Despite the financing gap in the sub-Saharan Africa power sector, private investors struggle to capitalize on the opportunity because of the high failure rate of power project development companies. Using the conceptual framework of the behavioral finance theory, this multiple case study was conducted to explore the strategies used by executives of 4 companies in sub-Saharan Africa who successfully developed power projects within the last 5 years. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and a review of government and institutions' websites. Yin's 5-phased cycle for analyzing case studies provided the guidelines for data analysis. Three themes emerged from data analysis: market knowledge, stakeholder alignment, and commercial viability. Findings revealed strategies that current and aspiring power project development company executives may use as a guide to mitigate business failure risks. Implications of these findings for positive social change include the potential to increase the power generation capacity in sub-Saharan Africa and provide electricity to many of the 620 million Africans who currently lack access. Implications also include poverty alleviation and economic growth through creation of successful power project development companies.

Small business owners struggle to sustain their businesses over time. According to U.S. Census data in 2014, only half of all small businesses survived beyond the first 5 years of operation, and only a third survived longer than 10 years. Grounded with the strategic contingency theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies small service business owners used to succeed beyond the first 5 years of operation. The target population consisted of 4 owners of small service and retail businesses in Arlington, VA, with fewer than 50 employees who have succeeded in business longer than 5 years. Through a process of methodological triangulation, data collected from financial documents, publicly available records, and external sources supplemented semistructured interview data. Using thematic analysis by coding narrative segments, 3 themes emerged including developing a unique marketing strategy, developing strategic leadership skills, and required business skills for sustainability. Successful unique marketing strategies emerged from understanding customer needs. The results from this study could benefit business owners by improving business success rates, which would have a positive economic effect on local community, including job creation, and sustainable economic stability. The implications for positive social change might include the reversal of small business failure trends through the application of successful business strategies.

Millennials, who by 2024 will make up approximately 34% of the U.S. workforce, will play a critical role in organizational strategies and productivity, as will the supervisors who manage them. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the intergenerational communication strategies that Generation X supervisors used to motivate and engage high performing millennials in the workplace. The framework for this study was Mannheim's generation theory and the 2-factor theory of motivation by Herzberg, Mausner, and Snyderman. Data were collected from parks and recreation employees in the southeastern region of the United States, including 4 Generation X supervisors who completed semistructured interviews and 2 millennial cohort focus groups. Data were transcribed, coded, and validated through member checking and methodological triangulation. The 4 themes identified were culture and socialization, relationship building and intergenerational connectedness, employee growth and development, and rewards and recognition. The findings of this research may benefit millennials, frontline supervisors, parks and recreation agencies, and leaders in other organizations by providing an understanding of generational needs. The data presented in this study may support positive social change by showing that supervisors and millennial employees can build high quality relationships within their organizations, enabling those organizations to support the communities they serve.

This dissertation aimed to investigate the use of Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs) as supportive materials in students&rsquo / learning process. In this respect, a MUVE named Quest Atlantis had been used by students in formal and informal learning settings. The students participated in a project that was developed based on an ecological problem resulted in fish decline in a river. As being a multiple case study research, data were collected from four separate cases, selected from three different places. Specifically, students&rsquo / and teachers&rsquo / perceptions were gathered, and challenges and barriers of implementations were investigated. The research results indicated that most of the students liked learning in environments using MUVEs. Besides being intrinsically motivated towards learning science topics, the students stated that it was a good way of reinforcing what they learn in school settings. Students found MUVEs effective learning environments as it allowed them to learn with active participation / rather than being taught as it usually happens in school context. The teachers had positive opinions about the use of MUVEs. They claimed that MUVEs have the potential to support students&rsquo / learning visually and let students learn through an inquiry-based learning approach with situated information to virtual settings. According to the teachers, MUVEs allowed various skill developments of the students and it created a dynamic learning environment in which students interacted and collaborated with each other. Even though students and teachers have positive perception about the use of MUVEs in learning setting, it is quite challenging to place these applications to learning settings, especially to formal ones. There are numerous challenges and barriers that can be faced with during the implementation process. In this research, the challenges and barriers are grouped under four main categories: 1) teacher related, 2) student related, 3) system related, and 4) technology related. When the implementation results of formal and informal learning setting were compared, it was possible to see how the very dimensions of formal learning settings made the innovative technology-based implementations difficult. On the other hand, informal learning settings were more flexible learning environments allowing a better learning experience for the students.

行動行銷將為行銷的未來(Rick, 2005)，透過無線科技的應用，消費者可以以隨時隨地接收到廣告主所發送的行銷活動訊息，並產生即時的互動，研究也顯示此科技應用的有效性，雖這群使用者目前正在增加，但仍為少數，在台灣更是如此。本研究主要目的從創新擴散觀點探討台灣行動行銷為何擴散如此緩慢，此解釋性個案研究將對同件事件提出對立的解釋，並指出如何應用此解釋到其他的創新擴散過程中；以組織層級為主，針對行銷部門，本研究將以多重及嵌入式個案研究，藉由主要影響科技採用與擴散的四因素，包括高階主管的支持、採用單位的專業程度、外界資訊的來源與外部環境所致的壓力，加上與該組織內部與外部環境(包括組織給予的資源與預算、科技廠商給予的專業知識支援、科技廠商對科技環境的教育與訓練，及組織的外部環境對組織策略的影響)來瞭解行動行銷在台灣綜合廣告代理產業的型態。 / Mobile marketing would be the future of marketing. (Rick, 2005). Consumers can receive messages of marketing campaigns from advertisers anywhere and anytime, and make interactions instantly. Studies also show the effectiveness of this new marketing mix tool. The adopters have continually emerged, though there are still few, Taiwan, in particular. The aim of this study is to explain why mobile marketing in Taiwan diffuse slowly from the perspective of innovation diffusion. The research is an explanatory case study, which would pose competing explanations for the same set of events and to indicate how such explanations may apply to other innovation diffusion processes. Conducted at entire organization level, marketing department in particular, an embedded, multiple case study would be used to describe the pattern of mobile marketing diffusion in Taiwan advertising agencies by utilizing four important facilitating factors(including Top management support, Professionalism of adopting unit, External information sources, and External pressure), and a diffusion circuit(including Resources and budget, Expertise from the professional unit, Education and training to the host environment, and Strategic impact to the host organization).

This study centers on an exploration of the similarities and differences between social enterprises, commercial enterprises and public sector teams that operate within the same market. The study seeks to contribute to the establishment of social entrepreneurship theory by furthering knowledge of the boundaries of social entrepreneurship. The contextual influence on the development of social entrepreneurship theory is becoming increasingly well understood. As such, different theoretical streams are accounted for and systematically structured into a model containing four contextually anchored approaches, two American and two European, which compares their structures according to eight characteristics. It is on the basis of this model that three cases, one social enterprise, one commercial enterprise and one public sector team all operating towards work integration activities and placements for the long term unemployed are presented and analyzed from two perspectives: one focusing on how they compare to the characteristics and the other on how they compare to the approaches in their entirety. It shows how there are many similarities between the three cases that are lost when compared to each approach. Furthermore, the analysis discovered a limitation within existing social entrepreneurship models, as none of the models turned out to be fully applicable in a Swedish context. Therefore, this study proposes a tentative model for a Nordic approach, rooted in the specific socioeconomic and institutional context of the Nordic states.

No description available.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-02-23T12:19:21Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) A Theory of Power in Software Ecosystems formed by Small to Medium Enterprises _ GeorgeValença.pdf: 3429187 bytes, checksum: 8f170a2be6f42b4cf8f070f5f7ebd7b5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-23T12:19:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) A Theory of Power in Software Ecosystems formed by Small to Medium Enterprises _ GeorgeValença.pdf: 3429187 bytes, checksum: 8f170a2be6f42b4cf8f070f5f7ebd7b5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-26 / Context: the emergence of software ecosystems has changed the dynamics of software industry in the last decade. An ecosystem consists of a set of businesses functioning as a unit and interacting with a shared market for software and services, together with the relationships involving them. Software ecosystems originate in partnerships among software companies as a strategy to acquire complementary skills and features, obtain new customers, as well as divide R&D costs. In this setting, partner companies rely on each other for survival and effectiveness, which generates a network of dependent actors and a flow of power among them. Aims: the goal of this research is to develop a substantive theory to explain how power and dependence manifest in partnerships among small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) building a software ecosystem. This result enables us to describe the dynamics of partnerships in this environment, since power is a base atomic particle of relationships. Method: we performed two exploratory case studies of software ecosystems formed by SMEs. We collected rich qualitative data from eight software companies by means of twenty-seven semi-structured interviews. In addition, we considered companies’ internal documents, field notes and web-based data. Thematic analysis was adopted to organise and describe the data set. The results were interpreted in light of a theoretical framework underpinned by French and Raven’s power taxonomy and later refined in six confirmatory interviews with the companies. Finally, we performed a cross-case analysis to synthesise our findings and build the theory. Results: the resultant theory, called PRM-SECO, highlights the interactions among different power forms in addition to their correspondent source(s) in the software ecosystem. It reveals that (1) power is fluid in a software ecosystem formed by SMEs; (2) pool of customers and skill/knowledge are the most frequent power sources; (3) expert power is the fundamental power form that triggers most power capabilities held by SMEs; (4) reward power attaches the partner and is often exercised by SMEs; (5) coercive power disturbs the partnerships and is rarely exercised by SMEs; (6) referent power tends to supersede other power forms and is rarely held by SMEs; and (7) legitimate power is the most frequent power form exercised by SMEs. Conclusion: this theory provides a better understanding on how power and dependence influence the behaviour and coordination of companies within a software ecosystem. The particular focus on SMEs complements the state-of-art, since most research in the field concerns mature ecosystems governed by big players such as SAP and Apple. It is a useful lens for researchers to explore ecosystem partnerships. In addition, it is a valuable tool for companies to analyse power distribution, have insights on how to evolve their participation in the network and define sustainable strategies for ecosystem governance. / Contexto: o surgimento de ecossistemas de software tem mudado a dinâmica da indústria de software na última década. Um ecossistema consiste em um conjunto de empresas que funcionam como uma unidade e interagem com um mercado compartilhado de software e serviços, junto com os relacionamentos que as envolvem. Ecossistemas de software têm origem nas parcerias entre empresas de software como uma estratégia para adquirir competências e funcionalidades complementares, obter novos clientes, bem como dividir custos de P&D. Neste cenário, as empresas parceiras dependem umas das outras para sobrevivência e efetividade, o que gera uma rede de atores dependentes e um fluxo de poder entre eles. Objetivos: o objetivo desta pesquisa é desenvolver uma teoria substantiva para explicar como poder e dependência se manifestam em parcerias entre pequenas e médias empresas (PMEs) construindo um ecossistema de software. Este resultado nos permite descrever a dinâmica das parcerias neste ambiente, uma vez que poder é uma partícula atômica de base dos relacionamentos. Método: nós realizamos dois estudos de caso exploratórios de ecossistemas de software formados por PMEs. Nós coletamos dados qualitativos ricos de oito empresas de software por meio de vinte e sete entrevistas semiestruturadas. Além disso, nós consideramos documentos internos das empresas, notas de campo e dados da web. Análise temática foi adotada para organizar e descrever o conjunto de dados. Os resultados foram interpretados à luz de um quadro teórico apoiado pela taxonomia de poder de French e Raven, e posteriormente refinados em seis entrevistas de confirmação com as empresas. Por fim, nós realizamos um processo de cruzamento de casos para sintetizar nossos resultados e construir a teoria. Resultados: a teoria resultante, denominada PRM-SECO, destaca as interações entre diferentes formas de poder, além da correspondente(s) fonte(s) no ecossistema de software. Ela revela que (1) o poder é fluido em um ecossistema de software formado por PMEs; (2) base de clientes e competências/conhecimento são as fontes de poder mais frequentemente usadas pelas PMEs; (3) poder do conhecimento é a forma de poder fundamental, que gera a maioria das capacidades de poder que as PMEs possuem; (4) poder de recompensa aproxima o parceiro e muitas vezes é exercido pelas PMEs; (5) poder coercitivo perturba as parcerias e raramente é exercido pelas PMEs; (6) poder de referência tende a suplantar outras formas de poder e raramente é detido pelas PMEs; e (7) poder legítimo é a forma de poder mais frequentemente exercida pelas PMEs. Conclusão: esta teoria oferece uma melhor compreensão sobre como poder e dependência influenciam o comportamento e coordenação de empresas em um ecossistema de software. O foco particular em PMEs complementa o estado-da-arte, uma vez que a maioria das pesquisas na área diz respeito a ecossistemas governados por grandes atores, tais como SAP e Apple. É uma lente útil para que pesquisadores explorem parcerias em ecossistemas. Além disso, é uma ferramenta valiosa para as empresas analisarem a distribuição de poder, terem ideias sobre como evoluir a sua participação na rede e definirem estratégias sustentáveis para a governança do ecossistema.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-02-23T13:43:15Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) A Theory of Power in Software Ecosystems formed by Small to Medium Enterprises _ GeorgeValença.pdf: 3429187 bytes, checksum: 8f170a2be6f42b4cf8f070f5f7ebd7b5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-23T13:43:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) A Theory of Power in Software Ecosystems formed by Small to Medium Enterprises _ GeorgeValença.pdf: 3429187 bytes, checksum: 8f170a2be6f42b4cf8f070f5f7ebd7b5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-26 / Contexto: o surgimento de ecossistemas de software tem mudado a dinâmica da indústria de software na última década. Um ecossistema consiste em um conjunto de empresas que funcionam como uma unidade e interagem com um mercado compartilhado de software e serviços, junto com os relacionamentos que as envolvem. Ecossistemas de software têm origem nas parcerias entre empresas de software como uma estratégia para adquirir competências e funcionalidades complementares, obter novos clientes, bem como dividir custos de P&D. Neste cenário, as empresas parceiras dependem umas das outras para sobrevivência e efetividade, o que gera uma rede de atores dependentes e um fluxo de poder entre eles. Objetivos: o objetivo desta pesquisa é desenvolver uma teoria substantiva para explicar como poder e dependência se manifestam em parcerias entre pequenas e médias empresas (PMEs) construindo um ecossistema de software. Este resultado nos permite descrever a dinâmica das parcerias neste ambiente, uma vez que poder é uma partícula atômica de base dos relacionamentos. Método: nós realizamos dois estudos de caso exploratórios de ecossistemas de software formados por PMEs. Nós coletamos dados qualitativos ricos de oito empresas de software por meio de vinte e sete entrevistas semiestruturadas. Além disso, nós consideramos documentos internos das empresas, notas de campo e dados da web. Análise temática foi adotada para organizar e descrever o conjunto de dados. Os resultados foram interpretados à luz de um quadro teórico apoiado pela taxonomia de poder de French e Raven, e posteriormente refinados em seis entrevistas de confirmação com as empresas. Por fim, nós realizamos um processo de cruzamento de casos para sintetizar nossos resultados e construir a teoria. Resultados: a teoria resultante, denominada PRM-SECO, destaca as interações entre diferentes formas de poder, além da correspondente(s) fonte(s) no ecossistema de software. Ela revela que (1) o poder é fluido em um ecossistema de software formado por PMEs; (2) base de clientes e competências/conhecimento são as fontes de poder mais frequentemente usadas pelas PMEs; (3) poder do conhecimento é a forma de poder fundamental, que gera a maioria das capacidades de poder que as PMEs possuem; (4) poder de recompensa aproxima o parceiro e muitas vezes é exercido pelas PMEs; (5) poder coercitivo perturba as parcerias e raramente é exercido pelas PMEs; (6) poder de referência tende a suplantar outras formas de poder e raramente é detido pelas PMEs; e (7) poder legítimo é a forma de poder mais frequentemente exercida pelas PMEs. Conclusão: esta teoria oferece uma melhor compreensão sobre como poder e dependência influenciam o comportamento e coordenação de empresas em um ecossistema de software. O foco particular em PMEs complementa o estado-da-arte, uma vez que a maioria das pesquisas na área diz respeito a ecossistemas governados por grandes atores, tais como SAP e Apple. É uma lente útil para que pesquisadores explorem parcerias em ecossistemas. Além disso, é uma ferramenta valiosa para as empresas analisarem a distribuição de poder, terem ideias sobre como evoluir a sua participação na rede e definirem estratégias sustentáveis para a governança do ecossistema. / Context: the emergence of software ecosystems has changed the dynamics of software industry in the last decade. An ecosystem consists of a set of businesses functioning as a unit and interacting with a shared market for software and services, together with the relationships involving them. Software ecosystems originate in partnerships among software companies as a strategy to acquire complementary skills and features, obtain new customers, as well as divide R&D costs. In this setting, partner companies rely on each other for survival and effectiveness, which generates a network of dependent actors and a flow of power among them. Aims: the goal of this research is to develop a substantive theory to explain how power and dependence manifest in partnerships among small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) building a software ecosystem. This result enables us to describe the dynamics of partnerships in this environment, since power is a base atomic particle of relationships. Method: we performed two exploratory case studies of software ecosystems formed by SMEs. We collected rich qualitative data from eight software companies by means of twenty-seven semi-structured interviews. In addition, we considered companies’ internal documents, field notes and web-based data. Thematic analysis was adopted to organise and describe the data set. The results were interpreted in light of a theoretical framework underpinned by French and Raven’s power taxonomy and later refined in six confirmatory interviews with the companies. Finally, we performed a cross-case analysis to synthesise our findings and build the theory. Results: the resultant theory, called PRM-SECO, highlights the interactions among different power forms in addition to their correspondent source(s) in the software ecosystem. It reveals that (1) power is fluid in a software ecosystem formed by SMEs; (2) pool of customers and skill/knowledge are the most frequent power sources; (3) expert power is the fundamental power form that triggers most power capabilities held by SMEs; (4) reward power attaches the partner and is often exercised by SMEs; (5) coercive power disturbs the partnerships and is rarely exercised by SMEs; (6) referent power tends to supersede other power forms and is rarely held by SMEs; and (7) legitimate power is the most frequent power form exercised by SMEs. Conclusion: this theory provides a better understanding on how power and dependence influence the behaviour and coordination of companies within a software ecosystem. The particular focus on SMEs complements the state-of-art, since most research in the field concerns mature ecosystems governed by big players such as SAP and Apple. It is a useful lens for researchers to explore ecosystem partnerships. In addition, it is a valuable tool for companies to analyse power distribution, have insights on how to evolve their participation in the network and define sustainable strategies for ecosystem governance.

En phase d’amorçage, les jeunes entreprises technologiques à la recherche de ressources pour financer leur développement peuvent solliciter les business angels (BAs) et capital-investisseurs (CIs). Notre recherche porte sur le type d’investissement (BAs seuls, BAs et CIs en co-investissement séquentiel ou simultané) mis en œuvre et amène la question de la nature et de la qualité des relations et interactions entre les différentes catégories d’investisseurs et l’entrepreneur, dans le sens où ces investisseurs peuvent influencer la dynamique de croissance et être à leur tour influencés par cette dynamique. Celle-ci suppose que les rythmes et l’intensité des trajectoires de croissance des jeunes pousses de haute technologie n’ont rien de déterministes, mais se développent de façon dynamique dans le champ de l’interaction entre les principaux apporteurs de ressources. Nous mobilisons conjointement la théorie d’agence et les approches cognitive et effectuale pour analyser le co-investissement par BAs et CIs. Nous avons mené une étude de cas multiples à visée comparative auprès de trois jeunes entreprises de la région Rhône-Alpes-Auvergne. Nous avons montré que, quand les schémas cognitifs des BAs et/ou de l’entrepreneur sont proches de celui du CI, les relations et interrelations peuvent se déployer à moindre coût cognitif en phase préinvestissement et que le co-investissement séquentiel ou simultané peut prendre place. Nos résultats révèlent qu’un financement par BAs est associé à une trajectoire de croissance plus lente et qu’un co-investissement séquentiel permet de stabiliser la trajectoire de croissance sans pour autant que l’entreprise rencontre une très forte croissance. Nous mettons aussi en évidence que lorsque les BAs et/ou les CIs perçoivent le fort potentiel de croissance de la jeune entreprise, très tôt dans le processus d’investissement, les CIs ont avantage à intégrer les BAs qui ont une expérience spécifique comme leur passé entrepreneurial et leur connaissance du secteur. L’approche prédictive de ces trois acteurs : entrepreneur, CIs et BAs favorise la mise en œuvre d’un un co-investissement simultané. Dans ce contexte, les investisseurs (BAs et CIs) peuvent être des partenaires actifs au côté de l’entrepreneur et contribuer à ce que la jeune entreprise rencontre une trajectoire de croissance forte voire d’une hyper-croissance. / In their seed, young technological ventures seeking resources to finance their development may seek business angels (BAs) and venture capitalists (VCs). Our research shall include the type of investment (only BAs, BAs and VCs in sequential or simultaneous co-investment) implemented and this leads to the question of the nature and the quality of the relations and interactions among various categories of investors and the entrepreneur, in the sense that these investors may influence the dynamic of growth, and be themselves influenced by that dynamic. It implies that the pace and intensity of the venture growth of the young technological ventures do not have any kind of determinism, but they develop rather in a dynamic manner within the field of the interaction between the main providers of resources. We jointly mobilize agency theory and cognitive and effectual approaches in order to analyse the co-investment of BAs and VCs. We conducted a multiple-case study with a comparative aim concerning three young companies of the Rhône-Alpes Region. We have shown that, when the cognitive schemes of the BAs and / or the entrepreneur are close to that of the VC, the relations and interrelations can occur to a lesser cognitive cost during the pre-investment phase and that the sequential or simultaneous co-investment may take place. Our results indicate that a funding by BAs is associated with a slower venture growth and that a sequential co-investment allows the stabilisation of the venture growth without a very high growth for the company. We are also highlighting that when the BAs and / or the VCs recognize the high growth potential of the young company very early in the investment process the VCs really need to integrate the BAs who have a specific experience, like their entrepreneurial past and their knowledge of the sector. The predictive approach of these three stakeholders: entrepreneur, VCs and BAs promotes the implementation of a simultaneous co-investment. In this context, the investors (BAs and VCs) can serve as active partners alongside the entrepreneur and help ensure that the young company follows a high venture growth, or even a hyper growth.