The master thesis, conducted at Metrima AB, concerns the development of a non-intrusivedistribution meter as a basis for individual tap water billing in apartments.The project is conducted in response to the market interest in individual tap water billing inapartments as an answer to environmental concerns regarding water consumption. Due to thehigh installation cost of traditional water meters, a new method of determining waterconsumption, without having to cut water pipes, is proposed.The proposed method distributes the total water consumption for an apartment complex toindividual apartments according to distribution meters, measuring water run-time, in eachapartment. The water run-time is estimated by measuring the water pipe?s outward vibrationsand temperature changes.A test environment was established and a prototype built, using a tilt- and vibration sensor forvibration sensing and a precision temperature sensor to measure temperature changes. As bothsensors work well in the test environment, further testing was done in 3 apartments for aduration of 5 days.

The importance of human capital in firm valuation is something Huang and Wang points out in there paper from 2008. We expand Ohlson?s valuation model (1995) in line with Huang and Wang (2008) to enhance a market value that includes proxies for human capital. By using human capital based market value and one of Francis, Nanda and Olsson?s (2008) version of earnings quality, we create a value table which aim to sort for undervalued and overvalued companies during the  economic upswing of 2003 to 2007 in the human capital line of business.

After the deregulation of the Swedish pharmacy market customers can be lost due to stock-outs. Optimization of pharmacy inventory levels has thus become increasingly important. To minimize inventory costs while considering the cost of shortages the latter must be estimated. However, the shortage cost is very difficult to compute. Thus, the aim of this paper is to estimate the pharmacy-specific shortage cost parameter and its relation to other inventory costs.

The interest in businesses active on the countryside and their funding situation has increased in recent years. In a survey, conducted by Leif Berndtsson (2003), it was reported that there is a lack of external capital in rural areas. According to Berndtsson (2003) the lack of external capital inhibits the rural firm?s growth. The essay attempts to answer whether the shortage of external capital is a factor that inhibits development for rural businesses.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the price effect on the initial day of trading of IPOs and the price effect on the announcement day of SEOs on Stockholm Stock Exchange. A second purpose it to conduct studies on which factors influencing the price effects and if these factors can be explained by the same fundamental ideas. Theories regarding capital structure and the pricing of IPOs and SEOs are covered. The capital structure theories involve; Miller and Modigliani's cost of captial theory, Static Tradeoff Model and the Pecking Order. The Efficient Market Hypothesis is presented and previous theories are investigated.

This dissertation aims to explore how an investment appraisal differs depending on if it is conducted by a municipal or a private real estate company. Municipal and private real estate companies are not performing on totally equal terms in the property market. A municipal company in Sweden has a public service mission. The consequence due to that mission is that they have limited yield potential but on the other hand the right to certain subsidies. They are also limited by the law of public purchasing (in Swedish: Lag om offentlig upphandling) in the investment process.

The purpose of this research is to examine some historical aspects of Robert Putnam?s thesisabout voluntary associations and social capital. According to a micro perspective theory ofsocial capital the trust and reciprocity required and created by associations is important toexplain the disparity between institutional performance and socioeconomic development ofsocieties. The social patterns governing this therefore set a precedent for the future. Using themutual sickness benefit societies in Sweden as variable for voluntary associations around1884, the essay discusses the possible links between social capital, associations and long termeconomic development.

The objective of this thesis is to examine the capital structure of Swedish small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Accounting data from Swedish game developers, combined with the result from a survey, is used to examine their financial conditions and capital structure decisions. We find that non-debt tax shield, firm size, growth opportunities and age are, to various extents, the determinants of capital structure in the game industry, while effective tax rate and asset structure have marginal effects. Our study also implicates that most of the existing capital structure theories can explain SMEs leverage decisions to some extent; however, some adaptation is needed to fit these theories into the SME context. Additionally, we find the existence of a financial gap in the game industry which might need efforts from both demand side and supply side to eliminate..

The title of this study came about from the title of Robert Putnams book Bowling Alone, where Putnam mentions that less people are bowling in teams than before. Bowling is still a large leisure activity in the USA but people tend to bowl more and more in small groups and less in organized teams. This study deals with social capital and leisure time. Its aim is to find out if some Swedish people create social capital on their leisure time and also how do they spend their leisure time. Robert Putnams book Bowling Alone serves as main background material along with the work by Bo Rothstein.

Background: During extreme market conditions like the period during fall 2008 the discussion of what affects company value becomes apparent. The capital structure is the relation between borrowed capital and equity in a company´s financing mix. What impact changes in capital structure have on company value is a widely debated subject within the theory of finance. If a relationship between capital structure and company value exists the implication is that an optimal capital structure where company value is maximized also exists.Aim: The aim of the thesis is to study whether a certain relationship between capital structure and company value exists among selected stocks and companies listed on Stockholmsbörsens OMXS30.Implementation: With aim to fulfill the purpose of the thesis regression analysis has been performed among chosen stocks and companies. The empirical results eventuating from this have been analyzed from the view of elected relevant theory.Completion and results: We find that during normal market conditions a positive relationship between debt ratio and enterprise value (EV) can be established.

Introduction     Knowledge has come to be an increasingly important factor for both individuals in the labor market and companies in competition. When a person leaves an organization the knowledge often follows, and a knowledge gap is created. When knowledge is shared within an organization, the individual?s knowledge is available for all members of the organization. Knowledge can thus be converted from human capital to structural capital.

Vi har undersökt vilka skillnader som finns mellan investeringsprocessen för corporate venturing och investeringsprocessen för venture capital. Vårt empiriska material består av investeringsprocessen för Volvo Technology Transfer och vårt teoretiska material består av investeringsprocessen för venture capital. Detta är alltså utgångspunkten för vår jämförelse. Våra slutsatser är att det finns vissa väsentliga skillnader mellan processerna. Skillnaderna beror på investerartypernas olika mål och resurser.

Problem Vi har inför genomförandet av studien identifierat två problem. - Vilken typ av företag är lokaliserade i forskningsparken Ideon och hur ser förekomsten av venture capital ut bland dessa? - Är venture capital-situationen annorlunda för företag som valt att lokalisera sig i en forskningspark? Syfte Ett av två delsyften är att göra en kartläggning av företagen i forskningsparken Ideon och förekomsten av venture capital bland dessa. Vårt huvudsyfte, är att undersöka vilka eventuella effekter faktumet att ett företag som söker venture capital är lokaliserat i en forskningspark har, och om detta avviker från de generella sambanden inom venture capital-teorin. Metod Vi har i vår studie arbetat med kvantitativ metod.

This study presents a survey of the capital budgeting methods used in investment decisions by selected Swedish firms. The study has a qualitative approach where the main goal is to increase the understanding of why firms use ?incorrect? capital budgeting methods like the payback method despite the well known fact that it is one of the most faulty methods, according to literature in business finance (Brealey. Myers). The study has specially researched the impact of company?s size, investments size, ownership structure, branch traditions and political risks influence on firms capital budgeting..

The purpose of this master thesis is to, with the strategies of the organization and the preferences of the co-workers in mind, explore how reward systems can be designed in heterogeneous organizations. This is done by interviewing store managers and sales personnel in a heterogeneous organization. The frame of reference deals with theoretical approaches on reward systems and is divided in the following sections, individual or group based, differentiated or not differentiated rewards systems and goals, measurements and rewards. These sections are highlighted from the following aspects, equity, implementation possibilities and finally environment. The theoretical discussion ends in the conclusion that heterogeneous organizations should have several different reward systems, but not if a restructuring process is in progress or the system becomes too costly.