Widening the scope of entrepreneurial finance with flexible organization, e-working, and e-learning

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 83 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1086-1718
• DOI: 10.1002/jsc.874

✦ Synopsis

In the preceding thematic issue dedicated to assessing the real value of the fi rm, we have addressed the question of how relevant the emerging intangible assets of the fi rm are for entrepreneurial fi nance. In this special issue, attention is focused on how the economic value of the fi rm can be increased by changing the limits and opportunities to growth. Th e new technologies of communication and organization are powerful means to widen the range of arbitrage choices and sustain higher growth. Th ey could also extend the access to external capital and allow greater fl exibility in the fi rm's organization. Innovative forms of online working and learning may open new frontiers of collaboration and qualifi cations with unprecedented growth in human resources. Lower costs of capital and decreasing costs of production, combined with better communication and online working and learning, may be the key to success for fi rms operating in globalized markets -even in slumping economies.

As in the previous thematic issues of this journal, we complement the new ideas and results presented in analytical articles with an interview from an expert with experience in practical applications. Editor Carlo Milana conducted an interview with Alan Nelson, who is an entrepreneur who began his career in bookshops. He moved into educational publishing, where he spent fi ve years as CEO of Th omson Learning in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. During his time there, Alan became increasingly interested in the use of the Internet as a learning tool and in 2000 left corporate life to set up his own business. Since then, his enterprise named Nelson Croom has thrived in the challenging e-learning market. Alan's insistence that the focus is on the learners and what they want to learn has led to an impressive client list and client satisfaction rates that are second to none. In November 2009, Nelson Croom received the Silver Award for E-learning Development Company of the Year in the UK. His answers to the questions relating to the articles hosted in this issue are reported below. Read on.

Question no. 1 (Increasing the value of the fi rm with new technologies): Th e information and communication technologies (ICT) have been key tools for innovation and productivity growth in many aspects of the production activity and in almost all

sectors of the economy. Th e value of the fi rm is, however, the outcome of present and future profi tability, which in turn depends not only on innovation and productivity, but also on many other factors such as access to markets, market power, and fi nancial conditions. What is your view on improving these profi tability conditions by means of the new technologies?