This study explores whether environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues affect the monetary value of a company.The samples used in this study have been taken from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in South Africa. Since 2010, JSE have been categorizing companies using the King Code III criteria to establish a Socially Responsible Investment index (SRI index). Companies that fulfill the required number of criteria are classified as 'best performers' using the SRI index.  In this study the monetary value of a random sample of 'best performers' has been compared to the monetary value of a random sample of companies without an SRI index evaluation.This study found that companies without a SRI index have a higher unique risk, which means a lower stock price with a higher dividend yield. Companies with an SRI index evaluation have a lower unique risk, which means a higher stock price and lower dividend yield. In conclusion, this study shows that SRI adjusted companies have an enhanced monetary value in comparison to non- SRI adjusted companies..

Purpose: The study examines the risk a rising from the acquisition of shares, and its relation to the expected return. We would like to see how a high-risk portfolio is related to a low-risk portfolio. Although studying the portfolios annual performance.Theory: The theories that have been used in the study are, Capital asset pricing model, CAPM and portfolio theory.Method: The study is based on a quantitative method, the time interval is from 2008 to 2010.The annual reports, historical stock prices for companies and the index are used to perform calculations based on the essay theories.Conclusion: The beta value has positive liner correlation with the expected return. When there are bad times in the world, the companies are negatively affected regardless of industry. The Portfolios developed in the same direction during the time period..

With the introduction of IFRS, the IASB left the previously used method of amortization and instead introduced fair value. Studies show that firms manipulate the value of goodwill based on agency related incentives and opportunities, such as bonus payment, management tenure and acquisition of firms. The responsibility of checking the quality of financial reports, and give other market participants reasons to trust them, is primarily on accountants. The transition to fair value thus creates a problem for accountants to actually check the fair values produces by firms. Our purpose is to investigate whether the working method of accountants is purposeful in order to maintain the credibility of goodwill values.

From a historical perspective, Sweden is a classic example of a social democratic state in view ofits early development of labor movements, democracy and focus on the welfare state. Today, as amember state of the EU, Sweden has however come to be influenced by America?s neoliberalpolities, where companies need to deliver more and better products/services while the consumerawareness and sensitivity has increased about company?s way to invest. Research shows thatScandinavian companies, primarily in Denmark and Sweden, has a leading position when it comesto responsible corporate behavior which has been the reason to our choice of studying howSwedish companies do to achieve success in CSR. To carry out this study, we have usedqualitative analysis, using semi-structures to interview companies in different industry sectors.

The Methodology used to gather empirical materials for this thesis has been different types of interviews. The interviews have been mainly unstructured personal interviews directly with our respondents, due to limiting factors some of the interviews have been carried out via phone or email. The theoretical framework consists of literature from well-recognised authors and is divided into four different parts: Insourcing & Outsourcing, Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management, China & Intercultural understanding. The empirical foundation has been gathered from a great variety of different sources in an attempt to cover the many complex angels in which this subject can be looked upon. Chinese students, managers in international companies with experience from China, Chinese employees in Swedish companies and different people with good knowledge of different areas of China are all among our respondents. In our conclusion we have reached the three following conclusions for why one should start a “bridge building” enterprise in between qualified Chinese human capital and Swedish structure capital: 1. To fill future shortage of qualified human capital in Sweden. 2.

Agencies towards Sustainable Development ? A Study of Environmental Management Systems in Governmental Agencies 2005A vision of the Swedish government is to build an ecologically sustainable society. A tool in this effort is to implement environmental management systems (EMS). The aim of the thesis is to present in which phase of the implementation of EMS Swedish governmental agencies are. This will be done by compilation and evaluation of agencies? yearly environmental reports.The thesis is written in co-operation with the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Swedish EPA).

De flesta politiska riktlinjer har idag en hållbar samhällsutveckling som övergripande och gemensam nationell ambition. Det innebär att uppsatta mål för ekologisk, ekonomisk och social hållbarhet ska nås i samverkan mellan aktörer från olika sektorer och på olika beslutsnivåer. Att förstå vad det innebär på lokal och regional nivå, och hur man kan nå de målen, är inte så enkelt. Syftet med denna studie är att skapa ett underlag som kan användas i arbetet med hållbar landsbygdsutveckling, inom den informella regionen Bergslagen i Sverige. Hinder och möjligheter för hållbar landsbygdsutveckling har analyserats genom att arrangera fokusgruppdiskussioner med olika intressegrupper i samhället.

The argument whether women should drink alcohol during pregnancy, has been debated for centuries. Women's drinking behaviour throughout the ages is not a static phenomenon but has changed in compliance with the customs of the time. The purpose of this study was not to evaluate if alcohol damages the unborn child, but rather to explore how women, who have just given birth and hence have become mothers, looked at alcohol in relation to pregnancy and motherhood. To accomplish this we have used a qualitative method with a semi-structured interview guide. What has turned out to be central to our conclusions is the fact that though, in today's society, there is access to newly produced science reports concerning alcohol in connection to injuries to the foetus, it is our belief that the demands and expectations directed on the mother are dominant in this matter..

The intent with this paper is to investigate the medieval habitation in central Old Uppsala. This time-period has over the years been neglected. Therefore I wish to summarize and ana-lyze the medieval habitation to see what can be said about its continuity, and also to investi-gate why it is located in certain areas.Due to the amount of source material I have limited my investigation area to the central Old Uppsala. It is possible that this limitation will affect the result of the research but without the limitations the investigation area would have been too large to handle.The source material has been collected from excavation reports and the summarized. My theory is material culture and material agency.

Purpose: The study examines the risk a rising from the acquisition of shares, and its relation to the expected return. We would like to see how a high-risk portfolio is related to a low-risk portfolio. Although studying the portfolios annual performance.Theory: The theories that have been used in the study are, Capital asset pricing model, CAPM and portfolio theory.Method: The study is based on a quantitative method, the time interval is from 2008 to 2010.The annual reports, historical stock prices for companies and the index are used to perform calculations based on the essay theories.Conclusion: The beta value has positive liner correlation with the expected return. When there are bad times in the world, the companies are negatively affected regardless of industry. The Portfolios developed in the same direction during the time period..

Denna studie unders?ker den upplevda tryggheten hos kvinnor vid Fr?lunda Torgs sp?rvagnsh?llplats i G?teborg och identifierar en rad olika faktorer i den fysiska milj?n som p?verkar deras upplevelse. Med en feministiskt geografisk infallsvinkel och teoretiska ramar som inkluderar Broken Window-teorin, CPTED syftar studien till att bidra till en ?kad f?rst?else f?r hur Fr?lunda Torgs sp?rvagnsh?llplats uppfattas och kan utformas fr?n kvinnornas perspektiv. Genom semistrukturerade intervjuer, analyserar studien kvinnors upplevelser av trygghet och otrygghet vid sp?rvagnsh?llplatsen Fr?lunda Torg.

The purpose of this report is to analyze the advantages of using programme software to monitor masshauling instead of using the conventional method. A comparsion between different programs will also be conducted in an attempt to determine the most affordable. This report is written for NCC Construction AB to help them choose a software most fitting for future projects.The report is based upon literature such as information taken from the developers website, existing reports with similar context, interviews with sellers of the software and interviews with people working in the building sector.The result of this report shows that there are several advantages with investing in a software that helps the management of a project and that it is something that should be taken under consideration instead of the existing method. Topcon is a clear favorite following the inquiries comparisons as done, when they deliver a complete system and not only a supplement to the current approach. Scanlaser are just in the beginning of its development, and is so far only out with an early version of the software, while Topcon has been brought further in development and therefore has more features in the program.

The following essay investigates emission rights accounting. Presently there are several methods through which emission rights can be accounted for by companies. The rights can for instance be valued at fair value or nominal value and as marketable securities or intangible assets; due to a lack of consensus or clear standards companies use these or other accounting methods to value their rights. This essay investigates whether there is a relationship between the company?s choice of accounting method, the key ratio number of owned emission rights/total assets, the accounting firm used and the yearly result as a sign of earnings management.Through a quantitative study based on questioners and numbers from the annual reports three hypothesis are tested.

Detta kandidatarbete undersöker problemet med konvergeringen av narrativ och interaktion och varför en konvergering mellan dessa hämmar deltagarens inlevelse i ett spel. Utifrån spelet Traverser redovisas i detta kandidatarbete processen och resultatet av hur ett interaktivt narrativ kan väcka inlevelse hos deltagaren genom att låta berättandet ske subtilt och icke-linjärt, där spelaren uppmanas till att vilja utforska narrativet på egen hand i form av en miljö i Traverser. This bachelor?s thesis discusses the problem of converging narrative and interaction and why the convergence between the two tends to arrest the participants immersion within a game. Through an interactive narrative by letting the narration take place subtly and nonlinearly, this bachelor?s thesis reports the process and result of how an interactive narrative could provoke immersion within the game Traverser, where the actor is urged to explore the narrative independently in the shape of an environment..

In this report a study is carried out with the aim to identify added values of EPC projects implemented in schools in order to increase the interest of EPC projects on the market. The report examines how the planned maintenance, supervision, maintenance and corrective maintenance is affected, how insurance premiums and terms are affected, the indoor environment and how the tasks of the operating staff is changing. A literature study of energy savings, energy use in schools, maintenance and insurance as well as how energy efficiency improvements are related to the Swedish environmental objectives has been made. Visits were carried out in Ludvika, interviews were also carried out with operation technicians and local strategists in Ludvika as well as employees of insurance companies.Schools often have neglected maintenance and problems with ventilation and indoor environment. Schools also have a large energy saving potential due to their low utilization, mainly because they are empty parts of the year.