Since the majority of emerging start-ups are not able to survive on the market, this study investigates business models in four start-up companies from two different industries in order to better understand how their business models relates to their success. This study is commissioned by a start-up who are about to begin their business in Stockholm. The purpose of this study is to make an assessment of the components in the utilized business models of growing start-ups in markets with different level of innovation. The investigation is made based on how trends and competition in the industry affect the business model and what the similarities are between the business model components of successful start-ups in two different industries. This study contribute to literature on start-ups’ business models by beginning to map differences and similarities in start-up’ business models as well as how these are affected by and adapted to the industry. It also helps start-ups understand the importance and usage of different business model components. In order to make an assessment of different business models, a multiple case study approach is adopted where each case is a start-up company. The analysis then follows a 2x2 framework and is sorted by Business Model Canvas. Three analyses are made, one within each industry and one between the two industries. The first analysis compares the business models of two companies in the industry of electricity consumption measurements and finds that trends regarding the environment and innovation affects both the industry and its’ competitors. The second analysis compares the business models of two companies in the package deliveries industry and trends regarding online shopping are found to affect this industry. The third analysis compares the two industries and both differences and similarities are found. The main findings regarding the business model components are then applied to the commissioner company and other emerging start-ups. Findings shows that the investigated start-ups have adapted the business model components to trends in the respective industry. The business model also adapts to the technological development in the associated industry and in other industries as well. The use of social channels seems to affect the customer relationships. Competition have affected the business models’ of the investigated start-ups and it is noticed that international and national goals, such as lowering  the environmental impact, also affect the industry and the business models since these goals can encourage and push for change. Furthermore, each of the start-ups’ business model components have similarities even though the B2B, B2C and B2B2C strategies create differences. Furthermore, all of the start-ups are working with the trial and error approach, sustainability and environmental impact when developing their business model. / Eftersom majoriteten av alla start-up företag inte lyckas överleva på marknaden undersöker denna studie affärsmodeller i fyra start-ups i två olika industrier för att bättre förstå hur deras affärsmodeller har påverkat deras framgång. Studien utförs i Stockholm där uppdragsgivaren verkar. Syftet med studien är att göra en utvärdering av komponenterna i den verksamma affärsmodellen i växande start-up företag som verkar på marknader med olika innovationsnivåer. Studien utförs baserat på hur affärsmodellen anpassas efter trender och konkurrens i branschen och vilka likheter som finns i dessa affärsmodellers komponenter. Denna studie kan bidra till nuvarande litteratur om start-ups affärsmodeller genom att börja kartlägga affärsmodellernas likheter och skillnader och se hur de är anpassade efter branschen. Studien kan även hjälpa start-ups förstå nyttan och användningen av de olika komponenterna i deras affärsmodell. För att utföra jämförelsen användes en flerfallsstudie där de olika fallen är olika start-up företag. Analysen utfördes med hjälp av en 2x2 modell och är strukturerad efter Business Model Canvas. Totalt är tre analyser är genomförda, en inom varje bransch och en mellan de två branscherna. Den första analysen jämför affärsmodellerna för de två start-up företagen i branschen för elkonsumtionsmätningar och finner att innovation och trender från miljöaspekter påverkar dess företag. Den andra analysen jämför affärsmodellerna för de två start-up företagen i branschen för paketleveranser och finner att dessa företag påverkas av trenden webbshopping. Tredje och sista analysen jämför likheter mellan branscherna och finner både skillnader och likheter. Dessa kopplas sedan till uppdragsgivaren och andra nya start-ups i diskussionskapitlet. Analysen visar på att de undersökta start-up företagen har anpassat sina affärsmodellers komponenter efter trender i branschen. Affärsmodellen är också anpassad efter den tekniska utvecklingen i både den egna och andras branscher. Sociala kanaler verkar påverka kundrelationerna. Vidare har konkurrensen på marknaden påverkat affärsmodellerna, liksom nationella och internationella mål inom exempelvis miljöpåverkan som uppmuntrar förändringar. Slutligen har varje enskild komponent i affärsmodellerna likheter, även om de olika strategierna B2B, B2C och B2B2C skapar skillnader. Fortsättningsvis har alla undersökta start-ups testat sig fram och jobbar med hållbarhet och miljöpåverkan för att utveckla sina affärsmodeller.

Syfte Syftet är att undersöka de brister entreprenörer upplevt efter att ha använt sig av Crowdfunding och om Internetbaserade plattformar underlättar informationsasymmetrin mellan finansiär och entreprenör. Samt om entrprenörer anser att Crowdfunding har potential att fungera som självstående finansieringskälla. Teori Tidigare studier visar att finansieringsformen Crowdfunding ofta är bristfällig. Få entreprenörer får tillräckligt kapital och finansieringsformen saknar kompetens och resurser. Metod Kvantitativ enkätundersökning under perioden 11 november 2015 till och med 25 november 2015. Resultat Resultatet från enkätundersökningen bestående av 40 deltagare presenteras i diagram. Analys I analysen jämförs tidigare studier och teorier med resultat och letar samband och kopplingar som förklarar resultatet. Respondenterna ser potential i Crowdfunding. De flesta upplever att de fått tillräckligt kapital och är positivt inställda till skillnad mot tidigare teorier. Slutsats Slutsatsen i undersökningen blir att en del Crowdfuninganvändare använder en annan finansieringskälla också där eget kapital och banklån är vanligast. Tekniken och dålig exponering var de problem entreprenörer ansåg Crowdfundingplattformarna ha, dock har de flesta tro på att Crowdfunding har potential att fungera som en själv-stående finansieringsform.

This thesis aims to better understand the process of the funding of young innovative ventures, and how a deeper understanding of this process can help public policy to better stimulate entrepreneurial firms—especially in high-technology industries. I interpret entrepreneurial finance broadly to mean financing issues facing young innovative ventures. It includes three essays which deal with a set of economic, institutional, and public policy issues to examine entrepreneurial finance.

The aim of this thesis is to explore employment relations in young, growth-oriented, technology-driven (high-tech) start-ups. It takes a closer look at the exchange relationship between founders and their first employees in this specific context. At its core, the research is interested in employees motivation to work for a growth-oriented start-up and their understanding of the employment deal. The study uses the psychological contract as an analytical framework to gain deeper insights into individuals perceptions of this deal. The research is embedded within an interpretivist paradigm and includes eight case studies involving growth-oriented high-tech start-ups in Berlin and London. For each case, in-depth interviews with three full-time employees as well as the founder(s) were conducted. The findings of this thesis demonstrate that the employment deal in growth-oriented start-ups is a short-term, faith-driven contract, which differs substantially from the current understanding of the psychological contract. In contrast to the long-term or open-ended contract often offered by larger, more established organisations, this deal has a defined expiration date . Moreover, the findings challenge the current understandings on remuneration, relationship building and power dynamics within growth-oriented start-ups and add to the literature by offering a re-conceptualisation of the psychological contract. This thesis helps to inform prospective employees about the advantages and challenges of joining a start-up and encourages entrepreneurs to further tailor their management and compensation strategies.

Firm internationalisation has been a broadly examined subject, which has generated various established theories. Previous business activities are described as structured, incremental and predictable, which has enabled the development of frameworks that describe how the business internationalisation is conducted. Today’s technological advances, globalisation and changes in demographics are contemporary environmental forces of change, and the Swedish tech industry is growing in a steady phase. The tech start-ups internationalise rapidly and from an early age but in various ways, and therefore, reflecting diverse internationalisation theories to different extents. The wave of tech start-up is increasing and are seemingly operating in an unconventional manner and contradicts well-known theories, leaving scholars in the search for profound understanding about this phenomenon. Consequently, lack of previous research based on tech start-ups internationalisation processes has provided motivation for this study, with the intention to provide knowledge to companies and contribute with new theory angles to the existing literature. The purpose with this study was to fill the research gap on tech start-up internationalisation by investigating and analyse how the Stockholm-based tech start-ups internationalise, what barriers and drivers they have encountered while pursuing the expansion as well as, how these have affected the internationalisation. The literature review emphasises on internationalisation theories as well as, barriers and drivers of the internationalisation process and is summarised with a conceptual framework. The study was conducted through a qualitative case study including four companies of, which all four had established international operations and therefore, generated insightful information about the subject. Moreover, interviews with founders and CEOs of the companies were conducted through semi-structured approach, which including questions related to their internationalisation process and the barriers and drivers. The empirical data was thereafter organised and paralleled with previous theories as well as, with the authors' considerations. Finally, the conclusion highlight answers to the research questions and provide theoretical and practical implications, as well as suggestions for further research.

Researchers and practitioners have both acknowledged the importance of attracting the right employees. The study aims to explore and analyze how Swedish gaming start-ups attract talent. The authors investigated eight gaming companies based in Sweden, conducting semi-structured interviews with founding team or management team that were responsible for talent attraction in their respective companies. Study draws on theory of employer brand and examines how game development start-ups overcome their challenges in employee attraction context. Results of the research show that most gaming companies offer variety of employment benefits described in employment brand theory, but for them to have a competitive advantage, they should incorporate innovative new ideas in talent attraction. We propose an ‘employer innovation matrix model’ that can be a strategic talent attraction planning tool for companies.

This DPhil thesis is a collection of three empirical papers that study the role of firms in the UK labour market. Each chapter focuses on firms at different points in their lifecycle. Young firms are an engine of job creation but little is known about the quality of the jobs that they offer. In Chapter 1, I use a matched employer-employee dataset to study how starting wages and lifecycle earnings of employees differ between young and mature firms. I find that young firms pay a small premium to new hires, but subsequent wage growth is better at mature firms, both within continuing job matches and when individuals change jobs. Crucially, highly-paid and stable jobs at young firms have become increasingly rare over time, as young firms themselves have become less likely to survive and attain high productivity levels - both in absolute terms and relative to mature firms over the same period. Policies that aim to stimulate job growth by encouraging the formation of new firms should therefore pay close attention to the types of firms that form. Chapter 2 asks what determines the proportion of a firm's income that workers receive as compensation. I use longitudinal firm data from a period of substantial labour share variation to understand the firm-level determinants of the labor share of income - a question that has typically only been addressed with country- and sector-level data. Estimating a dynamic model using GMM, I find that firms with greater market power and a higher ratio of capital to labour allocate a smaller proportion of their value added to workers. Testing the impact of tangible and intangible capital on low- and high-wage firms leads to conclusions consistent with the hypothesis of capital-skill complementarity. Overall, the results suggest that firm-level drivers play a key role in the evolution of the aggregate labour share, which has declined significantly since the 1970s. Chapter 3 co-authored with Brian Bell, focuses on mature firms and asks how wages at such firms respond to idiosyncratic firm-level cost shocks. We create a unique dataset that links longitudinal data on workers' compensation to the unexpected costs related to firms' legacy defined benefit pension plans. We show that firms are able to share the burden of such costs when a significant share of their workers are current or former members of the plan. We also find that firms that respond to deficits by closing down the pension plans effectively reduce the total compensation of plan members. These results point to significant frictions in the labour market, which we show are a direct result of the pension arrangement that workers have. Yet closing schemes has an implicit cost for firms, since it reduces the frictions that workers face, and increases mobility.

<p>Previous entrepreneurship research has shown that networks are of great importance when discovering and exploiting business opportunities, i.e. in the start up process of new venture (e.g. Davidsson and Honig 2003; Evald, Klyver, and Svendsen 2006; Klyver, Hindle, and Meyer forthcoming). The value of a network is referred to as social capital, which refers to the amount of resources, both tangible and intangible, that an entrepreneur or entrepreneuse might have access to through the members of their network (Nahapiet and Ghoshal 1998). Social capital is the product of social interactions (Anderson et al. 2007), implying that a person’s social abilities, i.e. social competence, can influence the creation of social capital (Baron and Markman 2000, 2003). Social capital the factor that helps the entrepreneur “get through the door”, while the entrepreneur’s social abilities determine the outcome of that interaction (Baron and Markman 2000:107). The focus of this study is, thus, to explore whether entrepreneurs and entrepreneuses utilize different types of the social capital in the process of starting a new venture and whether they perceive social competence to have an influential role in this process.</p><p>The theoretical framework consist of three main theoretical areas; social capital, social competence, and psychological gender. The first part is based on Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s (1998) model of social capital and describes theories explaining factors influence social capital embedded within a person’s network relationships. The second part covers social competence and the abilities that constitute this concept. Further, five dimensions are identified as comprising social competence, i.e. social astuteness, interpersonal influence, networking ability, apparent sincerity, and social manipulation (Baron and Markman 2000, 2003; Hoehn-Weiss et al. 2004; Ferris et al. 2005, 2007; Riggio 1986). The last part discusses whether there might exist differences between entrepreneurs and entrepreneuses regarding their behaviours and their psychological gender (Bem 1974, 1975, 1977; Spence et al. 1975).</p><p>The research design show similarities with both an inductive and a deductive approach, with a focus on the induction since little research within the entrepreneurship field has combined the different topics comprising the scope of this study. Further, this implies qualitative research methods and the empirical data was collect through conducting 14 semi structured interviews with entrepreneurs and entrepreneuses as well as through a questionnaire aiming at determine the respondents’ psychological gender.</p><p>The results of the present study indicate that entrepreneurs and entrepreneuses utilize different the types of social capital in the stages of the start up phase. Further, the study show that social competence plays and important role in the start up process and that there is a circular relation between social capital and social competence. Moreover, the results of the study indicate that male and female entrepreneurs behave differently in the start up phase and that their perceptions about and usage of their social competence might differ.</p>

The aim is to describe how to build a foundation of resources in RBSUs by addressing the issues of access to and control on resources in order to understand this context and to further develop the language of RBSUs. The research lies in the interpretative field of inquiry. Abduction is used to combine empirical data with theoretical studies in order to try to investigate patterns that could give an understanding of the phenomena that is studied. Descriptive research approach using multiple-case study design is used. The first part of the theoretical frame of references explores existing theories on resources. This leads to RBSUs basic resources. The second part explores different means for accessing and controlling resources. The chosen approach is qualitative. Interviews have been conducted for data collection. Documents are gathered and analyzed to support the interviews. Following each stage of RBSUs development, it is described what resources are the most important ones to each RBSU and how they got access to and control over those resources. The major contribution is that RBSUs access and control their basic resources in different ways depending on the stage of the RBSU development. In addition, the findings describe and allow understanding how RBSUs‟ founders make their choices when it comes to build a foundation of resources in each of those stages.

Previous entrepreneurship research has shown that networks are of great importance when discovering and exploiting business opportunities, i.e. in the start up process of new venture (e.g. Davidsson and Honig 2003; Evald, Klyver, and Svendsen 2006; Klyver, Hindle, and Meyer forthcoming). The value of a network is referred to as social capital, which refers to the amount of resources, both tangible and intangible, that an entrepreneur or entrepreneuse might have access to through the members of their network (Nahapiet and Ghoshal 1998). Social capital is the product of social interactions (Anderson et al. 2007), implying that a person’s social abilities, i.e. social competence, can influence the creation of social capital (Baron and Markman 2000, 2003). Social capital the factor that helps the entrepreneur “get through the door”, while the entrepreneur’s social abilities determine the outcome of that interaction (Baron and Markman 2000:107). The focus of this study is, thus, to explore whether entrepreneurs and entrepreneuses utilize different types of the social capital in the process of starting a new venture and whether they perceive social competence to have an influential role in this process. The theoretical framework consist of three main theoretical areas; social capital, social competence, and psychological gender. The first part is based on Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s (1998) model of social capital and describes theories explaining factors influence social capital embedded within a person’s network relationships. The second part covers social competence and the abilities that constitute this concept. Further, five dimensions are identified as comprising social competence, i.e. social astuteness, interpersonal influence, networking ability, apparent sincerity, and social manipulation (Baron and Markman 2000, 2003; Hoehn-Weiss et al. 2004; Ferris et al. 2005, 2007; Riggio 1986). The last part discusses whether there might exist differences between entrepreneurs and entrepreneuses regarding their behaviours and their psychological gender (Bem 1974, 1975, 1977; Spence et al. 1975). The research design show similarities with both an inductive and a deductive approach, with a focus on the induction since little research within the entrepreneurship field has combined the different topics comprising the scope of this study. Further, this implies qualitative research methods and the empirical data was collect through conducting 14 semi structured interviews with entrepreneurs and entrepreneuses as well as through a questionnaire aiming at determine the respondents’ psychological gender. The results of the present study indicate that entrepreneurs and entrepreneuses utilize different the types of social capital in the stages of the start up phase. Further, the study show that social competence plays and important role in the start up process and that there is a circular relation between social capital and social competence. Moreover, the results of the study indicate that male and female entrepreneurs behave differently in the start up phase and that their perceptions about and usage of their social competence might differ.