Multi-dimensional time and university technology commercialisation as opportunity praxis: A realist synthesis of the accumulated literature

The empirical observation that only a small minority of university patents are translated into commercialised technology, combined with the absence of systematic research on opportunity praxis provided the motivation for our research. Time constitutes a critical dimension in the unfolding of, and therefore it offers a window into, deciphering praxis. In response, we set out to develop a novel temporal framework that could be used to provide insights into the opportunity praxis of university technology commercialisation. This framework builds on the paradigmatic foundations of critical realism and is used to conduct a realist synthesis of the existing literature. Our findings support an extension of the temporal boundaries of commercialisation towards innovation, placing increasing emphasis on user-entrepreneurs and organisations. Moreover, our analysis shows that there is merit in understanding the choices they make, from a kaleidoscope of alternatives visible to them, at specific junctures. This is an important aspect of increasing the translation of university-held patents into commercialised technology

Entrepreneurial sons, patriarchy and the Colonels' experiment in Thessaly, rural Greece

Existing studies within the field of institutional entrepreneurship explore how entrepreneurs influence change in economic institutions. This paper turns the attention of scholarly inquiry on the antecedents of deinstitutionalization and more specifically, the influence of entrepreneurship in shaping social institutions such as patriarchy. The paper draws from the findings of ethnographic work in two Greek lowland village communities during the military Dictatorship (1967–1974). Paradoxically this era associated with the spread of mechanization, cheap credit, revaluation of labour and clear means-ends relations, signalled entrepreneurial sons’ individuated dissent and activism who were now able to question the Patriarch’s authority, recognize opportunities and act as unintentional agents of deinstitutionalization. A ‘different’ model of institutional change is presented here, where politics intersects with entrepreneurs, in changing social institutions. This model discusses the external drivers of institutional atrophy and how handling dissensus (and its varieties over historical time) is instrumental in enabling institutional entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial behaviour in rural contexts

Psychologists and other specialists of human behaviour have shown a considerable interest on entrepreneurial behaviour. This chapter sets out to revisit the issue of entrepreneurship in a rural context. It is concerned with the identification of sources of entrepreneurship in rural areas and explores the extent to which entrepreneurship is influenced by the characteristics of the rural. The chapter presents and interprets a large body of empirical data collected in five countries (Germany, Greece, Poland, Portugal and the UK) as part of a European Union funded project. In order to capture the characteristics of the Case Study Area under investigation, it provides an approach that identifies Factors of Unity and Factors of Diversity. This approach provides suggestive insights into the entrepreneurial processes at work in the rural areas under investigation. The chapter discusses the number of conceptual propositions regarding rural entrepreneurship derived in large part from empirical findings in various rural areas, across Europe

Veblen and the entrepreneur

Ideas originating from the pioneering work of Thorstein Veblen provide the theoretical backbone of this paper. His work emerged and acquired a position of prominence more or less at the same time with the publication of seminal contributions by Schumpeter, Knight and Hayek in the field of entrepreneurial studies. However, Veblen failed to influence the evolution of ideas in the emerging field of study. In fact, this is the first systematic attempt in deploying the conceptual ‘tools’ developed by Veblen in entrepreneurship research. More specifically, this paper sets out to provide an alternative conceptualisation of the entrepreneur that does not simply relax but breaks away from the restrictive assumptions that constrained the development of the field in economics. In doing so, particular emphasis is placed upon the interface between agency and context

A study into the localization of rural businesses in five European countries

There is a growing realization among scholars and policy-makers of the role of local contextual factors and circumstances in influencing the behaviour of key economic agents, including the entrepreneur. This approach has stretched the boundaries of academic inquiry well beyond mainstream conceptualizations of economic agency as isolated from its setting. This paper, drawing upon the findings of extensive research in 10 rural areas across five European countries sets out to explore the localization of dynamic entrepreneurial ventures. It is argued that although the degree of localization may be significant in rural areas, delocalization is an essential element of the enterprise strategy among certain entrepreneurial ventures. This is particularly the case among larger, firms located in areas with developed transport and communications infrastructure, that are led mainly by individuals with a distinct demographic profile

Processes of innovation among manufacturing smes: The experience of bedfordshire

This paper contributes to the study of innovative SMEs in two ways. First, the entirety of recent work focuses upon success cases of local innovation systems at the expense of less successful areas, which are thus in greater need of policy intervention. This paper aspires to address this gap in the literature by focusing on the experience of an area (Bedfordshire) characterized by low levels of innovative activity. Second, the search for the factors that accommodate or hinder innovation concentrated heavily at the macro-level. Consequently, any policy recommendations failed to distinguish between SMEs according to the extent and nature of their previous involvement in innovation. In response the authors develop a typology of SMEs based upon the extent and timing of innovation; the underlined aim is to undertake a comparative analysis of the causes, processes and obstacles to innovative activity. It is argued that: (1) there appears to be some relationship between the size of an enterprise and the extent of its involvement in innovation within the SME sector; (2) there are fundamental differences in the characteristics, processes and obstacles to innovation between the four elements of the typology; and (3) at the micro-level innovative activity does not appear to be positively related to job creation. Thus, increasing the innovative propensity of SMEs will not necessarily reduce unemployment rates

Local production networks in the global marketplace: Entrepreneurial strategies in the garment industry of Macedonia, Greece

During the 1980s and early 1990s it was widely reported that large parts of the European countryside experienced considerable industrial growth led by a burgeoning of small and medium‐scale enterprises. The growth of these firms was closely associated with an expansion of trade and the intensification of competition on a world scale and the renaissance of industrial districts in specific localities. Within this context the notion of the “network” has been deployed in order to explore the complex interrelationships that exist in the relatively uncharted territory that lies between enterprises. This concept is employed to show how production units without any apparent legal connections establish a web of relationships in terms of flows of materials, information and finance. Social networks of entrepreneurs often lie behind the multitude of inter‐firm linkages. Focuses on a garment‐producing district of the northern Greek region of Macedonia that has experienced an explosion of enterprises and jobs since the early 1970s. Drawing on the experience of the small town of Polikastro and the adjoining rural county of Peonia, sets out to explore the processes of subcontracting and production networking. Aims to investigate the form and the nature of interorganizational relationships within the locality as well between rural industrialists, urban intermediaries and parent enterprises abroad. Examines changes in the linkages between firms within the context of developments that have taken place in the local communities and in the international marketplace

Institutional change in the Schumpeterian-Baumolian construct: power, contestability and evolving entrepreneurial interests

Baumol's hypothesis, i.e. that the allocation of entrepreneurial talent in productive, unproductive and destructive activities is determined by the rules of the game, is supported by a growing body of empirical research and underpins new avenues of research in entrepreneurial studies. However, Baumol's paper offers precious few insights, beyond policy action, regarding how change to the rules of the game can be effected, because it views institutions as endogenous. This paper sets out to address this gap through an extension of Schumpeterian–Baumolian construct. The paper argues that changing institutions is a contestable process: its outcome determined by the complex nexus of interests and power endowments of actors. Changing the outcome of this contestation is dependent on the emergence of new entrepreneurial groupings and/or the evolution of the power endowments or interests of existing ones. Two historical illustrations are used to support the hypothesis and of this study