Investors in the financial market are supposed to hold diversified portfolios to minimize their risk adjusted for expected return. However, several researchers have pointed out that most investors are over weighted in their home market. This means that most diversification happens in terms of choosing stocks in the home market which means that further possible diversification through international diversification is unused. One can therefore expect that foreign investors have preferences for securities with specific characteristics once they go abroad. An earlier study of the Swedish stock market over the years 1993-1997 has shown that foreign investors, in greater extent than domestic investors, have a preference for large firms, firms paying low dividend and firms with low leverage. With the steep up-turn of the Swedish stock market before the millennium and the down-turn in year 2000 in mind, this study examine whether the investment patterns between 1996 and 2005 are consistent with the results of earlier investigations. In general the results are consistent with earlier investigations. However, this study also shows that foreign investors seem to be more interested in choosing securities with relatively high fundamental value and lower level of leverage during market down-turns.

There is a shift of values in the Western society of today from material to immaterial values Löhman and Steinholtz (2003). This changes together with the interest among people in Sweden and in the rest of the Western world to travel and experience new cultures the developing world has come closer. This has raised the awareness of the role of companies re-garding social responsibility since most companies have suppliers, producers or some other kind of involvement in developing countries. Today several companies are engaged in corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues. However, the topic of CSR has to a large extent divided a large part of the Swedish business world due to the strong opinions regarding this topic. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the concept of CSR is perceived by Swedish corporations and what implications it yields. This will be done by comparing the views of three different groups: managers in Swedish small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s) and managers of Swedish large sized enterprises (LSE’s), responsible for CSR implementation, supplemented with the view of independent thinkers. To perform the study a qualitative method has been used. Eleven interviews have been conducted with company representatives as well as independent thinkers that are involved in or have a great knowledge in the field of CSR. The respondents have been divided into three groups: ethically driven SME’s, LSE’s working with CSR and independent thinkers. The concept of corporate social responsibility is perceived very differently in between the three groups. The views are split regarding their fundamental understanding of CSR, which is reflected in their relation to stakeholders as well as their thoughts about the future development of CSR. The motives, ideological and commercial, for working with CSR also dif-fers and some external thinkers believe that there are no motives for engage in CSR at all. The ethically driven SME’s have built their core business on social responsibility and is therefore the backbone of the companies. The LSE’s core business is not built on social responsibility, but rather on demands from the customers, who they regard as a critical stakeholder group. Some of the independent thinkers instead adhere to the shareholder approach and reject the concept of CSR. Nevertheless, all of the respondents agree on why CSR has developed, which is due to globalisation.

No description available.

The number of people with another culture is increasing in Sweden. This change in society brings consequences in health care that has not any methods to manage. The Muslim woman’s meeting with the health care is one of those areas. The aim with this study was to describe the nurses meeting with female Muslim patient. The study carried out as a literature study and the results which based on 9 articles showed the lack of knowledge about culture and religion among health care staff. The authors further believed that to achieve an adequate result with meeting between staff and patient requires knowledge about different culture and religion. The study shows furthermore a necessity for nurses training individually to create instinct in how their own cultural opinion affects the nurse in her/his profession. The patients felt like nurses had a stereotype to doing their job and got very difficult to satisfy patients with the needs. In view of the circumstances it notifies proposals to improvement in the existing health care through curses and seminars about culture and religion but even concrete information about Islam and Muslim female patient’s needed in an institutional care. Madeleine Leininger’s theory of culture care was used as the conceptual framework and support for the study.

This study analyses which factors has driven the allocation of Swedish aid between 1975 and 2003. The results are then compared to the official policy. The general goal of Swedish aid is to “help to raise the living standard for the poor”, but there are more factors than income status that affect allocation. Allocation of Swedish aid is affected by a set of criteria for the choice of recipient. The details and the goals of aid have changed over time even if the core has remained the same. According to the official policy, Swedish aid should be used to take responsibility across borders, to contribute to a greater common market and a peaceful development. It has been considered important that the recipients’ needs can be matched by Sweden’s capacity and that aid is developed from the recipients’ situation. The recipients’ absorption capacity is thus an important criterion. Summarized, Swedish aid should be used to promote democracy, fight corruption and contribute to more equal societies. In this study we do not find any significant relation between the official policy and actual allocation. A Generalized Least Square regression with Random Effects points out only two significant variables, the recipients’ size of trade (openness) and their former (British) colonial status. Instead of rewarding open economies, Swedish aid has been allocated to more closed economies which tend to be more corrupt. Although the majority of the recipient countries are former colonies, we find that former British colonies are favoured. This allocation is believed to be a result of the historical development of aid and practical circumstances such as language etc... / Denna studie analyserar vilka faktorer som har drivit Svenskt bistånd mellan 1975 och 2003. Resultaten jämförs sedan med officiell policy. Det allmänna målet med Svensk bistånd enligt officiell policy är att ”hjälpa till att höja levnadsstandarden för de fattiga”, men det finns fler faktorer än inkomstnivå som påverkar allokeringen. Allokering av svenskt bistånd påverkas av bestämda "länderkriteria". Detaljerna och biståndets mål har förändrats över tiden även om kärnan har varit densamma. Enligt officiell policy så ska svenskt bistånd användas för att ta ansvar som sträcker sig över gränserna, för att bidra till en större gemensam marknad samt en fredlig utveckling. Det har ansetts vara viktigt att mottagarnas behov kan mötas av Sveriges kapacitet och att biståndet är sammansatt utifrån mottagarnas situation. Mottagarnas absorptionskapacitet är således det ett viktigt kriterium. Sammanfattningsvis ska svenskt bistånd främja demokrati, kämpa mot korruption och bidra till att samhällen blir mer jämställda. I denna studie finner vi inget signifikant samband mellan den officiella policyn och faktisk allokering. En ”Generalized Least Square Random Effects” regression påvisar blott två signifikanta variabler; mottagarnas handelsvidd (öppenhet) och deras före detta koloniala (Brittiska) status. Istället för att belöna öppna ekonomier har svensk bistånd allokerats till mer stängda ekonomier som tenderar att vara mer korrupta. Trots att majoriteten av mottagarländerna är före detta kolonier är de Brittiska kolonierna favoriserade. Denna allokering tros vara ett resultat av biståndets historiska utveckling och praktiska omständigheter, så som språk etc…

No description available.

This bachelor thesis aims to estimate Sweden’s export potential towards South-Korea since initial data indicates that Sweden has from 1997 up until 2005 been exporting less to South-Korea when compared to, in general, OECD. Furthermore, South-Korea seems to be a low prioritized market for Swedish firms in the East-Asian region. As many before us, we have used a basic gravity model, including GDP and distance in kilometer has been used as explanatory variables for the observed trade value. The dummy variable land-locked, to estimate trade potential for 15 commodity groups. Sweden was set to be the exporting country, South-Korea the importing country together with all the other OECD members, which were used as points of reference. The outcome of the gravity regression shows that distance and the dummy variable landlocked (if a country does not have access to open water) have a very strong relationship to the observed export data. However, GDP was proven to have a very weak relationship to the observed export data thus making the estimation process of trade potential for all, except one, commodity group biased. The gravity model has been widely criticized for inflating export potential due to misspecification a problem that we experienced when running our regression. Thus, from this study no strong conclusions can be drawn concerning the trade potential from Sweden to South-Korea.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyse how people who return to the labour market after long-term sickness absenteeism and subsequent job loss differ in employability, work ability, health, educational level, age, and gender, compared to those who do not. PARTICIPANTS: The cohort consisted of 191 individuals, 20 men and 171 women, whose employment was terminated because they had not been able to return to their regular work after taking a long-term sick leave and rehabilitation measures. METHODS: This study is based on a postal questionnaire sent out to a cohort of previous employees in a Swedish municipality in 2008. RESULTS: At the time of the survey, 39% of the respondents had returned to the labour market and the remaining 61% had not. Return to the labour market after a long-term sick leave was positively associated with male gender, young age, and work ability, i.e. the ability to work with respect to health and work-related demands. Employability, educational level, and health were not significantly associated with a return to the labour market. CONCLUSIONS: In the discourse on employability, work ability is often neglected even though it is a central aspect of an individual's ability to obtain new employment.

This study explores how auditors’ attitudes toward marketing and their views on the importance of marketing affect how they balance their time spent on marketing and auditing activities. The purpose is to understand how changes in the business environment for auditors affect the relationship between the auditing profession and marketing. The study is based on a survey of 711 auditors in Sweden. The findings suggest that auditors with a positive attitude toward marketing spend significantly more time on marketing activities compared to those with a less positive attitude. Furthermore, auditors who view marketing activities as important spend significantly more time on marketing activities. The study controlled for the number of years as approved or authorized auditor, age of the auditor, and firm affiliation. The results indicate that the theoretical distance between the auditing profession and marketing does not exist in practice to the same degree as it used to. The findings of the study have implications for international auditing theory and practice in illuminating the relationship of marketing and auditing in a wider business context.

This article is a working paper presenting a network building cooperative project between Umeå University inSweden and Zhejiang University in China. The project focuses on parents’ involvement and home-schoolcollaboration in Sweden and China and has an ambition to entail a set of empirical objectives: (1) to map andcompare the systems, policies, curricula, and resources dealing with home-school collaboration in Sweden andChina at the national level; (2) to identify and analyze the similarities and differences in the definitions, foci,models, practices, and perspectives on home-school collaboration in the two countries at the local level; and (3) toidentify and seek out good examples and models from both countries for communication and interaction amongteachers, parents, and students. Following an introduction to the project design where a comparative case-studyapproach is presented, this article reviews policies and researches concerning home-school collaboration inSwedish and Chinese contexts. Cases from both countries are selected, described, and discussed. Relative issues forfurther study are suggested. / Establishing research network between Sweden and China on cooperation between home and school