A viability study of social economy companies in the market economic system. A case study of southern Spain

In recent years Social Economy has become more accepted in the current Economic System because capitalist economic system has been shown to be imperfect. In fact, in Spain a Social Economy Law was passed last March, and Andalusia is expected to sign up to the III Pact for Social Economy. Thus, this sector is seen as a possible alternative to the current economic system. This research has attempted to quantify the qualitative components of entrepreneurial ability (innovation, cooperation, functional and productive dependence) in the companies belonging to the Social Economy sector in the territory of Seville and compare them to the traditional entrepreneurial structure from Andalusia through descriptive analysis, to confirm whether this business model based on Social Economy is a viable and a sustainable alternative over time. The results have shown that Social Economic businesses could be a better alternative to the predominant entrepreneurial model

Strategic Resource Management within the Service Business

Recent development in the global economy from the manufacturing business to the service business has generated increasing interest in the research of services. This paper is a theoretical analysis of the service business and its requirements to the management of organizations in entrepreneurial firms. Identified requirements have direct links to the concept of strategic entrepreneurship, which offers a good theoretical framework for the management of organizations within the service business. Based on the findings in the service business and the concept of strategic entrepreneurship, this theoretical paper conceptualizes a new strategic resource management model for entrepreneurial service organizations

Relationships between community ventures and community resource holders: a joint dependency approach

Guided by the joint dependency approach this study analyzes how emerging community ventures engage into mutually dependent relationships with community resource holders in the community to be able to mobilize the community into collective action. I conducted qualitative, longitudinal case studies of three music festivals in rural communities in Norway. By investigating the early stages of the venture formation process, I observed how different types of entrepreneurs impacted on the relationships between the community venture and community resource holders and how these relationships changed over time. High joint dependence relationships were characterized of high level of trust and goal congruence as well as few conflicts. Initially, bricoleurs, who built the venture upon existing resources and knowledge in the community, could transform their individual joint dependence relationships in the community to the venture. The constructionists aimed to introduce new activities and resources and could not build upon existing relationships in the community. Their venture struggled with mistrust and conflicts making it difficult to mobilize the community into collective action. Over time, however, the relationships between the community venture and community resource holders became more based upon joint dependence. By adapting a joint dependency as well as longitudinally approach, this study offers new insights about how the concepts of bricoleurs and constructionists may not be static but rather change over time

Artistic entrepreneurship and the need for market orientation in the context of rising significance of the Creative Industries

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual background and definitions helpful for further research of growth oriented artistic entrepreneurship. Creative industries are becoming increasingly important to the economy of developed countries. This fact is starting to affect the creative arts sector both as a source of creative and artistic workers, innovation and a potential source of higher economic contributions. A brief macro to micro analysis puts the phenomenon in a wider context. Analogies between academic and artistic work are drawn in order to allow the possibility of exploring what seems to be a similar process that had already happened in the education sector. In several aspects congruence between artistic and knowledge based work is presented. Additionally, the paper presents some initial data collected from a preliminary qualitative study of 4 in-depth, open-ended, semi-structured interviews with growth oriented artistic entrepreneurs and artists. Findings: Literature and initial field studies seem to indicate that artistic and administrative, business-like, activities differ in terms of methods used. They also suggest that this may impact the work of artistic entrepreneurs and their willingness to further develop the venture. This is connected with the fact that many artists seem to operate in very specialized expert markets which can prove to be a challenge in a successful commercialization of their work. Originality/value: The paper contributes to the development of a topic that has not been studied well, but might be of significance in the near future. Initial macro and micro analysis of the phenomenon of artistic entrepreneurship tries to take into account perspectives from several disciplines in order to contribute to the accumulation of, so far, very scarce knowledge on the topi

Research proposal: who’s in control? self-directed and self-regulated learning in entrepreneurship training programmes

Several authors in entrepreneurship have called for a multidisciplinary approach in entrepreneurship research (Mishra & Zachary, 2010; Ireland & Webb, 2007). Having a background in educational science and design, I intend to use a multidisciplinary approach, combining insights from the fields of educational science and entrepreneurship. There is more to gain from educational science than Kolb’s experiential learning model. The aim of this research project is to apply a design research approach to develop a set of design principles or methodology for teaching entrepreneurship. The design methodology will be based on the generic model for educational design by Verhagen, Kuiper and Plomp (1999), consisting of an iterative process of analysis (learner, context, needs), design, development, implementation and evaluation (ADDIE) and will be embedded in the design paradigms as articulated by Visscher-Voerman & Gustafsson (2004). The analysis will consist of a combination of a literature study and data collection on adult learning theory, entrepreneurial learning, pedagogy and cognition, the entrepreneurial process and other yet to be defined units of analysis. This analysis will result in a set of design criteria and two possible options to proceed from: (1) a full design to validate all design criteria, (2) the validation of a selection of the design criteria by conducting (quasi) experiments. Both options will include all phases of the design process. The outcome of this research project will be a set of validated design principles/heuristics for teaching entrepreneurship, which will provide guidelines for practitioners in entrepreneurship education. Once validated, these design criteria can also be used to develop an evaluation tool to assess the quality of entrepreneurship education. Apart from being practically relevant, the research will also have theoretical implications. The integration of insights from educational science and entrepreneurship may offer new perspectives and advance existing theories in both fields. The application of a design research approach will also add to the body of knowledge of design research, in both fields

Evaluating content dimensions in entrepreneurship education

Interest in entrepreneurship education is growing over the world, especially in innovation based economies, such as Denmark (GEM, 2010). However, we know rather little about the outcomes of entrepreneurship education, in particular with respect to which type of course content produces the best results (i.e. most high performing entrepreneurs) and how this affects different types of students. There is a great variety of different views in the field of research concerning the content and structure of entrepreneurship courses, but no comprehensive study has as yet been done in which these competing views are clearly articulated as rivals and tested against each other. There is also a lack of programme evaluations that use control groups and have a longitudinal design (Gorman, Hanlon & King, 1997; Matlay, 2008). Those that have this setup often experience methodological problems due to their conceptual framework (Krueger, 2009), or they have a view of entrepreneurship that does not take into account the advancements within research that have been made during the last decade (Sarasvathy, 2008). Thus, we clearly need to dig deeper into this field in order to create methods and models that allow us to evaluate the outcomes of different types of entrepreneurship courses. With the beginning of 2011, the Danish Foundation for Entrepreneurship – Young Enterprise1 initiated a research project with the aim to further our understanding of the type of impact entrepreneurship education and different educational designs have on different types of students. Two longitudinal quasi-experimental surveys, one with a focus on elementary- and secondary-level education and one with focus on tertiary-level education, will be performed and databases with students from all parts and levels of the Danish educational system will be created. The surveys will use entrepreneurial self-efficacy (Mauer, Neergaard & Kirketerp, 2009) as a performance indicator, but in order to generate robust results the development of new measurement tools is needed. In this paper the initial phases of this project and the research design of these two surveys will be presented

New kind of operations model - meaningful learning through entrepreneurship education

Voimala Coaching Center for Entrepreneurship offers coaching for students and teachers at the upper secondary level. Voimala project started 1.5.2008 and operates under Tampere University of Applied Sciences Proacademy unit that specializes in entrepreneurship studies for BBA students. Voimala is financed by the European Social Fund, Pirkanmaa Centre for Economic Development, Transport, and the Environment, and Tampere University of Applied Sciences. Voimala project was set to have two major purposes. Firstly, to transform the entrepre- neurship culture of young people in Pirkanmaa region by creating positive entrepreneurship experiences and secondly, to offer tools for teachers to bring entrepreneurship education into practice at their work. To succeed in this mission coaches challenge and support the students and teachers in the learning process by utilizing Proacademy’s practical training methods. These methods are based on team-centred learning tools such as coaching in small teams, dialogue, knowledge-creation sessions, innovation, learning by doing, and real world working life customer projects

Eco-labelling and firm financial performance

Eco-labels are alleged to attain the labelled firm with enhanced financial performance. However, there is virtually no empirical evidence on the impact of eco-labelling on firm financial performance. This study seeks to fill this gap by determining whether eco-labelled firms report superior financial performance compared to equivalent firms without an eco- label. Regression analyses of secondary accounting data of 858 firms indicate that eco- labelled firms report superior return on sales. Contrary to suggestions from the CSR literature and the resource-advantage theory, the findings suggest that the positive effect diminishes and that financial returns are hampered over time. This contradict that eco-labelling induce innovative learning effects resulting in a long term comparative advantage. These findings have practical and academic implications related to the design and implementation of eco- labels and the study significantly contribute to the emerging debate concerning the financial value of environmental investments. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed

Imagination in entrepreneurial opportunity creation

Many authors mention the use of imagination by entrepreneurs, but none of them discuss how entrepreneurs use their imagination and to what extent it helps them to create their opportunities. This research builds on existing entrepreneurship literature to answer the question how entrepreneurs use imagination to create opportunities. This question will be answered by performing in-depth case studies based on narratives

Intellectual Capital in a Recession: The SME Entrepreneurs’ View

Intellectual Capital encompasses most areas of an organisation. Although many activities are not labelled as either the pursuit of Intellectual Capital measurement or its realisation, they are integral to the understanding of this area. It is generally accepted that Intellectual Capital consists of Human Capital, Structural Capital and Relational Capital. The reported study unpicks through a qualitative investigation of the perception of Intellectual Capital by entrepreneurs in SME’s. The specific industrial context is the precision engineering industry in the United Kingdom. The study explores how useful entrepreneurs in this target population perceive Intellectual Capital to be to them, and highlights the value that Intellectual Capital exploitation adds to their organisations. The general context is one of financial insecurity and contraction of demand, coupled with increasing operational pressure from international competitors with lower cost structures. The general conclusion is that entrepreneurs who understand the principles of intellectual capital and its exploitation are better suited for the challenges of entrepreneurial pursuit in a recessionary period from the results the Sector of Operating Efficiency (SoOE) was identified