Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Research – Sweden'

Abstract

Date: May 15, 2009

Course: Master thesis, EFO705

Authors: Hanna Jokiperä 800218-T108, hja08001@student.mdh.se

Ruusa Mustonen 830711-P263, rmn08001@student.mdh.se

Tutor: Tobias Eltebrandt

Title: CAN Europe – Market Research of Sweden

Strategic question: How can CAN Europe launch the internationally standardised vocational skills assessment tests successfully to Sweden? The purpose of this master thesis is to provide the company with comprehensive information about the Swedish market and to suggest ways to implement the launching process.

Research questions:

• What are the characteristics of the Swedish labour and recruitment market?
• Are the Swedish companies interested in using CAN Europe’s tests?
• What would be the suitable marketing mix when entering the Swedish market?

Methods: Besides the comprehensive collection of secondary data, the primary data was collected by the means of an open-ended questionnaire among large companies and recruitment agencies in Sweden. The research was conducted in order to gather in-depth information about the recruitment field in Sweden.

Conceptual Framework: Theories of ‘The International Marketing Task’, ‘The Country Notebook’ and ‘The Market entry plan’ were used.  Theories and concepts were chosen for the purpose that they would support each other and could be used by combining them when making the analysis of the findings.

Conclusion: According to the study, Sweden seems to be highly potential country for CAN Europe to enter since the relevant aspects for successful launch exist in the market i.e. in terms of companies’ interest and needs, and the characteristics of the skills assessment and recruitment market in Sweden.

Key Words: Market entry plan, marketing mix, international launch, market research, skills assessment, recruitment, blue-collar

Problem: A Polish company produces heaters wants to enter the Swedish market. The decision maker needs information about the Swedish market both the general information about Sweden and specific information about the Swedish heater market. And some specific questions are asked by the firm in order to get a deeper view of the present heater market in Sweden.

Purpose: If Swedish market ‘right’ (a farsighted choice)? Suppose the answer is ‘yes’, then how to enter and operate on the Swedish market within the environmental context of Sweden and the present Swedish heater market? Then suppose the answer is ‘no’, should the Polish firm leave or fix the problems?

To achieve the goal, information of environmental context (ecological, sociocultural, technological, economic, political/legal and competitive) about Sweden should be collected. And according to the firm’s specific questions, answers should be collected by means of exploratory research. Suggestions about entering steps and future operation are to be fulfilled.  

Method: Qualitative Research

Results: In all, this thesis provides information to evaluate the chances and challenges, and proves Sweden is a ‘right’ choice -- the firm can win market share (reasons will be stated in following chapters) despite of the competition from present competitors.  Further applications of entering and operating on the Swedish heater market are available.

General information about Sweden combined with detailed information of the present heater market were collected, analyzed and discussed. The presentation of the information helps evaluate the attractiveness of the Swedish market. Further study applies procedures of entering Sweden and operation after entering, which will be of vital importance for competing on the Swedish heater market when the decision maker determines to choose Sweden.

This comparative research synthesis examines teenage motherhood in the UK and in Sweden. The UK has the highest rate of teenage motherhood in Western Europe and Sweden has the lowest. Firstly, the article examines the reasons as to why the rates differ to such an extent between these countries. Secondly, it compares the extent to which teenage mothers are socially excluded in the UK and in Sweden. Finally, it looks at how the available social support for teenage mothers differs between the UK and Sweden. The synthesis concludes that low expectations due to poverty is the main factor as to why teenage motherhood is more common in the UK than in Sweden, but that the level of social exclusion that teenage mothers face in both countries is similar. The support that teenage mothers in the UK obtain from society is customised towards them as a specific group, whilst teenage mothers in Sweden receive support that is formulated for vulnerable people in general.

Problem

The problem of the paper is the structure and characteristics of the interior door market in Sweden.

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to provide the possibly deepest research of the Swedish market of interior door.

Method

The research constitutes of several parts. The theoretical framework derives from dependable literature, namely books, articles and journals. The data about the focal company is mostly of the primary type, gathered through series of interviews with Classen Pol's vice-chairman and a questionnaire filled in by the marketing manager of the company.

Result

The result of this paper is a description of the interior doors market in Sweden. Existing producers, distributors, sellers and importers are presented. Moreover, the author presents the optimal distribution for Classen Pol to pursue while entering Sweden.

Europe is taking on a new meaning to many people these days and is now referred to as the European Union. For those countries, which are not yet members, to join the European Union is a very important and defining decision. Romania is one of the “next to be” members. With Romania being the next inline to join the Union, large corporations and enterprises are turning to Romania for new opportunities. It might be interesting for Swedish or foreign companies to open a business or start investing in Romania. That step is a very important one because there is no specific literature, which can provide relevant information about the Romanian business market and management style. These potential investors or business executives have no idea about the project management procedures or the implementation of technical projects inside the Romanian economy.

To provide the answer to these questions more extensive and deeper studies will have to be done in the future. The purpose of this thesis is to become a reference in the future for those companies which are considering doing business in Romania. The goal of this research is to provide valuable and reliable answers concerning the attitude of Swedish and Romanian leaders in meetings with their employees. These attitudes build on the differences in culture and nationality. The leadership of companies in Romania and Sweden has very different meanings in those countries. In the beginning I will provide definitions to the terms that will use: attitude, culture, leadership and meeting. The respondents were chosen based on their previous leadership positions in the institution they used to work. This research will demonstrate the aspects that Swedish leaders have or do not have in common with their Romanian colleagues.

Background

Promotional techniques are used to make prospective customers aware of products, to

whet their appetites, and stimulate demand; they also provide information to help

customers decide. In the promotional process the selection and the use of the tools is

crucial. Nowadays the tourism industry is extremely challenging. Tourism has evolved

during the latter half of the 20th century from a marginal and locally significant activity to

a widely dispersed economic giant. Many aspects of tourism promotion have been

developed these last years to attract new customers.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to outline and analyse the use and the construction of three

promotional tools (advertising, Public Relations, printed materials), and find out their goals. These three promotional tools are represented by TV commercials, press releases and brochure.

Method

This study was conducted using the case study method. It is based on primary data. These data are coming from a questionnaire, from the internet and from one printed material. The applied theoretical frames of references are about the use and goals of the three promotional tools and also about models for the analysis of the construction of the latter.

Conclusion

By answering the research questions this thesis presents first the comparison results

between the frames and the data concerning the use of the three promotional tools. Then

the main aspects of the construction of the tools are showed. And finally their goals

coming from the frames and the data are presented and compared.

Both England and Sweden has an aim to improving the health of those groups that are most vulnerable to ill health, and those groups in society, who are most vulnerable to ill health, are also those who face the most discrimination.

The main purpose of this paper is to study how female mental health service user/survivor experiences their health. The paper is composed of two studies carried out in a city in Sweden and a city in England, UK.  Four women from Sweden participated and two from England, UK. The empiric material has been collected by semi-structured interviews and the method that has been used for analysing the material was qualitative content analysis.

The result shows that almost all of the women did experience discrimination. Almost all of the women that did experience discrimination did also express that experience of discrimination also influenced their health in a negative way. However, all of the women also resisted the experience of an oppressive society and the view that they are just “victims”, by reclaiming their identity and experiencing a collective identity or a self-identity. These experiences of identity have given them a sense of wellbeing and health.

Today environmental management systems (EMS) are common documents (more correctly, a combination of documents) that direct, steer and regulate environmental efforts within many companies. The intention of EMS is that its guidelines are reflected in how the employee carries out his everyday work tasks. This study aims to illuminate the attitudes that exist regarding the EMS at ALSTOM Power Sweden. By using questionnaires and interviews as a method to communicate with employees,a study of the existing attitudes regarding the EMS was carried out. The results were analyzed categorically and statistically and show that there are consistent attitudes among employees, but that there are also inconsistent attitudes. Differences in attitude and conceptions are especially apparent when comparing management to their employees in some cases, which may be explained by looking at organizational structure and means of communication. Viewing the issues from this perspective may aid in future improvements of the EMS at ALSTOM.

The paper is an extensive review of inter organizational relation. Every organization wants to attain the competitive position in the Global market. The organization is effectively utilizing the R&D, production and marketing units, to develop the innovative products to accomplish the consumer needs.  The need for innovation is growing every day. The innovation success depends on the vital link between R&D, production and Marketing. In this paper concentrated on R&D and Marketing units at Ericsson Telecom Company, because these two units are combined and work together to discover new innovative products according to the customer requirements and to improve their operational excellence. The paper analyzed the relation between the R&D and Marketing departments of Ericsson is Strong or weak by using the factors like communication, decision making, formal and informal mechanism between the two units and also identified the relationship between these two units has it improved during last three years (2006- 2008).

Research Methodology: In this dissertation work the authors were taken the interpretative research. The researchers used Primary data and secondary data. The primary data collected by E mail questions to Ericsson's employees and secondary data collected by Journals, Ericsson home page, magazines and library online database etc.

Findings: The researchers analyzed the current relationship between R&D and Marketing units at Ericsson Organization. We scrutinized communication, decision making, and formal and informal mechanism are giving positive support and build the strong relationship between two units. The researchers also found few gaps between two units, but the overall relationship between two units were strong. It positively contributes to Ericsson's operational excellence.

Energimyndigheten har från Regeringen blivit tilldelad 100 miljoner kronor att fördela som investeringsstöd för att främja en effektiv och utökad produktion, distribution samt användning av förnybara gaser såsom biogas. Myndigheten har samtidigt fått i uppdrag att utveckla en sektorsövergripande biogasstrategi och föreslå åtgärder som på kort och lång sikt kan bidra till ökad användning av biogas. Denna strategi ska också tjäna som ett underlag för fördelning av olika former av stöd inom sektorn.

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att sammanställa information som kan bidra som underlag vid upprättandet av den sektorsövergripande biogasstrategin. Ett annat syfte är att bidra med underlag för Energimyndighetens bedömning av var ett investeringsstöd kan ge störst effekt för den fortsatta utvecklingen inom biogasområdet. Detta stöd avser den senaste, ovan nämnda, utlysning som Energimyndigheten gjort inom området. Examensrapporten innehåller bland annat en sammanställning av gjorda insatser inom forskningsområdet biogas de senaste åren, finansierat av framför allt Energimyndigheten, men även en inblick i vilka biogassatsningar som är gjorda av andra nationella aktörer. Ett antal personer från bland annat branschorganisationer har intervjuats för att ta del av deras syn på den framtida biogasmarknaden, vilka satsningar som bör göras och vilka hinder som har störst inverkan. Organisationerna är valda utifrån kriteriet att de ska representera olika delar av biogasbranschen och att olika synvinklar därigenom ska framkomma. Rapporten innehåller slutsatser som dragits av tidigare biogassatsningar hos Energimyndigheten och identifiering av biogasområden där det föreligger stort behov av framtida satsningar för utökad produktion, distribution och användning. 

Ett område som i detta examensarbete har identifierats ha stort behov av framtida biogassatsningar är bland annat framtagande av alternativa rötningssubstrat, eftersom mängden tillgängligt substrat nuläget inte är tillräcklig. Detta utgör idag en begränsning för biogasproduktionen. Det bör även satsas mer på förbehandling av substrat innan rötning, vilket ökar gasproduktionen och förbättrar substratutnyttjandet i större utsträckning. Mer satsningar behövs också kring hur biogasprocessens slutprodukt, rötresten, kan bli en mer attraktiv produkt så att återcirkulering av växtnäring kan ske i större grad genom rötrestspridning på åkermark. Detta är av stor vikt eftersom en ökad volym rötningssubstrat ger upphov till större mängd rötrester som ska hanteras. Andra områden som är i behov av framtida stöd är utveckling av befintliga anläggningar för att öka och effektivisera produktionen. För att optimera processerna bör framför allt mer medel satsas på kunskapsuppbyggnad och spridning av den vetenskap som finns tillgänglig. Att länka samman universitet, högskolor och naturbruksgymnasium med anläggningar i drift kan vara det mest effektiva sättet att nå ut med relevant information och kunskap. Ur ett samhällsekonomiskt perspektiv bör mer medel läggas på att öka gödselrötning då detta minskar metanläckage.

Swedish Energy Agency has been allocated SEK 100 million from the government to distribute as investment grant to promote efficient and expanded production, distribution and use of renewable gases such as biogas. The Agency has also been given the task to develop a multidisciplinary strategy for biogas and propose measures which can contribute to increased use of biogas in the short and long term. This strategy will also serve as a basis for the allocation of various forms of support in the biogas sector. 

The purpose of this study is to compile information which can be used as input for the establishment of the multidisciplinary strategy for biogas. Another purpose is to provide information to support the Swedish Energy Agency in the assessment of which areas an investment grant will have the greatest impact for the future development of biogas. This grant refers to the latest call of Swedish Energy Agency in the sector. This report includes a summary of what areas grants have been given for research of biogas in recent years, mainly financed by the Swedish Energy Agency, but also an insight into efforts made by other national operators. A number of people from professional biogas organizations have been interviewed to share their views on the future biogas market. Which efforts should be made and the main obstacles to be overcome are other questions discussed. The report contains conclusions from the experience of previous support from the Swedish Energy Agency as well as identification of areas in which there is great need for future efforts in order to expand the production, distribution and use of biogas.

Some areas which have been identified in this thesis for need of future efforts in the biogas sector is for example the development of alternative substrates for anaerobic digestion, because the amount of available substrate is at present not sufficient. This is currently a limitation for the biogas production. There is also a need to further develop the pre-treatment of the substrate before digestion, in order to increase the gas production and improve substrate utilization to a greater extent. More focus are also needed on how the end product from the biogas process, the digestion residues, can become a more attractive product to the recycling of plant nutrients by use as a bio fertilizer on farmland. This is of great importance because larger volume of digestion will result in greater volume of digestion residues to be managed. Other areas in need of future investments are the development of existing facilities to increase and optimize the production. In order to optimize the production processes, more resources should be devoted to capacity building and dissemination of the available knowledge. Linking universities and colleges together with operating biogas plants could be the most effective way to reach out with relevant information and knowledge. From a socioeconomic perspective more resources should be spent on increasing the volume of manure digestion then it is today, which also will result in reduced methane leaks.

A hotel stands for comfort and a high stand of living. This could mean a high per capita consumption of energy, water and other resource, as well as creating a large amount of waste and pollution due to the necessity of having a high standard of hygiene and a high turnover of guests.

This thesis is about the hotel environmental management. After surveys of hotels and interviews with hotel managers as to their environmental management, a case study of a small hotel was carried out, namely the Bastedalen Herrgård and Kina Park.

The case Bastedalen Herrgård told us that its guests have expressed some requirement to hotel environmental management given the fact that the answer rate was very low. When the guests were asked to provide answers to environmental questions, the dominant answers were positive. But these answers are not necessary leading to the positive behavior. This implies that more in-depth study towards customer’s environmental behavior is needed.

It was true in Bastedalen that the hotels owner is playing an important roll in the process toward better environmental management and will decide whether or not to do this and in which direction. It was also true that the hotel owner in this case had not enough resources to follow the example of big hotels. A micro-hotel and other SMEs were obviously in need of financial and technical support to be more “green”. They are also short of relevant information and knowledge.

Idag blir det allt vanligare och vanligare att företag inför miljöledningssystem. Det görs av flera olika anledningar. Det kan vara ett försök att trygga sin plats på den framtida marknaden eller så kan det vara ett direkt resultat av ett tryck utifrån. Men vad innebär det egentligen att införa ett miljöledningssystem och hur förankras miljöarbetet hos personalen. Det var några av de frågor som dök upp under praktikkursen på Miljövetarprogrammet under våren 2003 vilken gjordes på Danisco Sweden AB. Det ledde sedermera fram till denna uppsats med syfte att genom en fallstudie undersöka hur miljöarbetet kan förankras hos personalen på Danisco och vilka faktorer som är viktiga. För att bedöma hur det ska ske används två stycken teorier. Den ena är Kotters förankringsteori och den andra är en modell framtagen av två studenter från Växjö universitet. I fallstudien genomfördes tre stycken intervjuer med personal från ledningen och högre upp i organisationen och en enkätundersökning med personal från produktionen och lagret. De övergripande slutsatserna från studien kan sägas vara att utbildning, kunskap, delaktighet, kommunikation, information, engagemang, motivation och mål är viktiga faktorer. Framhållas bör dock att det är motivationen och personalens engagemang som är avgörande.