Context and entrepreneurship in Knowledge Transfer Partnerships with small business enterprises

Abstract

<jats:p> Entrepreneurship research has often focused on the capabilities and motivation of the entrepreneurs themselves, but there have also been more recent attempts to understand the contextual factors that can engender and support entrepreneurial activity. This article examines the contextual factors in evidence in four Knowledge Transfer Partnership case studies, where entrepreneurial activity has played a key role in developing and implementing significant change projects in small business enterprises. Based on a detailed analysis of these case studies, a number of contextual factors are identified that may act as a model for others researching entrepreneurship in similar contexts. The study finds that four main factors in the broader socio-economic environment were key in engendering entrepreneurial activity: the influence of the local university, availability of financial support, regional knowledge production and the presence of industry clusters pursuing similar objectives. There were also a number of influencing factors within the small business company environment: the potential to develop human and social capital, particularly evident in family businesses, and the opportunities to rapidly adopt and change technology platforms and systems that encouraged entrepreneurial thinking and initiative taking. The case studies also evidence that entrepreneurial initiatives may not always produce successful long-term outcomes. </jats:p>

The influence of technology on entrepreneurial self-efficacy development for online business start-up in developing nations

“…However, through appropriate training, and more specifically through engaged learning such as action learning that is geared towards development of their ESE, it is possible to bring about immediate development in confidence for searching, planning, marshalling and implementing an online business. The findings further confirm the crucial role of technology in facilitating entrepreneurial activities through confidence boost of the entrepreneurs over the process (Wynn and Jones, 2018).…”

A micro-level view on knowledge co-creation through university-industry collaboration in a multi-national corporation

“…If one is established without, the risk of failure is higher due to mismatched motivation. Wynn et al (2019) argue that UICs are key in support of entrepreneurial activity. Santoro and Bierly, (2006) assessed the effectiveness of the facilitators of the transfer.…”

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“…Where much of the extant TT research focuses on SMEs (Bjerregaard, 2009;Wynn and Jones 2019), this research answers the fundamental question of how is value created, captured, and enhanced for an industrial partner with TT into a multi-national corporation (MNC) at the micro level. The research sought to answer this question in two ways.…”

Social entrepreneurship and Economy for the Common Good: Study of their relationship through a bibliometric analysis

“…Entrepreneurship is a powerful tool to create wealth for societies by promoting economic and social development (Corner and Ho, 2010; Wynn and Jones, 2019). However, wealth cannot be understood as merely economic value creation.…”