Separate essays on entrepreneurship, joint venturing, and trade comprise this thesis. The emergence of entrepreneurship is common in the real world but relatively less so in classical economic models. If industry incumbents are attributed with full rationality and perfect foresight, then there are few, if any, profitable opportunities left for new entrants (entrepreneurs) to exploit. This essay explains how entrepreneurs can emerge in a dynamic world when firms must choose between a technology strategy that is either statically or dynamically efficient. A model is developed which shows how such opportunities for new entry can occur when incumbents are caught in a Prisoners’ Dilemma game involving technology strategy. A relevance measure and policy implications are then explored. Joint ventures, especially of the R&D type, are becoming increasingly important as a way to gain needed technological and market competencies. Unfortunately, many joint ventures have the characteristics of a Prisoners’ Dilemma. Firms may cooperate or defect in the venture. If contracts, side-payments, and third-party verification of the venture outcome are unavailable, then the dominant solution to the Prisoners’ Dilemma (mutual defection) results. This paper proposes the use of an ex-ante auction to obtain a Pareto-improvement for these ventures. A Pareto-improvement is assured when non-transferable costs and benefits of firms are not conditional on joint venture strategies. When this condition is not met restrictions are required to obtain the Pareto-improvement. The problem of trade between countries that share an international open access resource is becoming significant as the world reaches the limits of critical shared resource stocks. It is modelled as a world with one primary factor, two intermediate goods, one final good (harvested from the open access resource), and two nations where it is assumed that either the trading takes place over one stage (nations are price-takers), or two stages (nations have market power). Imperfect competition and open access generated externalities affect the trading efficiency. To maximize world welfare this essay recommends subsidizing R&D where comparative advantage exists, and creating international agreements to ensure the one-stage game structure is used when trading. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Drawing on the dynamic capabilities perspective, this study provides some important insights into the paradox of the knowledge transfer-firm performance relationship in international joint ventures (IJVs) in an emerging market, China. It examines the IJV’s distribution capability as the underlying mediating mechanism through which the potential benefits of foreign parent-IJV knowledge transfer can be channeled and transformed into superior IJV performance. In this mediation process, the IJV’s absorptive capacity and market turbulence work as two boundary conditions that reinforce the role of foreign parent-IJV knowledge transfer on the IJV’s distribution capability. Specifically, this study delineates how the IJV’s distribution capability mediates 1) the complementary effects of knowledge transfer and absorptive capacity, and 2) the interactive effects of knowledge transfer and market turbulence, on IJV performance, respectively. Five hypotheses are proposed and empirically tested based on a random sample of 136 equity-based manufacturing IJVs in China. Overall, the results support the proposed hypotheses except hypothesis 1 which posits the IJV’s distribution capability mediates the effect of foreign parent-IJV knowledge transfer to the IJV’s ultimate performance. The findings reveal that 1) the IJV’s absorptive capacity and market turbulence strengthen the link of foreign parent-IJV knowledge transfer and the establishment of the IJV’s distribution capability; and 2) distribution capability mediates two complementary effects (knowledge transfer and absorptive capacity, and knowledge transfer and market turbulence) on superior IJV performance in emerging markets. The plausible explanation for the unsupported hypothesis 1 is the majority of the knowledge transferred by foreign parent is related to product development, organizational management and operational processes, rather than market knowledge. Hence, because distribution capability is an ability closely related to market, the true impact of the knowledge transferred on distribution capability may be blurred and even concealed if IJVs lack sufficient absorptive capacity or are currently operating in stable markets. In summary, this study makes an original contribution to extant IJV literature by unpacking the black box of the knowledge transfer-IJV performance relationship and reveals that the IJV’s distribution capability plays as an underlying mediation mechanism. It also identifies the moderating roles of the IJV’s absorptive capacity and market turbulence on the knowledge transfer-distribution capability relationship, and makes important empirical contribution to extant dynamic capabilities literature by substantiating the theoretical claim that dynamic capabilities have an indirect effect on firm performance, and that the existence and use of dynamic capabilities are more effective under rapidly changing environments. Keywords: Knowledge Transfer; Distribution Capability; Absorptive Capacity; International Joint Ventures; China

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Purpose – The paper aims to study the impact of cultural differences on the ownership structure of international joint ventures in China. It is reasoned that foreign investors, when faced with larger culture-related investment uncertainties, may have the incentive to acquire more control rights to contain the risks by acquiring more equity shares in the joint ventures. Design/methodology/approach – Data on international joint ventures in China were used to test the theory. The data contain 941 observations from Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Tianjing, covering a 13-year time span. Pooled ordinary least square is used in the model estimation. Findings – Cultural distance between China and foreign countries was found to increase the foreign equity share in the joint ventures, a finding contrary to traditional view. In addition, it was found that cultural distance in different dimensions does not play an equal role in affecting foreign equity shares. Last, there is significant evidence that the allocation of ownership between foreign and domestic investors in the joint ventures is influenced by the investor’s relative importance in supplying different types of resources. Originality/value – The paper introduces a new perspective into the study of culture and international joint venture. Foreign investors may be able to reduce investment risk by increasing equity shares, which gives them more internal control, in international joint ventures. In contrast, the traditional view is that larger cultural distance tends to discourage foreign equity ownership.

The practical execution of an entrepreneurial process for technology-driven ventures in emerging markets can be likened to a maze - a dynamically complex process with many navigational contingencies. While the overall navigational path may appear straightforward conceptually, the actual execution path inherently becomes fraught with sub-optimal turns and apparent dead-end trails as an entrepreneur dynamically confronts many challenges. The navigational path for effectively sequencing events can be confounding, especially since event outcomes are highly contingent upon timing as well as execution of the appropriate events; seemingly 'right' actions can be applied at the 'wrong' time in the process with the corresponding result being an undesired outcome. Combining practical experience with academic research, this paper addresses the entrepreneurial process maze by presenting the authors' phased-structure process model for proactively sequencing effective actions in entrepreneurial ventures. Fundamental to this process model is a 'tactician' phase wherein a seven-step prescription is introduced to help entrepreneurs navigate the maze and dynamically sequence the 'right actions' at the 'right time' for commercialising innovations. Both the phased-structure process model and its seven-step prescription for the tactician provide practical guidance for technology-driven entrepreneurial ventures.

The impact that the small business sector has on the economy is well known and has been extensively studied. In 2008, 46% of the Swedish workforce in the private sector were employed by small businesses, the small businesses where also accountable for 42% of GDP, these are just some arguments in behalf of the impact that they have on the Swedish economy. Reviewing theories of entrepreneurship this paper asks if maybe a disproportionate part of the impact dealt by the small business sector comes from the entrepreneurial ventures that operate within that same sector. Because small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures in the small business sector find themselves in an overlap they are often confused with each other. Many studies fail to differentiate between these to organizational structures and therefore the impact on the economy dealt by entrepreneurial ventures is joined with the impact that is dealt by small businesses. With a qualitative approach, the use of two case studies and discussing theories developed by scholars in the field, this paper identifies an entrepreneurial venture that operates within the small business sector and compares it to an ordinary non-entrepreneurial small business that operates within that same sector. With the use of further theories it also identifies which of the two organisations that has the greatest impact on economic development. The results lead to the conclusion that a differentiation between entrepreneurial ventures and ordinary small businesses needs do be done so that political efforts, academic research and literature in the field can be reallocated towards entrepreneurial ventures and the field of entrepreneurship as a whole. The paper also gives suggestions for further research with the use of a quantitative approach and greater sample size so that results can be generalized.

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Background: Founders hold a powerful position that can shape the future and direction of their new ventures, especially in the early stages of venture development. Prior work experiences are known to be influential for future growth, but the relationship between founders' prior work experiences and their growth intentions is poorly understood.  Purpose: The study aims to contribute to the existing literature by furthering the awareness and understanding of how founders are using their prior work experiences when shaping and evaluating their growth intentions. The study answers the research question:  How do founders' prior work experiences influence growth intentions in the early stages of venture development?  Method: Our method is based on qualitative research and adapts an explanatory purpose to capture the process between prior work experiences and growth intentions and elaborate the understanding of how growth intentions are created in the early stage of the ventures' development. Through a case study with semi-structured interviews, we have interviewed nine new venture founders in the tech sector, which have been the ground for our empirics. The analysis of data was conducted in three steps, namely empirical analysis, retroduction, and corroboration.  Conclusion: Our study advances the explanation of how founders' prior work experiences shape how they manage their ventures' internal environments, which impact their growth intentions. By conducting a conceptual model, we explained how building social working environment, structuring people and practices, and implementing routines manifest as mechanisms in the process between prior experiences and growth.

Entrepreneurs need resources to organize new venture offerings into marketplace-acceptable forms. Entrepreneurs use others' assistance via networks to obtain these resources. Research indicates that firms face resource dependencies, that likely change over time, where they must respond to those controlling resources. Although some work has investigated implications of new ventures' networks at one time period, little work has investigated the dynamic nature and associated outcomes of networks as they change due to different resource requirements as the venture develops. This research examines the dynamic nature of networks, due different resource requirements over time, and how these changes impact entrepreneurial outcomes via interactions with entrepreneurs' existing networks. In order to account for the dynamic nature of entrepreneurial new ventures and their networks of resource providers, a model is presented that investigates antecedents to subsequent entrepreneurial network characteristics. The model also anticipates changes eminent to the founder as a consequence of interactions with their networks due to experiences associated with the new venture development process. This work relies on network theory integrated with resource dependence theory arguments, work that examines founder attributes as associated with entrepreneurial outcomes and research that investigates the stages of new venture development. Predictions developed from the model were tested in two studies. The first study utilized the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics, an existing panel database containing information about nascent entrepreneurs, as its data source to test predictions examining the dynamics of entrepreneurs' networks across two time frames. The second study used a cross-sectional mass mail survey design to investigate all of the model's predictions on a random sample of newly incorporated firms in the state of Florida. The results of the studies provided support for about one third of the predictions and there were a few contrasting findings across studies. Overall, the results of the studies suggest that some conceptualizations presented in the theoretical model should be reevaluated and that the applicability of some constructs when studying firms in the organizing stages of development should be reconsidered.

This thesis project was carried out within the cooperation between theIndustrial Ecology Department at Royal Institute of Technology (KTH),Stockholm, Sweden and Center for Space Thermal Science of ShandongUniversity, Jinan, China. The aim of this thesis report is to investigate Environmental ManagementSystem (EMS) and its support system, give a general view of theenvironmental work in companies in China, and make recommendation forSwedish joint ventures how they should work with environmental issues inChina. The conclusions, drawn from the thesis investigation, are that the Chineseway of working with environmental issues is similar to the Swedishapproach. There is a comprehensive support system in forms oflegalization, other demands and standards. The main differences arecompulsory EMS and Cleaner Production Law. It is not always voluntarilyto work with an EMS in a company; some companies, which are perceivedto be hazardous for the environment, are forced to work with compulsoryEMS. However, there is also voluntarily EMS such as ISO 14001. Thesecond differences are that China has, as the only country in the world,Cleaner Production as a law. The company visits to Qingqi, General, Shandong Huangtai Thermal PowerPlant and Huawo showed that Chinese companies work active onenvironmental issues and use the existing support system. The recommendations for joint ventures between Chinese and Swedishcompanies that were drawn from this thesis report are; compile withChina’s environmental laws, criterion, standards and demands; be a partof China’s environmental management system, both compulsory andvoluntarily; make the environmental work in the organisations transparentand infiltrated it in all levels; educate all employees and assure that theEMS has full support from the top manager; combine EMS with safety,health and quality management systems; work with high quality EducationCenters and Certification Bodies; and finally, take a moral responsibility. / www.ima.kth.se