Om New Economy Firms strukturella utveckling längs med livscykeln och dess implikationer på organisationernas entreprenörskap - En fallstudie av tre svenska New Economy Firms

Sammanfattning: New Economy Firms (NEFs) are considered being important drivers of economic development and growth in Sweden. Also, entrepreneurship is a widely discussed topic that is considered being essential for firms that are making business in a fast moving landscape. Usually, the growth of companies is put in context of the life cycle. The life cycle further implies that as a company moves from the startup-stage along the curve, the organizational structure increases. Further, increased structure is claimed to impede the entrepreneurial culture within the firm. However, there seems to be a need to complement theory, as the structural development, and thereby its implications on entrepreneurship, is a bit different when it comes to NEFs. The purpose with this thesis is to analyse the implications on the organizational structure when a NEF moves along its lifecycle, and further understand how this affects the entrepreneurship within the organization. In this context, the aim is also to get insight in the importance of entrepreneurship in NEFs. Using theoretical frameworks within the areas of life cycle, structure and entrepreneurship, this will be analysed by conducting a qualitative study of three Swedish NEFs, which have similar characteristics. Analysing the empirics, some conclusions can be drawn. Although the structure increases in these NEFs in some aspects (complexity and decentralisation), formalization does not increase to the same extend. Also, a relation between formalization and entrepreneurship is identified, as formalization seems to be the factor that has a negative effect on the entrepreneurship within NEFs. Other conclusions drawn are that NEFs are to be considered entrepreneurial by nature and that there is a need to be entrepreneurial in order to handle the fast-moving and complex environment these firms are working within. Furthermore, some empirical findings regarding the importance of entrepreneurship in international expansion, and how the long-term work is conducted in NEFs, are analysed and discussed. Conclusively, as NEFs are considered being an important part of the Swedish economy, it is important to complement theory and further study the entrepreneurial behaviour within these firms.