The financial crisis in the beginning of the 1990´s the financial crisis had a strong impact on the Swedish economy. Some of the main actors in the crisis were the largest banks of Sweden which brought a huge amount of losses on themselves. One of the main reasons for this was that the banks focused on volume increases rather than on credit losses. The credit analysis process is performed differently these days and it is the development of this process that is the focus for the authors. This thesis is about the credit analysis process in the four largest banks of Sweden. The purpose of the thesis is to highlight which factors the banks include in the credit analysis process and in how small and medium size companies are treated in this process. Another purpose of this thesis is to see if there are any differences between the four banks. The aim of the thesis is reached through empirical investigation through personal interviews with representatives from the four banks. Complementary interviews have also been made with three analysts and three companies to get a more general impression. The empirical investigation is then compared to the theoretical references. The authors reached conclusion is that the central part of the credit analysis process comprises the importance of the companies’ future cash flow and credit refund. A clear and refined business concept is very important along with the board of companies’ board members. The credits analysis process is very similar in all the four banks; the main similarity is that all the banks make a central economy analysis along with a surrounding world and business analysis. A future forecast is also made. From this analysis the banks can measure the credit risk rate. If these factors are of satisfaction the banks will accept the companies credit applications. The banks are very much similar to each other, with the largest difference that Handelsbanken have a more flattened organization compared to the other banks.

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Det finns en tydlig trend att soloföretagandet ökar i tjänstesektorn. På grund av effektiviseringar, politiska sysselsättningsåtgärder tvingas och lockas allt fler till att starta företag för att hålla sig kvar på arbetsmarknaden. År 2003 stod soloföretagen för 58% av det totala antalet företagskonkurser. Anledningen till detta är dels okunskapen som finns när man tvingas ut i företagande, men framförallt resurssvaghet. För att klara sig i hård konkurrens behöver soloföretagen någon form av resurskomplettering. En sådan kan komplettering kan vara samarbete med andra aktörer. På så sätt reducerar man osäkerheten och risktagande och ökar konkurrenskraften. Dock saknas det kunskap om vilka faktorer som är viktiga att ta hänsyn till när man letar samarbetspartners. Uppsatsens problemformulering lyder således: "Vilka faktorer är viktiga för att samordna soloföretagare i tjänstesektorn så att de kan erbjuda konkurrenskraftigare lösningar?". Vårt syfte med undersökningen är att analysera och utvärdera enskilda frisörföretagare i Stockholms innerstad, för att se hur olika former av samordning påverkar deras värdeskapande. Vid vårt deduktiva tillvägagångssätt har vi använt oss av tre olika teorier; Håkanssons nätverksteori, Grönroos affärsidéteori och Normanns Värdestjärnan. I enlighet med dessa teorier kan följande påstående lyftas fram: - för att företag i ett nätverk ska kunna producera erbjudanden med högre värde krävs det att deras affärsidéer kompletterar, istället för att konkurrera med, varandra. Då får nätverket en övergripande affärsidé som är konkurrenskraftigare än den enskilde affärsidén. De helhetslösningar som kan erbjudas ökar kundens mervärde. Sex salonger i Stockholms innerstad deltog i vår enkätundersökning, tre renodlade frisörsalonger och tre skönhetssalonger med blandade erbjudanden ställdes mot varandra. De slutsatser som kunde dras var att kompletterande affärsidé som samordningsmekanism inte är en avgörande faktor för att skapa värde i frisörbranschen. Värdeskapande samordning är branschspecifikt. Vår undersökning visar att det inte finns en universallösning när det gäller att hitta rätt samarbetspartners. Däremot är en tydlig affärsidé alltid viktig för att erbjuda rätt tjänst/produkt till rätt segment viktigt för alla företagare, oavsett bransch och samordning.

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A successful cooperation between different cultures in a global organisation depends on a good understanding about the norms and the values in the other culture. To have a good understanding about other cultures makes it easier to build good international relationships between countries without misunderstandings and misperceptions. In this master thesis we investigate the cultural differences between Swedes and Indians that can be found in Swedish subsidiaries in India and if these cultural differences affect the cooperation between Indians and Swedes. The five cultural aspects that are in focus in this study are the following; 1. Identity – concerns if members of a business culture see themselves as individuals or as a collective (see figure 3, p.30). 2. Time – concerns how business cultures value time (see figure 4, p.32). 3. Ambiguity – concerns how business cultures react to the uncertainties and ambiguities in the daily work (see figure 5, p.34). 4. Integrative strategy – concerns if business cultures are conflict orientated or not, emphasise competitive behaviour or not, and how they value their free time (see figure 6, p.37). 5. Power and hierarchy – concerns how business cultures divide power and what they recognise as status (see figure 7, p.40). The empirical result was gathered during a two month field study in India where we interviewed both Swedish and Indian managers and engineers about their experience in cross cultural cooperation. The investigation revealed that there are differences in the cultures and that they affect the cooperation between Indians and Swedes in the subsidiaries. The biggest difference in identity was the informal classification in Indian business societies. The Swedish managers sometimes had problems with recognising the differences in ranks and the informal hierarchy among the Indians which could lead to Indian employees feeling bypassed and overlooked. (See 7.1.3 Conclusion of Identity, p.60) When it comes to differences concerning time the Indians were more optimistic about time and did not have the same respect as the Swedes regarding being on time and keeping deadlines. This could lead to problem in the cooperation because Swedes believed that time and money was wasted when deadlines were not kept. (See 7.2.3 Conclusion of Time, p.64) In the aspect of ambiguity Swedes valued safety more than taking risks when doing business. The Indians on the other hand valued risk taking more than safety. This led to problems in the cooperation because the Indians saw the Swedish way of always analysing risks before doing business as costly. Too much concern about safety led to non-competitive prices and loss of markets. (See 7.3.3 Conclusion of Ambiguity, p.68) In the analysis of integrative strategy we found that the Indian business society was regarding the manager as someone above the regular employee. This view led to problems in the communication between the Swedish managers and the Indian employees because the employees did not dare to criticise the manager’s decisions. The Swedish manager expected the employees to correct him when he was wrong and got disappointed when they did not. (See 7.4.4 Conclusion of Integrative strategy, p. 72) In the cultural aspect power and hierarchy we concluded that the manager in India was seen as someone with a lot of authority and as a father figure for the employees. This was not the case in Sweden where the manager was more seen as a companion. The different management styles led to confusion among the employees when the Swedish manager demanded them to be more independent and the Indian manager expected them to be more dependent on his authority. (See 7.5.4 Conclusion of Power and Hierarchy, p. 75) The result of this study gives a knowledge and understanding about cultural differences between Indians and Swedes and can be used as guidelines when cooperating across the Indian and Swedish culture.

The goal of this diploma thesis is to expound the term “labour mobility” within an enlarged European Union, and its consequences on Swedish economy. Fears of a massive wave of working migration proved unfounded at the time of past EU enlargements and thus are not likely to come true during the forthcoming enlargement. The analysis of the experience stemming from the southern enlargement can be helpful in an attempt to evaluate gains and losses of the CEE countries integration with the EU. The southern enlargement is being often regarded as an example or even basis for the EU eastern enlargement. This approach is not a random one. The analysis of the EU southern enlargement based on the case of Greece, Spain and Portugal reflects the likeness of the current accession conditions: both the southern candidates and the CEE countries aspiring to join in the 2004 are traditionally net emigration countries with considerable lower level of economic development than those of the EU average. Great differences in income, standard of living and employment opportunities between CEE and EU countries might contribute to a mass-immigration from east to west and might accelerate the current employment crisis in the present EU states. Notably, OECD studies show that migrants form the CEECs tend to be educated, skilled and vital workers. The brain drain problem may be a serious negative side effect for CEECs. What Sweden, as a current EU member, and Swedish enterprise has to puts a stress on, is an importance to create a growing and flexible labour market. A more flexible labour market in general must be promoted, including making it easier for companies to find people with the right skills. Swedish labour market, in spite of how inelastic it may be, has a strong demand for low-qualified labour under any level of unemployment. Even if the CEECs migration potential had been fully used, it would never be able to satisfy this demand. Neither disparity in GDP per capita, unemployment, nor other economic differences between the CEE countries and the EU may create grounds for the implementation of the transitional periods. This causality has been many times proved theoretically, empirically and during the previous EU enlargements. The introduction of the transitional periods may prolong the process of leveling life-levels, technological and economic growth, infrastructure, cultural and social standards within the enlarged EU. It also means sending the political signal to the accession countries, which would be turned into second-class members, deprived of one of the most vital freedoms of the Single Market.

The conditions facing multinational corporations today reflect the increasing globalization of international business, in which knowledge is an important ingredient. Subsidiaries are important as they, to various degrees, possess unique knowledge, thus accounting for the strength of the multinational corporation, which is the topic under study in this thesis. The multinational corporation consists of geographically dispersed units, which are linked together in a complicated pattern. One of the issues explored in this thesis is what drives the knowledge creation of subsidiaries, as it is acknowledged that the strength of a multinational corporation resides in these globally dispersed units. Another issue is to investigate the role of headquarters’ recognition and of corporate relationships in sharing of subsidiary knowledge. A third issue explored is the use of Centres of Excellence and transnational teams as two organizational forms for knowledge creation and sharing. A combination of research methods was used to provide an enhanced picture of the research phenomena. As a part of an international research project, a survey was undertaken, resulting in data from 2107 foreign-owned subsidiaries located in seven different countries. In addition, two case studies have been performed in order to gain deeper understanding of (i) how subsidiaries create knowledge and (ii) the use of different organizational forms in MNCs for processing knowledge. The five papers included discuss creation and sharing of subsidiary knowledge. It was confirmed that subsidiaries create knowledge of significance for other units within the multinational corporation. The results show that that one of the main drivers for the creation of knowledge is interaction based on local market relationships, especially those with market customers. Corporate sharing of subsidiary knowledge is brought about by headquarters recognition of these units’ knowledge. This is facilitated if other corporate units have been involved in the creation of that knowledge. Another finding in the study is the use of Centres of Excellence and transnational teams for knowledge creation and sharing. Although the two different organizational forms serve the same purpose, they differ in organization and in antecedents to their knowledge processes.

Portfolio performance evaluations indicate that managed stock portfolios on average underperform relevant benchmarks. Transaction costs arise inevitably when stocks are bought and sold, but the majority of the research on portfolio management does not consider such costs, let alone transaction costs including price impact costs. The conjecture of the thesis is that transaction cost control improves portfolio performance. The research questions addressed are: Do transaction costs matter in portfolio management? and Could transaction cost control improve portfolio performance? The questions are studied within the context of mean-variance (MV) and index fund management. The treatment of transaction costs includes price impact costs and is throughout based on the premises that the trading is uninformed, immediate, and conducted in an open electronic limit order book system. These premises characterize a considerable amount of all trading in stocks. First, cross-sectional models of price impact costs for Swedish stocks are developed using limit order book information in a novel fashion. Theoretical analysis shows that the price impact cost function of order volume in a limit order book with discrete prices is increasing and piecewise concave. The estimated price impact cost functions are negatively related to market capitalization and historical trading activity, while positively related to order size and stock return volatility. Total transaction costs are obtained by adding the relevant commission rate to the price impact cost. Second, the importance of transaction costs and transaction cost control is examined within MV portfolio management. I extend the standard MV model by formulating a quadratic program for MV portfolio revisions under transaction costs including price impact costs. The extended portfolio model is integrated with the empirical transaction cost models developed. The integrated model is applied to revise portfolios with different net asset values and across a wide range of risk attitudes. The initial (unrevised) portfolios are capitalization-weighted and contain all Swedish stocks with sufficient data. The standard MV model, which neglects transaction costs, realizes non-trivial certainty equivalent losses relative to the extended model, which, in addition, exhibits lower turnover, higher diversification, and lower transaction costs incurred. The evidence suggests that transaction cost control improves performance in MV revisions, and that price impact costs are worthwhile to consider. Third, the research questions are studied within index fund management. I formulate two index fund revision models under transaction costs including price impact costs. Each model is integrated with the empirical transaction cost models. Transaction costs including price impact costs, cash flows, and corporate actions are incorporated in the empirical tests, which use ten years of daily data. In the tests, the two index fund revision models and several alternative approaches, including full replication, are applied to track a Swedish capitalization-weighted stock index. Instead of using an extant index, an index is independently calculated according to a consistent methodology, mimicking that of the most used index in the Nordic region, the OMX(S30). The alternative approaches are tested under a number of variations including different tracking error measures and different types and degrees of transaction cost control. Index funds implemented by the index fund revision models under transaction cost control dominate, in all dimensions of tracking performance considered, their counterparts implemented without transaction cost control as well as the funds implemented by full replication. Price impact costs constitute the majority of the transaction costs incurred. Additional results indicate that some common tracking error measures perform similar and that the technique to control transaction cost by constructing an index fund from a pre-defined subset of the most liquid index stocks is not efficient. The overall conclusion of the thesis is that transaction costs matter, that transaction cost control improves portfolio performance, and that price impact costs are important to consider.

Syfte Syftet med denna uppsats är att ge blivande nyföretagare i allmänhet och blivande kvinnliga nyföretagare i synnerhet en inblick i vad som skiljer nyföretagare i Sverige av olika kön Metod För att skapa en förståelse kring hur det kvinnliga och manliga nyföretagandet skiljer sig i Sverige har vi valt att använda oss av en kvalitativ metod. Vi har valt den deduktiva ansatsen och började undersökningen med att samla in relevant teori om vårt problemområde. Därefter följde sex stycken kvalitativa intervjuer med entreprenörer i Kalmar och närområdet. Slutsatser Denna studie är en kvalitativ studie vilket gör att vi inte kan dra några generella slutsatser om könsfördelningen inom nyföretagandet i Sverige. Däremot kan vi ge en inblick samt en ökad förståelse kring varför könsfördelningen ser ut som den gör. Vi har identifierat vissa skillnader mellan kvinnlig och manliga entreprenörer, både när det gäller karaktäristiska drag och drivkrafter men även hur de upplever nyföretagares situation i samhället. De slutsatser och tendenser som vi har kommit fram till presenterar vi i det avslutande kapitlet Slutsatser.

The literature on bank efficiency in transition economies (TEs) is neither exhaustive nor conclusive. It mainly investigates bank efficiency in relation to bank size and ownership. However, to the best of our knowledge, it ignores several important dimensions related to the banking sector in TEs: euroization, macroprudential policy and different types of risk. By exploring the relationships between bank efficiency, euroization, macroprudential policy and different types of risk in TEs, this research fills this gap. The relationship between bank efficiency, euroization and bank risk is explored empirically through the estimation of a cost efficiency frontier using time-varying stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) whilst controlling initially for euroization at country level and then at bank level, using the BankScope database and euroization data collected by the author. The findings suggest that euroization at country level is a driver of bank efficiency in TEs, and that different risks are important in the context bank efficiency in TEs. Furthermore, it was shown that efficiency in TEs has varied over period and it has been affected by the Global Financial Crisis. The initial research is extended through the qualitative analysis of the phenomena of euroization at bank level in selected South East European countries, which again to the best of our knowledge, is the first such research. The investigation is conducted through semi-structured interviews of risk managers of banks at different levels of seniority. The main finding of this analysis is that macroprudential policy, widely considered a useful response to global financial crisis, is an important determinant of euroization. To explore this further an econometric investigation of the impact of macroprudential policy on the level of credit euroization in TEs, an aspect ignored in the literature, is undertaken. Additionally, the empirical literature on credit euroization is limited as most studies focus on deposit euroization, assuming that credit euroization mirrors it, although the latter is larger in most TEs. The analysis is conducted employing dynamic and autoregressive panel techniques, using data on macroprudential policy from the IMF and central banks. Thus, this study fills a gap in this literature by investigating the determinants of credit euroization, including the impact of macroprudential policy. Although this is a first attempt at such an investigation, it supports the importance of these policies in driving down the level of euroization in TEs.