Entrepreneur is the destructor of present mechanism, but entrepreneur also can be the value creator of company. If company can make good use of the energy of the entrepreneur, entrepreneur will create enormous value for the company. So how to manipulate the power of entrepreneur becomes an important issue. This article discusses this issue from a perspective of Corporate Venture Capital. According to the independent-unit characteristic of CVC, start-up can avoid rigid bureaucracy and culture. The whole value creation process is as follows: Through CVC, parent company supports entrepreneur to build up business, and parent company will receive strategic value when start-up succeeds. There are two kinds of strategic value; one is the purpose of investment plan, another one is the activation of Corporate Entrepreneurship. As we know, when the core element of investment plan is entrepreneur, the plan is basically different from other plans. The essence of the investment plan which is based on the power of entrepreneur is Corporate Entrepreneurship. The definition of CE in this article is the process in which company makes use of individual entrepreneurship under the common vision to do innovative activities to create strategic value for the organization. In other words, from CVC perspective, the managing model of CE is the new venture growth model. CVC can follow the new venture growth model to support entrepreneur to build up business, and the success of start-up can return strategic value to parent company and promote the Corporate Entrepreneurship of parent company. After the discussion of the ecosystem, culture and investment cases of IC design industry in Taiwan, we interview three professional in CVC area to get further details. Then we build the new venture growth model for company to make good use of the power of entrepreneurs.

Recent research has concluded that personality factors influence entrepreneurial success. This study used a causal steps approach, to test a model that included effectuation and causation decision processes as mediators and environmental uncertainty as a moderator, in the relationship between personality and venture success. Conscientiousness and openness, two relevant big five personality dimensions, were shown to be positively related to the use of causation and effectuation decision logic depending on the level of uncertainty in the environment. The level of causation was further linked to venture revenue growth being more successful in low uncertainty environments supporting its nomination as a mediator for personality. Consequences for entrepreneurship research are discussed and recommendations made for further research in this area. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Entrepreneurship is the foundation of the economic for each country. It has an inevitable impact onmicro- and macro-economic factors such as GDP, economic growth, employment/unemploymentrate, regional development, etc. Thus, entrepreneurial practices are crucial for each country in orderto have better economic conditions.Growth is the dominant part of entrepreneurial practices from which the success of small firms canbe assessed and evaluated. Firm’s growth involves different aspects such as motives, finance andownership strategies, indicators, and growth stimulus. These factors together provide a pattern ofgrowth that is different from one company to another.Since the advent of the Internet there has been changes in the business world and the terms such asdotcom, digital entrepreneurship, e-services, e-banking, etc. made a dramatic change in the way ofdoing business. Some companies were established based on the Internet and their income andexistence relied on the Internet. Some others on the other hand, use traditional method of businessbesides using the Internet as an extra tool.This study examines the small business growth pattern in order to find out how small firms grow.Furthermore, the difference between the growth pattern of digital firms and traditional companies isexamined to find out how the pattern of growth differs from dotcoms to the brick-and-mortars.This study is based on a qualitative research method with the approach of a case study research. Thecase study is designed on one major case to go deep while having four other supporting companiesin order to get the best results with the least subjectivity. The questionnaire was designed on a semistructureand the results were coded for the pattern. The questions were designed based on theconceptual framework which was changes based on the results and optimized.The results from this study provide a framework that gives a pattern of growth for small firms. Thesuggested framework of growth pattern has some major components: growth motive, growthstrategy, growth indicator, and growth stimulus. Furthermore, the research findings define the majordifferences between the growth pattern of dotcoms and brick-and-mortars.

This dissertation introduces the model of opportunistic adaptation to explain new venture growth. In established firms processes of change and adaptation usually imply a transition from one steady-state strategy to another and a problem oriented perspective as firms change in response to potential threats to their current positions. However, in the context of new ventures, adaptation is less about moving from one existent strategy to another and more about the entrepreneur’s effort to reach a steady state for the first time by continuously experimenting and combining resources in creative and innovative ways. The model of opportunistic adaptation rests on three key assumptions: 1.) new venture growth results from actions grounded in an opportunistic (proactive) logic; 2.) entrepreneurial cognition is viewed as an antecedent to all organizational actions leading to growth; 3.) the relationship between entrepreneurial cognition and action is influenced by industry and firm level attributes. The model is tested using quantitative and qualitative data on new ventures founded between 1996 and 2006 in technology intensive industries. The results provide partial support for the notion of opportunistic adaptation as a process in which entrepreneurial cognition, firm and industry related factors are closely intertwined. The results of the dissertation suggest that some aspects of entrepreneurial cognition, such as entrepreneurial schema focus have a more direct effect on actions related to new venture growth than others whose effect is strongly moderated by contextual influences such as industry growth and social network heterogeneity. This dissertation also finds that not all types of organizational actions associated with an opportunity logic lead to new venture growth. Of the three action types included in the model (fast, diverse and frequent) only action diversity was found to have a positive impact on new venture growth. Theoretical implications of the study results for both the literature on new venture growth and the literature on organizational adaptation, as well as practical implications are discussed.

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.