abstract: There has been much debate in the world of academia over the valuation of conglomerates. This thesis proposes the use of the EVA theory in explaining fluctuations in conglomerates’ valuation, and we believe that ROIC, WACC, and ROIC-WACC are three indicators that to a certain extent explain these valuation fluctuations. Through analysis of a sample containing 23 conglomerates, this thesis finds that ROIC, WACC, and ROIC-WACC exhibit positive correlation with valuation fluctuations. In the case study on Fosun, this thesis finds that ROIC-WACC is highly correlated with Fosun’s valuation fluctuations and next with ROIC. Thus this thesis conjectures that for investment companies for which investment capital is derived largely from insurance float, such as Fosun, ROIC-WACC is a better valuation tool. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2015

Economic Value Added ¡]EVA¡^to be a business performace indicator popularly. It surveys business¡¦ ability of value creation through tranditional accounting net income and capital opportunity cost. In this study, I focus on IC Design industries¡¦ performance by EVA and use ten years data to examine it. The study purposes as below, A. Does Taiwan IC Design Industry owns ability of value creation for share owners ? B. Find out the factors of Taiwan IC Design Industry¡¦s performance. C. Comment on Taiwan IC Design Industry¡¦s performance in various sub-industries D. Does Taiwan IC Design Industry exist variation in various sub-industries ? E. Find out which sub-industry owns the best efficiency and the lowest volatility in the meanwhile. F. Find out the factors of Taiwan IC Design Industry¡¦s ability of value creation. The study finding as below, A. The standard deviation and quartile deviation of Taiwan IC Design Industry are uniformity and it is implying that the normal distribution and probability distribution are similar. B. About 80% of EVA-Spread of Taiwan IC Design companies are positive, it implies that the ability of value creation of Taiwan IC Design Industry is very well. C. According to evidence-based data, the WACC of Taiwan IC Design Industry is influenced by the cost of equity capital. D. The ROIC of Taiwan IC Design Industry is influenced by Taiwan Semi-conductor Inductry¡¦s ROIC and the real GDP growth rate of Hongkong, China and South Korea. E. The capital turnover of Taiwan IC Design Industry does not link with the ROIC of Taiwan IC Design Industry. F. According to evidence-based data, the variation is exist between Taiwan IC Design Sub-industries. G. The result of regression analysis that past years Invested Capital Growth Rate of sub-industries to be independent variable and EVA-Spreads to be dependent variable implys that the EVA-Spread of Taiwan IC Design Industry is not effected by Invested Capital Growth Rate, then we know that Invested Capital is not the main factor of value creation of Taiwan IC Design Industry. H. The Capital Turnover Rate and the Return Rate of EBIT is the main factors of ROIC, they effected the sub-industries by different levels.

Value creation in any stock market is a highly discussed topic with an abundant amount of generalized models aiming to predict future returns. Although no such tool exists yet there are, however, acknowledged models from peer-reviewed journals that have received a lot of attention over the years in examining company performance. This thesis is therefore built on the well-known Fama-French three-factor model. The original Fama-French three-factor model is extended by adding a new size premium and a new value premium, both based upon the spread between the return on invested capital (ROIC) – the weighted average cost of capital (WACC). The purpose of this is to make the returns of a portfolio account for cash flow and debt on top of risk, size, and value premium for a company. This thesis finds that the ROIC-WACC spread adds explanatory power to the existing Fama and French three-factor model on the Swedish stock market. The research method of this study is quantitative and deductive. The considered period is six years between the years 2014 and 2020.

abstract: Readout Integrated Circuits(ROICs) are important components of infrared(IR) imag ing systems. Performance of ROICs affect the quality of images obtained from IR imaging systems. Contemporary infrared imaging applications demand ROICs that can support large dynamic range, high frame rate, high output data rate, at low cost, size and power. Some of these applications are military surveillance, remote sensing in space and earth science missions and medical diagnosis. This work focuses on developing a ROIC unit cell prototype for National Aeronautics and Space Ad ministration(NASA), Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s(JPL’s) space applications. These space applications also demand high sensitivity, longer integration times(large well capacity), wide operating temperature range, wide input current range and immunity to radiation events such as Single Event Latchup(SEL). This work proposes a digital ROIC(DROIC) unit cell prototype of 30ux30u size, to be used mainly with NASA JPL’s High Operating Temperature Barrier Infrared Detectors(HOT BIRDs). Current state of the art DROICs achieve a dynamic range of 16 bits using advanced 65-90nm CMOS processes which adds a lot of cost overhead. The DROIC pixel proposed in this work uses a low cost 180nm CMOS process and supports a dynamic range of 20 bits operating at a low frame rate of 100 frames per second(fps), and a dynamic range of 12 bits operating at a high frame rate of 5kfps. The total electron well capacity of this DROIC pixel is 1.27 billion electrons, enabling integration times as long as 10ms, to achieve better dynamic range. The DROIC unit cell uses an in-pixel 12-bit coarse ADC and an external 8-bit DAC based fine ADC. The proposed DROIC uses layout techniques that make it immune to radiation up to 300krad(Si) of total ionizing dose(TID) and single event latch-up(SEL). It also has a wide input current range from 10pA to 1uA and supports detectors operating from Short-wave infrared (SWIR) to longwave infrared (LWIR) regions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Electrical Engineering 2019

The organizational structure is unquestionably a very important managerial tool for firms. Based on the purpose of the structure, it has a large influence on how the operation of the firm is performed, which can create incentives for picking the most suitable one. According to the contingency theory, there is no best option, the most suitable structure is dependent on contextual factors in each individual case. Contrary, previous studies have shown that organizational structure has significant influence on the performance and even certain types of structures.There is currently a research gap regarding if certain types of structures could lead to better financial performances. This quantitative study was conducted using a positivistic paradigm, with a deductive approach. 216 companies were analyzed and two-sample t- tests were conducted to test the data. The divisional, functional, hierarchical, horizontal, and matrix organizational structures have been used and the financial performance measures Return on Assets, Return on Equity, and Return on Invested Capital. Industry and country have been used as descriptive variables.By conducting a MANOVA test the first research question was answered, “Does the organizational structure influence the firm’s financial performance?”, the results were insignificant, the organizational structure does not influence the firm’s financial performance. This question provided an aggregated view of the influence of structures while the second question was aimed to provide a decomposed view by looking closer at the influence of the structures against each other.To answer the second research question, “Is there a certain organizational structure that has a higher influence on the firm’s financial performance?”, several two-sample t-tests were conducted. The results from the two-sample t-tests show that there is a significant difference in the Return on Assets when using a divisional structure rather than a matrix structure and that there is a significant difference on the Return on Equity when using a functional structure rather than a divisional structure and when using a hierarchical structure rather than a divisional structure. To summarize, the result of this study aligns with the contingency theory, the best structure is very much a personal choice for each organization and should not be chosen by financial interests.

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Bakgrund Hållbarhet är ett ämne som fått en central roll i dagens samhälle, inte minst inomföretagsvärlden. I och med att förväntningarna på dagens företag ökar när det kommertill att ta ett större samhällsansvar, följer därmed ökade åtaganden inom hållbarhet förföretag. Kunskapsläget vad gäller relationen mellan CSR och lönsamhet är idag splittrat.Tidigare studier har presenterat positiva, negativa såväl som neutrala samband varpå detär av hög relevans för fortsatt utveckling av kunskapsläget. Denna studie kommerav världens mest hållbara länder. Syfte Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilken påverkan svenska företags arbete medCorporate Social Responsibility, har på lönsamhet. Metod Studien tillämpar en kvantitativ metod och utgår från en positivistisk forskningsfilosofimed en hypotetisk-deduktiv ansats. Studien är en tvärsnittsstudie och har genomförtsmed hjälp av en surveyundersökning där informationen om företags arbete med CSRsamlats in med hjälp av enkäter. Vidare har sekundärdata i form av årsredovisningaranvänts för att beräkna nyckeltalen ROA, ROE och ROIC. Studien har använt godtagenmetod för analyserna genom bland annat stöd i tidigare forskning och med hjälp avstatistikprogrammet Minitab. Resultat & slutsats tudiens resultat visar på både positiva, negativa och neutrala samband mellan de fyradimensionerna av CSR och lönsamhetsmåtten ROA, ROE och ROIC. Framför allt stacktvå resultat ut, vilka var H4 och H12, där positiva samband mellan den diskretionäradimensionen och lönsamhet mätt i ROA och ROIC kunde påvisas. Vidare kunde ävennegativa samband påvisas, dock med en låg förklaringsgrad varpå resultatet inte mednågon större säkerhet kunde styrkas. Sammantaget kan studien påvisa att företags arbetemed den diskretionära dimensionen i genomsnitt påverkar företags lönsamhet positivt.Svaret på frågan om vilken påverkan svenska företags arbete med CSR har pålönsamhet kan därför sammanfattas i att olika aktiviteter har olika effekt. Däremot drarstudien slutsatsen att företags diskretionära aktiviteter, såsom att skänka pengar tillvälgörenhet, har en positiv påverkan på lönsamhet och därför något som företag börfortsätta med då det gynnar både företaget och samhället i stort. / Background Sustainability has become a central role in today's society, not least in the companyworld. However, there are divided opinions about the view on Corporate SocialResponsibility. Some argue that companies need to divide their attention to all of theirstakeholders. Others argue that Corporate Social Responsibility does not go along withcompanies main task, which is to produce and generate maximum profit and in that waybe beneficial to society by offering more jobs, which in turn leads to more tax revenueand in the long run contributes to society. Previous research on the impact of CSRprofitability presents results pointing in different directions. Positive, negative as well asneutral impact has been demonstrated. This study will therefore examon profitability in the swedish context as Sweden has shown to be one of the world'smost sustainable countries. Purpose The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of Swedish companies' work withCorporate Social Responsibility on profitability. Method The study applies a quantitative method and is based on a positivistic researchphilosophy with a hypothetico-deductive approach. The study is a cross-sectional studyand has been carried out with the help of a survey where the information aboutcompanies' work with CSR was collected with the help of questionnaires. Furthermore,secondary data has been retrieved from annual reports which have been used tocalculate the key figures ROA, ROE and ROIC. The study used an accepted method forthe analysis through the use of previous studies and with the help of the statisticsprogram Minitab. Result & conclusion The study's result points toward positive, negative as well as neutral relationshipsbetween the four dimensions of CSR and the key figures ROA, ROE and ROIC. Inparticular, two results stood out, which were H4 and H12, where a positive relationbetween the discretionary dimension and profitability measured in ROA and ROICcould be demonstrated. Furthermore, negative relationships could also be demonstrated,albeit with a low degree of explanation. All in all, the study can show that thediscretionary dimension has a positive effect on companies' profitability. The otherindicators cannot prove the opposite with certainty. The answer to the question of whatimpact Swedish companies' work with CSR has on profitability can therefore besummarized in the fact that different activities have different effects. However, thestudy concludes that companies' discretionary activities, such as donating money tocharity, have a positive impact on profitability and therefore something that companiesshould continue with as it benefits both the company and society at large.

En el Perú existe un alto número de empresas familiares de primera generación las cuales no se encuentran preparadas para dar el siguiente paso, que es el de pasar a la segunda generación, por diversos motivos, siendo uno de los principales la falta de conocimiento respecto al impacto que tiene en su empresa el no realizar buenas prácticas empresariales definidas como un buen gobierno corporativo. Esto se vuelve una oportunidad dado que estas empresas familiares tienen un sólido crecimiento en el nivel de ventas, pero un bajo nivel de gestión de los diversos indicadores, por tanto, en esta investigación se tiene como objetivo determinar cómo impacta la implementación de indicadores de gestión en la generación de valor, con el fin de poder demostrar que esto genera un retorno para los inversionistas (familia). El estudio es de tipo descriptivo y se utilizó una empresa familiar peruana dedicada al rubro hospitalario con una sólida relación comercial con clientes y proveedores, pero con poco nivel de profesionalización en el control de sus indicadores y establecimiento de metas diferente al incremento de venta y margen bruto, para lo cual se ha planteado el desarrollado de indicadores de gestión que permitan generar un impacto en la generación de valor de la empresa, para lo cual se ha desarrollo un modelo financiero basado en el EVA (Valor económico agregado). / In Peru there is a high number of family’s companies of first quality which are not prepared to follow the next step that is to pass to the second generation by differentes reasons, for example, one of the principals is the lack of knowledge about the impact on the companies that do not perform good business practices which are defined like a good corporate governance. this become a good opportunity because this family’s companies have a stable growth in the sales levels but a low level of management of the differentes indicators, therefore, in this investigation the objective is defined how it impacts the implementation of management indicators in the generation of value to demonstrate that this generates a return for investors (families). The study is descriptive and used a Peruvian family business dedicated to the hospital sector with a solid commercial relationship with customers and suppliers, but with little professionalization level in the control of their indicators and setting different goals to increase sales and margin gross, for which the development of management indicators which generate an impact on the generation of value of the company has been raised, for which a financial model based on the EVA (Economic value added) has been developed. / Tesis

There are multiple ways to analyze stock companies. One way is using fundamental analysis, which means one is analyzing the company’s business key figures, such as revenue, net income and more. The key figures that were chosen to be analyzed in this report were: revenue, net income, free cash f low, return on invested capital and debt-to-equity ratio. In this thesis, machine learning was implemented to evaluate if it is possible to automate fundamental research of companies and to be able to produce a portfolio that would outperform the Swedish stock index. The data set used for both training and testing the classifiers contained the company’s basic information, 10 years of fundamental history and stock price history from the past 10 years. The companies examined were every stock listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, Nasdaq First North, Spotlight Market, Nordic Growth Market and PepMarket. The data that was gathered stretches from 2012 to 2021 which were split up into f ive-year periods and made up the training and testing period. The training data contained fundamental history from every company from these five-year periods. The classifier’s results from the testing period were used to create the portfolios during the holding period 2021-2022 to benchmark against the Swedish stock index. The results indicate that it is indeed possible to create portfolios using machine learning that will outperform the market over a year of holding the stocks. / Det finns många olika sätt att analysera aktieföretag. Ett sätt är att använda fundamental analys, vilket innebär att man analyserar företagets nyckeltal, såsom omsättning, årets resultat, etc. Nyckeltalen som har valts att analyseras i denna studie var: omsättning, årets resultat, fritt kassaflöde, avkastning på investerat kapital samt skuldsättningsgrad. I denna avhandling har maskininlärning implementerats för att undersöka om det är möjligt att automatisera fundamental forskning av företag och skapa en portfölj som ger bättre avkastning än svenska aktieindex. Data som används för både träning och testning av klassificerare innehöll företagens grundläggande information, 10 år av fundamental historik samt aktiekurs historik för dem senaste 10 åren. Företagen som undersöktes var varje aktie listad på Nasdaq Stockholm, Nasdaq First North, Spotlight Market, Nordic Growth Market och PepMarket. Data som har samlats sträcker sig från 2012 till 2021 och var uppdelade i femårsperioder till träning och testning. Träningsdata innehöll fundamental historik från varje företag från dessa femårsperioder. Resultaten från klassificerare från testning perioden användes för att skapa portföljer under 20212022 som jämfördes med svenska aktieindex. Resultaten från detta indikerar att det är möjligt att skapa portföljer med hjälp av maskininlärningsmetoder som kan ge bättre avkastning än svenska aktieindex över en innehavsperiod på ett år.