World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development

Ullah, Farid ; Smith, Robert

2015 World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development

doi: 10.1108/WJEMSD-02-2015-0005

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine and explore why “Small-Businesses” resist employing outside the immediate family and investigate the employee as an outsider and entrepreneurial resource. Design/methodology/approach – The authors review the literature on barriers to small-business growth concentrating on key empirical and theoretical studies. The authors use empirical data from the Federation of Small Business in which informants commented on growth and employing outside the family. Findings – The findings suggest that small business owners adopt a polemical stance, arguing that a barrage of employment regulations deters them from employing outsiders because doing so brings trouble in terms of costs such as insurance, taxes, paperwork, leave (maternity and paternity) entitlement, etc. They argue that employing from inside the family or ones peer group is much cheaper, convenient and less hassle. This ignores the entrepreneurial employee as a potential ingredient of growth and points to a paradox whereby the very values and emotions characterized by fairness of which of “smallness” and “familialness” is composed compound the issues of discrimination central to the debate. Research limitations/implications – The paper offer important insights for growth issues among small businesses and challenge the contemporary equilibrium in terms of small “family-orientated” business philosophy relating to employment practices. Ideologically, the entrepreneur is an “outsider” fighting the establishment, yet paradoxically, in a small-business context s/he becomes the establishment by employing outsiders. This results in the fairness vs unfairness paradox. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the existing knowledge and understanding on growth issues among small businesses by illuminating a paradoxical insider vs outsider tension.

Kumar, Prashant

2015 World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development

doi: 10.1108/WJEMSD-01-2015-0003

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore green marketing innovations in small Indian firms which serve as decisive dimensions for developing green identity of small firms in the market. Design/methodology/approach – Data were obtained by interviewing marketing managers for green products in small Indian firms. Findings – Six categories of green marketing innovations are identified – marketing compliance, marketing strategic partnership, marketing environmental commitment, marketing green team, marketing benchmarking and marketing (environmental) ethical behaviour. Research limitations/implications – Though limited to small Indian firms, this study determined their distinct green marketing approaches and innovations. Practical implications – The distinct green marketing approaches and innovations determined indicate that contemporary marketing innovations and decisions have moved beyond limited alternatives predetermined by product and market definitions, and downstream market-related activities such as advertising, packaging, selling or distribution, and are now based on compliance, commitment and leadership in context of small firms. Originality/value – This study is unique to employ natural resource-based view theory in context of determining green marketing innovations in small firms.

Zeffane, Rachid

2015 World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development

doi: 10.1108/WJEMSD-08-2014-0025

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of trust, personality and risk taking on entrepreneurial intentions (EIs). In this perspective, it explores gender differences among nascent and actual entrepreneurs in the context of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Design/methodology/approach – Survey data were collected from two sets of populations: 370 students attending business courses in a university in the UAE (as proxies to nascent entrepreneurs) and 324 small business owners/operators (as proxies to actual entrepreneurs). The scales used in the study were borrowed from previous research and were also empirically confirmed through reliability tests. Findings – In support of previous research, analyses of variance confirmed the hypotheses that females are less inclined to become entrepreneurs and are less likely to take risk. Females were also found to be less trusting than males. Regression analysis revealed that, the intention to engage in entrepreneurship is most significantly affected by the propensity to trust. These confirm the study hypotheses. Research limitations/implications – This study is set in a single country and as such, its findings may be constrained by cultural/national specificities. Future research could consider examining the variables of this study (particularly gender differences and their relevance to the effects of trust and risk taking on EIs) in a wider cross-national context. Practical implications – The findings of this study clearly indicate that trust is an important variable that can be cultivated at the pre-entrepreneurial stage so that future entrepreneurs (females in particular) are appropriately equipped and geared to cope with risk in entrepreneurship activities. Originality/value – Research on gender, trust, risk taking and entrepreneurial behaviors in the UAE/Middle East context remains lacking. Also, studies using samples of both actual and nascent entrepreneurs remain lacking. This study fills these gaps and also provides a platform for further understanding the importance of gender differences in relation to trust, personality, risk taking and EIs.

Kebaili, Boumediene ; Al-Subyae, Saif Saeed ; Al-Qahtani, Fahed ; Belkhamza, Zakariya

2015 World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development

doi: 10.1108/WJEMSD-03-2015-0014

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the major entrepreneurship barriers facing Qataris. Qatar has a very specific economic and cultural environment that is different from any other Arab or western country. Such differences may contribute to the existing literature regarding entrepreneurship barriers in the Middle East. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative methodology was adopted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with final year business students. Face-to-face in-depth interviews were used in order to uncover all aspects related to the research objective from the students’ perspective. Findings – Seven factors were identified as the main barriers to start-up new business activities among Qataris, which are: the non-availability of funds, risk avoidance, fear of failure, market barriers, knowledge barriers, stress avoidance, and attitude towards change. Research limitations/implications – It will be very useful to conduct a comparative study that covers more Gulf Cooperation Council countries to see whether the findings can be generalised to them. Furthermore, since this study adopted a qualitative approach, it will be interesting to empirically test these findings using a quantitative method. Practical implications – The government needs to ease and facilitate the loans, by establishing a government fund for financing new businesses. Learning institutions have an important role to reduce these barriers. Indeed, promoting a healthy culture that encourages and promotes entrepreneurship can be achieved by including specialised entrepreneurship courses into students’ curriculum as early as primary schools. Government can also allocate certain percentage of contracts to new or small companies. This will ease market access. Business associations must also play their part by providing assistance, and provide training programmes tailored to the need of local potential entrepreneurs. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the entrepreneurship body of knowledge by providing insight from the Qatari-specific economic and social environment context.

Al-Mubaraki, Hanadi Mubarak ; Muhammad, Ali Husain ; Busler, Michael

2015 World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development

doi: 10.1108/WJEMSD-02-2015-0007

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and identify the ranking of innovation program landscape in the UK. The identification will focus on the average of four categories: policy, culture, economy, and industry. Design/methodology/approach – The nature of this research is mainly qualitative. This investigation uses two semi-structured interview based in the UK, combined with an examination of organizational documents. Findings – The research findings indicated highest ranking of the Petchey Center of Entrepreneurship located in University of East London present culture 60 percent, policy 75 percent, industry 80 percent, and economy 100 percent. Originality/value – The authors conclude with several recommendations for academia and practitioners such as governments, policy makers, funded organizations, and strategic institutions.

Sarea, Adel Mohammed ; Abdulla Al Dalal , Zahra

2015 World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development

doi: 10.1108/WJEMSD-02-2015-0009

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the level of compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS 7) by listed companies in Bahrain Bourse (BB). Design/methodology/approach – First, the authors design disclosure compliance checklist of ten requirements of IFRS 7. Second, a score of 3 is assigned if high level of compliance, 2 is assigned if medium level of compliance, 1 is assigned if low level of compliance. The sample of the study comprises of (21) companies listed in BB for year 2013. Findings – The main findings are, the level of compliance varied by industry and the highest level of compliance reported for the investment sector whereas the lowest for the insurance industry. This result indicates that all listed companies are complying with IFRS 7 in terms of the standard disclosure requirements. Practical implications – In this paper attempt has been made to support the argument of previous studies. The paper attempts to test and answer the research question; does the financial sector in Bahrain comply with IFRS 7? These results could lead to high level of awareness about the financial instruments. Adoption of the IFRS 7 could lead to high level of compliance and play a significant role in attracting global investors’ interest to the local markets, especially in a developing country like Bahrain. Originality/value – This paper provides an insight from the reality of the financial market in Bahrain as a result of answering this question; does the financial sector in Bahrain comply with IFRS 7?