Narrow Results

This paper examines the performance of Silicon Valley ventures with Asian-American founding teams. We review some challenges faced by these ventures, compare their performance with that of other ventures, and analyze the impact of strategic partnerships on their performance. Our results indicate that firms founded by Asian American entrepreneurs tend to require more time to reach initial public offering (IPO) status than do other ventures in Silicon Valley. Our results further show that, despite needing this extra time, Asian American-founded ventures significantly outperformed their counterparts in 12-month post-IPO share price gain. This superior short-term post-IPO performance suggests that Asian American firms, particularly those that lacked relationships with U.S.-based strategic investors, might have been undervalued prior to and at IPO.

Using data collected from 714 entrepreneurs in a random sample of 10,000 Danes, this study provides an investigation of the effect of human capital on social capital among entrepreneurs. Previous entrepreneurship research has extensively investigated the separated effect of human capital and social capital on different entrepreneurial outputs. The study takes a step back and investigates how these two capital concepts are related — specifically how human capital influences social capital. In general, human capital and social capital were found to be co-productive, and increased human capital seems to increase the level of social capital concurrently. The dependence between human capital and social capital has tremendous implications for policy making and entrepreneurs.

Social capital and access to finance have been identified as key resources that influence the growth of small firms however, these variables have rarely been studied. This paper, therefore, examines the relationship between social capital and firm growth with access to finance as a moderating role. 250 small firms in the Kumasi Metropolis in Ghana were used for the study. Structural Equation Modelling using Partial Least Square (PLS) was used to analyze the data collected using area sampling. The results indicated that social capital does not directly influence firm growth. In addition, access to finance does not moderate the relationship between social capital and firm growth. However, a positive relationship was found between social capital and access to finance. Access to finance and firm growth, though significant, had a negative relationship. It is recommended that since social capital influences the capability to access finance, entrepreneurs should be encouraged to build more relationships within their networks. Moreover, government agencies and financial institutions should devise strategies that will reduce the interest rates so that though these small firms in Ghana can access finance, the high interest rates will not erode the gains they may achieve in the long run.

This study explores the factors determining the entry and stay of entrepreneurs in the informal economy in a Least Developed Country (LDC): Tanzania. Qualitative data from a focus group with six experts, and individual interviews with two experts and 15 entrepreneurs from the informal economy, were analysed. The results show that (1) necessity motivations are important for the entry and stay of entrepreneurs, as well as (2) the unattractive factors of the formal economy (e.g. degree of excessive regulations regarding high taxes)/attractive factors of the informal economy (e.g. little procedures, low capital requirements) and (3) low levels of education possessed by entrepreneurs, emerged as essential. This study enriches the literature with personal narratives of entrepreneurial activities from the micro level. Therefore, many detailed factors are revealed of the lives of entrepreneurs and experts, dealing in one way or the other with the informal economy.

Entrepreneurs are a product of their social environment. The manner by which they perceive opportunities; access or process information; and make decisions is, influenced by both social interaction, and their social background. Using insights from Socially Situated Cognition (SSC) theory, that posits one’s social environment can have a normative or informative effect on decision-making process we consider proximal social factors influencing the decision-making processes of student entrepreneurs. We propose that entrepreneurial education, networking, and incubation spaces provide direct information to students to aid entrepreneurial decision-making, and indirect informational cues that are situational, synergistic and omnipresent. Noting the multi-faceted and dynamic nature of the entrepreneurial journey of the student, we explore the potential effect of each of these factors on the student decision-making process. We discuss the implications of this inquiry from a researcher and educator perspective, and note the current challenges faced by student entrepreneurs in a socially distanced educational and entrepreneurial context. It is envisaged that this paper will serve as the basis for further thought and empiricism.

This research explores the lived experiences of entrepreneurs from the creative industries, focusing on their interactions with support agencies. We examine the support that creative entrepreneurs use to assist them in achieving financially stable, sustainable, and personally fulfilling careers. The research involved an extensive literature review, followed by interviews with selected creative entrepreneurs and representatives from support agencies. The analytical framework was a qualitative approach using an interpretive philosophy, exploring the lived experience of the creative entrepreneur. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings reveal the presence of dual identities: the creative and the entrepreneur. Funding and support are aimed at entrepreneurs who are focused on high turnover and employment creation. This is often in contrast to the motivations and ambitions of the creative entrepreneur. This research enhances the existing literature on entrepreneurship, the creative industries, and entrepreneurial support structures. It informs best practices in the design of support to creative entrepreneurs and is of use to entrepreneurs, support agencies, sponsors and academics.

The article discusses about the fast fact on Australia's biotechnology industry and its key industry sectors. It also contains the major stakeholders of the big players in biotechnology sector. Also, it touches on the regulatory bodies and the intellectual property laws in Australia.

Asia's Medical Technology Start-ups Get New Fast Track to Market via Partnership between Cambridge Consultants and Clearbridge Accelerator

Mitsubishi Electric and Sembcorp Industries to Testbed Novel Ozone Backwashing Energy-Saving Membrane Bioreactor

LEO Pharma Enters Biologics through Strategic Partnership with AstraZeneca

Bayer and X-Chem Expand Drug Discovery Collaboration to Discover Novel Medicines

New Gas Chromatography System Brings Power of Orbitrap GC-MS Technology to Routine Applications

A*STAR and MSD Establish a New Research Collaboration to Advance Peptide Therapeutics

Stem Cells Engineered to Grow Cartilage, Fight Inflammation

Partnership with Bayer Addressing Healthcare Needs.

Exploring the Factors behind Heart Failure Disease in Asia.

Tobacco Harm Reduction and Reduced-Risk Products.

The study explores relationship between technological orientations and demographics of bottom of the pyramid (BOP) entrepreneurs in Ghana. The study reviewed literature on the BOP concept. Based on the reviewed literature, hypotheses were developed for testing. Data was collected from 287 micro-entrepreneurs using a structured questionnaire. The data collected was analyzed using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analysis. The study found some relationships between technology acceptance, connectivity to networks and entrepreneurial demographics. This provides the information necessary for information communications technology (ICT) and technology companies seeking to expand to these new markets as top of the pyramid markets saturate.

This study discusses the role of core and symbolic capabilities during due-diligence processes when investing in companies in turbulent fields such as the biotechnology industry. The results indicate that investors' evaluations are hierarchical and are based on two premises. First, investors look for core capabilities — the characteristics that signal the potential for future success. They then search for symbolic elements, such as reputation, to confirm their decisions. The study expands earlier models of investors' evaluation processes. It also offers new insights for entrepreneurs of biotechnology firms.

Research on the opportunity recognition stage in the process of entrepreneurships is still in an early stage. This paper is covering the possibility of art as being one of the inspirational sources for entrepreneurs. Once aware of it, an unavoidable observation seems to be: innovative entrepreneurs love art. But is this true? And if it is true what can be the reasons for entrepreneurs to love art? This paper will address these questions by analyzing the data from a project with nine entrepreneurs and nine artists followed by interviews of 14 art-loving entrepreneurs and managers.

This study investigated the factors that influence Ghanaian entrepreneurs to adopt e-commerce. Cross-sectional data was gathered from 520 entrepreneurs in the most populous and industrious regions in Ghana. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) was employed to effectively understand the unexplored phenomenon of e-commerce adoption among Ghanaian entrepreneurs. Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the hypothesized relationships. The findings indicate that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence (SI) positively and significantly influenced the behavioral intention (BI) to adopt e-commerce. Facilitating conditions (FC) and BI had a significant positive relationship with the adoption of e-commerce.

Public authorities throughout the world, recognizing both the importance and fragility of SMEs, have over the years created agencies and set up numerous venture development support and assistance measures. Despite all these efforts, SME owner-managers do not appear to make maximum use of the services available. Results from a survey of 70 SME owner-managers show that the likelihood of an SME using public support services increases as the perceived usefulness of public agencies and their services increases, and as the level of knowledge of public agencies increases. Furthermore, the probability of using public support services decreases as the experience of the owner-manager increases. On one hand, many owner-managers do not seem to understand the utility or relevance of the services the agencies provide, while on the other, they do not seem to know enough about the agencies working in their region. However, most of the owner-managers who had used the agencies felt the services they had received were appropriate to their needs. Therefore, the problem appears to lie more with the perceptions of certain owner-managers than with the nature or quality of the services themselves.

This exploratory study conducted in heavily indigenous communities was undertaken to investigate entrepreneurial perceptions of community (sense of place, image, and positioning) and social capital (reciprocity, shared vision, and density of networks) resources present in rural communities, and the sponsorship involvement of the entrepreneurs in community activities. The uniqueness of the study was its focus on indigenous communities with a higher than state average Native-American population. Previous work highlighting the collective nature and attitudes of Native Americans was not supported for the entrepreneurs in this study. Indigenous entrepreneurs were those who identified their ethnicity as Native American and majority entrepreneurs were those who identified their ethnicity as white. For indigenous entrepreneurs, there were no significant correlations among social capital resources or community resources and sponsorship. For majority entrepreneurs, all three social capital resources correlated significantly with sponsorship, and none of the community resources correlated significantly with sponsorship. The correlation between image and sponsorship was statistically significant for the total sample (n = 149).

Mean scores to each of the social capital and community resources were calculated. Positioning was the resource with the lowest mean score. The positioning statement differentiates one downtown from a competing downtown and is indicative of how the downtown wants to be perceived. The findings point to the need for economic development officials to strengthen community positioning through an improved understanding and acceptance of the community's position statement by business owners in the community.

Even though entrepreneurs are commonly depicted as risk takers, little evaluation has occurred on whether they weigh the costs of being caught and the level of punishments, and engage in off-the-books working practices. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the degree to which entrepreneurs engage in such off-the-books work. Reporting a survey conducted in Moscow during late 2005 and early 2006 of 81 entrepreneurs (defined here as individuals starting-up an enterprise in the past three years), just 3.7 percent are found to operate on a wholly legitimate basis. The remaining 96.3 percent have not registered their business, have no license to trade and conduct all of their trade on an off-the-books basis. The outcome is a call to move beyond the wholesome and virtuous ideal-type of legitimate super heroes that pervade textbook depictions of entrepreneurs and toward a fuller understanding of the lived realities of entrepreneurship.

Greece has experienced rapid growth in immigrant and refugee populations since 1990. Although most are immigrants from Albania and throughout the Balkan region, some immigrant and refugee groups arriving in Greece also come from the former Soviet Union, Southeast Asia and Africa. Some of these newcomers have started small businesses in their quest to become economically self-sufficient, serve the consumer needs of fellow newcomers, and integrate into community life. The purpose of this research is two-fold: to review the extant literature on social and economic factors influencing immigrant entrepreneurship in Greece, and to determine characteristics and business profiles of Albanian immigrant-owned small businesses within the municipality of Attiki — the location of Athens, Greece's capital city and largest urban center.

In recent decades, the field of entrepreneurship studies has become increasingly interested in the relationship between entrepreneurship and the informal economy. This paper reviews this burgeoning sub-field of entrepreneurship studies that recognizes how entrepreneurs do not always conduct their business affairs wholly by the rulebook. Evaluating this rapidly growing body of literature, it reviews the findings regarding the preponderance of entrepreneurs to engage in the informal economy, the nature of such informal entrepreneurship, the characteristics of informal entrepreneurs and the motives underpinning participation in such endeavor, along with the competing theories that have sought to explain engagement in this type of entrepreneurship. The tentative finding is that there are marked socio-spatial variations in the prevalence and nature of informal entrepreneurship, the characteristics of informal entrepreneurs and their rationales. The implication is not only that different theorizations of informal entrepreneurship apply more in some populations than others, but also that some populations usually seen as lacking in entrepreneurial spirit are perhaps more enterprising and entrepreneurial than currently recognized. Consequently, legitimizing this hidden enterprise culture could be an important means of promoting enterprise and economic development in such populations. The paper concludes by highlighting future avenues for research on this subject.

The main objective of the current study is to investigate personal and external factors that might influence women's decisions to become entrepreneurs in Kuwait. To achieve this objective, a questionnaire containing selected variables of women's personal and external factors was distributed to a sample of Kuwaiti women who are mainly studying or have completed their studies at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training. The participants in the questionnaire survey were asked to express the level of agreement they assign to various variables that might affect their decisions to become entrepreneurs. Although the result of the analysis of the participants' answers revealed that they attach a certain level of agreement to the external factors effect on their decisions to become entrepreneurs, they attached higher level of agreement to personal factors. The Kuwaiti women who participated in the survey believe that getting involved in developing a self-business will enhance their social position and assist them in making independent decisions. Their interests and hobbies together with availability of business ideas would encourage Kuwaiti women to develop their own businesses. Their involvements in developing self-businesses are motivated by profit, given that they can secure the start-up capital. Finally, the participants revealed that religious bindings, together with family responsibilities, influence their decisions to become entrepreneurs.

Using an on-going real case study of a micro-finance project modeled on financial inclusion in Zimbabwe, a country with high levels of poverty, we provide real time insights on entrepreneurship and micro-finance in this environment focusing on the nature of challenges faced by entrepreneurs and potential solutions to these challenges. While acknowledging this is a research stream that has dominated micro-finance, our study extends the scope of research beyond Asia and Latin America to include insights from an African market where micro-finance has recorded significant growth yet very few stories are told about these experiences. Our case study provides an opportunity to reflect on emerging and previously held insights in real time using a project that is still in the process of dealing with these challenges. We then go onto illustrate how our inclusive approach to serving the unbanked segment in Zimbabwe has potential for broader contribution to poverty reduction among citizens who are exposed to extreme conditions of poverty. Our paper also outlines an alternative approach of solutions to the challenges faced by micro-finance entrepreneurs, which could be applied by entrepreneurs in environments facing similar challenges.