This paper describes and develops a trade off model of optimal capital structure by Bradley et al. (1984). The model is then tested to examine how changes in corporate tax rates affect the optimal capital structure of firms. Based on theoretical implications of the model, four hypotheses are derived stating that firms? optimal debt-to-value ratio is (1) negatively related to financial distress costs, (2) negatively related to non-debt tax shields, (3) negatively related to firm volatility and (4) positively related to the corporate tax rate.

The purpose of this thesis is to shed light on a present trend of professionalization in Swedish local environmental politics, which have recently seen a decline in active participation of the citizens in favor of an increased governmental regulation. With the aim to closer investigate this relatively new phenomenon, the paper is a qualitative single case-study of environmental policies in the Swedish municipality of Karlskrona. In this case, the municipality is obviously balancing between regarding the interests of the national level and the interests of its own citizens at the same time. This motivates the use of system-theory, and relates to the classical political paradox between participation and efficiency which is also a present theme in the paper.This text-analysis based on interviews with personnel and documents from the municipality shows a visible trend of professionalization in the local politics of the municipality of Karlskrona, from a large grade of participation and a strong bottom-up approach in the days of Agenda 21 to now being more strongly top-down defined by national environmental objectives and principally operated on a professional level..

The Swedish National Heritage Board (RAÄ) is the agency of the Swedish government responsible for heritage and historic environment issues. During the last couple of years the agency has implemented a new management control system, the balanced scorecard, originally developed for profit driven organizations. Organizations within the public sector have other objectives than profit seeking organizations, and there have been difficulties in applying the balanced scorecard model in the public sector. Therefore we find it interesting to examine the reasons behind these difficulties and believe that some answers can be found in the identification process of the balanced scorecard. Therefore we aim to perform a case study of RAÄ and explain how the identification process of the components of their balanced scorecard can affect further usage of the model as a management control tool.

Att bara slänga ihop ett användargränssnitt är inte särskilt svårt. Det svåra ligger i att göra det på ett sådant sätt att användaren känner tillförlitlighet och förtroende för det. Genom att titta på teorier om hur vi uppfattar och tar till oss information och hur information kan anpassas för att nå ut till målgruppen, kan man få fram ett gränssnitt som uppfyller några kvalitativa komponenter som utgör användbarhet; learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors och satisfaction. Informationsdesign ger oss verktygen för att uppfylla dessa krav. Att formge efter gestaltlagar, organisera med tydlig struktur och genomarbetad taxonomi med tydliga etiketter, skriva tydliga trovärdiga och språkanpassade texter och minimera bruset genom att ta bort överflödig information bidrar till god informationsdesign.

Algal bloom is a naturally occurring phenomenon and occurs in all waters around the world but in recent years, algal bloom in the Baltic Sea has become more massive and more widely spread. When an algal bloom negative effects on the seawater quality, it may have an impact on tourism in the Baltic Sea. The aim of this thesis is to study, through a survey based on a production function approach, whether an environmental change as algal blooms, influenced the Gotland tourist accommodation industry and their "production of attractive overnight? in the summer of 2005. The results show that algal blooms did not have a great impact on companies ?production of attractive accommodations".

Shell companies are characterized by containing liquid assets such as cash, securities or other similar assets. Transactions of shell companies constitutes a severe problem since the purchaser often has the aim of obtaining undue tax advantages by not paying the tax debt of the company.Historically it has been complicated for the legislator to stop the set-up in an efficient way since the transactions as such are not illegal, instead rather commonly used for example to restructure companies or for the transfer of companies to the younger generation. The purpose of the current legislation is to prevent individuals and corporations to involve in shell company trade. Aiming for an efficient legislation, the tax rate is at a very high level.The issue with the rules is that also honest buyers are at risk of being covered. This calls for high demands in complying with the principle of legal certainty and the possibility to forecast the tax consequences.The purpose of the thesis is to identify and analyze eventual problems when applying the legislation.

The purpose with this essay is to investigate whether the legal capital can be justified as creditor protection and whether the legal capital prevent entrepreneurship.Historically the legal capital has been justified by means of creditor protection. Nowdays the development within EU rather reduces or abolish the legal capital. Sweden has recently, 1 of April 2010, reduced the legal capital from 100 000 Swedish crowns to 50 000 Swedish crowns. In the preparatory work it has been admitted that the legal capital does not in reality offer creditors much protection. Although the lawmaker decides to retain the legal capital and justifies the legal capitals existence with the argument that involuntary creditors has the need of the legal capital.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the companies on Nasdaq OMXS Large and Mid Cap to see if there are interesting patterns regarding their WACC assumptions, used when performing impairment tests on goodwill, during 2007-2009. If so, can we explain these patterns? MethodWe have gathered information about the WACC assumptions presented in the annual reports of the 133 companies that were listed on OMXS Large and Mid Cap during the spring of 2011. To complement this quantitative information we have also conducted an interview with Peter Malmqvist and contacted eight of the companies that were in the study.ConclusionWe can conclude that not all companies present their WACC assumptions in the annual report, even though IAS 36 states that this should be done. Of the 45 companies that were included in our study, eight had lowered their WACC during 2008 and increased it in 2009.

Researchers at Karlstad University have developed a method for making paper ion conducting. The reasearchers want to test this technique in various applications and produce products that make use of the ion-conducting paper. Hopefully this will drive the development forward and result in new applications for the ion-conducting paper.This study was to test the possibility of manufacturing a gas sensor of conducting paper along with electrodes of conductive polymers printed on the paper. By comparing the paper sensor with an electrochemical cell in which the electrodes of conductive polymer replaces electrodes of metal and ion-conductive paper replaces the liquid electrolyte in the electrochemical cell, it was hoped that it would be possible to measure the oxidation and reduction reactions that a gas could introduce at the electrodes.It was shown that it is possible to measure a potential difference in the range of 0.3 V to 0.5 V between the electrodes when exposing an electrode to 100% oxygen. The reaction that takes place is relatively slow and the reaction rate is partly due to the distance between the electrodes.Since the sensor can measure oxidation and reduction reactions it is possible that, in further development of a sensor, the sensor can be made ??into a versatile sensor with more applications than gas measurement as there are many more ways to oxidize or reduce the electrodes than by exposure to oxygen.During the study there have been discussions and meetings held with various companies in the sensor industry to be able to specify what the market demands of a sensor made ??of paper and the requirements that must be placed on the sensor for it to be interesting for the companies..

Background: In a world that are becoming more and more aware of the climate changes that occur as a consequence of the increasing emissions around the world companies? experience that the opinion blame the internal processors for this. Many companies feel forced to align their strategies to the environmental goals set by the community. Some of the emissions the companies? operations can be linked to business trips and it is therefore interesting to see how these can be reduced by using different performance measures.

Förr i tiden producerades musik med analog hårdvara och datorer användes inte i någon vidare utsträckning. På 80-talet introducerades datorer och nu produceras nästan all musikmed hjälp av datorer. Denna uppsats belyser om, och i så fall hur, införandet av datorer i musikproduktion har påverkat musikproducenter i deras arbete i vardagen. Vi har intervjuat ett antal musikproducenter för att se hur deras användande av datorer i sina arbetsuppgifter har förändrat, förbättrat och försämrat deras arbete. Undersökningenhar genomförts med avstamp i ett sonderingssamtal med en musikproducent på en musikstudio i Malmö för att sedan mynna ut i semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem musikproducenter.

Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att kartlägga hur effektiva privata vårdcentraler är, som har avtal med Stockholms läns landsting. Effektiviteten, som i denna studie definieras som vinst, har mätts förhållande till antal patienter, antal läkare och antal läkarbesök.Metod: Undersökningen har en deduktiv utgångspunkt och en kvantitativ undersökning har genomförts där empiri har samlats in med hjälp av enkäter samt med en kompletterande telefonintervju. Resultaten jämförs med motsvarande nyckeltal för friskolor.Teoretiska perspektiv: De teorier som presenteras i denna uppsats är privatisering, PPP, effektivitet och konkurrens.Empiri: Det empiriska avsnittet består dels av sekundärdata; SLL?s ersättningssystem, information från tre vårdbolags och en friskolas årsredovisningar, dels av primärdata; enkätsvaren och resultatet från intervjun.Slutsats: Författaren kommer fram till att privata vårdcentraler är effektivare än friskolor gällande vinst i förhållande till läkare/lärare, men att de är mindre effektiva än friskolor gällande vinst i förhållande till patient/elev..

Uppsatsens syfte är att analysera den nominella växelkursens påverkan på utrikeshandel och göra en jämförande studie mellan ett EU-land (Sverige) och ett EMU-land (Tyskland). Fokus för denna undersökning kommer att ligga på vad som skedde med utrikeshandeln under de två ekonomiska kriserna på 2000-talet, men även ge en generell bild för utrikeshandeln under hela perioden 2000-2010. Uppsatsen avser att besvara om det finns några skillnader i hur ländernas handel påverkades under kriserna med avseende på växelkursen, samt om handelssammansättningen av handelspartners förändrats. Detta kommer undersökas för att se hur Sveriges utrikeshandel påverkats av att stå utanför EMU.Resultaten visar på att den nominella växelkursen inte haft stor betydelse för utrikeshandeln under den undersökta tidsperioden. Både export och import har ökat under perioden, men det går inte att finna någon direkt koppling till växelkursförändringar.

This paper aims to give a comprehensive view in which extent Swedish legislation concerning trafficking in human beings (Brottsbalken 4 kap. 1a §) is efficient. Qualitative interviews have been carried out with professionals within the judicial system in order to comprehend various aspects of efficiency relating to legislative validation of trafficking regarded human beings. Consent, coercion and control brings up miscellaneous issues. Personal observations by authorized people within the area was therefore viewed and found to be highly essential.

A too large public sector impedes the economic development of Sweden and more privatization could increase the efficiency, quality and diversity of the services offered. It is therefore important that firms operating in traditionally public sectors are given the opportunity to grow. We have through a case study examined two mid-size firms that offer services to, and compete with, the public sector. This thesis aims to describe the growth strategies these firms are using and if competing with the public sector implies any differences in possibilities or barriers when it comes to the firms? growth.