Thesis (M.Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2005 / Refer to Document

80年代全球電腦資訊產業開始大幅起飛發展，台灣電腦產業外銷蓬勃成長，Comdex Fall主辦單位金沙集團所舉辦的展覽，皆為所有台灣電腦廠商競相參與！個案公司因而成為台灣展覽代理產業之首 但現在資訊爆炸、網路無國界的社會下，廠商辦展能力日趨獨立，展覽大會行銷管道增多且簡易，中間商角色漸漸薄弱！在雙方面夾擊下，展覽代理產業的生存就已日漸困難，加上台灣公協會的轉型，原本為展覽代理商合作伙伴的公協會，轉而成為競爭對手，讓展覽代理的困境雪上加霜。個案公司面臨到了轉型，開始思考如何能運用原本的核心能力與優勢，轉一時的機緣，成就百年盛時！

<p>Internet commerce is nowadays a well known phenomenon. There is awareness that a lot of newly created companies operate their business through the Internet. You can see a tendency where many young people try to establish an Internet business with the hope of success and expansion on today’s fierce market rivalry. To achieve success, companies have to consider factors like business concept, logistic knowledge, future vision, resources and contacts when initializing their business.</p><p>Having this in mind, we can clarify the purpose with this paper: “To analyze in what way On-line shopping companies that sell consumer electronics, cell phones and music/entertainment products, have expanded” The paper is based on telephone interviews with three On-line shopping companies. The questions asked are the same for each company and are of dielectric character.</p><p>The outcome of the interviews led the writers to a couple of conclusions:</p><p>A company's expansion is influenced of the world it´s living in. The customer’s needs and requirements stand in focus. The company whom best satisfies the customer’s needs distinguishes itself among the competitors. The conductor's role and person also influence the ability to expand, a careful respective risk inclined person runs companies in various way.</p><p>When on-line shopping companies extend, they develop its distribution for customer benefit. This is done in cooperation with the Swedish postal service to lower company carriage-charges and to employ further staff members. When companies grow they become more attractive to suppliers, forcing them to filter and choose correct suppliers according to company needs. A growing company demands thorough development of its delivery service. The actions taken involve cutting the time of delivery, assure correct quality and price of products and having a back-up plan in case problems should arise when the company i.e. reconstruct their storehouse or when purchasing another company. These factors converge in one basic outlook: To get hold of further more pleased customers.</p>

This licentiate thesis examines why Åre, the premium skiresort of Sweden, is so successful inproducing new small and medium sized firms. Since the 1980s, Åre has been among the highestranked Swedish municipalities when it comes to new firm formation, and their survial rateis better than in the rest of the country. Åre is situated in the interior north of Sweden, and isthe only comparable municipality in that part of the country that has increased its popultion inrecent years. Other similar municipalities are facing a heavy decline in population. Åre has along history in the tourist industry and most newly started firms are connected to this industry.Some 450 000 visitors come annually, mainly in the wintertime, to experience Åre, which hasthereby developed into a local market with demand on a broad range of products and services.The aim with the licentiate thesis is to analyse what is causing the entrepreneurial processthat is taking place in Åre. The theoretical point of departure is found in theories of contemporaryeconomic geography with concepts like social capital, cluster and ”creative class” formingthe framework for the analysis. Path-dependence theory is also in focus when it comes tounderstanding the importance of local history and its footprint of today.The main data used in the thesis come from 34 semi-structured interviews with companyowners/managers representing private firms in Åre. Only individuals that have started theirbusiness or taken over the firm from a family member have been of interest in the study. Thepurpose is to get close to the persons behind the business and reveal why they became entrepreneursin the local context. The mainly qualitative analysis of the interview material is supplementedby a statistical analysis where a) Åre is compared with other similar municipalitiesin Sweden concerning for example the development of new business or unemployment rates.And b) where all individuals who have lived in Åre during the period of 1990-2008 are analyzedusing different variables concerning socio-economic background and occupation.The thesis shows the importance of the attraction to the local environment where newfirms are formed as a result of a strong local market and an positive entrepreneurial atmospherethat exists in Åre. Entrepreneurs in Åre have a diverse background, but with the passionfor skiing or outdoor activities as common denominators. Another important factor is thegathering of local actors in the destination around a future oriented vision that unites them.

Internet commerce is nowadays a well known phenomenon. There is awareness that a lot of newly created companies operate their business through the Internet. You can see a tendency where many young people try to establish an Internet business with the hope of success and expansion on today’s fierce market rivalry. To achieve success, companies have to consider factors like business concept, logistic knowledge, future vision, resources and contacts when initializing their business. Having this in mind, we can clarify the purpose with this paper: “To analyze in what way On-line shopping companies that sell consumer electronics, cell phones and music/entertainment products, have expanded” The paper is based on telephone interviews with three On-line shopping companies. The questions asked are the same for each company and are of dielectric character. The outcome of the interviews led the writers to a couple of conclusions: A company's expansion is influenced of the world it´s living in. The customer’s needs and requirements stand in focus. The company whom best satisfies the customer’s needs distinguishes itself among the competitors. The conductor's role and person also influence the ability to expand, a careful respective risk inclined person runs companies in various way. When on-line shopping companies extend, they develop its distribution for customer benefit. This is done in cooperation with the Swedish postal service to lower company carriage-charges and to employ further staff members. When companies grow they become more attractive to suppliers, forcing them to filter and choose correct suppliers according to company needs. A growing company demands thorough development of its delivery service. The actions taken involve cutting the time of delivery, assure correct quality and price of products and having a back-up plan in case problems should arise when the company i.e. reconstruct their storehouse or when purchasing another company. These factors converge in one basic outlook: To get hold of further more pleased customers.

This paper examines the interest rate sensitivity of Business Development Companies (BDCs). The results of this study are intended to lend insight to investors about the viability and timing of investments in BDCs during the business cycle. Similar to previous research that has examined interest rate sensitivity of financial companies, this paper employs a two-factor market model to see whether BDCs are responsive to changes in short, medium, and long-term interest rates. My particular interest in BDCs is motivated by their unique asset-liability structure and requirements, as well as their high dividend payouts. Monthly data is drawn from the period ranging from January 2004 through December 2012. Using a sample of 30 BDCs, I estimate the sensitivity of BDC stock returns to stock market and interest rate changes in general. I then proceed to test whether size and Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) licensure status affect these sensitivities.

The term business as an economical activity brings along many issues related to / managerial activities, competition, marketing, finance, risk, etc. which all of them include a high level of decision making that need to be supported by trust able knowledge. Due to the unique specifications of the construction industry and the high sensitivity regarding the decisions made accompanied with the business, knowledge and knowledge management have been considered essential for the industry. As a fundamental step of a well structured knowledge management system, classification of the knowledge plays an important role in organizing and representing a domain. Among the many aspects of decision making, decisions regarding the business development of a company play a crucial role in the survival and growth of an available business. However up to now, the literature has a shortage on a comprehensive work which attempts to classify the knowledge in this specific domain of the construction industry. In an effort to cover this gap in the literature, this study focuses on developing a knowledge taxonomy for business development management in a construction company based on semi-structured interviews with Turkish construction professionals. The taxonomy designed by referring to expert opinion is comprised of five major concepts: Business environment, Clients, Partners, Related parties, and own Company. The presented taxonomy is tested on real cases and believed to be used for representing, storing, sharing, retrieving and in general, managing knowledge related to business development management of a construction organizations for decision supporting purposes. More over in order to demonstrate how the presented taxonomy can be used in a company a knowledge management tool has been designed.

With the explosion of technology we are finding that our methods of communication are  changing rapidly year to year. The way that we interact with each other from personal  levels to more formal business is all being affected. With the birth of the internet we have  seen continuous growth  of communication methods via this medium and most recently is  the boom of the Internet Based Networking Websites (IBNWs) that allow the, over  300million, users to interact with each other. Websites like Facebook, Linkedin, and  Twitter are very good examples of IBNWs that provide great platforms for communicating  messages and advertising companies regardless of where in the world they are. Geography  is quickly becoming an obstacle of the past as IBNWs allow business to reach people based  on their demographic rather then location. Through the use of IBNWs people can target,  segment, and filter according to the people they wish to advertise to, all for free. This in  turn is now having a huge impact on the advertising industry as ad agencies are being  pressured to change their more traditional marketing structures to fit the modern  environment, as people, especially young entrepreneurs, are finding a plethora of ways to  advertise online for free.    Because of this huge reshape of the advertising industry we have chosen to look in to how  this all affects the entrepreneur and therefore have taken on the task of answering the  question:    How do IBNWs affect the process of advertising in the development of new ventures?    In this thesis we delve in to the topic of modern advertising in relation to traditional forms  of advertising (T.V, Radio, Print) to see how and in what ways IBNWs are having an  impact of company start-ups. With the use of many authors and concepts we build a  theoretical perspective to help us analyze the data retrieved from 10 entrepreneurs from  around the world. The theoretical perspective is made of four key elements: Cost, Clutter,  Interactivity, and Objectives of advertising. With a qualitative interpretivist approach we  have constructed an in-depth case study that explores the development of 10 different  ventures from the perspective of the entrepreneurs running them. However to aid us in our  analysis and understanding of the industry of advertising and business development we  interviewed the Chief Creative officer at Ogilvy&amp;Mathers, and an Manager at International  Venture Club.     The final goal of the study is to generate an original framework for entrepreneurs in modern  advertising. What we found was that due to the lack of resources by the entrepreneurs  IBNWs provide a great cost effective method of reaching a large and relevant audience.  Among other findings we found that IBNWs are a great starting point for all entrepreneurs  in their process of advertising due to its cheap and easy to use platform. In conclusion we  found that IBNWs do have a huge impact on the process of advertising in the development  of new ventures.     Keywords: IBNWs, Advertising, Cost, Clutter, Interactivity, Advertising Objectives

Aim: The first customer is important because that it’s in many cases the only objective evidence that your product or service works in real life and that someone is willing to pay for it. The first customer is your first reference.   The aim of this study is to: Investigate how 7 start-up companies in the ICT-business developed reference. Establishing recommendations on what to focus on when creating reference customers. Present complementary recommendations for start-up companies regarding important factors, besides those investigated against the theory, which have been discovered to be important when building a successful company.   Method: The method in this study is a combination of a case study and cross-sectional study with qualitative data. The questions in the interviews were predefined and complemented with open ended questions according to the answers on the pre-defined questions. The data collected, the answers, were written down, summarized and analyzed regarding whether they did or did not support the theoretical statements investigated. A theoretical statement could be supported or not supported, partially or strongly   Result &amp; Conclusions: The access to a professional network and good social skills are most important when establishing the first reference. Business skills can be developed during the process but the recommendation is to acquire or secure them as soon as possible. How to achieve the desired states has also been concluded.   Suggestions for future research: The largest limitation is the sample size of the data. Less than 10 companies were interviewed and some of the suggested statements can’t be significantly either confirmed or deferred. The study was also limited to one round of interviews. A study, with two rounds of interviews and a larger set of companies interviewed is suggested for further research. An extended study could also cover companies that didn’t survive the IT crash of 2000 and investigate if the suggested parameters and strategies were present and deployed or implemented.       Contribution of the thesis: The investigation has verified the importance of networks, customer type (brand name) and social capital when establishing a reference. It has also showed that the skills needed to develop a business doesn’t need to be present when company is established since it can be acquired and secured during the development of the first reference. It has also contributed with a set of recommendation for entrepreneurs in general not only regarding the establishment of reference customers where the most important recommendation is to build and maintain the personal and professional networks.

The aim of the study was to show whether or not there exists, and if so, to understand, a common creativity, vision and imagination of the members of Småland’s Entrepreneurial Academy’s organisation. The method used for this research is the fictive narrative collage , which consists of the collection of fictive stories. The author has also made her own additions to the method. A composer composes songs to the narratives, two artists illustrate the narratives. The research is carried out on the total population within Småland’s Entrepreneurial Academy which consists of 10 permanent members of the organisation. The theory focuses on different areas, such as creativity, vision and imagination as well as on the entrepreneur and the organisation. The latter two to provide the research with a foundation for the whole. Analyses were carried out and interpreted by the author, coupled to the theory, but also with a starting point in the interpretations that the composer and artists made in their contributions. Theatrical metaphors are used to draw parallels and to make further clarifications in the interpretation and the texts. The results show that vision, imagination and creativity do exist and common characteristics have been able to be identified, such as the creativity of the entrepreneur and his or her desire to go his or her own way, to not enter into conflict with his or her own role. In the vision, there are common trains of thought, where a balance in life/existence is the most central. If imagination is allowed completely free flight, the research group will allow anarchy to reign.