This thesis studies private equity firms' implementation of management control systems in their portfolio companies and whether the systems are affected by cross-national differences. A comparative case study examines five different private equity firms to derive if there are any differences between the private equity firms' management control systems in the United States, Europe and China. The empirical observations are categorized according to the framework developed by Merchant (1985) and further developed by Merchant and Van der Stede (2003). Theory on the effect of multinationality on management control systems, also developed by Merchant and Van der Stede (2003), are used to explain possible findings. The applied theory includes the cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede (1984) and Hofstede and Bond (1988).

I want to, but how? My work is a research of the creative process. I have asked myself how ideas take form and how materials can become bearers of ideas. The work has been treated as an action rather than an object. The result shows my research and my interpretation: the process and result are the same..

Arbetet handlar om inkludering och beskriver en kommuns strategi för att förändra sin verksamhet från en exkluderad särskola till att alla elever erbjuds plats på sin hemskola..

The project has been done in cooperation with Schenker Åkeri AB in Sweden, Halmstad. Theproject is based on an inspection made by Arbetsmiljöverket, where they found minorshortcomings with distribution of goods for the employees. The project is an investigation ofthe drivers? working environment.Schenker Logistics is one of the world's leading providers of integrated logistics services.Schenker Åkeri AB is a subsidiary to Schenker Logistics and transports 2.4 million tons ofgoods yearly.The project started with a background study to evaluate drivers working environment. Wehave studied goods receptions, the working environment, strain injury and injury mechanisms.Methods used was observations, tests, questionnaire surveys and ergonomic andbiomechanical calculations.One result of the study is a working model, which gives recommendations for the maximumweight a driver should push and pull.

The aim of this study is to investigate which management control mechanisms evolve in companies that receive funding from Venture Capital companies and why the management control systems evolve in the way that they do. A case study was performed on three Swedish high technology companies, that all received funding from Venture Capital companies for the first time in 2006. Merchant?s framework, defining all management control mechanisms as either, results control, action control or personnel control, was used to structure the study. Results show that the companies that received Venture Capital all increased the use of management control mechanisms within results control, action control and personnel control.

Umeå Energi are working towards a goal, that in the year of 2018, they will be completely climate neutral. As a part of this, one target is to reduce their grid losses by 4 % of the 2012 level, which corresponds to an overall reduction of the grid losses of just over 1.7 GWh. In many residential areas, the distribution grid is designed and rated for electric heating as the heating in the houses. As many of the houses later has been converted to other types of heating, their electricity use has decreased and the total power output from many of the secondary substations has decreased significantly. Because of this, many of these stations today are well oversized, which in turn means that the energy losses in these stations are unnecessarily high.In this degree project, 25 secondary substations have been studied, all located in residential areas in and around central Umeå.

This thesis examines the multiplatform design issues of a development project using agile project methods and how they were resolved. Data was gathered through observation, photography and keeping of a journal using action research as a methodological framework. The thesis is concluded with recommendations on how to deal with these issues in similar projects under similar conditions..

ABSTRACT This essay is about traffic analysis of Web servers. The purpose is to investigate if companies analyse the traffic on the Web server and if they use this information to create more than simple statistic reports. The questions that we will answer are the following: ? How common is traffic analysis on the Web server among companies? ? Is the Web administrator limited in analysing the Web traffic, if the company has the website on a Web hotel? ? Does the company uses the results they get from analysing the traffic on the Web server for updates and changes on the Web page? To answer these questions we made a questionnaire investigation by telephone interviewing the companies? webmasters. The extent of the investigation was 20 companies in Blekinge.

Animal welfare is of increasing concern in present society. In commercial pig farming, animal welfare problems are common. One of the causes for these problems is the barren environment in which pigs are housed, which can cause oral manipulation of pen mates. Providing straw might be one solution to this problem. Another solution could be reached through genetic selection.

Aquatic organisms are usually not exposed to single substances but rather to mixtures of toxicants in streams located in agricultural areas. The transport of pesticides used in the agricultural area in Sweden is monitored with continuous environmental supervision every year. During 2002-2008 an average of 10 pesticides were found in each sample and 40% of the samples contained substances with concentrations higher than the Water Quality Standards. Chemical risk management is normally based on single-test evaluations. A problem when assessing mixture toxicities is that the constituents and concentrations of pollutants in the environment vary greatly.

This study where designed to investigate if there are any positive relationship between the extent of physical activity during adolescent's leisure time and the academic performance, and also if there are any negative relationship between the academic performance and the time spent in front of the television or computers. Another part of the study tried to find out if physical activity has a direct and immediate influence on the performance in school. 91 pupils (51 girls and 40 boys) in the 8:th year of the Swedish primary school, from three different schools participated in the study. All 91 pupils first responded to a questionnaire concerning there activities in leisure time. They where then tested in a mathematical test and the results where compared with the extent of physical activity and TV/computer time they had stated in the questionnaire.

In this paper discourse analysis on the Ethiopian National Action Program (NAP) to combat desertification is made. The aim is to describe how the overall image/picture of desertification, its causes, and effects and of possible solutions are presented in the NAP. The result of this analysis shows that the main cause of desertification is human activities mainly due to the poorly developed socio-economic situation in the dryland areas. It is indicated that an excessive dependency of the rural population on the natural resources, particularly land, is the major cause of land degradation and this deterioration of land is said to have been caused by the rapid population growth, overgrazing, forest clearing as well as past government and institutional failures. In addition it is indicated that the effect of desertification usually involves ecological changes that sap land of its ability to sustain agriculture and human habitation, therefore the most serious threat to human welfare.

The thesis deals with packaging of real estate?s; an approach concerning tax benefits with the purpose to sell real estates in a more beneficial process than what is doable in direct sales. The proceeding can be beneficial because of the rules in Inkomstskattelagen (19999:1229) regarding underpriced transfers and selling of business related shares.  The real estate owner initiates the procedure through an establishment of an affiliate to a previously wholly owned parent company, where the real estate is the solitary asset of the affiliate. In order to fulfill the rules of underpriced transfers the transfer from the parent company shall be valued in regards to the tax value, else it will be taxed.

Aquatic organisms are usually not exposed to single substances but rather to mixtures of toxicants in streams located in agricultural areas. The transport of pesticides used in the agricultural area in Sweden is monitored with continuous environmental supervision every year. During 2002-2008 an average of 10 pesticides were found in each sample and 40% of the samples contained substances with concentrations higher than the Water Quality Standards. Chemical risk management is normally based on single-test evaluations. A problem when assessing mixture toxicities is that the constituents and concentrations of pollutants in the environment vary greatly.

This study examines use and users of information and records originating in the context of a contemporary police organisation. This area of research has only been of focus for a relatively few researchers. This in contrast to use and users of historical archives which has been in centre for more studies. The study is conducted with a quantitative method structuring data from 120 selected registered matters containing user queries. The research questions addressed are:- what user categories use the records of the authority- which are the ways of contacting the authority preferred by the users- which are the identifiers provided by the users and how well are they matched by the search artefacts available to the staff of the authority- what information and records are sought-after by the users.For comparing the identifiers provided to the search artefacts has been selected the two most frequently used registry systems within the authority.