The market is developing and a growing competition increases pressure on companies to maintain their competitive advantage. Working with cost savings is a way to enhance earnings in a short term but also in a longer perspective. Volvo Powertrain Production Köping has an overall goal; to reduce costs by nine percentages in three years. To achieve the goal, Volvo Powertrain Production Köping works with World Class Manufacturing where the Department of Processing Technology constitutes an important part.Volvo Powertrain Production Köping lacks a standard for how savings within the metal cutting tool area are to be calculated. This makes it difficult to control and monitor their business outcome but it also causes difficulties in controlling the tool suppliers? outcome.

This thesis has been carried out in collaboration with LEDtec International AB. LEDtec focuses on innovative solutions in LED screens. Everything from large advertising signs to welcome signs in cities, to screens indicating speeds or warning of heavy traffic. The task was to was to help them develop a new version of the control board that is used in some of their products. The reason for this is that their old control board is obsolete and the components that are on it, is no longer manufactured or in need to be renewed.

The aim of the study is twofold, to generate a sensory profile of Swedish wine today and to investigate the opinion of both wine producers and wine experts on viticulture in Sweden and wine from grapes grown in Sweden, achieved through a contextual analysis comprising a literature study and interviews with wine producers in Sweden and Denmark and wine experts from Sweden and Germany, and a sensory analysis at the company Ipsos. ?Mixed methods? was the chosen research strategy as the semi-structured interviews gave qualitative results and the sensory analysis would give quantitative results displayed as spider charts. There is a lack of studies investigating how the Swedish wine is perceived by consumers and consumers might be unaware that the Swedish wine, established through ?trial and error?, is increasing in quality every season, creating a need to display the sensory profile of Swedish wine to strengthening the perception of Swedish white wine. This study shows that the Swedish white wine today is a wine with a fresh, citrusy and flowery aroma and a fresh, citrusy and green apple taste, however, a sensory analysis cannot show if the attributes are those that are desired by the customer, a consumer test is necessary to conclude that. Trends point towards locally produced products, one reason why Swedish wine has great potential, yet the future needs to be secured through job opportunities and education. Creating an approval system for Swedish wine is suggested as a future improvement, it is a common procedure in most wine regions.

The purpose of this essay was to examine whether small businesses can avoid ac-counting crimes with a well-conducted internal control system. The questions we asked ourselves was, whether and if so, companies can prevent this from happening by using a internal control.In this essay we used a qualitative approach. Essential information was given to us from four different interviewees. We also worked from an inductive approach which means that we interviewed people without any earlier research to build on. The method also had a hermeneutical approach, which means that we made different interpretations based on the reference framework and the empirics.After the study had been carried out, we concluded that all evidence from this essay suggested that even small businesses need an internal control to protect their business.

En majoritet bland ledare i olika organisationer har en bakgrund som storasyskon eller ensambarn (Hudson, 1990). Denna studie genomfördes för att få svar på om personer med ledaransvar skiljer sig åt gällande syskonplats och locus of control jämfört med de personer som inte har ledaransvar. Ledare och medarbetare på en statlig myndighet svarade på en enkät gällande plats i syskonskara, erfarenhet av ledarskap och locus of control. Resultatet visade att sistfödda i detta urval hade en högre grad av intern locus of control än förstfödda vilket kan tyda på en annan typ av sistfödd på denna myndighet. Urvalet var dock bristfälligt (N = 48) och slutsats kunde inte dras utan att riskera ett felaktigt resultat..

The thesis was performed at Forsmarks Kraftgrupp AB in the department ofmechanical engineering, FTCM. Forsmark nuclear power plant has had problems with cracks in some of the controlrods which are placed in the reactor at Forsmark 3. To investigate the cause of this,material samples were taken from five of the damaged control rods. This sampling ofthe rods resulted too short rods to be transported in the shipping container to theinterim storage facility for used nuclear fuel in Oskarshamn. Control rods are crucial components in a nuclear reactor, regulating the reactoreffect by blocking or unblocking fuel rods. Control rods which have been in thereactor are always handled under water in order to protect against the radiation theyemit. The task was to design a control rod adapter that extends the control rod sotransport can be performed from Forsmark. The goal of the work was a complete setof blueprints so the control rod adapter can be manufactured and mounted on theshort control rods and then be transported to the interim storage facility. The work began with mapping of how control rods normally being handled from thereactor to the interim storage facility.

Värnamo Elnät owns and operates a ripple control system which is used to control loadsespecially when the grid is heavily loaded and for control of street lighting. This report aims atclarifying technical and economic aspects of the ripple control system?s future. The system wasinstalled from 1975 and onwards and its use was greater in those days when the controllableloads where greater then today, the current controllable load level is about 3 MW. The reporthighlights three different aspects of the ripple control system?s future ? retain the currentsystem, reinvest in a newer system or discontinue the system.In the report the author also discusses relevant connections to Smart Grids and future meteringsystems and tariffs.

A multivariate cross-sectional model is used in this thesis to proxy for expected earnings and to estimate return on equity for 214 companies over the period 2009-2013, using Swedish data. The model, which has never been tested on Swedish data before, is first confirmed to function as a forecasting model for expected return. Furthermore, the model is evaluated through a comparison with two univariate models based on the assumption that return on equity follows a mean reversion process. Forecast accuracy is calculated as the difference of estimated returns and actual returns. The results show that the univariate models' forecasts are superior to the multivariate model's..

The purpose of this essay was to examine whether small businesses can avoid ac-counting crimes with a well-conducted internal control system. The questions we asked ourselves was, whether and if so, companies can prevent this from happening by using a internal control.In this essay we used a qualitative approach. Essential information was given to us from four different interviewees. We also worked from an inductive approach which means that we interviewed people without any earlier research to build on. The method also had a hermeneutical approach, which means that we made different interpretations based on the reference framework and the empirics.After the study had been carried out, we concluded that all evidence from this essay suggested that even small businesses need an internal control to protect their business.

This paper describes the development of a simulation model for the ambulance flow in the Västra Götalands-region of Sweden, and an analysis tool for the output of the simulation model. The aim of the simulation model was to be able to evaluate the outcome from changes in the ambulance operations, such as a reorganization of ambulances or an increase in intensity of the ambulance calls. This evaluation is meant to serve as decision support for the strategic planning of the ambulance operations. The analysis tool was developed to visualize the abundant geographical data produced by the simulation model in a meaningful way. The simulation model was validated against historical data which showed that the dispatch time for the highest prioritized ambulance calls corresponds well with historical data.

The reindeer planning system (Renbruksplanen, RBP) is a communication and planning tool designed for Sami groups. A key purpose of this is that it will act as a tool in consultation with other market players, including forestry. Sami groups have asked for a model of how this can be used in a flexible manner. With the Swedish Forest Agency as a project manager, a communication model for how to use the RBP has been designed. It consists of a number of points divided into ?before?, ?during? and ?after? the consultation.

We have performed a case study on Acne Jeans, a creative Swedish fashion company, which initiated a cooperation with the Swedish venture capital firm Öresund. The aim of our paper was to examine what motivates a venture capital firm to transform the management control system of a creative company, into a more formal system of control. Main results: Öresund did not have an excessive impact on the management control system of Acne Jeans, due to three main reasons. First of all, Acne Jeans had a satisfactory management control system prior to the cooperation. Furthermore, the relationship between the two parties was characterized by mutual trust.

The aim of this study is to examine and analyze how management control mechanisms evolve within an organization when a requirement of return on equity is imposed, as well as why the mechanisms evolve the way they do. A case study was performed on Samhall, a Swedish state-owned company, which has the aim to help people with disabilities develop by providing meaningful work. The framework provided by Samuelsson, defining five means of control in organizations was used to structure the study. Further, theories within New Public Management have been used to provide the reader with a proper background to the research area. Theories from the institutional field of organizational research have also been used to provide further depth to our analysis.

Humans and dogs are both mammals. One of the differences between the two species is that man walk on two legs and dogs on four legs. There are also differences in the nerve system between the two species. The human nerve system is supposed to provide opportunity for fine motor tasks- while the nerve system of the dog is more focused on the ability to perform locomotor tasks. Humans need to increase their motor control and postural control when affected by various conditions and diseases.

This paper describes the development of a simulation model for the ambulance flow in the Västra Götalands-region of Sweden, and an analysis tool for the output of the simulation model. The aim of the simulation model was to be able to evaluate the outcome from changes in the ambulance operations, such as a reorganization of ambulances or an increase in intensity of the ambulance calls. This evaluation is meant to serve as decision support for the strategic planning of the ambulance operations. The analysis tool was developed to visualize the abundant geographical data produced by the simulation model in a meaningful way. The simulation model was validated against historical data which showed that the dispatch time for the highest prioritized ambulance calls corresponds well with historical data.