STUDY | How accelerators can help entrepreneurs manage contradictions
Being an entrepreneur means constantly balancing between contradictions. Should you stick to your idea or change direction? Grow fast or wait for the right time? Researchers have now studied one of the world’s leading accelerators that helps entrepreneurs turn conflicting demands into drivers of innovation.
NEW RESEARCH | R&D investment in small businesses creates more and better jobs
Companies that invest in research, development and new technologies not only create more jobs – but also better and more skilled jobs. This is according to new research on how business investment affects the labor market in Sweden.
BOOK TIP: Scaling up for sustainability
How do businesses grow fast – and sustainably? This handbook provides an in-depth look at scaling up and high growth, two phenomena that have long been central to economic development and innovation but are still poorly understood.
STUDY | Strategy work can change entrepreneur’s self-image
Working with strategy is not just about plans and growth targets. It also affects how entrepreneurs view themselves and their firms. This is shown by a study of entrepreneurs who participated in a university-based growth program in the UK.
MICROFINANCING | More than money is needed for women to succeed as entrepreneurs
Supporting women with microfinance and entrepreneurship training has long been seen as a fast track to gender equality and poverty reduction. But the results have often been disappointing. A new study has identified the types of support that give women greater freedom and empowerment
STUDY | Communities as entrepreneurs – from local initiatives to global movement
How can local communities create and spread opportunities for sustainable small businesses? That’s the question at the heart of a new study examining the Finnish initiative REKO – Real Consumption. Through an 11-year case study, the researchers show how ordinary people, rather than individual entrepreneurs, can drive sustainable change through self-organization and shared responsibility.
NEW RESEARCH | Energy efficiency is about more than technology – here’s the key small businesses are missing
Many small businesses in Sweden are missing out on major opportunities for energy savings. A new thesis shows that technical solutions are not enough.
BOOK TIPS | Diversity for economic development
Diversity is about a variety of ideas, skills, education, ethnicity, professions, gender, language, culture, technologies and industry structures. In the anthology The Oxford Handbook of Spatial Diversity and Business Economics, several Nordic and international researchers explore how diversity affects the economy, innovation and growth.
NEW STUDY | How companies can keep innovating despite tightening immigration rules – 4 ways forward
As more and more countries tighten their immigration rules, it is becoming more difficult for companies to recruit the highly skilled workforce needed to conduct research and development (R&D). A new study, recently published in the MIT Sloan Management Review, shows that this reduces both the quantity and quality of innovations.
Researcher’s 5 tips for municipalities failing to innovate – “This is what you should do instead”
Swedish municipalities risk getting stuck in old ruts when trying to solve segregation, climate change and other major societal challenges. So what is needed for municipalities to succeed in innovation?