Innovative Entrepreneurial Activity Research Articles

The Economic and Social Value of Fostering Entrepreneurship Education

Students and alumni reported a weak desire for a transition towards entrepreneurship despite endless support from the government and the higher education institution (HEI). Indeed alumni and students prefer more security and stability in working life. The survey results show that it is easier for graduates to find employment immediately after their graduation. Besides, it turns out that alumni have opportunities to display their creativity and to come up with new ideas in their current job. Similarly, the students reported that they are able to display creativity in whatever activities they are involved. The impact of entrepreneurship education on society and economy were average. The study implies that HEIs should focus in developing greater levels of innovative entrepreneurial activity to support students in identifying viable entrepreneurial opportunities and new venture creation. Continuous assessment is vital to realign the entrepreneurship education and become the agent of industrial innovation, technological development, economic development and social development especially in the context of growing knowledge-based economy.

Financing Innovation in the Yangtze River Economic Belt: Rationale and Impact on Firm Growth and Foreign Trade

The increasingly large role of financial intermediaries in promoting firms' innovation and internationalization has led to great research interest. China has faced mounting pressure to take entrepreneurial finance and innovation seriously. Little is known about entrepreneurial financiers' activities and performance. Focusing on entrepreneurial financiers' activities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, this study investigates how they select projects and how well they perform in China. Evidence shows that various financiers serve in the financial system to nurture innovative entrepreneurial activities; they tend to focus on technology, and the major financiers vary with stage of industrial technological development. With the support of entrepreneurial finance, the invested firms in general maintain a sound growth momentum, but the foreign trade of relevant industries has not significantly increased and has even declined. The implication for industrial and international development policy is discussed.

The Economic and Social Value of Fostering Entrepreneurship Education

Students and alumni reported a weak desire for a transition towards entrepreneurship despite endless support from the government and the higher education institution (HEI). Indeed alumni and students prefer more security and stability in working life. The survey results show that it is easier for graduates to find employment immediately after their graduation. Besides, it turns out that alumni have opportunities to display their creativity and to come up with new ideas in their current job. Similarly, the students reported that they are able to display creativity in whatever activities they are involved. The impact of entrepreneurship education on society and economy were average. The study implies that HEIs should focus in developing greater levels of innovative entrepreneurial activity to support students in identifying viable entrepreneurial opportunities and new venture creation. Continuous assessment is vital to realign the entrepreneurship education and become the agent of industrial innovation, technological development, economic development and social development especially in the context of growing knowledge-based economy.

Social progress orientation and innovative entrepreneurship: an international analysis

Using the institutional approach, this paper examines the influence of social progress orientation on innovative entrepreneurship from an international perspective. Using a multiple linear regression model with cross-sectional information from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the Indices of Social Development, the World Values Survey, the Hofstede Centre, the United Nations Development Programme and World Development Indicators, we find that social progress orientation dimensions such as voluntary spirit, survival vs. self-expression values and power distance were related to entrepreneurial activity. More specifically, the main findings demonstrate that high voluntary spirit had a positive and statistically significant impact on innovative early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA). In addition, necessity-driven TEA is highly discouraged in those societies with high voluntary spirit and self-expression values, whereas larger power distance increased the entrepreneurial activity driven by necessity. Based on these results, this study advances the literature by introducing and analyzing the concept of social progress orientation, by examining the factors that influence innovative entrepreneurial activity in light of an institutional approach. Also, this research could be useful for designing policies to foster entrepreneurial activity in different national and regional environments.

The role of innovative entrepreneurship within Colombian business cycle scenarios: A system dynamics approach

Since the advent of public and private initiatives in Colombia, there has been interest in exploring the possible future pathways of the Colombian business cycle. Based on a foresight analysis, it has been identified on the one hand that it is necessary to achieve greater productivity and competitiveness and on the other hand, collective intentionality towards progress must be encouraged. Using these analyses, new Colombian scenarios are discussed, taking into account intentionality towards entrepreneurship and innovation. Following the entrepreneurship research, it is suggested that innovative entrepreneurial activity is linked to long-term economic growth. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to identify the role of innovative entrepreneurship in Colombian business cycle scenarios using system dynamics (SD) modelling. Here, we approach futures studies, testing dynamic hypotheses concerning development based on societal and socioeconomic integration, in which innovative entrepreneurship is highly relevant. The model, supported by circular flow analysis and Schumpeterian theory, shows how this type of entrepreneurship contributes to sustainable economic growth during the simulation period (2003–2032). To achieve a 6.77% average growth rate (the higher scenario), policies regarding knowledge transfer from specialized foreign individuals, incumbent firms and universities, as well as incentives for entrepreneurial societies and collectivism, are discussed.

Rural Dalit Women Entrepreneurs and Development Scenario: A Study

Pandit Nehru affirmed that women development/ empowerment is the basis for the substantial growth of a family, a village, or a nation. Development/upliftment of women is an essential ingredient of human development. Entrepreneurship development among the rural women folk would strengthen the village economy and promote regional development. The women entrepreneurs have proved that there is a source of immense untapped power in the womanhood of India (Margaret, 1992). Women undoubtedly are the backbone of the socio-economic-cultural aspects in the hill scenario. The subsistence agriculture which leads to low and unstable incomes, which in turn lead to a sizeable out-migration of male members that leads to only women headed families behind, and the role of women in the household economy becomes more important (Rawat, 2004). In the midst of limited opportunities, tough terrains and lack of resources, the contribution of women entrepreneurs to the society is enormous. An attempt was made to highlight the strategies and development aspects of rural women entrepreneurs in Almora district. Entrepreneurs who are engaged in self-employment and innovative entrepreneurial activities were selected for the study. A total of 50 samples were selected and the data were collected through interviews and focus groups. The study reveals various aspects related to rural women entrepreneurship and constraints that need attention so to empower women in their efforts toward integral development.

Entrepreneurship training in tertiary education and business

Ten years ago, part of an issue of LocalEconomy was devoted to a set of articleswhich examined the application of publicpolicy to boost European entrepreneurship(Herrero-Rada, 2005; Pages, 2005; Pinto,2005; Potter, 2005; Walburn, 2005). Overthe past decade, interest in ways of stimu-lating entrepreneurship has steadily risen inline with evidence that self-employment hasbecome a major driver of modern econo-mies, setting a trend which recovery fromthe recent global recession is unlikely tochange (Dellot, 2014; Goetz andRupasingha, 2014; Hatfield, 2015;Tatomir, 2015; Young, 2012). On bothsides of the North Atlantic, efforts arebeing made to identify salient aspects ofthis phenomenon (Blanchflower, 2007;Stephan et al., 2015), with a view to devisingappropriate mechanisms to channel publicsector efforts towards supporting and sti-mulating innovative entrepreneurial activ-ities (Young, 2015). Enterprise is now seenas an integral driver of the economic basesof high-income nations and is also increas-ingly considered vital in realising sustain-able forms of development amongstemerging nations.The papers here explore some of the cur-rent initiatives being promoted within mem-bers of the Organisation for EconomicCo-operation and Development (OECD)for enhancing training in entrepreneurship(see, for example, CIPD, 2015; Halabisky,2014 and Young, 2014). The origins of thespecial issue can be traced to an inter-national seminar held in Frankfurt in 2013(GIZ, 2014), at which participants con-sidered the exchange of good practice invocational education and training (VET)together with entrepreneurship training.Some of the contributors to this volumewere participants at that seminar, one ofthe aims of which was to identify aspectsof such training that could be transferredfrom OECD nations to developing ones (theproceedings are summarised in Halabisky,2014, Appendix C: Good Practice in theTransfer of Entrepreneurship Training). Theremaining contributions focus on comparableinitiatives designed to support entrepreneurialtraining in the tertiary education and businesssectors.

Using Information and Communication Technologies to Support New Global Societies

technologies (ICTs) as powerful tools to mediate their trajectory of life. This paper examines the use of ICTs by some of the vast population of multicultural, multilingual, and multiethnic migrants living in Europe, Asia, Australia, the Americas, and Africa. Drawing from recently published studies by the Pordenone Group of Scholars, this paper explores how internal and external migration is consistently transforming societies across the globe. Many of the millions of people who have moved from their birthplace now use mobile phones and the Internet to maintain familial, religious, political, linguistic, commercial, and cultural connections, regardless of their whereabouts. The role these migrants play in the construction of new societies using this connectivity is significant and transformative, such as their contribution to innovative business and entrepreneurial activity. Using examples from the everyday experiences of migrants, this paper provides a glimpse of the many different circumstances in which migrants use ICTs to maintain their lives. In so doing, it aims to provide a view of migrants worldwide from the perspective of their use of ICTs, thereby offering new knowledge about “a body of humankind on the move with a mobile phone in their pocket or access to the Internet to guide them.” The reasons people migrate are manifold, but it is not so much why someone has migrated that is explored here but what happens after they have moved. Once in their new home, the migrant must establish and sustain a new life and perhaps also support their family, whether they are with them or left behind in the homeland. The new social ecology of the migrant is examined here, first with regard to how they maintain communications with their home and the emotional effects this may have on them and those left behind. The paper then explores the growing recognition of the positive contributions migrants make in the business community, as well as how they have appropriated the ICTs and are using them to define their identities. The paper includes illustrations from our studies, which cover all

The role of entrepreneurial characteristics in predicting job satisfaction

This study investigates the prediction of job satisfaction using the important entrepreneurial characteristics of corporate entrepreneurship (CE), market orientation (MO) and organisational flexibility (F). In this study, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to predict the causal relationship between these entrepreneurial characteristics and job satisfaction (JS) as the outcome variable. It was found that the corporate entrepreneurship factors of work discretion, work improvement and rewards/reinforcement displayed a statistically significant common variance of ≥ 25.00 with extrinsic job satisfaction. The four Structural Equation Models built in this study indicated a reasonable to good fit with the data. Since all the entrepreneurial variables investigated can be controlled by management, it follows that the application of the research findings of this study can go a long way toward improving job satisfaction and possibly organisational performance through innovative entrepreneurial activities.

A Commentary on Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (Ed. Wim Naudé)

Interest in the study of entrepreneurship has flourished among scholars in recent years. This research has brought to light, among other things, the important role of entrepreneurship and innovation in economic growth. We know that innovative entrepreneurs - those who bring new products and processes to the market - are disproportionately responsible for the breakthrough or ‘disruptive’ innovations that change our daily lives and allow for the rapid improvement in standards of living that developed countries have experienced over the past century, and also disproportionately responsible for job growth in industrialized economies. While we have learned much about the effects of entrepreneurship, many of the mechanisms of change remain open for research.The role of entrepreneurship in the economic growth of developing countries is certainly even more complex. Studies of this topic often look to history for answers, following the development path of industrialized or growing nations to find the ‘secret sauce’ for their success. Just as innovative entrepreneurial activity is vital to the ongoing growth of developed countries, innovation and entrepreneurship are essential components to a developing economy’s long-term growth. This is the topic of the recent UNU-WIDER book Entrepreneurship and Economic Development, edited by Wim Naude. This article provides some perspective on this contribution.

“Do incentives matter to promote high technology-driven entrepreneurial activity?”

A productive human capital is a necessary but not sufficient condition for regional economic growth. An additional condition is the adequate allocation of talented people in innovative entrepreneurial activities, which according to previous literature have a higher social value than traditional ones. Using a large and representative sample of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) located in the Basque Autonomous Community (Spain), we empirically analyze, separately in manufacture and services, whether individual incentives and market conditions are aligned in such a way that the talent is properly allocated in innovative entrepreneurial activities. Through a novel use of existing empirical methods we find that (i) entrepreneurs operating in high-tech sectors have, on average, more entrepreneurial talent and private returns than their counterparts; and that (ii) entrepreneurial talent and private returns are positively and significantly correlated. These novel insights suggest that private and social incentives are adequately aligned.