This project was conducted on behalf of the organization SABO (Swedish Association of Public Housing Companies). The aim of this project was to investigate which relevant environmental aspects and indicators there are for housing companies to present in their sustainability report. The project consists of three main goals: to decide if there is a need for common guidelines when conducting a sustainability report, determine appropriate environmental indicators and to create a simple model of how the companies can present them. This was done by a literature study, analysis of 13 sustainability reports and interviews with seven housing companies. The result of the project suggests that there is a need for common guidelines to, among other things, make it easier to make a comparison with other companies.

Problem formulation: The awareness and importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is growing within both corporations and society at large. The corporate progress in sustainable development can be both profitable and essential for the potential to compete globally. The value of sustainability reporting may differ between industries and companies of different sizes. The demands for sustainability reports are expected to increase. By 2010, no previous survey on sustainability reporting practices had been conducted within Swedish corporations. Purpose: The aim of the current study was to examine sustainability reports within Swedish corporations during 2010 and to compare the findings with preceding surveys to determine differences over time and between corporations.

Introduction:By insight in the company and by monitoring the management, the board has an important function in creating trust in governance of the company. Furthermore, the board reduces the asymmetry of information between the owners and the management, which also is the function of the auditor, by auditing how the board governs the company and the accounting. In case the board does not effectively monitor the management, the auditor has to extend its monitoring, which increases the owners agency costs through the audit fee. The board composition can affect how effectively the board practices the monitoringProblem: How is the audit fee affected by the board composition?Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain how the board composition affects the audit fee.Method: The study uses a quantitative method, where the data was collected from the annual reports of 112 limited companies listed on the NASDAQ OMX Large and Mid Cap lists on January 2, 2012.

IT is often seen as a solution to many problems concerning effectiveness in organizations. Information systems within the healthcare sector is often viewed as medical devices rather than just systems or services. These medical devices are thoroughly regulated by laws, standards and certifications. In this study I participated in an innovative project that aimed to bring new life and use to the old fashioned patient journal by giving it a visual representation through the use of an avatar. I aimed to study the effects of regulators connected with the patient journal as a source of information for the innovative project.

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how medium-sized construction companies adapt and how they choose to reorganize their operations in relation to the recession. The study has as its theoretical starting point theories about organizational learning, the impact of the economy on construction companies and strategies for dealing with recessions. The method used to conduct the study was semi-structured interviews with representatives from 15 different construction companies. The results of the study show that they used several strategies to adapt and reorganize the business in accordance with the recession. Some construction companies had to make cost savings as a result of the recession.

Purpose: To examine how video-game releases affect the share price, and if video-game reviews have any impact on the share price of gaming corporations. Method: A quantitative deductive research approach is applied with event study methodology used as basis. The investigated companies were the five largest gaming companies listed on the U.S. NASDAQ exchange. A total of 29 video-game launches and 85 reviews where examined.  Theory: The study is based on The Efficient Market Hypothesis, Agent Theory, Public Relations Theory, Nextopia and previous research.Results: The result contains 114 observations in five companies.

ABSTRACTSeminar date: 2008-06-04Subject: Bachelor thesis in Business AdministrationAuthors: Charlotta Lind Therese LundinBorn: 1982 Born: 1982Västerås VästeråsTutor: Ulla PetterssonTitle: Company valuation- A study in which valuation methods that areused in determining the value of producing companies and servicecompanies.Problem: According to the theory there are a number of different valuation methods which can be used to determine the value of producing companies and service companies. The thesis research problem is:- Which valuation methods does a valuator use in practice todetermine the value of producing companies and servicecompanies?- Does the valuator take different types of information andkey ratios in consideration when valuating producingcompanies and service companies?Purpose: The purpose is to examine and describe which valuation methods a valuator uses to valuate producing companies and servicecompanies in an acquisition.Method: In order to achieve the purpose of the thesis a quantitative survey and three qualitative interviews, made by email, has been carried out.Conclusion: The conclusion of the thesis is that discounted cash flow and relative valuation are used to determine the value of producingcompanies and service companies. The valuators choice ofvaluation method is not generally affected by the nature of thecompany?s operations.Keywords: Company valuation, valuation methods, producing companies,service companies, relative valuation, discounted cash flow.

Practitioners of financial statement analysis are dependent on key ratios in a multiple number of situations, one in particular being equity valuation. A lack of historical benchmarks, and knowledge regarding the time series behaviour of such ratios, has been identified regarding Swedish companies. Therefore, this study sets out to provide such data and knowledge. Companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange are examined over the period 1979-2009 where the sample is divided into nine industry groups. Historical values for eight common key ratios are documented with regards to median, mean, standard deviation and percentiles.

Outsourcing means to contract out work previously done within the cooperation to a supplier.This is an increasing trend today. Traditionally companies have outsourced manufacturing butwith the growing specialization they tend to outsource other activities as well.China?s economical reforms and entrance into the World Trade Organization, WTO, hasenabled international business connections. Since China offers one of the cheapest labours inthe world, many companies have an interest in starting up an activity in the country. Themany foreign investments in China have lead to an economical growth which in turn hasmade it possible for China to invest in the Chinese competence and innovative capacity.The commissioner of this master thesis, SMS, is one of the leading actors in retrieval ofamong other things mounts and stands for flat screens and projectors.

The purpose of this study is to look at the line extensions of the Swedish dairy company Skånemejerier. We have chosen to focus on how trends in ecological products and Functional Food influence the line extensions. The competition in the food sector have made it harder for companies to be seen in the market area and the companies have to make their brands more visible. That is one of the reasons why companies work with line extensions. The study is based on a qualitative approach because we wanted to come closer to our subject in order to establish a greater understanding for the case itself.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate if the companies listed on Nasdaq/OMX Stockholm Large Cap use the earnings management phenomenon Big Bath Accounting to a greater extent when a change of management (CEO) is made.Management tends to use earnings management when there is a bonus plan linked to the result of the company. To gain maximum bonus the management will try to manipulate the result in a way that in a long term maximize their utility. Through the earnings management technique Big Bath the management is given the possibility to take one large cost as a one-time expend, even though the cost is supposed to run over several financial years. This, of course, within the legal framework. A big bath may occur when there is an impairment of goodwill, tangible and/or intangible assets or larger provisions for future expense, or both of them at the same time..

Sten Jonsson wants to start a production of an advertising catalogue for small companies in Sweden. Acatalogue where the advertisingcost is so low that most of the companies can afford to participate. Thecompanies who will advertise should be manufacturing companies in trades of carpentry, sheet metalworkshops, forging workshops and engineering workshops.The catalogue will facilitate for the manufacturer to reach the costumer without any middleman.Without a middleman creates a possibility for an opinion about the product at the same time as theprice can be held low. A catalogue of this type would benefit the marketing of the companies at the sametime as it would generate an occasion for innovations.The possible target groups are property companies, construct companies and farmers.A market research has been carried out contained a postal interview and a phone interview. Themarket research carried out to get an understanding in what the companies think about the idea butalso to see if the companies are in interest of advertise in the catalogue.

Through this study we want to enlighten how different companies work with their internal branding and how well they succeed in this process. We also want to examine if there are any differences in this work depending on the companies market position. Following question is used to investigate this process;- In what way and how well are companies working, depending on market position to implement and maintain their work with the internal brand?For the study a theoretical model was created based on our existing theory. The model contains three main variables; create, communicate and uphold; i.e.

IT-branschen karakteriseras av snabb teknisk utveckling och kräver externt finansiellt kapital för att driva forsknings- och utvecklingsverksamheten. För att innovativa IT-företag ska lyckas få tillgång till extern finansiering är transparens angående innovationsverksamheten i årsredovisningen av stor betydelse. På grund av hög konkurrens på marknaden uppstår dilemmat att hitta rätt balans mellan transparens och sekretess i årsredovisningen. Företaget behöver uppnå transparens för att minska informationsasymmetrin mellan företaget och dess investerare för att få tillgång till externt kapital, men samtidigt kan detta också utnyttjas av konkurrenterna vilket kan försvaga företagens konkurrensfördelar. Årsredovisningen är en av de viktigaste kanalerna för kommunikation av innovationsinformation till investerare.Syftet med denna studie är att öka förståelsen för kommunikation av innovationer i extern redovisningsinformation avsedd att minska informationsasymmetri hos företag med hög- respektive låg barriär mot imitation genom att (1) beskriva kommunikation av signaler om innovation i börsnoterade innovativa företags årsredovisningar och (2) identifiera och analysera signaleringens betoning och karakteristik (3) samt att utveckla en modell för signalering av innovation förhantering av informationsasymmetri.

Many companies have historically forced their interests through without any thoughts about the future needs of the humans and the society. In the last few years voices have been raised for a change, companies need to take their responsibility regarding sustainable development.The purpose of the report is to describe and explain possible relations between sustainabil-ity performance of companies and profitability, valuation, industry and size respectively.To be able to judge the sustainability performance of the companies Folksam (2006a) have been used. This is a solid investigation of the companies listed on the A- and O-lists of the Stockholm Stock Exchange by the end of 2005. The sustainability marks have been com-pared with the chosen key values for each hypothesis respectively. With this quantitative data as foundation, a quantitative approach and a deductive method have been used.In the first area of the investigation, profitability, the authors found correlation for the main hypothesis between sustainability performance and ?Return on Total Assets? through a statistical test.