Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are an underutilised sector to disseminating sustainability within communities. Entrepreneurs are action-oriented individuals who enjoy challenges and act upon environmental feedback, making them ideal change agents. However, there is a lack of tools specifically targeted towards SMEs to help them act strategically towards sustainability. In order to support entrepreneurs and motivate them into becoming catalysts for change towards sustainability the research team identified the need to provide them with a customized tool. The tool will be focused towards entrepreneurs interested in starting up new businesses with a core strategy of sustainable development. If the entrepreneur is able to apply sustainability at the beginning of their business venture, it reduces the need for later corrections. The research examines what is needed in a tool to support entrepreneurs and how to encourage them through the conception of adopting sustainable strategies. / <p>Renee Simard #1066 Amphion St., Victoria, BC V8S 4G3 Rachelle McElroy 637 Cowper St. Victoria, BC V9A 2E8 Itzel Orozco 1138 E 22nd Ave Eugene OR 97403 United States</p>

Bakgrund: Inkubatorer är organisationer som syftar till att hjälpa nystartade företag att växa och överleva sina tidiga år. Det finns tydligt beskrivet hur inkubatorernas stödprocesserär utformade, men beskrivningar om hur och varför de utformats på detta sätt lyser med sin frånvaro. Ett fåtal forskare har antagit eller beskrivit kopplingar mellan processutformning och organisationers målsättning, men ingen tydlig koppling verkar ha identifierats. Genom att sammankoppla målsättning och process syftar denna studie till att illustrera hur processer utformas, både inom inkubatorer och hos andra organisationstyper. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att beskriva hur målsättningen hos icke-vinstdrivande svenska inkubatorer påverkar utformningen av inkubatorernas inkubationsprocesser. Metod: Uppsatsen utgår ifrån ett konstruktionistiskt perspektiv med en abduktiv ansats, som i sin tur inneburit ett iterativt arbetssätt. Studien har en kvalitativ forskningsdesign, och undersöker 11 svenska inkubatorer i en fenomenbaserad små-N-studie. Uppsatsens respondenter valdes ut genom ett i huvudsak målstyrt urval, och data från respondenterna har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. En tematisk analys har utförts baserat på den empiriska data för att finna kopplingar till uppsatsens frågeställningar. Slutsats: Studien drar tydliga kopplingar mellan målsättning hos svenska icke vinstdrivande inkubatorer och deras inkubationsprocesser. Dessa kopplingar kan dras både mellan övergripande mål och specifika mål inom organisationerna. Urvalet till en inkubator påverkas mycket av inkubatorns olika mål. Vissa delar av handledningsprocessen, främst nätverksaktiviteter och rådgivning, påverkas också tydligt av inkubatorns mål. Denna studie har dessutom påvisat att de specifika målen som formulerats hos inkubatorerna ofta baseras på de övergripande målen. / Background: Business incubators are organizations with a purpose to help new ventures grow and survive their early years. There are descriptions of the general incubation process, but clear motivations of their process design are sorely missing. Some researchers suggest links between the goals of organizations and their process design, but a clear connection seems to be missing. By connecting goals and processes, this study aims to illustrate how processes are formed within business incubators as well as other types of organizations. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe how the goals of Swedish non-profit incubators influence the design of business incubators’ incubation processes. Methodology: The study is based on a constructionist perspective with an abductive approach, which in turn has led to an iterative study process. It is based on a qualitative research design and investigates 11 respondents through a small-N-study. Respondents were chosen based on a mostly goal-driven selection process, and empirical data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with each respondent. A thematic analysis was conducted on this data to answer the research questions posed. Conclusion: The study draws clear connections between goals of Swedish non-profit business incubators and their incubation processes. These connections can be made from both organizational goals and specific goals within the organizations. Incubators' selection processes are largely affected by the different goals of the organization. This is also true for networking and guidance activities within the incubator. In addition, the study has shown that specific goals within the incubators are largely influenced by their organizational goals.

The thesis is focused on project financing in the non-profit sphere. The paper deals with the financing of the project by spending irreversibly financial contribution from European Union funds. The sponsor of this ride is the town of Piešťany. The goal of this project is the realization of building a business incubator.

In recent years there has been an increased focus on preservation of our environment and natural resources. As a result, in a notably natural resource consuming world, sustainable development has evolved in societies for the conservation of the environment. Even though the term sustainability has become more frequently discussed, the subject remains complex. The aim of the study is to explore how high-profile business incubators in Sweden and the startups they support relate to sustainability, and to understand the conditions for pushing more progressive sustainability agendas, in a country that boasts about its sustainability ambitions. Fourteen in-depth, semi-structured interviews were held with both incubator business developers, startup founders, an expert within the innovation system and a professional investor. This qualitative study analyses different perceptions regarding sustainability and the incubators and startups role within the innovation system in a country that boasts about its sustainability ambitions. The results indicate that there is a demand for stricter institutional pressures, with increased support for entrepreneurs. It also turns out that incubators have room for improvement when it comes to motivational inspiration and behavioural changes for their tenants. However, they show to be receptive and attentive towards a systematic approach in order to enhance sustainability work. It is also shown that entrepreneurs', compared to the incubators, appears to have taken a greater distance from understanding the sustainability topic. As many as 56 percent of the entrepreneurs claimed that a forced method could be beneficial but might require more time than it is worth. The remaining 44 percent saw it as purely advantageous. Future studies are encouraged to conduct an investigation including a greater number of participants as an attempt to generalise these findings, and also try to identify if gender has a significant role regarding the matter.

Small businesses are an important part of innovation, competitiveness and economic development. Support systems such as business incubators have emerged with the purpose of helping these startups develop. The startups which are in focus in this thesis operate in different industries, in technology-based industries where commercialization and growth is in focus, to creative industries which focus on developing individual talent and creativity. The characteristics and core of the businesses differ, giving them different business logics by which the startups operate. The business logic leads the startups to face different challenges, which the thesis considers to regard liabilities of smallness, liabilities of newness and liabilities of uniqueness as well as organizing.  These variations give the startups differences in how they operate and hence, also a need for different types of support given by business incubators. Business incubator support is in the thesis categorized into three components of Networks, Infrastructure and Business Services, as suggested in a triad model of Carvalho &amp; Galina (2015). As varying business logics makes a difference on what type of value startups produce, it is important to study the relationship between these logics and the support provided by an incubator. It is important in order to understand how incubators can adapt their support more effectively to help entrepreneurs overcome their challenges.  The thesis purpose is to broaden the understanding of how business logics and challenges of startups adhere to the industry they are in, and how the support given by business incubators can help the businesses to overcome challenges associated with these business logics. The research design was qualitative, and data was collected by performing six semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs within creative and technology-based industries, enrolled at business incubators with these specializations.  The study results in a proposed model, giving extension to the original triad model by Carvalho &amp; Galina (2015). In the proposed model, new dimensions of the support system as well as the nature of the startups’ business logics, and challenges are addressed. The proposed model and the study’s results may act as a guiding framework for future research in the field, aiming to gain a better understanding of the reality of startups with different business logics.

The University of this interest and its library division is involved in a major transformation process, aiming to enhance the learning experience for students by modernizing learning spaces, enhancing the personalized learning, and extending support for faculty and student scholarship. One part of the transformation consist of rearranging the library space and its services and introducing a new media based faculty consisting media related career paths. During the investigation and analysis of the library, we have looked into a wide range of data including history of the library, strategic plan of the university academic technology blueprint, academic plan, the media program, reports on workshops and meeting held by the authority of library, etc. provided by the university. In order to encapsulate more information and insight, we have conducted a couple of meetings with the head of the library and the head of library IT. By considering the stakeholders’ interests, we examine the status quo and illustrate the situation in form of a Rich Picture. By means of the Soft Systems Methodology we try to identify potential relationships between the new media faculty and the library services and eventually finalized our examination by recommending additional value enhancing services. After rigorous analyzing all of the data, specifically strategic mission of the university and library, and the media program, we recommend to establish a Business Incubator, which will enhance core capabilities of a student including creativity , managerial, and analytical ability as well as provide essential guidance, supports, and tools to students to implement their idea. The suggested Business Incubator will act as a bridge between academic learning and the real world applications. Finally, we recommend specific services including market research and assistance, access to networking and funding information, center for research and development, and Entrepreneurship and innovating education forum, which will enhance digital capabilities of students/participants and fulfill some of the core strategic objectives of the library and the university as well. / <p>This specific study is about a report in the Informatics course 5IK501 during the school year of 2016/2017.</p>

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:44:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Erika Campanharo de Moraes.pdf: 1175575 bytes, checksum: ea51b47d2110101e9f502425979fde10 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-12 / Micro and small businesses as well as individual micro-entrepreneurs are important for job creation and economic dynamism. Studies show that these businesses, when created and/or developed in business incubators, survive longer in the market than those that are created and developed alone. In this context, the company incubators stand out as important organizations for the whole society. There are several modes of operation, and one of them includes the development of businesses called inclusive, social and/or with social impact. The aim of this study was to analyze the performance of a social incubator that develops inclusive business through its activities, results and social impacts, by means of the perception of the incubator coordinator and entrepreneurs that have been incubated. To achieve this objective, a qualitative empirical research was made with a social incubator called Escola Empreendedora da Fundação Jari. From the case study of this work, it was found that social incubators have similar practices of technology and traditional base companies´ incubators, but also adopt other practices to better meet the needs of your target audience. Among other practices, can be highlighted: the phase of pre-incubation, corresponding to a training and preparation prior to entry into the incubator, and income generation at the beginning stage of incubation, since the income is needed to keep participants in the project by providing basic needs. The Social Incubator of Escola Empreendedora de Corte e Costura da Fundação Jari has shown itself to be an important organization for the integration of people in disadvantaged conditions in the production chain. The first incubation cycle enabled four women to undertake their own businesses, and one of them is no longer dependent on a government welfare program. In addition, the incubator could also be recognized for facilitating the entry of people into the labor market, during the training phase of pre-incubation and even during incubation, in which the professionals had the opportunity to gain experience by means of a corporate internship. Therefore, the incubator developed business and attracted experienced workers to the labor market. Therefore, this study is relevant as contributing to the debate about the role of social incubators / Os micros e pequenos negócios, bem como os microempreendedores individuais, são importantes para a geração de emprego e o dinamismo da economia. Estudos comprovam que esses negócios, quando criados e/ou desenvolvidos em incubadoras de empresas, sobrevivem mais no mercado em relação àqueles que foram criados e desenvolvidos sozinhos. Nesse contexto, as incubadoras de empresa se destacam como uma importante organização para toda a sociedade. Há diversas modalidades de atuação, e uma delas inclui o desenvolvimento de negócios chamados de inclusivos, sociais e/ou de impacto social. Este trabalho teve como objetivo geral analisar a atuação de uma incubadora social de negócio inclusivo considerando suas atividades, resultados e impactos sociais conforme são percebidos pelo coordenador da incubadora e pelos empreendedores que passaram pelo processo de incubação. Para atingir esse objetivo, foi realizada uma pesquisa empírica qualitativa com a incubadora social da Escola Empreendedora da Fundação Jari. A partir do estudo de caso deste trabalho, foi possível identificar que incubadoras sociais possuem práticas semelhantes às incubadoras de empresas de base tecnológica e tradicional, porém adotam outras para melhor atingir as necessidades de seu público-alvo. Dentre as outras práticas, pode-se destacar: a fase da pré-incubação, que corresponde a um treinamento e preparo prévio para o ingresso na incubadora, e a geração de renda na fase da incubação, uma vez que a renda se faz necessária para manter os participantes no projeto, pois é utilizada para necessidades básicas. A incubadora social da Escola Empreendedora de Corte e Costura se mostrou como uma importante organização para a inserção de pessoas em condições menos favorecidas na cadeia produtiva. O primeiro ciclo de incubação tornou possível que quatro mulheres empreendessem seus próprios negócios, e uma delas deixou de ser dependente de um programa assistencialista do governo. Além disso, a incubadora também pôde ser reconhecida por facilitar a entrada de pessoas no mercado de trabalho, na fase de capacitação da pré-incubação e até mesmo durante a incubação, na qual as profissionais tiveram a oportunidade de adquirir experiência nos moldes de um estágio corporativo. Portanto, a incubadora desenvolveu empresas e também mão de obra experiente para trabalho assalariado. Assim, este estudo mostra-se relevante por contribuir com o debate a respeito da atuação das incubadoras sociais

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:23:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tania Ishikawa Mazon.pdf: 1618843 bytes, checksum: 86eff0883936b6eccaf1343b2447eb20 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-18 / In the 1990s of the twentieth century the term innovation became to be used frequently and attract increasing attention of policymakers and the productive sector in Brazil. Having as background the State's promotion of scientific development, research and technological expertise recommended by the Federal Constitution of 1988 and the São Paulo State Constitution of 1989 and the urgent need for the country to innovate more and more, this study was developed with the purpose of analyzing the administrative function of support and, in particular, the construction of specialized and cooperative environments of innovation in the light of Federal Law N° 10973/2004 and the Complementary State Law N° 1049/2008. It was also reviewed the role of Law in developing strategic alliances and cooperative projects of innovation, as well as in the building of research networks, business incubators, technology parks, partnership agreements and minority stake of the Government in the capital of the privately held company, by highlighting controversies arising from the implementation of those laws, as well as parameters to guide public promotional activities. At the end, the findings obtained during the work were listed / Na década de 90 do século XX o termo inovação passou a ser utilizado com frequência e a atrair a crescente atenção de formuladores de políticas públicas e do setor produtivo no Brasil. Tendo como pano de fundo o estímulo do Estado ao desenvolvimento científico, à pesquisa e à capacitação tecnológicas preconizado pelas Constituições Federal de 1988 e Paulista de 1989 e a necessidade premente de o País inovar cada vez mais, o presente estudo foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de analisar a função administrativa de fomento e, especialmente, a construção de ambientes especializados e cooperativos de inovação, à luz da Lei Federal nº 10.973/2004 e da Lei Complementar Paulista nº 1.049/2008. Foi também examinado o papel do Direito na constituição de alianças estratégicas e de projetos cooperativos de inovação, assim como na formação de redes de pesquisa, incubadoras, parques tecnológicos, acordos de parceria e na participação minoritária do Poder Público no capital de empresa privada, apontando polêmicas surgidas na aplicação das leis citadas, assim como parâmetros para orientar a atuação promocional pública. Ao final, foram arroladas as conclusões obtidas ao longo do trabalho

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maurici Dias Gomesprot.pdf: 1098318 bytes, checksum: c6e030078204fe787741815a40cce9a3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-10 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The present study analyzes resources and capabilities achieved by resident enterprises in Technological Incubator of Guarulhos, which have created value for products and services offered to face its competitors based on Resource-Based View - RBV. This subject was considered important because of the limited availability of studies dealing with the development of resources and capabilities by micro and small companies resident in business incubators. The competitive advantage of constructs, value creation, resources and strategic capabilities were reviewed in this study. The research method adopted was the qualitative exploratory and descriptive using of a standardized script containing open questions. The content analysis technique was used for the treatment of the data. Nine entrepreneur-managers of resident enterprises in Technological Incubator of Guarulhos were interviewed, whose business ranging from the production of durable goods to services in the areas of biotechnology, electromechanical assemblies, cosmetics, plastic injection, metallurgy, consulting and training, information technology and communication. As a result, it might be said that the resources of technical expertise and the personification of the service, in addition to capacity building and improvement products for specific demands and customization with product innovation, were considered strategic for the generation of value to products and services offered by the incubated companies that made up the study sample. / Esta dissertação teve por objetivo caracterizar os recursos e capacidades existentes e adquiridos por empresas residentes na Incubadora Tecnológica de Guarulhos, que tenham propiciado a criação de valor aos produtos e serviços ofertados para enfrentarem os seus concorrentes, sob a perspectiva da Visão Baseada em Recursos VBR. Esse tema foi considerado relevante devido a pouca disponibilidade de estudos que tratam do desenvolvimento de recursos e capacidades pelas micro e pequenas empresas residentes em incubadoras de empresas. Para tanto, foram revisados os construtos de vantagem competitiva, criação de valor, recursos e capacidades estratégicos. O método de pesquisa adotado foi o qualitativo de caráter exploratório e descritivo, com o emprego de um roteiro padronizado contendo perguntas abertas. Utilizou-se a técnica de análise de conteúdo para o tratamento dos dados. Foram entrevistados os empresários-gestores de nove empresas residentes na Incubadora Tecnológica de Guarulhos, com negócios variando entre a produção de bens duráveis a serviços, nas áreas de biotecnologia, eletrometalmecânica, cosméticos, injeção plástica, metalurgia, consultoria e treinamento, tecnologia da informação e comunicação. Como resultado, pôde-se afirmar que os recursos do conhecimento técnico especializado e da personificação do serviço, além das capacidades de desenvolvimento e aprimoramento de produtos para demandas específicas e a personalização com inovação do produto, foram considerados estratégicos para a geração de valor aos produtos e serviços ofertados pelas empresas incubadas que integraram a amostra deste estudo.

Russia's startups fail at high rates. The purpose of this multiple case study was to understand the market-entry strategies used by accelerated startup managers to succeed in business longer than the first 3 years. The target population for this study was 3 startup owners who completed an acceleration program from the Internet Initiatives Development Fund and continued to operate businesses that generated revenue. The participants in the study were located in 3 different cities in Russia: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Tomsk. The conceptual framework for the study was Raheem and Akhuemonkhan's theory of enterprise development and von Bertalanffy's general system theory. Data collection involved semistructured interviews, review and analysis of company documents, reflective journal entries, and direct observation of the management operations and processes. Data were analyzed using Yin's 5-step data analysis process. A thematic analysis of the data revealed 4 themes: evolution of an entrepreneur, sales strategy, acceleration impact, and recommendations for accelerators and incubators. The results of the study may contribute to startup survivability as well as exchanging successful experience among new entrepreneurs. For those people who plan to start a business, this study may contribute understanding the skills for initiating a startup.