Search results for "Venture"

Business Sectors Involved in Social Entrepreneurship

2021

The present chapter offers detailed insights about the characteristics at a microeconomic level of four practical examples of social ventures. After providing a robust theoretical framework about the motivations, challenges and aspirations of social entrepreneurs, it is time to put into practice these conceptions through the lens of real social ventures. The literature encourages the use of case studies to connect the theory groundwork, developed in the academy, to real life. As for this call to study, the present chapter thoroughly covers the ideation and consolidation stages of the selected social ventures, which sheds light for inspiration on a context where social entrepreneurship is in…

Innovation in services through learning in a joint venture

2011

Innovation determines a firm's competitiveness and survival and a joint venture is a fast and effective way to acquire the missing knowledge that partners require to innovate, but ‘knowing how to cooperate’ can be a determining factor in achieving the successful transfer of knowledge. Employing a sample of 81 service-sector firms and using a structural equation modeling methodology, we found a positive and direct impact between the cooperative learning process and partners' commitment to innovation.

CVC AND INNOVATION PERFORMANCE: THE EFFECT OF TECHNOLOGICAL DISTANCE WITH STARTUPS AND COINVESTORS

2018

Firms are increasingly opening their boundaries by engaging in corporate venture capital (CVC) programs as potential gateway into knowledge and technologies of innovative startups. By investing in promising startups across diverse industries with different technological knowledge from the knowledge base of the investing corporate, CVC programs constitute a vehicle for corporates to both exploit and explore innovation opportunities. We first examine the relationship between more explorative CVC investments portfolio and the innovation performance of the corporate. Then, we argue that when syndicating the CVC investments with a co-investor, the portfolio of syndication partners may affect the…

CORPORATE VENTURE CAPITAL AND THE PROBABILITY TO ACQUIRE THE BACKED START-UP: A REAL OPTION PERSPECTIVE

2017

To sustain their competitive positions, an increasing number of corporates access new knowledge and technologies from emerging start-ups by engaging in Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) investments. CVC investments provide corporates the option to in-source start-ups’ knowledge and technologies through follow-on acquisitions. However acquiring a backed start-up is not always a guarantee of success. Then, corporates should consider which are the most appropriate conditions under which it is beneficial to acquire a CVC backed start-up. Utilizing the theoretical lens of Real Option, we examine the conditions under which a CVC investment may evolve into an acquisition of the backed start-up. We p…

The role of product-based crowdfunding in attracting traditional startup funding

2014

A prequel to Nollywood: South African photo novels and their pan-African consumption in the late 1960s

2010

This article interrogates the history of the photo novel in Africa with particular reference to African Film, a magazine of almost pan-African circulation, published between 1968 and 1972 in South Africa. Featuring the adventures of Lance Spearman, an African crime fighter, the magazine was read widely across Anglophone Africa, from Nigeria and Ghana to South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. After a brief introduction to the history of the photo novel, the author discusses the production, content, reception, and legacy of the Lance Spearman photo novels. It is argued that Lance Spearman may be understood as a crossover of James Bond and Philip Marlowe, and several influences from…

Entrepreneurship Training and Self-Employment among University Graduates

2012

In economies characterized by low labor demand and high rates of youth unemployment, entrepreneurship training has the potential to enable youth to gain skills and create their own jobs. This paper presents experimental evidence on a new entrepreneurship track that provides business training and personalized coaching to university students in Tunisia. Undergraduates in the final year of licence appliquee were given the opportunity to graduate with a business plan instead of following the standard curriculum. This paper relies on randomized assignment of the entrepreneurship track to identify impacts on labor market outcomes one year after graduation. The analysis finds that the entrepreneur…

Mašīnmācīšanās uzdevumu risināšanai interaktīvās tekstuālās vidēs

2021

Interaktīvas tekstuālas piedzīvojumu spēles var izmantot, lai pārbaudītu mašīnmācīšanās aģentu spējas tikt galā ar dažādiem izaicinājumiem, kas saistīti ar dabiskās valodas izpratni, problēmu risināšanu un atbilžu meklēšanu, vai tādas darbības izvēles stratēģiju apgūšana, kas vispārinās uz iepriekš nesastaptām vidēm. TextWorld platforma ir šādiem pētījumiem domāts ietvars un palīgrīki, ar kuru palīdzību var darbināt daudzas iepriekšpublicētas teksta piedzīvojumu spēles, vai arī definēt un ģenerēt jaunas spēles, dažādās sarežģītības pakāpēs un gandrīz bezgalīgās variācijās. Šajā darbā aprakstīta tāda algoritmiska orākula (oracle) ieviešana, kas var veiksmīgi atrisināt spēles no 3 dažādām iep…

Manna Springing from the Earth

2012

At one of my aunt’s, there was an illustrated children’s edition of the Bible. I was six or seven years old, and on Saturday afternoons she would often take care of me. It was a fortunate deal everybody gained from. My parents were free to do the shopping and get some fresh air. My aunt enjoyed stuffing me with biscuits and milk, but not as much as I enjoyed the adventures of the Bible lands: Yahweh furiously unleashing plagues on the Pharaoh, the miraculous escape from Egypt, with the Red Sea saving the tribes, in extremis, from Ramses’ troops; the great king on his knees, watching the bodies of his drowned soldiers, wondering why God might favor a bunch of goat keepers; Moses wandering th…

Group-level analysis on multiplayer game collaboration: how do the individuals shape the group interaction?

2010

In this study, the aim was to examine how small-group collaboration is shaped by individuals interacting in a virtual multiplayer game. The data were collected from a design experiment in which six randomly divided groups of four university students played a voice-enhanced game lasting about 1 h. The ‘eScape’ game was a social action adventure developed as a part of the study. In the analysis of the video data, students' discourse functions during the game were analysed with content analytic methods for studying the nature of their interaction. An effort was made to analyse the data on both group and individual levels, and therefore the participants' prior social ties and experience in gami…