24 research outputs found
Digital entrepreneurship in a resource-scarce context: A focus on entrepreneurial digital competencies
Purpose тАУ Thepurpose of this paper is to criticallyexplorehow context asan antecedent to entrepreneurial digital competencies (EDCs) influences digital entrepreneurship in a resource-scarce environment.
Design/methodology/approach тАУ The data comprises semi-structured interviews with 16 digital entrepreneurs, as owner-managers of small digital businesses in Cameroon.
Findings тАУ The results reveal the ways in which EDCs shape the entry (or start-up) choices and post-entry strategic decisions of digital entrepreneurs in response to context-specific opportunities and challenges associated with digital entrepreneurship.
Research limitations/implications тАУ The data comes from one African country and 16 digital businesses thus the research setting limits the generalisability of the results.
Practical implications тАУ This paper highlights important implications for encouraging digital entrepreneurship by focussing on institutional, technology and local dimensions of context and measures to develop the entrepreneurial and digital competencies. This includes policy interventions to develop the information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, transport and local distribution infrastructure, and training opportunities to develop the EDCs of digital entrepreneurs.
Originality/value тАУ Whereas the capabilities to adopt and use ICTs and the internet by small businesses have been examined, this is among the first theoretically sensitised study linking context, EDCs and digital entrepreneurship
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Does innovation matter for economic development? An empirical study of small and medium-sized enterprises in the city of Kumba тАУ Cameroon
In recent years, the development priorities of African countries have focused on private sector development to build a strong market economy that gives a more dynamic role to indigenous entrepreneurs and their innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper investigates the potential for indigenous SMEs in Cameroon to successfully emerge as agents of economic development through innovation. The analysis includes the personal characteristics that make up an indigenous entrepreneur as well as the contemporary environments in which SMEs operate. Building on SchumpeterтАЩs notion that entrepreneurship contributes to economic development through the interplay of new firm creation, innovation and competition, questionnaires and interviews were conducted with indigenous entrepreneurs of selected SMEs in the city of Kumba, one of the most important concentrations of economic activity in the English-Speaking region of Cameroon. The results reveal that while economic profit is a priority for most entrepreneurs, SMEs exists mainly to alleviate poverty through income generating activities and contribute to economic development by providing employment and income for the poor. The SMEs studied focused on adapting, imitating and modifying existing innovations rather than pursuing genuine Schumpeterian innovation. This suggests that innovation is not a priority for the SME sector and therefore policies aimed at catching up with modern technology should be the central focus in providing assistance for indigenous entrepreneurs and these are suggested in this paper
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Inclusive business models? How SMEs are developing inclusive value chains and combating social exclusion in bottom-of-the-pyramid markets
Research suggests that private firms can contribute to addressing poverty by prioritising the inclusion of bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) communities in global financing, commerce and consumption value chains. However existing evidence have focused on large multinationals. An understanding of how small firms incorporate the inclusion of BoP communities in their value chain is critical remains under-researched. Drawing on the literature integrating entrepreneurship, inclusion and business model this article develops a qualitative study of how three agribusiness in Sierra Leone, Cameroon and Kenya. The findings highlight opportunities and challenges facing entrepreneurs in pursuing inclusive business opportunities African economies
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The role of global 'models' in shaping policy practices on access to medication: a case study of the national HIV/AIDS programme in Cameroon
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Knowledge management in project-base organizations: the interplay of time orientations and knowledge interventions
The common perception is that all types of work and work organizations appear to involve knowledge: knowledge intensive work, knowledge workers, knowledge products, customerrelated knowledge and knowledge intensive organizations. Therefore, as organizations increasingly organize their activities in the form of projects, effective ways of knowledge management are needed to deliver successful and timely outcomes. However, little research has been done in the area that integrates time orientations into the process of knowledge management. Using the approach of grounded theory, this paper investigates the interplay between time orientations and knowledge interventions through interviews with international project managers drawn from different types of project-based organizations in Sweden and Italy. The perceptions and experiences of the managers are used to construct a model of time orientation and knowledge interventions in project-based organizations. Time orientations are shown to play a critical role in the success or failure of projects. The model integrates time orientations into the project life cycle and illustrates how effectively knowledge interventions can be used to achieve project milestones and meet overall deadlines
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Digital Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies: The role of ICTs and local context
Advances in digitisation and the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is creating opportunities for new types of entrepreneurial activities in emerging economies. However, there is very limited international business research to understand the nature of digital entrepreneurship in emerging economies. Using qualitative case studies developed in Cameroon I investigate how ICTs as operand resource shape the choices that digital entrepreneurs make when dealing with local contextual influences on digital entrepreneurship. Based on empirical analysis of the cases I develop five testable propositions about how digital entrepreneurs respond to local contextual factors in creating digital entrepreneurs
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Curriculum Adaptation for Blended Learning in Resource-Scarce Contexts
Drawing on three action research case studies involving several African universities, this article critically explores how academics converted their previously pure classroom-based courses for delivery through blended learning. The case studies reflect resource-scarce contexts where limited access to digital technology and the internet poses unique challenges to universities seeking to scale-up management education to the geographically distant and culturally diverse student population. Results from analyzing the case studies, through the concept of curriculum adaptation, were drawn upon to develop a theoretical framework for use by academics planning to transition from face-to-face to blended learning environments. The article uncovers the difficulties of, and opportunities for, creating learning communities that enable classroom-based, face-to-face teaching to be blended with online learning in ways that foster locally relevant, purposive interactions among academics and students, while scaling-up access to management education. The article concludes with a discussion of opportunities for management educators to introduce online learning in their existing classroom-based management courses
The role of global health partnerships in shaping policy practices on access to medication in Cameroon: theory, models and policy practices
This thesis argues that health policy practices on access to medication in Cameroon have been shaped by global health partnerships (GHPs), with the result that the capacity of the state has been undermined and the national health system fragmented, with no resultant reduction in the incidence and burden of malaria and HIV I AIDS. GHPs have played an increasing part in relation to access to medication in a number of developing countries in Africa, defined in terms of potential and actual access to pharmaceuticals and healthcare services. GHPs are supposed to provide a better policy response to the practical problem of access to medication by combining the expertise of UN agencies, the pharmaceutical industry, international civil society organizations, national government and local groups to formulate and implement country-specific policies. Ostensibly, they are able to bridge the gap between medical technology and the public health needs of poor societies. Neither of these claims can be substantiated.
Theoretical approaches to models, embodied knowledge and social constructionism are used to provide a conceptual framework to study the role of GHPs on access to medication. GHPs are conceptualised as 'models' that occupy the intermediate position between theory and policy practices, within which are found three major narratives, based on public health, economistic and human rights approaches to the issue of access to medication. These narratives became embodied within GHPs, and are analysed to show how they shape different elements of policy practices. The operation of GHPs within a 'transcalar network', this 'social space' in which global-national-local linkages are formed and interactions take place is also examined.
Global and national (country-specific) perspectives on the emergence of the GHP as a facilitator of access to medication are identified, and the role of GHPs in determining national health policy and local delivery practices for achieving access to medication for the poor and most vulnerable population is investigated. Two programmes in Cameroon are used as case studies: 1) National Malaria Programme created on Roll Back Malaria partnership guidelines and 2) National HIV/AIDS Programme created on Accelerating Access Initiative and Equitable Access Initiative guidelines respectively.
The empirical evidence from this thesis supports a critical evaluation. GHPs emphasise specific medical intervention programmes, and are effective only in this narrow technical sense. Even though their efforts have not reduced the incidence and burden of malaria and HIV I AIDS, they have legitimised the direct intervention of international agencies, private corporations and civil society organizations at the local level. The GHPs' pursuit of 'quick results' has fragmented the national health system and undermined the role of the state. This thesis suggests that the key to reducing disease burden and improving public health is a strengthened national health system, one that the current GHP model does not offer. Developed to address the supposed failure of African states to ensure access to medication, GHPs have further marginalised the role of the Cameroon state, thereby reducing its capacity to protect and advance the health of its citizens
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The role of governance in enabling the pursuit of dual mission in bank-based impact investing
Impact investing, defined as direct investments into small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with intentionality to realize social impact and financial returns, simultaneously, has emerged as an attractive, alternative source of entrepreneurial finance in marginalized communities. In this paper, we focus on bank-based impact funds (BBFs), where impact investors and commercial bank partner to create different vehicles of impact investments (managed funds, grants/guarantees or co-financing BBFs) for financing SMEs. Through the theoretical lens of governance, as applied to bank-SME financing and the pursuit of dual mission in social entrepreneurship studies, we develop qualitative case studies in Ghana, uncovering how BBFs enable the pursuit of dual mission by SMEs. The findings are drawn upon to develop a theoretical framework that depicts a unique form of governance as constituting the (i) alignment of the incentives of impact investors and banks to resolve structural and dual-mission tensions in bank-SME financing; and (ii) pre-approval, control and monitoring mechanism necessary for the pursue of the dual mission of financial returns and social impacts in bank-based impact investing. The findings have implications for fund managers, SMEs and policymakers seeking to attract impact investments for private sector-driven development