Search results

The purpose of this paper is to present a new metric that aims to quantitatively support the selection phase of a new e‐business idea by performing an evaluation of its distinctness. The paper seeks to explain the reasons for the creation of a new parameter, called “E‐distinctivity”, the identification of the metrics to assess it and aims to present the results of its evaluation.

In order to visualize the new parameter and to execute all the needed evaluations a two‐dimensional radar chart has been created “ad hoc”. The radar chart is built on eight crucial characteristics divided into four principal zones representing the strategic aspects of the E‐distinctivity. In order to assess the soundness of the identified parameter its evaluation on a reference group of well‐known e‐business ventures has been performed.

The E‐distinctivity parameter permits easy comparison among many different alternative ideas during a feasibility phase and provides quantitative data to evaluate these ideas without requiring huge investments.

This parameter is not intended to be sufficient for an exhaustive feasibility assessment of an e‐business idea. Additional investigation is necessary to determine other parameters and evaluation tasks to improve the accuracy of the model. The aim is to support the selection phase of a new e‐business idea with the aid of new parameters that integrate traditional methods of business analysis.

The study identified an original parameter to be evaluated on a given e‐business idea in order to provide a quantitative measure of its distinctness.

This paper aims to investigate the relationships between student creativity, various opportunity search strategies, and the viability of business ideas developed during an entrepreneurship education module.

The paper sets out hypotheses on the associations between individual creativity, opportunity search strategies and the viability of business ideas generated. A group of 117 students provided the sample data by participating in pre‐programme and post‐programme surveys. Explorative factor analysis was employed to examine latent variables, and factor structures were confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. Structural equation modelling was then used to test the resulting hypotheses.

The results show that creativity is not directly associated with the viability of the business idea. Creativity does, however, strengthen the creative opportunity search strategies and the use of opportunity identification strategies based on knowledge acquisition. Accordingly, the influence of creativity on the viability of the business idea is fully mediated by those opportunity search strategies that are creative and based on knowledge acquisition. They both have a positive effect on the perceived viability of the business idea.

The study illustrates the co‐existence of art and science in the process of recognising entrepreneurial opportunity, which involves individual action and reflection in order for a viable business idea to be developed.

Although creativity is perceived as a valuable element of the generation of business ideas, it has to be accompanied by opportunity search activities in order to generate viable business ideas. The findings emphasise the role of creative behaviour in devising the business idea and also of incorporating creative thinking into business planning.

The paper contributes to the theoretical understanding of how individual creativity affects the viability of business ideas as well as the way in which students search for business opportunities.

While an increasing number of colleges and universities offer classes that teach students how to write a business plan, in practice the majority of new ventures are launched without the benefit of formal planning. The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual model to guide students and entrepreneurs through the process of pre‐launch investigation and planning.

To create the methodology, the authors rely on the stage‐gate model from the product development literature. The stage‐gate model is a conceptually sound set of steps that guide engineering students, practicing engineers, and product development specialists through the pre‐launch stages of investigating the merits of new product or service ideas. Using the spirit and structure of the stage‐gate model as a guide, the authors propose a model of the front end of the entrepreneurial process.

The model includes five distinct steps, starting with the identification of a business idea and progressing through feasibility analysis, business planning, and the ultimate launch of the venture.

The model proposed in this paper provides students and entrepreneurs a more structured and logical way of thinking through the merits of a business idea than is currently available.

The paper aims to contributes on the debates about University Idea Incubation by investigating the role and the engagement of different University's stakeholders in the process of opportunity recognition in an entrepreneurship education program targeted at students with an interdisciplinary background.

Through a longitudinal case study methodology, the Contamination Lab at University of Salento (Lecce, Italy), the learning approaches and the knowledge process to create an entrepreneurial awareness, mindset and capability in students with different educational background are presented.

The findings demonstrates the crucial role of stakeholders' engagement for business idea presentation, open innovation challenge, contamination workshop on specialized topics, enterprise projects are important vehicle for effective students' business ideas and innovative projects development in a multidisciplinary environment. The close interaction among students, academia, companies and institutions creates a favourable environment that enables opportunity identification, idea generation through a deep contamination of knowledge, skills and experiences.

Limitations include the need to generalise the results even if this limitation is typical of the case study methodology. Other research is necessary for an in-depth analysis in deep of the other Contamination Lab in Italy and to derive the “invariance traits” of this environment according to the features of the local entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Implications for practices include recommendations for designing innovative programs where the interactions between University-Institutions-Industry are realized.

A conceptual framework is proposed by defining all the entrepreneurial knowledge process and knowledge creation within the Contamination Lab, highlighting the contribution of the stakeholders in each phase and learning initiative of the program.

Interpreting venture creation as a process of learning allows potential entrepreneurs to help themselves, and develop the skills and competences they required for business. The effectiveness of a learning-based approach to enterprise education is explored here. This study examines changing perceptions and performances of business students as they complete a new venture creation module. In this course, students are invited to interpret the start-up process as a process of learning, using an evolutionary metaphor. Several key findings were revealed. First, the evolutionary learning approach increased the self-efficacy of participants, as their self-belief and confidence in their ideas and abilities increased over the course of the module. This increase was even more pronounced within a sub-group who started their businesses within six months of completion of the course. Second, by adopting the ‘learning to evolve’ approach, participants increasingly focused changes made to their ideas on marketing-related issues. The more the individual focused on marketing as a source of change, the better the improvement in quality of the idea. This research has implications for enterprise educators and practicing entrepreneurs. When one shifts the focus of attention to the external world, and when changes are driven by signals from that external world, the quality of emerging opportunities is enhanced. Moreover, self-efficacy increases as nascent entrepreneurs gain confidence and self-belief both in their ideas, and the skills needed to make them happen. The shift in perspective towards the external market is the key driver in triggering the entrepreneurial process. The approach thus promotes the notion that the entrepreneurship option is open to all who can ‘learn to evolve’.

Despite the existence of a vast body of research on entrepreneurship, little is known about why some entrepreneurs are able to generate and realize more business ideas than others. This study aims to present a prospective answer to this question by empirically examining the relationships among human capital outcomes (entrepreneurial knowledge and skills) and the number of business ideas generated and implemented. Additionally, the authors examined the moderating effect of the entrepreneurial self-efficacy on the proposed relationships.

A statistical analysis on a sample of 340 Russian entrepreneurs was conducted.

The results from the analysis indicated that human capital outcomes (entrepreneurial knowledge and skills) are positively related to the number of generated and implemented ideas. Furthermore, it was seen that entrepreneurial self-efficacy significantly moderates the relationship between human capital outcomes and the number of implemented ideas. However, self-efficacy has no significant moderating effect on the relationships among human capital outcomes and the number of generated ideas. Finally, the results showed that the number of ideas generated mediates the relationships among human capital outcomes and the number of ideas implemented.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous study has investigated the combination of such variables as entrepreneurial human capital outcomes, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and the number of new business ideas. This paper investigates this gap in the literature with an empirical analysis of the relations between the mentioned variables based on data collected from Russian entrepreneurs.

This paper seeks to develop an integrated framework to examine how entrepreneurs' work experience is associated with the generation of new business ideas. The framework combines human capital theory with theory and research on entrepreneurial learning.

A statistical analysis on a sample of 291 Swedish entrepreneurs is conducted.

The paper finds that a learning mind‐set that favors exploration is the strongest predictor of the generation of new business ideas. It also finds that breadth in functional work experience seems to favor the generation of new business ideas while deep industry work experience is negatively related to new business idea generation. In addition, the paper finds indications that a learning mind‐set that favors exploration is required to more fully benefit from investments in human capital.

The study's findings add to knowledge of how investments in human capital via work experience, and the employment of a learning mindset that favors exploration, influence performance outcomes in the early stages of the entrepreneurial process.

The study's findings suggest that entrepreneurs should develop and nurture a learning mind‐set that favors exploration as this will increase their ability to generate more new business ideas. Moreover, movements across different functional work areas appear to have great potential as sources of ideas for new products and markets.

Prior empirical studies have not taken individual learning preferences among entrepreneurs into account. Nor have they explicitly tested the effect of depth versus breadth in work experience. The paper thus provides novel insights with respect to how these factors interact in the process of generating new business ideas.

The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the development of entrepreneurial opportunities within the context of environmentally‐sustainable business. The “4P” creativity framework (person, process, press/situation, and product) was used.

Three cases were used to examine opportunity development. Each case involved an entrepreneur in the process of starting a new environmentally‐friendly business. The entrepreneurs were interviewed on a weekly basis.

Findings suggest that the 4Ps are useful framework for examining entrepreneurial opportunity development. Furthermore, they are strongly interrelated.

Given their inherent creative nature, a creativity perspective is useful for examining opportunities. Additionally, the findings suggest that future research should consider the interaction within the constellation of creative factors – person, process, press and product – when using a creativity perspective.

This study provides one of the few accounts of the development of entrepreneurial opportunities in which data were collected contemporaneously.

The collapse of the dot‐com business sector has shown that, in reality, there is only one economy, with a new technology trying to find its way in it. Success in business will always depend on two areas of attention: building the business; and protecting the business. The Business Idea provides a method to consider the future viability of a business proposition in all basic aspects that make for longer‐term success. The author discusses seven factors that are incorporated in a business idea. Business leaders that want their companies to survive must develop a positive feedback loop that encompasses all of these factors. This virtuous cycle ensures continued success and growth and the ongoing awareness of the evolving scarcities in the marketplace, leading to new inventions to keep the business’s offerings in line with the customer needs.