The objective of this thesis is to examine the capital structure of Swedish small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Accounting data from Swedish game developers, combined with the result from a survey, is used to examine their financial conditions and capital structure decisions. We find that non-debt tax shield, firm size, growth opportunities and age are, to various extents, the determinants of capital structure in the game industry, while effective tax rate and asset structure have marginal effects. Our study also implicates that most of the existing capital structure theories can explain SMEs leverage decisions to some extent; however, some adaptation is needed to fit these theories into the SME context. Additionally, we find the existence of a financial gap in the game industry which might need efforts from both demand side and supply side to eliminate..

The title of this study came about from the title of Robert Putnams book Bowling Alone, where Putnam mentions that less people are bowling in teams than before. Bowling is still a large leisure activity in the USA but people tend to bowl more and more in small groups and less in organized teams. This study deals with social capital and leisure time. Its aim is to find out if some Swedish people create social capital on their leisure time and also how do they spend their leisure time. Robert Putnams book Bowling Alone serves as main background material along with the work by Bo Rothstein.

Background: During extreme market conditions like the period during fall 2008 the discussion of what affects company value becomes apparent. The capital structure is the relation between borrowed capital and equity in a company´s financing mix. What impact changes in capital structure have on company value is a widely debated subject within the theory of finance. If a relationship between capital structure and company value exists the implication is that an optimal capital structure where company value is maximized also exists.Aim: The aim of the thesis is to study whether a certain relationship between capital structure and company value exists among selected stocks and companies listed on Stockholmsbörsens OMXS30.Implementation: With aim to fulfill the purpose of the thesis regression analysis has been performed among chosen stocks and companies. The empirical results eventuating from this have been analyzed from the view of elected relevant theory.Completion and results: We find that during normal market conditions a positive relationship between debt ratio and enterprise value (EV) can be established.

The UN has a goal to gender-mainstream all politics, but its politics in climate change is not gender-sensitive. The Swedish government has the same goal concerning gender mainstreaming, but does the Swedish politics of climate change reach this goal? The aim of this paper is to examine the relations between the Swedish politics of gender and climate change. In addition, the aim is also to investigate how gender is constructed in the climate politics. To reach these aims, an institutional, policy and gender analysis is used.

AbstractPaper in political science, C-level, by Lars A Roos, spring semester 2007. Tutor: Susan Marton. ?Policy networks and Nord Stream.?The purpose of this paper is to examine how the government and interest groups have been working together to commonly prevent the building of a gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea. To do this, a comprehensive question how does the government and the involved interest groups work together in policy networks? has been broken down to three more specific questions: (1) Can the cooperation between the government and the interest groups be placed within the frame of a issue network or a policy community? (2) Has the cooperation between the government and the interest groups contributed to new tools for the government to prevent the gas pipeline? (3) If the answer is yes to the second question then, which are these new tools?My examination is a case study of the policy network that exists around the Swedish actors in the case of the Baltic Sea gas pipeline.

Introduction     Knowledge has come to be an increasingly important factor for both individuals in the labor market and companies in competition. When a person leaves an organization the knowledge often follows, and a knowledge gap is created. When knowledge is shared within an organization, the individual?s knowledge is available for all members of the organization. Knowledge can thus be converted from human capital to structural capital.

Vi har undersökt vilka skillnader som finns mellan investeringsprocessen för corporate venturing och investeringsprocessen för venture capital. Vårt empiriska material består av investeringsprocessen för Volvo Technology Transfer och vårt teoretiska material består av investeringsprocessen för venture capital. Detta är alltså utgångspunkten för vår jämförelse. Våra slutsatser är att det finns vissa väsentliga skillnader mellan processerna. Skillnaderna beror på investerartypernas olika mål och resurser.

AbstractIn this essay, policy change and learning is studied in the case of the Social Democratic Party and their policy concerning independent schools. Their policy differs clearly from the right-wing parties. Between 1991 and 1994, the right-wing government made substantial reforms concerning independent schools. The question posed in this essay is whether the policy of the Social Democratic Party has changed as a result of these actions, and if they have approached their right-wing counterparts.Using the Advocacy Coalition Framework, defining a policy as a result of the values the actor holds, the question is studied by applying the theory's assumptions of policy-learning across coalitions. The argumentation of the Social Democratic Party, as it is expressed in official text documents before and after the right-wing government, is analysed.

I detta arbete undersöker jag frågan om hur arbetsgivarnas policy för de anställdas datoranvändning under arbetstid ser ut. Jag har gjort en jämförelse mellan kommuner och verkstadsföretag inom Västra Götaland.Rapporten inleds med en introduktion till privata angelägenheter, personlig integritet och kontroll av de anställda. Vidare behandlas hur en policy ser ut, behovet av en policy och hur det ser ut hos arbetsgivarna gällande policys för datoranvändningen. I denna del tas bland annat tidigare undersökningar och publikationer upp.För att kunna besvara denna fråga har jag använt mig av enkätundersökning. 11 kommuner och 11 verkstadsföretag ingår i undersökningen.

Problem Vi har inför genomförandet av studien identifierat två problem. - Vilken typ av företag är lokaliserade i forskningsparken Ideon och hur ser förekomsten av venture capital ut bland dessa? - Är venture capital-situationen annorlunda för företag som valt att lokalisera sig i en forskningspark? Syfte Ett av två delsyften är att göra en kartläggning av företagen i forskningsparken Ideon och förekomsten av venture capital bland dessa. Vårt huvudsyfte, är att undersöka vilka eventuella effekter faktumet att ett företag som söker venture capital är lokaliserat i en forskningspark har, och om detta avviker från de generella sambanden inom venture capital-teorin. Metod Vi har i vår studie arbetat med kvantitativ metod.

Financial bubbles are characterized by a large increase in the economic growth on the market as a whole or in specific industries. The change gives rise to an increase in the capital needed to finance this growth. Companies typically have a choice between equity and debt capital to finance its business and the mix of these types of capital is often referred to as the company?s capital structure. There has been a lot of research done in the field of financial bubbles and ofcapital structure, as of yet no studies seem to address these two areas in combination.The aim of this study is to examine if financial bubbles affect a company?s capital structure and through this also examine if the supposed changes in capital structure can be generalized.The study comprise of two identical time-series which examines the changes in leverage and the choice of financing during the Swedish real estate bubble in the early nineties and the IT-crash at the end of the 2000th century.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine the view of literature within Swedish governmental cultural policy. The main issue is to discover changes in attitude towards democracy, literature and library by comparing the attitudes in the governmental policy documents from the 1970s with the governmental policy documents from the 1990s. The theoretical starting point is Danish cultural policy researcher Dorte Skot-Hansens theories of the development of cultural policy in the Nordic countries. My method of analysis is a textual one, analysis of ideas and ideology, focusing on the aspect of signification of a text. The study has an effort of analysing the governmental policy in terms of idea and ideology.

The aim of this master?s thesis is to study the discourses on culture as developed by EU Commission. The method applied is a discoursebased historical analysis, where analysis of arguments and metaphors are functional to the enlightening of the construction of discourses within EU cultural policy. EU official documents constitute the empirical material studied. The theoretical framework of the thesis draws upon cultural public sphere theory as well instrumentalist cultural policy research.

This study presents a survey of the capital budgeting methods used in investment decisions by selected Swedish firms. The study has a qualitative approach where the main goal is to increase the understanding of why firms use ?incorrect? capital budgeting methods like the payback method despite the well known fact that it is one of the most faulty methods, according to literature in business finance (Brealey. Myers). The study has specially researched the impact of company?s size, investments size, ownership structure, branch traditions and political risks influence on firms capital budgeting..

This study deals with one particular instance of foreign policy change in Sweden; The political take-off for enhanced Nordic Defence and Security Cooperation in the beginning of the 21st century which led to an agreement on a Nordic declaration on slolidarity. The aim of this study is to explain why the political development has undergone a rapid upturn and when such a policy change occur. Its purpose is to explain what factors and conditions that influenced the policy change. It also explores the meaning of the Nordic Declaration of Solidarity. The theoretical point of departure is Foreign Policy Analysis combined with John Kingdons policy-window theory.