Title:   Controlling Mälarenergi by Balanced Scorecard Seminar date:  2009-01-16 Institution:   School of Sustainable Development of Society and Technology Course:   Bachelor thesis 15hp Authors:   Camilla Nilsson, Amanda Agestav Advisor:   Ulla Pettersson The main issues:                What does Mälarenergi's Balanced Scorecard look like? Which Balanced Scorecard perspectives are important to Mälarenergi? Is Balanced Scorecard a purposeful control model in order for the group management to fulfil the aims of the owners' directives? Purpose:                            The purpose is to find out how the group management at Mälarenergi works with Balanced Scorecard. Is Balanced Scorecard a purposeful tool for the group management to fulfill the aims of the owners' directives? Method:                             This study is based on a qualitative research method in the form of interviews. We have interviewed one respondent.

The application of performance-based pay system among enterprises is becoming more frequent. Performance-based pay systems is used by organizations in hope of increasing productivity and have become more flexible. Employees may perceive the performance-based salary as a motivator or a threat depending on lifesituation and personality. At a perceived threat, the employee may become stressed. Work-related stress has become a serious social problem that can have consequences for both companies and individuals.

The change of control clause is nowadays a well used covenant in the Eurobond market, with the aims to protect bondholders in case of a leveraged buyout. This thesis intend to evaluate whether the change of control clause is a new phenomenon in the Eurobond market today and to estimate what have been the driven force for the popularity of it. The thesis found that the change of control clause already existed before and thus it is not a new phenomenon. Several factors where found though to explain the extended use of the clause today. Starting in 2005 the LBO activity increased rapidly, exposing almost every company to the risk of LBO.

Environmental issues is now taking a growing place in society and to ensure that companies meet public expectations and do their part in working towards a sustainable development, environmental management system is said to be an effective tool (Almgren & Brorson, 2009).This case study has examined a company's environmental management system in order to find strengths and weaknesses within the ISO 14001 system. The work was carried out using interviews, document reviews and analyzes in which the three main concepts control the report ; "daily work", "audit" and "environmental aspects".The results shows that the daily work looks different depending on where you are; in the production or at the office. The audit examined all documents related to the environmental management system and the study showed that the biggest strengths was the commitment and waste handling while areas such as environmental goals and management review needed improvement. As a result of the deficiencies identified, suggestions for improvements was proposed. The investigation of the routine of the environmental aspects showed an incomplete routine where the red wire from identification to evaluation was missing.

This thesis work is the result of the company Prisjakt?s wish to develop and improve its current system of opinions for online stores. The challenge was to develop a similar system that competitors are using but better. The collection of information is based on purchases and are collected from Web-shops. The purchases can then be monitored in a control panel.

Pathogenic microorganisms pose a big threat towards food production. Meanwhile, negative impacts on humans and environment are seen by the use of pesticides. Biological control agents are an alternative to the use of chemical pesticides, and plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria, such as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens has been shown to have good properties as biocontrol agents. Before these bacteria can be used commercially their impact on other soil organisms has to be evaluated. This thesis looks into what biocontrol bacteria are and how they might affect earthworms.

The usage of visions and strategies is something that helps an organisation to create an imaginary scenario and guide them of how to realize these goals. During the years of 2006-2008 Region Gotland presented a document that was supposed to show the region's visions. The theoretical framework of this thesis is based on the stakeholder theory, Balanced Scorecard (BSC) and Management Control Systems Package (MCS). Personal interviews were conducted within the organisation Region Gotland, with individuals whom are directly linked to the visions and strategies of the organisation. The purpose of this study is to clarify the concepts of vision and strategy, and what their impact is on the organisation's work on the operation level.

Background: Running economy is one of the key factors to achieve top performance in endurance events. Little evidence exists for improving running economy using high-intensity interval training while running. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine how HIIT affects running economy and VO2max. Method: 14 well-trained athletes (age 35 ± 8,9 years, height 175 ± 11,7 cm and weight 69 ± 12,2 kg) were divided into two separate groups (HIIT and Control). HIIT group performed 3 HIIT exercises every week for 4 weeks and Control group continued with their separate training programs consisting of mostly traditional endurance training. Results: Running economy showed no improvement in HIIT (pre 38,62 and post 38,62 ml/kg/min, p=1.00) but Control improved (pre 45,41 and post 43,37 ml/kg/min, p=0,03). VO2max decreased in HIIT (mean 61,32 to 60,84 ml/kg/min) and in Control (mean 61,99 to 58,47 ml/kg/min)..

Resultatet av denna undersökning och detta arbete har visat på ett ifrågasättande av systemet, av såväl anställda som chefer. Huvudanledningarna är framförallt okontrollerbarheten, den låga motivationsfaktorn och vad belöningen grundar sig på. Vår slutprodukt består av ett antal förslag till förbättringar av Kopparmyntet inom Swedbank.

Ruins and derelict places have since long fascinated and attracted humans. With my starting point in the wild vegetation and the spontaneous activities taking place on derelict land and in industrial ruins, I explore with help from the theoretical sociology, what creates not only this fascination but also fear. The purpose of the thesis is to explore and exemplify how the industrial ruin as a place outside the restrictions and control as well as design intentions of modern society can be used as an inspiration in a landscape architecture context.The modern city consists of areas and places with a well defined purpose. A piece of derelict land or a disused building is instead ambiguous, undefined and open for new purposes. However described in negative terms, these placesare often perceived as places of mystery and magic.

In system development it is today increasingly common to use a model-based system development method. These methods that are suited for Agile work with simple and quick updates and implementations of new applications in systems conform to the requirements that are becoming more important today, namely more flexible and less expensive system that still maintain high quality and safety.A company that has been working with this type of system development method for a long time is Genicore AB, which also has developed their own tools and model language in order to better model the information management systems in complex and abstract operations. Genicore AB is trying to spread their method other developers and have therefore taken the initiative to start this study. The method is evaluated and tested by two students with relatively little experience in model-based systems engineering in order to gain a new perspective on how the method functions. The method has been applied to an educational activity in order to test it in a new domain, and this led us to our research question;?What criteria are of particular relevance in the implementation of a MBSD method on on complex businesses??Through literature reviews and interviews, we formed an idea of how model-based system development works from a theoretical perspective, and then continued to the case study conducted on the educational activities at the faculty of IT at University of Gothenburg.

Background: Running economy is one of the key factors to achieve top performance in endurance events. Little evidence exists for improving running economy using high-intensity interval training while running. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine how HIIT affects running economy and VO2max. Method: 14 well-trained athletes (age 35 ± 8,9 years, height 175 ± 11,7 cm and weight 69 ± 12,2 kg) were divided into two separate groups (HIIT and Control). HIIT group performed 3 HIIT exercises every week for 4 weeks and Control group continued with their separate training programs consisting of mostly traditional endurance training. Results: Running economy showed no improvement in HIIT (pre 38,62 and post 38,62 ml/kg/min, p=1.00) but Control improved (pre 45,41 and post 43,37 ml/kg/min, p=0,03). VO2max decreased in HIIT (mean 61,32 to 60,84 ml/kg/min) and in Control (mean 61,99 to 58,47 ml/kg/min)..

This thesis is the final part of bachelors program of Nuclear Engineering at UppsalaUniversity (program code KKI1). The work has been carried out in cooperation withForsmark Kraftgrupp AB. The topic studied deals with possible improvements ofefficiency at the planning department at block 2 in Forsmark i.e. FMP2.FMP2 plans and coordinates over 3,000 operations which is carried out during theannual overhaul of block 2 in Forsmark. Inspections, fuel replacement and repairs areincluded in the annual overhaul.

Real-time systems are required to answer to external stimuli within a specified time-period. For this to be possible, the systems behaviour must be predictable. The use of active databases in real-time systems introduces unpredictability in the system, e.g. due to their use of active rules. The behaviour in active databases is usually specified in ECA-rules.

Background: Diversified companies, for example audit firms, sometimes offer different kinds of products and services. Different key success factors can in the same company thereby evolve. Goal congruence has to be achieved in the business divisions as well as in the company as a whole even though each business segment might have to focus on different factors. Purpose: The purpose is to analyze if differences in technology and culture between the business divisions in diversified companies motivate a differentiated reward system. Method: The study has a case study approach.