Background: In the current labor and business policy debate in Sweden there is a major focus on the need for it to become easier to set up small firms, and that it needs to become easier for small firms to hire staff. In order to set up and run a business, funding is required. Firms can choose to work more or less actively with this issue, but they all need to relate to it. There are basically two ways to fund a business, either through equity or through debt. The ratio between these two sources is called the firm’s capital structure. Purpose: To chart the capital structure of small firms in Sweden. Furthermore, the study aims to compare theories of corporate finance with how small businesses reason about, and work with finance in practice. Method: The thesis consists of both a quantitative and a qualitative study. Furthermore, these studies are compared with financial and entrepreneurial theories. Conclusion: The quantitative study shows that the differences between small firms and larger firms are small in terms of average debt ratio. However, the debt ratio varies a lot among individual companies. The qualitative study mainly shows that the pecking-order theory comport with the financing preferences of the companies included in the study. This is not true for the trade-off theory as the companies do not calculate their optimal capital structures. On the contrary, it is shown by the study that enterprisers do not always act in an economically rational way. Instead, the choices of capital structure within the firms are often affected by personal preferences. Keywords: Small firms, Financing, Capital structure, Debt ratio, Capital

To this point research on firms’ political behavior has contributed knowledge concerning large firms’ relationships and strategies with political actors and their surrounding environment. Less is known about small firms’ behavior towards political organizations. As a matter of fact, the fields of international marketing, international business and corporate political science have left the political behavior of small firms almost untouched. Therefore, extant literature assumes that small firms due to their resource constraints are passive receivers of political initiatives. About 99 percent of all firms within the European Union are small firms, and it is therefore questioned whether all these firms are passive receivers of political initiatives. The intention with this thesis is to challenge some assumptions regarding how small firms manage their relationships with political actors concerning EU related rules and regulations. Consequently, the study raises the overarching research question; how do small firms manage their political environment? Theoretically, the study takes a network perspective on business political interaction to examine both individual and/or collective political behavior of small firms. It develops a theoretical view constituted of knowledge, commitment and legitimacy. Methodologically, two sequential stages are followed: first an in-depth qualitative case study of three successful cases is presented and second, the in-depth understanding is broadened to a wider population of firms based on a quantitative survey. A central contribution of this thesis is to aid research on the political behavior of small firms. It is found that small firms, in contrast to prevailing assumptions, do possess political resources. They are not passive receivers of political initiatives. Instead, the findings show that small firms are active and can exercise influence. This, however, is shown to be dependent on the firm’s political commitment, political knowledge and competency and business-political legitimacy. It is also shown that small firms mobilize these critical resources not only directly, but also indirectly through various intermediating actors. Besides the theoretical contributions, these conclusions are important not just because of the managerial implications but also, and perhaps more importantly, for the policy implications that can be drawn from the study. Being exploratory and opening up the black box of small firm’s political behavior, the thesis ends with a number of future research directions.

Equity crowdfunding (ECF) is the smallest of four main types of crowdfunding (CF) and has emerged as a new form of investment, where investors receive equity of a company in return for capital. Over the past years, the development of CF has given entrepreneurs the option to seek funding from a new source, instead of relying solely on venture capital (VC) and other sources of funding (Mollick, 2013). However, the implementation of regulations for ECF has not yet developed enough to make such investing equally consistent for everyone.   Equity crowdfunded ventures can potentially attract a large number of investors that can possibly create corporate governance issues between the entrepreneur and investors. Additionally, individual investors might both lack the competence or incentive to extensively research and assess a venture and make an investment. Due to the growth in ECF and the lack of knowledge of it, the purpose of this thesis was to discover the perceptions of Swedish fund managers (FMs) regarding the nature of ECF and their interest in it.   In order to fulfill the purpose of this study, previous studies were carefully examined to gain a thorough understanding of the area of study. Furthermore, the empirical findings were gathered through a course of seven semi-structured interviews of Swedish FMs.   Empirical findings suggested that ECF has remained as a means of providing only seed-stage funding for ventures and that it is a marginal phenomenon in Sweden. ECF was believed to potentially disturb the VC industry if it grew and moved to a later stage. Additionally, ECF was found to be a good option for companies that were unable to receive funding from traditional funding methods. Risks of fraud and other scandals should be prevented for ECF to maintain its popularity. The findings implied that the future of ECF remains uncertain. Based on the perceptions of Swedish FMs, ECF neither would replace nor be a threat to traditional methods.

This thesis examines the process of new product development for small firms, aiming to specify what separate top performers from the rest. Every year, thousands of new products are introduced to the market. Yet, 75 % to 90 % of all products launched suffer from failure. Prevailing theory is founded on examinations on large firms, which differ significantly from small firms in terms of financial and human capital. This gives reason to suspect that prevailing theory fail to serve the specific needs of a small firm. In this study, previous research is summarized in a theoretical framework. A set of survey questions was sent out to 2,287 managers in Swedish small manufacturing firms. A research model was developed to help analyze and interpret the 156 complete responses. 32 significant variables separating top performers from the rest were acknowledged and three factor areas were specified in a framework for small firm new product success. The findings of our study indicate that prevailing theory fail to serve small firms. We conclude that small firms benefit from focusing to simplify rather than adding to refine, and that this is strongly correlated to the limited financial and human resources of a small firm.

Background: This paper focuses on nature and role of relationships in small hospitality firm in the Southern Italian context. Based on previous literature relationships in small firms are highly related to trust, common understanding and mutual benefits.     Purpose: Aim of the paper is to explore how the role and nature of external stakeholders’ relationships creates perceived value with small family business by the theoretical framework developed by the authors. Methodology: To answer the research question an empirical research was conducted and data was collected through semi-structured interviews using guidelines inspired by previous studiesThrough a content analysis of data collected and reports from the local government. Participants in the sample consisted of native Italians, living in the Metropolitan city of Naples. Participants were grouped in five categories along with the family firm itself, external stakeholder groups as business partners, competitors, residents and local government representative members. Total of 14 interviews were conducted. The Data was coded using the software Nvivo. Results: The study suggest that relationships in the specific context of Hospitality in Southern Italy is based on personal level and have trust, respect and understanding as the fundamentals. The result also revealed that small family run B&B prefers family over non-family members. Tension and conflicts are then solved through understanding and trust. Conclusion: In brief this research contributes to the family businesses and stakeholder literature in the specific context of Italian hospitality industry. The theoretical framework has been updated by the emerging findings from the qualitative analysis.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:51:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissFZS.pdf: 999153 bytes, checksum: 4b0cf7d365bc8f476149f3d429cc0e2d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-05-31 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / In the whole world, the economical changes, incremented by the information tecnology´s advance and by the pouplarization of basic manegement methods, associeted to the desindustrialization process and to the expansion of the service field, made that the small firms have become the highlights in the economy of several countries, being responsable for a large part of the employment and profits. In that context, this study intend to contribute with the understanding of the growing process of the brazilian consultant field, its acting forms and its relationship with the other organizations. Particularly, analysing the SEBRAE-SP´s acting form, with a parallel between its goals and its posicional manners in the face of other organizations. That is why, it is necessary to comprehend how much that ocurried changes in the acting forms of the institution in the past few decads, are a reflexion of a new form of interaction with the management consultant field. / Em todo o mundo, as mudanças econômicas, incrementadas pelo avanço da tecnologia de informação e pela popularização de métodos gerenciais básicos, associada ao processo de desindustrialização e à expansão do setor de serviços, fizeram com que as micro empresas e as empresas de pequeno porte assumissem um papel de destaque nas economias de diversos países, sendo responsáveis por grande parte da geração de emprego e renda. Dentro desse contexto, o presente estudo pretende contribuir com o entendimento do processo de crescimento do mercado de consultoria brasileiro, suas formas de atuação e o relacionamento com as demais organizações, particularmente analisando a atuação da instituição do SEBRAE-SP, traçando um paralelo entre seus objetivos e sua maneira de se posicionar perante as outras organizações. Para isso, faz-se necessário compreender em que medida as mudanças ocorridas nas formas de atuação da instituição nas últimas décadas são um reflexo de uma nova interação com o espaço de consultoria.

Although researchers during the last 5 years have been doing a lot of study onemerging market innovations, and of which Frugal Innovation had its special place. They haveparticularly concentrated on this innovation type on how it re-emerged in the emergingcountries especially India and China and gave it new theoretical definition and a framework.Although this frugal innovation usage is constrained only to the firms located in those emergingmarkets and this innovation has not seen much application in the western smaller firms. In thisresearch our main idea is to develop a theoretical model on frugal innovation for the westernsmaller firms, where currently not much emphasis is given by the previous researchers in thiscontext. To achieve this we have been involved in an action research with a company lookingto enter an emerging market by using frugal innovation strategy for their product development.The output of this research is a theoretical framework model which is sequential and includesall the stages that a firm has to follow as part of a frugal innovation strategy having not muchknowledge of the emerging markets or its customers and who had to rely on external partnersin developing countries to successfully develop frugal innovations. We have also identifiedchallenges firms face in this context and listed out alternatives at each level of the strategy,finally concluded by listing out the future scope of research on frugal innovation in thisparticular area.

Bakgrund: Ett växande intresse för aktiemarknaden har lett till utvecklandet av ett flertalinvesteringsstrategier för att generera överavkastning gentemot marknaden. Att observeraolika multiplar eller bolags marknadsvärde har blivit två populära tillvägagångssätt vidinvesteringsbeslut. Tidigare studier har främst fokuserat på antingen småbolagseffekteneller olika multiplar. Det finns således ett intresse att kombinera två olika strategier ochundersöka småbolagsaktier med låga och höga EV/EBITDA- samt EV/Sales-multiplar. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att analysera huruvida det är möjligt att generera riskjusteradöveravkastning genom investeringar baserade på EV/EBITDA- samt EV/Sales-multiplari bolag som är noterade på OMX Stockholm Small Cap. Vidare ämnar studien analyserainvesteringsstrategiernas historiska prestationer i relation till olikamarknadsförhållanden. Genomförande: Studien har genomförts med en kvantitativ metod och en deduktivansats. Fyra portföljer har konstruerats utefter bolag med låga och höga multiplar som ärnoterade på OMX Stockholm Small Cap under tidsperioden 2007–2020. Både verkligoch ackumulerad avkastning har beräknats för portföljerna för att därefter kunna testatsstatistiskt med parade t-test. Vidare har portföljernas riskjusterade avkastning beräknatsgenom Sharpekvot, Jensens alfa och Treynorkvot. Resultat: Tre av fyra portföljer genererade högre ackumulerad avkastning änjämförelseindex, dock hindrar svag statistisk evidens möjligheten att säkerställaöveravkastningen över tid. Portföljerna med höga EV/EBITDA- och EV/Sales-multiplarpresterade betydligt bättre än portföljerna med låga multiplar. Trots att alla portföljergenererade högre värden än jämförelseindex i Sharpekvot, Jensens alfa och Treynorkvot,kunde inte riskjusterad överavkastning säkerställas för någon portfölj. / Background: A growing interest in the stock market had led to the development ofmultiple investment strategies with the purpose of achieving excess return. Two popularapproaches of investing are choosing companies based on different multiples or based oncompanies’ market capitalization. Previous studies have mainly focused on either thesmall firm effect or different multiples. Therefore, by combining two strategies andinvesting in Small Cap stocks with low and high EV/Sales and EV/EBITDA multiples, anew investment strategy may emerge. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze whether is it possible to achieve riskadjusted excess return by investing in companies that are listed on OMX Stockholm SmallCap based on EV/EBITDA and EV/Sales multiples. Furthermore, the study aims toanalyze the historical performance of the investment strategy during different marketconditions. Method: This study was conducted with a quantitative method and a deductive design.Four portfolios were designed based on companies listed on OMX Stockholm Small Capwith low and high multiples between the years 2007-2020. Both real and cumulativereturn have been calculated for the portfolios in order for them to be statistically testedwith paired t-tests. Furthermore, risk-adjusted return has been calculated for the portfoliosby using the Sharpe Ratio, Jensen’s Alpha and Treynor Ratio. Result: Three out of four portfolios generated higher levels of cumulative return than thechosen stock index. However, because of weak statistical evidence, excess return overtime could not be concluded. The portfolios with high EV/EBITDA and EV/Salesmultiples performed better than the portfolios with low multiples. Despite that all theportfolios generated higher values of Sharpe Ratio, Jensen’s alpha, and Treynor Ratiothan the chosen stock index, the risk-adjusted return could not be statistically proven.

Produktutveckling och innovation är ett systematiskt arbete för att generera nya produkter. Det är en kostsam process och de små företagen är extra sårbara vilket gör att rätt handling i produktutvecklingsarbetet är av stor vikt. När det gäller framställning av nya produkter är produktutvecklingsarbetet avgörande för konkurrenskraften. I takt med den ökade globaliseringen behöver företag ta hänsyn till en dynamisk och ofta föränderlig marknad för att överleva. Att ha kontroll på produkten genom hela produktutvecklingsarbetet skapar möjligheter till utveckling och förbättring och därigenom bättre utnyttjande av resurser. Produktutveckling genererar kostnader och resurser för företagen vilket gör att det blir allt viktigare att handla rätt redan från start och vidare genom hela produktutvecklingsarbetet. Genom att effektivisera utnyttjandet av resurser skapas en mer hållbar produktion och produkt. Syftet är att, i mindre företag, belysa några av de kritiska faktorer som kan inverka på effektiviteten i dryckesbranschens produktutvecklingsarbete. En kvalitativ studie innehållande semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem mindre dryckesföretag. Intervjuerna pågick i cirka 20 minuter. Data från informanterna spelades in och transkriberades för att sedan genomgå en tematisk analys. Företagen valdes utifrån ett målstyrt urval. Då intervjuerna utfördes genom fysiskt möte valdes företag belägna inom en 10 mils radie från Malmö. Den tematiska analysen resulterade i tre teman vilka var styrning/kontroll, erfarenheter, samt omvärldsbevakning. Dessa teman utgör kritiska faktorer som alla har en avgörande roll i produktutvecklingsarbetet. Småföretagen påverkar ofta sitt produktutvecklingsarbete genom beslut utifrån tidigare förvärvade yrkes erfarenheter och kunskaper samt genom informella beslut allteftersom problem och frågor uppkommer. Styrning/kontroll, erfarenheter samt omvärldsbevakning är tre kritiska faktorer som alla inverkar på produktutvecklingsarbetet. Småföretagen agerar ofta utifrån tidigare yrkeskunskaper och erfarenheter när beslut ska fattas. Detta har orsakat ökade kostnader, förlängt produktutvecklingsarbetet samt gett svårigheter som krävt nya beslut. Detta har påverkat företagens produktutvecklingsarbete i negativ riktning. Genom att kombinera teoretiska verktyg och praktiska erfarenheter skapas det effektivaste produktutvecklingsarbetet. Omvärldsbevakning med en ökad marknads och konsumentorientering bidrar till ett bättre produktutvecklingsarbete tillsammans med beslut som fattas med förhöjd grad av styrning och kontroll samt med bidrag från tidigare yrkeskunnande. / Introduction Product development and innovation is a systematic endeavor to generate new products. This is  a costly process and the small companies are extra vulnerable which makes the right work in product development of great importance. In terms of production, product development work is crucial for competitiveness. In line with increased globalisation, companies need to consider the dynamic and often changing market in order to survive. Having control of the product throughout the product development work creates opportunities for development and improvement, and thereby better utilisation of resources. Product development generates costs and resources for the companies, which means that it is becoming increasingly important to manage correctly from the outset, and onwards throughout the entire product development work. By making more efficient use of resources, a more sustainable production and product is created. Purpose The aim is to highlight some of the critical factors in smaller companies that may affect the efficiency of product development work within the beverage industry. Method A qualitative study made up of semi-structured interviews at five smaller beverage companies. The interviews lasted approximately 20 minutes. Information from the informers was recorded and transcribed, and later underwent thematic analysis. The companies were chosen on the basis of a target-driven selection. As the interviews were carried out in the form of a physical meeting, companies were chosen within a 6,2 miles radius of Malmö. Results The thematic analysis resulted in three themes, which were experiences, intelligence gathering and governability/control. These themes represent critical aspects where everyone can play a crucial role in product development work. Small businesses often influence their product development work through decisions based on previously acquired experience and knowledge and make informal decisions as problems and questions arise. Conclusion Governability/control, experiences and intelligence gathering are three critical factors that all influence the product development work. Small businesses often act on the basis of previous professional knowledge and experience when making decisions. This has caused increased costs, prolonged  product development work and given difficulties that required new decisions, which had a negative impact on the companies' product development work. Combining theoretical tools and practical experience are the most effective product development work. Intelligence gathering with an increased market and consumer orientation contributes to better product development work, together with decisions made with a increased degree of governability/control and with contributions from previous professional expertise.

Syfte: VR förbättrar kommunikationen mellan aktörer men merarbete krävs för att skapa VR-modeller. Övriga begräsningar generella för BIM är juridisk osäkerhet, bristande kompetens bland personal samt ändrat arbetsflöde. Särskilt små företag behöver mer forskning för att använda BIM applikationer som VR. Målet är att visa ett förslag, på ett attraktivt sätt, hur mindre arkitektföretag kan använda VR-modeller och presentationer i tidiga skeden under slutkundsmöten. Detta baserat på arkitektföretagets önskemål och resurser. Metod: Kvalitativa metoder fallstudie och intervjuer har använts för att nå målet. Först utfördes intervjuer med BIM-ansvarig och projektörer. Fallstudien bygger på att en befintlig 3D-modell bearbetades till VR-modell och testades i en workshop. Deltagarna i workshopen var projektörer och slutkunder. För att sammanfatta workshopen intervjuades deltagarna. Resultat: Att skapa en VR-modell och hålla möte med slutkund var uppskattat av projektörer och slutkunder. Den resurs som främst behövdes var tid för att skapa modellen samt inlärning av nytt arbetssätt. HMD i kombination med datorskärm anses vara en god presentationsteknik. Främst material var svår att presentera genom VR och begränsat till ett mindre arkitektföretags resurser. Slutkunderna uppfattade att VR-modellen endast var en guide. Konsekvenser: Mindre arkitektföretag kan använda VR vid slutkundsmöte. Det behövs avsättas tid för att modellera VR samt inlärning av nytt arbetssätt. HMD i kombination med datorskärm bör användas för VR-presentation. För att förtydliga att VR endast användas som guide kan leveransmedelande användas. Begränsningar: Studien inriktar sig på ett företags synvinkel. Ett företag ingår i studien. / Purpose: VR improves communication between stakeholders but extra work is a demand to create a VR-model. Additional limitations general for BIM is legal uncertainty, lack of competence among employees and changed workflow. Especially smaller companies need more research if they are going to use BIM application as VR. The goal is to show a suggestion, in an attractive way, how smaller architectural firms can use VR-models and presentation in early stage of the project during end customer meetings. This based on the firms desire and resources. Method: Qualitative method case studies and interviews is used to achieve the goal. First interviews are conducted with BIM-manger and designers. The case studies are based on an existing 3D-model processed to a VR-model and tested in a workshop. The participants in the workshop are designers and end customers. The participants in the workshop are interviewed to sum up the workshop. Findings: To create a VR-model and to hold end clients meeting with help of VR was appreciate by planers and end clients. Time for creating and learn new working strategy was the recurs that the company was in lack of. HMD in combination with computer screen was considered a good presentation. Material was hardest to present through VR restricted to a smaller architect firm. The end clients’ perceived that VR only was a guide. Implications: A smaller architect firm can use VR when holding an end client meeting. Time need to be assigned to create VR-models and learn new working strategy is. HMD in combination with computer screen is to prefer to when presenting VR. To clarify that VR is a guide a delivering message can be used. Limitations: The study focuses on a firm’s point of view. One firm is included in the study.