<p>lululemon athletica is a yoga inspired athletic clothing company. Since lululemon’s retail inception in 2000, the company has been quite successful; it has grown to sixty- four store and showrooms locations and has doubled revenue every year for the last four years. A lululemon core value is entrepreneurship. This thesis explores this entrepreneurial value focusing primarily on an individual retail location manager perspective. The entrepreneurial concepts utilized to explore entrepreneurship are: entrepreneurial ori- entation (EO), entrepreneurial management, company growth, entrepreneurship preservation, and corporate entrepreneurship.</p><p>Three empirical instruments assessing entrepreneurial concepts are employed in this thesis: Entrepreneurial Orientation, Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship, and a presented recombination of Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship concept. The EO instrument considers the dimensions pioneered by Miller (1983) and Dess and Lumpkin (1996) and includes: innovation, risk-taking, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy. Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship is assessed by the Operationalization of Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship scale developed by Brown et al. (2001) which determines management style proclivity between an entrepreneurial or administrative style.</p><p>The third empirical study recombines the Brown et al. (2001) instrument in an attempt to explore a possible ambidextrous management function of Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship concept.</p><p>Results from the empirical studies depict lululemon as an entrepreneurial organisation. The EO study results show that lululemon emphasizes innovative and proactive behaviours. The Operationalization of Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship scale determined that lululemon slightly favours an entrepreneurial management style. The presented ambidexterity instrument reveals individual location managers to be capable of ambidextrous management.</p><p>Two possible contributions to entrepreneurship study are proposed in this thesis. Analysis of the entrepreneurial orientation concept within lululemon realized a need for a communication and coordination EO dimension to be added to the existing dimensions. Also, the recombination of the Brown et al. (2001) instrument provides an alternate measurement scale assessing management ambidexterity.</p>

<p> </p><!--[if !mso]> <object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui></object><mce:style><! st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } --><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p> </p><p>Research is focusing on the process through which companies internationalize, which is often based on their size, operations, internal capabilities and competencies. Present global economic conditions enforced by the strong competitiveness factor stimulate every company to act in a different way. More and more well established companies encounter with an increasing need to reinforce and redefine its strategic direction. To address these issues companies are inevitably forced to act in a more agile entrepreneurial way. Therefore, entrepreneurial orientation postures were selected among other theoretical alternatives to identify the relationships and effects entrepreneurship can bring to the process of internationalization.</p><p> </p><p>The research was based on the data generated from three well established companies in Jonkoping County. These companies are bright representatives of the manufacturing sector in the region. Besides, they are characterized as market leaders in their preferred segments forming a trend in the industry they serve and keeping a strong competitive edge. Following the path of data collection, a process of individual internationalization was mapped retrospectively, with a focus on identifying entrepreneurial orientation leading this process.</p><p> </p><p>The findings indicate interesting aspects that are applicable to all three firms. We have concluded that nascent decision to internationalize was driven by the external factors which to a great extent accountable for major strategic renewal. Consequently, change in the strategy and processes related to its implementation foster entrepreneurial injections and considerably speed up international commitment. Furthermore, we have identified that theoretical background considerably differ from the practical matters performed in these companies.</p>

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) contributes to performance with an outlook on business growth as well as business development and improvement. It is predicted that the failure rate of small, medium and micro enterprises in South Africa is between 70% and 80%. Millions of rands are being lost on new venture creations because of mistakes and problems that could have been avoided. The survival rate of SMME‟s in South Africa is relatively low indicating that less than half of newly established businesses survive beyond five years. There are a number of similar undesired events surrounding entrepreneurs. These events called for a study on entrepreneurial orientation with the aim to improve on the current situation. The South African government Gazette (2009) indicates that small and medium-sized enterprises contribute positively to the South African GDP and it is essential to help these businesses to grow and to develop. The primary objective of this study is to investigate entrepreneurial orientation in small and medium-sized businesses in South Africa and to assess the awareness and application of the five EO-dimensions, in order to ultimately promote entrepreneurial orientation in the entrepreneurial environment so that businesses can be successful and sustainable. The field of study is entrepreneurship with reference to the impact of entrepreneurial orientation on business managers and entrepreneurs, managing and creating South African SMME‟s. The private sector with specifically regard to micro, small and medium sized-enterprises in South Africa is under investigation. The study was carried out on selected product and service suppliers in the region of the North-West and the Gauteng provinces. Only businesses older than one year was considered during the research process due to the fact that most businesses that have not yet reached the first year is still under establishment. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

There is consensus among entrepreneurship scholars regarding the importance of entrepreneurship toward the economies of countries. There is sufficient evidence to support the view that entrepreneurs are characterised by unique characteristics. Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial orientation have been widely studied and entrepreneurial orientation is considered instrumental for motivating individuals to engage in entrepreneurial activities. Previous research has also identified a correlation between entrepreneurial orientation and the performance of a firm. Many studies on the subject of entrepreneurial orientation have revealed that entrepreneurial orientation is multi-dimensional, for example, previous studies have identified autonomy, innovation, risk taking, competitive aggressiveness and pro-activeness as some of the factors that may influence entrepreneurial orientation. Given the importance of entrepreneurship with regard to job creation, the study attempted to identify the entrepreneurial orientation of Generation Y students. South Africa is experiencing high unemployment levels among the youth and the need to identify the entrepreneurial perceptions of the youth is significant as future entrepreneurs will come from this cohort. The findings of this research study may assist different stakeholders such as government, businesses and higher education institutions among others to take appropriate actions to address the problem of unemployment and create a favourable environment where persons may engage in entrepreneurial activities. The purpose of this research study was to determine the entrepreneurial orientation of Generation Y students in the Vaal Triangle area. Autonomy, innovation and risk taking were identified as factors that may possibly influence the entrepreneurial orientation of Generation Y students in this area. The findings in this research study indicate that students regard themselves as being autonomous, innovative and risk takers. No significant differences were found with regard to the entrepreneurial orientation of males and females. In comparing different designated groups in terms of the three constructs, significant differences were noted among certain items, for example, Coloureds and Indians tend to perceive themselves as more innovative compared to other groups. However, further research is needed because there is no sufficient evidence to suggest that one group is more entrepreneurial than the other. The findings in this research study revealed that Generation Y students perceive themselves as being autonomous, innovative and risk takers. This is encouraging because entrepreneurial activities, to a large extent, are known to be influenced by entrepreneurial orientation. It is evident that the youth can be encouraged to be job creators instead of job seekers. / Thesis (MCom (Entrepreneurship))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012.

The model of Entrepreneurial Orientation has frequently been used as a way to analyze the entrepreneurial behavior of organizations. Although the model has been adopted across different context, it has rarely been adapted to these: One such context is nonprofits. As nonprofits operate under other circumstances, we argue that the five dimensions of innovativeness, risk-taking, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy may not account for all entrepreneurial activity in these organizations. With the largest body of nonprofits in Sweden being sports, a single case study with semi-structured interviews of members in Judo associations were conducted to answer the two research questions: (1) Which dimensions of EO can be found within nonprofits? and (2) Why do entrepreneurial behavior differ between for-profits and nonprofits? By implementing the study of Morris, Webb and Franklin (2011) of motivation, processes, and outcomes we identified what processes can be translated into dimensions, as well as what the motivation behind these are. By analyzing our empirical data we were able to answer our questions in the following way. In nonprofits, the dimensions of innovativeness, internal proactiveness, collaboration, lobbying, and autonomy were identified, indicating that the EO model does indeed need to be adapted for nonprofits. The reason for why these dimensions occurred is mainly due to difference in the motivation of nonprofits. We find that the nonprofits aim to fulfill external goals, by serving a social purpose to stakeholders and growth. This means that nonprofits are not as focused on other players in the market, which impacts on their entrepreneurial behavior.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2014. / International competitiveness is the ability of a firm to sustain its international performance relative to competitors over time and in the future. This research examined the firm level factors that contribute to competitiveness of international new ventures (INVs). Specifically, the study investigated whether entrepreneurial and branding resources and capabilities greatly contribute to competitiveness of INVs. The study followed a positivist and quantitative methodological approach to establish the causalities and social order of competitiveness of INVs in Uganda. The purpose of the study was actualized through adopting a cross-sectional survey design. The study focused on INVs which are firms that internationalized their operations within the first ten (10) years of their establishment. These firms were drawn from the three major business sectors in Uganda including agribusiness, manufacturing and service firms involved in international activities ranging from exports, input sourcing (imports), foreign subsidiaries, franchises to international subcontracting. The survey instrument was delivered to 405 firms and information required was provided by three different groups of respondents in each firm. Owners-managers and employees assessed their firm’s entrepreneurial and branding resources and capabilities and international competitiveness in the last five (5) years and for the next three (3) years whereas customers evaluated brand advantage of firms and their products or services. The data collection process achieved a 77 percent response rate to the study. The study was non-experimental and adopted structural equation modelling and Average Moments of Structures (AMOS) to establish the causal relationships between the study variables. The study results reveal that brand orientation greatly contributes to international competitiveness whereas the interaction between entrepreneurial and branding resources and capabilities significantly enhances brand advantage of INVs. In addition, the study indicates that in the short run, brand advantage constrains the contribution of entrepreneurial and branding capabilities to competitiveness of INVs. The findings of this research provide knowledge on building and sustaining international competitiveness with specific implications for improving marketing and/or branding capabilities and utilization of entrepreneurial resources. The findings further support the dynamic capabilities theory in explaining competitiveness of INVs in Uganda. Keywords: Competitiveness, Entrepreneurial Capital, Entrepreneurial orientation, Brand orientation, Brand Advantage, International New Ventures, Uganda

This study explores the relationship of entrepreneurial orientation and dynamic capabilities as organizations grow beyond country borders and into international markets. Through an extensive literature review of internationalization, entrepreneurial orientation and dynamic capabilities, a theoretical framework is developed that allow us to answer our research question. The study takes an abductive, comparative case study approach and is conducted on three Swedish SMEs in regard to their internationalization activites related to South Korea. The study proposes that there is an area in research that still contain a high degree of ambiguity which makes an understanding of the relationship between these two constructs difficult to define. The study’s findings report that the two constructs have complementary narratives of the same phenomenon which concedes a variety of possible relationships. The study then argues in support and rebuttal of five propositions of relationships.

A Orientação Empreendedora (OE) é um tópico de estudo na temática do empreendedorismo. Entendida como empreendedorismo no nível organizacional, diversos autores têm sugerido que a OE pode influenciar positivamente o desempenho de uma organização. Alguns autores apontam que tem sido dada limitada ênfase na literatura para os eventos que desencadeiam o comportamento empreendedor nas organizações, um dos principais motivadores desse estudo, centrado na OE em organizações. O estudo se fundamenta na seguinte questão de pesquisa: A partir de uma base conceitual de OE e de um levantamento de práticas efetivas a ela relacionadas, que elementos possibilitam guiar ações visando a OE em organizações de software? O objetivo é propor um conjunto consolidado de elementos que possibilitem guiar ações visando a OE em organizações de software. Para isso, realizou-se pesquisa de natureza exploratória, com o uso de dados qualitativos. O estudo iniciou com pesquisa bibliográfica para constituição de base conceitual de OE. Em seguida, foi realizado estudo piloto para verificar a aplicabilidade da base conceitual. Numa etapa seguinte, realizou-se entrevista com especialistas dirigentes de entidades representativas do setor de software visando a identificação de organizações que se destacam em termos de empreendedorismo. Finalmente, procedeu-se à entrevista em profundidade com executivos dessas organizações com o intuito de fazer um levantamento de práticas efetivas de OE, tendo como referência a base conceitual adotada no estudo. Como resultado, apresenta-se um conjunto consolidado de elementos e categorias agregadoras, que enriqueceu a base conceitual de OE e foi consolidado a partir da literatura e da prática efetiva das organizações. Esse conjunto de elementos e categorias constitui importante referência para guiar ações visando a OE em organizações de software. Em termos teóricos, o estudo contribui com o enriquecimento e detalhamento da base conceitual de OE e suas dimensões, e, sobretudo, a proposição de categorias agregadoras e a consolidação de seus elementos. Em termos práticos contribui para que executivos, empresários, gestores de organizações de software possam obter subsídios para guiar ações visando a OE. / The Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) is a studying topic in the entrepreneurship theme. Several authors who understand EO as entrepreneurship in the organizational level suggest that EO can influence the performance of an organization in a positive way. Some authors point that it has been given limited emphasis to events which derive organizational entrepreneurial behaviors. That is one of the main motivations of this EO centered study which has its foundation in the following research question: Based on a conceptual basis of EO as well as on a researched list of effective practices related to that EO model in organizations, what are the elements which make it possible to conduct actions in the direction of EO in software organizations? The objective is to propose a consolidated set of elements which allow actions aiming at EO in software organizations. For that reason an exploratory research was carried out using qualitative data. The study started with a literature review in order to compose the conceptual basis of EO. Afterwards a pilot study was done to verify the applicability of the conceptual basis. The following step was an interview with specialists who are administrators in representative organizations in the software sector to identify the ones which are outstanding in terms of entrepreneurship. Finally a deeper interview with executives from those organizations was conducted to make an account of EO effective practices having the conceptual basis of EO as its basis. As a result, a set of consolidated elements and aggregated categories which enhanced the conceptual basis of EO were presented based on the literature and on effective practice of EO. That set of elements and aggregating categories constitute important reference to conduct actions in the EO direction in software organizations. In theoretical terms the study contributes to the enhancement and detailing of the conceptual basis of EO and its dimensions mainly through the proposition of aggregating categories and consolidation of its elements. In practical ways it contributes to executives, directors and managers in software organizations who can get subsidies to conduct actions aiming at EO.

lululemon athletica is a yoga inspired athletic clothing company. Since lululemon’s retail inception in 2000, the company has been quite successful; it has grown to sixty- four store and showrooms locations and has doubled revenue every year for the last four years. A lululemon core value is entrepreneurship. This thesis explores this entrepreneurial value focusing primarily on an individual retail location manager perspective. The entrepreneurial concepts utilized to explore entrepreneurship are: entrepreneurial ori- entation (EO), entrepreneurial management, company growth, entrepreneurship preservation, and corporate entrepreneurship. Three empirical instruments assessing entrepreneurial concepts are employed in this thesis: Entrepreneurial Orientation, Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship, and a presented recombination of Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship concept. The EO instrument considers the dimensions pioneered by Miller (1983) and Dess and Lumpkin (1996) and includes: innovation, risk-taking, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy. Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship is assessed by the Operationalization of Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship scale developed by Brown et al. (2001) which determines management style proclivity between an entrepreneurial or administrative style. The third empirical study recombines the Brown et al. (2001) instrument in an attempt to explore a possible ambidextrous management function of Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship concept. Results from the empirical studies depict lululemon as an entrepreneurial organisation. The EO study results show that lululemon emphasizes innovative and proactive behaviours. The Operationalization of Stevenson’s Entrepreneurship scale determined that lululemon slightly favours an entrepreneurial management style. The presented ambidexterity instrument reveals individual location managers to be capable of ambidextrous management. Two possible contributions to entrepreneurship study are proposed in this thesis. Analysis of the entrepreneurial orientation concept within lululemon realized a need for a communication and coordination EO dimension to be added to the existing dimensions. Also, the recombination of the Brown et al. (2001) instrument provides an alternate measurement scale assessing management ambidexterity.

<!--[if !mso]> <object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui></object><mce:style><! st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } -->      Abstract   Research is focusing on the process through which companies internationalize, which is often based on their size, operations, internal capabilities and competencies. Present global economic conditions enforced by the strong competitiveness factor stimulate every company to act in a different way. More and more well established companies encounter with an increasing need to reinforce and redefine its strategic direction. To address these issues companies are inevitably forced to act in a more agile entrepreneurial way. Therefore, entrepreneurial orientation postures were selected among other theoretical alternatives to identify the relationships and effects entrepreneurship can bring to the process of internationalization.   The research was based on the data generated from three well established companies in Jonkoping County. These companies are bright representatives of the manufacturing sector in the region. Besides, they are characterized as market leaders in their preferred segments forming a trend in the industry they serve and keeping a strong competitive edge. Following the path of data collection, a process of individual internationalization was mapped retrospectively, with a focus on identifying entrepreneurial orientation leading this process.   The findings indicate interesting aspects that are applicable to all three firms. We have concluded that nascent decision to internationalize was driven by the external factors which to a great extent accountable for major strategic renewal. Consequently, change in the strategy and processes related to its implementation foster entrepreneurial injections and considerably speed up international commitment. Furthermore, we have identified that theoretical background considerably differ from the practical matters performed in these companies.