<p>This paper investigates decision-making under uncertainty and complexity. The focus point of the study was to investigate how organizations in Stockholm has come to a decisions on how to manage the trial implementation of a congestion tax in terms of their company cars. The study was conducted as a survey with complementary interviews with the decision makers in change of congestion tax problem. The aim of the study was to gain an understanding for the decision making processes, and how and why the companies decided as they did. The theory on which we based our study emanated from both systems theory and business economic theory on decision making. The latter involving both normative and descriptive theory. This gave us the means to understand and analyse our empirical work. The study shows that decision makers in organizations often act irrational and on quite loose grounds, without any financial inquiry when coming to a decision on complex matters. We have found that decision makers stride from the path of what normative decision making theory suggest on how to structure and solve a problem. As the complexity of the problem at hand rises, decision makers turn their back on the structured decision making process by finding the most convenient solution and then enhance its positive qualities. The reason i simply that they by doing so avoid the hardship of attempting to rationaly structure and take responsibility for a problem and a decision with uncertain consequenses.</p>

This paper investigates decision-making under uncertainty and complexity. The focus point of the study was to investigate how organizations in Stockholm has come to a decisions on how to manage the trial implementation of a congestion tax in terms of their company cars. The study was conducted as a survey with complementary interviews with the decision makers in change of congestion tax problem. The aim of the study was to gain an understanding for the decision making processes, and how and why the companies decided as they did. The theory on which we based our study emanated from both systems theory and business economic theory on decision making. The latter involving both normative and descriptive theory. This gave us the means to understand and analyse our empirical work. The study shows that decision makers in organizations often act irrational and on quite loose grounds, without any financial inquiry when coming to a decision on complex matters. We have found that decision makers stride from the path of what normative decision making theory suggest on how to structure and solve a problem. As the complexity of the problem at hand rises, decision makers turn their back on the structured decision making process by finding the most convenient solution and then enhance its positive qualities. The reason i simply that they by doing so avoid the hardship of attempting to rationaly structure and take responsibility for a problem and a decision with uncertain consequenses.

<p>Studien utreder fondförvaltares investeringsbeteende i förhållande till forskning om irrationellt beslutsfattande vid beslut som innefattar ett riskmoment. I studien har ett flertal fondförvaltare svarat på frågor som relaterar till forkning inom Behavioural Finance. Speciellt inriktat på Prospektteori och teorier om flockbeteende. Syftet är att identifierar eventuellt irrationellt investeringsbeteende hos fondförvaltare som i tidigare studier återfunnits hos privatsparare.</p>

Studien utreder fondförvaltares investeringsbeteende i förhållande till forskning om irrationellt beslutsfattande vid beslut som innefattar ett riskmoment. I studien har ett flertal fondförvaltare svarat på frågor som relaterar till forkning inom Behavioural Finance. Speciellt inriktat på Prospektteori och teorier om flockbeteende. Syftet är att identifierar eventuellt irrationellt investeringsbeteende hos fondförvaltare som i tidigare studier återfunnits hos privatsparare.

Vid aktieutdelning observeras det vanligen ett prisfall i aktiekursen under den första dagen då aktien handlas exklusive rätt till utdelning; ex-dagen. Tidigare studier har till största del förklarat ex-dagseffekten med klassiska ekonomiska teorier. I denna studie undersöks ex-dagseffekten från en beteendeekonomisk synvinkel. Syftet med studien är att undersöka ifall det prisfall som sker på ex-dagen kan förklaras med att investerare på marknaden är påverkade av en dispositionseffekt. Studien ämnar även att mäta i vilken grad aktiekursen sjunker i förhållande till utdelningen på Stockholmsbörsen under åren 2015-2019. En prisfallskvot togs fram för att mäta det genomsnittliga prisfallet för det totala urvalet på 1 094 observationer. För att kontrollera om dispositionseffekten kan förklara ex-dagseffekten jämfördes prisfallskvoterna för “vinnande” och “förlorande” aktier. Även en regressionsanalys gjordes för att kontrollera sambandet. Studien finner att den genomsnittliga prisfallskvoten på Stockholmsbörsen är 0,72, samt att denna ex-dagseffekt delvis kan förklaras av dispositionseffekten.

In this qualitative report we have evaluated the significance intuition have on recruiters in their decision-making process. We were furthermore interested in what ways recruiters reflect on, and how they are handling intuition while recruiting. Ultimately our aim was to highlight potential risks and consequences that could emerge as a result of the use of intuition in recruitment. While using a deductive approach we conducted nine semi-structured interviews with recruiters representing various types of companies in Kalmar. Our empirical data combined with our theoretical framework yielded us substantial material in order to analyze our results. Through our investigation we have noticed the degree of intuition among recruiters as being highly individual. However, depending on what type of personality the recruiter has, would also make an impact on the recruiter’s stance toward intuition. In addition, experience and awareness about what role intuition plays in the recruitment process are aspects that contribute as to how the recruiters use their intuition. Due to negative implications that can be caused by unawareness of the impact of intuition, such as discrimination, homosocial reproduction or error recruitments, we find it necessary to emphasize intuition into a practical context at workplaces.

The buying decision process describes how the consumer makes a purchase decision through a rational process (Markin, 1979) and an understanding for how consumers make a purchase decision can according to Sands et al. (2010) be obtained by increased knowledge for the information search process (the second part of the buying decision process) before a purchase. Today’s society offers great opportunity to obtain information (Rahim &amp; Clemens, 2012; Bawden &amp; Robinson, 2009) and by that there are in other words good opportunities for a rational acting by the consumers. However, there are factors working against that consumers act rationally and seek information prior to their purchases primarily in the form of the concept of information overload (Bawden &amp; Robinson, 2009) which claims that consumers are limited in their information search because there is too much information but also other factors such as lack of time (Wood &amp; Neal, 2009) and ability to find information (Slegers et al. 2012) are believed to affect the information search process. The purpose of this essay is to describe the information search behavior of consumers prior to a purchase considering irrational purchase decisions or the possibility of rational purchase decisions linked to product category and age because these variables are assumed to have an impact on the information search behavior prior to a purchase (Nelson, 1970; Phillips &amp; Sternthal, 1977; Sledgers et al., 2012). The method applied in this essay is structured interviews conducted in a shopping center in the central parts of Örebro and the participating respondents are consumers who just made a purchase. The results of the study indicate that the majority of the consumers are making irrational purchase decisions and that they therefore do not use the opportunity to act rationally, although today’s society provide good opportunities. The information search behavior doesn’t seem to depend on product category except that the information sources used differ among categories. The result also shows that younger consumers search more information in comparison with older consumers. Another finding is that neither ability to find information, lack of time or information overload seem to be reasons for that the majority of the consumers have not searched for information and nor do it seem to be the reason for why the consumers that do search for information stop to search. That they are not seeking seems instead to be because they feel that they know enough about the kind of product they have bought and the main reason that those who search stop to search is that they feel that they have found enough information to make a purchase decision. Key words: Consumer behavior, purchase decisions, the buying decision process, information search, rationality, irrationality, search goods, experience goods, information overload

Bakgrund: Något som många privatpersoner upplever svårt, är att välja aktier att investera i bland de tusentals som finns noterade på  aktiemarknader runt om i världen. Enbart på Stockholmsbörsen i Sverige finns det enligt Nasdaq OMX (2010) 288 stycken noterade aktier att välja mellan på huvudlistorna. En investerare har idag även tillgång till mycket information om företagen vilket bidrar till att det blir svårt att sortera bort vad som är oviktigt. Då målet för många investerare är att slå index är det intressant att titta på investeringsstrategier som kan tänkas slå index på längre sikt. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka investeringsstrategier på Stockholmsbörsen baserade på nyckeltalen P/E-talet, P/S-talet, P/BV-talet och direktavkastning. Detta för att komma fram till om det är det möjligt att generera överavkastning genom att följa någon eller några av dessa och om det visar sig stämma, komma fram till vilket eller vilka nyckeltal som är att föredra. Metod: Studien bygger på en kvantitativ metod där fyra nyckeltal har undersökts. Resultat: Studiens resultat visar på att det är möjligt att generera överavkastning gentemot index genom att följa en investeringsstrategi baserad på de studerade nyckeltalen. Av strategier som ingår i studien var det de baserade på värdebolag som överlag genererade den högsta avkastningen, både före och efter justering för risk. Därigenom visar studien på att investera i värdebolag gentemot tillväxtbolag är att föredra. Resultatet av studien ger också tecken på att den svenska aktiemarknaden inte är fullt effektiv utan att det förmodligen finns ett inslag av irrationalitet på den. / Background: Something that many individuals finds difficult, is to choose which shares they should invest in among the thousands of listed stocks on stock markets around the world. Only on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in Sweden, there are according to Nasdaq OMX (2010) 288 stocks listed to choose from on the main lists. An investor nowadays also has access to an amount of information about companies that makes it difficult to sort out what is important and not. With the aim of many investors being to beat the index, it is interesting to look at investment strategies that may beat the index over the long term. Aim: The purpose of this study is to study investment strategies on the Stockholm Stock Exchange based on the following financial ratios P/E ratio, P/S ratio, P/BV ratio and dividend yield. This is to investigate if it is possible to generate excess returns by following any of these and if it proves corrects, to choose which of these ratios are preferable to use as investment strategy. Methodology: The study is based on a quantitative method in which four financial ratios were examined. Results: The results show that it is possible to generate abnormal returns exceeding that of index by adopting an investment strategy based on the studied ratios. Of the studied strategies those based on value stocks generally generated the highest returns, both before and after adjustment for risk. This study shows that an investment in value stocks is preferable to one in growth stocks. The result of this study also provides evidence that the Swedish stock market may not be fully efficient and probably is affected by irrationality.

The focus of this study is marketing and consumer behavior. The research is done within context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The theoretical framework is based on theories about hoarding and irrational purchase decisions. Further on theories from other areas, such as psychology, has been added to gain a more thorough understanding of the subject. The study is conveyed through a web-based survey distributed on social media where the researchers used their own social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram to find the respondents, as the study is based on social media users. The pandemic also caused restrictions in what ways the research could be executed. The result of the questionnaire cannot support either of the hypotheses that stress, worry and trust for information conveyed through different media and authorities influences consumers to make more irrational purchase decisions. One explanation could be that the respondents do not believe hoarding is considered irrational, due to the fact there is an ongoing crisis. Another explanation for this is that the respondents could have had a social desirability bias due to our research approach. This creates a possibility to expand this research with a different approach, presumably through observations. The reason to claim social desirability bias as a crucial factor is that there has been scarcity of products in stores, which became a real problem due to some consumers having bought more than needed. Another explanation for not achieving the results intended could be that the results cannot be generalized to a greater population due to the sampling method used. Through the empirical background and theoretical framework, it becomes evident that there are problems with irrational purchasing decisions and hoarding due to crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. This study produces indications for future research to continue upon. This thesis is written in Swedish. / Den här studien sätter fokus på konsumentbeteende som en del av marknadsföring och forskningen utförs i kontext till pandemin COVID-19. Genom teorier inom konsumentbeteende under stressfyllda situationer där bunkring (hoarding) förekommit undersöks hur irrationella köpbeslut föranleder detta. Tillsammans med forskning från andra områden, såsom psykologi, presenteras teorier vilka kan skapa en ytterligare förståelse för konsumentbeteende. Studien genomfördes i form av en webbaserad enkätundersökning som distribuerades på Facebook och Instagram via forskarnas egna sociala medier då studien ämnade att nå ut till användare av sociala medier. Dessutom bidrog den rådande pandemin till att tillvägagångssättet begränsades, vilket föranleder metodvalet. Vad som framkommer av studien är att det beteende som genom enkätundersökningen uppgavs av respondenterna inte stödjer de uppsatta hypoteserna om att stress, oro och förtroende för olika medier och myndigheter är något som påverkar konsumenter till att fatta irrationella köpbeslut. Det förklaras med att respondenterna inte ansåg sig ha ett irrationellt beteende, där en möjlig förklaring är att ett bunkringsbeteende inte anses vara irrationellt under kriser. En annan möjlig förklaring till detta är respondenternas partiskhet (bias) att svara på ett sätt som uppfattas vara socialt accepterat (social desirability). Det gör att framtida forskning förslagsvis bör ta sig an dessa frågor genom andra tillvägagångssätt, såsom genom observationer för att undersöka konsumenters faktiska beteende snarare än hur de uppger att de beter sig. Detta eftersom både studiens empiriska bakgrund samt teoretiska referensram tyder på ett problem då irrationella köpbeslut och bunkringsbeteende är något som uppvisats under pandemin COVID-19. De resultat som presenteras går inte att generaliseras till en större population, men studiens resultat ger en indikation på ett beteende som fördelaktigen kan ligga till grund för framtida studier kring konsumentbeteende under kriser.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate whether abnormal return patterns can occur on different share indices, as a result of the outcome in national team matches. The subordinary aim is to investigate whether there are differences between the three share indices, (small-, mid- and large cap) depending on the match category and how it relates regarding the five countries in the study. Method This study has a positivistic and deductive approach, using a modified event study methodology. The event period is one day after the event. For each nation, year and share index, different estimation periods have been created. The study comprises 760 national team football matches and is investigating how each different share index is affected by match outcomes in championship matches, qualifying matches and friendlies. Results Upon compilation of all 760 matches, the result of this study shows a statistically significant impact on two of the three possible match outcomes, regarding small cap index. Furthermore the result also shows a connection between friendly matches and small cap index. The match categories championship matches and qualifying matches demonstrates no connection to the three diffrent kind of share indices. Regarding the different nations, Spain and their small- and large cap index shows the most significant connection between the match outcome and abnormal return. Conclusions The small cap share index is basically the only index that is affected by the all the matches that is involved in this study (after a victory or a loss). The magnitude of a match does not seem to have a greater influence on investor rationality. Over all, the match outcome draw does not lead to negative abnormal return. Of this studys five surveyed countries (England, France, Spain, Sweden and Germany), the english and german share indicies seems to be least likley to be affected by the outcome in national team football matches.