Cities,Creativities and Urban Creative Economies: Re-descriptions and Make+Shifts from Sub-Saharan Africa

The aim of this symposium is to examine the situation of the creative economy in cities—specifically cities of sub-Saharan Africa. In this introduction we set out the case for the need to ‘re-describe’ the (much derided) phenomenon of the creative city. This task requires clarification of what is understood in academe and policy communities by the term ‘creative economy’, the pronounced growth of this sector, particularly in the global South, and its particular urban character. Secondly, in the face of conceptual and policy confusion we argue for the actually existing, and growing, importance of the urban creative economy. Thirdly, with this ground clearing achieved, we seek to frame, and focus on, the emergence of new research on the urban creative economy. Finally, we use the evidence from the symposium contributions to argue for a reformulation of the creative economy within African sub-Saharan urbanization.     

Individual entrepreneurial orientation,value congruence,and individual outcomes: Does the institutional entrepreneurial environment matter?

Although entrepreneurial orientation (EO) at the firm-level is often conceptualized as a direct antecedent of performance, the findings of previous studies lending support to this association are inconsistent. Consequently, drawing on the attraction/selection/attrition and institutional theories and employing the moderated mediation analysis approach, this study conceptualizes the individual perception of a firm's EO or individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO). It examines the direct and indirect effects of IEO on individual outcomes measured in terms of performance expectation, job involvement, and organizational commitment. More specifically, it examines whether these effects are mediated by value congruence and moderated by the institutional entrepreneurial environment to understand these inconsistent findings better. Using a sample of 398 environmentally concerned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Korea, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), and the PROCESS macro were employed to analyzed the research model. This study finds that value congruence mediates the association between IEO and performance expectation, job involvement, and organizational commitment. The moderated mediation model analysis also suggests that the mediating role of value congruence increases as the level of the institutional entrepreneurial environment increases. These findings offer useful theoretical and managerial implications of the IEO on individual outcomes.     

Promoting smart cities in developing countries: Policy insights from Vietnam

Smart city initiatives have been researched primarily in the developed country context. In developing countries, however, emerging technologies are enabling progress on urban functionality, productivity, and livability. A deeper understanding of facilitative policy conditions unique to developing countries would be useful to both theory and practice. This study presents empirically grounded insights about the policy implications of smart city development in developing countries, based on surveys of experts from the public and private sectors in 10 Vietnam cities. The study makes three contributions. First, it provides new evidence that pursuing smart city development (SCD) is not a mere alternative but a crucial strategic imperative. While facing persistent problems, Vietnam's cities exhibit significant and rapidly improving readiness for SCD. Second, the study provides new insights into related policy issues and challenges, including the positive link between e-government development and control of corruption, the risk of bias toward operational management over institutional reform, and the lack of a clear development strategy. Finally, the study proposes a model for guiding smart city initiatives in developing countries.     

International springboard as an entrepreneurial act

International springboard is an entrepreneurial act that requires international entrepreneurial orientation (IEO). An important aspect of international springboard is the establishment of a deeply localized flagship foreign subsidiary to help pursue diverse international strategic goals. We model parent-level IEO as a mediator in the relationships between diversity of international strategic goals and flagship subsidiary localization strategies (customer responsiveness, market scope, and local cooperativeness). The results from a sample of 208 Chinese MNEs demonstrate that the three dimensions of IEO (innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk taking) play an important but differentiated mediation role. The study illustrates the connection between parent-level entrepreneurial behavior and subsidiary-level strategic actions through which MNEs capture cross-national entrepreneurial opportunities.     

Dynamics of social networks of urban informal entrepreneurs in an African economy

This paper carries out an analysis of the formation and transformation of social relations and networks of access to resources in the professional trajectory of micro-entrepreneurs operating in an urban informal African economy. The analysis of social networks is rooted in Granovetter’s structural embeddedness framework combined with the dynamic and discursive conception of social relations of Harisson White (embeddedness and decoupling). Life stories of micro and small entrepreneurs in Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina-Faso) are analyzed by mixing qualitative and quantitative methods. Results suggest that the construction of social networks and interpersonal relations of access to resources is a long-term process. A co-construction of social networks and economic activity is observed; it challenges the argument that social capital is a substitute for a lack of personal resources. The growth of small and micro activities is linked to the professionalization and stabilization of a social network, and even to the institutionalization of access to resources.     

Can entrepreneurial orientation improve sustainable development through leveraging internal lean practices?

This study aims to examine the mediating role of internal lean practices (ILPs) on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and triple bottom line performance (i.e. environmental, social, and operational performance). We examine Chile, which represents a vibrant economy and one of the world's most productive entrepreneurship ecosystems but with a history of socio‐economic inequalities and strong profit‐driven pressures to overextract natural resources. The study is based on a questionnaire related to manufacturing sent to 112 companies in Chile. The proposed relationships are analysed through structural equation modelling. The results indicate that ILPs fully mediate the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on environmental performance and social performance and partially mediates the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on operational performance. Our study extends the literature by explaining that entrepreneurial orientation builds and strengthens ILPs for creating triple bottom line competitive advantage.     

A Missing Citizen? Issue Based Citizenship in City-Regional Planning

City regions are significant sites of economic development, policymaking, and everyday living. Yet in many countries they are weakly institutionalized and therefore lack established democratic practices. This article is based on a study exploring citizen participation in city-regional planning in Finland, where traditional participatory means have largely failed to invite and involve citizens. The analysis approaches city regions relationally, as evolving processes with a changing spatial shape and scope. Through the notion of lived citizenship, including the dimensions of status, practices and acts, the article reveals how the dominant ideas of citizenship in city-regional planning hide from view elements that are significant for citizen participation. Whereas people's rights to participation can largely be fulfilled on a territorial basis in municipalities and states through legal membership in political communities, in the context of weakly institutionalized city-regional planning such status-based forms of participation are typically not available. This vagueness has created an image of a missing city-regional citizenry, which the article sets out to challenge and rework through the notion of issue-based participation as lived citizenship.     

Motivational focus of international entrepreneurs in Spain: From early explorers to straggler exploiters

We analyze the motivation of entrepreneurs who lead business internationalization. We study how motivation affects the entry timing into overseas markets as well as the selection of markets. We use the regulatory focus theory that recognizes two orientations: promotion versus prevention. Then, we define a typology of entrepreneurs: early explorer, straggler exploiter, early exploiter, and straggler explorer. We review interviews published in a Spanish journal centred on internationalization and perform a content analysis that allows us to identify the motivation of entrepreneurs. Results indicate that promotion focus is the most common and that experiential knowledge emerges as a key factor in the shift in motivation governing the selection of overseas markets. Copyright © 2017 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Entrepreneurial versus cooperative social capital: The impact on operational performance

Research has extensively focused on how firms can become more competitive, by discovering new knowledge domains while exploiting current ones. Prior research has shown the positive impact of social capital on performance; however, there have been no empirical studies that distinguished between the architectures of social capital and how they impact the operational performance dimensions. Building upon the knowledge-based theory, we propose a model to examine the effects of the two architectures of social capital (entrepreneurial and cooperative) on individual dimensions of operational performance (quality, delivery, flexibility and cost). The hypotheses are tested using structural equation modelling and data collected from 182 companies in Ireland. The results show that the cooperative social capital archetype supports the operational performance dimensions, while the entrepreneurial social capital archetype only impacts the cost dimension. The findings extend the current understanding about the complex relationships among the architectures of social capital and provide guidance for managers on how to leverage their investments in social capital to enhance specific operational performance dimensions.     

金融知识促进了“以房创业”吗——基于CHFS数据的研究

运用2015年中国家庭金融调查（CHFS）数据，重点研究金融知识对利用自有房产进行生产经营的家庭创业活动的影响。研究发现：金融知识会显著促进家庭利用自有房产进行创业。通货膨胀知识和投资风险认知知识会显著促进家庭的自有房产创业参与，而利率知识却对其有负向影响，但这一影响不显著。金融知识对农村地区、低学历水平和低财富水平家庭的促进作用更大。东部地区利用自有房产创业的概率显著低于中部地区，西部地区也低于中部但系数不显著。进一步机制检验发现，金融知识会促进家庭财富积累而缓解流动性约束对创业的抑制。金融知识水平提高可以增强家庭的风险偏好，从而降低传统风险规避意识对创业的抑制作用。在中小企业普遍面临“融资难”困境的现状下，金融知识所带来的人力资本的提升会大大提高家庭从正规金融机构获得贷款的可能性，从而降低信贷约束对企业家才能的实现。