The paper explores the process of early growth of entrepreneurial science-based firms. Drawing on case studies of British and Dutch biopharmaceutical R&D firms, we conceptualize the speed of early growth of science-based firms as the time it takes for the assembly (or combined development) of three types of critical resources - a functionally-diverse management team, early fundraising and development of technology. The development of these resources is an unfolding and interrelated process, the causal direction of which is highly ambiguous. We show the variety of paths used by science-based firms to access and develop these critical resources. The picture that emerges is that the various combinations of what we call "assisted" and "unassisted" paths combine to influence the speed of firm growth. We show how a wide range of manifestations of technology development act as signaling devices to attract funding and management, affecting the speed of firm development. We also show how the variety of paths and the speed of development are influenced by the national institutional setting.
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There has probably never been such an intense debate about the layout of the countryside as the one that is currently raging. There are serious concerns about the landscape, which is being rapidly transformed by urbanization and everything associated with this process, and not only in the Netherlands but also far beyond its borders. Everyone has something to say in this society-wide debate, from local to national governments, from environmental factions to the road-user's lobby, and from those who are professionally involved to concerned private parties. In many cases it is a battle between idealized images and economic models, between agricultural reality and urban park landscapes, between ecological concerns and mobility. This issue of OASE explores the potential significance of architectonic design for transformation processes on the regional scale. Besides considering the instruments that are available to the designer to fulfil this task, the authors also consider how the design can exercise a 'positive' influence on such processes. The various contributions shed light on the potential significance of territory in contemporary design practice and offer critical reflection on the topical discourse that has evolved over recent years.
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It is well-documented that international enterprises are more productive. Only few studies have explored the effect of internationalization on productivity and innovation at the firm-level. Using propensity score matching we analyze the causal effects of internationalization on innovation in 10 transition economies. We distinguish between three types of internationalization: exporting, FDI, and international outsourcing. We find that internationalization causes higher levels of innovation. More specifically, we show that (i) exporting results in more R&D, higher sales from product innovation, and an increase in the number of international patents (ii) outward FDI increases R&D and international patents (iii) international outsourcing leads to higher sales from product innovation. The paper provides empirical support to the theoretical literature on heterogeneous firms in international trade that argues that middle income countries gain from trade liberalization through increases in firm productivity and innovative capabilities.
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This research focuses on exit choices within SMEs. In this study, “exit choice” refers to the decision to opt for either liquidation or sale of the firm. The predictions focus on human-capital and firm-resource variables. The hypotheses are tested on a set of 158 owners of small firms, the majority of which are micro-firms with 0–9 employees. The results of a series of binominal logistic regression analyses show that firm-resource characteristics (previous sales turnover, the firm’s independence from its owner, and firm size), together with one aspect of the owner’s specific human capital (the owner’s acquisition experience), predict exit choice. The conclusions have been made with caution, as the dataset is relatively small and the number of predictors is limited.
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The Dutch greenhouse horticultural industry is characterized by world leadership in high-tech innovation. The dynamics of this playing field are innovation in production systems and automation, reduction in energy consumption and sharing limited space. However, international competitive advantage of the industry is under pressure and sustainable growth of individual enterprises is no longer a certainty. The sector's ambition is to innovate better and grow faster than the competition in the rest of the world. Realizing this ambition requires strengthening the knowledge base, stimulating entrepreneurship, innovation (not just technological, but especially business process innovation). It also requires educating and professionalizing people. However, knowledge transfer in this industry is often fragmented and innovation through collaboration takes up a mere 25-30% of the opportunities. The greenhouse horticulture sector is generally characterized by small scale, often family run businesses. Growers often depend on the Dutch auction system for their revenues and suppliers operate mainly independently. Horizontal and vertical collaboration throughout the value chain is limited. This paper focuses on the question: how can the grower and the supplier in the greenhouse horticulture chain gain competitive advantage through radical product and process innovation. The challenge lies in time- to-market, in customer relationship, in developing new product/market combinations and in innovative entrepreneurship. In this paper an innovation and entrepreneurial educational and research programme is introduced. The programme aims at strengthening multidisciplinary collaboration between enterprise, education and research. Using best practice examples, the paper illustrates how companies can realize growth and improve innovative capabilities of the organization as well as the individual by linking economic and social sustainability. The paper continues to show how participants of the programme develop competencies by means of going through a learning cycle of single-loop, double-loop and triple loop learning: reduction of mistakes, change towards new concepts and improvement of the ability to learn. Furthermore, the paper discusses our four-year programme, whose objectives are trying to eliminate interventions that stimulate the innovative capabilities of SME's in this sector and develop instruments that are beneficial to organizations and individual entrepreneurs and help them make the step from vision to action, and from incremental to radical innovation. Finally, the paper illustrates the importance of combining enterprise, education and research in networks with a regional, national and international scope, with examples from the greenhouse horticulture sector. These networks generate economic regional and national growth and international competitiveness by acting as business accelerators.
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Summary Project objectives This study fits into a larger research project on logistics collaboration and outsourcing decisions. The final objective of this larger project is to analyze the logistics collaboration decision in more detail to identify thresholds in these decisions. To reach the overall objectives, the first step is to get a clearer picture on the chemical and logistics service providers industry, sectors of our study, and on logistics collaboration in these sectors. The results of this first phase are presented in this report. Project Approach The study consists of two parts: literature review and five case studies within the chemical industry. The literature covers three topics: logistics collaboration, logistics outsourcing and purchasing of logistics services. The five case studies are used to refine the theoretical findings of the literature review. Conclusions Main observations during the case studies can be summarized as follows: Most analyzed collaborative relationships between shippers and logistics service providers in the chemical industry are still focused on operational execution of logistics activities with a short term horizon. Supply management design and control are often retained by the shippers. Despite the time and cost intensive character of a logistics service buying process, shippers tendering on a very regular basis. The decision to start a new tender project should more often be based on an integral approach that includes all tender related costs. A lower frequency of tendering could create more stability in supply chains. Beside, it will give both, shippers and LSPs, the possibility to improve the quality of the remaining projects. Price is still a dominating decision criterion in selecting a LSP. This is not an issue as long as the comparison of costs is based on an integral approach, and when shippers balance the cost criterion within their total set of criteria for sourcing logistics services. At the shippers' side there is an increased awareness of the need of more solid collaboration with logistics service providers. Nevertheless, in many cases this increased awareness does not actually result in the required actions to establish more intensive collaboration. Over the last years the logistics service providers industry was characterized by low profit margins, strong fragmentation and price competition. Nowadays, the market for LSPs is changing, because of an increasing demand for logistics services. To benefit from this situation a more pro-active role of the service providers is required in building stronger relationships with their customers. They should pay more attention on mid and long term possibilities in a collaborative relation, in stead of only be focused on running the daily operation.
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From the article: "Project execution in the construction industry faces major challenges, e.g. difficulty in coordination and cooperation. Operational procurement during project execution is no exception. In this paper we construct a maturity model, based on earlier work, consisting of six dimensions (goal, control, process, organization, information, technology) and five maturity stages (transactional-oriented, commercial-oriented, coordination, internal-optimized, external-optimized). The model can be used to determine the level of procurement maturity for each of the dimensions, and for the determination of a strategy for growth in the construction industry. With input from a major construction firm in the Netherlands, through simulating tooling, the model is evaluated for its contribution to growth in operational excellence. Results of the simulation show support for a relation between maturity growth and increased operational excellence." Recommended Citation Xing, Xiaochun; Versendaal, Johan; van den Akker, Marjan; and De Bevere, Bastiaan, "Maturity of Operational Procurement in the Construction Industry: A Business/IT-Alignment Perspective" (2011). BLED 2011 Proceedings. Paper 22. http://aisel.aisnet.org/bled2011/22 Affiliation: Xing Xiaochun - Swets Information Services, Netherlands; Johan Versendaal - Utrecht University, Netherlands; HU University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands; Marjan van den Akker - Utrecht University, Netherlands; Bastiaan De Bevere - Ballast Nedam, Netherlands.
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Internationalizing curricula. Needs and wishes of alumni and employers with regard to international competencies. Internationalization has become of great importance for universities acrossthe globe. The labour market is becoming international, with internationalopportunities and international competition. Emerging markets such as India, China and Russia are gaining economic power. Global challenges demand world-wide solutions. Production and marketing networks span the globe and various forms of migration have resulted in a large cultural diversity within nations. As a result, societies and labour markets are changing as well. In order to deal with these societal changes adequately and to succeed in today’s labour market, graduates need to be equipped with international competencies. In a survey among 500 chief executives, ICM Research (on behalf of Think Global and The British Council, 2011) showed that employers strongly value staff members who are able to work in an international and multicultural environment. Similar results were found in Diamond et al. (2011), in which ‘multicultural teamwork’ was considered most important. The Hague University of Applied Sciences seeks to prepare its students adequately for the world of tomorrow. The University’s development plans (e.g. HogeschoolOntwikkelingsPlan, HOP 7, 2009-2013 and HOP 8, 2014-2017) indicate that its vision is to train students to be globally-minded professionals with an international and multicultural perspective, who are world-citizens, interested in global issues and able to deal with diversity in a constructive manner. They are to be professionals, who possess the competencies to function well in an international and intercultural environment. Internationalization is therefore high on the agenda of The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS) which is illustrated by the fact that, as of 2014, new students in all academies have to fill 12.5% (30 ECTS) of their four-year Bachelor program with international activities. These activities can range from an internship or semester abroad (student mobility) to participating in full programs of study or minors in which English is the medium of instruction, or an internationally themed minor (Internationalization at Home, IaH). And this is only the beginning. Internationalization is a means, not an end. All THUAS courses are looking into ways in which they can internationalize their curriculum. And in doing so, they need to be innovative (Leask, 2009) and keep in mind the specific needs and wishes of alumni and their employers with regard to international competences. The THUAS research group International Cooperation supports these internationalization policy objectives by investigating various aspects, such as: • The acquisition and development of international competencies among students. • The extent to which lecturers possess international competencies and what their needs and wishes are for further development. • The international competencies THUAS graduates have acquired as part of their degree and how THUAS has stimulated this development. • The international competencies that employers and alumni consider important. Although international competencies and employability have received growing attention in internationalization research, existing studies have mainly focused on: • The effects of study abroad on the development of international competence (cf. Hoven & Walenkamp, 2013). • The effects of an experience abroad (study, internship, voluntary work) on employability. • A more general analysis of the skills employers look for in prospective employees.
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The aim of this study was to understand the motives for using the Internet, and its associations with users' attitudes, social values, and relational involvement. Also, this study attempted to crossculturally compare the difference in the pattern of motives and the associations among three countries ' the US, the Netherlands, and S. Korea. The design of methods was based on examination and revision of uses and gratification approach toward Internet users. Findings from factor analysis revealed that information seeking and Self-Improvement were the dominant and common reasons for using the Internet across three countries. The differences in the composition of motives in each country were also reported. Strong correlations across countries were found between all the motives and satisfaction of the Internet. Expectation and positive evaluation of the Internet were also important attitudes associated with Internet use motives. Postmaterialist value showed strong association with motives of information seeking and Self-Improvement. Community involvement was significantly associated with Internet use motives in Korean users.
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Financial constraints and risk taking are two well-established determinants of firm performance, however, no research analyzes how these variables are connected in the context of a high risk environment. Using data from microfinance clients in Tanzania, we derive a novel financial constraints measure and incorporate a psychometric risk taking scale. Results confirm the importance of access to finance and risk attitudes for business development. Also, we provide preliminary evidence for an interaction between financial constraints and risk taking. Financial constraints “throw sand in the wheels” and protect risk taking entrepreneurs from the negative impact of risk taking on microenterprise performance.
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