Managing credit risk might be the single most important business area for any commercial bank. The assessment of "good" and "bad" corporate clients is a important task for a creditor. A bad debtor is a corporate client with hardships in meeting the continous claims (interest payments) that a creditor requires. One way of evaluating or separating a "bad" client from a "good" client is to assess the propensity for the client to file for bankruptcy. This thesis examines 226 firms in the Swedsh market in the quest of predicting corporate bankruptcy.

The intention of this thesis in political science is to understand how the European Union fights and prevents discrimination against the Roma minorities in Sweden and Romania, and how the implementation works in reality. The study consists of defining what it means to be objectively discriminated, what ethnicity really means and how the implementation process consist of a comparison and statement has been made by the national governments and comparing how two socioeconomically different member states handle EU directives and implement them in Sweden and Romania. The main findings of this study was that EU policies lack the capital and explicitness that is needed for great results to be accomplished and that the governments in both countries have different issues with implementing the protection of the human rights and Roma culture, and that EU needs to be more practical and develop in a faster pace. .

This thesis deals with two types of agrarian remains in relation to settlement remains; clearance cairns, low stone walls and house terraces in the area of Northeastern Uppland and the area north of Lake Mälaren, during the middle Iron Age. The aim whit this thesis is trying to get a better understanding of the relation between agrarian and settlement remains in Uppland. Three places have been chosen where these three elements are present and they are interpreted through Richard Whites concept of middle ground but also Landesque capital. The three elements have shown to be expressed in different ways in all three sites. It is possible to see two areas with different traditions, but also to see two areas that closely interact with each other, this opens up for a new discussion around agrarian remains in both areas.

The aim of this thesis is to accomplish an understanding on how librarians experience their professional role at private companies. The study is based on qualitative interviews with persons who have a degree in Library and Information science, but does not work as an ordinary librarian. To answer why the respondents work at private companies, this thesis dwells on how the education in library and information science prepares their students to face an alternative career; why the respondents wants to work at private firms instead of a library; if the salary is a key factor in order to choose a career; if the respondents think the companies appreciate their qualifications, and finally, if the respondents think they intrude on other professions' territory? Working at a private company, with a degree in library- and information science, is not, according to the respondents, easy. Although appreciated by their knowledge in the field of information, the interviewees think that the title librarian is hard to cope with.

From January 1st 2011 the use of Eurocode will be mandatory for all constructionprojects. Eurocode is the common European set of struc-tural design codes which willreplace BKR (Boverkets Kon-struktionsregler). BKR is the Swedish set of structuraldesign codes that was used up until December 31 2010. For consulting firms this willcre-ate a need for them to invest in the standards and in education for thecoworkers. This will involve both time and costs for the company.The purpose and aim of this master thesis is the development of compute examplesand calculations aid by dimensioning with Euro-code.

This thesis investigates the effect of profit growth and profitability on market capitalization amongst Nordic companies during the turbulent period 1997-2005. Our results suggest that profitability have a significant impact on market capitalization for six of the nine years studied, whereas profit growth does not seem to affect market capitalization. Consequently, our results imply that the effect of other factors on share price performance may be greater than previously suggested. These findings are only partly in line with theories on corporate valuation which suggest that market capitalizations are to a great extent driven by both profit growth and capital returns, regardless of whether the stock market is particularly unstable..

The most dominating type of company in Sweden is the small-sized business and it usually lacks its own marketing department. The purpose of this paper was to analyze several small Swedish businesses which are specialized in different sectors of the Mechanic/Technology industry but they are similar in terms of having niched products and they are leading companies in the world. The objective was to do research about how small businesses work with marketing despite its lack of resources and capital.This survey has shown that customer contacts, customer relationships and especially for those investigated companies, it was very important to focus on globalization and product development in order to build a Point of Difference..

The implementation of IFRS 2 led to significant changes in the accounting practices for corporations regarding stock related compensation. The new regulations required firms to account for the stock based compensation as an expense in the financial statements, rather than merely disclosing the information in the notes section to the statements. Following prior research on the area; specifically studies made in the U.S., where researchers find that companies change their use of stock based compensation due to the increased accounted expenses, this study hypothesizes that the same pattern may be found among companies listed on the Swedish stock market. The results of this study show that the use of option incentives has decreased during the studied period 2001-2008 and that the decrease in part can be derived from IFRS 2 and in part from other factors. The results are useful to future research, as they provide an overview of the effects that IFRS 2 had on companies, and various factors that influence the behavior of corporations, as well as in a larger perspective be a factor to take into account for future modifications of the IFRS..

This study examines the effects of credit risk and information disclosure in the new bank regulating system Basel II on bank and bank customer. The effects are then discussed in a perspective of the economic man and information asymmetric theories. Furthermore is the Basel II effects on the capital adequacy of Andelsbanken för Åland examined.The approach of the study is qualitative and several interviews with individuals on different levels of the examined bank, Andelsbanken för Åland, have been carried out during the collecting of empirical facts about the effects of the regulating change from the Basel I system to Basel II.The research findings are as follows:Andelsbanken för Åland have increased its capital adequacy ratio from 12,7 percent to 14,4 percent, mostly due to lower risk weights on housing mortgages compared to Basel I. Andelsbanken för Åland have started to use a completely new credit risk and customer assessment system which classifies every customer and gives them a credit rating. The system cause a much heavier information gathering of the customers profile as well as a much better assessment of risk than the previous system, which the bank finds positive.

In this degree project I write about how the farmers who grows carrots in Sweden get influenced by different rules, investments and demands. The Swedish agriculture are heading towards a harder time, and then you have to find new things to do. Now its hardly no profit to grow grain so you have find other crops. This paper is not a comparison between the contract cultivation to Findus and the cultivation where the farmer maked his products by a own company on the farm. If you have a small processing company on the farm, you have to increase the standard with different certificate. The farmer binds a lot of capital in machines, both field and in the process.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the development of the use of private securitycontractors in Iraq. The reason is that there has been a considerable increase of the number ofprivate security firms operating in Iraq during the last couple of years. The legislation in thefield of private military and security is indistinct and my hypothesis is that the lack of nationaland/or international legislation can be connected to the increased globalization. To come toany conclusions about this I have chosen to make a comparative study between the two casesthe Gulf War and the War in Iraq which started in 2003. In this comparison, I ask thefollowing questions: 1) Are there any signs of anarchy in the field of private security duringthe Gulf War respectively the last War in Iraq? 2) In what way has the use of private securitycontractors changed from Case 1 to Case 2 ?According to my research, there were signs of anarchy in the field of private security bothduring the Gulf War and during the latest war in Iraq.

Recent studies show that manufacturing companies to a larger extent use historical cost accounting in their internal accounts, at the expense of calculated costs. The explanation behind this is claimed to be that firms are subject to careful scrutiny by the stock market. Consequently, top management stresses the need of evaluating all parts of the firm from external accounting. However, lower management levels express a general concern that the incentive to invest in machines will decrease. This master thesis aims to investigate whether or not there is an objective reason behind this concern.

Service Design is a relatively new, unexplored and exciting phenomenon that through an interdisciplinary work methodology designs services. A discussion has been going on for a long time regarding whether there is a difference between products and services. Services are often classified as immaterial, heterogeneous, non-storable and inseparable in relation to products. A question that arises is if something specific characterises the work methodology used regarding service design. The aim with this paper is thus to explain the work methodology when working with service design.

Sweden has had statutory audit, which also includes a management audit, for all companies since 1988. A legislative proposal now suggests that the statutory audit shall be abolished for all small and medium sized companies starting on July 1, 2010. The aim for this master?s thesis is therefore to study how the service of auditing will be affected by the legislative proposal. To answer the research question the authors have taken on a qualitative approach and fifteen interviews with representatives for different Swedish auditing firms have been completed.

Service Design is a relatively new, unexplored and exciting phenomenon that through an interdisciplinary work methodology designs services. A discussion has been going on for a long time regarding whether there is a difference between products and services. Services are often classified as immaterial, heterogeneous, non-storable and inseparable in relation to products. A question that arises is if something specific characterises the work methodology used regarding service design. The aim with this paper is thus to explain the work methodology when working with service design.