Investment in hedge funds is a relatively new phenomenon for investors compared with other forms of savings. In recent years, the interest has increased among investors in investing their money in hedge funds, given the protection against declines in the market they are aiming for. Their main purpose is to generate a high return at a low risk regardless of market trends. This they can achieve by having fewer restrictions that offer more flexible investment strategies and freer investment opportunities.The purpose of this paper is to identify how the selected hedge fund strategies have performed during the recent economic downturn. We also want to clarify the claim that hedge funds exhibit a positive absolute return regardless of what the market is performing.In order to answer the purpose of the essay and its problems, we have used a quantitative method with a deductive approach in the processing of data.

Terrorism. A word that makes you think about different situations throughout the last decade that has passed. However, in this particular thesis the purpose is to examine both national and international terrorism from a Clausewitzian theory. The main point is to examine whether any of these types of terrorisms can fit in to this theory and as examples in this study are the terrorist organizations ETA and al-Qaida. The questions to be answered in this paper are if their aims can be explained as political and how far are they ready to go to have their way? Furthermore, the reason for this paper is to find an understanding for why the terrorist organizations act as they do.The result of this comparative study is that both terrorist organizations fit in to the theory because their goals can be seen as political and therefore can their aims justify their actions.

Konkurrensen i tillverkningsfo?retag o?kar sta?ndigt och detta medfo?r att det sta?lls ha?rda krav pa? produktkvalitet och fo?rma?gan att leverera produkter i tid. Fo?r att fo?retag ska kunna na? upp till dessa ma?l kra?vs utveckling och sta?ndiga fo?rba?ttringar i takt med den va?xande marknaden. Detta uppna?s pa? olika sa?tt men ett vanligt sa?tt a?r att arbeta med fo?rba?ttringsmetodiker.

This project is a collaboration with Ett Klick för Skogen, a foundation that buys and preserves endangered forests in Sweden. There are several ways of helping the foundation, e.g. buy a tree and for this the buyer obtains a symbolic diploma. Many organisations uses this method to collect money and for me the lack of a thorough expressions are consistent. The objective with this project has been to renew these diplomas for Ett Klick för Skogen and in the long run increase the collections and preservation of endangered forests in Sweden.The idea has been to vivify hardwood trees in a new and rather poetic than pedagogic manner.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine how gender is described in some of the most popular children?s picture books in year 2007 and 2008. The theory used is based on Berger?s and Luckmann?s theory about Social construction, Bjerrum Nielsen?s and Rudberg?s theory about Gender socialization, Gens? theory How girls becomes women and boys becomes men and Hirdman?s theory about Gender contracts. The method used is an analysis of ideal types.

This report describes the work with creating a CMS (Content Manager System). A CMS is a web tool so you easy can publish materials on your web page. With a CM Scan you can without any knowledge of programming web pages create and maintain a web page. This will result in that you and your organisation save time and money. You can also split the responsibility for the webpage in different roles, but still keep the control.

Small companies have fewer resources which often result in an tendency to disregard  administrative tasks. A factor that influences the company?s revenues is the control of its inventories. The purpose of the current study was to analyze which of the two options, leasing or owning your inventory, that could be justified from an economical perspective. Furthermore, the purpose was to describe the optimal inventory level for each option. To meet these objectives representatives for the company was interviewed and a thorough investigation process was undertaken, during which methodological problems were solved.  It was found that leasing the inventory was the most expensive option for the company. Analysis demonstrated that optimal turnover inventory according to EOQ (Economic Order Quantity) would amount to 65,0 thousand Swedish Krona if the company leases their inventory in comparison to 56,0 thousand Swedish Krona if the company owned their inventory.

Penningtvätt är ett ämne som under de senaste åren fått mycket uppmärksamhet. Nya lagar och regleringar med målsättningen att förebygga och bekämpa penningtvätt har införts. För att uppskatta problemets storlek har ett flertal estimat beräknats med hjälp av olika metoder. I denna uppsats har vi valt att fokusera på de metoder som används för att beräkna estimat, då det finns tecken som tyder på att estimaten som beräknas sällan utsätts för kritik.Syftet med uppsatsen har varit att undersöka och jämföra tre av de idag vanligaste metoderna för att beräkna penningtvättens storlek. De vanligaste modellerna är Walkermodellen, Zdanowicz metoder för handelsbaserad penningtvätt och en två-sektor modell vilka har utgjort fokus i denna studie.

Since 2007 the American sitcom the Big Bang Theory has spread throughout the world. With its twenty million watchers it is one of the most popular sitcoms of our time. The starting point for this essay is that the humourus series with the more or less geeky main characters is more than just entertainment - it is a part of the mediatization of religion. This means that media is affecting the recipients? view on religion in general and the personal religion.

Title: Theory and Practice: A study of Swedish Research on the Internationalization in Swedish Business and its Relevance to Practice´s, according to The Camber of Commers, Swedish Trade Council and researchers.Main issue: Within marketing science, there is an general ongoing discussion about the gap between researchers and practitioners, this leads to the thesis main issue on whether the Swedish marketing research conducted in the internationalization of Swedish companies, is relevant to practitioners and provides essential tools for practitioners to applicable in real business situations.Purpose: The purpose is to answer the problems of theory and practice, what it looks like and what the underlying factors and impact difference between internationalization theory and practice are.Method: The thesis has a qualitative methodology mainly based on theory, as well as empirical findings from researchers and organizations working with Swedish company's internationalization.Results: The result shows that there is a difference between theory and practice and that there are several factors underpinning this. Theories primary purpose is not to be practical but to explore an unanswered need to create an understanding to the researcher?s audience, which is other researchers, thereby are theories based on knowledge not demands from the practitioners. The result also shows that the internationalization theories can be applied in practice´s reality on the internationalization of companies. Research degree of generality has a sense of reality given by the empirical studies which therefore reflects the reality of the theory which gives theory a content of truth.Conclusion: The gap that exists between theory and practice has both positive and negative effects.

How effective is consumer power? Can consumers regulate corporate behavior?And if so is the case, could the mechanisms where consumers regulate corporatebehavior have any democratic value to contribute with? These are the questionsthat this master's thesis comprehends with. The purpose of this writing is toconstruct a theory of consumer power that is compatible with democratic theory,this in order to contribute to the ongoing discussion within the discipline ofpolitical science about the third democratic transformation. A discussion that hasbeen actualized due to the democratic deficit created by the growing corporatepower and the shift of power from state to private enterprises. Besides showingfor a parallel between the democratic mechanisms that exists in the relationbetween citizens and state on the one hand, and the consumers and corporationson the other hand, this paper argues that consumers do have a great potential inregulating corporate behavior towards a higher social responsibility andawareness.

Increasing volatility and less political intervention from the CAP in the market price of wheat is making it more difficult than in the past for Swedish farmers to determine the price at which they should sell their wheat. In the past, the Swedish farmer-owned company Lantmännen has traditionally set a guideline price for Swedish wheat every year to which farmers could adapt, but ceased doing so last year. Therefore this study sought to identify the parameters on which the price of wheat is dependent on by using a reduced form model. The perspective adopted was that of farmers. The model proved able to identify the main factors determining the annual price fluctuations in wheat, with all variables included having an impact on the wheat price, except export quantity in the previous year.

Purpose of this study is to investigate whether BBIC had an effect on the interaction between social services and schools. To find this out, a comparative study carried out between two municipalities in southern Sweden who has worked with the BBIC system different lengths of time. The empirical data is based on six qualitative interviews with heads of unit in social services, principals in secondary schools, and social workers who work with children- and youth investigations. The theoretical framework consists of Bronfenbrenners Ecology model, systems theory as organizational theory and the theory of autopoiesis, and Danermark model of collaboration. The results of the survey show that respondents do not find that their inter-organizational collaboration has been significantly affected by the implementation of BBIC, but that BBIC provides a good basis for collaboration due to the logic and structure of the system..

The thesis focus on how organizations can improve the ability of absorbing coworkers ideas in purpose of gaining long term competitive advantage through innovations. The study was conducted at IKEA AB where a campaign to collect coworkers ideas was a big success given the quantity of ideas collected. This fact allows a comparative analysis of idea management in the shape of campaigns and in comparison, idea management in the everyday line-organization.The analysis show that fundamental factors for innovative environments such as organizational climate, culture and leadership perceives auspiciously by the respondents. However, lack of infrastructure such as systems and processes hinders coworkers ambitions to contribute with ideas.An important issue in idea management is the treatment of incentives for innovation. Results of the study show that the ?soft? incentives ?feedback, encouragement and attention have a higher impact in coworkers willingness to the contribution of ideas than for instance monetary rewards..

The thesis objective was to study the partnership between the municipality of Gothenburg and three nonprofit organizations concerning the mobile EU-citizens. The study examines how the EU-enlargement affected Sweden and eventually the municipality of Gothenburg, and how Gothenburg responded to the new situation regarding the target group. The thesis contains one case study and the empirical data are based on semi structured interviews with politicians and officials from both the public- and the nonprofit sector. The results were screened with New Institutional Theory, Resource Dependence Theory and Decision Making Theory: Rule Following. The theories were used to locate any type of isomorphism, resource dependence and rule following in the partnership.