Joan Winn

Entrepreneurship: not an easy path to top management for women

Despite the increased gender parity in the workforce today, few women attain top management positions in Americas largest corporations. Instead, an increasing number of women are achieving CEO status as entrepreneurs. In‐depth interviews with women who have lived in both worlds – that of the stable company and one launched and run on their own – give some insight as to the nature of the problems and perceptions faced by women as managers and entrepreneurs. Issues such as gender‐role bias and work/life balance are concerns for women with and without children. Gathering information from women who decided to form their own organizations after they had worked in a large organization, this paper examines some of the decision‐making factors and socio‐personal constraints that affect such entrepreneurship.

Asset Productivity Turnaround: the Growth/Efficiency Challenge

Growth and productivity have been linked together as the path to increasing profitability. However, companies that embark on aggressive growth strategies often find their efficiency severely compromised. This research examined companies whose asset productivity declined severely during periods of aggressive growth. Contrary to conventional turnaround wisdom, asset pruning and debt reduction did not accompany asset productivity turnarounds; however, successful turnaround companies did decrease their long-term debt ratios as they continued to expand. Companies that failed to turn around their asset productivity declines suffered subsequent declines in sales and income growth. Although the firms in this study did not publicly acknowledge the presence of decline, takeover attempts were more likely to occur during or immediately after the period of asset productivity decline.

The Great Case-Teaching-Notes Debate

Teaching notes, sometimes called an instructor’s manual, are routinely required to accompany written teaching cases that are submitted to case journals and case writing conferences. Although the content and organization of these notes have become fairly standardized, the literature on the case method contains relatively little discussion concerning the merits and limitations of case notes. It seems widely assumed by case writers that case notes are both essential and positively useful. This article is a modified transcript of an interactive presentation debating the merits of case notes that typically accompany teaching cases.

Colorado Creative Music

…I was a good musician, so I thought, what better thing than to start a music company?

An inter‐gender dialogue regarding inter‐gender relationship development in organizations

Comprises an Internet dialogue between two academics, which explores the dynamics of men and women forming professional relationships. Raises issues which can be used for helping organizations to facilitate the appropriate development of inter‐gender working relationships.

Unique Glass Beads from the Bohemian Paradise

The Case Study section of the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation serves two purposes. First, the case studies presented are concerned with problematical issues that are pertinent to students of entrepreneurship. Thus they constitute appropriate teaching and learning vehicles on a variety of postgraduate and undergraduate programmes. Each case study is accompanied by a set of guidelines for the use of tutors. Second, it is envisaged that those engaged in entrepreneurial activities will find the cases both interesting and useful. The authors wish to thank Hedvika and Michaela Horská, Dáša K ° utková and the staff of AAC for their cooperation in the preparation of this case. Funding for its preparation was provided by the J. William Fulbright Foundation and the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. The case is intended to stimulate class discussion rather than to illustrate the effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. All events and individuals featured are real. difficult. As the company grew in size, managing work schedules became easier, since more workers could pick up the slack if someone was ill or on vacation. But slumps in demand taxed both women’s managerial skills, and put the company’s financial health in jeopardy. They wanted to find other markets for their products, but they did not want to spend money on fancy marketing brochures or expensive international trips that had little guarantee of success. On the other hand, they knew that they would have to do something differently to stay ahead of the competition.

Anglo American College in Prague: Positioning for Growth

The Case Study section of the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation serves two purposes. First, the case studies presented are concerned with problematical issues that are pertinent to students of entrepreneurship. Thus they constitute appropriate teaching and learning vehicles on a variety of postgraduate and undergraduate programmes. Each case study is accompanied by a set of guidelines for the use of tutors. Second, it is envisaged that those engaged in entrepreneurial activities will find the cases both interesting and useful. A major theme of the case study in this issue is the strategic positioning and stages of growth of a young organization in a changing economy. The Anglo American College in Prague (AAC) was started in 1991, shortly after the Velvet Revolution ushered in the Czech Republic’s new era of independence and market-driven competitiveness. The underfunded state universities’ inability to supply multinational companies’ demands for English-speaking managers and employees provided the opportunity for new providers of university-level education. AAC attracted transient American and British expatriates as faculty and non-traditional and foreign students. Sparse funding kept its administrative staff lean and facilities and student support services poor. In 1994, AAC found a permanent building and began establishing systems and procedures. After ousting its administrative director in 1996, Dr Richard Jones took the helm and built AAC’s programmes and prestige. By the end of the summer of 1998, Jones was set to leave, along with some of the more competent managers who had started with him in 1996. The case ends as Roger Cole, a retired American professor, attempts to bring AAC ‘to the next level’, following Jones’s legacy of academic rigour, open management and community connectedness.

InterPost Prague Sro

The Case Study section of the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation serves two purposes. First, the case studies presented are concerned with problematical issues that are pertinent to students of entrepreneurship. Thus they constitute appropriate teaching and learning vehicles on a variety of postgraduate and undergraduate programmes. Each case study is accompanied by a set of guidelines for the use of tutors. Second, it is envisaged that those engaged in entrepreneurial activities will find the cases both interesting and useful. This issue’s Case Study highlights the start-up and strategy implementation issues faced by a US entrepreneur, backed by a Dutch conglomerate, establishing a business in Central Europe. Focusing on the initial stages of business development and growth, the case illustrates the complexities of establishing a business in a region where the business climate is not mature and markets are ill defined. Note: This Case Study was written solely for the purpose of stimulating student discussion and learning. All events and individuals mentioned in the article are real, but some names may have been disguised.