Since the enactment of the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980, US universities have been given a tacit mandate to manage their intellectual assets in a commercializable way. However, university technology transfer offices have struggled to facilitate innovators and promote economic development because of asymmetric information and processes. After an analysis of premier university technology transfer offices (TTO), an improved methodology, which increases productivity of technology transfer, has been developed. The proposed methodology addresses many of the low level issues facing the commercialization and licensing process. Embedding TTO members with research institutes or colleges, assisting in funding procurement and marketing of research to external firms using innovative media are methods that can minimize technology transfer inefficiency. It is the conclusion of this thesis that improved technology transfer helps promote the overall mission of a university, which is diffusing knowledge for the public benefit.

New Zealand is rapidly becoming a strongly multicultural society with nearly one in four of its citizens born overseas (Statistics New Zealand, 2006). Immigrants enter New Zealand under many different classifications, such as skilled migrants, entrepreneurs, investors, and refugees. Finding employment and a means of survival in their new society is an undeniable challenge for most, if not all, of these immigrants and people from refugee backgrounds. Some of them find employment in established Kiwi organisations while others establish their own businesses and become entrepreneurs. A review of the literature revealed that there has been considerable research on entrepreneurial behaviours of immigrants and refugees in general, but little is known about the experiences of entrepreneurs from refugee backgrounds in New Zealand, specifically Afghan entrepreneurs and how their experiences differ from their counterparts who came to New Zealand from other countries. This qualitative research project studies Afghans (N=23) from Christchurch who established their own businesses and the sense they have made of their experiences, both as refugees and as business owners. It also briefly compares the major findings with those of their refugee counterparts from other countries (N=6) to see if there are any major differences between the two groups’ start-up experiences in New Zealand. Participants were selected from those in the Afghan community in Christchurch who are from a refugee background, using a snowballing technique. The comparison group consisted of six refugees from Zimbabwe, Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Sri Lanka. The findings of this study have been categorised into two parts. The first part discusses the initial experiences of the participants in New Zealand society, how they settled into New Zealand, what strategies they used to integrate into their new society, how they financed their lives in New Zealand, and eventually how they became economically independent. The second part of the findings discusses the motivators behind the participants’ business start-ups, the types of businesses that they established and how these businesses assisted them as a gateway to other business ventures or activities. This section further investigates the challenges the refugees faced during their business start-up stage and the strategies they adopted to address these challenges. The data indicated that, while the Afghan refugees faced many challenges in establishing their own businesses, three were of particular importance to them. These were (1) financial challenges (2) licensing requirements and (3) English language ability for obtaining business licenses. These were different from the comparison group because of the different industries the two groups of business owners chose to start. This research presents a very important finding. When participants’ experiences were examined to see how they account for personal and business success it was clear it is the social fabric of a collectivist and religious way of life and the associated sense of obligation to support each other that are the most significant factors shaping Afghan refugees’ business start-up behaviour. These factors led them to guide and mentor each other towards economic security and a lifestyle that fitted well with their family and religious obligations and self-identity. In addition to showing how Christchurch Afghan refugees’ business start-ups were used as a means to meet their social objectives, this research and the model that emerged from it offer unique insights into three key drivers: economic security, lifestyle–enterprise fit, and self-identity. These factors, together with age and family circumstances, shaped the decisions associated with starting businesses in New Zealand to determine the pathway chosen. The findings of this research are important as New Zealand is opening its doors to more refugees and very little is known about more recent refugee groups like those from Afghanistan. The findings provide a rich and unique contribution to refugee entrepreneurship and enterprise development literature in New Zealand and a model that could be used as a framework for further studies on the subject by those agencies that support refugees and their business start-up ventures as well as government agencies dealing with refugee resettlement and employment.

La thèse vise à expliquer la dynamique de l’évolution des projets de création d’entreprises de haute technologie à travers les différentes configurations empruntées par le développement technologique et organisationnel. La revue de littérature dans le domaine de l’entrepreneuriat technologique a montré une grande richesse de facteurs explicatifs de l’évolution des projets de création d’entreprises mais aussi des déficiences du rôle attribué à la technologie qui lui confèrent un statut d’artéfact et non celui de processus à part entière. Une approche conceptuelle de la création de l’entreprise de haute technologie fondée sur la théorie de l’acteur réseau permet de dépasser les approches déterministes afin de s’intéresser au développement conjoint de la technologie et de l’organisation. Le cas d’une innovation de hautes technologies de l’invention à son exploitation est analysé en profondeur selon une démarche de recherche-intervention. L’analyse conduit a l’élaboration d’un outil d’aide à la décision (le dispositif d’intervention) et d’un modèle dynamique de la création de l’entreprise de haute technologie différent de ceux présentés dans la littérature entrepreneuriale. Les principaux apports résident dans l’aide à la prise de décisions stratégiques et à celui de la construction de l’organisation. Cette aide, au départ fondée sur les pratiques de l’intervention, s’est transformée peu à peu en un processus d’apprentissage collectif basé sur une modélisation rationnelle de la construction de l’entreprise technologique en favorisant l’émergence de nouveaux savoirs partageables et durables dans le temps. / This research aims to explain the dynamics of the evolution of the projects of high-technology new business start-up through the various configurations derived from by the technological and organizational development. The review of literature in the field of the technological entrepreneurship shows a vast amount of explanatory factors of the evolution of the projects of new business start-up but also the lack of the role granted to the technology which confers it a status of artefact and not that of the full process. A conceptual approach on the high-technology company based on the theory of the network actor allows to overtake the determinist approaches to be interested in the joint development of the technology and the organization. The case of an innovation of high technologies of the invention in its exploitation is analyzed in deeply according to the research-intervention methodology. The analysis leads the elaboration of a decision-making tool (le dispositif d’intervention) and of a dynamic high-technology model of the creation of the company different from those presented in the entrepreneurial literature. The main contribution lives in the assistance to the strategic decision-making and to that of the construction of the organization. This assistance, at first established on the practices of the intervention, was transformed progressively into a process of collective learning built on a rational modeling of the construction of the technological company by favoring the emergence of new shared and long-lasting knowledge in the time.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att beskriva och analysera kvinnliga företagarnas val av finansieringskällor vid startfasen. Metod: För att uppfylla studiens syfte samt besvara forskningsfrågan har en kvantitativ forskningsansats genomförts. Studien är baserad på både primär- och sekundärdata, där data som insamlats är hämtad från databaserna Google Scholar och SöderScholar. Empiriskt resultat: Studien är baserad på 49 kvinnliga företagare som deltog i enkätundersökningen. Slutsats: Studien visade att kvinnliga företagare föredrar att välja intern finansiering vid uppstartsfasen. Vidare har finansiell kunskap ett statistiskt signifikant samband med kvinnliga företagares inställning till extern finansiering och deras val av finansieringskällor. / Purpose: The purpose of the study is to describe and analyze the female entrepreneurs' choice of financing sources at the start-up stage. Methodology: Quantitative research with data collection through surveys to female entrepreneurs has been implemented. The study is based on both primary and secondary data, where the collected data is from the databases Google Scholar and SöderScholar. Empirical foundation: The study is based on 49 female entrepreneurs who participated in a survey. Conclusion: The study showed that female entrepreneurs prefer to choose internal financing at the start-up stage. The study further showed that financial knowledge has an impact on women entrepreneurs' attitude towards external financing and their choice of financing sources.

Few female farmers are participating in the sector due to various gender-based challenges that they face. The purpose of this study was to investigate prospective farmers’ motivation and their personal attitude to starting their own businesses, as well as their perceptions of barriers to successful business start-ups in the sector. The Prospective Farmers Profile Questionnaire was distributed to 421 prospective farmers (agricultural students at six institutions of higher learning in South Africa). There was an estimated 3,486 students enrolled for various agriculture-related qualifications in the country when this cross-sectional, quantitative study was carried out. The aim of the study was to investigate perceived gender-based barriers to business start-up amongst prospective farmers in SA. The study found perceived barriers to be either intrinsic, (such as, risk aversion, innovation and self efficacy) and extrinsic, examples being, social cultural, political skills and access to land among others factors. The study also intended to find out if (1) motivation to start a business (2) taking responsibility (entrepreneurial orientation) and (3) entrepreneurial intention, were predicted by a number of select business start up factors. The findings were that motivation was predicted by only one business start up factor, socio-cultural forces; while four key factors; motivation, proactiveness, creativity and socio-cultural forces did predict taking responsibility (EO). Entrepreneurial intention (EI) is predicted by three key factors, namely socio-cultural forces, motivation and creativity. It is recommended that prospective farmers be introduced to the importance of social networking and socio-cultural forces in entrepreneurship. Furthermore, entrepreneurial education is required from government, institutions of higher learning and other organisations to educate prospective farmers on the influence of barriers to business start-up.The study was conducted on undergraduate agricultural students and should be extended to post-graduate farmers in South Africa, that is practising farming. A comparison between prospective farmers and prospective entrepreneurs from other disciplines should also be undertaken.This is a South African study and the results cannot be generalised. Therefore, the study could be expanded to other regions and future comparative studies could be done. / Applied Management / D. Phil. (Entrepreneurship in the Faculty of Management Sciences)

Titel: Den välutbildade och erfarna företagaren – Myt eller sanning? Nivå: C-uppsats i företagsekonomi Författare: Johan Lindberg & Andreas Toresson Handledare: Lars Ekstrand Datum: 2014 – maj Syfte: Många företag föds årligen, men endast en del av dessa blir framgångsrika och cirka en tredjedel av företagen har lagts ner inom en treårsperiod. Därför var intresset att undersöka varför vissa företag blir framgångsrika. Detta med hjälp av tre faktorer som kan anses påverka hur framgångsrikt ett företag blir. Dessa faktorer var utbildningsnivå, tidigare erfarenhet och uppstartsmotiv hos företagsgrundaren. Syftet med studien var att undersöka sambandet mellan dessa faktorer och ställa dem mot nystartade företags framgång. Metod: En enkätundersökning av kvantitativ karaktär har genomförts för att analysera vikten av de faktorer studien tar fasta på. Urvalet var egenföretagare från vars verksamhet startades upp under år 2012. Studien bygger på 95 respondenters svar på enkätundersökningen. Svaren har sedan sammanställts i diagram för att göra en jämförelse mellan de tre faktorerna och två indikatorer som tyder på framgång: omsättning och antal anställda. Dessa har sedan analyserats med hjälp kontingenstabeller. Resultat & slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att tidigare erfarenhet av den bransch man verkar inom har positiv påverkan på både företagets omsättning och antal anställda. Dessutom visar studien att de företagsgrundare vars uppstartsmotiv är baserade på självförverkligande, att få vara sin egen och att få förverkliga sina idéer tydligt tenderar att bli mer framgångsrika än de vars uppstartsmotiv är rent ekonomiska. Studiens resultat visar också att 9 % av respondenterna anser att utbildning kan medföra nackdelar för företagsgrundaren. Dessutom anser 75,8% att utbildning inte är av större vikt vid start av eget företag. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Studien har genomförts på ett begränsat antal företagare i specifika delar av Sverige. Ett förslag till fortsatt forskning skulle kunna vara att genomföra en större empirisk undersökning för att kunna generella resultatet över ett större geografiskt område. Denna studie har ej riktat sig mot företagare vars företag gått i konkurs och därför vore en vidare forskning, med denna grupp medräknat i urvalet, intressant för att få en större inblick i vad som gör ett företag framgångsrikt eller inte. Uppsatsens bidrag: Uppsatsen resulterar i en ökad förståelse för hur variablerna utbildning, erfarenhet och uppstartsmotiv påverkar sannolikheten att uppnå framgång. Resultatet kan användas av och vara till nytta för blivande nyföretagare. Studiens resultat lyfter en intressant syn Examensarbete, C-uppsats, 15 hp Företagsekonomi Examensarbete i företagsekonomi Ekonomprogrammet   3  på huruvida utbildning främjar företagande eller inte samt ger en inblick i vikten av uppstartsmotiv och tidigare erfarenhet för framgångsrikt företagande. Nyckelord: Egenföretagare, framgångsrikt företagande, framgångsfaktorer, företagsstart, utbildning, erfarenhet, uppstartsmotiv. / Title: The Educated and Experienced Entrepreneurs – Myth or Truth? Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business and Economics Author: Johan Lindberg & Andreas Toresson Supervisor: Lars Ekstrand Date: 2014 – May Aim: Many companies are born annually, but only a few becomes successful and just about a third of the companies have closed down within three years. Therefore, the interest was to explore why some companies becomes successful. This, with the help of three factors that can be considered to affect how successful a company becomes. These factors were level of education, previous experience and start-up motives of the company founder. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between these factors and set them against start-up business success. Method: A survey of quantitative nature has been conducted to analyze the importance of the factors the study focuses on. The sample was self-employed whose business was started up in the year 2012. The study is based on 95 respondents' answers to the survey. The answers are then compiled into diagrams to make a comparison between the three factors and two indicators of success: turnover and employees. These were then analyzed using contingency tables. Result & Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that prior experience in the industry in which it operates has positive impact on both the company's turnover and employees. In addition, the study shows that the company's founder whose start-up motives are based on self-realization, to be his own and realize their ideas clearly tend to be more successful than those whose start-up motives are purely financial. The study also shows that 9 % of the respondents believe that education can have negative consequences for the company founder. Moreover, the 75.8% of the respondents believe that education is not of major importance when starting your own business. Suggestions for future research: This study was conducted on a limited number of entrepreneurs in specific parts of Sweden. A proposal for further research would be to conduct a larger empirical study to overall outcome over a larger geographic area. This study was not directed at entrepreneurs whose companies have gone bankrupt and therefore would a further research with this group, including the selection of this study, be interesting to get a greater insight into what makes a business successful or not. Contribution of the thesis: The paper results in a greater understanding of how the variables education, experience and start-up motives affect the likelihood of achieving success. The result can be used and be useful for aspiring entrepreneurs. The results of the study raise an interesting view on whether education promotes entrepreneurship or not, and provides insight into the importance of start-up motives and previous experience to create a successful entrepreneurship.   5  Key words: Self-employed, business success, success factors, business start-up, training, experience, start-up motive.

The textile industry in Kenya was once an important sector in the country but due to theliberalisation of trade and the second hand industry’s impact, the industry has declined inrecent years. The increased competition from import has boosted the costs of raw material andoutrivaled the local textile production. Further, the government’s lack of investments in thecountry’s electric power supply has also contributed to the current situation. Consequently,the domestic textile entrepreneurs are today facing a complex and competitive marketplacebut despite these obstacles there are women that have managed to overcome the entrancebarriers.It is an unfavourable climate for being a woman entrepreneur in Kenya since the socioculturalnorms restrain women to work outside their homes and in some business sectors. Though, ourfindings have shown that the Kenyan women have the handicraft skills but lack access tofinancial resources as well as management skills to start-up businesses in the textile industry.Access to credit is regarded as one of the main obstacles to establish a firm. There are lendinginstitutes but the interest rate is high and the collateral requirements hard to fulfil. Moreover,there are micro-loan institutes but the loans are not sufficient to companies with growthpotential.The purpose of this study was to map-out key success factors for becoming a womanentrepreneur in the competitive textile marketplace in Nairobi, Kenya. We aimed tounderstand how some entrepreneurs have managed to overcome the obstacles women face intheir social- and cultural context and how mapping of their shared supportive variables canencourage other females to become entrepreneurial.Our results find that there is not one way to handle difficulties along the dynamic andcompetitive textile market in Kenya. The respondents come from different social- and culturalcontexts that in diverse ways have influenced their management ways. We have though beenable to map out shared factors that have been supportive when overcoming obstacles in theprocess of a business start-up; being a visionary and opportunity seeker, counterbalancemissing knowledge, effective use of limited resources, fighter instinct, find a niche in themarketplace, networking skill and manage employees and unsupportive surroundings.Textilindustrin i Kenya var en gång en betydelsefull sektor för landet men under de senareåren har dess relevans minskat på grund av ett ökande inflytande från frihandeln samt enväxande försäljning av andrahandskläder. Konkurrensen från import har lett till högreråvarukostnader som succesivt spelat ut den lokala textilproduktionen. Vidare har regeringenvarit sparsam med att investera i landets elförsörjning vilket också har bidragit till denrådande situationen. Följaktligen står den inhemska textilindustrins företagare idag inför enkomplex och konkurrensutsatt marknad, men trots många hinder finns det kvinnor som harlyckats övervinna inträdesbarriärerna.För kvinnliga entreprenörer i Kenya är företagsklimatet ogynnsamt då det föreliggersociokulturella normer vilka begränsar kvinnor att arbeta utanför hemmet och även inom vissabranscher. Vår studies resultat har visat att kenyanska kvinnor besitter ett hantverkskunnande,men saknar tillgång till finansiella resurser samt färdigheter för att starta och leda ett företag itextilindustrin. Tillgängligheten till ekonomiska medel har betraktas som ett av de störstahindren för att upprätta en verksamhet. Det finns utlåningsinstitut, men där är räntan hög ochkraven på kreditsäkerhet svåra att uppfylla. Det finns dessutom mikrolånsinstanser men lånensom ges där är inte tillräckliga för företag med tillväxtpotential.Intentionen med denna studie var att kartlägga viktiga framgångsfaktorer för att bli enkvinnlig företagare på den konkurrensutsatta textila marknaden i Nairobi, Kenya. Vårt syftevar att förstå hur vissa entreprenörer lyckats övervinna hinder som kvinnor möter i sinsociala- och kulturella kontext samt kartlägga gemensamma stödjande variabler som i sin turkan inspirera andra kvinnor till att bli företagare.Vårt resultat belyser att det finns flera sätt att hantera svårigheter på den dynamiska ochkonkurrensutsatta textila marknaden i Kenya. Respondenterna i denna rapport kommer frånolika sociala- och kulturella kontexter vilket på olika sätt har påverkat deras sätt att hanteraföretag. Vi har dock kunnat kartlägga gemensamma faktorer som har hjälpt att övervinnahindren i processen med att starta företag; vara en visionär och en möjlighetssökare, hanteraavsaknad av kunskap, effektivt använda begränsade resurser, ha en kämparinstinkt, hitta ennisch på marknaden, vara skicklig på att använda sitt nätverk och att hantera sina medarbetaresamt en icke stödjande omgivning. / Program: Textilekonomutbildningen