The tax regime for micro-enterprises in Cuba

Includes bibliography

Istmo Centroamericano: la regulación de la distribución de energía eléctrica en los países con empresas privadas. Los casos de El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua y Panamá

Incluye Bibliografía

Trajetórias tecnológicas da indústria de telefonia móvel: um exame prospectivo de tecnologias emergentes

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Institutions and Structural Unemployment: Do Capital-Market Imperfections Matter? CES Germany & Europe Working Papers, No. 00.8, December 2000

This paper analyzes whether differences in institutional structures on capital markets contribute to explaining why some DECO-countries, in particular the Anglo-Saxon countries, have been much more successful over the last two decades in producing employment growth and in reducing unem­ployment than most continental-European DECO-countries. It is argued that the often-blamed labor market rigidities alone, while important, do not provide a satisfactory explanation for these differ­ences across countries and over time. Financial constraints are potentially important obstacles against creating new firms and jobs and thus against coping well with structural change and against moving successfully toward the "new economy". Highly developed venture capital markets should help to alleviate such financial constraints. This view that labor-market institutions should be sup­plemented by capital market imperfections for explaining differences in employment performances is supported by our panel data analysis, in which venture capital turns out to be a significant insti­tutional variable.

Who creates the jobs?

Addresses Birch's hypothesis, made in 1979 and the subject of much debate since, that small businesses create the most new jobs, using the Office of National Statistics' new Business Structure Database and focusing on the 1998 cohort of new firms and their evolution up to 2008. Assesses: the size of the firms in the cohort; the distribution of jobs as firms moved between size bands; job creation trends in firms that survived with 20+ employees; and job creation by size band. Argues that the answer to the question of 'who creates the jobs?' depends on exactly how the question is framed.

An examination of the determinants of entrepreneurship at the regional level:the case of East Midlands region

Despite the importance of new firms to the economy, determinants of start-ups have mainly been examined at a country level and discussion of regional entrepreneurial activity has received less attention. Since there are significant variations in entrepreneurship rates across and within countries, such an investigation at a regional level would help in gaining an in depth understanding of the impact of the individual level resource endowments and neighbourhood characteristics on an individual’s decision to engage in entrepreneurial activity. The main aim of the thesis is to explore various theories of entrepreneurship and develop integrated frameworks for examining the determinants of entrepreneurial activity at a neighbourhood level in the East Midlands region in England. The specific objectives of the thesis are to examine how the individual level resources and the neighbourhood characteristics: (i) combine to influence an individual to engage in the different stages of the entrepreneurial process, (ii) influence natives and migrants to engage in start up activity and (iii) influence women and men to become self-employed and ambitious entrepreneurs. In terms of the methodology, the empirical analysis is based on two databases combined: 2006 to 2009 GEM East Midlands region and the English Index of Multiple Deprivation dataset. Based on the critical review of the literature on entrepreneurship the thesis develop theoretical frameworks which led to formulate hypotheses related to the differentiated impact of both individual and neighbourhood level factors on the propensity of an individual to be involved in entrepreneurial activity. The findings indicate that the determinants of entrepreneurial activity vary with human, financial and the local environment factors affecting the entrepreneurial process. Finally, the thesis calls for caution when developing and applying generic and specific policy measures aimed at promoting entry into entrepreneurship.

Négy jellegzetesség. A magyar fejlődés politikai gazdaságtani megközelítésben. 2. rész = Four characteristic features. Development in Hungary from the aspect of political economy - II.

A tulajdonviszonyok és intézmények átalakulását is a fokozatosság, a szerves fejlődés jellemzi; Magyarországon a hosszú reformszocialista fázist a politikai fordulat után sem követte ugrás a piacgazdaság felé, bár az átalakulás felgyorsult. A cikk a fokozatosság érvényesülését az értékesítési stratégia sokféle változatát alkalmazó, burjánzó privatizációban, az új vállalkozások keletkezésének folyamatában, a liberalizálás menetében és a jogi infrastruktúra változásában mutatja be. Elemzi az átmenet során megerősödő korporatista elemek hatását a magyar gazdaságpolitikára. Végül néhány összefoglaló megjegyzést fűz a magyar fejlődéshez a politikai gazdaságtan és a politikai filozófia szemszögéből. Az elmúlt harminc évben a mindenkori kormánynak jól érzékelhető preferenciája volt a radikális intézkedések elodázása, a társadalmi adósság felhalmozódásának vállalása a konfliktusok elkerülése érdekében. A szerző felhívja a figyelmet a különböző nemzedékek eltérő időpreferenciájára és az ezzel kapcsolatos etikai problémákra. Befejezésül a népszerűtlen intézkedéseket az állampolgárok nagy hányadának véleményével szemben is felvállaló kormányzás és a demokrácia viszonyáról szól. / === / Gradualism and organic development also distinguish the transformation of property relations and institutions. Hungary's long reform­socialist phase was not followed, after the political change, by a leap towards a market economy, although the transformation became faster. The article shows how gradualism applies to the proliferating of privatization, with its wide variety of selling strategies, to the foundation process of new firms, to the course of liberalization, and to change in the legal infrastructure. It analyses the effect on Hungarian economic policy of corporatist elements which strengthen during the transition. Finally, it makes some comments summing up Hungarian development in terms of political economy and political philosophy. The government at any time in the last thirty years showed an obvious preference for putting off radical measures and accepting an accumulation of social debt as a way of averting conflict. The article notes differences of time preference between generations and the ethical problems these raise. Finally, it makes remarks on the relationship between democracy and an administration intent on unpopular measures opposed by a high proportion of citizens.

Three essays on corporate taxation : financial reporting, value, and firm creation

Doutoramento em Gestão

Do strategy choices matter for nascent firms? A study on effectuation and causation impacts on new ventures outcomes

Principal Topic : Nascent entrepreneurship has drawn the attention of scholars in the last few years (Davidsson, 2006, Wagner, 2004). However, most studies have asked why firms are created focussing on questions such as what are the characteristics (Delmar and Davidsson, 2000) and motivations (Carter, Gartner, Shaver & Reynolds, 2004) of nascent entrepreneurs, or what are the success factors in venture creation (Davidsson & Honig; 2003; Delmar and Shane, 2004). In contrast, the question of how companies emerge is still in its infancy. On a theoretical side, effectuation, developed by Sarasvathy (2001) offers one view of the strategies that may be at work during the venture creation process. Causation, the theorized inverse to effectuation, may be described as a rational reasoning method to create a company. After a comprehensive market analysis to discover opportunities, the entrepreneur will select the alternative with the higher expected return and implement it through the use of a business plan. In contrast, effectuation suggests that the future entrepreneur will develop her new venture in a more iterative way by selecting possibilities through flexibility and interaction with the market, affordability of loss of resources and time invested, development of pre-commitments and alliances from stakeholders. Another contrasting point is that causation is ''goal driven'' while an effectual approach is ''mean driven'' (Sarasvathy, 2001) One of the predictions of effectuation theory is effectuation is more likely to be used by entrepreneurs early in the venture creation process (Sarasvathy, 2001). However, this temporal aspect and the impact of the effectuation strategy on the venture outcomes has so far not been systematically and empirically tested on large samples. The reason behind this research gap is twofold. Firstly, few studies collect longitudinal data on emerging ventures at an early enough stage of development to avoid severe survivor bias. Second, the studies that collect such data have not included validated measures of effectuation. The research we are conducting attempts to partially fill this gap by combining an empirical investigation on a large sample of nascent and young firms with the effectuation/causation continuum as a basis (Sarasvathy, 2001). The objectives are to understand the strategies used by the firms during the creation process and measure their impacts on the firm outcomes. Methodology/Key Propositions : This study draws its data from the first wave of the CAUSEE project where 28,383 Australian households were randomly contacted by phone using a specific methodology to capture emerging firms (Davidsson, Steffens, Gordon, Reynolds, 2008). This screening led to the identification of 594 nascent ventures (i.e., firms that are not operating yet) and 514 young firms (i.e., firms that have started operating from 2004) that were willing to participate in the study. Comprehensive phone interviews were conducted with these 1108 ventures. In a likewise comprehensive follow-up 12 months later, 80% of the eligible cases completed the interview. The questionnaire contains specific sections designed to distinguish effectual and causal processes, innovation, gestation activities, business idea changes and ventures outcomes. The effectuation questions are based on the components of effectuation strategy as described by Sarasvathy (2001) namely: flexibility, affordable loss and pre-commitment from stakeholders. Results from two rounds of pre-testing informed the design of the instrument included in the main survey. The first two waves of data have will be used to test and compare the use of effectuation in the venture creation process. To increase the robustness of the results, temporal use of effectuation will be tested both directly and indirectly. 1. By comparing the use of effectuation in nascent and young firms from wave 1 to 2, we will be able to find out how effectuation is affected by time over a 12-month duration and if the stage of venture development has an impact on its use. 2. By comparing nascent ventures early in the creation process versus nascent ventures late in the creation process. Early versus late can be determined with the help of time-stamped gestation activity questions included in the survey. This will help us to determine the change on a small time scale during the creation phase of the venture. 3. By comparing nascent firms to young (already operational) firms. 4. By comparing young firms becoming operational in 2006 with those first becoming operational in 2004. Results and Implications : Wave 1 and 2 data have been completed and wave 2 is currently being checked and 'cleaned'. Analysis work will commence in September, 2009. This paper is expected to contribute to the body of knowledge on effectuation by measuring quantitatively its use and impact on nascent and young firms activities at different stages of their development. In addition, this study will also increase the understanding of the venture creation process by comparing over time nascent and young firms from a large sample of randomly selected ventures. We acknowledge the results from this study will be preliminary and will have to be interpreted with caution as the changes identified may be due to several factors and may not only be attributed to the use/not use of effectuation. Meanwhile, we believe that this study is important to the field of entrepreneurship as it provides some much needed insights on the processes used by nascent and young firms during their creation and early operating stages.

Assetti proprietari e meccanismi di governance nelle imprese familiari [Finacial reporting in small family firms : searching for a new framework]

SOMMARIO: 1. La “governance” nelle aziende familiari: rilevanza, aspetti distintivi e criticità. 2. Il ruolo della compagine proprietaria nella definizione dei meccanismi di governo. 3. Composizione e funzioni del consiglio d’amministrazione. 4. I patti di famiglia come strumento di disciplina dei rapporti impresa-famiglia. 5. Considerazioni conclusive: prospettive di analisi e scenari futuri negli studi sulla governance delle imprese familiari.

L’internationalisation des jeunes entreprises de hautes technologies : Le rôle des compétences internationales des fondateurs [The internationalization of new technology based firms : the role of the international skills of founding teams]

Extending recent research on the importance of specific resources and skills for the internationalization of start-ups, this article tests a negative binomial model on a sample of 520 recently created high technology firms from the UK and Germany. The results show that previous international experience of entrepreneurs facilitates the rapid penetration of foreign markets, especially when the company features a clear and deliberate strategic intent of internationalization from the outset. This research provides one of the first empirical studies linking the influence of entrepreneurial teams to a high probability of success in the internationalization of high-technology ventures.

New and young firms Entrepreneurship policy and the role of government – evidence from the Federation of Small Businesses survey

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether new and young firms are different from older firms. This analysis is undertaken to explore general characteristics, use of external resources and growth orientation. Design/methodology/approach – Data from the 2008 UK Federation of Small Businesses survey provided 8,000 responses. Quantitative analysis identified significantly different characteristics of firms from 0-4, 4-9, 9-19 and 20+ years. Factor analysis was utilised to identify the advice sets, finance and public procurement customers of greatest interest, with ANOVA used to statistically compare firms in the identified age groups with different growth aspirations. Findings – The findings reveal key differences between new, young and older firms in terms of characteristics including business sector, owner/manager age, education/business experience, legal status, intellectual property and trading performance. New and young firms were more able to access beneficial resources in terms of finance and advice from several sources. New and young firms were also able to more easily access government and external finance, as well as government advice, but less able to access public procurement. Research limitations/implications – New and young firms are utilising external networks to access several resources for development purposes, and this differs for older firms. This suggests that a more explicit age-differentiated focus is required for government policies aimed at supporting firm growth. Originality/value – The study provides important baseline data for future quantitative and qualitative studies focused on the impact of firm age and government policy.

Capturing gazelles : features of high potential firms and new venture growth

This paper investigates the characteristics of ventures which have the potential to reach high growth and compares this with ‘everyday’ new ventures. Findings of interest in this paper include: • HP firms are characterised by higher human capital, are more likely to have a team of founders, are more likely to be product based. • HP firms are more likely to achieve more extreme levels of growth (both positive and negative). • HP ventures that make a loss are more likely to do so early in the venture process. Those that do hold on show that there can higher levels of loss made later on in firm development. HP firms have higher resource needs, in terms of seeking external finance, but are no more likely to receive external finance than regular firms.

Business model adaptation in new ventures: are technology-based firms different?

A firm’s business model (BM) is an important driver of its relative performance. Constructive adaptation to elements of the BM can therefore sustain the position in light of changing conditions. This study takes a configurational approach to understanding drivers of business model adaptation (BMA) in new ventures. We investigate the effect of human capital, social capital, and technological environment on BMA. We find that a universal, direct effects, analysis can provide useful information, but also risks painting a distorted picture. Contingent, two-way interactions add further explanatory power, but configurational models combining elements of all three (internal resource, external activities, environment) are superior.

New Technology-Based Firms in the New Millennium

Chapter 13 Implementing Open Innovation: Challenges in Linking Strategic and Operational Factors for Large Firms Working with HTSFs