Many organisations use incentive systems as a management control tool to steer the organisation towards defined goals by generating common incentives for the employees. Previous studies have shown that the design of an incentive system affect what results it may generate. Therefore, this study aims to, within the context of manufacturing industry, investigate a configuration of design choices’ impact on the effect of an incentive system. A literature study has been conducted to map what effect the research shows different design choices and how these impacts the employees and the organisation. This case study of Toyota Material Handling Manufacturing Sweden AB investigates how their incentive system is designed and what effects this generates from their organisational specific context. Motivation, participation, cooperation, culture and performance were factors evaluated in the study. Data was mainly gathered through qualitative interviews conducted with employees to gain an understanding of the use and design of the incentive system together with how it fit within the organisational context. The empirical data was then analysed and related to previous studies on the subject. The conclusion and discussion base on the effects of an incentive system and how these effects are affected by the design of the incentive system itself, together with how these effects may be reduced when alternative management control tools hold a stronger presence with the employees. Even when the incentive system is designed by what previous studies has shown to generate the desired effect, the organisational specific context may affect the result. Further, it is discussed that the highest results are achieved when the incentive system is designed to work within a specific context, as it then strives towards the same vision as other management control tools.

Bakgrund: Forskning kring familjeföretag har på senare år fått mer och mer uppmärksamhet eftersom familjeföretagen utgör en stor del av företagen världen över. I Sverige finns det totalt 450 000 aktiva företag och av dessa är runt 90% familjeföretag. De svenska familjeföretagen är idag den största arbetsgivaren och bidrar med ca 30% av Sveriges BNP. Styrningen av familjeföretag skiljer sig ofta från icke-familjeföretag vilket har skapat ett intresse hos många forskare. Främst visar forskning på att familjeföretagen präglas av en stark företagskultur och mer sociala och emotionella typer av styrverktyg. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att med ett explorativt angreppssätt bidra med kunskap om hur ekonomi- och verksamhetsstyrningen är utformad i svenska familjeföretag. Detta görs med hjälp av ett formellt och informellt perspektiv på styrningen. Metod: Studien har genomförts genom en kvantitativ metod med en deduktiv ansats. Det teoretiska materialet innefattar teori om vad ett styrpaket kan vara, vad informell och formell styrning är samt tidigare forskning om familjeföretagen. En tvärsnittsstudiedesign användes med hjälp av enkäter för att samla in det empiriska materialet från ett slumpmässigt urval av familjeföretag i Sverige. Slutsats: Denna studie bidrar till indikationer på att svenska familjeföretag har en styrning som främst är utformad på ett informellt vis. De använder samtliga delar av ett typiskt styrpaket: Kulturstyrning, planering, prestationsmätning, belöningssystem och administrativ styrning. Kulturstyrningen är mest framträdande och anses vara hjärtat i de svenska familjeföretagen. Resultatet visar att den tidigare forskningen om vilka styrverktyg som används i familjeföretag även kan appliceras på de svenska familjeföretagen till stor del. Resultatet kunde däremot inte påvisa att styrningen skiljer sig beroende på ifall ägare eller anhörig till ägare har en chefsposition eller inte i svenska familjeföretag. / Background: Research about family firms have recently got more attention since family firms are a large part of the companies around the world. In Sweden there are 450 000 active companies in total and about 90% of them are family firms. The Swedish family firms are today the largest employer and contributes with about 30% of Sweden’s GDP. Management control in family firms usually differ from those of non-family firms which has created an interest for more research in the subject. Research shows mainly that family firms has a strong corporate culture and use more social and emotional types of control practices. Purpose: The purpose of this study is that with an exploratory approach contribute with knowledge about how management control is formed in Swedish family firms. This is made with the help of a formal and informal perspective on control. Method: This study was conducted with a quantitative method with a deductive approach. The theoretical material included management control as a package, definitions of informal and formal management control and previous research about family firms. A cross-sectional study design was implemented together with a survey instrument to collect the empirical data from a random sample of family firms in Sweden. Conclusion: This study contributes with indications about the management control in Swedish family firms and shows it is mainly informal. They use all parts of a typical control package: Cultural control, planning, performance measurement, reward systems and administrative control. The cultural control is most prominent in the package and is considered to be the heart of the Swedish family firms. The result shows that the previous research about which management control practices are used in family firms also could be applied to the Swedish family firms to a large extent. The result could on the other hand not prove that the management control differs depending on whether the owner or owner’s relative is a part of the leadership or not in Swedish family firms.