The work of the board in owner-managed firms often differ compared to the work of the board in large listed companies. Since the owners are working in different roles, the board in owner-managed firms might discuss topics outside the typical boards agenda, such as questions relating to ownership structure and operational matters. This thesis examines what external board members can contribute with in owner-managed firms, and which the most frequent difficulties are for the owners when deciding to recruit external board members. Through qualitative interviews, three owner-managed firms have been studied, which together with two expert interviews and five seminars, creates the empirics. In the analysis, the empirics are compared to what the earlier theory states.

The failure of Structural Adjustment Programs and its neoliberal policies to effectively reduce poverty have led to the creation of Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) by The World Bank and International Monetary Fund. PRSP, connected to both the Comprehensive Development Strategy and the HIPC initiative, are built on the notion of national ownership and stakeholder participation and thereby expand potential conditionality to include matters of governance. This thesis examines the evolution of PRSP and how the process of participation affects national governance structures. By analyzing the role of rules and norms within the World Bank and IMF from a historical point of view the thesis explains why the participation process has developed the way it has. It concludes that neoliberal norms, still at heart within the World Bank and IMF, have an impact on the process of participation within nation states and thereby its governance structure.

This report is focusing upon relining from a client?s point of view. Potential buyers are given a presentation of the different methods available today together with a general briefing describing the process. An important part of this report are the interviews that took place with already established customers. Property owners, managers, pipe cleaners, and project managers whom all been in contact with relining have answered the questions given along with their own thoughts and have also given recommendations of other persons to talk to.

The energy consumption in the sectors of residential and public buildings is 40 % of the total energy consumption in Sweden. The main part, 85 %, of the energy use in these sectors is for operation of the buildings. The rest is used in the building process. When energy-efficiency measures are taken the energy use during the operation time decreases and the fraction of energy consumption during the building time increases. This project is carried out in cooperation with JM AB and concerns the energy use during the building time of production of blocks of flats at the building site.The main part of the electricity that is used during the production of apartment buildings goes into the heating of portacabins and illumination of the building during the construction phase.

Recently there have been a lot of talk a about the financial crisis and recession. This is understandable since the crisis, which initially was limited to the U.S. now has spread its concern globally in form of bankruptcies, less investment and lots of people have lost here jobs. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the financial crisis have affected the construction industry relating to market and personnel, but also examine what measures the construction companies have taken. The examination was carried out by information received from the majority of construction-related websites which then was followed up with interviews in the various construction sectors.

The municipality in Uppsala has set up goals for the future work concerning climate-and energy issues. As one way to achieve these goals the municipality started aproject called Uppsala climate protocol. During one of the project meetings anabatement map was presented. The map showed what savings in carbon dioxide andmarginal costs for different actions can be made. Statistics show that 40 % of thepopulation in Uppsala lives in a condominium.

Många hus från miljonprogrammet är idag i behov av flera större renoveringsåtgärder. Husen från miljonprogrammet har betydligt högre energiförbrukning än vad dagens byggkrav tillåter, och med nya mål från bland annat EU och Sveriges regering som snart träder i kraft, är det viktigt att något görs åt dessa energislukande byggnader. Syftet med rapporten är att jämföra ett renoveringsalternativ med ett nybyggnationsalternativ ur en ekonomisk- samt ur en energisynpunkt. Målet är att föreslå det mest lönsamma alternativet. För att nå målet kommer program som Revit Architecture, IDA ICE och BidCon användas samt litteraturstudier.

Problems with the current energy system, which partially relies on non-renewable fuels, are increasingly recognized. Emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels may speed up global warming, which in turn leads to a number of negative consequences. Nuclear energy is risky and relies on consumption of a scarce resource. This leads to a demand of renewable energy that is also economically feasible. One possible renewable source of energy is solar energy.

This thesis was commissioned by Tekniska verken, Energy Division with the overall aim to investigate the concept of environmental debt and what it means for a business. Furthermore, a sustainable risk and responsibility investigation shall be carried out on the concerned areas. Finally, the priority areas shall be highlighted and proposed actions presented. The Swedish Environmental debt concept was presented in 1992 by Arne Jarnelöv. Environmental debt is defined as restoration costs for environmental damage. In the early days the concept did not take into account who was responsible, but the environmental debts was regarded as a humanity debt to future generations.

A lot of houses built during the Million Homes Programme are in need of major renovation. Today?s technology and materials are better than in the 60?s and 70?s. Both Swedish government and the European Union have set climate goals regarding energy consumption by 2020 and 2050. Achieving these goals would require better standards in buildings than the Building regulations demands, such as Umeå municipality?s construction requirements for new buildings.The report aims to investigate if a renovation of apartment buildings from the Million Homes Programme can reach Umeå municipality?s construction requirements.

It is popular to keep reptiles as pets in Swedish households. The number of households reporting reptile ownership is more than 15 000 (SCB, 2006). This means that a veterinary practice should consider how to take care of reptiles as patients. The aim of this study was to examine literature and studies concerning safe handling and restraint of reptiles as well as the effects of acute and long term stress response and to suggest a simplified plan for handling reptiles in a veterinary practice. The result of literary studies is that common recommendations for safe handling and restraint of reptiles is based on old techniques and experiences from safe handling of wild animals. The main concern is safety for the veterinary nurse and for the reptile. Stress studies indicate that acute stress response is not harmful for the animal i long term. On the other hand studies of the effect of prolonged stress are not conclusive.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the unaccompanied children's experiences of the support offered at group homes intended for this group. The purpose is also to find out if they feel like the stay at the group home has prepared them for an independent life. The study has a qualitative approach and results collection occurred through semi-structured interviews. Seven young men aged 18-20 years were interviewed, all of them have lived for at least one year in a group home and are now living in their own apartment. The results have shown that the adolescents had both positive and negative experiences from their stay at the group home and that they have different views about whether they have received the support they need to cope independently.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the perception of value and risk in CSR as well as analyzing how financial institutions influence responsible behavior in business in order to create sustainable economic growth.Methodology: The study has a qualitative research method used by an abductive process. Data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with respondents from three venture capital companies and three banks. The sample of respondents was done through a convenience sample with respect to access and expertise in the research area.Conclusion: The most important meanings of the research results have shown that CSR holds an intrinsic value concerning contributing value as its conceptual meaning in terms of sustainable development. CSR can also be regarded as a dimension of risk management to reduce the risk of negative externalities on corporate activities. Investors and financiers contribute to sustainable companies through active ownership and improvements in the CSR dimensions.

Together with Hälsoteknikalliansen the project team recognized the need to improve availability in the staircase environments. This is a difficult environment, especially for our elderly. The staircase leading to and from apartments is such a major obstacle that many people do not dare to go into the staircase leading to their front door. The market study that the project team conducted showed that many were in need of a living support, often a relative, who helped and supported them when they went into these stairs. It also appeared that these people manage everyday life just fine, but they suffer the problems that stairs to and from their apartment causes.

Objective To study if the Swedish venture capitalists consider business plans in their screening process, and in such case, what aspects they evaluate in order to develop a targeted template for Swedish entrepreneurs. A secondary objective is to describe what other factors Swedish venture capitalists evaluate as a part of their assessment. Methodology The method, which has been used in order to test the objective, has been carried out through extensive literature and article studies, interviews, and distribution of a short and comprehensive questionnaire to a multiplicity of venture capitalists throughout Sweden. Conclusion Generally, the findings of this thesis suggest that a business plan should include elements such as a summary of important elements, a thorough market analysis, financial information, exit strategy, and the risks associated with the project. The empirical material also reveals that venture capitalists also evaluate factors such as ownership influence, the entrepreneur?s industry knowledge, product knowledge and the personal chemistry in their evaluation process.