The thesis handles the principal-agency problem between shareholders and the Chief Executive Officer. The purpose of the thesis was to examine the link between CEO compensation and corporate performance measured as a change in Market to Book ratio. Data was collected from corporate annual reports between the years 2000 ? 2008 and the study covers 39 Swedish companies from the Stockholm Stock Exchange Large Cap list. To examine whether there is a link between the CEO´s compensation and firm performance, we performed a regression analysis, and no significant relation is found.

Over the past two decades, trends of integration processes in terms of citizens of different ethnicities, different gender and different sexual belongings, etc. has grown thanks to debates and new legislations. A marginalized and discriminated group in society such as women, immigrants, homosexuals, transsexuals and people with disabilities during this time has gained momentum in the community. The curiosity over whether these developments have changed our attitudes and values to the world around us, and if so how, is the reason for this master's thesis in disability studies.The Swedish development forms the basis for my belief on a younger generation of people who would be more tolerant than previous generations, in terms of what is considered to belong to the norm in our society, or not. The purpose of this study is therefore to increase knowledge about what beliefs young people today have about people with disabilities.

This Master Thesis aims to study and discuss the occurence of three concepts in some influential cultural policy documents which includes the UNESCO public library manifesto, the Swedish libraries act, the Swedish cultural policy objectives, and a study from the mid nineties which deals with the cultural policy. The questions asked are: -Do the documents mention democracy? In what way? -Do the documents mention the public sphere? In what way? -Do the documents mention information? In what way? -How can we understand the content of the documents through relevant theories about democracy, the public sphere and information? Theories about the information society are used, as well as theories from Jürgen Habermas, Herbert Schiller and Robert Dahl. The way of method is document studies and abduktion, with influences from hermeneutic theory. The analysis deals with the documents through these concepts: democracy, the public sphere and information and puts forward the content, or lack of content, about democracy in the analysed material.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att empiriskt testa om det går att få överavkastning jämfört med MSCI Europe index, med hjälp utav rekommendationsestimat hämtat från FactSet databas. Vald tidsperiod är mellan den 31/10/2002 och den 31/10/2006. Utifrån detta vill författaren se om det går att avgöra hur effektiv marknaden/prissättningen är. Strategin är att använda sig utav Buy, Overweight, Hold, Underweight och Sell estimat och köpa in dessa rekommendationer i fem lika stora portföljer. (20% av MSCI Europe:s marknadsvärde i varje portfölj.) Rebalansering sker vid behov på månadsbasis efter rådande estimat.

The main argument of the thesis is that multinational companies (MNCs) can promote democracy through corporate social responsibility (CSR). MNCs hold some prerequisites giving them the means to create positive changes. But they lack one important prerequisite: knowledge about local conditions. Therefore the best CSR result is reached through partnerships with local NGOs.H&M's CSR-work in Bangladesh, including a partnership with the Bangladeshi women's rights organisation Karmojibi Nari, serves as an illustrating case. It is argued that the CSR-work promotes democracy through strengthening the civil society, through indirectly implementing national laws concerning labour legislation and human rights and through raising awareness about rights and legislation among the workers.The CSR process changes the terms for both NGOs and MNCs.

This paper interprets the myth of the hymen through the archetypal theory of Carl Gustav Jung. Today it has been proven that there exists no hymen that breaks at a woman?s first intercourse. Nonetheless, the myth of the hymen lives on ? creating enormous consequences for girls and women.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur annonseringar om reporänteförändringar påverkar aktiekursen för banker och kommersiella fastighetsbolag samt om räntenivån har en långsiktig effekt på dessa branschers risk gentemot marknaden. Vidare ska det fastställas om det förekommer abnormala avkastningar för dessa två branscher gentemot marknaden vid annonseringstillfälle. Studien använder sig av en eventstudiemetodologi med sekundär data där tillkännagivanden angående ränteförändringar från Riksbanken används som eventdag från perioden 2000-2009. Sju företag från OMX Large Cap är indelade i två sektorer där den abormala avkastningen från varje bolag beräknas för att se om det förekommer några skillnader gentemot ett marknadsindex. Vidare undersöks hur den årliga räntenivån påverkar beta och volatiliteten för banker och fastighetsbolag på längre sikt.Undersökningen finner en statistiskt signifikant men svag positiv korrelation mellan reporänteförändringar och banker där dock inga avgörande slutsatser angående orsaken till detta kan fastställas. Kommersiella fastighetsbolag visar ingen signifikant korrelation mellan ränteförändringar och kumulativa abnormala avkastningar gentemot ett marknadsindex.

In this thesis we have examined Västra Götalandsregionens ways to lobby and network in the European Union. Our aim was to examine which kind of methods the region uses to lobby in a successful way in Brussels. We found that the region uses both formal and informal methods of lobbying to gain advantages in Brussels. We also wanted to locate various networks which the region is involved in to more easily have their interests satisfied. We found that they had a lot of different alliances and that it is necessary to be involved in different networks to have a chance to lobby the EU institutions.

Abstract: Private equity used to be synonymous with tremendous yields and rates of return. However, the private equity market trembled in 2008, due to the financial meltdown caused by the worldwide credit crisis. Considering the current low number of exits within the private equity industry, the purpose of this thesis is to examine if there has been any change in how private equity firms control their portfolio companies since the inception of the crisis. One private equity company and two portfolio companies have been studied. The case study is prepared from interviews with senior directors in the portfolio company and investment managers in the private equity firm.

The United Nations is an important organization when it comes to international peace and security. Recent events in international politics, however, have brought about a widespread concern about the abilities of the organization. Powerful states have shosen to act outside of the organization to achieve their goals. They have furthermore a disproportionate influence on the decision-making body, the Security Council.The aim of this essay is to examine wheather UN can function productively as keeper of the international peace and security in the political climate of today, and to find out to what extent the powerful states harm the organization. I use a theoretical article, concerning states relations to international organisations, to analyse the acts of powerful states in UN.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att analysera Företag A och Företag B, spegla teorier om strategi och struktur mot verkligheten och utifrån det ge förslag på hur företagen normativt kan strukturera sin verksamhet efter företagsförvärvet. Vi har använt oss av en deduktiv metod och vi har gjort en kvalitativ undersökning. Vi har utgått från två teorier om företags strategi samt teori om två ytterligheter av företags struktur. Vår empiri är baserad på intervjuer med personer från de studerade företagen. Det som idag är Företag B bör integreras i Företag A för att gemensamt bilda en ny organisation.

During recent years, financial innovation has given rise to numerous structured investment opportunities aimed towards the general public. These have enabled private investors to engage in high-risk investments offering as much as 400 per cent leverage while oftentimes not fully having grasped the risk involved. The issuers of these securities have been criticized for using advertising of a too aggressive and misleading nature.By presenting 819 potential investors with two different investment opportunities yielding the same return over a six day period, we have aimed to assess whether the inclination of being affected by judegmental heuristics varies with factors such as knowledge, overall attitude towards the asset class, risk appetite and experience from previous investments.We have observed that investors' perception of the attractiveness of an investment can be distorted by altering the information presented to the investor. However, our findings show that this tendency decreases with an increased level of knowledge, experience and risk appetite..

Purpose The purpose of our study was to investigate the changing nature of volatility during the last 80 years. Like in an American study, we tried to find some trends in the risk of stocks and bonds that would have an impact on the balance of a portfolio of stocks and bonds. At the same time we investigated the influence of inflation on the choice of portfolio. Methods We have used standard statistic tools and formulas to obtain our results. In most cases it was a matter of calculating average and standard deviation.

Swedish university libraries traditionally collect recreational readingmaterial only to support the teaching and research interests of theirinstitutions. However many university libraries hold a substantial yetunspecified collection of popular fiction. This thesis investigates theextent of these collections and examines academic librarians' viewsabout students' recreational reading in the academic context and theirattitudes towards the role of fiction and of readers' advisory inacademic libraries. The theoretical framework includes literature andresearch about the benefits of reading for pleasure, collections' rolesand readers' advisory strategies. The empirical material was gatheredthrough quantitative surveys sent to academic librarians in Sweden.The results show that academic librarians are positive about thebenefits of recreational reading for university students.

The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze four educators? views and experiences of working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders in relation to the concept of "One school for all". Research has shown that a segregating perspective is dominant in the school system, but the education act says that all children have a right to an equal education.My starting point for this study has been the concept of term "One school for all" and the problems that can occur in working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. A school for all is a school where all children are welcome and where all children sees as equals regardless of what background or disability they have. This study will be important for newly graduated teachers who are not aware of Autism Spectrum disorders.