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South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences
On-line version ISSN 2222-3436
Print version ISSN 1015-8812
S. Afr. j. econ. manag. sci. vol.14 n.4 Pretoria Jan. 2011
Social capital configurations for necessity-driven versus opportunity-driven entrepreneurs
Boris Urban
Graduate School of Business Administration, University of the Witwatersrand
There is growing literature suggesting the importance of networking and even arguing that social capital may be the most significant source of advantage for entrepreneurs. This research uses the classification of necessity-driven versus opportunity-driven entrepreneurs, which has been found to differ systematically in terms of venture growth and job creation, and also reflects the schism between the informal and formal sectors. Having unpacked the construct of networking as embedded in the theory of social capital, hypotheses are formulated which allow for statistical testing. The results add to the ongoing debate on this dualistic typology of entrepreneurs, where in several instances significant differences are detected across networking diversity, ties, types of assistance and support perceptions.
Keywords: networking, entrepreneurship, necessity-driven, social capital
1 Introduction
Research among countries in transition underlines the point that entrepreneurship exists in every country (Luthans, Stajkovic & Ibrayeva, 2000). This entrepreneurial spirit can be fostered where environmental factors such as family and support systems, financing sources, local communities, government agencies, and cultural factors have a positive affect on entrepreneurial behaviour (Bygrave & Minniti, 2000). In the absence of political stability, and formal support structures, networking and personal trust become even more important during transition as they offer some form of consistency and predictability in the times of fundamental change.
Entrepreneurial activity does not occur in a vacuum, but instead is rooted in cultural and social contexts, specifically within webs of personal and institutional networks (Chan, Bhargava & Street, 2006; Jackson, Amaeshi & Yavuz, 2008). Not only can an individual's social network be influenced by a variety of social relations and support factors, but the greater the political and societal legitimacy of entrepreneurship in a particular region, the greater the rate of business formation (Carter, Reynolds & Gartner, 2004; Jack & Anderson, 2002). Social networks provided by extended family, community-based or organizational relationships are theorized to supplement the effects of education, experience and financial capital (Greve & Salaff, 2003).
There is growing literature suggesting the importance of networks to entrepreneurs and even arguing that social capital may be the most significant source of advantage for entrepreneurs (Arenius & De Clercq, 2005; Audretsch & Keilbach, 2004; Davidson & Honig, 2003; Mitchell & Co, 2004). Studies indicate that networking allows entrepreneurs to enlarge their knowledge of opportunities, to gain access to critical resources, and to deal with business obstacles (Adler & Kwon, 2002; Low & Macillan, 1988; McMillan & Woodruff, 2002). Through networks, entrepreneurs can provide the functions of missing formal institutions, such as contract enforcement and credit (Welter & Smallbone, 2006). Researching entrepreneurship using a social capital perspective is important, as social capital is a crucial asset for small business owners struggling to survive in competitive markets (Aldrich & Zimmer, 1986), and particularly as collaboration between network actors requires expertise and competence if the relationship is to be successfully maintained (Human, 2009).
Entrepreneurial activity in Africa is heavily skewed toward low-expectation entrepreneurial activity; this is according to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report on high-growth entrepreneurship (Autio, 2007; Naude, Thomas, Wood & Aloe, 2008). The primary objective of GEM is to explore differences in national levels and types of entrepreneurship. The relative prevalence of opportunity-motivated versus necessitymotivated (i.e., entrepreneurs who say they are involved in an entrepreneurial effort to take advantage of opportunity or because they have no better choices for work), entrepreneurial activity provides useful insights into the quality of early-stage entrepreneurial activity. GEM research has consistently shown that the economic contribution of opportunitymotivated entrepreneurs is higher than for necessity-driven entrepreneurs, who are alternatively termed as survivalists since they face structural challenges where expected returns are low and intermittent, with low expectations of growth and job creation, and where motivation is personal survival (Morris & Pitt, 1995; Ngiba, Dickinson & Whittaker, 2009). This is in contrast to opportunity-driven entrepreneurs, who say are they are pursuing a business opportunity and strive for independence, and are largely responsible for up to 80 per cent of all job creation by entrepreneurs (Autio, 2005).
The classification of necessity-driven entrepreneurship (NDE) versus opportunity-driven entrepreneurship (ODE) with which this paper employs to scrutinize social capital, has been found to differ systematically in terms of (1) expectations of job creation, (2) projections for out-of-country exports, (3) intention to replicate existing business activity versus creating a new niche, and (4) participation in one of four business sectors (Hessels, van Gelderen & Thurik, 2008; McMullen, Bagby & Palich, 2008).
Despite the importance of these differences and entrepreneurial networking, little empirical or theoretical research has examined the dynamics of social capital in an emerging country context. Not only is there is reason to suspect that the nature of networking between NDE and ODE may differ, but there have been calls for research on these two categories of entrepreneurs, so that this dualistic typology may further be interrogated (McMullen et al., 2008; Williams, 2008). By identifying these dominant categories of entrepreneurs, and linking them with research variables previously not related, will help elucidate how these entrepreneurs react differently or similarly to different phenomena as specified for this article. Recognising that NDE versus ODE has been found to differ systematically on several variables, particularly in terms of growth expectations and of job creation (Hessels, van Gelderen & Thurik, 2008), further investigation advances the topic where it has much relevance.
The critical question that this paper raises, concerns that which we can learn about entrepreneurial social capital, considering that there is an under-explored and unarticulated set of networking principles and practices which have not been previously linked to the categories of NDE versus ODE. Therefore the objective of this study is to identify any differences in networking practices and support perceptions between NDE and ODE. Not only is there a reason to suspect that the nature of networking between NDE and ODE may differ, but by linking these two types of entrepreneurs with social capital, the study's research question will be addressed.
The article starts by reviewing theory on social capital and networking as it relates to entrepreneurship. As an explanation for the phenomena under study, hypotheses are formulated, which allows for differences between the variables to be tested. The study ends by drawing conclusions on the empirical findings and identifies the limitations of the study and provides suggestions for future research.
2 Literature review
Every new venture, from mom-and-pop convenience stores to Silicon Valley superstars such as Google, starts with an 'investment' from the founders themselves or the so called 3Fs (family, friend, or foolhardy strangers) (Bosma & Levie, 2009:52). This community of investors is vital to the start-up process, with perceptions of social capital provided by a community being essential to entrepreneurial start-ups. This notion of community support may also be captured as the 'Batho pele' principle in the broader South African context (Mofolo, 2009).
The study of social capital and its impact on economic decision-making and actions stems from classic literatures in economics and sociology (Granovetter, 1973). Social capital may be understood as the goodwill that is engendered by the fabric of social relations and that can be mobilized to facilitate action (Adler & Kwon, 2002; Audretsch & Keilbach, 2004). It refers to the relationships and networks from which individuals are able to derive institutional support and allows them to act together more effectively to pursue shared objectives (Putnam, 1995). Social capital is often explained in terms of social exchange, which allows for better understanding of the effects of exchange ties on performance. Adler and Kwon (2002) argue that the breadth of the social capital concept reflects a primordial feature of social life - namely, that social ties of one kind (e.g., friendship) often can be used for different purposes (e.g., moral and material support, work and social advice). In practice, the social capital concept has been traditionally conceptualized according to two main configurations of networks: structural and relational-cognitive ones (Pirolo & Presutti, 2010:200).
Social capital is often operationalised through the identification of networks and network relationships, sometimes defined by the strength of ties, repetitive group activity such as the frequency of meetings and other formal interactions, as well as informal gatherings and other social activities, and social and family relationships. The analysis of network structure requires, first, attention to the quality of the constituent ties, that is, their frequency, intensity, multiplicity, and so forth, and to their configuration (Adler & Kwon, 2002; McMillan & Woodruff, 2002).
From an entrepreneurial perspective, social capital provides networks that facilitate the discovery of opportunities, as well as the identification, collection and allocation of scarce resources and strategic initiatives (Davidson & Honig, 2003; Miller, Besser & Malshe, 2007). Small firms are important in innovations through their linkages with larger firms (Naude, 2007), thus impacting the performance of internationalized firms, (Pangarkar, 2008; Pollard & Simberova, 2002), and influencing a nation's economic activity through the interplay of established, new and small firms (Minniti, Bygrave & Autio, 2005).
Certain networking activities have been positively associated with firm performance, for instance Aldrich and Zimmer (1986) report a positive relationship between firm survival and number of times per week of contact with network members. Moreover surviving entrepreneurs are reported as being more active in social relations than their unsuccessful counterparts (Sawyerr, McGee & Peterson, 2003).
In a review of business networks, Blundel and Smith (2001) conclude that during venture creation, most entrepreneurs rely on informal sources in their personal networks in order to mobilize resources, especially before a venture is set up. Based on a synthesis of research investigating the nature of networking in small firms (see: Carson et al., 1995; Curran et al., 1993), networking is described as an activity that varies according to the individual ownermanager and furthermore, according to the person with whom the interaction takes places. Investigating the role of personal networking activities, Sawyerr, McGee and Peterson (2003) show that small firms rely on a welldeveloped web of personal networks in dealing with uncertainty in the external environment. By researching levels of membership and activity in social networks for the selfemployed and their employed counterparts, Dodd (1997) finds that both groups exhibit statistically significant levels of similarity. Generally at least some aspects of business networking are generic, and the owners approach some tasks in similar ways in different environments; nonetheless given the socially-embedded nature of networking activities, differences between communities are generally anticipated (Cooper & Denner, 1998).
Street and Cameron (2007) find that characteristics of small business external relationships, such as relationship strength, network size, network structure, relationship type, goal compatibility, and existing trust, represent the largest area of research regarding antecedents of relationships. An entrepreneur's network of social ties creates opportunities for social capital transactions. External ties to others provide entrepreneurs the opportunity to leverage their resources. Thus, multiple diverse contacts are important, regardless of their strength (Aldrich & Carter, 2004). This diversity in network ties is crucial for entrepreneurs, as diversity increases access to a wider circle of information about potential markets, new business locations, innovations, sources of capital, and potential investors. On the other hand in homogeneous networks, information known to one person is rapidly diffused to others and interpreted in similar ways.
In Granovetter's (1973) classic work, the importance of maintaining an extended network of weak ties in obtaining resources is emphasized. Weak ties are loose relationships between individuals, as opposed to the close ties that would be found in a nuclear family. Weak ties are useful in obtaining information that would otherwise be unavailable or costly to locate. They extend one's network by linking individuals or organizations together and providing an interface for exchanges to take place (Aldrich & Carter, 2004). In contrast, an example of strong ties would be a sibling or parent helping out for free in some aspect of the start-up activities. Thus, strong ties, such as those derived from family relationships, provide secure and consistent access to resources. The most reliable relationships in a personal network are strong ties, which are usually of long duration. They are long-term, two-way relationships, not governed by short-term calculations of self interest.
Networking and member relationships are nearly invisible to most scholars who study entrepreneurship and economic development in Africa, however research is emerging which focuses on the phenomenon of entrepreneurship. For instance by focusing on a new entrepreneurial group who founded a system of regional enterprise networks in response to liberalized economic and political conditions, McDade and Spring (2005) describe how with donor funding assistance, these entrepreneurs organized 31 national, three regional, and one pan-African business network in West, East, and Southern Africa. Since joining these networks some members are reported to be doing business with firms in other African countries network members, but have not established linkages with traditional formal or informal sector small-scale entrepreneurs, which comprise most of the entrepreneurial landscape. Moreover, some members contend that there is more 'talking' than actual business being transacted.
Nonetheless in spite of their poor social network infrastructure, African firms of varying size and structure make very effective use of business networks (Ahwireng-Obeng, 2006). Empirical work has in fact provided evidence of some international similarities, as well as some national-level characteristics (Dodd & Patra, 2002).
In South Africa, as in many parts of the world, the schism between the poor and rich is widening and entrenched inequalities act as a major deterrent to growth, development, and employment creation (Lopez-Claros, Altinger, Blanke, Drezniek & Mia, 2006). Additionally South Africa has a dual-logic economy, where on the one side there is a highly developed economic sector and on the other side one struggling for survival (Maas & Herrington, 2007). These schisms in many ways parallel the NDE and ODE divide, which are often construed as the motivational 'push-pull' dichotomy, where in developing countries one would expect greater push factors to be prevalent among entrepreneurs. South Africa's total early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) index, the primary measure used to compare rate of new business start-ups amongst countries was relatively low (5.90 per cent) for 2009 (Bosma & Levie, 2009:21). The profile of people who are categorised within NDE versus ODE in the latest GEM report indicates that in South Africa approximately 41 per cent of TEA is NDE and 46 per cent is ODE (Bosma & Levie, 2009:25). The ratio of ODE to NDE is 3.8:1 and indicates that the proportion of ODE is almost four times higher than that of NDE, and is substantially higher than the average ratio of 2.5 across all GME countries (Herrington, Kew & Kew, 2008:18). However this high ratio of ODE over NDE in 2008 is not borne out by an increase in the TEA index. Moreover South Africa has staggeringly high levels of unemployment (2007 = 23 per cent) relative to the rest of GEM sample (Herrington, Kew & Kew, 2008:16). One would expect, therefore, that necessity would serve as a strong stimulus for an increased TEA rate for South Africa. Despite these anomalies the NDE versus ODE rates are significant when read in conjunction with high-growth expectation early-stage entrepreneurs (HEA) indicators of job-growth expectation, innovation and international orientation. South Africa was one of the countries with the lowest HEA rates over the 2004-2009 periods. Additionally if one compares ODE rates with NDE rates of other developing countries, and excludes NDE, South Africa's entrepreneurial activity is still the lowest of developing countries (von Broembsen, Wood & Herrington, 2006:19).
3 Research problem and hypotheses
Currently in South Africa most research and policy initiatives focus on NDE, who represent the unemployed masses. Although micro enterprises or survivalists may have entrepreneurial characteristics, their ability to grow and create employment, are restricted by their scarcity of skills, business knowledge and resources (Pretorius & van Vuuren, 2002; Urban, Barreira & van Vuuren, 2008). The level of growth aspiration of these necessitydriven entrepreneurs, or lack thereof appears to vary significantly according to economic context, quality of populations in terms of high-growth potential, the difference between income substitution and income generation, and the different societal opportunity structures that these entrepreneurs face (Autio, 2007).
After the construct of networking as embedded in the theory of social capital, has been unpacked, hypotheses are formulated which allow for statistical testing. Based on the theoretical underpinnings discussed in the literature review, the following hypotheses are formulated and set at the 0.05 significance level (p-value < 0.05):
Null Hypothesis 1: Configurations of diversity in entrepreneurial networking will not differ between NDE and ODE.
Null Hypothesis 2: Configurations of networking ties will not differ between NDE and ODE.
Null Hypothesis 3: Configurations of networking assistance and support relationships will not differ between NDE and ODE.
Null Hypothesis 4: Configurations of networking climate support perceptions will not differ between NDE and ODE.
HA: For all the above hypotheses the alternative states that there will be a difference between NDE and ODE in the configurations of networking diversity, ties, assistance and support relationships, and climate support perceptions.
4 Nature of research
Since existing research has not yielded generalisable knowledge on differences in variables of social capital under scrutiny for NDE versus ODE, it was posited that a crosssectional survey based descriptive study, generating empirical results will add to the body of knowledge in this new direction of study.
Several studies have shown that the patterns of social capital development are strongly influenced by the social context where business partners are embedded (Pirolo & Presutti, 2010). Subsequently the empirical research was conducted inside two delimited geographical areas, conducive to yielding respondents in both category of entrepreneur.
The unit of analysis for this study was the individual entrepreneur who then also served as a proxy for their venture.
5 The sample frame
Recognizing that the question between NDE and ODE is polyvalent and people operating somewhere in-between these extremes tend to answer as being opportunity-driven (Bosma, Jones, Autio & Levie, 2007), specific sampling frames were identified for each type of entrepreneur.
For ODE, a generic sampling frame was identified from membership lists of businesses operating in the greater Johannesburg area, these included: the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), the Business Referral and Information Network (BRAIN), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the SA Institute of Intellectual Property Law. The population of these databases is approximately 4600 firms. The survey was solicited electronically with periodic reminder telephone calls. NDE were solicited as part of an experiential exercise conducted by trained university students in the SOWETO township area. Informal activity is pervasive in townships (Bradford, 2007) most of which are single-person operations (Morris & Pitt, 1995).
Both categories of entrepreneurs are based in the Gauteng province, the economic hub of South Africa, which has the highest number of both formal and informal entrepreneurs (SA Business Guidebook, 2005).
6 The sample
Given the difficulty of accessing sampling frames for probability samples in social sciences research (Mitchell et al., 2002), nonprobability sampling was used to gather data from respondents who met the pre-determined screening criteria of owning and managing a running business that has paid salaries, wages or any other payments to the owners for more than 3 months, (Autio, 2007), and not employing more than 200 people (SA Survey, 2006). Coinciding with previous discussions and definitions, when operationalising the sample, the following broad criteria were used for NDE - "were you pushed into entrepreneurship because all other options for work are either absent or unsatisfactory", and for ODE - "did you become an entrepreneur to exploit a perceived business opportunity" (Bosma & Levie, 2009). Respondent's biographical data served as control variables, which included age, gender, and race/ethnicity.
Based on eligibility criteria and suitability of respondents, 101 usable responses (an effective 47 per cent response rate) from an initial 213 surveys were generated as the final sample for ODE. Based on pre-determined selection criteria, and using structured personal interviews, 102 usable responses (an effective 39 per cent response rate), from an initial 255 surveys were obtained as the final sample for NDE. For both ODE and NDE a wide range of businesses were sampled which included: agriculture, small-scale manufacturing, construction, financial, business, retail, motor trade and repair services, catering, accommodation and other trade, transport, storage and communications businesses. For NDE, the trading environment was characterized by mostly informal premises, and some of these included; street trader or hawker, craft market, home or friend's home, container or caravan, or local shopping centre. A profile of respondents is shown in Table 1.
7 The measures
Apart from the respondents biographic details, the questionnaire surveyed several networking activities and sought a number as an answer (for example, of meetings per week, or hours expected), therefore responses were solicited in a manner to allow for quantitative analysis and most items were measured with either categorical, ratio or interval (1-5 Likert) scales.
To allow for meaningful comparisons with earlier work, a core set of questions based on the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) (Gartner, Shaver, Carter & Reynolds, 2004) survey were selected. The PSED provides systematic, reliable data on those variables that explain and predict nascent entrepreneurship. The first section (A) of the questionnaire was concerned with the diversity and tie strength in network relationships and focused on the number of persons who had been helpful to the respondent with the start-up process.
Next three aspects of the respondents' relationship with these helpers were surveyed: First, how similar are the helpers to the respondent and to other helpers. Second, how strong is the tie between the respondent and the helpers? Questions included how long have you known (each helper), and how many times have you talked with (each helper) about business matters in the last week? By asking respondent how long he/she has known the helper is relevant because a number of previous studies have argued that ties of long duration almost reflect a strong commitment and most likely reciprocal relations between two people. Thirdly, the respondent would describe his or her relationship in terms of network support, based on a list of role relationships.
For section (B), respondents were asked in what way has each helper contributed to the start-up effort and on what terms? They were also asked which of these forms of assistance has been most important for the new business start-up.
In section (C), climate support perceptions of entrepreneurial networking were measured. Respondents were asked to what extent they agree/disagree with the various types of influences on networking in terms of business start-ups.
8 Data analysis
The proposed measures have been previously subjected to factor analysis, with satisfactory results achieved in terms of factor loadings and reliability (Carter, Reynolds & Gartner, 2004). Nonetheless reliability was re-tested, and item statistics were calculated using the Cronbach's Alpha. Descriptive statistics were calculated and the result output was split by group (NDE versus ODE) which entailed conducting crosstabs on the categorical variables. Following prior methods used to detect significant differences in entrepreneurs (Chan, Bhargava & Street, 2006), and based on data type collected, the hypothesized differences across variables were tested using Chi-Square methods.
9 Empirical results
To test for reliability of scales, Cronbach's coefficient alpha was used as it has the most utility for multi-scales at interval level of measurement. A correlation matrix was calculated for items per scale, indicating relatively low inter-correlations between items. An overall satisfactory Cronbach's Alpha of 0.712 was obtained for total items measuring networking principles of diversity, ties, and support relationships. For items measuring climate perceptions of entrepreneurial startups, the Cronbach Alphas for total items was 0.700 indicating an acceptable degree of reliability (Cooper & Emory, 1995).
Having calculated sample statistics, results in Table 1 show that the only significant differences detected on the demographic variables, in terms of helpers for opportunitydriven entrepreneurs versus necessity-driven entrepreneurs are on race/ethnicity (Helper 1 = χ 2 = 9.536, df = 4, p = .049; Helper 3 = χ 2 = 13.079, df = 4, p = .011). It is noteworthy that the number of people identified as helpful was the 1-3 category of helpers, with no significant differences detected between the groups. Research on entrepreneurial networking has found that most business owners name no more than three helpers (Aldrich & Carter, 2004), which resonates with the present study results.
To test hypothesis 1 in terms of configurations of diversity in entrepreneurial networking between necessity-driven entrepreneurs and opportunity-driven entrepreneurs, Table 2 shows that the three helpers' characteristics in terms of age and gender tend to be relatively similar to the demographics of the necessitydriven entrepreneurs and opportunity-driven entrepreneurs themselves. These results add support to the argument that a degree of homogeneity in networks exists and that people tend to associate with others who have similar characteristics, values and interests, that is, diversity is relatively low. The only significant differences in Table 2, are detected on race/ethnicity for helper 1 (χ 2 = 9.536 ; df = 4 ; p= .05), and helper 3 (χ 2 = 13.079 ; df= 4 ; p = .011). Subsequently null hypothesis 1 is rejected and the alternative is accepted as some network diversity is evident between NDE and ODE.
Hypothesis 2 was tested in terms of networking ties, which measured length of relationship and frequency of contact, i.e., by asking how many times the respondents had talked with helpers about business matters in the past month. In terms of networking ties, measured via length of relationship and frequency of contact, see Table 2. Results indicate that the both ODE and necessitydriven entrepreneurs have known helper 1 mostly for a length of 2-4 years. Necessitydriven entrepreneurs knew helper 2 for 5-7 years and opportunity-driven entrepreneurs new him or her for 2-4 years while opportunity-driven entrepreneurs knew helper 3 for 2-4 years and necessity-driven entrepreneurs knew him or her for 5-7 years. These results are pertinent because of the relatively strong commitment and likely reciprocal relations to occur between two people who have accrued this length in a relationship. Furthermore by asking how many times the respondents had talked with each helper about business matters in the past month - significant differences exist relating to all three helpers: helper 1 = (χ 2 = 10.086 ; df = 3 ; p = .013), helper 2 = (χ 2 = 12.446 ; df = 3 ; p= .002), and helper 3 (χ 2 = 11.455 ; df = 3 ; p = .005). Following Granovetter (1973) strong-ties are defined as those with whom the entrepreneur interacts at least twice a week. Weak-ties are relationships that are enacted less than twice a week, but at least once a year. Based on these results null 2 is rejected, since entrepreneurial networking relationships differ between ODE and NDE in terms of strong network ties as opposed to weak network ties.
Testing hypothesis 3 for differences in configurations of networking assistance and support relationships first required that the respondents rank 6 different forms of assistance rendered by each helper. Based on these rankings significant differences were found for helper 1 on total items = (χ 2 = 18.758; df = 9; p = .027)(not shown). Additionally, to establish on what terms the help was provided, respondents indicated that the assistance was mostly provided free, with significant differences between groups for helper 1 = (χ 2 = 20.942 ; df = 4; p = .001)helper 2 = (χ 2 = 12.695 ; df = 4; p = .05), helper 3 = (χ 2 = 18.925 ; df = 4; p = .001)(not shown). Once respondents had delineated their network support structure in terms of helpers, basic descriptives were calculated from a list of role relationships, to establish any differences between ODE and NDE (see Table 3). Based on interval scales, mean scores and standard deviations were calculated. Moreover, by applying tests of normality, and calculating the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk statistics, test scores indicate that normality was violated. Hence, to test between the two groups, non-parametric tests were calculated, and the Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon W test statistics rendered an overall non-significant Z score (-.214). These results mean that the alternative hypothesis 3 is rejected as no significant differences were detected on items measuring support relationships.
Testing hypothesis 4, where configurations of networking climate support perceptions were surveyed, by applying tests of normality and calculating the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk statistics, test scores indicate that normality was violated. Based on nonparametric tests, the Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon W test statistics rendered an overall significant Z score (-3.910; p = .001). Therefore significant differences were detected between ODE and NDE in terms of climate perceptions, leading to the rejection of null hypothesis 4. Moreover, the relatively high level of scores in terms of all the variables measuring climate perceptions suggests that necessity-driven and opportunity-driven entrepreneurs are generally positive about environmental conditions.
10 Conclusion
In line with contemporary views on the importance of social capital for entrepreneurs, the centrepiece of this study focused on uncovering differences in networking activities and perceptions of support between NDE versus ODE.
At a general level the empirical findings provide mixed results in terms of the four hypotheses, where in several instances significant differences were detected. The findings related to the first hypothesis add to the ongoing debate of diversity in entrepreneurial networking, as differences were detected between ODE and NDE, leading to rejection of the null hypothesis. However, the results indicate a tendency towards homogeneity in networks, suggesting that network diversity is relatively low for both NDE and ODE.
At the same time, the prediction that networking ties will not differ between NDE and ODE, as formulated in hypothesis two, is rejected as several significant differences were reported in terms of length of relationship and frequency of contact with each of the helpers. Moreover, these relationships are based on strong network ties rather than weak network ties.
On the other hand, null hypothesis three is accepted as no significant differences were detected between NDE and ODE with respect to network support relationships.
Configurations of networking climate support perceptions were predicted not to differ between NDE and ODE, however, several differences were found, leading to the rejection of hypothesis four.
Plausible explanations for some of these empirical results are made and interpreted in conjunction with previous findings. While it can be assumed that the degree of networking is indeed related to the type of entrepreneur investigated, this present research together with similar research (O'Donnell, 2004) shows that networking also varies according to individual differences and the context in which the actor is involved. Mitchell and Co (2004) find that most network members are either friends or family members, that is, most of the contacts were made through the entrepreneur's own effort rather than through referrals. South African entrepreneurs have been found to have established their network ties for a long time, although they spend less time in developing and maintaining contacts compared to their international counterparts. Previous comparative studies on networking in different countries provide evidence of some international similarities, as well as national-level characteristics (Cooper & Denner, 1998).
In the present study networking practices differ between ODE and NDE in terms of diversity, and on networking ties which for ODE seem to be based more on strong than weak ties. Past research points out that ties to more than one person with similar characteristics or in a similar social location are redundant and thus of questionable value in providing new information (Aldrich & Carter, 2004). Moreover, these findings on network diversity suggest that homogeneous networks are prevalent in terms of helpers for both opportunity-driven and necessity-driven entrepreneurs. A network's level of diversity depends, in part, upon the mix of strong and weak ties. Two forces promote homogeneity in personal networks. First, people tend to associate with others who have similar values and interests. It has been argued that people learn more from people like themselves than from other groups or experts (Flora & Flora, 1993), and that communities tend to learn best from those that are at the same level as themselves. Second, people tend toward emotional and personal balance across their social relations.
Reflecting on the relatively average mean scores obtained on variables measuring networking assistance and relationship support obtained through networking, it could be postulated that in an emerging country context, such as South Africa, individuals and firms often form loosely-structured networks without clear governance mechanisms to coordinate activities, pool resources, and pursue joint growth (Luthans, Stajkovic & Ibrayeva, 2000). This means that networking is largely unstructured and coincidental in nature. As complex networks of socio-economic institutions are formed and shape the development of new technologies, knowledge intensive or ODE are particularly affected, as they must deal with and act in these dynamic networks (Groen, 2005).
Although this study makes a unique contribution by investigating a set of networking principles and practices which have not been previously linked to NDE versus ODE, this dualistic typology has begun to be questioned (Williams, 2008). Particularly NDE and ODE are largely treated as entirely separate categories constituted via their negation of each other. Recently, however, researchers have questioned the separateness of opportunity and necessity drivers and argued that they co-exist in entrepreneurial motives. The co-presence of necessity and opportunity drivers among informal entrepreneurs notes that motives shift over time, and that there is a transition from necessity to opportunity orientated motives as businesses mature. Indeed necessity-driven informal entrepreneurship may well provide a seedbed or platform from which opportunity-driven entrepreneurs emerge (Williams, 2008).
11 Implications
Based on this original investigation into social capital of ODE and NDE, several interesting practical and theoretical implications are observed.
Although efforts are under way to improve South Africa's human capital through education and skills training (Urban, 2008), aspects of social capital are often neglected. A strong entrepreneurial culture cannot develop and flourish in areas with limited access to social capital, networking structures, social relations and support factors (Welter & Smallbone, 2006). Key to countering these obstacles is to improve the country's social capital base through entrepreneurial networking. One way to increase the social capital base of entrepreneurs is to devise a coherent and nationally-aligned government vision for building entrepreneurship which includes a better working relationship between government, intervention agencies and target communities.
It is important to clarify that the findings and propositions made in this paper do not suggest that NDE should be discouraged - particularly as these necessity-driven entrepreneurs can make a living for their families and could support their children's education. This in turn could position them better in the job market to become opportunity-driven entrepreneurs (Bosma & Levie, 2009:11). National policy makers need to tailor their entrepreneurial development programmes to the profile of these broad categories of entrepreneurs.
One of the strategies in promoting entrepreneurship is conducting appropriate research aimed at better understanding the capacities of different types of entrepreneurs in South Africa. Such research may help target advisory services and finance more precisely so that entrepreneurial performance improves. Understanding networking behaviours would assist national policy makers who are trying to encourage more opportunity-focused entrepreneurial behaviour.
12 Limitations and future research
Limitations of the study include that data may have been contaminated by common method variance, since all variables were surveyed from the same set of respondents. Another limitation of this research is that a crosssectional study loses its dynamic aspects of entrepreneurial networking. A relatively static picture of network positions was surveyed. By investigating the dynamics of networking processes in a temporal framework, Jack, Dodd and Anderson (2008) demonstrate that networks are vital living organisms, changing, growing and developing over time.
As a directive for future action, it is suggested that policy makers and entrepreneurial development agencies, facilitate the emergence of both NDE and ODE social capital, allowing for strengthening of specific network practices, as well insuring that the benefits of co-operation increase between these two types of entrepreneurs. Such practices would allow for the development of a new type of integrated economy, where the intensive development of local and international networks allows for expansion into areas of specific application that would transform into a new economy based on extensive integrated networking or 'network economy' (Pollard & Simberova, 2002).
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Accepted: September 2011


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About a month ago, we spoke with John Loiacono, Sun's VP of Operating Platforms, to get an idea of where Sun's head was at on the Linux question. It turned out to be in a better place than most give the company credit for. The interesting twist in the conversation was Sun's new institutional take on why Linux has proven so popular. According to the company, the power of cheap x86 hardware is the real allure to enterprise operations, not the operating system running on that hardware.
We don't entirely agree with that assessment. We know Unix admins in certain institutional settings who took a pass on Solaris x86 when it was a fairly low-cost option because they liked Linux better for whatever reason, including their sense that Sun's heart wasn't in a low-end Solaris. At this point, it's interesting to note that Sun's corporate ship is coming around for another pass at a market it didn't care to touch a few years ago, when the sky was the limit.
This became more obvious this week week as Sun signalled more of that dawning respect for x86 hardware when it announced the release of AMD Opteron-based Sun Fire servers, and its intent to bring Solaris to Opteron by the middle of next year. Until that 64-bit Solaris is out, Opteron-enhanced versions of Linux will be standing in the breach on the new hardware.
The value of AMD's Opteron is fairly simple to describe: It's a 64-bit processor that can run 32-bit code in native mode (as opposed to Itanium's emulation mode). We'll leave the gory details to our colleagues at CPU Planet, who are pretty enthusiastic about AMD's 64-bit line from end to end. The big advantage of Opteron in an enterprise setting is that it means the move to 64-bit computing doesn't have to be a whole-hog thing: 32-bit apps will run just as well (and better) on an Opteron-based server as they will on a 32-bit machine, and not every current 32-bit app needs to be ported to the 64-bit architecture to begin the process of migration to the new platform.
The deal stands to be a win for both companies. In the past several months, Sun has rolled out a refined licensing model and placed greater emphasis on the end-to-end integration of the systems it sells. By confronting x86 in its predominantly 32-bit form now and getting aggressive about its 64-bit future, we think the Sun's back in the game. It still has to deal with Linux, but it will be doing so by focusing on its own strength as a seller of integrated systems, instead of reeling around and throwing punches at penguins (or fantasizing about decapitating them in darker moments of post-boom ennui).
While AMD isn't technically on our beat, it seems pretty clear that Sun is a prestigious partner for the company, and it offers proof that even if AMD was hanging on by its fingernails in the 32-bit world, it has some vision as far as where the transition to 64-bit computing is concerned. We suspect Intel is less than happy about this week's developments, and we wonder if HP is now second-guessing its own recent emphasis on Itanium.
In Other News
- In addition to the Opteron announcement, Sun's Scott McNealy announced his company's deal with the China Standard Software
Co. (CSSC) to put anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million Java Desktop System installations in place in China in 2004. We promised we'd leave desktop stories alone until next year, but this is a little too big to pass up. As McNealy said, Sun has catapulted to the fore of the Linux desktop market with one deal, pushing past Red Hat (which has an "Enterprise Workstation" product that is priced significantly higher than Sun's offering) and providing what may be a real proving ground for Linux as a productivity platform.
We've read the case studies from obscure municipalities in Florida that pick up Linux as a thin-client platform, and we think such deployments will make a much more compelling case if it's still a story in a year or two.
- Novell's recent acquisition of Ximian made a lot of sense to us as a play for Ximian's Evolution and
Outlook Connector software, plus the company's expertise in Linux package management. This week Novell reminded us of
another asset Ximian brought to the party: The Mono (with a
longish "o") Project.
Mono is an open source effort to bring Microsoft's .NET to Linux. It currently includes a C# compiler, a virtual engine, and class libraries for ASP and ADO functionality. The project isn't quite soup yet, but when Novell announced a road map for Mono 1.0 and beyond, it signalled its interest in competing with Microsoft at more levels than the file-and-print-server market, and it made clear that it's assuming stewardship of the project.
And while we're on Novell:
- SCO says Novell's recent acquisition of German Linux company SUSE represents
a breach of contract owing to some non-compete clauses involved in Novell's sale of UNIX to SCO. Novell disagrees. It also
says SCO doesn't own some of the intellectual property claims IBM and Linux were supposedly infringing on in that
The serene smile you see on our faces comes from the sublime awareness that as long as SCO exists, there will be a new Unix argument every week. It's reassuring to know that SCO seems to be one of the few constants we can count on.
Security Roundup
- SUSE posted information about a vulnerability in the popular fax server package Hylafax. The company didn't comment on whether it's a remote vulnerability, but did note that it can be used to run malicious code. Although only SUSE reported it, other distributors are patching their versions as well, so it appears to be widespread. As always, check with your vendor.
- A vulnerability in PostegreSQL, first reported in August, has recently been updated to include late-reporting vendors.
Tips of the Trade
Several years ago, we knew a harried system administrator faced with his first large-scale POP3 deployment. He had a sizable pool of untrained users he'd promised would be able to access their work e-mail from home. However, he didn't have the savvy to roll out a Web mail interface. The first dilemma he faced was how to make sure the users also had appropriate SMTP access, since many might not have it already configured on their home ISP accounts for whatever reason.
His solution, we learned too late, was pretty simple: He set up an unauthenticated SMTP server and told all the users to point their mail clients at it.
For about a month, all was bliss: The users were sending mail like champs, and the server was ticking along. It was e-paradise. Then a spammer found the open relay and used it 10 ways to Sunday. A few days later, the admin got some mail from blacklists that he mistook for a weird scam of some sort. A few weeks after that he was on several blacklists, with the users lined up outside his office wondering why they had polite form e-mails telling them the outside world didn't want to talk to a dirty spammer.
Too bad he hadn't heard of pop-before-smtp, which provides a relatively secure SMTP access solution for mail admins with remote and mobile clients. Here's how it works:
Every time a user logs in via a POP (or IMAP) connection, it's logged. The pop-before-smtp daemon watches the logs for successful POP connections and notes the IP where the connection originated. It then instructs the SMTP listener to accept relay traffic from the same IP for a set period of time.
Best of all, pop-before-smtp is about as simple to configure and run as it is to describe.
The documentation says it supports sendmail, and we've used it with both exim and postfix on a publicly available wireless node to make sure our guests weren't passing traffic through a mail server we couldn't move to another segment. We've also used it in conjunction with laptops that peer up to two or three networks in the course of a single day: Users don't have to change SMTP settings in their mail clients each time they change nets.
Sure beats a blacklisting.

subset: commoncrawl


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Tailor, New York City – Bar Review
On a recent trip to New York City, I visited Tailor, a restaurant and bar with some of the most amazing cocktails I have seen. The bartenders at Tailor practice the new trend of Molecular Mixology, creating cocktails made with ingredients like smoked Coke and orange foam.
I tried a drink called "Blood & Sand," a concoction of scotch, cherry ale, vermouth and the aforementioned orange foam. My companions tried a drink called "Swedish Fish" … Read more


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NEA and Teacher Recruitment: An Overview
NEA and Teacher Recruitment:
An Overview
American public schools reflect diversity only in their student populations, not in their teaching force. Despite efforts by some school districts to hire minority teachers, most have faculties that are overwhelmingly white. Most districts still fail to hire minority teachers proportional to the increasing number of minority students in schools. This minority teacher shortage becomes more acute each year.
With 40 percent minority students and 5 percent minority teachers predicted for early in the next century, a critical shortage of education workers and role models may be at hand that could contribute to a worsening urban plight. Indeed, such a crisis could lead to a failure of all American students to learn the academic, personal, and social skills they need in the multicultural workplace of the future.
To avert such an outcome, the NEA has formulated a policy resolution on minority educators. It reads as follows:
The National Education Association believes that multiracial teaching staffs are essential to the operation of schools. The Association deplores the current trend of diminishing numbers of ethnic minority educators.
The Association urges local and state affiliates and appropriate governing bodies and agencies to work to increase the number of ethnic-minority teachers and administrators to a percentage at least equal to, but not limited to, the percentage of the ethnic minorities in the general population. The Association further urges U.S. Department of Defense Schools to actively recruit and hire ethnic-minority educators.
The Minority Teacher Dilemma
The minority teacher shortage presents a dilemma for education Associations across the country that want to help solve the problem. At a time when the demand for minority teachers is rising, the supply is falling. Despite many efforts, the number of minority teachers continues to decline. Reasons include:
- Demographically, a region, state, or school district contains few minorities locally available for its teacher pool.
- Burn out and frustration are caused by on-the-job hazards, such as poor working conditions, discipline problems, spreading school violence, and a lack of support from colleagues.
- Inadequate schooling leaves some minority students ill-prepared and unmotivated for higher education. Standardized tests often have cutoff scores that exclude minority students from higher education, teacher training, and teacher certification programs.
- Licensure tests screen out minorities disproportionately.
- Salaries are low for teachers compared to salaries for other professionals, which lowers the prestige and social value of a career in teaching for many potential minority teachers.
- Minority students find more career opportunities outside of teaching.
- The declining numbers of Black and Hispanic students majoring in education is steeper than the overall decline in education majors.
- Minority teachers leave teaching at higher rates than white teachers do.
Strategies for Increasing the Number of Ethnic Minority Teachers
NEA supports many different strategies for the identification, recruitment, and retention of minority teachers. These include:
- Early prospective teacher identification initiatives through secondary school surveys, counseling, motivational workshops, summer college preparatory courses, courses in educational theory and practice, and promise of financial aid.
- Aggressive recruitment activities, such as holding orientations, recruiting transfer students from two-year colleges, sponsoring future teachers clubs, organizing media campaigns in minority communities, and recruiting minorities to teaching from business and the military sectors.
- Financial aid, including fellowships, scholarships, and forgivable loans, targeted to minority students who intend to teach.
- Social and economic support, including improving test-taking skills and providing academic counseling and tutoring.
- Mentoring in the school setting.
NEA Student Program
The NEA Student Program promotes minority teacher recruitment by means of its Community Learning through America's SchoolS (CLASS) Program. Registered with the NEA Student Program, all CLASS projects are locally designed and cooperatively offered by NEA student locals, NEA K-12 or higher education affiliates, or NEA-Retired members.
NEA Recruitment and Retention of Educators Program
NEA Teaching and Learning, with assistance from NEA Human and Civil Rights, coordinates NEA's Recruitment and Retention of Educators (RRE) Program, which is designed to meet the challenges posed by the growing teacher shortage in Americas public schools.
Among the issues targeted by the NEA Recruitment and Retention of Educators Program are ethnic minority teacher shortages; teacher shortages in various subject areas, such as math and science; teacher shortages related to gender, such as the proportionately low numbers of males in elementary education; and the retention of educators already in the teaching profession.
To deal with these issues, the RRE Program establishes and maintains key networks and collaborative activities with NEA affiliates and other organizations, conducts a national forum on the issue of educator recruitment and retention, collects and distributes information on recruitment and retention initiatives, and maintains a database with key NEA affiliates and national and community organizations. Through this program, financial assistance is provided to NEA local affiliates to support their collaborative initiatives with school districts and community groups working to recruit prospective teachers and retain experienced educators.
Programs Operations
Supports State and Local Projects
NEA's Teacher Quality department, through its Recruitment and Retention of Eduators Program, provides financial grants to local affiliates through their state associations. These grants support partnership activities with school districts and community organizations working to recruit prospective teachers, retain experienced educators, and encourage students (from the high school level to college) to become teachers.
But the RRE program is not only involved with initiatives that seek to deal with the teacher shortage issue quantitatively. To raise the level of teacher quality, the RRE Program provides training and counseling that help educators to meet the various professional standards and certification requirements of their states.
Establishes Networks
The RRE Program works to establish networks that bring together NEA affiliates, school districts, community organizations, and members of the business sector. Networks and coalitions with other organizations are integral to the success of the RRE Program. These networks have the power to reach into communities and target prospective teachers. They can also serve as conduits, facilitators, and valuable resources for association affiliates working to recruit and retain teachers.
Conducts a National Forum
Each year NEA's RRE Program conducts a national forum to acknowledge the cooperative efforts of NEA affiliates, local school districts, and community organizations grappling with the teacher shortage issue. Participating affiliates, network representatives, teacher educators, and experts are invited to attend, make presentations on innovative strategies, and share information on their progress and success.
Collects and Distributes Information
NEA's RRE Program serves as an information clearinghouse for NEA affiliates and organizations working in the area of recruiting and retaining educators by maintaining a database and collecting and distributing information materials. Included in the information distributed by the RRE Program are fact sheets, resource guides, program models, and a compendium of on-going projects for use by affiliates. The RRE Program also conducts workshops and provides training when necessary. Currently, the RRE Program is in the process of developing a computerized interactive system that will allow NEA affiliates involved in recruitment and retention efforts to share data, solve problems, and launch initiatives together.
What Can You Do?
NEA encourages members to work through their local and state Associations on minority teacher recruitment programs. NEA's Minority Teacher Recruitment Initiatives and the NEA Student Program's State by State Campus Guide identify some ongoing programs in which you can participate. If your Association is starting from scratch, you can help by—
- Organizing and pooling interests. Identify local organizations having an interest in minority teachers. Include community and ethnic minority groups, local teachers clubs, department of education offices, and targeted high schools and colleges.
- Conducting research. List the minority teacher recruitment programs and activities in your area and determine the percentage of minorities who teach in your area school system.
- Identifying a cadre of teachers. Prepare a roster of teachers to serve as mentors, recruiters, counselors, workshop facilitators, and assistants in functions sponsored by high school or college teacher recruitment programs.
- Recognizing minority teacher achievement. Profile or reward outstanding minority teachers or prospective minority teachers to acknowledge their service, increase their self-esteem, and build the professions prestige. In local Association activities, feature ethnic minority teacher recruitment information from this directory.


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QUOTE (DAWG_ALICIOUS @ May 30 2011, 05:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Best race was the girls 800 meters. Come-from-behind impressive performance by the runner from Archbold who crossed the line cleanly, then came the crash and burn of the next FIVE runners AT the finish line. Took a long time to sort that one out, but the officials got it correct with the 2nd place finisher being disqualified for lane obstruction and the next three moving up. A heartbreaker for the 2nd place finisher for sure because just ONE more step without falling down and she would be headed to Columbus with a fabulous time under her belt. What made it really special is when all the girls finally collected themselves, they helped each other up, hugged each other and shared a tear together for the experience they just lived through. THAT is why track and field is the greatest high school sport there is.
Track is somewhat unique in that rivalries AND friendships can grow throughout the season. Other sports just don't quite measure up in the same manner. I had the pleasure of watching my freshman daughter compete at the Lancaster regional running the starting leg of the 4 X 400 relay. Although they did not qualify for State, the team had a PR of 4:15.81 and she her best split time of 1:02.59. She has made me quite proud of her accomplishments! Too bad that these next 3 years will just FLY by...I just LOVE watching my kids...they grow up way too fast.


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Anne Comeaux, AHIP, CRM, DAS will retire on Sept. 11, 2015, after more than 41 years as a health science librarian. Anne began working in libraries as an undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Austin in 1970, continuing to work for UT while attending library school and receiving her MLS. Her first professional job was at the Texas Medical Association Library in Austin, where she served as a reference librarian from 1974 – 1977 and became a member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals. Anne moved to San Antonio in November of 1977 to begin work at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and remained there in various capacities for the next 38 years. She started as the Search Analyst in charge of online searching, switching to programming and systems in support of the library's LIS online catalog system, miniMedline, and other functions. When the library converted from LIS to Innovative Interfaces, Anne was responsible for writing the programs needed to export the library's data for import into the new catalog. She worked for several years as the head of Interlibrary Loan, designing an automated system for tracking ILL borrowing and lending before ILLiad was available. She also wrote financial databases to track library expenditures and bill departments for services and created an archival database to manage collections in the University Archives.
In December 2000 Anne was appointed as the records management officer (RMO) for the university when the library was assigned responsibility for this function, and started a whole new career as a records manager. She developed records management training classes for university staff, created a database to retain information on retention of records and generate retention schedules, set up a system of Records Management Representatives to manage state records for departments and divisions, and developed an online, searchable Records Retention Schedule. She has been very active in the San Antonio Chapter of ARMA International, serving as an officer and on the Board since 2006, and received her Certified Records Manager (CRM) designation from the Institute of Certified Records Managers in January 2012.
In 2007 Anne became the Assistant Director for Special Collections, adding the roles of University Archivist and rare books librarian to existing RMO duties. She received a grant to finance a preservation specialist's evaluation of current practices in the University Archives and P. I. Nixon Medical Historical Library and recommend improvements for better preservation. She was also successful in securing several Rescuing Texas History grants to digitize interesting books about San Antonio and early physician pioneers in the Nixon Library and Bexar County Medical Society membership records for physicians born before 1911. Both of these collections are now available through the Portal to Texas History. Anne worked with others to set up the CONTENTdm Digital Archive for the university and earned her Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) designation from the Society of American Archivists in 2015. She has successfully supported the Friends of the P. I. Nixon Medical Historical Library and its student-led group the History of Medicine Society since November 2014, marketing events, designing newsletters, arranging speakers, and supporting the Board.
Anne is looking forward to traveling, reading, gardening, and spending time with her children, grandchildren, and other family. She feels extremely lucky to have had such a varied and interesting career and the opportunity to learn many, many new skills – from database searching to programming to creating finding aids and doing historical research. She says it has never been dull and always a challenge!
Tags: September 2015


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DURHAM ― The Coe-Brown Northwood Academy boys basketball team went into Wednesday night as a double-digit seed in the Division II semifinals for the second straight year.
They left with their second straight semifinal loss.
No. 1 and undefeated Pembroke was all over the Bears from late in the first quarter on, and quickly squelched any hope of an upset, doubling up No. 13 Coe-Brown 62-31 before a packed house at the University of New Hampshire's Lundholm Gymnasium.
"We lost to a better team tonight, unfortunately," said Coe-Brown coach Dave Smith. "They scored a lot of points on transition against us. (When) you get behind the basket gets a little smaller and when you get ahead and the basket gets a little bigger. That makes a different."
Pembroke will face No. 7 Souhegan (14-7) in Saturday's championship game (noon). The Sabers were a 53-45 upset winner over No. 2 Lebanon (16-5) in the first semifinal of the night.
The Bears will probably be having nightmares for a while about Pembroke's Patrick Welch, who torched Coe-Brown for 28 points on 12 for 16 shooting. He was 9 for 10 from the field in the first half with a pair of 3-point bombs for 21 points as Pembroke built a 32-18 lead after two quarters.
"They just came to play tonight," said Coe-Brown's Andrew Langdon, who was the Bears' top scorer with 10 points. "They were shooting very well and they're obviously a really good team. Their transition killed us and we didn't get our shots. They were just shooting lights out, and they were playing good defense too."
The Bears, who were seeking their first title-game appearance since 2002, finished the season at 10-11.
Coe-Brown kept things close in the first quarter on Wednesday night, at one point going on an 11-3 run that put them ahead 11-8 with three minutes to go. The stretch included a 3-pointer by Chris Laurion and a fallaway jumper by Josh Jackman.
Then a bad turnover by Coe-Brown, then a bad foul on the breakaway and a good layup by the Spartans' Rene Maher tied the game 11-11.
"That was a critical point," Smith said. "Against them, we had to play near perfect."
The turnover and subsequent points sparked a 12-0 run for Pembroke that stretched into the second quarter, and it was pretty much downhill from there for the Bears.
"It was turnovers," said Laurion, who finished with eight points. "We didn't run back on defense. Transition just killed us."
There was hope for the Bears before the game. Not only had Coe-Brown upset the then-third-seeded Spartans out of last year's tournament, they played Pembroke close in a 43-37 regular-season loss. But whatever worked for the Bears in their last two meetings against Pembroke was nowhere to be found on Wednesday night.
"It's a big court and I'd like to think we have a little bit better athletes than Coe-Brown and some other high-school teams," said Pembroke coach and former UNH standout Matt Alosa. "It's to our advantage to get the rebound and get out and try to push the ball. Honestly, that's what won the game tonight for us. Getting out and getting easy baskets."
The Spartans led 42-27 after three stops and opened the fourth on a 16-2 run, putting the game well out of reach.
"We'd get a little run early, then they'd make a big shot," Smith said. "Always had a big shot."
Matthew Persons scored 12 for Pembroke, which shot 24 for 33 from the field for the game. Coe-Brown shot just 30 percent (12 for 39) and committed 15 turnovers to the Spartans' 18.
Pembroke last played in the championship game in 2010, when it lost 52-46 to Milford. The Spartans last won the title in 1991, when Alosa was the star and his Spartans defeated future UNH teammate Scott Drapeau and Merrimack Valley 79-61.
Pembroke, 62-31
COE-BROWN (31) — Pingree 1-0-2, Doyle 0-2-2, Langdon 4-2-10, Laurion 3-1-8, Jackman 2-0-4, N. Rosler 0-0-0, E. Rolser 0-0-0, Robert 0-0-0, Schlim 0-0-0, Zollman 1-0-3, West 1-0-2, LaFlamme 0-0-0. Totals: 12-5-31.
PEMBROKE (62) — Maher 3-3-9, Persons 5-0-12, Welch 12-2-28, Timbas 1-0-2, Williams 1-2-4, Josephson 0-0-0, Justin 0-2-2, Boucher 1-0-2, Taylor 1-1-3, Freeman 0-0-0. Totals: 24-10-62.
Coe-Brown (10-11) 11 7 9 4 ―31
Pembroke (21-0) 15 17 10 20 — 62
3-pointers: C-2 (Laurion, Zollman); P-4 (Persons 2, Welch 2).


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Cool Science Careers: Imagine Yourself Game Lesson Plan
In this lesson plan, which is adaptable for grades 5-8, students explore cool science careers by using an online game to take on the role of a scientists in the fields of Neuropsychology, Toxicology, Epidemiology, and Neurobiology. Students will select the career that most interests them and conduct additional research to learn more about the field.
Students will:
- Virtually explore the jobs of scientists in the fields of Neuropsychology, Toxicology, Epidemiology, and Neurobiology.
- Select a science career that interests them and research it.
- Computers with internet access for BrainPOP
Preparation:This lesson plan uses a free online game from Rice University called Cool Science Careers: Imagine Yourself. We recommend previewing the game as well as the scavenger-hunt style worksheets that can be used to help students reflect on their game play learning.
Lesson Procedure:
- Ask students to work with a partner to brainstorm various careers in the science field.
- Introduce the Cool Science Careers: Imagine Yourself game. Explain that students will explore the field of Neuropsychology, Toxicology, Epidemiology, or Neurobiology. If students have some background knowledge of these professions, they may want to jump right in. You can also have them visit the Rice University Cool Science Careers game page and click "Profession Pathfinder" if they're not sure where to begin. The Profession Pathfinder consists of 21 questions to help students find a career in science that matches their interests.
- Provide time for students to explore at least one career choice. You can allot time over multiple days if needed, or ask students to continue game play at home. Provide copies of the student worksheets if desired.
- Which career were students most interested in? Why? You may want to have students complete a reflection worksheet for the career they like best.
- From the Rice University Cool Science Careers game page, have students click on "Zoom In" to explore the educational requirements for their favorite science career and read interviews from real people who work in the field. Then have them click on "My Science Career Pick" and vote on their favorite career, and see how others voted!
- Have students generate a list of questions they'd like to ask scientists who work in the field they are interested in (whether it's a field mentioned in the game or not.) Click on "Ask a Scientist" from the Rice University page to see if any of the questions have been answered, and discuss the responses together.
- Ask students how they think they could find the answers to the rest of their questions. Encourage students to use internet research skills to learn more about the career, and even reach out to scientists and conduct their own interviews.


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Layered Strawberry Cream Cake
I created this dessert one Saturday when my daughter's friends dropped in. It was a hit, and word spread through the high school. It has been renamed "Amber's Dad's Good Stuff." —Frankie Allen Mann, Warrior, Alabama
Total TimePrep: 40 min. Bake: 20 min. + cooling
Makes10-12 servings
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar, divided
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
- 2 cups cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup orange juice
- 4 large egg whites
- 2-1/4 cups chopped fresh strawberries
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- Whole strawberries for garnish
- Line two greased 9-in. round baking pans with waxed paper and grease the paper; set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and 3/4 cup sugar. Add egg yolks, vanilla and orange zest; mix well. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk and orange juice.
- In another bowl, beat egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, on high until stiff glossy peaks form. Fold into batter.
- Pour into prepared pans. Bake at 350° for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Gently peel off waxed paper and discard. Cool cakes completely.
- In a bowl, combine the chopped strawberries and sugar; let stand for 30 minutes. In a bowl, beat cream and vanilla until cream begins to thicken. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar on high until stiff peaks form. Fold in sour cream.
- Place one cake layer on a serving plate; top with chopped berries and half of the cream mixture. Top with the remaining cake and cream mixture. Garnish with whole berries.
Nutrition Facts1 slice: 419 calories, 24g fat (15g saturated fat), 113mg cholesterol, 210mg sodium, 46g carbohydrate (25g sugars, 1g fiber), 5g protein.
Recommended Video
Mar 30, 2013
Delicious. Best cake I've made in awhile!
Jun 23, 2009
Beautiful dessert, however cake was a bit "heavy". If I were to make again I would double the filling and strawberries and divide the two layer into four layers. Cake is just too thick as recipe reads.


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Good analysis from Patrick Ruffini's site. Click the map for in-depth details.
Archive for October 16th, 2007|Daily archive page
Where Ron Paul gets his moneyIn Uncategorized on October 16, 2007 at 11:58 am
Oklahoma is not OKIn Uncategorized on October 16, 2007 at 7:46 am
Something stinks in the Sooner State.
Oklahoma voters were the only voters with no choices for president on their ballot except
Bush Skull and Kerry Bones in 2004, and Oklahoma is one of 5 states that doesn't permit write-ins, so Oklahoma voters who wanted to vote for someone other than Bush or Kerry in 2004 completely lost their right to vote (Source: Ballot Access News). In order to be on the ballot, an independent candidate or alternative party has to get signatures equal to 5% of the last vote cast, which is the hardest standard in the country, and they have to get 10% of the vote to keep their place on the ballot, second behind only Alabama with 20%. Half of the state legislative races go completely unopposed. The Oklahoma Supreme Court refused a challenge to this edict, and the feds have no jurisdiction.
Currently, there is an
effort underway to change this crazy scheme by initiative, but Oklahoma makes it hard to get issues on the ballot by initiative. Statute initiatives must get the signatures of 8% of the voters, which is among the highest percentages among states which allow citizen initiative, and constitutional amendments need 15%, tied with Arizona for the highest percentage required by any state that allows constitutional amendments by citizen petition according to a chart by
National Voter Outreach. The signatures have to all be gathered within 90 days, and then the State Supreme Court can hold up approval for the vote to take place by over a year.
After you gather the signatures, you have to print the names of everyone who signed on the back of the page. Imagine having to do that several hundred times after you get back from a hard day of asking people to sign and getting run out (or attempted) of every location imaginable, public and private, or having to flip the page over and ask busy people to print their name a second time for every single signature – especially when working on more than one issue. Yep, it sucks, and is one of the most asinine rules I have encountered in petitioning in 27 states plus DC over the past ten years. And there are some very asinine rules out there, such as New England states requiring signatures from every city to be on a separate page, and Massachusetts ruling that any tiny tear, food stain, stray pen mark or writing outside the box disqualifies a whole page of signatures.
To make matters worse, in a decision in the case of Yes on Term Limits v. Savage, U.S. District Court Judge Tim Leonard upheld a challenged Oklahoma state law (in effect since 1969) banning out of state residents from being ballot petition circulators and signature-collectors there. Who, exactly, is a state resident? People move all the time. Some more frequently than others. Some people don't predictably live in one place long enough to get a mortgage or apartment lease, so we prefer to live in motels or stay with friends (I resemble this remark). Some people don't even have a place to live at all. Does that mean we should lose our right to petition the government for redress of grievances?
Shortly after this ruling, as Brian Doherty reports at Reason Magazine,
longtime libertarian political activist Paul Jacob was indicted on felony charges in Oklahoma for conspiracy to defraud the state, along with Susan Johnson of National Voter Outreach and Rick Carpenter of Oklahomans in Action.
It isn't Jacob's first time with the guns of the state aimed at him. He served five months in jail in 1984, after a year on the run, for refusal to register for the draft.
In his interview about the arrest with Brian Doherty, Paul Jacob explains:


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Slow roasted tomato and pistachio pasta rotolo in a spiced butternut squash sauce
I cook a lot of 'welcome home' meals these days.
I have a husband who travels a lot for work and I've spent most of this month solo parenting, juggling lectures and cookery classes, recipe submissions and general life. Thank goodness for my awesome parents who have done their best, again, for me? Each time he goes away though, I feel like I grow.
This time I have grown because I had to sort my repeated, month long car related mayhem out myself (although my brother helped significantly), I grew because I had to prepare lectures through till 2am and wake with my toddler at 7am and get him sorted without the 30mins of relief that his dad might otherwise give me in the morning. I grew because I had to fix the printer ink issues out and get taxis at 10pm on my return from work that broke down whilst my phone battery died. I grew because when a relative told me that she is never left in the home alone by her family because she fears the silence and won't go to toilet alone, i realised that i no longer dear the lonely evenings. I no longer feel sad when people see through social media that I am on my own but don't take a couple of minutes to ask how I am, because you know, everyone is living their own challenge each day, in their own way. But most of all, I grew because life just carried on as normal.
So, after a couple of days with my folks I received a welcome home present from Riverford. A huge box of seasonal fruit and vegetables packaged in green, and tucked at the side of my home. My toddler yelped, 'yes, it's the vegetables mumma, what did they send?' The best of the season's last tomatoes and a bulbous butternut squash amongst green goodness of autumn is what they sent. I'm always so impressed by the perfect quality of the fruit and veg, there's not a single bruise on them and they smell so sweet and earthy. My tot almost instantly headed for a chair and asked to scrub the vegetables to reveal luminous oranges and red of sweet potatoes and peppers and we got the most perfectly quenching grapes.
I have to admit though; I'm not normally a butternut squash kind of person. I don't like sweet soups and I can't eat them boiled, I just can't. But the colour of this one was just so rapturing that I needed to do something with it.
To me, a welcome home meal is one that is bubbling and simmering, thick and cajoling. A smile for home trickles through when the meal is nourishing and inviting, and full of the flavours of home. When my Husband arrived home from his last trip in Australia I made an Indian inspired feast of curries and dhal, vegetable and cheese raitha, Shrikhand and a stack of chapatti and vegetable rice. But this time, he returned from Mumbai and I knew he would have not only the finest Indian food but also some Chinese, Mexican and Italian food, so what to feed him this time?
This pistachio and slow roasted tomato rotolo is rousing in that the slow tomatoes tingle on the tongue with sharp sweetness and the pistachio and quark is a whack of aroma and colour which balances with the rich and thick spiced butternut squash sauce. A little goes a long way.
for the full recipe head over to great british chefs


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If you have an event you would like to submit to our community calendar, you can do that here.
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B.B. King
April 17, 2013 @ 7:30 pm
tThe "King of the Blues" returns to the Keswick Theatre! A true guitar hero, King is the proud owner of a coveted recording career that started in the late 1940s and produced more than 60 albums, 15 Grammy awards and a list of praise and accolades that could stretch across the Mississippi. Don't miss the rare opportunity to see a living legend do what he does best–delight audiences with his heralded live show!


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Финансовые услуги
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Demand for top-end management consulting in financial services is strong. The industry is facing unprecedented challenges: Uncertain markets, regulatory pressure, increasing competition, ground-breaking innovations and diminishing margins. New technologies and startups develop innovative products and channels, challenging established and traditional players. Financial customers of today are increasingly sensitive to cost, yet unwilling to compromise on quality. The question is, what do you do about it?
You are looking for opportunities? At Roland Berger, we are experts in all segments of the financial services industry. We believe in an open architecture model, in which carefully selected former senior executives form an integral part of the core partnership and leadership groups, supporting our client service teams from end-to-end. We help to optimize our clients' position – with inter alia proprietary tools to reduce costs ("Accelerated zero-based budgeting") and implement and monitor change ("RB Point").
Offering honest, straightforward guidance through an increasingly complex regulatory environment and consumer landscape, we contribute to a superior shareholder return. We can help you rethink your strategies and incorporate new financial technologies into your business models. Outstanding knowhow in restructuring is in our DNA. Do not wait for the future to happen. We will show you ways to shape your own sustainable future.
Retail banking of today scarcely resembles what existed in previous generations. As the regulatory and technological landscape has changed, so too has client behavior. Customers increasingly rely on online banking, crowd-funding and innovative fintech solutions for their transactions. To remain competitive, the right solutions need to be identified and properly implemented.
Exactly this implementation capability is our distinguishing feature – relevant for your business. At Roland Berger, we understand what this means for your markets and can help you adapt your sales and service models and product portfolio to reflect this new era of retail banking. We excel in loan-book-reviews, risk management and efficiency/cost-reduction initiatives. Our experts offer pragmatic solutions to the relevant issues of a sector in transition, from optimizing performance and improving the cost basis, to structures and processes. World-class management consulting expertise supported and guided by practioners on a day-to-day basis: that's our promise to our clients. In other words: practical advice with an end-to-end support.
A demanding environment requires that we reflect on strategic, organizational and operational needs. In corporate and investment banking, this means assimilating the lessons of the crisis and addressing major regulatory changes and a new customer mentality driven by decreased risk tolerance. To enjoy a competitive edge in the future, the time is now to innovate. The 2008 financial shock was the greatest in living memory. But it will certainly not be the last. We all know markets are cyclical. The smartest investment banks learn from the last disaster, preparing actively for the next.
Our global network of strategic, organizational, and operational consultants offers our clients unique expertise across the entire spectrum of relevant issues facing the financial industry. We are here to support you in identifying your strategic options and assist you in adapting your segmentation approaches, customer coverage models, and product portfolio to meet the needs of this complex transition. We help you strengthen your position.
Today, regulatory changes and trends towards an open architecture for client offerings are set to overthrow traditional models and overall industry structures. Profitability is just one issue, liquidity, compliance and capital are others. To stabilize your asset and revenue base and maximize future growth, your business model needs to reflect the new, client-centric approach.
Our mission is to help you restore the balance of your operations. From strategic decisions at a top-management level to operational topics, our consultants are your guide to optimizing your business model, reducing complexity and refining client coverage in the process. We'll equip your business with a forward-thinking strategy, and the flexibility to not only survive future downturns but capitalize on future growth.
Most banks and insurers have 10-20% of their budget and staff tied up in IT. Despite this investment, few have governance practices consistent with their strategic goals and aligned with their management. This leaves the question: how can you better align information technology to your company's specific needs?
At Roland Berger, we believe that today almost every budget can be considered an IT budget. It is evident that IT supports day-to-day business processes as well as new business initiatives; or in other words: "business as usual" versus "disruptive innovation" both in pursuit of a competitive advantage. We know how to facilitate work between IT business units and other departments to make use of these untapped resources which are among the greatest in Financial Services. From the development stage through to implementation, our experts design and optimize IT processes that are both cost-efficient and sustainable.
Easier access to information online and fierce competition in the insurance industry means that your customers know more and want more. They are more cost-conscious than ever before, and they're demanding better quality and service for the price. At the same time, the insurance industry is being strapped with increasingly strict regulations. New fintech players are just another challenge emerging. How can you balance the demands of consumers, new competitors and supervisory bodies whilst maintaining a competitive position?
At Roland Berger, we are experts in helping insurers adapt to the new realities of the industry. Our excel in key areas, covering every relevant topic from strategy definition to risk management. We have a global view of the whole value chain, across all lines of the business, and can help you identify where changes in your strategy can lead to increased profits and long-term growth.