Entrepreneurial Leadership Theory Supported in Business Accelerator ProgramsGREGORY PRICEINTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LEADERSHIP AND EDUCATIONMARCH 29, 2014

How Many of You….• Have started your own business?• What was the most difficult aspect of taking it to the

next level?• What would you do different next time?

A Proposal for Research

Your Participation in this Process• You are invited to be candid in your assessment

• Criteria can include:• Identify new approaches• Identify areas that are not well defined or understood

Presentation FormatPART I

• Introduction• Problem Statement• Purpose of

Research• Research Questions

PART II

• Theoretical Framework• Methodology• Data Sources• Data Collection• Data Analysis

PART II I

• Significance

Introduction• Entrepreneurs are known risk takers• Passion, energy, and perseverance• Financial, psychological, and social risk• Follow a different set of rules• Rely on their own understanding of the world around them

Bann, C. L. (2007).(Cook & Yamamoto, 2011).

Part I

Small Business by the NumbersCompanies with Less than 500 Employees

2002 2008 DirectionU.S. 48% 46% - 2%

(United States Census Bureau, 2011).

Business Survival Rates by Time• 40% => 3 year kill rate• 67% => 10 year kill rate

Imagine if support for entrepreneurs were given at a higher degree. What would be the result?

The Size of Small Business in Washington St.

Employment in Categorized Sized Firms

Firms operating in Washington

State%

Employees against total Washington

State employment

(%)1 – 4

employees61% 6%

< 20 employees

88% 21%

< 100 employees

96% 38%

(United States Census Bureau, 2011).

Business Incubator & Business AcceleratorINCUBATOR

• Over 50 years serving clients• Inexpensive shared services• 1,400 operating in US in 2006

ACCELERATOR

• First one in 2007, growing fast• Investor-oriented• Fast-paced, 3-4 month

curriculum

(Carr, 2012)

Possible Solution?• Entrepreneurship is Experiential Learning• Accelerator Program is learning• Why take hard knocks • Learn from the best!

Agility Leadership

The problem being researched is.....• Frequent failure of small businesses • which may be caused from a lack of entrepreneurial leadership

agility. • Startup phase of a business • supports the entrepreneurs core competency • limited opportunity to develop leadership skills

• Organizational development phase • leadership skills play a much more important role• business accelerator programs target this phase of the

entrepreneurial enterprise

Suppose for a Moment...• Imagine what a 10% solution could do.... • could have a tremendous positive impact on the tax base,

reduced unemployment rate, and improved standard of living.

Nonfarm Corporate and Non-corporate Shares of Receipts and Employment 2007

  Revenue   Employment  Small

Business

Large Busine

ss

  Small Busine

ss

Large Busine

ss

Total 30% 70%   49% 

51% 

Source: Statistics of U.S. Businesses, 2007 and Nonemployer Statistics. U.S. Census Bureau

Purpose

Research QuestionsGENERAL QUESTION

• What method or methods of training in a business accelerator program do entrepreneurs indicate most useful to their leadership development?

SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

• How do entrepreneurs describe the aspects of a business accelerator program that resulted in their leadership development?• What specific leadership skills did

entrepreneurs take away from their experience in the business accelerator program? • What types of training were most

useful in an entrepreneurs’ leadership development?

Descriptive Study

Explanatory Study

Theoretical Framework• Qualitative, Case Study

• Experiential Theory• Learning through knowledge, skills, and values• Learning by doing real-world activities

Part II

(He, 2013).

Theoretical Framework• Entrepreneurial Leadership Theory

• Leadership Theory• Combining strategic vision with influence• Motivating others through a cultural process in the organization

• Entrepreneur Theory• Create opportunity beyond the resources the individual controls

Roomi, M. A., & Harrison, P. (2011).

ENTREPRENEUR

• Performs complex solo duties • Organizational structure not

defined• Personality traits may be

complex• Skills needed are varied

LEADER

• Performs duties in an organization• Org structure is firmly

established

Theoretical FrameworkEntrepreneurial Leadership Theory

(Vecchio, (2003); Mattare, 2008).

Data Sources

• Accelerator Programs• Entrepreneurs• Artifacts• Journals• Audio

Data Collection (3+ month process)  Study

Participant AStudy

Participant BStudy

Participant CStudy

Participant D  Inter

viewObserva

tionIntervi

ewObserva

tionIntervi

ewObserva

tionIntervi

ewObserva

tion  Pre-entry Interview

                 Wee

kMonth One

1                2                3                4                

Data AnalysisWe

ekly

Journ

als

Observations

Interviews

CodingThemesPatternsTriangulationContemporary

Real-life simulation

SignificanceENTREPRENEURS

• Developing a stronger understanding of Entrepreneurs

BUSINESS ACCELERATOR PROGRAMS• Better

understanding of methodology and results

UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS• Improved

teaching methods• Build upon the

body of literature

Part III

QuestionsFollow up:Twitter@GregPriceMBA

LinkedInhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/gregpricemba

Questions:gpmba@cityu.edu

References• (US Census Bureau, 2007). Statistics about business size (including small business)

from the u.s. census bureau. Retrieved from: http://www.census.gov/econ/smallbus.html

• Jones, K. (2011). A biographical approach to researching leadership and entrepreneurship development processes in a small business context. Proceedings of the European conference on management, leadership & governance, 199-205., Thomson, London.

• Andruss, P. (2013). Rev up your start up. Entrepreneur, 41, 77-83.• Antonakis, J., & Autio, E. (2007). Entrepreneurship and leadership. The psychology of

entrepreneurship (pp. 189–208). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.• Bagheri, A. P., Zaidatol Akmaliah Lope. (2011). Entrepreneurial leadership: towards a

model for learning and development. Human resource development international, 14(4), 447 - 463. doi: 10.1080/13678868.2011.601594

• Bann, C. L. (2007). Entrepreneurial lives: A phenomenological study of the lived experience of the entrepreneur, including the influence of values, beliefs, attitudes, and leadership in the entrepreneurial journey. Capella University. Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 373-373.

References• Byrd, W. C. (2010). The personal leadership practices of successful

entrepreneurs. Pepperdine University. Retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com/docview/649391178?accountid=1230 (Order No. 3412018)

• Carr, A. (2012). Are accelerators losing speed?, Fast Company, 168, 51-56.• City University of Seattle (2013). Protection of Human Subjects in Research.

Retrieved from: https://courses.cityu.edu • Cogliser, C.C., and K.H. Brigham. (2004). The intersection of leadership and

entrepreneurship: Mutual lessons to be learned. The Leadership Quarterly, 15, 771–99.

• Cook, P., & Yamamoto, R. (2011). Inside the mind of the expert entrepreneur: The explorer's view of strategy. Journal of management & strategy, 2(3), 77-85. doi:10.5430/jms.v2n3p77

• Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

References• Engel, P. (2013). Small business owners don't fear the devastatingly high failure rate.

Retrieved from Business Insider website: http://www.businessinsider.com/small-business-owners-are-optimistic-2013-6

• Gupta, V., I.C. MacMillan, and G. Surie. (2004). Entrepreneurial leadership: Developing and measuring a cross-cultural construct. Journal of business venturing, 19, 241–60.

• He, F. (2013). Learning from failure: The making of entrepreneurial leaders. The George Washington University, Ann Arbor, MI. Retrieved from: http://proxy.cityu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.proxy.cityu.edu/docview/1314799274?accountid=1230 (3553304)

• Johnson, J. E. (2011). Why some leaders can build new organizations: Leadership, individual differences, and gender in entrepreneurship. The Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 152.

• Kempster, S.J., and J. Cope. (2010). Learning to lead in the entrepreneurial context. Journal of entrepreneurial behaviour and research, 16(6), 5–34.

• Kobe, K. (2012). Small business gdp: Update 2002-2010. Retrieved from: http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/rs390tot_0.pdf

References• Knopp, L. (2007), National business incubation association: 2006 state of the

business incubation industry, National Business Incubation Association Publications, Athens, OH.

• Kuratko, D. F. (2007). Entrepreneurial leadership in the 21st century: Guest editor’s perspective. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 13(4), 1–11.

• Mattare, M. 2008. Teaching entrepreneurship: The case for an entrepreneurial leadership course. USASBE Proceedings, 78–93.

• Rae, D. and Carswell, M. (2000) Using a Life-story approach in researching entrepreneurial learning: The development of a conceptual model and its implications in the design of learning experiences, Education and Training, 42(4/5), pp 220-227.

• Roomi, M. A., & Harrison, P. (2011). Entrepreneurial leadership: What is it and how should it be taught? International Review of Entrepreneurship, 9(3).

• Sepulvada, F. (2012, July 31). The difference between a business accelerator and a business incubator? Retrieved from: http://www.inc.com/fernando-sepulveda/the-difference-between-a-business-accelerator-and-a-business-incubator.html

References• Shepard, J. M. (2013). Small business incubators in the U.S.: A

historical review and preliminary research findings. Journal of knowledge-based innovation in China, 5(3), 213-233. doi: 10.1108/JKIC-07-2013-0013• Vecchio, R.P. 2003. Entrepreneurship and leadership: Common

trends and common threads. Human Resource Management Review, 13, 303–27.• Velocity venture capital accepts 10 startups into its business

accelerator program. (2013). Professional Services Close - Up,Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1458634760?accountid=1230• Yin, R. K. (1981). The case study crisis: Some answers.

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