The main purpose of this bachelor thesis is to create a product in the form of a database that can be used for cost estimates of equipment within bio refineries. Through interviews and literature searches the key components and their costs were identified. The database was constructed in Microsoft Excel with different tabs for different categories of components; these tabs are further divided into three parts: one part with costs, one part with calculations and an information part. Most of the part with costs contains the expenses found in scientific papers during the literature study, the calculating part converts different capacities according to user preferences and the currency to euro (?) from 2010 and the information part consists of references and information about what is included in the cost.The database is a good tool for making cost estimates for bio refineries.

Background Svenska Spel is a regulated company run by the state and government, where CSR, community and social responsibility is in focus. The highly regulated Swedish gaming market has in recent years become more exposed to competition by foreign unregulated betting companies thru Internet.Problem discussion There are two views regarding CSR and how they are affecting competitive advantage and profitability. On one hand, it suggests that companies foremost shall focus profits and act in the best interest of the shareholders. On the other hand, it connects CSR to be a contributor to competitive advantage that increases the company?s profitability.Problem formulation Svenska Spel is competing with other betting companies who doesn´t act under the same conditions, betting companies that don´t have a responsibility to the state.

During the beginning of the 19th century Sweden is effected by the Napoleonic Wars and in the aftermath of the war Sweden looses Finland to Russia. This loss leads to the dismissal of King Gustav IV Adolf and the introduction of the Bernadotte dynasty on the Swedish throne. Over the century the industrialization plays a big part in the progress of Sweden. The growth of the industries leads to developments in the areas of agriculture. With this essay I would like to examine if the people on the countryside of Gotland keep the same pace as the people on the mainland in their introduction of new things.

Today, companies work with issues concerning Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). A higher demand from customers and other stakeholders as well as an extended legislation are great reasons. Framework and guidelines for sustainability reporting has been developed which includes indices that companies are able to report. Though, for a long term work with sustainability a functional system and internal tool is necessary. Balanced Scorecard, BSC, is a useful tool and efforts have been made to integrate BSC and CSR with purpose to establish the work with sustainability in a more concrete and clear way.

The aim of this study was to examine how two integrating social enterprises relate to and combines social, ecological and economic sustainability and how they work with sustainable development in the field of social work. The study has been focusing on three questions: What are the values underpinning ?Macken? and ?Vägen uts? approach to sustainable development? What motivates these companies to work with ecological sustainability in the creation of new jobs? How do these companies combine social, ecological and economic sustainability? To answer our questions we have been interviewing nine employees through semi-structured interviews combined with observations and this study was analysed through a symbolic perspective. The conclusion of this study showed that these companies worked with specific themes to reach social sustainability. Recurring themes in the study was empowerment, recovery and the employee?s own experience of exclusion.

In this report a study is carried out with the aim to identify added values of EPC projects implemented in schools in order to increase the interest of EPC projects on the market. The report examines how the planned maintenance, supervision, maintenance and corrective maintenance is affected, how insurance premiums and terms are affected, the indoor environment and how the tasks of the operating staff is changing. A literature study of energy savings, energy use in schools, maintenance and insurance as well as how energy efficiency improvements are related to the Swedish environmental objectives has been made. Visits were carried out in Ludvika, interviews were also carried out with operation technicians and local strategists in Ludvika as well as employees of insurance companies.Schools often have neglected maintenance and problems with ventilation and indoor environment. Schools also have a large energy saving potential due to their low utilization, mainly because they are empty parts of the year.

Many people perceive a division between an online world and the ?real? world outside of the World Wide Web. However, this view often leads to a reduced sense of importance ascribed to what takes place online, even though it affects life in very real ways. In our study we aim to explain the importance of how meaning is built in to sociomaterial compositions. By analyzing comment fields hosted by a Swedish IT-journal we illustrate how what is being said interplays with the technological platform in various ways.

The main purpose of this bachelor thesis is to create a product in the form of a database that can be used for cost estimates of equipment within bio refineries. Through interviews and literature searches the key components and their costs were identified. The database was constructed in Microsoft Excel with different tabs for different categories of components; these tabs are further divided into three parts: one part with costs, one part with calculations and an information part. Most of the part with costs contains the expenses found in scientific papers during the literature study, the calculating part converts different capacities according to user preferences and the currency to euro (?) from 2010 and the information part consists of references and information about what is included in the cost.The database is a good tool for making cost estimates for bio refineries.

The main purpose of this bachelor thesis is to create a product in the form of a database that can be used for cost estimates of equipment within bio refineries. Through interviews and literature searches the key components and their costs were identified. The database was constructed in Microsoft Excel with different tabs for different categories of components; these tabs are further divided into three parts: one part with costs, one part with calculations and an information part. Most of the part with costs contains the expenses found in scientific papers during the literature study, the calculating part converts different capacities according to user preferences and the currency to euro (?) from 2010 and the information part consists of references and information about what is included in the cost.The database is a good tool for making cost estimates for bio refineries.

After a series of corporate scandals around the world the trust in the business world was damaged, probably most in the United States but also in Sweden. Voices were raised for an increase in the openness and insight into the affairs of the company whereupon different corporate governance codes were developed in a majority of countries. A Swedish corporate governance code was issued in December 2004 with the purpose to re-establish the damaged trust for the companies and the business world. The Swedish code was accepted by the Stockholm Stock Exchange as an exchange rule for A-listed and larger O-listed companies as of July 2005. The purpose of this essay is to study how the Swedish corporate governance code in fact leads to an increase in trust in the stock market and to study the companies? attitudes towards this code.To fulfil the purpose of this essay, the authors have carried out a survey among the concerned companies where the companies? attitudes towards the Swedish code were collected.

The purpose with this study was to elucidate the pros and the cons with a sale support system. This has been narrowed down into two questions: ?What are the pros and cons for a company that have a sale support system? and what are the pros and cons for a company that does not yet have a system?? Configurator that is a sale support system has been studied. It is a system that presents products by accepting different functions, qualities or parts that are possible to match. It can be used in business-to-business or business-to-consumer situations, through different sale channels, namely direct sale, indirect sale and online sale.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att studera hur ledare jobbar för att åstadkomma ett kundorienterat klimat på en arbetsplats med ett provisionsbaserat lönesystem.Metod: En kvalitativ metod har använts i den här studien. Semi-strukturerade intervjuer gav oss det empiriska underlaget som analyserades med hjälp av den systematiska, strukturerade och abduktiva metoden Well-grounded theory. Resultatet presenteras i empirin med hjälp av mönster som upptäckts.Resultat & slutsats: Vi har överlag kommit fram till att praktiken i stora drag stämmer överens med teorin. De intervjuade ledarna har en överensstämmande uppfattning om kundorienteringens innebörd, men har vissa skiljaktigheter i bland annat deras syn på provisionens inverkan. Ledarens roll ansågs även i praktiken vara avgörande för att de anställda ska vara kundorienterade.Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Studien har utförts med inriktning på enbart fastighetsmäklarbranschen.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how Swedish retail companies work with CSR internationally.The study also sought to explore the opportunities and challenges that exist, and the stakeholders that motivate companies CSR commitment.The theoretical framework is composed of international CSR guidelines of the OECD and the UN, Carroll's CSR pyramid and three-stage model and Freeman's stakeholder theory. Furthermore a qualitative research approach was applied where four in-depth interviews were conducted with representatives from Axfood, Löfbergs Lila, Oriflame and CSR Sweden.Finally, the study demonstrated the conclusion that the companies CSR strategies are structured in a similar way regardless of the market. CSR attract and retain workers, create a good reputation for brands and results in working conditions, living standards and environmental improvements. Difficulties, however, are the complexity of being able to control each partner and manage differences in language, laws and culture between countries. Finally there are a number of stakeholders that motivate companies to work with CSR, of which shareholders are considered the most important..

Calculations of net present value are based on a discount rate, which requires knowledge about the company?s cost of debt. A common way to do this is by observing the company?s credit rating, when no credit rating is given it?s possible to use a synthetic rating model based on quantitative data to estimate a credit rating. Thus, the aim of this study is to increase the understanding of which quantitative data, in terms of key figures, that can be used to explain the given credit ratings for companies from the Nordic countries.In developing the model, key figures found significant in previous studies are being tested for whether or not they are applicable for companies from the Nordic countries.

Since 2005 all companies listed on a regulated stock exchange within the European Union are required to present their financial reports in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and International Accounting Standards (IAS). The purposes of these standards are to accomplish international harmonization of accounting rules to make financial reports more comparable. However, recent research has shown that some firms tend to use goodwill strategically in a business combination by manipulating the acquired assets and consciously allocate the intangible assets to goodwill to reduce the depreciation in the income and decrease costs. This phenomenon may reduce the comparability between financial reports and thus has an opposite effect on the purpose of IFRS and IAS.The aim of this study is to show how the companies involved in this study allocate goodwill strategically. Furthermore, the introduction of the new standards has contributed to that goodwill now is a subject for impairment test, therefore we want to show whether this affected the comparability of the companies in this study.An empirical study was conducted, based on interviews with four Swedish managers.