Vattenfall hedge its future electricity production in order to decrease fluctuations in theresult. Hedging can in a simplified way be described as selling the future electricity deliveriesin long-term contracts so that the future price of the delivery becomes fixed. The contractsused are electricity forwards traded at the Nordic electricity market Nord Pool. Animbalance between buyers and sellers can lead to a situation where the forward price notequals the expected spot price. The difference between the forward price and the expectedspot price is referred to as the market risk premium.

1. Reaction on burial depth and nitrogen availability and placement in competition with a crop In this trial it was investigated how couch grass (Elymus repens) changes its ability to compete in stands of wheat and barley with different burial depth and different amounts and placement of nitrogen. More knowledge in this area can be valuable in the attempt to decrease the use of herbicides and still keep the weeds under control. The trial was carried out in the summer of 2004 as an outdoor pot experiment. The pots contained 15 litres of soil with a surface of 0,06 m2.

Under 1900-talet har företagsfusioner förekommit i vågformade mönster där tider med lugnare aktivitet har avlösts av tider med något som närmast kan beskrivas som fusionsyra. Fusionsvågornas antal och storlek har efterhand ökat och vågtopparna har vuxit sig allt högre, något som inte minst varit tydligt under de senaste 6-7 åren Vilka är de motiv som har gjort fusioner till ett så vanligt förekommande strategiskt agerande? Finns det likheter inom och mellan branscher avseende motiven att fusionera? Det empiriska materialet består av primär- och sekundärdata insamlat från sex fusioner fördelat på tre branscher; tillverkningsindustrin, bankbranschen och IT-branschen. I analysen används tre skilda perspektiv, och syftet med detta är att skapa bred förståelse och belysa komplexiteten i fenomenet. Resultaten visar på tydliga likheter i motiv inom branscher, samt att det även finns vissa motiv som är branschöverskridande.

Background: The business market today is characterized by tough competition amongst the competitors to capture consumers? interest and money. One marketing tool companies can use to achieve this is the company?s image. The customer buys not only a product, but also the image that the company or the product is associated with.

The demand for shorter lead-times and increased delivery reliability puts pressure on companies to provide more efficient logistic services. One strategy to deal with this demand is by outsourcing logistics to a third part. The development of logistics information systems enables increased control over business supply chains. This is why Green Cargo aims to create a Logistics Control Tower (LCT) solution to provide it?s customers with better information with higher availability.

Background: With the increased globalization food prices went down for a while, only to skyrocket to new levels. Prices of organic food, which already were more expensive than conventional, are now even more expensive. The current financial crisis results in reduced consumption which creates a threat to the smaller grocery stores. Globalization and the increased competition have had a negative impact on the environment but at the same time the desire to solve these issues has increased appreciably. The environmental aspect has been given higher priority by the individual, which led to a wider range of organic products and dramatically increased the number of stores selling organic products, leading to a greater competition among the stores selling organic food.  Problem definition: What factors are important for organic retail business long term survival?Purpose: Trough case studies analyze and evaluate the organic niche retail companies? strategies of marketing.Methods: This study is based on both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

As the environmental requirements on businesses increase from various stakeholders, the incentives for businesses to work more with environmental issues also increase. Historically, the requirements were focusing on companies with direct emissions from operations. Lately, the environmental impacts that occur indirectly as results of corporate activities have become more topical. Companies and organizations that mainly offer services often have a greater indirect than direct environmental impact. This is because they are affecting third parties, which in turn have a direct environmental impact.

The aim with this essay is to investigate the attitude that employers have towards conflicts at the workplace and how this affects their way to prevent and deal with conflicts among employees. Another part of the essay is to discuss pedagogical issues related to learning through conflicts. With this aim and these questions of issues, we have found out which attitude employers have towards conflicts at the workplace as well as how they prevent and deal with them. We have also investigated which opportunities for further development employers sees in situations of conflict. This study is based on qualitative interviews with six women who are head of units within the communal area.

Inledning: Human Resources Strategy tar upp viktiga begrepp för hur man ska hantera och behandla sina medarbetare, vilket är ett relevant ämne i dagens samhälle där man har fått upp ögonen för hur strategier genom human resources kan genera vinst i företaget.Syfte: Syftet är att analysera hur ledare på fyra utvalda hotell i Stockholm och Oslo arbetar för att få sina medarbetare att prestera optimalt ur ett serviceperspektiv utefter den etablerade modellen Human Resources Strategy, och därefter finna det hotell som lägger mest vikt vid strategierna i modellen.Metod och material: Uppsatsen är baserad på fyra kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer, 14 vetenskapliga artiklar, litteratur och en icke-deltagande/enkel observation på fyra utvalda hotell, som ingår i något av medlemskapen; The Leading Hotels of the World eller Design Hotels.Resultat: Undersökningen visade att ledarna i studien ansåg att det var av stor vikt att medarbetarna har kognitiv kompetens, blir utbildade inom företaget, får motivation, belöning och förmåner, samt känner delaktighet och att de får regelbunden feedback på sitt arbete. Allt detta för att skapa en positiv arbetsmiljö och trivsel hos medarbetarna, eftersom det skapar förutsättningar för att leverera en högklassig service, men i vilken utsträckning beror dock på hotellets storlek, förutsättningar och resurser.Slutsats: Det är viktigt att hitta rätt strategier för att på så sätt få medarbetare att prestera efter hotellets direktiv gällande service. Det gäller att hitta en balans och rätt strategier som stämmer överens med hotellets storlek, förutsättningar och resurser, för att skapa en positiv arbetsmiljö, vilket i sin tur påverkar medarbetarnas trivsel och prestationer.Nyckelord: Direktiv, Service, Strategier, Värdskap..

Sma?fo?retagen sta?r fo?r en stor del av de svenska arbetstillfa?llena pa? dagens arbetsmarknad vilket a?r en intressant kontext att underso?ka pa? grund av deras bidrag till ett ha?llbart ekonomiskt samha?lle. Det finns en problematik inom strategiforskning da?r forskningen har fokuserat pa? sto?rre fo?retag vilket medfo?r att befintliga teorier och modeller inte a?r anpassade till sma?fo?retagens situation. Studien utreder strategi i va?xande sma?fo?retag utifra?n ett praktiskt perspektiv fo?r att sedan fo?rklara sma?fo?retagens strategiarbete med o?vergripande strategiteori fo?r att skapa en djupare fo?rsta?else av sma?fo?retagens strategiarbete Forskningen har resulterat i tre identifierade omra?desgrupper som pa?verkar hur strategi utformas och bedrivs i va?xande sma?fo?retag.

PURPOSE: To investigate to what extent product brand positioning models can be used to analyzecorporate brand positioning;METHODOLOGY: The phenomenon is observed from a positivist epistemological position within a primarilyinductive research design. The research strategy is defined as qualitative, while the method of ethnographiccontent analysis is implemented to analyze primary data;THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE: Product and brand positioning literature; Product brand positioning rhombus;EMPIRICAL DATA: Ethnographic content analysis of brand commercials;CONCLUSION: As shown by the extensive literature review product brands (PB) and corporate brands (CB) coexistin corporate environments. One of key insights of this study shows that product brand positioning(PBP) and corporate brand positioning (CBP) processes can also co-exist in the same corporate environment.Moreover, PBs can be built based on the CB, making the investment in CB a long term return on investment.The study also observes that PBP messages include the ?against whom? attribute, highlighting differentiationin the competitive environment; when on the corporate level, this evolves, and in some cases becomes quitethe contrary, when the concept of ?from whom? or ?by whom? is stressed more than the differentiation amongother CBs in the competitive environment. This stresses the importance of including brand identity elementsin CBP..

I dagens samhälle är majoriteten av våra tillgångar digitaliserade och bevarade i olika typer av informationssystem. Genom Access Control (sv. behörighetsstyrning) säkerställs att användare får korrekt åtkomst till dessa tillgångar. I takt med att organisationer genererar allt mer affärskritisk data i sina informationssystem har dock hanteringen av användare och behörigheter komplicerats. En modern genre inom begreppet informationssystem som länge visat ökad tillväxt är Business Intelligence (BI).

The structural rationalization of rural firms in Sweden has led to many new creative ways of developing companies. The agriculture sector is characterized by the need of capital in form of buildings, labor and inventory. The rationalization process has led to free capacity in rural firms when new technology make buildings and inventory not longer necessary for the production process. To get a better cost coverage this free capacity can be used to start-up new business areas that help the rural firm to growth.The study aims to identify factors that motives entrepreneurs in rural firms to develop new business areas. The purpose is also to analyze driving forces that lies behind development of rural firms and the forces that support or not support development in rural firms.The study is built upon five cases that all can be categorized as firms with different size and orientation.

Title: The auditor?s recommendations to small businesses in the choice of K2 and K3Authors: Christopher Dimovski and Dennis Carlsson Published: Spring 2014 Background: The background of this study is the introduction of the new K-regulations. For small businesses, there is a possibility to choose between the rule-based K2 and the principal-based K3. It becomes mandatory to apply the K-regulations from 2014. We want with this study understand and explain the significance of the auditor and its recommendations to small businesses in the choice between K2 and K3. Aim: The aim of this study is to describe how the auditor makes recommendations to small businesses in the choice between K2 and K3 and through that create an understanding of what influence the auditor have when it makes recommendations and at the end contribute to the building of models. Formulation of problem: How can we understand and explain the auditor?s recommendations to small businesses in the choice of K2 and K3?Methodology: We have used a qualitative method where we have interview eight auditors.

The Authorities attitudes towards Gypsies have been characterized by prejudice for a long time. This has lead to the relief actions of the Authorities being formed by discriminating acts. In purpose of eliminating the discrimination of the Gypsies, the Delegation for Gypsy matters formulated a strategy for solving this problem in the report ?Gypsy rights ? a strategy for Gypsies in Sweden?. Despite the goodwill of the Authorities this report has been criticized by Gypsies in Sweden. In the investigation of the derivation of this criticism the aim of this essay is to look at how the Authorities attitude towards Gypsies is shown in this report and how it affects the creation of their ethos.