The Passionate Combining Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are portrayed as salient drivers of regional development and for a number of years nascent entrepreneurs have been studied in a large number of countries as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor project and the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics. Scholars have devoted much effort to investigating factors that determine how individuals engage in entrepreneurial activities, with most of the discussion limited to business start-ups. However, since this type of project does not follow identical nascent entrepreneurs over time, limited knowledge exists about their development and whether they stay in this nascent phase for a long time. In practice, it is common for entrepreneurs to run a business and at the same time work in wage work, so-called combining entrepreneurs. In Sweden, almost half of all business owners combine wage work with a business. However, not all combining entrepreneurs will eventually decide to leave the wage work and invest fully in the business. Consequently, much research has focused on the first step of entering entrepreneurship full time, but less has focused on the second step, the transition from the combining phase to full-time self-employment. The aim of this thesis is therefore to contribute to the theory of entrepreneurship by gaining a deeper understanding of combining entrepreneurs and their motives and intentions.   In the context of combining entrepreneurs, the theory of identity, resources and choice overload has been used to examine how entrepreneurs’ age (when starting the business), entrepreneurial tenure (the length of engagement in the side-business), hours spent (weekly involvement in the side-business), involvement in entrepreneurial teams (leading the business with one or more partners) and involvement in networks (business networks) influence their passion for engaging in entrepreneurship while sustaining wage work. Different categories of combining entrepreneurs and their intentions have also been examined.   A survey was administered to 1457 entrepreneurs within the creative sector in two counties in Sweden (Gävleborgs County and Jämtlands County). Since there were no separate mailing lists to only combining entrepreneurs, the survey was sent to all entrepreneurs within the chosen industry and counties. The total response rate was 33.5 percent and of them 57.6 percent combined, yielding 262 combining entrepreneurs who answered the questionnaire. The survey was then followed up with eight focus group interviews and two single interviews to validate the answers from the questionnaire.   The results indicate three types of combining entrepreneurs: nascent – with the intention to leave the combining phase for a transition into full-time self-employment, lifestyle – with the intention to stay in the combining phase, and occasional – with the intention to leave the combining phase for full-time wage work and close down the business. Transitioning fully to self-employment increases with the individual’s age. Also, a positive interactive effect exists with involvement in entrepreneurial networks. The results also indicate that the ability to work with something one is passionate about is the top motive for combining wage work with a side-business. Passion is also more likely to be the main motive behind the combining form among individuals who are older at business start-up, but passion is less likely to be the main motive behind the combining form among individuals who spend more time on the business. The longer the individual has had the side-business, the less likely passion is the main motive behind the combining form, and passion is less likely to be the main motive among those who are part of an entrepreneurial team.

A computer study of the improvement of PV panel monthly outputs when the panel azimuth is changed thrice daily

The purpose of the calculations was to estimate the most suitable slopes and azimuths for three different positions per day of a solar panel in order to obtain the most possible energy from the PV panel compared with a stationary PV panel. The calculations were made in the computer program PV F-CHART.

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on International Trade: An Empirical Study of China

This paper investigates the impact of inward FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) on international trade of China empirically on the country level by using panel data from 1984 to 2007. Two separate transformed models which are based on the gravity equation and refer to the econometric models of some previous studies, are used in this paper to estimate the effect of FDI inflows on exports and imports respectively. The estimation results confirmed the complementary relationship between FDI inflows and trade of China both on exports and imports, which has also been supported by previous empirical studies.

Simulation of Photovoltaic Panel Production as Complement to Ground Source Heat Pump System

This master thesis presents a new technological combination of two environmentally friendly sources of energy in order to provide DHW, and space heating. Solar energy is used for space heating, and DHW production using PV modules which supply direct current directly to electrical heating elements inside a water storage tank. On the other hand a GSHP system as another source of renewable energy provides heat in the water storage tank of the system in order to provide DHW and space heating. These two sources of renewable energy have been combined in this case-study in order to obtain a more efficient system, which will reduce the amount of electricity consumed by the GSHP system.The key aim of this study is to make simulations, and calculations of the amount ofelectrical energy that can be expected to be produced by a certain amount of PV modules that are already assembled on a house in Vantaa, southern Finland. This energy is then intended to be used as a complement to produce hot water in the heating system of the house beside the original GSHP system. Thus the amount of electrical energy purchased from the grid should be reduced and the compressor in the GSHP would need fewer starts which would reduce the heating cost of the GSHP system for space heating and providing hot water.The produced energy by the PV arrays in three different circuits will be charged directly to three electrical heating elements in the water storage tank of the existing system to satisfy the demand of the heating elements. The excess energy can be used to heat the water in the water storage tank to some extent which leads to a reduction of electricity consumption by the different components of the GSHP system.To increase the efficiency of the existing hybrid system, optimization of different PV configurations have been accomplished, and the results are compared. Optimization of the arrays in southern and western walls shows a DC power increase of 298 kWh/year compared with the existing PV configurations. Comparing the results from the optimization of the arrays on the western roof if the intention is to feed AC power to the components of the GSHP system shows a yearly AC power production of 1,646 kWh.This is with the consideration of no overproduction by the PV modules during the summer months. This means the optimized PV systems will be able to cover a larger part of summer demand compared with the existing system.

Use of Photovoltaic on an E-bike? : A Feasibility Study

In recent years the number of bicycles with e-motors has been increased steadily. Within the pedelec – bikes where an e-motor supports the pedaling – a special group of transportation bikes has developed. These bikes have storage boxes in addition to the basic parts of a bike. Due to the space available on top of those boxes it is possible to install a PV system to generate electricity which could be used to recharge the battery of the pedelec. Such a system would lead to grid independent charging of the battery and to the possibility of an increased range of motor support. The feasibility of such a PV system is investigated for a three wheeled pedelec delivered by the company BABBOE NORDIC.The measured data of the electricity generation of this mobile system is compared to the possible electricity generation of a stationary system.To measure the consumption of the pedelec different tracks are covered, and the energy which is necessary to recharge the bike battery is measured using an energy logger. This recharge energy is used as an indirect measure of the electricity consumption. A PV prototype system is installed on the bike. It is a simple PV stand alone system consisting of PV panel, charge controller with MPP tracker and a solar battery. This system has the task to generate as much electricity as possible. The produced PV current and voltage aremeasured and documented using a data logger. Afterwards the average PV power is calculated. To compare the produced electricity of the on-bike system to that of a stationary system, the irradiance on the latter is measured simultaneously. Due to partial shadings on the on-bike PV panel, which are caused by the driver and some other bike parts, the average power output during riding the bike is very low. It is too low to support the motor directly. In case of a similar installation as the PV prototype system and the intention always to park the bike on a sunny spot an on-bike system could generate electricity to at least partly recharge a bike battery during one day. The stationary PV system using the same PV panel could have produced between 1.25 and 8.1 times as much as the on-bike PV system. Even though the investigation is done for a very specific case it can be concluded that anon-bike PV system, using similar components as in the investigation, is not feasible to recharge the battery of a pedelec in an appropriate manner. The biggest barrier is that partial shadings on the PV panel, which can be hardly avoided during operation and parking, result in a significant reduction of generated electricity. Also the installation of the on-bike PV system would lead to increased weight of the whole bike and the need for space which is reducing the storage capacity. To use solar energy for recharging a bike battery an indirect way is giving better results. In this case a stationary PV stand alone system is used which is located in a sunny spot without shadings and adjusted to use the maximum available solar energy. The battery of the bike is charged using the corresponding charger and an inverter which provides AC power using the captured solar energy.

Growth and Inequality : A study of Swedish municipalities

This paper explores the relationship between the growth rate of the average income and income inequality using data at the municipal level in Sweden for the period 1992-2007. We estimate a fixed effects panel data growth model where the within-municipality income inequality is one of the explanatory variables. Different inequality measures (Gini coefficient, top income shares, and measures of inequality in the lower and upper ends of the income distribution) are also examined. We find a positive and significant relationship between income growth and income inequality, measured as the Gini coefficient and top income shares, respectively. In addition, while inequality at the upper end of the income distribution is positively associated with the income growth rate, inequality at the lower end of the income distribution seems to be negatively related to the growth rate. Our findings also suggest that increased income inequality enhances growth more in municipalities with a high level of average income than in those with a low level of average income.

Performance determinants For Swedish Financial Monetary Institutions: Panel Data evidence between 2010-2014.

Due to the rapid changes that governs the Swedish financial sector such as financial deregulations and technological innovations, it is imperative to examine the extent to which the Swedish Financial institutions had performed amid these changes. For this to be accomplish, the work investigates what are the determinants of performance for Swedish Financial Monetary Institutions? Assumptions were derived from theoretical and empirical literatures to investigate the authenticity of this research question using seven explanatory variables. Two models were specified using Returns on Asset (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) as the main performance indicators and for the sake of reliability and validity, three different estimators such as Ordinary Least Square (OLS), Generalized Least Square (GLS) and Feasible Generalized Least Square (FGLS) were employed. The Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) was also used to verify which specification explains performance better while performing robustness check of parameter estimates was done by correcting for standard errors. Based on the findings, ROA specification proves to have the lowest Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and Standard errors compared to ROE specification. Under ROA, two variables; the profit margins and the Interest coverage ratio proves to be statistically significant while under ROE just the interest coverage ratio (ICR) for all the estimators proves significant. The result also shows that the FGLS is the most efficient estimator, then follows the GLS and the last OLS. when corrected for SE robust, the gearing ratio which measures the capital structure becomes significant under ROA and its estimate become positive under ROE robust. Conclusions were drawn that, within the period of study three variables (ICR, profit margins and gearing) shows significant and four variables were insignificant. The overall findings show that the institutions strive to their best to maximize returns but these returns were just normal to cover their costs of operation. Much should be done as per the ASC theory to avoid liquidity and credit risks problems. Again, estimated values of ICR and profit margins shows that a considerable amount of efforts with sound financial policies are required to increase performance by one percentage point. Areas of further research could be how the individual stochastic factors such as the Dupont model, repo rates, inflation, GDP etc. can influence performance.