This master thesis is focused on performance evaluation of company AGRI CS a.s., namely the evaluation of financial and business performance using benchmarking. The theoretical part deals with some approaches and methods suitable for the company performance evaluation with an emphasis on benchmarking. The main part however is in-depth case study on business performances of selected company. The core part is financial performance benchmarking based on public data from financial annual accounts. For this purpose I use database Amadeus. I analyzed most of the performance indicators for an average of industry branch as well as for 14 most intense competitors. Final remarks of the thesis discuss the main findings and conclusions of the whole performance analysis. On top of that I present possible recommendations for the selected company in order to enhance or even eliminate identified weaknesses.

This master thesis is focused on an assessment of the financial situation of the company Fatra, a.s. and on comparation with its competitors by selected proportion rations of the financial analyses. Competitors are simillar companies from the Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community and in Czech Republic throughout the years 2010 - 2014. Literature review dealing with the issue of evaluating financial performance of the company was used as a basis for the theoretical part. The practical part contains calculations of the financial analysis and interpretation of the achieved results with a emphasis on benchmarking. Data for this thesis were obtained from Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, Czech Statistical Office and from Amadeus database. The conclusion summarizes findings and results in recommen-dations to improve financial performance.

This master thesis deals with the financial and business performance ratings of the company Exvalos, spol. s r.o. in years 2010 - 2015. Main methods used, are benchmarking, comparison of analyzed company with its closest competitors and the use of methods of financial indicators. Suggested recommendations are based on the results of conducted analysis which will be used to enhance the financial performance of the company.

Denna studie undersöker indexinkluderingar och indexexkluderingars påverkan på europeiska företags aktiekurser genom att studera bolag som inkluderats i eller exkluderats ur hållbarhetsindexet Dow Jones Sustainability Index Europe under perioden 2017–2019. Vidare undersöks även specifikt svenska bolag som inkluderats, exkluderats eller bibehållit sin plats i indexet under samma tidsperiod. Detta till följd av det ökade intresset och utbudet av ESG- relaterade investeringar i världen, inte minst i Europa. En standardmässig eventstudiemetod baserad på marknadsmodellen används för att på kort sikt undersöka detta eventuella samband. Vi kan i resultatet inte finna några starka bevis på att en annonsering i sig har någon tydlig påverkan på företagens aktieavkastning för vare sig europeiska eller svenska bolag. Däremot finner vi att svenska bolag som behållit sin plats eller inkluderats i indexet visar en positiv genomsnittlig kumulativ avvikelseavkastning (CAR) mellan två och tio dagar efter annonseringsdagen. Det kan trots det inte bevisa indexets relevans för marknaden vilket stödjer tidigare studiers resultat. / This paper examines the impact of index inclusions and index exclusions on the share prices of European companies by studying companies that are included or excluded from the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Europe during the period 2017-2019. Furthermore, Swedish companies that have been included, excluded or retained their place in the index during the same time period are also specifically examined. This due to the increased interest and supply of ESG- related investments in the world, especially in Europe. A standard event study method based on the market model is used to investigate this possible connection in the short term. We cannot find strong evidence that an announcement has any evident impact on companies' return on investment for either European or Swedish companies. On the other hand, we find that Swedish companies that have retained their place or are included in the index show a positive average cumulative abnormal return (CAR) between two and ten days after the announcement date. Despite this, the results cannot prove the index's relevance to the market which supports previous studies.

As business, technologies, and products changes so quickly in the modern day business environment, the complexity of launching new products into global markets increases. Therefore, the significance of the new product development (NPD) concept is rising, according to researchers. This master thesis is based, through a preliminary literature review, on the assumption that traditional NPD frameworks have deficiencies today. This is because as a NPD process is an on-going process that is performed repeatedly, the importance of putting forth new considerations to the NPD based on multi-aspect industrial characteristics today is needed for a sustainable NPD framework. Therefore, this study will put forth a new multi-aspect NPD framework with emphasis on technological-, global collaboration-, and financial elements to target the literature gap that is claimed to exist. The process of the research methodology followed a deductive approach, with an explorative-, descriptive- and analytical study. The collected data was of qualitative type, through 12 semi-structured interviews. A total of six Swedish high-technological manufacturing firms were interviewed, four of which were for empirical purposes, and two for contextual understanding. The author came to the conclusion that various deviations were found in setting the multi-aspect NPD approach in contrast to traditional NPD frameworks. The significance of “Open Innovation” concepts was adamant as being the stepping-stone for idea generation, conceptualization, and strategic partnership that was not brought up by traditional literature. Openness in all elements of the multiple-aspect NPD framework setup in this study was imperative, as the empirical findings suggested that the business environment for high-technological industries shifted towards an increased technological- and financial convergence. During the latter stages, minor deviations were found, with emphasis on collaboration elements between the R&D-, production- and marketing divisions within the firms.

Background: Research shows that there are incompatible outcomes for companies who have completed an Initial Public Offering, which entails difficulties in ascertaining what acompany's financial performance will look like after the Initial Public Offering. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate whether an Initial Public Offering resultsin an improvement or a deterioration in companies' financial performance in connection with a stock exchange listing on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Furthermore, the study's sub-question aims to examine whether the financial performance differs based on the size ofthe company, in connection with an Initial Public Offering.  Theory: This study is based on three theories; Window Dressing Theory, Agency CostTheory and Window Of Opportunity.  Method: The study has applied a quantitative method in combination with a deductive approach. Two financial ratios have been applied to examine the financial performance, which are; profit growth and return on equity.  Conclusion: The empirical result shows that an Initial Public Offering leads to a deterioration in profit growth for the entire sample, before in relation to after the listing. Furthermore, the size of the company turns out to have no effect on how the financial performance is affected in relation to an Initial Public Offering.

Reputation nowadays is a determinant of companies’ strategy. We used a qualitative study approach, based on semi-structured interviews. The choice of subject was motivated by recent scandals involving big corporations. We started therefore from the postulate that big corporations would rather not want to communicate on those issues. We still manage to include a major French group, Canal, and another important actor in professional and institutional communication in the East region of France. The rest of the company were start-ups to small-and-medium-sized enterprises. We aimed to gain on-field observations and cross-checking information from different sectors and positions. All the interviewees were chosen for their expertise and because we consider they have a direct hold on communication and therefore reputation within the company, being CEO, Founders, community, or marketing manager. This draws on elements of a case study or grounded theory approach. Our results show that reputation has an impact on non-financial performance while being one indicator of it at the same time. Drawing on past literature we realised how vast the subject is, involving other factors such as building a good relationship with the whole stakeholder environment, therefore considering corporate social responsibility. We confirmed how this is amplified with the use of new technologies and the influence of social media especially. Overall, we noticed a circling effect of the different factors coming into play. However, our findings remain very context-dependent. We do not produce generalisable results. We want to draw attention to the fact that our methodology is to be taken in the context of our time horizon, being only a set of interviews of specific firms in a specific period. We recognise the limits of this approach. Still, we believe we contributed to the management discussion with our practical and pragmatic method, leaving concrete suggestions. We observed as well societal implications linked to social media obsession.

Syfte: Hållbarhet är ett ämne som vuxit och företags ageranden granskas i allt större utsträckning. För företag som går emot omvärldens krav och förväntningar höjs kritiska röster, ofta i media, vilket kan påverka företaget i fråga. Tidigare forskning har funnit tvetydiga resultat gällande effekten av kontroverser där såväl positiva, negativa eller inga effekter alls kunnat urskiljas. Det finns indikationer på att ESG-betygets olika dimensioner (E, S och G) har olika effekter varpå en separation av dessa är befogad. Studiens syfte är att undersöka om sociala kontroverser har någon effekt på företags finansiella prestation och om ESG-betygets sociala dimension har någon modererande roll i interaktionen mellan dessa. Forskningsfrågorna som studien ställer är huruvida företagskontroverser har en negativ effekt på företags finansiella prestation och om ESG-betygets sociala dimension modererar konsekvensen av en sådan effekt.    Metod: Studien utgår från den positivistiska forskningstraditionen med en hypotetiskdeduktiv ansats.  Studien har en kvantitativ metod med en longitudinell forskningsdesign där sekundärdata för 487 publika bolag för åren 2015–2020 använts. Data hämtades från Refinitiv Eikons databas och analyserades i statistikprogrammet IBM SPSS.      Resultat & slutsats: Studiens resultat visar på ett negativ samband mellan sociala kontroverser och studiens mått på finansiell prestation samt att denna effekt modereras av det sociala ESG-betyget. Studien finner således att sociala kontroverser påverkar företags finansiella prestation negativt men att denna negativa effekt mildras genom ett högre socialt ESG-betyg.    Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien bidrar till att föra forskningen på området framåt avseende den sociala dimensionen av ESG-betyg med hänsyn till sociala kontroverser.   Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Som förslag till fortsatt forskning kan nämnas att rikta sig till de övriga delarna av ESG-betyget samt de övriga kategorierna av kontroverser, alternativt ett annat tidsperspektiv. / Aim: Sustainability is a topic that has grown and companies’ actions are being examined to an increasing extent. For companies that go against the demands and expectations of its stakeholders, critical voices are raised, often in the media, which can affect the company in question. Previous research has found ambiguous results regarding the effect of controversies where both positive, negative or no effects could be discerned. There are indicators that the different dimensions of the ESG-score (E, S and G) have different effects, after which a separation of these is justified. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether social controversies have any effect on companies’ financial performance and whether the social dimension of the ESG-score has any moderating role in the interaction between them. The research questions posed by the study are whether corporate controversies have a negative effect on companies’ financial performance and whether the social dimension of the ESG-score moderates the consequences of such an effect.    Method: The study is based on a positivist quantitative method with a hypotheticaldeductive research approach. The study adopts a longitudinal research design where secondary data for 487 public companies for the years 2015–2020 were used. The secondary data were collected from the Refinitiv Eikon’s database and analyzed in the IBM SPSS statistics program.   Result & Conclusions: The results of the study show a negative correlation between social controversies and the study's measures of financial performance and that this effect is moderated by the social ESG-score. The study finds that social controversies affect companies' financial performance negatively, but that this negative effect is mitigated by a higher social ESG-score.   Contribution of the thesis: The study helps to advance research in the field regarding the social dimension of the ESG-score and social controversies.   Suggestions for future research: As a proposal for further research, a different time perspective or other parts of the ESG-score as well as the other categories of controversies could be examined.

Multi-club ownership [MCO] is a concept within the football industry which entails that an owner holds significant stakes in multiple teams. This ownership strategy is not new, however, what are the driving forces of this type of ownership structure and what are the outcomes? The purpose of this study was to explore potential drivers of MCO, to irradiate the concept and determine whether traditional business administration theories can be applied to explain its existence. The main theoretical framework is based upon the shareholder theory and resource-based view of the firm with supplementary reasoning collected from other relevant theories. The study encompasses five seasons and consisted of the teams competing in the top two divisions in the English Football League system. The quantitative study covered six hypotheses and deployed both Two sample t-tests and regression models which sought to measure international player trading activity, sporting performance and financial performance. The results of the study show that multi-club portfolio members [MCPMs] tend to trade a larger share of players internationally compared to Non-MCPMs. However, the other models yielded no significant results in regard to MCPMs, although, value creation through the strategy cannot be disregarded as it may be present through other channels. The wider footballing industry has been studied extensively in previous literature. However, this study is focused on MCO, a topic that lacks a previous body of research. By filling this research gap the authors hope to illuminate the concept and increase transparency for both decision makers (owners of clubs) and supporters of clubs. In addition, a survey which is not empirically tested was conducted in order to help guide the proceedings of the research.

Este trabajo de investigación está orientado a organizar de manera sistemática las diferentes investigaciones que analizan la relación entre la diversidad de género en las juntas de directorio y el impacto que tiene en el desempeño financiero empresarial. El alcance de los argumentos que se exponen se basa en experiencias y datos de las diferentes industrias a nivel global sustentadas en el estudio de conceptos claves sobre diversidad de género, en los estereotipos que lo etiquetan y en las medidas internacionales que cada país adopta para incentivar la cuota femenina en las organizaciones. El estudio de indicadores financieros ayudó a la investigación a medir el impacto de la gestión de las directoras en el desempeño empresarial. En torno a ello, se encontraron posturas controversiales entre autores expertos en el tema, quienes destacan que los atributos, estilos y perfiles de las mujeres son fundamentales para determinar los beneficios o atajos que implica tener líderes mujeres en el directorio más aún en el mundo globalizado actual, pues este fenómeno obliga a las empresas a ser cada vez más competitivas para adaptarse con facilidad a un mercado constantemente cambiante. / This research paper explains the analysis of gender diversity in board of directors and its impact on corporate financial performance. The scope of the arguments presented is based on experiences and data from different industries at a global level based on the study of key concepts on gender diversity, on the stereotypes that label it and on the international measures that each country adopts to encourage the female quota in organizations. The financial indicators study helped the research measure the impact of women directors ' management on business performance. Around it, were found postures controversial among authors experts in the subject, who stand-out attributes, styles, and profiles of women are fundamental to determine the benefits or shortcuts that can bring the having women leaders in the directory even more in the globalized world in which we find ourselves, therefore, this phenomenon requires companies to be increasingly competitive to be easily adapted to a constantly changing market. / Trabajo de Suficiencia Profesional