During the past two decades a new expression has emerged in Swedish business linguistics: Styrelseproffs (appr. Board Professional). The aim of this paper is to study whether a board member legitimately can be considered a professional. This is investigated through the eyes of the theoretical framework of professionalization. The empirical data is collected through interviews and presents the perspective of people considered to be Board Professionals.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 kom som en direkt följd av en serie företagsskandaler såsom Enron och Worldcom i USA och är en mycket stor händelse inom redovisningsvärlden. Felaktigheter och bedrägerier i bolagens finansiella rapporter anses vara ett stort hot mot kapitalmarknaden och därmed hela marknadsekonomin. Börsnoterade bolag i USA tvings nu följa en ny lagstiftning som ställer mycket hårdare krav avseende uppriktighet och dokumentation i den finansiella rapporteringen. Många amerikanska företag äger dotterbolag utomlands och det finns många utländska företag som är börsnoterade i USA. På så vis blir SOX:s effekter gränsöverskridande.

In this study we have focused on the operational management of the public pre-school in Sweden. We have studied how the governance system is designed, why it is designed this way and what impact it has on the operational management. This has been analyzed from a theory stating that there are two types of organizations: pay-driven and function-driven. Through a case and document study we came to the conclusion that the pre-school is a function-driven organization but is nowadays acting on a market and have adopted characteristics of a pay-driven organization. We connect this change to the phenomenon New Public Management.

Bachelor essay in political science by Marie Åberg, autumn 2011. ?Harm or benefit? A critical view of the theoretical grounds of the international development aid?. Supervisor: Professor Mats Lindberg. The first of the dual purpose of this essay is to present international aid policy ideas and the theoretical grounds of international development aid.

Bredbandsutbyggnaden i Sverige sker med rasande fart och på landsbygden sker den med hjälp av lokala krafter. Den här kandidatuppsatsen inom ämnet landsbygdsutveckling syftar till att undersöka hur en fiberförening i Värmland har organiserat sig och hur människor har upplevt och påverkats av etableringen. För att uppnå detta görs en kvalitativ intervjuundersökning med sex personer i Västerrottna, som har varit mer eller mindre engagerade i projektet. Materialet analyseras med fokus på socialt kapital och governance. Resultaten visar att drivkrafterna bakom varför man väljer att mobilisera sig skiljer sig åt, samtidigt som tillit, nätverk och mötesplatser är viktiga delar i bredbandsetableringen..

Inom Svensk hälso- och sjukvård sker en stor förändring i IT-infrastruktur. En nationell tjänsteplattform som ska möjligt delning av information mellan vårdgivare i olika regioner har implementerats. Flera landsting och regioner har implementerat liknande arkitekturer lokalt för att uppnå samma effekt även internt, men också för att underlätta uppkoppling till den nationella lösningen.Genom en kvalitativ fallstudie undersöker denna uppsats implementationen av en regional tjänsteplattform i Stockholms Läns Landsting med fokus på styrning. I en teoretisk undersökning behandlas teorier gällande IT inom offentlig hälso- och sjukvård, IT-governance, SOA och SOA-governance.Syftet med studien är att analysera och utvärdera teorier gällande SOA-governance i relation till styrning av en regional tjänsteplattform inom offentlig hälso- och sjukvård och på så sätt bidra till utveckling av aktuella teorier genom en diskussion gällande dess användbarhet inom en specifik sektor. Jag syftar också att bidra till utveckling av den studerade verksamheten genom att identifiera/prognostisera möjligheter och problem med aktuella styrningsstrukturer.Resultaten indikerar att utmaningar för att etablera SOA-governance inom offentlig hälso-och sjukvård främst härstammar ur organisationens natur.

There are several ways of conducting software testing where some may include users and others may include personnel whose work task is to execute test on systems. Although most developers and project managers understand the point of testing the system, it is not always being done and the most common reason is that there is no time for it. However, this is a false assumption as it may instead cause some bugs in the system that would not have been there in the first place if tests had been there to prevent bugs in the code.My purpose for this thesis was to find suggestions for changes in the development process in an ongoing project used by Acino and Svenska Försäkringsfabriken in order to increase the quality of the system used. In this thesis, I have approached the purpose by pursuing a case study of the two companies through observation and interviews. By doing this I acquired the relevant information to make suggestions for change.

Corporate Social Responsibility är ett aktuellt ämne och en strategi som många företag börjar använda sig mer av. Syftet i denna uppsats har varit att titta på tre svenska modebutikskedjor, deras CSR-arbete och CSR:s roll i intrycksstyrningen på företagen och därmed deras anseende.Den centrala teorin i denna studie har varit den om intrycksstyrning skriven av Erving Goffman i hans verkJaget och maskerna(2009). Vi har även använt oss av Archie B. Carrolls teori om CSR-pyramiden.Denna studie är komparativ och tre modeföretag har jämförts i deras intrycksstyrning samt i deras CSR-arbete. Intervjuer har hållits med CSR-ansvariga på respektive företag.

In theory, the logic behind partnerships is simple: All organisations have strengths, but no organisation has all the strength required to do everything. Triggered by global perspectives and challenged by sustainability objectives, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 pointed out needs for corporate responsibility. In this conference, Private-public partnership, PPP, was identified as a potential way to work towards sustainability, especially as a way to emphasize a corporate responsibility commitment. Nowadays, organizations exist to satisfy the needs and interests of all their stakeholders, such as customers, markets, shareholders, as well as secondary stakeholders such as media, NGOs, and society at large. Addressing all stakeholders and working towards a sustainable business development makes PPP a potential solution, but also a source of challenges.

The impact of computer programs in safety-critical systems has increased in the past decades and computer-based systems can now be found in a wide range of applications. A new approach for developing dependable systems is documenting all design rationale that affects safety using Intent Specifications. A recent approach for developing complex systems efficiently and in an upgradeable manner is Component-Based System Engineering. In this thesis, these approaches are combined in the development and upgrade of a Remote Robot Control Unit by using the tool SpecTRM. The case study showed that Intent Specifications and CBSE could successfully be combined.

The credit rating industry is a complex and fascinating industry. Its history stretches back more than 150 years and has gradually increased in importance. During its history the dynamics of the industry have changed. The extended-principal-agent model was developed by synthesizing different principal-agent-relationships into one model. This model provides a holistic understanding of the credit rating industry and illustrates the interdependence between the different relationships.

Background: Critical conditions to become an attractive supplier of knowledge based IT-services in the B2B market are many. Besides the fact of supplying a service of high quality one must as a supplier communicate values which are understandable and desirable for a new buyer. Buying a knowledge based IT-service involves several risks; the consultant might not have sufficient knowledge or have difficulties understanding the corporate culture and collaborating with other staff within the client?s organization. Since services are intangible offers and it can be intricate to put right price level for something which can only be evaluated when the project is finished, puts severe strain on suppliers competing with other companies in the same market when looking for new clients.

This essay recognizes and criticizes a commonly held assumption that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) functions as a ?savings account of trust? between corporations and consumers. Based on five focus group interviews, the authors discuss how corporations that engage in society can sometimes raise and sometimes destroy the trust of potential consumers. One of our main findings is that CSR seems to raise the expectations among consumers. We then compare this phenomenon with the classical theory of the disconfirmation paradigm.

At Forsmarks Kraftgrupp AB (FKA) forces on pipe systems due to transient flow are frequently calculated as a step to verify their structural integrity. In nuclear industries these forces are often calculated with a one dimensional thermal-hydraulic analysis-code called RELAP5. When calculations regarding more complex geometries are needed, the three dimensional code Fluent is often used. This code is highly time consuming and requires large computational power.This projects aim is to compare calculations of pressure, flow and forces carried out by RELAP5 and Fluent for an arbitrary pipe section during transient flow conditions. This has been accomplished by constructing a simple geometry for which a transient flow is simulated in both programs.

Problem formulation: The awareness and importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is growing within both corporations and society at large. The corporate progress in sustainable development can be both profitable and essential for the potential to compete globally. The value of sustainability reporting may differ between industries and companies of different sizes. The demands for sustainability reports are expected to increase. By 2010, no previous survey on sustainability reporting practices had been conducted within Swedish corporations. Purpose: The aim of the current study was to examine sustainability reports within Swedish corporations during 2010 and to compare the findings with preceding surveys to determine differences over time and between corporations.