Background: Goodwill has always been frequently discussed and a lot of scientific research has been done regarding factors that affect companies? impairment of goodwill. Previous research has concluded that companies reporting low results are more prone to do impairments of goodwill than companies reporting better results which possibly can be seen as a form of earnings management.Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to examine if goodwill impairments occur to a greater extent among Swedish listed companies when the companies are reporting lower earnings. A subsidiary purpose is to see if there has been an improvement since 2008 regarding the size of reported goodwill in comparison to equity in the years 2009-2011. And to analyze the development of the companies goodwill impairments in relation to reported goodwill.Methodology: Three quantitative studies have been performed for the years 2009-2011 where all the listed companies on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm have been included.

On November 1st 2010 the obligatory audit was removed in Sweden for small companies. What factors influence such companies to have their financial reports audited, and what factors exert the strongest influence. Purpose: The authors would like to investigate factors that affect companies with voluntary audits in Skåne län to continue with the audit. The authors also wish to examine the factors that have the strongest impact on the choice to adopt auditing. Method: A quantitative study has been conducted in which aquestionnaire was sent to companies in Skåne Län Conclusion: The factors that affect smaller companies to continue with audit are as follows: Accounting quality, cost, creditors (loans), suppliers / customers, the tax office and distort competition.

The purpose of this thesis was to highlight how different aspects of market communication are used when micro companies choose to use both Internet and store selling activities towards the consumer market. The thesis dealt with off-line and on-line communication considerations with focus on advertising, interactions, and relations. In order to achieve this purpose a case study was conducted, that revealed that the companies acted according to theories. The conclusions drawn from the thesis were that companies tended to rely on traditional ways of dealing with advertising and interaction. We could also see that relations were created as a result of unconscious behavior and that the Internet activities still were on a basic level..

The purpose of the study is to examine and analyze the relation between the existence of global companies and given support to immigrant- owned companies with large cultural difference from public services. This helps answering the question "Which affect does the existence of local dominating companies have on the establishment of small companies owned by immigrants with large cultural differences?" This has been accomplished through a field study containing twelve interviews with small companies in two different cities and two interviews with the community officials in each city. The research was thereby narrowed to only treat the two cities in Sweden in order to examine the relation between public services support to small immigrant-owned companies and how the immigrants experience the support from them. The analyze was made due to a handful of theories such as the The network theory IP model, Hofstede's 4+1 model and the Product Life Cycle.

Companies that invest in e-learning have different expectations regarding the outcome of the investment. According to literature and articles it is common that companies see reduction of costs as the primary benefit with e-learning. Therefore we ask ourselves the question if companies have attained the expected benefit of the investment in e-learning and to what extent cost reduction have been a determining factor in the investments? The purpose of the thesis is to examine if companies that invest in e-learning have attained the expected benefits. We also want to examine what the reason for investing in e-learning is and if cost reduction is the primary reason for investing.

Transport is an important aspect to take account in efforts to achieve sustainable tourism development. If we do not change our behavior regarding travel, the consequences will be significant for the environment. This study examines the various transport operators on the two Swedish ski resorts if their websites and marketing are different from each other in the mode selection. The destinations are Åre and Hemavan Tärnaby. They studied modes are two Swedish airlines, two train companies, three bus companies and three taxi companies.These corporate websites are studied with a content analysis in which the results of the keywords that have been developed are scored according to different categories.

This thesis researches the construction of the Swedish masonry heater called r?rspis. A r?rspis has an inner smoke channel system that stores heat and it was developed in the early 19th century alongside the Swedish kakelugn (tiled stove). Unlike the tiled stove, the R?rspis was commonly found in simpler environments and is part of the cultural her itage of the rural population.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether Swedish, Internet-based travel agencies, acting on a consumer market are working towards creating added value for their customers. If that is the case, how and why do they use such a mode of operation.The theoretical framework was based on Grönroos´ ?Augmented service offering?, which treats added value as an addition to the core service. The services offered on five of the larger companies´ websites on the market were examined and 3 representatives of the five companies were interviewed.The study shows that 2 of the examined companies did not produce any added value, while 3 of the companies did produce added value for the customer. The added value was generated through packaging of core-, facilitating- and supporting services for the purpose of differentiating the company towards competitors and generating service fees..

Augmented reality is a technology thatcombines the perception and interaction ofvirtual objects with the real world. Itcan allow a user to visually see computergenerated models and informationinteracting with the real world through ahand held device such as a tabletcomputer. This opens up a range ofpossibilities, especially in theconstruction sector. A construction siteis permanently changing and the need forprecise and updated information iscrucial. The ability to enhance the realworld with virtual objects and informationmay make many plans printed on paperabsolete.This report describes how workers in theconstruction sector would benefit fromusing augmented reality on a tablet innumerous situations and the technologyneeded to achieve AR on a tablet.

This thesis investigates whether it is accordance between the different profit measures in the financial market. The first aim of the thesis is to examine if it exists a difference between the profit measures that companies publish in their fourth quarter interim report and the measures that they state in their annual report, issued some months later. The second aim is to examine whether there is a divergence in definitions and the assumption regarding the risk of bankruptcy between profit measures published by companies and analysts. The study focuses on Swedish companies listed on the OMX Stockholm Large Cap and concerns the years of 2006 and 2007. The analysts interviewed are working in Sweden with listed Swedish companies.

Issues regarding the environment are commonly discussed in the media. The most common problem that is discussed is how to decrease the emissions of greenhouse gases by human beings. The municipality of Kristianstad has chosen to work with a project named ?Biogas Kristianstad? which purposes are to use all of the produced biogas as motor fuel and to speed up the introduction of biogas on the local market. This is in an effort to decrease the effects on the environment in the municipality of Kristianstad.

Background: The importance of creativity and innovation is frequently stressed in modern literature on management. The significance of innovation gives entrepreneurs the reason to prior to the commencement of a relationship with a venture capitalist, obtain necessary insights regarding the influences such a relationship may have, in terms of innovation. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to scrutinise the influence of venture capital firms on their portfolio companies regarding their ability to be innovative. Delimitations: The intent is to study the impact of a venture capitalist from the viewpoint of its portfolio companies. In other words, what the portfolio companies have perceived as changes is our main area of concern, rather than what the venture capitalist has perceived as change.

In this thesis the construction of identity within the EU is discussed. A thesis problem in three dimensions is used to explain the purpose of the construction, its realization and the consequences of such identity. These aspects show the complexity of the problems related to identity construction on a structural level.By using a post-modern and a social constructivist theoretical approach identity is presented as socially constructed by discourse. The theory of discourse makes it possible to analyze the development of an identity forming discourse within the EU and its status today.With an approach inspired by critical theory, we use discourse analysis as a methodological tool to illustrate the ideas that govern discourse, and in what way it is related to the social reality.The analysis states that the purpose of identity constructing is the striving for legitimacy. Without identification, the legitimacy is threatened.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the innovation process of companies, and to analyse how important success factors and obstacles are in their innovation process.Method: The investigation strategy used for this essay was to interview companies that work with innovations. The essay has a qualitative approach. Both primary ? in the form of interviews - and secondary data ? literature found in books, scientific articles and internet - have been used to achieve our results.Results: The result of this essay is: there is not just one inovation process that is applicable to all companies. On the other hand, there are some guidelines that could be followed in the process.

As a newly graduated student in construction you rarely have as much knowledge as you wish you had. It is a complicated line of business that requires knowledge and understanding of both technical solutions and interaction between actors. It is impossible to be fully learned and with that much unknown it can be hard to know where to start. This report is one step in the right direction. It contains a planning that contains construction and installations for a one level house in Kiruna with its different choices motivated.