Success factors of entrepreneurial small and medium sized enterprises in the Gnosjö municipality

Sammanfattning: Date of final Seminar: June 8th, 2012 Title: Success factors of entrepreneurial small and medium sized enterprises in Gnosjö municipality Authors:    Johan Eriksson and Muyu Li Group Number: 2898 Supervisor: Michaël Le Duc Examiner: Ole Liljefors Research Question: What important factors affect the success of entrepreneurial SMEs in the Gnosjö municipality? Background: With the economic crisis and recession, the world has begun to take notice of SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises). With an unemployment rate of just 1% and about 1500 companies - most of them successful by almost any definition and with a population of 9500, if there is such a thing as an SME region in Sweden, the Gnosjö municipality is it. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze some of the factors that influence the success of companies with a special focus on entrepreneurial SMEs in the Gnosjö municipality. Method: The main method of this study is to use primary data in the form of interviews with local company owners or executives, with the interview questions being based on theories generated from the critical literature review. The authors are able to distinguish successful SMEs with an entrepreneurial focus among companies located in the Gnosjö municipality. By utilizing the method of semi-structured interviews, the authors gathered data from a sample of 20 top performing companies. With the theory generated from literature, the authors analyze the primary data, thus being able to find the answer to the research question. Conclusion: There is a relationship between general company success factors and factors driving success for companies in Gnosjö. However, compared to best-in-class, there is definite room for improvement, with regards to company operations as well as to the external factors that affect companies in Gnosjö. Keywords: Gnosjö, definition of entrepreneur, definition of success, success factors.