The Swedish banking industry is constantly exposed to changes, mainly due to the revolutionof digitalisation. Mobilisation is another factor which affects the industry mainly by challengingemployers. The supply in the labour market has increased markedly and the needs of employeesare ever changing. With a wider range of employers to choose from, the efforts to meet theneeds of employees are more important than ever before. It is, therefore, important thatorganisations find ways to distinguish themselves from its competitors. Handelsbanken is oneof Sweden's largest organisations in the bank industry, they are well known for theirdecentralised organisational and have large markets shares mainly nationally but can be foundinternationally as well. The purpose of this research project is to gain a broader understandingregarding which strategies, within Employer Branding, organisations in the banking industryuse to motivate and keep current employees. To answer this research purpose a theoreticalframework has been conducted based on the following theories: employer branding, employeevalue proposition and employer retention. Primary data has been collected through semistructuredinterviews with ten respondents from Handelsbanken, including both managementand current employees. Results have shown that the studied bank have considered and appliedstrategies to meet the needs of their employees. Handelsbanken’s employees value the giventrust, development opportunities and the local decision making the organisation has. Theanalysis of these results leads to the conclusion that the employee retention efforts made by theemployer are successful. Internal options regarding career changes contribute to motivatingfurther engagements. An employee often strives for security and by offering internalmobilisation the organisation has established conditions to achieve a long-term career withinthe company. Since the study only includes the perspectives of one organisation within theindustry the results cannot be generalised for the whole industry.

Purpose: To explore the interplay between employer branding and place within the Swedish IT sector. To answer the purpose of the study, two research questions have been developed. RQ1: What are IT university students’ perceptions of IT companies employer value proposition (EVP) and to what extent does place play a role in these perceptions? RQ2: How do IT companies use (or not use) place as a part of their EVP to attract potential employees? Methodology: To conduct the study, a qualitative research approach with an exploratory focus in form of semi-structured interviews were used. Six IT students from Luleå University of Technology were interviewed to explore answers related to RQ1, and three IT companies established in Luleå were interviewed to find answers for RQ2. Results: For RQ1, the result showed that the students were attracted to soft values at a potential employer. The place played a major role in the choice of employer as the respondents believe that it directly affects the connection to the place in their daily lives, in terms of well-being, the environment and proximity to family. For RQ2, the result showed that IT companies see the value of students and Luleå as an attractive place to be in and pushes the advantages of the place as a growing city and their respective company’s contribution to local development. Theoretical implications: The study explores the interplay between employer branding (EB) and place, using frameworks related to external employer branding (EEB) value propositions and place attachment (PA). It provides new insights into how students perceive EVP, and the role place has in their choice of employer and that attachment must be built for students to want to stay in the city after graduation. Practical implications: IT companies should emphasize the value in why employees should choose them over another employer, and not just communicate general descriptions about the company image. Efforts are required from the local community to increase the attachment of students and the attractiveness of the place. Students should get more involved in the business life in Luleå to get a more in-depth picture of the IT companies that exist.

The aim of this research is to explore a need for improving marketing in the small business sector among restaurants. Furthermore, if a potential need was found, starting to dissect how to increase the demand for the need of marketing expertise services through crafting an attractive customer value proposition (CVP). By understanding this, it would allow marketing expertise to have a clearer idea regarding how to attract smaller businesses and increase demand for the needed services. In this way, a new type of market opens up for various types of marketing expertise. The study focuses on finding the smaller restaurants' pains and gains which are needed components of an attractive CVP. The study will also build upon the current knowledge and theory regarding the creation of a VP for smaller businesses, although focused on the restaurant industry. This is done by conducting four separate cases with the help of semi-structured interviews and documentary research. Briefly presented, the results show that the pains and gains which need to be considered for marketing expertise to craft a CVP geared towards attracting small restaurants are; allowing for better positioning which decreases the amount of unsatisfied customers, increasing the restaurants profitability and making them stand out in comparison to their competitors.

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This case study examines how a company can work with employer branding and talent management in order to attract students. The study explores how these concepts can be combined in the joint activity and what the implications are of arranging such an activity. This is illustrated through the case competition Brandstorm, arranged by L’Oréal Group. The study has a qualitative approach and it is based on in-depth interviews with managers on three different organizational levels at L’Oréal. The result shows that using a case competition as a joint activity is a tool to combine employer branding and talent management. The aim of a joint activity is two folded; the case is developed by the employer branding team to create awareness and appear as an attractive employer, further targeting students in order for the talent management team to spot and recruit talents. Additionally, the study highlights the importance of communicating a consistent Employer Value Proposition (EVP) that conveys symbolic values. A case competition can also be seen as a tool for managing talents and creating of talent pools. It is further clear that collaborating with universities is preferable when targeting students, thus conveying an attractive employer brand image.

We are living in the “Anthropocene” the era in which human activities are responsible for severe damage to the resilience of the ecological and social systems, undermining the Earth’s autopoetic mechanism, integrity and ability to function as a healthy complex adaptive systems. The prevailing societal paradigm for business practices has yet to realise the reality of our current global unsustainable state – and the shift necessary to move us forward collectively. Startup companies have a unique opportunity to gain and leverage competitiveness and attractiveness for funding and customers through sustainability driven business strategies, models and value propositions. This research analyses literature, document and interview data to explore if and how current practices in the Lean Startup contribute to a sustainable society – and how a Strategic Sustainable Development approach might be introduced to enhance the resilience of Lean Startups. Therefore, our key recommendations for Lean Startups that want to introduce an SSD approach are: to raise awareness about the sustainability challenges and opportunities; utilise backcasting towards a vision framed by the Sustainability Principles; focus on fulfilling fundamental basic Human Needs; utilize strategic prioritization questions when pivoting and combine the FSSD ABCD process with the Lean BML cycle. Ultimately, this thesis proposes the use of Strategic Sustainable Trigger Questions to (re)design sustainable business models and value-propositions. We conclude that “asking the right questions - rather than giving answers up front” might spark conversations and innovations in Lean Startups, beneficial for the sustainability of both the individual startup the larger socio-ecological systems.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / Regional shopping centres play an important role in the South African economy, especially by providing location services to retailers (large and small) and non-retailers. One of the main value propositions of regional shopping centres is to attract a large number of customer footprint to a central location where a group of retailers can market and sell to a larger customer market. Independent retail jewellers have numerous channel options available, in South Africa the preferred channel for independent jewellery retailers is a physical retail outlet within regional shopping centres. The purpose of this research is to determine the value proposition quality of Cape Town Metropolitan regional shopping centres as a preferred location to independent retail jewellers. The location value proposition analysis was performed by evaluating a set of location criteria as prescribed by available literature. Furthermore, this research also explores the antecedents of relationships and trust between shopping centre management and independent retail jewellers. This research followed a mixed-method approach and the focus is a sample of regional shopping centres and independent retail jewellers within the Cape Town Metropolitan area. Information was gathered through interviews by using structured questionnaires, which was prepared from literature on location value assessment criteria for shopping centres, relationship management and building trust within relationships. The research shows that although regional shopping centres are the preferred channel for independent retail jewellers there are some location value proposition elements that require improvement. A key concern for shopping centre management should be the imbalance in power created by contractual agreements that mostly favour regional shopping centres. This imbalance in power negatively influences relationships and trust between shopping centre management and independent retail jewellers. Furthermore, the feedback from independent retailer jewellers is that rental costs charged for location services are miss-aligned to the value received from these services. This study is limited that it only surveyed regional shopping centre management and independent retailer jewellers within the Cape Town Metropolitan area in South Africa. The limited scope and focus of this study confines the generalisability of this study for other types of retailers and / or other metropolitan areas within South Africa. The value of this study is that it tested location criteria from international literature within the South African context and set the foundation for future research, which is currently limited in South Africa.

Abstract Title: Recruiting Through the Grapevine - The relevance of employee referral programs within the field of employer branding   Date: 2016-06-03   Authors: Mikaela Löjdqvist & Isabella Nilsson   Course: Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration (FOA214), 15 HP   University: Mälardalen University   Academia: School of Business, Society and Engineering   Supervisor: Magnus Hoppe   Examiner: Eva Maaninen-Olsson   Co-assessor: Konstantin Lampou ____________________________________________________________________________   Research question: How do employee referral programs, as a part of the recruitment process, connect to the employer brand of a company?     Purpose: Understanding the correlation and connection between the two concepts, employer branding and employee referral programs, may help companies recognize the importance of using such programs as a stable foundation of their recruitment process. Thus concurrently, identifying the consequences that the employer brand presents, has on the employees and their willingness to recommend. This leads to the purpose of this thesis, which is to examine the connection between employee referral programs and a company's employer brand.     Methodology: Answering the purpose and research question was approached by using a mixed method, based on the qualitative and quantitative approaches. The qualitative method was used in the two semi-structured in-depth interviews, while the quantitative approach was used in construction and analysis of the survey. Both methods provide a foundation to strengthen the arguments not only for the results of the survey, but also for drawing conclusions when trying to answer the research question. By using a case company, a real-life understanding of how the connection between employer branding and the employee referral program correlates.     Conclusion: A connection between employee referral programs and the employer brand can be denoted from the conducted research within the chosen case company. However, if this connection is true for all companies, needs to be further investigated.     Keywords: employer branding, employee referral programs (ERP), employee value proposition (EVP), recruitment, staff-word-of-mouth (SWOM), word-of-mouth (WOM)

Escritórios de arquitetura possuem um modelo de negócios ultrapassado, no qual grande parte dos clientes questiona o alto valor cobrado pelos profissionais ao mesmo tempo em que os arquitetos reclamam da má remuneração dos serviços prestados. No intuito de romper com essa realidade, este estudo tem como principal objetivo encontrar uma alternativa para o ganho de escala, utilizando como laboratório, a empresa do autor, um escritório de arquitetura de pequeno porte, situado na cidade de São Paulo. Valendo-se do referencial teórico de modelo de negócios, proposta de valor, customização em massa e inovação no setor de construção civil, o trabalho, uma pesquisa-ação, com a participação dos dois sócios da empresa e um integrante externo, seguiu a jornada de criação de um novo modelo de negócios composto por três ciclos: (1) problema (identificação e validação do problema enfrentado pelo público-alvo em questão); (2) solução (definição e validação da solução proposta ao problema); (3) modelo de negócios (conformação e viabilidade econômica do modelo proposto). Na primeira etapa do trabalho foi possível identificar o potencial do segmento de mercado de residências recém entregues pela construtora (unidades no contrapiso), composta por uma média de 23,6 mil unidades comercializadas por ano na cidade de São Paulo, permitindo a padronização dos processos e da produção com ganho de escala, através da customização em massa. A solução proposta na dissertação, baseada na principal necessidade do cliente, de tornar o apartamento habitável, foi a de produtizar os serviços da reforma através de pacotes, comercializados a um preço fixo, compostos por projetos de arquitetura pré-idealizados. Ao final dos ciclos e de estabelecer os onze componentes do modelo de negócios, a proposta da dissertação se mostrou com grande potencial de aplicação e ganho de escala, resultando em um fluxo de caixa positivo a partir do primeiro ano de atuação, onde o volume de clientes determinado foi de apenas 18 unidades / Architecture offices, in general, present an outdated business model, a reason why a great amount of the clients question the high prices charged by the architecture professionals. Meanwhile, the architects themselves complain about the poor remuneration for the provided services. In order to break with this reality, this study has as main objective to find an alternative to the gain in scale, using as a laboratory, the company of the author, a small architecture office, located in the city of São Paulo. Using the theoretical framework of business model, value proposition, mass customization and innovation in the civil construction sector, the work, a practical research, with the participation of the two partners of the company and an external member, followed the journey of creating a new business model composed of three cycles: (1) problem (identification and validation of the problem faced by the target public in question); (2) solution (definition and validation of the proposed solution to the problem); (3) business model (conformation and economic feasibility of the proposed model). In the initial part of the research, it was possible to identify the potential of the newly delivered houses market segment, by the construction companies (units in the sub-floor), composed of an average of 23.6 thousand units sold per year in the city of São Paulo, allowing the standardization of processes and production with gain in scale, through mass customization. The solution proposed in the present dissertation, based on the main need of the client to make the apartment habitable, was to produce the services of the reform through packages, commercialized at a fixed price, composed by pre-idealized architectural projects. At the end of the cycles and to establish the eleven components of the business model, the dissertation proposal presented a great potential of application and gain in scale, resulting in positive cash flow from the first year of operation, where the volume of determined customers was only 18 units

Companies within the manufacturing industry is undergoing changes in their business models to adapt to changing external environments and trends – whereas one general trend is toward servitization, the transition from hardware products to software services. These software services have shown to have an increasingly impactful role for former productbased firms to ensure future reliable profits and revenues. This thesis aims to contribute to the academical field of servitization and business model literature, within the context of a non-disruptive industry with a slow technological development rate. This is done by addressing the following purpose: to understand how hardware manufacturing companies can integrate software services in their existing business model. In order to fulfill this thesis’ purpose, the research questions answered address how a hardware manufacturing company’s business model can be affected by servitization, but also how the process of business model innovation can be facilitated in the organization. This master’s thesis is anchored in a qualitative, interpretive case study – where the empirical data has been gathered from semi-structured interviews and internal case company documents. The findings from this thesis show that servitization can affect company business model in several ways. The first one is the shift towards customercentricity, both in terms of the design of the value proposition and the way of working with the customers. However, the findings show that companies in this context may experience difficulties with designing a value proposition that is desirable to the customer. Problems with demonstrating the benefits of the servitized value proposition might also arise. Furthermore, this thesis also concludes that there can be issues in translating a manufacturing company’s value proposition into concrete revenue streams and moving from traditional cost-based pricing methods to value-based pricing strategies. Also, manufacturing companies in this context might struggle to realize its value proposition if there is not a sufficient amount of dedicated resources, competences and activities dedicated to completing the transition. This thesis also concludes that in order to facilitate the process of business model innovation within the organization, there needs to be a supportive culture to the innovation, but also clear goals and strategies that fits the overall strategies of the company. These strategies also need to be appropriately communicated within the organization. Companies might experience difficulties in rooting the business model in the overall strategy, and failing to do so can affect the internal perception of the innovation in a negative manner. This thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of the concepts of the business model and innovation of the business model in the context of servitization. This study is performed as a context-specific study within a non-disruptive industry with a slow technological development, which differs the study from earlier research within this research field.