This study focuses on young male necessity entrepreneurs based in Soshanguve township. It identifies unemployment as the primary factor that compels young people to seek selfemployment opportunities. The study engages the participants on the challenges they encounter in business ventures and how they overcome them. Of particular importance, is the role of social networks in necessity entrepreneurship. In this regard, evidence suggests that entrepreneurs with strong social networks establish more successful business ventures than entrepreneurs with weak social networks. In light of the challenges that most necessity entrepreneurs encounter, building social networks is a strategy that places their business ventures on a secure footing. / Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Sociology / unrestricted

<p>Entrepreneurship is an important part of every country‟s economy. With the recent flow of migration to many countries, immigrant entrepreneurs have received interest from both societal and economical scholars to measure the effect they create on the home country economically or demographically. In Sweden as well as in other European countries, the rate of migration increases significantly. Upon migrating to Sweden, immigrants enters the labor market but difficulties in integrating into the labor market drive immigrants toward self-employment and thus becoming immigrant entrepreneurs.A nationality which has a long history of migration to Sweden and account for a considerable proportion of immigrants coming to Sweden every year are the Thai, but there is little research on this group of immigrants. The purpose of the study is to find out how Thai entrepreneurs use social capital in starting their business venture in Sweden. In the theoretical chapter, entrepreneurship and immigrant entrepreneurs are first defined, then the relationship between networking and entrepreneurship is discussed, followed by a section on social capital and its relationship with immigrant entrepreneurs. The literature suggests that entrepreneurs usually go through 3 stages of venture creation: idea generation, resource acquisition and market organization. With the help of social capital through their social network, entrepreneurs retrieve benefit from their network members in several aspects throughout these stages.We conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with seven Thai entrepreneurs in Sweden who work in food, health-care, retail and lodging businesses. Both the business network and the ethnic network, in this case Thai network, have important roles when Thai entrepreneurs develop new business ventures. Social capital assists the entrepreneurs in solving the difficulties faced during establishment process, such as labor, taxation and legitimacy. In addition, social capital enables the entrepreneurs in information and resource acquisition, word of mouth advertisement and business registration. Further, family members and spouses are found to be significantly important for Thai entrepreneurs in Sweden as a source of labor, capital and business partners.</p> / Master thesis 15p spring term 2010

Entrepreneurship is an important part of every country‟s economy. With the recent flow of migration to many countries, immigrant entrepreneurs have received interest from both societal and economical scholars to measure the effect they create on the home country economically or demographically. In Sweden as well as in other European countries, the rate of migration increases significantly. Upon migrating to Sweden, immigrants enters the labor market but difficulties in integrating into the labor market drive immigrants toward self-employment and thus becoming immigrant entrepreneurs.A nationality which has a long history of migration to Sweden and account for a considerable proportion of immigrants coming to Sweden every year are the Thai, but there is little research on this group of immigrants. The purpose of the study is to find out how Thai entrepreneurs use social capital in starting their business venture in Sweden. In the theoretical chapter, entrepreneurship and immigrant entrepreneurs are first defined, then the relationship between networking and entrepreneurship is discussed, followed by a section on social capital and its relationship with immigrant entrepreneurs. The literature suggests that entrepreneurs usually go through 3 stages of venture creation: idea generation, resource acquisition and market organization. With the help of social capital through their social network, entrepreneurs retrieve benefit from their network members in several aspects throughout these stages.We conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with seven Thai entrepreneurs in Sweden who work in food, health-care, retail and lodging businesses. Both the business network and the ethnic network, in this case Thai network, have important roles when Thai entrepreneurs develop new business ventures. Social capital assists the entrepreneurs in solving the difficulties faced during establishment process, such as labor, taxation and legitimacy. In addition, social capital enables the entrepreneurs in information and resource acquisition, word of mouth advertisement and business registration. Further, family members and spouses are found to be significantly important for Thai entrepreneurs in Sweden as a source of labor, capital and business partners. / Master thesis 15p spring term 2010

Women play an important role in the development of their families and communities economically; however, in comparison to men, they disproportionately experience barriers such as low income households, poverty, unemployment, lack of training, and discrimination. The purpose of this mini-ethnographic case study was to explore the perceptions of women entrepreneurs in Enugu State, Nigeria on what information they need to overcome possible barriers in their business and economic development. The 5M (market, money, management, motherhood, meso, and microenvironment) framework provided the theoretical lens for this investigation. The data gathering process involved face-to-face semistructured interviews with 15 women entrepreneurs in 3 local markets in Enugu State, in addition to direct observation, field notes, and reflective journal entries. Data were inductively analyzed and then triangulated to ensure trustworthiness of findings. The major themes revealed that these women needed information in the areas of marketing, customer relations, accounting procedures, financing strategies, and formal business training to grow their businesses. Embracing the results of this research may contribute to positive social change by providing information on how small scale women entrepreneurs could reduce their dependence on their husbands, partners, and relatives.

All small business owners are not necessarily entrepreneurial. A small business owner starts a venture as a means of earning a living. An entrepreneurial business owner will convert an opportunity into a venture and would seek further opportunities to grow the business. It appears that the difference between the two lies in their potential for opportunity recognition, which is an essential constituent of entrepreneurship (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000). Stevenson and Jarillo (1990) claim that the skill of opportunity recognition, irrespective of the availability of resources, is the “heart of entrepreneurship”. According to several authors, the potential for opportunity recognition (ORP) represents the skill of the entrepreneur to recognize those ideas which have commercial viability, evaluate them in the context of customer needs, understand the availability of resources, and finally convert them into business ventures (Singh et al., 1999; Krueger, 2001; Shane et al., 2003, and Sarason et al., 2006). The entire process of opportunity identification, opportunity evaluation and opportunity implementation is influenced by both the entrepreneur’s personal and interpersonal attributes (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000; Short et al., 2010). Shane and Venkataraman (2000), distinguished between those entrepreneurs who had higher ORP and those entrepreneurs who had lower ORP on the basis of characteristics such as possession of financial capital, social ties with resource providers, greater self-efficacy and motivation to achieve. Variability amongst the entrepreneurs on these attributes was found to decide their performance in terms of recognizing profitable opportunities (Alvarez and Busenitz, 2001). In addition to the steps in opportunity recognition and differences in the characteristics of entrepreneurs that provide for variation in ORP, the stage of entrepreneurship has also been found to add to this variation (DeTienne, 2010). Entrepreneurship follows a cycle of three phases, which begins with the planning to create a venture, is followed by the creation of an enterprise and ends with ensuring sustenance and growth of the enterprise (Reynold and Curtin, 2009). Current research has named these phases as pre-stage, early-stage and late-stage of entrepreneurship. Prior research studies on ORP of entrepreneurs were limited to its examination in the initial phase of entrepreneurship (idea generation) and that each strand of research was confined to the influence of a particular attribute on ORP. There was a lack of studies that integrated both the attributes and the stages to examine the influence of the attributes on ORP of entrepreneurs along the different stages of entrepreneurship. Thus, the objectives of this research study are to find whether the stages of entrepreneurship affect ORP of entrepreneurs, the attributes that would influence ORP of entrepreneurs, and how their influence on ORP of entrepreneurs would differ across the stages. The attributes considered for this study were social capital, cognitive styles, self-efficacy and motivation of entrepreneurs. Each of these attributes was further divided into their sub-types, i.e., bridging and bonding for social capital, intuitive, adaptive and analytical for styles of cognition, hope of affiliation or fear of rejection for affiliation motivation, hope for success or fear of failure for achievement motivation and hope of power or fear of loss of power for power motivation. To attain these objectives, this study hypothesized and tested for several relationships. To begin with, the presence of ORP for entrepreneurs in the different stages of entrepreneurship and variations in these attributes which influenced ORP of entrepreneurs who were in different stages of entrepreneurship were hypothesized for in H1 and H2. The next attempt was to identify those attributes which affected the potential for opportunity recognition in those entrepreneurs who were found to have high and low ORP, and this was hypothesized in H3. This comparison would help delineate those attributes which would contribute to higher ORP of entrepreneurs. The scope of the study was then extended to explore if differences in personal and interpersonal attributes of entrepreneurs would lead to differences in their ORP. Hence, this research study tested if those attributes which would significantly influence ORP of entrepreneurs who were found to have high social capital and self-efficacy were different from those attributes which would significantly influence ORP of those entrepreneurs who were found to have low social capital and self-efficacy. The study also intended to find if ORP of entrepreneurs and the attributes influencing their ORP differed for those entrepreneurs who were found to use different styles of cognition and different types of motivations. These relationships were stated in hypotheses H4. Before examining the above stated hypotheses, a preliminary study was conducted to critically assess the clarity of items in the existing ORP scale. Data was collected for this preliminary study from 251 students and 24 entrepreneurs (a total of 275 ). All the students were second year post-graduates of the Business Administration programme after having done an undergraduate programme in engineering. These students have a higher probability of starting their own business and can be used as surrogates for entrepreneurs (Khera & Benson, 1970, Gaglio & Katz, 2001). An analysis of the preliminary study using item-to-total correlations and Cronbach’s alpha values was then done to revise the ORP questionnaire. The analysis of the preliminary study helped trim down 11 items in the ORP questionnaire. The original scale consisting of 24 items was thus revised to 13 items. This 13-item revised questionnaire was used to collect responses from entrepreneurs in the main study. The main study considered those entrepreneurs who were at different stages of venture creation, i.e., pre-stage (118), early-stage (73) and late-stage (88). Pre-stage entrepreneurs were potential entrepreneurs who were either enrolled for a two-year full-time programme in entrepreneurship or enrolled for elective courses in entrepreneurship as part of their postgraduate programme in management. Early-stage entrepreneurs were business owners who had started their business and their business was less than 3 years old (Korunka et al., 2003). Late-stage entrepreneurs were business owners who had businesses which were more than 3 years old (Korunka et al., 2003). The hypotheses H1, H2, H3 and H4 were tested using ANOVA, correlations and multiple linear regressions. The results of the ANOVA did not show sufficient evidence to support H1, i.e. ORP was not found to increase linearly but was instead, found to follow a ‘U’ shaped curve. The results obtained by correlation and regression analyses showed that hypotheses H2a and H2b were not supported and that both bridging social capital and self-efficacy did not influence the ORP of pre-stage entrepreneurs but that both types of social capital were important for ORP of pre-stage entrepreneurs. The hypotheses H2c and H2d were supported, which meant that the ORP of pre-stage entrepreneurs was significantly influenced by their cognition style and their motivation by hope and not motivation by fear. The study did not find evidence sufficient enough to support the hypotheses H2e, H2f and H2h about the early-stage entrepreneurs, but found sufficient evidence to support hypothesis H2g. These results indicated that ORP of early-stage entrepreneurs was influenced only by bonding social capital (instead of the expectation that they would be influenced by both types of social capital) and cognitive style. A frequency analysis of early-stage entrepreneurs indicted that their cognition style was analytical. The hypotheses H2j and H2k were not supported whereas H2i was supported and H2l was partially supported. This indicated that ORP of late-stage entrepreneurs was influenced by bonding social capital and that they were motivated by hope, particularly by hope for power. A frequency analysis of late-stage entrepreneurs indicated that their cognitive style was predominantly analytical. Among the demographic attributes, the age of the pre-stage and of the late-stage entrepreneurs and gender of the early-stage entrepreneurs were found to influence their ORP respectively. These findings further revealed that pre-stage entrepreneurs were found to be optimistic about their ORP and it was found to be significantly influenced by their social capital (both bridging and bonding) and cognitive style. The early-stage entrepreneurs were realistic and bonding social capital and their cognitive style were found to significantly influence their ORP. Late-stage entrepreneurs were experienced and thus their ORP was found to be significantly influenced by their bonding social capital and motivation by hope for power. These results have been described in Chapter 4. The study then used quartiles to divide entrepreneurs into four groups. Entrepreneurs who had scores less than and equal to quartile one-46 (Low-ORP) were compared with those entrepreneurs who had scores greater than and equal to the third quartile-55 (High-ORP). A binary logistic regression (BLR) analysis was conducted to examine if the division of potential for opportunity recognition (ORP) based on the quartiles was powerful enough to predict the effect of the independent variables on the dependent variable (ORP). The Chi-square values showed that the classification was robust enough to predict the ORP of entrepreneurs. The third set of hypotheses H 3 was then tested using the multiple linear regression and results revealed that the evidence was insufficient to support H3a, H3b, H3c and H3d. Bonding social capital was found to significantly influence the ORP of those entrepreneurs who had high ORP and cognitive style was found to significantly influence the ORP of those entrepreneurs who had low ORP. An F-test was used to investigate whether the difference in personal and interpersonal attributes of entrepreneurs could lead to difference in attributes affecting ORP of entrepreneurs. Later, a K-mean cluster analysis was used to identify homogenous groups of entrepreneurs with high dissimilarity between clusters, based on both the personal and interpersonal attributes that were found to significantly influence their ORP. The F-test scores showed that the attributes which divided the entrepreneurs into three groups were ORP, social capital, cognition style and self-efficacy. The F-test scores did not show motivation as an attribute that could significantly distinguish between entrepreneurs of the three groups. These results have been described in Chapter 5. The study further obtained new groups using quartiles to divide the entrepreneurs who had high (28 and 29) and low social capital (24) and high (30) and low (24) self-efficacy. The chi-square values of the binary logistic regression indicated that the models were robust enough to distinguish between those entrepreneurs who were found to have high and low self-efficacy and those entrepreneurs who were found to have high and low social capital. The results of multiple linear regressions found evidence to support hypotheses H4a, H4b and H4d. The demographic attributes age and education, were found to significantly influence the ORP of those entrepreneurs who had high bridging social capital. Cognitive style was found to significantly influence the ORP of those entrepreneurs who had high bonding social capital. Self-efficacy, cognitive style and age were found to significantly influence the ORP of entrepreneurs who had low bridging social capital. Cognitive style, work experience and age were found to significantly influence the ORP of entrepreneurs who had low bonding social capital. Bonding social capital and motivation by hope for success were found to significantly influence ORP of entrepreneurs who had high self-efficacy. Cognitive style and work experience were found to significantly influence ORP of entrepreneurs who had low self-efficacy. Subsequently, an analysis was done to identify attributes which significantly influenced the ORP of entrepreneurs who were found to use adaptive and analytical styles of cognition by using multiple linear regressions. Based on the results, the study found sufficient evidence to support the hypothesis H4c. The attributes that significantly influenced ORP of those entrepreneurs who used adaptive style were bridging social capital, and motivation by hope for success, work experience and age and attributes found to significantly influence ORP of those entrepreneurs who used analytical style of cognition were bonding social capital and gender. To conclude, the results of the study highlighted the importance of social capital, cognitive style and age for ORP of entrepreneurs from across all the stages and groups. There was very little evidence to support the role of self-efficacy and no evidence to support the role of motivation in influencing the ORP of those entrepreneurs who were in any stage and in any of the high and low groups. This study has developed a theoretical perspective on the role of ORP of entrepreneurs who are in different stages of entrepreneurship. It has also suggested a rationale for the use of social capital by entrepreneurs. The findings of this study would assist in guiding pre-stage entrepreneurs to develop realistic expectations while implementing their projects, and would help early-stage entrepreneurs persist with their ventures against any initial setbacks therefore findings of this study can be judiciously used for training potential entrepreneurs in the field of opportunity recognition.

<p>Trots en ökande trend av antalet kvinnliga entreprenörer är proportionen till manliga entreprenörer fortfarande relativt låg. Anledningen kan bland annat bero på att entreprenörskap definieras efter egenskaper som återfinns bland typiska manliga egenskaper som till exempel riskbenägenhet och en stor självtillit. Med stor sannolikhet är detta en av orsakerna till att få kvinnor kan identifiera sig själva med rollen som entreprenör. Denna studie undersöker vad som i nuläget utförs för att främja entreprenörskap bland kvinnor och vad detta kommer att bidra till i framtiden gällande det kvinnliga entreprenörskapet. Metoden har skapats genom ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt i form av intervjuer. Totalt innehöll studien sex deltagare och bestod av representanter från Svenska Uppfinnareföreningen, Almi, Nutek, Idélab och Arbetsförmedlingen Kultur samt en kvinnlig entreprenör vid namn Mia Seipel, Boobdesign.</p>

No description available.

Background: The importance of supportive business networks has been widely acknowledged in the field of entrepreneurship. Due to the success of informal business networks, the same networking concept is frequently encouraged and applied by regional political authorities. However, when duplicating a certain networking approach in different settings, it is important to address motives and expectations of network actors and be aware of potentially arising threats. Purpose of the study: The purpose of the Master Thesis is to explore and broaden the understanding of the relationship between the two actors: entrepreneurs and policy-driven networks. The Master Thesis aims to provide a theoretical contribution to the field of entrepreneurship in identifying and describing main motives and expectations of both actors, when engaging in a mutual relationship. However, the Thesis will focus on a single actor’s perspective and the main emphasis of the research will be placed on a set of entrepreneurs and their behavior within the analyzed policy-driven network. Ultimately, main emerging challenges between the two actors will be identified and analyzed, as well as appropriate guidance to address it will be provided. Methodological framework: The qualitative research approach was chosen for the conducted study. A multiple case study was completed in the form eight semi- structured interviews with the anagerial levels of the analyzed policy-driven network and local entrepreneurs. Completion and findings: The conducted study reveals that it is a great challenge to implement a certain networking approach in a diverse context. The provided frameworks of entrepreneurship, networking and social embeddedness indicate that, when establishing a policy-driven network a considerable amount of attention should be devoted to main network actors – regional entrepreneurs.

M.B.A. / Everywhere in the world, an increasing number of female entrepreneurs are becoming the pillars of economic growth and development. This exploratory research sought to investigate the barriers facing female entrepreneurs and to establish whether these barriers are exacerbated for women because of their gender. It focuses on the experiences and perceptions of female entrepreneurs in the urban formal sector of the Gauteng area of South Africa. Data for the study was gathered by a survey through questionnaires administered to 93 female entrepreneurs, the majority of whom were registered with either the South African Business Women's Association or The South African Women's Network. The literature review identified differences in female and male entrepreneurship related to personal demographics, business demographics and support structures. These differences could be explained by the barriers that female entrepreneurs face in their endeavours. The barriers are discussed under five main categories: social and cultural barriers, infrastructural barriers, educational and occupational barriers, role barriers, and behavioural barriers. Upon investigating these barriers amongst female entrepreneurs, results revealed that female entrepreneurs have to contend with socio-cultural, political, structural, economics, legal and personal barriers compared to men when they contemplate entrepreneurship. Although some barriers may be the same as those experienced by male entrepreneurs, the female entrepreneurs in this study perceived that they did indeed experience barriers that were specific to female entrepreneurs and that some barriers were exacerbated for them because of their gender. Thus, even if the Constitution of South Africa states that women and men have equal rights and the same entitlements for engaging in a career in society, reality proves that the experiences of female entrepreneurs in Gauteng are contrary to this - the current situation indicates that female entrepreneurship in Gauteng serves as a 'glass ceiling' for female entrepreneurial ambitions. Understanding the barriers facing female entrepreneurs can be beneficial to: females currently engaged in entrepreneurship, aspiring and emerging female entrepreneurs, and policy makers. This understanding can lead to more supportive policies and programmes for female entrepreneurs. Society, government, policy makers and women themselves thus need to work together to bring about changes required towards female entrepreneurs.

Petits opérateurs privés, vendeurs d’eau informels, fournisseurs non-étatiques… de nouveaux acteurs participent à la gouvernance des services d’approvisionnement en eau potable des villes en développement. Longtemps ignorés, ils connaissent aujourd’hui un intérêt croissant de la part de la communauté internationale car ils questionnent les modalités de gouvernance des services en réseaux au Sud. Hétérogènes et composites, d’origine locale, adaptés aux demandes des usagers, les services non conventionnels disposeraient d’une grande flexibilité convenant à l’environnement particulier des villes en développement. Ils seraient également en mesure d’apporter de nouveaux financements et d’assurer une pérennité du service à plus ou moins long terme. Or, peu de travaux théoriques en sciences économiques ont été entrepris sur cet objet de recherche. Nous le confirmerons à l’aide d’une analyse bibliométrique inédite. Cette thèse a donc pour objectif de combler ce manque, dans ses dimensions théoriques et empiriques. Adoptant une posture critique, elle s’emploie à discuter les postulats et les hypothèses d’efficience non-vérifiées de ce mode de coordination des acteurs. Par la suite, elle mobilise les concepts issus de la Nouvelle Economie Institutionnelle, proposant une grille de lecture originale des déterminants et de l’efficience des services non conventionnels. Grâce à une enquête de terrain approfondie conduite au Cambodge, nous critiquons le « caractère » concurrentiel qui fonde à priori ce(s) mode(s) de gouvernance. Nous montrons plutôt l’impact des coûts de transaction sur les arrangements organisationnels liés aux conditions d’accès à la ressource en eau. Au-delà de la rhétorique sur l’efficience des agents privés, nous soulignons également l’importance de considérer les arrangements organisationnels non-sectoriels. Nous apportons enfin des éclairages sur le rôle joué par les normes informelles dans la réduction des incertitudes de l’environnement institutionnel. Nous concluons toutefois sur les difficultés potentielles d’institutionnalisation de ce(s) mode(s) de gouvernance car verrouillé dans un sentier de dépendance institutionnel. / Small-scale private operators, informal water vendors, non-state providers… new stakeholders are participating in water supply governance in developing cities. Previously ignored, they are today drawing growing attention from the international community as they question the governance modalities of network industries in the Global South. Heterogeneous and composite, of local origin, adapted to the demands of end-users, alternative services would be highly flexible, thus adapted to the particular environment of developing cities. They also would be able to provide new funds and to ensure sustainability of water supply services in long or shorter term. However, there is little theoretical research in economics undertaken on this topic. We are confirming this through an unpublished bibliometric analysis. This PhD aims consequently to provide theoretical and empirical elements to fill this gap. Adopting a critical stance, it intends to highlight the postulates and unconfirmed efficiency assumptions of this particular governance structure. Thereafter, it mobilizes New Institutional Economics concepts, offering an original analytical framework on the determinants and efficiency of alternatives services. Through an extensive field survey conducted in Cambodia, we criticize the competitive character of this type of governance which is a priori supposed to ground it. We show the impact of transaction costs on the organizational arrangements related to the conditions of water resource access. Beyond the rhetoric of private sector efficiency, we also stress the importance to take into account non-sectoral organizational arrangements. We finally underline the key role of informal norms in reducing the uncertainties of the institutional environment. We nevertheless conclude on the potential difficulties to institutionalize this(hose) governance(s) structure(s) as they are locked in an institutional path-dependence.