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A nation's economic growth has been associated with the role of entrepreneurship. While recognising the work of entrepreneurship on the mindset and behaviour of individual entrepreneurs, research into an organisational perspective of entrepreneurship continues to emerge due to unprecedented developments occurring around the world over the last two decades. Notably, past studies have postulated that entrepreneurial organisations tend to perform better than conservative organisations. In this vein, the Malaysian government has set up Government-linked companies (GLCs) to enable these entities to become more effective, efficient, and competitive, which can assist the government in strengthening its economy. On the other hand, despite considerable improvements, the overall performance of GLCs has been unsatisfactory. Given the hostility and dynamism of the business environment, GLCs have no other option but to improve and perform better. Recognising this, the purpose of the study is to determine the underlying forces forcing GLCs to improve and to identify forms of corporate entrepreneurship (CE) pursued by GLCs. Building on the outcomes of semi-structured interviews with senior managers in GLCs, the need for CE is fostered by competition and market pressure, technological changes, and increases in operation costs. Finally, future studies of CE in Malaysia may consider other aspects of CE, including issues and challenges in pursuing CE effectively within GLCs business environment.

AbstractEquity crowdfunding as a rapidly growing source of finance for new and growing entrepreneurial ventures poses new challenges for financial regulators and potentially disrupts the early stage risk capital market and its existing actors, notably business angels. Equity crowdfunding responds primarily to the needs of small start‐ups that do not manage to access bank finance, or who do not need the larger sums available from venture capital or business angels. It is not appropriate for firms where business information is too sensitive to be shared with a large number of potential investors, nor those which require substantial amounts of follow on financing. Within these parameters and with sensible policy implementation and regulation, equity crowdfunding can play a useful complement to the role of business angels in innovation finance as an alternative form of start‐up and growth capital.

The 2008 financial crisis has transformed the financial environment for small and medium-sized enterprises, resulting in significant declines in the availability of bank lending and venture capital. This has prompted government intervention to improve the availability of debt and equity capital. Whereas there are comprehensive statistics on bank lending and venture capital investments, equivalent information on business angel investment activity is lacking. This paper draws upon three sources of evidence on business angel investment activity in the UK—business angel networks, Scottish angel groups, and individual angels—to reveal for the first time how the angel market has fared during the early stage of the financial crisis. While the evidence is not entirely consistent, it is clear that angel investment activity has held up since the onset of the financial crisis. This further emphasises the economic significance of business angels and underlines the need for ongoing government support. Policy options are reviewed.