Date of final Seminar: June 8th, 2012 Title: Success factors of entrepreneurial small and medium sized enterprises in Gnosjö municipality Authors:    Johan Eriksson and Muyu Li Group Number: 2898 Supervisor: Michaël Le Duc Examiner: Ole Liljefors Research Question: What important factors affect the success of entrepreneurial SMEs in the Gnosjö municipality? Background: With the economic crisis and recession, the world has begun to take notice of SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises). With an unemployment rate of just 1% and about 1500 companies - most of them successful by almost any definition and with a population of 9500, if there is such a thing as an SME region in Sweden, the Gnosjö municipality is it. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze some of the factors that influence the success of companies with a special focus on entrepreneurial SMEs in the Gnosjö municipality. Method: The main method of this study is to use primary data in the form of interviews with local company owners or executives, with the interview questions being based on theories generated from the critical literature review. The authors are able to distinguish successful SMEs with an entrepreneurial focus among companies located in the Gnosjö municipality. By utilizing the method of semi-structured interviews, the authors gathered data from a sample of 20 top performing companies. With the theory generated from literature, the authors analyze the primary data, thus being able to find the answer to the research question. Conclusion: There is a relationship between general company success factors and factors driving success for companies in Gnosjö. However, compared to best-in-class, there is definite room for improvement, with regards to company operations as well as to the external factors that affect companies in Gnosjö. Keywords: Gnosjö, definition of entrepreneur, definition of success, success factors. / <p><strong>Acknowledgements</strong></p><p>The authors would like to thank our kind and dedicated supervisor Michaël Le Duc for his aid and assistance in the process of authoring this thesis.</p><p>The authors would also like to thank not only our thesis group colleagues who have provided us with valuable insights and good advice but also the participating companies in the Gnosjö municipality for their kind contributions to the interviews that form the basis of this thesis.</p><p>Finally, the authors would like to thank our beloved family members for their great support throughout the creation of this thesis.</p><p>Without all of you, this thesis could not have been done.</p><p>Thank you all very much!</p><p>Johan Eriksson and Muyu Li</p><p>June 20, 2012</p>

Many teachers want to help their students develop a growth mindset about their ability to do mathematics. Research has shown, however, that teachers simply do not know how to promote growth mindsets in their classrooms. Existing research suggests that one way teachers can support students' development of a growth mindset is through the written feedback they provide students. This study combines the research done on students' mindsets and written feedback to examine the interaction between student mindset and written feedback by analyzing written feedback provided to students in a College Algebra class and how students used that feedback based on their homework resubmissions and their interviews. This study suggests that students do not use their written feedback relative to their mindset towards learning mathematics, but rather that their definitions of success in a mathematics class drive their interpretation and use of their written feedback. This study also suggests that students' definitions of success in mathematics contribute to their mindsets towards learning mathematics. Findings from this study inform teachers about how students interpret and use written feedback in a mathematics class. Teachers should provide students with opportunities to change their definitions of success in mathematics, which may change their mindset towards learning mathematics.