Hedge funds have the past few years become an increasingly popular investment alternative and in the last decade hedge fund assets managed have quadrupled to USD 2000 billion, a growth rate of around 25-30% per year. One explanation for this substantial increase is that hedge funds' minimum limits on capital invested has declined, which have made ??them available to retail investors. The recent turmoil in financial markets has also contributed to investors finding their way to hedge funds, whose goal is to generate stable returns regardless of how the market develops.Using Sharpe?s, Treynor?s and Jensen's performance measures, I have investigated whether hedge funds manage to generate higher risk-adjusted returns than traditional managed funds.

We were assigned to do this master thesis by Husqvarna AB who at the time for this thesis just had implemented a new material and production planning system called Replenishment system. Husqvarna AB wanted us to examine the effects of their new planning system to see if it was profitable or not. Husqvarna AB had for a time considered their delivery and supplier service to bee their biggest problem and they wanted to solve this problem by improving the communication with all involved actors in the logistic chain, which they hoped would result in a better mix of products in their warehouses. The aim of this report was therefor to analyze eventual effects for Husqvarna AB when changing from a traditional material- and production planing system to a more information intensive one. The result of this report showed effects on decreasing administrational routines and improved flexibility and lead-times.

Inertia is often described as an unavoidable state that organisations reach when they grow to a certain size. Theorists present a number of different phenomenons, which together create the foundation for inertia. This study deals with the apparent resistance that appears among the large Nordic betting companies with regards to establishment on the electronic sports (eSports) market. The analysis is based on how the old phenomenon inertia takes place in young and seemingly flexible industries. This area has received limited coverage in current theory on inertia.

The purpose of this study is to describe melanotic tumours and the pathogenesis of these tumours. The focus of this study is on differences between benign and malignant tumours as well as the prognosis one may expect when diagnosing this disease. The mechanisms responsible for the occurrences of the tumours are not yet fully understood. It is believed that factors such as chronic trauma, infections, medications and hormones affect the cell mechanisms in some way. Determinants of the malignancy of the tumour are not completely known.

The purpose of this thesis is to look into the knowledge city concept and the preferences and requirements of companies on such a city. Furthermore, suggestions of ideal conditions in a knowledge city are proposed. The thesis has been conducted through a qualitative approach where a deductive procedure has been implemented. In order to examine knowledge cities, Barcelona has sketchily been looked at as an early example of a knowledge city, whereas a more exhaustive observation of Copenhagen was conducted. Since the concept of knowledge cities is a rather new phenomenon, models from several disciplines constitute the theoretical framework.

Background: The starting point of the thesis is the growing importance of negotiations that serve to establish a relationship between the parties involved as companies? business activities are getting more complex. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to find and to analyze which elements are of importance for parties, when creating a successful negotiation with regard to building long-term relationships, and if those elements differ for sales and procurement negotiations in companies with business activities of various kinds. Research method: The study was realized with the help of twelve qualitative interviews. Result: The elements of importance when creating a successful negotiation with regard to building long-term relationships were mainly elements of co-operation and to some extent elements of competition.

The aim of the study was to examine the competence of dental hygienists among Clinic Director´s within the Public Dental Service and Private dentists in the county of Skåne . The study was quantitative and consisted of an electronic questionnaire sent out to all Clinic Directors in the county of Skåne. A total of five hundred and thirty eight questionnaires were sent out. The inclusion criteria were the Clinic directors who employed dental hygienists who had obtained their professional degree during the last four years. Twenty nine Clinic directors responded to the study.The results showed that in general clinic directors are pleased and feel that dental hygienists are proficient in periodontology and dental caries diagnostics.

Near Field Communication, NFC, is a short-range wireless communication technology that enables data exchange between devices in a secure way. A NFC phone has the potential to enable the convergence of wallet, phone and keys, but as many other technological innovations, the launch is struggling. We have discovered that technological innovation is only the first step. For an innovation to be adapted, there need to be business model innovation too. Many actors form the ecosystem of NFC and the business model for each service is still an unsolved problem.

The ability for companies to anticipate the future and stay in the forefront of the competition is essential for successful business. The tool of Environmental Scanning is basics in the process of developing prescriptive strategies as well as vital in evolving emergent strategies. The complexity lies in gathering relevant information and transforming the information into adequate data, which can be utilised by management to optimise strategies. The purpose of this study is to scrutinise how successfully operating Swedish manufacturing companies, listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange?s ?Large Cap?-list, organise their Environmental Scanning actions and how this affects the development of strategies. Prior research on the subject has been used as foundation to presenting relevant theories.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether institutional ownership has an influence on CEO compensation in companies where the institutions have invested. In order to fulfil the purpose of the thesis a quantitative study was carried out within the Swedish corporate context where we have studied Swedish institutional investors and companies quoted on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Our period of study was the financial year of 2007.The empirical questions at issue is; Was there a connection between Swedish institutional ownership and the size of the CEO compensation, and, does Swedish institutional ownership lead to a certain type of CEO compensation in terms of structure?Our results did not suggest that an increased institutional ownership neither leads to a certain type of salary level nor a certain kind of salary structure. These results contradict earlier American research, which has been done within this area and has previously shown a secured connection.The reasons for our results may be many and it is difficult to state any concrete conclusions to why we received differing results.

This diploma work addresses the question of how much energy is spent whenmanufacturing the components of a building as well as of how much energy is used inthe production of a building. The object of the studies is BioCentrum at the SwedishUniversity of Agricultural Sciences in Ultuna just outside the city of Uppsala. The aimof the work was to investigate how much energy was consumed when manufacturingand production in relation to the management, how many years the production wasrepresented. It was also a study in how mature the construction industry is to answerhow much energy was consumed in manufacturing.In order to get these answers a question form was developed and sent to thesuppliers to BioCentrum. In this form they were to respond to the quantity suppliedto BioCentrum and the amount of energy was spent when manufacturing thecomponents.

Engineers are a group of individuals who are attractive when companies are in need for competence in technology. Today it is a shortage of these competences in the labor market. Because of this there has grown a competition among companies when they strive to recruit the best engineers. Therefore companies spend more resources on marketing themselves as an attractive employer. This study was set out to find what engineers think is an attractive employer through a demographic perspective.

    The purpose of this essay is to examine trust, or lack of trust, in the social services. Previous research considering this topic is limited, which, in our point of view, implies the need of further studies. A quantative method was used, consisting of an online questionnaire containing statements about the social services. The statements were designed using a five level Likert-scale which required the respondent to rate their level of agreement. The questionnaire was published on five webcommunities directed to parents.

The gender theory of Judith Butler is based on both philosophical and psychoanalytic notions of the self. Although greatly inspired by both early and contemporary psychoanalytic thinking, Butler has also questioned some of its core notions such as the meaning of gender complementarity and conceptions of desire. In a dialogue in Studies in Gender and Sexuality she discusses these and other theoretical and ethical issues with the influential psychoanalyst and gender theorist Jessica Benjamin. The exchange is a unique example of an attempt at dialogue and theoretical reflection between a prominent contemporary gender theorist and psychoanalyst. It reveals disagreements and theoretical difficulties I will show to be directly attributable to radical differences between Butler's and Benjamin's conceptions of the self.

The aim of this study was to develop, implement and evaluate a mindfulness- and acceptance-based smoking cessation program in group (MRG). MRG was developed into an intervention consisting of 6 group sessions during 35 days including individual homework assignments. 8 of 10 participants completed the program. In order to evaluate the effect of MRG a quasi-experimental design with pretest and double posttest (second posttest at 1 month) was chosen. At second posttest, 50 percent (of 8 completers) were non-smokers, and the rest showed a decrease in smoking at a rate between 45 and 75 percent.