Background: Today small business Firms represent a considerable part of swedish economy, and the number of small Firms has steadily increased the last ten years in relation to the total employment. The fact that there are Firms willing to grow, it ought to be interesting observing their motives of growth, and what kind of strategies that can be identifiable in these Firms. Purpose: To examine the motives of growth in small business Firms, and to study which growth strategies the Firms use when expanding their business. Realization: The study is accomplished through telephone interviews with six small business Firms in the province of Jönköping. The Firms contain between 10-49 employees.

Social inequality, economic imbalances and greenhouse gas emissions are some of the greatest risks threatening society today. Society has become more aware of these risks and has started to demand Firms to take more responsibility. During the last 30 years Firms and mainly large Firms has chosen to work with something called CSR. CSR stands for Corporate Social Responsibility which is the work Firms engage with to take responsibility for environment and society as a whole. Scientists and business people has taken two sides towards CSR, one side argues that CSR cost more than it tastes and the other side argues that Firms which engage with CSR will gain economic benefits.

There will be changes in the accounting regulations in Sweden. Firms will be categorised as K1-K4 Firms depending on the size of the company. There will be different levels of accounting in the four categories. Firms will always have the possibility to choose a more advanced accounting regulation than the one they are obligated to due to their size. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate which factors that influence the management in K3 Firms in the choice between the K3 and K4 regulation.

In this paper we investigate 67 Swedish buyouts in the manufacturing and retailing sector between the years 2004-2012. The purpose is to measure changes in a set of financial key ratios to see if private equity Firms are able to improve performance in their portfolio companies compared to a peer group consisting of other Firms within the same industries. Furthermore, we examine if there is a difference in the change of the financial key ratios between private equity-owned Firms in the two sectors. The key results are that the private equity owned Firms have not outperformed their peers with respect to the chosen key ratios. We also conclude that there is no significant difference in the change of the financial key ratios between private equity-owned Firms in the two sectors..

The purpose of this essay was to find out how leaders in micro service Firms practice HRM and identify which HRM related problems they experience in their leadership. A case study consisting two cases was carried out. The study has shown that leaders in micro service Firms use a highly personalised, informal management and involve their employees in the firm?s development. The findings were that leaders of micro service Firms do not have any theoretical knowledge of HRM practises because of lack of education.

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.

Auditing demands knowledge in many diverse areas. To be able to provide all this knowledge it is necessary for the auditor to have access to persons with special skills. Through these contacts the auditor builds up a business network that brings support in the daily work. Our purpose with this study is to find out how auditor?s network in big auditing Firms is organized and to show how they use their network.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the competitiveness of family Firms is affected by governance mechanisms. The thesis addresses four governance mechanisms: inefficient labor markets, inefficient capital markets, self control and altruism. We have conducted an abductive method to be able to perform a qualitative research study. In this study two family Firms have been examined, ROL and Indiska Magasinet. We conclude that the presence of inefficient labor and capital markets within the studied family Firms give rise to negative effects in terms of difficulties of hiring talented employees.

The purpose of this study explains the relationship between corporate governance and the auditor's role in Swedish family Firms with the definitions micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and how this relationship is affected by the Firms strategy. The study is based on a survey sent out to 3000 Swedish SMEs, of which 280 responses from family Firms could be used. Our findings showed that the auditor in the family Firms didn?t have a specific role or contributed added value to the firm, and that the strategy didn?t affect the outcome. Furthermore, we found correlation between the perceptions of the auditor's role and added value depending on the family Firms type of corporate governance.

Auditing demands knowledge in many diverse areas. To be able to provide all this knowledge it is necessary for the auditor to have access to persons with special skills. Through these contacts the auditor builds up a business network that brings support in the daily work. Our purpose with this study is to find out how auditor?s network in big auditing Firms is organized and to show how they use their network.

A too large public sector impedes the economic development of Sweden and more privatization could increase the efficiency, quality and diversity of the services offered. It is therefore important that Firms operating in traditionally public sectors are given the opportunity to grow. We have through a case study examined two mid-size Firms that offer services to, and compete with, the public sector. This thesis aims to describe the growth strategies these Firms are using and if competing with the public sector implies any differences in possibilities or barriers when it comes to the Firms? growth.

There is an increased pressure for Firms to provide the financial market with additional information. Such disclosure is attached with different kinds of costs. In spite of these costs, and in spite of increased mandatory disclosures, Firms choose to voluntary disclosure financial information to analysts and others. This indicates that Firms also benefit from providing additional information. The subjects of this study is 431 annual reports from Firms listed at the Stockholm Stock Exchange for 2002 and 2005 and the objective is to survey factors that can explain variations in Firms? voluntary disclosure.

In commercial Firms, the inventory is often the largest and most important entry and to have acorrectly valued inventory is an important prerequisite in the statement of accounts. However,the inventory is considered to be one of the entries that are most difficult to value among thecompanies assets and this is why we have investigated how large commercial Firms valuetheir inventories. We have used relevant theory and conducted a number of interviews withpeople who are knowledgeable when it comes to valuation of inventories. Our conclusion isthat commercial Firms work in different ways and that there is no general method which isused by all commercial companies..

This paper?s objective is to investigate whether Modigliani and Miller (MM) I & II proposition from 1958 with regard to capital structure, is still valid among public Swedish Firms.We have chosen the 63 Firms on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (OMX) that Affärsvärlden magazine?s general index (AFGX) has categorized as industrial Firms. We based this selection on the assumption that these Firms are relatively capital intense and have a clear focus on production and, therefore, mainly uses capital structure as a mean to finance their production and not as a means in itself.To be able to fully evaluate these Firms we have calculated the current key ratios based each firm?s annual report. To make the figures comparable across the entire population we adjusted them to each firm?s turnover.The results we have reached concur with MM?s proposition I regarding capital structures independence of the firm value.

Management consulting Firms are an important part of the knowledge economy and they capitalize on the analytical ability and knowledge of their employees. Much research have been made on large consulting Firms and their management of knowledge, but little is known about how small consultancies manage their knowledge. Even less is known about the management of knowledge in small consultancies specialized in change management. These Firms rely solely on senior consultants and focus on the human aspect of organizational development. This thesis aims to show how these Firms manage their knowledge and also provide an understanding of why.