T. Volery

University of Western Australia | UWA · Business School

This study explores the use of machine learning methods to forecast the likelihood of firm birth and firm abandonment during the first five years of a new business gestation. The predictability of traditional logistic regression is compared with several machine learning methods, including k-nearest neighbors, random forest, extreme gradient boostin...

This final chapter, containing the full-length profiles of each of the 36 companies representing the base of this research project, plays an integral role in Masterpieces of Swiss Entrepreneurship. Although the various profiles have been quoted extensively as part of the analysis in the previous chapters, those excerpts were used to illustrate a pa...

This chapter examines the many different pathways company founders and successors pursued to finance their businesses, as well as the financial practices adopted to assure the longevity of the companies. Describing frugal beginnings such as setting up in garages and old factory buildings to start, the chapter deals with the bootstrapping mentality...

The extensive examination of the defining innovations, which were gleaned from the documented companies, was driven by the importance those early decisions had in shaping the companies. Most of these ideas were product innovations. The separation of the defining ideas from ongoing product innovations was based upon the need to show that following a...

Not different from many other, larger companies, marketing and sales processes at SMEs have undergone constant changes. The chapter details how SMEs dealt with the tension between marketing and sales, how they differentiated in B2B vs. B2C environments. For B2C companies, global brand building becomes important. All firms, regardless of industry en...

This chapter introduces the reader to the principal actors of these stories, namely the founders, organized along major periods, and their backgrounds. Listed are early period founders, those from the interwar period, during World War II period, the Post WW II “Baby Boomer” generation, and founders from the most recent period. Separately listed fro...

This chapter will strike the reader as being quite different than the previous chapters and analyses. This is deliberate and placed toward the end of the book in order to provide some additional perspective to the previous analysis. Describing the background of the founders and entrepreneurs behind the 36 researched companies, pulling together deta...

Stability of ownership is a big issue among SME owners. This chapter deals with strategies to preserve and guarantee ownership stability. The experience of founders and owners in applying foundation structures are described. Approaches to provide ownership stability as a public company are described. Special situations covered are employee ownershi...

This chapter centers around the concept of the customer franchise defined as a distinct group of users for whom a company offers a central element or product. Explanations are offered how companies attach such groups to their products and create loyalty. Examples are cited of companies that manage to create a single customer franchise around a dist...

This chapter covers the history of the international market development of the researched firms and in addition how these companies established agent networks, built sales subsidiaries worldwide, or enlisted partnerships, and how they reacted to constantly changing market developments requiring adjustments in their distribution networks. The early...

This chapter will highlight the fact that “Focus” is not just “Focus” by identifying five different types of focus choices. Older companies began in a given industry sector and remained loyal to that sector, adopting an industry focus. Past experience in a given sector can lead to business focus. For many firms, core competence served as the basis...

How did the founders come upon their central, defining business idea that went on to shape the destiny of their companies? Although many of the firms profiled in this book are known for their products as of today, it is rarely known how they arrived at these ideas. Some left an unresponsive employer, some capitalized on personal experience, and oth...

Specific managerial practices adopted by the SMEs have been detailed in previous chapters. This chapter takes a step back and reviews the growth trajectories of the documented firms over their histories. Plotting growth (expressed in sales) over time (expressed in years) resulted in a scatter diagram that demonstrates substantial differences across...

Given that innovative ideas are expected to be generated on a permanent basis, it is interesting to observe that among the documented firms, there were special practices in place to assure that ideas and improvements would roll off the assembly line of innovation. Such organizational practices were particularly prevalent in firms which could be cla...

How SMEs decided on how to arrange their production footprint, trading-off production in Switzerland vs. offshoring, and how they decided on component sourcing, as well as how they dealt with asset plays related to production, is reviewed in this chapter. Starting as exporters, some firms have retained an exclusively Swiss-based production footprin...

Success in global markets is not only dependent on the quality and effectiveness of a single product. For many firms, even as they focus on narrow niches, the number of product variations they can cram into a narrow market space becomes a competitive advantage. How SMEs dealt with requirements for product line depth vs. breadth and, in particular,...

This chapter puts the spotlight on the various forms of owner-management models adopted by the researched companies, and how they evolved over time as ownership passed on to the next generation. At first, a comparison between owner-manager and professional manager models is offered. Tracking the various changes as a company evolves, the chapter sho...

How SMEs arranged their factory floor and the kind of processes, proprietary, or other, they employed, including the extent of automation in use, are all important aspects of the process practices. Swiss SMEs have realized that reliance on product feature advantages alone, even if protected by patents, is not sufficient to guarantee a lasting compe...

At the outset of this chapter, the need to treat segmentation as distinct from focusing is explained. Both are important, and both have to be addressed separately. Successful segmentation implies choices, and carving out a segment from a market space is something that requires both skill and attention. Description of how to define segments is offer...

Company boards play a big role in the governance of SMEs and different models were traced from family boards to foundations, as well as the impact of dual board structures frequently adopted. Covering governing arrangements, the chapter reports how SMEs dealt with board roles at public, family-owned, and foundation-owned companies. Discussion of th...

To what extent did SMEs consider active involvement in production as a necessary element of their strategy and how they approached value chain integration to enhance their efficiency are the focus of this chapter. Driven by the necessity of economics and efficiency, SMEs have taken different directions on the integration of their supply chains, ran...

Describing the achieved focus of a company is one thing, but finding how companies arrived at their given focus through an analysis of their focus journey offers an important aspect of understanding the practices adopted by the researched companies. Without that understanding, the experience does not become transferable to other settings. Many of t...

What then are the implications of these research findings reported in Masterpieces of Swiss Entrepreneurship? And for which communities might they be relevant?

This chapter details how ownership structures evolved, starting from the early stages of a company to unfolding over time as ownership invariably passed on from one generation to another. Examples are offered on how and under what circumstances companies go public and how founders recruit new owners when ready to pass on the company. Specifically c...

How SMEs dealt with the trade-offs between functionality, design, and ergonomics to compensate for a high-cost production basis and offering customers a competitive in-use price is key to their overall competitiveness. Design for durability is an important practice as it decreases in-use costs over time and offsets higher acquisition costs. For mar...

How do SMEs, competing for global export markets, remain competitive when operating, to a large extent, from Switzerland, one of the world’s most expensive countries? Data compiled annually by the IMD World Competitive Report document that the cost of a single hour of labor in Switzerland is one of the highest in the world, while at the same time p...

This open access book focuses on Switzerland-based medium-sized companies with a longstanding export tradition and a proven dominance in global niche markets. Based upon in-depth documentation and analysis of 36 Swiss companies over their entire history, an expert team of authors presents several parallels in the pathways and success factors which...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to show how self-regulation influences the relationship between nascent entrepreneurial exploitation activities, firm birth and firm abandonment. Design/methodology/approach This study draws from a unique longitudinal dataset of 181 nascent entrepreneurs from Switzerland who have been interviewed by phone in 20...

The study investigates the relationship between organisational factors and the anticipated returns to the commercialisation of an innovation within small to medium enterprises (SMEs). Using a large multi-country sample, the analysis involved a structural equation model of seven organisational factors associated with the management of innovation, an...

This Special Issue focuses on entrepreneurial leadership, an area which is very much in its infancy. Even though leadership has been a major topic of research in psychology and management for almost a century, many of its concepts and debates have not yet been adopted in entrepreneurship and small business management. As a field, entrepreneurial le...

Entrepreneure entwickeln innovative Produkte und Dienstleistungen, setzen diese um und verdrängen weniger innovative Unternehmer vom Markt. Dabei spielt die Persönlichkeit des Unternehmers eine zentrale Rolle, die in Beziehung zur unternehmerischen Chance gesehen werden muss. Zum einen kann der Unternehmer nur in Bezug zu seinem unternehmerischen P...

Das Kapitel gibt einen Überblick über Nutzen und Inhalte des Standardinstruments „Businessplan“, erwähnt aber auch die Gefahren und Grenzen des Instruments. Der Businessplan wird im geschäftlichen Alltag häufig verwendet. Er stellt ein unverzichtbares Instrument zur Unterstützung der Gründungs- und Strategieaktivitäten, zur Gewinnung von Finanzieru...

Sie können erläutern, welche Besonderheiten im Zusammenhang mit der Start-up-/KMU-Finanzierung bestehen und welche Marktfriktionen und Marktineffizienzen im Bereich der Start-up-Finanzierung auftauchen. Sie können aufzeigen, welche Lösungsansätze zur Behebung der systematischen Finanzierungsprobleme von Start-ups herangezogen werden können. Sie kön...

Sie können aufzeigen, welche verschiedenen Dimensionen von Wachstum es in einem Unternehmen gibt. Sie können unterschiedliche Wachstumsstrategien unterscheiden. Sie können erläutern, welche Wachstumstheorien es gibt und wie sie den organisatorischen Wandel erklären. Sie kennen die wichtigsten Phasen des typischen Unternehmenswachstums. Sie können a...

Sie können erklären, wie unternehmerische Gelegenheiten entstehen. Sie sind in der Lage den Unterschied zwischen Entdeckungs- und Entstehungsansatz zu erklären. Sie kennen die kritischen Punkte, die bei der Evaluation von unternehmerischen Gelegenheiten berücksichtigt werden müssen. Sie kennen die formalen Schritte, die bei einer Unternehmensgründu...

Sie können die Entwicklung von Entrepreneurship als eigenständige, wissenschaftliche Disziplin erläutern. Sie können erläutern was man unter Entrepreneurship versteht. Sie können die Schlüsselelemente von Entrepreneurship definieren und erläutern. Sie sind in der Lage die Bedeutung von Entrepreneurship hinsichtlich der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung...

Sie können aufzeigen, welche Ansätze und Formen von Corporate Entrepreneurship von Unternehmen eingesetzt werden können. Sie können die Hintergründe erklären, wie Unternehmen dauerhaft Ideen und Innovationen hervorbringen können, wie der unternehmerische Geist am Leben erhalten und wie der damit verbundene Wandel bewältigt werden kann. Sie können d...

Sie können erläutern, was man unter einer Unternehmensstrategie versteht und welche Besonderheiten für Start-up-Unternehmen gelten. Sie sind in der Lage eine Unternehmensstrategie für Start-up-Unternehmen zu entwickeln. Sie wissen, worin der Unterschied zwischen einem logisch-kausalen Ansatz und einem Effectuation-Ansatz besteht und welche Konseque...

Sie können Entrepreneurial Marketing mit den klassischen Marketinginstrumenten kombinieren. Sie können die verschiedenen Formen und die Definition von Entrepreneurial Marketing darlegen. Sie können Entrepreneurial Marketing und klassisches Marketing in einen Gesamtkontext einbeziehen. Sie können die Gründe ausführen, weshalb die Betrachtung des Mar...

Innovation und Entrepreneurship sind eng miteinander verbunden. Denn erst der kreative Unternehmer, dem es gelingt, seine Ideen und Vorstellungen über neue Prozesse, Dienstleistungen oder Produkte in Innovationen zu transferieren und anschließend damit auf dem Markt Nutzen für den Kunden zu kreieren, kann langfristig auf dem Markt existieren. Desha...

Sie können erklären, welche rechtlichen Fragestellungen bei einer Unternehmensgründung eine Rolle spielen. Sie können die Eigenschaften der drei wichtigsten Rechtsformen in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz erläutern. Sie können beurteilen, welche Rechtsform in einer bestimmten Situation am besten geeignet ist. Sie können erläutern, welche Fo...

Sie können erklären, inwiefern sich „Social Entrepreneurship“ von „traditionellem Unternehmertum“ unterscheidet. Sie können erklären, weshalb in unserem derzeitigen ökonomischen System viele grundlegende soziale und ökologische Probleme ungelöst bleiben. Sie sind in der Lage das Potenzial von Social Entrepreneurship für die Lösung gesellschaftliche...

Anerkannte wissenschaftliche Experten erläutern in diesem umfassenden Lehrbuch die Grundkonzepte des Entrepreneurship sowie die wesentlichen Aspekte für ein erfolgreiches unternehmerisches Engagement. In jedem Kapitel sorgen ein Unternehmerportrait und eine auf realen Unternehmenssituationen basierende Fallstudie aus Deutschland, Österreich oder de...

This article investigates the innovation commercialisation practices and the anticipated innovation returns profiles of small and medium- sized enterprises (SMES). Employing a typology of 525 SMEs within 10 OECD countries, our findings reveal that, on the one hand, market assessment is perceived to the key driver of the sales volume of short life-c...

Drawing on a sample of SMEs from selected OECD countries, we aim to shed some lights on owner-managers? anticipated returns and to answer three general research questions, namely; (1) What effects do organisational factors have on owner-managers? anticipated sales from an innovation? (2) What effects do organisational factors have on owner-managers...

This paper analyses the evolution of the small business management and entrepreneurship fields, as reflected in articles published in its premier journal, the International Small Business Journal (ISBJ). We investigate the evolution of the fields through a bibliometric examination of all 660 articles published between 1982 and 2012. While the main...

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the expectations that small business entrepreneurs hold in relation to the future returns from the commercialisation of innovations, and key organisational elements including inputs, knowledge, culture, strategy, portfolio, project management and commercialisation. More specifically,...

The promotion of entrepreneurial competencies and attitudes is increasingly becoming the policy of governments whose objective is to increase innovation and employment through enterprise creation (ILO, 2003). For example, the European Commission and individual European Union member states have adopted a range of measures to foster a stronger cultur...

In this study we evaluate the impact of entrepreneurship education on human capital at the upper-secondary level using a quasi-experimental design. Data were collected from 494 students attending entrepreneurship education programs and from 238 in a control group. Our results indicate that some personality traits such as need for autonomy and risk...

The majority of studies that analyze the impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial attitudes, intentions, and venture activities report positive influences. However, several scholars have recently cast doubts about research methods and the generalizability of entrepreneurship education impact studies. In this study, we conducted a sys...

This article uses the sociological method of structured observation to explore the every day behaviour of entrepreneurs from an exploration-exploitation perspective. Six entrepreneurs leading successful growth-oriented businesses were observed for a four-day period and 2305 ‘units of action’ performed by the entrepreneurs were recorded. Six behavio...

In this study, we used the sociological method of structured observation to investigate the everyday behavior of six entrepreneurs in the start‐up stage and six entrepreneurs in the growth stage. Our results suggest the existence of both commonalities and differences between these two stages with regard to activities, functions, exploration vs. exp...

Most of the current courses and textbooks in entrepreneurship focus on promoting start-up desirability and feasibility. We call for a more balanced approach to entrepreneurship education and training by developing a sense of success and a sense of failure among would-be entrepreneurs. The sense of success acts of a promotion of entrepreneurial beha...

This study presents a typology of innovative small to medium size enterprises (SMEs) based on their anticipated returns to an investment in the commercialisation of an innovation. A large multi-country sample was surveyed in relation to the process of commercialisation. A discriminant analysis identified four distinct groups based on their anticipa...

This study investigates the relationship between key organizational elements (inputs, knowledge management, innovation strategy, portfolio management, project management, and commercialization), business planning and the innovation rent. In order to deepen the understanding of innovation management in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a st...

The innovation strategies of SMEs in four OECD countries are examined in order to compare the perceived climate for innovation in each country with reference to government support, regulations and access to markets, infrastructure, skilled labour, management and venture financing. The strategic decision making of the senior managers from these firm...

This study examines the innovation management practices of small firms in Australia, France and Switzerland. The focus was on how firm size, age and growth influence the commercialisation process. A sample of 143 firms was surveyed across the three countries. Findings from the study suggest that the size of the firm, its age and pace of growth are...

With this paper, we want to emphasise the importance of healthy entrepreneurs for sustainable business development. We contribute to the field of entrepreneurship and show how entrepreneurs assess their own health state. We contribute to the field of occupational health by explicitly focusing the social dimension of health besides the physical and...

Die Unternehmen Hilti, Würth, Mondobiotech und die Teekampagne haben eines gemeinsam: Sie haben es geschafft mit innovativen Geschäftsmodellen erfolgreich an den Markt zu gehen. In einem Umfeld, in dem eine Produktinnovation die andere jagt und alle Mitbewerber ihre Prozesse auf Effizienz getrimmt haben, können Innovationen des Geschäftsmodells ein...

In diesem Beitrag werden die theoretischen Erkenntnisse im Rahmen dreier Fallstudien in mittelstandischen Unternehmen empirisch angereichert, um eine praxisnahe Ableitung eines Wertmanagementansatzes sicherzustellen. Die zentralen Ergebnisse aus den Kurzfallstudien lassen sich in die beiden Ebenen strategisch-normativ und operativ-instrumental (Wer...

In this paper we seek to contribute to the development of an integrative framework on "critical success factors" by building and examining seven models of restaurants performance. Consistent with the fundamental paradigm of strategy according to which the firm must develop strengths that match the key factors in its industry, we seek to uncover the...

Résumé La recherche germanophone (en entrepreneuriat et PME) est pratiquement inconnue des chercheurs francophones. Cela est en partie dû au fait que la langue anglaise s’est imposée dans les milieux scientifiques et des affaires. Cette ignorance de la recherche germanophone est regrettable pour au moins deux raisons : 1) les chercheurs germanophon...

(from the introduction:) With the recent growth of new ethnic populations in Western societies, ethnic business is no longer a matter of strictly historical interest; neither is it parochial American concern. Because new ethnic populations have grown at a time when Western economies are in a phase of slow growth and massive technological challenge,...

Papers presented to the Rencontres de St-Gall 2006, Beiträge zu den Rencontres de St-Galle 2006, Sept. 18.-21. 2006 (Wildhaus) [http://www.kmu.unisg.ch/rencontres/RENC2006/band2006.html Tagungsband komplett] [http://www.kmu.unisg.ch/org/kmu/web.nsf/wwwPubInhalteGer/KMU+Verlag+HSG?opendocument KMU Verlag HSG] [http://www.kmu.unisg.ch/org/kmu/web.nsf...

Erfolgreiche Mittelständler zeichnen sich durch systematische Ideenfindung, einen hohen Umsetzungsgrad von Ideen und eine hohe Patentquote aus (vgl. Simon 2006 in diesem Band). Jedes unternehmerische Projekt beginnt mit einer Idee. Die Welt der Möglichkeiten ist weit und die Welt der Ideen sogar unbegrenzt. Einige Ideen stellen echte unternehmerisc...

http://www.kmu.unisg.ch/rencontres/RENC2006/band2006.html **Abstract** Research has shown that there is a significant relationship between entrepreneurial training and the propensity of engaging as an entrepreneur. Knowing that Entrepreneurship Training Programs (ETPs) can change entrepreneurial intention is intriguing if one considers the economic...

Entrepreneurship is commonly perceived as the engine of economic growth and development, through a process of value creation. According to Shane and Vankataraman (2000) entrepreneurship is defined as the process brought about by individuals of identifying new opportunities and converting them into marketable products or services. The existence of e...

Nach der Lektüre dieses Kapitels sollten Sie folgende Fragen beantworten können: ■ Wie kann Entrepreneurship definiert werden? ■ Welcher Unterschied besteht zwischen einer personenzentrierten- und einer prozessorientierten Sichtweise von Entrepreneurship? ■ Welche Formen von Entrepreneurship sind denkbar? ■ Wie wichtig ist Entrepreneurship für das...

Nach der Lektüre dieses Kapitels sollten Sie folgende Fragen beantworten können: ■ Welche Rolle spielen die Motive Dienen und Beziehungspflege für das Unternehmertum und dessen Erfolg? ■ Welche zentralen Werte liegen den beiden o.g. Grundeinstellungen unternehmerischen Handels zugrunde? ■ Was versteht man unter Dienstleistungen und Beziehungsmanage...

Wieso spielt die Betrachtung des Marktes eine wesentliche Rolle für die Erstellung eines Business Plans?

Welcher Zusammenhang besteht zwischen Entrepreneurship und KMU?

Nach der Lektüre dieses Kapitels sollten Sie folgende Fragen beantworten können: ■ Wie lässt sich die Aufrechterhaltung oder Wiederbelebung des unternehmerischen Geistes in etablierten Unternehmen dauerhaft verankern und anhand von Praxisbeispielen verstehen? ■ Welche Formen von Corporate Entrepreneurship lassen sich unterscheiden? ■ Wie können dau...

Welche verschiedenen Dimensionen gibt es in einem Unternehmen?

Entrepreneurship stellt eine große Herausforderung nicht nur für den einzelnen Unternehmer, sondern auch für die Gesamtwirtschaft dar. Zahlreiche Aspekte müssen berücksichtigt werden - von den persönlichen Voraussetzungen, die der Unternehmer mitbringen sollte, über die verschiedenen Möglichkeiten der Unternehmensgründung bis hin zu Fragen des Wach...

Was sind die kritischen Punkte, die bei der Evaluation von Geschäftsmöglichkeiten zu berücksichtigen sind?

Nach der Lektüre dieses Kapitels sollten Sie folgende Fragen beantworten können: ■ Durch welche Entwicklungen wird die Internationalisierung vorangetrieben? ■ Welche theoretischen Konzepte können zur Beschreibung und Erklärung herangezogen werden? ■ Welche Markteintrittsformen gehen mit welchem Maß an Ressourcenbindung und Kontrolle einher? ■ Wie k...

Was kann mit einer Wirtschaftspolitik für KMU / Start-ups erreicht werden und wo liegen deren Grenzen?

Was sind die Hauptmotive für den Kauf oder Verkauf eines Unternehmens?

Welche Herausforderungen auf betriebswirtschaftlichem, rechtlichem, steuerlichem und psychologischem Gebiet stellen sich bei der Nachfolge in KMU?

Wie können die Begriffe Kreativität, Innovation und Diffusion erklärt werden?

Nach der Lektüre dieses Kapitels sollten Sie folgende Fragen beantworten können: ■ Welche Besonderheiten existieren im Zusammenhang mit der Start-up-/KMU-Finanzierung und welche Charakteristiken kennzeichnen Marktfriktionen und Marktineffizienzen im Bereich der Start-up / KMU-Finanzierung? ■ Welche Lösungsansätze können zur Behebung der systematisc...

Nach der Lektüre dieses Kapitels sollten Sie folgende Fragen beantworten können: ■ Welche unternehmerisch