Cryptosystems based on elliptic curves are in wide-spread use, they are considered secure because of the difficulty to solve the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem. Pollard's rho method is regarded as the best method for attacking the logarithm problem to date, yet it is still not efficient enough to break an elliptic curve cryptosystem. This is because its time complexity is O(√n) and for uses in cryptography the value of n will be very large. The objective of this thesis is to see if there are ways to improve Pollard's rho method. To do this, we study some modifications of the original functions used in the method. We also investigate some different functions proposed by other researchers to see if we can find a version that will improve the performance. From the experiments conducted on these modifications and functions, we can conclude that we get an improvement in the performance for some of them.

Bakgrund: Outsourcing av delar eller hela logistikflödet till tredjepartslogistiker har ökatavsevärt de senaste åren. Detta har satt press på tredjepartslogistikföretagen. Alwex Lager och logistik är ett tredjepartslogistikföretag som utför tjänster åt andra företag i form av materialhantering. Materialhanteringsprocessen i lagret är en av de processerna som innehåller mest icke värdeadderande aktiviteter och som har störst förutsättningar att kunna effektiviseras. För att tredjepartslogistiker ska kunna fortsätta vara attraktiva på marknaden måste de kunna möta en förändrad marknad på både kort och långsikt. Syfte: Syftet med den här studien är att underlätta för andra tredjepartslogistiker som har liknande icke värdeadderande aktiviteter i sin materialhanteringsprocess som Alwex Lager och Logistik AB. Genom de kort och långsiktiga lösningar som författarna har identifierat är syftet att de ska hjälpa dem att eliminera deras icke värdeadderande aktiviteter och minska totala kostnader. Metod: Den här studien är en kvalitativ fallstudie utförd på Alwex Lager och Logistik AB. Den teori som presenteras är främst insamlad från aktuella artiklar. Empirin som presenteras är insamlad genom intervjuer och fokusgrupper med anställda på Alwex. Resultat: Författarna har identifierat att det under aktiviteten orderplock i en materialhanteringsprocess uppstår flest icke värdeadderande aktiviteter och högst kostnader. Detta har bidragit till att fokus har lagts på att finna lösningar som eliminerar ickevärdeadderande aktiviteter och minska totala kostnader inom plock. Fallstudien presenterar två kortsiktiga och två långsiktiga lösningsförslag som eliminerar icke värdeadderandeaktiviteter och minskar totala kostnader kopplade till en materialhanteringsprocess. Lösningarna som har identifierats minskar tidsåtgång för identifierade icke värdeadderandeaktiviteter med 23-75% och totala kostnader med 23-32%. / Background: Outsourcing of parts or the entire logistics flow to a third-party logisticprovider have increased significantly in recent years. This has led to high pressure on the thirdparty logistics companies. Alwex Lager och Logistik is a third-party logistics provider that performs services for other companies in form of material handling. The material handlingprocess in the warehouse is one of the main areas that contain the most non-value-adding activities and therefore have the greatest opportunity for streamlining. In order for a thirdparty logistics provider to continue to be attractive on the market, they must be able to meet a changing market on both short and long terms. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to find short-term and long-term solutions that eliminates non value adding activities and reduces total costs in the material handling process in a third-party logistics provider. Methods: This study is a qualitative case study of the material handling process at the third-party logistics provider Alwex Lager & Logistik AB. The theoretical chapter is based on current literature mainly from articles. The empirical chapters are based on data collected through interviews and focus groups. Findings: The authors have identified that most of the non-value-adding activities and highest costs appears during the picking activity in a material handling process. This has led to the focus of the study being placed on finding solutions that eliminate non-value-adding activities and reduce total costs within picking. This case study presents two short-term and two long-term solutions that eliminate non-value adding activities and reduces total costs associated with a material handling process. The solutions that have been identified to reduce non valueadding time by 23-75% and total costs by 23-32%

ABB Robotics är en av de största leverantörerna av industrirobotar på den globala marknaden. En av deras fabriker är belägna i Västerås där det här arbetet har utförts på slutmontaget av stora industrirobotar (SSIR). Slutmontaget är en taktad linje bestående av åtta stationer och en avsyning som slutstation. Robotarna som monteras på linjen har varierande cykeltider och alla modeller har inte arbete vid alla stationer. Linjen har en andon-resurs som används för att minska störningar och hantera avvikelser. Slutmontaget har nyligen genomgått en ombyggnation och ABB Robotics är nu intresserade av att identifiera slöserier i det nya flödet och undersöka möjligheten till att använda multipla takttider för att öka kapaciteten, vilket är fokus i det här arbetet. Arbetet genomfördes i två etapper där den första delen fokuserades till att identifiera slöseri och den andra delen tillägnades takttid och kapacitet. En kartläggning av nuläget genomfördes för att skapa förståelse för dagens flöde och problemet. Utifrån nulägesbeskrivningen skapades en värdeflödesanalys (VFA) baserat på en befintlig mall och cykeltider från tidigare tidsstudier. Slöserier identifierades utifrån de åtta slöserierna enligt lean med hjälp av VFA, spagettidiagram och störningsloggen. I dag uppstår slöseri på grund av att montören behöver gå och hämta material och verktyg. Cykeltiderna som användes för VFA användes även vid beräkning av kapacitet och takt. Olika takttider och mix av modeller jämfördes för att ta fram rekommendationer kring användandet av takttid. Lösningsförslag till hur identifierade slöserier togs fram och även förslag till hur de olika slöserierna kan mätas. Två av lösningsförslagen är att förändra layouten på station 1 och att införa ett nytt system för materialförsörjning. Om cykeltiderna för respektive modell och station förblir desamma eller om det sker en jämn förkortning rekommenderas ABB Robotics att enbart använda en takttid på SSIR. För att det ska bli aktuellt med att införa multipla takttider krävs en större skillnad i cykeltid mellan tunga och lätta modeller. Om de lätta modellerna ombalanseras till att ha arbetsmoment vid alla åtta stationer kan kapaciteten höjas med 4,5 % vid införande av multipla takttider. / ABB Robotics is one of the largest manufacturer of industrial robots on the global market. One of their factories is located in Västerås where this work was executed at the final assembly line for large industry robots (SSIR). The final assembly line have recently been converted to a takted one-piece flow. Now ABB Robotics want to identify waste in the new assembly line and investigate the possibility to use multiple takt times to increase their capacity. The project was divided into two parts where the first part was assigned to identify waste and the second part to analyze the use of takt time. A current state mapping was performed to increase the understanding for the flow and the issue. Value stream mapping (VSM) was executed in an existing template with the use of data from the current state mapping and cycle times from recent time studies. Waste was identified according to lean with the help of VSM, spaghetti diagram and the disruption log. Today waste arise from the worker having to move to collect tools and material. Cycle times used for the VSM were later on used for calculations regarding capacity and takt time. Different takt times and mix of models were compared to give recommendations regarding the use of multiple takt times. Solutions on how to decrease and measure waste was presented. Two of the solutions were to change layout of station 1 and to implement a new materials feed system. With todays cycle times ABB Robotics are recommended to only use one takt time. The same goes for the case when the cycle times are shortened evenly. If the gap between the average cycle time for heavy models respectively light models would increase, then it would become interesting to further investigate the use of multiple takt times. The gap would increase if the light models are rebalanced to include operations by station 2 and in this case the capacity would increase with 4,5 % with the use of multiple takt times instead of one takt time.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2016-02-04T12:20:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Márcia Regina Marques Amado da Silva_.pdf: 1470259 bytes, checksum: 729bc11f473fb8a659607dc1d43ae3dd (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-04T12:20:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Márcia Regina Marques Amado da Silva_.pdf: 1470259 bytes, checksum: 729bc11f473fb8a659607dc1d43ae3dd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-23 / Nenhuma / Este trabalho tem por objetivo analisar como as ações de responsabilidade social empresarial (RSE) desenvolvidas por uma empresa plantadora de eucalipto na Zona da Amazônia Legal agregam valor para a empresa e para seus stakeholders. A pesquisa se desenvolveu por meio de estudo de caso, com coleta de dados por meio de entrevistas e análise de resultados com base no referencial teórico existente na literatura disponíveis no portal CAPES, GOOGLE ACADÊMICO, SCOPUS/SCIENCE DIRECT, EBSCO, EMERALD, Livros e Revistas. Foram estudados a empresa, stakeholders internos, stakeholders externos vinculados à empresa e stakeholders externos, a fim de analisar como a empresa define sua estratégia de negócios ao mesmo tempo em que contempla ganhos financeiros sem perder de vistas com relação a sua responsabilidade perante toda a sociedade. A empresa estudada situa-se numa região de floresta amazônica, cerrado e área de transição. Embora abrigue polêmicas em torno de suas atividades, mostra-se sensível às questões sociais e ambientais. Os resultados indicam que para a empresa conseguir a agregação de valor por meio de RSE foi necessário investir na governança humana dos seus colaboradores e integrar as iniciativas sociais com as suas estratégias de negócios, alternativa importante para práticas de desenvolvimento sustentável na região da Amazônia Legal. A empresa obtém agregação de valor de suas iniciativas de RSE dado as melhorias de relacionamentos com os grupos de stakeholders, motivação dos trabalhadores, ganho em produtividade e melhoria da imagem corporativa. No que se refere aos stakeholders internos (funcionários), as ações de RSE geram valor em função da melhoria de vida dos profissionais, somadas ao respeito e á preocupação da empresa relacionado à preservação do meio ambiente. Para os stakeholder externos vinculados à empresa (parceiros), o valor agregado é evidenciado na melhoria da qualidade de vida no campo social, econômico e ambiental da comunidade. E os stakeholder externos ratificam-se os problemas relacionados à água após o plantio de eucaliptos, e questiona-se que o Estudo de Impacto Ambiental que concedeu o licenciamento da empresa não contempla todo o território indígena. / This work aims to analyze how actions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) de-veloped by a eucalyptus plantation company in the Amazon zone add value to the company and its stakeholders. The research was developed through case study with data collection using results of interviews and analysis based on existing theoretical literature available in the CAPES portal, GOOGLE SCHOLAR, SCOPUS / SCIENCE DIRECT, EBSCO, EMERALD, books and magazines. The company, internal stake-holders, external stakeholders related to the company and external stakeholders were studied in order to analyze how the company defines its business strategy while contemplating financial gain without losing views with respect to its responsi-bility to the whole society. The company studied is located in a region of the Amazon rainforest, savannah and transition area. The company, although holding controver-sy about its activities, proves to be sensitive to social and environmental issues. The results indicate that for the company to achieve added value through CSR was necessary to invest in human governance of its employees and integrate social initiatives with their business strategies, important alternative to sustainable development practices in the Amazon region. The company obtains added value of their CSR initiatives given the improvements relationships with stakeholder groups, employee motivation, productivity gains and improved corporate image. With regard to internal stakeholders (employees), CSR actions generate value as a function of improving the lives of professionals, added to the respect and will concern the company related to the preservation of the environment. For external stakeholders related to the company (partners), the value is evidenced in improving the quality of life in the social, economic and environmental community. And the external stake-holder ratify up the problems related to water after planting eucalyptus, and asks that the Environmental Impact Study which granted the license the company does not include the entire Indigenous territory.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:57:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 EDM - Vera Lucia da Silva.pdf: 1384460 bytes, checksum: 3234ebd8c11c96412594a6df13e184cf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-11-16 / Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo / This research is about a teaching project aiming at mastering abilities and concepts related to the solution of problems of Cartesian product. The selected population were students of 4th Grade from a State School in the eastern region of the city of São Paulo. Our reference is the G. Vergnaud Conceptual Fields Theory and we took in consideration theoretical elements from researchers interested in studying the multiplicative reasoning. Data were collected from continuous observation and evaluation of the students performance, from the analyses of the materials produced by them and from interviews. The activities were designed with the intent of establishing connections between adding and multiplying processes and the processes involved in the determination of all the pairs of the Cartesian product. These connections become evident when represented by means of spatial relations promoting the evolution of non-conventional representations, produced by the students, to conventional representations, in Cartesian graphics and tree diagrams. The major contributions of this research for understanding the cognitive operations involved in solving Cartesian product problems are the repertory of non-conventional processes, employed by the selected group of participants, and their justification, and the analyses of the phenomena that occur in the passage from one to the other of the different representations of the Cartesian product. This research also offers contribution for the training of elementary education teachers / Nesta pesquisa, desenvolvemos uma proposta de ensino voltada ao domínio de competências e conceitos, relativos à resolução de problemas de multiplicação cartesiana. A população selecionada foi constituída por alunos de uma classe de 4a série do Ensino Fundamental, de uma Escola Estadual localizada da zona leste do Estado de São Paulo. Tomamos como referência a Teoria dos Campos Conceituais, de G. Vergnaud, e consideramos elementos teóricos de pesquisadores que desenvolvem pesquisas sobre o pensamento multiplicativo. Os dados foram obtidos por meio de registro e avaliação contínua do comportamento dos alunos no desenvolvimento das atividades, da análise do material produzido por eles e de entrevistas, entre outros. No desenvolvimento das atividades, buscamos estabelecer conexões entre procedimentos aditivos e multiplicativos e os processos envolvidos na determinação de todos os pares do produto cartesiano. Essas conexões foram ressaltadas ao serem representadas por meio de relações espaciais, promovendo a evolução de representações não convencionais, produzidas pelos alunos, para representações convencionais, em gráficos cartesianos e de árvore . Como principais contribuições desta pesquisa para a compreensão das operações cognitivas envolvidas na resolução de problemas de produto cartesiano, ressalte-se: o levantamento de um repertório de procedimentos não convencionais empregados pela classe selecionada e suas justificativas, a análise de fenômenos ocorridos na passagem de uma para outra das diferentes representações do produto cartesiano. A pesquisa oferece, igualmente, contribuições para a formação de professores do ensino fundamental

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:58:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Renata Siano Goncalves.pdf: 2266172 bytes, checksum: 4045a618b4772800f2af1638510e771d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-05-08 / Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo / The aim of this dissertation is to investigate how 6th grade elementary school students solve problem-situations involving whole numbers whilst working with the Aplusix software. Our research was developed in an elementary school from the public education systems of the state of São Paulo, located in the outskirts of the western region of Sao Paulo, where an equipped computer lab was available. 8 students from a class of 34 who were able to stay in the premises after school hours participated in the study. In this research, we aim to investigate how learners convert problems presented in their mother tongue register into the symbolic register using Raymond Duval s theoretical framework of semiotic representation. The students were observed to be both motivated and interested as they worked upon the computer-based activities throughout the project. No major difficulties in handling the program tools were apparent. There is strong evidence in the protocols to suggest that the problem involving a card game had a better percentage of correct results than the problem involving the dislocation of floors in a building. We believe that card games are more familiar to the learners. In addition, it was observed that most of the difficulties presented by the students when solving of the problems were due to errors in the adding and subtracting calculations involving whole numbers. There was a joint effort between the researcher and the teacher which proved to be extremely important since it allowed the teacher to diagnose the students´ difficulties and to focus her teaching strategy in a more meaningful way / Nosso trabalho teve por objetivo investigar como alunos de 6ª série do Ensino Fundamental II resolvem situações-problema envolvendo Números Inteiros, utilizando o programa computacional chamado Aplusix. Nossa pesquisa foi desenvolvida numa escola estadual de ensino, localizado na periferia da zona oeste de São Paulo, a qual dispunha de um laboratório de informática equipado, com número suficiente de computadores. Para a realização da mesma, contamos com a participação de 8 alunos de uma classe de 34, que se dispuserem em ficar na escola após o horário das aulas. Nesta pesquisa procuramos investigar como os alunos fazem a conversão do enunciado do problema no registro da língua natural para o registro simbólico numérico, fundamentada na teoria dos registros de representação semiótica de Raymond Duval. Percebemos a motivação e o interesse dos alunos em realizarem as atividades num ambiente computacional. Não apresentaram dificuldades no manuseio das ferramentas apresentadas pelo programa. Diante dos resultados apresentados nos protocolos verificamos que o problema envolvendo um jogo de cartas, houve uma porcentagem maior de acertos em relação ao problema envolvendo deslocamento de andares de um prédio. Acreditamos que os jogos são mais familiares para esses alunos. Observamos que uma das maiores dificuldades apresentadas por eles na resolução dos problemas concentrou-se nos cálculos das operações de adição e subtração envolvendo os Números Inteiros. Houve um trabalho coletivo entre a professora e a pesquisadora que foi importante, pois indiretamente permitiu que a professora da turma percebesse as dificuldades que seus alunos apresentavam e possibilitou que ela mudasse a sua estratégia de ensino viabilizando uma aprendizagem mais significativa, favorecendo um avanço na aprendizagem dos alunos

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Edilson Ramos Dias.pdf: 2002267 bytes, checksum: eb5199e1983ce7cdd2684e6ee2c3cd97 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-10 / The steel market in Brazil is one of the most important economic sectors in terms of job creation and contribution to GDP (Gross Domestic Product). The steel products directed to the construction market are the long steel products, such as section and construction s iron, which is the theme of this project, this one being sold in lengths of 6 or 12 meters and transported mainly by road, so it requires special vehicle for transport. The manufacturers and distributors are the companies that market these products and to concretize their sales are necessary routing and transshipment process, since the vehicles can transport 4 to 8 supplies a time, in other words, it has a predetermined script to perform, and require loading equipment, unloading and storage. Companies do not observe clearly this relationship between routing and transshipment, and if this relation results in logistics adding value, because there are no publications on the 3 subjects together. In this context, the aim of this study was to describe the impact of the transshipment process in relation to routing and logistics adding value. To this end, exploratory qualitative research was applied, with 3 in-depth interviews, and later a descriptive quantitative research containing a questionnaire with Likert scale of 6 points which were obtained 74 respondents. Qualitative data were analyzed based on categorization techniques and identification of units of meaning, in turn, quantitative data submitted exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The results showed that the transshipment does not mediate this relationship. It concludes that there is a challenge in logistics to discuss the routing and transshipment together, because these processes are subsequent and according to the result of this project, are not related. / O mercado de siderurgia no Brasil está entre os setores econômicos mais importantes, em função da geração de empregos e participação no PIB. Os produtos de siderurgia voltados ao mercado de construção civil são os aços longos, como o perfil e o ferro de construção, sendo este o tema deste trabalho, o qual é comercializado nos comprimentos de 6 ou 12 metros e transportado predominantemente por via terrestre, portanto requer veículo especial para este transporte. As usinas fabricantes e as distribuidoras são as empresas que comercializam estes produtos e para efetivar suas vendas são necessários os processos de roteirização e transbordo, uma vez que os veículos normalmente fazem de 4 a 8 entregas por vez, ou seja, tem um roteiro pré-determinado a fazer, e requerem equipamentos de carga, descarga e armazenagem. As empresas não observam de maneira clara esta relação entre roteirização e transbordo, e se esta relação resulta em agregação de valor logístico, pois não existem publicações com os 3 temas em conjunto. Neste contexto, o objetivo deste trabalho foi de descrever os impactos do processo de transbordo na relação roteirização e agregação de valor logístico. Para tanto, foi aplicada pesquisa qualitativa exploratória, com 3 entrevistas em profundidade, e posteriormente pesquisa quantitativa descritiva, com aplicação de questionário com escala Likert de 6 pontos onde obteve-se 74 respondentes. Os dados qualitativos foram tratados com base em técnicas de categorização e identificação de unidades de significado, por sua vez, os dados quantitativos foram submetidos a análises fatoriais exploratória e confirmatória. Os resultados revelaram que o transbordo não faz a mediação desta relação. Conclui-se que existe um desafio na Logística em discutir a roteirização e o transbordo juntos, pois estes processos são subsequentes e, segundo resultado desta pesquisa, não estão relacionados.

Syftet med    studien var att undersöka hur Leanbaserade/Leaninspirerade verksamheter i    svensk offentlig sektor arbetar för att åstadkomma värdeskapande intern    kommunikation. Utgångspunkten var att dagens demografiska utveckling    parallellt med effektiviseringskrav innebär utmaningar för kommuner att    säkra välfärd och kundnöjdhet samt att detta arbete behöver börja internt    gentemot medarbetarna för att ge effekt utåt till kunderna. Lean    kommunikation och kommunikativt ledarskap har seglat upp som två relativt    nya begrepp som ännu inte utforskats så mycket, men som tar sikte på just    värdeskapande kommunikation. Denna studie fokuserade på dessa begrepp på    teoretisk nivå och utforskade hur de kan användas praktiskt och strategiskt    för att stärka värdeskapande intern kommunikation. Empirin utgjordes av    semistrukturerade intervjuer med 15 chefer/ledare från sex kommuner, som    analyserades med hjälp av kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Slutsatsen var att det    fanns ganska stor överensstämmelse mellan respondenterna om vad som ansågs    vara framgångsfaktorer, vad som utmärker en bra kommunikativ ledare samt hur    de arbetade med intern kommunikation i det dagliga arbetet. Tydlighet och    visualisering var de mest frekventa aspekter som lyftes. Likaså var    kopplingen till Lean kommunikation och kommunikativt ledarskap påtaglig –    även om inte samtliga intervjuade kände till eller använde begreppen    arbetade de utifrån dem undermedvetet. Däremot var det få som hade    fungerande strategier för att göra cheferna/ledarna mer kommunikativa och    flera lyfte brister kopplade till uppföljning, utvärdering och feedback.    Utifrån studiens resultat togs en modell för Lean kommunikation fram, med    tillhörande checklista, som kan användas av Lean verksamheter för att stärka    och medvetet arbeta med värdeskapande intern kommunikation. / The    purpose of this study was to explore how Lean based/Lean inspired    enterprises in Swedish public sector acts to attain value-adding internal    communication. The starting point was that the contemporary demographic    development combined with demands for cost-effectiveness entail challenges    for municipalities to safeguard welfare and customer satisfaction, and that    this task needs to start internally towards the employees in order to bring    effects externally towards the customers. Lean communication and    communicative leadership has arisen as two relatively new concepts which    have not yet been extensively explored, but which aim precisely at    value-adding communication. This study focussed on these two concepts at a    theoretical level and explored how they can be utilised practically and    strategically in order to improve value-adding internal communication. The    empirical data consisted of semistructured interviews with 15    managers/leaders from six municipalities, which have been analysed with qualitative    content analysis. The conclusion was that there existed a relatively    substantial congruity between the respondents concerning what was considered    success factors, what distinguishes a good communicative leader and how they    handled internal communication in the daily work. Clarity and visualisation    were the most frequently aspects mentioned. Additionally, the linkage to    Lean communication and communicative leadership was palpable – even though    not all of the respondents were familiar with or used the concepts, they    were utilising them subconsciously. However, only a minority of them had    functioning strategies to facilitate leaders to be more communicative and    several of them acknowledged shortcomings concerning follow-up, evaluation    and feedback. Based on the study’s results, a model for Lean communication    was created – with a checklist attached – which can be deployed by Lean    enterprises in order to strengthen and consciously work with value-adding    internal communication. / <p>2019-0-27</p>

Outsourcing can be defined as transferring an activity from internal to external control. This thesis studies outsourcing in the wood product manufacturing (WPM) sector from both a customer and supplier perspective. The research design is a multiple case study approach, and it is based on six Scandinavian companies in the door, floor and window industries and one larger supplier of raw material. This study provides an understanding of driving forces for outsourcing in a different context than previously studied and has identified cost reduction in combination with reallocating resources from non-core activities as main driving forces. Compared to several other industrial sectors, outsourcing strategies for the WPM firms have little to do with accessing external sources’ capabilities. In the literature, there is often a main focus on the strategic level of outsourcing, however, such heavy resource-based focus in terms of a core competence approach in the formulation of outsourcing strategies at the customer side risks forgetting that components can still be vulnerable to supplier failure. Here, more focus needs to be put on the operational level when considering outsourcing. This thesis illustrates customers considering outsourcing where there are not any given outsourcing supplier partners developed. At the same time, for the supplier side, forward integration and specialising by taking over outsourcing is complicated by an initial divergent production flow of sawn timber. When not all contexts have developed supplier markets for directly managing outsourcing, it should not be assumed that general outsourcing models are directly applicable. In general, the question of whether or not to outsource seems too complex to simply be considered as either “in or out”. A company needs safeguards when conducting outsourcing and in a situation where there is a non-developed supplier market, parallel in-house production becomes an alternative.

Bakgrund: I slutet av åttiotalet blev leveraged buyouts, högt belånade företagsuppköp, ett frekvent förekommande företeelse i Amerikanskt näringsliv. Det gigantiska uppköpet av RJR Nabisco är fortfarande omtalat bland världens investerare. Det senaste årtiondet har mängden kapital i private equity fonderna ökat till att idag motsvara ett kapital på runt 7% av Stockholmsbörsens värde. Samtidigt som dessa fonder kontrollerar en stor mängd kapital är det relativt okänt hur de sköter och tillför värde till sina portföljbolag. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att analysera hur private equity bolag tillför värde till sina svenska portföljbolag. Metod: Denna uppsats har utgått från en kvalitativ studie för en mer genomgående och djup analys av private equity marknaden. Författarna har valt att genomföra intervjuer med personer i ledande positioner hos portfölj bolagen. Totalt deltog sex stycken företag i studien. Eftersom vissa delar av informationen som insamlats kan anses vara av känslig karaktär så är alla företag anonyma. Slutsatser: Författarna kunde urskilja tre områden där private equity bolagen skapade värde i sina portföljbolag, genom förbättrade marginaler, ökad försäljning och minskade skulder. Private equity bolagen använde olika metoder för att skapa värde inom dessa områden, ett sätt är att ge ledningen i portföljbolagen ökade incitament, ett annat är att skapa strikta återbetalningsplaner för portföljbolagen vilket tvingar dem att effektivisera verksamheten. Private equity bolagen fungerar även som bollplank och assisterar vid förvärv. / Background: Through the late eighties leveraged buyouts were frequent in America and the giant buyout of RJR Nabisco became world renowned among investors. In the last decade the capital committed to private equity and leveraged buyouts have risen and in Sweden an amount equal to 7% of the market capitalization on the Stockholm stock exchange is placed in private equity funds. Although Private Equity firms control large amounts of capital it is relatively unclear how the private equity firms manage and add value to their portfolio companies. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how private equity firms contribute to their portfolio companies in Sweden. Methodology: This thesis has taken a qualitative approach for more in depth analysis of the private equity market. The authors have chosen to interview man-agers at portfolio companies acquired by private equity firms to gather data. Six portfolio companies participated in this study and the interviews were performed in a semi structured manner. As some of the information gathered could be of sensitive nature all respondents are anonymous. Conclusion: The authors identified three areas in which the private equity firms added value; improving the margins, increasing the turnover and reducing the debt. The private equity firms used different techniques to accomplish the value improvements, both by giving the executives at the portfolio companies incentives and by forcing them to increase the efficiency in the organisation in order to be able to repay debts. The private equity firms also supports their portfolio companies by giving assistance and support in i.e. acquisitions.