This thesis intended to examine how Small enterprises within the retail industry work with brand building of their corporate name. More specifically it intended to examine how they do to choose corporate name and corporate logotype, and how they work to create a desired corporate image. A case-study was performed with three case-companies from different industries. The method was deductive as the empirics were brought in with starting-point in the theoretical frame of reference. The study showed that there are differences in the way Small enterprises within the retail industry work with the brand-building of their corporate name.

Growth of small businesses is vital to the Swedish economy, and many entrepreneurs want their enterprises to grow. However, the business climate of today is more changing than ever, and attributes becoming increasingly important for companies in order to deal with this are flexibility, speed, and adaptability: characteristics normally attributed to Small enterprises. As a larger organization often is associated with more rigidity as a consequence of a higher degree of formalization, entrepreneurs are hesitant to seize growth opportunities, as they fear it will have negative impact on the aforementioned competitive advantages their enterprise possesses as a small business. This simple case study of a growing small enterprise investigates the effects of organizational growth on a small business' organizational structure and through its above mentioned advantages. The study finds that avoiding formalization while growing damages the competitiveness of the firm, and concludes that a degree of formalization is a necessity to maintain the flexibility, speed and adaptability in a growing small business..

Background and problem: The abolishment of the mandatory audit in Sweden resulted in a marketorientation in which the small sized enterprises gained a stronger position. Theaudit firms are faced with the challenge to better meet the clients need and todemonstrate the value of audit now when it is optional. In coherence with thisclient focus it is endorsed to implement a value-based pricing that primarilyconsiders the client?s value and willingness to pay. The value of audit andaccounting services to small sized enterprises is not yet fully investigated, whyit is difficult to implement a value-based strategy.Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the value of audit and accounting servicesto the small sized enterprises through the study of which attributes theseservices consist of and which priority the small sized enterprises attach to thedifferent attributes.

When a country faces a decline in business activity, companies have to struggle to gain external capital. It is even more important for Small enterprises to get capital, as they normally do not have enough collateral to receive traditional bank loans. In Bangladesh, Grameen Bank started with micro credit programs in the early 90?s, that included small capital loans and leasing of machines. Nowadays these micro credit programs have developed to function even in industrialized countries.

AbstractTitle: Relevant factors that affect three small and midsize enterprises during an ERP-system implementationAuthors: Fredrik Dreimanis and Thomas JylhäTutor: Peter EkmanKeywords: ERP, implementation, SMEProblem: Which factors has relevance for small and midsize enterprises during an ERP-system implementation?Purpose: The purpose with this essay is to describe and analyze what distinguishes an implementation for small and midsize enterprises.Methodology:The authors have answered the problem with help of theories and articles within the subject of IT and economics and five interviews with companies in different areas of business.Theoretical framework:The most difficult part with adapting a new ERP- system is the implementation phase. (Muscatello et al. 2003) The reason is that the standardization and changing of business processes is a common occurrence during an implementation. (Gattiker and Goodhue.

Background: Previous studies have shown that intuition occurs in decision making in Small enterprises. However, these studies have not illuminated which decision attributes leads to intuitive decision making.Purpose:The purpose with this study is to contribute with an increased understanding of which decision attributes leads managers in Small enterprises to use intuition in decision making and why these decisions attributes have an impact on the role of intuition. The follow-ing research question will be answered in our study: Which decision attributes leads to intui-tive decision making in Small enterprises, and why?Method: To answer the research question we have conducted semi structural interviews with managers in Small enterprises to achieve a deeper understanding of the role of intuition. We have also used a method called Visual Card Sorting as a complement to the semi structural interviews.Result/conclusion: The result of our study indicates that the relevance and the uncertainty of a decision have the greatest significance in the use of intuition in decision making in Small enterprises.

Background: Previous studies have shown that intuition occurs in decision making in Small enterprises. However, these studies have not illuminated which decision attributes leads to intuitive decision making.Purpose:The purpose with this study is to contribute with an increased understanding of which decision attributes leads managers in Small enterprises to use intuition in decision making and why these decisions attributes have an impact on the role of intuition. The follow-ing research question will be answered in our study: Which decision attributes leads to intui-tive decision making in Small enterprises, and why?Method: To answer the research question we have conducted semi structural interviews with managers in Small enterprises to achieve a deeper understanding of the role of intuition. We have also used a method called Visual Card Sorting as a complement to the semi structural interviews.Result/conclusion: The result of our study indicates that the relevance and the uncertainty of a decision have the greatest significance in the use of intuition in decision making in Small enterprises.

Humanity?s increasing consumption has resulted in an increasing use of resources and thus an increasing environmental impact. Hence, the environment has become an important political issue. The increasing demands from stakeholders on companies to "green" their products and work internally with environmental issues makes it more and more important for enterprises to address these issues. Small enterprises constitute the majority of all enterprises and therefore they have a significant impact on environmental problems.

For innovative organizations and companies it is essential to use existing knowledge to avoid spending time and resources on already existing innovations. By using patent information, companies are able to get a picture of what is already done in their area of interest. The main purpose of the study is to examine the information use in small and medium-sized enterprises that are members of the Swedish Inventor?s Association, focusing on patent information. The study examines the use of patent information and which barriers the companies have to patent information.

Titel: Innovate or Stagnate! ? Open innovation in manufacturing small and medium-sized businesses in Småland.The purpose of the study is that, from a leadership perspective (innovationmanagement), create a better understanding of open innovation in manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises. The study therefore intends to contribute to the understanding of how open innovation processes leads to greater innovation in manufacturing small and medium sized businesses.We have used a qualitative research method and adopted an abductiveapproach. We made interpretations and created meaning based on our research results.Our theoretical framework is based primarily on Chesbroughs (2003) research on open innovation. Based on this model, we have selected a number of other theories, which we perceived as prerequisites for small andmedium sized companies in open innovation processes.

The most dominating type of company in Sweden is the small-sized business and it usually lacks its own marketing department. The purpose of this paper was to analyze several small Swedish businesses which are specialized in different sectors of the Mechanic/Technology industry but they are similar in terms of having niched products and they are leading companies in the world. The objective was to do research about how small businesses work with marketing despite its lack of resources and capital.This survey has shown that customer contacts, customer relationships and especially for those investigated companies, it was very important to focus on globalization and product development in order to build a Point of Difference..

The field of the social economy and of the work integration social enterprises (WISE) in particular, is for many a more or less unknown area. Unlike ordinary enterprises the WISE's are different due to their aim of integrating disadvantaged people through work. In comparison with other Small enterprises earlier research has shown that the WISE's are dealing with challenges regarding recruitment, participation, leadership, sustainable business ideas but above all, the access to funding. The purpose of this essay has therefore been to examine and analyze the financial situation of eight WISE's located in the Stockholm County. The results indicate that half of the enterprises perceive their economic situation as very unstable and as an obstacle to their further development.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate which enter- and exit barriers that exist on the banking market for Small enterprises located within the region of Gotland. The reason was to examine and identify which barriers that could affect the mobility among small enterprise bank customers on the bank market. To identify the barriers, the study was carried out partly by a quantitative survey with 33 small business owners respondents located at three different concentrated small enterprise areas within the region of Gotland. And partly by qualitative interviews that were conducted with two employees at Länsförsäkringar Gotland Bank.The result indicated that the enter barrier mostly depended on the aspect that business owners of Small enterprises believed that bank switching were complicated. The business owners did also consider bank switching as time demanding.

The purpose with this essay is to enlighten the small business´ existence at times of expansion, identify threats and possibilities and also to try to find ways to encourage growth in the small business.To answer our purpose we carried out a literature study to later implement six interviews with small business leaders. We separated the companies into three categories; small business without employees, small business with 2-5 employees and small business with 6-10 employees.We confirm that the main reason why small business leaders think both once and twice before hireing new labour force are because of the high costs. The change in government has so far not given the small business what was promised, but there is still hope for improvement and simplification.The economic part of owning a company has been pointed out as the greatest threat in relation with expansion and the big responsibility in another persons possibilities to earn his/her living is also burdensome. The possibility to take on more work increases with the number of workers, which is positive..

This essay aims to analyze based on the theory SEB and Nordea´s credit assessment process against Small enterprises..