The diploma thesis focuses on the problems of regulation of financial intermediaries and reviews the contemporary situation in the financial market of the Czech Republic. In the introductory part subjects that can provide financial services and circumstances under which these services are possible are defined. The introduction also outlines the framework for controlling, its planned development, state institutions supervising this process and the up-to-date state of self-regulation by the financial intermediaries themselves. The main part of the thesis is devoted to contemporary key topics in the field (mis-selling, providing of misleading or incomplete information, reinsurance, promotion of excessive trading, low expertise, reward system etc.), supervision by the state and the attitude of financial intermediaries to these activities.. The aim of the thesis is to find a functional relationship between the set of rules defined by legislation and the internal self-regulatory system of the financial intermediaries.

ABSTRACT Level: Master thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr Institution:  School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University  Authors: Alma Hamulic & Lovisa Nilsson Eskesen                                              Title: How do influencer marketing agencies work with sustainability as intermediaries? Keywords: Influencer Marketing, Sustainability, Sustainable Marketing, Future of Influencer Marketing, Intermediaries Research question: “How do influencer marketing agencies work and promote sustainability to their influencers?”  Purpose: The authors aim to investigate how the agencies work with the influencers in terms of sustainability, whether the influencer marketing agency has a given strategy for the influencer to communicate sustainably or not. Method: The interpretivist research paradigm was chosen as the most suitable one in this                                           qualitative study. The interpretivist research philosophy tends to lead to an                                           Inductive approach and the research method is exploratory.  For this research, a                                           multiple case study has been chosen, carried by four semi-structured interviews                                           chosen by the purposive sampling method.  Conclusion: The results show thee main findings where none of the participating agencies for this research has a given strategy for promoting sustainability to their influencers even though they agree that it is of great importance to include in their work. Another finding is to be selective with the companies the agencies choose to work with and the fact that they can affect what is being communicated in terms of sustainability. A sustainability action plan has been created that illustrates how a new strategy can be brought in to create a sustainability strategy for intermediaries.

This research explores the potential role of intermediaries in the implementation of socioeconomic development (SED) benefits through the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPPPP) in low-income communities. SED benefits are a procurement requirement that forms part of REIPPPP's Economic Development scorecard and are required to be implemented in identified beneficiary communities, with the aim of improving livelihoods in such communities. Literature points to the fact that, community development is not a function of the private sector and that intermediaries can have success in partnering with communities in their quest for development. This research is approached through a qualitative inductive study of a case study. The case study is Project90by2030, a not-for-profit organisation (NPO) and public benefit organisation (PBO) that is focused on the mobilisation of and advocacy for clean energy in energy poor lowincome communities. The research pays attention to the organisation's community development approach and what possible learning benefits there could be for the REIPPPP. Interviews were held with community participants and facilitators of the Community Partnership Programme of the organisation. The research finds that low-income communities experience exclusion and inequality and identifies the agents of the said exclusion and inequality. This thesis argues that intermediaries can play an important role to bridge inequality of agency and other power dynamics that work to the detriment of the empowerment of low-income communities. It concludes that socio-economic community development is a contribution to society that business should pursue, with the support of intermediaries and with local government as a key strategic partner.

Background: In the recents decades, one of humanity's biggest challenges has been the climatecrisis where emissions of greenhouse gases are the main problem. This has forced companies toact more environmentally friendly due to laws and regulations but also due to customer demand.Circular economy has become a hot topic with various definitions. One of the definitions isopen-loop supply chain and this essay will focus on explaining the concept of open-loop supplychain. Research question: 1. What can a business model look like for an intermediary for reusable durable goods in anopen-loop supply chain? 2. What challenges exist within reuse of durable goods between suppliers and intermediaries inan open-loop supply chain? Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to, through a multiple case study, develop a businessmodel on how intermediaries for reusable durable goods can work with an open-loop supplychain and how it can be applied in future industries. Method: Primary data through semi-structured interviews and secondary data through scientificarticles. Conclusion: The essay developed a business model for intermediaries for reusable durablegoods in an open-loop supply chain which is applicable to other industries. The essay alsodefined some of the challenges for intermediaries operating in an open-loop supply chain whichare transaction costs, building relationships, loss of control and long transportations. Furthermorethe level of relevance of these challenges depends on the amount of responsibility theintermediary has taken upon itself.

Syftet med denna studie är att studera vilken syn unga människor har på spelreklam och hur de anser att spelreklamen framställs, samt hur spelbolagen går tillväga för att marknadsföra sig. Begreppet spelreklam åsyftar i studien marknadsföring för alla typer av penningspel. Vi har genomgående under studiens gång haft de tre frågeställningarna nedan som grund för vårt forskningsarbete: -  Hur uppfattar unga personer spelreklam?-  Hur upplever dessa unga personer att spelbolagen ändrat tillvägagångsätt i sin marknadsföring och är det i en högre omfattning än tidigare?-  Vilka skillnader går att påvisa mellan aktiva spelare och icke-spelare i synen på spelreklam? Genom semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer, har åtta personer mellan 18–25 år intervjuats för att ta reda deras attityder och uppfattning kring ämnet. Studiens teoretiska ramverk grundar sig på enstegshypotesen, tvåstegshypotesen, encoding/decoding, framing, push- och pullmarknadsföring samt teorin om räckvidd och selektivitet. Resultatet visar att unga personer uppfattar spelreklam olika beroende på egen erfarenhet av penningspel eller spelande i deras omgivning men att helhetssynen är kritisk. Beroende på hur insatta intervjupersonerna var i spelande hade de även olika syn på spelbolagens olika tillvägagångssätt i marknadsföringen. Vilka medier de kommer i kontakt med spelreklam varierar även det. Gemensamt för samtliga var dock att de ansåg att spelbolagen inte påvisade tillräckligt i sin marknadsföring alla de hälsorisker penningspel innebär. / The aim of this study is to examine how young people perceive gambling advertising and how they consider that the gambling companies markets themselves. The study includes all types of gambling as sports betting, trotting, casinos and so on. Throughout during the study, we have had these three issues as a basis for our research work: -  How do young people perceive gambling advertising?-  How do these young people experience that the gambling companies have changed their marketing approach and is it to a greater extent than before?-  What differences are there between active gamblers and non-active persons in the view of gambling advertising? Through semi-structured qualitative interviews, eight different persons between the ages of 18 and 25 have been interviewed in order to find out their attitudes and perceptions about the subject. The study’s theoretical framework is based on one step flow theory, the two-step flow-theory, encoding/decoding, push and pull marketing and the theory of reach and selectivity. The result show that young people perceive gambling advertising differently depending on their own experience of gambling but that the holistic view is critical. Depending on how experienced the interview persons were in gambling they also had different opinions about how the gambling companies approaches their marketing. They also get in reach with this advertising in different media. What they all had in common was that they considered that the gambling companies do not enlighten enough about all the health risks of gambling.

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Innovation intermediaries provide a range of services to assist firms during the process of innovation. How SMEs perceive innovation intermediaries is an area of investigation that would provide important information on how innovation intermediaries’ assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This study focuses on the cleantech industry and explores SMEs’ expectations and perceptions of an established community-based intermediary (CBI) moving into their sector. A qualitative research methodology was adopted to collect data from 15 sample SMEs. In regards to SMEs, the findings show that cleantech companies face financing, partnerships, marketing, sales, regulatory and bureaucratic challenges. In regards to innovation intermediaries, the findings showcase how CBI, a regional intermediary, is not effective in supporting cleantech SMEs with their sector specific needs or challenges.

Innovation intermediaries provide a range of services to assist firms during the process of innovation. How SMEs perceive innovation intermediaries is an area of investigation that would provide important information on how innovation intermediaries’ assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This study focuses on the cleantech industry and explores SMEs’ expectations and perceptions of an established community-based intermediary (CBI) moving into their sector. A qualitative research methodology was adopted to collect data from 15 sample SMEs. In regards to SMEs, the findings show that cleantech companies face financing, partnerships, marketing, sales, regulatory and bureaucratic challenges. In regards to innovation intermediaries, the findings showcase how CBI, a regional intermediary, is not effective in supporting cleantech SMEs with their sector specific needs or challenges.

Innovation intermediaries provide a range of services to assist firms during the process of innovation. How SMEs perceive innovation intermediaries is an area of investigation that would provide important information on how innovation intermediaries’ assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This study focuses on the cleantech industry and explores SMEs’ expectations and perceptions of an established community-based intermediary (CBI) moving into their sector. A qualitative research methodology was adopted to collect data from 15 sample SMEs. In regards to SMEs, the findings show that cleantech companies face financing, partnerships, marketing, sales, regulatory and bureaucratic challenges. In regards to innovation intermediaries, the findings showcase how CBI, a regional intermediary, is not effective in supporting cleantech SMEs with their sector specific needs or challenges.