Background: In the past 10 years private label has increased significantly in the Swedish grocery market. This is an important strategic event, which is a great challenge to suppliers as it causes stiff competition. To handle this situation an increasing number of suppliers have to make the decision whether to produce private label or not.Purpose: The purpose of this study is to find and analyse factors that influence suppliers in the Swedish grocery market to produce private label. On this basis we intend to confirm or develop existing theories within the field of study.Research method: The study has a qualitative approach where empirical data has been gathered through interviews with suppliers and retailers in the Swedish grocery market.Results: This study has identified factors that underlie suppliers? decision to produce private label.

Previous research has shown that the market reacts on stock recommendations. As the Internet has made financial information more available and cheaper to assess one could believe that the market reflects more available information today. If this is true the market will react less on recommendation made by journalists, which generally consists of processed public information. The stock market should thus be more efficient according to the efficient market hypothesis. This study examines initially if we can conclude that stock recommendations made by journalists generate returns above the expected returns, hence abnormal returns.

This report describes the bachelor degree project called ?A case study in strategic product design in collaboration with Elfa? carried out by Mathieu Gustafsson and Pär Rickberg,students at Carl Malmsten Furniture Studies.We had the opportunity to do our degree project in collaboration with ELFA after a previous school project where we made suggestions for new products. Initially the brief was to develop new products for the company which was based on previous proposals.Reasoning led us in to design strategies and how to use such a strategy to develop newproducts for ELFA. During our first superficial analysis of ELFA and its current products, we found that we wanted to recast the framework of identity and context in which the product would be created. According to the researches made by SVID (The Swedish Industrial Design Foundation),companies that continually are working with design strategies strengthens the brand, its competitiveness and become more innovative.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the companies on Nasdaq OMXS Large and Mid Cap to see if there are interesting patterns regarding their WACC assumptions, used when performing impairment tests on goodwill, during 2007-2009. If so, can we explain these patterns? MethodWe have gathered information about the WACC assumptions presented in the annual reports of the 133 companies that were listed on OMXS Large and Mid Cap during the spring of 2011. To complement this quantitative information we have also conducted an interview with Peter Malmqvist and contacted eight of the companies that were in the study.ConclusionWe can conclude that not all companies present their WACC assumptions in the annual report, even though IAS 36 states that this should be done. Of the 45 companies that were included in our study, eight had lowered their WACC during 2008 and increased it in 2009.

Uppsatsens titel: Förändringar på bilmarknaden ? Strategiska åtgärder ur återförsäljarnas perspektiv. Ämne: Företagsekonomi, strategic management, Business to BusinessFörfattare: Kristiansson Anders, Skiöld OlaHandledare: Holmberg Leif, Rudenstam Nils-GunnarNyckelord: Strategic management, synergieffekter, konkurrensfördelar, distributionssystem, IO ?teori, strategiska analyser Syfte: Analysera återförsäljarpektivet utifrån nya förutsättningar på bilmarknaden. Metod: I studien undersöker vi vad de nya så kallade gruppundantagen har haft för inverkan för personbilsåterförsäljarna ur strategisk synpunkt med fokus på det externa IO-synsättet.

Demands on businesses are constantly increasing and the competition in the market-place is becoming ever tougher. To gain the long-term confidence of customers, not only the best businesses, but also the best supply chains are required.Volvo Cars is experiencing a changing competitive situation and their retailers are having trouble stocking the right spare parts. Shorter product life cycles and the growth of Volvo?s product program result in an increase in the number of spare parts to be stocked. In order to adapt to market trends and meet customer demands, Volvo has developed the LDC model, establishing a number of regional warehouses in strategic locations in Sweden, de-signed to supply spare parts to the regions? retailers through so-called Vendor-Managed In-ventory (VMI).The purpose of the study is to examine Volvo personbilar Sverige?s (VPS) motivation for a modified customer-service strategy through LDC.

In past decades information technology has changed the conditions of organizations, not at least within the industry. Advanced IT systems have become a fact in order to cope with rapid changes in the market and to effectively manage an organization?s knowledge. When organizations became more flexible and customized expectations from customers and stakeholders also become higher. These expectations and guidelines are documented in a company?s management system, which can be designed differently depending on what standards the company chooses to implement.

The international requirement of Swedish healthcare today is high and due to a good reputation and a long history of reliable methods through extended experience. For those Swedish companies within this business, the process of internationalization is often a attractive option.This study aims to describe, analyze and translate how minor Swedish companies within the care keeping section establish their business on the international market.The study is based upon a qualitative approach and is an empirical study carried out through semi-structured interviews.The result presented in the study shows that internationalization of companies within this business does often require a lot of time and money, is based upon establishments through networks and were learning-by-doing often is used as a strategic approach for the companies penetrating a new market.The study also accounts for major entry barriers, which declares for being to some part of political nature, but mostly of cultural nature.Differences in language and culture are shown in the study to be a major entry barrier and host-countries different cultural levels are very conclusive for the success of internationalization. .

The purpose of this master thesis was to explore and develop prototypes for visualization of trade statistics in a market surveilance application. In such an anapplication a large amount of information is processed. This information is then summarized and presented to the market surveillance staff. The practical part of this thesis was done at Scila AB in Stockholm. Three prototypes were developed based on modern visualization methods.

Vi bedriver en branschspecifik undersökning av svenska styrelsers sammansättning, i fråga om åldersstruktur och styrelsemedlemmars övriga åtaganden, som syftar till att vinna ytterligare kunskap och insikter kring dessa faktorers möjliga inverkan på företagens framgång. Vi finner i våra resultat tydliga skillnader emellan de tre undersökta branscherna i fråga om styrelsemedlemmars medelålder och grad av övriga styrelseåtaganden och dessa faktorers påverkan på börsvärde respektive Market-to-Book-kvot. I flera fall finner vi emellertid tendenser och signifikanta värden vilka pekar på att det i vissa branscher kan vara fördelaktigt att föryngra styrelser. Vi finner även samband mellan styrelsemedlemmars grad av övriga åtaganden och främst företags Market-to-Book-kvoter. Här är dock tendensen tydlig att företag i en del branscher kan gynnas av att dess styrelsemedlemmar besitter flertalet övriga styrelseuppdrag, medan det för företag i andra branscher omvänt kan vara så att multipla styrelseuppdrag snarare är missgynnsamt i fråga om företagens framgång..

The great economic impact of startups on society has made these types of companies an increasingly popular subject for research. Though no single definition of the word startup currently exists, one could define it as a temporary organization in search of a scalable, repeatable, and profitable business model. Seen from a historic perspective, tech-startups in particular should be considered a new phenomenon and the topic is still relatively unexplored. This study investigates the structure in tech-startups during their first months of existence and compares it to the structure that prevails when the companies have recruited at least five additional employees. In addition, the study explains why these changes occur.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to study various views of sponsorship in relation to public libraries as found within three cultural policy documents. The main objective is to discover which ideas are considered relevant in the partnership between the Swedish retail chain, Åhléns, and the children?s public library, ?Room for Children? (Rum för Barn). In 2005, Åhléns provided SEK3.14 million in sponsorship to ?Room for Children? at Kulturhuset in Stockholm.

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att beskriva och analysera om en värdekedjetransformering som innebär att produktionen tidigareläggs medför att lönsamheten i företagsrestaurangbranschen förbättras. Vi vill dessutom diskutera de valda strategiteoriernas användbarhet för att genomföra en branschanalys. Metod: Vi använder i denna uppsats en kvalitativ metod där vi genomfört tio stycken semistrukturerade telefonintervjuer med respondenter vi funnit genom ett experturval. Ansatsen är deduktiv med vissa induktiva inslag och syftet är deskriptivt. Teoretiskt perspektiv: I branschanalysen använder vi tre strategiteorier; Five forces, Strategic Cost Management och SWOT ? analys.

Corporate governance intensified due to the corporate scandals in the USA which led to a new law the so called Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).In 2005 the "Svensk kod för bolagsstyrning" (The Code) was introduced. The main purpose of The Code is to strengthen the confidence in Swedish companies quoted on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. The Code focuses on the working process of boards. The rules set by The Code places higher demands on the board.  Among many other duties the board has to establish long term operational goals and strategy.

Today every organization is committed to some kind of environmental scanning in order to get necessary knowledge of the world around them. The acquisition, organization and storage of information in combination with a strategic use, is today an important factor for a successful organisation in any sector of our society.In this Master thesis I have studied how an organisation such as The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv) handles its information resources. I have also looked at the flow of information within the organization. The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise is Sweden?s largest business federation representing 50 member organizations and 55 000 member companies.