Thesis (PhD) - Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship, Swinburne University of Technology - 2009. / Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Business and Enterprise, Swinburne University of Technology, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 190-211)

Thesis (D.Com.(Business Management)) - University of Pretoria, 2006. / Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (MTech (Entrepreneurship))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2020 / Entrepreneurship is widely acknowledged as an effective means of reducing poverty, creating employment, and promoting economic empowerment at the individual, family, and community levels. Although the country is endowed with abundant natural resources, rates of unemployment among the youth of Chad remain alarmingly high. The main objective of this study was to determine the factors which militate against the youth engaging in entrepreneurial activities in N’Djamena, the capital city of Chad. A random sample 150 young Chadian entrepreneurs was selected from a research population which comprised all of the young entrepreneurs in N’Djamena who were registered on the databases of the FONAJ, a national fund which provides financial support to young entrepreneurs in Chad, and the Trade and Personal Property Credit Register (TPPCR) of Chad. The sample size was calculated according to a formula which is widely acknowledged as being appropriate for quantitative studies and 110 potential respondents to the survey questionnaire from which the data were obtained were selected from the former database and 40 from the latter. A letter of consent was obtained from the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sports to collect data in N’Djamena and the researcher provided an assurance that all of the information which the participants provided would be treated as strictly confidential and that the participants would remain anonymous. The findings of the study revealed that young entrepreneurs in Chad were faced with obstacles such as a lack of funding, a lack of support from the government for SMEs, and lack of encouragement and financial support from their families. Although there are programmes to assist young entrepreneurs, it was evident from the findings that many experience great difficulty in ensuring the success and sustainability of their businesses. Consequently, they still require additional support with respect to funding, equipment, and assistance and encouragement from their families, financial institutions, and the government, in order to achieve success in their businesses. The thesis concludes with appropriate recommendations for both the government and the young entrepreneurs of N’Djamena to provide relevant insights into how the youth can best be integrated into the entrepreneurial sector in the interests of combating unemployment and enabling them to make a meaningful contribution to the growth of the national economy.

The two essays in this dissertation investigate how entrepreneurial capabilities are developed in intra- and inter-organizational relationships. Entrepreneurial capabilities are central to firms’ survival and performance. However, the role of various forms of relationships in the development and deployment of entrepreneurial capabilities remains understudied. The constellation of the two essays in this dissertation aims to offer insights about the impact of these relationships and the potential areas for future research. I investigate various aspects of entrepreneurial capabilities, such as value creation, value capture, and innovativeness. The first essay is an empirical investigation of the impact of alliances, as a form of inter-organizational relationship, on firms’ capabilities to create and capture value and improve performance. The second essay empirically examines the interplay between social capital, as a byproduct of intra-organizational relationships, and causal entrepreneurial process on innovativeness in new ventures. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Internationale Migranten werden häufiger selbständig und gründen Unternehmen als Menschen ohne interkulturelle Erfahrung. Aktuelle Theorien legen nahe, dass ihre unternehmerische Aktivität durch spezielle Ressourcen und institutionelle Arrangements ausgelöst wird, die es attraktiver machen unternehmerische Chancen zu nützen, als Beschäftigung am Arbeitsmarkt zu suchen. Im Gegensatz dazu beschreibt diese Dissertation eine neue Perspektive auf das Phänomen. Sie entwickelt die Hypothese, dass interkulturelle Erfahrungen die Fähigkeit erhöhen, unternehmerische Chancen zu erkennen, indem sie Zugang zu neuem Wissen schaffen und kreatives Denken unterstützen. Die Ergebnisse einer Querschnittstudie (n=444) und eines longitudinalen natürlichen Experimentes (n=243) bestätigen die genannte und weitere Hypothesen und zeigen, dass interkulturelle Erfahrung, kulturelle Distanz, Wissen über neue Produkte und Dienstleistungen und divergentes Denken die Fähigkeit beeinflussen, unternehmerische Chancen wahrzunehmen. Die Ergebnisse bieten Implikationen für Forschung, Politik und Praxis in den Bereichen Entrepreneurship, Bildung und Migration. (author's abstract)

This study highlights the need for a youth entrepreneurship education program of value in South African secondary schools. It examines the enterprising tendencies of grade 12 learners in 10 secondary schools in the Lejweleputswa District of the Free State province, South Africa, using the General Enterprising Tendency (GET) test. An investigation into the current status of entrepreneurship in South Africa revealed that there is a lack of entrepreneurs and not enough people who have the orientation and skills to create new businesses. This leads to a situation where the South African economy performs poorly and the recent financial crisis exuberated South Africa’s challenges in terms of poverty, unemployment and income inequality. In addition, youth unemployment has worsened as a result of the recession, because the youth lack the needed qualifications, experience and skills to compete for the few job opportunities in the labour market. Entrepreneurship and innovation are widely seen as key sources of renewed economic growth, creating jobs and advancing human welfare. This study shows that the South African youth has a positive enterprising tendency. The ‘General Enterprising Tendency Questionnaire’, completed by 530 grade 12 learners was evaluated and learners scored within the average score, although at the lower end of the suggested average. When the questionnaire’s constructs are evaluated, learners scored below the suggested average score on ‘need for achievement’, ‘need for autonomy’, ‘creative tendency’ and ‘moderate/calculated risks’, but above the suggested average for ‘drive and determination’, but it can be conclude that learners shows a tendency to be entrepreneurial. However, the study suggests that grade 12 learners in the Lejweleputswa sample have overrated expectations on the ‘drive and determination construct’. It appears that they do not have the propensity to be creative and have a low drive to be autonomous. The study also reveals that there are no practical significant differences between the mean values for the demographic variables school, age, gender, home language and ethnic group regarding the measured constructs. Major shortfalls in the current education system are highlighted, including teachers with no previous knowledge of commercial subjects that are forced to teach entrepreneurship, most schools do not implement Economic and Management Science (EMS) as learning area and as from 2013, EMS will only be introduced to the curriculum in the Senior phase (grade 7 to 9). In addition, learners are not motivated to be creators of jobs, but to rather seek employment. The study concludes that public schools in South Africa do not have the capacity to implement a successful program of youth entrepreneurship education. The involvement of Government, Department of Education, schools, teachers, parents, learners, entrepreneurs and organised business is needed to promote youth entrepreneurship in South Africa. The study expands on recommendations and presents a national strategy to enhance youth entrepreneurship in South African schools, but concludes that future research is needed. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

This study highlights the need for a youth entrepreneurship education program of value in South African secondary schools. It examines the enterprising tendencies of grade 12 learners in 10 secondary schools in the Lejweleputswa District of the Free State province, South Africa, using the General Enterprising Tendency (GET) test. An investigation into the current status of entrepreneurship in South Africa revealed that there is a lack of entrepreneurs and not enough people who have the orientation and skills to create new businesses. This leads to a situation where the South African economy performs poorly and the recent financial crisis exuberated South Africa’s challenges in terms of poverty, unemployment and income inequality. In addition, youth unemployment has worsened as a result of the recession, because the youth lack the needed qualifications, experience and skills to compete for the few job opportunities in the labour market. Entrepreneurship and innovation are widely seen as key sources of renewed economic growth, creating jobs and advancing human welfare. This study shows that the South African youth has a positive enterprising tendency. The ‘General Enterprising Tendency Questionnaire’, completed by 530 grade 12 learners was evaluated and learners scored within the average score, although at the lower end of the suggested average. When the questionnaire’s constructs are evaluated, learners scored below the suggested average score on ‘need for achievement’, ‘need for autonomy’, ‘creative tendency’ and ‘moderate/calculated risks’, but above the suggested average for ‘drive and determination’, but it can be conclude that learners shows a tendency to be entrepreneurial. However, the study suggests that grade 12 learners in the Lejweleputswa sample have overrated expectations on the ‘drive and determination construct’. It appears that they do not have the propensity to be creative and have a low drive to be autonomous. The study also reveals that there are no practical significant differences between the mean values for the demographic variables school, age, gender, home language and ethnic group regarding the measured constructs. Major shortfalls in the current education system are highlighted, including teachers with no previous knowledge of commercial subjects that are forced to teach entrepreneurship, most schools do not implement Economic and Management Science (EMS) as learning area and as from 2013, EMS will only be introduced to the curriculum in the Senior phase (grade 7 to 9). In addition, learners are not motivated to be creators of jobs, but to rather seek employment. The study concludes that public schools in South Africa do not have the capacity to implement a successful program of youth entrepreneurship education. The involvement of Government, Department of Education, schools, teachers, parents, learners, entrepreneurs and organised business is needed to promote youth entrepreneurship in South Africa. The study expands on recommendations and presents a national strategy to enhance youth entrepreneurship in South African schools, but concludes that future research is needed. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

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In broad terms, this thesis asks ‘how does microfinance facilitate and alter the nature of the opportunity development process?’ The literature review builds upon previous discussion by emphasizing the intellectual heritage of the opportunity debate. In doing so, the review ties in with perspectives from development economics which criticises normative rational decision-making frameworks which have dominated economic thought. It establishes the premises of understanding opportunities from the point of view of an entrepreneur’s ideas, associated actions which are embedded in a series of network relationships (Dimov, 2011). This view of understanding the substantive nature of opportunities is also crucial in understanding the methodological approach adopted.

This thesis develops and applies an original conceptual and methodological approach to the study of new venture creation in two Chinese subcultures: Hong Kong and Shanghai. Primary attention is given to processes of new venture creation which, it is argued, provides the study with a more appropriate conceptual base for investigating the complex web of elements affecting the way individuals organise resources to create new ventures. A process view of new venture creation provides for more sophisticated theorising on entrepreneurship issues, such as capital, opportunity, human resources, personality traits, and the micro and macro environment. Although the approach developed within the thesis is aimed at advancing understanding of entrepreneurship generally, the analysis is based on fieldwork material collected from two Chinese subcultures. Here the aim is to understand Chinese entrepreneurship and thus Chinese economic success. Chinese business and entrepreneurship literatures are, therefore, examined. Three conceptual themes: institutionalisation, sensemaking/enactment and social embeddedness, are integrated to form the analytical framework of the thesis. Most existing entrepreneurship studies see entrepreneurship as an outcome of the availability of certain factors such as personality traits, capital, opportunity, risk, human resources, economic structure, state policy, and the social/cultural environment. As a result, these studies tend to focus their research on specific factors as if these are concrete, static elements that exist out there'. This study, however, develops a social constructionist view of new venture creation and argues that new venture creation is a consequence of individuals' ongoing sensemaking and enactment of their environment. It is the institutionalised meanings of entrepreneurship that shape the way individuals make sense and enact their environment, thus giving rise to the behaviour of new venture creation. Therefore to understand entrepreneurship, it is essential to understand the institutionalised meanings of entrepreneurship and how they are realised in the two Chinese subcultures. Emphasis is placed on how and why these meanings are shared, shaped and institutionalised and how these in turn shape the way individuals make sense and enact their environment. The study is conducted through an interpretive, reflexive and ethnographic-style of fieldwork. By analysing how informants from the two Chinese subcultures talk about the different aspects of entrepreneurship, key themes related to entrepreneurship in the Chinese context are identified, further explored and analysed. In particular, the way in which these meanings are shared, shaped and institutionalised are comparatively examined. Following from this, the manner in which these institutionalised meanings then shape the distinguishable characteristics of Chinese business and the pattern of new venture creation are examined. Through investigation of the institutionalised meanings of entrepreneurship, this thesis argues that a social constructionist approach advances understandings of entrepreneurship in general and Chinese entrepreneurship in particular.