The agricultural sector has historically seen stable prices and a relatively constant demand for its products. Companies within the sector have generally had few loans and large sums of money tied in assets. The profitability of the companies has on the other hand been low. Together these circumstances have determined the creditors? demands on the companies within the sector and have formed the rules and regulations that exist today.

AbstractCompanies in the Swedish process industry has for a long time spent a lot of capital in high-tech development, which have given them increased ability to compete with high quality and excellent technical knowledge, which has given them greater opportunities to grow on the market. But it?s not enough to achieve success with new products and service; it must also be consistent what market wants and preferably something exceptional. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that are predominantly success factors and how they may affect the sales target of a new product, in this case Frövi White. Another objective of the study was to examine how Korsnäs Frövi communicates and transforms information as requests and demands from customers into refined material. To obtain relevant information to the study several interviews with respondents from most of the value chain in Korsnäs Frövi has been carry out.

Background and problemThe Swedish mobile market is highly competitive despite the oligopoly that currently exists. A short product life cycle together with fads and new innovations puts pressure on the operators to respond to the ever changing environment and to develop and adapt their strategies after it.As a previous study regarding a specific operator?s strategy was cancelled due to the extensive confidentiality surrounding it, an interest was sparked to perform an industry analysis as this is clearly something the actors spend a great deal of time on developing. The launch of the 4G network will offer new opportunities for the operators regarding products services. It may also impact the competition on the overall market.PurposeThe purpose of this thesis is to present a deep analysis of the industry and give the reader a comprehensive picture of existing conditions.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the occurrence of Cosmetic Earnings Management (CEM) among Swedish companies. CEM refers to the small upward rounding of reported net income to reach cognitive reference points. Important cognitive reference points are multiples of ten (N*10^x) of reported net income and rounding towards these has been documented in other markets around the world over the last 20 years. The occurrence of CEM on the Swedish market is studied using digital analysis, frequency testing and Benford's law. Firstly, reported net income of publicly traded companies between 1996 and 2010 is examined.

The role-playing game attracts a growing number of practisers. The aim of this master?s thesis is to examine role-playing literature as phenomenon in libraries through librarians´ attitudes. The paper is based on qualitative interviews with eight librarians: one personal interview with two librarians and six e-mail interviews with six librarians at different libraries. The paper starts with a definition of the term ?role-playing game?, its different categories and genres and a description of its background.

The interest for venture capital within the financial sector in Sweden has, according to earlier studies, been seen as a growing occurrence. Especially for what is known as informal venture capital. In modern times, private investors who engage themselves in small, unlisted companies, providing informal venture capital are to be known as business angels. They close equity gaps on the financial market by contribute financial capital to start-ups and are therefore an important participant on today?s market.

Kommunikationsbyråerna intar nyckelpositioner i dagens marknadsekonomi där det läggs en stor tilltro i den enskilda individens rationella förmågor. Reklamen bemöts med mycket kritik men anses ändå vara ett kommunikationsmedium som kan säkerställa att de utbyten som sker på konsumentmarknaden verkligen är miljömässigt värdeskapande för de parter som ingår i utbytesprocessen. Studien bygger på kvalitativa samtalsintervjuer med personer på åtta olika kommunikationsbyråer i Sverige. Studien redogör för byråernas insyn i kundföretagen och de intervjuades åsikter och värdegrund i miljöfrågor. Byråerna har överlag interaktiva och långvariga kundrelationer som både säkerställer en god insyn i det beställande företaget.

The European Union has been working to promote equality between women and men for a long time. Despite this, Sweden still have a gender segregated labor market where men generally has the leading positions. According to European law the member states shall promote gender equality and to take all appropriate measures. Statutory gender quotas for company boards is one such measure that some of the European member states have implemented in national law. The Swedish law has no provisions governing gender quotas and therefore the purpose of this study is to explain how gender quotas for company boards relate to current law, both of European law and national legislation.

This paper studies the research foundations created in 1994 from the former wage earners? funds out of a portfolio management point of view. Firstly it describes the seven largest foundations and their different portfolio management structures. Secondly it analyses the performance of these foundations measured as the intercept, Jensen?s a, in a linear regression of the excess returns of a portfolio versus a proxy for the market, as well as the Sharpe-ratio.

In the spring of 2009 Silva Sweden AB was contacted for a collaboration within the scope of a MasterThesis project. The company had discussed the possibility to develop a device that monitors usermovement during different types of exercise. The objective of this Master Thesis has therefore been todevelop and design a multi training device that records the user?s physical performance during severalactivities. The purpose of the thesis project has been to use scientific methods for product development inorder to design a multi device that supplements Silva?s range of products.The project followed a product development process divided into four phases; Market Analysis, ConceptCreation, Concept Development and Construction.

The Swedish carrot market is dominated by a few big companies and three of them stands for 50 % of the market. During the last twenty years the number of growers has decreased, the area and the harvest have increased. The big producers have invested in advanced and expensive postharvest equipment that fulfils the high standards of the food industry. Few carrot producers are members of an organisation and they keep contacts with there buyers one by one. The buyers are mostly wholesalers and these have during a long period of time decreased the number of suppliers.

Purpose: The essay was designed to examine what impact an increased media concentration in the provincial press may have on the society in the future. I also had the intention to create a greater understanding of the concept of media concentration and how the media groups relate to the public interest. Method: The work with this study was conducted by using methods from the qualitative methodological arsenal through interviews with, for the study, relevant informants, but also through a case report on the Stampen Group. The selection of informants had a background and a breadth which secured the credibility in this survey. The starting point was taken in previous research via a deductive approach where I tested how existing theories match reality. Conclusion: After completing this study should be noted that all respondents believe we will see a greater concentration of ownership in the Swedish media market in the future, and that it will reduce diversity. However, there are steps to take which I believe can work well in theory but perhaps not always in practice.

The competition has increased with the establishment of the new banks and the credit institutes taking on the market, the big banks are no longer alone on the market.In speed with the increased range, have also the marketing and the recruit of new bank customers become more driven.Bank customers with lacks in the Swedish language, is a segment with potential which doesn?t get used by the banks and in turn of that the bank customers doesn?t get their needs satisfied.The purpose with this survey was to analyze if the four largest banks, Föreningssparbanken, Handelsbanken, Nordea and SEB had prepared strategies that were directed to bank customers with lacks in the Swedish language. In those cases the banks had strategies, respective measures were presented.Furthermore the bank customers with lacks in the Swedish language were studied if they experienced that the banks were using measures to satisfy their language needs in contact with the banks and presented the benefit of them.The information about the banks strategies was assembled through interviews with persons from each bank. The bank customers experience was assembled through a questionnaire survey.The result showed that the banks hade different strategies for reaching out to these customers, it was from showing understanding to multicultural offices. Half of the customers appreciated that the banks pressured themselves for them by being patient, explained the services and in some cases had staff that could several language.

Recently, retailers within the Swedish grocery retail sector have launched lines of products under its own brand, quite often produced by manufactures within the same category of products. The common term of this phenomenon is called private labels. Therefore, private labels could be seen as competitors against branded goods, despite the fact that it is, in several cases, the same manufacturer who produces each of the products.The main purpose of this study is to provide understanding of how the manufacturers choose to position themselves, formulate their strategies and compete on the market among private labels, also to examine the motive behind the manufacturer's choice to produce private labels. The study intends to provide a broader view of how the interaction between manufacturers, retailers, private labels and branded goods appears on the Swedish market. We decided to use a qualitative research method and personal interviews to approach the study.

Background: The value of stock recommendations have been debated for a century andthe debate has escalated since Alfred Cowles (1933) published his research in ?Can StockMarket Forecasters Forecast?? As of late, savings in stocks has increased and the householdsare managing their savings more actively. The consequence of the increased interestin stocks has resulted in a growing market for stock recommendations. Not just financialmedia but daily newspapers have embraced this new found interest, hence stock recom-mendations can be found in almost all large newspapers in Sweden. Furthermore, this phe-nomenon has also lead to intensified research within stock recommendations.