International expansion has long been associated with a positive trend that many companies, regardless of industry, choosing to realize mainly to expand its market share and hence its profitability. Various theories describe differentiated strategies to promote corporate expansion. Either they shall be financed by internal funds, or balancing equity with debt, or only increase leverage in order to achieve the desired results. This study focuses on the Swedish fashion market and its degree of internationalization. The purpose is to attempt to discern whether there exists a correlation between the degree of internationalization and its financial performance.The study was based on a quantitative approach where secondary data was collected so that we then would be able to perform regression calculations.

The purpose of this study is to examine which factors played an important role in the food price crisis of 2007-2008. Theories used are Microeconomic theory, explaining changes in supply and demand, and Macroeconomic theory, explaining the impact of changes in exchange rate on prices. A theory regarding speculation is also used to explain the impact of speculative activities effects on price. The method used is multiple regression analysis in order to determine the effects which ethanol production, oil price and dollar exchange rate had on the surge in the price of corn, rice and wheat.The data used is in monthly observations during the period 2005-2008. However, other factors are taken into consideration during the study, such as production quantity, stock size, economic growth, speculative activity and population growth.

Previous studies have shown that economic sanctions have adverse effects on the level of human rights in sanctioned countries. The focus of research on the effects in sanctioned countries has left the question of whether economic sanctions can have a regional effect on human rights levels in countries not sanctioned in the same region. Therefore, this essay has sought to investigate if economic sanctions aimed at an individual state have a regional effect on the level of human rights in countries not sanctioned within the same region. A previous study found that economic sanctions in Latin America positively affected the level of human rights in non-sanctioned countries within the same region. This essay has examined whether the same result can be found in a region with a different level of democracy.

Bakgrund: Dagligen diskuteras utländsk makroekonomiska data i svensk media, där förväntningarna på utvecklingen av dessa sätts i sammanhang med utvecklingen på den svenska börsen.Syfte: Målet med den här studien var att utröna i hur stor utsträckning denna information kan anses vara betydande för en aktieinvesterare med kapital på den svenska börsen. Hänsyn togs även till börscykler samt varierande tidsperioder.Genomförande: Med grund i the Arbitrage Pricing Theory genomfördes multipla regressionsanalyser, med det svenska indexet OMXS30 som beroendevariabel. Undersökningarna baserades på månadsdata för perioden april 1991 till och med augusti 2006. Den makroekonomiska datan försköts därtill en period för att ta hänsyn till variablernas eventuella fördröja effekter på Stockholmsbörsen.Resultat: Integrationen mellan börserna visade sig ha ökat över tiden, med undantag för extraordinära perioder som IT-boomen, där makroekonomiska fundamentaldata istället slås ut. En positiv utvecklingen av långräntan samt konsumentförtroendet i USA tyder på en samtida börsuppgång i Sverige.

Det utbildas människor som aldrig förr i Sverige. Studenter investerar både tid och pengar på sin utbildning, många i tron att det ska ge en högre lön i framtiden. Uppsatsen behandlar vilken skillnad det är i lön för dem som tar en akademisk examen efter fyra år jämfört med dem som tar den efter tre år. Undersökningen kommer även att omfatta till vilken grad kön, ålder, bostads- och examensort påverkar den kommande inkomstnivån. Fem utbildningsgrupper kommer att undersökas i fem skilda undersökningsmoment.

In today?s IT world where software is constructed in a rapid pace, testing has become a crucial area to master when testing has to be done at a greater speed. To still be able to handle the demands of high quality software, companies have to spend more resources on testing and introduce test automation. By automating test cases the testers can gain time which they can spend on doing more complex testing and thereby increase the quality of the software.In this thesis we have helped Extenda AB, who delivers systems to retail companies, to introduce test automation in one of their customer specific projects. This has been done using their own in-house ?capture/replay? tool ECP (Extenda Cashier Player).We have also derived a process that explains how Extenda can introduce test automation on other customer projects.

The purpose of this study is to investigate a loyalty card and its relation to accompanying promotional benefits, and their linkages to grocery retail service loyalty. Also, the aim sets out to find relationships between demographic variables and proneness towards the promotional benefits, the loyalty card, and loyalty. A quantitative approach has been assumed and empirical data has been collected through the use of questionnaires. The data has been analyzed through descriptive statistics, correlations, and regression analysis. An operationalization used to measure satisfaction of the loyalty card and attitudinal loyalty is also presented.

Honey is a product that may contain pesticide residues due to contamination from bees pollinating various plants as well as elimination of vermin inside the hive. Different methods are needed for analysis of pesticides, since the term includes a wide range of different substances. National Food Administration lacks a validated method for determination and quantification of pesticides in honey using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, LC-MS/MS. The technique is especially important in analysis of polar and non-volatile pesticides, where gas chromatography is not functioning optimally. After investigating what pesticides could be found in honey produced in Sweden, a number of four pesticides suitable for analysis with LC-MS/MS was compiled; boscalid, impidacloprid, tau-fluvalinate and thiacloprid.

The main aim of this thesis is to investigate the implications and dynamics behind consistency between individual resource allocation decisions and corporate strategy concept. The telecom industry, a high-velocity environment going through an extensive deregulation process, is put under the magnifying glass. Japanese telecom giant NTT Group is compared to its German counterpart Deutsche Telekom. Potential antecedent factors in the strategic decision-making process to consistency are studied. It is also examined whether there is a direct interplay between consistency and economic performance.

Forskare har under de senaste decennierna försökt finna förklaringar kring den finansiella gåta, känd som the forward premium puzzel, som har visat sig på valutamarknaden. Denna finansiella gåta har skapats då forskare sett statistiska avvikelserna från det öppna ränteparitetet (UIP) på valutamarknaden. UIP förutsätter att det inte ska finnas någon skillnad i avkastning mellan att hålla kapital i olika valutor, vilket empiriskt har visat sig inte stämmer. Detta misslyckande har tagits som bevis för att valutamarknaden är ineffektiv och att valutaspekulerare kan erhålla en överavkastning. Syftet med studien har varit att genom ett lönsamhetstest, med SEK som grundvaluta, undersöka huruvida valutamarknaden har varit effektiv under åren 1997-2012.Studien utgår från en deduktiv forskningsansats där den teoretiska grunden utgörs av den effektiva marknadshypotesen. Den kvantitativa forskningsmetoden bygger på uppgifter från Datastream om valutors utveckling mellan åren 1997-2012.Vår regression visade på att tio utav tolv valutapar återspeglade the forward premium puzzel.

Övervikt och fetma är ett snabbt växande folkhälsoproblem som medför ökad risk för psykosocialt lidande och många allvarliga sjukdomar. Särskilt oroande är att övervikt och fetma allt oftare drabbar barn och ungdomar. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om det finns ett samband mellan Body Mass Index (BMI) och Känsla Av SAMmanhang (KASAM) hos elever i skolår 9, samt att analysera kön och psykosociala faktorers (familje- och kamratrelationer) eventuella inverkan på relationen BMI och KASAM.Det statistiska materialet är hämtat från undersökningen ?Liv och hälsa - Ung 2004 Västmanland? där KASAM- skalan med 13 frågor används. Analysmetoden är en multipel regression.Resultaten indikerar svaga samband mellan variablerna.

New method for measuring road quality- A statisticalstudy of the relationship between road quality andsocioeconomic development A new tool with implications for road maintenance has the potential to yield statistical data for road quality in a large number of regions. This thesis investigates the possibility to develop a method, from this data, for evaluating the effects of road quality on socioeconomic development.The thesis is essentially divided into two parts. Part one looks to qualitatively establish the link between socioeconomic development and road quality and the second part focuses on how to develop a method for evaluating the effects of road quality on socioeconomic development. A method was devised using categorical data and a multinomial regression model. This method provides a comprehensive overview of the complex relationship between a variety of different variables.

Migration and giving birth are crucial decisions for animals during their life cycle, which may have lasting consequences on their population demography and fitness. Migration can entail a variety of possible effects for an individual, such as access to high quality food and reduced risk for predation. The moose (Alces alces) in northern Sweden is partially migratory and moose females are known to give birth to one or two calves. The synchrony between time of calving and timing of migration has not been compared before, especially in terms of energy maximizing and time minimizing perspectives, which may provide vital cues for fitness benefits of migration. I investigated effect of timing of birth and individual life history on distance, timing, stopovers and duration of 190 individually marked female moose that have been tracked for multiple years in ten different areas in northern Sweden.

This bachelor thesis examines the relation between countries? degree of economic freedom and their economic performance. Economic freedom as a concept is defined as the degree of market economy within a nation.The variable of measure that is used is the Frasier institute Economic freedom of the world index (EFI). The paper is built upon the Solow growth model and is extended by incorporation of additional variables; among which of course economic freedom. The study is performed through regression analysis, based on the neoclassical model both on rich countries, poor countries and on all investigated countries.Two investigations are performed: i) the impact from economic freedom on countries level of GDP per capita and ii) the impact from economic freedom on the growth rate in GDP per capita.The finding is that economic freedom can be seen as a relevant determinant of differences in GDP per capita growth rates between nations.

Sahlgrenska Academyat University of GothenburgDepartment of Internal Medicine and Clinical NutritionAbstractTitle: The relation between alcohol and abdominal obesityAuthor: Anna Eriksson och Karin EdenholmSupervisor: Fredrik BertzExaminer: Ingrid LarssonProgramme: Dietician study programme, 180/240 ECTSType of paper: Examination paper, 15 hpDate: May 30, 2013Background: Abdominal obesity is a part of the metabolic syndrome, which has a worldwideprevalence of 20-25 %. The problem with abdominal obesity is the accumulation of visceraladipose tissue, which is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Alcohol haseffects on metabolism, and can also lead to an increase in total energy intake; these twofactors can lead to an increase in accumulation of visceral fat. Besides this there are studiesthat show that a moderate alcohol intake could be good for your health. The context gets morecomplicated since different studies have shown contradictory results concerning theassociation between alcohol, different types of alcoholic beverages and measurements ofabdominal fat.Objective: The objective of this article review is to assess the evidence of whether alcoholintake is associated with accumulation of visceral adipose tissue, using the measurementswaist circumference (WC) and waist-hip ratio (WHR).Search strategy: The databases used in the literature study were PubMed and Scopus.