The purpose of the thesis has been to explore the use of hedge fund styles when constructing portfolios of hedge funds (i.e. funds of hedge funds). The central question is if the use of hedge fund styles can significantly explain and improve risk adjusted returns (characterized by Sharpe ratios). The study has been done in collaboration with Optimized Portfolio Management AB who desire further knowledge and evaluation of hedge fund styles for their fund of hedge funds.To be able to create successful ex ante portfolios we have explored various prediction models for both risk and return. Our findings indicate that return prediction is problematic using simple models such as regression since the risk exposure of the indices appear to change significantly over time.

Farmers are constantly facing changes, and the exposure to risk requires monitoring these changes. Financial risks, institutional risks, market risks and production risks are the different risk categories that the farmers face. Production risks stems from factors the farmer cannot affect or is beyond his control. The crop?s output is the basis for the primary income of agricultural operations, which is why it is important for farmer to manage their production risk. A tool to reduce the consequences of production risks is crop insurance.

There are several Project Management Softwares onthe market today. These tools are powerful andextensive to the degree they become too timeconsumingand complex and therefore often defeatits original purpose. This is the case especiallywhen the project manager is inexperienced and/orthe scope of the project is moderate.The purpose of this thesis arose from this context,there seems to be a gap between a home-made MSExcel spread sheet and the advanced softwaresavailable. The thesis and the product has beendeveloped in alliance with Faveo ProjectManagement with the shared goal to create a toolwhich is easy to use but still covers the essentialareas of project management theory. The tool willbe used internally by Faveo-employees as well asexternally together with Faveo?s clients in aneducational purpose.

För att förklara varför småföretagare fattar de finansiella beslut de gör, har vi antagit ett processuellt perspektiv. Vi har gjort en kvalitativ studie på fyra småföretag där ägaren även är företagsledare. Detta för att vi förväntade oss att beslutsprocessen i dessa företag till stor del kretsar kring denna person. Genom att utgå från teorier rörande beslutsprocesser, risk, osäkerhet, lärande och kapitalstruktur belyser vi vilka överväganden och faktorer som påverkar de finansiella besluten i småföretag. Uppsatsen visar att beslutsprocess och beslut är beroende av de som medverkar i beslutsprocessen.

Ground work like blasting, piling and excavation has always had a great influence during the planning phase of a construction project since it can cause damages on adjacent buildings and have severe economic consequences. This thesis deals with how vibrations caused by ground work influence near-by buildings and what methods geotechnicians and construction entrepreneurs use to handle these risks.The purpose of this thesis is to explain risk management in relation to ground work. In order to achieve this I have used a qualitative method by interviewing a geotechnician and a ground work contractor who possess knowledge and experience useful to this thesis. The result shows that vibrations from ground work spread through the ground as seismic waves that cause displacements and packing in the ground visible in adjacent buildings as cracks and subsidence damages. Geotechnicians study ground work vibrations by means of ground investigations and experience from previous projects in order to produce a risk analysis that entrepreneurs can use to reduce damages.

BAKGRUND: Bröstcancer är allmänt känt i samhället, men få känner till den ärftliga aspekten av bröstcancer. Genom ett blodprov kan vårdpersonal påvisa om kvinnor har en genmutation, som ger ökad risk för bröstcancer, eller inte.SYFTE: Syftet med studien är att beskriva kvinnors upplevelser av att leva med ärftligt ökad risk för bröstcancer.METOD: En kvalitativ litteraturstudie där 14 vetenskapliga artiklar har analyserats.RESULTAT: Kvinnorna som lever med ärftligt ökad risk för bröstcancer lever med en ständig oro och osäkerhet. Varje kvinna är unik och hennes erfarenheter är därav individuella. Trots denna individualitet kan vissa mönster identifieras. De mest framstående ämnesområdena är oro och osäkerhet samt svårighet att hantera hotet.DISKUSSION: Kvinnorna med ärftligt ökad risk för bröstcancer ser till familjens bröstcancererfarenheter vid hantering av den egna situationen.

The thesis has two aims to first describe the phenomena by explaining how interim management works and what the charachteristics of an interim manger are. The second aim is to look at the value issue of interim management; What value does an interim manager provide to a company and how do interim managers try to capture and cultivate this?The qualitative method has been used. The interim management market analysed in this thesis can be stated to consist of three parts; the interim manager as a provider of knowledge, a client firm in need of a temporary manager, and an interim agency in between working as an intermediary/supplier. The characteristics of interim managers are; they are in general self-employers and rather generalists than specialists, meaning they are experienced and have great knowledge skills.

This report describes the process of translating Russian financial information in accordance with Russian Accounting Standards to IFRS, International Financial Reporting Standards. The author describes the two regulatory frameworks and reveals a number of risk factors in the process. These risk factors may affect the reliability of figures from Russian companies. The conclusion states some recommendations on how these risk factors can be managed..

The purpose with this paper is that trough a description of the management control at Jitech AB find out if traditional management control have been abandoned for benefit for modern management control and in which extent the transition have happened. Further is the second purpose with this paper to find out which decisions that lies behind the design of the management control and how these are in opposition to with the theory..

Background: Many companies have outsourced their IT-operations and their expectations of what this IT-outsourcing will contribute to the business are high. Cost cuts are not always a natural outcome of IT-outsourcing. Many companies that have outsourced their IT-operations consider it to be problematic and complex to exercise management control and reach cost control which was the purpose of the IT-outsourcing. Purpose: To describe and analyze what affect IT-outsourcing has on a company?s management control system and a company?s possibility to exercise cost control.

Frågeställningar:På vilket sätt påverkas personalens arbetsmotivation av personalkostnadsbesparingar?Vilken betydelse har arbetsmotivationen vid personalkostnadsbesparingar för det finansiella resultatet på kort och lång sikt?.

Syftet med den här studien har varit att undersöka om det finns några skillnader i hur män och kvinnor uppfattar risk. För att uppnå detta syfte har två hypoteser formulerats som behandlar mäns och kvinnors inställning till risker kopplade till omvårdnad, ekonomi och risk i form av ett aktivt val. Dessa hypoteser baseras i första hand på tidigare teorier av Gustafson och Enander & Jakobsen. De teoretiska resonemang som förs i studien handlar om att kvinnor och män har olika syn på risk och att de fokuserar på skilda saker när de ombeds definiera risk. Den metod som använts är en kvantitativ metod baserad på en postenkät som skickades ut år 2008 och som ingår i ett forskningsprojekt vid Mittuniversitetet i Östersund.

This thesis explores some issues regarding estimations of the cost of capital on the Stockholm Stock Exchange through reverse engineering of the Residual Income Valuation model and through usage of the Capital Asset Pricing Model. Previous studies are in conflict of whether the risk premium changes considerably over time or not. Furthermore, the risk premium estimated by CAPM tends to be fairly stable. In this study, reverse engineering of the cost of capital implied by analysts? forecasts shows a significant difference in the risk premium over time.

There are various investments to suit different investors, what affects the investor is the risk he/she takes with the investment and also the awareness  the investor has. According to different theories a higher risk gives even a higher yield to compensate for the extra risk the investor takes.In this paper, we discuss and compare two different forms of savings, Swedish closed-end funds and Swedish mutual funds to examine what alternative that generates highest returns in relation to the risk.To help, we use different evaluation measures that adjusts the different investments risk so that you can compare how well the investments have performed regardless of the risk they have. This will give us an answer about what investment form that have performed the best between 2002.01.01-20010.12.31. Five Sweden mutual funds and five closed-end funds have been selected to participate in the survey.To evaluate this, it is primarily quantitative data, analyzed in the evaluation measures. The results obtained in the survey show that Swedish closed-end funds have performed far better during the selected time period.

Kommer snart ;).