Family business research is a rapidly growing topic of interest. Nevertheless there has been little research explicitly dedicated to the connection between consumers’ and family businesses. This paper gives insight about the influence of the family business brand image and consumers’ purchase intentions. Hereby it was taken into consideration  that  low-involvement and product knowledge can influence this path. This was done by a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. The findings showed that consumers associate family business with high quality, passion, heritage, traditions, small companies and craftsmanship. In general these associations do not influence consumers buying behavior. However, specific target groups showed different results. Implications focus on using the family business as a secondary brand image and family businesses should deal with caution when using their origin as a primary brand image.

This paper investigates, through an actor-network theory perspective, how the recreation area Lövsta-Kyrkhamn-Riddersvik northwest of Stockholm has developed from being a dumping site into becoming a nature reserve. This investigation also tries to describe and explain which values that have been promoted in the area by the local voluntary associations and companies. Lövsta-Kyrkhamn-Riddersvik has been inhabited for more than 3000 years, originally with farming as the most important business. The area served as Stockholm’s waste disposal site from the late 1890’s and has today become an important area for recreational use. The actor- network theory perspective is used to identify different actors, both human and non-human, that has worked for the protection of the area and thus gained power over the decision-making.

Introduction: Counterfeiting is considered as the crime of the 21st century. A highly affected market of counterfeits is the market of luxury branded goods. These goods are bought by consumers who want to express their social class and belonging by being admired, recognized and accepted by other people. The counterfeits of luxury brands that flourish on the market makes it possible for anyone to be a luxury brand user which is against the core of luxury brand, which strives for a low distribution to keep the demand high to be able to keep the consumer associations of luxury brands.   Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to create knowledge of how counterfeit products affect the consumer perception of luxury brands. Methodology: The research approach was a deductive, quantitative research and the data was collected through a questionnaire distributed through Facebook and the internal e-mail of the Linnaeus University. The sample frame was generation Y in Sweden. A total of 432 completed questionnaires were collected and was the foundation for the analysis and result.   Conclusion: The consumers' perception of counterfeit products have a negative effect on the consumer perception of luxury brands. Both the consumer's brand associations and how consumers perceive the quality of luxury brands are affected by counterfeit products. However, what the consequences are of this negative relationship cannot be answered by the result of this thesis.

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.

With the building project of the National Kaohsiung Performing Arts Center in place and the upcoming 2009 World Games being held in Kaohsiung, a variety of arts-related facilities are budding in Southern Taiwan. This trend raises the performing arts groups¡¦ expectations of and suggestions for improving the cultural environment in Southern Taiwan. The performing arts groups in Southern Taiwan are in dire need of development in an integrated and coordinated manner and the support from the government in a variety of ways. Specifically, these groups expect that the local folk traditions would be further cultivated, while internationalization would also be promoted. However, each performing arts group, because of its variety in nature, may hold unique needs and demands. Therefore, to launch a neutral organization which can coordinate and facilitate to fulfill these performing arts groups¡¦ needs may be necessary. The purposes of this study are to understand (1) whether there needs to be a service organization that is across different fields of performing arts in Southern Taiwan, (2) the roles and functions of this cross-performing arts service organization, and (3) the goals of and suggestions for this cross-performing arts service organization, on which its subsequent goals would be based. This study utilizes the Modified Delphi Method as the principal research method. By collecting and summarizing experts¡¦ opinions in relevant performing arts fields, I expect that this study would provide suggestions of the goals for this cross-performing arts service organization. The results of this study show that it is indeed important to have a cross-performing arts association in Southern Taiwan. In addition, it is necessary that the Performing Art in South Taiwan Association (PASTA) that was established in 2006 could fulfill such a role. Furthermore, when applied some management theories of non-profit organizations to identify the roles and functions of PASTA, I found that (1) as in a service role, the most important functions of PASTA are to provide advices for performing arts groups and to establish performing arts related database; (2) as an environmental reformer, PASTA should conduct environmental researches and make suggestions to improve the performing arts policies; (3) as a policy monitor, PASTA should promote the performing arts market liberalization and negotiate to improve the adequate legislation of performing arts; (4) as a public interest protector, PASTA should proactively obtain sponsorship for performing arts; and (5) as a social educator, PASTA should creative opportunities for its members for continuing education and professional development.

Today, sport managers view their teams, leagues and properties as brands to be managed. Researchers revealed that positive brand image generates additional revenue, increased merchandise sales, national media exposure, corporate supports, and increased ticket sales (Gladden et al., 1998). Consequently, understanding consumers perspective and how to enhance stronger brand equity are important for Turkish soccer clubs. From this point / the purpose of this study was to examine consumers&rsquo / perception on brand associations and affects of some factors on brand equity of soccer teams. In order to measure the consumer-based brand associations of Turkish soccer teams, the Turkish version of Team Association Scale was distributed to 156 undergraduate university students at Middle East Technical University and Gazi University.Results of this study indicated that tradition, product, affect and coach and nostalgia were perceived as the most important factors associated to the brand image of soccer teams. The findings of this study also revealed that, while males, heavy users and merchandise buyers associate tradition, product features, affect and coach and nostalgia with their team&rsquo / s brand, females, light users and fans who have not bought merchandise give more importance to star players in regards their contribution to brand image of soccer teams. Therefore, Turkish soccer teams should use marketing strategies to emphasize brand associations to create and enhance stronger brand equity and to gain additional revenues.

To be able to design product sounds that elicit a predetermined expression a study was performed to find how sound properties influence the experience of their expression. Two explorative studies using figurative against abstract visual stimuli were performed to create insight in how people experience sounds and to create a list of usable semantic associations. This list was ordered in 25 expression categories each under one descriptive semantic association. A third study using mind mapping was conducted to examine what sound properties were considered as influences on a few of these categories and to optimize the categorization. The sound properties that were considered as most influential were sharpness and noisiness. The final descriptive semantic associations were placed on a scale with the axes unpleasant-pleasant and calm-active. From these the following were considered to be most usable: activated, angry, boring, calm, chaotic, cheerful, eerie, energetic, pleasant, relaxed, trustworthy and unpleasant. In a fourth study the sounds of six domestic appliances were chosen and adjusted for sharpness, noisiness and their combination. They were evaluated for their valued expression on the 12 semantic associations by 30 participants. The results showed that increased sharpness elicited a more unpleasant and activated expression and decreased sharpness elicited a more pleasant and calm expression. This indicates that a general influence of sound properties can be established to design sounds for expression.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationships among preschool teachers&rsquo / and preschoolers&rsquo / parents&rsquo / developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) and developmentally inappropriate practice (DIP) beliefs in relation to parental involvement attitudes and perceived parental involvement barriers. To reach to the purposes of the study, data were collected from 279 teachers and 589 parents via a demographic information questionnaire and two main data collection instruments. The demographic information questionnaire aimed to obtain information about the participant&rsquo / s gender, age and educational level. In order to collect information from teachers and parents regarding their beliefs about developmentally appropriate practice / Teachers&rsquo / Beliefs Scale (TBS) (Burts et al., 2000) and the parent adaptation of the scale, Parents&rsquo / Beliefs Scale (Yen, 2008) were used. To ascertain parents&rsquo / and teachers&rsquo / attitudes and the barriers on parental involvement, the School and Family Partnerships Questionnaire (Epstein &amp / Salinas, 1993) was used. The investigation of the relationship between the teachers&rsquo / and parents&rsquo / DAP and DIP beliefs in relation to their parent involvement attitudes (PIA), parent involvement barriers (PIB) revealed significant results. The findings of the study revealed that both the teachers&rsquo / and parents&rsquo / PIA and PIB made significant contributions to their DAP and DIP beliefs. As found in the current study, the interaction between the teachers and parents should be increased to help children develop in the most appropriate way. In order to increase this relationship, a detailed focus on the parental involvement paradigm should be undertaken.

<p>During recent years, the trend of Swedish students’ negative performance and results in mathematics has been discussed. It is agreed that a change in teaching methods is necessary in order to solve this issue. Thus we found it interesting to take a closer look at an alternative way of teaching. The purpose of this study was to find out what teachers and students associate concrete mathematics with and make a comparison between them. A qualitative method based on interviews was used to reach the purpose. The data was analyzed and the result was that two groups took form: Knowledge and Game.</p><p>Both teachers and students agree on the fact that concrete mathematics brings a positive variation into the classroom and motivates the students. Concrete mathematics also contributes with practicing, collaboration and discussions. The most distinctive difference between teachers and students’ associations is their view on knowledge. On one hand the teachers claimed that concrete mathematics contributes with better learning, but on the other hand the students claimed that they learn better or just as well by using workbooks in mathematics. The study also showed that students tended to see concrete mathematics as if it were a game. Based on this result we think that it is important that the teachers have a clear purpose with their teaching methods and make the students aware of their purpose. We claim that this is decisive in order to make the students feel that their activities are meaningful.</p> / <p>Svenska elevers försämrade resultat i matematik har under de senaste åren diskuterats. Ett förändrat arbetssätt i matematik anses ibland vara det som behövs för att vända denna negativa trend. Detta fick oss att vilja titta närmare på ett alternativt arbetssätt. Syftet med studien var att ta reda på vad lärare och elever på högstadiet associerar ett laborativt arbetssätt i matematik med, samt göra jämförelser mellan dessa associationer. För att kunna uppnå syftet genomfördes en kvalitativ undersökning i form av intervjuer. Intervjumaterialet analyserades sedan och de associationer som framkom delades in i två grupper, Lärande och lek.</p><p>Både elever och lärare förknippar ett laborativt arbetssätt i matematik med att det leder till variation och ökad motivation. Arbetssättet bidrar, enligt lärarna även till att eleverna kan hjälpa varandra samt att de får träning i att samarbeta och diskutera. Den tydligaste skillnaden är att lärarna associerar ett laborativt arbetssätt som gynnsamt för lärandet, medan eleverna här menar att de lär sig lika bra eller bättre med läroboken. Studien visade även att ett laborativt arbetssätt ofta likställs med lek från elevernas sida. Utifrån detta finner vi det viktigt att lärarna har ett tydligt syfte med laborationerna, klargör syftet för eleverna, samt även följer upp genomförda laborationer. Detta för att undervisningen ska vara meningsfull och utvecklande för eleverna. Risken tror vi annars är att görandet hamnar i fokus på bekostnad av lärandet.</p>

<p>Syftet är att beskriva hur en svensk ideell förening mäter och redovisar effektivitet samt vilka effekter det har på verksamheten. I och med att ideella föreningar till skillnad från företag inte har ett vinstdrivande syfte så kan således inte effektivitet mätas på samma sätt som i den privata sektorn. I denna uppsats studeras ett fall, en kristen församling, för att få en inblick i hur en ideell förening mäter effektivitet och redovisar den.</p><p>Denna uppsats utförs genom en fallstudie av både kvalitativ och kvantitativ karraktär. Författarna har besökt församlingen och genomfört en enkätundersökning av medlemmarna och deras attityder kring effektivitet och hur den redovisas till medlemmarna. Vidare har författarna intervjuat styrelsemedlemmar för att få en djupare inblick i ämnet.</p><p>Vad som skiljer ideella föreningar från vinstdrivande organisationer är att de har ett icke-ekonomiskt syfte och att de bedrivs mestadels på frivillig basis. En ideell förening är beroende av bidrag från medlemmar och kommun. Normer och praxis inom redovisning är utarbetad utifrån den privata sektorn och präglas då av ett vinstdrivande syfte och finansiella mått. För den ideella sektorn lämpar sig ickefinanseella mått i form av måluppfyllelse bättre. I och med att ideella föreningar inte har en egen lagstiftning så påverkas redovisningens utformning också av ett vinstdrivande perspektiv.</p><p>Den effektivitet som församlingen mäter och redovisar i sin årsredovisning är statistik på antalet medlemmar och deltagare i församlingens olika verksamheter. Däremot redovisas effektivitet i form av målsättning snarare verbalt på församlingsmöten. Genom synen på redovisning som ett informationssystem är verbal kommunikation också en form av redovisning. Icke finansiella mått är viktigast för församlingen, anser styrelsemedlemmarna, för att de kan påverka medlemmarna till att engagera sig mer i verksamheten.</p><p>Finansiella mått kan församlingen också ha användning för så länge redovisningen av dem genomförs på ett sätt så medlemmarna kan ta till sig den informationen. Om redovisningen genomförs så att medlemmarna förstår informationen kan den få en positiv effekt på verksamheten för att den kan motivera medlemmarna att engagera sig mer. Studien har lett till en modell som visar hur effektivitets-redovisningen kan påverka en förening positivt. Genom att sätta upp mätbara delmål både för styrelsen och för medlemmarna kan motivationen ökas och mer resurser bli tillgängliga för verksamheten. Med fler motiverade medlemmar och mer resurser kan församlingen nå sina mål och öka effetkiviteten. Utvärdering av de uppnådda målen och redovisning av resultaten ska inspirera medlemmarna till att sätta nya mål och en enighet bland medlemmarna att sträva efter att uppnå de nya målen.</p> / <p>The purpose with this thesis is to describe how a non-profit association measures and presents efficiency and its effects on the organization. Non-profit organizations cannot measure efficiency in the same way as profit-driven organizations since they do not have a financial purpose. In this thesis a christian congregation is studied to attain a deeper insight in how non-profit organizations measures and presents efficiency.</p><p>This thesis is conducted through a case study of both qualitatative and quantitatative character. The authors have visited the congregation in question and made a questionnaire among the members about their attitudes towards efficiency and how it is presented to them. The authors have also interviewed four members of the board to get a deeper insight in the subject.</p><p>What distinguishes non-profit organizations from profit-driven ones is that they have a non-financial purpose. And also that they mostly are operated on a voluntary basis. A non-profit organization is depending on subsidies from members and the municipality. Norms within accounting are designed from a profit-driven view and is mostly focusing on financial measures. For the non-profit sector measures of non financial character is more appropriate to use. The accounting within non-profit organizations are heavily affected by a profit-driven perspective since they do not have an exclusive legislation.</p><p>The efficiency that the congregation measures and presents in their annual report is statistics of members and participants in their activities. However they do present efficiency in sense of objectives verbally through their meetings. Verbal communication can from a informationsystem kind of view be considered as a way of accounting. Non financial measures is the most important ones for the congregation since it can make the members become more engaged in the activities. If the accounting is created in a way that the members can relate to, it may have a positive and motivative effect on the organisation.</p><p>The study resulted in a model that shows the positive effects of presenting efficiency in an organization. By introducing measureable goals more members will become engaged and more resources will be available in the organization. Through this the congregation more easily can reach its goals. Evaluation of reached goals will inspire the members to set up new ones and to become more united.</p>