Bachelor thesis, Business Administration and Economics Programme, School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University in Va?xjo?.Spring of 2015 Title: Performance measurement from a cost leadership perspective - A case study on Gekås.Authors: Adrienn Csiszer, Hannah Lundberg & Helena WennerströmTutor: Eva GustavssonExaminer: Karin Jonnergård Keywords: Performance measurement, Performance measurement systems, Generic strategy, Cost leadership strategy, Financial and non-financial measurements. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how a company with a clear cost leadership strategy chooses to work with performance measurements, with a view to comparing a practical example to theorethical approaches. Methodology: The method chosen for this paper is a case study on Gekås AB. The presented data were collected through interviews conducted with four employees on Gekås. Conclusion: The study concludes that for a business with cost leadership strategy the financial measurements are more important than non-financial meausurements. For Gekås it is important to keep the performance measurement simple and understandable for the employees. They only use three measurements (sales, hours and sales per hour) in planning and in evaluation.

As IT service departments in organisations are becoming more complex and customised, the indirect costs are increasing in relation to the total costs. The difficulty of fully estimating and identifying the spread of the cost in the IT service department is increasing. As a result, firms tend to budget the business unit as a total cost rather than as a spread of defined costs. In order to deal with this challenge an ABC calculation will be applied. The Time Driven ABC model will be conducted in OMX´s Servicedesk unit within the IT services.

The goal of this paper is to provide a model for a sustainable electricity system to an island, in the Pacific Ocean near the equator.The method which has been used is to model supply and demand of electricity in the computer program Stella, through the creation of a dynamic system that balances them against each other. The result from the model will then be used to calculate the electricity price per kWh for the island.The result of the work is that electricity from solar energy is comparable with electricity produced from oil, if the oil pays for all its external costs, and the potential for pumped hydro storage plants is located. It also requires that consumers of electricity can be their own producers to avoid the expenditure of tax and reducing the cost of distribution. But since oil is a finite resource and has had a rising cost in recent years, while solar energy has had a declining cost, perhaps this will be a more competitive solution in the future.

This report discusses the constructionof different types of exterior wallconstructions and analyses wall layers.Standard wall constructions from theSwedish building contractors NCC andSkanska and also from the materialproducer Isover have been chosen for theresearch. Life cycle cost analysis hasbeen made to conclude the mostprofitable wall type, seen from asustainable and economic perspective.The calculations have been made for aperiod of 50 years.The report shows that building with wellinsulated walls is a more profitablesolution both economically and whatconcerns sustainability even though thehigher investment. However, when wallssimilar insulation properties are beingcompared, the study proves that lowerinvestment cost is more profitable.The report introduces requiredconstruction techniques of walls inorder that the reader should understandwall constructions with different layersand properties. The essay shows theimportance of properly constructed wallsto avoid air leakage and moisturedamage.The essay has been implemented byliterature studies, contacts with NCCand Skanska and by energy calculationsmade by hand and using the software VIPEnergy..

The aim of this paper is to perform a comparative study between the photography?s of Leila Khaled and Shirin Neshat in order to observe if the woman are able to recede from an conventional formation to become the bearer of the veil and not only reduced to that whichneeds to be concealed. From a feministic perspective I have observed how the symbolic of the veil moulds the woman and how the woman in her context moulds the veil.In the description of the news photography of Khaled and the art photography produced by Neshat the mechanisms that lies as a foundation for the modelling of the portraits becomesthe essays primary entrance. Mechanisms that evolve around the creation of the woman as aconcept, a subject shaped for being looked at and the woman?s self-image through others.The textual discourse is visually enhanced through a comparative picture material visually enhanced and explained through photographs by the contemporary artist photographers Cindy Sherman, Catherine Opie, Laurie Simmons, Robert Mapplethorpe and Elin Berge.

Life Cycle Cost, often abbreviated as LCC, is a common tool for comparing the total cost of different alternatives, such as heating and cooling methods. Common heating and cooling methods in Sweden are geothermal energy, district heating and district cooling. This report aims to evaluate how different heating and cooling methods differ from each other while being applied on three different types of buildings, using selected LCC-models. Information about the selected LCC-models wasretrieved from each separate model and its website. Reports and agencies were used as sources for information about the heating and cooling methods.

The purpose of this master thesis is to map and analyze the appropriate valuation approaches used for Intellectual Property rights and develope a model for valuing patents. This project has been executed on behalf of Electrolux?s Group Intellectual Property and is intended to be used for managerial purposes.Project limitations include patents that doesent concern technology oriented products and services, real option methods, financial forecasts, decisions concerning patents taken by the R&D division, patent applications in general and taking into account unexpected future management decisions regarding patents.Electrolux?s Intellextual Property team applies, manages and protects the groups Intellectual Property rights including patents, designs and trademarks. With an increased globalization and the rise of emerging markets, incentives have increased further to protect and safeguard the group?s innovations.Mainly there are three different valuations approaches for valuing intellectual property rights, these include the income based approach, cost base approach and market based approach.

In this essay I?ve chosen to do a comparative analysis of the two films Män som hatar kvinnor (Niels Arden Oplev, 2009) and The girl with a Dragon tattoo (David Fincher, 2011) based on feministic theories. I have done this with the intent of comparing the two versions way of viewing the woman. The analysis is based on my own questions, observations and interpretations, and has a hermeneutic approach.My conclusion is that ?The girl with at Dragon tattoo? is closer to Stieg Larsson?s original story that both films are based upon, though the Swedish film Män som hatar kvinnor has got more of a feministic purpose.

"Race" is often used as a marker to exclude people from a society. What is interesting is not so much what terms that are used to describe people, but by what meaning they are associated with. For this thesis articles published in daily magazines have been the material used. An argument driven in the essay is that identity and oppression is not constituted from one subject position, but from several, such as class, sexuality and gender. The first question posed is how "race" is constituted through discourses throughout the subject positions class, sexuality and gender.

This thesis analyses the cost accounting system KPP and its use within the Swedish health care. KPP is designed to calculate and assign health care costs to individual patients. This would facilitate evaluations and comparisons of the costs for certain diagnosis, patient groups or clinics with a different mix of diagnosis. The study investigates the following questions: 1. Does the KPP-model theoretically work as a cost accounting tool for health care purposes? 2.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to investigate how the image of the Public library is described in the Swedish national library politics, and compare it with the image given of the public library in the Danish national library politics. The method used for this analysis is a comparative discourse analysis of the homepages produced by the Swedish central government Regeringen and Kulturrådet and its Danish counterpart Kulturministeriet and Biblioteksstyrelsen. Theories on postmodernity have been used to analyze how the Swedish and the Danish central governments image of the Public library corresponds with a changing society and the changing behaviour of the public library users. Our analysis concludes that the traditional view of the Public library as an institution mainly concerned with literature and reading still is of great significance in the discourse of the Swedish central government. In contrast, the Danish central government presents a more postmodern view of the public library as an institution that is part of the Information- and the Knowledge society.

CSR - "Corporate Social Responsibility" is a concept that in recent years has become of bigger importance for companies. Even at McDonald's, which quickly grew into today's 217 restaurants, with up to 430 000 visitors daily. We have investigated how the McDonald's CSR work has evolved over time, how it looks today and what has influenced this development. Things that have influenced McDonald's and led to their CSR work proved to be scandals and changes in legislations. The PR value of working with CSR has also increased and a lot of the CSR work has shown to be economically viable.

Title: The component approach - From the harmonization process as a background to the perception of benefits and costs as effects.Authors: Elin Börjesson & Emma KarlssonTutor: Titti EliassonKey concept: Harmonization, Component approach and Benefit/CostBackground: With IFRS for SME's as a basis, the Accounting Board developed K3 which shall apply from financial year 2014. Upon introduction of the K3 companies will be forced to apply the component approach. When K3 with the associated component approach went out for consultation it resulted in a debate where some actors opposed the imposition of a requirement and not an option. It was questioned whether the costs with the component approach would be greater than the benefit of the implementation.Formulation of the problem: How is the introduction and use of the component approach seen by different operators from a benefit-, cost perspective?Aim: The aim of this essay is find out how the introduction and use of the component approach is seen by different operators from a benefit-, cost perspective.

With the elevated oil prices of today it is necessary to look for other heating alternatives. If the oil price continues to develop in the same way it has done the last years it will soon be impossible for many producing garden companies to survive. The purpose of this diploma work is to compare three different fuel options in order to find the most economic one considering the conditions of Katrinebergs Handelsträdgård AB. In relation to oil it is profitable to change to any of the three alternatives: wood chips, wood pellets and grain. The most profitable option is to change to wood chips. This alternative has a payoff time less than three years and after that the annual saving compared to the oil is relatively high. The annual cost is 65 % of the cost of the oil alternative.

Since 1996 the Swedish households have ten folded their volume of loans for own homes that is attached to a floating interest rate. Also in 1996 the Swedish electric market was deregulated. These two facts have increased the volatility in the household expenses for these two commodities. This thesis studies the risk for homeowners attached to the exposure against the electric and the credit market. The risk model used is Cost-at-Risk which is usually used by public authorities for analysing the risk involved with national debt.