Undersökningens syfte är att se vilka anledningar individen har till att välja friår och hur det kopplas samman med livsformerna de lever. Syftet har också varit att se individens upplevelse av friåret och vad de använt friåret till. Undersökningen bygger på kvalitativa intervjuer med sex friårslediga. Intervjuerna har handlat om individens upplevelse av friåret och tiden före det. Friår är en arbetsmarknadspolitisk åtgärd med målsättning att ge arbetstagare en längre ledighet från sitt arbete. Arbetslösa får samtidigt en chans att komma in på arbetsmarknaden. Friåret innebär att vara ledig från sitt arbete i tre till tolv månader för att kunna göra något annat utanför arbetsplatsen. För att kunna undersöka av vilka anledningar individen har friår och hur det kopplas med de olika sociala strukturer som villkorar människors vardag. Vi har studerat om livsformsanalysen kan användas till att beskriva, förklara och förstå skillnaderna i människors vardag. Livsformerna är sociala strukturer som villkorar människors vardag. De olika livsformsbegreppen som vi har använt oss av är arbetarlivsformen – husmorslivsformen, karriärenslivsform – representationshustrunslivsform och självständighetens livsform – medhjälperskans livsform. Det är dock vanligt att leva en blandning mellan två eller flera livsformer, det kallas en blandform. Vi har kommit fram till att livsformerna till viss del kan kopplas samman med hur intervjupersonerna lever under sitt friår och av vilken anledning de har friår. Det visar sig i att de som använder friåret till att starta ett företag lever till stor del självständighetens livsform. Att använda friåret till utbildning kan kopplas samman med karriärens livsformer. Vidare kan vi se att karriärenslivsform kan kopplas samman med att pressen på arbetet är stor och då är rekreation under friåret vanligt. Många kvinnor lever blandformer och det gör att de har svårt att kombinera de olika arbets- och kärleksformerna. De använder friåret till att ta hand om sin familj och sig själva.

The topic of this study is “An exploration of the reasons surrounding Indian businesswomen’s involvement in home-based businesses in Shallcross, Durban”. The objective of this study was to investigate some of the reasons why Indian women choose to venture into small business. This study also explored some of the history of the Indian people of Natal (now known as KwaZulu-Natal) and briefly touched on the past and present lives of Indian women in South Africa. The informants used in this study were Indian women who owned small home-based businesses. They all reside in Shallcross where they operate their businesses from their homes. Shallcross is situated in Durban, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Their businesses consisted of various types like hair salons, catering and gift shops. All interviews with the informants were informal in nature. Informal, unstructured yet indepth interviews and life histories were used in the study to collect data. Life histories were summarized to highlight the aims and results of the study. The literature reviewed for this study focused on issues on female entrepreneurship in South Africa. The most part of the literature review paid special attention to the changing role of Indian women, the nature of small businesses and their importance in South Africa’s developing economy, female motives for entrepreneurship and the future of female entrepreneurship. The literature review process has revealed a gap in the literature regarding Indian women involved in small business, but the literature also provided greater clarity and understanding of women entrepreneurship from both historically and contemporary perspectives. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sci.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

This study describes the characteristics of informal economy workers and their households. The central reasons for initiating the study were twofold. Firstly, the informal economy has grown in size and it is increasingly recognised as an important component of the economy. Secondly, it is widely agreed that accurate measurement of the informal economy has not been achieved. Thus, the study aimed to describe the informal economy using the most up-to-date national labour force survey as well as assess how accurately the informal economy has been measured with that instrument. The informal economy has developed as a result of globalisation and the technological revolution (amongst other factors) according to researchers. Recognition that workers within the informal economy (and those subject to informalisation within the formal economy) are not achieving fair labour standards has led to efforts to re-conceptualise work. The informal economy is extremely difficult to define and four conceptual models are described in this study. Each of the models agrees that the informal economy operates outside the ambit of formal activities, thus a form of dualism is defined, and that the economy is heterogeneous in character. The models differ in how the informal economy interrelates with the formal economy; the dualist model proposes there is no interaction while the legalist model states that a superior-subordinate relationship exists between the two. Competing models view the informal economy as either survivalist or as a vibrant, productive entity. A notable characteristic of the informal economy is flexibility in working conditions. This study will contribute to debate on the nature and measurement of the informal economy in South Africa. The method used in this study was secondary analysis of the Labour Force Survey. Integrating elements of theory and measurement, it is suggested that the design of the survey instrument reinforces the dualist model. Analysis revealed that different economies - formal and informal - occur and that, although the two are not mutually exclusive, these exhibit markedly different characteristics. The formal worker and his or her household showed significantly better statistics for a range of demographic, social and economic indicators. Formal employees enjoyed better quality employment relationships than informal workers, as demonstrated by higher proportions in permanent employment and longer duration of employment. Measurement of an interrelationship between the formal and informal economies was hampered by the design of the survey instrument, however, there is evidence that a relationship does exist and this was defined as superior-subordinate in nature. The heterogeneous nature of the informal economy was confirmed by example of a wide range of occupations, involving varied levels of skill. Generally, the South African informal economy appears to be survivalist in nature, as demonstrated by high frequencies of workers in occupations of low skill as well as by the general poverty and low standard of living exhibited by the informal workers' household. It was recognised that there are categories of worker who are worse off than the informal worker and this finding, along with the observation that disparities exist between different types of worker within the informal economy itself, raises the question of how useful it is to use the dualist framework for analysis. Informal workers did report higher levels of flexibility, however, it is argued that this would not compensate for poor statistics recorded for nearly all other indicators measured. Based on the analysis above, it is suggested that the informal worker 'formalise' if this path is made possible because it is clear that formal workers achieve a significantly better standard of living. In the long term this goal could be achieved by improving education levels and by facilitating access to the formal economy. In the short to medium term the outlook for the informal worker could be improved by adopting policies that foster improved work conditions, including improved access to medical aid, paid leave, and some form of pension or retirement plan. The study concludes that measurement of the informal economy is more accurate than past attempts, but that further improvement is possible. Given the disparities within the informal work force and the idea that a dualist approach is not the most effective conceptualisation of the labour force, the study calls for a flexible survey instrument that caters for various definitions of the informal worker. The inclusion of additional questions, for example to measure workers' perceptions of exploitation and satisfaction with working conditions, is encouraged. These suggestions would facilitate effective investigation of alternative conceptualisations of the informal economy through means of the survey instrument. / Thesis (M.Dev. Studies)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

Titel: Den välutbildade och erfarna företagaren – Myt eller sanning? Nivå: C-uppsats i företagsekonomi Författare: Johan Lindberg & Andreas Toresson Handledare: Lars Ekstrand Datum: 2014 – maj Syfte: Många företag föds årligen, men endast en del av dessa blir framgångsrika och cirka en tredjedel av företagen har lagts ner inom en treårsperiod. Därför var intresset att undersöka varför vissa företag blir framgångsrika. Detta med hjälp av tre faktorer som kan anses påverka hur framgångsrikt ett företag blir. Dessa faktorer var utbildningsnivå, tidigare erfarenhet och uppstartsmotiv hos företagsgrundaren. Syftet med studien var att undersöka sambandet mellan dessa faktorer och ställa dem mot nystartade företags framgång. Metod: En enkätundersökning av kvantitativ karaktär har genomförts för att analysera vikten av de faktorer studien tar fasta på. Urvalet var egenföretagare från vars verksamhet startades upp under år 2012. Studien bygger på 95 respondenters svar på enkätundersökningen. Svaren har sedan sammanställts i diagram för att göra en jämförelse mellan de tre faktorerna och två indikatorer som tyder på framgång: omsättning och antal anställda. Dessa har sedan analyserats med hjälp kontingenstabeller. Resultat & slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att tidigare erfarenhet av den bransch man verkar inom har positiv påverkan på både företagets omsättning och antal anställda. Dessutom visar studien att de företagsgrundare vars uppstartsmotiv är baserade på självförverkligande, att få vara sin egen och att få förverkliga sina idéer tydligt tenderar att bli mer framgångsrika än de vars uppstartsmotiv är rent ekonomiska. Studiens resultat visar också att 9 % av respondenterna anser att utbildning kan medföra nackdelar för företagsgrundaren. Dessutom anser 75,8% att utbildning inte är av större vikt vid start av eget företag. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Studien har genomförts på ett begränsat antal företagare i specifika delar av Sverige. Ett förslag till fortsatt forskning skulle kunna vara att genomföra en större empirisk undersökning för att kunna generella resultatet över ett större geografiskt område. Denna studie har ej riktat sig mot företagare vars företag gått i konkurs och därför vore en vidare forskning, med denna grupp medräknat i urvalet, intressant för att få en större inblick i vad som gör ett företag framgångsrikt eller inte. Uppsatsens bidrag: Uppsatsen resulterar i en ökad förståelse för hur variablerna utbildning, erfarenhet och uppstartsmotiv påverkar sannolikheten att uppnå framgång. Resultatet kan användas av och vara till nytta för blivande nyföretagare. Studiens resultat lyfter en intressant syn Examensarbete, C-uppsats, 15 hp Företagsekonomi Examensarbete i företagsekonomi Ekonomprogrammet   3  på huruvida utbildning främjar företagande eller inte samt ger en inblick i vikten av uppstartsmotiv och tidigare erfarenhet för framgångsrikt företagande. Nyckelord: Egenföretagare, framgångsrikt företagande, framgångsfaktorer, företagsstart, utbildning, erfarenhet, uppstartsmotiv. / Title: The Educated and Experienced Entrepreneurs – Myth or Truth? Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business and Economics Author: Johan Lindberg & Andreas Toresson Supervisor: Lars Ekstrand Date: 2014 – May Aim: Many companies are born annually, but only a few becomes successful and just about a third of the companies have closed down within three years. Therefore, the interest was to explore why some companies becomes successful. This, with the help of three factors that can be considered to affect how successful a company becomes. These factors were level of education, previous experience and start-up motives of the company founder. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between these factors and set them against start-up business success. Method: A survey of quantitative nature has been conducted to analyze the importance of the factors the study focuses on. The sample was self-employed whose business was started up in the year 2012. The study is based on 95 respondents' answers to the survey. The answers are then compiled into diagrams to make a comparison between the three factors and two indicators of success: turnover and employees. These were then analyzed using contingency tables. Result & Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that prior experience in the industry in which it operates has positive impact on both the company's turnover and employees. In addition, the study shows that the company's founder whose start-up motives are based on self-realization, to be his own and realize their ideas clearly tend to be more successful than those whose start-up motives are purely financial. The study also shows that 9 % of the respondents believe that education can have negative consequences for the company founder. Moreover, the 75.8% of the respondents believe that education is not of major importance when starting your own business. Suggestions for future research: This study was conducted on a limited number of entrepreneurs in specific parts of Sweden. A proposal for further research would be to conduct a larger empirical study to overall outcome over a larger geographic area. This study was not directed at entrepreneurs whose companies have gone bankrupt and therefore would a further research with this group, including the selection of this study, be interesting to get a greater insight into what makes a business successful or not. Contribution of the thesis: The paper results in a greater understanding of how the variables education, experience and start-up motives affect the likelihood of achieving success. The result can be used and be useful for aspiring entrepreneurs. The results of the study raise an interesting view on whether education promotes entrepreneurship or not, and provides insight into the importance of start-up motives and previous experience to create a successful entrepreneurship.   5  Key words: Self-employed, business success, success factors, business start-up, training, experience, start-up motive.

Private practice as a career option for nurses has been slowly increasing since the 1980's. However, the reasons for this development have not been fully investigated so that it can be understood and placed within the changing contexts of health care and health services. The expansion and extension of nurses' roles is a contemporary topic in health care reform and therefore one that deserves investigation. The aims of this study were to develop a theory on private practice nursing and to describe the characteristics and work of the self-employed nurse in Australia. Nurses working in a variety of settings have been able to provide information on being self-employed. In doing so, this study was able to describe the persona of the nurse entrepreneur, explore the reasons why nurses and midwives in Australia establish private fee-for-service practices, identify the factors which have influenced this action and describe the scope of practice of nurses and midwives in private practice. This combined Delphi technique and Grounded Theory study is the first in-depth study of Australian nurses and midwives in private practice. The study enables nurses to provide direct information on being self-employed and enhances the profession's ability to articulate about this area of nursing. The significance of the research is in increasing the understanding of this area of practice development and affords greater insight into its efforts to improve and maintain quality nursing services within the Australian health care system. One hundred and six nurses and midwives were invited to participate in the study, in which participants completed two rounds of semi-structured postal questionnaires. Delphi technique was applied to rate responses on Likert scales to ascertain respondents' consensus on certain topics. Participants were also provided the opportunity to make additional comments. Results indicated that nurses in private practice are well experienced with an average of 21 years nursing experience and hold several qualifications. Job satisfaction, being able to be more involved in achieving quality health outcomes and maximising skills and abilities are significant influences for private practice. These results suggest that private practice nursing can contribute effectively to broadening the range of primary health services available to the population and to addressing the issues of retention and recruitment of nurses. Self-employed nurse entrepreneurs push the boundaries of the profession and expand the realm of nursing practice. Entrepreneurship is a path for the future of nursing as it offers expanded career opportunities for nurses and opportunities for increased ambulatory health services. In addition, the broad, expert knowledge nurses hold on many aspects of health can be disseminated throughout the health sector to the advantage of corporate health partners. There is further development required in this innovative and expanding area of the nursing profession. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Department of Clinical Nursing, 2003.

Egenanställning är en anställningsform som växer mycket snabbt. Under senare år har det börjat komma rapporter och debattartiklar om nya former för att organisera arbetslivet och möjliga konsekvenser av egenanställning när det gäller regelverk och anställningstrygghet. Med egenanställda menas personer som utför arbete på uppdrag och inte själva har något företag. De är i stället anställda av ett egenanställningsföretag som ansvarar för fakturering mot kunden/ uppdragsgivaren. Utifrån dessa förändringar är det intressant att se vilka konsekvenser det får för individen och vilka färdigheter som krävs i rollen som arbetstagare för att kunna hantera nya förväntningar och krav. I förlängningen är det också intressant att se vilket stöd arbetssökande kan få i att utveckla nya färdigheter på en arbetsmarknad som innebär en förskjutning från anställningstrygghet till anställningsbarhet och om vägledare och rådgivare inom arbetsmarknadsområdet bör eller ens kan rekommendera egenanställning som ett alternativ oavsett den arbetssökandes färdigheter. Denna studie utgår från ett individperspektiv och vänder sig främst till vägledare inom arbetsförmedling och vuxenutbildning samt till rådgivare och karriärcoacher inom Trygghetsråden. Förhoppningen är att studien ska kunna hjälpa till i vägledningsarbetet och fungera som en pusselbit inför individers kommande karriärbeslut. Studien baseras på Planned Happenstance-teorin. Valet av teoretisk utgångspunkt har gjorts utifrån att teorin ligger väl i linje med förskjutningen på arbetsmarknaden och den nya gig-ekonomin, där individen förväntas ta ansvar fullt ut för den egna utvecklingen och ställer krav på initiativförmåga och att vara självgående. För studien har en kvalitativ metod tillämpats. Sju personer har valts ut, de representerar organisationer i olika branscher, olika typer av organisationer samt har olika roller. Gemensamt är att det är organisationer som på olika sätt uppmuntrar, stöttar eller vägleder individer i en karriärvägledningsprocess. De intervjuade personerna arbetar i egenanställningsföretaget Frilans Finans, Fackförbundet Unionen, Trygghetsråden TRR, TSN och TRS, Arbetsförmedlingen och Verto Konsult AB. Resultaten i studien visar att det är relativt ovanligt att arbetslösa använder egenanställning som en plattform för att komma in på arbetsmarknaden. De specifika kompetenser som krävs är främst att vara självständig, driven, gilla försäljning, vara flexibel, våga ta risker, relationskompetens och specialistkompetens. Flera av dessa färdigheter stämmer överens med de färdigheter som karriärteorin Planned Happenstance menar är viktiga. Studien visar vidare att karriärvägledare bör stämma av att personer som överväger egenanställning har en tydlig affärsidé och att de gjort en ordentlig marknadsundersökning av den tjänst eller produkt man ska sälja samt har koll på de ekonomiska förutsättningarna. Stöd genom utbildningsinsatser för att öka den digitala kompetensen och kurser i lagar och avtal är också något som respondenterna lyfter fram, samt rådgivning när man är igång, inte bara inför uppstarten. Tillgång till nätverk och att kunna bolla med andra är också förslag på stödinsatser. / Self-employment is an employment form that is growing rapidly. In recent years, reports and debate articles are coming up about new forms of organizing work-life and possible consequences of self- employment in terms of regulations and employment security. Self-employed means people who perform work on assignments and not have a company themselves. Instead, they are employed by a self-employment company which is responsible for billing against the customer / client. Based on these changes, it is interesting to see what consequences it has for the individual and which skills are required in the role of the employee in order to handle new expectations and demands. In the long run, it is also interesting to see which support jobseekers can get in developing new skills in a labor market, which involves shifting from job security to employability and if counsellors and advisors in the labor market sector should or even can recommend self-employment as an option regardless of the job applicant's skills. This study is based on an individual perspective and is primarily addressed to counsellors in employment service and adult education, as well as advisors and career coaches within the job security councils - Trygghetsråden. The hope is that the study should be able to assist in the work of guiding and as a piece of puzzle for individuals' future career decisions. The study link to the Planned Happenstance theory. The choice of theory has been based on the fact that the theory is well in line with the shift in the labour market and the new gig economy, where the individual is expected to take full responsibility for his / her own development, claiming initiative and being self-governing. For the study a qualitative method has been applied. Seven people have been selected, they represent organizations in different industries, different types of organizations and have different roles. Commonly, they are organizations that encourage, support or guide individuals in a career-counselling process. The interviewees work in the self-employment company Frilans Finans, The labour union Unionen, the job security councils TRR (outplacement and job security services for private companies and employees), TSN (The Job Security Foundation, job security services for government employees) and TRS, Arbetsförmedlingen (The Swedish Public Employment Service) and Verto Konsult AB. The results in the study show that it is relatively unusual for unemployed to use self-employment as a platform for entering the labour market. The specific skills required are primarily independent, driven, like sales, flexible, dare to take risks, relation competencies and specialist skills. Several of these skills are consistent with the skills that the career theory Planned Happenstance means are important. Further, the study shows that career counsellors should argue that people who consider self- employment have a clear business idea and that they have done a proper market research of the service or product to sell, as well as the financial conditions. Support through training efforts to increase digital skills and courses in laws and agreements is also something that respondents highlight, as well as counselling at the start, not just before the start-up. Access to networks and being able to chat with others are also suggestions for support efforts.

Informal sectors in developing countries provide a substantial pool of jobs for some of the world's poorest people. Self-employment comprises a large portion of the job opportunities available to individuals working in these sectors. This thesis is concerned with the factors that drive people to become self-employed and determine their welfare as an entrepreneur, with a special emphasis on differences between women and men. In Chapter 1, we explain the Ghanaian context to which this thesis relates and outline the contribution of each main chapter and the common themes. In Chapters 2 and 3, we examine the trade-off between domestic work, such as caring for children and household chores, and market work. In Chapter 2, we consider the extent to which individuals are able to substitute between these two tasks to adjust to short-run variation in domestic productivity brought about by outages in electricity. We find that self-employed workers adjust non-monotonically to changes in domestic productivity, initially increasing their levels of domestic work to preserve consumption levels, but then substituting towards market work when power outages become more severe. We show that this relationship is heterogeneous by sex, and build a model of time allocation to demonstrate the theoretical mechanisms behind these results. In Chapter 3 we examine whether the factors that drive occupational selection differ by sex. It is often argued that women choose jobs in self-employment because this allows them to balance income-generation with childcare and other domestic work. We test the plausibility of this claim and its implications for labour market outcomes. First, we use a simple model of occupational choice to clarify our ideas about which notions of 'job flexibility' are important for the Ghanaian context. Second, we examine whether differential selection forces between women and men may explain the raw sex earnings gaps that appear to persist in various sectors, using a multinomial logit model to adjust for non-random occupational selection. We find that controlling for selection substantially widens the earnings gap amongst the self-employed, but shrinks it for the wage-employed. Third, we interrogate our selection equations and show that domestic obligations increase women's likelihood of entering low-input self-employment jobs more than men. We assess the importance of endogeneity using a maximum simulated likelihood estimator to couch the idea that selection on observables can be used as a guide for selection on unobservables, focussing on the discrete choice made over occupation. In Chapter 4, we turn to theory to try and resolve some of the empirical puzzles that remain from Chapter 3. In particular, we attempt to reconcile the fact that female participation in self-employment is so high even when the average differences in potential earnings are large. To do this, we construct a search model, which allows for individual heterogeneity and participation in both self- and wage-employment, as well as discrimination against female workers in the wage sector. We numerically solve and simulate this model, using calibrations from the existing literature, to explain a set of stylised facts generated from a longitudinal dataset of workers in urban Ghana. We show that wage sector discrimination leads to average earnings gaps in \emph{all} sectors of the economy, even if the underlying ability distribution is the same for both sexes. We also conduct a series of experiments to examine how women and men may be affected differently by government policy. Finally, in Chapter 5 we connect our main findings to policy and make some suggestions for future work.

Recently, researchers have shown enormous interest in the informal sector due to extensive poverty and rising unemployment trend in the South African economy. These problems have worsened in the Port Elizabeth economy, as most entrepreneurs have scaled down their operations or liquidated their businesses due to a structural decline in the manufacturing sector and periodic recessions in the national economy. Undoubtedly, the informal sector has become a reasonable economic alternative as far as income accumulation and employment generation. The present study shows that the informal sector is characterised mainly by self-employment and also the income from this sector has also improved the standard of living of most sampled households in New Brighton and KwaMagxaki. The aim of this thesis, then, is to evaluate the nature, extent, meaning and influence of the informal sector in the Port Elizabeth Black economy. However, this can only be achieved once the informal sector is placed within the appropriate theoretical framework. This is done by comparing and contrasting the different conceptualisations of the informal sector in the literature. In conclusion, the thesis combines the different conceptualisations of the informal sector in the literature with the empirical evidence from the Port Elizabeth townships' informal sector. The important findings of the study are: The informal sector is mainly characterised by distributive activities than productive activities. Women comprised 62% of the informal sector. Economically-active members of the economy are in the informal sector. Education levels in this sector are relatively low. The informal sector is characterised by one-man businesses with few employees who are also family members. There was no trace of migrants in the informal sector. The informal sector is characterised by linkages. Informal income alleviates conditions of poverty. Policies have to implemented for the development of the informal sector. Twenty-three percent of the households in New Brighton were in the informal sector and only 6% in KwaMagxaki. Although, this study focuses in Port Elizabeth, it is the intention that the results presented will provide a broad overview of what the informal sector is.

São Marcos, no Rio Grande do Sul, caracteriza-se por sua participação no setor do transporte rodoviário de cargas, sendo o município brasileiro com maior número de veículos pesados por habitante. Este trabalho busca identificar os fatores que influenciam a tomada de decisão dentro desse ramo de negócios. Assim, são estudados quatro casos de profissionais da área. Esses indivíduos iniciaram sua trajetória na condição de empregados, passando em seguida para a fase de autônomos. No entanto, apenas dois deles prosperaram, tornando-se empresários; os outros dois retornaram à condição de empregados. O estudo também possibilitou identificar o nível de insatisfação dos empregados do setor na busca de um progresso dentro do mesmo, assim como observar o perfil de competência daqueles que chegam a implantar suas próprias organizações. Dessa forma, é possível formar um paralelo entre as experiências bem-sucedidas e as tentativas frustradas. Os dados foram levantados a partir de uma série de fontes de evidências como entrevistas, registros de arquivos e documentos dos personagens referidos. A análise desses dados leva à interpretação de dois fatores como fundamentais na tomada de decisões dos indivíduos que trabalham no transporte rodoviário de cargas: a intuição e a influência de outras pessoas que cercam os tomadores de decisão. Esses fatores reforçam a idéia da subjetividade dentro do processo administrativo. O trabalho possibilita a formação de um quadro de dados gerais a respeito do setor. Além disso, serve de referencial às atitudes de organizações públicas e privadas, de pessoas ligadas ao ramo e de jovens que pretendem entrar nesse universo de trabalho. / São Marcos, in Rio Grande do Sul, is characterized by its the significant shore in the road cargo transport sector, it is the Brazilian county with the largest number of heavy vehicles per inhabitant. The present research tries to identify the factors that influence decision-making in this business activity. Four case studies were developed with professional workers. These people have started their career as employees, later having become selfemployed. However, only two, out of the four become, becoming successful entrepreneurs. The other two went back to the condition of employees. Through the study it was also possible to identify the dissatisfaction levels of among employees in the sector, who look for professional development, as well as to observe the professional profile of those who reached of establishing their own companies. Therefore, it is possible to make a comparison between successful experiences and fruitless efforts in the field. Data were collected from several sources like interviews, file registers and documents of the referred people. Analysis of these data leads to the identification of two main factors influencing decision-making of people who work in cargo road transport: intuition and influence of other people around them. These factors reinforce the assumption of subjectivity in the management process. The research makes it possible to create a general profile of people involved in this activity. Besides it is a useful reference for the study of public and private organizational behavior, for people already involved in the area and for young people who intend to enter the area.