The aim of this small thesis is to investigate if the probability of business failure is Higher at the time of divestment than at the time of acquisition for portfolio companies that have been subject to private equity ownership. The background for this thesis is the widespread critique aimed at private equity firms, claiming that they increase the risk in their portfolio companies. We have performed a study of 53 buyout transactions, involving Swedish manufacturing companies, covering a time span of 13 years, from 1995 to 2007. We find evidence of an increased risk of business failure for the portfolio companies with a short forecasting horizon (within one year). The absolute increase in the sample is however small.

Green roofs have seen a revival in the society of today. They provide many functions of which both society as a whole and the individual can take part. In particular extensive green roofs, that requires little or even zero maintenance, provides very valuable functions. Green roofs affect our environment and our economy in a positive manner as well as the physical expression of buildings. In this bachelor thesis the impact of green roofs on society has been examined throughout literature studies. The result as a compilation of contemporary research in this field is presented together with a discussion about the use of green roofs in general. The two major arguments for an extended use of green roofs are, the high stormwater retention capacity and the cost-benefits seen over time compared to a conventional roof.

In light of health scandals and intense debate in the media about the elderly, the authors investigates two Swedish newspaper and their depiction of elder care in Sweden. Using Faircloughs three-dimensional model and critical discourse analysis, it is investigated if there is a more prominent discourse and if so the impact of globalization on this discourse concerning swedish elderly care. A sample of a total of ten articles in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter is analyzed. The authors found that older people who are granted home help or place of accommodation rarely make their voices heard. Rarely were also relatives of residents given the opportunity to speak.

This thesis deals with co-operation between municipalities viewed from the perspectiveof the small municipality. It poses two questions: How and why doessmall municipalities co-operate? and Which is the place of the small municipalityin a larger organization?. To examine this three Scanian municipalities have beenstudied and one Norwegian municipality is used to provide a perspective on theSwedish discussion.Four theoretical topics guide the thesis. Firstly the core values of municipalities;democracy, autonomy and efficiency.

This report will detail the participator view of partnering in Kvarteret Frodeparken. Kvarteret Frodeparken is a new construction project being jointly delivered by Skanska Sverige AB and Uppsalahem AB. The report will focus on the comparison between the participators view of partnering with an emphasis on common partnering goals. The report will also focus on the economical benefits, the time benefits and the social environment benefits you can find in partnering.The principals of partnering are; participants together make the common goals for the projects, make ice breaking activities to improve stakeholder engagement and working with an open economy to find the profitable choice for the project. With a combination of the three principals the team together decide the best solution for the project.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the status of Swedish real estate companies in terms of financial health and risk of financial distress. The background is the ongoing financial crisis, which partly can be derived from the American real estate sector. Publicly available accounting information from 16 listed real estate companies has been analyzed for a period of one year using financial ratios covering both the operational and financial activities. We find that the deceleration in the economy and in the real estate sector have forced the real estate companies to make large write downs, in line with the relatively new accounting rules, IFRS. Write downs are likely to reoccur during the following periods and real estate companies will therefore probably be forced to continue to show negative results.

In May 2005 the Swedish cinema chain Astoria Cinemas is founded and in July two years later the company goes bankrupt. In this thesis Astoria Cinemas is used as an example to illustrate the conditions for a culture-producing company in a commercial market. The purpose of the thesis is to discuss the strategies for cultural production that has been used by the actors involved in the Swedish cinema market, and also to discuss the structural environment on that market. It is a qualitative study based on interviews and documentation. A few conclusions are possible to draw from the empirical material, one is that Astoria Cinemas? management did not agree on the company?s business strategy and therefore might have acted strategically inconsistent.

The aim of this study was to examine differences in the experience of intrinsic work-motivation and to examine changes depending on profession, where the purchasers experienced a Higher level of individual demands and control than the production leaders. Another purpose was to see how the intrinsic motivation needs predicted mental well-being in the professions. The study was carried out using an internet survey that was distributed by e-mail, there were 98 participants. Two questionnaires were used; Basic Need at Work scale (W-BNS) measured intrinsic motivation and GHQ12 measured mental well-being. The result showed that the staff overall had high intrinsic motivation with highest scores on relatedness followed by competence and lastly autonomy.

During our teacher training, focusing on history and Swedish at further education level, we have noticed a discrepancy in the way history is portrayed in further education and Higher education literature. Accounts of historical ideas, events and developments have often wrongly been depicted as non-gender specific, that is, of equal relevance to both men and women. To what extent is it made clear in further education textbooks that Rousseau?s treatise on education was exclusively aimed at the male gender, and how are the gender-specific aspects of his ideas described? What role and space are set aside for women in the accounts of the struggle for the universal right to vote in Sweden at the turn of the century in 1900, and how is the unions? initial exclusion of female workers portrayed? Focusing on the above historical events and developments, this study aimes to examine whether or not gender-specific issues are described as gender neutral in a selection of history textbooks for further education published in Sweden between 1982 and 2003..

This report is a thesis work for a B.Sc. in Forestry exam at the School for Forest Engineers, SLU. The aim of the work was to compare fuel consumption during work in practical field conditions with a standardized method developed by Skogforsk (The Forestry Research Institute of Sweden), (Brunberg, 2005) for harvesters and forwarders from different manufacturers and of different sizes in order to promote the development of more fuel efficient machines. Two studies were carried out. - Statistics of fuel consumption were collected. - An inquiry was sent out in order to get more detailed information of different aspects influencing the fuel consumption. The studied machines were divided into two classes, large machines (> 150 kW), and average size machines (100 ? 150 kW), and of the manufacturer Timberjack and Valmet. Our results shows a 15 % lower fuel consumption for average size harvesters and an 8 % Higher fuel consumption for large harvesters compared with Skogforsks model.

The purpose of this study was to see if there are any differences between high school girls and boy?s reception ability and memory after reading two Swedish lifestyle magazines.9 boys and 9 girls from ages 17-18 were chosen to participate in the study. They were placed in a room one by one where they had to read one women?s magazine (Cosmopolitan) and one men?s magazine (Café). They did not know this was a memory and reception test until after they finished their reading.With help from former reception studies and the magazines, questions were selected so the interviews would give as much information as possible.The study gave some unexpected results, for example both genders seemed to remember numbers very well even if they didn?t remember the article itself.

The work with this paper began with a belief that the permission aspect plays acrucial part when it comes to consumers perceptions of marketing through E-mailand SMS - especially when it comes to advertising that is received through a devicethat the consumer has a strong personal relationship with. The questions to beinvestigated was: "How do users of computers and mobile phones feel aboutadvertisement received through E-mail and SMS?" and "In what way does the usersrelationship to the computer or mobile phone affect how they feel about theadvertisement?". The study was based on a questionnaire as well as an analysis of theresponses in combination with previous research on the subject.The results showed that the majority of the respondents from this papers surveywere found to have a negative attitude toward advertisement through both E-mail andSMS. However, the respondents turned out to have a slightly Higher tolerance foradvertisement through E-mail than towards advertisement through SMS.

The client, Senselogic, had noticed an increased demand for an e-commerce system integrated into its product, SiteVision, something that did not previously exist. Senselogic wanted to integrate a third-party system to manage e-commerce. The problem was that there were very many e-commerce solutions to choose from. In order to select the best system it was necessary to evaluate the e-commerce systems and compare them to each other. To identify the elements that has to be included in an e-commerce system a study of literature was conducted.

Background: Budgets has always been a main factor for the management of organisations. Yet, lately has the role of budgets been increasingly questioned. But how is an organisation managed without budgets and what other alternatives can be used? And can these instruments work more effective?Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to describe how non-budget management distinguish compare to traditional management and how to design an effective non-budget system of management. Furthermore we intend to explain the reasons to such management and to present a model for how such a management can be performed.Research method: Empirical material has been performed based on seven interviews with persons within Svenska Handelsbanken.

The purpose of the study was to investigate, using data from the sacerdotal culture, t h espouses of five priests. The main questions were: How does the priestly calling affect thespouse? Do the spouses involve themselves with voluntary work? Do the spouses feel thecongregation have expectations? Do the female and male answers differ?The sacerdotal culture has consisted of several elements. The main element is the priest?scalling for his work.