View
18
Download
0
Category
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
Sociology Department Seminars 14 May 2014 Comparative entrepreneurship and the sociology of markets Hugh Whittaker Dep.t of Management and International Business,. Research on Japanese and UK small businesses (vs large) - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Citation preview
1
Sociology Department Seminars14 May 2014
Comparative entrepreneurshipand the
sociology of markets
Hugh WhittakerDep.t of Management and International Business,
2
Motivation
• Research on Japanese and UK small businesses (vs large)
• Are entrepreneurs and processes of entrepreneurship essentially similar, or do they differ in important ways?
• Are they shaped by their respective environments, and if so what environments, and how?
4
• Hypothesize that ent.p is influenced by the institutional environment
• Select sector and highlight different focuses or types of innovative/ ent.l activity
• Cf Hall and Soskice 2001
• ….. danger of confirmation of prejudice
(Qualitative) institutional/VoC approaches
5
Entrepreneurship (working definition)
‘processes in which opportunities are discovered or created, and turned into market outcomes by organizational means’
6
Research design
• Compare like with like, seek to explain differences and similarities
• Focus on ‘high tech’ defined by industry, SMEs - less than 200 employees
• ‘Combined method’ research - quantitative (2 Japanese, 2 UK surveys) and qualitative (25 Japanese, 25 UK interviews)
• (Difficulty of researching ‘processes’: Approach used in this study is one of ‘snapshots’ or ‘frames’ provided by surveys, interpreted and linked by interview data)
7
Research design and data set
1st J Quest.July-Aug. 1996‘Venture’ 308
valid resp. (13.3%)
1st UK Quest.Jan. 1998
‘High tech’ 510 valid resp. (26.9%)
2nd J Quest.Feb.-March. 2002
‘Venture’ 349 valid resp. (9.4%)
2nd UK Quest.Dec.2000-Jan.2001
‘High tech’ 237 valid resp. (34.2%)
UK., Japan cases
Selection of 25 UK, 25 J. cases (‘theoretical sampling’)
UK interviews 2001,
J. interviews 2003-04
Comparative Entrepreneurship data set
UK n = 113; Japan n = 223
Integrated (quantitative-qualitative) data
Founders & Founding data set
UK n = 148; Japan n = 90
8
Similarities
• Average founding age 37 - importance of employment background
• Most start out as ‘reproducers’ not ‘innovators’ - ‘soft’ start (some get stuck in ‘soft’ stage) e.g. subcontracting; exceptions were serial entrepreneurs, MBO/MBI (UK), successors (Japan). Become more innovative over time
• Majority started with co-founders, former employer support common
• Gradualists, cautious approach to growth
• Becoming rich was not a major motivation; over-riding concern was to establish a viable and trusted business
• CONTRAST with VC-backed, ‘home run’ product-oriented, fast-growth-and-exit (‘SV’) model
but salient differences as wellbut salient differences as well….….
9
Differences
• Founding teams: ex colleagues vs family/relations, greater vs less resource contribution
• Attitudes to growth, risk, innovation: more vs less growth, voluntary vs involuntary view of risk, product vs product and process focus
• Competitive orientations: external focus on customer needs vs building internal competences
• HRM orientations and leadership: entrepreneur as conductor vs locomotive
• Collaborations: more vs less collaborations, no.s of partners, reasons
10
Underlying differences
Project entrepreneurship Lifework entrepreneurship
(Market focus)
Logic of choice
Logic of ‘responsivity’
(horizontal)
Programmed time
(Technology focus)
Logic of commitment
Logic of control
(vertical)
Open-ended time
More prevalent in the UK More prevalent in Japan
differences maintained or even heightened by high performers…
11
Why these differences?
Different environments (population ecology)
Backgrounds of entrepreneurs (technology vs management)
Markets/institutions(utility vs relational markets)
What can be brought to the market? Who can participate? What are the terms of participation and exchange?
(Cultural factors)
12
Changing Japan?
• Comparison of post-industrial (or post-Fordist) UK with industrial (or Fordist) Japan?
• Anecdotal evidence of change from finance, IT, biotech, etc.
• Some differences in terms of business objectives, orientations
• But overall, much continuity as well (cf high performers)
Recommended