Regional differences in business start-up rates in Australia : implications for future research and public policy

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) project in Australia provided both data and theoretical framework for this investigation of regional differences in entrepreneurial activity within Australia and the factors that might underlie such differences.This study found that entrepreneurial activity as measured by participation in business start-ups varied significantly between 11 defined regions of Australia. Factors found to be associated with high start-up activity were personal acquaintance with someone who had recently started a business (strong and statistically significant) and the perception of good opportunities for starting a business locally (indicative only). Participation rate by age range across region varied widely. Sample size precluded more in-depth analysis.The study indicates a need for a research program designed to produce data and analysis that might be constructively shared by those who wish to foster entrepreneurship in Australia.<br /

Australia\u27s strengths and weaknesses in technology transfer and R&D exploitation : GEM survey "experts" views compared with public policy and other published data

There has been increasing public debate in Australia in recent years about research culture in universities and other publicly funded research agencies such as CSIRO and its impact on Australia\u27s performance in generating economic, social and environmental benefits to the Australian community from the large amount of public funding for R&amp;D. This is the supply side issue. On the demand side there is equally concern about the technology absorptive capacity of Australian. business as illustrated by the low proportion of gross business research expenditure (GERD) spent by business (BERD). Against this background, this paper has explored the views of abut 100 &quot;experts&quot; interviewed in the Australian Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) studies in the years 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 on the issues, strengths and weaknesses of Australia\u27s technology transfer performance as it applies to new technology small firms. The paper has also explored evidence for any longitudinal change over this period.<br /

Mortality among birds and bats during an extreme heat event in eastern South Africa

Please read abstract in the article.The National Research Foundation of South Africahttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14429993hj2022Zoology and Entomolog

Modelling Visual Neglect: Computational Insights into Conscious Perception

Background: Visual neglect is an attentional deficit typically resulting from parietal cortex lesion and sometimes frontal lesion. Patients fail to attend to objects and events in the visual hemifield contralateral to their lesion during visual search. Methodology/Principal Finding: The aim of this work was to examine the effects of parietal and frontal lesion in an existing computational model of visual attention and search and simulate visual search behaviour under lesion conditions. We find that unilateral parietal lesion in this model leads to symptoms of visual neglect in simulated search scan paths, including an inhibition of return (IOR) deficit, while frontal lesion leads to milder neglect and to more severe deficits in IOR and perseveration in the scan path. During simulations of search under unilateral parietal lesion, the model’s extrastriate ventral stream area exhibits lower activity for stimuli in the neglected hemifield compared to that for stimuli in the normally perceived hemifield. This could represent a computational correlate of differences observed in neuroimaging for unconscious versus conscious perception following parietal lesion. Conclusions/Significance: Our results lead to the prediction, supported by effective connectivity evidence, that connections between the dorsal and ventral visual streams may be an important factor in the explanation of perceptua

The use of 'general principles' as an integrating framework for an entrepreneurship education program

This is a theoretical paper with practical intent. It builds on the approach to entrepreneurship education outlined by Fiet (2000a, 2000b). It discusses, in the specific context of entrepreneurship education in Australian universities, the issues and challenges involved in designing an integrated program of study in which units of study build on and complement each other and relate to overall program objectives. It identifies barriers to integrated program design and suggests an approach to help overcome those barriers. Drawing on the literatures of teaching and learning in higher education and of entrepreneurship education, it proposes the use of 'general principles' as an integrating framework simple enough to work within the constraints of the institutional environment

The what, why and how of organizational values: a study of the interpretation and implementation of organizational values within fast-growing Australian companies

This thesis reports an exploratory study of the formation of organizational values within earlystage, fast-growing Australian companies, based on exploration of the approach to and interpretation of organizational values adopted by the founders. Much of the literature on organizational values relates to established companies where founders or their descendents are no longer involved. However, the influence of founders in creating organizational culture, and in defining the values that underlie that culture has been widely acknowledged (Schein, 1983; Collins & Porras, 1994). Many companies do not identify organizational values, and many of those who do so fail to embed them convincingly (Lencioni, 2002), so it is pertinent to ask what motivates those who choose to adopt values-based leadership. So far as I am aware, no other study has been made of why founders or owners of companies might choose to develop organizational values, how they interpret what is meant by the term ‘values’ and how they choose to apply them within their companies. Review of the stages of growth literature (e.g. Churchill & Lewis, 1983; Quinn & Cameron, 1983) suggested that it was at the point where a company reached the size or structure where direct supervision was no longer practical that the benefits of defining ‘soft’ control systems such as organizational values might become apparent. Growing companies were therefore selected as the sample frame for the study. The research approach involved in-depth interviews with founders (in one case non-founder CEO) of 15 early-stage, fast-growing or growth-oriented Australian companies. Company documents reflecting values were collected where available (including web site material). A survey collected descriptive information relating to growth dimensions (turnover, employee numbers, geographic locations), and a measure of business maturity developed by Davidsson and Klofsten (2003). Finally, an employee satisfaction survey assessing the gap between the company and a perceived ‘ideal’ company was offered (and accepted by eight of the companies). The main unit of analysis was the founder, with the actual values identified for each company as embedded sub-units (Yin, 1989). Analysis of interview transcripts and company documents identified both espoused and implicit values within companies. Thematic coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1990; Miles & Huberman, 1994) revealed two distinct triggers for defining organizational values: intrinsic awareness and external prompting. Expectations of benefits from adopting values fell broadly into three non-exclusive categories: strategic (guiding strategy and decision-making); enabling (aligning the workforce); and tactical (guiding day-to-day activities). There was no apparent relationship between the trigger for defining values and the expectation of benefits. The process for selecting organizational values was ad hoc and the individual values selected for the companies studied varied in nature both within and between companies. Different values placed different obligations on members of the organization, but these differences did not appear to be recognised by the founders, or within the literature on organizational values, thus leaving a gap that limited both practitioners and researchers. A descriptive framework was developed to captures these qualitative differences in a systematic fashion: ethical (what is desirable); psychological (what provides personal fulfilment); and pragmatic (what makes the company successful). It was found that the same value in the same company could be expressed in all three ways, thus a scale was developed to represent the degree to which each value was ethically, psychologically or pragmatically oriented. Basic statistical analysis of the results derived suggested that there may be relationships between the orientation of values and the degree to which they represent shared organizational values or just the founder’s personal value system, and also the degree to which they influence ethical reasoning anddecision-making. The development of this classification system (subject to successful replication), allows for a more systematic investigation of organizational values, in both emerging and established organizations. Finally, interviews with founders suggested a relationship between their personal value systems, the degree to which they viewed the company as an extension of their own identity and their business growth aspirations. A tentative model of relationships was developed, drawing on the literatures of entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurial cognition

Entrepreneurship education: the case for adopting the team-based learning approach

Entrepreneurship education makes extensive use of experiential learning, but the experiential activities are often not underpinned by established theory, or rely on a narrow base of theory informed by the research interests of the teaching staff (Fiet, 2000a). Students often resist theory classes, perceiving them as boring and irrelevant (Fiet, 2000b). Fiet argued for teaching through a combination of theory and activity, where the relevance of theory is clearly demonstrated through activities based on problems the theory purports to explain or solve. The Team-Based Learning approach (Michaelson, 2002) is a specific technique that facilitates this process, and yet has not been widely adopted by entrepreneurship educators apart from Michaelson himself. This discussion paper compares the TBL process with the pedagogical principles outlined by Fiet (and supported by other research in entrepreneurship education), reports a specific experience of using TBL in an integrative business unit, and calls for wider adoption of TBL in entrepreneurship teaching

Entrepreneurship education: the case for adopting the team-based learning approach

Entrepreneurship education makes extensive use of experiential learning, but the experiential activities are often not underpinned by established theory, or rely on a narrow base of theory informed by the research interests of the teaching staff (Fiet, 2000a). Students often resist theory classes, perceiving them as boring and irrelevant (Fiet, 2000b). Fiet argued for teaching through a combination of theory and activity, where the relevance of theory is clearly demonstrated through activities based on problems the theory purports to explain or solve. The Team-Based Learning approach (Michaelson, 2002) is a specific technique that facilitates this process, and yet has not been widely adopted by entrepreneurship educators apart from Michaelson himself. This discussion paper compares the TBL process with the pedagogical principles outlined by Fiet, reports a specific experience of using TBL in an integrative business unit, and calls for wider adoption of TBL in entrepreneurship teaching

Personal value systems and motivations of successful serial entrepreneurs

Transcripts of interviews with both serial entrepreneurs (ten) and non-serial entrepreneurs (two) were examined for evidence of the entrepreneurs' personal value systems and for evidence that these values were enacted in their businesses. Values identified were divided into interpersonal (relating to others) and personal (relating to the individual). Interpersonal values dominated the value systems of the non-serial entrepreneurs, suggesting that serial and non-serial entrepreneurs might have different types of value systems. Personal values were more likely to be carried over into business activities and were less compatible with building enduring organisations, suggesting that such organisations were unlikely to be founded by serial entrepreneurs. Both conclusions are highly tentative because of the small number of non-serial entrepreneurs in the sample