Finanskrisen i Olofström

: ur detaljhandelns perspektiv

Abstract

Olofström, located in southern Sweden, is a town dependent on the automotive industry which makes the place hard hit in the financial crisis. Many people have lost their jobs and unemployment has more than doubled in a year. Retail businesses in the town has also been affected when the affected population in all probability have scaled down their consumption and it is therefore interesting to study whether the retailers have handled the financial crisis in different ways. To find out if there are any differences a questionnaire were distributed to all retail businesses in the town and the response rate was very high.

The theory in the thesis is based on crisis management, strategy and marketing. The section on crisis management is based on the fact that there are different phases of a crisis that a company has to get through and what phase the company is in depends on the measures taken by it. The theory of strategy deals with the four principles of strategy and deliberate and emergent strategies. Depending on what measures a company has taken, it is possible to characterize the actions as deliberate or emergent. Finally, the theory of marketing includes for example the four p:s of marketing which represents parts of the company that must constantly be reviewed in order to keep up with changes in the environment surrounding the company.

After conducting our research, we note that retail businesses in Olofström has handled the financial crisis in different ways, that they have not reached the same phase in the crisis management process and that they have taken various measures that can be related to strategy and marketing.