Uppsatsen beskriver vad hedgefonder är och undersöker likheter och skillnader mellan svenska och utländska hedgefonder under perioden 2002-2006. Därefter jämförs amerikanska hedgefonder med index samt riskfria tillgångar under perioden 2000-2003 med syftet att undersöka vad som händer med hedgefonder under en period när börsen sjönk..

Allocation of funds to public libraries is uneven and this study will try to explain the reasons and clarify why the allocations of funds are distributed like they are and what calculations influenced the financial apportionment. This master thesis accounts for allocation in seven public libraries in Uppsala. The study shows that one reason for uneven allocations is demographic. Another reason is that the library has come into a good or bad circle. There are no models for allocation of funds to public libraries in Uppsala, thats why their allocations are given after a percentage increase of earlier years allocations, and that leads to a good or bad circle.

This thesis examines the legal boundaries of third-party use of trademarks in the European customized clothing market. The purpose is to determine under what circumstances third parties may legally modify and sell trademarked apparel without infringing on trademark rights. The study employs a legal dogmatic method, analyzing EU trademark law, case law, and legal doctrine to clarify the scope of exclusive rights and their limitations. By analyzing key EU case law, the study further illustrates how the legal framework has been interpreted and applied in cases concerning third-party trademark use. Given the increasing demand for customized fashion and the rise of new business models in the clothing industry, this topic holds significant legal and economic relevance. Additionally, Schumpeter?s theory of creative destruction provides a theoretical perspective on how trademark restrictions impact innovation and market competition.

A great fire seized a suburb in a small town in Sweden in the autumn of 2011. Parts of a shopping mall were burnt to the ground by youngsters. Due to the suburb's earlier problems, the event was a tough ethical dilemma for the town's journalists.The purpose of this thesis was to study and examine the local newspapers ethical treatment of this event. How do they motivate their decisions on what to publish and what not to publish? How do the articles treat ethical dilemmas? What do the journalists think about ethical journalism?This study is based on a survey of the articles published about the fire in the two local newspapers seven days after the fire.

A growing need to strengthen ones position on the market, even as a city in competition with other cities, has resulted in an increasing number of municipalities developing brand platforms. When the city of Umeå developed their platform, they identified decision makers and investors as one of four important target groups.The aim of this study is to explore the portrayed image of the city of Umeå in two Swedish trade journals which addresses the specific target group decition makers and investors in both public and private sector. The aim is also to compare the image of Umeå in the two papers, to the ambition of the municipality, expressed in the brand platform.In order to make the observations as firmly established as possible, the method of the study is a combination of a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative text analysis. The study draws on the theories of Eli Avraham and Philip Kotler, concerning how to improve city images and how to market a specific city among others. The study shows that the city of Umeå in large extent is portrayed in accordance to the ambition which the municipality expressed in the brand platform.Umeå is displayed as an expanding city.

The aim of this thesis is to discuss and analyse the American cotton subsidies? effect on the world market in general and developing countries in particular. The amount of U.S. subsidies is substantial compared to most other countries, but a great deal of the effect is due to the USA?s significant share of the market.

The postindustrial market increasingly demands service infused products to add more value to the customer in order to be competitive. Much research regarding digitalized services indicates that companies have to be innovative in order to compete on the market. However, companies within different industries face different challenges with digital service development. This study has been conducted because there are little known about the opportunities and the challenges different industries faces with a globalized market. Our research question is what the challenges are and what opportunities does strategic digital service development entails for companies.

Title: Brand Brazil ? A study on brand equity in an emerging market Authors: Anders Andersson & Jonathan Karlsson Subject: Bachelor thesis in marketing, 15 credits Keywords: Brand equity, Emerging markets, Brand awareness, Brand associations, Perceived quality, Brand loyalty Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to gain deeper understanding of how a company operating on an emerging market can work with brand equity, and what benefits it provides to the brand owner. Theoretical framework: The chapter begins with a description of brand equity to be further decomposed to its four dimensions; brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality, brand loyalty Methodology: A qualitative research method with a deductive approach is conducted, where interviews with Brand/Marketing coordinators for the Brazilian subsidiaries of Volkswagen, Toyota and General Motors, are performed. Empirical framework: The chapter presents performed interviews that are supposed to describe our case studies? work and benefits from brand equity. Conclusion: This study shows that companies operating on an emerging market are working actively with brand equity, often in accordance with theory. The companies also experience positive effects from increased brand equity..

Extended Producer Responsibility (ERP) is a form of product take-back regulation that requires the producers to manage their products at the end of life. By internalising the products? entire life cycle costs into the market price the ultimate objective of such regulations is to reduce the environmental burden from the products. This Master´s thesis seeks to examine if the total life cycle cost of a product actually is borne by the producer, and if not, predict who will then take this cost. This is done by analysing the market for take-back activities in three different categories of products; electrical and electronic equipment, cars and wind power stations.

Identification and analysis of key success factors for an entrepreneurial firm to achieve leverage when establishing on a foreign market with a premium consumer product..

In the expansion rate of the national as well as the international market, the importance of trademark has been given a central matter. The definition of what can be considered a trademark has been widened. Today?s trademark law defines a trademark as something that can be graphically reproduced. Trademarks can there for contain names, words, numbers, letters or the shape of the goods itself or the packaging.

Marlot Company Limited is a company in the sector household services. It is a new company where the owners, and also the clients, felt that the company was in need of a distinct platform where they could communicate with their current and prospective customers. The assignment was to create a platform consisting of a graphic profile and a Wordpress site for the company. The graphic profile's task was to distinctly profile the company in the market, and visualizing the conceptions that the company wants to be associated with. The purpose of the Wordpress site was to create a showcase for Marlot towards their customers, and thecompany itself could manage after completion.These two products have been created with the help of a pilot study which included an analysis in which the competitors in the market has been scanned, and reports of the household services sector has been studied.

Several reports and scientific research have shown that unemployment affectshealth negatively and that it is the young unemployed who suffer the most. Despitethis, there were not many evaluated labour market programs for young peoplefocusing both on how the labour market programs affect the job status and health,most of them were only focused on job status. Since there were not manycompilations in that direction, the essay is intended to describe the variousprograms and their impact on both job status and health. A literature-based studyhas been conducted and 15 articles have been reviewed and compiled into variouscategories using a content analysis. It turned out that the majority of the mostcommon labour market programs were represented in the scientific literature.There was also a new genre that is not mentioned in previous reports, cognitivebehavioral therapy (CBT), which proved to be one of the most successful programs.Michigan Prevention Research Center (MPRC) job search programs also showedsome positive results.

Hedge funds? importance within the financial system has during the most recent years increased dramatically. These special funds are unique instruments that differ from traditional mutual funds in a variety of ways, however especially in how they expect returns. Due to the fact that hedge funds are able to hold short positions they possess the possibility to become market neutral investment vehicles.Because of this possibility to sustain positions neutral to market fluctuations, the concept of absolute returns became a unique selling point for hedge fund managers and promises of stable returns unchallenged by market conditions was assured. This research paper aims to examine the theory of absolute returns in hedge funds by examining hedge funds from the Nordic region during the last years of economic turmoil that has occurred by  analyzing the results from their strategies, partially by quantitative measurements as well as qualitative.  The results show that none of hedge fund strategies managed to deliver absolute returns over the chosen period..

Title: Overreaction on the Swedish stock market Seminar date:2008-01-30 Course:Nek K01- Bachelor Thesis in Economics (15 ETCS) Authors: Advisor:Oskar Herbe and Ludvig Persson Hossein Asgharian Key Words:Overreaction, Anomalies, Market Efficiency, Contrarian investment strategies Purpose:The purpose of this thesis is to test if the overreaction hypothesis as originally described by De Bondt and Thaler is a good explanation model for the Swedish stock market. Further, our intension is to divide the stock market into three segments by company size, in terms of market capitalization, to control for size effects. Method:We have conducted this study by analyzing Swedish stock data in the period of 1989-2007. Within this time span, using overlapping formation periods, we have constructed two types of portfolios, winner portfolios and looser portfolios. The portfolios represent the 30 per cent best performing respectively worst performing stocks in terms of returns.