Business Commons^™

Sustainability Impact Assessment Of New Ventures: An Emerging Field Of Research, Klaus Fichter, Florian Ludeke-Freund, Stefan Schaltegger, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Entrepreneurs and start-ups are key actors in implementing environmental innovation and accelerating sustainability transitions. Thus, analyzing as well as predicting the impact of entrepreneurial ventures is central to management and entrepreneurship research. The sustainability performance, value and impact of incumbent firms and their products and services has been a key topic in business-related sustainability research for many years. However, assessing the sustainability effects of new ventures such as start-ups is a neglected area in the research literature. This article therefore provides an overview, including key definitions, a new conceptual framework, and notions that can help guide and inspire a future …

Competitive Sustainability: The Intersection Of Sustainability And Business Success, Clyde Eiríkur Hull

Articles

Sustainability that beats the competition is different from sustainability that does not. Some who care very much about sustainability may not care at all about business success. However, they should. If businesses were to see that competitive sustainability leads to financial success, they would take it up and abandon nonsustainable practices

A Foot In The Door: Field-Experiments On Entrepreneurs’ Network Activation Strategies For Investor Referrals, Jared Nai, Yimin Lin, Reddi Kotha, Vissa Balagopal

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We investigate entrepreneurial network activation—the processes by which entrepreneurs select specific contacts from their existing personal network and persuade the selected contacts to provide referrals to access targeted early-stage investors (venture capitalists or angel-investors). We differentiate between selection of entrepreneur-centric contacts versus investor-centric contacts. We also distinguish between persuasion tactics that induce contacts' cooperation through promises of reciprocity versus offers of monetary incentives. We conducted two field-experiments in India and one in Singapore. Our primary field-experiment involved 42 Singapore-based entrepreneurs seeking referrals from 684 network contacts to reach a panel of four investors. Our evidence suggests that selecting investor-centric contacts …

Qalo: When Is It Time To Exit?, Jeff Cohu

Faculty Publications

The case follows the origin story of the startup company QALO from its inception and launch through the first few years of scaling up the business to a potential exit decision by a co-founder. The case is intended to be used in undergraduate entrepreneurship or sales and marketing courses at the junior and senior level. The case is designed to illustrate the challenges of scaling a fast-growing startup and to evaluate the options of a founder's exit strategy. The case is useful to demonstrate concepts such as lean startup methodology, sales channel selection, startup business model development, and exit strategy …

Brave New World - Innovation 2.0 And Public Private Partnerhips (P3s), Rhonda S. Binda

Open Educational Resources

The trifecta of globalization, urbanization and digitization have created new opportunities and challenges across our nation, cities, boroughs and urban centers. Cities are in a unique position at the center of commerce and technology becoming hubs for innovation and practical application of emerging technology. In this rapidly changing 24/7 digitized world, city governments worldwide are leveraging innovation and technology to become more effective, efficient, transparent and to be able to better plan for and anticipate the needs of its citizens, businesses and community organizations. This class will provide the framework for how cities and communities can become smarter and more …

Uber, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Bryant Holden, Kelli Mckenna, Scott Mcquiddy, Alex Wiles

Robins Case Network

Uber focuses primarily on the ride-hailing industry, which puts the company in direct competition with regular taxis. The company is like a lot of tech-driven, fast growing entrepreneurial firms in that it still struggles for profitability. Also, the popularity of this new form of transportation has put the company and its close competitors, such as Lyft, in the spotlight of government lawmakers and regulators. If they classify Uber drivers as employees rather than independent contractors, it could dramatically alter the Uber business model. This case is written in the aftermath of the ouster of one of the company’s co-founders as …

Reward-Based Crowdfunding Success: Decomposition Of The Project, Product Category, Entrepreneur, And Location Effects, C. S. Richard Chan, Haemin Dennis Park, Pamkaj Patel, David Gomulya

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We assess the relative importance of project, product category, entrepreneur, and location effects on reward-based crowdfunding success. Applying variance decomposition analysis to a sample of 98,336 crowdfunding projects launched between May 2009 and May 2014 on the Kickstarter platform, we find that agency factors, specifically the project and entrepreneur effects, explain the highest relative variance (over 80% of total variance) across three crowdfunding success outcomes – pledge amount, number of backers, and funding success. Structural factors, specifically product category and location effects, have lower but still significant effects. Our study extends prior variance decomposition studies in strategy and entrepreneurship research …

International New Ventures: Revisiting The Influences Behind The ‘Born-Global’ Firm, Terence P. C. Fan, Phillip Phan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

There is a small but theoretically important literature on 'born-globals' or international new venture firms that positions itself in contrast to the more established sequential international entry literature. In this paper we examine the pattern of entry into international markets for a set of international new ventures and show that they need not be a distinct breed of firms, as previous research has portrayed. Absent a specific technological advantage, the decision for a new venture to internationalize at inception is influenced by the size of its home market and by its production capacity, as well as by cultural and economic …

Assessment Of Minimum Viable Product Techniques: A Literature Review, Mohammadsaleh Saadatmand

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Although the minimum viable product (MVP) concept provides a means to test ideas and hypothesis at early stages, it does not indicate that it is easy to build. MVP tests whether your idea solves a real problem that customers are willing to pay for. In order to reach the stage of building a product that people want to use and pay for, we need to make sure product passes certain tests. In turn, MVP techniques/methods are designed not only to test technical questions about the product, but also to assess the viability of business model hypothesis. Once the hypothesis that …

Convincing The Crowd: Entrepreneurial Storytelling In Crowdfunding Campaigns, Stephan Manning, Thomas A. Bejarano

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

This study examines the structure of entrepreneurial stories in pursuit of mobilizing resources from crowds. Based on a comparative analysis of Kickstarter crowdfunding campaigns, we examine in particular how, across different project types, project histories and potential futures are framed and interlinked in narratives to appeal to funders. We find that projects are narrated in different styles – as ‘ongoing journeys’ or ‘results-in-progress’ – to convey project value. The former style narrates projects as longer-term endeavors powered by creative initial ideas and a bold vision, inviting audiences to ‘join the journey’; the latter narrates projects more narrowly as a progression …

7 Tips To Grow Your Rural Business With Purpose And Meaning, Connie I. Reimers-Hild, Alyssa Dye

Community Vitality Initiative Collections

No one can predict the future; however, rural entrepreneurs and business owners can use a future-focused leadership approach, which includes examining megatrends, to shape the future of their businesses. Megatrends are global shifts that influence society, the economy and the environment. The purpose of this article is to help rural entrepreneurs discover ways to grow their businesses with Living with Purpose and Meaning Megatrend.

Become A Future-Focused Leader: Use Three Megatrends To Grow Your Rural Business, Connie Reimers-Hild, Alyssa Dye

Community Vitality Initiative Collections

No one can predict the future; however, rural entrepreneurs and business owners can use a future-focused leadership approach, which includes examining megatrends, to shape the future of their businesses. Megatrends are global shifts that influence society, the economy and the environment. This article discusses three megatrends shaping the future of rural businesses:

1) The Rise of the #GigEconomy

2) Living with Purpose and Meaning

3) The Decentralized Marketplace

The article also provides coaching tips for rural entrepreneurs on how to use megatrends to grow their businesses.

While many companies are struggling to keep up with the rapid rate of change, …

Entrepreneurship, Professionalism, Leadership: A Framework And Measure For Understanding Boundaryless Careers, Kim-Yin Chan, Moon-Ho R. Ho, Oleksandr S. Chernyshenko, Olwen Bedford, Marilyn A. Uy, David M. Gomulya, Y. L. Sam, Wei Ming J. Phan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We propose a person-centered framework for conceptualizing subjective careers in an increasingly boundaryless work context. Specifically, we argue that entrepreneurship, professionalism, and leadership (EPL) can serve as three key dimensions of subjective career space. We relate this framework to earlier macro-level national and organizational career models proposed by Kanter (1989) and Schein (1978). Our empirical study involving 10,326 Singaporean university students demonstrated that entrepreneurial, professional, and leadership career aspirations (including motivations, efficacies, and intentions) can be measured independently, that these career dimensions are independent of vocational interests, and that they are to some degree viewed as competing career alternatives. We …

International New Ventures: Revisiting The Influences Behind The 'Born-Global' Firm, Terence P. C. Fan, Phillip Phan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

There is a small but theoretically important literature on 'born-globals' or international new venture firms that positions itself in contrast to the more established sequential international entry literature. In this paper we examine the pattern of entry into international markets for a set of international new ventures and show that they need not be a distinct breed of firms, as previous research has portrayed. Absent a specific technological advantage, the decision for a new venture to internationalize at inception is influenced by the size of its home market and by its production capacity, as well as by cultural and economic …

Partnering Strategies And Performance Of Smes' International Joint Ventures, Jane Wenzhen Lu, Paul W. Beamish

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The international joint venture (IJV) is an important mode in the internationalization of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Internationalization in turn is an entrepreneurial behavior in the pursuit of growth. Partnering strategies in the formation of IJVs can have significant effects on the outcome of SMEs' international expansion. In this study, we examine the performance implications of two types of resources contributed by SMEs' IJV partners, host country knowledge and size-based resources. We develop and test three sets of hypotheses about the longevity and financial performance of a sample of 1117 international joint ventures established in 43 countries by 614 …

Slack Resources And The Performance Of Privately Held Firms, Gerard George

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Empirical findings from publicly traded firms and behavioral arguments suggest a positive influence of resource slack on financial performance. While this area has remained unexplored in privately held firms, conceptual arguments indicate that resource constraints may enhance performance. Longitudinal data on 900 privately held firms confirm the differing influences of forms of slack on performance. Results indicate that a combination of behavioral and resource constraints arguments are necessary to explain the slack-performance relationship in privately held firms. The implications of these findings for theories of resources and entrepreneurship are discussed.

Developmental Financial Institutions As Technology Policy Instruments: Implications For Innovation And Entrepreneurship In Emerging Economies, Gerard George, Ganesh N. Prabhu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Developmental financial institutions (DFIs) in emerging economies regularly assess new technology platforms to support their investments in new ventures, established firms, and technology institutions (TIs). Their financing decisions are guided by national priorities such as achieving technological self-reliance. By providing attractive financing options and related support, DFIs are well placed to consciously channel finance into designated priority technology areas. To better understand DFI roles, we conducted multiple interviews with participants affiliated with DFIs, firms and TIs in India. From data gathered from these interviews and secondary data on DFIs in emerging economies, we develop a preliminary framework to suggest that …

Developmental Financial Institutions As Catalysts Of Entrepreneurship In Emerging Economies, Gerard George, Ganesh N. Prabhu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

With ongoing privatization efforts in emerging economies, governments have supported developmental financial institutions (DFIs) to spur entrepreneurial activity. The authors use stakeholder theory to suggest that postprivatization stakeholders differ in their preference to seek DFI support. The authors then posit that national developmental priorities influence the DFI's willingness to be involved in the governance of the privatized firm, and they discuss implications of DFI involvement for value creation and entrepreneurship in emerging economies.