scholarly journals Realigning Economic Development to Support Company Startup and Scale Up: A Burlington, Ontario Case Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Anita Cassidy

<p>In 2015 the City of Burlington developed a new 2015-2040 Strategic Plan: <em>Grow Bold, </em>which tasked Burlington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) with supporting the start up and scale up of companies and making Burlington a start up destination. This article will outline the process that BEDC went through to better understand the local innovation ecosystem and the role that BEDC could play in supporting it. This process resulted in BEDC going from no role in supporting companies to start and grow to launching, TechPlace, Burlington’s new innovation Centre in 2017, which supported over 4,000 visitors in their entrepreneurial journey in year one of operations. </p><p><strong>Keywords: </strong>Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Startups, Job Creation, Startup Support, Innovation Centre</p>

Urban Studies ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 004209802097265
Author(s):  
Matthew Thompson ◽  
Alan Southern ◽  
Helen Heap

This article revisits debates on the contribution of the social economy to urban economic development, specifically focusing on the scale of the city region. It presents a novel tripartite definition – empirical, essentialist, holistic – as a useful frame for future research into urban social economies. Findings from an in-depth case study of the scale, scope and value of the Liverpool City Region’s social economy are presented through this framing. This research suggests that the social economy has the potential to build a workable alternative to neoliberal economic development if given sufficient tailored institutional support and if seen as a holistic integrated city-regional system, with anchor institutions and community anchor organisations playing key roles.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-54
Author(s):  
Mohammad Rishad Faridi ◽  
Saloni Sinha

Learning outcomes Appendix 1: Comic Frames A At the end of the case study discussion, students will able to as follows: Explain various growth strategies as a potential unicorn with the exponential growth mindset rather than linear growth mindset through adaptation of Massive Transformative Purpose (MTP) and Moonshot Thinking (MT). Demonstrate innovative and creative plans and ideas, with the ability to scale up in the circular economy. Review and summarize the power of Collaborative Innovation (CI). Compare and contrast different ways in dealing with Hedgehog and Fox style of leadership into the business. Appendix 2: Comic Frames B At the end of the case study discussion, students will able to as follows: Act with a growth strategy as a potential unicorn with the exponential growth mindset rather than linear growth mindset through adaptation of MTP and MT. Simulate innovative and creative plans and ideas, with the ability to scale up in the circular economy. Assess and leverage the power of CI. Decide and differentiate in dealing with Hedgehog and Fox style of leadership into the business. Case overview/synopsis Ankit Tripathi, was a compassionate 22-year-old, the typical lad from New Delhi, India, who seemed driven to change the world. His elder brother Atul Tripathi, a young, creative 25-year-old, was sat there next to him, beaming with pride and gratitude. Both brothers, being mechanical engineering graduates, had experienced the advancement of technology at the cost of Mother Earth. It pained them no end. It was the reason that Atul had refused to serve as an engineer in a government institution after graduating. The parents were shocked when Ankit followed suit. The brothers were poles apart in their personality and temperament, and it was rare to see them agree on anything in this way. Yet, they agreed to disagree with their parents and ventured into becoming entrepreneurs with a purpose and passion to salvage the environment. They had a vision, but without a proper roadmap, it would certainly be a tough game. Nevertheless, they boldly embarked upon their journey and established their start-up “Uneako” in 2019. “Uneako” was a calculated risk, taking into account family resistance (parents’ attitude/perception), personal conflicts (psychological), financial limitations (resources), shallow expertise (professionalism), social concern acceptability and low awareness (environment), government regulations (legalities/approvals), conflicts between brothers (personality issues), etc. Being from a nonbusiness family, the brothers had defied the wave of obstacles and challenges in daring to start their own business, putting at stake the hard-earned money of their father, Satendra Tripathi. Amidst so much social mockery, would Atul and Ankit succumb and become a laughing stock or would they find something that they could live and die for? Complexity Academic Level Appendix 1: Comic Frames A: This case has been particularly focused on undergraduate level students pursuing business or commerce programs. Especially those studying core courses, for example, entrepreneurial and strategic management. Appendix 2: Comic Frames B: This case has been particularly focused postgraduate-early stage or higher level students pursuing business or commerce programs. Particularly those specializing in entrepreneurial and strategic management courses. Also, can be taught in the entrepreneurial or start-up workshops. Supplementary materials www.pewresearch.org/topics/generation-z/ Paulynice. J.P., (2019) “From Idea to Reality: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Meaningful Business Growth” Paulynice Consulting Group. Hardy.D., (2015) “The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster: It’s Your Turn to Join The Ride” Success Publishers. Wadhwa.V., Amla.I., Salkever.A., (2020) “From Incremental to Exponential” Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Business Success through Sustainability edited by Christina Weidinger, Franz Fischler, René Schmidpeter, Springer 2014. Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.


2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Anthony Camilleri

Small and medium-sized enterprises are often constrained by their size and limited resources. They can find themselves in an equity gap where they may find it difficult to raise capital for their business. Consequently, this contribution involves a content analysis of specific European Union policies and instruments that are aimed at supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in accessing finance. Moreover, it also presents a short case study of a tourism start-up that has raised its capital requirements through crowdfunding. This research sheds light on practitioner-oriented tools that can ultimately foster a climate for job creation, economic growth and competitiveness among small and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism and hospitality sectors.


2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maarten J.G.M. van Gils ◽  
Floris P.J.T. Rutjes

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between start-ups and an innovation ecosystem. Start-ups need resources available in the ecosystem to grow, but experience organizational capacity limitations during their open innovation practices. This study frames the “open innovation” interface and discloses ways to accelerate the process of connecting start-ups’ demands to ecosystem’s supplies. Design/methodology/approach A case study was used to describe the development of a conceptual ecosystem model to frame the “open innovation” interface and its subsequent implementation at nine start-up hotspots in the Dutch chemical industry. To develop the ecosystem model, the system of innovation concept was enriched with the perspective of a chemical start-up to pinpoint critical resources for growth. Findings It is suggested that the most relevant “open innovation” interface for start-ups looking to grow is an innovation biotope: a well-defined, business-oriented cross-section of an ecosystem. All stakeholders in a biotope are carefully selected based on the entrepreneurial issue at stake: they can only enter the secured marketplace if they are able to provide dedicated solutions to start-ups. The biotope enables “open innovation in a closed system” which results in acceleration of the innovation process. Originality/value This is the first study to report on the definition and implementation of an innovation biotope as the “open innovation” interface between an ecosystem and start-ups. In addition, it provides a powerful tool, the ecosystem canvas, that can help both regional and national innovation systems to visualize their ecosystem and identify blind spots.


Smart Cities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 1337-1365
Author(s):  
Eleonora Sista ◽  
Pietro De De Giovanni

A large number of smart city logistics projects fail to scale up, remaining a local experimental exercise. This lack of scalability is, in fact, commonly recognized as a major problem. This study aims to determine the key success factors related to the scalability of smart city logistics projects. The process of scaling up, which is articulated as expansion, roll-out, and replication, is defined as the ability of a system to improve its scale by aiming to meet the increasing volume demand. Specifically, this study investigates the scalability intended to be used as expansion and roll-out. A qualitative case study was conducted to fulfill the research purpose. The chosen case study is SMOOTh, a pilot project currently underway in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden, involving a diverse group of companies including Volvo Group and DHL. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven of the project’s stakeholders. Through a thematic analysis, four categories and the respective success factors were identified. These were represented by a business model, as well as technical, stakeholder and regulatory factors. The paper concludes with observations and recommendations aimed at the pilot initiatives, adding new perspectives to the upscaling debate.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Greene

This research paper analyzes how the value of open data varies based on the goal of the open data program, and the format in which the data are provided. Four cities across Canada which make up the G4 are examined to identify common themes of open data available, and assess the data formats found most often within these themes. Further, the City of Toronto is examined in a case study to evaluate their open data program and assess if spatial open data are more prevalent within the theme of innovation for economic development. Findings from this research indicate that there are some data themes which typically have mostly spatial and/or non-spatial data formats, while there is also a group of themes which have a wide variety of both formats available. This paper also finds that the City of Toronto has a high prevalence of spatial open data within the theme of innovation. The evaluation created for this study could be used in assessing the value of spatial open data within and between cities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 304 ◽  
pp. 03009
Author(s):  
Truong Nguyen X ◽  
Phan Cao H H ◽  
Hao Nguyen N ◽  
Huyen Duong T T ◽  
Nhat Tran T ◽  
...  

The city Ho Chi Minh (HCMC) is one of the largest cities in Vietnam with the most dramatically economic development rate. Along with the economic development, the urbanization process in this city is also taking place very fastly. Due to the rapid urbanization and development, the emission rate from the industry and transportation leads to the increase in the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) which has been worsening the climate change. Protecting forests and conducting afforestation so that CO2 is transformed to nutrition through photosynthetic conversion is one of the most effective ways to mitigate the effects of climate change. As a result, the accumulation of CO2 emissions has become a global concern. Vegetation absorbs carbon dioxide, helps to conserve the environment, produces oxygen, reduces noise, and helps to stabilize subsurface water. This paper highlights the results of ENVI software which was used to interpret remote sensing images and Arcgis to evaluate the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by vegetation in each administrative unit: district in HCMC and ward. According to the obtained results, the amount of CO2 absorbed in urban districts “District 1”, “District 3”, “District 4”, “District 5”, “Phu Nhuan District” is immensely low due to the high population density in the center of city. The population is mainly concentrated in the center districts but land area for vegetation is low. Regarding the suburban area, with mangrove forests, Can Gio District has the highest amount of CO2 absorbed of 35,894.075 tons/day and followed by Cu Chi District with 21,548.48 tons/day. It can be indicated that Can Gio and Cu Chi districts improtantly function like the greenhouse gas sinks for the whole HCMC. The success of this study could contribute to climate change mitigation and support in urban and land planning, as well as resettlement policies. Aside from that, CO2 emission and absorption assessment and evaluation in large–scale cities like HCMC has become a crucial, urgent, and practical issue nowadays.


2021 ◽  
pp. 204388692098616
Author(s):  
Dipankar Chakrabarti ◽  
Soumya Sarkar ◽  
Arindam Mukherjee

Owners of start-ups in the high-tech field face multiple challenges while scaling-up. The major challenge is to form a proper strategy that guides them to move from building products for point solutions to more industry-focused solutions, retaining skilled resources, efficient workforce management, and improving market reach. This case study is on Distronix, a start-up in the Industrial Internet of Things that could see steady revenue within 3 years of its operations. Distronix wanted to reach the next orbit fast. Distronix wanted to change the organizational blueprint with a proper strategy to scale-up. The young entrepreneurs owning Distronix brainstormed with their employees and the industry experts to strategize the next phase of growth. Market reach and coping with the changing demand of customers on Industrial Internet of Things were the two most important aspects of their strategy. After discussing with stakeholders and the mentors, the owners focused on alliances to increase their delivery and market reach capabilities. They could establish strong alliances, even with larger companies, with proper planning and sustained quality delivery. From the inception of Distronix, owners established alliance, but those were ad hoc and not as per the holistic plan, which provided them a better focus and guidance on alliancing. The alliance strategy seems successful from its revenue growth but needs regular review as the technology stack is getting refreshed fast. Regular monitoring of performance is also critical. The case study shows the importance of a well-thought and well-rounded alliance strategy for a start-up to scale-up confidently.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 100
Author(s):  
G M Wali Ullah ◽  
Ashraful Islam

This case details the founding of Bangladeshi logistics and ride-sharing company Pathao, solving the traffic congestion and transportation issues of the eighth most populated city of the world, Dhaka. Founded by entrepreneurs Hussain M. Elius, Fahim Saleh and Adnan Shifat in 2015, Pathao broadly operates under two primary areas—delivery and logistics service; and, motorcycle taxi service. It has established broad operations spread throughout the country and was able to differentiate themselves from competitors using an innovative idea to tackle the traffic problem in the city and by leveraging technology to streamline its operations. The case gives an overview of logistics and transport scenario in Bangladesh through the lens of the start-up. It depicts the challenges related to starting a new company; identifying, creating and interacting with the market; securing intellectual property rights, and developing a business model in a developing country.


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