This report deals with prefabricated bathrooms and the advantage, during the production process, they have compared to ordinary produced bathrooms.The work is done together with the building company JM. The common task is to investigate if the manufactures, in spite of standardized design can meet the concept of JM, i.e. high flexibility and adjustment towards the customer. In JM they are doubtful to the method, as they did not yet worked with prefabricated modules and think that the choises for the costumer will be limited.There will be a short resume of the progress of the bathrooms and its importance as sanitary and wellbeing.The recent problems with damage caused by damp in bathrooms. Have resultade in regulations.

It is a common view that companies should focus on building brands to increase profitability and stabilize cash flows. However, building and keeping brands alive is costly. Many firms spend large sums on branding only because they are supposed to, without knowing if they will actually gain from it. Up to date, there is limited convincing evidence that branding actually contributes to shareholder value creation. This thesis aims to investigate the relationship between brand strength and profitability and shareholder value.

The past and ongoing structural change in Swedish agriculture has led to an increasing number of large-scale farms. The biological factors associated with large-scale farming operations may cause increasing variability, risk and reduced yields due to sub-optimal timing and management of field operations. The theory of economies of scale suggests that largescale production may benefit from lower costs due to scale efficiencies. Thus, large-scale farms may face cost reductions in terms of long term inputs factors, e.g. agricultural machinery.

This study began with a mission statement from the firm Tobii Technology AB to identify customer needs in the relatively new and rapidly growing market for eye tracking analysis. After consuling external experts, the authors however found that the availability of previous academic published market studies of new and fast growing markets was poor. Therefore a decision was made to execute the task and at the same time create a methadology for future studies in this area. The identification of customer needs, which formed the basis of the insights and analysis, led to frequent discussions between the authors and the firm's supervisors. This resulted in a project plan and a decision that an iterative model would be used, were earlier decisions would be questioned and refined throughout the project.

Background: The dependency on knowledge and competence today is more critical than earlier. Today, companies need to put more effort into identifying and filling knowledge gaps, which can be achieved through mergers and acquisitions. It is important that the companies succeed in coordinating their operations after this process of change. Out of a theoretical point of view it can be argued that companies need to balance between different coordination mechanisms that result in standardized and flexible coordination respectively. Purpose: The purpose of this Master Thesis is, in the context of a merger, to investigate and analyze which coordination mechanisms that are used in knowledge-intensive companies, how these coordination mechanisms are combined and what explains the chosen combination.

This thesis will through the use of various approaches determine the key drivers for dividend payouts for A-listed Swedish firm. The time frame reaches from 1997 to 2003 an the thesis covers 48 companies..

AbstractTitle: Accounting firms´ view on the (new law) in joint-stock companiesCourse: Business Administration, Financial Accounting in Corporations and Groups, Ad-vanced Course, 15 ECTSAuthors: Mikaela Uveby, Shadi Nourbehesht, Almira DizdarevicAdvisor: Kent TrosanderProblem: During the last few years, more importance and emphasis has been put on auditors and accounting in general due to a number of company and business scandals on both national and international levels. The United States as well as the EU consid-ered it a necessity to make regulations stricter when it comes to auditing and ac-counts in order to increase the public trust to accounting. At January 1st, 2007, Sweden also changed its law concerning accounting firm challenges. The new law states that as soon as someone of the auditor?s co-workers assists a client with some part of the basic bookkeeping, the main bookkeeping or the drawing-up of the an-nual account, the challenge situation becomes a fact.Purpose: The purpose of the essay is to examine and inquire into how the renewed law con-cerning accounting firm challenges, that was established and put to action at Janu-ary 1st, 2007, has affected accounting firms.Method: The writers have chosen to complete qualitative interviews in order to get a deeper insight to and an understanding of the topic.Conclusion: One year after the renewal of the law, the writers have reached the conclusion of that the new law has not had a great impact on the accounting firms.

Purpose: This paper aims to describe the socialization process that audit associates experience within an auditing firm that is included in the Big 4-sphere. Our purpose is also to describe which attributes that characterize the organizational identity, and how these attributes are reflected in the self-image of the associates. Furthermore, we seek to explain how the socialization process has influenced the organizational identification. This subject is of interest since the business of auditing is facing higher demands from regulators and politicians, due to the bankruptcy of HQ-bank among others during the financial crisis in the beginning of the 21st century. Earlier research claims that the socialization process of recruits, especially in the initial state of the employment, has a major impact on their future values and attitudes in their job performance.

Human Resource Management (HRM) has an increasingly strategic role in today?s organizations as the supply of managers is an integral part of the strategic work. In order to retain competence and knowledge, firms are usually designed so that the employees can develop their careers within the firm. Company X is a company in the financial sector and is an example of such firm. However, at Company X: Department Y, very few employees apply for the management positions when they are announced.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to study the adaptation of recently recruited young professionals to a top consulting firm through their identity construction efforts. We analyze the influence of a major organization-related discourse on young professionals in order to account for the effects of emotional labor on their adaptation to work. Methodology: We have studied our empirical material in the light of a reflexive pragmatic approach. Thus throughout the analysis of interview material, we try to interpret carefully the material from various perspectives. As authors, we also reflect critically upon our own interpretations.

Title: A study about conditions for leadership in knowledge-intensive firms.Authors: Cecilia Ekström and Niklas SandbergKeywords: Leadership, knowledge-intensive firm, hierarchies, followers.Background: Leadership is becoming one of our greatest social myths and is considered a total solution for many problems that occur in an organization. The view of leadership is usually from a top-down perspective, which contributes to an often underestimated view of the follower. Just as it is important to understand the leader's view of leadership, it is important to understand how employees view the structure from which the leader derives its legitimacy. The existing conditions in knowledge-intensive firms, such as autonomy, place special demands on the formal leadership.Purpose: The purpose of this study takes an employee perspective, to understand what the conditions are for formal leadership in knowledge-intensive firms.Method: A qualitative research method was used and empirical material was collected through interviews with employees in knowledge-intensive firms. The empirical material was analyzed by the respondents? mental images which were set against the theoretical framework of the thesis.Conclusions: The conditions for formal leadership in knowledge-intensive firms make it advantageous to have a leader with a withdrawn role.

In the last couple of decades, corporate law firms have rapidly grown to become both influential and highly profitable corporations in the business world. Today, the largest law firms are assumed to bear far greater resemblance to large and often multinational public limited companies than the small businesses generally associated with legal services. However, one interesting specific set them apart from the majority of other companies; the partnership and its interrelated profit sharing. The aim of this study has therefore been to investigate partner compensation systems in corporate law firms and further examine what implications chosen compensation systems have on the organizations. Using a multiple case study, including 7 of Scandinavia?s largest and most well known law firms, the results show that partner compensation systems are highly individual and the critical question is whether to employ seniority based or performance based compensation systems.

Companies acquiring ERP systems are often dissatisfied with the project and therefore consultancy firms wish to make use of project models in order to achieve success in implementations. Since research on ERP implementations in service companies is limited, there is a need for mapping of critical activities in implementation projects in this line of business. Under these premises, the purpose of our master thesis is to develop a model for implementation of ERP systems, specified in activities, which can be used by mid-sized consultancy firms with mid-sized qualified service companies as customers.A literature study including project models, modern models and methodologies for ERP implementation, commonly existent activities, success factors and system development methods was carried out. Starting out with this, a theoretical model for ERP implementation was generated. In excess of this, a case study was conducted, where the implementation of the ERP system Microsoft Dynamics AX at the service company Eurostep, performed by the consultancy firm Medius, was studied.

When a company seeks to enter a new market, the multiple choices of possible new business relationships exist. Further, establishing new relationships is a time-consuming procedure associated with high uncertainty and high costs. Hence, if the firm does not succeed in pinpointing the most suitable business partners to collaborate with, the firm may both forfeit other possible good relationships, as well as resources invested. Based on this notion the aim of this thesis is to explore how a manufacturing company can base the selection of future dealership Business-to-Business partners by evaluating indicators of a possible business relationship?s potential to become successful. The choice of focusing on the Business-to-Business relationship between a manufacturer and a dealership company originates from being influenced by the issues facing the Swedish agricultural machinery manufacturer Väderstad-Verken AB, who is putting attention to explore the US market.

I uppsatsen presenteras en möjlighet för dominerande företag att missbruka sin marknadsställning i syfte att kringgå existerande koncentrationsförbud. Konsekvenserna för det dominerande tillika missbrukande företaget behöver nödvändigtvis inte bli så kännbara som en läsare kanske inledningsvis antar. I arbetet presenteras även en lösning på detta problem..