Background: Mergers and acquisitions have evolved from initially almost exclusively having been an American phenomenon, to becoming a common occurrence throughout the world. Companies though, are not defenseless against hostile bids, but must take many factors into account when selecting defense measures. Purpose: This paper aims to enhance the understanding of acquisitions through hostile bids on the companies studied. More specifically, this study aims to create a deeper understanding in how Scania and Skandia have chosen their defense measures, or could have chosen, before and during their hostile bidding processes with specific concern for their strategic credibility. Method: This paper is based on two companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange exposed to hostile takeover attempts in a similar time period.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur företag använder celebrity endorsers i sina marknadsföringsstrategier. Vi valde att studera detta genom att välja tre svenska idrottsstjärnor i form av Susanna Kallur, Carolina Klüft och Kajsa Bergqvist. Vidare undersöker vi strategierna med hjälp av följande företag; AXA, HTH och V6. Valet av företag gjorde vi utifrån att de tre företagen med respektive atlet, är verksamma inom helt skilda branscher. För att få en ökad förståelse för användningen av celebriteter i marknadsföringsstrategier är uppsatsen utformad som en kvalitativ studie.

On the 1st of January 2014, new legislation was introduced on taxation of shareholders in close companies. The legislation has faced criticism from several of the respondents and the purpose of the master?s thesis is to critically examine the legislative amendments made. The base of the thesis is to present the legislation within taxation of shareholders in close companies, to examine the purposes and motives of the legislator and the criticism received for the legislative amendments, as well as provide a historical perspective of the purpose of the rules. An analysis of the incentives that the legislator is providing shareholders in close companies, with the amendments, and the extent to which they reflect the purpose of the legislation.

The aim of this thesis is to create an understanding of the incentives for forest companies to invest in reducing carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, which is termed REDD. The Brazilian Amazonas was chosen as the base for the investment case. Brazil has the largest area of rainforest in the world, and also the biggest problem with deforestation. The Amazon region of Brazil comprises rainforest which is largely intact and unexploited. Accordingly, there is significant potential scope for prospective investments in a REDD-project, and so have a noteworthy impact in preventing deforestation.The research approach used the United Nation?s Clean Development Mechanism concept was used as a framework for ascertaining the investment costs in potential REDD-projects.

Klädbranschen är präglad av långa, världsomspännande produktionsled vilket gör det intressantoch viktigt att se hur stora, internationella företag arbetar med CSR. Kraven på att företag tarsocialt ansvar ökar samtidigt som företag är påverkade av sin historia, kultur och specifikaomständigheter som kan påverka vad som är viktigt för företaget. I denna studie undersöks vadfyra klädföretag, H&M, Gap, Uniqlo och Zara, alla från fyra olika länder, väljer att betona i sittCSR-arbete. Information publicerad på företagens hemsidor samt rapporter har legat till grundför empiri som analyserats utifrån ett teoretiskt ramverk. Den insamlade informationen har ställtsmot EU-kommissionens definition av CSR och analyserats utifrån teorierna.

Bakgrund: Ökade krav på att företag skall ta ett större etiskt och miljömässigt ansvar för sin verksamhet har väckts under senare år. Corporate social responsibility är ett samlingsnamn för detta ansvarstagande.Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att fastställa huruvida företags arbete med corporate social responsibility har någon synbar effekt på företags marknadsvärden, eller om företag bara förspiller sina resurser på ett ansvarstagande och informationsskapande som deras aktieägare nonchalerar.Teoretiskt perspektiv: Författarna redogör för forskningen inom ämnet CSR och presenterar de två teorier som används; den effektiva marknadshypotesen och agent-principalförhållandet. Därtill belyser författarna begreppen etik, moral och förtroende för att läsaren skall erhålla en djupare förståelse för de begrepp som genomsyrar CSR.Metod: För att kunna besvara uppsatsen syfte väljer författarna att genomföra en metodtriangulering bestående av en enkätundersökning bland fondbolag, en eventstudie på negativ publicitet om företags agerande i etik- och miljöfrågor och slutligen fem intervjuer med miljö- och etikanalytiker.Resultat: Resultaten från eventstudien pekar på att företags aktiekurser generellt sett inte reagerar på information kopplade till CSR. Vid enstaka händelser som är nära kopplade till företags kärnverksamhet kunde författarna dock urskilja begränsade effekter på företags marknadsvärden.Empiri: Majoriteten av intervjurespondenterna såg en ökad trend av aktivt ägarskap i Sverige men framförallt i USA. Det aktiva ägarskapet har lett till att fondbolag och förvaltare gått från uteslutning av företag till att försöka påverka dem till förbättringar inom CSR-frågor och corporate governance.

This thesis explores the conditions of painting artists in the former GDR. The conclusion after studying rather many artists excepted paintings is, that they had a very personal style within the figuration, considering the official prescription of Social realism. The main objective for the study is common motives and changes over time. It showed a development against greater freedom in expression. A closer analyse of one painter´s work (Susanne Kandt-Horn) and of the exhibitions in Rostock Art Museum during the 80´s illustrates the circumstances under which the artists lived..

Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) and Active Ownership have become increasingly important concepts when it comes to the corporate governance of investors today. Institutional owners highlight the importance of engaging in dialogue, in their pursuit to influence the companies to become sustainable. However, stakeholders and academia are requesting more insight into the workings of these dialogues, concerning their purpose, design and function. This study attempts to increase the existing knowledge of dialogue as a tool for active engagement, used by institutional investors in Sweden. The performed study is based on interviews with five public and private Swedish institutional investors, an SRI consultant firm as well as representatives from two NGOs.

CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility, har kommit att bli ett allt viktigare fenomen i dagens samhälle. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka och identifiera bakomliggande faktorer som påverkar vilka incitamenten är för CSR inom norsk fiskodlingsindustri.Uppsatsen utfördes i form av en kvalitativ flerfallsstudie där vi genomförde semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem norska fiskodlingsföretag. Empirin visade att det finns stora skillnader i företagens syn på CSR beroende på storlek. Ekonomi visade sig vara det starkaste incitamentet för CSR, dock fanns undantag där även idealistiska incitament visade sig vara av betydelse.I analysen kunde tydliga kopplingar göras mellan empirin och både intressentteorin och Carroll?s pyramid.

During the last decades, brand equity has been a priority topic for both practitioners and academics. In accordance with the structural changes in the economic settings caused by the so-called "new economy", corporations being confronted with a shift on perceived business value structure from tangible assets to intangibles. On the other hand firms increasingly are adopting more responsible behaviour towards their societies. In this context, one critical question is to understand how corporate conduct may affect brand equity. The purpose of this study was to find how brand equity (BE) measurement methods embrace corporate responsibility (CR), based on a literature review.

Title: Branding the public sectorAuthor: Rasmus Bergmark and David BackmanTutor: Magnus FredrikssonPurpose: The purpose of this thesis was to examine branding in the public sector. The frame extends to government agencies and authorities in the Swedish public sphere, and aims to identify ulterior motives for their work with branding.Method/Material: The material used in this thesis consists 102 graphic manuals for government agencies in the Swedish public sector. The examination was based on an inductive survey where we extracted prominent motives among the graphic manuals.Main results: The main results of this survey shows which ulterior motives are more prominent than others, why they are more prominent and correlations between different motives.Number of pages: 53Course: Media and Communications studies CUniversity: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information sience, Uppsala universityPeriod: Fall 2013Keywords: Corporate branding, public sector, motives, market communication.

A pavement construction designed to cope with the different type of traffic loads; it is exposed to and at the same time it can resist the effect of the climate. A road structure consists of sub- and superstructure which is divided by a boundary known as terrace. During the construction of unbound layers (base course and sub-base course) in the superstructure, it is always ensured that the material meet the requirements for bearing capacity and the degree of compaction. These parameters are controlled by various laboratory tests and control methods. To obtain increased knowledge of the material and improve the quality of the compaction in the field, it is necessary to perform laboratory tests in order to determine material properties.A base course material 0/ 32 mm limestone from Gotland (Hejdeby) was investigated in this study.

Corporate governance intensified due to the corporate scandals in the USA which led to a new law the so called Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).In 2005 the "Svensk kod för bolagsstyrning" (The Code) was introduced. The main purpose of The Code is to strengthen the confidence in Swedish companies quoted on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. The Code focuses on the working process of boards. The rules set by The Code places higher demands on the board.  Among many other duties the board has to establish long term operational goals and strategy.

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is the second most common heart disease in dogs. Since the disease is seen more frequently in certain breeds, among them Newfoundland dogs, a genetic factor is suspected. This study was partly undertaken to investigate whether there is a significant sex predilection regarding DCM. Moreover, the difference in mean age of death between male dogs and females with DCM was investigated, as well as males and females dying from DCM compared to dying from other reasons (i.e. without DCM).

This study is a research on how dystopian features are expressed within different genres. The purpose is to discuss films that contain dystopian features in relation to genre and to examine if there are shared conventions in the films that can make dystopia a film genre on its own. The theoretical base includes genre theory and Rick Altman?s semantic/syntactic approach to film genre. Five films from different genres, all produced within the time period of 2000-2010, are analyzed with a semantic/syntactic approach to genre and then discussed in relation to dystopia and prior research.