Seminar 2: Carland, J. W., Hoy, F., Boulton, W. R., and Carland, J. A. C. (1984). Differentiating Entrepreneurs from Small Business Owners. Academy of Management Review, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp.354-359. 1. What is entrepreneurship? Input? Event? Process? Input: • Entrepreneurship as an input is added to land, labour and capital to extend the theory of production and to complete the explanation of four kinds of income profit, rent, wages and interest Event: • Entrepreneurial events signify the introduction of novelty: attention may focus on the causes or the effects of such novelty (innovation) Process: • Entrepreneurial processes link a sequence of events either as a path to a desired objective, or as a chain of consequences of some action (uncertainty, risktakeing, create and identify business opportunities) 2. What is the unit / level of analysis in entrepreneurship studies? It supposed to be micro-level of analysis. 3. - 4. Why do policy-makers and practitioners support entrepreneurship? Entrepreneurs generate new businesses (encourage new firms formation) set up ventures Entrepreneurs add to National Income (enables new markets to be developed and new wealth created; reduce the unemployment and the poverty) Higher tax revenue Spend money on education, medical treatment. Entrepreneurs create social change (break away from traditions and directly support freedom by reducing dependence on obsolete systems and technologies) Competition, efficiency, productivity, culture innovation, positive economic development, stop import, less likely to displace local businesses, quality of products, get customer support. Has Schumpeter (1934) presented a broad definition of entrepreneurship? Entrepreneurship denotes the creation of some combination that did not previously exist, entrepreneurship often is equated with small business ownership and management. (radical innovation) - Introduction of new goods Introduction of new methods of production Opening of new markets Opening of new sources of supply No, he presented a narrow definition of entrepreneurship. 5. Are all small firms’ entrepreneurial ventures? No. Small businesses usually deal with known and established products and services, which entrepreneurial ventures focus on new, innovative offerings. Limited growth with continued profitability is what is hoped for in most small businesses, while entrepreneurial ventures target rapid growth and high returns. Small business venture: A small business venture is any business that is independently owned and operated, not dominant in its field, and does not engage in any new marketing or innovative practices. Entrepreneurial venture: An entrepreneurial venture is one that engages in at least one of Schumpeter’s four categories of behavior: that is, the principle goals of an entrepreneurial venture are profitability and growth and the business is characterized by innovative strategic practices. Seminar 3: 1. Gartner, W. B. (1989). “Who is an Entrepreneur?” Is the Wrong Question. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Vol. 13, No.4, pp.47-68. What is the unit of analysis in entrepreneurship studies? This approach to the study of entrepreneurship treats the organization as the primary level of analysis and the individual is viewed in terms of activities undertaken to enable the organization to come into existence. 2. Are entrepreneurs ‘born’ or ‘made’? Entrepreneurs can be made as well as born. Teach people the benefit of potential advanced advice 3. What is the personality approach? Through investigating the traits and personality characteristics of leaders to test whether it is possible to differentiate entrepreneurs from managers or from the general population based on the entrepreneur’s supported possession of such traits. Personality could shape a person’s behavior. 4. What are the strengths / weaknesses of the personality approach? Strengths: - It certainly might seem like the most effective way to proceed in attempting to reach a definition of who is an entrepreneur. Weaknesses: - The studies which investigated these characteristics and attributed them to entrepreneurs were not all empirical - The research samples were by no mean homogeneous 5. Do we need to consider contextual and behavioral issues when focusing upon entrepreneurs? Yes, due to the 6. What are the strengths / weaknesses of the behavioral approach? Weaknesses: - It has always been a difficult view to maintain 7. Do we need to consider ‘types’ of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial firms? 2 Yes, because entrepreneurs are inhomogeneous, therefore the entrepreneurial firms that they created are different. The creation of an organization is a very complicated and intricate process, influenced by many factors. Seminar 4: Ace Cleaning (UK) Limited 1. Activity of the business – the idea / the market / the business plan - Mary employed a continuation of the activities which had been employed in the early attempts to secure custom previously serviced by the original ACE – namely direct, personal approaches. She made direct speculative enquiries, offering free quotations to ensure that initial contact was gained. - A further practice was the decision to undertake the contract cleaning of private dwellings. Mary chose to pursue this type of work, utilizing it in a similar manner as loss leaders are used by supermarkets. [i.e. direct personal, and often speculative, approaches] 2. Reason(s) for business formation – push / pull factors - Forces of displacement 3. Characteristics of the entrepreneur Lack of entrepreneurial knowledge personality theories: Opportunistic Entrepreneurs sociological approach: dismissed employee human capital: SHK (specific human capital) management and industry know-how: Variety of work experience and identified with management prior business ownership experience: Novice Enterprising attributes of the entrepreneur – economic theories / abilities, skills, resources, competencies, etc. - Management skills - Human capital - Managing Director 5. Hurdles to business formation – factors of production / resources / legislation / competition - The organizational structure results in that Mary’s time was concerned almost exclusively with the daily operational issues of her company, leaving little scope for strategic questions. - Whilst business planning was undertaken, this was more often a mental activity on the part of Mary with little time available to establish a formal planning process 4. 6. Constraints on business development – methods of best practice exhibited - Financial restrictions - Lack of opportunity 7. Any entrepreneurial learning exhibited? No 8. Would you support this business? No, because Mary is a good manager rather than a boss. 3 Seminar 5: Alternative Publishing Limited 1. Activity of the business – the idea / the market / the business plan 2. Reason(s) for business formation – push / pull factors 3. Characteristics of the entrepreneur – personality theories / sociological approach / human capital / management and industry know-how / prior business ownership experience 4. Enterprising attributes of the entrepreneur – economic theories / abilities, skills, resources, competencies, etc. 5. Hurdles to business formation – factors of production / resources / legislation / competition 6. Constraints on business development – methods of best practice exhibited 7. Any entrepreneurial learning exhibited? 8. Would you support this business? 4 Seminar 6: Arran Aromatics Limited 1. Activity of the business – the idea / the market / the business plan 2. Reason(s) for business formation – push / pull factors 3. Characteristics of the entrepreneur – personality theories / sociological approach / human capital / management and industry know-how / prior business ownership experience 4. Enterprising attributes of the entrepreneur – economic theories / abilities, skills, resources, competencies, etc. 5. Hurdles to business formation – factors of production / resources / legislation / competition 6. Constraints on business development – methods of best practice exhibited 7. Any entrepreneurial learning exhibited? 9. Would you support this business? Seminar 7: Watson, J. (2002). Comparing the Performance of Male- and Female-Controlled Businesses: Relating Outputs to Inputs. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp.91-100. 1. Why focus on female entrepreneurs? 2. What was the unit of analysis? 3. Which female entrepreneur definition was operationalized? Any concerns? 4. What is the purpose of the article? 8. Is the study linked to a practitioner and policy-maker debate? 6. What theoretical perspective(s) guides the article? 7. What is the novel theoretical, definitional and / or methodological contribution of the study? 8. What sectors does the study focus upon? 9. What hypotheses were tested? 10. Was quality information collected and rigorously analyzed? 11. What are the key findings? The results indicated that female-owned businesses had significantly lower total income and profits compared to male-controlled businesses. However, there were also significantly fewer resources invested in the female-controlled businesses compared to the male-controlled businesses. When business outputs were related to inputs (and after controlling for industry, age of business, and the number of days the business operated), the results indicated that there were no significant differences in the performances of male- and female-controlled businesses. Interestingly, before including the control variables, there was evidence to suggest that female-controlled businesses outperformed the male-controlled businesses in this study. Female entrepreneurship: Low barriers entry Intense low-price competition Female underperformance hypothesis Overrepresented Low Self-esteem Confidence barriers 5 Discrimination Human capital, social capital, financial capital, Face broken careers Women are less likely than men to become entrepreneurs Empowerment Life-style reason Flexibility Freedom Independence Work-Life balance issues 12. What are the strengths / weaknesses of the study? Hard support Introduce law of equal pay in workplace Introduce law of avoiding discrimination Soft support – education, training, advice, Team stars – more resources, more knowledge, more confidence Learning skills relate to problem-solving, trained and educated themselves to discover business opportunities, imagination, creativities, wiring detailed plans Relate to two simplistic theories: - Liberal feminist theory - Social feminist theory Study shows women outperform men Women perform just as well as men Women underperform men Soft performance: Nearly all the studies does not consider the issue of team star Hard performance Input related to output Type of female entrepreneurs Tell me what government can do to help female entrepreneurs, how women can help themselves? 6
