During the last years, the importance of sourcing in firms has increased. Globalization, fierce competition and an increased level of outsourcing are common explanations to why firms have highlighted the potential to realize savings and the value creation that the Purchasing department can generate. One trend that follows in parallel with globalization is an increased pressure from society on firms to take responsibility for the impact that its products and services have on the environment. This responsibility creates even more attention as outsourcing involves trade with suppliers in low wage countries, where the level of environmental and social responsibility is not always satisfying. The Purchasing department, the firm?s interface with suppliers should therefore, together with the firm?s Environmental department, play a key role in the firm?s contribution towards sustainable development.

Problematiken för vår studie grundar sig i den nya revisionslagen som trädde ikraft 1 november 2010, nämligen avskaffandet av revisionsplikten. Lagen innebär att alla aktiebolag som understiger två av tre följande gränsvärden: att ha i genomsnitt 3 anställda, omsättningen understiger 3 miljoner svenska kronor och att balansomslutningen understiger 1,5 miljoner svenska kronor, behöver inte anlita en revisor.I samband med att revisionsplikten avskaffades, diskuteras det mycket vilken betydelse revisionen hade för olika intressenter. Revisionen infördes framförallt för att ge bättre kontrollmöjligheter för externa intressenter. Trots lagändringen, är det idag flertal småföretag som fortsätter att behålla revisorn i företaget och det beror främst på grund av externa intressenternas påverkan.Vårt syfte med studien är att skapa förståelse varför småföretag behåller revisorn i företaget i förhållande till externa intressenter och hur externa intressenter påverkar det, ur småföretagens perspektiv. Undersökningen grundar sig på en kvalitativ studie i form av intervjuer.

This thesis focuses on RM and customer relationships and tries to answer two research questions: how firms can retain customers and how to generate profitable customer relationships by using relationship marketing. We conducted case studies on JOB media, a company in Luleå, and Polardörren, a company in Öjebyn, Piteå. Our research has revealed that in many ways our case study companies conform in major ways to the theory in this particular area. However there are differences between how these two firms go about in regard to customer retention and establishing profitable customer relationship. We have discovered that JOB media, which is a service company is more inclined to maintaining close and long-term relationships with its customers.

Companies acquiring ERP systems are often dissatisfied with the project and therefore consultancy firms wish to make use of project models in order to achieve success in implementations. Since research on ERP implementations in service companies is limited, there is a need for mapping of critical activities in implementation projects in this line of business. Under these premises, the purpose of our master thesis is to develop a model for implementation of ERP systems, specified in activities, which can be used by mid-sized consultancy firms with mid-sized qualified service companies as customers.A literature study including project models, modern models and methodologies for ERP implementation, commonly existent activities, success factors and system development methods was carried out. Starting out with this, a theoretical model for ERP implementation was generated. In excess of this, a case study was conducted, where the implementation of the ERP system Microsoft Dynamics AX at the service company Eurostep, performed by the consultancy firm Medius, was studied.

Revisionspliktens avskaffande -En jämförelse mellan en liten och en stor revisionsbyråDatum:15 januari 2013Nivå:Kandidatuppsats i företagsekonomi/redovisning, 15 ECTSInstitution:Akademin för hållbar samhälls- och teknikutveckling, HSTFörfattare:Nicklas ErngrenAnnica LarssonMariah WahlgrenTitel:Revisionspliktens avskaffande -En jämförelse mellan en liten och en stor revisionsbyråHandledare:Angelina SundströmNyckelord:revisionsplikt, revision, revisionsbyrå, revisor, små företag, framtidsmöjligheterFrågeställning:Hur har revisionsbyråerna förändrats genom revisionspliktens avskaffande?Hur har storleken på revisionsbyråerna inverkat på tjänsternas utbud?Syfte:Syftet med studien är att beskriva skillnader och likheter i hur revisionsbyråerna förändrat sitt utbud av tjänster och vilka andra förändringar de gjort efter avskaffandet av revisionsplikten för små företag. För att uppnå syftet och besvara forskningsfrågorna har två revisionsbyråer studerats.Metod:För att besvara forskningsfrågorna och uppfylla syftet har två gruppintervjuer gjorts med Lars Lönnkvist och Barbro Andersson på Revisorsknuten och Sara Keyser och Magnus Hallberg på PwC i Nyköping. Intervjuerna gick ut på att ta reda på vad respektive revisionsbyrå gjort för förändringar av sitt utbud efter avskaffandet av revisionsplikten. I analysdelen har sedan svaren ställts mot varandra för att se vilka likheter och skillnader som finns mellan den stora(PwC) och den lilla (Revisorsknuten) revisionsbyrån.Slutsats:Studien visar att det finns likheter i de förändringar som gjorts bland annat ett större fokus på redovisningstjänster än tidigare.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the process of technology sourcing within firms active in the CRT-market. The primary focus of the study is the motives, risks and problems associated with technology sourcing, to construct key learnings for organisations consider undertaking this way to access research and development or those organisations that are already operating in the CRTmarket. Method: As method has abduction been used. The empiric material of the thesis is based on qualitative research in form of interviews in a conversational manner. For correct interpretation and understanding a hermeneutics approach has been used.

Study objects: JM, Folkhem and ABB.Purpose: The purpose with this study are to examine how the supplier relations are in the construction branch and compare that result with how the supplier relations are for ABB a production company.Theoretical: The theoretical chapter illustrates important and relevant parts of supplier relations, purchasing and supplier strategies to give good overview. The theoretical review will combine information from different fields to consent with the research problem.Method: A case study has been made on three different companies, one of the companies was active in the production industry the other two were active in the construction industry. Data was mainly collected through semi structured interviews on each of the three companies.Conclusions: The size of the company decided which point of view the company had on purchasing, traditional or modern view. All three companies had a centralized purchasing organization but the construction firms were more decentralized than the production company. The reason was that the construction firms were dependent with more flexibility when every construction project is unique..

Since the Chinese economy?s reform in 1980, it has been attracting enormous foreign investments. Many Swedish firms from different sectors such as technology, manufactory production, consumer, service industries and so on, had started their investments in China. China has become the first choice for global manufacturing due to the huge market, continuous economic growth, stable political situation, sound investment environment and the WTO membership. In addition, China's enormous potential in finance, service, infrastructure, telecommunications, wholesales and retail industries will also attract a great deal of foreign capital.

General concerns about environmental issues may mean that the demand for bio-based products will increase. Opportunities that arise on markets, together with the declining demand for newsprint, may trigger firms in the Swedish forest industry to increase their development of new products. One product that has received a lot of attention during recent years (and is a contender) is nanocellulose. The purpose of this master thesis was to examine the Swedish forest industry?s view on the market potential of nanocellulose.

BackgroundIncubators are important facilities for economic growth in society. The main purpose of incubators is to accelerate knowledge intensive firms onto their market by both providing resources and an entrepreneurial environment.Problem Companies within incubators are encouraged to share knowledge and experience with each other with the goal to stimulate development and invention of new technology. This exchange involves interaction on an inter-personal and inter-organizational level. Incubators need to create an open and transparent environment in order to enable this exchange on both levels.Purpose The purpose of this study is to enhance the understanding of how knowledge and experience exchange occurs within the context of incubator systems. By understanding how incubators can capture knowledge and learn from the incubator process, this study can contribute by insights of how the incubator process can be further improved.Method This bachelor thesis is written from an abductive approach and is based on a qualitative case study of Ideon Innovation in Lund.

Accounting firms operate in environments with high competition for graduates and students today expect employers to be present on Facebook and the like. We aim to describe whether two major accounting firms use social media in their graduate recruitment. We chose to do case studies of Grant Thornton and Ernst & Young and how they use social media channels aimed towards graduates. Through a through study of how the two companies communicated through various social media, we concluded that Grant Thornton was significantly better than their larger competitor at social media use. Both companies use Facebook as their main communication channel.

Since the Bruntlandreport was published 1987, companies have shown their environmental commitment through an environmental account. Companies started these accounts because their rivals started having them and today most large companies have a environmental account or sustainable development report. The information given by the companies have been seen as slanted, and others see it only as a part of the image production for the companies. There have been several investigations of the stakeholders of environmental reports and it is not clear who is the primary stakeholder, in other words who actually reads them. All different stakeholders have different views of what an environmental account should encompass.

The value investing philosophy, which can be traced at least to the teaching of Graham and Dodd in the 1930?s, entails identifying and investing in potentially under valued stocks with a potential for extraordinary returns. The focus of this thesis is to identify patterns and characteristics in financial accounting data preceding creation of shareholder value. The authors of this thesis utilize a multivariate discriminant analysis in order to identify indicators of value creation and subsequent extraordinary returns in value stocks. A discriminant function is derived which successfully identifies which value stocks will eventually become growth stocks.

 The aim of the study was auditing medical records examine postoperative blood glucose levels after undergoing CABG surgery. Furthermore the aim was to determine if the ward staff abides the local guidelines frame of reference concerning each ward, regarding blood glucose measurements and blood glucose levels. The study included 70 patients undergoing CABG surgery at the cardiothoracic surgery, Uppsala University Hospital. The study was conducted by retrospective medical record auditing. Studied factors were postoperative blood glucose levels, number of registered blood glucose measurements, a current diagnosis of DM and preoperative HbA1c.

This paper investigates the relationship between dividends and institutional and foreign ownership in Swedish firms. We use a dataset which covers the Swedish stock market over the period 1999-2009. The institutional ownership is defined as mutual funds, pension funds and insurance companies and these are analysed separately. The study confirms the expected positive relationship between the level of institutional investors in a firm and the size of dividends. We also confirm? the expected negative relationship between foreign investors and the size of dividends paid by Swedish firms.