Graham White, who graduated from the International Master in Business Administration (iMBA) last year, has won the yearly prize that the Faculty of Economics of the Universitat de València awards to its best Master’s Degree Final Project.

Graham won the award for his research on «Entrepreneurship Versus Non-Entrepreneurship Orientated Managers Entering Newly Liberalized Markets: The Case for U.S. Managers in Cuba». He attended the core modules of the iMBA programme at the UNCW before enrolling in the International Marketing specialisation at the UV.

Applicants were required to 1) Have completed their thesis at the faculty in the 2014/15 academic year, with honours (9 out of 10 or higher); 2) Submit a 100x70cm poster detailing their research project, to be presented and evaluated during the 2016 Forum for Employment and Entrepreneurship (which took place the 17^th and 18^th of February).

First prize was an iPad Air 16GB, as well as a grant to attend the XI Valencia Summer School in Business and Economics and a voucher from Valencian supermarket chain Consum (who sponsored the award).

The other winner of the award was Marina Llavador Ancheta (Master’s Degree in Economic Policy and Public Economics). Runners-up were Ilse Stefanía Lugo Cuan (Master’s Degree in Quality Management) and Cristina Gaona García (Master’s Degree in Marketing and Market Research).

Here is the abstract from his thesis:

Entering a newly liberalized market is a great challenge for companies as the environment is new and untested. In order to have success in these markets, firms must have a plan of action in place before resources are committed. What some companies do not realize is that their own entrepreneurship orientation (EO) will dictate their behavior, actions, and performance in both their home market and abroad. In order to maximize firm performance and realize success in newly liberalized markets (such as Cuba), firms must be able to objectively gauge their own entrepreneurship orientation. In this framework, the present paper will attempt to effectively measure the entrepreneurship orientation of U.S. firms that have an interest in entering the Cuban market. A final sample of 81 U.S. managers, with differing entrepreneurship orientation grades, was obtained. They were then split into two groups (high and low entrepreneurship orientation; 41 and 35 managers in each group, respectively) and compared regarding four variables: (i) entry mode, (ii) marketing strategy, (iii) government affiliation, and (iv) performance. Our results confirm that entrepreneurship orientation and firm performance do correlate positively. EO also has a positive relationship with marketing strategies that are implemented in new markets.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship orientation, innovativeness, proactiveness, risk-taking, newly liberalized market, entry mode, marketing strategy, government affiliation, and firm performance.