The master's thesis is focused on the use of the strategic management accounting tools for investment decision-making in construction industry. It's mostly directed at mutual integration of life time costing and net present value methods. The topic has been solved in two closely connected main parts. The first part deals with the possibilities of both instruments application with the emphasis on construction industry. The second part evaluates a particular construction project with the use of the tools and gives the base for creating an investment recommendation whether to realise the project, or not.

Background: There has been a great effort in the venture capital research community in trying to identify what criteria are used by venture capital firms (VCFs) when evaluating new ventures as an investment opportunity. Efforts have also been put on trying to rank these criteria’s importance in relation to each other, with the main literature arguing that the new venture team (NVT) has the greatest influence over the VCF’s investment decision. Although there is scientific consensus regarding the superior importance of the NVT relative to other criteria, the practical methods used by VCFs to evaluate the NVT is highly underexplored. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the decision process and evaluation of NVTs by VCFs in the Nordic venture capital industry. Method: A qualitative method with an inductive approach conducted through semi-structured interviews with seven relevant industry professionals within the Nordic venture capital space. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the evaluation of NVTs follows a linear process of five sequential phases. Ten practical evaluation methods are identified as being used in the five phases of the process. The evaluation of specific NVT sub-criteria is found to be influenced by the availability of methods of evaluation in a respective phase of the process. Furthermore, it is found that the first phase of the process can only evaluate hard NVT sub-criteria, and that to evaluate soft sub-criteria, methods underlined by personal interaction between the two involved parties are necessary. The findings are synchronized into a framework depicting the dynamics of the NVT evaluation process and temporality of the NVT sub-criteria.

While finance has been studied for several years, behavioural finance, an area that studies how psychological influences can affect market outcomes, is still relatively new, and this subject remains wide open for greater exploration. Social media, which has experienced rapid growth and is now a fundamental part of everyday life, is recognized as key to predicting future outcomes, leading to several studies exploring this subject. Despite this, there is not a great deal of research on how the content on social media affects other real-life time-dependent events. This study addresses that concern while it also explores the field of behavioural finance. The research aims to study the impact of social media on investment decisions, focusing on the Swedish stock market. The study uses a quantitative method, and the data is collected from questionnaires designed through Google Forms, followed by an analysis using Microsoft Excel software. To have an improved grasp of the extent to which social media influences investment decisions and understand the elements of online social media and the depth of their involvement, we will break down this area into three dimensions, which will be assessed. The three dimensions of social media that will be examined are information from social media, online community behaviour, and firm image. This study's findings established a relationship between social media and investment decision, and these three independent variables positively correlate with the dependent variable (investment decision). In other words, the results of this study have proven that social media does have an impact on investment decisions. This study aims to contribute to literature for future financial research on a relevant topic that examines the effect of social networks on movement in capital markets.

The diploma thesis deals with the different ways of investment in Private Equity. The work is focused on investment decision making, investment process and due diligence. In the analytical part, the author evaluates the results of the questionnaire, which focuses on the factors of investment decision. Factors that investment decisions are divided into three categories examined by the author.

Bakgrund - Den finansiella sektorn har en viktig funktion i omställningen mot ett merhållbart samhälle, där institutionella investerare genom hållbara investeringar kan ha storbetydelse för den hållbara utvecklingen. Samtidigt har hållbarhet också fått en störrebetydelse för institutionella investerare i deras beslut om investeringar. Att göra enhållbarhetsbedömning av potentiella investeringsobjekt har därför blivit en vanligtförekommande handling under institutionella investerares investeringsbeslutsprocess. Syfte - Syftet med rapporten är att skapa förståelse för hur investerare i svenskainvestmentbolag och riskkapitalbolag bedömer företagets hållbarhet inför investeringsbeslut. Metod - Studiens empiriska material har insamlats genom kvalitativa semistruktureradeintervjuer med investerare i svenska investmentbolag och riskkapitalbolag. Därefter har entematisk analysmetod tillämpats för att identifiera, beskriva och analysera teman i detinsamlade empiriska materialet. Resultat - Studiens resultat har visat att det finns ett flertal hållbarhetsrelaterade faktorer somtas i beaktande vid investerares hållbarhetsbedömning av företag. Dessa faktorer är (1) Hållbarhetsengagemang hos portföljföretagets företrädare, (2) Portföljföretagets medvetenhetinom hållbarhetsområdet, (3) Portföljföretagets strategi kopplat till hållbarhet, (4) Portföljföretagets hållbarhetsrelaterade kommunikation, (5) Portföljföretagets internakompetens inom hållbarhetsområdet, (6) Hållbarhetsfunktionens placering i portföljföretaget, (7) Portföljföretagets egen riskbedömning med avseende på hållbarhet och (8) Efterföljandeav hållbarhetsrelaterade regleringar, internationella riktlinjer och certifieringar. Vidare harframkommit att investerare vid bedömningen av företagets hållbarhet tar hänsyn till olikaobjekts- och kontextberoende faktorer, såsom företagets ålder, mognad, storlek, land,branschtillhörighet och företagets riskfylldhet. Slutligen har studiens resultat visat attbetydelsen av hållbarhet i investerares investeringsbeslutsprocess i hög utsträckning skiljersig beroende på investerarens investeringshorisont, investeringsstrategi och tillvägagångssättför hållbara investeringar. Forskningsbegränsningar - Att den empiriska studien endast innefattar investerare i svenskainvestmentbolag och riskkapitalbolag, kan ses som en begränsning. Författarna gjorde dockett aktivt val att inrikta studien mot den svenska kontexten, vilket därmed innebär att deegenskaper som kännetecknar den svenska finansmarknaden, måste tas i beaktande i studiensresultat. Nyckelord - Institutionella investerare, Investeringsbeslutsprocess, Hållbara Investeringar,Signalering, Hållbarhetssignaler / Background - The financial sector has an important function in the transition towards a moresustainable society, where institutional investors through sustainable investments can have agreat impact on sustainable development. Sustainability has also become more important forinstitutional investors in their investment decisions. Making a sustainability assessment ofpotential investment objects has therefore become a common act during institutionalinvestors’ investment decision-making process. Purpose - The purpose of the report is to create an understanding of how investors in Swedish investment companies and venture capital companies assess the company’ssustainability before investment decisions. Method - The study’s empirical material has been collected through qualitativesemi-structured interviews with investors in Swedish investment companies and venturecapital companies. Further, a thematic analysis method has been applied to identify, describeand analyze themes in the collected empirical material. Findings - The results of the study have shown that there are several sustainability-relatedfactors that are taken into account when investors assess the sustainability of companies.These factors are (1) Sustainability commitment of the portfolio company’s representatives,(2) The awareness in the area of sustainability within the portfolio company, (3) The strategylinked to sustainability within the portfolio company, (4) The sustainability-relatedcommunication within the portfolio company, (5) The internal competence in the area ofsustainability within the portfolio company, (6) The location of the sustainability in theportfolio company, (7) The portfolio company’s own risk assessment with regard tosustainability and (8) Following sustainability-related regulations, international guidelinesand certifications. Furthermore, it has emerged that when assessing the company’ssustainability, investors take into account various object- and context-dependent factors, suchas the company’s age, maturity, size, country, industry and the company’s riskiness. Finally,the results of the study have shown that the importance of sustainability in investors’investment decision-making process differs to a large extent depending on the investor’sinvestment horizon, investment strategy and approach to sustainable investment. Research limitations - The fact that the empirical study only includes investors in Swedishinvestment companies and venture capital companies can be seen as a limitation. However,the authors made an active choice to focus the study on the Swedish context, which thusmeans that the characteristics that characterize the Swedish financial market must be takeninto account in the study's results. Keywords - Institutional Investors, Investment Decision Process, Sustainable Investments,Signaling, Sustainability Signals

Vid investeringar i komplexa projekt finns det många aspekter att ta hänsyn till och det finns många metoder för att kunna utvärdera dessa investeringar. Komplexa projekt som en överdäckning där nya ytor tillskapas och befintliga trafikleder byggs över genererar fler nyttor än bara ekonomiska. Vid investeringsbeslut är det därav av stor vikt att kunna värdera investeringen med hänsyn till de aspekter som är av intresse.Samhällsekonomisk analys är en metod som ofta förekommer vid investeringsbeslut där fler än bara ekonomiska aspekter ska inkluderas. Metoden är välkänd och förekommer både i den akademiska sfären men används även praktiskt bland företag. En annan metod, option games är en nyare metod där förankring finns i teorin men inte har tillämpats i lika hög grad i praktiken.Syftet med detta arbete är att jämföra två metoder, samhällsekonomisk analys och option games. Detta för att bedöma vilken av metoderna som lämpar sig bäst vid investeringsbeslut i komplexa projekt. De två metoderna kommer att utvärderas med hjälp av tre valda bedömningskriterier. Metoderna utvärderas på hur väl de tar hänsyn till antaganden och indata, deras applicerbarhet i den aktuella fallstudien och slutligen hur omfattande metoden är. Arbetet är genomfört som en fallstudie och har applicerats på överdäckningen av Stockholms centralstation.Resultatet visar att samhällsekonomisk analys överlag är bättre än option games som metod för att generera beslutsunderlag för investeringar vid komplexa projekt. Dock finns det aspekter som option games tar hänsyn till men som saknas i den samhällsekonomiska analysen. Känslighetsanalysen pekar ut kalkylräntan som den viktigaste parameter i de båda metoderna. / There are many aspects to consider when investing in complex projects and there exist several methods to evaluate those investments. Complex projects such as a decking over existing thoroughfares engender new areas that generate more utility than just economic. Therefore it is of great importance in case of investment decisions to evaluate the investment with regards to the aspects of interest.Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) is a method used in contexts where more than just the economic aspects are included in the investment decision. The method is well-known and appears in both the academic field and practical at companies. A different method, Option Games is newer and so far mainly applied theoretical and not used in daily practice yet.The aim with this paper is to compare the two methods, Cost Benefit Analysis and Option Games. The goal is to assess which of the two methods best includes the aspects of interest when considering investment decisions for complex projects. The methods will be evaluated based on three selected criteria. Firstly, assumptions and inputs of the two methods. Secondly, their applicability in the current case study and finally the scope of the methods. The paper is conducted as a case study applied on the planned over decking of Stockholm Central station.The result indicates Cost Benefit Analysis to be the preferable method compared to Option Games. Cost Benefit Analysis generates a better foundation when investing in complex projects. Nevertheless, Option Games does regard some aspects that are not considered in the Cost Benefit Analysis method. The most important parameter for both methods is the discount rate in relation to the implemented sensitivity analysis.

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Statligt investeringsstöd för hyresbostäder är ett rambegränsat produktionsstöd, som efter ansökan och beviljande av Länsstyrelsen kan betalas ut av Boverket till byggherrar av projekt som uppfyller vissa uppställda krav. Avsikten är att stimulera byggandet av hyresbostäder, ge sänkta byggkostnader och sedan komma hyresgäster till del genom relativt lägre hyra. Stöd får lämnas för att bygga hyresbostäder i områden med bostadsbrist, som i sin tur innebär en kategorisering av Sverige i FA-regioner kopplat till möjlig stöd- och hyresnivå. Sedan 1 februari 2020 gäller delvis nya reviderade bestämmelser som syftar till att göra investeringsstödet effektivare och mer ändamålsenligt. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur Det nya investeringsstödet genom Förordning (2016:881) används i FA-region Stockholm, hur det påverkar investeringsbeslut för projekt, samt har utformats i jämförelse med tidigare och liknande stöd. Studien utgår från kvalitativa metoder i form av litteratur- och dokumentstudier samt semistrukturerade intervjuer med 15 kommunala och privata bolag som förvaltar och utvecklar hyresbostäder i FA-region Stockholm.  Resultatet visar att antalet inkomna ansökningar för investeringsstöd har ökat sedan införandet av Det nya investeringsstödet, men endast en bråkdel av dessa har hunnit beviljas och utbetalas. Stödet har tidigare ifrågasatts, främst för att inte ha allokerats till marknader där bostadsbristen anses som störst, för att inte leda till en ökning av bostadsbyggandet utöver redan planerade projekt samt för att ha otillräckliga nivåer på bidrag och normhyra. Denna studie visar att effekten och nyttjandet av stödet är lägesberoende. Bostadsutvecklare avstår investeringsstöd i region Stockholm på marknader där efterfrågan tillåter högre hyra. Nivån på bidrag och normhyra anses överlag vara för låg och inte anpassad till övriga kostnadsfaktorer. Stödet anses dock emellertid vara en nyckelfaktor i utvecklingen av bostäder med lägre hyra i region Stockholms ytterområden eller i mer perifera lägen och den ekonomiska kompensationen kan då vara avgörande för existensen av dessa projekt. Investeringsstöd kan förbättra vakansrisk och belåningsgrad, öka konkurrenskraften och vara ett incitament för att minska energianvändningen i fastigheten. Standardiserade konstruktioner och ramavtal används ofta för att hålla ner produktionskostnader.   Beslut om investeringsstöd fattas vanligen utifrån en jämförelse mellan två investeringskalkyler, med och utan stöd. De kontextuella egenskaperna verkar huvudsakligen påverka bolagens beslut om stöd. Avgörande är ekonomiska, fysiska, sociala och politiska faktorer. Det uppfattas som om att bolagen tar rationella beslut genom avvägningar mellan kännbara utfall. Osäkerheter och brist på information, kan dock uppstå under ansöknings- och utbetalningsprocessen, vilket gör att alla konsekvenser av beslutet inte kan förutses. De kommunala bolagen ställs inför mer motstridiga intressen än de privata, men mål och affärsidé stämmer vanligen bättre överens med stödets syfte. Investeringsstödets bestämmelser anses ha utvecklats utifrån bostadspolitiska mål, efterfrågan av hyresbostäder liksom att fungera som ett verktyg för att ställa motkrav på den som vill ta del av stödet. Bestämmelser har förändrats för att passa rådande bostadsmarknad, EU-lagstiftning och skiftande politiska målsättningar samt förbättra social sammanhållning och miljö- och hållbarhetsaspekter. Fortsatt gynnas små bostäder av stödet även om lagstiftaren försökt styra stödet till att skapa en större blandning av lägenhetsstorlekar. En större förskjutning av tillgängliga medel till storstadsregionerna verkar ha givit visst utslag i antalet beviljanden, men än efterfrågar bostadsutvecklare en större differentiering av stödets bidrag och normhyresnivå.  Studiens slutsatser visar att de faktorer som är avgörande för beslutet om att söka investeringsstöd huvudsakligen är ekonomiska, lägesmässiga och projektspecifika. I FA-region Stockholm nyttjas stödet framförallt i områden där betalningsviljan ligger i linje med normhyresnivån för stödet. / The state investment aid for rental housing is a production support, which after application and approval by the County Administrative Board can be paid by the National Board of Housing, Building, and Planning to developers of projects that fulfill a certain set of requirements. The state allocates a certain amount of money to the aid annually. The purpose of the ordinance is to stimulate the construction of rental accommodations by financing a share of the construction costs which will then benefit the tenants through relatively lower rents. Support may be provided to the constructions of affordable rental accommodations in areas with housing shortages. The maximum amount of support that may be granted and the maximum rental level that may be charged for, are differentiated by functional analysis region (FA regions). Investment aid was introduced in the early 2000s but several amendments have been incorporated over the years. Since 1 February 2020, partly newly revised regulations apply which aim to make investment support more efficient and effective. The purpose of this study is to investigate how The new investment aid through Ordinance (2016: 881) is used in FA region of Stockholm, how it affects investment decisions for projects, and finally, how it is developed in comparison with previous and similar support. The study is based on qualitative methods such as literature and document studies as well as semi-structured interviews with 15 municipally owned companies as well as private companies that manage and develop rental housing in the FA region of Stockholm. The results show that the number of received applications for investment aid has increased since the introduction of The new state investment aid, but only a fraction of these have been granted and paid. Of previous evaluations, the support has been questioned for not being allocated to markets where the housing shortage is the greatest, the level of the maximum rent and support that can be granted, and whether the aid really leads to an increase in housing constructions in addition to already planned projects. This study shows that the effect and use of the support is situation-dependent. Housing developers refrain from investment support in the Stockholm region in markets where demand allows for higher rents. The level of the support and the rent are considered to be too low and not adapted to other cost factors in the market. However, the aid is considered to be a key factor in the development of affordable housing and financial compensation has been essential for the existence of certain projects, mainly located in the outer edges of the region and in more peripheral areas. Investment support can improve vacancy risk and loan-to-value ratio, increase competitiveness and be an incentive to reduce the building’s energy consumption. Standardized constructions or framework agreements are commonly used to keep production costs down. Decisions on whether to apply for support or not are usually based on a comparison between two investment analyzes, with and without support. The contextual characteristics seem to mainly influence the companies' decision on investment aid. Economic, physical, social, and political factors are decisive. It is perceived that companies make rational decisions through trade-offs between tangible outcomes. Uncertainties and lack of information, however, can arise during the application and payment process, which means that not all consequences of the decision can be forecasted. The municipal companies are faced with more conflicts of interest than the private ones, but their goal and business concept usually correspond better with the purpose of the aid.  The requirements of the investment aid are considered to have developed based on housing policy goals, the demand for rental accommodation, and improving the energy consumption in the real estate market. The Ordinance has been developed to conform with the prevailing housing market, EU legislation, and changing policies, as well as to improve social cohesion and environmental and sustainability aspects. Small apartments still benefit from the support, even though the legislator has tried to steer the support to create a larger mix of apartment sizes. A larger shift in available funds to the metropolitan regions seems to have had a limited effect, in terms of the number of grants. However, housing developers are still demanding a greater differentiation of the maximum rent level and support. The conclusion of this study shows that the factors that are decisive for the decision to apply for investment aid are mainly financial, situational, and project-specific. In the FA region of Stockholm, the support is used primarily in areas where the willingness to pay conforms with the maximum rental level for the support.

Real estate professionals, such as investors, owner-occupants, and lenders who are involved in the investment decision-making process are increasingly interested in sustainability and energy efficiency investment. However, current tools and techniques, both technical and financial, typically used for assessing sustainability on their own are unable to provide comprehensive and reliable financial information required for making high-quality investment decisions. Sustainability investment often includes non-cost benefits, value implications, as well as substantial risk and uncertainty that current methods do not simultaneously incorporate in their assessment process. Through a combined quantitative and qualitative approach, this research creates a new systematic assessment process to consider both cost and non-cost savings and therefore the true financial performance of a set of sustainable options in the context of value and risk, while explicitly deriving and including various uncertainties inherent in the process. The framework integrates assessment tools of technical decision-makers with those of investment decision-makers into a single platform to improve the quality of financial performance projections, and therefore, investment decisions concerning sustainable options in real estate. A case study is then conducted to test and demonstrate the numeric application of the proposed framework in the context of a non-green office building. The case study presents how to connect the technical outcomes to financial inputs, present the information, and estimate the true financial performance of a green retrofit option, where incremental value and uncertainty have been modeled and included. Three levels of financial analysis are performed to estimate the distribution of financial outcomes including: 1) Cost-based level-1: only energy related costs savings were considered; 2) Cost-based level-2: the non-energy cost savings, including heath and productivity, were also considered; and 3) Value-based level: the value implications of the green retrofit option were considered in addition to items in level 2. As a result of applying the proposed framework when evaluating sustainability investment options, many investment opportunities that were otherwise ignored may be realized, and therefore, the breadth and depth of sustainability investment in real estate will increase. / Ph. D.

This study is within the field of impact investments. Impact investors relates to a twofold requirement of both financial return and positive impact from investments. The purpose of this study is to investigate how impact investors assess impact in their investment evaluation processes and how impact is aligned with the requirement on financial return. Literature have addressed the problem of assessing and quantifying impact, but it fails to tell us how impact is incorporated in the pre-investment evaluation of different investment opportunities. The field of impact investments is increasing in popularity among investors and through a qualitative study based on eight semi-structured interviews with impact investors in Sweden, we try to gain insight in how they address the twofold incentive of both financial return and impact.Our findings show that impact investors apply similar evaluation processes as mainstream venture capitalists with the additional assessment of social impact. We find that investors approach the impact assessment in different ways and that there are split views on the ability of measuring impact in the pre-investment phase. The task of combining the financial measurements with impact is found to be challenging due to the contradicting characteristics of the two, as well as the difficulty of measuring social impact. Often the impact aspect is integrated as a pre-investment evaluation “gate”, where a subjective assessment is central. We contribute to literature by addressing the identified research gap and we aim to contribute to social entrepreneurs’ understanding of how investors relate to impact in their investment decision making processes.