CHINHOYI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND BUSINESS SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND BUSINES MANAGEMENT

Course Outline Aug-Dec 2022 Semester

Module Name & Code: Technopreneurship: CUEB 301

Lecturer: Dr S. Murebwa (PhD Entrepreneurship)

smurebwa@cut.ac.zw / murebwashepherd@gmail.com

Contact: 0778283359/ 0717926729

1.0 Overview of Entrepreneurship

1.1 Entrepreneurship
 Entrepreneurship generally refers to the creation and growth of new and innovative
businesses based on the ability to recognize business opportunities or combine resources
in novel ways. All businesses such as Econet Zimbabwe, OK Zimbabwe, Allied Timbers,
Zimbabwe Power Company, Bata Shoe Company to mention but a few including small
business such as restaurants, hair salons and small grocery shops are outcomes of
entrepreneurship. Thus entrepreneurship creates business.
 Entrepreneurship creates industry. Without entrepreneurship there is no industry.
Manufacturing entrepreneurship creates manufacturing industries. Thus entrepreneurship
is important for industrialisation.
 Entrepreneurship is the practice of starting new organizations and revitalizing mature
organizations, particularly new businesses generally in response to identified
opportunities. Companies or businesses which are struggling such as National Railways
Zimbabwe (NRZ), Cold Storage Commission (CSC) and ZISCO among many others can
be revived through entrepreneurship.
 It is a process which entails discovery, assessment and exploitation of opportunities for
the production of new products, services or production processes; new strategies and
organizational forms and new markets for products and inputs that did not previously
exist.

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  Entrepreneurship is an effort to create purposeful change in economic growth and
development. Within this view, entrepreneurs are seen to create new values, through the
introduction of new goods and services, the development and use of new technologies
and methods of production, the identification and establishment of new sources of
supplies or new markets, or the creation of new organisations.

In global evolution, entrepreneurship has branched into various areas according to;
 Age – Youth entrepreneurship
 Gender – Women entrepreneurship
 Social environment- Social entrepreneurship
 Science – Scientific entrepreneurship
 Engineering – Engineering entrepreneurship
 Natural environment – Eco-entrepreneurship and Eco-technopreneurship
 Technology- Technological entrepreneurship that is technopreneurship and many more.

1.2 Fundamentals of entrepreneurship

 At the heart of entrepreneurship is creativity, invention and innovation

 Opportunity identification, discovery and creation underpin entrepreneurship
 Searching for change, welcoming and harnessing change is an important aspect in
entrepreneurship.
 Risk taking, uncertainty and ambiguity characterise the phenomenon of entrepreneurship
 Resource mobilisation, organisation and management are essentials of entrepreneurship.
 Knowledge is crucial in entrepreneurship. Without knowledge in its various forms
entrepreneurship flounders. For example engineering is a field of knowledge, so is
science and technology. Manufacturing entrepreneurship is based on science, engineering
and technology. Zimbabwe’s chemical industry and the creation of companies in the
chemical industry is based on science, engineering and technology.

2.0 Technopreneurship
 Technopreneurship is basically entrepreneurship
 It is a niche of entrepreneurship
 Technopreneurship is technological entrepreneurship which includes innovations and
creativity in technology and their evolution from idea to "prototype".

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2.1 The History of Technopreneurship
Wainer and Roberts (1966) were the first authors to study entrepreneurship and technical
entrepreneurs.
 In their study they spoke about technical, not technological entrepreneurship, as we call
this type of entrepreneurship nowadays.
 Wainer and Roberts have defined technical entrepreneurs as individuals who have the
typical features of the entrepreneur but also have special features which allow them to
establish technical enterprises.
 Over the years many scholars have defined it in various but similar ways.
 Technopreneurship is also known as technological entrepreneurship. Hence, when we
talk about technological entrepreneurship we are referring to technopreneurship and vice
versa.

2.2 Understanding Technopreneurship

 Technopreneurship is the creation of new technical enterprises (technological

enterprises). It also includes revitalization of old technical companies. Such companies
would be in need of modern technologies. ZPC is one such company. The technologies
for the generation of thermal power from burning coal is now outdated. The company is
old.
 Nicholas and Armstrong (2003) have defined entrepreneurship as organization,
management and risk bearing of a technology based business
 It is simply entrepreneurship in a technology-intensive context.

 It is a process of merging technology prowess and entrepreneurial talent and skills, that is
Technology + Entrepreneurship = Technopreneurship.

 Technopreneurship is a combination between two individual concepts –

technology and entrepreneurship, which lead to recognition, discovery and even
creation of entrepreneurial opportunities for technological improvements.

 Technopreneurship is a combination of technology and entrepreneurship.

 It is technology innovator and business man rolled into one or better still
entrepreneurship which involves technology related activities.

 Technopreneurship is an investment in a project that assembles and deploys specialized

individuals and heterogeneous assets that are intricately related to advances in scientific
and technological knowledge for the purpose of creating and capturing value for a firm.

 Technopreneurship is innovative application of technical science and knowledge

individually or by a group of persons, who create and manage a business and take its
financial risks in order to achieve their goals and perspectives.

 Technically, engineers are well-qualified in many respects for this activity but
often lack the necessary business skills and entrepreneurial mentality. Engineers

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 possess high technical skills for technopreneurship but have very few skills in
business and in terms of entrepreneurial thinking.

 Technopreneurship is defined as a leadership style of business including identifying

extremely technological economic opportunities with high capacity for growth, collection
of resources like expert manpower and capital, rapid growth and remarkable risk
management by means of decision making skills.

 Technology based businesses and technopreneurs exploit opportunities from

major advancements in science and engineering to provide better products and
services for customers.

 Shane and Venkaraman (2003) defined Technopreneurship as the process by which

entrepreneurs assemble organisational resources and technical systems and the strategies
used by entrepreneurial firms to pursue opportunities.

 It is the innovative application of scientific and technical knowledge by one or several

persons who start and operate a business and assume financial risks to achieve their
vision and goals Shane and Venkaraman (2003).

 Technopreneurship encompasses all the activities related to;

 the identification of potential entrepreneurial opportunities arising from the

technological developments
 the exploitation of these opportunities through the successful commercialisation
of innovation products (goods/services)

 The term technopreneurship is used to describe entrepreneurs who combine

entrepreneurial skills with technology. They are viewed as “technology-based
entrepreneurs”, “technical entrepreneurs”, “high technology entrepreneurs”.

 Technopreneurship applies equally well to newly formed or established firms as

well as firms of any size.

 Technopreneurship is a latent concept that is placed in the core of many important

subjects and it includes some topics about setup and growth in enterprises, development
of regional economy, election of appropriate shareholders to acquire ideas for market and
training of managers, engineers, and scientists.

 Technopreneurship comprises identification of modern technologies and even creation of

technological opportunities by presentation of commercial products and services.
 Technopreneurship is to invest in a project that gathers and mobilizes expert members
with heterogeneous assets, which are related to advancement in scientific and
technological knowledge, in order to create and acquire value for an enterprise.

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  Technopreneurship is used equally in the newly formed and established enterprises and at
the same time to any extent technopreneurship is necessary for growth, discrimination
and competitive advantage in enterprises and at national level.

An Analysis of the definitions

 Technopreneurship is basically entrepreneurship.
 It is entrepreneurship that embraces technology.
 Technopreneurship can be undertaken by individual entrepreneurs, small firms, newly
formed and very large established organisations.
 It is based on the application of scientific knowledge and technology.
 It involves identifying entrepreneurial opportunities arising from developments in
technology, science and engineering.
 It involves organisation and management of resources and risk taking.
 Technopreneurship is premised on identification of technological and creation of
opportunities.
 It establishes technology-based enterprises/businesses.
 The general consensus on the concept is that it reflects an entrepreneur who combines
resources such as land, labour and capital to produce a product, make non-routine
decisions, be aggressively competitive, technologically innovative and bear risks.

2.3 The Nature of Technopreneurship

 Technopreneurship (Technology entrepreneurship) is a combination between two

individual concepts – technology and entrepreneurship.
 It is basically entrepreneurship which involves technology.

 Since technopreneurship is basically entrepreneurship it entails the identification and

exploitation of previously unexploited opportunities through the creation of new
resources or the combinations of existing resources in new ways to develop and
commercialize new products, move into new markets and/ or service new customers.

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  It is underpinned by recognition, discovery and even creation of entrepreneurial
opportunities for technological improvements.
 It involves the creation of a new technological enterprise.

 Technopreneurship is focused upon new technology and technological innovation as

major opportunity identified in organisations of different types where strategic
management and entrepreneurial teams determine and lead projects of research and
development, procurement and implementation of new technology.

2.4 The Technopreneurs and their characteristics

Technopreneurship entails discovering and even creating technological opportunities

through the presentation of commercial goods and services. Agricultural robots, often
known as agbots and robotic or driverless tractors are used for a variety of tasks,
including harvesting and watering. Agricultural engineering guarantees that farming is
carried out intelligently and efficiently.

2.4.1 Characteristics of technopreneurs

 A technopreneur is a person who uses available technology to alter the current economic
system.
 A technical entrepreneur introduces new product and service concepts to the market.
 Technopreneur
 He / she is person who destroys the existing economic order (creative destruction)
by introducing new products and services, by creating new forms of organization
and by exploiting new materials.
 Someone who perceives an opportunity and creates an organization to pursue it.
 A person who undertakes risks (by creating an enterprise or business) that has the
chance of profit or success.
 Technopreneurs distinguish themselves through their ability to accumulate and
manage knowledge as well as their ability to mobilize resources to achieve a
specified business or social goal.
 The technopreneur is a bold, imaginative, deviator from established business
method and practices who constantly seek the opportunity to commercialize new
products, technologies, processes and arrangements.
 The technopreneur distinguishes logic from tradition, tradition from prejudice,
prejudice from common sense and common sense from non-sense while
integrating a variety of ideas from diverse groups and disciplines.
 Technopreneurs are skilled in applied creativity, thrive in response to challenges
and looks for unconventional solutions. They experience challenges, creative
visions and then act to be part of the solution. They forge new paths and risk
failures, but persistently seek success.

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  Technopreneur is an entrepreneur who is technology savvy, creative, innovative,
dynamic, dares to be different and take the unexplored path, and very passionate
about their work. They take challenges and strive to lead their life with greater
success.
 They don't fear to fail. They take failure as a learning experience, a stimulator to
look things differently and stride for next challenge.
 Technopreneurship is not a product but a process of synthesis in engineering the
future of a person, an organization, a nation and the world.

2.4.2 Successful traits of technopreneurs

 Integrity
 Leadership
 Impatient: bias toward action (with analysis)
 Quick clock speed
 Modest ego. Seeks and accepts coaching
 Willing to be different, but knows it (not oblivious)
 Pragmatic: willing to compromise
 Rejoices in other’s victories
 Driven to solve a valuable problem for customers
 Strong entrepreneurial intensity
 Willingness to incur the costs of growth
 Willingness to use wide range of financing sources
 Emphasis on a team-based organizing structure
 Focus on innovation
 Committed to commercialization of technology discovery
 Excellent communication skills
 Understand the value of business principles
o Formation and execution of a sound business plan
o Raising of money
o Building an organizational team

Technopreneurship is a process through which individuals and teams bring together the
necessary resources to exploit opportunities and in doing so create wealth, social benefits and
prosperity.

2.5 Engineering entrepreneurship

2.5.1 Why engineers make great entrepreneurs

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Engineering students appear to be very well suited to become entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is
inherently ingrained within the engineering trade. Many influential companies have been
founded by engineers, including Rolls-Royce, Dyson, Intel, Oracle and Yahoo!, highlighting the
power of the discipline when seamlessly employed alongside core business ideals and principles.

 An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying

scientific knowledge, mathematics, and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical,
societal and commercial problems.
 In engineering students do not study entrepreneurships, they do entrepreneurship. They
create products and processes that people use. Together the combination of management
and engineering provide an ideal underpinning for entrepreneurship.
 Engineering as the discipline dealing with the art or science of applying scientific
knowledge to practical problems. It is defined as the applied science of acquiring and
applying knowledge to design, analysis, and/or construction of works for practical
purposes.
 Entrepreneurship is the technological, creative and innovative arm of engineering.
Entrepreneurship is an innovation in response to customer needs based on engineering
principles in a technological environment, thus it remains and engineering exercise.
Engineers do entrepreneurship.
 Technology is an engineer’s strong advantage. As the world charges towards a more tech-
savvy, technical knowledge is a prerequisite in most fields. Businesses have also become
technologically advanced, and engineers have the upper hand at being better
entrepreneurs with the technical skills they possess. This is one of the reasons why
engineers make great entrepreneurs.
 Creativity in the engineering world presents exciting opportunity to engineers to have the
propensity to engage in entrepreneurship.
 Engineers Can Solve Problems
The engineering field is filled with people who are trained to solve problems. New
businesses erupt when there is a need to bring something into the market that is missing.
Filling a void is perfect for someone who is capable of defining a problem. Engineers are
trained to think logically and to follow a methodology to uncover useful solutions. This is
how engineering bring value to consumers. This is the basis of a successful business
 Engineers are optimistic
The world can be a very pessimistic place, especially since the economy is not always in
a thriving position. People tend to be skeptical when it comes to starting something new
and undiscovered. Engineering courses teach people to persist in the face of difficulty.
An engineer always thinks positively and will persevere until a problem is solved. Even
though it may take time, an engineer will find an answer. This is a key part of beginning a
business. An entrepreneur must never give up and must continue to move forward in the
face of adversity. A person's mindset and approach can mean the difference between
success and failure.

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2.5.2 Reasons for engineers becoming entrepreneurs
 Independence & autonomy
Entrepreneurs are their own bosses. They make the decisions. They choose whom to do
business with and what work they will do. They decide what hours to work, as well as
what to pay and whether to take vacations.

 Income security & Financial success

Making money and wealth creation. Entrepreneurship offers a greater possibility of
achieving significant financial rewards than working for someone else. Financial
independence is believed to be constructed out of three separate factors: financial
security, larger income and increase chance of wealth. When you are an employee, the
paycheck you get comes after the company has covered expenses but when you run your
own business, all the money you make is headed your way. After covering operating
expenses and overheads (rent, staff, production costs, etc.) you determine how much to
pay yourself.

 Self-gratification
It is more gratifying to be an entrepreneur. Working for oneself is more than just a
paycheck. One is able to enjoy the fruits of their labor and is much more gratifying.
Setting your own course, working hard to achieve it and then seeing your vision realized
is something that is energizing each and every entrepreneur.

 Control one’s own destiny

Entrepreneurs are the captain of the ship so to speak. While employees are at the mercy
of CEOs, investors and a board of directors, business owners are in control of which
opportunities to pursue and ultimately how their lives will materialize in the future.

2.6 Discussion questions

1. With reference to renowned technopreneurs discuss the characteristic features of

technopreneurs.
2. Explain why engineering graduates in Zimbabwe’s universities should aspire to become
entrepreneurs.

3.0 Science, Engineering and Technology

 Technopreneurship exists when developments in science, engineering and technology

constitute a core element of the opportunity that enables the emergence of a business,
company, project, venture, market, cluster or industry.

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  Thus science, engineering and technology form the basis of technopreneurship. It follows
also that scientist, engineers and technologists are the creators of technical enterprises
and industries.
 Industrialisation which refers to development of industry is anchored on
technopreneurship.

3.1. Science

 What is science?
 Science can be thought of as both a body of knowledge (the things we have already
discovered), and the process of acquiring new knowledge (through observation and
experimentation, testing and hypothesizing.
 Science is knowledge attained through study or practice knowledge covering general
truths of the operation of general laws, esp. as obtained and tested through scientific
method [and] concerned with the physical world.
 Science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge. This system uses observation and
experimentation to describe and explain natural phenomena.
 Science help people understand themselves and the world, recognise how it works and
where we fit within it.

 It is the reasoned investigation or study of phenomena, aimed at discovering enduring

principles among elements of the phenomenal world by employing formal techniques
such as the scientific method.

 Science can be defined as the systematic and formulated knowledge.

 It provides us with information which was previously unknown and technology comes
from employing and manipulating science into concepts, processes and devices. These
can in turn be used to make our life or work more efficient, convenient and powerful.
 Hence, it is technology as an outgrowth of science that fuels the industrial engine. It is
engineers not scientists that make technology happen.

3.2 Forms of science

 Pure science
 Pure Science is a science that derives theories and predictions. Pure Science can
also known as natural Science, basic science or fundamental science.
 Pure sciences deal with the study of natural phenomena through observation,
experimentation and use of scientific methods.
 Pure science is often conducted in a laboratory. The main objective of pure
science is to increase information of a particular field of study and develop
scientific theories. Physics, Chemistry, biology and Mathematics etc are some of
the major streams pursued in Pure Sciences. Pure science is one of the most

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 interesting and research oriented fields. It plays a crucial role in innovation, new
discoveries and inventions. Pure science creates and establishes information to
understand nature. It describes the most basic objects, forces, relations between
them and laws governing them, such that all other phenomena may be in principle
derived from them following the logic of scientific reductionism.
 Studying pure sciences requires curiosity in the different phenomena that occur in
nature, creating theories and hypotheses about them, and finally testing and
validating them through experimentation and logic.
 Pure science, also called basic or fundamental science, has the goal of expanding
knowledge in a particular field, without consideration for the practical or
commercial uses of the knowledge. By contrast, applied science aims to use
scientific knowledge for practical applications, such as curing diseases and
developing sources of clean energy.
Most scientific knowledge taught in classrooms today is the result of the efforts of pure science.
Pure science seeks to develop and test theories about the biological and physical laws that govern
the world we live in. Instead of being driven by the impulse to solve a specific problem, pure
science is driven by curiosity and a desire to discover more about the natural world. The new
theories, knowledge, and ideas generated by pure science have the potential to alter the ways that
we understand the world around us, and our relationship to it. Basic research is conducted today
in every scientific field. Scientists can conduct medical research aimed at better understanding
how the body’s cells react to diseases such as cancers. Scientists can also conduct pure science in
order to better understand the structure of the human genome. Pure scientific research in these
fields can uncover knowledge that could have eventual significant practical applications.

 Applied science
 It uses knowledge gained through pure science in order to solve concrete
problems.
 When conducting applied science, researchers begin with a specific problem that
they would like to solve. Examples of applied sciences include medical sciences
such as medical microbiology and genetic epidemiology, and formal sciences
such as probability theory and statistics.
 Other examples include fluid mechanics, dynamics, kinematics, earth sciences,
engineering physics, and statistics.
 Researchers conducting applied science are constantly relying on knowledge
gained in their field by pure science research in order to solve real world
problems. The Human Genome Project is one example of the beneficial
relationship between pure science and applied science. In the project, researchers

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 mapped the human chromosome in order to understand precisely where each gene
is located. In order to accomplish this, researchers relied on decades of pure
research that had been conducted on the human genome. This foundation of pure
science research has enabled scientists to conduct applied research to find
treatments and cures for diseases by targeting specific genes.

 Examples of Sciences
 Material science
 Materials scientists investigate how materials perform and why they sometimes
fail. By understanding the structure of matter, from atomic scale to millimeter
scale, they invent new ways to combine chemical elements into materials with
unprecedented functional properties.
 Other branches of engineering rely heavily on materials scientists and engineers
for the advanced materials used to design and manufacture products such as safer
cars with better gas mileage, faster computers with larger hard drive capacities,
smaller electronics, threat-detecting sensors, renewable energy harvesting devices
and better medical devices.
 Material Science Engineering (MSE) is the field that leads in the discovery and
development of the stuff that makes everything we use today.
 Materials scientists even work in museums, helping to analyze, preserve and
restore artifacts and artwork.
 Materials science engineers explore materials' scientific fundamentals, design, and
processing for real-world applications. They apply the basic principles of
chemistry and physics to understand the structure and properties of materials.
 They design processes to manipulate materials to meet the needs of modern
technology. Materials make up everything around us.
 We work with a diverse set of materials ranging from metals, polymers, ceramics,
and composites. We apply them in various industries, including energy,
transportation, tissue engineering, drug delivery, construction, nanotechnology,
and more.
 We use a range of processes to make the materials from organic and polymer
synthesis, additive manufacturing, coating, evaporation, machine learning, and
beyond.
 Materials scientists work with diverse types of materials (e.g., metals, polymers,
ceramics, liquid crystals, composites) for a broad range of applications (e.g.,
energy, construction, electronics, biotechnology, nanotechnology) employing
modern processing and discovery principles (e.g., casting, additive
manufacturing, coating, evaporation, plasma and radiation processing, artificial
intelligence, and computer simulations).

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  Materials scientists and engineers are at the center of developing the next generation of
materials and material systems that power modern innovations. Materials scientists and
engineers develops devices to detect cancer in its early stages, inventing better batteries
for electric vehicles, creating plant-based materials, contributing to quantum computing
and much more.
 Materials scientists and engineers ask questions such as:
o How do we develop advanced materials to make structures such as aircraft and
automobiles stronger, cheaper, and more fuel-efficient?
o How can we create novel energy storage nanostructures to improve fuel cells,
batteries, super-capacitors and power grids?

 Technical companies created by Material scientists and Engineers

 Manufacturing companies
o Clean energy development, waste management.
o Medical devices, tissue engineering, health research and development
o Product development, materials manufacturing and processes, failure analysis and
3D printing.
o Airplanes, submarines, sporting goods and fabrics

 Environment science
 A scientific field that integrates physics, biology, geology, chemistry, meteorology, and
oceanography all in order to study the interactions between the physical, chemical, and
biological components that make up ecosystems. Environmental science should not be
confused with environmentalism which is a social movement. Though environmental
science has the intention of studying environmental systems in order to help solve
environmental problems.

3.3 Role of science

Experimenting covers a range of activities that could be an enquiry, a trial run, research, pilot,
trial, try-out, test of some new ideas or a new context where such ideas can be explored.
Experimentation can be a response to curiosity about certain phenomena, and result in certain
forms of behaviours. Experimenting is largely associated with purposive actions and activities,
often with clearly defined goals or objectives or puzzles to be solved. Experimenting requires
planning, imagination, learning from multiple iterations and persistence. Experimenting involves
learning. Learning refers to the cognitive processes by which individuals gain knowledge and
understanding of relations between and or among things.

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 Discoveries
o Discoveries in Agriculture
 Crosses of one variety or breed with another result in offspring that are genetically
modified.
 DNA can be manipulated, changed, modified or removed
 Segments of DNA that code genes for a specific characteristic can be selected and
individually recombined in another organism. The new organism is called a transgenic
organism.
 Identifying substances to treat disease
 Discoveries in Environment
 Some bacteria thrive on the chemical components of waste products
 Microbes can be induced to produce enzymes needed to convert plant and vegetable
materials into building blocks for biodegradable plastics.
 Discovery of naturally occurring substances
 Materials at the nanoscale have properties (i.e. mechanical, optical, chemical and
electrical, etc.) quite different than the bulk materials. Compared to bulk materials, it is
demonstrated that nanoparticles possess enhanced performance properties when they are
used in similar applications. Chemical reactivity, catalytic potential and physical
behavioural properties e.g. magnetic, optical are high in nanoparticles.

 Empirical evidence
 Science provides empirical evidence to support the development of innovations.
Empirical evidence is information acquired by observation or experimentation. Empirical
evidence is key to the scientific process.
 Empirical evidence includes measurements or data collected through direct observation
or experimentation. Scientists record and analyse this data. The process is a central part
of the scientific method. Experimentation in the natural sciences aims to produce
evidence that is universally applicable, value-free and disconnected from context.
Scientific innovations are based on experiment, measurement, observation and or sensory
experience. They are new products and processes whose development depended on the
scientific method.

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  It provides knowledge
Scientific knowledge is gathered through observations and experiments to either support
or disprove a specific theory.

4.0 Engineering

 Engineering is the goal-oriented process of designing and making tools and systems
to exploit natural phenomena for practical human means often but not always using
results and techniques from science.
 Engineering is the creative application of science, mathematical methods, and empirical
evidence to the innovation, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of
structures, machines, materials, devices systems, processes, and organization for the
benefit of humanity. The creative application of scientific principles to:
 design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works
utilizing them singly or in combination
 construct or operate the same with full cognizance of their design
 forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions.
 The application of scientific, economic, social, and practical knowledge in order to
invent, design, build, maintain, and improve structures, machines, devices, systems,
materials and processes.
 The discipline of engineering is extremely broad, and encompasses a range of more
specialized fields of engineering, each with a more specific emphasis on particular areas
of applied science, technology and types of application.

4.1 Forms of engineering

4.1.1 Materials engineering
It focuses on the synthesis of materials in useful quantities, and on the processing of
component materials into engineering products. Materials engineering draws heavily on
the fundamental knowledge gained from materials science, and adapts the processes
involved for the scale and requirements of the application.

4.1.2 Chemical engineering

 Chemical engineering can be defined as the set of processes and principles applied to
convert raw materials/chemicals into useful products such as clothes, drinks, paint, fuel,
etc. It uses principles of chemistry, biology and economics to efficiently use, produce,
design, transport and transform products, energy and materials.

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  Chemical engineering involves the production and manufacturing of products through
chemical processes. This includes designing equipment, systems, and processes for
refining raw materials and for mixing, compounding, and processing chemicals.
 Chemical engineers translate processes developed in the lab into practical applications for
the commercial production of products, and then work to maintain and improve those
processes. They rely on the main foundations of engineering: math, physics, and
chemistry. Biology also plays an increasingly important role.
 Chemical engineering is most often found in large-scale manufacturing plants, where the
goal is to maximize productivity and product quality while minimizing costs. The
aerospace, automotive, biomedical, electronic, environmental, medical, and military
industries use chemical engineering to develop and improve their technical products.

 Companies created from chemical engineering

 Chemical Engineering professionals are required by a number of industries across the
globe. Some of them are as follows: Chemicals manufacturing industries, Petroleum
industry, Food industry, Rubber industry, Textiles industry, Paper & Pulp industry,
Aerospace industry, Plastic industry, Cement industry, Public sector units and Fertilizer
industry.

4.1.3 Environmental engineering

 It is the branch of engineering that focuses on protecting the environment by reducing

waste and pollution. The field is dedicated to improving environmental conditions
through remediation. It deals with the design of technologies and processes that control
pollution releases and clean up existing contamination.
 Environmental engineers design, plan, and implement measures to prevent, control, or
remediate environmental hazards. They may work on waste treatment, wastewater
treatment, site remediation, or pollution control technology.

4.1.4 Mechatronics engineering

 It is an engineering field that includes many different disciplines including

computer, mechanic and electronic engineering.
 It focuses on both mechanical and electrical systems and may incorporate the use
of computer systems, robotics, control systems, electronics and
telecommunications. Mechatronics engineering is the design of computer-
controlled electromechanical systems. The essence of it is that the design of the
mechanical system must be performed together with the design of the
electrical/electronic and computer control aspects that together, comprise a
complete system.
 Some examples of mechatronic systems include: a CD or DVD player; a
computer hard disc drive; a fly-by-wire aircraft control system; and an anti-lock

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 braking system (ABS). Each of these products is essentially mechanical in nature,
but could not function without the integral design of the electrical and computer
control systems that are critical to their operation. While each of these products is
mechanical, they require computer and electrical control systems to function.

 Companies from mechatronics engineering

It creates manufacturing companies and industries. A mechatronics engineer may work in
industries that include robotics, manufacturing and aerospace. They work in a variety of
settings, including laboratories, offices, processing plants and global enterprises.

4.1.5 Agricultural engineering

 It is a discipline of science that develops, designs, improves, and constructs

agricultural equipment and technology for the benefit of those who labour in the
field.
 Agricultural engineers may be in charge of organizing, monitoring, and
controlling the construction of dairy effluent schemes, watering, sewage, and
flood water control mechanisms, as well as conducting environmental impact
assessments, agricultural product processing, and interpreting research
findings and putting them into practice. Agricultural engineering encompasses
the construction of dairy effluent schemes, irrigation, drainage, and flood water
control systems, as well as conducting environmental impact
assessments, agricultural product processing, and interpreting research
findings and putting them into practice.

4.1.6 Electrical Engineering

 It is the aspect of engineering that involves the study and application of

electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism.
 Electrical engineers work on electricity, and power generation and transmission.
 There are various opportunities that you can tap into as an electrical engineering
entrepreneur like building and installation of solar power generation equipment,
manufacturing of electrical control panel, electronic pump regulator production,
LED light production, recycling of electronic products, and electronics product
and components supply chain management.

4.2 The Role of engineering in technopreneurship

4.2.1 Engineering entrepreneurship

 Engineering entrepreneur

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  One who organizes, manages, and assumes the risk of an engineering and or
technology business enterprise.
 Engineering entrepreneurship ideas
o Engineering as a field can generate ideas that have the potential of being
profitable and generate wealth.
o There are a number of business ideas in the field of engineering which can be
embraced by engineers.
o Engineering is a discipline in which scientific knowledge and mathematics,
gained through study, experiment and practice are applied with intuition or
judgment to develop ways to use economically, the materials or forces of nature
for the benefit of mankind.
 Engineering entrepreneurs develop new products and services, or setting up a new
business area or a new start-up company
 Engineering entrepreneurship works to improve society, and not just for the benefit of the
local community, but the planet as a whole. Over the last few years, there’s been a rise in
developing sustainable innovative solutions, from e-mobility and new battery technology
for greener, more sustainable cities, to alternative energy sources and robotics for
sustainable mining technology. Without innovation in these areas, modern life wouldn’t
be possible.
 Engineering entrepreneurs are trained in innovation and are able to use their
entrepreneurial mindset to design, create and implement a favorable future economically,
socially and, especially, environmentally.
 Engineering entrepreneurship is the process of harnessing the different opportunities in
the field of engineering.
 Engineering entrepreneurship offers better management of the engineering resources so
that they can be properly utilized for wealth creation.
 Entrepreneurial marketing is needed to provide marketing expertise
 Engineering entrepreneurship involves management. Management is needed for proper
accounting practices, solid business operations, and administrative knowledge that will
nurture a technological idea into wealth.

5.0 Technology

 It is often a consequence of science and engineering although technology as a human

activity precedes the two fields. Science might study for example the flow of electrons in
electrical conductors by using already existing tools and knowledge to generate new
knowledge.
 This new-found knowledge may then be used by engineers to create new tools and
machines such as semiconductors, computers and other forms of advanced technology. In
this sense, scientists and engineers may both be considered technologists.

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 It is widely considered that technology is simply applied science. McConnel et al (2005)
define technology as the application of science and or is knowledge applied to products
or production processes.
 The word technology has been derived from Greek words “techne” meaning art or skill
and “logia.”
 It is a distinct term referring to the use and knowledge of humanity’s tools and
techniques. Technology is simply defined as applications of knowledge to human work.

 It can be defined as a body of knowledge used to create tools, develop skills, and extract
or collect materials.
 It is also the application of science to meet an objective or solve a problem (Molinero,
2012).
 The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the term technology as the practical application
of knowledge especially in a particular area and the capability given by the practical
application of knowledge.
 Technology can be both material and immaterial created by the application of mental and
physical effort in order to achieve some value. In this usage, technology refers to tools
and machines that may be used to solve real-world problems.
 It is a far reaching term that may include simple tools such as a crowbar or a wooden
spoon or complex machines such as computers, space station etc.
 Tools and machines need not necessarily be materials or tangible things. Virtual
technology, such as computer software and business methods fall under this definition of
technology.
 Rousseau and Cooke (1984), technology is knowledge and capabilities such as those
found in organizational members and machines, the techniques and procedures available
for transforming inputs into outputs and the processes or activities associated with the
application of these technologies.
 Robbins (1996) defined technology as how an organisation transforms its inputs such as
materials and information into outputs which are products and services.
 Technology can be both material and immaterial created by the application of mental and
physical effort in order to achieve some value. In this usage, technology refers to tools
and machines that may be used to solve real-world problems.
 Technology may be described as ‘the ensemble (that is something created from a number
of individual parts put together) of theoretical and practical knowledge, knowhow, skills
and artifacts that are used by the firm to develop, produce and deliver its products or
services. It can be embodied in people, materials, facilities, procedures and in physical
processes.
 Technology is a systematic application of physical forces for production of goods and
services. It is the knowledge, process, tools, methods and systems employed in the
creation of goods and in providing services.
 Technology is made up of the hardware, software and brain ware.
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  The hardware is the physical structure and logical layout of equipment and machinery.
The software is the knowledge of using the hardware to carry out the required tasks and
the brain ware is the reason for using technology in a particular way. All these depend on
the know-how of the human element and the environment in which s/he operates and
live.

5.1 Analysis of the Definition of Technology

 Technology is the result of man’s learned and acquired knowledge or his/her technical
skills regarding how to do things well, Khalil (2000). Technology is the knowledge of
manufacturing methods required to produce a given product. Cornwall (1977) defines
technology as a resource of knowledge relating principally to the production of goods and
services.
 Technology acquisition, use and maintenance are the major determining factors for
survival in all organisations. It is its lifeblood, but it could only occur through human
intervention.
 The technology of a firm includes a body of knowledge, skills and procedures and
physical manifestations such as tools and machines (Merrifield, 1983).
 High-tech (high technology) is technology that is at the cutting age. It is the most
advanced technology currently available.
 High tech is a descriptive term that refers to an industry that is heavily dependent on
recent laboratory discoveries. Manufacturing computers is a typical high-tech industry.
 There is no specific class of technology that is high tech. The definition shifts overtime so
products described as high tech in the 1960s would now be considered if not exactly low
tech then at least somewhat obsolete.
 Technology is not necessarily high-tech and indeed does not always have to be technical.
It is the application of knowledge to the practical aims of human life or to changing and
manipulating the human environment.
 Technology includes the use of materials, tools, techniques and sources of power to make
life easier or more pleasant or more productive.
 Environmental technology
 Any technology designed to control pollution, treat or store waste materials, or
cleanup contaminated sites. Wet scrubbers, soil washing, granulated activated
carbon unit and filtration are examples.

5.2 Role of technology in entrepreneurship / technopreneurship

 Technology creates opportunities
 Offer sources for innovation
 Technology is used for innovation
 Technology plays a fundamental role in enabling the transformation of resource inputs
into outputs. Innovation, by improving the efficiency with which inputs are converted to
outputs, is also an important driver of environmental performance improvement of

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 business. Such eco-efficiency improvements may be seen as a normal consequence of
general efficiency upgrading by business through incremental innovation, investment in
new capital and improved control of processes.

6.0 The Nexus between Science & Technology

Science and technology are separate spheres of knowledge but both man-made. Technology
appears not as derivative from science but as an autonomous body of knowledge, identifiably
different from the scientific knowledge with which it interacts. Technology is epistemically
distinct from science. It is applied science. Technology involves the application of scientific
knowledge. Science seeks basic understanding and technology seeks means for making and
doing things. Science concerns itself with what is and technology with what is to be.

Technical knowledge is the knowledge of techniques, methods and designs that work in certain
ways and with certain consequences, even when one cannot explain exactly why (Rosenberg,
1982). Others use technological practice to characterize tacit knowledge that is the implicit,
wordless, picture-less knowledge essential to engineering judgement and workers’ skills.
Successful implementation of new technologies requires detailed and specific knowledge about a
particular situation.

7.0 Discussion Question

1. Define the following terms and citing practical examples drawn from companies in
Zimbabwe, elucidate how they relate to technopreneurship in organisations;
(i) Science
(ii) Engineering
(iii) Technology
(iv) High-tech.
2. Explain entrepreneurship in electrical engineering.

3. With the aid of illustrative companies demonstrate the role of engineering in

technopreneurship.

4. With reference to entrepreneurs of your choice, what is an engineering entrepreneur?

8.0 Creativity & Technopreneurship

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  Creativity is a human activity which just happens to produce something new and
unique on particular occasions.

 It is the generation of ideas (business ideas about products, services, production

processes etc).

 Creativity is the ability to challenge assumptions, break boundaries, recognise

patterns, see in new ways, make new connections, take risks, and seize upon
chance when dealing with a problem.

 Ideas are not constrained to technology or products; essentially they should be

unbounded and apply equally to processes, organisation, management, market,
business model or operations.

9.0 Innovation & Technopreneurship

Innovation is defined in many different ways in the literature. There is no one single definition
and or meaning of the concept ‘innovation.’

 Innovation can broadly be described as the implementation of discoveries and

interventions and the process by which new outcomes whether products, systems or
processes, come into being (Gloet & Terziovski, 2004).

9.1 The Innovation process

 Concept development and testing

Concept development and testing is a crucial stage in the innovation process. It takes
place early on in the process and helps to identify key perceptions, user needs and wants
associated with the product or service.
 What is concept development?
Concept development involves coming up with a detailed description of an idea,
explained from the perspective of your customer. A concept typically highlights the best
features of the proposed solutions in terms of convenience, usability, quality,
functionality, performance, price, values, experience. When developing a new product or
service, it is common to work with a large number of concepts and only develop the
select few that show the most promise.

 What is a new product concept?

A new product concept is basically a blueprint for the idea. When developing a new
product concept, the innovator should:
 describe it from your customers' point of view
 list features and benefits of your product that may appeal to customers
 research and determine your target audience

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  conduct focus groups and thorough market research
 consider resources required for designing, manufacturing and delivering the
product
 Once you develop your product concept, you should test it rigorously with your
intended customers to determine its viability.

 What is concept testing?

Concept testing is a process that helps you assess the customer reaction to your proposed
product or service prior to introducing it to the market. It typically involves surveying
potential users for their opinions on the concept. For example, you may want to ask them:
 Are they interested in the product?
 How much do they like the product?
 How desirable do they find the product's features?
 What features do they like most/least?
 How well would the product compare to other brands or a similar product?
 What price point would they find appealing?
 What would they like to change about the product?
 The innovator may present several different concepts to determine which ones the
customers find most desirable.
 Benefits of concept development and testing
 Developing a product concept may take time, but it is extremely important for the
success of your project to define your concept clearly, test it rigorously and avoid
making assumptions about the product's feasibility.

 Concept testing helps to evaluate objectively which product ideas are likely to yield the
best results. It may also help you to:
 estimate the concept market potential
 prove the viability of the concept
 eliminate poor concepts
 identify features that customers find most desirable
 develop and further test your prototypes
 segment your potential customer base
 identify the appropriate price point and position for your product
 estimate sales and potential return on investment

9.2 Role of science, engineering and technology in innovation

9.2.1 Scientific disciplines from the 4 basic hard sciences
 The four basic natural science
They are commonly known as the hard sciences. These are Physics, Chemistry, Biology
and Mathematics. This category comprises scientific disciplines that have developed

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 from combinations of the basic natural sciences. Examples include biochemistry,
biophysics, bioengineering, biomechanics etc.
9.2.1.1 Biomimetics
 It is the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or
take inspiration from in order to solve human problems.
 Similar terms include bionics. The term biomimicry or imitation of nature is defined as
copying or adaptation or derivation from biology.
 The term bionics was first introduced in 1960 by Steele as the science of systems which
has some function copied from nature or which represents characteristics of natural
systems or their analogues.
 The term biomimetics was introduced by Schmitt and is derived from bios, meaning life
(Greek) and mimesis meaning to imitate.
 This new science is based on the belief that nature follows the path of least resistance
(least expenditure of energy) while often using the most common materials to accomplish
a task.
 Biomimetics ideally is the process of incorporating principles that promote sustainability
much like nature does from cradle to grave from raw material usage to recyclability all in
this physical world.
 Biomimetic material chemistry also refers to as bio-inspired chemistry which is an
important diverse field such as bio-ceramic, bio-sensing, biomedical engineering, bio-
nanotechnology and biologically driven self-assembly.
 Consider these technological innovations: aeroplanes, construction vehicles for JCBs,
forklifts,
 A case in point is the adapting of ideas from biology that involve copying the complete
appearance and function of specific creatures to manufacture products. Examples include
electro-mechaised toys like dogs that walk and bark
 Flying was imitated from birds using human-developed capabilities as in aircraft
technology.
 Artificial fibres and materials such as cloth, leather and wool have been imitated from
biological structures
 Structural designs & shape. Numerous technological innovations have been developed
from scientific ideas and imitations from biological designs.
 Plants also offer ideas for imitation. In addition to their familiar characteristics some
plants exhibit actuation capabilities.
 Such plants include mimosa and sensitive fern (onoclea sensibilis) that bend their leaves
when touched.
 There are also bug-eating plants with a leaf-derived trap that closes the ‘door’ locking
unsuspecting bugs that enter the cage and become prey.
 The sunflower tracks the sun’s direction throughout the day to maximize exposure to its
light. Understanding the mechanism that drives this capability as locally controlled
actuators offers potentially effective new motors.
 Human body System offers scientific ideas and imitations to be made in technological
innovation. Many engineering systems with multifunctional materials and structures are
developed emulating the capability of biological systems such as the human body.

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  Skeleton and bones: Structure and support struts of many technological innovations
involve adapting ideas from skeleton and bones. Support structures are part of every man-
made system.
 Senses: Sensors such as computer vision, artificial vision, radar, and other proximity
detectors all have direct biological analogies. However, at their best, the capability of the
man-made sensors is nowhere near as good as biosensors.

 Innovations in material science

 Innovations in materials science and engineering lead to improved materials and
solutions to technological, societal, and environmental problems. 

9.3 Engineering and Innovation

 Engineers must use engineering ideas in novel ways to overcome these
difficulties.
Study Questions
1. Using examples of technological innovations from the transport, water, manufacturing
and agricultural industry sectors discuss how biomimetics has contributed to scientific
and technological innovation development.

2. Demonstrate how engineering is used in innovation

10.0 Corporate entrepreneurship & corporate technopreneurship

10.1 Corporate entrepreneurship

 It is defined as entrepreneurship within an existing organisation, including emergent

behavioural intentions and behaviours of an organisation related to departure from the
customary which can have several characteristic dimensions such as new business
venturing, product/service innovation, process innovation, self-renewal, risk-taking,
proactiveness and competitive aggressiveness.

 Corporate entrepreneurship refers to the process of organizational renewal through

innovation and corporate venturing, as well as activities that enhance a corporation’s
ability to compete and take risks, which may or may not involve the addition of new
businesses to a corporation.

 In essence, corporate entrepreneurship takes place within established organizations while

“independent” entrepreneurship takes place within new firms.
 Corporate entrepreneurship is an attempt to take both the mindset and skill set
demonstrated by successful start-up entrepreneurs and inculcate these characteristics into
the cultures and activities of a large company.

10.2 Corporate Technopreneurship

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  Corporate technopreneurship is defined as a process within an existing organisation in
which a technopreneur or a group of technopreneurs establish and manage an enterprise
based on research, development, innovation and technology.

 It is a process that involves taking risks.

 Technopreneurs (Technological entrepreneurs) generally have broad technical

knowledge, but they often lack the necessary business savvy to make the new
technological company a success.

 It is a field of expertise and relatively high financial input.

 Because a large field of expertise and a relatively high financial input are needed
when the company is established and when it starts growing, a number of other
experts from the technological entrepreneur’s business networks and outside
institutions should also be present during these processes.

 Corporate technopreneurship is an intra- organizational process in which a technological

entrepreneur (technopreneurs) or group of them (technopreneurs) create and manage an
enterprise by research, development, innovation, and technology where this process is
followed by venture (risk taking).

 Generally, technological entrepreneurs (technopreneurs) possess high

technological knowledge but they are deprived from necessary skills of business,
management for survival, and achievement in technological enterprises since it is
requires a lot of financial experiences and data when an enterprise is established.
When the enterprise grows, it needs to employ other experts from technological
entrepreneurs’ networks as well as other institutions during this process.

 Corporate technopreneurship may include production techniques and new

procedures.
 Corporate technopreneurship process is mainly related to technological
innovations where technology may be utilized as a system of theoretical and
operational knowledge and skills by enterprises for development, production, and
delivery of their products and services so that it could be defined and embodied in
personnel, materials, facilities, equipment, and physical procedures and processes.

 Corporate technopreneurship as a process inside an organization in which technological

entrepreneurs or some groups of them tend to establish and manage R&D, innovation and
technology-based enterprises that are followed by risk.
 In general from their viewpoint, technological entrepreneurs (technopreneurs)
possess a lot of technical knowledge but they lack entrepreneurial skills
necessary for management, duration, and success in organizations and this has
led to reduced efficiency in technology base organizations and enterprises.
10.3 Analysis of definitions on corporate entrepreneurship

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  It is still entrepreneurship
 It is entrepreneurship inside an existing established organisation
 It is premised on identification, discovery and or creation of technological
economic opportunities.
 It embraces technological innovation
 It involves risk taking, uncertainty and ambiguity.
 It is based on leveraging the latest scientific discoveries, engineering and
technology.
 It requires a cadre of technopreneurs inside an organisation.
 It establishes technology-based organisations within an organisation- corporate
venturing
10.4 Ecopreneurship
 It is still entrepreneurship.
 It is also referred to as green entrepreneurship or environmental entrepreneurship.

 The development of ecopreneurship is as a result of a growing emphasis on

environmental sustainability which gained momentum in the business
environment.
 This trend has created a full range of opportunities for entrepreneurs from
creating green-technology, using technology to promote environmental
sustainability (e.g. energy management) to simply make the existing business
more environmentally friendly to take advantage of the benefits.

 An ecopreneur is an environmental entrepreneur.

 A person who is determined not only by the possibility of making profits, but is
also determined by environmental issues.
 He/She wants to make the world a better place by improving, or at least protect
the environment.
 The terms environmental entrepreneurship, ecological entrepreneurship and
ecopreneurship are used synonymously to mean innovative behavior of
individuals and organizations operating in the private business sector, which see
environmental issues as a central objective and competitive advantage.

27
  The ecopreneurs identify environmental innovations and their market opportunity
and successfully transform these innovations into new products or services.

 Ecopreneurship is not only limited to singular actors, as founders of

organizations focused on environmental medium or intrapreneurs, operating in an
existing organization it also includes ecopreneurial organizations, organizations
which act ecopreneurially and encourages the environmental intrapreneurs and
ecopreneurs within themselves. Hence, corporate ecopreneurship.

10.5 Ecotechnopreneurship
 It is technological ecopreneurship.
 Ecopreneurship that embraces technology, hence ecotechnopreneurship.

 The term ecotechnopreneurship (technological ecopreneurship) embodies ecological or

Green Entrepreneurship and Technological Entrepreneurship.

 An example of eco-technological entrepreneurship is a power distribution company

which owns and operates the electricity transmission technology required, yet it must also
comply with standards, terms of keeping a clean, unpolluted and ecological environment.

 In all fields of business, the latest technology is required, even for the purpose of
protecting, preserving and improving the environment, (Ecopreneurship).

 It is said that the Universe is based on the harmony that exists between all its
components. The universe requires environmentally friendly entrepreneurial activities.

 The harmony between environment, technology and entrepreneurs results in

technopreneurship (technological ecopreneurship).

 The formula of harmony has not yet been discovered, but instead we know some of its
basic elements: the resources of all kinds, latest technology, nature of entrepreneur and
more. These factors have as a result the creation of value and it gives the performance
that is required.

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  Innovations from the technological domain can be used for promoting environmentally
friendly entrepreneurship. This is the essence of ecotechnopreneurship.

10.5.1 Elements of ecotechnopreneurship

The ecotechnopreneurship conceptual model depicts the elements of ecotechnopreneurship.
These include;
 The environment
 Resources – of all kinds
 The entrepreneur- who is technology savvy
 Organisations- that promote green entrepreneurship and believe in value creation in
ecoentrepreneurship
 Society
 Technology- latest technology (high-tech)

10.6 Discussion questions

1. Examine the ecotechnopreneurship opportunities existing in most of Zimbabwe’s towns

and cities and elaborate how engineering can exploit them to create long-term value to
the Zimbabwean economy through technology and innovation.

2. Citing practical examples demonstrate the role of science and engineering in

ecotechnopreneurship.

3. Using practical examples evaluate the relevance of ecotechnopreneurship to

organisations.

4. Citing practical examples argue cases for organisations in Industry and Commerce to go
ecotechnopreneurial in Zimbabwe.

11.0 Critical Success Factors of Corporate Technopreneurship

There are three sets of factors that can drive corporate technopreneurship. These are;
 Institutional factors
 Organisational factors
 External network, Petti and Zhang (2011)

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 Organisational Factors
They include the following;
 Organisational resources
 Organisational infrastructure
 Organisational strategy
 Organisational management
 Knowledge management
 Organisational processes
 Organisational history and culture

 Organisational resources
 The presence of organizational technology plays an essential role in development of
corporate entrepreneurship in active enterprises. Financial and investment sources in
active enterprises are some of the needed infrastructures for corporate technopreneurship.

 Organisational Infrastructure
 Soft infrastructures including technology, space, and hard infrastructures comprise of
places, R&D, and areas which seem necessary for development of corporate
entrepreneurship.

 Organisational Strategy
 Development strategy for new product and strategy of investment in corporate
technopreneurship are effective success factors.
 Market strategy and business strategy along with presentation on technopreneurship
Business Model effect on active enterprises.

 Organisational Management
 The knowledgeable management for commercialization and entrepreneurship process
along with industrial experience in corporate technopreneurship process plays a vital role
in technopreneurship programme.

 Knowledge Management
 The presence of management for creation and distribution of knowledge inside an
organization and its utilization and storage is highly important in corporate
technopreneurship.

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  Organisational Process
 The existing certain processes including R&D process in corporate technopreneurship
and development process of new product may encourage personnel to technopreneurship.

 Organisational internal networks

 The specialized social networks and social virtual networks may be effective in
accelerating corporate entrepreneurship and corporate technopreneurship.
 Organisational History and Culture
 Despite of organizational experience in technopreneurship field, the supportive
organizational policies and social capital of technopreneurship will have better
performance in technopreneurial programmes.

 External Factors These include the following;

 Government
 Market
 Capital
 Organisations and enterprises
 Intellectual ownership registration organisations
 Standard and license issuing organisations Networks

Government
 If some needed conditions and facilities are provided and the supportive role is played
including customs and taxation rules for entrepreneurs and domestic products so as to
reduce creation of risk for the new enterprise then corporate technopreneurship will be
increased particularly in manufacturing of new products and establishing new enterprises
by entrepreneurs, researchers and technological practitioners.
Market
 International transactions, technology attraction coefficient and market demand regarding
new products in foreign market size, and distribution networks with market
infrastructures and complementary technologies are considered as important and
determinant factor in corporate technopreneurship.

Capital
 The presence of venture investors and the existing investment supportive fund as well as
the rate of foreign investors’ desire in plans and facilitation in burrow loan to
technological manufacturers may play essential role in technopreneurship and creation of
new enterprises.

Organisations and enterprises

 Providers for raw materials, laboratory equipments, customer corporate and public and
private organizations and Ministry of Industries have influence on corporate
technopreneurship. In Zimbabwe consider the Ministry of ICT and those organisations
that provide technological services.

Intellectual Property registration organisations

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  Intellectual ownership and trade brands and signs registration organization and
international patent institutions make it possible to issue license(s) for commercialization
of new products and or processes which are some effective factors on corporate
technopreneurship.

Standard and license Issuing organisations

 National organization for issuance of permission whether public or private are some of
effective and very important factors on growing corporate technopreneurship.

Networks
Laboratory networks and clusters and associations of technology are one of the crucial factors in
corporate technopreneurship.

Technological Factors
These include the following;
 Technological readiness level
 Type of technology

Technological Readiness Level

 High- Technology absorption factor is one of the effective factors on corporate
technopreneurship.

 There are several TRL from idea to mass production and marketing level that effect on
technopreneurship process.

Type of technology
 It is important that technology has low, medium or high tech. level for technological part
of firms.

Individual factors
These include the following;
 Demographic features
 Researcher’s experience and knowledge
 Psychological features
 Entrepreneur’s motives
 Technologist personal network
 Individual skills

Demographic features
Financial solvency and age of researcher play important role in creation of innovation and
development of technopreneurship in enterprise. Gender of researcher is evaluated as important
in corporate technopreneurship in some forms of business and most of technologists are males so
factors of age and educations are effective.

Researcher’s experience and Knowledge

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  Knowledge and lack of knowledge in technology regarding processes and trends may
highly affect corporate technopreneurship activities.

 Knowledge and experience of technologist and his/ her knowledge and lack of knowledge
about processes and trends and the fact that if researcher was active in commercialization
by taking a certain strategy may highly influence in technopreneurship.

Psychological Features
 A person who never be disappointed in the case of failure and he/ she has an attribute to
seek for success and never assign his/ her affairs to determined fate while possessing self-
reliance at high level so such a person may succeed in this sense.

Entrepreneur’s Motive

 The researcher, who likes to be his/ her own boss, tends to corporate technopreneurship
in nanotechnology field and creation of new enterprise.

 Desire to seeking and acquiring wealth in technologist and creation of interior capacity
for bearing and taking risk may contribute technologist in commercialization of product
and corporate technopreneurship.

Technologist personal network

 The researcher, who has access to investor for commercialization of findings of his/ her
studies and to provider for the needed raw materials to commercialize research finding
and or identifies customers of his/ her commercialized product may be more involved in
commercialization activity of creation of new enterprise.

Individual skills
 Characteristics and ability of perceiving new concepts and creation of team work spirit in
technologist and possessing leadership features are some of effective features on
corporate technopreneurship.

 Institutional Factors
These include;
 Academic institutions
 Guilds institutes
 Counselling centres
 Financial sponsors institutes for technological development
 Associations and syndicates

Academic Institutes
 Public and private universities, Science & Technological Parks and academic researches
centers for improving corporate technopreneurship regarding design and development of
new product as well as growth centers may be effective factors in this sense.

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Guilds institutes

 Existence of educational and research institutes, science- technology headquarters and

setup science- technology centers in science and technology parks may effect on
nanotechnology corporate technological entrepreneurship process.

Counselling centres

 Entrepreneurship clinics and industrial counseling clinics if they exist may increase
commercialization probability and establishment of new enterprises in nanotechnology.

Financial sponsors institutes for technological development

 The subject of capital and financial support is one of the important in design and
development of new product in corporate technopreneurship especially in which certain
laboratory instruments are used where supportive fund for researchers and supporting
fund for investment are some of these factors.
Associations and syndicates
Employer- employee guild associations, professors’ scientific mobilization (BASIJ), NGOs
are some effective factors on corporate technopreneurship.

12.0 Technopreneurship Ecosystem

 Businesses operate in a broader network of related businesses offering particular products
or services. This is known as a business ecosystem - a network of interlinked companies,
such as suppliers and distributors, who interact with each other, primarily complementing
or supplying key components of the value propositions (benefits for customers) within
their products or services.

 Any system of interconnecting and interacting parts, as in a business. Manufacturers,

retailers, and customers are all part of the automotive industry’s ecosystem

 The Technoprenuership Ecosystem is made up of the following;

 Human resource
 Environment
 Laws and policies
 Financial Resource (HELF).

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 The
Environment

The Human Techno- Laws and

Resource venture Policies

Financial
Component

 Human resource
 Resource - Thinker, Idea Generator, Innovator
 Developer – Implementers, Technical people
 Marketing people
 The Human Resource Component
For a technopreneurial venture to start, grow and succeed, it must have the
required resources, environment and support. The Human resource components
consists of researchers that involve the thinker, the idea generator and the
innovator, developers that involves implementers and technical people; marketing
which involves advertising and selling; and the financiers which provide the
money for the business. Human capital is the knowledge and skills of the firm’s
entire workforce. Human capital is the individual capabilities, knowledge, skill,
and experience of the company’s employees and managers, as they are relevant to
the task at hand, as well as the capacity to add to this reservoir of knowledge,
skills, and experience through individual learning.

 Environment
This include:
 Science Parks
 Incubation Centers
 Technoparks/Technopoles
 Academic Institutions
 R&D Centers
 Internet Access
 Communication and other support services
 Geographic accessibility
 Venture mentoring services
The second composition of a technopreneurship ecosystem is the Environment component. This
consists of science parks that involve the initial presentation of a product and viewing of the
products. It also includes the incubation centers, the academic institutions, research and

35
development centers, internet access, communication and other support services, and of
geographic accessibility or the location. One good example of the environment component are
the incubation hubs. Incubation hubs are programs that provide incubation services to assist
technology start-ups in their vulnerable stages, enabling them to grow and flourish. It supports
office space and facilities, technical and management assistance, promotion and development
assistance, business support and financial aid package.

 Laws and policies

 Intellectual Property Rights
 Technology Licensing Office
 Legal Services
Technopreneurs frequently create valuable new intellectual property, and they want this property
to be protected from imitators. Next are the laws and policies. This component involves the rules
and regulations provided by the authorities such as intellectual property rights, legal services
about technopreneurship, the licensing of technology.

 Financial resources
 Venture Capitalists and Investors
 Business Sectors
 Funding Agencies
 Financial Services eg Accounting

The fourth and last component of a technopreneurship ecosystem is the financial resource
component. It involves the investors, business sectors, funding agencies, financial services and
all possible sectors that can give technopreneurs assistance in financing your business.

To start the ball rolling, first there should be an innovate idea. A person can get the clues either
by active search, by chance, or based on your present employment or experience. Next, is
triggering event which could be your career prospects and deliberate choices. After that is the
implementation which you might need some amount of money. For this you can find several
ways to do this such as: Tapping Family and Friends is tapping personal ties to raise cash for a
company that’s either too new or too small to get financing elsewhere is an age-old formula that
still makes sense. Blood money is hitting up family and friends are the most common way to
finance a start-up. It’s also the riskiest. Borrowing it is avoiding problems with family and
friends, when entrepreneurs borrow start-up capital from family members or friends, it is best to
prepare for the worst – before it happens.

12.1 Key Elements of Technopreneurship

There are seven key elements of technopreneurship that are linked to a new technology-based
firm. They are part of the technopreneurship ecosystem.
 technopreneur
 universities
 Corporations
 Capital

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 market/customers
 Government
 Advisors

 Technopreneur
 The technopreneur is an acknowledged key catalyst in the process of industrial formation
and growth.
 There is usually more than one technopreneur involved in the process of establishing a
new technology-based firm.
 Usually technopreneurs have different knowledge, skills and other characteristics than
non-technopreneurs.
 They have sufficient technical knowledge but they lack business skills necessary for
success.
 Because technopreneurs usually lack the necessary knowledge of entrepreneurship, all
technical universities should also include some entrepreneurial courses.

 Universities
There are three important roles of universities linked to new technology based firms:
 an educational role
 a role in establishing new high-tech companies with university based research and
development, university spin-offs and university incubators, and
 a role in cooperating with high-tech companies (clusters, technology parks and so on).

 Universities and other higher education institutions are an important source of new
scientific knowledge both technical and entrepreneurial.
 To ensure that technopreneurs will have a higher probability of success in
establishing a new technology-based firm, technical faculties have to cooperate
with business faculties to train future technical entrepreneurs.

 Research-oriented institutions of higher learning are the seedbeds for scientific

breakthroughs and technological innovation.
 That is why university spin-offs and university incubators are extremely
important. The term ‘spin-off’ means a new company that arises from a parent
organization. Typically, an employee (or employees) leaves the parent
organization, taking along a technology that serves as the entry ticket for the new
company in a high-technology industry.

 Spin-offs are also known as ‘start-ups’ and ‘spinouts’ An important factor in the
success of a spin-off company is the degree of support that it receives from its
parent organization, in the case of universities usually within university
incubators.

 The creation of a university incubator is aimed at promoting venture creation

among students and employees.

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  It provides entrepreneurs with the expertise, networks and tools they need to make
their ventures successful.

 Incubation is defined (NBIA, 2005) as a business support process that accelerates

the successful development of start-up and fledgling companies by providing
entrepreneurs with an array of target resources and services.

 These services are usually developed or orchestrated by incubator management

and offered both in the incubator and through its network of contacts.

 An incubator’s main goal is to produce successful firms that will leave the
programme financially viable and freestanding. These incubator graduates have
the potential to create jobs, revitalize neighbourhoods, commercialize new
technologies and strengthen local and national economies.

 The collaboration between universities, research centres, corporations, small and medium
enterprises and new technology-based firms, as well as the interrelationship between
them, is a fundamental tenet of success of new technology-based firms in the global
market.

 Technological parks

 The main intention of technological parks is to ensure an interconnected environment,

which accelerates interaction between resources, ideas, people and equipment.
 This occurs between companies and big research organizations, for instance a
university such as CUT and SIRDC.
 Technological parks, together with the university, the government, local
authorities and the business environment, incubate small companies and offer
them consulting, educational and administrative support and infrastructure. They
also connect diverse knowledge as well as external and internal experts in science
and business.
 In doing so, they manage to create a favourable environment for the development
of entrepreneurial ideas. Moreover, the credibility of the parks helps ensure
sources and, on the other hand, domestic and international business contacts. In
this manner technological parks help companies on their road to independence or
even internationalization, which is the goal of the majority of promising
technological companies.
 A technological park is a modern way of gaining new technological knowledge
and consolidating the existing information organizational and structural levels. It
offers an all-round solution where technology centres operate side by side with
established middle-sized and small companies.

 The importance of parks at the world level is demonstrated by cases in which the
government, districts, cities, major companies, universities, banks and so on
contribute to their formation with non-refundable resources such as property, real
estate and money.

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  Technological parks are established on the basis of clearly expressed interests
between economic firms, public research centres and other partners.

 They are most often a combination of research and business interests.

 The goals of technological parks are;

(a) to establish technologically innovative companies which are guaranteed solid

infrastructure and favourable working conditions due to the informational and
consulting services.

(b) to connect science with industrial usage and other fields

(c) to develop regional economies by retaining and incorporating skilled workers

as well as to create appealing and creative jobs.

(d) to provide consulting services and establish new technologies. The services
offered by technological parks can vary. However, the most frequent ones are as
follows

 What services do technological parks offer?

The services offered by technological parks can vary. The most frequent ones are as
follows.
 Co-financing of business premises
Because of funding provided by the government, other institutions and companies, the
amount of rent for the business premises and other resources is lower than the market
price for the companies included in the technological park, at least for the first few years.
The duration and amount of financial help depend on the policies of each technological
park; however, the funding usually decreases with each year. In this manner the
companies can gradually adapt to the market conditions.

 Prestige
The companies included in an established technological park enjoy special renown which
similar companies not included in the park do not. This is especially important when it
comes to conducting business deals, raising extra funding (creditworthiness with
financial institutions) and seeking help at university centres.
 Possibility of informal contacts
Owing to the concentration of high-tech companies, a technological park offers ideal
conditions for establishing informal contacts (common areas for socializing) and
cooperation with research institutions.

 General and administrative services

Companies within a park may use common administrative and secretarial services,
courier service and photocopying. They may also rent the same conference and
teleconference halls as well as telephones, fax machines, photocopiers and other similar
equipment.

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 Consulting services
Different kinds of training and consulting are organized by the management of the park,
external experts and sometimes even companies in the park. Consulting usually consists
of the initial help with forming a business plan, preparing documentation necessary for
the granting of funds, advising on legal and financial matters, insurance, marketing,
human resources and so on.

The companies in a technological park have access to various information bases, libraries
and other documentation. Technological parks also organize national and international
meetings for high-tech companies.

 Entrepreneurial training
Most entrepreneurs do not possess an in-depth knowledge of finance, accounting,
marketing, legislation and the rest, because they are focused primarily on the
technological aspect of business. Training is therefore intended for companies in a
technological park and its surroundings and can be co-financed by the government.

 Funds
Companies operating within a technological park must provide funds for the equipment
and the current expenses themselves. The experts employed by the technological park can
provide help with raising the funds by obtaining guarantees, bank capital, subsidies and
other types of help. As a rule technological parks do not invest their own funds into the
companies.

 Technological parks are an especially effective strategy for universities to diversify and at
the same time retain their connection with the entrepreneurial world.

 The ways of expressing this connection are the following;

 Professors and researchers can expand their network of technological support.
 If they manage to attract high-tech companies into their technological park, they can use
them to establish a broad enough network of research and solutions which successfully
meet the needs of big companies.
 An additional advantage is the close link with the students, which is another important
reason why a technological park should be associated with the university.
 The university can use technological parks to establish its connections with companies as
well as commercial and economic worlds and ensure for its employees the realization of
their ideas, skills and research. Their ideas and solutions can be marketed with the
formation of their own company or, as is more often the case, by establishing a
partnership with another company.

 The latter often contributes to the development in a certain area.

 Spatial proximity of the university and the companies means that the technological park
uses the university’s infrastructure.

40
 In the event that these two locations are displaced, it is impossible to establish such a
close collaboration. Cooperation with the companies in the technology centre accelerates
the development of academic curriculum and training adjusted to the entrepreneurial
needs.
 The university establishes competitive advantages over other universities, as it offers its
students support in the realization of their entrepreneurial ideas and the transfer of their
theoretical knowledge into practice.

 Corporations/Companies

 On one side corporations have a very important role in new business ventures and on the
other side intrapreneurship ‘is viewed as being beneficial for revitalization and
performance of corporations.
 Intrapreneurship is usually based on corporate research and development. It is an attempt
to take the mindset and behaviour that external entrepreneurs use to create and build
businesses, and bring these characteristics to bear inside an existing and usually large
corporate setting.
 Start-up entrepreneurs are often credited with being able to recognize and capture
opportunities that others have either not seen or not thought worth pursuing. Companies
wishing to spur innovation and find new market opportunities are most often interested in
trying to inculcate some of these entrepreneurial values into their culture by creating
‘intrapreneurs’.
 Based on intrapreneurship, corporate spin-offs are established.
 Spin-offs are new business formations based on the business ideas developed within the
parent firm being taken into an autonomous firm.
 Usually, if an establishment of a new firm is initiated by a corporation, the corporation is
also an important source of capital.

 Capital
 The manner in which a business is financed depends on-
(a) The type of company established by the entrepreneur
(b) Its creditworthiness
(c) The entrepreneur’s inclination towards risk taking and
(d) The various possibilities of access to the equity or the debtor funds and the conditions
inherent therein.
 A company obtains equity in various ways, depending on the stage of its development.
 When a company is established, it is usually the entrepreneurs and their families who
invest in it. This type of equity usually encourages the entrepreneur–owner to do
everything in his/her power for the company to operate successfully.
 In the next stages a company may obtain equity in a number of ways and from different
sources, which depend on the one hand on the organizational structure of the company
and on the other hand on the entrepreneurial capabilities or incapabilities of the
company.

41
 In equity financing the investor obtains the ownership share of the company. The
advantage of this kind of financing is that the entrepreneur is not liable for the funds
obtained with the funds of the company since repaying the investor depends on the profit
of the company. The down side of equity financing is that it leads to a loss in control
over the company, as the entrepreneur gives not only the ownership share of the
company to the investor, but also a proportionate right in controlling the company’s
management.

 Technopreneurs can acquire some of the required capital for establishing a new
technology-based firm from friends, relatives or acquaintances, but that is not enough
especially if they want to grow to a significant degree, they will need outside capital.

 Most important sources of outside capital for technopreneurs are corporations (for their
corporate spin-offs), venture capitalist, angels, public stocks, government grants and
banks.

 One of the most common ways of financing new technological companies is venture
capital. A venture capitalist invests capital in certain companies on behalf of the
investors. In return for the invested capital he receives ordinary shares, preference shares
and fungible bonds.

 The returns from the company’s growth are realized with the sale of the equity share.
The institutional investors, banks, pension funds, insurance companies and the
government can all form funds. At the same time there can be independent funds
which are managed by professional teams of venture capitalists.

 Investors in a venture capital fund expect their investment to increase in the long term.
The average life expectancy of a fund is approximately ten years. In that time the
investors should get their stakes back along with the realized returns. Good venture
capitalists should
(a) master different technologies
(b) be a successful manager
(c) assume responsibility for the company’s returns
(d) assess the managerial and leadership qualities of the entrepreneurs and employees,
(e) be persistent
(f) have a good sense of judgement
(g) know how to deal with the changes in technology and markets
(h) have an expert knowledge of market conditions

 Besides equity financing, new technological companies can also apply for debt financing.
However, this kind of financing is normally quite limited at first since the entrepreneurs
of small companies usually do not have enough high-quality guarantees for the bank to
grant them long-term loans, despite the fact that their projects are viewed positively.

 In debt financing, the entrepreneur assumes the responsibility of paying off the principal
and the corresponding interest. The advantage of debt financing is that the entrepreneur

42
 does not have to pay the whole sum at once, but postpones some payments for a future
time. Also, the investor does not own a part of the company or have any control over it.
The down side is that the entrepreneur must assume the responsibility of paying the debt
off in the future – an obligation which does not hinge on the company’s profits.

 Market/customers
The main focus of all entrepreneurs should be the customer. Although technopreneurs are
often focused on technological challenges and product development, they should also
focus on market feedback, on how to be successful in commercialization and marketing
of high-tech products, the high growth strategies, the internationalization issues, the
environmental issues and many other market-related issues.

 Marketing of high-tech products

 The last two decades of the twentieth century witnessed a marked growth in the
use of marketing techniques in high-tech industries Davis et al. (2001) and
Easingwood and Koustelos (2000).

 Historically high-tech companies have relied on their unique technological

advantage to remain competitive, the firms have found that it is becoming more
and more difficult to maintain a competitive edge through technological
advantage alone.

 The marketing efforts of high-tech firms are as important as, if not more
important than, the reliance on state-of-the-art technology. Although all of the
fundamental principles of marketing apply to the high-tech industry, there are
industry and product-specific factors that affect the development and
implementation of successful high-tech industry marketing strategies. These
industry specific factors include the following;

(a) The short life of high-tech products

 Owing to the high rate of change in technological development, the proliferation of
innovative products and the market demand for leading-edge capability, most products in
the high-tech industry have an extremely short product life. This has several significant
product development and marketing consequences and puts pressure on reducing time-
to-market and ensuring that the product will be backward compatible.

 Short product life and the need to reach break-even within a compressed time frame has
resulted in the need to sell in multiple markets, including international markets, almost
simultaneously, and has resulted in the wide use of skimming strategies, rather than
penetration strategies.

(b)The interdependence of high-tech products

 There is no other industry where what one company does technologically can require so
many other companies to change their products and where both product developers and
product purchasers are preoccupied by interconnectability and interoperability concerns.

43
(c)Tech-support
 There is probably no more important factor in high-tech product marketing than tech-
support.

(d)Maintenance pricing
 The pricing of maintenance agreements, service agreements and warranties in the high-
tech industry is complex, but of extreme importance.

(e)Strategic alliances
 The high number of separate specialized companies, the high level of intra-industry
interdependence and the high rate of industry expansion have resulted in the manic use of
strategic alliances by the high-tech industry.

 Strategic alliances are used by high-tech companies to acquire technology, expand their
areas of technical expertise, acquire operational expertise, increase the size of their
market, acquire market access, increase their market share, increase their sales, increase
their production capacity, acquire production skills and know-how, time-to-market,
stretch their resources, acquire capital and so on.

(f)Internationalization of new technology-based firms

 Internationalization can be explained as the process of increasing involvement in
international operations.

 The internationalization process of small and specialized high-technology firms is often

different from that of more mature industries. Traditional frameworks that explain firms’
internationalization were already formulated two or three decades ago.

 Because research and development of high-tech products is very costly and because
high-tech products have a short life time, the internationalization of new technology-
based firms is of extreme importance.
 Government
 The government must accelerate the formation of firms and stimulate the growth of small
and medium-sized firms.
 Another goal should be to adopt certain measures to ensure a friendly business
environment. The development of small and medium-sized firms can be boosted by

(a) macroeconomic policy- specifically a stable economic environment

(b) legislation which lays down favourable conditions for small and medium-sized firms

(c) Offering support aimed at solving problems of the small and medium-sized firms

(e) promoting businesses and entrepreneurship and developing the entrepreneurial

culture.

 The government must combine three aspects which are crucial if the support for the firms
is to be successful. These are;
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 (a) Unity of strategy (policies)
(b) Institutions (organizations) and the
(c) Service programmes

 In order to reach a favourable ratio between the cost for the support and its effectiveness,
the government must
(a) clearly state the goals of its policies,
(b) identify appropriate programmes which will help it realize its goals in a certain time
frame and
(c) appoint effective mechanisms (support organizations) for conducting these
programmes.

 It is advisable that the government organize types of support which provide the
development of a business environment which stimulates
- entrepreneurship
-simplification of procedures and tax cuts,
-development of new units,
-access to financial sources, information, consulting and guidance,
-help with technical and technological problems
-links between small, medium-sized and big firms, and the development of distribution
networks and support with internationalization of business.

 The government may also offer support for firms at the national, regional and local levels
by helping individual firms with
-favourable loans (subsidized interest rates, lesser guarantees, longer repayment periods)
-tax cuts
-favourable amortization costs
-nonrefundable employment benefits and low costs for firms wishing to buy or rent
business space and equipment
- and also by developing business infrastructure special financial institutions (funds),
chambers, technology centres, incubators, business zones and the rest.

 Advisors
 Research on the problems of small firms has shown that there are typical gaps in the
abilities of small firms, where it is reasonable to help with various types of consulting and
training. These gaps are.

Information gap
Entrepreneurs who have just recently established their own firm lack certain information
necessary for the preparation of business plans and the making of sound business
decisions. Advisors are therefore the people who offer entrepreneurs basic business
information at the lowest level of services.

A gap in problem solving and technical capabilities

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 Individuals who are new at running their own business and are more used to the safety of
the organizational environment of big firms where others make decisions, often never
developed or tested their own analytical capabilities. They do not know how to recognize
problems and solve them in a fast and efficient manner – advisors will help them in
learning how to do just that.

Learning gap
Although many entrepreneurs start their business in the fields they are familiar with, it is
often the case that they do not know all the aspects of such activities; their knowledge
might be limited when it comes to other fields, the local market or just certain aspects of
entrepreneurship. Consulting can therefore bridge the gap in knowledge and training of
such individuals.

Also firms might have a gap in (available) resources, as entrepreneurs either have a
limited amount of time to prepare and plan a new business or cannot gain sufficient
startup resources because the firm is new and small.

Such firms have a limited supply of resources, which can soon lead to a financial crisis in
the case of early (unexpected) difficulties. Therefore it is very important for the success
of a technopreneur to have advisors different from his social network (friends, relatives,
acquaintances and so on) and different professional consultants.

Advice from people in a technopreneur social network are especially important in the
process of establishing a new technology based firm because of limited financial
resources of new entrepreneurs. Professional advisors are of extreme importance when
the new technology-based firm grows rapidly.

12.2 National Business System and Technopreneurship

 Corporate technopreneurship (CT) is often focused on using technology to differentiate
the firm from its competitors.
 Since not all corporate entrepreneurship depends on technology, CT represents a subset
of all corporate entrepreneurial activities.
 CT requires the blending of new technologies with unmet market opportunities. Although
relatively small and young entrepreneurial firms often pursue high-risk technological
entrepreneurship.
 We need to focus on technopreneurship within relatively large, established firms.
 Due to the high cost, specialized expertise, and long lead times associated with CT, large
and well-established big organisations may be the key business entities that can
substantively undertake these types of entrepreneurial ventures.
 The million dollar question is to extent are organisations big or small’s Corporate
technopreneurship is influenced by the national context.

12.3 Exchange relationships in Technopreneurship

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New business creation and growth are not autonomous, isolated processes but collective
processes that involve the establishment and sustaining of a network of relationships between the
new organization and other parties in its environment. A technopreneur or technological firm
needs to interact with the customers for and distributors of its outputs, and with the suppliers of
inputs that the firm requires, such as funds, labour, material resources and knowledge.

A technopreneur and a technology firm’s relationships provide access to external resources,

which compensate for internal resource constraints. Accumulated resources make it possible for
technopreneurs or technological firms to exploit the productive opportunities in their
environment, as well as to provide a buffer against environmental jolts.

A technopreneur’s/technology firm’s external relationships have a significant and long-lasting

impact on the behaviour, survival and success of the firms.

13.0 The Importance of Technopreneurship

Technopreneurship is of great significance to organisations in industry and commerce and most
importantly in the entire economy. What then is the relevance of technopreneurship to a
company in industry and commerce?

13.1 Significance to the economy

Technopreneurship spurs the socio-economic growth and development in a country
through several dimensions, hence a panacea for underdevelopment which is the bane of
socio-economic woes.
 Wealth creation
 Employment creation
 Technological advancement
 Increase productive capacity of the economy
 Increase potential for value addition
 Increased National/Economic competitiveness
 Sustainable development
 Efficient use of resources
 Improves international trade gains

 Wealth creation
Moving technology from the scientific discovery stage to commercially successful
products is one of the major drivers of economic development in today’s world order.
Technopreneurship fosters the production of better products and services, thus wealth
creation which leads to raised standards of living.

 Increase productive capacity of the economy

Technopreneurship contribute to the economic development of a country through creation

of new companies this eventually increase the productive capacity of the economy as
more idle resources are brought into use.

 Increased potential for value addition

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 Nearly all developing countries/economies including Zimbabwe are characterized as
producers and exporters of natural resource based goods, whereas economic thinking
dictates that these countries should change their strategy from being merely merchandise
producers to technology developers in order to experience higher levels of development
and producers of value added products

 Increase economic competitiveness

Science, technology, innovation entrepreneurship has been proven, not only to be the
impetus for growth and economic prosperity, but also serves as the foundation for the
transformation of the new economy.

 Sustainable Development

 Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets
the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs.

 Sustainable development in its essence means working together in order to create

a future that will in least possible manner exploit the resources, eliminate
degradation provoked by pollution and waste accumulation, avoid any actions that
provoke disturbance and disruption of the environment, build strategic, long-term
dimensions and growth and solutions.

 Technopreneurship enhances the implementation of new and better technologies

in different production in ways that minimise the effects of economic activity on
the environment, so that the cost do impact and fall on future generation.

 Ecotechnopreneurship is therefore important and should be encouraged.

13.2 Significance of Technopreneurship to organisations

 Reduce labor costs

 Competitive advantage
 Enterprise growth
 Business renewal
 Organisational survival
 Improve firm performance

 Reduce labour costs

Technopreneurship reduce the labour costs of the organisation. This could be achieved by
cutting on the number of employees or as productivity increase less labour hours are
experienced. Reduced labour costs translate to low prices thereby making the company
competitive.

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  Enterprise growth
Corporate technopreneurship fosters company growth by introducing new goods and
services which are not familiar to consumers, new quality, new method of production,
opening of a new market, and capture of a new source of supply of raw materials or other
inputs. A good example is Econet wirelss. Corporate technopreneurship has enabled the
company to grow by introducing new technological services and markets.

 Business renewal
Companies renew their business activities within themselves and in the industry.
Technopreneurship adds new life to an organisation that is struggling. A case in point is
ZESA. A new lease of life was possible through the introduction of prepaid meters

Despite the huge payoffs associated with successful technological entrepreneurship, success is
never guaranteed due to the relatively high investments required over relatively long periods of
time for uncertain outcomes

13.3 Barriers to Technopreneurship

 Technological Knowledge
Technology-based firms are highly knowledge-intensive, creating value through
exploiting their distinctive technological knowledge and needing access to external
sources of knowledge. The challenge facing companies in Zimbabwe is how they can
access external technological knowledge from developed countries such as the US, UK,
Germany, France, China, India, Japan and South and North Korea.

Technopreneurs possess a lot of technical knowledge but they lack entrepreneurial skills
necessary for managing a technology-based enterprise, duration, and success of the
technology-based organizations. A challenge in Zimbabwean companies is technical
knowledge and entrepreneurial skills. Technical knowledge and entrepreneurial
deficiency obstruct the embracing of technopreneurship in manufacturing companies.

Knowledge and lack of knowledge in technology regarding processes and trends may
highly affect on corporate technopreneurship activities in a company, a reason why there
is lack of value addition in the mining sector. Mining organisations are not able to carry
out complete value addition of minerals. The rest of the process is done outside the
country in South Africa, Germany etc.

 High volatility of the technological environment

The technological environment is characterized by rapid changes in technologies and
markets. This makes high-tech products to have a short life time. High-tech products are
investments and the volatility of the technological environment brings in risk
management considerations which could be beyond the capability and expertise of small

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 firms especially SMEs. Technopreneurship is a high risk kind of entrepreneurship. The
high risk dissuade companies from embracing technopreneurship especially in economic
turbulent times such those experienced by Zimbabwe in 2007 to 2008. Investment in
corporate technopreneurship programmes was risk. The situation required companies
with a high risk appetite. Do we have such companies even in this seemingly stable
economy?

 High costs
Research and development of high-tech products is very costly. Research and
development in technopreneurship is an expensive undertaking for most companies. High
cost are involved which could be beyond affordability of companies.

 Lack/Non-existence of High-technology clusters

In many national economies in the world, policy makers argue that universities need to
place increase emphasis on transferring and commercializing knowledge, as opposed to
solely generating and disseminating knowledge within the academic community itself, in
order to stimulate technological clusters. This is not the case in Zimbabwe. The clustering
effect results in the interchange of knowledge among companies and universities promote
technopreneurship. There are no university-based as well as company-based and even
government-based technology clusters in Zimbabwe to promote technology transfer. So
how can companies embrace technopreneurship especially our Small to Medium
Enterprises which are becoming the backbone of the economy.

 Lack of foreign direct investment

Technopreneurship development requires foreign direct investment (FDI). FDI is a
prerequisite for technopreneurship. Zimbabwe has experienced a fall in the inflow of
foreign direct investment in this recent past decade. What has caused this fall? This has
exacerbated the economic situation of the country and has caused a drawback in the
country’s efforts to promote technopreneurship.

Apart from fostering technological transfer and commercialisation of knowledge,

universities and high-technology clusters are important as they attract foreign-direct
investment. Do we have efficient university-based technology clustered if any in
Zimbabwe? Nada the lili, we don’t.

 Inadequate human capital and research capability

Human capital and R&D capability play a key role in determining high value-added
R&D technopreneurial projects. Such R&D capability is the province of multinational
corporations and an expensive undertaking by small companies.

Corporate technopreneurship requires as a precondition expert personnel with

heterogeneous assets that are related to achievements in scientific and technological
knowledge. Do Zimbabwean companies have technocrats and deep smarts in areas of
technology? Lack of technical experts affects research and development capability of an

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 organisation thereby affecting corporate technopreneurship. Corporate technopreneurship
is an intra- organizational process in which a person or a technological entrepreneur or
group create and manage an enterprise by research and development, innovation, and
technology. High level technical expertise and accessibility to new technologies are key
factors.

 Insufficient/Lack of financial resources

Financial and investment sources in active enterprises that want to embrace
technopreneurship are some of the needed infrastructures for corporate
technopreneurship. Lack of and insufficient financial resources as well as accessibility
are hindrances towards technopreneurship in the majority of companies in such sectors as
mining and manufacturing.

 Inadequate technological infrastructure

Economies that have a sophisticated technology infrastructure and that are populated by
start-ups are better positioned to attract knowledge-seeking investment from
multinational corporations, hence can promote technopreneurship in companies. In the
United States, for example traditional pharmaceutical companies such as Novartis and
Wyeth located their R&D facilities around successful universities such as Harvard and
MIT to acquire critical expertise in biotechnology and other technological infrastructures.
How is the technological infrastructure in this country and even in our universities? Can
the infrastructure support technopreneurial companies?

 Lack of/Inadequate support

If some needed conditions and facilities are provided and the supportive role is played by
government through customs and taxation rules for entrepreneurs and domestic products
so that risk for the new enterprise and intra-organisational technopreneurial projects is
reduced then corporate technopreneurship will be increased particularly manufacturing of
new products and establishing new enterprises by entrepreneurs, researchers and
technological practitioners. What support are Zimbabwean organisations receiving?
Think of SMEs in mining and manufacturing sectors of the economy? These sectors are
high-capital and technical knowledge intensive such that the individual companies cannot
undertake on their own.

 Non-existence of technology Networks

Laboratory networks, clusters and associations of technology are one of the crucial
factors in corporate technopreneurship. Do we have technology networks in Zimbabwe?

 Technological readiness level (TRL)

High- Technology absorption factor is one of the effective factors on corporate
technopreneurship in many business fields. There are several TRL from idea to mass
production and marketing level that affect technopreneurship process in many
organisations. Do our SMEs in mining, agriculture, manufacturing and forestry

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 technologically read? Even some large organisations such as state enterprises and
parastatal are not technologically ready.

 Demographic and gender barriers

Financial solvency and age of researcher play important role in creation of innovation
and development of technopreneurship in enterprise. Gender of researcher is evaluated as
important in corporate technopreneurship and most of technologists are males so factors
of age and educations are effective challenges impeding corporate technopreneurship in
most companies. Think of owner managed companies? Even large organisations
dominated by an aging workforce. What about female dominated organisations?

14.0 E-entrepreneurship

14.1 What is e-Entrepreneursship?

 It is alternatively called Netpreneurship
 The term was first used by Matlay (2004) and other several authors.
 Other terms used are digital entrepreneurship and internet entrepreneurship.
 E-entrepreneurship refers to establishing a new company with an innovative business
idea within the net economy which using an electronic platform in data networks, offers
its products and/or services, based upon a purely electronic creation of value, Kollmann
(2006).
 The essential aspect is the fact that this value offer was only made possible through the
development of information technology.”

E-entrepreneurship has emerged as a new business model from the synergies between ICT
developments and a digital generation.

But are Zimbabwean organisations ready to take advantages of these new e-entrepreneurial
opportunities for economic recovery? Do they really have a skilled workforce?

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 E-entrepreneurship is the ability to run a business on the Internet. It is the act of creating
new companies based on IT (Matlay, 2004).

 The term e-entrepreneurship/netpreneurship describes the act of establishing new

companies specifically in the net economy, Matlay (2004). These companies are called e-
ventures. E-ventures are companies that operate only on the internet.

 E-entrepreneurship is used to mean the process of establishing a new company with an

innovative business in the Information Technology sector.

 Definitions of e-entrepreneurship vary.

 E-entrepreneurship does not solely refer to digital start-ups or e-ventures as it also
include the production of physical products that are traded both offline and online.

 An e-entrepreneur is an entrepreneur who invests in project based IT. Hence e-

entrepreneurs are Technopreneurs.

 E-entreneurship requires just the "Connectivity". A netpreneur or an e-entrepreneur as

long as he/she has a service which the market requires can set up a viable business with
his/her "Intellectual Capital" as the main input and the "Connectivity Infrastructure" as
the only physical input.

 e-Entrepreneurshp involves creating a business activity on internet in some area to sell or

able a service only online, such as email service DVDs, including rental and Books,
Computers, T-shirts, Cell phones, Magazine subscription, Software, etc.

 As examples of e-entrepreneurship in US we have Google.com, eBay.com, yahoo.com,

amazon.com, e-bay and Google. Google.com, ebay.com, and amazon.com are e-ventures
and have international customers and give global services on the internet making these
companies a means of entrepreneurship and their founder as e-entrepreneurs.

 The success of e-business is inextricably linked to a combination of entrepreneurship and

innovation, and that the two are enablers and key drivers of e-business.

 E-entrepreneurship describes entrepreneurship in e-business. The e-dimension of

entrepreneurship is that it incorporates all the key elements of entrepreneurship including
risk-taking, proactivity and innovation in building, running and managing e-business.

 The concept of e-entrepreneurship is not limited to small e-businesses but includes

corporate e-intrapreneurship which is embedded in establishing e-infrastructure to do e-
business in large organizations.

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  E-business operates in a fast-moving, highly uncertain, unknowable and unpredictable
context, and as such entrepreneurship in e-business by necessity exceeds the traditional
concepts of entrepreneurship. For example, the traditional notion of entrepreneurship of
being or becoming an expert or finding and protecting a unique knowledge in a niche
market, clashes with the fact that e-business knowledge is often short-lived and available
to everyone, anytime, and anywhere Steinberg (2004).

 Entrepreneurship in e-business is different to classic entrepreneurship. In terms of skills

and knowledge, e-entrepreneurship requires not only basic business skills and expert
knowledge, but also the social skills necessary to be able to relate to other disciplines and
sectors. In this regard, relationship and partnership with other sectors and businesses are
crucial to e-entrepreneurship.

 E-entrepreneurship uses the Internet to strategically and competitively achieve vision,

business goals, and objectives. E-entrepreneurs and e-entrepreneurial organisations use
the World Wide Web (WWW) to interact and complete virtual transactions both with
other businesses and their consumers /customers.

 E-entrepreneurs have been defined as those individuals who use the World Wide Web
(WWW) to interact and complete virtual transactions both with other businesses and
customer. E-entrepreneurial organisations use the WWW to interact and complete virtual
transactions with other organisations and customers.

14.2 E-Innovation
 E-innovation can be broadly defined as innovation that is related to e-business.
 Technological innovations in e-business have significantly changed inter-firm
communications and have the great potential to revolutionize the efficiency and
effectiveness of inter-firm relationships and their governance.

 Take Cybersettle. com for example. The company was founded in the mid-1990s by a
pair of attorneys, and has not only survived the dotcom crash but attracted more
customers and partners.

 The dotcom does what most do not and has created a thriving e-business model through
e-innovation. Customers can use the website to settle a wide variety of commercial
disputes online quickly and inexpensively.

14.3 Technological e-innovations

 Technological e-innovation is only one aspect of e-innovation.
 It may include establishing and/or implementing innovative processes, operations,
service, strategy, structure, technology, etc. in relation to e business.

 For example, e-innovation may represent an innovative strategy enabling customers to

do what best serves their purpose via information communications technology (Martin,
2004).

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  In order to implement an e-business innovation strategy and realize the commercial value
of the innovation, companies often resort to partnerships which provide complementary
resources and advantages in order to get things done.

14.3.1 Internet
 The Internet is perhaps the greatest revolution in science and technology that our
generation can imagine.
 It has brought in many cultural, economical and political benefits to the society. It is in
the interest of the society that the benefits which the Internet technology promises should
be harnessed to the betterment of the society.

 One of the most important aspects of Internet is its ability to connect people through the
communication network irrespective of their physical location.
 The benefit flowing out of this is the ability to bring about a collaboration of people for a
common task without physically bringing them together into an office. Virtual offices are
therefore a reality of the day.

14.3.2 The Net Economy

The net economy is also called the digital economy. The basis of the net economy is
formed by four technological innovations. VIZ;
 Telecommunication
 Information technology
 Media technology
 Entertainment so called “Time markets”

These innovations have impacted on the way information, communication and transaction are
managed.

Innovative information technologies such as the internet or www, mobile telecommunications

and interactive television (ITV) are examples. These technologies are changing the world
radically.

The information society is characterized by the intensive use of information technologies and the
resulting change from an industrial to a knowledge society. The growing relevance of
information technology and the expansion of electronic data networks have created a new
commercial or a business dimension.

The Net Economy refers to the commercial use of electronic data networks that is to say a digital
network which via various electronic platforms, allows the conclusion of information
communication and transaction processes.

Digital start-ups are newly created enterprises that only produce digital products/services and are
born, trade and operate exclusively online. The immediate economic context is not necessarily
subject to the constraints of the physical or traditional economy.

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The term digital economy was first used by Tapscott (1996) who used it to refer to encompass an
economic system with its own set of attributes. At the centre of the digital economy is the digital
enterprise or e-business. E-commerce and e-business are terms that are commonly used
interchangeably to refer to a business transaction that is executed electronically. Therefore a
digital business is also defined as an enterprise executing e-commerce transactions.

14.3.3 Netpreneurs/E-entrepreneurs
 A netpreneur can be a self employed individual or one who predominantly employs
several virtual employees. Those netpreneurs who can afford their own computer and
connect to the Internet and carry on business on internet can be called the Self Employed
Netpreneurs (SENs).

 Those netpreneurs who have more resources and engage employees either for physical
world services such as marketing, order fulfillment etc but carry on the main business
activities on the Virtual Environment, are the Small and Home Office (SHO)
establishments.

 For convenience of definition, it may be necessary to define the scope of such

establishments. Any computer network of less than 5 Computers is a SHO Computer
network. Extending the same definition, any business with 5 or less number of physical
employees can be defined as SHO.

 Larger establishments including Call centers and Medical Transcription units etc fall into
the category of IT enabled Service Establishments beyond the limited scope of SOHOs.
These bigger units have their own advantages.
 An enterprise cannot go smaller than one single individual namely the Entrepreneur. In
this sense, the "Netpreneur" is like the smallest building block in the Business Network.

14.4 Economic value of e-entrepreneurship

14.4.1 Economic value of self-employed e-entrepreneurs

The netpreneur is a premium member in the community.
 Employment creation
E-entrepreneurs provide service to the community thereby creating employment.

 Export activity.
To the extent he provides services outside the community, he adds wealth to the
community by his Export activity. An e-entrepreneur is a person therefore who needs to
be encouraged by the community for its own benefit. The more the Netpreneurs in the
society, better it is for the community.

 Establishment of higher value added economic units.

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 Netpreneurs add up to build other higher value added economic units in the society either
joining hands with other similar netpreneurs or with other Brick and Mortar entities.
Prosperity springs when an environment is created where such netpreneurs flourish, enter
into mutually beneficial partnerships and enjoy the benefits of a Connected society.

While a typical self employed netpreneur possesses his/her own minimum infrastructure
of a computer connected to the Internet, at the micro level, a netpreneur can also run
his/her business from a "Cyber Cafe" with shared facilities. It is in this sense that the
"Cyber Cafes" are actually "Business Enablers" and have a great role to play as "E-
Bridge Centers" in an economy.

The Cyber Cafes as well as Service Integrators that collate the services of the netpreneurs
fall into a separate layer of second level business units who are service providers to the
virtual employees, netpreneurs and other players in the industry. Because of this direct
relationship, these service providers also belong to the industry surrounding
netpreneurship.

14.2 Economic value of e-entrepreneurial organisations

 Competitive advantage
This is achieved as a result of the technological development by achieving knowledge
and information superiority over the competition (information leadership). Organisations
that possess better information about the market and their customers (potential
customers) will be more successful than the competition.

 Information resource
Whereas information previously held merely a supporting function for physical
production processes, in this 21st century it has become an independent factor for
production and competitiveness (Weiber and Kollmann, 1998).

The growing relevance of IT and the expansion of electronic data networks have created
a new commercial/business dimension that can be called the network economy or the Net
Economy influenced by electronic business processes that are concluded over digital data
pathways.

Due to the importance of information as a supporting and independent competitive factor,

as well as the increase in digital data networks, it must be understood that there is a
division of the relevant trade levels on which the world does business. In addition to the
real level of physical products and/or services (Real Economy), an electronic level for
digital data and communication networks (Net Economy) has evolved.

 Commercial possibilities
The commercial possibilities resulting from this development referred in this context, e-
business, which means the use of digital information technologies for supporting business
processes in the preparation, negotiation and conclusion business transaction. The
necessary building blocks, including information, communication and transaction are in

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 this case transferred and respectively concluded between the participating trade partners
over digital networks.

Three key platforms in e-business that include the exchange of information,

communication and transaction are; E-procurement, E-shop and E-marketplace.
 E-procurement
E-procurement enables the electronic purchasing of products and services from a
company via digital networks. This uses the integration of innovative information
and communication technologies to support and respectively conclude both
operative and strategic tasks in the area of procurement.

 An e-shop
It allows the electronic sales of products and services by a company using digital
networks. This allows innovative information and communication technologies to
be used in supporting and concluding the operative and strategic tasks for the area
of sales.

 An e-marketplace
It allows electronic trade with products and/or services via digital networks. This
represents the integration of innovative information and communication
technologies to support and conclude respectively the matching process of the
supply and demand sides.

 The accessibility to the Internet makes e-commerce a realistic possibility for small
businesses. Small businesses are now able to have instant access to the same
markets as larger businesses. Customers all over the world can access a
company’s Web site and buy their products or services, whether the company has
one or a thousand full-time employees. SMEs can grow quickly and can compete
with larger businesses in their markets

 E-commerce is one of the most visible examples of the way in which information
and communication technologies (ICT) can contribute to economic growth. E-
commerce has a major and lasting effect in most forms of economic activities.
Because the web allows any company to reach any consumer anywhere in the
world, the existing and even the new small businesses that approach the web with
strong strategies and resources can be big winners.

 In this new economy, organisations are under continuous pressure to cut costs and stay
competitive in their respective markets.

 E-commerce is an enabling technology that allows businesses to increase the accuracy

and efficiency of business transaction processing (Applegate, Austin, & McFarlan, 2002).
By providing a mechanism to increase the accuracy of electronic transactions while
reducing their costs, e-commerce enables even small organisations to take advantage of
economies of scale. It allows businesses to become more competitive and provides jobs,
thereby creating wealth.

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  Through the application of ICT, firms will become more competitive, new markets will
be accessed, and new employment opportunities will be created. All of these will result in
the generation of wealth and sustainable economic growth.

14.4 Fundamentals of establishing e-ventures in the net-economy

 E-ventures are innovative companies that are not established to imitate an existing
company. Establishing an e-venture involves material and immaterial factors. Immaterial
factors include such things as knowledge and technical knowhow.

 An electronic product
You should have an electronic product.

 E-management
In addition to having an electronic product when establishing an e-venture, has been and
is necessary to have an e-management, that is members of management who have
specific knowledge about the correlating factors in the net economy. In this case
emphasis is placed on the combination of management and computer science skills to
establish the company and guarantee the necessary technical processes. This is
particularly important considering that information can change very quickly and along
with it the company’s basis for the value creation activities in digital networks.

There is a further characteristic or trait of the net-economy in addition to the electronic value,
chain namely that this is a considerably new area of business and lacks the years of experience in
which the established business and lacks the years of experience on which the established
business sectors can rely.

There is a high level of uncertainty on the customer side with respect to the respect to the amount
and the presence regarding innovative information technologies e.g internet start-ups’ use of
electronic procurement.

 High risk These conditions underlie the high level of risk involved in the department of
the net-economy and the influence this has over investment in this area.

Capital Information technologies require a certain amount of capital or funding for the initial
development and or company.

Information technologies are subject to continual change and constant development this
requiring subsequent investments.

In addition to the need for capita to develop the technology, additional investments are necessary
for example personnel, organisation, establishing a brand, sales and production.

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In particular four central characteristic traits can be identified that can clearly distinguish the
process of establishing a business in the net economy from the classical process of establishing a
company in the real economy.

The types of company established: An e-venture is often and independent, original and
innovative company established with the net economy.
Establishing environment: An e-venture is characterized by enormous growth potential and yet
is also marked by uncertainty of its future development concerning the true success of its
information technology, technology that requires significant investments.

Reference for establishing the company: An e-venture is based on a business idea is first made
possible through the use of innovative informative technologies. The idea itself focuses strongly
on “information” as competitive factor within the network economy.

Basis for establishing the company: An e-venture is based upon a business concept that
involves electronic creation of customer value offered on the electronic platform of the net
economy. It requires continual, further development and administration.

14.5 Success Factors for E-entrepreneurship

Success factors for establishing a company in the net economy do not particularly differ from
those in the real economy. However there are specific differences in the realisation and
development of these factors that are directly development upon in the net economy. The
differences include; Management, Product, Market success, Process and Finance.

 Management.
Emphasis is placed on the founders of the company who through their personality and motivation
strongly determine the activities of the venture. Founders influence through technical, social and
methodological skills and capabilities they possess, successful realisation of the activities
involved in establishing a company. High stress limits, pressure to succeed, self confidence and
awareness of risk influenced characterize the sections during the sustainable phase of conception
and thereafter in the realisation stage.

Creativity, analytical and conceptual thinking dominate the first development phase of a
company, experience in the net industry, knowledge of the interrelated respects of the net
economy and real experience in operational management are points that matter when establishing
an e-venture.

In view of this, establishing a company in the net economy is very complex and the knowledge
required to achieve this must be drawn similarly from the areas of computer science, information
management systems, business administration and entrepreneurship.

Accordingly founders must possess competences and knowledge in all three of the following
areas to a certain extent.

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 Computer science: The technological aspect of the net economy makes it necessary to have
substantial understanding and knowledge of technologies, systems, databases, programming and
the architecture of the internet.

Information management: The technological basis, provided by computer science, must be

assessable with respect to its content and relevance for business issues. For this reason it is
important to have knowledge in the area of information management systems, IT security, Data
warehousing and data mining or even electronic payment systems. It is just as important to
understand fundamental platforms in the net economy as it is to have a sound overview of
current existing because models and the possibilities for creating value electronically.

 Business Administration:
At the business level, it is essential to have solid business knowledge on marketing, business
organisation, management, financing or investment. In rare cases one cases one person possesses
all of these skills. As a result, it is more often the case that a team of founders establish an e-
venture.

 Product:
This refers to the configuration of the services and offers of an e-venture. In this respect, the
electronic product or service offered must be specified and communicated based on its electronic
added value. Thus the initial question is whether or not the customer needs the electronic offer or
service provided by the e-venture based on IT and if so, is the customer willing buy? Further it is
the aim of the company to achieve added value for the customer through the realized output with
electronically created value. But is also the company’s aim to ensure that its offer possesses a
unique future which differentiates it from the other competitors.

In addition to this, e-ventures must deal with new forms of business ideas or business models.
From the customer side, initially it takes times to become acquainted with or to acknowledge the
added by such new ideas and models. For this reason, a regular reconnection with customers and
users must take place because it is in the end customer acceptance that determines if the
electronic business idea is a success or not.

Establishing a business in the economy is, apart from the aforementioned, additionally singled
out by the fact that an e-venture and its electronic business idea must not only satisfy a need but
also do this in a superior way compared to existing solutions in the real economy. Thus, the need
for books is already fulfilled through real book shops, however Amazon.com with its e-shop, can
offer overview, selection and transaction functions creating additionally electronic value in the
market place.

 Process.
This refers particularly to the need for newly established company to quickly more out of that
critically stage where its activities are informal and uncontrolled. This applies especially to work,
finance and organisational processes which from solid operations foundation in a newly
established company. This essentially means that core processes must be firmly established and
must also harmonise with the involving company organisation.

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The net economy is characterized by a high degree of virtualisation hence the knowledge of
concrete process flows is extremely important.

 Market Access
In an e-venture market access means not only assuring market entrance and establishing a
product and brand but also reaching customer via an electronic communication channel for
example online/viral marketing. The question is how does one reach the customer with my
information product. It is possible to achieve market success through company initiated
marketing and sales activities.

Market entrance in the net economy is in most cases characterized by the fact that most e-
ventures are unknown, have limited, capital, lack resources and do not have an established
network.

Lack of financial means, often leads to defects for a newly established company in the area of
service or product performance, communication, sales and market positioning. In order to
eliminate these defects when dealing with e-ventures co-operation plays an elementary role in
supporting market entrance and positively steering the further development of the company.
Examples of such co-operation are so called affiliate programmes which have developed
alongside the establishment of electronic business ventures. This is a partnership-like
relationship and profit scheme compensation.

The e-venture concludes an advertisement and or sales agreement with a co-operation partner
(affiliate) who in turn integrates the merchant’s service or product offer into their internet
presence or website. If this results in a successful transaction, the affiliate receives a commission.

 Finance
It is concerned with guaranteeing the activities from a liquidity point of view. There is significant
need for investing in a technology and in establishing the company in the beginning phase.
Financing and cash planning are often significantly weak points for competencies for companies
in the net economy. Often there is a lack of necessary realism if investors or founders are to be
convinced euphoric turnover forecasts.

Financing of the company requires proof of solid control especially on the cost side of the
business. A further aspect concerns communication with investors (investor relations) who want
to be informed on a regular basis about the development of the company.

 Factors affecting technopreneurs

While various factors influenced technopreneurship, including internal procedures,

human factors, global factors, venture capital, and partnerships, the findings
suggest that government assistance is the most essential component.

God bless you as you acquire knowledge and prepare for your exams.

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