This thesis explores how the concept of ?legal corruption? manifests itself within the European Investment Bank with a modern approach to the theoretical understanding of anticorruption efforts. This approach conceptualises the idea of complementing theories based on contextual applicability rather than focusing on their competing qualities. The European Investment Bank (EIB), as the world?s largest multilateral lender, is an underexplored yet vital organ of the European Union, which has recently faced criticism for its alleged lack of transparency and dubious application of policy.

This thesis of 15 hp has been implemented at Halmstad University, incollaboration with Saab Dynamics in Linköping. Saab Dynamics is a companyoperating in the defence industry where competition is tough. This necessitatesnew ways to increase efficiency in the company, which is the basis for this thesis.Saab Dynamics wants to introduce simulation driven design. Since SaabDynamics engineers have little experience of simulation, required a usermethodology with clear guidelines. Due to lack of time, they chose to assign thetask to students, which resulted in this thesis.The aim of the thesis is to develop a methodology in mechanical design, wherethe designer uses the FE analysis early in the design process to develop thestructures' mechanical properties.

This examination work brings up opportunities to invest in a construction for heating with grain or pellets on farm level. As example we have chosen Fröberga Gård which is a farm located in Östergötland outside of Söderköping. The farm`s residential buildings is to day heated with oil and electricity. The result of our investigation shows that heating with grain is the best alternative, partly because of economical issues but also because you can grow the grain on your own farm and by that you can get better economy in your seed cultivation. To grow 16 tonne of grain as is needed demand gives a insignificant increase of work. Further an advantage is that no investment in machines is needed because all the machines witch is needed already is in use on the farm. In a situation where a new investment is needed as in the case we studied, is it often profitable to invest in a integrated furnace. Because all the components are well adapted to each other, and because that gives a high efficiency. If you already own a well working furnace is it often most profitable to connect a burner to it. It is important to know that heating with grain need more work than heating with pellets, because the high contents of ash in grain. Even if you choose pellets instead of grain the calculation shows good results. Because peat is an excellent but fairly untested raw material for pelletsproduction we have chosen to watch little more on its quality and conductions. We discovered that peat has a high heating value which makes it possible to raise the heat value in pellets through mix up peat and wood. Or you can make pellets with only peat and get a pellet with high heating value. Even the calculation with peatheating shows good results..

A clean and affordable energy source for cooking is deficient in developing countries. People rely on fuels that contribute to environmental, social and health problems.Biogas is an alternative energy source and an increased investment in small-scale biogas production can in several developing countries be found. Several projects have started to use the technology in developing countries because of the benefits with biogas. Some cases in the establishment of biogas plants have succeeded and some have not. The study is a literature review supplemented by two field studies.

Title AB Volvo Pentas packaging system ?process and packaging logisticsAuthor Peter Powell, Lund's Technical CollegeSupervisors Annika Olsson, Lund's Technical CollegeJan Svensson, AB Volvo PentaProblem - Packaging requirements ? Which requirements are there, how do they affect each other and how are they fulfilled?- Packaging process ? what is the line of action when developing new packaging and making adjustments in existing ones? Who has the responsibility to do what?- Packaging logistics ? How is the packaging system adapted to transport efficiency and handling?Objective To create an overall picture over how the packaging system affects and is affected by different functions and players within and beyond the company boundaries, to give a clear picture of how changes in the packaging system is made today and how it could work and finally to give suggestions for cost savings affected by the packaging system.Method The methods used for this thesis has mainly consisted of action research and at some extent case studies. As a previous employee at the department of logistics at Volvo Penta I?ve taken part of the environment, information and prerequisites that this thesis discusses on a daily basis. Case studies have been used for the collection and analysis of data concerning packaging logistics as I?ve chosen to consider only specific markets and packaging.Conclusions This thesis has highlighted the demands that are placed upon engine packaging throughout all concerned units and how these demands affect each other, positively and negatively.

Today?s society has become more and more digitalized and we have access to more information than ever before. This has had a major impact on organizations and their work processes. For example have intranets become a common technical groupware to communicate and get relevant information from inside the organization. A common problem related to this is an over-reliance on the technology, where there's not taking into account that some informal and communicative means are difficult to occur through digital resources.The aim of this study is to examine the use of an intranet in a municipality, which consists of many different employees with various work situations.

Foreign invested SMEs have recently become increasingly interested in China. The enterprises are in this report categorized as second wave companies since they follow the footsteps of previous pioneers, of which mostly were larger companies. The ambitions of the SMEs are either to sell products on the ever expanding Chinese market or to utilize the potential of low cost production for global markets. The existing literature is fragmented and solely based on the experience of larger companies. We believe that SMEs are facing new and different challenges, and thus a new generic theoretical frame work is desirable.

Bakgrund: Logiken bakom Key Account Management (KAM) bygger på att en liten andel av ett företags kunder står för den största delen av dess intäkter. Vid KAM väljer företag ut dessa strategiskt mest viktiga kunder, kallade nyckelkunder och tillägnar dessa mer resurser och uppmärksamhet jämfört med de ordinarie. Dock har litteraturen om KAM inte i någon större utsträckning berört vilket värde som skapas till följd av KAM eller hur detta värde kan mätas. Därav ligger examensarbetets huvudfokus inom detta forskningsområde inom detta område och fokus ligger framförallt på det säljande företagets perspektiv.Syfte: Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka, analysera och beskriva vilket värde samt hur detta skapas för det säljande företaget genom användningen av KAM.Genomförande: En egen definition av KAM har skapats i detta examensarbete med hjälp av existerande litteratur inom området. Denna definition har sedan tillsammans med examensarbetets syfte legat till grund för den analysmodell som har tagits fram.

The interest for venture capital within the financial sector in Sweden has, according to earlier studies, been seen as a growing occurrence. Especially for what is known as informal venture capital. In modern times, private investors who engage themselves in small, unlisted companies, providing informal venture capital are to be known as business angels. They close equity gaps on the financial market by contribute financial capital to start-ups and are therefore an important participant on today?s market.

AbstractDate              2009-06-07Level             Master thesis in Information Technology and Business Administration, 15 hp, EIK024Authors        Anna Karlsson, akn05009@student.mdh.se                      Lena-Maria Lindström, llm05002@student.mdh.seTutor            Peter EkmanTitle              IT Governance with an IT investment focusKeywords     IT Governance, IT investments, IT decisions Problem       To control and manage IT and IT functions in the organization has been a big challenge for many businesses for a long time. In order to make the management of IT more efficient IT Governance is needed. If the organization is going to be successful IT Governance is necessary and this type of governance enables a more effective use of IT that supports the business and its operations. The problem questions for this thesis are: How is the company?s IT Governance built up? How are decisions regarding the company?s IT investments taken? How is the connection between the company?s IT investments and the company?s IT Governance?Purpose        The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze how a company?s IT Governance is built up and how the company uses IT Governance to reach the desired results from the IT investments.Method        The thesis is a qualitative study.

This paper investigates whether the traditional accrual based trading strategy first documented by Sloan (1996) can be refined using fundamental analysis. Specifically, this is done by implementing the composite signal F_SCORE introduced by Piotroski (2000) to identify financially strong or weak firms. We find that by applying both investment models simultaneously, in a model we call P_KOMB, the mean market-adjusted return earned by an investor exploiting the accrual anomaly can be increased by 14.8% annually. This is achieved by taking a long position in strong firms (as defined by the composite signal) in the lowest accrual portfolio, while an offsetting short position is taken in weak firms in the highest accrual portfolio, repeated annually between 1997 and 2007. Consistent with prior studies, positive market-adjusted returns can be attained through assessment of accruals as well as key value drivers found in historical financial data.

Title: A study about the purchasing process of ITLevel: Master thesis in Information Technology and Business Administration, 15 hp, EIK024Authors: Emelie Johanson and Mikael LindströmTutor: Peter Ekman, Mälardalens HögskolaKeywords: IT-investment, purchase, decisionProblem: In the last decades the amount of IT investments increased and has become an important resource within most organizations. IT gives the ability to compete and could also be a condition for many to be able to compete. In different businesses it could vary in where they put their focus when they choose an IT investment. This thesis examines how the purchase process of IT looks. How does processes differs in a bigger company versus a smaller company? From these two perspectives this study examined these research questions: Who makes the decisions whether or not an IT solution should be purchased? What aspects decide when companies are to choose between different IT solutions? Where in the purchase process do problems usually emerge?Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze the purchasing process of IT from a business perspective.

Abstrakt -  As energy prices rise, energy-saving in buildings is becoming increasingly important. By applying different construction and installation technologies, to new buildings the energy consumption can be reduced effectively, compared to similar existing buildings. These technical measures are often an investment in the long term and will reduce energy costs significantly. The purpose of this report is to show how to reduce energy consumption in a small house. It is presented in this report that both building's technical saving arrangements (the sealing of a building) and an installation technical arrangement (changing from the F-system to the FTX-system) would reduce energy consumption in newly built detached houses, if compared with a similar existing house but without these technical measures. The report presents also detailed calculations showing how much energy an existing 2-storey house, built in the year 2007 in Eskilstuna, consumes and how much energy would be saved if these corrective measures were applied to a new building. It is also reported how much money would be saved each year over a 10 year period if the measures were applied. The results show that both solutions are a good investment in the reduction of energy consumption and hence the cost involved. Keywords: energy, heat energy, infiltration, FTX-system, free temperature effectively. .

As a result of increased energy prices more and more energy-efficient homes are coveted. An energy-efficient alternative is passive houses, which is characterized by an extremely well insulated building envelope that recovers the heat without the use of radiators or under floor heating. But a passive house requires a higher investment cost than a conventional building project, since it will require more construction materials, training of construction workers, greater land area, and long construction period. But the lower operating cost expects to pay back the higher cost of investment. We therefore question how profitable a passive house is in relation to houses built according to modern conventional building techniques.The aim of our study is to investigate the viability of passive houses compared to convent­ional houses.

The choice between bare-rooted and containerized seedlings in southern Sweden affects the investment costs as well as growth and survival. It is important to take these differences into account when choosing seedling type for reforestation. The most important differences between the two seedling-types is that bare-rooted seedlings has open root systems whereas the roots of containerized seedlings are grown in a container which may contain water and nutrients that are available for the seedling during the first period after planting. Moreover, bare-rooted seedlings are often older which results in thicker stembase and better resistance to attacks of pine-weevil (Hylobius abietis). In order to study differences in survival and growth between bare-rooted and containerized seedlings a survey study of newly planted clearcuts in south-western Sweden was made. In the study tree seedling types was included, one bare-rooted and two containerized with different ages. The population of pine weevils was probably low during the studied period which resulted in lower pine-weevil damage than normally found in this area.