Opportunity Seeking Research Articles

Brand followers: motivations and attitudes of consumers to follow brands in social media

Social media (SM) strategies are vital for brands to stay connected with consumers. Although the brands' purposes are explicit, consumers' motivations of interacting with brands in SM are more tentative. The aim of this study is to examine consumer motivations and attitudes of following brand pages in SM. A scale development procedure was followed after the literature review and qualitative assessments. Principle component analyses with first sample revealed 'conversation', 'brand affiliation', 'opportunity seeking', 'entertainment', and 'investigation' motives that lead consumers to follow brands in social media. Reliability, validity and predictive properties of motivation constructs were tested with CFA and SEM analyses in a validation sample. Brand affiliation and opportunity seeking were indicated as significant factors on attitudes toward following brands through SM.

Study of an Individual's Entrepreneurial Intention: Evidences from Telecom Industry in Jaipur City

Entrepreneurs have been regarded as the key drivers in the progress and development of a nation. Entrepreneurs are persons undertaking innovation, finance and business acumen in order to transform these innovations into economic goods. Risk taking, opportunity seeking and speculation are normally considered as characteristics of entrepreneurs in various research studies. The study explored the factors required by managers intending to become an entrepreneur. This study focussed on the relationship between individual motivational factors critical to entrepreneurial business success. Factors behind the motivational levels of individuals who intend to become entrepreneurs such as opportunity recognition, triggering event, need for achievement, innovation, self-efficacy and propensity for proactive behaviour were chosen as the main variables and a questionnaire was designed. The questionnaire was sent to 40 local managers and employees of telecom industry and 25 valid responses were received. A correlation coefficient was determined among all the above variables. Similarly, the correlation study suggested a positive correlation between triggering event and need for achievement and propensity for proactive behaviour (0.512,0.573). A low positive correlation was found between need for achievement and innovation (0.345). The results suggest that incubation practices and training could enhance the entrepreneurial capabilities among the employees. Entrepreneurship is a process and could be nurtured through programs that promote entrepreneurial attitude and help potential entrepreneurs engage in entrepreneurial activities.

Entrepreneurial desirability and intent among youth in Bhutan

The Kingdom of Bhutan has embarked on an ambitious programme of entrepreneurial training for youth, with the objective of stimulating increased new venture formation and job creation. The entrepreneurship literature on the drivers of entrepreneurial intent is well–developed for the case of opportunity–seeking individuals in developed countries, but the literature around intent for necessity–based entrepreneurship in emerging countries is much less developed. This study is an exploration into entrepreneurial intent and the precursors of desirability and positive social norms affecting the career decisions of these youths. We surveyed 364 young people with an express interest in business and entrepreneurship, located in Bhutan and Canada (as a typical representative of the scope of prior research into entrepreneurial intent). Our results demonstrate higher entrepreneurial intent and more positive attitudes and social norms in Bhutan than in Canada. These results suggest that new entrepreneurship training programmes in Bhutan should be designed to focus primarily on other aspects, such as building skills and acquiring resources.

What Drives Consumers to Interact with Brands through Social Media? A Motivation Scale Development Study

Online platforms and social networks directly influence the consumer-brand relationship. Consumption behaviours evolve in this connective world as a vital part of individuals’ self-concept whereas social identities come into prominence through these online platforms. Brands, offering identity extensions and symbolic values to their customers and seeking visibility over social networks, try to create interaction and engagement with consumers via their online presence. This study was conducted to explore consumers’ motivations to interact with and/or about the brands on social media and to develop a related scale. Findings of exploratory and confirmatory analyses revealed five distinct motivation factors; “Brand Affiliation”, “Investigation”, “Opportunity Seeking”, “Conversation”, and “Entertainment”. Comparison of these motivations and their relevancy with the consumer behaviour literature was discussed.

Early Childhood Education in Botswana: A Case of Fragmented “Fits”

Scholarly and institutional research on early childhood education is not a new phenomenon, but what is perhaps limited is extant literature that particularly focuses on revisiting current practices and their “dialogue” with the ever-changing environment that prevails especially in an African setting. The practices of providers of early childhood education are either simply “business opportunity seeking” responses to the new consumption patterns of more affluent parent (or guardian) or current global trends of child education preparation. There has been a phenomenal increase in the number of early child centres in recent years but with fragmented structures. However whether or not this will reduce possibilities of tensions between the macro and micro aspects of this kind of co-evolution is one of the questions this article seeks to address. It also investigates the fit between the internal structure and processes of early childhood centers and the external environment (national framework), focusing on the challenges and prospects of early childhood education. Buoyed by the Fit/Congruence model of organizational analysis, the paper is based on findings from a content analysis of media reports and desk review of policy documents from purposively selected centres based in Gaborone. The data is analyzed using a combination of the pattern model and analytic comparison methods. In Botswana, one of the observed missing links is the absence of national framework guiding the structure and content of early childhood curriculum and instruction. It concludes that while the approaches used in these centres are relatively not similar they may be complementary particularly to the extent to which they prepare the children for an exclusionary education system in a country whose long-term vision is ironically to achieve an equitable and quality education for all. Institutional initiatives at national level have been limited and unevenly distributed with wide differences in the quality of services and lack of coherence and coordination at micro-level.

Risques et opportunités : assurer son avenir dans la violente crise ivoirienne et au-delà

This article examines how people who do not live in so-called risk societies deal with risks and insecurities prevalent in their daily lives. Along the life trajectories of two men in Côte d’Ivoire’s violent crisis, the article analyses the subjects’ various ways of securing their futures in a war context with a focus on physical and economic insecurities. Both men happened to have worked in a car repair shop on the eve of the war : one of them joined the rebellion and went into combat ; the other managed to get by with multiple strategies, such as small businesses, associational life and by linking up with powerful actors. Even if risk avoidance strategies are employed, risk avoidance does not seem to be the predominant preoccupation in the case-studies examined. The findings rather suggest that risks are consciously taken to seek opportunities in the first place. Hence, a conceptual lens that focuses exclusively on risks seems insufficient to explain the actors’ deliberations and paths taken. Therefore, I propose to adopt a complementary perspective that includes opportunity seeking rather than solely risk avoidance.

Strategic Entrepreneurial Response of Small and Medium Enterprises in Developing Economies

This study examined the influence of three dimensions of strategic entrepreneurial response, namely marketorientation, entrepreneurial orientation and networking capability on SME performance necessary for firms toface challenges in competitive environments. The research confirmed positive influence of the three dimensionsof strategic entrepreneurial response (SER), namely market orientation (MO), entrepreneurial orientation (EO)and network capabilities (NWC) on small and medium enterprise (SME) performance. The dimensions of SERexplained a significant amount of variance (50.1%) in SME performance, with the largest amount (27.1%) ofvariance accounted for by MO. The findings suggest that emphasis on MO is a firm’s strategic choice to generatestrategic information which forms a seedbed of opportunities from which entrepreneurial oriented firms identifyand proactively seize to build competitive advantage. Contrary to previous studies, which emphasized thatopportunity seeking behaviour is a domain of EO, this paper argues that MO is pivotal construct to the SER. Thispaper views EO as more driven by an advantage seeking behaviour rather than opportunity seeking behaviour asconceptualised before. With these findings, this paper suggest that sustained market orientation andentrepreneurial orientation cultures build opportunity seeking and advantage seeking behaviours, respectivelycrucial to create and sustain SME performance.

International Springboard by Emerging Market Enterprises: A Contextual Perspective

The springboard view toward emerging market multinationals (EM MNEs) has elucidated why and how EM MNEs use international expansion as a strategic springboard to acquire critical capabilities in order to compensate for their competitive disadvantages and to catch up with advanced country MNEs in order to mitigate their liability of lateness. To extend this view, we suggest that EM MNEs are highly heterogeneous in the extent to which they do and can internationally springboard. Springboarding is particularly affected by the availability of countries offering rich prospects for strategic asset and opportunity seeking. As EM MNEs face different institutional and resource constraints at home, they differ in their pressure to springboard overseas. Further, the extent to which EM MNEs form a strong organizational platform for internationalization and connect their internationally dispersed units to leverage acquired knowledge and resources strengthens their capability to initiate international springboarding, as well as their motivation to emphasize it further. Our analysis of archival and survey data of senior executives at the headquarters of 191 EM MNEs from China provide evidence for the contextual embeddedness of international springboard in these environmental and organizational conditions.

Entrepreneurship Development among Nigerian Youths, Empirical Identification of the Driven Factors

This study empirically identified the driven factors into entrepreneurship among Nigerian youths with a view to isolating those factors that are fundamental to youths’ entrepreneurship development in Nigeria. The study employed a survey design. Data were collected on socio-economic and demographic characteristics as well as personal entrepreneurial competencies of the sampled students from the selected three out of the nation’s tertiary institutions. Structured questionnaire was designed and used as instrument of data collection. The reliability of the instrument was established at (r=0.754). The validity of the instrument was also scrutinized by experts before finally used. The data collected were analyzed using inferential statistics. The result showed that age significantly influenced proactiveness and goal setting while marital status significantly influenced demand for efficiency and quality. Also, exposure to enterprise education/training influenced opportunity seeking, father’s occupation significantly influenced information seeking, and cumulative grade point average significantly influenced information seeking and independence and self confidence. The course of study significantly influenced risk taking propensity, persuasion and networking, and independence and self-confidence. The area of discipline significantly influenced risk taking propensity while perception of parents’ entrepreneurial success significantly influenced information seeking, risk taking propensity, proactiveness and goal setting and persuasion and networking. On the contrary, mother’s occupation, monthly allowance received, parents’ financial status, position among siblings, where one spent his or her childhood days, ethnic group belonging were found to have no significant influence on personal entrepreneurial competencies of the respondents. Policy strategy on entrepreneurship development should take cognizance of factors which significantly influenced entrepreneurial resourcefulness of the Nigerian youths in order to enhance enterprise culture and check unemployment rate and its consequences in Nigeria. The study concluded that socio-economic and demographic variables are vital for consideration in nourishing and nurturing entrepreneurial spirit in Nigeria.

Networks and Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Different Stages of the Life Cycle: A Case Study of a Small Business in the Netherlands

The paper investigates the relationship between small business performance and the use of networks in the start-up and growth stage of the life cycle. A qualitative approach was adopted in exploring the effect of networks on small business performance. A case study of one firm in the Netherlands and an in-depth interview was conducted to complement a thorough literature review on entrepreneurial networks, small business performance and business life cycle. The study found a relationship between performance and entrepreneurial networks in both the start-up stage and the growth stage of the firm. Networks are important to small businesses for information and opportunity seeking, accessing resources and gaining legitimacy. Small business performance improves as a firm moves from start-up to growth stage of the life cycle. Understanding the factors that impact small business performance is important for business advisors, policymakers and other relevant stakeholders to better serve the small business sector.

Network knowledge and business-relationship value in the foreign market

Based on the key assumptions that firms are opportunity seeking and that they gain critical knowledge operating in a network of relationships, this paper focuses on early expansion in foreign market networks. In particular, the paper examines the relation between experience and business-relationship value in a foreign market. While experience and experiential knowledge are central concepts in international business, little has been written about their effects on the value of business relationships. The paper formulates a set of interrelated hypotheses on the effects of international experience, experiential network knowledge and importance of customer and competitor knowledge on the value of business relationships in a foreign market. They are combined in a structural model, which is tested on a sample through LISREL. The main conclusion drawn from the study is that experiential network knowledge and knowledge about the importance of customers and competitors in the network influence the value of business relationships in a foreign market in different ways.

More than trees! Understanding the agroforestry adoption gap in subsistence agriculture: Insights from narrative walks in Kenya

Agroforestry can contribute to the mitigation of climate change while delivering multiple benefits to sub-Saharan farmers who are exposed to climate variability, land degradation, water scarcity, high disease burden and persistent poverty. But adoption is slow. Based on a critical problem solving approach and grounded theory as a strategy, we study agroforestry and subsistence agriculture as integrated, yet separate, socio-ecological systems with different organisational logics and temporal dynamics. Using ‘narrative walks’ as a qualitative method to construct grounded data, we explore the social and natural dimensions of the complex, diverse and uncertain landscape and life-worlds of subsistence agriculture. In the grounded analysis, we clarify how social stratification constructs incentives and disincentives to adopt agroforestry. To exemplify, food secure and opportunity seeking farmers may invest land and labour in trees, nurseries and social networks while risk evading farmers are constrained by the ‘food imperative’, the ‘health imperative’ and poverty in and of itself. By recognising material, symbolic and relational aspects we show how the ontology of global policies focussing on the merits of agroforestry differs from the ontology of everyday practices and strategies in subsistence agriculture. Such ontological stratification constitutes another constraint to agroforestry adoption as a comprehensive form of socio-technological change.

Opportunism or strategic opportunity seeking? Three approaches to emerging country sourcing

The current interest in low-cost or emerging country sourcing (ECS) has inspired a multitude of empirical studies. These studies are based on varying methodological approaches and have come to somewhat different conclusions regarding the motivations for and outcomes of ECS. This paper argues that the overall approach to the new markets, especially the strategic network context surrounding each buyer-supplier relationship in the ECS setting, impacts on the prerequisites for success.The aim of the paper is to identify and discuss approaches to ECS. It begins with a review of recent empirical studies, scrutinising research interests and the approaches applied by the companies studied. It suggests and illustrates three broad categories of approaches: (1) the transactional approach focusing on individual sourcing in the emerging country, (2) the supply base approach focusing on establishing a set of supplier relationships in the emerging country, and (3) the network positioning approach in which both supplier and customer relationships are developed in the emerging country. The paper also discusses the three approaches as stages in an internationalisation process.The paper concludes that of the three strategic approaches the viability of two – the transactional approach and the supply base approach – can be questioned on several grounds, but that when seen as a process directed towards developing a network position in a new (emerging) market all three approaches make sense as different stages in a process moving towards achieving that goal. An explanation for the process of increasing commitment in emerging markets, relying on learning in interaction and on relational investments beginning with suppliers and continuing with customers, is also discussed.

Co-evolution, opportunity seeking and institutional change: Entrepreneurship and the Indian telecommunications industry, 1923–2009

This paper demonstrates the importance for entrepreneurship of historical contexts and processes, and the co-evolution of institutions, practices, discourses and cultural norms. Drawing on discourse and institutional theories, it develops a model of the entrepreneurial field, and applies this in analysing the rise to global prominence of the Indian telecommunications industry. The article uses entrepreneurial life histories to show how various discourses and discursive processes ultimately worked to generate change and the creation of new business opportunities. It suggests that entrepreneurship involves more than individual acts of business creation, but also implies collective endeavours to shape the future direction of the entrepreneurial field.

The entrepreneurial mindset profile of South African small medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in the Cape Metropole

According to the South African National Small Business Act No. 102 of 1996, small medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) are classified as separate and distinct business entities, together with its branches or subsidiaries with the main intention of uplifting the national economy. McGrath and MacMillan (2000) averred that an entrepreneurial mindset, which comprises of elements such as the passionate seeking of lucrative opportunities, being goal orientated, being very disciplined and incubating a strong personal inner-drive, is of utmost importance for any business to make ends-meet in today’s economy. Despite the afore-mentioned, South African SMMEs showed a dismal performance when taking the South African inflation- and unemployment rates into account. The perception was formulated that an adequate entrepreneurial mindset is a pre-requisite for SMMEs to attain success. The key objective of this paper was to determine the entrepreneurial mindset of South African SMMEs in general. Key words: Entrepreneurial mindset, entrepreneurial skills, entrepreneurial mindset profile, SMME, small medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs), small business, small businesses, South Africa.

Beyond the BRICs: Alternative Strategies of Influence in the Global Politics of Development

This introductory essay situates the subsequent special issue within a comparative framework that helps to unpack the new global politics of development. It argues that there is a set of countries beyond Brazil, Russia, India and China – often described as ‘the BRICs’ – that are emerging to a position of increased international prominence and which merit greater attention than they have hitherto received. Recent economic risers such as South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and Mexico are responding to their economic growth and seeking to secure greater influence within regional and global affairs. The analytical framework developed here distinguishes between four distinct strategies of international engagement: issue leading, opportunity seeking, region organising and region mobilising. The framework further suggests the need to focus on new global opportunities and pressures, as well as the specific interests and capacities of states when accounting for the adoption of a particular strategy of engagement.Cet essai d’introduction inscrit ce numéro spécial dans un cadre comparatif nous permettant d’analyser la nouvelle politique globale de développement. Il soutient qu’il existe un ensemble de pays au delà du Brésil, de la Russie, de l’Inde et de la Chine – souvent dénommé les pays ‘BRICs’- qui sont en train de gagner en importance sur la scène internationale et qui méritent plus d’attention qu’ils n’ont reçu jusqu’à présent. Les pays en ascension économique récente tels que l’Afrique du Sud, la Corée du Sud, la Turquie, et le Mexique réagissent à leur croissance économique en s’efforçant d’accroître leur influence tant au niveau régional qu’international. Le cadre analytique développé dans cet essai distingue quatre stratégies d’engagement: Le leadership thématique, la recherche d’opportunités, l’organisation régionale et la mobilisation régionale. Ce cadre met également en avant le besoin de se pencher sur les nouvelles opportunités et contraintes se présentant au niveau mondial, ainsi que sur les intérêts et capacités spécifiques des États, pour comprendre et expliquer l’adoption de telle ou telle stratégie d’engagement.

Korea's Search for a Global Role between Hard Economic Interests and Soft Power

South Korea has been a rising economic power for some decades. It exhibits several behavioral traits associated with rising powers such as issue leadership and opportunity seeking. Korea aims to be an issue leader in the field of development, although it seeks to secure the foundations for further sustained economic growth. In this article, we investigate Korea's global strategy since the 1990s, aiming to translate its economic clout into global political influence. The focus is placed on a critical evaluation of the approach under the current Lee Myung Bak administration since 2008. This article examines the domestic factors that have led Korea to pursue its strategies of securing influence, including most notably the legacy of the mercantilist developmental state. The article raises cautionary concerns about the capacity of Korea to adopt a foreign policy that moves beyond economic self-interest and plays an active role in the creation of global public goods.

Acquisitions as entrepreneurship: asymmetries, opportunities, and the internationalization of multinationals from emerging economies

AbstractWe investigate the rapid internationalization of many multinationals from emerging economies through acquisition in advanced economies. We conceptualize these acquisitions as an act and form of entrepreneurship, aimed to overcome the ‘liability of emergingness’ incurred by these firms and to serve as a mechanism for competitive catch‐up through opportunity seeking and capability transformation. Our explanation emphasizes (1) the unique asymmetries (and not necessarily advantages) distinguishing emerging multinationals from advanced economy multinationals due to their historical and institutional differences, as well as (2) a search for advantage creation when firms possess mainly ordinary resources. The argument shifts the central focus from advantage to asymmetries as the starting point for internationalization and, additionally, highlights the role of learning agility rather than ability as a potential ‘asset of emergingness.’

Expatriate Knowledge Transfer, Subsidiary Absorptive Capacity, and Subsidiary Performance

In this study, we theoretically identify three dimensions of expatriate competenciesability, motivation, and opportunity seeking—for knowledge transfer. Integrating the ability-motivation-opportunity framework and the absorptive capacity perspective, we propose that expatriate competencies in knowledge transfer influence a subsidiary's performance through the knowledge received by the subsidiary, but tbat this indirect enect is stronger when subsidiary absorptive capacity is greater. We collected multisource, time-lagged data from 162 British subsidiaries of Taiwanese multinational nrms. The results support our hypotheses. Overall, we contribute to expatriation theory and research by revealing specinc expatriate competencies as well as identifying boundary conditions for successful expatriate knowledge transfer.

Regulatory Uncertainty and Opportunity Seeking: The Case of Clean Development

Regulatory uncertainty has been inherent in climate change policy due to the absence of a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Many companies have called for more certainty and a stable policy framework. However, besides having clear disadvantages, regulatory uncertainty may also benefit some companies if they recognize the opportunities of flux and move early. This article explores business opportunities that have emerged for different types of companies, including utilities, banks, project development & carbon offset companies, brokers, exchanges, consultants, auditors and legal services providers with respect to clean development projects and the related carbon market.