Background and Problem: The lack of auditor independence is discussed being oneof the reasons to scandals such as Enron and HQ. A pricing strategy that has beendebated impairing auditor independence is low balling. To win a new client in atender process, audit firms supposedly offer an audit fee below cost and then increasethe fee the following years to recover the initial loss. The auditors? future financialinterest in the company due to the initial loss is by some believed to impair auditorindependence, which makes low balling in Sweden a relevant phenomenon to study.Aim of study: This thesis aims to explain if low balling exists on the Swedish auditmarket and if the size of companies affects the results of low balling.Methodology: To achieve the purpose of this thesis, a statistical study wasconducted.

Medieföretaget AB is a Swedish Media Company that covers several different business areas.The company daily produces one of the biggest newspapers in Sweden and publishes editorialnews on one of the country?s most visited news homepage. The company also has smallerfirms that produce new business models. Due to big changes in the media climate over theworld and a new company management team the company in November 2008 started adepartment for innovation. The main purpose of the department was to create a structuredway for managing ideas and to promote innovation.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att ta reda på hur lokala kommunikationskonsulter i Falun/Borlänge-regionen ser på opinionsbildning via professionella konsulter. De centrala begrepp som avhandlas är PR, opinionsbildning och lobbying.Den teoretiska ram som omger undersökningen består av de teoribyggen som skapats av Jürgen Habermas, James E. Grunig och Larsåke Larsson. Habermas ställer sig tveksam till den demokratiska nyttan av professionell opinionsbildning, Grunig är mer positiv och Larsson ser både för- och nackdelar med PR-verksamheten. Larssons undersökning av opinionskonsulter från 2005 refereras också.Undersökningen bygger på intervjuer med ett antal kommunikationskonsulter verksamma i Falun och Borlänge.

Background: In today?s business environment it is important to find new customers. An action that has been widely used is to enter foreignmarkets. Most firms are always seeking to maximize their profits,which can be achieved if an entry into a foreign market is performed.Due the European Union (EU), new economies open theirborders for international trade and foreign investments. In 2004 Poland received membership.

The purpose of this thesis was, on the mission of LRF Konsult Södra marknadsområdet, to research on why their customers were satisfied and/or dissatisfied. The research was performed in two segments: customers that had joined the company through acquisitions of other accounting firms and customers that had been in contact with LRF Konsult?s personal sellers.To be able to find the answer to our purpose we chose to do a qualitative study. Five interviews were performed with customers in southern Sweden, Skåne and Halland, to get their personal view of the service and of their relation to LRF Konsult and their contact person.The theories suggested that the satisfaction of the customers would increase depending on their relation with LRF Konsult and their contact person. Our research concluded the relation differed for each customer and that it was of great importance that the contact person at LRF Konsult understood and adapted the relation to what the customer wanted.

The amount of cargo has since the 1970s increased in Sweden and the road traffic accounts for a large part of the transported volume. In Stockholm County the amount of cargo is calculated to be doubled in size from year 2001 to 2020 which means a greater need for transport is required. Much of these transports are being carried out by haulage companies of varying sizes which acts externally as carriers for their customers. All of this despite a greater awareness, laws and demands regarding environmental performance.The trend shows that the haulage industry in Sweden are moving towards fewer but larger haulage companies, which means that the competition is getting tougher for the smaller haulage companies. Smaller haulage companies and research about their competitive strategies is a neglected part of this industry.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att ta reda på hur lokala kommunikationskonsulter i Falun/Borlänge-regionen ser på opinionsbildning via professionella konsulter. De centrala begrepp som avhandlas är PR, opinionsbildning och lobbying.Den teoretiska ram som omger undersökningen består av de teoribyggen som skapats av Jürgen Habermas, James E. Grunig och Larsåke Larsson. Habermas ställer sig tveksam till den demokratiska nyttan av professionell opinionsbildning, Grunig är mer positiv och Larsson ser både för- och nackdelar med PR-verksamheten. Larssons undersökning av opinionskonsulter från 2005 refereras också.Undersökningen bygger på intervjuer med ett antal kommunikationskonsulter verksamma i Falun och Borlänge.

There are numerous questions to be asked when your task is to plan a small community?s future development. Is it possible to suggest something new and modern? What considerations should be taken concerning the existing situation? What is an appropriate size for the new development? Where is it possible to build and what is the most appropriate method to use?In this master´s thesis I have tried to develop and describe a working-process where I execute a complete landscape character analysis for the whole community in question to get the answers to where and how it would be most appropriate to develop a village like Flädie without destroying its current character.Flädie is a typical small village in the countryside of Skåne, Sweden. It is strongly effected by the expansive and urban region it?s located in but is still rural in character.

Bakgrund: Som ett resultat av ett förändrat samhälle där fristående rådgivning blivit alltmer efterfrågat har fler problem uppkommit. EU-kommissionen lagt fram ett förslag på ändrade revisionsregler för att hantera dessa påstådda problem. Förslaget antyder att revisorns oberoende och revisionens kvalité hotas av dessa sidotjänster.Syfte: Studiens syfte är att skapa en förståelse för sidotjänsternas betydelse på revisorns oberoende och revisionens kvalité samt öka förståelsen för de nya lagförslagen och dess konsekvenser.Metod: Med utgångspunkt i en induktiv forskningsansats har vi genom en kvalitativ design utfört studien. Primärdata har samlats in genom intervju och öppna frågeformulär som sedans jämförts med tidigare forskning och erkänd litteratur.Resultat och slutsats: Studiens slutsats visar att sidotjänsterna inte har någon betydande inverkan på revisorns oberoende och revisionens kvalité, varken positivt eller negativt. Studien finner att revisorns integritet och egenintresse är så pass starkt att oberoendet inte hotas på grund av sidotjänsternas vara eller icke-vara även om resultaten i viss mån tyder på problem att invända mot en kollega.

Background: Motivation is a subject that is on everyone's lips in today's knowledge-intensive firms. What is motivation and what are we motivated by? We will, through three case studies, be grappling with the notion to clarify how managers and employees' perception of the concept is different, or possibly similar. Furthermore, the thesis examines whether the theory and practice of motivation are consistent with each other. Purpose: The purpose of our study is to seek understanding of what management within an organization believes are motivating their staff as well as how the staff perceive themselves be motivated by. We ask ourselves if organizations is up to date with the development of what motivates people.

This master thesis is written at the Royal Institute of Technology during the spring and summer of 2008.The assignment was to investigate what factors on a broadband market determine how well it performsin terms of how many people have access to broadband. These are the factors that determine whetheror not a country or market will be able to achieve a high broadband penetration. The purpose of thisthesis was to establish a better understanding for what a market should look like or how a strugglingone can be complemented in order to succeed.As a foundation for this investigation, a group of benchmark countries were chosen and evaluated. Inaddition to this, a group of, developing MENA2-countries were chosen and evaluated. Finally, interviewswere performed with some of Sweden?s leading internet service providers, the regulatory agency andinfrastructure company, Skanova.Among the benchmark countries were Sweden, France, Canada, South Korea and Japan.

This report is focused on marketing opportunities for small-scale mango farmers in the Nyanza Province in Kenya. Kenya is a large horticultural producer in the world. Horticulture is an important income for a large share of the rural population in Kenya but profitability is low due to inefficiencies in marketing systems and poor infrastructure. The conditions for growing mango in the Nyanza Province are very beneficial and there are two harvesting seasons. Mango offers good income opportunities for small-scale farmers in the Nyanza Province.The aim of this study is to identify marketing conditions that will enable prospering business for small-scale mango farmers in the Nyanza Province, Kenya.

The environmental work of companies has become an incredibly important factor in achieving reduced levels of environmental pollution. For companies the work on environmental issues began in the 1980s. During this time companies also began to show interest for the personnel, an interest that was shown in the form of attempts to disclose personnel information in economics. Earlier this information was separated from the financial information, despite the fact that the revenues are created by the employees.The purpose of this paper is to examine how well companies with a notification or a permit today account for environmental- and personnel information in their director?s report.

This paper constitutes graduate work at the landscape architecture program at the Department of Urban and Rural Development at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala. The main purpose of this paper is to create a project from an idea to reality. The place for the project is the environment of Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi in the north of Sweden. Icehotel is a unique hotel concept and each winter a hotel, a church and a bar is built at the area of only ice and snow, and each spring it all melts down and returns to the Torne river. During the project a plan for the environment, in ice and snow, will be made and then a part of it will be built in January 2010. The purpose is to improve the outdoor environment with landscape architecture to enhance the experience of Icehotel and create an exciting entrance to the area.

To be a farmer and have suckler cows is a difficult combination especially considering the economy. Because of the increased feed costs, the margins have become tighter. The meat price from beef cattle has increased a little when this text is written (spring, 2008), but not so much that it covers the cost for feed etc. I have a small suckler cow production on approximately 30 cows and 2 bulls plus followers as a part-time business. The herd is tied in the old dairy stable built in the late seventies.