Over the past few years an intense debate has emerged with regard to the value of business planning for an entrepreneur, when launching a new business. The debate concerns the crucial question that all entrepreneurs and company founders face when embarking on the process of launching a new venture. The predicament that so many entrepreneurs and company founders face is whether to plan before embarking on the priceless quest for venture success or not to plan and rather to embark on the new venture in the hope it will succeed. The purpose of this study is to examine both schools of thought and then to explore if in actual fact business planning has an effect on the growth rate of an entrepreneurial venture. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The world is in the midst of a new wave of economic development with entrepreneurship and innovation as the catalysts. The ability to continually innovate and to engage in an ongoing process of entrepreneurial action has become the source of competitive advantage and a lack of entrepreneurial actions in today’s global economy could be a recipe for failure (Kuratko, 2009). Organisations need to keep abreast of developments in their business environment and continually identify and evaluate opportunities if they are to prosper in a rapidly changing world, and they must become more entrepreneurial as their corporate environments become more dynamic and increasingly competitive (Shepherd, Patzelt and Haynie, 2009). Opportunity recognition remains an important issue for academic research. This research report aims at making a modest contribution to further understand opportunity recognition behaviour of employees within their existing work environment. The research focussed on employees working in the South African financial sector, and examined their perceptions of opportunity recognition behaviours and motivators. An understanding of these important behaviours and motivators will allow senior management of corporate entities to have a better understanding of the opportunity recognition processes by employees, and to put in place mechanisms that facilitate and support these processes in search of robust entrepreneurial activities. Apart from the economic rationale, the motivations for studying employees’ behaviour come mainly from the limited number of studies of this nature that have been carried out in emerging economies. The study is performed using data from 195 employees drawn from 23 financial sector companies in South Africa. This research concludes that South African financial sector employees perceive themselves as showing strong levels of opportunity recognition behaviours, and opportunity recognition motivators are also perceived important in promoting entrepreneurial initiatives. The empirical study reveals that there is a significant positive relationship between opportunity recognition behaviours and the frequency of opportunities recognised. vi Success is found to have a moderating effect on the relationship between frequency of opportunity recognition and perceptions of opportunity recognition behaviours. Respondents, who have a low or medium number of successfully implemented opportunities, recognise a higher number of opportunities as their opportunity recognition behaviour increases. However, those respondents with a high number of successfully implemented opportunities tend to show a slight decrease in the total number of opportunities identified as their opportunity recognition behaviour increases. A cluster analysis was carried out to provide a deeper understanding of opportunity recognition behaviours and motivators, and three distinct clusters with differing characteristics were identified. These clusters are named according to the characteristics displayed by the respective clusters (corporate achievers, mavericks, and doers). The corporate achievers cluster tends to perceive high levels of opportunity recognition behaviours and motivators. This high proportion of perceived alignment to company strategy combined with high levels of opportunity recognition behaviours may encourage more of the proposed opportunities to be in line with company strategy, which in turn may lead to the higher proportion of successfully implemented opportunities. The mavericks cluster recognise a large number of opportunities, but are behind the corporate achiever cluster when it comes to the proportion of successfully implemented opportunities and perceive low alignment to company strategy. Although this cluster shows a large proportion of opportunities proposed for their current company, their low perception of alignment to company strategy may mean that the opportunities they recommend do not always fit into the company strategy, which may explain their lower proportion of successfully implemented opportunities. The doers cluster tends to perceive low levels of opportunity recognition behaviour and motivators, as well as low levels of alignment to company strategy. Respondents in this cluster seem to do their work, but show low levels of entrepreneurial orientation.

No / This paper undertakes a comparative study of intervention strategies and the resultant impact upon new enterprise creation in the UK and Hungary. Firstly, secondary data is used to compare and contrast the actions of and support provided by, major employer organisations faced with the need to downsize and restructure in the light of changing economic circumstances. Parallels are drawn between the need to support the local economy in specific regions of the UK, which faced extreme recession following the decline of major industries and the need to support local economies in Hungary, which face an uncertain future, but new opportunities, following the liberalisation of economic policy. Secondly, the paper reports the results of interviews with entrepreneurs and owner-managers in both countries who have received and who are receiving support and assistance to establish, grow and develop new enterprises. For many this marks a significant transition from employment to self-employment and requires the acquisition of new skills and competences together with the acceptance of high levels of risk and exposure not previously experienced. Thirdly, the paper assesses the impact of changing relationships within the local economy. This is especially significant where newly established SMEs operate as sub-contractors to the supporting organisation which takes the opportunity to outsource services and/or production which was previously undertaken in-house. The paper concludes with specific recommendations concerning the role of facilitators in influencing attitudes towards entrepreneurship and actions, which may be undertaken to encourage regeneration through the creation of new enterprises.

There is a known fact that prosperity of new ventures will benefit the economy as a wholein a positive manner and therefore the economy should strive to create more new ventures. Steiner (2007) shows in his article that, one way out of unemployment is to venture intoself-employment. Whilst men venturing into self-employment have been quite stable overthe years, female entrepreneurs have drastically increased. Further, female entrepreneurshipis a way out from poverty, which goes towards equality for a nation (Eftimoski, 2006;Minniti, 2003). There exist an importance to study the in depth factors that correlates withthe female decision making process of venturing into self-employment. The authorsidentified a lack of research focusing on differences in motivation between unemployedwomen and employed women who started their own businesses. The purpose of this thesis is to find and compare the motivational factors for unemployedand employed women to take the decision of venturing into self-employment. The authorswant to understand the significance of previous studies and developed theories in applianceto previously unemployed and employed females venturing into self-employment withinJonkoping municipality, Sweden. Around this area, there is a great reputation of strongentrepreneurial spirit (Wigren, 2003). This qualitative study did not aim to generalize the results to a whole population, but ratherto understand the researched individual’s choices when taking the step into self-employment.Since this thesis wishes to find out incentives and motivations for thedecision of females going into self-employment, in-depth interviews with 10 self-employedwomen has been conducted to deeper the understanding of these events. A multiple casestudy was used in order to find common motivational factors for women to enter self-employment. The main results of this thesis showed that there were differences in motivational factorsfor unemployed and employed women when deciding to become self-employed. The mostvisible motivational factor for the unemployed females to enter self-employment was theactual unemployment. However for the employed women, the biggest motivational factorswere disagreement with management and not being able to develop, in combination with abusiness opportunity. There were also no signs of monetary reward, impacting upon thefemale’s decision to venture into self-employment.

<p>There is a known fact that prosperity of new ventures will benefit the economy as a wholein a positive manner and therefore the economy should strive to create more new ventures.</p><p>Steiner (2007) shows in his article that, one way out of unemployment is to venture intoself-employment. Whilst men venturing into self-employment have been quite stable overthe years, female entrepreneurs have drastically increased. Further, female entrepreneurshipis a way out from poverty, which goes towards equality for a nation (Eftimoski, 2006;Minniti, 2003). There exist an importance to study the in depth factors that correlates withthe female decision making process of venturing into self-employment. The authorsidentified a lack of research focusing on differences in motivation between unemployedwomen and employed women who started their own businesses.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to find and compare the motivational factors for unemployedand employed women to take the decision of venturing into self-employment. The authorswant to understand the significance of previous studies and developed theories in applianceto previously unemployed and employed females venturing into self-employment withinJonkoping municipality, Sweden. Around this area, there is a great reputation of strongentrepreneurial spirit (Wigren, 2003).</p><p>This qualitative study did not aim to generalize the results to a whole population, but ratherto understand the researched individual’s choices when taking the step into self-employment.Since this thesis wishes to find out incentives and motivations for thedecision of females going into self-employment, in-depth interviews with 10 self-employedwomen has been conducted to deeper the understanding of these events. A multiple casestudy was used in order to find common motivational factors for women to enter self-employment.</p><p>The main results of this thesis showed that there were differences in motivational factorsfor unemployed and employed women when deciding to become self-employed. The mostvisible motivational factor for the unemployed females to enter self-employment was theactual unemployment. However for the employed women, the biggest motivational factorswere disagreement with management and not being able to develop, in combination with abusiness opportunity. There were also no signs of monetary reward, impacting upon thefemale’s decision to venture into self-employment.</p>

No description available.

This study’s main purpose is to explore what young individuals need/require when becoming entrepreneurs. To do that, the views and perspectives of students, senior entrepreneurs and incubators were analyzed. This study’s main contribution is to the knowledge and understanding of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial education. Furthermore, this study has a practical application in the form of a suggestion on how to improve this study’s empirical case: a new project designed by the pre-incubator office Drivhuset Uppsala. Methodologically, a qualitative research study with interviews as its main technique indicates this study’s main findings and conclusions. What young individuals need/require in order to become entrepreneurs is; putting the theories they are learning or have learned into action, learning through entrepreneurship in the form of learning-by-doing and feeling the support in creating values from the entrepreneurial environment; called ‘the entrepreneurial ecosystem’ by one of this study’s actors. Theories indicate the importance of incubators participating in entrepreneurial education in different forms. UU incubators are, by the actors of this study, not perceived to do that. These conclusions proved to be complicated and are recommended as important topics for further research. This study focuses on Uppsala and incubators connected to UU. The empirical material was analyzed with the Venture Creation in learning-by- doing and Effectuation theories, and the findings indicate that Drivhuset Uppsala should focus on venture creation programs in designing their new project.

No description available.

This dissertation examines the factors influencing entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia, focusing on economic, social, and cultural aspects. Three hypotheses guide the study: 1) Economic factors. 2) The social environment. 3) There is a positive relationship between prior and subsequent venture creation. Using panel data from 13 regions between 2008 and 2022, findings show that positive economic changes, higher income per capita, lower unemployment, and higher business density significantly boost new venture creation. Access to finance and prior venture creation also positively influence subsequent entrepreneurial activities. However, a higher proportion of foreign workers and marriage rates negatively correlate with new venture creation, while the female population ratio has a complex impact. This research provides insights for policymakers and entrepreneurs, emphasizing the need for supportive economic environments and policies addressing social dynamics to enhance entrepreneurial growth in Saudi Arabia.

Business incubators have become an integrated part of innovation systems worldwide, designed to support innovative entrepreneurship and regional development. However, empirical research on incubated firms show mixed results on innovation and growth. In this paper, 18 Swedish incubators, top-ranked and funded by government innovation programs, are studied through the lens of the institutional logics perspective. Multiple conflicts in state and market logics are highlighted and discussed, as well as implications for new venture creation and future research on business incubators as influential institutional actors.