Familjeföretag är en av de vanligaste företagsformerna i världen. Även i Sverige är en majoritet av företagen familjestyrda företag. Den konkurrensutsatta omgivning som skapats under det senaste årtiondet gör det viktigt för företag att utveckla ett entreprenöriellt förhållningssätt. Det entreprenöriella förhållningssättet låter företagen nyttiggöra sina resurser och utforska möjligheter i deras omgivning. Entreprenöriell orientering är ett företags förmåga att utveckla företagets strategiska förhållande till risktagande, proaktivitet och innovationsförmåga. Familjestyrda företag har vissa gemensamma drag. Familjestyrda företag har en unik sammansättning av resurser och förmågor, där de familjestyrda företagens speciella karaktärsdrag i sin tur påverkar de olika delarna i företagets entreprenöriella orientering. Syftet med denna studie är att förklara om familjestyrande i svenska små och medelstora aktiebolag påverkar företagets entreprenöriella orientering. Tidigare studier visar på motsättningar om familjestyrda företag är entreprenöriella eller konservativa, traditionella och riskaverta.

The focus of this master’s thesis is on family-run small and medium enterprises and their adoption to information systems. The motivation for this research is to understand the family businesses’ challenges related to technology adoption, so that the level of hesitancy many family SMEs are having with the process can be understood and minimised. In addition, by understanding family businesses’ challenges related to information systems adoption, we can understand if they are different entities from non-family SMEs, and whether or not they require specialised guidance and support. To achieve the objectives of the master’s thesis, a qualitative multiple case study approach was undertaken involving three family SMEs who were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide which was inspired by the four key contexts of the Decision-Maker-Technology-Organisation-Environment model. Upon the completion of a thematic analysis of the data, a total of seven themes emerged which can be used to help describe and answer how family SMEs perceive information systems adoption and the challenges. From the findings it was discovered that family SMEs usually hire relatives when they have a vacancy instead of hiring an individual who is more qualified and experienced in the job role, as it is easier and convenient to make use of the trusting relations between family members. In the majority of cases, this means that the family SMEs usually have a limited level of skills including IT knowledge and to overcome this issue they seek help from sources outside of their organisation. The results of this master’s thesis research show that Family SMEs usually have a positive outlook when it comes to carrying out the information systems adoption process,but despite this, hesitancy to initiate the information systems adoption process arose from the lack of awareness of the technology and its possibilities as well as the high cost of funding and setting up the information system.

Background: The Covid-19 crisis has caused limitations that have led to some serious economic consequences around the world. The crisis that is still ongoing has created a complex situation for most economic actors. Every firm has been affected by the crisis in one way or another including family firms, that play a vital role in the global economy. The majority of family firms are family small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), that occupy an enormous proportion of the economy. Considering the evident role of family SMEs, the crisis situation calls with urgency to investigate strategic measures that family SMEs apply in order to survive. Different from all other countries, the Swedish government has implemented the most unorthodox and relaxed restrictions in the world. This created a unique business environment for Swedish firms to operate in. Family SMEs generate 60 percent of value to the non-financial economy, and 65 percent of employment in Sweden. The crucial economical role of family SMEs in Sweden in combination with the unique restrictions, has triggered the urgency to investigate the strategic measures that Swedish family SMEs apply to adapt. Purpose & method: This study aimed to find an answer to the question of what strategic measures are applied by Swedish family SMEs in order to cope with the Covid-19 crisis. This study was executed by conducting qualitative research. 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted with 7 Swedish family SMEs from the construction, design, building, manufacturing, education and sports industries. The collected data was then sorted and analyzed systematically to generate knowledge, and draw upon conclusions that answer the research question of the study. Conclusions: The findings showed that Swedish family SMEs use a different set of strategic measures in order to cope with the crisis. This study identified five strategic measure combinations which are: three cases of persevering + innovation, 1 case of retrenchment + innovation, 1 case of retrenchment + persevering, one case of retrenchment + persevering + innovation, and one case of pure persevering. It was found that the use of the strategic measures depends on five decisive factors namely, the impact of the crisis on the firms, the industry of the firms, the unique governmental restrictions, the preparedness of the firms for crisis and the development of the strategic measures through time. One interesting result was that all the firms in the sample have benefited financially from the crisis in the long-run, despite the challenges regarding supply chain disruptions.