Background: The Swedish fashion industry grows steadily, today it’s populated by many small and medium sized companies. Due to the big clothing chains dominant position small businesses risks to be ousted out of the fashion industry. Smaller companies may find it difficult to reach out to the customer by traditional advertising because their budgets are often smaller. It is therefore important for smaller companies to create loyal customers. If the smaller sized businesses in the fashion industry do not follow the rapid developments in society and focus on building strong brands and relationships, they will have problems with surviving in the long run. Problem definition: Which communicative factors are important in the choice of brand strategy to create a long-term survival for small and medium-sized companies in the fashion industry? Purpose: The purpose of the essay is to analyse and evaluate the brand as a communications tool for building a brand image. Method: The data which is being used in the essay is collected from interviews with companies and survey of each company's existing and potential customers. Theoretical perspective: Relationship Marketing Perspective and Transaction Marketing Perspective Theories: Brand Strategies, Total Communication, Brand Equity, Involvement Theory, Service Value Profit Chain. Empiric: The empirical data is primary data gathered from interviews with a representative for each company and from the questionnaires distributed to the customers of each company. Analysis: The analysis is an interpretation of the empirical material collected from interviews with each company and customers survey. Each company is being analysed along the characteristics that emerges in the theory chapter. Results: The results of the study show that the companies use a mixture communication form consisting of one-and two way communication. The results from survey show that the customer is highly involved and therefore it is important for companies to maintain a relationship perspective. Conclusions/Discussion: In order to achieve a long-term survival, it is important that smaller companies work from a relational consumers approach. In that way companies can create loyal consumers which can later on contribute to good Word-Of-Mouth. In its turn this can generate new consumers.

In today’s world, consumerism is dominating all the aspects of our life. In society, life follows the pattern of the capitalist culture where the human values have a different measure. We do live in a branded world. There is no doubt about it. We all make product decisions every day. We probably all have certain types of products of which we like only one or two brands, while we buy other things based on what is on sale on a given day. This inclination to buy branded products is rooted in two basic things: recollection and satisfaction. We remember which one we like by brand name. A survey by the Henley Centre revealed that the public trust brand names such as Kellogg’s, Heinz and Marks & Spencer more than Parliament, the police and the legal system (Sunday Times, “A can of worms is a bad diet”, 5 April 1998). This research highlights the importance of the relationship between consumers and key brands; and shows that it has strengthened to such an extent that it is now healthier than the relationship with our social structures. This is evidence of the power of consumer culture and the liberal free market economics of the westernized world. The Brands not just represent the symbol of the company but also to a greater extant defines lives people in the society. What a person uses can reflect his taste, his or her status in the society, his / her economic background as well. This makes a deep connection between the company and its brand, with the consumer. In this two way relation both the company and consumers are dependent on each other. The salient of purpose of our study was to find out to what extent brand names influence the consumers’ purchase decisions with regard to high-involvement products. We conducted this study based on theories and survey. We reviewed a good number of relevant theories of brand and consumer decision making process. We also conducted a survey among the students. The respondents of our survey were those students who own a notebook PC, a high involvement product. We used convenience sampling for our survey. We analyzed the data of the survey in order to be able to draw conclusions and find answers to our questions. On analysis of the collected data, we came to a conclusion that brand names have an influence on the consumer decision not only in case of notebook PC, but also in other product categories. The overall means of brand equity for male and female student are 3.64 and 3.66 respectively. Both the means are considerably higher than the average of 2.5 on the Likert Scale. So, it is reasonable to say that both male and female students’ purchase decisions are influenced by the brand equity to an extent. The consumers are very conscious about branded products because they have the view that well-known brands are more reliable. This study also explains that customers trust the branded products. Before purchasing a notebook PC people do not consider the lesser known brands. Our survey results show that the respondents previously automatically knew which brand of Notebook PC to buy. The mean of the statement “I automatically knew which brands of this product to buy” was much higher than average indicating that respondents had only a few brands in their evoked set and they ended up buying their top-of-the-mind brand. Consumers opined that well-known brand companies maintain quality of their product. Which is why, brand name affects the customer choice while making a purchase decision. Moreover, consumers also tend to trust well-known branded products. The mean of the statement “When I see an advertisement of this brand I believe the information in it is accurate” was much higher than the average which testifies to the fact that consumers usually trust the brands.

Community-Based Tourism (CBT) is a bottom-up approach to sustainable developmentused in developing countries to enhance the conservation of natural resources, preservetraditional culture, and generate income at the local level. The study aims to understandthe effectiveness of community associations for CBT development in developingcountries. Ghana is selected as the primary case of this study. Published data on CBTassociations in Namibia, Uganda, Kyrgyzstan and Costa Rica are used as supporting casesof the study. The research was conducted primarily, using library resources, incombination with fieldwork conducted by the author. The findings describe a viciouscircle of poverty in Ghana’s CBT development as well as describe successes andchallenges of supporting cases. It is clarified that the studied CBT associations haveplayed a significant role in creating networks and making linkages among the variousstakeholders involved. Further, these efforts increase the possibility of expanding CBTbenefits to the whole country, especially by creating interaction with governmentalagencies. However, obtaining a sustainable funding source for their activities is still agreat challenge, facing the associations. The study concludes that the establishment ofCBT associations can solve some of the problems identified as limiting Ghana’s CBTdevelopment. In particular, CBT associations could be useful for enhancing collaborationamong stakeholders. Unfortunately, the study could not identify any concrete solutionsfor the many financial issues which many developing countries face. An empirical studyon introducing microfinance or other soft loan system to CBT associations could be avaluable subject for further studies.

Tourism has become a tool for many developing countries to achieve economic growth and alleviate poverty. However, even though tourism is contributing to positive impacts, it also stresses infrastructure and changing local communities. For many African countries, tourism plays an important role, which is the case with the growing tourist destination Mozambique. This research is examining how tourism is affecting the local community in Tofo, and furthermore how involved they are in the development. The study is based on interviews, participant observations, questionnaire and documents. Findings show that the development is forced upon the community in Tofo, although leading to various economic and socio-cultural impacts, such as improved living standard, change in behaviors and infrastructure development, but the greatest impacts remain employment and income. The development is unplanned and do not involve the community to extent it should and could, leaving the residents powerless and dependent on foreign investors.

Syftet med studien var att genom intervjuer och observationer undersöka pedagogers delaktighet i den fria leken i förskola och förskoleklass. De frågeställningar som låg till grund var, Vad innebär vuxnas delaktighet i barnens fria lek? På vilket sätt kommer den vuxnes delaktighet till uttryck i den fria leken? Detta för att vi ville veta om vuxna deltar och på vilket sätt de deltar i barnens lek. Vår studie är kvalitativ och i metoden är vi inspirerade av fenomenografi och sociokulturellt perspektiv. Studien grundar sig på sju intervjuer med pedagoger i förskola och förskoleklass och på observationer, en i förskola och en i förskoleklass. I resultatet kom vi fram till att vuxnas uttryck av delaktighet har visat sig på flera olika sätt. De vanligaste uttrycken är handledare och förespråkare för verkligheten, däremot kunde vi se att deltagande som lekkamrat inte förekom så ofta även om respondenterna uttrycker att de gärna vill. / The purpose of this study was that through interviews and observations to examine pedagogues participation in the free play in preschool and preschool classes. The issues which formed the basis was, What does adult involvement in children's free play mean? How will the adult's participation be reflected in the free game? This is because we wanted to know about the adults involved and how they participate in children's play. Our study is qualitative and the method we are inspired by is phenomenography and socio-cultural perspective. The study is based on seven interviews with teachers in preschool and preschool classes and observations, one in preschool and one in the preschool class. In the result, we concluded that the adult expression of participation has proved in several different ways. The most common expressions are play tutor and spokesman for reality, however, we found that participation playmate was not so often, even if respondents say that they want to.

The Front End of innovation (FEI) or early innovation presents one of the greatest opportunities for improving an entire innovation process in any firm. The purpose of this thesis is to study how customers can be involved in the early phase of innovation in the IT industry. In this study, we did analyze the customer types, their methods of involvement and key elements within the early innovation process or front end of innovation. In accordance with theoretical concepts, this study shows that all fifteen (15) companies working within the I.T industry in Sweden agreed working with innovation/NPD and, equally involve customers in their front end of innovation (FEI). In the I.T industry, innovation comes mainly from the users (customers) and from within the companies (R&D). To a lesser extend, from technological trends, market and suppliers. Amongst the identified phases (elements) of the front end of innovation, Opportunity Identification was found to be the dominant phase for customer involvement. Normal customers, lead, empathic design customers and virtual customers, proved the most dominant customer types integrated within the front end of innovation in the I.T industry.

<p>This study examined the effect of the Kindergarten Home Visit Project, a novel universal intervention program designed to enhance the transition to kindergarten for children and families by providing teachers with the training and support they need to conduct a home visit for each of their students at the beginning of the school year. Forty-four kindergarten teachers from 19 schools and 928 children and their families participated in the project. Teachers were blocked within schools and randomly assigned to intervention or control conditions. Intervention teachers successfully completed home visits for 98% of their students. After controlling for child and teacher demographic factors, multilevel modeling with children nested within classrooms and schools revealed that random assignment to receive a home visit had a significant positive impact on classroom work habits by students and teacher-child relationship warmth at the end of kindergarten. Assignment to home visiting was also associated with positive child outcomes for girls, specifically including: higher academic achievement, academic motivation, work habits, social skills, and better conduct. Impact on boys was non-significant. The effect of home visiting on child outcomes was mediated by an intervening effect on academic motivation for girls during the fall. Positive effects of assignment to intervention were also demonstrated for children from non-English speaking homes. These children demonstrated higher academic motivation and better work habits. In addition, both non-English speaking parents and their teachers reported reduced adverse effects of language barriers on home-school collaboration. The intervention was also found to have a positive effect on teacher attitudes and beliefs. Teachers who conducted home visits reported an increased understanding of the diverse needs and cultural differences of families, a greater willingness to reach out to parents, and a more positive connection to students and their families. These findings suggest that home visiting is beneficial to teachers, students and families and should be continued and expanded as a kindergarten transition practice in the schools.</p> / Dissertation

The end of launching Financial Holding Company, FHC is to maximize the synergy of versatile financial services like banking, insurance, securities, and the like by means of cross selling internally to expand product line as well as offering integrated financial services to consumers externally to satisfy their one-stop shopping demands. One of the characteristics in the property is highly counting on people to deliver service, and agents play significant roles during service delivery. Therefore, it merits a better attention to probe into the relationships between the organizational commitment, the professional commitment, the organizational citizenship behavior, and the job involvement in cross selling of agents¡¦. The study is conducted by the questionnaire survey on three FHCs in which insurance business is inner circle in Taiwan. Throughout interviewing the staffs of the three by 500 questionnaires offered and 351 valid ones collected, the datum of the research is made by reliability analysis, descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, independent sample t-test, ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis to verify the identity degrees of the interviewees on the organizational commitment, the professional commitment, the organizational citizenship behavior, and the job involvement in cross selling. Following are the major findings: 1.Each one of the organizational commitment, the professional commitment, and the organizational citizenship behavior are statistically significant and positive correlated to the job involvement in cross selling. Among them, the organizational citizenship behavior is with the strongest influence on the job involvement in cross selling, then the organizational commitment second, and the professional commitment last. 2.Among the sub-dimensions, the organizational identity in the organizational commitment explains most the variations of the job involvement in cross selling and then the retention on the job. Also, the professional identity in the professional commitment explains most the one and then the retention on the occupation. And, the involvement in the organizational citizenship behavior explains the most the one and then the loyalty. It means that the organizational identity, the professional identity, the involvement and the loyalty of the agents are with significant effects on their involvement in cross selling. 3.The variations in the identity degrees of the organizational commitment and the professional commitment of the agents in the three FHCs are significantly different, however, the ones of the organizational citizenship behavior and the involvement in cross selling are no significant. From the findings of the research, the organizational commitment and the organizational citizenship behavior are proven the most impacts on the involvement in cross selling. Consequently, FHCs should pay more attentions especially to enhance the organizational identity of agents all the time except for advancing their knowledge and ability in cross selling when they want to raise the wills of agents on the job involvement in cross selling. For example, they can disclose the expectation and the requirement of the organization to agents to make them fully understand, follow, and moreover increase their confidence. Besides, building incentive performance assessment and rewarding system is more important than else in stimulating agents to have strong involvement in cross selling.

The present study investigates whether employees¡¦ personality traits and job characteristics influence their job involvement in M company. Using 163 samples, we found that the interaction of employees¡¦ personality traits and job characteristics, influence their job involvement. In addition, employees¡¦ personality traits and job characteristics have no significant influence on job involvement. The factors that affect the job involvement not only the two can separate cover. Enterprises should pay attention to employees¡¦ personality traits and job characteristics fit, making the employees in their suitable job. Employees have a high degree of job involvement will bring more benefits for organization.

Foreign labors are important to Taiwan¡¦s manufacturing industries as most of them are taking 3D (Dirty, Dangerous, and Difficult) jobs or night shifts. Previous researches have put attention on the influences of human resource management (HRM) practices on foreign labors¡¦ adaptability or job performance. There is comparatively lesser researches focus on the mediating and moderating variables between foreigner labors¡¦ HRM practices and their performance. Based on the framework of hierarchical HRM, this study aims to explore the mediating effect of foreign worker readiness and the moderating effect of agent involvement on the relationship between foreign labor HRM practices and their job performance. Due to lack of empirical researches related to agent¡¦s involvement, hence this study first applied to qualitative research method to explore the construct and create the measurement and then used quantitative research method to examine the hypotheses. According to the data from Kaohsiung city manufacturing enterprises (total 50 sets of samples; including 50 HR heads and 373 foreign workers), the results revealed that: 1. The relationship between HRM practices and foreign labors¡¦ job performance. (1) Training & education practices are positively related to foreign labors¡¦ job performance. (2) Incentive practices are positively related to foreign labors¡¦ job performance. (3) Accommodation management practices are positively related to foreign labors¡¦ job performance. 2. The relationship among HRM practices, foreign labor¡¦s readiness and job performance. (1) Recruitment and selection management practices are positively related to foreign labors¡¦ job readiness. (2) Foreign labors¡¦ job readiness is positively related to their job readiness. (3) Recruitment and selection management practices are positively related to foreign labors¡¦ job performance through their job readiness. 3. The relationship among agent involvement, foreign labor¡¦s HRM practices, foreign labor¡¦s readiness and job performance. (1) Agent involvement positively moderates the relationships between training & education management practices and foreign labors¡¦ job performance. (2) Agent involvement positively moderates the relationships between incentive practices and foreign labors¡¦ job performance Base on these findings, we suggests that practitioners should improve the oversea recruitment and selection practices for promoting foreign labors¡¦ readiness and ensuring their job performance. Practitioners can also strengthen the magnitude of education & training, incentives and accommodation management to promote foreign labors¡¦ performance. For enhancing the management effectiveness, practitioners should work closely with the agent in education & training and incentive practices. For the future researches, we suggest that longitudinal research design could further inspect the causal-effect relationship between HRM practices and performance. Furthermore, researches can also expand the sources of data to enhance the generalizability of the results.