Från miljonprogram till Million Dollar Listing? - En studie om affärsmässiga principer i allmännyttiga bostadsbolag

Sammanfattning: Public housing represents a significant part of the Swedish house market. Approximately 15% of the Swedish population rent their home from a publicly owned real estate company, a share that represents around 50% of all apartments rented out on the market (SCB, 2015). However, over the last decade the opinion has developed towards a more liberal approach on the housing market, and accordingly the role of the public housing companies has changed. Since 2011 public housing companies are required by law to operate like any other commercial company, whilst still having a responsibility for improving the housing market locally. Therefore, this thesis aims to find out whether the public housing sector has transferred to operating in a commercial manner and thus, changed its financial outcome. The thesis also examines if other factors, such as the political majority, have any impact on the financial performance measures. The study's main perspectives set out in management control, institutional theory as well as earlier studies in profitability. The main study was conducted by analysing data from 30 public housing companies. In addition, six interviews with CEOs at these companies were carried out. The main conclusion from the study is that there are significant differences in the financial outcomes since the requirement of operating commercially was introduced. The results also confirm earlier research in institutional theory, thus, these theories are applicable in Swedish, public contexts. Further implications states that the size of the company has a significant impact on the implication of new strategies and standards, however, no significant impact could be observed regarding the political majority.