JOURNAL OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Year:2009 | Volume:1 | Issue:4|Papers Count:8

The purpose of this research is to determine indicators for innovation survey in the field of biotechnology in Iran. In order to achieve this goal, theoretical basics on innovation survey are required to be studied to reach the needed indicators. Finally, with a view to the advantages and weaknesses of the innovation survey procedures and also on the basis of a comparative study in the approaches so far presented, the OECD's indicators are examined through some adjustments for innovation survey in the field of biotechnology in Iran. The research method used is descriptive-analytical and can be placed in the applied research. The statistical population consists of research-academic centers and active biotechnology companies. Research data is collected by questionnaire with 87% of reliability coefficient. The data was analyzed by the Fuzzy Hypothesis Test procedure. According to the research results, the indicator needed for innovation survey in the field of biotechnology in Iran can be divided into eight fields of R&D and investment in knowledge, human resources, innovation policy, innovation performance, information and communication technology, globalization, global economic flows, productivity and trade. The possibility of effectiveness of each of the indicators is determined according to their membership degree of acceptance in the Fuzzy environment.

The importance of SMEs in economic growth has made them a central element in recent policies. The business environment is becoming increasingly dynamic and competitive; this change is the reason why many firms are seeking new ways to innovation. This situation has made the innovation studies in SMEs highly important. This paper aims to identify innovative activities, barriers to innovation and innovation motives at selected SMEs that had participated in the Tehran 2005- Industrial Exhibition. The findings of this paper show that consumer needs and product competitions are the most important motives for target firms. Financial constraint has also been highlighted as the main barrier to innovation in the selected firms. The results also show that the impact of firm size does not have any significant difference in the level of innovative activities between the two groups of firms.

The Venture Capitalists are experts in the financing of high-risk and entrepreneurial start-ups. "Exit" or "Cashing out" is the normal end to any investment. There will come a day when a Venture Capitalist will want to decide to sell or decrease his shares. This decision is multi-criteria and the research is focused on identifying factors affecting VC's Exit process and attempts to determine the effective criteria through a scientific and hybrid method. Therefore, as research types, it is conclusion-Oriented and applied research. The basic list has derived from literature review". It has improved by "Structured Interviews" with selected team of Iranian VC elites (as Delphi elite team) and provided the "First round list". Finally this list had completed and revised through three "Delphi-rounds" with members of "Delphi Referee Team". The team has been selected from executive or academic experts of Iranian VCs. The degree of agreement among the team is more than 71 percent for the last round. The final list includes 14 main criteria. 5 of them are "Investee's factors". 4 are "VC's factors", 2 are "entrepreneur's factors" and 3 are "environmental". This research has provided some useful bases for determination of effective factors on other VC decisions.

Nowadays, enhancing agro-enterprises seems as a main strategy of fostering the agricultural entrepreneurship. Strategic policy-making for enhancing agro-enterprises and facilitating agri-entrepfeneurship need to examine the constructed inter-correlated components of agro-enterprises as a complex system, contextual variables, and related dynamics. This qualitative research was done with the aim of diagnosing constructed components and influencing factors of agro-enterprise development in Golestan Province. Information was gathered through semi-structured interviewing with a selected sample (n=34) of agro-entrepreneurs and agro-enterprise managers. Using multiple coding process of Grounded Theory, the interviews' contents were analyzed. Findings were formatted in a matrix structure, including open codes, axial codes, and selective codes. According to subjective categorized codes, main constructed components and influencing factors on agro enterprise development could be explained as: personal dimension (individual motivation, social, economic, psychological and professional purposes, and personal capabilities), enterprise dimension (acquiring and management of production resources, human resource management, linkages and communications, market management, enterprise management and professional functions), learning and training in enterprise, supportive atmosphere (family support, spiritual support and institutional support), and context of enterprise development (natural environment, and social, economic and institutional surrounding environment of agro-enterprises). Based on system conceptualization, the aforesaid constructs were interlinked and "Entrepreneurial Development System of Agro-enterprises" was diagrammed.

In the beginning of 1980s named as Entrepreneurship Decade, a large number of entrepreneurship researchers attempted to determine certain characteristics that distinguished entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs by identifying certain characteristics inherent in potential entrepreneurs in order to predict entrepreneurial behavior. Among the characteristics identified, little empirical research has been conducted on values that might distinguish between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs. Therefore the purpose of this descriptive survey research was to determine the value hierarchies among entrepreneurs in Kermanshah Province. Results indicated that there were differences in values among male and female entrepreneurs. Moreover, values such as universalism, security, and self-direction ranked high among male entrepreneurs while benevolence, security, and conformity ranked high among female entrepreneurs. Results of this study have major implications for entrepreneurship policy-makers. Based on the job fit theory, people select jobs that are compatible with their values. Therefore, policy-makers can direct and advise potential entrepreneurs whose values are compatible with entrepreneurship values.

In the present-day world, a combination of organizational entrepreneurship and individual entrepreneurship will result in the competitive advantages. Survival in a very competitive environment will trigger organizations to focus on creativity, innovation, risk-taking and pioneering by employees as well as in structure and trends.This paper studies the employees entrepreneurial attitude (at organizational level) as a dependent variable and emotional intelligence as an independent variable with an interrelated assumption.The case study in this paper covers the employees of the organizations which are affiliated to the National Iranian Oil Company. The emotional intelligence of 60 employees is measured by using the questionnaire of Sherring EI Model which contains the important factors like self consciousness, self-regulation, self-motivation, empathy and social relationship. Their entrepreneurial orientation is probed via a questionnaire on entrepreneurship which contains the three major elements of risk-taking, innovation and pioneering. The survey was completed by using the statistical methods of Friedman variance and Spearman's Correlation Matrix as well as the step-by-step Regression method and the results achieved are indicative of a positive and strong relationship between the two variables of emotional intelligence and entrepreneurial attitude.

The first training courses on entrepreneurship started in the United States of America in the 1960s. Today entrepreneurship education has been included in the curricula of numerous colleges throughout the world. Considering the significant role that entrepreneurship plays in the economic development and poverty alleviation, the Iranian higher education system helped establish the Faculty of Entrepreneurship whereby the entrepreneurship education at various university levels has been designed and administered as an integral part of curriculum development. In parallel with this new initiative, the entrepreneurial expectations are also rising as the main concern of this paper which is aimed at making a comparison between the alumni in the two fields of entrepreneurship and electrical engineering and computer. The findings are the outcome of the fieldwork activities conducted at the Faculty of Management and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer at the University of Tehran. Information was collected through localized questionnaires which contained items on the characteristics of Iranian entrepreneurship. The respondents were three groups of students, freshmen and senior students of electrical engineering and senior students of entrepreneurship. The outcomes indicate a positive attitude of entrepreneurship management students towards entrepreneurial characteristics after two years (compared with the initial phase of their admission) as opposed to the meaningful significance derived from the attitudes of the two groups of electrical engineering towards the psychometric characteristics of entrepreneurship. Except for the risk-taking indicator, the latter are in a better situation compared with freshmen of entrepreneurship management.