Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Entrepreneurs'

In response to social and environmental concerns, a new type of entrepreneur has recently entered the research literature on sustainable development in business (Hall, Daneke, & Lenox, 2010). Sustainability entrepreneurs are guided by a strong set of values that place environmental and social well-being before materialistic growth (Abrahamsson, 2007; Choi & Gray, 2008; Parrish & Foxon, 2009; Schaltegger & Wagner, 2011; Young & Tilley, 2006). For them, business success is about maintaining financial stability, while enhancing community and improving the health of our planet. This is reflected in their business design, processes, and work culture. Sustainability entrepreneurs are committed to making business decisions that reduce their carbon footprint, promote local or fair trade, support employee wellness, and give back to the community.

This social phenomenological study explores the lifeworld structures of six women in Calgary who are running small businesses based on sustainability principles. Drawing on the work of Alfred Schütz (1967, 1970a, 1970b; Schütz & Luckmann, 1973), it examines their typifications, stocks of knowledge, and motives, as well as notions of intersubjectivity and spatiality or lived space. From the findings, three Schützian puppets or personal ideal types are constructed to personify values of community, quality, connection, and environmental preservation. Ms. A.L.L. Green, Ms. Carin Relationships, and Ms. I.N. Tentional characterize aspects of the female sustainability entrepreneur that were identified by participants as central to their motives and actions. Together, they form a new general ideal type called the integrative entrepreneur. The integrative entrepreneur personifies the unique contributions of the women interviewed, and extends our understanding of sustainability entrepreneurship in meaningful ways.

In this paper, I will cover the process of making my thesis film, Entrepreneurs. Specific facets of this process include writing, directing, production design, cinematography, editing, sound, and technology. I will detail the goals initially set for each facet, the approach taken during production, and the results that led to the finished product. I will then evaluate the overall success of the project.

This study’s main purpose is to explore what young individuals need/require when becoming entrepreneurs. To do that, the views and perspectives of students, senior entrepreneurs and incubators were analyzed. This study’s main contribution is to the knowledge and understanding of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial education. Furthermore, this study has a practical application in the form of a suggestion on how to improve this study’s empirical case: a new project designed by the pre-incubator office Drivhuset Uppsala. Methodologically, a qualitative research study with interviews as its main technique indicates this study’s main findings and conclusions. What young individuals need/require in order to become entrepreneurs is; putting the theories they are learning or have learned into action, learning through entrepreneurship in the form of learning-by-doing and feeling the support in creating values from the entrepreneurial environment; called ‘the entrepreneurial ecosystem’ by one of this study’s actors. Theories indicate the importance of incubators participating in entrepreneurial education in different forms. UU incubators are, by the actors of this study, not perceived to do that. These conclusions proved to be complicated and are recommended as important topics for further research. This study focuses on Uppsala and incubators connected to UU. The empirical material was analyzed with the Venture Creation in learning-by- doing and Effectuation theories, and the findings indicate that Drivhuset Uppsala should focus on venture creation programs in designing their new project.

Mestrado em Finanças
As empresas gazela são empresas jovens de alto crescimento. Estas têm menos de cinco anos de idade, empregam mais de dez trabalhadores e o seu crescimento anualizado é maior do que vinte por cento por ano, durante um período de três anos. Dada a importância destas empresas na economia, alguns estudos anteriores avaliaram os principais determinantes para crescimento destas empresas a curto prazo. Este estudo tem uma abordagem nova e avalia o desempenho a longo prazo das gazelas, em termos de criação de emprego e sobrevivência. Mais especificamente, analisamos se as empresas gazela continuam a superar as outras start-ups em fase de arranque, a longo prazo ou se o seu crescimento é temporário. Para proporcionar uma nova visão, foi utilizado uma base de dados empregador-empregado (QP- "Quadros de Pessoal"). Os nossos dados permitem identificar as empresas gazela e seus fundadores. Nós selecionamos todas as start-ups estabelecidas entre 2000 e 2005 e seguimo-las por um período de sete anos. Identificamos 175 empresas gazela e 37.700 empresas não-gazela. Os nossos resultados sugerem que as empresas gazelas têm um melhor desempenho a longo prazo. O tamanho das empresas gazela aumentou em 144, 130, 86, 69, 52, 37 e 19 porcento entre os anos 4 e 10, respetivamente, em comparação com as empresas não-gazela. No entanto, não há evidência estatística que permita concluir que as empresas gazela têm uma maior taxa de sobrevivência no longo prazo.
Gazelle firms are young high growth ventures. They have less than five years old, employ more than ten workers and their annualized growth is greater than twenty percent per year over a three-year period. Given their importance in the economy, previous studies have evaluated the main determinants for their short-term growth. This study takes a novel approach and evaluates gazelles? long-term performance, in terms of job creation and survival. More specifically, we analyze if gazelle firms continue to outperform the other start-ups in the long run or if their growth is temporary. To provide new insights, we used a matched employer-employee dataset (QP- ?Quadros de Pessoal?). Our data enable us to identify gazelle start-ups and their founders. We select all start-ups established between 2000 and 2005 and we track them for a seven-year period. We identify 175 gazelle start-ups and 37,700 non-gazelle start-ups. Our results suggest that gazelle firms perform better on the long run. In comparison with the non-gazelle start-ups, their size increased by 144, 130, 86, 69, 52, 37 and 19 percent in years 4 to 10, respectively. However, we have not found statistical evidence of gazelle firms being more likely to survive on the long run, thus we cannot conclude that gazelle firms are less likely to survive on the long run.

The aim of this exploratory study was to determine whether there was any significance to the proposition that the ability of individuals to assess entrepreneurial risks differed between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs, with a particular focus on the risk identification and risk prioritisation abilities.A survey strategy was followed which made use of a case study exercise to ascertain what risks the sample groups of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs identified. Demographics and other risk variables, such as risk propensity and risk perception, were also excluded to provide context and eliminate certain alternative explanations.No significant differences were found between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs with respect the risks that they identified in the case study exercise. Entrepreneurs perceived the case study as more favourable and had a higher risk propensity. Entrepreneurs also found the case study exercise more difficult than non-entrepreneurs.
Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
unrestricted

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and subsequent transition of the Russian Federation from a command economy to a free market economy changed the economic, political and social landscapes in the country enormously, opening the way to legalized entrepreneurship in the form of private business ownership. Women took an active role in this process, increasing the number of female-owned enterprises, expanding into new fields of business and contributing to wealth and jobs. This study aims to undertake qualitative research on female entrepreneurs in Russia, notably amongst women owner-managers of small and medium sized firms in Moscow, and to examine what motivated Russian women entrepreneurs to launch and manage their own businesses as they themselves understand it. The focus of this study is on women entrepreneurs and their entrepreneurial experience, rather than on their businesses. The research is based on 30 in-depth phenomenological interviews, which give rich descriptions of the women’s entrepreneurial experiences from the participants’ point of view. The study provides insights into Russian women entrepreneurs’ motivation, personal traits and management styles, which have been relatively under-researched in the literature. It also affirms the importance of the institutional context affirmed by other researchers (Aidis et al, 2005; Estrin et al, 2005; Peng, 2001; McMillan and Woodruff, 2002), who have undertaken research in former transition economies. The findings of the research confirmed that the women from the sample were motivated by external factors to start-up their businesses: they were either pushed into entrepreneurship by necessity, or drawn to it by favourable opportunities. When reflecting on their motivation, they identified intrinsic motives, such as the need for achievement and recognition, a desire to help others and to be a leader, to have an interesting job, fulfil their potential and realize their dreams. They attributed their success in business to their intuition, interpersonal and leadership skills, and stressed the importance of a strong personal drive, faith and the capacity to love humanity. In the context of an unstable business environment in Russia, the women were prudent when weighing risks, and relied on their personal informal networks to address complex situations in an effective way. The research makes a contribution to gender studies, proliferation of subjective qualitative methodological approaches in entrepreneurial research, and links motivation, trait, institutional, human and social capital theories, opening up interesting opportunities for further research on the intersections of these theoretical perspectives.

Entrepreneurship is the key to a functioning society and global economy. To be entrepreneurial means not only to see and discover opportunities, but also to develop and refine these opportunities. There is evidence saying that entrepreneurship is not equal for men and women. Sweden is considered a strong and stable country with values that promote gender equality, but even in this country there are societal structures and phenomena that sometimes hinders female entrepreneurs from reaching the same success as male entrepreneurs. The aim of this thesis is therefore to explore Swedish female entrepreneurs and the challenges they face when conducting international business. Furthermore the thesis will try to explore what challenges they face in foreign market entry due to their gender as well as try to provide future female entrepreneurs with information on how to avoid or handle the challenges they might face due to their gender. There is a gap in literature regarding this subject.  The reviewed literature presents the international business environment and internationalization as well as entrepreneurship and the opportunities thereof. It also presents the occurrence of gender inequality in business. The conceptual framework is to illustrate how all parts are connected to the subject and to each other like a circular cycle. To ensure thorough research a qualitative method with an abductive approach is used. Both primary and secondary data have been used. The empirical data was collected through interviews with five Swedish international female entrepreneurs from different industries. The analysis was made by cross examination of the empirical data and the literature. Female entrepreneurs face challenges in international business but can often choose to use it as an advantage. There are social structures that need to change for the business environment to become more equal both in Sweden and internationally.

Alors que les mutations s’accélèrent et l’instabilité semble permanente, l’esprit d’entreprise est valorisé par les acteurs publics et privés. En France, l’auto-entrepreneur, créé par la loi n° 2008-776 du 4 août 2008, favorise l’accès à l’entrepreneuriat au plus grand nombre. Depuis 2009, les créations d’entreprises comptent pour plus de moitié d’auto-entrepreneurs. Aussi, l’existence d’une dynamique entrepreneuriale spécifique à ces créations se pose. La recherche s’inscrit dans une approche constructiviste d’essai d’explication du phénomène par l’identification des caractéristiques des auto-entrepreneurs en comparaison aux autres entrepreneurs. Elle prend racine dans l’examen de 700 dossiers d’évaluation de projets en phase amont de la création/ reprise dans le sud Finistère, soit, de fin 2008 à début 2012 près d’1% des créations / reprises en Bretagne. L’appui sur les paradigmes entrepreneuriaux amène à rapprocher des standards théoriques génériques à des constatations issues du terrain. Une approche hypothético-déductive permet d’identifier les caractéristiques des auto-entrepreneurs en comparaison aux autres entrepreneurs. L’analyse qualitative thématique d’entretiens biographiques d’auto-entrepreneurs triangule et confirme les résultats. La recherche questionne le paradigme de la création/ obtention de valeur nouvelle ou existante. Elle interroge le processus schumpétérien d’innovation créatrice versus destructrice, et sa possible mobilisation dans une lecture du succès de l’auto-entrepreneur. Elle propose une approche effectuale de la création en auto-entrepreneuriat. Elle confirme le rôle de l’accompagnement en phase amont de la création/ reprise d’entreprises
While mutations accelerate and instability seems to be permanent, entrepreneurship is valued by public and private actors. In France, the auto-entrepreneur, created by Law No. 2008-776 of 4 August 2008, promotes access to entrepreneurship to greater numbers. Since 2009, the auto-entrepreneurs account for more than half of self-employed entrepreneurs. Also, the existence of a specific entrepreneurial approach to business creation projects under this status arises. This research is part of a constructivist approach to explain the phenomenon by identifying the characteristics of auto-entrepreneurs in comparison to other entrepreneurs. It is rooted in the examination of 700 projects evaluated in upstream phase of the creation / buyout in the southern Finistère, from late 2008 to early 2012, almost 1% of the creation / buyout firms on the Brittany area. The support of entrepreneurial paradigms leads to closer generic theoretical standard to findings from the field. A counterfactual approach identifies the characteristics of auto-entrepreneurs in comparison to other entrepreneurs. Thematic qualitative analysis of biographical interviews of auto-entrepreneurs triangulates and confirms the results. The research questions the paradigm of creating / obtaining new or existing value. She questions the Schumpeterian process of creative versus destructive innovation, and its possible mobilization in a reading of the success of the auto-entrepreneur. It offers effectual approach creation depending on the status of auto-entrepreneur. It confirms the role of the accompanying upstream phase of the creation / buyout business

International migrations have the capacity to generate a multitude of material, social and cultural resources, capable of making the migrant the absolute protagonist. Notwithstanding the impact and the importance of Albanians migrants entrepreneurs, researches carried out until know on the nature, scope and development of Albanians entrepreneurs are scarce. The research design of this thesis, based on a quantitative and qualitative method analysis, has the aim to study how Albanian entrepreneurs, people that migrated from a politic and economic instable country, are now entrepreneurs. After statistical data (e.g., ISTAT) are represented and analysed and historical data on the history of Albania and on migration are collected, narrative-biographical interviews to Albanian entrepreneurs and a semi-structured interview to AssoAlbania (an association of Albanian entrepreneurs in Italy) are conducted. The thesis is divided in four chapters. The first chapter studies migration from an historical perspective, giving relevance to the main historical events that have characterised the background of the today’s Albanian entrepreneurs and the ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors that have influenced them and other migrants to migrate. The second chapter studies the migration situation from another perspective, giving relevance to the today Albania’s diaspora, the role of integration, the employability of Albanian migrants in Italy and, the returned migrants. The third chapter analyses the entrepreneurial situation in Albania and mostly in Italy. Starting from a literature analysis, the chapter shows what the terms entrepreneurship and transnational entrepreneurship mean and describe the studies conducted until now. The research continues with the analyses of the Albania’s entrepreneurial environment. The chapter analyses, then, Italy’s entrepreneurial environment, describing the reasons behind the choice of migrants to invest in Italy. The last part of the chapter studies the role of network and capital for migrant entrepreneurs, showing the importance of network in collecting financial resources and in shaping the labour market of migrants. The fourth chapter concentrates on the interviews conducted to three Albanian entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs of Albanian origin who have opened businesses in Italy, specifically in Venice, in the Veneto region and to Nikolin Gjeloshi, one of the first Albanian entrepreneurs in Italy and the president of AssoAlbania, an association of Albanian entrepreneurs that was created to promote entrepreneurial initiative and coordinate activities for integration and development. The chapter ends with the conclusion of the thesis and with the main observations and key points that emerged through the conduction of this study, in particular: role of integration, role of network and recognition and development of opportunities.

Today is the era of millennial generation, many researchers in social sciences claim that Millennials are well-educated, confident, achieving, taking advantage of opportunities and so forth. Nowadays, the world is full of changes and uncertainty the whole nation needs talents of entrepreneurs more than ever before. The challenge for us is that we only know entrepreneurs when they appear themselves. Therefore, there is a great amount of potential entrepreneurs who keep in the background, while others take the best from developing their enterprises. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate in entrepreneurial potential of present millennial generation and to understand about potential, external and environment characteristics which contribute our interviewees to become entrepreneurs. The research is conducted by applying both qualitative and quantitative methodology. The face to face interview is conducted with Swedish young entrepreneurs whereas web-based questionnaire survey is conducted with Master students in Sweden by applying FACETS Framework (the facets of entrepreneur: identifying entrepreneurial potential). Regarding application of literature review, conceptual framework, empirical data and discussion of findings part are concluded.

Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2014.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 81-83).
There are an estimated 620,300 firms owned by Asian American women nationwide, and they contribute $105 billion to the U.S. economy. They are also active in Greater Boston's innovation and entrepreneurship communities. This thesis explores the entrepreneurial narratives of eight women whose small-medium enterprises (SMEs) are concentrated in the professional, scientific and technical industries. My focus is on the following questions: 1) What are the conditions under which Asian American women entrepreneurs are successful? 2) Does their collective entrepreneurial narrative display any unique characteristics? Through in-depth interviews with individual entrepreneurs, I explore these questions and identify emergent themes that add to our understanding of the realities and challenges that entrepreneurship affords. These themes include the transition from the corporate world to entrepreneurship, the early start-up stages of building a business and the role of network structures. Later themes address the broader role that Asian American women entrepreneurs play in their local communities and civic society.
by Clara J. Suh.
M.C.P.

Entrepreneurs are portrayed as salient drivers of regional development and for a number of years nascent entrepreneurs have been studied in a large number of countries as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor project and the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics. Scholars have devoted much effort to investigating factors that determine how individuals engage in entrepreneurial activities, with most of the discussion limited to business start-ups. However, since this type of project does not follow identical nascent entrepreneurs over time, limited knowledge exists about their development and whether they stay in this nascent phase for a long time. In practice, it is common for entrepreneurs to run a business and at the same time work in wage work, so-called combining entrepreneurs. In Sweden, almost half of all business owners combine wage work with a business. However, not all combining entrepreneurs will eventually decide to leave the wage work and invest fully in the business. Consequently, much research has focused on the first step of entering entrepreneurship full time, but less has focused on the second step, the transition from the combining phase to full-time self-employment. The aim of this thesis is therefore to contribute to the theory of entrepreneurship by gaining a deeper understanding of combining entrepreneurs and their motives and intentions.   In the context of combining entrepreneurs, the theory of identity, resources and choice overload has been used to examine how entrepreneurs’ age (when starting the business), entrepreneurial tenure (the length of engagement in the side-business), hours spent (weekly involvement in the side-business), involvement in entrepreneurial teams (leading the business with one or more partners) and involvement in networks (business networks) influence their passion for engaging in entrepreneurship while sustaining wage work. Different categories of combining entrepreneurs and their intentions have also been examined.   A survey was administered to 1457 entrepreneurs within the creative sector in two counties in Sweden (Gävleborgs County and Jämtlands County). Since there were no separate mailing lists to only combining entrepreneurs, the survey was sent to all entrepreneurs within the chosen industry and counties. The total response rate was 33.5 percent and of them 57.6 percent combined, yielding 262 combining entrepreneurs who answered the questionnaire. The survey was then followed up with eight focus group interviews and two single interviews to validate the answers from the questionnaire.   The results indicate three types of combining entrepreneurs: nascent – with the intention to leave the combining phase for a transition into full-time self-employment, lifestyle – with the intention to stay in the combining phase, and occasional – with the intention to leave the combining phase for full-time wage work and close down the business. Transitioning fully to self-employment increases with the individual’s age. Also, a positive interactive effect exists with involvement in entrepreneurial networks. The results also indicate that the ability to work with something one is passionate about is the top motive for combining wage work with a side-business. Passion is also more likely to be the main motive behind the combining form among individuals who are older at business start-up, but passion is less likely to be the main motive behind the combining form among individuals who spend more time on the business. The longer the individual has had the side-business, the less likely passion is the main motive behind the combining form, and passion is less likely to be the main motive among those who are part of an entrepreneurial team.

Avhandlingen baseras på fem delarbeten, tre var opublicerade vid tidpunkten för disputationen, två länkas här.

La forte persistance du chômage dans plusieurs pays européens a induit un déplacement du débat sur la performance des marchés du travail, du rôle des rigidités institutionnelles à d’autres champs d’intérêts. Le marché du crédit et l’entrepreneuriat en font partie. L’objectif de cette thèse est de contribuer à la littérature sur les déterminants du chômage structurel en étudiant d’un côté l’interaction entre les marchés du travail et du crédit et d’autre part l’interaction entre l’entrepreneuriat et le chômage. Dans une première partie, nous évaluons l’impact des contraintes de crédit sur le niveau et la persistance du chômage. Pour cela, nous développons un modèle d'appariement dans lequel nous introduisons des contraintes de crédit. Nous montrons que les imperfections du marché du crédit augmentent le niveau du chômage et ralentissent la dynamique transitoire. Nous testons ensuite nos prédictions théoriques sur un panel de 20 pays de l'OCDE sur la période 1982-2003. Nos résultats empiriques suggèrent que les contraintes de crédit augmenteraient significativement le niveau et la persistance du chômage. Dans une deuxième partie, nous introduisons le choix d'occupation dans un modèle d'appariement avec contraintes de crédit. Les individus diffèrent par rapport à leur capacité entrepreneuriale et leur richesse initiale. Ils choisissent leur occupation de façon à maximiser leurs gains. Nous montrons que l'optimum social ne peut jamais être décentralisé lorsque le marché du crédit devient contraint. D'une part, les contraintes de crédit incitent quelques individus talentueux mais pauvres à devenir demandeurs d'emploi. D'autre part, quelques individus riches mais sans talents trouvent profitable de devenir entrepreneurs, ce qui est une autre source d'inefficacité. Le choix d'occupation d'un individu va dépendre de la tension sur le marché du travail et du niveau de contraintes sur le marché du crédit. Nous montrons que lorsque le chômage augmente, la capacité entrepreneuriale de réserve baisse et plus d'individus sont incités à devenir entrepreneurs à cause de la dégradation des conditions sur le marché du travail. De même, lorsque le nombre d'entrepreneurs augmente dans l'économie, il y a plus de création d'emplois, ce qui augmente le nombre de postes vacants et fait baisser le chômage. Pour finir, nous testons empiriquement ces deux prédictions théoriques pour déterminer quels liens de causalité régissent la relation entre le chômage et l'entrepreneuriat. Nos résultats confirment l’existence de deux relations distinctes entre l’entrepreneuriat et le chômage opérant en sens opposés.

The overall aim of this study is to provide insight into entrepreneurial learning behavior and activities which could possibly serve as a model for others regardless of whether they pursue entrepreneurial career or not. As there is limited literature on entrepreneurial learning, the first part focuses on providing overview of existing literature on learning theory and the study of entrepreneurship. Based on this theory propositions about entrepreneurial learning behavior were formed. Second part is focused on empirical testing and analysis of the data identified by the research. The research is grounded upon interviews and survey of 25 entrepreneurs managing growing start-ups from Slovakia and Czech Republic. Based on the research findings suggestions are formulated with regards to effective learning behavior.

Wie beeinflusst das gleichzeitige Auftreten von strategischer und umfeldbedingter Unsicherheit das Entscheidungsverhalten? Unterscheiden sich Unternehmer in dieser Hinsicht von Anderen? Die vorliegende Dissertation behandelt diese Fragen und untersucht das Koordinationsverhalten bei dualer Unsicherheit. In vier ökonomischen Experimenten wird das Entscheidungsverhalten von Unternehmern und Nicht-Unternehmern vergleichend analysiert. Die betrachteten Entscheidungssituationen beinhalten Investitionsentscheidungen in Forschung und Entwicklung sowie verschiedene Aspekte des Wettbewerbs und von Markteintrittsentscheidungen.
How do people make decisions when simultaneously facing strategic and environmental uncertainty? Do entrepreneurs differ from others in this regards? This dissertation addresses these questions by investigating coordination behavior under dual uncertainty. Four economic experiments have been conducted comparing the behavior of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs in settings that contain investment decisions into research and development and different aspects of competition and market entry decisions.

Entrepreneurs and the components that motivates them not to give up when facing obstacles have been the focus in many different studies. There have also been some studies which aims at connecting the concepts of intrapreneurs and motivation. However, we found a gap in the research which compares Swedish entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs focusing on their motivational factors. Therefore, this study aims to fulfill the found research gap through looking deeper into the intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors of both entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. This led up to the following formulation of the research question: What are the main differences in motivation factors between successful entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs in Sweden? To answer this question, a qualitative study was conducted with the focus on gaining more understanding on what intrinsic and extrinsic factors motivates entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. Participants in the study were found based on criteria such as working in Sweden and being considered as successful through nominations or rewards. Data collection was done through using semi-structured interviews with five entrepreneurs and five intrapreneurs with the focus on finding motivational factors and typical personal characteristics related to their line of work. Since we found similar motivational factors in our chosen theories, it was decided that they would be used in the interviews. These factors were; Monetary reward, Challenges, Training, Acknowledgement, Affiliation, Power and Accomplishment.  Results show that the entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs have differences in their motivational factors both among the individuals within each title, as well as between the titles. The motivational factors found were paired with definitions of factors from the theories. Personal characteristics of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs were also found and connected to theories about personal characteristics. The analyzed answers of intrapreneurs’ and entrepreneurs’ motivational factors were compared against each other to see if the motivational factors differ between entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. The conclusion of this study is that for the extrinsic motivational factors, the entrepreneurs are more motivated by monetary rewards than the intrapreneurs and challenges motivates the intrapreneurs more than the entrepreneurs. For the intrinsic factors, power was more motivating for the entrepreneurs and more intrapreneurs saw acknowledgement as motivating. The factors which had no differences were concluded to not being related to being an entrepreneur or intrapreneur.

Social entrepreneurs, by deploying simple but creative solutions to seemingly complex problems, are catalysts of transformational change. The innovations inherent in their initiatives have wide-ranging and beneficial impacts on society. These have particular application in the South African context, which is characterised by unemployment, poverty, HIV/AIDS, and lack of access to sufficient levels of healthcare and education. The innovations thus engendered are not only scalable and easy replicated, they also have relevance in the enhancing of mainstream commercial business models. Given that social entrepreneurs' activities commonly result in public utility, it is germane to understand the underlying motivations that inform their decision to engage with the field. The social entrepreneur approaches problems differently, he reframes what others see as challenges into opportunities to serve the unmet needs of the vulnerable in society. Thus it is useful to theorise about what motivates him to act. An exploratory, qualitative study was undertaken to gain insight into the inner workings of the psychological motivations driving these individuals to engage with social entrepreneurship. Semi-structured depth interviews were conducted with both social and commercial entrepreneurs, as well as with an expert in entrepreneurship. Through, context analysis utilising computer-aided software Atlas.ti The findings revealed a unique blend of motivations that inform individuals engagement with social entrepreneurship. Prosocial motivations, altruistic intentions and compassion, were found to be insufficient to induce individuals to engage with social entrepreneurship. The changemaker orientation as well as the desire to innovate and alignment to purpose were presented as core to the motivations of social entrepreneurs. Points of difference were established with commercial entrepreneurs. The study makes a useful contribution to the theory with regards to motivations underlying social entrepreneurial action. An understanding of these motivators not only informs the public sector, policymakers and practitioners, but also aids business s efforts to strengthen the field.
Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2015.
pa2016
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
MBA
Unrestricted

Thesis (PhD) - Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Business and Enterprise, Swinburne University of Technology, 2008.
[A thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy, Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Business and Enterprise, Swinburne University of Technology - 2008]. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 254-273)

The purpose of this thesis is to find out what it takes for entrepreneurs to negotiate strategically in order to ultimately influence systemic change towards sustainability. It focuses on the challenges sustainability entrepreneurs face as they negotiate their twin objectives of social mission and positive cashflow during their collaborative processes. To answer this purpose, I conducted a participatory action research with the entrepreneurs at Hubs Westminster, King’s Cross and Islington in London. The Hub is a global community of people from every profession, background and culture working to tackle the world's most pressing social, cultural and environmental challenges. The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) was used as a lens for the overall research while the Seven Elements Theory of Negotiation targeted the negotiation process. The thesis demonstrates that some core challenges need to be addressed in the entrepreneur’s preparation for their negotiation; and that entrepreneurs can intentionally favourably position themselves through their strategic actions in their attempt to meet the need to combine economic objectives with concerns about social responsibility and environmentalism. The implication of the thesis lies in better awareness on how to aim at creative outcomes during collaborations. Its originality lies in shedding light in this niche and rarely touched combination of sustainability, entrepreneurship and negotiation.

Whenever someone starts a company from scratch there is a great chance he or she (the entrepreneur) looks for funding. People who fund entrepreneurs and start-­‐ups are usually venture capitalists or business angels. Whether it is one or the other these people want to invest wisely. However without last year’s report piling up at the reception of this start-­‐up another approach is necessary. This master thesis focuses on how valuation is possible without haveing financial data. The main focus the thesis is to find whitch personal attributes you should look for in a successful future entrepreneur.

Environmental entrepreneurs are considered to be important drivers for an environmentally sustainable development. As other entrepreneurs, they face survival challenges while operating their businesses. Due to the increased importance of environmental entrepreneurs in counteracting environmental issues we argue that it is necessary to gain an understanding of their specific challenges of survival. In this thesis, we build theory based on environmental venture cases located in Sweden. We provide an extensive overview of the current literature and contribute by identifying an institutional dimension being of high relevance in this field. Our findings are of particular interest for policy makers, public institutions, environmental entrepreneurs and their advisors. Additionally, we provide further necessary access to this relatively new research field and suggest future research directions.

Business Administration
Ph.D.
This dissertation is comprised of three separate entrepreneurship papers. Paper 1, "Entrepreneurial Heuristics...", found that being mentored, rather than either having extensive higher education or more work experience, was primarily responsible for entrepreneurs acquiring the simplified decision rules (heuristics) that can be useful to them in their business pursuits. The study also found that entrepreneurs do not seem to switch their decision making processes from a "rational man" (thorough) mode to a more abbreviated, heuristic mode as some current thinking suggests. Also in Paper 1 this researcher presented and utilized a 27 item heuristics scale which was used to identify "use of heuristics" by the entrepreneurs studied. Paper 2, "Female Serial Entrepreneurs...", examined the characteristics of female serial entrepreneurs (SE's) as a group of growing size and importance. Three areas- business size, hours worked in the business, and amount and type of capital raised- were explored through contrasting female SE's with female non-SE's and male SE's. The primary findings were as follows: the businesses of female SE's are larger than those of female non-SE's, and female SE's in the professional, technical and scientific services industry borrow more debt than female SE's in this industry, but they do not work longer hours than female non-SE's. It was also found that female SE businesses, in the industries examined in the study, have come to rival male SE businesses in size, as measured in revenues. Paper 3, "The Serial Entrepreneur Dilemma...", explained a conundrum: why serial entrepreneurs do not seem to outperform novice entrepreneurs. A literature review is given consisting of the scholarly thinking about the causes of the conundrum, and then three hypotheses are tested to explore the dilemma. It was found that looking at serial entrepreneurs and novices over time, rather than cross-sectionally, helps to explain the conundrum: the SE's are willing to take losses early on (thus not performing higher than the novices) in expectation of future profits. It was also found that in slow-moving industries, serial entrepreneurs performed much better than novice entrepreneurs in revenues, whereas in fast-moving industries the difference between the two groups in performance was negligible.
Temple University--Theses

L'esperit emprenedor és el procés d'iniciar un nou negoci oferint un producte o servei. Aquestes pràctiques, i en particular les basades en desenvolupaments tecnològics, tenen importants implicacions en l'entorn competitiu actual, en termes de creixement econòmic, ocupació, canvi tecnològic i creació de riquesa. En aquest sentit, una de les principals preocupacions dels emprenedors és per fer front a entorns dinàmics caracteritzats per un alt grau d'incertesa; i l'accés als recursos és un element clau per avançar a través de les diferents etapes d'aquest procés. En el marc de la Resource-Based Theory, es defineix el capital social com la xarxa social de l’emprenedor que li proporciona accés als recursos. En paral·lel, el social media ha qüestionat com les persones manegen la seva xarxa social, ja que ofereix nous mitjans de comunicació i intercanvi d'informació entre individus. Aquest treball ha identificat que, tot i els emprenedors són usuaris actius del social media, no hi ha cap postura clara sobre com el seu ús en les xarxes socials ha afectat el seu accés als recursos: mentre algunes investigacions suggereixen que els emprenedors tenen noves oportunitats per la gestió del seu capital social, altres suggereixen que l'ús del social media no està directament relacionat amb la millora del capital social, sinó que depèn del tipus d'informació compartida. Això suggereix que l'ús que fan els emprenedors del social media pot millorar alguns aspectes del seu capital social. Per tal de entendre millor aquests aspectes, la investigació actual suggereix que els emprenedors fan servir el social media per satisfer unes necessitats específiques pel que fa al seu capital social, i per tant fa servir l'enfocament dels Usos i Gratificacions per explorar els motius i satisfaccions d'aquesta decisió. En concret, aquest treball proposa la següent pregunta d'investigació: "¿En quina mesura els emprenedors fan servir el social mitjana per gestionar el seu capital social?" i dues sub-preguntes per explorar en detall les seves motivacions: Per què els emprenedors fan servir el social mitjana per gestionar el seu capital social? ", I les seves satisfaccions percebudes:" Com es beneficien del social mitjana els emprenedors per gestionar el seu capital social? ". Per respondre a la pregunta i sub-preguntes d'investigació esmentades, aquest treball va seguir un enfocament inductiu basat en un mètode mixt que va fer possible la combinació de la percepció dels empresaris amb la seva xarxa i l'activitat en el social media. En concret, aquest disseny de la investigació es basa en un enfocament de mètode mixt que va incloure dos tipus de dades: (1) l'exploració de les percepcions dels emprenedors a través d'entrevistes semiestructurades i (2) una anàlisi longitudinal dels entorns de social media dels emprenedors que recull de la seva xarxa social i la seva activitat en aquesta plataforma. Aquest treball identifica algunes idees sobre per què i com els empresaris utilitzen el social media per millorar el seu capital social. En primer lloc, pel que fa als motius d'ús del social media, els resultats d'aquesta investigació suggereixen que els emprenedors no només utilitzen el social media per mantenir les seves estructures de xarxa social, sinó que també estan immersos en un procés dinàmic de 'desenvolupament de la xarxa'. En segon lloc, pel que fa a les seves gratificacions, aquest treball identifica que els emprenedors perceben que tenen una millor oportunitat de connectar amb èxit amb potencials propietaris de recursos. En conclusió, els resultats d'aquesta investigació fan importants contribucions tant a acadèmics com a professionals. D'una banda, aquest treball porta noves idees sobre la investigació de l'esperit emprenedor mitjançant l'anàlisi dels motius i les gratificacions d'ús del social media per part de l'emprenedor a fi d'entendre millor com gestiona el seu capital social. D'altra banda, aquest treball també ofereix als emprenedors noves idees sobre les possibles formes de millorar el seu capital.
El espíritu emprendedor es el proceso de iniciar un nuevo negocio ofreciendo un producto o servicio. Estas prácticas, y en particular las basadas en desarrollos tecnológicos, tienen importantes implicaciones en el entorno competitivo actual, en términos de crecimiento económico, empleo, cambio tecnológico y creación de riqueza. En este sentido, una de las principales preocupaciones de los emprendedores es para hacer frente a entornos dinámicos caracterizados por un alto grado de incertidumbre; y el acceso a los recursos es un elemento clave para avanzar a través de las diferentes etapas de este proceso. En el marco de la Resource-Based Theory, se define el capital social como la red social del emprendedor que le proporciona acceso a los recursos. En paralelo, el social media ha cuestionado cómo las personas manejan su red social, ya que ofrece nuevos medios de comunicación e intercambio de información entre individuos. Este trabajo ha identificado que, a pesar de los emprendedores son usuarios activos del social media, no hay ninguna postura clara sobre cómo su uso de las redes sociales ha afectado su acceso a los recursos: mientras algunas investigaciones sugieren que los emprendedores tienen nuevas oportunidades para la gestión de su capital social, otras sugieren que el uso del social media no está directamente relacionado con la mejora del capital social, sino que depende del tipo de información compartida. Esto sugiere que el uso que realizan los emprendedores del social media puede mejorar algunos aspectos de su capital social. Con el fin de arrojar luz sobre estos aspectos, la investigación actual sugiere que los emprendedores usan el social media para satisfacer unas necesidades específicas con respecto a su capital social, y por tanto emplea el enfoque de los Usos y Gratificaciones para explorar los motivos y satisfacciones de esta decisión. En concreto, este trabajo propone la siguiente pregunta de investigación: "¿En qué medida los emprendedores usan el social media para gestionar su capital social?" y dos sub-preguntas para explorar en detalle sus motivaciones: ¿Por qué los emprendedores usan el social media para gestionar su capital social?", y sus satisfacciones percibidas: "¿Cómo se benefician del social media los emprendedores para gestionar su capital social? ". Para responder a la pregunta y sub-preguntas de investigación mencionadas, este trabajo siguió un enfoque inductivo basado en un enfoque de método mixto que hizo posible la combinación de la percepción de los emprendedores con su red y la actividad en el social media. En concreto, este diseño de la investigación se basa en un enfoque de método mixto que incluyó dos tipos de datos: (1) la exploración de las percepciones de los emprendedores a través de entrevistas semiestructuradas y (2) un análisis longitudinal de los entornos de social media de los emprendedores que recoge de su red social y su actividad en dicha plataforma. Este trabajo identifica algunas ideas sobre por qué y cómo los emprendedores usan el social media para mejorar su capital social. En primer lugar, en cuanto a los motivos de uso del social media, los resultados de esta investigación sugieren que los emprendedores no sólo utilizan el social media para mantener sus estructuras de red social, sino que también están inmersos en un proceso dinámico de 'desarrollo de la red'. En segundo lugar, con respecto a sus gratificaciones, este trabajo identifica que los emprendedores perciben que tienen una mejor oportunidad de conectarse con éxito a los potenciales propietarios de recursos. En conclusión, los resultados de esta investigación hacen importantes contribuciones tanto a académicos como profesionales. Por un lado, este trabajo trajo nuevas ideas sobre la investigación del espíritu emprendedor mediante el análisis de los motivos y las gratificaciones de uso del social media por parte del emprendedor a fin de entender mejor como gestiona su capital social. Por otra parte, este trabajo también ofrece a los emprendedores nuevas ideas sobre las posibles formas de mejorar su capital.
Entrepreneurship is the process of starting a new business offering a product or service. These practices, and in particular technology-based ones have major implications in nowadays competitive environment in terms of economic growth, employability, technological change and wealth creation. In this vein, one of the main concerns for the entrepreneurs is to deal with dynamic environments characterised by a high degree of uncertainty and rapid change; and access to resources is a key element to advance through the different stages of this process. Under the framework of the Resource-Based Theory, social capital is defined here as the social network of the entrepreneur that provides him with access to resources. In parallel, social media has challenged how individuals manage their social network, as it offers new means for communication and information sharing among individuals. Research has found that despite entrepreneurs are active users of social media, there is no clear stance on how their usage of social media has impacted their access to resources: whilst some research suggests that entrepreneurs have new opportunities to manage their social capital, other work claims that the usage of social media is not directly related to enhancing social capital but it depends on the type of information shared and the active enrolment of the community into these platforms. This suggests that the entrepreneurs’ usage of social media (to manage their social networks) may improve some aspects of their social capital. In order to shed light on these aspects, the current research assumes that entrepreneurs use social media to fulfil specific needs regarding their social capital, and employs the Uses and Gratifications Approach to explore their motives and satisfactions with this decision. Specifically, this work proposes the following research question: “To what extent do entrepreneurs use social media to manage their social capital?” in order to explore the impact of social media in the early stages of the entrepreneurial process. Moreover, two sub-research questions have been proposed to explore this research gap in depth, to identify the entrepreneurs motives for engaging in social media: “Why do entrepreneurs use social media to manage their social capital?”, and their perceived satisfactions: “How do entrepreneurs use social media to manage their social capital?”. Consequently, to respond to the aforementioned research question and sub-research questions, this work followed an inductive approach based on a mixed method approach that made it possible to combine the entrepreneurs’ perceptions with their network and activity on social media platform. Specifically, this research design was based on a mixed method approach that included two types of data: (1) the exploration of the entrepreneurs’ perceptions through direct semi-structured interviews and (2) a longitudinal analysis of the entrepreneurs’ social media network and activity collected from their main online platforms. This work identified some insights on why and how entrepreneurs use social media to enhance their social capital. Firstly, regarding the entrepreneurs motives to use social media, the outcomes of this research suggest that entrepreneurs not only use social media to maintain their social network structures, but that they are also immersed in a dynamic process of ‘network development’, where their resource challenges along the entrepreneurial process encourage them to update their social network structure. Secondly, regarding their gratifications from social media, this work identified that entrepreneurs perceive that by using social media they have a better chance to successfully connect to resource owners through their social network. In conclusion, the outcomes of this research make important contributions to both scholars and practitioners. On one hand, this work brought new insights on entrepreneurship research by analysing the founder’s motives and gratifications for using social media in order to manage their social capital. On the other hand, this work also offers entrepreneurs novel ideas on the potential ways to improve their social capital in order to address changing resource requirements during the new venture formation process.

In this research, we have investigated the entrepreneur and how he or she can use self-leadership in order to exercise leadership. An entrepreneur is a global phenomenon and entrepreneurship is part of it, in both as being developed or underdeveloped. On how entrepreneurs engage with passion in the creation of a business venture is something that is somehow similar for each individual despite the different nationalities. However, how he or she develops the needed tools and develops leadership skills to conduct his or her business venture. To study this, we have conducted a qualitative content analysis with interviewees who are entrepreneurs either from Brazil or India to investigate on how being an entrepreneur can benefit through self-leadership. We therefore derived from the existing construction of self-leadership and its dimensions in order to use the abductive approach in the qualitative content analysis. We have therefore collected data through semi-structured interviews. Then we analyzed the content of the answers and linked the emerging data to the existing literature review on the entrepreneur and self-leadership. Furthermore, we analyzed how an entrepreneur can benefit him or herself from self-leadership as an individual and how he or she can use it in order to develop leadership skills. Our findings link the literature of the entrepreneur as an individual and his or her use of self-leadership in order to achieve and succeed.

Social entrepreneurship and related concepts have received an increasing amount of attention during the last years. Social entrepreneurship is characterized by ventures with a social mission, seeking to address societal challenges and needs. The social goal is the primary goal of the business activities whereas generating economic profit is not the main objective, yet still possible. Social entrepreneurship is often seen as a powerful tool for creating sustainable development, a fundamental goal of many businesses, countries and organizations today. Just like any other firm, social entrepreneurs need finance in order to exist. This thesis seeks to examine how Swedish social entrepreneurs finance their businesses. A questionnaire was sent out to Swedish social entrepreneurs and the results suggest that Swedish social entrepreneurs to a large extent rely on governmental funds and support, personal resources and internally generated capital. Access to the traditional banking system seems to be limited compared to traditional entrepreneurs. There seems to be a gap between the demand and supply of external capital since the majority of the respondents believe that they have a limited access to external capital. 60 per cent of the respondents reported a positive economic result in the last fiscal year. Furthermore, the majority of the respondents want to expand their businesses in the future but the largest obstacles seem to be lack of financing and political aspects. The respondents hope for, among other things, an improved attitude towards social entrepreneurship in general, more financing and increased collaboration with Swedish municipalities. Altogether the results highlight the role of the government in supporting and promoting this type of firms in Sweden.

Purpose:The purpose of this study is to explore the differences in opportunity recogni-tion as well as the different motivations between would-be and experienced entrepre-neurs. Design/ Methodology/ Approach:The paper builds up on a deductive research ap-proach. Six qualitative interviews provided the researchers with empirical data to the phe-nomenon of opportunity recognition and the influencing aspect of human motivation. These data were analyzed in a comparative study, using a creativity based model of en-trepreneurial opportunity recognition and thehierarchy of needs from Abraham Harold Maslow, as the mostpopular framework in motivational theory. Findings:The research study provided significant insights into the opportunity recogni-tion of would-be and experienced entrepreneurs. The researchers identified differences in the evaluation stage of opportunity recognition between would-be and experienced entre-preneurs. Would-be entrepreneurs demonstrated a more cautious evaluation, taking into consideration all the resources which they did not possess yet. Whereas the experienced entrepreneurs demonstrated an awareness for all the resources that they were already holding due to their previous experience as entrepreneurs. With regards to the human motivation experienced entrepreneurs tend to reach and to satisfy higher needs than would-be entrepreneurs. Achievements and financial outcomes, usually belonging to es-teem needs, are for experienced entrepreneurs rather the result of a successful self-actu-alization. Instead would-be entrepreneurs had their focus on the improvement of their current situation. The paper provided deepened insights about the connectivityof human needs of would-be and experienced entrepreneurs and the interrelation of human motiva-tionto opportunity recognition. Contribution:On the base of the intense discussion about entrepreneurial contributions to the national and international economies, the researchers were able to provide an im-proved understanding of opportunity recognition comparing theexperienced entrepre-neurs and those who would like to become entrepreneurs. The analysis of influencing aspects like the human motivation enablesthe adjustment of entrepreneurship programs.Considering the results,the developmentand alignment ofentrepreneurship promotionscan be improved.Successful addressingand motivatingof individuals by entrepreneur-ship programs support theseindividuals to engage entrepreneurial.

Abstract Background: Female entrepreneurship in China is a practice which scholars have explored severally in recent years. Just as many Asian countries, the role of Chinese women has been undermined for a longer period. However, the 20 th century marked a positive turn in Chinese culture. The rate of discrimination and seclusion of women from economic empowerment started reducing significantly. Today, Chinese women are struggling to compete effectively with their male counterparts in entrepreneurial sector. The purpose of having women empowerment on the market economy is to generate more income to the country. Also, the practice lessens the rate of unemployment and high rate of dependency in China. Hence, it is apparent that the entrepreneurial actions in China are motivated by a number of factors that are presented in the paper. Purpose: The primary aim of the study is to determine influential and motivational factors for female entrepreneurs in China. Methods: The research has employed a qualitative research approach to determine influential factors and motivating aspects of female entrepreneurship in China. Random sampling tactic has been chosen as the methodology to discover data of women that have succeeded in the country. This approach can help to analyze a broader population of women entrepreneurs in China. Meanwhile, a semi-structured interview was involved in collecting data so that first-hand and unbiased information is obtained from interviewees. Findings: From the study of the influential factors and motivation for female entrepreneurs in China, it has been noted that the process of entrepreneurship among the current female entrepreneurs in the country can be categorized as either passive or initiative. While looking at the passive entrepreneurship among the female entrepreneurs, it is noted that those people are driven by the daily needs of their families. On the other hand, initiative entrepreneurship relies much more on human capital and social capital. The zeal and motivation that they possess lead them to developing far-sighted enterprises, hence contributing to the economic development of the country.

Entrepreneurs are often perceived to be creative and risk taking (Kreuger, 2002). The purpose of this paper is to investigate entrepreneurs’ response to a failure namely a bankruptcy. People react differently to a bankruptcy and tend to blame different things as the cause. Some blame themselves while others blame things out of their control. These differences can have an impact on the learning process and how easy the entrepreneur moves on after the failure. These findings can be used for situations when dealing with failures and entrepreneurial activities.

There is no single theory already existing for this topic, therefore several theories have been looked at and used for the analysis. The theories can be divided into five main areas: entrepreneurship, failure, entrepreneurial response to failure, factors affecting responses to failure and learning. Entrepreneurship is treated as the creation of new economic activity (Davidsson, 2004) and entrepreneurial traits (Kreuger, 2002) are considered in the analysis. Locus of control is an important trait since it shows the ability of the entrepreneur to think that they are in control of the environment. (Rotter, 1966) In order to explain the cause of a bankruptcy people tend to use certain attributions. Locus of causality refers to whether a person blames internal or external causes and stability whether these causes are changeable in the future or not. (Martinko, 1995) Several factors will influence the response to a bank-ruptcy and in this thesis motivation for the start-up, culture and separation of the company are looked upon. After a failure an entrepreneur can learn false lessons (McGrath & Cardon, 1997) and stop any entrepreneurial activities. However failure can also be positive if something true has been learnt. (Wiklund, 2006)

This report is an exploratory type of study and a case study was conducted where five cases were used with entrepreneurs that have run companies that have gone bankrupt. A qualitative method was used and the empirical findings were gathered trough interviews which were then analysed with the support from the theoretical framework.

In the analysis new models were created that showed patterns we found comparing the in-terviews. It also includes discussion about how culture affects the blaming factors of fail-ure. The factors that an entrepreneur is blaming the failure on are much depending on to what degree they possess entrepreneurial traits. This paper also suggest that how personally an entrepreneur takes his/her failure depends mostly on how financially dependent they were on their company and also how experienced they were from failure. Another finding was also that all the participants agreed that it is not a supportive business culture in the Jönköping region. Another conclusion is that entrepreneurs that blame their failure on in-ternal factors learn more from it, but this learning can be less significant due to earlier ex-perience from failure.

The situation in South Africa throws up a trickier and more unconventional challenge. The country has symptoms of a spatial realm that is not fully connected with the urban systems (spatially, socially, or structurally) and is certainly disconnected from the rural economy. This is the realm of the country’s townships and informal settlements. Conceptually, they are relics of the country’s special past, but the policies of post-apartheid South Africa have inadvertently kept their contemporary reality alive. In many ways, the townships and especially the informal settlements are similar to the slums in much of the developing world, although never was a slum formed with as much central planning and purpose as were some of the larger South African townships. This paper undertakes to understand the growth strategies of black township entrepreneurs in South Africa. This paper also undertakes to investigate the perceived influence of education, government policies, access to funding, market constraints, crime and social norms on the development or perceived growth strategies for black township entrepreneurs. Propositions are made and tested through conducting interviews with individuals involved with the dynamics presented by this subject on a day to day basis. Evidence collected is interpreted into knowledge and finally recommendations are made.

Females have emerged in the field of entrepreneurship, and have proven that they are here to stay. The field of entrepreneurship was previously dominated by men, but in recent years females have emerged and are facing success in rapid numbers. Currently, 55% of businesses launched in the United States are launched and run by women (Statistical Abstract of the United States Census Bureau, 2007). The phenomenon of entrepreneurial women being successful is not as common or known in other countries of the world as it is in the USA. Women are launching businesses at a rapid rate, and many women are doing so without assistance. Female solo entrepreneurs are launching their own ventures and dreams without the help of business partners or teams. Entrepreneurs that launch their own business from the ground up without the assistance of business partners, investors, or employees are known as solo entrepreneurs. According to the Statistical Abstract of the United States Census Bureau (2007), 2.9 million new business ventures begin every year in the United States, of which females own 1.6 million. According to Chavern and McKernan (2013), 90% of women owned businesses have no other employees other than the business owner. This qualitative study focused on females as successful solo entrepreneurs in the United States. The purpose of this study was to identify the top 10 traits of successful female solo entrepreneurs. This qualitative study included telephone interviews with 10 successful female solo entrepreneurs. The top 10 traits discovered included independence, confidence, value of time, desire for risk, aversion to limits and barriers, aversion to authority, desire for excitement, control, ability and desire to learn, and perseverance.

What determines whether states pursuing nuclear weapons ultimately acquire them. More specifically, why do so few states stay committed to their nuclear weapons programmes over time. Theories of nuclear proliferation have not accounted for the causal role of external systemic factors and domestic agents in defining the political sustainability of nuclear weapons programmes. The efforts of entrepreneurial alliances between nuclear bureaucrats and governmental sponsors determine whether states remain committed to pursuing, and thus acquire, nuclear weapons. These alliances employ three causal mechanisms in seeking to secure their states' commitment to their nuclear weapons programmes: linking nuclear weapons with external threats, overcome resistance to investing in a nuclear infrastructure, and institutional 'insulation' from domestic critics. The entrepreneurial alliances are enabled and constrained by the economic and security environments facing their states. The entrepreneurial alliance hypothesis is tested in a series of case studies. First, the hypothesis is applied to detailed analyses of Libya and Iraq's nuclear weapons programmes. The hypothesis is tested as an explanation for why these states pursued nuclear weapons yet failed to acquire them. Furthermore, these cases facilitate process-tracing of the causal mechanisms and processes determining the outcomes of each state's nuclear weapons programme. Then, the hypothesis is applied to a corroborative analysis of four smaller case studies: India, Pakistan, Egypt and Australia. These cases include two authoritarian and two non-authoritarian states comprising two successful nuclear weapons programmes (India and Pakistan) and two that failed to cross the nuclear weapons threshold (Egypt and Australia). The entrepreneurial alliance hypothesis is found to provide a strong and unique explanation for what determines whether states pursuing nuclear weapons ultimately cross the nuclear weapons threshold. This framework identifies the determinants of the political sustainability of a nuclear weapons programme and what factors influence a state's prospects for acquiring such weapons.

In recent years, stories of African entrepreneurship have become popular online, highlighting the journeys, success and challenges that emerging entrepreneurs experience. However, many of these stories and platforms focus mainly on opportunity entrepreneurs and exclude necessity entrepreneurs who operate medium to small businesses, despite the fact that these entrepreneurs overwhelmingly outnumber their more affluent counterparts. Everyday Entrepreneurs is Media Creative Production undertaken with the aim of beginning to fill this gap by highlighting the narratives of some of the entrepreneurs that we encounter daily. The researcher created a web-based platform to showcase various entrepreneurial journeys. This was done by conducting qualitative interviews with seven small-to-medium business owners operating in Cape Town, South Africa, selected through a purposive sampling process. These interviews informed a series of profiles detailing the experiences of these entrepreneurs. The supporting research, as well as the motivations and experiences of the research are documented in the accompanying reflective essay.

Criminal entrepreneurs are behind organised crime, yet little is known of how they developed their vision, gained the skills and connections to succeed in their criminal careers. This study provides a novel understanding of the contributing factors in the formation of these successful empires, in an effort to anticipate and prevent the rise of new criminal entrepreneurs in Australia. The study traces the evolving nature of their vision, identity, skills, operational approach and social network. The findings of this study shall enable law enforcement agencies to break down the formation process of criminal entrepreneurs and their organisations in Australia.

In light of the beneficial nature of entrepreneurship and economic development, this research explores the social capital gestation of comparative technology entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs from deprived areas in the UK. Within the field of entrepreneurship, most contributions examine structural social capital in isolation while cognitive (language, codes md narrative) and relational (expectation and obligation) are neglected'Therefore, the research develops a framework for social capital gestation that explains bonding and bridging structural embeddedness and links to differentiated cognition and relational norms.

As entrepreneurial activity and economical growth are closely connected to each other, it should be desirable for any country to have a high entrepreneurial activity. It becomes important to evaluate the current status of the entrepreneurial situation in order to find areas that require improvement. Norway experienced an all time low measurement of entrepreneurial activity in 2012. The same year, the US experienced the complete opposite, an all time high in measured entrepreneurial activity since 2004. As it seems, Norway and the US have opposite results when it comes to entrepreneurial activity and the development. Due to the lack of research completed on the field of entrepreneurial activity in Norway it becomes a challenge to acquire the required knowledge that would allow the country to actually improve within the field of entrepreneurship. After having gained insight into the current entrepreneurial situation in Norway though the research findings of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and an initial literature review, it became clear that certain attitudes and characteristics were associated with wanting to become an entrepreneur and that specific attitudes lead to successful startups. As both of these themes can be positively associated with the total entrepreneurial activity in a country, it became desirable to gain insight into potential differences or similarities between Norwegian entrepreneurs in Norway and Norwegian entrepreneurs in the US, in addition to looking at the potential difference between what is defined as successful or discontinued ventures. In this way the research compares the two different entrepreneurial contexts, as well as their impact on a successful outcome. Several hypotheses are composed and tested in order to gain insight into the entrepreneurial attitudes in Norway and their relation to success. The specific hypotheses tested are; H1: An entrepreneurial venture is more likely to not discontinue, in this case referred to as being a success, if the venture has obtained initial sales, received funding and is working with the startup fulltime, H2; Norwegian entrepreneurs display less motivation than entrepreneurs in the US and therefore are less persistent and less successful and H3; Norwegian entrepreneurs in Norway are less successful compared to entrepreneurs in the US due to low risk tolerance. Support was found for hypothesis H1, although no support was found for hypotheses H2 and H3. Although previous entrepreneurial research suggests the entrepreneurial activity being affected by the environment, this research does not confirm that. The variables researched seem to have an impact on success and discontinuance of a startup, but not on the specific country and environment of where it was established. This information is not able to explain why there is a higher level of entrepreneurial activity in the US compared to Norway other than that there is a more supporting culture for entrepreneurs, making it more desirable to become one. The findings suggest that Norwegian entrepreneurs in Norway have the same abilities to succeed as the entrepreneurs in the US. Additional research within the field of entrepreneurial motivation and aspirations in Norway might uncover additional reasons for not wanting to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities and rather be a fulltime employer. By gaining insight into the decision making process and reason comparing non-entrepreneurs to current entrepreneurs in Norway, this might lead to valuable information for potential policy improvement.

Relationships of entrepreneur vary automatically over time; however, entrepreneurs themselves are the ones who create relationships. This process requires self-motivated action in order to gain good relationships and trusts. In this research, the particular ways that entrepreneurs use to create relationships with customers, suppliers and financial institutions follow each step of interest, commitment, adaptation and trust. The authors find that entrepreneurs use both similar and different methods in each stage depending on type and size of their business. In addition, we examine how organizations supporting entrepreneurs to start business influence the networking of entrepreneurs. The authors select Idélab as our case study. During joining Idélab’s activities, the attendants would gain more relationships from both inside and outside of Idélab which are apart from their backgrounds and experiences. Therefore, the entrepreneurs attending Idélab reach more relationships than entrepreneurs who do not.

Entrepreneurship has been gotten fruitful attentions all around the world, it also has become one of the most significant engines for both national economic and social growth. The internal factors, which are able to affect entrepreneur’s behaviors during the whole entrepreneurship life cycle, are gradually becoming a hot topic in both practical and academic research fields. Especially for some of the famous researchers, such as Melissa Cardon and Mitchell, J.R. are leading the academic research of the relation between entrepreneurial emotions (e.g., passion and fear) and behaviors. In this study, our objective is to understand how passion and fear effect student entrepreneur’s behaviors when they are running their businesses at the early stage of entrepreneurship. Moreover, semi structured interview has been chosen to collect qualitative materials for this Master thesis paper. In this case, eight student entrepreneurs from Linnaeus University in Vaxjo, Sweden who are studying and running their business at the same time, or have finished their study already but started their business while they were students are selected by us for doing the interview. Furthermore, we broadly discussed about different stages of entrepreneurship, also entrepreneurial passion and fear along with entrepreneurial internal emotions such as cognition, self-regulation, self-efficacy, persistence, which could influence student entrepreneurs’ behaviors to start up their business and afterwards. Finally, after empirical analyzing we found that the bright side of passion and fear have positive effects on student entrepreneurs’ behaviors, whilst the negative effects of passion and fear can hinder their behaviors during the early entrepreneurial process.