ABSTRACT
Learning outcomes: At the end of the case discussion, students should be able to:▪ analyse and discuss networks as a form of social capital;▪ identify and discuss alternative growth strategies for an small, medium, micro enterprise (SMME) in the context of prevailing challenges;▪ use the six domains of the entrepreneurship ecosystem to identify and discuss factors that enhance and challenge a business with particular reference to an SMME;and▪ analyse and understand the key dimensions of entrepreneurial behaviour using the case protagonist as an example. Case overview/synopsis: Nhlanhla Dlamini, the managing director of Maneli Pets based in Johannesburg, South Africa had opened an office in Cincinnati in the USA in July 2019 to take over the distribution and marketing of the company's high-quality protein pet treats. Just over eight months later, the COVID-19 pandemic exploded across the world resulting in unprecedented disruption to people's lives, world trade and the global economy.Now, in June 2022, Dlamini contemplated the successes and challenges he had experienced since starting Maneli Pets in 2016, not least of which was parting company with US-based Novel Dog LLC, which had previously marketed and distributed the pet treats. He had built an internationally accredited factory from scratch, produced pet products and a brand that was appealing to the competitive international market, and exported to 12 countries around the world. However, Dlamini had also faced the retrenchment of a large number of staff, the breakdown of the relationship with Novel Dog, the difficulties of setting up a distribution business in the USA along with overseeing the South African factory, and in September 2019, his co-founder, Sipha Ndawonde, had left Maneli Pets.Maneli Pets had served Dlamini's philanthropic purpose of creating jobs and contributing to the growth of the South African economy. Despite the setback of parting ways with Novel Dog, he hoped to continue to create jobs and return to and exceed the staff numbers he had achieved by 2018, regardless of the hard work involved.In his dual position of managing director of Maneli Pets, based in Johannesburg, and sales director of the distribution and marketing arm, Nandi Pets Inc. in Cincinnati, Dlamini had a global view of the companies' financials that he realised had been missing initially. Would the new structure of Maneli Pets he had created in 2019 in a pre-pandemic world see the company profitable by the end of 2022? What else could he do to take the company to the next level? Complexity academic level: MBA, Masters in Management, Postgraduate Diploma in Business, Executive Education short courses. Supplementary materials: Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code: CSS 3: Entrepreneurship. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
Learning outcomes: At the end of the case discussion, students should be able to:▪ analyse and discuss networks as a form of social capital;▪ identify and discuss alternative growth strategies for an small, medium, micro enterprise (SMME) in the context of prevailing challenges;▪ use the six domains of the entrepreneurship ecosystem to identify and discuss factors that enhance and challenge a business with particular reference to an SMME;and▪ analyse and understand the key dimensions of entrepreneurial behaviour using the case protagonist as an example. Case overview/synopsis: Nhlanhla Dlamini, the managing director of Maneli Pets based in Johannesburg, South Africa had opened an office in Cincinnati in the USA in July 2019 to take over the distribution and marketing of the company's high-quality protein pet treats. Just over eight months later, the COVID-19 pandemic exploded across the world resulting in unprecedented disruption to people's lives, world trade and the global economy.Now, in June 2022, Dlamini contemplated the successes and challenges he had experienced since starting Maneli Pets in 2016, not least of which was parting company with US-based Novel Dog LLC, which had previously marketed and distributed the pet treats. He had built an internationally accredited factory from scratch, produced pet products and a brand that was appealing to the competitive international market, and exported to 12 countries around the world. However, Dlamini had also faced the retrenchment of a large number of staff, the breakdown of the relationship with Novel Dog, the difficulties of setting up a distribution business in the USA along with overseeing the South African factory, and in September 2019, his co-founder, Sipha Ndawonde, had left Maneli Pets.Maneli Pets had served Dlamini's philanthropic purpose of creating jobs and contributing to the growth of the South African economy. Despite the setback of parting ways with Novel Dog, he hoped to continue to create jobs and return to and exceed the staff numbers he had achieved by 2018, regardless of the hard work involved.In his dual position of managing director of Maneli Pets, based in Johannesburg, and sales director of the distribution and marketing arm, Nandi Pets Inc. in Cincinnati, Dlamini had a global view of the companies' financials that he realised had been missing initially. Would the new structure of Maneli Pets he had created in 2019 in a pre-pandemic world see the company profitable by the end of 2022? What else could he do to take the company to the next level? Complexity academic level: MBA, Masters in Management, Postgraduate Diploma in Business, Executive Education short courses. Supplementary materials: Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code: CSS 3: Entrepreneurship. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: This study aims to achieve two objectives: First, to investigate the moderating influences of Coronavirus-19 (Covid-19)-related psychological distress on the process of entrepreneurial cognition;and second, to close the gap between entrepreneurial intention and behavior of higher education institutions students. Design/methodology/approach: Scales from previous studies have been adopted to develop a questionnaire survey. An online survey questionnaire then is carried out to collect the data;the final sample includes 405 university students. The validity and reliability of scales are tested throughout Cronbach's alpha and confirmatory factor analysis. Hypothesized correlations were then tested via structural equation modeling. Findings: The results confirm the important roles of perceived behavioral control and entrepreneurial intention in encouraging entrepreneurial behavior, whereas attitude toward entrepreneurship is strongly and positively related to intention to engage in a business venture. Yet, subjective norms are not found to have an impact on entrepreneurial intention. Entrepreneurial attitude-intention link has been negatively moderated by Covid-19-related psychological distress. Also, Covid-19-related psychological distress can lessen the entrepreneurial intention–behavior linkage of higher education institutions students. Practical implications: The study provides useful recommendations for practitioners such as educators and policymakers to promote higher education institutions students' entrepreneurship, especially in the global crisis context of the spread of Covid-19. Social implications: Being aware of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the entrepreneurship process and translations from intention into behavior to become entrepreneurs provide useful insights to nascent entrepreneurs, community and our society to limit the negative influence of the Covid-19 pandemic and help us overcome this crisis. Originality/value: Addressing the entrepreneurial intention–behavior gap is considered as the biggest contribution of this study. Moreover, the association between perceived behavioral control and entrepreneurial behavior, overlooked by previous studies, is also tested in this study. Furthermore, the findings confirm that psychological distress caused by Covid-19 can inhibit the cognitive process of entrepreneurship. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
It is essential to understand the variables that explain and predict the behaviour of starting up a new company in a regional context. This study aims to analyse the theoretical basis and predictive potential of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data, considering the concerns and suggestions of other authors. In addition to an extensive literature review, a PLS-SEM methodology and data on variables and countries from the latest GEM report are used in this study. The results show that GEM reports have a sufficient theoretical foundation for quality studies in this field. In addition, a valid and reliable causal model is designed that includes all personal and contextual GEM variables. The hypotheses of the proposed model are based on the existing causal relationships in the literature, using GEM data in its formulation. The model is comprehensive and practical because it significantly predicts entrepreneurial behaviour, particularly entrepreneurial intention and action. The usefulness of this study is high, both for researchers, practitioners and institutions wishing to understand better and further promote entrepreneurial behaviour at a regional (country) level.