Using public support as the baseline, the aim of the Ph.D. thesis is firstly to assess its effectiveness in alleviating firms’ financing constraints (Chapter 2) and in enhancing the innovation-growth linkage (Chapter 5), in comparison with other financing sources. Secondly, the research undertaken also explores public policy effectiveness in two periods of time: ex-ante and ex-post analysis. In the former, effectiveness is assessed according to whether the characteristics of the project selected for the subsidy are in line with the policy targets (Chapter 3). In turn, the ex-post analysis assesses firms’ effectiveness in achieving the planned goal and the sustainability of the achieved outcomes (Chapter 4). Chapter 2 provides evidence that, in addition to a guarantee for loans, measures to facilitate equity investments and making existing public measures easier to obtain could be considered as the main solutions for future financing. Tax incentives for financially constrained firms are revealed to be the least important factor. Chapter 3 aims to understand which kinds of projects are selected for an innovation subsidy and if the characteristics of the project selected are in line with the policy target. The results show the selection process seems to be particularly effective in meeting the goals as regards the amount of investment, as well as the expected effect on enhanced internationalization and productivity. Nevertheless, the study also reveals some failures in the selection process, namely in terms of the intensity of the project’s contribution to growth. Chapter 4 assess firm performance after project implementation. Results show that subsidized firms reached targets linked with employment level and sales more easily than labour productivity and value creation. Chapter 5 reveals that equity financing has a greater effect on the strategic decision to innovate and the highest output additionality on firm turnover growth. Grants have a more moderate effect on innovation and firm growth (both turnover and employment). / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

<div> <p>In this dissertation, I investigate how firms’ various strategic decisions lead to innovation failures. Extant research in the strategic management field has suggested that a firms’ strategic choices determine its innovation trajectories and outcomes. While previous studies predominantly have emphasized firms’ successful innovation outcomes, very little research has been conducted on the antecedents of innovation failures. Although firms’ successful innovation outcomes provide important implications in understanding the source of firms’ competitive advantages, failed innovations would provide us with critical insight about firms’ ability to survive and develop as they may result in unfavorable consequences, such as financial risks and negative impacts on firms’ reputations In this light, I examine how various strategic choices – such as interorganizational relationships, acquisitions, and internal R&D – affect firm’s innovation trajectories and failures.</p> <p> In Essay 1, I explore how firms’ decision to form interorganizational relationships can affect their innovation failures. In particular, I investigate how a venture’s choice to form an investment relationship with a particular venture capitalist (VC) could determine the venture’s innovation failures. I propose that the time pressure that VCs face may elicit negative consequences for their portfolio companies’ innovation quality. In Essay 2, I examine how firms’ efforts to acquire technology and knowledge from external markets through acquisitions could affect their innovation failure rates. I suggest and find that adverse selection and post-acquisition integration problems impose substantial costs on firms pursuing acquisitions leading them to experience high rate of innovation failures. In Essay 3, I examine how firms’ efforts to develop new products incrementally affect their innovation failures. I suggest that, due to the path dependent nature of product development, when firms develop and introduce new products through an incremental approach, they may face the risk of their new products being exposed to the failure associated with the products and underlying technologies upon which the new products are built.</p> </div> <br>

Small and new companies are important for the Swedish economy and are the main source of employment. However, these face challenges in the possibility of obtaining financing, where venture capital becomes an important tool for achieving this. Venture capitalists does not only contribute with capital, but also usually take an active role in the portfolio companies. This study examines what roles the venture capitalist undertakes and what values they contribute with. The study also intends to compare the results with research that has begun to examine value creation from the portfolio company's perspective. Where scout roles are preferred over coach roles, which differs from the venture capitalist's perspective. To achieve the purpose of the study, a quantitative survey method is used, where a questionnaire has been applied for data collection. Based on the results, it can be stated that the roles most used are board member, counseling/mentorship, obtaining alternative sources of funding and contributing with contact networks. These are also the roles that the portfolio companies consider contributing with the highest value. According to the portfolio companies, however, there are more roles that CAN contribute with high value than those that venture capitalists have today, such as the role of strategic planning. The study can both confirm and deny research on scout and coach roles, as the portfolio companies prefer network (scout) over strategy and monitoring (coach). However, the study shows that strategic roles CAN contribute value, which indicates that the portfolio companies see a certain value in scout roles. / Små och nya företag är viktiga för den svenska ekonomin och den främsta källan till sysselsättning. Dessa möter dock utmaningar i möjligheten att få finansiering, där riskkapital blir ett viktigt verktyg för att uppnå detta. Riskkapitalister bidrar inte enbart med kapital, utan brukar även ta en aktiv roll i portföljföretagen. Denna studie undersöker vilka roller riskkapitalisten åtar sig och vilka värden dessa bidrar med. Studien avser även att jämföra med forskning som har börjat undersöka värdeskapandet utifrån portföljföretagets perspektiv. Där scout-liknande roller föredras framför coach-liknande roller, vilket skiljer sig mot riskkapitalistens perspektiv. För att uppnå syftet med studien används en kvantitativ undersökningsmetod, där en enkät har tillämpats för datainsamling. Utifrån resultatet kan det konstateras att rollerna som använts mest är styrelsemedlem, rådgivning/mentorskap, erhålla alternativa finansieringskällor och bidra med kontaktnätverk. Detta är även rollerna som portföljföretagen anser bidrar med högst värde. Enligt portföljföretagen finns det dock flera roller som KAN bidra med högt värde, än de som riskkapitalisterna har idag som exempelvis rollen strategisk planering. Studien kan både bekräfta och dementera forskning om scout och coach-liknande roller, eftersom portföljföretagen föredrar nätverk (scout) framför strategi och övervakning (coach). Dock visar studien att strategiska roller KAN bidra med värde, vilket indikerar att portföljföretagen ser ett visst värde i scout-liknande roller.

This study seeks to review the topic of how deep tech innovation is raised in Sweden and more particularly, the finance-related constraints of this ecosystem. The study proceeds from the idea of mapping out the available, and subsequently more suitable financing alternatives for novel deep tech ventures. A more specific focus lies within understanding what factors are influencing investment decisions amongst such actors.  Thereon, there is an attempt to ground a theory revolving around what kind of features in the deep tech start-up, are critical in order to overcome the identified financial challenges. Theoretically, it is explained how the inherent uncertainty of new innovative ventures in general, and those of deep tech character in particular, entails additional financing constraints that deter investors. This results in an s.c "Valley of Death", normally transpiring as a firm aspires to transition from a research-driven development business to a market-driven commercial business. The findings in this study can be considered to confirm this phenomenon as transpiring in Sweden, whereupon it is also seen as a reasonable opinion that the respective problem can be maneuvered. The main arguments in terms of success factors in this respect is; (i) the ability to match with investors with a solid understanding of the particular industry of operations, as wells as for deep tech in general, (ii) the ability to acquire a diverse team with solid industry experience and contacts, (iii) the ability to demonstrate market proximity, (iv) the ability to demonstrate a potential that can justify the intensified uncertainty, as well as a credible plan to reach it, (v) and abilities to argue positively for impacts in sustainable aspects. Furthermore, a few suggestions for further research in relation to the topic and problematization have been identified; alternative choices for fiscal policies, deep tech opportunities in the shadow of s.c impact investing, eventual opportunities in addressing public markets, and eventual constraints in the external dichotomy between public and private sector financing.

Firms‘ resource base is one of the determinants of their capacity to innovate. When firms’ internal base of financial, intangible or technical resources is not sufficient to realize innovation projects, resources provided by other stakeholders can mitigate innovation constraints. This cumulative dissertation intends to shed light on innovation-related collaborations and interactions of three specific kinds of actors. The first article investigates the role innovation plays for investors when screening and evaluating potential investment targets and explains to which extent the investors’ behavior re-orients towards the implementation of innovation-pushing measures once being invested. Also, the second article refers to the interaction between investors and innovative firms: Subsequent to a derivation of an industry-specific business model pattern, the second article analyzes whether and how financing of new and innovative digital health ventures differ between Europe and USA. Adopting a single case study approach, the third article focuses on the interaction between corporate accelerators and innovative firms and identifies shortcomings of Telefonica’s corporate accelerator Wayra.:1 Introduction 2 Theoretical background of dissertation 3 Purpose and focus of dissertation 4 Overview and summaries of dissertation articles 5 First article: The Role of Innovation in Venture Capital and Private Equity Investments in Different Investment Phases 6 Second article: Venture Capital in the Digital Health Industry: Analyzing and Comparing Funding Environment and Business Models of Digital Health Start-ups in USA and Europe 7 Third article: Start-ups in a Corporate Accelerator: What is Satisfying, What is Relevant and What can Corporates Improve? 8 Contribution of dissertation 9 Limitations of dissertation 10 Future Research 11 References

Eighty-five percent of all firms operating in Nigeria are small-and medium-sized business enterprises (SMEs) and contribute almost 55% to the gross domestic product (GDP) in Nigeria. Capital flight and other growth inhibitors pose threats to the sustainability of SMEs in Nigeria. This exploratory multiple-case study was to determine strategies SME leaders use to sustain business operations in Nigeria. The study participants consisted of 15 SME leaders from 3 regional manufacturing firms who had successfully implemented strategies to sustain SMEs in Nigeria. Bertalanffy's general systems theory and Freeman's stakeholder theory were the conceptual frameworks used in the research. The data collection processes included semistructured interviews and reviewing company documents. After analyzing the interview data and validating through member checking, 5 core themes emerged during the data analysis process: creating new markets, encouraging opportunity for sustainable growth, securing additional funding sources, employee participation in decision making, and gaining competitive advantages. The findings may promote social change among the business community leaders by identifying essential characteristics to improve the posterity of SMEs in Nigeria.

Thesis. 1975. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / Bibliography: leaves 138-139. / M.C.P.

Author of this dissertation focuses on venture capital financing in the Czech Republic. Individual aspects of venture capital financing from the perspective of investors and also businesses are researched and evaluated in this work and formulated proposals for changes that may lead to the development of venture capital financing in the Czech Republic .This research is based on findings published in foreign scientific journals and own research. This dissertation has several scientific objectives. It is necessary to identify the evaluation criteria used by the investors to evaluate the proposed business plans. It is also important to research the nonfinancial added value and to determine the forms of support businesses receive from the investors. The final objective is to identify the limitations of venture capital financing in the Czech Republic. A list of recommendations that should improve the condi-tions of venture capital financing is formulated based on these identified limitations. Primary research was conducted with the help of questionnaires and interviews. Resulting qualitative data was evaluated with the help of Microsoft Excel. Thorough analysis of the qualitative data allowed the formulation of conclusions which can be found in the final part of this work. This dissertation provides a complex view of venture capital financing in the Czech Republic, its specifics, conditions and limitations.

The Transformer, an attention-based deep learning architecture, has shown promising capabilities in both Natural Language Processing and Computer Vision. Recently, it has also been applied to time series classification, which has traditionally used statistical methods or the Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU). The aim of this project was to apply multivariate time series classification to evaluate Transformer-based models, in comparison with the traditional GRUs. The evaluation was done within the problem of startup success prediction at a venture and private equity firm called EQT. Four different Machine Learning (ML) models – the Univariate GRU, Multivariate GRU, Transformer Encoder, and an already existing implementation, the Time Series Transformer (TST) – were benchmarked using two public datasets and the EQT dataset which utilized an investor-centric data split. The results suggest that the TST is the best-performing model on EQT’s dataset within the scope of this project, with a 47% increase in performance – measured by the Area Under the Curve (AUC) metric – compared to the Univariate GRU, and a 12% increase compared to the Multivariate GRU. It was also the best, and third-best, performing model on the two public datasets. Additionally, the model also demonstrated the highest training stability out of all four models, and 15 times shorter training times than the Univariate GRU. The TST also presented several potential qualitative advantages such as utilizing its embeddings for downstream tasks, an unsupervised learning technique, higher explainability, and improved multi-modal compatibility. The project results, therefore, suggest that the TST is a viable alternative to the GRU architecture for multivariate time series classification within the investment domain. With its performance, stability, and added benefits, the TST is certainly worth considering for time series modeling tasks. / Transformern är en attention-baserad arkitektur skapad för djupinlärning som har demonsterat lovande kapacitet inom både naturlig språkbehandling och datorseende. Nyligen har det även tillämpats på tidsserieklassificering, som traditionellt har använt statistiska metoder eller GRU. Syftet med detta projekt var att tillämpa multivariat tidsserieklassificering för att utvärdera transformer-baserade modeller, i jämförelse med de traditionella GRUerna. Jämförelsen gjordes inom problemet med att klassificera vilka startup-företag som är potentiellt framgångsrika eller inte, och gjordes på ett risk- och privatkapitalbolag som heter EQT. Fyra olika maskininlärningsmodeller – Univariat GRU, Multivariat GRU, Transformer Encoder och en redan existerande implementering, TST – jämfördes med hjälp av två offentliga datamängder och EQT-datamängden som använde sig av en investerarcentrerad datauppdelning. Resultaten tyder på att TST är den modellen som presterar bäst på EQT:s datauppsättning inom ramen för detta projekt, med en 47% ökning i prestanda – mätt med AUC – jämfört med den univariata GRUn och en ökning på 12% jämfört med den multivariata GRUn. Det var också den bäst och tredje bäst presterande modellen på de två offentliga datamängderna. Modellen visade även den högsta träningsstabiliteten av alla fyra modellerna och 15 gånger kortare träningstider än den univariata GRUn. TST visade även flera potentiella kvalitativa fördelar som att använda dess inbäddningar för nedströmsuppgifter, en oövervakad inlärningsteknik, högre förklarabarhet och förbättrad multimodal kompatibilitet. Projektresultaten tyder därför på att TST är ett gångbart alternativ till GRUarkitekturen för multivariat tidsserieklassificering inom investeringsdomänen. Med sin prestanda, stabilitet och extra fördelar är TST verkligen värt att överväga för tidsseriemodelleringsproblem.

The aim of this study is to investigate the relation between venture capital and the number of high growth firms. Previous research has covered the relation at the firmlevel where the positive effect of venture capital on innovation, firm growth and economic growth has been established. However, the research field have been lacking a more aggregated approach. With a fixed effects panel regression with the number of high growth firms as the dependent variable and the amount of venture capital as the key independent variable, this study is conducted at the country-level with a panel of 20 countries. The study yield no significant results except the positive effect of GDP per capita. The conclusion is that the data available today is not ready for this level of aggregation as it captures to much noise with regards to other factors affecting firm growth in a country. Growth in employment might also be an outdated proxy to measure firm growth as today's modern firms are not as dependent on a large number of employees to scale as in the past. / Målet med denna studie är att undersöka relationen mellan riskkapital och snabbväxande företag. Tidigare studier har undersökt relationen på företagsnivå där riskkapitalets positiva effekt på innovation, firmatillväxt och ekonomisk tillväxt har påvisats. Dock har forskningsfältet saknat ett tillvägagångssätt på en mer aggregerad nivå. Med en fixed effects-modell applicerad på paneldata med en beroende variabel bestående av antalet snabbväxande företag och en oberoende variabel bestående av mängden riskkapital, undersöks relationen på landnivå med ett urval av 20 länder. Studien visar inga signifikanta resultat bortsätt från kontrollvariabeln BNP per capita som är positiv och signifikant. Slutsatsen i arbetet är att den data som finns tillgänglig idag inte är mogen för studier på en aggregerad landnivå då brus i form av andra faktorer som påverkar snabbväxande företag i ett land fångas upp. Företagstillväxt mätt i tillväxt i antalet anställda i ett företag kan även vara en föråldrad metod. Dagens moderna företag präglade av affärsmodeller som inte kväver arbetskraft för att skala upp verksamheten på samma sätt som företag traditionellt gjort historiskt.