Small businesses have often been neglected in traditional marketing research as it has primarily focused on large, resource-rich companies. Small entrepreneurial companies are characterized by the fact that the entrepreneur is the main coordinator in the company. This differs from larger companies that usually employ specialists who possess expertise in specific areas. In Sweden, 99.2 percent of all companies are classified as small companies, which means that more research on small companies and how they use entrepreneurial marketing is of high relevance. The purpose of this study is to contribute with knowledge about how small- and upcoming B2C-enterprises use entrepreneurial marketing. The study also aspires to increase the understanding of the entrepreneur's role in their business by answering two research questions:  -  How are small- and upcoming B2C-enterprises using entrepreneurial marketing? -  What role does the entrepreneur possess in small-and upcoming B2C-enterprises?  A qualitative method based on semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs of small- and upcoming B2C-enterprises is approached in this study. The selection was carried out via a targeted selection. The study has a deductive approach based on previous research as well as existing theories and models. The collected material has been analyzed using thematic coding.  The study states that the entrepreneur possesses a vital role as their knowledge, intentions and ambitions regarding marketing reflect the marketing pursued by the company. Entrepreneurs in small-and upcoming B2C-enterprises advantageously use organic marketing where the entrepreneur often incorporates customers to a greater extent than as a mere paying actor. The study also establishes that small-and upcoming B2C-enterprises that operate in static markets, and that intend to expand, will benefit from more elaborated marketing strategies. / Småföretag har ofta försummats i den traditionella marknadsföringsforskningen då det främst har fokuserats på stora företag som besitter mycket resurser. Små entreprenöriella företag kännetecknas av att entreprenören är huvudaktören i företaget. Detta skiljer sig från större företag som oftast har anställda specialister som besitter expertiskunskap gällande konkreta områden. I Sverige klassas 99,2 procent av alla företag som ett litet företag, vilket innebär att mer forskning på just småföretagen och hur de tillämpar entreprenöriell marknadsföring är av hög relevans. Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med kunskap om hur små- och nya B2C-företag tillämpar entreprenöriell marknadsföring samt öka förståelse för entreprenörens roll genom att besvara två forskningsfrågor:  -  Hur använder små- och nya B2C-företag entreprenöriell marknadsföring? -  Vilken roll har entreprenören i små- och nya B2C-företag?  Det metodologiska tillvägagångssättet för studien är en kvalitativ metod baserad på semistrukturerade intervjuer med entreprenörer av små- och nya B2C-företag. Urvalet genomfördes via ett målstyrt urval. Studien har en deduktiv ansats med utgångspunkt från tidigare forskning samt befintliga teorier och modeller. Det insamlade materialet har analyserats med hjälp av tematisk kodning.  Studien konstaterar att entreprenören besitter en vital roll då deras kunskap, intentioner och ambitioner angående marknadsföring återspeglar företagets marknadsföring. Entreprenörer i små- och nya B2C-företag använder fördelaktigen organisk marknadsföring där ett stort ligger på att inkorporera kunder i en högre utsträckning än som enbart en betalande aktör. Studien fastställer även att små- och nya B2C-företag som är verksamma på statiska marknader, och som avser att expandera, kommer gynnas av en mer strukturerad marknadsföring.

This research is an exploration of the extent to which formal vocational education in the domestic trades (catering and dressmaking) for women in Ghana leads to sustainable self-employment in the urban informal sector (UIS) in Accra. The research adopts a qualitative methodological approach using interpretive analysis to gain an in-depth understanding of the primary data collected. A case study approach is adopted to articulate emerging themes in a manner that is comprehensive and intelligible. Two conceptual frameworks are employed: firstly, the research builds on the work of McCauley et al (1995), to ascertain the developmental dimensions of VE catering job roles that provide graduates with the capabilities and opportunities needed for sustainable self-employment. Secondly, the concept of Gender Role Socialization is drawn on to ascertain the gender-specific factors that influence women’s engagement in VE and constrain women’s MSE growth. The research identified three key factors which affect VE graduates gaining employment and prospects for sustainable self-employment. They are: 1) The VE programme pursued and the presence or absence of a transformative environment of skill utilization. 2) The attainment of post-graduation specialist training or advanced certification which provide VE graduates with enhanced prospects for employment. 3) Post-graduation quality workplace development experience (QWDE). Gender-specific factors include traditional Ghanaian expectations of “womanhood”, and the streaming of women towards occupational paths that maintain their gendered role obligations within the household and family. These include ‘domestic provisioning’; male prerogative as principal decision-maker in the household; weak inheritance rights and access to property.

Essay I: This essay provides an overview of the history of the Swedish pension system. Starting with the implementation of the public pension system in 1913, it outlines the key components of each major pension reform up until today along with a discussion of the main trade-offs and concerns that policy makers have faced. It also describes the historical background of the four largest occupational pension plans in Sweden and the mutual influence between these plans and the public pension system.        Essay II: Despite the fact that the increasing involvement of the private sector in pension provision has brought more flexibility to the pay-out phase of retirement, little is known about the characteristics of those who choose to annuitize their pension wealth and those who do not. I combine unique micro-data from a large Swedish occupational pension plan with rich national administrative data to study the choice between life annuities and fixed-term payouts with a minimum payout length of 5 years for 183,000 retiring white-collar workers. I find that low accumulation of assets is strongly associated with the choice of the 5-year payout. Consistent with individuals selecting payout length based on private information about their mortality prospects, individuals who choose the 5-year payout are in worse health, exhibit higher ex-post mortality rates and have shorter-lived parents than annuitants. Individuals also seem to respond to large, tax-induced changes in annuity prices.            Essay III: This essay estimates the causal effect of postponing retirement on a wide range of health outcomes using Swedish administrative data on cause-specific mortality, hospitalizations and drug prescriptions. Exogenous variation in retirement timing comes from a reform which raised the age at which broad categories of Swedish local government workers were entitled to retire with full pension benefits from 63 to 65. The reform caused a remarkable shift in the retirement distribution of the affected workers, increasing the actual retirement age by more than 4.5 months. Instrumental variable estimation results show no effect of postponing retirement on the overall consumption of health care, nor on the risk of dying early. There is evidence, however, of a reduction in diabetes-related hospitalizations and in the consumption of drugs that treat anxiety. Essay IV (with Per Engström): The consumption based method to estimate underreporting among self-employed, introduced by Pissarides and Weber (1989), is one of the workhorses in the empirical literature on tax evasion/avoidance. We show that failure to account for transitory income fluctuations in current income may overestimate the degree of underreporting by around 40 percent. Previous studies typically use instrumental variable methods to address the issue. In contrast, our access to registry based longitudinal income measures allows a direct approach based on more permanent income measures. This also allows us to evaluate the performance of a list of instruments widely used in the previous literature. Our analysis shows that capital income is the most suitable instrument in our application, while education and housing related measures do not seem to satisfy the exclusion restrictions.

This thesis consists of five essays on the economic outcomes of immigrants and homosexuals on the labour and housing market. Essay I evaluates the effect of an in-work benefit on the labour supply of single immigrant women by means of simulation. Although, on average, there is no significant effect, we find that the in-work benefit increases the working hours of single women with low incomes and slightly decreases the working hours of those with high incomes. The increase in working hours is primarily a result of increased participation. As expected, the positive effect is largest for the immigrant groups with the lowest participation rates and lowest labour incomes. Essay II studies intergenerational transmissions in self-employment. The results show that immigrants transfer general human capital over three generations in the sense that individuals whose fathers and grandfathers are self-employed have a higher self-employment propensity. For natives, only the father’s self-employment affects the son’s probability of becoming self-employed. Furthermore, the results show that natives transfer specific human capital from father to son, which increases the probability of sons becoming self-employed in the industry in which their fathers are self-employed. Essay III explores the effect of self-employment experience on subsequent earnings and the employment of male and female immigrant wage earners. We find that, relative to continued wage employment, self-employment is associated with lower earnings and difficulties in returning to paid employment for both immigrant men and women. The effect is less severe for natives. Among immigrant groups, the results give little support that self-employment experience improves earnings and employment prospects compared to experience from wage employment.  Essay IV applies a field experiment to investigate how increasing the information about applicants affects discrimination against male Arab/Muslim applicants on the rental housing market. The Arab/Muslim applicants received fewer responses from the landlords than did the Swedish applicants. All of the applicants gained by providing more information about themselves, but the magnitude of discrimination against the Arab/Muslim applicants remained unchanged, indicating that increasing the amount of applicant information will not reduce discrimination. Essay V studies possible discrimination against lesbians in the rental housing market using a field experiment. We let two fictitious couples, one heterosexual and one homosexual, apply for vacant apartments on the Internet. We then explored if there were differences in callbacks, invitations to further contact and/or showings. The results show no indication of differential treatment of lesbians by landlords.

The thesis consists of three empirical essays on the topics of self-employment, happiness and international trade. Essay 1 studies how immigrant self-employment entry is affected by the local business cycle in Sweden. Using the unemployment rate at the local labour market level as a proxy for the local business cycle, our study shows that the self-employment entry behaviour for native men and immigrant men is negatively affected by the unemployment rate, except for immigrants from Middle East. However, such a negative effect is quantitatively weaker among the non-European immigrants. Further, the result shows that immigrants from the Middle East are positively affected by the unemployment rate, meaning they are more likely to be pushed into self-employment in recessions. For women, we also find the unemployment rate has a negative impact on the self-employment decision of native women and immigrant women, except for the Middle East group. However, compared with men, the quantitative size of the unemployment rate effect on self-employment is smaller among women, implying the less important role of business cycle in determining females’ entry into self-employment. Essay 2 investigates the non-pecuniary return of self-employment in China. The results show that the life satisfaction of self-employed men is significantly higher than that of wage-employed men; the life satisfaction of self-employed women is not statistically significant different from that of wage-employed women. Moreover, we show that the life satisfaction of self-employed men in the informal sector is significantly higher than that of wage-employed men in the formal sector. The life satisfaction of wage-employed men in the informal sector is not significantly different from that of wage-employed men in the formal sector. For women, we find that there is no significant life satisfaction disparity between workers in the formal and informal sector. Finally, our job satisfaction data also concludes that self-employment in China is not inferior to wage employment. Essay 3 evaluates how Swedish manufacturing employment is affected by the increasing import competition from China. The results show that the growth of manufacturing employment is not statistically significant affected by the increasing import competition from China. Moreover, in general, the increasing import exposure from China does not significantly affect the employment growth of non-manufacturing sector either. Regarding the earnings, the analysis shows that the low wage earners in the manufacturing sector is not significantly affected by the increasing import penetration from China while median and high wage earners are positively affected.

Mit der Arbeit wird der Versuch unternommen, den Zusammenhängen von Biographie- und individuellen Lernprozessen nachzugehen. Dies erfolgt am Beispiel von acht ostdeutschen ExistenzgründerInnen, die sich nach der Wende in den neuen Bundesländern im Lebensmitteleinzelhandel selbständig gemacht haben. Hierbei interessiert die Frage, inwieweit Erfahrungen den Lernprozeß behindert oder gefördert haben. Die Ergebnisse der Arbeit bestätigen die hohe Relevanz von Erfahrungen, Handlungsmustern und Verhaltensweisen und weisen auf die Bedeutung emotionaler Faktoren im Lernprozeß hin, die den Lernprozeß sowohl behindert, als auch gefördert haben. Die Autorin zieht hieraus den Schluß, daß individuelle Lernprozesse durch Lernberater zu begleiten und durch den Aufbau von Netzwerken zu unterstützen seien. Voraussetzung hierfür ist eine neue Lernkultur, die an den Biographie- und Kompetenzressourcen der Lerner ansetzt und dem Lehrenden eine beratende und moderierende Rolle im Lernprozeß zuweist. Wesentliche Grundlage sind kooperative und reflexive Kompetenzen und die Fähigkeit, eine vertrauensvolle Atmosphäre zu schaffen, in der sich beide Seiten öffnen können. / This paper attempts to look into the interrelationships between biographical and individual learning processes. The work is based on the example of eight female persons who, following German reunification, became self-employed within the food retail trade in the former East German states. The question of interest here is, in how far past experiences have promoted or impeded the learning process. The results of this work confirm the high relevance of experiences, action patterns and behaviour, and point out the significance of emotional factors within the learning process, through which this process was both impeded as well as promoted. The author comes to the conclusion that individual learning processes should be accompanied by educational consultants and supported through the establishment of networks. A pre-requirement for this is a new learning culture that starts out with the biographical and competence resources of the learning person and assigns to the teaching person a counselling and presenting role within the process of learning. The essential fundamentals are co-operative and reflexive competencies and the ability to create a trusting atmosphere within which both sides can open themselves up.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:32:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriana Agnes Magalhaes Rodrigues.pdf: 956857 bytes, checksum: 3f7beae0c5e2a084d18d81912001ff61 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-11-10 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The present work consists in a qualitative study on common brazilian workers that, taken by the unemployment circumstances produced by productive restructuration, turned themselves into owners of small family businesses that generate income. It also can be described as a study on how different people build their daily survival, constituting themselves. It is a study which intends to clarify the way these people live and survive, mostly of them ruled by the state of poverty. From a discussion on the knowledge, the present study aimed at identifying the meanings of self-employment in small family businesses that generate income, found in the narratives of the study participants and in the field-theme. By field-theme, comprehending everything that refers to a subject, a debate without limits or boundaries. In this field emerged themes like: self-employment, microcredit, entrepreneurship, family businesses and popular economy, which together built a fruitful field of discussion and construction of knowledge. Oral history was used to include in the debate the knowledge and life experience of the five interviewees, whose narratives were submitted to the method of discourse analysis. The problems that conducted the study concern the possibility of an ecology of knowledge on the understanding of the meanings of family self-employment, analyzing ideological processes presents in the field and possibilities of emancipation. By ecology of knowledge, comprehending a system of knowledge from different origins, not just scientific, which coexist on the construction of a different society, its a term used by Boaventura de Souza Santos. The identification of the meanings of family self-employment by the voices of those present in the field allowed questioning the general notion linked to entrepreneurship. Concluding that the term entrepreneurship is used as a government strategy to keep the status quo and avoid social conflicts, by spreading that the solution for unemployment is to become an entrepreneur. This speech prioritizes the individualism and must be elucidated, so when people choose self-employment, they do it consciously, as a possible life strategy, not deluded by the speech of being your own boss as an opportunity of success / Trata-se de um estudo qualitativo sobre trabalhadores (as) brasileiros (as) comuns que, levados pelo desemprego produzido pelas transformações no mercado de trabalho, transformaram-se em proprietários (as) de pequenos negócios familiares geradores de renda. Pode ser descrito também como um estudo sobre maneiras como diferentes pessoas constroem a sobrevivência diária, constituindo a si mesmos. É um estudo que se propõe a dar visibilidade aos modos de viver e sobreviver dessas pessoas em sua maioria regida pela situação de pobreza. A partir de uma discussão sobre o conhecimento, o presente estudo teve como objetivo a identificação dos sentidos do auto-emprego em pequenos negócios familiares geradores de renda, presentes nas narrativas dos participantes do estudo e no campo-tema. Por campo-tema, compreende-se tudo o que remete a um assunto, um debate sem limites e sem fronteiras. Nesse campo emergiram temas como: auto-emprego, microcrédito, empreendedorismo, empresas familiares e economia popular que juntos construíram um profícuo campo de discussão e construção do conhecimento. Utilizou-se a história oral para fazer presente no debate o conhecimento e a experiência de vida dos cinco participantes entrevistados, cujas narrativas foram submetidas ao método da análise do discurso. A problemática que dirigiu o estudo diz respeito à possibilidade de uma ecologia de saberes na apreensão dos sentidos do auto-emprego em família, analisando processos ideológicos presentes no campo e possibilidades de emancipação. Por ecologia de saberes entende-se um sistema de saberes, de origens diferentes e não apenas científicos que coexistem na busca da construção de uma sociedade diferente, termo utilizado por Boaventura de Souza Santos. A identificação dos sentidos do auto-emprego em família pelas vozes presentes no campo permitiu problematizar a noção geral circulante vinculada ao empreendedorismo. Conclui-se que o termo empreendedorismo é utilizado como uma estratégia de governo no sentido de manter o status quo e evitar o conflito social ao propagar que a solução para o desemprego é se tornar um empreendedor. Esse discurso prioriza o individualismo e deve ser elucidado, de modo que as pessoas ao optarem pelo auto-emprego o façam conscientemente como possibilidade de estratégia de vida e não iludidas pelo discurso do ser seu próprio patrão como oportunidade de sucesso

A presente dissertação analisa a condição das trabalhadoras por conta própria e a domicílio na sociedade contemporânea, questionando-se como as mulheres trabalhadoras percebem e acessam a cidadania e vivenciam seu cotidiano no cenário atual das transformações do trabalho e do emprego no Brasil. Tem-se em vista que a concretização da cidadania no Brasil esteve intimamente ligada com a criação dos direitos do trabalho. A amostra de pesquisa é composta por mulheres trabalhadoras no domicílio, por conta própria ou a domicílio subcontratadas, residentes da região do Vale do Sinos, cidade de São Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul. Todas as trabalhadoras apresentaram alguma passagem pela indústria calçadista desta região e um histórico de migração de cidade. A pesquisa empírica é conduzida pela técnica de entrevistas em profundidade e observação do cotidiano das trabalhadoras. O quadro teórico se constitui a partir das categorias de análise: trabalho, cidadania, gênero e cotidiano. Para tanto, dimensões conceituais de cidadania, divisão sexual do trabalho, patriarcado, gênero, cotidiano, ciclo de vida, trabalho a domicílio e trabalho por conta própria são chave na presente análise. Demonstra-se como a relação das trabalhadoras com a casa é estreita e que em sua vida cotidiana não há espaço para participação comunitária e política. O ciclo de vida é decisivo na vida das mulheres e quando alguma mudança importante neste se dá, elas são chamadas a cumprir seus papéis sociais. Percebe-se na análise que a cidadania das mulheres trabalhadoras no domicílio, seja por conta própria ou a domicílio é fragilizada e por vezes seus direitos estão ausentes. Evidencia-se que há necessidade de construir-se outra cidadania, ampliada também às mulheres, e traz elementos para essa construção. / The present dissertation analyses the conditions of self-employed and household female workers in contemporary society, asking how female workers realize and access citizenship and how they live their daily life in the current scenario of work and employment changes in Brazil. It is noticed that the concretion of the citizenship in Brazil was intimately linked to the creation of the labor rights. The research sample is composed by female workers, selfemployed or household workers hired under registered contract, residents of the region of Vale do Sinos, city of São Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul. All workers presented a pass through in the shoe industry of this region and a history of city migration. The empirical research is conducted by the in-depth interview method and by observational study of the daily life of the workers. The theoretical framework is constituted since the following categories of analysis: work, citizenship, gender and daily life. To this end, conceptual dimensions of citizenship, sexual division of labor, patriarchate, gender, daily life, life cycle, household labor and self-employment job are the key in this present analysis. It demonstrates how the relationship of female workers with the household is close and how there is not any space of communitarian and political activities in their daily life. Life cycle is crucial in the life of women. When some important change happens in this life cycle, they are called to perform their social roles. It can be noticed in the analysis that the citizenship of the female workers, either self-employed or household workers, is fragile and sometimes their rights are absent. It is evident that there is a need of constructing another citizenship, extended also to women, and this research provides elements for this elaboration.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is a wealthy country but faces multiple economic and social challenges. Economically, the country depends almost entirely on a single natural resource i.e. oil, which will be eventually exhausted. About sixty seven percent of Saudi’s native population is under 30 years of age and about 30 percent of 15-29 years old Saudis are unemployed. The country thus needs to diversify its economy and create job opportunities for its young unemployed population. A way forward in this regard could be supporting and promoting young people to engage in economic and entrepreneur activities, which could be facilitated by entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurship has long been considered as a driver of innovation, a generator of employment opportunities and a potential wealth creator for both individuals and organisations. Academic literature supports the belief that with appropriate entrepreneurship education the number of would-be entrepreneurs can be increased. This study investigated the impact of entrepreneurship education programmes (EEPs) on entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions amongst university students in the KSA. The conceptual model tested in this research was based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Based on a quantitative approach, a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to two groups: participants studying entrepreneurship courses as part of their degrees (to be known as EEPs Group) and participants not undertaking any entrepreneurship studies as part of their courses (Control Group). The data collection took place at the beginning of the semester (Pre-test/t1) in April 2010 and at the end of the semester (Post-test/t2) in July 2010. After screening, a final matched sample of 491 completed questionnaires for the EEPs Group and 184 for the Control Group was used for data analysis. The results of this empirical study revealed that the intention to become self-employed was positively and significantly correlated to attitudes regarding self-employment, to subjective norms and to perceived behavioural control. However, for entrepreneurial education, the intention to become self-employed was neither positively nor significantly correlated with new business start-up activities. For policy-makers in KSA, the study provides useful insights into the situation of entrepreneurship education, will aid planners in universities and the KSA government to address unemployment of young by creating greater entrepreneurial awareness, and thus, hopefully, jobs through entrepreneurship activities. This study has confirmed that EEPs has a significant contribution in developing entrepreneurial attitudes among university students. Thus, entrepreneurial skills could be inculcated in the younger Saudi generation early on in their lives by institutionalising enterprising and entrepreneurship knowledge, skills and culture through education and learning starting from the high school level to the university level. In addition, there is a need for changing behaviour and intentions towards, and creating awareness about, entrepreneurship and self-employment among Saudis using different channels of communications such as the electronic media including the social media.

根據行政院主計處2009年人力資源調查統計顯示，當年度自營作業人口約為一百三十三萬餘人，約占我國就業人口百分之十三的比例，高出歐美國家許多，由於國人普遍存在「寧為雞首不為牛後」的文化心態，故自營作業者為我國勞工就業時重要的選項之一。過去，自營作業者一直被當作衡量國家經濟發展落後的指標，這類人口不論是在勞動條件或社會保障方面，向來較不受重視，然而隨著貿易自由化與產業結構轉變的衝擊，農林漁牧業能吸納的就業人口逐漸減少，勞動市場所提供的正職工作也持續減少，在失業率攀升的壓力下，先進國家開始重視自營作業者吸納失業人口、調節勞動市場供需的功能，為了鼓勵失業或一般受僱勞工開創自己的就業機會，近年來歐洲國家已經逐步改善自營作業者的社會安全保障，以降低勞工投入自營作業的風險。 有鑑於自營作業者對我國就業市場之重要性，以及國際間積極改善自營作業者社會保險條件的趨勢，本研究遂以建構我國完善的自營作業者社會保障制度為目的，分別從勞工保險、職災保險與就業保險三方面，分析我國現行社會保險制度所存在之問題與缺失，再針對相關問題提出解決建議。本研究採取深度訪談的方式，瞭解自營作業者參加勞工保險的經驗與實務上所面臨的問題，更進一步透過訪談瞭解自營作業者對於本身失業風險的認知以及參加就業保險的意願。此外，本研究也透過比較研究的方式，進而瞭解其他國家對於自營作業者社會保障所採取的作法，以作為我國自營作業者社會保險政策調整方向之參考。 研究發現，我國自營作業者在勞工保險方面存在以下問題：一、勞工保險所主張的「申報主義」制度，並未一體適用於自營作業者；二、自營作業者投保資格審查責任未作明確劃分；三、自營作業者投保薪資調整的作法可能產生公平性的疑慮；在職災保險方面，目前自營作業者參加職災保險存在著職災保險給付與第三人不法行為損害賠償兼得之問題；在就業保險方面，研究發現自營作業者同樣存在著失業的風險，風險可能來自於景氣影響、同業之間的競爭或是從業地點變動等因素，加上自營作業者普遍具有教育程度偏低和中高齡的特徵，在學歷與年齡的雙重限制下，自營作業者一旦退出自營作業部門，就可能因為轉業困難而導致長期失業，甚至被迫退出勞動市場。 最後，本研究針對目前自營作業者社會保險制度相關問題，分別提出以下建議，包括勞工保險的投保資格審查作業應明確授權由職業工會行使；輔導自營作業者辦理營業登記，以實際所得作為投保薪資調整依據；勞工保險條例應增列保險人代位權之規定；將自營作業者納入就業保險之保障對象；以營業登記之註銷或繳回相關執業證照，作為自營作業者失業之認定標準。