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Most studies of multinational organisations (MNE’s) have been focused on large mature corporations. Traditional literature explains that firms internationalise after a certain level of domestic maturity and wield a significant amount of economic power to withstand the threat of international competition (Oviatt, McDougall, 1993, p. 29)However, this premise has changed in recent years with the adoption of new legislation and technologies that allow firms to become established MNE’s much sooner, with many of these pursuing rapid internationalisation strategies.If the traditional notions of staged theory no longer hold true and new behavioural aspects are driving small businesses to internationalise, it is essential for researchers to gain insights into new firm development, survival and growth in the South African context. Firm growth is of particular interest where globalised SME’s are concerned. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Ingeniero Civil Industrial / El presente trabajo de título surge gracias al proyecto de InnovaChile (perteneciente a CORFO): Nueva Ingeniería para el 2030, donde participa la Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas (FCFM) de la Universidad de Chile, el cual busca desarrollar planes estratégicos, destinados a transformar las escuelas de ingeniería chilenas, en los ámbitos de investigación aplicada, desarrollo, transferencia tecnológica, innovación y emprendimiento. Uno de los resultados del proyecto, ha sido la creación e implementación del programa OpenBeauchef (de ahora en adelante OB), que se posiciona como un ecosistema abierto de innovación y emprendimiento. Desde fines del año 2015, el fuerte crecimiento de la cartera de proyectos asociados a OB, superando las expectativas, ha impulsado la formación de emprendedores con base científica y tecnológica, apuntando a la generación de spin-offs y start-ups. Este prometedor escenario abre las puertas de la innovación a diversos actores o stakeholders (SH), lo que ha propiciado un potente e íntegro desarrollo de OB. Sin embargo, este acelerado crecimiento ha favorecido a que las tres unidades principales del ecosistema: FabLab U. de Chile (laboratorio de fabricación digital), OpenLab (espacio de coworking) y la Oficina GIE-3aM (gestión del back-office), caminen por rumbos diferentes, siguiendo sus propias estrategias y planes de acción. Dicho lo anterior se plantea como objetivo central de esta tesis, proveer una serie de recomendaciones y propuestas de mejoramiento a partir del diagnóstico y análisis de la situación actual del ecosistema. Al identificar las principales fortalezas, tales como las robustas metodologías aplicadas, alta gobernabilidad y estructuración organizacional; y las debilidades de OB, como la falta de comunicación entre áreas, el individualismo y la falta de experiencia en temas de innovación y emprendimiento, surgen tres potenciales mejoras: un sistema de indicadores de resultados, un modelo único de funcionamiento y las líneas de acción que redirigen los esfuerzos de OB hacia el alineamiento estratégico entre sus unidades internas, promoviendo un crecimiento sostenible en el tiempo. / Este trabajo ha sido parcialmente financiado por el programa Nueva Ingeniería para el 2030 de la FCFM

Purpose – The purpose of this research paper is to explore the challenges faced by Pakistani entrepreneurs in different cultural context of Sweden and Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach – In order to collect primary data, authors has conducted six interviews of Pakistani entrepreneurs. Three entrepreneurs were taken from Pakistan and three were taken from Sweden. For this research paper, authors has used Inductive approach as Research approach, Case study as research design, Qualitative data as research strategy, primary and secondary data as data sources and in-depth semi-structured interviews as data collection method, purposive and snowball method were used to select sample size. For the sake of collecting secondary data, two search engines were used; One Search and Google Scholar. Different published articles and journals were utilized in order to critically analyze Literature on similar topic. Conclusion – Challenges faced by Pakistani entrepreneurs in Pakistan are brand registration problem, corruption, Lack of support, Labour problem, Law and order, High taxes, Loan problem, Load shedding problem, high approach and high rental expenses. Explored challenges in Sweden are; Language barrier, Employees problem, Loan problem, High taxes, Saturation, less availability of shops, Racism, requirements for Swedish licences. Research limitations/implications – This research paper is only limited to Pakistani entrepreneurs who have start-ups in Pakistan and in Sweden.

Context: Start-ups have recently emerged as an operational model for small and newly-founded firms globally. This increasing business acceptance is present within the European markets, as well as within the Greek. Researchers also complied to the ”commands” of the industry and startup research followed the same, to practice, increasing course. Although the increase in both research and practice is visible, and the fact that several start-up related topics are well-documented, the start-up literature still shows certain limitations that need to be answered. Theory: This study performs an extensive review of the start-up literature, provides definitions and descriptions of key start-up characteristics, and identifies the main streams, and limitations of start-up research, as long as cases of actual start-ups within the Greek business reality. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to provide insight on certain literature limitations by examining start-up customs towards collaboration and openness initiatives and activities. More in detail, the study aims to identify whether start-ups are able to collaborate (newness and smallness paradox), what is the extent (breadth and depth, partner variety, and collaboration content) of their collaboration and openness customs with different partners, but also the individual importance of specific partners, and the ways this importance changes through different phases of the start-up growth. Also, documented matters such as the determinants of collaborations and the internal organizational structure of start-ups towards openness and collaborations are also discussed. Design/Methodology/Approach: A multiple-case study that follows the replication logic is performed. The study focuses on six Greek online start-ups, and extracts information initially from the websites of the firms, and then by interviewing one key employee in each start-up. The combined information from each case are cross-analysed so as behavioural patterns to emerge and conclusions to be drawn regarding start-up initiatives and activities towards collaboration and openness. Findings: Start-ups are indeed able to collaborate and practice openness with external partners from the beginning, while the collaboration and openness is closely related to the desired outcome/collaboration content that fulfils a specific need. This desired outcome is connected to the extent – breadth and depth – of the collaboration, but also to the type of each partner. Thus, startups closely collaborate with few and selected partners of each kind (e.g. universities, supplies etc.), with the exception of customers and users. The collaboration with customers and users is wide and limited on their feedbacks due to their numbers. Customers, users, suppliers, innovation intermediaries, and universities were identified as the most important partners to start-ups. The importance of these partners is connected to the start-up growth lifecycle. Innovation intermediaries are the most important startup partners, while customers, users and suppliers are important from the stabilization phase and during the whole start-up lifecycle. Universities importance were not found to be clearly connected to the startup growth phases, but mostly to the collaboration content. Regarding the importance, some differences might occur amongst start-ups active in different industries. Those differences are industry specific and affect how and when each start-up collaborates with different partners. Finally, this study confirmed the propositions of previous studies regarding the determinants and internal organizational structure towards collaboration and openness with external partners. Research limitations and implications: Although the present study shows a set of limitations mostly regarding the number and distribution of the cases, it is the authors’ belief that it also shows a set of theoretical and practical implications. It provides managers and researchers with findings on uncharted territories in start-up literature, it connects its findings to prior start-up research, and provides insight on the almost undeveloped literature on Greek start-ups.

Problem: The increasing interest in academic, and general, entrepreneurship increases the need for venture capital. The venture capital is provided to the inventor by an external investor who gains financial or societal benefits from his investment. The increasing interest in entrepreneurship makes is interesting to understand the sources of power that influence the relationship between the investor and the inventor. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to indicate how different sources of power influence the relationship between inventors and investors in academic start-ups. Methodology: This study has been carried out with a qualitative approach. Data has mainly been collected from four interviews at three different companies. The interviews were complemented with previous research findings and laws from the book of laws. Findings: The empirical findings indicate that the investigated relation mainly is influenced by the expertise from the inventor during the early stages of the start-­up. This indicates that the expert power is the most significant source of power. KeyWords: Entrepreneurship, Academic Entrepreneurship, Start-­ups, Academic Start-ups, Investor relationship, Venture Capital, New Ventures, Spin-­off

Jag har i denna uppsats studerat makroekonomiska faktorers påverkan på antal registrerade aktiebolag och enskilda näringsidkare i Sverige. Syftet har varit att bidra med variabler som ska kunna användas vid prognostisering av antal nyregistreringar av företag. Jag har valt ut de makroekonomiska faktorer som enligt tidigare forskning inom området, visat sig vara de vanligast förekommande. Studien har gjorts med multipel regressionsanalys med kontroll för multikollinearitet, autokorrelation och heteroskedasticitet. Resultatet tyder på att makroekonomiska faktorer som BNP, arbetslöshet och arbetslöshet inklusive fördröjd effekt samt inflation kan ha ett signifikant samband med antal registrerade aktiebolag. Analysen tyder även på att BNP har ett negativt samband med antal registrerade enskilda näringsidkare. Slutsatsen från detta är att det finns en skillnad mellan vad som påverkar antal registrerade aktiebolag och antal registrerade enskilda näringsidkare. Vidare studier behöver göras för att identifiera fler variabler som kan ha ett samband med antal nyregistreringar och då främst registreringar av enskilda näringsidkare. / This study investigates the influence of macroeconomic factors on the number of newly registered limited companies and sole traders in Sweden. The aim has been to contribute with variables that can be used in forecasting the number of new company registrations. I have chosen the macroeconomic factors which, according to previous research in this area, have proved to be the most common. The study has been done with multiple regression analysis and checked for multicollinearity, autocorrelation and heteroscedasticity. The result suggests that macroeconomic factors such as GDP, unemployment, unemployment including delayed effects and inflation can have a significant effect on the number of new registrations for limited companies. The analysis also suggests that GDP has a negative effect on the number of new sole traders. The conclusion of the study is that the factors affecting the number of new limited companies differ from those affecting the number of new sole traders. Further studies are needed in order to establish other variables that can influence the number of new registrations and in particular new registrations for sole traders. / <p>Betyg 170115</p>

The aim of this study is to examine incubators which were formed by Innovation Center Iceland right after the financial crisis hit in 2008. The question is whether a new concept can be defined, or a new phenomenon, called “crisis incubation”. This is a concept that has not been studied before. This research is carried out by comparing the incubators formed in Iceland with incubators in six other European countries before the crisis hit, and see if there are any differences between the entrepreneurial processes. According to the study, the main differences between traditional incubators and crisis incubators are the following: Access to crisis incubators is much easier, incubatees within crisis incubators are much less likely to experience problems after they have entered the incubators, and they are much more likely to solve problems they experience. The only problem that incubatees in a crisis incubator are more likely to experience is obtaining finance. The study also finds some similarities between traditional incubators and crisis incubators. Overall, the main results strongly indicate that the differences between the two concepts are so great, that a new phenomenon can be defined, although further research is needed.

Social media – over the last decade with the development of technology, this new worldwide phenomenon occurred on the horizon and changed the traditional marketing ways forever. Many companies therefore seek these new platforms in order to come closer to potential customers. One of the most important social media platforms for this is Instagram, where companies can approach their target groups by visual storytelling. Start-up companies have often limited marketing budgets, which makes Instagram a perfect marketing channel because it is cost effective. This thesis is a case study of how pictures on Instagram can be used to spread the brand and how different activities affect traffic to the website/webshop. This case study is based on a marketing model that has been created and tested on an interior company’s, Tegelbruketdesign, Instagram account. The marketing model is analysed and compared to collected data from semi-structured interviews with two popular private Instagram accounts and a semi-structured interview with a Digital PR &amp; Social Media strategist. The findings suggest that some picture types and styles are better then others regarding the spreading of the brand. The findings also suggest that Instagram activities have a positive affect on the traffic to the company’s website/webshop.

In today’s dynamic business environment, stakeholders are seen as essential and companies are expected to engage stakeholders in mutually productive areas such as innovation and product development, market and sales development, sustainability, etc. However, prior literature of stakeholder engagement has mainly focused on large companies and the benefits of stakeholder engagement are usually narrowed to one specific area of growth. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the micro level of start-up companies and examines benefits of stakeholder engagement in terms of different aspects of company growth (namely financial performance, product development and innovation, marketing/sales development, reputation, sustainability and CSR, knowledge learning and information.).   Literature review of concepts of stakeholder engagement, start-ups and company growth has led to the theoretical framework of the thesis. It serves as guidance for the overall methodology. In order to meet the research objectives, we conduct a qualitative exploratory study on eight Swedish start-ups from different industries and with different characteristics. The data collection technique we use is semi-structured interviews with the eight owners (CEOs) of the start-ups. Through the interviews we examined the stakeholders that start-up companies are engaging, the benefits of engaging different stakeholders, the costs which may prevent them from engagement and the relationships between stakeholder engagement and their company growth.   The thesis has found that start-ups do engage different stakeholders for various growth aspects, and identified major focus areas and main stakeholders that start-ups attach more importance to than others. Customers and suppliers are frequently mentioned for driving product, market and sales development, which leads to direct financial growth. Owner-managers, employees and investors are in the second group of growth drivers, while the third group includes personal network, government organizations and communities. Meanwhile, the thesis has also categorized the benefits of stakeholder engagement into two groups according to the relative importance found out. Market and sales development, innovation and product development and financial performance are the primary, more frequently mentioned benefits than sustainability/CSR, Knowledge Learning/Information and reputation. Thus, the thesis has extended the theoretical framework by fitting it to the start-up context. The thesis has contributed to prior literature by reinforcing the prior research on stakeholder engagement and also filling the research gap in micro start-up company context. The thesis can give practical implications to start-up companies in terms of how to engagement stakeholders to drive company growth. We could conclude that start-up company context carries certain difference from large companies in stakeholder engagement, and start-ups should be encouraged to engage stakeholders more to drive company growth.