This thesis studies private equity firms' implementation of management control systems in their portfolio companies and whether the systems are affected by cross-national differences. A comparative case study examines five different private equity firms to derive if there are any differences between the private equity firms' management control systems in the United States, Europe and China. The empirical observations are categorized according to the framework developed by Merchant (1985) and further developed by Merchant and Van der Stede (2003). Theory on the effect of multinationality on management control systems, also developed by Merchant and Van der Stede (2003), are used to explain possible findings. The applied theory includes the cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede (1984) and Hofstede and Bond (1988).

This thesis work has been carried out at the consultant company Pöyry Sweden AB in Norrköping, whom performs the task for E.ON heating Sweden AB, Händelöverket in Norrköping. The report shows methods to manufacture slurry consisting of fly ash and water. The slurry shall be pumped into several former oil storage rock shelters that E.ON has put into operation for the specific purpose. The ash mixture also develops hydrogen gas in contact with water.The work has aimed to produce different suggestions of methods and equipment that can be used for the objective. Mixing method and security issues were in centre while working with the suggestions.

Problem discussion: Syncron experience a challenge in realizing the full market potential of its newly developed IT-based price management system, Global Price Management (GPM). The system has already been implemented and is currently running with success within the IT-structures of the first customer. The fact that the development of the system has been initiated by a customer, and thereby has left Syncron oblivious of the real underlying drivers and incentives for the development, is part of the problem. Understanding the customers? incentives for developing their pricing process thus reducing the application uncertainty is a good starting point.

The aim for my thesis has been to investigate how literature, or fiction, is used in management education. What books are used ? is there a literary leadership canon? What do the educators and the writers on this subject suggest that these books can teach the leaders? What are the philosophical foundations of this education? And ? last but not least ? does what the educators and writers offer respond to the needs of the businesses? My investigation shows that there is a canon in the area of management and fiction, where realistic 19th century novels, alongside with Shakespeare?s plays are dominant. Female writers and non-western writers are very underrepresented. The positive outcomes of reading and discussing these literary works that the educators and writers suggest do substantially correspond with the needs of the businesses, as presented by my sources.

A renewed application for environmental permit for the Hovgården landfill in Uppsala shall be submitted before December 2004, therefore the municipality of Uppsala needs improved knowledge of the contents, mostly organic compounds in the leachate and they also want to find a method to minimize the emissions of these compounds. The purpose of this study was to find a practical and economical method based on chemical oxidation using oxidants. The oxidants investigated are Fenton's reagent, hydrogen peroxide, Oxypro, potassium permanganate and potassium persulfate. The study was made on untreated leachate and leachate that has been treated in an aerated dam followed by sedimentation dams collected from the Hovgården landfill, and alson on sludge water from sludge storage cells. The effects of the five oxidants have been established by analysing the UV absorbance at the wavelengths 253,7 nm and 260,0 nm at different pH values. The UV absorbance was used to indicate the amount of aromatic hydrocarbons in the water. Also analyses of iron and manganese were done after the experiments with potassium permanganate, hydrogen peroxide and Fenton's reagent.

Eutrophication of the Baltic Sea and Swedish lakes remains a major problem despite many years of effort to reduce the emissions of nutrients. One major source is waste water systems, especially private sewage systems. These sewages accounts for a very large share of nutrients per capita in comparison with citizens connected to larger sewage treatment plants. Norrtälje community has the greatest number of private sewage systems in Sweden. Discharges of nutrients, especially phosphorus, to the Baltic Sea from these sewage systems are significant.

For several years Uppsala University together with several companies has been involved in a WISENET project aimed at improving railway transport security. By placing a sensor system near the wheels of each wagon, the temperature of the bearings can be measured and transmitted to a collector placed centrally on the wagon. This in turn transmits the collected data to RFID receivers placed intermittently along the railway.As the signals are transmitted wirelessly, problems may occur as the antennas get dirty or coated with ice and snow. To determine the effects of these coatings, several tests were performed examining the reflection coefficient S11, the impedance Z11 and the efficiency eta of an antenna, and how they varied when various coatings were placed over the antenna. Examined coatings were ice, snow and water to determine the effects of weather, and various metal-based coatings: powdered iron both pure and partially oxidized, and iron ore granules.

Title: Bottleneck management through materials administration Course:  4FE05EAuthors:  Mikael Karlsson and Johannes Mueller  Examiner: Helena ForslundKey words:  Bottleneck management, material management, process description, timber, proceduresPurpose:   The objective of this study is divided into three parts, all three parts of the purpose aim for the same goal. Namely, to improve the material management so that this enables the bottleneck in the planing mill to keep a continuous  flow, and thereby minimizing the risk for production stops at LB-Hus.  Part.  1:  Identify  and  analyze the material management  connected to  the planing mill  in order to identify problem areas.Part.2:  Identify  improvement potential  in the material management connected to the planing mill.  Part.3: Suggest improvements in the material management connected to the planing mill. Theoretical framework: Process mapping, inventory accounting, balance safety, inventory availability / service levels, safety stock and reorder point, forecasting and routine descriptions.Empirical foundation:  Interviews carried out at LB-House,  illustrated with the help of process maps and a description of each process.  Conclusions:  To work with  the  suggestions  given  and  to  follow  clear procedures  in  all  processes would  result in  a more  efficient  inventory management,  it would also present  a  solution  to  the problem regarding the planing mill being a bottle neck.Suggestions for further research: Review and map the information flow from demand to production start.

Running water-pathways have played an important roll in Sweden and frequently been manipulated. One profound change was made during the period of logging when streams were cleared from obstacles as big boulders, sharp bends and side-streams. Dams and different constructions gave control of the stream water and the streams became channel-like with a homogen structure. This interference gave problems for many fish populations and resulted in a shortage of feeding habitat, over-wintering habitat, spawning habitat, unnatural flow regimes, sedimentation, unnatural temperature fluctuations. Many of these historical changes of the watersheds are now subjects for restoration, ie., bring back the streams to what we believed it was before the change. However, what once existed in terms of complexity is now gone and difficult toreplace.

En studie av hur revisorerna granska den miljöinformation som företag med tillstands- och/eller anmälningspliktiga verksamheter, enligt lag är förordnade att redovisa i förvaltningsberättelsen samt om man utifran denna granskningen kan säga nagot om hur informationens tillförlitlighet berörs..

Traditionally, rolling mills use emulsions based on a mixture of oil and water for lubrication. Since two years ago SAPA has been using (instead of oil) a synthetic lubricant so called conditional emulsion for hot-rolling of aluminum. This lubricant is water based and homogenous at ambient temperature, but switches to a two-phase system at heating above the cloud point.This project aims to validate and if necessary modify an existing HPLC method for quantifying two out of three key components (A, B and C) in the conditional emulsion. Attempts to develop a method to quantify the pH adjusting components, X and Y were also made. These two methods are required to optimize the lubricant.Due to the complexity of the components, it has been difficult to present a method for quantification, and HPLC with ELS detection was chosen after a long series of trials.

Bakgrund: Rottne industri a?r ett fo?retag som tillverkar skogsmaskiner, na?rmare besta?mt sko?rdare och skotare. En viktig del av fo?retagets strategi i dagsla?get grundar pa? att bedriva en genero?s reservdelsverksamhet ut mot kunder. Reservdelsverksamheten har vuxit och blivit en konkurrensfo?rdel fo?r Rottne industri.

Denna uppsats undersöker om och i så fall hur affärsrisken påverkar företagens kapitalstruktur. Vi har använt oss av två årtal med olika räntenivåer, 1995 och 2005. Vi kunde genom en multipel regressionsanlalys säkerställa att det existerar ett samband, och även att det finns skillnad mellan åren vad gäller korrelationen i sambandet..

Detta examensarbete har syftat till att utveckla ett verktyg för att utvärdera en IT-avdelnings möjligheter till effektivisering genom att implementera Lean på IT Service Management. Verktyget har utvecklats i samarbete med Tina Eriksson på uppdrag av management och IT-management konsultbolaget Connecta AB. Connecta AB har som syfte att använda verktyget för framtida affärer. För att verktyget ska vara användbart och uppfylla Connectas krav så har fyra mål satts upp. Verktyget ska vara trovärdigt, resurseffektivt, användarvänligt samt underlätta för fortsatt arbete och implementering av Lean på IT Service Management.

Teorigenomgång som mynnar ut i tolv parametrar som karaktäriserar en innovativ organisation, samt en teoretisk modell, Innovation Value Chain (IVC) som beskriver den innovativa processen. Åtta fallstudier utav tillverkande svenska företag analyseras med hjälp av IVC modellen..