Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Entrepreneurial Transition'

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Communication and Culture, 2008.
Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 24, 2009). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: A, page: 4187. Adviser: Robert L. Ivie.

Finding ways of creating job opportunities is a commonly discussed topic among policy makers, especially in the context of the struggling world economy. Studies have shown that small firms, in particular young high-growth firms greatly contribute to job creation (Barba 2014; Birch, 1987; Lawless, 2014). However, research show that there is a gap between the view scholars in the field of entrepreneurship has of measures of firm growth and how practitioners perceive the same (Achtenhagen et al., 2010). Connecting scholars understanding and view of growth to that of practitioners will be important to drive growth. Studies on firm growth do exist, however empirical studies on the changes during growth remain sparse. The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the internal activities and processes that occur in a firm during growth. By investigating a firm on a micro-level, this study will contribute to the understanding of which activities take place in a firm when it goes from being small and entrepreneurial to become a well-established player. This thesis main contribution to research is the adding of empirical depth and understanding of the processes and activities taking place when a firm grows.

The traditional role of workforce training by community colleges in support of regional economic development is insufficient to help rural areas survive in a global economy. Rural community colleges are uniquely positioned to provide enhanced economic development support through entrepreneurship and small business development programs. Using Woolcock and Narayan's conceptualization of social capital, the purpose of this case study of 4 community colleges in a midwest state was to identify specific entrepreneurship strategies rural community colleges use relative to economic development. The data were collected via email and telephone interviews with 11 employees connected to leadership and/or economic development from the 4 community colleges. Interview data were transcribed, inductively coded, and subjected to thematic analysis according to job duties of the respondents. Findings from this study indicate that key factors in improving entrepreneurial capacity include a need to strengthen leadership development, and enhance regional social capital through synergy networks linked to economic development efforts involving the rural college. These findings are similar to the Rural Community College Initiative that was funded by the Ford Foundation. The implications for social change stemming from this study include advocating entrepreneurship through social capital and shared vision via rural community colleges to stabilize and strengthen those regions, with the potential creating more vibrant economies for rural communities.

Using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, this paper examines differences in entrepreneurial perceptions (fear of failure, opportunity perception, self-efficacy, public opinion) between CEE and non-CEE countries, before and after the 2008 recession, as well as the effects of these perceptions on entrepreneurial motivation and overall levels of activity. The results suggest that CEE countries have systematically more pessimistic outlooks in terms of fear of failure and opportunity perception, but no difference from non-CEE countries in self-efficacy and public opinion. Additionally, most of the difference in fear of failure and opportunity perception, along with an increase in necessity-motivated entrepreneurship, comes after the recession, suggesting less durability and resilience of optimistic entrepreneurial perceptions in CEE countries. Finally, there is evidence of a higher threshold for a perceived opportunity to become a business reality in these post-socialist CEE countries.

Paper title: Transition towards entrepreneurship Purpose: This paper explores and creates understanding regarding the identity transition of West Africa immigrants towards entrepreneurship. Methodology: This study applied a qualitative research method that was exploratory and descriptive in nature. Primary and secondary data were collected and used as sources of information. Primary data were obtained through multiple in-depth interviews strategy; the interviews were designed in a semi-structured format. In total, seven African immigrant entrepreneurs were respondents in this study. Secondary data utilized in this study comprised of information obtained via scientific materials and organizational websites. A convenience sampling method was determined as the appropriate method for selection of entrepreneurs’ sample that was utilized in this study. Key findings: This study found immigrant entrepreneurs to have a tendency to expose themselves to new practices and knowledge within their new environments. West Africa immigrants’ entrepreneurs are tenacious about valuable information in their new environment, they have a tendency to integrate new information to align with their previous work experiences. In the quest for channels to test business ideas acquired or perceived, immigrant entrepreneurs often try out their new ideas on a smaller scale. This study uncovered that a successful trial process tends to persuade immigrants towards entrepreneurship once an opportunity is well established. Immigrant entrepreneurs construct latent attitudes regarding potential new business prospects in order to solidify an entrepreneurial identity. Implication for practice: This study challenges the assertion made in past literatures which expressly concluded that people considered entrepreneurship as a highly professionalized occupation and stated that only few percentage of persons devotedly take the necessary steps to start a business. This study rejects the above argument by offering guidelines to anyone who may have entrepreneurial ideas or objectives but hesitates to make the identity change that is substantial to help create a transition.  Furthermore, revelations in this research showed that setting up a new business venture from scratch is conceivable, this study highlighted some extensive development processes that are essential in generating entrepreneurial identity.  Future research direction: Adequate attention and recognition have not been awarded to West African entrepreneurs in western society, and as well as in previous academic research. In western societies, people still view West African entrepreneurs as second-hand business minded traders. Hence, this study encourages upcoming academia to explore and create emphasis regarding the impact businesses owned by West Africa immigrants’ entrepreneurs produce in our today’s society. In conjunction to the above suggestion, it should be important to highlight useful channels through which our society (especially non-migrants) can support in encouraging and empowering various immigrant entrepreneurs towards growing their businesses in their various communities.

This thesis uses data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and a small scale survey on student entrepreneurship conducted by the School of Business and Economics at Swansea University, in assessing entrepreneurial intentions and transitions into self-employment. Analysis of entrepreneurial motivations has largely been confined to 'push' versus 'pull' factors. Very few studies, if any, have analysed individual-specific factors associated with entrepreneurial motivations. In addressing this issue, the analysis documents the extent to which there is heterogeneity amongst the self-employed on the basis of the motivations that they report for choosing self-employment. Multivariate regression analysis is employed using a method to control for self-selection into self-employment. Background characteristics such as gender, educational attainment, housing tenure and region of residence are found to be important factors influencing entrepreneurial motives. Relative to males, females are less likely to show entrepreneurial intent and subsequently participate in self-employment, however little is known about precisely why this is. Using decomposition analysis, the gap in entrepreneurial intent probabilities is examined across gender. Attitudes towards risk are found to be a major factor associated with the gap in average levels of entrepreneurial intentions between males and female students, accounting for very nearly half of the total gap. Within Wales there seems to exist a widespread perception that the younger population views entrepreneurship less positively than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK. The analysis examines whether differences in entrepreneurial intention probabilities between Welshdomiciled and non-Welsh domiciled students can be explained by a range of demographic factors, family characteristics and psychological traits. Family and other background influences are found to be important contributors to the non-Welsh and Welsh gap, while differences in risk attitudes appear to provide the largest single component of the intentions gap between the two groups. Entrepreneurs may differ from non-entrepreneurs in terms of a range of personal characteristics, family and social background and personal resources. Cognitive or behavioural factors may also be important in determining who becomes an entrepreneur. Data from the BHPS indicates that unrealistic optimism is significantly and positively associated with the probability of being both self-employed and an aspiring entrepreneur. Furthermore, unrealistic optimism is found to be persistent and a factor affecting duration in selfemployment.

This dissertation analyzes rewards and motivations of self-employment. In light of recent research contributions of Barton Hamilton (2000), which find entrepreneurship not as financially rewarding as wage work, my dissertation attempts to both verify and explain this claim. The first essay proposes a theoretical model of evolution of erroneous earnings expectations on part of a nascent entrepreneur. Inability to observe, survey, and take into account all of the returns to entrepreneurship prior to business entry creates a biased set of beliefs on part of the potential entrants. Using Bayesian learning, a nascent entrepreneur starting out with correct perception of profit distribution arrives at erroneous beliefs by incorporating limited information collected from existing businesses. An observed distribution of surviving businesses would exhibit higher earnings because of previous, unobserved, business failure entrepreneur get an overly positive view of her profit potential. Hence, the chapter offers a unique method of modeling overconfidence. The second essay undertakes dynamic empirical comparison of earnings received by business owners and their wage counterparts. Using Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) I examine both short and long run returns to entrepreneurship comparing theses rewards to wage earners returns. I pay particular attention to transitions into and out of business ownership. I estimate entire earnings distribution. To characterize dynamic aspect of changes to individuals’ earnings I split the income distribution into five income quintiles and follow survey participants over the period of seven years. I find that period-to-period transitions to be Markovian. I find business tenure to be short, business ownership is costly in the short and rewarding in the long run. The third essay considered different reporting schemes applied to the self-employed. It is another empirical investigation of entrepreneurial earning uses Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). I find entrepreneurs while reporting lower than wage workers earnings enjoy significant consumption premiums. I observe evidence of income underreporting by entrepreneurs. This finding suggests a need for better earning comparison metrics and proposes to use consumption rather than income metrics for future comparisons.

La cession des petites et moyennes entreprises constitue un enjeu économique majeur en Europe dans les années à venir. Le travail préliminaire du dirigeant de préparation à la cession de l'entreprise est un gage de réussite majeur dans la pérennité du projet. Cette thèse étudie la notion d'intention de cession du dirigeant de PME afin de mieux appréhender un des acteurs du projet, le cédant, dans toutes ses dimensions, notamment concernant les facteurs humains. Nous avons rapproché notre travail d'autres études réalisées sur l'intention entrepreneuriale (CERAG) et sur le cédant (Louise Cadieux)
The transfer of small and medium-sized enterprises establishes constitutes a major economic stake in Europe in the years to come. The preliminary work of the leader of preparation for the transfer of the company is a major security of success in the perpetuity of the project. This thesis studies the notion of intention of transfer of the leader of SME (SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISE) to appreciate better one of the actors of the project, the assigner, in all its dimensions, in particular concerning human factors. We moved closer to our work of the other studies carried out on the entrepreneurship intention (CERAG) and on the assignor (Louise Cadieux)

La santé du dirigeant de PME, en tant que premier actif immatériel de l’entrepreneur, fait l’objet depuis une dizaine d’années d’un courant de recherche qui tend à démontrer que l’entrepreneuriat est vecteur de bonne santé bien que cette santé soit soumise à une plus forte amplitude d’émotions que celle des salariés. Ce travail doctoral s’inscrit dans ce courant de recherche en opérant une focalisation sur les entrepreneurs en situation du handicap. Cette thèse pluridisciplinaire adopte une posture épistémologique de type interprétative de nature inductive. Vingt entrepreneurs en situation de handicap qui ont opéré une transition entrepreneuriale (passage du salariat à l’entrepreneuriat) ont été interrogés. Afin d’avoir une compréhension globale de cette population, le type de handicap, la date de la survenance du handicap et le secteur d’activité n’ont pas été retenus comme critères de sélection pour appréhender une grande variété d’entrepreneurs en situation de handicap. Deux aspects ont été ainsi étudiés dans ce travail doctoral : les entrepreneurs en situation de handicap et la transition entrepreneuriale des personnes handicapées. Au niveau conceptuel, ce travail de recherche doctoral a appliqué les théories des motivations entrepreneuriales et de la salutogénèse entrepreneuriale. Les résultats de cette thèse mettent en avant deux constats : le caractère central du handicap dans la vie de l’entrepreneur et la difficile alliance entre l’entrepreneuriat et le handicap
The health of the SMEs owner, as the first intangible asset of the entrepreneur, has been the subject of a trend of research for ten years, which tends to show that entrepreneurship is a vector of good health, although this health is subject to a greater range of emotions than that of employees. This doctoral work is part of this research by focusing on entrepreneurs with disabilities. This multidisciplinary thesis adopts an epistemological posture of interpretative type of inductive nature. Twenty entrepreneurs with disabilities who made an entrepreneurial transition (transition from wage-earning to entrepreneurship) were interviewed. In order to have a global understanding of this population, the type of disability, the date of the onset of the disability and the sector of activity were not selected as selection criteria to apprehend a wide variety of entrepreneurs in disability. Two aspects were studied in this doctoral work: entrepreneurs with disabilities and the entrepreneurial transition of people with disabilities.At the conceptual level, this doctoral research work has applied theories of entrepreneurial motivations and entrepreneurial salutogenesis. The results of this thesis highlight two findings: the centrality of disability in the life of the entrepreneur and the difficult alliance between entrepreneurship and disability

Le débat normatif, qui a orienté les politiques économiques des pays en transition au début des années quatre-vingt dix, a conduit à privilégier la privatisation des anciennes entreprises d'État au détriment de la création d'entreprises ex nihilo. En effet, le nouveau secteur privé -qui s'est essentiellement développé sous la forme de micro-entreprises -a longtemps été cantonné à un rôle d'amortisseur social des réformes, identifié à un secteur à faible productivité, assimilable au secteur informel. En analysant l'expérience de la Pologne au cours de la première décennie de transition, cette thèse démontre, au contraire, le rôle prépondérant du nouveau secteur privé dans la privatisation de l'économie -entendue comme la progression de la part du secteur privé dans le PIB. Elle s'appuie sur une étude originale et détaillée des comptes nationaux et de la démographie des entreprises, et met en évidence les facteurs à l'origine du succès du "modèle" polonais de transition.

La thèse explore les liens entre l'autonomisation des femmes et la transition économique. Elle examine la manière dont l'augmentation du nombre de femmes travaillant dans le secteur public ou privé peut contribuer à résoudre certains problèmes persistants de transition dans les pays émergents, comme un faible niveau de productivité, d'innovation et de développement humain. La thèse est composée de trois chapitres qui s'appuient sur les modèles économiques de l'égalité entre les sexes et de la transition. Le premier chapitre explore la relation entre la composition hommes-­femmes des entreprises et l'implication des entreprises en question dans des activités d'innovation en Europe de l'Est et en Asie centrale. Le deuxième chapitre établit l'analyse des performances des entreprises, et cherche à déterminer si les PME dirigées par des femmes se comportent différemment de celles dirigées par des hommes dans les pays de l'Europe de l'Est, d'Asie centrale et Russie. Ce chapitre examine en particulier les activités qui permettent d'améliorer la compétitivité des entreprises: l'acquisition de services de développement commercial et l'investissement dans la formation sur le terrain. Enfin, dans le dernier chapitre, j'examine les liens entre le nombre de femmes dans les assemblées législatives des États de l'Inde et l'amélioration de la condition des femmes dans leur famille, mesurée par leur âge lors de leur premier mariage et de leur première maternité. Dans ces trois chapitres, je conclus que l'augmentation de la participation des femmes à tous les niveaux des secteurs public et privé a un effet positif sur les résultats obtenus au niveau de l'entreprise et des personnes
The thesis addresses the links between women's empowerment and economic transition. It examines the ways in which more women working in the public and private sectors could address the persistent problems of transition and emerging economies, such as poor human capital base and low levels of productivity and innovation. The thesis has three chapters which build on the economic models of gender equality and transition. The first chapter explores the relationship between the gender composition of a firm and the firm's involvement in innovation activities in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The second chapter extends the analysis of firm performance, and investigates whether SMEs owned by women perform differently from SMEs owned by men in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Russia. In particular, the chapter examines activities which enhance firm competitiveness: acquisition of business development services and investment in on-the-job training. Finally, in the last chapter, I examine the relationship between the number of women in state legislative assemblies in lndia and better family outcomes for women as measured by age at first marriage and childbearing. Throughout the three chapters, I conclude that an increasing participation of women at all levels in the private and public sectors is positively associated with better firm-level and individual outcomes

L'accumulation de gaz à effet de serre dans l'atmosphère, produite par des activités anthropiques notamment dans le secteur de l’énergie est une des causes principales du changement climatique. Par conséquent, réaliser une véritable transition énergétique par une décarbonisation des réseaux électriques est devenue un besoin urgent pour atténuer les effets du réchauffement climatique. Dans cette transition, l’introduction des énergies renouvelables a été initiée depuis plusieurs années, principalement en raison de la participation de nouveaux acteurs à ce marché. Aujourd’hui, l’un des grands défis est de maintenir l’équilibre et la sécurité du réseau électrique en tenant compte de la diversité et de la variabilité des ressources énergétiques renouvelables connectées au réseau. L’une des approches permettant de régler ce problème et d’accroître la flexibilité du réseau électrique par ce que l’on désigne comme la Réponse à la Demande (RD). Cette thèse examine précisément ces nouvelles approches et montre l’intérêt de repenser les relations entre les différentes partie-prenantes pour faire émerger des nouveaux modèles d’affaires afin de déployer de nouvelles innovations au service de la transition énergétique. La méthodologie de recherche mise en œuvre de cette thèse consiste en une revue systématique de la littérature et une étude des données empiriques de 15 jeunes entreprises européennes du secteur de l’énergie. En conséquence, la thèse fournit à la communauté de la recherche (1) une méthode de classification pour catégoriser les différents modèles d’affaires de l’énergie (MAEs) et présente une première synthèse des MAE identifiés dans la littérature; (2) un cadre d’analyse des start-ups dans le secteur de l’énergie, complété par l’analyse de 15 start-ups de ce domaine; (3) un outil conceptuel pour l'innovation en matière de RD, appelé Canevas de Modèle d'Affaires de Réponse de Demande (CMARD), qui comprend 12 éléments interreliés. Ce canevas vise à évaluer les activités des offres de RD et à soutenir l'émergence de nouveau modèles d'affaires de RD. Ces résultats permettent de proposer un cadre analytique simplifié des pratiques existantes et peuvent également aider des entrepreneurs ou décideurs à explorer et concevoir de nouvelles offres sur le marché de la réponse à la demande
The accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, produced by human activities in the energy sector is one of the main causes of climate change. Therefore, the decarbonization of power systems has become an urgent need the mitigate to the effects of climate change and achieve the energy transition. The share of renewable energy technologies has been increasing mainly due to the participation of new market players. Today, however, one of the great challenges is to maintain the electricity system’s balance and security despite the large amount of renewable energy resources connected to the grid. One of the approaches to deal with this issue and to increase power system flexibility is the Demand Response (DR). Moreover, scholars argue that business model innovation can act as an energy transition driver. This thesis examines business model innovations in the context of the energy transition by investigating emerging start-up business models. The implemented research methodology in this thesis consists of a systematic literature review and an investigation of empirical data of 15 European energy start-ups. As a result, the thesis provides the research community with (1) a grouping method to classify different Energy Business Models (EBMs) and an initial synthesis of the EBMs identified in the literature; (2) a framework to analyse start-ups in the energy sector, completed with the analysis of 15 energy start-ups; (3) and a conceptual tool for DR innovation, named as the Demand Response Business Model Canvas (DRBMC), which includes 12 interrelated elements. This canvas aims at evaluating DR activities and supporting the emergence of new DR business models. These results can also help entrepreneurs explore new demand response market opportunities, enabling a better understanding and providing a simplified analytic framework of existing business practices

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
This thesis broadly explores the experiences of youth transition in the context of urban life in contemporary Indonesia. Specifically, the subject of this study is represented by young creative musicians who occupy a middle position between spectacular and ordinary young people. Located in Yogyakarta, Jakarta and Bali, this study applied qualitative methods, specifically using participant observation and in-depth interviews as strategies to collect data. In order to address the key questions of this study, the theoretical perspectives of four social theorists: Karl Mannheim, Pierre Bourdieu, John Urry and Ulrich Beck were selected. Mannheim’s theory of the generations is useful for this study because the young musicians are located as a distinct generation in the post-reform era in Indonesia where the socio-cultural and political conditions are distinctive compared to the youth generations prior to 1998. Bourdieu’s theoretical concepts are useful as tools to investigate the specific fields in which the practices of young musicians unfold, the habitus they manifest within those fields, and their strategies in those fields. Bourdieu’s work is also useful for understanding the valuable forms of capital that young musicians have to accumulate in order to struggle and achieve a successful career. An important form of symbolic capital in the context of the network society is what Urry described as network capital. Finally, the work of Ulrich Beck is useful. The changing socioeconomic context in the post-reform era means that young musicians have to deal with the shift into neo-liberalism as Indonesia becomes ever more closely aligned with the structural and cultural forces of globalization. These conditions make the concept of risk society and the individualization thesis of Beck seem relevant. Young musicians have to deal with new kinds of risk and they also have to actively negotiate as individuals in order to successfully make the transition to adulthood.

Vietnam is undergoing economic transition from a command economy to an economy with greater market characteristics. Transition is fundamentally reshaping the country through economic liberalization and increased exposure to foreign markets. The Vietnamese are developing institutions necessary for market growth and international tourists are arriving in ever-larger numbers. This research project is a case study of businesses that provide guided motorbike tours and evaluates the businesses based on two criteria: as a study of institutional growth during economic transition and as an examination of tourism production through guide interpretation. The author interviewed and observed sixteen guides in Vietnam—from Dalat in the Central Highlands to Tam Coc, just south of Hanoi—during two months of fieldwork research in summer 2010. The study identifies a variety of institutional types, from informal guides to formalized businesses with a high degree of support from market institutions. Though market activities are becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated, many services remain informal. The study also investigates how guides create products for tourists through interpretation. The guides draw upon the landscape, people and culture in Vietnam, and their own personal narratives to create a tourism product that they call the “Real Vietnam.” The guides sell access to Vietnam, and tourists purchase a sense of intimate knowledge of their destination. Together with tourists, guides participate in place-making interpretation that utilizes both the real geography of Vietnam and the imaginary geographies of foreign visitors. The research reveals the ways in which actors at the local scale adapt to large-scale processes, and in turn influence the course of economic transition in Vietnam and the content of international tourism.

L’île de Java fait partie des régions les plus densément peuplées du monde. Lors de la seconde moitié du vingtième siècle, le gouvernement indonésien a instauré des politiques de transmigrations visant à décongestionner démographiquement l’île-maîtresse. Mais les objectifs de ce programme étaient multiples, visant notamment à fournir la main d’œuvre agricole, à bas prix, aux agro-industries afin de les inciter à s’installer dans les îles de la périphérie javanaise. La transition agraire a valorisé l’implantation de l’agriculture intensive à grande échelle. Ceci a contribué à l’exclusion progressive des paysans Javanais au sein des systèmes de production agricole, engendrant un changement de valeurs et d'aspirations au sein des communautés rurales. La transition agraire a ainsi contribué à accentuer la désagrarianisation des communautés rurales javanaises, se traduisant en un immense surplus de main-d’œuvre dans les campagnes suite à la révolution verte qui a été entamée au cours de la décennie 1970. L’émergence d’un noyau d’entrepreneurs et les migrations de travailleurs sont au cœur des stratégies de résilience économique développées par les paysans javanais pour faire face aux impacts de la transition agraire. Les rapatriements de fonds qui découlent des migrations contribuent à la survie de certaines communautés rurales, dans lesquelles de nombreux membres passent le plus clair de leur temps à l’extérieur du village.
Java island is part of the most densely populated regions of the world. During the second half of the twentieth century, the Indonesian government established transmigration policies aiming to lower the demographic pressure on the main island. But the intentions behind those policies were various, including the aim to provide cheap labor for the agribusiness to encourage their settlement on the islands surrounding Java. The agrarian transition valued the establishment of large scale intensive agriculture. This contributed to the progressive exclusion of javanese peasants in agricultural production systems, generating a change of values and aspirations inside rural communities. The agrarian transition thus contributed to emphasize the deagrarianization of javanese rural communities, engendering a great surplus of labor on the countryside following the green revolution which took place in the 1970’s. The emergence of entrepreneurship and the migration of workers are amongst the economic resilience strategies developed by javanese peasants to cope with the impacts of the agrarian transition. Remittances resulting from those migrations contribute to the survival of multiple rural communities, in which many members spend most of their time outside the village.

Rapid urbanisation and trade globalisation are profoundly transforming the agricultural markets in transitional economies. The challenges of changing food tastes and preferences are motivating farmers and agricultural businesses to adopt a new perspective of business, the entrepreneurial orientation (EO). In addition, the locus of competition in those markets has shifted from competition between individual firms to competition between value chains. Therefore, it is critical for the actors in agricultural value chains to manage the cooperative and collective processes within their value chain to more effectively pursue competitive advantage. While EO is well recognised for its propensity to improve firm performance, little is known about EO within value chains. Thus, this research addresses this research gap through an empirical investigation of a smallholder agricultural value chain in a transitional economy. A mixed methods explanatory design was used in this study to mitigate the challenges of applying a construct developed in a Western context to an Asian transitional economy. Specifically, an initial quantitative phase collected and analysed data from a survey on 233 actors in a beef value chain located in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Then a qualitative follow-up phase in which 15 beef chain actors were purposively selected and interviewed was conducted. Results of the qualitative data analysis provided rich contextual explanations for the quantitative findings. The examination found that the associations between EO and value chain management are positive and strong. Specifically, vertical information sharing enhances the value chain actor’s performance of EO by reducing entrepreneurial risks. EO promotes knowledge acquisition by actors within a value chain and is strongest when a collaboration amongst chain members is maintained. Finally, EO improves the collaborative performance within the value chain, resulting in both operational and strategic benefits due to more efficient knowledge transfers, a more symmetrical power scheme and a stronger commitment the success of the value chain by its actors. The main contribution of this study is the application of EO research within the value chain management discipline. It is the first study examining EO as a strategic resource in the contemporary ‘value chain vs. value chain’ competition era in agriculture. This study also establishes the motives and rewards for entrepreneurial value chains that exist within the agricultural sectors of transitional economies. Therefore, it raises the farmers’ managers’, consultants’ and policymakers’ awareness of the importance of EO and can potentially improve the chance for the survival of smallholder agribusinesses in hypercompetitive markets.

Cette thèse explore les effets macroéconomiques et distributionnels de la taxation dans l’économie américaine. Les trois premiers chapitres prennent en considération l’interaction entre l’entrepreneuriat et la distribution de richesse tandis que le dernier discute l’arbitrage du mode de financement d’une diminution d’impôt sur les sociétés sous la contrainte de neutralité fiscale pour le gouvernement. Spécifiquement, le chapitre 1 en utilisant les données du Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) , fournit des évidences selon lesquelles le capital humain ou l’expérience entrepreneuriale est quantitativement important pour expliquer les disparités de revenu et de richesse entre les individus au cours de leur cycle de vie. Pour saisir ces tendances, je considère le modèle d’entrepreneuriat de Cagetti et De Nardi (2006), modifié pour prendre en compte la dynamique du cycle de vie. J’introduis également l’accumulation de l’experience entrepreneuriale, laquelle rend les entrepreneurs plus productifs. Je calibre ensuite deux versions du modèle (avec et sans accumulation d’expérience d’entreprise) en fonction des mêmes données américaines. Les résultats montrent que le modèle avec accumulation d’expérience réplique le mieux les données. La question de recherche du chapitre 2 est opportune à la réforme fiscale récente adoptée aux États-Unis, laquelle est un changement majeur du code fiscal depuis la loi de réforme fiscale de 1986. Le Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) voté en décembre 2017 a significativement changé la manière dont le revenu d’affaires est imposé aux États-Unis. Je considère alors le modèle d’équilibre général dynamique avec choix d’occupations développé au Chapitre 1 pour une évaluation quantitative des effets macroéconomiques du TCJA, tant dans le court terme que dans le long terme. Le TCJA est modélisé selon ses trois provisions clés : un nouveau taux de déduction de 20% pour les firmes non- incorporées, une baisse du taux fiscal statutaire pour sociétés incorporées de 35% à 21% et la réduction de 39.6% à 37% du taux marginal supérieur pour les individus. Je trouve que l’économie connait un taux de croissance du PIB de 0.90% sur une fenêtre fiscale de dix ans et le stock de capital en moyenne augmente de 2.12%. Ces résultats sont consis- tants aux évaluations faites par le Congressional Budget Office et le Joint Committee on vi Taxation. Avec des provisions provisoires, le TCJA génère une réduction dans l’inégalité de la richesse et celle du revenu mais l’opposé se réalise une fois que les provisions sont faites permanentes. Dans les deux scénarios, la population subit une perte de bien-être et exprime un faible soutien. Le chapitre 3 répond à la question normative: Les entrepreneurs devraient-ils être imposés différemment? Par conséquent, j’analyse quantitativement la désirabilité d’une taxation basée sur l’occupation dans un modèle à générations imbriquées avec entrepreneuriat et une prise en compte explicite des cohortes transitionnelles. La reforme principale étudiée est le passage d’une taxation progressive fédérale identique tant pour les revenus du travail que pour le bénéfice d’entreprise au niveau individuel à un régime fiscal différentiel où le profit d’affaires fait face à un taux d’imposition proportionnel pendant que le revenu du travail est toujours soumis au code de taxation progressive. Je trouve qu’une taxe proportionnelle de 40% imposée aux entrepreneurs est optimale. Plus générale- ment, je montre que le taux d’imposition optimal varie entre 15% et 50%, augmentant avec l’aversion du planificateur pour les inégalités et diminuant avec son évaluation rel- ative du bien-être des générations futures. Dans le contexte de la réforme fiscalité des entreprises, le chapitre 4 évalue les compromis de neutralité fiscale de revenu dans le financement d’une réduction de l’impôt des sociétés. Pour respecter la neutralité fiscale, le gouvernement utilise trois instruments pour équilibrer son budget, à savoir l’impôt sur le revenu du travail, les dividendes et les gains en capital. Je construis ensuite un modèle d’équilibre général parcimonieux pour obtenir des multiplicateurs budgétaires équilibrés associés à une réforme de l’impôt sur les sociétés. En utilisant un calibration standard de l’économie américaine, je montre que les multiplicateurs liés à l’impôt sur le revenu du travail et l’impôt sur les dividendes sont négatifs, suggérant ainsi un compromis entre une réduction de l’impôt des sociétés et ces deux taux d’imposition. D’autre part, le multiplicateur lié à l’impôt sur les gains en capital est positif, ce qui prédit une coordination d’une double réduction des taux d’imposition des sociétés et des gains en capital. De plus, les gains de bien-être des différents scénarios sont mitigés.
This thesis explores the macroeconomic and distributional effects of taxation in the U.S. economy. The first three chapters take advantage of the interplay between entrepreneurship and wealth distribution while the last one discusses the trade-offs when financing a corporate tax cut under revenue neutrality. Specifically, Chapter 1 provides evidence using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) that occupation-specific human capital or business experience is quantitatively important in explaining income and wealth disparities among individuals over their life cycle. To capture the data patterns, I build on Cagetti and De Nardi (2006) occupational choice model, modified to feature life-cycle dynamics. I also introduce managerial skill accumulation which leads entrepreneurs to become more productive with experience. I then calibrate two versions of the model (with and without accumulation of business experience) to the same U.S. data. Results show that the model with business experience margin is the closest one. Chapter 2's research question is timely to the recent tax reform enacted in the US, which is a major change of the tax code since the 1986 Tax Reform Act. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) as of December 2017 significantly altered how business income is taxed in the US. I consider a dynamic general equilibrium model of entrepreneurship developed in Chapter 1 to provide a quantitative assessment of the macroeconomic effects of the TCJA, both in the short run and in the long run. The TCJA is modeled by its three key provisions: a new 20-percent-deduction rate for pass-throughs, a drop in the statutory tax rate for corporations from 35% to 21% and the reduction to 37% of the top marginal tax rate for individuals from 39.6%. I find that the economy experiences, a GDP growth rate of 0.90% over a ten-year window and average capital stock increases by 2.12%. These results are consistent with estimates made by the congressional budget office and the joint committee on taxation. With temporary provisions, the TCJA delivers a reduction in wealth and income inequality but the opposite occurs once provisions are made permanent. In both scenarios, the population suffers a welfare loss and finds them difficult to support. Chapter 3 answers the normative question: Should entrepreneurs be taxed differently? Accordingly, I quantitatively investigate the desirability of occupation-based taxation in the entrepreneurship model of Chapter 1, when transitional cohorts are explicitly taken into account. The main experiment is to move from the federal single progressive taxation for both labor income and business profit at the individual level to a differential tax regime where business income faces a proportional tax rate and labor income is still subject to the progressive scheme. I find that a tax rate of 40% is optimal. More generally, the optimal tax rate varies between 15% and 50%, increasing with the planner's aversion to inequality and decreasing with its relative valuation of future generations' welfare. In the context of business tax reform, chapter 4 assesses revenue-neutral trade-offs when financing a corporate tax cut. To meet revenue neutrality, the policymaker uses three instruments to balance the government budget, namely labor income tax, dividend tax, and capital gains tax. I then construct a parsimonious general equilibrium model to derive balanced fiscal multipliers associated with corporate tax reform. Using a standard calibration, I show that both labor income tax and dividend tax multipliers are negative, suggesting a trade-off between a corporate tax cut and these two tax rates. On the other hand, the multiplier related to the capital gains tax is positive, which predicts the coordination of a double cut in both corporate and capital gains tax rates. Moreover, the welfare gains of the different scenarios are mixed.