To establish sustainability reports is an increasing trend for more and more companies. This has led to a spread of the international framework Global reporting initiative, GRI, guidelines to make a sustainability reports. This trend has got a lot of critics from various stakeholders who believe that companies in these reports communicate the information in a way of window dressing. Both negative and positive information has to be represented according to GRI: s principle of balance.  Window dressing is created by adding a greater emphasis on the positive information. The researchers review the context of the negative information to study the extent to which it is reported and whether there are patterns and variations in the reported information.

Previous research has discussed how voluntary disclosure relates to the cost of equity capital. Theories of estimation risk support a negative association between disclosure and cost of equity capital, as empirically documented by Botosan (1997) among others. In this Bachelor thesis we investigate whether such a relationship exists on the Swedish capital market. Using the CAPM to estimate the cost of equity capital and a disclosure index based on Aktiespararen?s annual evaluation of corporate disclosure, we test a model where disclosure explains cost of equity capital.

The situation on the Swedish labour market is different in opportunities whether you are a native Swede or someone who has a foreign background. People with foreign backgrounds tend to have lower wages, higher rate of unemployment and often have temporary employment contracts. There is a conception that the Swedish culture is the standard and other foreign cultures are abnormal and different. The purpose of this study has been to investigate why there is discrimination on the labour market against ethnic minorities and how the Swedish history has contributed to the structural ethnic discrimination that we are struggling with. I have been using the right dogmatic method and a social science perspective as complement in order to answer the purpose.

The overriding purpose of this graduate thesis is to evaluate if municipalities and county councils can deviate from the legislation of public procurement during procurement of customer choice agreements within the health and social care area. The intention of this Quasi-market is to provide the users with competition in terms of quality rather then the general principal rule of economic value.My conclusion results in a legal situation without rules of general procedure. So far the authorities make their own regulation in the field of customer choice agreements. The problem lies within the authorization of new contractors and their right to make an appeal against resolutions made by the authorities social care divisions.One solution is to legislate within the present law of public procurement. Another way to solve the problem is to create a lex specialis apart from the present public procurement regulation..

The spread of digital photography has created major changes in the previously stable Swedish photofinishing market. We investigate how companies act to survive in the face of technological change, through our research question: What strategies have actors in the photofinishing business chosen during the changeover from analog to digital photofinishing? Using a deductive method, we have conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 actors in the photofinishing business. Innovation management studies innovation from a number of perspectives, describing effects of innovations on the competitive ability of established actors, and on the value of their resources. The companies were not prepared for the speed of the change.

The purpose of this thesis was to describe what factors influence consumers? choice when buying probiotic products. Functional Foods have been predicted a bright future on the food market but so far the concept have not been embraced by the consumers. The reasons for this are many and not clearly understood. Positive health effects are what set a functional food product apart from traditional food stuffs of the same type.

The structural rationalization of rural firms in Sweden has led to many new creative ways of developing companies. The agriculture sector is characterized by the need of capital in form of buildings, labor and inventory. The rationalization process has led to free capacity in rural firms when new technology make buildings and inventory not longer necessary for the production process. To get a better cost coverage this free capacity can be used to start-up new business areas that help the rural firm to growth.The study aims to identify factors that motives entrepreneurs in rural firms to develop new business areas. The purpose is also to analyze driving forces that lies behind development of rural firms and the forces that support or not support development in rural firms.The study is built upon five cases that all can be categorized as firms with different size and orientation.

The international requirement of Swedish healthcare today is high and due to a good reputation and a long history of reliable methods through extended experience. For those Swedish companies within this business, the process of internationalization is often a attractive option.This study aims to describe, analyze and translate how minor Swedish companies within the care keeping section establish their business on the international market.The study is based upon a qualitative approach and is an empirical study carried out through semi-structured interviews.The result presented in the study shows that internationalization of companies within this business does often require a lot of time and money, is based upon establishments through networks and were learning-by-doing often is used as a strategic approach for the companies penetrating a new market.The study also accounts for major entry barriers, which declares for being to some part of political nature, but mostly of cultural nature.Differences in language and culture are shown in the study to be a major entry barrier and host-countries different cultural levels are very conclusive for the success of internationalization. .

I takt med att städer förtätas och befintliga grönytor försvinner växer behovet av att hitta innovativa och fungerande lösningar för annan typ av grönska i städer. Utomhusväxtväggar har kommit att bli ett allt vanligare fenomen i södra Europa och andra delar av världen. I det bistra svenska klimatet är dock ståndorten på vertikala ytor att betrakta som extrem och vissa växter som trivs på det horisontella planet har inte en chans att överleva i det vindutsatta läget med stora temperaturskillnader. Detta arbete syftar till att underlätta växtvalet så att det blir möjligt att skapa såväl fungerande som estetiskt tilltalande utomhusväxtväggar i framtiden. Genom studier av litteratur på ämnet samt intervjuer med aktiva inom området undersöker detta arbete huruvida det finns gemensamma egenskaper hos de arter som faktiskt kan överleva under de tuffa förhållandena. Resultatet påvisar att vissa samband i härdighet och naturståndort går att se men att många faktorer har betydelse för växternas överlevnad och att för få växtarter ännu testats.

Pairs trading is a relatively new trading strategy, the strategy has only been used during a couple of decades. A study made on the American stock market has shown that the strat-egy has generated a positive result. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate if pairs trad-ing has been able to create a positive result on the Swedish stock market during the time period of 1995-2004.The data required for this thesis was collected from Stockholm stock exchange and is ad-justed for splits and issues.The pairs trading strategy involves two stages ? identification of pairs and trading signals. The pairs were identified during a period of 12 months.

Apple has since their launch of the Iphone series created a billion dollar business with the market place Appstore. Third-party apps have disrupted the mobile industry, attracted a high number of developers and set the standard for the industry. Despite success, this market has yet not been the topic of any academic study, a fact that makes this thesis important. Under the assumption that apps can be regarded as a service, traditional service marketing theories have been applied with the research goal to map existing business models, evaluate revenue potential and understand best practices of marketing techniques. A series of qualitative interviews with representatives from the difference business models, backed by secondary data describing the domain shows how the Appstore has evolved over time and which marketing practices that appear successful.

I denna rapport redovisas ett examensarbete av Edvin Sjöberg utfört i samarbete med Ödins Garveri i Visby.Projektets mål har varit att ta fram ett tillverkningsunderlag för en ny axelremsväska i läder för män. Väskan är konstruerad för att vara materialbesparande, hållbar och elegant.Faktainsamlingen ger en översikt av de vanligaste sätten att bereda och garva skinn, sömnadsteknik och tillverkningsteknik. Målgrupps- och marknadsanalys har varit vägledande för utformningen av slutprodukten och stort fokus har lagts på modell- och skissarbete.Slutprodukten är en herrväska med mycket hög materialkvalité, formgivning inspirerad av klassiskt herrmode och med väl planlagda och genomtänka detaljer..

In Sweden there is no legal regulation for the obligations and responsibilities between the contracting parties within the construction, civil engineering and installation sector. To clarify uncertainties regarding the liability, actors from theses sectors have agreed upon a voluntary regulation, called the General Conditions of Contract.When insurance companies want to enter the Swedish construction insurance market, they face a regulatory framework that not only regulates the construction market, it also imposes requirements on terms and conditions that must be included in the construction insurance. These terms are perceived as ambiguities and create difficulties and inhibit the ability for these insurance companies to offer competitive insurances. One of the terms that create these difficulties is the guarantee period, which is period of time starting from handing over the construction project to the employer, during this period the contractor still has the responsibility for the construction project. The guarantee period regulated by the General Condition of Contracts differs from the international use of the term both in length and in content.

High housing- and construction costs is a fact in Sweden today. Prices on building materials more rapidly than producer price index for industrial goods. Prices tend to rise during market boom but does not adapt during diminishing demand. The effects of fading demand can rather be deduced through discounts and quotations. During 1992-1998 when the Swedish construction sector found it self in severe crisis the prices of construction materials kept rising more rapidly than PPI for industrial merchandise.

Standing outside the EU and the EES, Switzerland is a unique state characterized by federalism, direct democracy and neutrality. Though always focused on preserving these features and its sovereignty, Switzerland has managed to gain access to some sectors of the single market through bilateral agreements with the EU. The purpose of this thesis is to examine what level of integration Switzerland has reached in those bilaterally regulated sectors of the single market. As integration cannot easily be assessed, the extent of the Swiss adoption of the acquis is seen as an indicator of the level of integration and is thus examined. The conclusion is that Switzerland, mostly due to the economic interest of common rules, but partly due to pressure from the EU, almost completely adopts the acquis in the bilaterally regulated sectors, including the interpretation of the ECJ.