Prior-learning, cumulative science experiences and the absorptive capacity of bio-entrepreneurs: a case of the East Midlands Region, England

In the modern healthcare and medical sectors corporate bio-pharmaceutical firms continue to scale down their in-house research and development (R&D) activities in favour of outsourcing the services to bio-tech ventures. These small but, entrepreneurial research-oriented organisations have increased dramatically. They are predominantly owned by bio-entrepreneurs who are extensively experienced scientists. In the science-based industry they operate in, innovation “ecosystems” consisting of global business and social networks are a common feature. As such, they have to consistently exploit them to complement the knowledge gaps in their enterprises. In that context, the paper sets out to investigate five bio-entrepreneurs currently active in biotechnology within the East Midlands region in England. It particularly examines the role performed by their prior-learning and their cumulative science experiences in recognising, assimilating and productively applying science-related knowledge acquired in their innovation “ecosystems”

The process of developing innovative capabilities in biotechnology: the case of UK firms

The advent of born-global bio-tech firms signal the genesis of a new business model that is emerging in the biotechnology sector. Born globals are small firms whose knowledge supply-chain includes global resources from multiple countries. Their innovation ‘ecosystems’ consists of experienced scientists, science parks, academics, well-established bio-pharmaceutical firms and government institutions. The firms plan their business based on global strategic perspectives and this significantly increases their productivity and innovativeness. But surprisingly, little is known about their capability development processes in the specialised networks of the biotechnology sector. As a result, this study explores the connectivity of various elements, within their knowledge supply-chain, and how they influence their capacity to generate new scientific knowledge and technical know-how. The study employs a multi-case approach. It examines five cases of bio-tech firms from the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom which have an entrepreneurial flair synonymous with born-global firms. The findings from within and across cases, secondary data analysis and results from a ‘pilot study’ led to the construction of a new conceptual framework of knowledge and innovative capability development. The model is created from the ideas of Freeman and others and it contributes to an understanding of the concepts of dynamic capabilities and network theories

A matter of entrepreneurial decisions: Dairibord Holdings Limited (DHL) in Zimbabwe

Synopsis: The case study focussed on the dairy sector in the southern African country of Zimbabwe. It offered an analysis of the management and business development approaches DHL employed in the country's dairy sector. The narrative detailed how DHL's commercial performance progressively declined overtime. Several factors including; operational inefficiencies, intensive competition, political, socio-economic issues, and natural disasters were attributable to its decline. To mitigate DHL's business development challenges, Antony and his top management's reprised "restructure, expand and diversify" strategy only achieved inconsistent commercial results. The scale and size of these results unequivocally necessitated radical entrepreneurial methods to turnaround its fortunes. It was indeed a matter of entrepreneurial decisions! Methodology: The case study utilized secondary analysis as its main strategy for generating relevant data. The rationale for adopting the principles of secondary analysis was to take advantage of quality archived data, public and readily available information concerning DHL's commercial performance. Setting up to undertake secondary analysis for the purpose of DHL's narrative was less-expensive, and it was less time consuming when compared to structured interviews and self-administered questionnaires. Hence, it was deemed appropriate for producing a narrative on a company whose archived financial reports and publicly available research information were accessible. Relevant course levels: DHL's narrative is relevant for students studying entrepreneurship, business management and international business at postgraduate and undergraduate levels. Theoretical basis: The multi-dimensional constructs of entrepreneurship and strategic management provided the theoretical basis for constructing a narrative about DHL's business activities in Zimbabwe's dairy sector. Particularly, the entrepreneurial decision-making paradigm offered some insight, direction and guidance in analysing the strategies Antony and his top management team applied in their planning and management at DHL. Equally, strategic management theories provided useful instructions for exploring business development issues in a rapidly changing business terrain that was presented by the dairy sector in Zimbabwe

Engaged scholarship: encouraging interactionism in entrepreneurship and small-to-medium enterprise (SME) research

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce a multi-layered theoretical framework to enable engaged scholarship to develop as a practice in entrepreneurship and small business research. To do so, it illuminates the salient features of engaged scholarship, collaborative learning and actor-network theory (ANT). Design/methodology/approach: The paper follows a narrative or traditional literature review design. Specifically, it adopts a thematic approach for summarising and synthesising a body of literature on engaged scholarship, collaborative learning and ANT with the view to develop a new multi-layered theoretical framework. Findings: Applying the theory of engaged scholarship to pivot entrepreneurship/SME research provides scholars with an opportunity to unlock the theory vs practice paradox. Moreover, engaged scholarship offers valuable instructions for encouraging interactionism between entrepreneurship researchers and practitioners as well as reconcile their polarised views. Co-production and co-creation of knowledge addresses the concerns often raised by the practitioner community regarding the relevance and applicability of academic research to practice. Practical implications: The proposed multi-layered framework provides entrepreneurship researchers, and the practitioner community with a taxonomy to use to encourage a joint approach to research. Developing deep partnerships between academics and practitioners can produce outcomes that satisfy the twin imperatives of scholarship that can be of high quality as well as a value to society. Originality/value: The paper advances the theory and practice of engaged scholarship in new ways that are not common in entrepreneurship/SME research. This enables engaged scholarship to develop as a practice in entrepreneurship and small firms’ research. Through applying the proposed multi-layered framework in research, academics can deliver fully developed solutions for practical problems. The framework is useful in the theory vs practice and entrepreneurship researchers vs practitioner debates

Strategic management in retail pharmacy: the case of Zimbabwean companies

Retail pharmacies operating in developing and emerging nations are faced with a myriad of intractable macro-economic conditions including over-regulation, government interference, inept policy implementations and intensive competition. These conditions demand that retail pharmacies become strategic in their approach to business management in order to diminish the impact of macro-economic conditions conspiring to influence their performance in the market. From that perspective, this study investigates the specific strategic management approaches employed by retail pharmacies in Zimbabwe to navigate the country’s harsh economic conditions. In order to examine their management approaches, a questionnaire survey consisting of 90 retail pharmacies was carried out. Data collected from the survey was analysed using regression analysis. From this, the study developed a nuanced strategic management model that can be applied in managing businesses operating in unpredictable markets either in developing, emerging or advanced nations

Bricolage and MSEs in emerging economies

This conceptual paper focuses on bricolage and it pays particular attention on the context of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in resource-constrained environments – a common feature of most emerging economies. Knowledge about the underlying factors that determine bricolage as a common practice among MSEs operating in emerging economies is yet to advance and develop within the mainstream entrepreneurship literature. Much of this scholarship tends to focus on multi-national enterprises (MNEs) in advanced economies and it discusses bricolage as their strategic choice. Such an approach has led to a lack of meaningful theoretical paradigms for defining the business approaches MSEs adopt as a way of mitigating their perennial operational issues inherent in their environment. Thus, in this conceptual paper, which adopts a scoping review approach, we study the constructs of bricolage particularly their application in MSEs operating in emerging economies. From our analysis a fresh deterministic model mapping out the causal factors that give rise to bricolage behaviour in MSEs that operate in difficult conditions emerged. Thus, we contribute to entrepreneurial behaviour theories by identifying distinctive business methods MSEs adopt to withstand operational difficulties inherent in their environments

Competing with the grey market: Puzey and Payne in Zimbabwe

Synopsis: The case study analysed competition in the automobile industry in Zimbabwe – a developing economy. From that perspective, it discussed Puzey and Payne's business operations. A company with a long-standing history in the country's automobile industry. Since its establishment during the 1987 colonial era, the company endured a prolonged period of rapid car and spare parts sales decline in 2012. Following a management buyout (MBO) deal in 2013 the decline in sales proved to be its real dilemma and it required strategic decisions to diffuse the impact of the "grey markets". Government policies added to the company's problems. Methodology: The case study followed a qualitative research approach. Information about Puzey and Payne's business operations was gathered from archived materials, through qualitative conversations as well as company artefacts. Published materials in newspapers and magazines were used to provide background information. Relevant course and levels: The case study is appropriate for both undergraduate and postgraduate students studying International Business Management. Theoretical basis: Strategic management concepts provided the theoretical basis for this case study. Especially the management approaches that may be useful in transient markets often found in developing or emerging economies. For example, Slatter and Lovett (1999) Corporate Turnaround strategy, and Ansoff's (1957) matrix (market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification)

Venture community: democratisation of entrepreneurship in developing economies

The motivation of this paper is to assist SMEs (mainly micro and informal enterprises) in developing economies to find the required resources to establish, or develop, their business. We introduce the concept of 'Venture Communities' to provide direct peer-to-peer connections between individuals and SMEs in all parts of the global market. We draw on the well-established concepts of networking, crowdfunding, living labs and value co-creation. The contribution we make lies in the introduction of a novel ecosystem, constructed by multiple actors, through dynamic and interconnected networks, accumulating resources for the benefit of all stakeholders of this community. Our model presents a challenge to the conventional conceptualizations of dyadic relationships between developed economies and emerging economies. Alternatively, we suggest anti-essentialist communities that are temporary constellation of social elements from all parts of the global market to create "hybridized and nomadic" (Laclau and Mouffe 1995) market arrangements

Convergence of Ishikawa iterations on noncompact sets

Recall that Ishikawa’s theorem [4] provides an iterative procedure that yields a sequence which converges to a fixed point of a Lipschitz pseudocontrative map T : C ! C, where C is a compact convex subset of a Hilbert space X. The conditions on T and C, as well as the fact that X has to be a Hilbert space, are clearly very restrictive. Modifications of the Ishikawa’s iterative scheme have been suggested to take care of, for example, the case where C is no longer compact or where T is only continuous. The purpose of this paper is to explore those cases where the unmodified Ishikawa iterative procedure still yields a sequence that converges to a fixed point of T, with C no longer compact. We show that, if T has a fixed point, then every Ishikawa iteration sequence converges in norm to a fixed point of T if C is boundedly compact or if the set of fixed points of T is “suitably large”. In the process, we also prove a convexity result for the fixed points of continuous pseudocontractions.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tqma202015-03-30hb201