Entrepreneurial Profile Research Articles

A TRILOGY OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP: PERFORMANCE, CAPACITY AND COMPETENCE AS A FACTOR OF SUCCESS FOR MICRO AND SMALL ENTERPRISES

The micro and small enterprises, which play a significant role in global socio-economic framework, adopt a new way to manage, driven by a new scenario in favor of globalization. The new business landscape brought up the human capital through entrepreneurs. Furthermore, barriers, both commercial and cultural,have been eliminated, engendering innovations in labor relations and employability, thus favoring the new means of wealth for society and organizational success. Based on that premise this research was developed addressing the topic of entrepreneurship from the perspective of entrepreneurship trilogy ‑ behavior, skills and competence ‑ as a factor for success, needed in this new business environment, where organizations and managers are induced to adapt to its dynamism. To meet the proposed objectives, we carried out a survey of theoretical inferences based on the theoretical framework presented. The method used in this research was a descriptive study about the purposes and the literature. It was concluded that the unveiling of this movement reveals the multiplicity of relations involving the entrepreneurial profile.

Entrepreneurial Profile and Environmental Commitment of SMEs: A Comparative Analysis in Franceand in Tunisia

A pillar of sustainable development (SD), environmental commitment is the subject of many academic studies often devoted to large enterprises located in developed countries. This article analyzes the environmental commitment of SMEs in terms of public policies in favor of SD in two national contexts, namely France and Tunisia, based on a frame of reference of entrepreneurs’ profile. The deductive qualitative methodological approach is essentially based on analysis of interviews conducted in twelve SMEs in each country. The results show that the environmental commitment of SMEs and their motivations are influenced by the managers’ entrepreneurial characteristics as well as their education level, degree of innovation and integration in social networks. The comparative analysis shows convergence and divergence between the French and Tunisian contexts, particularly because of public policy, a mirror image of national cultures.

Profiling of the Nigerian Entrepreneurs

This paper took a cursory look on profiling of the Nigerian entrepreneurs because it is understood that entrepreneurs are differing in their behaviour compared to the non-entrepreneurs. To achieve this purpose several issues such the meaning of profile and profiling, theoretical framework of entrepreneurial profile, the general profile of entrepreneurs, the profiling of foreign entrepreneurs, the profiling of the Nigerian entrepreneurs, and a comparative analysis of the Nigerian entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs from other countries, were analytically reviewed. The paper shows that the Nigerian entrepreneur has-drive and energy, self-confidence, desire for money, need for achievement; is-a persistent problem-solver, a goal setter, optimistic, independence, a master of his own fate, profit-oriented and he-takes initiatives and seeks personal responsibility, gets along with others, and shows foresight. This analysis shows that the profile of the Nigerian entrepreneurs is not significantly different from those in foreign countries but what makes the foreign entrepreneurs more successful than the Nigerian entrepreneurs is that they have a system that works unlike Nigeria that is characterized by inadequate infrastructures, high level of government interference and political instability, lack of technological education, mistrust and dishonesty, and high level of corruption.Keywords: Entrepreneurs, Profiling, entrepreneur characteristics, social psychology, personality, cognition

Academic entrepreneurship in UK biotechnology firms

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to attempt to provide an insight into the individual aspects of academic entrepreneurship, defining a series of entrepreneurial profiles and investigating the challenges associated with each specific role as well as their impact on firm's performance.Design/methodology/approachThe presented findings are based on the analysis of secondary and primary data. First, a series of articles and reports regarding academic entrepreneurship have been accessed in order to define the research framework. Second, primary data were collected through semi‐structured interviews conducted with 26 academic entrepreneurs working in UK biotech firms.FindingsThe analysis of data revealed that academics choose mainly three forms of academic entrepreneurship: founder‐manager of an entrepreneurial firm; project manager in an existing firm; or scientific advisor to the board of directors of one or several firms. In each of these three situations, the personal responsibilities, the level of implication and the performance impact of the academic entrepreneur are different.Research implications/limitationsFindings demonstrate a direct relation between the specific responsibilities associated with the three types of academic entrepreneurship and the scientific/research performance of the investigated firms. Unfortunately, the small sample does not permit generalizations at industry or national level. Future studies should, on one hand, increase the field of investigation, in order to develop reliable measurements of academic entrepreneurship performance; and, on the other hand, collect additional qualitative information using a case study approach.Practical implicationsThe findings may provide useful information for academic entrepreneurs working in the biotech sector, regarding the specific challenges and positioning of each entrepreneurial role, allowing them to take better professional decisions.Originality/valueThe study enriches the existing literature on academic entrepreneurship, expanding the definition and the profile of entrepreneurial roles to include also intrapreneurship activities in medium‐size or larger organizations.

Entrepreneurial behavior: Impact of motivation factors on decision to create a new venture

Newly created enterprises increase the dynamism of economies and generate employment. Thus, they are the object of growing research interest. Forming a new company represents a decision based on both personal and subjective motives, as well as on the environment. But regardless of the origin, a founder's motivation represents a commitment to a project or business idea, and thus dictates the future success of the enterprise. This article investigates the motivational profiles of entrepreneurs, and why they choose to create new industrial enterprises. To detail this profile, we present the results of an empirical study of 101 entrepreneurs who have founded companies. The results offer significant conclusions for both academics and practitioners. Firstly, making money or being one's own boss does not appear to be sufficient reasons to create a new venture. Secondly, the motivation content of entrepreneurs influences their decision to start a business. From these conclusions, some relevant guidelines are suggested.

Silver Entrepreneurship Agenda in Malaysia: A Proposed Model for Productive Aging

This paper aims at proposing a framework for productive aging among those aged 45-plus or retiree via entrepreneurial initiatives, known as ‘silver entrepreneurs’. Evidence has shown that the number of Malaysians aged population is estimated to be more than 1.4 million and is projected to increase to 3.3 million in the year 2020 (Mafauzy, 2000). It is acknowledged that a group of these will comprise of professionals who are aged 45-plus and retirees with relevant industry experience as well as knowledge and well-established networks built up over their working careers which will enable them to effectively identify entrepreneurial opportunities and secure resources efficiently to exploit them. However, there is little research on and understanding of what drives these ‘silver entrepreneurs’, with most of the research, focussed on entrepreneurial ventures started by 18-35 year-olds. This means that policy-makers are ill-equipped to develop specific measures that will assist retirees into a second or sunset career in entrepreneurship. This research aims to bridge the gap by assessing the profile and motivations of silver entrepreneurs in Malaysia with a specific focus on understanding the internal and external factors that affect their intentions to start new ventures as well as factors that affect the success and growth of these ventures.

The Significance Difference on Entrepreneurial Profile toward Entrepreneurial Personality in Micro and Small Business: Malaysia Creative Industry

In literature, an essential of entrepreneurial profile toward entrepreneurial personality become significant, particularly in developing the factor of need for achievement, locus of control, creativity, innovative and grab market opportunities. Therefore, this paper postulated that inculcation of entrepreneurial profile among creative entrepreneurs toward entrepreneurial personality. This survey study further identified eight items in entrepreneurial profile that relate to the identification of entrepreneurial personality, there are; gender, age, education, and field of study which are grouping under demographic profile; and, zones of operation, paid-capital, sales turnover, and paid-up capital are under business profile. This study was conducted by distributing questionnaires to 309 creative entrepreneurs in five zones in Malaysia, there are; East-Coast Malaysia, West-Coast Malaysia, North Peninsular Malaysia, South Peninsular Malaysia, and East Malaysia. However, the data revealed that six out of eight items of entrepreneurial profile are not significant differences toward the entrepreneurial personality. There are only the items of zones of operations and numbers of employees are significantly differences toward the entrepreneurial personality. In general, the results indicated that most of items in entrepreneurial profile are not really important to consider as a factor in implementing the program that related to the development of entrepreneurial personality, especially in Malaysia creative industry.

Microenterprise Innovation in the State of Amazonas: The Case of Delicatessem Pescado

This study aimed to analyze the characteristics of the innovation process in a microenterprise in the state of Amazonas. This research was conducted as a case study, the universe of the sample was based on the companies covered by the Research Support Program to the small company - PAPPE (2008), the delimitation of the universe was made by the company Delicatessem Pescado. As research methods occurred applying a form together with partners and direct observation in the productive area. The search results are the sources of financing used by the company; innovations in products and processes; cooperation and capacity for innovation, and human resources management. In the conclusions the importance of the entrepreneur's profile for organizational success, the impacts of infrastructure in the R & D, cooperation with the various institutional actors places for learning technological and structural difficulties and bureaucratic to implement the innovation.

Strategy, market orientation and entrepreneurship: proposition and test of rival business performance prediction models

Studies of factors influencing business performance and their relationship to entrepreneurship and innovation have attracted interest from a great number of researchers. This study explores the relation existing between the potential entrepreneur profile, innovativeness, market orientation, environmental turbulence and the performance of small companies. The fundamental premise is that internal factors, such as market orientation, innovativeness and the entrepreneur profile, combine with external factors to determine company performance. In order to verify theses hypothesis, a survey was conducted, with a sample of 1,552 entrepreneurs. The results demonstrated that the entrepreneur profile may act as the determinant of market orientation and innovativeness, with significant impact on business performance.

Anthropocentrism and ecocentrism in potential technology-based entrepreneurs

This study aims to characterize the profile of potential technology-based entrepreneurs (PTBE) in terms of their environmental values, given that one would expect to observe differences in their pattern of ecological values in comparison with people who do not aspire to set up a technology-based enterprise. On a sample of 191 students from the University of Almería (34.5%o men, 65.5%o women, age range: 18–50, M = 23, SD = 6) an electronic questionnaire was carried out, containing a scale of ecocentric environmental values, anthropocentric environmental values, sociodemographic items and items aimed at classifying the participants as PTBE. The results show that there are no statistically significant differences with regard to ecocentrism, but that there are in relation to anthropocentrism in accordance with the entrepreneurial profile. These results indicate that PTBE tend to be more anthropocentric individuals than the non-entrepreneurial population and general purpose entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurial Behaviour among the Pig Farmers of Kamrup District of Assam

An investigation was undertaken to study the entrepreneurial behaviour of pig farmers in the Kamrup district of Assam from August to October 2010. Out of the total 17 developmental blocks of Kamrup district of Assam, the study was conducted in two purposively selected development blocks, Rampur and Chayani-Barduar. From these two selected blocks, a list of villages predominantly having higher pig population was prepared, with consultation of district officials of the Panchayat and Rural development department and the District Veterinary Officer, Kamrup, Assam. From the selected list, five villages from each block were choosen randomly to carry out the present study in 10 villages. From each selected village, 10 piggery farmers were selected to obtain a sample size of 100 for the study. The entrepreneurial profile turns out to be low with respect to leadership ability (45%) and cosmopoliteness (82%); medium with respect to innovativeness (59%), knowledge of enterprise (44%), information seeking behaviour (44%), risk taking orientation (73%); and equal percentage (36%) of medium and high with respect to decisionmaking behaviour. Overall, the study revealed that 53, 25 and 22% of the respondents had medium, low and high levels of Entrepreneurial Behaviour Index, respectively.

The Ethnic Entrepreneurial Transition: Recent Trends in British Indian Self-Employment

The Indian community in the UK is exemplifying an ‘ethnic entrepreneurial transition’. Impressive educational credentials, an increasing presence in the professions and diversification into new and emerging sectors are gradually changing the profile of Indian entrepreneurship. This paper reports on the growing convergence of Indian self-employment with white-owned businesses, a trend first noted in 2003. We examine the factors behind this growing harmonisation and identify grounds for qualified optimism. A number of policy implications are also identified, particularly in respect to the quantitative preoccupation of government measures to promote self-employment.

Reasons to create a new venture: A determinant of entrepreneurial profiles

Newly created enterprises increase the dynamism of economies and generate employment. Thus, they are subject to significant recent research. Forming a new company represents a decision based on both personal and subjective motives, as much as on the environment. But regardless of the origin, a founder’s motivation represents a commitment to a project or business idea and thus dictates the future success of the enterprise. Therefore, this article investigates entrepreneurs’ motivational profiles and why they choose to create new industrial enterprises. To detail this profile, we present the results of an empirical study of 101 entrepreneurs who have founded companies. The results offer significant conclusions for both academics and practitioners. Firstly, making money or being one’s own boss does not appear sufficient reasons to create a new venture. Secondly, the motivation content of entrepreneurs influences their decision to start a business. From these conclusions, some relevant guidelines are suggested. The main guidelines would be that assessments of business projects whether by venture capital firms, financial entities, or other actors the characteristics of the entrepreneur should be weighted more heavily in decisions to support the business project or not.

HOW ENTREPRENEURIAL CHARACTERISTICS INFLUENCE COMPANY CREATION: A CROSS-NATIONAL STUDY OF 22 COUNTRIESTESTED WITH PANEL DATA METHODOLOGY / VERSLUMO CHARAKTERISTIKŲ ĮTAKA ĮMONĖS KŪRIMUI: STUDIJOS, ATLIKTOS 22 VALSTYBĖSE, REZULTATŲ PRISTATYMAS

This study analyzes, from a multicountry perspective, the influence of the sociodemographic profiles of nascent and new entrepreneurs on their behavior. The panel data-based research approach combines temporal series and cross-sectional data to assess entrepreneurial activities across 22 countries with varying income levels. The results show that entrepreneurs' characteristics influence entrepreneurial behavior significantly and positively, in the following order: previous experience of the founder, age, and education. These findings suggest valid recommendations for stimulating entrepreneurship, both for enterprising business founders and for the institutions responsible for designing economic and regional development policies. Santrauka Straipsnyje pristatomų tyrimų rezultatai apima sociodemografinių veiksnių įtakos naujai kuriamam verslui ir jo aplinkai analizę. Tyrimas buvo atliktas 22 valstybėse. Jo rezultatai rodo, kad tam tikros individualios asmens verslumo savybės turi teigiamą įtaką paties verslo organizavimui, pavyzdžiui, ankstesnė verslininko patirtis, amžius ir išsilavinimas. Straipsnio autoriai pateikia rekomendacijas, susijusias su verslumo skatinimu, jos turės įtakos ne tik ekonominei, bet ir regioninei vystymosi politikai.

Il Sistema di Imprese della Cooperazione Sociale: Origini e Sviluppo dei Consorzi di Cooperative Sociali (Networking Among Social Cooperatives: Origins and Development of Consortia)

The paper aims to study the organizational structure, namely the integration developed among social cooperatives in Italy over their thirty years of history. In addition to organizing political and trade union representation, the social cooperation movement has felt the need to develop a system of consortia organized on several levels. In order to better carry out their tasks, in fact, social cooperatives make use of Consortia, i.e. business entities that rarely work at the end of the supply chain or operate in the market for services. Consortia prefer to remain in the middle and supply business services. The paper also highlights the changing role of the consortium system: from a promotion and political representation to a more targeted function. The consortium seeks to perform fewer and more specific functions, especially to strengthen the entrepreneurial profile of social cooperatives and of the network as a whole.

Impact of HRD Intervention on Women Entrepreneurship Development in Jharkhand

The role of gender in economic development process has been increasingly recognized as crucial, both in terms of potential for success and in the nature of the impact of particular development strategies and programs. Gender becomes especially important to consider in case of micro-enterprise approach, as the traditional home-centered roles of women can make it far easier for women to participate in such programs as opposed to the more traditional, large and medium scale enterprises. The paper attempts to identify the influence of two HRD interventions, viz. Education and Training on women entrepreneurship development in the state of Jharkhand. The sample for the study comprises sixty two (62) women entrepreneurs in Dhanbad district of Jharkhand state. A survey, using questionnaire method, has been conducted to obtain data on the nature of enterprise, socio economic profile of the entrepreneurs and importance of Training and Education interventions in entrepreneurship development. Right-tailed “z” Test has been used to test the formulated hypothesis on Education and Training interventions. The findings of the study shows that there is no role of Education in starting an enterprise but it plays an important role in improving the entrepreneurial quality and performance of the enterprise.

Clustering of Angolan entrepreneurs: an analysis of their entrepreneurial posture

This paper aims to contribute to the debate concerning whether entrepreneurial posture (consisting of innovativeness, risk taking, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness, and internal locus of control) is a unidimensional or multidimensional construct. Furthermore, it identifies the profile of Angolan entrepreneurs in terms of their entrepreneurial attitude, and investigates how this profile enhances business performance. The findings suggest that entrepreneurial posture is a multidimensional construct. However, they also suggest that the three entrepreneurial clusters behave differently. Implications for Government and decision-makers, and suggestions for future research are given in the concluding section.

Entrepreneurship: An Educational Perspective (The Case Of Slovenia Compared To Developed Economies)

Challenges of modern economy are forcing the developed countries to seek comparative advantages mainly in their human resources in the trained, educated, flexible and self-confident workforce. Lifetime learning, continuous training and systematic development of entrepreneurial and managerial skills are becoming the basic need for any developed and/or developing country. Well-educated people with the above mentioned characteristics are initiators of high-tech and dynamic entrepreneurship, which is without doubt the main factor of development. Considering the fact that Slovenia is still far away from ideal entrepreneurial society in which entrepreneurship is the way of life for the majority of its population as well as taking into account that Slovenian entrepreneurs and managers have much lower education than their American counterparts we come to the conclusion that Slovenia should focus much more on entrepreneurial and managerial education. For these reasons we are going to discuss the following hypotheses:Slovenia needs to expand its entrepreneurial activity in general, especially dynamic and high-tech entrepreneurship to compete successfully on the European market.The psychological profile of Slovenian people and/or entrepreneurs is closer to theprofile of employees than to dynamic entrepreneurs. Dynamic entrepreneurship requires a higher educational level than Slovenian entrepreneursposses.Slovenia should improve its educational structure.Entrepreneurial education should involve the implementation of modern, active learningmethods.Active teaching (learning) methods contribute to the development of entrepreneurial characteristics.

Dimensions Of Entrepreneurial Activity: The Case Of Slovenia

Even though the Slovenian economic development policy is forcing the development of fast-growing enterprises, there is still a significant gap between the vision of highly-developed entrepreneurship and Slovenian entrepreneurial reality. Increasing rate of environmental change, technological complexity, globalization and many other challenges of modern economy are continuously forcing the developed countries to seek comparative advantages mainly in their human resources in the trained, educated, flexible and self-confident workforce. Well educated people, possessing entrepreneurial skills and characteristics are initiators of high-tech and dynamic entrepreneurship, which is without doubt the main factor of development. In spite of the fact that the Slovenian economic development policy is forcing the development of high-tech and knowledge-based enterprises, there is still the significant gap between the vision of highly-developed entrepreneurship and Slovenian entrepreneurial reality. Considering the fact, that Slovenia is still far away from ideal entrepreneurial society in which entrepreneurship is the way of life for the majority of its population, this paper discusses dimensions of entrepreneurial activity, the main obstacles of entrepreneurial activity in Slovenia and the following hypotheses: (1) Slovenia needs to expand its entrepreneurial activity, especially high-tech, knowledge-based and dynamic entrepreneurship to compete successfully on the European market, (2) entrepreneurial culture in Slovenia is rather low; the psychological profile of Slovenian entrepreneurs is closer to profile of employees than to dynamic entrepreneurs. As the entrepreneurial activity is a major feature showing the development of certain economy, the main aim of this study is to highlight the entrepreneurial activity in Slovenia and consequently to give suggestions for improving and developing current entrepreneurial situation. A vital task of the Slovenian entrepreneurial policy at the beginning of the 21st century is to set up a learning organization platform in small and medium enterprises, thus enabling their growth and sustainable comparative advantage. Moreover, the greatest challenge is to change the peoples attitudes - building entrepreneurial culture in striving to move Slovenian economy towards the knowledge-based society.

Firm Gestation Process: Is There a Difference between Necessity and Opportunity Entrepreneurs?

Necessity and opportunity entrepreneurship literature shows that these two types of entrepreneurship could lead to different entrepreneurial behaviors. Some researchers argue that there could exist more than two different entrepreneurial profiles in terms of motivations. Based on these arguments, the objective of our research is to determine whether there are different profiles of necessity-opportunity entrepreneurs and if there are differences in terms of gestation process between these two kinds of entrepreneurs. Based on a sample of 538 entrepreneurs, our results show that entrepreneurs significantly differ one from another in terms of gestation process and that there are different subgroups of necessity-opportunity entrepreneurs.