During 2008 we experienced an expansion of large scale investments in foreign farmland. This increasing trend has become a political hot-spot, but there is not much research available within the field. Due to a lack of research it remains a vital task to outline the potential effects of this trend. Drawing on existing ideas from some of the main actors within the field, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), The World Bank, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the latest G8 summit on agriculture, four main purposes are set out for this paper. First, to outline some of the underlying mechanisms behind the trend is considered crucial for the understanding of the nature of these investments.

The concept of a Sharia compliant financial system has been a frequently discussed topic among scholars, bankers and media since the 1960th. It origins from the prohibition of interest, riba, which is stated in the Quran. Islamic banking is spread across the Muslim world and also exists in some western countries. This paper will try to create an image of what Islamic banking is in theory and in practice. This will be done by looking into the different methods of interest free banking, the Quran and the annual reports of four Islamic banks in different countries.

Uppsatsens syfte är att diskutera lean konceptets roll vid organisk tillväxt, för svenska banker. Mer konkret ska kreditgivningsprocess mellan en bank och dess företagskunder diskuteras och analyseras med hjälp av lean konceptet. Uppsatsen är baserad på en kvalitativ ansats. Där empirin består av en semistrukturer intervju, telefonundersökningar samt enkäter. De teoretiska kapitlen är den sekundära datainsamlingen.

This thesis describes how large Swedish companies finance their debt and identifies some factors that affect their decisions. The study is based on 10 well-known companies of which 9 are listed on Nasdaq OMX Nordic. The results show that the companies display several similarities concerning their debt structure and the factors which their choices are based upon. All companies in this study primarily use corporate bonds for their long-term borrowing, commercial papers for the short-term borrowing, and bank-facilities as back-up. There is a tendency that smaller companies in larger extent use bank-loans for long-term borrowing due to larger emissions costs when using market financing.

Vanligtvis har de flesta vuxna svenskar na?gon typ av relation till en bank. De svenska storbankerna erbjuder alla likartade tja?nster och produkter. Ett av bankernas stora konkurrensmedel a?r ra?ntorna, dock a?r det inte stora skillnader mellan ra?nteniva?erna.

Illegal logging and its related trade is of great concern around the world. The European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) is a regulatory approach by the EU to prevent illegal timber and timber products to be placed on the European Union inner market. This means the regulation affects both actors in the member countries as well as the actors exporting timber and timber products to the EU from non EU member countries. This study aims to study the implementation process of the EUTR in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B-H), and its preconditions. Institutional theory is used to understand and explain how the EUTR affects B-H organisations? business environment, and how the organisations choose to respond to the EUTR.

Sweden currently has no legislated regulation of lobbying, but the professional lobbyist can voluntarily subscribe to, among others, the professional code of standars created by the trade association of Public Relations, Precis. There is an ongoing discussion in Sweden to regulate lobbying, both in mass media and in politics. This study examines this debate and focus on which arguments there are for and against lobbying regulation in Sweden. It also attempts to identify the differences, if there are any, between left and rights parties with regards to their views on regulation of lobbying.Tha main method used was document analysis of parliamentary bills which have been raised concerning a lobbying regulation in Sweden. In the theory section, I include four different types of requirements placed on democratic lobbying (se for example Jaatinen 1998, Kitchen 1999, Larsson 2005, Möller 2009 and Naurin 2001).

AbstractTitle: Level/Degree/Grade:Authors:Supervisor:Research question:Purpose:How the bank may improve its financial counselling ? A qualitative case study.Bachelor Thesis; Business administration; Corporate finance.Andreas A?strand, Anton Persson, Kristoffer Wedebrand.Hans Mo?rner.How may the bank improve its financial counselling to private investors using portfolio theory?Our purpose is to examine the advice, with basis in portfolio theory, the bank?s financial advisors provide to their clients, the investors, and how they can improve. If we can identify and point out areas of improvement in the financial counselling, we hope to raise the question and contribute with an improved financial counselling. Another positive effect we are hoping for is to improve the situation for the investors whereas all parties benefit from an improved portfolio selection.This study is conducted through a qualitative case study, where we used a deductive approach and collected our data through personal interviews.The conclusion that emerges is that the financial counselling could potentially be improved if financial advisors improve their knowledge in portfolio theory.The originality shapes through the opportunity to investigate a specific bank and because of that an opportunity to examine a specific case more thoroughly was created. Our thesis contributes with opening La?nsfo?rsa?kringar?s and other banks? eyes to how their financial counselling could be improved through new knowledge in portfolio theory.

Dagens jord- och skogsägare står inför ett kommande ägarskifte då cirka en fjärdedel av Sveriges jord- och skogsägare är över 60 år gamla. Marknadspriserna och insatsvarorna har ökat kraftigt den senaste perioden. Allt fler banker har valt att finansiera lån till jord- och skogsbruksägare då säkerheten är stabil och lönsamheten god. En generellt försämrad lönsamhet inom jord- och skogsbruket har lett till att bankerna kommer ställa hårdare krav när belåning sker. Dagens generation skiljer sig ifrån den äldre då de är lyhörda och har möjlighet att byta bank över en natt.

I en bank möts oftast kunder av kölappsapparat och får därefter sätta sig i väntan på sin tur att bli betjänad av en bankrådgivare. Ett alternativ till detta är att använda en kundvärd för att ytterligare påverka kundens känslor och tillfredsställelse. Söderlund och Rosengrens (2008) studie visade att en anställds leende kan påverka en kunds nivå av tillfredsställelse efter besöket men också känslorna av glädje och upprymdhet (Mehrabian & Russel, 1978). Studiens syfte är att beskriva hur en kundvärds emotionella (leende kundvärd) respektive professionella (icke-leende kundvärd) bemötande påverkar kunders nivå av kundtillfredsställelse på en bank. Swedbank i Karlstad har idag en kundvärd och dennes påverkan skall beskrivas med användning av en kvantitativ enkätstudie.Kundernas nivå av tillfredställelse visade sig påverkas positivt av ett emotionellt bemötande.

Bankmarknaden i Sverige har genomgått stora förändringar under de senaste åren. En rad nya aktörer har etablerat sig på bankmarknaden och till följd av detta så har konkurrensen ökat. Denna ökade konkurrens har medfört att kundrörligheten ökat mellan bankerna och vi har på senare år sett att många kunder lämnat de fyra storbankerna för bättre villkor hos de mindre och mer specialiserade nischbankerna. Trots denna utveckling så har de fyra storbankerna cirka 80% av bankmarknaden i dagsläget och kunderna verkar i stor utsträckning vara ovilliga att byta bank. Utifrån denna bakgrund undrar vi varför inte fler bankkunder i Sverige byter bank när det borde vara välkänt att många skulle tjäna pengar på att göra detta.

In order for a retention of title clause (ROT-clause) to be valid against third parties underSwedish law, the debtor must be prohibited to dispose of the object transferred. Forinstance, the debtor must not be allowed to resell the object without the creditor?spermission or before the object has been fully paid. If the creditor gives consent to thedebtor?s disposal, he loses his right of separation.

Students today, in the banking system, are the least loyal group. Students are also the most costly group due to the large investments, made by the banks, for them. Banks have generalized all students in one category and have adapted their offering regardless of students? social statues. As the students banking needs are dependent on their position in their lifecycle, generalizing them in one group is not optimal.The aim of this thesis is to investigate those factors which influence students? choice of bank.

To identify and evaluate apple cultivars is not an easy task, since the taste and appearances of the fruit are affected by where the apple tree grows. At the Balsgård new apple gene bank there is a unique and interesting collection of over 260 different cultivars from all over the world. To find out if these cultivars are consistent with previously published descriptions, the fruit was evaluated for some of the cultivars. Among the evaluated cultivars some were selected that could be suitable for cultivation and/or fruit breeding. A few cultivars were in addition analyzed at a consumer evaluation at the Kivik apple market where visitors could vote for the most beautiful apple and the best taste.

This thesis is conducted together with the environmental- and health department in Halmstadcommunity. The thesis is about allowance of bedding and water supply for pig farms inHalmstad community. These farms are chosen randomly from all of the pig farms inHalmstad community. It includes inspection of 27 pig farms and writing of a report. Duringthe inspections I study the amount of bedding, what kind of bedding, water supply andinjuries like lameness, shoulder-bone sore, ear-, flank- and pig tail biting.