by Luk Kar-shun. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58). / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iv / LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS --- p.vi / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.vii / SECTIONS / Chapter 1. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Company Background --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Environmental Changes --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Datapak Services --- p.3 / Chapter 1.4 --- Knowledge Based Diagnostic System --- p.4 / Chapter 1.5 --- Project Objectives --- p.5 / Chapter 1.6 --- Research Methodologies --- p.6 / Chapter 2. --- THE OPERATING ENVIRONMENT --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- Organization Structure And Work Flow --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2 --- Problem Areas --- p.9 / Chapter 2.3 --- Operation Support System (OSS) --- p.9 / Chapter 3. --- DDN Diagnostic System --- p.11 / Chapter 3.1 --- Digital Data Network (DDN) --- p.11 / Chapter 3.2 --- Kappa PC --- p.13 / Chapter 3.3 --- Development Process --- p.14 / Chapter 4. --- POST IMPLEMENTATION EVALUATION --- p.17 / Chapter 4.1 --- Functionality & Performance --- p.17 / Chapter 4.2 --- User Survey --- p.18 / Chapter 4.3 --- Interpretation Of Results --- p.22 / Chapter 4.4 --- Summary --- p.23 / Chapter 5. --- AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENTS --- p.24 / Chapter 5.1 --- Development Methodology --- p.24 / Chapter 5.2 --- Relationship Between End-User And Expert System --- p.26 / Chapter 5.3 --- New System Requirements --- p.29 / Chapter 5.4 --- Human Resources --- p.29 / Chapter 6. --- SYSTEM DESIGN --- p.31 / Chapter 6.1 --- Overall System Architecture --- p.31 / Chapter 6.2 --- Change In Work Flow --- p.32 / Chapter 7. --- CONCLUSION --- p.34 / ILLUSTRATIONS --- p.36 / APPENDIX --- p.43 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.58

by Nip Yun Wing. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1988. / Bibliography: leaf 75.

Jie Jenny Tian. / Thesis submitted in 2000. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-137). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.i / Abstract --- p.iii / Chapter CHAPTER 1. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter CHAPTER 2. --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.3 / Chapter 2.1 --- Agency Theory Approach to Corporate Governance --- p.4 / Chapter 2.2 --- Stewardship Theory Approach to Corporate Governance --- p.10 / Chapter 2.3 --- Research on Board of Directors: Prescriptions and Empirical Evidence --- p.13 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Board Composition Studies --- p.15 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Board Leadership Structure Studies --- p.21 / Chapter 2.4 --- Chapter Summary --- p.24 / Chapter CHAPTER 3. --- REFORM AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: A CHINESE CASE --- p.25 / Chapter 3.1 --- China's Enterprise Reform: An Overview --- p.26 / Chapter 3.2 --- State as Shareholder: The State Assets Management System --- p.30 / Chapter 3.3 --- Asset Restructuring before IPO --- p.35 / Chapter 3.4 --- Corporate Governance Research in China: Theories and Empirical Evidence --- p.43 / Chapter 3.5 --- Chapter Summary --- p.46 / Chapter CHAPTER 4. --- THEORIES AND HYPOTHESES --- p.47 / Chapter 4.1 --- Theoretical Background and Research Questions --- p.47 / Chapter 4.2 --- A New Approach to Understanding Board Composition in China --- p.51 / Chapter 4.3 --- Board Composition and Firm Performance --- p.55 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Agency Theory Hypotheses --- p.57 / Independent Directors and Firm Performance --- p.57 / Affiliated Directors and Firm Performance --- p.59 / Board Size and Firm Performance --- p.61 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Stewardship Theory Hypotheses --- p.62 / Independent Directors and Firm Performance --- p.62 / Affiliated Directors and Firm Performance --- p.65 / Board Size and Firm Performance --- p.71 / Chapter 4.4 --- Board Leadership Structure and Firm Performance --- p.72 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Agency Theory Hypothesis --- p.72 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Stewardship Theory Hypothesis --- p.74 / Chapter 4.5 --- Chapter Summary --- p.77 / Chapter CHAPTER 5. --- METHODOLOGY --- p.78 / Chapter 5.1 --- Sample Selection --- p.78 / Chapter 5.2 --- Variables and Measurement --- p.82 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Independent Variables (IVs) --- p.82 / Board Composition --- p.82 / Board Leadership Structure --- p.84 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Dependent Variables (DVs) --- p.84 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Control Variables --- p.86 / Chapter CHAPTER 6. --- RESULTS --- p.94 / Chapter 6.1 --- Results based on the Full Sample (N=203) --- p.94 / Chapter 6.2 --- Results based on the Streamlined Sample (N = 197) --- p.101 / Chapter CHAPTER 7. --- "DISCUSSION, LIMITATIONS AND CONCLUSION" --- p.107 / Chapter 7.1 --- Discussion --- p.107 / Chapter 7.2 --- Limitations --- p.116 / Chapter 7.3 --- Conclusion and Future Research Direction --- p.118 / References --- p.121

by Siu Ngar-Yin Diana, Wong Fung-Yu Eve. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 60-61). / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENT --- p.iv / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.vi / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Objective --- p.1 / Methodology --- p.2 / Chapter II. --- HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF FINANCIAL REFORMS (1979-1992) --- p.3 / Banking Reforms from 1979 to 1992 --- p.3 / Reforms since 1994 --- p.5 / Effects of Reforms --- p.7 / Central Bank Autonomy --- p.7 / New Instruments of Monetary Management --- p.8 / Reforms of the Interbank Market --- p.8 / Regulation and Competition --- p.9 / Chapter III. --- TRUST AND INVESTMENT COMPANIES IN CHINA --- p.11 / Emergence of TICs in China --- p.11 / Development of TICs in China --- p.12 / The Early Trust Industry --- p.12 / TICs in the 80s --- p.13 / The Latest Development of TICs --- p.16 / Business Activities of TICs --- p.17 / ITICs --- p.18 / Funding --- p.18 / Regulations and Legal Position of TICs --- p.19 / Minimize Legal Capital --- p.21 / Location and Ownership --- p.22 / Supervision --- p.22 / Prudential Ratios --- p.23 / Participation in the Interbank Market --- p.23 / The Role of TICs in the Economic Reform --- p.24 / Some Important TICs and ITICs --- p.26 / National Level TICs --- p.27 / Provincial Level TICs --- p.29 / Chapter IV. --- THE GITIC INCIDENT --- p.32 / Chapter V. --- IMPACT AND IMPLICATION OF THE GITIC INCIDENT --- p.36 / Possible Problems Lead to the Failure --- p.36 / The Dilemma --- p.40 / Collapse of Confidence --- p.41 / Burden on State Banks --- p.41 / Implications of GITIC Case --- p.42 / Chapter VI. --- RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION --- p.46 / Limitations --- p.46 / Recommendations --- p.47 / Conclusion --- p.49 / APPENDIX --- p.50 / Table 1.1 - The Structure of Chinese Financial System (by 1995) --- p.50 / Table 1.2 - Chronology of Economic Reform --- p.52 / Table 1.3 - Chronology of Financial Sector Reform --- p.53 / Table 1.4 - Permitted Business Activities and Managerial Requirements for TICs --- p.54 / Table 1.5 - Prudential Ratios for TICs in China (1994) --- p.56 / Table 1.6 - A Summary of GITIC's Business by 1997 --- p.57 / Figure 1.1 - Composition of Deposits by TICs (1986-1996) --- p.58 / Figure 1.2 - The Supervision of TICs by PBOC --- p.59 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.60

Este estudo de caráter exploratório teve como objetivo a identificação, análise e discussão de teorias e práticas de Recursos Humanos que possam oferecer às empresas brasileiras em processo de internacionalização suporte para o tratamento das questões de gênero na gestão de processos de expatriação. Este estudo originou-se da motivação em se obter uma melhor compreensão quanto à influência do gênero nos processos de expatriação, especialmente em função da constatação de que a participação de mulheres em expatriações ainda é muito menor do que a dos homens, e em função da relevância que a gestão de expatriações passou a ter diante do desafio de internacionalização que empresas brasileiras vêm enfrentando recentemente, o que as caracteriza como entrantes tardios no cenário competitivo global. No desenvolvimento do referencial teórico observou-se que a investigação da influência do gênero nos processos de expatriação representa uma parte menor dos estudos internacionais realizados a respeito dos processos de expatriação, e no âmbito nacional, não foram encontrados estudos específicos sobre a relação entre expatriação e gênero. Considerando tais descobertas iniciais, optou-se então pela realização de duas etapas de pesquisa. Na primeira etapa foi realizado um levantamento bibliográfico das principais pesquisas acadêmicas internacionais que relacionam gênero e processos de expatriação, além da análise de uma pesquisa brasileira sobre percepção de expatriados cujos dados puderam ser tratados a partir de um recorte de gênero. Na segunda etapa foi desenvolvida uma pesquisa empírica através da realização de um estudo de caso na Vale, uma empresa brasileira cujo recente processo de internacionalização a caracteriza como entrante tardia. Para tanto, foram realizadas quinze entrevistas semiestruturadas com profissionais de RH e com expatriados e repatriados brasileiros, homens e mulheres, todos relacionados ao projeto da empresa em Moçambique, além da realização de análises documentais. Os resultados das duas etapas da pesquisa foram submetidos à análise de conteúdo, categorizados e comparados. Os resultados encontrados na análise das pesquisas acadêmicas evidenciaram a inexistência de práticas de RH que suportassem adequadamente os processos de expatriação nas suas diferentes etapas, e que oferecessem suporte específico para os casos de expatriações de mulheres; a principal dificuldade parece encontrar-se na participação da mulher na etapa inicial do processo de expatriação, ou seja, na etapa de seleção. Em contrapartida, o desenvolvimento do estudo de caso na Vale contribuiu para a identificação de processos, políticas e práticas de RH destinadas à gestão das expatriações, porém sem a indicação de tratamento específico para os casos de expatriações de mulheres. Considerando-se as limitações decorrentes da realização de uma pesquisa qualitativa, sobretudo quanto ao método do estudo de caso, e quanto à utilização da técnica de entrevista, pode-se concluir que este foi um estudo inicial a respeito da relação entre gênero e expatriação. Os resultados contribuíram tanto para a indicação da necessidade do desenvolvimento, no âmbito nacional, de maiores estudos sobre o tema, como para o caso de empresas brasileiras que estão se internacionalizando, com a ilustração de políticas e práticas de RH destinadas a tratar estruturadamente os processos de expatriação em suas diferentes fases. / This exploratory research aimed the identification, analysis and discussion of theories and practices of Human Resources that can offer, to the Brazilian companies which are driving their internationalization processes, support for the treatment of gender issues in the management of expatriation processes. This study was originated from the motivation to understand the gender influence in the expatriation process, especially due the fact that womens participation in expatriations is significantly smaller than the mens participation, and also due to the expatriation managements relevance to the recent internationalization of Brazilian companies, which characterizes them as late movers in the global competitive scenario. During the theoretical referential development it was noted that the investigation of gender influence in the expatriation processes consists in a minor part of the international studies regarded to the expatriation processes and, at a national sphere, were not found specific studies about the relation between gender and expatriations. Whereas these initial discoveries, the decision was for the development of a two stages research. The first stage consisted of a literature review of the key international academic researches related to gender and expatriations, as well as the analysis of a Brazilian research about expatriates perceptions whose data could be reorganized from a gender perspective. In the second stage was developed an empirical research through a case study in Vale, a global late mover Brazilian company. Thus, fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with HR professionals and with Brazilian expatriates and repatriates, women and men, all related to the companys project in Mozambique, in addition to the realization of documents analysis. The results of these two research stages were subjected to content analysis, and were categorized and compared. The results of literature review stage showed the absence of HR practices to support adequately the expatriation processes in its different phases, and also to provide specific support for womens expatriations; the main difficulty seems to be the participation of women in the expatriation process initial phase the selection phase. In contrast, the case study development in Vale contributed to the identification of HR processes, policies and practices related to the expatriations management, however with no indications about the need for womens expatriations specific treatments. Considering the limitations deriving from qualitative researches, particularly regarding to the case study method, and also to the use of interviews, this study was an initial one about the relationship between gender and expatriations. The results contributed to indicate the need for development, at a national sphere, of broader studies about this subject, and also contributed, in the case of Brazilian companies internationalization processes, with illustration of HR policies and practices to manage, in a structured way, expatriation processes in its different phases.

Lui, Kai Yin. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-55). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Chinese Version --- p.ii / Acknowledgments --- p.iii / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.6 / Chapter 3 --- Research Hypothesis --- p.8 / Chapter 3.1 --- Institutional Setting --- p.8 / Chapter 3.2 --- The Monitoring Effectiveness of Independent Directors --- p.11 / Chapter 4 --- Methodology --- p.15 / Chapter 4.1 --- Negative Opinion Issuances --- p.15 / Chapter 4.2 --- The Personal Characteristics of Independent Directors --- p.17 / Chapter 4.3 --- Control Grouping Methods --- p.21 / Chapter 4.4 --- Board Structure --- p.23 / Chapter 4.5 --- Control Variables --- p.24 / Chapter 4.6 --- Regional Governance --- p.25 / Chapter 4.7 --- ST Companies --- p.27 / Chapter 5 --- Data --- p.29 / Chapter 5.1 --- Negative Opinion Issuance --- p.29 / Chapter 5.2 --- The Personal Characteristics of Independent Directors --- p.30 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Treatment Group --- p.31 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Control Group --- p.32 / Chapter 5.3 --- Board Structure --- p.32 / Chapter 5.4 --- Control Variables --- p.33 / Chapter 5.5 --- Regional Governance --- p.34 / Chapter 5.6 --- ST Companies --- p.34 / Chapter 6 --- Empirical Results --- p.36 / Chapter 6.1 --- Testing Means of Two Samples --- p.36 / Chapter 6.2 --- Event Study --- p.37 / Chapter 6.3 --- Logistic Regressions --- p.38 / Chapter 6.3.1 --- The Personal Characteristics of Independent Directors --- p.39 / Chapter 6.3.2 --- Board Structure --- p.40 / Chapter 6.3.3 --- Regional Governance --- p.42 / Chapter 6.3.4 --- Pull Set of Variables --- p.43 / Chapter 6.4 --- Checking Robustness of Results by Using ST Companies --- p.46 / Chapter 7 --- Summary and Conclusion --- p.47 / References --- p.49 / Appendix --- p.56 / "Table 1: Negative Opinion Issuance, Descriptive Statistics" --- p.56 / "Table 2: Negative Opinion Issuance, by Categories" --- p.56 / Table 3: Sample Companies Location Distribution --- p.57 / "Table 4: Personal Characteristics, Descriptive Statistics I" --- p.58 / "Table 5: Personal Characteristics, Descriptive Statistics II" --- p.59 / Table 6: Board Structure and Control Variables: Descriptive Statistics --- p.60 / Table 7: Regional Governance Indices --- p.61 / "Table 8: ST companies, Descriptive Statistics" --- p.62 / Table 9: Negative Opinion Issuance and Company Status Changes --- p.62 / "Table 10: The Level of Negative Opinion Issuance, the Respective Com- panies and Independent Directors Involved" --- p.62 / "Table 11: Personal Characteristics (ST Companies), Descriptive Statistics I" --- p.63 / "Table 12: Personal Characteristics (ST Companies), Descriptive Statistics II" --- p.64 / "Table 13: Board Structure and Control Variables (ST Companies), De- scriptive Statistics" --- p.64 / "Table 14: Mean-Comparison t-test Between Control and Treatment Groups, Personal Characteristics and Board Structure" --- p.65 / "Table 15: Event Study, by Different Event Windows" --- p.66 / "Table 16: Event Study, by Different Categories of Negative Opinions" --- p.66 / Table 17: Logistic Regression - Treatment Group Only (n = 144) --- p.67 / Table 18: Conditional Logistic Regression - Treatment Group and Control Group Paired Together According to Companies (n = 273). Personal Characteristics Variables Only --- p.68 / Table 19: Conditional Logistic Regression - Treatment Group and Control Group Paired Together According to Companies (n = 273). Board Structure and Control Variables Only --- p.69 / Table 20: Conditional Logistic Regression - Treatment Group and Control Group Paired Together According to Companies (n = 273). Regional Governance Only --- p.69 / Table 21: Conditional Logistic Regression - Treatment Group and Control Group Paired Together According to Companies (n = 273). All Variables --- p.70 / Table 22: Conditional Logistic Regression - Treatment Group and Control Group Paired Together According to Companies (n = 273). All Variables --- p.71 / Table 23: Ordered Logistic Regression - ST companies (n = 352) --- p.72

<p><strong>Syfte:</strong> Syftet med denna undersökning är att genom kvalitativa intervjuer skapa en ökad förståelse för, och belysa skillnader och likheter inom, ledarskap i tjänste- och tillverkningsföretag. Syftet är också att fastställa om eventuella skillnader beror på verksamhetens inriktning eller om det finns andra skäl till skillnaderna.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Metod: </strong>I min studie har jag använt mig av det kvalitativa angreppssättet, det har jag gjort eftersom jag försöker att sätta mig in i hur olika ledare tänker och agerar i olika situationer, jag försöker även komma underfund med vilken ledarskapsstil de använder sig av. Jag har utfört sex intervjuer av semistandardiserad karaktär, intervjuerna har genomförts på plats hos respektive respondent. Utfallet av dessa intervjuer redovisas i empiriavsnittet och kopplas sedan samman med teorier i analysavsnittet. Resultatet av min undersökning redovisas slutligen i avsnittet slutsats.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Resultat & slutsats: </strong>Min slutsats är att jag inte kan hitta några betydande skillnader på ledarskapets inriktning och ledarens ledarskapsstil som beror på om ledarens företag är ett tjänsteföretag eller ett tillverkande företag. Däremot kan jag hitta flera likheter där den största är att samtliga ledare som jag intervjuat i denna uppsats har en i grunden demokratisk ledarskapsstil. Sett ur ett större perspektiv tycker jag att ledarskap och ledarskapsstil inom de två olika verksamhetstyperna tjänste- och tillverkningsföretag utgår från samma grunder.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Förslag till fortsatt forskning:</strong> Att studera den demokratiska ledarskapsstilen på djupet för att försöka hitta olika nyanser och inriktningar av demokratiskt ledarskap skulle vara intressant. Att kvantitativt studera vilken ledarskapsstil ledare inom tjänsteföretag jämfört med tillverkningsföretag har, för att statistiskt bevisa vilka ledarskapsstilar som används skulle också vara intressant. Eller att jämföra unga oerfarna ledare med äldre erfarna ledare. Ett ytterligare förslag till fortsatt forskning är att jämföra kvinnliga ledare med manliga.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Uppsatsens bidrag: </strong>Denna uppsats har bidragit med att ge en ökad förståelse för hur ledarskap och ledarskapsstilar ser ut hos olika ledare, på olika position, i olika typer av företag. Uppsatsen tydliggör också skillnader och likheter mellan ledare i tjänsteföretag och tillverkningsföretag.</p> / <p><strong>Aim:</strong> The aim of this study is that through qualitative interviews provide a greater understanding, and highlight the differences and similarities within, leadership in service and manufacturing companies. It also aims to establish whether any differences due to the focus of activity or if there are other reasons for the differences.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Method:</strong> In my study I have used the qualitative approach; I've done because I try to put me into how various leaders think and act in different situations, I am also trying to figure out what leadership style they use. I've done six interviews of semi-standard nature; the interviews have been conducted on the premises of each respondent. The outcome of these interviews are reported in the empirical section and then connected to the theories in the analysis section. The results of my study will be presented finally in the section conclusions.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Result & Conclusions: </strong>My conclusion is that I cannot find any significant differences in leadership orientation and leader's leadership style that depends on whether the leader's business is a service or manufacturing company. However, I can find many similarities with the biggest being that all the leaders whom I interviewed in this essay have a fundamentally democratic leadership style. From a larger perspective, I think that leadership and management style within the two different types of business, Service Company and Manufacturing Company is based on the same grounds.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Suggestions for future research: </strong>To study the democratic leadership style deeper and try to find different nuances and approaches of the democratic leadership would be interesting. To quantitatively examine the leadership style of leaders in service compared to manufacturing companies, in order to statistically prove the leadership styles used would also be interesting. Or to compare young inexperienced leader with more experienced leaders. A further proposal for continued research is to compare female to male leaders.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Contribution of the thesis: </strong>This paper has contributed to a better understanding of how leadership and leadership styles, looks at different leaders, different positions, in different types of businesses. The essay also makes clear the differences and similarities between leaders in service and manufacturing companies.</p>

Bakgrund: Varje år utses, av Dagens Industri, cirka 1000 företag till gasellföretag vilket motsvarar färre än 0,5 % av alla svenska aktiebolag.  Dessa företag uppfyller vissa kriterier där tillväxt är den viktigaste. Gasellföretagens tillväxt är viktig för Sverige då de både bidrar ekonomiskt och står för många nya arbetstillfällen. Dock är det få företag i Sverige som har kunskapen att växa. För att ett företag ska kunna uppnå tillväxt ligger det i grunden en tillväxtstrategi som måste implementeras inom organisationen på bästa sätt. Vilka tillväxtstrategier använder gasellföretag och hur implementerar de dem? Syfte: Beskriva gasellföretagens utformning och implementering av strategier samt förklara deras tillväxt genom att identifiera tillväxtfaktorer. Genomförande: Studien är av kvalitativ art och baserad på intervjuer med fyra fallföretag. Slutsats: Vi har utifrån vår fallstudie identifierat vilka tillväxtstrategier och ekonomiska styrsystem som gasellföretag använder. Vi har även identifierat och sammanställt sju faktorer, varav sex interna och den sjunde är den externa situationen företaget befinner sig i. Tillsammans är faktorerna av högsta vikt för ett företags tillväxt. Slutsatsen presenteras i en modell framtagen av oss. / Background: Every year an average of 1000 companies, which stands for less than 0,5 % of all Swedish incorporated companies, are appointed the Gazelle reward from Dagens Industri. These companies live up to certain criteria’s where growth is the most important one and they are of great importance to Sweden since they contribute both economically and work opportunity wise. There are few businesses that possess the competence to grow. To be able to reach positive growth a company needs a strategy, which is implemented throughout the organization in a good manner. What strategies do gazelle companies use and how do they implement them? Purpose: Describe gazelle companies’ strategies and the implementation of those. Also explain their growth by identifying growth factors. Completion: This a qualitative case study based upon interviews with fourcompanies. Results: We have from our case study identified what growth strategies and management control systems gazelle companies’ use. We have also identified seven factors, of which six are internal and the seventh represent the external situation the company experiences. Together they are of great importance for a company’s growth. The results are presented in a model developed by us.

The current economic-financial conditions in Italy are characterized by the financial crisis, decrease in demand, increase in taxation and banking credit restriction. Moreover, this aspects add up to structural problems of the Italian economy, like low level of labor productivity and high public debt. Italian industry is formed mainly by micro and small companies, that are suffering particularly this situation. This research wants to identify successful strategies for micro and small Italian companies to face actual difficulties and compete in these dynamics. To do that, the method chosen is the multiple-case and the qualitative research with semi-structured interviews to key respondents and strategic decision makers of three micro and small Italian companies. Starting from the literature review on strategic subjects, this paper wants to contribute to investigate a range of successful strategies that Italian micro-small companies could adopt to overcome current problems. The findings of this research are that part of the strategic process should be internal to companies, adopting a right size and boundaries, a good corporate culture, a rigorous financial management and a deep innovation’s process, both for process and products. Then, the more successful competitive strategy for Italian small company seems to be a hybrid strategy, mostly balanced on differentiation. Finally, a partial diversification by developing new products or/and new markets is a good strategy to diversify the high risk of the current situation and create new possibilities of success.

Syfte: Syftet med denna undersökning är att genom kvalitativa intervjuer skapa en ökad förståelse för, och belysa skillnader och likheter inom, ledarskap i tjänste- och tillverkningsföretag. Syftet är också att fastställa om eventuella skillnader beror på verksamhetens inriktning eller om det finns andra skäl till skillnaderna.   Metod: I min studie har jag använt mig av det kvalitativa angreppssättet, det har jag gjort eftersom jag försöker att sätta mig in i hur olika ledare tänker och agerar i olika situationer, jag försöker även komma underfund med vilken ledarskapsstil de använder sig av. Jag har utfört sex intervjuer av semistandardiserad karaktär, intervjuerna har genomförts på plats hos respektive respondent. Utfallet av dessa intervjuer redovisas i empiriavsnittet och kopplas sedan samman med teorier i analysavsnittet. Resultatet av min undersökning redovisas slutligen i avsnittet slutsats.   Resultat &amp; slutsats: Min slutsats är att jag inte kan hitta några betydande skillnader på ledarskapets inriktning och ledarens ledarskapsstil som beror på om ledarens företag är ett tjänsteföretag eller ett tillverkande företag. Däremot kan jag hitta flera likheter där den största är att samtliga ledare som jag intervjuat i denna uppsats har en i grunden demokratisk ledarskapsstil. Sett ur ett större perspektiv tycker jag att ledarskap och ledarskapsstil inom de två olika verksamhetstyperna tjänste- och tillverkningsföretag utgår från samma grunder.   Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Att studera den demokratiska ledarskapsstilen på djupet för att försöka hitta olika nyanser och inriktningar av demokratiskt ledarskap skulle vara intressant. Att kvantitativt studera vilken ledarskapsstil ledare inom tjänsteföretag jämfört med tillverkningsföretag har, för att statistiskt bevisa vilka ledarskapsstilar som används skulle också vara intressant. Eller att jämföra unga oerfarna ledare med äldre erfarna ledare. Ett ytterligare förslag till fortsatt forskning är att jämföra kvinnliga ledare med manliga.   Uppsatsens bidrag: Denna uppsats har bidragit med att ge en ökad förståelse för hur ledarskap och ledarskapsstilar ser ut hos olika ledare, på olika position, i olika typer av företag. Uppsatsen tydliggör också skillnader och likheter mellan ledare i tjänsteföretag och tillverkningsföretag. / Aim: The aim of this study is that through qualitative interviews provide a greater understanding, and highlight the differences and similarities within, leadership in service and manufacturing companies. It also aims to establish whether any differences due to the focus of activity or if there are other reasons for the differences.   Method: In my study I have used the qualitative approach; I've done because I try to put me into how various leaders think and act in different situations, I am also trying to figure out what leadership style they use. I've done six interviews of semi-standard nature; the interviews have been conducted on the premises of each respondent. The outcome of these interviews are reported in the empirical section and then connected to the theories in the analysis section. The results of my study will be presented finally in the section conclusions.   Result &amp; Conclusions: My conclusion is that I cannot find any significant differences in leadership orientation and leader's leadership style that depends on whether the leader's business is a service or manufacturing company. However, I can find many similarities with the biggest being that all the leaders whom I interviewed in this essay have a fundamentally democratic leadership style. From a larger perspective, I think that leadership and management style within the two different types of business, Service Company and Manufacturing Company is based on the same grounds.   Suggestions for future research: To study the democratic leadership style deeper and try to find different nuances and approaches of the democratic leadership would be interesting. To quantitatively examine the leadership style of leaders in service compared to manufacturing companies, in order to statistically prove the leadership styles used would also be interesting. Or to compare young inexperienced leader with more experienced leaders. A further proposal for continued research is to compare female to male leaders.   Contribution of the thesis: This paper has contributed to a better understanding of how leadership and leadership styles, looks at different leaders, different positions, in different types of businesses. The essay also makes clear the differences and similarities between leaders in service and manufacturing companies.