Figures show the unemployment rate in South Africa is increasing. Entrepreneurship is a very good solution to decrease the unemployment rate and increase the economic growth of South Africa. Very few studies have been done on entrepreneurship, including women entrepreneurs, as men have always been the leaders in this regard. More than 50% of South Africa‟s population is female and deemed as a very important factor for the country's economic growth. Women entrepreneurs have been understudied; there are also other factors and relationships that should be investigated and understood for the government to be able to establish programmes and assistance for women entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses. The research for this study was conducted in the Gauteng Province as poverty levels are high, despite large industries in this province and the fact that it is the most Gross Domestic Province for South Africa. The objective of this study is to investigate women entrepreneurship in the Gauteng and to make practical recommendations to enhance women entrepreneurship in this province. A survey including 41 women-owned businesses was conducted. A detailed profile of the woman entrepreneur in Gauteng was compiled, including the structure of the business. Factors such as the level of organisational commitment, dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, development needs as well as the perceived business success, have been investigated. The relationships between these factors have also been investigated in the empirical research. The most urgent needs of women entrepreneurs in Gauteng are marketing training, financial support, machinery, equipment and tools as well as infrastructure. It is recommended that these needs are addressed through a support initiative especially implemented for women entrepreneurs. These factors need to be understood by the government in order to establish and assist women entrepreneurs in South Africa. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Figures show the unemployment rate in South Africa is increasing. Entrepreneurship is a very good solution to decrease the unemployment rate and increase the economic growth of South Africa. Very few studies have been done on entrepreneurship, including women entrepreneurs, as men have always been the leaders in this regard. More than 50% of South Africa‟s population is female and deemed as a very important factor for the country's economic growth. Women entrepreneurs have been understudied; there are also other factors and relationships that should be investigated and understood for the government to be able to establish programmes and assistance for women entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses. The research for this study was conducted in the Gauteng Province as poverty levels are high, despite large industries in this province and the fact that it is the most Gross Domestic Province for South Africa. The objective of this study is to investigate women entrepreneurship in the Gauteng and to make practical recommendations to enhance women entrepreneurship in this province. A survey including 41 women-owned businesses was conducted. A detailed profile of the woman entrepreneur in Gauteng was compiled, including the structure of the business. Factors such as the level of organisational commitment, dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, development needs as well as the perceived business success, have been investigated. The relationships between these factors have also been investigated in the empirical research. The most urgent needs of women entrepreneurs in Gauteng are marketing training, financial support, machinery, equipment and tools as well as infrastructure. It is recommended that these needs are addressed through a support initiative especially implemented for women entrepreneurs. These factors need to be understood by the government in order to establish and assist women entrepreneurs in South Africa. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Botswana is a middle-income economy. It has become dependent on non-renewable resources. Agriculture and manufacturing have failed to develop in a significant way. The small population has not provided adequate demand. The Government has tried a number of strategies in order to diversify the economy. One of these is the promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Unfortunately, SMEs have failed to thrive, so far. A number of researchers have concluded that SMEs will not thrive due to the fact that Botswana have low entrepreneurial skills. High failure rates are experienced where enterprises are established. The thesis identifies an alternative strategy in the development of enterprises in Botswana. It is generally believed that a franchisee does not need high levels of entrepreneurial skills to succeed. If this is so, Botswana can solve her problem of lack of sufficient enterprises by promoting franchising. The thesis uses the interview technique to assess whether existing franchisees in Botswana have low levels of entrepreneurial skills. Indeed it proves that franchisees have low skill levels compared to non-franchised entrepreneurs. Secondly, the thesis proves that franchisees in Botswana operate as employee-managers. Thirdly, the thesis establishes that franchisees perform better than non-franchised entrepreneurs, even though they have low entrepreneurial skill levels. Lastly, the thesis, using evidence from findings above, and from responses of experts interviewed, establishes that the promotion of franchising is a viable alternative strategy to one that depends solely on non-franchised enterprises.While there are some methodological limitations, like those stemming from a low and unknown franchisee population in Botswana, the use of ordinal data, use of techniques to rate their own skills, and a relatively small sample for franchised and non-franchised entrepreneurs, the statistical techniques used are powerful enough to generate reliable findings. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / D.B.L

The following dissertation discusses the role of norms and norm entrepreneurs in the foreign policy-making of the Czech Republic, Poland and Bratislava after the downfall of communism. In at attempt to unpack the mechanics and appliance of “soft power” in foreign policy practice in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe, it identifies conditions and analyzes processes via which norms come to play the role of intermediary variable in the articulation and enactment of national interest. Capitalizing on the agency-oriented strand of norm diffusion theory in international relations and discursive institutionalism scholarship in comparative politics, the dissertation argues that normative frameworks advocated by value-bound networks of so-called norm entrepreneurs can play a regulative function in foreign policy-making by setting boundaries for discourse and sustaining logics of appropriateness that constrain the pool of available foreign policy choices at critical junctures. In the first part, “the mission and conversion” (1989-1999), the dissertation focuses on the early stages of norm emergence and habituation in the three states in the 1990s, asserting that ideational influence incurred by American “missionaries” on Czech, Polish and Slovak “converts” to democracy via a range of socialization processes related to NATO enlargement and Western democracy promotion efforts in the region gave rise to norm entrepreneur groups bound by a shared commitment to a normative framework dubbed “dissident geopolitics”. In part two, “the zeal”, the dissertation concentrates on the later stages of norm internalisation, demonstrated by norm enforcement in foreign policy. Using case studies of Czech, Polish and Slovak foreign policy during the Iraq War (2002-2003), the Orange Revolution in Ukraine (2004-2005) and the Russia Reset (2009-2011), the dissertation shows how sustained advocacy by norm entrepreneurs with or without structural power, who skillfully use framing to push their normative agendas in discursive competition with other norm entrepreneurs, factors “dissident geopolitics” in the decision-making process that produces activist and value-laden foreign policy outcomes that might not have been expected of “weak” states. Ultimately, the dissertation argues that dominant norms and norm entrepreneur networks can thrive in transition settings when they are less disputed, but they tend to lose coherence and unity, respectively, as the foreign policy landscape diversifies upon completion of democratic consolidation.

在中國大陸的台商為免與家人長期分隔兩地，逐漸出現舉家遷移的情形，而被帶領到大陸生活的台商子女，在台商學校、港澳台班、國際學校與本地學校這些與當地接觸程度各有不同的學校環境中，有著迥異的族群接觸機會及經驗，對於這些孩子們的自我身份認同，會不會有影響？若有，則是什麼效果？ 本文認為，父母決定了其子女與當地深度接觸機會的多寡，若沒有與當地族群深度接觸的機會，由於他們對當地的印象僅來自表面的觀察，而產生或加深對當地的偏見，使其更為認同台灣；如果深度機會多但經驗不佳，亦會讓他們傾向認同台灣，但相較於前者仍有同時認同當地的可能；而深度接觸當地機會多且有正面經驗的孩子，將開始認同中國，但未必拋卻對台灣的認同，或可說其不再以國族、族群，而以生活品味、素質等標準作為我群與他群的分際。 / In case of family separation, some Taiwanese entrepreneurs have migrated to China so that their children would have various opportunities of intergroup contact and experience in diversity kinds of school. For instance, “Taiwan businessman’s schools”, “Classes for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan”, “International schools”, and “Local Schools”. Would these varied environments affect their identities? If the answer is “yes”, then what the effect is and how it works? This thesis indicates that, indeed, whether the children contact the locals deeper or not which is due to their parents’ decision. If the children lack for such chances to contact the locals, they would identify themselves as Taiwanese. Since the children’s local cognition has been only affected by superficial observation, it produces or strengthens their prejudice toward the locals. While the children are in a “Melting Pot” but not feel happy with their peers; hence, they tend to have Taiwanese identities and it is not impossible to have Chinese identities simultaneously in the future. As for the children who have local acquaintances certainly have Chinese identities more than those illustrated above. However, it does not mean that they would definitely forsake their Taiwanese identities in stead of a new one. In fact, they may discard ethnic and use other standards as means of their identity options such as life styles and tastes.

Bakgrund: Snabbväxande företag bidrar med majoriteten av alla nyskapade jobb i Sverige. Tidigare forskning har dock visat att dessa företag får problem i och med snabb tillväxt, något som leder till att de inte blir uthålliga över tid. Vid en kartläggning av tidigare studier påträffades en avsaknad av forskning som har till syfte att förklara varför snabbväxande företag inte är uthålliga, varav vi ansåg det vara av intresse att studera fenomenet interna tillväxthinder.  Syfte: Syftet med studien är att genom grundares perspektiv identifiera interna tillväxthinder inom snabbväxande företag. I samband med detta undersöks hur de snabbväxande företagen tar sig an och överkommer dessa barriärer. Genomförande: Denna studie har utgått från en kvalitativ forskningsmetod, med ett induktivt angreppssätt för att kunna utforska fenomenet interna tillväxthinder. Studien har genomförts med utgångs-punkt i intervjuer med fyra grundare av tillväxtföretag. Slutsats: Studien har kunnat identifiera fyra områden som utifrån företagsgrundares berättelser haft särskild betydelse för överkomsten av tillväxthinder. Studien indikerar att de fyra områdena kan utvecklas till tillväxthinder om snabbväxarna inte arbetar med dem på rätt sätt, men kan med största sannolikhet omvandlas till tillväxtmöjligheter om grundaren inser värdet av att arbeta med dessa. / Background: High-growth firms contribute to a majority of all newly created jobs in Sweden. Recent studies have shown that these companies encounter problems and growth barriers as a result of their rapid growth. After investigating the study field of high-growth firms we found an absence of research that seeks to explain why they are not persistent over time. We consider it to be of interest to study the phenomenon of internal growth barriers.  Aim: The aim of this study is to identify internal growth barriers in high-growth firms through the perspective of the founders. In relation to this we examine how the high-growth firms undertake and overcomes these barriers. Completion: This study is based on a qualitative research strategy, with an inductive study approach, to enable an exploration of the phenomenon internal growth barriers. The study was conducted based on interviews with four founders of high-growth firms. Conclusion: The study has been able to identify four areas based on the founders' dictums, which had special significance for the emergence of internal growth barriers. The four areas can be developed to emerging growth obstacles if the high-growth firms do not consider their importance. This study suggests that the growth barriers most likely can be converted to growth potentials if the firms realize the importance to develop them.

The aim of this thesis is to put an interpretation on the institution of discharge with regard to an approval of the Act No. 294/2013 Coll., which changes the Act No. 182/2006 Coll., on decline and its solution strategies (Insolvency Act) and the Act No. 312/2006 Coll., on insolvency administrators (hereinafter referred to as "revising amendment"), to compare the amendment before and after its taking effect, with a main focus on discharge for entrepreneurs and individuals whose debts come from entrepreneurship, and on discharge for spouses. The thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter sums up the development of insolvency proceedings and insolvency law from Roman times to the present day. Thanks to this overview, the reader can see that insolvency proceedings and insolvency law are not only contemporary issues and owing to this, we are also able to map the development which led to the Insolvency Act as it stands. The main topic of the second chapter is decline and its solution strategies. As to the decline, I describe its two basic alternatives, insolvency and over-indebtedness. I mention also the imminent decline, which is followed by division of decline solution strategies into rehabilitation and liquidation, offering a brief specification of each of them. The whole third chapter...

Med anledning av att arbetslösheten är hög bland invandrare och att de i stor utsträckning startar företag är det intressant att se hur invandrarföretagare finansierar uppstarten av sin verksamhet. Av den anledningen är det också intressant att förstå vad som ligger bakom den valda finansieringsformen. Många invandrare som vill starta företag i Sverige stöter på problem tidigt i processen då de ofta blir diskriminerade av banker genom att inte bli beviljade lån i samma utsträckning som svenskfödda. Dessa begränsningar i tillgång till kapital via formella vägar öppnar upp för mer informella alternativ. En lösning skulle kunna vara att anförskaffa sig kapital via släkt och vänner som är kvar i hemlandet, med så kallade reverse remittances. Genom intervjuer med invandrarföretagare uppdelade i två olika grupper (en grupp som helt eller delvis använt reverse remittances som finansiering och en grupp som använt banklån och/eller andra finansiella medel) studerades valet av finansieringsform. Även sambandet mellan att ta emot och själv skicka remitteringar observerades. Då större delen av de invandrarföretagare som intervjuades inte hade varit i kontakt med banken innan finansieringsformen bestämdes finns ingenting i den här studien som tyder på att finansiering med reverse remittances beror på diskriminering hos bankerna. Den här studien visar istället att de främsta anledningarna till att reverse remittances används som finansiering är att det uppfattas som ett tillgängligt alternativ då invandrarföretagarna ingår i transnationella nätverk som byggs på en hög grad av tillit. Skillnaderna mellan de två urvalsgruppernas mönster i huruvida de själva remitterar eller inte visar sig i den här studien vara näst intill obefintliga. Istället beror remitteringsmönstret i båda urvalsgrupperna på kulturen inom de transnationella nätverken, en stark relation till remitteringsmottagaren och ett uttalat behov av pengar. Även om det finns antydningar på att företagarna som helt eller delvis finansierats med reverse remittances har något större benägenhet att själva remittera har studien inte kunnat se något tydligt samband mellan att ta emot remitteringar och själv remittera. / Given that the labor market for immigrants in Sweden has high unemployment and that immigrants to a large extent start businesses, makes it interesting to see how they finance the start-up. It also makes it interesting to try to understand the reasons that may lay behind the choice of funding source. However, many immigrants who want to start a business in Sweden encounter problems early in the process since banks tend to discriminate immigrants and not grant them loans to the same extent as to those born in Sweden. The constraints in access to capital through formal options open up for more informal alternatives. One solution could be to go through friends and family who still live  in their country of origin, through so-called reverse remittances. The reason behind the choice of funding source was studied through interviews with immigrant entrepreneurs divided into two groups; one group that received reverse remittances as funding source and one group that used bank loans and/or other funding sources. Additionally this study also looked at the linked relationship between entrepreneurs receiving and sending remittances. Since the greater part of the immigrant entrepreneurs that where interviewed had not been in contact with the bank before choosing source of funding, discrimination cannot be said to be the reason behind funding by reverse remittances. This study shows that the main reason for the use of reverse remittances rather is because the immigrant entrepreneurs belong to strong transnational networks built up by a high level of trust. No specific differences in the remittance pattern between the two sample groups have been found. It is rather the culture within the transnational network, strong ties to the remittance receiver and an expressed need for money that seem to decide whether immigrant entrepreneurs send remittances or not. This study has not either been able to point out whether there is a relationship between receiving and sending remittances among immigrant entrepreneurs in Sweden, apart rom some insinuations that the entrepreneurs funded by reverse remittances tend to remit to a slightly larger extent.

Esta dissertação analisa a economia política do processo de internacionalização de empresas privadas brasileiras ocorrido durante o governo Lula (2003-2010). A partir de 2005, verificou-se uma expansão do investimento direto brasileiro no exterior, resultado de uma política do governo federal destinada a formar grandes empresas transnacionais capazes de concorrer internacionalmente. Grandes fusões, aquisições e projetos de investimentos no exterior foram financiados por recursos públicos, no âmbito da política industrial operada pelo Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES), principal banco estatal de fomento ao setor privado no país. Uma característica importante desse movimento foi a concentração em setores nos quais o Brasil já é competitivo, como os intensivos em trabalho e recursos naturais, em contradição com diretrizes originalmente estabelecidas pela própria política industrial do governo Lula, que preconizava o incentivo a indústrias mais intensivas em tecnologia. Utilizando a abordagem institucional das \"variedades de capitalismo\", argumenta-se que isso ocorreu porque a política de internacionalização de empresas pautou-se por demandas de curto prazo de grupos econômicos privados, refletindo características institucionais mais gerais da economia brasileira. / This dissertation analyzes the political economy of the internationalization process of Brazilian private companies occurred during Lula administration (2003-2010). Since 2005, there was an expansion of Brazilian foreign direct investment abroad, as a result of a federal government policy intended to form large corporations able to compete internationally. Major mergers, acquisitions and investment projects abroad were financed by public funds under the industrial policy operated by National Bank of Economic and Social Development (BNDES), the main state bank to support the private sector in the country. An important feature of this movement was the focus on sectors in which Brazil is already competitive, as the labor and natural resources intensives sectors, in conflict with guidelines established by the same industrial policy of the Lula government, which advocated the support of more technology-intensive industries. Using the institutional approach of \"varieties of capitalism\", it is argued that this occurred because the internationalization policy was guided by short-term demands of private economic groups, reflecting wider institutional characteristics of the Brazilian economy.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T18:35:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rafael_Augusto_Lourenco.pdf: 4712248 bytes, checksum: f0c6644b7d71b0b42d0c5e8b656a5edc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-14 / This research aims to: \"identify and describe the entrepreneurial and professional trajectory of a group of seven accountant businessmen in Greater S??o Paulo.\" To achieve this objectiveit was conducted a field study with a qualitative approach and descriptive goals through personal interviews with a pre-defined itinerary using the technique of oral history. The acquired data were classified into four dimensions/constructs of analysis and evaluated descriptively, seeking to identify strategies, features and entrepreneurs profiles in common inherent in the performance of the accounting profession. It was evident that there are common features and profiles inherent in the performance of the accounting profession among respondents and the organizations they run, such as their organizations started simply, turning around a family environment are structured so departmentalized delegating powers; achieved with hard work, dedication and persistence, prominent place within the accounting profession; perform their activities always guided by ethics, honesty and integrity, always seeking new challenges and projects,having as anobjective the enhancement of the accounting profession / A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo: \"identificar e descrever o perfil empreendedor e a trajet??ria profissional de um grupo de sete empres??rios cont??beis da Grande S??o Paulo\". Para atingir esse objetivo foi realizada uma pesquisa de campo com abordagem qualitativa e objetivos descritivos, atrav??s de entrevistas presenciais com um roteiro pr??-definido utilizando a t??cnica da hist??ria oral. Os dados obtidos foram classificados em quatro dimens??es/constructos de an??lise e avaliados de forma descritiva, buscando identificar estrat??gias, caracter??sticas e perfis empreendedores em comum inerentes ao desempenho da profiss??o cont??bil. Constatou-se que, existem caracter??sticas e perfis comuns inerentes ao desempenho da profiss??o cont??bil entre os entrevistados e as organiza????es que eles dirigem, tais como: iniciaram suas organiza????es de forma simples, girando em torno de um ambiente familiar; s??o estruturadas de forma departamentalizada delegando poderes; atingiram com muito trabalho, dedica????o e persist??ncia lugar de destaque dentro da profiss??o cont??bil; executam suas atividades sempre pautadas na ??tica, honestidade e seriedade; procuram sempre novos desafios e empreendimentos e possuem como meta a valoriza????o da profiss??o cont??bil