The purpose of this paper is to through a conceptual definition, outline the meaning of integrated reporting. The empirical study aims to identify the development of integrated reporting in terms of driving forces and participants. We also intend to identify and explain the effects of integrated reporting and to describe, analyze and create an understanding of what is required of companies and the challenges an application of integrated can bring. To achieve the purpose of this paper, we have formulated a central question; What is integrated reporting and what will this development mean for companies?  To answer the central question of this paper we have chosen to apply a qualitative approach with case studies as a research strategy.

There is an increased pressure for firms to provide the financial market with additional information. Such disclosure is attached with different kinds of costs. In spite of these costs, and in spite of increased mandatory disclosures, firms choose to voluntary disclosure financial information to analysts and others. This indicates that firms also benefit from providing additional information. The subjects of this study is 431 annual reports from firms listed at the Stockholm Stock Exchange for 2002 and 2005 and the objective is to survey factors that can explain variations in firms? voluntary disclosure.

The intention of this study was to examine the interaction between authorities. More specifically it had a purpose to look at the ongoing cooperation between social workers and staff of special homes of closed institutional youth care. The sanction system for young offenders? reform of 1999 where young people between the ages of 15-17 who have committed serious crimes, can be sentenced to secure institutional treatment instead of prison, aims to counteract the harm which can result from a stay in prison. The social welfare board in the young person´s local authority and the national board of institutional care shall cooperate during the youth?s placement at the special home of closed institutional youth care.

The purpose of this study is to search and analyze different logics that operators use in the work of helping juvenile delinquents to break their criminal behavior. New institutional theory is used in this study to analyze the results. The study was conducted through qualitative interviews of six professionals in two municipalities which work with juvenile delinquency. There are two questions that we want to address in this study. The first one is what methods the social workers are using in two middle large municipalities to help youth to brake there criminal behavior.

The gap between practise and theory is often described in negative words in teachers? professional lives. Learning study is a model for teachers´ professional development where a theoretical framework is used to enhance practice. The theoretical framework used by teachers in learning study is variation theory. In this study the research object is variation theory and the aim is to present how variation theory becomes a guiding principle to understand teaching and learning processes.

The purpose of this thesis is to define and theorise willingness-to-support as a possible measurement of corporate reputation. The knowledge production in this thesis is done through reasoning with companies to gain a deeper understanding of the social world and the respondents? view of their reality. Grounded theory is used as an inspiration for conducting the research. A qualitative method is used in the form of semi-structured interviews with six companies in three different business sectors.

This master thesis concerns whether Swedish non-financial listed firms act in accordance with the optimal capital structure theory and/or pecking order theory. The examined period is 1998-2004 and we discover that Swedish companies neither follow optimal capital structure theory nor pecking order theory. From our results we conclude that there exists no single point of the capital structure which is optimal. Rather it seems as if the optimal point lies in-between an interval from 0 to the industry average, where firms tend to be indifferent to their debt-ratios. Our results show that Swedish companies prefer internal financing followed by equity and as last choice debt issuance..

This study discloses home-care organizations in one municipality in Sweden and five units work with implementing the social services legislated value base for elderly people. The aim of this study is to gain an understanding of personnel and managers perception of the value base and its implementation in the practical work with the elderly. A qualitative method has been used to analyze the questions raised by the aim of this study. The empirical data was retrieved by semi-structured interviews with managers and their personnel in homecare service The empirical data was analyzed on the basis of the neo-institutional theory, Michael Lipsky?s theory concerning street-level bureaucrats and previous research regarding implementation of social policy and the practical home-care work.

This text concerns itself with war, the just war theory, and the application of that doctrine on the ?war on terrorism?. I present different views on the theory's place in the discourse, its relevance for unconventional wars followed by the analyses of above mentioned empirical situation.Particular interest is given the criteria concerning proportionality, both ad bellum and in bello, due to in part its difficult nature, and the attention it has received from others. This paper asks the question: Is the just war theory adequate for analysis of modern war?There are few alternatives.

This study is a semi-­structured, qualitative depth-­interview study investigating Swedish institutional investors' perception of the fact that companies purchase non-­audit services from its signing auditor and if they see this as a threat to auditor independence. The study focuses on independence in appearance rather than independence in fact. The study is based on the current media debate on auditor independence and aims to provide a deeper insight to enlighten legislators how users of audited financial information look at the problem. The study builds on agency theory's notion that there is an information asymmetry between management and shareholders, which the auditor is to reduce. The results show that Swedish institutional investors perceive that there is a threat to auditor independence when companies buy non­-audit services from its signing auditor.

The aim of this thesis is to spread some light over the coming into being of the 2005 Pension Reform in Norway. The point of departure lies within an interest in Welfare State politics and the development in this field. Pensions constitute a cornerstone in the Welfare State. Making use of J. Kingdon´s Theory of the Agenda Setting Process, Discourse Theory and Institutional Theory the thesis seek to visualize the implications of structures, central actors and discourses on the reform processes.

The overarching goal of this paper is to explain the intensive occurrence of partnerships ? regarded as a specific organizational structure ? in the formulation and implementation of Regional Growth Programs.By using theoretical concepts from new institutionalism, the paper tries to examine the explanatory capacity of this theory in the specific case of partnerships. The basis is a skeptical stance towards the conventional interpretation that views partnerships as rational organizational tools. Hence, the purpose of the paper is also to compare our own institutional explanation with the conventional.The paper finds that the occurrence of partnerships can be understood as the effect of an intensive institutional pressure. The government has, in what we regard as the institution for regional development, prescribed the partnership as a rational solution ? a rationalized myth - to the regional growth problem.

The veterans in Sweden is a group that is steadily growing, one of the reasons is the new employment agreement that requires the soldiers and officers to commit to Foreign Service. The Swedish Armed Forces have received critique from the government in their investigations concerning the Swedish veteran politics. Since then the Swedish government has introduced a new law that gives the Swedish Armed Forces an utmost responsibility concerning the veteran?s physical and mental health. The purpose of this study is to qualitatively investigate ?The Peace berets?, a non-government organization which have had, and is still having a cooperation with the Swedish Armed Forces as a result of the investigation conducted by the Swedish government.

The purpose of this master thesis is to use marketing theory on the library?s activities. The marketing theory used is the 4Ps; product, price, promotion and place, as it's presented by Philip Kotler. Because the library can be seen as a service oriented organization Christian Gronroos theory of marketing in the service industry also has been used. A case study of the public library in Broby was made to illustrate how the public libraries? activities can appear in the light of marketing theory.

The aim of the study was to investigate how a community motivates and ensures the implementation of its values and how this document affected personnel of meaning, vision and daily operations. The study was based on semi-structured interviews, in which nine respondents were interviewed in a city in southern Sweden. Interviews dealt with three different themes, all concerned organization or set of values. The analysis was based partly on how organizations and institutions build up and maintain their legitimacy. The analysis was also explained by the new institutional theory and its concepts isomorphism.