Being smart and being green : Entrepreneurial innovation in challenging times
- Authors: Braun, Patrice , Lowe, Julian
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at 32nd Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship Conference, ISBE 2009, Liverpool, UK : 3rd-6th November 2009
- Full Text:
- Description: In difficult times business operators are looking for clever and affordable ways to grow their enterprises. This paper seeks to make a contribution to a better understanding of proactive environmental and innovation strategies for SMEs and the interaction between demand and supply towards sustainable and innovative business practices. The paper discusses the combined outcomes of the exit survey of a greening small business 2008 pilot program and the entry survey for the 2009 online training and networking version of the program, which fuses environmental, business and ICT- enabled skilling to enhance both SME entrepreneurship and innovation. The study suggests that SME business sustainability cannot be reduced to an oversimplified business case and that pro-environmental strategy adoption and behaviour, and particularly behavioural change, is highly complex. The outcomes of this research are expected to contribute to good practice in environmental and innovation skilling for SMEs, especially skilling that differentiates between supply and demand side skilling and brings together the two sides in a proactive resource acquisition, knowledge transfer and networking environment.
- Description: 2003007572
Going green : Women entrepreneurs and the environment
- Authors: Braun, Patrice
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at 32nd Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship Conference, ISBE 2009, Liverpool, UK : 3rd-6th November 2009
- Full Text:
- Description: In economically challenging times business operators are looking for clever and affordable ways to grow their enterprises. This paper discusses the role of women entrepreneurs’ in proactively greening their small business. The paper highlights the combined outcomes of the exit survey of a greening small business 2008 pilot program and the entry survey for the 2009 online version of the training and networking program, which fuses environmental, business and ICT-enabled skilling to enhance both SME entrepreneurship and innovation. The study suggests that while reported environmental attitudes between male and female entrepreneurs do not differ significantly, women’s motivations differ from male entrepreneurs in terms of greening their business; and women are more proactive in pursuing green networking opportunities, where they can interact with like-minded businesses, access more clients, source alternative resources and expand their green business networks.
- Description: 2003007573
Networking tourism SMEs : E-commerce and e-marketing issues in regional Australia
- Authors: Braun, Patrice
- Date: 2002
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Information Technology and Tourism Vol. 5, no. 1 (2002), p. 13-23
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Networks, knowledge, and relationships have become crucial assets to business survival in the new economy. Research indicates that network building is a major new source of competitive advantage and an essential regional and indeed global management requirement. Because regional policies encourage interfirm alliances and the development of regional economic communities, the fostering of a culture of connectivity, networking, learning, and trust between regional Australian small and medium- size tourism enterprises (SMTEs) may offer a potential solution to the possible loss of competitive advantage for Australian tourism enterprises. It is suggested that SMTEs would benefit from increased information flow through regional networking and cooperative e-marketing campaigns to enhance market visibility, global positioning, and strategic leverage in the new economy.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003000256