Master thesis in Business Administration, Swedish Business School at ÖrebroUniversity, spring semester 2012Authors: Anders Oskarsson & Christian UhlanderTitle: I?m going to make you rich! -With a little help from PiotroskiResearch objective: This paper examines whether a simple account-based analysis strategy,F_SCORE, can improve returns earned by an investor. The results show that F_SCORE generated a69,7 % annual return between 2001-2010 at the Swedish market, which was better than the furtherdeveloped model A_SCORE. Overall, the evidence suggests that the market does not incorporatehistorical information into prices in a timely manner.Methodology: The foundation for this thesis is based on a quantitative approach and empiricalmaterial is gathered from Thomson Reuters Datastream for the Swedish market..

The aim of this essay is to examine how educated immigrants from former Yugoslavia are experiencing the Swedish labor market and if they feel that there are factors that complicate their ability to establish themselves in the Swedish labor market. We have also examined whether and if so, how their status has changed in connotation with the move to Sweden. The method we have used is a qualitative interview study where we asked questions from a semi-structured interview guide. We chose to make use of both previous research and a number of analytical tools for using these to interpret inequality and discrimination that exist in the Swedish labor against educated immigrants. The results presented four factors that our respondents perceive contribute to difficulty in establishing themselves in the Swedish labor market, these are: contacts, name, validation and trainee post.

The study tries to increase the understanding of the phenomenon known as the Big bath, on the question whether the market accepts Big bath accounting principle or not. Big bath is an accounting theory meaning that a company is likely to increase its impairment in a specific year. This could be as a reaction on a change in the leadership, a depreciation of the result or maybe an external decrease in demand. Through a quantitative survey of the market it is examining whether the companies themselves are inclined to use the procedure and if the stock market accepts it. The study concludes that Big bath similar procedures are a fairly common accounting practice and that the stock market does not seem to mind. .

Title: A new battle, the same bottle: A case study of the visual communication of Absolut Vodka and how it?s positioned towards different market segments.Author: Anna von Friedrichs Grängsjö & Niklas SvanlindhTutor: Jessica GustafssonPurpose: To overview the visual communication of Absolut Vodka and how it?s positioned towards different market segments. Absolut Vodka is a brand that reaches a vast range of consumers through a single consistent marketing strategy. The hypothesis was that one can reach many different market segments with the marketing of a product by constantly keeping some components of the communication the same while constantly changing others. Key questions to be answered are: How do Absolut Vodka address their target audiences in their visual communication? Which market segments does the visual communication of Absolut Vodka seem to address?Method/Material: The research was conducted through a qualitative research study in which four Youtube videos by Absolut Vodka were analyzed.

Because of the large economic growth in China there are many companies who have economic interests in the Chinese market. Also in the forest market companies have started to invest in China and the interest for the market is growing. The question is how the Chinese forest market will develop in the years to come? How will China?s entry on the market of forest products affect the global forest market? The purposes of this study are to describe production, consumption and trade of forest products, and China?s possible competitive advantage in the forest industry. The purpose of this study is also to describe how China?s entry on the forest market affects the world market of forest products.

The Swedish telecommunication market was prior to the official deregulation 1975 characterized by Telia?s former monopoly position. This thesis studies how the deregulation of the market, and the thereby increasing competition, has affected Telia and how it has influenced Telia?s marketing strategies.The theoretical framework, from which the conclusions will be made, is a combination of the theory about strategic learning behaviours by Slater et al, and Grönroos? theory about a marketing continuum. The empirical work material is the result from two interviews with former key figures at Telia, and a briefing of Telia?s annual report between the years 1993 and 2006.Research findings indicate that Telia has gone from being product oriented with a strong technical focus, to becoming gradually more market oriented with competition orientation but foremost customer orientation as their most distinguished learning behaviours.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to research how the Göteborg City Museum places their organization in a context of culture policies andmuseology.The discursive analysis constitutes the methodical frame for this thesis. According to the analysis of this thesis, since an increasing influence of a market-­oriented discourse, an antagonism between a sociological pathos and a market-­oriented instrumentality seems to be the major theoretical clash at the museum. Inside the organization though, the personnel lacks broader insights concerning these theoretical conflicts, but the stressed economic situation creates no room for further theorization. There is a risk to get caught in a market-oriented discourse where there is no time to reflect on the effects of the discourse because of the lack of time that the discourse itself generates.

The report is a result of a bachelor thesis at the department of business administration, School of Business, Economics and Law, Gothenburg University, spring term 2008. The study examines the potential return of Swedish Venture Capital firms? Cleantech investments, carried out in 2006 and 2007, compared to the return on their other investments.The study has identified a number of factors affecting the return. These have been classified within three areas: the characteristics of the Venture Capital investment, the characteristics of the Venture Capital firm and the market potential for Cleantech. The impacts on potential return for these factors are investigated by means of an interview survey with 18 Swedish Venture Capital firm covering 45 investments in Cleantech.Our research indicates a worse potential return on Cleantech investments compared to other investments.

Common wisdom dictates that because payment of dividends decreases funds available for investment, a high payout ratio is to be associated with low earnings growth. This notion has been challenged in recent years by empirical research that has found a positive relationship between payout ratio and future earnings growth, both on the aggregated market level and the company level in different countries. This study investigated the aforementioned relationship on the Swedish market by statistically analyzing future earnings growth as a function of payout ratio on a large sample of publicly listed companies over the period 1980 to 2011. The results are in line with those found in previous research and indicate that companies with high dividend payout ratio tend to experience strong future earnings growth. The results are robust to the presence of mean reversion, the use of an alternative accounting measure of earnings, non-symmetrical earnings growth cycles and alternative practices for dealing with outliers..

The aim of this thesis is to study perceptions around the freedom of movement of workers within the EU before and after its enlargement in 2004, both on a Swedish and a European level. I have chosen to conduct my study using a discourse analysis as a structure for my theory and method. Theories based on previous research have also been used. My material consists of Communications from the European Commission, Swedish Command Papers as well as a research report. One of the main findings is that at a Swedish level, there is concern about how the free movement of workers will affect the labour market and welfare system.

Diet and lifestyle are closely interrelated and believed to have a significant influence on four major public diseases - cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypertension and obesity, but also affects functional deficiencies like gluten- and lactose intolerance. Health added-value foods are thought to reduce health-related risks or delay the onset of these major diseases. Therefore, interest among scientists, researchers and the public in general has been growing remarkably over the last decade regarding these special foods. The Swedish market seems to be a good target for health added-values food. However, as there are many risks and cost factors involved for companies to enter the market or invest in R&D, it is important to take a step back and analyze the current market situation.

In today?s society Internet is evolving the tourism industry and it?s the pioneers that use this marketing channel to further their brands that?s that reap the benefits of early adoption. In this essay we research how well two kinds of ownership structures, private ownership and chain ownership, in the hotel market match up against each other in Internet presence and the steps they have taken to encourage guests too book via their websites. We determined that the hotel market in Karlstad was sufficient to study the different kinds of ownership structures as it?s small enough to see the competition between private ownership and chain ownership clearly instead of as normal in more densely populated cities where chain owned hotels dominates the marked due to sheer size. The scientific research consists of two types of methods.

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.

It generally takes 10 to 12 years for a new drug to hit the market. The pharmaceutical industry invests huge sums in these early stages of research and development. In spite of the rapidly rising research and development expenditures fewer and fewer blockbuster drugs are being developed. Longer lead times and aggressive generic post-patent competition have narrowed the timeframe for the pharmaceutical companies to profit on their investments.In the face of these threats the pharmaceutical industry has developed a battery of strategies to prolong market exclusivity and to maximize return on investment. These emerging strategies are commonly known as Life cycle management (LCM), which actually is more of a concept than a method.

In efforts to strengthen local economies, business development programs are often a way in which governmental organizations and state affiliates try to facilitate innovation and successful entrepreneurship. There is a mutual interest from both the public and private sector that these funds are put to good use. Extensive research has been conducted with the focus of the general effect of public support programs. However, not much research has been done on what external factors affect the situation for receiving businesses. This study attempts to examine whether one specific such factor, the level of maturity on the markets that the recipients operate in, has a discernible effect on the needs for different types of entrepreneurial support.