Although previous research conclude that mergers and acquisitions do not always lead to improved profitability or increased shareholder return, the number and size of M&A?s is steadily increasing. In this thesis we Examine why an acquirer pays a price higher than the market value. Can accounting data explain the size of the premium? 618 European transactions between 1997 and 2008 are Examined and relationships between the targets? accounting data and the premium is analysed through statistical regressions.

The aim of the study is on basis of Peters and Waterman?s factor of success, to Examine the successful companies, Ericsson and Huawei, and to analyze the R&D and positioning strategies of the companies.To accomplish the study we have used a case study using interviews and annual reports to collect data. Three persons have been interviewed, two from Ericsson and one from Huawei. All annual reports from the year 2004 until 2011 have been reviewed.Our finding is that Ericsson and Huawei do not, according to Peters and Waterman?s model, fulfill all factors of success and their R&D strategy varies depending on the situation and which knowledge the company already possesses and needs.

The purpose of this master thesis is to Examine different factors that may influence the librarian in the selection of popular music. The study is conducted through a qualitative method, influenced by grounded theory. The results are based on patterns drawn from both interviews with six libraries and from literature. The literature review concerns foremost cultural politics, music aesthetics, the sphere of popular music in Sweden today and the impact of commercialism. Also the purposes of popular music in a library, aspects of values of popular music and assortment policies are being discussed.

The purpose of this study was to look at how clients, in the Swedish criminal justice, experience their involvement in treatment programs. The spotlight in the study was to Examine which helpful and unhelpful factors are involved in a treatment process, in the view of individual experiences. The study is based on a qualitative method, with interviews as an instrument for collection of data.The result is summarized in three fields; is it possible to show vulnerable, the therapist and the meaning of the program. The result is based on interviews with six informants; five of them have been partaking in treatment programs in prison and one in the probation office. The study shows that partaking in treatment programs in prison is combined with problems in aspect of the different roles criminals play in prison.

The purpose of this paper was to Examine the potential presence of a relationship between the quality of corporate financial disclosure and the volatility in stock price in the Swedish market. This was carried out by investigating the hypothesis that an accurate annual report with high information quality results in a decrease in volatility. Previous studies have been done with this approach and in some cases the above stated hypothesis was found to be true. Thus, in the absence of a perfect efficient market the level of information quality may to some extent explain the volatility in stock price. However, the result of our study gave no evidence in support of this hypothesis.

The aim of the study was to Examine whether parental leave can serve as capacitating period in life. More specifically our aim was to get a deeper comprehension of the abilities and competencies developed through parental leave and how these can be of use to the individual when at work. 12 semistructured interviews were conducted with employees from a large organization in the south of Sweden. The results were analyzed using a hermeneutic approach. The results of the study show that competencies and abilities such as effectiveness, organizing, multitasking, leader abilities, communication, sensitivity, limiting skills, mindfulness, acceptance, self-confidence and life balance were enhanced during parental leave.

In this study, we Examine the presence and consequences of CEO overconfidence in the Swedish market. We identify overconfidence with two insider-trading based measures and find that overconfidence is apparent among one third of CEOs in companies listed on the Swedish stock market. We also find that these CEOs are more prone to carry out acquisitions, as the probability of conducting an acquisition increases by 27 % if the CEO is overconfident. However, we do not find evidence that acquisitions by overconfident CEOs are more value-destroying. This finding contradicts results from previous studies conducted on Anglo-Saxon markets that suggest that overconfidence has a negative impact on the value-creation in acquisitions.

AbstractBachelor thesis in political science by Alexander Hassan, autumn 2008, ?Effects of external factors on a nations democratisation process during the transition from authoritarian to electoral democratic rule ? A categorical analysis?Supervisor: Tomas SedeliusIn recent years globalization has become a hot topic in understanding the world we live in today. Globalization has indeed had a great impact on international relations and with it a great influence on the domestic conditions that determine a nation?s possibilities. It is therefore rational to hold true that this also would apply to a nation?s democratic process.

The purpose with this study is to Examine and analyze the eldercare staffs conceptions and perceptions about the construction of ethnicity and aging, in Swedish eldercare, to illustrate the process of othering. The authors interviewed eight people who work in the eldercare by using a vignette. We have analyzed our result from the interviews through several theories and earlier research pertinent to the subject. The study has shown that eldercare staff through their conceptions and perceptions unconscious been conducive to make and recompose constructions of ethnicity and elder. The constructions of ethnicity and elder can be conductive to processes of othering..

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to Examine how femininity, Silikon, Vecko Revyn, and Darling. The study is made from a critical discourse analytical approach and text, pictures, and layout are all analysed. Some of the main characteristics of the material are the division in the categories"we"and"them", double messages, and personal address to the reader. Femininity is strongly associated with body, sexuality, beauty, and looks.

The purpose of this essay is to Examine the everyday beliefs about mental illness surrounding the disease and how these are expressed and affects the sick life and identity. The focus is on the sick perspective, where a concept of norms, normalization and taboo forms a basis in the use of materials, which here consists of qualitative interviews and Internet forums. This is analyzed and then discussed with the help from structuralism and poststructuralism approach, where I mainly refer to the social anthropologist Mary Douglas, ethnologist Lars-Eric Jönsson and philosopher Michael Foucault. In the discussion vented even historical aspects of the subject and how these might have followed in our time and how beliefs about mental illness is created and maintained by the norms within a society / culture including the sick..

The purpose of this thesis was to Examine how women who have committed crimes feel they have been treated by authorities. Our research questions were: How do women who have committed crime feel they have been treated by authorities? How has this treatment affected the women and their life worlds? In our study we have conducted semi-structured interviews with four women who have committed crime. Our theoretical basis has been phenomenology, symbolic interactionism and Hirdmans theory on the gender system. Our main results show that the women have different experiences of treatment, some positive and some negative.

The aim with this essay is to Examine in which way self-realizing and solidarity can bereconciled in a multicultural society. The essay is a sociological literature study whichExamines the self- realizing process and puts it in a multicultural perspective.The issues areWhich role does self-realizing play for solidarity?How is solidarity created in a multicultural society?Can everyone be self-realized in a multicultural society?Conditions and problems for self-realizing processes are Examined and are treated mainly onthe basis of Jeffrey C. Alexander and Axel Honneth theories. In the essay is established thatself-realizing and society-solidarity is mutually interdependent and that solidarity requires aform of shared value, but it doesn?t need to be based in the traditional values that commonhistory, ethnicity or culture.

This paper is intending to Examine the intercultural aspects of two teaching aids used in Swedish schools today. How does the material take the students prerequisite in consideration? Is every student included in the material in order with the standpoint and laws in the Swedish school system? And if they are not, who is the outsider in this occasion? With intercultural pedagogy lies the idea that everyone is unique and that teachers has an opportunity to develop and make student grow mentally. Intercultural endeavor is to learn to accept our differences and see them as assets instead. The theory?s used in this paper in mostly the postcolonial theory with its dividing between "us" and "the others"..

In this paper we investigate 67 Swedish buyouts in the manufacturing and retailing sector between the years 2004-2012. The purpose is to measure changes in a set of financial key ratios to see if private equity firms are able to improve performance in their portfolio companies compared to a peer group consisting of other firms within the same industries. Furthermore, we Examine if there is a difference in the change of the financial key ratios between private equity-owned firms in the two sectors. The key results are that the private equity owned firms have not outperformed their peers with respect to the chosen key ratios. We also conclude that there is no significant difference in the change of the financial key ratios between private equity-owned firms in the two sectors..