In today?s competitive market, design is an important element for the companies. They must succeed with delivering an increased value and an experience for the consumer to be able to survive. The Swedish company?s have become better in the design area, the higher standards the consumer?s demands forces the company to invest more in design.

In this thesis we study the development of post-earnings announcement drift (PEAD) in the Swedish equity market from 2000 to 2009. By forming portfolios based on the stock price reaction to quarterly reporting we show that the characteristics of PEAD have changed. We demonstrate that negatively surprising companies show a positive drift during a holding period of six months sufficiently large to render the trading strategy unprofitable. This development holds from 2005 and onwards and these results contradict many a study which finds the same portfolio construction to be indeed profitable. We argue that this development is a trend that will not only affect our study but future studies as well..

This thesis is a study of the indicated connection between degree of market orientated solutions and range of formal actions against corruption in Swedish municipalities. The indicated connection points in the direction that municipalities with a high degree of market orientated solutions have a higher range of formal actions against corruptionthan municipalities with a low degree of market orientated solutions. In this thesis the indicated connection is studied by analyzing documents fromand interviewing representatives of two Swedish municipalities with differentdegree of market oriented solutions; Botkyrka municipality representing a lowdegree and Nacka municipality representing a high degree. The results of analyzed documents and interviews show the range of formal actions taken against corruption by the municipalities.The empirical results of this thesis is that Nacka municipality have a higher range of formal actions against corruption than Botkyrka municipality has, a result which corresponds with and confirm the indicated connection between high degree of market orientated solutions and high range of formal actions against corruption..

Objective: The objective of this thesis is to investigate how Scania has attained success to establish on the Indian market and to inquire into the establishment process of Scania and their entrance in the Indian market. The thesis describes different factors such as the product, mode of entry, time of entry and choice of market that play a role when a company establishes and invest in a foreign market.Method: This thesis is limited to the process of establishing Scania on the Indian truck market. A qualitative approach has being utilized in this study, consisting of interviews withStaffan Sjöström, development manager at the R&D department, Koen Knoops, vice president at Financial Services and Henrik Fagrenius, former managing director for Scania in India. Data collection from various journals and articles have been conducted for the presentation of the number of sold newly registered trucks in comparison to the number of sold newly registered trucks in India by Volvo, Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland during 2010, 2011, 2012 and the first three quarters of 2013.Theory: With a starting-point in empirism, we have used a theoretical frame of reference to describe Scania´s establishment process. Scania makes use of an internationalization strategy, namely Market Selection, Time of Entry and Entry mode and the network model, which describes the process of establishing on a foreign market as a business association with various players on the market.

This essay examines the process of fair value accounting of financial assets in a Swedish commercial bank, in contrast to the theoretical approach stated by IASB. The theoretical background contains a review of the academic standpoint on fair value accounting and historical cost accounting, a detailed description of fair value accounting according to current and future IASB regulation and on the American FAS 157 regulation. The empirical case study describes the process of valuing and classifying financial assets into level 1 and level 2 of the fair value hierarchy. The analysis describes how the legal requirements for classification are interpreted and applied in practice when valuing bonds and derivatives. The authors provide an explanation as to why the majority of financial assets are valued mark to model rather than mark to market as well as a suggestion on how the share of market valued assets can be increased..

Forces of innovation alter the course of many industries. Currently there is a restructuring of the Swedish energy sector due to deregulation. This in combination with advanced technologies generates an innovative and a highly changeable environment. The result is differentiation of services and products. New actors are emerging and corporations grow larger.

Background: Operating on the stock market is associated with risks. If a particular asset is not traded with the same frequency as the average market asset, this particular asset is exposed to a liquidity risk. It means that the investor might not be able to sell the asset at a desired time without incurring expensive transaction costs. The query is whether or not the investor is compensated with a liquidity premium for bearing the extra risk. Earlier studies on the Stockholm Stock Exchange have failed to prove that there is a relation between stock return and liquidity.

Nearly 74 percent of the Swedish population invests in funds and the options are therefore various. The Swedish private investors can choose between active and passively managed funds. Fund managers, who seek to generate higher returns than the market, manage active managed funds. Unlike the active managed funds, passively managed funds do not require any active investment decisions.Fama?s (1970) efficient market theory reflects all available information in the stock price, therefore it is not possible to predict how the stock price changes.

Thesis purpose The study aims to examine the effects vertical and horizontal line extensions might have on the total parent brand equity in terms of strength and its baseline product regarding of market share, loyalty and penetration under an elapsed period of time. The study aims to investigate a number of actual conducted line extensions effect on the above mentioned aspects of Kellers (1993) definition of brand strength as a part of the total brand equity. Methodology The effect of a number of line extensions of the parent brands and the baseline products is being examined in terms of market share, loyalty rate, cannibalization and market penetration. The thesis is focused on the correlations between these different parameters during a certain elapsed time ratio in order to test our theoretically routed hypothesizes in a deductive manner. Occasional correlations are derived from an indexation of data collected from the Gfk database. Theoretical perspective The study is derived from Kapferers (2004) definition of brand equity, where he is dividing the concept into three parts. This study is focused on Brand strength in particular, which is one of the parameters in the above-mentioned theory.

The purpose of this thesis was to illuminate and create a deeper understanding of how small niche retail businesses within the apparel industry position themselves. We aimed to investi-gate how these small niche retail businesses create their position and how they communicate these positions to their target market. To be able to investigate the positioning-process within these small niche retail businesses a case study was conducted based on interviews with two respondents from two different companies and observations of these businesses physical envi-ronments. The study indicated that the small niche retail businesses mainly make use of emo-tional aspects and their assortment range to create their position. To communicate their posi-tion to their target market they mainly use their in-store personal selling and their assortment range..

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..

AbstractPurpose:The purpose of the study is to describe the internationalization process of one firm when in a country culturally diverse from the firm?s original market.Methodology/approach:The study is a single case study which examines one firm?s internationalization process when entering the Chinese market. The approach has been an empiric interaction between empirical and theoretical data.Findings:The theory of the Uppsala model was applied to the case-company to test the model?s completeness. The authors found weaknesses and added three more aspects to the model.

Sudan has always showed great potential in the poultry industry, but it has not been until now that this potential has blossomed and is growing quickly. As large agribusinesses1are taking over the market shares within the urban areas, smallholders2 have been put out of business. They are not able to compete with mass production and lack financial assets to improve their production techniques. Contract farming is defined as initiatives from agro industrial companies to secure access to smallholder produce and has in developing countries become a way of allowing the poor to participate in a larger market (Farrington, 1999). The aim with this study was to investigate the suitability of implementing the contract farming concept within the poultry industry in Sudan today. The study is a qualitative field study and the authors have conducted qualitative interviews with respondents involved in the poultry industry in Sudan.

Purpose: The main purpose of the thesis is to examine the profitability of Momentum Strategies on the Nordic stock markets. This will provide insight and contribute to the debate on efficient markets. Finding profitable Momentum Strategies will provide strong evidence of inefficiency in the market. A secondary purpose is to examine factors which might cause or impact the profitability of the Momentum Strategy. We will look closely at the relationship between the profitability and factors such as risk (CAPM-beta), market capitalization, trading volume and seasonality.

AbstractMaster thesis in Business Administration, School of Business and Economics at Linneaus UniversityAuthors: Patrik Larsson and Pontus GislénSupervisor: Håkan LockingExaminer: Sven-Olof CollinTitle: The index effect- a study on Nasdaq OMXS30 and OMXH25Introduction: A significant part of the financial literature is based on the Efficient Market Hypothesis which assumes that prices in the market reflects all available information. Anomalies, such as the index effect, indicate weaknesses in this theory as it has been proved that it is possible to outperform the market using public information. Hence, the index effect can be linked to market efficiency which makes it interesting to study from a theoretical perspective. The mapping of the index effect is also interesting from a practical perspective, as it leads to a better understanding of whether investors and firms should take this anomaly into account.Problem: Is there an index effect, how does it behave and what can explain this effect?Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the index effect.