Research based yet action oriented: Developing individual level enterprising competencies

This paper outlines an approach to teaching enterprising competencies in the university setting of Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand. It is characterised by two features. First, it has an experiential component in the form of developmental exercises; forms of practice which are devised by the students themselves. Second, the exercises are research-based: students study academic articles and book chapters that give clues about how to practice the various competencies. The method is inspired by Gibb’s (1993, 1998, 2002a, 2002b) ideas about simulating the essences of enterprise in the learning environment. The approach used at Massey is outlined at the end of the paper. The paper begins with offering the rationales for the course. First, it provides arguments as to why enterprising competencies are becoming increasingly important for our students. Second, it is argued why, out of three approaches to competency, the behavioural approach is deemed to be the most suitable for the approach employed at Massey. Third, in the debate about generic versus situation specific competencies, it argues for the relevance of generic competencies. The paper then describes entrepreneurship / small business (E/SB) research on competencies, and discusses why entrepreneurship research is often of little help for ‘how to’ approaches. Finally, the Massey approach is described in detail

Rashba and intrinsic spin-orbit interactions in biased bilayer graphene

We investigate the effect that the intrinsic spin-orbit and the inter- and intra-layer Rashba interactions have on the energy spectrum of either an unbiased or a biased graphene bilayer. We find that under certain conditions, a Dirac cone is formed out of a parabolic band and that it is possible to create a "Mexican hat"-like energy dispersion in an unbiased bilayer. In addition, in the presence of only an intralayer Rashba interaction, the K (K') point splits into four distinct ones, contrarily to the case in single-layer graphene, where the splitting also takes place, but the low-energy dispersion at these points remains identical.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure

«Mare liberum»: Hugo Grocio, entre la defensa del colonialismo y los derechos de ‘otros’

Els arguments d’Hugo Groci en Mare liberum en defensa de la llibertat dels mars i, en particular, del dret natural al comerç, que tant afavoria els interessos mercantils neerlandesos, han estat interpretats per alguns historiadors com a legitimació de l’expansió imperialista europea de l’època. En front d’aquesta opinió, i com a resultat de l’estudi a fons de l’obra grociana per a l’edició crítica que prepara sobre el seu De iure belli ac pacis, l’autor argumenta que, en realitat, la defensa del dret natural a l’autoconservació —que tenia arrels en autors espanyols de la Segona Escolàstica— abastava també als no europeus i que facultava uns i altres a desplaçar-se en cerca de refugi o d’una vida millor. Com a corolari, l’autor troba en la doctrina de Groci un renovat interès avui en dia, sobre el fenòmen de la immigració que viuen les nostres societat

Strategies, Uncertainty and Performance of Small Business Startups

Personal strategies of owners/founders of small business startups are related to performance and to environmental uncertainty. This is done using a longitudinal data set of some 50 Dutch startups. The results suggest a dynamic process between strategy and performance.A discrimination is made between four strategies (reactive, critical point, complete planning and opportunistic). The role of uncertainty is discussed. The dynamic process is embedded in the PERSUADE model.entrepreneurship;strategy;uncertainty;performance;small business startups

Encountered Problems and Outcome Status in Nascent Entrepreneurship

The relationship is investigated between outcome status and encountered problems in the business start-up process. Contrary to expectations, we find that starters do not differ from quitters in number and type of problems encountered, and that problems encountered generally do not affect outcome status. This Dutch research uses a design that is comparable to the U.S. PSED (Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics) in which a sample of 414 nascent entrepreneurs were followed over a three year period.encountered-problems;nascent-entrepreneurship;outcome-status

Drivers of entrepreneurial aspirations at the country lever: the role of start-up motivations and social security

This paper investigates whether start-up motivations and the level of social security can explain entrepreneurial aspirations. We use country-level data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) for the year 2005. We distinguish between the necessity motive, independence motive and increase wealth motive and look at entrepreneurial aspirations in terms of innovativeness, job growth expectations and export orientation. As an indicator of a country?s level of social security we take the social security contribution rate (for employer?s and employees) from the World Competitiveness Yearbook. Previous research has found a negative relationship between the level of entrepreneurial activity and social security contributions, suggesting that social security increases the opportunity costs for entrepreneurship. The results of this study complement these previous findings by indicating that social security contributions have a negative influence on the supply of ambitious entrepreneurship in terms of new product or service introductions, job growth and export orientation. Furthermore, our findings indicate that entrepreneurial aspirations in terms of job growth and export relate positively to the increase wealth motive, whereas no significant relationship is found between our aspiration variables and the independence and necessity motives. On the basis of our findings policy directions are presented for an entrepreneurial economy. This is an update of paper H200627.

Setting Up a Business in the Netherlands

Why does one person actually succeed in starting a business, while a second gives up, and a third is still trying? To answer this question, a longitudinal study was set up in which 330 nascent entrepreneurs (people setting up a business) were followed over a one-year period. After one year, 47% actually started a business, 27% was still organizing, and 26% gave up the effort. In comparison to the two other groups, starters are different in terms of gender, industry experience, start-up capital, use of third party loans, sector and current activity.survival;performance;nascent entrepreneurs;start-ups

Motivation based policies for an entrepreneurial EU economy

This paper investigates the impact of various entrepreneurial motives and institutional conditions on entrepreneurial aspirations in terms of innovativeness, job growth expectations and export orientation. We estimate a two-equation model explaining entrepreneurial motivations and entrepreneurial aspirations, while taking into account the interrelationship between both groups of variables. We use data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and find that entrepreneurial aspirations are different for various types of entrepreneurial motives. For example, we find that the increase wealth motive as a prime driver for becoming selfemployed is positively related to innovation and growth ambitions, whereas we find no evidence of a relation between the independence motive and entrepreneurial aspirations. On the basis of our findings policy directions are presented for an entrepreneurial EU economy. An updated version of this paper is numbered H200710.