Showing papers on "Entrepreneurship published in 2012"

Academic Engagement and Commercialisation: A Review of the Literature on University-Industry Relations

Abstract: A considerable body of work highlights the relevance of collaborative research, contract research, consulting and informal relationships for university-industry knowledge transfer. We present a systematic review of research on academic scientists’ involvement in these activities to which we refer as ‘academic engagement’. Apart from extracting findings that are generalisable across studies, we ask how academic engagement differs from commercialization, defined as intellectual property creation and academic entrepreneurship. We identify the individual, organizational and institutional antecedents and consequences of academic engagement, and then compare these findings with the antecedents and consequences of commercialization. Apart from being more widely practiced, academic engagement is distinct from commercialization in that it is closely aligned with traditional academic research activities, and pursued by academics to access resources supporting their research agendas. We conclude by identifying future research needs, opportunities for methodological improvement and policy interventions. (Published version available via open access)

Global Education Inc.: New Policy Networks and the Neoliberal Imaginary

Abstract: 1. Networks, Neo-Liberalism and policy mobilities 2. Doing Neo-liberalism - markets and states, and friends with money 3. Transnational Advocacy Networks and Policy Entrepreneurship: Indiana Jones, business and schooling of the poor 4. 'New' Philanthropy, Social Capitalism and Education Policy 5. Policy as Profit: selling and exporting policy 6. Education as Big Business 7. Money, Meaning and Policy Connections

Venturing for Others with Heart and Head: How Compassion Encourages Social Entrepreneurship

Abstract: Social entrepreneurship has emerged as a complex yet promising organizational form in which market-based methods are used to address seemingly intractable social issues, but its motivations remain undertheorized. Research asserts that compassion may supplement traditional self-oriented motivations in encouraging social entrepreneurship. We draw on research on compassion and prosocial motivation to build a model of three mechanisms (integrative thinking, prosocial cost-benefit analysis, and commitment to alleviating others' suffering) that transform compassion into social entrepreneurship, and we identify the institutional conditions under which they are most likely to do so. We conclude by discussing the model's contribution to and implications for the positive organizational scholarship literature, entrepreneurship literature, and social entrepreneurship literature.

Effectuation, Causation, and Bricolage: A Behavioral Comparison of Emerging Theories in Entrepreneurship Research:

Abstract: This study provides a critical examination of how different theoretical perspectives in entrepreneurship research translate into individual behavior, and whether such behavior is evident in the creation and development of new ventures. Using an alternative templates research methodology, the behaviors underlying the theories of effectuation, causation, and bricolage are evaluated to see whether such behaviors are observable in case study data describing the early development of six new ventures. The analysis highlights behavioral similarities and differences between the various theoretical perspectives in entrepreneurship research, providing insight into how these perspectives contrast and complement one another, and how they could be integrated in future research.

Innovation for Inclusive Growth: Towards a Theoretical Framework and a Research Agenda

Abstract: Inclusive innovation, which we define as innovation that benefits the disenfranchised, is a process as well as a performance outcome. Consideration of inclusive innovation points to inequalities that may arise in the development and commercialization of innovations, and also acknowledges the inequalities that may occur as a result of value creation and capture. We outline opportunities for the development of theory and empirical research around this construct in the fields of entrepreneurship, strategy, and marketing. We aim for a synthesis in views of inclusive innovation and call for future research that deals directly with value creation and the distributional consequences of innovation.

Reflections on the 2010 AMR Decade Award: Delivering on the Promise of Entrepreneurship As a Field of Research

Abstract: I examine the impact of the 2010 AMR Decade Award article on the entrepreneurship field over the past ten years, identifying aspects of “The Promise of Entrepreneurship As a Field of Research” that have been largely accepted by the field, those that the field has challenged, and those that the field has found to be unclear. I also correct errors made in the earlier work and discuss how the field of entrepreneurship has evolved in response to the publication of the original article.

What are we learning from business training and entrepreneurship evaluations around the developing world

Abstract: Business training programs are a popular policy option to try to improve the performance of enterprises around the world. The last few years have seen rapid growth in the number of evaluations of these programs in developing countries. This paper undertakes a critical review of these studies with the goal of synthesizing the emerging lessons and understanding the limitations of the existing research and the areas in which more work is needed. It finds that there is substantial heterogeneity in the length, content, and types of firms participating in the training programs evaluated. Many evaluations suffer from low statistical power, measure impacts only within a year of training, and experience problems with survey attrition and measurement of firm profits and revenues. Over these short time horizons, there are relatively modest impacts of training on survivorship of existing firms, but stronger evidence that training programs help prospective owners launch new businesses more quickly. Most studies find that existing firm owners implement some of the practices taught in training, but the magnitudes of these improvements in practices are often relatively modest. Few studies find significant impacts on profits or sales, although a couple of the studies with more statistical power have done so. Some studies have also found benefits to microfinance organizations of offering training. To date there is little evidence to help guide policymakers as to whether any impacts found come from trained firms competing away sales from other businesses versus through productivity improvements, and little evidence to guide the development of the provision of training at market prices. The paper concludes by summarizing some directions and key questions for future studies.

Exploring the dynamics of gender, feminism and entrepreneurship: advancing debate to escape a dead end?:

Abstract: Contrary to the neo-liberal thesis that entrepreneuring is an open and accessible endeavour where personal effort alone determines reward and status, it has been demonstrated that there is a persistent, but occluded, gender bias within the entrepreneurial discourse. Accordingly, women are positioned as lacking and incomplete men; however, despite calls to employ feminist theory as an analytical frame to demonstrate the reproduction of such subordination, there is scant evidence this has emerged. Within this article, we respond to this call by demonstrating how post structural feminist analysis reveals the gendered assumptions informing entrepreneurship theory that embed prevailing hetero-normative assumptions. These assumptions limit the epistemological scope of contemporary research which positions women as failed or reluctant entrepreneurial subjects; as such, in the absence of feminist theorizing these analyses remain descriptive rather than explanatory. Accordingly, the current entrepreneurial research agenda is in danger of reaching an epistemological dead end in the absence of a reflexive critical perspective to inform the idea of who can be and what might be an entrepreneur. Finally, we draw upon these arguments to reflect upon current approaches to theorizing within the broader field of entrepreneurial enquiry.

The development of an entrepreneurial university

Abstract: An entrepreneurial society refers to places where knowledge-based entrepreneurship has emerged as a driving force for economic growth, employment creation and competitiveness. In this context, entrepreneurial universities play an important role as both knowledge-producer and a disseminating institution. In the literature, several studies contributed with relevant findings. Most of these studies reveal a tendency to use case studies to explain this phenomenon justified by the embryonic nature of the topic field, and with the lack of a robust theoretical framework to understand it. No empirical study, however, has highlighted the interrelations among environmental and internal factors that conditioned the development of entrepreneurial universities with the teaching, research and entrepreneurial missions that they need to achieve. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of these interrelations identifying the most critical factors that conditioned these missions and to this end brings a proposal model to measure this phenomenon empirically in the light of the Institutional Economics and the Resource-Based View. The methodology adopted is integrated by the Spanish Entrepreneurial University Scoreboard to identify this phenomenon and Structural Equation Modeling to analyze the relationships among independent and dependent variables that integrate the proposal model of entrepreneurial university. This research could cover invaluable strategies to bring further benefits to society (in terms of the creation of new business and employment) and, in particular, to educational institutions.

Extending women’s entrepreneurship research in new directions

Abstract: The dramatic expansion of scholarly interest and activity in the field of women's entrepreneurship within recent years has done much to correct the historical inattention paid to female entrepreneurs and their initiatives. Yet, as the field continues to develop and mature, there are increasingly strong calls for scholars to take their research in new directions. Within this introduction to the special issue, we expand upon the reasons for this call, describe who responded, and summarize the new frontiers explored within the work appearing in this and another related collection. We conclude by delineating new territories for researchers to explore, arguing that such endeavors will join those in this volume in not only addressing the criticisms raised to date, but also in generating a richer and more robust understanding of women's entrepreneurship.

Acquisitions as entrepreneurship: asymmetries, opportunities, and the internationalization of multinationals from emerging economies

Abstract: We investigate the rapid internationalization of many multinationals from emerging economies through acquisition in advanced economies. We conceptualize these acquisitions as an act and form of entrepreneurship, aimed to overcome the ‘liability of emergingness’ incurred by these firms and to serve as a mechanism for competitive catch-up through opportunity seeking and capability transformation. Our explanation emphasizes (1) the unique asymmetries (and not necessarily advantages) distinguishing emerging multinationals from advanced economy multinationals due to their historical and institutional differences, as well as (2) a search for advantage creation when firms possess mainly ordinary resources. The argument shifts the central focus from advantage to asymmetries as the starting point for internationalization and, additionally, highlights the role of learning agility rather than ability as a potential ‘asset of emergingness.’

Why Can’t a Family Business Be More Like a Nonfamily Business? Modes of Professionalization in Family Firms

Abstract: The authors survey arguments that family firms should behave more like nonfamily firms and “professionalize.” Despite the apparent advantages of this transition, many family firms fail to do so or ...

From Longevity of Firms to Transgenerational Entrepreneurship of Families: Introducing Family Entrepreneurial Orientation

Abstract: Whereas existing research on the longevity of family firms has focused on the survival of firms, this article investigates transgenerational entrepreneurship of families. By building on the transgenerational entrepreneurship research framework, the authors argue that by shifting from firm to family level of analysis, one gains a deeper understanding of family firms’ ability to create value across generations. The authors find evidence for their argument in that such a level shift reveals extended entrepreneurial activity, which is missed when focusing exclusively on the firm level. The study introduces and empirically explores the construct of family entrepreneurial orientation, which may serve as an antecedent to transgenerational value creation by families.

Reflections on the 2010 AMR Decade Award: Whither the Promise? Moving Forward with Entrepreneurship As a Science of the Artificial

Abstract: In this article we speak of roads taken and paths yet to be traversed Over the past decade, entrepreneurship researchers have accumulated considerable work related to opportunities Here we outline new possibilities opened up by that work and seek to recast entrepreneurship as a science of the artificial in three ways: understanding opportunities as made as well as found, moving beyond new combinations to transformations, and developing a new nexus around actions and interactions

Crowdfunding Social Ventures: A Model and Research Agenda

Abstract: Crowdfunding (CF) in a social entrepreneurship context is praised in narrations for its multifaceted potential - to access much needed financial resources, to gain legitimacy through crowd participation, and to further tap the crowd as a resource for numerous activities of the venture. From an academic point of view however, little has been written about CF as a whole, and inquiries from the social entrepreneurship sphere are so far mostly concerned with CF donations. In order to overcome the scarcity of the resource ‘crowd’ being asked for gifts, new approaches, including tailored reward systems, more structured bond-like investments and equity based CF are experimented with. Finance literature scarcely addresses these new forms, and no article so far shows concern for the idiosyncrasies of social ventures and the differing rationale of the social entrepreneurs and investors in CF activities.This paper thus sets out to first review existing literature on financing social ventures as well as on crowdfunding. Based upon the findings, the author subsequently draws up an early scheme of CF in order to structure future inquiries and to provide a common ground for discussion. Based upon the two streams, and in reflection to perspectives from traditional finance, a research agenda of eight themes for CF of social ventures is set up. The themes proposed are: investor types and utility-functions; corporate governance and structure in CF ventures; investor relations, risk and disclosure; applications and comparative approaches; network tie formation; legitimacy, institutions and democracy; challenging finance metrics; and legal and regulative hurdles for equity and debt CF.

Entrepreneurship as a Process: Toward Harmonizing Multiple Perspectives:

Abstract: Are there any common denominators within the diversity of entrepreneurship literature that may serve as foundations for understanding the entrepreneurial process in a systematic and comprehensive way that is useful to both scholars and practitioners? The objective of this paper was to discover about the entrepreneurial process what, if anything, is both generic (all processes that are “entrepreneurial” do this) and distinct (only entrepreneurial processes do this). Our approach was to evaluate published models of entrepreneurial process to discover what scholars have argued about what entrepreneurs do and how they do it (the processes they use) and to seek out any key commonalities that scholars claim are associated with the phenomenon. Unfortunately for the field, the investigation demonstrates that, as at the time of our investigation, the 32 extant models of entrepreneurial process are highly fragmented in their claims and emphases and are insufficient for establishing an infrastructure upon which to synthesize an understanding of entrepreneurial process that is both generic and distinct. Insights gained in the study lead to suggestions for future research and theory development of which the most urgent is the need to develop a single harmonized model of entrepreneurial process capable of embracing the best of what is on offer and adding new theoretical arguments in areas where practice shows that they are lacking.

Entrepreneurship and the Business Cycle

Abstract: We find new empirical regularities in the business cycle in a cross-country panel of 22 OECD countries for the period 1972 to 2007; entrepreneurship Granger-causes the cycles of the world economy. Furthermore, the entrepreneurial cycle is positively affected by the national unemployment cycle. We discuss possible causes and implications of these findings.

Business model innovation in entrepreneurship

Abstract: The goal of this paper is to advance the understanding of emerging developments in business model design within the field of entrepreneurship. It is widely known that during the start-up process, entrepreneurs need to set up the boundaries of the business and define the product/service to offer. This is a very complex task, especially for new technology-based companies which usually require large investments and have a limited time span (avoiding product obsolescence) to turn the idea into a full-time venture. Although business model design within the entrepreneurship field is a recent topic, it is gaining a growing attention in the literature. The usefulness and predictable power of business models are expected to help entrepreneurs make more informed decisions, thus increasing the chances of success. This article first tackles the specific problems faced by new technology-based firms, linking their needs with the advantages of having a flexible and well-designed business model. Second, different innovative practices aimed at improving business model design are discussed. The paper ends with some recommendations, stressing the need for future empirical work.

Who leaves, where to, and why worry? employee mobility, entrepreneurship and effects on source firm performance

Abstract: We theorize that the value provided by the firm's complementary assets has important implications for the exit decisions of employees and their subsequent effects on the firm's performance Using linked employee-employer data from the US Census Bureau on legal services, we find that employees with higher earnings are less likely to leave relative to employees with lower earnings, but if they do, are more likely to create a new venture than join another firm Employee entrepreneurship has a larger adverse impact on source firm performance than moves to established firms, even controlling for observable employee quality Our findings suggest that in knowledge intensive settings, managers should focus on tailoring compensation packages to help minimize the adverse impact of employee entrepreneurship, particularly among high performing individuals Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Entrepreneurial orientation in long-lived family firms

Abstract: We apply a key construct from the entrepreneurship field, entrepreneurial orientation (EO), in the context of long-lived family firms. Our qualitative in-depth case studies show that a permanently high level of the five EO dimensions is not a necessary condition for long-term success, as traditional entrepreneurship and EO literature implicitly suggest. Rather, we claim that the level of EO is dynamically adapted over time and that the original EO scales (autonomy, innovativeness, risk taking, proactiveness, and competitive aggressiveness) do not sufficiently capture the full extent of entrepreneurial behaviors in long-lived family firms. Based on these considerations we suggest extending the existing EO scales to provide a more fine-grained depiction of firm-level corporate entrepreneurship in long-lived family firms.

Internationalization, innovation and entrepreneurship: business models for new technology-based firms

Abstract: New technology-based firms, particularly those that develop their business around a new technological platform, are likely to be impacted by globalization, in terms of both pace of innovation and pressure of competition. For these firms, strategic decisions and growth processes are characterized by a deep inter-relationship amongst the processes of internationalization, innovation and entrepreneurship; processes which have tended to be examined independently in distinct bodies of literature. In practice strategic decisions concern each of these processes and address issues such as organizational boundaries, location of the operational activities, what activities to focus on and selection of value partners. The business model by which firms operate needs also to accommodate the spatial dimensions indicated by globalization; and the emergence of global technology markets. Little is known to date about the extent to which business models accommodate or are adapted to internationalization, innovation and entrepreneurship. This paper presents a review of the business model literature from which a generic business model framework is derived, identifying and introducing the main elements of these processes as the firms’ focus, modus and locus. This contribution makes a clear distinction between the business model and the strategy concepts and highlights the relevance of location decisions—not considered by extant business model literature to date. While our discussion draws on the high technology new venture as our primary example, we believe our business model conceptualization has general applicability.

Institution-based barriers to innovation in SMEs in China

Abstract: Despite significant development, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China continue to experience institution-based barriers, especially in the area of innovation. What exactly are these barriers? How do these barriers influence innovation? How about the status quo of the institutional environment for SMEs’ innovation and development? We seek to uncover these underexplored areas by developing a model characterized by a cost-risk-opportunity (CRO) innovation triangle. We then enrich this model by interviewing 82 top managers and owners at 41 SMEs. We identify the five key institution-based barriers to innovation in China: (1) competition fairness, (2) access to financing, (3) laws and regulations, (4) tax burden, and (5) support systems. These findings enhance the institution-based view of entrepreneurship by shedding light on how institution-based barriers affect innovation in SMEs.

Size matters: entrepreneurial entry and government

Abstract: We explore the country-specific institutional characteristics likely to influence an individual’s decision to become an entrepreneur. We focus on the size of the government, on freedom from corruption and on “market freedom” defined as a cluster of variables related to protection of property rights and regulation. We test these relationships by combining country-level institutional indicators for 47 countries with working-age population survey data taken from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Our results indicate that entrepreneurial entry is inversely related to the size of the government, and more weakly to the extent of corruption. A cluster of institutional indicators representing “market freedom” is only significant in some specifications. Freedom from corruption is significantly related to entrepreneurial entry, especially when the richest countries are removed from the sample, but unlike the size of government, the results on corruption are not confirmed by country-level fixed-effects models.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Base of the Pyramid: A Recipe for Inclusive Growth or Social Exclusion?

Abstract: Policy makers often see entrepreneurship as a panacea for inclusive growth in underdeveloped ‘Base of the Pyramid’ (BOP) regions, but it may also lead to unanticipated negative outcomes such as crime and social exclusion. Our objective is to improve the understanding of how entrepreneurship policies can lead to socially inclusive growth at the BOP. Drawing on data collected from Brazilian tourism destinations with varying entrepreneurship, innovation, and social inclusion policies, we argue that weak institutions coupled with alert entrepreneurs encourage destructive outcomes, especially if entrepreneurship policies are based solely on economic indicators. Policies addressing both economic and social perspectives may foster more productive entrepreneurial outcomes, albeit at a more constrained economic pace. The study extends the related BOP, entrepreneurship, global value chain, and sustainable tourism literatures by examining the poor as entrepreneurs, the role of local innovation, and how entrepreneurship policies generate different social impacts within poor communities.