This paper is a Master thesis for the Master?s program in International and European Relations in the Department of Management and Economics at Linköping University. As the title indicates, the aim of this thesis is to make a comparative analysis of the conflict resolution initiatives that were employed in the Sierra Leonean and Liberian conflicts. The research questions are: ? What were the root causes and trajectories of the Sierra Leonean and Liberian conflicts? ? What were the conflict resolution initiatives employed in resolving both conflicts? ? Why did the Lome Peace Accord succeed in the case of Sierra Leone whilst the Abuja Peace Accord failed in bringing peace to Liberia? In order to answer the afore-mentioned questions and fulfil the aim of this paper, a qualitative research method has been chosen.

Reporting harvested and forwarded volumes are important for the forest industry as it provides information of the size of the stock and facilitates logistics. Figures from Holmen Skog show low reporting frequency. The purpose of this study is to investigate the reason and find suggestions for improvement. A total of 17 machine operators were interviewed using a questionnaire combined with open questions. The results show that the majority of the machine operators find it simple to use the reporting system, although, some of them reports that it doesn?t always work as supposed to.

Corporate Social Responsibility has been defined as the responsibility towards stakeholders and the society in whole and the expression was founded in the 1950´s. Reporting in corporate social responsibility has been termed corporate social disclosure and has been divided into three areas: environment, ethics and human resources. The aim of this study is to explain variations in corporate social disclosure and the different media used by corporations to communicate these disclosures. A survey was conducted, which included all Swedish corporations listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, and all public-owned corporations. The results show that corporate characteristics such as size, industry and profitability can explain some of the variation in social disclosures and also have an effect on the extent and variation of the media used.

The aim of our master thesis is to study the way valuation of real estate is conducted by real estate companies. Furthermore we want to identify the factors that affect the relevance and reliability of the valuation. The reason for this is the introduction of IFRS, in 2005, and the application of the IAS 40 rules stating that real estate are to be recognized at fair value on the balance sheet. To do this we have performed a case study on 10 Swedish real estate compa-nies listed on the Stockholm stock exchange, OMX, Large Cap and Mid Cap list to see how the share value has performed in relation to the reported net asset value since 2005 and how they value their collection of properties. We also studied the assumptions made by real estate company analysts.

Purpose The purpose of our study was to investigate the changing nature of volatility during the last 80 years. Like in an American study, we tried to find some trends in the risk of stocks and bonds that would have an impact on the balance of a portfolio of stocks and bonds. At the same time we investigated the influence of inflation on the choice of portfolio. Methods We have used standard statistic tools and formulas to obtain our results. In most cases it was a matter of calculating average and standard deviation.

The first of January 2005 all companies listed on a stock exchange within the European Unionhad to implement International Financial Accounting Standards (IFRS) in their annual report.But is this regulation for the good or worse and does the benefits outweigh the cost? The goalwith the regulation is to make it easier for investors, shareholders and other stakeholders tomake financial decisions, compare domestic as well as international companies at the samecondition. One of the differences with the introduction of the new regulation is IFRS 3 thathandles business combination and how goodwill and intangible assets from the acquiredcompany should be accounted for. The objectives of our dissertation is to identify those listedcompanies that have made one or more acquisition between the years 2005 to 2006 andmeasure their level of disclosure concerning goodwill and intangible assets through theacquisition. We concluded trough the results that positive accounting theory and systemorientated theory didn?t explain all the verities in the companies? disclosures.

New laws and recommendations within corporate governance during the last years have affected the way board of directors work. The board is said to have and fulfill three roles: a control role, a service role and a strategy role. These roles could be understood by three theoretical theories: the agency theory, the resource dependence theory and the stewardship theory. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether, and if so how, the board work differs between two small firms based on these roles, given that one of the firms is a publicly listed firm and the other is a privately owned firm. Using a qualitative case study as research method we find that the board work differs between the two companies when it comes to these roles.

Bakgrund: Från och med den 10 mars 2000 är det tillåtet för publika svenska börsföretag att handla i egna aktier. Det är intressant att belysa hur möjligheten att återköpa aktier uppfattas i Sverige. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att klargöra hur möjligheten att återköpa egna aktier påverkar ledningen och aktieägarna i ett aktiebolag. Genomförande: Vi har studerat artiklar och litteratur om ämnet återköp. Besöksintervjuer har genomförts på Assa Abloy, Electrolux, Investor, Skanska, Robur Kapitalförvaltning och Handelsbanken Markets.

A co-operation is established when a group of people, sharing the same preferences and values, come together in order to satisfy a common need. The co-operative association should be democratic, governed and supervised by its members and open to everyone. The purpose of this article is to, from our ideal type, study similarities and differences regarding the corporate governance of the consumers? and the producers? co-operative movement. The motive behind our choice of alignment is that the mechanisms of corporate governance often are described from the perspective of the joint-stock company, making it valuable and interesting to study these mechanisms from the co-operative point of view.

This thesis explores some key aspects of early Heidegger?s interpretations of Kant from a phenomenological perspective. In general terms, it analyzes Heidegger?s claim that Kant?s faculties share a common root in the transcendental imagination, as a critical development of motives found in Husserl?s phenomenology.More precisely, the thesis argues that the motive for deriving Kant?s first faculty, intuition, from the synthesis of imagination can be understood as an attempt to account for the receptivity of a finite subject, without yielding to a causal description of sensibility. Phenomenology shares this problem with Kant?s critical philosophy.

Over the past 40 years 600 000 ha of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta ssp. latifolia (Engelm.) Critchf.) has been planted in Sweden (280 000 ha on SCA's forest land alone which represents about 15% of the company's total forest land area). In the early 70's SCA situated a number of experimental stands in order to investigate different aspects of the exotic tree, primarily growth rate. To be able to compare the two species plots with scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), this species was also planted at the same time and under the same conditions. A number of questions should always be raised when exotic species are introduced in an ecosystem. Invasiveness, the pathogen situation and purely ethical issues should be discussed.

A co-operation is established when a group of people, sharing the same preferences and values, come together in order to satisfy a common need. The co-operative association should be democratic, governed and supervised by its members and open to everyone. The purpose of this article is to, from our ideal type, study similarities and differences regarding the corporate governance of the consumers? and the producers? co-operative movement. The motive behind our choice of alignment is that the mechanisms of corporate governance often are described from the perspective of the joint-stock company, making it valuable and interesting to study these mechanisms from the co-operative point of view.

I denna magisteruppsats undersöks eventuella långsiktiga samband mellan den svenska aktiemarknaden och aktiemarknaderna i Tyskland, Storbritannien, USA och Japan. Detta sker genom en kointegrationsanalys med Engle-Grangers metod. Undersökningen omfattar åren 1992-2010 och resultaten visar inga tecken på att det skulle existera några långsiktiga samband mellan den svenska aktiemarknaden och någon av de utländska aktiemarknaderna. Resultaten ger därmed indikationer om att den svenska aktiemarknaden tillsammans med de utländska aktiemarknaderna i undersökningen är kollektivt effektiva i åtminstone den svaga formen enligt Fama (1970). Då inga långsiktiga samband existerar bör även portföljdiversifiering mellan den svenska aktiemarknaden och de utländska aktiemarknaderna i undersökningen fungera effektivt på lång sikt..

Sweden. 1980. The term ?video violence? becomes public through the debates show Studio S. The show urges and obligates politicians to stop, regulate and ban video films with violent content from the market.

Since January 1 2005 all companies listed on a regulated stock exchange within the EU are required to present their consolidated accounts in conformity with IFRS. Among many other consequences goodwill will no longer be amortized over its useful life but instead annually tested for impairments in accordance with IFRS 3. The aim of this paper is to scrutinize the impairment test of goodwill as outlined in IAS 36 and analyze its implications. We conclude that the impairment test will probably lead to the recognition of internally generated goodwill in the consolidated accounts. We also conclude that the impairment test on highly aggregated levels will probably hasten the pace of this recognition since internally generated goodwill is used to shield acquired goodwill from impairments.