Constance Van Horne

Digital Entrepreneurship Intention in a Developed vs. Emerging Country: An Exploratory Study in France and the UAE

Abstract Entrepreneurship is an important part of economic landscape and digital changed the way creation can be done. This exploratory study wishes to fill the gap in the literature about entrepreneurship and digital and presents a conceptual model of digital entrepreneurship intention. Based on 10 semi-structured interviews of both French and Emirati digital entrepreneurs, results show that agility, entrepreneurial alertness and entrepreneurial characteristics influence intention. Managerial and academic contributions are proposed. Professionals can identify items that will help them launching their firm when academics will find new areas of research regarding digital entrepreneurship.

The Development of Arab Women Leaders: An Emirati Perspective

As women become an increasingly powerful force in the Arabian Gulf, increased attention needs to be focused on their leadership development. This chapter looks at the role that lived experience plays in developing these leaders, as opposed to formal interventions, and this study seeks to explore the underlying factors that enable women to learn how to lead. The findings are illustrated in a leader apprenticeship framework, which consists of experiencing influential encounters, dealing and learning from difficult events, and transforming directly following a formal training programme. The findings support claims to treat leadership learning as a form of apprenticeship where learning is embedded in the social fabric in which it transpires, calling for contextualizing leader development as supported by situational learning theory.

Entrepreneurial Innovation and Policy Implications in the United Arab Emirates

The paper provides an overview of entrepreneurial innovation and aspiration in the United Arab Emirates to help policy makers facilitate Emirati entrepreneurs establish small and medium size enterprises that develop and utilize new technology and innovation through research and development. The findings indicate that firstly, business activity in the UAE among Emiratis is concentrated in consumer and service oriented ventures, such as retail, restaurants, health, education and social services. Secondly, UAE businesses in general are skilled at technology adoption, but not technology innovation. Thirdly, it has been found that new and young businesses in the UAE have minimal involvement in the high/medium technology sectors. These findings indicate that the UAE government should focus on developing a highly innovative entrepreneurial sector and on supporting high value added new companies that have the potential to grow and to develop internationally. For this to take place and to create efficient support programs that add value, policy makers and business developers need to collaborate with universities and research establishments to develop support systems that work towards supply oriented policies by focusing on innovation, infrastructure and ecological sustainability, rather than on the traditional tools of local demand.

Measuring value in the innovation processes of university-industry research centres

There is increasing interest in new research relationships in the form of university-industry partnerships, by governments, universities, intermediary organisations and industry. These collaborations create value, however the value perceived, created and captured by the different actors in the innovation value network are different. However, based on the literature we can say that these values have to be present for all actors, at each phase, for the innovation process to continue. This paper presents a framework that illustrates a multi-actor view of the innovation process and associated values. It is hoped that this matrix can lead to new insight for researchers, practitioners and policy makers to manage better the innovation value network by facilitating the five phases of the innovation value network: policy making and grant process, idea generation and basic research, knowledge and technology development, knowledge and technology transfer and application of knowledge and technologies created by these research centres.