This thesis explores the contemporary role of guanxi in Chinese entrepreneurship. Although previous research has considered the subject of guanxi and Chinese entrepreneurship, this study aims at providing a deeper and richer understanding of its roles and nature. The study focuses on the relationship between guanxi and Chinese entrepreneurs and specifically deals with the question, “Has the importance of guanxi been diminishing in Chinese entrepreneurship?” In order to deepen the understanding of guanxi, its nature, characteristics, benefits, advantages, disadvantages, process and applications are explored. Furthermore, as there are many commonalities between networking and guanxi, the study also distinguishes the differences between the two subject matters. In many aspects, it is important to understand the attitude and behaviour of Chinese entrepreneurs. As Chinese entrepreneurs are affected by traditional Chinese heritage, the study also uses different approaches to explain the difference between western and eastern entrepreneurship. The specific qualitative and quantitative technique used for data generation is the adoption of case studies, surveys and telephone interviews. A total of two in-depth case studies, two surveys and thirty telephone interviews have been conducted. From these findings, respondents and interviewees expressed their view points on how guanxi related to their businesses. The findings are used to identify the relationship between guanxi and modern Chinese entrepreneurs, the changing nature of guanxi, and in turn how the changing business environment affects guanxi. The findings from this study conclude that although guanxi is important in China, it is only a tool to implement business strategies but never a substitution, and its importance has been diminishing in Chinese entrepreneurship.

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

<p> Using a single case study methodology and the theoretical lens of collective memory, this study explored the stories told in a family-owned business. From the research, a robust picture of these stories emerged. </p><p> Interviews, observation, and document review occurred at a family-owned, agriculturally based manufacturing business. Three family member and 22 non&ndash;family member employees were interviewed for this study. From the interviews, five stories emerged, which met the criteria of being shared among either the family member employees, the non&ndash;family member employees, or both employee categories. </p><p> Collective memory, as defined by Casey (1997), provided the theoretical foundation for the study, allowing the stories identified to be considered in relation to history and commemoration (Schwartz, 2005) and nonparticipant narrators (Casey, 1997; Linde, 1997). In the analysis of both family members&rsquo; and non&ndash;family members&rsquo; stories, the notion of a hybrid story emerged. A hybrid story incorporates two distinct stories, a family story and an organizational story, that could each stand independently. However, within the hybrid story, the two distinct stories are united into one cohesive story. </p><p> The identification of the hybrid story answered the calls of multiple scholars. Using collective memory to analyze these stories addressed Boje&rsquo;s (2008) appeal for more theorizing and research uniting collective memory and organizational stories. The hybrid story represents a new type of entrepreneurial story, as Wry et al. (2011) requested. Stories, including the hybrid story, are an artifact of an organization&rsquo;s culture. As such, the hybrid story presents further cultural exploration, as Nicholson (2008) invited. Finally, the inclusion of non&ndash;family member employees&rsquo; data allowed for their representation within this study, a gap previously noted within the family business literature (James et al., 2012; Mitchell et al., 2003; Sharma, 2004). </p><p> The implications of the hybrid story are unknown at this time; however, some benefits for family-owned businesses can be hypothesized. First, the hybrid story may provide employees with a greater sense of stability. Second, hybrid stories may create increased stability and understanding during periods of organizational change. Finally, hybrid stories may have implications for increased legitimacy.</p>

<p>This dissertation extends and contributes to the extant literature on social enterprise by examining the enterprise-beneficiary relationship in social enterprises with particular focus on performance measurement and social value creation. Ironically, while social missions and commitment to beneficiaries is what distinguishes social entrepreneurship from traditional entrepreneurship, little research has been conducted to examine this relationship. Utilizing a portfolio of 101 social enterprises based in New England, this study consisted of two phases: the development of a typology of social enterprise based on the enterprise-beneficiary relationships present in the portfolio, and a comparative case study closely examining six cases of social enterprise across the typology. </p><p> By examining beneficiary positioning, level of interaction, and relationship characteristics four archetypes of social enterprise were identified: general benefit enterprises, philanthropic enterprises, social business enterprises, and relational social enterprises. Examining these models, the concept of entwinement emerged. I define entwinement as the mutual reliance and commitment between two parties, in these cases the enterprises and the individual beneficiaries they seek to serve. These models fall along a continuum of entwinement, ranging from no entwinement in the general benefit enterprises to high entwinement in the relational social enterprises. By examining two cases each of philanthropic enterprises, social business enterprises and relational enterprises I found that entwinement has positive implications for stakeholder salience and depth of impact for individual beneficiaries. I also found that while funding requirements are a key driver of the development of formalized social performance measurement programs, the level of entwinement moderates that relationship. </p><p> This dissertation contributes directly to stakeholder theory and to the social entrepreneurship literature. It offers an explanation for how managers recognize the salience of their stakeholder groups by raising entwinement as a key mechanism through which managers recognize the legitimacy and power of the beneficiary group. By utilizing the capabilities approach from the development literature, this study also presents a framework through which depth of impact can be examined across issue are and business model design. Finally, this paper identified funder requirements as a key driver of social performance measurement systems, suggesting that even as social enterprises diversify their revenue streams and business models they still bear significant semblance to non-profit organizations. </p>

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

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Innovators and high-technology entrepreneurs have three principal options for transforming their innovations into viable business models and deriving value from their innovations. They may: market intellectual know-how (via licensing and/or proof-of-concept), market intermediate products (i.e., sell components/sub-systems), or market end-products (i.e., sell complete systems/solutions). In this dissertation, I aim to contribute to the organizational design and marketing strategy literature with three separate essays that study these fundamental strategy alternatives, which are called "product form choice". In the first essay, I explore product form choices in the context of early-stage and established firms engaged in new product development projects, and generate a theoretical framework that shows (a) how technology, market, and enterprise-resource related factors systematically impact this choice, and (b) how the enterprise coordinates with other actors in its "eco-system" to design, produce, and market effective products/solutions based on the core innovation. The other two essays use two different methodologies and contexts to systematically test some key refutable predictions from the framework developed in Essay 1. In particular, in the second essay, I use simulated experimental scenarios and ordered-choice models to investigate explore product form choices in the context of early-stage ventures seeking angel investor funding to examine the effect of technology, marketing, and firm-level factors on product form decisions. In the third essay, I use primary survey data obtained from executives from firms selling industrial equipment in four industry sectors to study how coordination and safeguarding motives, in conjunction with a firm's unique set of product development resources impact their product form decision.

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No description available.