The increasingly significant role played by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurship in national economies has attracted growing attention. Recent trends have increasingly emphasised the value of knowledge. The challenge within the 21st century is the importance of the productivity of service and knowledgeable workers, as well as strategic flexibility and innovation. It is suggested that high level of innovation, R&D and productivity are positively related. Technology-based SMEs are specifically selected as the object of this thesis since they exhibit most of the characteristics of the three terms, “SMEs”, “innovation” and “entrepreneurship”. SMEs may come across significant constraints because of their own limitations, such as financial constraints, human capital shortages, and weak market power. These constraints are even more serious for technology-based SMEs due to their industrial nature. As a consequence, technology-based SMEs tend to have a higher failure rate than non-tech SMEs and large firms. However, the benefits brought by them cannot be neglected. For example, the return of R&D on a social level is higher than the private level, which highlights the importance of technology-based SMEs for national development. Therefore, it motivates governments to increase support for technology-based SMEs. This thesis aims to examine the effectiveness of government policies on technology-based SMEs and entrepreneurship in Beijing, China. Some researchers have studied and examined the policies, but mainly focussed on the description of policy frameworks and policy dynamics. There is a lack of studies examining the effectiveness of policies from the perspective of entrepreneurs in this context. This thesis fills this gap. This thesis makes both a theoretical and methodological contribution to the entrepreneurship studies literature through the holistic case study approach. A mixed-method approach of document analysis, interview and a questionnaire are used to understand the interaction between policies and technology entrepreneurs. The key findings of this thesis are that policies have strong positive effects on the promotion of entrepreneurship and SMEs. But there are still some negative points when implementing policies, such as uneven filter criteria and supervision system between new and established firms.

Even the best developed policies can and do fail, without attaining their desired outcomes. Many countries have developed small business policies directed at supporting and creating a favourable environment for cultivating small business and entrepreneurship. Policies specifically aimed at entrepreneurship are less prominent but also growing (Lundström & Stevenson, 2005:53; United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 2012:1). The existence of entrepreneurship policies in developing nations continues to be rare, despite the belief that entrepreneurship can spur economic growth and employment. The literature review introduced various important elements within the field of small business and entrepreneurship and, specifically, in the policy domain. The context of policy monitoring and evaluation was also addressed. Furthermore, the literature revealed clear differences between small business and entrepreneurial ventures which were not genuinely considered when small business support was initiated in South Africa with the introduction of the National Small Business Act (No. 102 of 1996) as amended. Only a small business was defined by the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) and not an entrepreneurial venture (dti, 2003:8). At present, both start-up and established businesses are operating in South Africa with the possibility of either growing into a small business or entrepreneurial venture. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the national small business policy of South Africa and to determine its shortcomings. An entrepreneurship policy was identified as a possible alternative to address the gaps left by the small business policy. A content analysis of entrepreneurship and small business policies highlighted that the main differences between these two policies are the focus on individuals versus business ventures; pre-start-up versus post-start-up support; and a broad versus narrow definition of which institutional structures constitute the support environment. In this research, constructs drawn from the literature study were used to formulate the conceptual framework, research questions and hypotheses. Quantifiable data were obtained from three groups of respondents – namely, start-up business owners, established business owners and government officials involved in small business development and entrepreneurship. The sample consisted of 23 government officials and 340 start-up and established business owners from five metropolitan municipalities in the Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape provinces of South Africa. The empirical research was undertaken between 01 November 2011 and 30 April 2012. The One-Way ANOVA Test, Kruskal-Wallis One-Way ANOVA Test, Friedman Two-Way ANOVA Test, Mann-Whitney U Test and Chi-square Test were executed to present the statistical significant differences between the three groups of respondents. The statistical tests were also executed to illustrate the statistical significant differences within the different groups as well as within different metropolitan municipalities in selected provinces. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was conducted to determine whether there was a significant relationship between the different small business policy evaluation factors and the needs factors of business owners. The findings of this empirical study prove that the small business policy does not address the needs of both start-up and established business owners which may support their development into small business and entrepreneurial ventures. Even though there is a mismatch between the supply and demand of support services, this study did not find evidence to support the need for an entrepreneurship policy in South Africa to supplement the existing small business policy. Businesses will continue to operate irrespective of an additional policy. The results of the study can be utilised by government to formulate and design adequate policies that focus on the specific needs of start-up and established business owners. The contribution of this study to the body of knowledge, and the possible limitations of the study, are discussed. Areas of future research are outlined and various recommendations are made to guide current and prospective small business and entrepreneurship policy makers regarding the choice of policy instruments, monitoring and evaluation. In conclusion, this study demonstrates the importance and value of policies to business owners and entrepreneurs that can effectively assist business venture survival, growth and success. / Thesis (DCom)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Business Management / DCom / Unrestricted

The purpose of this paper is to examine the situation of female entrepreneurs in Sweden by exploring the Swedish governments adopted, targeted entrepreneurship policy on women entrepreneurs and evaluate the program "Support Women Entrepreneurs 2007-2009" implemented by the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth. In the program evaluation process qualitative data analyses methods are used. The aim of the evaluation is to measure how planned program/component parts were implemented in practice and whether set goals were accomplished. Overall results from the program evaluation should be considered as positive. The original program plan consisted of six parts, 20 goals, and 34 component parts. Out of the 34 component parts, 18 were acknowledged to have been accomplished, information was not available for 14 component parts and 2 component parts were found not to be accomplished. Due to the program’s complexity in execution, involving different executive layers on national, regional and municipal levels, evaluation process was quite demanding and still it could not represent the highest level of preciseness in evaluating component parts. The most actively executed and successfully implemented part of the program could be considered part four: Attitudes and role-models.

With the entrepreneurial milieu in Linnaeus University (Växjö), students are encouraged to get involved in entrepreneurial activities. The number of student entrepreneurs has been increasing recent years. However, there is a blank in the study of student entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial education system and the features of student entrepreneurs are the focus of the research about student entrepreneurs. At the same time, no sufficient study has been done about student entrepreneurs’ usage of the business support that could be offered to them. By studying student entrepreneurs’ situation, their relationship with support agencies, their selection of business support and the way they use the support, the research question ”how do student entrepreneurs use support agencies” will be answered by the end of this thesis.

The subject of this thesis is entrepreneurship policy and the focus is on public support programmes directed to early stages technology-based ventures. It advocates that a broad view should be taken with regard to the type of policies for entrepreneurship that aim at supporting the facilitation of the supported ventures’ ability to link to their surrounding innovation system, in which they can secure their access to crucial external resources. Taking the departure in the perspective that early stages technology-based ventures are vulnerable, this thesis shows that publicly financed entrepreneurship supporting programmes can be motivated because small and newly started ventures have got limited resources, and because the risks, with which they are associated, generally make them unattractive in the eyes of private actors. Among the practical implications of this thesis, the following findings are emphasised: Public support, directed to the very earliest stages of venture development benefits from broadness, for the latter stages, specialisation and a higher degree of selectiveness could be an advantage. Moreover, it is important that the support provided take into account the whole process of business development, i.e. both the issues concerned with product/service and the issues connected to the market. A long-term commitment, cooperation between different actors and information about what support is available, are other aspects that are important for policymakers to consider in their design of public policies to support entrepreneurship. Finally, the importance of evaluative awareness must be emphasised from the very start. / Den här avhandlingen är en sammanläggning av 7 studier kring vilka en kappa med titeln ”Entreprenörskapspolicy: offentligt stöd för teknikbaserade företag” har skrivits. De inkluderade studierna beskrivs kortfattat i slutet av den här sammanfattningen. Syftet med avhandlingen är att analysera skälen till varför statliga interventioner kan vara berättigade, vidare att analysera målsättningar, design och resultat av offentliga program för stöd av nya teknikbaserade företag/projekt och slutligen att identifiera såväl praktiska som forskningsintressanta implikationer för utformningen av framtida stödaktiviteter. Avhandlingen baseras till största delen på olika typer av kvantitativa analyser av Stiftelsen Innovationscentrum (SIC) (studie 2-6). Förutom detta ingår en konceptuell studie där ett ramverk för att utvärdera inkubatorer, främst ur ett ”best practice” perspektiv, har tagits fram (studie 1). Slutligen har jag inkluderat en pågående uppföljningsstudie av Vinnovas program Vinn Nu (studie 7). Avhandlingen förespråkar en bred syn på begreppet entreprenörskapspolicy, där syftet med stödet är att underlätta för företag/projekt att koppla upp sig mot relevanta innovationssystem där de kan säkra sin tillgång på externa resurser. Med utgångspunkt i ett sårbarhetsperspektiv visar avhandlingen att offentligt finansierade program som stödjer entreprenörskap kan motiveras genom att de små och nystartade företagens resurser är begränsade och eftersom riskerna ofta gör att intresset från privata aktörer att gå in i dessa företag är lågt. Avhandlingens praktiska implikationer är bland annat att det stöd som riktas till de allra tidigaste utvecklingsfaserna i syfte att kvalificera idéer bör vara brett. Däremot kan ett mer selektivt urval vara fördelaktigt i något senare utvecklingsskeden och för mer specialiserade stöd. Vidare visar de inkluderade studierna på behovet av att se till hela företagets utvecklingsprocess. Det innebär bland annat att det är nödvändigt att kombinera hårt och mjukt stöd och att lika vikt läggs vid produkt- och marknadsutveckling. Offentligt stöd bör också vara långsiktigt, och samarbete mellan olika stödprogram är viktigt, inte minst med avseende på information om vilka stöd som finns och hur, var, när och av vem dessa kan sökas. Slutligen understryks vikten av att stödprogram redan från början bör ta hänsyn till utvärderingsaspekter.

中國政府鼓勵創新及創業，推動雙創政策，喊出「大眾創業，萬眾創新」的口號。中國提出雙創政策後，積極對全球攬才，台灣青年也被有計劃地納入中國政府發展新創「人才工程」的版圖中。為了鼓勵台灣青年進軍中國創業，中國政府陸續於各地區設置海峽兩岸青年創業基地，除了提供完善的創業環境，還有優厚的創業基金，希望能吸引台灣青年西進中國創業。 本研究旨在探討海峽兩岸青年創業基地對台灣青年創業之影響，並對台灣青年赴陸創業提供建言。本研究透過訪談4位創業相關的人士，包含在台灣和中國創業的青年以及台灣和中國的創業育成中心經理，觀察目前台灣青年在台灣及中國的創業狀態以及其面對的創業困境。 根據實際訪談的初級資料分析之結果，中國積極扶持青年創業目的主要是想要降低失業率，而且對青年創業的支持，從中央政策到實際地方的落實推廣相當迅速。海峽兩岸創業基地以提供辦公空間、資源對接、人才獎補、住房津貼等為主。但中國青創基地常因媒體的渲染誇大，事實上資源並不能輕易取得。台灣青年到中國創業前應該要先準備一筆創業資金，並根據自身創業項目需求而審慎選擇創業基地，較能實際取得支援，因為不同規模的基地所能提供的資源也不同。 / China encourages innovation and entrepreneurship to advance structural reform and raises the idea of" Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation ". Measures have been taken by Chinese government to attract global talents, including Taiwanese youth. To encourage young talents from Taiwan to startup in China, Chinese government had established many cross-strait youth entrepreneurship bases in various places. It not only builds up entrepreneurial environment, but also provides generous venture capital, hoping to attract Taiwanese young entrepreneurs into China. The main purpose of this study is to explore the impacts of the cross-strait youth entrepreneurship base on the startups of Taiwan youth and propose suggestions for Taiwanese youth who want to start business in China. Through interviewing with two Taiwanese young entrepreneurs separately in Taiwan and China youth entrepreneurship bases and two managers of Taiwan business incubation center and China entrepreneurship base, we examine the current state of entrepreneurial environments of both sides and the entrepreneurial dilemma facing by Taiwanese young people. Based on the analysis of primary data from in-depth interviews, the main purpose of China's active support of youth entrepreneurship is to reduce the unemployment rate. China's promotion of youth entrepreneurship policies has been implemented fairly rapidly from the central government to local governments. The cross-strait youth entrepreneurship base provides office space, resources docking, talent subsidy and housing allowance etc. But too much false media reports on cross-strait youth entrepreneurship bases. In fact, entrepreneurs cannot easily obtain venture capital fund and resources. Taiwanese young entrepreneurs should first prepare a start-up fund before starting their business in China. Taiwanese entrepreneurs should carefully choose their entrepreneurship base according to the needs of their start-up projects so that they will be able to obtain suitable support, because different bases with different scales can provide different resources.

A la lumière du rôle de premier plan joué par les entreprises jeunes dans la définition du processus de destruction créatrice et dans la création globale d’emplois, cette thèse fournit de nouvelles preuves de la dynamique de ce segment du système de production. La thèse s’articule autour des thèmes suivants : i) le rôle joué par les activités d’innovation dans la promotion de la croissance de l’emploi dans les jeunes entreprises ; ii) l’impact de la récession économique sur les taux de croissance des jeunes entreprises par rapport aux petites entreprises ; iii) le rôle joué par les politiques publiques dans le soutien aux entreprises innovantes. Le chapitre 1 examine le lien sous-étudié entre les activités d’innovation et la croissance de l’emploi dans les entreprises nouvellement créées. Basés sur un ensemble de données représentatif d’une cohorte d’entreprises américaines créées en 2004, les résultats soulignent la pertinence de la recherche et du développement et des brevets pour favoriser la croissance et, en particulier, la performance à forte croissance des entreprises nouvellement créées. Le chapitre 2 fournit des éléments de preuve supplémentaires sur la relation entre innovation et croissance en utilisant des données chiliennes et se concentre sur les différences de rendement de l’innovation pour les entreprises jeunes et matures. Les résultats montrent que l’innovation profite aux entreprises à forte croissance. Cependant, ces résultats se concrétisent en particulier pour les entreprises matures et dans le cas d’innovation de procédé, alors que les activités innovantes ne semblent pas être une condition préalable à la performance à forte croissance des jeunes entreprises. Ces résultats mettent en évidence le fait que les rendements de l’innovation pourraient être spécifiques au contexte. Le chapitre 3 porte sur l’impact de la récession à double creux sur la performance de croissance des jeunes entreprises par rapport aux petites entreprises. En utilisant des données pour dix pays de la zone euro, les résultats montrent que les petites entreprises n’ont pas été particulièrement touchées, voire plus performantes, alors que les jeunes entreprises ont enregistré une nette diminution de leur taux de croissance. Dans l’analyse, nous constatons également que le canal de la contrainte financière semble être l’une des forces responsables des résultats susmentionnés. / In light of the prominent role played by young firms in shaping the creative destruction process and contributing to overall job creation, this thesis provides novel evidence on the dynamics of these segment of the productive system. In particular, the dissertation revolves around the following topics: i) the role played by innovation activities in fostering employment growth in young firms; ii) the impact of the economic recession of the growth rates of young vs. small firms; iii) the role played by public policies in supporting innovative entrants. In more detail, Chapter 1 examines the under-researched nexus between innovation activities and employment growth in newly born firms. Based on a representative dataset for a cohort of US firms born in 2004, the results highlight the relevance of R&D and patenting to foster growth and, especially, high-growth performance for newly-born firms. Chapter 2 provides additional evidence on the relationship between innovation and growth by using Chilean data and focus on how returns to innovation differ for young and mature firms. Results show that innovation benefits high-growth firms. However, these results materialize especially for mature firms and in the case of process innovation whereas innovative activities do not appear to be a prerequisite for high-growth performance in young businesses. These findings highlight how the returns to innovation might be context specific. Chapter 3 focuses on the impact of the double-dip recession on the growth performance of young vis-à-vis small firms. Using data for ten Eurozone countries, the findings show that small firms were not particularly affected - if anything they performed better - whereas young firms experienced a marked decrease in their growth rates. In the analysis we also find that the financial constraint channel appears to be one of the forces responsible for the above results. In Chapter 4 the main focus is the investigation of the role of public policy in providing support for the performance of innovative new firms. In particular, we investigate the impact of a recent policy implemented in Italy (i.e. the “Start-up Act”). The analysis indicates an overall positive effect of the program on a wide range of firm-level outcomes.