This thesis studies private equity firms' implementation of management control systems in their portfolio companies and whether the systems are affected by cross-national differences. A comparative case study examines five different private equity firms to derive if there are any differences between the private equity firms' management control systems in the United States, Europe and China. The empirical observations are categorized according to the framework developed by Merchant (1985) and further developed by Merchant and Van der Stede (2003). Theory on the effect of multinationality on management control systems, also developed by Merchant and Van der Stede (2003), are used to explain possible findings. The applied theory includes the cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede (1984) and Hofstede and Bond (1988).

Titel: Dokumentation ur ett genusperspektiv - en diskursanalys av portfolios i en förskola. Författare: Eva Holmlund och Lisa Stenström Arbetet är en kritisk diskursanalys om portfoliodokumentation i en förskola ur ett genusperspektiv. Syftet är att undersöka genusrelaterade mönster i dokumentationen, såväl likheter som olikheter studeras. Vår textanalys bygger på 12 barns portfoliotexter från en Reggio Emilia-inspirerad förskola. En av Reggio Emilia-filosofins grundstenar är dokumentation. De frågeställningar vi utgått från är: Skiljer sig språket åt i den skriftliga dokumentationen för pojkar respektive flickor och i så fall hur? Vad dokumenteras hos pojkar respektive flickor? Går det att utläsa skillnader och likheter i vilka processer/lärosituationer som dokumenteras för pojkar respektive flickor? Till grund för vår analys ligger Faircloughs tredimensionella modell (Winther Jørgensen & Phillips, 2000).

Background: The regulation of banks is increasing in order to stabilize the financial market. Despite this increase in regulation, financial crises still continue to occur. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is gradually increasing the capital requirements for banks, yet the increase in capital requirements doesn?t seem to solve the problem. This raises the question: how does capital regulation affect banks? Purpose: The purpose of this study is, primarily to illustrate the effects that capital regulation has on risk and efficiency on banks within the European Union, but secondary also study the relationship between risk, efficiency and capital regulation.Method: To achieve the purpose of this study, a deductive approach has been used, where the problem is assumed to be due to an agency problem.

The aim with this paper is to elucidate the current situation of the Swedish glulam market. This thesis paper will also consider prospects for the future and analyse the relationship between customer and producer and what makes a specific supplier attractive to their customer. The companies that are included in the paper are: Martinsons Group AB, Moelven Töreboda AB and Setra Group AB, Långshyttan. These three companies are the members of the organi¬sation Svenskt Limträ AB and produce the largest part of glulam in Sweden. Together they produce 140 000 ? 150 000 m3 a year. The study is based on interviews with all three producers and a customer survey, where I have interviewed five customer to each producer.

Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN) is a way to graphically draw a diagram of a business process. A BPMN diagram consists of several so-called flow objects. These are interconnected in the graph through sequence  flows. BPMN models are merely graphical representations of business process and there is a need to simulate these diagrams for different purposes. The simulation that now is available for BPMN is that the model is evaluated by checking if it is correct.

Scana-Booforge is a Swedish company which specialize in heat treatment of various metal. The treatments take place in quenching ovens, where fans are used to circulate the hot air. The fans used today do not have a satisfactory lifespan. This thesis aims to develop a new design of the fans for the quenching ovens, and the goal is that the new fans will bring cost savings for Scana-Booforge.The design development process started with mapping out the environment in which the fans operate, and with analysis of the existing fan structure and damages, in order to establish the cause of failure and of short durability. The performance of the fan were also established at this stage.

Today we keep our horses in a way that is easy for us humans but may not always be the most optimal way for the horse. Often the housing of the horse prevents the horse from performing behaviours that they have natural needs to perform. It is not unusual that animals that can not adapt to their environment develop abnormal behaviours. Many of our stabled horses therefore develop some kind of stereotypic behaviour. This study was made in purpose of comparing the behaviour of a weaving horse to two non-weaving horses under similar conditions, where one of the horses was stabled next to the weaving horse and the other horse was stabled further away in the same stable. Seven weaving horses were included in the study.

Syfte: Att utröna om det kan förkastas att Sharpekvoten ger en utvärdering av fonders prestation som stämmer överens med investerares förmodade uppfattning om nytta, dels för vanliga fonder, dels för hedgefonder. Teoretiska perspektiv: Sharpekvoten bygger på antagandet att investerare bedömer investeringar utifrån förväntad avkastning och varians. För att så ska vara fallet krävs att någon av följande förutsättningar är uppfyllda: att investeraren har en kvadratisk nyttofunktion eller att investeringars avkastning är normalfördelade. Det finns fog att ifrågasätta huruvida någon av dessa förutsättningar är uppfyllda (främst för hegdefonder) vilket innebär att fog även finnes för att ifrågasätta Sharpekvotens tillförlitlighet. Stokastisk dominans är en metod som tar hänsyn till hela avkastningens fördelning, och bygger på mycket rimliga antaganden om investerares nyttofunktioner.

Energy Director is a control and measuring system for energy consumption and is part of the product portfolio of E.ON AG for more efficient use of energy, offered to business customers. As of today, the system has only one parameter of control, namely power, and the objective of this essay has been to investigate whether other ones could be added. The emphasis is on the environmental perspective, which is why carbon dioxide has served as an example for this parameter in question.Parallel with the study of Energy Director electricity on the margin, calculations of carbon dioxide equivalents and also the Swedish trade of electricity have all been highlighted. Results indicate that when reductions in energy are made it is endorsed to omit from electricity on the margin rather than some mean distributed electricity, under certain conditions, and in addition the calculations of the reductions should be modified regarding the efficiency of the power stations fuelled by lignite and bituminous coal. Sweden practices trade with the Nordic countries as well as Poland and Germany.

Corporate Social ResponsibilityThis thesis intends to exam the strategic use of Corporate Social Responsibility within fifthteen different companies, classified/divided into three various industries. The aim is to compare the three different industries, to look for disparities and similarities in their use of CSR. The disseration looks into both variance and resemblance in the use of Corporate Social Responsibility between the companies within the same branch of trade and between the industries.The industries of intrestThe three industries that the study has focus on is consumer, manufacturing and service related industries. Where the consumer industry is classified as companies with direct sales towards private consumers, the physical citizen. The manufacturing industry is classified as companies that manufacture products but that does´nt sell their products directly to the regular consumer.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how venture capitalists implement ESG issues internally, as well as before the investment decision and during the investment period.Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework consists of previous studies that identify different driving forces behind the work of the ESG and present a number of different strategies for implementing ESG issues in the investment process.Method: This study aims at providing an understanding of a phenomenon which implies an inductive approach. This thesis applies a qualitative method of data collection in the form of semi-structured interviews. The sample in this study consists of venture capital companies that were members of the SVCA (Swedish Venture Capital Association) during the time of the survey, 2015.Result: The empirical findings in this thesis consist of a presentation of the data that was generated from eleven interviews conducted with eleven different investors in the venture capital sector.Conclusion: This study indicates a lack of written policies regarding internal work with ESG-issues which were offset by the application of the "unwritten" policies. Implementation of ESG-issues during the pre-investment phase was dominated by an avoidance of investments in sectors which lead to a negative impact on society. During the post-investment phase ESG-issues was integrated by monitoring the portfolio companies' operations.

As of today, securitization is an established product on the capital market. The first transaction was made in the US in the 1970s. Since then the product has been developed and today there are several different structures of the product. Internationally securitization has been used for two reasons. Originally securitization was used to gain capital relief, but since capital requirements such as Basel II were implemented, the usage of securitization changed to more of a funding source.

Vårt samhälle präglas idag av ständiga förändringar. Allt pekar på att dessa processer kommer att tillta i framtiden. Detta leder i sin tur till ökade krav på de enskilda individerna. Motivation, tilltro till sig själv och en vilja till förändring är några egenskaper som är bra att ha i detta sammanhang.Inom förskolans verksamhet sker en rad förändringar. Det kan innebära att anpassa arbetssättet efter barnens behov och intresse.

The genus Campylobacter is globally recognised as the leading bacterial cause of human foodborne gastroenteritis. Every year around 8000 Swedes are infected by Campylobacter. Most people are infected by thermotolerant Campylobacter species, commonly C. jejuni and C. coli.

Cultivable land is a limited resource and agriculture contributes to some of the most serious environmental problems facing the planet like, global warming, eutrophication and loss of biodiversity. The specialized, industrial agriculture with monoculture and extensive input of external energy, commercial fertilizer, and chemical pesticides are all essentially unsustainable. An adaptation to other methods of production is necessary to preserve the environment for future generations. The aim of this study is to describe the factors that distinguish sustainable from unsustainable agriculture. The results will be used to examine if and how the European Union (EU) works in order to create a more sustainable agricultural industry and to analyze the preconditions for such development.