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1 – 10 of over 4000
Article
Publication date: 1 April 2006

Jun Li and Harry Matlay

This paper aims to focus on three main strands of research relating to entrepreneurship in China: the role of local governments in the development of entrepreneurial activities in…

6958

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to focus on three main strands of research relating to entrepreneurship in China: the role of local governments in the development of entrepreneurial activities in twon and village‐based enterprises (TVEs); institutional environments and strategic responses of private firms; and culture and its impact upon entrepreneurship. It aims to suggest a tentative research agenda and offer directions for further research.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper employs a critical review approach to research on entrepreneurship and small business development in China.

Findings

It is suggested that the combination of local entrepreneurial state theory with an analysis of the institutional environment at the macro level offers plausible explanations on the causes, context and extent of Chinese entrepreneurship development during the past two decades. The paper argues that existing theories need to be revised on a continuous basis, as ongoing reforms and developments redefine relationships between stakeholders and the wider economic environment in China.

Originality/value

The paper reviews progress to date and offers suggestions for further research. It posits that topics of future interest could include the changing relationship between stakeholders in both rural and urban areas, the impact of increasingly institutionalised environments on entrepreneurship and small business development, and longitudinal analyses of emerging models of entrepreneurial behaviour and growth.

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 April 2006

Jun Li

307

Abstract

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Article
Publication date: 2 May 2017

Valter Cantino, Alain Devalle, Damiano Cortese, Francesca Ricciardi and Mariangela Longo

The purpose of this paper is to develop an original six-phase model describing entrepreneurial learning in the transition of place-based enterprises toward a sustainable…

1653

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop an original six-phase model describing entrepreneurial learning in the transition of place-based enterprises toward a sustainable exploitation of natural common resources (commons).

Design/methodology/approach

The six-phase model proposed by this study explains the learning processes involving place-based enterprises through two important existing theories: adaptive co-management and Lachmann’s evolutionary, embedded theory of entrepreneurship. The proposed model integrates these two theories on the basis of a longitudinal case study on the fishing enterprises in an Italian marine protected area (MPA).

Findings

In the case study, the success factors identified by the adaptive co-management literature proved important in enabling an embedded entrepreneurial learning process consistent with Lachmann’s view. The case analysis allowed the authors to cluster these learning processes around six phases. Further, even if traditional fishing is not knowledge-intensive, this case shows the transition to a sustainable business model required intense efforts of educated institutional work and scientific research. Interestingly, the key learning processes were enabled by the emergence of a larger, networked social entity (a network form of organization) including the community of fishermen, the MPA management and a network of scientists studying the marine area ecosystem.

Research limitations/implications

This study is explorative and relies on a single case study. Despite this limitation, it opens up new research paths in the fields of entrepreneurship, institutional work, network organizations and adaptive management of the commons.

Originality/value

This study is strongly interdisciplinary; it proposes an original model based on a theoretical view that is highly innovative for organization and management studies; and addresses a relevant but overlooked issue with important societal implications.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 23 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 November 2017

Stefan Korber and Rod B. McNaughton

The purpose of this paper is to review existing literature at the intersection of resilience and entrepreneurship. It identifies six scholarly conversations, each of which draws…

7782

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review existing literature at the intersection of resilience and entrepreneurship. It identifies six scholarly conversations, each of which draws on distinct notions of resilience and entrepreneurship. Based on those conversations, shortcomings in the existing literature are discussed and avenues for future research are outlined.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic multi-disciplinary review of 144 papers that are categorized into six scholarly conversations to build the foundation for a critical discussion of each line of inquiry.

Findings

This paper identifies six conversations or research streams at the intersection of entrepreneurship and resilience: resilience as traits or characteristics of entrepreneurial firms or individuals, resilience as a trigger for entrepreneurial intentions, entrepreneurial behavior as enhancing organizational resilience, entrepreneurial firms fostering macro-level (regions, communities, economies) resilience, resilience in the context of entrepreneurial failure, and resilience as a process of recovery and transformation. The review revealed these publications imprecisely define constructs and use a limited amount of the extant scholarship on both entrepreneurship and resilience. Future research should take a more holistic approach to explore entrepreneurship and resilience from a multi-level and longitudinal perspective, especially in the context of socio-ecological sustainability.

Originality/value

This paper incorporates insights on resilience and entrepreneurship across academic disciplines to show how future contributions could benefit by incorporating research from other fields. In doing so, it provides a starting point for more nuanced discussions around the interrelationships between the different conversations and the role entrepreneurs can play in promoting a positive, long-term trajectory for a socio-ecological system.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 24 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 February 2023

Dung Tien Luu

This study proposes a logic to enable strategic entrepreneurship for export firms through absorptive capacity and adaptive culture to capitalise on the knowledge intensity from…

Abstract

Purpose

This study proposes a logic to enable strategic entrepreneurship for export firms through absorptive capacity and adaptive culture to capitalise on the knowledge intensity from internationalisation.

Design/methodology/approach

The study sample comprises 422 key role employees at 98 export firms in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The data are analysed using a structural equation model.

Findings

The results reveal that the firm's knowledge intensity may serve as a reservoir, absorbing and reconciling knowledge acquired from internationalisation and redistributing it to strategic entrepreneurship. A firm's absorptive capacity and adaptive culture can act as buffers, allowing internationalisation knowledge to permeate and transfer to administrative bodies and fostering strategic entrepreneurship.

Originality/value

This study proposes an integrated model of the relationship between the degree of internationalisation and strategic entrepreneurship through novel lenses of knowledge-based perspective with the organisational capabilities.

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 30 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 May 2012

Alistair R. Anderson, Sarah Drakopoulou Dodd and Sarah L. Jack

The purpose of this paper is to consider why entrepreneurship theorising has become fragmented and how the research problem might be resolved.

6637

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to consider why entrepreneurship theorising has become fragmented and how the research problem might be resolved.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors first examine how entrepreneurial constructs reflect only part of what we “mean” by the construct to argue that we use different social constructions. This explains why theories are fragmented. But the authors then ask how we might use and reconcile this diversity, pointing to the utility of the constructs as part of a complex whole. The authors discuss entrepreneurship as a complex adaptive system showing how connections and relatedness help explain the power of entrepreneurship to use and adapt to change.

Research implications

The authors' proposition of entrepreneurial endeavours as a complex adaptive system provides a fresh theoretical platform to examine aspects of entrepreneurship and improve theorising.

Practical implications

The authors argue that this idea of connecting can also be used at the level of practice – how the connections that entrepreneurs use may help to explain some of what goes on in entrepreneurial practice.

Originality/value

The paper's contribution is a relatively novel way of connecting diverse theorising.

Article
Publication date: 8 July 2014

Travis Gliedt and Paul Parker

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a second round of intensive green community entrepreneurship, a form of social entrepreneurship, by a set of environmental service…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a second round of intensive green community entrepreneurship, a form of social entrepreneurship, by a set of environmental service organizations (ESOs) facing the loss of their largest revenue source (the ecoENERGY program), to see if it differed from responses to a similar funding cut five years earlier. In particular, the study compared green community entrepreneurship rates and types to those of the previous program (EnerGuide for Houses) cancellation and examined the perceived importance of various factors, including a social entrepreneurship training program offered by the national association.

Design/methodology/approach

Interviews were held with executive directors who had led their organization through both periods of financial crisis. Information was collected on changes in revenue, staffing, residential energy evaluations conducted, service creation, and the perceived importance of organizational factors. The adaptation strategy undertaken by each ESO was classified as resilience, transition, or transformation focussed.

Findings

First, green community entrepreneurship is accelerated when needs are heightened, such as when ESOs face funding cuts. Second, only some of the new services or activities launched were financially successful and remained viable over a five-year period. Third, green community entrepreneurship is an important initiative for ESOs to implement their adaptation strategy (resilient, transition, or transformation strategy). Fourth, a higher perceived difficulty of adaptation to funding cuts is associated with the launch of more new services by the ESO.

Originality/value

The original contributions of the paper include the verification of repeated increases to the rate of entrepreneurship undertaken in response to sudden funding cuts, as compared to the rate of entrepreneurship during a stable funding period. This accelerated creation of new services can be directed to achieve various adaptation strategies from creating new services in the established area of energy expertise, to initiatives in new areas of sustainability services, such as water, food, or finance. The importance of collective innovation is highlighted with the use of both local and national networks.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 41 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 1996

Angelo Fusari

Sets out a model giving an interpretation of the engine of economic development and growth, and business cycle. Based on a peculiar concept of dynamic competition, explains…

1500

Abstract

Sets out a model giving an interpretation of the engine of economic development and growth, and business cycle. Based on a peculiar concept of dynamic competition, explains innovation and uncertainty and describes the way equilibrating and disequilibrating processes are intertwined and operate. Carries out concise application to successive stages of economic development, along with some econometric application, that demonstrates the degree of generality and flexibility of the theory proposed and provides a comprehensive interpretative tool and pictures of different growth processes and the crucial factors on which they depend.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 23 no. 10/11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 1999

Tony Fu‐Lai Yu

Applies Kirzner’s concept of entrepreneurship to explain the economic success of Hong Kong. The city economy possesses neither natural resources, nor sophisticated technologies…

1628

Abstract

Applies Kirzner’s concept of entrepreneurship to explain the economic success of Hong Kong. The city economy possesses neither natural resources, nor sophisticated technologies, and yet it has successfully developed into one of the most prosperous economies in East Asia. This study argues that Hong Kong’s industrial dynamism relies mainly on a large number of adaptive entrepreneurs who are constantly alert to opportunities, maintain a high degree of flexibility in their production and respond rapidly to change. In the textile and garment industry, firms survived by pursuing a product imitation strategy, operating at a small‐scale, extensively utilizing subcontracting networks, producing customer label garments as well as performing spatial arbitrageurship. Employing these adaptive entrepreneurial strategies, Hong Kong manufacturers have learnt from foreign firms and imitated their products. By selling improved commodities at lower prices, they have competed against the original suppliers from the western advanced countries. Furthermore, to exploit new profit opportunities, Hong Kong’s entrepreneurs have shifted their production activities from one product to another, from one industry to another, from higher cost to lower cost regions, from traditional fishing and agriculture into manufacturing, and then to finance and other services. Their efforts have brought about structural transformation in the economy and enabled Hong Kong to catch up with early industrialized nations.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 5 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 March 2011

Jeff Vanevenhoven, Doan Winkel, Debra Malewicki, William L. Dougan and James Bronson

We offer a theoretical account of how two types of bricolage influence the entrepreneurial process. The first type involves social relationships or physical or functional assets…

3089

Abstract

We offer a theoretical account of how two types of bricolage influence the entrepreneurial process. The first type involves social relationships or physical or functional assets, and thus pertains to an entrepreneurʼs external resources used in the instantiation of operations of a new venture. The second type pertains to an entrepreneurʼs internal resources‐experiences, credentials, knowledge, and certifications‐which the entrepreneur appropriates, assembles, modifies and deploys in the presentation of a narrative about the entrepreneurial process. We argue that both types of bricolage are essential to the success of a venturing attempt.

Details

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2574-8904

Keywords

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