Factors Influencing Entrepreneurial Process and Firm Start-Ups: Evidence from Central Greece

Over the last two decades, technological changes have reformed business environment and made entrepreneurial activity as the main channel behind knowledge spillovers and knowledge creation. Therefore, the factors affecting entrepreneurial activity will indirectly affect knowledge transmission. This paper examines those factors influencing the entrepreneurial process by analyzing the results of 164 questionnaires distributed in the region of Thessaly (central Greece). In addition, by using nonparametric techniques, this paper establishes three different factors that appear to have dominant influence on the entrepreneurial process. The first factor is related to entrepreneurial skills, education, and previous experience, whereas the second factor is related to issues regarded desire of independence and locus of control. Finally, the third factor, which influences the entrepreneurial activity, is related to the access of capital, to social aspects, and to regions' institutional environment. © 2011 Springer Science + Business Media, LLC

Measuring Success Factors of Quality Management in the Shipping Industry

It is generally accepted that quality management is considered a valuable competitive factor for firms that confers them competitive advantages and enables them to achieve superior performance. Although there have been numerous studies examining general quality management practices and implementation, industry-specific studies on quality management practices and factors that influence their success in the shipping industry are rather few. This study seeks to identify the factors that are critical to successful quality management, and attempts to develop a reliable, empirically tested, and rigorously validated measurement instrument for quality management, for the shipping industry. We conducted a large-scale survey of shipping industry executives and applied a rigorous research methodology to treat the survey data. We identified four success factors of quality management, which are top management commitment and participation, quality information and performance measurement, employee training and empowerment, and customer focus, and developed a functional instrument to measure quality management in the shipping industry. This paper contributes to research by identifying the success factors of quality management, and provides managerial insights on the successful management of quality, in the shipping industry. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2007) 9, 234–253. doi:10.1057/palgrave.mel.9100179