Background: Enterprises often refer to their employees as ?Our most valuable assets? in annual reports and other written statements. In reality, employees are seen as an expense rather than an asset in annual reports and the voluntary disclosure is often insufficient. Human capital disclosure has been discussed through decades and the latest topic in voluntary disclosure is called integrated reporting. Knowledge firms should disclose more about their employees than industrial companies due to the fact that the employees are a considerably more important asset to these types of enterprises.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to study the disclosure of human capital, compare the disclosures between knowledge firms and industrial companies, and study the development of the human capital disclosures between the years 2003-2013.

This thesis investigates the effect of profit growth and profitability on market capitalization amongst Nordic companies during the turbulent period 1997-2005. Our results suggest that profitability have a significant impact on market capitalization for six of the nine years studied, whereas profit growth does not seem to affect market capitalization. Consequently, our results imply that the effect of other factors on share price performance may be greater than previously suggested. These findings are only partly in line with theories on corporate valuation which suggest that market capitalizations are to a great extent driven by both profit growth and capital returns, regardless of whether the stock market is particularly unstable..

På aktiemarknaden skapas och förloras förmögenheter varje dag då investerare försöker förutspå marknadens upp och nedgångar. En av förutsättningarna för att skapa en förmögenhet inom aktiehandeln krävs bland annat en intuition för att förutspå och tolka marknaden, men allra viktigast är en bred kunskapsbas i kombination med tillgodosedd information från externa källor. Processen för hur kunskap hanteras och överförs inom en organisation kallas, Knowledge management eller kunskapshantering. Fungerar denna process bra så medför den flera fördelar inom organisationen; information behandlas snabbare, anställda kan fatta rätt beslut kvickare och kunskap behöver inte läras om på nytt. Vikten av att kunna fatta snabba beslut i osäkra och ständigt förändrande miljöer är något som starkt kan kännas igen på aktiemarknaden där ett snabbt beslut kan vara skillnaden på vinst och förlust.Syftet med denna rapport är att skapa förståelse för hur kunskapsutbytet sker inom Trading & Execution vid personalomsättning och upplärning på Capital Markets, Handelsbanken AB, Sverige.

The success of self-service technology in retail grocery stores cannot be ignored, and the fact is that every other grocery store in Sweden has implemented the self-scanning or self-checkout systems. The trend is that the technique is spreading into other markets with potential to increase productivity for companies and enhance the service for customers. Fast fashion is one branch that is left untouched by the development in payment processes, and despite the leading companies extensive focus on fast service, the concept of self-service technology has not yet been tested. This paper undertake a quantitative, experimental approach to the issue and examines the effect self-checkout would have on Fast fashion- customers. By presenting a scenario with and without self- checkout and afterwards asked about the respondents experience, we can provide the marketing world with new insights.

Detta arbete genomfördes under 10 veckor vårterminen 2009 på Bigso Box AB i Nybro,ett företag som tillverkar förvaringslösningar för hemmet och har stora kunder somIKEA.Bigso vill ha hjälp med att undersöka materialflödet och de lagernivåer företaget besitteri sin producerande fabrik i Litauen. Främsta målet med arbetet var att minskakapitalbindning i färdiga produkter samt på halvfabrikat i fabriken. Då Bigsos störstakund IKEA ställer extremt höga krav på leveranstider och företaget ibland hamnar eftermed ordrar önskar Bigso även att genom en större kontroll av materialflödet och genomatt hålla rätt lagernivåer även komma till rätta med detta problem..

Annual reports are by many considered to be companies primary way to inform their world where the CEO's words are read most carefully by shareholders. The purpose of this paper is to examine the design of the CEO's words in annual reports in light of the financial crisis in 2008. The study seeking explanations for change, similarities and differences in the various texts based on three themes which are results, future and confidence. In this qualitative study five CEO's words are explored by means of a discourse analysis, all from large Swedish industrial companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Some of the results shown is that the CEO tends to talk about the company's results in a self-serving manner and CEO speaks more aboutm the results before than after the crisis.

The commercial real estate market makes up a large part of Sweden's property portfolio, as well as other open, free markets in the real estate market it is regulated by supply and demand. There are several factors that affect the supply and demand in the commercial real estate market, for instance the price, type of real estate and the condition of the real estate. In order to achieve success in the commercial real estate market it requires that real estate agents have a certain expertise and flexibility in their thinking to adapt commercial real estates to supply and demand. Active investors on the commercial real estate market are for instance private real estate agents, their knowledge and experience will help increase the value of commercial real estate in the long run. In order to provide the market flexibility in its real estate portfolio, vacancy is a factor that can be used.

Background: Investors have several options to choose from when the goal is to achieve the highest yield at the lowest cost and risk. Stocks are a common investment options, but is also associated with risks. Portfolios are usually constructed with several different assets to reduce the unsystematic risk of investment. Funds are similar to composite stock portfolios, the big difference is that they dealt with in their entirety and investors may not affect the fund's content. The problem remains that whether you choose stocks or mutual funds there is still uncertainty as to how the future will unfold.

Society and technology develop together in interaction processes. Because of the development of information technology, the Industrial society has been left behind in favor of a society where information is the key production factor, i.e. the Information society. In the Information society, social functions and processes are organized in networks. These networks integrate geographically separate markets to parts of a complex global economic system.

Over the last decade, the private insurance market has undergone a stable growth in turnover and growing demand for insurance products in all Member States of the European Union. Therefore, the creation of a single market in insurance will enable consumers to have access to wider choice of insurance products, and insurance companies to gain access to markets in various Member States and compete effectively. The EU legal framework for the insurance industry embraces the Treaty freedoms of services, establishment and capital, the EC Directives and the ECJ case-law. The present thesis identifies numerous factors that hinder the Community insurance market integration and offers possible remedies. The summary of the market obstacles is all-inclusive and reflects the responses to the questionnaires and the Commission surveys.

Title: Predictions and explanation models for bankruptcy in stock-companies ? A study of three failed Swedish companies Author: Tim Svanberg Supervisor: Emil Numminen Department: School of Management, Blekinge Institute of technology Course: Bachelor?s thesis in business administration, 10 credits Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to find explanation for bankruptcy with the help of prediction models. The purpose is also to add explanation by using Behavioral analysis Method: Quantitative research of bankruptcies using financial prediction models and qualitative study of psychological pitfalls. The study is deductive. Results: I found that it is possible to explain the bankruptcies using the prediction models.

Syfte: Vårt syfte är, att genom att studera Apples historia, omvärld, bransch och strategiska val, analysera om och hur Apple använder hemlighetsmakeriet som grund för skapande av långsiktiga och varaktiga konkurrensfördelar. Metod: Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ metod med primärdata bestående av intervjuer med personer insatta i Apple och dess omvärld. Sekundärdatan består mestadels av artiklar från olikaelektroniska källor, facklitteratur och tidskrifter. Teoretiska perspektiv: Vi använder oss av teorier och begrepp som Porters Five Forces, Schumpeterian markets, Hyperkonkurrens, delar av Porters generiska strategier samt Barneys VRIO. Empiri: Vi har gjort en fallstudie av Apple med inslag av jämförelser med andra företag.

China is a unique market that differs from the Western market in many ways. Companies are not required to publicize financial reports, and furthermore a heavy focus on business relationship building can make it hard for companies to have high quality streams of data to get insights about their markets. For a consultant company to successfully enter the Chinese market and helping producing and technological global firms improving their insights on the Chinese market, the consultant company needs to understand which the important factors are and how those factors can help in creating value for their potential customers. To help the analyzing and consultant firm called Kairos Future, a qualitative case study was conducted on 16 different global companies with focus on industrial production. The case study was mainly conducted through face to face interviews with decision makers who had a broad understanding of their respective companies.

The beta value is frequently described in theory and is a well known factor to quantify the systematic risk in shares through the CAPM model. Initially, this study describes the advantages and difficulties with the estimating process and the problematic nature of the assumptions and descisons included in published beta values.An alternative method, Bottom-up beta, to estimate the beta value that probably has not been tested under Swedish circumstances is applied. The problems and decisions that have to be made to derive an alternative value are studied in detail through six separate steps. I have chosen nine companies at the Stockholm Stock Exchange where this method is used. The result showed that the systematic risk were higher at five shares and lower at four, compared to the published values.Finally there is a discussion about the practise, usefulness and opinions concerning how to estimate and interpret the beta value to determine the expected return..

The purpose of this thesis is to give an understanding of how grocery stores relate to local foods. Through a case study representatives for two groceries in Norrbotten have been interviewed regarding why they supply local foods, how they try to influence customers to buy this, and how they decide upon the assortment of local foods. The result shows that groceries supply local foods in order to supply a wide range of products and to mediate social responsibility, in order to create customer loyalty. Concerning how the groceries try to influence customers to buy local foods the result cannot give any clear-cut view. Instead it shows that a grocery that actively works to influence customers to buy local foods markets them in specific ways, while the opposite applies to a grocery that does not actively work for this.