Teresa E. Dana

Expanding the Scope of Methodologies Used in Entrepreneurship Research

If we accept that entrepreneurs are influenced by culture, then the simplest possible unit of research for understanding entrepreneurship is not the entrepreneur. Nor is it a laboratory study of individuals nor even a field study comparing entrepreneurs, but rather it is useful to have a case study in which the important aspects of environment are analysed and understood. It is doubtful, then, that a mail survey or even interviews could be sufficient for a researcher to truly gain a holistic understanding of the entrepreneurial process.

Collective Entrepreneurship in a Mennonite Community in Paraguay

ABSTRACT This article examines the impact of prevailing religious beliefs on the dominant view toward work and achievement. The focus of the article is the Menno Colony of the Chaco, one of the Mennonite communities in Paraguay. It illustrates that the values of this religious minority appear to facilitate successful collective entrepreneurship. Here, religion values asceticism, frugality, and thrift, but not private property. Entrepreneurship takes a collective form, and cooperatives are important economic vehicles that provide jobs for indigenous workers and markets for the produce of self-employed farmers. While Mennonite cooperatives are thriving here, Indian cooperatives modelled after them have not had the same levels of success. RESUMEN. Este estudio examina el impacto producido por las creencias religiosas sobre una visión predominante hacia el trabajo y los logros. El artículo se centra en la Colonia Meno del Chaco, una de las comunidades Menonitas que existen en Paraguay. También hace hincapié en que los valores de esta minoría religiosa parecen facilitar un empresariado colectivo exitoso. En este entorno, la religión valor el ascetismo, la frugalidad y la economía pero no la propiedad privada. El emprendedorismo adquiere un modelo cooperativista y las cooperativas se convierten en importantes vehículos económicos que generan trabajo a los trabajadores indígenas, y mercados para los productos de los agricultores autónomos. Mientras las cooperativas Menonitas prosperan aquí, las cooperativas indígenas que copiaron su modelo, no han alcanzado los mismos niveles de éxito. RESUMO. Este estudo examina o impacto das crenças religiosas predominantes sobre a maneira de encarar o trabalho e o sucesso. O artigo enfoca a Colônia Menno do Chaco, uma das comunidades menonitas do Paraguai. Mostra que os valores dessa minoria religiosa parecem facilitar o sucesso do empreendedorismo coletivo. Aqui a religião valoriza o ascetismo, frugalidade e parcimônia, mas não a propriedade privada. O empreendedorismo assume uma forma coletiva e as cooperativas são veículos econômicos importantes, proporcionando empregos para trabalhadores nativos e mercados para a produção de fazendeiros autônomos. Enquanto as cooperativas menonitas prosperam, cooperativas indígenas que seguem seu modelo não alcançaram os mesmos níveis de sucesso.

Management and enterprise development in post-communist economies

The fall of communism has caused centralised planning to give way to a variety of alternate forms of management and enterprise. Entrepreneurial energy exists, but where it is not properly channelled, it can result in activities that are undesirable for the state and its society. This article examines the bazaar, the firm-type economy, and a variety of forms of enterprise that exist in the parallel economy, including informal economic activity, internal economic activity with no transaction, and covert economic activity.

A Theory-Based Empirical Study of Entrepreneurship in Iqaluit, Nunavut

Abstract Findings of this exploratory study suggest that service firms in Iqaluit are often launched by former employees of larger firms who become entrepreneurs; these entrepreneurs are usually mainstream English-Canadians or French-Canadians, and growth is often important for them. In contrast, indigenous Inuit1 often identify more with the land and with sharing its resources than with Western-style mainstream entrepreneurship; their activities are often forms of informal and subsistence self-employment, such as hunting caribou, polar bears and seals for food and for pelts. Entrepreneurship among the Inuit is different in form and substance from the commonly accepted model, and one size does not fit all.

An Ethnographic Study of Entrepreneurship Among the Sami People of Finland

Abstract This article reports the findings of ethnographic research conducted in Finland. Respondents describe changes brought about by European Union regulations and Finnish laws that lack cultural sensitivity thereby transforming the nature of traditional Sámi entrepreneurship. Many of these indigenous people have had to start an additional business or work elsewhere to make ends meet.

On the internationalisation of New Zealand SMEs

Small businesses around the world often internationalise by means of exporting. In contrast, many small New Zealand firms have had relatively little success at exporting, and since the liberalisation of imports, many have preferred to internationalise by becoming involved in importing, rather than exporting. This may harm the public good.

Public policy and international expansion of high-technology SMEs: a research agenda

This paper proposes a useful and practical research agenda that the authors hope will stimulate future research on issues concerning the efficiency of government programs for export promotion and identify the key success factors for the internationalisation of SMEs in the new economy. In a brief write-up, the authors try to convince readers of the relevance of public policy and international expansion of high-technology SMEs and hence the need for are search agenda to aid SMEs in their internationalisation. A research agenda is proposed to facilitate as well as to encourage future research. The papers relevance lies in its focus on SMEs as falling behind in the attention given to them in terms of public and internationalisation policies.

Tobati, Paraguay: indigenous market town revisited

Given the relative isolation of Paraguay, Indigenous Paraguayans were believed, until the 1950s, to have preserved Guarani culture in a somewhat pure state. In a landmark ethnographic study of Tobati, the famous anthropologist Elman Service and his wife Helen suggested that Guarani traits had been replaced by Hispanic ones. Five decades later, our study observes four conditions bound to fuel value change in Tobati: (1) an increase in population beyond that which subsistence agriculture can support; (2) the growth of markets and marketing; (3) a leap in communications and transportation infrastructure allowing an unprecedented flow in commerce; and (4) the spread of education and technology.

Innovative policies for entrepreneurship: the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

Despite the lack of abundant natural resources, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg have created a competitive advantage for themselves by means of innovative policies that foster enterprise. Based on interviews conducted in these two tiny countries, this paper gives an overview of the innovative policies that foster entrepreneurship in these two environments.

Research note: impact of the charitable tourist

Begging has become a science, and many of its self-employed practitioners have developed entrepreneurial strategies to maximise their profits. While innocent tourists perceive a guilt which prompts them to give small change to those who appear in need, research by the author suggests that the long-term impact is a negative one. Some children are physically crippled by their parents, in order to receive more pity and money from tourists.