Private equity (PE) har kommit att utgöra en viktig aktör på den svenska kapitalmarknaden och allt fler företag drivs idag med ett PE-företag som ägare. Fallföretaget i vår studie blev för sex år sedan uppköpta av ett PE-företag och sedan uppköpet har det genomförts omfattande förändringar i ekonomistyrningen. Vi har i studien undersökt vilka förändringar som genomförts och med hjälp av Burns och Scapens (2000) institutionella ramverk analyserat hur och varför förändringarna har mottagits i organisationen på det sätt som de har. I den fallstudie vi har genomfört har vi intervjuat personer både i fallföretaget och hos PE-ägaren. Vi har i studien fått reda på att fallföretaget, utifrån direktiv från de nya ägarna, infört ett nytt rapporteringssystem och incitamentprogram efter uppköpet.

In this thesis we study the development of post-earnings announcement drift (PEAD) in the Swedish equity market from 2000 to 2009. By forming portfolios based on the stock price reaction to quarterly reporting we show that the characteristics of PEAD have changed. We demonstrate that negatively surprising companies show a positive drift during a holding period of six months sufficiently large to render the trading strategy unprofitable. This development holds from 2005 and onwards and these results contradict many a study which finds the same portfolio construction to be indeed profitable. We argue that this development is a trend that will not only affect our study but future studies as well..

The thesis presents an optimally designed kinematic structure for a new 6-DOF haptic devicebased on TAU configuration. The configuration of the TAU-2 proposed by Suleman Khan andKjell Andersson [1] was modified and its mobility was verified by using Grübler criterion tohave a 6 DOF. Analytical kinematic models for the inverse and forward kinematics weredeveloped for the haptic TAU configuration to determine a set of optimal design parameters.Kinematic performance indices such as volume of the workspace, kinematic isotropy and payload index, were defined based on the singular values of the Jacobian matrix. The Jacobianmatrix was scaled to homogenize the physical units. The Jacobian matrix dependent on theposition and orientation of the end-effector gives local isotropy and pay load index, so globaldesign indices were defined, which represent the performance of the mechanism in the wholeworkspace.

Objective: In recent years there has been an increasing interest within the clinical (medical) science in measuring people?s health. When estimating quality of life, present practise is to use the EQ-5D questionnaire and an index which weighs the different questions. The question is what happens if the individuals estimate there own health, would it differ from the public preferences? The aim is to make a new prediction model based on the opinion of patients and compare it to the present model based on public preferences.Method: A sample of 362 patients with unstable coronary artery disease from the Frisc II trial, valued their quality of life in the acute phase and after 3, 6 and 12 months.

Entrepreneurship is a subject of growing attention, especially within public policy, media and research. Many studies have been done, but the subject of entrepreneurial exit has to a large extent been ignored. The aim of this study has been to investigate how entrepreneurs at an early stage in their career think about exit within a near future, and what factors influence their attitude towards exit. The study was conducted through a survey answered by 253 entrepreneurs active within business incubators in Sweden. Based on previous research on entrepreneurial intentions, a model of exit intentions was developed, and tested against several other factors.

Syftet är att undersöka om Sverige tillsammans med ett eller flera av de nordiska länderna kan utgöra en optimal valutaunion. Utifrån ett svenskt perspektiv visar resultaten att det är lämpligast för Sverige att ingå i en valutaunion med Norge och Danmark eftersom den ekonomiska integrationen mellan dessa länder har varit störst. Taylors ränteregel visar att Sverige och Norges räntebanor samvarier mest och Optimal currency area-index (OCA-index) visar att Sverige, Danmark och Norge präglas av störst ekonomisk integration.Vi har använt två olika metoder för att undersöka en optimal nordisk valutaunion utifrån ett svenskt perspektiv, OCA-index och Taylors ränteregel. De båda tillvägagångssätten fokuserar på hur ekonomiskt integrerade länderna är, men genom olika variabler och ekonomiska storheter. Ett OCA-index har skapats och skattningen visar att variabeln som beskriver konjunkturcykeln är den som har störst inverkan på den beroende variabeln, växelkursvolatilitet.

This study deals with the road freight sector's capital structure and how leases, loans and equity affect the ratios. The study is based on a ten-year period between 2000-2010 in Sweden. Investments in finance is a complex and interesting subject to study, there are many factors that can affect how the company best choose their investments when they have many great business investment the decisions plays a greater role. The aim is to find an optimal capital structure from a financial investment point of view. The purpose will be answered by the following research question: Are there significant differences between leases, loans and equity financed fleet of factors, profitability, tax, turnover, age, and cyclicality. The study will also examine how debt is related to profit margin, DuPont and the tax, all through a regression analysis. Then were plausible economic theories for the study.

Prior studies have shown that earnings management can be used either to inform or to mislead investors about the future performance of a company. However, few studies have examined the impact of earnings management on forecasting return on equity (ROE). The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether the ability to forecast next year's ROE is improved when taking earnings management, measured as discretionary accruals, into account. This is examined by comparing a forecast model that takes the magnitude of discretionary accruals into consideration with a model that does not. The study is based on companies that were listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during 2002-2012.

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.

This thesis is focusing on how global and local search engines retrieve information from the local domain. The three search engines tested are the global search engines Yahoo, Ask.com and the local search engine Web Wombat. The questions we examined were: which search engine has the best retrieval effectiveness? Could there be other reasons than retrieval effectiveness, to choosing a local search engine?For our test we constructed 20 questions related to Australia.We chose to divide the questions into topics like nature, sports and culture. For all questions we evaluated the relevance of the first 20 hits.

Studien syftar till att undersöka hur den svenska versionen av WAIS-IV förhåller sig till sin föregångare WAIS-III. Samma försökspersoner testades vid två olika tillfällen med såväl WAIS-IV som WAIS-III för att undersöka om det förelåg skillnader mellan försökspersonernas testresultat från de två olika versionerna. Resultatet visade att det för hela gruppen försökspersoner förelåg signifikanta positiva och starka korrelationer mellan jämförda index och deltest, vilket tyder på att jämförda index och deltest mäter liknande kognitiva konstrukt. Avseende index; IK Hela skalan (HIK) förelåg i samtliga grupper, oavsett administrationsordningen för de två versionerna av skalorna, en signifikant högre genomsnittlig IK-poäng vid testning med WAIS-III jämfört med den genomsnittliga IK-poäng som erhölls vid testning med WAIS-IV. Denna differens kan tolkas som en konsekvens av Flynn-effektens påverkan på försökspersonernas genomsnittliga poängresultat.

I denna rapport undersöktes S&P 500 Energy Index genom multipel regressionsanalys. Modellerframställdes genom regression och baserades på data hämtad från börsen. Modellerna angavs iprocentuell ändring respektive absolut ändring. Validitet för varje enskild kovariat testades och en risknivå avgjorde om en kovariat skulle inkluderas i modellen eller inte. Detta ledde till två modeller med bättre kurvanpassning till den givna mängd data över det valda energiindex.

En aktieindexobligation är en strukturerad produkt vilken är uppbyggd av två finansiella instrument, en obligation och en option. Obligationen garanterar det nominella beloppet i de fall aktieindexobligationen behålls löptiden ut. Optionen ger i sin tur möjlighet till avkastning med hävstångseffekt. Genom att aktieindexobligationens nominella belopp är garanterat har produkten en begränsad förlustrisk. En aktieindexobligation är dock inte riskfri.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate possible links between short selling and the stock market movements using econometric test models. Methodology: A quantitative study carried out on the time series stock lending and OMX Stockholm 30 index. Information is gathered through qualitative interviews with specialists in the field of stock lending, and studies of relevant newspaper articles and reports. Theoretical approach: The theoretical frame of reference is a further consideration of supply and demand theory. The empirical study is implemented by the simple linear regression model and a vector autoregressive model (VAR).

On Nasdaq OMX Nordic Stockholm there has been a large increase in issues of preferred stocks since the financial crisis 2008. Aiming to explain whether preferred stocks have most of their characteristics relating to debt or equity, we answer four sub questions. Do all preferred stocks share the same features, or do they differ from each other? Our population is similar in characteristics, except for the preferred stock of Swedbank which is convertible and deviates when it comes to participation in dividends - instead of convertible the others are limited and redeemable. Further, the second sub question treats preferred stock in relation to the common stock quantitatively, in market data.