AbstractMaster Thesis in business administration, School of Business and Economics at the Linneaus University, financial control, spring 2010Authors:Stefan Hellman and Ewa Warnquist Supervisor:Magnus Willesson Title: Reward systems - a study of public companies? variable compensation system Background:Our interest of the variable compensation system in public companies was brought by the recent extensive discussions of bonuses in the time of a financial crisis. This has led to that the word bonus has been given a negative connotation and we wanted to find out how the system of variable compensation is structured in the companies at Stockholm Stock Exchange. Problem:How is the variable compensation system structured in public companies? Purpose:The purpose of this paper is to study how the variable compensation in public companies is structured.

This thesis aims to examine the conditions for entrepreneurship in Taiwan by the occurrence of cultural phenomenon guanxi. Based on the concept of familiness and guanxi, the family is central in this study of family business. Traditional descriptions of the Asian culture claim that guanxi is vital in the business context. Though, recent studies indicate that significance of guanxi seems to be changing. Therefore the purpose of this thesis is to create an understanding of the importance and relevance of guanxi in the context of Taiwanese family business.By travelling to Kaohsiung, Taiwan to interview six managers of Taiwanese family firms this study?s empirical material was gathered for further processing based on a qualitative approach.

Over the course of the past the agricultural sector has been characterized by radical market changes. Changing market conditions have forced owners of agricultural and forestry businesses to make further investments. This increase in investments has led to a greater need for external capital, which has increased the relationship between banks and owners of agricultural and forestry businesses. The financial sector is characterized by strong rivalry, which forces banks to create strategic positions in the financial market. Since agricultural and forestry businesses are generally seen as secure customers by banks, due to high property and land values, the competition between banks with agricultural and forestry businesses as customers has amplified.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to investigate the factors of children?s voluntarily reading in their spare time. We also want to know if the children choose non-fiction books for their voluntarily reading. The method as well as the empirical basis of this study is qualitative, with interviews of twenty-eight children in ages between 9 and 12 years. We conducted nine interviews with 3?4 children in each group.

Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att utvärdera utvecklingen av objektannonser i mäklarbranschen genom tiden, vad gäller utformning av annonser och val av mediekanaler. Syftet är även att försöka utläsa om fastighetsmäklaren marknadsför objektet så som marknadsföringsteorin säger att man bör marknadsföra en produkt.Metod: Metoden som används är att samla primärdata genom att göra en jämförelse mellan objektannonser från år 1990 med objektannonser från år 2009. Därefter har primärdata samlats in med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer med fastighetsmäklare såväl som med experter som besitter stora kunskaper inom området. Sekundärdata som används är hämtad från litteratur och Internet.  Resultat & Slutsats: Uppsatsens resultat visar att dåtidens fastighetsmäklare inte hade tillräckliga marknadsföringskunskaper för att marknadsföra objektet. Utvecklingen har dock gått framåt och idag besitter de den kunskap som krävs för att marknadsföra ett objekt så som marknadsföringsteorin säger att man bör marknadsföra en produkt.

The aim of this study is to, from a child?s family relations, describe the usage of terms relating to factors of risk and safety in science and in investigations concerning children in need of protection. It is also of importance in what way the terms are used when the Social Services suggest that measures should be taken, and in which way the children have been heard in the investigations.The issues raised in this study are: (a) How is the current life situation and life quality of the children discussed? (b) The value of factors concerning risks and protection. (c) How is the children?s own descriptions taken in to consideration? (d) Is gender issues considered? (e) How is Lagerberg?s model (Lagerberg, 1998) useful in investigations?The method of analysis is mainly qualitative however it is combined with analysis of literature relevant to the study.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to investigate the factors of children?s voluntarily reading in their spare time. We also want to know if the children choose non-fiction books for their voluntarily reading. The method as well as the empirical basis of this study is qualitative, with interviews of twenty-eight children in ages between 9 and 12 years. We conducted nine interviews with 3?4 children in each group.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to investigate the factors of children?s voluntarily reading in their spare time. We also want to know if the children choose non-fiction books for their voluntarily reading. The method as well as the empirical basis of this study is qualitative, with interviews of twenty-eight children in ages between 9 and 12 years. We conducted nine interviews with 3?4 children in each group.

Samarbetet mellan IASB och FASB med att ta fram en enhetlig redovisningsstandard för företagsförvärv har pågått några år. Den andra fasen av samarbetet har resulterat i förslaget Business Combinations fas II. I denna undersökning tas fasta på de mest omdiskuterade förändringarna som förslaget medför jämfört med nuvarande IFRS 3 Business Combinations. Studien belyser förändringarnas påverkan på balans- och resultatrapporten och huruvida de finansiella rapporterna kommer att ge bättre information till intressenterna tack vare förslaget. En av de mest diskuterade förändringarna i förslaget är tillämpningen av full goodwillredovisning, som blir resultatet av att ett striktare enhetsperspektiv anläggs.

Background/Literature: Workplace environment has a significant influence on the livelihood of many in today?s world. In Sweden one million employees feel the effects of ill-health due to a dissatisfactory workplace environment. Consequently there has been a recent focus on the promotion of health in the workplace with an emphasis on physical activities. However scientific research has shown that psychological and social aspects need to be addressed in addition to the physical aspects.

Our purpose of this paper is to seek an understanding of which service quality factors that affects customers in their decision making progress regarding purchasing financial services such as pension products. We also seek to evaluate the different service quality factors by compare their relative strength against each other. The study aim to investigate if there are any connections between customer behavior variables such as gender, age and income in comparison to these service quality factors related to pension products.The findings aim to help a small financial institute such as our case company Plain Capital to understand how their customers experience service quality regarding pension products.In order to find empirical results we conducted a qualitative research as well a quantitative research. The qualitative research employed both a focus group interview with pension savers and an interview with our case company Plain Capital. We were able to identify the service quality factors for pension?s products with help from the focus group interview.

In this paper we explore the relations between context and feedback generated in three user-centered evaluations of a flash-based game. Whether it?s the social context, the physical context or the degree of intrusion from the evaluator, they all contribute to the quality of the feedback received. The selection of test subjects is a narrow process, which gives the above mentioned factors different meaning. Contextual factors have shown to influence the feedback given within both usability and user-experience.

AbstractNowadays, companies and organizations manage large amounts of data to be used as support in decision making. A good solution for data management is in the form of data warehouses. A data warehouse is used to gather information from multiple sources within a company and arrange the information in a way that makes it easy to retrieve and analyze. Designing a data warehouse is not a simple task. The study herein will focus on what a data warehouse is and how the ETL process is used for data storage in the data warehouse. ETL stands for Extract, Transform and Load and is the process that retrieves data, transforms it and finally loads it into the data warehouse.

Background:IT development has in recent decades been fast progressing. In Sweden many schools have begun to invest in IT and new technologies. What happens at the schools that are investing in IT equipment and modern technology?Purpose:The purpose of this study is to elucidate the conditions for and the success factors and barriers that principals and teachers will experience in IT. Principals' experiences are complemented and mirrored against the teachers.

Problem: The relations between first and second tier suppliers within the automotive industry have changed drastically during recent years. Previously involving the supply of simple components, today the relation involves collaborative product development of complex subsystems. The situation is rather new for the actors, hence there are a number of problems that act as restraints for the collaboration. In order to come to terms with these problems, it is important to determine the underlying causes. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to make a survey of the main problems in the collaborative product development between first and second tier suppliers within the Swedish automotive industry.