The purpose of this study is from a case study develop a model that aims to cost effectively improve productivity in a manufacturing production process. The study highlights the importance of having knowledge about customer needs and using a holistic process perspective when improving productivity to identify the relations between the process stations and by this find problems that cause waste and losses in productivity. Tools and methods used to make production more efficient such as single minute exchange of die, spaghetti diagram, 5s and master production schedule is presented an applied in the model to see how these effect costs, productivity etc.Maintenance effects on quality and productivity in a manufacturing company will as well be covered in this thesis. The results and conclusions finally reveals how the process improvement tools, maintenance and production planning for example effects each other and why it is important to establish an attitude in the company where continuous process improvement should be emphasized..

The aim of this study is to examine whether the two factors SMB and HML in the Fama-French Three Factor Model proxy for default risk. The study is based on companies noted on the Stockholm Stock Exchange between 2003 and 2008. These companies are used to create the factors SMB and HML, as well as a default risk factor we call RMS. In a first set of regressions, we examine the explanatory power of the original Fama-French model on a set of portfolios consisting of Swedish companies of different size and book-to-market ratio. The default risk factor RMS is then added to the original Fama-French model.

There is an increased pressure for firms to provide the financial market with additional information. Such disclosure is attached with different kinds of costs. In spite of these costs, and in spite of increased mandatory disclosures, firms choose to voluntary disclosure financial information to analysts and others. This indicates that firms also benefit from providing additional information. The subjects of this study is 431 annual reports from firms listed at the Stockholm Stock Exchange for 2002 and 2005 and the objective is to survey factors that can explain variations in firms? voluntary disclosure.

Strong relationships are something that is really important for companies to succeed with, in purpose to increase and protect their market shares. After major research on the subject, it has been found that variables like exchange of relationship, trust, control mutability, satisfaction and commitment are important in the establishment of measuring a relationship. The purpose with this thesis was to: increase the knowledge on how companies measure, and then consequently evaluate, their relationships. To answer the purpose of the study we chose to do a case study at Stadium AB, which is a retailing concern with a high level of customer contact on a daily basis. The conclusion is that trust most likely is the key variable in measuring relationships.

Konkurrenskraftiga organisationer behöver effektiva teams som kan möta omvärldens krav. För att få effektiva arbetsgrupper behöver medlemmarna ha tilltro till den egna och gruppens förmåga. Forskning om samarbetsrelationernas kvalitet, mätt som team-member-exchange (TMX), har visat att hög TMX ökar tilltro till den egna förmågan. Oenighet råder dock om vilken effekt skillnader inom grupper i TMX har på tilltro till förmåga. I denna studie undersöktes hur TMX och TMX-differentiering påverkar tilltro till egen och gruppens förmåga.

Who would not like a profit of more then 95 % in a day? Investors in Sweden had thatopportunity, if they had bought a certain stock on the primary market and sold it on the firsttradable day at the Stock Exchange. Most of that profit fell into the hands of institutionalinvestors. The reason for this extraordinary profit was the underpricing of that specific stockduring its initial public offering (IPO).Our report aims to analyze the relationship between offer price, underpricing and theownership structure of stocks. Our investigation is based on all IPO?s on the Stockholm stockexchange during the years between 2000 and 2005.

This paper?s objective is to investigate whether Modigliani and Miller (MM) I & II proposition from 1958 with regard to capital structure, is still valid among public Swedish firms.We have chosen the 63 firms on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (OMX) that Affärsvärlden magazine?s general index (AFGX) has categorized as industrial firms. We based this selection on the assumption that these firms are relatively capital intense and have a clear focus on production and, therefore, mainly uses capital structure as a mean to finance their production and not as a means in itself.To be able to fully evaluate these firms we have calculated the current key ratios based each firm?s annual report. To make the figures comparable across the entire population we adjusted them to each firm?s turnover.The results we have reached concur with MM?s proposition I regarding capital structures independence of the firm value.

This paper presents the results of a workplace study of two smaller companies in the design industry. The core issue has been to investigate the companies use of technical tools and to what extent social praxis influence the daily work. The methods used are based on a qualitative analysis of interviews and observations. Various kind of work procedures, such as verbal and computerized, have been identified, but the most important occurrence was how spontaneous conversations between employees required certain flexibility, since the actors repeatedly were required to change focus and quickly perceive different information. For that reason, a thesis has been defined regarding how the use of spontaneous communication put an indirect need of a flexible working environment and also how this lead to more significant participation and exchange of information, as well as more awareness at the companies..

The purpose with our study is to create an understanding of how tourism stakeholders within a tourism network can affect a Destination Marketing/Management Organization?s (DMO?s) work with the destination branding process. To fulfill this purpose we have clarified different relationships that can influence the DMO?s place marketing. In order to limit our study we have chosen to focus on two Swedish destinations, Öland and Norrköping, and their DMO?s.

The Baltic Sea is one of the world?s most polluted seas. Increased discharge of nutrients due to greater populations of people, together with a slow water exchange, creates great stress on the sea. Too much nutrients leads to increased growth of algae and causes problem in the ecosystem. Even if we reduce nutrient discharge the problem still exist in the ocean. When algae dies and sinks, more nutritional substances is produced called "internal eutrophication". This phenomenon will grow in the future due to a warmer climate and the problem is spreading towards the coastal zone, which is an important site for fish recreation. By removing the abundance of algae, the nutritional and toxic substances are reduced and the algae biomass can be a future resource for biofuel production..

The composition of the board of directors and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are two widely researched subject and discussed by the media. This study aims to examine the impact of the board of directors' composition on CSR performance among the largest companies listed on Nasdaq OMX stock exchange 2008 in Stockholm, Sweden. A linear regression analysis is applied to investigate the relationship and evidence is found that board attributes have an effect on CSR performance. Among these; the size of the board, outside directors and employee representatives all have a positive impact on environmental performance. Furthermore; female, outside directors and employee representatives have a positive impact on social performance.

The purpose was to examine how the pre-schools used the public libraries in two Swedishtowns. We also examined if and how the pre-schools and the public libraries were coopera­ting.Literature showed that it is possible to stimulate children's language development and this is a duty for pre-schools and public libraries. We sent an inquiry to all pre-schools divisions in both towns. We interviewed two librarians. Our results showed that the pre-schools did use the libraries to a great extent but they didn't cooperate with the libraries in the sense that they had elaborated agreements.

Prior studies have shown that earnings management can be used either to inform or to mislead investors about the future performance of a company. However, few studies have examined the impact of earnings management on forecasting return on equity (ROE). The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether the ability to forecast next year's ROE is improved when taking earnings management, measured as discretionary accruals, into account. This is examined by comparing a forecast model that takes the magnitude of discretionary accruals into consideration with a model that does not. The study is based on companies that were listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during 2002-2012.

Previous work by researchers as Eugene F. Fama and Kenneth R. French, show that average return on stocks are related to a firms characteristics like size and book-to-market ratio. These kinds of patterns in average return is not explained by The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), and are therefore seen as anomalies. Fama and French have proposed a three-factor model, which captures patterns observed in U.S average returns associated with size and value.

This degree project is a realization of a strategy for collaboration between an industrial designer and employed workmen of a producing company. The collaboration aims to engage everyone involved in the co-authorship of a products design and manufacturing history. The realization has taken place in an open dialogue where the designer no longer owns the design process by himself. The project has been carried out in cooperation with the company Iris Hantverk. The company is owned by the Swedish body for visually impaired and has their main production facility in Stockholm.