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In a seemingly ever faster moving world where global competition is rising, companies has to find their competitive advantage. This advantage could be by offering a lower price on similar products or for instance by offering a superior product. What makes a product superior in comparison with the competitor’s products and how can the company maintain its competitive advantage. One of the main solutions for this dilemma is to be more innovative than the competitors and thereby gaining the competitive advantage. Becoming innovative doesn’t mean relying on sheer luck; instead the company has to adapt the proper innovation management. This thesis aims to research and suggest how a conceptual innovation management framework could be modelled for a large technology heavy organization. The findings of applicable theories together with the empirical study clearly show that in order for a large technology heavy company to improve its innovativeness it has to act under an innovation management framework, where innovation strategy and designated roles are clearly stated.

In a seemingly ever faster moving world where global competition is rising, companies has to find their competitive advantage. This advantage could be by offering a lower price on similar products or for instance by offering a superior product. What makes a product superior in comparison with the competitor’s products and how can the company maintain its competitive advantage. One of the main solutions for this dilemma is to be more innovative than the competitors and thereby gaining the competitive advantage. Becoming innovative doesn’t mean relying on sheer luck; instead the company has to adapt the proper innovation management. This thesis aims to research and suggest how a conceptual innovation management framework could be modelled for a large technology heavy organization. The findings of applicable theories together with the empirical study clearly show that in order for a large technology heavy company to improve its innovativeness it has to act under an innovation management framework, where innovation strategy and designated roles are clearly stated.

Hedge funds’ importance within the financial system has during the most recent years increased dramatically. These special funds are unique instruments that differ from traditional mutual funds in a variety of ways, however especially in how they expect returns. Due to the fact that hedge funds are able to hold short positions they possess the possibility to become market neutral investment vehicles. Because of this possibility to sustain positions neutral to market fluctuations, the concept of absolute returns became a unique selling point for hedge fund managers and promises of stable returns unchallenged by market conditions was assured. This research paper aims to examine the theory of absolute returns in hedge funds by examining hedge funds from the Nordic region during the last years of economic turmoil that has occurred by analyzing the results from their strategies, partially by quantitative measurements as well as qualitative. The results show that none of hedge fund strategies managed to deliver absolute returns over the chosen period.

Hedge funds’ importance within the financial system has during the most recent years increased dramatically. These special funds are unique instruments that differ from traditional mutual funds in a variety of ways, however especially in how they expect returns. Due to the fact that hedge funds are able to hold short positions they possess the possibility to become market neutral investment vehicles. Because of this possibility to sustain positions neutral to market fluctuations, the concept of absolute returns became a unique selling point for hedge fund managers and promises of stable returns unchallenged by market conditions was assured. This research paper aims to examine the theory of absolute returns in hedge funds by examining hedge funds from the Nordic region during the last years of economic turmoil that has occurred by analyzing the results from their strategies, partially by quantitative measurements as well as qualitative. The results show that none of hedge fund strategies managed to deliver absolute returns over the chosen period.

On behalf of the Swedish Energy Agency, SP has investigated and recommended how one could form a platform for demonstration of single family houses as nearly zero energy houses. SP suggests that TMF, the national trade and employers’ association of the wood processing and furniture industry in Sweden, should administrate this platform. The reason being that members of TMF produce almost 80% of all single family houses in Sweden. TMF also has the capacity to launch a demonstration platform in a reasonable short time. SP has also compiled a set on technical criteria regarding properties related to energy use that should be met by demonstration projects within the platform. One presumption has been that a house that meets the criteria in the south of Sweden also should meet the criteria in the north of Sweden. The reason being to promote an industrialized and cost effective building process. Another ambition has been not to disfavor smaller single family houses. The main criteria are on very energy efficient building envelopes and very efficient building services systems. The criteria are therefore more detailed than the current Swedish building regulations.

On behalf of the Swedish Energy Agency, SP has investigated and recommended how one could form a platform for demonstration of single family houses as nearly zero energy houses. SP suggests that TMF, the national trade and employers’ association of the wood processing and furniture industry in Sweden, should administrate this platform. The reason being that members of TMF produce almost 80% of all single family houses in Sweden. TMF also has the capacity to launch a demonstration platform in a reasonable short time. SP has also compiled a set on technical criteria regarding properties related to energy use that should be met by demonstration projects within the platform. One presumption has been that a house that meets the criteria in the south of Sweden also should meet the criteria in the north of Sweden. The reason being to promote an industrialized and cost effective building process. Another ambition has been not to disfavor smaller single family houses. The main criteria are on very energy efficient building envelopes and very efficient building services systems. The criteria are therefore more detailed than the current Swedish building regulations.

In the mid-1990’s, the global computer network known as the Internet was introduced in Sweden. With this study, we are shining a light on the entrance of Swedish Public Service media on the Internet. The two major Swedish Public Service companies Sveriges Television (“Swedish Television”, also called SVT) and Sveriges Radio (“Swedish Radio”, also called SR) are included in this study. SR published its first website in 1994 and the site featured a presentation of the results from the Swedish parliament elections of that year. SVT published its first website in 1995, when the company wanted to find a way to develop the classic teletext. The reason why we are studying these companies is that we wanted to find out why two publically funded companies decided to enter the new and relatively unknown Internet platform at a time when only three percent of the Swedish population had Internet access at home. We have interviewed technicians and board members working for either SR or SVT at the time surrounding their entry on the Internet and we have also accessed board documents and other written information from the companies. The study shows that both SR and SVT had an early presence on the Internet but without really investing. The respective boards were unsure about the usefulness of the new platform and the technicians were working without getting, according to themselves, enough time and money. The situation changed at the beginning of the 21st century, after the timeframe of our study.

In the mid-1990’s, the global computer network known as the Internet was introduced in Sweden. With this study, we are shining a light on the entrance of Swedish Public Service media on the Internet. The two major Swedish Public Service companies Sveriges Television (“Swedish Television”, also called SVT) and Sveriges Radio (“Swedish Radio”, also called SR) are included in this study. SR published its first website in 1994 and the site featured a presentation of the results from the Swedish parliament elections of that year. SVT published its first website in 1995, when the company wanted to find a way to develop the classic teletext. The reason why we are studying these companies is that we wanted to find out why two publically funded companies decided to enter the new and relatively unknown Internet platform at a time when only three percent of the Swedish population had Internet access at home. We have interviewed technicians and board members working for either SR or SVT at the time surrounding their entry on the Internet and we have also accessed board documents and other written information from the companies. The study shows that both SR and SVT had an early presence on the Internet but without really investing. The respective boards were unsure about the usefulness of the new platform and the technicians were working without getting, according to themselves, enough time and money. The situation changed at the beginning of the 21st century, after the timeframe of our study.

In this article, the problem how to obtain models for estimation of the operative temperature in rooms and buildings is discussed. Identification experiments have been carried out in two different buildings and different linear and non-linear estimation models have been identified based on these experiments. For the buildings studied, it is shown that the operative temperature can be estimated fairly well by using variables, which are more easily measured, such as the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the electrical power use in the room, the wall temperatures, the ventilation flow rates and the time of day. It is also shown that non-linear artificial neural network models (ANN-models), in general, give better estimations than linear ARX-models. The most accurate estimation models were obtained using feed-forward ANN-models with one hidden layer of neurons and using Levenberg-Marquardts training algorithms. In one of the buildings, it is shown that for non-linear models but not for linear, the estimations are improved much when using the time of day as an input signal. This shows that the time of day affects the operative temperature in a non-linear manner. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.