Current, unsustainable practices are negatively impacting the socio-ecological systems on which humanity depends. This paper argues that social enterprise, as a market-based approach is an effective tool to help developing countries to transition toward sustainability. To gain an understanding as to how broader participation in social enterprise could be encouraged, this research investigates the motivations, enablers, challenges and incentives for professionals in developing countries to participate in social enterprise. In addition, the role of social enterprise and its limitations in moving society toward sustainability were investigated. A qualitative research design was used. The framework for strategic sustainable development (FSSD) was employed to ensure a systems perspective of sustainability was captured in this study. Findings include seven motivational factors, eight enabling factors, and twelve challenges facing social entrepreneurs; as well as seven categories of suggested incentives to increase participation. Strategic recommendations targeted toward government agencies, non-governmental and multilateral development organizations, and social enterprise incubators, were provided as guidelines to encourage participation and ensure sustainability.

This paper investigates the impact of returnee entrepreneurs and their knowledge spillovers on innovation in high-tech firms in China. Using panel data for 1,318 high-tech firms in Beijing Zhongguancun Science Park (ZSP) we find that returnee entrepreneurs create a significant spillover effect that promotes innovation in other local high-tech firms. The extent of this spillover effect is positively moderated by the non-returnee firm's absorptive capacity approximated by the skill level of employees. Multinational enterprises' R&D activities positively affect the innovation intensity of non-returnee firms only when these local firms possess the sufficient level of absorptive capacity. Our findings have important policy and managerial implications for policy-makers and practitioners.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / Agenda setting is about how some issues get onto the policy agenda for discussion and action why others do not. Drawing critically on the ―policy windows‖ approach of J.W Kingdon (2003) this dissertation will describe and explain the shifting of policy agendas in health with reference to human resources in Zambia between 2000 and 2006. This research explores how and why the issue of human resource shortages in health became prominent on the state‘s agenda in 2005.The research is a qualitative study and data was collected using both primary and secondary sources of data across various stakeholders in the country. It tested the applicability of Kingdon‘s conceptual framework to a case study of Zambian health policy by analysing the degree to which agenda-formation is influenced by such factors as issue definition, the presence of policy alternatives, presidential support, interest group advocacy, media attention, political cycles, and public opinion. The general elections scheduled for the following year, coupled with media attention and strong public action contributed to the selection of the human resource crisis as an issue on the state‘s agenda for serious action. Furthermore, the slow progress on the attainment of the health related Millennium Development Goals and the poor performance of some donor funded programmes necessitated the state to act. Despite some weaknesses, Kingdon‘s multiple streams approach was found to be useful in explaining the agenda-setting of the Human Resources for Health Strategic Plan (2006-2010) in Zambia.

The main aim of this research is to develop a conceptual model that describes the way managers make decisions about internationalizing. It also tries to explain under what conditions managers will be risk-seekers and under what conditions they will be risk-averse, and as a result which groups of strategies and tools they will choose to use when internationalizing. This investigation focuses on the field of behavioural economics in opposition to leading paradigms in the IB field that concentrate on the neoclassical economic theory. This research uses an interdisciplinary approach that combines the behavioural economics approach and theories drawn from the field of entrepreneurship, IB, market relations, industrial organization, RBV and institutional theory, in order to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework that can explain from the senior manager's perspective when and why s/he chooses certain variables and not others. The findings link the manager's perception of his position vis-à-vis his industry reference point (IRP are defined as any variable that highlights a particular objective, seems capable of establishing a reference point, and as a result, creates a framework for organizational/individual decision making) and his decision making in the area of risk management, learning, and product adaption and development. The findings indicate that managers below their IRP display innovation when developing new marketing/distribution channels, and share their knowledge with partners. Nevertheless, they demonstrate low awareness of risk management. In contrast, managers above their IRP focus on the organization's existing technology and marketing and distribution channels and avoid adjusting their products to the market needs and sharing knowledge with distributors. On the other hand, they adopt an active risk management strategy.Additionally we link between the manager's perceptions of his position vis-à-vis his IRP and his choice of entry mode strategy. The findings indicate that a number of differences exist between managers below their IRP and managers above their IRP. Managers below their IRP use positioning strategies but use TCA or institutional strategies very little. In contrast, managers above their IRP use TCA or institutional strategies but will hardly use positioning strategies at all. The two types of managers use network strategy and RBV, but each group uses different factors within the theories. The research makes a number of important contributions to study of the IB sphere, particularly to the fields of research relating to the internationalization of BG companies, which is a relatively new field of knowledge. Today there is no comprehensive theoretical framework explaining the way BG companies internationalize and the reasons they choose one strategy or tool over another when entering foreign markets. The present research attempts to establish a conceptual model that describes the way managers make internationalization decisions. It does so by importing a new discipline from the field of behavioural economics into the IB field, which is deeply wedded to the tradition of neo-classical economics and integrates it with existing strategies in the field to create a conceptual model that mediates between traditional IB research and the BG research stream.

The aim of this thesis is to find out how start-ups or beginning entrepreneurs evaluate business opportunities. More specifically, the intention is to reveal whether their assessment of business opportunities differs in some way depending on the type of opportunity. It was then examined how the assessment of business opportunities differs from the perspective of beginning versus experienced entrepreneurs. This comparison used the research results of Laboutka (2010), who examined the assessment of the opportunities of experienced entrepreneurs. The research method used was a qualitative research using case studies that reflect business opportunities. Based on the investigation it was found that beginning entrepreneurs mostly reflect personal feelings related to that product or segment in evaluating opportunities and the type of opportunity does not play a major role. When comparing beginning and experienced entrepreneurs, there were not identified any significant differences in their assessments.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

This research explores two polarised occupations; entrepreneurs and PhD research students. It exposes similarities and differences between them which specifically defuse the species premise that all entrepreneurs are different and often portrayed as superior to the rest of society and that they, entrepreneurs, are diametrically opposed to PhD research students in the objectives of their work and ultimate intentions for that work. An explorative, interpretive approach is taken which helps illuminate how people understand, interpret and employ their self identity to qualify the practices of both entrepreneurship and PhDship. This methodology enabled exploration of perceptions of self and role in a small sample of people of different age, gender, class, ethnicity and economic standing of two externally polarised occupational groups. This approach permits a compare and contrast of both similarity and differences between these two roles. Qualitative interviews were conducted with six entrepreneurs and six current PhD students from two North West of England research-led universities in a multitude of disciplines and industrial sectors. Numerous existing studies have compared entrepreneurs to managers, to leaders and more recently to business students. Other studies have aimed to ascertain why some people become an entrepreneur as oppose to a salaried employee. To date, no previous research that I am aware of considers doctoral researchers in the same way, that is, as individuals making a contribution to society that is of social, economic and intellectual benefit by furthering knowledge and innovation. The findings from this research show that there are overwhelming similarities between these two occupations in both their practical processes and their sense of self. In fact, there are more differences within the two occupations than between them. It is suggested that identification of individual purpose may prove a valuable determinate of whether people select either of these occupations for socioeconomic reasons or for socioemotional ones. The contribution this research and its findings make is in the recognition of the different purposes individuals express as their primary reason for engaging in either PhD research work or venture formation. This recognition helps expand our understanding beyond the existing opportunity-necessity or push-pull hypothesis to demonstrate a more sophisticated intention based form of inquiry. Individuals in both occupations are subsequently sub categorised as conformists, alterpreneurs, changemakers or vocationalists. Conformists aim to meet perceived social expectations of them; Alterpreneurs are those who buy-a-job; Changemakers intend to improve or fix a self identified problem; Vocationalists intend to develop their skill and expertise in their chosen field.

Esta dissertação visa compreender a participação do setor empresarial nas negociações internacionais do Brasil. Para isso, será analisado o posicionamento do setor referente às negociações do Mercosul, Organização Mundial do Comércio e Mercosul-União Européia, enfocando nas posições da Confederação Nacional da Indústria (CNI) emitidas em documentos e declarações à imprensa no período 2003-2010. No debate da relevância do empresariado como ator político, os resultados da pesquisa buscam identificar se ocorreram mudanças no papel do setor no período do governo Lula em termos de representação e participação nas negociações internacionais, com recorte no balanço da evolução do posicionamento e da influência da CNI nessas negociações. / This dissertation aims to understand the entrepreneurial sector participation in international negotiations of Brazil. For this, the dissertation will analyse the sector\'s position on the negotiations of Mercosur, the WTO and Mercosur-European Union, focusing on the positions of the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) issued in documents and statements to the press in the period 2003-2010. In discussing the importance of entrepreneurs as a political actor, the search results try to identify whether there were changes in the role of the sector in the period of Lulas government in terms of representation and participation in international negotiations, with clipping on the balance of the CNI\'s positioning and influence in those negotiations.

The aim of this study is to investigate how self-employed entrepreneurs create and manage their brands and how the entrepreneurs engage customers to their brands in online and offline contexts. Furthermore, the viewpoints of entrepreneurs towards branding will be explored To answer the research question, a qualitative, multiple case study was conducted. The primary data was collected by semi-structured interviews and the secondary data was obtained by studying the entrepreneur´s social media behaviour. This study found that entrepreneurs build their brands by utilizing their own personalities and characteristics. The brands created have loyal following and the customers are positively engaged. The engagement process itself is due to the relationships built between the company and the customers. Even if the brands are effective, there is not much strategic elements to them but are rather very organic.

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to gain insights into the implementation of circular economy from the perspectives of local entrepreneurs and organizations within the Växjö region. Design/methods/approach - This paper follows the case study design with local entrepreneurs and organizations as the unit of analysis. The authors adopted both iterative and abductive thinking in order to alternate between analysis of theories and empirical material. Systematic literature review with themes was used as a specific purpose and research question was specified from the beginning. When collecting empirical material, guided and semi-structured interviews were used. For the data analysis, “initial coding” was utilized, which allowed the authors to differentiate themes and thus perform a thorough analysis. Findings - Växjö Kommun has a long-term goal of fostering sustainability and circularity within the Växjö region through numerous communication channels and continuous collaboration and cooperation with various groups of stakeholders. Their efforts have facilitated the emergence of initiatives and projects from small entrepreneurs. However, the relationship between Växjö Kommun and other stakeholders (local entrepreneurs and organizations) face difficulties due to a lack of communication and differences in perception of how the strategies should be implemented. Practical implications - Through collecting, analyzing and combining theoretical and empirical material, insights were gained into the implementation of circular economy. Based on these, recommendations to the local entrepreneurs and organizations were outlined, which can be utilized when rethinking their strategies related to sustainable and circular projects in the region of Växjö. Originality/value - The originality of this paper lies in the absence of previous research conducted on similar topics within this local context. The authors believe that their paper will be valuable to both local entrepreneurs and organizations who wish to better understand the implementation of circular economy. At the same time, the findings could be useful for other scholars who wish to continue this research.