The Phenomenon of international new ventures, global start-ups, and born-globals: what do we know after a decade (1993-2002) of exhaustive scientific inquiry?

In this paper, 27 studies from the last decade which deal more or less explicitly with the International New Venture, global start-up or born-global phenomenon are first identified, and then fully examined and critically assessed as a basis for obtaining an adequate view of the state-of-the-art of this increasingly important research avenue in the field of International Entrepreneurship (IE). The methodology used for this synthetic review allow us to analyze a number of recent, purposefully-chosen studies that are systematically compared along the following criteria: 1) main objective and type of research; 2) theoretical framework/s of reference, 3) methodological issues, and 4) main findings and/or conclusions. As a result of this literature review, a critical assessment follows in which the most relevant benefits and contributions as well as potential drawbacks, limitations or major discrepancies in the research activities conducted so far are discussed. Finally, some suggestions and implications are provided in the form of future research directions.

Physical and Sensory Disability Strategy and Action Plan 2011-2015 - Summary of the feedback and findings from the public consultation (PDF 248KB)

On 27 January 2011 the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) launched a three month public consultation for a new draft Physical and Sensory Disability Strategy and Action Plan (2011-2015). åÊ The aim of the consultation was to provide the opportunity for a range of different stakeholders (public authorities and organisations, individuals including persons with disabilities and community and voluntary organisations) from across Northern Ireland to give feedback on the suggested priorities and challenges detailed in the document. The Department recognised the need for a new Disability Strategy and Action Plan not least to address new and developing challenges and opportunities. These include: åÊ • Obligations taken by the UK and NI in signing and ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; åÊ • New innovations and models of care, support and treatment available within health and social care; åÊ • The current demographic trends and financial constraints being faced by everyone. åÊ åÊ åÊ

Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020 Report on the Consultation with Young People

The Department of Education and Skills is developing a new Digital Strategy for Schools to be completed during 2015. The Digital Strategy for Schools will set out how Department of Education and Skills’ priorities can be delivered and facilitated by the use of technology in education. The development of the Strategy is of critical importance to Ireland if it is to realise the potential of ICT in schools and prepare our young people to live, learn and work in the 21st century. The Department of Education and Skills has partnered with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) to seek the views of young people through a structured consultation process informed by DCYA expertise in consulting with young people.

Policy Options for New Student Contributions in Higher Education - Report to the Minister

The Government’s Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal- Building Ireland’s Smart Economy, launched by the Taoiseach in late 2008, establishes Ireland’s ambition to become internationally renowned as an Innovation Island. At the core of achieving this ambition will be our capacity for producing highly skilled graduates and fostering a climate of creative thinking and advanced research and development. This relies on the quality of undergraduate provision right across the sciences, arts and humanities in our third level institutions. The development of a new national strategy for higher education is now underway. The strategy will aim to identify a vision and objectives for the development of the sector over the next twenty years. Leading higher education systems internationally are characterised by wide revenue sources that, in many cases, include a form of direct student contribution through a tuition fee or student loans system. If Ireland’s higher education system is to develop and meet future demands in an environment of increasingly tight public resources, then it is appropriate that the sector’s level of dependence on Exchequer funding should come under review.

Internal Changes in International New Ventures During Initial Internationalization: Finnish SMEs Operating in Dynamic High-tech Industries

The purpose of this qualitative research is to study how international new ventures change internally during initial internationalization. Based on the analysis of seven INV firms, a framework illustrating this change process, will be developed. This research will also develop earlier theories, and create a solid combination of existing theories to explain the phenomenon. INV firms internationalize more rapidly and aggressively than traditional MNEs. At the same, external and internal drivers cause changes in INVs culture, resources, capabilities, strategic management, and output decisions inside the company. Organizational learning and resource acquisition through international business networks explain how INVs are able to cope with the dynamic high-technology industry and be able to adapt. Internationalization of INVs proceeds through several phases, which may be gone through rapidly due to the network effects and INVs’ special characteristics. The results of this research revealed that INVs internal change process proceeds through four phases; pre-incorporation phase, product development phase, internationalization and growth phase, and maturation phase. INVs culture, resources, capabilities, strategic management, and outputs change significantly during initial internationalization, and INVs develop from small start-ups into fully established companies.

Successful new venturing process implemented by the founding entrepreneur: A case of Finnish sawmill industry

The fundamental purpose of this research is to emphasise a founding entrepreneur’s own role in the construction of a successful business story, with the focus being on the analysis of the entrepreneur’s activities. The theoretical section sheds light on the heterogeneous nature of existing performance research and, thereby, opens the way for the behavioural approach research of entrepreneurs in the field of new venture performance research. This research can be seen to be in line with the latest trends in entrepreneurship research, which question the applicability of different organisational theories in entrepreneurship research. For this reason, the founding entrepreneur has been chosen, instead of the company, to be the unit of analysis in this research in order to lighten the link in question while developing and refining new knowledge in the field of entrepreneurship. The empirical section of this research focuses on the entrepreneur’s own actions or behaviours that can be seen to be associated with the company’s success. Although some of these actions may resemble the strategic actions of a company as defined in strategic management literature, these actions taken by the entrepreneur themselves must be distinguished from the different organisational actions. Usually, an entrepreneur makes decisions rather independently, mainly on basis of their own intuition and prevailing market conditions, whereas organisational actions are very systematic, and each decision involves many different people. For this reason, an entrepreneur’s actions must be distinguished from organisational actions. In additional to different action paths, the empirical data collected for this research also offers almost unambiguous proof that the actions taken by an entrepreneur at the different stages of a company’s development do play a crucial role in the success of the companies studied in this research. In this way, it is possible to identify a significant link between the behavioural approach research of entrepreneurs and new venture performance research. Due to a lack of behavioural research into founding entrepreneurs, this research has utilised a qualitative (hermeneutic) research approach. The researcher strove to establish a particularly close connection with the entrepreneurs that were studied here and, thus, understand the actions taken at the different stages of their companies’ development as well as the motives and fundamental purposes of these actions. It would not have been possible to manage such profound data that focuses on causalities by using quantitative methods. In addition to interviews, this research used corporate histories of the companies for collecting some of the research data. These corporate histories can be considered excellent tools for the researcher to obtain a preliminary understanding and can, thereby, be seen to have laid the ground for more in-depth and diverse analyses.

International Entrepreneurship in Bottom of the Pyramid Markets – Overcoming institutional constraints

Bottom of the pyramid (BoP) markets are an underserved market of approximately four billion people living on under $5 a day in four regional areas: Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. According to estimations, the BoP market forms a $5 trillion global consumer market. Despite the potential of BoP markets, companies have traditionally focused on serving the markets of developed countries and ignored the large customer group at the bottom of the pyramid. The BoP approach as first developed by Prahalad and Hart in 2002 has focused on multinational corporations (MNCs), which were thought of as the ones who should take responsibility in serving the customers at the bottom of the pyramid. This study challenges this proposition and gives evidence that also smaller international new ventures – entrepreneurial firms that are international from their birth, can be successful in BoP markets. BoP markets are characterized by a number of deficiencies in the institutional environment such as strong reliance on informal sector, lack of infrastructure and lack of skilled labor. The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of international entrepreneurship in BoP markets by analyzing how international new ventures overcome institutional constraints in BoP markets and how institutional uncertainty can be exploited by solving institutional problems. The main objective is divided into four sub objectives. • To describe the opportunities and challenges BoP markets present • To analyze the internationalization of INVs to BoP markets • To examine what kinds of strategies international entrepreneurs use to overcome institutional constraints • To explore the opportunities institutional uncertainty offers for INVs Qualitative approach was used to conduct this study and multiple-case study was chosen as a research strategy in order to allow cross-case analysis. The empirical data was collected through four interviews with the companies Fuzu, Mifuko, Palmroth Consulting and Sibesonke. The results indicated that understanding of the wider institutional environment improves the survival prospects of INVs in BoP markets and that it is indeed possible to exploit institutional uncertainty by solving institutional problems. The main findings were that first-hand experience of the markets and grassroots levels of information are the best assets in internationalization to BoP markets. This study highlights that international entrepreneurs with limited resources can improve the lives of people at the BoP with their business operations and act as small-scale institutional entrepreneurs contributing to the development of the institutional environment of BoP markets.

Capacidades dinámicas que influyen en la operación de la Red de Turismo de La Candelaria

El desarrollo de la presente investigación, centra su atención en las capacidades dinámicas que influyen en la operación de la Red de Turismo de La Candelaria de Bogotá. Para este fin, se realizó una encuesta a 100 directivos o dueños de las empresas que conforman dicha red, y que es una muestra significativa para los propósitos de la investigación, puesto que permite describir a nivel de la empresa y a nivel de la red, la influencia de las capacidades dinámicas de absorción, adaptación e innovación. Como resultados, se obtuvieron que al nivel de empresas las tres capacidades dinámicas influyen en la operación de la misma, encontrándose una mayor relación entre las capacidades de “Innovación – Adaptación"; a nivel de red empresarial ocurre lo contrario, puesto que la relación de las capacidades dinámicas de “Innovación – Adaptación” es nula, mientras que las relaciones entre “Absorción – Innovación” y “Absorción – Adaptación” poseen una alta relación para la operación de la red. Lo anterior, se deriva del análisis realizado de los datos tabulados de la encuesta aplicada a las empresas de la red de turismo, con los estudios empíricos hallados que proponen escalas de medición para las capacidades dinámicas de absorción, adaptación e innovación, y el marco teórico elaborado como soporte para la presente investigación.

Utilidad de la relación estratégica comunitaria y el marketing en los mercados internacionales

Dentro de este trabajo de investigación se quiere profundizar en la teoría que abarca la relación estratégica comunitaria en los mercados internacionales donde se quiere resaltar si ha habido investigaciones alrededor de este tema y si el aporte que se está dando en esta investigación realmente si es información nueva que se está investigando. Se quiere enfocar la investigación hacia como las empresas están realizando la penetración de mercados internacionales pensando en la comunidad en la que están ingresando, sus costumbres, creencias y aspectos sociales.

Análisis del modelo de Internacionalización de e-Tech Simulation según la teoría de redes

La teoría de redes de Johanson y Mattson (1988) explica como las pequeñas empresas, también conocidas como PyMes, utilizan las redes de negocio para desarrollar sus procesos de internacionalización. Es así que a través de las redes pueden superar sus limitaciones de tamaño para encontrar cierto tipo de fluidez y dinamismo en su gestión, con el fin de aprovechar los beneficios de la internacionalización. A partir del desarrollo y fortalecimiento de las relaciones dentro de la red la organización puede posicionarse en una instancia competitiva cada vez más fuerte (Jarillo, 1988). Según Forsgren y Johanson (1992), para los gerentes es importante coordinar la interacción entre los diferentes actores de la red, ya que a través de estas su posición dentro de la red mejora y así mismo el flujo de recursos será mayor. El propósito de este trabajo es analizar el modelo de internacionalización según la teoría de redes, desde una perspectiva cultural, de e-Tech Simulation una PyME “Born to be global” norteamericana. Esta empresa ha minimizado su riesgo de internacionalización, a través del desarrollo de acuerdos entre los diferentes actores. Al mejorar su posición dentro de la red, es decir al fortalecer aún más los lazos existentes y crear nuevas relaciones, la empresa ha obtenido mayores beneficios de la misma y ha logrado ser aún más flexible con sus clientes. Es por esto que a partir de este análisis se planteó una serie de recomendaciones para mejorar los procesos de negociación dentro de la red, bajo un contexto cultural. De igual forma se evidencio la importancia del papel del emprendimiento del gerente en los procesos de internacionalización, así como su habilidad para mezclar los recursos obtenidos de diferentes mercados internacionales para satisfacer las necesidades de los clientes.

Synthesis of new xanthene derivatives

Xanthene dyes, including fluorescein, are a well-known class of fluorescent dyes, which have widespread applications in natural sciences. The synthesis of xanthene derivatives via acid catalyzed condensation of substituted phenols with phthalic anhydride, to afford the asymmetric derivatives, is well established. The high temperature, harsh reaction conditions and often low yields make this method less convenient. The synthesis of xanthene dyes by direct modification of the fluorophore moiety is a great option to circumvent the above mentioned drawbacks. rnOur new synthetic strategy for the preparation of novel asymmetric xanthene dyes via direct conversion of hydroxyl groups on 3'- and 6'-positions into leaving groups by mesylation is reported. It was discovered that 3',6'-di-mesylated fluorescein underwent a nucleophilic aromatic substitution with sulfur nucleophiles and afforded new asymmetric xanthene sulfides. rnThe impact of substituents possessing an electron-withdrawing character such as chlorines and bromines was investigated with the aim to improve the aromatic substitution on the electron-rich fluorescein structure. It was observed that the incorporation of these groups did not considerably affect the substitution reaction and the yields were comparable with the unsubstituted fluorescein. rnThis strategy provided novel fluorescent probes with the linker suitable to further modifications. The modifications of the linker delivered fluorescein derivatives that could be used as fluorescent labels in peptides, oligonucleotides and for cell imaging. rnThe hydroxyl group on the linker was modified to achieve potent bioconjugate functionality such as azide. The new fluorescent azides were obtained in a 4-step synthesis, namely 2-(6-(2-azidoethylthio)-3-oxo-3H-xanthen-9-yl)benzoic acid with an overall yield of 13%, its 2',7'-dichloro derivative with an overall yield of 10% and its 2',4',5'-tribromo derivative with an overall yield of 1%, respectively. rnAn asymmetric xanthene sulfide with an amino functionality placed on the aliphatic linker, namely 2-(6-((2-aminoethyl)thio)-3-oxo-3H-xanthen-9-yl)benzoic acid, was obtained in a 3-step synthesis with an overall yield of 33%. rnThe impact of the substitution with sulfur nucleophiles on the 6'-position of the xanthene moiety on its fluorescent characteristics was investigated. In comparison with fluorescein new asymmetric xanthene sulfides afforded lower extinction coefficients and fluorescent quantum yields. On the other hand, the substitution with a sulfur nucleophile significantly improved the photostability of xanthene dyes. It was shown that after 10 hours of continuous excitation, the asymmetric sulfur-containing xanthene fluorophores exhibited 58-94% of their initial fluorescent intensities. This observation suggested that the novel dyes were 1-2 orders of magnitude more stable than fluorescein. rnThe azido-modified xanthenes were “clicked” via Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition with an oligonucleotide, which contained the terminal alkyne residue. rn

Efficacy of a strategy to prevent neonatal early-onset group B streptococcal (GBS) sepsis

BACKGROUND: Existing guidelines recommend different strategies to prevent early-onset neonatal GBS sepsis. In 1997, using our own data on incidence and risk factors, we established a new prevention strategy which includes GBS screening at 36 weeks' gestation and intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) in women with positive or unknown GBS colonization with at least one risk factor. The present study evaluates the efficacy of the new prevention strategy. METHODS: Retrospective study of the incidence of early-onset GBS sepsis among all live births at the University Women's Hospital Basel between 1997 and 2002. Additional analysis of delivery and post partum period of all GBS sepsis cases, including GBS screening, risk factors during labor (prematurity, rupture of membranes (ROM) <12 h, intrapartum signs of infection), and IAP. Comparison of this group's characteristics G2 (9,385 live births, using the new strategy) with the previous group, G1 (1984-1993, 16,126 live births, without GBS screening or routine IAP) was performed. RESULTS: The incidence of early-onset GBS sepsis was reduced from 1/1000 (G1) to 0.53/1000 (G2). We observed a significant reduction of overall intrapartum risk factors in cases of GBS sepsis. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that our new prevention strategy is effective in reducing the incidence of early-onset GBS sepsis in neonates. In comparison, implementation of the CDC's prevention strategy might have prevented 2 additional cases in 9385 live births. However, this would have required treating a much larger number of pregnant women with IAP with consequential increasing costs, side effects and complications.

A new DSATUR-based algorithm for exact vertex coloring

This paper describes a new exact algorithm PASS for the vertex coloring problem based on the well known DSATUR algorithm. At each step DSATUR maximizes saturation degree to select a new candidate vertex to color, breaking ties by maximum degree w.r.t. uncolored vertices. Later Sewell introduced a new tiebreaking strategy, which evaluated available colors for each vertex explicitly. PASS differs from Sewell in that it restricts its application to a particular set of vertices. Overall performance is improved when the new strategy is applied selectively instead of at every step. The paper also reports systematic experiments over 1500 random graphs and a subset of the DIMACS color benchmark.

An inverse optimization strategy to determine single crystal mechanical behavior from polycrystal tests: Application to AZ31 Mg alloy

An inverse optimization strategy was developed to determine the single crystal properties from experimental results of the mechanical behavior of polycrystals. The polycrystal behavior was obtained by means of the finite element simulation of a representative volume element of the microstructure in which the dominant slip and twinning systems were included in the constitutive equation of each grain. The inverse problem was solved by means of the Levenberg-Marquardt method, which provided an excellent fit to the experimental results. The iterative optimization process followed a hierarchical scheme in which simple representative volume elements were initially used, followed by more realistic ones to reach the final optimum solution, leading to important reductions in computer time. The new strategy was applied to identify the initial and saturation critical resolved shear stresses and the hardening modulus of the active slip systems and extension twinning in a textured AZ31 Mg alloy. The results were in general agreement with the data in the literature but also showed some differences. They were partially explained because of the higher accuracy of the new optimization strategy but it was also shown that the number of independent experimental stress-strain curves used as input is critical to reach an accurate solution to the inverse optimization problem. It was concluded that at least three independent stress-strain curves are necessary to determine the single crystal behavior from polycrystal tests in the case of highly textured Mg alloys.

Fashion films as a new communication format to build fashion brands

The consolidation of collaborative video platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo in recent years has significantly changed the way fashion brands communicate with their audiences. Fashion films have emerged as a new and revolutionary tool adopted by luxury brands at the start of the XXI Century to construct their brands. A sample of 62 fashion films from 2006 to 2016 was analyzed in order to describe fashion film’s anatomy and its main characteristics that constitute an especial type of branded content, originated by brands in their quest for exclusivity and authenticity. As a distinctive type of experiential marketing mostly used by luxury fashion brands, they would become a new communication strategy for mainstream brands, but also allow the discovery of a profound connection with consumers through audiovisual narration.