With the rising power of Internet and especially social media which includes different communities, blogs, portals(1) , etc., nowadays brand value, - its creation and control, is not in the hands of the companies anymore, but is shifted to the consumers. One aim of this paper is to investigate and try to prove the existence of social media influence on brand value. Another goal is to introduce a different vision of brand value in connection with Internet and the rise of social media's influence on consumer's minds. For the purpose of this research the terms brand value and brand equity would bear equal meanings. My theory, which I would like to introduce, was borrowed from biology and physics, namely from I.P. Pavlov's studies and his conditioned reflex theory(2) and the physics part is based on the dispersion of light theory which was first introduced, as we know, by Isaak Newton(3). I dare to say, that nowadays creation of brand value in consumer minds works the same way. When someone, man or woman, hears a brand name, a picture and a feeling, either positive or negative is immediately formed in the person's mind from personal experience with this brand. If not, then the brand is an unfamiliar one, thus we have to rely on a provided opinion, which was previously usually conveyed to us by family, relatives and close friends while recently, also by our growing virtual community. At the beginning of the thesis, I will present the theoretical background and data on World Wide Web and social media, followed by a concise description of some of the existing brand equity models, afterwards introducing my own vision on significant brand value components, elaborating on this theory with the help of relevant case studies and researches. Brand equity has generally been defined as "a brand's power derived from the goodwill and name recognition that it has earned over time, which translates into higher sales volume and higher profit margins against competing brands"(4). Further on in the second chapter I will bring together more definitions on brand equity/value to be able to propose a modified one, components of which will be discussed thoroughly in the same chapter. The main goal of my Master Thesis is to analyze the existence of a dependency between social media and brand value. A second goal is to assess whether the impact is a positive or a negative one or is a mixture of both.

The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the tension between children’s spontaneous exploration and the preschool's scheduled routines. A day in preschool is on one hand signified by interpersonal meetings, the preschool pedagogues are highly aware in their encounter with the children, the interaction is both warm and professional. On the other hand, a day in preschool is also signified by scheduled routines and time frames that cannot be broken. If they are broken a domino effect can occur which will result in consequences that affect the rest of the day. Because of this, pedagogues must interrupt children’s spontaneous exploration on a daily basis to maintain the time frames. Michel Foucault's thoughts of power are our theoretical perspective, our aim is to explore the hidden power structures. The research questions are: How do schedules and routines discipline children and pedagogues in preschool? What space is there for children’s spontaneous exploration in preschools scheduled routines? What does the children’s eventual resilience against routines and set time frames look like?  We have used a qualitative method in our study, using interviews and observations. We have interviewed three preschool teachers and two childcare workers. The interviews gave us insight of what the pedagogues thought about children’s spontaneous exploration and routines while the observations gave us insight on what the pedagogues and children were actually doing. The observations took place at two different preschools on four different occasions. The result of our study shows that routines and time frames do discipline children and pedagogues in preschool, but the discipline is usually welcomed. Children's spontaneous exploration is viewed as important and as an essential clue to children's inner life, but it gets interrupted daily to not disturb the routines. To compromise for the interruptions the pedagogues use various coping strategies, one being implementing children’s interests in preschools scheduled activities. Thus, creating possibilities for democracy to be practiced but also at the risk of leading children towards normative goals.

Business strategies for competitive succession have been captivating the attention of scientists and entrepreneurs from all over the world. As more competitive circumstances are reached within a market, the value perspective expressed by consumers becomes increasingly relevant. The manufacturing industry has somewhat been resistant to incorporating soft consumer values into their business models, as many of them are built up by traditional price- and firm-centric structures and belief systems. In this thesis, we explore how embracing these values can benefit manufacturers and how to strategically use value creation and value capturing processes. Previous research on the topic has found that the ability to create and capture soft values has grown in other industries, however, the manufacturing industry has not yet fully embraced this trend. The reason is mainly due to their traditional structure. If manufacturers do not act now, they are threatened by a decline in market share that might lead to a market exit.  This thesis performs a case study of a Nordic rock bolt manufacturer and investigates what soft values are and how they can be utilized in the manufacturing industry. A question to ask while researching this topic, is what does the consumer evaluate when purchasing rock bolts from the manufacturer? To collect the answers, 6 different methods were used, including a field visit to a mine in Finland and several semi-structured interviews with representatives and actors in the Nordic rock bolt manufacturing industry. The various methods were all applied to get a holistic view of the problematization.  The study identified 9 soft values among rock bolt consumers that can be utilized in different value creation and capture processes. These soft values are based on the needs and wants that matter in the purchasing decision. Manufacturers should seek new and innovative ways of meeting consumer needs and wants. This means engaging with consumers and opening up for value co-creating opportunities. In turn, consumer knowledge will be beneficial to the manufacturer’s competitiveness. Furthermore, service-centric strategies, such as servitization, are ways for product companies to capture consumer value. Moreover, to further gain purchasing interest, it is suggested that manufacturers could incorporate value-based pricing strategies. This can promote the benefits of the manufacturer’s product, leading to a price setting that primarily is based on consumer-perceived values.  All in all, this study has demonstrated the importance and opportunity of soft value identification, creation, and capturing in the manufacturing industry by showing how price can be trumped by other, softer, values influencing the decision-making process.

Abstract Background: Sweden has a long history of family-owned investment companies, and they are a big part of today’s financial composition. Mergers & Acquisitions is a well-established term which refers to the process of two or more companies calling for a restruction of the corporate order. However, a large number of M&A’s end up failing and one reason behind this could be the complexity of juggling between hard and soft values in the acquisition process.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to look at and explore how family-owned investment companies manage to juggle between the soft and hard values in their pre-acquisition processes. Further the study aims to provide insights into how family values and their governance of these companies impact their overall M&A process. Method: This study employed a qualitative research design. The empirical data were gathered by conducting semi-structured interviews with nine different individuals employed at six different companies within the M&A industry. Furthermore, an abductive approach was used, and a thematic analysis was conducted to analyze the gathered data.  Conclusion: Family-owned investment companies have shown that they can successfully manage to juggle the hard and soft values of the M&A process. Mainly through their great experience of building companies as entrepreneurs and therefore applying soft values to the equation, this together with the use of external management weighing up with the hard values to find balance between the two. The shaping of the strategy enabling them to juggle between the two is mainly built around the idea of long-term thinking and including entrepreneurs in their companies through co-owning, enabling them to use the skills and network at hand.

Offentlig projektägande är ett sätt att öka takten på miljöinnovationer och bidrar förutom till ett hållbarare samhälle även med tillväxt. Projektsamarbeten mellan näringsliv, offentlig aktör och högskola faller inom modellen Triple Helix och anses vara en effektiv form av samverkan där satsade resurser kan ge större avkastning. Deltagande i dessa projektsamarbeten kan stärka sin konkurrenskraft tack vare exempelvis genom tillgången till aktuell information och genom ett aktivt miljöarbete. Projektägarna upplever dock svårigheter att få deltagare till sina projektsamarbeten inom miljöutveckling. En ökad förståelse för företagens förväntningar kan bidra till en tydligare kommunikation kring de fördelar som kan uppstå. Kunskapen om vilka förväntningar som finns kan möjliggöra för projektägarna att tillföra ytterligare fördelar vilket gynnar företagen så väl som projektägarens möjlighet att värva framtida deltagare, och inte minst gynnar det miljöutvecklingen. Det finns en tydlig värderingsproblematik kring fördelar som kontaktskapande, "Grön Marknadsföring" och lärande vilket försvårar beslutsfattandet kring beslut som till stor del består av mer abstrakta fördelar än de som kan värderas i monetära termer. Det aktuella forskningsläget kartlägger upplevda fördelar efter att de uppstått och det finns därför en tydlig kunskapslucka kring hur företag resonerar när de ställs inför beslutet om deltagande i projektsamarbeten inom miljöutveckling. Studien har använt ett hermeneutiskt tolkningsperspektiv och ett kvalitativt angreppssätt med en fallstudie som forskningsdesign. Fallstudien har genomförts i ett projektsamarbete där projektmålet är att ta fram ett verktyg för ledningsarbete med kontinuerliga energibesparingar. Sex företag deltar och semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med alla sex verksamhetsledarna som representerar företagen i projektet. Studien visar att alla deltagande företag har mål som liknar projektsamarbetets och att företagsidentiteten påverkar beslutet att delta. Det fanns ekonomiska motiv för deltagandet men hälften av verksamhetsledarna angav dessa sekundära. Fördelar som att projektsamarbetet anses imageförstärkande, utbyte av erfarenheter och skapande av kontakter som förväntas kunna nyttjas även efter projektets slut värderades i dessa fall högre. Vi ser att projektägaren kan tillföra fler upplevda fördelar genom att synliggöra företagens aktiva miljöarbete på ett tydligare sätt och underlätta de sociala relationerna att formas. För att attrahera deltagare är det viktigt för företagen att andra företag vill delta och att de känner tillit till projektägaren. / Public project ownership is a way to speed up the environmental innovation and contributing with a more sustainable society and development. Project collaboration between business, public and college belongs to the Triple Helix model, which is considered to be an effective form of collaboration where invested resources can give greater returns. Companies participating in this kind of collaborative can improve their competitiveness, for example through the availability of new information and through active environmental work. Despite these benefits, project owners find it difficult to recruit participants to such projects in environmental development. Increased understanding of business expectations can give opportunities to a better communication from the project owner about the benefits that may arise. The knowledge about what expectations there is can enable for the project owners to add further benefits, which benefit the companies as well as the project owner's ability to recruit future participants, and not to forget increase the environmental development. However, there is a clear valuation issue about benefits such as contact creation, "Green Marketing" and learning. The valuation problem makes decision making difficult for decisions about abstract benefits, rather than those that can be clearly valued in monetary terms. The study has used a hermeneutic interpretation perspective and a qualitative approach with a case study that used research design. The case study has been carried out in a project collaboration, where the project objective is to develop a tool for management work with continuous energy savings. Six companies participated in the project and interviews have been conducted with all six business leaders. The study shows that all participating companies have goals similar to project collaboration and that corporate identity influences the decision to participate. There were economic motivations to participate but they prioritized differently. Advantages expected from project collaboration include image, sharing experience and new contacts to use in the future. We see that the project owner can provide more perceived benefits by making clearer business active environmental work more visible and facilitating social relations. To attract participants, it is important for companies that other companies want to participate as well and that they trust the project owner.

Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka vilka möjligheter ett digitalt mätverktyg har för medarbetares välmående i att stödja HRs arbete med arbetsmiljön i små- och medelstora företag. Studien ämnar att bidra till forskning rörande digitalisering inom HR för medarbetares mjuka värden. Avgränsningar har gjorts rörande teorier och de teoriområden som valts ut är digitalisering, utmaningar inom digitalisering samt digitalisering av HR-system, organisatoriskt beslutsfattande baserat på mätningar samt dess fördelar och utmaningar, motivation samt två motivationsteorier i form av Herzbergs tvåfaktorsteori och Maslows behovstrappa, arbetsmiljö och psykosocial arbetsmiljö.  Studien har haft en kvalitativ forskningsmetod där respondenter som använt mätverktyget under en tid och jobbar med HR-frågor valts ut till datainsamlingen. Respondenterna har intervjuats, intervjuerna har transkriberats och kodats och till sist har teman skapats utifrån koderna med en tematisk analys. Med hjälp av teorierna som valts ut till studien skapades tre teman: förändrat arbetssätt, utmaningar med digitala verktyg och beslutsfattande baserat på mätningar, för att svara på studiens forskningsfrågor. Utifrån resultaten i studien har det visat sig att mätverktyget förändrat sättet HR arbetar, att det fungerat som ett viktigt stöd i HRs arbete och beslutsfattandet inom organisationer, men att en digitalisering och implementering av ett sådant mätverktyg även innebär utmaningar. / The purpose of this study has been to investigate the opportunities a digital measuring tool for employees' wellbeing has in giving support to HR in small- and medium-sized organizations. The study is aimed to contribute to the research field about digitalization within HR for soft values. In the study, delimitations have been made surrounding the theories, and the selected areas of theories are digitalization, challenges with digitalization, digitalization of HR-systems, organizational decision making based on measuring and the advantages and disadvantages of measuring, motivation with two motivational theories in the form of Herzbergs two factor theory and Maslows Hierarchy of needs, work environment and psychosocial work environment. The study has had a qualitative research method where respondents who have experience with the measuring tool and are working with HR issues were selected for the data collection. The respondents have been interviewed, the interviews have been transcribed and coded and lastly themes have been made by using the codes in a thematic analysis. With the help of the theories in the study, three themes were created: changed way of working, challenges with digitalization and decision making based on measuring. These were made to answer the research questions of the study. The results of this study have shown that the measuring tool has changed HR’s way of working, that it has functioned as an important support in HR’s work and for making organizational decisions, although a digitalization and implementation of a measuring tool like this also comes with challenges.

User interface design should provide meaningful and relevant experiences to the user. Users have different expectations on quality factors in services of different domains of usage. Aesthetics are more than just decoration of a user interface and could have significant impact on the continuous user experience, and colors could be a determining factor in the way that users interact with a user interface. This thesis presents an investigation into the user perception of trust, reliability and communicated soft values in the user interface design of the login flow in the Duo application. The Duo application is a second screen interaction application, combining public service television with interactive cross-program entertainment. The study followed the Double Diamond framework for innovation in design work. A pre-study was done consisting of a literature review, state of the art, and sending out a survey. This was followed by designing and iteration of prototypes and then conducting user tests and evaluation of the final iteration of prototypes. The findings from the pre-study identified characteristics for what users perceived of different interfaces in regards to soft values, as well as experiences with login. The characteristics were incorporated in the prototypes that were evaluated through user testing. After that, the evaluation of characteristics of the design of the login user interfaces were discussed and concluded to be valid and was finally delivered as design recommendations. Overall, the study points to there being a demand from users for clear identification of the publisher of the service for increased reliability and trustworthiness, through aesthetic means such as color and shape but mainly through logotypes or text. / Design av användargränssnitt ska ge meningsfulla och relevanta upplevelser för användaren. Användare har olika förväntningar på kvalitetsfaktorer i tjänster inom olika användningsområden. Estetik är mer än bara dekoration av ett användargränssnitt och kan ha betydande inverkan på den kontinuerliga användarupplevelsen, och färger kan vara en avgörande faktor för hur användarna interagerar med ett användargränssnitt. Detta examensarbete presenterar en undersökning av användarens uppfattning om trovärdighet, pålitlighet och kommunicerade mjuka värden i användargränssnittet av inloggningsflödet i Duo-appen. Duo-appen är en applikation med “second screen interaction“, som kombinerar public service-tv med interaktiv programöverskridande underhållning. Studien följde Double Diamondmodellen för innovation i designarbete. En förstudie gjordes bestående av en litteraturgenomgång, state of the art och utskick av en enkät. Detta följdes av designarbete och iteration av prototyper för att sedan genomföra användartester och utvärdering av den slutliga iterationen av prototyper. Resultaten från förstudien identifierade egenskaper för vad användarna uppfattade om olika gränssnitt när det gäller mjuka värden, såväl som erfarenheter av inloggning. Egenskaperna införlivades i prototyperna som utvärderades genom användartester. Efter detta diskuterades utvärderingen av egenskaperna hos designen av användargränssnitten för inloggning varvid det landade i att de var rimliga resultat

This thesis formulates ecological thinking in curatorial practices, as a way to act against neoliberal values, far-right politics and find ways to work in a sensitive way in a time of accelerating ecological crisis. The current socio-political landscape, and its oppressive forces, influence profoundly the art world and whole societies at large. This thesis starts by looking how those forces affect artistic and curatorial practices, and suggests, that a counter-action for these threats could be a practice, that is informed by ecological thinking. Different, ecologically motivated curatorial practices are discussed with curators Jenni Nurmenniemi and Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, as well as collective Laboratory for Aesthetics and Ecology. Some additional examples are drawn from the work of Mustarinda association. What comes clear, is that ecological thinking is much more than thinking about the environment or sustainability, but rather, it has connection points with theories of new materialisms, post-fossil experimentation and decolonial thought, all of which are also interconnected and entangled. This thesis gathers a praxis, that is informed by said ecological thinking, which functions both as a thinking and a doing. Ecological thinking is about radical coexistence and entangled in the materialities of the more than human world. Ecologically informed practice, then, could mean paying attention to material dimensions of practices, slowing down and rethinking exhibition formats.