Globalization and demographic changes are forcing today?s companies to be more competitive in order to reach success. The increasing competition is proving a challenge for companies to recruit and retain competent, talented staff. To meet these challenges, Talent Management was developed during the 1990s and supplies a new and innovative way to deal with personnel management. Due to Talent Management being a relatively new theory, there is at present no generally accepted definition of the theory.

Issuing convertible bonds for financing purposes has never become widespread practice amongst Swedish companies, in spite of the instrument being common in international markets. Economic theory based on efficient markets suggests that companies should gain no financial benefits from using convertibles and the Swedish situation could be interpreted as in line with this reasoning. However, there are Swedish companies that have chosen to issue convertibles and the Swedish market therefore seems both supportive and contradictory to the existence of benefits of convertible bond financing. Little research concerning the Swedish market has been conducted and the purpose of this explorative thesis is thus to enhance the understanding of the Swedish market for convertibles. This is achieved by conducting in-depth interviews with six listed Swedish companies that have recently issued convertible bonds.

Problem formulation: This paper will examine how the capital structure of firms affects their market valuation by applying the Modigliani-Miller theory on Swedish listed companies in a boom and a recession. The study will examine whether it is possible to draw any conclusions as to whether companies with high debt to equity ratios are valued lower in a recession, in comparison to companies with low debt to equity ratios.Purpose: To empirically test the Modigliani-Miller theory of capital structure in a boom and a recession in order to see if the companies? market value is affected differently depending on whether they have a high or a low debt to equity ratios.Methodology: The essay has a deductive and a quantitative methodological approach. Data analysis was done through a correlation analysis, a regression analysis and a hypothesis testing.Theory: The Modigliani-Miller theory of capital structure with taxes states that companies with a high debt to equity ratios has a higher value. One of the risks with a high level of debt could be that during a financial downturn companies have more difficulty realizing capital and are thus more likely to go bankrupt.Conclusions: The study shows results that are contrary to the Modigliani-Miller's theory; all the correlation analyses between debt to equity ratios and market value are negative.

For innovative organizations and companies it is essential to use existing knowledge to avoid spending time and resources on already existing innovations. By using patent information, companies are able to get a picture of what is already done in their area of interest. The main purpose of the study is to examine the information use in small and medium-sized enterprises that are members of the Swedish Inventor?s Association, focusing on patent information. The study examines the use of patent information and which barriers the companies have to patent information.

Purpose: To examine how IR-related press releases affect share price for stock companies, and to explore how said companies practice Investor Relations.Methods: The study was conducted using an event study as well as e-interviews. The event study has a quantitative deductive research approach where the market model is used for calculating the abnormal return based on press releases. The e-interviews have a qualitative research approach and follow a semi structured interview guide. The study includes all listed stock companies within the Swedish construction industry and includes press releases from the last decade.Theory: The study is based on the efficient market hypothesis and its semi strong form, theories within Investor Relations and previous research.Results: The event study shows a significant negative abnormal return during a four day period starting the day after the press release event. The negative abnormal return could derive from investor relations being used by companies as damage control, or that the investors? expectations are too high as a result of IR.

Abstract Master Thesis in Business Administration, School of Business and Economics at the Linnaeus University, 2013 Authors: William Funseth and Tobias Åkesson Supervisor: Magnus Willesson Examiner: Sven-Olof Yrjö Collin Title: The liquidity route to more informed investment decisions - A study on the relationship between concentration of ownership and liquidity on Nasdaq OMX. Background and problem: Previous studies have shown that liquidity can explain differences in returns in corporate shares, the company's cost of capital and the valuation of the company. Based on the effects of liquidity we developed a research question concerning how concentration of ownership effects liquidity of corporate shares the studies conducted for companies listed on Nasdaq OMX during a period with major changes on the stock market and is also investigating weather other company-specific differences can explain differences in liquidity. Purpose: The study's purpose is to study the relationship between ownership concentration and liquidity, and whether other factors might explain differences in liquidity. Method: The study is conducted with a quantitative method and it?s based on data collected from 2006-2011 for companies listed on Nasdaq OMX.

This Master thesis was written in collaboration with the Kalmar-based consulting company Sederkvist Kommunikation. The purpose was to explore the market potential for Sederkvist Kommunikations new software Bellman Marketing. Based on these results a launch plan was created and advoice were given to Sederkvist Kommunikation as to how their new administrative tool could be introduced on the market. Data were collected through semi-structured telephone interviews. The population was Swedish so called Gazelle-companies (growth-companies listed yearly by the business newspaper Dagens Industri) and totally 27 units were examined.

Since 2005 all companies listed on a regulated stock exchange within the European Union are required to present their financial reports in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and International Accounting Standards (IAS). The purposes of these standards are to accomplish international harmonization of accounting rules to make financial reports more comparable. However, recent research has shown that some firms tend to use goodwill strategically in a business combination by manipulating the acquired assets and consciously allocate the intangible assets to goodwill to reduce the depreciation in the income and decrease costs. This phenomenon may reduce the comparability between financial reports and thus has an opposite effect on the purpose of IFRS and IAS.The aim of this study is to show how the companies involved in this study allocate goodwill strategically. Furthermore, the introduction of the new standards has contributed to that goodwill now is a subject for impairment test, therefore we want to show whether this affected the comparability of the companies in this study.An empirical study was conducted, based on interviews with four Swedish managers.

Annual reports are by many considered to be companies primary way to inform their world where the CEO's words are read most carefully by shareholders. The purpose of this paper is to examine the design of the CEO's words in annual reports in light of the financial crisis in 2008. The study seeking explanations for change, similarities and differences in the various texts based on three themes which are results, future and confidence. In this qualitative study five CEO's words are explored by means of a discourse analysis, all from large Swedish industrial companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Some of the results shown is that the CEO tends to talk about the company's results in a self-serving manner and CEO speaks more aboutm the results before than after the crisis.

I en föränderlig värld är det viktigt att snabbt möta skiftande krav ochatt medarbetare är initiativrika, menar både företagare och forskare.Medarbetare som gör mer än plikten kräver och tar egna initiativ,uppvisar Innovative Work Behaviour (IWB). Syftet med studien varatt undersöka om organisationsfaktorerna autonomi, öppet klimat ochrolltvetydighet kan förklara variationer i IWB, med hänsyn taget tillen individuell faktor. Samtliga variabler mättes genom ettfrågeformulär online i ett stickprov om 119 personer.Korrelationsberäkningar visar att samtliga organisationsfaktorer harsignifikanta samband med IWB. En regressionsanalys visar att det ärindividfaktorn som har störst prediktionskraft, följt av öppet klimat,autonomi och bakgrundsvariabeln personalansvar. Studien visar attbåde personlighet och villkor i arbetet har betydelse för IWB..

Since 2005 all companies listed on a regulated stock exchange within the European Union are required to present their financial reports in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and International Accounting Standards (IAS). The purposes of these standards are to accomplish international harmonization of accounting rules to make financial reports more comparable. However, recent research has shown that some firms tend to use goodwill strategically in a business combination by manipulating the acquired assets and consciously allocate the intangible assets to goodwill to reduce the depreciation in the income and decrease costs. This phenomenon may reduce the comparability between financial reports and thus has an opposite effect on the purpose of IFRS and IAS.The aim of this study is to show how the companies involved in this study allocate goodwill strategically. Furthermore, the introduction of the new standards has contributed to that goodwill now is a subject for impairment test, therefore we want to show whether this affected the comparability of the companies in this study.An empirical study was conducted, based on interviews with four Swedish managers.

I en föränderlig värld är det viktigt att snabbt möta skiftande krav ochatt medarbetare är initiativrika, menar både företagare och forskare.Medarbetare som gör mer än plikten kräver och tar egna initiativ,uppvisar Innovative Work Behaviour (IWB). Syftet med studien varatt undersöka om organisationsfaktorerna autonomi, öppet klimat ochrolltvetydighet kan förklara variationer i IWB, med hänsyn taget tillen individuell faktor. Samtliga variabler mättes genom ettfrågeformulär online i ett stickprov om 119 personer.Korrelationsberäkningar visar att samtliga organisationsfaktorer harsignifikanta samband med IWB. En regressionsanalys visar att det ärindividfaktorn som har störst prediktionskraft, följt av öppet klimat,autonomi och bakgrundsvariabeln personalansvar. Studien visar attbåde personlighet och villkor i arbetet har betydelse för IWB..

This study focuses on teachers? and pupils? experiences of their use of one-to-one computers in civics education in Swedish upper secondary school. The experiences of teachers and pupils will also be put in relation to the content of the formal curriculum. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the access of one-to-one computers has changed teaching and learning within civics. The theoretical approaches used are both Tomas Kroksmark?s theory about traditional versus innovative learning and Ruben Puentedura?s SAMR-model.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and identify a selected number of key factors in successfully implementing open innovation. More precisely, it looks at how value is maximized using open innovation practices. The scientific approach taken is based largely on the network perspective, which puts relations to other companies in focus. An extended view of the resource based view (RBV), different from the traditional one by taking also external resources into account, is in addition central to understanding the use of external resources to create internal value. The two main research questions strive to look at how the company locates relevant partners and what the relations that are established with these partners should look like to get the most of open innovation.

The Swedish business cycle is in a strong position at the moment, leading to great results and larger profits. This strong business posture has encouraged companies to increase both their liquidity and revenue. Now there is a dilemma, what actions should or could a respectable business take on these newfound liquid assets.The purpose of this paper is to deliver a clear picture of what options there are for such companies listed on the Swedish stock-market, and how the market wants them to act. To these means we have studied the basic theories linked to this subject and reviewed the cause and effects that motivates them. We have also conducted interviews with the people representing the market through their line of business.In the theory we found several options on what companies in similar situations tend to do.