Det råder olika villkor i den privata och offentliga sektorn gällande geografisk bundenhet, konkurrans och förutsättningar för att styra verksamheterna. Det som däremot är gemensamt för de båda sektorerna är konkurrensen om medarbetare. Vännäs kommun befinner sig i en inledande fas i arbetet med begreppet attraktiv arbetsgivare, även kallat Employer Branding. Uppdraget har varit att undersöka vilka positiva aspekter som upplevs med att arbeta för Vännäs kommun, som medarbetare med varierande anställningstid och ålder upplever samt hur kommunen kan stärka sitt arbetsgivarvarumärke genom att betona dessa aspekter. I resultatet framkom att positiva aspekter med Vännäs kommun som arbetsgivare är närhet, framåtanda, utveckling och ansvar, gemenskap och välmående samt organisationen i sin helhet. Från dessa kategorier har följande tema utarbetats; I Vännäs kommun råder en kontinuerlig strävan efter utveckling både för organisationen och medarbetarna. Organisationskulturen är välkomnande där gemenskap och välmående står i fokus. Den lilla kommunens fördel är det övergripande koncerntänket med närhet till beslut och möjlighet till påverkan. Detta illustrerar vad som kännetecknar Vännäs kommun som arbetsgivare. För att specifikt attrahera yngre arbetskraft visar resultatet att följande faktorer är viktiga för yngre medarbetare i organisationen; innovation, känna sig behövd och värdefull, en bra arbetsmiljö och arbetskultur, gemenskap på arbetsplatsen och att bli betrodd med ansvar. Det som mest frekvent uttrycktes från den yngre informantgruppen var vikten av utveckling genom arbetet. Denna fallstudie kan vara användbar för organisationer med liknande förutsättningar som Vännäs kommun i arbetet med employer branding. Fallstudien bidrar även med en ökad förståelse för vad som attrahetar medarbetare till en offentlig organisation.

Businesses and humans in general have led to a variety of different social and environmental problems. In this thesis we call on businesses to be the solution to these problems. Therefore, we have developed two research questions:   How do Swedish companies incorporate CSR and sustainability into their business models? and How do Swedish companies create shared value through business models based on sustainability and CSR?   The purpose of these research questions is to discover how Swedish companies incorporate CSR and sustainability into their business models. Also, we aim to see how a business model based on CSR and sustainability can create shared value. We have focused our view of a business model on Bocken et al.’s (2014) three pillars: value proposition, value creation and delivery, and value capture. Furthermore, we have made a distinction between the concepts of sustainability and CSR to see how they impact these different business model pillars. We divided sustainability into two types: weak and strong and broke CSR into internal and external CSR. Porter and Kramer (2011) gave seven examples of how the concept of shared value could be created. Shared value is created when society benefits at the same time a company is making economic gains. To combine the concepts of business model innovation, business models, sustainability, CSR, and shared value we have created a model. The model’s purpose is to see how companies can practically integrate CSR and sustainability into the three business model pillars. Business model innovation was the purpose arena in which a company could change in order to create shared value   After conducting interviews with seven different respondents from six different companies located in northern Sweden we were able to see that both strong and weak sustainability are visible in the value proposition pillar and somewhat visible in the value creation and delivery pillar. On the other hand, both internal and external CSR were only visible in the value creation and delivery pillar. Moreover, we could conclude that shared value was created by all of the respondent’s companies and in addition to Porter and Kramer’s (2011) examples added a new way shared value can be created through spreading ‘green’ knowledge. By using our research as a starting point we were able to identify directions for future research in the fields of business model innovation, business models, sustainability, CSR, and shared value.

The purpose of this study was to determine the various value levels that may be affecting communication in the church and to discover the predominant levels of psychological existence. Data was collected using the Value for Religion test. A total of 288 college and seminary students were tested. Comparisons of the differing scores of demographic variables formed the bases of the conclusions drawn in the study. Significant relationships were found between one's personal value cluster and sex, career intention, and type of college attended. Much research is still needed in the area of value levels in religion. Hopefully, this research will contribute to the success of religion in the future.

Consumer value is an important determinant of consumers’ post-use behaviour, for example satisfaction, repeat purchase and word of mouth. The existing research mainly looks at the factors associated with the product and service providers to improve consumer value. Few studies on the role of the consumer in shaping consumer value have found consumer knowledge to be an important element in shaping consumer value. Adopting critical realism, this PhD expands this area of knowledge by investigating knowledge miscalibration (i.e., the inaccuracy in subjective knowledge) as a significant antecedent of consumer value. Most of the time, consumers’ perceptions of what they think they know (i.e., subjective knowledge) has been shown to be different from what they actually know (i.e., objective knowledge). Thus, subjective knowledge is usually inaccurate. This inaccuracy in subjective knowledge relative to objective knowledge is called knowledge miscalibration. Although the effect of knowledge miscalibration on consumers’ purchasing decisions has been investigated in the consumer behaviour literature, its role in the use stage of consumption has received much less attention. The aim of this research is to examine the effect of knowledge miscalibration on product or service use, and more specifically on the value consumers derive from actually using products or services (i.e., value-in-use). In this research a critical realism paradigm is pursued, implying that reality exists in the three domains of the empirical, the actual and the real. The research starts with observing regularity in the empirical domain (i.e., consumer value) followed by imagining the causal power in the actual and the real domains (i.e., knowledge miscalibration), shaping the research question. A retroductive strategy is followed, firstly by proposing the effect of knowledge miscalibration on consumer value and secondly by conceptually and empirically testing this relationship. This research conceptualises that knowledge miscalibration influences consumer value dimensions, described as efficiency, excellence, play and aesthetics. It is suggested that underconfidence (i.e., knowledge miscalibration where subjective knowledge is deflated) and overconfidence (i.e., knowledge miscalibration where subjective knowledge is inflated) influence consumer value dimensions differently as they generate different consequences in use. Therefore, a conceptual model is developed that describes the effect of knowledge miscalibration (i.e., overconfidence and underconfidence) on the dimensions of consumer value. The empirical part of the research is designed by conducting a covariance-based study and an experimental investigation in order to gain both internal and external validity. The covariance-based investigation is conducted in the context of amazon.com online shopping. Knowledge miscalibration and consumer value dimensions are measured in this study. This study supports the negative effect of underconfidence on efficiency, excellence, play and aesthetics and the negative effect of overconfidence on play. The experimental investigation is designed in the context of prezi.com, an online dynamic presentation creation website that enables its users to move between slides, words and images during their presentations. In this study, overconfidence and underconfidence are manipulated and their effects on the dimensions of consumer value are examined. The findings of this study show that underconfidence negatively influences efficiency, excellence and aesthetics, while overconfidence negatively impacts excellence, play and aesthetics. Overall, this PhD concludes that knowledge miscalibration negatively influences the dimensions of consumer value, with the exception of overconfidence impacting efficiency. The contradictory results of the covariance-based study observed in the experimental study can be explained through its inability to account for reciprocal relationships (i.e., where consumer value dimensions also impact knowledge miscalibration) and the existence of a third variable affecting both independent and dependent variables. Furthermore, the context of the experimental study (employing a new consumption task) is proposed to be the main reason for the lack of support for the effect of underconfidence on play.

This research argues that the information security governance objectives should be grounded in the values of organizational members. Research literature in decision sciences suggest that individual values play an important role in developing decision objectives. Information security governance objectives, based on values of the stakeholders, are essential for a comprehensive security control program. The study uses Value Theory as a theoretical basis and value focused thinking as a methodology to develop 23 objectives for information security governance. A case study was conducted to reexamine and interpret the significance of the proposed objectives in an organizational context. The results suggest three emergent dimensions of information security governance for effective control structure in organizations: resource allocation, user involvement and process integrity. The synthesis of data suggests eight principles of information security governance which guides organizations in achieving a comprehensive security environment. We also present a means-end model of ISG which proposes the interrelationships of the developed objectives. Contributions are noted and future research directions suggested.

This study employs Extreme Value Theory and several univariate methods to compare their Value-at-Risk and Expected Shortfall predictive performance. We conduct several out-of-sample backtesting procedures, such as uncondi- tional coverage, independence and conditional coverage tests. The dataset in- cludes five different stock markets, PX50 (Prague, Czech Republic), BIST100 (Istanbul, Turkey), ATHEX (Athens, Greece), PSI20 (Lisbon, Portugal) and IBEX35 (Madrid, Spain). These markets have different financial histories and data span over twenty years. We analyze the global financial crisis period sep- arately to inspect the performance of these methods during the high volatility period. Our results support the most common findings that Extreme Value Theory is one of the most appropriate risk measurement tools. In addition, we find that GARCH family of methods, after accounting for asymmetry and fat tail phenomena, can be equally useful and sometimes even better than Extreme Value Theory based method in terms of risk estimation. Keywords Extreme Value Theory, Value-at-Risk, Expected Shortfall, Out-of-Sample Backtesting Author's e-mail ozturkdurmus@windowslive.com Supervisor's e-mail ies.avdulaj@gmail.com

Electronic Commerce (EC) companies are faced with a highly competitive environment today. Strengthening user engagement in digital ecosystems is a promising approach to increasing value co-creation. However, enterprise-oriented user engagement strategies examined in previous studies are relatively inadequate to meet today’s expectations. This paper looks to answer the question, “how to effectively strengthen user engagement to acquire a sustainable value co-creation system in EC.” A plausible user engagement strategy was revealed by analyzing a single case study in the music sector based on details of a digital ecosystem. Semi-structured interviews performed with company Xiami along with their users, show that the recognition of user-oriented needs and the expansion of user-driven demands are two key aspects for EC companies to maintain a sustainable growth of value co-creation.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to estimate the value of the water supply company Vodovody a kanalizace Beroun a.s. on the date 30. 4. 2011 by using the yield method of DCF. The value is assessed for a potential investor in order of purchase. The thesis is divided into a theoretical part defining the basic theoretical background of valuation and a practical part, which primarily consists of a strategic analysis, a financial analysis and a financial plan.

Derome skog råvaruförsörjer fem sågverk i en tuff bransch med hård konkurrens. För att öka konkurrenskraften skall de testa värdehöjande avkap. Värdehöjande avkap innebär att kvalitetsfel kapas bort direkt i skogen av skördarföraren. Detta skall förutom ökande konkurrenskraft leda till högre timmerandel, mindre vrakandel, mer timmer snabbare och säkrare arbetsmiljö för entreprenörer som minimerar det manuella arbetet i skogen. Syftet är att undersöka om värdehöjande avkap ger en värdeökning samt att se vilka variabler som har störst betydelse för eventuell värdeökning. Data samlades in från en fältundersökning samt skördarens HPR- filer för att sammanställas via programmet Virkesvärde. Resultatet visade att användningen av värdehöjande avkap gav en positiv värdeökning. I fältundersökningen visades en 35 % värdeökning där värdehöjande avkap användes. Och via Virkesvärde visades en 43 % värdeökning i de fall där värdehöjande avkap förekom. Slutsatsen blev att begreppet värdehöjande avkap blev en värdehöjande handling samt att två variabler hade störst betydelse på värdeökningen, diameter samt kvalitetsklassen. / Derome forest´s main task is to provide five sawmills in the Derome Group´s industries with raw material from timber. To increase timber exchange from the forest they want to test value-adding cuts direct in to the forest. Value-adding cuts means that the harvester cuts off quality defects that lowers the value of the tree. Such quality defects is rot, buttress or crook. In this case, Derome forest wants to increase timber proportion, reduce wasted log, better timber quality and less disruptions at their industries. The purpose with this study is to investigate if the concept with value-adding cuts increases the value on individual logs and further increases all harvest. To investigate the value-adding cuts a quantitative method in shape of a field investigation was used to provide different data about the tree when value-adding cuts was applied. Except for the field investigation a program developed by Skogforsk called Virkesvärde was used to analyze the whole logging operation. The study was delimit to esclusively manage tree species used in Derome Group´s sawmills, spruce (Picea abies) and pine (Pinus sylvestris).In those cases where value-adding cuts were applied during the field investigation an average value increase was made with 39 SEK/tree and 35 % on the first stock. There is obvious connections between diameter, timber class and increase of value. A new timber proportion with 42,6 m3fub or 1,4 % was created from the analysis in Virkesvärde for the whole cutting operation. The value increase of the cutting operation was 43 % on the first stock on the trees where value-adding cut was applied. Price lists for different assortments from Derome forest was used in the calculations. In the field investigation there was value increases on lumps up to 18 dm. Only when the quality defects did not disappear the cut was unsuccessful. The result of the study gave a clear answer that value-adding cuts really was a value-adding action.

<p>How do food and agribusiness firms capture more profit in their value chain? How do innovative managers identify attractive adjacency and disintermediation opportunities? What options are available to a manager facing these questions and what economic incentives might motivate their strategic behavior? This study sought to address these timely questions, more effectively understand the strategic decisions facing food and agribusiness managers relative to value chain profit pools, and uncover some of the hidden dynamics between chain participants. Specifically, this study defines and quantifies the U.S. animal protein industry value chain across three species – hogs, cattle, and broiler chickens. The study found evidence to suggest that governance structure has strong ties to value generation and that intra-value chain dynamics impact price transmission between chain nodes. Further, this study creates a foundation for other researchers to continue examining agri-food value chain dynamics and its link to firm-level profitability, value capture, and long-term sustainability.</p>