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The phenomena identified as the relationship between learning disabilities, entrepreneurial calling, and entrepreneurial success or failure is a timely and relevant topic that necessitated exploration. To build upon this research, this qualitative case study was conducted. The goal of this case study research is to understand how learning disabilities affect the success or failure of entrepreneurs, while also exploring how the entrepreneur was called to be an entrepreneur. The first theme identified in this research study was individual entrepreneurial resilience. Entrepreneurial resilience, hardiness, and optimism were commonly found personality traits amongst research study participants. The second theme to emerge from this study is that individual characteristics, traits, and symptoms of those afflicted with learning disabilities have consequences and advantages. Some of the specific personal characteristics appear to be caused by the disability condition, whereas other personality traits arise due to the individual's ability to adapt to challenging situations. The descriptors of adaptation, compensation, flexibility, and delegation were found to be a commonality among the majority of research participants, In contrast, many participants spoke directly about their originality, positive affect, innovativeness, ability to multi-task, a propensity for risk-taking, an inclination towards creative thinking, and high energy. The third theme to arise from this research study involves the manner in which how those approach risk and risk mitigation with learning disabilities. Participants noted that elements of risk and hard work are behind almost every great success. However, many entrepreneurs worked very hard to minimize and diminish risk. The fourth and final theme to develop from this study surrounded the way that the learning-disabled entrepreneur found entrepreneurship. Many of the participants felt that entrepreneurship was truly a calling rather than a job and could identify an exact moment when they felt they became an entrepreneur.

Declining core business in the conventional beverage categories of beer and carbonated sodas has compelled companies to turn to innovation to grow their sales and profitability. The research focus of this project was to determine, through adjacent category innovation whether my new branded premium craft carbonated soda product range was a consumer relevant innovation, scalable and therefore able to sustainably enhance market growth and profitability for my project partner, DB Breweries. A mixed methods research approach using qualitative and quantitative surveys revealed strong consumer preferences for the product to be authentic, artisanal, premium, health focussed and particularly targeted to females, older consumers and as an alternative to alcohol. These findings represented market opportunities, however, the clear-cut preference for a homespun, handcrafted, local and small batched produced product as opposed to mass machine manufactured, was an unexpected finding with significant implications for the project. This core finding created a tension between the preference for authenticity and the original concept of leveraging my project partner's scale machine based manufacturing capacity. These findings and my advisory board's guidance reshaped the business model canvas, proposing a joint venture between Chapman (my company) and my project partner, which as an established beverage company would bring know-how and distribution with my company being the entrepreneurial, authentic, artisanal, small batch producer. The reshaped strategy and business model shifted the adjacent category innovation from a product to a geographical perspective, with export potential to China and possibly the Muslim market. The online sales channel in China has significant export appeal with its deep retail market penetration and rapid growth, but very low current penetration in the beverage category which is forecast for significant growth. Successful export entry into China would establi

"My dissertation is a response to the lacuna in the literature regarding the semiotic moments of the entrepreneurial university. The scholars on the entrepreneurial university describe a new knowledge regime that cinches the university to the global trade competition. These sources ignore the semiotic moments of the culture of competitiveness. In this dissertation I propose a third leg to the entrepreneurial turn which takes seriously these semiotic moments. I use university research magazines as primary texts, arguing that these magazines are representative of the technological and scientific advances that are crucial to the entrepreneurial university. I argue that the entrepreneurial university is legitimized as a lynchpin in the development of scientific research meant at once for human and capital regeneration. My general findings are as follows: 1. How a fundamental singularity of research universities in the KBE is the representation of their research as directly answering to pressing human needs. 2. How answering to these needs results not from society but from the participation of university actors in entrepreneurial behavior. 3. How discourses of entrepreneurship derive legitimacy not explicitly through logics of explanation but through logics of appearance and through authorization vis-à-vis the university's relation to the market. The entrepreneurial university is not only "realized" by state actors participating in institutionally specific structures adhering to the entrepreneurial turn, but by state actors aligning their particular research interests to the application of pressing human needs."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.

Unlike other studies incorporating the traditional Hughes and Morgan (2007) entrepreneurial orientation (EO) scale, the current study accepted the challenge issued by Lyon, Lumpkin and Dess (2000) evaluating EO in a new approach. As incorporated by Short, Broberg, Cogliser and Brigham (2009), this study too made use of content analysis to evaluate the dimensions of EO in order to comprehend whether the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) are more associated with top performing firms in comparison to less performing firms in the context of South Africa. The study reviewed 21 highgrowth firms that initially listed on the Alternative Exchange (AltX) and subsequently promoted to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) mainboard.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intent at FET colleges. The background to the study is guided by the action plans detailed in the national development plan to increase the capacity of the post college sector and the drive to improve early stage entrepreneurial training. The proposed research has contextual value and urgency for both business and academia given the level of youth unemployment, quality of education and South Africa's below average Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) rate. The literature review on entrepreneurship education learning and teaching framework, measurement of entrepreneurial intent and the impact of entrepreneurship suggest that entrepreneurship programs have a positive impact on entrepreneurial behaviour. Three hypothesis were tested, the research hypothesis are H1: Learner satisfaction with the entrepreneurship curriculum has a positive effect on entrepreneurial intentions for FET College students. H2: Inclusion of experiential learning and practical exposure in the teaching and delivery methods has a positive effect on entrepreneurial intent. H3: Entrepreneurship education at FET College has a positive effect in promoting entrepreneurship as a career choice. The research findings concluded that there is a positive relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intent at FET colleges. The literature that encourages a combination of learning the start-up process and entrepreneurial activity is well supported. In addition, the entrepreneurship education program seems to have a positive relationship in promoting entrepreneurial career. The level of experiential learning and practical exposure was highlighted as a concern. Suggestions for future research were made to investigate level of experiential learning.

Entrepreneurship has been the backbone of the American economy since the penning of the Declaration of Independence. Small businesses help the United States prosper and help create jobs for the American people. As today's business world is increasingly changing in a technological and global way, entrepreneurs must consider many environmental conditions in their small business planning. Business start-up is a long process backed by research and market testing that will maximize the opportunity for success. One way many business start-ups have become successful is through cause-related marketing programs that many people support. Additionally, a particular industry that has proven to be successful despite tough economic times is the sports apparel industry, and specifically the running industry. This thesis will seek to tie together entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, and the running footwear and apparel industry. Entrepreneurs looking to get involved in the running industry can be successful in today's business world if their venture is coupled with great start-up research, a great cause and a corporate social responsibility program.

This research is the result of a need within the entrepreneurial community, amongst both existing businesses as well as aspiring entrepreneurs, to pay attention to the marketing skills, abilities and activities required to navigate in the rapidly changing business environment in which they operate. It's no longer enough that an entrepreneur only possesses the entrepreneurial will and drive to start an enterprise. In order to succeed and thrive, they require a skill set that needs to be employed from the beginning. The ability of the entrepreneur to successfully market their business, particularly in the early phases of development, is a crucial skill that can ensure the survival of the enterprise. The research comprised of sixteen in-depth interviews with existing entrepreneurs in South Africa, as well as four with experts in the fields of SMEs and Marketing. All of the interviews were conducted face-to-face, with the exception of one of the SME and Marketing experts, whose interview was conducted telephonically. The interviews followed a semi-structured discussion guide that allowed for variations in the discussion as required. A number of the entrepreneurs interviewed had not conducted any marketing planning in the start-up phase of their ventures, yet succeeded. The entrepreneurs did, however, practice ad-hoc marketing activities in the early stages of their business, as well as networking with customers, suppliers and their industry. It was also found that the respondents' knowledge of how to market their businesses increased over time, and as their businesses matured, they allocated more significant resources towards marketing their businesses. The research project concludes that: whilst beneficial, upfront marketing planning is not essential for start-ups; networking and ad-hoc marketing is important for start-ups to practice; putting a significant allocation of resources towards marketing is valuable.

The study aimed to validate the applicability of the Theory of Planned Behavior and to test its sufficiency within a contextual setting that has seemingly received limited prior focus. The sample comprised of 134 part-time learners from a university business school within South Africa; who are arguably older, hold more work experience and who are more ethnically diverse than subjects in most prior research. Importantly, this study combined construct measurement scales from two other studies in an attempt to improve measurement reliability. Findings suggest that the Theory of Planned Behavior was a significant predictor of entrepreneurial intention within the context of an emerging economy, explaining 21.1% of the variation in student‟s entrepreneurial intention. Further analysis revealed that demographic variables were found to have a significant residual effect beyond the predictor variables within the Theory of Planned Behavior, explaining 6.9% more of the total variation in student‟s entrepreneurial intention when added to the Theory of Planned Behavior. Closer investigation revealed that a particular racial group (black individuals) was solely responsible for the significant influence on intentions, thus rendering age, gender and all other racial groups as weak, insignificant contributors. These results suggest that the Theory of Planned Behavior is not sufficient in capturing all the variation in entrepreneurial intention.

The purpose of this research report is to investigate how Entrepreneurship is being taught in the classroom of secondary schools and to see if there is a vast difference between how it is taught across the income spectrum of the students.The research used a qualitative methodological approach. Questionnaires were sent out to respondents selected by the researcher (convenient sample). Then there was a follow-up in-depth interview with all the respondents. The respondents are all teachers who currently teach entrepreneurship at secondary schools and were divided into three groups depending on the school they teach at. There is the private school, the Model C School and the public school.The research revealed that there are vast differences in the way entrepreneurship is taught between the schools. Private schools have a large component of ‘beyond the classroom’. These include company visits, guest lecturers on entrepreneurial exercises. Model C Schools were very limited with the ‘odd’ guest lecturer and ‘fund raising’ poject. Public schools have no practical component to entrepreneurship what so ever. All the previous research suggests that a practical component to teaching entrepreneurship is vital. This research high-light’s that entrepreneurial education is seriously lacking at secondary school level in that a practical component seems to be missing.This research report looked at different schools to see if there was possibly a model that could be replicated across secondary schools that could bring in a practical element to teaching entrepreneurship. A model was found called, ‘R10 in ten days’. Students are placed in pairs and given R10 on a Wednesday. The following Friday they return the R10 and profit. They pay 20% to the school and keep the rest. This is a model that can be implemented in every school. Furthermore it creates a culture of ‘entrepreneurship’. Parents, relatives and friends get involved. A culture that encourages entrepreneurs is far more successful than one that doesn’t.

This thesis responds to calls for more advanced portrayals of institutional effects on cross-country opportunity entrepreneurial activity (EA). In particular, it examines the effect of formal institutional development on EA depending on differences in informal constraints and economic development (ED). Though acknowledged in part within extant theory, little empirical research has documented the simultaneous interaction of all of the three variables in formal and informal institutions and ED. This research offers one perspective on the interdependencies and directionality between these variables. I suggest that a country's entrepreneurs respond differently to formal institutional incentives depending on societal culture and the nature of opportunities that arise from the predominant economic structure whether agriculturally, manufacturing or services based. I also develop an operational framework to translate institutions to conditions for EA. This framework suggests that formal institutions are associated with entrepreneurial opportunities and incentives, financial capital and an explicit form of human capital such as formal education. In addition, informal institutions are associated with social capital and a tacit form of human capital such as practical experience.

This study provides information about the experiences of trainees, contractors, Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) field staff, and other state DOT staff in the On the Job Training (OJT) Program in their states. Obtaining this information is an important step in the MDT process of monitoring the quality of the OJT program, and enables MDT to report this information to the Federal Highway Administration and to the contracting community. Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) at The University of Montana Missoula administered questionnaires to individuals involved with the OJT process to gather this information. This study consists of four parts: a survey of Montana OJT program trainees, a survey of Montana contractors who participate in the OJT program, a survey of MDT field staff who play a role in the OJT program, and key informant interviews with selected state department of transportation (DOT) staff from the western United States who are involved with the OJT program in their state. Trainees in the Montana Department of Transportation On the Job Training Program are generally very satisfied with the program. A majority of the contractors interviewed (55.6 percent) rated the quality of the OJT Program overall as good, while about one third (33.3 percent) rated it fair, and only 11.1 percent rated it poor. Two thirds of MDT staff (66.7 percent) rated the overall quality of the OJT program as good, while one third (33.3 percent) rated it fair. Of the state DOT employees interviewed, most viewed the overall quality of the program in their state favorably.