The current recession has made it difficult for companies to find customers and therefore tofinance their business which often leads to cuts in the marketing budget. Social mediamarketing could be the solution in these situations. The purpose of this study is to investigatehow marketing efforts in social media, specifically in blogs and Facebook, can be successfulin attracting consumers and also retain customers over time for start-up companies. This wasexamined through interviews with two recently started retail companies along with consumersurveys in these companies’ target markets. The paper has shown that Facebook is moreefficient than blogs and that social media is effective in spreading word-of-mouth andcommunicating with customers. The conclusion of this study is that Facebook is an effectivetool for start-up companies, both to reach new consumers and also to retain current customers.

<p>There is no reason to refuse the fact that, in the coming years, Europe is going to face a new wave of immigration. The birth rate is in decline and life expectancy in the European continent is higher than before. As a consequence, there are two major problems: a shortage of labour and the financing of the pensions (Kohler, Billari & Ortega, 2002). World Bank warns European Union that for stabilizing the amount of working age population in 2050 like in 1995, would involve a net migration of 79 million within the EU25. There should be new flow of immigration. As a consequence, the phenomenon combines immigration and entrepreneurship will be vital for countries’ future growth within Europe. However, consider Sweden as the area of study by combining the immigration entrepreneurship study and business start-up abroad. Therefore, the questions of why the entrepreneurs choose to go to other countries for business venture and why they choose Sweden as the host country become a topic to study in this research paper.</p><p>The purpose of the research is going to find out the motivations for the initiative of entrepreneurial immigrants’ choice of Sweden as a host country. In order to find the result for the purpose, the research chose to use an inductive and exploratory approach to find out why those entrepreneurial immigrants indented to come to establish business in Sweden. Those reasons were investigated from previous research; experts working with foreigners who arrived in Sweden for business purpose, and the entrepreneurial immigrants who arrived in Sweden for new ventures. The data collection based on a qualitative method. According to the research purpose, the theories were chosen in the field of migration and entrepreneurship. Determinants of immigration and entrepreneurship were listed and explained. Based on the interview, information was categorized with the determinants listed in the theoretical frame work.</p><p>Based on the analysis, the empirical information shows that entrepreneurs came to Sweden not only for business reasons. All of the Local Development Managers and entrepreneurs interviewed considered that entrepreneurial immigrants chose to create business in Sweden with immigration purpose. However, if we want to apply this result to all entrepreneurial immigrants, further quantitative study would be required.</p>

<p>Introduction:</p><p>Venture capital investment process is complex and different firms vary greatly in their investment practices. This has resulted in authors given several different factors that could be imperative for venture firms investment decisions. There is thus no consensus in the field of venture investing.</p><p>Purpose:</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to list which factors are important for venture capital firms investment decisions in start-up firms.</p><p>Method:</p><p>The authors conducted structured phone interviews with seven venture capital firms in Sweden.</p><p>Conclusion:</p><p>The authors found the following factors to be important for venture firms investment decisions in start-up firms; Busienss plans that demonstrated the thinkings of the entrepreneur, communicate ideas, visions, product, market, competition, growth potential as well as the planned intentions with the recived funds. They also desired realistic, concreate, simple plans that explained the implementation process of the start-up firm. The second factor that was important was markets where large markets, market growth, market share, market entry and global markets were mentioned. The third factor of importance was product, in which uniqueness, simplicity, patents and time-to-market were listed. Management was the fourth factor of importance, in which sensibility, competence, technical skills, entrepreurial spirit, attitude, humbelness, determination, openness, drive, chemistry and confidence were included. The fifth factor of importamce financial embraced ROI, economioes of scale, valuation and the size of the investment. The last two important factors that the authors found to be important for the venture firms in the study were location and industry.</p>

Företagskulturen har förändrats i Sverige och det blir vanligare att startupföretag etablerar sig på marknaden. Dessa startupföretag lider av strukturella begränsningar gällande resurser och tillgångar. Samtidigt konkurrerar de på en marknad bland större, mer etablerade företag. Ett påtagligt problem uppstår när en växande företagsform, som gynnar marknaden och den övergripande samhällsnyttan, tvingas möta dessa utmaningar på grund av den särskilda företagsformens utgångspunkter. Av denna anledning är det viktigt att finna kostnads- och resurseffektiva lösningar för dessa företag att använda sig av för att företagsformen fortsatt skall vara attraktiv för företagare. Samtidigt har den externa innehållsmarknadsföringen genomgått revolutionerade utvecklingar gällande teknologiska framsteg och kostnadseffektiva lösningar. Storytelling är ett växande strategiskt verktyg, som vuxit sig starkt och ämnar uppnå genomslag bland konsumenter. Tidigare forskning påvisar att människan lättare tar in och memorerar intryck när de paketeras som berättelser och marknadsförare försöker dra nytta av detta genom storytelling inom deras externa kommunikation. Men tidigare forskning gällande sambandet mellan startupföretags marknadsföring och litteraturvetenskaplig berättandeteknik är svag och vi vill därför skapa en förståelse för hur storytelling används av startupföretag inom den externa innehållsmarknadsföringen. Studien bygger på en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi, med en design där fokus läggs vid kontextuell beskrivning. Empiriinsamlingen består av åtta stycken semi-strukturerade intervjuer med startupföretag i tillväxtfasen. Samtliga av de intervjuade företagen använder sig av storytelling inom deras externa innehållsmarknadsföring. Det sammanställda empiriska resultatet analyseras utifrån genererade huvudteman vilka skapar en kontextuell bild av den verklighet som undersöks. Fem huvudteman genereras och skapar en helhetsbild kring de intervjuade företagens arbete kring storytelling. Vidare analyseras dessa teman ingående och med flera olika underliggande aspekter vilka redogörs för analysen. Resultatet visar att startupföretag använder sig av olika strategier inom storytelling för att nå genomslag bland konsumenter. En övergripande åsikt att storytelling är ett effektivt verktyg inom marknadsföring för företag med begränsade resurser. Startupföretag gör aktiva val i deras strategier gällande storytelling, vilka åläggs olika vikt vid de huvudteman som genereras. Mer generella slutsatser innefattar att litteraturvetenskapliga berättartekniker inte används effektivt eller i större utsträckning bland startupföretagen. Det finns ett stort intresse för storytelling men begränsade resurser och kunskap att utnyttja. De digitala kanalerna har vuxit sig starka och erhållit en större betydelse inom den externa innehållsmarknadsföringen. Slutligen påvisar denna studie att startupföretag kommunicerar på olika sätt, beroende på om de riktar sig mot företag eller slutkonsument. / The corporate culture has changed in Sweden and it has become more common that start-up companies establish their presence of the market. These start-up companies suffer from structural limitations concerning assets and resources. At the same time they are competing on a market, amongst larger, more well established companies. A problem arises when a growing type of enterprise, which stimulates the market and the overall societal benefit, is forced to face these challenges because of start-up company’s characteristics. Because of this, it is important to find cost- and resource efficient solutions for these companies to make use of so that start-up companies can continue to be attractive for entrepreneurs. At the same time, the external content marketing has gone through revolutionary developments concerning technological progress and cost efficient solutions. Storytelling is a growing strategic tool that has grown strong and is used to achieve impact amongst consumers. Earlier research suggest that humans have an easier time to take in and memorize impressions when the impression is packaged and presented in the form of a story and that marketers are trying to make use of this through storytelling within their content marketing. But earlier research into the subject of relationship between marketing and literary studies is weak, and therefore we want to create an understanding for how storytelling is used by start-up companies within their external content marketing. The study is based on a qualitative research strategy with a design that focuses on contextual description. The empirical results are based on eight semi-structured interview with start-up companies in the growth-phase. All of the companies that are interviewed deal with storytelling within their external content marketing. The empirical results were analysed on the basis of generated themes, which create a contextual picture of the reality that is being studied. Five themes were generated and create the entirety of the interviewed companies work concerning storytelling. Furthermore, the themes were analysed in detail with several underlying aspects, which are made clear in the analysis. The results show that start-up companies use several different strategies concerning storytelling, in order to reach impact among consumers. An overarching view is that storytelling is an effective tool within marketing for companies with limited resources. Start-up companies make active choice in their storytelling strategies, and are given different focus depending on which company it is. More general results show that storytelling techniques based on literary studies are not used effectively or extensively among start-up companies. There is a big interest for storytelling but limited resource and knowledge to make use of. The digital channels has grown strong and received a larger roll and meaning within the external content marketing. Finally, the study shows that start-up companies communicate in different ways. Depending on whether they focus on companies or consumers.

Entrepreneurship can be described as the creation of a venture out of nothing, except for an entrepreneur’s idea. No manuals or blueprints for entrepreneurs‘ particular ideas exists. Add to this plenty of adversities along the way. For many, the entrepreneurial journey ends long before their products or services have reached the market. How do entrepreneurs deal with adversities and goal disruptions on the path to venture creation, and what effects does this have on their ventures? This study focuses on the goal disruptions that entrepreneurs experience and builds a model of perceived resistance. The model illustrates how entrepreneurs appraise goal disruptions, choose certain coping strategies, either eventually overcoming the goal disruptions or terminating their venture creation journey. The key issues affecting how novice entrepreneurs cope with goal disruptions are entrepreneurs’ emotions, life life goals, as well as their energetic resources. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2008</p>

The emergence of closed-loop Brayton cycle power plants, such as the PBMR, resulted in the need to simulate start-up transients for industrial multi-stage axial flow compressors operating at subsonic conditions. This implies that the delivery pressure and power requirements must be predicted for different mass flow rates and rotational speeds while operating in the first and fourth quadrants on the compressor performance charts. Therefore, an analytical performance prediction model for subsonic multi-stage axial flow compressors had to be developed that can be integrated into a generic network analysis software code such as Flownex. For this purpose, performance calculations based on one-dimensional mean-line analysis demonstrated good accuracy, provided that the correct models for losses, incidence and deviation are used. Such a model is therefore the focus of this study. A preliminary analytical performance prediction code, with the capability of interchanging between different deviation and loss models is presented. Reasonably complex loss models are integrated in association with the correct incidence and deviation models in a software package called "Engineering Equation Solver" (EES). The total pressure loss calculations are based on a superposition of theoretically separable loss components that include the following: blade profile losses, secondary losses and annulus losses. The fundamental conservation equations for mass, momentum and energy for compressible "rotating pipe" flow were implemented into the performance prediction code. Performance prediction models were validated against experimental data and evaluated according to their ease of implementation. Verification was done by comparing simulation results with experimental work done by Von Backstrom. This includes a calculation to determine the uncertainty in the experimental results. Furthermore, since the conventional definition of isentropic efficiency breaks down at the boundaries of quadrants on the performance charts, a new non-dimensional power formulation is presented that allows for the calculation of the compressor power in all of the relevant quadrants. Good comparison was found between simulation results and measurements in the first and fourth quadrant of operation. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Nuclear Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Most small new firms face problems in surviving the gestation process and achieving a viable performance thereafter because of the very fact of their smallness and newness. Due to a lack of internal resources, entrepreneurs of small new firms find it necessary to seek resources from outside the firm through their external social network. The theory of social capital that prescribes valuable resources are embedded in social relations is, thus, particularly relevant to the small business start-up situation. The embedded resources within an external network are hypothesized to have a positive impact on the business performance of these new firms. The main objective of the present study is to empirically investigate the impact of external networks, and in particular the initial social network of entrepreneurs, to the success of small firm start-up in Hong Kong. The second objective is to determine whether there is any interaction effect of the entrepreneur’s networking capability with the external network structure on the start-up success of small Hong Kong firms. / To carry out the research, this study offers a conceptual model linking initial network start-up success to initial network structure of start-up, and including an interaction effect from the entrepreneur’s networking capability. The study operationalizes social capital in four types of network constructs: network size, trustworthiness, network support and network diversity. A series of hypotheses relating to these four dimensions asserting external network determinants of the start-up success of small firms is posited. Other hypotheses which assert the interaction effect between an entrepreneur’s networking capability and the initial network structure on the success of small firm start-up, are also posited. A field survey, administered to 1,000 small Hong Kong firms of various industries, is used to gather the data. The questionnaire survey was developed in two languages – Chinese and English – to ensure a good level of understanding in the bilingual business environment of Hong Kong. Of the 1,000 questionnaires dispatched, a final sample of 89 small firms was used to empirically test the hypotheses using multiple regression analysis and multiple hierarchical regression analysis. Control variables such as entrepreneurs’ experiences and education prior to the firm start-up are included. / Empirical results indicate that the verification of social capital theory’s prescription for start-up success cannot be supported unequivocally. The results suggest that some initial network conditions such as initial size of strong tie network, network support and network diversity are positively associated with some measures of start-up success, but trustworthiness of network ties and the size of weak tie network do not figure among them. No evidence is found to support that entrepreneurs’ networking capability can positively enhance the effect of the initial network structure on start-up success. Overall, the study raises some questions on the positive linear relationship of certain operationalized constructs such as network size and trustworthiness of social capital with start-up success. Following the findings of this research, future studies may choose to further investigate social capital theory on small start-up success by refining the operationalization of social capital, and verify other interaction effects of entrepreneurs’ networking capabilities.

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[pt] O financiamento de empresas emergentes de base tecnológica vem merecendo grande atenção, tanto por parte da comunidade de investidores quanto dos agentes públicos interessados nos ganhos econômicos e sociais atribuídos a tais empresas. A realização de tais ganhos depende, entretanto, de conhecimentos e habilidades sofisticados para lidar com diversos fatores de risco associados a tais empresas, à sua tecnologia e à natureza das oportunidades que perseguem. A extensão do risco envolvido e a complexidade dos instrumentos necessários para fazer frente a tais riscos fizeram reconhecer esse tipo de financiamento como uma classe distinta de investimento, denominada capital de risco. Como tal, a atividade de capital de risco teve seu início reconhecido a partir de 1930, com investimentos feitos por algumas famílias abastadas americanas. A década seguinte registra o surgimento da primeira empresa de capital de risco, que vem a estabelecer o paradigma de operação de uma indústria que, nos Estados Unidos, investe cerca de uma centena de bilhões de dólares por ano - a Indústria de Fundos de Capital de Risco que profissionaliza todo o ciclo de capital de risco, desde a captação de recursos junto aos investidores, a aplicação em empresas emergentes e, finalmente, o desinvestimento e a distribuição dos resultados aos investidores. No Brasil, essa indústria começou a se estruturar a partir da Instrução CVM 209, de 1994, que regulamentou esses fundos sob a denominação de Fundos Mútuos de Investimento em Empresas Emergentes. Estimativas preliminares sugerem que essa indústria movimentou, em 2000, cerca de US$ 1 bilhão. Uma das grandes barreiras ao desenvolvimento dessa indústria é a aquisição do conhecimento técnico sobre a gestão e avaliação de fundos nos quais os ativos adquiridos (papéis de empresas emergentes) não são negociados em bolsa. O conhecimento existente é, em boa parte, de natureza proprietária e é tratado como segredo industrial. Este trabalho, de natureza exploratória, reflete uma incursão no estudo de algoritmos de avaliação de fundos de capital de risco, introduzindo aperfeiçoamentos em modelos de avaliação existentes. Modelos de avaliação tradicionais, como o Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) utilizam o retorno histórico desta modalidade de investimentos na tentativa de estimar a performance do fundo. O objetivo desta dissertação é adaptar o modelo de performance de fundos desenvolvido pelo MIF de forma a possibilitar uma análise de risco além do retorno esperado. Esta análise de risco será realizada através da avaliação de cada empresa investida pelo fundo. Assim, através da simulação do valor terminal destas empresas, será possível obter uma distribuição de retorno para cada investidor a partir do capital aportado no fundo. Tal instrumento será de grande valia tanto na seleção de investimentos (permitindo que os investimentos sejam selecionados de acordo com o nível de exposição que o gestor deseja assumir), quanto no gerenciamento dos investimentos (permitindo que sejam tomadas decisões que maximizem o retorno esperado para os investidores). / [en] The financing of technology based start up companies is deserving great attention, not only from of the investors' community but also from public agents, due to the economical and social earnings attributed to such companies. These accomplishments depends, however, on knowledge and sophisticated abilities to work with risk factors associated to such companies, related to their technology level and to the nature of the opportunities pursued. The extension of the risks involved and the complexity of the necessary instruments to deal with them lead to a recognition of this type of financing as a distinct investment, namely venture capital. Venture capital has its beginning in 1930, with investments made by a few wealthy American families. The following decade records the appearance of the first venture capital company, which comes to establish the operation paradigm of an industry. In the United States, this industry invests about a hundred of billion of dollars a year and perform the whole venture capital cycle: from Fundraising with the investors, to funding of start up companies and, finally, the harvesting and the distribution of results to the investors. In Brazil, this industry began to be structured following the Instruction CVM 209, (1994), which regulates funds denominated Mutual Investment Fund in Emergent Companies. Estimates suggest that in 2000, it was a US$ 1 billion dollar industry. One of the greatest barriers to the development of this industry is the acquisition of the technical knowledge on the management and evaluation of Funds that acquires assets non negotiable in the stock markets. The existing knowledge is, to a large extent, of private nature and treated as industrial secret. This work, of exploratory nature, is an incursion in the study of evaluation algorithms of venture capital funds, proposing improvements in existing evaluation models. Traditional evaluation models, like that of the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) use the historical return of this kind of investments in an attempt to estimate the performance of the fund. The objective of this dissertation is to modify the model of Fund performance developed by MIF to make possible a risk analysis beyond the expected return. This risk analysis will be accomplished by the evaluation of each company invested by the Fund. By simulating the terminal value of these companies, it will be possible to obtain a return distribution for each investor starting from the capital contributed to the fund. Such an instrument will be of great value not only in the selection of investments (allowing the investments to be selected in agreement with the exposure level that the manager wishes to assume), but also in the management of these discrete investments (allowing that are made decisions that maximize the expected return for the investors). / [es] El financiamiento de empresas emergentes de base tecnológica ha merecido una gran atención por parte de la comunidad de inversionistas y de los agentes públicos interesados en las ganancias económicas y sociales de esas empresas. La obtención de tales ganancias depende de conocimientos y habilidades sofisticados para evaluar los diversos factores de riesgo de dichas empresas, de su tecnología y de la naturaleza de las oportunidades que persiguen. La extensión del riesgo y la complejidad de los instrumentos necesarios para enfrentar los riesgos, han llevado a reconocer que este tipo de financiamiento constiuye una clase diferente de inversión, denominada capital de riesgo. La actividad de capital de riesgo se inició (reconocidamente) a partir de 1930, con inversiones realizadas por algunas familias americanas adineradas. En la década siguiente surge la primera empresa de capital de riesgo, y con ello se establece el paradigma de operación de una industria que, en los Estados Unidos, invierte cerca de una centena de miles de millones de dólares por año - la Industria de Fondos de Capital de Riesgo que profisionaliza todo el ciclo de capital de riesgo, desde la captación de recursos, la aplicación en empresas emergentes y, finalmente, la desinversión y la distribución de los resultados a los inversionistas. En Brasil, esa industria comenzó a extructurarse a partir de la Instrucción CVM 209, de 1994, que creó el reglamento de esos fondos bajo la denominación de Fondos Mutuos de Inversión en Empresas Emergentes. Estimativas preliminares indican que esa industria movimentó, en 2000, cerca de US$ 1000 millones. Una de las grandes barreras para el desarrollo de esta industria es la adquisición del conocimiento técnico sobre gestión y evaluación de fondos en los cuales los activos adquiridos (papeles de empresas emergentes) no son negociados en la bolsa. El conocimiento que existe es, en buena parte, de naturaleza proprietaria y es tratado como secreto industrial. Este trabajo, de naturaleza exploratoria, refleja una incursión en el estudio de algoritmos de evaluación de fondos de capital de riesgo e introduce algunas mejorías en modelos de evaluación existentes. Los modelos de evaluación tradicionales, como el Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) utilizan el retorno histórico de esta modalidad de inversiones para estimar la performance del fondo. El objetivo de esta disertación es adaptar el modelo de performance de fondos desarrollado por el MIF de modo tal que, además del retorno esperado, sea posible un análisis de riesgo. Este análisis de riesgo será realizado a través de la evaluación de cada empresa en las que el fondo invirtió. Así, a través de la simulación del valor terminal de estas empresas, será posible obtener una distribuición de retorno para cada inversionista a partir del capital que aportó al fondo. Este instrumento será de gran valor en la selección de inversiones (pués permitirá que las inversiones sean seleccionadas de acuerdo con el nível de exposición que el gestor desea asumir), y en la gerencia de las inversiones (permitiendo que sean tomadas decisiones que maximizen el retorno esperado para los inversionistas).

Traditional investment practices have been revamped with more and more modern methodsto fit entrepreneurial settings. The evolution of equity crowdfunding has created an alternative to venture capital,bank loans and business angels. Due its novelty, recent studieshave onlyfocusedon its mechanisms and financial regulations. We draw from crowdfunding concept and social theories to develop an understandingonthe connection between social media networkand equity crowdfunding success.Utilizingdata from LinkedIn and a leading equity crowdfunding platform in the Nordics, we explore the impact of social media network to funding campaigns’ success. We collected data on every company on the platform, and we collected data on the key members’ LinkedIn connections. The results propose that it is possible to predict certain types of success in equity crowdfunding based on the number of LinkedIn connections. This study contributes to existing literature by providing better understanding on another social network, LinkedIn, which is often connected to project pages on crowdfunding platforms. We contribute even for improved insight in decision making processes behind the investments; which is in high interest of entrepreneurs, investors and platforms