Mixed Signals: Why investors may misjudge first time high technology founders

This paper seeks to explain an unexpected result of a previous quantitative study which suggested sub-optimal evaluation by investors of the human capital of first time high tech venture founders. A literature review revealed two possible reasons for this finding: biases/heuristics and signaling. Six investors across three countries (one venture capitalist and one business angel each from the US, UK and Israel) with experience in investing in early stage high technology ventures were interviewed using an identical semi-structured interview protocol. This research design is appropriate for research that seeks to reflect back unexpected findings of previous quantitative research on the subjects of research. Interviewees were first asked to state their own investment criteria, and then presented with the results of the quantitative study and asked for their views. Previous research suggesting a gap between in-use and espoused criteria, and extensive use of gut feeling in decision-making, was supported. Interviewees focused on harvest potential and de-emphasised measures of founder technology capability that predicted early survival and growth in the earlier study. The paper concludes by suggesting how investors might improve funding decisions in high tech ventures led by first-time entrepreneurs, noting the study's limitations and making recommendations for further research

Immigration, in-migration, ethnicity and entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom

This paper develops and tests hypotheses concerning the effect of migrant status and ethnicity on propensity to engage in entrepreneurship (defined as new business activity) at the individual level in the UK. The hypotheses are tested using bivariate analysis (Pearson tests of independence) and multivariate analysis (binary logistic regression). Bivariate analysis suggests that new business activity varies with migrant status and ethnicity. Multivariate analysis suggests that migration increases the odds of engaging in new business activity, that the independent effect of ethnicity is marginal, and that being a recent ethnic minority migrant decreases the odds, after controlling for other individual level factors. At the regional level, a preliminary analysis suggests that gross migration flow has a higher correlation with new business activity than other commonly used regional demographic or economic development measures

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor United Kingdom: 2007 Executive Report

This monitoring report compares Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) measures of entrepreneurial activity in the UK with participating G7 countries and the large industrialised or industrialising countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China ("BRIC"). It also summarises entrepreneurial activity within Government Office Regions of the UK

The IIIP Innovation Conference Index 2008 Report

This document reports the results of the second annual international index of Innovation Confidence developed for and funded by the Institute for Innovation & Information Productivity (IIIP) by the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde in association with the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association. The report displays results from a survey of more than 81,000 individuals in 25 nations, presents the IIIP Innovation Confidence Index, identifies some predictors of Innovation Confidence, and suggests options for further research on Innovation Confidence. These results confirm the effect that communal values have on consumer perceptions of new products and services. Innovative companies need to be aware that radically different marketing strategies may be needed in countries with different communal values. The results are also of relevance to governments in nations with high innovation confidence, and to innovative companies with global reach or aspiration. The results confirm a high demand from aspirational individuals in countries with traditional values, and their hunger for new products and services. The challenge is to make new products and services affordable to those who appear to want them most

Enterprise in Scotland: Insights from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) has developed into one of the world's leading social science research consortia. Between 2000 and 2007, entrepreneurial activity has been measured in 60 different countries, including the UK and, as a region of the UK, Scotland. Data on individual entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspirations is gathered through surveys of adults according to strict protocols. This report draws on eight years of survey data, comprising a total of around 16,000 respondents in Scotland (some 2,000 per annual cohort) and around 190,000 respondents in the UK during the period 2000 to 2007

The effect of government nurturing policies on early corporate growth in Denmark, Ireland and Scotland, 1973 to 1987

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN006418 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Entrepreneurship for Engineering students at the University of Strathclyde

This paper argues that in facilitating engineering students to be entrepreneurial, it is not enough to provide them with good entrepreneurship education. They must be surrounded by an environment which encourages the practice of entrepreneurship. At the University of Strathclyde, many different departments work together to provide this environment, and tangible results are evident. The number of student business startups is rising and interest is growing among major employers in Strathclyde's 'entrepreneurial' graduates

The IIIP Innovation Confidence Index 2007 Report

This document reports the first results of an international index of Innovation Confidence developed for and funded by the Institute for Innovation & Information Productivity (IIIP)1 by the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde in association with the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association. The report displays results from a survey of almost 25,000 individuals in 12 nations, presents the IIIP Innovation Confidence Index, identifies some predictors of Innovation Confidence, and suggests options for further research on Innovation Confidence. Innovation Confidence, a new measure of consumer demand for innovation, is the degree to which individuals are willing to engage with and perceive benefit from new products or services, or products or services that embody new technology. It is measured as the IIIP Innovation Confidence Index, which is derived from three different consumer survey items that a factor analysis has shown to load together with acceptable reliability and sampling adequacy across a wide range of nations. Innovation confidence is influenced by but distinct from general consumer confidence