Purpose: To examine how IR-related press releases affect share price for stock companies, and to explore how said companies practice Investor Relations.Methods: The study was conducted using an event study as well as e-interviews. The event study has a quantitative deductive research approach where the market model is used for calculating the abnormal return based on press releases. The e-interviews have a qualitative research approach and follow a semi structured interview guide. The study includes all listed stock companies within the Swedish construction industry and includes press releases from the last decade.Theory: The study is based on the efficient market hypothesis and its semi strong form, theories within Investor Relations and previous research.Results: The event study shows a significant negative abnormal return during a four day period starting the day after the press release event. The negative abnormal return could derive from investor relations being used by companies as damage control, or that the investors? expectations are too high as a result of IR.

The purpose of this master thesis was to explore and develop prototypes for visualization of trade statistics in a market surveilance application. In such an anapplication a large amount of information is processed. This information is then summarized and presented to the market surveillance staff. The practical part of this thesis was done at Scila AB in Stockholm. Three prototypes were developed based on modern visualization methods.

 Problem   Are there any abnormal changes in the parent company's share price at the news of a spin?off.ObjectiveThe main purpose of the study is to investigate how the news of a spin-off affects the parent company's share price. In other words if the news of the Spin-off gives an abnormal return on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during the specific period of 1998?2008. In addressing this, the paper will also investigate the following sub sections: are there any differences in the abnormal returns in various sectors and what the reasons to perform a spin?off in the Swedish market are.MethodAn event study in which market data is used to measure specific events? impact on the value of the company and on the effects on the stock market.

The report aims to examine how property owners position themselves to reach their targetmarket, and which strategies they use when positioning their product. The investigation has beencarried out mainly in the form of a case study in which a number of interviews with Stockholmreal estate companies has been conducted, focusing on commercial property market segment.The interviews have resulted in identification of common and specific strategies among thecompanies. These strategies have been analyzed in the light of the theory by Philip Kotler andKevin Lane Keller, focusing on how an offer should be designed to reach a competitive position.It can be concluded that positioning is a key activity for successfully addressing the targetmarket. Successful positioning mandates three key requirements to be met; determining thecategory to which the offer belongs, identifying similarities and differences compared to thecompetitors and developing a brand mantra. The result of the case study concludes that theproperty companies work similar in many ways.

Investment in hedge funds is a relatively new phenomenon for investors compared with other forms of savings. In recent years, the interest has increased among investors in investing their money in hedge funds, given the protection against declines in the market they are aiming for. Their main purpose is to generate a high return at a low risk regardless of market trends. This they can achieve by having fewer restrictions that offer more flexible investment strategies and freer investment opportunities.The purpose of this paper is to identify how the selected hedge fund strategies have performed during the recent economic downturn. We also want to clarify the claim that hedge funds exhibit a positive absolute return regardless of what the market is performing.In order to answer the purpose of the essay and its problems, we have used a quantitative method with a deductive approach in the processing of data.

In 2007 Swedish Meats, the dominant Swedish meat-producers cooperative sold its slaughtering and processing industry. The goal of a producer cooperative structure is to create value for members through vertical integration, and to strengthen members? market position. When Swedish Meats sold the slaughtering and processing components, it ceased in some respects to serve the function of a cooperative. This is a lost opportunity for both members and non-members, because Swedish Meats as a functioning cooperative could have exploited its dominant market position to positively effect producer?s prices.

AbstractMaster thesis of one year in Business Administration, Swedish Business School at Örebro university,Marketing, HT 2011.Authors: Grunér, Linus and Malm, Ludwig Tutor:Pia Lindell Title:Brand building and creating relationships ? A study of a small business in the B2B market Keywords:Brand building, business relationships, SME, B2B. Problem:How does a small business in the B2B market work with brand building and creating relationships? What critical factors can be identified regarding the process of relationship-building and brand building within the context of a small business in the B2B market? Research objective:The purpose of this study is to use existing research to create understanding for how a company in the B2B market is working with relationship-building and brand building. The study also aims to identify any critical factors concerning the process of relationship-building and brand building.

Foods that stimulate health and satisfy consumer expectations are needed. In a consumer´s perspective, products that provide several kinds of health benefits, without any call for major changes in their behaviour are needed on the market. With this increasing interest in health promoting food product, one of the biggest challenges for the food industry is to find the conditions and right position on the market and find the opportunities to enter the market successfully. New products with added health values can be developed to cure and counter welfare diseases as in this case for diabetics type 2. Swedish food companies have a desire to respond to welfare diseases and one welfare disease is diabetes type 2. Many of them have an ambition to develop new products to respond to the growing population and find a supply that could suit their customers.

This paper discusses the issue of trade dress imitation in the grocery sector. Our study has its starting point in the conflict that may arise between a brand owner and an imitator following an imitator?s marketing actions. In this study we look at the Market Court?s precedents in which this question has been addressed.

In 2007 Swedish Meats, the dominant Swedish meat-producers cooperative sold its slaughtering and processing industry. The goal of a producer cooperative structure is to create value for members through vertical integration, and to strengthen members? market position. When Swedish Meats sold the slaughtering and processing components, it ceased in some respects to serve the function of a cooperative. This is a lost opportunity for both members and non-members, because Swedish Meats as a functioning cooperative could have exploited its dominant market position to positively effect producer?s prices.

 Problem   Are there any abnormal changes in the parent company's share price at the news of a spin?off.ObjectiveThe main purpose of the study is to investigate how the news of a spin-off affects the parent company's share price. In other words if the news of the Spin-off gives an abnormal return on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during the specific period of 1998?2008. In addressing this, the paper will also investigate the following sub sections: are there any differences in the abnormal returns in various sectors and what the reasons to perform a spin?off in the Swedish market are.MethodAn event study in which market data is used to measure specific events? impact on the value of the company and on the effects on the stock market.

Social enterprises make up one of the groups of participants that provide welfare services financed by public funding. The object of this study is to describe and analyze from a theoretical point of view which conditions, in what fields, by which division of responsibility and finally through what decisions these social enterprises are allocated a place in the market for social welfare services. The company that has been the object of study offers services in the field of social welfare and in employment. In the study a triangulation of qualitative methods has been used: studies of literature on the subject, recurrent interviews and observations and also reviews of documents. The results have been analyzed from theories on the space available on the market for social services, on social economy and on social capital in the form of strong, weak and bridging bonds.

Theability to beat the market is one of the most discussed topics in finance. Thereare very few investors that manage to accomplish this over longer periods oftime. Most of the financial research claims that this is impossible unless theinvestor increase the risk in the portfolio. However numerous of researchershave shown that it exist anomalies on the stock market which either indicatesthat the Capital Asset Pricing Modell (CAPM) or Fama and French three-factormodel fails to explain stock returns or that the market is not fully efficient.One investor that has claimed that the stock market is not fully efficient andthat it is possible to generate abnormal return is Benjamin Graham. Graham isone of the legends on Wall Street and he has shown that by using few variablesbased on public information, one can manage to beat the market over longer timeperiods.There arejust a few studies that have tested Graham?s criteria?s, however all of themindicates that they work but that the standard deviation might be higher forthe portfolios.

This paper deals with Iraqis in the Swedish labour market. The main goal was to point out on positive aspects of the Swedish labour market integration. Previous studies were mostly problem oriented on immigrants? situation in finding a job, especially when related to immigrant from non-European countries. Instead this study is focused on the more positive aspects.

Recently, the selections of ethical funds are increased; at the same time investors with social and moral preferences have increased in the capital market. There are currently debates on whether ethical funds perform better or worse than funds without ethical criteria. This also involves a vivid discussion on whether investors know about the consequences of investing in ethical funds. Therefore, this study involves theories about the rationality and decision theory, in addition to what mainly control the investment decisions. The study also discusses portfolio theory since this is one of the underlying theories behind fund management and its development.The purpose of this study is to explain if ethical limitations in the selection of securities affect risk and return in the fund portfolio.