This thesis presents a study of the ‘Entrepreneurial University’. It develops a framework for conceptualising the entrepreneurial university by interrogating literature and secondary sources. Regardless of the increasing body of literature on the entrepreneurial university concept, it is revealed to be under-theorized. This literature starting from Clark’s initiatives up until recent publications focus on case studies which are not analytically driven. This gap in the theory of the entrepreneurial university inspired the study aim, which is to develop an analytical framework that can be used as a tool to identify ‘The Entrepreneurial University’ from any other ‘classic university. The study argues that there are three main aspects affecting universities' transformation toward entrepreneurial organization. These are: organization, external environment, and the interaction between organization and external environment. The first aspect investigates the entrepreneurial organizational dimensions, with a comprehensive framework of five organizational dimensions namely managerial, funding resource, mission, external collaboration, and cultural dimension. This been developed as a ‘compass’ to characterize two ideal types of entrepreneurial university. The second and third aspects address the concepts of the entrepreneurial environment and the coherence between the entrepreneurial organization and the entrepreneurial environment where the university exists. The concept of National Education, Research and Innovation (ERI) Funding and Policy Spaces (NERI-FPS) (Nedeva et.al 2013) has been selected as the most appropriate framework for characterizing the entrepreneurial coherence, and analyzed for this purpose, where the variety of opportunities and flexible selection process are seen to be the key elements for the coherence between them. This adds a new development to the theory. Both the entrepreneurial framework and the NERI-FPS have been tested using four European case universities, from the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The framework is applied to the universities and policy environment in Oman as an example of a developing country seeking to use entrepreneurship as a solution to socio-economic problems. Using qualitative analysis of documentation and detailed interviews, the framework is shown to reveal characteristics of the universities which can be used to develop policy actions. The results reveal that Omani universities are “classic” universities. However, to shift toward an entrepreneurial approach, five scenarios are suggested for Oman, and a pathway toward fully-fledged entrepreneurial universities is illustrated. First an online survey served as a pilot study, the results of which were then used to formulate the second stage which was semi- structured interviews with two Omani universities, and the third stage was in-depth interviews with Omani policy makers. This approach improves the internal validity of the research, and provides a rich picture of the universities and their environment. Finally, the study provides a framework which characterises entrepreneurial universities along a number of context-neutral dimensions which could take the research forward. The novelty of using case of Oman as an empirical study added new contribution into the field. In addition, this study contributes to a better understanding of policy actions with regard to entrepreneurial transformation.

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.

The aim of this master thesis is to evaluate entrepreneurial environment in the Czech Republic and France, define its strengths and weaknesses and suggest possible improvements. The thesis offers a comprehensive look at the key entrepreneurial aspects from the perspective of small and medium entrepreneurs. The thesis describes and analyses tax issues, social security scheme, entrepreneurial support, legal forms of business entities and administrative burden of entrepreneurs. The thesis also comprises SWOT analysis of entrepreneurial environment of both compared countries. The thesis includes a practical part (apart from the theoretical part) which concerns an evaluation of a survey by questionnaire conducted among Czech small and medium entrepreneurs. The final part of thesis does not lack author's point of view on the described issues.

The most important target of this diploma thesis is to point out opportunities and threats for Czech enterpreneurs especially in the territory of tourism. The thesis contains definitions of: entrepreneurial environment, negotiation strategy and tactics. The thesis includes SWOT analysis of the entrepreneurial environment of Thailand and the environment in the area of tourism.

This thesis gives an analysis of the entrepreneurial environment in Ethiopia and its particularities. It is assigned especially for prospective czech investors and entrepreneurs having interest in entering the ethiopian market. Except the evaluation of the current state of the entrepreneurial environment, which is done by using the PEST analysis, the thesis also defines current relations between Ethiopia and Czech Republic and brings potentials of expanding the bilateral cooperation.

<p>This study focuses on undergraduates in Shanghai and aims to generate some practical implications on how to improve the entrepreneurial environment by enhancing undergraduates’ entrepreneurial intentions. The authors initiated an analytical model with support from the GEM conceptual model and Krueger’s intention model (2000) to carry on an investigation among local undergraduates. The data reflects an actuality of undergraduates’ entrepreneurial intention. On the other hand, by the correlation analysis, undergraduates’ preferences upon different aspects of entrepreneurial environment are filtered out. Finally, practical implications are given through two aspects. One is divisions of respondents by their different grades of entrepreneurial intentions; the preferences from the higher intentioned group will firstly be suggested to improve. The other one is based on the comparison between undergraduates’ valuation and experts’ measurement on the entrepreneurial environment.</p><p>In conclusion, the study reflects that the analytical model is applicable to undergraduates in Shanghai. To enhance undergraduates’ entrepreneurial intention, it is highly recommended by the authors to improve entrepreneurial environment through more attention to the feasibility of technology transfer, sufficient government programs for new firms, the effectiveness of technological region, and government projects.</p>

This study focuses on undergraduates in Shanghai and aims to generate some practical implications on how to improve the entrepreneurial environment by enhancing undergraduates’ entrepreneurial intentions. The authors initiated an analytical model with support from the GEM conceptual model and Krueger’s intention model (2000) to carry on an investigation among local undergraduates. The data reflects an actuality of undergraduates’ entrepreneurial intention. On the other hand, by the correlation analysis, undergraduates’ preferences upon different aspects of entrepreneurial environment are filtered out. Finally, practical implications are given through two aspects. One is divisions of respondents by their different grades of entrepreneurial intentions; the preferences from the higher intentioned group will firstly be suggested to improve. The other one is based on the comparison between undergraduates’ valuation and experts’ measurement on the entrepreneurial environment. In conclusion, the study reflects that the analytical model is applicable to undergraduates in Shanghai. To enhance undergraduates’ entrepreneurial intention, it is highly recommended by the authors to improve entrepreneurial environment through more attention to the feasibility of technology transfer, sufficient government programs for new firms, the effectiveness of technological region, and government projects.

Intelligent failure occurs when an entrepreneurial initiative falls short of its anticipated performance. It provides valuable new knowledge to the organisation and is recognised as an important factor in long-term corporate entrepreneurial success. This thesis is located within the domain of corporate entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial failure, and explores the various processes of intelligent failure. The specific aim of this thesis is to learn how organisations manage intelligent failure. Research takes an inductive approach with the predominant use of a qualitative methodology and, as part of a multiple case study strategy, research is carried out in six organisations operating in differing sectors within the UK. Findings indicate that the organisations often fail to manage intelligent failure. There is little evidence of a strategic approach to learning from failure and, where learning occurs, it is predominantly unstructured. This is significant because literature consistently argues that a structured process is required to manage learning from failure successfully. This research recognises that structured processes may be more effective than unstructured processes when looked at in isolation. However, this thesis argues that unstructured mechanisms do have inherent value. Therefore, when organisations develop failure management processes, a dual path may be considered, which might extract value from both systems as is contextually appropriate. This may enable organisations to maximise their ability to learn from failure. This thesis adds to existing management theory in the corporate entrepreneurship domain. In specifically focusing on the structured and unstructured forms within the process of intelligent failure, this thesis addresses a gap in current literature. It also adds to existing literature that centres on the practical management of the learning from failure process.

The diploma thesis focuses on a broad issue of the institutional quality and its impacts on a real economy. It summarizes important theoretical approaches involving not only institutions and their influence on a behavior of economic subjects (New Institutional Economics, New Comparative Economics), but also a behavior of politicians (Public Choice Theory) as they contribute to the formation of the institutional environment notably. The thesis pays to a historical outline, consequences and the evolution of institutional environment in the countries of Central Europe (The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary). The analytical part of the thesis focuses on the qualitative analysis of the most significant elements of the institutional environment in the countries mentioned above: the security of the private ownership and its observance, the law enforcement, the corruption rate, the quality of entrepreneurial environment, the effectiveness and the quality of a regulation and not least the governance effectiveness on government and private level.

This diploma thesis is divided into three parts. The first chapter deals with theoretical aspects of transformation and its objectives. Furthermore, characteristics of the previous system, a centrally planed economy, and its specifics in comparison with a market economy are explained; positives and negatives of the starting situation are described, through different theoretical approaches of transformation. In the second chapter, the reader can find explanation of the transformation process and concrete changes such as privatization, company restructuring, privatization of banking sector, liberalization and the topic of entrepreneurial environment and restructuring. The end of this chapter focuses on reforms, namely fiscal reform, retirement reform and public health reform. The third chapter is aimed to review the results of the transformation process. The analysis was done first by means of macroeconomic indicators, second, using transformation results published by EBRD, in comparison with other countries.