Respiratory infections are one of the major causes of disease in sheep throughout the world. In the beginning of 2008 the Swedish National Veterinary Institute and the Swedish Animal Health Service together started a project about respiratory infections in Swedish sheep. This study is an initial part of that project and the aim of this study was to investigate different sampling possibilities with focus on nasal swabs. This study is composed partly of a literature review on causative agents of respiratory infections in sheep and existing sampling methods, and partly of an experimental study comprising 56 sheep. These sheep were sampled with both an ordinary nasal swab and a guarded nasal swab. Before the start of this study there was to our knowledge no described method for sampling sheep with a guarded swab.

Background: The background shows that since the consumption patterns constantly are changing and the Internet usage is growing it creates more opportunities for the companies to interact through new media. There are two ways to go for companies that intend to use social media as a marketing strategy, to be in the possession of their own information or get help from a third party.Problem definition: What factors are important in the long term survival of the companies when choosing a social media?Objective: The objective of this essay is to analyze and evaluate the personal blog and the company blog as an information technology strategy.Method: The essay will have a hermeneutic and quantitative approach in the form of a survey. Theories: Consumer Behavior, The Buying Decision Process, Involvement Theory, Business Concept, Branding, Total Communication Theory, Word-of-mouth/web and Service Profit Chain.Empiric: The empiric will consist of the results from the survey.Results: The result shows that the blog is effective as an information technology strategy however the companies should adapt their choice of blog to the products that they sell.Conclusion: Important factors for companies that seek long-term survival are involvement, communication and loyalty. It is also important to use a relationship marketing approach. .

In the recent years auditing scandals all around the world, deficient internal control has attracted a lot of attention. This has contributed to further requirements on insight and internal control. Those scandals have seriously damaged the auditor?s profession and contributed to a reduced trust among the public. Therefore an extensive work to recover and stringed the trust was started all around the world.

In commercial firms, the inventory is often the largest and most important entry and to have acorrectly valued inventory is an important prerequisite in the statement of accounts. However,the inventory is considered to be one of the entries that are most difficult to value among thecompanies assets and this is why we have investigated how large commercial firms valuetheir inventories. We have used relevant theory and conducted a number of interviews withpeople who are knowledgeable when it comes to valuation of inventories. Our conclusion isthat commercial firms work in different ways and that there is no general method which isused by all commercial companies..

The purpose of this master thesis was to examine how the corporations quoted on the A-list on the Stockholm Stock Exchange were affected by the introduction of IFRS 3 Business Combinations. Their opinion about the accounting rule and the acquired goodwill in particular was focused as well. The authors wanted to see if there were any changes in ROE, return on equity, after the introduction of the new accounting standard.Data for this study was collected through interviews, questionnaires and annual reports. Interviews were held with corporate accounting managers of Assa Abloy, WM-data, Electrolux, Ericsson and SCA. Questionnaires were sent by e-mail to 50 companies and were answered by 30 of them.

Most of the clothes sold in Europe today are produced in developing countries where the production costs are lower. The exploitation of the developing countries has led to that the inferior working conditions in these countries have attracted attention from media and NGOs. Globalisation makes company activities more transparent and the absence of transnational laws calls for alternative regulations. Many companies in Europe has since mid 1990s developed codes of conduct to satisfy the demands of external and internal stakeholders. EU also brought Corporate Social Responsibility to it?s agenda in the beginning of the 2000s and subsequently signals of approaching laws were given.

This study intends to explain the problem with the implementation of new Swedish accounting rules called K2. The rules are simplifications of the general accounting rules and the purpose is to make it easier for small companies to account. Despite this, few small companies have adopted the rules. This study seeks to explain the weak response to the K2-rules using institutional theory.The research objects of this study are Burger King, McDonald?s and two audits and accountants.

The Swedish energy companies have several different systems for data collection of the energy consumption of their clients. Often computerized remote meter readers are put in practice in order to register the energy consumption of large companies. The majority of household clients, however, are read off by the assistance of manual methods. Household power consumption is read off once a year. As a result, these clients are not debited for their actual consumption; their invoices during the year are the result of estimations. At times when the electricity supply system is highly loaded, electricity is more expensive.

Background: The dependency on knowledge and competence today is more critical than earlier. Today, companies need to put more effort into identifying and filling knowledge gaps, which can be achieved through mergers and acquisitions. It is important that the companies succeed in coordinating their operations after this process of change. Out of a theoretical point of view it can be argued that companies need to balance between different coordination mechanisms that result in standardized and flexible coordination respectively. Purpose: The purpose of this Master Thesis is, in the context of a merger, to investigate and analyze which coordination mechanisms that are used in knowledge-intensive companies, how these coordination mechanisms are combined and what explains the chosen combination.

Most of the clothes sold in Europe today are produced in developing countries where the production costs are lower. The exploitation of the developing countries has led to that the inferior working conditions in these countries have attracted attention from media and NGOs. Globalisation makes company activities more transparent and the absence of transnational laws calls for alternative regulations. Many companies in Europe has since mid 1990s developed codes of conduct to satisfy the demands of external and internal stakeholders. EU also brought Corporate Social Responsibility to it?s agenda in the beginning of the 2000s and subsequently signals of approaching laws were given.

AbstractThis study is about describing the pre- internationalization phase and to studycompanies that are in this phase. We are trying to capture characteristics of decisionmakersin the pre- internationalization phase, to then compare the theoretical materialwith empirical material from case companies. Then in the final stages of the thesis, wewant to account for if we managed to answer our research questions. In the method, wegive a description of the approach selected in conjunction with the study. The study isqualitative and we used both primary and secondary data, with a deductive approach.The theory chapter will consider the most relevant theories that are related to the topic,which is internationalization, pre-internationalization, international entrepreneurship,and the psychology behind personalities, attitudes, and how these can affect theorganization's strategic decisions.

The absence of female directors on Swedish corporate boards is currently a hot topic for both politicians and business leaders all over the world. This thesis aims to discuss reasons for the scarcity of women on boards in Swedish publicly listed companies as well as what actions are taken to alter the composition of these boards. A rigorous selection of gender theories have been used together with data collected from in-depth interviews with mainly board members and nomination committees. Extensive analysis has led to findings that historical perceptions of differences between men and women linger as of today, which prevents women to reach top executive levels as well as board positions. The increasing use of headhunters has encouraged companies to look beyond male-dominated networks in an attempt to widen the range of potential board nominees.

As the globalization of companies increases day by day, the need for a clear and comprehensible legislation to overcome the problems with transfer pricing transactions increases as well. Incorrect pricing in transfer pricing situations between companies with close economic ties to each other makes countries risk parts of their taxation income.Swedish legislation uses the internationally accepted arm?s length principle to regulate the transfer pricing transactions. Through the correction rule, the rule is upheld that the pricing between two companies with close economic ties to each other must apply to the same conditions as it would have been if it was between two companies without close economic ties to each other.To ensure that enough material is provided to base the assumption whether or not the correction rule has been followed or not, Swedish legislation provides a number of paragraphs to regulate the matter. The legislation is spread all over and is hard to interpret.

The purpose with this article is to give examples how to remain and in a long run develop a higher interest in maintenance activities and knowledge. First reason is the changed age-distribution with more number of older employees among maintenance personnel staff and second reason is demand for education due the increasing demand in environmental responsibility.In spite of there is a lot of knowledge of maintenance in national organizations of interests it will not be used in a sufficient extent in many companies. This knowledge is an important base to use to re-built the missing or loosed skills in companies. The national organization UTEK is involved in European projects to validate knowledge of maintenance. Lost of or bad maintenance activities will always affect on the environment.Establish a network between companies is a good way to exchange information in their common business areas.

Background: The reasons why this study is conducted is because of the latest recession in the global economy. The current recession has made a lot of companies more aware of its cost, and in order to fit the new harsher economic climate the companies has to be more cost efficient. In order to do so many companies choose to reduce their amount of employees. When this happens in a recession, most of the layoffs are an effect of reactive causes, such as lower incoming orders, and fewer customers. This leads to a problem for the companies that don?t know how these kinds of layoffs will affect the value of the company?s stock.