Abstract   Title: Strategies and tactics to stimulate Social enterprise business expansion-Swedish experience   Level: Final assignment for Master’s Degree in Business Administration   Author: GU Yanhao   Supervisor: Maria Fregidou-Malama   Examiner: Lars Ekstrand   Date: 2013-10-17   Aim: This study aims to identify elements which can affect social enterprise business expansion. Based on study, suggestions for social enterprises to achieve long term development are exhibited.   Method: This research is a qualitative research based on case study. Relay on previous knowledge about social enterprises, I formulate questions which serve my study’s aim. There are three companies be selected in my case company list. Those three companies are divided in two categories: one type is social enterprise consultant company whose mission is to aid regional social enterprise to make health business operation; another type is social enterprise. There are four interview used in the research to ensure that the research result contains different perspectives and opinions.   Result & Conclusions: This study depicts an overall view about social enterprise business expansion. Certain suggestions have been listed relay on the combination of previous literature result with case studies. In the study, various elements have been determined which have significant impacts on social enterprise business expansion operation. They are divided in two segments, internal and external. Internal aspects include human resource and social entrepreneur. External factors include third Part Company, non-profit charity groups and authority. Social enterprise who wants business expansion needs to integrate different resources from various social institutions. Meanwhile to enhance internal product capability as well as competitive advantage social enterprise needs to more emphasize on social entrepreneurs’ characteristics.   Suggestion for further research: Further study should emphasize on various sizes of social enterprises in multi-stakeholders co-operation model. This study mainly focuses on SMEs type of SE, but with the time passing by, due to SE can offer solutions to social crisis and economic crisis, SE will be popular, and this idea will spread quickly. Therefore, more and more large size SE will emerge which needs guide and help with business maintaining and expansion plans.   Contribution of the thesis: This study contributes to three aspects. First, this study analyses the present situation of social enterprise, exhibit internal and external factors which affect social enterprise to make business expansion. It offers social enterprise a path to implement business expansion, and help social enterprise to identify its potential capabilities which could help them achieve long term development. Secondly, during this work, author explains the ideology of social enterprise, what are its contributions to society as well as the reason why it exists. Since the results offer an explicitly structured conclusion, they are valuable information to society as well as local municipality to re-considerate the important role social enterprise can play. Last not the least, this research presents a new model of key elements for social enterprise business expansion. It is critical and crucial for further research in academic study.

Från 1918 och framåt har invandringsströmmen varit större än utvandringen i Sverige. Till följd av att invandringen har överstigit utvandringen de senaste 95 åren är detta en av faktorerna som har bidragit till folkökningen i Sverige. Den stigande folkökningen i Sverige har skapat en mer konkurrenskraftig arbetsmarknad, där efterfrågan av sysselsättning ökar men utbudet är begränsat. En del av de utrikes födda har haft svårighet att hitta sysselsättning under en längre period på grund av målgruppens begränsningar. För lösa denna problematik har flera invandrare startat eget företag. Flertal av invandrarföretagare har olika former av begränsningar exempelvis språkliga, juridiska och formella. De har ett annat karaktärsdrag än etnisk svenskar, därför är invandrarföretagarens preferenser om vilka faktorer som är väsentliga vid val av revisor vara skiljaktig mot en etnisk svensk. Vilket leder till vår forskningsfråga som undersöker vilka faktorer påverkar val av revisor för småföretagare med utländsk bakgrund? Syftet med forskningen är att förstå vilka faktorer som är väsentliga när en småföretagare med utländsk bakgrund väljer sin revisor med tanke på företagarens begränsningar. En hermeneutisk forskningsfilosofi har använts under studien med en abduktiv forskningsansats och en kvalitativ forskningsmetod. Den kvalitativa forskningsmetoden har utförts genom intervjuer, där intervjuerna har utförts med fem respondenter i Region Skåne. Svaren som genererades utifrån intervjuerna analyseras i utgångspunkt med förslagen som har tagits fram i teoretisk referensramen. Slutsatsen indikerar att invandrarföretagares begränsningar påverkar deras val av revisor. I denna studie har vi kunnat påvisa samband mellan olika begränsningar och olika specifika faktorer hos revisorn. Ett samband som kunde påvisas är exempelvis invandrarföretagarens begränsningar i svenska och revisorns förmåga att tala företagarens modersmål. / Since 1918 onwards, the immigration has been greater in Sweden than the emigration. As a result of immigration exceeding the amount of emigration in the past 95 years, it is one of the elements contributing to the increase in population in Sweden. The growing population in Sweden has created a competitive labor market, where demand for work increases but the supply is limited. Finding employment for a longer period has shown to be a difficult for some non-natives because of the restrictions of the target group. To solve this problem, many immigrants choose to start their own company. Many immigrant entrepreneurs have different restrictions, for instance; linguistic, legal, and formal. They posses contrasting characteristics from ethnic Swedes, hence having contrasting preferences from ethnic Swedes about which factors are essential when choosing auditors. Accordingly, it leads to our research question which examines what factors affect the choice of auditor for small business owners with a foreign background? The aim of this research is to understand the essential factors for small business owners with a foreign background, considering their restrictions, when choosing an auditor. A hermeneutic research philosophy with an abductive research approach and a qualitative research method has been used in this study. The qualitative research method has been carried out through interviews, where the interviews were conducted with five respondents in Region Skåne. The answers from the interviews are analyzed based on the propositions that were developed in the theoretical framework. The conclusion indicates that the restrictions of immigrant entrepreneurs affect their choice of auditor. In this study we have been able to demonstrate a correlation between different restrictions and different specific factors of the auditor. A correlation that could be demonstrated is for example the immigrant entrepreneur’s restrictions in the Swedish language and the auditor’s ability to speak the business owner’s mother tongue.

This article reports on the results of the identification of potential business opportunities for Non Governmental Organizations as an extra income to face the present funding challenge. Few research studies have been done on business opportunities as sources of income for NGO's. The aim of this study was to explore potential business opportunities as sources of income and it focused on the research of different possibilities. In this exploratory research study a qualitative approach was followed through interviews with business people and a focusgoup discussion to investigate potential business opportunities. Respondents were selected through purposive sampling techniques, eleven business men and a focusgroup consisting of five business men and six personnel of The Dutch Reformed Ministry or Caring. The eleven business men were recruited from the congregations of the Highveld Sinod. Data were collected through interviews with the business men and the focusgroup interview. Data were analysed according to themes. The following eight potential business opportunities were identified: government contracts, donations, improved marketing, fundraising strategies, buying of a business or shareholding in a business, partnerships, selling of therapeutic services and additional information and proposals. This offers business opportunities for NGO's to use as sources of income to sustain them and ensure that they can continue with their service delivery. The recommendation from the focus group was for more donations, an improved marketing strategy, the requirement or government contracts and selling of therapeutic services as potential opportunities. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Bakgrund:Handeln på externa handelsområden ökar stadigt och har ett fortsatt högt tryck, då ny handelsyta om 2 miljoner kvadratmeter planeras byggas i Sverige. Trots det väljer vissa företagare att ha kvar sina verksamheter i stadskärnorna. Syfte: Syftet är att skapa en djupare förståelse för vad entreprenörerna i Växjö city gör för att attrahera kunder tillbaka till stadskärnan efter att gallerian Grand Samarkand öppnat på en extern handelsplats i Växjö. Metod:  En kvalitativ metod med ett induktivt angreppssätt har använts där empirisk data insamlats genom att låta intervjupersonerna berätta sin berättelse inom det valda ämnet. Slutsats: Entreprenörerna väljer att inte bara stå still och låta motgångarna passera, vilket skulle vara ett steg i negativ riktning. De har flera idéer och tankar på hur de ska attrahera kunder till city. Genom att vara serviceminded och erbjuda kunderna webbhandel, egendesignade smycken, workshops, unika produkter och aktiviteter tillsammans med andra företagare och partners försöker de attrahera kunder till city för shopping. Vidare forskning: Ta reda på kundens aspekt av att handeln flyttar till andra arenor och vad som skulle kunna få dem till att shoppa mer i stadskärnan. / Background: Trading on areas outside town centers is steadily increasing and this area have remained high pressure, new retail space of 2 million square meters are planned to be built in Sweden. But some entrepreneurs choose to keep their businesses in city centers. Purpose: The aim is to create a deeper understanding of what entrepreneurs in Växjö city do to attract customers back to the city center after Grand Samarkand opened on an external trading place in Växjö. Methodology: A qualitative method with an inductive approach has been used where the empirical data was collected by allowing respondents to tell their story in the chosen topic. Conclusion: Entrepreneurs choose to not stand still and let the setbacks pass, which would be a step in a negative direction. They have several ideas and thoughts on how to attract customers to the city center. By being service minded and offering customers e-commerce, selfdesigned jewelry, workshops, unique products and activities with other business owners and partners they try to attract customers to the city for shopping. Further research: The customer aspect of the trade moving to other arenas and what might get them to shop in the city centers.

Due to changes of regulations in the banking sector after the credit crunch, equity crowdfunding has become an alternative funding source in raising capital for small and medium sized enterprises, that face a lack of financial resources or trustworthiness. The aim of this thesis is to identify the determinants of a successful equity crowdfunding project. We base the study on a sample of 398 projects pitched on an equity crowdfunding platform (Crowdcube) between 2011-2016. The analysis of the cross-section dataset is conducted of Logit, Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Negative Binomial regression models. The results show that the more investors participate in the investment, the higher is the success of equity crowdfunding. Moreover, a higher equity participation offered to the investors also has a positive impact on the financing success. However, a prior crowdfunding history of the company does not raise its reliability. Moreover, technology companies are less trusted by the investors and less successful on equity crowdfunding platform. Depending on the model used, start-up companies usually gain a higher success with their pitch, which can be positively influenced by a high social media presence.

How to found an enterprise (legal and economic aspects) Abstract The object of this thesis is the founding of an enterprise from legal and economic viewpoint. Entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic evolved a lot since the Velvet revolution, legislatively and in the way entrepreneurs behave on the market. The Czech Republic joining the European Union had a huge impact on entrepreneurship, thanks to the harmonisation of the internal market and even through new types of companies available. The goal of this thesis is to help new entrepreneurs found an enterprise, to choose the correct legal framework and create a business plan. The focus is on saving financial and time costs. In the first part the legislature concerning enterprise in the Czech Republic is presented focusing on effective laws, despite mentioning the legislature before the civil law recodification from 2014. Enterprise, entrepreneur and companies are described in detail in the second part as the basic terms connected to founding an enterprise. The third part is concerned with the economic aspects of founding an enterprise, out of which the business plan is the most important. As a part of the business plan, basic internal and external analysis of an enterprise and basic financing options are presented. The fourth part comprises of the comparison...

[pt] Esta dissertação trata da passagem da invenção à inovação por meio de um estudo exploratório das percepções de empreendedores tecnológicos de empresas start-up de origem universitária. Tendo em vista as diferenças existentes entre os setores da economia e por ser o setor de bens de capital uma prioridade da política industrial brasileira e um setor difusor de tecnologia, foram abordados empreendedores apenas de empresas start-up desse setor. Os objetivos deste estudo são: coletar e analisar as percepções do empreendedor em relação à passagem da invenção à inovação e analisar o processo decisório de avaliação da oportunidade pelo empreendedor. Através dos relatos dos empreendedores discutem-se os fatores que levam o empreendedor a perseguir a oportunidade identificada, que questões se destacam na passagem da invenção à inovação e, por fim, o aprendizado do empreendedor. Essa análise cruzada permitiu, entre outros pontos, observar o papel dos role models no empreendedorismo tecnológico, a importância das incubadoras, o papel do governo federal em relação ao gap financeiro, o caráter local da inovação e a extensão da transição entre a invenção e a inovação. / [en] This work deals with the transition from invention to innovation through an exploratory study of university-based technological start- up entrepreneurs' perceptions. In light of the differences among economic sectors, and of the fact that the capital goods sector is an industrial policy priority for Brazil and plays a role in technology diffusion, the start up entrepreneurs covered in this study belong to this sector. This dissertation has two objectives: collect and analyze entrepreneurs' perceptions on the passage from invention to innovation and on the opportunity assessment decisionmaking process that makes the entrepreneur to launch a start-up. Making use of interviews with entrepreneurs, this work discusses the factors that make the entrepreneur pursue an opportunity, what issues he considers most relevant in the passage from invention to innovation and, finally, the entrepreneurs' learning curve. This composite analysis, allowed to identify the importance of role models for technological entrepreneurship, the importance of business incubators, the role of federal government in dealing with the financial gap, and the localized nature of innovation and the long time it takes to cross from invention to innovation.

Storytelling is an important skillset for an entrepreneur to possess in order to appeal to funders. Crowdfunding is a relatively new funding mechanism, involving the crowd to fund projects or ideas. The evolution of crowdfunding has created an alternative to traditional means of funding such as bank loans, venture capital and angel investors. This paper examines the effects of storytelling on an entrepreneur’s ability to secure funding at crowdfunding platforms. We argue that stories help leverage funding by conveying a comprehensible story with a clear sequence of events and entrepreneurial identity for the project. Quantitative analysis of 60 Kickstarter crowdfunding campaigns within technology sector reveal that successful crowdfunding campaigns have more comprehensive stories than unsuccessful crowdfunding campaigns. Also, an increase in the comprehensiveness of the stories has a positive influence on the funding success. Findings inform research on storytelling in entrepreneurship and innovation and, research on mobilization of resources from crowds.

A velocidade das transformações econômicas e tecnológicas no ambiente social e no mundo dos negócios exige do empreendedor capacidades cada vez mais adaptativas para que consiga manter a competitividade de seu negócio. O sucesso ou o fracasso empresarial estão condicionados à habilidade deste profissional em superar as adversidades que caracterizam o contexto dos negócios. A diversidade de enfoques teóricos sobre o sucesso traz diferentes perspectivas sobre a sobrevivência das empresas diante da realidade concorrencial do meio empresarial. Por outro lado, no que se refere ao insucesso ou fracasso empresarial, percebe-se uma carência de estudos sobre o assunto. No momento em que se relaciona o comportamento do empreendedor diante desse insucesso, suas características comportamentais, seus estilos de enfrentamento, sua capacidade de superar a adversidade do fracasso, maior ainda é a carência de pesquisas sobre o tema. Essa capacidade de superação evidencia o grau de resiliência do empreendedor diante do insucesso e está relacionada aos estilos de enfrentamento que o empreendedor adota. Em função disso, o presente estudo tem como objetivo analisar o comportamento resiliente e os estilos de enfrentamento dos empreendedores em situações de insucesso empresarial, especificamente em casos de descontinuidade do negócio. Para isso, treze empreendedores que vivenciaram a descontinuidade do seu negócio foram entrevistados. Os relatos permitiram um processo de análise e de comparação entre as características comportamentais dos mesmos antes, durante e depois da descontinuidade do negócio. A partir das transcrições das entrevistas aplicou-se a Escala de Funcionamento Defensivo (EFD) na linha do tempo da pesquisa, antes, durante e depois da descontinuidade do negócio, o que permitiu a caracterização dos comportamentos dos empreendedores em cada momento. Juntamente com a EFD, aplicou-se a técnica de análise de conteúdos para a análise das categorias a priori e não a priori definidas para o estudo. Os resultados da pesquisa permitiram identificar aspectos comportamentais dos empreendedores entrevistados, bem como evidenciar variáveis que influenciaram diretamente na capacidade de superação e no comportamento resiliente do empreendedor diante do fracasso. Antes da descontinuidade do negócio, os estilos de enfrentamento mais utilizados indicam que eles agiram sem pensar e sem planejar, eram onipotentes, acreditavam que poderiam transpor qualquer obstáculo e se achavam melhores que os outros. Durante a descontinuidade do negócio, a ideação suicida e a identificação projetiva foram evidências significativas. Depois da descontinuidade do negócio, o comportamento dos empreendedores caracterizou-se pela utilização de estilos mais adaptativos, como a auto-observação, o humor e a afiliação. Constatou-se que a onipotência voltou a ser significativa nesse momento, o que indica similitude com as características de autoconfinaça e autoestima, características de empreendedor e do comportamento resiliente, respectivamente. Constatou-se, também, que o apoio familiar ou de outras pessoas, como amigos ou colegas de trabalho, representaram um suporte relevante para a superação do insucesso empresarial. Palavras-chave: Administração aspectos psicológicos. Comportamento resiliente. Insucesso empresarial. Empreendedor. / Given the speed of economic and technological changes in both social and business environments, the entrepreneur has been demanded to constantly nurture adaptive abilities to keep his/her business competitive, the entrepreneurial success or failure being a function of this professionals ability to overcome adversities in the business world. Although a wide range of theoretical approaches to success have developed varied perspectives on a company survival in the face of increased competition, a few studies have focused on the entrepreneurial failure. These few studies have not been able to properly investigate the entrepreneurs behavior that precedes failure, his/her behavioral characteristics, his/her coping styles and particularly his/her ability to overcome failure, a measure of the entrepreneurs resilience to failure and coping skills. Against this background, this dissertation aims to analyze entrepreneurs resilient behavior and coping styles in failure situations, more specifically in cases of business discontinuance. Building on interviews with 13 entrepreneurs that have experienced business discontinuance, this study compares and contrasts these entrepreneurs behavioral characteristics before, during and after their experience of business discontinuance. The understanding of the entrepreneurs behavior before, during and after the episodes of business discontinuance draws both on the use of a Defensive Functioning Scale (DFS) to analyze the transcribed interviews and on the content analysis technique to examine both a priori and a posteriori categories determined for this study. The results underpin entrepreneurs behavioral characteristics and point to variables directly influencing their coping styles and resilience to failure. Before business discontinuance, the most common coping styles are those consisting of acting without thinking and planning, being allegedly omnipotent, believing in the ability to overcome any obstacles and despising others. In the course of business discontinuance, the most common coping styles involve suicidal ideation and projective identification. Finally, the most common post-discontinuance coping styles involve the use of more adaptive styles, such as affiliation, auto-observation and humor. In this latter moment, alleged omnipotence is once again present, indicating similitude to characteristics of self-confidence and self-esteem, which are typical of entrepreneurship and resilience respectively. Additionally, family support and aid from friends and workmates reportedly play an important role in the entrepreneurs overcoming of business failure.

Esta tese foi desenvolvida com ênfase na identificação e associação de tipos psicológicos de Jung (1990) e competências empreendedoras reconhecidas nos indivíduos considerados empreendedores em empresas de grande porte dos setores mecânico, metalúrgico e de material elétrico/comunicação em Santa Catarina. A pesquisa foi realizada a partir de uma população de 300 indivíduos identificados com as características de empreendedores corporativos e uma amostra de 126 pesquisados, em 11 empresas dos setores mencionados. O instrumento utilizado para identificação das competências empreendedoras foi desenvolvido a partir de um constructo de abordagens teóricas voltadas aos profissionais de empresas, estudados por Pinchot (1989), Fleury (2000, 2002) e Dutra (2004), integradas aos estudos de empreendedores independentes e corporativos levantados por McClelland (1973), Cooley (1990), Spencer e Spencer (1993) e Dornelas (2003). O instrumento para identificação dos tipos psicológicos foi o questionário de identificação de Tipos Psicológicos Junguianos desenvolvido e consolidado por Casado (1998). Nos resultados, destaca-se a análise dos objetivos e das hipóteses em que há a identificação dos empreendedores corporativos nas empresas pesquisadas a partir das características de inovação, renovação estratégica, criação e geração de novos negócios. Além disso, é possível confirmar um alto grau de significância na associação dos tipos psicológicos predominantes às competências empreendedoras identificadas por colegas de trabalho, respondendo-se, desta forma, a todos os objetivos propostos. / The focus of this dissertation is on the identification and association of psychological types of Jung (1990) and the reorganization of enterprising abilities in individuals, who were considered entrepreneurs in the big industries of the sectors mechanical, metallurgic, and electrical material/communication in Santa Catarina. The research was done on a population of 300 individuals identified with the corporative entrepreneurs characteristics on a sample of 126, in 11 companies of above mentioned sectors. The instrument used was developed based on a constructor of theoretical emphasis on research of professional workers in the companies. The studies included Pinchot (1989), Fleury (2000, 2002), and Dutra (2004), who were integrated to the studies of independent and corporative entrepreneurs raised by McClelland (1973), Cooley (1990), Spencer and Spencer (1993) and Dornelas (2003). The instrument for identification of the psychological types was the questionnaire based on the Junguianos Psychological Types developed and consolidated for Casado (1998). The results were highlighted analysis of the objectives and the hypotheses which had the identification of the corporative entrepreneurs in the searched companies, from the characteristics of innovation, strategical renewal, and creation and generation of new businesses. Moreover, it is possible to confirm one high degree of significance in the association of predominant the psychological types to the enterprising abilities identified by their fellow workers answering this way all the proposed objectives.