...Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship in Dev. Economies ------------------------------------------------- Case Brief Evaluation Form Note: You don’t have to answer the guiding questions verbatim, use them to prompt your thinking. You do need to suggest an action/recommendation. See me if you have any questions. For those who want more guidance, see below. 3 = Very Good/Above average 2 = Good 1 = Poor/Below Average Innovation at the Bottom of the Pyramid Impacts Comfort As a common practice in the poor countries, sharing mobile phones allows many of these customers to use their own SIM card and switch it in and out when borrowing a mobile device. However, this may be inconvenient as it is not secured and sometimes costly. Nigel Waller, founder of Movirtu, a British start-up, developed cloud software for people too poor to own their own mobile phone. The cloud phone offers a cheaper, more convenient alternative because it gives individuals who cannot buy a handset their own phone numbers and mobile services. This model presents mutual advantages for both the poor as well as the start-up. In other words, their service is priced for base-of-the-pyramid customers and the mobile network carriers get a piece of the action. This model is a demonstration that innovation can spur ventures that sell services aimed at the poor in a way that creates value at the base of the pyramid as...
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...INTRODUCTION Difficult access to funding is one of the most important constraints to the growth and development of SME’s. Recent developments in our country, the global economic and financial crisis has further degraded the situation in the area and increased the pressure to find alternative sources of funding. Therefore, the search for alternative sources of funding has become increasingly common in recent years. It is based on the close co-operation between investors, intermediaries and entrepreneur. Crowdfunding is solicitation of funds which are collected in small amount from multiple investors through a web-based platform or social networking site for a specific project, business venture or social cause. It allow entrepreneurs to raise...
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...Trend in Entrepreneurial Activity and Funding During Fluctuating Economic Cycles Introduction Global capital markets have been greatly impacted by the current economic climate. This has created significant challenges in startup capital and infusions of capital from Venture Capital funds or other types of angel investment. 2011 was, indeed, a transitional year for small businesses around the world. The primary issue is that it has become clear that credit will remain less available and that many institutions will remain risk-averse. A simple assessment would be that there was a hope that credit would start flowing again and that investment would be less restricted and it has now become clear that this is not a short-term problem. There was a time when a solid business plan was enough, then having a background in startups became desirable, then having the ability to prove one’s concepts became more important. In order to better understand what an entrepreneurial organization, especially a small business, needs to do in this current economic cycle, this research will look at numbers and types of market entrants, initial public offerings, funding opportunities, and ways to enhance profitability. This research will also examine how the fluctuations of various economic cycles have an impact on funding sources. The funding sources of angel investment, venture capital, private equity, and bootstrapping will be considered, leading into an understanding of the perspectives of the various...
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...Program Summary HSM/270 October 14, 2012 Program Summary Program planning in the human service field requires many steps. The process is very involved and time consuming. Planning a program requires knowledge of a social issue, information on the target population, demographics, a budget, and an evaluation plan. Program planning involves carefully organizing solicitations for funding as well which include grant proposals. These proposals require knowledge of the issue and organization of the proposal. The Madison Children’s Hospital is an example of the many tasks involved in program planning. The Madison Children’s hospital strives to be the worldwide leader in improving children’s health by providing the highest quality health care. The hospital’s mission is to be the leading source of research and discovery, educate the next generation of leaders in child health, and enhance the health and wellbeing of children and families in our local community. The hospital has recently started a program that is in charge of researching children with chronic illness. The program is interested in looking into how the children are self-managing their condition. The program is looking at the occurrences of complications due to chronic illness and what is causing the complications. The program will interview families of children with chronic illness to understand how their lives are being impacted and how improvements can be made. The program will conduct research into methods of...
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...and technologies to better satisfy consumer wants and raise productivity. An entrepreneur, therefore, is a person who organizes and manages a business, assuming the risk for the sake of potential return (Mariotti & Glackin, 2012). The entrepreneur is an innovator who brings about change through the introduction of new technological processes or products, and thus, through innovation, the entrepreneur is a “deliberate wrecker of equilibrium.” Successful entrepreneurship is associated with a high degree of practical intelligence, creative abilities, and business talent, characteristics which Shavinina (2006) refers to as “entrepreneurial giftedness” (p. 225)--talented individuals who exceptionally succeeded in business by creating new ventures. According to Darling, Gabrielsson, and Seristo (2007), entrepreneurial management leadership is all about “breaking new ground, going beyond the known, and helping to create the future.” Also, entrepreneurial management leadership is about helping people settle into new opportunities that give them joy and hope for the future. The keys to entrepreneurial success are not intelligence, education, lifestyle or background. Rather, entrepreneurial success is determined, in most part, by the entrepreneur’s “ability to effectively deal with opportunities through the dynamics of an organizational setting, thereby enabling the people concerned to be actively and enthusiastically involved and successful” (Darling, et al., 2007). Therefore, successful...
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...Hill Contents 1 Venture Capital 4 2 Mechanics of raising equity capital 5 2.1 Equity financing for private companies – Sources for funding 5 2.1.1 Angel Investors 5 2.1.2 Venture Capital Firms 6 2.1.3 Institutional Investors 6 2.1.4 Corporate Investors 6 2.2 Outside Investors 6 2.3 Exiting an Investment in a Private Company 7 3 The process of start-up funding 8 3.1 Idea and co-founder stage 8 3.2 Family and friends stage 8 3.3 Seed or angel round 8 3.4 Venture Capital Round 8 4 The Initial Public Offering 10 4.1 Advantages and Disadvantages of Going Public 10 5 Key Elements for successful Entrepreneurship 11 6 The importance of Silicon Valley in the U.S. venture capital system 13 6.1 Venture Capital Investment in the U.S. 13 6.1.1 Venture Capital Investment since 2006 13 6.1.2 Investment by industry 13 6.1.3 Investment by regions 15 6.2 Evolution of Silicon Valley 15 6.3 Silicon Valley – an advanced high tech entrepreneurial habitat 16 6.4 The Power of Clustering 16 6.5 Features of an advanced high tech entrepreneurial habitat 16 6.6 The high-tech habitat: Value-added support 17 6.7 Impact of Stanford University on Silicon Valley 18 7 Entrepreneurship and Funding - Differences between Europe and U.S. 19 7.1 Venture Capital Investment in Austria and Europe 19 7.2 Development of Private Equity in Austria 20 7.3 Development of Private Equity in Europe 20 7.4 Venture Capital Investors...
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...Crowdfunding Central Advancing Crowdfunding through Research and Best Practices The power of the crowd The power of new Crowdsourcing assets and the use of social networking and related Web 2.0 technologies are helping film-makers, musicians, politicians and charities finance new projects. Football clubs like Ebbsfleet United have funded operations through fans subscriptions; Obama has used the internet to reach a new and much broader funding audience, while redesigning the campaign financing business; and sites like buyacredit.com allow people to buy a credit or become an executive producer based on their level of patronage. Now may be the time for other growing companies.In practice, this is a very immature method of raising capital. Substantial legal obstacles, a lack of best practices and formal governance techniques need to be addressed for Crowdfunding to become feasible to a broader audience. About Crowdfunding Central Crowdfundingcentral.com produces member driven research to highlight the opportunities, concerns and best practices to businesses, investors and entrepreneurs of Crowdfunding. For more information go to Crowdfundingcentral.com What is Crowdfunding? Wikipedia defines Crowdfunding as: “An approach to raising the capital required for a new project or enterprise by appealing to large numbers of ordinary people for small donations”. Crowdfunding in theory delivers significant opportunities for small growing companies looking for capital to finance growth...
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...Current issues Movirtu has a tough decision regarding its funding options in its midst. First started by CEO Nigel Waller, the company “Movirtu” was created to serve the Base of the Pyramid which are people living on an income of below $2 per day. There is an estimated 1 billion people who cannot afford to purchase a mobile phone and if this “cloud phone” software is not introduced, they would have to resort to borrowing and sharing phones. However, this proves to be quite inconvenient as sharing phones and switching SIM cards is expensive and lacking in both privacy and security. Movirtu’s technology will allow users purchase a private ID number which will allow them to send and receive calls, and thereby offering a cheaper way to communicate. After securing two seed-round impact investors, Gray ghost Ventures and Grassroots Business fund, Movirtu has been able to develop their “cloud technology”. However, having invested most of their liquid cash into the development of this technology and hiring more experienced members of the telecommunication industry, Movirtu is running out of cash. It now faces the problem of having to find Series A funding to solidify the team, commercially launch the product and establish proof-of-market. Time is also of the essence as there are competitors eyeing this new market and Waller must immediately find new sources of capital investment to grow the company and also help make a social impact in the Base of the Pyramid. Implementation In implementing...
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...Internal Entrepreneurship at the Dow Chemical Company Case BA 560 Fall, 2005 Prof. Dowling “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.” Class Question: What is the genesis of the epoxy.com project? Class Question: What were important skills, characteristics and abilities of Ian Telford prior to the e-epoxy.com venture? Class Question: How did you vote on the request from Telford for $100,000? Case Question #1 If you had been a member of the ELT in November 1999 when Ian Telford asked for initial funding of $100,000, would you have voted ‘for’ or ‘against’ providing the funding? Your answer needs to focus on why you voted for or against. Case Question #1 -- Class Discussion Questions What are the arguments for funding the $100,000? What are the arguments against funding the $100,000? Additional Class Discussion Question Given the number of reasons against Telford’s venture, why did Vermaak approve the project? Case Question #2 What is your evaluation of Ian Telford, the internal (corporate) entrepreneur? Make your evaluation criteria clear. Case Question #2 -- Class Discussion Questions What evaluation criteria should be applied to Telford? Based on these criteria, how did you evaluate Telford? Case Question #3 How would you judge the performance of the corporate sponsors (within Dow Chemical) of Telford’s ...
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...to cater to financing needs of SMEs or new potential entrepreneurs and a proposal has been given to develop the venture capital industry to meet financing and non-financing needs of SMEs. SMEs play a vital role within Bangladesh’s economy in terms of creation of industrial outputs and generation of employment. Even though they play a significant role they face problems in securing investment or manage finance to develop their ideas or to expand their existing business. It is not possible for Bangladesh to accelerate economic growth without catering to the financing needs of SMEs, Thus, the paper proposes the development of the venture capital industry as an additional financial intermediary to Cater to financing and non-financing needs of SMEs. The paper discusses available sources of finance for SMEs and the Constraints of these sources. There are basically three sources from which SMEs may receive finance. These are banks, non-government organizations (NGOs) and the capital market. Then, we discuss the advantages that venture capitalists have over banks in catering to the funding needs of SMEs. It is argued that venture capitalists perform the role of ‘active investors’ by way of offering both financial and non-financial commitment to the investee company, which is essential in a market characterized by a high level of uncertainties. Also, it is argued that venture capitalists can reduce the transaction costs associated with monitoring as they launch the extensive process of...
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...Reading 1 Stimulating creativity among its employees * Help employees do their best work by keeping them intellectually engaged and by removing distractions. Stimulate their minds. * Make managers responsible for sparking creativity and eliminate arbitrary distinctions between "suits" and "creatives." * Engage customers as creative partners so you can deliver superior products. * Stimulate their minds (conferences, communication between staff, etc.). * Minimize hassles both on and off the job (gyms, swimming pools, hospitals and more on company’s campus). Keeping its customers satisfied * Listen and analyze feedbacks, advice etc., create conferences for customers, collaboration with a customer to invent new solutions, build long-term relationships, etc. Subscription-plan business model. * Tap into the creative talents of your customers instead of looking just to your workers for new ideas. * Nurture long-term relationships with users and employees alike. Creativity is the raw material that goes into innovation. Reading 2: Recognizing Opportunities and Generating Ideas BENCHPREP: be familiar with what the company does; how it was launched; the characteristics of the business opportunity when the BENCHPREP was launched * Company provides cross-platform apps to help students prepare for standardized tests (GMAT, SAT, MCAT, etc.). * Launched at the perfect time (not too early-not to late) when IPhone was introduced and apps were just gaining...
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...industry’s components using Porter’s Six Forces sheds light on the likelihood of Zynga’s continued success following what is “, sure to be a blockbuster initial public offering.” Threat of Entry: Threat of entry in this industry is huge, largely due the low cost to developers and the huge interest from venture capital firms. Tech startups have but to look and the funding availability is nearly limitless as “Firms such as Union Square Ventures, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and XG Ventures are devoting an increasing amount of time and money to financing wireless apps.” And it’s not just start-ups looking to get in on the action “, Yahoo wants to be the company that brings apps to the wider world,” with the revenues being realized; there is increasing interest from the well established companies to get involved with the research and development of social gaming apps. At present the “,torrid growth has attracted money…,Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield &Byers… launched a $100 million investment fund specifically to back startups creating software applications for the iPhone…Research In Motion (RIMM) unveiled a $150 million venture fund, with investments from Thomson Reuters (TRI) and RBC Venture Partners, to develop apps and services for its BlackBerry and other phones. And…U.S. mobile operator Verizon Wireless (VZ) announced an initiative to...
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...CREATING, FINANCING, AND MARKETING A BUSINESS LEONA PARKS PROFESSOR MARILYN FITZPATRICK BUSINESS 100 FEBRUARY 24, 2012 Leona Parks Professor Marilyn Fitzpatrick Business 100 February 24, 2012 Creating, Financing, and Marketing a Business Identify the pros and cons of the partnership as a form of ownership. The simplicity and flexibility in creating a partnership may be one of the main advantages of the partnership as a form of business. The other main attraction to the partnership as a form of business is partnership tax treatment. From a tax standpoint the partnership is as straightforward as the sole proprietorship. There is no tax at the partnership level. All tax consequences are passed through to the individual partners. The benefit of this pass trough tax treatment is that there is only one tax level. The negative side is that if a business is reinvesting profits into non-tax deductible expenses, the partnership may show taxable income, but have no cash. Each individual will have to pay taxes on the taxable income from the partnership reported on the individual’s tax return; even though no income is distributed to the partner from the partnership. PROS * In a general partnership, where two or more parties are co-owners, having multiple owners can make it easier to borrow additional funds because the combined credit rating is higher and the perceived risk (on the part of the lender) is lower. * Partners share duties, tasks, and responsibilities...
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...BUSINESS CONCEPT AND STRATEGY Smart Charge functions as a mobile battery-sharing application to all iPhone users seeking sustainability in their battery life. Unlike ChargeBite or Juice Pack Air Case, we provide a superior service at a lower price, targeting an infinite market of potential consumers. My venture aims to solve issues related to mobile battery usage, acknowledged by the fact that society has become increasingly dependent on the capabilities of our particular smartphone carriers. The problem I aim to address can be categorized as an economically friendly alternative to purchasing expensive portable chargers as well as the convenience of having a wireless charging application in the palm of your hand. The number of individuals impacted pertains to anyone with a smartphone. According to comScore, an American Internet analytics company that provides marketing data and analytics to many of the world's largest enterprises, agencies, and publishers, the United States holds nearly 160 million smartphone users. In addition, over 30% of smartphone users own a supplemental charging device. These chargers range from $25 up to $100. My application aims to sell for $5 in the App Store, exhibiting a tremendously cost-saving alternative to competitor products. My solution is to provide customers with a subtle and simplistic application that allows battery sharing between multiple mobile devices. The true value delivered to my customers can be seen through the...
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...3.0. How to structure a business dissertation Title Page Dedication Acknowledgements Abstract: A summary of the dissertation Table of Contents Introduction: Introduces the study and summaries the state of area prior to the research. This section outlines the problem(s) to be investigated, the aims and objectives of the research and describes the methodologies used. Additionally, an outline of the overall dissertation structure may be included. Literature Review: This accounts the previously written, published and unpublished literature on the selected research topic. The purpose of conducting a review on the existing knowledge and ideas on the topic is to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the research area whilst defining a guiding concept for the dissertation. To achieve this, four important steps must be followed: concentrate on the relevant theories; break down the topic and define key terms; examine recent research in the area; and conclude with the research questions that will be resolved in the study. Methodology: This section is designed to give the reader a coherent, clear and precise account of how the study was conducted. The section is composed of number of sub-sections which should include: research philosophy, research approach, research strategy, data collection and any problems encountered in the data gathering process, data reliability, validity and generalizability, and finally, ethical issues and possible limitations with the research. Results: ...
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