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To study how entrepreneurial environments influence entrepreneurial opportunities and capacities in China.
Abstract
Purpose
To study how entrepreneurial environments influence entrepreneurial opportunities and capacities in China.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper constructs statistical models to test the relationship between environmental factors and entrepreneurial opportunities or capacities in 13 cities in China according to the conceptual model of GEM. Based on the data derived from GEM reports, the authors use principal component of factor analysis and lest square regression to study the impacts of entrepreneurial environments on entrepreneurial opportunities and capacities empirically.
Findings
This paper indicates that among 13 Chinese cities, if one city has more favorable conditions in terms of nine factors of entrepreneurial environments, it will have more entrepreneurial opportunities, and its entrepreneur will have higher capacities. Moreover, the authors find the extent of the impacts of the economic and cultural environments on entrepreneurial opportunities and capacities is higher than that of political and market environments.
Research limitations/implications
The quantity of sample statistics is relatively small, because it is difficult to develop the GEM project roundly in China.
Originality/value
This paper provides Chinese government with theoretical support so that the government can utilize limited resources to develop entrepreneurial activities. Meanwhile, it furthers foreign researchers and investors to understand the specific conditions in terms of Chinese entrepreneurial environments, opportunities, and capacities more clearly.
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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the moderating effect of absorptive capacity on the entrepreneurial orientation of international performance of family businesses.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the moderating effect of absorptive capacity on the entrepreneurial orientation of international performance of family businesses.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample for this study was collected from 218 family firms associated with the Family Business Institute (IEF). This paper used a structural equation model through PLS-SEM technique to test the proposed model and for contrasting the moderating effect of absorptive capacity on the entrepreneurial orientation of international performance of family businesses.
Findings
The main result of this work is that international performance of family businesses is determined, to a great extent, by the entrepreneurial orientation. In addition, this effect is reinforced by the absorption capacity, exerting a positive moderating role.
Practical implications
If family firms want to improve their international results, they must act in the entrepreneurial orientation through the effect of absorption capacities.
Originality/value
The originality of this work comes from the discovery of the new moderating role of absorption capacities in family firms.
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Lahcene Makhloufi, Abderrazak Ahmed Laghouag and Alhussain Ali Sahli
Knowledge sharing enables a firm’s absorptive capacity to reconfigure its dynamic capabilities to sense, track and recognise embryonic business opportunities. Entrepreneurial…
Abstract
Purpose
Knowledge sharing enables a firm’s absorptive capacity to reconfigure its dynamic capabilities to sense, track and recognise embryonic business opportunities. Entrepreneurial opportunity recognition triggers entrepreneurs to invest in and upgrade their knowledge practices to improve entrepreneurial performance. This study aims to examine the relationship between knowledge sharing and absorptive capacity on entrepreneurial orientation as well as the moderating effect of opportunity recognition and the mediating effect of absorptive capacity.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative cross-sectional research design was applied to data from Algerian small and medium-sized enterprise managers in middle- to top-management positions. The final analysis using smart PLS included 246 respondents.
Findings
Knowledge sharing positively influenced entrepreneurial orientation and absorptive capacity. In addition, the findings reveal that entrepreneurial orientation positively influences entrepreneurial performance, and opportunity recognition strengthens the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial performance. Entrepreneurial orientation and absorptive capacity have partial mediating effects.
Practical implications
This study focuses on how firms create and share developed knowledge to enable absorptive capacity to fit a level of entrepreneurial orientation. This study validates the vital impact of opportunity recognition as a leading motivation for entrepreneurial orientation. The results highlight an important area of research and suggest that firms should focus on knowledge sharing to boost entrepreneurial outcomes.
Originality/value
The notions of entrepreneurship, absorptive capacity and knowledge sharing are extended by building on dynamic capability theory. Knowledge sharing increases absorptive capacity, which drives superior entrepreneurial orientation outcomes.
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Meghna Chhabra, Lata Bajpai Singh and Syed Asif Mehdi
Women entrepreneurs contribute significantly to Asian economies. However, women in this region face an alarming array of barriers to entrepreneurship. This research study aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Women entrepreneurs contribute significantly to Asian economies. However, women in this region face an alarming array of barriers to entrepreneurship. This research study aims to examine the factors, i.e. government support, family social support, financial literacy and managerial skills, in building the entrepreneurial capacity of women entrepreneurs under the lens of the person–environment (P-E) fit theory. Furthermore, the study also examines the moderating effect of socio-cultural barriers in the said relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
For the study, the data was collected from the owners of 311 women-owned manufacturing and services sector enterprises from the northern Indian community.
Findings
Findings suggest that all the factors significantly affect the entrepreneurial capacity of women entrepreneurs, and the barriers work as a moderator between the relationships.
Originality/value
Based on P-E fit theory, this unique research study proposes a model to test the role of factors such as government support, family social support, financial literacy and managerial skills in developing women entrepreneurs’ entrepreneurial capacity along with examining the moderating role of socio-cultural factors contributing to the entrepreneurial capacity of women.
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Neil Towers, Adhi Setyo Santoso, Nadine Sulkowski and John Jameson
The aim of this paper is to conceptualise entrepreneurial capacity-building as an integrated approach within the international higher education sector. Whilst…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to conceptualise entrepreneurial capacity-building as an integrated approach within the international higher education sector. Whilst university–enterprise collaboration is recognised as being essential to promoting graduate employability and entrepreneurship, the lack of an integrated approach towards embedding entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial capacity-building with an entrepreneurial skill and mind-set prevails in the higher education sector. With reference to the retail sector, increasingly competitive job markets and the need for entrepreneurial capacity-building place growing pressures on universities to nurture career-ready graduates with entrepreneurial acumen.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical paper presents a rationale for embedding entrepreneurship education into university curricula and for promoting university–business collaboration. Secondly, it reviews the extent to which entrepreneurial capacity-building is institutionally embedded to foster graduate entrepreneurship, university–business collaboration and business incubation within one strategic framework. Finally, the paper proposes five propositions within a tripartite approach that can foster graduate entrepreneurs with entrepreneurial skills and mind-set, useful for existing enterprises and start-ups. The implications for these propositions are discussed.
Findings
The authors propose five propositions with a tripartite approach that can foster graduate entrepreneurs with entrepreneurial skill and mind-set, skills for creating enterprises and university–enterprise collaboration within one strategic framework.
Practical implications
Increasingly competitive job markets and the need for entrepreneurial capacity-building place growing pressures on universities to nurture career-ready graduates with entrepreneurial acumen in social science (e.g. retail, business management and accountancy) and science (e.g. pharmacy, architecture and engineering) programmes centred within the tripartite approach.
Originality/value
Whilst university–enterprise collaboration is recognised as being essential to promoting graduate employability and entrepreneurship, the tripartite integrated approach embeds entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial capacity-building with an entrepreneurial skillset and mind-set in the international higher education sector.
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Florian Kirschenhofer and Christian Lechner
This paper aims to focus on the role of team and entrepreneurial experience for firm performance of serial entrepreneurs in the multi‐media industry.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to focus on the role of team and entrepreneurial experience for firm performance of serial entrepreneurs in the multi‐media industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The research assumes that serial entrepreneurs have certain advantages over novice entrepreneurs, such as the development of effective start‐up teams and entrepreneurial experience effects. Disadvantages, however, are also mentioned in the literature, and these are assumed to out‐balance the advantages, leading to mixed research findings. The hypotheses are tested on a sample of 52 European multimedia companies.
Findings
The results show a positive impact of relevant entrepreneurial experience and evidence both team advantages as well as disadvantages. Team diversity had a positive impact on performance while the extent of repeated partnerships (or relative team stability) had a negative impact on performance. Moreover, entrepreneurial experience helps to build better diverse teams but has no impact on repeated partnerships.
Research limitations/implications
The degree of experience of serial entrepreneurs in the same industry matters, and suggests that more experience is better. The findings challenge a general assumption about serial entrepreneurs: that the building of superior teams creates performance differences. Team diversity drives performance and the study could also show that habitual entrepreneurs are better in building diverse teams (through a positive moderation of team diversity by entrepreneurial experience). However, relying heavily on previous partners is counter‐productive. Limitations of this study are due to self‐reported data, small sample size and survivor bias.
Practical implications
Entrepreneurs need to focus on opportunities and resource needs linked to these opportunities, and use their experience to build stronger teams but to resist the temptation of replicating perceived past success formula by over‐relying on previous partners. The latter is also important for stakeholders in the entrepreneurial venture.
Originality/value
This paper tests various assumptions and propositions about serial entrepreneurship that are rarely based on sound evidence. The role of entrepreneurial experience to build better diverse teams and the role of repeated partnerships constitute an original contribution to habitual entrepreneurship research.
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Ismael Luiz dos Santos, Sidnei Vieira Marinho and Ruan Carlos dos Santos
Family businesses gain notoriety in academic research because they have peculiarities found only in this type of organization, and it is because of these attributes that this work…
Abstract
Purpose
Family businesses gain notoriety in academic research because they have peculiarities found only in this type of organization, and it is because of these attributes that this work aims to analyze, through an epistemological look, the results of a systematization that sought for works that use the unique characteristics of family businesses, called familiness, as well as two other constructs that showed attractive adherents and little researched in parities with familiness, organizational entrepreneurship, better known as entrepreneurial orientation and the ability to adapt, called absorption capacity.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve this goal, an investigation of national and international academic production was carried out through a systematization called Proknow-C, being possible to identify the main categorical groups of authors in the area, main journals, besides identifying and analyzing the main objectives and contributions of selected scientific articles.
Findings
Among the results obtained, it was possible to consolidate some research intentions inherent to the junction of such constructs, besides directing, which can be the best and most promising fields of research for the application of these constructs and the most indicated methods, based on the three epistemological positions, subjectivism, objectivism and constructivism.
Originality/value
This study adds value to the literature on familiness, pointing to a relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and absorption capacity, in contrast to studies focused on other dimensions of social capital, which obtained divergent results. In addition, this study reinforces the unique characteristics of family enterprises, in which this work intends to consolidate a methodological proposal with arguments linked to positivism or interpretativism in the midst of epistemology. The study provides a valuable theoretical framework of familiness determinants connecting the cognitive perspective of the entrepreneur theory to a view of the absorptive capacity.
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Gaël Gueguen, Servane Delanoë-Gueguen and Christian Lechner
Entrepreneurial ecosystems provide the context for start-ups to access resources. The authors investigate the reliance of start-ups on their entrepreneurial ecosystem and the…
Abstract
Purpose
Entrepreneurial ecosystems provide the context for start-ups to access resources. The authors investigate the reliance of start-ups on their entrepreneurial ecosystem and the driving factors behind the proportion of local actors (belonging to their entrepreneurial ecosystem) within their overall set of relationships (their business ecosystem). Recognizing the limited relational capacity of firms, the authors focus on three differentiating firm characteristics: size, age and innovation of firms.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed a sample of 163 start-ups located in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Toulouse, France. The authors investigated the characteristics of their relationship sets using regression analysis.
Findings
The results confirm that age is inversely related to the proportion of a start-up's relationships located in its entrepreneurial ecosystem. More surprisingly, for older start-ups, the authors also highlight the presence of a moderating effect of the start-up's size on the relationship between its degree of innovation and the proportion of its relationships in its entrepreneurial ecosystem: Larger and more innovative start-ups appear to rely more on their local entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Originality/value
This research increases the understanding of the characteristics driving the interactions of start-ups with their entrepreneurial ecosystems by adopting a relational capacity approach. The authors introduce digital methods as an innovative approach for uncovering firms' ecosystems. Finally, from a practical point of view, the research should provide public authorities seeking to promote the link between local resources and the development of innovative start-ups in their regions with interesting insights.
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The purpose of this paper is to theorize on the mechanisms underlying the development of entrepreneurial expertise. While prior studies have identified differences between the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to theorize on the mechanisms underlying the development of entrepreneurial expertise. While prior studies have identified differences between the behavior of novice and expert entrepreneurs, the mechanisms that cause these differences have not received sufficient attention.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper systematically reviews the extant literature on entrepreneurial expertise and builds the conceptual framework by employing an action-control belief framework to propose mechanisms underlying the development of expert behavior.
Findings
This paper argues that differences in behavior between novice and expert entrepreneurs stem from self-perceptions of their ability to act. More specifically, stronger action-control beliefs encourage entrepreneurs to create new interpretations of the world over time; develop and use strategies that allow them to rely on perceived control over means and ends, their perceived capacity, and their agency; and hence behave more like experts.
Practical implications
This paper suggests that strategy, capacity, and control beliefs are key in individuals’ decisions of whether to engage in entrepreneurial action and that expert entrepreneurs hold stronger beliefs than novices. Positive experiences, particularly those associated with deliberate practice, contribute to developing these beliefs and, more broadly, to entrepreneurial expertise.
Originality/value
This paper proposes that the mechanism of transformation from novice to expert behavior can be attributed to positive changes in deeply held beliefs about strategy (i.e. possible means-ends frameworks), capacity (i.e. access to means), and control (i.e. perceived efficacy). Each of the beliefs can develop separately from others and at different pace. In other words, this work explains why novice and expert entrepreneurs behave differently.
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Dave Valliere and Charlene L. Nicholls-Nixon
Although business incubators are a widely recognized form of entrepreneurial support, this paper aims to challenge the assumption that incubation is necessarily beneficial for…
Abstract
Purpose
Although business incubators are a widely recognized form of entrepreneurial support, this paper aims to challenge the assumption that incubation is necessarily beneficial for early-stage entrepreneurs, and considers cases where, due to variability in the motives and behaviours of entrepreneurs, incubation may be unwarranted or even undesireable.
Design/methodology/approach
This study presents a theoretically derived typology of incubated entrepreneurs, based on their entrepreneurial competence and capacity for learning, which asserts that incubation may be unwarranted or even undesireable for three of the four proposed entrepreneur types. Qualitative data from interviews with entrepreneurs and managing directors from 10 business incubators is used to illustrate the existence of these types.
Findings
The data provides evidence of entrepreneurial types whose incubation may be counterproductive to the goals and objectives of their host incubators.
Practical implications
Implications for incubator management (intake screening and ongoing monitoring of portfolio) are developed and aimed at improving the outcomes of business incubation for stakeholders.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the incubation typology literature by challenging a widely held assumption that entrepreneurs have the potential to benefit from incubation and by reconceptualizing incubators as “crucibles” that perform a critical function in distinguishing high-potential entrepreneurs.
Details