Ana Cristina O. Siqueira

Informal Entrepreneurship and Industry Conditions

Scholars have argued that informality is driven by the degree to which it is expensive or difficult to operate in the formal economy. In contrast, we argue that firms choose to be informal or formal partly driven by industry conditions. We examine informal firms that are not registered with a governmental authority. Based on a large data set of Brazilian businesses, we find that firm informality is positively associated with dynamism, yet negatively associated with munificence and concentration. Our findings suggest that informality is a decision driven by both cost of registering and risk reduction for entrepreneurs depending on industry conditions.

Supporting Innovation Ecosystems with Microfinance: Evidence from Brazil and Implications for Social Entrepreneurship

Abstract Considering a social enterprises relationships with complementors, suppliers, and customers within the broader context of an innovation ecosystem can help advance theory in the field of social entrepreneurship. Our qualitative study examines microfinance organizations in bottom-of-the-pyramid communities in Brazil. Our findings indicate that interactive relationships with complementors, suppliers, and customers can improve the microfinance organizations ability to support commercial transactions, manage financial capital, and educate customers, thereby improving its ability to facilitate economic development. These findings extend the literature on innovation ecosystems, microfinance, and social entrepreneurship.

Pedagogical methods for sustainable development: business educational projects generating direct impact on stakeholders through fundraising and fund management

Business Schools have faced the challenge of emphasising ethics and sustainability by developing students as professionals able to meet current sustainability needs. To date, there is limited practical guidance in the literature for faculty members who seek to implement projects that incorporate fundraising and fund management as educational approaches for sustainable development. Yet, these approaches are particularly relevant because projects that students will face later in their careers may commonly entail these skills. This paper provides three cases: one cross-disciplinary course project that incorporates fundraising and donation, one course project that results in donation to a non-profit organisation, and one program that emphasises sustainability-oriented fund management. These three cases represent active learning approaches that facilitate learning of Business disciplines while addressing ethical, social, and environmental issues. This paper provides practical guidance for faculty to implement projects that directly impact stakeholders through fundraising, donation, and fund management as methods supporting sustainable development.

Responsible management education: active learning approaches emphasising sustainability and social entrepreneurship

Active learning can serve as a platform for addressing sustainability, ethics, and social entrepreneurship by engaging students in experiential activities with external organisations for initiatives with a social mission. A variety of active learning approaches provide an opportunity to promote collaboration between students and external organisations in pursuit of a socially beneficial goal. This paper highlights different active learning approaches that emphasise sustainability, ethics, and social entrepreneurship in undergraduate and graduate management education. These approaches include experiential learning methods, such as undergraduate case competitions and global MBA case studies, as well as action learning methods, such as live consulting projects and cross-national student collaborations. These active learning approaches can help students address ethical, social, and environmental issues in complex business situations.

Institutional and interpersonal trust and entrepreneurship: insights from relationship banking and microfinance in Brazil

We examine the value of trust in entrepreneurship by addressing the context of microfinance. We investigate the cases of three community banks providing microfinance in bottom-of-the-pyramid communities in Brazil. Using qualitative methods, we find that institutional trust seems to facilitate the operation of microfinance organisations that support entrepreneurship, while stimulating consumption within a community and the development of local small businesses. Additionally, interpersonal trust seems to facilitate the development of formal and informal businesses.