Technology-based Entrepreneurs Research Articles

Expatriation-enhanced competencies: A multiple case study of technology-based entrepreneurs

PURPOSE: Facing the research gap of entrepreneurial learning by self-expatriated technology-based entrepreneurs, the purpose of this research is to explore those entrepreneurs’ beliefs and experiences across expatriation to identify the enhancement of their competencies. METHODOLOGY: Within a qualitative and exploratory multiple case theory-building approach, data was collected from twelve technology entrepreneurs from Brazil, Mexico, Germany, and Israel that went to the following destination countries: Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Ireland, Turkey, and the Netherlands. With interview data as the primary source, the data analysis rests on a qualitative content analysis. FINDINGS: Data allows structuring techpreneurs’ experience of expatriation along the following steps: (a) arrival in the destination country and initial process of socialization, (b) engaging in activities to get familiar with the culture of the destination country, (c) the gradual comprehensive understanding of the new context, and (d) comparisons between the home and destination country. Expatriation had an evident impact on the technology-based entrepreneurs that materializes in three groups of competencies: entrepreneurial competencies, knowledge and innovative competencies, and international competencies. Entrepreneurial competencies relate to relational and behavioral skills and the learning of doing business in different contexts. Concerning knowledge and innovative competencies, creativity, learning new techniques and international innovation environment stand at the fore. Finally, international competencies relate to the acceptance of different cultures (multicultural learning and perception of cultural differences), developing a sense of an international community and an international innovation culture. IMPLICATIONS: This study evidenced the influence of expatriation experiences on the training of skills of technology-based entrepreneurs, in a specific approach to entrepreneurial, innovative, and intercultural competencies. The research portrays self-expatriation as an opportunity for technology-based entrepreneurs to develop different competencies being helpful to innovate, to manage business and to operate in international markets. Universities and innovators may recognize their discretion to develop programs for people like former students who want to self-expatriate. In the same vein, government can design policy to attract self-expatriate in innovations hubs, considering that local inhabitants can benefit from the cultural exchange. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: This study contributes to better understanding the influence of self-expatriation experiences on the development of skills of technology-based entrepreneurs. Compared to previous studies, it advances research through providing a wider range of learning from expatriation experiences beyond the effect of internationalization on market knowledge and cultural aspects. Furthermore, this study focuses the process, not the results of self-expatriation to understand entrepreneurs’ learning.

Increasing Business Survival Rate with Data Integration Business Strategy and Technology Commercialization

Increasing Business Survival Rate with Data Integration 
 Business Strategy and Technology Commercialization
 
 Abstract
 Technology commercialization is a series of processes from the development and marketing of a technology that is designed to reach a point that can be applied to a production or consumption activity so that it can generate profits. The success or failure of the commercialization of technology-based businesses is influenced by several factors, including the capacity of startups as technology-based entrepreneurs, mentors who accompany, incubation centers that carry out the incubation process, and value of the Technology Readiness Level (TKT) of commercialized technology products. This study aims to explain the increase in startups business survival rates with data integration of business strategies and technology commercialization. This research was conducted with the stages of exploring the problems and conducting a SWOT analysis of East Java startups, analyzing survival rate, making information system prototypes, and analyzing data integration and business strategies. The results showed that Usability Testing received an assessment of 87% consisting of 86% Easy of Use aspect, 88% Easy of Learning aspect, 86% Satisfaction aspect, and 89% on the Usefulness aspect. So information system designed is included very worthy category. The largest percentage of business problems by the HRM (24%) and Operations (24%) therefore need to get attention for solutions.
 
 Keywords: survival rate, startup, macroeconomics, Technology Readiness Level, prototype

A Taxonomy of Social-Network-Utilization Strategies for Emerging High-Technology Firms

Lack of network transparency limits entrepreneurs’ effective utilization of their networks for resource acquisition. Virtual platforms (e.g., SNS-Social Networking Sites) have the potential to leverage entrepreneurial networks. The purpose of this study is to understand why and how technology-based entrepreneurs use social media to effectively access resources and, in turn, shed light on how they overcome network transparency in the early stages of their new venture formation process. Through in-depth interviews with the (co-) founders of 18 technology-based start-ups, this work reports a four-way taxonomy of strategic use of SNS. This research provides new theoretical insights for the technoentrepreneurship literature and reports practical insights for entrepreneurs on how to use social media effectively. Furthermore, this work is a guide for future research looking at digital literacy in entrepreneurship.

ERIS모델에 따른 청년 스타트업 스케일업(Scale-up) 성공사례 분석

The purpose of this study is to anaylze the success factors of young entrepreneurs focusing on the characteristics, business performance, and socioeconomic marketability of young entrepreneurs, based on the ERIS model and social cognitive theory. In particular, based on the case of young start-up Alt-A, we analyze how the ERIS components interact with each other, such as entrepreneur, organizational resources, industry, and strategy, at the startup growth stages. According to the results of this study, in the start-up stage, various competitions were used by utilizing the strengths of student startups, and a team that could create synergy was formed to produce a prototype. By maximizing the limited network, experience was accumulated through execution rather than planning. After reaching the initial growth stage, the team was able to immerse themselves in the organization through an sharing vision, motivation and an horizontal corporate culture. The results of this study are intended to suggest implications for environmental factors and entrepreneurial competences for technology-based youth entrepreneurs.

How university business incubation supports entrepreneurs in technology-based and creative industries: A comparative study

ABSTRACT Business incubators (BIs) provide entrepreneurs with access to critical resources (for example, physical, financial, knowledge, social, legitimacy, and so on) that support venture development. Little is known about how support needs differ between entrepreneurs pursuing technology-based (TB) and creative-industry (CI) opportunities. Yet these differences may affect their ability to benefit from incubation. This is the first comparative study addressing this gap. Focusing on university BIs, our qualitative analysis reveals that TB entrepreneurs benefit from physical capital supporting proof of concept, financial grants, and technical and industry-specific knowledge capital. In contrast, CI entrepreneurs benefit from physical capital supporting product development, financing of smaller-scale projects, and knowledge capital focused on business basics. External legitimacy was more important to TB entrepreneurs, while internal social capital mattered more to CI entrepreneurs. We draw on value creation and capture to explain these differences. The findings have implications for research and practice concerned with incubation and university-based entrepreneurial support.

The Relationship between Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Self-efficacy and Technopreneurial Intention

As a developing country, Malaysia needs to develop a greater number of technology-savvy entrepreneurs to encounter the challenges of COVID19 and fourth industrial revolution (IR 4.0). However, the number of young technology-based entrepreneurs in Malaysia is still low. Moreover, not many studies have been done to identify the motivating factors of technology-based entrepreneurship. As such, this study was carried out to identify the influence of information and communication technology (ICT) self-efficacy on technopreneurial intention. A total of 152 students from a Malaysian public university was surveyed through self-administered questionnaire. Multiple regressions analysis was performed to test the hypotheses. The results revealed that three variables, namely Internet general ability, confidence in using computer and competency in using computer significantly influenced technopreneurial intention. Meanwhile, communicative ability did not have any significant relationship with technopreneurial intention. Generally, the findings supported previous studies that ICT self-efficacy played a role in determining an individual’s technopreneurial intention. Specifically, proficiency in computer skills and mastery of Internet general ability should be stressed. As technology-based entrepreneurship continues to play a crucial role in post-COVID19 era, it is important to develop more young and competitive technopreneurs. Thus, this study suggested that government should accentuate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education; while education providers should continue to offer ICT courses to the students in order to bolster the development of technopreneurship in the country.

THE USE OF DIGIPRENEUR AND SOCIOPRENEUR ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTEREST OF VOCATIONAL SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

This analysis aims to determine how the influence of the use of digipreneur and sociopreneurship on the entrepreneurial interest of vocational students. Especially with the condition of economic digitization which has become an icon of the factory revolution 4.0 at this time, it is a "threat" for business operators who always insist on implementing and managing their business in conventional ways. Digipreneurs have had a tremendous impact on the current entrepreneurial development. This has resulted in the creation of new technology-based entrepreneurs in developing their business innovations. No less than among young people equivalent to vocational high school students. It is different with sociopreneur whose development is an effort to improve the welfare of the people in the surrounding environment so that they can solve social problems with a business approach. Perfect and planned and prolonged social entrepreneurship can be tried through learning activities that lead to the development of sociopreneurs from vocational high school students. As the younger generation, they are agents of change who can share socio-economic changes by providing the latest opportunities for the community.

Transnational experience and high-performing entrepreneurs in emerging economies: Evidence from Vietnam

Do high-performing entrepreneurs in the technology sector in emerging economies have more, or different, transnational experience than the founders of high-performing non-technology businesses? Employing Vietnam as a case study, we find that they do; the founders of high-performing technology-oriented businesses are 15 times more likely to have transnational experience in the U.S. compared to their non-technology peers, and are 35 times more likely to be graduates of American universities compared to founders of high-performing, non-technology-oriented business. The founders of high-performing non-technology businesses are more ‘place-based’, as they have predominantly lived and studied in Vietnam. Our data and methods are comprised of a logistic regression analysis of the biographical details of Vietnam's 143 highest-performing entrepreneurs; the founders of the 76 Vietnam's (non-technology-based) companies with the highest market capitalizations and the 67 founders of Vietnam's highest performing technology-oriented companies, in terms of private equity fundraising, as of April 2020. The paper's theoretical contribution is the advance it makes in analytical explanations of why technology-based entrepreneurs have more transnational experience, especially in the U.S., than high-performing founders of businesses in other sectors; this helps extend theory on the relationship between social and human capital and entrepreneurial performance, specifically in the technology sector.

Digital Entrepreneurship in Finance: Fintechs and Funding Decision Criteria

After the 2007–08 global financial crisis, research flourished on entrepreneurship through digital innovation in the financial market as well as on investors’ influence on digital technology-based entrepreneurs’ funding decisions. This study combines these two research streams to analyze the decision-making criteria for funding financial technology companies (fintechs), hybrid companies that combine digital entrepreneurship, technology, and banking. The study first uses prior literature to derive important characteristics to define fintechs and then uses 12 expert interviews to elaborate on decision-making criteria in funding. Except for smaller peculiarities, fintech funding does not appear to differ from that of other digital entrepreneurship in different markets, and—as with most digital business models—scalability was identified as a key criterion. Additionally, by serving as a major provider of money for young companies, banks have changed their role and positioning in funding new financial technology entrepreneurs. Through developments in digital technology, banks have shifted from traditional money-lending activities (i.e., debt-financing) to becoming stakeholders in fintechs and, hence, equity investors. We also describe how these formerly distinct fields have converged due to regulatory requirements, digital newcomers, and a need for constant innovation, with their future sustainable development dependent on sharing and collaboration.

Technology-based entrepreneurial opportunity discovery and development

Technology-based entrepreneurs in Latin America face different institutional environments and have less access to knowledge and resources than those in industrialized economies. Opportunity discovery and construction therefore follow also different paths. Results from a set of parallel case studies in Argentina, Colombia and Mexico, explore some differences in terms of the role of available technological and market knowledge, and in terms of the entrepreneur’s background. But also, strong similarities among these countries’ economic development, their R&D infrastructure, and their institutional environments, shape similar patterns in their entrepreneurs’ endeavours. These patterns have important public policy implications for promoting innovation in transitional economies.

Can market knowledge lead to entrepreneurial opportunities and commercialization in sports startups

Sports startups are entering the knowledge-based economy, where knowledge and intangible assets are recognized as the most important factor in production as well as the most important competitive advantage. Therefore, the main purpose of this article is to examine whether market knowledge can lead to the formation of entrepreneurial opportunities and commercialization in sports startups. The statistical population of the study consisted of 100 technology-based entrepreneurs of sports startups in IRAN. The research tool for this paper was a questionnaire containing 40 questions using a 5-point Likert scale. The construct validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by factor analysis and AMOS 23 and SPSS software were used to test the hypotheses. The findings suggest a significant impact of market knowledge (T=4.58, β = 0.45, p < 0.01) and each of its dimensions, namely Identifying the right market, Awareness of supply and demand trends, and Market technology on the entrepreneurial opportunity formation in sports startups. According to the results of the research, we can state the positive impact of the market knowledge on the level of entrepreneurial opportunities of sports startups. It was concluded that market knowledge based on the commercialization of sports science research is a potential source of value creation and competitive advantage for the startups that ultimately develop such enterprises and help improve the technology-driven entrepreneurship status of these enterprises and job creation in sport scope.

Technology-based business opportunity identification in a Latin American country

In recent years, the number and quality of entrepreneurial projects that pursue technology-based business opportunities in Latin America, specifically in Mexico, have been growing. To support such efforts, it is important to understand the process through which entrepreneurs discover and create a technology-based business opportunity with the available resources as well as its similarities and differences regarding those processes in industrialized economies. This research analyzes technology-based business opportunity identification processes in Mexico and compares it with what is reported in the specialized literature about such processes in industrialized economies. The findings are based on content analysis of eight in-depth interviews applied to technology-based entrepreneurs. Specific contributions are discussed for the analysis of the Latin American innovation ecosystems and to the available theory about technological business opportunity identification processes. The main contribution to the specialized literature is the identification of patterns in the technology-based opportunity discovery process in contexts where knowledge resources and infrastructure are less abundant than in industrialized economies. The results illustrate the importance of the processes and skills that technology entrepreneurs must deploy to gain knowledge they know exists and those they need to master in order to take advantage of knowledge-based economic opportunities.

A Study on the Effect of Successful Factors of Establishment on Business Performance and Youth Start-upFirms' Competence

This study is to investigate the competence and success factors of entrepreneurs who have influence on business performance for young entrepreneurs and provide factors that increase the business success rate.
 Methods/Statistical analysis: The survey was conducted by CEO of technology-based young entrepreneurs who were under 39 years old. The number of people surveyed was 330, and the number of questionnaires was 205, which was 62.1%. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 22 and Smart PLS 3.0. The measurement and the structural model were analyzed to evaluate the significance and suitability of the path coefficients between the variables.

Do Actions Matter More than Resources? A Signalling Theory Perspective on the Technology Entrepreneurship Process

Technology entrepreneurs are highly regarded as targets of economic policy (Lerner, 2010). The policy expectations on fostering technology-based entrepreneurs contrasts with our limited understanding on how technology entrepreneurship unfolds (Acs et al., 2011). As a result, we often find that initiatives that aim to spur high-growth technology-based entrepreneurial projects fail to achieve the expected results (Shane, 2009).

Paradise lost? The case of technology-based small firms in New Zealand in the post-global financial crisis economic environment

In this paper, we draw on two studies that used face-to-face, qualitative interviews with technology-based small firms (TBSFs) and informal interviews with key informants. The interviews took place with two data-sets of TBSFs, the first with 20 firms in 2011 and the second with 34 agri-businesses in 2013. This study provides some temporal comparisons of the funding environment for TBSFs in New Zealand, but this is not a longitudinal study as the two data-sets were obtained from the recruitment of different firms. However, all the TBSFs were located in New Zealand, a small open economy with a limited domestic market, a population of 4.4 million, GDP per capita of US$32,260 (2010) and arguably an immature and limited financial infrastructure. This environment is complex for founding new businesses by technology-based entrepreneurs as developing and staying in New Zealand means accepting being a long distance from major overseas markets even though TBSFs have potential to be in global markets, in practice. Such TBSFs, therefore, face pressure to move overseas for markets and for finance and other resources; if successful they may make attractive takeover targets for overseas investors and MNCs. Despite these challenges, TBSFs have been promoted as key contributors to GDP and a way of filling the New Zealand productivity gap (compared with Australia and other developed nations). Although we find evidence of the development of embryonic regional and specialised business angel networks on the supply-side of finance, there is still a marked reluctance to undertake a search for external equity and evidence of discouraged borrowing and discouraged grant-based applications on the demand-side. New Zealand is sometimes described as ‘paradise’ (The use of this term often refers to a fondness for the high quality of life in New Zealand and its economic environment, not just the natural beauty of the country). due to its natural and outstanding beauty, but in our conclusions we suggest that the comparatively stable economic environment has not operated in favour of TBSFs.

PENGEMBANGAN “TECHNOPRENEURSHIP” DI PERGURUAN TINGGI DAN IMPLIKASI KEBIJAKANNYA

In dealing with labor issues, it needs continued effort to reduce unemployment breakthrough that is felt over the yearscontinued to to increase , particularly from college graduates. Providing subject matter Technopreneurship expected to provide an alternative solution, especially in view of the changing pattern (mindset) of student job seekers into job creators. Technopreneuship load theory and practice of entrepreneurship by providing innovation through the application of technology which are held by the college in particular and other technology resources to create innovative products so as to generate new technology-based entrepreneurs. To make that happen, it is necessary to know the conditions and constraints of the college in the development of this Technopreneurship. Because certainly at this moment the new universities provide an introduction to entrepreneurship has not been in the form of technology entrepreneurship. For that team BPP Technology has conducted a study to provide advice to the parties involved in the development of good Technopreneurship related to the condition, model development and the policies required to encourage the development of Technopreneurship in college.

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.

Location Decisions of Technology-Based Entrepreneurs: Why Some Catalan KISAs Choose to Be Rural?

Entrepreneurship has currently become an important element of economic, employment and innovation policy. In this context, the promotion of technology-based firms has become the norm, even in rural areas. Thus, the study presented in this paper analyses the variables that influence the choice of location made by rural and urban Knowledge Intensive Service Activity firms (KISA, hereafter), taking as reference three of the most common theoretical frameworks used to analyse location decision-making: neoclassical, institutional, and behavioural. The results of the quantitative study allows for important policy making recommendations, but also offers significant contributions for entrepreneurship and regional development researchers, as well as practical insights for entrepreneurs.

Patterns of venture gestation process: Exploring the differences between tech and non-tech nascent entrepreneurs

The process of creating new organizations has increasingly become the focus of entrepreneurship research [Gartner, W. (1990). What are we talking when we talk about entrepreneurship? Journal of Business Venturing 5(1), 15–28]. However, few entrepreneurship studies explore the venture creation process, and even fewer do it empirically, with the exceptions of Bhave [Bhave, M. (1994). A process model of entrepreneurial venture creation. Journal of Business Venturing 9, 223–242], Reynolds and Miller [Reynolds, P., & Miller, B. (1992). New firm gestation: conception, birth, and implications for research. Journal of Business Venturing 7, 405–417], Carter, Gartner and Reynolds [Carter, N., Gartner, W., & Reynolds, P. (1996). Exploring startup event sequences. Journal of Business Venturing 11, 151–166] and Delmar and Shane [Delmar, F., & Shane, S. (2002). What firm founders do: a longitudinal study of the startup process. In William D. Bygrave, Candida G. Brush, Per Davidsson, & James Fiet (Eds.), Frontier of Entrepreneurship Research. Babson Park, MA: Babson College]. Using the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) dataset, this study examines different venture creation process attributes across technology-based entrepreneurs (TBEs) and non-technology-based nascent entrepreneurs (N-TBEs), In particular, we address this research question: Do TBEs and N-TBEs differ in their venture creation process in terms of the number of startup activities engaged, gestation duration, association and sequencing patterns of startup activities? We find that, compared to N-TBEs, TBEs engage in more startup activities in planning, legitimacy establishment and resource acquisitions, but not in marketing. TBEs take longer to complete gestation. Surprisingly, the two types of startups share a common set of core activities, very similar in their sequencing patterns. It suggests that creating a business entails many common core processes irrespective of organizational and industry settings. What differentiates them is non-core, peripheral activities. Implications for future research are provided.

Entrepreneurial learning: A conceptual framework for technology-based enterprise

Entrepreneurial learning has emerged as an important yet insufficiently understood area of enquiry. This paper develops new understanding in this area from a social constructionist perspective by using narratives elicited from technology-based entrepreneurs to explore their learning experiences and behaviours. The unit of analysis is the emergent entrepreneur in the technology-based enterprise. The paper develops a framework for analysing entrepreneurial learning through in-depth analysis of entrepreneurial experiences by using discourse analysis based on a social learning perspective. This conceptual framework includes three major themes of personal and social emergence, contextual learning and the negotiated enterprise, and 11 related sub-themes. These demonstrate connections between the emergence of entrepreneurial identity, learning as a social and contextual process, opportunity recognition, and venture formation as a negotiated activity.