In January 2005 the emission allowance system was introduced within the European Union and the first period ends at the end of 2007. The system was introduced in order to decrease the wastes of carbon dioxide and the system is a part of ratifying the Kyoto ?protocol which first period runs between 2008-2012.The idea of the system is to reduce the wastes of carbon dioxide where it costs less to do so and the expenses for the society therefore are as diminutive as possible. Different theories explain that companies can benefit from environment legislation and can depending on the company?s attitude gain competitive advantages improve its productivity and thereby increase its profitability.With this in mind, the study aims at examining how the introduction of the emission trade system has influenced Swedish smaller companies in the distant heating industry, with focus on the factors attitude, innovation, competition and profitability.

The aim of this study is to get a better understanding of the Iranian regime. My theory is that the Iranian regime is a semi-dictatorship, based on the soul fact that semi-competetive elections take place. The main question this thesis tries to answer is what characterizes the political construction of the Iranian regime and by what means does it implement its political goals. In trying to answer this question the case of Iran is applied to four specific typologies being, semi-dictatorship, military rule, single party rule and personal rule. The aim has not been to categorically analyze if the Iranian regime matches one typology or the other perfectly, as this is seldom the case when it comes to typologies.After analysis of the four typologies, the conclusion is that the Iranian regime utilizes semi-competitive elections to give a guise of democracy, as is in line with a semi-dictatorship.

This study aims to describe how a company behind a well-established brand in the fashion industry has strategically chosen to communicate with their target market. Interviews with four individuals in different positions within the company have generated qualitative data, which is presented and analyzed in relation to the theoretical frame of reference in this study. The results show that the company does not use conventional marketing, but relies rather on marketing based word-of-mouth generated by its customer base due to its unique store concepts. Previous research has shown that this type of marketing strategy is effective and beneficial to the brand equity, a conclusion that is demonstrated to also apply to the survey object of this study. Furthermore, it is also shown that this is largely due to the distinct and coordinated image that the company maintains through strict standardization..

Goal: To describe which evaluation method is used by Swedish retailers to assess a potential retail location and to describe to what extent the retail brand effects this strategic decision. Design: Analysis of ten interviews with companies within five retail sectors in Sweden. Main study: Indication of what methods are used to evaluate a location and how a company's retail brand affects the decision. Results: Retailers use a mix of theoretical methods to evaluate the location attributes and possible profit. Most common among mixtures was an application of the analog method, residual method or the checklist method in combination with a financial assessment.

The purpose of this thesis is to study and determine how working in cross functional teams can generate value in an effort to facilitate innovation. An inductive scientific perspective is chosen as the research approach. A single case is investigated with the theoretical framework based on Resource Based View, Intellectual Capital, Innovation theory and theories concerning Cross Functional Teams. The empirical material has been collected through primary data; surveys, interviews and secondary data; literature, websites and further complementary data. The practice of using Cross Functional Teams will enhance organizational learning, knowledge transfer, increase communication and innovation, which in turn will increase the speed and performance of the new product development process.

More than half of the implemented IT-projects go over budget, deadline or simply fail. The processes in an IT-project requires technical competence to be present among the project participants to ensure the achievement of business goals and to make organisations competitive. The success of an IT-project largely depends on the project manager which makes it interesting to further investigate what impact the project manager?s technical competence has on the project. Previous research shows differing opinions whether technical competence is considered important for the project manager to be successful or not.

Tidigare forskning har visat att det finns ett stort intresse bland unga i Sverige att starta företag. Det har också uppenbarats att det finns brister i ungas kunskaper om företagande och entreprenörskap, och de vet inte heller hur de skall gå tillväga för få den kunskapen. De faktorerna påverkar ungas företagande negativt och hämmar dem i deras önskan om egenföretagande. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vilka specifika faktorer som hindrar unga från att starta företag, det vill säga vilka osäkerheter de upplever i den industriella omgivningen och hur de kan hanteras. I ett försök att finna metoder som hjälper unga att hantera de osäkerheter som upplevs har jag undersökt hur klusterteorin kan underlätta företagandet.

This paper studies the fragmentation and reuse of early christian monuments ("eskilstunakistor") in churches in Östergötland during the medieval period. This is found to have been done in two stages. The first stage shows a collectivization of society. Within religion the change from ancestoral cult towards the saints' cult is important as the fragments are reused like relics. During the second stage the collectivization has been fulfilled, and the reuse is instead part of the christian churches' strategy for incorporating old powerful symbols from the landscape into their own church building..

The essay discusses how to look at a equality plan of a academic department experiences the, gender equality in general and how power is portrayed from a gender perspective in the academic department. Through the use of qualitative interviews and a short survey the results have shown that few of the staff members have knowledge about the equality plan and few are familiar with its contents. Furthermore results show that the academic department is run hierarchyilly and that both vertical and horizontal gender segregation exists.The climate at the academic department is characterized by the will to work with gender equality but so far there have only been few exercised or planned efforts to do so. The gap between theory and practise is wide, the will to be seen as an equal academic department concerning equality of men and women seems important. The conscious or unconscious strategy of covering up the real gender equality seems to be done by focusing on the numerical equality..

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess whether the overreaction found in ?Does the Stock Market Overreact?? by DeBondt and Thaler still persists today, and by equivalence test if a trading strategy based upon these assumptions would generate abnormal returns. MethodThe research has been carried out by studies of the stocks that for a prior period of one year has over or underperformed their benchmark. The stocks used in my study are all part of S&P500 index, and the period of study runs from three to five overlapping years over the last twenty years. ResultsMy tests indicate that the type of overreaction proposed by DeBondt & Thaler still is present, at least considering the stocks that during the formation period were winners..

Mergers between companies has become more and more common in Sweden and in the rest of the world with the motive to increase the competitive strength in the current markets and has an important role within organisational development of companies. When organisations merger there is not only buildings and objects that are put together but also their individual organisational structures, people, values and cultures. This can be a difficult process and can affect many people in how they think conscious as well as unconscious, feel and react.The purpose of this thesis is to gain a deeper understanding of how employees are affected following a merger when changes in the organisational culture come up, and how these changes are expressed.This thesis is delimited to investigate only one company, Skruf Snus AB and only focus on their business and employees in the region of Stockholm. The thesis contains a qualitative investigation with semi structured interviews that has been carried out with eight employees at Skruf Snus AB. The thesis is partly based on a model of Schein which describes the different levels in organisational culture and partly on some theories about reactions to change in relation to the integration between the employees following a merger.The results of the investigation indicate that with a merger the whole organisational culture is affected and therefore also the employees.

The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding on how market leading pharmaceutical companies in Sweden limit the market share decrease when these companies patent expires. In order to respond to the purpose, two research questions have been asked: how do pharmaceutical companies deal with market strategies prior to the expiration of a patent: and how the market strategies is used when a patent has expired and as a consequence, generics entered the market. A case study was implemented based on two interviews with a brand manager and a therapy area manager within the company Pfizer AB in Sweden. The results suggest that pharmaceutical companies implement strategies in numerous ways which differs substantially from the theories, this having to do with Swedish legislation. The main aim with the execution of the strategy, before and after patent expiration is not to limit a decrease in market share hence, rather to retain the pharmaceutical companies strong brand image.

Event marketing has during the last decade become a wide spread marketing method. This is because the marketing clutter has increased heavily during the past years and brands are looking for new ways to reach their target audience. The previously well accepted marketing measurement "satisfaction" has shown tendencies no longer to be sufficient for success in today's competitive marketplace. Therefore, the research has somewhat moved to the measurement "brand love" to explain differences in strategic consumer behavior. That is the background to why this report examines and answers the question if a brand through event marketing can enhance brand love.

Den svenska säkerhetspolitiken har genomgått stora förändringar sedan kalla kriget. Den tidigare inriktningen av alliansfrihet och neutralitet har ersatts av en solidaritetspolitik. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka om synen på användning av det militära maktmedlet har förändrats i takt med den säkerhetspolitiska omställningen.Uppsatsen antar karaktären av en innehållsanalys, med utgångspunkt i den strategiska hierarkin och fyra konstruerade jämförelsedimensioner: mål, medel, metoder och hot. Två försvarspropositioner analyseras, från år 1982 och år 2008. Undersökningen visar att både hotbild och den förändrade säkerhetspolitiska inriktningen har medfört en förändrad syn på det militära maktmedlet. Försvarsmaktens exklusivitet för användning i krig har minskat, till förmån för funktionen som krishanteringsinstrument i samverkan med andra maktmedel..

In this study we have examined the possible quality standards and methods for applications with service workshops in the forest industry. The purpose of the methods presented here was to start the work of standarardising the maintenance service in the industry and be of use for service providers in their quality effort.The methods we used to accomplish the study were interviews and field visits together with a comprehensive literature research. Our results are presented in the form of four solution proposals: a standard based on existing SIS standards for terminology and key indicators, checklists that are filled in by mechanics with customer participation, the construction of a instructions database, and the implementation of the method 5s.We believe our suggestions can help the service providers in the four problem areas that we have identified: long term strategy, documentation, recruitment of competent technicians, and standard procedures in their operations. These improvements will be beneficial for both the service provider and the customer..