Tracking the Performance of High Growth Entrepreneurs

The Scottish entrepreneurial support ecosystem contains an enviable depth and breadth of free or low-cost support for entrepreneurs. Yet, despite this generous provision, the performance of Scottish HGFs lags other areas of the UK in competitiveness. Our report seeks to explore this issue by generating a deeper understanding of ecosystem dynamics and HGF behaviour. To develop this insight, we spoke to a broad range of HGFs, angel investors and policymakers to identify the issues that should be addressed by key stakeholders in the ecosystem. We examine three key themes in our analysis: growth mindset, ecosystem engagement and HGF activities. Firstly, in terms of growth mindset, we identified three categories of HGF in our study. These were high-growth aspiration firms, plateaued-growth aspiration firms and lifestyle-constrained aspiration growth firms. Prior research by the Enterprise Research Centre suggests that only those with high-growth aspiration coupled with an international outlook and innovation capabilities are likely to attain significant high growth. Only a small number of our research cohort possessed these qualities (for the time being), raising some questions around the allocation of support resources to those with lower growth aspirations. On a more positive note, we identified specific examples of how companies can move from low aspiration to high-aspiration given the right conditions and support. In terms of ecosystem engagement, we identified a range of both positive and negative experiences. Our research counted over 170 different organisations who are providing support to HGFs. Understandably, this volume of support led to navigational issues and information overload that often, unexpectedly, resulted in disengagement with the ecosystem. The system was also not felt to be reactive enough to entrepreneurs whose needs were often out of sync with the ecosystem support on offer. We identified three broad approaches towards ecosystem engagement, with firms falling into either: non-strategic engagement, strategic engagement, or strategic non-engagement categories. Our report suggests that the primary issue in Scotland is not the volume or quality of support on offer, but rather it concerns more closely linking the supply and demand of support. We argue that this demand can be more readily matched by developing a longitudinal, real-time tracking system that provides rich, predictive insight into what is a very dynamic business environment. We propose using an innovative methodology called Ecological Momentary Assessment, to address many of the cognitive biases identified in extant research. This form of sampling, captures temporal dynamics in such a manner that would allow stakeholders to configure ecosystem activities in response to behavioural patterns, hence closing the supply and demand gap. A potentially unique method of positively influencing growth aspiration, would be to implement an Ecological Momentary Intervention system that provides in-the-moment support for entrepreneurs and reinforces existing interventions. This would address the criticism that the ecosystem is not sufficiently responsive for HGFs

“Opinion and Fact, Perspective and Truth”: Seeking Truthfulness and Integrity in Coaching and Coach Education

Recent developments have seen a growth in coaching, with an associated boom in interest on how it may be optimised. Clearly, we applaud this evolution. This growth has been paralleled by an explosion in the availability of information, driven through internet access and the phenomenon of social media. Unfortunately, however, this juxtaposition of interest and availability has not been matched by the application or exercise of effective quality control! While much of what is available is well intentioned, a tendency for poor quality and possibly less positively targeted “BS” has also arisen. In this insights paper, we consider some of the reasons why and argue that an emphasis on the development of critical and analytical thinking, as well as a scepticism towards the sources of information, would be a positive step against coach susceptibility to BS. In doing so, and to encourage more critical consumption of the “knowledge” available, we present a checklist to help coaches assess the veracity of claims and sift through the noise of the coaching landscape

Applying genetic algorithms to multi-objective land use planning.

This paper explores the application of multi-objective genetic algorithms (mGAs) to rural land-use planning, a spatial allocation problem. Two mGAs are proposed. Both share an underlying structure of: fitness assignment using Pareto-dominance ranking, niche induction and an individual replacement strategy. They are differentiated by their representations: a fixed-length genotype composed of genes that map directly to a land parcel's use, and a variable-length, order-dependent representation making allocations indirectly via a greedy algorithm. The latter representation requires additional breeding operators to be defined and post-processing of the genotype structure, to identify and remove duplicate genotypes. The two mGAs are compared on a real land-use planning problem, and the strengths and weaknesses of the underlying framework - and of each representation - are identified

A Common Place, Volume 2, Spring 2023

Editor in Chief: Emily Steffenhagen Editorial Assistant: Chloe Johnson Prose Editor: Jake Robinson Poetry Editor: Kyla Brown Art Editor: Elliott Jimerson Web Editor: Elle Degaetano Design: Kate Frey Readers: Dalton Whitby, Kylie Wheeler, Sierra Sweezy, Myeisha Hamiltonhttps://digitalcommons.longwood.edu/special_studentpubs/1217/thumbnail.jp

Impact of time between diagnosis to treatment in Acute Type A Aortic Dissection

There is a paucity of data describing the effect of time interval between diagnosis and surgery for Acute Type A Aortic Dissection. We describe our 8-year experience and investigate the impact of time interval between symptom onset, diagnosis and surgery on outcomes. Retrospective single-center study utilizing our Society of Thoracic Surgeons registry and patient records. Subjects were grouped by time interval between radiographic diagnosis and surgical treatment: Group A (0–4 h), Group B (4.1–8 h), Group C (8.1–12 h), and Group D (12.1 + h). Data were analyzed to identify factors associated with mortality and outcomes. 164 patients were included. Overall mortality was 21.3%. Group C had the greatest intervals between symptom onset to diagnosis to surgery, and also the highest mortality (66.7%). Preoperative tamponade, cardiac arrest, malperfusion, elevated creatinine, cardiopulmonary bypass time, and blood transfusions were associated with increased mortality, while distance of referring hospital was not. Time intervals between symptom onset, diagnosis and surgery have a significant effect on mortality. Surgery performed 8–12 h after diagnosis carries the highest mortality, which may be exacerbated by longer interval since symptom onset. Time-dependent effects should be considered when determining optimal strategy especially if inter-facility transfer is necessary

Ecological traits modulate bird species responses to forest fragmentation in an Amazonian anthropogenic archipelago

Aim: We assessed patterns of avian species loss and the role of morpho-ecological traits in explaining species vulnerability to forest fragmentation in an anthropogenic island system. We also contrasted observed and detectability-corrected estimates of island occupancy, which are often used to infer species vulnerability. Location: Tucuruí Hydroelectric Reservoir, eastern Brazilian Amazonia. Methods: We surveyed forest birds within 36 islands (3.4–2,551.5 ha) after 22 years of post-isolation history. We applied species–area relationships to assess differential patterns of species loss among three data sets: all species, forest specialists and habitat generalists. After controlling for phylogenetic non-independence, we used observed and detectability-corrected estimates of island occupancy separately to build competing models as a function of species traits. The magnitude of the difference between these estimates of island occupancy was contrasted against species detectability. Results: The rate of species loss as a function of island area reduction was higher for forest specialists than for habitat generalists. Accounting for the area effect, forest fragmentation did not affect the overall number of species regardless of the data set. Only the interactive model including natural abundance, habitat breadth and geographic range size was strongly supported for both estimates of island occupancy. For 30 species with detection probabilities below 30%, detectability-corrected estimates were at least tenfold higher than those observed. Conversely, differences between estimates were negligible or non-existent for all 31 species with detection probabilities exceeding 45.5%. Main conclusions: Predicted decay of avian species richness induced by forest loss is affected by the degree of habitat specialisation of the species under consideration, and may be unrelated to forest fragmentation per se. Natural abundance was the main predictor of species island occupancy, although habitat breadth and geographic range size also played a role. We caution against using occupancy models for low-detectability species, because overestimates of island occupancy reduce the power of species-level predictions of vulnerability

Valuing improvements in the water rights system in South Africa : a contingent ranking approach

In the context of increasing water scarcity, understanding is growing that irrigation water rights are important and that a lack of effective water rights systems constitute a major reason for inefficient water management. This study carried out a contingent ranking experiment to study how smallholder irrigators in South Africa would value potential changes in water rights. Three specific dimensions of water rights, relevant for the South African case, are considered: duration, quality of title and transferability. Results indicate that smallholder irrigators are prepared to pay considerably higher water prices if improvements are made in the water rights system. This implies that the proposed interventions in the water rights system would improve the efficiency and productivity of the small-scale irrigation sector. The increased willingness to pay could furthermore also assist South African government to reach the objective of increased cost recovery