Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Venture capital is a major source of funding for the entrepreneurial community and usually focuses on the early stage, more risk orientated business endeavours. This study explores and identifies the investment criteria used by South African venture capitalists in their venture screening and evaluation process and compares these criteria with the results obtained in similar studies abroad. By identifying the criteria that are deemed as important, venture capitalists can enhance their decision-making process and entrepreneurs can adjust their preparation for venture capital application to maximise their success rate. By alerting entrepreneurs of these criteria, some potentially flawed proposals can be corrected beforehand, hence enhancing the venture capital process for both the venture capitalist and the entrepreneur. By making use of a questionnaire, data was gathered from a population of 16 identified South African venture capitalists, of which 75% replied. The most important criteria was identified by evaluating the mean ratings assigned to them and was found to be, the entrepreneurs honesty and integrity, a good expected market acceptance and a high IRR. The data was further analysed using the Friedman two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) by ranks test, the Sign test and factor analysis. It was found that the South African venture capitalists, just like their overseas counterparts, rate the entrepreneur and management team, as the most important category of criteria when evaluating new projects for investment. In addition, two lists of factors were identified by using factor analysis to reduce the criteria obtained from the questionnaire. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Waagkapitaal is een van die belangrikste bronne van befondsing waarvan entrepreneurs gebruik kan maak. Dit fokus hoofsaaklik op besighede in 'n vroeë besigheid lewensiklus, waar hoër risiko aan die orde van die dag is. Hierdie studie identifiseer en analiseer die beleggings maatstawwe wat gebruik word vir waagkapitaal belegging besluitneming in Suid-Afrika en vergelyk die resultate met soortgelyke studies wat reeds in die buiteland uitgevoer is. Die besluitnemingsproses vir die waagkapitalis kan ook vergemaklik word deur die identifisering van die mees belangrikste maatstawwe en terselfdertyd kan entrepreneurs dit ook gebruik vir beter voorbereiding in hul aansoek om waagkapitaal. Deur entrepreneurs se aandag op die belangrike faktore te vestig kan potensiële swak voorleggings vroegtydig gekorrigeer word, wat 'n positiewe bydrae sal lewer tot die beleggingsproses vir beide die waagkapitalis en die entrepreneur. Daar is gebruik gemaak van 'n vraelys wat gestuur is aan 16 Suid-Afrikaanse waagkapitaal beleggers, 75% het die vraelys voltooi. Deur vergelyking van die gemiddelde waardes is vasgestel dat die belangrikste maatstawwe die entrepreneur se eerlikheid en integriteit, goeie verwagte aanvaarding en aanvraag na die produk en 'n hoë “IRR” is, daarna is die data geanaliseer deur middel van die “Friedman two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) by ranks test”, die ”Sign test” en “factor analysis”. Daar is bevind dat die Suid-Afrikaanse waagkapitalis net soos sy oorsese eweknie, die entrepreneur en bestuurspan as die mees belangrikste afdeling van maatstawwe ag wanneer gekyk word na nuwe projekte vir beleggings. Daar is ook twee addisionele lyste van belangrike maatstawwe opgestel deur die aantal faktore te verminder deur faktor analise.

本文係針對大陸台商的「當地化」現象進行探討。隨著兩岸經貿的開展，台商的當地化經營已成為一個不可避免的趨勢，而本文所欲探討之「當地化」，係從經濟的角度出發，亦即在經濟全球化之後，跨國公司（台商）的海外投資為求利益極大化，勢必將調整原本的經濟策略，以合乎當地市場的需求；而此一調整則可能包含其市場、原物料及進用人才等各個面相，筆者並運用價格要素均等及比較優勢建立本文之假說。 在此一前提下，本文利用深度訪談及半結構式問卷，針對大上海地區（上海、吳江、昆山）的台商企業之當地化經營現象進行研究，共計獲得三十份訪談紀錄及八十五份問卷，對於此一現象進行深入且廣泛的經驗分析。研究結果發現，台商企業不但認同當地化經營對於企業永續生存之重要，已在經營或用人方面進行大幅度的當地化，並強調此一趨勢將繼續進行。本文之研究結果驗證了先前之假說，但此一發現亦有例外之處，即對於攸關「信任」的職務，台商普遍不願輕言進行當地化。 / This thesis studies the progresses of localization in the Taiwanese businesses in Great Shanghai. It aims to make sense this process in a larger context of economic integration across the Strait and market competition around the world. Based on the findings, it is the economic forces, might be understood as factor price equalization or regional comparative advantages, that play the key role in bringing about the localization of these Taiwanese enterprises. Under the pressures to compete on global market and also to reap regional advantages, these Taiwanese enterprises are forces to give up their earlier import-processing-export pattern to produce from Chinese raw materials, for the Chinese market, and under the management of Chinese cadres. The empirical study of the thesis is based on two field trips in greater Shanghai, i.e., the Shanghai city, plus two other county –level cities, Wujiang and Kunshan. During the two-month field research, the author combines in-depth interviewing and semi-structured questionnaire on more than 100 Taiwanese entrepreneurs, with the result of 30 full-length transcripts and 85 questionnaires. The empirical data suggest that most Taiwanese entrepreneurs not just recognize the necessity of localization but also enjoy the profits brought by the advancements of localization. There is but one exception: localization can hardly go beyond the limit of personal trust. Thus, when deep trust is involved—say, managing financial matters—the principle of localization will be compromised.

The present dissertation deals with the factors influencing the professional careers of mer-chants and craftsmen working in the Swedish town of Sundsvall between 1850 and 1900. The most important hypotheses are: To what degree did social origins influence an entre-preneur's opportunities for running his business? How many of the children of these busi-nessmen assumed and maintained their parents' social status upon attaining adulthood? What significance did the entrepreneur's spouse have for his business activities? To what degree were his economic activities influenced by joining local voluntary associations? By combining data culled from the parish registers of the Swedish Lutheran Church, the poll tax registers and the primary source material for national trade statistics, the author has been able to identify the individuals who worked as entrepreneurs in Sundsvall during the period under investigation, what they paid in business income tax each year, the profes-sional titles they possessed and the places in which they and their relatives resided during their lifetimes. The results show that the majority of the most successful younger entrepreneurs active in the town before the introduction of freedom of trade in Sweden in the year 1864 were mostly immigrants from other parts of the country, who had furthermore come from rela-tively modest backgrounds. However, the social and geographic origins of these entrepre-neur's wives has proven to be of central significance to the success of the business, in in-stances where she had been raised in a business family from Sundsvall. The professional skill of the entrepreneur together with his wife's familiarity with the town, in all likelihood also combined with her inherited cultural capital, contributed to creating a demand from the local populace for the goods or services sold by the company / <p>Distrubution: Institutionen för idé- och samhällsstudier, Umeå universitet,, 901 87 Umeå, 090-786 50 00</p>

During the search for a thesis topic, the researchers established contact with a civil servant at Växjö Municipality in Sweden who introduced them to the prospective project of the Reuse Village as part of the city’s waste management plan to enhance circular economy. Hence, the researchers’ purpose for this thesis is to explore the determined values and stakeholders’ involvement linked to the engagement of entrepreneurs towards a circular economy. Moreover, a thorough explanation of the literature review is conducted including the environmental, economic and social sustainability, in addition to the entrepreneurial and stakeholders’ involvement and the different sustainable oriented entrepreneurs and the values that could possibly influence the entrepreneurs. The researchers used mixed research methods that comprise of qualitative interviews, secondary research, and case studies based on documentary secondary data to give a deeper explanation of the stakeholders and entrepreneurial involvement and show their position in the field of circular economy especially in the Reuse Village project. The main findings of the thesis elaborate more on the importance of circular economy that governments and local municipalities are pushing for. The outcome presents the directions that stakeholders lean towards, regarding the Reuse Village, and shows how the relationship between the stakeholders plays a major role in the progress of the notion of circular economy.

This bachelor thesis evaluates how high-engagement investors contribute to the development and growth of for-profit social enterprises by providing both funding and non-financial advisory services focused on organisational capacity-building. Case studies on three social enterprises describe the structure of funding deals, what considerations affected these due to the high social character of the ventures, and inquire into the relationship between social enterprise and their investors to evaluate how the investors provide value for their investees beyond capital. The investor types involved include commercial venture capital funds, angel investors, accelerator programs and venture philanthropy funds; a sort of social impact investment fund which combines the high- engagement mentoring of venture capital funds with lower expectations on financial returns in exchange for higher demands on social impact. The findings indicate that high-engagement investors in general provide a wide range of services to the social enterprises studied, where strategic advisory services and networks introductions are identified as key enablers for development. Aligning philosophies on the combination of business and social impact is also identified as critical for a constructive relationship between investor and investee. The perceived value of venture philanthropy funding diverges between the cases; while filling an empty space in the social enterprise capital market, some findings question their capabilities and investment model. Apart from the initial research questions on how high-engagement investors add value to social enterprises, the study raises further questions on social enterprise funding in general and the issues that obstructs these organisations from introducing innovation and growth to underdeveloped markets.

Throughout the Cold War antagonisms of the twentieth century, the United States (US) championed greater global economic cooperation and an embrace of free market principles to encourage economic growth. Post World War II, passage of the Bretton Woods Agreement institutionalized this political agenda effectively establishing the rules of global commerce. The result has been increased economic participation and trade liberalization. One of the last remaining vestiges of Cold War hostility and impediments to trade is the US economic embargo of Cuba, in place since 1960. Increasingly seen as a policy failure, the US has taken steps in the past two years to normalize relations with Cuba. At the same time, after extended conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, economic recession, and political polarization over the last fifteen years the US finds itself in a position of ambiguity towards additional foreign commitments. American efforts to open Cuba to two-way commerce serve both national security and economic foreign policy agendas. For Cubans, removal of the embargo represents an opportunity for normal relations with the world’s largest economy and access to capital and markets that come with it. The purpose of this study is to test the theory political economy, which attempts to understand society through the intersection of economic, political, and social functions, using US-Cuba diplomacy as a case study (Yin, 2009). Working within a multiple streams framework, the investigator examined how economic policy is changed under politically ambiguous conditions through a series of 20 semi-structured qualitative interviews and content analysis of secondary data sources (Zahariadis, 2014). Specifically, the study explored the behavior of interested individuals from the US and Cuba, so-called policy entrepreneurs, and their influence on the policymaking process during an open policy window. Research results suggest that policy entrepreneurs operate at the individual, state, and national scales of society using a variety of symbols to create and broaden opportunities for policy change. Across all three levels, US and Cuban policy entrepreneur’s behavior is guided by the search for rationality in ambiguous times, but their agency is bounded by the institutionally determined parameters of what is legally and politically acceptable.

La Bretagne (et en particulier le Finistère) est, depuis les années 1920, une importante région d’importations maritime et de consommation de vins d’Algérie. Au lendemain de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le passage du transport maritime en fûts au transport en vrac bouleverse les conditions de transport et de distribution. Les vins sont transportés dans des navires-citernes, débarqués par pompage dans des chais portuaires modernes et livrés par poids-lourds. Cette évolution préfigure l’essor de l’organisation du transport de marchandises en chaîne logistique. Elle reconfigure les hiérarchies portuaires et permet à de nouveaux acteurs de s’établir sur ce marché de l’importation des vins d’Algérie. La recherche est fondée sur l’exploitation d’un fonds d’archives original, le fonds Hervé Nader fondateur en 1951 d’une entreprise d’importations de vins d’Algérie au port du Corniguel à Quimper et d’exportation de produits bretons vers l’Afrique du Nord. Il fonde aussi un armement maritime et exploite trois navires-citernes. Au début des années 1960, Quimper devient le premier port d’entrée de vins d’Algérie de Bretagne, et l’un des plus importants du littoral atlantique. Après l’indépendance de l’Algérie, l’activité s’étend à l’ensemble du bassin méditerranéen, jusqu’à la vente de l’entreprise en 1973. Les archives de Nader, sont composées de sa correspondance commerciale, des documents relatifs à l’exploitation des navires (journaux de bord, manifestes de chargements), mais aussi de correspondances privées et à caractère politiques. Elles ont permis l’étude des trajectoires de l’entrepreneur et de l’entreprise, dans le contexte des mutations économiques et de l’émergence d’un modèle industriel en Bretagne, caractérisé par le rôle des PME familiales et l’importance du commerce agro-alimentaire dans les systèmes productifs locaux. La recherche participe aussi à l’histoire des évolutions de la marine marchande, et à celle des enjeux politique et symboliques des vins d’Algérie. / By the 1920’s Brittany, and especially Finistère, had grown to become an important hub for maritime imports and a significant market for Algerian wine. After WWII, the shift operated from transporting wine in barrels to bulk shipping in tanker ships upsets the transport and distribution environment. Wine is now transported in wine tankers, pumped ashore to modern port wineries and delivered by truck. This evolution announces the development of transport and distribution as a supply chain. It causes a reshuffling in the maritime pecking order and allows new players to enter the Algerian wine import business. The research is based on the exploitation of original archives, those kept by Hervé Nader who founded an Algerian wine import business at the Port du Corniguel in Quimper along with a company dedicated to the export of Breton goods to North Africa. He also founds a shipping company and operates three tanker ships. In the early 1960’s, Quimper becomes the first port of entry of Algerian wine in Brittany and one of the most important on the Atlantic coast. After Algeria gained its independence, his activities develop over the entire Mediterranean basin until the sale of the company in 1973. Nader’s archives include his commercial correspondance, documents pertaining to the operation of the ships (log books, load manifests), but also private correspondance and letters of a more political nature. These archives have allowed to study the career path of an entrepreneur and the development of his business in a context of economic change and the rise of a Breton industrial model characterized by the role of family-run small businesses and the early developments of agribusiness in local productive systems. This research also offers historical perspective on the evolution merchant shipping as wells the political and symbolical aspects associated with Algerian wine.

A la mi-septembre 1944, la France métropolitaine se trouve en grande partie libérée. Au terme de quatre années d'occupation, l'outil militaire national est à reconstruire. Soucieux de préparer l'avenir et, à court terme, de contribuer significativement à la victoire alliée, le gouvernement provisoire de la République française entend s'y atteler sans attendre, en négociant, un nouveau plan de réarmement avec les Alliés et en mettant à profit le potentiel humain constitué par les Forces françaises de l'Intérieur (FFI). Les négociations avec les Alliés aboutissent laborieusement au plan de réarmement du 30 novembre 1944, dont la mise en œuvre va tourner court au printemps suivant. Quant à l'intégration des hétérogènes FFI dans l'Armée, elle donne brièvement lieu à un bras de fer politique durant l'automne 1944. Le gouvernement provisoire n'est en effet pas la seule entité politique française à envisager la refondation d'une armée nationale. Sans attendre le gouvernement, une part des cadres et des organes issus de la Résistance intérieure a en effet d'emblée engagé des initiatives militaires, dérégulées et décentralisées, bien que non nécessairement divergentes par rapport à l'action gouvernementale. La présente thèse propose d'étudier ces projets et ces organisations, ainsi que les voies de leur intégration au sein des projets gouvernementaux, en prêtant une attention particulière aux dynamiques régionales. Cette thèse est divisée en quatre parties. La première partie, intitulée Tous en rangs !, est consacrée aux jeux d’acteurs français. Cette partie a pour centre de gravité la question du rétablissement par le gouvernement, avec un mode opératoire tantôt dirigiste, tantôt négocié, d'une administration militaire territoriale, sous la forme de régions militaires, destinées à servir de matrices incubatrices pour la formation de nouvelles unités. La seconde partie, intitulée Formez vos bataillons !, traite des modes de construction des projets de réarmement de 1944-1945. Outre une réinterrogation du plan de réarmement du 30 novembre 1944 et des raisons de son échec, cette partie est consacrée aux initiatives décentralisées de grandes unités (avec une douzaine de projets de divisions FFI) et au parcours souvent sinueux ayant conduit des bataillons de marche FFI de l'automne 1944 aux nouveaux régiments du printemps 1945. Une troisième partie, intitulée Engagez-vous !, décrit les modalités de réunion des ressources humaines nécessaires aux projets de réarmement, sans se limiter aux FFI ni à la seule question de l'amalgame pratiqué au sein de la 1re Armée française. Enfin, la dernière partie, intitulée Aux armes !, présente les modalités d’accès aux ressources matérielles requises pour l’équipement des forces recréées en métropole, en se focalisant sur les voies alternatives au matériel américain qui n'a guère été perçu en 1945 que sous forme d'échantillons. Cette partie aborde successivement l'emploi de matériels britanniques de seconde main, les essais de relance d'une production industrielle française dès l'automne 1944 et le recours à la récupération de matériels de prise, abandonnés par les forces allemandes. Au final, la présente thèse expose une dynamique de refondation militaire hybride, sensiblement différente de celle opérée en Afrique du Nord en 1943. Dans un environnement mouvant et concurrentiel, en l’absence des livraisons escomptées d'armement américain, le projet gouvernemental initial a été largement amendé, intégrant une part des initiatives décentralisées et entrepreneuriales issues de la Résistance intérieure, tout en les canalisant. / In September 1944, the main part of France has been liberated. Thus, for the French provisional government as for the Allied headquarter, time was to rearmament by using the French manpower and the metropolitan industrial plants. The place for innovation is weak: what was planned, was just the continuity of allied schemes and of the pre-war French military institution. But, without waiting for governmental or allied instructions, a part of the Resistance's leaders has developed different local or global rearmament programs, especially by using the volunteers of the French Forces of Interior, in order to contribute to the final victory as to the renaissance of a new French army earned by the Resistance's ideas.The present thesis deals with the organizations and the projects born in this frame: their conditions of apparition, their ways of development and their integration’s modalities within the French Army and within the Allied strategy. A large importance is accorded to the regional and decentralized dynamics observed through the French territory. As a result, compared to the rearmament occurred in North Africa in 1943, the French rearmament's approaches took on the French ground a different and novel path, including initiatives and entrepreneurship.

In Deutschland hat ein kleiner Anteil der deutschtürkischen UnternehmerInnen in letzter Zeit vielerlei wirtschaftliche Kontakte zu verschiedenen Ländern hergestellt und weltweit transnationale Firmen gegründet. Die vorliegende qualitative Studie zeigt, dass es nicht im Wesentlichen ethnische Netzwerke waren, auf die sie dabei gebaut haben, sondern dass sie aufgrund ihrer eigenen Voraussetzungen (hoher Bildungsstand, Fachwissen, Erfahrung, Unternehmergeist) in der Lage sind, die Möglichkeiten zu nutzen, die sich aus dem globalen Wandel ergeben. Im Gegensatz zu transnationalen Aktivitäten, die frühere Studien für die Amerikas dokumentieren, sind deutschtürkische transnationale UnternehmerInnen vielseitiger und globaler. Zum einen handeln Sie mit Textilien, Elektronik, Technologie, Unterhaltung, Tourismus und Lebensmitteln. Zum anderen unterhalten sie Geschäftsbeziehungen zu KundInnen aus der ganzen Welt, aus Asien, Afrika, Europa, Australien und den Amerikas. Grundsätzlich kann man sagen, dass deutschtürkische transnationale UntermehmerInnen vielseitige Verbindungen in den verschiedensten Länder der Welt pflegen und dass ihr unternehmerischer Erfolg nicht maßgeblich von Verbindungen zur Türkei abhängt. / In Germany, a minority of Turkish immigrant entrepreneurs recently have developed multiple economic linkages with different countries, and set up transnational firms across the globe. This qualitative research finds that they have not relied heavily on the ethnic networks but draw on sufficient human capital to exploit resources and opportunities arising from the globalising changes. Compared to the transnational activities in previous studies conducted in the Americas, the Turkish transnational entrepreneurs are more diverse and global. First, their ventures include textiles, electronics, technology, entertainment, tourism and food production. Second, their clientele is worldwide covering Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia and the Americas. In essence, the Turkish transnational entrepreneurs have developed multiple ties that span different countries all over the world, and their economic success is not largely dependent on ties with their home country.

Este trabalho apresenta a percepção de Qualidade de Vida no Trabalho (QVT) dos empreendedores que estão vinculados ao Programa de Incubadoras Tecnológicas do Estado de São Paulo. A principal contribuição foi a identificação da satisfação dos empreendedores com a QVT, nas dimensões biopsicossocial e organizacional, e o mapeamento do Comportamento Alimentar (CA). Para os empreendedores, a iniciativa de abrir seu próprio negócio está relacionada à busca de prazer no trabalho. A opção por empreender faz que aumente sua carga horária de trabalho, diminua as atividades de lazer e passatempo com familiares, além de deixar a atividade física e os cuidados com saúde postergados para um futuro incerto. Esse ritmo de trabalho afeta constantemente o modo de vida dos trabalhadores, inclusive a pausa para refeições. Foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória descritiva pelos métodos quantitativo e qualitativo. Foram aplicados pessoalmente os questionários BPSO-96 para QVT e o Questionário de Hábitos Alimentares para CA. Os respondentes somam 72 empreendedores de Incubadoras de quatro municípios paulistas, uma amostra não-probabilística, sendo realizados três grupos focais. A maioria dos empreendedores da amostra são homens e estão com sobrepeso. Os resultados da Análise Fatorial não demonstram uma forte relação entre Comportamento Alimentar e QVT. Tanto os dados quantitativos quanto qualitativos mostram que os empreendedores percebem de forma positiva sua QVT. Percebem sua alimentação como saudável e estão satisfeitos com seu Comportamento Alimentar (CA). Pode-se, então, concluir que os empreendedores estão satisfeitos com sua QVT, principalmente, em sua dimensão organizacional e psicológica; atribuem à QVT um significado de realização pessoal, por estarem construindo sua empresa com sucesso. Foi identificada uma nova categoria habitabilidade como fator importante para a QVT. Não relacionam o Comportamento Alimentar à QVT. Possuem um padrão positivo de CA alinhado ao estilo de vida empresarial que possuem. Mesmo estando satisfeitos com sua alimentação, existe certa negligência com a dimensão biológica quando se trata da QV T, eles reconhecem uma não satisfação com relação às questões de promoção da saúde. Faz-se necessário investir em ações que promovam um desenvolvimento integrado das dimensões da QV T. / This work presents the perception of entrepreneurs\' Quality of Work at Life (QWL) who are linked to the Technological Incubators Program of São Paulo. The main contribution was the identification of entrepreneurs satisfaction with the QWL, in the biopsychosocial and organizational dimensions, and the mapping of Eating Behavior (EB). For the entrepreneurs, the initiative of opening their own business is related to the search of pleasure at work. The entrepreneurial option increases their workload, decreases their leisure activities and pastime with relatives postponing physical activity and health care to an uncertain future. This working pace constantly affects the workers way of life, including meal breaks. An exploratory and descriptive research was carried out through quantitative and qualitative methods. Questionnaires BPSO- 96 for QWL and the Eating Habits Questionnaire for EB were completed. Participants are 72 incubators from four cities in the state of São Paulo, a non-probabilistic sample, carried out in three focal groups. Most male entrepreneurs of the sample are overweight. The results of Factor Analysis do not reveal a strong relation between Food Behavior and QWL. Both quantitative and qualitative data show that the entrepreneurs notice their QWL in a positive way, and are satisfied with it. They believe their food is healthy and are satisfied with their Eating Behavior (EB). It can be concluded that the entrepreneurs are satisfied with their QWL, mainly in their organizational and psychological dimension; they regard QWL as self- fulfillment, as they are building their company successfully. It was identified a new category liveability as an important factor to QWL. The participants do not relate the Eating Behavior to the QWL. They have a positive pattern of EB adapted to their business lifestyle. Even being satisfied with their eating, there is a certain neglect with the biological dimension regarding QWL; they recognize a non-satisfaction concerning health issues promotion. It is necessary to an integrated development of the QWL dimensions.