796,005 research outputs found
Toward a process theory of entrepreneurship: revisiting opportunity identification and entrepreneurial actions
This dissertation studies the early development of new ventures and small business and the entrepreneurship process from initial ideas to viable ventures. I unpack the micro-foundations of entrepreneurial actions and new ventures’ investor communications through quality signals to finance their growth path. This dissertation includes two qualitative papers and one quantitative study. The qualitative papers employ an inductive multiple-case approach and include seven medical equipment manufacturers (new ventures) in a nascent market context (the mobile health industry) across six U.S. states and a secondary data analysis to understand the emergence of opportunities and the early development of new ventures. The quantitative research chapter includes 770 IPOs in the manufacturing industries in the U.S. and investigates the legitimation strategies of young ventures to gain resources from targeted resource-holders.Open Acces
Capitalization, Scale, and Investment: Does Growth Equal Gain?
This study, commissioned by the William Penn Foundation, examines the state of Philadelphia's arts and culture sector.The study is divided into two major sections: trends in the greater Philadelphia ecosystem and assessing investments toward growth
Ontology-driven conceptual modeling: A'systematic literature mapping and review
All rights reserved. Ontology-driven conceptual modeling (ODCM) is still a relatively new research domain in the field of information systems and there is still much discussion on how the research in ODCM should be performed and what the focus of this research should be. Therefore, this article aims to critically survey the existing literature in order to assess the kind of research that has been performed over the years, analyze the nature of the research contributions and establish its current state of the art by positioning, evaluating and interpreting relevant research to date that is related to ODCM. To understand and identify any gaps and research opportunities, our literature study is composed of both a systematic mapping study and a systematic review study. The mapping study aims at structuring and classifying the area that is being investigated in order to give a general overview of the research that has been performed in the field. A review study on the other hand is a more thorough and rigorous inquiry and provides recommendations based on the strength of the found evidence. Our results indicate that there are several research gaps that should be addressed and we further composed several research opportunities that are possible areas for future research
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Investigating the Influence of Dockless Electric Bike-share on Travel Behavior, Attitudes, Health, and Equity
Cities throughout the world have implemented bike-share systems as a strategy for expanding mobility options. While these have attracted substantial ridership, little is known about their influence on travel behavior more broadly. The aim of this study was to examine how shared electric bikes (e-bikes) and e-scooters influence individual travel attitudes and behavior, and related outcomes of physical activity and transportation equity. The study involved a survey in the greater Sacramento area of 1959 households before (Spring 2016) and 988 after (Spring 2019) the Summer 2018 implementation of the e-bike and e-scooterservice operated by Jump, Inc., as well as a direct survey of 703 e-bike users (in Fall 2018 & Spring 2019). Among householdrespondents, 3–13% reported having used the service. Of e-bike share trips, 35% substituted for car travel, 30% substituted for walking, and 5% were used to connect to transit. Before- and after-household surveys indicated a slight decrease in self-reported (not objectively measured) median vehicle miles traveled and slight positive shifts in attitudes towards bicycling. Service implementation was associated with minimal changes in health in terms of physical activity and numbers of collisions. The percentages of users by self-reported student status, race, and income suggest a fairly equitable service distribution by these parameters, but each survey under-represents racial minorities and people with low incomes. Therefore, the study is inconclusive about how this service impacts those most in need. Furthermore, aggregated socio-demographics of areas where trips started or ended did not correlate with, and therefore are not reliable indicators of, the socio-demographics of e-bike-share users. Thus, targeted surveying of racial minorities and people with low-incomes is needed to understand bike-share equity
Nonprofit Performance Management: Using Data to Measure and Improve Programs
Tracking and measuring data can give nonprofits a better understanding of the populations they serve and how they serve them. It can also help them identify areas they can improve to boost the reach and effectiveness of their programs. But many organizations struggle with the idea of using data.How do successful nonprofits go about the process of implementing their data practices? What software do they use? What are the obstacles they face, and how do they overcome them? To find out, we reached out to our network of experts and consultants for examples of organizations that were successfully using data to improve and direct their work, and narrowed their list of recommendations down to 10 nonprofits of different sizes, missions, and locations.We talked to staffers at each who were involved with data and analyzed the information we gathered for common themes, best practices, and any patterns that might be useful. We also asked them for advice for other organizations looking to replicate their successes and learn from their mistakes.From those 10 organizations, we chose seven for case studies about the different ways they were using data. This report is built around those case studies and the additional conversations we had
Climate Science: Is it currently designed to answer questions?
For a variety of inter-related cultural, organizational, and political
reasons, progress in climate science and the actual solution of scientific
problems in this field have moved at a much slower rate than would normally be
possible. Not all these factors are unique to climate science, but the heavy
influence of politics has served to amplify the role of the other factors. Such
factors as the change in the scientific paradigm from a dialectic opposition
between theory and observation to an emphasis on simulation and observational
programs, the inordinate growth of administration in universities and the
consequent increase in importance of grant overhead, and the hierarchical
nature of formal scientific organizations are cosidered. This paper will deal
with the origin of the cultural changes and with specific examples of the
operation and interaction of these factors. In particular, we will show how
political bodies act to control scientific institutions, how scientists adjust
both data and even theory to accommodate politically correct positions, and how
opposition to these positions is disposed of.Comment: 36 pages, no figures. v2: footnotes 16, 19, 20 added, footnote 17
changed, typos corrected. v3: description of John Holdren corrected, expanded
discussion of I=PAT formula, typos corrected. v4: The reference to Deming
(2005) added in v3 stated that a 1995 email in question was from Jonathan
Overpeck. In fact, Deming had left the sender of the email unnamed. The
revision v4 now omits the identification of Overpeck. However, the revision
v4 now includes a more recent and verifiable reference to a 2005 emai
ExpandED Schools National Demonstration: Lessons for Scale and Sustainability
Can schools and community organizations come together to provide children with critical enrichment activities that enhance knowledge and expand horizons beyond core academics during the school day? This report by Policy Studies Associates, Inc., highlights some ways in which they might.The report investigates schools' use of the ExpandED Schools model, which seeks to use partnerships between public schools, community organizations and intermediary organizations to increase enrichment opportunities for children. In the model, regular school staffers focus largely on core academics, while a community-based organization offers enrichment activities during expanded school hours. A third, intermediary organization often coordinates and supports the effort.Researchers studied the use of this model in 10 schools in three cities—New York City, Baltimore and New Orleans—over four years. In this report, they identify the parts of the model that were easiest for the schools to implement, parts that proved more challenging and strategies schools used to overcome hurdles along the way.It finds that the partnerships were generally most successful in adding new activities to an expanded school day and were able to coordinate efforts between school staff and community organizations. But many schools struggled to find reliable sources of funding and to use data to drive programming and instruction
Public debates driven by incomplete scientific data: the cases of evolution theory, global warming and H1N1 pandemic influenza
Public debates driven by incomplete scientific data where nobody can claim
absolute certainty, due to current state of scientific knowledge, are studied.
The cases of evolution theory, global warming and H1N1 pandemic influenza are
investigated. The first two are of controversial impact while the third is more
neutral and resolved. To adopt a cautious balanced attitude based on clear but
inconclusive data appears to be a lose-out strategy. In contrast overstating
arguments with wrong claims which cannot be scientifically refuted appear to be
necessary but not sufficient to eventually win a public debate. The underlying
key mechanism of these puzzling and unfortunate conclusions are identified
using the Galam sequential probabilistic model of opinion dynamics. It reveals
that the existence of inflexible agents and their respective proportions are
the instrumental parameters to determine the faith of incomplete scientific
data public debates. Acting on one's own inflexible proportion modifies the
topology of the flow diagram, which in turn can make irrelevant initial
supports. On the contrary focusing on open-minded agents may be useless given
some topologies. When the evidence is not as strong as claimed, the inflexibles
rather than the data are found to drive the opinion of the population. The
results shed a new but disturbing light on designing adequate strategies to win
a public debate.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figure
Sustaining Change: PropelNext Alumni Results One Year Later
In 2012, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (EMCF) launched PropelNext to support promising nonprofits in strengthening their capacity to use data for learning, self-evaluation, and ongoing improvement. The first national cohort of grantees completed the program in 2015, and EMCF is conducting a study with alumni organizations to understand how PropelNext contributes to increased capacity and organizational performance over time. This learning brief highlights key insights and reflections from focus groups with CEOs and Executive Directors, and phone interviews with program and operational leaders from grantee organizations in late 2016
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