A note on entrepreneurship from the academic literature

 

A note on entrepreneurship [from the academic literature]

Vimala Veeraraghavan. 2009. “Entrepreneurship and Innovation” Asia-Pacific Business Review. Vol. V, No. 1, January - March, pp. 14-20. ISSN: 0973-2470.

Idea 1: “Entrepreneurship is defined as the professional application of knowledge, skills and competencies and / or of monetizing a new idea, by an individual or a set of people by launching an enterprise de novo or diversifying from an existing one (distinct from seeking self employment as in a profession or trade), thus to pursue growth while generating wealth, employment and social good”;

 

Idea 2: “Schumpeter(1942) put forward five basic combinations for entrepreneurship and these include:

(i) Introduction of a new product

(ii) Introduction of a new method of production

(iii) Opening of a new market

(iv) Conquest of a new source of supply and

(v) Carrying out a new organization of industry”;

 

 

Simon C. Parker. 2011. “Intrapreneurship or entrepreneurship?” Journal of  Business Venturing 26 (2011) 19–34.

 Idea 3: “Intrapreneurship — also known as corporate entrepreneurship and corporate venturing — is the practice of developing a new venture within an existing organization, to exploit a new opportunity and create economic value. Entrepreneurship involves developing a new venture outside an existing organization”;

Idea 4: “A large body of theoretical research emphasizes the importance of human capital for understanding the determinants of startup organizing efforts. It is convenient at the outset to follow Becker (1964) by distinguishing between ‘general’ and ‘specific’ human capital. General human capital comprises skills, knowledge, experience and capabilities (such as those embodied in formal education) which are useful in a multitude of productive uses, including both existing organizations and new venture creation. Specific human capital in contrast refers to skills, experience, knowledge and capabilities, such as those imparted by firm-specific training programs, which are primarily useful to the organization which provides them”;

 

A note on organizational creativity : a few academic ideas

 

A note on organizational creativity [from the academic literature]

 

Marjolein C.J. Caniëls and Eric F. Rietzschel. 2015. “Organizing Creativity: Creativity and Innovation under Constraints” Volume 24 Number 2: 184-196.

Idea 1: “In a business environment with continuously changing demands, organizations need to adjust and reorientate, innovate and adopt new technologies ….. Creativity …. is at the root of invention and innovation …… Hence, leaders and managers espouse creativity as an important goal that must be nurtured and facilitated …..”;

 

Idea 2: “However, organizations have to deal with the continuous tension between short-term wins of incremental innovation and uncertain long-term gains of radical innovation. Radically new ideas are therefore often dismissed by organizational leaders and policy makers as being too costly and risky to explore ….”;

 

Idea 3: “….On the one hand, creative organizations are often associated with spaces characterized by freedom, autonomy, weak rules and few boundaries. …..  On the other hand, several studies suggest that constraints, particularly design constraints, often stimulate creativity rather than suppress it ….. Constraints could stimulate creativity because they energize employee efforts, or because they reduce the complexity of a problem or task”;

 

 

Jennifer M. George (2007) 9 Creativity in Organizations, The Academy of Management Annals, 1:1, 439-477, DOI: 10.1080/078559814.

Idea 4: “Creativity is typically defined as the generation or production of ideas that are both novel and useful ….. Thus, to be considered creative, ideas must be both new and seen as having the potential to create value for organizations in the short or long run. Creativity is typically viewed as a key precursor to innovation (the successful implementation of creative ideas) and is increasingly being recognized as an important ingredient for effectiveness in all kinds of work and organizations ….”;

 

Idea 5: “Creative ideas can relate to work procedures, products, services, and organizing structures and can vary in terms of the degree to which the idea reflects an incremental versus radical departure from the status quo ….. Creative ideas can also vary in terms of scope or the range of their value-creating potential”;

 

Identifying useful analytical concepts in literature review: an example

 Identifying useful analytical concepts [including theories] in literature review: an example:

Information mentioned in the academic literature [for example]:

Empirical observation 1:

Longer period of lockdown in Singapore  ----> lower birth rate in Singapore

Empirical observation 2: 

Longer period of lockdown in the Philippines  ----> higher birth rate in the Philippines

For literature review, it is not enough to describe empirical observations (i.e. facts). You need to identify the theories (e.g. the explanation mechanism) that tentatively explain the empirical observations above. The theory, in this case, can be certain social class theory, or a social theory related to religious influence. With the theories so identified that have wider applicability, you could then evaluate these theories in your literature review and suggest why you think these chosen theories are relevant and useful for you to inform your research design and, subsequently, analyze your dissertation data to be gathered.

A personal assessment tool on a student’s dissertation readiness

 

A personal assessment tool on a student’s dissertation readiness

Assessment grid I: intellectual competence status

Knowledge status	Intellectual interest status
	I don’t know my topic interest (A)	I roughly know my topic interest (B)	I know clearly my topic interest (C)
I don’t know what I don’t know (1)	A1	B1	C1
I know what I don’t know (2)	A2	B2	C2
I know what I know (3)	A3	B3	C3

 

Assessment grid 2: dissertation motivation status

Achievement need intensity	Learning need intensity
	Learning need intensity: low (A)	Learning need intensity: median (B)	Learning need intensity: high (C)
Achievement need intensity: low	A1	B1	C1
Achievement need intensity: median	A2	B2	C2
Achievement need intensity: high	A3	B3	C3

 

 

Your overall personal dissertation readiness profile is:

	Profile location
Assessment grid I: intellectual competence status
Assessment grid 2: dissertation motivation status

 

As and 1s are unsatisfactory profile status while Cs and 3s are satisfactory profile status.

 

A note on research gap

 A note on research gap

Source 1: https://libanswers.snhu.edu/faq/264001)

Point 1: “A research gap is a question or a problem that has not been answered by any of the existing studies or research within your field. Sometimes, a research gap exists when there is a concept or new idea that hasn't been studied at all”… any research gap you find is an area where more studies and more research need to be conducted   ;

Point 2: “Sometimes you'll find a research gap if all the existing research is outdated and in need of new/updated research (studies on Internet use in 2001, for example). Or, perhaps a specific population has not been well studied (perhaps there are plenty of studies on teenagers and video games, but not enough studies on toddlers and video games, for example)”;

 

Source 2: https://scientific-publishing.webshop.elsevier.com/research-process/what-is-research-gap/

Point 3: “When looking for research gaps across publications you may have noticed sentences like:
…has/have not been… (studied/reported/elucidated)
…is required/needed…
…the key question is/remains…
…it is important to address…

These expressions often indicate gaps; issues or topics related to the main question that still hasn’t been subject to a scientific study”;

 

Source 3: https://www.enago.com/academy/identifying-research-gaps-to-pursue-innovative-research/

Point 4: “A research gap is, simply, a topic or area for which missing or insufficient information limits the ability to reach a conclusion for a question. …. When we identify a research gap, we identify a direction for potentially new and exciting research….”;

A note on "what is theory": a few main points.

 A note on "what is theory": a few main points:

The main ideas are from : Stewart, J., Harte, V. and Sambrook, S. (2011), "What is theory?", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 221-229. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090591111120386.

Point 1: "... a theory is “a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something”:

Point 2: "a proposition that a theory, if it is valid and is to have value, provides an explanation with general and perhaps universal application";

Point 3: "... a theory is, or can be, tentative and an intention to explain rather than an actual explanation";

Point 4: ".... the concept of theory is inextricably connected to notions of science that, in origin at least, refers to investigating the world according to a set of rules and principles";

Further e-resources to study:

1. How is theory relevant to research.

A note on theories and housing research

 A compiled note that draws on Aalbers, M.B. (2018) What kind of theory for what kind of housing research? Housing, Theory and Society 35.2: 193-198:

A: About theories

Point 1: "For some positivists it is a mathematical model, for others it is simply a generalized outcome of previous research";

Point 2: "Social scientists like Clapham and Ruonavaara, .... define theory as “collections of concepts about the real world that facilitate explaining, predicting or intervening” (Clapham); and social theory as “a discourse that consists of a set of linked (a) concepts and (b) propositions to be used for hypothetical (i) re-description, (ii) explanation and (iii) interpretation of all or some subset of social entities, relations and processes” (Ruonavaara, my emphasis)";

B: About housing studies and research

Point 3: " housing studies as radically open to different conceptualisations of the house, of home, of housing, of housing policy and of theories on housing. I believe contributions from any discipline can potentially enrich housing studies";

Point 4: "different disciplinary perspectives contribute to housing studies and sometimes this leads to interpretations and understandings that build on insights from multiple disciplines";

Point 5: "housing research and theory is not only there to influence policy, it is also there to influence other social scientists";

Source: "What kind of theory for what kind of housing research?"

Housing-concerns driven literature review - a note

 Housing-concerns driven literature review - a note

(1) <---(2) <--- (3)

1. Housing concerns: an example

Concerned about the negative impacts of the HK housing affordability problem on the quality of residential life for old people in Sham Shui Po.

2. Research objective:

To evaluate the negative impacts of the HK housing affordability problem on the quality of residential life for old people in Sham Shui Po.

3. The housing-concerns driven literature review approach in response to the research objective.

Ideas on : 

(a) concept definition and major schools of thinking review

(b) macro-environmental trends review

(c) analytical/ evaluation concepts and explanation-mechanisms review

(d) practices/ solutions/ policies review

**** need to describe, evaluate, categorize, synthesize and creatively tailor-make/ reconfigure ideas to produce useful suggestions in your literature review for informing research design and data analysis.

**** explain how some of the ideas from (a) to (d) can be employed to inform research methods to produce useful (and actionable) knowledge to address the research objectives. This can take the form of a low-level research task in the following form:

To employ the XXX and YYY concepts to guide the semi-structured interview with old people with significant housing affordability stress in Shan Shui Po with regard to their quality of residential life status.

Primary and secondary research - a note

 Primary and secondary research - a note

A note

e-resource: understanding primary and secondary sources.

Housing-concerns and the associated research objectives/ research questions: on housing market

 

Housing-concerns and the associated research objectives/ research questions: on housing market

Article 1: Colin Jones & Mike Coombes (2013) An Assessment of Tenure-Specific Housing Market Areas for Housing Planning, Housing Studies, 28:7, 993-1011, DOI: 10.1080/02673037.2013.783201.

 Housing concerns

“Over the last decade, market responsive planning policy has ostensibly been introduced, but the change has proved difficult to implement. A major hurdle has been the construction of meaningful HMAs with both a degree of arbitrariness and a lack of consistency between planning authorities in different parts of the country. Recent research has resolved these problems by constructing a comprehensive tiered HMA geography for the whole of England based on clear theoretical principles (Jones et al., 2010). However, a deeper perspective on local housing markets needs to take account of the tenure structures that create cleavages in the housing system”;

 Research objectives/ research questions

“The purpose of this study is to examine the potential of tenure-specific local housing market areas (HMAs) in England as an aid to local housing policy and planning. Besides this very specific objective, the paper provides insights into the operation of the housing system through residential migration patterns. While the paper is set within a strong conceptual framework, it encompasses a behavioural analysis that can inform and resolve some of the tensions between different disciplinary perspectives (see Marsh & Gibb, 2011) It also contributes to the continuing debates about the relationships between residential land markets, tenure and the role of planning/intervention”;

 

 

Article 2: Brendan Nevin (2010): Housing Market Renewal in Liverpool: Locating the Gentrification Debate in History, Context and Evidence, Housing Studies, 25:5, 715-733.

Housing concerns

“The development of the Housing Market Renewal programme followed a national debate about the causes of the abandonment of low value multi-tenure neighbourhoods in the Midlands and North of England during the 1990s. This debate was informed by national and regional studies which highlighted a significant number of neighbourhoods and dwellings affected by high residential turnover, low and falling prices and increasing vacancies (DETR, 2000; Nevin et al., 2001b). Cities such as Liverpool, with its historically weak economy, large-scale population loss and low value housing stock, were particularly negatively affected by housing market change at this time, with some neighbourhoods experiencing a persistent vacancy level of 30 per cent or more (Lee & Nevin, 2003)”;

 

“The introduction of the Housing Market Renewal programme, following the development of the Hope VI programme in the United States and a Mixed Income Communities Pilot programme in England, has led to an increase in interest by gentrification researchers in the outcomes of publicly funded housing renewal schemes. This interest has been stimulated by an emerging body of research which has questioned both the philosophy and aims and objectives of mixed income communities schemes, and the extent to which the outcomes of ‘renewal’ have led to a deterioration in the housing circumstances of the poorest (see, for example, DeFillipis & Fraser, 2008)”;

Research objectives/ research questions

“This paper places the Housing Market Renewal programme in Liverpool in its historical context, highlighting a mismatch between the supply and demand for housing which has existed for four decades. This disequilibrium produced an environment where successive waves of neighbourhood abandonment occurred from the late 1970s despite significant public policy interventions”;

“This paper takes issue with the approach to gentrification research advocated by Slater and Allen by highlighting how an understanding of the historical development of housing policy and the local housing market is critical to developing a meaningful understanding of urban change and public policy in a city such as Liverpool, where decentralisation of employment and population have led to a process of neighbourhood disintegration and the demolition of 55 000 dwellings since 1971. In addition, through a review of the Housing Market Renewal interventions (2002–2007) the paper sets out the impact of the programme on vacancy rates, house prices and household change, thus highlighting the lack of evidence relating to the gentrification of the inner-city housing market”;

 

 

Article 3: Tammy C.M. Leonard (2013): The Impact of Housing Market Conditions on Residential Property Upkeep, Housing Studies, 28:1, 33-56.

Housing concerns

“Many neighborhood-level attributes are provided largely through unmonitored voluntary contributions on the part of the neighborhood residents. Examples include the aesthetic appearance of the neighborhood, the supervision of neighborhood children, the care with which residents drive through the streets and participation in neighborhood social activities. These local public goods together create varying levels of neighborhood quality, which in turn impacts the well-being of neighborhood residents and is capitalized into neighborhood home prices. Although neighborhoods are but one piece of the puzzle, when neighborhoods improve, many improved outcomes are more easily attained—property values increase (Dubin, 1992), neighborhoods become more aesthetically pleasing (Leonard et al., 2011), socializing among residents is more likely (Sampson, 2003), neighborhood children often benefit from improved stability (Schaefer-McDaniel, 2009), physical activity is more likely as the neighborhood is more ‘walkable’ (Saelens et al., 2003; Sallis & Glanz, 2006) and communities benefit from increased tax revenue. Likewise, the opposite can be said of neighborhoods in decay”;

Research objectives/ research questions

“The purpose of this paper is to better understand the housing market determinants of local public good provision by analyzing the relationship between default risk—in both up and down housing markets—and routine maintenance expenditures”;

Housing issues and the associated research objectives/ questions: the public housing theme

 

Housing issues and the associated research objectives/ questions: the public housing theme

Article 1: Yung Yau. 2012. “Ruling out trouble: Unacceptable behaviour and its control in Hong Kong’s public housing” Habitat International 36 (2012) 11e19.

 Housing issues

“The enjoyment of a quality living environment is the desire of all residents. Yet, it is not guaranteed even if housing is flawlessly designed and constructed because the quality of living environment. In fact, apart from housing design and construction, residents’ well-being is contingent also on housing management (Yau, 2010). While non-participation or inactivity of residents has been regarded as one of the major causes of poorly-managed housing, the impacts of neighbourhood nuisances or residents’ unacceptable behaviour started gaining growing attention from policy makers, housing authorities, residents and academics in the western countries in recent years (e.g. Adderley, 2008; Burney, 2005). Frequently reported nuisances or unacceptable behaviour include deliberate littering in communal areas, using dwellings for illegal dealings, creating disturbing noise, spraying graffiti and other vandalistic acts. The seriousness of these problems has been vividly demonstrated by the increasing number of complaints and residents’ dissatisfaction with their neighbourhoods (e.g. Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland, 2008; Scottish Government Social Research, 2007).”;

 

“In Hong Kong, neighbourhood problems did not attract much social concern before 2003, and they were dealt with in a rather fragmented manner. For example, noise nuisances were regulated by the Noise Control Ordinance whereas deliberate littering and spitting were controlled by the Fixed Penalty (Public Cleanliness Offences) Ordinance. An integrated policy to crack these problems was absent. Nonetheless, a structured control was institutionalised in 2003. As the aftermath of the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in early 2003, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong Government) implemented the Marking Scheme for Tenancy Enforcement in Public Housing Estates in August 2003, with a stated aim to improve the hygienic and living conditions in public housing estates in the territory (Team Clean, 2003)”;

 

Research objectives/ questions

“… it is worthwhile to study how the residents perceive the neighbourhood problems in public housing. Also, it is interesting to know what the causes of these problems are, who cannot tolerate the problems and who support the implementation of the marking scheme in their housing estates. These findings can help the community to justify whether the marking scheme should be institutionalised or not”

 

“Opinions from public housing tenants were collated through a self-administered face-to-face structured questionnaire survey conducted between November 2009 and January 2010. This approach was used with an eye to gaining the highest possible number of participants in the survey. A questionnaire was devised to collect the information necessary for the empirical study. Before the survey, the preset questionnaire had been pretested and amended according to the testers’ feedbacks. Interviews were discontinued if the respondents had not heard of the marking scheme before. A total of 339 tenants living in two public rental housing (PRH) estates and two Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) estates was interviewed eventually”

 

 

Article 2: PEGGY TEO and SHIRLENA HUANG. 1996. “A Sense of Place in Public Housing: a Case Study of Pasir Ris, Singapore” HABITAT INTL. Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 31)7-325, 1996.

 Housing issues

“Singapore is well known for its public housing programme, which currently houses 87% of the country's population, l Beginning with the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), the colonial administrative body set up in 1927 to deal with slum conditions within the city centre, housing policy has matured under the auspices of the Housing and Development Board (HDB) which was formed in 1960. Initially, the main objective of the HDB was to provide shelter for Singapore's increasing population. 2 Since achieving this goal in 1975, 3 the HDB has become more concerned with the type and quality of housing it is providing. In particular, HDB has responded to its strongest criticism that its estates are uniform and monotonous. 4 Critics have argued that this standardisation stems from post-war urban planning, whereby the built environment was defined solely in utilitarian terms along the lines of functionalism. 5 By the 1980s, Singapore came to be described as "another modern metropolis ''6 -- international in style, but also faceless and homogeneous and lacking in any sense of place”

 

“The reference to place is an important one. The interest in this concept within geographical literature is longstanding and has been given diverse treatment in definition and conceptualisation. For Tuan, s Relph 9 and Ley and Samuels,l° the phenomenological and humanistic traditions aimed at uncovering the meanings which an environment holds for individuals. More recent treatments of humanistic geography are far more critical. For example, Philo and Kearns and Squire raised much discussion on urban landscapes which are "irreverent" to the realities of cultures, histories and localities, especially in those landscapes created for the tourist. 11 This evaluative approach is also apparent in Massey's 12 call for a "non-parochial" treatment to the study of a sense of place, in which she argues for a recognition of the global context in shaping the identity of a place. While the structuralist school 13 ascribes man to a determined existence in his urban experience who is subject to overarching structures, Agnew 14 counterargues that people are also agencies who have a role to play in influencing the creation of landscapes. For example, Jackson 15 and Jackson and Penrose 16 draw attention to place as the mediator between state and society, as providing a context to contest or to construct space. According to them, people who live and work in places are not always free and able to shape meanings into these landscapes, because there are others with authority and power to shape the context and constraints”

 

Research objectives/ questions

“The purpose of this paper is to address the extent to which the public housing landscape of Singapore reflects the interaction between people as agencies and the political and economic structures represented by the state”;

 

“This study focuses on the role of HDB in the planning and design of public housing landscape”;

 

 

Article 3: Bon-Gang Hwang a, Xianbo Zhao a,*, Si Yi Ngb. 2013. “Identifying the critical factors affecting schedule performance of public housing Projects” Habitat International 38 (2013) 214e221.

 Housing issues

“Public housing has been the rising issue in Singapore in order to provide sufficient homes for all. The demand for public housing flats is also increasing. To better meet the demand, the Singapore government decided to reduce the waiting time of future owners for HDB flats, which needs their completion on time and thus poses more schedule pressures to parties involved in the construction of HDB projects. Delay would lead to incapability of achieving the schedule objectives of a project, and late completion and delivery tend to result in cost overruns, client dissatisfaction, and other consequent problems. Assurance of project schedule has been considered as an important indicator of project success, and factors associated with project schedule have been recognized to be critical to project success (Chua, Kog, & Loh, 1999; Ling, Low, Wang, & Lim, 2009)”;

 

Research objectives/ questions

“…this study aims to fill this knowledge gap by achieving the following objectives: (1) To identify critical factors affecting schedule performance of public housing projects in Singapore; (2) To compare the factors affecting schedule performance of public housing projects and other building projects in Singapore; and (3) To provide recommendations to respond to these critical factors. The findings from this study will provide a better understanding of the critical factors and help practitioners involving public housing projects to take measures to assure the achievement of project schedule objectives”;