Innovative opportunity pursuit, human capital and business ownership experience in an emerging region: evidence from Ghana

This study explores whether an entrepreneur??s ability to assemble and leverage human capital, particularly specific human capital relating to prior business ownership experience, is associated with seven types of product and work practices innovation in an emerging region, namely, Ghana. Logistic regression estimation revealed that portfolio entrepreneurs were more likely than novice entrepreneurs to report ??innovation tried??. Multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that portfolio entrepreneurs were more likely than other entrepreneurs to report ??innovation tried and introduced??. If the goals of policy are to increase the ??quality?? of new business start-ups and maximize investment returns, there is a case to target assistance to portfolio entrepreneurs.     

Sovereign credit ratings,capital flows and financial sector development in emerging markets

How does the sovereign credit ratings history provided by independent ratings agencies affect domestic financial sector development and international capital inflows to emerging countries? We address this question utilizing a comprehensive dataset of sovereign credit ratings from Standard and Poor's from 1995–2003 for a cross-section of 51 emerging markets. Within a panel data estimation framework, we examine financial sector development and the influence of sovereign credit ratings provision, controlling for various economic and corporate governance factors identified in the financial development literature. We find strong evidence that our sovereign credit rating measures do affect financial intermediary sector developments and capital flows. We find that i) long-term foreign currency sovereign credit ratings are important for encouraging financial intermediary development and for attracting capital flows. ii) Long-term local currency ratings stimulate domestic market growth but discourage international capital flows. iii) Short-term ratings (both foreign and local currency denominated) retard all forms of financial developments and capital flows. There are important implications in this research for policy makers to encourage the provision of longer-term credit ratings to promote financial development in emerging economies.     

Judging a business by its cover: An institutional perspective on new ventures and the business plan

Business plans are widely spread among new businesses, and they are supported by various universities, governmental assistance agencies, management consultants and a wide array of literature. Business plans are often taken for granted as highly useful tools that should be frequently updated and used. This study is based on data from six companies and their environments, over five years, using several forms of data collection such as interviews, observations, and archival data. In contrast to previous studies, we found that initial conformity to business plan norms gradually and without exception lead to loose coupling. Entrepreneurs who wrote business plans never updated or rarely referred to their plans after writing them.     

An exploration of celebrity business ventures and their appeal to fans and non-fans

Recently, an increasing number of celebrities have launched their own businesses. Although celebrity entrepreneurs may expect their credibility to enhance customers’ purchase intentions, this study does not find this effect. Instead, it finds that customers’ purchase intentions rely mainly on customers’ attitudes toward the celebrity's venture brand. Customers’ perceived congruence between a celebrity and the celebrity's business significantly affects their brand attitudes. Additionally, this study finds that a celebrity's credibility can only increase fans’ positive attitudes toward the celebrity's venture brand; therefore, being a celebrity entrepreneur is riskier than being a brand endorser in terms of consumer attitude.     

Graft and business in emerging economies: An ecological perspective

In this study we examine how a firm's engagement in graft in emerging economies is shaped by its organizational attributes. Building on the logic of organizational ecology, we envisage that a firm's engagement in graft is influenced by its (1) institutional structure (e.g., public ownership, foreign ownership, and government ownership), (2) market orientation (foreign vs. local market), and (3) firm capabilities (e.g., capacity utilization, product quality, and leadership quality). Using the World Bank's data, we analyzed 1782 firms in China, Brazil, Russia, Poland and South Africa, and found general support for our argument. The results suggest that a firm's engagement in graft is, at least in part, an organizational phenomenon influenced by the firm's founding conditions, required legitimization in the market, and capability conditions.     

Acquiring financial resources from foreign equity capital markets: An examination of factors influencing foreign initial public offerings

An increasing number of firms are making initial public offerings in foreign markets to circumvent constraints in the availability of capital and to provide an exit for their investors. However, previous research on foreign initial public offerings and their determinants is very limited. In this paper, we contribute to this literature by demonstrating that international experience of the management team and pre-IPO ownership by foreign investors are positively related to foreign initial public offerings. We test our hypotheses using data on initial public offerings of European companies from 1991–2001. The results support our hypotheses. The findings have important implications for entrepreneurs, investors, and public policy.     

Institutional dimensions and conflict resolution strategy in international joint ventures: An empirical examination

This study examines the impact of the host‐country institutional structures on the choice of conflict resolution strategy in the international joint venture (IJV). Using the survey method and relying on multiple regression, we demonstrate that there is a statistically significant relationship between institutional pillars and the choice of conflict resolution strategy in the international joint venture in the context of Ghana. In particular, we demonstrate that legalistic and forcing conflict resolution strategies are influenced by the regulative institutional pillar, while compromising and problem‐solving conflict resolution strategies are impacted by normative and cognitive institutional pillars. The multigrouping analysis results show that the views and the choice of foreign partners on conflict resolution strategy differ from that of the local partners to the IJV. This study fills the gap by empirically testing the conflict resolution strategies of firms in relation to the role of regulative, normative, and cognitive institutional pillars of the host country.     

On the survival prospects of men's and women's new business ventures

In this study, we examine the relationship between owner and business characteristics and business survival. Our findings are based upon analyses of the Census Bureau's 1982 and 1987 Characteristics of Business Owners (CBO) survey data on a sample of white male and female sole proprietors. Two aspects of this study distinguish it from any related studies to date. First, we separately examine issues affecting the survival prospects of female-owned businesses, whereas previous studies have focussed solely on businesses owned by men. Second, we use data on cohorts of businesses started or acquired in two different time periods, namely 1980–1982 and 1985–1987. Overall, the mean survival rates of male-owned businesses in these two cohorts are 4- to 6% higher, respectively, that those of businesses owned by women.We hypothesize that wage employment provides opportunities for men and women to acquire the financial and human capital necessary for success in business ownership. In fact, most male and female business owners had some prior spell of employment in the wage sector. But there are gender differences in the status of wage workers that, we further hypothesize, could differentially impact the survival prospects of men's and women's new business ventures. First, women's lower average wage earnings may imply more binding financial constraints on the initial scale of women's businesses relative to men's. Second, we find that female owners in both cohorts are less likely than their male counterparts to have had any prior managerial experience or to have 10 or more years of general, prior paid employment experience, which may imply that female entrepreneurs are more constrained in the amount and quality of human capital that they acquire during wage employment. Female entrepreneurs' access to debt and equity capital has not been overlooked by policy makers. What has been largely overlooked are possible gender differences in the amount and quality of human capital of new entrepreneurs. Women's fewer years of general work experience and lesser exposure to managerial occupations may indicate a role for remedial education or mentoring of would-be female entrepreneurs.Women in both cohorts tended to use less financial capital to start or acquire their businesses than men did, and for the 1982 cohort, business survival is found to be positively related to the amount of start-up capital, other factors held constant. The survival prospects of both male- and female-owned businesses are greater for owners with 10 or more years of prior work experience and/or 4 or more years of college. So at least in terms of education and quantity of work experience, female entrepreneurs are at something of a disadvantage relative to their male counterparts. We find that prior managerial experience has no systematic positive or negative effects on the survival prospects of either men's or women's new business ventures, however.Finally, our research indicates that issues concerning business formation and survival must be considered within the context of prevailing macroeconomic conditions. For example, we find that the survival rates of both male- and female-owned businesses started in the 1985–1987 time period were considerably higher than those of businesses started in 1980–1982. Moreover, we uncover systematic differences in owner and business characteristics between our 1982 and 1987 cohorts, as well as differences in how these characteristics influence business survival. Specifically, both male and female owners in our 1982 cohort were better educated, were more likely to have had prior, paid managerial experience, and had more years of prior, paid employment experience, in general. Researchers interested in assessing the survival prospects of businesses over a given time period must consider changes in both product and labor markets over that period. Strength of demand in product markets will have an obvious, direct effect on business viability. The tightening and loosening of labor markets imply changes in potential wage earnings (an opportunity cost of being self-employed) and in this way can affect business dissolution.     

International joint ventures in the United States: An examination of factors related to their effectiveness

The increasing popularity of international joint ventures (IJVs) and their high failure rate prompted this examination of pre- and postincorporation factors related to IJV effectiveness. Interviews with IJV CEOs, and the findings from a questionnaire administered to CEOs of 81 IJVs in the United States, suggest which pre- and postincorporation factors can be important to IJVs' effectiveness. Why these factors are important, and how they interact with other factors in the general context of IJV experiences are also explored in this article. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Improving human capital through knowledge management practices in knowledge-intensive business services

This article studies how knowledge management (KM) practices improve human capital. We conceptualize KM practices through six dimensions and test the relationship between each dimension and human capital. The empirical study which was carried out in Spanish firms belonging to the biotechnology and telecommunications industries shows that introducing KM practices has a positive impact on the improvement of human capital. In fact, firms that introduce practices related to continuous learning and the development of an innovative culture that encourages R&D projects improve the skills or abilities of their human capital.     

The evolution of interorganizational relationships in emerging ventures: An ethnographic study within the new product development process

Emerging ventures rarely have the resources they need, which often force them to reach beyond their boundaries to access these resources. While the field has acknowledged how critical external relationships are in the emergence process, we lack an understanding of how these relationships evolve. Drawing on fourteen longitudinal case studies, this article begins to fill that gap by examining how emerging ventures use interorganizational relationships to discover, develop, and commercialize new products. We found that emerging ventures tended to establish outsourcing relationships early and that many outsourcing relationships progressed into alliances. This suggests that these early relationships are dynamic, evolve through the emergence process, and may be critical to the successful emergence of a venture. We also discovered that many entrepreneurs developed strong socioemotional bonds with their alliance partners. Unexpectedly, our study revealed that in many cases these socioemotional bonds clouded the entrepreneur's judgment of the partner's abilities and led to problems that threatened the venture's survival.     

A venture capital model of the development process for new ventures

For years, researchers have hypothesized that new ventures develop in a fairly predictable chronological process by evolving through various functional and strategic developmental stages. However, cross-comparable longitudinal data from large numbers of ventures are still not available to validate these “stages of development” hypotheses. The study sought to determine whether venture capital firms, which have extensive experience with the longitudinal development of new ventures, operate in accord with a common theory about how this process operates. These findings also represent a first step toward empirically validating various elements of “stages of development” theories.The study analyzed the perceptions of the CEO or managing partner of 73 U.S. venture capital firms about key features of the development process for new businesses. Venture capital firms were asked whether they differentiated stages in the development process. For each such stage information was elicited on what the stage was called, distinguishing characteristics of ventures in that stage, key developmental goals or benchmarks typically accomplished in that stage, and the major risks involved. Sufficient consensus was found on these aspects of the development process for a “venture capital model” of this process to be constructed. The model consists of five sequential stages: 1) “seed” ; 2) “start-up” ; 3) “second stage” ; 4) “third stage” ; and 5) “exit stage.” Strong consensus was found on distinguishing characteristics of ventures in early stages of development, key developmental goals or benchmarks in various stages, and major developmental risks associated with each stage. Consensus on developmental characteristics diminished somewhat in later stages, presumably because of differential rates of development among investees, as well as differing degrees of success in accomplishing earlier objectives. Nevertheless, sufficient differences in functional characteristics remained to clearly distinguish later stage investees from early stage investees, and to enable differentiations in maturity between “third stage” and “exit stage” investees.The venture capital developmental model exhibits both similarities and differences from “stages of development” paradigms. First, the venture capital model is primarily strategic and market-oriented in focus. It gives lesser emphasis to the elements of organizational structure, management style, and management specialization than some “stages of development” theories, although these elements are identified by venture capitalists as potential areas of risk should problems arise. Second, like “stages of development” paradigms, the venture capital model is universal and not venture specific. Venture capital firms appear to view all potentially feasible business concepts, despite differences in product, organizational complexity, rate of development, or ultimate size, as passing through the same process sequence, albeit at different speeds and with varying degrees of success. Third, the model, while reflecting the financial objectives of venture capital investors, is primarily shaped by the naturally occurring functional development of investees. It does not represent arbitrary requirements imposed on investees to segment the developmental process into steps that would not otherwise occur.The development of venture capital investees is influenced by the strategic and financial objectives of venture capital firms. Thus the model does not necessarily mirror the strategic and dynamic elements of the development process for firms that are not intended by their founders to grow rapidly and then go public or be acquired by a larger corporation, or for ventures that must depend upon internally generated funds or bank loans to finance development.The venture capital model, representing perceptions of 73 venture capital firms derived from longitudinal data for many hundreds of new ventures, appears to empirically confirm the concept of an evolutionary progression through key functional and strategic steps, which is a central element of most “stages-of-development” hypotheses. The study did not go into sufficient depth, however, to provide detail on the influence of factors such as organizational structure and management styles and control systems on development. These factors are central elements in several “stages of development” theories, and are arguably of critical importance in the growth, survival, and financial success of new ventures.     

社会资本对农村家庭人力资本投资行为影响的实证分析

基于苏北农村的抽样调查,本文在控制了苏北农村家庭的年收入、未婚子女数量等变量之后,利用Eviews6.0的多元线性回归分析,考察了苏北农村家庭的社会资本对其人力资本投资状况的影响作用.研究发现,苏北农村家庭的社会资本对其人力资本投资具有不可忽略的作用,但并不具有非常积极的作用,具体表现为:家庭结构社会资本时家庭人力资本投资具有一定的促进作用,但作用的力度并不理想;而家庭认知社会资本与家庭人力资本投资却具有反向作用.     

Determinants of venture capital investments in emerging markets

Jeng and Wells (2000) initialized the examination of venture capital (VC) determinants across countries. Meanwhile, we enlarge their scope using aggregated VC funding in 118 countries, 78 being considered emerging markets, using panel data from 2000 to 2013. We show that M&A activity, legal rights and investor protection, innovation, IP protection, corruption and also corporate taxes and unemployment have impact. We reveal the economic magnitude and direction of impact of the determinants to be different for the two country categories for several parameters, enhancing previous research by emphasizing that VC investment drivers can be different for developed and developing countries.     

浅谈财务电算化在商业企业中的应用

科学技术的进步、网络技术的发展推动的企业财务会计的变革,财务会计电算化系统在企业中的应用,也促进企业了企业的管理变革.本文将财务会计电算化在商业企业中的应用、积极效果、在应用中应当注意的问题等几个方面加以阐述.     

The tortoise versus the hare: Progress and business viability differences between conventional and leisure-based founders

Social science researchers have long pursued answers to the puzzle of why some people achieve certain milestones more quickly than others and whether rate of progress matters for long-run outcomes. This “tortoise versus hare” puzzle raises the question of whether speed is a valid indicator of viability in an undertaking: Are those with slower rates of progress any less off in terms of long-run achievement when compared to their faster counterparts? We investigate this “tortoise and hare” puzzle in the context of business formation, an activity pursued by millions in the United States. Our analysis of a nationally representative survey of U.S. business founders revealed that leisure-based founders were slower to make progress initially, but after a certain time threshold, their progress was no different than other conventional types of founders. More importantly, leisure-based founders showed more favorable initial economic and non-economic outcomes, as these founders were more likely to consistently report early sales and profitability and were more committed to investing time into their ventures. Our study findings have both theoretical and practical implications for the evaluation of venture performance, when the rate of progress is considered to be a leading indicator of new business viability.     

The advantage of experienced start-up founders in venture capital acquisition: evidence from serial entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs with prior firm-founding experience are expected to have more skills and social connections than novice entrepreneurs. Such skills and social connections could give experienced founders some advantage in the process of raising venture capital. This paper uses a large database of venture-backed companies and their founders to examine the advantage associated with prior founding experience. Compared with novice entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs with venture-backed founding experience tend to raise more venture capital at an early round of financing and tend to complete the early round much more quickly. In contrast, experienced founders whose earlier firms were not venture-backed do not show a similar advantage over novice entrepreneurs, suggesting the importance of connections with venture capitalists in the early stage of venture capital financing. However, when the analysis also takes into account later rounds of financing, all entrepreneurs with prior founding experience appear to raise more venture capital. This implies that skills acquired from any previous founding experience can make an entrepreneur perform better and in turn attract more venture capital.     

Bank board network and financial stability in emerging markets

This study finds that the board network is related to improvements in the financial stability of banks given by asset quality, insolvency risk and volatility of profits. Further, the board network is more critical for the private sector banks in India. The board network also improves the performance of banks, providing evidence in favor of the integrated resource dependence view of the board. Well-connected boards increase information availability and reduce the information asymmetry between the bank and its borrower. For financial firms, restricting the number of directorial positions for bank directors may not have any desirable effect on bank outcomes.     

Managerial pay and financial performance of small business

The purpose of this study is to examine empirically whether managerial pay of small-firm executives is more closely related to profitability or generation of sales. Conventional economic doctrine supports the hypothesis that chief executives are paid primarily to advance profitability. The contrary hypothesis, given impetus by Baumol [2] and Galbraith [8], asserts a closer relationship between compensation and sales. Previous studies of large corporations have produced conflicting results. Regression analysis of the 78 small firms in this study reveals managers receiving compensation correlating fairly closely with both profitability and sales. The cumulative forces at work in these firms impacting upon managerial pay appear to have wrought a linkage conductive toward motivating managers to be both “bottom line” and marketing oriented.