This article reports on the results of the identification of potential business opportunities for Non Governmental Organizations as an extra income to face the present funding challenge. Few research studies have been done on business opportunities as sources of income for NGO's. The aim of this study was to explore potential business opportunities as sources of income and it focused on the research of different possibilities. In this exploratory research study a qualitative approach was followed through interviews with business people and a focusgoup discussion to investigate potential business opportunities. Respondents were selected through purposive sampling techniques, eleven business men and a focusgroup consisting of five business men and six personnel of The Dutch Reformed Ministry or Caring. The eleven business men were recruited from the congregations of the Highveld Sinod. Data were collected through interviews with the business men and the focusgroup interview. Data were analysed according to themes. The following eight potential business opportunities were identified: government contracts, donations, improved marketing, fundraising strategies, buying of a business or shareholding in a business, partnerships, selling of therapeutic services and additional information and proposals. This offers business opportunities for NGO's to use as sources of income to sustain them and ensure that they can continue with their service delivery. The recommendation from the focus group was for more donations, an improved marketing strategy, the requirement or government contracts and selling of therapeutic services as potential opportunities. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

The study is based on a comparison between franchises and independent businesses. The purpose of the study is to have a clear understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of SMEs and franchise businesses in Rustenburg (North West Province) and its environs. A number of textbooks, published works and web articles on SMEs and franchise businesses were used in determining definitions and advantages and disadvantages that are experienced by the entrepreneur. A survey research design was used with a questionnaire as data-gathering instrument. The purpose of the questionnaire was to determine the experience and viewpoints of the entrepreneurs towards SMEs and franchise businesses. The study population consisted of 71 entrepreneurs who operate in the business environment of Rustenburg (North West Province) and its environs. Limitations in the research were identified and several recommendations were made in order to guide the entrepreneur in choosing a business that will suit his/her needs. The findings of the study offer advantages and disadvantages for both the franchise and independent businesses. The research results lead the entrepreneur to seek for a good business opportunity that will add value in terms of enterprise development, ownership, and financial benefits. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

The study is based on a comparison between franchises and independent businesses. The purpose of the study is to have a clear understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of SMEs and franchise businesses in Rustenburg (North West Province) and its environs. A number of textbooks, published works and web articles on SMEs and franchise businesses were used in determining definitions and advantages and disadvantages that are experienced by the entrepreneur. A survey research design was used with a questionnaire as data-gathering instrument. The purpose of the questionnaire was to determine the experience and viewpoints of the entrepreneurs towards SMEs and franchise businesses. The study population consisted of 71 entrepreneurs who operate in the business environment of Rustenburg (North West Province) and its environs. Limitations in the research were identified and several recommendations were made in order to guide the entrepreneur in choosing a business that will suit his/her needs. The findings of the study offer advantages and disadvantages for both the franchise and independent businesses. The research results lead the entrepreneur to seek for a good business opportunity that will add value in terms of enterprise development, ownership, and financial benefits. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

line of business/industry and family, to more clearly discern how male and female norms are acquired among female entrepreneurs. The purpose of this study was to gain a greater understanding and knowledge of women's conditions regarding entrepreneurship, in relation to society's norms. The study is based on a textual thematic analyses, using two themes derived from Helene Ahls “The Scientific Reproduction of Gender Inequality. A Discourse Analysis of Research Texts on Women`s Entrepreneurship”. The themes selected for this study were industry and family, which were two important themes in Helene Ahl’s research. The themes were applied using articles, in which female entrepreneurs were interviewed or portrayed. We used different sources but have mainly used the magazine Entreprenör to collect samples for the study. The theoretical framework used for this study is based mainly on Yvonne Hirdmans gender system and gender contract, we also added theories from Elvin-Nowak & Thomsson concerning horizontal and vertical segregation and Patrica Lewis theories on gender blindness. The main conclusion for this study was that there is a difference between entrepreneurs and how they present and relate to male and female norms in regard to industry and family. We found that entrepreneurs who run large companies or act in male-dominated industries show tendencies of acquiring male norms and standards while entrepreneurs who run small companies or act in female-dominated industries tend to acquire female norms.

Background: In recent studies a lot of attention is drawn to the connection between networking and entrepreneurship. Many scholars consider successful business and networking inseparable. Taking into consideration the topicality of the two notions discussed above the authors of this thesis decided to conduct the research dedicated to these phenomena in the field that interests them most – in the field of Swedish fashion. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to gain a deeper insight into entrepreneur’s experiences to point out the role of entrepreneurial networking in the process of internationalization of a micro-sized Swedish fashion company and to contribute to the research in this field by telling its unique story. Method: To achieve the purpose of the research a narrative ethnographic research was conducted. This research strategy was chosen because it suits the purpose best by giving an opportunity to get fresh insights into the field of entrepreneurial networking from the point of view of the entrepreneur. The data collected has a narrative nature therefore narrative analysis is used to present it. The methods of gathering the data are face-to-face interview and documents. Conclusion: we can define the most important role of entrepreneurial networking on the internationalization process of Odeur as an effective accelerator and a tool to fulfil the knowledge and expertise gaps in certain areas through other actors in the network.

No description available.

This thesis analyses the ways of strengthening Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Turkey and promoting entrepreneurship in the light of the current EU policies from a holistic approach. Analyses of theoretical framework and exploring the structure of SMEs, existing support policies and the future strategies of both European Union and Turkey are the major stages of this study. This thesis makes critical evaluation of SME policies in Turkey by pointing out their weaknesses, which are supported by the results obtained from the case study conducted on SMEs in Adana. This study also attempts to develop some recommendations in order to eliminate shortcomings of SME policy in Turkey. The main idea of this thesis is that a long term strategy, which should be developed in order to promote entrepreneurship and support Turkish SMEs requires reassessment of the policies and developing effective measures in wide range of policy domains such as, R&amp / D, technology, labor markets, financial markets, education and social policies.

Sedan 2011 finns entreprenörskap inskrivet i läroplanen för grundskolan. Mycket teori finns om entreprenören och entreprenörskap, men lite forskning finns som berör anställning av entreprenörer. Med den här kvalitativa studien ville vi bidra till ökad förståelse för om och hur entreprenören rekryteras till en traditionell anställning, där vi med traditionell anställning avsett entreprenören som arbetstagare. Studien genomfördes dels genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med två rekryterare och dels genom textanalys av nio platsannonser inom olika yrkesområden. Hela studien följer uppdelningen mellan egenskapsperspektivet respektive beteendeperspektivet. Dessa teman är valda med hänsyn tagen till de olika teoretiska inriktningarna kring entreprenörskap men också till olika ansatser inom rekryteringsteori. När vi påbörjade studien trodde vi att vi skulle mötas med en negativ inställning till att anställa entreprenörer. Studiens slutsats blev dock att entreprenören är eftertraktad att anställa, framför allt för dennes egenskaper, men att entreprenörskapsbegreppet ställer till en del praktiska problem för själva rekryteringen. / Since 2011, entrepreneurship is established in the Swedish curriculum for primary school. Much theory can be found on the entrepreneur and entrepreneurship. There is, however, not as much research available regarding employment of the entrepreneur. With this qualitative study, we strived to contribute to an extended understanding of if and how the entrepreneur is recruited to an employment. The study was carried out by partly semistructured interviews with two recruiters, and partly by text analysis of nine listings in different professions. The whole study follows a sectioning between the trait perspective and the behavior perspective. These themes were chosen in consideration of the different entrepreneurial theoretical orientations, but also in regard to different approaches within recruitment theory. When the study began, we thought that we would be met by a negative attitude against hiring entrepreneurs. The conclusion of the study, however, became that the entrepreneur is sought after to hire, especially for its characteristics, but that the entrepreneurial concept poses some practical problems for the recruitment itself.

Os empreendedores sociais são protagonistas na abordagem de problemas sociais no Brasil. Contudo, mesmo com esse destaque, pouco ainda se sabe sobre as particularidades desses profissionais. A aprendizagem desses indivíduos é um dos assuntos que carecem da atenção dos acadêmicos. Desse modo, uma das teorias que oportuniza análises a respeito da aprendizagem desses indivíduos é a Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) de Kolb (1984), que relata que a aprendizagem é o processo de criação de conhecimentos a partir da transformação das experiências do indivíduo. Um dos subprodutos da ELT é o conceito dos estilos de aprendizagem: traços pessoais que servem como indicadores de como os indivíduos percebem, interagem e respondem aos ambientes de aprendizagem. Para Alonso et al. (1997), existem quatro diferentes tipos de estilos de aprendizagem: o pragmático, o teórico, o ativo e o reflexivo. Assim, os autores elaboraram o instrumento Cuestionario Honey y Alonso sobre Estilos de Aprendizaje (CHAEA) para verificarem os estilos de aprendizagem dos indivíduos e realizarem análises relativas ao assunto. Dessa forma, a presente pesquisa se propôs a analisar a aprendizagem dos empreendedores sociais brasileiros à luz da Experiential Learning Theory, utilizando, para isso, o instrumento CHAEA. Primeiramente, os 90 empreendedores sociais brasileiros pesquisados tiveram seus estilos de aprendizagem verificados e os resultados foram analisados por meio de análises estatísticas univariadas e bivariadas. Assim, foi constatado que o estilo pragmático, o estilo teórico, o estilo ativo e o estilo reflexivo somam, respectivamente, 36,7%, 31,1%, 24,4%, e 7,8% da preferência geral dos pesquisados. Num segundo momento, particularidades e tendências relativas à aprendizagem desses indivíduos foram discutidas, e hipóteses foram produzidas. Essas hipóteses oferecem margem para o desenvolvimento de novos estudos relacionados ao tema. É indicado que as futuras pesquisas procurem trabalhar com amostras mais numerosas e com outros tipos de análises estatísticas. À parte das descobertas em relação à aprendizagem dos pesquisados e das hipóteses desenvolvidas, esta pesquisa também teve outro desdobramento relacionado ao estudo do empreendedorismo social no Brasil: o delineamento do perfil do empreendedor social brasileiro. Foi encontrado que esse indivíduo se caracteriza, majoritariamente, por ser identificado com o gênero masculino, ser jovem, declarar-se da raça ou cor branca, possuir alto grau de escolaridade e estar envolvido há pouco tempo com iniciativas sociais. O perfil constatado corrobora o perfil encontrado por outros autores e traz maior solidez para a discussão do tema. De forma geral, esta pesquisa colaborou para o avanço das pesquisas relativas ao empreendedorismo social e à aprendizagem experiencial no Brasil. Também foi viabilizada para os empreendedores sociais brasileiros participantes a oportunidade de verificarem seus estilos de aprendizagem e, assim, entenderem melhor suas próprias particularidades quanto à aprendizagem. Por último, destaca-se a contribuição para com instituições voltadas à educação, que por meio dos resultados desta pesquisa poderão aprimorar seus cursos direcionados aos empreendedores sociais. / Social entrepreneurs are central figures in addressing societal problems in Brazil. Nevertheless, despite the spotlights being pointed on these individuals, little is known about their particularities. Their learning process, for instance, is a subject lacking academic research. Therefore, one way to analyze their learning process is through the Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) present by Kolb (1984), which says that learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. One of the ELT's sub-products is the learning styles concept, which suggests that personal traits work as indicators of how someone perceives, interacts and responds to learning environments. Alonso et al. (1997) proposed four different learning styles: pragmatist, theorist, activist and reflector. As a result, the authors created the survey Cuestionario Honey y Alonso sobre Estilos de Aprendizaje (CHAEA) to verify someone's learning style and to carry out analysis about their learning process. Thus, the present research aims to analyze Brazilian social entrepreneurs' learning process in the light of the Experiential Learning Theory, using, to that end, the CHAEA survey. Primarily, the 90 Brazilian social entrepreneurs studied in this research had their learning styles verified and their results analyzed through univariate and bivariate techniques. Thus, it was determined that the pragmatist style, the theorist style, the activist style and the reflector style represented, respectively, 36.7%, 31.1%, 24.4%, and 7.8% of the participant’s general preference. Secondly, particularities and tendencies regarding the Brazilian social entrepreneurs studied were discussed, and hypotheses were produced. This hypotheses offer a clear research path to anyone interested in developing new studies about the subject. It is indicated for future researches to work with larger samples and with other types of statistical analysis. Besides the discoveries regarding the participant's learning process and the hypotheses developed, this research also presented other outcome related to social entrepreneurship studies in Brazil: the establishment of the Brazilian social entrepreneur profile. It was found that these individuals are characterized, mostly, by recognizing themselves as males, by being young, by declaring themselves as white individuals, by possessing a high schooling level and by getting involved recently with social enterprises. The profile formed supports profiles described by other authors in their researches and brings a meaningful consolidation regarding the subject discussion. In general, this research contributed to the advance of researches related to social entrepreneurship and to experiential learning in Brazil. In a practical viewpoint, it was made possible for the Brazilian social entrepreneurs which were part of this research to verify their learning styles and, thus, understand better their own particularities regarding their learning processes. Lastly, the contribution to educational institutions needs to be addressed. Through the results of this research it will be possible for these establishments to improve their courses designed for social entrepreneurs.

Submitted by Noeme Timbo (noeme.timbo@metodista.br) on 2017-01-17T18:48:32Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Evellyn Ruiz Diogo.pdf: 1987859 bytes, checksum: e80eae517efed56fca81f2f430e74457 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-17T18:48:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Evellyn Ruiz Diogo.pdf: 1987859 bytes, checksum: e80eae517efed56fca81f2f430e74457 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-01 / In Brazil, entrepreneurship was driven by the opening up of the foreign market, the privatization of large state enterprises, the heating of the domestic economy through the rise of the C and D classes, and the law of the individual microentrepreneur (MEI). Formalization. Individual microentrepreneurs are part of a changing environment and filled with uncertainties, and in this scenario MEI has to make decisions at all times. Thus, this study brings a theory for assimilation, exposing and discussing the theme of strategies of achievement from an Effectuation perspective. The new economic and political scenario is addressed in the fundamental theory, just as there was this decline of entrepreneurship in Brazil, more specifically in the region of Grande ABC, in São Bernardo do Campo, located in the state of São Paulo, from the first Government Dilma Rousseff (from 2010 to 2015). The general objective of this study is to study how a crisis that established itself in Brazil in the period from 2010 to 2015 affected MEIs in the city of São Bernardo do Campo - SP. And how the entrepreneurial strategies on the Efficacy perspective have helped these MEIs to overcome and face a crisis. In order to analyze with the depth of a situation, they were interviewed semi-structured with microentrepreneurs of the city of São Bernardo do Campo - SP. The results show that the interviewed MEIs did not carry out any business plan or any previous study that the assistants in the opening of the store, nor considered a formal study on the subject. Over time, you have a feeling about the business, and have been so happy with a crisis. / No Brasil, o empreendedorismo foi impulsionado pela abertura do mercado externo, pela privatização das grandes companhias estatais, pelo aquecimento da economia interna por meio da ascensão das classes C e D, e pela lei do microempreendedor individual (MEI), que possibilitou importantes vantagens na formalização. Os microempreendedores individuais são parte de um ambiente mutável e cheio de incertezas e, dentro deste cenário, o MEI tem que tomar decisões a todo momento. Sendo assim, esse estudo traz uma construção teórica para, assim, expor e discutir o tema das estratégias empreendedoras sob a óptica do Effectuation. O novo cenário, econômico e político, é abordado na fundamentação teórica, assim como se deu essa queda do empreendedorismo no Brasil, mais especificamente na região do Grande ABC, em São Bernardo do Campo, situada no estado de São Paulo, a partir do primeiro governo Dilma Rousseff (de 2010 até 2015). O objetivo geral desse estudo é o de estudar como a crise que se estabeleceu no Brasil, no período de 2010 a 2015, afetou os MEIs da cidade de São Bernardo do Campo – SP. E como as estratégicas empreendedoras sobre a ótica do Effectuation tem ajudado esses MEIs a superar e enfrentar a crise.Com o propósito de analisar com profundidade a situação, foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com microempreendedores da cidade de São Bernardo do Campo – SP. Os resultados obtidos mostram que os MEIs entrevistados não realizaram nenhum plano de negócios ou qualquer outro estudo prévio que os auxiliasse na abertura da loja, tampouco tinham algum estudo formal sobre o tema. Com o tempo, desenvolveram um feeling em relação ao negócio, e isso tem os ajudado a superar a crise.