The purpose of this essay is to investigate whether the implementation of the Solvency II directive will create a competitive advantage for the Swedish insurance companies compared with other insurance companies in Europe.Therefore the theoretical perspective illustrates the specific requirements and risk culture of the insurance industry and defines the critical success factors for a successful implementation of the directive. The empirical foundation is built on the QIS 5 reports for Sweden and Europe, interviews with the financial services and If insurance company as well as information from a seminar organized by KPMG. The analysis shows that the Swedish insurance companies meets the capital requirements of Solvency II by a large margin and that they are accustomed to risk management and reporting requirements from the traffic light model. This implies that the three critical success factors for a successful implementation of Solvency II are met, although with some limitations, and that Swedish insurance companies could possibly have a competitive advantage.     .

In recent years e-commerce has experienced a big increase in usage. Internet however, cannot offer the same level of personal contact as traditional shops can.E-commerce is characterized by impersonal and standardized web shops that do not stimulate any emotional connection between the customer and the company. Without this personal contact with the customer the possibilities for the company to stimulate loyalty decreases. Loyalty however, is as important in e-commerce as it is in traditional commerce. The authors of this paper chose the following problem for the study:What marketing strategies are fortunate for e-commerce companies to use to create loyal customers?To research this subject the authors saw it fit to combine qualitative and quantitative research methods.

In the early 1990?s more and more companies of the Swedish public sector were exposed to competition, and this started the debate on how such actions might affect the business and even society.The first chapter examines how the public sector and especially health care, is financed and managed. We also explore what it means to be exposed to competition and find that there are many different ways of exposing the public sector to competition. The study examines dental care as an example of a market with both publicly and privately owned companies. The purpose of this paper is to explore how publicly and privately owned health care companies view their relationship with their consumers.

ABSTRACTTitle: First steps towards successful recruitment ? A study about a small Swedish firm?s recruitment strategyCourse: Bachelor Dissertation - LeadershipAuthors: Filip Agby, Damir Macanovic and Thomas MennerdahlAdvisor: Anders BillströmKey Words: Recruitment in small firms, recruitment strategy, wrong fit recruitment, HRM, right staffProblem enunciation: What pros and cons could the choice of recruitment strategy mean for a small Swedish firm. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to give recruiters a better understanding of how a small Swedish company could use different recruitment strategies, together with systematic preparations, to affect the experienced recruitment result. Another purpose is to study if earlier mentioned international research about small firms? recruitment strategies is applicable to a small Swedish firm.Theoretical framework: The section initiates by introducing the reader to the subject through describing Human resource management with a focus on recruitment.

Energy costs are high nowadays and that is the reason why the energy consumption needs to become as small as possible in most of the companies. To accomplish the small energy usage one needs to map the energy flows, study them and monitor them. One method that can be used for this is energy balance calculation. The method gives an opportunity to separate different energy flows and see where each flow is heading. There is also another method which is more advanced than energy balance calculation.

The purpose with this final assignment is to find out how the old and the new regulations about Goodwill affect the Swedish companies, how their results and value of Goodwill changed since the regulation from IFRS took place. We will attempt to find out if the companies are better of with a yearly write-off or an impairment test every year to see if a write-down is necessary..

Companies today face more and more demands from society and stakeholders. It is no longer about just satisfying shareholders, sales and making a profit. Consumers are becoming more aware of products effects and the consequences it has on humans, our environment and the generation ahead of us. NGO:s and society request that companies take responsibility and actions toward a more sustainable business. Many investors analyze companies? sustainability regarding social and environmental issues when it comes to choosing a company to invest in.

The management of information is a significant competitiveness in companies. Companies stored and save information every day, and it is very common to save de information in different sources. This makes de management of information complex. To mange, monitor and analyze the information, companies can use a system called Business Intelligence. BI system is an analytical system that extracts and converts data into useful information that helps employees to make informed decisions.

Social media on the Web has become more common over the last decade and in recent years it has grown immensely. The social media with the highest amount of members is Facebook, where not only private persons are found - companies started to establish their profiles on the network in 2006. However, little is known about how these companies succeed and reach their audience with information dissemination and interact with them. The aim of this study is to contribute with information to local companies on how they can manage to maintain their activity with different approaches and strategies. This study examines how three different local companies chooses to spread information and maintain relationships with their members on Facebook.

AbstractAuthor: Markus Ekström and Albin OlssonAdvisor & examinator: Petter Boye, Thomas KarlssonTitle: Brand Valuation of companiesKeywords: Brand Valuation and Kalmar CountyIntroduction & Problem: The term trademark is originated from the Old Scandinavianbrandr and means stigmatize. A new standard for brand valuation ISO 10668 was adopted in2010, which has created a more reliable valuation method. It used several different methodsbefore, which meant different values but now they have agreed to this standard, which shouldmean that more companies make brand valuation. But that?s not the case, and you can wonderwhy? We also want to see the benefits created for companies, and the benefits companies canget with a valuation of the brand.Purpose: With this essay we want to examine how companies in Kalmar County looks atbrand valuation, if they have made it or not.

The purpose of this thesis is to show what advantages and opportunities social media offer for B2B-companies (business-to-business), and how they can be used for marketing communications.We have studied how companies can use social media, for example evolving the organization, developing products/services, staying up-to-date, building relations, creating customer loyalty and engagement, building the company?s identity and image, and affecting the buying decisions. We have also studied how B2B-companies can choose media channels, set goals, and measure the results.We have carried out interviews, through phone and visits, with four chosen companies that fit our criterias: Swedish B2B-company that is successful in social media.The result of the interviews show that B2B-companies use social media for various purposes, for example networking (to create and build long term relations with other companies) and to improve the company?s image among the end customers. Most of our interviewees reach their end customers (consumers) in first place and customers (companies) in second place, since many B2B-companies do not yet use social media.Half of our respondents mention that social media should not be used for advertising and campaigns (one way communication).

The Swedish group contribution rules entails that group contribution is only allowed when the parent company owns more than 90 percent in a company. To be able to deduct group contribution some conditions has to be fulfilled. One condition is that the receiver of the contribution shall not be a resident of a foreign state. The question that arises is whether group contribution with deductibility is consistent with the non-discrimination clause. In some group contribution situations several tax conventions can be applicable.

Responsible production is a subject of increasing importance for companies toadopt and communicate to their environment and many companies choose to implementenvironmental ? and ethic considerations into their brand strategy. There is, however, adividing line between companies according to what extent they choose to implementresponsible production into their brand strategy and to which extent they choose tocommunicate it to their stakeholders and surroundings. It is the hypothesis about a dividingline that is the foundation for this essay and something we believed could be interesting forfurther analysis.The purpose of our essay is to find out how the brand strategy of a company is affected by theresponsible production and in what extent they communicate it to their environment. Byanswering those questions we hope to find out why some companies communicateresponsible production more actively than others.We have conducted in-depth interviews with the Swedish clothing companies; MariaWesterlind, Zion and Dem Collective and we have through our analysis reached interestingconclusions.

The 3:12-provisions are part of a legal system specified for owners of close corporations (companies owned and managed by a small group of businesspeople), for taxation of capi-tal gains and dividend. The reason for special rules for the taxation of these owners is to prevent them from transforming their income, to only be subject of the lower taxation of capital gains, instead of income of service. Since the rules were put in force, they have been subject to several changes. The most recent changes took effect on the 1 January 2006. They involve a higher importance for the rule of salary-based taxation.

China is one of the fastest growing markets of today and attracts billions of dollars in foreign direct investments. Swedish companies have not been late to follow and operate on the Chinese market driven by opportunities in sales, production, and sourcing. However, there has been limited research made on how and why Swedish companies extend their sourcing efforts in China. By combining research within the internationalization of export activities, concepts from global sourcing, and gathered empirical data from leading Swedish companies operating in China, the thesis develops a framework for analyzing the internationalization process of sourcing in China..