Search results

This article examines major areas of inquiry related to entrepreneurial capabilities, motivations, and the acquisition of resources to launch and grow women-owned businesses.

Implications for opportunity identification, alliance formation, and strategic orientation of Internet entrepreneurs are presented as preliminary steps toward a new "netpreneurship" model of business formation.

There has been a profound neglect in most of the literature dealing with social entrepreneurship on the relationship between social entrepreneurship and technological innovation. The purpose of this paper is to provide new insights into that relationship by using the case of Prezi, a Budapest, Hungary-based mission-driven software company.

The research approach used for this paper is qualitative in nature and uses the case study methodology. Evidence was based on interpretative/qualitative interviews and direct observations.

Using the example of Prezi, the authors show that social entrepreneurial activities and projects could act as an important innovation source for technology-based industries.

The authors use the case of Prezi and describe several of Prezi’s socially driven projects and show how they influence those involved with the company to continuously innovate and solve problems that have positive impact in the community as well as their core product offering.

The purpose of this paper is to incorporate the demand and supply‐side theories of entrepreneurship development in a series of stage‐based models that analyze how macro‐level and contextual variables influence social entrepreneurship activity. The paper investigates the macro‐level influences, including the socio‐political, cultural and economic factors that can stimulate or impede the emergence of social entrepreneurship. Although little research on these determinants has been conducted, this study seeks to reveal that several variables that are crucial in traditional entrepreneurial studies do not appear to significantly affect social entrepreneurship.

To measure social entrepreneurial activity, the authors used the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) findings from the 2009 study. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to test three multi‐level stages of the socio‐political, economic, and cultural determinants of social entrepreneurship activity. The series of three stages for all of the variables were entered in the following order: first, socio‐political variables; second, cultural variables; third, economic variables. This approach allows the authors to explore and thus extend the previous research reviewed here, on how the economic context beyond socio‐political and cultural factors affects social enterprise activity.

A three‐stage analysis revealed that socio‐political variables accounted for 76 percent of the variance in social entrepreneurial activity. It was found that the single greatest determinant of social entrepreneurial activity is the degree of female participation in the labor force. Additional findings and implications for understanding the role of macro‐level factors on social entrepreneurship are discussed.

Social entrepreneurship has the potential to confront and address some of society's most challenging and complex problems arising from market and government inadequacies or failures. Social entrepreneurial firms exist within environments that are often severely resource‐constrained. Therefore, social entrepreneurs may rely on a unique set of strategies to mobilize resources available to them, such as collaboration with others and accessing social capital to generate value solutions for their communities. The growth of women's participation in the labor force is a powerful influence on social entrepreneurship activity, and with the increase in training programs and local networks to support women's business ownership, it is likely that this trend will continue and positively impact communities around the world.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the governmental, economic, and technological factors contributing to a country's innovation ecology that have an impact on sustainable economic growth.

This paper investigates governmental, economic, and technological supports that comprise the innovation ecology of 34 nations using ordinary least squares, discriminant analysis, and mediated regression. It is proposed that the strength of a country's innovation ecology is associated with greater sustainable entrepreneurial growth opportunities. Innovation indicators and trend analyses were collected from Eurostat Yearbook 2007, Science and Technology, and Global Financial Data over the 1995‐2005 period.

The results reveal that while the influence of government and the economic environment encourage innovation ecology, having resources at the research and development levels, human capital, and early seed funding were key indicators of innovation. The greater the degree of research and development, the availability of a highly skilled labor force, and the amount of private and public venture capital funding, the more likely it is that a strong national innovation ecology will emerge leading to the creation of new business ideas and growth opportunities.

The results contribute to the understanding of the significant role of innovation investment for new business development and growth.

This article presents a pedagogical model that utilizes students as primary researchers in the identification, interviewing, and then reporting on women entrepreneurs as a major component of a multidisciplinary entrepreneurship course. The purpose of the course is to attract students who may not be familiar with the entrepreneurship concept itself, the role of women in such economic ventures, or the possibilities for people like themselves in such a career avenue. Students are exposed to the accomplishments of women entrepreneurs throughout U.S. history in the broad categories of agriculture and mining; construction; communication; manufacturing; service (both for profit and not-for-profit); transportation; and wholesale and retail trade. This content experience is then enhanced by the studentsʼ own direct interaction with and interviewing of women entrepreneurs. The implementation, potential outcomes, and possible adaptations of the course are described, and this transformational learning process model is illustrated.

Writings in the media have the potential to influence our standpoint and, thereby, our actions. In this paper, the authors analyze how women in family business are represented in media to understand the frames set by this discourse in terms of women owning and leading family businesses. The aim of the paper is to explore how the counterposed roles of business person and mother are presented in media and what implications this might have for role enactment.

The paper opted for an exploratory study of 308 articles about women in family business over a 15‐year period. In the interpretative, qualitative analysis of media texts, the discursive construction of the mother role and the business role are explored.

The paper provides empirical insights into how the mother role is taken for granted while the business role is approached as problematic in portrayals of women in family business. The authors discuss whether the media discourse reinforces traditional roles or stimulates role innovation.

Understanding role as something separate from the individual provides a means to critically review expectations of women in business and how these expectations hinder business activities.

The study examines data over a 15‐year period in the Swedish media setting and describes changes in attitudes about women's roles in family business. Regarding the family business as an arena for performative acts provides a perspective that can highlight the intertwinement of the private and professional arenas in family business.

This paper aims to present new evidence from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD) showing the extent to which obstetric (e.g. abnormal birth weight, confinement at birth, severe abnormality of pregnancy, etc.) and early childhood and family factors (illegitimate child, unwanted conception, family overcrowding, etc.) have predictive effects on psychopathic traits measured later in life at age 48 years.

Data collected in the CSDD are analysed. This is a prospective longitudinal study of 411 London men from age 8 to age 61 years.

The results suggest that none of the obstetric problems were predictive of adult psychopathy. However, some other early childhood factors were significant. Unwanted conception (by the mother) was significantly associated with high psychopathy. The likelihood of being an unwanted child was higher when the mother was younger (19 years or less), and when the child was illegitimate. The poor health of the mother and living in an overcrowded family were also significant in predicting psychopathy in adulthood, as well as both psychopathic personality (F1) and psychopathic behaviour (F2).

These findings suggest the influence of very early emotional tensions and problematic social background in predicting psychopathic traits in adulthood (at age 48 years). They also emphasise the importance of investigating further the very early roots of psychopathic traits.

The purpose of this paper is to respond to calls to research recognising impediments to innovation practice. The paper argues that decision-making preferences by risk-averse managers are a key impediment to the organisational support required for the commercialisation of new ideas, by exploring the relationship between forms of intellectual capital (IC) and innovation. As a result, categories are derived that contrast with the current grand theory that IC drives innovative practices.

The paper critically examines cross-sectional empirical data gathered through semi-structured interviews with 27 Australian executive managers from leading Australian companies and the public sector. These interviews elicited narratives about successful and unsuccessful innovations where interviewees had significant involvement in the outcome. In all, 54 narratives of innovation from executive managers – 27 successes and 27 failures, were analysed using the repertory grid technique to unearth patterns about the process of innovation, especially in relation to the stability of the business environment and the need for innovation.

The paper finds that successful innovation in a context identified as demonstrating risk-averse decision-making behaviours requires different management approaches, depending on whether the innovation is radical, evolutionary or incremental. The paper discovers 12 different factors contributing to innovation processes and identifies those that are more likely to contribute to the success of innovative endeavours. From this the current grand theory that IC drives innovative practices is challenged by developing an IC-based differentiation theory of innovation practice.

As always, the observations and conclusions reached are limited to the 27 interviews and the Australian context. Further, findings are based on the authors’ objective analysis. As with any qualitative study the authors also caution about generalising the findings, and as with any theory it should be used to develop insights into actions, rather than prescribing them.

For educators it highlights the need to teach students to critique innovation rather than accepting that all innovation is beneficial. For researchers it shows they must avoid success bias by investigating both successful and failed innovations, developing differentiation theories of innovation practice. The findings highlight how senior managers responsible for enabling and resourcing innovation need to develop skills for identifying the innovation type enabled, matching it to an appropriate strategic approach. Finally, for policy makers it shows how different forms of successful innovation require different approaches, and each can be encouraged, developed and enabled differently.

The paper is novel because it addresses the interaction and complexities of the different factors that enable successful innovation and possibly contribute to innovation failures, and the types of innovation relevant to each context. This approach is in contrast to the contemporary innovation literature, which tends to focus on successful radical innovation. As a result, the paper offers a more holistic view of the diverse and interrelated factors that impact innovation success and/or failure.