Common wisdom dictates that because payment of dividends decreases funds available for investment, a high payout ratio is to be associated with low earnings growth. This notion has been challenged in recent years by empirical research that has found a positive relationship between payout ratio and future earnings growth, both on the aggregated market level and the company level in different countries. This study investigated the aforementioned relationship on the Swedish market by statistically analyzing future earnings growth as a function of payout ratio on a large sample of publicly listed companies over the period 1980 to 2011. The results are in line with those found in previous research and indicate that companies with high dividend payout ratio tend to experience strong future earnings growth. The results are robust to the presence of mean reversion, the use of an alternative accounting measure of earnings, non-symmetrical earnings growth cycles and alternative practices for dealing with outliers..

Abstract  The development and onset of diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) and Type 2 diabetes are closely linked to genetics and lifestyle factors including physical activity and diet. A cluster of metabolic disorders called the metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a high-risk factor in developing these diseases. Acording to the International diabetes institute, one fourth of the worlds adult population has MetS. These individuals are twice as likely to die from CVDs compared to individuals without MetS. Physical activity (PA) and exercise has been shown to provide a number of positive effects that are considered to reduce the risk of developing sickness and premature mortality among both men and women of all ages, independent of other risk factors.

The work with this paper began with a belief that the permission aspect plays acrucial part when it comes to consumers perceptions of marketing through E-mailand SMS - especially when it comes to advertising that is received through a devicethat the consumer has a strong personal relationship with. The questions to beinvestigated was: "How do users of computers and mobile phones feel aboutadvertisement received through E-mail and SMS?" and "In what way does the usersrelationship to the computer or mobile phone affect how they feel about theadvertisement?". The study was based on a questionnaire as well as an analysis of theresponses in combination with previous research on the subject.The results showed that the majority of the respondents from this papers surveywere found to have a negative attitude toward advertisement through both E-mail andSMS. However, the respondents turned out to have a slightly higher tolerance foradvertisement through E-mail than towards advertisement through SMS.

Thesis purpose: The aim of this paper is to extend the knowledge of what influences the purchase decision of functional food in the store. By applying the M-R model in a new setting - the dairy department in grocery retailing in Sweden - and adding variables related to health attitudes, the aim is to contribute to existing research concerning in-store purchase decision making and store environment as well as consumer attitudes. Methodology: This thesis employs a quantitative strategy with a deductive approach and data has been collected with questionnaires. Theoretical perspective: Environmental psychology serves as an overarching framework where, more specifically, certain aspects of store atmospherics and some variables concomitant to health attitudes provide the theoretical base. Empirical data: The empirical data consists of customer purchasing a functional food product, Proviva, and this is contrasted with a test group, Bravo.

The goal for this thesis work was to develop Business Intelligence (BI) for an IT consultant company.LexiConsult is an IT consultant company in the Lexicon-group which offers expertise within Office (templates, database, spreadsheets, Outlook etc.) but also SharePoint development and services like support, documentation etcetera.We have investigated the functionality in SharePoint and MS SQL Server and have also evaluated which possibilities these platforms offer in terms of creating a BI-solution for LexiConsults needs. SharePoint offers a variety of different tools and services for BI but none of these where available in the Office365-version which LexiConsult uses. Another solution was therefore suggested where the reports should be published on a web hosting company.We have also studied critical success factors when implementing BI in an IT consulting company.The result is a set of BI-reports developed for SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), which the staff of LexiConsult can access via their SharePoint site.The reports are designed for monitoring and analysis of the economy with e.g. key performance indicators, drill-down of the revenue in different aspects such as by time period, per employee, per customer etcetera. The reports provides vital knowledge that can be used for decision support, e.g.

People with Down syndrome are living longer lives today thanks to medical science. These people with their families are in need of assistance from goverments and professionals throughout their lives. It is therefore important to understand how familymembers affected by having a person with Down syndrome in the family. In this paper we focus on the siblings' experience. This study aims to examine four women's experiences of what it is like to have a sibling with Down syndrome and how the respondents have developed their role and identity as siblings, and what strategies they have developed for this role.

Relationsmarknadsföring består av att antingen skapa, upprätthålla eller avsluta relationer gentemot företagets kunder. Betydelsen av att upprätthålla relationer med befintliga kunder har ökat under de senaste åren, mestadels på grund av en ökad global konkurrens. Frågan är då hur ett företag upprätthåller relationen med kunden, när det väljer eller tvingas avveckla en distributionskanal vilket begränsar möjligheten till fysisk närvaro gentemot kunden. Denna uppsats syftar därmed till att utreda hur ett företag kan bibehålla kundrelationen när den fysiska kontakten gentemot kunden begränsas. I syfte att undersöka detta utfördes två fallstudier på Scandinavian Airlines System, SAS och Zytt.

The travel agencies exist on a market that is distinguished by increasing competition. A majority of the travel agencies offer different services that all satisfie the same customer need. However,one major difference in the market aspect is the service quality, this making it an important mean of competition. There are several acknowledged methods of measurement when it comes to service quality and it is important to use an instrument that takes into consideration the fact that charter tours is a complex merger of several services. The purpose of this essay is to establish if the SERVQUAL method is a suitable instrument for measuring service quality in the travelindustry.

This study aims at norming a new objective method to track and measure jaw movements in 3D (three dimensional) during chewing in the young adult population (n=41, age 22-30). Norm values of the range of movements and the duration were calculated. Intra and inter rater reliability was high. Masticatory efficiency among participants was evaluated with a two-colored wax, analyzed with picture analysis software. Regression analysis was used to calculate the relationship between movement and duration variables and masticatory efficiency.

In this study we examined co-workers experiences of having a previous colleague as their leader, which is relatively common. We made qualitative interviews with six social welfare administrators who had been through this situation at work. The questions had been concentrated at how they were affected by the previous relationship, what expectations they had, and their view of how the business had been handled by their leader. The result of these interviews has then been connected to two leadership theories. The conclusion of the study was that the experience of the situation differs.

Competition is keen in the fashion industry of today. Homogenous products and prices aredriving competition and most firms are struggling hard to attract customers. Brands havebecome one of the most important assets for success and are often critical for the choices of theconsumers. A strong brand is often considered as a substantial value in the eyes of the consumerand gives the individual firm a competitive advantage in the marketplace. To build a strongbrand it takes that the brand identity not is in conflict with the brand image of a firm or a product.Sometimes one of these conflicts exit and sometimes the firms are not even aware of it.In this thesis we study how two firms, Lindex and Prada, perceive their own image and then wecompare how the images of the firms are perceived by the customers.

The aim of this study was to develop knowledge about the social workers' importance for unaccompanied children's integration in the Swedish society. In order to investigate this we also have to distinguish other people who are important for the unaccompanied children. The method used in the study is qualitative interviews and we have interviewed four unaccompanied children and three social workers to reach the results. To analyze the results we have used symbolic interactionism and Antonovsky's theory about sence of coherence. The results showed that it is important for unaccompanied children to have access to significant people to integrate and they also have to learn values and attitudes which exist in the society.

The intention of this thesis is, from a basic statistical viewpoint, to capture the relationship between the price of electricity and a sample of factors influencing the price. The thesis also aims at investigating whether knowledge about the relationship is useful when investing on Nord Pool. Tested factors are temperature, import, price of emission rights as well as a number of hydrological factors. The investigated period stretches from year 2000 until week 32 year 2007. The relevance of each factor was also evaluated yearly as well as for shorter periods in order to get a more comprehensive view of the relationship.

The interest for children´s clothing has increased in society. More and more children are born and parents are older when they have children. Education has become a natural feature in most people´s life, just as both parents often work today. The households have therefore better economy and thus greater consumption opportunities. Parents are, in greater extent, looking for personal and different clothing with focus on quality and, to some extent, exclusivity rather than just a cheap and functional garment.

The purpose of this essay was to study the family situation in connection to the absence of one parent due to participation in international peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations. Focus was on the temporarily absent parent's point of view. The study was based on five interviews with parents shortly after their returning home. The main questions has been how the parent described the child-parent relationship before, during and after the absence; the children's experience during this time according to the parent and the family's adjusting to and coping with the situation. Conclusions made from the study show that with a good stabile child-parent relationship and good parenting skills of both parents the families in this study were successful in coping with the situation.