Individual entrepreneurship,collective entrepreneurship and innovation in small business: an empirical study

The study reported in this article examines simultaneously the impact of individual entrepreneurship and collective entrepreneurship on innovation in small business. It intends to address the weakness in previous entrepreneurship research that either only focuses on the individual entrepreneur's role in innovation (Miller 1983 Management Science, 29:770-791), or only stresses the importance of collective entrepreneurship (Reich 1987 Harvard Business Review, 65 (3), 22-83; Stewart 1989). The results of structural equation modeling analysis of data from more than 200 small businesses show that both individual entrepreneur(s) and the collective contribute to innovation in small business. Analysis results also reveal the complex relationships between the two types of entrepreneurship in terms of their impact on innovation in small business. Factors that contribute to collective entrepreneurship were found to contribute to individual entrepreneurship, while factors that are often associated with individual entrepreneurship were found to have negative impact on collective entrepreneurship. Communication among members of the small business, which was found to directly contribute to collective entrepreneurship, was found to contribute to individual entrepreneur's knowledge of emerging markets, products, and technologies. In contrast, centralized decision making, which was found to have direct negative impact on innovation, was found to have negative impact on collaboration and communication. Implications of the study are discussed.     

A Canadian university experience in technological innovation and entrepreneurship

The roles of the university, and especially schools of engineering, in serving as sources of new ideas and as training grounds for young persons who may become technical entrepreneurs are set forth. Weaknesses in traditional curricula for engineers as regards innovation and entrepreneurship are identified. The development of the Centre de Développement Technologique at Ecole Polytechnique, University of Montreal is described. The Quebec Industrial Innovation Center, organized in affiliation with Ecole Polytechnique and the Centre de Développement Technologique, is described in detail including several examples of recent projects undertaken.     

Retaining skilled employees: A human capital model with innovation and entrepreneurship

In his seminal paper, Becker argues that firms never invest in general human capital in a frictionless labor market. Nevertheless, empirical evidence shows the opposite. This paper sheds light on this puzzle by developing a principal–agent model with human capital investments. The novel feature of the model is that specific human capital increases the agent's probability to innovate. Innovation brings the opportunity of entrepreneurship, which means losing a skilled agent for the principal. The results show that higher entrepreneurial income increases the risk of employee departure and the principal may use general human capital investment for retention.     

Sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainability innovation: categories and interactions

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework to position sustainable entrepreneurship in relation to sustainability innovation. The framework builds on a typology of sustainable entrepreneurship, develops it by including social and institutional entrepreneurship, i.e. the application of the entrepreneurial approach towards meeting societal goals and towards changing market contexts, and relates it to sustainability innovation. The framework provides a reference for managers to introduce sustainability innovation and to pursue sustainable entrepreneurship. Methodologically, the paper develops an approach of qualitative measurement of sustainable entrepreneurship and how to assess the position of a company in a classification matrix. The degree of environmental or social responsibility orientation in the company is assessed on the basis of environmental and social goals and policies, the organization of environmental and social management in the company and the communication of environmental and social issues. The market impact of the company is measured on the basis of market share, sales growth and reactions of competitors. The paper finds conditions under which sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainability innovation emerge spontaneously. The research has implications for theory and practitioners in that it clarifies which firms are most likely under specific conditions to make moves towards sustainability innovation. The paper makes a contribution in showing that extant research needs to be expanded with regard to motivations for innovation and that earlier models of sustainable entrepreneurship need to be refined. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

The bounds of entrepreneurship: Inter-organizational relationships in the process of industrial innovation

This paper examines the links between entrepreneurship and innovation in modern business corporations. It extends Alford's idea of ‘diffused entrepreneurship’ to the interrelationships between firms. By drawing upon the literatures of business policy and marketing, it draws attention to the ‘porous’ boundaries of industrial organizations as open systems, and to the need to examine the balance between the part played by individuals within such organizations and that played by innovative organizational processes themselves.     

Business model innovation in corporate entrepreneurship: exploratory insights from corporate accelerators

Corporate accelerators are a rapidly growing entrepreneurial phenomenon occurring in different business contexts and business models within corporate entrepreneurship. Corporate accelerators are considered as an innovation fostering approach within new ventures provided by start-ups. The aim of the paper is twofold: firstly, to explore the motives behind corporations’ engagement with start-ups in launching corporate accelerators, and secondly, to identify the corporate benefits and challenges of this business model innovation. The research design is based on a qualitative interpretative approach exploiting a triangulation of methods by using in-depth interviews (IDI) with corporate managers involved in development of corporate accelerators as well as a focus group interview (FGI) with industry experts. In addition, secondary data were applied to strengthen the exploratory research. The study demonstrates that a wide range of benefits stem from the accelerator activities which can ultimately can initiate changes in large companies. Our research expands on prior findings and suggests that corporate accelerators are driven by internal and external push and pull motives. The study contributes to expanding the scope of corporate entrepreneurship research in regard to the challenges and benefits of corporate accelerators. It provides evidence that corporate accelerators are a source of innovation that can be used to foster entrepreneurial-market logic and entrepreneurial learning.

     

When technology shapes community in the Cultural and Craft Industries: Understanding virtual entrepreneurship in online ecosystems

With the aim of providing greater insight into the nature and dynamics of the online entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Cultural and Craft Industries (CCIs), this study investigated the novel interactions taking place among virtual entrepreneurial firms operating in a relatively new technological context i.e. cybermediary platforms. It is argued that the technologically enabled connectivity offered by these platforms helps foster a distinctive sense of virtual community. Connectivity with users and peer-firms allows a greater sense of identity, shared values, and membership that may not exist routinely. This sense of virtual community may give rise to mutually beneficial firm behaviors whereby support of other businesses becomes the norm. The literatures on sense of virtual community, e-word of mouth, online social capital and e-community are integrated to examine the entrepreneurial dynamics in a context epitomizing collaboration, cooperation and creativity. Results from 732 virtual entrepreneurial firms support the hypotheses that (i) a sense of virtual community is positively related to supporting and promoting peers in the CCIs; (ii) promoting other entrepreneurial ventures increases online social capital and (iii) this in turn creates beneficial outcomes for virtual entrepreneurial firms in the CCIs. Future research may delve even deeper into how technologies may influence the community, collaborative or competitive nature of firm behavior.     

Influences on students attitudes toward entrepreneurship: A multi-country study

Entrepreneurship has been emphasized in many countries as a way of boosting economic growth and job creation. As entrepreneurship is becoming popular around the world, its education should be customized according to each country’s unique cultural context. The purpose of this paper is to identify differences among the selected nations in terms of factors that are important to enhance the pedagogical effect of entrepreneurship education. This is an empirical study based on the data collected from university students in the US, Korea, China and Fiji representing nations with significantly different cultural contexts. The results imply that customized approaches based on unique cultural context are needed for effective entrepreneurship education in each country.     

User voice and complaints as drivers of innovation in public services

User voice and complaints can serve as important inputs to innovation in public services. User knowledge can be harnessed to provide insights and ideas that prompt more effective service responses and add value to service delivery. However, the mechanisms for harnessing user voice and complaints are often not fully understood, and their potential is often underdeveloped. This paper elaborates a conceptual framework which maps the processes by which user voice and complaints might prompt effective public service innovation. Six practical real-world examples are then presented and analysed to illuminate discussion of some critical success factors for consumer-knowledge-enabled innovation.     

湖南省推进大众创业万众创新的对策研究

文章总结了湖南省推进大众创业、万众创新的做法与成效,分析了湖南省在创新创业氛围营造、建立健全利益分配和激励机制、众创空间建设、市场化投入机制建设等方面存在的问题,从营造创新创业生态、创新利益分配和激励机制、加大众创空间的引导和支持、推动科技与金融结合等方面提出了对策建议。     

A cross-national study of culture,organization and entrepreneurship in three neighbourhoods

The paper focuses upon the future development of local support for small enterprises in transition economies. It points to the rapid growth in numbers of support agencies in all of these countries. These agencies are largely based upon western models and are supported by western funds. A number of issues are raised in respect of their future. These are explored under three headings: the true relevance of the western models; strategic issues in die survival of agencies; and conceptual issues as they relate to the problems of adding value and effectiveness in networking and organization design. These issues are then examined in the context of a comparative in-depth study of a number of Hungarian and UK Local Enterprise Agencies. The results point to die value of ‘a priori’ comparative exploration of die circumstances that underpin any model that is to be used as a basis for a transfer process. They indicate that UK agencies share many strategic problems with Hungarian agencies and cannot offer many solutions. They also demonstrate the shared weaknesses of die policy and networking conceptual base. The results point to a range of needs that derive from die ‘second stage’ strategies demanded of such agencies in die transition economies if they are to survive and grow following die reduction of donor support.     

高职院校创新创业学分认定的实施路径探索

通过大学生创新创业带动就业已成为当今高校教育的发展趋势,高职院校注重人才培养模式的改革,应加大创新创业教育改革的力度,并通过创新创业学分的认定,鼓励更多的大学生参与到创新创业实践活动中去.     

Social innovation with open source software: User engagement and development challenges in India

A diverse range of innovative solutions based on Free-and-Open-Source Software (FOSS) have been developed for marginalized communities in developing countries. It has been suggested that such small-scale and home-grown solutions (e.g. mobile phone apps), usually championed by social enterprises (SEs), are more likely to introduce pro-poor change than infrastructure heavy ICT initiatives designed by state and other international actors. In the Indian context, FOSS-based social innovations (SIs) introduced by SEs are helping poor communities tackle previously thought-to-be unresolvable socio-economic problems. An interesting question, therefore, would be: in what ways is the SE model and approach uniquely equipped to develop FOSS-based SIs that deliver pro-poor change? The empirical component of the research attempts to shed light on this question by uncovering the nuts and bolts of the development methodology deployed by an SE during the coding and launch of an FOSS-based SI. Findings highlight the significant role of the founder's social vision; the challenges of accurately capturing and translating to software developers the nature and nuance of social problems; and, the incumbent issues in putting together a methodology that creates active user engagement throughout the software development process, overcoming difficult barriers such as language and culture.     

Sustainable entrepreneurship,innovation, and business models: Integrative framework and propositions for future research

This article introduces the business models for sustainability innovation (BMfSI) framework to study how business models mediate between sustainability innovations and business cases for sustainability. The BMfSI framework integrates two major perspectives (implicitly) found in the sustainable business model literature. The first is the agency perspective. It takes into consideration that some form of agency is needed, that is, “someone” who takes decisions and acts. Sustainable entrepreneurs are discussed as those agents who align their new or existing business models with sustainability innovations in order to be successful in business and to create value with and for stakeholders. The second perspective is the systems perspective, which acknowledges that business models are always embedded within sociotechnical contexts through which, for example, public policies, private financing, or stakeholder interests influence whether and how business models can be developed. The agency and systems perspectives are integrated in the so‐called business model mediation space. This theoretical notion embraces the decisions and activities pursued by sustainable entrepreneurs as they align their business models with sustainability innovations on the one hand and the influence of environmental contingencies, barriers, and stakeholders from the sociotechnical context on the other hand. The paper concludes with propositions for future research derived from the BMfSI framework.     

The Warwick way: A case study of entrepreneurship within a university context

The University of Warwick perceives itself as an innovative and entrepreneririal organization, and has a reputation as such amongst institutions of higher education within the UK. The Conservative Government of Mrs. Thatcher has since 1979 applied steadily increasing pressure on the British system of higher education for it to be more flexible, responsive and business-minded, with less dependency on public funding. The result has been a turbulent and challenging environment for the quasi-public sector universities, with a premium being placed on their ability to manage change. At the time ofwriting, Warwick appears to have operated successfully within this new climate, both to its benefit and to that of its local industrial district. The airticle examines the factors which facilitate and stimulate innovative and entrepreneurial activity amongst the Warwick academic community - factors which will become increasingly important if the university world .is to adapt with flexibility, responsiveness and imagination to the changing and increasingly demanding economic and governmental climate now prevailing not only in the USA and the UK, but also in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Nigeria.     

北京建设世界城市的范式创新与文化使命

认为北京建设世界城市不应因循西方的世界城市观念框架,而是应立足于经济全球化与城市扩张自身包含的辩证性,实现经济同质化与地方多元化相博弈的世界城市范式创新。在分析此范式创新的基础上,提出了北京城市中以日常文化为代表的六大文化完整性传统所担负的文化使命,并据此提出了相关建议。     

A report on an Australian experiment at attempting to increase innovation and entrepreneurship within the community: Results of efforts over four years

The article reports on an initiative by the Australian government to increase the level of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. The initiative took the form of three workshops which eventually had all sectors of the community actively involved. The methodology and results are discussed as well as some of the reasons why not all the aims were met.