Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Berkeley, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 423-466).

本研究通过对于过往社会网络和社会资本的相关研究的梳理，提出了社会网络发生作用的机制问题，并通过对于广东珠三角企业的数据模型化分析和定性材料分析，来从策略和门槛两个方面回答了这个问题：从策略方面看，企业要有效发展社会网络，在抓住关键社会网络关系的基础上发展全面的社会网络是对于其效益提升起到最良好作用的策略。而从门槛方面来看，社会网络的作用并不是对于所有企业都是有效的，总体而言社会网络对于具有高行业技术自主性的行业里的企业有正向作用，而对于处于具有低行技术自主性的企业沒有显著作用，这也就是社会网络作用的第一道自主性门槛；而对于处于高技术自主性行业的企业而言，社会网络对于高企业技术自主性的企业的经济效益的正向作用大于对于低企业技术自主性的企业的作用，这就是社会网络作用的第二道自主性门槛 。 / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 任慧岩. / Thesis (M.Phil.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-64). / Ren Huiyan.

Submitted by SBI Biblioteca Digital (sbi.bibliotecadigital@puc-campinas.edu.br) on 2018-04-11T12:25:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 SILVANA MARIA NADER.pdf: 1506451 bytes, checksum: e1e4193a4ba3d03bf57d508518eb7d9a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-11T12:25:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SILVANA MARIA NADER.pdf: 1506451 bytes, checksum: e1e4193a4ba3d03bf57d508518eb7d9a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-22 / Os empreendedores sociais desempenham o papel de agentes de mudan?a, adotando a miss?o de criar e sustentar o valor social, reconhecendo e buscando incansavelmente novas oportunidades para servir a essa miss?o, contribuindo com pol?ticas p?blicas e transforma??o social tanto em n?vel local como globalmente, gerando impacto e melhorias na sociedade. Para isso, desenvolvem suas atividades por meio de processos inovadores motivados pela paix?o por uma miss?o social. O objetivo dessa pesquisa foi entender o perfil criativo de empreendedores sociais por meio de tr?s estudos qualitativos e, para sua realiza??o, foi submetida e aprovada pelo Comit? de ?tica em Pesquisa com seres humanos da PUC-Campinas. Inicialmente, foi realizada uma revis?o conceitual sobre empreendedorismo, perfil psicol?gico dos empreendedores e o empreendedorismo social sob o enfoque da Criatividade e Psicologia Positiva. No Estudo 1, 8 ju?zes identificaram as caracter?sticas psicol?gicas presentes nos depoimentos dos empreendedores sociais protagonistas do document?rio ?Quem se Importa? e o resultado subsidiou os estudos posteriores. O Estudo 2 comparou o perfil psicol?gico de 3 Empreendedores Sociais e 3 Empreendedores de Neg?cio por meio de entrevista, autorrelato de percep??o de criatividade, virtudes e for?as de car?ter al?m da identifica??o dos estilos preferenciais de pensar e criar. O Estudo 3 identificou a percep??o das equipes subordinadas acerca da criatividade dos empreendedores. Os resultados corroboraram a teoria de que empreendedores sociais e de neg?cios possuem as caracter?sticas criativas em diferentes n?veis e as diferen?as referem-se principalmente no sentido de destino criativo. Na auto avalia??o, os empreendedores de neg?cios apresentaram uma frequ?ncia maior de caracter?sticas criativas, virtudes e for?as de car?ter em rela??o aos empreendedores sociais. As equipes sociais avaliaram seus empreendedores de forma superior ?s equipes de neg?cios. Ambos os grupos relacionam a criatividade ? solu??o de problemas, mas os empreendedores sociais demonstraram maior compreens?o e a consideram fundamental nos processos de inova??o social necess?rios para melhorias em nossa sociedade. / Os empreendedores sociais desempenham o papel de agentes de mudan?a, adotando a miss?o de criar e sustentar o valor social, reconhecendo e buscando incansavelmente novas oportunidades para servir a essa miss?o, contribuindo com pol?ticas p?blicas e transforma??o social tanto em n?vel local como globalmente, gerando impacto e melhorias na sociedade. Para isso, desenvolvem suas atividades por meio de processos inovadores motivados pela paix?o por uma miss?o social. O objetivo dessa pesquisa foi entender o perfil criativo de empreendedores sociais por meio de tr?s estudos qualitativos e, para sua realiza??o, foi submetida e aprovada pelo Comit? de ?tica em Pesquisa com seres humanos da PUC-Campinas. Inicialmente, foi realizada uma revis?o conceitual sobre empreendedorismo, perfil psicol?gico dos empreendedores e o empreendedorismo social sob o enfoque da Criatividade e Psicologia Positiva. No Estudo 1, 8 ju?zes identificaram as caracter?sticas psicol?gicas presentes nos depoimentos dos empreendedores sociais protagonistas do document?rio ?Quem se Importa? e o resultado subsidiou os estudos posteriores. O Estudo 2 comparou o perfil psicol?gico de 3 Empreendedores Sociais e 3 Empreendedores de Neg?cio por meio de entrevista, autorrelato de percep??o de criatividade, virtudes e for?as de car?ter al?m da identifica??o dos estilos preferenciais de pensar e criar. O Estudo 3 identificou a percep??o das equipes subordinadas acerca da criatividade dos empreendedores. Os resultados corroboraram a teoria de que empreendedores sociais e de neg?cios possuem as caracter?sticas criativas em diferentes n?veis e as diferen?as referem-se principalmente no sentido de destino criativo. Na auto avalia??o, os empreendedores de neg?cios apresentaram uma frequ?ncia maior de caracter?sticas criativas, virtudes e for?as de car?ter em rela??o aos empreendedores sociais. As equipes sociais avaliaram seus empreendedores de forma superior ?s equipes de neg?cios. Ambos os grupos relacionam a criatividade ? solu??o de problemas, mas os empreendedores sociais demonstraram maior compreens?o e a consideram fundamental nos processos de inova??o social necess?rios para melhorias em nossa sociedade.

M.Tech. Business Administration. Business School.

Social entrepreneurship is given considerable attention within literature and academic research despite that fact it is an area that needs considerable attention and research. The main purpose for societal entrepreneurs is to create societal value but there can be difficulties to understand value creation within the area. Important components within Total Quality Management (TQM) are process orientation and value creation. A TQM perspective with processes in focus provides opportunities to clarify societal value creation within societal entrepreneurship initiatives. The main purpose of this thesis has been to explore how societal value is created within the area of societal entrepreneurship and the underlying purpose has been to contribute to the development of knowledge and understanding about the societal entrepreneurship area. In order to fulfil the purpose one literature case study and three empirical case studies have been conducted with processes in focus. The literature case study was conducted first and it resulted in a theoretical process map based on a process perspective, which showed how societal value was created within a societal entrepreneurship initiative. After that the three empirical case studies were conducted separately and the findings from the empirical case studies were compared with the previously developed theoretical process map. A cross case analysis was made to find out if the process map could be confirmed, developed or rejected. The result of the case studies contributes to earlier findings within research and gives a common, comprehensive and simplified picture of a complex phenomenon and an opportunity to understand how societal value is created. A general overall process map is presented that gives a picture of how value is created within the area of societal entrepreneurship. The result shows the management process and support process fields. The map also shows a main process that is further developed with input, output and sub processes. The studies point out that societal value is created through processes and that societal value creation can be described out of a process orientation perspective. Important components to create societal value have been found to be: 'unidentified needs'; 'knowledge about the context'; 'identified need'; 'an idea or a vision'; and some kind of 'organization' and important activities to create value seem to be: 'being in the context'; 'analysis of knowledge'; 'searching for solution'; 'organize and mobilize'; and 'realize'. Fields where support processes are performed that are of importance in societal value creation have been identified. Those fields are 'creation of financing opportunities'; 'performance of political decisions and acts'; 'development and use of networks'; 'establishment of initiative'; 'creation of media information'; 'development and use of scientific results'; and 'development and use of competence'. The map does have potential for development. Further studies need to be done within the area concerning how societal value is created and to get an even more comprehensive process map of the societal entrepreneurship area but the result presented in this thesis is a start to understanding how societal value is created and to develop knowledge and understanding of the societal entrepreneurship area.

Increasingly, developed countries' markets, which are usually characterized by wealthy customers, are getting saturated. This has necessitated that multinational corporations (MNCs) seek new solutions for their future growth and profitability. One of the markets that has attracted the attention of MNCs is the bottom of the economic pyramid (BOP), which comprises four billion people. However, reaching this market, characterized as having a low income of less than $2 a day, is not easily achievable. Corporations have to revisit their prior business models and develop winwin solutions that serve the needs of the poor and create profits. To conceptualize the market-based initiatives of MNCs at the BOP, this research employs the concept of corporate social entrepreneurship (CSE). CSE is defined in this research as the process of innovatively identifying and exploiting social opportunities in large and established organizations with the aim of creating economic and social value. The research questions that this dissertation seeks to answer are concerned with exploring the antecedents and outcomes of CSE. First, built upon three related strands of literature - social entrepreneurship, corporate entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility - this research attempts to provide a preliminary understanding of the potential antecedents and outcomes of CSE. Then, by employing multiple qualitative and exploratory case studies, CSE and its antecedents and outcomes are empirically investigated in eight multinational companies in India. The research identifies demand conditions and stakeholder expectations as the environmental factors that predict CSE. Three organizational characteristics - management support, a network orientation towards social sector organizations, and the availability of financial resources - are also found to be determining factors. The outcomes are identified associal value creation, long-term profitability and legitimacy. These antecedents and outcomes are theoretically explained and supported by contingency theory, the contingent resource-based view and stakeholder theory.

No description available.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, at the University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Commerce in the School of Economic and Business Sciences - Management, Johannesburg, June 27 / Entrepreneurship continues to dominate public discourse as has been the case for the past century; this topic has been widely discussed in academia and policy development, not only as an abstract concept, but as a necessity to activate economic growth, especially for developing countries such as South Africa. Many authors have argued that the mixture of good entrepreneurial activity in the formal and informal sector is necessary and it is interlinked. As such, the multifaceted nature of entrepreneurship continues to be a subject of contention, especially when it comes to issues surrounding entrepreneurial performance. The purpose of this research was to investigate the influence of Cultural Intelligence on the relationship between Social Capital and Entrepreneurial Performance amongst foreign traders based in Johannesburg’s informal economy. The major studies underlying this research are in agreement in the field of social science and business studies, suggesting that Entrepreneurship is embedded in social contexts and cannot be wholly understood unless one attempts to evaluate the influence of different social phenomena. This study assessed foreign entrepreneurs’ cross-cultural adjustment capabilities, their social networks and how the two influence entrepreneurial performance. This study was motivated by the 2008 and 2015 xenophobic attacks in the informal economy which exposed a need to understand cultural and social capital dynamics that underpin entrepreneurial performance amongst foreign entrepreneurs. The research model for this study sought to investigate the mediating influence of cultural intelligence on the relationship between Social Capital and Entrepreneurial Performance. The results of this study indicate that Cultural Intelligence is no significant mediator between Social Capital and Entrepreneurial Performance amongst foreign traders in the informal economy. The results of this further reflected significant differences in attitudes between the groups of foreign traders under study. / XL2018

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / Entrepreneurship is distinguished by its developmental and transformative qualities, particularly in the context of emerging economies. Entrepreneurship plays an important role in developing the economy of a country as the entrepreneur sparks economic activities through his/her entrepreneurial decisions. These entrepreneurial decisions lead to the creation of new business activities which in turn are a driving force in economic growth, creating jobs and enhancing fiscal credibility. However, the role of entrepreneurship in economic development varies from economy to economy and depends on the availability and accessibility of material resources, the industrial climate and the effectiveness of the political system underpinning the economy. In South Africa, there are major challenges that contribute to the unstable state of the economy. Retrenchments, the high failure rate of new businesses and the lack of growth in existing ones give credence to the summation that the South African economy is not expansively equipped to meet the challenges of a sustainable growth environment. A thriving entrepreneurial environment has significant benefits for job creation and the equitable distribution of economic wealth. In recent years, South African economists have been scrambling for solutions to the static economy that has seen a decline in new businesses of 34% from 2013 to 2014, resulting in continuing economic instability. Considering the trend highlighted above, the researcher was intrigued to examine the state of entrepreneurship and its socio-economic impact in the Cape Metropole Area. The researcher made use of a mixed-method research approach with an explanatory purpose, employing triangulation to achieve complementary results. The research invoked both interpretivist and positivist paradigms, though leaning towards the collection of qualitative data using semi-structured interviews and open-ended and closed questionnaires. The confidentiality of the information from respondents was ensured. The findings revealed that most entrepreneurs experience difficulty in accessing crucial entrepreneurial framework conditions, which hinders their activities. The findings also revealed that South Africa is at present not realising its job-creation potential and is therefore making little progress with unemployment and poverty reduction. In conclusion, entrepreneurs are essential to the economy and the society in any country regardless of its economic development. Their entrepreneurial decisions give hope to the growing number of unemployed people in South Africa. However, entrepreneurial activities are more fruitful in an environment that is condusive to buineess growth. Unless a favourable entrepreneurial environment is created, the entrepreneurial and labour classes will be incapable of realising their potential as a major engine for job creationand catalyst for economic growth. In South Africa, only a vigorous performance of the SMME sector and entrepreneurship, creating millions of sustainable jobs can stimulate economic growth and make it possible to reduce unemployment and for millions to escape the poverty trap. It is therefore recommended that the government and independent organisations work together to initiate programmes enabling existing and potential entrepreneurs to excel and initiate successful entrepreneurial activities. In general, there is a need for a macroeconomic environment that is friendly to labour-intensive investment, in order to generate spill-over growth effects, because entrepreneurs are more likely to invest productively, create jobs and contribute to poverty reduction.

In today's knowledge-based society academic spin-offs are considered as one important form of technology transfer. However, most related entrepreneurial efforts fail. When looking at determining factors, researchers have to be regarded as members of a complex social network consisting not only of academic peers but also of participants from industry, policy, and supporting institutions, and friends and family members. This network is the academic entrepreneur's general framework of operation characterized by resource and communication flows of differing nature. The thesis tries to answer the question under what conditions technological spin-offs emerge from the academic community with special emphasis on the entrepreneurs' social capital expressed in terms of their social networks. Thus, a detailed analysis of the characteristics of the social network academic entrepreneurs operate in at the different stages of the spin-off process is effected. By means of social network analysis effected by a survey among Austrian academic entrepreneurs, it is examined which network structures favor the recognition of entrepreneurial opportunities and their realization in the form of a spin-off company. Thus generated insights are intended to contribute to nascent academic entrepreneurs' awareness how to optimally use their social contacts and networks in setting up their new ventures. Moreover, the work intends to provide valuable insights for political decision-makers as to the provision of necessary framework conditions supporting respective social dynamics required for the creation of innovative knowledge- und technology-intensive companies in Austria. (author's abstract)