Background:Life-cycle costing (LCC) is an investment calculation that takes intoaccount operating costs throughout the investee lifecycle. LCC calculations are mainly usedto evaluate investments that have no revenue side. Attempts to apply the LCC calculations forbuilding-related investments have occurred since the 1980s. Despite the advantages ofusing LCC calculations, use has not passed through in full. The main obstacles have beenidentified as a lack of relevant input data, and insufficient experience of workingwith LCC calculations.

This thesis examines underpricing and the long run performance of IPO firms on the Swedish equity market during 1994-2010. We further investigate whether any correlation exist between underpricing and post-IPO performance during 36 months. We use a sample of 80 IPO firms. To examine the aftermarket performance we compare total return of each firm with a matching industry index. In order to strengthen our analysis, we run a second test, comparing actual return for each firm with expected return, adjusted for firm specific risk.

Internet dating is a relatively new phenomenon that, in using the opportunities of the internet, has taken traditional dating to a new level. The business idea is simple as such. The company provides its customers with a platform that enables interaction, leaving the value creation to the customers. A qualitative study is conducted investigating and mapping the Swedish market for Internet dating. It is researched what the characteristics of the companies are, what the Internet dating businesses in Sweden offer, what the prevailing market conditions are, and lastly what challenges lie ahead for the industry and how they can be solved.

The authors have during the spring semester 2011 studied the subject destination development during a political crisis, focusing on Tunisia. At the beginning of 2011 the country was in an uncertain political situation when the revolution of the Tunisian people occurred. This created massive demonstrations on the streets, and resulted in the current government's resignation. More effects of the revolution has been seen in a drastic decline of inbound tourists in the country, which in turn affected the country's population and economy. From this point on Tunisia as a destination needs to recover to once again become attractive to tourists.

Benchmarking is an established method of working which is often used in order to develop the quality of the organization. However, almost 70% of the organizations with benchmarking fail due to the lack of planning and structuring of the benchmarking exercise. Maintenance sections in the paper and pulp industry are one of those who have decided to conduct benchmarking. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to gain knowledge of how the maintenance sections in the paper and pulp industry deliberately structure and plan to use benchmarking as a driving force for quality development in the maintenance sections.The study is a hermeneutic case study. Telephone interviews and document analysis have been used as data acquisition methods.The results show that there is a lack of both planning and structuring in the benchmarking process, and lack of management commitment for quality improvements within industrial maintenance.

The topic of our thesis is Packaging Design as a Brand Building Tool and we are presenting the Scandinavian perspective. We found the topic interesting because, from a theoretical point of view, we identified a scarcity in research focusing on packaging design as a brand management tool, and from a practical point of view, we found out that businesses use packaging design at different levels in their communication efforts. Thus we wanted to provide both academia and business world with a clear picture to what extent and how businesses use packaging design in their brand-building process. Therefore the aim of our thesis is to provide practitioners and academicians alike with a better understanding of how packaging design can be used to create strong brands in the FMCG sector in the Scandinavian market. To reach the stated aim first we provided a solid theoretical background of packaging, its elements and its role in the marketing mix.

Introduction:By insight in the company and by monitoring the management, the board has an important function in creating trust in governance of the company. Furthermore, the board reduces the asymmetry of information between the owners and the management, which also is the function of the auditor, by auditing how the board governs the company and the accounting. In case the board does not effectively monitor the management, the auditor has to extend its monitoring, which increases the owners agency costs through the audit fee. The board composition can affect how effectively the board practices the monitoringProblem: How is the audit fee affected by the board composition?Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain how the board composition affects the audit fee.Method: The study uses a quantitative method, where the data was collected from the annual reports of 112 limited companies listed on the NASDAQ OMX Large and Mid Cap lists on January 2, 2012.

Background: The recent years in the Swedish Fast Moving Consumer Goods industry have been characterized by a palpable shift in power balance, favouring the retailers. Since the shift in power balance has strengthened the negotiation position of the retailers, the suppliers now have to, to a greater extent than before, accommodate to the retailers? goals, whether they be financial or strategic. Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate how this recent power shift has affected the relationships of suppliers and retailers. This development has resulted in the rather new and unexplored area of retailer value, which this study further aimed to explore.

The construction industry has not undergone the same logistical development as the manufacturing industry; this, in combination with increased material price, leads to the fact that the construction industry must be improved. This master thesis is a part of the research cooperation Brains & Bricks goal of reducing production costs for the construction sector by 25 percent. Brains & Bricks is a cooperation between Linköping University, Peab and Katrineholms municipality. The master thesis aims to identify improvements in the flow of material, the Supply chain operation reference, SCOR, model has been used and the work has been carried out on one of Peab?s construction sites. At present the business is characterized by bad communication both between the construction site and the office as well as between the construction site and suppliers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there is a difference between the respondent groups preparers and non-preparers position in IASBs question if a reversal of previously impaired goodwill should be prohibited. The background is an exposure draft sent out by the IASB and we examine the answers, in form of comment letters, sent in by the respondents to reach our purpose. Our method is positivistic in the sense that we study already existing theories when we create our hypothesis which gives our assumption about how the result of the respondent?s answers will be. Our data, which we have collected from the comment letters, is qualitative secondary data.

Summary Title: How to make decisions on software based servicedevelopment in the mobile handset industry.?The Rapid Model for Holistic Application Evaluation Authors: Per-Inge AnderssonPatrik Dreveborn Tutors: Björn Regnell, Department of Computer Science,Lund UniversityRobert Wenglén, School of Economics and Management,Lund University Problem formulation: Academically the questions of finding out what constitutes a sound decision base and finding out how to handle the issue of a holistic approach must be addressed in order to make a well balanced and relevant decision model. The core question is which decision criteria to include and which drivers are important in estimating the status of the criteria? Practically to provide Sony Ericsson with a formalized evaluation process for decisions on software development that is transparent, objective and challengeable. Purpose: Academically to contribute to the field of decision making research by elaborating on how to make a holistic, rapid and rational decision model.

Outsourcing has grown more so than any other sector of IT services. According to a research by the analytic company Gartner soon four of ten jobs in the IT sector will be outsourced. For a nation like Sweden that means about 40,000 jobs going abroad. Business managers look to outsourcing as a means of reducing their operating cost and their need for capital spending. Companies turn to outsourcing to save money and seek expertise outside.

Services, no matter if they are established on the market or not, are often problematic since they are difficult to define for the customer. An example of such services is an real estate agent offers his or her service when it comes to all types of real estate. The purpose of the intermediation is to sell a costumers real estate to a buyer and act arbitrator between the two parties, this means that good communication is very important. To pin down what the service is all about and to know how to communicate is essential. When it comes to land and forest holding a special need of knowledge and experience is needed to be able to act professionally.

AbstractStudent democracy as an objective and as a meansEssay in Political Science, D-levelAuthor: Erik LisshammarTutor: Susan MartonDespite attitudes towards student democracy being generally positive, students have almost no influence over their position. This implementation study looks into whether or not students? weak position of power results from something other than a democratising of schools taking priority when student influence is encouraged.With an aim of explaining what is hoped to be achieved and if these intentions are to be spread, the purpose is to investigate to what extent standards concerning student democracy are transferred between institutions. In order to find out, the question is posed of whether their aims for student democracy conform. This overriding question is coupled together with the following four defining research questions:1.