This thesis studies private equity firms' implementation of management control systems in their portfolio companies and whether the systems are affected by cross-national differences. A comparative case study examines five different private equity firms to derive if there are any differences between the private equity firms' management control systems in the United States, Europe and China. The empirical observations are categorized according to the framework developed by Merchant (1985) and further developed by Merchant and Van der Stede (2003). Theory on the effect of multinationality on management control systems, also developed by Merchant and Van der Stede (2003), are used to explain possible findings. The applied theory includes the cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede (1984) and Hofstede and Bond (1988).

Problem discussion: Syncron experience a challenge in realizing the full market potential of its newly developed IT-based price management system, Global Price Management (GPM). The system has already been implemented and is currently running with success within the IT-structures of the first customer. The fact that the development of the system has been initiated by a customer, and thereby has left Syncron oblivious of the real underlying drivers and incentives for the development, is part of the problem. Understanding the customers? incentives for developing their pricing process thus reducing the application uncertainty is a good starting point.

The aim for my thesis has been to investigate how literature, or fiction, is used in management education. What books are used ? is there a literary leadership canon? What do the educators and the writers on this subject suggest that these books can teach the leaders? What are the philosophical foundations of this education? And ? last but not least ? does what the educators and writers offer respond to the needs of the businesses? My investigation shows that there is a canon in the area of management and fiction, where realistic 19th century novels, alongside with Shakespeare?s plays are dominant. Female writers and non-western writers are very underrepresented. The positive outcomes of reading and discussing these literary works that the educators and writers suggest do substantially correspond with the needs of the businesses, as presented by my sources.

Title: Point of Purchase TV-screens - An analysis of Gender and Generations in the In-store-Retail-EnvironmentDate of Seminar: May 29th 2007 Course: BUS 809, Master Thesis in International Marketing and Brand Management.Authors: Søren Berg Jørgensen, Daniel McCartney and Ben Wallenborn.Supervisors: Karin Alm and Ulf Johansson Keywords: In-store Marketing, Point-of-Purchase, In-store TV, Gender, Generations. Thesis Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to contribute to a greater understanding as to how consumers react to and perceive PoP TV-screens within the in-store retail environment. More specific, the aim of the study is to investigate if gender and generations react and feel differently towards the use of PoP TV-screens. From a practical standpoint, the study will aid marketers in how they can communicate more effectively with their target-market inside the store. In addition to this, the study will provide retailers with an insight into the overall atmospheric effect that the placement of TV screens has on stores.

The waveform of a radar signal affects the resolution in velocity and distance. The ambiguity function is used as an aid for analysing narrow band radar signals simultaneously in time and frequency. An analysing tool for wide band radar signals is missing.This thesis describes a generalised ambiguity function to be utilised for study of wide band signals. Waveforms are further synthesised with help of the developed analysing tool. The aim is to start with a certain ambiguity function and find a waveform that reproduces the same ambiguity function.Mathematical formulas are presented and implemented in Matlab to produce the wide band ambiguity function.

This study is based on the notion that the most widely cited and used instrument for assessing volunteer motivations, the Volunteer Function Inventory (VFI), might not be sufficient in its aspiration to aid, streamline and benefit the recruitment and retention process within volunteer organizations. Understanding volunteers? motivation is a crucial component in the process of securing future volunteer engagement in a world where their efforts are desperately needed.This study aims to explain motives and motivation behind volunteer efforts in extreme situations as well as to examine the dependability of the theoretical framework in relation to the forthcoming result, based on the following research questions:What motivated Swedish medical personnel to volunteer during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa?How could the motives and motivation of Swedish medical personnel be categorized in accordance with the Volunteer Function Inventory (VFI)?Is the Volunteer Function Inventory (VFI) a sufficient tool for analyzing the motives and motivation of Swedish medical personnel in the given case?The presented research questions will be answer through a qualitative theory-consuming study, based mainly on interviews. The interviews are, however, complimented by various written sources in the field of research.The result and subsequent analysis confirms the authors? notion on the VFI and highlights certain deficits in the tool?s execution and its succeeding result.

Title: Bottleneck management through materials administration Course:  4FE05EAuthors:  Mikael Karlsson and Johannes Mueller  Examiner: Helena ForslundKey words:  Bottleneck management, material management, process description, timber, proceduresPurpose:   The objective of this study is divided into three parts, all three parts of the purpose aim for the same goal. Namely, to improve the material management so that this enables the bottleneck in the planing mill to keep a continuous  flow, and thereby minimizing the risk for production stops at LB-Hus.  Part.  1:  Identify  and  analyze the material management  connected to  the planing mill  in order to identify problem areas.Part.2:  Identify  improvement potential  in the material management connected to the planing mill.  Part.3: Suggest improvements in the material management connected to the planing mill. Theoretical framework: Process mapping, inventory accounting, balance safety, inventory availability / service levels, safety stock and reorder point, forecasting and routine descriptions.Empirical foundation:  Interviews carried out at LB-House,  illustrated with the help of process maps and a description of each process.  Conclusions:  To work with  the  suggestions  given  and  to  follow  clear procedures  in  all  processes would  result in  a more  efficient  inventory management,  it would also present  a  solution  to  the problem regarding the planing mill being a bottle neck.Suggestions for further research: Review and map the information flow from demand to production start.

The overall purpose of this study is to examine how preschool teachers make use of digital tools in correlation with pedagogical documentation. More specifically, the purpose is to interview preschool teachers about their ideas and their use of the digital tool Förskoleappen to record and document childrens learningprocesses. The purpose will be answered with help from the following questions: In what way do preschool teachers use Förskoleappen in pedagogical documentation? What ideas and views do preschool teachers have about digital technology in general and Förskoleappen in particular? In order to find the answers to our questions we carried out a qualitative study in the form of interviews with six preschool teachers from two different preschools. We have used the designtheoretical perspective as our theoretical frame.

En studie av hur revisorerna granska den miljöinformation som företag med tillstands- och/eller anmälningspliktiga verksamheter, enligt lag är förordnade att redovisa i förvaltningsberättelsen samt om man utifran denna granskningen kan säga nagot om hur informationens tillförlitlighet berörs..

Bakgrund: Rottne industri a?r ett fo?retag som tillverkar skogsmaskiner, na?rmare besta?mt sko?rdare och skotare. En viktig del av fo?retagets strategi i dagsla?get grundar pa? att bedriva en genero?s reservdelsverksamhet ut mot kunder. Reservdelsverksamheten har vuxit och blivit en konkurrensfo?rdel fo?r Rottne industri.

Denna uppsats undersöker om och i så fall hur affärsrisken påverkar företagens kapitalstruktur. Vi har använt oss av två årtal med olika räntenivåer, 1995 och 2005. Vi kunde genom en multipel regressionsanlalys säkerställa att det existerar ett samband, och även att det finns skillnad mellan åren vad gäller korrelationen i sambandet..

Detta examensarbete har syftat till att utveckla ett verktyg för att utvärdera en IT-avdelnings möjligheter till effektivisering genom att implementera Lean på IT Service Management. Verktyget har utvecklats i samarbete med Tina Eriksson på uppdrag av management och IT-management konsultbolaget Connecta AB. Connecta AB har som syfte att använda verktyget för framtida affärer. För att verktyget ska vara användbart och uppfylla Connectas krav så har fyra mål satts upp. Verktyget ska vara trovärdigt, resurseffektivt, användarvänligt samt underlätta för fortsatt arbete och implementering av Lean på IT Service Management.

The governing set of regulations for structural engineering in Sweden used to be Boverket, BKR. However in the beginning of the 21st century a changeover to new regulations, the Eurocodes, started.The transition was completed in year 2011 when the Eurocodes became the mandatory design work policy for all countries within the European Union. The Eurocodes were implemented to simplify and remove potential barriers to trade that may exist when countries have different design rules.  Since the changeover it has been important for all construction companies to update their knowledge base and their design software.When comparing the two calculation processes they seem similar, but there are a couple of differences worth noting.  With the new regulations, engineers will find that the process when designing joints in timber structures has changed.  What used to be a fairly easy and straight forward calculation procedure has now become tedious and time consuming.The objective of this degree project is to present a product, a dimensioning tool that will help structural engineers when computing lateral load carrying joints in timber structures.The degree project is made up of two parts where the first part is the written report describing the background and theory behind load carrying computations. The second part of the project is the actual dimensioning tool which includes several worksheets in Microsoft Excel. The program treats single and double shear connections of the following:Nail jointsScrew jointsSteel plates (thick and thin types) The user can edit the following parameters:Type of plate/ number of shearsStrength class of timber membersMember and plate sizeType of fastenerDiameter of fastenerLength of fastenerYield moment of fastenerkmod and partial factors for design load carrying capacityThe dimensioning tool was created and developed in collaboration with structural engineers at the company Byggteknik AB.

Teorigenomgång som mynnar ut i tolv parametrar som karaktäriserar en innovativ organisation, samt en teoretisk modell, Innovation Value Chain (IVC) som beskriver den innovativa processen. Åtta fallstudier utav tillverkande svenska företag analyseras med hjälp av IVC modellen..

The National Property Board (SFV) has been appointed by the Swedish government to administer all property of cultural value owned by the Swedes collectively. The commission includes maintaining the soul and character of each individual building, to adapt these buildings to present needs and requirements, and furthermore making them available to the public. The return on equity demanded by the government is based on the CAPM used within the real estate industry. The theoretical assumption that organizations are either function-driven or pay-driven will serve as a starting point, after which SFV will be defined as a function-driven organization with a pay-formed management control system. This paper aims to examine how applying a pay-formed management control system will affect a function-driven organization.