Journal of Enterprising Culture

This paper focuses on factors affecting the growth and performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The aim was to identify strategic factors differentiating two types of growth firms, organic growth SMEs and acquisition growth SMEs. The comparison was based on the empirical data of 20 acquisition growth SMEs and 90 organic growth SMEs, The analysis revealed strategic differences, with important implications, between the two groups. The most noteworthy differences were related to their scale of operation, firm age, founders, and product and customer structures. The results increase our understanding of the factors affecting SME growth and performance in two different contexts of growth strategies. They suggest that firm growth pattern is associated with SME characteristics, and thus has managerial implications.

The manifestation of entrepreneurship is new business ventures that may be organised within or outside existing firms. Governments in all countries in the industrial world attempt to encourage entrepreneurship as an instrument to renew and strengthen their economy. Many of these governments evaluate their policies by monitoring results of the programmes.

This paper examines the evaluation of an ongoing entrepreneurial support programme in Norway. The evaluation of the programme demonstrates that inconsistent and ambiguous goals complicate the measurements that are required for the evaluation. Further complications arise from the fact that some goals are specified in quantitative, others in qualitative terms. Finally, the evaluation draws attention to the significance of the incubation period between cause and effect.

Such problems indicate that however precise quantitative measures appear to be when presented in statistical table or graphs, caution is necessary when the measurements are used to assess the effects of programmes and activities.

The importance of stimulating interest in entrepreneurship and small business is now recognized worldwide. In recent years, a number of organizations in Oman have started promoting entrepreneurship. In an attempt to diversify the economy and stimulate private enterprise development, government agencies and private institutions are participating in different entrepreneurship development activities. This paper provides a brief overview of the emergence of entrepreneurship education and training followed by a review of relevant programs and activities in Oman aimed at fostering entrepreneurship and small enterprise development. The paper also suggests how to enhance the efforts related to entrepreneurship development in the country and argues that a well developed comprehensive and co-ordinated program needs to be made available nationwide.

The level of the Greek economic growth is highly depended on three vital factors: a) entrepreneurship and business development b) innovation and creativity c) education and skills.

The correlation among these factors are direct and clear. This is why it is so important to monitor economic growth in respects of innovation, education and business development and to pursue a methodical policy to stimulate and reinforce them.

In this paper we focus on analysing the factors which affect the process of innovation in Greece in comparison with member states of European Union. More specific we attempt to measure innovation in Greek enterprises for the last decade and identify barriers to innovation in Greece as compared to other EU countries. We also evaluate the statistical relationship between per capita GDP (as a proxy to level of Greek people prosperity) and Research & Technological Development (RTD) Expenditure (as indicator to innovation-creativity activity) using Linear and Exponential Regression Models.

In the knowledge-driven economy, economic growth was achieved mainly through innovation, technology diffusion and new product applications. Therefore, we probe deep into considerations which influence -either positively or negatively - the advancement of the innovation activity, through empirical evidence and statistical methodology. Since, innovation and Research & Technological Development (RTD) are often considered as a main drive for economic development, recommendations proposed in this article become more intense and must be incorporated in the industrial infrastructure and in management attitudes at national and regional level.