The process of food production has changed dramatically over the past one hundred years. Industrialization has led to large units of production, manufacturing, distribution, marketing and retail business. The final food product, in this system, is quite often fairly anonymous and the consumer will most likely know very little concerning the origin of the product. In recent years, the market for locally produced food has grown. There is an increasing interest in and demand for locally produced food items.

To achieve the goals that the government has put in place for equal opportunities in the labour market, the Swedish law is divided into two separate regulatory frameworks. One is positive action to promote equal opportunities and the other is the prohibition of sexual discrimination. Since males, despite the measures taken so far, still have a great advantage on the labour market, the law concerning equal opportunities has an exception from the prohibition of sexual discrimination, whose purpose is to promote the progress of equal opportunities, also known as preferential treatment. The regulations concerning preferential treatment allow the employer to hire a less qualified person from an underrepresented gender in spite of the presence of higher qualified applicants of the overrepresented gender. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the meaning and the application of preferential treatment as well as to give an insight to the argumentation around its application.

The financial crisis in 2008, effected companies around the globe and forced them to change their operational strategies, in order to survive. Companies with international links needed to consider external effects and due to that adapt their strategies on a global level. Demands for goods and service were decreasing and companies could only manage the cost during a recession to not face bankruptcy. Organisations need to reconsider their optimal strategy as this will determine their future outcome when managing a crisis as the one in 2008. British Airways - Air Cargo is a global company with an international network which serves about 80 countries, with about 200 destinations.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to inquire into the congruency of store image perceptions, projected by Ikea and Ilva, and how Danish and Swedish consumers perceive the aforementioned stores? images in their respective domestic market. Also, the aim sets out to evaluate the success of these stores? images on consumers and on transference to host Markets. Further, the aim is to discern specific store image attributes captivating Swedish and Danish consumers.

The number of people in the world and the urbanization increases. This leads to a bigger need of space for the built environment, space that soon doesn?t exist. A large portion of humanity?s energy disposal is used for heating of buildings.

There are different types of risk, examples include credit risk, liquidity risk and financial risk. In DeMarzo & Berk (2011, s. 293) is a study presented which is based on the yield of different types of financial assets between 1925 and 2009, the study show that a high risk gave substantially higher reward. With the study as a background, it is interesting to study practical risk management within participants of the financial Markets of Sweden. In risk management there are several theories about whether risk can be calculated and analyzed with scientific methods in practice.

This thesis aims at analyzing why the municipality of Flen, in the eastern part of Sweden, has experienced strong depopulation for the last forty years in spite of its relative vicinity to Stockholm. The study uses current theories on regional developement, population theory and theories on regional enlargment to help explain and to evaluate the different regional factors that affect the developement of Flen on the local level. The thesis is primarily focused on the subject of regional policy and strategies to meet regional depopulation. The study also gives a presentation of the strategies of major regional institutions as well as analyzing what impact regional policy have on local policy in the municipality of Flen.Interviews with local officials, politicians and other people representing the population of Flen were carried out to achieve a better understanding of the specific challenges that the municipality faces and of the measures that are taken to meet them. Regional policy in Sweden prioritises measures that promote regional enlargment to link the housing and labour Markets together with the regional infrastructure.

Svenska Lantchips is a Swedish SME sized snack manufacturer. Being a small, medium sized, family-owned business with branches throughout the world, they make an interesting company for a case study. The case study I have conducted focuses on the internationalisation process of this family owned company ? how they, despite their size, find ways to keep up an unique business structure, designed for internationalisation.The aim of this essay is to compare Svenska Lantchips? internationalisation process with traditional internationalisation theories and see if these are compatible with this company. The theories used are The Uppsala Model, The Network Model, and The Born Global Theory, with The Born Global Theory representing the younger generation of models.After undertaking an in-depth interview with Michael Hansen, business developer at Svenska Lantchips, I collated a substantial amount of material, which I have used as the basis of this essay.

A debate in finance is whether a random investment gives the same return as carefully choose and valuing an amount of shares to invest in. Stock valuating Stock valuation is often done by fundamental valuation models, based on the company's underlying character, which tries to put a correct price on the stock. Today there are several different valuation models that can be used for this purpose. Since valuation models are only mathematical, equity research is underpinned by more subjective assessments about the company and its future.The purpose with this thesis is to describe which valuation models that are used by professional stock analysts, but also to see if the reliability on the equity research is affected by the used model to valuing the company. Furthermore, we want to see if the job that?s been done to understand the company, measured by the equity research quality, impact the reliability on the equity research.In this thesis, we have, to achieve our purpose, conducted a quantitative content analysis of 164 equity research done by professional analysts at firms listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. With basis in previous research, we have developed a method for determining the valuation model that is used in the equity research, the reliability on the equity research and a framework for assessing the quality of the equity research.In the theoretical framework the valuation models involved in our study are described, previous research on the reliability on the equity research and their practical use.

Ruins and derelict places have since long fascinated and attracted humans. With my starting point in the wild vegetation and the spontaneous activities taking place on derelict land and in industrial ruins, I explore with help from the theoretical sociology, what creates not only this fascination but also fear. The purpose of the thesis is to explore and exemplify how the industrial ruin as a place outside the restrictions and control as well as design intentions of modern society can be used as an inspiration in a landscape architecture context.The modern city consists of areas and places with a well defined purpose. A piece of derelict land or a disused building is instead ambiguous, undefined and open for new purposes. However described in negative terms, these placesare often perceived as places of mystery and magic.

Many companies are currently working to optimize and streamline their processes and production lines to achieve higher profitability. In increasingly competitive Markets, companies are working to find solutions to increase the value of their production with such a small use of resources as possible. A tool used to accomplish this is the Lean management system. Lean comes from the production system that Toyota has been developing since the early 1900's, The Toyota Production System (TPS). The Lean philosophy helps companies, by working towards continuous improvement in its operations, to achieve higher customer satisfaction, more efficient production and ultimately higher profitability. Many companies are working to implement Lean in their organization. But there are many who fail to implement a complete change towards Lean.

Masters thesis in Business Economics IV, VT 2012Linneuniversity in Kalmar Authors: Johanna Susaeg and David JohanssonTutor: Petter BoyeExaminer: Karin JonnergårdTitle: Fair value - How real is it? Background and research discussion: The concept of fair value is today connected with great uncertainty, which may be a result of the various guidelines developed during recent years. Hence, auditors have an important role in situations where they have to make projections concerning fair value and also do inspections of the management´s own assumptions.     The critique that has been shown regarding fair value is that it can be difficult to estimate, especially when there is no active market to proceed from. This problem has been confirmed through that the management often uses the estimations subjectivity to deliberately show higher or lower values in the accounts. Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to study and describe auditors, appraisers and real estate companys interest and procedure in valuation of real estates.  We also going to describe theirs view on fair value of real estates plus analyze and explain the actor?s roles in the valueprocess and how their particular interests can affect the final valuation in different situations. Methodology: The study is characterized by a qualitative method containing a pilot interview and several personal interviews with auditors, estimators, and real estate companies.

This report covers the product development of a new type of extendable table for the company Karl Andersson och Söner. The company wants to expand their product collection with a new product. Karl Andersson och Söner is a well-known family company that has been located in Huskvarna since 1898, and they are producing furniture for private- and the public environment.The aim with this project is that the product should lead to increased sales, as well as expand their collection to appeal a wider audience. The work is permeated by two issues, to achieve as good results as possible. The issues will bring up how to make a table better, in terms of the competitor?s options, and how to apply a design process to develop a table that meets the Markets needs and requirements.The design process of the work consists of strategically picked parts from three separate design processes.

Marknaden för betalningsmedel har de senaste 40 åren förändrats genom att det har tillkommit en rad alternativ till kontanter. Vissa menar att kontanter inte längre behövs och att samhället skulle tjäna på ett minskat kontantanvändande. Trots de substitut som finns används kontanter fortfarande i stor utsträckning. Vårt syfte med denna uppsats har varit att undersöka och analysera de faktorer som påverkar val av betalningsmedel för privatpersoner och handlare vid betalningstillfället. Vi ger också förslag på hur samhället skulle kunna minska mängden kontanter utifrån de faktorer som vi funnit påverkar.Vårt underlag för studien utgörs av två enkätundersökningar genomförda i Vadstena, en riktad till privatpersoner och en riktad till handlare.

Title AB Volvo Pentas packaging system ?process and packaging logisticsAuthor Peter Powell, Lund's Technical CollegeSupervisors Annika Olsson, Lund's Technical CollegeJan Svensson, AB Volvo PentaProblem - Packaging requirements ? Which requirements are there, how do they affect each other and how are they fulfilled?- Packaging process ? what is the line of action when developing new packaging and making adjustments in existing ones? Who has the responsibility to do what?- Packaging logistics ? How is the packaging system adapted to transport efficiency and handling?Objective To create an overall picture over how the packaging system affects and is affected by different functions and players within and beyond the company boundaries, to give a clear picture of how changes in the packaging system is made today and how it could work and finally to give suggestions for cost savings affected by the packaging system.Method The methods used for this thesis has mainly consisted of action research and at some extent case studies. As a previous employee at the department of logistics at Volvo Penta I?ve taken part of the environment, information and prerequisites that this thesis discusses on a daily basis. Case studies have been used for the collection and analysis of data concerning packaging logistics as I?ve chosen to consider only specific Markets and packaging.Conclusions This thesis has highlighted the demands that are placed upon engine packaging throughout all concerned units and how these demands affect each other, positively and negatively.