In the light of some company scandals the Swedish Code of Corporate Governance, the Code, was introduced in the year of 2004 to reinforce confidence in how Swedish listed companies are managed. As many of the other European codes of corporate governance, the Swedish Code is based on the principle of ?comply or explain?. The need for corporate governance regulation arises from the inherent conflict of interest between owners and managers. This conflict is limited in companies controlled by a family in contrast to companies that lack a strong owner.

Large companies in today?s business environment are to a great extent depending on their credit score by rating institutes like Moody?s and Standard & Poor?s. There is however indications that these big institutes are not always rating companies accurately. This is why this thesis aims at developing a new credit rating model, CRITA-Score, with the objective of determining a company?s financial health more accurately.

Syftet med vår uppsats är att undersöka och analysera hur en koncern via Corporate Branding integrerar och implementerar ett redan existerande koncept i ett förvärvat företag/kedja. Då Corporate Branding handlar om att bygga upp, förstärka och förmedla ett affärskoncept till både interna och externa intressenter, har vi, för att ge en heltäckande bild av processen, valt att undersöka och analysera båda dessa aspekter. Vår problemformulering bestod bland annat av följande frågor; Vilka förändringar har uppstått vid förvärvet? Vad händer med ett företags organisationsstruktur, kultur och identitet inför och efter ett förvärv? Hur har det förvärvande företaget använt sig av Corporate Branding för att implementera ett existerande affärskoncept i vårt fallföretag? Vilka reaktioner har uppstått internt och externt i samband med förvärvet? Hur skiljer sig de båda affärskoncepten från varandra? Vi har genomfört en kvalitativ fallstudie, samt en kvantitativ studie i form av enkätundersökning. Teorikapitlet är uppdelat i fyra delar och består av organisationsstrukturer, förvärvsteorier, intern samt extern Corporate Branding.

The present study investigates the relationship between narcissism, using identified facets in the five-factor model for the grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic personality, and job performance. The results, based on analyses of correlations from previous studies, meta-analyses and norm-data, show general differences regarding the grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic facet profile and their respective relationship to job performance. The results confirm previous study implications of the facet level data?s ability to capture aspects of the personality that a broader measure misses. Similarly, the results demonstrated that facets could differentially predict job performance in both a negative and positive direction.

Title: The Investment Savings Account ? Standard Taxation ? Right in TimeAuthors: Gustav Mårtensson and Erica Nordström LöfSupervisor: Göran HäggBackground: In order to facilitate and stimulate financial investments among privateinvestors the organization Aktiespararna made a proposal for a standard-taxed account. As aresult of this, the Swedish government decided to implement the Investment Savings Accountin January of 2012. The introduction of the Investment Savings Account implies that there arenow three different types of accounts for financial investments that are differently taxed onthe Swedish Market. Private investors can improve their after-tax results by combining AssetAllocation and Asset Location, according to earlier studies.

The purpose of this thesis is to map out and investigate how the banking sector affects a customer?s willingness to change bank, and what the switching costs are for a customer when making these changes. A case study was performed through qualitative and quantitative questionnaires and interviews. The qualitative part was carried out to create hypotheses. The hypotheses was tested in a quantitative survey to be able to either accepted or rejected these them.

Syftet är att analysera vilka variabler som påverkar performance positivt i nystartade BioMed och ITT-företag och i denna process även beskriva och jämföra hur dessa variabler ser ut i de två branschgrupperna och hur företagen har utvecklats. Vi har använt oss av en kvantitativ metod och har genom ett enkätutskick fått empiriskt material från 20 grundare av BioMed-företag och från 30 grundare av ITT-företag. Slutsatserna är att i BioMed påverkas nystartade företags performance positivt av: grundarens ålder, arbetserfarenhet, branschkunskap, start-up-erfarenhet och ett heterogent nätverk. Nystartade ITT-företags performance påverkas positivt av : grundarens ålder, utbildningsnivå, arbetserfarenhet, branschkunskap, antalet grundare, initial kapitalmängd i företaget och att ha affärsänglar och riskkapitalbolag som kapitalkälla. Connects olika insatser får generellt sett inte bra betyg av grundarna och därmed drar vi slutsatsen att Connects betydelse för företagens performance inte är stor.

The research within the management control systems-field and more specifically performance management has been rather shallow and not much has happened the last decades besides the balanced scorecard. The researchers see a lack of studies focusing on the effects of an integrated performance management system and also how it affects the different hierarchical levels and the tasks to perform.We decided to perform an essay with case study-characteristics by looking at both the strategic and tactical level at Volvo Group, or more specifically Group Trucks. We performed three different interviews, one at the group level and two at the division level. The aim was to see what effect an integrated performance management system had on the tactical level (i.e. the divisions).Our findings and corresponding analysis suggested that Volvo was a rather centralized company in order to get the performance management system to work by enabling a ?weekly control?.

Corporate Social Responsibility är ett aktuellt ämne och en strategi som många företag börjar använda sig mer av. Syftet i denna uppsats har varit att titta på tre svenska modebutikskedjor, deras CSR-arbete och CSR:s roll i intrycksstyrningen på företagen och därmed deras anseende.Den centrala teorin i denna studie har varit den om intrycksstyrning skriven av Erving Goffman i hans verkJaget och maskerna(2009). Vi har även använt oss av Archie B. Carrolls teori om CSR-pyramiden.Denna studie är komparativ och tre modeföretag har jämförts i deras intrycksstyrning samt i deras CSR-arbete. Intervjuer har hållits med CSR-ansvariga på respektive företag.

Companies today are facing more and different kinds of demands from the society and their stakeholders. It is no longer enough to just deliver the products, and not just the quality of the products that matter. The consumers are getting more conscious about the many ways in which companies affect the society and the environment in which we live. The financial sector, that among others includes stakeholders such as insurance companies, banks and fund companies are starting to realise the importance of the non- financial issues that companies are encountering. Analysing the companies sustainability when it comes to social and environmental issues, has become an increasingly important factor when for example choosing companies to invest in.

The purpose of the study is to investigate how much interest media has shown selected topics in the corporate governance systems in Germany and Sweden. The four selected aspects are: ownership structure, employee representation on the boards, disclosure of board members? compensation and female directors on the boards. The reasons for and consequences of the similarities and differences will also be discussed. The German and Swedish corporate governance systems construct the key basis of the study, emphasised on the four chosen aspects.

Essay in political science, C-level, by Ronak Bozorgi, fall semester 2007. Tutor:P.O. Norell. ?The affect of financial decline on politician?s activity.

Background: The interest in shares has increased over the years, despite several stock market crashes. One reason for this is the emergence of stock trading online,which makes it easier for individuals to trade in shares. However, there has been much criticism towards financial analyst with the lack of fundamental basis to support their recommendations.Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the share valuation models swedish financial analysts today applies and consider appropriate. A comparison will also be carried out in previous studies, to see if the application of the modelsand their suitability has changed.Method: The study used a qualitative approach with deductive approach. Semistructured interviews were conducted and the basis for the study's primary data.The theories and previous studies obtained through secondary data.Results: Our results demonstrate that no single model applied, is appropriate.

This master?s thesis examines the possibility to heuristically optimise instruction cache performance in a Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler. Programs that do not fit inside the cache all at once may suffer from cache misses as a result of frequently executed code segments competing for the same cache lines. A new heuristic algorithm LHCPA was created to place frequently executed code segments to avoid cache conflicts between them, reducing the overall cache misses and reducing the performance bottlenecks. Set-associative caches are taken into consideration and not only direct mapped caches.

Background: Critical conditions to become an attractive supplier of knowledge based IT-services in the B2B market are many. Besides the fact of supplying a service of high quality one must as a supplier communicate values which are understandable and desirable for a new buyer. Buying a knowledge based IT-service involves several risks; the consultant might not have sufficient knowledge or have difficulties understanding the corporate culture and collaborating with other staff within the client?s organization. Since services are intangible offers and it can be intricate to put right price level for something which can only be evaluated when the project is finished, puts severe strain on suppliers competing with other companies in the same market when looking for new clients.