This paper presents the study of family firm demographic characteristics on the base of 415 Swedish family companies. The main purpose is to investigate if there is a connection between the location of a family company and its size, age and industrial sector. The results of the study showed some distinctions of the family firms located in rural areas. They are usually of smaller size compare to those from more urban areas. The prevailing types of activities of the rural family companies are manufacturing and wholesale whereas the urban family firms dominate in the service sector, especially in the branches demanding high level of education and technology. There was also an attempt made to detect the relationship between the location and the age but there was not found any prove for this relation to exist. Also there was found evidence that most of the Swedish family companies are situated in less urban and rural areas which is in line with the results of previous studies in this area.

Bakgrund: De enskilda privata skogsägarna är en heterogen grupp som har genomgått en förändring under de senaste åren. Olika karaktärsdrag och olika förhållanden till skogen leder till olika värden med ägandet. Studien undersöker skogsägarnas incitament och beslutsfattande genom att studera skogsägarnas socioemotionella värden med hjälp av SEW-teorin. Syfte: Studien förklarar (1) vilka förutsättningar hos skogsägare som leder till socioemotionellt välstånd och (2) hur det socioemotionella välståndet påverkar beslutsfattande.  Metod: Studien baseras på en kvantitativ tvärsnittsdesign för att undersöka studiens syfte. Hypoteserna har utvecklats utifrån SEW-teorin och forskning kring skogsägande. För att testa hypoteserna har en enkätundersökning genomförts i samarbete med Södra Skogsägarna. Slutsats: Studien bevisar att SEW-teorin är en applicerbar teori på skogsägare. Det visar att det socioemotionella välståndet påverkar skogsägarnas incitament och beslutsfattande. Studiens resultat visar även att deras socioemotionella och ekonomiska värden ökar tillsammans. Studien finner vissa indikatorer på faktorer som genererar SEW samt finner flera effekter av SEW på skogsverksamheten. / Background: The private forest owners are a heterogeneous group that has undergone a change under the past years. They have different characteristics and different relationships to their forest, that leads to their values with their ownership. The study examines the incentives and decision-making process through socioemotional values of forest owners using the SEW-theory. Purpose: The study explains (1) the conditions of forest owners that lead to socioemotional wealth and (2) how socioemotional wealth affects decision making. Method: The study is based on a quantitative cross-sectional design to investigate the purpose of the study. The hypotheses have been developed based on SEW-theory and research on forest ownership, a survey was conducted in collaboration with Södra Skogsägarna.   Conclusions: The study proves that SEW-theory is an applicable theory for forest owners. It shows that socioemotional wealth affects the incentive and decision making of forest owners. The results of the study also shows that their socioemotional and economic values increases together. The study find some indication of factors generating SEW and some initial evidence of effects on the forestry orchestrated by SEW.