positionera sin produkt eller sitt varumärke i kundernas medvetande. Ett företag som inte är nöjd med positioneringen kan välja, eller är tvunget, att ompositionera. Vi har studerat fastighetsföretaget Norrviddens arbete med ompositioneringar av två varumärken, galleriorna Flanör i Gävle och In: i Sundsvall. Syftet är att undersöka när och varför ett företag är i behov av att ompositionera sitt varumärke eller sin produkt samt att beskriva hur processen kan gå till. Huvudfrågorna uppsatsen behandlar är: - Varför genomför ett företag en ompositionering av ett varumärke? - Vilka strategier kan ett företag använda sig av vid en ompositionering? - Hur kan en ompositioneringsprocess gå till? Metod: Vi har gjort en fallstudie där vi har arbetat med ett induktivt angreppssätt med utgångspunkt i empirin. För att samla in data har vi gjort två kvalitativa intervjuer med dels Maria Davidson som är centrumledare på Flanör och dels Jan-Åke Eriksson som är shoppingansvarig på Norrvidden Fastigheter AB. Innan intervjuerna sammanställde vi relevanta teorier och modeller som ligger till grund för uppsatsen och de frågor vi ställde till intervjupersonerna. Utifrån de data vi samlat in har vi gjort intressanta iakttagelser och försökt se samband med de modeller och teser som teoriavsnittet behandlar. I analys- och diskussionskapitlet presenterar vi våra tankar kring detta. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Organisation, ledarskap och beslutsfattande inom företag är inte vad denna uppsats primärt avser att behandla och fortsatta studier med fokus på någon av dessa delar skulle vara intressant. Det vore även intressant att följa upp arbetet med flanör efter färdigställandet, för att se hur Norrvidden lyckats med positioneringsarbetet. Resultat: För att konkurrera på marknaden såg Norrvidden ompositioneringarna som ett måste. Flanör var väldigt nedgånget, kändes omodernt och var i behov av förnyelse. I Sundsvall byggde Norrvidden ihop två gallerior och blev då tvungna att arbeta fram ett helt nytt varumärke som skulle passa det nya konceptet. För Flanör var positioneringsstrategin att förstärka sin position på marknaden genom att skapa en modernare och trendigare galleria. För In: var strategin att hitta en ny position på marknaden då man inte ville behålla det gamla som den tidigare gallerian Världshuset stod för. / Aim: On today´s market it´s important to find a position that is sustainable over time. To position a product or a brand in the mind of the consumers in a clear way is crucial. If a company is unsatisfied with their position, they can choose, or might be forced to, reposition the brand. In this paper we have been studying how the real estate company Norrvidden is repositioning two of their brands, Flanör in Gävle and In: in Sundsvall. The purpose of this study is to explore when and why a company needs to reposition their brand or product, also what this process can look like. The main questions in this paper are: - Why does a company reposition their brand? - What strategies can be used to reposition the brand? - What can a reposition process look like? Method: We have used a case study which is based on the empirical information. To collect data we have interviewed two people at Norrvidden Fastigheter AB, Maria Davidson and Jan-Åke Eriksson. Before the interviews we gathered relevant theories and models which the questions is based on. We have compared the empirical information with the theories and models to find possible connections and illuminate interesting observations. We present our thoughts concerning this in the final chapter; analyze and discussion. Suggestions for future research: Organization, leadership and the decision making process is not what we have been focusing on in this paper. We believe that this is something that varies between different companies and we suggest that future research within this subject would be interesting. Results: Norrvidden saw the reposition of their brands as the only way to be able to compete on the market. Flanör was old fashioned and in need of renovation. In Sundsvall, Norrvidden brought two separate gallerias together and felt they had to come up with a new brand to fit the concept. In Flanörs case the positioning strategy is to reinforce their position on the market by creating a modern and fashionable galleria. The strategy for In: is to find a new position on the market.

On the 13th of June 2005 the Minister of Defence, Leni Björklund, was subjected to a formal complaint addressed to the Committee on the Constitution concerning her handling of a specific co-operation project with France. The project concerned the development of a technology demonstrator for an UCAV called Neuron. The reason for the complaint was that the Minister of Defence had failed to present the project to the parliament and thus bypassed a parliamentary decision. Such negligence might be considered unlawful under the Swedish Constitution. The issue became public during an unscheduled meeting with the Committee on Defence, a meeting that was arranged at the request of the Minister of Defence. During that meeting the Minister announced that the Government in a couple of days planned to take the decision to “go ahead” with the Neuron project without a formal decision by the Parliament. The then estimated cost for the project was about 700 million SEK. The “verdict” from the Committee on the Constitution was “not guilty” according to the Constitution. The Committee on the Constitution limits its investigations to the relation between the Parliament and the Government, which is its main task. The purpose of my essay is to investigate the relation between  the Government and the Swedish Armed Forces. This investigation is conducted in order to find out what kind of role the Armed Forces as a Government Agency has played in the formulation of defence policy regarding the Neuron project. The foundation of a representative democratic system is based on the premise that the formulation of political objectives is the exclusive right of politicians. Only the elected politicians are supposed to have this power, since they are performing their duties on a mandate from the electorate, the people. The formulation of political objectives is, according to this foundation, not something that civil servants, in or out of uniform, should be doing. If and when that however happens we are facing what is normally called “a democratic black hole”.   In order to fulfil the purpose of my essay I investigate the communication between the Government and the Armed Forces. The empirical study is performed on two kinds of documents from the Armed Forces. These documents are regularly used as basis for the Government’s decisions and propositions to the Parliament. The first kind is the Armed Force’s yearly reports concerning Long Term Planning, the second kind is documents that the Government needs for the yearly Budgetary Proposition. Both documents are wholly or partly prepared according to instructions from the Government. / Den 13 juni 2005 blir försvarsminister Leni Björklund KU - anmäld för sin sätt att hantera ett svenskt deltagande i projektet Neuron. Neuron-projektet handlar om försvarsmaterielsamarbete med Frankrike om att utveckla en demonstrator av en UCAV, obemannad beväpnad flygfarkost, som kallas Neuron. Anmälan handlar om att försvarsministern och därmed regeringen inte har givit riksdagen möjlighet att fatta beslut om Neuron-projektet. Regeringen hade inte med Neuron-projektet i någon proposition som riksdagen har kunnat ta ställning till, innan den 13 juni 2005. Hela frågan uppdagas när försvarsministern den 7 juni 2005 sammankallar riksdagens försvarsutskott. Vid detta möte informerar försvarsministern utskottets ledamöter om att regeringen har för avsikt att två dagar senare fatta beslut om att inleda samarbetet med Frankrike om Neuron-projektet som då ska kosta ca. 700 miljoner kronor. När KU har granskat frågan färdigt, våren 2006 blir försvarsministern trots allt inte fälld för ”brott” mot Regeringsformen. KU granskade enbart relationen mellan regeringen och riksdagen. Det jag gör i uppsatsen är att granska relationen mellan regeringen och Försvarsmakten. Detta görs för att pröva de tidigare leden i det som kallas den demokratiska styrkedjan och som beskriver hur makt och ansvar bör gå till i en folkstyrd demokrati. Den demokratiska styrkedjan består av: Folket, Riksdagen, Regeringen, Förvaltningen Med förvaltningen menas myndigheterna. Styrningen, dvs. maktutövningen, förutsätts gå från vänster till höger, medan ansvarigheten skall gå i den motsatta riktningen. Om det uppstår brott i kedjan eller om den ’börjar gå baklänges’ uppstår något av en ’demokratins svarta hål’.  I Regeringsformen stadgas att regeringen styr riket och att myndigheterna, exempelvis Försvarsmakten, lyder under regeringen. Grundtanken vad gäller relationen mellan regering och myndigheter är att politikerna styr genom att formulera mål och riktlinjer för myndigheterna, medan myndigheterna genomför de politiska målen. Kedjan går baklänges om det istället skulle vara så att myndigheterna börjar formulera målen. Efter KU:s granskning stod det klart att det inte fanns något formellt problem mellan riksdagen och regeringen när det gäller hur makt och ansvar hanterades. KU granskade inte, som nämnts ovan, relationen mellan regeringen och Försvarsmakten vilket är det jag gör i uppsatsen. I uppsatsen undersöker jag de underlag Försvarsmakten överlämnar till regeringen. Dessa är årliga budgetunderlag och PerP-rapporter. Budgetunderlagen utarbetas helt efter regeringens anvisningar medan PerP-rapporterna har en dubbelroll. De är både Försvarsmaktens egen perspektivplanering och i delar utarbetade efter regeringens anvisningar.

Corporate social responsibility or CSR is a phenomenon that has steadily been growing for the past decade. CSR is generally considered as activities performed by a company in order to strengthen its positive image. Previous research has indicated that there is a connection between a company’s CSR actions and its consumer’s reactions towards the company and its different product/s. However, few studies have investigated university students’ attitudes towards CSR as well as different CSR initiatives. Therefor the aim of this dissertation is to study the knowledge, attitudes and the importance of CSR initiatives among young university business students. A second aim is to study the influence of CSR activities on the decision making process when in a buying situation.  In order to investigate this a quantitative survey was conducted among young business students at the University of Kristianstad. The survey consisted of 18 questions regarding CSR knowledge, attitudes and attributes. A total of 87 respondents participated and handed in the survey. The results demonstrated that even though the students were unsure as to what the abbreviation CSR stands for, when given examples the majority answered correctly. It also became evident that females considered CSR to be more important than the male respondents in many aspects. Especially the CSR initiative “Against animal testing” proved to be seen as much more important among the females than with the males. The results also reveled differences between the age groups. The age group 18-21 was the one that differed the most compared to the other three age groups (22-25, 26-30, 30+). In conclusion the students have a generally positive attitude towards CSR but it does not affect their purchasing decisions.

Introduction: A general guideline was introduced on October first 2010 regarding a mortgage cap, limiting the degree of leverage of housing as collateral. Through the new guidelines the marked conditions concerning consumers’ choice of mortgage has changed. The consumers are limited in the sense that they can’t only use mortgage when purchasing a house. In this context there is a higher burden on the consumers in different aspects. In this study we intend to investigate how the consumers’ conditions affect choice of financing option when buying a home. Purpose: The study aims to highlight how consumers situation affect the choice of financing option. Furthermore, the study intends to describe the consumer’s choice of financing. That is how the consumer approaches the purchase with the mortgage cap of 85 per cent. Method: For the study, we have used a quantitative research method. The starting point has been a deductive study, where we from theory collect empirical data. In the collection of empirical data we used a convenience sample. Theory: The study’s frame of reference includes a description of the financing options that consumers can use. Further, how the decision-making process appears in the choice of financing a house purchase as well as how socio-demographic factors; age, income and family affect the process and choice of financing. Conclusion: The study shows that age and income are the two socio-demographic factorsthat have the greatest impact on consumer choice of option in the decision-makingprocess. Further, data from the study shows that mortgage and own savings are the mostrecurring funding option that consumers use. In the use of private loans, we see thatconsumers’ families have a great influence, since the majority have received private loansfrom their parents. Similar relationship can be seen in the usage of guarantor. Forunsecured debt, we see that the use is concentrated among younger consumers.

Abstract Problem: Family business is the most common type of enterprise in the world and an elaborative subject to perform research in. However, the linkage between motivation and family business is not common to study, especially form the non-family managers’ perspective. Therefore, this thesis aims to fulfill the missing gap in research concerning motivational factors for non-family managers within a family business. Motivational factors are crucial for individuals in order to perform, although the motivational factors for a non-family manager within a family business is a complex phenomena. Several parameters must be taken into consideration, such as the family businesses characteristics and sources to motivation. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and to reach an understanding for why non-family managers are motivated to work within a family business.   Method: The method used in this thesis is a qualitative research with an abductive reasoning, based on ten interviews with eight different family businesses. The interviews include a variation of family businesses, as well as a variation of respondents, in order to receive a wide overview of how motivation is applied in different type of areas. However, the selection of this thesis interviews is based on that all the organizations are medium to large sized family businesses that have both family members and non-family members within their management team. In addition, all the respondents are non-family members, with a management position, within a family business. Results: The result of this thesis argues that the main reasons for why non-family managers are motivated to work within a family business are: The opportunity to be part of the decision making process and the possibility to influence the future culture within a family business.

Background/Problem: Sponsorship has grown a lot for the past twenty years, to become a part of the marketing activities not to say a full-fledged tool. Being now a major marketing tool, it is crucial to understand how the whole sponsorship process works, in order to control it perfectly. Purpose: To offer an overview of the whole sponsorship process, from the sponsoring side. Theory: In the theory part is a literature review about sponsorship. First a definition of sponsorship is presented. Then the different motivations to start a sponsorship activity are discussed, followed by the selection criteria. Finally, the evaluation methods of the activity are reviewed. Research questions: How do companies select their events and manage their portfolio? Which are the factors influencing the future decisions of continuing a sponsorship? Method: In order to identify what are the most relevant elements in the whole sponsorship-decision process, a quantitative approach was used. An online survey was created online in order to collect data that has been analysed through SPSS. Conclusion: Our results show that the selection of the event and the evaluation of the sponsorship activity are very important for the portfolio, although if there is a lack of evaluation among the companies.

<p>The aim of this study is through a policy analysis to illuminate the decisions that the EU has taken to respond to the terrorist attacks in the US, Madrid and London and through this analysis try to explain the problem of each decision and find out if these decisions might risk the individual rights of the European Union’s citizens.</p><p>In order to reach this purpose the following questions are to be answered: In what way has the EU’s decision-making process, regarding its fight on terrorism, been affected by the terrorist attacks in Madrid and London? What consequences may the EU’s decisions against terrorism have on the individual rights?</p><p>The method that has been used is qualitative studies of literature and the main material is overarching policy documents from the EU.</p><p>The conclusions are that the bombings in Madrid and London have increased the speed of the decision-making process and more areas have been included in the union’s fight against terrorism. If individual rights are at risk by the union’s decisions there are reasons to be concerned. But my conclusion is that the European Union has to have strong and effective instruments to answer to the threat of terrorism.</p>

Nowadays, when the world feels smaller as a result of the increasing flow of information, the competition of tourism between countries is getting bigger. This has caused that the marketing of the country has become vital. It is important for the country to send out the right signals so that the tourists have the right image of a destination. Once the image has been created, it might be hard to change it. Scandinavian Travel Agent AB is a company arranging different trips around Scandinavia. They work as incoming agent for foreign tour operators, which they help with different types of travel arrangements in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. Now they want to expand their business to other countries, and at the same time they want to identify how Sweden is seen as a tourist destination. We helped them with this by investigating travel agencies and tour operators in the Netherlands. Our purpose with this thesis was to find out what kind of picture the Dutch travel agencies and tour operators have about Sweden. Furthermore, we wanted to know how the Dutch market looks like considering the trips to Sweden. To be able to analyze the phenomena of image we have taken closer look at the decision- making process, which was originally created by Mathieson and Wall (1984). It contains four areas (tourist profile, travel awareness, destination resources &amp; characteristics and trip features) that have effect on the decision making process. Since we thought that image also has a big influence on the tourists’ decision, we chose to investigate that subject as well. With the help of our theories we created two different questionnaires, one to Dutch travel agencies/ tour operators having Sweden as a travel destination, and one to Dutch travel agencies/tour operators not currently offering trips to Sweden. After receiving the answers we interpreted them together with our theories and we found out that the respondents have a correct image of the reality. Sweden’s nature with the forests, water and snow were some of the most common parts of their image. Stockholm was also a prominent feature together with beautiful and clean nature. Sweden was also seen as a modern and safe country with high quality. Some respondent also mentioned space, but it was not as common answer as we expected. Regarding the image, we found out that an image handles both a person’s affective and cognitive images, which arises from many different sources and influences. After doing this research our believes, about the image as a part of the decision making process, were strengthened. Therefore we saw the need to change the already existing model. Our suggestions to the Scandinavian Travel Agent AB, is to first contact the travel agencies/tour operators who are currently offering Sweden, since they seem to be most interested in expanding to Sweden. Among the other travel agencies/tour operators an interest has to be aroused. This can depend on the fact that companies with Sweden can see the demand and the opportunities better than the companies who do not have Sweden.

Widowhood is a stressful life event that can impact an individual’s everyday life, including her decision making abilities. The complexity of the decision is also likely to influence the decision making abilities of these widows. The purpose of this dissertation was to better understand widows’ decision making processes, their preferences for collaboration when making decisions, and their satisfaction with the decision outcomes. Data analysis consisted of a series of 3 (widowed status) x 2 (task complexity) ANOVAS and ANCOVAS which found that both complexity and widowed status influence decision making processes. Higher complexity led to less overall satisfaction, but none of the other satisfaction variables yielded significant results. In addition, there were no significant findings with regard to preferences for collaboration. Multiple linear regressions were conducted to better understand individual difference variables on decision processing. Restoration orientation coping, loss orientation coping, and task complexity were found to be significant for decision processing and satisfaction measures. Future studies should aim to develop decision aids for this particular population so that they are able to make better decisions.