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A capitalist world system is dictating how the global economy is organised, and entrepreneurship is suggested as a global solution for economic development. In development practices bottom up approaches such as social entrepreneurship are challenging the traditional donor-based model. The Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) is a United States lead initiative to promote entrepreneurship and economic ties with the Western world. This study analyses the online media discussion around the GES 2015 held in Nairobi, with focus on answering how sampled Kenyan blog and online news articles construct and contribute to Kenyan entrepreneurship discourse with their reporting around the GES, whether they reflect a more global or local capitalist narrative, and finally what kind of development thinking the entrepreneurship discourse reflects. A literature review builds context by describing the development of the Kenyan capitalist narrative. The empirical part applies a mixed method approach, with elements from content as well as discourse analysis in studying a sample of 120 Kenyan blog and online news articles. The analysis reveals that the local online reporting around the GES reflects a global capitalist narrative with a highly optimistic attitude towards entrepreneurship as a means to create economic growth as well as social change.

This dissertation is comprised of three separate entrepreneurship papers. Paper 1, "Entrepreneurial Heuristics...", found that being mentored, rather than either having extensive higher education or more work experience, was primarily responsible for entrepreneurs acquiring the simplified decision rules (heuristics) that can be useful to them in their business pursuits. The study also found that entrepreneurs do not seem to switch their decision making processes from a "rational man" (thorough) mode to a more abbreviated, heuristic mode as some current thinking suggests. Also in Paper 1 this researcher presented and utilized a 27 item heuristics scale which was used to identify "use of heuristics" by the entrepreneurs studied. Paper 2, "Female Serial Entrepreneurs...", examined the characteristics of female serial entrepreneurs (SE's) as a group of growing size and importance. Three areas- business size, hours worked in the business, and amount and type of capital raised- were explored through contrasting female SE's with female non-SE's and male SE's. The primary findings were as follows: the businesses of female SE's are larger than those of female non-SE's, and female SE's in the professional, technical and scientific services industry borrow more debt than female SE's in this industry, but they do not work longer hours than female non-SE's. It was also found that female SE businesses, in the industries examined in the study, have come to rival male SE businesses in size, as measured in revenues. Paper 3, "The Serial Entrepreneur Dilemma...", explained a conundrum: why serial entrepreneurs do not seem to outperform novice entrepreneurs. A literature review is given consisting of the scholarly thinking about the causes of the conundrum, and then three hypotheses are tested to explore the dilemma. It was found that looking at serial entrepreneurs and novices over time, rather than cross-sectionally, helps to explain the conundrum: the SE's are willing to take losses early on (thus not performing higher than the novices) in expectation of future profits. It was also found that in slow-moving industries, serial entrepreneurs performed much better than novice entrepreneurs in revenues, whereas in fast-moving industries the difference between the two groups in performance was negligible. / Business Administration

The purpose of this study secondary schools and industries in Botswana support the inculcation and development of entrepreneurial attributes. Concurrently, it investigated consonance between the attributes fostered in senior secondary schools and those required by Botswana's manufacturing industries. Hence, it investigated images, perceptions and attitudes among students and teachers in senior secondary schools and industrialists towards entrepreneurial skills and attributes. It also investigated levels of social acceptance for entrepreneurial attributes, teaching/learning approaches in schools, classroom and industrial dynamism and the utility potential of entrepreneurial skills and attributes as perceived by students, teachers and industrialists. The research design used was the investigative descriptive survey targeting students and teachers in senior secondary schools and industrialists in Botswana's manufacturing sector. A questionnaire was used for collecting data. Statistical analysis involved descriptive statistics, cross tabulation and correlation using the SPSS computer package. The research findings indicated a correlation in the students' and teachers' perceptions of an entrepreneur relating an entrepreneur with psychological traits and an enterprise. The findings also indicated that teachers are more disposed towards entrepreneurial attributes than students and industrialists who are more disposed towards traditional conformist academic attributes. All the respondents indicated a dislike for autonomy and risk taking. The reward and progression systems seemed to favour the inculcation of traditional conformist attributes. The study also revealed that industrialists in Botswana prefer conformist and selfmanagement skills to entrepreneurial skills and attributes. Individual entrepreneurial attributes seemed to have a minimal influence on industrial dynamism. Entrepreneurial and incubator occupations were ranked least by teachers and students in the hierarchy of occupations. On implementation procedures, teachers preferred teaching methods and materials which enhance the acquisition of entrepreneurial attributes while students, preferred those enhancing traditional conformist attributes. There is a disjunction between the skills and attributes inculcated in schools and those required in the manufacturing industries. A hi-perceptual composite entrepreneurial curriculum focusing on entrepreneurial psychological skills and attributes and enterprise as a physical phenomenon was recommended. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

<p> Small businesses are important to the United States economy, and yet the majority struggle to remain relevant and close prior to their fifth year. This qualitative phenomenological study explored small business closure in California by comparing the experiences of successful and unsuccessful small-business leaders, to understand their involvement with leadership during the early stages of the business, and the impact of this on the firms&rsquo; ability to survive. Participants&rsquo; experiences from two groups, successful and unsuccessful, were compared to glean an understanding of the leadership process, how leadership differs between the groups, and to see what themes or constructs emerged that could help to explain the high closure rate. This resulted in the development of 12 themes. The predominant themes were: small business closure can be caused by inability to motivate employees; by poor understanding and lack of attention to leadership, and by lack of relationship building skills. The data also showed that leadership shortfall directly impacted 65% of the companies studied, however leadership was not considered a priority in participating organizations but rather an afterthought to be considered only in times of crises. Yet leadership was perceived to be important when envisioning a path for the future and when providing a platform for employees to succeed. Those embracing leadership as a skillset were more likely to get through the challenges of the early developmental years while those ignoring the importance of leadership were more likely to close prematurely. These findings suggest a disconnect with regards to the understanding, role, and benefits of leadership in small organizations, particularly young organizations in the early stages of development.</p>