Crafting Sustainable Development Solutions: Frugal Innovations of Grassroots Entrepreneurs

A shift in the entrepreneurial landscape is taking place brought about by grassroots innovators with little formal education and technological knowhow, living and working in penurious environments. This research represents an emerging third wave of literature on Bottom of the Pyramid innovation, where products are offered for and by the underserved. Using primary and secondary data derived from four cases of grassroots entrepreneurs in the Indian Subcontinent, the study explores the phenomenon where resource scarce entrepreneurs craft solutions that are environmental friendly, with low overall ownership costs, and use locally available material. We argue that the grassroots phenomenon can be fruitfully exploited to achieve the new Sustainable Development Goals proposed by the UN as a post-2015 strategy for the future of global governance. These innovations might have a tremendous impact not only in terms of serving unmet and ignored consumer needs, but also longer term impacts through enhanced productivity, sustainability, poverty reduction and inclusion promotion.

La construction ferroviaire au Portugal : concepts, modèles et intervenants

La construction des chemins de fer portugais a eu, jusqu’en 1891, pour l’objectif principal de combler le retard économique du pays. Par suite de l’échec des entrepreneurs anglais, notamment Morton Petto, ce furent les hommes d’affaires et les capitaux qui jouèrent le rôle majeur, grâce notamment l’intervention des Pereire, puis celle de CIC, principal soutien des initiatives de l’entrepreneur espagnol D. José de Salamanca, enfin la Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas et la Banque Ottomane. L’influence Saint-simonienne s’exerçait sur les ingénieurs formés à l’École Polytechnique de Lisbonne et bénéficiait la généralisation du modèle français de la concession. À partir des années 1890, ce système entra en crise, favorisant une influence allemand grandissante, tant en terme d’investissement qu’à travers la formation des ingénieurs, notamment ceux de l’Institut Supérieur Technique de Lisbonne, Le reflux des investissements étrangères, à partir de la crise de 1892, poussa l’État dans la voie de la nationalisation en 1899, dans qu’ensuite ne suisse survenir une relance de la construction ferroviaires. Après la Seconde Guerre mondial, les chemins de fer furent confiés à un unique exploitant national, la Compagnie des chemins de fer Portugais.

“A long-term mortality analysis of subsidized firms in rural areas: an empirical study in the Portuguese Alentejo region”

Studies have demonstrated that public policies to support private firms’ investment have the ability to promote entrepreneurship, but the sustainability of subsidized firms has not often been analysed. This paper aims to examine this dimension specifically through evaluating the mortality of subsidized firms in the long-term. The analysis focuses on a case study of the LEADER+ Programme in the Alentejo region of Portugal. With this purpose, the paper examines the activity status (active or not active) of 154 private, rural, for-profit firms in Alentejo that had received a subsidy to support investment between 2002 and 2008 under the LEADER+ Programme. The methodology is based on binary choice models in order to study the probability of these firms still being active. The explanatory variables used are the following: (1) the characteristics of entrepreneurs and managers’ strategic decisions, (2) firm profile and characteristics, (3) regional economic environment. Data assessment showed that the cumulative mortality rate of firms on 31st December 2013 is over 20 %. Interpretation of the regression model revealed that he probability of firms’ survival increases with higher investment, firm age and regional business concentration, whereas the number of applications made by firms has a negative impact on their survival. So it seems that for subsidized firms the amount of investment is as important as its frequency.

Financing innovative start-ups in Portuguese context: what is the role of business angels networks?

Business angels provide both financing and managerial experience, which increase the likelihood of the survival of innovative start-ups. Over the last years, European countries with developing informal venture capital markets have seen governments support the creation of business angels networks (BANs) to increase and consolidate these markets. Using the Portuguese context to carry out the empirical work, this paper provides an assessment of value added provided by angels’ networks. A total of 88 useable responses were received and analysed using non-parametric statistical techniques. This paper demonstrates that is evidence of positive contribution of BANs in terms of bringing together investors and linking them with entrepreneur’s seeking finance. BANs played an important role in financing innovative start-ups also in peripheral regions. Results lead us to conclude that government support BANs would appear to be an effective mechanism to stimulate the angel market in developing informal venture capital markets. The conclusions of this paper are likely to have relevance for countries where there is growing interest in the potential of business angels as a means of financing innovative start-ups.