Rocío Aliaga-Isla

How Do Information and Experience Play a Role in the Discovery of Entrepreneurial Opportunities? The Case of Latin-American Immigrants in Barcelona

In the vast literature of immigrant entrepreneurship, there are some approaches trying to explain this phenomenon. Therefore, little attention has been paid to the discovery process of entrepreneurial opportunities among immigrants; which represent an important milestone in the process of entrepreneurship. In this sense, this study contributes to the growing body of knowledge related to immigrant entrepreneurship, through a qualitative study on the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities by immigrants. An exploration is performed based on the pattern matching analysis, taking into account the two major approaches to explain the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities, “Alertness�? and “Systematical Search.�? Our sample consisted of eight cases of Latin-American immigrants; five are entrepreneurs and three are potential entrepreneurs. The results show Latin-American immigrants of our sample tend to search systematically for entrepreneurial opportunities, considering their prior knowledge such as experiences and information acquired in migrations periods.

General and Specific Human Capital on the Perception of Entrepreneurial Opportunities by Immigrants in Spain

Perceiving entrepreneurial opportunities plays a role in entrepreneurship. The current study analyzes how immigrants level of general and specific human capital influence their likelihood of perceiving entrepreneurial opportunities in Spain. The analysis pivots around the comparison of immigrants with natives. However, implicitly natives with natives and immigrants with immigrants are also compared. Valid and reliable variables are used from the Spanish Global Entrepreneurship Monitor – GEM database of 2008. Logistic regression analysis is performed to test several theoretical hypotheses for comparing immigrants and natives in Spain. Our findings revealed that general human capital such as education is not significant, but work experience is positively significant and influences on the probability of perceiving entrepreneurial opportunities by both immigrants and natives. Furthermore, the impact of specific human capital on the perceiving of opportunities is in general positive. This research reveals that specific types of human capital play different roles in both immigrants and natives in Spain.

Past Accomplishments and Ways Forward on International Immigrant Entrepreneurship Research

What has been done in international immigrant entrepreneurship? And what are the trends that marked this phenomenon in research arenas? To address these questions, 40 articles published in top-tier journals are examined based on their: (a) objectives, (b) theoretical frameworks and (c) methodologies. Content analysis is used for reviewing the articles. The results indicate that North America is the region with most studies published in this topic, followed by Europe and Oceania. It was identified that the micro-level of analysis, empirical approach, deductive design and quantitative methodologies were the most predominant characteristics in immigrant entrepreneurship research. Some limitations and future lines of research are pointed out.

Changes in the PhD Education Policy in Spain: Looking at Their Objectives and Structure

PhD education in Spain has changed; the current conception of PhD is different from its initial concept. The PhD education policy in Spain has experienced changes in its structure and conception. Since its membership into the European Community institutional policies at supra-national and national level have shaped and conditioned such changes. Therefore, how have the PhD education policies changed a long time in Spain? In order to explore such changes, the institutional policy approach is introduced to further contextualize the changes in the PhD education policy in Spain. Several legal documents at supra-national level are reviewed to frame the changes of the PhD education policy at national level. In this sense, three main Royal Decrees 185/1985, 778/1998/ and 99/2011 are reviewed to follow the evolution of the PhD education in Spain although other legal documents are used to contextualized. This study shows that PhD education in Spain has experienced rapid changes in their objectives as well as in their structure. Moreover, supra-national agreements practically have guided the objectives and the new structure of the PhD education in Spain.

Does Human Capital Impact Differently to the Opportunity Perception and Business Creation? The Case of Spain

The current study analyzes how Spaniard’s general/specific human capital influences their likelihood of perceiving entrepreneurial opportunities and creating a business. The analysis pivots around the comparison of two processes which are part of entrepreneurship. Data from the Spanish Global Entrepreneurship Monitor—GEM of 2008 are used. Logistic regression analysis is performed to test several theoretical hypotheses. Findings revealed that general human capital such as education is not significant for both perceiving entrepreneurial opportunities and creating a business. However, work experience, managerial business, and entrepreneurial training are positively significant to perceive entrepreneurial opportunities and to create a business. This research reveals that specific types of human capital play different roles in entrepreneurship. The contribution of this paper is to compare how the human capital influences upon two processes of entrepreneurship.

Pseudo-Panel Approach to Measure the Impact of Informal Networks on Start-Up and Established Entrepreneurs in Spain

This paper examines the impact of informal networks such as knowing personally other entrepreneurs and having accessed to business angel investors. The analysis is focused on the impact of such constructs upon start-up and established entrepreneurs in Spain, which is our contribution. To do so, we constructed a pseudo-panel using micro data from the Spanish Global Monitor Entrepreneurship adult population survey over the period 2006–2009. This facilitated the tracking of cohorts by age over time, in turn making possible to control for cohort unobserved heterogeneity that may bias cross-sectional estimates of effects of other characteristics, especially age and year period. We find that informal networks such as role models from personally knowing other entrepreneurs have a positive relationship with start-up and established entrepreneurs. In contrast, having accessed to business angel investors has only impacted start-up entrepreneurs in Spain. We also find that start-up and established entrepreneurs in cohorts 49-58 and 59-64 “do better” than younger ones. Furthermore more some implications are highlighted.