This research is investigated a relationship between life values and attitude towards advertising, which included life value appeals. A survey is used a self administrated questionnaire of a quantitative research method, which is asked about people’s life values based on Kahle scale of eight items and their attitudes about advertising posters are created ourselves. Sample was chosen from students and workers in Umea. University, offices and shopping mall techniques used to collect the data.   Theoretical review has shown that the link between advertising appeals and consumer behavior factors’ life value and lifestyle being addressed before scholars, such as Belch, Polay, and Kahle so on. The review also included influencer factors and types of advertising appeals, and life values and lifestyle activities.   This research’s empirical findings have established the correlation between ranking of eight life values and ranking of eight advertising posters with the values. In addition, the posters are compared by gender and lifestyles activities.  Our findings confirmed two out of three hypotheses. Confirmed first hypothesis is that consumer life value is reflected their choice of advertising posters with the value. Next, choice of the value and the poster is not different by gender. Unconfirmed hypothesis is lifestyle activities relative the choice of the posters.   The research’s results have highlighted practical implications for advertisers and marketers, so that they can understand consumer behavior towards advertising. Especially in today’s world of booming advertisement industry, as such they are able to make more efficient their advertising, not to overdo nor underestimate its effects on customers.

In order to strengthen the entity of the company, enlarge the size of the company and let the company become more competitive, a company should have, not only well-planed prospects and goals, but also solid operation strategies and implemented the strategies certainly. According to the present and future prospects of the company, the thesis makes a so-called ¡§double growth in five years¡¨ plan as a mid-term and long-term goal. The basic target is to double the turnover and capital values in five years. However, the essential meanings are as below. 1. to solve the current difficulties of the company 2. to increase the effectiveness and create more profit 3. to maintain the competitive advantage of the company 4. to lead the company into a second business establishment 5. to establish a foundation for future sustainable development Regarding to the operation strategies, the thesis is mainly aimed at the condition which meets the case-study company to provide the feasible action plans. The focused contents include brand, professional ability, negotiating ability, low-cost strategy, human resources management, marketing opportunity and future relative business. This research targets at a case study of water and electrical engineering company, which is located in Kaohsiung. The study structure starts with planning the mid-term and long-term goal, developing the operation strategy, assessing the strategy and implementing the plan, followed by a systematic analysis and discussion, and then expecting to achieve the goal of ¡§double growth in five years¡¨ plan and keep the competitiveness of enterprise. Next, the research has merged the theory of strategic management with practical operation experience, and has linked the thinking mode of strategy with operation activities of the enterprise for achieving the goal of internalizing the strategic knowledge. The research method is to collect the opinions by consulting many experts, scholars and professional suppliers, and refer to many reference articles, and precede the case analysis and descriptive research. The following conclusions have been obtained after summarizing the above information. 1. In order to overcome the difficulties and create a new era for the company, the small-sized and medium-sized construction or electrical engineering companies should plan the operation strategy and implement it certainly. This can break through the difficult position to create company value. 2. According to the research analysis, some operation defects, which existing many years, have been found in the case-study company. Those defects should be improved as soon as possible, in order to promote the company and achieve the mid-term and long-term goals. 3. Learning and utilizing of the strategic management knowledge are the necessary management tools for each manager in the present time, as well as the best weapon towards success for each enterprise.

How can suppliers contribute to their customers’ value creating processes? Although this question is crucial for firms’ collaboration with customers and for their competitiveness, it is not clear how firms co-create value with their customers. Research on value co-creation has increased notably the last years. However few empirical studies have been conducted on how value is co-created in the day-to-day activities. Therefore this thesis addresses value co-creation with a strategy-as-practice perspective. The strategy-as-practice enables to link micro-level activities with the structures in which they are carried out as well as the strategic outcomes they lead to. In order to understand the process of value co-creation, a supplier and four customer companies are studied. The empirical context is a technical knowledge-intensive business service company providing its competence in product development and operating in a highly competitive environment. Focus is put on how the supplier’s processes fulfil customers’ requirements and expectations. The notion of value-in-use from the service logic forms a starting point in the analysis of customer’s requirements. Dynamic capabilities in the strategy field is used to analyse the supplier’s processes. Based on interviews, annual reports, observations and workshops, the empirical material indicates that the supplier’s processes play a crucial role for the customer. The findings in this thesis show that value-in-use is a contextual and compound concept that can take different forms as “values-in-use”, “postpone value” and “value-after-use". Understanding customers’ value-in-use requires an open dialogue between the customer and the supplier. In this sense, processes that help capture the more intangible and unconscious parts of a relationship, and the roles the parties take during the process are necessary. A finding in this thesis is that culture enhances certain processes at the expense of others. Another finding is that dynamic capabilities need to be more than well-performed processes in order for the customer to differentiate the firm from competitors. Dynamic capabilities necessitate the combination of smooth processes, understanding of customers’ value-in-use as well as managerial skills in order for the supplier to co-create value, and this in a competitive way.

Bakgrund: Konflikterna mellan ägarnas och företagsledningens intressen har varit ett aktuellt ämne länge och vi befinner oss nu i en ny fas som kännetecknas av en tydlig betoning på att företaget i första hand måste drivas i ägarnas intresse. En effekt av detta är att utformningen av bonusprogram till högsta ledningen i företagen har fått stort utrymme i media och ifrågasatts under en längre tid men dock blivit mer påtaglig i början av 2009. Kritiska röster har höjts om utformningen av bonusprogrammen och vilka prestationer det egentligen är som belönas. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att beskriva hur bonusprogrammen för verkställande direktörer i företag noterade på Stockholmsbörsen är utformade. Vi kommer även analysera om dessa program har skapat värde för aktieägarna i form av utdelning och aktievärde. Utifrån detta kommer vi lyfta fram de kriterier vi anser är viktigast för att skapa värde vid utformandet av bonusprogram för VD. Genomförande: För att uppfylla studiens syfte genomfördes undersökningen som en kvantitativ studie med hjälp av sekundärdata. Det empiriska materialet har sedan analyserat med hjälp av befintliga teorier inom styrning. Resultat: Största delen av företagen använder kombination av kortsiktiga och långsiktiga bonusprogram för att motivera, behålla och rekrytera en kompetent ledning. För att mäta prestationer används huvudsakligen redovisningsbaserade mått men även marknadsbaserade mått förekommer. Vår studie pekar på att det föreligger ett positivt samband mellan tilldelning av aktier, som belöning, och värdeskapande. / Background: The conflicts between shareholders and managers interests have been a current topic for a long time and we are now in a new phase that are recognized by a clear emphasis that an organization have to be run in the shareholders interests. An effect of this is that the design of incentive programs for top management have gotten large space in media and has been questioned during a long time but has become more tangible in the beginning of 2009. Critical voices have been raised about the design of incentive programs and what types of performance actually are rewarded. Aim: The aim of this thesis is to describe how incentive programs for CEO in companies listed on Stockholm Stock Exchange are designed. We will also analyze if these programs has created value for shareholders in form of dividends and stock value. Based on this we will highlight what we consider are the most important criteria’s to create value when designing an incentive program for CEO. Implementation: To fulfill the thesis aim the survey was performed as a quantitative study based on secondary data. The empirical material has then been analyzed whit the help of existing theory’s within management. Result: Majority of the companies uses a combination between short-term and long-term incentive programs to motivate, preserve and recruit a competent management. To measure performance accounting based measures are mainly used but market based measures are also used. Our study indicates that there are a positive connection between handing out stocks, as a reward, and value creation.

No description available.

The concept of value visualization is concerned with the way that firms communicate and demonstrate the value of their product-service systems (PSS), both internally and externally. In this chapter, a visualization strategy framework for PSS development is proposed. It is particularly tailored for industrial companies that are strategically shifting from selling products to becoming providers offering PSS. Value visualization strategies have traditionally focused on external sales activities. However, companies need to have a broader approach to visualization in all PSS development phases, as well as including different visualization techniques. Furthermore, different visualization strategies are needed for each particular development stage of the PSS. Companies need be able to make use of several different visualization strategies, depending on the actual content of the product-service system and its position in the development process. Whereas the product development process is rather heavy at the back, successful PSS development projects with high levels of service need to be heavy at the front (that is, they need to not only develop the system but also ensure its rollout). Examples are provided from eight market-leading companies in different industries, each of which are undertaking a strategic shift from identifying as product sellers toward becoming providers offering PSS. To conclude, value visualization has become vital for winning new contracts and retaining existing ones. It is therefore a strategic resource that managers need to pay attention to, and continuously develop, in order to compete with PSS offerings. / <p>Original Publication: Christian Kowalkowski and Daniel Kindström, Value visualization strategies for PSS development, 2009, Chapter in: Introduction to Product/Service-System Design, 159-182, Eds T. Sakao and M. Lindahl. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-909-1_8 Copyright: Springer http://www.springerlink.com/</p>

Bakgrund:                       I takt med att företagen mer och mer har börjat fokusera på aktieägarvärde och ägarstyrning har nya normativa ekonomistyrningsfunktioner som värdebaserad styrning vuxit fram. Därmed är det intressant att undersöka hur svenska familjeföretag av olika karaktärer upplever denna trend och huruvida det överensstämmer med ett aktieägarorienterat synsätt.  Syfte:                                  Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka och kartlägga vilken uppfattning svenska noterade och onoterade familjeföretag har på värdebaserad styrning och dess överensstämmelse med ett aktieägarorienterat synsätt. Vidare syftar uppsatsen att beskriva och förklara huruvida sådana verksamheter upplever att värdebaserad styrning kan användas som ett styrningsverktyg för att definiera och säkerställa aktieägarvärde. Metod: Jag har genomfört sex stycken intervjustudier med en abduktiv forskningsansats. Det empiriska materialet grundar sig huvudsakligen på data från både personliga intervjuer och telefonintervjuer men även sekundär data från hemsidor, årsredovisningar och bekräftade teorier. Slutsatser:                         Studiens noterade och onoterade familjeföretag upplever att deras värdeskapande processer stämmer väl överens med ett aktieägarorienterat synsätt. De påvisar alla att både finansiella och icke-finansiella målsättningar symboliserar verksamheternas aktieägarvärde vilket överensstämmer med varje familjs grundläggande värderingar och intressen för respektive verksamhet. Studiens fallföretag har vidare ingen konkret definition utav aktieägarvärde, verksamheterna är medvetna om värdet men använder inte begreppet i den dagliga verksamheten. Aktieägarvärde uppfattas vidare vara en integrerad målsättning i varje familjeföretag värdeskapande process. / Background:   As more and more companies have begun to focus on shareholder value and corporate governance, new normative financial functions as value-based management have emerged. Thus, it is interesting to investigate how Swedish family businesses of different characters experiencing this trend and whether it is consistent with a shareholder-oriented approach. Purpose:                             The purpose of this paper is to examine and identify the perception of Swedish listed and unlisted family business, on value-based management and its consistency with a shareholder-oriented approach. Furthermore, the study aims to describe and explain whether such business perceives that value-based management can be used as a management tool to define and ensure shareholder value. Method:                             I have completed six interview studies with an abductive research approach. The empirical material is mainly based on data from both personal interviews and telephone interviews but also secondary data from websites, annual reports and confirmed theories. Conclusions:                     The listed and unlisted family firms in this study perceive that their value creation processes is consistent with a shareholder-oriented approach. All the family firms demonstrate that both financial and non-financial objectives symbolize activities which are shareholder value consistent with the family’s basic values ​​and interests. Furthermore has each and every firm no concrete definition of shareholder value, businesses are aware of the value but they are not using the concept in their daily operations. Shareholder value is further perceived as an integrated goal in the firm’s value creation process.

The purpose of this research was to quantify what value could be gained from cutting solid wood products from old-growth western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) logs that are used to produce pulp in British Columbia. These logs represent a significant portion of the resource and increasing their value recovery would be beneficial to the forest industry. One hundred and sixteen logs were sampled from the coastal and interior regions of British Columbia. Dimension and quality attributes were measured to enable estimates of gross and merchantable volume. Logs deemed likely to yield lumber were sawn with the aim of maximizing value recovery. The nominal dimension and grade of all lumber recovered was recorded. Margins and breakpoints at which sawing became profitable were calculated. Models to predict the volume of lumber and proportion of Clear grade lumber recovered (“C Industrial” grade at the interior mill, “D Select” grade at the coastal mill) were developed. Lumber recovery, especially Clear grade lumber, was significantly higher from logs from the coastal site. At current market prices, cutting lumber from these logs was profitable, with the highest margins achieved when chips were produced from the milling residue. It was not profitable to recover lumber from the interior logs regardless of whether chips were produced. The disparity between locations was attributed to differences between the logs, the sawmilling equipment, the sawyers’ motivations and the lumber grades. Between 60% and 67% of coastal logs and 13% to 21% of interior logs returned a profit, depending on whether chips were produced. Models were developed to better identify these logs using observable attributes. A linear model described the total volume of lumber recovered. Significant predictor variables in the model were the gross log volume, the average width of the sound collar and the stage of butt/heart rot at the large end. A second model predicted the proportion of Clear grade lumber. Regional models were developed to account for different Clear lumber grades between sawmills. Significant predictor variables were knot frequency, diameter at the large end, volume, length, taper and the width of the sound collar at the large end.

When single-family lots are valued for development of new residential areas,the valuation is influenced by several factors. The valuation is a matter ofdefinition that varies according to its interpreter. Previous research conductedin other countries, has identified a number of value-influencing factors. Thesefactors are the basis for this study.The study's purpose is to highlight the value-influencing factors thatcustomers value and are looking for in the choice of single-family lots. Thestudy also seeks to determine if there is an unknown difference between howprofessionals and clients value single-family lots.The study showed that the value factors considered important for customersand also professionals are consistent and applicable with the factors reportedfrom previous research. These value factors are the location, adjacentneighboring areas, public transportation service, house plot size and proximityto the community, bodies of water and schools. For the Swedish market fourvalue-influencing factors not mentioned in the previous research wereidentified. The additional factors are; the selling price of the single-family lot, acorner placement lot, connecting bicycle path and walkway and lot withorientation south and west. The previous research mentioned also three valueinfluencingfactors that were not identified in the Swedish study. These factorswere; distance to the highway, municipal tax rate and access to the singlefamilylot.The study showed that the parties generally have good knowledge of oneanother´s valuation of single-family lots. This study focused mainly on theprofessional’s knowledge of the customer’s value-influencing factors. Theprofessionals base their valuation on incurred development costs, local priceassessments and a consideration of customer’s value-influencing factors. Thisknowledge is important for real estate appraisers and developers when settinga value on single-family lots, to be able to determine the most accurate value.The study is limited to Swedish medium-sized cities and was performed inKarlstad and Hammaro, which together have a population of approximately100,000 inhabitants. The data was collected through both a qualitative and aquantitative method approach, intended to reflect both professionals andcustomers perspectives. The qualitative method approach consisted of openand individual interviews with experienced professionals. The quantitative7method approach consisted of an online questionnaire, which was answeredby existing and potential customers. The empirical data for the qualitativemethod approach is presented in text and the quantitative method approachby the empirical data presented in tabular form.

The first chapter of this thesis gives a detailed picture of commonly used structural estimation techniques for several types of auction models. Next chapters consist of essays in which these techniques are utilized for empirical analysis of auction environments. In the second chapter we discuss the identification and estimation of the distribution of private signals in a common value auction model with an asymmetric information environment. We argue that the private information of the informed bidders are identifiable due to the asymmetric information structure. Then, we propose a two stage estimation method, which follows the identification strategy. We show, with Monte-Carlo experiments, that the estimator performs well. Third chapter studies Outer Continental Shelf drainage auctions, where oil and gas extraction leases are sold. Informational asymmetry across bidders and collusive behavior of informed firms make this environment very unique. We apply the technique proposed in the second chapter to data from the OCS drainage auctions. We estimate the parameters of a structural model and then run counterfactual simulations to see the effects of the informational asymmetry on the government's auction revenue. We find that the probability that information symmetry brings higher revenue to the government increases with the value of the auctioned tract. In the fourth chapter, we make use of the results in the multi-unit auction literature to study the Balancing Energy Services auctions (electricity spot market auctions) in Texas. We estimate the marginal costs of bidders implied by the Bayesian-Nash equilibrium of the multi-unit auction model of the market. We then compare the estimates to the actual marginal cost data. We find that, for the BES auction we study, the three largest bidders, Luminant, NRG and Calpine, have marked-down their bids more than the optimal amount implied by the model for the quantities where they were short of their contractual obligations, while they have put a mark-up larger than the optimal level implied by the model for quantities in excess of their contract obligations. Among the three bidders we studied, Calpine has come closest to bidding its optimal implied by the Bayesian-Nash equilibrium of the multi-unit auction model of the BES market.