This thesis is about how high level brands communicate their brands to the audience. The thesis consists of analyses of the identity and images of two luxury brands, Gucci and Burberry and two premium brands, Lacoste and Morris. The purpose is to clarify the identity of the brands, by carrying out analysis as well as interviews with key personnel. Furthermore there is an analysis of the advertisement images for the respective brands in order to clarify the brands images. Finally there is an analysis of the alleged conformity between identity and image and also a section about the luxury and premium brand differs, or rather not differ from each other in the identity-image connection. The methods used are Aakers identity system, to establish the respective brands identity. An image analysis with inspiration from Panfosky and leading semoticians are also used to scrutinize the advertising images from the Spring/Summer 2010 campaigns. The results show that there is indeed a good conformation among the brands when it comes to the identity-image connection. The brands identities are thorough and well articulated and the advertisement images are well executed with the identity well in mind which makes for that the campaigns are contributing in building a good brand image among the target audience. There are several areas where the premium brand advertising images congregate with the ones of the luxury brand. / Program: Magisterutbildning i fashion management med inriktning modemarknadsföring

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the functioning of Fair Trade and define the main opportunities which it offers to the producers from Africa. The first chapter contains the typical features of this concept, its definition, essential principles, methods of certification, a brief historical overview and current development. It also introduces some important international organizations involved in Fair Trade. The second chapter focuses on Fair Trade in Africa. It includes the analysis of African market, SWOT analysis and definition of some important Fair Trade organizations in Africa and their main activities. The emphasis is given to Fair Trade in Africa, the utilization and distribution of Fair Trade premium, commodity structure, number of farmers involved in the concept of Fair Trade and some other factors. The last part is devoted to the cocoa industry in Africa and two major cooperatives operating in the Ivory Coast and Ghana.

This three-essay thesis focuses on how value of the brand, i.e. brand equity is created, with each study investigating different parts of the relationships within the brand value chain. My first essay identifies and tests a new set of brand equity drivers such as brand structure and positioning, brand strategy, and customer characteristics. I use revenue premium as the retail level measure of brand equity and decompose it into price and volume premiums. Then, I explore the effects of different brand equity drivers on these premiums. The study on the universe of grocery industry in the U.S. shows compelling evidences that volume premium prevails over price premium in driving revenue premium. Brand structure and positioning, brand strategy and customer characteristics contribute significantly to the changes of the brand market performance measured with price, volume and revenue premiums. My second essay examines the association between consumer-based brand equity (IBBE) and brand market performance, and the moderators of this association. I explore a comprehensive set of market performance measures (penetration, loyalty, market share, price and revenue) of 216 major brands sold in the grocery channel in the U.S., in conjunction with EquiTrend© brand equity measure. The results show that customer based brand equity provides incremental explanatory power for brand market performance beyond the explanation by a wide array of performance determinants identified in the first essay. Furthermore, the equity-performance association is moderated by a set of product and category features, as well as the firm brand strategy. My third essay studies whether firms benefit from having multiple brands across different areas. I model brand market performance as a function of different elements of the firm brand portfolio, including the size and performance of sibling brands and the inter-brand distance. The dataset includes 1,700 brands from over 350 firms in the grocery channel within the U.S. The results show that the brand portfolio information provides incremental explanatory power for brand market performance. Moreover, the size and the performance of sibling brands have significant impact on a focal brand's market performance, and these impacts are moderated by the inter-brand distance.

在觀察匯率市場是否具有效率性時，大部分文獻透過檢定「遠期匯率是否為未來即期匯率的不偏估計值」來驗證，然而實證結果多不支持。探究原因後，部分學者於是提出，可能是在效率市場的假設上出了問題。原效率市場假設理性預期與風險中立，可是在現實生活中，人們的行為大多顯現風險趨避的特質，學者因而推論「風險溢酬的存在」或許正是造成遠期匯率偏誤的原因。 　Lucas（1982）在跨期資本資產訂價理論推導中證明出，風險溢酬具有因時而異的性質。Domowitz and Hakkio（1985）對該理論做進一步設定後，得到風險溢酬為兩國間貨幣政策波動差異的函數，因而改良風險溢酬模型為受到匯率預測精確性影響，並以ARCH模型估計。 　本文承續Domowitz and Hakkio（1985）的理論設定，以市場風險解釋風險溢酬，同時引進馬可夫變換模型，用以捕捉因時而異的風險溢酬，並且將其與ARCH-M模型所估計出的風險溢酬加以比較，期望能找出一個對風險溢酬解釋力較佳的模型。

成功的企業購併需仰賴正確的投資評估以及有效的購併過程管理,本文包含兩個部分,第一部分主要探討購併利益評估的問題,使用的方法為real-option approach簡化了購併效益之評估,且可獲得較正確的結果;第二部分為兩家國際出版業合併之個案研究,就此成功的例子而言,管理者可以獲得較有利且完善的合併經營方法。 / Successful mergers depend on proper valuation of this special type of investment and effective management of this process. First essay devoted to the problem of merger profitability valuation. Using real-option approach, a simple model is developed to expand accuracy in decision making process about merger possibility. This model considers uncertainty of situation and provides flexibility in company’s strategy. According to this approach profitability of merger may be calculated by using value of premium paid for acquiring company and value of synergy that expected from merge of two companies. Main problem of merger’s valuation in this approach is correct definition of synergy. In second essay, merger of two publishing companies Addison Wesley Longman and Simon & Schuster is analyzed. Positive experience in choosing candidates for merge, pre- and post-acquisition decision making process can serve as a good example of effective merger’s management.

一、研究目的：本論文研究動機在探討現有釐定產物保險之保險費架構下 ，加入市場報酬率與風險來獲得產物保險保險費新的評價模型（pric- ing model）。並證明產物保險採取此種保險費評價模型之可行性。二、 研究方法：本論文係以產物保險公司承保面所生之收入與成本之外加入資 金運用面，作為其保險費評價模型之建立，並佐以假設的資料來分析。三 、研究結果：以購買產物保險消費者而言，雖保險公司顯少變動費率，但 在資本市場報酬率高時，消費者常認為保險公司利用了這些資金所得之利 潤並無回饋保戶，如降低保費，而認為所收保險費過高，甚至可能導致降 低投保意願。若產物保險公司依本篇論文”產物保險之評價模型”以公開 之資訊，如市場報酬率與風險來釐訂保險費，將可減少大眾對保險費過高 或過低之疑慮。

The façade retrofit market faces some key barriers: the selection of performance criteria and the reliability of the performance data. On the demand side, the problem is approached from an investment perspective which creates "split incentives" between the stakeholders who pay for the investment and those who benefit from it. On the supply side, there is an inherent complexity in modeling these options because of the incomplete knowledge of the physical and cost parameters involved in the performance evaluation. The thermal comfort of the building occupant is an important component of the retrofit performance assessment. This research attempts to fill a gap in the approach to façade retrofit decision by 1) quantifying uncertainties in these three dimensions of performance, 2) incorporating new financing models available in the retrofit market, 3) considering the target and risk attitude of the decision maker. The methodology proposed in this research integrates key indicators for delivery process, environmental performance, and investment performance. The purpose is to provide a methodological framework for performance evaluation. A residential case study is conducted to test the proposed framework. Three retrofit scenarios including the financing structure are examined. Each façade retrofit scenario is then evaluated based on the level of confidence to meet or exceed a specific target improvement for the Net Present Value and the risk to fall below a minimum improvement threshold. The case study results confirm that risk must be considered for more reliable façade retrofit decision-making. Research findings point to further research needed to expand the understanding of the interdependencies among uncertain parameters.

Among better-educated employed workers, the fraction of full-time full-year (FTFY) workers is quite high and stable over time in the U.S. Among those with low education levels, however, this fraction is much lower and considerably more volatile. These observations suggest that the composition of unobserved skills is subject to sharp movements within low-educated employed workers, while the scale of these movements is potentially much smaller within high-educated ones. The standard college premium framework accounts for the observed shifts between education categories, but it cannot account for unobserved compositional changes within education categories. This thesis uses Heckman&#039 / s two-step estimator on repeated Current Population Survey cross sections to calculate a relative supply series that corrects for unobserved compositional shifts due to selection in and out of the FTFY status. We find that the well-documented deceleration in the growth rate of relative supply of college-equivalent workers after mid-1980s becomes even more pronounced once we correct for selectivity. This casts further doubt on the relevance of the plain skill-biased technical change hypothesis. We conclude that what happens to the within-group skill composition for low-educated groups is critical for fully understanding the trends in the relative supply of college workers in the United States.

本篇論文主要探討不同風險因子對於壽險業安定基金保費之影響。首先建立一個評價安定基金保費之機制，此模型考慮壽險公司投資決策、負債組合、監理寬容以及市場不確定性。接著使用蒙地卡羅模擬不同風險因子變動之下的公平保費。其數值分析顯示壽險公司之權益組合占資產比例、槓桿、監理寬容期間以及監理標準皆對公平保費有正向之影響。 / In this study, a valuation model is derived to price the fair premium in the insurance guarantee fund incorporating investment selection, liability portfolio, regulatory forbearance and market uncertainty. Then, Monte Carlo method is employed to measure the fair premium based on various important pricing factors. Finally, the numerical experiments and sensitivity analysis are conducted to investigate their impacts on the premiums. The results of our study indicate that the equity shares in the asset portfolio, the leverage ratio of the firm, the grace period and the tolerance of the capital threshold have the positive impacts on the risk-based premiums in the proposed ex-ante insurance guarantee fund scheme.

Among better-educated employed workers, the fraction of full-time full-year (FTFY) workers is quite high and stable over time in the U.S. Among those with low education levels, however, this fraction is much lower and considerably more volatile. These observations suggest that the composition of unobserved skills is subject to sharp movements within low-educated employed workers, while the scale of these movements is potentially much smaller within high-educated ones. The standard college premium framework accounts for the observed shifts between education categories, but it cannot account for unobserved compositional changes within education categories. This thesis uses Heckman&#039 / s two-step estimator on repeated Current Population Survey cross sections to calculate a relative supply series that corrects for unobserved compositional shifts due to selection in and out of the FTFY status. We find that the well-documented deceleration in the growth rate of relative supply of college-equivalent workers after mid-1980s becomes even more pronounced once we correct for selectivity. This casts further doubt on the relevance of the plain skill-biased technical change hypothesis. We conclude that what happens to the within-group skill composition for low-educated groups is critical for fully understanding the trends in the relative supply of college workers in the United States.