In this Diploma Thesis I am trying to formulate the competitive strategy which was missing in the company up to now and which could help to compete more effectively and so strengthen its market position.

Cieľ diplomovej práce je navrhnutie vhodnej stratégie vstupu firmy Benzina, s.r.o. (Unipetrol, a.s.) na zahraničný trh. Práca obsahuje analýzu súčasnej situácie na domácom trhu v Českej republike a analýzu priemyslu v Ukrajine. Boli predstavené základné analytické metódy, ktoré boli následne vyhodnotené. Na základe uskutočnených analýz bola navrhnutá stratégia vstupu na Ukrajinu.

Analysis of the selected company was made on firm which provides SPA treatment. Results of analysis of external enviroment are negative influence of political and economic factors. Most positive impact have technological factors. Best results of the financial analysis reached indicators of liquidity, debt and indicators of bankruptcy models. Low return of assets and turnover time of claim are deficiencies. Current position of company is very good in terms of financial stability.

The subject of this diploma thesis is to analyse the Dolkam Šuja Company, a.s. Through the selected methods, described in the first part, the company’s current situation is evaluated and on its basis the measures for improving the current state of the company are proposed.

Through over forty-five years of development, bike sharing is not a fangle in Europe. But it becomes a popular topic in China in recent two years. The Chinese startups exert IoT technologies and GPS modular in shared bikes and launched the world’s first station-less bike sharing system. This new bike sharing system gains in popularity and develops dramatically all across China. In addition, the leading bike sharing service providers such as Mobike, got over $300 million investment since the start of 2017, which caught the attention of the public. More and more venture capitalists want to touch this new tempting pie. This paper mainly focuses on investigating what are the roles of this new bike sharing system in urban mobility in China especially in Shanghai and its influences in the society. Meanwhile, the socio-technological innovations of the new bike sharing are explored together with the application of different theoretical frameworks, such as Porter’s Five Forces and system thinking. This paper also tempted to fill up the gap in the literature that describing the missing part of smart bike sharing business - using the station less bike sharing business model, involving a discussion of its pros and cons. In order to give more detailed insights about the new bike sharing industry, we choose the world’s first station-less bike sharing service company - Mobike, as our case study object to investigate the revolutionary bike sharing system in Chinese major cities, specifically in Shanghai - the representative megacity of China. Conclusions and future development suggestions are provided at the end of this paper so that the stakeholders could have some references for further development of bike sharing industry.

This master thesis critically examines how new technology, AI, is influencing industry competition as viewed through the Porter’s Five Forces Framework for online retailers. It does this through a qualitative inquiry with seven expert interviews and a literature review focused on foundational papers, as well as more recent critiques of the Porter’s Five Forces Framework. Recent reports on the impact of AI is also examined. The thesis finds that several of Porter’s suggestions for the Five Framework are echoed by the interviewees, and the Forces appear to be relevant to consider for an online retailer considering the impact of AI. However, interviewees suggest the potential impact of network effects and fluidity between industries goes beyond what Porter indicated in his original study, thereby potentially influencing the extent to which one can solely rely on the Porter’s Five Forces Framework to support strategic decision making.

Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka investeringsbeslut inom designbranschen och skapa en större förståelse kring investeringsbesluten i designbyråer samt uppmärksamma designbyråer att investeringar kunde vara en konkurrenskraft. Teoretisk referensram: Studien behandlade olika investeringstyper, Porters fem konkurrenskrafter, risk, osäkerhet och lönsamhet. I uppsatsen användes också sju tidigare forskningar kring dessa områden samt forskning inom SME-företag, investeringsbeslut samt hur känslor påverkade vid beslutsfattande av investeringar. Metod: I uppsatsen har en deduktiv forskningsansats brukats. Studien genomfördes med en kvalitativ forskningsmetod i form av intervjuer med tio designbyråer. Kraven för designbyråerna var att de skulle ha olika arbetsområden i Stockholms innerstad samt att de skulle innefatta minst fyra anställda. Ytterligare ett krav var att de skulle ha välkända kunder. Intervjuerna genomfördes personligen, per telefon samt via mail. I studien tillämpades en komparativ metod för att kunna jämföra likheter och skillnader mellan designbyråerna samt finna kopplingar mellan designbyråers investeringar och beslutsfattandet kring dem. Resultat: Studien resulterade i att investeringar i personal samt kompetens var den största samt viktigaste investeringen då åtta av tio designbyråer nämnde det. Sex designbyråer gjorde investeringar i lokal och kontor och fyra designbyråer utförde expansionsinvesteringar. Tre av tio designbyråer använde sig av exempelvis kalkyler eller return on investment vid investeringsbeslut. För sex av designbyråerna spelade känslor in vid beslut av en investering. Åtta av dem ansåg att en investering var lönsam när intäkten översteg kostnaden för investeringen. Sju av designbyråerna såg investeringar som en risk men främst som en möjlighet. Slutsats: Designbyråer i Stockholm gjorde investeringar i främst personal, lokal, resor, expansion och datorer för att generera värde vilket också gjorde investeringen lyckad. Strategiska planeringen bestod främst av budgetering samt ett fåtal designbyråer utförde kalkyler. Det som var avgörande vid beslutsfattande var ekonomiska och emotionella värden. En investering sågs som lönsam när intäkten översteg kostnaden. Designbyråer såg investeringar främst som möjligheter men som behövde vägas gentemot risken. Jämfört med den finansiella teorin och designbyråers syn på investeringar skiljde sig inte speciellt mycket men hur besluten fattades skiljde sig markant. / Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to examine investment decisions in the design industry to provide greater comprehension on investment decisions in the design agencies and to notice design agencies that investments were a competititiveness.   Theoretical framework:The paper examined different types of investments, Porter’s five forces, risk, uncertainty and profitability. The paper also applied seven previous researches on these areas and also researches in SME, investment decisions and how feelings affected investment decisions. Methodology: A deductive research approach has been used in this paper. The study was conducted by a qualitative research method which included interviews with ten design agencies. The requirements for the design agencies included different work areas in Stockholm inner city and the design agency had to have at least four employees. Another requirement was that they had to have wellknown customers. There were face-to-face interviews, interviews by e-mail and telephone. The study was made by a comparative method to make comparisions between design agencies to find similarities, differences and connections between investments which design agencies made and eventually the decision making. Results: The results of the study demonstrated that investment in employees and competence was the greatest investment according to eight of ten design agencies. Six of the design agencies invested in premises and offices and four of ten made investments in expansion. Three of ten design agencies used calculations or return on investment while making investment decisions. It was found that six of ten design agencies included feelings in making investment decisions. Eight of ten considered that an investment was profitable when revenue exceeded the cost of the investment. Seven of the design agencies considered investments as a risk but mainly as an opportunity.   Conclusion: Design agencies in Stockholm invested mainly in employees and even in offices, business trips, expansion and computers to generate value which also lead to a successful investment. Strategic planning mainly consisted of budgeting as well as a few design agencies performed calculus. Economic and emotional values were a decisive factor in investment decisions. An investment was considered as profitable when revenue exceeded the cost. Design agencies primarly considered investments as opportunities but they needed to be in balance with the risks. The design agencies’ view of investments compared to the financial theory did not differ very much but how the decisions were made differed significantly.

<p><strong>Abstract </strong></p><p><strong>Purpose </strong>The purpose of this study is to investigate the methods used for valuating private limited knowledge based companies and if a new approach is required, create or modify a foundation that will constitute as a base within the valuation process.</p><p><strong>Method </strong>This is a qualitative study using interviews to obtain primary data. People working in the valuation industry were contacted and we got eight respondents. The questions were designed to answer our purpose and research questions. Telephone interviews were chosen due to the fact that we believed the response would be higher.      <strong></strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Frame of References </strong>The theories used in this section is divided into three parts; the financial analysis including traditional valuating methods such as the Discounted Cash Flow model and relative valuating and multiples. The non-financial analysis focus on the underlying analysis consistent of structural- and intellectual capital and also value drivers that are creating value for the firm. In the end other theories concerning the analysis are presented, such as the risk-return trade-off, risk rating systems and analytical hierarchy process.            <strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Empirical Findings </strong>In this section the presentations of the respondents’ answers and</p><p><strong>and Analysis </strong>a brief analysis related to each question. After this an extended analysis is presented focusing on the subject and our risk scheme and guidelines we created/modified. The extended analysis is connected to the respondents’ answers. The purpose of this section is to have a better understanding about the risk of transient intellectual capital and give recommendations how to handle it. Also, guidelines of how to weight different value driver are discussed.</p><p><strong>Conclusion </strong>We concluded that all valuations utilize more than one approach in order to estimate the most accurate value for the company. For knowledge based companies the biggest risk with a M&A transaction is the probability of diminishing the intellectual capital. We constructed a model that will manage this risk based on our interviews and established theories.</p><p> </p>

The aim of this thesis is to conduct strategic analysis and create a strategy for travel agency Autoturist a.s. Part of the analysis is research on external environment that includes PEST analysis, 4C method and Porter's five forces analysis. Internal environment is explored especilly with financial analysis, analysis of resources and SWOT analysis. Outcome is to propose concrete strategy for selected company.

The Diploma Thesis deals with process indentification of chosen company, proposing solutions for its improvement. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first one describes terms and methods of strategic management, predictioning and economic evaluation. Second part delas with comapny's environment and internal structure, using analytical tools for identifying key factors. The third part of the Thesis is synthesizing, it defines specific solutions and process economic evaluation.