This dissertation, comprised of the cover story and the four separate but interrelated articles, focuses on exploring the development of entrepreneurial competence. Building on the assumption that purposeful engagement in entrepreneurial action potentially leads to the acquisition of specific entrepreneurial competencies, this thesis investigates the mechanisms facilitating and enabling entrepreneurs’ acquisition of entrepreneurial expertise, and the consequences of this process. As such, it unpacks the entrepreneurial learning process. In particular, building on Bandura’s (1986) social  cognitive theory (SCT), this study explores the role of deeply held beliefs, goal orientation and social networks (role models) in shaping entrepreneurs’ behavior, specifically their ability to create new means-ends frameworks (cf. Sarasvathy, 2001). The research included in this dissertation provides insight into the complexity of entrepreneurial competence development by connecting multiple theoretical perspectives, utilizing two different qualitative datasets situated in the context of gourmet restaurateurs and abductively building theory by developing explanations of the phenomenon of interest. This is one of the first attempts to open the ‘black box’ of entrepreneurial learning by simultaneously incorporating the contextual variables and the cognitive properties and practices of entrepreneurs in exploring their learning process. By combining SCT with entrepreneurship theory, the thesis develops an integrating model of entrepreneurial competence development that explains the relation between the preferred learning mode, action-control beliefs, the perceived role identity and role models. The findings suggest that attainment of entrepreneurial competence, and ultimately expertise, is facilitated by changes in action-control beliefs; and by the development of entrepreneurial identity. The findings also suggest that the role model’s perceived function changes depending on the entrepreneur’s goal orientation. Thus, one of the most important implications of the study is the idea that entrepreneurs need to become agents of their own development. Overall, this dissertation provides an explanation of the mechanisms of entrepreneurial competence development by suggesting that changing action-control beliefs and the formation of entrepreneurial identity are crucial in the development of entrepreneurial competence. In addition, access to role models and learning goal orientation facilitate this process.

The current knowledge-based economy demands a workforce equipped with the skills to advance innovation through entrepreneurial strategies (Powell & Snellman, 2004). Currently, Extension educators contribute to social and economic development in the sectors of agriculture, natural resource, consumer education, and youth development. Extension educators provide community members with the knowledge and skills needed to obtain a higher quality of life. The strategies of entrepreneurial leadership are relevant to the contemporary work of Extension educators and would provide the opportunity to increase Cooperative Extension’s program planning and implementation success. For the purpose of this study entrepreneurial leadership proclivity is measured through two constructs, innovation and entrepreneurial strategy, in those identified as Cooperative Extension Educators throughout Arizona. The data collected in this study illustrated the lack of entrepreneurial leadership in Extension educators in Arizona, as well as recommends educational possibilities to increase the presence of entrepreneurial leadership.

Le processus de création d’une entreprise par une équipe d’entrepreneurs est un phénomène multidimensionnel. A cet effet, cette recherche essaye de classifier les équipes entrepreneuriales, de déterminer les différents facteurs favorisant la prise de décision d’équiprendre et d’extraire les processus d’engagement équipreneurial à partir des perceptions des équipreneurs. La vérification adopte une approche qualitative par l’intermédiaire d’un entretien approfondi et son analyse sur la base de l’approche avancée par Miles et Huberman (2003) et des analyses lexicales et linguistiques par l’intermédiaire de deux logiciels : IRamuteQ et TROPES. Les résultats mettent en relief deux formes équipreneuriales : les entreprises équipreneuriales et les entreprises collectives. Le processus de création varie selon cette typologie. En effet, cette étude essaie de rechercher un processus type qui prédit le mieux la création d’entreprise en équipe et qui peut être utile aux opérateurs en entrepreneuriat. / The process of firm creation by a team of entrepreneurs is a multidimensional phenomenon. This search tries to classify the entrepreneurial teams, to determine the various factors favoring the decision-making of team entrepreneurship and to extract the processes of entrepreneurial team commitment from the perceptions of the teams. The verification adopts a qualitative approach through an in-depth interviews analysis based on the approach presented by Miles and Huberman (2003) and lexical and linguistic analyses through two software: IRamuteQ and TROPES. The results demonstrate two forms of entrepreneurial teams: ‘’equipreneurial’’ firms and collective firms. The process of creation varies according to this typology. Indeed, this study tries to look for a typical process which predicts the new firm creation by a team and which can be useful for the operators in entrepreneurship.

Abstract The purpose of this research was to gain a more profound understanding of the emergence of the business opportunities, and to enhance the development of entrepreneurship theory in relation to this context. This research is to understand two issues: How does a business opportunity emerge? What makes it possible? This dissertation builds a conceptual framework of the process of creating the Business Opportunity and concentrates on three interrelated sub-processes emerging in it: Business Ideation Process, Business Modeling Process and Business Planning Process. The Business Ideation is defined as creating an idea of the business opportunity with a clear focus on the customer, consideration, connection, and/or commitment. The Business Modeling Process is the conceptual model of the future business opportunity consisting elements such as: value creation; firm’s internal source of advantage; position in the marketplace; profit making; and entrepreneur’s perspective. Finally, the Business Planning Process is the implementation plan of the conceptual business opportunity. The scientific choices are based on the critical realism that highlights reality simultaneously as existing independently of its observers and acknowledges the role of an actor (the entrepreneur) as being constrained by it as well as being able to change it. Furthermore, this dissertation treats the process of creating the business opportunities as creative process based on the idea of a personal (or everyday) creativity and the method of creative problem solving. The results indicate that the nature of the process of creating the Business Opportunities, the BOC process, allows all people to be treated as entrepreneurs if they play the role of the entrepreneur by interacting (more or less creatively) with business ideating, business modeling and business planning processes. Hence, the creative problem solving method utilized in every sub-process will free the entrepreneur from the restraint of the dominant insight of the opportunity that sees it as a true vision of the future business venture. Here, the business opportunities are created during the process. Furthermore, the results show a keen interplay between the process of creating business opportunities and their exploitation. Hence, the BOC process appears to be an essential part of the overall entrepreneurial process.

The general purpose of this thesis was to explore the different roles enacted by entrepreneurs when developing their firm in the market. In their daily attempts to develop their firm, entrepreneurs “wear many different hats” because they are involved in multiple situations which require their interaction with different networks of social relationships (i.e. customers, employees, suppliers, investors). Through this research, we attempt to make three related and distinct contributions: (1) identification and definition of different roles enacted by entrepreneurs within their firm; (2) development of a measurement scale for the different roles entrepreneurs enact within their firm; and (3) proposal of a model explaining the relationship between entrepreneurs’ roles, Entrepreneurial Orientation, and firm performance. The thesis is presented in the form of three related papers. Paper 1 focuses on the qualitative study of the self-reported perceptions, behaviors, and attitudes that entrepreneurs relate to their efforts of developing their firm in the market. Through in-depth interviews and following thematic analysis methodology, we identified and analyzed patterns within the qualitative data. Conceptualizing the entrepreneurial firm as a proximate social structure that represents a context in which the entrepreneur establishes close relationships and thus enacts role identities, we identify and define seven different sets of behaviors or roles. In addition, we propose a conceptual framework to explain the entrepreneurs’ agency within their firm. Based on the previously identified and defined roles, in Paper 2 we develop the measurement scale for the entrepreneurs’ roles. The items generated from the literature review and the in-depth interviews were evaluated for content validity by a group of serial entrepreneurs. A pilot test was then conducted with a network of international entrepreneurs (N=55), followed by a pre-test using an online panel of U.S. entrepreneurs (N=157) who were owners and managers of a running business that had paid salaries to the owner(s) for more than two years. Finally, the main study (N=202) was conducted utilizing the same sampling frame as the pre-test. After Confirmatory Factor Analysis and measure validation, we propose a seven-construct measurement model for the roles that entrepreneurs enact within their developing firm. In Paper 3, following the development of the measurement scale, we explore the links between the roles enacted by entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurial Orientation, and firm performance. Understanding Entrepreneurial Orientation as a way in which entrepreneurs behave when creating and developing their firm, we propose a model in which Entrepreneurial Orientation mediates the relationship between entrepreneurs’ enacted roles and the performance of their firm. Our findings suggest that Entrepreneurial Orientation mediates the relationship between at least five roles enacted by entrepreneurs and firm performance. The influence of several of the enacted roles of entrepreneurs on Entrepreneurial Orientation suggests that the entrepreneur’s agency, facilitated through the use of roles, needs to be taken into account as an antecedent in a model of entrepreneurial strategic orientation and firm performance.

South Africa has abandoned apartheid and re-entered the global economy where factors like the lack of global competitiveness and global recession, amoung other factors, are contributing to poor performance of South African firms. This poor performance has resulted in many firms restructuring, shrinking, closing down and losing hundreds of thousands of jobs. The South African government is promoting SMEs as alternative employment source. The problem is the high rate of SMEs closure. To sustain jobs, SMEs must survive and grow. Critical to aiding SME growth is the understanding of various internal and external factors which determine success or failure. This study investigates “skills” as one of the significant internal factors. The literature reviews eight models by authors Glancey (1998), van Vuuren&Nieman (1999), Erikson (2002), Wickham (1998), Man et al (2002), Ucbasaran et al (2004), Darroch&Clover (2005) and Perks&Struwig (2005) to present the integrated model for entrepreneurial performance as “integrated ↑E/P = f(key skills) x [1 + h.(supporting skills)] ”. The key skills are represented as multiplicative, symbolising the fact that the absence of any one key skill will lead to zero performance. Based on this model, several propositions are put forward. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the key set of competencies identified by the eight models reviewed (as presented in the detailed model) can be applied to a specific industry (the textile and clothing industry) at a specific geographic location (Johannesburg). The cross-sectional, ex post facto, formal empirical study involved interviewed 570 manufacturing SMEs (197 successful and 373 less successful SMEs). The study ascertained which skills the SME owner/managers perceived as important for success; how they rated their competencies in the said skills; and whether they had been trained in those skills. The instrument used was a structured questionnaire. The statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, frequencies, factor analysis, Cronbach alpha coefficient, Chi-square; t-test and one-way ANOVA tests. The analysis was concluded with a Scheffe’s multiple comparison procedure. The main findings of the study are: 1. Key skills that enhance SME success include the ability to gather resources, marketing, motivation, legal, financial and operational management skills. 2. Successful SMEs considered key skills to be more important and rated themselves more competent in most of the key skills than did less successful SMEs. 3. Successful SMEs had been trained in more skills categories than less successful SMEs, with most of the successful SMEs having received training in all the key skills identified. This study recommends that the training of SMEs should focus on developing those skills identified as key internal factors influencing SME success by following the training model “Training for ↑E/P = training in key skills x [1 + training in supporting skills] ”. The study concludes by listing limitations and suggesting further research. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Business Management / unrestricted

This study examined a sample of entrepreneurs operating in South Africa. Motivation of entrepreneurs in shopping malls in Gauteng province was investigated. A survey of 50 entrepreneurs in South Africa was conducted face-to-face interviews. Principle component analysis (PCA) identified the most important motivation factors among entrepreneurs in South Africa. Results indicated that family security and extrinsic rewards are the most important motivation factors. “To be closer to my family”, “to maintain my personal freedom” were the highly rated motivation items which were used in the questionnaire. These results were compared with the results of previous studies which examined Nigerian, Ghanaian and Kenyan entrepreneurs as well as entrepreneurs in Turkey, Venezuela, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, and India. This findings of the current study suggested that motivation factors of entrepreneurs in South Africa are different than other African countries which were used in this study as comparison countries. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

This study investigated the role of business knowledge and work experience, as antecedents towards explaining entrepreneurial success. The encouragement of entrepreneurial activities has been recommended as a way to stimulate economic growth. On of the most critical issues facing developing countries is to understand where entrepreneurs originate from and what characteristics are relevant to their success. Although entrepreneurs act as catalysts of economic activity for the entire economy many of them fail. Most entrepreneurs often start a new venture ignorant of many key dimensions of running their businesses and must obtain the necessary information if they are to survive. Entrepreneurial competency, largely acquired on an individual basis, consists of a combination of skills, knowledge and resources that distinguish an entrepreneur from his or her competitors. This research study reviewed the two constructs namely entrepreneurial business knowledge and work experience, from the available literature and through scientific empirical research reported their effects on entrepreneurial success. Entrepreneurial business knowledge refers to the ascribe roles for managerial expertise in entrepreneurial success and entails, to varying degrees marketing, financial management/book-keeping, self-supervision, and, if applicable, the supervision of paid employees or unpaid family workers, among other activities. Experience refers to the knowledge or ability of an individual gained due to circumstances in a particular job, organisation, or industry. Some researchers have indicated that a lack of business knowledge and/or business experience hinders firm growth and entrepreneurial success. Despite some of the significant findings, a large amount of the variance in business knowledge and work experience remained unexplained. This unexplained variance, however, was consistent with other investigations. There was tentative evidence to support the role of business knowledge and work experience, as entrepreneurial success antecedents. However the evidence was not conclusive and further in depth research would have to done in order to reach a conclusive finding. Copyright 2004, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Barreira, JCD 2004, The influence of business knowledge and work experience, as antecedents to entrepreneurial success, PhD thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-08232004-100614 / > / Thesis (PhD (Entrepreneurship))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Business Management / unrestricted

Entrepreneurial plan Seniornacestach Ltd. falls to area of tourist trade .This plan consists of theoretical and practical part.I lastly added to this plan conclusion, literature and appendixes.

This research was aimed at determining the role of entrepreneurial capital in the transition of entrepreneurial businesses from the start-up to the new firm status. New firms are important in any given economy because they create jobs, and the South African economy requires many of them because of the high endemic levels of unemployment. Even though the South African government has policies in place to support entrepreneurs, global entrepreneurship reports have indicated that the rate of formation of new firms has always been lower, sometimes by up to 50%, than the rate of formation of start-up firms, indicating the high mortality rate of start-up firms. We have taken the view that businesses fail because of the inability of the owners to address operational problems. The processes employed by entrepreneurs in South Africa in the early stages of the firm to solve these problems are not very well known. This project was exploratory and qualitative in nature and was aimed at documenting some of these processes. Entrepreneurial capital, a collection of the resources inherent in the business was used as the framework of analysis. We observe a strong effect of elements of the framework, especially work experience, in the solutions offered by the participants in this study. We provide suggestions to current and potential entrepreneurs on what problems to expect and how to solve them. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted