This paper describes and develops a trade off model of optimal capital structure by Bradley et al. (1984). The model is then tested to examine how changes in corporate tax rates affect the optimal capital structure of firms. Based on theoretical implications of the model, four hypotheses are derived stating that firms? optimal debt-to-value ratio is (1) negatively related to financial distress costs, (2) negatively related to non-debt tax shields, (3) negatively related to firm volatility and (4) positively related to the corporate tax rate.

Today, there is no uniform definition of what an ethical fund is. Fund management companies choose themselves what they believe is ethical and not. The lack of the definition makes it difficult for consumers to understand why these funds are special compared to other funds. The purpose of this study is to examine three Swedish companies; KPA Pension, Swedbank Robur and Folksam, to obtain a clearer picture of the concept ethical funds and its definition. The study describes each company's view of Ethics and how they may affect other companies to work for a more sustainable world.

The environmental situation is becoming increasingly critical. The energy sector and other industries have a big impact on our climate and the public is raising their voice for companies to admit their responsibility towards the environment and society. Companies engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and happily disclose their responsible performance in annual reports. But what messages are they conveying in their CSR-reporting, and what attitudes towards CSR can be found underneath the explicit content? The aim of this study is to discover which discourses exist in CSR-reports from Swedish energy companies, and how these discourses operate.

Since the end of the Cold War, foreign aid donors have been using political conditionality to promote human rights, democracy and good governance in recipient countries. This phenomenon has been analyzed and criticized, but mainly from a strictly empirical point of view. In this paper, the legitimacy of political conditionality is analyzed through a normative perspective based on the extrinsic value of efficiency. If the political conditions don?t result in a democratic development, including respect of human rights and good governance, they can not be justified.With at theoretical focus on the donors, based on the unequal relationship between donor and recipient, I am examining the donors? possibility and supposed will to use political conditions in development cooperation.

The purpose of this report is to simplify the process of designing carbon fiber strengthening for existing concrete constructions, specifically beams. The intention has been to establish a flow chart containing information on the necessary testing and calculations for the design, to as far degree it is possible satisfy the requirements stipulated by Swedish and by extension, European authorities.To do this the report will examine a parking garage situated underground by Akademiska Sjukhuset, Uppsala. The parking garage was built in the mid-seventies, and has in recent years been subjected to a greater load than designed for by the construction of a road on top of it. FEM-Design has been used to obtain the internalforces of the beams and thereby determine whether they are in need of strengthening or not and thereafter design the strengthening according to Täljsten (2006) with some corrections from Täljsten (2011) due to new regulations.The result of this report is that the flow chart used is viable to design carbon fiber strengthening, atleast with the conditions met in our reference project.The conclusion drawn after working with this report is that there is a need for a clear standard for carbon fiber strengthening , preferably a standard that can be used throughout Europe..

This report describes a study of two different methods to achive the best possible result in setting out apartment details. These two methods are the setting out of details with a measuring tape from baselines and the setting out procedure with an instrument (totalstation).Through our knowledge in surveying and mapping technology and help from a carpenter, this investigation has been implemented. The setting out using a tape has been performed by letting the carpenter to set out windows, bathroom and water- and drain-details from baselines and drawing. The setting out using a surveying instrument was carried out by means of a Trimble Total Station. These two methods have been compared in order to detect and show the difference that occurs.The report shows the investigation background story from the practice of Swedish Mätcenter in Karlstad.A result of differences in accuracy and time is described in the report, as well as their theoretical consequences.

ABB is one of the world?s leading engineering companies in power and automation technologiesand their solutions improve performance while lowering environmental impacts for energycompanies and industries. ABB FACTS designs equipment and plants for series and phasecompensation.This thesis has been performed at ABB FACTS on the Mechanical Design (DM) department inVästerås, Sweden. The purpose of the thesis was to develop and design calculations andsimulation tools for ABB FACTS?s standard series capacitor platforms.

This report will detail the participator view of partnering in Kvarteret Frodeparken. Kvarteret Frodeparken is a new construction project being jointly delivered by Skanska Sverige AB and Uppsalahem AB. The report will focus on the comparison between the participators view of partnering with an emphasis on common partnering goals. The report will also focus on the economical benefits, the time benefits and the social environment benefits you can find in partnering.The principals of partnering are; participants together make the common goals for the projects, make ice breaking activities to improve stakeholder engagement and working with an open economy to find the profitable choice for the project. With a combination of the three principals the team together decide the best solution for the project.

This bachelor thesis in business economics raises the topic about Corporate Responsibility (CR), this topic is currently being discussed in a variety of channels and today an increasing number of companies are involved in corporate responsibility. How do Skanska work with sustainability and why are they doing this? It is also important to see the results of the work with sustainability will lead to. We will go into more depth in one of Skanska's projects, project M25, to investigate the CR strategies they use and see how they actually work with sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze how and why Skanska is working to implement CR policies in their operations and more specifically from the M25 project in order to achieve sustainable business development.

Corporate social responsibility, CSR, är ett aktuellt koncept och dess efterfrågan ligger till grund för studien. Konceptet präglas av begreppsförvirring som bidrar till att framställningen av konceptet är intressant att studera. Studien syftar till att beskriva hur managementkonceptet CSR framställs i svensk populärmanagementpress utifrån ett utbudsperspektiv, där förespråkare för managementkoncept är identifierade som drivkraft för adoption. I studien utvecklas en modell för hur CSR-konceptet framställs i populärmanagementpress. Genom modellen kan detta beskrivas och analyseras.

Bakgrund: Vi tycker oss kunna skönja en utveckling i Sverige där potentialen för företagens sociala ansvarstagande ökat till följd av att den traditionella trygghetsgaranten, staten, alltmer dragit sig tillbaka. Samtidigt konstaterar vi att begreppen som behandlar detta område ofta saknar konkreta förslag på vilka aktiviteter som är lämpliga för företag att ägna sig åt. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att beskriva statens roll och den allmänna opinionen i det svenska samhället vad avser förutsättningarna för företagens sociala ansvarstagande. Genom att företrädelsevis använda teoribildningen inom Corporate Citizenship ämnar vi visa och förklara vilka konkreta möjligheter detta kan innebära för företag verkandes i Sverige. Genomförande: Empirisk data har företrädelsevis samlats in med en postenkät riktad till 3000 individer ur den svenska allmänheten.

This report is focusing upon relining from a client?s point of view. Potential buyers are given a presentation of the different methods available today together with a general briefing describing the process. An important part of this report are the interviews that took place with already established customers. Property owners, managers, pipe cleaners, and project managers whom all been in contact with relining have answered the questions given along with their own thoughts and have also given recommendations of other persons to talk to.

Background: The design industry is relatively immature in Sweden but large on the international market, where companies have used services from industrial design firms for a long time. Companies incresignly realise that design is an efficient mean to gain competitive advantages on the market. Several design companies fancy growth and to receive a wider market share to expand on the international market. One of them is Design Communicaton who has made a couple of acquisitions, to receive wider comptences and to cover different segments. That has lead to an increased brand portfolio with different subbrands, which can be complicated to handle efficiently in the internal and external communication.

Bolagsstyrningen har förändrats på grund av vissa negativa företagshändelser som inträffade under 2000-talet. Det har blivit ett större fokus på internkontroll och etik. Som ett led i detta har även betydelsen av internrevision ökat. För att öka effektiviteten och kvaliteten på revisionen måste en samverkan mellan interna och externa revisorer äga rum. Förhållandet mellan parterna är avgörande för att fastställa styrningen av företaget.

This report is a part of the process of enhanced cooperation between fire rescue services in the region of North West Scania. The aim of the report is to study and analyze how the fire rescue service should be structured, in terms of rescue units and personnel, if no account is to be taking to the current organization. Two types of accident are considered in the report, traffic accidents and building fires. These are more affected by decreased response time than other accidents. Several suggested organizations are presented and they are evaluated with the computer program REP.