Esta tese investiga a ação empreendedora a partir de um ângulo pouco explorado na literatura: a gestão de incertezas interdependentes que afetam a ação empreendedora e de outras organizações que cocriam e codesenvolvem inovações. Pesquisas sobre ação empreendedora, planejamento, modelo de negócios e gestão de projetos sob incertezas focam no gerenciamento de incertezas presentes em um projeto de inovação ou que afetam uma empresa específica. Essas pesquisas não investigam casos nos quais as incertezas extrapolam o ciclo de vida de um projeto, ou seja, as incertezas que não podem ser equacionadas durante o processo de desenvolvimento do produto ou serviço, embora exerçam influência significativa no desempenho deles, no futuro. Essas pesquisas também não exploram conceitualmente e empiricamente as incertezas que afetam diversas organizações em um mesmo ecossistema. Para preencher essas lacunas, propomos uma abordagem alternativa para ecossistemas. Um ecossistema empreendedor pode ser descrito como uma rede interdependente de incertezas individuais (aquelas que afetam um ator específico) e coletivas (as que afetam um grupo de atores). A partir dessa proposição, a seguinte pergunta dirige este trabalho: como empreendedores gerenciam incertezas coletivas e individuais, presentes no ecossistema empreendedor, durante o advento de corridas tecnológicas? Nosso interesse é responder a essa pergunta em contextos envolvendo corridas tecnológicas, ou seja, situações em que diferentes ecossistemas disputam a liderança ou pioneirismo nas fases iniciais de uma nova trajetória tecnológica ou de um novo mercado nascido a partir de uma tecnologia. Para responder a essa pergunta, esta pesquisa constrói o seu quadro conceitual a partir de diferentes literaturas, tais como gestão estratégica com foco em ecossistemas, ação empreendedora, modelo de negócios, gestão de projetos sob incerteza e incertezas. Empregando uma abordagem de pesquisa empírica baseada em estudos de casos longitudinais e indutivos, investigamos seis ecossistemas empreendedores que nasceram para desenvolver e explorar comercialmente inovações radicais. A contribuição central desta tese é um framework que descreve como empreendedores, de forma proativa, gerenciam incertezas coletivas empregando os seguintes processos: conectando incertezas e mitigando e amplificando os efeitos da propagação de incertezas. Sugerimos que, se devidamente gerenciadas, as incertezas podem ser uma fonte de valor e vantagem competitiva para empresas empreendedoras e ecossistemas. Nesse sentido, foi desenvolvida uma abordagem holística e subjetiva de incerteza, oferecendo insights sobre a gestão de incertezas em ecossistemas. Espera-se que esta tese contribua para revigorar o debate sobre gestão de incertezas e estratégia, em empresas nascentes de base tecnológica. / This thesis investigates entrepreneurial action from an unexplored point of view in the literature: managing interdependent uncertainties that affect an entrepreneurial firm and other organizations that jointly create and develop innovations. Research on entrepreneurial action, planning, business model and project management under uncertainty focuses on managing the uncertainty present in an innovation project or affecting a specific company. It does not investigate cases in which the uncertainties extrapolate the life cycle of a project, i.e., the uncertainties that can not be equated during the process of development of the product or service and have significant influence on their performance in the future. Prior research does not explore conceptually and empirically uncertainties that affect different organizations in the same ecosystem. To fill this gap, we propose an alternative approach to ecosystems. An entrepreneurial ecosystem can be described as a network of interdependent individual uncertainties (that affects a specific actor) and collective uncertainties (that affect a group of actors). This thesis aims at understanding how entrepreneurs manage individual and collective uncertainties present in the entrepreneurial ecosystem during technological races, i.e., situations in which different ecosystems compete for leadership in the early stages of a new technological trajectory or in a new market. This research builds its conceptual framework from different literatures, such as strategic management focusing on ecosystems, entrepreneurial action, business model, and project management under uncertainty. This research proposes a framework that describes how entrepreneurs proactively manage collective uncertainties employing the following processes: \"connecting uncertainties\" and \"mitigating and amplifying\" the effects of propagation of uncertainties. We suggest that, if properly managed, uncertainties can be a source of value and competitive advantage for companies and ecosystems.

Depuis quelques années, de nombreuses interrogations persistent concernant la mise en œuvre du dispositif de la responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RSE) dans les petites et moyennes entreprises (PME) et notamment sur le rôle des structures d’accompagnement dans le développement des pratiques de RSE en PME (Allet, 2017). Pour ces raisons et parce que la RSE devient aujourd’hui une pratique importante pour les PME, l’objectif de cette thèse est non seulement de mettre en évidence le rôle des structures d’accompagnement dans l’implication des PME dans les pratiques de RSE, mais également de comprendre le processus de création de sens et d’engagement responsable du dirigeant de PME ayant bénéficié d’une sensibilisation à la RSE. La notion de RSE est abordée sous l’angle du sensemaking, permettant ainsi de comprendre les mécanismes mises en œuvre pour appréhender la vision idiosyncrasique du dirigeant dans le processus de l’engagement responsable. A la suite de trois études réalisées, des données ont été recueillies auprès des incubateurs, entrepreneurs et dirigeants de PME ayant bénéficié d’un accompagnement à la création d’entreprise. Les résultats mettent en évidence que malgré les diversités d’entrées et les différentes façons de l’aborder, il existe une sensibilisation formelle et dissociée de la RSE dans les structures d’incubation. Ainsi, l’entrepreneur (futur dirigeant de PME) sensibilisé pendant cette période d’incubation est susceptible de développer dans ses pratiques futures, un engagement formel et intégré. Ces mêmes résultats laissent à croire que, même si l’incubateur joue un rôle de facilitateur dans l’engagement RSE du dirigeant, les croyances et les valeurs (variable culture) de ce dernier sont déterminant de son comportement responsable. / In recent years, many questions have been raised concerning the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and in particular the role of business incubators in the development of CSR practices. In SMEs (Allet, 2017).For these reasons, and because CSR is now becoming an important practice for SMEs, the objective of this thesis is not only to highlight the role of business incubators in the involvement of SMEs in CSR practices, but also to understand the process of sensemaking and CSR involvement of SME manager who have benefited from CSR awareness. The CSR notion is approached from the angle of Sensemaking, allowing to understand the mechanisms used to understand the idiosyncratic vision of the SME manager in the process of CSR commitment. Following three studies, data were collected from incubators, entrepreneurs and managers of SMEs who benefited from support for business start-ups. The results show that despite the diversity of inputs and the different ways of approaching it, there is a formal and dissociated sensitization of CSR in business incubators structures. As such, an entrepreneur (future SME manager) who is sensitized during the incubation period is likely to develop in his future practices, a formal and integrated commitment of CSR. Furthermore, the results suggest that, even if the business incubator plays a facilitating role in the CSR commitment of SME manager, his beliefs and values (cultural variable) are determinant of his responsible behavior.

Abstract Organisational entrepreneurship is an entrepreneurial event. By-products of such events may include the emergence of business organisations. In this study, I discuss the event of organisational entrepreneurship fostered by organisational creativity. An event of organisational entrepreneurship can happen in the context of social spaces for play and innovation. In these social spaces, novelty, movement, and change are outcomes of the role of organisational entrepreneurship in society. The dissertation consists of four essays. Prior research defines organisational entrepreneurship as a relationship between the managerial order and organisational creativity. This particular relationship, rather than being a precise state, is one that problematises the tradition of studying entrepreneurship as a sub-discipline of management. Researchers tend to be drawn to studying the entrepreneurial order, but less so the play and innovation that contribute to the creativity aspect. Whilst permitting space for play and innovation have been acknowledged to be crucial, the role of play and innovation between the discourses of business opportunities and entrepreneurial becoming has not been discussed. The literature review in this study shows that understanding the concepts of entrepreneurial actions and processes is key to explicating organisational entrepreneurship. Hence, the principal research question of this study is: how do entrepreneurial actions and processes frame the very nature of the event of organisational entrepreneurship? There are four sub-questions (one for each essay) that illustrate how an entrepreneurial event is about creation of new spaces for play and innovation. The purpose of this study is to show what role playfulness and innovativeness play in organisational entrepreneurship. I have empirically investigated how international business opportunities may be created through entrepreneurial actions in a multinational collaboration project, and found that social learning is at the heart of the process. In addition, I have examined an entrepreneurial process through the story of an up-and-coming stand-up comedian. This study shows that the entrepreneurial process emerges from the desire to become-Other. The entrepreneurial stories of this qualitative study come from two data sets (conducted in Finland and in Denmark). The research outline problematises the prior research, in which storytelling is rarely used. The dissertation concludes by suggesting that one role of playfulness and innovativeness is to create business opportunities and entrepreneurial becoming. / Tiivistelmä Organisatorinen yrittäjyys on yksi yrittäjämäinen tila. Tällaisessa tilassa monenlaisten sivutuotteiden, kuten liikeyrityksen, syntyminen on mahdollista. Organisatorinen luovuus tukee näiden tilojen luomiseen liittyvää tekemistä ja prosesseja. Yrittäjämäiset tilat ovat mahdollisia konteksteissa, joita tässä väitöskirjatutkimuksessa tutkittiin tiloina leikille ja innovaatioille. Näiden tilojen ansiosta uutuus, liike ja muutos ovat mahdollisia ja ne kuvaavat organisatorisen yrittäjyyden roolia yhteiskunnassa. Tämä väitöskirja on neljän esseen kokoelma. Aikaisempi tutkimus määrittelee organisatorisen yrittäjyyden johtajuuden hallinnan ja organisatorisen luovuuden väliseksi suhteeksi. Ennemmin kuin jokin tila tällä jatkumolla suhde sinänsä kyseenalaistaa tradition, joka tutkii yrittäjyyttä johtajuustutkimuksen koulukuntana. Siinä tutkimusintressi on ollut hallinta, mutta ei kovin usein leikki ja innovaatiot. Vaikka leikki ja innovaatiot on nähty tärkeinä asioina, siitä huolimatta niiden roolia linkkinä liiketoimintamahdollisuuksien luomisen ja yrittäjämäiseksi tulemisen välillä ei ole vielä kovin hyvin tutkittu. Tämän tutkimuksen kirjallisuuskatsaus osoittaa, että yrittäjämäiset toiminnot ja prosessit ovat keskeisimmät käsitteet organisatorisessa yrittäjyydessä. Tutkimuksen päätutkimuskysymys kuuluu: kuinka yrittäjämäiset toiminnot ja prosessit rajaavat organisatorisen yrittäjyyden syvimmän luonteen yrittäjämäisenä tapahtumana? Tutkimuksen tarkoitus on näyttää, mikä rooli leikinomaisuudella ja innovatiivisuudella on organisatorisessa yrittäjyydessä silloin, kun se nähdään yrittäjämäisenä tilana. Tutkin empiirisesti kansainvälisten liiketoimintamahdollisuuksien luomista ja sitä, miten se tapahtuu monikansallisessa yhteistyöprojektissa. Tuloksena löysin, että se on sosiaalista oppimista. Lisäksi tutkin yrittäjämäiseksi tulemisen prosessia standup-koomikoksi tulevan henkilön kautta. Se näyttää, että syy yrittäjämäisen prosessin ilmentymiselle on intohimo tulla toiseksi. Tutkimuksen yrittäjämäiset tarinat perustuvat kahdelle aineiston lähteelle (tehty Suomessa ja Tanskassa). Tutkimusasetelma kyseenalaistaa tutkimuksen, jossa tarinankerrontaa on käytetty harvoin. Tulokset osoittavat, että leikinomaisuuden ja innovatiivisuuden rooli on luoda uusia liiketoimintamahdollisuuksia ja yrittäjämäiseksi tulemisen prosesseja.

Deux types de processus entrepreneurial se distinguent dans la littérature : la causalité et l’effectuation. La causalité consiste à rechercher les ressources nécessaires pour atteindre un but prédéfini tandis que l’effectuation consiste à démarrer avec les moyens dont on dispose sans but prédéfini. Peu de littérature traite de l’entrepreneuriat des femmes au Burkina Faso, encore moins sous l’angle de l’effectuation. Ainsi, le but principal de cette thèse est de répondre à la problématique suivante : Comment l'effectuation affecte le processus entrepreneurial des femmes entrepreneures Burkinabè ? Pour répondre à cette question de recherche, nous avons eu recours à une étude quantitative menée auprès de 272 entrepreneurs (213 hommes et 59 femmes) afin d’identifier le profil des entrepreneurs au Burkina Faso et tout particulièrement celui des femmes. En deuxième lieu, nous avons réalisé des entretiens semi directifs avec 20 femmes entrepreneures afin d’identifier leurs motivations mais aussi le type de processus entrepreneurial qu’elles adoptent, ainsi que leur place dans l’environnement socio-culturel Burkinabé. Pour la collecte et le traitement de nos données nous avions utilisé successivement les logiciels SPHINX, SPSS et NVIVO 11. Nos résultats montrent que les femmes ne représentent que 21,7 % du paysage entrepreneurial Burkinabé. Cette faible représentativité est liée en grande partie au fait qu'elles subissent les normes sociales qui les renvoient vers le rôle de mère et de femme au foyer dépendante de l'homme. Nos résultats prouvent aussi que les femmes créent leurs entreprises pour des raisons « pull » car, très souvent c'est pour exploiter une compétence ou exercer un métier ou une activité qu'elles aiment. De plus, les femmes créent leurs entreprises sans un but prédéfini à l'avance. Elles se basent plutôt sur les ressources dont elles disposent notamment leur personnalité, leur savoir-faire et le soutien familial. Le processus entrepreneurial des femmes burkinabè s’inscrit donc dans une logique effectuale. C'est pourquoi de nouveaux outils qui prennent en compte cette dynamique effectuale et la place de la femme dans la société burkinabè doivent être mis en place pour mieux les accompagner / Two kinds of entrepreneurial process are proposed in the literature. The causal one is to search for the resources needed to achieve a predefined goal and the effectual one is to start with the means that are available without a pre-defined purpose. Few articles discuss the women entrepreneurship in Burkina Faso especially on the effectual level. So, the aim of our thesis is to answer the question: How the effectuation affects the entrepreneurial process of women entrepreneurs in Burkina Faso? To answer this question, we conducted a quantitative study with 272 entrepreneurs (213 men and 59 women) to identify the profile of the entrepreneurs in Burkina Faso and quite particularly that of the women. In the second place, we realized semi directive interviews with 20 women entrepreneurs in order to identify their motivations, but also the type of entrepreneurial process whom they adopt, as well as their place in the Burkinabe sociocultural environment. The data was processed with SPHINX software, SPSS and NVIVO 11. Our results show that the women represent only 21,7 % of the entrepreneurial landscape Burkinabe. This low representativeness is largely connected to the fact that they undergo the social standards which send back them towards the role of mother and housewife dependent on the men. Our results also show that women create their businesses for "pull" reasons, since they do it with the aim to exploit a skill or to exercise a trade or activity that they like. In addition, women create their businesses without a predefined goal in advance. Rather, they rely on the resources they have, in particular their character, know-how, and family support. The women entrepreneurial process in Burkina Faso is therefore a part of an effectual rationale. That is why new tools that take into account this dynamic and the place of women in the Burkinabe society, must be put in place to better accompany them.

This study explores whether final year university students possess entrepreneurial intention and which factors determine such a career choice. A quantitative study of 228 fourth year undergraduate students from the University of Botswana was undertaken to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial self-efficacy and whether this is influenced by internal and environmental factors. This study offers empirical proof that entrepreneurial interests lead to entrepreneurial intent when students posses entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Students with a creative cognitive style show strong entrepreneurial intent irrespective of the level of self-concept. It is suggested that environmental factors do not have a significant influence on the decision to pursue self-employment. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

There are several motivational factors for why entrepreneurs start a venture, continue to run the venture and also exit the venture. A prevalent theme in previous literature regarding entrepreneurial motivation, is the dichotomy of push and pull theory. This suggests that an entrepreneur can either be a necessity entrepreneur or an opportunity entrepreneur, meaning their motivation comes from either push or pull factors. Newer research argues that push and pull factors can co-exist and also change over time, highlighting that this dichotomy is ambiguous. However, this is still an under-researched area and many researchers call for more empirical findings concerning this topic. To gather more information regarding this disagreement, a qualitative study was executed, through semi-structured interviews with Swedish entrepreneurs from different entrepreneurial phases. The findings in this study indicate that motivational push and pull factors can be present simultaneously in an individual, and also change over time, depending on dynamic internal and external factors regarding the entrepreneur themselves and/or the venture.

Eudaimonic well-being, which leads to personal functioning, finds increasing attention in entrepreneurshipresearch. Its positive effects suggest that eudaimonia helps individuals to overcome difficulties andchallenges which the entrepreneurial process brings. Based on the self-determination theory, individualswith higher eudaimonic well-being can also be expected to be more likely to enter self-employment asoccupational choice proactively. Thus, this thesis builds a construct which shows the influence ofeudaimonic well-being on the process of entering and sustaining in self-employment. The methodologicalapproach to measure eudaimonic well-being is built on existing research. Using eudaimonia to predictentrepreneurial entry and persistence is novel and tested on a large panel dataset from Australia.The findings show, contrary to the literature, no difference in eudaimonic well-being of those who changefrom paid employment to self-employment compared to those who stay in paid employment. The resultsalthough fail to reject the hypothesis that eudaimonic well-being influences the likelihood of entrepreneurialpersistence. Higher eudaimonic well-being shows, statistically not significant, positive impact on thechances to sustain in self-employment. This adds evidence to existing literature on entrepreneurialpersistence and eudaimonic well-being. Activities that increase eudaimonia can therefore be seen asbeneficial to create long-term persistent entrepreneurs and businesses.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law & Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2014. / South Africa’s Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) scores are consistently well-below the average of other efficiency-driven economies, as well as for other sub-Saharan countries (Turton and Herrington, 2013). Despite this, a 2013 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report suggests that youth in sub-Saharan Africa demonstrate marked entrepreneurial propensity and potential (Kew, Herrington, Letovsky and Gale, 2013). As such, this thesis seeks to contribute an understanding of how black, youth entrepreneurs located in Johannesburg’s informal economy, seek to achieve legitimacy, and thus ‘become’, through the attainment of an accepted entrepreneurial identity. To this end, the role of hybridity, as a form of entrepreneurial capital, is explored as a potential mechanism. A hypothesised conceptual framework is accordingly evolved which explores the relationships between entrepreneurial identity aspiration, resource attainment, legitimacy, and how these are mediated by hybridity. Survey data gathered from young, black entrepreneurs (n=503) across Johannesburg’s seven administrative districts, using a structured questionnaire, and tested using multiple regression analysis, reveals the following: a direct relationship between entrepreneurial identity aspiration, entrepreneurial resources as well as the attainment of legitimacy is found, suggesting that black youth do indeed aspire to entrepreneurial legitimacy, and thus, seek to ‘become’ accordingly. Moreover, hybrid values are seen to mediate the relationship between entrepreneurial iii identity aspiration and resource attainment such that they accounted for the relationship. This suggests the potential for hybridity as a form of entrepreneurial capital such that values might have been seen to act as a form a catalyst for the attainment of other resources. The study contributes a conceptual framework which provides a theoretical understanding of young, black entrepreneurs in South Africa. More specifically, it suggests a values-mediated relationship between entrepreneurial identity aspiration and the attainment of resources such that youth seek legitimacy accordingly. As such, this study is the first to provide insights into the potential impact that hybrid values might have on shaping an entrepreneurial identity. Additionally, it contributes evidence to suggest that opportunity-driven behaviour motivates young, black entrepreneurs in Johannesburg’s informal economy, beyond necessity motives which are used to stereotypically frame this space. It is recommended that further research be undertaken to test this framework in other contexts in order to gain a finer understanding of hybridity as a potential entrepreneurial resource. This might additionally involve research into the cues that potentially result in a switching between different values.

Digitalization has changed the business environment for all businesses, whether large or small. As the multitude of digital solutions for the business world continuously develop and evolve, investigating how companies can better take advantage of digitalization is crucial for gaining and retaining competitive advantage. The current research field regarding digitalization is rather novel and has been heavily focusing on how digitalization can improve businesses, and which technical solutions may work best for companies. Thus, switching the focus and studying how companies can improve their digitalization presents an alternative perspective for the current research. As the research field has stressed the importance of studying digitalization within SMEs due to the lack of knowledge and know-how in smaller companies, we examine digitalization in the context of SMEs. In order to examine aspects that may be beneficial for digitalization, we chose to use entrepreneurial orientation as a lense. Entrepreneurial orientation considers a set of characteristics resulting in a level of entrepreneurship in all sizes of companies, and it is found to improve business performance. In order to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework regarding entrepreneurial orientation and digitalization, the following research question was formed: How is the digitalization of Swedish SMEs facilitated by Entrepreneurial Orientation? For gaining a comprehensive understanding on how digitalization is implemented to the business models of SMEs in Sweden, and how entrepreneurial orientation facilitates the implementation of digitalization, our theoretical framework is built upon three theories: entrepreneurial opportunities; digitalization; and entrepreneurial orientation. The construct used for observing entrepreneurial orientation consists of five elements: proactiveness, risk taking, innovativeness, autonomy and competitive aggressiveness. The study was conducted in Sweden through semi-structured interviews. The data was collected from small- to medium sized companies that all had implemented digitalization in their business models and were mature. The interviewees were all in managerial positions in the firms, either as CEOs or COOs. The semi-structured interviews resulted in rich data that provided us with insights in terms of digitalization, how digitalization is implemented to the business models of SMEs, and how the elements of entrepreneurial orientation play a role in this implementation. The results indicated that digitalization begins by making smaller changes to business models (e.g. adopting business systems). Gradually, the existing systems are completely replaced by digitalization, and the companies move on to exploring digitalization in terms of new products and services. In this process, entrepreneurial orientation has a facilitating effect through i.a. higher levels of risk taking, emphasis on being early in adopting new solutions, improved productivity and efficiency through innovativeness, and increased trust for employees to make decisions and to perform projects autonomously. The only element that did not show any clear indications in terms of digitalization was competitive aggressiveness, as SMEs do not use digitalization directly as a source of competitive advantage, but rather as a way to improve other aspects in their business models and thereby gain competitive advantage.

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