No description available.

The importance of social entrepreneurship has been growing for the last 3 decades and is recently accelerating. South Africa presents one of the most mature social entrepreneurial sectors among developing countries and the magnitude of its impact has become critical to national economic growth and society as a whole. Many roles have risen through the spreading of this particular way of conceiving business, the role of mentors being a particularly meaningful one. Mentoring is usually related to the difficulties social entrepreneurs and operators within the field have in dealing with the variables present in a free market. Most studies concerning mentoring have been focused on business organizations or entrepreneurs. Literature approaches various interesting themes within these two contexts that can help as a guide to explore the nature of mentoring in the social entrepreneurial field. This study puts its focus on the nature of mentoring in the sole social entrepreneurial field as it is understood by its prime actors: the mentors. In doing so it adopts a qualitative approach characterised by semi-structured and open ended interviews with eight experienced mentors from as many different organizations. The final results indicate that differences with the business sector are not extreme and the two fields often intertwine, with many beneficial outcomes for the social sector. However, they also illustrate that there are some aspects very specific to the sole social entrepreneurial field. Among those are the stronger sensibility toward others, the energy infused, the type of relationships, the unique motivations and a broader reach of outcomes for the mentoring activity itself. All these aspects lead mentoring in the social entrepreneurial field not only to be a useful phenomenon for involved entrepreneurs, but potentially an activity spreading its beneficial consequences to entire communities.

Problem – Studying the relation of the two aspects of Managerial and Entrepreneurial competencies on the individual level. Combining theoretically the competencies of managers with the competencies of entrepreneurs into the concept of entrepreneurial competencies needed by managers in their work.   Purpose – We test which of the competencies of entrepreneurs are and can be utilized by professionally employed managers, by answering our three research questions:             1. How do the researchers in the academic literature discuss and compare the managerial and entrepreneurial competencies – which are these competencies and when are they needed?             2. What are the insights from the JIBS Students, and business consultants and developers as to whether entrepreneurs require and possess certain distinguishing competencies – which are these competencies and when are they needed?             3. How does the analysis from the triangulation finalize the concept of entrepreneurial competencies needed by managers in their work?   Theoretical Framework – We build from the literature our two proposed theoretical models with 13 groups of competencies, giving an answer to our first research question: Model 1: Core managerial competencies needed for routine tasks vs. additional competencies needed for non-routine/strategic tasks Model 2: Core entrepreneurial competencies needed already from the venture’s starting stage vs. the additional competencies more necessary for running the established company.   The models are subsequently compared, and the preliminary concept of entrepreneurial competencies needed by managers in their work derived from them.   Methodology – The thesis utilizes in parallel both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques. In answering our second research question, we used 1) a questionnaire to collect quantitative data for the population in interest, and 2) semi-structured interviews to collect qualitative data. The interview and questionnaire findings were then analyzed together. Therefore, in answering our third research question, we adopted a triangulation approach.   Empirical Findings and Conclusions – The interviews and questionnaire findings confirm that overall the respondents perceive entrepreneurs to possess all the 13 groups of competencies. The findings are almost completely in line with our proposed distribution of the 13 competency groups within Model 2. The combined analysis shows that both the interviewees and questionnaire respondents do support the concept of entrepreneurial competencies needed by managers in their work. Thus, it was concluded that our initially created concept was validated by the primary research. The concept ultimately includes the following nine groups of competencies: Proactiveness, Change, Risk Taking, Seeing Opportunities, Soft, Networking, Decision Making, Creativity, and Innovativeness.     Implications and Future Research – Several groups of potentially interested actors could benefit in various ways from certain aspects of our concept – students, managers, entrepreneurs (current and aspiring). Moreover, the academics can also use the concept for future research in other contexts, in order to enrich the concept and make it even more beneficial for all these interested actors.

Introduction Some researchers believe that Business plans are critical to the development of a new business idea and thus a new venture. However, others are of the view that these documents are completely useless to the business planning process. With these conflicting views existing, and the occurrence of various factors, the process of deciding to write a business plan and actually writing one can be quite challenging for First – Time entrepreneurs (FTEs) without any influence from background, education and training. This can increase the levels of complexity experienced by many new entrepreneurs. Purpose The aim of this research study is to first investigate the task of writing a business plan experienced by FTEs, then compare the personal experiences and observations of the author to those of others who have participated in this process, and finally compare the collective results to relevant theories and the views and beliefs of experts in writing business plans or creating new ventures. Furthermore, the main aim is to identify exactly if the writing process can be considered less challenging for FTEs, given the inclusion of certain factors, and what is actually meant by the term “easy”. Method To do this, experiences and personal opinions and observations have been collected from the author and former FTEs through the use of self – observation and narrative research techniques coupled with a series of open and probing questions. These were then compared to a collection of relevant literature, and views and opinions of the experts working with the industry. Conclusions With the inclusion of knowledge, literature and expert advice, the process  of writing a business plan becomes easier for FTEs. What this means is that FTEs are more prepared to undertake the writing process due to the absence of uncertainties and increased insight, and as a result, they execute the process more efficiently and better informed as to what tends to occur. In this perspective, the writing process itself becomes “easy”

In this study, We use the entrepreneur¡¦s personal resources and social capital to explore the content of the resources of small and medium steel enterprise. Its purpose is to understand the entrepreneurial small and medium steel companies in the personal course of business, what resources are put into individual entrepreneurs, What resources are obtained through social networks; and the relevance between entrepreneur¡¦s personal resources and social capital. In Entrepreneurial resources, we integrate RBT and characteristics of the steel industry to development the study of entrepreneurial resource perspective, and was divided into "assets" and "capabilities" of two variables. Entrepreneurs are using personal resources Huang (2003) view that "knowledge, capability, experience" and "organizational factors" two variables. In social capital, by Halpern (2008) view of social capital, that " bonding", " bridging", "social norms" and "sanctions" of four research variables. This study adopts a qualitative case study methods to entrepreneurs interviews to obtain first hand coding analysis, and the following conclusions: 1. Entrepreneur¡¦s " knowledge, capability, experience " have a positive influence to the enterprise¡¦s assets and capabilities. 2. Entrepreneur¡¦s "organizational factors " have a low positive influence to the enterprise¡¦s assets, but have a positive influence to the enterprise¡¦s capabilities. 3. The bonding social capital have a positive influence both to the enterprise¡¦s assets and capabilities. 4. The bridging social capital have a low positive influence to the enterprise¡¦s assets, but have a positive influence to the enterprise¡¦s capabilities. 5. The social norms of social capital have a positive influence both to the enterprise¡¦s assets and capabilities. 6. The sanctions binding of social capital have a positive influence to the enterprise¡¦s assets, but have a positive influence to the enterprise¡¦s capabilities. 7. Social capital have a high correlation for entrepreneur¡¦s personal resources , so social capital have a positive influence to entrepreneur¡¦s personal resources.

From a social constructionist understanding of social reality, this research explores how the female entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurship are represented in official discourses. From the view point of post-structuralist feminism, this research takes the position that discourses are linguistic practices that create truth effects. It finds that the texts on the official website, including the policies and the female entrepreneurs¡¦ stories, have the potential to reproduce the stereotype of gender.

Texte remanié de: Th. doct.--Droit--Toulouse 1, 2002. / Bibliogr. p. 457-491. Index.

Abstract The purpose of this research is to understand problems faced by immigrant entrepreneurs while establishing their business in Sweden and their interactions with the Swedish support system and how that support system engages with and support immigrant entrepreneurs. It is important for the state and society that immigrant entrepreneurs could integrate into the society and add their positive input for themselves and for society. This is a qualitative research study that entails an engaged scholarship method and data will be collected through semi structured interviews from immigrant entrepreneurs and representatives from organizations that support entrepreneurs on a local level in the town of Växjö, in the south of Sweden. The framework developed in the article include problems of immigrant entrepreneurs  and developing suggestions to figure out these problems by improving support with effective practices of government actions, incubation, mentoring, coaching, collaborations and networking.

This research is a pioneering longitudinal study of Chinese women entrepreneurs that focuses specifically on the government economic reform period of 1980 to the present. The study makes a significant contribution to entrepreneurship studies and it contributes to our knowledge of women entrepreneurship in transitional economies. The study investigates the drivers that influence and factors associated with Chinese women's entrepreneurial success in China. The research also explores the motivations of Chinese women entrepreneurs in starting-up their business in the reform periods across the last three decades. A total of nine Chinese women entrepreneurs in three groups who set up their own business in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s were investigated for an in-depth interview, using narrative approaches, in a qualitative research methodology. How Chinese culture, government policy and massive domestic market demand have influenced Chinese women’s entrepreneurial identity and motivation are the main outcomes of the project. Additionally, the barriers, family issues and effects of relationships were uncovered during this research.

Early entrepreneurship studies have often regarded entrepreneurs as a homogeneous group. More recently, scholars have recognised that entrepreneurs have different ownership propensity. Portfolio entrepreneurs, a sub-type of the habitual entrepreneur, are involved in a number of businesses simultaneously. By their very nature, these entrepreneurs are more experienced than their novice counterparts and studying them should enhance understanding of entrepreneurship. This thesis aims to explore why and how some individuals become portfolio entrepreneurs. The investigation is guided by a conceptual framework that explores the theoretical antecedents (e.g., human and social capital, motivation and risk) to portfolio entrepreneurship, how they engage in the entrepreneurial processes (e.g., opportunity search and recognition, entry and operational strategies) and the outcomes (e.g., business and personal) of their entrepreneurial activities. This is a qualitative study using a multiple case approach. Fifteen cases of portfolio entrepreneurs were selected and interviewed in-depth. Results show that portfolio entrepreneurs do have a distinct combination of human and social capital endowments, motivation and risk propensity. These antecedents allow them to formulate strategies that pave the way to portfolio development. While the reasons for the pursuit of the portfolio model vary across the different portfolios, it is evident that the portfolio is a result of the entrepreneur's opportunity and growth-seeking pursuits and a way to spread the risk inherent in business. The study reports strategies and heuristics that these entrepreneurs employ to manage the dynamics of a portfolio structure. At the business level, outcomes indicate that individual business benefit from being part of a portfolio. At a personal level, successful portfolio entrepreneurs do become high net worth individuals. Although financial motivation is evident at the early stages of their careers, money no longer features in later stages. Their satisfaction levels are high, and regrets are almost non-existent. They enjoy being in business and thrive in the many challenges that new products, systems, solutions and ways of doing things bring to the market and society.