The master thesis deals with the economic and financial evaluation of an investment project. The work will identify financial and economic evaluation methods, which will be applied to a specific project to acquire a laser cutting center. The work compares the possibility of acquiring a machine by conventional methods using own and external resources with a variant of acquiring a machine with a subsidy for a small business.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between AI patents owned by companies, company earnings, industry type, and company size. The research question guiding the study was: How do AI patents owned by companies affect their earnings, and do these effects differ across industries and company sizes? Three hypotheses were developed to explore this question: 1. AI patents owned by companies have a positive effect on company earnings. 2. Patenting contributes more to a company’s earnings in high-tech industries than in low- tech industries. 3. The effect of owned patents on earnings is less pronounced the larger a company is. Using a quantitative approach, the researchers employed multiple linear regression analysis on a sample of companies across various industries and sizes. Data was collected from public databases, including patent records and financial statements. The analysis led to the following conclusions regarding the three initial hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: The findings indicate a positive but statistically insignificant relationship between AI patents and company earnings, suggesting that there may be a positive effect, but the analysis could not establish this relationship with statistical certainty. Hypothesis 2: The study did not find enough evidence to support or reject the hypothesis that patenting contributes more to earnings in high-tech industries than in low-tech industries. This may be due to limitations in the dataset or the analysis approach employed. Hypothesis 3: The influence of company size on the relationship between patents and earnings remains inconclusive. Although the results showed a positive relationship between the number of employees and earnings, the analysis did not provide sufficient evidence to determine the interaction effect between company size and patent ownership. These inconclusive findings suggest that further research is necessary to better understand the relationship between AI patents, company earnings, industry type, and company size. Future studies could address the limitations of this study by incorporating more granular data on different industries, conducting industry-specific analyses, and employing alternative statistical methods or longitudinal data. This would help to enhance our understanding of the complex relationships between these factors and provide more actionable insights for businesses, investors, academics, and policymakers.

A quantitative study investigating the effect Covid-19 had on the relationship between ESG and financial performance in the Nordic market. In order to achieve this objective, Tobin’s Q was used as a proxy of financial performance and tested against Refinitiv Eikon's ESG scores, which are made up of one ESG score and three separate pillars, Environmental (ENV), Social (SOC), and Governance (GOV). Based on 5 criteria 216 unique firms from the Nordic market were selected resulting in 862 observations over the years 2018-2021. The data was tested through four regression models, representing the different scores of ESG, ENV, SOC and GOV. To see the effect Covid-19 had on the relationship an interaction term was used. The results show that Covid-19 did not have a significant effect on the relationship for any of the scores of ESG and Tobin's Q. The results also showed a significant negative relationship between Tobin's Q and ESG, ENV and SOC. While Tobin's Q and GOV presented a non-significant negative relationship. In conclusion, a high ESG score did not result in a higher market value for organizations in the Nordic market and the Covid-19 pandemic did not have a significant effect on the relationship.

The clothing industry faces significant environmental sustainability challenges, prompting increased pressure on organizations to adopt sustainable practices. There has been an increase of pressure towards organizations to become more sustainable, which has impacted how managers make their decisions. One concept that has received a lot of attention is the idea of a circular economy. This study focuses on understanding how organizations manage the balance between investing in a circular economy and how it relates to perceived financial performance. Using an abductive approach, qualitative data was collected from six participants to understand their experiences and perceptions. The participants were three managers and three circular economy experts. The participants' experiences and perceptions are presented across four key themes: sustainability, financial performance, consumers, and policy. The empirical findings reveal that sustainability initiatives are believed to lead to better financial outcomes. The research showed that the future of the clothing industry is towards a circular economy. Uncertainty remains regarding the financial benefits associated with circular economy practices. External factors, such as regulatory interventions, emerged as viable drivers for promoting circular economy practices. Creating secondhand markets for clothes was highlighted as an effective strategy in the transition to manage CE. This study shows the complexities and challenges organizations faces in managing CE. For CE management to be efficient, new legislation is essential to eliminate greenwashing and establish a level playing field.

Thesis (M. Com. (Accountancy)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / This study investigated the effect of mayoral attributes on the financial performance of selected municipalities for improved service delivery in South Africa. The study adopted the quantitative research method to examine the relationship between mayoral attributes (age, administrative experience, and educational background) and financial performance. This study used data from 30 municipalities based in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The study used data collected from selected municipal annual reports available on their websites using purposive sampling and panel data analysis to analyse the data. The results showed a positive relationship between administrative experience and financial performance, a negative relationship between age and financial performance, and a negative relationship between educational background and financial performance. Therefore, the study recommends that to improve financial performance in municipalities for improved service delivery the appointment of a municipal mayor should be based on administrative experience. Furthermore, the study suggests that in consideration of the need to interpret constantly emerging new financial regulations to promote financial stability in municipalities, the educational qualifications of mayoral candidates should be prioritised. However, the study did not examine other mayoral attributes that can affect financial performance, such as independence, race, and allowance because they are challenging to estimate. Keywords: Financial performance; age; Administrative experience; Educational background; municipalities; mayoral attributes.

Background: Data-driven decision-making (DDDM) has emerged as a primary approach to decision-making in many organizations. It uses data and analytics to guide decision-making processes and can lead to better business outcomes. Prior research has focused on DDDM in large corporations operating in large economies, and therefore this thesis will examine DDDM in small and medium enterprises in Sweden.  Purpose: The purpose of this research study is to examine the effect DDDM has on the financial performance of Swedish SMEs to investigate if the utilization of DDDM benefits companies financially and to understand the effect of managerial experience, technical skills, information quality, and firm size on the data-driven decision-making process. Method: This study is based on the positivism paradigm, following deductive reasoning and a quantitative approach of gathering data through digital surveys. The sample consisted of 55 Swedish SMEs gathered through simple random sampling. Further, the data was analyzed using Pearson correlation, Spearman rank correlation, and regression analysis to test hypotheses. Findings: The literature review identified a research gap on DDDM, factors that effect DDDM, and Financial Performance. Four hypotheses were developed to answer the research questions. The OLS regression found that DDDM had no significant effect on Financial Performance, the first hypothesis was not supported. The Information Quality variable had a significant positive effect on DDDM resulting in support for the second hypothesis. However, Managerial Experience and Technical Skills did not have a significant effect in the main regression model, hypotheses three and four were not supported. Conclusion: The thesis showed that DDDM did not have a significant effect on financial performance in Swedish SMEs. Additionally, managerial expertise and technical skills did not have an effect on DDDM. However, Information quality did have an effect on the DDDM process and was correlated with technical skills, which is in line with the theories used in the study: Organizational Information Processing Theory (OIPT) and Absorptive Capacity. This further supports that information quality is vital for the DDDM process and can explain why DDDM might not always lead to improvements in financial performance for Swedish SMEs.

Sustainability has become a pressing global issue due to environmental and social challenges caused by human activity which has led to a rise in sustainable investing, including ESG investing. Research on financial performance and sustainable investing have not only showed mixed results, but they are also generally conducted in greater markets such as the US, Europe, and Asia-pacific markets. Currently, there is a lack of research on performance of sustainable investment strategies in the Nordic Region. The purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of portfolios constructed with an ESG investment strategy, which involves creating two portfolios consisting of top and bottom ESG scored companies. The portfolios are measured against each other and a market index benchmark, in the context of various theories, including the efficient market hypothesis, adaptive market hypothesis, shareholder theory, and stakeholder theory. The theoretical framework includes asset-pricing models and portfolio theory. A quantitative study with a deductive approach is utilized to construct the portfolios, focusing on mid-cap companies in the Nordics with data collected from Refinitiv Eikon’s database. The portfolio construction process yields financial metrics such as returns, volatility, and risk-adjusted returns. To test for outperformance in returns, the unpaired t-test is utilized. The Carhart four-factor model is also used to explain variations in returns related to risk factors and investigate the presence of positive and significant abnormal returns. The results demonstrate that the bottom ESG portfolio exhibits superior portfolio characteristics compared to the top ESG portfolio and the index benchmark, including annual returns and risk-adjusted returns. Furthermore, this study identifies significant positive abnormal returns when using the Carhart four-factor model, and evidence of outperformance in mean cumulative returns for the bottom ESG portfolio relative to the top ESG portfolio and index benchmark. On the other hand, the performance of the top ESG portfolio and index benchmark is inconclusive, with mixed results across different performance metrics and years. Although the top ESG portfolio outperforms in two out of three years in terms of annual returns, volatility, and risk-adjusted returns, no evidence of positive abnormal returns is found. Meanwhile, the index benchmark demonstrates evidence of outperformance in terms of cumulative returns. Overall, the findings suggest that the bottom ESG investment strategy is more effective in generating superior performance, while the mixed results of the top ESG portfolio make it difficult to draw definitive conclusions about its performance characteristics.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a widely disputed and constantly evolving topic. One of the most recent methods of assessing CSR in South Africa has been through the usage of the Financial Times Stock Exchange/Johannesburg Stock Exchange (FTSE/JSE) Responsible Investment Index. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Socially Responsible Investment Index (SRI Index) was founded in 2004 and was replaced by the FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Index in 2015. The index evaluates listed firms based on their triple bottom line performance i.e., environment, society, and economy. The index includes companies that are thought to have good CSR policies. This study assesses the effects of CSR on the Corporate Financial Performance (CFP) of firms listed on the JSE that were included in the FTSE/JSE All Share Index (ALSI) as of the 31st of January 2021. This it does by analyzing the stock's financial performance over a five-year period between the 2015 and 2019 financial years. The requirements for stocks to be included in this study is that they must have had an average market capitalization between R2 billion and R100 billion between the 2015 and 2019 financial years and are not part of the real estate sector. The results of the nonparametric (Mann-Whitney) tests show that companies that are part of the FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Index perform better on average than those that are not included in the index. This conclusion is based on a review of the total return index (TRI), return on equity ratio (ROE), price-earnings ratio (PE), and the market-to-book ratio (MB). The analysis conducted using the net profit margin (NPM) as a measure of financial performance show that there is no relationship between CSR and financial performance. The Mann-Whitney test results where the return on assets (ROA) ratio was used showed a negative relationship between CSR and financial performance.

Purpose: This study aims to explore the impact of CSR on financial performance in firms located in the European technology industry. The main purpose aims to explain to what extent CSR activities influence financial performance, whilst to also further explain the influence in depth through investigating which CSR activities contribute to the potential impact. Research questions: 1. To what extent does CSR impact financial performance in the European technology industry? 2. Which CSR activities have the most impact on financial performance in the European technology industry?  3. Why does CSR impact financial performance in the European technology industry?  Method: A cross sectional research design was applied in order to collect quantitative data from 2019. Multiple regressions were used to analyze the data and test three hypotheses drawn based on the stakeholder theory.  Conclusion: CRS impacts financial performance both positively and negatively. Governance activities, in particular management activities, have the greatest positive impact, followed by emission reduction and workforce engagement with equal impacts. Community involvement impacts financial performance negatively, to a similar extent as emission reduction and workforce engagement. The positive influences can be explained by the stakeholder theory, suggesting that firms when meeting stakeholder demands of CSR, will benefit through financial gains, due to the obtained strengthened stakeholder relationships.

Company managers have increasingly adopted environmental management in the 2000’s, and the relationship between environmental management and financial performance has been a subject for discussion during the last decades because of inconsistent results. The aim of this study is to investigate this relationship between environmental management and financial performance within companies, and to analyse how Swedish retail companies are evaluating the environmental and financial results from environmental management. The methodology used for the study is a literature review to capture the current knowledge area in research, a study of companies’ sustainability reports and an interview study to collect empirical evidence from the retail sector. The literature study shows a positive result between environmental performance and financial performance, a positive relationship between environmental management and financial performance, and non-conclusive data of the relationship between environmental management systems and financial performance. Furthermore it shows that companies are measuring and reporting environmental performance but no or few companies are reporting the financial outcome from environmental management, however companies seem to measure cost savings from environmental management. From this study, no consensus of a general methodology of the measuring of the financial outcomes from environmental management has been found. The findings are not representing the entire retail sector and should rather be seen as empirical evidence from a number of retail companies. The conclusion made was that the ambitions within environmental management differ within one industry sector, and that there seem to be no general methodology for measuring the financial outcome from environmental management. / Miljömanagement har införts av fler och fler företagsledare under 2000-talet, och kopplingen mellan miljömanagement och affärsnytta har varit ett ämne för debatt under de senaste decennierna då resultaten ofta varit motsägande. Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka relationen mellan miljömanagement och affärsnytta inom företag, samt att analysera hur svensk detaljhandel utvärderar och mäter de miljömässiga och ekonomiska resultaten från miljömanagement. Metoden som har använts är en litteraturstudie för att fånga det nuvarande kunskapsläget i forskningen, en studie av företags hållbarhetsrapporter samt en intervjustudie för att samla empirisk data från detaljhandeln. Litteraturstudien visar att relationen mellan miljöprestanda och affärsnytta är positiv, att relationen mellan miljömanagement och affärsnytta är positiv samt en icke-bestämd relation mellan miljöledningssystem och affärsnytta. Studien visar även att företag inom detaljhandeln mäter och rapporterar miljöprestanda men inga eller få företag rapporterar affärsnytta från miljömanagement, däremot förekommer mätningar av kostnadsbesparingar hos flera företag. Inga generella metoder för att mäta affärsnyttan av miljömanagement har identifierats i studien. Resultatet i den här studien representerar inte hela detaljhandeln, utan är en samling av empiriska data från ett urval av företag. Slutsatsen från studien är dels att ambitionen inom miljömanagement skiljer sig åt inom olika företag inom detaljhandeln, samt att det inte verkar finnas någon generell metod för att mäta affärsnyttan av miljömanagement.