With the globalization, companies in the West chose to shift production to developing countries to cut down costs. This had a major impact when child labor and very poor working conditions in these factories were discovered and led many companies to take responsibility for their suppliers and the employees by adopting voluntary so-called Codes of Conduct.There is a subtle balance to enforce improvement of working conditions for employees at suppliers´ factories and to keep costs down. On the one hand, companies would like to conduct extensive audits at their suppliers to ensure code of conduct compliance and thus protect their legitimacy. On the other hand, audits are expensive so companies would like to minimize audits to keep costs down. Companies thus have to strike a delicate balance in relation to how many and what suppliers they choose to audit.

Recent studies made by Margaritis and Psillaki,have shown that a lower debt ratio and higher efficiency are correlated in their studies performed oncompanies in New Zeeland. Other researchers have been able to show a connection between other industries than the one used in our studies,among these are Titman and Wessler. These studies have been done with a great selection of companies in different industries and time periods. However most of these researchers have used traditional ratios and variables.This study aims to find and analyze connections between returns and lower debt ratios in real estate companies listed on the Stockholm stock exchange. Instead of the traditional debt-equity ratio we will construct our own taking long term debts and property assets.

This study aims to investigate development and reasons behind sustainability reporting in large Swedish companies. By examining 15 companies? environmental and sustainability reports between the years 2000 and 2008, data was collected on matters such as frequency, scope and design. Identified trends were to a large extent in line with previous studies on international development; sustainability reporting is growing in several aspects. The authors have found one major reason for this development to be increasing requirements and expectations from stakeholders and a need for companies to legitimize their actions.

During the last years, the moral and ethics in companies has been a growing subject in media. Large multinational companies are to a bigger extent using workforce in developing countries and the working conditions at the workplaces in those countries, are more or less controlled. Even if a company carefully controls its own business, it can be using subcontractors that for instance use child labour or forced labour, or in some other way makes human rights abuses. When the world gets more globalized and the market where the companies act gets bigger, there will be new issues for companies to handle. The companies have to satisfy not only the interests of the costumers and the shareholders, but also the environment around it, containing many different stakeholders.

The use of group contribution between consolidated firms is a common phenomenon in Sweden where taxation is not based on the return on the consolidated level but on the return on the individual firms. However, the process of handling the group contribution does not work without problems. This thesis analyzes three main issues where group contributions oppose the Swedish Companies Act. ? The Swedish Companies Act enacts the decision regarding group contributions to be made at a shareholder?s meeting.

Climate change is one of the most difficult problems that humans have to deal with. Today, the evidence of human effects on the climate change and the rise of temperature on earth are strong. It is extremely important that all countries get together and cooperate in order to be able to solve the problem with climate change. One step in the work on climate changes is the Convention on Climate Change, which was agreed on in 1992. The Convention on Climate Change resulted in the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement between a number of industrialized countries to limit or reduce the green gas emissions.

Strategic development is something that concerns all companies, regardless of which industry they?re in. There is extensive research on this topic but one can question if the same theory also applies to E-businesses. Using case studies, this paper looks at strategic development in E-businesses and tries to answer whether strategic development in internet based companies is unique or if existing theory can still be applied. The predominant approach is to look into if E-businesses, due to a turbulent environment, rely less on market research and focus more on internal resources than would be expected by companies in more stable environments.

Due to a rising debate concerning corporate governance that has caused increasing demands for companies? transparency, several codes of conduct have been introduced. The Swedish Code for Corporate Governance is obliged to companies with a turnover exceeding three billions. There are companies that voluntarily apply the Swedish Code. Possible causes to this phenomenon ought to be that the code for corporate governance conveys legitimacy through the insight into the affairs of a company the public receives, through the report of the corporate governance that is published in the annual report and on the home page of the company.

Agile systems development has in recent years become very popular, and many companies today claims to be working agile. At the same time there are studies about agile system development that indicate that there are difficulties in fully adopting the agile way. The purpose of this qualitative study has been to examine how true Swedish IT-companies conduct their agile system development compared to agile theory, and we have specifically for the purpose of the study designed a framework that has been used as an analytical tool. The framework helped us to maintain a structured and objective approach when we examined the participating companies and their practices. The study showed that there were differences regarding how true to agile theory the different companies conducts their agile projects, and that the differences in part depends on how long the companies have been working agile.

The study aims to investigate Swedish fitness companies positioning and strategic choices when internationalising in the Scandinavian countries and what has influenced this choice. Furthermore, the corporate risk and what obstacles they encountered will be examined.The study was conducted as a qualitative study with a deductive approach. The results are based mainly on primary data from interviews, as well as secondary data.The fitness companies? choice of strategy in internationalisation depends largely on its concept and positioning. The main obstacles in the internationalisation process are lack of communication, language difficulties and regulations.

The technological progress of the world has had a massive effect on how we communicate with one and other, it also has had an big impact on how companies communicate with their customers and consumers. Today you cannot only communicate a ?promise to your costumers and consumers you also have to ?deliver? what it is you promise. Strategic communication is today not only to market your product but to ensure that your strategic communication is shown even in you innovation, design and product development.  This thesis is conducted in collaboration with No Picnic AB.The purpose of this study was to get an insight in how Swedish companies use their strategic communication. We aim on bringing a new point of view of strategic communication with innovation, design and product development also as a communication channel.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how social media can affect and influence the B2B-relationship. Social media is now a widespread and accepted tool for communication in many B2C-companies; therefore we find it interesting to examine how social media can find its place in the communication mix of B2B-companies. We are also aiming to distinguish standards in how social media is practiced and discussed in the context of the B2B-market. We have applied a qualitative method for this study and we have interviewed seven respondents, which are experts in social media or working with market communication at B2B-companies in Sweden. During our study we have identified several comparable attributes within the B2B market and their opinions about how social media should be approach and adopt in the communication mix of the company..

Problem statement: In what ways do companies work strategically with event marketing?To answer the problem statement, the following research questions help us gain the necessary understandings:What role does event marketing play in a company?s marketing mix?What are the deciding factors that make companies select certain events?What objectives do companies have with event marketing?How do companies evaluate their event marketing?Purpose: Through analyzing multiple case studies of event users and event organizers, this essay attempts to gain an understanding of how companies work strategically with event marketing as a promotional tool.Method: Primary data collection was compiled through a series of six interviews of both event users and event organizers. This qualitative data has contributed towards the formulation of six case studies that outline the research findings. In addition to interviews, secondary data was compiled through literature, scientific articles, and internet-based materials.Conclusion: The findings of this paper show that event marketing is an integrated promotional tool that is used to further strengthen a company?s comprehensive marketing mix.

The amount of cargo has since the 1970s increased in Sweden and the road traffic accounts for a large part of the transported volume. In Stockholm County the amount of cargo is calculated to be doubled in size from year 2001 to 2020 which means a greater need for transport is required. Much of these transports are being carried out by haulage companies of varying sizes which acts externally as carriers for their customers. All of this despite a greater awareness, laws and demands regarding environmental performance.The trend shows that the haulage industry in Sweden are moving towards fewer but larger haulage companies, which means that the competition is getting tougher for the smaller haulage companies. Smaller haulage companies and research about their competitive strategies is a neglected part of this industry.

Social media has become an important marketing and communication tool worldwide, mostly through the largest social platforms Facebook and Twitter. With two-way communication via Internet companies has gotten the opportunity to interact and communicate directly with their customers. Facebook has been the focus point through the study because it has shown to be the most efficient and frequently used platform for communication. Our study aimed to confirm how communication via social media actually looks like. To be able to reach the best results, we have conducted the study from a phenomenological approach, which means; usage of qualitative semi-structured interviews to reflect the respondents experience on the phenomenon social media as a communication tool. Social media has shown to be a great way of communicating externally for companies who are willing to spend time engaging in the platform.