BackgroundToday a common approach to solve a complicated problem is to assemble a temporary workforce in order to solve the problem by working together within a project. One of the difficulties with working in projects is to maintain the planned budget. Working hours and costs are often exceeded. Many companies presume that any certain project will succeed, a presumption that leads companies not to anticipate risks involved in a project. In companies today there is seldom time for evaluation or moderation of a project, in order to have time for evaluation there is a great need for an adequate planning of the project.IntentThe intention with this study is to create a model for planning, budgeting and evaluation of projects within consultancy companies.MethodWith the help of interviews and discussions within the group Hamnar och Byggkonstruktioner at Sweco has evidence to present a proposal on planning, budgeting and monitoring been developed.ResultsA model has been developed to ease for consultancy companies to plan, budget, monitor and evaluate projects.

Background: Knowledge management is a concept that is considered of increasing importance in the developing knowledge society. Previous research in the area has to a large extent been based on large multinational companies. Purpose: The thesis aims to clarify how middle-sized Swedish management consultancy companies work with knowledge management. The thesis intends to use existing theories about knowledge management to explain the effect of size and area of operation on management consultancy companies? knowledge management.

In January 2005 the emission allowance system was introduced within the European Union and the first period ends at the end of 2007. The system was introduced in order to decrease the wastes of carbon dioxide and the system is a part of ratifying the Kyoto ?protocol which first period runs between 2008-2012.The idea of the system is to reduce the wastes of carbon dioxide where it costs less to do so and the expenses for the society therefore are as diminutive as possible. Different theories explain that companies can benefit from environment legislation and can depending on the company?s attitude gain competitive advantages improve its productivity and thereby increase its profitability.With this in mind, the study aims at examining how the introduction of the emission trade system has influenced Swedish smaller companies in the distant heating industry, with focus on the factors attitude, innovation, competition and profitability.

This project report shows the work around a mockup to a three-dimensional avatar-making application. An avatar-making application is a computer-based software program in which it is possible to create your own personal virtual character. The possibility to use three-dimensional avatars can in the future be essential for adding extra personal information or characteristics to social communication over the internet or over mobile phones. The problem of transforming a physical form and reconstruct it to a virtual basis has been an important problem to solve for many companies and software developers in the, for instance, virtual worlds area. Methods and ideas over making this transformation is the key throughout this project.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate which the main determinants of capital structure in Swedish listed firms are and to identify which incentives lies behind managers choice of capital structure determinants. Further, the study investigates whether the Post Keynesian theory and theories which incorporate behavioral aspects can be used to explain the capital structure decisions or if the traditional Neoclassical theory give an better explanation. We have used a qualitative method to analyze the determinants of capital structure and the managers incentives behind capital structure decision. We conducted a survey which was sent to 83 Chief Financial Managers and financial executives in Swedish firms listed on Mid Cap or Large Cap. The questionnaire was on-line which enabled for the respondents to quickly and convenient respond.

The main aim of this paper is to consider the possible effects of a transition to a new accounting standard for goodwill. According to IASBs Exposure Draft of Proposed Amendments to IFRS 3 Business Combinations there is an inconsistency in the currently used purchased goodwill method. The full goodwill method is considered to be a superior alternative and is therefore suggested to become the standard from 2007. This paper comprises a quantitative study of the effects on certain key ratios for companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, arising due to the proposed transition. The period examined is 2004 and 2005.

Problem: Companies are becoming more active in social media. They usechannels such as Facebook, to communicate and interact with theirenvironment. In connection with this, companies must also be prepared todeal with crises in social media. Previous research shows no clear guidelineson how companies can work in social media to prevent crises.Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine how companiesin the communications industry can work with Facebook to prevent crises.We hope that our study can provide new perspectives and guidance on howcompanies can work with emergency communication for prevention.Methodology: We used a qualitative research to arrive at our results. Thismeant we got an insight into the complex world that companies are workingin.

Bankruptcy is a problem for the society in form of high costs for including suppliers, customers, employees, investors, banks, insurance companies etc. The purpose of this study is to confirm or dismiss a bankruptcy prediction model that has been developed in a previous Swedish study, in order to predict bankruptcy with help of specific key figures. The model has only been tested in a larger perspective where the population consisted of all small firms in Sweden, in this study the model´s reliability is tested by that it instead been applied to a minor perspective, where the population only includes Stockholm. With a quantitative approach of 12 different key figures from a total of 60 Swedish smaller registered companies in Stockholm between the years 2005-2007, has been studied. The companies are divided into two groups, companies with good financial health and companies that have ended up in bankruptcy.The results shows that the model is applicable in a smaller population, but some of the key figures do not generate essential or any type of information about bankruptcy, but the majority of the key figures in the model did.

Due to the globalization and constant changes in society, competition has become a big factor in profit-driven companies and organizations. Innovation has become an effective way for the companies to increase their competitiveness. By adapting to the constant changes in society e.g. the technological advances, companies can retain their competitiveness on the market.The purposeof this study is to exemplify and describe how a profit-driven company managesinnovationbyinterviewing four office managers in different work units in the same company.The resultsshows, among other things,that interactive learning can bean initiation to innovation processes and that the participating company in this study workshard to promote innovation in work units..

The relationship between dividend policy and investment is a controversial area and the relationship between these two may differ depending on the company's priorities. The study examines this more closely by studying dividend policy's impact on investment and how it differs depending on the company?s market capitalization. The study is based on companies listed on the OMX Stockholm within the segments Large Cap and Small Cap, during the period between 2003-2012. Secondary data was obtained from each company's annual reports where relevant data was used to operationalized into measurable variables.

The paper investigates the role of packaging within brand management of FMCG food companies and their attitude towards packaging. This study enhances the understanding of how FMCG food companies actually work and strive to work with packaging..

This study analyses how different companies offer customer support through social media andthe customer experience of it.Facebook emerged in Sweden during 2008 and today it has more than 800 million user acrossthe globe. Initially Facebook was created for individuals. However, over time, Facebook hasincreased its functionality to support the presence of companies as well. Today most companieshas got a Facebook page and through it, they can easily communicate with their customers.Customer support is one of the communication forms that Facebook is used for.1A questionnaire that received a hundred responses together with a survey of the differentFacebook pages was done in order to determine how the companies work through socialmedia. The results from the questionnaire and the survey was analyzed with different theoriesregarding corporate presence on social media and Facebook.The results shows that only a few people actually used Facebook for customer support butamongst the ones who did the majority thought it worked well.

The technological progress of the world has had a massive effect on how we communicate with one and other, it also has had an big impact on how companies communicate with their customers and consumers. Today you cannot only communicate a ?promise to your costumers and consumers you also have to ?deliver? what it is you promise. Strategic communication is today not only to market your product but to ensure that your strategic communication is shown even in you innovation, design and product development.  This thesis is conducted in collaboration with No Picnic AB.The purpose of this study was to get an insight in how Swedish companies use their strategic communication. We aim on bringing a new point of view of strategic communication with innovation, design and product development also as a communication channel.

Because social media is personal and reaches users directly, it has become an important means of communication for companies trying to reach out to their audience (Nygren & Wadbring, 2013). Especially the possibility of interactivity has been discussed as social media's big advantage. But how much two-way communication is actually possible on social media? This is a quantitative study that focuses on how Swedish Facebook users in the ages of 16-25 interact with companies on the social network. The aim was to contribute with increased information and knowledge about how the users mentioned above interact with the companies as well as how the users perceive the companies communication and presence on Facebook.

As consumers we want to know from whom we buy, what we buy and the impact the company has on our planet. In recent years there been an increasing number of scandals concerning child labour, dangerous chemicals and falsely labelled meat. A good way for companies to communicate their environmental efforts is to establish a sustainability report, where they describe their work and their impact on our environment. By concentrating on H&M?s sustainability report, as well as conducting a rhetorical analysis, we have been able to focus on the following research questions:  ? Why do companies establish CSR reports? ? How do companies gain legitimacy through their rhetorical choices? ? How do companies try to influence recipients? attitudes to the company? We begin by studying the context, which is of importance when using a rhetorical method and thereby attempt to understand in what situation the text is created.