Social media platforms are an increasingly popular advertising medium, because ofthe opportunities for targeted advertising they provide, but there are also opportunitiesto pay prominent content generators, known as influencers, to publicize brands.This thesis focuses on a case study with Truecaller, a Swedish mobile applicationcompany, advertising in Egypt through a sarcasm page on Facebook. Sarcasm isa very common trait in the everyday life in Egypt and Truecaller is an establishedbrand in the market. The results show that it is more cost effective to pay the sarcasmpage to joke with the company on Facebook, than paying Facebook to promotethe company’s page. The cost per impression was 27% lower, while the cost per userengagement was 31% lower and the cost per user reached was 5% lower. Overall thecampaign increased the number of average application downloads per day by 30%.

Supply chain risk is a challenge, because they can disrupt the supply of components and raw

material to the company. The Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) is reality in today’s

resource-optimized supply systems. Disruption can cause an increase of production cost. In more

serious production breaks it can jeopardize the fulfillment of contracts.

The complexity of supply network increases risk as the rate of dependency on both single and

dual sourcing increases either jointly or separately. When suppliers are placed far away, the risk

of interference in time increases, which is the case of today’s global companies is a common

issue.

A framework has been developed in this study based on previous literature to investigate the

sources of the supply-side risk and its categories, to implement the mitigation strategies the

company can reduce the probability of occurrence of any undesired event and negative impacts.

The proposed framework was applied, in form of a case study, on the global truck manufacturer

Scania. Two managers of the company were interviewed by the author with this purpose.

The main findings indicate that when the framework was applied, mitigation strategies were

effective in truck manufacturing industry such as Scania. In the case of Scania, two more risk

sources that were not included in the framework are monitored by the company, namely safety

and health and security. In summarizing, the establishment of the risk mitigation strategiesmapping

up, follow up, and continuous improvement, leads to improvement of the OEM. Formal

training programs to achieve continuous improvement and the participation of the crossfunctional

groups in the mapping and follow up practices to create a successful supply chain risk

management.

The circular economy (CE) has been identified as a catalyst in sustainable development and economic growth that has the potential to move society from the traditional linear model of resource consumption in the form of take-make-waste to an innovative circular model in the form of reduce-reuse-recycle.

Transitioning from the linear economy to the CE requires changes in four areas: material and product design, business models, global reverse networks and enabling business environments. This study considers the financing needs of CE companies as a result of business model changes.

Through the case studies of Ragn-Sellsföretagen AB and Inrego AB, analysed with secondary data from ING Bank and primary data collected through semi-structured interviews with the case companies, this research sheds more light on the financing needs of circular economy companies and how they are financed.

Findings from this research suggest that the financing needs of circular economy companies depend on the value proposition of the company. In accordance with the pecking order of capital structure, all financing needs of the companies studied are financed from internal sources, particularly retained earnings before external debt financing is accessed. Findings indicate the willingness of banks to finance circular economy companies.

The results of this research suggest that the circular economy companies studied do not need financial support from the government or its agencies to succeed even though favourable laws are welcomed. They report that their long-term success depends on their ability to remain innovative in their business models, aligning with Schumpeter’s creative destruction model.

In acquisition of high-tech and knowledge intensive firms, scholars have paid special attention to top managers’ status after the deal. Literature suggests that these managers in particular CEOs if kept in post-acquisition provide coordination capacity for the acquirer to transfer the knowledge and technology from the target to the acquirer while minimizing the disruptive effect of post-acquisition integration process. In addition, the acquirer benefits from human capital embedded in target’s managerial resources; especially in high-tech and knowledge intensive firms where top managers are founders or patent holders. Although the above mentioned argument have been validated by empirical studies showing that top manager’s turnover reduces the post-acquisition performance for the acquirers, multiple empirical studies have reported abnormal managerial turnover shortly after the acquisition. This thesis made an attempt to explain this puzzling phenomenon by investigating on the determinants of the top manager’s turnover of the target in the post-acquisition period. The study finds that in case of CEOs, acquirers do not rely always on coordinating capacity provided by them in post-acquisition. Indeed, the acquirer’s choice of provision of coordination is beyond the target’s CEO retention. The choice of coordination depends on the existing level of coordination capacities and the acquisition’s motivation. In addition, founder-CEOs are more likely to stay after the acquisition because of their valuable firm-specific human capital for the acquirer. However, this value diminishes by the maturity of the target. In addition, similarity in demographic characteristics of the two CEOs (of the acquirer and target) causes social attraction, collaboration and cooperation which ultimately increases the chance that the target’s CEO retention. Finally, diversity within the target’s top management team (TMT) directly increases their chance of departure after the deal. The diversity engenders social frictions, conflicts and coordination inefficiencies.

This paper investigates on behavioral aspects of managerial turnover in post-acquisition period. In particular, the paper aims to determine to what extent demographic similarity between CEOs improves their (intergroup) relations which ultimately causes target’s CEO retention in post-acquisition. The paper found that similarity in demographic characteristics of CEOs increases the probability of announcing the retention of target’s CEO after the deal is closed. Additionally, similarity increases the probability of misjudgment in determining target’s CEO status in post-acquisition period. Finally, the paper found that experience as the acquirer’s capability reduces the effect of similarity. This results is based on acquisition of small high-tech firms between 2001 and 2005.

The present paper reviews the literature on the role of top management teams (TMT) in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Given variety of theoretical lenses applied in this field - such as agency theory or upper echelon – and the plethora of on-going empirical studies in the last three decades, we believe this literature review has a crucial value for the existing strand of studies and future studies to come. In particular, it systematizes the extant knowledge by documenting the contradictory results of prior empirical studies, making argument on the sources of these contradictions, and pointing out future directions of research.

This study investigates on firm specific human capital of target CEOs in small high-tech firms as the antecedent of their retention after the acquisition. The main finding of the paper is that acquirers are willing to keep the founder-CEOs because of their valuable embedded human capital. This value is to the extent that founder-CEOs compare to professional CEOs have a higher chance of retention when relatedness between acquirer and target is high or when the acquirer structurally integrates the target after the acquisition; the two conditions that general managerial skills and industry specific skills of the CEOs are not of interest for the acquirers. Also the value of firm specific human capital depends on the maturity of the target. The value diminishes as the target is more mature at the time of acquisition. This research is based on empirical analysis of acquisition of small high-tech firms between 2001 and 2005.

In post-acquisition, the main challenge for the acquirer is choosing the right coordination mechanism with respect to the required level of coordination and associated costs of implementation of the mechanism. In acquisition of small high-tech firms, the challenge is exacerbated as technology and knowledge transfer requires high level of coordination while the costs related such as loss of autonomy and organizational disruptions are also higher. In this paper, we showed that acquirer’s choice of coordination mechanisms is determined by the cost-benefit trade-off. In particular, we found that, component technology as a form of task interdependency necessitates higher level of coordination and justifies choosing mechanisms to provide high level of coordination at higher cost. On the contrary, technological relatedness and prior alliance between acquirer and target provide coordination capacity, which in turn reduce the benefits of choosing mechanisms to provide high level of coordination with respect to the associated costs. This study is based on empirical analysis of 403 acquisitions of small high-tech firms between 2001 and 2005. 

This paper proposes a complementary explanation behind the turnover of target’s top managers in post-acquisition periods. Although human capital and acquisition implementation literature describe managerial retention as desirable, empirical studies have reported significant managerial turnover in acquisition of high-tech and knowledge intensive firms. Borrowing some insights from the team diversity literature, the paper examines the ex-ante diversity among top managers of knowledge-intensive and high-tech firms as an antecedent of their turnover in post-acquisition. We argue that diversity reduces the coordination efficiency necessary to transfer knowledge and facilitate post-acquisition organizational integration, and managers belonging to such teams are more likely to be replaced. Empirical analysis drawing on 2164 top managers in 297 Swedish firms shows that managerial position diversity as a separation, pay disparity and industrial tenure diversity as a variety indeed are associated with managerial exit in three years after the acquisition.

We analyse the influence of market thickness for skills on initial wages and the early job market career of university graduates. Using Swedish micro-level panel data on a cohort of graduates, we show that two out of three graduates move to large cities upon graduation. Large cities increase employment probabilities and yield higher rewards to human capital, even after controlling for employment selection. The premium on initial wages for graduates in urban regions is in the interval of 5-6%, and we estimate a wage-growth premium of about 2-4%. Thicker markets for skills appear as a key reason for the concentration of graduates to larger cities.

The Swedish TV market is changing. The number of views moving from the traditional TV-screen to mobile platforms and TV-online is growing. The Swedish television programmers, such as TV4-gruppen, SBS, SVT and MTG has followed this trend and is currently delivering content to their viewers without any middle men through their respective play services. This study looks into how this technological change affects the television market from a consumer and business perspective.

The study is based on a theoretical framework and empirical studies within the television market. The main theories used in this study is: The role of business models in capturing value in new technology and delivering this value to the market, how to handle technological change within organizations and dominant design.

The study shows that the current change in the Swedish television market is already threatening to overthrow the traditional distributors of linear-TV when they no longer have a natural monopoly on the viewers through their distribution infrastructure. The study also shows that one of the major challenges in implementing a successful business model for nonliner-TV is the change of viewer behavior and how this change affects licensing and rights owners.

Few different goods or beverages are as particular as wine in History of humanity, even being the main symbol of luxury and status from days of Rome. Its particular intoxicating effects together its complex and long-term elaboration makes wine one of the biggest attractions for food and beverages lovers.Unfortunately, being one of the most famous beverages in History does not provide wine to be a competitive good without proper commercial strategies. Due the big local offer and costs reduction, markets are saturated and the competitiveness versus other wines and other kind of drinks make more difficult to survive in a diverse and constantly evolving sector. Therefore, internationalization and marketing strategies become the key of success for small and medium size wineries to survive in this business ecosystem.The following thesis explores different marketing strategies developed on different wine markets, taking a small Spanish winery as a case study. In order to give an insight of the current strategies carried out by the company, the author interviews the main direction of the winery and analyse the data collected versus the theoretical framework developed. In addition, two other interviews on different levels of the wine market will be added to reinforce the empirical framework: from a wine import company and form a public institution for the promotion of the Spanish companies.

Time to market can be a decisive factor when bringing a new product or a new company to the market. Sometimes, for not defining strategic plans during the new product development phase, companies fail. According to the Lean Start Up Methodology (LSM), testing market-fit as early as possible and customer focused product development are important to increase the chances of a successful commercialization. The definition of a value proposition based on the market needs is seen as a central point to orchestrate key activities such as teamwork, efficient product development and marketing and finally the commercialization. In Sweden, the nutraceutical industry today represents a dynamic sector that offers novel opportunities to converge scientific discovery with growing consumer interest in health-improving foods.This study discourses on functional food segment, with a focus on probiotic, prebiotic and symbiotic-based products. It included a case study in a new company active in the nutraceutical sector in Sweden (TSL). Their actual strategy for commercializing a symbiotic-based weight loss program will be evaluated, and a new strategy built inspired on LSM Methodology is proposed, with a special focus on value proposition design.

This master thesis deals with the problem statement of how venture capital financing influences the processes and the outcome of a lean startup. Hence, the thesis focuses on the lean methodology and its implementation in startups. The literature review shows that lean is a well-established term and a concept used in various different areas. Nevertheless, in the field of young and emerging ventures, it is fairly new approach. Thus, in combination with VC funding, where also a shift towards less capital and faster cycle times is seen, a research gap can be identified. In other words, the research aims to investigate how the two concepts influence and interact with each other. Moreover, the focus is on measuring if and how the startup's lean operations are affected by the investment. Hence, the thesis concentrates on the entrepreneur's point of view. Empirical data for the research project was gained through five expert interviews with startup founders that evolved an idea and built a company that received venture capital funding at some point. The outcome of the study showed that not the VC firm itself but the vast investment affected the processes and the outcome of the lean startup. Hence, the sudden impact can destabilize the learning circle. Furthermore, part of the startups investigated had to reposition themselves because of changing objectives. In conclusion, the findings imply that certain aspects determine how a cooperation of this two concepts will look. Also, there are factors such time of funding, size of investment and the details of the partnership agreement that will have an impact on the lean concept applied by the startup.

The purpose of this study is to find out how the cultural dimensions effects on management style. In more detailed way this research would like to reveal the differences between the Chinese and Swedish management style based on the Swedish employee viewpoint. Hofstede work-related cultural dimensions and Denison model of organizational culture to high-tech multicultural company has been applied. It is concluded that obvious differences exist between Chinese and Swedish management style and culture has influence on management style. However, since the results are limited in the scope of study cannot be generalized but worth to investigate and validate in future research.

The emergence of the personal computer has had huge impact on society. Implications of which have been difficult to foresee. Following the arrival of the Internet, IT security has become an increasingly important aspect of business. If a firm does not take IT security seriously it may cause major financial loss, and reflect poorly on decision makers. To cater to the needs of businesses, and public sector organizations, the IT security industry has grown fast.

Following this development, Secmaker has emerged as one of the leading IT security companies in Scandinavia. Secmaker AB was founded in 1994 in Stockholm. Their product NetID is a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) system, which allows information to be exchanged securely in a normally insecure environment, for example the Internet. Today they have grown to a staff of 34, consisting mainly of developers and a handful of sales and   anagement employees.

Due the nature of the industry Secmaker has taken the strategic decision to outsource the sales force. Previously when Secmaker’s clients consisted mainly of public sector organizations they have dealt with the sales process themselves. This did not prove to work all the time so when moving into the private sector they decided on using sales partners in order to reach new customers. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and explore the potential risks in outsourcing a sales force. We limited us in investigating the sales process alone. This allowed us to leave the technical aspects of the product to the side, and focus on this phase in which they previously had issues.

The method used in this thesis is a qualitative, inductive, case study. We have collected data  performing semi-­‐structured interviews with key figures in the industry both within Secmaker, and independent. Further this primary data will be analyzed with respect to our theoretical, secondary, data we have collected through a comprehensive literature study.

Surveys of artists' location choices show that they disproportionately reside in large cities. This paper introduces a model that attempts to explain this urban preference. The model includes four factors: access to other artists; access to consumer demand; access to service jobs; and housing affordability. These four factors are combined in a spatial equilibrium model. An equilibrium spatial distribution of artists is derived from the model and is correlated with the actual distribution among Swedish municipalities. Subsequently, the model is used for an econometric estimation of factor effects. The results show that access to other artists and local access to service jobs are important localization factors. Educated labor used as a proxy for consumer demand has a significant effect on artists' location choices.

Unemployment rates differ dramatically across European regions. This article analyses these differences by integrating institutional and spatial perspectives into a unified dynamic framework distinguishing between slow and fast processes of change. The framework forms the basis for an econometric model that is used to analyse labour market differences among European Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques 2 regions. The results of random-effects models indicate that four key factors—all of which are of the slowly changing type—explain a large part of the variation in unemployment as well as employment rates. Flexible labour market regulations and above-average levels of interpersonal trust are institutional factors that reduce unemployment. Accessibility factors such as inter-regional transport connectivity and local access to skilled workers have similarly substantial effects. Whether a region belongs to the Eurozone or not seems to be less important.

Individuals’ and companies’ ability to reach a vast majority of people through scalable solutions have never been more apparent. In addition, the traditional way of creating and capturing value has been challenged by the emergence of the new digital economy. In some industries, new actors that fully appreciate the new set of rules and opportunities have outperformed their traditional peers. Those actors, i.e. Uber and AirBnB, often leverages on a two-sided platform in order to create an appealing value proposition for their customers. Both these success stories also benefit from the sharing economy. Network effects are often closely tied to a two-sided platform. This implies that the perceived value of such a platform is shaped by the actions of the users. This will foster winner-take-all environments and the need to achieve a critical mass in order to be successful. Despite the endless possibilities of the new economy, there is a need to build up a skillset that enabling a structured way of addressing new business opportunities. To some extent, there has never been a more urgent need for understanding how success is accomplished and value captured in this new economy. The purpose of this research is to present a stepwise strategy for a two-sided platform in order to achieve a critical mass. In order to fulfil this purpose, a comprehensive literature review have been conducted, together with interviews with two distinct groups, the distribution of a questionnaire, and work-shops with a Case company with a typical two-sided platform. The first group constituted of experts within the field of two-sided platforms and network effects, situated in Stockholm. The second group constituted of potential users of the case company’s two-sided platform. This group also answered the questionnaire. The main findings from our research is a strategic framework that incorporates factors that are perceived by the experts and the literature as most important in order to achieve a critical mass. Furthermore, these factors could be divided into two dimensions; The phenomenon and Suggested actions. The phenomenon represents an issue that the user of the strategic framework determines as high or low in regards of the specific two-sided platform. Suggested actions provide a plausible solution if the issue need to be addressed. We also motivate why a critical approach in evaluating the platform is preferable. In addition, the strategic framework is developed to be used in an iterative manner, thus capturing the desire to propose a stepwise strategy. The experts in our population brings up a set of important factors that also are strengthened by the literature. These factors lay the foundation of the strategic framework. Although we are aware that the strategic framework is highly dependent on the results retrieved from the interviews, our final recommendation is that it should be used as support to the initial strategy, thus lowering the likelihood of unexpected pitfalls.

Inter-firm job switching of workers is a much cited but seldom measured source of the productivity advantages of spatial employment density. It has been advanced as a conduit for localized knowledge flows as well as labor market matching efficiency. Using a matched employer-employee dataset for Sweden, we estimate the influence spatial employment density has on the probability of inter-firm job switching of private sector workers. Our estimates suggest that a doubling of employment density per square kilometer increases the probability that a random worker switches employer by 0.2 % points. The same effect is substantially higher for more skilled workers. While the effect of a doubling of density is limited, the actual differences in density across the regions in our data amount to a factor over 40, rendering differences in density an important explanation for regional variations in rates of inter-firm job switching.

This paper examines the characteristics of spinoffs in Sweden. Using a matched employee-employer dataset for the time period 2001 to 2007, the purpose of this paper is to investigate if there are any differences between spinoffs that originate from multinational enterprises versus spinoffs that originate from domestic firms. The main hypothesis tested in this paper is that spinoffs from multinational enterprises will have lower hazard rates due to possessing some type of ownership advantage. The hypothesis is tested with duration analysis and a piecewise exponential hazard model that allows to control for important variables. The results from the empirical analysis does not give any support to the hypothesis that being a spinoff from a multinational parent decreases the hazard rate. However, results from a comparative duration analysis indicate that there are some differences between spinoffs from multinational and domestic parents. Another novel finding of the paper is that the hazard rate of a spinoff is an increasing function of the ratio of foreign employees.

Researchers have established a relationship between greater education and training and higher earnings but it is difficult to infer that the former causes the latter if those with higher earnings tend to engage in more education and training. The present study attempts to control for ability and family background to see if stronger inferences can be made about education and training as the independent variable. The study focuses upon advanced vocational education and training (AVET) in Sweden. This is post-secondary school education for individuals who are 20 years of age or older. The aim of this article is to estimate the effects of AVET on earnings by controlling for selection bias. We used various approaches such as instrumental variables, Hausman–Taylor estimates, fixed effects estimates and propensity score matching to achieve this aim. A panel, or longitudinal, data set for eight different labor markets in Sweden for the period 1996–2008 was used. The results indicate that earnings from AVET are higher than the return on investment in comprehensive education. The average effect on income is estimated to be in the range of 3–8 percent.

The financial sector stands for an important part of society’s fundamental infrastructure andnational economy. Previous financial crises indicate the importance of having a well-regulatedfinancial market. Former directives of regulating the insurance industry had insufficient solvencyregulations and were lacking in risk management. Therefore, the regulatory framework SolvencyII, the successor to Solvency I, has been established on the European market. The objective ofSolvency II is to ensure consumer protection by ensuring insurance companies properly reflectthe risks their businesses are vulnerable to.The regulatory framework Solvency II came into force in the turn of 2015/2016. However, it hasbeen on every insurers’ agenda for years and preparations have been done. It is therefore ofinterest to investigate how Swedish insurance companies have adjusted to Solvency II at an earlystage after the transition.This has been investigated by conducting interviews with mainly Chief Risk Officers and RiskManagers at Swedish insurance companies. As a complement, a questionnaire was distributed toasset and capital managers, having insurers as customers, regarding their perception of insurers’changes in investment behaviors.The findings of this study imply that insurance companies have had a compliance focus to adoptthe regulation rather than a business focus. No indications of adjustments to corporate businessstrategy has yet been noticed. However, some companies have developed a risk culture withinthe organizations. The extensive reporting and calculations of capital that Solvency II entails, haslead to implementations of new systems and processes for companies. It is further noticed thatSwedish insurance companies use the standard model for calculating the capital requirements.Solvency II has lead to increased understanding of the trade-off between capital, risk, and returnby holding a risk-adjusted capital. Also, an increased engagement of employees in the riskmanagement process has been noticed. The companies are aligned with the ORSA process, sinceit is one of the requirements, and are aware of the potential benefits the ORSA process cancontribute to. Lastly, this study indicates an improved risk awareness and culture within theinsurance companies by educating existing employees and employing new competentemployees.

The Autonomous Vehicle is about to enter the mass-market. The question is not about when it will happen but in which conditions, under which form or who will be the first car manufacturer to release an efficient and reliable final product.By now, the equation has not been solved, due to the high price of the technologies needed, the lack of solutions to provide a reliable network, and the necessity to change conventions established a long time ago in terms of responsibility of the driver.Depending on who is talking, the Autonomous vehicle is not only an evolution of a previous product, which is able to evaluate and to progressively transform into something different that we could call a self-driven car. This innovation is one step further and is challenging everything that was established until now in terms of objective criteria expected from a car. This is why some are calling this a disruptive innovation, or even a revolution, in the sense that it has the power to totally change the way we are interacting with our everyday transportation system.To enter into the market, this technology, this product, will have to overcome some challenges, on the technological side but also on the psychological side of his future clients.Therefore, this thesis research analyses why this innovation could be the future of the Automotive industry, where it is coming from, what are the challenges it will have to overcome, which will be the impacts, and the different possible scenarios.

Swedish public transport organizations have set an objective to double usage of the public transport during the next coming five years. This study attempts to investigate if the current ticket solutions support the goal of the public transport companies, and if the available mobile phone solutions can lower barriers for consumers. In order to do that, critical travelling moments for users of different market segments were estimated during a pre-study stage. The following focus group discussions helped to validate problems identified during the pre-study. At the same time, focus groups provided deeper consumer insights on general consumer perception of the transport service, ticketing, mobile payment, quality of service, consumer expectations related to the public transport services, and consumer satisfaction and loyalty.

The conducted research helped to identify problems existing in public transport ticketing and mobile payment areas, which have the negative impact on the usage of the public transport service and contribute with additional barriers for users. Moreover, this conclusion is supported by multiple examples that clearly illustrate what does not work, and why it does not work. Hence, mentioned solutions do not support the overall objective of the public transport operators. The comprehension of these problems and barriers can contribute to a better understanding of consumer needs and expectations, and help the public transport service providers to improve the service.

One of the main areas of mobile payment application in Sweden is mobile public transport ticketing. The main stakeholders involved in this service are mobile network operators, mobile payment service providers, SMS ticket’s “technology solution” providers, public transport companies, and consumers.

Traditionally, mobile operators have had a strong position in this niche since the mobile phone bill or pre-paid subscriptions were used for end-user billing. Due to financial regulation, this situation was changed in February 2013 when new SMS payment solutions were introduced for all public transport companies in Sweden. A number of new actors entered the scene, and the position of existing actors changed dramatically. At the same time, the Swedish mobile operators formed a joint venture, 4T Sweden, offering a new mobile payment solution – WyWallet.

The main focus of this paper is on the change of expectations of different stakeholders taking part in provisioning of SMS payment services. Analysis has been performed by comparison of the initial expectations before the introduction of the new SMS payment system and the real outcome in approximately half a year time. Analysis revealed the fact that expectations of a number of stakeholders about mobile payment services did not come true. Moreover, due to barriers set by the mobile payment solution, mobile payment transactions in public transportation is dramatically lower than what SMS payments were before the market changed.

Freemium have in recent years become the top grossing payment model for games on mobile platforms. Knowledge about future expected customer behavior is crucial in order to optimize the continuous development of a freemium game and the purpose of this thesis is to investigate to what extent expected future propensity to play diers between paying and non-paying freemium game players. Moreover, this study also analyzes how the attitudes toward paying diers between players of dierent freemium game genres.

Using a framework developed in this thesis, the structure and design offive top grossing freemium games are investigated with a case study.

To fulll the purpose of the study, a questionnaire with over 3500 responses is used to survey freemium game players' attitudes and expectations.

It is rstly concluded that there do exist a dierence in future propensity to play between paying and non-paying players. Secondly, it is also shown that there exist dierences in future propensity to play between paying and nonpaying players between dierent freemium game genres. Lastly, it is concluded that the attitudes toward paying dier between players of dierent freemium game genres.

This introduction to the special issue "The Geography of Innovation and Entrepreneurship" in the Annals of Regional Science surveys a collection of nine papers which consider agglomeration economies and spatial heterogeneity of regions and firms through the lenses of innovation and entrepreneurship. They all make use of extensive and detailed data sources that enable models to provide a richer picture of how firms, industries and regions are affected by innovation and entrepreneurship but also how these entities shape and foster renewal. These factors include spatial concentration, industry composition, labor market characteristics, immigration, firm characteristics, R&D activities and R&D collaboration. The papers add to the understanding of the geography of innovation and entrepreneurship by suggesting alternative ways of identifying spillovers, combing and integrating internal and external knowledge sources, and by estimating the impact on innovation, new firm formation and growth.

Based on unique data covering individuals, firms, industries and regions for the 1999–2005 period, we contribute with new knowledge concerning the impact of regional variables on spin-offs. Implementing a large number of controls, as well as different estimation techniques and robustness tests, we show that Jacobian externalities have a positive effect on spin-offs. Moreover, using an entropy measure to disentangle unrelated and related variety (RV), we conclude that the effect is confined to RV. These findings are likely to be associated with strong welfare effects: a standard deviation increase (decrease) in related (unrelated) variety increases spin-off propensity by approximately 25%. Other variables are shown to have economic effects of a similar magnitude but may have a different effect across sectors. Sensitivity analyses indicate that the impact of other determinants proposed in the literature (e.g., Marshallian externalities and scale effects) is too small to be detected.

Drawing on the reputation literature and signaling theory, this article builds on work that looks at patents as reputation signals.We build a multi-industry database of patents that expire due to lack of maintenance fee payments and test for a relationship between these patents and the firm’s IPO date.We find a significant and positive relationship between the likelihood of patents expiring due to lack of maintenance fee payments and the time to IPO. We also find that patents associated with firms which are not venture capital backed,are more likely to expire. Our findings suggest that patents that are used for signaling intentions are more likely to be underutilized.Implications for research and policy are discussed.

Today universities have taken on a “thirdmission”, besides teaching and research. The universities as knowledge producers have taken a larger role  in the economic development and there is an entrepreneurial academic trend going on.  In this paper we

will go deeper in to one type of these entrepreneurial activities of the university: industry sponsored university competitions. The aim  is to investigate value  generated  for participants. This is done through a  case study of Collaborative University  Competitions (CUC) and our research question  is therefore: What type  of value is created,if  any, and how is it created  for  theuniversity participants in  a Collaborative University Competition? To  answer this question the qualitative study was  conducted. It consisted  of literature review on  related topics, ata  collection through semi structured interviews of the Lund university participants, and qualitative data analysis with the help of reviewed literature.

Our findings suggest  that  the participants in a CUC

receive different values  such as financial, social, organizational and intrinsic.  When we

investigated how this  value is created three main categories were found:  collaborative

activities, individual activities (for example individual work, weekly meetings), and other factors such as having a third party arranging the competition and team structure.

Understanding what type of value that  is created and which activities contribute to its creation gives a better understanding of how  to manage barriers when the university collaborates with the industry. Our  findings can help other universities that  want to engage in similar  competitions to understand what value they may get. Also, the findings can  be used by   the university, industrial company or  intermediary organization to organize  the industry sponsored university competitions that create value  for university participants, not  only the company.

The researcher has investigated what factors influence a startup in an international public-private-partnership (PPP). The researcher has designed an exploratory study with a case study on Greenely, which is a Stockholm-based startup that has developed an application to monitor the household’s electricity consumption. The theoretical framework covers topics such as the diffusion of innovations (in particular eco-innovations in the form of smart meters in Europe), business models, the Business Model Canvas, and public-private-partnerships. The researcher conducted semistructured interviews with employees of the municipality of Cesena, Italy and with employees of Greenely, which is interested in expanding its offerings to Italy via partnerships. This study has shown that the factors that should influence a  tartup in an international PPP are, mainly, five: Funding, Language and cultural identity, Timeline, Common vision and Bureaucracy. The factors “Funding” and “Common vision”, in particular, influence the PPP the most.

We provide empirical evidence of both (1) price dispersion and (2) credit rationing in the corporate loan market. We argue that these properties are caused by two factors: an adverse selection resulting from the information asymmetry between lenders and borrowers, and search frictions in matching borrowers with lenders. We develop a model of loan markets in which lenders post an array of heterogeneous contracts, then borrowers tradeoff terms of loan contracts and matching probability between themselves. We show that a unique separating equilibrium exists where each type of borrower applies to a certain type of contract.

With a special focus on the field of nanotechnology, this paper investigates motivations of academic scientists to interact with industry. The study is based on a survey of 181 nanoscientists from various disciplines and universities in Turkey. We identified three main motivations for interacting with industry: 1) to increase resources for academic research; 2) to learn from firms; 3) to commercialise research results. We found that in nanotechnology, commercialisation of research outcomes is an important motivation. In general, the importance of motivations differs according to the forms of engagement. Consulting is motivated by commercialisation while research-based interactions are driven by aims to commercialise or to learn from firms. Finding new financial resources for academic research is a strong impetus for informal interactions.

The clothing retail industry has developed globally and is today one of the world’s largest industries. In recent years, Sweden has developed a competitive fashion industry, where the new trend in e-commerce is clear. Since e-commerce is a suitable strategy for rapid growth, it is especially important for managers to understand the impact e-commerce has on their businesses. To be able to have the ability to survive in the long-term industrial competitiveness, firms have to continuously improve their knowledge base about the factors that must be considered when choosing sales channels in the clothing retail industry.

In this master thesis we have studied and analysed factors that must be considered when choosing sales channels. A literature review was done, where eleven initial factors that affect the choice of sales channels were identified. Thereafter, to conduct a comprehensive empirical study, we conducted eight case studies with semi-structured interviews with companies in the Swedish clothing retail industry, founded no longer than approximately a decade ago to cover the recent developments in the industry. The empirical study resulted in that six factors from the literature were reinforced and that four new factors were identified. These ten final factors were thereafter analysed from two main perspectives: company focus and consumer focus. Finally, the impact of the final factors on the three different sales channels; online, brick-and-mortar and retailing, was discussed. The ten final factors are: Marketing and Customer Loyalty, High Costs, Customer Behaviour, Outsourcing or Insourcing, Managerial Productivity, Intangibility and Tangibility, Fill a Gap, Customer Experience Control, Spread of Distribution and Type of Assortment. Our contribution to previous research is that this study has a more distinct company focus, and due to the development of e-commerce this study has captured the new characteristics of the industry.

European venture capital has performed poorly over its history, with unsatisfactory returns still today. Taking into account the numerous quantitative studies made on the subject presented in the literature review and by comparing to the US, a simplified conclusion might be that European venture capital performance would have been better if investments had been undertaken in greater volumes, with more of a focus on early stage and more specialisation in terms of a sectorial and technical focus. However this study shows that other, much less measurable variables play a crucial role in venture capital performance.

Moving away from these structural variables, best performance practice will ultimately dependon culturally linked features. This study had the ambition to identify these features by intervie ing prominent and long-time experienced persons within the high performing funds in Europe and US. Their combined answers result in four main points, which embrace the key aspects, this study concludes essential for explaining the performance gap between European and US venture capital. The immaturity of the venture capital market in Europe has not yet fostered an enough high level of experienced people needed to take a venture go from good to success. A high concentration of first class institutions and universities forminga hub for research, innovation and business development, provides with the best conditions for a prosperous venture capital industry, the ultimate example being Silicon Valley. The spirit of entrepreneurialism in combination with highly skilled people, people with risk appetite, and high capital supply altogether forms the kind of ecosystem, ideal to successful venture capital fund performance. Finally, the structural variable playing a crucial role to the level of success is the easy access to a liquid stock market adapted to venture backed companies. In Europe, there is no single small cap market, facilitating exit, along the lines of NASDAQ. European exit markets are too fragmented, marginal and not adapted to the kind of companies coming out of venture capital. Even though the barriers to go public are reasonable, the listing cannot be considered an exit unless there is liquidity, which seems not to be the case on European markets.

Innovation is increasingly viewed as the key to elevate prosperity and secure sustainable long-run growth. The last decades have witnessed a refinement of previous growth models to include also investments in education by individuals and R&D by firms. Better educated individuals and increased expenditure on R&D is then shown to result in innovations and accelerated growth. The issues discussed in this chapter refer to how innovative opportunities arise and are exploited, whether the normative conclusions of contemporary growth models are derived from a realistic micro-economic setting, and suggestions as to how these models can be improved in order to provide appropriate guidance for policy-makers. More precisely, there seems to be a missing link between the production of knowledge and its conversion to societal economic value. Whereas the neoclassical growth model attributed knowledge production to an exogenous 'technical residual', current knowledge based growth models assume the diffusion of to take place exogenously or can be attributed an 'entrepreneurial residual'.

Entrepreneurship can have important positive effects linked to job creation, wealth and income generation, innovation and industry competitiveness. Scholars and policy-makers around the world have turned to the regulatory environment as a mechanism through which entrepreneurship can be encouraged, grown and its economic benefits harnessed. The effect of regulatory conditions on entrepreneurship however is not well understood, and can be nuanced given the wide range of regulatory tools and possible areas of impact. This paper serves as the introduction to a special issue, which seeks to shed some light on the relationship between regulation, firm dynamics and entrepreneurship. We identify some foundational considerations relevant to this relationship and discuss key questions, followed by a brief overview of each of the papers contained in the special issue.

By utilising a Swedish unique, matched employer-employee dataset that has been pooled with firm-level patent application data, we provide new evidence that knowledge workers’ mobility has a positive and strongly significant impact on firm innovation output, as measured by firm patent applications. The effect is particularly strong for knowledge workers that have previously worked in a patenting firm (the learning-by-hiring effect), but firms losing a knowledge worker are also shown to benefit (the diaspora effect), albeit more weakly. Finally, the effect is more pronounced when the joining worker originates in another region.

According to the knowledge-based spillover theory of entrepreneurship (KSTE), entrepreneurship is positively associated with the knowledge endowment level. An increase in knowledge expands the opportunity set, which is then exploited by heterogeneous entrepreneurs. The objective of this paper is to empirically test the validity of the KSTE by employing a detailed database comprising more than 19 million observations for the period 2001–2008 at the level of individuals, firms and regions in Sweden. Knowledge is claimed to be partly embodied in labour, implying that an increase in labour mobility can be expected to influence knowledge endowment at the regional level. Our dependent variable is an individual who has remained in a region throughout the time period considered. Controlling for a number of other variables, inter-regional labour inflows and intra-regional mobility levels are shown to exert a strong positive effect on entrepreneurship. This contrasts with inter-regional outflows, which negatively affect entrepreneurial entry. Another noteworthy result is that the probability of exploiting an increased knowledge stock through entrepreneurship increases by 15 % points if the individual has previous experience in starting a firm.