of 3 - Center for Global Outsourcings

INTRODUCTION
The current world-wide economic crisis is exerting a strong pressure on business actors, hence
affecting their behavior. Public authorities, as for example Governments, are approving austerity
programs and increasing taxes; large and small firms are cutting costs through the dismissal of
employees 1 ; financial institutions are requesting more and more warranties for issuing loans;
when acting as entrepreneurs, individuals are demonstrating both frustration and incapacity to
select and manage good projects; when acting as consumers, they are showing a tendency to
choose the less expensive deal.The attention of this paper is focused on the behavior of the
individuals, both as entrepreneurs and as consumers.
As concerns individuals as entrepreneurs, the idea which underpins the discussion is that a high
start up rate is very dangerous – for the macro-economic context – if not accompanied by the
success of the new established firms. Assumed this, the study is concerned with a
specific market area – Italy – and a specific industry sector – Food Service Industry –: two
arenas where the mentioned problem has actually occurred.
Accordingly, in the first part of the discussion, the author examines certain factors – drawn from
the interpretation of well-established entrepreneurial theories – which, in times of crisis, affect
either the startup rate or the prospective of success of the firm. In particular, the analysis is
concerned with: individuals’ belief on the convenience working for one’s own instead of working
for somebody else; the availability of funds necessary to accomplish the startup investment; the
predictability of good performance of the startup venture; and, finally, the familiarity that
individuals have with the product/service supposed to be the object of their startup venture.
To begin with, factors 1,2 and 3 are analyzed and explained, first separately and hence in
combination. Both the analysis and the explanations are supported by graphics and
mathematical functions, which are constructed only for descriptive purposes and for possible
development of quantitative researches.
Such preliminary study avails not only to appreciate the positive relationship between the factors
themselves and the startup rate – higher firm’s successfulness, but also to establish the starting
point of the discussion that shall be developed throughout the paper.
In fact, by presenting as hypothesis said positive relationships, it follows that the aim of the
paper becomes to understand which business models, formulas and solutions specifically
address those three factors.
It is true, the preliminary study of the hypothesis does not lead to the direct identification of the
business models, formulas and solutions. Rather, it discloses which aspects, in times of crisis,
these must present in order to convince individuals that is more convenient to work for their
own, to facilitate the access to the funds necessary to make the startup investment and to
render good performances predictable.
1
See Soble, J. [2012]. Sony to cut global workforce by 10,000. Financial Time, available at
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/d9fccb94-8240-11e1-9242-00144feab49a.html#axzz1seU6MTm3
Tenth Annual International Daejeon, South Korea P a g e | 32
Smart Sourcing Conference June 28-29, 2012