In a time of economic turmoil and financial crisis Profitability matters rise higher and higher on company agendas. Many companies are pressured to find Profitability to avoid layoffs or even bankruptcy. Profitability essentially depends on the margin on the product or service sold and the costs associated with selling these products or services and hence these areas are of vital importance if companies are to improve Profitability. Previous research has focused, for the most part, on product Profitability while customer Profitability has received less attention. This study is based on a case study of a Swedish publishing house and aims to investigate how the company?s Cost-to-Serve varies between its distribution channels.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the customer Profitability in a wholesale company. A case study of Eugen Wiberger AB has been conducted. Firstly the authors have examined the current perception of the company regarding their customer Profitability and the results of their calculation of the customer Profitability. Secondly an Activity-Based Costing analysis has been performed and has been compared to the perception in the case company. The conclusions are that the smaller customers are the least profitable, and in some cases unprofitable, whereas the larger customers are profitable.

Title: CSR and Profitability in three dimensions ? practical examples, Economic Value Added and previous researchAuthors: Linda-Marie Emilsson & Martina Classon Subject: Business AdministrationDate: 2011-05-26Mentor: Krister BredmarProblem description: Scientists have for a very long time disagreed about whether or not companies should work with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and if there is any correlation between CSR and Profitability. There are mainly three different views according the correlation: CSR have a neutral impact on financial performance, CSR have a positive impact on Profitability and CSR have a negative impact on Profitability. One of the reasons behind the disagreement is the complexity measuring CSR. Scientist claims that EVA is a measure that can be used to measure the correlation between CSR and Profitability.        Purpose: The intention with our essay is to find out if there is any correlation between CSR and Profitability.

It is a common view that companies should focus on building brands to increase Profitability and stabilize cash flows. However, building and keeping brands alive is costly. Many firms spend large sums on branding only because they are supposed to, without knowing if they will actually gain from it. Up to date, there is limited convincing evidence that branding actually contributes to shareholder value creation. This thesis aims to investigate the relationship between brand strength and Profitability and shareholder value.

With a shifting world market and periodically Profitability issues, Swedish farmers seekalternative ways to enhance their Profitability. One interesting alternative to get a highervalue and enhance products is biodiesel, a way to improve the Profitability on a farmscale.The diesel that is produced and sold, already have a mixture of 5% biodiesel, andthere is a possibility to add more biodiesel to it. By developing new engines severalengine-manufacturers now allow a mixture up to 100% biodiesel in their engines. Hencethere is a market for an increased production of biodiesel. The aim of this study were toinvestigate the possibilities and the problems related to farm-scale production ofbiodiesel, and to study the profit margin in the production.

Women ledaers and Profitability, is there a correlation? Earlier research show different outcome on the correlation between women leaders and Profitability. A Swedish consultant firm, Caran has a belief that more women leaders would create more financial profit, we ask us if that is the true situation. Using two different IC measurement methods we have shown the difficulties in calculate intagible resources, which methods that can/ can not be used and if women leders create financial value. We found the women leaders in Caran to add more value per dollar spent on the woman leaders than the value added per dollar spent on men leaders.

Women ledaers and Profitability, is there a correlation? Earlier research show different outcome on the correlation between women leaders and Profitability. A Swedish consultant firm, Caran has a belief that more women leaders would create more financial profit, we ask us if that is the true situation. Using two different IC measurement methods we have shown the difficulties in calculate intagible resources, which methods that can/ can not be used and if women leders create financial value. We found the women leaders in Caran to add more value per dollar spent on the woman leaders than the value added per dollar spent on men leaders.

Active ownership is widely regarded as positive for the development and performance of businesses. In this paper, we investigate the impact of ownership concentration and owner identity on return on equity (ROE) in Swedish companies between 1986 and 2008, and show that active ownership might suffer from opposing effects. We find evidence, albeit weak, that ownership concentration has a positive effect on Profitability, but that it levels off at high levels of ownership shares. Furthermore, we propose that family ownership has a negative effect on Profitability. Our results are dependent of choice of statistical method, but show nonetheless a need to reevaluate what seems to be a universally positive view of active ownership..

This thesis is commissioned by the Swedish electricity trading company GodEl with the purpose of evaluate solar electricity in multi-family buildings in the Stockholm region. The prices of solar panels have dropped recently due to the advances in technology, but the installation rate in Sweden remains low. It is therefore interesting to study the  Profitability of solar electricity today, and if it is profitable enough to install based on Profitability alone and not simply due to environmental considerations. Therefore this thesis first studies the Profitability of solar panels based on a simulation of electricity production and consumption for multi-family buildings this region. The study concludes that solar electricity can be profitable in the Stockholm region under certain conditions; all of which have to be favourable for profitable solar electricity.The thesis also studies the opinion of the company's costumers concerning solar electricity.

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 aim of this thesis is to describe the development of Profitability and capital structure in Swedish quoted companies during the period of 1990 to 2004. Further, the aim is to determine the relationship between Profitability and leverage in order to conclude whether the choice of capital structure supports the pecking order theory or the trade-off theory of capital structure. The findings show that return on assets fluctuates between 3 and 11 percent and that return on equity fluctuates between 3 and 22 percent during the period. Further, the leverage and the cost of debt have decreased. This indicates lowered financial risk in Swedish quoted companies in the period between 1990 and 2004.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is a technology that utilizes the temperaturedifference in oceans between the warm surface water and the cold water at 1000 m depthto produce electricity. The purpose of this report is to investigate if OTEC with its synergiescould become a commercially feasible energy solution for a small island. A literature reviewis conducted to explore the different OTEC technologies and to what extent the threesynergies; fresh water, air conditioning and aquaculture, could be used. In order to calculatethe Profitability of these synergies there is also a study conducted on the conventionalmethods and cost of fresh water production, aquaculture and air conditioning. A model is setup using a scenario of a small tropical Island with population of 100 000 people.

Caran has a strong belief that women leaders affect the financial Profitability positive. Since women leaders are intangible resources it is very difficult to calculate its exact value. The authors found that one of their measurement methods can’t be used to calculate the value of women leaders. The other measurement method can calculate significance between women and men leaders and provides an index to be compared to other groups. But there is no prove that women are better creating value than their men colleagues, the figures indicate that women add more value due to their lower wages.

Introduction: The concept of CSR was first coined in the 1950?s and refers to corporate vol-untary work to contribute to a sustainable society. In Sweden, companies within the finance sector are among the worst when it comes to implementing CSR in their daily work. The debate on whether companies should engage in CSR activities or not, is extremely relevant nowadays. Right now we are facing a time where the demand on companies to take their social responsi-bility becomes more intensified.

This thesis analyses the prerequisites, Profitability and competitiveness of eucalyptus plantation on the Iberian Peninsula and in Brazil. The thesis has a macro perspective and analyses a typical hectare of eucalyptus in each studied region. A survey methodology was used as a strategy to cover a broad perspective using expert respondents. The regions studied on the Iberian Peninsula were the ones found suitable for eucalyptus plantations from an economic point of view. The studied regions were Huelva in the South West of Spain, Galicia in the North West of Spain and Portugal.