博士(アメリカ研究) / Doctor of Philosophy in American Studies / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University

Business angels constitute an increasingly important source of capital for entrepreneurs in their ventures’ early stages. Previous research and reports, however, state that female entrepreneurs are heavily underfunded. Through a qualitative approach, this study aims to explore how gender plays a role in female business angels' decision to invest, using homosocial theory as a lens when analyzing the empirics gained from the nine conducted interviews with female business angels. Analyzing the empirics of this study, the authors found that on a broader level, female business angels display a tendency towards conditional homosociality, but minimal heterosocial or homosocial tendencies, in their investment decision-making process. The implications of this study emphasize the importance of gaining a greater understanding of how gender plays a role in business angels' decision to invest, to potentially better understand the gap in funding between female and male entrepreneurs. / Affärsänglar utgör en alltmer viktig källa till kapital för entreprenörer vars företag befinner sig i tidiga skeden. Tidigare forskning och rapporter, å andra sidan, konstaterar att kvinnliga entreprenörer är kraftigt underfinansierade. Med ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt ämnar denna uppsats utforska hur kön spelar in i kvinnliga affärsänglars beslut att investera, detta genom att utgå från ett perspektiv av homosocial teori vid analysering av resultaten från de nio genomförda intervjuerna med kvinnliga affärsänglar. Genom att analysera denna studies empiri har författarna funnit att kvinnliga affärsänglar, på en mer generell nivå, uppvisar tendenser förenade med “conditional homosocialitet”. Däremot uppvisas minimala nivåer av homo- och heterosociala tendenser i affärsänglarnas beslutsfattande process. Studiens implikationer belyser vikten av att uppnå en större förståelse för hur kön spelar in i affärsänglars beslut att investera, och på så vis få större insikter i finansieringsgapet mellan manliga och kvinnliga entreprenörer.

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Thesis (MComm (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: For any country, including South Africa, new business development is critical for the sustained growth and development of the economy. In this study the impact of the transfer of knowledge and skills by the investor to the investee and the impact on the success of private equity, venture capital and angel investments, new business development in South Africa and internationally is researched. A literature study is firstly conducted to determine, from literature, the importance of the transfer of knowledge and skills by the investor to the investee of a new venture. The results from recent research conducted in the United States of America and Europe is also included to determine current global development tendencies. The research highlighted factors, other than merely having a good business idea, which determines the success of a new venture. The global research clearly demonstrates that the active involvement of the angel investors, venture capitalists and private equity investors in new ventures, through the transfer of knowledge and skills, determines the success of the investment in new business development. The survey that was done in the South African venture capital environment seems to support this outcome although the South African market sector is in the early stages of development and focuses mainly on private equity and not so much new business development. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Nuwe besigheidsontwikkeling is krities vir enige land, ingeslote Suid Afrika, om deurlopende en volhoubare groei en ontwikkeling van die land se ekonomie te verseker. Hierdie studie het die impak van die oordrag van kennis en vaardighede op die sukses van privatekapitaal- , waagkapitaal- (alternatiewelik – nuwebesigheidsbeleggings) en engelbeleggings in nuwebesigheidsbeleggings vir Suid Afrika en Internationaal, nagevors. ‘n Literatuurstudie om die belangrikeid van die oordrag van kennis en vaardighede, van die belegger na die nuwe besighede, in die gemelde belggingsprosesse vir nuwebesigheidsbeleggings te bepaal, is eerstens gedoen. Die uitkoms van navorsings wat onlangs in die Verenigde State van Amerika en Europa gedoen is, is ook ingesluit om die huidige internationale ontwikkelingstendense rakende nuwebesigheidsbeleggings te bepaal. Die navorsing het die klem geplaas op ander belangrike faktore anders as slegs ’n goeie besigheidsidee, wat die sukses van ‘n nuwe besigheid bepaal. Die internasionale navorsing het duidelik aangedui dat die aktiewe betrokkenheid van beleggers, engel-, waagkapitaal en privatebeleggers, deur die oordrag van kennis en vaardigheid aan die nuwe besigheid, die sukses van die nuwe besigheid en dus die belegging bepaal. Die opname wat in Suid Afrika gedoen is, ondersteun hierdie internasionale bevinding alhoewel die Suid Afrikaanse nuwebesigheidsbeleggings sektor in die vroeë stadium van ontwikkeling is en daar hoofsaaklik gekonsentreer word op privatekapitaalbeleggings, “private equity investments”, terwyl die werklike nuwebesigheidsbeleggings nie soveel aandag geniet nie.

This bachelor thesis evaluates how high-engagement investors contribute to the development and growth of for-profit social enterprises by providing both funding and non-financial advisory services focused on organisational capacity-building. Case studies on three social enterprises describe the structure of funding deals, what considerations affected these due to the high social character of the ventures, and inquire into the relationship between social enterprise and their investors to evaluate how the investors provide value for their investees beyond capital. The investor types involved include commercial venture capital funds, angel investors, accelerator programs and venture philanthropy funds; a sort of social impact investment fund which combines the high- engagement mentoring of venture capital funds with lower expectations on financial returns in exchange for higher demands on social impact. The findings indicate that high-engagement investors in general provide a wide range of services to the social enterprises studied, where strategic advisory services and networks introductions are identified as key enablers for development. Aligning philosophies on the combination of business and social impact is also identified as critical for a constructive relationship between investor and investee. The perceived value of venture philanthropy funding diverges between the cases; while filling an empty space in the social enterprise capital market, some findings question their capabilities and investment model. Apart from the initial research questions on how high-engagement investors add value to social enterprises, the study raises further questions on social enterprise funding in general and the issues that obstructs these organisations from introducing innovation and growth to underdeveloped markets.

This project examines the presence and significance of ecofeminism and pedagogy within contemporary Young Adult literatures, particularly girls’ ecofantasy literatures. Specifically, I examine the role and representations of the female body in nature and any real or perceived connections between them. To accomplish this, I bring the theories of several feminist, ecofeminist, and environmental studies scholars together with my primary texts, Green Angel and Green Witch by Alice Hoffman, to examine the depiction of the female body in nature through interconnectedness and reciprocity between human and non-human nature, green transformations, and the archetype of the witch. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

Loss is a fundamental part of the human experience, from the loss of security and innocence that comes with the necessary separation of child from parent to the ultimate loss of life. Along the way, there are the losses of jobs, of incomes, of homes; the losses of friendships, of family members, of lovers; the losses of direction, of control, of hope. As cognitive and caring beings, humans struggle to cope with these losses, to greater and lesser degrees of success. This is the theme at the heart of this thesis. Fire Ants is composed of ten short stories, fictive works, which differ in specific subject matter, yet deal unilaterally with issues of loss. Like the venomous creatures that threaten to eat B. D. Packard alive in the title story, life eats away at a number of characters in the collection who are deficient. The narrators in "Aftermath" and "Hues," for example, suffer psychological -- if not physical -- deaths. But not all of the characters lack coping mechanisms, unhealthy as they may sometimes be. As the stories unfold, some characters begin to gain small degrees of perspective and understanding, to learn that while life is full of loss, it is not always entirely bleak. As demonstrated in "Cross Creek," good exists, though it is not always where one might expect it. And life can be full despite loss, as depicted in "Stitches."

<p>he focus of this research is to establish whether there is a difference in the way the genders perceive the visualization of mathematics, with specific reference to set theory. The influence of the computing experience of students on their perceptions was also investigated. Interfaces were created for the teaching of set theory for learners in the first class of secondary school. Since the mother tongue of most the pupils is Dari the interface was made available in both Dari and English. The interfaces were used to gather the data for the researc</p>

Bakgrund Entreprenörer som startar nya företag kommer troligtvis att behöva antingen kapital, eller kompetens i hur ett företag drivs, men mest sannolikt är att de behöver både och. Affärs-änglar är individer som investerar sina privata pengar mestadels i företag som befinner sig i en utvecklingsfas eller en tidig tillväxtfas. Affärsänglar kan också bidra med icke-finansiella resurser till företag såsom kompetens, färdigheter, kunskap och erfarenhet. Problem/Syfte Vad kan entreprenörer som är i behov av både kapital och kompetens göra för att hitta den ”rätta” affärsängeln, hur kan entreprenören attrahera denna, samt vilka faktorer är avgö-rande för att en arbetsrelation med en affärsängel ska bli lyckad? Syftet med denna uppsats är att utifrån entreprenören som investeringsobjekt så väl som kapitalsökare, beskriva olika faktorer som entreprenörer kan beakta för att öka sina möjligheter till att inleda och genomföra ett lyckat samarbete med en affärsängel. Slutsats Vi fann ett antal faktorer som kan påverka utgången av en arbetsrelation med en affärsäng-el. Dessa är den personliga relationen, att entreprenörens behov stämmer överens med vad affärsängeln kan erbjuda, överensstämmande avsikter, och ett väl genomarbetat aktieägar-avtal. / Background Entrepreneurs who start a new venture will probably need either capital, or competence in how to run a business, but most likely they need them both. Business angels are individuals who invest their private money in companies in a start-up or early growth phase. Business angels can also contribute non-financial resources to companies such as competence, skills, knowledge and experience. Problem/Purpose What can entrepreneurs who are in need of both capital and competence do to find the “right” business angel, how can they attract these investors, and which factors are decisive for a successful working relationship with a business angel? The purpose of this thesis is, with a starting point in the entrepreneur as an investment project and capital seeker, to de-scribe a number of factors entrepreneurs can consider in order to increase their possibilities in initiating and carrying out a successful working relationship with a business angel. Conclusion The authors found a number of factors affecting the outcome of a working relationship with a business angel. These are the personal relationship, a match between the entrepre-neur’s needs and the business angel’s competence, an agreed agenda, and a thoroughly worked out shareholder agreement.

A través de esta investigaci6n perseguimos comprender el sentido que la imagen del ángel, tanto en su vertiente celestial como en la infernal, posee en los escritos de los poetas del 27. Para el desarrollo de este cometido era necesario el establecimiento de unos principios te6ricos a prop6sito de la figura del ángel, que son los que pretenden ser clarificados en el primer capítulo de nuestro estudio: diferenciaci6n entre el modelo judeocristiano del ángel y su formulaci6n textual; determinaci6n de la verdadera naturaleza literaria de los espíritus divinos; concreci6n del espacio de análisis. Dado que la pareja tradición/vanguardia es uno de los descriptores característicos del grupo poético del 27, las potencias angélicas son estudiadas no sólo atendiendo a la producción de otros autores contemporáneos de los escritores del 27 sino también dirigiendo la mirada hacia el pasado. De este modo, realizamos una pormenorizada revisión de las plasmaciones de ángeles y diablos en nuestra historia literaria desde la Edad Media hasta nuestros días, acudiendo a algunas manifestaciones angélicas sobresalientes de otros países. Trazado este viaje, nos internamos en la codificaci6n de la figura del ángel en los diez autores más reconocidos de la generación del 27, sin obviar las aportaciones de otras personalidades que conforman el denominado entorno del 27. Nos ocupamos de las materializaciones del ángel en todas las variedades de género practicadas por estos autores (poesía, teatro, narrativa, ensayo) a lo largo de toda su creación artística con el fin de obtener un conocimiento pleno y riguroso. A través de un estudio individualizado del ángel en cada uno de los poetas del 27, comprobaremos cómo éstos, aunando tradición, vanguardia y mundos personales, elaboraron un pro grama angélico literario en el que tenían cabida todas las variedades ex presivas de las entidades ultraterrenas. Sopesando todas las vías de desarrollo de la figura del ángel, lo cierto es que todos ellos encontraron en los espíritus alados un medio para apresar, respetando la esencia del ángel, su particular ultrarrealidad o trascendencia a la que aspirar, ya estuviera este nivel en ellos mismos o en la realidad circundante. Cernuda con su modelo masculino; Salinas y Guillén en su búsqueda de la verdad tras la apariencia; Prados en su viaje a lo inaprehensible, o Alberti en la realización dramatizada de su conflicto. El ángel, por tanto, seguía siendo emblema de lo invisible, o de lo que sólo cada poeta era capaz de captar. / Through this investigation we try to understand the sense that the image of the angel, as much in its celestial side as in the infernal, has in poets of the 27 ' s writings. For development of this assignment the estab lishment of theoretical principles with regard to the figure of the angel was necessary. Those principles are clarfied in the first chapter of our study: differentation between the judeochristian model of the angel and its textual formulation; determination of the true literary nature of the divine spirits; concretion of the analysis space. Due to the pair tradition/vanguard is one of the characteristic feature of the poetic group of 27, the angelic powers are studied not only considering other contemporary authors' works of the writers of 27 but also directing the glance towards the past. This way, we make a detailed revision of the image of the angels and devils in our literary history from Medieval Age to the present time, going to some excellent angelic manifestations of other countries. After this trip, we advance into the codification of the figure of the angel in the most recognized ten authors of the generation of 27, without forgetting the contributions of other personalities that conform the denominated surroundings of 27. We study the materializa tions of the angel in all varieties of genre practiced by these authors (poetry, narrative, theater, essay) throughout all its artistic creation with the purpose of obtaining a total and rigourous knowledge. Through an individualized analysis of the angel in each one of the poets of 27 we will verify how these combining tradition, vanguard, and personal worlds, elaborated a literary angelical program in wich all the expressive varieties of the ultra earth beings were contained. Examining the literary development of the angel in generation of 27, we can say that these writers found in the winged spirits an instrument to catch, respecting the essence of the angel, their particular ultrareality or trascendente to wich to aspire, as much if this level was in they themselves as if it was in surrounding reality. Cernuda and its masculine model; Salinas and Guillén' s search of the truth behind the appearance; Prados and bis strip to the inapren sible, or Alberti with the dramatized accomplishment of his conflict. The angel, therefore, continued being emblem of the invisible, or of wich only each poet was able to catch.