Showing papers on "Entrepreneurship published in 2014"

New Venture Creation Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century

Abstract: Part I The Opportunity Chapter 1. The Entrepreneurial Revolution Chapter 2. The Entrepreneurial Process Chapter 3. The Opportunity: Creating, Shaping, Recognizing, and Seizing Chapter 4. Screening Venture Opportunities Chapter 5. Entrepreneurs and the Continuing Internet Revolution: The Expanding Frontier Chapter 6. Entrepreneurial Opportunities: The Franchise Alternative Part II The Founders Chapter 7. The Entrepreneurial Mind in Thought and Action Chapter 8. The Entrepreneurial Manager Chapter 9. The New Venture Team Chapter 10. Personal Ethics and the Entrepreneur Part III Resource Requirements Chapter 11. Resource Requirements Chapter 12. The Business Plan Part IV Financing Entrepreneurial Ventures Chapter 13. Entrepreneurial Finance Chapter 14. Obtaining Venture and Growth Capital Chapter 15. The Deal: Valuations, Structure and Negotiation Chapter 16. Obtaining Debt Capital Part V Startup and After Chapter 17. Managing Rapid Growth Chapter 18. The Entrepreneur and the Troubled Company Chapter 19. The Harvest and Beyond Crafting a Personal Entrepreneurial Strategy

The Relationship Between Entrepreneurship Education and Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Meta-Analytic Review

Abstract: The research on entrepreneurship education�entrepreneurial intentions has yielded mixed results. We meta-analyzed 73 studies with a total sample size of 37,285 individuals and found a significant but a small correlation between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intentions (inline image). This correlation is also greater than that of business education and entrepreneurial intentions. However, after controlling for pre-education entrepreneurial intentions, the relationship between entrepreneurship education and post-education entrepreneurial intentions was not significant. We also analyzed moderators, such as the attributes of entrepreneurship education, students' differences, and cultural values. Our results have implications for entrepreneurship education scholars, program evaluators, and policy makers.

The Role of Entrepreneurship in US Job Creation and Economic Dynamism

Abstract: The United States has long been viewed as having among the world’s most entrepreneurial, dynamic, and flexible economies. It is often argued that this dynamism and flexibility has enabled the US economy to adapt to changing economic circumstances and recover from recessions in a robust manner. While the evidence provides broad support for this view, the outcomes of entrepreneurship are more heterogeneous than commonly appreciated and appear to be evolving in ways that could raise concern. Evidence along a number of dimensions and a variety of sources points to a US economy that is becoming less dynamic. Of particular interest are declining business startup rates and the resulting diminished role for dynamic young businesses in the economy. We begin by describing how the concept of entrepreneurship is reflected in existing data on firm age and size. The recent addition of firm age to official statistics represents a dramatic improvement in the information available to entrepreneurship researchers. We then turn to a discussion of the role of startup firms in job creation. Business startups account for about 20 percent of US gross (total) job creation while high-growth businesses (which are disproportionately young)

The psychology of entrepreneurship

Abstract: In this review of the psychology of entrepreneurship, we first present meta-analytic findings showing that personality dimensions, such as (general) self-efficacy and need for achievement, and entrepreneurial orientation are highly associated with entrepreneurship (business creation and business success). We then discuss constructs that were developed within entrepreneurship research, such as entrepreneurial alertness, business planning, financial capital as resources, and entrepreneurial orientation, and how they can be better understood by taking a psychological perspective. Next, we elaborate how traditional psychological constructs have been utilized in entrepreneurship and how this may enhance our knowledge in industrial and organizational psychology (with respect to, for example, knowledge, practical intelligence, cognitive biases, goals and visions, personal initiative, passion, and positive and negative affect). Finally, we provide an overall framework useful for the psychology of entrepreneurship...

Entrepreneurial ecosystems and growth oriented entrepreneurship

Abstract: Increasing the number of high growth firms (HGFs) is now a major focus for industry policy in developed countries. However, existing approaches are proving ineffective. Simply creating supportive framework conditions is insufficient. Creating favourable environments for business start-ups is not leading to the creation of more HGFs. And transactional forms of support for HGFs (e.g. financial assistance) are proving to have limited effectiveness, at least post-start-up. The entrepreneurship ecosystem approach has emerged as a response. It recognises that HGFs flourish in distinctive types of supportive environment. Distinguishing features of entrepreneurial ecosystems include the following: a core of large established businesses, including some that have been entrepreneur-led (entrepreneurial blockbusters); entrepreneurial recycling – whereby successful cashed out entrepreneurs reinvest their time, money and expertise in supporting new entrepreneurial activity; and an information-rich environment in which this information is both accessible and shared. A key player in this context is the deal-maker who is involved in a fiduciary capacity in several entrepreneurial ventures. Other important aspects of an entrepreneurial ecosystem include its culture, the availability of start-up and growth capital, the presence of large firms, universities and service providers. However, studies have tended to take a static approach to the study of entrepreneurial ecosystems, largely ignoring both their origins and stimulus and also the processes by which they become self-sustaining. Creating entrepreneurial ecosystems poses various challenges for policy-makers. There are several general principles that need to be followed. Policy intervention needs to take a holistic approach, focusing on the following: the entrepreneurial actors within the ecosystem; the resource providers within the ecosystem; entrepreneurial connectors within the ecosystem and the entrepreneurial environment of the ecosystem. Finally, it is important that policy-makers develop metrics in order to determine the strengths and weaknesses of individual ecosystems so that their strengths and weaknesses can be assessed, to identify whether and how to intervene, and monitor over time the effectiveness of such interventions. What to measure, approaches to measurement and access to data at the appropriate geographical scales all pose formidable challenges.

Putting Entrepreneurship Education Where the Intention to Act Lies: An Investigation Into the Impact of Entrepreneurship Education on Entrepreneurial Behavior

Abstract: The growing attention to entrepreneurship education has caused a debate about whether entrepreneurship education can affect entrepreneurial behavior. We use a quasi-experimental design, comparing a MSc entrepreneurship program with a comparison group from a MSc supply-chain management program to test the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education, relying on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The findings suggest that entrepreneurship education is effective. Specifically, students participating in entrepreneurship education show an increase in attitudes and perceived behavioral control. Furthermore, they have higher entrepreneurial intentions at the end of the program. Finally, entrepreneurial intentions mediate the effect of entrepreneurship education on subsequent behavior associated with the creation of new business ventures. These results suggest that entrepreneurship education emphasizes increasing antecedents of intentions and behavior.

The role of entrepreneurship education as a predictor of university students’ entrepreneurial intention

Abstract: Using Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior and Shapero’s entrepreneurial event model as well as entrepreneurial cognition theory, we attempt to identify the relationship between entrepreneurship education, prior entrepreneurial exposure, perceived desirability and feasibility, and entrepreneurial intentions (EI) for university students. The data were collected from a survey of ten universities; we received 494 effective responses. We used probit estimation to show that perceived desirability significantly impacts EI whereas there is no significant impact from perceived feasibility. There is a significant negative impact from exposure (which is surprising) and a significant positive impact from entrepreneurship education. Males and people from technological universities and/or backgrounds have higher EI than females and people from other universities and backgrounds. There are also significant positive interactive effects by gender, university type, and study major on the relationship between entrepreneurship education and EI.

Contextualization and the advancement of entrepreneurship research

Abstract: This article analyzes the role of context in the advancement of entrepreneurship research. It defines contextualization and discusses why and how it is important in entrepreneurship research analysing the evidence relating to different dimensions of entrepreneurial context, focusing on temporal, industry, spatial, social and organizational, ownership and governance. The nature of entrepreneurship research, with and without contextualization, is explored and finally, the article considers the challenges in undertaking contextualized entrepreneurship research.

From the entrepreneurial university to the university for the entrepreneurial society

Abstract: This article examines how and why the role of the university in society has evolved over time. The paper argues that the forces shaping economic growth and performance have also influenced the corresponding role for the university. As the economy has evolved from being driven by physical capital to knowledge, and then again to being driven by entrepreneurship, the role of the university has also evolved over time. While the entrepreneurial university was a response to generate technology transfer and knowledge-based startups, the role of the university in the entrepreneurial society has broadened to focus on enhancing entrepreneurship capital and facilitating behavior to prosper in an entrepreneurial society.

Entrepreneurial Learning: Past Research and Future Challenges

Abstract: Entrepreneurial learning (EL) has emerged as an important concept at the interface of entrepreneurship and organizational learning. Although EL research has gained momentum in the past decade, the literature is diverse, highly individualistic and fragmented, hindering the development of EL as a promising research area. In this paper, a systematic analysis of the EL literature is first conducted in order to take stock of the theoretical and empirical development and identify research themes and developmental patterns of EL research. Second, three pairs of key learning types that deserve more attention in future research are discussed, namely individual and collective learning, exploratory and exploitative learning, and intuitive and sensing learning. These learning types correspond to three key challenges that are derived from the EL research gaps identified in the systematic literature analysis, and provide fruitful avenues for future research. Third, by exploring the three pairs of learning types, further insights are drawn from entrepreneurship and organizational learning to help to advance EL research, and also feed back to the entrepreneurship literature by discussing how these learning types can help to understand the challenges at the centre of debate in the entrepreneurship literature.

Business model innovation – state of the art and future challenges for the field

Abstract: Business model innovation is receiving increased attention in corporate practice and research alike. We propose in this article a role-based approach to categorize the literature and argue that the respective roles of explaining the business, running the business, and developing the business can serve as three interrelated perspectives to present an overview of the current business model innovation field and to accommodate the selected contributions of this special issue. We refer to contributions from entrepreneurship, innovation and technology management, and corporate strategy to explicate the three elaborated perspectives and to summarize the main contents of the special issue articles. We conclude by reflecting on main theoretical challenges for studies on business model innovation which stem from the uncertain boundaries of the phenomenon, and we propose some theoretical stances and analytic levels to develop future avenues for research.

Entrepreneurship as Experimentation

Abstract: Entrepreneurship research is on the rise but many questions about its fundamental nature still exist. We argue that entrepreneurship is about experimentation: the probabilities of success are low, extremely skewed and unknowable until an investment is made. At a macro level experimentation by new firms underlies the Schumpeterian notion of creative destruction. However, at a micro level investment and continuation decisions are not always made in a competitive Darwinian contest. Instead, a few investors make decisions that are impacted by incentive, agency and coordination problems, often before a new idea even has a chance to compete in a market. We contend that costs and constraints on the ability to experiment alter the type of organizational form surrounding innovation and influence when innovation is more likely to occur. These factors not only govern how much experimentation is undertaken in the economy, but also the trajectory of experimentation, with potentially very deep economic consequences.

University Training for Entrepreneurial Competencies: Its Impact on Intention of Venture Creation

Abstract: This study tests the effect of entrepreneurship education programmes on the entrepreneurial competencies and intention of university students in order to confirm (or disconfirm) conventional wisdom that entrepreneurial education increases the intention to start a business. We address the following research question: Do entrepreneurship education programmes raise the entrepreneurial competencies and intention of students? We used a pretest-post-test quasi-experimental design. Data were collected from 864 university students of Castilla & Leon (Spain), from 863 students (403 taking the programme and 460 in a control group). The results showed that students in the ‘programme’ group increased their competencies and intention towards self-employment, whereas students in the control group did not. The findings contribute to the theories of planned behaviour and to the literature of entrepreneurship education itself, by revealing the effect of specific benefits for the students derived from the entrepreneurship ‘programme’.

Deconstructing socioemotional wealth

Abstract: There have appeared of late numerous important articles elaborating on and researching the concept of socioemotional wealth, within the last year in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, others published in journals ranging from Administrative Science Quarterly to Family Business Review. Given the increasing popularity and generality of the concept, it is perhaps worth revisiting it to assess its potential for enhancing our understanding of family firms. We shall examine the socioemotional wealth concept and the challenges it poses for researchers, and propose some conceptual and methodological notions for increasing its utility.

Investors prefer entrepreneurial ventures pitched by attractive men

Abstract: Entrepreneurship is a central path to job creation, economic growth, and prosperity. In the earliest stages of start-up business creation, the matching of entrepreneurial ventures to investors is critically important. The entrepreneur’s business proposition and previous experience are regarded as the main criteria for investment decisions. Our research, however, documents other critical criteria that investors use to make these decisions: the gender and physical attractiveness of the entrepreneurs themselves. Across a field setting (three entrepreneurial pitch competitions in the United States) and two experiments, we identify a profound and consistent gender gap in entrepreneur persuasiveness. Investors prefer pitches presented by male entrepreneurs compared with pitches made by female entrepreneurs, even when the content of the pitch is the same. This effect is moderated by male physical attractiveness: attractive males were particularly persuasive, whereas physical attractiveness did not matter among female entrepreneurs.

Muppets and gazelles: Political and methodological biases in entrepreneurship research

Abstract: Despite an almost universally accepted belief outside academia that entrepreneurial activity is a positive driving force in the economy, the accumulated evidence remains largely inconclusive. This article positions the increased interest in entrepreneurship since the 1980s within its historical context and highlights the significant methodological problems with its analysis. Taking these problems into account it reevaluates the performance of entrepreneurial firms in terms of innovation, job creation, economic growth, productivity growth, and happiness to show how both positive and negative interpretations can emerge. A pattern of increasingly positive interpretation is observed as one moves from analysis to policy. To address this bias, the article suggests the single category “entrepreneurial firms” be broken up along a continuum from the large number of economically marginal, undersized, poor performance enterprises to the small number of high performance “gazelles” that drive most positive impact on the economy. This would allow a more realistic evaluation of the impact of entrepreneurs by avoiding a composition fallacy that assigns the benefits of entrepreneurship to the average firm.

Entrepreneurial Storytelling, Future Expectations, and the Paradox of Legitimacy

Abstract: Prior research highlights storytelling as a means for entrepreneurs to establish venture legitimacy and gain stakeholder support. We extend this line of research by examining the role that projective stories play in setting expectations and the dynamics that ensue. Such attention highlights a paradox-the very expectations that are set through projective stories to gain venture legitimacy can also serve as the source of future disappointments. Because of inherent uncertainties that projective stories mask, ventures will likely deviate from their early projections, thereby disappointing stakeholders. This, in turn, can result in a loss of legitimacy. Recognizing that entrepreneurship is an ongoing process, we examine the constraints and possibilities of maintaining or regaining legitimacy through revised storytelling. We conclude the paper with implications for research on entrepreneurial storytelling as an ongoing process.

Entrepreneurship as Experimentation

Abstract: Entrepreneurship research is on the rise but many questions about the fundamental nature of entrepreneurship still exist. We argue that entrepreneurship is about experimentation; the proba...