Geographical indications designate products which have a specific geographical origin, which can either be national, regional or local. The subject is complicated since geographical indications arises a large number of questions There are EC regulations which regulate the protection of geographical indications, but since the field has not yet been exhaustively harmonized, the existence of national rules of protection is therefore still possible, which can lead to trade barriers between the member states. Consequently, one problem consists in whether it may be legitimate to restrict the free movement of goods by article 28 in the EC Treaty by referring to national rules of protection and to what extent such measures may be justified by article 30 or by the Cassis doctrine. An additional question consists in how the line between geographical indications and generic terms is to be established appropriately. Further, geographical indications are exposed to improper use by other dishonest commercial operators and therefore the possibilities of protection against unfair competition and misleading are also discussed in the thesis.

The number of students who finished special upper secondary school for pupils with intellectual disabilities without an employment has drastically decreased over the last decades. The purpose of this paper is to increase the knowledge of how career counselors at special upper secondary schools collaborate with the Employment Service, and how the special upper secondary school prepares their pupils for working life. The collection of data started with a national questionnaire survey which was directed to career counselors at schools.The result shows that the collaboration appears foremost in the pupils last year in special upper secondary school, and that the special upper secondary schools do not use the Employment Service's assistance to any great extent. In addition, the collaborative process consists of both inhibiting and promoting factors.The results also indicates that the collaboration between the special upper secondary schools and the local labor market can be developed more for the pupils to gain experience from working life..

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to in a comparative and causal way explore whether there is a relationship between risk and return and also how it is perceived on the Nordic financial markets.Theory: The theoretical frame of reference applied in the thesis is considered relevant inthe perspective of the study?s purpose and research questions. We have among other theories used The Capital Asset Pricing Model, The Efficient Market Hypothesis and various Behavioural finance theories.Method: The study has its starting point in a quantitative approach with a quantitative data analysis supported by secondary data extracted from Thomson Reuters.Empirics: The empirics contains regression analyses made from calculated secondary data of 240 randomly chosen companies from Nasdaq OMX Stockholm, NasdaqOMX Copenhagen, Nasdaq OMX Helsinki and Oslo Bors.Conclusion: The study conclusions show that there are both a negative and positive relationship between volatility and actual return on the investigated markets. Considering this prior statement we can conclude that the Capital Asset Pricing Model can?t correctly describe the actual relationship between the parameters investigated on the current sample.

This essay aims to explain the fluctuations in the Swedish transition rate to higher education between 1923 and 2002. With theories of human capital, and screening, as points of departure, seven variables are selected and their correlation with the transition rate investigated by use of graphs and tables. The variables are unemployment, youth unemployment, the supply of academics, cohort size, number of high school graduates from programs preparing for ensuing studies, relative wage trends for worker categories with differing levels of education, and structural phase. Results show that no single variable nor the theories of human capital or screening can explain the fluctuations in transition rate in full. Instead I propose a theoretic model which amalgamates the above and places risk aversion as the driving force behind the individual?s educational decision.

Through participant observation in a local promoter group of hardcore punk shows inGothenburg and qualitative interviews with its members I have investigated links between taste in music, values and social structures in the hardcore punk scene. The theoretical framework of this essay is built upon the concept of subcultural capital, which is adapted from Pierre Bourdieu and developed by Sarah Thornton and Keith Kahn-Harris. The result shows how members among the hardcore punk scene create and preserve distinction towards others, while the distinction becomes important benchmarks for including and excluding practices in the scene..

The aim of this research is to evaluate whether the social environment of Swedish high school students affects their views on the multicultural society. The research material was collected through the use of two focus groups containing high school students from two different schools, one group is used to a multicultural social environment while the other group is used to a less multicultural social environment. With the researcher acting as a moderator in the focus groups, the students discussed different questions regarding multiculturalism, gender equality and religion. The theory that this research is based on suggests that the social environment and the social capital affects the students views on the multicultural society. The results of the research were evaluated and connected to the theory.

Abstract The internationalisation of a company is enabled by integration of markets. New markets mean new revenues, but also demand capital to finance the expansion. To bring in new capital may offer new possibilities but also higher debt-equity ratios, which affect how external interested parties value the company. This thesis, inspired by previous and mainly US based research, researches the debt-equity ratio of Swedish multinational and domestic companies, sampled from the Stockholm Stock Exchange. The research questions have focused on the impact of certain internationalisation variables on the debt-equity ratio; how does the debt-equity ratio differ between international and domestic companies? Can a difference be explained by the degree of internationalisation? Can a difference be better explained by the presence of international ownership? By measuring the concept internationalisation as both trade and presence, the questions were operationalised into four hypotheses.

Sammanfattning Inom de flesta företag finns möjligheter att påverka rörelsekapitalet genom Working Capital Management. Detta kan även förkortas WCM, vilket enligt Deloof (2003) kan definieras som arbetet med att styra företagets rörelsekapital. De flesta företag har dessutom avsevärda summor uppbundna i rörelsekapitalet, vilket medför att WCM har en betydande roll på företagets lönsamhet. I strävan efter att nå ett optimalt rörelsekapital finns det dock risk att företagen drabbas av negativa effekter.Syfte: Denna studie syftar till att undersöka effekterna av WCM och hur dessa effekter påverkas utifrån hanteringen av WCM.Metod: Studien består av en kvantitativ enkätundersökning riktad till svenska tillverkande företag.Analys: Att frigöra kapital beskrivs som det främsta motivet för att genomföra WCM. Det framgår också att initiativ till beslut om en minskning av rörelsekapitalet är centraliserade och det är sällsynt att initiativ startar i den operativa verksamheten.

The aim of this paper was to examine the specific experience of being bicultural, what ackulturation strategy the person utilized and what influenced the use of this strategy. The findings were analyzed with the help of Pierre Bourdieu?s concepts of habitus and cultural capital. The empirical data was collected through qualitative interviews with four women of Chilean background, who either were born in or had been living in Sweden since childhood. The results of the interviews showed that all the respondents predominantly utilized the integration strategy, meaning that they participated in and felt a connection to both the Swedish and Chilean culture.

The purpose of this study is to first investigate how a group of Syriac women participating in the Syriac/Aramaic Academics Association (SAAF ? Syrianska/Arameiska Akademikerförbundet) at a Swedish university perceive their ethnic identity, and maintain it in the mainstream Swedish society. Furthermore, it considers whether SAAF as an ethnic institution provides an arena for the reproduction of social capital in interaction with the women's families. This study is based on previous research and theories of ethnic identity and its role in the building of social capital within so-called ethnic groups. The method used for this study involves qualitative interviews, to achieve its aims.

Problemdiskussion: Venture Capital-branschen är en relativt ny bransch och ligger enligt vissa tidigt i sin utveckling och har inte nått sin mognad. Trots detta har den varit med om en del omvärldsförändringar som har skapat osäkerheter och nedgångar i branschen och därmed skapat behov av nya metoder och strategier för att handskas med dessa problem. Hur mår Venture Capital företagen idag och vad om något har de dragit för lärdomar under åren? Syfte: Med denna uppsats vill vi beskriva vilken status den svenska riskkapitalbranschen befinner sig i samt se vilka lärdomar som nya aktörer i branschen behöver. Metod: Vi har valt att lägga stor vikt på teori i form av litteraturstudier samt kompletterat tidigare publicerade undersökningar med ett eget empiriskt intervjumoment.

This studie explores how a promotive youth movement that aims to activate adolescents in economically and socially exposed areas, can affect the youth?s participation in society and oppose their experience of stigmatization. The youth movement, whom is being studied, uses urban art expressions as a mean to engage and motivate the adolescents. The empirism has mostly been collected by a limited participatory observation, and through qualitative interviews with staff and adolescents in the movement. The result has been analyzed through Pierre Bourdieus field theory.

The Swedish CFC rules imply a taxation of Swedish partners of foreign legal persons subject to low income tax, which is based on a fictitious distribution. Thus, tax is levied even if the dividend has not been paid to the shareholder. The aim of the Swedish CFC legislation, which was put into force in 1990, was to prevent tax evasion and to protect the Swedish tax base. The reason was that the foreign exchange control was abolished, which made investments in foreign countries possible for Swedish companies. A CFC legislation was considered necessary for Sweden in order not to lose tax revenues.The legislation was strengthened on January 1st 2004 as a consequence of the abolished taxation of capital income of commercial shares.

This thesis focuses on youth unemployment in Finspång, often referred as an industrial community. The theoretical framework of the thesis is based on social constructionism and covers theoretical discourse analysis, intersectionality and social capital. The study is based on qualitative interviews with 7 unemployed individuals between the ages of 19-24 and an interview with an employee at the employment office in the community. The main subject in this thesis is the youngsters experience with unemployment, labour, the employment office, the impacts of social capital and the labour market in the community. The analysis focuses in how the respondents discuss their experienced problems with their unemployment.

The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of how venture capitalists can use their network in order to reduce information asymmetries between themselves and the venture management team. A qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews, consisting of open questions, have been used to receive gradate information in order to reach our explorative purpose. Our theoretical framework consists of relevant studies made on the dynamics of networks and the problems that can arise in the complex relationship between a principal and an agent. We have been interviewing two venture capital firms and therepresentatives from two business angel networks. We also made an additional interview with an influential financial actor in order to try to verify our conclusions Our conclusions are that an extensive network can be used by venture capitalists in order to; verify ventures? technologies, complement the competences in the venture management team, and arrange co-investments, resulting in reduced information asymmetries between themselves and the venture management team.