The aim of this study has been to examine the role of control mechanisms when it comes to building relationships in a Small Business network. In order to reach this goal, we have performed a case study of a Swedish supplier of machines to the engineering industry, which acts as the exclusive representative of a foreign manufacturer on the Swedish market. Main results: A number of control mechanisms, both formal and informal, could be identified in the network. Their specific use, as well as relative importance differ between different actors in the network. In general, the importance of formal control mechanisms decreases as the relationship evolves over time and the importance of informal ones, mainly trust, increases in a corresponding manner..

Background: The statutory audit in Sweden was implemented in 1983 and the purpose was to improve the owners ability to control and to mitigate economic fraud. The present debate is concentrated about the high costs of audit in small companies. The major concern is whether the statutory audit should be mandatory for the smallest companies. Purpose: The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to explain the value of auditing in small companies defined as 10/24-companies by identify and analyze possible factors that affects the attitudes towards auditing and reflects the value of a statutory audit. Research method: Our study is deductive and based on a quantitative research method which includes both a survey and the companies annual reports.

I want to look at the possibilities to start selling hot water from a small district heating plant with bioenergy. My reason for doing this project is to look at a new business opportunity for our farm. Our company have less work during the winter time compared to the spring and this project will give us more work during the winter. I also want to take as much material as possible for heating from our farm in order to increase the value of the products from the farm. The project is in a village near us, where we should support a school, a churh, a home for the aged, a kindergarten and a parish hall with heat. In my work I have compared two different alternatives with each other. The first alternative is to put a central heater in one of the buildings, the home for the aged, in which we will burn oat.

Background: To maintain or increase the trust in the market, companies can disclose more voluntary information in the annual reports. According to prior research the annual report is the primary source of information for small shareholders and investors. Thus, it is of interest to investigate why companies chose to report the voluntary information inquired by this group. Purpose: We investigate some company-specific factors to decide whether these determine the extent of voluntary information, particularly inquired by small shareholders and investors, in the annual reports of listed Swedish companies. We also aim to discuss underlying causes for our result.

Today there are many different Cad-applications on the market for engineers. Because of big building projects it has become more and more important to work with the same application or to have access to a neutral file type to be able to transfer files between different ones.This report studies the single objects and how they react when transferring them between ADT and ArchiCAD via the neutral type IFC. We have also been looking at problems during the transfer between and if there are some connections between these problems. Afterwards we created a neutral object model of a small country house to see if the objects appeared different. The result shows no differences.But looking at the problems that appeared during the transmissions they felt small and no logical.Today it is not possible to save in a neutral type without facing small problems.

Title: The way to successLevel: Final assignment for a Master?s Degree in Business AdministrationAuthors: Larisa Glazkova and Veronika LarssonSupervisor: Jonas KågströmDate: 2011 ? JanuaryAim: Many companies are started each year, but only some of them are successful and generate worthwhile profits. Many new companies do not survive the first few years. The purpose of this thesis is to identify factors that can lead to success for small and medium-sized enterprises in Gästrikland.Method: We analysed 559 interview surveys that were collected during the years 2004-2010 and success factors were defined. Additionally, financial reports from the database Retriever were analysed.

This master thesis attempts to answerthe question if a startup with amaterial innovation needs a specialbusiness development model. Mainstreambusiness development literature is notwell adapted to the rigor of testing anew material and bringing it tomarket. This was studied using threedifferent methods. First of thetheories that are considered canonicalfor high tech business development wasexamined. The next step was to go into the role of a business developer inone of the hottest high tech materialinnovation startups this decade,Disruptive Materials.

Business valuation is something that is carried out on a daily basis and relevant to both small and large businesses. Valuations are often long and complex processes that may be difficult to understand, even for those who have received an education in the field. In this thesis, we try to create a better understanding of how this process works.   Since we are aware of many aspects of the theory behind business valuation, but very little insight into the practical activities, we have chosen a deductive approach, i.e. to go from theory to empirical data.   The conclusion is that the methods presented in the theory is largely used in practice, and that the process of valuation mighty seldom differ between valuations. For the seller to be able to charge a higher value for their companies, it is important to have knowledge of, and review the value-creating factors in the company.

Entrepreneurial firms face unique challenges in attracting and acquiring human resources due to difficulties associated with resource constraint and organization legitimacy, often described as liabilities of "smallness" and "newness". The aim of this paper is to examine the "smallness" and "newness" challenges met by small entrepreneurial firms, which strategies they apply to counter these challenges, and if these strategies can be explained by the firm's HR philosophy. Since few studies on Human Resource Management (HRM) in small entrepreneurial firms exist, a framework combining theory from the research fields of HRM, entrepreneurship and small firms has been developed. Employing a qualitative case study design of five small Swedish entrepreneurial firms, our findings demonstrate four "smallness" and "newness" challenges and seven strategies that either counteract or prevent them. Furthermore, results showed that the strategies applied seemed to have no significance with regards to the firm's HR philosophy.

Foreign invested SMEs have recently become increasingly interested in China. The enterprises are in this report categorized as second wave companies since they follow the footsteps of previous pioneers, of which mostly were larger companies. The ambitions of the SMEs are either to sell products on the ever expanding Chinese market or to utilize the potential of low cost production for global markets. The existing literature is fragmented and solely based on the experience of larger companies. We believe that SMEs are facing new and different challenges, and thus a new generic theoretical frame work is desirable.

The purpose of this thesis was to illuminate and create a deeper understanding of how small niche retail businesses within the apparel industry position themselves. We aimed to investi-gate how these small niche retail businesses create their position and how they communicate these positions to their target market. To be able to investigate the positioning-process within these small niche retail businesses a case study was conducted based on interviews with two respondents from two different companies and observations of these businesses physical envi-ronments. The study indicated that the small niche retail businesses mainly make use of emo-tional aspects and their assortment range to create their position. To communicate their posi-tion to their target market they mainly use their in-store personal selling and their assortment range..

One of the main objectives of all food production is to produce foods that can safely beconsumed without fear of being sick. Despite this hundreds of people are affected in Sweden offood poisoning almost every day. Most cases are caused by a small group of so-called pathogenicmicroorganisms. The most frequently affected are the small children, the elderly, persons withreduced resistance and pregnant. The reasons behind the food poisoning are often ignorance andlack of food hygiene.

Aim: The reason we made this report were to investigate what companies in Gävle implied was the most important factor for successful sales. The various questions to be answered are: 1. How important is the relationship in B2B? (Business to business) 2. Will VRM change the work with relationships within B2B? 3.

Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur småföretag väljer mellan olika finansieringsformer. Metod: För att uppfylla uppsatsens syfte så har vi tillämpat en kvalitativ metod, där en studie genomförts genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med företagare i fyra utvalda småföretag. Slutsatser: Denna undersökning visar på att småföretag bland olika finansieringsalternativ har mest kunskap om bankfinansiering, varför metoden känns trygg och således ofta tillämpas av småföretagare. Kunskapen om andra finansieringsalternativ är bristfällig, och det anses för tid- och kostnadskrävande att skaffa sig kunskap tillräcklig djup nog för att kunna förankra finansieringsbeslut i. .

I denna uppsats har vi undersökt möjligheten till övervinster i samband med utdelningar för svenska företag på OMX Stockholm Large Cap och Small Cap mellan åren 2006 och 2010. Genom en statistisk jämförelse mellan aktiekursens förändring i samband med utdelningen undersöker vi marknadens effektivitet. Resultaten tyder på att Large Cap är en effektiv marknad i samband med utdelningar, medan Small Cap visar tecken på ineffektivitet. Resultaten stödjer delvis tidigare studier, som säger att marknaden är effektiv. Vår studie skiljer oss från tidigare forskning eftersom vi undersöker Large Cap och Small Cap som separata marknader istället för hela börsen.