Macroeconomic factors that correlate with the performance of IndustrialTransportation Companies : A study using multiple linear regression

Abstract: This thesis in Applied Mathematics and Industrial Economics examines which macroeconomic factors, related to the business cycle, that correlate with the performance of Industrial Transportation Companies. The data for the thesis is collected with the help of Nordea and from reports of each variable. The observations stretch from January 2007 to December 2016, a ten-year period. The data is monthly, hence there are 120 observed data points for each variable. A linear regression analysis was performed with the result that there is a linear relationship between the performance of the Industrial Transportation Companies and the variables Price per MWh, Fuel Price, Exchange rate USD-SEK, Exchange rate EUR-SEK, Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, Repo Rate, OECD Index Sweden, and Purchasing Manager’s Index. Further analysis of the Swedish and international economic history in the last decade was conducted which concluded why said variables were significant.