Noel J. Lindsay

Entrepreneurial, market, and learning orientations and international entrepreneurial business venture performance in South African firms

Purpose – This study examines the interrelationships between aspects of entrepreneurial, market, and learning orientations, and international entrepreneurial business venture (IEBV) performance.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 396 entrepreneurs and 143 senior managers from early stage, growth‐oriented firms in the Republic of South Africa. These firms had an international focus in that 20 per cent began exporting from their inception and the remaining 80 per cent either began exporting within three years of inception or planned to export within three years of inception. Given the multidimensional nature of IEBV performance, structural equation modeling (AMOS) was used to test the measurement and substantive models.Findings – Results indicate that IEBV performance is positively related to the innovativeness component of an entrepreneurial orientation (EO), a market orientation, and a learning orientation. Contrary to expectations, the communications aspect of EO is inversely related t...

Entrepreneurial orientation and international entrepreneurial business venture startup

Purpose – This study seeks to examine the interrelationships among three elements of an entrepreneurial orientation (proactiveness, innovativeness, and risk‐taking), age and education of the entrepreneur, and the international entrepreneurial business venture (IEBV) start‐up decision.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from a sample of 539 individuals from dynamic internationally focused South African firms. Since the dependent variable is non‐metric and the independent variables associated with the IEBV new entry decision are metric, multiple discriminant analysis was used to test new entry decisions.Findings – Results indicate that the start‐up decision is positively related to the proactiveness and risk‐taking components of an entrepreneurial orientation and the age of the lead entrepreneur and negatively related to the education of the lead entrepreneur. As predicted, the innovativeness component of entrepreneurial orientation is not a factor in the start‐up decision.Practical implicatio...

Incorporating the family dynamic into the entrepreneurship process

This research furthers our understanding of the interaction between the fields of entrepreneurship and family business. It presents a framework that introduces the family dynamic to Timmons’ driving forces model of entrepreneurship. The framework highlights the influence of the family in the entrepreneurship process and the importance of the fit among the three driving forces and the family. It highlights the importance of, and the pivotal roles played by, outside boards of directors when entrepreneurial activities are undertaken by family businesses. Using extracts from interviews with family and non‐family executives and board members, the research employs a single case study that describes an actual series of events to provide a practical application of the theory.

Do business angels have an entrepreneurial orientation

This research extends existing theory on the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and the EO-performance relationship of entrepreneurial firms to business angels. Business angels are high net worth individuals who invest their own money in early stage, new entrant, high risk, unlisted entrepreneurial firms. Because of their investment focus, the environments they operate in tend to be dynamic and changing where there is a need for them to be structured organically to respond to uncertainty and change. Underpinning the research is the notion that business angels need to be consummate entrepreneurs to be successful in undertaking their investment activities. The research identified the EO construct as relevant for describing the decision making activities and processes of business angels. Business angels do demonstrate an EO. In addition, all three of the underlying EO dimensions (proactiveness, innovativeness and risk taking) were identified as being related to the profitability-growth performance scale used in this research.

Examining the role of entrepreneurial experience and entrepreneurial self-efficacy on SMTE performance.

This research examines how entrepreneurial experience and entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) of tourism entrepreneurs affect the performance of small and medium tourism enterprises (SMTEs). The conceptual structural model reflecting these interrelationships is examined in terms of data collected from 298 SMTE entrepreneurs in regional South Australia. Contrary to the findings of studies conducted in nontourism contexts, entrepreneurial experience was not related to ESE nor to enterprise performance. How long one has been in a tourism enterprise or how many enterprises an individual has owned is not a good predictor of whether that entrepreneur will be able to develop a high performing SMTE that contributes toward economic wealth and job creation in the community. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy, rather than entrepreneurial experience, is a significant predictor of enterprise performance among SMTEs. This raises a number of questions. If experience gained through operating an SMTE does not contribute toward entrepreneurial confidence or entrepreneurial performance, what does? Are tourism entrepreneurs so different from entrepreneurs found in other industries that theories require modification when applied in tourism? The findings suggest that destination managers and policy makers need to understand the importance of entrepreneurial self-efficacy if they wish to enhance performance within the industry.

Examining tourism SME owners' place attachment, support for community and business performance: the role of the enlightened self-interest model.

This research examines how support for the local community by small tourism businesses influences their enterprise performance, and the extent to which the owners’ place attachment influences the level of support that they provide to the community. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used to analyse the responses from the owners of 298 small and medium tourism enterprises (SMTEs) operating in regional South Australia. Results of the analysis provide support for the validity of a structural model. The place attachment of tourism business owners has a significant positive effect on their support for the community which in turn has a significant positive effect on enterprise performance. The robustness of the structural model was tested through a series of invariance (equality) tests. Results demonstrate that the causal relationships among place attachment, support for community and enterprise performance hold true (are invariant) irrespective of the gender of the business owner, the size of the business, and/or the length of time the business has been operating. These findings have implications for research scholars in developing more robust tests of model relationships between and across groups, and for tourism policymakers aiming to support the sustainable development of regional tourism destinations.

Knowledge transfer between actors in the innovation system: a study of higher education institutions (HEIS) and SMES

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand how and why small to medium enterprises (SMEs) access knowledge from external actors in general and from higher education institutions (HEIs) in particular and what is the extent to which these knowledge access pathways affect SME innovativeness. Design/methodology/approach – The paper involved both quantitative and qualitative approaches: a survey of 1,226 SMEs and a mini case study to follow-up on issues arising from the survey analysis. Survey data were analysed using both non-parametric and multivariate Poisson regression analysis. The case study was based on a medium-sized manufacturing firm in South Australia. Findings – While there are significant differences between the micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, the evidence suggests that SMEs generally use “generic” university–industry knowledge transfer pathways (e.g. published research results) rather than university–industry links with high “relational” involvement. More significantly, the...

Opportunity recognition attitudes of nascent indigenous entrepreneurs

This exploratory research aims to fill a gap in the literature. The current theory of entrepreneurial attitude toward opportunity recognition (EOR) is primarily based upon a non-indigenous entrepreneurship theory. Yet, there are significant differences between non-indigenous and indigenous forms of entrepreneurship. Non-indigenous entrepreneurship tends to emphasise economic objectives whereas indigenous entrepreneurship tends to embrace both economic and non-economic objectives. As such, the current EOR theory needs to be expanded to include both non-indigenous and indigenous similarities and differences. This research uses indigenous culture as a context for examining the relationships between personal values, EOR and expected personal success of nascent indigenous entrepreneurs.

South African Business Dynamics: Measuring Entrepreneurship

ABSTRACT This study attempts to develop a scale to measure the individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) of persons in South Africa. Respondents were subjected to a survey instrument and provided information on items pertaining to their demographics, entrepreneurial orientation, and values. The results showed substantial differences on the range of items between black and white entrepreneurs.

Facilitating Creative Problem Solving in the Marketing Curriculum in Response to the Demands of the Networked Information Society

This paper describes a systems approach to creative problem solving designed to better prepare marketing graduates for the uncertainties of the networked information society. This is in response to the growing need for future graduates to be able to make effective use of participatory Web 2.0 technologies for building customer relationships and harnessing their creative potential to collaboratively influence and improve product development, and to market products more effectively. The paper outlines alternative marketing paradigms, describes the attributes required of graduates to be able to maximize the potential of Web 2.0 technologies, and the role that creativity plays in developing graduates’ ability to think critically, identify and solve problems, and communicate effectively. The failure of traditional approaches in teaching and learning to facilitate student creativity is discussed and a systems approach to creative problem solving designed to address these identified challenges is proposed. Illustrative examples of the use of the approach in graduate and undergraduate courses are presented and the potential for integration within the marketing curriculum is discussed.