An integrative analysis of business bankruptcy in Australia

This paper proposes an integrative and dynamic approach for analyzing business failure. The simultaneous estimation results obtained with Australian data indicate significant associations between bankruptcy rates in different industries. Most of these associations are positive and hence implying that bankruptcy in one industry can inflict a ‘domino’ effect on other industries. The estimated significant negative association between current and lagged bankruptcy rates in the industries under consideration lend support to the survival of the fittest hypothesis. The estimation results also highlight the important effects of industry, domestic and international economic conditions on bankruptcy rates.     

The social profitability of business incubators: a measurement proposal

Abstract

Public business incubators are services placed at the disposal of original, generally newly-created projects, to which physical accompaniment, supervision and location are offered at prices below market value. They have as their aim to help set in motion and consolidate these firms during the stages in which they are weaker. The ultimate goal consists in favouring the generation of innovative firms, inducers of high-quality jobs, which can diversify the local business fabric, thus becoming a key tool in local development. The present paper provides a methodology to study the economic – but above all social – impact of business incubators, based on the examination of 40 from the 42 incubators existing in the Valencian Community (a Spanish autonomous region with five million inhabitants). Data analysis allows us to state that, although business incubators are not economically profitable since they need financial aids and public investment to start operating, they do have social profitability, insofar as the activity developed by entrepreneurs permits to provide public administrations – via taxes – with returns exceeding what was invested in these incubators. It has been determined that 2.8 euros (which can be applied to a variety of social areas) are collected via taxes for each euro spent to start them up.     

Entrepreneurial ecosystems and the public sector: A bibliographic analysis

Entrepreneurial ecosystems represent an active and growing area of research. Recognized as a contributor to foster regional competitiveness by stimulating economic growth and promoting innovativeness, interest in the concept spans across disciplines. Despite evolving and inter-disciplinary discussions on entrepreneurial ecosystems, a comprehensive understanding of the research directions and latest developments in the field is elusive. At the same time, a clear understanding of the current lay of the land is necessary to assist in public sector decision-making and policy development. To address this gap, this bibliometric study presents a bibliographic analysis of extant literature in the field, as referenced as the focal topic of concern in academic journal articles spanning 1995–2019. The aim is to provide an overview of the origins of the entrepreneurial ecosystems concept in literature, to offer insight into key concepts that have emerged in research over the past twenty-five-years. The paper employs bibliographic techniques to track knowledge, identify trends, and highlight the primary emerging patterns and conceptual clusters. The analysis offers a map of the covered territory and facilitates the identification of gaps and under-researched areas in the field, with a particular focus on public sector interaction. Using the visualization of similarities, VOSviewer, software tool, citation, co-citation, co-authorship, as well as the co-occurrence of keywords are presented to offer a comparative overview of the diverse representation of entrepreneurial ecosystems developments across disciplines, countries, institutional clusters, networks and teams.     

An integrative model for competency development in organizations: the Flemish case

The prominent role of competency development in enhancing the success of employees and organizations has drawn the attention of practitioners leading them to introduce competency development as a central part of their human resource practices. Unfortunately, this strong managerial interest has not been fully translated into the academic world, creating a gap between theory and practice. The main purpose of this study is to fill this gap by exploring the nature of competency development in 22 Flemish organizations through a longitudinal multiple case study design. By using a grounded theory approach, a framework has emerged mapping out the different steps of competency development in the participating organizations. As such, this study can be an important first step toward closing the gap between practice and theory concerning competency development in organizations.     

Creating new business through strategic community management: case study of a multimedia business

For the last few years, the videoconferencing system and multi-point connection service market represented by multimedia technology have enjoyed strong growth in Japan. Behind the recent upturn in this market was the strategic alliance of NTT, Japan's largest telecommunications carrier, and PictureTel of the US, followed by the birth of business communities centred around or outside NTT, thus intensively creating and boosting a new market referred to as interactive video communication. This article reviews the challenges that faced NTT, one of the big businesses in Japan, followed by PictureTel and other players within and outside NTT, all of which were lined up to create various strategic business communities. The article gives careful consideration to the measures taken by these players who achieved success in such a way as to alter employee consciousness, vitalize organizational morale, entrench the new NTT 'Phoenix' brand (videoconferencing system) in the Japanese market and create an emergent new video multi-point connection network service market. And it was under the innovative leadership of community leaders that communities' core competencies were elevated, and innovation of the multimedia business achieved, as a function of the creation and harmonization of new value outlooks within the business community, inside as well as outside the companies.     

Entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention: the Turkish case

This paper examines the relationship of entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) and entrepreneurial intention in the Turkish culture. Sub-dimensions of ESE were investigated and the level of entrepreneurial intention was discussed. The sample comprised of 245 undergraduate students of a university in Turkey. Results suggest that students have a high intention to be entrepreneurs. ESE has a strong effect on entrepreneurial intention, but sub-dimensions of ESE have different impacts. The results of the study were compared with a previously published study conducted in the USA and Korea by a group of researchers. In this comparison, the national cultural context was considered as an influential factor in entrepreneurship.     

Organizational sponsorship and service co-development: A contingency view on service co-development directiveness of business incubators

We address the lack of studies focusing on internal organizational sponsorship mechanisms, while considering environmental influencers and focus on a specific type of organizational sponsorship to do so: Business incubators. We argue that to be able to offer a customized incubatee-strengthening service pack, incubator-incubatee interaction is key, requiring clear-cut and directive service co-development instructions, which is our focal construct. To better understand the functioning of this focal construct, we adopt a contingency approach to examine how the incubator's human capital, and the institutional environment impact the incubator's service co-development directiveness. A quantitative empirical study reveals that both human capital and an entrepreneurially-minded regulative and cognitive institutional environment allow an incubator to be directive, thereby laying a foundation for co-development of customized service offerings. Moreover, the incubator's human capital turns out to further stimulate the positive effects of an entrepreneurially-minded regulative environment. All in all, we find that both internal organizational and external institutional elements are pivotal for first-best implementation of the internal sponsorship mechanism ‘service co-development directiveness’.     

Entrepreneurial alertness and business model innovation: the role of entrepreneurial learning and risk perception

Although business model innovation has received increasing attention in recent years, there are gaps in existing literature concerning why innovation occurs. Drawing on the intentions model and knowledge-based view, this study explores the relationship between entrepreneurial alertness and business model innovation, proposing a moderated mediation framework to handle the questions of why some entrepreneurs achieve business model innovation successfully while others do not. Based on a dataset of 150 firms in northwest China, this study finds that (1) entrepreneurial alertness facilitates business model innovation; (2) explorative learning and exploitative learning mediate the relationship between entrepreneurial alertness and business model innovation; and (3) risk perception moderates the mediating effects of different types of learning and then affects the relationship between entrepreneurial alertness and business model innovation. Specifically, with the increase of risk perception, the mediating role through explorative learning is weakened, while the mediating effect through exploitative learning is enhanced.

     

A study of university/small business interaction for technology transfer

The objective of the project on which this paper is based was to find effective methods of stimulating technology transfer between academic institutions and small businesses. A major thrust was to find means to reduce existing barriers to useful interaction between these two groups.Small businesses in the Western Pennsylvania region were initially contacted by a questionnaire and a larger sample was approached later by a widely distributed letter to solicit interest. Visits were made to interested businesses to identify problem areas, and these were then transmitted to appropriate resources. Carnegie-Mellon University was originally the prime resource. As the project progressed, a number of other academic institutions were invited and agreed to participate. The case method of data assessment was utilized since the type of information obtained did not lend itself to quantitative analysis.Many contacts occurred between academic and small-business personnel. Two work contracts resulted, both between small businesses and another private firm. Major results included the finding that great differences exist between small-business and academic personnel in perception of problem importance, time required to solve problems, and appropriateness of cost factors. These differences tended to dampen initial enthusiasm and interfered with the development of effective working relationships. Plans to establish consortia of small businesses to seek assistance with common problems at reasonable cost to each member were uniformly rejected by the businesses. They did not wish competitors to gain similar technological advantages.It was originally felt that different sizes and types of academic institutions would show differences in motivation to participate, in particular that smaller colleges or universities would be more active than major research institutions. Such differences were observed at the verbal level, but did not materialize as behavioral manifestations.A major conclusion was that no general system for effective technology transfer exists in the united States with reference to the types of small businesses involved in the study. While many successful formal and informal systems are in operation, some of long duration, the majority of small manufacturing and material producing firms are not involved in or aware of such programs.In addition to often studied economic, technical, and political variables affecting technology transfer, it is suggested that greater research and system design attention be directed toward psychological and sociocultural factors observed as having inhibiting effects. Improved communication and cooperation between small businesses and academic technological resources are likely to occur only through re-education of pertinent attitudes and perceptions of the parties involved.     

Training and business performance: the Spanish case

This paper examines the relationship between training policies and business performance. Our research seeks to enlarge the empirical bibliography about the impact training has on firms and tries to challenge the criticism previous works with similar characteristics received. With this purpose in mind, we have used a theoretical model based on the hypothesis of a ‘cascade-type relationship’ between four types of organizational performance. The results obtained from a sample of Spanish firms show that training policy (based on the human capital theory and the resource-based theory) has a significant impact on firm performance.     

Entrepreneurial signaling to attract resources: the case of franchising

Why firms and individuals reveal information is the subject of considerable theoretical research, but little empirical work has been possible due to a lack of suitable data. In this paper we examine why entrepreneurs selling business opportunities (franchisors) reveal information regarding potential profits (termed earnings claims). Empirical analysis shows that: first, contrary to theory, only a small percentage of franchisors claim; and, second, the franchisors that do claim have lower costs or are responding to competition. In particular, the prediction of theoretical models from economics that resource providers will not transact if information is not disclosed is not supported; resource providers can and do make significant investments even when entrepreneurs refuse to disclose information. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Environmental business strategy: the Portuguese case

This study focuses on the adoption of environmental management systems and corporate social responsibility reporting as mechanisms for creating a differential advantage, looking at how different stakeholders in an organization perceive the importance of instituting these mechanisms as determinants of market success. The paper then aims to focus on environmental business strategy and corporate social responsibility reporting in companies, rather than prescribing policy for the entire sector. In so doing it postulates that compliance with market requirements on environmentally related issues, by instituting proper environmental management mechanisms and corporate social responsibility reporting, is a pre‐requisite for acceptance of the firm and its products in the market. The paper is methodologically based on a set of 60 interviews conducted with various agents in the Portuguese textile industry, ranging from policy‐makers to industrialists and NGOs, with a view to determining differences in perception between the various stakeholders. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

An empirical study of e-government diffusion in Fiji: a holistic and integrative approach

Pacific Island countries (PICs) are facing certain unique challenges in e-government diffusion due to their geographic, cultural, social, and economic environments. However, very few rigorous empirical studies have been published about e-government diffusion issues in the region. To address the knowledge gap, we conducted a case study of Fiji. Drawing on Fountain’s technology enactment framework as a theoretical lens, we identified and investigated in a holistic and integrative way the major issues and challenges which influenced e-government diffusion and outcomes in Fiji. The study has significant implications both for research and practices not only in Fiji but also in the PICs.     

Managing venture team relationships in corporate incubators: a case study of network dynamics and political rivalry in a high-tech incubator

This article addresses venture team relationships in an advanced high tech incubator through an analysis of the personal relationships of venture team members. During the study period of almost 2 years, the ventures were projected to grow and commercialise but, overall, they failed. Quantitative data collected in two rounds showed that commercial relationships remained weak while political relationships intensified. Qualitative follow-up interviews suggest that the political rivalry and low level of knowledge sharing between the ventures were further exacerbated by the individualistic-competitive structure of the incubator and weak management in some respects.     

创业学习对创业企业成长的影响机制研究——基于山西非资源型创业企业的多案例分析

在山西经济转型时期,非资源型创业企业对当地经济发展的作用日益凸显.本文从创业学习视角出发,通过对山西非资源型创业企业的多案例分析,探究创业企业的成长机理.研究结果表明,创业学习通过创业战略推动创业企业成长;并发现创业企业处于不同的发展阶段,选择的创业学习方式也存在一定的差异;在企业创建阶段,主要表现为知识导向的创业学习;在企业成长阶段、发展瓶颈阶段和转型升级阶段,主要表现为问题导向的创业学习和目标导向的创业学习.     

Human resource business partner lifecycle model: exploring how the relationship between HRBPs and their line manager partners evolves

The human resources business partner (HRBP) role is advocated as a way for human resource (HR) professionals and the HR profession to become more strategic and less transactional, necessitating the development of different competencies. Few researchers have examined how the HRBP Model plays out in practice, over time, from the perspective of HR professionals and their line manager partners (LMPs). We collected data through interviews and focus groups with both these stakeholders at three UK organisations to understand the dynamics of the individual HRBP–LMP relationship. After analysing the data, we propose an HRBP Lifecycle Model. The model suggests the relationship between the parties is dynamic, complex and dependent upon the organisational culture as well as the skills and competencies of the main stakeholders in the partnership.     

Entrepreneurial orientation and motivation to start up a business: evidence from the health service industry

This study aims to investigate the entrepreneurial orientation and motivation to start up a business in a specific group of health care professionals (HCP), namely diagnostic and therapy technicians. Primary data collected through a sample of 367 HCP is used. The results regarding the entrepreneur’s psychological and cognitive profile supported the hypothesis that HCP who have previously created a firm have particular psychological and cognitive characteristics conducive to entrepreneurial activity. The results also demonstrate that motivation influences the willingness of firm creation. Additionally, this study highlights some implications for management seeking to promote the emergence of context-relevant conditions that would allow HCP to launch their own business venture more readily.     

Circular business model implementation: A capability development case study from the manufacturing industry

Circular business models (CBMs) have huge potential to deliver economic, social, and environmental benefits, but CBMs have yet to be implemented widely in industrial settings. One reason is that they are often presented as one-size-fits-all solutions, but this is misplaced because product-specific criteria and company capabilities determine the correct choice and implementation of CBMs. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how CBM selection and capability development facilitates the implementation of CBMs. For this purpose, we have adopted a qualitative research approach and undertaken 25 explorative interviews in three large Swedish manufacturing companies. In this paper, a CBM implementation framework consisting of two parts has been developed. The first part addresses the choice of the appropriate CBM based on tactical configurations. The second part provides a capability development path by explicating underlying routines that need to be progressively developed in order to move smoothly to more advanced CBMs.     

创业营销对创业绩效的影响研究:一个有调节的中介模型

先前学者们对于创业营销的研究大多聚焦于定性研究,文章从创业营销的创业导向与市场导向入手,通过实证研究的方法探究创业营销对创业绩效的提升机制。以创业导向作为自变量、市场导向作为中介变量、顾客导向为调节变量,构建一个有调节的中介模型。通过问卷搜集中国297家企业的数据检验假设,结果表明:创业导向、市场导向均正向影响创业绩效,且当市场导向作为中介变量时,对两者之间对创业绩效的总效应更加明显;顾客导向的调节作用并不明显。最后,提出了管理建议与未来的研究方向。     

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.