Confirmatory search as a useful heuristic? testing the veracity of entrepreneurial conjectures

Researchers have focused attention on the problematic effects of confirmatory search applied to opportunity evaluations, arguing that a confirmatory strategy almost always leads to poor decisions. The implicit assumption of this research is that confirmatory search cannot conclusively falsify an entrepreneurial conjecture. In this article we focus on circumstances where the search for confirming information (positive test strategy) is a superior strategy for testing the veracity of a conjecture.     

国际金融危机背景下的中国对外直接投资

在国际金融危机的背景下,中国对外直接投资不但没有放缓,反而迅速增长。本文对现阶段中国对外直接投资的特点、机遇和存在的问题进行分析,并从政府和企业两个层面提出促进中国对外直接投资进一步健康发展的相应战略。     

创业者是天生的吗

创业导向和创业警觉性在不确定的创业情境下发挥着重要作用，能够影响创业活动和创业行为，但现有研究对于创业者是先天具备还是后天习得上述品质和能力却知之甚少。基于自我效能理论，构建整合分析框架，并将创业导向和创业警觉性作为前置因素探讨其作用过程与作用结果，通过对分布于7个省市的202位研究对象进行层级回归，结果显示：创业导向和创业警觉性分别能够推动创业机会识别与企业绩效提升，创业自我效能感在其中起完全或部分中介作用。     

Entrepreneurship as a solution to poverty in developed economies

While entrepreneurship in developing economies at the base of the pyramid is receiving growing attention, scholars have devoted less effort to exploring entrepreneurship as a solution to poverty in advanced economies. Yet, poverty rates have not meaningfully changed in most developed economies in 50 years, and the income gap between rich and poor continues to widen. In this article, we examine entrepreneurship as a source of empowerment for the economically disadvantaged. We explore the nature of poverty and its implications for various aspects of entrepreneurship, identify problematic aspects of the typical low-income startup, and present the SPODER conceptual framework for fostering entrepreneurial development among the poor: (S) supportive infrastructure, (P) preparation of the entrepreneur; (O) expanded opportunity horizons; (D) finding sources of differentiation; (E) a well-designed economic model; and (R) leveraging community resources. We conclude by drawing from the framework implications for those involved in breaking the cycle of poverty.     

‘Sustainable City’ requires ‘recognition’—The example of environmental education under pressure from the compact city

The compact city is advocated as a key strategy to establish sustainable cities. Compact city policy implies urban densification, sometimes with elimination of green space. Citizen’s valuable arguments in urban densification developments in green space are easily ignored, as is explored in a case study in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Place making decisions are more often legitimized with sustainability claims, and arguments from less convinced residents are denied or remain unexamined. About green space these also concern environmental qualities significant for long term sustainability of cities. This is illustrated by presenting empirical evidence about environmental education, an argument emerging from the explorative study. Environmental education should be seen as an important element in longterm sustainability, but the educational relevance of proximity of green space to schools had remained unknown. Empirical evidence of the negative effect of larger distances to green space on environmental education is presented in a geographical survey. The results suggest that close proximity to urban green space also reinforces fieldwork activities further away. As the validity of this argument was denied in the case study, this illustrates the need to establish frameworks that foster recognition and learning in open processes in urban densification.     

Cue-recognition effects in the assessment of movie trailers

In the past, the role of recognition in inferential choice has often been investigated within the recognition heuristic (RH) that focuses on the recognition of options. In the present study I investigate instead whether the recognition of a cue influences the assessment of movie trailers. This extension of the RH to cues provides important and more comprehensive insights into recognition in everyday decision-making. One hundred and eighty-eight participants were randomly assigned to one paired comparison and had to decide which of two movie trailers (Epic and The Croods) was about to become more successful. All pairwise comparisons consisted of the same two unknown animated movie trailers. They differed merely from a fade-in of a short unknown or known movie title (e.g., “From the makers of Ice Age”). The central objective of this study was to test whether or not the participants judged movie trailers to be more successful and likeable when associated with the famous movie title and thus decide on the basis of the recognition of this cue. In fact, it was shown that people in this context often revert to this recognition cue. However, the prerequisite for this effect was that the faded-in title should be appropriate for the trailer. Furthermore the preference of animated films was identified as a key factor. Volunteers who liked animated films less, often decided due to the recognized cue. Moreover it is shown that participants increasingly use the recognized cue to decide if they specify a preference and high success for this faded-in movie.     

拥抱欧盟——土耳其的动机与机遇

加入欧盟一直是土耳其的梦想,但至今仍被欧盟拒绝。自2008年全球经济危机以来,特别是近期大中东地区"革命"不断、当下利比亚战事又陷入僵局,土耳其对于欧盟的重要性与日俱增,土耳其入盟出现了新的机遇,应予以关注。     

我国商业银行入股保险公司的机遇与挑战

银行入股保险公司会给保险公司带来持续的资本支持,有助于推动银保发展模式的转变和提升保险公司形象,与此同时也给银行带来了金融产品的创新以及新的业务增长点。在强银行、弱保险的格局下,双方在博弈中如何克服困难让融合之路走得更远,这是最为现实的挑战。     

The concept of freedom and its relation to economic development--a critical appreciation of the work of Amartya Sen

Following a brief review of the conception of freedom as employedin economic discourse, this paper focuses on the evolution ofthe concept of freedom in the work of Amartya Sen. It tracesthe development of Sen's thought from the capability analysisof the late 1970s to his more recent separation of freedom intoits opportunity and process aspects. While broadly appreciativeof Sen's development of the concept of positive freedom, thepaper identifies some difficulties arising from his definitionof capability as a set of options as well as from his separationof the opportunity and process aspects of freedom. Aspects ofthe relationship between Sen's conception of freedom and thatof Marx are discussed briefly in the context of Sen's recentdiscussion of the market as a source of freedom.     

Hermeneutic phenomenology and international entrepreneurship research

It is not uncommon for business researchers to avoid discussion associated with the philosophy of science. In this paper, it is argued that this avoidance weakens the quality and insightfulness of entrepreneurship and international entrepreneurship research, which by definition should be concerned with human action and activity. This paper explores the implications of alternative research philosophies and argues that a dichotomy between objective and subjective meaning is manifestly inadequate for the study of opportunity recognition and exploitation and by implication for many other problems of international entrepreneurship research. In response, hermeneutic phenomenology is proposed as an underutilized, misunderstood, yet highly relevant research paradigm.