Dimo Dimov

Bio: Dimo Dimov is an academic researcher from University of Bath. The author has contributed to research in topics: Entrepreneurship & Venture capital. The author has an hindex of 33, co-authored 117 publications receiving 6158 citations. Previous affiliations of Dimo Dimov include University of Connecticut & IE University.

Nascent Entrepreneurs and Venture Emergence: Opportunity Confidence, Human Capital, and Early Planning

Abstract: Nascent entrepreneurs continuously evaluate the merits of the opportunities they pursue and so can abandon those that lack promise and persist with those that remain attractive. This paper articulates this evolving judgment about the opportunity as the nascent entrepreneur's opportunity confidence. It situates this construct in the context of the nascent entrepreneur's human capital and early planning actions in respect to the pursued opportunity, and in respect to the emergence of the nascent venture. Analyses of PSED data show that opportunity confidence positively affects venture emergence and that, through it, entrepreneurial experience and early planning have only indirect effects on venture emergence. In contrast, industry experience has a direct, positive effect on venture emergence. These results provide some novel insights into the nascent entrepreneurial process as well as into the role of human capital and early planning in that process.

Beyond the Single‐Person, Single‐Insight Attribution in Understanding Entrepreneurial Opportunities

Abstract: This article helps develop the creativity perspective within entrepreneurship in two ways. First, it elaborates on the nature of opportunity as a creative product. Rather than viewing opportunities as single insights, it suggests that they are emerging through the continuous shaping and development of (raw) ideas that are acted upon. Second, rather than attributing them to a particular individual, it highlights the contextual and social influences that affect the generation and shaping of ideas. This helps move entrepreneurship research beyond the single-person, single-insight attribution that currently permeates it.

Time and the Entrepreneurial Journey: The Problems and Promise of Studying Entrepreneurship as a Process

Abstract: We examine the growing disconnect between the process-oriented conception of entrepreneurship taught in the classroom and theorized about in premier journals and the variance-oriented conception of entrepreneurship that characterizes empirical studies of the phenomenon. We propose that a shift in inquiry from entrepreneurship as an act to entrepreneurship as a journey could facilitate process-oriented research by initiating a dialogue about the nature of the entrepreneurial journey, when it has begun and ended, whether it might be productively subdivided into variables or events, and what if anything remains constant throughout the process. Finally, we propose that a clearer understanding of the entrepreneurial journey is necessary to distinguish the field horizontally from research on creativity and strategy, and vertically from research on more practical business functions or more abstract systems-level concepts.

Burst Bubbles or Build Steam? Entrepreneurship Education, Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy, and Entrepreneurial Intentions

Abstract: This paper contextualizes the relationship between student's self-efficacy beliefs and entrepreneurial intentions in the content and pedagogy of the entrepreneurship course. Using the logic of regulatory focus theory, we argue that the nature of the entrepreneurship course-whether theoretically or practically oriented-creates a distinct motivational frame for entrepreneurship in promotion or prevention terms. When coupled with students' self-efficacy beliefs, this frame can strengthen or weaken their intentions for future entrepreneurial efforts. We test this hypothesis through a survey of 114 students enrolled in different entrepreneurship courses at a major British university. Our results show that higher self-efficacy is associated with lower entrepreneurial intentions in the theoretically oriented courses and higher entrepreneurial intentions in the practically oriented courses. We draw a number of implications for the theory and practice of entrepreneurship education.

Human Capital Theory and Venture Capital Firms: Exploring

Abstract: Human capital theory is used to investigate the impact of the education and experience of top management teams (TMTs) on the number of "home runs" (portfolio companies that go public) and "strike outs" (portfolio companies that go bankrupt) experienced by those teams' venture capital firms (VCFs). Taken together, the hypotheses suggest that TMTs with industry experience in law, finance, and consulting, as well as advanced education in business, law, science, and the humanities, have more home runs and fewer strike outs in their portfolios. Data on the education and industry experience of 749 TMT members from 112 VCFs were used to test these hypotheses.Although the data do not support all of the hypotheses, they indicate that general human capital is positively associated with home runs. However, specific human capital (such as law experience or education in the humanities and science) is associated with strike outs.Clearly, particular aspects of human capital contribute to some, but not all, dimensions of performance. (SAA)

The Economic Institutions of Capitalism

Abstract: The 2008 crash has left all the established economic doctrines - equilibrium models, real business cycles, disequilibria models - in disarray. Part of the problem is due to Smith’s "veil of ignorance": individuals unknowingly pursue society’s interest and, as a result, have no clue as to the macroeconomic effects of their actions: witness the Keynes and Leontief multipliers, the concept of value added, fiat money, Engel’s law and technical progress, to name but a few of the macrofoundations of microeconomics. A good viewpoint to take bearings anew lies in comparing the post-Great Depression institutions with those emerging from Thatcher and Reagan’s economic policies: deregulation, exogenous vs. endoge- nous money, shadow banking vs. Volcker’s Rule. Very simply, the banks, whose lending determined deposits after Roosevelt, and were a public service became private enterprises whose deposits determine lending. These underlay the great moderation preceding 2006, and the subsequent crash.