Den gynnsamma länken mellan studenter och näringsliv? : En studie av fem studentkonsultföretag

Sammanfattning: Title: The beneficial link between students and industry? - A study of five student consulting companies Purpose: The study aims to create an understanding of student-consultancy companies' and their interaction with the environment. This purpose resulted in the following research questions: How does student-driven consulting companies’ function? o Which network-related connections do the companies have? o What are the critical factors for the companies? Methodology: A qualitative case study with an abductive approach has been used in this essay, in order to be interpretative. The empirical study is based on five studentconsulting companies where unstructured interviews were conducted with the eight informants who participated. Theoretical framework: The frameworks used to form the basis of the essay is the market mix that will provide an insight into the company, primarily the internal organization, and a stakeholder perspective that will create understanding of its environment. The theoretical models are described from a "consulting industry perspective". Empirical foundation: The empirical material is compiled based on the qualitative case study, where five different companies have been studied, Lunicore, Handels Consulting, Aurora, Gozinto and Linné Consulting. The results of the interviews follow the same structure as in the theoretical framework. Analysis: Based on the empirical material, the case companies have been compared with each other and and the theoretical base. Critical factors and network-related connections are identified and analyzed. Conclusions: The driven students are the most important connection in the network, which together converts knowledge to a value for the customer and then receives unique work experience. A student consulting company can be run as an association with a focus on community or as a profit-driven company with growth objectives. It is important to get legitimacy from the other parties in the network, which can create economic benefits. The student consulting companies can also help to reduce the knowledge drain by increasing the attractiveness of cities. The companies are considered relatively spared from competition, where, due to geographical reasons, they do not compete with each other and are considered inaccessible by senior companies. Critical factors for the companies to function are value words, structural capital, knowledge transfer, updated knowledge, flexibility, value-based pricing, positioning, succession order, adhocracy, commitment from the environment, network-related relationships and location. Key words: Student consulting companies, knowledge companies, social capital, network, competence, knowledge transfer, positioning, branding, relationships, community, commitment, location