The Swedish boat industry is considered quite conservative and subject to only limited development. The purpose of the study is to explain the structure of the boat industry, to analyze and evaluate ways of competing and provide recommendations for developing a competitive strategy. The aim of this thesis is to explain how to be competitive in the Swedish boat industry. To be able to do so three areas are used to deepen as well as broaden the understanding. The three areas within competitiveness we have chosen to highlight are differentiation, individualization and distribution.

Sweden experienced a decline in exports of 16 percent in the period after the financial crisis. The decline has created a lot of question marks regarding the traditional exports which has started a process with the aim of finding Sweden?s next cash cow in export.Sweden adopted stringent environmental laws early which positioned them as a strong nation in environmental awareness. The stringent environmental legislation meant that the Swedish companies were required to minimize the environmental impact, which created a demand for eco-efficient products. Despite the early demand for eco-efficient products, the international success of the Swedish cleantech companies has been modest.The government can increase firms international competitiveness by encouraging, supporting and promoting activities on the domestic market.

The aim of this study is two folded. We wish to investigate if there is a value premium from hedging jet fuel exposure for American and European airlines. We also seek to answer if airlines can affect their probability to default by using Risk Management. During the period 2003 ? 2006 there existed a value premium for airlines that hedged their expected future consumption of jet fuel.

Today's society is characterized by constant changes. In order to adapt to the development, organizations must continuously come up with innovations and invest in new projects. As a result, the responsibility of organizations' leaders has increased. Parallel with this development, more and more firms incorporate mindfulness in the organizations, and many managers choose to practice mindfulness themselves. This case study is based on interviews with business leaders that have completed a course in mindfulness.

Med globaliseringen ökar antalet multinationella företag vilket medför att många varumärken byter nationalitet när fusioner och förvärv genomförs. Många varumärken marknadsförs i sin tur med sitt ursprung vilket skapar ett potentiellt problem kring tvetydighet. Studier visar att ett varumärkes ursprung kan påverka konsumenter i deras köpbeslutsprocess då bland annat stereotyper om länder spelar in. Uppsatsens problemformulering är: Vilken betydelse har brand origin för globala varumärken som ägs av multinationella företag? Huvudsyftet är att undersöka varumärkens brand origin avseende hur konsumenterna uppfattar dem samt hur företagen marknadsför dem.

Warehouses are a key aspect of modern supply chains and play a vital role in the success or failure of businesses today. Figures from the USA indicate that the capital- and operating costs of warehouses represent about 22 % of a company?s logistics costs while figures from Europe indicate 25 % (Baker & Canessa, 2009). Because warehousing is such an important function within a company, the authors chose to focus on this in their thesis. The purpose of this thesis has been to examine the significance of a Warehouse Management System (WMS) and item identification with attention to logistic efficiency.

Background: Associated with the change in the regulations in 2009 concerning how goodwill should be handled in the acquisitions, brand valuation is increasingly recognized. Goodwill will now be identified and the brand will therefore be separated to be individually evaluated. The valuation has a problem with a number of factors that will influence the choice of method, to obtain a reliable value Aim: The purpose of this study is to examine the method used for brand valuation associated with the acquisition situations. In addition, it aims to gain a better understanding of brand valuation and its problems.Method: The study has a qualitative basis, where three key people of brand valuation have been interviewed. These work as valuation specialists at various accounting firms, this to get answers that could be compared.

The purpose of this Bachelor thesis is to gain insight into themeaning of the mobile library for its users by investigatingwho the users are, how they use the mobile library, why theyuse the mobile library and what the users want from the bookbus service. The methods used are observations, surveystudy and qualitative interviews.The theoretical framework of the study is based onAndersson?s and Skot-Hansen?s model of the public librarywith its four different library profiles, together with PierreBourdieu´s lifestyle theory where habitus and the concept ofcultural capital are used to analyze the role of the book busin people?s lives.My conclusion is that the mobile library is very important toits users since reading is an important part of their lives andit gives them easy access to books of several genres. Themobile library also functions as a meeting place in the localcommunity and creates a link between urban and rural areas..

Det huvudsakliga syftet med projektet är att belysa utställningen och de strukturer som densamma innefattar. Specifikt för detta projekt är att jag har valt att titta på utställningarna på kulturcentret Astrid Lindgrens Näs. Metoden för projektet innebär att blanda empiri med teori vilket resulterat i att jag dels besökt Astrid Lindgrens Näs samt arbetat med teori som beskriver förhållandet mellan besökare och museum, författare och författarskap. Radioverkets syfte är ett ge en viss insikt i hur arbetet på museet genomförs, på ett praktiskt plan. Projektet visar att konventionerna i museet är närvarande och vad som bibehåller dem är rädslan för att besökarna skall missförstå.

Incubators have grown more popular in recent years. Studies have shown that companies that have been part of an incubator grow faster and have a higher survival rate. The Swedish government realizes that this benefits the economy. Therefore they have started different funding programs in order to support the incubators. The thesis aims to explore the underlying reasons for why companies that have been part of an incubator often experience high growth.

Purpose/aim: The purpose of this thesis is to examine if, and in that case how, the municipality of Umeå worked strategically with its communication during 2014 when Umeå was chosen as ?European Capital of Culture?. The research is mainly focused on the outlines of their communication plan, main goals, what  communication strategies the municipality has chosen to and their choice of media channels.Material/method: Two methods are used for this research; qualitative interviews with four employees within the communication team during Umeå2014 and a text analysis of three formal documents which provide the framework of communication policies and media strategies during Umeå2014.Results: The results clearly indicate a well structured, strategic planning outlined in the formal documents. The four people intreviewed all had a good knowledge of the policies and strategies in the documents, they also described their work in accordance with these..

Background: When firms grow through acquisitions it is commonly debated whether the two entities ought to be better off as standalone companies rather than as a merged company. This thesis aims at discussing this issue of M&As advantages and disadvantages in terms of source of synergies from the perspective of resource allocation. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze to what extent pre-M&A differences (against similarities) in resource allocation and corporate culture between the acquiring and target firm have an impact on the post-M&A performance. Theoretical framework: Efficient market hypothesis, resource based view, strategic fit. Methodology: A longitudinal study is conducted on the EU market during 1992 to 2002 based on balance sheet and income statement data.

Syfte: Syftet med vårt examensarbete är att försöka identifiera och analysera hur revisorer definierar revisionskvalité och hur de förvissar sig om att de genomför revision med hög kvalitéMetod: För att nå fram till ett resultat har en abduktiv ansats med en kvantitativ metod använts för denna explorativa studieTeoretiskt perspektiv: Studien utgår ifrån befintlig teori och vetenskapliga studier men även resultatet av våra pilotintervjuer som använts för att urskilja faktorer som kan förklara vårt syfte. Teorier som använts är professionsteori, institutionell teori och byråkulturell teoriEmpiri: Det empiriska materialet grundar sig på en enkätundersökning som vänder sig till Sveriges revisorer i FARs medlemsregister. Det empiriska materialet har analyserats av statistiska testerResultat: Analysen påvisade att de faktorer som har den största positiva påverkan på revisionskvalité är expertis tillsammans med revisorns kompetens.

This study addresses the issue of mergers between consulting firms. Previous research has shown that there are specific factors that determine the outcome of a merger and that success is more likely if companies are more similar. The purpose of the study is therefore to define relevant factors and understand when resemblance matter and under what conditions disparity may cause problems. Furthermore, the aim of the study is to find a pattern of which factors are more important in a successful merger. The problem of the study is addressed through a qualitative research approach and is conducted on six different mergers.

Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) är den prissättningsmodell som mest frekvent används av aktörer på den finansiella marknaden samt i litteratur för att förklara sambandet mellan risk och förväntad avkastning. Teorin grundades under 1960-talet av William Sharpe och tidiga empiriska tester av modellen visade att den med hög förklaringsgrad kunde estimera en framtida förväntad avkastning givet en viss risknivå. På senare år har dock CAPM fått stark kritik eftersom nya empiriska undersökningar demonstrerat att modellen inte längre verkar visa en rättvisande avkastning i förhållande till risk.För att undersöka om den över 40 år gamla modellen fortfarande visar någorlunda rättvisande beskrivningar av verkligheten har vi ställt oss frågan: Går det att med hjälp av historiska data förutspå en riskfylld tillgångs avkastning på den svenska aktiemarknaden?Vid besvarade av denna fråga har studien syftet Att med hjälp av portföljer studera huruvida sambandet mellan risk och avkastning, vilket postuleras av CAPM, stämmer på den nutida svenska aktiemarknaden.Vi har utifrån vår kunskapssyn kritisk rationalism använt oss av en kvantitativ metod för att försöka ge svar på problemställningen, vilken angreps med ett deduktivt tillvägagångssätt. Den teoretiska referensramen behandlar teorier som portföljval, den effektiva marknadshypotesen och CAPM.