Internet commerce is nowadays a well known phenomenon. There is awareness that a lot of newly created companies operate their business through the Internet. You can see a tendency where many young people try to establish an Internet business with the hope of success and expansion on today’s fierce market rivalry. To achieve success, companies have to consider factors like business concept, logistic knowledge, future vision, resources and contacts when initializing their business. Having this in mind, we can clarify the purpose with this paper: “To analyze in what way On-line shopping companies that sell consumer electronics, cell phones and music/entertainment products, have expanded” The paper is based on telephone interviews with three On-line shopping companies. The questions asked are the same for each company and are of dielectric character. The outcome of the interviews led the writers to a couple of conclusions: A company's expansion is influenced of the world it´s living in. The customer’s needs and requirements stand in focus. The company whom best satisfies the customer’s needs distinguishes itself among the competitors. The conductor's role and person also influence the ability to expand, a careful respective risk inclined person runs companies in various way. When on-line shopping companies extend, they develop its distribution for customer benefit. This is done in cooperation with the Swedish postal service to lower company carriage-charges and to employ further staff members. When companies grow they become more attractive to suppliers, forcing them to filter and choose correct suppliers according to company needs. A growing company demands thorough development of its delivery service. The actions taken involve cutting the time of delivery, assure correct quality and price of products and having a back-up plan in case problems should arise when the company i.e. reconstruct their storehouse or when purchasing another company. These factors converge in one basic outlook: To get hold of further more pleased customers.

This paper examines the interest rate sensitivity of Business Development Companies (BDCs). The results of this study are intended to lend insight to investors about the viability and timing of investments in BDCs during the business cycle. Similar to previous research that has examined interest rate sensitivity of financial companies, this paper employs a two-factor market model to see whether BDCs are responsive to changes in short, medium, and long-term interest rates. My particular interest in BDCs is motivated by their unique asset-liability structure and requirements, as well as their high dividend payouts. Monthly data is drawn from the period ranging from January 2004 through December 2012. Using a sample of 30 BDCs, I estimate the sensitivity of BDC stock returns to stock market and interest rate changes in general. I then proceed to test whether size and Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) licensure status affect these sensitivities.

The term business as an economical activity brings along many issues related to / managerial activities, competition, marketing, finance, risk, etc. which all of them include a high level of decision making that need to be supported by trust able knowledge. Due to the unique specifications of the construction industry and the high sensitivity regarding the decisions made accompanied with the business, knowledge and knowledge management have been considered essential for the industry. As a fundamental step of a well structured knowledge management system, classification of the knowledge plays an important role in organizing and representing a domain. Among the many aspects of decision making, decisions regarding the business development of a company play a crucial role in the survival and growth of an available business. However up to now, the literature has a shortage on a comprehensive work which attempts to classify the knowledge in this specific domain of the construction industry. In an effort to cover this gap in the literature, this study focuses on developing a knowledge taxonomy for business development management in a construction company based on semi-structured interviews with Turkish construction professionals. The taxonomy designed by referring to expert opinion is comprised of five major concepts: Business environment, Clients, Partners, Related parties, and own Company. The presented taxonomy is tested on real cases and believed to be used for representing, storing, sharing, retrieving and in general, managing knowledge related to business development management of a construction organizations for decision supporting purposes. More over in order to demonstrate how the presented taxonomy can be used in a company a knowledge management tool has been designed.

Aim: The first customer is important because that it’s in many cases the only objective evidence that your product or service works in real life and that someone is willing to pay for it. The first customer is your first reference.   The aim of this study is to: Investigate how 7 start-up companies in the ICT-business developed reference. Establishing recommendations on what to focus on when creating reference customers. Present complementary recommendations for start-up companies regarding important factors, besides those investigated against the theory, which have been discovered to be important when building a successful company.   Method: The method in this study is a combination of a case study and cross-sectional study with qualitative data. The questions in the interviews were predefined and complemented with open ended questions according to the answers on the pre-defined questions. The data collected, the answers, were written down, summarized and analyzed regarding whether they did or did not support the theoretical statements investigated. A theoretical statement could be supported or not supported, partially or strongly   Result & Conclusions: The access to a professional network and good social skills are most important when establishing the first reference. Business skills can be developed during the process but the recommendation is to acquire or secure them as soon as possible. How to achieve the desired states has also been concluded.   Suggestions for future research: The largest limitation is the sample size of the data. Less than 10 companies were interviewed and some of the suggested statements can’t be significantly either confirmed or deferred. The study was also limited to one round of interviews. A study, with two rounds of interviews and a larger set of companies interviewed is suggested for further research. An extended study could also cover companies that didn’t survive the IT crash of 2000 and investigate if the suggested parameters and strategies were present and deployed or implemented.       Contribution of the thesis: The investigation has verified the importance of networks, customer type (brand name) and social capital when establishing a reference. It has also showed that the skills needed to develop a business doesn’t need to be present when company is established since it can be acquired and secured during the development of the first reference. It has also contributed with a set of recommendation for entrepreneurs in general not only regarding the establishment of reference customers where the most important recommendation is to build and maintain the personal and professional networks.

The aim of the study was to show whether or not there exists, and if so, to understand, a common creativity, vision and imagination of the members of Småland’s Entrepreneurial Academy’s organisation. The method used for this research is the fictive narrative collage , which consists of the collection of fictive stories. The author has also made her own additions to the method. A composer composes songs to the narratives, two artists illustrate the narratives. The research is carried out on the total population within Småland’s Entrepreneurial Academy which consists of 10 permanent members of the organisation. The theory focuses on different areas, such as creativity, vision and imagination as well as on the entrepreneur and the organisation. The latter two to provide the research with a foundation for the whole. Analyses were carried out and interpreted by the author, coupled to the theory, but also with a starting point in the interpretations that the composer and artists made in their contributions. Theatrical metaphors are used to draw parallels and to make further clarifications in the interpretation and the texts. The results show that vision, imagination and creativity do exist and common characteristics have been able to be identified, such as the creativity of the entrepreneur and his or her desire to go his or her own way, to not enter into conflict with his or her own role. In the vision, there are common trains of thought, where a balance in life/existence is the most central. If imagination is allowed completely free flight, the research group will allow anarchy to reign.

BenQ was founded in1984,the business income was NTD 300 million during the initial period of years and her core business was merely to produce computer components. Her sales income has achieved to NTD 174.7 billion till 2004 after merging her subsidiary companies. Over the past 20 years, the employees increased to more than 13,000 as a global enterprise distributing more than 30 countries. In addition, the sales income has increased 582 times than she was founded. Therefore, the way of BenQ success was a model for the enterprise growth. In order to research the model and the experiences that the enterprise grows, this research uses BenQ as case study thoroughly studies in her nearly more than 20 years growth processes and how she used each strategy activity to achieve the enterprise growth goal. According to BenQ¡¦s success of new business development, this research constructs set of universalized new business development model, the flow, the process, and product life cycle backward vertical integration model. It was discovered that the corporate venture capital played an important role and function to provide the enterprises growth strategy when enterprise is growing.

<p>The aim of the study was to show whether or not there exists, and if so, to understand, a common creativity, vision and imagination of the members of Småland’s Entrepreneurial Academy’s organisation.</p><p>The method used for this research is the fictive narrative collage , which consists of the collection of fictive stories. The author has also made her own additions to the method. A composer composes songs to the narratives, two artists illustrate the narratives. The research is carried out on the total population within Småland’s Entrepreneurial Academy which consists of 10 permanent members of the organisation.</p><p>The theory focuses on different areas, such as creativity, vision and imagination as well as on the entrepreneur and the organisation. The latter two to provide the research with a foundation for the whole.</p><p>Analyses were carried out and interpreted by the author, coupled to the theory, but also with a starting point in the interpretations that the composer and artists made in their contributions. Theatrical metaphors are used to draw parallels and to make further clarifications in the interpretation and the texts.</p><p>The results show that vision, imagination and creativity do exist and common characteristics have been able to be identified, such as the creativity of the entrepreneur and his or her desire to go his or her own way, to not enter into conflict with his or her own role. In the vision, there are common trains of thought, where a balance in life/existence is the most central. If imagination is allowed completely free flight, the research group will allow anarchy to reign.</p>

This research inquiry asked, "How can the District of Mission involve leaders in private industry in creating strategies to develop the local workforce and economy?" An action research approach was used to engage local employers and employment service providers in an inquiry in the District of Mission. This study drew upon literature on entrepreneurial leadership, job creation, social capital, and knowledge transfer. Two qualitative methods, in-depth interviews and a conversation cafe&amp;#769;, were used to uncover the essential factors and conditions that facilitate entrepreneurial leadership and workforce development on a regional basis. These findings were triangulated against the experiences of exemplar entrepreneurs. The findings revealed that effective leaders cultivate a culture of high performance and that systems integration and personal relationships are key to entrepreneurial leadership and workforce development. The recommendations enable people from diverse backgrounds to identify shared concerns and common interests to support community economic development.

Šio magistrinio darbo tikslas – analizuojant literatūros šaltinius bei naudojant empirinius tyrimo metodus išanalizuoti ir įvertinti mobiliųjų aplikacijų ir žaidimų išmaniesiems įrenginiams plėtros galimybes Lietuvos rinkoje. Literatūros šaltinių analizė atskleidė, jog mobilusis verslas gali būti apibūdinamas kaip mobiliųjų informacinių technologijų ir telekomunikacijų panaudojimas siekiant išlikti, gerinti ir plėtoti egzistuojančius verslo procesus ir ryšius arba vystyti naujus verslo segmentus. Programėlių rinkoje vyksta sparti plėtra ir augimas. Vyksta arši kova dėl išmaniųjų telefonų rinkos dalies tarp technologinių kompanijų. Palyginus su pasaulinėmis tendencijomis, Lietuva dar yra pačioje pradžioje, turi labai ribotą lietuviškų programėlių skaičių. Lietuvoje yra pakankamai IT specialistų, tik nedidelė jų dalis specializuojasi mokomųjų žaidimų ir stimuliatorių kūrime. Buvo atliktas struktūrizuotas interviu apklausus šešis žinomų programinės įrangos gamintojų IT specialistus. Magistrinio darbo tyrimo pagrindą sudarė kiekybinis tyrimas, naudojant anketinę apklausą Internetu. Anketinio tyrimo metu buvo apklausta 113 respondentų iš Lietuvos. Šio tyrimo tikslas buvo apklausti gyventojus, išanalizuoti Lietuvos mobiliųjų aplikacijų ir žaidimų išmaniesiems telefonams vartotojų poreikius ir požiūrius į Lietuvoje sukurtų produktų plėtros galimybes Lietuvos ir pasaulio mobiliųjų aplikacijų rinkose. Tyrimo metu gauti rezultatai parodė, kokiais išmaniaisiais mobiliais įrenginiais ir... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The master goal – the analysis of literary sources and the use of empirical research methods to analyze and evaluate mobile applications and games for smart devices development opportunities in the Lithuanian market. Literary analysis revealed that the mobile business can be described as a mobile information and communication technologies usage in order to maintain, improve and develop the existing business processes and relationships or develop new business segments. Gadget market is undergoing rapid expansion and growth. Fierce battle for smartphone market share among technology companies. Compared with global trends, Lithuania is still at the very beginning, a very limited number of Lithuanian applets. Lithuania is enough IT professionals, only a small part of the specialized educational games and pacemaker development. Structured interview was conducted interviews with six well-known software vendors IT professionals. The master's thesis research was based on a quantitative study using a questionnaire survey on the Internet. Questionnaire survey questioned 113 respondents from Lithuania. This study was designed to examine the population, to analyze the Lithuanian mobile apps and games for smartphones users' needs and attitudes in Lithuania created by the development of products for the Lithuanian and world markets for mobile applications. The study results showed what smart mobile devices and operating systems which is mainly used for respondents what kind of games... [to full text]

In this thesis major challenges of creating business models at incumbents within mature industries are identified along with a mitigation plan. Pressure is upon incumbent organizations in order to keep up with the latest rapid technological advancements, the launching of startups that almost cover every field of business and the continuous change in customers’ tastes and needs. That along with various factors either forced organizations to continually reevaluate their current business models or miss out on great opportunities. How some incumbents have dealt and are dealing with business model innovation challenges over the past few years is demonstrated through several cases of incumbents. The sources surveyed include recent scientific articles, books, firsthand accounts with executives in the area of business models, innovation and business development, online sources and contemporary business publications. In order to overcome those challenges, we propose a framework which is derived mainly from the sources mentioned above. In order to overcome such challenges, thesis propose a framework that can be used to successfully engender new business models and make a transition from current to new business model. By successful business model innovation, firms can increase the extent of their offerings, meet yet unmet market demands and untapped customer segments. Additionally, organizations can create new value propositions and gain highly sustainable competitive position through business model innovation which is not easy to imitate or copy by the competition. Our findings attest to the fact that business models are highly situational however there are general steps for incumbent organizations that would lead to a successful business model innovation approach. First an organization must have a clear strategy. Establishing separate innovation centers for firms do enhance and foster the mindset of innovation as they take innovation outside the parent organization’s logic. Other approaches include open innovation, partnerships and ensuring that resources are constantly allocated to create disruptive innovations internally and is led by the right personalities. Solving customer needs should be the core of any business and finally there are no best practices in business model innovation. The significance of our findings gives insights on how to overcome some challenges in practice for incumbents to create suitable business models and contributes to theory since there were some empirical findings that weren’t pronounced in literature.