14,330 research outputs found

    Toward a process theory of entrepreneurship: revisiting opportunity identification and entrepreneurial actions

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    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

    Patenting by Entrepreneurs: An Empirical Study

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    [T]he Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation--an organization that studies and promotes entrepreneurship in the United States--funded an effort at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, to undertake the first comprehensive survey of the relationship between patenting and entrepreneurship in the United States. The authors, along with other investigators, administered the survey in 2008 to approximately 15,000 startup and early-stage companies in the biotechnology, medical device, information technology (IT) hardware, and software and Internet sectors. A portion of the survey examined why entrepreneurs, startups, and early-stage companies do (and do not) seek patents. This Article reports and analyzes results from that survey, showing that several widespread beliefs about startup firm patenting practices are very likely wrong. In brief, like the surveys of large firms, our respondents that hold patents report that the main motivation for patenting is to prevent others from copying their products and services. This result holds--and is statistically valid--across a variety of company characteristics, including firm age, revenues, industry, and patent portfolio size. Because we find that many young technology companies are holding patents, our results offer evidence that is somewhat at odds with frequently cited anecdotal reports that startups, especially in the software and Internet industries, generally do not use patents to protect against the erosion of their profits. We offer one important caveat, however. A substantial fraction of young firms are apparently opting out of the patent system altogether, and this observation is particularly true of companies in the software and Internet sectors. That said, our findings suggest that patent holding, and the strategic use of patents, is more widespread--even among young software and Internet companies--than commentators have previously reported. Additionally, we find--consistent with anecdotal reports--that many startups rely heavily on patents as signals to the market to improve their chances of raising financing, being acquired, and going public. Our results greatly contrast with previous large-firm studies, however, which showed relatively little reliance on patents for these kinds of signaling. Indeed, our results show that as the patent-holding firms in our sample become older and larger, they tend to rely less on patents as signals. This finding is also important because it lends some empirical support--which had been lacking--for the alternative signaling theories of patents, especially for younger startups. Like large firms, our respondents that hold patents report engaging in strategic patenting to help defend against patent infringement suits and to increase negotiating power, possibly for cross-licensing with other firms. Recognizing that startups--and not just those in the biotechnology field--find the strategic use of patents important is a novel finding. Nonetheless, we show that these young technology companies are especially sensitive to the costs of acquiring and enforcing patents, which--at nearly $40,000 per patent--are roughly double the reported average for all patentees. Thus, even though startup firms are well aware of the strategic uses of patents, resource constraints may mean that fewer of them can engage in these strategies as compared with large incumbents. To the extent that strategic patenting is positively related to firm success and survival, we highlight this finding as a policy concern deserving of further study, especially in industries--like electronics--with large numbers of incumbents engaging in similar strategic patenting

    Determinants of innovativeness in SMEs. disentangling core innovation and technology adoption capabilities

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    This paper studies innovativeness in SMEs from a set of innovation indicators at the firm level, capturing various types of innovation (product, process, organisational, and marketing innovations) and the level of innovativeness in these firm’s developments. The article identifies two separate dimensions in the innovativeness of Spanish SMEs, using factor analysis techniques. One dimension is associated with the capabilities for core/internal innovation and the other with the capabilities for the adoption of technology. The paper shows that significant differences exist in the personal and organisational factors that favour these two dimensions. The entrepreneur’s motivation, business planning, and cooperation in R&D activities constitute significant factors when considering the core dimension of a firm’s innovativeness, but have no effect on the firm’s capabilities for technology adoption. However, the use of external consultancy services seems to have no significant effect on the core dimension of the innovativeness of anSME, whereas it is a relevant factor for its technology adoption. Furthermore, it is shown that the entrepreneur’s education plays a more significant role in the core dimension of a firm’s innovativeness than in its capabilities for technology adoption. Depending on the policy objectives, these differences should lead to the application of specific policy approaches when an attempt to stimulate innovation in SMEs is made

    The Use of Trademarks in Empirical Research: Towards an Integrated Framework

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    This paper represents an early attempt to develop an integrated framework linking empirical studies that make use of trademark statistics. Despite its youth, this field of scholarly activity has already accumulated a critical mass of papers that allow us to draw first general conclusions about the trademark lifecycle and its impact on organisational functioning. Based on a systematic review of 64 articles with some elements of empirical trademark analysis, five broad research areas have been identified, namely: the determinants of trademark deposits; the relationship between trademarks and innovation processes; the role of trademarks in differentiating product offerings; the strategic use of trademarks; and the impact of trademarks on firm performance. Within each category, a more detailed aggregation of articles has also been proposed. Overall, the analysis has shown that the performance-based perspective currently dominates the research landscape, with studies on trademark deposits and the trademark-innovation link to follow. At the same time, there is still little known about micro-foundations of a company's trademarking behaviour; the use of trademarks and other intellectual property rights in a complementary way and its effect on value transference; as well as the performance implications of differentiation strategy. This paper considers these and other findings to outline directions for future research

    Patenting by Entrepreneurs: An Empirical Study

    Get PDF
    [T]he Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation--an organization that studies and promotes entrepreneurship in the United States--funded an effort at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, to undertake the first comprehensive survey of the relationship between patenting and entrepreneurship in the United States. The authors, along with other investigators, administered the survey in 2008 to approximately 15,000 startup and early-stage companies in the biotechnology, medical device, information technology (IT) hardware, and software and Internet sectors. A portion of the survey examined why entrepreneurs, startups, and early-stage companies do (and do not) seek patents. This Article reports and analyzes results from that survey, showing that several widespread beliefs about startup firm patenting practices are very likely wrong. In brief, like the surveys of large firms, our respondents that hold patents report that the main motivation for patenting is to prevent others from copying their products and services. This result holds--and is statistically valid--across a variety of company characteristics, including firm age, revenues, industry, and patent portfolio size. Because we find that many young technology companies are holding patents, our results offer evidence that is somewhat at odds with frequently cited anecdotal reports that startups, especially in the software and Internet industries, generally do not use patents to protect against the erosion of their profits. We offer one important caveat, however. A substantial fraction of young firms are apparently opting out of the patent system altogether, and this observation is particularly true of companies in the software and Internet sectors. That said, our findings suggest that patent holding, and the strategic use of patents, is more widespread--even among young software and Internet companies--than commentators have previously reported. Additionally, we find--consistent with anecdotal reports--that many startups rely heavily on patents as signals to the market to improve their chances of raising financing, being acquired, and going public. Our results greatly contrast with previous large-firm studies, however, which showed relatively little reliance on patents for these kinds of signaling. Indeed, our results show that as the patent-holding firms in our sample become older and larger, they tend to rely less on patents as signals. This finding is also important because it lends some empirical support--which had been lacking--for the alternative signaling theories of patents, especially for younger startups. Like large firms, our respondents that hold patents report engaging in strategic patenting to help defend against patent infringement suits and to increase negotiating power, possibly for cross-licensing with other firms. Recognizing that startups--and not just those in the biotechnology field--find the strategic use of patents important is a novel finding. Nonetheless, we show that these young technology companies are especially sensitive to the costs of acquiring and enforcing patents, which--at nearly $40,000 per patent--are roughly double the reported average for all patentees. Thus, even though startup firms are well aware of the strategic uses of patents, resource constraints may mean that fewer of them can engage in these strategies as compared with large incumbents. To the extent that strategic patenting is positively related to firm success and survival, we highlight this finding as a policy concern deserving of further study, especially in industries--like electronics--with large numbers of incumbents engaging in similar strategic patenting

    Ethics and taxation : a cross-national comparison of UK and Turkish firms

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    This paper investigates responses to tax related ethical issues facing busines

    Economic Experiments and Neutrality in Internet Access

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    Economic experiments yield lessons to firms that can be acquired only through market experience. Economic experiments cannot take place in a laboratory; scientists, engineers, or marketing executives cannot distill equivalent lessons from simply building a prototype or interviewing potential customers and vendors. The historical record illustrates that economic experiments were important for value creation in Internet access markets. In general, industry-wide returns from economic experiments exceed private returns, with several important exceptions. Those conclusions motivate an inquiry into whether regulatory policy can play a role in fostering the creation of value. The net neutrality debate is reinterpreted through this lens. A three part test is proposed for encouraging economic experiments from both broadband carriers and providers of complementary services.

    The emergence of dynamic capabilities in SMEs: A critical realist study

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    How do dynamic capabilities develop in small firms? More specifically, what mechanisms account for the emergence of dynamic capabilities in SMEs? The dynamic capabilities perspective synthesises evolutionary theory, the resource based view of the firm and organisational learning to explain how firms sustain competitive advantage. However, the literature tends to focus on larger firms and assumes the existence of routines and processes, particularly those needed to assimilate new knowledge. The manner in which dynamic capabilities evolve may be different in the small firm context as routines and processes associated with seeking out and assimilating new knowledge will differ from those of large firms. This research draws on a single case study using a critical realism perspective to study the emergence of dynamic capabilities. The case firm is a small Irish owned print firm that has evolved into an international brand and artwork management business. The study draws on interviews, company records and documents, and notes from 186 meetings between the author and the CEO over a seven year period. The case data is analysed using the framework of critical realism’s ontological strata of the Empirical, the Actual and the Real to interpret the data captured and to explore the underlying mechanisms present in order to provide defensible explanations for the phenomenon observed. Analysis of the case data suggests that dynamic capabilities developed as a consequence of (i) the focus on firm performance, (ii) capacity building (people and technology), (iii) the evolution of higher order learning, (iv) managerial purposefulness, and (v) the use of third parties. Adopting a critical realist perspective suggests that dynamic capabilities emerged as a result of the interaction of the CEO’s capacity to engage in higher order learning and the CEO’s knowledge and networks as they relate to the business that allow the CEO identify, assimilate and exploit new knowledge. Contributions include a description and explanation of how dynamic capabilities emerged in an SME; the application of the dynamic capabilities perspective to the small firm context; and the use of the critical realist perspective to study dynamic capabilities in the context of small firms

    Simultaneous experimentation as an entrepreneurial strategy for emergent markets: Transcending the trade-off between flexibility and funding?.

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    The unpredictable nature of emergent markets implies that ventures entering such markets are confronted with technological and commercial uncertainty. Defining a viable business model under such circumstances is a complex and precarious endeavour. Previous research has either advanced the idea of focus – in order to attract resources and realize first mover advantages – or sequential experimentation financed through bootstrapping, implying limited resources during initial phases of the venture. As such, a trade-off between flexibility and resource acquisition has been introduced. Within this contribution we explore how ventures starting up in emergent industries can balance the attainment of financial resources with flexibility and business model adaptation. Based on a sequence analysis of six case studies, we identify two distinctive approaches to business development in emergent industries: focused commitment versus simultaneous experimentation. Our findings reveal that focused commitment is instrumental for acquiring resources but at the same time impedes flexibility, while simultaneous experimentation allows to attract resources while maintaining manoeuvring space for business model adaptation. An analytical comparison of both approaches suggests that simultaneous experimentation is indeed a more viable strategy when entering emergent industries.entrepreneurial opportunities; business model; uncertainty; commitment; experimentation;

    Software Entrepreneurship: course notes

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