Björn Berggren

About me

Björn Berggren is a professor of business administration and since January 1st, 2023, head of the School of Architecture and the Built Environment. His main research interests are financing of small businesses and entrepreneurship, regional development and issues related to real estate brokerage.

At KTH, Björn has previously been program director for the doctoral program in the built environment, which spans several subjects. He has also been program director for the bachelor's programs in real estate and finance and real estate development with brokerage. Over the past 30 years, he has taught at several Swedish universities in entrepreneurship, real estate, financing and marketing.

Björn defended his doctoral thesis in 2002 at the Department of Business Studies at Uppsala University and was promoted to Associate Professor in Applied Financial Economics at KTH in 2011. In April 2018, he was promoted to Professor of Business Administration at KTH.

Currently, Björn Berggren is primarily active in two different research projects, which are described below.

Entrepreneurship, financing and regional development

Small and medium-sized enterprises are very important for the Swedish economy as they account for a large proportion of new employment in Sweden, develop innovations and contribute to the renewal of the business sector. In order for smaller companies to be able to play these important roles, it is assumed that they can overcome obstacles and seize opportunities in the market. It has been known for some time that access to financing and relevant expertise are among the critical resources that companies must secure in the market.

A clear trend in the banking market in recent decades is that banks are increasingly referring their customers to various digital solutions and at the same time closing local bank branches. Since the beginning of the 1990s, approximately 75 percent of bank branches have disappeared, especially outside metropolitan areas. Bank branches have fulfilled and continue to fulfill an important function in the local financial infrastructure by collecting information of various kinds about local entrepreneurship. Some of this information is soft information that cannot be easily incorporated into a quantitative credit assessment models. This is problematic for companies in the early stages of development that partly lack a history to fall back on.

The results of the research project on the changed financial infrastructure indicate that in regions where the financial infrastructure has been dismantled, fewer new companies are started, something that is problematic for regional development in the long term.

The development of the real estate brokerage profession

Buying a home is one of the most important financial decisions that a person or household makes, but at the same time it is a decision that can be associated with many emotions. A central player in the process of buying a home is the real estate broker who, in the Swedish model, has overall responsibility, which is relatively unique in an international perspective.

The results of the research conducted within the research group have yielded several interesting results. The role of the real estate broker has changed over time, where changes in technology, not least the development of the internet, have meant that transparency in the market has increased significantly. At the same time, it can also be stated that changes in the professional environment, such as increased educational requirements, have meant that Sweden today has some of the world's most well-educated real estate brokers. Furthermore, it can be stated that in order to function as a real estate broker, a high degree of uncertainty acceptance is required, as the profession means that the salary is largely based on a variable part, which is also perceived as motivating by many real estate brokers. Having the right expectations of the profession creates better conditions for a sustainable professional life, but at the same time it can be challenging as the large number of TV shows that deal with real estate brokers are not necessarily a realistic description of the same.