Background - Women are underrepresented in top management positions all over the globe. This also applies to Sweden, despite the country's long progressive and high material prosperity. This situation is particularly evident in the banking sector, where women represent approximately half of the workforce. However, in the four largest banks in Sweden, women only occupy 33,25 percent in the highest management teams and 34,5 percent on the boards. This phenomenon is often referred to as “the glass ceiling,” a set of barriers that hinder women’s accessibility to top management positions. This underrepresentation is, in turn, likely to result in a loss of potential human resources due to organizations not searching for competent candidates in approximately half of the population. Further, banks are associated with a lot of power in the society, where they have a significant impact, with a critical role in the economy, contributing to financial growth. Initiatives by for instance the EU Commission to increase gender diversity are on the high agenda. Consequently, the subject of understanding and overcoming these barriers stands high on the agenda of both politicians and researchers. Purpose - The purpose of this study is to identify barriers among women toward reaching top management positions in the commercial banking sector, as well as how women in top management positions have overcome them. By investigating the barriers and how women overcome them, we will contribute with a deeper understanding and meaningful insights to political and managerial practitioners on how they can identify and help women overcome the barriers. The foundation of the theoretical framework in this study will be based on Becker’s (1957) theory of discrimination, Social role theory, and System justification theory will lay the foundation of the theoretical framework in this study. Method - This study is based on qualitative research with a multiple case study in the banking sector in Sweden. Conclusion - We conclude that the most common barriers are based on stereotypical beliefs, the balance between private life and work, biases and discrimination, and organizational culture and structure. How to overcome these barriers is built on supporting organizations, an equal private life situation, and specifically identified personality traits.

With the ongoing globalization and changes in the economic environment, organizations need to be flexible and adaptable towards new situations and opportunities. In a context where firms strategically reach across national borders, firms are encountering differing cultural backgrounds. Multinational corporations (MNCs) are confronted with the question of how to fill executive positions. The need for employees with international expertise arises to reap the advantage of nationality diversity by matching the complexity of the global environment with the right level of board capital. Such firm managers must work in increasingly international contexts and cross-cultural environments. Scholars have regarded diversity as an essential element that helps organizations and their executives to deal with uncertainties arising from globalization. (Koles 2014). The top executives of an organization are regarded as an essential criterion for firm´s success. Top managers have considerable influence over the fate of the organizations they lead. These trends have led to increasing instability in classic employment relationships and show greater diversity and mobility within organizational and occupational boundaries (Dokko/Wilk/Rothbard 2009; Greenhaus/Callanan 2012; Biemann/Zacher/Feldman 2012; Koch et al. 2017). This dissertation further aims at advancing our empirical understanding of top managers diversity, internationalisation and their careers. The three research manuscripts that form the core of this thesis advance research on top managers in several ways and extend knowledge in the area of executive characteristics. All three manuscripts are anchored in the European context and address topics that are relevant yet underexplored in extant, mostly centred in the US and Western economies top management literature (Tosi/Greckhamer 2004; Carter et al. 2009; Boyd et al. 2012; Dauth 2012).

Företag som arbetar med att sälja stora komplexa lösningar finner ofta att det tar mycket lång  tidatt sätta samman och prissätta sina lösningar. På grund av den stora konkurrens som råder för företag inom telekomindustrin, där de företag som erbjuder den mest attraktiva lösningen till det bästa priset vinner affären, är det essentiellt att de företag som konkurrerar om en affär är responsiva och har möjlighet att ändra sina priser till kunden snabbt vid behov. Skillnaden  mellan att snabbt kunna ge ett nytt pris, som fortfarande ger lönsamhet till företaget, mot att inte vara tillräckligt snabb kan vara att företaget vinner eller förlorar affären. I en sådan miljö är det av största vikt att avgöra hur en prisförändring påverkar respektive produkt i lösningen för att säkerställa att företaget har tillräckligt stor vinstmarginal i förhållande till de mål organisationen har satt upp. I dagsläget arbetar Ericsson med att fördela ut den typen av prisförändringar manuellt efter att de har vunnit en affär vilket leder till långa interna diskussioner om hur priset bör fördelas för att tillgodose de olika interna intressenterna. För de som arbetar med prissättningen av lösningar innebär detta bland annat att man måste säkerställa med de olika affärsområden som ansvarar för produkterna om det finns möjlighet att justera priserna och behov av att veta hur mycket de går att justera. I det här arbetet jämför vi den litteratur som finns kring prisstrategier och prissättning av stora komplexa lösningar. Vi använder Ericsson som fallstudie för att etablera hur ett ramverk kan skapas för att distribuera priset på en lösning på de olika produkter som ingår i lösningen. Detta gör vi genom att skapa en intern produktprioritering och följaktligen hur detta bör påverka en prisfördelning över en hel lösning genom att vikta de prisstyrande faktorer som en produkt bedöms ha mot hela lösningen. / Companies selling large and complex solutions often find that the process of configuring and pricing the solutions is a very time-consuming process. Due to the high degree of competition within the telecom industry, where the company offering the best solution to the most competitive price wins the deal, it is essential for companies to be responsive and able to  ework the price of their proposal. The difference between being able to offer a new solution  rice, that is still profitable for the company, and not being able to could be that the company wins or loses the deal. In such a business environment it is of high importance to be able to determine how the change of a solution price affects the products in the proposal in order to ensure that the margin of the proposal aligns with the organizational target margin. At Ericsson, the distribution of a solution price is determined manually after a deal has been won leading to internal discussions of how the price should be distributed between the stakeholders of the proposal. For those in charge of pricing the proposal this means that there is a need to discuss with the respective business unit at the company whether or not there is a possibility to adjust the prices of the proposal and in such a case how much they can be adjusted. In this thesis we compare the existing literature on pricing strategies and pricing large complex solutions. We perform a case study at Ericsson to establish how a top-down pricing framework could be designed to distribute the price of a proposal to the various products in the proposal. We achieve this by creating an internal prioritization of products and thereby we are able to determine how this should affect a price distribution over the entire proposal by calculating the weight of the price steering factors compared to the other products in the proposal.

Påverkade covid-19-pandemin fotbollsallsvenskan för herrar i Sverige? Vad hände när matcherna spelades utan publik? I detta examensarbete undersöks bland annat fenomenet hemmaplansfördel med tanke på covid-19-pandemin. Syftet med arbetet är att studera och analysera hur hemmaplansfördelen, antal gjorda mål, antalet varnade och utvisade spelare i herrallsvenskan har förändrats mellan säsongerna 2018, 2019, 2020 och 2021 med tanke på covid-19-pandemin. Med hjälp av inhämtning av statistik och matchresultat från svenskfotboll.se samt med olika beräkningar besvaras frågeställningarna om det finns någon skillnad i antalet vinster, antalet gjorda mål och utdelade kort för hemmalag respektive bortalag mellan säsongerna 2018, 2019, 2020 och 2021 och vad eventuella skillnader kan bero på. Genom att gå igenom vad tidigare forskning inom samma område säger och analysera 960 matchresultat i herrallsvenskan fås tydliga resultat som presenteras i tabeller. Resultatet visar att pandemi-säsongen 2020 utan publik sticker ut och överlag minskar snittet vinster på hemmaplan både på naturgräs och konstgräs och samtidigt ökar antalet oavgjorda matcher på hemmaplan. Den största och mest markanta differensen i resultatdelen är andelen vunna matcher på hemmaplan på naturgräs. Från säsongen 2019 till 2020 har denna kategori minskat med hela 12,8 procent. I diskussion- och analysdelen avhandlas olika potentiella bakomliggande orsaker till att hemmaplansfördelen har minskat under covid-19 pandemin och varför resultaten visar som det gör. För att kunna svara på syftet och frågeställningarna har jag tillämpat och diskuterat kring Pollards 8 bakomliggande faktorer kring hemmaplansfördel. Det behandlar publikeffekter, reseffekter, bekantskap med omgivningen, domarnas bias, territorialitet, speciell taktik, regelmässiga faktorer och psykologiska effekter. Vidare diskuteras vilka av dessa faktorer som kom att påverka allsvenskan mest under de fyra analyserade säsongerna. Slutsatser dras att reseeffekter och publikeffekten är de två största bakomliggande faktorerna till de skillnader vi ser under pandemisäsongen 2020. Avslutningsvis görs en jämförelse mellan denna studie och tidigare forskning, vilket visar att det överlag inte går att hitta något gemensam mönster men några ligor som till exempel Bundesliga, Serie A och Ligue 1 visar liknande resultat som min studie om herrallsvenskan i Sverige. / Did the covid-19-pandemic affect the Swedish top male football league? What happens when the matches are played without a crowd? In this study I investigate the phenomenon of home ground advantage with regard to the covid-19-pandemic. The aim of the study is to analyze and compare how the home-field advantage, number of goals scored, the number of players warned and sent off has changed in the Swedish top male football league between 2018 and 2021. 2018 and 2019 was played as normal with spectators but in 2020 there were no spectators and 2021 was played with a limited amount of spectators. With the help of statistics and match results from svenskfotboll.se and with various calculations, the questions answered are whether there is any difference in the number of wins, the number of goals scored and the number of cards handed out for home teams and away teams during the four selected seasons and what possible differences depend on. By going through what previous research on the same topic says and analyzing 960 match results in the Swedish top male football league, clear results are presented in different tables. The results show that the pandemic season in 2020, without spectators, stands out and overall the average wins at home were reduced both on natural grass and on artificial turf and at the same time the number of draws at home increased. The largest and the most significant difference was the proportion of matches won at home on natural grass. Between the 2019 season and the 2020 season this category has decreased by a percentage of 12.8. The discussion and analysis section focuses on various potential underlying reasons why the home ground advantage has decreased during the covid-19-pandemic. In order to answer the aim of the study and the questions Pollards (2008) 8 factors regarding home ground advantage are brought into the discussion. It deals with crowd effects, travel effects, familiarity with the environment, referee bias, territoriality, special tactics, rule factors and psychological effects. Conclusions are drawn that travel effects and crowd effects are the two biggest factors behind the differences we saw during the pandemic season 2020. At last a comparison is made between this study and previous research, which shows that it is not possible to find a common pattern but some football leagues such as the Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 show similar results as my study of the Swedish top male football league.

The aim of this study was to find out how Utbildningsverket’s (UR) pedagogical material, belonging to two miniseries aimed at upper secondary school, use top-down- and bottom-up strategies to teach listening comprehension. For this purpose, a case study method was used where the materials worked as the case to be studied. Furthermore, the approaches that were used for this study were based on taxonomies established by previous research: First, a taxonomy of strategies for listening comprehension illustrated by Graham and Santos (2015). Secondly, a taxonomy relating to listening types, illustrated by Field (2009). With these taxonomies and the English 5 syllabus, the materials were studied as a qualitative case study. The results show that the two criteria in the English 5 syllabus, which relate to strategies, are addressed within the teacher’s guide of both miniseries. Moreover, My English Mistakes and The Great Debate, both implicitly instruct students to use various strategies. The results also show that the top-down strategies are overrepresented in frequency but less varied in listening type variation. However, the strategies that are instructed are not explained or motivated in the materials.

Background: Innovation is widely recognized to be instrumental for the sustained competitiveness of businesses, including family businesses. However, many family firms are unable to achieve innovation on their own, necessitating the shift towards collaborative innovation. Yet, due to the overlap of family and business, innovation in family firms is characterized by the so-called“innovation paradox” where family firms usually possess a greater ability to innovate but lack the willingness to do so. Accordingly, considerable attention has been given to the factors that affect the willingness of family firms in an attempt to understand and possibly resolve the innovation paradox. Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to explore how the degree of family involvement in the top management team (TMT) influences the family firm’s willingness to engage in collaborative innovation and how that influences the preferred type of collaborative innovation. By exploring the link between the degree of family involvement in TMT and the willingness in the context of collaborative innovation, our study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the innovation paradox associated with family businesses, and thereby offer important insights to practitioners, both from the family and non-family perspective. Method: Our methods were based on qualitative research with an exploratory research design and multiple case-study methods of eleven family firms. Through semi-structured interviews with both family and non-family TMT members, we gained insights into the role of family influence on family firms. We also used a cross-case analysis to compare the cases and indicate similarities and differences in order to draw our conclusions. Conclusion: The results of the study show that the degree of family involvement in the top management teams influences the family firms’ willingness to engage in collaborative innovation. Depending on the degree of family involvement as represented by the respective configurations, five patterns of influence manifestations (IM) are identified.

Bakgrund: Kvinnors väg till toppositioner inom näringslivet kantas av fler hinder än deras manliga motsvarigheter. En anledning kan vara de antaganden som finns kring kvinnors riskundvikande. Liknande antaganden finns även när det kommer till ålder och ämbetstid i beslutsfattande positioner. Det strategiska risktagandet är ett resultat av det strategiska beslutsfattande styrelser och ledningsgrupper utför, varpå intresse finns i att se om samband råder mellan variablerna eller om antagandena är felaktiga. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att få ökad förståelse för relationen mellan ledningsgruppens och styrelsens sammansättning och bolags strategiska risktagande. Metod: Det är en kvantitativ metod som appliceras på studien med en deduktiv ansats. Teorierna som behandlas är Prospect theory, Social identity approach och Upper echelons. Datainsamlingen utgår från nyckeltal från respektive bolags årsredovisningar och Infotorg Företag. Resultat: Alla hypoteser förkastas och slutsatsen blir därför att kvinnor, ålder och styrelsens respektive ledningsgruppens ämbetstid inte har något specifikt inflytande på det strategiskt risktagande då det inte hittades några samband för detta. / Background: Women's path to top positions in organisations is lined with more obstacles than their male counterparts. One reason may be the assumptions that exist about women's risk avoidance. Similar assumptions also exist when it comes to age and tenure in decision-making positions. The strategic risk-taking is a result of the strategic decision-making boards and top management teams carry out, whereupon there is interest in seeing if there is a connection between the variables or if the assumptions are false. Purpose: The study aims to gain an increased understanding of the relationship between the composition of the board of directors and the top management team, and companies' strategic risk-taking. Method: It is a quantitative method that is applied to the study with a deductive approach. The theories covered are Prospect theory, Social identity approach and Upper echelons. The data collection is based on key figures from each company's annual reports and Infotorg Företag. Conclusion: All hypotheses are rejected and the conclusion is therefore that women, age and the term of office of the board and management team have no specific influence on the strategic risk-taking as no connection was found for this.

Analysis of the TOP 09 Election Strategy in the Regional Elections 2012 - Region of Pardubice Diploma thesis "Analysis of the TOP 09 Election Strategy in the Regional Elections 2012 - Region of Pardubice" deals with the election campaign TOP 09 in the elections to the Assembly of the Pardubice Region in 2012. TOP 09 is a political party in the Czech political scene first appeared in 2009. Regional elections in 2012 for the political party represented the first major challenge since its entry into the Chamber of Deputies in 2010 and the opportunity to establish themselves at the regional level. The thesis examines the elections in the Pardubice region in terms of the theory of second-order elections. The research of this theory was made in terms of the first direct elections to the European Parliament in 1979. The aim of this thesis is to introduce the theory of second order elections and to analyze the election strategy of TOP 09 before the elections to the regional council in 2012 in Region of Pardubice. Based on this theory will be find out if it is possible to apply this theory on the election strategy of TOP 09 and if the election managers of TOP 09 reflect this theory or the election strategy is created independently on this phenomenon. Keywords The election to the Assembly of the Pardubice...

This master's thesis focuses on the concept of branding in politics. The main aim of this piece of work is comparison of perception of brand personality. In this case, the party leader Petr Fiala by ODS and Karel Schwarzenberg by TOP 09, have been chosen for this research. The brand value was assessed by procedures which were suggested by K. L. Keller. The OCEAN concept, created by Gerard Saucier, was used for brand personality research, which is the main pillar of this thesis. The sample of 212 students of political science and economics took part in the above mentioned research.

Thesis (MBA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / This study examined whether the presence of women in top management positions affects firms‘ performance. This study became necessary given that, whilst there is a growing call for gender equity in top managerial positions, many companies are still hesitant, as some trust that the presence of women in top management positions might weaken their market value. The main purpose of this research was to analyse the link between women in top management positions and net profit, sales turnover and share price. Secondary data on women in top management positions and companies‘ performance were collected from integrated report archives of twenty-nine (29) companies listed in the FTSE/JSE Responsible index for six years, 2010 to 2015. This study was theoretically inclined on the Resource Based Theory and related current literature. A quantitative research design was adopted. Regression statistics utilizing the Excel Spreadsheet software was used for data analysis. Findings from the statistical analysis disclosed the following: within the twenty-nine (29) companies examined, firstly, existing positive relationship between women in top management and net profit, although not significant. Secondly, there was a negative relationship between women in top management and sales turnover. Thirdly, there was a positive relationship between women in top management and share price, although not significant. The research implication and contribution are that companies that encourage women to ascend management positions may not necessarily lose market value and net profit as feared by some companies around the world. In addition, the study recommends that women in top management should have a deputy that works closely with them such that when they take family leave, these deputies will function without company performance, such as sales, dropping its value. The findings provide further research agenda on the linkage between women in top management positions, net profit, sales turnover and share price using a larger sample of companies across industries.