Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine whether hedge funds generate higher risk-adjusted returns than traditional managed funds in Sweden.Methodology: This study was based on quantitative data about the funds historical returns. The funds historical returns were taken from the database Morningstar and the risk-free rate from the Swedish central bank. Random samples of 36 funds have been divided into three portfolios in the form of a hedge fund portfolio, stock portfolio and mix fund portfolio.Result & Conclusion: The study concluded that the stock portfolio has shown the highest average yield for the study period where all portfolios below market index. Hedge fund portfolio has achieved the highest risk-adjusted return calculated by the portfolios Sharpe Ratio. Of all hedge strategies, arbitrage had the highest average return and risk-adjusted returns..

This thesis studies the customer relationships and customer accounting methods used by a Swedish fashion company. The aim is to test the empirical applicability of the relationship based framework developed by Lind and Strömsten and to explain potential differences between empirical observations and theory. The framework is based on the categorization of four customer relationship groups and the appropriate customer accounting methods to be used for each relationship. The fashion company, that recently assessed the profitability of its customer base in an aim to implement a new customer strategy, is the object of the qualitative case study. The case study reveals that all customer relationships are to be found at Whyred, except the connective customer relationship.

Intresset för ämnet uppstod under en av mina verksamhetsförlagda utbildningar då dokumentationsmetoden disskuterades med verksamma inom förskolan. Bilden som målades upp kring arbetet med portfolio var då att pedagogerna nästan inte har någon tid att arbeta med dessa i den dagliga verksamheten, men också att dokumentation inte tas tillvara på i ett senare skede för ett vidare lärande. Studien syftar till att synliggöra arbetet med portfolio som dokumentationsmetod i ett urval av förskolor. Studien är gjord på tre olika förskolor belägna i två olika kommuner i södra Sverige. För att få en insikt i ämnet görs kvalitativa intervjuer med pedagoger som arbetar på de olika förskolorna. Pedagogerna som intervjuats är väl insatta i ämnesområdet och har arbetat i förskola och med portfoliometoden under en längre tid. Studien utgår från ett sociokulturellt perspektiv på lärande.

During the last 15 years the Swedish media market has developed a great deal, thanks to the rise of new media. Literature, articles and investigations have contributed to producing the chapter of background of this essay. How the local newspaper and its organization has changed over time is being accounted in this essay. From the newspaper being the only product on the market to now having a spread out product portfolio. By doing the qualitative interview with research representatives of six local newspapers the aimis to answer the following questions: Who were your competitors 15 years ago? Who are your competitiors today? In what way has the increased competition changed your way of working at the division of advertisement and how do you consider the the increase of mediachannels having affected the customer? How do you see the future? The main results show that all six representatives agree on the fact that the competition has increased during the last 15 years.

Abstract: Private equity used to be synonymous with tremendous yields and rates of return. However, the private equity market trembled in 2008, due to the financial meltdown caused by the worldwide credit crisis. Considering the current low number of exits within the private equity industry, the purpose of this thesis is to examine if there has been any change in how private equity firms control their portfolio companies since the inception of the crisis. One private equity company and two portfolio companies have been studied. The case study is prepared from interviews with senior directors in the portfolio company and investment managers in the private equity firm.

BakgrundI bakgrunden beskrivs erfarenhetsbaserad litteratur från förskolans verksamhet som bygger på erfarenheter och kunskaper om portfolion och dess användning. Inom förskolan kan portfolion vara en pärm som synliggör barnets lärande och utveckling i form av olika alster. Portfoliometodik är ett arbetssätt som handlar om kunskapssyn, barnsyn och förhållningssätt. I arbetet med portfolion observerar och dokumenterar pedagoger barnets lärande och utveckling. Portfoliometodiken utgår även från läroplanen i förskolan och skolan.

Purpose The purpose of our study was to investigate the changing nature of volatility during the last 80 years. Like in an American study, we tried to find some trends in the risk of stocks and bonds that would have an impact on the balance of a portfolio of stocks and bonds. At the same time we investigated the influence of inflation on the choice of portfolio. Methods We have used standard statistic tools and formulas to obtain our results. In most cases it was a matter of calculating average and standard deviation.

This paper examines how companies in a transparent industry work to satisfy the customer in an extended way, to offer value added products that in the end enables the customer to be loyal to the company. We have studied the insurance industry in Sweden and have focused on five different insurance companies. Four of them, Folksam, Länsförsäkringar, Trygg-Hansa and Dina Försäkringar, where we have focused on Ölands Försäkringar which is part of the Dina Försäkringar group, are some of the largest insurance companies in Sweden. The fourth company is Swedbank which is a bank that has started to offer insurances.Our results demonstrate that it is important for the company to see the customer not only in a profitability aspect; the company has to find out what the customer gets in return. In that case the possibility for the customer to change company decreases and the chance that the customer becomes loyal increases.

Banks find themselves at a highly competitive market where it is important to achieve high customer satisfaction if they want to attract customers and stay competitive. Some studies suggest that the gap between customer expectations and perception within the five quality dimensions influences the customer satisfaction. With SERVQUAL the authors of this thesis have investigated the suggested relationship and have discovered no indications of a relationship between the gap and customer satisfaction. Instead the results indicate that there is a relationship between perceived service and customer satisfaction. The thesis also indicates that the most important quality dimension for the bank customer is reliability.

Our purpose with this thesis was to study how tourism providers deliver quality to their customers. We chose to carry out two case studies where we interviewed an owner of a camp site, and a municipal manager employed at another camp site. The questions were based on customer needs, service quality and dissatisfaction. The study gave us some useful aspects. The respondents told us that it was very important to the tourist providers to listen to the customer´s specific needs and to give them personal attention.

In order to drive innovation and growth in a nation is it important to have innovative companies. Many of those innovative companies are smaller companies, which are in need of capital injections for expansion of its operations or to be able to produce a commercial product. In many cases the banks will not lend because they believe there is too great a risk that they will not get their money back. It is in this situation venture capital becomes interesting. Venture capitalists? see the potential the product and/or entrepreneur possesses and are therefore more willing to take the risk in investing in these companies.

Högskolan iJönköpingHögskolan förlärande och kommunikationD-uppatsLärande 91-120 hp.AbstractAnna Jakobsson & Catarina MarkusLära genom portfolio ? men vad?? En kvalitativ studie om några elevers lärande med portfolio som redskap och metodÅr: 2008 Antal sidor: 47I föreliggande studie är huvudsyftet att utveckla kunskap om elevers och pedagogers kvalitativt skilda uppfattningar av vilket lärande som elever utvecklar genom arbete med portfolio. I ett vidare syfte jämförs skillnader och likheter av uppfattningar.Bakgrunden sammanfattar kort vad portfolio kan innebära. Forskning kring reflektion, metakognition, värdering och bedömning kopplas som centrala element till portfolioarbetet.Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt är den fenomenografiska forskningsansatsen och som metod har använts en halvstrukturerad intervjuform. Undersökningsgruppen innefattar nio elever i år 5- 6, samt fem pedagoger.Resultatet visar på kvalitativa skillnader i uppfattningar av vilket lärande som utvecklas hos elever genom portfolioarbete.

Customer information is to be seen as an essential part in service development. The company should be aware of how their customers experience their services. The company can get access to customer information through complaints from their customers. All information obtained from the customers is not possible to use when developing new and existing services. The information has to be analysed before it is possible to use it for service development.This paper describes if Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) uses their customers as a source of knowledge when developing new and existing services and in that case how.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine what the communication between bank and customer looks like. We have more specifically studied how the bank communicates with the customer when communicating different offers, how the customer wants the communication to take place, what communication problem looks like and how the customer wants the bank to design their offers. Our target group was bank customers with academic degree, with one to seven years of working experience. This study was conducted trough interviews with bank customers and representatives at the bank. On the basis of our studies we found that the communication between bank and customer works fairly well.

The purpose of this paper has been to describe the project manager's experience of the customer relationship in customer order projects. A qualitative interview study has been conducted in which seven project managers were interviewed. A thematic analysis resulted in four overall themes. The results showed the importance of a clear, responsive and open communication as well as a large degree of customization to meet the customer the best way as possible. The experience was also characterized by a dynamic relationship and the importance of the customer's expectations.