Inför ett företagsförvärv måste potentiella köpare göra en undersökning av det aktuella företaget. Denna process kallas för Due Diligence och syftar till att minska informationsasymmetrin mellan säljare och köpare. I denna uppsats beskrivs hur köpare genom Due Diligence kan identifiera och värdera det som döljer sig i informationsasymmetrin. Studien är genomförd som en tvärsnittsstudie bestående av personliga intervjuer med tre företagsförmedlare och sju aktörer som varit delaktiga vid företagsförvärv. Slutsatserna är att köparnas beteende huvudsakligen stämmer överens med teorin. Respondenterna förespråkar tillämpningen av Due Diligence, men processens omfattning och kunskapen kring den varierar. Den faktor som kan vara avgörande för en lyckad respektive misslyckad Due Diligence är köparens förståelse för sina egna begränsningar samt förmågan att ta hjälp av andra specialister under de områden som hen inte klarar av på egen hand. Företagsförmedlare, revisorer och jurister kan därför ha en stor betydelse för processens genomförande. Det finns områden som respondenterna väljer att studera särskilt noga under Due Diligence. Gemensamt för samtliga respondenter är att de studerar årsredovisningar. Andra områden varierar beroende på de involverades erfarenheter och berör bland annat företagskultur,externa relationer, kapacitetsutnyttjande och miljöfrågor. Tack vare den omfattande och i huvudsak goda användningen av Due Diligence kan det anses att det inte föreligger ett generellt marknadsmisslyckande på företagsmarknaden, trots att vissa överlåtelser är mindre lyckade. / Prior to acquisitions, potential investors must conduct a survey on the company of interest. This process is called Due Diligence and it aims to reduce the asymmetric information between sellers and investors. This essay describes how investors through Due Diligence canidentify and evaluate the information hidden within the asymmetric information. The study is conducted as a cross-sectional study consisting of personal interviews with three business brokers and seven actors who have participated in business transfers. The conclusions are that buyers’ behavior in general are consistent with the theoretical framework. All respondents recommend using Due Diligence, but the scope and knowledgeof the process differs. The factor that can be crucial for a successful or unsuccessful Due Diligence is the investors’ understanding of their own limitations and the ability to enlist thehelp from other specialists in the fields they cannot manage on their own. Consultants such as business brokers, accountants and lawyers are therefore of great importance for Due Diligence. There are some areas that the respondents choose to study with particular care during DueDiligence. The one area that is common to all respondents is the investigation of the data contained in Annual Reports. Other areas vary depending on the investors experiences and among others include the corporate culture, external relations, capacity utilization and environmental issues. Thanks to the extensive and overall good use of Due Diligence, it can be considered that thereis no general market failure in the corporate market, although some transfers are less successful.

Denna studies syfte är att undersöka tilliten på nätauktionshemsidorna. Tillit i denna studie ärrelaterat till informationen som finns tillgänglig om användarna. Detta innebär att ominformationen om användarna är få eller inte tillgänglig är minskas tilliten och saknad av tillitskapas. Denna studie är baserad på ett dataunderlag bestående av 100 användare, 50användare från den internationella auktionshemsidan eBay och 50 användare från denskandinaviska auktionshemsidan Tradera.Den teoretiska referensramen i denna studie baseras på Akerlofs teori ”Market for Lemons”,som beskriver hur avsaknad av information används för att skapa en marknad för ”lemons”,detta innebär att säljare med dåliga produkter slår ut säljare med bra produkter från enmarknad och en marknad med dåliga produkter skapas för att informationen inte är tillgängligför köparna.Undersökningen visar att det finns gott om information om varje användare. Informationen ärdetaljerat och sträcker sig till när användaren skapade sitt konto. Köpare och säljare har enmöjlighet att lämna ett omdöme vid avslutat transaktion i enlighet hur de upplevde auktionen.Detta omdöme kan varken ändras eller raderas. Omdömen skapar tillit; om en säljare har ettlågt omdöme kan man inte lita på att de fullföljer sina auktioner. Tilliten i undersökningen varexceptionellt högt. Ingen av användarna i dataunderlaget hade en feedback som understeg90%; detta innebär att åtminstone 90% av alla auktioner var av positiv karaktär och att bådesäljaren och köparen var nöjda med sina transaktioner. Undersökningen visar också att mångaanvändare på eBay bedriver någon form av verksamhet. Mer än hälften av användarna idataunderlaget hade en butik på eBay och sålde både nya och begagnade föremål.Slutsatsen från denna undersökning är att informationen om varje användare är tillräckligt föratt föra bort dåliga säljare från auktionsmarknaden och behålla de bra säljarna. Detta leder tillen hög tillitsnivå hos användarna på både eBay och Tradera. / The aim of this study is to investigate trust in auction sites. Trust in this study is related to theinformation available about the users, this means if the information about the users is scarcethe trust is lowered and mistrust is created. The study is based on dataset collected from 100users, 50 users from the international auction site eBay and 50 from the Scandinavian auctionsite Tradera.The theoretical framework of the study is based on Akerlof’s theory “Market for Lemons”,which describes how the lack of information is used to create a market for lemons, that is,sellers with bad products pushing out sellers with good products from the market and a marketfor bad products are created because the information is hidden from the buyers.The investigation shows that there is a lot of information about each user. The information isdetailed and can be traced back to when the user first created the account. Buyers and sellershave the opportunity to leave feedback of the transaction according to their own experience;this feedback can’t in turn be erased or changed. The feedback creates the base of trust; if aseller has low feedback they can’t be trusted to fulfill their transactions. Trust in theinvestigated users was exceptionally high. None of the users in the dataset had a feedbackbelow 90%; this means at least 90% of all the transactions were positive and the seller andbuyer were satisfied with the transaction; that is the information provided by the seller wastruthfully. The investigation also shows that many users on eBay are conducting a form ofbusiness enterprise. More than half of the users in the dataset have a “store” on eBay and usethe store to sell both new and used products.The conclusion from the investigation is that the information about each user is sufficient toscreen out bad sellers, or the lemons, from the auction market and only keep the good sellers.This in turn leads to a high trust level among the users at both eBay and Tradera.

Entrepreneurship is a key factor for economic growth and has been a famous and controversial subject for long. However, the creation of innovations for small and medium sized businesses is limited when there is a finance gap in the market, based on the difference between the observed and desired debt. In recent years, it has emerged an alternative financing; crowdfunding, which can help and reduce the problems of the current finance gap. This qualitative study aims to describe the term, crowdfunding, and explore opportunities for crowdfunding in the future development as an alternative financing. To fulfill the purpose of the study, 15 interviews were conducted. This has provided the study with the necessary depth of knowledge to answer the research questions; How can the future of crowdfunding become on the Swedish market? When can crowdfunding be preferable over other forms of financing? How can crowdfunding help to reduce the financing gap? The theoretical framework was created before the empirical data collection and became the basis for the study's development. The chapter includes a description of the crowdfunding other financing options, the financial gap and previous empirical studies. Further analyzed the empirical data collected by connecting to the theoretical framework, which led the researchers to the following conclusions; the future prospects of crowdfunding is good when the financing form provides benefits that can not be achieved at other financing options. The factor that should decide a company's choice of financing is not the specific options. The company should instead consider which stage they find themselves in and take decisions based on that. Crowdfunding contributes to an increased supply of financing, which reduces the financing gap. The study shows, however, that action similar to increasing public awareness of crowdfunding and tax benefits may increase the contribution further. / Entreprenörskap är en viktig faktor för den ekonomiska tillväxten och har länge varit ett känt och omdiskuterat ämne. Dock är små och medelstora företags skapande av innovationer begränsad då det råder ett finansieringsgap på marknaden, vilket grundar sig på skillnaden mellan observerad och önskad skuldsättning. Under de senaste åren har det dock växt fram en alternativ finansieringsform; crowdfunding, som kan bidra till att minska problematiken över det rådande finansieringsgapet. Den här kvalitativa studie syftar till att beskriva begreppet crowdfunding samt se till möjligheterna för crowdfundingens framtida utveckling som en alternativ finansieringsform. För att uppfylla studiens syfte genomfördes 15 intervjuer. Det här gav den kunskapsbredd som krävdes för att besvara de frågeställningar som låg till grund för studien; Hur kan framtiden för crowdfunding se ut på den svenska marknaden? När kan crowdfunding vara att föredra framför andra finansieringsformer? På vilket sätt kan crowdfunding bidra till att minska finansieringsgapet? Den teoretiska referensramen skapades inför den empiriska insamlingen av data och utgjorde därav grunden till studiens uppbyggnad. Kapitlet omfattar en beskrivning av crowdfunding, andra finansieringsalternativ, det finansiella gapet samt tidigare empiriska undersökningar. Vidare analyserades den empiriska data som samlats in genom att återkoppla till den teoretiska referensramen, vilket ledde författarna fram till följande slutsatser; framtidsutsikterna för crowdfunding är god då finansieringsformen innebär fördelar som inte kan uppnås vid andra finansieringsalternativ. Den faktor som skall styra ett företags val av finansieringsform är inte de specifika alternativen utan i vilket stadie företaget befinner sig i. Crowdfunding bidrar till ett ökat utbud av finansiering, vilket minskar finansieringsgapet. Studien visar dock på att åtgärder liknande allmän höjd medvetenhet gällande crowdfunding samt skattefördelar kan öka crowdfundingens bidrag ytterligare.

One of the main factors that spurred the 2008 financial crisis was the trading of securitized products without a clear understanding of the risks that those products bore. I argue that an appropriate regime of mandatory disclosure is the primary instrument regulators should refer to in order to correct the informational asymmetries that are present in the market for securities products. Subsequently, I take into consideration the CSA proposed legislation for the mandatory disclosure of securitized products and analyze its main components under the light of the principles of investor protection and market efficiency. I find that the new legislation should be welcome by market operators because it is a good balancing effort between the necessity to protect the investors and fostering the efficiency of the market.

One of the main factors that spurred the 2008 financial crisis was the trading of securitized products without a clear understanding of the risks that those products bore. I argue that an appropriate regime of mandatory disclosure is the primary instrument regulators should refer to in order to correct the informational asymmetries that are present in the market for securities products. Subsequently, I take into consideration the CSA proposed legislation for the mandatory disclosure of securitized products and analyze its main components under the light of the principles of investor protection and market efficiency. I find that the new legislation should be welcome by market operators because it is a good balancing effort between the necessity to protect the investors and fostering the efficiency of the market.

This thesis analyses the commercial relations between Scotland and the geo-political area known as the Iberian world in the early modern period. Despite being geographically one of the largest areas of Europe, as well as arguably the politically most weighty, there has, until this thesis, been no scholarly research on Scottish trade relations with this area. Though the archives suggest regular and sustained contact, very little is known about Scottish-Iberian connections beyond the overtly political. When compared to northern Europe the region of Iberia and its dominions differed significantly, not only due to a different branch of Christianity being practised there but also due to the influence of the Habsburg empire and the power it was perceived to give the Spanish Habsburgs. Looking predominantly at Scottish commercial contacts with Spain, the Spanish Netherlands and Portugal, this project considers a number of angles such as England's impact on Scottish commercial relations with Iberia. For example, very little would be known about Scottish commercial relations with Iberia in the late-sixteenth century if it were not for the Anglo-Spanish war of that period. The central role of conflict in Scottish-Iberian relations continues into the seventeenth century, with the Cromwellian/Stuart struggles with the Dutch Republic and later disputes between the new state of Great Britain and Habsburg Spain all affecting trade. This thesis demonstrates the important role of triangular and entrepôt trade, which was popular with Scottish merchants who wished to obtain Iberian goods without the risks of sailing into North African corsair territory. Scots did not merely pick up Iberian goods from the entrepôt markets of London and the Dutch Republic they also organised trade to Iberia and its dominions via other Scots, providing evidence of a complex trade network. Further, this thesis has sought to ascertain that, despite the lack of a large Scottish community such as those seen in Poland-Lithuania and Scandinavia, Scottish commercial relations with Iberia were valuable both to the Scottish economy and its merchants. This thesis which continues the work of the Scotland and the Wider World Project, addresses a lack of scholarly work regarding Scottish commercial connections with this key geo-political area.

3 pp. / Citrus budding is a plant propagation technique that any homeowner can do. Once the technique is learned, homeowners can add citrus tree. This publication addresses the budding techniques of citrus trees. Topics include the preparation prior to budding, selecting budsticks, storing budsticks, selecting and preparing the budding location, cutting the bud, inserting the bud in the t cut, and forcing the bud.

The Lemon Tree is a collection of poems that arose from my attempt to capture memories of influential experiences in growing up. The poems are written in prose blocks and move in and out of childlike and adult sensibilities, creating the disillusion of time and memory. The poems themselves are comments on the unreliability and limited scope of memory and compare remembrance to dreams. This suggests that time moves more fluidly than the waking world accepts. Through looking back, through prisms, the speaker remembers experiences that impacted her development as we follow her on a journey to coming-of-age. The Lemon Tree grapples with becoming and expressing her female fertility and growth as a woman. The speaker constantly searches for love in places of religion, marriage, romantic relationships and friendships. At times, the poems decide what love is by what it isn’t. The act of creating itself was the aim of the manuscript more than the finished project. Some remembrances are intentionally left unclear and messy like wild weeds. The poems are confessional and bear resemblances to a memoir in a lyrical fashion. The Lemon Tree focuses on the processes of life: both the barren and the abundance of fruit, light and dark, winter and summer. The speaker tries to resolve the binaries of trauma and of love and in the process, finds her identity as seen through the symbol of The Lemon Tree, which ultimately becomes her personal tree of life.

Darbo tikslas: Citrusinių vaisių, skirtinguose prekybos centruose, kokybinių rodiklių palyginimas. Darbo uždaviniai: Išanalizuoti ir apibendrinti mokslinę literatūrą apie citrusinių vaisių kokybinių rodiklių kitimą laikymo metu. Susipažinti su citrusinių vaisių ėminių ėmimo metodika. Nustatyti citrusinių vaisių kokybinius rodiklius. Apibendrinti tyrimų rezultatus ir pateikti išvadas. Išvados: Tyrimo metu didžiausiomis citrinomis 151,8 g buvo prekiauta Maxima prekybos centruose, kurių kilmės šalis buvo Graikija. Didžiausiu sultingumu 44,9 proc. pasižymėjo Iki prekybos centruose parduodamos citrinos, kurios buvo mažiausios 94,9 g. Didžiausiais apelsinais 404,5 g buvo prekiauta Maxima prekybos centruose, tuo tarpu sultingumas didžiausias nustatytas 45,9 proc. Iki prekybos centruose parduodamais apelsinais, kurių kilmės šalis buvo Ispanija. Mandarinai didžiausi buvo parduodami Maxima prekybos centruose, kurių svoris buvo 62,0 g, kilmės šalis Italija. Sultingiausiais mandarinais buvo prekiaujama Iki prekybos centruose, jų sulčių kiekis nustatytas 52,4 proc. kilmės šalis Ispanija. Tyrimo metu didžiausi greipfrutai buvo parduodami Maxima prekybos centruose, jų svoris 493,0 g, tačiau sultingiausi buvo parduodami Prisma prekybos centruose, jų sulčių kiekis nustatytas 44,6 proc. kilmės šalis Graikija. Bendra išvada: Tyrimų metu nustatyta, kad citrusiniai vaisiai (apelsinai, citrinos, mandarinai), kurių kilmės šalis buvo Ispanija, pasižymėjo didžiausiu sultingumu, tačiau jie buvo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim: The comparison of qualitative index of citrus fruits in different supermarkets. The goals of the work: To analyze and summarize scientific literature about changes of qualitative index of citrus fruits during their storage; to have a look at techniques of taking samples from citrus fruits; to determine qualitative indexes of citrus fruits; to generalize the results of the research and to make the conclusions. Conclusions: The biggest lemons that were being sold at “Maxima” supermarkets during the research weighted 151.8 g, they were from Greece. The juiciest (44.9%) lemons were being sold at “Iki” supermarkets, but they were also the smallest ones (94.9 g). The biggest oranges were found at “Maxima” supermarkets (404.5 g); whereas the juiciest ones (45.9%) were from Spain and they were being sold at “Iki” supermarkets. The biggest tangerines that were being sold at “Iki” supermarkets weighted 62.0 g, they were from Italy. The juiciest (52.4%) tangerines observed were being sold at “Iki” supermarkets and they were from Spain. The biggest grapefruits that were being sold at “Maxima” supermarkets during the research weighted 493.0 g, but the juiciest ones were bought from “Prisma” supermarket, with the highest amount of juice 44.6%; they were from Greece. The main conclusion: It was found during the research that citrus fruits (oranges, lemons and tangerines) from Spain were the juiciest; nevertheless, they were also the smallest ones compared to others from different... [to full text]

Relative used capital price, the measure of irreversibility, is fixed in almost all the investment literature. This dissertation introduces investment models with state-dependent irreversibility and tests whether these models outperform fixed irreversibility cases, at both the macro and micro levels. Since there is currently no historical data available on the issue of used capital prices, the first chapter uses an indirect inference procedure to estimate the cyclical property of irreversibility at the micro-level. In the second chapter, I propose a dynamic investment model with endogenous irreversibility arising from the lemons problem in the used capital market and examine the cyclical implication of irreversibility. Data evidence shows that capital reallocation, or used capital expenditure, is pro-cyclical. In a general equilibrium framework, the third chapter reveals that the investment model with state-dependent irreversibility explains this phenomenon while the model with fixed irreversibility does not. / text