Rögnvaldur J. Saemundsson

On the Interaction between the Growth Process and the Development of Technical Knowledge in Young and Growing Technology-Based Firms

This paper investigates the tensions that exist in young and growing technology-based firms between (1) increasing technological opportunities for further growth and (2) the costs of developing these opportunities. Data from 70 medium-sized, young technology-based firms were used to test two hypotheses concerning changes in the number of separate fields of technical knowledge during growth. Increasing the number of separate fields of technical knowledge increases the technological opportunities available to the firm, but increases the cost of developing and integrating knowledge from multiple fields. The results indicate that tensions between technological opportunities and the costs of technological development in young technology-based firms are created due to both the advances in science and technology and the firms’ growth process itself.

Entrepreneurial learning in academic spin-offs: a business model perspective

This paper investigates how academic entrepreneurs learn to develop their start-up ventures into viable businesses, and how the environment influences this learning. Inexperienced academic entrepreneurs likely need to adjust their business conceptions before these become viable. These adjustments and the associated learning are captured in an innovative way by following the changes in business models of eight Nordic academic spin-offs in both supportive and less supportive environments. The results help entrepreneurs and policy-makers to identify which learning behaviours may lead to essential business model changes, and should clarify the complementary role of learning through experience and through external relations.

TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE-SEEKING IN A YOUNG AND GROWING TECHNOLOGY-BASED FIRM: INCENTIVES AND DIRECTION

The purpose of the paper is to investigate technical knowledge-seeking activities in young and growing technology-based firms. Changes in technical knowledge-seeking activities were traced using a single illustrative case study of a young and growing technology-based firm. The results of the study show how strong commitment to the business concept of the emerging firm affected the direction of technical knowledge-seeking in a way that increases the vulnerability of the firm. New employees who were not as familiar with or committed to the original business concept brought with them different incentives for knowledge-seeking, which lead to search in new directions. These knowledge-seeking activities were important for the renewal of the firms knowledge base. It is therefore suggested that differences in individual incentives may affect the direction of technical knowledge-seeking activities, and correspondingly, that multiple incentives are an important source of diversity in technical knowledge creation.

Contextualizing business model development in Nordic rural gourmet restaurants

Rural gourmet restaurants are becoming a vital part of regional development. The growing interest in high quality regional food, and the changing perception of values inherent in food, created poss ...

Who Becomes an Entrepreneur? How Changes In Activity Systems Affect Entrepreneurial Action

Entrepreneurs create and appropriate value by designing a system of interconnected and interdependent activities that determine how they do business. These activity systems span beyond the individual firm and compose complex interconnected ecosystems. Current research focuses on how entrepreneurs design new activity systems but do not focus on how these changes create new entrepreneurial opportunities and for whom. In this paper we ask why some people but not others pursue entrepreneurial opportunities following changes in an activity system. Based on Lachmann’s theory of capital we develop a theoretical framework for analyzing how changes in the structure of activities affect the knowledge required to pursue subsequent entrepreneurial opportunities.

A global perspective on education and training

This chapter discusses global perspective on education and training. It is part of a collection which identifies problems encountered by educators and describe solutions that stimulate students to create value.

Applying Constructionist Design Methodology to Agent-Based Simulation Systems

Among the benefits of agent-based modeling is parallel development and implementation of components. Integrating large numbers of agents developed by many is, however, a significant challenge. Further, architectural changes can require significant redesign. We have developed CDM-S , the Constructionist Design Methodology for Simulation , an agent-oriented methodology for developing, implementing and evolving multi-agent systems. CDM-Ss strength lies in simplifying modeling and construction of systems with architectural evolution of complex control hierarchies and data flow. We have applied CDM-S in the development of a family of market simulations where companies, employees, banks and consumers are modeled at multiple abstraction levels. These were designed and built by 14 students over a period of 10 weeks. Experience shows CDM-S to be a promising high-level methodology for constructing large multi-agent systems. Here we describe CDM-S and present data on its application in the development process.