Tillväxt i medelstora företag
En problem- och åtgärdsanalys för tillväxt hos Sveriges "bortglömda" företag
Many sources point to the same conclusion; throughout the history the research sphere, mass media, governmental industry policies and public life in common have not paid the same attention to medium-sized companies as to small, new or large companies in Sweden. Yet, there are some researchers claiming the need for the medium-sized companies to grow, becoming tomorrow?s Swedish new large companies. Hence, the need for understanding the specific growth conditions of the medium-sized companies are definitely clear. This study aims firstly to identify whether there are specific requirements and obstacles for growth in connection to being a medium-sized company. Secondly, if such specific requirements and obstacles can be identified, the study aims to derive recommendations for how to overcome these. The method applied has been inductivistic and the data has mainly been collected through 41 semi-structured interviews with managers for Swedish medium-sized companies within different industries. The empirical data identified six major growth obstacles related to the medium-size of the companies, where the most urgent obstacle was the lack of change management skills and resources for continued growth. The analysis showed that medium-sized companies suffer from a specific disadvantage, where the relative speed of change is very high in comparison to the change management skills and resources at hand. The recommendation for medium-sized companies, to overcome this disadvantage, is to firstly compliment the core competence with additional growth management skills, secondly to enhance the access and use of soft information and action structures for growth decisions and thirdly to seek actively for new value constellations beyond the company?s current.