Jean-Marie Toulouse

Strategy, Structure, CEO Personality and Performance in Small Firms

A study of 97 small firms was conducted to establish the impact of strategy, structure, decision making style, and chief executive personality on performance. Good growth and profit performance relative to the competition seemed to be associated with Innovative product-market strategies; more proactive, analytic, and future-oriented decision making style; more extensive delegation of authority and professional management; and greater CEO flexibility. Findings varied systematically in comparing groups of small versus medium sized firms, those in dynamic versus stable environments, and those that delegated much authority to lower levels versus those that did not.

Strategic Process and Content as Mediators Between Organizational Context and Structure

A series of LISREL analyses showed that aspects of the strategy-making process and the content of business strategies mediate between organizational context and structure. One dimension of context,...

Validation of a didactic model for the analysis of training objectives in entrepreneurship

Organizations wishing to develop entrepreneurship by education, presuppose that the lack of training for entrepreneurs is the main reason for the failure of small and medium-sized businesses (SME). ln this context, it is legitimate to question the quality and effectiveness of these programs. What do we know of these programs? What are their general education objectives? What are their pedagogical targets? This research is concemed with the situation of formai entrepreneurship training programs and, more particularly, the development of the educational content that they offer. ln summary, this research was designed to test a didactic model for the analysis of the objectives of entrepreneurship training. The results present three categories of objectives: general objectives, teaching objectives, and specifie objectives. For the general objectives, the model identifies three types of entrepreneurship development programs: PED awareness (entrepreneurial logic), business creation PED (managerial and functionallogic), and small business development PED (strategie managerial logic). We have also enumerated eight teaching objectives: competitive forces, the entrepreneur, the context, administration, strategy, the technical trade, the visionary process, and the stages of creation. Finally, an analysis of the main trends of the specifie objectives suggests the use of the following methods: market studies, entrepreneurial skills, support systems, management, growth strategies, technical orientation, the discovery of ideas, and the business plan.

NATIONAL, REGIONAL OR WORLD PATTERNS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL MOTIVATION?

ABSTRACT The international study on which these extensive results are based was undertaken for the purpose of determining to what extent entrepreneurial motivation cuts across cultural and socio-economic lines and what other factors influence entrepreneurship in the various milieus. Statistical analysis of 38 motivation variables for entrepreneurs reveals clearly that motivation transcends national cultures and defines three groups of countries: the Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian and Mixed groups. By contrast, the career motivation and job satisfaction level of non-entrepreneurs (35 variables) are country-specific. This suggests that entrepreneurial behaviour is much more dependent on a favorable socio-economic and political environment than on cultural values per se. Five basic motives stimulate these entrepreneurs: independence, achievement, recognition, communitarianism and money.

BUSINESS CREATION AMONG THE CHINESE IMMIGRANTS IN MONTREAL

ABSTRACT With the general aging of the population in North America and the fears of the increasing burden of a retired population on the taxpayers, governments have looked favourably on immigration as a possible way of solving this problem. With immigrants being cast in this role, questions of public policy have been raised on the additional effects of immigration on the host society. The public debate has focused on the economic contributions of immigrants versus their costs to their host economy. Thus the Quebec department of cultural communities has undertaken in the 1980s such a study designed to measure the value of the economic contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs and the federal government has undertaken two studies designed to do the same thing (1) (2). All these studies focused only on “immigrants-entrepreneurs”, (i.e. immigrants who had taken advantage of the categories of visas reserved for people who have promised to create a business in Canada).

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND EDUCATION: VIEWPOINT FROM EDUCATION

ABSTRACT A framework is drawn from educational sciences. After having identified four distinct educative orientations (conformist, adaptive, transformative, and alternative), existing university courses and programs in the field of entrepreneurial education are analyzed. Whereas most of the strategies and methods employed in entrepreneurial education stem from the first three orientations (pedagogical model), pursuing the alternative orientation (andragogical model), is recommended because it best integrates recent theories on adult education, learning and entrepreneurship.