The Swedish market for vehicle inspection is re-regulated since June 2010. More than four years after the re-regulation there are eight companies in the market. Two of these companies are a result of the former monopolist's owners divided the business among themselves. The remaining six companies have entered the market through acquisitions or by building up their business from scratch, these are known as new entrants in the study. The competition has developed slowly and the former monopolist still has the highest market share.

The aim with this study is to investigate the market reactions to announcements of special dividends and redemptions in Sweden and thus if these announcements can signal information. This study is an event study, where the event is the day of the announcement of a suggestion regarding issuance of special dividends or redemptions. The abnormal returns were estimated for two samples with the market adjusted returns model, one including special dividend announcing firms and the other redemption announcing firms. The signalling hypothesis and the hypothesis of a tax induced clientele effect are the most important hypotheses for this study. The efficient market hypothesis is another theoretical base that may explain the market reactions to the studied announcements, especially the pre-announcement activities that may occur.

Denna studie grundar sig i ett uppdrag från Trafikverket med avsikten att undersöka hur enmångfaldsstrategi kan få ökad effekt i organisationen. Utgångspunkten för denna studie är attdet tycks krävas mer forskning kring hur HR strategiskt kan arbeta med mångfaldsfrågor ochintegrera dem i organisationens alla delar. Syftet med denna studie är således att identifiera hurHR strategiskt kan arbeta med mångfaldsfrågor. Vidare är syftet att visa hur ett strategiskamångfaldsarbete kan bli mer effektivt.Teorier som belyser begreppet mångfald, effekterna av mångfald, strategi, Human ResourceManagement och Strategic Human Resource management kan ses ligga till grund för ettframgångsrikt HRM-arbete med mångfald. Ledarskap, kommunikation, kunskap och att se tillorganisationskulturen belyser teorin som viktiga komponenter för att ett strategiskt arbete skabli mer effektivt och ge effekt i organisationen.Studien bygger på en deduktiv ansats och en kvalitativ metod har genomförts utifrån treindividuella intervjuer och två fokusgrupper.

Background and Problem discussion: Strategic evaluations are important as they providecrucial information regarding Swedish development assistance and recommendations on howto face problems and inadequacies found in the evaluations. Therefore, the follow up ofrecommendations is of great significance as well. Unfortunately, SIDA?s ManagementResponse system for follow-up of strategic evaluations has not been functioning in asatisfying way and needed actions have not been taken. Thus, Swedish developmentassistance has been criticised for the lack of implemented actions and the public has startedto question the work carried through by the organisations.

The thesis has two aims to first describe the phenomena by explaining how interim management works and what the charachteristics of an interim manger are. The second aim is to look at the value issue of interim management; What value does an interim manager provide to a company and how do interim managers try to capture and cultivate this?The qualitative method has been used. The interim management market analysed in this thesis can be stated to consist of three parts; the interim manager as a provider of knowledge, a client firm in need of a temporary manager, and an interim agency in between working as an intermediary/supplier. The characteristics of interim managers are; they are in general self-employers and rather generalists than specialists, meaning they are experienced and have great knowledge skills.

The aim of this study is to find and highlight the differences and similarities in the strategic communication in two real estate businesses with different proprietaries. In order to achieve the purpose, theories and previous research on public relations, strategic communication, mediatization, framing and new public management has been used. The study was conducted through interviews with two different organizations, Lerstenen who is based in Umeå, and Övikshem who is based in Örnsköldsvik. The analysis and results showed that the key difference between the firms was the spontaneity that influenced the private one, in contrast to the public firm that relied on solid structures to manage their communication. The results also showed that differences in basis conditions both allowed and hindered the possibilities with the communicative efforts that the two firms could do..

Starting in January 2007, capital adequacy of internationally active banks will be regulated by the new Basel Capital Accord, International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards ? a revised framework, [Basel II]. The framework introduces for the first time minimum capital requirements for operational risk and encourages market discipline of capital adequacy by initiating requirements for public disclosure of quantitative and qualitative information on operational risk exposure. This thesis examines the nature, definition, management and public disclosure of operational risk in Scandinavian banks based on regulations and recommendations presented in Basel II. We find that the models currently available for addition of operational risk to the capital requirement do not reflect actual operational risk exposure of banks.

AbstractTitle: Change of communication strategy when the compulsory nation membership falls (Byte av kommunikationsstrategi när nationsobligatoriet faller)Number of pages: 51 (58 including enclosures)Author: Elin RantakokkoTutor: Peder Hård af SegerstadCourse: Media and Communication Studies 30 hpPeriod: Spring of 2008University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala UniversityPurpose/Aim: This essay will result in some guidelines how the nations in Uppsala can act if the law according the compulsory membership in the student union and the student nations change. This essay focuses on how the nations can communicate to keep their members.Material/method: I have done seven interviews with persons that work in three different nations and the head of the Curators convent (the collaboration center between the nations), I have read articles from the largest newspapers and web pages. I have also read the Commission of Inquiry's recommendation according abolishing the law regarding the compulsory nation and student union membership. I have created two scenarios based on the material, according to Peter Schwartz advises.Main results: These scenarios show that the student nations have to become better at communicating with their new members and their already existing members.Keywords: Scenario planning, marketing, communication, student union, student nation, market segmentation, strategic communication, profile, organizations change..

Purpose: This study aims to examine the price transmission among ADRs (American Depositary Receipts) and their underlying shares, US market index and Hong Kong market index. We will attempt to capture how a shock in the home market is transmitted to the foreign (and vice versa). In addition we will attempt to assess the relative weight of each variable in the system generating unexpected variations of its own and other variables and at what speed the shocks are absorbed.Methodology: ADF unit root test, Johansen?s co-integration test, Granger causality test, VECM, impulse response, variance decomposition Empirical foundation: Five Chinese ADRs listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Each ADR represents a specific industry.

The purpose of this paper is to perform an in-depth analysis of how New Public Management reforms have impacted management practises in two publicly financed elderly care providers in Sweden. The paper studies one public and one private elderly care provider and analyses to what extent they have implemented New Public Management methods. The results are based on interviews with several persons within the two organisations and analysed using the seven New Public Management doctrines as described by Christopher Hood (1991; 1995). The major finding in the thesis is that the level of exposure towards New Public Management reforms differs between the two studied organisations where the private provider is exposed to the reforms to a greater extent than the public. The paper concludes that the main reasons for the low extent of exposure in the public provider could be attributed to the lack of measurable standards performance as well as the proximity to the political leadership..

A decision has been made that the Swedish and the Finnish Navy will expand their cooperation by creating the ?Swedish-Finnish Naval Task Group? (SFNTG).Based on Michael Codner?s theory of interoperability, this essay?s aim is to investigate if the Swedish and the Finnish currently are interoperable with each other, due to their military strategic concepts.According to Codner, similarities between the cooperating nation?s military strategic concepts are required in order to reach a high degree of interoperability. This essay will analyze and compare Sweden and Finland?s military strategic concepts, based on three categories; Global Projection, Territorial Defence and Combat Capability.The conclusion is that there are differences between the Swedish and the Finnish military strategic concepts in every category, of varying degrees. By looking at the results of this investigation, it is clear in what direction the two nations have to adapt their concepts to enable a high degree of interoperability for the future of the SFNTG..

Previous research has found an increased transmission of stock movements in Europe, partly caused by the establishment of institutions as the EU and the EMU. The purpose of this paper is to find the possible impact from the EU and the EMU concerning the evolution of international transmission of stock market movements, on four Scandinavian markets, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The research is based on primary data, existing theories and earlier studies regarding international transmission of stock market movements. The examined method is a VAR (Vector autoregressive model) including a 10x1 vector of variables. Furthermore the tests considered are correlation, granger-causality, variance decomposition and impulse response.

Over a long period of time, there has been a rich debate in the academic and financial world if active management can generate an excess return. Many experts say that the current active management strategies is nothing more than a money grab that produces large gains, for banks and investment firms, through high management fees while producing no excess value for the individuals buying their service. In short, an effective market makes it almost impossible for fund managers to produce value for their clients in the long run.No argument has only one side though, other experts say that active management has a role to play because not all investors are rational. This irrationality can lead to mispricing on financial assets in the marketplace and in turn lead to an ineffective market where active management can fill a much needed role. The purpose of this study is therefore to see if active management strategies can create a higher risk adjusted return, taking management fees into consideration, during times of high volatility when the uncertainty is at its peak.

There are different types of risk, examples include credit risk, liquidity risk and financial risk. In DeMarzo & Berk (2011, s. 293) is a study presented which is based on the yield of different types of financial assets between 1925 and 2009, the study show that a high risk gave substantially higher reward. With the study as a background, it is interesting to study practical risk management within participants of the financial markets of Sweden. In risk management there are several theories about whether risk can be calculated and analyzed with scientific methods in practice.

Background and Problem discussion: Strategic evaluations are important as they providecrucial information regarding Swedish development assistance and recommendations on howto face problems and inadequacies found in the evaluations. Therefore, the follow up ofrecommendations is of great significance as well. Unfortunately, SIDA?s ManagementResponse system for follow-up of strategic evaluations has not been functioning in asatisfying way and needed actions have not been taken. Thus, Swedish developmentassistance has been criticised for the lack of implemented actions and the public has startedto question the work carried through by the organisations.