Journal of Enterprising Culture

The dismantling, in 1989, of the socialist mode of production and distribution in Bulgaria and Romania has marked the beginning of a turbulent and unprecedented period which has had dramatic implications on organisational survival. Some organisations have adapted well to the demands of the so called transition period, others have collapsed in no time. The paper explores the process of change from planned economy culture to entrepreneurial culture in four Bulgarian organisations and four Romanian organisations which have managed to establish themselves as quality suppliers for the Western market. The research methodology consists in in-depth interviews conducted with senior managers as well as an analysis of organisational documents. The theoretical model proposed by the paper is grounded in data, being developed according to Eisenhardt's (1989) methodology. Thus, the change from planned economy culture to entrepreneurial culture is mapped along five dimensions namely, strategic orientation, organisational structure, commitment to quality, technological innovation and control of resources. This theoretical framework has explanatory power only within the organisational settings explored, making no claims to absolute truth or generalisability. However, the model may serve as a working formula for other organisations facing similar pressures.

In a modern computerized financial market, the increasing professionalism of markets has created knowledge based barriers between innovative entrepreneurs and financial experts. Rating agency having pragmatic business orientation is able to build a bridge between the financial markets with scientific, computerized instruments and innovative entrepreneurs.

This paper demonstrates the foundation of a valid rating method. The method is called revolutionary since it combines process management based measurement with formal rating statement. In addition to the methodology used, the philosophy of organizing rating process is revolutionary since the rating agency is supposed to be a financial or even business consultant besides having its official status as rating agency.

Export continues to have positive impact on a country's economy and the economic success of the firms involved. As a result, export expansion and development programs are commonly undertaken to help firms initiate or expand export activities. The objectives of such programs are to provide firms with the opportunities, incentives, information, and resources required to exploit exporting opportunities.

Research on export behaviour suggests that differentiating firms by their stage of export development is one of the effective ways of grouping firms for export development intentions. However, little research has focused on the correlation between export barriers and exporting stages. This research analyses the relationship between a firm's comprehension of export and its stage of export development based on a group of Canterbury manufacturing firms. The results identify two types of export barriers; those that were stable across stages of export development and those which changed in their level of importance across the stages.

This paper details an Australian study, conducted by the Small Business Research Unit at Victoria University of Technology, of Internet usage by small business. The objectives of this study were to: explore the expectations of small businesses setting up webpages on the Internet; analyse the commercial impact of the Internet; determine any benefits from using the Internet; and to ascertain any problems associated with using the Internet. The methodology involved a questionnaire distributed either via electronic mail or the World Wide Web.

The main findings indicated that the average number of Internet sales inquiries per month appeared low compared to other countries such as the UK and USA. The majority of businesses received less than 20 sales inquiries per month via the Internet and only half of the respondent businesses indicated that sales had increased as a direct result of being on the Internet. Despite this, there existed optimism regarding business use of the Internet with the majority of business owners/managers claiming that the benefits of being on the Internet outweighed the costs, and that their expectations were met in using the Internet. Businesses involved in the computing industry had the highest level of optimism.

Examinations of new venture creation in a prospective fashion are rather new. In this paper, the processes leading to entrepreneurial potential are investigated. The key argument is that behavioral potential, at the cognitive level is determined by the individual's perceptions or cognitive structure. Four key antecedents are important in this process: perceived feasibility, perceived desirability, subjective norms, and perceived net gain. Personal, sociological and environmental variables are linked to decision making through these perceptions.This paper tested to what extent direct and indirect experiences, role modeling and educational experiences influence these perceptions. The results indicate that different kinds of learning influence the key antecedents differently, and that it is easier to learn that entrepreneurship is feasible than to learn that it is desirable or worthwhile.