Today there seems to be an increasing number of products similar to one another, especially on the fast-moving consumer goods market. Due to this recent trend, differentiation is necessary for companies to define their brand in relation to its competitors. One of the possibilities is the implementation of the brand extension strategy. The main objective of this master thesis is to investigate and analyze the effects of different types of brand extension strategies with the focus on the beer market. The first part of the thesis includes a thorough research of primary and secondary data, which provides insight into new trends and factors that influence the brand extension strategy and its success. The second part is more practical and is devoted to a case study of a Czech premium brand called Frisco. Given its increasing competition on the market, Frisco has recently changed its core strategy and extended portfolio.

This essay studies wage differentials between foreign born and native players in Swedish soccer. For this essay, panel data for the years 2001-2015 on all clubs and players in top Swedish soccer leagues Allvenskan and Superettan have been collected. The data is examined by applying a market-test approach to test for any significant wage differentials. The results show that foreign born players earn a significant salary premium compared to native players of similar productivity. There is no evidence of salary or fan discrimination against foreign born players. Results can be explained by market imperfections and/or risk-seeking behavior from team managers although this could be further investigated in future studies.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur målföretags runup påverkar den premie sombetalas vid företagsförvärv utifrån substitutions- och markup-prissättningshypotesen. Metod: Studien har en deduktiv ansats där en eventstudie har tillämpats för att samla in relevant sekundärdata från databaserna Thomson Reuters Eikon och Zephyr. För att studera sambandet mellan förvärvspremie och målföretagets runup har en enkel regressionsanalys genomförts och för att studera förklarande variablers påverkan på runup har en multipel regressionsanalys tillämpats. Resultat & slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att det förekommer ett samband mellan runup och den förvärvspremie som betalas vid företagsförvärv. Utifrån substitutions- och markup-prissättningshypotesen visar studien att om runup ökar med 1 % ökar förvärvspremien med 0,879% vilket innebär att en ökning av målföretagets runup är en kostnad för det förvärvande företaget. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Förslag på vidare forskning är att studera fler förklarande variabler för ett målföretags runup samt att studera volymskillnader i handel av målföretagets aktier dagarna före offentliggörande av bud på exempelvis den svenska marknaden för att se huruvida resultatet skiljer sig från tidigare forskning och andra marknader. Uppsatsens bidrag: Studiens resultat bidrar med kunskap som kan förklara den variation i förvärvspremier som förekommer samt kunskap om att ett målföretags runup är en förvärvskostnad för det förvärvande företaget. / Aim: The purpose of this study is to investigate how the target companies’ runup affects thetakeover premium in mergers and acquisitions based on the substitution and markup pricing hypothesis. Method: The study has a deductive approach in which an event study has been applied to collectrelevant secondary data from the databases Thomson Reuters Eikon and Zephyr. To study the relationship between the acquisition premium and the target company’s runup a simple regression analysis has been conducted and to study the influence of explanatory variables on runup a multiple regression analysis has been applied. Result & Conclusions: The study’s results show that there is a relationship between runup and the takeover premiums. Based on the substitution and markup pricing hypothesis, the study shows that if runup increases by 1 % the takeover premium increases by 0.879 % which means that an increase in the target company's runup is a cost to the acquiring company. Suggestions for future research: Suggestions for further research are to study more explanatory variables for a target company's runup and study volume differences in trading of the target company's shares the days prior to bid announcement on the Swedish market to see if the results differ from previous research and other markets. Contribution of the thesis: The study’s results contribute knowledge that can explain the variation in takeover premiums and knowledge that a target company’s runup in an acquisition is a cost for the acquiring company.

This thesis examines asset pricing and capital structure of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in three essays. Firm finance and asset pricing are areas of voluminous research in the literature. Most of this research observes firms trading on public stock exchanges. In my thesis, I examine privately-owned SMEs where relatively little research has been done. I use a proprietary database of over 16,000 SMEs that sold from 1990 to 2010, reporting market valuations and accounting information. My findings contribute to the literature on asset pricing and capital structure of private firms that benefits researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, and analysts. The first essay examines whether the size effect in returns found in traded stocks is present in SMEs. The size-effect literature generally observes listed firms and finds that smaller firms tend to have higher returns. Using the SME database, I document the size effect in private firms using market valuations. I also find the size premium is concentrated in smaller SMEs. In firms smaller than $2.5 million in market value, the size effect is nearly 13 times stronger compared to larger firms. The second essay explores the effects of investor sentiment and marketwide liquidity in SME returns. Prior studies find these factors have effects in returns of listed firms. I find that SME returns are negatively related to sentiment and liquidity. As sentiment or liquidity rise, SME returns tend to fall. This study also finds that the effects of sentiment and liquidity are concentrated in smaller firms and weaken or disappear in larger SMEs. Apparently investors in smaller SMEs are more influenced by sentiment and liquidity. I also find that sentiment and liquidity have conditional effects on the magnitude of the size premium. The third and final essay examines SME capital structure. Firm capital structure has been one of the most contentious issues in finance theory for over 50 years. Relatively little research examines private firm finance and no previous studies to my knowledge have examined SME capital structure using market-based leverage ratios. I examine relations between leverage and capital structure determinants suggested by theory using market-based and book-value leverage ratios. I find support for both the trade-off and pecking-order theories. This study also finds that SMEs tend to use short-term debt much more than long-term debt and firms appear to practice maturity matching where managers tend to match borrowing terms with asset life. Evidence also suggests that capital structure determinants suggested by theory have greater explanatory power for market-based leverage ratios than for ratios based on book values.

Liquidity is a measure of the ease with which an asset can be converted into cash. In a perfectly liquid market, conversion is instantaneous and does not incur costs. Amihud and Mendelson (1986:224) proposed that illiquidity increases the expected return on an investment (liquidity premium) and simultaneously lengthens the holding period. These two effects are known respectively as the “spread-return relationship” and the “clientele effect” and have theoretical as well as practical implications. From a theoretical perspective it may help to explain the gap between the capital asset pricing model (which assumes that markets are perfectly liquid) and the associated empirical evidence; which thus far has been rather poor. From a practical perspective, liquidity will influence stakeholders’ decisions and market competitiveness (Amihud&Mendelson, 1991:61-64). The relevant stakeholders are governments, stock exchange regulators, corporations, investors and financial intermediaries. Emerging economies such as the South African economy typically have less liquid markets than the developed world. While this may be attractive for investors looking for higher returns, Amihud and Mendelson (1991:61) are of the opinion that liquid markets are more generally favoured by investors. Constantinides (1986:842-858), also proposes a model for liquidity, but found the liquidity premium to be of lesser importance than that proposed by Amihud and Mendelson (1986:223-231) but also supports the suggestion that investors will favour liquid markets. Although it is by no means a perfect proxy, a security’s bid-ask spread has been found to be an attractive and effective measure of liquidity. It has been found to correlate with beta as well as market capitalisation and several other variables commonly used in capital markets research. Because of this correlation the effect of the bid-ask spread cannot be studied in isolation when regression techniques are employed (Ramanathan, 1998:166). This is particularly problematic because empirical evidence for beta, which is arguably the most important independent variable in financial cross sectional relationships, is weak. Beta has to be estimated and so it is not clear if real markets do not support CAPM theory or if beta cannot be estimated with the required accuracy. All of the common independent variables used in empirical capital markets research are correlated to beta, and for this reason it cannot be established if these variables have a real effect or if they are simply serving as a proxy for the difference between the real and the estimated beta. Various strategies have been proposed to increase the accuracy of beta estimation and these are discussed in detail in this research. Successes with these strategies have been mixed. A second problem encountered in the empirical research base relating to the CAPM is that in the theory the cross-sectional relationship is between expected market return (which cannot be observed due to the vast number of real investments beyond those listed on exchanges) and beta, whereas empirical research makes use of actual return on a market proxy and beta. In order for the actual return to approach the expected return, empirical studies have to be conducted over extended periods. Accurate data for such periods are generally lacking and severe macro-economic changes such as wars, may also affect rational economic behaviour. It has to be kept in mind that the entire CAPM theory flows from the simple assumption that investors aim to achieve the highest return per unit of risk, and so a rejection of beta is a rejection of rational investor behaviour. Liquidity however, addresses one of the assumptions of CAPM, namely that markets are perfectly liquid; which obviously is not met in real markets and so CAPM models expanded for liquidity should be a reasonably fundamental starting point for all empirical capital markets research. The current empirical evidence for the spread-return relationship is inconclusive. While some researchers have found a significant relationship, others have questioned the ability of the methodology to differentiate a true relationship from the ‘proxy for errors in the estimated beta’ problem. Deductions (as explained in section 4.3) that have been made from the research of Marshall and Young (2003:176-186) in particular, provide strong evidence that at least some of the relationship is due to the ‘errors in estimated beta’ problem. Little empirical work has been done on the clientele effect. Atkins and Dyl (1997:318-321) found a significant relationship between holding period and bid-ask spread, although their approach was somewhat unorthodox in the sense that portfolio formation was not done and the effect of beta was not tested. This study tests empirically both the spread-return relationship and the clientele effect on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange over the period stretching from January 2002 to June 2007. The methodology of Fama and Macbeth (1973:614-617) as well as the aggregated beta of Dimson (1979:203-204) were mainly used, with some modifications as suggested by other researchers. With regard to the spread-return relationship, the findings of this study do not support theoretical expectations. This may be due to the short time period that was used as well as the difficulty in estimating beta. To the contrary, very significant evidence for the clientele effect was found, with little to no influence from market capitalisation and beta, which is as expected. Further investigation into the spread-return relationship is required. If a liquidity premium is not present, foreign investors will favour liquid developed markets above the JSE. This implies that efforts of exchange regulators and the government to decrease illiquidity will lead to foreign portfolio investment inflow into the South African economy. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Graduate School of Management / unrestricted

Syfte: Studiens huvudsyfte är att undersöka hur företag kan inkludera slutkonsumenten i produktutvecklingen inom den textila värdekedjan och hur CRM kan förbättra detta. Metod: Arbetet har en deduktiv ansats och både en kvantitativ och kvalitativ forskningsmetod har använts. Datainsamlingen har skett genom djupintervjuer och enkätundersökning. Resultat och Slutsats: Studien har undersökt hur villiga slutkonsumenter är att vara med och påverka den textila produktutvecklingen till det bättre genom bidragande av egna idéer. Efter datainsamling, djupintervjuer och enkätundersökning visar studien att användning av CRM- villkor är nödvändigt att implementera för att textila aktörer ska fortsätta vara aktuella på marknaden. / Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to investigate how the customer influences the product development within the textile value chain and whether CRM can improve this. Method: The research approach of this thesis is deductive and both a quantitative and a qualitative research have been conducted. Data has been collected through a survey and in-depth interviews. Results and conclusions: The study has examined how willing consumers are to participate and influence the textile product development through their own ideas. After data collection, in-depth interviews and questionnaire surveys, the study shows that the use of CRM- conditions are necessary to implement for textile operators to remain up-to-date in the market

Hållbarhet är i fokus och hållbara investeringar är en förutsättning för att utvecklingen av det globala hållbarhetsarbetet ska lyckas. Ett hållbart investeringsalternativ är gröna obligationer, som idag är en efterfrågad produkt av investerare. Obligationsmarknaden används av företag som ett alternativ till finansiering i form av banklån. Här möts företag och investerare i syfte att utbyta pengar mot räntebärande värdepapper, där investeraren erhåller ränteutbetalningar för sitt utlånade kapital. År 2008 emitterades världens första gröna obligation och utvecklingen i antal emitterade gröna obligationer har sedan dess varit extraordinär. Gröna obligationer är likt konventionella obligationer ett räntebärande värdepapper, med skillnaden att emissionskapitalet för gröna obligationer är avsett att användas till att minska miljö- och klimatpåverkan. Genom en investering i gröna obligationer är investeraren med och finansierar gröna projekt och bidrar till en mer hållbar utveckling. Tidigare forskning har lett till varierande slutsatser där majoriteten antyder att det finns en premie förknippat med gröna obligationer. Många av de tidigare forskningarna har studerat obligationsmarknaden på global nivå. Denna studie avser att undersöka premiens förhållande på den svenska obligationsmarknaden och se huruvida svenska bolag emitterar gröna obligationer till en lägre avkastning. Syftet med studien är att påvisa huruvida det finns skillnader i spread mellan gröna obligationer och konventionella obligationer på den svenska obligationsmarknaden. Detta förhållande undersöks genom en kvantitativ studie som bygger på en deduktiv ansats. I studien används en matchningsmetod för att studera fenomenet om en premie för gröna obligationer existerar. Gröna och konventionella obligationers spread jämförs inom bolagen och resultatet sammanfattas i en övergripande marknadsanalys. De slutsatser som dras av studien är att det inte finns någon statistiskt signifikant skillnad mellan gröna och konventionella obligationers spread, och därmed att gröna obligationer inte emitteras med en sämre avkastning än jämförbara konventionella obligationer. Från denna studie drar vi därmed slutsatsen att gröna obligationer på den svenska obligationsmarknaden inte emitteras med någon premie. / Sustainability is in focus and sustainable investments are a prerequisite for the progress of global sustainability work. Green bonds are an example of a sustainable investment alternative and is today a sought-after product by investors. The bond market is used by companies as an alternative to financing projects through bank loans. Organizations and investors meet for the purpose of exchanging money for interest-bearing securities, where the investor receives interest payments for his lent capital. In 2008, the world's first green bond was issued and the development in the number of issued green bonds since then has been extraordinary. Like conventional bonds, green bonds are an interest-bearing security, with the difference that the issued capital for green bonds is intended to be used to reduce the environmental and climate impact. Through an investment in green bonds, the investor participates in and finances green projects and contributes to a more sustainable development. Previous research has led to varying conclusions where the majority suggest that there is a premium associated with green bonds. Many of the previous researches have studied the bond market on a global level. This study intends to examine the premium relationship in the Swedish bond market and conclude whether or not Swedish companies issue green bonds at a lower return. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate whether there are differences in spreads between green bonds and conventional bonds in the Swedish bond market. This relationship is investigated through a quantitative study based on an deductive approach. The study uses a matching method to study the phenomenon of a premium for green bonds. The spreads of green and conventional bonds are compared within the companies and the results are summarized in an overall market analysis. The first conclusion drawn from this study is that there is no statistically significant difference between the spread of green and conventional bonds, seen across the entire Swedish bond market. This indicates that green bonds are not issued with a lower return than comparable conventional bonds. The second conclusion drawn from this study is that green bonds in the Swedish bond market are not issued with any premium. The study shows that green bonds are as profitable as conventional bonds from the same company, and also lead to a more diversified portfolio. This paper is written in Swedish.

Med den starka prisuppgången på Stockholms bostadsmarknad som bakgrund är det intressant att undersöka skillnader i prisutveckling för bostadsrätter. Med en teoretisk utgångspunkt i modeller om prispåverkande faktorer har en fallstudie på ett premiumfastighetsbolag i Stockholm utförts. Metodmässigt är studien i huvudsak kvantitativ. Historisk data gällande försäljningar har undersökt och ställts emot bostadsprisindex där skillnader i prisutveckling har kunnat identifieras. Företaget i fallstudien visade sig ha en starkare prisutveckling än både index för Stockholm Stad och respektive SAMS-område, vilket innebär en högre avkastning för investerare i det undersökta företaget jämfört med index. En regressionsanalys har genomförts för att testa hypotesen att ett premiumvarumärke har positiv påverkan på priset på bostadsrätter. Variabeln premiumvarumärke konstaterades statistiskt signifikant enligt modellen som testades och hypotesen kunde bekräftas. Förändringen i pris och prisutveckling i den här studien kan härledas till förändrade preferenser på marknaden, ett starkt varumärke och ett relativt unikt koncept. För att kunna fastställa att ett premiumfastighetsbolags snabbare prisutveckling beror på dessa faktorer krävs dock ytterligare analyser av fler premiumföretag. Sammanfattningsvis konstateras att ett premiumvarumärke i det undersökta fallet påverkar både pris och prisutveckling gällande bostadsrätter positivt. / Due to a rapid increase in housing prices at the Stockholm housing market there is a stated interest to further examine the differences in price development. A study of historical data from a premium property development company has been conducted. With theoretical models describing price determinants as a background data has been analyzed to find variances in price development. The study is primarily quantitative. By comparing historical data with price indices, differences in price development have been identified. The company showed greater price development than both the Stockholm index and each SAMS-area index. This results in a higher return, compared to index, for those who invest in an apartment from the studied company. A regression analysis has been conducted to test the hypothesis that a premium brand has a positive influence on property prices. The variable premium brand turned out to be significant according to the model and the hypothesis could be confirmed. A change in preferences, a strong brand and a relatively unique concept can explain a lot of the differences in price development in this study. To be able to determine that the differences really are due to these factors requires further research on premium property development companies. To summarize, a premium brand has a positive influence on both price and price development.

It is well recognized that due to customers’ ever-growing material and cultural needs for a better life, an increasing number of people choose to experience premium hotels on their work trips or personal travels to keep top-tier elite membership of premium hotels. Previously, most luxury consumption research showed that higher needs drive consumer behaviour, such as identifying recognition and self-esteem. However, many people still focus on achieving job tasks, increasing income, or saving money by their membership. This phenomenon brings a puzzle about whether keeping top-tier elite membership of premium hotels is driven by spiritual needs or economic needs. To address that, this study drew on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory. It investigates the effects of spiritual needs (higher need) and economic needs (lower need) on consumer willingness to keep top-tier elite membership of premium hotels and how individual education levels moderate these effects. This study administers an online questionnaire-based survey among top-tier elite membership owners of premium hotels in mainland China. It uses the PLS-SEM technique to analyse the 150 valid questionnaires we collected. Our empirical findings indicate that spiritual needs, instead of economic needs, are the key driver to encourage consumers to maintain their top-tier elite membership of premium hotels. Furthermore, we uncover the moderating effect of individual education level and determine that the positive impact of spiritual needs on consumer willingness to keep top-tier elite membership of premium hotels is strengthened among highly educated people. Therefore, this study mainly reinforces the theoretical and practical value of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in luxury consumption research and extends its application, meanwhile, advances the research on luxury consumption and particularly in top-tier elite members of premium hotels.

The evolution of the U.S. skill premium over the past century has been characterized by a U-shaped pattern. The previous literature has attributed this observation mainly to the existence of exogenous, unexpected technological shocks or changes in institutional factors. In contrast, this paper demonstrates that a U-shaped evolution of the skill premium can also be obtained using a simple two-sector growth model that comprises both variants of skill-biased technological change (SBTC): technological change (TC) that is favorable to high-skilled labor and capital-skill complementarity (CSC). Within this framework, we derive the conditions necessary to achieve a non-monotonic evolution of relative wages and analyze the dynamics of such a case. We show that in the short run for various parameter constellations an educational, a relative substitutability, and a factor intensity effect can induce a decrease in the skill premium despite moderate growth in the relative productivity of high-skilled labor. In the long run, as the difference in labor productivity increases, the skill premium also rises. To underpin our theoretical results, we conduct a comprehensive simulation study.