"Selling/Buying"

The article belongs to the field of lexical semantics studies, associated with describing the Russian linguistic world-image. The work focuses on the universal situation of purchase and sale as reflected in the Russian language.

The Concept of ’Selling/Buying��� in the Russian Linguistic Picture of the World : from standard to sub-standard

The thesis belongs to the field of lexical semantics studies, associated with describing the Russian linguistic world-image. The research focuses on the universal situation of purchase and sale as reflected in the Russian lexical standard and sub-standard. The work deals also with subjects related to the sphere of social linguistics: the social stratification of the language, the structure of sub-standard, etc. The thesis is a contribution to the description of the Russian linguistic world-image as well as to the further elaboration of the conceptional analysis method. The results are applicable in teaching Russian as a foreign language, particularly in lexis and Russian culture and mentality studies.

Populärmusik i TV-reklam : En kvalitativ undersökning av musiken som betydelsebärande teckensystem

This paper examines a popular music song (Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez) as a sign system in television advertising. The study was conducted through qualitative questionnaires in connection to an audio-visual method of analysis called Masking. The method facilitates the analysis of isolated parts in the audio-visual spectrum by masking/hiding parts of the audio-visual totality.The survey had seven respondents where a hermeneutic epistemological approach was used. For the analysis Cooper's theory of brand identity (Practical and Symbolic Attitudes to Buying Brands) was used together with an interaction model for music in audio-visual advertising called "Modes of music-image interaction”. The results showed that the music was associated with values as genuine, honest, responsibility, purity, independence and innovation. The music's symbolic values helped to position the brand in a lifestyle context. The music also helped to express the target group’s identity and attitudes by being innovative and independent. It also enhanced the perception of the visual colour rendition in the film. In general the television advertisement perceived more positive and entertaining when the music was present. In other words the music's social and cultural position contributed to raise the film's credibility. A deeper social and cultural value was created in the movie through resonance between symbolic values of the music and symbolic values of the film.

Sustainability & Consumer behavior towards Sustainability in Norway and Sweden

AimSustainability has become an important factor to consider while buying goods and services. People are being more conscious toward environmental impacts of products and services. This attitude has motivated many businesses to develop their production in contact with sustainability. The aim of this paper is to investigate different consumer behaviors toward sustainability in general and in relation to vehicles in Norway and Sweden.ApproachThe project has been embarked by dividing it into two tasks.1. Analyzing past, present and future development, growth and importance of sustainability concept. Describe the role of Government authorities in Norway and Sweden to promote sustainable consumption.2. Investigating important factors of consumer behaviors which influence their buying decision toward sustainable products in general and in relation to sustainable vehicles. Highlight the role of vehicle manufacturing companies to promote sustainable consumption.MethodA research has been conducted in order to explore consumer behavior toward sustainability in Norway and Sweden. Research is based on Document study and primary research which include questionnaire survey with consumers and interviews with vehicle dealers. In addition an expert inquiry is conducted to light up consumer intensions in Norway and Sweden toward sustainability.ResultsThe result of investigation has been revealed in shape of analyses and conclusion at the end. A comparison has been made between primary research and secondary research and findings are overlapping. Sustainable vehicles are being more popular among consumers in Norway and Sweden. Consumption trends are changing over time and environmental friendly attitudes are more developing among Swedish consumers as compared to Norwegian.

Decisions with Impact on Energy Reduction Opportunities : Swedish manufacturers and buyers of new single-family houses

This article discusses some of the complexities of human decision-making. It aims, in particular, at relating the nature of decision-making to the illusory dichotomies of change and stability, individual actions and cultural sharing. Serving as an illustration to the discussion of the article is ongoing fieldwork in contexts of buying, selling and constructing pre-fabricated detached houses in the central Sweden, and the very specific question of how decisions to install one kind of heating-system rather than another come about. A common reductionism is to narrow down the understanding of decisions about heating systems and energy consumption to conscious choices made by individual householders. I have asked myself whether, on the contrary, anyone actually makes such decisions at all. Perhaps some of these decisions are merely outcomes of interaction between different individuals with their respective responsibilities and focuses of interest.

Ekologiska kläder : En studie om varför konsumtionen av ekologiska kläder haft en svag ökning sett utifrån konsumenternas perspektiv

Syftet med denna studie är att förklara varför konsumtionen av ekologiska kläder haft en svag ökning sett utifrån konsumenternas perspektiv. För att kunna besvara syftet har en kvantitativ metod legat till grund för denna studie. Data har samlats in med hjälp av enkäter för att undersöka om det föreligger något samband bland konsumenter. För att kunna presentera ett mer djupgående resultat har den kvantitativa metoden kombinerats med en kvalitativ metod vid analys av data. Teorin i denna studie har använts som utgångspunkt för att bättre förstå konsumenternas köpbeteende samt betydelsen av varumärken. Studiens empiri består av den data som samlats in genom enkäter. I studies analys och diskussion har teorierna sedan tillämpats på den data som enkäterna genererat för att öka resultatets trovärdighet. I denna studie framkom att kvinnliga konsumenter i åldern 20-35 har låg kunskap om de konventionella klädernas påverkan på miljö och individ. Konsumenternas personliga behov värderas högre än socialt ansvarstagande och det som prioriteras högst vid köp av kläder är pris, design och kvalitet. Utbudet av ekologiska kläder är inte tillräckligt stort och de kläder som finns tillgängliga på marknaden saknar varumärkesimage och förknippas ofta med basplagg.

Entry, re-location and growth in the Swedish wholesale trade industry

Wholesale trade has an intermediate position between manufacturing and retail in the distributional channel. In modern economies, consumers buy few, if any, products directly from manufacture or producer. Instead, it is a wholesaler, who is in direct contact with producers, buying goods in larger quantities and selling them in smaller quantities to retailers. Traditionally, the main function of a wholesaler has been to push goods along the distributional channel from producer to retailer, or other nonend user. However, the function of wholesalers usually goes beyond the process of the physical distribution of goods. Wholesalers also arrange storage, perform market analyses, promote trade or provide technical support to consumers (Riemers 1998). The existence of wholesalers (and other intermediaries) in the distributional channel is based on the effective and efficient performance of distribution services, that are needed by producers and other members of the supply chain. Producers usually do not enjoy the economies of scale that they have in production, when it comes to providing distributional services (Rosenbloom 2007) and this creates a space for wholesalers or other intermediaries. Even though recent developments in the distributional channel indicate that traditional wholesaling activities now also compete with other supply chain organizations, wholesaling still remains an important activity in many economies (Quinn and Sparks, 2007). In 2010, the Swedish wholesale trade sector consisted of approximately 46.000 firms and generated an annual turnover of 1 300 billion SEK (Företagsstatistiken, Statistics Sweden). In terms of turnover, wholesaling accounts for 20% of the gross domestic product and is thereby the third largest industry. This is behind manufacturing and a composite group of firms in other sectors of the service industry but ahead of retailing. This indicates that the wholesale trade sector is an important part of the Swedish economy. The position of wholesaling is further reinforced when measuring productivity growth. Measured in terms of value added per employee, wholesaling experienced the largest productivity growth of all industries in the Swedish economy during the years 2000 through 2010. The fact that wholesale trade is one of the important parts of a modern economy, and the positive development of the Swedish wholesale trade sector in recent decades, leads to several questions related to industry dynamics. The three topics that will be examined in this thesis are firm entry, firm relocation and firm growth. The main question to be answered by this thesis is what factors influence new firm formation, firm relocation and firm growth in the Swedish wholesale trade sector?

Measuring CO2 emissions induced by online and brick-and-mortar retailing

We develop a method for empirically measuring the difference in carbon footprint between traditional and online retailing (“e-tailing”) from entry point to a geographical area to consumer residence. The method only requires data on the locations of brick-and-mortar stores, online delivery points, and residences of the region’s population, and on the goods transportation networks in the studied region. Such data are readily available in most countries, so the method is not country or region specific. The method has been evaluated using data from the Dalecarlia region in Sweden, and is shown to be robust to all assumptions made. In our empirical example, the results indicate that the average distance from consumer residence to a brick-and-mortar retailer is 48.54 km in the studied region, while the average distance to an online delivery point is 6.7 km. The results also indicate that e-tailing increases the average distance traveled from the regional entry point to the delivery point from 47.15 km for a brick-and-mortar store to 122.75 km for the online delivery points. However, as professional carriers transport the products in bulk to stores or online delivery points, which is more efficient than consumers’ transporting the products to their residences, the results indicate that consumers switching from traditional to e-tailing on average reduce their CO2 footprints by 84% when buying standard consumer electronics products. 

Measuring CO2 emissions induced by online and brick-and-mortar retailing

We develop a method for empirically measuring the difference in carbon footprint between traditional and online retailing (“e-tailing”) from entry point to a geographical area to consumer residence. The method only requires data on the locations of brick-and-mortar stores, online delivery points, and residences of the region’s population, and on the goods transportation networks in the studied region. Such data are readily available in most countries, so the method is not country or region specific. The method has been evaluated using data from the Dalecarlia region in Sweden, and is shown to be robust to all assumptions made. In our empirical example, the results indicate that the average distance from consumer residence to a brick-and-mortar retailer is 48.54 km in the studied region, while the average distance to an online delivery point is 6.7 km. The results also indicate that e-tailing increases the average distance traveled from the regional entry point to the delivery point from 47.15 km for a brick-and-mortar store to 122.75 km for the online delivery points. However, as professional carriers transport the products in bulk to stores or online delivery points, which is more efficient than consumers’ transporting the products to their residences, the results indicate that consumers switching from traditional to e-tailing on average reduce their CO2 footprints by 84% when buying standard consumer electronics products. 

One rapidly growing market of Sweden: organic food : A qualitative study portraying some consumers’ decision to purchase organic food

In recent years there has been a significantly rising trend amongst consumers for health and environmental issues, which has resulted in greater attention for and sales of organic food. Organic food production strives to use natural resources, such as land, energy and water in a sustainable way and the products does not contain artificial fertilizers or chemical pesticides. However, organic food products are also often more expensive and less available in comparison to conventional food products. Despite this, interest for and sales of organic food products have increased around the globe, and in Sweden particularly, the increase in sales has grown largely from an international perspective. This thesis is of qualitative character and is focused on studying some consumers from the Swedish market of organic food. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute with a better understanding on the buying decision process regarding organic food purchase. To achieve this, the authors have studied some consumers that purchase organic food and have searched for patterns that could be identified in the decision process. The consumer buying decision process model has been used for portrayal of the chosen consumers’ decision to purchase organic food products. Interviews with six Swedish consumers were conducted, whereas each respondent continuously purchase organic food products. Results show that the purchase of organic food products begins with discovering an unsatisfied need state, which the consumers of this study desired to change with the purchase of organic food products. This study show how six consumers reason when passing through the stages of the buying decision process, in order to satisfy their desired need state. The authors found that the respondents feel satisfied with purchasing organic food products, which lead them in to continuously buying these products. Altogether, the findings contribute with knowledge that can come to be helpful when wanting to understand more about the consumer decision to purchase organic food.

Reklam i sociala medier och dess påverkan på konsumenterna : En kvalitativ studie om generation y’s attityder till reklam på sociala medier

Denna studie syftar till att skapa en förståelse för generation y’s attityder till reklam på dagens fyra största sociala medier. Generation y innefattar individer födda mellan år 1980-1999. Dessa individer har vuxit upp i en tid med framfart av teknologiska produkter där majoriteten använder sociala medier mer eller mindre dagligen. Denna grupp individer anses därmed bli det mest betydelsefulla kundsegmentet för digital marknadsföring i framtiden. För att kunna besvara syftet har en kvalitativ metod tillämpats. Författarna utgick först från teorier som låg till grund för den empiriska data som samlades in, för att slutligen analysera resultatet tillbaka till teorierna. Detta utgjordes av fokusgruppsintervjuer för att på så vis undersöka och erhålla förståelse om individers attityder gällande reklam på sociala medier. Vad som framkom av denna studie är att generation y i studien tolkas ha en positiv attityd till reklam från företag de själva valt att följa på sociala medier. Individerna tolkas även ta till sig mer av reklam som är riktad personligt mot dem. I vilken utsträckning individerna tar till sig av reklamen kopplas även ihop med vilket socialt medium den riktas från. Vidare kan resultatet av denna studie ge dagens och framtida marknadsförare en insikt i hur det betydande marknadssegmentet generation y uppfattar reklam i sociala medier, vilket kan möjliggöra marknadsföringsinnovationer hos företagen som vill stärka varumärket och påverka konsumenternas köpintention positivt

Konceptet mobilitet som tjänst : Viktiga kompetenser och möjliga utmaningar vid vidareutvecklingen av MaaS i Sverige.

Transport and travel is necessary for our society to function. Today, the privately owned car stands for more than half of all personal trips in Sweden. In the last couple of years researchers have highlighted the idea that personal transport is facing a paradigm shift, which means a reduction in the use and dependent of the privately owned car and an increased focus on individuals buying their Mobility as a Service (MaaS). MaaS is described as an integrated mix of different mobility services which are arranged in the form of customized mobility packages to the customer. These mobility packages can be compared to a mobile phone subscription, which includes various mobility services, such as train, bus, subway, taxi, carpool, etc. in various amounts depending on the individual's changing needs. The individual can take care of their own travel planning, booking and payment via an app in their smartphone. What distinguish MaaS from other mobility services is that the customer can travel from door-to-door instead of a predefine station to another. There have been various Maas projects around the world in order to increase understanding of the concept of MaaS, there is still a lot of unanswered questions and researchers would like to see more studies in the field, in order to find factors that are important and vital to the concept MaaS. The aim of the thesis is to: Discuss some competences that may be significant for the further development of the concept Maas in Sweden and discuss potential challenges that may arise at further development of the concept MaaS in Sweden. This study is based on previous research and experiences and thoughts on the concept MaaS from various stakeholders with knowledge and experience of the concept. This study has an abductive approach. Primary data were obtained through qualitative semistructured interviews with eight people who have knowledge and experience of the Maas. The main conclusions in this study is that the competences that are most important in the development of MaaS is collaborative skills and competences required to create an attractive mobility package based on customer needs. One challenge identified in this study is the challenge of creating individualized mobility package in which different types of mobility services are integrated. Another challenge can arise when public and private organizations collaborate and when new organizations enter the transport network and try to cooperate with the established organizations

Utveckling av lojalitetsprogram - individanpassade erbjudanden : Marknadsföring genom CRM-strategier

Den ökade konkurrenssituationen mellan företag är ett resultat på att handeln har globaliserats. Konsumenter är idag mer medvetna om vad företag har att erbjuda, och det är lätt att välja alternativa företag om ett specifikt företag inte lever upp till konsumentens förväntningar. Detta ställer krav på att företag ständigt måste arbeta med och utveckla sina strategier för att skapa konkurrensfördelar. Idag arbetar många företag med lojalitetsprogram som är ett typexempel på en CRM-strategi. CRM-strategier och lojalitetsprogram syftar till att göra konsumenten mer lojal, för att möjliggöra att konsumenten skall välja att göra återupprepande och mer frekventa köp. Lojalitetsprogrammen måste dock uppdateras och förändras, för att ständigt kunna vara konkurrenskraftiga. Företag arbetar därmed för att skapa ett mervärde, det vill säga erbjuda en servicelösning som är utöver vad konsumenten förväntar sig att få från företag. Kundlojalitet kan utvecklas genom att företag skapar långsiktiga relationer med konsumenterna, och en relation mellan parterna kan utvecklas genom att företag lyssnar på konsumenterna, för att få reda på dess behov och önskemål. Forskning indikerar att individanpassade erbjudanden kan bidra till att konsumenterna än mer tenderar att bli lojala, detta eftersom individanpassade erbjudanden är erbjudanden som baseras på konsumentens unika köpbeteende, vilket möjliggör för träffsäkerhet och relevans. Syftet med denna studie är att mäta konsumenters efterfrågan på individanpassade erbjudanden, för att undersöka om konsumenterna faktiskt efterfrågar och kommer ta till sig dessa erbjudanden. Frågeställningarna är; på vilket sätt kan efterfrågan på individanpassade erbjudanden bidra till ett företags konkurrensfördelar samt på vilket sätt skiljer sig efterfrågan på individanpassade erbjudanden beroende på butikernas geografiska placering. Studien är baserad på en kvantitativ surveyundersökning riktad till konsumenter, med en kvalitativ semi-strukturerad intervju för att erhålla viktig information vid utformandet av frågeformuläret. Resultatet för studien visade att konsumenter värdesätter att få individanpassade erbjudanden, och att dessa erbjudanden kan bidra till ett företags konkurrensfördelar eftersom erbjudandena möjliggör att servicekvaliteten kan öka vilket innebär att dessa erbjudanden kan upplevas ha ett mervärde. I denna studie återfanns dock inte några skillnader på efterfrågan av individanpassade erbjudanden beroende på butikernas geografiska placering.