This study investigates a method for identifying human capital and its effect on company valuation. We devise a measure for the efficiency of human capital based on the personnel cost. We include all companies listed in the financial and industry sector on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm in an attempt to examine human capital and its effect on firm valuation. Our results indicate that a higher efficiency of human capital has a positive effect on return on assets. However, we find that our measure can be interpreted in two ways; either as a firm?s level of human capital efficiency or its dependency on human capital, to achieve its net sales and revenue.

This thesis aims to examine the nature of the medial compartment regarding the reporting of problems in conjunction with suburbs. Previous research on discrimination in the media shows that people living in the suburbs considers suburbs being portrayed negatively in the media. They perceive that this has a negative effect on integration which in turn increases the risk of stigmatization. This study strives to contribute to the clarification of whether medias means of reporting around this area can help in the development of problems in suburbs by examining whether there is a reflection of actual political focus in the media or if media only plays a stigmatizing role. The research method used has been quantitative content analysis, making an overview of how much space is given to the different types of reporting. The thesis concludes that the reporting examined in this study did not appear to be of a structurally discriminatory nature, even if that type of reporting occurred.

Introduction: There was a reduction in Sweden of the share capital in 2010, in which the share capital was reduced from 100 000 SEK to 50 000 SEK. The reason behind the reduction of the share capital was to enable more people to start limited liability companies in Sweden. Meanwhile in Europe, they questioned the function of the share capital, and as a result of this discussion a number of European countries have abolished the requirement for the share capital in limited liability companies.Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate what meaning the share capital has to entrepreneurs based on their own businesses, and to see what function the share capital have for the creditors.Problem: What are the meaning of the share capital for today´s entrepreneurs and its creditors?Methodology: The study is based on a qualitative research method in which a cross-sectional study was done with four small limited liability companies and four creditors.Conclusions: The share capital functions and meaning has lost its intended meaning as creditor protection and the help to facilitate the raising of capital. The share capitals intention has to some extent been eroded.

In this thesis, the Swedish venture capital market and its profitability is analyzed. Venture capital is defined as capital that is invested in the early stages of a company's life cycle, in the two investment stages seed/start-up and expansion.A common view is that the profitability of Swedish venture capital has not been, is not and will probably not become high either. With this in mind, we try to answer to the following questions in this thesis:? What has the profitability of Swedish venture capital actually been historically?? Which reasons could be found in order to explain the historical returns for Swedish venture capital, and which factors has been identified in international comparative studies between venture capital markets?In order to answer these questions, data showing historical returns for the Swedish, European and American venture capital market has been gathered, an extensive literature study has been performed, and three interviews with participants from the Swedish venture capital market has been conducted.We conclude that the historical returns of Swedish venture capital is in line with the general view that they have been low. We also see a trend where Swedish venture capital funds that are not specialized in one investment stage generate lower returns than more specialized funds.

This study aims to investigate development and reasons behind sustainability reporting in large Swedish companies. By examining 15 companies? environmental and sustainability reports between the years 2000 and 2008, data was collected on matters such as frequency, scope and design. Identified trends were to a large extent in line with previous studies on international development; sustainability reporting is growing in several aspects. The authors have found one major reason for this development to be increasing requirements and expectations from stakeholders and a need for companies to legitimize their actions.

In recent decades, demands has emerged that the companies shall take a greater social responsibility for the impact that they have on their environment and that this impact shall be reported, which is known as Sustainability Reporting. The Sustainability Report is based on a number of general principles that ensure the content and the quality of the Sustainability Report. One of these principles is the principle of completeness. In the research, this principle seems to have been interpreted in terms of number of reported aspects and indicators, which can be a limited view where only the existence of the aspects and indicators is observed. By including the degree of the reporting in terms of full, partial and no reporting as well as a comparison between the real and the alleged reporting, our intention is to extend the principle of completeness and to develop a tool that we also apply through an empirical survey in a particular area.

Under de senaste åren har antalet venture capital företag och intressent kring denna bransch ökat mycket kraftigt. Vi undersöker i denna uppsats hur venture capital företags beslutsprocess ser ut vid utvärdering av potentiella portföljbolag och vilka faktorer venture capital företagen anser vara viktigast i denna bedömning. Vi undersöker också hur de engagerar sig i styrningen av sina portföljbolag. För att beskriva och förklara detta har vi gjort en fallstudie av två venture capital företag. De resultat vi kom fram till var att entreprenören bakom portföljbolaget var den enskilt viktigaste faktorn vid investering.

Rapporten inleds med en beskrivning av WM-datas Network Management struktur och Reporting Management behov. Därefter följer en beskrivning av de två analys tekniker Datamining och On Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) vilka är de mest använda databasbaserade tekniker. Verktyget Tivoli Decision Support (TDS) är ett stödssystem som ska underlätta för beslutsfattare inom organisationen. TDS baseras på OLAP ? tekniken och rapporten visar avslutningsvis de möjligheter som verktyget ger avseende WM-datas Reporting Management..

International conventions signifies international trade, which in itself would be ineffective if there were no dispute settlement mechanisms. This essay intends to examine how dispute settlement mechanisms between states have developed over the years and a large emphasis is placed on the World Trade Organizations (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body since it?s had great significance for the efficiency of international law. In order to show the need for dispute settlement mechanisms, a background to the conventions that have called for the development of the DSB is in order. This essay focuses on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), and the agreement that currently regulate intellectual property rights, Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), but also its connection to the DSB.

Previous research has discussed how voluntary disclosure relates to the cost of equity capital. Theories of estimation risk support a negative association between disclosure and cost of equity capital, as empirically documented by Botosan (1997) among others. In this Bachelor thesis we investigate whether such a relationship exists on the Swedish capital market. Using the CAPM to estimate the cost of equity capital and a disclosure index based on Aktiespararen?s annual evaluation of corporate disclosure, we test a model where disclosure explains cost of equity capital.

The major difference between venture capital-firms and other financiers is that their business idea is not only providing capital but also knowledge in business development. The ownership structure of an venture capital-firm can be private as well as public. The Swedish government is today one of the major actors in the Swedish venture capital-industry. The purpose of this study is to shed light on how venture capital-firms involve itself in its portfolio firm and if this contributes to an increased value of the portfolio firm. We also try to shed light on differences in how a public and a private venture capital-firm gets involved in its portfolio firm and if there is any difference in how they can contribute to added value.We have chosen to interview two public and two private venture capital-firms and one of their portfolio firms.

This study examines the equity cost of capital between two periods distinguished by substantial differences in IPO activity. In light of the stemmed IPO flow to the Swedish stock exchange in 2012, this study regards the conjecture that the IPO count is related to the prevailing cost of equity capital for certain periods. By application of the Residual Income Valuation model the cost of equity capital is abstracted from sampled stock prices and compared at two points in time for which extreme highs and lows of IPO activity were observed. Using randomized samples from 1999 and 2012, significant differences between the estimated costs of capital are established. The findings indicate that the equity cost of capital, much as it may help influence, nevertheless plays a subordinated role in the going-public decision..

This study examines the equity cost of capital between two periods distinguished by substantial differences in IPO activity. In light of the stemmed IPO flow to the Swedish stock exchange in 2012, this study regards the conjecture that the IPO count is related to the prevailing cost of equity capital for certain periods. By application of the Residual Income Valuation model the cost of equity capital is abstracted from sampled stock prices and compared at two points in time for which extreme highs and lows of IPO activity were observed. Using randomized samples from 1999 and 2012, significant differences between the estimated costs of capital are established. The findings indicate that the equity cost of capital, much as it may help influence, nevertheless plays a subordinated role in the going-public decision..

Does goodwill affect the cost of capital? Goodwill is an asset which is characterized by much uncertainty regarding both what it is and how much it is really worth. Based on economic theory about information risk and principal-agent problems as well as theory regarding the cost of capital we test for the hypothesis that debt and equity investors perceive goodwill as something risky and hence demand compensation for taking on this extra risk. The proxies used for the cost of capital are cost of debt, beta and the EP-ratio. On a general level we find that increasing the level of goodwill seems to result in higher cost of capital as represented by the three proxies.

This essay is a case-study of an ethnically homogeneous association, situated in an ethnically heterogeneous neighbourhood. The purpose is to examine the social capital of the members in this particular association. The theory of social capital claims that this form of association constitutes an example of bonding social capital, and is running the risk of becoming excluding towards non-group members. However, several scientists suggest that the ethnically homogeneous associations can assist immigrants in their new home countries to become a part of society, hence promote a more bridging form of social capital. This would be extra valuable in an ethnically heterogeneous context where the phenomenon of social capital often has a hard time.