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This paper evaluates the effect of unregistered and informal sector business ventures on the growth of formal sector enterprises. The hypotheses tested is that formal sector enterprises that have to compete against unregistered or informal sector business ventures suffer from lower levels of performance, measured by annual sales growth, annual employment growth and annual productivity growth. To evaluate this thesis, data is reported from a World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) of 760 enterprises in Italy collected in 2019. The finding is that formal sector enterprises that report competing against unregistered or informal sector business ventures have significantly lower annual sales growth and annual productivity growth than enterprises that do not. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications, along with the limitations of the study and future research required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For much of the twentieth century the predominant belief was that informal entrepreneurship would disappear with higher rates of economic growth. However, the informal sector has persisted in most countries and has grown in some, which calls for a re-evaluation of the existing notions of informal entrepreneurship. An important strand of literature in the form of structuralist and neo-liberal theory provides an alternative explanation. We use the coagglomeration framework to understand the relevance of these theories in the case of India. Using firm-level data, we use the Coagglomeration index to calculate the tendency of formal and informal firms to locate in the same region. We also calculate three types of linkages between formal and informal sectors: buyer-supplier, labor and technology. Further, we use panel data to estimate the relative importance of these linkages in explaining coagglomeration between formal and informal manufacturing firms. We find that coagglomeration in India is driven by buyer-supplier linkage. We then use count data models to determine the effect of coagglomeration and agglomeration measures on new firm birth in the formal and informal sector. We find that coagglomeration positively affects new firm birth in the formal sector but not in the informal sector. The evidence provided in the paper supports the structuralist theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the recognition that enterprises operate at different levels of informality, this paper evaluates the determinants of their degree of informalization. To do so, a 2016 survey of the varying degrees of informalization of 171 entrepreneurs in Ghana is reported. The finding is that only 21% of enterprises were wholly informal and 16% wholly formal. Nearly two-thirds (63%) were neither wholly informal nor wholly formal. Higher levels of informalization are significantly associated with younger entrepreneurs, those with lower levels of educational attainment, lower household incomes and younger enterprises. It is also significantly associated with the wider institutional compliance environment. Higher levels of informality are present among entrepreneurs unaware of the need for registration, who lack vertical trust (i.e., do not believe the state does anything for them, and perceive there to be public sector corruption), view informality as normal (i.e., a normal practice in their family) and view all similar businesses as operating informally (i.e., lack horizontal trust). The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to contribute to an understanding of the entrepreneurship process in Africa by evaluating the link between starting up unregistered and future firm performance. The widespread assumption has been that firms starting up unregistered in the informal economy suffer from poor performance compared to those starting up registered and in the formal economy. To test this poorer performance thesis, World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data is evaluated from across 41 African countries covering the period from 2006 to 2013. Controlling for a comprehensive set of other determinants of firm performance, the finding is that formal enterprises with five or more employees that started up unregistered have significantly higher annual sales, employment and productivity growth rates compared with those firms that registered their operations at startup. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications of this finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A widespread assumption is that competition from the informal sector has a negative impact on the firm performance of legitimate enterprises. This is because of the unfair competition they face from such enterprises in the informal sector. The aim of this paper is to provide an evidence-based evaluation of whether this is the case based on an analysis of the relationship between the firm performance of enterprises and their perception of the prevalence of informal sector competition. To do so, data is reported from a representative sample of 1,430 enterprises in Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR Macedonia. The finding is that enterprises asserting that their competitors participate in the informal economy have significantly lower real annual sales growth rates compared with those who assert that their competitors do not participate in the informal economy. The theoretical and policy implications are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most developing economies, micro and small enterprises (MSE) and self-employment provide the majority of employment and the main source of income. However, MSE's potentials often remain exploited and there are high rates of churning. To better understand the limited success of entrepreneurship in developing economies, this paper looks at how entrepreneurs have and use agency and how this relates to their entrepreneurial success. Empirically, we use life history interviews with micro-entrepreneurs in Kampala, Uganda. Conceptually, we draw on Amartya Sen's Capability Approach, which in regard to agency, emphasizes people's ambitions, reflected choices, and the various factors that influence how people derive options and agency from available resources. Our results suggest a stronger differentiation of entrepreneurs beyond the 'necessity vs. opportunity' dichotomy. This concerns entrepreneurs' motivations and ambitions, their collective transformative potential and the question of which choices under which restrictions should be conceived of as entrepreneurial agency. Most of the entrepreneurs have and make choices beyond economic survival; self-employment is not just a last resort. It depends on business opportunities not as drivers but as occasions; it may rest on innovative means to access common businesses (rather than on innovative businesses); and it may be directed at sufficiency rather than growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutional theory has been widely used to explain entrepreneurship in the informal economy. A first wave of institutionalist theory argued that informal entrepreneurship resulted from formal institutional failures and a second wave that such entrepreneurship results from an asymmetry between the laws and regulations of formal institutions and the unwritten socially shared rules of informal institutions. This paper evaluates the validity of these two waves of institutionalist explanation and a new third wave of institutional theory explaining informal entrepreneurship in terms of a lack of both vertical and horizontal trust. Reporting data from a 2013 survey in Kosovo involving 500 face-to-face interviews with owners of small and medium-sized enterprises, 35.7 percent of sales are estimated to be unreported and a regression analyses reveals this is significantly higher among smaller and older firms, and firms owned by men. No significant association is found between formal institutional failings and the under-reporting of sales, but there is a statistically significant correlation between sales under-reporting and the level of vertical and horizontal trust. Taking account of the limitations of this single country study, the implications for theory and policy are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, much attention is paid to the political aims and influence of Chinese outward investment, especially in developing Africa. This paper attempts to fill the knowledge-gap of international entrepreneurship literature by analyzing the entrepreneurial behavior of Chinese firms under the background of south-south economic cooperation. Through the case studies, we analyze the distinctive entrepreneurial behaviors and characters of different types of Chinese firms with high entrepreneurial spirits in Africa during the transitional time. After comparing the various entrepreneurial behaviors between Chinese and West investors, this paper sheds light on the potential positive roles of the entrepreneurial spirit, high risk-behavior and adaptability to foreign environment, which are necessary to successfully seek new, overseas entrepreneurial opportunities from an emerging market. Applications for firms' managers and policy makers are also offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurship is critical to job creation and economic growth. Unemployment in South Africa is presently at about 25 percent. The formal sector is unable to provide adequate employment opportunities for labor although the country registered positive economic growth rates over the past 17 years since the demise of apartheid. Some people manage to obtain employment in the informal sector. However, this sector also has been shedding labor recently. Although the government has responded with many initiatives to deal with employment creation, unemployment rates, especially among the youth, remain a formidable challenge. Entrepreneurship, through the creation of new ventures and expansion of business firms, can make a difference to absorb more people in the labor market. However, this depends on the level of entrepreneurial capacity and environment of the South African economy. This paper examines the problem of low employment economic growth performance over the post-apartheid period. By drawing on the Harrod-Domar model as a heuristic guide, and using regression analysis, the paper highlights the probable links between changes in economic growth and in employment. The results indicate the marginal employment growth effect is positive, the growth elasticity of employment is low over the 1994-2010 period and investment in relation to the country's desired growth in GDP is also found to be low. The paper identifies some constraints to employment creation against the entrepreneurial environmental conditions in South Africa and then examines how entrepreneurship can make a difference to employment creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses data on new firm registrations to examine entrepreneurship in Africa relative to other developing countries. The results show that new firm creation is more pronounced in other developing regions than in Africa. In addition, the results also show that entry deregulation and political stability are relatively more important for the creation of new businesses in Africa. These results imply that Africa is different; therefore, it is important to implement reforms to create a business environment conducive for new firm creation in Africa. Reforms in governance are also required to address problems related to political stability to increase entrepreneurial activity in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa is arguably the richest continent in terms of minerals and natural resources. Prior research has also shown that Africa has an abundance of entrepreneurs who possess the ability to identify business opportunities and exploit them. However, the continent's entrepreneurial performance has been weak. Our goal in this paper is modest and is simply aimed at identifying and synthesizing the available evidence on economic and institutional factors affecting entrepreneurship in Africa. This paper also reviews various mechanisms by which foreign businesses are exploiting Africa for resources and market and examines Western response to the low level of entrepreneurial activities in Africa. Finally, this paper provides case studies of some successful entrepreneurial activities in the continent. The cases indicate that successful businesses do not necessarily need to depend on natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to study the issues and unique characteristics surrounding the birth and development of the private sector in the People's Republic of China (China); analyze the interaction of entrepreneurial behavior and the country's unique and continuously changing regulatory and institutional environment; examine the actions, outcomes, and composition of this emerging entrepreneurial class; and analyze the implications for entrepreneurship research in transitional economies. The paper offers a model built on a dynamic and transitional cycle. Using this model, the paper examines how uncertainties, ambiguities, and changing regulatory environments may create opportunities, bolstering the entrepreneurial class as well as an impressive private sector in a country where entrepreneurs and private business can be at odds with socialist ideology and culture in addition to many regulatory and institutional obstacles. Rather than relying upon limited survey data targeted at specific locations, industries, or time periods, this study is based on seven large-scale surveys conducted from 1993 to 2006 in both urban and rural areas extending horizontally across different industries in China, with a primary focus on private business. The findings are relevant for future research and government policy in transitional economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely assumed that informal sector enterprises have a harmful impact on the performance of formal enterprises. This paper aims to provide an evidence-based evaluation of whether this is the case. To do so, it reports World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data collected from 360 formal enterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2019. The finding is that formal enterprises viewing informal competition as a severe obstacle do not witness significantly lower sales growth, employment growth or productivity growth. Indeed, such enterprises witness significantly higher sales growth than those who do not view informal sector competitors as a severe obstacle. The theoretical and policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under what circumstance do entrepreneurs decide to discover entrepreneurial opportunities to start new businesses? Informational economics suggests when entrepreneurs possess prior specific knowledge, they decide to discover opportunities. This paper contributes to informational economics perspective by taking resource dependence theory into consideration. Utilizing a conjoint experiment and a multilevel analysis of 66 student entrepreneurs, we found that students' prior specific knowledge significantly influences students' decision to discover opportunities. Further, we found that power imbalance moderates the relationship between prior specific knowledge and students' decisions to discover opportunities. Our paper has theoretical implications and practical implications for entrepreneurs, educators and policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the varying level of employment in informal sector enterprises across the globe and to undertake an exploratory analysis of the wider economic and social conditions associated with greater levels of informalization. Examining International Labor Organization surveys conducted in 43 countries, the finding is that the main job of just under one in three (31.5 percent) non-agricultural workers is in an informal sector enterprise. Conducting an exploratory analysis of the correlation between countries with higher levels of employment in informal sector enterprises and economic under-development ('modernization' thesis), higher taxes, corruption and state interference ('neo-liberal' thesis) and inadequate state intervention to protect workers from poverty ('structuralist' thesis), the finding is that there is a need to synthesize various tenets from all three perspectives. The outcome is a tentative call for a 'neo-modernization' perspective, which posits that higher levels of employment in informal sector enterprises are associated with economic under-development, public sector corruption and inadequate state intervention to protect workers from poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women entrepreneurship in the informal sector, such as street food vending, is important for poverty alleviation in West Africa. The street food sector provides employment for women and inexpensive and nutritious food for the urban poor. In this paper, we determine the importance of the cowpea street food sector, evaluate the determinants of successful enterprises and ascertain the impact of economic, cultural, religious and geographic differentials between enterprises in Niamey, Niger and Kumasi, Ghana. Data were collected through in-person interviews with 114 and 122 women street food entrepreneurs in both countries in 2009. Results revealed that women entrepreneurs engaged in the cowpea street food sector can earn incomes 4 times and 16 times higher than the minimum legal wage in Niamey and Kumasi, respectively. Incomes earned from these entrepreneurial activities contribute directly to health, education and needs of their families. OLS regression results indicate that lack of financial resources, stable business locations and religious beliefs are important entrepreneurial success factors. Cross-country comparisons revealed enterprises in Kumasi are larger and more successful than those in Niamey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous projects have been implemented with the aim of promoting the development of local enterprises as a means to improve the conditions of rural communities. Their failure points to the difficulty of adapting the concept of "entrepreneurship" to different cultural settings and to the diversity of community needs. Whereas the community is typically treated in the literature as an exogenous part of the environment for entrepreneurship, an emerging point of view is to treat the entrepreneur and the enterprise as embedded in a network of relationships, usually local. The objective of this paper is to investigate the conditions that enable community entrepreneurial activities to alleviate poverty and promote local development. The paper analyzes Gram Mooligai Limited (GMCL), a community-based enterprise in India active in the herbal sector, which delivered interesting results in relation to the paper's focus. Findings from this case study highlight the importance of seeing entrepreneurial activity and enterprise development programs in a much more holistic way than they are conventionally understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand entrepreneurs' motivations, it has become increasingly common to distinguish between those driven by necessity (or pushed) and those driven by opportunity (or pulled) into entrepreneurship. Until now, entrepreneurs operating wholly or partially in the informal economy have been widely assumed to be necessity-driven, pushed into this enterprise as a survival strategy in the absence of alternatives. To evaluate whether this is indeed the case, this paper reports one of the first surveys of informal entrepreneurs' motives. Reporting face-to-face interviews conducted in Ukraine during 2005–06 with 298 informal entrepreneurs, the finding is although most identified themselves as necessity entrepreneurs when initially asked whether they were either pushed or pulled, subsequent questions reveal in the vast majority of cases, there were not only both push and pull factors driving their original decision to start-up informal enterprises, but also a clear shift among these entrepreneurs as their business became established away from necessity-oriented motivations and toward more opportunity-oriented motivations. The outcome is a call for a transcendence of a static either/or approach and the adoption of a dynamic both/and approach that recognizes the coexistence of necessity- and opportunity-drivers as well as the fluidity of entrepreneurs' motivations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indonesian government has been trying to encourage entrepreneurship development by supporting the development of small and medium enterprises in the country, since these enterprises provide an avenue for the testing and development of entrepreneurial ability. This paper examines the current developments of SMEs in the country. The paper comes with a number of interesting facts. First, SMEs are of overwhelming importance in Indonesia, as they account for more than 90 percent of all firms outside the agricultural sector, and thus are the biggest source of employment. Second, the representation of women entrepreneurs is low. Third, women entrepreneurs are less educated than their men counterparts. Fourth, the main constraints faced by small entrepreneurs are lack of working capital and marketing difficulties. Finally, the majority of existing studies suggest that the effectiveness of government programs to support SME development programs is low. The paper concludes that in national efforts to develop high competitive entrepreneurships, owners of small enterprises should be given the first priority as they have some previous experience of running a business or of how to survive in competitive markets, and the emphasis should be to promote modernization, capacity building and size upgrading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Failure among SMEs has been attributed to size, age, location and being part of particular industries and not part of a network. These determinants, if used as surrogates for resources, suggest firms that lack such resources are more susceptible to failure. Using the resource-based view of the firm, this paper aims to do a post-mortem examination on the attributes of failed SMEs by analyzing data of more than 13,000 failed firms in the UK between 1999 and 2009. The findings reveal that failure is not merely a function of lack of resources. Although these findings shed new light on attributes of failed SMEs, there are still some limitations to the work that must be taken into consideration when applying the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the ethical conduct of entrepreneurs is becoming increasingly important. Previous research has focused on the differences between entrepreneurs and managers in terms of their ethical values and behaviors and has investigated the antecedents of ethical behaviors. However, the question that whether entrepreneurs' ethical behaviors contribute to or hamper crucial aspects of new venture development, such as effective information acquisition, has remained unanswered. In this paper, we extend previous research on ethics and entrepreneurship by examining the impact of entrepreneurs' ethically suspect behaviors on information acquisition. Data from 139 entrepreneurs in China revealed the negative influence of ethically suspect behaviors on information acquisition. Further, this relationship is weakened by entrepreneurs' impression management tactics such as ingratiation and self-promotion. Implications of these findings for entrepreneurs and research at the interface of entrepreneurship and ethics are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to add to the literature on regional factors that drive development of new ventures. In particular, it investigates the effects of business climate, foreign population and unemployment on new venture creation. Using state level data from the time period 2003-2007, we find that while business climate and foreign population are positively related to new venture creation, unemployment is negatively related. Implications of this study for fostering entrepreneurship are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the causes and dynamics in the creation of business ventures by minority nascent entrepreneurs. Minority business enterprises are an important source of job creation and innovation in the US economy, as well as economic development engines in their respective communities. However, little is understood about the unique motivations, business strategies and plans in the early stage of their venture formation. This paper utilizes the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) dataset in investigating black and Hispanic entrepreneurial entry as compared to white nascent entrepreneurs around three important dimensions: motivation, business strategy, and community resources. It is found that blacks are highly driven by a range of motivational factors while Hispanics value intergenerational inheritance and role models in business ownership. Both groups heavily focus on a niche market strategy by lowering prices, serving markets missed by others and locating close to customers. Contrary to expectation, their perceptions of community resources are not more favorable than whites. Public policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the factors that determine the risk premium on bank lines of credit obtained by SMEs, and whether firm size, which may be used by banks to segment their client base, also has an impact on credit costs. An analysis of data from 406 SMEs in Canada showed the main determinants of risk premium were firm size, line of credit size, ability to repay, the relationship between banker and entrepreneur, and the length of the relationship with the bank. These determinants change according to the market segment in which the potential borrower operates. Banks appear to use a transactional approach for smaller borrowers, where credit terms are based on quantitative financial data, and a relational approach for larger firms, where relationship length and quality become significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to study the influence of pecuniary and non-pecuniary aspects on entrepreneurship. It attempts to fill a gap in terms of explaining how these aspects determine individual and household choices or constraints regarding entering entrepreneurship as either part time, with participation in labor markets, or as full time, as well as the corresponding supply of entrepreneurial effort. The study searches for insights on the relation between motivations intrinsic in either form of entrepreneurship and their effects on the supply of the entrepreneurial effort. Part-time micro entrepreneurs respond more to non-pecuniary aspects when maximizing their life choices, which divert them from profit maximization. However, full-time micro entrepreneurs are more sensitive to pecuniary factors and their choices regarding utility maximization are more compatible with profit maximization, albeit both groups are part of simple forms of entrepreneurship. The results identify the expectations placed on enterprises run by part-time and full-time entrepreneurial households in terms of their motivation and attitude toward the goal of profit making and consequently, to entrepreneurial supply and performance. Both groups may be relevant from the policy standpoint and employment in developing economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurship research has been criticized for a lack of methodological rigor, although evidence suggests that from a methodological perspective, it is improving (Davidsson, 2006). In this paper, we systematically review the methods used in the study of nascent entrepreneurs to identify challenges associated with the data used in these studies. We also review the field's achievements - notably, the successful use of representative sampling of populations of nascent entrepreneurs - and we raise concerns about the predominant use of secondary data sets and the use of scales originally developed for large, established firms. Drawing on methodological advancements in other fields, we offer suggestions related to study design, data collection, sampling and measurement. Although some of the challenges we note are inherent to the nature of entrepreneurship, we hope our discussion can help researchers design better studies and better interpret their findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greece has experienced rapid growth in immigrant and refugee populations since 1990. Although most are immigrants from Albania and throughout the Balkan region, some immigrant and refugee groups arriving in Greece also come from the former Soviet Union, Southeast Asia and Africa. Some of these newcomers have started small businesses in their quest to become economically self-sufficient, serve the consumer needs of fellow newcomers, and integrate into community life. The purpose of this research is two-fold: to review the extant literature on social and economic factors influencing immigrant entrepreneurship in Greece, and to determine characteristics and business profiles of Albanian immigrant-owned small businesses within the municipality of Attiki — the location of Athens, Greece's capital city and largest urban center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the survival rates of businesses founded by immigrants and natives in the context of Norway, which has not yet been explored. Based on the relevant literature review, the entrepreneur's human capital and venture's start-up characteristics were expected to explain the differences between the survival rates of businesses established by immigrants and natives. Longitudinal data on 389 firms established in 2002 were analyzed. It was revealed that the survival rate was lower for businesses established by immigrants compared to those established by natives. The analysis suggests that the relatively low survival rate of businesses established by immigrants is partly explained by the perceived novelty of the products and by the fact that immigrants are more likely to locate their businesses in urban areas. Human capital differences were not found to explain immigrant/native differences in business survival rates. Based on these results, several practical implications and suggestions for future research are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutions influencing entrepreneurship are undergoing significant transformation in China. During the Mao era, private entrepreneurship was virtually eradicated and was a political taboo. As reflected in the macro-level economic data, there has been an evolution of entrepreneur-friendly institutions in the country. A constellation of factors linked to China's global integration is pushing through fundamental changes in institutions related to Chinese entrepreneurship. The logics or governance structures and organizing principles related to entrepreneurship are rapidly changing in the country. This paper examines forces influencing the diffusion of instrumental values promoting entrepreneurship among Chinese institutional actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small business and entrepreneurship have been at the heart of Pakistan's economy for almost 60 years, yet little (if any) research has been conducted that identifies factors crucial for small business success in Pakistan. In the past, studies identifying factors crucial for small business success have focused primarily on the United States and Western Europe. This paper presents survey results from 265 small business owners located in and around Karachi, the largest city and hub of economic activity in Pakistan. The survey was designed to identify the internal and external factors that Pakistani small businesspersons believe are critical for success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the adoption of technological innovation in a least-developed economy: Lao People's Democratic Republic. World Bank Survey data encompassing nearly 380 enterprises from 2009 and 2012 were used to analyze the effects of collaboration between smaller domestic firms and larger firms, both foreign and domestic. Collaboration with larger firms is statistically significant for adopting new technologies and for adopting new processes, with the former significant for sales. In addition, foreign ownership is statistically significant for sales in one of the OLS estimates. This suggests small and medium enterprises (SMEs), particularly the latter at this point in Lao PDR, would benefit from membership in global value/supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the largest American black-owned companies over a 30-year period, from 1974 to 2004. Trends with regard to the growth and decline of industry categories and of individual companies, and with regard to these companies' survival rates, are analyzed. Comparable survival rates of small businesses in general, of minority businesses, and of large corporations are investigated. The important factors of corporate minority procurement programs and government minority set-aside programs are evaluated. The phenomenon of large American corporations acquiring some of the most successful black-owned businesses is also studied. These various factors relating to black business success and failure lead to a range of implications and recommendations for current and aspiring minority business owners, as well as to consultants to and researchers of minority business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the research on finance and the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector in developing countries. Role of SME in the development process; Characteristics of SME and lending institutions; Relationship between finance and SME development.

Focuses on techniques appropriate for researching informal business enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa. Influence of anthropology on the process designed for Sub-Saharan businesses; Characteristics of such businesses that made the process appropriate; Difference of the technique used for informal sectors from traditional research methodologies.

Interest and investment in enterprise-based approaches to reduce the impoverishment faced by the base of the pyramid (BoP) continues to grow. Although recent research provides a greater understanding of the poverty-alleviation impacts from specific businesses, little has been done to compare impacts across businesses or business strategies. In this study, I address this gap by comparing the changes in well-being in young children, the segment considered most vulnerable to poverty, for four BoP businesses employing two different business strategies. Using a framework that incorporates a multi-dimensional perspective on who is impacted and how, I develop and compare business- and strategy-specific poverty impact profiles for the young children of key stakeholders. My findings contribute to a better understanding of how to utilize BoP businesses to address social goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Matching city-level and province-level GDP data with firm headquarters' locations for a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2003 to 2015, we find that firm locations are positively and significantly associated with firm innovation. In addition, firms with higher government grants have higher R&D inputs. The gap between firms' innovation performance in ordinary cities and in non-ordinary cities is not significant in the eastern region; however, the gap is significant in the central and western regions of China. Finally, we use firm relocation to tackle the endogeneity issue and find that firms relocated to cities with larger size of economy are associated with higher innovation performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapidly growing informal micro and small-scale enterprise sector in Zimbabwe is an issue of concern because the government is still struggling to revive the economy from the effects of economic meltdown. Of main concern is the lost revenue through tax evasion. The growing informal sector is believed to be a result of the poor quality of certain institutions, high corruption levels in the country and lack of incentives to formalize. The objective of this study was to analyze the impact of growth constraints on the willingness to formalize by informal MSEs. Twenty internal and external growth inhibiting factors were analyzed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and a logistic model was estimated on a dichotomous variable of willing/not willing to formalize. The results show that willingness/unwillingness to formalize by informal entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe is significantly related to institutional imperfections and asymmetry of bureaucracy associated with the registration process, lack of access to technology, market and financial constraints and lack of entrepreneurial and management skills. Improving the bureaucracy of the registration process and access to technology may possibly increase the odds of the informal operators formalizing their businesses. However, improvement in market and financial constraints and entrepreneurial and managerial skills will decrease the odds of willingness to formalize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scope of corporate entrepreneurship (CE) is broadening as firms embrace CE to survive and succeed in dynamic, uncertain markets. Although scholars have focused on the organizational factors necessary to foster CE, it is important to understand not just what the organizational context must look like, but also to understand how entrepreneurial alertness may facilitate CE activity. Contrary to most studies on CE, this study takes place in a non-Western context, where a survey is used to collect data from 784 respondents at South African firms. Results reveal it is the organizational antecedents of reward and reinforcement, time and resource availability, and flexible organizational boundaries that positively influence CE innovativeness. Additionally, when entrepreneurial alertness is added into the equation, the amount of variance explained in CE innovativeness is increased substantially. These findings highlight the relevance of focusing on firm-based entrepreneurial behavior as opposed to only independent startups in an Africa context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines conditions that necessitate the adoption of a hybrid strategy in a dynamic market. The analysis is operationalized on a multisectorial sample of 610 firms in Ghana. The binomial logit regression model was estimated to examine the probability of the sampled firms to adopt hybrid strategy based on an array of competitive-based and firm-specific variables. The results show that generally, firms with superior firm performance, high organizational capabilities in marketing and innovation, strong positions in the implementation of single strategies, low industrial competitiveness and high growth in firm size are more likely to adopt a hybrid strategy to increase competitive advantage. However, we also observed that conditions are not homogenous across industries. We conclude that manufacturing firms apply competitive-based criteria rather than firm-specific factors in their decision to adopt hybrid strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large body of economic literature has established that the primary purpose of any firm assuming unitary and constant elasticity of substitution of production inputs, among other necessary conditions, is profit maximization. However, the prevailing operating conditions of the micro enterprises raise concerns about the applicability of this formalization. Through an empirical study for Mexico using a four-input translog function (capital, labor, energy and supplies), and based on cross-sectional data, we find that the elasticities of substitution between production inputs are not unitary; in fact, some of them are complementary. This forces us to consider that instead of seeking to maximize profits, some types of micro enterprises are looking to optimize their installed capacity or achieve financial survival of the owner and their family, thus relaxing the foundations of economic analysis for the very small-scale and nascent micro enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose that, at a fundamental level, social isolation in its many forms (geographical, cultural and information-based) is a key barrier to entrepreneurial opportunity and success, not only by preventing access to material resources and markets, but also to ideas and information about products and services. Multi-modal data (survey and archival) from more than 150 entrepreneurs in contemporary rural India suggest an entrepreneur's travel footprint is associated with the profitability of micro enterprises, even after accounting for village-level differences, and that the communication facilities and information sources available in the village interact with travel effects. The positive effect of travel on profit endures even after accounting for other known correlates of profit: infrastructure, information and communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the role of entrepreneurial network strength (strong vs. weak ties) on growth of female-owned businesses. Primary data were collected from 356 small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) located in four of the six administrative regions of Eritrea. Our main finding indicates that weak entrepreneurial networks composed of cooperatives and business firms have the strongest positive relationship with growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study empirically investigates types of microenterprises (MEs) resorting to microfinance institutions (MFIs) for their financial needs in the slums of Mumbai, India. The study is based on a primary survey of MEs, located in two different types of slums, namely "declared" and "undeclared," in Mumbai including the largest slum, "Dharavi," in India, Asia. Empirical results show that the MEs from the undeclared slums mainly depend on the MFIs. Apart from this fact, it has also been observed that MEs operating from private places and started their operation less than five years ago depend on the MFIs to meet their financial requirements. The other MEs are either depending on informal money lenders or their own resources for running their enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have chronicled the problems women experience in seeking to be hired and subsequently break through the glass ceiling in corporate America. These studies have been approached from the traditional perspective of male-dominated organizations. However, using a human resource management (HRM) framework, this article explores the possibility of further extending to femaleowned businesses Kanter's homosocial reproduction thesis that increased numbers of women in positions of management would increase hiring and advancement of women in corporate America. Results show that, at each step in the HRM process, female business owners in this study fulfill expectations by hiring, promoting and retaining significantly more women than male business owner counterparts. In addition, there were significant differences between minority and non-minority female business owners in the proportion of co-racial managers. Moreover, Whites and Blacks showed a significant preference for co-racial managers, while Hispanics and Asians did not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on institutional theory and using a methodology adapted from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), early stage entrepreneurial activities are examined within American Indian nations. Examining a context within a larger institutional context, comparisons are made between three American Indian nations and the United States. Patterns are identified regarding total entrepreneurial activity (TEA), nascent entrepreneurship, business discontinuation and new and established business rates. Additional analyses are conducted of individual-level variables within American Indian nations including location, self-efficacy and other variables in relation to nascent entrepreneurship and business ownership. Implications are drawn for tribal entrepreneurship development and further extension of the GEM methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores factors affecting the survival and exit routes of new firms created in 2004 using data from the Kauffman Firm Survey. We draw upon the Resource-Based View to test several hypotheses regarding the impact of both tangible and intangible resources on new firm survival in both service and non-service firms. We also distinguish between two types of exit: closures (permanently stopped operations) and mergers or acquisitions. Our results reveal that, although service and non-service firms may differ in terms of industry structure, the fundamental resources that contribute to their survival are the same: education, work and life experience and adequate levels of startup financial capital. In spite of these similarities, our results did reveal industry differences in terms of exit. We found serial entrepreneurs in the service sector were more likely to exit through merger or acquisition. Conversely, intellectual property decreased the likelihood of exit through merger or acquisition for non-service firms. Thus, our findings revealed a link between human capital, industry and exit route for this sample of new firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the time of an initial public offering, shares in a firm are typically held by venture capitalists, insiders, corporate investors and angel investors. We examine the role of angel investors in the IPO process. We find that angel investors provide equity capital in industries venture capitalists are less likely to serve and that shareholders in angel backed IPO firms are more likely to sell their shares at the time of the offering. Where venture capital backed IPO firms have higher underpricing, angel backed IPO firms do not, implying that angels may be the preferred investors for early-stage firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We sought to ascertain whether newly-formed micro firms owned by minority entrepreneurs would be as likely to be profitable or not when compared to non-minority business owners. Additionally, we placed special emphasis on the impact of equity and debt to determine if capital financing influences firm profitability the same or differently for minority as compared to non-minority owned micro firms. Using longitudinal data from the Kauffman Firm Survey, micro firms owned by Hispanic and Black entrepreneurs were less likely to be profitable than non-minority owned micro firms, whereas profitability differences were not found between the latter and Asian-owned micro firms. Moreover, Hispanic and Black-owned micro firms that made use of personal debt were more likely to be profitable than those using only equity to finance operations. Asian-owned micro firms that utilized business debt were more likely to earn a profit than those solely using equity. Alternatively, non-minority owners benefited in terms of profitability from the use of both personal and business debt. Implications of these findings for minority entrepreneurship are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What makes nascent entrepreneurs get their businesses up and running? We answer this by examining in a broad and unifying way: motivation and cognition, knowledge and experience and social support. We apply extensive multivariate analyses to a sample of 338 nascent entrepreneurs from the PSED database. Interestingly, most of our long-term (4½-year) model predictions of startup transition based on early antecedents are more accurate than the short-term ones - a practical strength of these models. Findings indicate that experienced, persistent, confident individuals, motivated mostly by non-financial outcomes, perceiving support from their social contacts and institutional environment, are likely to make the transition to a successful business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]