Thesis(Ph.D.)--Case Western Reserve University, 2009 / Title from PDF (viewed on 2009-11-23) Department of Management Includes abstract Includes bibliographical references and appendices Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center

¡§Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)¡¨ is a research program initiated in 1999 by Babson College and London Business School. In its research papers, two types of entrepreneurship were mentioned: opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship. The term ¡§opportunity entrepreneurship¡¨ refers to the ones who pursue a business opportunity for personal interest. In contrast, people who reported they were involved in creating a business because they had no better choices for work were referred as ¡§necessity entrepreneurship.¡¨ In 2006, forty-two countries participated in the GEM program. According to the findings from the GEM program, opportunity entrepreneurship and necessity entrepreneurship are different in many aspects. Unfortunately, Taiwan is not one of the countries that are involved. Therefore, the major task of this thesis is to identify the differences between opportunity entrepreneurship and necessity entrepreneurship in Taiwan, focusing mainly on the city of Kaohsiung. In this research, we will concentrate on finding the differences between the opportunity entrepreneurship and the necessity entrepreneurship. The study will focus on backgrounds, characteristics, and experiences of these two kinds of entrepreneurships. Since this is a quantitative research, a questionnaire will be issue to each of the participants.

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In this thesis we statistically measure if normative and cultural-cognitive institutions moderate the relationship of entrepreneurship and economic growth when the entrepreneurial activity is rooted in different motivations. The types of entrepreneurship which we are measuring, in relation to economic growth, are opportunity- and necessity entrepreneurship. By reviewing the literature we found a general agreement regarding the effect of opportunity entrepreneurship on economic growth while the opinions on necessity entrepreneurship are disparate. Taking institutional theory as the basis for moderation fills in several gaps of the existing literature such as using different types of institutions at the same time or fulfilling the demand for cross-country time series study in both entrepreneurship and institutional research. Regulative institutions are taken into consideration when choosing the countries for analysing. Trust, as a proxy for social capital, is used to measure the moderating effect of normative institutions whilst Power Distance Index and individualism are the measures of cultural-cognitive institutions. Relying on secondary data we used an Ordinary Least Square regression and a repeated measures model for analysis.   In line with previous research we found that opportunity entrepreneurship does not have a significant positive correlation with economic growth, when the effect is measured through the productivity enhancement of labour and technology. Necessity entrepreneurship displayed a significantly negative effect. Furthermore, our results did not show any effect when moderating the different motivations for entrepreneurship with trust, power distance or individualism. At the end of our thesis we elaborate on the possible reasons for our findings and suggest some directions for further research.   The thesis contributes to entrepreneurship research with filling the gaps of cross-country, time series study and providing empirical evidence for the existing theories. It enables to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship of entrepreneurship and economic growth. Regarding institutional research, our thesis places some emphasis on the positive effects of institutional dimensions with relations to entrepreneurial context. It would be very interesting to see more research into the negative aspects of institutions to not only understand what fosters productivity of e.g. innovation and labour, but also burdens it.

Over the last twenty years female entrepreneurs have been increasing in numbers in economies of developing and developed nations across the world. But although female entrepreneurship participation rates have increased worldwide, it appears that economic and socio cultural patterns still prescribe whether a female can become or want to become an entrepreneur in her society. Some reasons are obvious such as lack of employment and opportunities; other are disguised in patriarchal culture that deters female entrepreneurship. Against this backdrop it appears that in less developed countries necessity and informal entrepreneurship are more prevalent than opportunity entrepreneurship. An explanation from economic nature for this phenomenon is perhaps the fact that with less job opportunities available in developing nations, the ‘need’ to become an entrepreneur seems to be the answer for females to make a living by creating their own jobs. At the socio cultural level, the motivation to become an entrepreneur out of need surfaces because of the socio cultural structure of certain nations that hinder females from finding work that brings them independence, self actualization and flexibility for work-life balance. This qualitative exploratory study investigates the phenomenon of female entrepreneurship comparing female entrepreneurship in two contexts: Brazil and the United States. The economic differences on a macro level between these two countries have been well documented and national socio cultural differences have been discussed. But very little has been focused at the individual level of the female entrepreneur per se, that is, how they perceive and experience the economic and the social cultural macro environment with their businesses. This research attempts to fill this gap. This was done by first reviewing the literature and then by analysing the responses from face to face and telephone interviews with 34 female entrepreneurs in Brazil and 26 in the United States. The findings indicated that female entrepreneurs in Brazil and the United States share similarities in motivation for starting the business in terms of pull factors, such as search for financial independence, want to be one’s own boss, need for autonomy, and self actualization. The women from both groups also identified customer satisfaction and recognition from society as key elements for their business success. But business informality was a phenomenon only found among the Brazilian enterprises (the informais) a factor found to be directly related to economic necessity and the scarcity of waged jobs and opportunities. The perception of gender barriers was shared by both groups of entrepreneurs but other factors such as religion and the importance of faith to succeed in business were emphasized only by the Americans. Higher education was perceived by both groups as an instrument to gain recognition from society, but not important to grow their businesses; vocational training was perceived as more important. Networking was perceived as important, but different patterns of networking emerged among the Brazilians and the Americans. Definitions of success also differ among the women independent from their nationality. Some were more inclined to define success in financial terms, others simply define success in terms of flexibility and the ‘got to be in control’ syndrome. This research contributed to an increased understanding of the processes of female entrepreneurship as it related to how economic and socio cultural forces influence these processes. The findings indicated that the female entrepreneurship process becomes a combination of two processes: a person driven process and a response to environment process. Mentoring and coaching programs that assist women finding their path to entrepreneurship along with their own passions should be emphasized by local agencies. Although policy development was not the specific objective of this study, a number of issues have arisen that have implications both for future research and female entrepreneurship policies. For instance, in Brazil, higher taxes and the high cost of starting a business were perceived by the women as barriers to their businesses. It is suggested that Brazilian authorities and legislators continue with their efforts to streamline the business start process by introducing innovative and cost effective ways to formalize a business.

Entrepreneurship is related to the generation of jobs and income, affecting the economic performance of regions and countries. The opportunity entrepreneurship is characterized by the action of highly motivated individuals to recognize opportunities, and therefore far more beneficial to the economies of countries that entrepreneurship by necessity. This study aims to investigate whether the entrepreneurs of construction industry of Santa Maria, RS, reacted opportunistic to the demands created by Program of Expansion of Federal Universities, or maintained a posture intuitive, at those opportunities. The exploratory and descriptive research, of qualitative approach made use of surveys to obtain secondary data, and a structured questionnaire to obtain primary data. The results obtained indicate that despite the significant increase in production and local marketing of residential properties, most construction companies proved not attentive to opportunities created by the UFSM expansion, in the period from 2007 to 2011. / O empreendedorismo está relacionado à geração de trabalho e renda, afetando o desempenho econômico de regiões e países. O empreendedorismo por oportunidade tem por característica a ação de indivíduos altamente motivados em reconhecer oportunidades, sendo, por isso, bem mais vantajoso para a economia dos países do que o empreendedorismo por necessidade. Este estudo tem por objetivo investigar se os empresários do setor da construção civil de Santa Maria, no RS, reagiram de maneira oportunista às demandas criadas pelo Programa de Expansão das Universidades Federais, ou se mantiveram uma postura intuitiva, diante dessas oportunidades. A pesquisa exploratória e descritiva, de abordagem qualitativa, fez uso de levantamentos, para obtenção de dados secundários, e de um questionário estruturado, para obtenção de dados primários. Os achados obtidos permitem concluir que apesar do significativo aumento de produção e comercialização local de imóveis residenciais, a maioria das empresas da construção civil revelou-se não atenta às oportunidades criadas pela expansão da UFSM, no período de 2007 a 2011.

The aim of this study isto analyze the influence of institutional quality on the realization process of entrepreneurial intentions. In this analysis a distinction is made between opportunity-based and necessity-based entrepreneurial intentions. Using Ajzen’s Theory of Planned behavior I hypothesized that Opportunity-based entrepreneurial intentions would better translate to actual entrepreneurship than necessity-based entrepreneurial intentions. Moreover, institutional quality was expected to directly influence both types of entrepreneurship and to moderate the realization of both types of intentions to actual entrepreneurship. In order to test these hypotheses, data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, The Heritage Foundation, and The World Bank was adopted, and several regressions have been performed. The outcomes show that opportunity-based intentions and necessity-based intentions translate to entrepreneurship, but that opportunity intentions are not superior in determining levels of entrepreneurship. Moreover, institutional quality has shown to negatively influence necessity intentions, but not opportunity intentions. Finally, Institutional quality negatively moderates opportunity intentions, but not necessity intentions. In conclusion, this study contributes significantly to the literature by exposing this difference in domains in which institutional quality has an effect and by displaying the potential negative effect of institutional quality on realizing entrepreneurial intentions.

L’entrepreneuriat de nécessité/opportunité revêt des enjeux scientifiques et pratiques importants en particulier dans les pays en développement. Cette thèse étudie les processus motivationnels des entrepreneurs de nécessité et d’opportunité.La recherche vise à comprendre dans le temps, les motivations de nécessité et d’opportunité des entrepreneurs durant le processus de démarrage. L’analyse des recherches sur le contenu et des recherches sur le processus des motivations de nécessité/opportunité souligne l’intérêt d’adopter une perspective processuelle dans l’étude du phénomène. L’étude empirique s’inscrit dès lors dans une perspective interprétative et mobilise une méthodologie qualitative longitudinale. Huit entrepreneurs du Burkina Faso ont été suivis à travers des entretiens approfondis sur une période de 15 mois. Les résultats indiquent d’abord que les outils de mesure de type GEM ne saisissent pas toujours pertinemment le phénomène des motivations de nécessité/opportunité. Ils montrent ensuite que durant le processus de démarrage, des phases motivationnelles de nécessité/mixité/opportunité transitent vers des phases de nature différente. Ils suggèrent enfin que les transitions motivationnelles sont sous-tendues par l’apparition/disparition de raisons relatives à l’environnement, à l’individu, aux résultats et aux actions. Ces résultats appellent à nuancer la dichotomie opérée entre les deux types d’entrepreneuriat, cette dichotomie apparaissant finalement instable pour les entrepreneurs étudiés. Ils interpellent également les politiques publiques d’accompagnement excluant les entrepreneurs de nécessité et suggèrent de prévoir des formes d’accompagnement flexibles afin qu’elles s’adaptent aux besoins des entrepreneurs dans le temps. / Necessity and opportunity-driven entrepreneurship implies important scientific and practical issues, especially in developing countries. This research investigates the motivational processes of necessity and opportunity entrepreneurs. The research aims to understand necessity and opportunity motivations of entrepreneurs during the start-up process.The analysis of prior content and process research on necessity and opportunity entrepreneurship underlines the importance of adopting a process perspective in the study of the phenomenon. The empirical study follows an interpretive perspective and mobilizes a longitudinal qualitative methodology. Eight entrepreneurs in Burkina Faso have been studied through in-depth interviews for 15 months.The results indicate firstly that the GEM-type measurement tools do not always grasp the phenomenon of necessity / opportunity motivations. The results then show that during the start-up process, the motivational phases of necessity / mix / opportunity transit to phases of different nature. Finally, the results suggest that motivational transitions are underpinned by the appearance / disappearance of reasons related to the environment, the individual, the results obtained and actions undertaken.Two types of contributions are outlined. The results first invite to mitigate the dichotomy between necessity and opportunity-driven entrepreneurship, which appears in fact quite unstable for the entrepreneurs studied. Second, they question public policies that deliberately exclude necessity entrepreneurs from their program and call them to develop more flexible support policies that adapt to the need of the entrepreneurs in time

In this paper we investigate entrepreneurship in the informal sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using data from the World Bank we examine the motivational antecedents for why individuals become self-employed within the informal sector. We build on research focusing primarily on data from the formal sector to generate a number of testable hypotheses regarding individual-level predictors of opportunity status. We test our hypotheses using multiple probit model regression analyses. Our results indicate that opportunity-driven entrepreneurs comprise a large portion ofinformal sector in Sub-Saharan Africa and suggest that there are important differences between the antecedents of entrepreneurship in the informal sector in the region and the findings of research focused on the formal sectors of developed countries. Despite a number of limitations, our paper sheds important light on an interesting and comparatively understudied topic but leaves much room for future development.