During the past year it has been made possible to buy back a company?s outstanding stock. This is done in order to change the capital structure towards a situation with less equity. A change in capital structure means a change in the cost of capital for a company and by that a change in the value for the stockholder. This Master Thesis studies the relation between capital structure and business risk.

This paper investigates the internal product costing system in one of the Swedish banks with the purpose to evaluate the quality of its product costs and possible implications on decision making. The study shows that the current system distorts product costs by, among other things, using relative allocation of costs and time and by allocating all costs to individual units of products. We therefore propose an alternative product costing system, which mainly draws on ABC theory but is also adapted to the specific needs of service companies and of the Bank. This proposal is intended as a solution in this particular case and not to be generalized in other contexts. We hope however to add to the understanding of why more complex costing systems, such as the ones based on ABC theory are, according to previous studies, not widely used in practice.

Bakgrund: Den svenska teaterscenen befinner sig i vad som tycks vara en ständig ekonomisk kris. De offentliga medlen räcker inte längre till, vilket har fått till följd att teaterinstitutionerna har blivit tvungna att söka sig nya inkomstkällor. Kultursponsring är en alternativ finansieringsform som har blivit allt vanligare. Vi vill undersöka kultursponsringens möjligheter för svensk teater. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka möjligheterna att gå bortom den traditionella definitionen av kultursponsring för att skapa ett helhetsperspektiv på utbyten mellan teater och näringsliv.

In Sweden, the demand for bio energy has increased in recent years due to the current energy and climate debate. In 2008, the energy supply of Sweden was 612 TWh, biofuels accounted for 123 TWh of these. Stumps have been highlighted as a potential fuel in recent years and the Swedish Forest Agency expects a technically and biologically feasible potential of 20.7 TWh annually between 2010 and 2019. The idea of utilize stumps is not new. During the 19th century stumps were used for tar production and during the 70?s and 80?s attempts were made to use stumps in the pulp industry.

The background for my thesis is the fact that with rising electricity and oil prices it becomes interesting to calculate on alternative heating systems. I have chosen to calculate upon my parents? farm, which today heats the dwelling house with wood. This is very time-consuming work, time which could be spent on other work. The main objective for this study is to compare three different heating systems to decide how they differ considering effort and cost. The result from the calculations was that grain-heating system demanded the least amount of work, but the total cost was a little higher compared to chips heating. Chips heating required half as much work as today?s wood heating and had a little lower total costs compared with the corn heating. Which system to choose largely depends on how the own work is valued.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att ytreda huruvida det existerar en semestereffekt på den svenska aktiemarknaden. Författarna har studerat Stockholmsbörsen via Affärsvärldens generalindex med perioden 1990-2005 som grund. Via en referensperiod har det påvisats att denna effekt tycks ha uppkommit under de senaste 20 åren. Anledningarna till detta tros främst bero på ett tilltagande intresse för aktiehandel och den påtagligt förbättrade infrastrukturen kring denna..

The main goal with this thesis report was to come up with ideas of how to make the use of energy more effective and thus save money for the company.First a survey was made to find out where and how the energy consumers were divided within the company. The results were then used in calculations to find out how much money that could be saved and how long it would take to get back the investments.There is a big potential in saving money by recovering heat from the UV-lamps with a heat exchanger. It would also even out the pressure in the factory which is a source to heat loss and a cause for discomfort amongst the employees. It?s possible to save 105 000 kr in a year and the money needed for the investments is 600 000 kr.By using the recovery air more effectively the company could save up to 250 000 kr a year in lowered heat purchases, but this would require the use of automatic dampers.If you reschedule the running times for the wood chipper and invest in some kind of load management, for example Sydkraft?s ?Energidirigent? you can save at least 42 000 kr.

The main purpose of this Master Thesis has been to evaluate whether active fund management is profitable on Emerging Markets. The material used to examine this consists of 106 actively managed funds, with varying length during the period 1988-2006 and who uses MSCI Emerging Markets (MSCI EM) as benchmark index. The thesis has been written under the supervision of the Asset Management Department of Länsförsäkringar AB (LFAB) and the Department of Production Economics, Linköping Institute of Technology. Apart from the main purpose, the methodology used is also meant to form a template for in-depth or similar studies, preferably by the assigner of this survey, LFAB.The results shows that the median manager underperforms the MSCI EM throughout the whole period, which leads to the conclusion is that active management on Emerging Markets is not profitable. A grouping of the funds based on tracking error still shows that a majority of the managers in all of the groups underperforms against the benchmark.

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.

Antalet flygresor har ökat markant i världen de senaste decennierna. Detta har medfört en ökning av flygets koldioxidutsläpp som därmed har gett en ökad påverkan på klimatet. Forskning angående människors syn på och uppfattning om flyget är relativt ny och forskning rörande ämnet är mer förekommande idag än för ett decennium sedan. Tidigare undersökningar är dock i stort sett eniga om att människor, både miljömedvetna och icke-miljömedvetna personer, inte tänker ändra på sina flygvanor och flyga mindre på grund av flygets klimatpåverkan. Denna studie undersöker klimatengagerade personers flygvanor och vad de har för syn på flyget och flygets påverkan på klimatet.

The increase of complexity in embedded programming is forcing the development of higher level programminglanguages. These languages not only consist of traditional text based programming but also with graphical programminglanguages such as the programming language G from LabVIEW which is developed by National Instruments and havebeen around since the mid eighties. However since 2004 this language has also been able to program embeddedhardware, using the modules LabVIEW SDK and LabVIEW for ARM. This thesis shows how LabVIEW for ARM converts itsgraphical language G to C and then how C is flashed into the microprocessor. The thesis also takes up the pros and consof using G for embedded development.

Det finns flera olika möjligheter till prissättning. Det finns inte en enda teoretiskt korrekt eller allmänt accepterad metod. Vad är anledningen till att använda olika prissättningsmetoder och vilken metod är vanligast hos företag? Har det skett förändringar över tiden när det gäller val av prismetod? Det finns även olika motiv till att införa internprissättning i ett företag. Vad anser ekonomer, på företag verksamma i Sverige, vara det viktigaste motivet? Lyckas internprissystemet oftast uppfylla sitt syfte eller vilka negativa effekter kan uppstå?Syftet med uppsatsen är att beskriva och analysera företags internprissystem samt att diskutera dels motiv till att införa internpriser och dels åtgärder för att undvika negativa effekter.

Det finns flera olika möjligheter till prissättning. Det finns inte en enda teoretiskt korrekt eller allmänt accepterad metod. Vad är anledningen till att använda olika prissättningsmetoder och vilken metod är vanligast hos företag? Har det skett förändringar över tiden när det gäller val av prismetod? Det finns även olika motiv till att införa internprissättning i ett företag. Vad anser ekonomer, på företag verksamma i Sverige, vara det viktigaste motivet? Lyckas internprissystemet oftast uppfylla sitt syfte eller vilka negativa effekter kan uppstå?Syftet med uppsatsen är att beskriva och analysera företags internprissystem samt att diskutera dels motiv till att införa internpriser och dels åtgärder för att undvika negativa effekter.

This master thesis is an in-depth study of an existing heating system at a household cooperative in Uppsala that has been converted from district heating to a bedrock heat pump system. The study focuses on an economical system optimisation of the building?s complete heating system. The aim was to determine how well a heat pump system in large buildings actually work, find out possible ways to optimize the existing system and point out important system parameters for new heat pump installations in larger buildings.The project points out a possible energy cost reduction of 45 % without investment and further cost reductions with equipment investments. A reduction by 30 % is possible by improvements in the regulation system and 15 % is possible by maintaining the brine system.

The purpose of this study is to examine possible teaching effects in the subject home economics at a school. The study has included one question, which aims to identify if there are any differences in the knowledge between boys and girls in the subject.The theoretical survey is discussing the subject diet and health in school and is emphasising on the different parts that are included in the subject home economics. Further, a historical point of view is given on the development of the subject, and also on Swedish research concerning health and diet.A questionnaire with fixed and open answering options has been constructed and handed out to two different groups of students. One of the groups are students in year 7, who have not yet had education in the subject, the other group are students in year 8 who have had education in the subject. The results show that the effects of education are different between groups that have been educated in the subject and groups that haven?t had any education.