This study has a double purpose. First, it explores and maps out the use of quantitative key indicators in social performance reporting within a microfinance portfolio. This was done on behalf of Storebrand Asset Management, who would like to aggregate and report the social results of their microfinance investments to their customers. The study concludes that the extent of social reporting and types of indicators used varies, meaning that it is hard to aggregate data for use in further reporting. Thus, the work towards the goal of social reporting has only just begun.

Sleep has a substantial effect on health status where good sleeping habits proves positive on learning. The aim of the present study was to map the views and perceptions of sleep and its effects on health and school performance on 12-year olds. The goal is to visualize these views to give teachers the possibility to better plan the education in concordance with the students? abilities. The study is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews where 12 students aged 12 have partaken.

Performance of an intersection affects the total travel time in a traffic network. An intersection with good performance can easily be described by its contribution to lower travel time than in a comparable intersection. The travel time is of importance in the cost calculations when a specific intersection is to be chosen and designed. It is important to be able to make correct and precise performance calculations so that the cost calculations will not be incorrect. For that purpose the software Capcal, which is a traffic model for intersection analysis on performance, is used in Sweden.

Authors: Maria Bergholtz, Alexander WestessonTutor: Daniel EricssonTitle: Performance Measurement of Creative work ? a culture study at PS CommunicationKeywords: Key Performance Indicators, Organizational Culture, Macro-culture, Subculture,Micro-culture, Art, Business, Creativity, PS CommunicationIn the paper?s introductory chapter, the chosen problem area regarding art and business willbe presented. The paper?s studied empirical case will also be introduced here. This then leadsto the reports chosen research questions:How do the company management and the companies? creative personnel approach differ inthe discussion regarding performance measurement on PS Communication?-What causes these differences?What impact does the corporate culture have in the discussion about performancemeasurement of PS Communication?-Is the corporate culture weak or strong?The purpose of this paper is to resolve the stand still in the discussion regarding performancemanagement by creating an understanding of different people active in the organization?sapproach to performance measurement.

Budgeten har länge kritiserats från olika håll för att budgetprocessen är tid- ochresurskrävande och för att den medför lite mervärde för företag. Dessutom blir budgetensnabbt inaktuell eftersom den inte tar hänsyn till dagens snabba omvärldsförändringar.Trots detta används den idag som ett centralt styr- och uppföljningsverktyg hos mångaföretag runt om i världen. På grund av att budgeten har ifrågasatts har rullande prognosersom ett alternativt styrmedel uppmärksammats mycket. Rullande prognoser ärfördelaktiga när det råder betydande osäkerhet i företagets omgivning och budgetendärför snabbt blir inaktuell. Dock finns det delade meningar om rullande prognoser rollsom styrverktyg.

The National Property Board (SFV) has been appointed by the Swedish government to administer all property of cultural value owned by the Swedes collectively. The commission includes maintaining the soul and character of each individual building, to adapt these buildings to present needs and requirements, and furthermore making them available to the public. The return on equity demanded by the government is based on the CAPM used within the real estate industry. The theoretical assumption that organizations are either function-driven or pay-driven will serve as a starting point, after which SFV will be defined as a function-driven organization with a pay-formed management control system. This paper aims to examine how applying a pay-formed management control system will affect a function-driven organization.

En kvalitativ fallstudie där vi med hjälp av öppna personliga intervjuer talat med folk i ledande befattningar på vår fallkoncern Elektrokoppargruppen för att forma oss en bild av hur budgeten fungerar på företaget. Utifrån valda teorier om budget och dess process har vi sedan analyserat företaget och dess situation. Utav budgetprocessens tre delar har vi kommit fram till att budget är ett effektivt styrverktyg under planeringsstadiet i fallföretaget. I den löpande styrningen och uppföljningen är den däremot dysfunktionell där vi anser att budgeten spelar en kompletterande roll till nyckeltalen som är det överordnade styrinstrumentet. Detta beror främst på de oberäkneliga råvarupriserna.

Budget är en företeelse som har funnits under en lång tid och begreppet har flera olika definitioner. Det är inte alltid det lättaste jobb som företag har framför sig när de ska planera sin budget och speciellt inte om deras omgivning förändras på grund av till exempel efterfrågan på deras tjänst. Därför ansåg jag det intressant att studera hur företag budgeterar när det förekommer variationer i deras omgivning För att besvara syftet har två e-postintervjuer gjorts på två olika företag som bedriver skidanläggning. De slutsatser som jag kunde dra av min undersökning var att företag påverkas av deras omgivning när de budgeterar och att budgeten var något som de inte ville eller skulle klara sig utan. Båda fallstudieföretagen ansåg att uppföljningen med budgeten var viktigt eftersom denna gav underlag för nästa budget..

This thesis discusses main problems associated with dictionary-based Cross-Language Information Retrieval as lexical and translational ambiguity of query terms, translation of compounds and phrases, dictionary limitation. The purpose of the study is to investigate how query structure influences the effectiveness of CLIR regarding performance of three query types: original query, unstructured query and structured query. Query structuring refers to the application of #syn-operator to group query terms. The study comprises an experiment that was performed in the InQuery IR system with TrecUta database that contains 550,000 news articles from different American newspapers. 24 topics were used for the experiment.

Human capital is professional service firms' most valuable resource and its quality is closely linked to the quality of its services. The purpose of this study is to investigate how professional service firms appraise their employees. A comparative study between an architecture firm and a management consulting firm is conducted with the aim to identify and explain similarities and differences in performance appraisal. Two qualitative case studies are performed and interviews as well as documents are used to explore the area. The thesis builds on a critical perspective and it has an explorative approach.

Budget framhålls som ett viktigt styrinstrument för företag och användningsområdena är många. Blumentritt (2006) och Orlando (2009) är överens om att budgetprocessen borde vara integrerad i verksamheten för att främja de strategier som finns. Mintzberg (1979) menar att företag kommer att organisera sig på olika sätt beroende på hur deras omvärld ser ut. Vi är intresserade av att se hur företag arbetar med sin budgetprocess i kombination med de strategier och den struktur som finns.Syftet med vårt arbete är att med en multipel fallstudie beskriva de eventuella samband som finns i hur företagen i vår undersökning arbetar med budgetprocessen i organiationens kontext. Hur kombinerar företag sitt struktur- och strategiarbete med sin budgetprocess?Vår kvalitativa studie består av fem fallstudier.

 Problem:      Majoriteten av alla företag budgeterar. Frågan är om budgeten är ett nödvändigt ont eller bara en gammal vana.Syfte:            Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka småföretagares uppfattning om budget- och budgetlös styrning. Detta för att ta reda på om det är dags att lämna den traditionella budgeten bakom sig?Metod:          Insamlingen av empirisk data har skett genom direkt intervjuer med fyra företag i Eskilstuna. Dessa företag har mellan 20-49 anställda.

The composition of the board of directors and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are two widely researched subject and discussed by the media. This study aims to examine the impact of the board of directors' composition on CSR performance among the largest companies listed on Nasdaq OMX stock exchange 2008 in Stockholm, Sweden. A linear regression analysis is applied to investigate the relationship and evidence is found that board attributes have an effect on CSR performance. Among these; the size of the board, outside directors and employee representatives all have a positive impact on environmental performance. Furthermore; female, outside directors and employee representatives have a positive impact on social performance.

A performance measurement system can be used as a means to evaluate past performances and to communicate prioritizations. It has also been proposed that a performance measurement system can serve as a method to execute strategies, guide in operational decisions and constitute a tool for making the organization more efficient. Yet one may question if such a system will ever reach this capacity if operating managers do not utilize it as a management tool, but rather treat it as a mere report in the bunch. This paper explores how middle managers in fact apply performance measures and what obstacles there are to integrating them in the management of subunits. Furthermore it serves to investigate whether these managers experience a conflict between how they are expected to use the measures and what they deem possible to adopt.

Export is a top priority for Sweden's economy but for Swedish companies it may involve uncomfortable risks of exporting without sincere consideration. When the United Nations Security Council puts an embargo against a country, this often mean an import and export restriction. The thought is to push undemocratic regimes into respecting human rights. When the embargo is in force, however, the parties are not able to fulfill their contractual obligations, which practically means that the agreement will be suspended. The problem is what happens when an embargo is in force for a longer period of time.