The emergence of a global education industry (GEI), driven by policies of economisation, marketisation, and privatisation, has led to a growing research interest in commercial actors’ production and delivery of diverse educational products and services (Parreira do Amaral et al. 2019; Verger et al., 2016; 2017). A relatively under-researched segment of the GEI (for exceptions see Carlbaum & Rönnberg, 2023; Falkenberg, 2022) is the expanding international early childhood education and care (ECEC) market and business. Nordic corporate actors also play a significant role in the expansion of corporate-owned preschools following marketisation and privatisation reforms.  For instance, Norwegian businesses now own and operate preschools in countries such as Sweden, Finland, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Hong Kong, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. While such corporate expansion is partly taking place through organic growth, a substantial portion also occurs via business transfers, mergers and acquisitions (Moss, 2022; Simon et al 2022). In countries such as Sweden, Norway and Finland, smaller privately single-owned preschools are being acquired by larger for-profit preschool businesses including large corporate groups with international operations (Carlbaum & Rönnberg 2023; Trætteberg et al. 2023). As such market consolidation is taking place. ECEC centres, including their location, real estate, inventories, staff, reputation, children and waiting lists, become commodities in business transfers, ownership takeovers and preschool acquisitions. Thus, we observe not only a market of parents as consumers purchasing preschool services, whether through publicly funded childcare vouchers or private means, but also “a market of businesses seeking to buy other businesses” (Moss, 2022 p.7). These processes are sometimes facilitated by external consultants in the form of business brokers, i.e. professionals with expertise in the sale of private companies.

This paper explores the business of preschool acquisitions in Sweden, a national setting in which one in five children currently attends a privately operated preschool and larger corporate actors are increasing their share of ownership. It focuses on the rationales, practices and experiences of preschool business transfers, by examining the following questions:

-         How do private preschool transfers occur, and on what grounds?

-         What strategies are used to integrate the transferred preschools into new company structures?

-         How do principals and preschool staff experience this process?

Thus, this paper aims to facilitate a discussion on the various manifestations of business transfers and commodification within the preschool segment of the GEI, which, we argue, holds implications for conceptions of what preschool is and should be, including what can and cannot be commodified.

We draw upon literature on marketisation, privatisation, and commodification (Hogan & Thompson, 2021; Vandenbroek et al., 2022), in which marketisation is seen as an overarching concept that encompasses “a series of policy logics that aim to create quasi-markets” (Hogan & Thompson, 2021, p. 2) whereas privatisation is regarded as a policy tool to facilitate such marketisation by opening up public services (in this case preschool) to private actors. The interplay of these processes may lead to a consolidation of the market through ‘corporatisation’, i.e. when the childcare market is increasingly dominated by large multinational corporate groups (Moss, 2022). The concept of commodification refers to the transformation of preschool into a commodity, where we particularly focus on the practices and assumptions of preschools themselves being commodities, akin to any business being bought and sold (cf. Vanderbroek et al 2022). Additionally, we draw on institutional theory (Sahlin & Wedlin, 2008) to explore the ideas and strategies that shape the practices of preschool acquisitions and the lived experiences of various actors, in the re-organisation processes that follow including how pedagogical ideas are (re-)circulated after the change in ownership.

Since far-reaching marketisation and privatisation reforms were introduced in Sweden in the 1990s, and more specifically regarding preschool in the early 2000s, a for-profit education industry has emerged. While there are still many singled-owned private preschools, both for- and non-profit, the preschool market is changing. The four now largest corporate actors, some of which have international owners, own approximately 100 or more preschools each and there are several other large- and medium-sized actors present. The data used for this paper has been generated within two ongoing research projects, Preschool as a market and Preschool on export and import. It includes interviews with three business brokers on practices and experiences of preschool transfers and 15 large or medium sized private preschool actors on takeovers, expansion and incorporation of new preschools. Furthermore, the data includes visits to and interviews with principals and preschool staff at three preschools that have experienced changes in ownership. The preschools are located in the capital region of Sweden, where private preschools are common (enrolling over 50 per cent of the children) and where several large actors operate. The three preschools are owned by different private actors, of different sizes, and business structures. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed, adhering to the ethical guidelines set forth by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet, 2024). The material was analysed through an abductive process, grounded in data and informed by pre-existing theory. Initially, a qualitative content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) was conducted, guided by our research questions to identify themes within the data. Subsequently, the concepts of ‘translation’, ‘sensemaking’, and ‘institutional pressure’ (Sahlin & Wedlin, 2008) were employed to re-examine our initial categorisations within the context of take-overs and business transfers. In the final stage of analysis, we concentrated on how assumptions and practices of business transfers construct and sustain commodification.

Preliminary findings indicate that, from the seller’s perspective, retirement has formerly been a strong reason why single-owners put their preschool business on the market for sale. However, intensified national regulation and municipal supervision have also become contributing factors, making it harder to be small a single-owner, lacking for instance administrative capacity and legal support, etc. For the seller, the ‘right’ buyer, is ideally an actor who can ensure a continuation of the specific preschool’s practice, someone who shares their philosophy and is committed to the pedagogical profile. From the perspective of the buyer, transfers, mergers and acquisitions are often conducted after careful investigation and collection of various business intelligence, such as market shares, birth rates, real estate developments, waiting lists, nearby competitors, availability of staff, etc and the level of the municipal childcare voucher commodifying both children and preschools like any other product and service. A related yet distinct rationale is visible in narratives of buyers that position themselves as ‘saviors’, that are approached by sellers to take over preschools facing quality issues or are unable to attract enough children, etc. From the viewpoint of those being bought, the preschool staff and parents, it can be both challenging and emotional. As transfers can be surrounded by for instance extensive business secrecy, etc. their announcement can create feelings of both anxiety and uncertainty. A balancing act of institutional pressures to both change and keep one’s own uniqueness is enacted through sensemaking and translations (Sahlin & Wedlin, 2008) in a variety of ways. We conclude by discussing what these business transfers, along with the increasing ownership and delivery of European preschool by corporate actors, mean for our understanding of preschool and what money can and cannot, or should or should not, buy (cf. Sandel, 2012).

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