The process of internationalization may be more difficult for emerging markets' artificial intelligence startups (AI startups) due to several challenges. These challenges include weak institutions, limited financial support, political instability, lack of adequate local infrastructure. Significantly less research has being done on entrepreneurial ecosystems, especially in emerging markets. Therefore, this study aims to address the current state of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, in emerging markets and AI startups internationalization process. As a result, the study focuses on the challenges faced by AI startup within the Nigerian and South African entrepreneurial ecosystem, to address how the entrepreneurial ecosystem affects AI startups internationalisation process. To answer the research question, qualitative research was carried out using semi structure interviews with different case companies from South Africa and Nigeria. Although these countries are similar in nature, AI startups face various internal challenges in terms of government policies, institutions, and infrastructure. Based on the findings, it was noticed that there is a relationship between the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the growth and survival of AI startups. The elements of an Entrepreneurial ecosystem (social, cultural, and material elements) also influence the internationalisation of AI startups within an entrepreneurial ecosystem space. Entrepreneurial ecosystem challenges were identified which discourages or hinder the growth of AI startups within the Nigerian and South African markets. In conclusion, we noticed that African AI startups prefer to practice their business model in the home markets and flourish their confidence levels before seeking internationalization opportunities. Most of the case AI startups prefer to start internationalization from close psychic market before going distance international markets. However, these AI startups adopt network relationship approach through key business partners for international expansion.

This study’s main purpose is to explore what young individuals need/require when becoming entrepreneurs. To do that, the views and perspectives of students, senior entrepreneurs and incubators were analyzed. This study’s main contribution is to the knowledge and understanding of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial education. Furthermore, this study has a practical application in the form of a suggestion on how to improve this study’s empirical case: a new project designed by the pre-incubator office Drivhuset Uppsala. Methodologically, a qualitative research study with interviews as its main technique indicates this study’s main findings and conclusions. What young individuals need/require in order to become entrepreneurs is; putting the theories they are learning or have learned into action, learning through entrepreneurship in the form of learning-by-doing and feeling the support in creating values from the entrepreneurial environment; called ‘the entrepreneurial ecosystem’ by one of this study’s actors. Theories indicate the importance of incubators participating in entrepreneurial education in different forms. UU incubators are, by the actors of this study, not perceived to do that. These conclusions proved to be complicated and are recommended as important topics for further research. This study focuses on Uppsala and incubators connected to UU. The empirical material was analyzed with the Venture Creation in learning-by- doing and Effectuation theories, and the findings indicate that Drivhuset Uppsala should focus on venture creation programs in designing their new project.

Throughout the last years, we have been able to experience one of the most significant economic disruptions in history: The Digital Revolution. In a world that becomes more and more digitalized, companies must get an understanding of the fundamental rules of doing business in the digitalized business world in order to be able to innovate effectively and succeed with their business. The purpose of this paper is to get an in-depth understanding on how the digitalization affected the dynamics of doing business, and what the necessary key components are according to the literature and interviewees to succeed as a business in the digital era. Our contribution to the theory is achieved by conducting a multiple-case study in which eight case companies were selected and interviewed via semi-structured interviews. Subsequently, a grounded analysis was conducted to identify the subjective success factors of the interviewees which resulted in five major themes which contribute significantly to a firm’s success. We came to the conclusion that the main success factors for Start-Ups in the digital transformation are: 1. Lean Approach to Customer Orientation, 2. Entrepreneurial Goals & Culture, 3. Participation in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, 4. Integration & Utilization of Third-Party Technologies, and 5. Acquisition of Capital for Business Growth.

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.

Leadership and entrepreneurship have often been associated to the ability of guiding ventures, but less to the ability of leading a startup community. This master’s thesis examines literature on entrepreneurship, in particular Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (EE), to understand the role of leadership in sustaining a startup community. Although Stam’s (2015) EE framework recognizes that leadership enables entrepreneurship, it doesn’t define its characteristics and therefore, a more theoretical understanding is demanded. We have thus developed a conceptual framework that aims to facilitate empirical explorations and future analyses of the leadership dimension of Stam’s (2015) EE framework. Our conceptual framework of Entrepreneurial Leadership (EL) includes the following characteristics: collective and bottom-up approach, presence of formal and informal leaders, promotion of social proximity and mentorship driven leadership. The use of interviews as research method and our EL conceptual framework as analytical tool was useful to explore and understand the current state of EL in the startup communities of Amsterdam and Utrecht. On the one hand, the startup community of Amsterdam experiences a shared leadership where formal and informal leaders are recognized. Moreover, the strong presence of supporting organizations, networks of mentors and entrepreneurial events favour interaction among the stakeholders of the EE. On the other hand, Utrecht, a smaller and younger startup community, lacks success entrepreneurial stories that results in supporting organizations exercising the leadership role. Furthermore, there is a poor presence of entrepreneurial events and networks of entrepreneurs that lead to an unconnected community.

The literature argues that the immigrants act in segregated communities and they, in most of the cases, establish low-risk and low return businesses within their ethnic communities. The importance of connecting immigrant entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial ecosystems is a challenge to be overcome taking into consideration that the immigrants usually are not involved in it as a consequence of a lack of information about how it can facilitate immigrant entrepreneurship. The aim of this research is to explore how the entrepreneurial ecosystem can facilitate the immigrant entrepreneurship by confronting the stories of the entrepreneurial ecosystem to the stories of the immigrant entrepreneurs in Sweden, in context of Kronoberg region. Qualitative analysis approach is applied and in-depth interviews are performed on seven organizations that are part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and four immigrant entrepreneurs. Collected empirical data is then transformed into narratives for each interviewed person. The analysis and the answer to the question are done based on the structure of Isenberg’s Domains of the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem. The research showed that the entrepreneurial ecosystem can facilitate the immigrant entrepreneurship by providing micro-loans, alternative ways of financing, equal access to opportunities, embracing the experimentation and drive, consultancy in different areas as legal regulation, accounting and business plan preparation, free of charge working space, seminars and workshops, help with understanding and translation of the language, contacts with early customers and business partners and by providing access to new markets. However, empirical data showed that even though these resources exist, there is a missing link between the available resources and immigrant entrepreneurs. What is more, improvement is needed with regards to the challenge of the language barrier and trust issues. Finally, the results of this thesis contribute in raising the awareness for the need of a more strategic approach to immigrant entrepreneurs as a vulnerable sub-group in the society and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. What is more, the immigrant entrepreneurs can use it as a valuable source of information for the different benefits are provided by the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

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.

This case study features an exploratory investigation involving capability development among technologically oriented student entrepreneurs within the University of Ottawa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Utilization took place of a mixed methods approach involving a survey of student entrepreneurs, interviews with facilitators and student entrepreneurs, and secondary data where possible. This mixed methods approach was necessary to collect a ‘thickness’ of data to justify a case study research design, including a check for robustness such as to demonstrate ‘trustworthiness’ of the data. Unique insights build on existing literature to offer a contribution to knowledge. Although the university ecosystem offered varied supporting mechanisms, perceived barriers also existed. Moreover, invariably the development of threshold rather than dynamic capabilities took place. Implications for practitioners follow from the theoretical contributions in order to facilitate a more effective university entrepreneurial ecosystem. In particular, a need exists to enhance the development of capabilities that build traction and scalability.

Governments at the bottom of the pyramid are putting an increasing amount of trust inthe private sector to help build infrastructure and alleviate poverty. Therefore, finding better ways to support local entrepreneurial initiatives is crucial. Corporations and organisations alike are starting BoP initiatives to help with these challenges, yet knowledge of how these challenges can best be solved remains underdeveloped. It is suggested that creating shared value through partnerships between corporations and the BoP can help alleviate poverty as well as benefit the corporation. In sharing knowledge and resources with the BoP, corporations can also help develop the entrepreneurial ecosystem in BoP regions. Research regarding entrepreneurial ecosystems in the BoP or the workings of partnerships within BoP markets such as the Sub-Saharan African BoP is scarce. Through a thematic study of perspectives on entrepreneurship and partnerships from three different stakeholder groups active in the Sub-Saharan African BoP market, this study seeks to add to the existing body of literature on entrepreneurial ecosystems and partnerships in BoP markets. Our findings suggest that partnerships between entrepreneurs and corporations could help mitigate some ofthe challenges entrepreneurs face, provided the stakeholders have shared goals and commitment to achieve impactful and mutually beneficial results. Currently, these goals appear to be slightly misaligned.

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