Predictors and financial outcomes of corporate entrepreneurship: An exploratory study

Today, there is considerable scholarly and managerial interest in corporate entrepreneurship; that is, those activities that enhance a company's ability to innovate, take risk, and seize opportunities in its markets. Corporate entrepreneurship centers on creating new business by penetrating new markets, pursuing new business, or both.Despite the growing recognition and use of corporate entrepreneurship, little empirical research has been done on its antecedents and potential association with company financial performance. To fill this gap in the literature, this study proposes a model that identifies potential environmental, strategic, and organizational factors that may spur or stifle corporate entrepreneurship. The model also highlights the potential associations between corporate entrepreneurship and corporate financial performance.Building on the existing literature, the study advances five hypotheses that operationalize the model. The hypotheses are tested using data from 119 of the Fortune 500 industrial firms, covering the period 1986 to 1989. This exploratory study's results indicate that: (1) environmental dynamism, hostility, and heterogeneity (multiplicity and complexity of environmental components) intensify corporate entrepreneurship; (2) growth-oriented strategies are associated with increased corporate entrepreneurship, whereas a strategy of stability is not conducive to corporate entrepreneurship; (3) the scanning, formal communication, and integration components of formal organizational structure are positively related to corporate entrepreneurship—increased differentiation and extensive controls stifle corporate entrepreneurship; (4) clearly defined organizational values, whether relating to competitors or employees, are positively associated with corporate entrepreneurship; and (5) corporate entrepreneurship activities are associated with company financial performance and reduced systematic risk.     

The Improvisational Entrepreneur: Improvisation Training in Entrepreneurship Education

Entrepreneurs constantly face unexpected and unanticipated situations; those that thrive are ones that are identified by the literature as “improvisational.” Yet extant entrepreneurship research has not distinguished what improvisation is from how to do it. I propose training in the principles developed from the theory of performing improvisation promotes the entrepreneurship mindset through pedagogy. Qualitative studies reveal entrepreneurial self‐efficacy themes related to interpersonal/team considerations for entrepreneurs, and introduce “improvisational alertness” as a critical entrepreneurship consideration. Entrepreneurs can learn to keenly pay attention to interpersonal conditions of the present and the future in order to adapt potential limitations for venture success.     

The community dynamics of entrepreneurship: The birth of the american film industry, 1895–1929

This paper provides insight for practitioners by exploring the collective process of entrepreneurship in the context of the formation of new industries. In contrast to the popular notions of entrepreneurship, with their emphasis on individual traits, we argue that successful entrepreneurship is often not solely the result of solitary individuals acting in isolation. In many respects, entrepreneurs exist as part of larger collectives. First and foremost, there is the population of organizations engaging in activities similar to those of the entrepreneurial firm, which constitute a social system that can affect entrepreneurial success. In addition, there is also a community of populations of organizations characterized by interdependence of outcomes. Individual entrepreneurs may be more successful in the venturing process if they recognize some of the ways in which their success may depend on the actions of entrepreneurs throughout this community. Thus, we urge practitioners and theorists alike to include a community perspective in their approach to entrepreneurship. We also suggest that one way of conceptualizing the community of relevance might be in terms of populations of organizations that constitute the value chain. For example, in the early film industry a simple value chain with three functions—production, distribution, and exhibition—is a convenient heuristic for considering what populations of organizations might be relevant. As we show in our case study of that industry, a community model offers insights into the collective nature of entrepreneurship and the emergence of new industries.Our basic thesis is that the role of entrepreneurship in the creation of new industries can be conceptualized in terms of the dynamics of a community of organizational populations. At least three implications of this view may be important for practitioners. First, the kind of widespread and fundamental economic and social change that has often been linked with entrepreneurship requires a variety of behaviors. While most definitions of entrepreneurship have recognized that entrepreneurship requires the introduction of innovation, they have tended to ignore the importance of behaviors that subsequently support that innovation. To encompass these important behaviors, we believe that a broad definition of entrepreneurial behaviors is justified. To capture this, the framework of entrepreneurial behaviors that we develop includes the variety of behaviors that are important to the success of a collective process of entrepreneurship. We believe that recognition of a variety of different behaviors that are important to the success of the entrepreneurial process can help practicing entrepreneurs to understand more fully the complex dynamics of new industry creation. In terms of our framework, the range of behaviors of potential importance to entrepreneurship includes all of the following: creating a firm that innovates, creating a new business that imitates the practices of others, innovating within an existing business, and imitating by creating change in an existing business. In addition, we recognize that the kinds of innovative change that support entrepreneurship in the context of new industry creation are not narrowly technological; other kinds of product and service changes as well as administrative innovations may also be relevant.Second, entrepreneurship in one part of the community often creates the opportunity for entrepreneurial activity elsewhere in the community. For example, the founding of movie palaces did not begin until feature length films appeared. The challenge for entrepreneurs is to recognize these opportunities and act on them. Third, and related, the long-term success of entrepreneurial behaviors in one population of the community frequently requires that supportive entrepreneurial behaviors occur in other populations in the community. For example, the success of feature length films was hastened by the development of distribution organizations to replace traveling shows and localized markets. Their success was also hastened by the movement away from nickelodeons towards larger, more comfortable exhibition outlets, such as theaters and show palaces. When the interdependence among populations in the community is stated this way, another challenge to entrepreneurs becomes clear: the facilitation and encouragement of supportive behaviors in other populations.We are not the first to propose that the community is important, but we contribute to this idea by showing in a specific context how various types of behaviors interact and ultimately promote entrepreneurship throughout the community. Our contribution for practitioners is twofold. We would urge practitioners to consider the variety of behaviors necessary to create, reinforce, and maintain fundamental and widespread change. Further, we would suggest that practitioners consider how activities in a broad community of organizations can set the stage for entrepreneurship and have a high impact on its ultimate success or failure. Thus, we would suggest that practitioners who seek to innovate should search broadly for opportunities and understand the importance of relations with businesses elsewhere in the community. The success of their entrepreneurial efforts may depend on the occurrence of supportive entrepreneurial changes in those businesses as well. Their ability to do this will be enhanced by a broad understanding of entrepreneurial behaviors and sensitivity to the opportunities that their entrepreneurial behaviors may create for others.     

Comparing Academic Entrepreneurship in Europe – The Case of Sweden and Ireland

One of the greatest challenges facing European economies is the comparatively limited capacity to convert scientific breakthroughs and technological achievements into industrial and commercial successes. As a result, there is growing awareness of the proactive approach being undertaken by academic institutions, with many adopting a direct entrepreneurial role in collaborating with industry. This paper examines the activities of those academics involved with industry within two small European countries, namely Sweden and Ireland. In particular, it discusses and contrasts the extent to which academic entrepreneurship (i.e. all commercialisation activities outside of the normal university duties of basic research and teaching) has developed. It examines the influence of gender, age, previous entrepreneurial experience, work experience and university environment on the entrepreneurship activities of a sample of academics in both countries. The results demonstrate that there is considerable entrepreneurial experience among academics in both countries, and that this translates into a high degree of involvement in "soft" activities such as consultancy and contract research, but not into organizational creation via technology spin-offs.     

The Diana Project: pioneering women studying pioneering women

The 2007 winner of the International Award for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research is the Diana Project team (Candida Brush, Nancy Carter, Elizabeth Gatewood, Patricia Greene and Myra Hart). The Diana Project builds on the vast experience of the team in the field of entrepreneurship in general and women entrepreneurship, business growth and venture capital in particular. The Diana Project has investigated the supply and demand side of growth capital for women entrepreneurs. The research contributes to entrepreneurship theory as well as to practice, filling a void in knowledge on growth-oriented women entrepreneurship. In this article we present and discuss the research contribution of the Diana Project, in the areas of entrepreneurship, women entrepreneurship and venture capital. We specifically discuss the value of researching a specific group of women entrepreneurs, those who want to grow their businesses, that very clearly demonstrates the positive potential of female entrepreneurship. The Diana Project has also moved research on women’s entrepreneurship forward since its framework does not treat women entrepreneurs as “other,” i.e., the project does not presuppose that women’s entrepreneurship is similar to or different from men’s entrepreneurship. It assumes that women’s entrepreneurship is entrepreneurship and studies it from that point of view. Carin Holmquist is professor at Stockholm School of Economics and member of the Prize Committee for The International Award for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research. Sara Carter is professor at University of Strathclyde. Both have written extensively in several of the areas covered by the Diana Project. The prize is awarded by the Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research (FSF) and the Swedish Board of Industrial and Technical Development (NUTEK). An important aim with this prize is to attract broader attention to this research field. A precondition for choosing the winner of the award is that the research for which the award has been granted is a significant contribution to the theory and empirical understanding of entrepreneurship and the importance of entrepreneurship, new firm formation and small businesses in economic development. Besides the honor, the prize consists of SEK 0.5 million (roughly USD 80,000). It has been awarded annually since 1996. More information about the prize and previous winners is available at .     

Rigor and Relevance: On the Development of Entrepreneurship Research in China

This study examines the contributions of Chinese entrepreneurship research to academic knowledge and its practical implications. Specifically, we investigate how Chinese entrepreneurship research meets the standards of rigor and relevance based on a review of 64 papers published in five major scholarly journals in the Chinese mainland. Results show that Chinese entrepreneurship research has paid comparatively little attention to the “rigor” dimension, while focusing more heavily on practical relevance than on academic relevance on the “relevance” dimension. Future directions for China’s entrepreneurship research are also discussed.     

基于复杂适应系统理论的学术创业者双元角色协同过程研究

个体的学者角色和创业者角色协同是成功开展学术创业的必要条件。文章将复杂适应系统的特征对应于学术创业者双元角色协同上，借助“刺激—反应”的分析框架，通过纵向案例的方式，探讨了在特殊的复杂的学术创业环境中个体通过认知与行动的交互不断解决角色冲突进而实现双元角色协同的过程。案例发现：个体在解决双元角色的时间冲突、能力冲突和文化表达冲突过程中完成了被动拼凑、核心聚焦和共生协同的演化过程，对环境的适应经历了简单适应、直接适应和复杂适应的阶段。文章提炼的微观层面双元角色协同模型有助于丰富学术创业理论，并为处于不同阶段的学术创业主体成长、调整自身状态提供启示。     

Defining a forum for entrepreneurship scholars

This study defines a forum for entrepreneurship scholars by updating [MacMillan, I.C., 1993. The emerging forum for entrepreneurship scholars. J. Bus. Venturing 8, 377–381]. A three-stage process is used in which entrepreneurship scholars identify and subjectively rate journals as publication outlets for entrepreneurship research. 25 journals were rated “appropriate” or higher, including both generalist and entrepreneurship specialist journals, both academic and practitioner journals, and journals from multiple academic disciplines. Compared to the ten-year earlier survey, there is a strong increase in the ratings of specialist journals.     

Trends in the market for entrepreneurship faculty, 1989–1998

The last decade has seen a dramatic rise in the number and status of entrepreneurship programs in schools of business and management. The popularity of entrepreneurship courses has increased dramatically among both graduate and undergraduate students. Alumni and external constituencies of schools of business have generally been supportive of the development of entrepreneurship programs, and in fact in many instances it has been the demands of these constituencies that have led to the creation or expansion of entrepreneurship programs within these schools. The growth in entrepreneurship programs has been fostered by an increase in the popularity of entrepreneurship, an increase in the status accorded entrepreneurs, as well as an increase in the recognition by the business press of the importance of entrepreneurship in the larger economy. Despite the increase in popularity within the field, there has also been considerable resistance from within the faculties of many institutions to the expansion of entrepreneurship programs. Faculty outside the field have been, and many remain, very skeptical about the validity of entrepreneurship as an academic field, the quality and rigor of entrepreneurship research and the need to hire academic faculty to teach and research in the field. The last decade has seen the confluence of these opposing forces.This disparity has created the question of whether the external forces supporting entrepreneurship are overcoming the inertia inherent in academic institutions and succeeding in institutionalizing the study of entrepreneurship within schools of business and management. This study hopes to shed some light on which of these forces is winning by addressing the question of whether the field of entrepreneurship is moving toward or has been institutionalized as part of the curriculum and research within schools of business and management. It also examines the institutionalization of the field by analyzing the change in the number and level of entrepreneurship positions, the quality of the recruiting institutions as well as the number, level and training of entrepreneurship candidates during the years 1989–1998. Data was obtained from the Academy of Management Placement Roster and The Chronicle of Higher Education for the years 1989–1998. Previous entrepreneurship education researchers have examined the number of endowed chairs and professorships, conferences, journals, programs and various centers for entrepreneurial education, however sparse research, if any, has been performed on the trends and characteristics of candidates and positions in the field of entrepreneurship.The results of this study are very encouraging. Both the demand for and the supply of entrepreneurship faculty have increased spectacularly during the last nine years. Between 1989/90 and 1997/98 the number of entrepreneurship positions increased 253% while the number of candidates increased by 94%. During this period the number of positions that list entrepreneurship as the primary field has increased ten-fold from 5 to 50 and the number of candidates that list entrepreneurship as their primary field has increased four-fold from 5 to 20. During the same period the number of secondary and tertiary positions have increased 116% and 78%, respectively, and the number of secondary and tertiary candidates have increased by 67% and 53%. The percentage of entrepreneurship positions listing entrepreneurship as the primary field has increased from 19% in 89/90 to 54% in 1997/98. Overall, the growth in the number of primary entrepreneurship positions is very encouraging.In the end, the results of this study are very encouraging. Both the demand and the supply of entrepreneurship faculty have increased spectacularly during the last nine years. The field has clearly made significant progress toward being institutionalized. However, it is still too soon to conclude that the commitment to entrepreneurship by schools of business and management is irreversible. One clear indication of the tenuous status is that, unlike strategy and international business, there has been no mandate from the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business that entrepreneurship be incorporated into the curriculum of all accredited schools. Entrepreneurship remains an elective subject in most schools and therefore depends on student interest. The field has made great strides during the 1990s, but a couple of hurdles remain.     

‘Fear of Missing Out’ (FOMO) marketing appeals: A conceptual model

The ‘Fear of Missing Out’ (‘FOMO’) is a well-known concept in popular culture. Consequently, it has been co-opted and successfully utilised in commercial advertising appeals to initiate sales. However, academic research to date has focussed exclusively on FOMO as an individual trait leading to self-initiated FOMO-driven behaviours. By contrast, the success of FOMO sales appeals relies upon consumers’ responses; therefore, it is necessary to understand these response mechanisms. This is the first known academic research to investigate consumer response mechanisms in relation to externally initiated FOMO appeals. In doing so, this research develops an original taxonomy of FOMO appeals; establishes a thematic map of response elements; identifies theory relevant to individuals’ responses; formulates an operational response model; and proposes a future FOMO research agenda.     

Josh Lerner: recipient of the 2010 Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research

This article describes the academic contributions of the 2010 recipient of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research, Professor Josh Lerner of the Harvard Business School. Lerner’s empirical research on the inter-relationship between venture capital, innovation and entrepreneurship has greatly extended and improved our understanding of one of the major drivers of growth in modern economies. The first part of this article explains Lerner’s contributions as regards the structure and organization of the venture capital industry. Later, his most important publications on entrepreneurship, innovation and intellectual property rights are surveyed. Several aspects of Lerner’s policy-oriented work are then outlined, before the article closes with a brief conclusion.     

Academics’ start-up intentions and knowledge filters: an individual perspective of the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship

Previous studies suggest that entrepreneurial activity tends to be greater in contexts where investment in new knowledge is relatively high (e.g., entrepreneurial universities). However, in this specific knowledge context, only a few academics recognize opportunities and act on them through entrepreneurial activities (e.g., spin-offs). A plausible explanation could be the existence of several filters that limit the total conversion of knowledge into economically useful knowledge. The vehicle to knowledge transfer is entrepreneurship. Therefore, the main actor is the academic entrepreneur, but no empirical study has highlighted the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship at the individual level. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of academics’ start-up intentions and knowledge filters on the knowledge transfer process within entrepreneurial university. Adopting the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship and the planned behavior theory, a proposed model was tested with a sample of 207 academics enrolled in entrepreneurial universities in Spain using structural equation modeling. Our findings could provide insights for policy-makers to design policies that bring further benefits to society and educational organizations as well as significant contributions to the literature.     

Social Entrepreneurship in Nonprofit Organizations: An Empirical Investigation of the Synergy Between Social and Business Objectives

Social entrepreneurship in nonprofit organizations has emerged as an increasingly important domain, both in academic research and in practice. This article attempts to further enhance our understanding of the management of nonprofit organizations by investigating the way they balance social and business objectives. Over 200 senior managers of nonprofit organizations participated in our structured telephone interview. The data revealed that many organizations worried about the potential for reduced or lost funding, especially during economic hard times. Issues of sustainability usually headed their list of concerns. Many of these organizations sought to establish revenue generating business streams to offset expected funding shortfalls. The data suggested that over 70% of the nonprofit organizations we interviewed resided in the social entrepreneurship zone. Our results also showed that maintaining a social objective and managing a viable business can be complementary and mutually beneficial activities.     

Entrepreneurship Education in a Poverty Context: An Empowerment Perspective

Empowerment is an important but understudied phenomenonExperiential Learning in entrepreneurship education. We integrate literatures on empowerment theory and experiential learning to propose a conceptual model of empowerment‐based entrepreneurship education. The concept of entrepreneurial empowerment is introduced as a cognitive state characterized by meaning, competence, self‐determination, and impact toward entrepreneurial activities. The model proposes that empowerment has a mediating role in the relationship between experiential learning approaches in a poverty context and the acquisition of learning outcomes. The model is illustrated using an entrepreneurship and adversity program that supports local low‐income individuals in starting and growing their ventures.     

The evolving domain of entrepreneurship research

Research on entrepreneurship has flourished in recent years and is evolving rapidly. This article explores the history of entrepreneurship research, how the research domain has evolved, and its current status as an academic field. The need to concretize these issues stems partly from a general interest in defining the current research domain and partly from the more specific tasks confronting the prize committee of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research. Entrepreneurship has developed in many sub-fields within several disciplines—primarily economics, management/business administration, sociology, psychology, economic and cultural anthropology, business history, strategy, marketing, finance, and geography—representing a variety of research traditions, perspectives, and methods. We present an analytical framework that organizes our thinking about the domain of entrepreneurship research by specifying elements, levels of analysis, and the process/context. An overview is provided of where the field stands today and how it is positioned relative to the existing disciplines and new research fields upon which it draws. Areas needed for future progress are highlighted, particularly the need for a rigorous dynamic theory of entrepreneurship that relates entrepreneurial activity to economic growth and human welfare. Moreover, applied work based on more careful design as well as on theoretical models yielding more credible and robust estimates seems also highly warranted.     

Comparing the impacts of Internet technology and national culture on online usage and purchase from a four-country perspective

The Internet has successfully generated an ever-expanding cohort of users for all its major concomitant activities, including information gathering, communications and transactions. So far no attempt has been made to validate whether such a success is so deep as to transcend national cultures. Nor any work has been conducted to compare the internationalisation¹ performances between online usage activities. The current study addresses these two research gaps from the perspective of four countries, i.e. Britain, Germany, Japan and Taiwan. Results show that although the technological forces have been quite successful in internationalising overall online usage activities, they succumb to the cultural forces as far as only the transactions activity, or more colloquially online purchase, is concerned. This indicates the relative difficulty in internationalising online purchase vis-à-vis other online usage activities. Further research on locating a series of step functions or kick-off time points regarding the development of online purchase is suggested.     

Who Is the Student Entrepreneur? Understanding the Emergent Adult through the Pedagogy and Andragogy Interplay

Although entrepreneurship education is promoted through an active learning approach, critical concerns regarding how to educate potential entrepreneurs has increased. To remedy this, we pose the question: “Who is the student entrepreneur?” Building on conceptual work from developmental psychology, expertise research, pedagogy, and andragogy, we problematize based on the key characteristics of the emerging adult; a construct originating from developmental psychology. We illustrate an educational process moving from a pedagogical phase into an andragogical phase where the learner becomes in control of the learning process. As a result, we propose a continuum model of entrepreneurship education for emerging adults.     

Building new roads for entrepreneurship research to travel by: on the work of William B. Gartner

This article takes the awarding of William B. Gartner as a winner of the FSF-Nutek Award (in 2005) as a reason to engage more thoroughly with his production. From the perspective of a European School of Entrepreneurship, we focus in particular on the hermeneutic/phenomenological side of Gartner’s research output and seek to operate as inspired readers of this work as we identify its central tendencies (presence of organization theory and literary inspiration). The aim is thus to situate Gartner’s influence on the entrepreneurship research community based on the lead provided by these tendencies and from there to provide a vision of a future of entrepreneurship research. Bengt Johannisson was a member of the Prize Committee for The International Award for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research when the prize was awarded to William B. Gartner. The prize is awarded by the Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research (FSF) and the Swedish Board of Industrial and Technical Development (NUTEK). An important aim with this prize is to attract broader attention to this research field. A precondition for choosing the winner of the award is that his/her research is a significant contribution to the theory and empirical understanding of entrepreneurship and the importance of entrepreneurship, new firm formation and small businesses in economic development. Besides the honor, the prize consists of SEK 0.5 million. It has been awarded annually since 1996. More information about the prize and previous winners is available at .