February 2012 Download this article as a PDF

From the Editor-in-Chief

It is my pleasure to introduce Tony Bailetti, Director of Carleton University's Technology Innovation Management program, as the guest editor for three issues on the theme of Technology Entrepreneurship: February, March, and April.

In May, we will examine the theme of Global Business Creation with Marko Seppä, founder of Global Faculty Partners for Problems Worth Solving LP, and Stoyan Tanev, Associate Professor at the University of Southern Denmark.

In June, we will be joined by Stephen Huddart, President and CEO of the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, as guest editor for the theme of Social Innovation.

As always, we welcome your feedback, suggestions for future themes, and contributions of articles. We hope you enjoy this issue of the TIM Review and will share your comments on articles online. Please also feel free to contact us directly with feedback or article submissions.

Chris McPhee
Editor-in-Chief

 


From the Guest Editor

Welcome to the February issue of the TIM Review. It is my pleasure to be the guest editor for this issue and the next two issues of the journal.

Increasingly, the prosperity of individuals, organizations, regions, and nations relies on entrepreneurship and technology, which are two important engines for economic growth in the new global economy. The purpose of the February, March, and April issues of the TIM Review is to examine various aspects of technology entrepreneurship, contribute to theory, and provide important insights into the various issues facing managers today. The topics covered by the contributors are interdisciplinary, fill gaps in existing research, and advance our understanding of the issues relevant to the domain of technology entrepreneurship. Hopefully, these articles will encourage others to contribute to this important field.

Carleton University’s faculty members and graduate students have authored the articles in these three issues. What is common to all these authors is their passion and commitment for using technology to create and capture value for firms, attracting knowledge jobs for the region, and positively contributing to society. All authors also actively contribute to Carleton’s Technology Innovation Management program. Most have an engineering or science background and experience developing products and services in industry.   

Technology entrepreneurship is a relatively unexplored field that offers many opportunities for scholarly inquiry and innovative industrial initiatives. The February issue includes five articles and one Q&A, which: i) contribute definitions of technology entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship; ii) establish a link between entrepreneurship theory and the theory of the firm; iii) identify concrete mechanisms that can be used to effectively manage technology firms; iv) use two entrepreneurship types to examine the drive for Chinese technology firms to go global; and v) define customer value and identify the processes required to deliver it.    

In the first article of the February issue, I argue that a better definition of technology entrepreneurship is required to improve its performance, increase its relevance, and establish the field as a legitimate domain of inquiry in its own right. A revised, more detailed definition of technology entrepreneurship is proposed and its distinguishing aspects are discussed.

David Hudson, a doctoral student at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business, establishes a link between the theory of the firm and entrepreneurship theory in order to understand employee entrepreneurial behaviour.  He demonstrates how new technology creates optimal conditions where the boundary of the firm changes as a result of employees’ entrepreneurial effort.

John Schreuders, a senior software systems engineer at Mitel Networks, and Alem Legesse, the founder of Syncrodata, examine the innovate-versus-support dilemma that small technology firms face early in their life cycles. They identify five mechanisms top management teams of small technology firms can use to concurrently innovate and fulfill the demands of existing clients and products.

Samer (Sam) Abu-Saifan, the Head of Information Technology for the not-for profit organization Street Haven at the Crossroads, defines social entrepreneurship, examines the boundaries of socially-oriented entrepreneurial activities, and positions the social entrepreneur in the spectrum of entrepreneurship.

Daniel (Dongyang) Zhou, a software designer at Ciena Networks, compares two entrepreneurship types and then argues that, in order for China to go global, it needs to shift its dependence on the Kirzner-entrepreneur model to the Schumpeter-entrepreneur model. He also examines guanxi and familism, two unique attributes of entrepreneurship expected to exert a significant impact on the ability of Chinese entrepreneurs to go global.  

Aparna Shanker, a customer applications engineer with Alcatel-Lucent, examines the different perspectives on customer value and then identifies processes that can used by technology firms to deliver customer value. 

I hope that you, your colleagues, and your organizations benefit from reading this issue of the TIM Review.

Tony Bailetti
Guest Editor

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Keywords: entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, technology entrepreneurship