The Evolution of Board Functions in Gazelles

Sammanfattning: This paper describes a multiple case study of 14 Gazelles in Sweden and aims to identify what functions the Board of Directors have in these companies and how these functions evolve. Small companies and Gazelles in particular create the majority of all new jobs and therefore play an important role in society. Previous research on the function of the Board of Directors has been mainly focused on larger companies and provides little support in explaining what function the board has. By studying the 14 Gazelles, we have identified 10 functions that the board has and for each function we have also identified 35 specific tasks that the Board of Directors conduct to perform these functions. By using a lifecycle approach, we have also connected our findings to specific stages of company development. We have mapped the challenges and the increased complexity that Gazelles face as a result of high-growth. We hope that the identified problem areas within the Gazelles in our sample and their respective solutions can constitute as examples of how companies can overcome the increasing complexity that is a result of growth.