In this thesis we examine the relationship between board composition and firm performance in Swedish companies. The selection of companies includes all Swedish limited liability companies, with the exception of micro enterprises, that have been active between the years of 2009-2010. We develop hypotheses based on resource dependence theory, agency theory, and the resource based view, and test these with regression analysis against collected data. Specifically, we examine the effects of board diversity, outside directorships, and CEO duality. Our findings show that none of the theories provide sufficient explanatory power of the relationship between board composition and firm performance, and that further research is required to better understand the role and effects of company boards..

In this paper discourse analysis on the Ethiopian National Action Program (NAP) to combat desertification is made. The aim is to describe how the overall image/picture of desertification, its causes, and effects and of possible solutions are presented in the NAP. The result of this analysis shows that the main cause of desertification is human activities mainly due to the poorly developed socio-economic situation in the dryland areas. It is indicated that an excessive dependency of the rural population on the natural resources, particularly land, is the major cause of land degradation and this deterioration of land is said to have been caused by the rapid population growth, overgrazing, forest clearing as well as past government and institutional failures. In addition it is indicated that the effect of desertification usually involves ecological changes that sap land of its ability to sustain agriculture and human habitation, therefore the most serious threat to human welfare.

Att byta jobb är kostsamt, både för individen och för företaget.Men vad är det som gör att man stannar på jobbet, är det kollegorna, lönen eller möjligheten till utveckling?Studien genomförs på en kommun, fiktivt döpt till Solrosen en organisation som är uppdelad på olika nämnder och aktiebolag. På tre olika organisationer inom Solrosens kommun har sammanlagt sju intervjuer genomförts. Fem av intervjuerna var med personer i ledarpositioner och två av dem var med medarbetare. Intervjuerna och studien har varit av en kvalitativ art.Syftet med uppsatsen är att visa hur man använder verktyg så som kompetensutveckling, se hur lärandet hos och utvecklingen av personalen på arbetsplatsen ser ut och se hur man hanterar den befintliga kompetensen.

Incubators have grown more popular in recent years. Studies have shown that companies that have been part of an incubator grow faster and have a higher survival rate. The Swedish government realizes that this benefits the economy. Therefore they have started different funding programs in order to support the incubators. The thesis aims to explore the underlying reasons for why companies that have been part of an incubator often experience high growth.

This report is focusing on problems with introducing standard enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) in businesses. A study has been carried out on a service and support department at a Swedish heat metering company, SVM North Node. The study aims to help the company become a better customer in choice and customization of a new ERP system. We make a description of the department studied and the work carried out there, on the basis of learning, knowledge and cooperation. As a final point we present some ideas on how computer systems could support their work, hoping that this will result in them making adequate demands on a new ERP system..

SAMMANFATTNING Examensarbete, Human Resource Management, Ekonomihögskolan vid Linnéuniversitetet, Organisation, VT2013.  Titel: ?Medarbetarsamtal ? vilken funktion fyller de?? Handledare: Kjell ArvidssonFörfattare: Josephine Berg, Magnus Ivarsson och Martina Jonsson Examinator: Mikael Lundgren Bakgrund: Att det hålls årliga medarbetarsamtal tillhör vanligheterna på de flesta företag, såväl inom privat som inom offentlig sektor. Men är det någon mening med att ha medarbetarsamtal? Vi undrar om de finns endast för att fylla ett ceremoniellt syfte, om det är något ledningen bestämt utan att förklara varför för de anställda? Syfte: Syftet med vår studie är att försöka ta reda på hur chefer och medarbetare upplever medarbetarsamtalför att se om dessa samtal fyller någon funktion eller om de existerar någon egentlig anledning. Metod: För att besvara studiens syfte har ett induktivt angreppssätt med en kvalitativ metod valts som grund för uppsatsen.

Human rights have been added to the new curriculum which came into force the 1st of July 2011 in the Swedish Upper Secondary school. The purpose with this master thesis is to compare the old and the new curriculum as part of an examination of what way they affect the Social Science education. Further the analysis focus on what is affecting discourses in the Social Science about human rights, as well as its communication and incorporation in its education. The empirical material consists of the schools steering documents and interviews with Social Science teachers. The theoretical framework is based on human rights education (HRE) and curriculum theory.

Den ökade globala konkurrensen har resulterat i att många företag försöker uppnå konkurrensfördelar genom att ingå i olika sorters allianser. För att en allians ska bli framgångsrik spelar integrationsprocessen mellan företagen en viktig roll. Under denna process uppstår ofta problem som är kultur- eller personalrelaterade vilket innebär att Human Resource funktionen får betydelse för hela alliansens framgång. Vi har i vår uppsats undersökt vilka värdeskapande HR-aktiviteter som måste skyddas i samband med en allians, för att förhindra att det enskilda företagets unika värdeskapandemöjligheter förstörs. De företag som ingick i studien var Astra Zeneca, Volvo och Stora Enso.

Counselling is one of the most commonly utilized tools in the work place. The purpose of this paper is to explore how four employers utilize early counselling sessions related to absences due to illness. A qualitative research method has been used and four Human Resource managers have been interviewed. The research questions have been divided into three categories: the counselling structure, the counselling model and the counselling dilemmas. The interviews have been transcribed and processed through these three categories.

ISO14001:2004 : A Human Ecological Tool?This is a study by means of litterature analysis and personal experience to find out wheather you could call ISO14001:2004 a Human Ecological tool. The ISO14001 is an environmental management system. I'm approaching the issue from a users' perspective and putting my experience of implementing the ISO 9001 at my work to good use. Though my personal experience is limited to the implementation of the ISO 9001, it is quite relevant to the task since the update of 2004 the ISO14001:2004 is brought closer to the ISO 9001 standard in many ways.

Right-wing populism has through the past decades flourished in several countries in Europe. Research has shown that right-wing populism is, with its political starting point in ?the people?, focusing on the majority and is sometimes excluding the minorities from the politics. Since human rights regulations are mainly a protection of minority rights, the aim is to examine if the politics of the Sweden Democrats, as a case of a growing right-wing populist party, is a threat to human rights and in that case, in what respects. The thesis is supposed to answer the question in what respects the politics of the Sweden Democrats contravene with the European Convention?s protection of minority rights.

There is an expression called ?grief of climate? that refers to feelings of powerlessness and heaviness related to the environmental problems of today. A feeling that every move we make has bad consequences for nature. This essay is an investigation of how art in general and jewellery art in particular can be a way of discussing and visualizing current environmental problems and the complex relationship between human and nature. I am discussing how artworks dealing with a dark and dystopian picture of the relation can be seen as the memento mori of our time.

The concept of security is a contested one. The United Nations definition in UNDPs Development report of 1994 is the most authoritive and commonly cited. The civil war in Sudan has led to 2 million deaths and over 5.5 million refugees. In a resolution from 2005, the UN decided that the war in Sudan was a threat to international security and peace. The 10th of January UN decided that a peace commission ought to be send with 10 000 military and civil men including 700 policemen.The main purpose of this thesis is to improve our knowledge of those factors which can cause an increased risk of conflict within a state, and how that can affect the social conditions for individuals.

The thesis objective was to study the partnership between the municipality of Gothenburg and three nonprofit organizations concerning the mobile EU-citizens. The study examines how the EU-enlargement affected Sweden and eventually the municipality of Gothenburg, and how Gothenburg responded to the new situation regarding the target group. The thesis contains one case study and the empirical data are based on semi structured interviews with politicians and officials from both the public- and the nonprofit sector. The results were screened with New Institutional Theory, Resource Dependence Theory and Decision Making Theory: Rule Following. The theories were used to locate any type of isomorphism, resource dependence and rule following in the partnership.

Detta examensarbete är gjort på uppdrag av ett företag som heter IT Resource AB i Årjäng Värmland.Målet med detta examensarbete var att skapa ett API till PHP som skall utöka PHPs funktionalitet. APIet skall förenkla samt effektivisera IT Resource ABs arbete med att utveckla webbapplikationer. Den förenkling samt effektivisering som APIet erbjuder är möjligheten att återanvända funktioner samt att man enkelt kan lägga till nya funktioner i APIet vid behov.Den funktionalitet som APIet kommer att tillhandahålla är en förbättrad hantering av variabler och strängar som genereras från en webbsida skriven i PHP. Med en förbättrad hantering menas bland annat att det skall vara möjligt att lagra variabler och strängar från en webbsida skriven i PHP.Det skapade APIet består av 2 byggstenar, en klient och en server. Klienten i klient/serversystemet är en extern modul innehållande funktionalitet för kommunikation med både PHP och servern.