Search results

Starting from intention–behaviour models and building upon the growing evidence that aggregated internet search query data represent a good proxy of human interests and intentions. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that the internet search traffic information related to the selected key terms associated with establishing new businesses, reflects well the dynamics of entrepreneurial activity in a country and can be used for predicting entrepreneurial activity at the national level.

Theoretical framework is based on intention–behaviour models and supported by the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship. Monthly data on new business registration from 2018 to 2021 is derived from the open database of the Russian Federal Tax Service. Terms of internet search interest are identified through interviews with the recent founders of new businesses, whereas the internet search query statistics on the identified terms are obtained from Google Trends and Yandex Wordstat.

The results suggest that aggregated data about web searches related to opening a new business in a country is positively correlated with the dynamics of entrepreneurial activity in the country and, as such, may be useful for predicting the level of that activity.

The results may serve as a starting point for a new approach to measure, monitor and predict entrepreneurial activities in a country and can help in better addressing policymaking issues related to entrepreneurship.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is original in its approach and results. Building on intention–behaviour models, this study outlines, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first usage of big data for analysing the intention–behaviour relationship in entrepreneurship. This study also contributes to the ongoing debate about the value of big data for entrepreneurship research by proposing and demonstrating the credibility of internet search query data as a novel source of quality data in analysing and predicting a country’s entrepreneurial activity.

We argue that claims of an entrepreneurial miracle as a description of private sector development in post-communist Europe conflates entrepreneurship with self-employment. The difference between the two hinges on the Weberian distinction between enterprise- and household-centered businesses. We then present two paradigms, the entrepreneurial that emphasizes the first and the post-Fordist that stresses the importance of the second business type, and provide data on businesses and individual motivation of business owners. We find more support for the post-Fordist approach. Then we show that business forms, primarily associated with self-employment have different recruitment patterns and rewards than other, more entrepreneurial forms. We end with a plea to disaggregate the various forms of independent, private sector activity in future research.

When an individual decides to go into business, it can be an intimidating experience for him or her because of the many important business decisions to be made prior to entering the free market. In unforeseen ways, these decisions can have a tremendous impact on the operation and ultimate success of a new business.

Enterprise diversification is a self‐insuring strategy used by farmers to protect against risk. This study examines the impact of various farm, operator, and household characteristics on the level of onfarm enterprise diversification. Evidence exists that larger farms are more specialized. Also, farmers who participate in off‐farm work, farms located near urban areas, or farms with higher debt‐to‐asset ratios are less likely to be diversified. In contrast, evidence suggests there is a significant positive relationship between diversification and whether the farm business has crop insurance, is organized as a sole proprietorship, or receives any direct payments from current farm commodity programs.

This study aims to investigate the demand for business advisory services by owners of start-ups and young companies by taking a gender perspective. The study also examines whether risk-taking is more characteristic of masculine than feminine behaviour in this context.

A literature review examines business advisory services and risk aversion from a gender perspective. The empirical data are derived from interviews with owners of more than 2,700 start-ups and young companies in Sweden. A number of key variables compare how the company owners (women and men) view business advisory services as a way to overcome risk and to gain access to information in networks. Several statistical tests are used to analyse these data.

Women owners of start-ups and young companies use more and different business advisory services than men owners. There are differences among the men owners and women owners with regard to the amount of start-up capital, company size and industry sector. Given the risks associated with start-up, business advisory services are important to women in helping them reduce their risk in the start-up and early stages of their companies.

Companies in Sweden’s largest city, Stockholm, were not included in the sample. Financial data were not used as variables.

Policymakers should address women owners’ greater demand for business advisory services in their companies’ early stages.

This study’s originality is its gender perspective on the demand for business advisory services by start-ups and young companies and its challenge to previous findings about entrepreneurial behaviour and risk-taking.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of supply chain disruptions on the operations and sales performance of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and the adoption of “green” technology during the COVID-19 pandemic in Davao Region, Philippines.

A business impact survey was conducted among 113 MSMEs in Davao Region through the Regional Inclusive Innovation Center participated by the industry, government and the academe from October–December 2020. The impact of supply chain disruptions on the status of business operations was determined using ordered logit regression, while the impact on sales performance during the lockdown and new normal periods were modeled using logit regression. The technology upgrading plans of the MSMEs, including the adoption of “green” technology, were also determined.

This study found that the extent of disruption in processing the goods and services resulted in a negative impact on business operations, and the disruption of the availability of raw materials negatively affected the sales performance during the lockdown period. Moreover, around 20%–33% of MSMEs experiencing heavy supply chain disruptions had a plan to upgrade their business processes by adopting “green” technology.

MSMEs need to establish strategic collaboration among the different stakeholders through public, private, non-government institutions and academe collaboration to enhance the capabilities of MSMEs in handling supply chain disruptions and pursuing technology upgrading.

This paper is among the early studies of the impact of COVID-19 to supply chains in the Philippines focusing on the MSMEs.

When considering the influence of external social, technical and political environments on organizations’ open innovation behavior, especially in emerging markets, institutional theory is especially salient. This study aims to answer the question of how to integrate organizations’ external institutional pressures and internal knowledge structure to mitigate the challenges in the open innovation process.

This study uses a sample of 2,126 observations from the 2012 World Bank Enterprise Survey. A multivariate regression model is designed to explore the impact of external institutional pressure (i.e. coercive pressure, mimetic pressure and normative pressure) on open innovation, as well as the moderating effect of digital knowledge and experience-based knowledge.

The results show that institutional pressure has a positive role in promoting open innovation; digital knowledge weakens the positive relationship between institutional pressure and open innovation; experience-based knowledge strengthens the positive relationship between institutional pressure (especially coercive pressure) and open innovation.

This study combines institutional theory and knowledge management to enriches insights into open innovation in emerging markets. Beyond recognizing the inherent multidimensionality of the concept of institutional pressure, this study creates an integrated path for the legitimacy acquiring of enterprises through the knowledge structure design (i.e. digital knowledge and experience-based knowledge). It also deepens the institutional pressure to enable the implementation of digital knowledge to manage open innovation processes.

The purpose of this paper is to present a tentative typology of social enterprises in South Africa. It also tries to establish a base line on the current state of social entrepreneurship in South Africa. While the term seems to have been appearing more and more frequently in both the public and political domain in the past decade or so, the current knowledge of social enterprise in South Africa (as in Africa more broadly) remains very limited.

This paper tries to address this dearth of academic literature on social entrepreneurship in South Africa by reviewing the extant academic and grey literature as well as various policy documents with the aim of discerning the various legal forms under which social enterprises can incorporate.

The paper distinguishes three avenues for incorporation: as a non-profit entity, a for-profit entity or a hybrid structure.

It calls for both rigorous and systematic empirical and theoretical work that is grounded in the realities of the country to strengthen sound policy decision-making as well as effective organisation and management of these organisations, which can play a crucial role in both economic and social development of South Africa.

As part of the International Comparative Social Enterprise Models (ICSEM) project, this paper contributes to the understanding of the geographically distinct manifestations of social enterprise in South Africa. At the same time, it aims to present a research agenda to move social entrepreneurship in South Africa forward.

This research aims to investigate and identify knowledge transfer (KT) enablers within the developing country of Ghana. These enablers act as mechanisms to stimulate knowledge creation, knowledge protection and build effective knowledge-sharing (KS) behaviour in construction companies – consequently, they are crucial to business survival in a globally competitive market.

A perception questionnaire survey was used to elicit responses from construction practitioners using purposive and snowballing non-probability sampling techniques. Summary statistical analysis and a chi-square test was used to uncover relationships between the independent and dependent variables.

An empirical examination of data collected indicated that knowledge strategy, organizational culture, information technology and knowledge leadership as knowledge enablers have a significant positive relationship with KT. Future research is however required to measure transfer within an organization vis-à-vis measure perception of such.

The work presents a rare glimpse of the relationship between knowledge enablers and KT (particularly in a developing country context) and as such provides utility to policymakers and construction firms to enhance their knowledge capabilities.

This paper investigates the Saudi market and the ownership structures of listed firms within the Saudi context. This paper examines the historical phases of evolution of the Saudi market since the first flotation of a Saudi firm in 1935 to date. The data reveals high ownership by families and the government (30%) in the total companies listed. This paper also underscores the capacity of the Saudi market to develop into one of the leading stock exchange markets in the Middle East and East Asia. The discussion concludes that the Saudi market needs greater transparency, better legal frameworks, corporate governance codes, and more regulation, so as to realise its potential.