Recent years have been very turbulent for most private equity firms. Especially the financial meltdown in global economy has affected the industry, but also the public pressure has made private equity houses change their control strategies towards more conventional methods used in public companies. This thesis aims to put light on the control methods used in listed private equity houses which use a buyout strategy. The paper describes how the control methods change over the different phases the asset experience and how different value generating strategies use altered control methods. Using Merchant's (2003) framework for management control systems and Berg and Gottschalg's (2004) research on value generating strategies in buyouts the thesis shows that action controls as designing instructions for the board and a business plan, together with goal alignment is the commonly used control strategy directly after the acquisition.

AbstractThe customer demand for ecological products has increased in recent years, within the garden industry this mainly concerns herbs and other edible plants. The organic trend is increasing and more people are aware of the environment and want to take responsibility for it through their purchases for their garden as well.In this essay the aim is to investigate customer demand and the possibility of selling organicperennial plants in eight garden centres on the Åland islands and in Gävle/Sandviken. I include two garden centres with an organic profile to get a wider point of view. I investigate the global market for organic perennials and look further into existing certification standards on the Swedish market today.The methods I have been using are interviews and a literature study.The study shows that the experienced demand for organic perennials is small in both of myinvestigated groups. The biggest motivation for starting to sell organic perennials would be to find a supplier of these plants and that more customer would ask for them.

REINERTSEN AS performs expansion and buckling analyses of pipelines using ANSYS, afinite element modelling and analysis tool. In an expansion analysis the pipeline is modelledwith thin?walled pipe elements called PIPE20 which allows plastic deformation. However, ina recent analysis the results retrieved from the PIPE20 element were incorrect for strainsabout 1 percent. One main issue was that the PIPE20 element overestimated the strains.The purpose with this Master Thesis was to become familiar with the theories and analysismethods used in pipeline design.

To be able to measure high-surge voltages and transients with short rise times youneed measuring instruments with a high sampling frequency and large Bandwidth.These surges and transients occur primarily at lightning but can also occur at forexample at connecting errors at an electrical switch-gear. This report describes thework with finding two solutions for measuring and log data from these surges andtransients. One temporary solution where a measurement program has beendeveloped. A second solution where different company solutions have been analyzedto decide which fits best. For these measurement solutions two solutions for bringingdown the voltage has been used.

The aim of this project was to design a furniture that raises thoughts and curiosity about how to relate to people you share furniture with. Luova, a changing piece of furniture for public spaces is a bench where the user can choose the degree of social interaction. Furniture for public spaces has a diverse audience ranging from children to adults. Some come alone, others in group. Some are sitting down for a short time while others stay for longer.

AimThe aim of this study has been survey the possibilities for short-term stays in the Stockholm Archipelago for people without their own means of transport, own equipment and/or experience of outdoor life.To fulfil this aim, the following questions were formulated:? What communications are available to chalet parks in the Stockholm Archipelago?? What overnight accommodation is available in the chalet parks in the Stockholm Archipelago?? What activities can be pursued in the Stockholm Archipelago?? What is the financial cost of travelling to and staying in the Stockholm Archipelago for a week?MethodWe chose to use six interviews and three observations in order to gain as much insight as possible. Interviews were conducted with Claes Petterson at Waxholmsbolaget, a company that provides transport services in the Archipelago, and with managers for five chalet parks: Rolf Andersson for Finnhamn, Per Englund for Grinda, Arne Johansson for Rånö, Pär Hjärtström and Peter Hösöyen for Gålö and Anders Bedinger for Gålö and Nåttarö. The interviews were recorded in writing and on tape. Observations were carried out at three chalet parks, i.e.

As break downs of production transformers are costly and often result in long outages it is essential for reliability of operation that the transformers are manufactured to be robust. The aim of this M.Sc. thesis is to investigate if deviations should be made from the standard IEC 60076 ? Power Transformers in order to describe a robust large power transformer for procurement.The investigation has been conducted in three stages. In the first stage a definition of the term robust was developed in consultation with the client Vattenfall Vattenkraft.

The main reason for doing this kind ofproject was to find out if it was possible to make a relatively advanced application with user friendly tools. We tested the software MIT App Inventor, and the ability to create a useful application for people who wants to get an overview of their energy intake.During the process we found out that it was possible, but minor setbacks occurred. The main idea of our vision; to make a calculator and a registry with different kinds of food and their amount of calories, was completed quite easily. Later on, design alternatives and more advanced functions were not possible for us to make.This might have been because of the short amount of time the project was given, but also, and more likely, because the software did not contain that kind of advanced functions. Even if there were factors that held creativity back, the basic idea was possible to form..

A budget consists of figures showing how much a particular activity has access to during a given year. With a balanced scorecard, these figures and guidelines can be converted in to more easily understandable non-financial instructions for the employees. One of the most significant differences between the budget and the scorecard is that the budget focuses on short-term results while the scorecard focuses on long-term visions and goals. With a long-term thinking the leaders can  set more long-term goals and also make more well-planned investments which increases the possibility for the organization to evolve and become better in the long term. By combining the two instruments a good balance between short and long term perspectives can be achieved, which creates a more effective steeringIn the 1990s, many of the municipalities introduced needs budget, one of them was Gothenburgs municipality.

The very short story, på arabiska ????? ??????? ??? och på svenska Den mycket korta berättelsen är en genre som är ny i sin nuvarande utformning men har rötter långt tillbaka i tiden. I denna uppsats begränsar jag mig till mycket korta berättelser på arabiska. Jag undersöker de kännetecken som enligt Ibrahim Taha (2000) karakteriserar denna genre genom att jämföra dem med några mycket korta berättelser i boken Ritualer för den olyckliga kvinnan ( ?????????? ?????? ) av den palestinske författaren Mahm?d Shuqayr (1994).

This paper is a study of documentary film production with focus on the filmmakers choice and usage of sound equipment. Using professional articles and literature have first of all helped us determine a standard for the conventional use of sound equipment in documentary film. Afterwards, by analyzing our own interviews we?ve received answers on how filmmakers relate to the conventional usage and why they select equipment as they do. Thereafter, we describe a technical method which helps a filmmaker to be able to record sound for documentary film on his/her own, using simple measures without reducing quality.

Until recently, the art market has expanded for several consecutive years. The primary art market is characterized by an unclear pricing mechanism and an infinite as well as limited supply. Previous business studies have so far primarily focused either on art as an investment or on the gallery?s activities. This thesis takes an explorative approach and aims to shed a light on the art collector?s behavior on the Swedish market for contemporary art.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att analysera Grebzdes novellsamling Bergen enligt Michail Bachtins kronotopteori. Jag baserar min kronotopmodell, som uppstår i Bergen, enligt de modeller som utvecklats av litteraturvetaren Juris Roz?tis. Romanerna, vilka undersöks av Roz?tis behandlar tiden efter andra världskriget i flyktingläger och hur flyktingarna upplever de första åren utanför sitt gamla hemland Lettland samt hur de bosätter sig i det nya landet.

A great number of empirical researches show that hedging is associated with higher firm value, particularly hedging interest rate and exchange rate. However, there is no clear support for value-added risk management hypothesis in the case of producers of commodities. Moreover, according to Shrand and Unal (1997), there are two types of risks, core business risks (or core risk) and homogeneous risks (or non core risks), which are based on a firm's comparative advantages with respects to the source of risk. Firm can earn economic profits for bearing core risks in which it has a comparative information advantage. Firm earn a zero economic rents for bearing non-core risks, where it has no advantage information than its competitors.

This study aims to build a deeper understanding on how shareholder value is created in Private Equity investments, especially during the holding period. The study is a qualitative study of the buyout of the access security company Bewator AB made by the Swedish Private Equity firm EQT in 2002. The buyout became highly successful due to various reasons. The study draws the conclusion, contrary to popular belief, that Private Equity firms create value through taking a long term view on business developing rather than being short term value destroyers. Incentive alignment is another important factor..