Bachelor thesis, Degree of master in Science and Economics, School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University, Management, 2FE01E, Spring Semester 2013Author: Johanna Björklund, Sarah Gustafsson and Sofia NicklassonMentor: Anders HytterTitle: Retention: Why stay when your options are unlimited? Background: Employee turnover is a problem today, and companies face increasing challenges when it comes to retain employees within the organization, so called employee retention. This is a present concept and theory holds that more organizations realize that they need to put more focus on retention as one of their business goals to remain competitive. It?s important that organizations understand individuals' different needs and the factors that make them satisfied in their professional life.

Over a long period of time, there has been a rich debate in the academic and financial world if active management can generate an excess return. Many experts say that the current active management strategies is nothing more than a money grab that produces large gains, for banks and investment firms, through high management fees while producing no excess value for the individuals buying their service. In short, an effective market makes it almost impossible for fund managers to produce value for their clients in the long run.No argument has only one side though, other experts say that active management has a role to play because not all investors are rational. This irrationality can lead to mispricing on financial assets in the marketplace and in turn lead to an ineffective market where active management can fill a much needed role. The purpose of this study is therefore to see if active management strategies can create a higher risk adjusted return, taking management fees into consideration, during times of high volatility when the uncertainty is at its peak.

AimTo validate the STOPP-8-questionnaire (S8Q), containing items from the SIH-questionnaire, against the criterion method accelerometry to estimate its capacity to assess 8 year old Swedish children?s physical activity (PA). Can it assess children?s physical activity? Can it differentiate the active children from the sedentary? If the answer is yes, how well can it do so? MethodData was collected during fall and winter the school year of 2008 - 2009 via the project STOPP-8. Out of 676 children at 12 schools in Stockholm area, 155 (boys n=72, girls n=83) provided complete questionnaire data and wore an accelerometer (Actiwatch 4) during 7 consecutive days which provided data for mean and median activity, time spent sedentary, in moderate to vigorous PA and vigorous PA.

Social media is a relatively new phenomenon that has had a huge impact in the way we communicate in recent years. Today it is used daily by almost everyone and has become a billion dollar industry where corporate existence is increasing by every day. But there is not entirely safe to work with social media since customers and visitors can make comments and investigate what others are writing about the brand and form their own opinion. The purpose of this study is to explain the potential advantages and disadvantages for organizations in vulnerable industries with a focus on insurance companies who works with Facebook. The paper takes its starting point in the convergence culture that explains a cultural shift where consumers are encouraged to search for new information and combine content from different media.

Audit is a common concept in Sweden. This occurs in many contexts and situations and may intend a wide spectrum of areas. It might consider environment audit, amateur audit, internal auditing, external audit etc. In the business community external audit and the associated external auditor is possibly, from the general public's side, the most recognized. The external audits purposes in big features are checking limited companies economic accounting along with the board and CEO: s management.

Purpose - To analyze the relationship between supply chain management maturity, supply chain performance and financial performance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME:s).Design/methodology/approach - The data comprises 15 SME:s that participated in a local logistic study in Gävleborgs län. The levels of supply chain mature within these firms were based upon an interview study and the financial performance of the firms was then examined using financial reports-based data.Findings -The results of this study indicate that there is a strong relationship between SCM maturity and SC performance in SMEs, some relationships between SCM maturity and financial performance, as well as some relationships between SC performance and financial performance. This means that if firms use maturity indicators in the SCOR areas to improve their processes, they will most likely achieve a positive effect on supply chain performance and probably also on financial performance. The result implies that the supply chain maturities in these firms are higher than expected with no one at the adHoc level.While this study is based on a rather small number of participating firms, it would be valuable to further test the significance of the indicated correlations between SCM maturity and performance in a large-scale survey.Research limitations/Implications - The research is an attempt to understand supply chain maturity and it´s implication on financial performance. Developing supply chain maturity is an opportunity for a company to gain superior performance.

The building industry consumes approximately 40 % of the total energy consumption in Sweden, where the using stage is dominating with 80 %. There is a lot of work in progress to reduce energy use in the building industry, and the demands from authorities regarding energy use increases. As a part of this work Building and planning department of Sweden has established a requirement that has been applied since 2006, and restricts a maximum energy use for buildings.The requirement includes that an energy simulation must be done in advance to demonstrate that it is possible to meet the demands.Reality is however more complex than an energy simulation program, that frequently underestimates the energy use of buildings. The purpose of this thesisis to study and analyse deviations between estimated and actual energy use in modern apartment buildings. The study includes four apartment buildings in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Jönköping that were built in 2007-2009.

From embankment dams is something that has long been noticed and given rise to different questions. The most serious question is if the sludge is a result of inner erosion through the dam, and thus consists of material transported from the dam. Concerns have also been raised whether the sludge could interfere with the systems drainage capacity and thereby lead to high pore pressure in the dam, or if the measurement of seepage is disturbed, as the measuring is usually made via Thomson weirs, which could risk being blocked. The result of this investigation shows that the sludge is a result of the oxidation of iron by iron bacteria, and to the greater part consists of these oxides as well as the bacteria?s own structures. The iron oxidizing bacteria, FeOB, oxides ferrous iron to ferric as a part of their metabolism, and thereby create large quantities of iron(oxy)hydroxides.

The recent history knows numerous examples of creditor?s inability to evaluate financial solvency of the client correctly. Creditors? risks do not only concern individual relations between the two parties but the economy in general. The standard loan-giving procedure considers evaluation based on a number of financial ratios.

Background: Small- and medium- sized businesses have during a long time had difficulties in raising long-term funding from external financiers, a reason for this is that these companies may have more information about their own business than the bank has. One way to reduce this problem is to hire a certified public auditor or a certified accounting consultant. Much has changed in recent years in the accounting profession. Mandatory audit has been abolished for small- and medium-sized businesses, which has led to major changes. Auditors are now not mandatory for these companies, which opens up the market for accounting consultant´s.

This qualitative study is about motivation and experience of support among non-kinship fosterparents in a child welfare agency (NGO), in Paraguay. The empirical data where collectedthrough out six semi-structured qualitative interviews, with totally eight foster parentsparticipating. The aim of the study was to describe and analyze what motivates foster parentsand how they experience support from their formal and informal network. Further theobjective was to investigate how support (may) affect motivation and enable good foster care.Theoretical concepts such as solidarity, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations as well as socialsupport where used to analyze the data.The results show that there are many different motives and motivations (intrinsic andextrinsic) that correlate in the decision to become and continue to be a foster parent. Amongthem social involvement, the wish to make a difference in a child?s life, have something tooffer as a family and personal satisfaction seems to be the most frequent reasons.

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is one of the big feline species kept in zoos worldwide. The wild populations are quite small and therefore the captive population make up an important part of the total population of the world. Although life in the wild is not always easy and a captive environment provides shelter and food it does not come without problems. In captivity cheetahs become chronically ill and also develop stereotypic behaviours. Neither of these are problems in wild populations and both can be linked to stress in captivity.

TitleEnergy-efficiency ? of slab blocks built in the sixtiesAuthorsRichard Sandahl and Kim SöderbergEducationHalmstad University, Section for economy and technique Construction Engineering 180 ECTSSupervisorMargaretha Borgström, Universitylector construction physics, Halmstad UniversityContact person at HFABUlf Johansson Heating, sanitation and energy co-ordinatorReportExamination paper at the construction engineering program is performed in cooperation with HFAB (Halmstad real estate concern Inc.)AimThis examinations work is done in cooperation with HFAB and there project on the block around the street Maratonvägen. HFAB:s dwelling stock on this area are going through a bigger renovation and in relation to this they are looking on the possibilities to make this building more energy efficient. That is why this examination paper has as purpose to answer the question if it is possible to make slab blocks built in the sixties more energy efficient. This is done by calculate energy efficient measures on a chosen apartment block at Maratonvägen in Halmstad, in an energy and expense perspective.MethodThe examination paper is based on different methods, mainly calculation but also qualitative conversation studies, economic calculations and literature studies.

Many buildings are now nearing the end of their service life. This applies to both the older houses from the 40's and 50's to the million project houses that did not prove to be as sustainable in the long run. Often there is a desire to extend the service lifetime, but to do that you need to make detailed inspections. The Folkets hus in Gävle is one of those buildings that is in need of renovation and to fulfill the new requirements that must be met in today's buildings. It is desired to make the buildings rentable space more attractive and to extend the building with two more floors.

In 2009 The National Land Survey of Sweden, Lantmäteriet, commenced a project intended to provide a new digital elevation model (DEM) of Sweden. The method chosen for the project was airborne laser scanning (ALS). In addition to information about the land surface the project will also provide information about the forest, this as a by-product. This data can be used to estimate forest variables such as height and volume. The estimates are often more Reliable than what is standard today. This study is based on interviews with employees and members of the forest owner association Södra in southern Sweden.