Research

Current and Recent Research Projects

 

The Role of Social Captial in Cross-Border Entrepreneurial Migration

An increasing number of countries are trying to attract immigrant entrepreneurs through "start-up visa" programs. Our research aims at generating a better understanding of the role of social capital for entrepreneurs that emigrate in order to launch a venture.

Keywords:  Transnational Entrepreneurship,  Immigrant  Entrepreneurship and International Entrepreneurship

Researchers involved: Carin Holmquist and Nedim Efendic

Entrepreneurship Education

Entrepreneurship programs are now a reality at many of the world’s universities and institutes of higher learning. In this project we study the long-term effects of this education initiative, especially pertaining to the issues of self-selection, theory vs practice pedagogics and societal benefits.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship education

Researchers involved: Rasmus Rahm

Well-being and Entrepreneurial Activity

This research concerns the nexus of well-being and entrepreneurial activity. We investigate how and through which mechanisms individuals’ aspirations and well-being are related to entrepreneurial efforts and outcomes. A novel theoretical framework is developed to complement the opportunity based view of entrepreneruship. The framework is tested usingthe Swedish GEM study for the year of 2011. Drawn from the main survey, a cohort of nascent entrepreneurs will be followed every six months along a period of two years.

Keyword: Well-being, Aspirations, Entrepreneurial Activity, Entrepreneurial Intentions

Researchers involved: Nadav Shir

The Swedish panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics

This major research effort covers all types of new firms drawn from a representative sample of nascent enterprises tracked from inception into the early years of a new firm. The absence of such a data set has been a major impediment to the development of a full understanding of the firm creation process. Since the project represents all business start-up activity in Sweden, inferences can be made to the entire population of nascent entrepreneurs. This information has considerable relevance for public policies related to the maintenance of a vigorous entrepreneurial sector in Sweden

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Business development, Nascent entrepreneurship

Reasearchers involved: Mikael Samuelsson

Gender Bias and Credit Granting

It is established that women entrepreneurs have a harder time securing loans for their new ventures than men, and that they pay more for those loans. Replicating and extending previous studies on gender and credit granting, we use experimental designs to analyze how much impact gender has on outcomes in in loan applications.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial finance, Experiment, Gender, Negotiation

Researchers involved:  Carin Holmquist, Erik Wetter and Beldina Owalla

Deregulation, Institutional change and entrepreneurship

This research studies the competitive dynamics of in quasi-regulated and deregulated markets, specifically focusing on the market for schooling in Sweden. We study how the legitimacy of economic activities co-evolve with markets and business practices, using a hand-collected data set following all Swedish vouchers schools started from 1992 and onwards.

Keyword: Deregulation, Institutional change, voucher schools

Researchers involved: Karl Wennberg, Abiel Sebhatu and Stefan Jonsson

Entrepreneurial Motivation and Perceived Resource Availability

While current theorizing on entrepreneurial entry strategies tend to focus on either motivational factors or creative strategies of resource utilization, little attention has been given to the contingencies whereby differences in motivation and (perceived) resource availability elicit and/or hinder certain entrepreneurial processes. This project asks under what conditions differences in motivation and (perceived) resource availability predict divergent types of entrepreneurial entry and learning strategies.

Keyword: Entrepreneurial Motivation, Resource Availability, Entrepreneurial Strategy

Researchers involved: Nadav Shir, Karl Wennberg

Financing of Startup Firms

Startup firms face three major decisions: (i) when should financing be sought after? (ii) what type of financing is appropriate? and (iii) how do funding needs change over time? This project aims to increase our understanding of how various types of Swedish startup firms are financed in general and in particular examine possible links between early financing and subsequent business development.

Keywords: Finance, startups

Researchers involved: Anna Söderblom & Mikael Samuelsson