Journal articles on the topic 'Nascent Technology Ventures'

The article seeks to further our understanding of the process of organizing nascent social ventures. It builds upon current research on the political and collaborative nature of the social entrepreneurial process, and takes an ANT-inspired processual approach to follow the organizational practices carried by a nascent social venture in its efforts to mobilize stakeholders, bring about collaboration and ultimately secure resources. It draws upon empirical material generated during the first year of a social venture I founded and continue to chair. Findings highlight the adaptive and fluid nature of the organizational practices involved in nascent organizations and indicate that the capacity to continuously adjust the qualities of the eventual venture to the stakes of potential partners is instrumental to start up the venture. The article suggests the notion of tinkering to underscore the fluidity, the ongoing and piecemeal everyday work of such organizing processes. Further, findings highlight the extent to which social ventures, as well as the engaged scholar, are caught in the networks that contribute to reproduce the social problem they aim to change.

This paper examines the evolution of programmes of enterprise education and technology transfer at the University of Cambridge in response to the growth of the Cambridge Cluster and public policy programmes designed to enhance the economic impact of higher education institutions. The authors highlight the way education programmes developed by the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning uniquely reflect the needs of nascent high-tech entrepreneurs by using local entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angels and start-up support specialists as instructors; by gearing the curriculum to issues facing high-tech ventures; and by offering ‘extra-curricular’ programmes that fit the scheduling needs of the PhD students, post-docs and research staff who constitute the intended audience. This examination provides an interesting case study of how a mature high-tech cluster can shape university entrepreneurship programmes. It also illustrates how new educational and technology transfer programmes have pulled the university and its nascent high-tech entrepreneurs into a closer relationship with the dense network of firms and people who make up the Cambridge Cluster.

The purpose of this article is to identify the role start-ups play in the open innovation (OI) context by reviewing the existing body of research. Since the OI literature on young ventures is nascent, a stepwise review approach is applied, using the already more evolved findings of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in order to derive similarities or differences. The findings indicate that if empirical studies with a similar research focus are conducted, similar results are likely to be obtained in both SMEs and young ventures. Generally, young ventures have a higher application of OI activities compared to large firms as it boosts their innovation performance enabling them to overcome the liability of smallness and newness. Because of this importance, combined with the limited number of quantitative studies available, ongoing research is required to further understand young ventures role in the OI context.

Prior research has advanced several explanations for entrepreneurial success in nascent markets but leaves a key imperative unexplored: the business model. By studying five ventures in a nascent financial-technology market, we develop a novel theoretical framework for understanding how entrepreneurs effectively design business models: parallel play. Similar to parallel play by preschoolers, entrepreneurs engaged in parallel play interweave action, cognition, and timing to accelerate learning about a novel world. Specifically, they (1) borrow from peers and focus on established substitutes for their services or products, (2) test assumptions, then commit to a broad business-model template, and (3) pause before elaborating the activity system. The insights from our framework contribute to research on optimal distinctiveness and to the learning and evolutionary-adjustment literatures. More broadly, we blend organization theory with a fresh theoretical lens—business-model processes—to highlight how organizations actually work and create value.

Through an investigation into the origins of American food marketing, this dissertation reveals how branding—specifically, the centennial brands Quaker Oats, Coca-Cola, and Crisco—came to underpin much of today's market-driven economy. In a manner akin to alchemy, the entrepreneurs behind these three firms recognized the inherent value of an agricultural Eden, then found ways to convert common, low-cost agricultural goods—oats, sugar, and cottonseed oil—into appealing, high-revenue branded food products. In the process, these ventures devised new demand-driven business models that exploited technology and communications advances, enabling them to tap a nascent consumer culture. Their pioneering efforts generated unprecedented profits, laid the foundation for iconic billion-dollar brands, and fundamentally changed how Americans make daily food choices.

The explosive growth in the rate of new business formation by women has spurred renewed research interest in the area of female entrepreneurship and its related economic impact. Yet, there has been a dearth of research into the influence of gender on new venture formation and development. This study draws on data from the annual survey of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor to examine the differences between female and male entrepreneurs in the early stages of small enterprise development. The data was aggregated for the period 2002 through 2004, and consisted of 444 Canadian entrepreneurs: 164 females and 280 males. Gender differences are explored within the context of a variety of personal as well as business-related variables. Women entrepreneurs had a much greater propensity to have established a consumer or business services enterprise, and reported significantly lower income levels. In addition, they were less likely than their male counterparts to work full time at their business, to utilize new technology or to anticipate new business opportunities in the near term. In terms of the enterprise's stage of development, it was found that 62 percent of the enterprises operated by females were ‘nascent’ small firms, while 38 percent were ‘new;’ the respective proportions for males were 55 percent and 45 percent. The analysis revealed that the difference between genders on business-related variables strengthens as the firm evolves through the stages of development from nascent to new; however, there was mixed support for the corollary hypothesis that differences in personal characteristics and attitudes diminish during this progression: even for ventures that have reached the ‘new’ phase, personal variables continue to act as important discriminators between genders. The paper provides a discussion of the implications of these empirical findings, as well as some directions for future research.

Aim/Purpose: The directors of Tech Latinas were happy with what they had created and the impact their company had made in Ecuador, Peru and Guatemala. Now that they had seen their vision come to fruition in ways that were astounding to them. They wanted to take the next steps in growing their business so Tech Latinas mission could spread beyond its current bounds. Before working out the logistics, the Tech Latina team expanded their vision. They wanted to scale Tech Latinas throughout Latin America. They hoped to find the best talent among the 37 million young women in these countries who were currently either unemployed or informally employed. They estimated that 1.2 million web developers in Latin America would be required that by 2025. Background: The entrepreneurial tech wave has hit Latin America hard, and it appears to be gaining momentum. A new generation of millennials and post-millennials, led by a group of early entrepreneurs in their late 30s to early 50s, believes that it can improve lives by creating new and better solutions to everyday problems. One such area is teaching coding and tech skills to women who live in middle to low-income Latin American households. Despite the advantages and opportunities, there are also great obstacles to make it all happen in Latin America. Some cultural and some systemic. Culturally, Latin Americans are very averse to risk, and most only invest in “secure” ventures such as real estate. The lack of financial education is a key factor that does not allow potential entrepreneurs to thrive. On the systemic side, corruption, lack of institutional trust and impunity are probably the biggest hurdles to surpass in the next few years. Companies need to think globally and compete against global competitors. Methodology: Data was collected through a qualitative approach with several in-depth interviews Contribution: In following trends of Latin American growth and development, the main opportunities will end up being in the technology sector as advances in education and know-how disseminate. The hope is that this knowledge gap will provide jobs for millions trying to lift themselves out of poverty. Findings: That nascent ventures in Latin America face different and unique challages. The ability to scale and the lack of capital that would invest in social causes is unfortunately scarce in the region. This makes it difficult to Recommendations for Practitioners: This case could be used for discussion around lessons from emerging market entrepreneurship. Many strategies of the struggles and triumphs of Latin American entrepreneurs are worth noting as practitioners due to the acute necessity-driven approach to many Latin American entrepreneurs toward venture success. Recommendation for Researchers: Maybe employing a scale of some sort to differentiate net impact socially and economically these tech educational training facilities Impact on Society: That there is a need to support organic entrepreneurial efforts in not only gaining returns but supporting social causes that lift societies. Also, it is a wise investment to invest in women and in emerging economies. Future Research: It would be interesting to further follow the Tech Latinas and other initiatives in this area of knowledge transfer and economic development. It would be interesting to do a study or a scale of results of impact between countries not only in Latin America but other women coding and IT training efforts around the world.

Smart grid plays a vital role in energy management systems. It helps to mitigate the demand side management of electricity by managing the microgrid. In the modern era, the concept of hybrid microgrids emerged which helps the smart grid management of electricity. Additionally, the Internet of Things (IoT) technology is used to integrate the hybrid microgrid. Thus, various policies and topologies are employed to perform the task meticulously. Pakistan being an energy deficient country has recently introduced some new policies such as Energy Wheeling Policy (EWP), Energy Import Policy (EIP), and Net Metering/Distributed Generation Policy (NMP) to manage the electricity demand effectively. In addition, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act (EECA) has also been introduced. In this paper, we present the overview and impact of these policies in the context of the local energy market and modern information and communication mechanisms proposed for smart grids. These new policies primarily focus on energy demand–supply for various types of consumers such as the demand for bulk energy for industrial ventures and the distributed production by consumers. The EWP deals with obtaining power from remote areas within the country to ease the energy situation in populated load centers and the EIP highlights energy import guidelines from foreign countries. The NMP deals with the integration of renewable energy resources and EECA is more focused on the measures and standardization for energy efficiency and conservation. The benefits and challenges related to EWP, NMP, and EIP have also been discussed concerning the present energy crisis in Pakistan. The generalized lessons learned and comparison of a few aspects of these policies with some other countries are also presented.

Purpose – This paper seeks to advance ongoing research in entrepreneurial perseverance. While the concept of perseverance is not new, few researchers paid attention to behavioural persistence in the entrepreneurial context. The purpose of this paper is to explore the emergence of new technology based firms (NTBF) by focusing on the role of nascent entrepreneurs’ social skills in the meeting the changes of entrepreneurial perseverance. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper the authors study the start-up phase of entrepreneurial process. The authors opted for a longitudinal case study approach in order to enhance the knowledge on entrepreneurs’ social skills and perseverance. For triangulation purpose the data were gathered using four different information sources. The use of Nvivo8 as the data analysis tool helped to impose a discipline and structure which facilitated the extraction of core insights. Findings – This paper contributes to the understanding of the entrepreneurial perseverance in the context of new venture creation. Particularly, reading the entrepreneurial process through the lens of the perseverance strategies model (Van Gelderen, 2012) provided a way to identify and then to assess the impact of the social skills on the overall entrepreneurial perseverance and their combined impact on the performance of NTBF creation process. In doing so, the authors identify the impact of entrepreneurs’ social skills to deal with a series of entrepreneurial problems such as scarcity of resources, uncertainty and ambiguity and consequently their impact on the likelihood of survival for new ventures. The issues that arose mostly reflected the inherent complexity of technology transfer processes, the university and entrepreneurs’ diverging cultures, and the very characteristics of the start-up phase of NTBFs. The findings reveal how social skills impact the entrepreneurial paths and probable outcomes. Research limitations/implications – This paper contributes to the understanding of the entrepreneurial perseverance in the context of NTBF creation. The findings reveal how social skills and perseverance impact the entrepreneurial paths and probable outcomes. Practical implications – The paper has implications for entrepreneurial support mechanisms such as technology business incubators in helping them to improve the efficacy and efficiency of their assistance to entrepreneurs through the development of their skill-sets and perseverance and providing enabling networking. In addition, the research has implications for entrepreneurship education and training. Indeed, there is an urgent need to design and implement courses and programs aiming at developing soft skills in entrepreneurship. Originality/value – In exploring networking and issues of perseverance for nascent entrepreneurs operating in new technology-based sectors, which the authors consider as an under searched area in entrepreneurial literature.

More than 2 million tonnes of carbon-offset (LNG) were traded in 2021, and we expect this market to exceed 25 million tonnes of LNG by 2030. A critical aspect to enable this growth will be the veracity of offset claims (which have come under increasing scrutiny from investors, lenders, and consumers), and compliance with the principles of additionality, permanence, and non-deterrence. This paper will examine broader trends in the decarbonisation of the LNG sector to prepare for a low-carbon world: renewables-sourced electrification, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), and the use of high-quality offsets. We discuss the development of a cross-value chain downstream market for carbon-offset LNG in Australia’s North Asian customer-countries, such as in Japan where at least 47 downstream customers have signed carbon-offset GSAs (general security agreements) with 7 importers, and the advantages of Australian LNG to support this nascent market. Proximity lowers emissions from transportation, while the upcoming large-scale implementation of CCUS will lower well-to-ship emissions. For instance, CCUS at Moomba can remove more than 35% of the well-to-ship emissions from Darwin LNG, while the Ichthys CCUS hub will remove more than 22% of that from Ichthys LNG. Further, the existing participation from North Asian buyers in Australian LNG ventures ensures better visibility of the emissions profile that they take home. In addition, we discuss the advantages of purchasing LNG from high-accountability and high-transparency regimes as investors tighten scrutiny on ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) reporting, and how blockchain technology is being deployed to ensure robustness in carbon accounting.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of founding team experience (industry and venturing) in new venture creation. This paper posits the following questions: How does founding team experience influence the likelihood of new venture creation, in the nascent stage? How does industry context moderate this relationship? The study aims to fill an important gap in the literature by unpacking the impact of different types of founding team experiences on venture outcome, and by focusing on the influence of founding team in the venture creation process, specifically at the nascent stage. Design/methodology/approach The paper utilizes data from the Second Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics, a longitudinal data set of 1,214 nascent entrepreneurs in the USA. Logistics regression was employed to analyze the effect of founding team experience on new venture creation. Post hoc analysis was conducted to ensure the confidence of the findings. Findings The paper provides empirical insights about how founding team experience influences the likelihood of new venture creation in the nascent stage. At the nascent stage, founding team industry experience positively affects new venture creation while founding team venturing experience does not. However, in the high-technology industry environment, the influence of the founding team’s venturing experience on new venture creation is stronger than that in the low-technology industry environment. Research limitations/implications Due to the design of the data set, there is a risk of “right-censoring” problem. Also, because the study used archival data on founding teams, the methodology did not allow for uncovering the underlying team processes and dynamics during the venture creation process based on learning from experience. Future studies are encouraged to examine other types of founding team experience and the underlying process-level factors on venture creation. Practical implications The paper provides important practical implications for nascent entrepreneurs/entrepreneurial teams on team assembling and composition. In general, a team with higher-level industry experience is critical for venturing success. A team with higher-level venturing experience is more desired in the high-technology industry. Originality/value This paper fulfills an important gap in the entrepreneurial team literature by highlighting the complex and nuanced ways in which founding team experience influences the likelihood of venture creation in the nascent stage of the firm, especially after incorporating the additional impact of the industry context.

This study extends the literature on self-employment and entrepreneurship by offering empirical insights into the factors that influence technology entrepreneurs at the early stages of the new venture creation process. Specifically, this research focuses on how technology entrepreneurs assess opportunities at the start of the process. Using data from technology entrepreneurs in Ireland, we analyze differences between part-time entrepreneurs and full-time entrepreneurs and discover that not all entrepreneurs attach importance to activities that were previously considered fundamental. While we confirm that opportunity cost, market assessment, and financial analysis are critical and ever-present, we argue that aspiring technology entrepreneurs must be cognizant that when employment-related costs are included as a dimension of opportunity costs, the level and importance of opportunity costs rise for both part-time and full-time entrepreneurs. We also find that whether nascent entrepreneurs work full-time or part-time on the new venture has an impact on which activities are completed and at what point of the process they are completed. For example, we show that part-time entrepreneurs identify markets earlier than full-time entrepreneurs whereas the opposite is true when it comes to financial data preparation. We argue that a greater understanding of these issues will help technology entrepreneurs to make informed decisions. As a result, our findings may influence an aspiring entrepreneur’s decision to start a new venture. They also have ramifications for investors and support services. Consequently, we discuss theoretical contributions, practical ramifications, and future research possibilities.

The explanation of the entrepreneurial decision-making phenomenon requires the adoption of a process approach. Yet, the majority of the research in this field has been done without utilization of a process approach. Besides, the decision-making process of entrepreneurs in any society is influenced by its environmental context. Therefore, this research adopts a process approach and aims to conceptualize inputs of decision-making process for new venture creation (NVC) in an Iranian high-tech context. The research employs qualitative–explorative design in order to take into account the specific regional context of Iran. This study utilized event-based interviews with 20 nascent entrepreneurs. Results of coding, categorizing and validating the research findings, revealed six main conceptual categories as the main inputs of the decision-making process for NVC in this context. The suggested propositions illustrate that the developed categories afford the two elements of individual decision maker and the decision environment. This article advances entrepreneurship literature by adopting an appropriate analytical focus and also utilizing a design which epistemologically and methodologically is applicable for involving context of exploration to attain more rigor and theoretical relevancy.

This panel discussion was a part of a programme ‘From Incubation to Enterprise’ which was conducted by Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad's (IIMA) Centre for Innovation, Incubation, and Entreprenuership (CIIE) on January 4, 2003. Professor Pankaj Chandra of IIMA led the discussion. The distinguished panelists were Mr Sandeep Srivastav and Professor Bipin Shah. Their experience and insight on the subject helped in understanding the process of incubation leading to enterprise. The panel discussion addressed the following questions: What is incubation? What is innovation? What is the process of incubation that is needed for commercializing an innovation? What role does an incubator play? The following important points were made by the panelists: An innovative entrepreneur should adapt to the demand of the market. The adaptation may be with regard to technology, marketing, business idea or business plan. The concept of incubation originated from the medical field. The concept of incubators is applied more to project ideas which have a high degree of uncertainty. The aim of the incubators is to facilitate the survival of such companies and also to nurture these companies for growth and success. Incubators play the role of risk-sharing and providing credibility to an idea as it progresses from being an idea to some kind of product. It minimizes uncertainty and increases the success rate of an enterprise that is at a very nascent stage. The difference among promotional efforts and hand-holding is that promotional effort is the assistance given for setting up a business whereas, in an incubator, it is more of hand-holding. The biggest benefit of being in an incubator is that it insulates you from the outside environment and hence an innovator can just concentrate on getting his idea fool-proof for the market. Incubators even provide the network, linking the innovators with societal resources. The network is of two kinds - knowledge network and social network. The role of venture capitalists in enterprise building is to provide linkages for a budding entrepreneur. But not many people are ready to give money at an idea level Professor Pankaj Chandra concluded the discussion by saying that the incubator is not just for supporting the innovator but also for ensuring that the idea is converted into an enterprise.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to add to the small but growing body of research examining the influence of founder gender on new venture access to venture development programs.Design/methodology/approachHypotheses were tested utilizing a sample of 482 nascent technology ventures which applied for admittance into a venture development organization headquartered in the southern region of the United States from March 2004 through February 2016.FindingsFindings suggest that female-founded applicant ventures experience a higher likelihood of acceptance into venture development programs than male-founded applicant ventures. Results further suggest that social attention to gender equality reduces this effect for female-founded applicant ventures. Findings extend the understanding of the gendered nature of high-technology venturing and venture development organizations.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study may not generalize to new ventures operating in other contexts (e.g., non-U.S., low-tech, and other venture development programs). Additionally, this study's design and data limitations do not allow for the establishment of causality or address founder motivations to apply for acceptance into venture development programs.Originality/valueThis study adds to empirical findings regarding the influence of founder gender on new venture acceptance into venture development programs by developing and testing competing hypotheses. This study also extends extant research by examining the moderating effect of social attention to gender equality on the hypothesized relationships between founder gender and acceptance into venture development programs.

In nascent industries―whose new technologies are often poorly understood by regulators―contending with regulatory uncertainty can be crucial to organizational survival and growth. Prior research on nonmarket strategy has largely focused on established firms in mature industries, but such strategies are apt to differ for new ventures, which generally have limited resources and market power and operate in novel domains in which the rules of the game are underdeveloped. How do new ventures navigate regulatory uncertainty? To explore this question, we conduct an inductive, multi-case research study of five ventures that pioneered the nascent personal-genomics industry. Drawing on extensive qualitative data, we develop an emergent theoretical framework that elucidates how ventures navigate evolving regulatory uncertainty. Grounded in a power versus industry-evolution logic, this framework illuminates how ventures’ strategies for doing so vary and theorizes why certain strategies appear more effective than others. In doing so, we also introduce a novel logic of interaction— regulatory co-creation—that ventures can employ to shape emerging regulations. Taken together, our theory and findings challenge existing perspectives on strategy in nascent industries, shed light on the dynamic interplay between market and nonmarket strategy, and recast the relationship between ventures and regulators during the emergence of new technology industries.

Venture Capital (VC) is usually defined as an independently managed, dedicated pool of capital that focuses on equity or equity-linked investments in privately held, high growth companies. It is one of the important factors which contribute to the growth and potentiality of business as well as for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs and SME managers face two key choices when financing their ventures: debt or equity. Debt in the form of personal loans (including credit cards) and bank loans, key sources for most nascent ventures, gives efficient incentives for managers to exert effort and allow entrepreneurs to maintain control. The availability and utility of debt vary significantly with economic conditions, which, in turn, will have an impact on the supply and cost of capital. To a lesser extent, entrepreneurs rely on equity financing, in which parties external to a venture obtain partial ownership (and control) in exchange for financial capital, thus diluting manager's incentives to expand effort. Equity financing is particularly important for high-growth ventures, since the amount of debt financing available may not permit sufficient rapid growth in volatile industries (for example, technology). Objectives and incentives that are well aligned between investor and manager are most efficient and facilitate additional value for the venture. The paper tries to bring out effect and growth of venture capital funding over a period of time with that of traditional funding. Criteria of venture capital decided by the general investment venture capitalists, and then finally adding the conclusion of role and importance of Venture Capital in the Entrepreneurial Development.

AbstractThis study analyzes how agri-food Entrepreneurial Assistance Programs (EAPs) create value for entrepreneurs. Using the MSU Product Center as a unit of analysis, the effect of agri-food EAP assistance on firms’ venture evaluation, perceived legitimacy, and performance is examined. Results indicate that agri-food EAP assistance prevents untenable business ideas from launching, improves the survival of launched ventures and develops entrepreneurs’ perceived legitimacy with trading partners. Further, results imply that targeted EAPs are a viable policy approach for promoting entrepreneurial activity in the agri-food industry, and that they can be particularly well suited to assisting nascent entrepreneurs.

AbstractThe impact of individual psychological and social conditions on participation in entrepreneurship has been widely studied. However, little is known about these variables’ comparative influence on the development of nascent ventures in countries with different levels of gross domestic product per capita. This research compares the effects of self-perceptions, perceived subjective norms, and first-hand connections with entrepreneurs on participation in nascent entrepreneurs in Latin America. Logistic regressions are performed and the resulting coefficient magnitudes and pseudo-R2 values compared for the populations of 11 countries in this region. The evidence reveals heterogeneity in the effect of these psychological and social attributes on nascent ventures’ creation process, conditional on different levels of gross domestic product per capita. Notably, higher economic development is positively related to a greater influence of these perceptual and social variables. The findings enhance understanding of the effects of key variables from theories of entrepreneurial behaviour, incorporating economic development level as a new determinant. In addition, the results could guide programmes aimed at strengthening entrepreneurship in Latin America by supporting the adaptation of efforts to support nascent entrepreneurship according to the influence of perceptual and social variables in different countries.

Purpose The purpose of the study is to explore how technological capability and exogenous pressure interactively influence business model (BM) dynamics over time in new technology-based ventures. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a longitudinal case study of the BM innovations of a Chinese financial technology venture. The structural approach and temporal bracket are used to analyze and theorize the data. Findings The findings indicate that distinct contextual changes impel a firm to refine or abandon existing BMs over time. In different stages, the antecedents interactively influence BM dynamics with three successive patterns, namely pressure dominance, parallel influence and hybrid influence. While both antecedents trigger changes during the initiation and implementation of new BMs, they also serve as the filter and the enabler, respectively, during the ideation and integration of BMs. Research limitations/implications The study inductively develops three propositions regarding the relationship between BM dynamics and its antecedents, which is based on the data collected from one single firm. Future research should test the propositions in other domains and take more cross-level antecedents into consideration. Originality/value The study contributes to the nascent research stream of BM dynamics by offering in-depth insights into the interaction of internal and external antecedents and by linking the differentiated roles of antecedents to the BM innovation process. The research offers some practical implications for new technology-based ventures seeking to develop BMs in a fast-changing environment.

AbstractThis research aims to determine the impact of internal and external factors of Social Capital, Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy, and Person-Entrepreneurship Fit in the transition of nascent entrepreneurs toward venture creation. For the development of this research, a sample of 500 entrepreneurs located in Colombia who are creating a company was taken. The research methodology is hypothetical-deductive with a cross-sectional multiple causal correlation design with an explanatory scope and is divided into three stages: first, an exploratory analysis of the data relating to the study variables is carried out. Second, a principal component analysis is carried out. Finally, the third stage is the modelling using the Partial Least Squares-Path Modelling methodology. Among the most relevant findings, it is found that Social Capital is significant in explaining Person-Entrepreneurship Fit. In turn, Social Capital and Person-Entrepreneurship Fit are significant in explaining Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy. Finally, the construct of Venture Creation is only significantly explained by Person-Entrepreneurship Fit. Consequently, it can be concluded that the influence of social and psychological variables within the business cycle is significant, and models and strategies must consider these elements to design tools that support the optimal development of start-ups within the business cycle, so that they consolidate as stable ventures. This study contributes to filling the research gap by focusing on the factors determining the entrepreneurial process beyond its initial phase.

Our aim is to explore whether the benefits to firms of using community-based innovation extend to nascent markets: uncertain, high-velocity settings with novel, often complex products. Grounded in a rare empirical comparison, we closely track the two ventures (one using community-based innovation and the other firm-based) that pioneered the nascent civilian drone market. We unpack how each addressed the three major innovations that shaped this setting. Our primary insight is that the firm organizing form for innovation performs best relative to communities in nascent markets. Firms have a coordination advantage that enables quickly and accurately targeting experimentation and problem-solving processes to reduce the many specific uncertainties that characterize these markets. Although communities can help, their task self-selection advantage works best in stable settings such as established markets with simple products (e.g., modular software) and in ambiguous settings in which low-cost randomness pays off. Broadly, we contribute a theoretical framework that identifies how organizing form and problem type jointly shape innovation performance. Most important, uncertainty forms a boundary condition for when firms should rely on firm-based (versus community-based) organizing for innovation.

AbstractBusiness plan competitions (BPCs) are opportunities for nascent entrepreneurs to showcase their business ideas and obtain resources to fund their entrepreneurial future. They are also an important tool for policymakers and higher education institutions to stimulate entrepreneurial activity and support new entrepreneurial ventures from conceptual and financial standpoints. Academic research has kept pace with the rising interest in BPCs over the past decades, especially regarding their implications for entrepreneurial education. Literature on BPCs has grown slowly but steadily over the years, offering important insights that entrepreneurship scholars must collectively evaluate to inform theory and practice. Yet, no attempt has been made to perform a systematic review and synthesis of BPC literature. Therefore, to highlight emerging trends and draw pathways to future research, the authors adopted a systematic approach to synthesize the literature on BPCs. The authors performed a systematic literature review on 58 articles on BPCs. Several themes emerge from the BPC literature, including BPCs investigated as prime opportunities to develop entrepreneurial education, the effects of BPC participation on future entrepreneurial activity, and several attempts to frame an ideal BPC blueprint for future contests. However, several research gaps emerge, especially regarding the lack of theoretical underpinnings in the literature stream and the predominance of exploratory research. This paper provides guidance for practice by presenting a roadmap for future research on BPCs drawing from the sample reviewed. From a theoretical perspective, the study offers several prompts for further research on the topic through a concept map and a structured research agenda.

Once considered a pariah state because of its military regime, Myanmar has been taking giant strides towards becoming one of the most promising countries for investing in business ventures. At a time when the global economic scenario is reeling from Britain’s exit from the European Union, foreign investment in Myanmar continues to attain unprecedented growth. Lifting of international sanctions, a promising economic outlook with a GDP growth rate averaging close to 8% and a sizeable labor force have attracted overseas investment in diverse sectors like energy, manufacturing, power generation, and construction. The country still faces formidable challenges in developing basic infrastructure, ensuring fiscal stability and curbing sectarian conflict. For the nascent democratic government, formulating and implementing effective policies are uphill tasks in a system fraught with bureaucratic inefficiencies, systemic corruption, and interference from the still-powerful military. Myanmar has ample opportunities to overcome internal roadblocks by utilizing its huge market with a predominantly young population, its expansive pool of low-cost labor and the heightened influx of international commercial ventures after the political transition of the mid-2010s. Investments in Myanmar’s promising telecommunications sector, in ready-made garment manufacturing and in the tourism industry are projected to give substantial dividends over the next few decades.Journal of Business and Technology (Dhaka) Vol.11(1-2) 2016; 11-39

Ingenious Techniques for creation of Smart Cities by Big Data Technology & Urban modeling simulation by MATSimas the smart cities are on nascent stage in India. The extension of huge information and the advancement of Internet of Things (IoT) innovations have assumed a significant job in the practicality of keen city activities. Enormous information offer the potential for urban areas to get significant bits of knowledge from a lot of information gathered through different sources, and the IoT permits the joining of sensors, radiofrequency recognizable proof, and Bluetooth in reality condition utilizing exceedingly organized administrations. Thus the job of urban reenactment models and their perception are utilized to help territorial arranging offices assess elective transportation ventures, land use guidelines, and natural insurance arrangements. Typical urban simulations provide spatially distributed data about number of inhabitants, land prices, traffic, and other variables for ex- MATSim is an activity-based transport simulation framework designed to simulate large scale scenarios. Such technologies which have been developed in the past few years have proven to be very effective in smart cities of various countries. This project is an attempt to study the feasibility of such modified system, by understanding the implementation of such technologies to improve the existing smart cities and those which are about to become one. This is done by proposing an idea that is by implementing a big data server in the proposed smart city, the data will be collected through smart sensors which will then be sent to server and the mined data will be converted to simplified data for planners, engineers etc. in order to make a economic, self-sustainable & fully automated smart city

In their quest for economic efficiency, American firms are increasingly outsourcing their processes as well as their products. Companies may outsource operations themselves or use the services of special outsource firms such as contract manufacturers and external service providers (ESPs). The present study focuses on evolving dynamics within these intermediaries, particularly their accelerated move to offshore operations. This paper examines the causes and effects of this trend. The first casualties register in the American workforce. Though U.S. firms and consumers enjoy some near-term benefit from this job transfer, long-term implications are ominous. By broadening their geographic locus and hiring local professionals, ESPs unwittingly expedite the emergence of an indigenous labor pool to replace them. Already domestic providers are encountering local ventures that offer value-added technology in upstream areas like architecture, development and integration. If such firms continue to gain recognition in high-end activity, they may credibly lay claim to the commodity work of product assembly and transaction processes. American firms are targeting these same areas, especially the nascent realm of business process outsourcing (BPO). As U.S. outsourcers rush relentlessly downstream and transplant their backend support services to overseas locations, they may be outsourcing their own future. The paper will give three case study examples at each end of this labor food chain. As domestic examples we include a domestic contract manufacturer and a BPO provider. Both firms have established an overseas presence. Lastly, we examine an overseas competitor leveraging its upstream success in high-value IT services to secure a beachhead in BPO.

AbstractThis paper contributes to uncovering the role of metacognition in the decision-making process of entrepreneurs. Specifically, we analyze nascent entrepreneurs in their process of start-up development while relying on metacognitive processes. The experiences of a sample of new venture initiatives are explored in two distinct phases, a start-up competition and the subsequent launch of their venture. Following the Gioia protocol, the study contextualizes the process in which social capital reinforces metacognitive processes. This process stimulates nascent entrepreneurs to consider alternatives, such as extending expertise outside the start-up. Moreover, we find that these processes support entrepreneurs and their teams in improving their decision-making processes. The findings support that nascent entrepreneurs rely heavily on the input of others in their start-up creation process, and contribute to new empirical insights about entrepreneurial metacognition. A dynamic model in which these relationships emerge is developed. The study’s results contribute to a better understanding of the antecedents and consequences of metacognitive processes in nascent entrepreneurship.

This study analyzes the emergence of an experiential learning program focused on final undergraduate projects in Engineering and Applied Sciences. The analyzed program is oriented to provide active learning experiences in which students were responsible for directing their final project towards transforming them into nascent technology-based companies. This exploratory and qualitative case study focused on the students' analysis of (i) the perception about the learning processes, (ii) the motivation to continue with the business, (iii) the engagement with knowledge involved in the final project (iv) the relationship with the technology-based entrepreneurship subject. Seeking to present new frontiers in experiential learning, the findings of the present paper show the positive impact of experiential learning on students’ motivations and results when it comes to creating a technology-based venture, reinforcing the premises of Kolb and others. This study contributes by providing a detailed description of an entrepreneurship education program in Brazil, and also by offering more arguments towards the use of experience-based learning in undergraduate studies.

PurposeTracking trends in new technology funding patterns is essential for venture scaling. The emerging advanced digital technologies (ADT) such as virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and Internet-of-things (IoT) promote business innovation adaptations, and in turn, reshape the industrial landscape. To attract nascent funding for such prospective projects among the public, well-articulated project pitches that are equipped with effective marketing communication convey the projects' importance and marketability. Specifically, when the entrepreneurs and the crowdfunding platform users interact via different types of crowdfunding platforms, pitch framing, including the signaling of ADT terms, project location and fundraising goal, becomes imperative to help facilitate crowdfunding success.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on data collected from six leading US-based equity and reward-based crowdfunding platforms in 2020, an empirical study was performed. Using the text analysis approach, the authors examined the positive effects of incorporating technology orientation on crowdfunding success. While the effect between the project description's signaling of geographic location, fundraising goal and articulation style on fundraising success, while controlling for project and platform characteristics.FindingsThe results suggested that the technology-orientated projects are more likely to achieve better fundraising outcomes. Taking crowdfunding platform types, project locations, minimum fundraising goals and articulation with analytical and authentic into consideration, the results still hold.Originality/valueBuilding on the theoretical framework of signaling theory, the authors consider the crowdfunding-specific contextual factors to enhance the understanding of the positivity impact of technology orientation. By such addition, it facilitates more effective strategic composition of entrepreneurs' fundraising conversations.

AbstractSocial enterprises are the products of the social, cultural, commercial, and political expectations of the innovation’s range of stakeholders, not solely the vision of the social entrepreneur(s). The power of stakeholders to influence the development of an innovation is drawn from their salience and the resources, access, and/or legitimacy that their support would provide. In this way, the actions of social entrepreneurs represent the interests of communities and it is through processes of resistance, negotiation, and collaboration that the actions of social enterprises become the manifestations of collective social processes. This paper draws on the development of a nascent social enterprise in New Zealand to demonstrate how the effects of its context ultimately shaped its innovative business model. Using an ethnographic methodology, the development of the business model and the partnership through which it formed was examined by the author as a central actor as it unfolded. The case study serves as an illustrative example of the ways in which differing expectations, beliefs, and logics of stakeholders induces particular decisions to be made about the design, resourcing, and strategy of the venture.

Entrepreneurship is a crucial yet disorderly and complicated social process. Scholars in this issue call on us to broaden our theories and expand our methodologies in our search for an enhanced understanding of entrepreneurship. In the lead piece, Nobel Laureate Ronald Coase and his co-author Ning Wang conclude that price theory is primarily concerned with resource allocation but says a little about innovation. In another thought-provoking editorial „Heroes, Villains, and Fools...“, Howard Aldrich suggests that the application of institutional theory to entrepreneurship must focus on institutional constraints to the process of organizational emergence. Robert Strom, in „Seeing Opportunities in Entrepreneurship Research...“, squarely confronts the data quality and availability in advancing entrepreneurship research.The three competitive research articles expand our research perspectives by: 1) comparing the barriers to startup creation in thirty-six countries and finding evidence that China and the U.S., while ranked the highest in terms of nascent entrepreneurial activities, have the toughest regulatory environments for entrepreneurs; 2) examining state bankruptcy laws and finding that more generous laws are associated with increased levels of replicative entrepreneurship but lower levels of innovative entrepreneurship; and 3) examining how and when corporate and banking ties can help venture-backed firms with initial public offerings.

Purpose The cities are distinctly engine of economic growth, which depends upon speed at which innovations are brought out and trigger entrepreneurship. Smart city initiatives are one of the opportunities to unleash innovation and entrepreneurship in developing countries like India. Entrepreneurial ecosystem research in smart cities is still in its nascent phase. Therefore, the study aims to bring out elements for a start-up ecosystem to promote entrepreneurship in smart cities. Design/methodology/approach Focus group discussion has been applied to gain a variety of insights and opinion from selected participants with diverse expertise. Findings The study proposes a framework for developing a start-up ecosystem in smart city. The findings suggest the technology infrastructure along with the elements of start-up framework as knowledge hub, public policy, entrepreneurship and city economy. Research limitations/implications The study does not show the impact of smart city strategies over an extended period. Practical implications A robust entrepreneurial framework usually impact on utilization of technologies for economic activities and regional development. The innovators, policymakers, city administrators, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and various stakeholders in society will get benefit from the outcomes of this study. Social implications The evolution of smart cities is a social initiative with various stakeholders –such as governments, residents, businesses and entrepreneurs. The creation of start-up ecosystem in smart cities requires several levels of interventions such as new programs and institutional reforms. Originality/value The research explores pillars and constituents that describe a start-up ecosystem in smart cities and nurtures a collaborative culture of innovations and entrepreneurship.

PurposeThis paper presents a systematic literature review, including content and bibliometric analyses, of the impact of blockchain technology (BT) in auditing, to identify trends, research areas and construct an agenda for future research.Design/methodology/approachThe authors include studies from 2010 to 2020 in their structured literature review (SLR), using accounting journals on the Scopus database, which yielded 40 articles with blockchain and auditing at its core.FindingsOne of the contributions of the authors’ analyses is to group the prior research, and therefore also the agenda for future research, into three main research areas: (1) Blockchain as a tool for auditing professionals to improve business information systems to save time and prevent fraud; (2) Smart contracts enabling Audit 4.0 efficiency, reporting, disclosure and transparency; (3) Cryptocurrency and initial coin offerings (ICOs) as a springboard for corporate governance and new venture financing. The authors’ findings have several important implications for practice and theory.Practical implicationsThe results of this study emphasise that (1) the disruption of blockchain in auditing is in a nascent phase and there is a need for compelling empirical studies and potential for the involvement of practitioners; (2) there may be a need to reconsider audit procedures especially suited for digitalisation and BT adoption; (3) standards, guidelines and training are required to pivot towards and confront the challenge BT will represent for auditing; and (4) there are two sides to the BT coin for auditing, enthusiasm about the potential and risk upon implementation. These practical implications can also be seen as a template for future research in a quest to align theory and practice.Originality/valueThe authors’ SLR facilitates the identification of research areas and implications, forming a useful baseline for practitioners, professionals and academics, as they draft the state of the art on the disruption of blockchain in auditing, highlighting how BT is changing auditing activities and traditions.

Connecting I’ve moved house on the weekend, closer to the centre of an Australian capital city. I had recently signed up for broadband, with a major Australian Internet company (my first contact, cf. Turner). Now I am the proud owner of a larger modem than I have ever owned: a white cable modem. I gaze out into our new street: two thick black cables cosseted in silver wire. I am relieved. My new home is located in one of those streets, double-cabled by Telstra and Optus in the data-rush of the mid-1990s. Otherwise, I’d be moth-balling the cable modem, and the thrill of my data percolating down coaxial cable. And it would be off to the computer supermarket to buy an ASDL modem, then to pick a provider, to squeeze some twenty-first century connectivity out of old copper (the phone network our grandparents and great-grandparents built). If I still lived in the country, or the outskirts of the city, or anywhere else more than four kilometres from the phone exchange, and somewhere that cable pay TV will never reach, it would be a dish for me — satellite. Our digital lives are premised upon infrastructure, the networks through which we shape what we do, fashion the meanings of our customs and practices, and exchange signs with others. Infrastructure is not simply the material or the technical (Lamberton), but it is the dense, fibrous knotting together of social visions, cultural resources, individual desires, and connections. No more can one easily discern between ‘society’ and ‘technology’, ‘carriage’ and ‘content’, ‘base’ and ‘superstructure’, or ‘infrastructure’ and ‘applications’ (or ‘services’ or ‘content’). To understand telecommunications in action, or the vectors of fibre, we need to consider the long and heterogeneous list of links among different human and non-human actors — the long networks, to take Bruno Latour’s evocative concept, that confect our broadband networks (Latour). The co-ordinates of our infrastructure still build on a century-long history of telecommunications networks, on the nineteenth-century centrality of telegraphy preceding this, and on the histories of the public and private so inscribed. Yet we are in the midst of a long, slow dismantling of the posts-telegraph-telephone (PTT) model of the monopoly carrier for each nation that dominated the twentieth century, with its deep colonial foundations. Instead our New World Information and Communication Order is not the decolonising UNESCO vision of the late 1970s and early 1980s (MacBride, Maitland). Rather it is the neoliberal, free trade, market access model, its symbol the 1984 US judicial decision to require the break-up of AT&T and the UK legislation in the same year that underpinned the Thatcherite twin move to privatize British Telecom and introduce telecommunications competition. Between 1984 and 1999, 110 telecommunications companies were privatized, and the ‘acquisition of privatized PTOs [public telecommunications operators] by European and American operators does follow colonial lines’ (Winseck 396; see also Mody, Bauer & Straubhaar). The competitive market has now been uneasily installed as the paradigm for convergent communications networks, not least with the World Trade Organisation’s 1994 General Agreement on Trade in Services and Annex on Telecommunications. As the citizen is recast as consumer and customer (Goggin, ‘Citizens and Beyond’), we rethink our cultural and political axioms as well as the axes that orient our understandings in this area. Information might travel close to the speed of light, and we might fantasise about optical fibre to the home (or pillow), but our terrain, our band where the struggle lies today, is narrower than we wish. Begging for broadband, it seems, is a long way from warchalking for WiFi. Policy Circuits The dreary everyday business of getting connected plugs the individual netizen into a tangled mess of policy circuits, as much as tricky network negotiations. Broadband in mid-2003 in Australia is a curious chimera, welded together from a patchwork of technologies, old and newer communications industries, emerging economies and patterns of use. Broadband conjures up grander visions, however, of communication and cultural cornucopia. Broadband is high-speed, high-bandwidth, ‘always-on’, networked communications. People can send and receive video, engage in multimedia exchanges of all sorts, make the most of online education, realise the vision of home-based work and trading, have access to telemedicine, and entertainment. Broadband really entered the lexicon with the mass takeup of the Internet in the early to mid-1990s, and with the debates about something called the ‘information superhighway’. The rise of the Internet, the deregulation of telecommunications, and the involuted convergence of communications and media technologies saw broadband positioned at the centre of policy debates nearly a decade ago. In 1993-1994, Australia had its Broadband Services Expert Group (BSEG), established by the then Labor government. The BSEG was charged with inquiring into ‘issues relating to the delivery of broadband services to homes, schools and businesses’. Stung by criticisms of elite composition (a narrow membership, with only one woman among its twelve members, and no consumer or citizen group representation), the BSEG was prompted into wider public discussion and consultation (Goggin & Newell). The then Bureau of Transport and Communications Economics (BTCE), since transmogrified into the Communications Research Unit of the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA), conducted its large-scale Communications Futures Project (BTCE and Luck). The BSEG Final report posed the question starkly: As a society we have choices to make. If we ignore the opportunities we run the risk of being left behind as other countries introduce new services and make themselves more competitive: we will become consumers of other countries’ content, culture and technologies rather than our own. Or we could adopt new technologies at any cost…This report puts forward a different approach, one based on developing a new, user-oriented strategy for communications. The emphasis will be on communication among people... (BSEG v) The BSEG proposed a ‘National Strategy for New Communications Networks’ based on three aspects: education and community access, industry development, and the role of government (BSEG x). Ironically, while the nation, or at least its policy elites, pondered the weighty question of broadband, Australia’s two largest telcos were doing it. The commercial decision of Telstra/Foxtel and Optus Vision, and their various television partners, was to nail their colours (black) to the mast, or rather telegraph pole, and to lay cable in the major capital cities. In fact, they duplicated the infrastructure in cities such as Sydney and Melbourne, then deciding it would not be profitable to cable up even regional centres, let alone small country towns or settlements. As Terry Flew and Christina Spurgeon observe: This wasteful duplication contrasted with many other parts of the country that would never have access to this infrastructure, or to the social and economic benefits that it was perceived to deliver. (Flew & Spurgeon 72) The implications of this decision for Australia’s telecommunications and television were profound, but there was little, if any, public input into this. Then Minister Michael Lee was very proud of his anti-siphoning list of programs, such as national sporting events, that would remain on free-to-air television rather than screen on pay, but was unwilling, or unable, to develop policy on broadband and pay TV cable infrastructure (on the ironies of Australia’s television history, see Given’s masterly account). During this period also, it may be remembered, Australia’s Internet was being passed into private hands, with the tendering out of AARNET (see Spurgeon for discussion). No such national strategy on broadband really emerged in the intervening years, nor has the market provided integrated, accessible broadband services. In 1997, landmark telecommunications legislation was enacted that provided a comprehensive framework for competition in telecommunications, as well as consolidating and extending consumer protection, universal service, customer service standards, and other reforms (CLC). Carrier and reseller competition had commenced in 1991, and the 1997 legislation gave it further impetus. Effective competition is now well established in long distance telephone markets, and in mobiles. Rivalrous competition exists in the market for local-call services, though viable alternatives to Telstra’s dominance are still few (Fels). Broadband too is an area where there is symbolic rivalry rather than effective competition. This is most visible in advertised ADSL offerings in large cities, yet most of the infrastructure for these services is comprised by Telstra’s copper, fixed-line network. Facilities-based duopoly competition exists principally where Telstra/Foxtel and Optus cable networks have been laid, though there are quite a number of ventures underway by regional telcos, power companies, and, most substantial perhaps, the ACT government’s TransACT broadband network. Policymakers and industry have been greatly concerned about what they see as slow takeup of broadband, compared to other countries, and by barriers to broadband competition and access to ‘bottleneck’ facilities (such as Telstra or Optus’s networks) by potential competitors. The government has alternated between trying to talk up broadband benefits and rates of take up and recognising the real difficulties Australia faces as a large country with a relative small and dispersed population. In March 2003, Minister Alston directed the ACCC to implement new monitoring and reporting arrangements on competition in the broadband industry. A key site for discussion of these matters has been the competition policy institution, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and its various inquiries, reports, and considerations (consult ACCC’s telecommunications homepage at http://www.accc.gov.au/telco/fs-telecom.htm). Another key site has been the Productivity Commission (http://www.pc.gov.au), while a third is the National Office on the Information Economy (NOIE - http://www.noie.gov.au/projects/access/access/broadband1.htm). Others have questioned whether even the most perfectly competitive market in broadband will actually provide access to citizens and consumers. A great deal of work on this issue has been undertaken by DCITA, NOIE, the regulators, and industry bodies, not to mention consumer and public interest groups. Since 1997, there have been a number of governmental inquiries undertaken or in progress concerning the takeup of broadband and networked new media (for example, a House of Representatives Wireless Broadband Inquiry), as well as important inquiries into the still most strategically important of Australia’s companies in this area, Telstra. Much of this effort on an ersatz broadband policy has been piecemeal and fragmented. There are fundamental difficulties with the large size of the Australian continent and its harsh terrain, the small size of the Australian market, the number of providers, and the dominant position effectively still held by Telstra, as well as Singtel Optus (Optus’s previous overseas investors included Cable & Wireless and Bell South), and the larger telecommunications and Internet companies (such as Ozemail). Many consumers living in metropolitan Australia still face real difficulties in realising the slogan ‘bandwidth for all’, but the situation in parts of rural Australia is far worse. Satellite ‘broadband’ solutions are available, through Telstra Countrywide or other providers, but these offer limited two-way interactivity. Data can be received at reasonable speeds (though at far lower data rates than how ‘broadband’ used to be defined), but can only be sent at far slower rates (Goggin, Rural Communities Online). The cultural implications of these digital constraints may well be considerable. Computer gamers, for instance, are frustrated by slow return paths. In this light, the final report of the January 2003 Broadband Advisory Group (BAG) is very timely. The BAG report opens with a broadband rhapsody: Broadband communications technologies can deliver substantial economic and social benefits to Australia…As well as producing productivity gains in traditional and new industries, advanced connectivity can enrich community life, particularly in rural and regional areas. It provides the basis for integration of remote communities into national economic, cultural and social life. (BAG 1, 7) Its prescriptions include: Australia will be a world leader in the availability and effective use of broadband...and to capture the economic and social benefits of broadband connectivity...Broadband should be available to all Australians at fair and reasonable prices…Market arrangements should be pro-competitive and encourage investment...The Government should adopt a National Broadband Strategy (BAG 1) And, like its predecessor nine years earlier, the BAG report does make reference to a national broadband strategy aiming to maximise “choice in work and recreation activities available to all Australians independent of location, background, age or interests” (17). However, the idea of a national broadband strategy is not something the BAG really comes to grips with. The final report is keen on encouraging broadband adoption, but not explicit on how barriers to broadband can be addressed. Perhaps this is not surprising given that the membership of the BAG, dominated by representatives of large corporations and senior bureaucrats was even less representative than its BSEG predecessor. Some months after the BAG report, the Federal government did declare a broadband strategy. It did so, intriguingly enough, under the rubric of its response to the Regional Telecommunications Inquiry report (Estens), the second inquiry responsible for reassuring citizens nervous about the full-privatisation of Telstra (the first inquiry being Besley). The government’s grand $142.8 million National Broadband Strategy focusses on the ‘broadband needs of regional Australians, in partnership with all levels of government’ (Alston, ‘National Broadband Strategy’). Among other things, the government claims that the Strategy will result in “improved outcomes in terms of services and prices for regional broadband access; [and] the development of national broadband infrastructure assets.” (Alston, ‘National Broadband Strategy’) At the same time, the government announced an overall response to the Estens Inquiry, with specific safeguards for Telstra’s role in regional communications — a preliminary to the full Telstra sale (Alston, ‘Future Proofing’). Less publicised was the government’s further initiative in indigenous telecommunications, complementing its Telecommunications Action Plan for Remote Indigenous Communities (DCITA). Indigenous people, it can be argued, were never really contemplated as citizens with the ken of the universal service policy taken to underpin the twentieth-century government monopoly PTT project. In Australia during the deregulatory and re-regulatory 1990s, there was a great reluctance on the part of Labor and Coalition Federal governments, Telstra and other industry participants, even to research issues of access to and use of telecommunications by indigenous communicators. Telstra, and to a lesser extent Optus (who had purchased AUSSAT as part of their licence arrangements), shrouded the issue of indigenous communications in mystery that policymakers were very reluctant to uncover, let alone systematically address. Then regulator, the Australian Telecommunications Authority (AUSTEL), had raised grave concerns about indigenous telecommunications access in its 1991 Rural Communications inquiry. However, there was no government consideration of, nor research upon, these issues until Alston commissioned a study in 2001 — the basis for the TAPRIC strategy (DCITA). The elision of indigenous telecommunications from mainstream industry and government policy is all the more puzzling, if one considers the extraordinarily varied and significant experiments by indigenous Australians in telecommunications and Internet (not least in the early work of the Tanami community, made famous in media and cultural studies by the writings of anthropologist Eric Michaels). While the government’s mid-2003 moves on a ‘National Broadband Strategy’ attend to some details of the broadband predicament, they fall well short of an integrated framework that grasps the shortcomings of the neoliberal communications model. The funding offered is a token amount. The view from the seat of government is a glance from the rear-view mirror: taking a snapshot of rural communications in the years 2000-2002 and projecting this tableau into a safety-net ‘future proofing’ for the inevitable turning away of a fully-privately-owned Telstra from its previously universal, ‘carrier of last resort’ responsibilities. In this aetiolated, residualist policy gaze, citizens remain constructed as consumers in a very narrow sense in this incremental, quietist version of state securing of market arrangements. What is missing is any more expansive notion of citizens, their varied needs, expectations, uses, and cultural imaginings of ‘always on’ broadband networks. Hybrid Networks “Most people on earth will eventually have access to networks that are all switched, interactive, and broadband”, wrote Frances Cairncross in 1998. ‘Eventually’ is a very appropriate word to describe the parlous state of broadband technology implementation. Broadband is in a slow state of evolution and invention. The story of broadband so far underscores the predicament for Australian access to bandwidth, when we lack any comprehensive, integrated, effective, and fair policy in communications and information technology. We have only begun to experiment with broadband technologies and understand their evolving uses, cultural forms, and the sense in which they rework us as subjects. Our communications networks are not superhighways, to invoke an enduring artefact from an older technology. Nor any longer are they a single ‘public’ switched telecommunications network, like those presided over by the post-telegraph-telephone monopolies of old. Like roads themselves, or the nascent postal system of the sixteenth century, broadband is a patchwork quilt. The ‘fibre’ of our communications networks is hybrid. To be sure, powerful corporations dominate, like the Tassis or Taxis who served as postmasters to the Habsburg emperors (Briggs & Burke 25). Activating broadband today provides a perspective on the path dependency of technology history, and how we can open up new threads of a communications fabric. Our options for transforming our multitudinous networked lives emerge as much from everyday tactics and strategies as they do from grander schemes and unifying policies. We may care to reflect on the waning potential for nation-building technology, in the wake of globalisation. We no longer gather our imagined community around a Community Telephone Plan as it was called in 1960 (Barr, Moyal, and PMG). Yet we do require national and international strategies to get and stay connected (Barr), ideas and funding that concretely address the wider dimensions of access and use. We do need to debate the respective roles of Telstra, the state, community initiatives, and industry competition in fair telecommunications futures. Networks have global reach and require global and national integration. Here vision, co-ordination, and resources are urgently required for our commonweal and moral fibre. To feel the width of the band we desire, we need to plug into and activate the policy circuits. Thanks to Grayson Cooke, Patrick Lichty, Ned Rossiter, John Pace, and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments. Works Cited Alston, Richard. ‘ “Future Proofing” Regional Communications.’ Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Canberra, 2003. 17 July 2003 <http://www.dcita.gov.au/Article/0,,0_1-2_3-4_115485,00.php> —. ‘A National Broadband Strategy.’ Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Canberra, 2003. 17 July 2003 <http://www.dcita.gov.au/Article/0,,0_1-2_3-4_115486,00.php>. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Broadband Services Report March 2003. Canberra: ACCC, 2003. 17 July 2003 <http://www.accc.gov.au/telco/fs-telecom.htm>. —. Emerging Market Structures in the Communications Sector. 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MLA Style Goggin, Gerard. "Broadband" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture< http://www.media-culture.org.au/0308/02-featurebroadband.php>. APA Style Goggin, G. (2003, Aug 26). Broadband. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture, 6,< http://www.media-culture.org.au/0308/02-featurebroadband.php>