Immigrant Entrepreneurship in an Emerging Economy: The Case of Turkey

This paper examines motivations for, and paths to, entrepreneurship among immigrants in Turkey based on interviews with 22 immigrant entrepreneurs in Istanbul. Findings suggest that immigrant entrepreneurs in a developing economy may be different from their counterparts in well‐established economies. First, immigrant entrepreneurs rely on their unique human and social capital in the process of starting businesses thanks to their ability to identify opportunities based on insider knowledge of the market in their home and host countries. Second, their ability to foster trusting relationships thanks to language, cultural, and religious knowledge permits immigrant entrepreneurs in an emerging economy to engage in less economically marginal activities.     

Returnee entrepreneurs and firm performance in Chinese high-technology industries

Building on the knowledge-based view and network perspectives, this paper explores the relationships between knowledge, networks and firm performance. Using a unique, hand-collected dataset of 353 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of returning entrepreneurs and 358 local entrepreneur-owned SMEs from Zhongguancun Science Park in China, we find that the SMEs of returning entrepreneurs perform better than those owned by local entrepreneurs due to their technological and commercial knowledge as well as their international entrepreneurial orientation. Our results show that international networks positively affect firm performance in high-tech industries. Our findings indicate that returnee entrepreneurs gain competitive advantages through utilising their intangible assets to exploit business opportunities and development in an emerging economy.     

The Contingent Value of Entrepreneurs’ Political Capital: Evidence from China

ABSTRACT

Who benefit from a transitioning economy, entrepreneurs who are politically connected or disconnected? Market transition theory and power conversion theory offer two divergent answers. Our study seeks to contribute to this debate by examining the contingent value of entrepreneurs’ political capital. We draw from social network theories and investigate whether and how entrepreneurs’ social networks influence the relationship between their political capital and social mobility. Using the data on Chinese entrepreneurs, we find that the impact of political capital on entrepreneurs’ social mobility is contingent on their network centrality. Practical implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.     

The new generation of millennial entrepreneurs: A review and call for research

Entering the third decade of the new millennium, the millennial generation is stepping into their most productive stage of life. We have witnessed a number of exemplary millennial entrepreneurs, such as Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook. The world’s economy is evolving fast and presenting distinct entrepreneurial opportunities to millennials across the globe. It is critical that scholars of international entrepreneurship explore the new breed of millennial entrepreneurs and contrast them across generations and countries. Regrettably, the extant literature comes up short in fully addressing the new generation of entrepreneurs. We call for immediate scholarly attention on millennial entrepreneurs as they are in substantive ways unlike all earlier generations. We urge researchers to explore the unique characteristics of millennial entrepreneurs, their influence on entrepreneurial motivation, orientation, opportunity discovery and exploitation process, and the global ambition of their entrepreneurial ventures.     

Enrichment for retail businesses: How female entrepreneurs and masculine traits enhance business success

Studies indicate that more male entrepreneurs are pursuing business ventures than their female counterparts. Latterly, there has been increased research interest in female entrepreneurs and their positive contribution to the retail economy. The main purpose of this study was to examine how some specific masculine traits can be enculturated into individuals (i.e. female entrepreneurs). The study also reviewed literature that discussed reasons which hinder female entrepreneurs in the retail world. The reasons range from being risk averse, being too agreeable and being overly anxious about failure. Through qualitative research exploration of female entrepreneurs, semi-structured interviews were undertaken to examine and understand their experiences. Themes which emerged from questioning the ten female entrepreneurs enabled the researcher to construct a theoretical framework. Analysis of the content findings showed that female entrepreneurs were indeed willing to adopt specific masculine traits. The result of this investigation is that through implementing specific masculine traits, female entrepreneurs have greater chances of success in their retail businesses. Although the research presented valid findings regarding the benefits of masculine traits on the retail industry, the research was limited by the sample size and the location of the research. This contribution remains unique in the way that it provides valuable information to the retail industry about the process of overcoming failure through enculturating masculine traits into female entrepreneurs.     

Entrepreneurs in the new economy: Immigration and sex effects in the Montreal metropolitan area

The recent literature on women’s entrepreneurship shows that they are underrepresented in the main stream economy when compared to their male counterparts, a phenomenon typically observed in other urban contexts. Approximately 30% of the entrepreneurs in the Montreal metropolitan area are women, active in a variety of sectors of the general economy. Their underrepresentation is still greater in the new economy, that is, those sectors that are knowledge-based and/or specialized in information technologies and communications. In this article, we examine the place of female entrepreneurs in the larger economy and in the new economy as related to their immigrant and/or ethnic origins. We seek in this paper to establish a comparative analysis of the situation of women entrepreneurs in immigrant-origin groups, focusing our attention on both the presence of women in entrepreneurial positions and the differential impact associated with membership in an immigrant-origin group. Based on data derived from Scott's Directory of 2007, we first determined an operational definition of the new economy and then analyzed the data from the perspective of sex and ethnic/immigrant origin. New economy enterprises represent approximately 12% of businesses in the Montreal metropolitan area, the majority of which are of the knowledge-based variety, and there is a relative, statistically significant absence of women from such enterprises. At the same time, there is a significantly greater presence of women drawn from minority groups, that is, from groups other than the Anglo-Canadian and French-Canadian dominant groups.     

民营企业家创新行为的本质分析

企业家的创新行为对于现代经济的增长具有非常重要的作用,而民营企业家由于所处的主客观环境的差异,其创新行为既具有一般企业家创新行为的共性,同时又呈现出自己显著的特点.本文采用从一般到特殊的分析方法,在剖析了创新的经济学含义后,仔细评介了有关企业家创新行为本质的一般理论,在此基础上,进一步探讨我国民营企业家创新行为的本质,即在内涵上是对原有思维结构和思维定势的突破,在动机上是源于民营企业家的物质需要,在原因上是出于环境所迫,在资源上要以人力资源为核心,在特征上是有创新的思维成果出现.     

Typology of diaspora entrepreneurship: Case studies in Uzbekistan

The characteristics and importance of transnational diasporans as entrepreneurs for the economy and international business of emerging countries have remained underexplored. This paper addresses types of diaspora entrepreneurship (DE) theoretically and empirically in the context of Uzbekistan. Diaspora entrepreneurship is often seen as necessity-driven and less opportunity-driven. So far, emerging Central-Asian countries are considered countries of origin (COOs) of diasporans, but not yet as countries wherein diasporans want to invest and work, that is, countries of residence (CORs). Uzbekistan is also a post-Soviet economy with limited tradition on private entrepreneurship. Thus, the paper asks what makes people become entrepreneurs in emerging countries such as Uzbekistan when they have alternative opportunities in developed countries. It explores key drivers and socio-cultural reasons for the entry and establishment decision and introduces a typology of DE. This multiple case study presents implications and findings on culturally different entrepreneurs who have decided to enter Uzbek business elucidating their motivations and role in transition economies.     

Rural Entrepreneurship in an Emerging Economy: Reading Institutional Perspectives from Entrepreneur Stories

Rural entrepreneurs are of extreme importance in China's progress toward a more market‐oriented economy as the vast majority of Chinese live in rural areas. From an institutional perspective and based on content analysis of 91 publicly published stories about rural Chinese entrepreneurs broadcast by China Central Television, this paper addresses several key aspects of rural entrepreneurship in China and specifically probes into how different institutional elements (i.e., regulative, normative, and cognitive components) affect the strategic behaviors of rural Chinese entrepreneurs. We found that due to weak regulatory protection of intellectual rights, rural entrepreneurs in China tend to work on innovations on their own or with close family members instead of collaborating with external sources; these entrepreneurs use guanxi strategically to deal with constraints from the institutional environment; it is important to build legitimacy by either building alliances with large, established firms, or acquiring approval from people of authority.     

港口经济对重庆经济增长的影响及发展措施

对重庆市港口发展现状和港口吞吐量与GDP之间的关系进行实证分析，发现港口经济与重庆市经济增长呈正相关关系，港口经济的发展促进了重庆市经济的发展。应采取建设以港口为依托的临港工业体系，积极拓展港口经济腹地，建立以港口为龙头的现代物流体系，发展港口为中心的现代服务业体系，构建功能齐全的港口群等相关措施，大力发展重庆特色的港口产业体系，促进港口经济发展。     

Testing the Female Underperformance Hypothesis

Most previous studies have found evidence at the aggregate level that female entrepreneurs underperform relative to their male counterparts. This study conducts a comprehensive test of this finding. The test is conducted on a large Swedish sample of 4200 entrepreneurs (405 females) with 1 to 20 employees in all sectors of the economy. Our study confirms the results of several previous studies that female entrepreneurs tend to underperform relative to men when the data is examined at the most aggregate level. At the same time our data reveals sharp structural differences between male and female entrepreneurs. In an extensive multi-variate regression with a large number of controls it turns out that female underperformance disappears for three out of four performance variables. The only exception is sales. No gender difference is found for profitability. A more detailed analysis reveals that the evidence of female underperformance is much weaker in larger firms and nonexistent in firms with only one employee. If it is true that female entrepreneurs on average have weaker preferences for sales growth, while we consistently find that they do not underperform in terms of profitability, our study provides no support for female underperformance given differences in preferences.     

Transnational entrepreneurship: opportunity identification and venture creation

The present case study focuses on entrepreneurs who have migrated from one developed economy (Sweden or Finland) to another developed economy (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)). In contrast to the dominating understanding, we find that the transnational entrepreneurial incentives were opportunity driven rather than necessity based. The opportunity types identified varied, but indicate the importance of service opportunities, a type often left out of studies and classifications. A prevalent characteristic of transnational entrepreneurship is opportunity recognition based on introducing processes or products to the country of residence, familiar from the country of origin or based on use of the entrepreneurs’ contacts in the home country. This study showed, however, that although this was the case for two entrepreneurs, some identified opportunities for acting in the opposite direction, or did both import and export. Notably, there was also a fourth category, offering business-facilitating services, bridging differing cultural contexts in relationship-middlemen positions. For these entrepreneurs, there was thus no obvious “domestic market” from the start as assumed in traditional internationalization theories. Furthermore, although their businesses started on a limited scale between two countries, they quickly grew and entered other country markets. These transnational businesses thus represent forms of born globals not included in the high-tech business models often associated with such firms. Our findings finally lend support to arguments that a business-favorable institutional environment facilitates and encourages entrepreneurship.     

黑龙江自贸试验区口岸与载体城市经济协调发展实证分析

利用耦合评价模型,分析了2010-2018年黑龙江地区的三个自贸试验区口岸与载体城市经济协调发展情况。研究表明:哈尔滨自贸试验区口岸与载体城市经济协调水平不断提升,两系统间综合发展水平的不断上升使得耦合协调发展水平在2018年达到了优质协调发展型;绥芬河自贸试验区口岸与载体城市经济的耦合协调发展表现出先上升后稳定在良好协调发展水平,两系统表现出由载体城市经济带动口岸增长的协调发展态势;黑河自贸试验区口岸与载体城市经济协调发展呈现出先上升后下降再上升的态势,系统间综合发展速度失衡使得口岸与载体城市经济的协调发展水平增长较为缓慢。因此,为促进自贸试验区口岸与载体城市经济协调发展,要大力发展对外贸易,促进口岸经济发展,建立自贸试验区口岸与载体城市经济的协调发展模式。     

Entrepreneurs in Turkey: A Factor Analysis of Motivations, Success Factors, and Problems

One hundred and thirty-nine entrepreneurs in Ankara, Turkey were surveyed to determine their motivations for business ownership, the factors contributing to their success, and their problems. Based on survey responses, the primary reasons for starting a business are to increase income, to obtain job security, and to secure independence. According to the factor analysis, small and medium-sized enterprises owners are driven more by income rewards than intrinsic rewards. The most important business success variables are the entrepreneurs' reputation for honesty and friendliness. Social skills and good customer service were also cited as critical success factors. The most serious problem faced by entrepreneurs in Turkey is the complex and confusing tax structure. Other important problems include unreliable employees, the inability to maintain good records, and a weak economy.     

Research on entrepreneurship in the informal economy: Framing a research agenda

The informal economy consists of economic activities that occur outside of formal institutional boundaries but which remain within informal institutional boundaries for large segments of society. We draw from diverse disciplines to frame research concerning entrepreneurship in the informal economy around three separate theories: institutional theory, motivation-related theories from a sociological perspective, and resource allocation theory. Each of these theories provides a complementary lens through which to examine the incentives, constraints, motivations, strategies, and abilities of entrepreneurs to operate and grow their ventures in the informal economy. Employing these theoretical perspectives facilitates efforts to highlight the breadth of informal economy research in different domains and lays foundations for future entrepreneurship research.     

Innovation and risk-taking in a transitional economy: A comparative study of chinese managers and entrepreneurs

This research was set in the People's Republic of China. As former socialist China moves from central planning toward a more market-driven economy, improved knowledge about the new environment and firm decisions within such an environment has significant implications. For organizational researchers, such a transition represents a genuine shift of paradigm, and thus offers a unique opportunity to test existing organizational theories and develop new ones. For multinational businesses seeking business opportunities, they have to compete or cooperate with these Chinese firms, whether state-owned or privately owned.Motivated by a deep curiosity in, using the language of Williamson (1996), “What is going on there” behind the “bamboo curtain,” and underpinned by a strong conviction that organizational researchers have much to gain as well as to offer by focusing on transitional economies, I undertook this study to examine characteristics of a regulatory environment and the impact on innovation and risk-taking among Chinese managers and entrepreneurs. I collected original primary data that represents managers from large state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and entrepreneurs from small privately-owned enterprises (POEs) through personal interviews and a survey. Significant differences were found between managers and entrepreneurs in their reported environmental characteristics, strategic orientations, size, and firm performance, indicating that managers are not as innovative and are less willing to make risky decisions than entrepreneurs. Being smaller and faster than SOEs, entrepreneurial firms have adopted some strategies that distinguish them from their larger and more established competitors. Speed, stealth, and sound execution allow entrepreneurs to harvest first-mover advantages and thus increase their chances for survival in a turbulent environment.     

The Russian entrepreneur

Despite a significant interest in business and entrepreneurial activities in the former USSR, there continues to be a shortage of accurate information to dispel some of the myths and misinformation particularly about entrepreneurial activities occurring in the new Russia.Since the inner workings of the economic environment in the former USSR have rarely been described or understood, it is important to view present day entrepreneurs in the context of the country's historical perspective and entrepreneurial predecessors. While never in the forefront of the largely political stage of the country during the Tsarist and Soviet periods, entrepreneurs have nonetheless been consistently present throughout the country's history. Even though most everyone was engaged to some extent in some form of commercial activity, entrepreneurs from the 16th to the 19th century were thought to be inferior individuals. As a consequence, entrepreneurs were oppressed, heavily taxed, powerless individuals at the bottom level of society. But for a few notable exceptions, even Peter the Great's program to create a class of industrialists failed to develop entrepreneurs. In spite of this significant hindrance, entrepreneurship developed and flourished during the Tsarist period, mainly due to the geographical, economic and social, psychological, and political factors.Socialism, the State's domination of the economy, and the centrally planned economy impacted the type and extent of entrepreneurship during the Soviet period. Soviet entrepreneurs, though existing in the shadow economy, were hampered by several factors: only being exposed to mostly secondhand, printed information, not having a lawful mechanism to transfer the risk of entrepreneurship from the State to the individual, not being in sync with the ultimate purpose of the country's economic activity to further the interests of the State, and dealing with an economic situation where production units were separated from research and development units.Three entrepreneurial scenarios of a high-tech company, a Russian brokerage company, and an educational organization, are presented that exemplify the entrepreneurial talent and ability present in the country. To the extent that these scenarios are repeated in a variety of industries by many different entrepreneurs, the successful movement to a progressive market-oriented economy will be speeded.     

What is the value of entrepreneurship? A review of recent research

This article examines to what extent recent empirical evidence can collectively and systematically substantiate the claim that entrepreneurship has important economic value. Hence, a systematic review is provided that answers the question: What is the contribution of entrepreneurs to the economy in comparison to non-entrepreneurs? We study the relative contribution of entrepreneurs to the economy based on four measures that have most widely been studied empirically. Hence, we answer the question: What is the contribution of entrepreneurs to (i) employment generation and dynamics, (ii) innovation, and (iii) productivity and growth, relative to the contributions of the entrepreneurs’ counterparts, i.e., the ‘control group’? A fourth type of contribution studied is the role of entrepreneurship in increasing individuals’ utility levels. Based on 57 recent studies of high quality that contain 87 relevant separate analyses, we conclude that entrepreneurs have a very important—but specific—function in the economy. They engender relatively much employment creation, productivity growth and produce and commercialize high-quality innovations. They are more satisfied than employees. More importantly, recent studies show that entrepreneurial firms produce important spillovers that affect regional employment growth rates of all companies in the region in the long run. However, the counterparts cannot be missed either as they account for a relatively high value of GDP, a less volatile and more secure labor market, higher paid jobs and a greater number of innovations and they have a more active role in the adoption of innovations.     

曹妃甸发展港口经济的SWOT分析及发展对策

港口是带动区域经济发展的核心战略资源,港口经济已经成为区域经济发展的增长极。开发建设曹妃甸深水港,是适应世界船舶运输大型化和港口深水化及环渤海地区重化工业改造、迁移和持续发展的需要,也是推动河北地区经济发展的中心。在运用SWOT分析方法的基础上,全面剖析曹妃甸港口的优势、劣势、机遇和挑战,并在此基础上提出通过发展港口经济推动整体区域发展要优化产业结构,奠定协调基础;构建交通体系,加速发展进程;健全管理体制,推动整合发展的对策建议。     

基于产业集群视角的企业创新研究

本文认为,集群经济条件下,企业技术创新的优势主要表现在动力激发和能力提升两个方面;其中动力激发主要有"面对面"的市场激励、需求激励、竞争激励与针对性的政府激励和集群文化激励;集群型企业家具有明显的区域文化特征、创新优势及示范效应,更具有竞争意识和竞争优势;集群内企业家的创新活动主要沿着地方企业网络及企业家之间的私人和公共网络扩散。