The increasing holdings by institutional investors have raised concerns about the institutions passive investment strategies and the implications for corporate governance. A way for investors to address moral hazard and opportunistic behaviour of management is to demand conservatism in accounting practices. This paper analyses the relation between institutional ownership and accounting conservatism in the Swedish market by studying firms on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm over a three-year period. Furthermore, the study investigates whether ownership by institutions with high probability of monitoring managers leads to higher conservatism in financial reporting. To measure accounting conservatism this study uses the asymmetric timeliness measure developed by Basu (1997).

Uppsatsens syfte är att söka klarlägga om olika styrelseutformning, med avseende på sex bestämda faktorer, påverkar företagets prestation och om det går att genom statistisk analys fastslå om dessa faktorer utgör en mätbar påverkan på prestationen. Faktorererna utgörs av styrelsemedlemmarnas kön, genomsnittålder, andel utländska ledamöter i styrelsen som på ett direkt sett utgör oilka kategorier av styrelsemedlemmar. Dessutom har uppsatsen sett på effekten av styrelsens storlek och ledamöternas eventuella beroende. Dessa faktorer har jämförts med ett prestationsmått som utgjorts av företagets värdeförändring på börsen, korrigerat med respektive branschindex. Jämförelsen har gjorts över fem år, med hjälp av regressionsanalys.

The overriding purpose of this graduate thesis is to evaluate if municipalities and county councils can deviate from the legislation of public procurement during procurement of customer choice agreements within the health and social care area. The intention of this Quasi-market is to provide the users with competition in terms of quality rather then the general principal rule of economic value.My conclusion results in a legal situation without rules of general procedure. So far the authorities make their own regulation in the field of customer choice agreements. The problem lies within the authorization of new contractors and their right to make an appeal against resolutions made by the authorities social care divisions.One solution is to legislate within the present law of public procurement. Another way to solve the problem is to create a lex specialis apart from the present public procurement regulation..

Background: Society of today is characterised by greater dynamics and a constant demand for innovation and fresh ideas. This development is often named "the new economy" or "the knowledge society". Independent of how one chooses to name this society, most individuals seem to agree upon the fact that knowledge grows more and more important. New competencies, such as new knowledge and new forms of organising, will be demanded for corporations to be successful in the future. In recent years it has become more common with corporations based on projects.

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.

This essay focuses on the implementation of the strategy gender mainstreaming in the European Union and the member states. It starts to identify problems connected to the implementation process and recognizes significant prerequisites for an efficient implementation of the strategy. The main problems and prerequisites are: political will, governance and structure and knowledge about gender equality. The empirical material consists of reports from the EU that touches upon gender mainstreaming and gender equality. The problems and prerequisites will be analysed in relation to the governance perspectives top-down and bottom-up and expert bureaucratic and participative democratic and gender and feminism.

AbstractThe development of Corporate Social Responsibility has been increasing for the last decade.Not only is Corporate Social Responsibility an important thing for big rich companies, todayit includes all different kinds of companies? regardless size, profit or industry. An industrywhich affects the majority of the society is the grocery industry. People have on a daily basissome kind of relationship to the grocery industry, which means that we have high presure onthe companies to not take an over price on the goods, to have a good assortment and that thecompanies take responsibility for the society. With high pressure from different groups of thesociety it is hard for the companies to know how to please all groups at their highest level.In this essay a qualitative examination will be done of how grocery companies mange theproblems of having many stakeholders to please.

The purpose of this thesis is to gain a deeper understanding of Swedish companies? use of corporate sponsorships as a tool for communication. The research describes motives and goals of corporate sponsorships, the selecting process and methods used in evaluating its effects. The empirical data has been colleted through interviews with two companies sponsoring athletics at a top level in Sweden. The study shows that the principal objectives and motives companies have with sponsorships are related to brand exposure, image improvement and relationships.

Vi kommer att undersöka om andelen utländska ägare i svenska börsföretag påverkar företagens nyckeltal. Nyckeltalen vi valt att undersöka är vinst, utdelning, vinst dividerat med kurs, direktavkastning och andel utdelad vinst. Vi har definierat utländskt ägande som: Den procentuella andel ägare registrerade utanför Sverige. Tidsspannet vi undersöker är 2002-2005.Vi ska i uppsatsen testa en hypotes. Hypotesen är att andelen utländskt ägande och företagens nyckeltal är korrelerade.

Denna uppsats handlar om hur Världsbutiken Globalen kan gå till väga för att skapa ett starkt corporate brand, det vill säga ett organisatoriskt varumärke, vid etableringen av en klädbutik. Syftet är att undersöka hur en organisation kan gå till väga för att bygga ett corporate brand med begränsade resurser. Information om Världsbutiken som organisation och deras arbete kring rättvis handel har vi erhållit genom en intervju med Fredrik Pettersson på Globalen. För att finna framgångsfaktorer inom varumärkesbyggande har nyckelpersoner på mindre företag intervjuats. De empiriska resultaten har sedan analyserats utifrån marknadsföringsteorier om varumärkesbyggande.

The purpose of this paper is to perform an in-depth analysis on how the events that took place in Skandia AB during the end of the 1990s have been portrayed in media, and how this has affected the general debate concerning bonuses and incentive plans. The paper studies relevant newspaper articles published in Sweden?s largest business newspaper, Dagens Industri (DI), over a period ranging from 2002 to 2008. The major findings of this paper include that bonuses are widely used as incentives in Swedish companies and that the issue of bonuses as an incentive form has lead to a prevalent debate. Furthermore, the questionable events that took place in Skandia AB during the end of 1990s have affected the general debate concerning bonuses.

Bakgrund: Redovisnings- och företagsskandaler som ägde rum på 2000-talet i USA och flera europeiska länder satte fart på bolagsstyrningsdebatten. Många länder började införa regler med syfte att förbättra bolagsstyrningen och öka förtroendet för näringslivet. Sverige drabbades liksom andra länder av redovisningsskandaler, och som följd till detta infördes den svenska koden för bolagsstyrning för att återuppbygga marknadens förtroende för de svenska bolagen. Första juli 2005 tillämpades koden i Stockholmsbörsen för alla bolag på A-listan och O-listan med börsvärde över 3 miljarder kronor det vill säga de bolag som ingick i kategorin Large Cap.Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka och analysera hur bolag på OMX Stockholmsbörsen, Large Cap, avviker från koden och om de avviker från samma punkter i koden samt hur utförligt förklarar dessa bolag avvikelserna. Med hjälp av vetenskapliga artiklar som teoretiskt perspektiv vill jag få förståelse för varför koden finns och varför bolag avviker från den samt undersöka om koden fungerar som det var tänkt.Metod: För att undersöka i vilken omfattning bolag avviker från koden och vilka punkter det som bolagen avviker från har jag läst igenom och granskat bolagens årsredovisningar och bolagsstyrningsrapporter.Teoretisk referensram: I detta kapitel har jag tagit upp tidigare forskning som handlar om andra länders bolagskoder och principen följa eller förklara, samt orsaker till varför bolag väljer att följa eller avvika från koden.

Background: Sweden?s membership in the EU affected the Swedish accounting regulation. Three EU-directives was implemented in the Swedish accounting regulation. This also meant that the concept "true and fair view" was introduced in the new "Årsredovisningslagen". The concept is not clearly defined and therefore the interpretation may differ amongst accountants.

Problem: How should a company act to sustain a strong identity and thereby a strong brand image when operating in a changeable world?Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyze whether the corporate identity of Academic Work is strong or fragmented. Further more this thesis aims to give recommendations on how the company could continue working to maintain a strong brand image. Methodology: The thesis is a case study of Academic Work. The study is based on data collected from interviews, a poll as well as data from the company website.

This study examines whether the ownership structure of Swedish firms contributes to explain the variations in executive pay. A regression analysis was performed on 102 companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. The analysis suggests a negative relationship between ownership structure and executive pay after taking company profitability and size into account. The result is in line with previous studies and the agency theory. This indicates that large shareholders have a stronger position in Swedish companies or that large shareholders monitor the management to a larger extent, rather than providing incentives.