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11 – 20 of 154Alistair R. Anderson and Andrew McAuley
Explores the relationship between marketing theory and marketing activity within the context of rural entrepreneurship. The key to unlocking our understanding the dynamics of this…
Abstract
Explores the relationship between marketing theory and marketing activity within the context of rural entrepreneurship. The key to unlocking our understanding the dynamics of this relationship was to use a number of qualitative techniques including participant observation and unstructured interviews. The study revealed two groupings of entrepreneurs – the locals and the cosmopolitans who operated in contrasting marketing landscapes thus questioning the universal application of a marketing theory which is not context specific.
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Johan Gaddefors and Alistair Anderson
The objective of this longitudinal ethnography of a rural small town in Northern Sweden, following the presence and identifying the processes associated with an incoming…
Abstract
The objective of this longitudinal ethnography of a rural small town in Northern Sweden, following the presence and identifying the processes associated with an incoming entrepreneur, was to better understand entrepreneurship in a rural context. The significant shaping of entrepreneurship by context is increasingly recognised, with entrepreneurship in depleted communities being an important part of this research movement. This chapter is positioned at the conjunction of these literatures. The authors have studied this community for 10 years; regularly interviewing the entrepreneur and residents; attending meetings and making observations. The authors found that the entrepreneurial creation of garden provoked a raft of change, such that entrepreneurship reverberated throughout the town. To explain these effects, the authors developed the concept of entrepreneurial energy. Entrepreneurial energy is a vitality produced in and by entrepreneurship. It works, in part, as a role model, holding up examples of what can be done. But much more, the presence of entrepreneurial energy serves to invigorate others. It becomes amplified in new ways of doing, new ways of being, yet calcified in the entrepreneurial actions of others. The authors saw how it unleashed the latent, promoted the possible, to entrepreneurially revive the town.
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The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature and conceptual developments to explore how and why universities should teach entrepreneurship.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature and conceptual developments to explore how and why universities should teach entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a theoretical paper which draws on the rich seam of existing literature to develop theory about enterprise education purpose and pedagogy.
Findings
Universities are uniquely able to provide the right sort of education that will produce “better” entrepreneurs. In turn, these better entrepreneurs are better enabled to produce and successfully implement the innovation that drives economic growth.
Practical implications
These are twofold. The paper raises awareness of the importance of the university's role for developing the right sort of entrepreneurship. It also highlights important pedagogic points that will realise the full potential of a university entrepreneurial education.
Originality/value
The paper largely synthesises existing work, but conceptualises and presents the material in a new way.
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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.
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.
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Schaul Chorev and Alistair Anderson
Beyond the widely acknowledged importance of new business, the role of young exporting high-tech business in Israel and many other small economies is seen as vital for economic…
Abstract
Beyond the widely acknowledged importance of new business, the role of young exporting high-tech business in Israel and many other small economies is seen as vital for economic growth. Israel is small and geographically isolated from the main markets, suffers from security difficulties, but fosters a culture, which promotes knowledge rich new technologies. Thus, new ventures with leading edge technologies and prospects of high growth and profitability offer a means to achieve the national goal of economical independence. Internationally however, the high-technology sector has recently suffered badly from the bursting of the dot.com bubble and the crash of the Nasdaq.
Lorraine Warren, Alistair Anderson and Jo Bensemann
In this chapter, the authors explore entrepreneurial change in Stanton, a rural small town in New Zealand. This once-prosperous place has suffered economically and socially as its…
Abstract
In this chapter, the authors explore entrepreneurial change in Stanton, a rural small town in New Zealand. This once-prosperous place has suffered economically and socially as its past core industries have vanished, and it can now be considered as a depleted community. Yet in recent years, the town has seen a rejuvenation, in part due to the endeavours of Sue, a high-profile entrepreneur from outside the town who has set up several businesses in the town and indeed in other small towns in the region. Theoretically, the authors take an entrepreneurial identity perspective in examining how Sue’s arrival has changed the town; the authors examine how her entrepreneurship was perceived as legitimate. The authors use a qualitative methodology based on semi-structured interviews. The authors contribute in demonstrating how an ascribed entrepreneurial identity can not only enable but also hinder change in this community, generating confidence and emotional contagion around entrepreneurship, and also uncertainty and resentment. In doing so, the authors challenge the universality of entrepreneurship benefits.
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Alistair R. Anderson and Farid Ullah
– The purpose of this paper is to examine and explain why most small firms remain small. A new conceptual framework – the condition of smallness – is proposed.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine and explain why most small firms remain small. A new conceptual framework – the condition of smallness – is proposed.
Design/methodology/approach
A critical examination of the literature about the nature of being a small firm is first conducted. Employing an inductive analysis of responses from a survey of 2,521 small business owners about employment regulation, the nature and effects of smallness is examined.
Findings
It was found that owners' choice making combines with perceptions about their resources to produce a condition of smallness. The condition of smallness is conceptualised as the circularity perceptions, attitudes and consequent practices that reflect lack of knowledge, time and capability. It is argued that this condition of smallness inhibits growth to create a wicked problem that explains why most small firms don't grow.
Research limitations/implications
This work is largely conceptual, albeit the argument is grounded in, and illustrated by, empirical data. The findings may not be generalisable beyond this paper's data sets, but may be generalisable conceptually.
Originality/value
The focus of much scholarly work has been on growth firms. Yet the typical small firm is excluded so that the issues of smallness are often overlooked. This paper, therefore contributes to understanding why small firms don't grow.
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Sana El Harbi, Alistair R. Anderson and Meriam Amamou
– The research aims to ask whether, in the absence of overarching innovative conditions, a small firm can have an innovative culture and what its scale and scope is.
Abstract
Purpose
The research aims to ask whether, in the absence of overarching innovative conditions, a small firm can have an innovative culture and what its scale and scope is.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs four exploratory case studies. This methodological choice is justified in that a case study approach allows the use of the existing literature without inhibiting the detection of any unique characteristics in the Tunisian context. This context of a developing economy is likely to be different from established economies.
Findings
The study finds evidence of a learning environment within the firms and a good fit with the concepts of an innovative culture. Internal knowledge sharing is evident for all companies. However, this culture faces inwards, so that the paucity of linkages and weak socialisation combines with institutional thinness to isolate the firms. Local competitive advantages are not amplified but rather are dampened by the relative absence of interaction.
Research limitations/implications
Most research about innovation in the ICT sector is conducted in the context of developed countries. This paper shows the specificities and uniqueness of innovation culture in the context of a developing country.
Practical implications
The findings imply that despite recent improvements, Tunisia lacks many of the regional “institutions” that produce the synergic benefits of an innovative milieu.
Originality/value
The context of a developing country is novel. The value of the findings may, however, be extended to other similar countries. This is important given the role of ICT in “catching up”.
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Alistair R. Anderson and Xiuxiang Zhang
The paper aims to review the emergence and nature of entrepreneurship education in China. This paper considers the variability of developments in practices despite policy. In…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to review the emergence and nature of entrepreneurship education in China. This paper considers the variability of developments in practices despite policy. In turn, this allows one to consider the implications of this uneven distribution of expertise and resources.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is primarily empirically descriptive, but it draws upon different literatures to examine entrepreneurship education in the uniqueness of its Chinese context. The authors offer two comparative cases to illustrate the arguments.
Findings
Substantial differences were found by region and by the status of the institution. The region aspect is paradoxical because the largest number of new businesses exists in those regions with the best provision of enterprise education. The channelling of resources to elite resources compounds the problem. Less prestigious universities make do with what they have, and this may be detrimental for the quality and effectiveness of enterprise education.
Research limitations/implications
There may be some regional differences that have been overlooked, but the thrust is clear. Different resource allocations have shaped entrepreneurship education in the regions.
Practical implications
Applied policy may have detrimental effects on less well-endowed universities and thus neglect less entrepreneurial places.
Social implications
If entrepreneurship is to deliver its promise of opportunity, innovation and job creation, it needs to be taught by experienced and informed faculty. The uneven distribution of entrepreneurship pedagogy and expertise indicates that this may be more difficult to deliver in some places.
Originality/value
Although entrepreneurship education in China is now pervasive, little work has been done in comparing policies with practices.
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Ka‐Young Oh, Alistair R. Anderson and Doug Cruickshank
E‐trade (or electronic trading) appears to offer increased efficiency in business processes, but only a limited number of small firms in Korea have adopted the new processes. The…
Abstract
Purpose
E‐trade (or electronic trading) appears to offer increased efficiency in business processes, but only a limited number of small firms in Korea have adopted the new processes. The purpose of this paper is to try to establish the obstacles and the perceived barriers to the continuing use of e‐trade technologies by small Korean firms.
Design/methodology/approach
The literature was employed to develop a theoretical model that includes perceived risk and the environment. The model was operationalised in a questionnaire completed by 164 respondents. LISREL validated the instrument and the model. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling.
Findings
The authors found that information risk and business risk negatively affect adoption and use. The authors also tested the relationship between the environment of the organisation and adoption of e‐trade. The results show that the maturity of information technology and the innovation characteristics of the firm have positive influences on the adoption of e‐trade.
Research limitations/implications
This study uses data from existing users, so the findings extend the existing literature about decisions to adopt and use new processes. The data are, however, limited to the Korean context.
Practical implications
The study demonstrates the negative influence of perceptions about risk associated with innovative processes. Thus, this awareness and understanding of how barriers are perceived should help to increase the diffusion of e‐trade systems. The authors' findings indicate what has to be done for developing and extending the use of e‐trade.
Originality/value
The study is novel and contributes to the understanding of the adoption and use of new processes.
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