National Entrepreneurship Research Articles

National Entrepreneurial Radiology Initiatives: What Are They, and What Can They Do to and for You?

National entrepreneurial radiology companies have evolved over the past 3 decades. In the 1990s, a few initiatives were established to implement business principles and reward shareholders with gains derived from management expertise, practice efficiencies, and economies of scale. The next decade saw the emergence of night call coverage and "specialty read" companies. As the market for these services became saturated, the established corporate entities scrambled to find new revenue streams. Hospital radiology contracts were the obvious source for this needed capital. The pursuit of these contracts led to aggressive, nontraditional competition. If radiologists are to respond appropriately, they must understand the reasons behind the strategies used by these national entrepreneurial radiology companies. The author explores the goals and actions of these entities and describes why hospitals may find these national companies to be an attractive alternative to their incumbent radiology practices. Both the benefits and the problems associated with entrepreneurial companies are covered, and concepts such as disintermediation are discussed. Finally, the author suggests appropriate actions for radiologists seeking to retain their hospital contracts. Nontraditional competition is now a way of life for many radiology practices. Relationships, subspecialization, service, and measurable quality indicators are the foundation for the maintenance of tenure at hospitals.

The odd couple: Booz Allen at ENI (1956–1965)

Since the mid-1950s the national Italian oil company ENI has relied on Booz Allen and Hamilton for a wide range of organizational reforms, stimulated by its diversification strategy. This paper shows how national culture, corporate identity and entrepreneurship initially led to a conflicting relationship with the consultancy, and then set in motion a process of translation and enrichment of foreign labels that had previously been little more than empty shells.

Innovation and entrepreneurship: trials of Japanese universities

This article examines the Japanese response in terms of innovation capacity and entrepreneurship enhancement under the ever-changing economic environment. Particular focus would go to the interactions among government, industry and universities in the national innovation system at a macro level, and entrepreneurship education at the institutional level. Several key universities were selected for discussion. This article argues that under the urge to supplement the internal research and development capacity of Japanese industry and maintain competitiveness, internationalisation efforts through the strong collaboration among government, universities and industry are essential to further the development of national innovation and entrepreneurship.

Applying the Entrepreneurial Model of Experiential Learning in Political Science Courses to Encourage Civic Engagement

Despite clear evidence of continued declining civic engagement, especially among young people, most civic engagement projects focus on public service, advocacy, or work in the not-for-profit sector. This emphasis exists despite the fact that these careers are generally held in low-esteem (e.g., lobbyist) or feature below average wages (e.g. non-profit). We suggest that students may be more engaged by the prospect of a career in business that combines a social or political function. Broadly, this can be called social entrepreneurship. Building on the combined scholarship of political scientists such as Richard L. Fox and David A. Kolb, as well as economics and business education research, we propose an entrepreneurial model of experiential learning for the political science classroom. In business and economics curricula, direct interactions with “real-world” community members and internships are central learning opportunities, but are wholly distinct from the kind of knowledge gained though entrepreneurial experiences. In the latter, students analyze market failures and identify opportunities to exploit the current market environment. Their task then is to design and implement new ventures that better fulfill this unmet market need. Regardless of whether the idea fails or spins-off to become a successful company, tremendous learning is gained from working through the authentic start-up process. By contrast, experiential learning literature in political science has focused on traditional internships, community service activities, or consulting projects. While valuable, such experiences only engage an issue through the actors and institutions already existing to address the issue rather than have students develop innovative paths to solve the underlying problem. Our paper describes a new model of experiential learning based on experience with such an effort at Marquette University. In close collaboration with the national social entrepreneurship movement, as well as regional private and public organizations, the entrepreneurial experiential learning model was piloted in the Department of Political Science at Marquette University. In the Spring of 2011, an undergraduate Environmental Policy course was taught following the entrepreneurial experiential learning model. The class was centered on students having to identify a current environmental problem, study the existing interested actors, then create and implement new ventures that looked beyond established advocacy or legislative paths. The result was an award winning innovative platform for water conservation that students continued to champion beyond the end of the semester. Lessons from the pilot class, including its effects on long-term levels of student civic engagement, as well as suggestions for improvements, further research, and implementation will be discussed.

National Systems of Entrepreneurship: Measurement Issues and Policy Implications

We introduce a novel concept of National Systems of Entrepreneurship and provide an approach to characterizing them. National Systems of Entrepreneurship are fundamentally resource allocation systems that are driven by individual-level opportunity pursuit, through the creation of new ventures, with this activity and its outcomes regulated by country-specific institutional characteristics. In contrast with the institutional emphasis of the National Systems of Innovation frameworks, where institutions engender and regulate action, National Systems of Entrepreneurship are driven by individuals, with institutions regulating who acts and the outcomes of individual action. Building on these principles, we also introduce a novel index methodology to characterizing National Systems of Entrepreneurship. The distinctive features of the methodology are: (1) systemic approach, which allows interactions between components of National Systems of Entrepreneurship; (2) the Penalty for Bottleneck feature, which identifies bottleneck factors that hold back system performance; (3) contextualization, which recognizes that national entrepreneurship processes are always embedded in a given country’s institutional framework.

Low Income Entrepreneurs and Their Access to Financing in Canada, Especially in the Province of Québec/City of Montréal

This paper attempts to illuminate the practice of microfinance in Canada with special attention to low income entrepreneurs and their access to finance in the Province of Quebec and the City of Montreal by reviewing the history of the industry, national and local entrepreneurship statistics, demand and supply of payday loans, and active microlenders.

Underlying Factors National Entrepreneurial Activity: A Cross-Country Study

Entrepreneurship has gained considerable attention not only from the academics, but also from government and policy makers. Entrepreneurship has been regarded as one of the important factors that support growth and socioeconomic development of a country because it can provides so many jobs, which ultimately will improve the welfare state and compettive advantage (Zahra, 1999). In this study national entrepreneural activity are manifested by Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) that reflect a individual who build new businesses. TEA includes two phases covering started a business (start-up phase) and phase in the initial period of business. Prior studies have been conducted with the view from various points of view, it's just that none of the comprehensive approach taken to explain the factors that encourage entrepreneurial activity that occurred in various countries around the world (Lee and Peterson, 2000). Therefore this study used a multidiscilpinary approach to understanding the phenomenon of entrepreneurship activity with a coherent paradigm that has not been widely explored as proposed by Aldrich and Baker (1997). Using data from entrepreneurial activity in the Doing Business Report 2008 and General Entrepreneurship Monitor 2008, this research was conducted using the environmental approach (contextual) and culture to see the entrepreneurial activity of countries. This study found that Individualism negatively significant influence TEA which means the higher level of individualism of a country the lower Entrepeneurial activity. Moreover, cost enforcing contracts significantly influence national entrepreneurial activity which means the higher level of cost enforcing contracts the higher level of TEA, it happened because entrepreneur will get certainty to doing business.

Is Entrepreneurial Cognition Culturally Bound? A Comparative Study Conducted in Turkey and the United States

International entrepreneurship research suggests that there is an association between national culture and entrepreneurship. However, the findings are inconsistent. This study aims to explore the relationship between culture and entrepreneurial cognition, namely likelihood of venture creation, aspiration of the entrepreneur for the new venture, and opportunity evaluation, based on Hofstede's (1980) conceptualization of culture.Findings suggest that culture and entrepreneurial cognitions are significantly interrelated.

Cultural capital and European entrepreneurship research: a plea for a paradigm focusing on national, corporate and professional cultural capital

Innovation and entrepreneurship have been examined from many different angles and theoretical perspectives. Linkages between national cultural assets and entrepreneurship activity, however, constitute a niche in contemporary research. In this paper, we argue that the level of entrepreneurship is contingent upon the cultural environment in which it takes place. Further, we argue that cultural environments can be broadly assigned to two distinct settings, with one being roughly equivalent to the US and the second to the European cultural context. As most theoretical work explaining links between entrepreneurship and culture refers to the first cultural context, a new theoretical paradigm must be developed in order to explain entrepreneurship within the European setting. Departing from Bourdieu’s capital theory, we develop conceptual elements for this new European paradigm and conclude our paper with recommendations in terms of research questions and research methods.

Assessing effective factors in development of entrepreneurship in agricultural cooperatives of Zanjan province

Nowadays, entrepreneurship is considered as the engine of economic and cultural development of society. Entrepreneurial organization can provide an environment in which all members can participate in entrepreneurial affairs. According to 44th principle of the constitution, a special place is given to the cooperative sector in all sectors including agriculture. The purpose of this study was identifying factors affecting the development and strengthening entrepreneurship in agricultural production cooperatives in Zanjan province. A descriptive–correlation survey approach was used in this study. The study population consists of agricultural cooperative managers. Research samples was selected using randomly stratified method with using Cochrane formula (n=165). Reliability of instruments was determined by pilot test and calculating Cronbach alpha coefficient. Cronbach alpha values were 0.82. Validity of instrument was determined by investigating the attitudes of specialists in university and cooperative office in Zanjan. Results showed that from the perspective of managers the most important factors in strengthening entrepreneurship in agricultural cooperatives are: Providing financial support and tax breaks, reform the banking laws and making regulations to adjust with entrepreneurs conditions and preparing the document of national entrepreneurship development. Results also demonstrated that there is significant relationship between the entrepreneurial scores of managers and education level of board members, the total number of cooperatives and success level of cooperatives. One-way analysis of variance showed that there is significantly different between entrepreneurial scores of agricultural cooperatives in cities in province.

Traditional Craft Designs: Getting the Numbers Right

Traditional Craft Designs is a sole proprietorship located in Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. The firm's owner, Ms. Debra Atwell was recently offered an attractive opportunity to lease space at the Crown Point International Airport, Trinidad and Tobago to establish a retail outlet. She then met with an officer of the National Entrepreneurship Development Company to discuss the opportunity and seek a $40,000 loan to finance the capital and operating costs associated with the proposed retail outlet. Students are required to assist Ms. Atwell with the preparation of historical financial statements and a financial analysis that must accompany her loan application.

The context matters

PurposeThe paper aims to describe the manner in which entrepreneurship policies are embedded in the national contexts and then through analysis offers a deeper understanding of the development of Finnish and Irish entrepreneurship policies. It seeks to focus on three questions: What is the context for entrepreneurship policies in the studied countries?; What kind of governance structure for entrepreneurship policy can be identified and derived from theoretical perspectives?; and What policy instruments and content are associated with governance rationale?Design/methodology/approachThe empirical data involve primary data on national entrepreneurship policy documents illustrating the governance structure for policy development and implementation, as well as policy objectives and targets. Additionally, concrete policy measures were studied within six sub‐areas of entrepreneurship. The analysis is based on a framework with two layers of policy: governance structure, and specific policy measures.FindingsThe results show that the countries studied are implementing strikingly similar approaches in entrepreneurship policy‐making: state‐institutional coordination marked by a strong role for the government, complemented by a more recent shift towards a competitive approach. Because political, national and economic context plays a significant role in understanding entrepreneurship policy approaches it is justified to add a third layer, context, to the framework.Practical implicationsParticular measures or good practices cannot be imported from other countries without understanding the theoretical rationale and policy context for the measures.Originality/valueThe study highlights the role of time and path‐dependency in policy‐making; therefore, future research and evaluations on entrepreneurship policies need to be strongly contextualised.

On the Strategy of Russias Development

The article considers the mechanism and moving forces of realization of the strategy aimed at the transition to a new (innovation) type of economic growth. According to the author, the main condition of such transition is overcoming socialization of economic life that has been historically formed in Russia. The developed institutions of the civil society that reflects the strategic economic interest of national entrepreneurship are the moving force of this overcoming.

Unraveling the Puzzle of Differing Rates of FDI and FVCI in India and China

AbstractThis study seeks to unravel the puzzle underlying China's and India's differing experiences in attracting two types of foreign investment: namely foreign direct investment (‘FDI’) and foreign venture capital investment (‘FVCI’). Complementing the law and finance literature, we argue that foreign investors prefer the direct investment mode in China despite its poor governance environment because direct investment provides private means of control over the business, and China's institutional environment provides a more facilitating arena for FDI than India's. In contrast, India's legal infrastructure and related institutional settings prove to be better than China's in accommodating foreign portfolio (indirect) investment especially in the form of venture capital. The conclusion of this article has implications for the two countries' legal reform in the direction of the desired type of foreign investment. It also provides comparative insights into the legal institutions of China and India in fostering national innovative capacity and entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship Research in Germany

This article explores entrepreneurship research in Germany, paying particular attention to its origins and current “re–emergence.” Since the late 1990s, the field has gained ground, as is reflected in an increasing number of entrepreneurship chairs at universities, and the establishment of an annual national entrepreneurship conference. A particular strength of the German approach to researching entrepreneurship, which can be traced back directly to the historical roots, is found to be its consideration of context specificity and embeddedness, going hand–in–hand with a strong multidisciplinary tendency. These are two features where entrepreneurship research in Germany could add a distinctive flavor to the current mainstream debate. In practice, the diffusion of this perspective is inhibited by an insufficient exchange with the international scientific community.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ECONOMIC FREEDOM: THE VISIBLE HAND OF PUBLIC POLICY

For the past 13 years, the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal have been publishing their Index of Economic Freedom (Kane, Holmes and O’Grady, 2007). The subtitle of the 2007 report, The Link between Economic Opportunity and Prosperity, provides us with a glimpse of the importance for economic systems that the authors ascribe to the practice of economic freedom. For those pursuing the study of entrepreneurship, the linkage between economic freedom and economic opportunity is of special interest and significance. The identification and exploitation of opportunity is fundamental to the practice of entrepreneurship. The presence and practice of economic freedom around the world, then, is the cornerstone of the sustainable nature of entrepreneurship. Amidst the good news about the recent performance of the global economy, the 2007 Report cautions us that there are disturbing signs of erosion of economic freedom. From the US to Europe to Asia, at the margin, policy changes are putting barriers on the freedom of economic inputs and outputs to cross national borders. This is a trend worth watching! For the pessimists, erosion of economic freedom, if perpetuated, could have disastrous effects on national and international entrepreneurship. The optimists, on the other hand, maintain that markets will again triumph over governments, albeit in the long-run. In the meanwhile, of course, opportunities are being washed away! This issue contains articles that deal both with public policy and private initiative. The first contribution is by Robert Plant. Using the background of location theory and a sample of firms funded in conjunction with the Florida Venture Forum in his “An Empirical Analysis: Venture Capital Clusters and Firm Migration,” Plant finds that a good number of funded firms are located within venture capital clusters. He also finds that funded entities are younger than non-funded ones and are more likely to be acquired and move from their original location. The article carries useful lessons for economic development officials as well as funded entrepreneurs. Josee Audet and Etienne St-Jean tell us that public authorities have established numerous agencies as well as venture development support and assistance measures for SMEs. Unfortunately, in “Factors Affecting the Use of Public Support Services by SME Owners: Evidence from a Periphery Region of Canada,” they find that SME owner-managers do not take full advantage of these services. They delve into the reasons for their findings and make an effort to pinpoint the root of the problem.

Developing a Culture for Entrepreneurship in the East of England

Most UK Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) have committed themselves to developing an Enterprise Strategy for their region. This commitment is mainly in response to the current Labour government's keenness to see enterprise and entrepreneurship at the centre of any economic development agenda. Pro-entrepreneurship policies have been embraced as a means of generating economic growth and diversity, ensuring competitive markets, helping the unemployed to create jobs for themselves, countering poverty and welfare dependency, encouraging labour market flexibility and drawing individuals out of informal economic activity. The regional dimension of economic regeneration has been influenced, in part, by increasing interest in the local ramifications of national innovation and entrepreneurship policies, and also by growing awareness of the local or regional phenomenon of enterprise creation and innovation. The authors examine the connection between R&D activities in universities and the creation of new businesses (in particular ICT firms), and especially the role that social capital plays in fostering these relationships or connections. Preliminary empirical analyses suggest the importance of university–high-tech industry social capital in generating technology based start-ups. The findings suggest a case for fostering ‘connectedness’ between research universities and high-technology firms in regions with interest in technology-based entrepreneurship.

National technology entrepreneurship policy: foundation of a network economy

The confluence of disruptive technology and network modes of organization in modern, developed economies requires a national business environment conducive to entrepreneurship. National entrepreneurship policy study results report that a formal national coordination mechanism would be ineffectual, if not deleterious, for an entrepreneurial economy. For the US to sustain its competitive advantage, however, it is necessary to develop a national technology entrepreneurship policy ‘supportive’ of the commercialization of new product technologies, that is, offering the legal environment, regulatory framework, modest financial assistance, and business incentives that are conducive to successful technology entrepreneurship, with markets providing the overall coordination. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Availability of Financing, Regulatory Business Costs and National Entrepreneurial Propensity

In this paper, we focus on two barriers to entry that may hinder the formation of new firms: capital requirements and regulatory business cost. The contribution of this paper is twofold: we compare the availability of different types of financing sources to address the issue of capital requirement and we utilise a new measure of business cost by constructing a composite index using data from the World Bank's Doing Business Database. Using cross-sectional data on 37 countries that participated in the 2002 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, we examine the effect of availability of financing and regulatory business costs on the propensity of three different types of entrepreneurial activity: opportunity-driven, necessity driven and high-growth potential new firm formation. The availability of three types of financing sources is analysed: traditional debt financing, venture capital financing, and informal investments. The findings show that only informal investments significantly influence the propensity to be entrepreneurs. Regulatory business costs were found to deter opportunity driven entrepreneurship, but had no impact on other types of entrepreneurial activity.

Mature SMEs and Technological Innovation: Entrepreneurial Networks in the United Kingdom and Portugal

This research examines the links between national culture, entrepreneurship, networks and innovation. Both networking and entrepreneurship are seen as central to the innovative capacity of smaller firms. At the same time, the cultural environment in which such firms operate will influence the ability of entrepreneurs to develop new products and processes. We consider these problems by examining five SMEs in the United Kingdom (UK) and five in Portugal. All 10 companies are manufacturing-based and operate in "traditional" (low-technology) sectors. The case studies are utilised as a means of identifying the problems confronting owner/managers in such companies as they try to access newer technologies. We conclude that Portuguese managers are less likely to have been exposed to management education and tend to place greater reliance on family members for creating networks. Hence the options for innovation tend to be much narrower than small firms in the UK.