This study aims to investigate how federations manage to balance the Economies of Scale through collaboration and autonomy. This is done through a case study on Länsförsäkringar. The lack of modern research on federations makes the federative structure an interesting field of study. Previous research has shown a general perception that an increased pressure on efficiency and Economies of Scale creates a stronger common unit that eventually creates an imbalance in the federation. It is therefore interesting to look at the balance, which exists between the member units and the common unit of a federation.

The structure and performance of grocery distribution in Sweden has changed profoundly since the second world war. Increasing access and usage of the private car, in combination with an accommodating town planning has enhanced the exploitation of scale economies within distribution firms. There is, however, some ambiguity concerning the overall efficiency of the distribution system when the costs associated with travelling and purchasing performed by households are treated as an integrated part of the total distribution cost function. The purpose of this master thesis is to develop the foundation of a spatial optimisation model, which defines the most efficient distribution system. The underlying idea is that the optimal localisation and size of grocery stores is a function of Economies of Scale within the firms weighed against distributions costs within the households, such as transportation costs.

The recent development in several countries? legislation and best practice recommendations in relation to corporate governance in general and audit committees in particular have affected Swedish listed corporations in the form of the Swedish Corporate Governance Code and the coming EU-directive. This paper aims to discover what factors affected Swedish listed companies to form audit committees when this was entirely voluntary. We collected data from the annual reports of 121 Swedish listed companies and formed eleven hypotheses as to what factors we believed affected the voluntary formation of audit committees based on Agency Theory, Economies of Scale and circumstances specific to the Swedish environment. We then analyzed the data through the use of a multivariate logistic regression model.

Multi-branch companies are facing many challenges in order to become successful. Competitive advantages can be gained through a unified strong brand, standardised products and Economies of Scale. This normally calls for centralisation. On the contrary is decentralisation, which is said to improve work motivation and local market orientation, which are also competitive advantages. The focus of this thesis is to study how local branch managers want their companies to be structured in accordance with this dilemma.

The main purpose of this essay is to investigate if Latvia´s pattern of trade has become more similar to the mature market economies, after Latvia´s independence 1991.Today, the intra-industry trade (IIT) dominates the trade of mature market economies. One of the pioneers of intra-industrial trade is Paul Krugman, who was the first to emphasize the importance "of scale and consumers' desire for variety" in explaining the basis for modern commerce. Customers get more variety and usually cheaper goods when the market gets bigger. I mainly use the modern trade theories to explain the trade pattern in Latvia. To measure how Latvia has developed its intra-industry trade, and thereby is approaching the mature market economies´ trade pattern, I use the Grubel-Lloyd index (GL-index).

 This paper evaluates the effect of exchange rate risk on the sum of bilateral trade. To distinguish the effect between different types of countries, two groups are defined: advanced and developing economies. Economic theory on exchange rate risk and trade proposes ambiguous effects of increased volatility. However, the ex ante hypothesis is that developing economies are more sensitive to volatility. Contrarily to the hypothesis, the empirical results suggest that advanced economies would benefit up to twice as much from a removal of exchange rate risk.

Abstrakt The yield curve as a forecasting tool for inflation has been thoroughly investigated. However, most of these studies considered only the major economies, such as the U.S. economy or the major European economies and not a small open economy such as the Swedish. The Swedish economy should be much more affected by the world economy then the bigger economies. The purpose with this study is then to investigate whether the Swedish yield curve, or the Swedish interest rate, can be used as forecasting tools for the Swedish inflation.

Many consulting firms offer tailor-made solutions within complexity management, but these are not general frameworks built upon theories. Carlsberg are dealing with a large complexity within their one-way glass bottles, as they are growing by acquisitions, and are not attained enough Economies of Scale. This thesis balances the packaging complexity, with platform theory as a foundation. Twelve platforms were developed at Carlsberg, containing 21 bottles, and the calculated savings potential for applying these are EUR 28,9 million..

When one experiences a place, it is a complex composition of both social and spatial factors.One of these spatial elements, is scale, which is influenced both by the room size and itsproportions. This paper aims to explore both large and small scale concepts and thus increasethe understanding of how scale directly and indirectly affects the experiences and uses ofurban space.First, is a theoretical discussion of scale in relation to aesthetics and the differencesbetween real scale and perceived scale. Next, is an analysis of spatial perception usingexamples from two existing sites. One, which is understood to have been planned in a largescale and one which is understood to have been planned in a small scale.When preparing this paper, the focus quickly became the importance of scale as itrelates to street spaces. The perception of a street usually takes place while in motion, whichforces it to be perceived in sections.

The past and ongoing structural change in Swedish agriculture has led to an increasing number of large-scale farms. The biological factors associated with large-scale farming operations may cause increasing variability, risk and reduced yields due to sub-optimal timing and management of field operations. The theory of Economies of Scale suggests that largescale production may benefit from lower costs due to scale efficiencies. Thus, large-scale farms may face cost reductions in terms of long term inputs factors, e.g. agricultural machinery.

The population over 65 years of age is increasing and health in elderly has been a subject of research for decades but voice function and vocal health has not been prioritized. The purpose of this study is to obtain reference value for the Swedish version of Voice Handicap Index (RHI) and the Throat Scale among people over 65 years of age and assess voice function and vocal health for this age group. The questions were as followed:1) What is the reference value of RHI for people over 65 years of age? 2) What is the reference value of the Throat Scale for people over 65 years of age? 3) Is there a correlation between a self-rated VA-scale on the perceived degree of voice problems, and the self-rated RHI-/Throat Scale result? 4) Does age, gender or previous profession matter for the self-perceived voice?In total 100 individuals participated in the study, 50 women and 50 men, between 65 and 92 years old. The reference value of RHI for people over 65 years of age was 13,4 points and the reference value for the Throat Scale was 7,7 points.

Assessing and measuring post-operative pain in all animals is a challenge, but doing it in small mammals, for example guinea pigs, presents an even larger difficulty. Validated pain scales developed for use in dogs in clinical practice are currently available, but no such scale has been widely accepted for use in guinea pigs in the veterinary setting. In this experimental study, six guinea pigs that had undergone surgery and anaesthesia were observed for behavioural changes that could be associated with pain. The six guinea pigs were also given pain scores with the use of Colorado State University Feline Acute Pain Scale (CSU-APSF), a scale which uses both behaviour when not handled, body tension and response to palpation to evaluate pain intensity. The six guinea pigs showed a number of different behaviours, for example rigid posture, fixed stare and ?wet dog response? (the body is vigourosly shaken), that could be associated with pain.

Abstract During the last 15 years, the former ?really existing socialist? economies have undertaken an extensive transition process. In this paper the development, measured as GDP growth, is analyzed using variables for economic policy. The analysis is both theoretical, taking as starting point current positions in academia, and econometrical with the linear regression model. We show that while economic policy variables of inflation, economic freedom and institutional quality affect economic growth, the results are not only the ones predicted by the theory.

This paper studies patterns of consumption within a product category. Using make-up as a base for the study, we applied the Mokken Scale to examine if consumers follow a hierarchical pattern when buying items within the product category. Based on a survey of 250 female respondents, we establish a hierarchic scale for consumption. Assuming generally accepted attributes for determining physical attractiveness, the results of the Mokken Scale study were cross referenced with a survey among 200 male and female respondents. Students were asked to evaluate pictures of a model using different combinations of make-up, i.e.

Electrooculogram (EOG) data was used to develop, adjust and validate a method for drowsiness detection in drivers. The drowsiness detection was based on changes in blink behaviour and classification was made on a four graded scale. The purpose was to detect early signs of drowsiness in order to warn a driver. MATLAB was used for implementation. For adjustment and validatation, two different reference measures were used; driver reported ratings of drowsiness and an electroencephalogram (EEG) based scoring scale.