Title: Global Reporting Initiative - A comparative study on compliance with the initiative's guidelines between Ericsson and Vattenfall.Authors: Peter Leidhammar, Mattias ThorénSupervisor: Bo EnquistExaminer: Margareta BjurkloSeminar Date: 2009-01-14Background and problem formulation: The interest and the requirements that stakeholders have for companies sustainability issues are becoming increasingly important. Thus more companies are increasing their work on their sustainability reports. As there are no laws governing how these are to be designed, standards have been created by various organizations that companies voluntarily can follow. Now, after the Swedish government gave them the directive to follow the GRI's guidelines the Swedish public companies have started to follow this trend. The question then stand how much the private companies' sustainability reports differ from state companies and whether this can be traced to the differences in the companies' ownership and their stakeholders picture.Objective: The purpose of the paper is:· analyze how the GRI's guidelines are followed by the two organizations· highlight differences between them from a theoretical perspectiveLimitations: This paper is limited to two companies, one company owned by the government and one privately-owned company.

This report is part of a Bachelor?s degree corresponding to 15 creditsat the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. The work hasbeen carried out by Max Wikander, author of the report, supervisedby Lanie Gutierrez-Farewik and Erik Dijkstra.Gait analysis includes measurement, characterization and assessmentof human movement and is used to assess kinematic or otherabnormalities during gait. Center of rotation and the axis of rotationof a joint are fundamental parameters in motion analysis. However,the ability to create individualized analysis is limited by the lack ofaccuracy when these parameters are calculated.

Title: Culture?s Affect on the Determinants of Customer Satisfaction in Retailing: The Case of a European Retailer in the U.S. and China Date of the Seminar: 29th of May 2007 Course: BUS 809 Master thesis in International Marketing Authors: Lisa Bustamante Chesley Norman Charlotte Valind Advisors: Johan Anselmsson Cecilia Cassinger Keywords: International Retailing, Determinants of Customer Satisfaction, Culture, United States, China Thesis purpose: Our study aims to identify the determinants of customer satisfaction of two national cultures in a global retail setting, in order to clarify what role culture has, if any, in customers? satisfaction with an international retailer. Further, this will uncover if a Western perspective of determinants of satisfaction is a universal means of capturing what satisfies customers across cultures in a retail setting.

Background and problem - Integrated reporting is a hot topic today and is predicted to be the future of companies? external reporting. In December 2013 a new framework on integrated reporting was released and one part of the framework concerns governance and how it supports the organization?s value creation. A recent study on integrated reporting in Sweden showed the area of governance to be poorly reported.

In this thesis I have chosen to study the use of crowdsourcing in Swedish archival institutions as well as the influence this methodic platform has on the work of modern archivists. This also raises the question whether the nature of the platform is in any way influenced by the attitude working professionals might have towards crowdsourcing as a legitimed working method. This investigation is based on case studies and interviews with archivists from select Swedish institutions and also the Methodology of two now ongoing crowdsourcing projects.The theoretical framework on which this composition is based comes from the work of Gregory Asmolov and his work on crowdsourcing platforms and their functionality as tools of governing. Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) is applied to analyze how the method of crowdsourcing is utilised by archival institutions and influenced by their daily routine in conjunction with Governmentality as the chosen way of studying how these platforms might control their users.From the results of the performed case studies, two discourses emerged based on the view on quality concerning gathered information amongst the involved subjects. The first of these discourses places it´s trust and faith in users themselves where validity is of a lesser concern than the actual availability of information through the concept of ?wisdom of the crowds?.

Purpose: To examine how video-game releases affect the share price, and if video-game reviews have any impact on the share price of gaming corporations. Method: A quantitative deductive research approach is applied with event study Methodology used as basis. The investigated companies were the five largest gaming companies listed on the U.S. NASDAQ exchange. A total of 29 video-game launches and 85 reviews where examined.  Theory: The study is based on The Efficient Market Hypothesis, Agent Theory, Public Relations Theory, Nextopia and previous research.Results: The result contains 114 observations in five companies.

Background: Etiquette has become vital in business relationships. In today?s competitive business climate signs indicate that social competence affect whether a business deal is settled or not. This type of competence could be of crucial importance at a first business meeting and it also plays an important role for future business relationships. Business etiquette is therefore, within the world of business, an interesting area to study.Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to clarify what knowledge and understanding companies, listed on the Swedish stock exchange, possess towards business etiquette, their viewpoint on etiquette education and finally to ascertain whether or not those companies perceive business etiquette to be pivotal to success.Methodology: In order to attain our purpose of this essay we found it most suitable to utilize both a quantitative and qualitative research method.

The issue about how Scania shall perform HVAC tests in the climatic wind tunnel CD7, which Scania is about to complete by year 2013, has resulted in four test methods for truck HVAC and also a test method structure. The test methods have been chosen to focus on sun, snow and rain simulations. These are adapted and developed according to what should be tested and to what can be tested in CD7, which has been the object. With CD7 different climates can be simulated in a controlled environment for complete truck level, from desert with high sun load to arctic cold and snow.The test methods represents a basis to start from, for designers and test engineers which make the testing more repetitive as well as time eventually can be saved. Before the test methods can be applied they must be verified as they are based on theoretical and empirical assumptions.

Background: The Swedish Parliament passed a law change in late 2010, suspending the former requirement for all Swedish incorporated companies to have an auditor. The new limit values allow the smallest incorporated companies to dismiss the auditor of the company (or not appoint one in the case of a newly started company). The opinions of abolishing mandatory audit vary, and little research has been done post to the law change. However, a new situation has arisen, meaning the optional choice of voluntary audit, for some companies.Aims and research questions: The aim of the thesis is to examine the reasons behind voluntary audit in Sweden, as well as what value companies, having chosen audit, see in their auditor. The following research questions have been used in order to fulfill the aim of the thesis: ?Why do small private owner-led incorporated companies in Sweden voluntarily choose audit?? and ?What value does the voluntarily chosen auditor add to the companies??Methodology: The research questions were formulated after reviewing relevant literature and scientific articles regarding the topic of voluntary audit, as well as the recent law change in Sweden.

The purpose of this study was to investigate into the praxis based sociocultural tools that are utilized to enhance language development in early childhood education. Four pre-school teachers were involved in this study. Two were recruited from an independent pre-school "Maria Montessori", practicing the pedagogical philosophy developed by Maria Montessori. Two were from a public pre-school herein named "Kvasten", which has no official philosophy but where the teachers (like in many Swedish pre-schools) work in a general alignment with the principles of Reggio Emilia pedagogics. The theoretical fundament of the study lies in the general theories of language development and education of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotskij, and the comparative element mainly concerns the variations in pedagogical praxis between the two pre-schools, and the way the teachers reason about language development.

This report is part of a Bachelor?s degree corresponding to 15 creditsat the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. The work hasbeen carried out by Max Wikander, author of the report, supervisedby Lanie Gutierrez-Farewik and Erik Dijkstra.Gait analysis includes measurement, characterization and assessmentof human movement and is used to assess kinematic or otherabnormalities during gait. Center of rotation and the axis of rotationof a joint are fundamental parameters in motion analysis. However,the ability to create individualized analysis is limited by the lack ofaccuracy when these parameters are calculated.

Purpose: To find out in what ways signs of healthier varieties in store, affect and possible change, customer behaviour. Methodology: The study has a positivistic view on the world. The research is conducted by an abductive approach using theory and empirical data alternately. Both quantitative and qualitative methods have been adopted in order to see changes in customer behaviour as well as explain it. Theoretical perspective: The study is based upon theories in the areas of customer behaviour (buying behaviour and decision making) and the store environment that could affect that behaviour (total merchandise process and point of purchase communication).

Problem discussion: How should information be handled to facilitate and benefit from modularity? How should Clarkson Inc. adapt their information handling to modularity and what benefits can be reaped by doing this? Purpose: The purpose of this master thesis is to help Clarkson Inc. adapt their information handling to modularity and to extract theories, methods and tools to guide companies in similar situations.

The main purpose of recruiting is to find a job candidate who meets the demands of formal and informal competence at the same time as the candidate should be seen as the right person to the right place. Several job advertisements in the areas of finance and administration has at least two years of work experience as a demand before individuals can be seen as an appropriate job-candidate, hence it becomes a sort of ?catch-22? for graduates with no prior work experience. The purpose of this study is to create a better understanding for recruiters? approach and attitude to hiring individuals who only have a university degree.

Background: The audit has not always been as it is today. The first law requiring auditing was legislated in the Companies Act 1895. Many events have taken place in the audit history; among them was the Krueger crash, which affected the auditing profession hard in Sweden. This led to new recommendations and laws that would save the profession. Because of the events in the past, there are many who question the audit profession and discussions have been held regarding the auditor's independence and objectivity.