ME2836 Entrepreneurial family firms 7.5 credits

The course introduces students to the broad but complex phenomenon of entrepreneurial family businesses. The course covers many themes that are relevant when starting a new company, or to maintain the entrepreneurial capacity of established family businesses and make them grow. Examples of themes included in the course are: the history of family businesses and the characteristics of entrepreneurial family businesses around the world, strategy, innovation, governance, leadership, generational change, sustainability, finance, entrepreneurship across generations, conflicts and relationships and advice to family businesses.

The purpose of the course is to introduce conceptual tools and theoretical frameworks that can help students better understand entrepreneurial family businesses. The course also contains many practical learning situations with real case studies, guest lectures and possible company visits that concern both new family-based, innovative initiatives and established, long-lived family companies that have maintained and developed their entrepreneurial spirit for centuries. The course mixes examples and experiences from a Swedish environment with a strong international focus and perspective.

After completing the course, students will be able to:

1. Analyze key characteristics, opportunities and challenges that different types of family businesses face and evaluate how these differ from non-family businesses.
2. Integrate main theories, models and concepts in the field of family businesses, and argue for how these can be used to understand different types of entrepreneurial family businesses.
3. Analyze common themes that are important for building entrepreneurial family businesses and making them grow, both from a theoretical and a practical perspective.
4. Integrate and reflect on common challenges and important decisions faced by entrepreneurial family businesses and build appropriate strategies to address these challenges and important decisions in practice.

Achieved the requirements for a Bachelor's degree

If the course is discontinued, students may request to be examined during the following two academic years.

• PRO1 - Project, 7.5 credits, grading scale: A, B, C, D, E, FX, F

Based on recommendation from KTH’s coordinator for disabilities, the examiner will decide how to adapt an examination for students with documented disability.

The examiner may apply another examination format when re-examining individual students.

This course is given within the framework of the SSES collaboration and the examination will take place continuously during the course. To facilitate the administration between the different SSES universities, however, the course in Ladok is reported within the framework of one examination moment.

The student must complete all the course assignments to get a passing grade. The student's grades are based on how they performed in written assignments (individually and in groups), oral presentations and participation during lesson time. Attendance is mandatory on some teaching occasions, and voluntary on others.

Terrence Brown

• All members of a group are responsible for the group's work.
• In any assessment, every student shall honestly disclose any help received and sources used.
• In an oral assessment, every student shall be able to present and answer questions about the entire assignment and solution.

The course is given within the framework of Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship (SSES): www.sses.se