The notion of Canada as a cultural mosaic is especially vivid when comparing life in Nunavut to that of the rest of the country. Not only is the predominant Inuit culture unique in many ways, but so too are the geographical characteristics that make Nunavut and the Canadian North so different from many other regions in the country. To gain a better understanding of entrepreneurship in Nunavut, the research explores how entrepreneurs build and use their social networks and the role of brokerage and closure in the entrepreneurial process. Using a qualitative approach of observation and interviews in the field to gather the data, the findings describe how networks are used in business in the North, and support the conclusion that networks are important for the coordination of resources.

Employing a representative sample of small- and medium-sized enterprises, this study examines the performance of immigrant-owned business ventures (IBVs) and firms owned by non-immigrants. The study also presents a comprehensive profile of Canadian IBVs. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that many successful growth-oriented firms have been started and managed by immigrant entrepreneurs. Immigrant business owners are also thought to bring to business start-up unique managerial acumen and social capital derived from diverse experiences and international networks. To date, however, there remains a lack of substantive evidence regarding the performance of immigrant-owned ventures. The study also considers the performance of comparable groups of new firms owned by non-immigrant entrepreneurs, with a particular focus on the relationship between firm internationalization and enterprise performance. The results lend support to arguments that owner-level factors influence the process of internationalization among SMEs and that, compared to non-immigrant business owners, immigrant business owners retain entrepreneurial acumen that is conducive to the internationalization of young ventures. The implications of the findings for research and policy are considered.

The main purpose of this thesis is to understand if Investors working in Private Equity and Venture Capital understand what corporate culture is and take it into account when deciding whether to invest or not in a startup or a target company. In order to reach this goal, an empirical research has been developed, interviewing a sample of private equity fund managers and professional business angels, selected randomly and without any personal connection to the author.

The goal of my thesis is to develop a business plan, which aims to the establishment of an internet store with narrow specialization. Thesis is divided into two parts - theoretical and practical. Theoretical part defines basic notions and structures of the individual parts of business plan. Practical part is formed by a business plan of an internet store, which is focused on selling irish dancing shoes. Business plan mentioned above should discover opportunities for the establishment of an internet store and, if it is possible, under which circumstances.

This thesis is comprised of three essays dealing with the survival and growth of business enterprises. The first paper (Chapter 2) explores a long-standing question in corporate venture management: How closely should a corporate parent link itself with its own venture? We challenge the conventional view that autonomy is best for venture growth by arguing that access to the parent's resources and capabilities (i.e., a "tight fit") is essential if a venture is to demonstrate competitive advantage. Data from 97 Canadian corporate ventures generally support the "tight-fit" hypothesis. We also find empirical support for the proposition that the relationship between a corporate parent and its venture(s) evolves over time; economic ties diminish with venture maturity, relational ties remain intact. The next paper (Chapter 3) models the growth and decline of young firms as a function of their initial asset stocks, initial capabilities, rate of capability development, rate of asset depletion, and failure threshold. Data from 246 Canadian corporate bankruptcies confirm that young firms fail due to insufficient organizational capital at start-up and inadequacies in managerial knowledge, financial management skills, and marketing abilities. Older firms, on the other hand, are more prone to failure due to environmental change. The final paper (Chapter 4) utilizes detailed survey data from a proportionally stratified, representative sample of 3,000 Canadian firms to evaluate industry- and firm-level determinants of young firm growth. The competitive environment is found to be a poor predictor of the growth of young firms. In general, growth of the seven to ten year old firms in our study did not follow the growth trends of the industries in which they operated. Among firm strategies, innovation was the strongest predictor of revenue growth. Also of note was the finding that different types of managerial experience were significant in different sectors. For service firms, general management experience was positively associated with growth, while for goods-producing firms industry experience was a more important factor. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

The outcome of this research paper provides guiding principles to policymakers in emerging markets at a specific policy level in an effort to stimulate entrepreneurial growth and, in turn, increased economic growth. Seven hypotheses relating to either starting a business or the ease of continuing to do business were assessed. The study was completed using a sample of seven emerging markets including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Russia and South Africa. Data was sourced from the World Bank and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Two multiple regression models were produced to compare the BRICS markets sample to the total sample. It showed that the complexity and time to start a business were not significant to the total sample but were influential within the BRICS countries. Similarly, complexity and time to enforce a contract was proven significant to the BRICS markets but not within the total sample. The total tax rate and the number of tax payments were influential in both models, whilst the time to prepare and pay taxes was significant only within the total sample. The cost to start to start a business did not prove to be significant in either case. Several practical recommendations have been provided to leverage these findings. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Following the call of recent authors for an improved process-oriented model of entrepreneurship, this exploratory research study sets out to understand the process of entrepreneurship, or “entrepreneuring”. It uses perspectives from the process-oriented view of reality, social constructionism and the complexity sciences. The aim of this study was to construct new questions, using the theoretical lens afforded by these perspectives, which would fuel further research toward developing a process-oriented model of entrepreneurship ‒ or point out the intractability of such a problem. Eleven individuals, who were considered to be early-stage entrepreneurs, were selected for qualitative interviews. A narrative analysis of these interviews was performed which showed, within the context of the process of entrepreneuring, that the emergent themes could be understood from the alternative theoretical paradigms covered in the literature. Several important questions for future research emerged, alongside the understanding that an alternative to the mechanistic/systemic perspective is to be sought, and that the process of entrepreneuring might be better understood within the broader context of power and social influence dynamics. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The phenomenon of social enterprises is growing in South Africa; as a result there is a need to study management of these organisations in an effort to enhance their sustainability. The concept of social enterprise is still undefined in South Africa, and this lack of clarity is resulting in the inappropriate use and classification of non-profit organisations as social enterprises amid the growing trend of converting traditional non-government organisations into self-sustainable entities. The purpose of this study is to identify and explore factors which may improve the management and the sustainability of social enterprises as hybrid organisations. A quantitative research study was conducted to assess the relationship between these factors. Founders and managers of social enterprises participated in the study by completing an online survey. This study indentified that the following factors have an influence on the sustainability of social enterprises: (i) access to funding; (ii) pursuit of dual missions; and (iii) competitiveness. The results of this study showed that the factors are correlated and thus have an impact on the sustainability of social enterprises as hybrid organisations. To this effect a model was developed to guide managers of hybrid social enterprises on sustainable management of their organisations. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lmgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

Orientador: Antonio Batocchio / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T13:28:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Santos_VirgilioFerreiraMarquesdos_D.pdf: 3803511 bytes, checksum: ff523262a61d5e594c9076d2e8a19617 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Neste trabalho desenvolveu-se uma metodologia de estímulo a transferência de tecnologia por meio da criação de spin offs acadêmicos que pode ser utilizado por diversas instituições de pesquisa dentro e fora do Brasil. Esta metodologia foi aplicada por três anos consecutivos na UNICAMP por meio de um programa de 4 meses de duração chamado de Desafio Unicamp de Inovação Tecnológica. Pelas três edições do programa passaram mais de 510 participantes, sendo um spin off acadêmico criado e dois em processo final de criação. A metodologia desenvolvida conta com várias etapas: capacitação empreendedora, escolha e análise de tecnologias depositadas pela instituição de pesquisa, desenvolvimento de modelos de negócios para as tecnologias protegidas escolhidas, teste e validação das hipóteses que suportam os modelos de negócios criados, elaboração de uma apresentação final, premiação dos melhores trabalhos e suporte pós-programa aos melhores projetos. Ao final das três edições conclui-se que a metodologia conseguiu estimular a avaliação de mais de 70 tecnologias da instituição de pesquisa mostrando diversos modelos de negócios pelo quais estas poderiam ser exploradas comercialmente. Porém, o estudo também mostrou que para aumentar o número de spin offs acadêmicos será necessário instituir uma política de apoio maior, estruturando principalmente fundos para financiamento dos testes de prova de conceito necessários para o desenvolvimento da empresa em seus estágios iniciais. Além disto, será necessário capacitar melhor os NITs (Núcleo de Inovação Tecnológica) das instituições de pesquisa para que estes possam fornecer apoio e consultoria aos empreendedores em gestão de projetos e aumento da rede de relacionamentos, pois estes foram os pontos que inviabilizaram a maioria das iniciativas empreendedoras iniciadas durante a aplicação da metodologia / Abstract: In this study, it was developed and implemented a method to encourage technology transfer through academic spin-offs that could be used by research institutions in Brazil and around the world. This method was applied for three consecutive years at UNICAMP through four months duration program called "Desafio Unicamp de Inovação Tecnológica". In these three editions, more than 510 participants were trained, one academic spin-off was created and other two are in the final process of creation. The developed method used in the program has multiple stages, as follow: entrepreneurial empowerment, analysis and choice of technologies, development of business models, testing and validation of hypotheses that support the business model created, preparing a pitch and an awarding ceremony. At the end of the three editions, it was concluded that the method could successfully stimulate the evaluation of more than 70 technologies through the creation of more than 150 business models. However, the study also indicated that if Brazil wants to increase the number of academic spin-offs it needs to create a policy to support the creation of funds for financing the proof of concept tests, so necessary for the development of an early stage technology company. Additionally, further personal development is needed in order to enable the research institutions¿ NIT personnel (Technology Innovation Nuclei) to support and advise entrepreneurs in project management and increase their business network. Errors in these supports and advices were shown to contribute in the failure of most entrepreneurial endeavors carried on this study / Doutorado / Materiais e Processos de Fabricação / Doutor em Engenharia Mecânica

Entrepreneurial opportunity recognition is an increasingly prevalent phenomenon. Of particular interest is the ability of promising technology based ventures to recognize and exploit opportunities. Recent research drawing on the Austrian economic theory emphasizes the importance of knowledge, particularly market knowledge, behind opportunity recognition. While insightful, this research has tended to overlook those interrelationships that exist between different types of knowledge (technology and market knowledge) as well as between a firm’s knowledge base and its entrepreneurial orientation. Additional shortfalls of prior research include the ambiguous definitions provided for entrepreneurial opportunities, oversight of opportunity exploitation with an extensive focus on opportunity recognition only, and the lack of quantitative, empirical evidence on entrepreneurial opportunity recognition. In this dissertation, these research gaps are addressed by integrating Schumpeterian opportunity development view with a Kirznerian opportunity discovery theory as well as insights from literature on entrepreneurial orientation. A sample of 85 new biotechnology ventures from the United States, Finland, and Sweden was analyzed. While leaders in all 85 companies were interviewed for the research in 2003-2004, 42 firms provided data in 2007. Data was analyzed using regression analysis. The results show the value and importance of early market knowledge and technology knowledge as well as an entrepreneurial company posture for subsequent opportunity recognition. The highest numbers of new opportunities are recognized in firms where high levels of market knowledge are combined with high levels of technology knowledge (measured with a number of patents). A firm’s entrepreneurial orientation also enhances its opportunity recognition. Furthermore, the results show that new ventures with more market knowledge are able to gather more equity investments, license out more technologies, and achieve higher sales than new ventures with lower levels of market knowledge. Overall, the findings of this dissertation help further our understanding of the sources of entrepreneurial opportunities, and should encourage further research in this area.