The characteristic of services as an effort carried out in a "moment of truth" implies a risk for failures. This study sheds new light on how alternative offerings that customers are initially exposed to can affect satisfaction and loyalty in the service failure and recovery context. More specifically, two aspects of the initial offering are studied: promised general service quality and the presence of a promise about a specific product attribute. Based on a presentation of the main theoretical perspectives, hypotheses are formulated and a scenario-based experiment in a hotel setting is designed to explore these. The results indicate that a higher level of promised service quality can result in more positive evaluations of satisfaction and stronger word-of-mouth intentions than for a lower level of promised service quality.

Följande studie analyserar utdelningspolitiken hos familjeföretag under åren 2004-2014. Studien är uppdelad i två steg. Första steget syftar till att svara på frågan om familjeföretag har en högre utdelningsnivå än icke-familjeföretag. Steg två undersöker huruvida ett aktivt ägande påverkar utdelningarna hos familjeföretag. Studien baseras på en totalundersökning av företag som under våren 2015 var noterade på Nasdaq OMX Stockholms Large-, Mid- och Small-Cap.

Som en följd av de ekonomiska och politiska reformerna på 1990-talet i Ryssland utökades möjligheterna för internationell handel och samarbete mellan Ryssland och andra länder. När länder med olika nationella revisionssystem börjar samverka på en internationell marknad förekommer kommunikations- och förtroendeproblem, vilka kan lösas genom tillämpning av ett dubbelt revisionssystem: nationellt och internationellt. De ryska lagarna om revisionsverksamhet ? 307-?3 7§ och ? 208-?? föreskriver vilka företag som är revisionspliktiga enligt båda standarderna. Det finns dock företag som inte är revisionspliktiga, men som frivilligt väljer att ha sin verksamhet reviderad.

SammanfattningProblem: Den första november år 2010 avskaffades den lagstadgade revisionsplikten för små aktiebolag i Sverige. Syftet med detta var möjligheten för ökad kostnadseffektivitet och valfrihet för bolagen. Lagförändringen mötte dock motstånd från bland annat Skatteverket som befarade en ökad arbetsbörda och sämre kvalitet på bolagens rapporter.Syfte: Syftet med undersökningen är att bidra till en djupare förståelse för konsekvenserna lagförändringen haft på små aktiebolag och Skatteverkets kontor i Örebro.Metod: Insamling av data har skett genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer med fem små aktiebolag i Örebro samt Skatteverket i Örebro. Aktiebolagen var verksamma både före och efter avskaffandet av revisionsplikten och valdes ut genom en alfabetisk ordnad lista över aktiebolag. Empirin har sedan analyserats genom nyckelorden kvalitet, kontroll, arbetsbörda och kostnadseffektivitet.Slutsats: Lagförändringen har ännu inte påverkat aktiebolagens kostnadseffektivitet eller arbete.

A positive aspect of globalization, from a western viewpoint, is the growing demand of advanced products in China and other developing countries. The construction industry is thriving in China and Swedish companies have taken part in various projects. However the situation have been difficult for some of the companies. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate how strategic and cultural factors affect the potential for Swedish companies to operate on the Chinese construction market. The theoretical framework of the study consists of Porter?s and Kotler?s theories about strategy, and Hofstede?s, Bjerke?s, and Daun?s research about different cultures.

Service Design is a relatively new, unexplored and exciting phenomenon that through an interdisciplinary work methodology designs services. A discussion has been going on for a long time regarding whether there is a difference between products and services. Services are often classified as immaterial, heterogeneous, non-storable and inseparable in relation to products. A question that arises is if something specific characterises the work methodology used regarding service design. The aim with this paper is thus to explain the work methodology when working with service design.

Managing credit risk might be the single most important business area for any commercial bank. The assessment of "good" and "bad" corporate clients is a important task for a creditor. A bad debtor is a corporate client with hardships in meeting the continous claims (interest payments) that a creditor requires. One way of evaluating or separating a "bad" client from a "good" client is to assess the propensity for the client to file for bankruptcy. This thesis examines 226 firms in the Swedsh market in the quest of predicting corporate bankruptcy.

The aim of this thesis is to accomplish an understanding on how librarians experience their professional role at private companies. The study is based on qualitative interviews with persons who have a degree in Library and Information science, but does not work as an ordinary librarian. To answer why the respondents work at private companies, this thesis dwells on how the education in library and information science prepares their students to face an alternative career; why the respondents wants to work at private firms instead of a library; if the salary is a key factor in order to choose a career; if the respondents think the companies appreciate their qualifications, and finally, if the respondents think they intrude on other professions' territory? Working at a private company, with a degree in library- and information science, is not, according to the respondents, easy. Although appreciated by their knowledge in the field of information, the interviewees think that the title librarian is hard to cope with.

From January 1st 2011 the use of Eurocode will be mandatory for all constructionprojects. Eurocode is the common European set of struc-tural design codes which willreplace BKR (Boverkets Kon-struktionsregler). BKR is the Swedish set of structuraldesign codes that was used up until December 31 2010. For consulting firms this willcre-ate a need for them to invest in the standards and in education for thecoworkers. This will involve both time and costs for the company.The purpose and aim of this master thesis is the development of compute examplesand calculations aid by dimensioning with Euro-code.

Bankruptcy is a problem for the society in form of high costs for including suppliers, customers, employees, investors, banks, insurance companies etc. The purpose of this study is to confirm or dismiss a bankruptcy prediction model that has been developed in a previous Swedish study, in order to predict bankruptcy with help of specific key figures. The model has only been tested in a larger perspective where the population consisted of all small firms in Sweden, in this study the model´s reliability is tested by that it instead been applied to a minor perspective, where the population only includes Stockholm. With a quantitative approach of 12 different key figures from a total of 60 Swedish smaller registered companies in Stockholm between the years 2005-2007, has been studied. The companies are divided into two groups, companies with good financial health and companies that have ended up in bankruptcy.The results shows that the model is applicable in a smaller population, but some of the key figures do not generate essential or any type of information about bankruptcy, but the majority of the key figures in the model did.

Aim: The analysis model was introduced after several audit-scandals in order to enhance the confidence in the auditors? independence. Our purpose with this essay is to find out if the auditors experience that the stakeholders? confidence in their review of the financial information has increased as a result of the analysis model. We also strive to describe the function of the analysis model in order to give the reader a deeper understanding in this subject.Method: The scientific approch we have used in this essay is a qualitative survey method, in order to find out the auditors opinion and attitude regarding the analysis model and whether the stakeholders? confidence in the financial information has increased as a result of its introduction.

The implementation of IFRS 2 led to significant changes in the accounting practices for corporations regarding stock related compensation. The new regulations required firms to account for the stock based compensation as an expense in the financial statements, rather than merely disclosing the information in the notes section to the statements. Following prior research on the area; specifically studies made in the U.S., where researchers find that companies change their use of stock based compensation due to the increased accounted expenses, this study hypothesizes that the same pattern may be found among companies listed on the Swedish stock market. The results of this study show that the use of option incentives has decreased during the studied period 2001-2008 and that the decrease in part can be derived from IFRS 2 and in part from other factors. The results are useful to future research, as they provide an overview of the effects that IFRS 2 had on companies, and various factors that influence the behavior of corporations, as well as in a larger perspective be a factor to take into account for future modifications of the IFRS..

The purpose of this essay is to examine the development of the use of private securitycontractors in Iraq. The reason is that there has been a considerable increase of the number ofprivate security firms operating in Iraq during the last couple of years. The legislation in thefield of private military and security is indistinct and my hypothesis is that the lack of nationaland/or international legislation can be connected to the increased globalization. To come toany conclusions about this I have chosen to make a comparative study between the two casesthe Gulf War and the War in Iraq which started in 2003. In this comparison, I ask thefollowing questions: 1) Are there any signs of anarchy in the field of private security duringthe Gulf War respectively the last War in Iraq? 2) In what way has the use of private securitycontractors changed from Case 1 to Case 2 ?According to my research, there were signs of anarchy in the field of private security bothduring the Gulf War and during the latest war in Iraq.

Recent studies show that manufacturing companies to a larger extent use historical cost accounting in their internal accounts, at the expense of calculated costs. The explanation behind this is claimed to be that firms are subject to careful scrutiny by the stock market. Consequently, top management stresses the need of evaluating all parts of the firm from external accounting. However, lower management levels express a general concern that the incentive to invest in machines will decrease. This master thesis aims to investigate whether or not there is an objective reason behind this concern.

Service Design is a relatively new, unexplored and exciting phenomenon that through an interdisciplinary work methodology designs services. A discussion has been going on for a long time regarding whether there is a difference between products and services. Services are often classified as immaterial, heterogeneous, non-storable and inseparable in relation to products. A question that arises is if something specific characterises the work methodology used regarding service design. The aim with this paper is thus to explain the work methodology when working with service design.