Allan O'Connor

Social Capital and the Networking Practices of Indigenous Entrepreneurs

A comparative case study analysis has been undertaken on ustralian boriginal, native awaiians, and āori entrepreneurs. This work investigates the networking activities by these groups of indigenous entrepreneurs situated within a mixed minority (indigenous) and dominant (settler majority) urban cultural setting. The way in which indigenous entrepreneurs network to achieve their business aspirations suggests that the underlying social capital dimensions are unique to their cultural context. Five comparative characteristics also emerged from the data that assist the analysis. The research reveals how indigenous and potentially other minority ethnic entrepreneurs draw upon internal and external network ties that are related to the historical and cultural influence on social capital.

Evaluating an Australian public policy organization's innovation capacity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide explicit thinking about the organizational elements that support or hinder innovation in the government sector as it increasingly faces demand for innovative solutions to policy areas. The paper aims to present the development and findings of an evaluative case method conducted for an Australian state government departments organizational innovation program.Design/methodology/approach – The evaluative case study was developed and conducted in two phases. First, an intellectual capital conceptual framework was applied to four independently sourced and discreet case organizations to represent multiple exemplars of innovation capacity building. These exemplars were suspended from their context in order to identify essential elements of the innovation capacity development process which in turn were then applied in phase two to the Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF), a Victorian (Australia) public policy organization.Findings – The case raises critical d...

Empowering Entrepreneurship Through Foresight And Innovation: Developing A Theoretical Framework For Empowerment In Enterprise Programs

This study explores how education and development in the skills and knowledge of foresight, innovation and enterprise (FI and E) relate to the empowerment of young individuals with respect to creating a new venture. In 2003, three groups of young persons aged between 13 and 18 years participated in a program designed for empowerment. An evaluation was conducted nine months later that provided useful insight into the impact of the education design, content and delivery. This research provides deeper insight into the way FI and E education can be used to create empowerment through the derivation of a framework that addresses entry, process and agency factors.

Government policy implications of intellectual capital: an Australian manufacturing case study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on an industry policy implementation case involving around 30 manufacturing firms, where the intellectual capital (IC) lens, and especially the intellectual capital navigator (ICN) approach, was found to be very useful for evaluating alternative servitisation strategies. Servitisation is a form of business model innovation and as such involves restructuring the firm’s resource deployment system including its IC resources. Design/methodology/approach – The ICN was one of several methods and themes used by a sample of manufacturing firms during a 12 month period. Data capture were through video filming, observation, and formal interviewing during and after the interventions. Findings – The ICN is considered to be the third most valuable theme in a strategic and operational servitisation programme for manufacturing firms, primarily in the domain of effectiveness evaluation of alternative resource deployment strategies and as such should be one of the key dimen...

An empirical analysis of the IC Navigator approach in practice – a case study of five manufacturing firms

The literature surrounding Intellectual Capital (IC) theory has grown substantially over the last 10 years with new models, frameworks and approaches introduced for how to manage IC. Yet, the practical implication of deploying IC methods in an organisation and its impact on a firms business model innovation and decision-making process is relatively unexplored. This paper will review one tool, the IC Navigator approach and its effectiveness as a tool for resource deployment analysis and its impact on a firms future value creation activities. The paper reports on research that involved five manufacturing firms who participated in an action learning workshop series and particularly the workshop dedicated to using the IC Navigator approach. The usefulness of this model as a tool to reconfiguring a firms resources, as perceived by the five firms, is examined and findings are presented.

An entrepreneurship policy framework for high-growth firms: Navigating between policies for picking winners and market failure

This paper outlines an analysis of high-growth technology ventures framed within a time when innovation and entrepreneurship were clearly central pillars of economic policy in Australia. The paper first outlines the case that entrepreneurship policy is highly reliant upon supporting high entrepreneurial potential firms. It next outlines the innovation and entrepreneurship policy environment of the Australian Government between 2001 and 2006 and discusses its shortcomings. Using a series of mini cases of technology-based high-growth firms coincidental with this policy environment, the policy areas that require attention in order to support high-growth technology ventures are highlighted. The paper concludes by providing a policy framework conceived through the lens of high-growth business ventures. When viewed in this way it is apparent that neither policy designed to pick winners or policy that addresses market failure fully support or facilitate high-growth ventures.

Innovation and entrepreneurship: managing the paradox of purpose in business model innovation

This paper explores the paradox between innovation and entrepreneurship in the context of business model innovation. Innovation focused companies develop policies to enhance human capital and develop a broad base of relationships that generate new ideas and directions. This seems paradoxical to corporate entrepreneurship that seeks to leverage particular intellectual properties through a market focus and penetration. A culture of innovation on the one hand is inefficient due to its nature of experimentation, broad relationship base and interests in discovery while corporate entrepreneurship seeks to capitalise on innovation through the business model to gain scale efficiencies and profitability. The paper concludes by proposing a multi-perspective conceptual framework to capture and represent the shifts in intellectual capital needed to manage these intertwined concepts.

The intellectual capital needs of a transitioning economy: a case study exploration of Australian sectoral changes

Purpose – Developed economies with high-cost environments face industrial transitions from scale-based manufacturing (MAN) to knowledge, technology and intangible asset-based sectors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the changes in employment and value-adding profiles of transitioning industry sectors in Australia and discuss the implications for policy that influences the intellectual capital (IC) profile of industrial sectors in transition. Design/methodology/approach – The approach borrowed concepts from the firm-level strategic management literature and applied them to a macro level of industry analysis. In this paper the authors examine the transitions in the Australian economy which, due to a rising cost base, is experiencing a decline in its value chain-oriented MAN sector. The authors contrast four industry sectors with the MAN sector and examine the different value creation models. Findings – The findings clearly show how the contribution to employment and value added (termed Economic Valu...

Is there an association between business and entrepreneurship education and differing entrepreneurial groups in Australia? Evidence from GEM Australia

Abstract Although business and entrepreneurship education is widespread, there remain considerable doubts about its relationship with wider groups in society. This paper examines the link between business and entrepreneurship education and five common entrepreneurial groups (nascent entrepreneurs, future nascent entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, new entrepreneurs, and existing entrepreneurs) in Australia. Using GEM data, we find that both business and entrepreneurship education have positive associations with each of these five entrepreneurial groups.

HOW PRODUCT, OPERATIONS, AND MARKETING SOURCES OF IDEAS INFLUENCE INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURIAL PERFORMANCE IN AUSTRALIAN SMEs

In this paper we have used structural equation modelling to examine the inter-relationships among specific intangible resources — product, operations, and marketing sources of ideas — as they relate to innovation and firm performance. Prior studies founded upon the Resource Based View (RBV) of the firm, have focused on the relationship between innovation and firm performance or resources and firm performance, but have not examined both simultaneously. Our study reveals how the sources of ideas, as valuable strategic firm resources, directly, and/or indirectly via innovation activities, contribute to firm performance. We find that marketing sources of ideas directly influences firm performance and that product and operations sources of ideas do not. Indirectly, however, all three sources of idea resources (marketing, operational, and product) contribute to firm performance via the innovation construct. Thus, ideas, and where they come from, are crucial to understanding innovation and firm performance. Innovation is a key component in the structural model because it partially mediates the marketing idea sources-performance relationship. It also provides the basis for interaction effects among operations and product resources and firm performance. Therefore, including innovation in the conceptual model improves the model specification as it increases insight into the resource-performance relationship.