Syftet är att undersöka om Sverige tillsammans med ett eller flera av de nordiska länderna kan utgöra en optimal valutaunion. Utifrån ett svenskt perspektiv visar resultaten att det är lämpligast för Sverige att ingå i en valutaunion med Norge och Danmark eftersom den ekonomiska integrationen mellan dessa länder har varit störst. Taylors ränteregel visar att Sverige och Norges räntebanor samvarier mest och Optimal currency area-index (OCA-index) visar att Sverige, Danmark och Norge präglas av störst ekonomisk integration.Vi har använt två olika metoder för att undersöka en optimal nordisk valutaunion utifrån ett svenskt perspektiv, OCA-index och Taylors ränteregel. De båda tillvägagångssätten fokuserar på hur ekonomiskt integrerade länderna är, men genom olika variabler och ekonomiska storheter. Ett OCA-index har skapats och skattningen visar att variabeln som beskriver konjunkturcykeln är den som har störst inverkan på den beroende variabeln, växelkursvolatilitet.

Women?s strive to reach higher leading positions and build a career that's combinable with child birth and private life, is an on-going debate among academics in the fields of leadership, management and organization. This bachelor level thesis is written at the section of Management & Organization at School of Business, Economics and Law in Gothenburg, Sweden, spring semester 2015. In our research methodwe have used source triangulation with a qualitative approach to the subject of egg-freezing in favour forcareer with a focus on Swedish workplaces. The purpose has been to illuminate, map out and further problematize how the introduction of the employee benefit in November 2014 can be seen to relate to social sustainability.A lot of the management research that discusses social sustainability tends to focus on how women (and men!) try to balance family life and career and how to combine (or to not combine) them.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between financial risk and ESG scores in order to assist investors in making investment decisions. We investigate the hypothesis that there is a relationship between the ESG score of a company, and the financial risk in terms of volatility in the relevant company?s share price. The paper is grounded in sustainability reporting and financial risk. With the world facing significant changes and natural disasters, there is an urgent need for action to mitigate environmental impacts to avoid devastating consequences.

This thesis is focusing on how global and local search engines retrieve information from the local domain. The three search engines tested are the global search engines Yahoo, Ask.com and the local search engine Web Wombat. The questions we examined were: which search engine has the best retrieval effectiveness? Could there be other reasons than retrieval effectiveness, to choosing a local search engine?For our test we constructed 20 questions related to Australia.We chose to divide the questions into topics like nature, sports and culture. For all questions we evaluated the relevance of the first 20 hits.

Abstract In my work, I have tried to define and clarify the conception of sustainability seen from my perspective as a landscape architect. With a basis in literature studies, I have analysed and commented on different applications, contents and meanings of sustainability and endurance. This compilation is based on how a number of writers, researchers and authorities consider the importance of integrating ecological, social and economic aspects of sustainability in city planning. My perspective has mainly been founded on the anthologies and compilations from the 80´s and 90´s where Per G. Berg and Björn Malbert acted as editors.

Purpose: To examine how a tour operator works to implement sustainability in the development of the business, as well as what significance it has to consumers in selecting a tour operator. Furthermore, the purpose is to provide recommendations on how tour operators should work to communicate their commitments.Methodology: The research strategy applied is a case study which follows an abductive approach. Qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to complement each other. A semi-structured interview with a tour operator and a consumer survey constitute the empirical foundation.Conclusion: The conclusion of the study is that consumers show a positive attitude towards CSR, but do not see it as a determinant when choosing a tour operator. Thus, CSR does not constitute a competitive advantage against competitors.

Studien syftar till att undersöka hur den svenska versionen av WAIS-IV förhåller sig till sin föregångare WAIS-III. Samma försökspersoner testades vid två olika tillfällen med såväl WAIS-IV som WAIS-III för att undersöka om det förelåg skillnader mellan försökspersonernas testresultat från de två olika versionerna. Resultatet visade att det för hela gruppen försökspersoner förelåg signifikanta positiva och starka korrelationer mellan jämförda index och deltest, vilket tyder på att jämförda index och deltest mäter liknande kognitiva konstrukt. Avseende index; IK Hela skalan (HIK) förelåg i samtliga grupper, oavsett administrationsordningen för de två versionerna av skalorna, en signifikant högre genomsnittlig IK-poäng vid testning med WAIS-III jämfört med den genomsnittliga IK-poäng som erhölls vid testning med WAIS-IV. Denna differens kan tolkas som en konsekvens av Flynn-effektens påverkan på försökspersonernas genomsnittliga poängresultat.

I denna rapport undersöktes S&P 500 Energy Index genom multipel regressionsanalys. Modellerframställdes genom regression och baserades på data hämtad från börsen. Modellerna angavs iprocentuell ändring respektive absolut ändring. Validitet för varje enskild kovariat testades och en risknivå avgjorde om en kovariat skulle inkluderas i modellen eller inte. Detta ledde till två modeller med bättre kurvanpassning till den givna mängd data över det valda energiindex.

En aktieindexobligation är en strukturerad produkt vilken är uppbyggd av två finansiella instrument, en obligation och en option. Obligationen garanterar det nominella beloppet i de fall aktieindexobligationen behålls löptiden ut. Optionen ger i sin tur möjlighet till avkastning med hävstångseffekt. Genom att aktieindexobligationens nominella belopp är garanterat har produkten en begränsad förlustrisk. En aktieindexobligation är dock inte riskfri.

This study investigates the corporate sustainability activity, linked to the company's core business, which is a relatively unexplored field in a Swedish context. The study examines how the organization has used management control for its sustainability activity within two social initiatives; and whether these initiatives have generated value for the organization and involved stakeholders. Management control of social initiatives are examined within the theoretical framework of The Sustainable Balanced Scorecard and the organization's value creation contributions are outlined in accordance with a definition of the concept of Creating Shared Value. The method used for the implementation of the study is a qualitative study, embodied in an illustrative case study of a large Swedish company operating within financial sector. The empirical data was collected through 12 in-depth interviews with representative interviewees within the organization and with other stakeholders involved in the company's social initiatives.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate possible links between short selling and the stock market movements using econometric test models. Methodology: A quantitative study carried out on the time series stock lending and OMX Stockholm 30 index. Information is gathered through qualitative interviews with specialists in the field of stock lending, and studies of relevant newspaper articles and reports. Theoretical approach: The theoretical frame of reference is a further consideration of supply and demand theory. The empirical study is implemented by the simple linear regression model and a vector autoregressive model (VAR).

Objective: In recent years there has been an increasing interest within the clinical (medical) science in measuring people?s health. When estimating quality of life, present practise is to use the EQ-5D questionnaire and an index which weighs the different questions. The question is what happens if the individuals estimate there own health, would it differ from the public preferences? The aim is to make a new prediction model based on the opinion of patients and compare it to the present model based on public preferences.Method: A sample of 362 patients with unstable coronary artery disease from the Frisc II trial, valued their quality of life in the acute phase and after 3, 6 and 12 months.

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.

The neo-classical conception of the market place does not provide a framework to account for ethical or moral action. As a result, the neo-classical model is unable to explain the impact of ethical and moral issues on business sustainability present in the modern economy. To address this limitation, this thesis investigates whether theories of ethics can help explain the motivations and actions of stakeholders within the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In addition, the thesis explores whether theories of ethics are presented differently within aspects of the stakeholder model. Semi - structured interviews were conducted with various stakeholders within the CSR sector, including a NGO, a commercial firm and a CSR consultancy firm.

The purpose of this study is to facilitate sustainable building by the use of BIM. The goal is to determine which aspects of sustainable building, which can be analyzed mainly with BIM tools, but also other aids.The study is based on literature studies and interviews. The literature review examines aspects important for sustainable building by studying environmental certification systems applicable in Sweden, as well as the BIM tools available on the market to analyze these aspects. The literature also includes the concepts of BIM and sustainability in order to provide a clearer view of its meaning. The interviews have brought the study's overall understanding of the industry and guidance on the subject.The results are presented in a table, where the aspects relevant to sustainable building are listed.