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Purpose – Universities provide entrepreneurship-specific education (ESE) to equip students with the entrepreneurial alertness and risk-taking assets required to pursue entrepreneurial careers. Building upon insights from a dynamic view of human capital, the paper explores the linkage between ESE investment, alertness, and risk-taking asset accumulation, and the outcome relating to the intention "to become an entrepreneur" (henceforth termed an "entrepreneurial mindset"). Design/methodology/approach – Survey information from 189 students from three universities in the Ukraine was hand collected. Hierarchical multiple ordinary least squares regression analysis and slope analysis were used to test presented hypotheses. Findings – ESE students reported higher intensity of entrepreneurial mindset. Further, ESE students who accumulated the connection entrepreneurial alertness asset reported higher intensity of entrepreneurial mindset. ESE students were more oriented to higher entrepreneurial mindset when they had accumulated more connection entrepreneurial alertness asset. ESE students who accumulated the risk-taking propensity asset reported lower intensity of entrepreneurial mindset. ESE students were more oriented to higher entrepreneurial mindset when they perceived less risk. Originality/value – The paper makes a novel contribution by considering whether ESE promotes different elements of entrepreneurial alertness and risk-taking assets. Building upon insights from a broader conceptualization of the entrepreneurial alertness asset (Tang et al., 2012), the paper conceptualized for the first time the linkage between three elements of entrepreneurial alertness and student entrepreneurial mindset. Further, the paper conceptualized linkage between two elements of risk-taking relating to risk-taking perception asset and risk-taking propensity asset, and higher intensity of entrepreneurial mindset. Assets relating to entrepreneurial alertness and risk-taking perception need to be honed in transition economy contexts associated with political structures that did not promote individual risk-taking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores whether an entrepreneur's ability to assemble and leverage human capital, particularly specific human capital relating to prior business ownership experience, is associated with seven types of product and work practices innovation in an emerging region, namely, Ghana. Logistic regression estimation revealed that portfolio entrepreneurs were more likely than novice entrepreneurs to report ' innovation tried'. Multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that portfolio entrepreneurs were more likely than other entrepreneurs to report ' innovation tried and introduced'. If the goals of policy are to increase the 'quality' of new business start-ups and maximize investment returns, there is a case to target assistance to portfolio entrepreneurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When no suitable family successor can be identified, private family firm owners may select a management buyout (MBO) or a management buyin (MBI) exit route. After a private equity backed MBO/I, new owners may select strategies that encourage superior firm performance. We explore the strategic orientation of former private family firms pre- and post-MBO/Is. Ownership and governance issues are considered. Following insights from agency and stewardship theory, several hypotheses are derived and tested with reference to a representative sample of 104 MBO/ Is located across Europe. Univariate analysis suggests greater scope for efficiency gains and growth in cases where the founder was present at time of buyout, where no managers with equity stakes or non-executive directors were employed pre-buyout, and where the private equity investor and management were involved in succession planning. Multinomial logistic regression suggests efficiency gains in firms with no equity holding non-family managers pre-buyout. Conclusions and implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose - The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the partner selection criteria reported by maritime firms in Norway. The study aims to analyze how a maritime firm's competitive advantage can be enhanced by the selection of the right partner with reference to a strategic alliance. Design/methodology/approach - A multiple-case study methodology was used. Archival, survey and interview data were explored relating to the partner selection process reported by Norwegian maritime firms. Primary data were gathered from semi-structured personal interviews with managers of Norwegian maritime firms. Findings - Case study evidence suggests that the strategic alliances were successful when partners had been carefully selected. As detected elsewhere, successful alliances were associated with partners that had managed to build trustful and honest relationships, had common strategic goals, and partners that supplied resources and competencies. Notably, it was detected that cyclicality in the maritime industry shaped the partner selection process. Trust between partners was used as mechanism to reduce uncertainty relating to the strategic alliance process. Firms seeking long-term alliances selected partners with substantial capital and financial stability to survive a market's downturn, as well as the resources required for expansion during a recession. Practical implications - Presented findings have implications for practitioners, especially for managers of shipping firms, banks, shipyards, producers of ship equipment, ship design firms, and ship brokers. Practitioners need to be aware that the rationale for inter-firm collaboration change over time, and motives are linked to the phase of the maritime cycle. Inter-firm collaboration provides competitive advantage benefits to firms and collaboration can protect as well as create jobs and can create wealth in maritime communities. Originality/value - A novel conceptual contribution is the exploration of links between maritime industrial cyclicality and the partner selection process relating to strategic alliances. The study also adds to debates relating to the profiles of internationalizing smaller firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When no suitable family successor can be identified, private family firm owners may opt for a MBO or MBI. We explore the strategic orientation of former private family firms pre- and post-MBO/I. We utilize a unique hand-collected representative sample of 104 MBO/Is located across Europe. Greater scope for efficiency gains and growth/expansion was found in cases where the founder was present at time of buyout, where no managers with equity stakes or non-executive directors were employed pre-buy-out and where the private equity investor and management were involved in succession planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extending human capital approaches to entrepreneurship, an entrepreneur’s “inputs” relating to their general (i.e. education and work experience) and entrepreneurship-specific human capital profile (i.e. business ownership experience, managerial capabilities, entrepreneurial capabilities and technical capabilities) are presumed to be related to entrepreneurial “outputs” in the form of business opportunity identification and pursuit. Valid and reliable independent variables were gathered from a stratified random sample of 588 owners of private firms. Ordered logit analysis was used to test several theoretically derived hypotheses. With regard to the number of business opportunities identified and pursued, entrepreneurship-specific rather than general human capital variables “explained” more of the variance. Entrepreneurs reporting higher information search intensity identified significantly more business opportunities, but they did not pursue markedly more or less opportunities. The use of publications as a source of information was positively associated with the probability of identifying more opportunities, while information emanating from personal, professional and business networks was not. Implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perspectives relating to agency theory, information asymmetries and game theory were utilized to explore two outcomes associated with the management buy-out (MBO) or management buy-in (MBI) of former private firms: whether information was shared equally between vendors (i.e., family firm owners) and purchasers (i.e., MBO/I management teams) and whether a mutually agreed price was achieved. With reference to the themes of company ownership structure, governance structure and company objectives several hypotheses were derived. Survey evidence was gathered from the managers of 114 former private family-owned firms located across Europe that recently reported an MBO/I. Multiple logistic regression analysis detected that respondents in founded (first generation) family firms and those reporting a high focus on the strategic importance of the market value increment were more likely to report that ‘information was shared equally between vendors and purchasers’. Respondents reporting no suitable family successor had been identified, a high focus on the strategic importance of the market value increment, and the involvement of venture capitalists in succession planning were more likely to report that a mutually agreed sale price had been achieved. Implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Agency and stewardship theories are used to explore associations between ownership and management profiles and the performance and objectives of family firms. Using data from privately held family firms in the United Kingdom, a range of performance measures and objectives were examined. Multivariate regression analysis detected that closely held family firms did not report superior firm performance. The results show that the management rather than the ownership structure of a family firm was generally associated with selected firm-performance indicators and nonfinancial company objectives. Although family CEOs were associated with lower propensity to export, presented evidence generally fails to suggest that private family firms should avoid employing family members in management roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a model of training investments and employment outcomes. In this model training may enhance trainees' tastes for particular types of career (taste shift) and/or shift their wage offer distributions (pay-off). An empirical analysis is conducted with a unique data-set of UK graduates. These data contain information on students' career tastes before small-firm placements as well as their employment outcomes after graduation. Analysis of these data indicates that the placements provide a pay-off among highly employable graduates who face certain disadvantages in the labour market. Conversely individuals, who expressed a taste for small-firm careers before placements, are more likely to take-up small-firm employment after placements suggesting these individuals experience enhanced opportunities for their preferred career. However individuals with pre-placement large-firm preferences have no greater likelihood of entering small-firms' employment after placements indicating there is no fundamental effect on career tastes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conceptual framework is extended to take into account differences between inexperienced novice entrepreneurs (that is, individuals with no prior private business ownership experience) and experienced serial and portfolio entrepreneurs. Some policymakers and practitioners are considering whether resources could be more effectively utilized if they were targeted toward serial and portfolio entrepreneurs, rather than in the form of additional initiatives to increase the pool of “pure” nascent entrepreneurs and novice entrepreneurs. To inform this policy debate, similarities and differences between novice, serial, and portfolio entrepreneurs are highlighted with regard to their decisions, actions, performance, and aspirations. We detected that portfolio entrepreneurs were more likely to express dimensions of entrepreneurial behavior. A case for targeted support tailored to the aspirations and needs of novice, serial, and portfolio entrepreneurs is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy-makers and practitioners are considering whether to allocate resources towards portfolio and serial entrepreneurs, as well as the provision of additional initiatives to increase the pool of novice entrepreneurs. To inform this policy debate, univariate statistical tests were used to test for differences between 354 firms owned by novice, serial and portfolio entrepreneurs in Scotland. Also, univariate tests were conducted to compare responses made by pairwise groups of entrepreneurs. No significant differences were detected between the three types of entrepreneurs with regard to several entrepreneur and firm demographic characteristics. Additional analysis revealed that portfolio entrepreneurs have more diverse experiences, and more resources than serial or novice entrepreneurs. On average, portfolio entrepreneurs appear to offer more attractive growth prospects than other entrepreneurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses upon the emergence of Virtual Teams that increasingly form the competitive core of successful e-Entrepreneurship in Europe. In recent years new forms of entrepreneurship have begun to emerge from the synergies between Information and Communication Technology developments and changing paradigms of economic transactions. The resulting turbulence within the international small business community has facilitated the evolution of innovative organizational forms that are structured dynamically to ensure sustainable competitive advantage in local, national or global markets. Virtual Teams consist of groups of geographically distributed individuals (entrepreneurs) who interact through interdependent tasks and are led by common (entrepreneurial) interests and/or goals.