Den Europeiska Unionen vill med Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) standardisera hållbarhetsredovisning för företag som är verksamma inom unionen. Återigen kommer fler och fler företag omfattas av reglerna att behöva upprätta en obligatorisk hållbarhetsredovisning – vilket kan utgöra en utmaning för mindre erfarna små och medelstora företag. Denna studie undersökte små och medelstora företags syn på hållbarhetsredovisning samt deras uppfattning för dess kärnbegrepp; närmare bestämt ESG och materialitet. Studien utfördes genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med sex företag och med hjälp av sju respondenter. Studien visade att det finns en överväldigande positiv inställning till hållbarhetsredovisning bland de studerade företagen. Hursomhelst framgick det tecken på att företagen var bristfällig i vissa aspekter. Till exempel upplevde samtliga företag svårigheter med att koppla delar av sin verksamhet till hållbarhet på en bolagsstyrningsnivå (eng. governance). Liknande resultat upptäcktes för materialitet. Alla företag upplevdes ha svårigheter att begripa innebörden av begreppet ’materialitet’. Studien visade, trots svårigheten att begripa innebörden av materialitet, att de studerade företagen visade tecken på att vara effektiva i identifieringen av materiella hållbarhetsaspekter. / The European Union wants to standardize sustainability reporting with the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Once again, more and more enterprises will be subject to the mandatory requirements to disclose sustainability information – which may pose a challenge for less experienced small and medium sized enterprises. This study examines the perception of small and medium sized enterprises on sustainability reporting and its foundational concepts; namely environmental, social and governance (ESG) and materiality. The study was conducted on six individual companies and seven interviewees in total. The study concludes that there exists an overwhelmingly positive perception of sustainability reporting amongst the studied enterprises. However, there were signs that the studied companies were deficient in certain aspects. For example, all enterprises experienced difficulties in identifying aspects of their business that could be linked with governance sustainability. Similar results were discovered on the materiality topic. All enterprises had difficulties in understanding the term ‘materiality’. The study concludes that, despite the difficulty understanding materiality, the studied enterprises showed signs of being efficient in identifying material sustainability topics.

Developing software that meets the customers’ requirements, expectations, and quality standards is a challenging task for all software organizations. As modern software becomes more and more complex, so do the defects of the software. The aim of this study was to develop a simplified and consistent defect taxonomy that could be executable and usable for smaller enterprises or organizations that want to implement a simplified taxonomy. The aim of this study was also to find characteristic defects that exist in Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) by using the taxonomy. A manual defect classification was done on bug reports collected from three organizations with the same company size as SMEs. An agreement analysis was also conducted in this study to investigate the consistency of the taxonomy. This was done by letting different people classify a subset of the bug reports collected for this study using the proposed taxonomy. Furthermore, in this study, I also investigated how executable and usable the taxonomy would be for smaller enterprises. This was done through four interviews and a survey with seven respondents. The result of the defect classification indicates that Program anomaly (58%), GUI (17%) and Configuration (13%) are three of the most common defect types that exist in SMEs. The result of the defect classification indicates that SMEs have a problem with defects breaking features that worked correctly before, where 19% of all bug reports used in this study were classified as Regression. The survey result indicates that taxonomy is easy to use. However, the result of the different classifications showed that the use of the taxonomy is not consistent between different classifiers. The results of the interviews and the survey indicate that the taxonomy would be executable for smaller enterprises. However, to also be fully usable, the proposed taxonomy needs to be adapted to the particular enterprise, and requires the right competence to propose appropriate measures for the particular enterprise. / Att utveckla mjukvara som möter kundernas krav, förväntningar och som håller en hög kvalité är en utmanande uppgift som alla företag står inför. Den moderna mjukvaran blir allt mer komplex, vilket i sin tur även bidrar till fler och mer komplexa mjukvarufel. Den här studien har som mål att skapa en ny förenklad och konsekvent defekttaxonomi som kan vara genomförbar och användbar för mindre företag och organisationer som vill använda sig av en enklare taxonomi. Målet med det här examensarbetet är också att kartlägga karaktäristiska mjukvarufel i små och medelstora företag med hjälp av den nyutvecklade taxonomin. För att lyckas med detta klassificerades felrapporter från tre organisationer som är av samma storlek som små och medelstora företag. Den här studien analyserade även hur konsekvent taxonomin är genom att låta olika människor klassificera en delmängd av studiens felrapporter. Den här studien undersöker även hur genomförbar och användbar defekttaxonomin är för mindre företag. Detta genomfördes genom fyra intervjuer och en enkätundersökning med sju respondenter. Resultatet av den här studien indikerar att små och medelstora företag främst har problem med mjukvarufel som ger upphov till oväntat och oönskat beteende kopplat till mjukvarans funktionalitet (58%). Den här studien indikerar även att gränssnittsdefekter (17%) och konfigureingsproblem (13%) också är vanliga mjukvarufel inom dessa organisationer. Den här studien har även uppmärksammat att mindre företag kan ha problem med mjukvarufel som tar sönder funktionalitet som fungerat korrekt tidigare, även kallad regressioner, där 19% av alla felrapporter blev klassificerade som det. Resultatet av enkätundersökningen indikerar att taxonomin är enkel att använda. Å andra sidan, de olika klassifikationerna visade att användningen av taxonomin inte var konsekvent. Resultatet av intervjuerna och enkätundersökningen indikerar att taxonomin är genomförbar för mindre företag. Å andra sidan, för att defekttaxonomin ska vara användbar behöver den anpassas efter det särskilda företaget. Den kräver även den rätta kompetensen för att ta fram lämpliga åtgärden för det särskilda företaget.

Titel: Kapitalstruktur i en lågkonjunktur – En kvalitativ studie av medelstora tillverkande företags kapitalstruktur. Forskningsfråga: Hur påverkas kapitalstrukturen i medelstora tillverkande företag av en lågkonjunktur? Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att få en förståelse för hur medelstora tillverkande företag resonerar gällande att finansiera sig med eget kapital kontra med skuldfinansiering i en lågkonjunktur. Metod: Studien har genomförts genom en kvalitativ metod med en abduktiv ansats, en kombination av deduktiv och induktiv ansats. Genom denna kombination av metoder har vi tagit del av vetenskapliga artiklar och analyserat vår insamlade empiriska data för att undersöka hur verkligheten stämmer överens med teorin. Slutsats: Studien visade på tre resultat. Det första resultatet visade på att det finns en tydlig koppling mellan ägarstruktur och kapitalstruktur i tillverkande medelstora företag. Privatägda företag tenderar att vara mer flexibla i sina finansieringsval medan koncernägda företag föredrar intern finansiering eller lån under gynnsamma marknadsförhållanden. Det andra resultatet visade på att en gemensam nämnare för alla företagen var betydelsen av en god relation med banken, särskilt i tider av lågkonjunktur eftersom bankens tillgång till likviditet och flexibla avbetalningsplaner kunde bli avgörande. Det tredje resultatet visade på att trots företagens medvetenhet om riskhantering så tolkades begreppet finansiell stress på olika sätt, vilket visar att begreppet är subjektivt. Däremot visade de sig att företagen är flexibla i sina finansieringsval och anpassar sig efter marknadsförhållanden i pressade ekonomiska tider. / Title: Capital structure in a recession – A qualitative study of medium-sized manufacturing companies' capital structure Problem statement: How is the capital structure of medium-sized manufacturing companies impacted by a recession? Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to gain an understanding of how medium- sized manufacturing companies’ reason regarding financing the firm with equity versus debt during a recession. Method: The study has been conducted through a qualitative method with an abductive approach, combining deductive and inductive approaches. With this combination of methods, we have reviewed scientific articles and analyzed our collected empirical data to gain an overview of how reality aligns with theory. Conclusion: The study showed three main findings. The first finding showed a clear link between ownership structure and capital structure in medium- sized manufacturing companies. Private-owned firms tend to be more flexible in their financing choices, whereas group-owned firms prefer internal financing or loans under favorable market conditions. The second finding highlighted a common denominator among all companies, emphasizing the importance of a strong relationship with the bank, particularly during economic downturns, as the bank's access to liquidity and flexible payment plans became crucial. The third finding demonstrated that despite companies' awareness of risk management, the concept of financial stress was interpreted differently among them, indicating its subjective nature. However, it was observed that companies are flexible in their financing choices and adapt to market conditions during economically challenging times.

Since the emergence and the subsequent evolution of lean manufacturing concepts, numerous enterprises of different scale and specialties have adopted lean tools and techniques in their facilities with varying success. In general, lean manufacturing related studies have been conducted on large manufacturing firms, such as the automotive industry. Yet, lean manufacturing tools and techniques are also suited for small enterprises. Thus, the main concern of this study is to investigate the success of set-up time reduction efforts (one of the steps needed to achieve 'one-piece flow') in secondary wood products manufacturing facilities on four woodworking machines (moulder, shaper, table saw, and band saw) based on firm size. The first objective of this research is to explore the results of the implementation of set-up time reduction efforts on selected woodworking machines in enterprises of varying size. It is assumed that company size is a major factor influencing the rate of set-up time improvements. To that end, the first hypothesis, which states that 'Small firms are less successful in reducing set-up time through set-up time reduction efforts than are large firms,' has been developed and supportive questions have been corresponding created. While statistical testing of the hypotheses created for this is not possible due to the limited number of participants, speculations about the possible outcome can be made. Thus, for hypothesis one, the data obtained does not show any sign of a relationship between a firm size and the success rate of set-up time reduction efforts. The second objective of this study is to investigate how a firm's productivity is affected by set-up time reduction efforts as related to firm size. With regards to some of the weaknesses of typical small manufacturing firms (e.g. having limited budget and resources, intuitive management strategies including lack of strategic planning), large firms, by and large, are expected to be more successful in increasing productivity through set-up time reduction. To that end, the goal is to investigate results of the set-up time reduction efforts in terms of productivity improvement in manufacturing facilities. With this in mind, the second hypothesis was proposed, which reads 'Small firms achieve lower productivity gains through set-up time reduction than do large firms.' For the second hypothesis, while no conclusive proof can be offered, no sign of a relationship between firm size and productivity gain through set-up time reduction could be found. Another objective of this study is to explore the success rate of set-up time activities on the four types of woodworking machines in industry facilities considering the training activities provided by manufacturers. The aim is to compare set-up time improvement performance of manufacturers between enterprises which trained their workers/operators and enterprises which did not train their employees. To understand the relationship between the scale of firms (and/or facilities) and training activities to improve set-ups, the third hypothesis, which reads 'Small firms are less concerned with set-up time reduction through training than are large firms,' has been developed. For the third hypothesis, while testing is not possible, it appears that there is no relationship between firm size and the level of concern for set-up time reduction through training activities. The final objective of this research is to investigate whether the secondary wood manufacturing firms studied experienced a bottleneck in their production due to the long set-up actions of machines. In order to accomplish this objective, the final hypothesis, 'In both, large and small firms, bottlenecks occur at machines with high set-up times,' has been developed. The final hypothesis cannot be accepted or rejected due to the limited number of responses obtained, set-up time was a frequently indicated explanation for the occurrence of production bottlenecks in secondary wood products manufacturing firms. / Master of Science

The Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 is halfway to the finish line, underscoring the urgency for engagement of all stakeholders to accomplish its overarching objectives. The private sector, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, play a crucial role, with a significant potential to advance sustainable development. Nevertheless, they frequently abstain from sustainable endeavours due to several constraining factors such as lack of resources or knowledge. This thesis aims to explore strategies for sustainable business practices that SMEs implemented despite these limitations. These strategies can consequently enhance their contribution to the Agenda 2030. Building on the theoretical concepts of dynamic capabilities and transformational leadership, a case study was developed including eight semi-structured interviews with SME leaders from the food and beverage industry in Skåne, Sweden. In addition to the interviews, data from three documents provided by the interviewed SMEs were reviewed. The main findings of this thesis illustrate that SMEs can develop essential capabilities and strategies to address sustainability. Moreover, the owner-managers’ perceptions of sustainability and leadership style influence the organisational commitment towards sustainability. The strategies SMEs employ are focused on developing a long-term, holistic perspective towards sustainability, focusing on sustainable product development, adjusting their operational processes, and enhancing integration of resources of external stakeholders by maintaining collaborative efforts, partnerships, and networks.

Yes / Most research on Employee Involvement (EI) has focused on large or 'mainstream' organizations. By adopting those schemes which 'appear' to work well in larger organizations, then smaller firms assume there will be enhanced employee commitment beyond formal contractual requirements. The main question in this paper is whether EI schemes designed by management will suffice under the 2004 Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations. It focuses on SMEs which tend to favour informal and direct EI, and it remains unclear how these methods will be played out under the new regulatory environment. Evidence from four case studies is presented here and it suggests that the ICE Regulations impose new challenges for smaller firms given their tendency to provide information rather than consult with employees. It also appears organizational factors, workplace relations history and the way processes are implemented at enterprise level may be far more important than size itself.

Las MYPES son consideradas el motor de la economía, pues contribuyen al crecimiento y desarrollo del país, en donde el financiamiento formal es importante, debido a que se necesita de un capital sólido para invertir. Aunque, las entidades financieras suelen denegar los créditos por falta de información financiera de los negocios, siendo este un problema para los comerciantes. Los cuales deben poseer habilidades que les permiten tomar decisiones financieras adecuadas. Por ende, el presente trabajo de investigación se centraliza en evaluar la incidencia del financiamiento formal en el crecimiento económico de las MYPES comerciales del segundo sector del mercado Moshoqueque, contando con una metodología que ha sido de tipo aplicada y el diseño de investigación descriptivo con un corte transversal, pues se realizó en un solo periodo la recolección de información. Como población de estudio se ha tenido a la Asociación San Antonio del Segundo sector del Mercado Moshoqueque, conformada por una muestra de 121 comercios, obteniendo resultados por medio de un cuestionario. Evidenciando que el 56.20% de los negocios han sabido manejar los servicios financieros obtenidos y con ello han podido crecer, sin embargo, el 43.8% de MYPES no han obtenido un financiamiento formal, lo que ha llevado a que exista un estancamiento operativo por la falta de capital de trabajo. Ante esta situación, lo que se buscó con la investigación fue diseñar estrategias para que las MYPES Comerciales puedan conseguir un adecuado financiamiento, tomando en cuenta la cultura financiera, que conlleve que los comerciantes puedan elegir el producto financiero adecuado, permitiendo el crecimiento económico de las MYPES. / MYPES are considered the engine of the economy, as they contribute to the growth and development of the country, where formal financing is important, because solid capital is needed to invest. Although, financial institutions usually deny credit due to lack of financial information about the businesses, this being a problem for merchants. Which must possess skills that allow them to make appropriate financial decisions. Therefore, this research work focuses on evaluating the impact of formal financing on the economic growth of commercial MYPES in the second sector of the Moshoqueque market, using a methodology that has been applied and a descriptive research design with a cross-sectional, since the information collection was carried out in a single period. The San Antonio Association of the Second Sector of the Moshoqueque Market was used as the study population, made up of a sample of 121 businesses, obtaining results through a questionnaire. Demonstrating that many of the businesses have known how to manage the financial services obtained and with this have been able to grow, however, 43.8% of MYPES have not obtained formal financing, which has led to operational stagnation due to lack of capital. of work. Given this situation, what the research sought was to design strategies so that Commercial MYPES can obtain adequate financing, taking into account the financial culture, which means that merchants can choose the appropriate financial product, allowing the economic growth of the companies. MYPES.

Denna studie undersöker hur små och medelstora företag i Sverige implementerar EU:s NIS-direktiv genom sina cybersäkerhetsstrategier och -policyer. Syftet är att identifiera de huvudsakliga utmaningarna och framgångsfaktorerna i denna process. Genom intervjuer med ledande personer inom dessa företag framkommer det att ledningens fulla engagemang är avgörande för att integrera NIS-direktivens krav i den dagliga verksamheten. Studien identifierar tvångsmässig och mimetisk isomorfism som viktiga faktorer för anpassning, där företagen påverkas både av regulatoriska krav och av att efterlikna framgångsrika strategier från andra företag. Resultaten visar att proaktiv riskhantering, inklusive regelbundna utbildningar och användning av standarder som ISO 27001 och NIST, stärker företagens motståndskraft mot cyberhot. Användning av externa konsulter är en effektiv strategi, trots de höga kostnaderna. Studien betonar behovet av skräddarsydda cybersäkerhetsstrategier som tar hänsyn till varje företags unika förutsättningar och behov / This study investigates how small and medium-sized enterprises in Sweden implement the EU's NIS Directive through their cybersecurity strategies and policies. The aim is to identify the main challenges and success factors in this process. Interviews with key individuals within these companies reveal that strong leadership engagement is crucial for integrating the NIS Directive requirements into daily operations. The study identifies coercive and mimetic isomorphism as significant factors for adaptation, where companies are influenced both by regulatory demands and by mimicking successful strategies from other firms. The findings show that proactive risk management, including regular training and the use of standards such as ISO 27001 and NIST, enhances companies' resilience against cyber threats. The use of external consultants is an effective strategy, despite the high costs. The study emphasizes the need for tailored cybersecurity strategies that consider each company's unique conditions and needs.

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo general formular estrategias financieras para mejorar la gestión financiera de la empresa SerminMac EIRL periodo 2020 – 2022. El tipo de investigación desarrollado fue de enfoque mixto, tipo aplicado, nivel descriptivo y diseño no experimental. Las técnicas e instrumentos que permitieron la recopilación de la información fue el análisis documental y la entrevista aplicada al gerente y su contador de la empresa. Los resultados obtenidos son los siguientes: Se desarrolló un diagnóstico económico y financiero que nos permitió identificar deficiencias en sus ingresos y gastos; así como, determinar que la empresa no cuenta con un modelo de gestión financiera que le permita planificar, ejecutar y controlar los diferentes proyectos simultáneos que le son requeridos; ante esa problemática, como aporte de la presente investigación se ha diseñado estrategias financieras para que la empresa pueda tener en cuenta y aplicarlas en su modelo de gestión y así procurar mejores resultados. / The general objective of this research was to formulate financial strategies to improve the financial management of the company SerminMac EIRL period 2020 - 2022. The type of research developed was a mixed approach, applied type, descriptive level and non-experimental design. The techniques and instruments that allowed the collection of information were documentary analysis and the interview applied to the manager and his company accountant. The results obtained are the following: An economic and financial diagnosis was developed that allowed us to identify deficiencies in their income and expenses; as well as, determining that the company does not have a financial management model that allows it to plan, execute and control the different simultaneous projects that are required of it; Given this problem, as a contribution to this research, financial strategies have been designed so that the company can take them into account and apply them in its management model and thus achieve better results.

Background: The transition to a Circular Economy is crucial for addressing global sustainability challenges, with only 9.1% of the world economy currently operating within circular principles. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises play a pivotal role in fostering sustainable economic growth, compelled by regulatory pressures and changing consumer preferences to adopt circular practices. However, while business model transformations present opportunities, numerous implementation challenges remain, especially for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. The External Enablement Framework offers valuable insights into how macro-environmental changes drive the transformation of business models towards CE, defining triggering and shaping roles linked to External Enablers. Exploring these changes becomes increasingly essential for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises to effectively transition towards Circular Economy implementation in the evolving business landscape. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to enrich the current body of literature on Circular Economy by examining how macro-environmental changes influence Small and Medium-sized Enterprises’ business model transformation towards circularity, examining the triggering and shaping role. We identify and analyse macro-environmental changes as catalysts for the implementation of Circular Economy initiatives, based on the concept of External Enablers and the External Enablement Framework. By providing theoretical insights and practical guidance, the study intends to encourage decision-makers, notably in the political domain, to promote Circular Economy practices.  Method: This research adopts a holistic multiple-case study, employing a qualitative approach aimed at objectively observing phenomena to reveal patterns within the context under study. The data sample encompasses ten Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the German manufacturing market. In order to generate the data, we conducted semi-structured interviews with representative experts from the ten case companies. Utilizing qualitative techniques like thematic analysis and pattern coding, we identified recurring themes and patterns in Circular Economy business model transformation through both within-case and cross-case analyses. Conclusion: Our study highlights the significant role of External Enablers in triggering and shaping transformation towards a more Circular Economy, with societal transition, political and regulatory, and macroeconomic factors identified as key External Enablers. An interplay of External Enablers, along with enabling mechanisms, trigger and shape Circular Economy initiatives in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. When these External Enablers affect businesses, they are likely to be supported by firm-level factors within the decision-making process towards adopting Circular Economy initiatives. External Enablers are interconnected and, when potentially combined with firm-level factors, also foster the triggering and shaping roles. Moreover, Missing External Enablers represent undeveloped External Enablers with the capability to evolve over time. The three main External Enablers, their interplay, and the accompanying firm-level factors, along with the consideration of yet-to-mature Missing External Enablers, trigger and shape Small and Medium-sized Enterprises' business models towards Circular Economy initiatives.