Competitive pressure and desire for success drive enterprises in general to involve in knowledge acquisition and dissemination activities that are becoming increasingly significant in the rapid changing and globalising economic world. In addition, with the increased mobility of information and the global labour force, knowledge and experience can be transferred instantaneously around the globe; thus, any advantage gained by one company can be eliminated by comparative improvements overnight. Therefore, the only comparative advantage a particular company will face will be its process of innovation – combining market and technology know-how with the resourceful talents of knowledgeable labour to solve a constant stream of competitive problems- and its ability to derive value from information. In this context, internal and external knowledge acquisition, intra-firm knowledge dissemination and management decisions taken in response to the significant information generated and subsequently filtered became the key factors of entrepreneurial success. This thesis explores how market orientation, learning orientation and entrepreneurial orientation systematically contribute to and are sources of competitive advantage in growth-oriented SMEs. The objective of this study was to investigate the likelihood of a growth-oriented enterprise established in Atlantic Canada to be involved in knowledge acquisition and dissemination activities and to succeed conditional on numerous internal and external factors. A ‘mixed-methods’ research approach was used in this study, comprised of: 1) a web-based questionnaire to study the knowledge management process and other aspects of entrepreneurial success and 2) ‘semi-structured’ interviews with a sample of the responding entrepreneurs. The findings suggest that knowledge management practices: external acquisition, intra-firm dissemination and responsiveness, do vary across the levels of entrepreneurial performance among the Atlantic Canadian SMEs investigated in the study. Having a market orientation and investing in human resources of the firm were found to be critical drivers of innovation leading to potential competitive advantage.

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University (Macquarie Graduate School of Management), 2006. / Bibliography: leaves 243-283.

Diss. Nr. 3607 Wirtschaftswiss. St. Gallen. / Literaturverz.

This thesis investigates the challenges and opportunities for waste management and circular innovation in the context of sustainable development in Zanzibar, with a specific focus on the relevance of youth circular entrepreneurship. Addressing the low integration of stakeholders, inadequate technical support for young innovators, and challenges in leveraging funding, this study aims to provide insights and recommendations to enhance circularity and waste management systems on the islands. Through a comprehensive literature review, qualitative interviews, and analysis of relevant policies and initiatives, the research uncovers the complex dynamics within Zanzibar's waste management value chain. The findings underscore the urgent need for improved stakeholder collaboration, emphasizing the active participation of government agencies, businesses, communities, civil society organizations, and youth entrepreneurs to drive sustainable practices. The study highlights the crucial role of youth circular entrepreneurship in fostering innovation and driving the transition to a circular economy. It identifies the limited technical support, resources, and infrastructure available to young innovators as key barriers, underscoring the necessity of capacity-building programs, mentorship initiatives, and tailored support mechanisms to empower and enable youth entrepreneurs to contribute to waste management and circular innovation. Furthermore, the research reveals the challenges associated with funding and investment for circular initiatives. It emphasizes the significance of climate finance, public-private partnerships, and the mobilization of international funding sources to overcome financial constraints and create an enabling environment for youth circular entrepreneurship. Based on the analysis, this thesis proposes a range of strategies to enhance circularity in Zanzibar, with a particular emphasis on engaging and empowering youth. These strategies encompass stakeholder collaboration, policy development, education and awareness campaigns targeted at youth, technological advancements, and the establishment of financial mechanisms to support youth-led circular innovation. By addressing the identified challenges and capitalizing on the opportunities, Zanzibar can foster a circular economy that not only addresses environmental concerns but also unlocks economic opportunities, resource efficiency, and community well-being. This research contributes to the knowledge base on waste management and circular innovation in Zanzibar, providing a foundation for future research and action toward sustainable development, with a specific focus on youth circular entrepreneurship.

This thesis investigates the factors influencing the internationalization of firms through a multi-layered analysis grounded in international business. It addresses the following questions. First, in what ways does the institutional environment facilitate or hinder the growth of start-ups? And in what ways does institutional diversity across countries affect internationalizing firms? Second, in light of the variety of internationalization patterns, what modifications are necessary to the theories of internationalization? Third, how do rapidly internationalizing firms explore and exploit capabilities? And in what ways does capability development differ between firms that realize early, rapid internationalization and those firms that do not? Answering the first set of questions involves recasting the comparative institutional analysis of national political economies. This thesis demonstrates that: 1) when national institutions are in transition, business entrepreneurs can bring about institutional change, or else act to avoid or adapt specific institutions for their own use; and 2) international institutional diversity seems to be less influential in determining the expansion pattern of rapidly internationalizing firms. Next, to address the second question, this thesis examines the factors influencing the speed of internationalization. The proposed models point to a larger role of entrepreneurs’ perception and the relevance of the resources factor, and better accommodate a wider variety of internationalization paths. In order to answer the third set of questions, this thesis investigates the early stage development of firm-level capabilities among internationalizing firms. The result points to: 1) the faster transformation of individual capabilities to firm-level routines; 2) a wider variety of routines for exploring external capabilities; and 3) a higher ability to exploit ordinary routines, among more rapidly internationalizing firms. Finally, this thesis discusses how each of the three levels of analysis relates to the other levels. The overall analysis demonstrates the value of multi-layered approach in investigating the firm’s internationalization.

Submitted by Elba Lopes (elba.lopes@fecap.br) on 2016-03-15T18:38:28Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Joao_Burke.pdf: 1956451 bytes, checksum: adadb62fea074a2e87b02a52a5f2328a (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T18:38:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Joao_Burke.pdf: 1956451 bytes, checksum: adadb62fea074a2e87b02a52a5f2328a (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-18 / The purpose of this thesis is to study the perception and the mitigation of diversifiable risks by angelinvestors in their investments in startups. Such theme is relevant in the entrepreneurship context in Brazil, and in the theoretical body of knowledge on Entrepreneurship and Corporate Finances. Angel investment is growing in Brazil, although only a few studies about risks in such context are found. In order to reach such goals, this thesis presents a chart of risks and relevant mitigation procedures, and proposes relevant classification in accordance with the angel investment phases and prominent risk dominion, as well as an exploratory study with three experienced Brazilian angels, following a semi-structured script whose empirical findings are framed into the relevant theories. Adopted data analysis technique is content analysis.In terms of results, based on fragments extracted from the interviews, angels are mostly concerned with operational risks, followed by market, financial and technological ones. In what refers to the 38 mechanisms of risk mitigation gathered in this thesis, answers point the majority of risk mitigation strategies organized in this thesis isreflected in the experience of the interviewed angels, since 26 mitigation mechanisms are endorsed by three or two of the interviewed angels. Additionally, another 10 mitigation mechanisms out of the 38 are endorsed by one of the interviewed angels; only two out of the mentioned 38 mitigation mechanisms are not adopted by any of the interviewed angels. / O objetivo desse trabalho ?? estudar a percep????o e a mitiga????o de riscos diversific??veis por investidores-anjos em seus investimentos em startups. Tal tem??tica tem relev??ncia no contexto do empreendedorismo no Brasil e no corpo te??rico sobre o empreendedorismo e finan??as. O volume de investimentos de tal natureza cresce no Brasil e, n??o obstante, h?? poucos estudos que versam sobre riscos neste contexto. Visando a atingir tais objetivos, realiza-se quadro resumo de riscos e 38 mecanismos correspondentes de mitiga????o apontados pela literatura, com proposta de classifica????o conforme fases do investimento-anjo e dom??nio de risco preponderante, bem como se efetua estudo explorat??rio com tr??s investidores-anjos brasileiros experientes, seguindo roteiro semiestruturado,cujos dados emp??ricos s??o cruzados com as teorias pertinentes. A t??cnica de an??lise de dados utilizada ?? a an??lise de conte??do. No que se refere aos resultados obtidos, conclui-se que fragmentos dos discursos dos entrevistados revelaram preocupa????es mais frequentemente relacionada aos riscos do dom??nio operacional, seguidos de riscos de mercado, financeiros e tecnol??gicos. No que tange aos 38 mecanismos de mitiga????o agrupados no presente trabalho, as respostas dos anjos apontam que a maioria das estrat??gias de mitiga????o colacionadas neste trabalho ?? corroboradapela pr??ticados anjos entrevistados, pois 26estrat??gias s??o endossadas por tr??s ou dois dos entrevistados. Complementarmente, 10 das 38 formas de mitiga????o s??o endossadas por um dos anjos entrevistados; apenas duas das 38 formas de mitiga????o n??o encontram apelo junto aos entrevistados.

In Quality Management and Total Quality Management (TQM) customer focus and customer value creation is of importance and in organisations it is of high priority. Quality Management has had an internal focus when it comes to customer value creation but in the 21st century there is a need for an outward orientation and to go beyond the organisational borders. Also an increasing interest in social, societal and environmental issues can be seen, for instance by customers, organisations, quality awards and within the quality area. An area that considers these issues is the societal entrepreneurial sector.   The purpose of this thesis has been to contribute to the knowledge and understanding about customer value creation from a system view. Additionally the purpose has been to contribute to the development of Quality Management. In order to fulfil the purpose, case studies have been performed. Cases within the societal entrepreneurial area have been studied and seven studies have been performed. Data have been collected through interviews, direct observations, participating observations and documents. All data have been collected empirically except in one study where a literature case study was used. The data were analysed through tools such as process mapping, attribute value mapping and rich picture process maps combined with analytical methods for case study research. The research journey started out from TQM and an internal perspective on customer value creation. As the studies went on, the system borders became wider as other areas important to customer value creation were identified: the customer value creating system went from an internal perspective to include an external perspective.    The findings contribute to earlier research findings and give a comprehensive and simplified picture of a complex phenomenon and an opportunity to understand customer value creation from a system view. This thesis provides an overall map of the customer value creating system. Additionally it contributes to the development of Quality Management by expanding the view on customer value creation to include both an internal and an external oriented perspective. It also contributes by suggesting a fifth step in the quality management movement ´System Quality Management´ that considers social, societal and environmental factors through continuous improvement before, during and after value creation for customers. Further it contributes with a developed view on customers and the concept of customer value creation.   The overall map provided includes three areas. Growth and development of societal entrepreneurial initiatives. The result shows important components for the creation of societal value based on the growth and development of societal entrepreneurial initiatives. Included are the processes, input and output important for societal value creation from unidentified needs until societal value can be delivered, management process and support process fields.  Customer value creation in the customer sphere.  Customer value has been found to be created beyond the use or purchase of a product or service. Value has also been found to be created for those that are not in direct contact with an initiative or its product or service. Customer value has been found to spread into society like ripples in a complex system of value creation. And Value Ripple Logic has been developed to describe this phenomenon. Management role in customer value creation. The management’s role in value creation has been found to be of importance in the creation of customer value in an indirect way through interaction with the surroundings and the initiative.  Factors and behaviours have been found which are connected to the leaders and their essential management processes along with their input and output.   The findings presented in this thesis have considerable potential for development. Further studies need to be done within the area concerning how customer value is created and to achieve an even more comprehensive picture of the customer value creating system and the suggested fifth step. The results presented in this thesis are a contribution to the knowledge and understanding about customer value creation from a system view and the development of the Quality Management. / <p>Vid tidpunkten för disputationen var följande delarbeten opublicerade: delarbete 6 accepterat för publicering och delarbete 7 inskickat.</p><p>At the time of the doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished: paper 6 accepted for publication and  paper 7 submitted.</p>

As depicted in Chapter I, 2-oxoglutarate- (2OG) dependent oxygenases are ubiquitous in living systems and display a wide range of cellular functions, spanning metabolism, transcription, and translation. Although functionally diverse, the 2OG oxygenases share a high degree of structural similarities between their catalytic sites. From a medicinal chemistry point of view, the combination of biological diversity and structural similarity presents a rather challenging task for the development of selective small molecules for functional studies in vivo. The non-selective metal chelator 8-hydroxyquinoline (8HQ) was used as a template for the generation of tool compound <b>I</b> for the KDM4 subfamily of histone demethylases via application of the Betti reaction. Structural analogue <b>II</b> was used as the corresponding negative control (Figure A). These compounds were characterised in vitro against a range of 2OG oxygenases and subsequently used for studies in cells. <b>I</b> displays selectivity for KDM4 and increases the level of the H3K9me3 histone mark in cells. It has an effect on the post-translational modification pattern of histone H3, but not other histones, and reduces the viability of lung cancer cells, but not normal lung cells, derived from the same patient. <b>I</b> also stabilises hypoxia-inducable factor HIF in cells via a mechanism which seems to be independent from prolyl hydroxylase inhibition. This work is described in Chapters II and III. The chemical biology research in epigenetics is complemented by qualitative analysis conducted in the social sciences at Said Business School. With a global view on how innovation occurs and may actively be fostered, Chapter IV focuses on the potential of epigenetics in drug discovery and how this process may actively be promoted within the framework of open innovation. Areas of focus include considerations of incremental and disruptive technology; how to claim, demarcate, and control the market; how knowledge brokering occurs; and insights about process, management, organisation, and culture of open innovation. In contrast to the open-skies approach adopted for the development of a tool compound in Chapters II and III, a focused-library approach was taken for the generation of a tool compound for the OGFOD1 ribosomal prolyl hydroxylase. The development of a suitable in vitro activity assay for OGFOD1 in Chapter V enabled the development of lead compound <b>III</b> in Chapter VI. <b>III</b> is selective for OGFOD1 against the structurally closely related prolyl hydroxylase PHD2.