This paper investigates how social networks act as catalysts for innovation. It borrows a model for understanding how interaction between heterogeneous social networks catalyzes innovation. Using this model, it then examines historical and contemporary catalysts of innovation and invention within cities. Industry diversity, a measure representing the existence of multiple overlapping domains, is hypothesized to be positively correlated with the number of patents filed within a city per year. Using this analysis of both Renaissance Florence and contemporary metropolitan areas, the paper hopes to demonstrate social influences on innovation.

I analyze the effects of gender diversity on video game production teams. I hypothesize teams with greater gender diversity produce more games with uncommon characteristics than less diverse teams, and the games these teams develop generate higher revenue and unit sales compared to games developed by less diverse teams. I find teams with more women disproportionately develop games that are non-violent and have playable female leads. I examine whether there is an optimal ratio of women to hire for each game genre in order to maximize revenue by analyzing the relationship between the percentage of women on a team in each genre and total revenue. While I do see evidence of firms over- or under-hiring women in some genres before 2001, it appears for the most part firms have optimized their hiring practices in regards to gender diversity from 2001 onward.

This paper uses the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data of approximately 200,000 surveys conducted on industry experts and general population to examine factors that have a significant impact on high growth Total Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA), with a focus on developed countries with GDP per capita of USD 20,000 or above. The results suggest that expert opinion has a significant positive correlation with high growth TEA in developed countries, while only the public sentiment has a meaningful relationship with high growth TEA in developing countries. Among the specific categories of the survey, access to funding and government regulations and support had the largest impact.

In the United States, the number of female entrepreneurs who receive venture capital funding is significantly lower than the number of male entrepreneurs who receive venture capital funding. This thesis explores some of the economic, sociological, and psychological principles behind why this gender disparity in venture capital might exist. This thesis then surveys the current efforts in place to lessen the disparity, and lastly prescribes future ways in which female entrepreneurs can gain more access to capital for their businesses.

This paper explores the factors related to demand for craft beer and whether there is a specific stereotype of craft beer drinkers that aligns with this demand. Using regression analysis on data from all 50 states, this paper concludes that there is a significant correlation between the number of organic farms, colleges, and 55-64 year olds and the number of craft breweries in a state, suggesting that there is evidence that craft beer drinkers tend to be eco-friendly. The paper then goes on to briefly discuss certain production, distribution, and expansion strategies.

This thesis aims to investigate determinants of fear of failure in entrepreneurial activity that could inhibit starting a business. The study uses cross-sectional, pooled OLS, and panel regressions. The dependent variable is fear of failure regarding entrepreneurship, measured with the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey question of whether fear of failure would prevent the responder from starting a firm. The unit of analysis is at country level. I categorize determinants into demographic, property rights, and procedural variables. A population of higher working age ratio (measured as the population aged 15-64 divided by the population aged 65 and over) correlates with a decreasing fear of failure. Additionally, stronger property rights appear to decrease fear of failure. I do not find a statistically significant relationship between fear of failure and procedural variables in my datasets. A binary variable for whether the country is in Asia appears to show a positive association with fear of failure, increasing it by ten percentage points. Since decreasing fear of failure is desirable to promote greater entrepreneurial activity, a better understanding of the determinants of fear of failure is essential to inform public policies to spur entrepreneurial growth. The findings from this study, while not conclusive, identify the importance of further research based on larger datasets and variables that are more robust.

Many of our students enrolled in our Master of Science in Technology program have expressed an interest in learning about entrepreneurship and the development and management of a technology driven company. Students interested in entrepreneurship can pursue a 12 credit concentration that includes classes in developing a cohesive marketing and technology strategy, comparing and contrasting technology strategies for companies within the same market niche, developing an entrepreneurial business plan and coursework in either small business management or entrepreneurial finance. One critical component of this concentration is the utilization of the Marketplace™ Venture Capital simulation game to provide students with real world management experience in running a technology driven company. Teams of students playing roles as CEO, Marketing Manager, Manufacturing Manager, Financial Manager and R and D Manager develop the technology and marketing strategies for their companies as they compete against each other in a global environment. After four quarters of operation, students are required to prepare and deliver a 15 minute presentation to venture capitalists detailing their marketing and technology strategies, performance to date and expectations in the market for the remaining two quarters in the game simulation. They are competing against the other teams for the venture capitalist’s money and must not only have a good presentation but also demonstrate conceptual understanding of what the financial and market data means. The roles of the venture capitalists are played by retired professionals in the community that have run businesses with revenues exceeding $50 M/year, have started new technology based ventures or have managed researchers in a commercial environment. We instruct the venture capitalists to play the role as tough managers who require data and not fluff before they part with their precious venture capital financing. VC and Technology business managers must negotiate on the purchase price for shares of their company with lesser performing companies giving up a greater share of their company in the negotiation. Students utilize techniques presented in the first two classes in their curriculum (Investigations in Technology and Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation) to develop their marketing and technology strategies. The students appreciate the fact that they are able to take risks and make mistakes in a simulation environment where financial disasters are made with fake money. After utilizing this simulation program for three years, we have found that non- traditional students who have been working in an engineering field typically perform better than the traditional graduate students who are entering their graduate program immediately after receiving their bachelor’s degree. Our experience is that all engineering technology students (regardless of when they enter the program) are weak in their comfort and understanding of financial data and that this is a weakness that we need to correct in both the undergraduate and graduate programs.

Social entrepreneurs utilize the traits of commercial entrepreneurs; organizational abilities, opportunity identification, combining resources in novel ways, willingness to accept and manage risk and explosive growth or returns, to create enterprises that return high social value. As educators, we see opportunities where entrepreneurial skills can be applied to education, not-for-profit organizations, government offices and programs and philanthropic concerns and create service learning opportunities for students beyond the boundaries of the university. Many of us involved in higher education are frustrated with students who do not attend class, turn in assignments late or exhibit a lack of effort in classes where they pay tuition and receive a grade. It is a challenge, therefore, to gain the involvement of students in social entrepreneurship efforts where the reward (grade, pay or recognition) is not immediate or minimal and the trade-off (time management for their schedule) may be more fun or financially rewarding. This paper discusses the evolution for the process of enlisting student involvement in two distinct social entrepreneurship programs at our university. The first program involves linking university skill sets in the arts, digital media, technology and project management to the planning, implementation and evaluation of a regional arts and music festival held in the city where our university operates. Students involved in this social entrepreneurial venture work with community volunteers, city government officials and local business owners for a period of nine to ten months. In the first two years of sponsoring this program the strategy has evolved from enlisting the help of a student technology club (Edge Club, Digital Media) to working with a small volunteer student team (3 to 4 students). In each case, the organization or student team that worked on the project received no academic credit for the work involved beyond enhancement of their resume. Initial enthusiasm was high but tended to decline as the time horizon for finishing the project extended beyond the current semester and other activities or demands competed for the students’ participation. The second program also utilizes a student organization (Students In Free Enterprise, SIFE) to work on social entrepreneurship projects. In SIFE we have found that the students prefer projects that entail an afternoon of preparation for a short presentation, or service within a 3-4 day period. In that this group is involved in a “competition” with SIFE teams from other institutions at the end of the year, it is important that they seek projects that will differentiate themselves. The short-term projects that they prefer do little to accomplish this differentiation. The projects that truly differentiate are those that require a high degree of preparation for an event that culminates at the end of the semester, or even the following year. To that end, all students of this select team are required to create a long-term project that they will spearhead throughout the year. This leads to an escalation of commitment due to their “ownership” of that project. They are also required to assist another team member on their long-term project. Their efforts on these projects tend to be greater in that they realize that the other members will be assisting them on their project and they want to receive a conscientious effort from their teammates. This synergistic performance enhances both the number and quality of the projects. Using this method, we typically create 5 to 6 viable projects each year. Most teams that we compete with tend to have one major project per year. Using this system our university team has completed an average of 10 projects per year for presentation, of which 2 to 3 have been major projects.

Those teaching entrepreneurship to engineering and technology students are faced with the challenge of converting theory into learning opportunities that provide real-world-practical experience. Although the literature stresses the need for experiential learning through group and field projects and case studies, the potential of capitalizing on technology-based business incubators as living laboratories has not been fully utilized. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a conceptual framework for closing this gap. This framework is based upon our experience working with graduate student teams on projects with the Oak Ridge National Laboratories Center for Entrepreneurial Growth and East Tennessee State University’s (ETSU’s) Innovation Laboratory. Both are high-technology business incubators striving to commercialize technology developed in university or government laboratories. High-technology business incubators present an excellent experiential learning opportunity for engineering and technology students faced with the challenge of translating theory to practice. Our experience, gained through personal observation and via a benchmarking study conducted in 2002, indicates that incubators routinely utilize MBA students as at-large business counselors for the fledgling technology based businesses. In addition, businesses founded by university professors tend to attract recently matriculated technology graduate students, many of which served as advisees of the founding professor, as new hires in these startup ventures. However, the use of technology business incubators as training ground for engineering and technology students seeking entrepreneurial business opportunities has not been fully exploited. New technology business ventures generally have strong research experience and intellectual property but little marketing and management experience. These businesses, many of which are cutting-edge technology, present the entrepreneurial student with “real world vision” in seeing hurdles these new technology ventures must face and overcome. We have found that diverse student teams comprised of graduate students majoring in technology, business, digital media and medicine offer unique solutions to problems and insight into opportunities for technology businesses. This paper presents a practical step-by-step conceptual framework for using technology-based business incubators as living laboratories for students studying entrepreneurial leadership. Lessons learned are underscored to suggest mitigation practices to avoid potential problems such as patenting issues, disclosure of confidential information, and liability.

Teaching students entrepreneurial skills and the utility of cross-disciplinary teams is difficult if only classroom exercises are employed. In this program, university students worked together with commercial artists and business-persons residing in our declining downtown region to assist in the organization, planning and management of an established regional arts festival and to launch a new feature of the festival based on digital animation. Through experiential learning, students gained an appreciation for “real-life” budgets, deadlines, responsibilities and an appreciation of working on cross-disciplinary teams while the community observed first-hand the benefits of students trained in digital media, entrepreneurship and project management.