Startups surgem com o intuito de explorar comercialmente uma ideia de potencial inovador. Para isso, necessitam de um conjunto de capacidades técnicas e de negócios, alocando recursos de modo eficiente para obter um produto com valor de mercado. Elas necessitam, portanto, tornar-se firmas e executar um modelo de negócios. Nesse processo, muitas startups fracassam, enquanto outras atingem um bom desempenho e conseguem realizar a oferta pública de ações (IPO), ou mesmo vender o negócio. Torna-se crucial, então, identificar quais são os conjuntos de capacidades necessários para o sucesso e a sobrevivência das startups. Enquanto firmas possuem diferentes arranjos de quatro capacidades de inovação, nomeadamente as capacidades de desenvolvimento, de operação, de gestão e de transação, o assunto ainda é pouco investigado em startups. Isso posto, este estudo tem por objetivo identificar como se configuram as capacidades de inovação em startups. Para alcançar esse objetivo foi realizado um estudo exploratório de abordagem qualitativa no Vale do Silício, no qual foram entrevistadas 11 startups de base tecnológica e 7 profissionais com conhecimentos na área. O estudo evidenciou que startups não possuem as quatro capacidades de inovação, mas necessitam desenvolvê-las a fim de comercializar um bem/serviço no mercado, tornandose firmas. Enquanto as capacidades de desenvolvimento e a de transação são as primeiras a serem desenvolvidas (sendo as mais desenvolvidas), as capacidades de operação e de gestão necessitam ser desenvolvidas à medida que o negócio se expande. O aprendizado por startups também foi identificado como relevante para a construção das capacidades de inovação, processo no qual o rico ecossistema do Vale do Silício desempenha um papel fundamental. Embora esse ecossistema seja importante, a seleção e aplicação dos conhecimentos externos na construção de tais capacidades é uma tarefa que cabe apenas à startup. Evidenciaram-se também os diferentes arranjos de capacidades que podem levar à venda, transformação em firma e fracasso das startups. A principal contribuição teórica do presente estudo foi avaliar, em um único estudo, não apenas capacidades de cunho tecnológico, mas também operacionais, gerenciais e transacionais em startups, destacando sua importância para o sucesso do negócio. Uma segunda contribuição está em evidenciar, por meio da perspectiva da firma, que conhecimentos amplamente disponíveis no ecossistema podem ser irrelevantes para a startup se não forem aplicados adequadamente no desenvolvimento das capacidades. Como contribuição gerencial evidencia-se a necessidade de avaliar o desempenho da startup por meio de métricas, não negligenciando a importância da gestão. Às instituições governamentais sugere-se uma maior ênfase na cobrança de resultados das startups. / Startups are created to commercially explore an ideia with innovative potential. To do so, they need a set of technical and business capabilities, efficiently allocating resources to obtain a product with market value. They need, in such an understanding, to become firms and execute a business model. While searching for such a business model, a high percentage of startups fail, while others perform well and reach the initial public offering (IPO), or even sell the business. It seems crucial, then, to identify which capability arrangements are required for the success and the survival of startups. While firms have different arrangements of four innovation capabilities, namely development capability, operation capabillity, management capability and transaction capability, the issue is still under-researched for startups. That being said, this study aims to identify how innovation capabilities are arranged in startups. To accomplish that, an exploratory study with a qualitative approach was performed in Silicon Valley, in which 11 startups and 7 knowledgeable professionals related to the field were interviewed. It was found that startups do not have the four innovation capabilities, but need to develop them in order to transact goods/services in the market, allowing them to become firms. While the development capability and the transaction capability are the first developed by the startup (and also the most developed ones), the operation and management capabilities need to be developed once the business starts to grow. Learning by startups was also identified as relevant to the construction of their innovation capabilities, in which the rich ecosystem in Silicon Valley plays a key role. Although the importance of such an ecosystem, the selection and application of such external information into the construction of such capabilities is a task that can only be performed by the startup. Different arrangements of innovation capabilities were also identified, that might lead a startup to be sold, to turn into a firm or to follow a failure path. The main theoretical contribution was to evaluate, in a single study, not only technological capabilities, but also operational, management and transactional capabilities in startups, highlighting their importance to the startups’ sucess. A second contribution relies in identifying, through the lenses of the theory of the firm, that knowledge widely available in the ecosystem might be irrelevant to the startup if not properly applied in the development of capabilities. As a managerial contribution, the study highlights the need to evaluate the startup performance through metrics, without neglecting the importance of management. It is also suggested that governmental institutions should put a higher emphasis in demanding results from startups.

Software start-ups make media headlines daily, suggesting that it may take only a garage and two engineering students to begin such companies, and that these same people will constitute the core of the executive team until these organizations become multinational giants. Despite these spontaneous starts, newly formed entrepreneurial ventures have many obstacles to overcome in their resource and cultural environments when establishing their practices. These obstacles vary depending on the local institutional contexts and can exert relevant pressures on how, where and why start-ups recruit and select certain candidates for their executive teams. Based on interviews conducted in Silicon Valley and Stockholm with 40 key hiring and intermediary actors – entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, board directors, CEOs and executive recruiters - the general aim of this work is that of disclosing step-by-step the process of executive recruitment and selection in start-ups. At the same time, this study seeks to analyze how institutional environments, through the actions of states, governments, universities, professional associations and society in general, shape start-up practices. Finally, the work aims at testing the explanatory power of institutional theories in sociology. The analysis of the interviews shows that different local institutional environments differently and crucially shape organizational actors' interests, roles and patterns of behavior when constructing their practices. Two distinct ideal-typical dominant logics surface among key actors in the two geographical contexts. On one side, Silicon Valley actors recruit and select their executives by using a business logic based on an efficiency rationale. On the other side, Stockholm actors make use of a personal logic based on a rationale of cultural fit when calculating which specific candidate better matches a certain executive position.

The academic society have in the recent past addressed the current ecosystem for new and existing business as a knowledge society. An era of globalisation and advanced technologies, where tacit knowledge has become an essential commodity for all firms in all industries looking to maintain a competitive level of productivity. Consequently, a substantial number of young companies are emerging worldwide with an exogenous approach of receiving knowledge as input in their process of being innovative. They leverage externalities rather than internal research and development. A suggested way of doing this is by utilising the natural advantages and values of an area, often remote from their country of residence. In this study, we suggest that this seeking of regions dense in innovative activity gives rise to young companies performing of international operations. We presume that business is becoming increasingly borderless, and assume the perspective of companies with innate international ambitions, born global firms. We suggest that the reason for early international activity varies from seeking new foreign markets to merely gaining from the input of outside expertise in offshore areas, dense in innovative activities. Following, we use the case of a local third-party association, namely the Nordic Innovation House in Silicon Valley to partly study why and how firms leverage values in the area and further the role of the association. This is done in the context of streamlining innovative and international activity. Findings verify that seeking knowledge as input in the process of innovation is a driving force to international activities. Allowing for interesting connections between previously separated concepts. Furthermore, we account for how a firm leverages the natural advantages and values of an spatially defined area. Finally, we confirm that being able to connect with the right people and gaining relevant knowledge is done with considerably more ease and to a significantly lower cost with the help of a third-party association. Consequently, the firms exhibited accelerated and more efficient processes of innovation and internationalisation.

This paper seeks to understand the role of proximity to Silicon Valley and the Silicon Valley network effect on venture success. Despite the wealth of literature on the role and importance of geographic proximity in the venture capital process, no studies have specifically examined the impact of geographic proximity to Silicon Valley on venture success. I build my study on existing literature but deviate from past research in the following ways: first, I narrow the research question to the relationship between geographic proximity to Silicon Valley and successful exit; second, I consider success from the perspective of the venture rather than the venture-backing firm; third, I employ a logistical model as well as a linear probability model; fourth I control for endogeneity by isolating first rounds; lastly, I exclude syndicated deals, focusing on 1:1 venture-backing firm-to-venture deals. I use VenureXpert data for Silicon Valley-backed firms located both in and outside Silicon Valley to test hypotheses regarding geographic proximity. The results are significant and suggest that venture location in Silicon Valley is associated with greater venture success. Based on the results, it is clear that the impact of the Silicon Valley network effect is statistically meaningful and should encourage ventures to continue to strategically locate themselves in Silicon Valley.

Funding is one of the most critical resources high potential technology startup (HPTS) ventures need to achieve success. Some startup founders lack access to capital, a critical resource for HPTS founders to create value for customers and capture value for their organizations. Capital constraints can hinder business performance, endanger growth and the ability to grow and scale into the global markets. This multiple case study explored the strategies HPTS firms used to access capital to grow and scale into global markets. Mishra's venture capital investment model and Blank's customer development model served as the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected from semistructured face-to-face interviews, direct observations, member checking, and a reflective journal. Participants were selected using a purposive sampling of 5 founders from the Silicon Valley of California, who were involved in equity finance decisions in the last 5 years. Yin's 5-step data analysis plan was used in the final data analysis. Eight themes emerged from the study: capital constraint; identification of potential investors; collaboration, guidance, and support; investment potential; investment thesis; measurement of success; passion and preparedness; and prevention of stock dilution. The findings of this study have implications for positive social change. HPTS ventures can use the study findings to gain approval of investment proposals and increase ventures that create value for customers and for the organizations.

金融科技正在全世界盛行，因應時代潮流趨勢，也推出新的金融服務與因而衍生出智慧型手機的行動服務。隨著科技的演進與變化促使產業陸續往前發展，而金融與科技的交鋒，再次把金融創新推向另一個新的競爭起點與啟動新的經濟系統，在傳統桌上電腦漸漸被平板電腦及智慧型手機取代之際，科技的擴展已在金融業產生不可阻擋的力量。金融科技若可藉此改善客戶之服務、重視風險之管理、提升經營之效率、降低營運之成本，將可能被大家所能接受。然而，傳統金融業採用新技術的速度很難與新生金融科技公司相抗衡，而客戶的需要不再只是實體營業據點，而是金融科技的功能與特色，這一切帶動了如同爆炸式的金融業環境的改變與產生新的競爭面相。 世界經濟論壇將金融科技分為六大類，支付(Payment)、保險(Insurance)、存放款(Deposit & Lending)、資本募集(Capital Raising)、投資管理(Investment Management)及市場資訊供應(Market Provision)。隨著金融環境的變化，探討金融科技的創新。本文分析探討台灣FinTech的未來可能發展。本研究總結，建議放寬金融行業數位化與線上服務及允許金融業轉投資金融科技相關產業外，更應該以具體政策與法規環境，鼓勵金融科技相關新創事業。另外，就法規方面而言，我國的法規仍然相對嚴格，且存在較多的管制。期許未來金融科技辦公室在制定金融科技發展策略時，能以金融科技生態系統的宏觀角度來思考，為金融科技新創事業的發展，創造有利的法規環境。政治大學商學院開始有金融科技相關課程，送政大學生去美國矽谷實習擁抱國際，台灣更需要的是「人才的培養」。把臺灣變成亞洲人工智慧的重要研發中心，來迎戰數位時代的來臨。 / Everybody talks about FinTech these days. Everything is changed very quickly. The bank is no longer a "place" but "something you do." Evolution and changes in technology have prompted the industry move forward, while the Financial and Technology confrontation, again another financial innovations to new competition and start a new starting point Economic systems, personal computers gradually replace the Tablet PC and smartphone occasion, the spread of technology has in the banking industry unstoppable force. We really need to learn how technology affects us in this changing world. The study is to investigate the evolution and development of FinTech. World Economic Forum make FinTech into six parts. Payment, Insurance, Deposit & Lending, Capital Raising, Investment Management and Market Provision. The study focus on the financial environment changes, explores innovative financial technology. Analysis of the actual situation at home and abroad using the FinTech explores Taiwan FinTech possible future development. The study make a conclusion that the most important thing we have to do now is to make a better law and give young people a chance to study FinTech and to let young people have a chance to try to startup a new FinTech company. Young people, so called, “Digital Generations” has to consolidate the core value of the financial technology. Hope more and more students can go to Silicon Valley to learn how the financial technology works there.

This thesis contributes to research that informs the design of autonomous vehicles (AVs). It examines interactions among various types of road users, such as pedestrians and drivers, and describes how findings can contribute to the design of AVs. The work was undertaken as part of a research internship at Nissan Research Center-Silicon Valley on the Human Understanding in Design team. Methods included video ethnography “travel-alongs” which captured the experience of travel from the point of view of drivers and pedestrians, analysis of interaction patterns taken from video of intersections, and analysis of road laws. Findings address the implications of what it will mean for AVs to exist as social entities in a world of varied road contexts, and how AVs might navigate the social act of driving on roads they share with a variety of human users. This thesis contributes to an emerging body of research and application on the subject of the AV in the world.

[pt] A presente pesquisa analisará a ascensão e a complexificação da Web 2.0, situando-a sobre a emergência da tecnologia algorítmica. Os chamados algoritmos nascem no século XIX, tornando-se no presente século um dos maiores dispositivos tecnológicos referente à coleta, hierarquização, acumulação e coordenação de dados. Assim, este trabalho busca compreender como os algoritmos, em seu desenvolvimento, adquiriram inúmeras funções nas mídias sociais, transcendendo a finalidade de aumento da competitividade econômica das empresas no Vale do Silício. A referida pesquisa fará uma análise conjunta entre as escolas dos Estudos Críticos sobre Algoritmos, Estudos Críticos sobre Fronteiras e de Sociologia Política Internacional, a fim de compreender o que é e como nasce essa Fronteira Algorítmica, quais seriam os seus efeitos sociopolíticos e por que ela é algo que atinge em distintos graus toda a humanidade no século XXI. Após a introdução, a análise, o desenvolvimento e a discussão nos três primeiros capítulos, o último capítulo se destinará a comparar o Caso Snowden e o Escândalo da Cambridge Analytica, evidenciando semelhanças e afastamentos sobre como os algoritmos podem ser usados com fins que não se limitam à escala econômica e política, mas também são entidades capazes de influenciar a níveis psicológicos e sociológicos a raça humana. / [en] This research will analyze the rise and complexity of Web 2.0, placing it on the emergence of algorithmic technology. The so-called algorithms were born in the 19th century, becoming in the present century one of the greatest technological devices regarding the gathering, hierarchy, accumulation and coordination of data. Thus, this work seeks to understand how the algorithms in their development were acquiring numerous functions in social media, transcending the purpose of increasing the economic competitiveness of companies in Silicon Valley. This research will make a joint analysis between the schools of Algorithms Critical Studies, Borders Critical Studies and International Political Sociology, to understand what this Algorithmic Frontier is and how it is born, what would be its socio-political effects and why it is something that affects all of humanity in the 21st century to varying degrees. After the introduction, analysis, development and discussion in the first three chapters, the last chapter will compare the Snowden case and the Cambridge Analytica scandal, highlighting similarities and differences on how algorithms can be used for purposes that are not limited to economic and political scale, but they are also entities capable of influencing humans at psychological and sociological levels.

Many development organisations are initiating programs in Sub-Saharan Africa bringing information technology to community centres, schools, universities, and government institutions. In the United States and more particularly Silicon Valley, California, people are convinced of the benefits of the Internet. An organisation started in this context, Schools Online, has initiated programs in over 31 countries and spent millions of dollars in the South. The study focuses on Schools Online's history, structure, and vision while researching its activities in a rural school in the town of Jinja, Uganda, in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is recommended that Schools Online listens and learns from its beneficiaries when planning an information technology project. / Development Studies / M. A. (Development Studies)

Many development organisations are initiating programs in Sub-Saharan Africa bringing information technology to community centres, schools, universities, and government institutions. In the United States and more particularly Silicon Valley, California, people are convinced of the benefits of the Internet. An organisation started in this context, Schools Online, has initiated programs in over 31 countries and spent millions of dollars in the South. The study focuses on Schools Online's history, structure, and vision while researching its activities in a rural school in the town of Jinja, Uganda, in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is recommended that Schools Online listens and learns from its beneficiaries when planning an information technology project. / Development Studies / M. A. (Development Studies)