Lars Føleide

The Magic Formula is a two factor value investing model, specialized in finding underpriced low risk investment opportunities. This study extends available data until 2015 on the ability for the Magic Formula to rank companies and beat the market. In the updated book the formula delivers 15.2% annualized returns in the period 1988–2009, when investing in the top decile of the largest 2500 companies in the U.S. This thesis finds that the Magic Formula generates 21.6% when invested in decile 1, a result that increases to 24.7% when investing in a 110/10 Market-Neutral Long/Short Portfolio. Long/short value investing gives a lower standard deviation and allows for a better sharpe ratio.

It is a universal human right to have access to clean water; yet 780 million people lack access to safe water. This is a governance issue that can be solved with Information Technologies in combination with Innovation Management. Scientists warned about limits to growth more than 40 years ago, yet we decoupled our currency conversion to gold – unleashing an unprecedented growth, which has made it challenging to make a smooth transition towards the adoption of sustainable practices. Integrity Management in the form of a supplement to traditional retirement savings built on the foundation of successful aging of the healthy brain – enable a new form of pension characterized by proper diet, adequate exercise, challenges, newness and basic human love. Brain research on longevity combined with the concept of Time Banks applied to the world of volunteering with focus on Universal Access to Clean Water, is a new combination that might accelerate the transition towards a more sustainable economy. Clean Water Scarcity has many challenges, but also possibilities, so that a well executed Innovation Management strategic plan by a social entrepreneur might result in the shift from an oil economy to a clean water economy for an entire country and provide much needed hope that we will be able to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels as well.

As the economy continues to struggle, and solutions at either side of the spectrum appears to have their respective challenges, attention are now being directed towards the promise of The Hybrid Model. This study examines through an action research approach the pros and cons of The Hybrid Model in comparison with other organizational structures, with focus on accessibility to resources, longevity,innovation capabilities and benefits to the society. Data collection is conducted through Nevara, an Urban Farming Platform, a Social Venture focused on healthy food by offering services to Farmers and Farmers’ Markets.Traditionally, innovation has been thought of a something that relates to new technology, but as accessibility to information and competition intensifies - so is also the need to innovate throughout the whole organization. Focus on sustainable solutions has also gained importance, which is important to keep in mind when building organizational culture and a brand which both can thrive in the short-term and long-term life stages of the organization. Hybrids, in particular those structured as a non-profit with earned income, might gain competitive advantages through the ability of attracting talent willing to work for a lower salary due to alignment with the mission. As it is increasingly difficult to secure traditional funding as a for-profit startup, founders whom are passionate about a specific cause might learn that doing a Hybrid Model better fit their growth opportunities, in particular those who have plans to leverage crowd funding. This study covers in detail Social Entrepreneurship and The Hybrid Model, and how the triple bottom line approach can improve impact on social and environmental causes.

The world is changing at an ever increasingly rate. Corporations are in a constant race to optimize cost structures, and reinvest just enough of their profits to maximize shareholder value. The field of entrepreneurship is also rapidly becoming more agile and sophisticated, in areas of web and mobile – with Silicon Valley taking the lead in this development. But in this extreme rush to become the best, the cheapest, the biggest or the company with the most sought-after brand – we don’t stop and question if all this effort leads to economic growth.
As the economy is struggling, it becomes apparent that we have some fundamental economic structural problems. Yet again, we look towards Entrepreneurship for solutions.
Private incubator programs like Y Combinator and 500 Startups have with their success in fostering entrepreneurship served as inspiration for similar models. Doing a successful startup might seem like daunting task to accomplish, especially considering that once disrupting technologies like the Internet have now reached a mature level – and the necessary preparations to meet expectations before launch are continuously reaching new heights.
This paper seek to explain how accepting institutional capital will eventually lead to a competitive disadvantage for web and mobile internet companies with low capital requirements, and how Networked Social Enterprise Incubators can through innovative cost management, synergies and economies of scale – can lead to greater societal equality and broad economic growth.


Keywords
Incubators, Social Entrepreneurship, Economic Growth, Innovation, Venture Capital, Capitalism, Business Development, Knowledge Hub

The world is changing at an ever increasingly rate. Corporations are in a constant race to optimize cost structures, and reinvest just enough of their profits to maximize shareholder value. The field of entrepreneurship is also rapidly becoming more agile and sophisticated, in areas of web and mobile – with Silicon Valley taking the lead in this development.
Universities play a crucial role as an innovation promoting knowledge hub, and have been improving its function in this role through boundary-expanding initiatives, as they started to take an active role in improving the underlying dynamics of entrepreneurship to achieve stronger economic development.
Private incubators programs like Y Combinator and 500 Startups have with their success in fostering entrepreneurship spurred interest for replicating their value at the university level. Doing a successful startup might seem like daunting task to accomplish, especially considering that once disrupting technologies like the Internet have now reached a mature level – and the expected quality level before launch are continuously reaching new heights.
This report will explain the importance of incubators, and how they facilitate the process of allowing knowledge to be commercialized through entrepreneurship - which creates higher economic growth, as much of this knowledge might never have been commercialized without a surrounding ecosystem.

Keywords
Innovation, Cluster, Knowledge Hub, Knowledge Governance, Incubators, Venture Capital, Entrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneurship, Business Development, Capitalism, Economic Growth

The purpose of this paper has been to gain an understanding of the concept self-efficacy and how it relates to entrepreneurial performance, with the aim of establishing how this personal attribute can be measured and used to predict entrepreneurial success.
According to Bandura (1997) have individuals with high levels of self-efficacy a tendency to set challenging goals; persist toward the achievement of their goals, even under difficult and stressful circumstances; and recover quickly from failure, even in the face of adverse conditions. While entrepreneurial self-efficacy is the degree to which people perceive themselves as having the ability to successfully perform the various roles and tasks of entrepreneurship (Chen, Greene et al. 1998; De Noble, Jung et al. 1999). Chen et al. (2004) showed in their study that general self-efficacy is positively linked with performance. References will be made to other studies confirming the positive link between self-efficacy and performance, while also introducing moderating variables for conditions when high levels of self-efficacy might actually reduce performance. Research have come a long way in identifying personal attributes and competences for predicting entrepreneurial performance and success, but still much work remains to develop a tested, reliable, validated and applicable framework for accurately assessing the outlook of an entrepreneur.

Keywords:
Self-efficacy, Venture Capital, Entrepreneurship

This thesis investigates the case of a generic business concept, the Web Bazaar, and evaluates its fit with current market conditions and trends. Further, it assesses strategic considerations that would be critical for a successful commercialization of the concept. Our findings do indeed suggest that the Web Bazaar concept fits with current market conditions
and trends, but identifies several challenges for a commercialization process. These challenges are broken down and discussed in our Analysis, and met with concrete suggestions of fitting strategies to overcome them.

Keywords
E‐commerce, business models, value configurations, value network, strategy, Internet, Web, Web 2.0, network effects, network externalities, positive feedback, bandwagon effect, standards, compatibility, lock‐in, online mediation services.

2 UNDERSTANDING USER CONTEXT CHALLENGES
2.1 CONTEXT-AWARENESS
2.2 USER CONTEXT IN LOCATION-BASED SERVICES

3 PRESENCE AND LOCATION-BASED SERVICES
3.1 THE CONCEPT OF PRESENCE IN THE WORLD OF FMC
3.2 HOW LOCATION CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
3.3 PRESENCE WITH LBS OUTDOORS
3.4 PRESENCE IN A MICRO ENVIRONMENT
3.5 TECHNOLOGY LIMITATIONS
3.6 PRESENCE AND USER PRIVACY

4 USER SCENARIOS
4.1 PERSONAL COMMUNICATION OF THE FUTURE
4.2 INNOVATOR: THE FRESH COMPUTER SCIENCE STUDENT
4.3 EARLY ADAPTORS: THE YOUNG CEO OF A NEW TECH FIRM
4.4 EARLY MAJORITY: A FEMALE PROFESSOR AT THE FACULTY OF INFORMATICS
4.5 LATE MAJORITY: THE FARMER

5 ADOPTION BARRIERS

A discussion of how to market an open source portal, developed in 2005 (functional at the time), with references to:

Moore, G. A. (1991). Crossing the chasm: Marketing and selling high-tech goods to mainstream customers.

Rogers, E. M. (1995). Diffusion of innovations, Fourth edition.

Norman, D. A. (1998). The invisible computer: Why Good Products Can Fail, the Personal Computer Is So Complex, and Information Appliances Are the Solution.