Presentation Materials

• Decision to become Entrepreneurs
• Opportunity cost empirical paper
• Team diversity and external evaluation of business ideas
• Speech on High-tech Firms In Singapore vs. Beijing

Abstract

Prof. Venkat

Why and when do some people become entrepreneurs? Researchers have long been curious about when and why do some people become entrepreneurs. In this paper we hope to offer a promising new direction to the old, but important, question of why and when some people become entrepreneurs. We explore the relationship between the probability of a transition from paid work to self-employment (as one measure of entrepreneurship) and three explanatory variables: paid income, education, and ability. We use panel data for heads of households from the PSID SRC sample for eight pairs of years, from 1985-1986 to 1992-1993. Our results show that the transition to self-employment is a decreasing function of income and an increasing function of education, and that ability is a better predictor of self-employment than are income or education. We show that the relationship between ability and self-employment is U shaped.

Dr. Foo Maw Der

The study examines the effects of team diversity on external evaluation of the teams' business ideas. Using an information perspective, we argue that task-related differences enhance team effectiveness. However, non-task differences hurt team effectiveness by steering teams away from their tasks. Partial support was found. Task-related diversity of education level positively predicted evaluation while non-task diversities of age and employment status negatively predicted evaluation. Size increases the positive effects of task-diversity on external evaluation. The findings are robust for different functional forms for the demographic factors. Implications of team effects on opportunity recognition are discussed.

Ms Zhang Jing

In this talk, we will present empirical findings from our research on how high tech entrepreneurs approach and obtain seed-stage financing through the use of social networks (Guanxi). Based on data covering 128 early stage high-tech ventures in Singapore and 250 in Beijing, we examine the influence of pre-startup conditions of the new ventures on their usage of social ties, and the effect of Guanxi on the probability of obtaining funding. The study also highlights salient differences in the way Guanxi is used by technology entrepreneurs in Singapore versus Beijing. Implications for entrepreneurs or investors who want to enter the emerging market in China are discussed.

About the Speakers

Dr. Sankaran Venkataraman ("Venkat") is Samuel L. Slover Research Professor of Business Administration at Darden. He is also Director of Research of the Batten Institute, and editor of the well-regarded Journal of Business Venturing. He was the first holder of the Bruggeman Distinguished Chair at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and, from 1989 to 1995, he was Paul Yeakel Term Assistant Professor of Management at the Wharton School. His teaching interests include entrepreneurship and competitive strategy and he has taught in numerous executive education programs at Darden, RPI, Wharton, Bocconi (Italy), and Duxx (Mexico). He has earned the "Outstanding Faculty Award" at Darden and the "Most Popular Professor" at Business Week Online based on a poll of the Darden Class of 2000. As a corporate planning executive in a major Indian firm, he was a part of a founding team that created and developed a highly successful new business venture. Venkat has published widely, in leading journals, regarding issues of entrepreneurship, new venture creation, new technology adoption and the management of extraordinary growth. He has worked with Albany International, CitiCorp, Chubb, PepsiCo and Intel, as well as several small firms. He is on the advisory boards of several start-up companies and academic centers. Venkat holds degrees in economics, business, and management from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, the Indian Institute of Management (Calcutta), and the University of Minnesota respectively. He is currently holding a visiting professorship appointment at the Centre for Entrepreneurship at NUS.

Dr. Foo Maw Der is an Assistant Professor in the Business School of National University of Singapore (NUS). His research focuses on issues faced by startups. In particular, issues of opportunity discovery, evaluation and exploitation. He has published in journals including Management Science and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. He teaches the MBA entrepreneurship class.

Ms. Zhang Jing is a PhD candidate in Business Policy Department at National University of Singapore (NUS). She received her BSc and MSc from Ren Min University of China, Beijing. Her current research focuses on the social network effects on entrepreneurial process, especially at the early stage of new venture creation. She has worked in Legend Group, the largest IT company in China, before she joined NUS.