Books

Joe Abraham, Entrepreneurial DNA: The Breakthrough Discovery That Aligns Your Business to Your Unique Strengths (2011).

Abstract (adapted from WorldCat.org): What's your entrepreneurial style? Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, and Donald Trump may all be entrepreneurs, but that's where the similarities end. From business planning to finance to marketing, experts have taught that one entrepreneurial size fits all. But it's just not true. Entrepreneurial DNA proves the simple but critical fact that not all entrepreneurs have the same style -- and that discovering your personal strengths, interests, and goals is the key to success or failure. With this groundbreaking book, you'll learn how to assess your "entrepreneurial DNA" and put it to work for you. Are you a Builder? Opportunist? Specialist? Innovator? Using the "BOSI" process, discover your unique entrepreneurial profile, enabling you to create a solid business.

Zoltan J. Acs, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, GROWTH AND PUBLIC POLICY: PRELUDE TO A KNOWLEDGE SPILLOVER THEORY OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP (2010).

Abstract (from review at Amazon.com):  This book contains a set of papers by leading scholars explaining why entrepreneurship matters. By focusing on the role of entrepreneurship in innovation and economic growth and on how public policy can support this role, this book provides an overview and insights.

Zoltan  J. Acs & David B. Audretsch, HANDBOOK OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP RESEARCH (2005).

Abstract:   The book brings together leading scholars from various disciplines to provide an overview of entrepreneurship when viewed through the lens provided by the academic disciplines and also synthesizes what has been learned and what questions remain for future research.

Scott D. Anthony et al, INNOVATOR'S GUIDE TO GROWTH: PUTTING DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION TO WORK (2008).

Abstract (from publisher):   More than a decade ago, Clayton Christensen's breakthrough book The Innovator's Dilemmaillustrated how disruptive innovations drive industry transformation and market creation. Christensen's research demonstrated how growth-seeking incumbents must develop the capability to deflect disruptive attacks and seize disruptive opportunities. In The Innovator's Guide to Growth, Scott Anthony, Mark Johnson, Joseph Sinfield, and Elizabeth Altman take the subject to the next level: implementation. The authors explain how to create this crucial capability for unlocking disruption's transformational power. With a foreword by Christensen, this book provides a set of market-proven tools and approaches to innovation that have been honed through fieldwork with innovative companies like Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Pepsi, Intel, Motorola, SAP, and Cisco Systems. The book shows you how to: Follow a market-proven process -- so your company can reliably create blockbuster businesses Create structures, systems, and metrics -- so the disruptive innovations that will power your firm's future growth receive the funding and personnel needed to succeed Create a common language of disruptive innovation -- so managers can reach consensus around counterintuitive courses of action Incisive and practical, this book helps your company take the steps necessary to benefit from disruption -- instead of being eclipsed by it.

Philip E. Auerswald, The Coming Prosperity: How Entrepreneurs Are Transforming the Global Economy (2012).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): In The Coming Prosperity, Philip E. Auerswald argues that it is time to overcome the outdated narratives of fear that dominate public discourse and to grasp the powerful momentum of progress. Acknowledging the gravity of today's greatest global challenges--like climate change, water scarcity, and rapid urbanization--Auerswald emphasizes that the choices the world makes today will determine the extent and reach of the coming prosperity. To make the most of this epochal transition, he writes, the key is entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs introduce new products and services, expand the range of global knowledge networks, and, most importantly, challenge established business interests, maintaining the vitality of mature capitalist economies and enhancing the viability of emerging ones. Auerswald frames narratives of inspiring entrepreneurs within the sweep of human history. The book's deft analysis of economic trends is enlivened by stories of entrepreneurs making an outsize difference in their communities and the world--people like Karim Khoja, who led the creation of the first mobile phone company in Afghanistan; Leila Janah, who is bringing digital-age opportunity to talented people trapped in refugee camps; and Victoria Hale, whose non-profit pharmaceutical company turned an orphan drug into a cure for black fever.

Bill Aulet, Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup (2013).

 Abstract (from Amazon.com): Many believe that entrepreneurship cannot be taught, but great entrepreneurs aren’t born with something special—they simply make great products. This book will show you how to create a successful startup through developing an innovative product. It breaks down the necessary processes into an integrated, comprehensive, and proven 24-step framework that any industrious person can learn and apply. 

 Ted Baker & Friederike Welter, The Routledge Companion to Entrepreneurship (2014).

 Abstract (from publisher): Research in entrepreneurship has been booming, with perspectives from a range of disciplines and numerous developing schools of thought. It can be difficult for young scholars and even long-time researchers to find their way through the lush garden of ideas we see before us.

 The purpose of this book is to map the research terrain of entrepreneurship, providing the perfect starting point for new and existing researchers looking to explore. Topics covered range from emerging perspective, through issues at the core of the field to innovative methodologies. Starting off with a preface by Bill Gartner, each section of the book brings together a world class set of established leading researchers and rising stars.

 This considered, comprehensive and conclusive companion integrates the recent debates in entrepreneurship research under one cover, to provide a resource which will be useful across disciplinary boundaries and for a whole range of students and researchers.

Charles E. Bamford & Garry D. Bruton, Entrepreneurship: A Small Business Approach (McGraw-Hill 2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): Entrepreneurship: A Small Business Approach takes a hands-on, problem-based learning approach that works through real problems faced by entrepreneurs and small business owners. Using real-world scenarios and exercises throughout, it puts the student in the roles of financial analyst, marketer, and business owner to find solutions. By drawing on the most current environmental conditions and solid research, Entrepreneurship provides students with the necessary foundation to design, start, and manage a small business.

Bruce R. Barringer & R. Duane Ireland, Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launching New Ventures (4th ed. 2011).

Abstract: This book, now in its fourth edition, is a textbook aimed at teaching undergraduate students the process of becoming a successful entrepreneur. The book takes students from the decision to become an entrepreneur all the way to growing a successful business.

Colin Barrow, GET BACKED, GET BIG, GET BOUGHT: PLAN YOUR START-UP WITH THE END IN MIND (2009).

Abstract (from product description at Barnes & Noble.com):  Explains the defining difference between creating big value and no value business ideas. How equity capital can play a key role in leveraging successful businesses, and how not having enough can strangle the business at birth. How to increase the value of the business using sustainable and continuous growth strategies, and the importance of good profit margins and cash generation. Tricks of the trade to dress the business for sale.

Colin Barrow, Gerard Burke, David Molian & Robert Brown, ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT: THE CHALLENGES OF STARTING, GROWING AND SELLING BUSINESSES (2004).

Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com):  Aimed at students of small business management and enterprise development interested in or planning to start their own business, and at owner/managers of existing businesses, this book offers a detailed insight into key challenges to be faced, explains solutions to those challenges, and maps out a route to success. The three section framework addresses all the key issues involved in creating a professional and successful firm, looking at: the challenges of starting a business; the challenges of growing a business; and, finally, the challenges of deciding whether to sell or re-invest in the business. The book is written in an accessible style, pitched perfectly for its audience, and introduces theory for the purposes of practical implementation. An excellent range of pedagogy supports the text including many case examples to illustrate key points. Companies featured include: Cobra Beer, Moonpig, Hotel Chocolat and Fitness Express.

Robert J. Bennett, Entrepreneurship, Small Business and Public Policy: Evolution and Revolution (2014).

 Abstract (from publisher):Public policy interventions aimed at encouraging, supporting and developing small businesses are important for understanding entrepreneurship and small business management. This textbook is the first to provide teachers and students with a resource that gives an overview of how institutional and policy structures interact with small firm start-ups, continuation and succession/failures.

 Beginning with a brief introduction to policy processes, the text covers the main policy instruments for entrepreneurial market entry and start-up support, for on-going small business advice and financial support, and succession planning. It particularly focuses on policies that improve the Business Enabling Environment through macroeconomic policy, institutional reform, and deregulation of bureaucratic burdens. Theoretical rigor is complemented by detailed assessments of current policies around the world, including USA, advanced and emerging economies and Policy support from global institutions such as the World Bank and the ILO are included.

J.R. Bessant & Joseph Tidd, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2d ed. 2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): Developed specifically for undergraduate students, Innovation and Entrepreneurship is an accessible, introductory text written primarily for those studying business and management but also engineering and science degrees with management courses. The book features contemporary applications such as services (public and private), innovation for sustainability, social entrepreneurship, innovation for development, and creating and capturing value from innovation and entrepreneurship. In this second edition the authors develop an explicit process model of entrepreneurship with clearer links between innovation and entrepreneurship.

Gaurab Bhardwaj et al., THE SEARCH PROCESS AND DIMENSIONS OF LONG - TERM GROWTH, in INNOVATING STRATEGY PROCESS  (S. W. Floyd, ed., 2005).

Abstract (from publisher):   This book presents a series of reflective essays by established and emerging scholars on the subject of innovation, considering it both as an outcome of strategy and as a process in itself.  It offers new conceptual frameworks for analyzing and designing strategy process and addresses topics such as play as the means and art as the impetus for strategy-making; the role of emotion in new venture decision-making; and science and entrepreneurship as a source of innovative strategies. It also signals the future direction of the field.

Richard Blundel & Nigel Lockett, Exploring Entrepreneurship: Practices and Perspectives (2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): Exploring Entrepreneurship examines the nature of entrepreneurial activity in the 21st century, and aims to help students develop the skills and knowledge required by commercial and social entrepreneurs. Readers of this text will gain a deeper insight into the activities of entrepreneurs in both the commercial and social sectors and be able to reflect critically on the nature of entrepreneurship and its role in the creation of new commercial and social ventures. The text makes considerable use of case-based examples, so that students can learn from the experiences of real entrepreneurs as they struggle to create and to develop their ventures. It provides detailed coverage of many different types of entrepreneurship - from commercial, primarily profit-oriented ventures and what are often termed 'social' enterprises, where the primary aim is to address a social or environmental challenge, rather than simply to secure a profit. In contrast to most other texts, it also addresses 'anti-social' forms of entrepreneurship, with examples that range from the unethical and environmentally-destructive behaviour of legitimate firms to the shady world of organised crime.

David L. Bodde & Caron H. St. John, Chance and Intent: Managing the Risks of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2012).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): This book is aimed at executives, entrepreneurs, and venture investors learning to search out and plan for those enterprise hazards that reside outside the bell curve, the conventional domain of risk: uncertainty, where outcomes can be characterized in advance, reliable estimates cannot be made for the likelihood that they will occur; ambiguity, where the events and outcomes cannot be well characterized, in some cases because one cannot imagine them and in others because characterization depends upon the institutional interests or cultural values of the observer; and ignorance, where neither likelihood estimates nor well-characterized events enjoy much credibility. This edited volume emphasizes practical strategies for understanding and managing the hazards of the new venture in light of recent research. It will help corporate innovators, entrepreneurs, and investors employ a wider spectrum of risk management strategies than is now possible.

Chris Brogan, The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth: Entrepreneurship for Weirdos, Misfits, and World Dominators (2014).

 Abstract (from publisher):The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth is a guide for the kind of person who wouldn’t normally pick up a business book. The personal business revolution is upon us. Here’s your recipe book for starting your revolutionary business, including some of what you will learn: how to be as weird as you want while providing a viable business structure to support it; what most people are missing from the basic frameworks of doing business; how to turn passions into businesses; how to build out the Digital Channel; and what Kickstarter and Square mean for the future of business.

 Take the plunge. Learn to fail and then win. Dare to do something that “everyone else” doesn’t. The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth will help. 

Paul Burns, Entrepreneurship and Small Business: Start-up, Growth and Maturity (3d ed. 2011).

Abstract (adapted from Amazon.com): This book examines how firms develop from start-up, both tracing growth and exploring failure. It studies entrepreneurs - what motivates them, how they manage and lead, and how certain defining characteristics they possess can help shape the businesses they run. The book outlines good management practice for students and encourages and develops entrepreneurial skills. This book’s comprehensive coverage includes accounting control and decision-making, as well as chapters on family businesses, corporate, international and social entrepreneurship. Case insights, long case studies and discussion scenarios are used to practically demonstrate how concepts are implemented in successful small and growing companies. Burns' text is ideal for undergraduates, MBA students, and students taking specialist postgraduate modules on Entrepreneurship, Enterprise, Small Business Management and New Venture Creation within business and management courses.

John A Byrne, World Changers: Twenty-Five Entrepreneurs Who Changed Business as We Knew It (2011).

Abstract (from publisher): John A. Byrne has interviewed twenty-five amazing entrepreneurs who have changed the face of business. From Amazon's Jeff Bezos to Howard Schultz of Starbucks to many others whose names are less famous, Byrne explores the most important lessons they've learned, the biggest challenges they've tackled, and the most valuable advice they can offer. This book serves as both a celebration of entrepreneurial achievement as well as a practical handbook for current and would-be entrepreneurs.

David Y. Choi & Edmund R. Gray, Values-Centered Entrepreneurs and Their Companies (2012).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): This book explores how many highly unorthodox leaders have built their profitable and socially responsible business enterprises, and what lessons can be learned for the next generation of entrepreneurs. The authors examine a group of over 40 entrepreneurial companies and how each balanced the profit objective with social responsibility in key aspects of their business operation – from their initial company formation, through growth, to exit – to build successful triple bottom-line companies. Choi and Gray particularly focus on how these firms’ commitment to values affected their company missions, hiring and organizational policies, marketing strategies, financial practices, exit options, and giving programs, and vice versa. In some cases, the authors find that the entrepreneurs’ social objectives have actually strengthened, not weakened, their business enterprises. Based on their extensive studies of these companies, he authors have distilled a set of commonalities. The book presents ten of the most dominant and interesting of these commonalities with a focus on those policies and decisions that appeared to depart from conventional business practice.

Clayton M. Christensen et  al., DISRUPTING CLASS: HOW DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION WILL CHANGE THE WAY THE WORLD LEARNS (2008).

Abstract (from publisher):   According to recent studies in neuroscience, the way we learn doesn't always match up with the way we are taught. If we hope to stay competitive-academically, economically, and technologically-we need to rethink our understanding of intelligence, reevaluate our educational system, and reinvigorate our commitment to learning. In other words, we need “disruptive innovation.”

Clayton M. Christensen et al., SEEING WHAT'S NEXT: USING THEORIES OF INNOVATION TO PREDICT INDUSTRY CHANGE (2004).

Abstract (from publisher):   When a disruptive innovation is launched, it changes the entire industry and every firm operating within it.  This book argues that it is possible to predict which companies will win and which will lose in a specific situation—and provides a practical framework for doing so. Most books on innovation—including Christensen’s previous two books—approached innovation from the inside-out, showing firms how they can create innovations inside their own companies. This book is written from an “outside-in” perspective, showing how executives, investors, and analysts can assess the impact of a new innovation on the firms they have a vested interest in.

Clayton M. Christensen & Michael E. Raynor, THE INNOVATOR'S SOLUTION: CREATING AND SUSTAINING SUCCESSFUL GROWTH (2003).

Abstract (from publisher):   In this shows that innovation is not nearly as random and unpredictable as managers have come to believe. While the outcomes of the innovation process have seemed random—such as superior innovations that tank and unlikely products that take off—the process itself, that is, the forces that shape and package innovations within companies, is very predictable. Christensen and Raynor demystify this process and explain how managers can greatly increase the odds of successful growth.

Clayton M. Christensen, THE INNOVATOR'S DILEMMA: WHEN NEW TECHNOLOGIES CAUSE GREAT FIRMS TO FAIL (2003).

Abstract (from publisher):  Revised, updated, and with a new chapter, this book continues to take the radical position that great companies can fail precisely because they do everything right. It demonstrates why outstanding companies lose their market leadership when confronted with disruptive technology--and it explains how to avoid a similar fate. Drawing on insights from a number of industries--such as the computer and disk drive industries, discount retailing, minimills, pharmaceuticals, and the automobile industry--Christensen shows why good management often turns out to be all wrong--and what to do about it.

Robert G. Cooper, WINNING AT NEW PRODUCTS (3d ed. 2001).

Abstract (from publisher): For over a decade, Winning at New Products has served as the bible for product developers everywhere. In this fully updated and expanded edition, Robert Cooper demonstrates with compelling evidence why consistent product development is so vital to corporate growth and how to maximize your chances of success. By any measure, most product concepts never make it to market, and of those that do, most fail. Winning at New Products cites the most recent research and showcases innovative practices at such industry leaders as 3M, Exxon Chemical, and Guinness to present a field-tested game plan for achieving product leadership. Cooper outlines specific strategies for assessing risk, marshalling the appropriate resources, engaging customers in the pre-development discovery phase, evaluating your project portfolio, ensuring true cross-functional collaboration, and, most importantly, applying a rigorous process for making sound business decisions at every step-from idea generation to launch.

Robert G. Cooper & Scott J. Edgett, GENERATING BREAKTHROUGH NEW PRODUCT IDEAS (2007).

Abstract (from publisher): This ideation book explains how to ‘feed’ your innovation funnel with a steady stream of breakthrough new product ideas. Through numerous examples of the methods, approaches and techniques being used by leading companies such as Motorola and Procter and Gamble. The authors confirm the importance of a robust Discovery Stage and illustrate how to implement such a system.  Discover how leading companies feed their Idea-To-Launch Process with a steady stream of blockbuster new product ideas from internal and external sources. Also, learn the pros and cons of the top ideation methods including: voice of customer, peripheral vision, immersion, open innovation, disruptive technologies, brainstorming, fundamental research and more.

Robert G. Cooper & Scott J. Edgett, LEAN, RAPID AND PROFITABLE NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT (2005).

Abstract (from publisher): Many companies have introduced product innovation processes; however they are still struggling to achieve the financial results they expect. This easy-to-read book focuses on innovation productivity and illustrates how to identify waste, streamline the product development process, remove bureaucracy and improve profits. It illustrates the 7 principles of lean, rapid and profitable new product development.

Robert G. Cooper & Scott J. Edgett, PRODUCT LEADERSHIP: PATHWAYS TO PROFITABLE INNOVATION (2d ed. 2004).

Abstract (from publisher):  Most businesses fall short of the new product performance achieved by leading firms by a factor of 2 times or more. It’s no accident that top performers consistently win at new products. The top 20% of companies earn twice as much for their money. Their success rate in product innovation is closer to 80% while the bottom 20% of companies is closer to 38%.

Robert G. Cooper & Scott J. Edgett, BEST PRACTICES IN PRODUCT INNOVATION: WHAT DISTINGUISHES TOP PERFORMERS (2003).

Abstract (from publisher):   Top performing companies derive 43% of their profits from new products; average companies derive only 28%. In this ground-breaking research study, experts Dr. Robert Cooper and Dr. Scott Edgett together with the American Productivity and Quality Center, explore what the top performers are doing differently. The study examines 17 best-practice areas ranging from new product strategy through to climate and culture and identifies the practices which make the greatest impact on product innovation performance.

Simon Down, ENTERPRISE, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SMALL BUSINESS (2010).

Product Description (from Amazon):  This textbook covers core themes and topics in the study of enterprise, as well as looking at subjects that are often ignored, from criminal entrepreneurs and the demise of Enron, to innovation and technology and ethnic and indigenous entrepreneurship. Supported by lively case studies, real-life examples, this interactive exploration moves beyond the narrow, prescriptive focus on the ‘how’ employed by other textbooks, and places equal emphasis on the ‘why’ – all the time considering the role of enterprise, entrepreneurship and small business in the world we live in.

Peter F. Drucker, INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP (1995).

Abstract (from publisher):   This is the first book to present innovation and entrepreneurship as a purposeful and systematic discipline that explains and analyzes the challenges and opportunities of America's new entrepreneurial economy. Superbly practical, Innovation and Entrepreneurship explains what established businesses, public service institutions, and new ventures need to know and do to succeed in today's economy.

Thomas N. Duening, Robert A. Hisrich & Michael A. Lechter, Technology Entrepreneurship, Second Edition: Taking Innovation to the Mrketplace (2014).

Abstract (from the publisher): The focus of this book is on technology ventures — how they start, operate, and sometimes exit profitably. It covers all the elements required to launch a successful technology company, including discussion of cutting-edge trends such as "entrepreneurial method" and "lean startup," emphasis on the ideation process and development of an effective business plan, coverage of product and market development, intellectual property, structuring your venture, raising capital, sales and marketing, people management, and even strategies for exiting your venture. This is not another armchair book about entrepreneurship. It’s a working guide for engineers and scientists who want to actually be entrepreneurs. 

The Entrepreneur: Classic Texts by Joseph A. Schumpeter (Thorbjorn Knudsen et al. eds., 2011).

Abstract (adapted from Amazon.com): Joseph Schumpeter is seen as the foremost theoretician of entrepreneurship. In addition, Schumpeter, whose "creative destruction" is as famous as Milton Friedman's "there is no free lunch," is increasingly recognized as a major economist, often given the same stature as John Maynard Keynes.

Schumpeter spent the last twenty years of his life as a Professor of Economics at Harvard University. English-speaking readers may be familiar with some of his works, especially The Theory of Economic Development and the classic Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. However, very few of Schumpeter's key texts on the entrepreneur and entrepreneurship have been available in English.

This anthology contains several newly translated texts and puts together, for the very first time, all of Schumpeter's writings on the entrepreneur and entrepreneurship. English-speaking readers will now be able to access the entire palette of Schumpeter's work and to follow the evolution of his ideas over time.

The volume begins with an introduction that points readers to the most important aspects of the works presented. The introduction also attempts to go beyond Schumpeter's ideas, drawing on his basic intuitions of entrepreneurship to share a couple of key notions: that entrepreneurship consists of a new combination of already existing elements in the economy and that the entrepreneur has to break through resistance to the new idea, in him or herself as well as in others.

Entrepreneurship (William D. Bygrave & Andrew Zacharakis eds., 3rd ed. 2014).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): Entrepreneurship 2nd Edition combines concepts and cases while presenting the latest theories of entrepreneurship. The concepts cover what "would-be entrepreneurs" need to know to start and grow their businesses. Additionally, the cases illustrate how real entrepreneurs have gone out and succeeded. The authors cover all stages of the entrepreneurial process from searching for an opportunity to shaping it into a commercially attractive product or service, launching the new venture, building it into a viable business, and eventually harvesting it.

Entrepreneurship and the Creative Economy: Process, Practice and Policy (Colette Henry & Anne De Bruin eds., 2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): Entrepreneurship and the Creative Economy contains a range of theoretical and empirically based research contributions that collectively consider and debate the process, policy and practice of the creative economy. The ‘creative economy’ and the broad spectrum of creative industries that it encompasses, is increasingly important in the 21st century's global economy. In challenging economic conditions, creative industries are both politically and economically appealing with governments around the world now recognising their potential as a source of employment and entrepreneurial endeavour. As such, this informative book will play a vital part in furthering our understanding of the creative industries and the role they play in economic development. This enlightening compendium, researched by leading authors in the field, will prove invaluable for students, academics and researchers in the fields of creative entrepreneurship, creative industries and the creative economy.

Entrepreneurship, Growth and Economic Development: Frontiers in European Entrepreneurship Research (Mário Raposo ed., 2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): This book collects scholarship on entrepreneurship research from a wide range of European scholars. This work, comprised of eleven articles on entrepreneurship, focuses on four themes, each of which illustrates a key dimension in the overall theme: entrepreneurs and their role in entrepreneurship; entrepreneurship in family businesses; performance of new ventures; and entrepreneurial processes.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND HOW TO ESTABLISH YOUR OWN BUSINESS (Cecile Nieuwenhuizen ed., 2009).

Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com):  A new business rarely runs smoothly, and indeed the failure rate of new enterprises is so high that many would-be entrepreneurs prefer not to take the risk. 'Entrepreneurship and How to Establish Your Own Business' is a practical “how to” book designed to help develop business ideas and establish successful enterprises.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Evolving Economies: The Role of Law (Megan M. Carpenter ed., 2012).

Abstract (from publisher): The very foundation of the economy is changing. Across the United States, primary and secondary sector industries are no longer as viable as they once were - because the particular businesses are no longer profitable, because the underlying resources are no longer as plentiful or desirable, or because human activity is not essential to various aspects of an industry's operations. As economies evolve from traditional industrial resources, such as mining and manufacturing, to 'new' resources, such as information and content, innovation and entrepreneurship are key. Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Evolving Economies examines the role of law in supporting innovation and entrepreneurship in communities whose economies are in transition. It contains a collection of works from different perspectives and tackles tough questions regarding policy and practice, including how support for entrepreneurship can be translated into policy. Additionally, this collection addresses more concrete questions of practical efficacy, including measures of how successful or unsuccessful legal efforts to incentivize entrepreneurship may be, through intellectual property law and otherwise, and what might define success to begin with. 

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND OPENNESS: THEORY AND EVIDENCE (David B. Audretsch, Robert E. Litan & Robert J. Strom eds., 2009).

Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com):  Entrepreneurship is critical to economic growth, but it cannot flourish without open markets. Entrepreneurs can only be expected to take risks in `open settings' where individuals and firms are free to contract with one another. In this book, leading economists explain and document the role of open markets, within and across national boundaries, in facilitating entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic growth.

Entrepreneurship, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the Macroeconomy  (Zolton J. Acs et al. eds., 2011).

Abstract (from Amazon.com Product Description): Why has the United States economy successfully moved beyond its chief competitors? This collection suggests that at least some of the answers to the pattern of divergent development can be found in the role of the entrepreneur. By examining the process that new firms and entrepreneurs play in the economy, the essays in this volume make a fundamental contribution to our understanding of the macroeconomy. The public policy implications of this process are clear. Countries that encourage entrepreneurship and free entry will have better macroeconomic performance than those that retard it.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THEORY AND HISTORY (Youssef Cassis & Ioanna Pepelasis Minoglou eds., 2005).

Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com):  In the study of entrepreneurship, which over the last decade has become an expanding subject of scholarship, there has been little interaction between economists and historians. Most historical studies of entrepreneurship lack a theoretical and comparative approach. For the first time a single volume combines a comparison of eight national experiences, spanning three continents. The chapters, written by leading specialists, combine historical archive-based work and synthetic theoretical surveys, reflecting the current state and new directions in research.

Entrepreneurship in Recession (Simon C. Parker ed., 2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): This volume discusses the role of entrepreneurship in recessions. Simon Parker has selected the key contributions in the literature, which seek to explain why economies enter into and emerge from recession, and the involvement of entrepreneurs in this process. A central theme is the contribution of entrepreneurship to the creation and propagation of business cycles. A combination of theoretical and empirical studies is included, and there is a particular focus on a salient issue which arises in recessions, namely unemployment.

Entrepreneurship Research in Europe: Evolving Concepts and Processes (Odd Jarl Borch et al. eds., 2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): This book demonstrates the importance of entrepreneurship research at a time of turbulent environments as well as highlighting the most recent developments in the field. The contributors expertly provide empirical contributions from a broad set of European countries. This book explores important avenues of new research and compares the differences in entrepreneurship between countries and regions. Viewing entrepreneurship as a dynamic learning and developmental process, the contributors discuss how the new ideological dialogue of entrepreneurship has started to expand its scope from business to society.

Entrepreneurship and Technological Change (Lucio Cassia et al. eds., 2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): This book scrutinizes the relationship between entrepreneurship and change in technological domains in order to discover how each element influences the other. Fresh empirical evidence is placed under the lens of recent theoretical advancements, through the exploration of entrepreneurial initiatives at firm, regional and industrial levels. Distinguished scholars in the fields of entrepreneurship, technology management, strategy and innovation investigate how technological changes generate opportunities that entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial organizations can fully exploit. They also discuss the argument that entrepreneurial behaviour can be a promoter of change in both technology-generating and technology-adopting businesses, and explore topics such as strategic renewal through change and entrepreneurship (at both corporate, regional and industrial levels).

European Entrepreneurship in the Globalizing Economy (Alain Fayolle & Kiril Todorov, eds., 2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): What role can entrepreneurship play in a European economy that is more and more open to the rest of the world? In this European construction, what is the place of the countries and economies that have only recently converted to a free market economy? It is these questions, among others, that this book explores and discusses in particular. The future steps required in developing European entrepreneurship in a dynamic and international context are also analysed and synthesized. The expert contributors reveal both the macro and micro factors that influence European entrepreneurial development, with an emphasis on high-tech firms. The particular topics addressed include: SME research and innovation policy issues; starting and growing a new venture; innovation, marketing and entrepreneurial networks; entrepreneurship and regional (cross-border) development; building competitive advantage of SMEs; and social and cultural aspects of entrepreneurship.

Global Entrepreneurship: Case Studies of Entrepreneurial Firms Operating around the World (James C. Hayton, Carlo Salvato & Mathew J. Manimala eds., 2014).

Abstract (from publisher):  Entrepreneurs around the world are encouraged and held up as the new deliverers of economic growth in turbulent times. Entrepreneurship is taught globally, but often without much reference to the truly global array of cases and examples that can provide helpful insights for international students in particular.

This collection brings together expert entrepreneurship scholars to provide a collection of global case studies around entrepreneurial firms worldwide. This unique educational resource covers a broad range of topics of relevance to understanding entrepreneurship including corporate, social and indigenous entrepreneurship.

Gregg Fairbrothers & Tessa M. Winter, From Idea to Success: The Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network's Guide for Start-Ups (2012).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): Recognizing that starting a business is all about a learning curve, the book is a realistic, systematic handbook for getting from here to there. The book asks the reader dozens of questions that will help narrow and sharpen the first-time entrepreneur's focus ("What is your Value Proposition? How do you find Founders? How do you think about Competition? How can you avoid dangerous legal pitfalls?") In addition to tactical guidance, the book emphasizes the psychology of entrepreneurship. Starting up requires a particular mindset that allows entrepreneurs the flexibility to recover from errors and the ability to think critically about risk as they take their concepts from one level to the next. Fairbrothers strongly believes entrepreneurial aptitude is a life skill that is valuable anywhere, in any setting, not just in startups. It's an aptitude and attitude that enables anyone to spot opportunity, convince others, and just get things done. The book also features dozens of sidebars from founders, CEOS and investors reflecting on the question, "What I Know Now That I Wish I Had Known Then." These from-the-trenches observations offer insight into the rewards and sometimes perils of the taking an idea and making it into something valuable. Entrepreneurs understand that there are risks on the path to launching a new business.

Family Enterprise in the Asia Pacific: Exploring Transgenerational Entrepreneurship in Family Firms (Kevin Au et al. eds., 2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): This book analyzes the findings reported in the first Asia Pacific summit of the Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices (STEP) project. Researchers in Australia, China, and India discussed eleven in-depth case studies to shed light on the challenges that business families and family businesses faced in continuing and extending their entrepreneurial capabilities across multiple generations. Based on a common research framework from STEP, each chapter introduces key findings and challenges existing theory, offering answers to two broad questions in the Asia Pacific context: How do business families and family businesses generate and sustain entrepreneurial performance across generations and how does entrepreneurial performance relate to the continuity, growth and transgenerational entrepreneurship of business families and family businesses? In doing so, the authors look at key issues faced by family business including dealing with communication issues across generations, resolving conflict between siblings, preparing and luring younger generations back to family business, and professionalization of business. The chapters go beyond the succession and governance challenges and explore the processes and outcomes of entrepreneurship in the Austral–Asian family context.

Brad Feld, Start-Up Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in your City (2012).

Abstract (from publisher): "Startup communities" are popping up everywhere, from cities like Boulder to Boston and even in countries such as Iceland. These types of entrepreneurial ecosystems are driving innovation and small business energy. Startup Communities documents the buzz, strategy, long-term perspective, and dynamics of building communities of entrepreneurs who can feed off of each other's talent, creativity, and support.
Based on more than twenty years of Boulder-based entrepreneur turned-venture capitalist Brad Feld's experience in the field as well as contributions from other innovative startup communities this resource explores what it takes to create an entrepreneurial community in any city, at any time. Along the way, it offers valuable insights into increasing the breadth and depth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem by multiplying connections among entrepreneurs and mentors, improving access to entrepreneurial education, and much more. 

Nicolai J. Foss et al., Entrepreneurship and the Economics of the Firm in Handbook of Organizational Entrepreneurship (Daniel Hjorth ed., 2011), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1747710.

Abstract (from author): The study of entrepreneurship and the study of economic organizing lack contact. In fact, the modern theory of the firm virtually ignores entrepreneurship, while the literature on entrepreneurship often sees little value in the economic theory of the firm. In contrast, the authors argue in this chapter that entrepreneurship theory and the theory of the firm can be usefully integrated, and that doing so would improve both bodies of theory. Adding the entrepreneur to the theory of the firm provides a dynamic view that the overly static analysis of firm organizing cannot support. Moreover, adding the firm to the study of the entrepreneur provides important clues to how one can understand entrepreneurship.

Nicolai J. Foss & Peter G. Klein, Organizing Entrepreneurial Judgment: A New Approach to the Firm (2012).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): Entrepreneurship, long neglected by economists and management scholars, has made a dramatic comeback in the last two decades, not only among academic economists and management scholars, but also among policymakers, educators and practitioners. Likewise, the economic theory of the firm, building on Ronald Coase's (1937) seminal analysis, has become an increasingly important field in economics and management. Despite this resurgence, there is still little connection between the entrepreneurship literature and the literature on the firm, both in academia and in management practice. This book fills this gap by proposing and developing an entrepreneurial theory of the firm that focuses on the connections between entrepreneurship and management. Drawing on insights from Austrian economics, it describes entrepreneurship as judgmental decision made under uncertainty, showing how judgment is the driving force of the market economy and the key to understanding firm performance and organization.

Richard N. Foster & Sarah Kaplan, CREATIVE DESTRUCTION: WHY COMPANIES THAT ARE BUILT TO LAST UNDERPERFORM THE MARKET -- AND HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY TRANSFORM THEM (2003).

Abstract (from publisher):  This book offers a radical new proposition: The most exceptional, enduring corporations cannot continue to beat the capital markets indefinitely. In order to continue to maintain excellence and remain competitive, they must adopt the dynamic strategies of discontinuity and creative destruction.

Richard N. Foster, INNOVATION: THE ATTACKER'S ADVANTAGE (1986).

Abstract (from publisher):  This book analyzes why some companies abruptly lose their markets to new competitors and how other companies have avoided this fate. Foster believes that the way companies handle innovation dictates how well they will succeed. He believes that technological discontinuities will increase and that because existing firms are so wedded to technologies which are being pushed to the limit, new firms (the attackers) have an advantage over the established firms. Filled with examples and brief case histories, this work is a good discussion of the importance of innovation for both established and new companies.

Eric Gedajlovic & Shaker A. Zahra, Entrepreneurship, Organizational Learning, and Capability Building, in Innovating Strategy Process (Steve W. Floyd et al eds., 2005).

Abstract (from publisher): Innovating Strategy Process presents a series of reflective essays by established and emerging scholars on the subject of innovation, considering it both as an outcome of strategy and as a process in itself.  Contains new ideas and rich case descriptions that will trigger creative thinking about how to design a more innovative strategy process.  Offers new conceptual frameworks for analyzing and designing strategy process.  Addresses cutting-edge topics, such as play as the means and art as the impetus for strategy-making; the role of emotion in new venture decision-making; and science and entrepreneurship as a source of innovative strategies.  Signals the future direction of the field.

Gerard George & Adam J. Bock, Models of Opportunity: How Entrepreneurs Design Firms to Achieve the Unexpected (2012).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): Entrepreneurship is changing. Technology and social networks create a smaller world, but widen the opportunity horizon. Today's entrepreneurs build organisations and create value in entirely new ways and

Bobbie Gill & Jordan Gurrieri, Appsters: A Beginner’s Guide to App Entrepreneurship (2013).

Abstract (from publisher): You don't need to be a programmer or technical wizard to create a successful app business, Appsters will show you how. Using first-hand experience launching multiple successful mobile apps, along with interviews conducted with other successful app entrepreneurs, the authors give you an easy-to-understand and comprehensive look at everything you need to know to take your idea and turn it into a successful app business. 

Written for a non-technical audience, Appsters breaks through the technical jargon to give you a plain-spoken, entertaining and end-to-end understanding of app entrepreneurship. From designing engaging user experiences, to choosing the right mobile platform, to effective marketing and promotion, follow along as the authors go step-by-step through the entire process of designing, building and releasing a mobile app for the iPhone from scratch. 

Danna Greenberg et al., The New Entrepreneurial Leader: Developing Leaders Who Shape Social and Economic Opportunity (2011).

Abstract (excepted from publisher): Entrepreneurial leadership is inspired by, but is separate from, entrepreneurship. It is a leadership approach that can be applied in any organizational situation, not just start-ups. Based on two years of extensive research, it embraces three principles that add up to nothing less than a fundamentally new worldview of business and a new logic of decision making. The authors discovered that rapid change and increasing uncertainty require leaders to be “cognitively ambidextrous,” able to shift between traditional “prediction logic” (choosing actions based on analysis of known trends) and “creation logic” (taking action despite considerable unknowns). Guiding this different way of thinking and acting is a different worldview of business and society, where simultaneous creation of social, environmental, and economic value is the order of the day. Entrepreneurial leaders also leverage their understanding of themselves and their social context to guide effective action.

with entirely new tools. Rather than just exploit new ideas, innovative entrepreneurs design organisations to make sense of unlikely opportunities. The time has come to overhaul what is known about entrepreneurship and business models. Models of Opportunity links scholarly research on business models and organisational design to the reality of building entrepreneurial firms. It provides actionable advice based on a deeper understanding of how business models function and change. The six insights extend corporate strategy and entrepreneurship in a completely new direction. Case studies of innovative companies across industries demonstrate how visionary entrepreneurs achieve unexpected results. The insights, tools and cases, provide a fresh perspective on emerging trends in entrepreneurship, organisational change and high-growth firms.

Scott Gerber, Never Get a Real Job: How to Dump Your Boss, Build a Business and Not Go Broke (2010).

Abstract (adapted from Amazon.com): Serial entrepreneur Scott Gerber is not the product of a wealthy family or storied entrepreneurial heritage. Nor is he the outcome of a traditional business school education or a corporate executive turned entrepreneur. Rather, he is a hard-working, self-taught 26-year-old hustler, rainmaker, and bootstrapper who has survived and thrived despite never having held the proverbial "real” job.

In Never Get a "Real" Job: How to Dump Your Boss, Build a Business, and Not Go Broke, Gerber challenges the social conventions behind the "real" job and empowers young people to take control of their lives and dump their nine-to-fives—or their quest to attain them.

Drawing upon case studies, experiences, and observations, Scott dissects failures, shares hard-learned lessons, and presents practical, affordable, and systematic action steps to building, managing, and marketing a successful business on a shoestring budget.

HANDBOOK OF RESEARCH ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP POLICY (David B. Audretsch, Isabel Grilo & A. Roy Thurik eds., 2009).

Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com):  Written by academics and practitioners drawing examples from both North America and Europe, this book provides a foundation for essential study in the nascent field of entrepreneurship policy research.  This foundation is initially developed via the exploration of two significant propositions underpinning the nature of entrepreneurship policy research. The first is that entrepreneurship has emerged as a bona fide focus of public policy, particularly with respect to economic growth and employment creation. The second is that neither scholars nor policy makers are presently equipped to understand the public policy role for entrepreneurship.

Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship in Professional Services (M. Reihlen & A. Werr, eds., 2012).

Abstract (from Amazon): Professional services are increasingly seen as an important foundation for future economic growth and prosperity. Yet research on innovative and entrepreneurial processes in professional services has been surprisingly scarce. This Handbook provides a collection of original contributions from leading scholars outlining the current stock of knowledge in the area as well as providing directions for further research. The expert contributors discuss entrepreneurship and innovation from a number of different perspectives, including the entrepreneurial professional team, the entrepreneurial firm and the institutional environment. The first part of the book looks at the challenges of entrepreneurship specific to the professional service firm while the second explores the creation and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities in the professional service team. Part III turns to the organization and Part IV to the management and growth of the entrepreneurial professional service firm. The final part discusses the interplay between professions, firms and the institutional environment. Researchers, scholars and PhD students in the areas of entrepreneurship and professional service firms along with advanced students of management will find this volume of great value. 

Handbook of Research on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (David B. Audretsch et al. eds. 2011).

Abstract (adapted from Amazon.com): This path-breaking Handbook analyses the foundations, social desirability, institutions and geography of innovation and entrepreneurship. Leading researchers use their outstanding expertise to investigate various aspects in the context of innovation and entrepreneurship such as growth, knowledge production and spillovers, technology transfer, the organization of the firm, industrial policy, financing, small firms and start-ups, and entrepreneurship education as well as the characteristics of the entrepreneur. There is much in this Handbook that will prove to be informative and stimulating, especially for academics and post-graduate students in economics and management. Those starting a PhD in innovation or entrepreneurship will find this book essential reading.

Handbook of Research on Small Business Entrepreneurship (Elizabeth Chell & Mine Karatas-Ozkan eds., 2014).

Abstract (from publisher): This Handbook focuses on behavior, performance and relationships in small and entrepreneurial firms. It introduces a variety of contemporary topics, research methods and theoretical frameworks that will provide cutting edge analysis, stimulate thought, raise further questions and demonstrate the complexity of the rapidly-advancing field of entrepreneurship.

With an extensive introduction, logical sequencing and a collection of interesting and original contributions from across the globe, the Handbook commences with two thought-provoking chapters, which raise issues of theoretical framing and highlight the importance of paradigm choice, methodology and method.

After considering different disciplinary approaches to entrepreneurship and small business, various issues are raised about entrepreneurship education and learning and the application of entrepreneurship to various sectors and sectional interests. For example, what conceptual framework is available for entrepreneurs and small businesses? How does innovation relate to entrepreneurship and small business behavior? And what evidence is there of the links between better performing firms and effective learning? These issues are debated before the authors consider the future application of entrepreneurship research to different sectors.

Nelly Hanna, Artisan Entrepreneurs in Cairo and Early-Modern Capitalism (1600-1800) (2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): Little has been written about the economic history of Egypt prior to its incorporation into the European capitalist economy. While historians have mined archives and court documents to create a picture of the commercial activities, networks, and infrastructure of merchants during this time, few have documented a similar picture of the artisans and craftspeople. Artisans outnumbered merchants, and their economic weight was considerable, yet details about their lives, the way they carried out their work, and their role or position in the economy are largely unknown. Offering richly detailed portraits as well as an overview of the Ottoman Empire’s economic landscape, Hanna incorporates artisans into the historical development of the period, portraying them in the context of their work, their families, and their social relations. These artisans developed a variety of capitalist practices, both as individuals and collectively in their guilds. Responding to the demands of expanding commercial environments in Egypt and Europe, artisans found ways to adapt both production techniques and the organization of production. Hanna details the ways in which artisans defied the constraints of the guilds and actively engaged in the markets of Europe, demonstrating how Egyptian artisan production was able to compete and survive in a landscape of growing European trade.

Harvard Business School, Harvard Business Review on Succeeding as an Entrepreneur (2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): Great entrepreneurs don't take risks. They manage them. This book is for people who need the best practices and ideas for launching new ventures. It includes nine useful perspectives, all in one place. This collection of HBR articles will help you: zero in on your most promising prospects, set a clear direction for your start-up, test and revise your assumptions along the way, tackle risks that could sabotage your efforts, carve out opportunities in emerging markets, launch a start-up within your company, and hand over the reins when it's time. This collection includes these best-selling HBR articles: "Beating the Odds When You Launch a New Venture," "Finding Competitive Advantage in Adversity," "The Questions Every Entrepreneur Must Answer," "Making Social Ventures Work," "The Global Entrepreneur," "Giving Up the CEO Seat," "The Founder's Dilemma," "Why Entrepreneurs Don't Scale," "Meeting the Challenge of Corporate Entrepreneurship."

Edward D. Hess, Grow to Greatness: Smart Growth for Entrepreneurial Businesses (2012).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): This book focuses on the key questions an entrepreneur must answer in order to grow a business. Based on extensive research of more than fifty successful growth companies, Grow to Greatness discusses the top ten growth challenges and how to overcome them. Author Edward D. Hess dispels the myth that businesses must grow or die. Growth can create value. But, too much growth too fast outstrips effective processes, controls, or management capacity. Viewing growth as "recurring change," this book lays out a framework for how to approach business development—and how to manage its risks and pace. The book then takes readers through chapters that explore whether the time is right to grow, how to do it, and how to manage the vital reality that growth requires the right leadership, culture, and people. Uniquely, this book aims to prepare readers for the day-to-day reality of growth, offering up the lived experiences of eleven entrepreneurs. Six workshops to assess where readers stand now and a suite of templates that will prove to be useful over time help bring the book's teachings to life. After reading this book, entrepreneurs will have a real understanding of their readiness to grow and place in the growth cycle, as well as a concrete action plan for where to take their businesses next.

Edward D. Hess, Growing an Entrepreneurial Business: Concepts and Cases (2011).

Abstract (from publisher): Growing an Entrepreneurial Business: Concepts and Cases is a textbook designed for courses that focus on managing small to medium sized enterprises. It focuses on the major management challenges that successful start-ups encounter when leaders decide to grow and scale their businesses. The book is divided into two parts—text and cases—to provide professors with maximum flexibility in organizing their courses. The thirty-five cases can be used in conjunction with the text, or independently. Twelve cases are written as narratives with multiple teaching points, but without a focus on a particular business decision; the remaining twenty-three cases were written around specific conundrums related to strategy, operations, finance, marketing, leadership, culture, human resources, organizational design, business model, and growth. Discussion questions are provided for each case. The text portion of the book discusses key issues derived from the author's research and consulting, and is meant to complement the case method of teaching, raising issues for conversation. In addition to the real-world knowledge that students will derive from the cases, readers will take away research-based templates and models that they can use in developing or consulting with small businesses.

Robert D. Hisrich, Michael P. Peters & Dean A. Shepherd, Entrepreneurship (8th rev. ed. 2010).

Abstract (from Amazon Product Description): The 8th Edition ofEntrepreneurship by Robert Hisrich, Michael Peters and Dean Shepherd has been designed to clearly instruct students on the process of formulating, planning, and implementing a new venture. Students are exposed to detailed descriptions of 'how to' embark on a new venture in a logical manner. Comprehensive cases at the end of the text have been hand-picked by the authors to go hand-in-hand with chapter concepts. The superb author team of Hisrich, Peters, and Shepherd draw from their distinct backgrounds to create a book that addresses the dynamics of today's entrepreneurial challenges. From Bob Hisrich's expertise in global entrepreneurship to Mike Peter's background as a both a real-life entrepreneur and academic to Dean Shepherd's current research on cognition and entrepreneurial mindset, this book balances the crucial line between modern theory and practice.

Robert D. Hisrich & Claudine Kearney, Managing Entrepreneurship and Innovation (2013).

Abstract (from publisher): The first book to look at innovation/entrepreneurship from an international perspective, Managing Innovation and Entrepreneurship: A Global Perspective provides a step-by-step process for managing innovation and entrepreneurship in an organization in both turbulent and stable economic times. Authors Robert D. Hisrich and Claudine Kearney demonstrate how to manage innovation on a day-to-day basis—using a wide range of real world scenarios, theories, principles, best practices, case studies, and modern examples. The book provides detailed coverage of each aspect of the process of innovation required to achieve success, including what it takes to build an innovative and entrepreneurial organization, how to develop innovation and entrepreneurship in both individuals and teams, how to manage and operationalize innovation and entrepreneurship, how to develop a global business plan, and more.

In Search of Research Excellence: Exemplars in Entrepreneurship (Ronald K. Mitchell & Richard N. Dino eds., 2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): This book gathers ‘best practices’ advice from the masters about how to achieve excellence in entrepreneurship research, how to create an outstanding research career and how to avoid the pitfalls that can sidetrack emerging scholars. Combining narratives from the 2009 and 2010 Entrepreneurship Exemplars Conferences, the authors frame the dialogue using person–environment fit theory and present keynote addresses and dialogue sessions that bring together editors and authors to reach into the unexplored corners of the top-tier research craft. This book makes explicit the tacit knowledge of top-tier research, giving all readers access to ‘how-to’ advice from research-craft masters. Learn what Howard Aldrich, Jay Barney, Michael Hitt, Duane Ireland, Patricia P. McDougall and S. ‘Venkat’ Venkataraman have to say about making research efforts count toward building a fulfilling and rewarding research career. Employing a combination of web and text media, this easy-to-read volume caters to researchers who may lack proximity to world-class sounding boards. This guidebook offers a clear portrayal of the realities of progress milestones within a top-tier research career and is a must-read for all emerging scholars – in entrepreneurship and beyond.

INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP (David B. Audretsch, Oliver Falck & Stephan Heblich eds., 2009).

Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com):  This comprehensive volume integrates scholarship from two interrelated fields - innovation and entrepreneurship - with the chapters providing a link between the two. The editors seek to introduce and contextualize some of the most important research. Topics covered include: history of thought, innovation and growth, the innovation process, role models of the entrepreneur, knowledge flows and institutions.

THE INVENTION OF ENTERPRISE: ENTREPRENEURSHIP FROM ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA TO MODERN TIMES (THE KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION SERIES ON INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP) (David S. Landes, Joel Mokyr & William J. Baumol eds., 2010).

Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com):  This book chronicles the sweeping history of enterprise in Mesopotamia and Neo-Babylon; carries the reader through the Islamic Middle East; offers insights into the entrepreneurial history of China, Japan, and Colonial India; and describes the crucial role of the entrepreneur in innovative activity in Europe and the United States, from the medieval period to today. In considering the critical contributions of entrepreneurship, the authors discuss why entrepreneurial activities are not always productive and may even sabotage prosperity. They examine the institutions and restrictions that have enabled or impeded innovation, and the incentives for the adoption and dissemination of inventions. They also describe the wide variations in global entrepreneurial activity during different historical periods and the similarities in development, as well as entrepreneurship's role in economic growth. The book is filled with past examples and events that provide lessons for promoting and successfully pursuing contemporary entrepreneurship as a means of contributing to the welfare of society.

Daniel Isenberg, Worthless, Impossible and Stupid: How Contrarian Entrepreneurs Create and Capture Extraordinary Value (2013).

Abstract (from publisher): In this fascinating book, global entrepreneurship expert Daniel Isenberg presents a completely novel way to approach business building—with the insights and lessons learned from a worldwide cast of entrepreneurial characters. Not bound by a western, Silicon Valley stereotype, this group of courageous and energetic doers has created a global and diverse mix of companies destined to become tomorrow’s leading organizations.Worthless, Impossible, and Stupid is about how enterprising individuals from around the world see hidden value in situations where others do not, use that perception to develop products and services that people initially don’t think they want, and ultimately go on to realize extraordinary value for themselves, their customers, and society as a whole. What these business builders have in common is a contrarian mind-set that allows them to create opportunities and succeed where others see nothing. Amazingly, this process repeats itself in one form or another countless times a day all over the world. 

Kevin D. Johnson, The Entrepreneur Mind: 100 Essential Beliefs, Characteristics, and Habits of Elite Entrepreneurs (2013).

Abstract (from publisher): To achieve unimaginable business success and financial wealth—to reach the upper echelons of entrepreneurs, where you’ll find Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Sara Blakely of Spanx, Mark Pincus of Zynga, Kevin Plank of Under Armour, and many others—you have to change the way you think. In other words, you must develop the Entrepreneur Mind, a way of thinking that comes from learning the vital lessons of the best entrepreneurs. In a praiseworthy effort to distill some of the most important lessons of entrepreneurship, Kevin D. Johnson, president of multimillion-dollar company Johnson Media Inc. and a serial entrepreneur for several years, shares the essential beliefs, characteristics, and habits of elite entrepreneurs. Through the conviction of his own personal experiences, which include a life-changing visit to Harvard Business School, and the compelling stories of modern-day business tycoons, Johnson transforms an oftentimes complex topic into a lucid and accessible one.  In this riveting book written for new and veteran entrepreneurs, Johnson identifies one hundred key lessons that every entrepreneur must learn in seven areas: Strategy, Education, People, Finance, Marketing and Sales, Leadership, and Motivation. Lessons include how to think big, who makes the best business partners, what captivates investors, when to abandon a business idea, where to avoid opening a business bank account, and why too much formal education can hinder your entrepreneurial growth.

Oswald Jones, Allan Macpherson & Dilani Jayawarna, Resourcing the Start-Up Business: Creating Dynamic Entrepreneurial Learning Capabilities (2013).

Abstract (from publisher): Starting a business successfully requires numerous skills and resources. The alarming rate of failures associated with new ventures suggests that potential entrepreneurs would welcome expert advice at the most vital stage in the life of any business. These expert authors focus on those resources, skills, capabilities and learning required by any entrepreneur in the process of starting a new business. Specifically, this text aims to: introduce and explain those resources (including finance) that are essential to successful business creation; identify the key skills and capabilities that are required by entrepreneurs; highlight the ways in which new resources are combined with the entrepreneur’s existing resource base to develop the business effectively; and explore the way entrepreneurs learn in the process of developing their business. Drawing on the most up-to-date and most relevant research, this concise textbook provides students and academics of entrepreneurship with a practical guide to acquiring the appropriate resources in order to start a new firm.

Eric Kacou, Entrepreneurial Solutions for Prosperity in BoP Markets: Strategies for Business and Economic Transformation (2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): There has been immense worldwide excitement about the potential of "Base of the Pyramid" (BoP) businesses to help the world's poorest societies escape poverty. Unfortunately, many BoP firms have been locked in a "survival trap" that keeps them small, inefficient, and unprofitable. Here, Eric Kacou identifies techniques and approaches that are helping BoP businesses grow rapidly, successfully, and profitably. Drawing from his experience in many of Africa's most challenging business environments, he identifies business models and techniques that have been proven in the field. Kacou dissects the "survival trap” mindset that drives companies to seek short-term fixes that breed dependence and mistrust--and shows how companies can overcome it. Next, he takes readers inside the Rwandan metamorphosis. Drawing on Rwanda and other global examples, Kacou shows how to address the needs of all four core business stakeholders: customers, owners, workers, and future generations. Readers learn how to build trust, focus on the right products, develop "collaborative clusters" that improve competitiveness, and provide more effective leadership. He concludes with an integrated set of recommendations for local entrepreneurs, global businesses, governments, and international organizations: recommendations that can launch a "virtuous cycle" of prosperity creation.

Jack M. Kaplan & Anthony C. Warren, Patterns of Entrepreneurship Management (4th ed. 2012).

Abstract (from publisher): This fourth edition prepares entrepreneurs for the rewards and pitfalls of this career choice. It explores a new theme throughout the chapters on how to effectively manage a start-up company. Focus on Real Entrepreneurs sections highlight how entrepreneurs position their companies to meet the various marketing, financial, and technological challenges. Management Track sections present key management issues while following the development of a real company. Entrepreneurs will also find real situations and examples on which they can practice the broad range of skills required to start and build a company in today’s complex world.

Dafna Kariv, Entrepreneurship: An International Introduction (2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): This book places an emphasis both on the core processes and practices of entrepreneurship, as well as demonstrating the impact of complex, local environments in shaping the processes of entrepreneurship. It covers topics including: the main processes of entrepreneurial venture creation, innovation and growth; operational steps characterizing processes of entrepreneurship; establishing and realizing entrepreneurial ventures; and the core processes and practices of entrepreneurship. The book utilizes both case studies and interviews with entrepreneurs from across the globe, and emphasizes an international approach to entrepreneurship.

Jerome A. Katz, CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP (ADVANCES IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP, FIRM EMERGENCE AND GROWTH (Dean A. Shepherd & Jerome A. Katz eds. 2004).

Abstract: With an established body of literature on innovation and corporate entrepreneurship, this volume of "Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth" turns to some of the leading and most promising scholars in the field to map out where we have been and provide some direction on where scholarship on this topic should proceed in the future. Topics include: a review of theory, research, and practice on corporate entrepreneurship and the behavior of managers; the central problems of managing innovation and corporate entrepreneurship and the central problems of longitudinal research on the topic; the different theoretical lens for investigating corporate entrepreneurship and the resulting research possibilities; a general systems perspective for exploring the relationship among strategy-structure-performance and corporate entrepreneurship; and international corporate entrepreneurship in terms of a knowledge-based source of competitive advantage and implications for a model of human resource management. This volume also continues the discussion of previous volumes with a provocative discussion of how to advance the field of entrepreneurship by Bill Gartner and a commentary and response to work on a signal detection theory approach to entrepreneurship.

Jerome A. Katz & Richard P. Green, Entrepreneurial Small Business (3d ed. 2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): This book focuses on the distinctive nature of small businesses that students might actually start versus high growth firms. The goal of the companies described in this textbook is personal independence with financial security; not market dominance with extreme wealth. Traditional beliefs and models in small business are discussed, as well as the latest findings and best practices from academic and consulting arenas. Katz and Green recognize the distinction between entrepreneurs who aim to start the successor to Amazon.com and the pizza place around the corner. They discuss the challenges facing entrepreneurs, while keeping focused on the small businesses students plan to start.

Rasem N. Kayed & Kabir Hassan, Islamic Entrepreneurship (2011).

Abstract (from publisher): This book discusses the idea that there is a specific Islamic form of entrepreneurship. Based on extensive original research amongst small and medium sized enterprises in Saudi Arabia, it shows how businesses are started and how they grow in the context of an Islamic economy and society. It argues that as specific Islamic approaches to a wide range of economic activities are being formulated and implemented, there is indeed a particular Islamic approach to entrepreneurship. Examining the relationship between Islamic values and entrepreneurial activity, the book considers whether such values can be more effectively used in order to raise the profile of Islamic entrepreneurship, and also to promote alternatives to development in the contemporary business environment. The book analyses the nature of entrepreneurship, and the special qualities of Islamic entrepreneurship, and discusses how the Islamic approach to entrepreneurship can be encouraged and developed further still.

Donna J. Kelley, Beyond the Champion-Centric View: A Systems-Level Perspective on Innovation-Based Corporate Entrepreneurship, in Handbook of Corporate Entrepreneurship (Shaker A. Zahra ed., 2006).

Abstract (from publisher): This book is particularly useful for academics and doctoral students who are trying to research corporate entrepreneurship at the frontiers of knowledge. It is also desirable reading for teachers of corporate entrepreneurship who wish to access and incorporate material that goes beyond the basics.

Donna J. Kelley & Edward Marram, Entrepreneurial Growth in William D. Bygrave & Andrew L. Zacharakis, Entrepreneurship (2006).

Abstract (from publisher):  Written by one of the biggest names in the field, this book will arm readers with the knowledge to turn inspiration into results. It explores the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship so that readers will have the necessary tools to start their own businesses. Critical steps are explained in an engaging style that helps make complex issues easy to understand.  Integrates case studies throughout the chapters to show readers how the information is applied in the real world.  Outlines successes as well as failures to paint a realistic picture of the difficulties involved in starting a business.  Discusses how to recognize opportunities and formulate a winning strategy.  Explains how to create a business plan and build pro forma financial statements  Covers how to acquire equity financing and getting access to funds.

Thomas Kelley & Jonathan Littman, The THE TEN FACES OF INNOVATION: IDEO'S STRATEGIES FOR DEFEATING THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE AND DRIVING CREATIVITY THROUGHOUT YOUR ORGANIZATION (2005).

Abstract (from publisher): Kelley's latest builds on The Art of Innovation, which celebrated the work culture that distinguishes his high-profile, award-winning industrial design firm, IDEO. This book covers much of the same territory, but focuses on the type of worker and team-building rather than the work environment. The authors define 10 personas, including Anthropologists, who contribute insights by observing human behavior; Experimenters, who try new things; Hurdlers, who surmount obstacles; Collaborators, who bring people together and get things done; and Caregivers, who anticipate and meet customer needs. Like its predecessor, the book is breezy and well written, with plenty of self-promotion. Kelley and Littman weave classic and recent stories of business innovation, such as 3M's Scotch tape, Volvo's three-point seatbelts and Netflix's mail-in DVDs, with IDEO's own success stories with clients ranging from the Boston Beer Company, for whom IDEO designed a new Sam Adams tap handle, to Organ Recovery Systems, for whom IDEO helped develop ways to expedite kidney transport.

Thomas Kelley, THE ART OF INNOVATION (2002).

Abstract (from publisher):  Routine is the enemy of innovation," declares Kelley, general manager of IDEO, in this lively and practical guide to nurturing that elusive quality in all organizations. Dubbed "Innovation U." by Fortune and lauded as "the world's most celebrated design firm" by Fast Company, IDEO, through its work on over 3,000 new product programs, has developed a system for staying on the creative cutting edge while keeping clients happy. Kelley handily parses the components of this system--understanding the market, observing real-life users, brainstorming new concepts and developing and refining prototypes on a tight schedule to come up with a commercial product--with examples from the development of such pathbreaking products as the original Apple mouse and the Palm Pilot V. Kelley vividly conveys how "hot teams," assembled for specific projects with concrete goals and deadlines, are the foundation of IDEO's performance-based reputation. While he recognizes that not every organization is a hip design firm, Kelley believes that all organizations can gain an edge by innovating; among the successes he cites are Amazon, Igloo, Shoebox Greetings and Sephora. IDEO has learned and profited from maxims like "Fail often to succeed sooner." Many who previously feared change may answer his unpretentious call to "Start by following your customer journey, breaking it down into component elements, and asking yourself how you can deliver a better experience.

Tarun Khanna, Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours (2011).

Abstract (from publisher): China and India are home to one-third of the world's population. And they're undergoing social and economic revolutions that are capturing the best minds--and money--of Western business. In "Billions of Entrepreneurs," Tarun Khanna examines the entrepreneurial forces driving China's and India's trajectories of development. He shows where these trajectories overlap and complement one another--and where they diverge and compete. He also reveals how Western companies can participate in this development. Through intriguing comparisons, the author probes important differences between China and India in areas such as information and transparency, the roles of capital markets and talent, public and private property rights, social constraints on market forces, attitudes toward expatriates abroad and foreigners at home, entrepreneurial and corporate opportunities, and the importance of urban and rural communities. He explains how these differences will influence China's and India's future development, what the two countries can learn from each other, and how they will ultimately reshape business, politics, and society in the world around them. Engaging and incisive, this book is a critical resource for anyone working in China or India or planning to do business in these two countries.

Bruce A. Kirchhoff & Wayne A. Long, Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research (1988).

Abstract (from Babson College website): Founded by Babson College in 1981, BCERC is considered by many to be the premier entrepreneurship research conference in the world.  Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research contains the proceedings of the conference and is the most comprehensive collection of empirical research papers on entrepreneurship.

Helmut Kohlert, Dawud Fadai & Hans-Ulrich Sachs, Entrepreneurship for Engineers (2013).

Abstract (from publisher): The objective of this book is to provide future entrepreneurs in start-up companies, medium-sized enterprises, and corporations with knowledge and a set of tools that they can immediately use to develop their entrepreneurial mindset. The book has a clear focus on the needs of engineers; it covers business cases, experiences from entrepreneurs, and examples from industry to optimize the learning benefit.

Norris Krueger, Entrepreneurship, Critical Perspectives on Business and Management (2002).

Abstract (from Amazon Product Description): This new collection provides a much needed retrospective view of the key academic work published in this area. The papers here highlight the importance of studying entrepreneurship from a wide range of perspectives, including research that derives from economics, history, sociology, psychology and from different business disciplinary bases such as marketing, finance and strategy. The overall focus in this set is on "entrepreneurial" activity, rather than specifically small or family-owned business and favours research articles over those that deal purely with practice.

Nir Kshetri, Global Entrepreneurship: Environment and Strategy (2014).

Abstract (from publisher):  Global Entrepreneurship: Environment and Strategy provides a window into the economic, political, cultural, geographical, and technological environments that affect entrepreneurs as they exploit opportunities and create value in economies across the world.

The book begins with a discussion of the theories, concepts, indicators, and measurements that impact entrepreneurship differently in different regions. From there, it offers helpful insights into global variations in entrepreneurial ecosystems and finance. The author methodically examines entrepreneurship patterns in diverse economies through the lenses of economic systems, political systems, culture and religion, and geography (both by country and continent).

Global Entrepreneurship offers case studies at the end of each chapter illustrating concepts learned, as well as three detailed cases in an appendix for broader reflection. The book also includes online data resources, and international business planning support, making it a valuable resource for students in entrepreneurship, and international business classes.

Donald F. Kuratko, Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, and Practice (9th ed. 2013).

Abstract (from publisher): Learn the true process of a successful entrepreneur with the work. Presenting the most current thinking in this explosive field, this renowned entrepreneurship text provides a practical, step-by-step approach that makes learning easy. Using exercises and case presentations, you can apply your own ideas and develop useful entrepreneurial skills. Cases and examples found throughout the text present the new venture creations or corporate innovations that permeate the world economy today. This book will be your guide to understanding the entrepreneurial challenges of tomorrow.

Ikandilo Kushoka, Entrepreneurship Education and Entrepreneurial Behavior (2013).

Abstract (from author): This study examined whether entrepreneurship education offered in higher learning institutions in Tanzania triggers the adoption of an entrepreneurial behavior. The aim of the study is to provide the understanding on why there is low participation of females with undergraduate degrees in entrepreneurial activities. Building on the Theory of Planned Behavior, various factors influencing entrepreneurial intention were tested. Specifically, the factors which influence entrepreneurial intention include: curricula, teaching methods, family back ground and institutional environment. Longitudinal research design was used and data was collected from 188 female students from the Institute of Accountancy Arusha and Kampala International University, Dar es Salaam College. Various techniques such as descriptive statistics, T-Test, Chi-Square were used to analyze the data. Based on responses, the research revealed that entrepreneurship education has a positive effect on students' personal attitude and perceived behavioral control of students on the intention to become an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship curricula, teaching methods and environmental conditions of the institutions do influence the entrepreneurial intentions of students to become entrepreneurs in the future. Specifically, Kampala International University students were more inspired (100%) to be entrepreneurs in the future by entrepreneurship course contents and entrepreneurship teaching methods than the Institute of Accountancy Arusha (77%). It is recommended that educators continuously improve their teaching methods and teaching styles, in order to accomplish this, they must assess the effectiveness of the teaching approaches.

Law and Entrepreneurship (Robert E. Litan & Anthony J. Luppino eds., 2013).

Abstract (from publisher):  The symbiosis that exists between entrepreneurship and law is of paramount importance in accommodating and advancing the freedom to innovate, as well as the need to prevent unfair and abusive activities. Seminal articles and essays reprinted in this collection examine several major subject areas of law associated with entrepreneurship, including intellectual property, restrictive covenants designed to protect proprietary information, business organizations, taxation, securities regulation and tort law. This collection presents issues implicated in both for-profit growth ventures and creative social enterprises. It also explores the roles of lawyers and trends in the education of law students to become professionals in fields ranging from valuable counselors to entrepreneurs. Along with a new and original introduction by leading scholars, this essential single volume is an invaluable tool to researchers, academics and entrepreneurs.

 Peter Lawrence, Enterprise in Action: A Guide to Entrepreneurship (2013).

Abstract (from publisher): This book is useful for the MBA and professional market.  It takes the reader through a variety of examples, mainly from smaller and/or newer companies in Britain and the USA, but gives clear accounts of concepts and processes so that anyone can ‘come on board’. Above all it provides a plausible ‘action sequence’ played out through the 11 chapters, showing the positioning and behavior likely to lead to success. Students will gain insights into key issues such as: what gives rise to entrepreneurial opportunity? how it is possible to exploit trends, and what are these trends? What is the role of innovation/originality? how do companies get started and become self-sustaining? what is ‘execution’, does it differ from implementation, and what is its role in business success? what do established SMEs (small and medium sized companies) do to survive in the middle term, and even across family generations? Enterprise in Action illuminates the dynamics of enterprise creation and the development of SMEs over time, shedding important light on ‘what seems to work’ and what favors success over the long term in a volatile business environment.

Alice H. Magos, BUSINESS PLANS THAT WORK: FOR YOUR SMALL BUSINESS (2008).

Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com): The essential elements of a professional business plan have been updated in accordance with new laws and regulations in this revised guide that translates complicated marketing and financial concepts into down-to-earth, practical advice. Five updated sample business plans are included with instructions that provide a wealth of detailed information about the operation of a successful small business. Plans are presented for simple one-person operations, as well as for corporations with many employees. Aspiring business owners can learn how to create a professional plan, describe the mission and objectives, analyze the competition, target market, create sales and marketing plans, generate financial statements, and use the business plan as a management tool long after it is completed.

Ayala Malakh-Pines & Mustafa Ozbilgin, Handbook of Research on High-Technology Entrepreneurs (2010).

Abstract (adapted from Amazon.com): This handbook presents an extensive overview of empirical and conceptual developments in the study of high-tech entrepreneurs from an interdisciplinary and multinational perspective. The expert contributors explore various conceptual frameworks and definitions of high-tech entrepreneurs and of the entrepreneurial process based on studies in different settings and contexts. They examine issues of equality, diversity and inclusion in terms of gender and class. The handbook investigates strategies for empowering high-tech entrepreneurs, ranging from structural conditions and support mechanisms afforded by state and institutional actors, to individual mechanisms used by serial entrepreneurs to avoid burnout. Including unique perspectives on theory and research, this handbook will make a rigorous and innovative contribution to academics, students and researchers' understanding of high-tech entrepreneurs.

Heidi Mason & Tim Rohner, THE VENTURE IMPERATIVE: A NEW MODEL FOR CORPORATE INNOVATION (2002).

Abstract (from publisher): Venturing must be viewed as a core element of corporate strategy. Heidi Mason and Tim Rohner--leading voices in new venture tactics--argue that a company that fails to venture risks irrelevance, stagnation, and eventual demise. They prove that corporate venturing in the post-bubble economy is an opportunity to bridge corporate and venture innovation intelligently and gain the very best of both. In The Venture Imperative, Mason and Rohner uncover the science behind successful corporate venturing. The first challenge for today's businesses, they point out, is to look beyond current business models and establish a process, organization, and entrepreneurial portfolio--prescribed in this book--that allows investment in and incubation of new ventures to be a seamless piece of the overall corporate palette, adding measurable value to the bottom line. This book also describes how the Bell-Mason Diagnostic--an objective, multidimensional examination and scoring system--can be used as an assessment tool measuring and guiding successful corporate venturing.

Steve Mariotti & Caroline Glackin, Entrepreneurship: Starting and Operating a Small Business (3rd ed. 2013).

Abstract (from publisher):  Entrepreneurship: Starting and Operating a Small Business demystifies the process of starting a business by presenting difficult economic, financial and business concepts in a manner easily understood by beginning business students. This edition is based on a proven curriculum from the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) and includes new case studies, a new Honest Tea Business Plan, and more on topics such as cash flow and e-marketing. Students will begin building their business plan as soon as they open the text. In a step-by-step process students will learn how to start a small business, operate a small business and turn their ideas into viable business opportunities.

Tim Mazzarol, Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Readings and Cases (2d ed. 2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): The Australian book Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Readings and Cases provides an overview of the theory, practice and context of entrepreneurship and innovation at both the industry and form level. It provides students with a foundation of ideas and understandings designed to shape their thinking and behavior so as to appreciate the role of innovation and entrepreneurship in the modern economies, and to recognize their own abilities in this regard.

Orly C. Meron, Jewish Entrepreneurship in Salonica, 1912-1940: An Ethnic Economy in Transition (2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): In this book the author, provides a multidisciplinary exploration of Salonica’s Jewish-owned economy between the years 1912-1940, a period prior to and during Greece's national consolidation. Based on original and newly analysed archival materials, she presents the results of her comprehensive, comparative and inter-ethnic study of Jewish entrepreneurial patterns for three distinct historical periods and two levels of analysis. The first pertains to the multi-ethnic business world of Greek Macedonia (1912–1922) after its incorporation into the Greek nation-state; the second refers to the era of minority–majority relations (1923–1930) following radical modification of Salonica's demographic composition, a process that culminated in the ethnic unification of its business world. The third includes a sectoral analysis of Jewish entrepreneurial patterns as they developed in response to the local and global economic crisis that raged during the 1930s. The macro analysis combines a comparative static overview of Salonica’s Jewish versus Greek business behaviour together with a dynamic comparative analysis focusing on transitions in Jewish entrepreneurial patterns. The micro analysis delves into features of Salonica’s Jewish business elite: class resources, family and ethnic networks, business strategies and organizational structures.

Mark H. Meyer & Frederick G. Crane, New Venture Creation: An Innovator’s Guide to Entrepreneurship (2nd ed. 2014). 

Abstract (from publisher):  Structured around the idea that innovation is at the core of successful entrepreneurship, this guide by Meyer and Crane establishes innovation as a necessary first step before writing a business plan or developing a financial model. With a focus on pragmatic methods for gaining industry and customer insight and translating this insight into innovative product and service solutions, the authors seek to help students design robust business models, financial projections, business plans, and investor presentations. This is based not only on the authors’ research in product and service innovation, but also on their extensive experience as entrepreneurs and investors.

Ronald K. Mitchell & Richard N. Dino, In Search of Research Excellence: Exemplars in Entrepreneurship (2011).

Abstract (adapted from Amazon.com): This book gathers 'best practices' advice from the masters about how to achieve excellence in entrepreneurship research, how to create an outstanding research career and how to avoid the pitfalls that can sidetrack emerging scholars. Combining narratives from the 2009 and 2010 Entrepreneurship Exemplars Conferences, the authors frame the dialogue using person-environment fit theory and present keynote addresses and dialogue sessions that bring together editors and authors to reach into the unexplored corners of the top-tier research craft. This book makes explicit the tacit knowledge of top-tier research, giving all readers access to 'how-to' advice from research-craft masters. This guidebook offers a clear portrayal of the realities of progress milestones within a top-tier research career and is a must-read for all emerging scholars - in entrepreneurship and beyond. This entrepreneurship research best-practices book using the words of the masters is ideally suited to graduate students and their advisors, university administrators, potential and up-and-coming academics and policy makers across many social science disciplines and interests.

Maria Minniti, The Dynamics of Entrepreneurship: Evidence from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Data (2011).

Abstract (from publisher): At a time when governments all over the world look to entrepreneurship as a way to increase the wealth and well-being of their countries, The Dynamics of Entrepreneurship examines the causes of differences in the levels of entrepreneurship between individuals, the factors that explain variations in the type and quantity of entrepreneurship at aggregate level, and the macroeconomic implications of entrepreneurship. Using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) as a basis for the empirical data, the book brings together contributions from leading scholars to provide a comprehensive overview of current scholarship on entrepreneurial activity in three sections: - the universal and systematic aspects of entrepreneurial behavior in human beings regardless of context - the alternative entrepreneurial contexts and the way in which they motivate individuals to act entrepreneurially or discourage them from doing so - how entrepreneurial activity influences individuals' living standards at the aggregate level. The book concludes by summarizing its contribution to existing literature, with particular attention to the policy implications and the ongoing debate on entrepreneurship.

Nascent Entrepreneurship (Per Davidsson et al. eds., 2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): The past two decades have witnessed a surge in interest in the field of nascent entrepreneurship. In this collection, the editors draw together the most important works that utilize the new real-time approaches for studying early stage entrepreneurial activity that were developed and refined in the last couple of decades. Providing the empirical, theoretical and methodological insights from some of the most influential researchers in this field, this book is an valuable source of reference for researchers, students and others who have an interest in new venture creation and its role in the economy.

NEW FIRM CREATION IN THE UNITED STATES: INITIAL EXPLORATIONS WITH THE PSED II DATA SET (Paul D. Reynolds & Richard T. Curtin eds., 2009).

Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com):  The Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) research program is designed to enhance the scientific understanding of how people start businesses, by gathering and providing primary data on the business creation process. The first data collection (PSED I) was initiated in 1998 and three follow-up surveys were completed by 2004. The second (PSED II), supported by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the U.S. Small Business Administration, and the National Science Foundation, was initiated in 2005. Harmonized projects have been implemented in seven other countries. This volume, including contributions from the organizers and advisory committee members, presents assessments based on the initial and first follow-up PSED II data; two more follow-ups are in process. The book highlights key implications and applications and includes chapters covering entrepreneurial behavior, demographic and gender factors, financing the emerging business, ownership arrangements, and the roles of social capital and technology. Other assessments focus on the nature of those active as nascent entrepreneurs, the activities undertaken during the start-up process, and the characteristics of start-up efforts that become new firms; the appendix provides a detailed discussion of the data collection procedures. The result is an introduction to the theories, conceptualizations, approaches, and measurement of the business creation process.

NEW FRONTIERS IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP: RECOGNIZING, SEIZING, AND EXECUTING OPPORTUNITIES (INTERNATIONAL STUDIES IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP) (David B. Audretsch, Giovanni Battista Dagnino, Rosario Faraci & Robert E. Hoskisson eds., 2009).

Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com):  The volume presents and discusses a variety of recent developments and achievements in research on entrepreneurship. It aims at taking a systematic analysis of the theory and practice of entrepreneurship, especially in regard to nurturing strategic systems, governance arrangements, and evolutionary paths in organizations. Bringing together the insights of an international array of academics, entrepreneurs, and executives, New Frontiers in Entrepreneurship focuses on two key themes: (1) connecting developments in entrepreneurship to current strategy thinking and practice; and (2) generating new and innovative ways to cultivate and develop entrepreneurial processes in new ventures and established enterprises. Exploring such topics as the integration of entrepreneurial and strategic thinking, corporate governance of new ventures and spin-offs, business-university alliances, IPO performance, the impact of Open Source, the role of science and technology in new firm formation, and the emergence of the entrepreneurial society.

Perspectives in Entrepreneurship: A Critical Approach (Kevin Mole & Monder Ram eds., 2012).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): How should one think about entrepreneurship? Should one focus on the psychology of people who become entrepreneurs or consider the groups that people belong to? Should one emphasize the incentives, context and environment that lead people to become entrepreneurial? This book presents different ways of thinking about entrepreneurship: instead of topics such as finance or opportunities, the book focuses on perspectives or ways of seeing. Written by leading experts, Perspectives in Entrepreneurship examines the emergence and development of entrepreneurship as an academic discipline. The book takes a critical look at the varying positions in the field and their overall contribution to entrepreneurship as a whole.

Edmund S. Phelps, Mass Flourishing: How Grassroots Innovation Created Jobs, Challenge, and Change (2013).

Abstract (from publisher):  In this book, Nobel Prize-winning economist Edmund Phelps draws on a lifetime of thinking to make a sweeping new argument about what makes nations prosper—and why the sources of that prosperity are under threat today. Why did prosperity explode in some nations between the 1820s and 1960s, creating not just unprecedented material wealth but "flourishing"—meaningful work, self-expression, and personal growth for more people than ever before? Phelps makes the case that the wellspring of this flourishing was modern values such as the desire to create, explore, and meet challenges. These values fueled the grassroots dynamism that was necessary for widespread, indigenous innovation. Most innovation wasn't driven by a few isolated visionaries like Henry Ford; rather, it was driven by millions of people empowered to think of, develop, and market innumerable new products and processes, and improvements to existing ones. Mass flourishing--a combination of material well-being and the "good life" in a broader sense—was created by this mass innovation.

Yet indigenous innovation and flourishing weakened decades ago. In America, evidence indicates that innovation and job satisfaction have decreased since the late 1960s, while postwar Europe has never recaptured its former dynamism. The reason, Phelps argues, is that the modern values underlying the modern economy are under threat by a resurgence of traditional, corporatist values that put the community and state over the individual. The ultimate fate of modern values is now the most pressing question for the West: will Western nations recommit themselves to modernity, grassroots dynamism, indigenous innovation, and widespread personal fulfillment, or will we go on with a narrowed innovation that limits flourishing to a few?

Dave Pollard, FINDING THE SWEET SPOT: THE NATURAL ENTREPRENEUR'S GUIDE TO RESPONSIBLE, SUSTAINABLE, JOYFUL WORK (2008).

Abstract:  According to the author, too many individuals hesitate in creating a business in line with their goals, skills and values out of fear or a lack of self-confidence or funds. Pollard argues that entrepreneurship need not imply stress or risk, and he coaches readers through the process of identifying their passion, choosing the right collaborators and discovering unmet needs in the marketplace. Helpful charts and exercises guide the reader in finding where their purpose, passions and gifts intersect; and bite-sized case studies of entrepreneur success studies abound and help illustrate his points. Along the way, Pollard warns against settling for work that is anything less than satisfying. The ideal job—what he calls natural enterprise or the sweet spot—is an innovative business that touches people's lives. Pollard gives an insightful overview of the entrepreneurial process, and the book itself stands testament to the success of the author's methods.

Ryszard Praszkier & Andrzej Nowak, Social Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice (2012).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): This book is about the creative ways in which social entrepreneurs solve pressing and insurmountable social problems. Theories of social change are presented to help demystify the 'magic' of making an immense, yet durable and irreversible, social impact. Utilizing case studies drawn from various fields and all over the world, the authors document how social entrepreneurs foster bottom-up change that empowers people and societies. They also review the specific personality traits of social entrepreneurs and introduce the new kind of leadership they represent.

Public Policy in an Entrepreneurial Economy: Creating the Conditions for Business Growth (Zoltan J. Acs & Robert R. Stough eds., 2008). 

Abstract (from Amazon Product Description): This unique volume presents policy recommendations designed to promote entrepreneurship. It considers timely issues like impact of securities regulation, educational policy and intellectual property protection on entrepreneurship. In the process, the book addresses policies operating at the individual, national, regional, and international levels, and offers a unique perspective on several institutional structures that enhance entrepreneurship and economic growth.

Gordian Rättich & Evi Hartmann, Four Essays on International Entrepreneurship (2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): Internationalization of business activities has become one of the main fields of interest in management research, influencing a broad range of academic areas such as strategic management, organizational science, operations management or economic institutions. In recent years the pace of internationalization has even increased. With his four essays on distinctive levels of International Entrepreneurship, Gordian Rättich provides an answer on some of the most essential challenges for entrepreneurial firms and shows how social groups, economic institutions and nations manage to overcome the challenges of internationalization and gain competitive advantages.

Paul D. Reynolds, National PSED of U. S. business start-ups: Background and methodology in 4 ADVANCES IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP, FIRM EMERGENCE, AND GROWTH 153-227 (Jerome A. Katz, ed., 2000).

Abstract:  Papers reporting on the structure, utilization and analytic concerns arising from the use of the major datasets in small business and entrepreneurship research including: the National Federation of Independent Businesses surveys, US Small Business Administration datasets, the General Social Survey, the US Current Population Surveys, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, and many others from around the world.

Paul D. Reynolds & Sammis B. White, THE ENTREPRENEURIAL PROCESS (1997).

Abstract (from publisher):  Entrepreneurship is an extremely important, but little understood, component of the U.S. economy. This book aids that understanding by exploring the challenges and outcomes of the start-up phases of new firms. This is the first detailed, large-scale, longitudinally-based analysis of the entrepreneurial process. Three representative samples of new firms and two representative samples of nascent entrepreneurs (those attempting to start new firms) are used to consider a variety of factors that affect successful completion of the major transitions in the life of new businesses: conception, birth, and early development (survival and growth). Surprisingly, a substantial minority of start-ups become operational new firms. Among the many lessons the authors learn are that although new firm growth appears to reflect many factors, initial size is of special consequence. Not only are many general insights for entrepreneurs revealed, but the authors also pay special attention to the involvement of women and minorities in entrepreneurship and suggest effective government policy for different stages in the entrepreneurial process.

Eric Ries, The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses (2011).

Abstract (from author): Most startups are built to fail. But those failures, according to entrepreneur Eric Ries, are preventable. Startups don't fail because of bad execution, or missed deadlines, or blown budgets. They fail because they are building something nobody wants. Whether they arise from someone's garage or are created within a mature Fortune 500 organization, new ventures, by definition, are designed to create new products or services under conditions of extreme uncertainly. Their primary mission is to find out what customers ultimately will buy. One of the central premises of The Lean Startup movement is what Ries calls "validated learning" about the customer. It is a way of getting continuous feedback from customers so that the company can shift directions or alter its plans inch by inch, minute by minute. Rather than creating an elaborate business plan and a product-centric approach, Lean Startup prizes testing your vision continuously with your customers and making constant adjustments.

Michael Roberts, Howard Stevenson, William Sahlman and Paul Marshall, NEW BUSINESS VENTURES AND THE ENTREPRENEUR (6th ed., 2006)

Abstract (from publisher): This book stands out as a text designed to guide tomorrow’s entrepreneurs down the difficult road ahead. Specifically, the Roberts team addresses the entrepreneur before, during and after the decision to create a new venture. Entrepreneurs need to realize that they are assuming a managerial role- both in a product and people sense. New Business Ventures,  will leave students with the skills needed to grasp and implement the general managerial responsibilities required to be a successful entrepreneur. The text provides an innovative approach to teaching the core general management skills via the lens of the entrepreneur. The course upon which this book is based is now the new core required course in general management at Harvard Business School.  

The Role of Entrepreneurship Theory and Methods, Practice and Policy (Sameeksha Desai et al. eds., 2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): The introduction of endogenous growth theory has led to new interest in the role of the entrepreneur as an agent driving technical change at the local regional level. This book examines theoretical and methodological issues surrounding the interface of the entrepreneur in regional growth dynamics on the one hand and on the other presents illuminating case studies. In total the book’s contributions amplify understanding of such critical issues as the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship, the entrepreneur’s role in transforming knowledge into something economically useful, and knowledge commercialization with both conceptual and empirical contributions. The emergence of endogenous growth theory has unleashed a flurry of new hypotheses and related inquiries that have in turn created an exciting dynamic in the conceptual, theoretical and empirical foundations of the field. A central feature has been the recognition that local initiatives matter in how regions grow and adjust to changes and shocks. Moreover, it is the role of technical change, driven by entrepreneurs, that motivates these initiatives. This volume begins by outlining and explaining the theory and method behind entrepreneurship and development. This is followed by specific case studies of practice and policy. These cases are region specific, offering the reader concrete, empirically based research results.

Stephen Roper, Entrepreneurship: A Global Perspective (2012).

Abstract (from publisher) Entrepreneurs exist in every country but the nature and level of entrepreneurial activity differs remarkably. Why is this? What shapes the level of entrepreneurial activity in each country? What defines entrepreneurial activity? As more and more teaching and research into entrepreneurship reflects its often international nature, the need for literature reflecting this grows. This concise new textbook provides an introduction to topics in entrepreneurship in a global context; focusing on how enterprise works across the world.

Important topics such as financing, innovation and (anti) social enterprise are discussed in detail throughout the text and examples and case studies are used to illustrate the application of different theoretical and conceptual approaches to entrepreneurship and the role it plays in developed, emerging and transitional economies. 

Martin Ruef, The Entrepreneurial Group: Social Identities, Relations, and Collective Action (Kauffman Foundation Series on Innovation and Entrepreneurship) (2014).

Abstract (from publisher): Recent surveys show that more than half of American entrepreneurs share ownership in their business startups rather than going it alone. Yet the media and many scholars continue to perpetuate the myth of the lone visionary who single-handedly revolutionizes the marketplace. In The Entrepreneurial Group, Martin Ruef shatters this myth, demonstrating that teams, not individuals, are the leading force behind entrepreneurial startups. This is the first book to provide an in-depth sociological analysis of entrepreneurial groups, and to put forward a theoretical framework for understanding activities and outcomes within them.

Rob Ryan & Phaedra Hise, Entrepreneur America: Lessons From Inside Rob Ryan’s High-Tech Start-Up Boot Camp (2001).

Abstract (from Amazon.com Review): With $2.5 million in venture capital, Rob Ryan founded a tech company that sold for $22 billion 10 years later. He now operates a "boot camp" in rural Montana for wannabes from promising start-ups interested in following in his footsteps. In Entrepreneur America, he shares personal experiences along with lessons learned from his mentoring program of the same name. Chapters titled with Silicon Valley slang (like "Do the Dogs Like the Dog Food?" and "Sucking the Air out of the Room") help readers assess their readiness to meet with venture capitalists, determine whether consumers really need what they're offering, examine core competencies and market position, measure how the product or service matches the intended audience, and compile a winning business plan. Two additional chapters focus on "how to become number one and stay number one" by managing and hiring effectively, dealing with directors, and handling other responsibilities that become critical once an idea gets off the ground. Ryan shows how some of the 50-plus concepts that passed through his program proceeded afterwards, and includes exercises and other tools for those hoping to replicate their victories and avoid their mistakes. The result should prove practical and inspiring for anyone shaping a new business in today's increasingly demanding environment.

Alzira Salama, Creating and Re-Creating Corporate Entrepreneurial Culture (2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): Entrepreneurship is often considered only in the context of new venture creation, small business issues, and the profiles and personalities of individual entrepreneurs. The emphasis in Creating and Re-Creating Corporate Entrepreneurial Culture is very much on the 'corporate', it focuses on the creation and maintenance of an entrepreneurial management culture that accelerates growth and enhances effectiveness and competitiveness in large organizations. Alzira Salama explains what constitutes entrepreneurial behaviour, how it is facilitated by organizational culture and why entrepreneurial corporate culture is fundamental to business success. She takes you through ways of identifying prevailing cultures and explains how cultures are reinforced or changed. Drawing on exemplary case studies from around the world, she tells the stories both of successful and unsuccessful interventions made in response to the need to move on from bureaucratic or authoritarian cultures. These include specific instances where the context has been privatization, merger and acquisition, transition in the wider economy, or a combination of any of these circumstances. This enlightening book will help managers and consultants, business educators, higher level students and those on executive programmes to understand the nature of an organization's culture, why it is as it is, whether it needs to change, and how it might be changed. Alzira Salama offers real world examples of how to create or re-create an entrepreneurial culture together with tools that will enable corporations to achieve it.

Norman M. Scarborough, Essentials of Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management (7th ed. 2014).

Abstract (from Amazon Product Description): This text provides the knowledge and tools readers need to launch a business so that it has the greatest chance for success. For any person interested in owning, operating, and managing a small business. This text is also a useful reference for entrepreneurs and managers of small businesses.

William R. Seagraves, Be Your Best Boss: Reinvent Yourself from Employee to Entrepreneur (2016).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): This book to help entrepreneurially minded professionals seize the opportunity offered by the current economic environment to begin a "second act" in their careers. This complete guide explores the full range of questions and concerns voiced by mid-career entrepreneurs, including: how to get started after a lifetime of having bosses, risks and rewards of making the entrepreneurial leap, and the drawbacks to starting a business under the constraints of traditional start-up costs. Aspiring entrepreneurs will learn: to recognize why the right business fit is so important; to understand the impact that proper funding can have on the future success of a business; to assess the financial risks and potential rewards of funding their business using a self-directed 401(k); to avoid common mistakes by learning through the experiences of others; and to gain the needed confidence to act on making their dreams a reality.

Self-Employment Learning Project, MICROENTERPRISE ASSISTANCE: WHAT ARE WE LEARNING ABOUT RESULTS? (1995).

Abstract: Provides information in bullet format on key findings from research conducted by the Self-Employment Learning Project

Joel M. Shulman, GETTING BIGGER BY GROWING SMALLER (2003).

Abstract:  This book introduces a  business model called the Strategic Entrepreneurial Unit (SEU).  The authors demonstrate how to build new employee/entrepreneur-led startups within the corporation--entities that can take on new market opportunities and deliver startup-level growth. This book provides practical methods for identifying, creating, and implementing smaller units within large organizations to enable growth beyond the barriers of the corporate life cycle.

Peter Skarzynski & Rowan Gibson,  INNOVATION TO THE CORE: A BLUEPRINT FOR TRANSFORMING THE WAY YOUR COMPANY INNOVATES (2008).

Abstract (from publisher):  This book shares the accumulated wisdom from Strategos--the consulting firm Skarzynski co-founded with Gary Hamel that helps clients instill innovation into their very core. Drawing on a wealth of stories and examples, the book shows how companies of every stripe have overcome the barriers to successful, profitable innovation. You'll find parts devoted to crucial topics--such as how to organize the discovery process, generate strategic insights, enlarge your innovation pipeline, and maximize your return on innovation. Frequent hands-on tools--frameworks, checklists, probing questions--help you put the book's ideas into action.

Daniel F. Spulber, THE THEORY OF THE FIRM: MICROECONOMICS WITH ENDOGENOUS ENTREPRENEURS, FIRMS, MARKETS, AND ORGANIZATIONS (2009).

Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com):  The Theory of the Firm presents a path-breaking general framework for understanding the economics of the firm. The book addresses why firms exist, how firms are established, and what contributions firms make to the economy. The book presents a new theoretical analysis of the foundations of microeconomics that makes institutions endogenous. Entrepreneurs play a central economic role by establishing firms. In turn, firms create and operate markets and organizations. The book provides innovative models of economic equilibrium that endogenously determine the structure and function of economic institutions. The book proposes an "intermediation hypothesis" - the establishment of firms depends on the effects of transaction costs and on the extent of the market.

Mark Stefik & Barbara Stefik, BREAKTHROUGH: STORIES AND STRATEGIES OF RADICAL INNOVATION (2004).

Abstract (from publisher): Since the late 1990s, technology markets have declined dramatically. Responding to the changing business climate, companies use strategies of open innovation: acquiring technologies from outside, marketing their technologies to other companies, and outsourcing manufacturing. But open innovation is not enough; it is mainly a way to run a business to its endgame. By itself, open innovation results in razor-thin profits from products that compete as commodities. Businesses also need a path to renewal. No one ever achieved a breakthrough with open innovation  Our capacity for creating breakthroughs depends on a combination of science, imagination, and business; the next great waves of innovation will come from organizations that get this combination right. During periods of rapid economic growth, companies and investors focus on the short term and forget where breakthroughs come from. Without appropriate engagement and reinvestment, the innovation ecology breaks down. Today, universities, technology companies, government funding agencies, venture capitalists, and corporate research laboratories need to foster the conditions in which breakthroughs arise.

Howard H. Stevenson & William A. Stahlman, ENTREPRENEURSHIP: WHAT IT IS AND HOW TO TEACH IT (1987).

Tessa Stuart, Packed – The Food Entrepreneur’s Guide: How to Get Noticed and How to be Loved (2013).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): Learn how to win a space on supermarket shelves and the battle to convince skeptical, time-strapped shoppers to try your product over more established brands. Tessa Stuart knows how to accomplish that. In this practical, inspirational book, she draws on her 15 years in the food industry to reveal a tried and tested set of principles for getting you from idea, to a product on the shelf, and to being the next household name. “Got a great food or drink product that no one knows about? Need to grow sales? This book will show you how to ROCK your pack’s on-shelf impact, to give your business the very best chance of being seen, heard, noticed and bought.” Charlotte Knight, founder and owner of G’NOSH Dips.

Michael Szycher, The Guide to Entrepreneurship: How to Create Wealth for Your Company and Stakeholders (2014).

Abstract (from publisher):  Whether you work for an established company and want to introduce new products, or want to establish your own new venture,  The Guide to Entrepreneurship: How to Create Wealth for Your Company and Stakeholders supplies invaluable guidance along with concrete action plans. In contrast to academic publications that merely emphasize accounting methods, this guide focuses squarely on the entrepreneur.

Demystifying the process of starting a company from scratch, the book provides aspiring entrepreneurs with detailed guidance that is written in plain English. It explores what constitutes entrepreneurial timber and the leadership skills required to raise all the needed capital. If you are thinking of starting your own company or have already decided to take the plunge, this book will help you.

THE THEORY AND PRACTIVE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP: FRONTIERS IN EUROPEAN ENTREPRENEURSHIP RESEARCH (David Smallbone et al. eds., 2010).

Abstract (adapted from Amazon.com): This book provides a fresh perspective on contemporary research in the field of entrepreneurship and small business, considering both theory and application. Drawing together leading-edge European research, the expert contributors apply a variety of research methods to a number of specific issues - including the entrepreneurial climate at universities, the role of knowledge and experience in the internationalization of knowledge-intensive firms, the links between entrepreneurial orientation and performance in micro-sized firms, and organizational entrepreneurship. In so doing, the book sheds new light on the key role played by entrepreneurship as an engine for regional development. Researchers and policymakers will find this book invaluable.

Jeffry A. Timmons et al., BUSINESS PLANS THAT WORK: A GUIDE FOR SMALL BUSINESS (2004).

Abstract (from publisher):  Today's top experts in entrepreneurship deliver a streamlined, step-by-step guide for crafting effective business plans ""Timmons is one of the two most powerful minds in entrepreneurship in the nation."" --Success Business Plans That Work arms entrepreneurs and small business owners with an easy-to-follow template for writing persuasive business plans, along with proven models that can be used to analyze potential business opportunities from initial idea to viable venture. This value-packed book will show both entrepreneurs and current business owners how to: Determine what to include in each plan, why, and for whom Recognize and avoid common pitfalls in the process Use the renowned ""Timmons Model"" to analyze potential business opportunities.

Jeffrey A. Timmons & Stephen Spinelli, NEW VENTURE CREATION: ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (7th ed. 2007).

Abstract: This book elaborates on the "Timmons Model of the Entrepreneurial Process." It covers the process of getting a new venture started, growing the venture, and successfully harvesting it. Through text, case studies, and hands-on exercises, this how-to text guides students in discovering the concepts of entrepreneurship and the competencies, skills, tools, and experience to equip students to successfully launch a new venture and recognize entrepreneurial opportunities.

Anthony K. Tjan, Richard J. Harrington & Tsun-Yan Hsieh Heart, Smarts, Guts, and Luck: What it takes to be an Entrepreneur and Build a Great Business (2012).

Abstract (from publisher): In this book, three prominent business leaders and entrepreneurs—now venture capitalists and CEO advisers—share the qualities that surface again and again in those who successfully achieve their goals. The common traits? Heart, smarts, guts, and luck. After interviewing and researching hundreds of business-builders across the globe, the authors found that every one of them—from young founder to seasoned CEO—holds a combination of these four attributes. Indeed each of us tends to be biased toward one of these traits in our decision-making, and figuring out which trait drives you will lead to greater self-awareness and likelihood of success in starting and growing a business. Heart, Smarts, Guts, and Luck includes the first Entrepreneurial Aptitude Test (E.A.T), a simple tool to help determine your specific profile. Though no single archetype for entrepreneurial success exists, this book will help you understand which traits to “dial up” or “dial down” to realize your full potential, and when these traits are most and least helpful (or even detrimental) during critical points of a company lifecycle. Not only will you know how to build a better business faster, you’ll also take your natural leadership style to the next level.

Joy Kooi-Chin Tong, Overseas Chinese Christian Entrepreneurs in Modern China (2012).

Abstract (from publisher): Inspired by Max Weber’s thesis on the Protestant ethic, ‘Overseas Chinese Christian Entrepreneurs in Modern China’ sets out to understand the role and influence of Christianity on Overseas Chinese businesspeople working in contemporary China. Through its in-depth interviews and participant observations (involving 60 Overseas Chinese entrepreneurs from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and the United States), the text discusses how Christianity has come to fulfill an increasingly visible and dynamic function in the country, most notably as a new source of business morality. Recognizing that China’s economic transition toward a market-oriented economy was not initiated by Christians (or indeed any other religious group), this volume demonstrates the importance of exploring the impact of religious ethics on economics at micro and organizational levels, via the subjective understandings of individuals and small businesses. Significant but often neglected facets of Weber’s thesis arise as a result. Of key importance is the issue of gender differences within the Christian ethos – a crucial aspect of the Protestant ethic that has yet to be systematically studied, but which offers great potential to enhance our understanding of Weber’s work. As a result, the text’s novel application of Weberian sociology to the context of contemporary China can be seen to offer a double return, elucidating both the theory and its subject.

Adam Toren & Matthew Toren, Small Business, Big Vision: Lessons On How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did It Right (2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): In the world of entrepreneurship, vision solidifies resolve when things get tough. Authors, brothers, and serial entrepreneurs, Matthew and Adam Toren have compiled a wealth of valuable information on the passionate and pragmatic realities of starting your own business. They've also gathered insights from some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs. This book delivers the information that both established and budding entrepreneurs need, explains how to implement that information, and validates each lesson with real-world examples. Small Business, Big Vision provides inspiration and practical advice on everything from creating a one-page business plan to setting up an advisory board, and also delivers a call to social entrepreneurship and sustainable business practices. Small Business, Big Vision proves that with a flexible mindset, practical skills, and the passion to keep pushing forward, entrepreneurs can find success, even in today's ever-changing business landscape.

Understanding Entrepreneurial Family Businesses in Uncertain Environments: Opportunities and Resources in Latin America (Mattias Nordqvist ed., 2012).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): This thorough volume describes and analyzes entrepreneurial family businesses in Latin American countries. The research presented here has been conducted within the Global STEP (Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices) Project. Dealing with some of the most important opportunities and challenges that Latin American family businesses face, particular attention is given to the uncertainty that characterizes most business environments in Latin American countries. The authors argue that while uncertainty is always a central characteristic of entrepreneurial processes and activities, uncertainty is particularly pronounced for Latin American family businesses striving to grow. In addition to a comprehensive introductory chapter that outlines the book’s core concepts, including transgenerational entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial orientation, resources, capabilities and uncertainty, the book describes the main characteristics of entrepreneurship and family businesses in Latin America. It also brings together a unique set of empirical case-based research papers that investigate transgenerational entrepreneurship in different Latin American family business contexts.

Isa van Aardt et al., Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management (4th ed. 2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management explains the aspects that should be considered when starting a new business venture, both in terms of the theoretical framework and practical examples. It covers types of entrepreneurship; identifying and implementing business opportunities; planning and managing the business in terms of finance, marketing and operations, and business plans. Managing growth in a business, ethical and social responsibilities, and legal aspects affecting ventures are also explained.

Marco Van Gelderen & Enno Masurel, Entrepreneurship in Context (2012).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): Much research in entrepreneurship presents results as if they are universally and timelessly valid. Entrepreneurship in Context takes the opposite tack – it studies entrepreneurship as a context bound phenomenon. For entrepreneurship, the importance of context goes beyond gaining understanding and avoiding mistakes. The reciprocal influence exercised by the entrepreneurial venture and its corresponding context is at the very heart of the entrepreneur as an agent of change. The book addresses context in a narrow sense, i.e. a person’s life situation and local, situational characteristics. It also deals with wider contexts such as social, industry, cultural, ethnic, sustainability-related, institutional, and historical contexts. The book studies the interconnectedness of all these various sub-contexts. It zooms in on the actions that entrepreneurs take to involve, engage, and influence their context and shows the changing and dynamic nature of context. It provides lessons for entrepreneurs about which contextual elements should be prioritized, engaged and sought out.

Thierry Verstraete & Estèle Jouison-Laffitte, A Business Model for Entrepreneurship (2011).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): This book takes an original approach to business models and entrepreneurship, resulting from a durable involvement with entrepreneurs and from experiments combining theory and practice. The authors present the generation, remuneration, and sharing business model, which relates to the value generation, its remuneration and the sharing of this remuneration. They also outline the role and the central place of the business model within the entrepreneurial process; the theoretical bases – conventions theory, resource based view and stakeholder theory – and the construction of the GRS model; the experiments conducted within teaching, practical, and theoretical frameworks; and the contribution of the business model to a theory of entrepreneurship theory. The book explains why the business model can be useful for entrepreneurs and why it is relevant to set it in place during the entrepreneurial process.

Ted Vickey, Social Capital and the Role of LinkedIn to Form, Develop and Maintain Irish Entrepreneurial Business Networks (2011).

Abstract (from publisher): Online social networking services have eliminated the four walls of brick and mortar found in traditional networking and now provide global access in real time to entrepreneurs regardless of industry. This book presents a qualitative analysis of how Irish entrepreneurs use technology, such as LinkedIn, in the formation, development and maintenance of professional business networks and in so doing manage social capital.

George S. Vozikis et al., Entrepreneurship: Venture Initiation, Management, and Development (2nd ed. 2013).

Abstract (from publisher): The authors present core concepts of entrepreneurship. Starting with basic definitions and an overarching conceptual framework in Part I, the book then addresses topics pertaining to Venture Initiation (Part II), Venture Management (Part III), and Venture Development (Part IV). Each chapter contains a case study in which a real-life entrepreneur, who confronts the issues of growth and competition, is followed. Venture initiation and development are key components of this book.

Vivek Wadhwa, The Immigrant Exodus: Why America is Losing the Global Race to Capture Entrepreneurial Talent (2012).

Abstract (from publisher): Many of the United States’ most innovative entrepreneurs have been immigrants, from Andrew Carnegie, Alexander Graham Bell, and Charles Pfizer to Sergey Brin, Vinod Khosla, and Elon Musk. Nearly half of Fortune 500 companies and one-quarter of all new small businesses were founded by immigrants, generating trillions of dollars annually, employing millions of workers, and helping establish the United States as the most entrepreneurial, technologically advanced society on earth. Now, Vivek Wadhwa, an immigrant tech entrepreneur turned academic with appointments at Duke, Stanford, Emory, and Singularity Universities, draws on his new Kauffman Foundation research to show that the United States is in the midst of an unprecedented halt in high-growth, immigrant-founded start-ups. He argues that increased competition from countries like China and India and US immigration policies are leaving some of the most educated and talented entrepreneurial immigrants with no choice but to take their innovation elsewhere. The consequences to our economy are dire; our multi-trillion dollar loss will be the gain of our global competitors. With his signature fearlessness and clarity, Wadhwa offers a concise framework for understanding the Immigrant Exodus and offers a recipe for reversal and rapid recovery.

Noam Wasserman, The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup (2012).

Abstract (adapted from publisher): Often downplayed in the excitement of starting up a new business venture is one of the most important decisions entrepreneurs will face: should they go it alone, or bring in cofounders, hires, and investors to help build the business? More than just financial rewards are at stake. Friendships and relationships can suffer. Bad decisions at the inception of a promising venture lay the foundations for its eventual ruin. The Founder's Dilemmas is the first book to examine the early decisions by entrepreneurs that can make or break a startup and its team. Drawing on a decade of research, Noam Wasserman reveals the common pitfalls founders face and how to avoid them. He looks at whether it is a good idea to cofound with friends or relatives, how and when to split the equity within the founding team, and how to recognize when a successful founder-CEO should exit or be fired. Wasserman explains how to anticipate, avoid, or recover from disastrous mistakes that can splinter a founding team, strip founders of control, and leave founders without a financial payoff for their hard work and innovative ideas. He highlights the need at each step to strike a careful balance between controlling the startup and attracting the best resources to grow it, and demonstrates why the easy short-term choice is often the most perilous in the long term.  

Jeffrey Weber, From Idea to Exit: The Entrepreneurial Journey (2011).

Abstract: This book examines the life-cycle of an entrepreneurial endeavor, from idea to exit. The author gives exit strategies as much treatment as the beginning stages of a business, pointing out that everything builds towards a final goal. This type of book would interest people who consider themselves serial entrepreneurs, versus those who are looking to build a run a company to maturity.

Daniel J. Weinfurter, Second Stage Entrepreneurs: Ten Proven Strategies for Driving Aggressive Growth (2013).

Abstract (from Amazon.com): The author takes the reader through the most complex and challenging phase of the entrepreneurial journey. By covering topics from leadership to business strategy to smart hiring, he explains how to transform a successful start-up into an enterprise that can succeed past its early days into a much larger, sustainable business. This book analyzes how notable companies have employed one or more of these strategies to become the successful businesses they are today. Each of these companies has unique attributes, but they share fundamental principles that apply to any business. Creativity, the right staff, unique corporate culture, proactive management practices, smart governance, strong leadership and new capitalization—all these tools are needed to steer businesses toward future growth and continued prosperity.

Paul Westhead & Mike Wright, Entrepreneurship: A Very Short Introduction (2013).

Abstract (from publisher): There has been an explosion of interest in entrepreneurs in the popular media, as well as in business, policy, and education. But what do entrepreneurs do? What is entrepreneurship and why is it important? What is distinctive about entrepreneurs? And where do they come from? This book weaves a pathway through the debates about entrepreneurship, providing a guide to the entrepreneurial process. It looks at how the actions of entrepreneurs are shaped by the external environment and availability of resources, consider the types of organizations in which entrepreneurs can be found, and look at the diversity in their backgrounds, experience, and how they think and learn. Lastly, it considers the impact that entrepreneurs have on modern market economies and look at the future of entrepreneurship in our increasingly globalized world.

Caspian Woods, Brilliant Start-Up: How Successful Entrepreneurs Set Up and Run a Brilliant Business (2d ed. 2011).

Abstract: This book proposes a three-phase framework for entrepreneurs wishing to start a business. First, there is a "Preparation" phase, where the entrepreneur must fully develop her idea, test it, and start to find financing for the company. The second phase, "Into Action," discusses the nuts and bolts of running a business. "Up and Running," the final phase, focuses on growing the business.

Shaker A. Zahra, et al., International Corporate Entrepreneurship and the Evolution of Organizational Competence: A Knowledge-Based Perspective, inCorporate Entrepreneurship (7 Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth) (Dean A. Shepherd & Jerome A. Katz eds., 2004).

Abstract (from publisher):  With an established body of literature on innovation and corporate entrepreneurship, this volume of "Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth" turns to some of the leading and most promising scholars in the field to map out where we have been and provide some direction on where scholarship on this topic should proceed in the future. Topics include: a review of theory, research, and practice on corporate entrepreneurship and the behavior of managers; the central problems of managing innovation and corporate entrepreneurship and the central problems of longitudinal research on the topic; the different theoretical lens for investigating corporate entrepreneurship and the resulting research possibilities; a general systems perspective for exploring the relationship among strategy-structure-performance and corporate entrepreneurship; and international corporate entrepreneurship in terms of a knowledge-based source of competitive advantage and implications for a model of human resource management. This volume also continues the discussion of previous volumes with a provocative discussion of how to advance the field of entrepreneurship by Bill Gartner and a commentary and response to work on a signal detection theory approach to entrepreneurship.

Thomas W. Zimmerer, Norman M. Scarborough & Doug Wilson, ESSENTIALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT (6th ed. 2010).

Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com):  This text provides the knowledge and tools readers need to launch a business so that it has the greatest chance for success. Topics include: the foundations of entrepreneurship; inside the entrepreneurial mind: from ideas to reality; designing a competitive business model and building a solid strategic plan; conducting a feasibility analysis and crafting a winning business plan; forms of business ownership; franchising and the entrepreneur; buying an existing business; building a powerful marketing plan; e-commerce and the entrepreneur; pricing strategies; creating a successful financial plan; managing cash flow; sources of financing: debt and equity; choosing the right location and layout; global aspects of entrepreneurship; building a new venture team and planning for the next.

Abstract (from author): In the new global economy, the jobs that exist now might not exist by the time today’s students enter the workplace. To succeed in this ever-changing world, students need to be able to think like entrepreneurs: resourceful, flexible, creative, and global. The author unlocks the secrets to cultivating independent thinkers who are willing and able to use their learning differently to create jobs and contribute positively to the globalized society. World Class Learners presents concepts that teachers, administrators and even parents can implement immediately, including how to: understand the entrepreneurial spirit and harness it; foster student autonomy and leadership; champion inventive learners with necessary resources; develop global partners and resources. With the liberty to make meaningful decisions and explore nontraditional learning opportunities, today’s students will develop into tomorrow’s global entrepreneurs.

 

Armstrong Abebrese, Research Practice in Entrepreneurship: A Phenomenological Approach(May 30, 2013), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=2272454.

 Abstract (by author): The methodological surveys of entrepreneurship research find the dominance of the positivists’ approach and data collection methods. Several scholars have called to move towards a more pluralistic tradition of data collection and growth in qualitative approaches to entrepreneurship problems. This article is a contribution to the latter in that it explicates phenomenological inquiry as an alternate approach for entrepreneurship research. This article reflects on the phenomenological inquiry as one of the ways to develop an investigation and acquire knowledge of a phenomenon, i.e. entrepreneurship. This article principally introduces the Husserlian and Heidegger’s phenomenological tenets as the theoretical foundations that can lead to an elaboration of an approach to phenomenological research in entrepreneurship.

Gordon K. Adomdza & Thomas B. Astebro, The Effect of Entrepreneurial Cognition on Investments for Commercialization Success (2012), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=2061022.

Abstract (from author): Entrepreneurs’ cognitions may affect performance directly but also indirectly through their effects on own as well as others’ investment. The authors study the effects of planning fallacy, optimism, and overconfidence on commercialization investments and success. Optimism directly increased commercialization success. The effect of planning fallacy on commercialization success was mediated by the entrepreneur’s own as well as others’ investments. Strong ties were more likely to supply funds with increased planning fallacy and optimism, while weak ties were less likely to supply funds with increased planning fallacy and optimism. Overconfidence was not of importance in this study. The results show the need to study the effects of entrepreneurs’ cognitions on different stakeholders’ perceptions of the entrepreneur in the entrepreneurial process.

Gorkan Ahmetoglu et al., EQ-nomics: Understanding the Relationship between Individual Differences in Trait Emotional Intelligence and Entrepreneurship, 51 Personality & Individual Differences 1028 (2011).

Abstract (from publisher): Past studies highlight the importance of Trait Emotional Intelligence (EI) in the prediction of career success. Given the evidence that trait EI predicts job performance and job satisfaction, it is reasonable to expect this construct to also predict other forms of career success. In this study, the authors examine whether EI predicts entrepreneurship; that is, whether higher trait EI is linked to entrepreneurial behaviors and entrepreneurial success, and whether any effects of trait EI on entrepreneurship are independent of the personality trait of Core Self-Evaluations, demographic variables, and individual differences in entrepreneurial personality. Results show that trait EI predicts only some entrepreneurial outcomes beyond other variables examined, and with small effect sizes. This suggests that individual differences in entrepreneurship result only in part from inter-personal differences in trait EI. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Dr. P. S. Aithal, Innovations in Experimental Learning—A Study of World Top Business Schools, 1 Int’l J. Sci. Res. & Mod. Educ. 360 (2016).

Abstract (adapted from author): Innovations in higher education include improvements in existing pedagogies and developing new pedagogies based on the subject taught. Depending on the age, gender, regional background, the effective teaching and learning methods may be different. Business schools are providing higher education to improve the necessary skills of the student either to start a new business or to manage an existing business by means of making effective decisions on a business problem by considering the business environments. Experimental learning is a new pedagogy in business management learning method where students are exposed to real business problems. Such exposure to real-world problems will improve the risk taking ability and the confidence of the students. Based on the success of the experimental learning method introduced in many business schools, the method is becoming more and more popular and is finding a place in the pedagogy of many top-level business schools in the world. In this paper, the author has made an empirical study on adopting experimental learning scenario in some identified top business schools in the world. The author has collected information from the website of top 25 business schools based on recently announced B-school ranking and studied their effort and results of such method adoption in the curriculum.

Abbas J. Ali, Innovation, Happiness, and Growth, 24 Competitiveness Rev. 2 (2014).

Abstract (by author): The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of innovation in society. It explores the relationship between societal happiness and economic growth and how innovation is linked to both issues. The paper briefly discusses the concept of innovation and the instrumental role that innovative people play in generating wealth and sustaining confidence and dedication among the widest possible segment of society.  Based on economic logic and social perspectives, it is argued that innovation is not merely an economic issue but also a social factor that is characteristically linked to societal wellbeing and the position of a nation in the global marketplace.

The paper offers a unique perspective on innovation and argues that it is a fatal mistake to view innovation as independent of the social and political aspects of any society. The paper sets the stage for an effective dialogue by which the essence of innovation, optimism, and economic growth can be recognized and reflected on as interrelated issues.

Samuel P. D. Anantadjaya et al., Entrepreneurs’ Accountability: Accounting or Behavioral Issues? (International Conference on Business and Information, Accounting and Finance Section, Bangkok, Thailand, 2011), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=1886669.

Abstract (adapted from authors): This research is intended to seek out relationships between the roles of entrepreneurs as business owners, and the roles of entrepreneurs as managers toward accountability of organizational records and performance. The reference point for this research is the entrepreneurial theory of the firm, to establish the building blocks in closing onto the entrepreneur accountability in managing the organization’s portfolios. The second reference point for this research is the individual rational theory, which states that it is considered rational for individual entrepreneurs to continue growing. Taking up the role as managers, it is also deemed rational for entrepreneurs to expand organizational activities by various means. Factors such as hyper-competition, technological advancement, shorter product life cycles, and innovation, are also incorporated into the studies to reveal the connection between entrepreneurial accountability, and the rationality of entrepreneurs in making business decisions toward organizational growth. Preliminary studies have been conducted, not only covering small/micro businesses, but also large establishments. Those preliminary studies include; a study on measuring human resources (Anantadjaya, 2009), an entrepreneurial mindset development model (Anantadjaya, et al, 2010), and an entrepreneurial study to note the role of entrepreneurs in project management (Anantadjaya and Mulawarman, 2010).

Alistair R. Anderson & Lorraine Warren, The Entrepreneur as Hero and Jester: Enacting the Entrepreneurial Discourse, 29 Int’l Small Bus. J. 589 (2011).

Abstract (from author): Employing a social construction perspective, this article argues that entrepreneurs are uniquely empowered by entrepreneurial discourse to bring about creative destruction. Analysis of the representation of entrepreneurship in the media suggests that entrepreneurs have a distinctive presence in society that is shaped by cultural norms and expectations. These images create and present an entrepreneurial identity. Yet identity has two facets: the general, identified as ‘what’ but also a distinctive individual identity as ‘who’. This article explores the identity play of one flamboyant entrepreneur, Michael O’Leary, to show how he deploys the rhetoric and rationality of entrepreneurial discourse, but shapes it through emotional games to establish his unique entrepreneurial identity. It finds strong evidence that entrepreneurs are culturally stereotypical and that this is amplified by the press, but also how O’Leary employs this typification to engage with the rational and emotional, explaining how this is used for strategic advantage.

Andruin MUI, Linking Micro-Level Entrepreneurial Action and Macro-Level Economic Progress: The Interdisciplinary and Multidimensional Domain of Entrepreneurship (2012), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2009862.

Abstract (from author): The lack of a satisfactory definition and conceptual framework has undermined the legitimacy of entrepreneurship as a unique field of research with its own contributions. While the lack of integration of the many different aspects of the entrepreneurship phenomenon has hampered the field’s unique potential to provide insight on the intricate processes which link micro-level entrepreneurial action and macro-level economic progress. The purpose of this paper is threefold. By using an interdisciplinary approach, this paper seeks to: (1) advance our understanding of the role of entrepreneurship in furthering economic progress, (2) provide a definition of entrepreneurship that will forge unity among scholars of different disciplines, (3) provide a conceptual framework of entrepreneurship that presents a structured overview of the entrepreneurship phenomenon and its interdisciplinary and multidimensional nature. Regarding these three purposes the contribution of this paper is as follows: (1) this paper identifies three categories of entrepreneurship, three stages of economic progress and four mechanisms of reality enhancement which together provide a unified growth theory that gives insight into why, when and how entrepreneurial action contributes to economic progress, (2) the definition of entrepreneurship as the distinctive domain of reality enhancement captures the entrepreneurship phenomenon from its root cause at the micro-level, human knowledge, to the far reaching effects of economic progress at the macro-level, (3) the conceptual framework of reality enhancement provides scholars of different disciplines with a structured overview of the entrepreneurship phenomenon with which they can integrate existing research and from which they can identify promising avenues for further research.

James S. Ang, Small Business Uniqueness and the Theory of Financial Management, 29 J. Small Bus. Fin. 3-13 (1991).

Arvind Ashta et al., Social Innovation Lessons from Microangels? An Institutional Entrepreneurship Case Study of the CIGALES Movement in France (2012),available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2031732.

Abstract: One way by which microentrepreneurs can increase their ability to take debt is to take equity alongside, thus respecting prudent ratios and reducing stress. But microequity has not developed in most of the developing world. At the same time, since 1983, microequity has been started in France through a socially innovative movement known as CIGALES. Today, there are over a hundred CIGALES clubs. How have these multiplied and why hasn't the movement grown faster and more global? The authors look at the development of the CIGALES movement from an Institutional lens. Based on fifteen semi-structured interviews, they trace the creation and expansion of the movement and see internal blockages are as important as the external institutional cage (including norms and beliefs) that limited it. The authors focus on institutional entrepreneurial work undertaken to spread and maintain the movement of microangel clubs rather than actions and projects financed by each individual club. They find that catalytic innovation not only requires the institutional entrepreneur to collaborate with other complementary institutions but also to create such institutions. Since poverty eradication is going to require a series of social innovations and their diffusion, this paper could be useful for future development efforts.

Thomas Astebro & Peter Thompson, Entrepreneurs: Jacks of All Trades or Hobos?40 Research Pol’y 637 (2011).

Abstract: This article analyzes survey data from hundreds entrepreneurs to determine typical entrepreneur employment history and experience prior to starting a venture.

Erkko Autio et al., Entrepreneurial Profile of the UK in the Light of the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (2012), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=2070320.

Abstract (adapted from authors): In this research summary, the authors provide a novel look into the entrepreneurial profile of the UK in an international context. They use a new method – the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index GEDI – to identify the entrepreneurial strengths and weaknesses of the UK economy, as well as to identify potential bottlenecks that hold back the performance of the UK relative to other advanced economies. The authors perform a Penalty for Bottleneck analysis to identify the bottlenecks in the UK's entrepreneurial profile. The authors also explore optimal resource allocation for UK's policy for National Systems of Entrepreneurship.

Amirsaleh Azadinamin, Entrepreneurship, Knowledge, and Spatial Economics(2011), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2017499.

Abstract (from author): Entrepreneurship is and has always been acknowledged as a micro driver of innovation, competitiveness and economic growth and this paper presents theories that were offered by the main architects and have the capacity to explain entrepreneurship. There is extra emphasis placed on theories by Israel Meir Kirzner, Ludwig Von Mises, and Friedrich Hayek as they have been known to offer original views on entrepreneurship. As for the concept of entrepreneurship the discussion takes place on topics of knowledge and location, and how these two main factors will help the entrepreneur discover profit opportunities, if any. The second part of the paper talks about how entrepreneurship helps in changing the prices for rent as well as migration, which is a result of labor movements. The spatial extension, or the spatial economics, added to the entrepreneurial theory illuminates how rent is determined based on expected future profit opportunities, and how labor uses the wage differential to materialize a profit opportunity that eventually leads to migration. It also describes how this process causes urban and regional developments by increasing the demand of land and labor, or what some refer to as the capital and human capital.

Uschi Backes-Gellner & Petra Moog, The Disposition to Become an Entrepreneur and the Jacks-of-all-Trades in Social and Human Capital, 47 J. Socio-Econ. 55 (2013).

Abstract (adapted from authors): This article examines the impact of balanced human and social capital on willingness to become an entrepreneur. The authors extend the theoretical model of Lazear’s (2005) jack-of-all-trades theory by studying the willingness to become an entrepreneur of young people before entering the labor market. The authors introduce a new measure for the balance of a human or social capital portfolio and find that a more balanced portfolio of human or social capital is positively correlated with the willingness to become an entrepreneur.

Ellen Baker et al., Emergence, Social Capital and Entrepreneurship: Understanding Networks from the Inside, 13 Emergence: Complexity & Org. 21 (2011).

Abstract (from authors): Communities are a major research context for both social capital and entrepreneurship, and 'networks' is a core concept within both frameworks. There is need for conceptualizing network formation processes, and for qualitative studies of the relational aspects of networks and networking, to complement the existing mainly quantitative studies. Within complexity theory, emergence has been linked with formation of entities including networks, and with social entrepreneurship. In this paper, community networks are interpreted as an emergent dynamic process of action and interaction through an empirical case study conducted in an urban community setting. Interviews were conducted with experiential experts at networking. The study was designed within a social capital framework, but frequent reporting of entrepreneurship prompted additional analysis. Practical and theoretical implications of the network study findings are examined in light of the three frameworks together, and further empirical studies are suggested.

Ted Baker & Reed E. Nelson, Creating Something from Nothing: Resource Construction through Entrepreneurial Bricolage, 50 Admin. Sci. Q. 329 (2005).

Catherine Bampoky et al., Economic Growth and the Optimal Level of Entrepreneurship (2013),available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=2295612.

Abstract (adapted from authors): What is the “growth penalty” when a country’s entrepreneurship deviates from its optimal level? The authors use data on entrepreneurship for a panel of developed and developing countries over 2003-2011 to estimate growth equations. They treat the impact of entrepreneurship on real GDP growth as heterogeneous across countries. The methodology accounts for unobserved heterogeneity among countries in the optimal entrepreneurship rate and other factors affecting growth. In less developed countries, there is not enough entrepreneurship, and increases in the entrepreneurship rate have a sizeable positive effect on growth. In high income countries, entrepreneurship appears to be close to the optimum. The paper also explores how the growth penalty varies across countries. Higher levels of research and development capability decrease the growth penalty of having too few entrepreneurs, suggesting that research and development and entrepreneurship are substitutes. Corruption increases the opportunity cost of having a suboptimal entrepreneurship level, a finding that is in accord with the hypothesis that corruption can “grease the wheels” of commerce by speeding up bureaucratic processes. Countries with greater entrepreneurial capability suffer a higher growth penalty: the higher the ability of the marginal entrepreneur, the higher is the opportunity cost to the economy of not taking advantage of her talents.

 Abstract (by authors): The present paper addresses the state of the art in theory-building on entrepreneurship education through the analysis of the contributions made roughly over the last decade (2001-2011). Theoretical contributions on entrepreneurship education have been increasing and improving as more articles have been published building new theoretical propositions and testing existing theory. However, there is still considerable scope for improvement, in particular through the development of articles that expand knowledge by making new theoretical propositions and testing those propositions in new experimental settings. Theory-building and theory-testing are still rooted in single paradigms, conditioning the generation of more complete and eclectic knowledge.

 Abstract (adapted from authors): Whereas most start-ups are in low-tech industries, the authors apply a novel strategy to a data set of scientists and engineers to focus predominantly on high-tech entrepreneurs. The authors develop a simple model in which the rewards from entrepreneurship are determined by the interaction of ability, the quality of the entrepreneurial idea, and experience in employment. The authors find that the average return to entrepreneurship is positive, higher paid workers are more likely to become entrepreneurs, especially at younger ages, and greater pre-entry labor market experience is associated with longer tenure but lower earnings in entrepreneurship.

Andrea Calabrò & Donata Mussolino, Paternalistic Relationships between Senior and Junior Generation: Effect on Family Firms’ Entrepreneurial Activities, in Entrepreneurship Issues: An International Perspective (Sestante G. Dossena & C. Bettinelli eds., 2012), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2045821.

Abstract (from authors): Entrepreneurship in family firms is critical to their long-term survival. Questions on whether and to what extent entrepreneurial behaviors are transferred through generations are dominating the family business research field. However, prior research shows inconclusive and ambiguous findings. On one hand, some scholars highlight how a strong family business culture fosters family firms’ entrepreneurial behavior, while on the other hand it has been argued that family firms’ risk-adverse orientation may prevent the exploitation of entrepreneurial activities. Stemming from resource-based theory, the aim of this paper is to develop a contingency framework which sheds a new light on this issue by discussing the dimensions and interrelations between three typologies of paternalistic relationships. The authors’ overall contribution suggests that the existence of authoritarian paternalistic relationships between the senior and the incoming generation could negatively influence family firms’ entrepreneurial activities, while benevolent and moral paternalistic relationships might have a positive effect. 

Marco Caliendo & Alexander Kritikos, Searching for the Entrepreneurial Personality: New Evidence and Avenues for Further Research (IZA Discussion Paper No. 5790, 2011), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1872738.

Abstract (adapted from authors): What makes the entrepreneurial personality is the key question this paper seeks to answer in the special issue of the Journal of Economic Psychology on "Personality and Entrepreneurship". The contributions are clustered around questions regarding the linkage between personality, socio-economic factors and entrepreneurial development. Results further explain the gender puzzle, while, at the same time, it is clear that stereotypes of what makes the ideal entrepreneur must be revisited. This conclusion is based on new insights into the effects that variables, such as risk tolerance, trust and reciprocity, the value for autonomy and also external role models, have on entrepreneurial decision making. On a more general note, it is clear that more informative longitudinal data sets at the individual level are needed in order to find conclusive answers. In an ideal world researchers would have access to data that includes personality characteristics and psychological traits, motivational factors and cognitive skills. In this respect the research community needs to find new ways to collect these data and make them available for entrepreneurship research.

Marco Caliendo et al., Trust, Positive Reciprocity, and Negative Reciprocity: Do These Traits Impact Entrepreneurial Dynamics? (SOEP Paper No. 348, 2010),available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1736592.

Abstract (adapted from author): Experimental evidence reveals that there is a strong willingness to trust and to act in both positively and negatively reciprocal ways. So far it is rarely analyzed whether these variables of social cognition influence everyday decision making behavior. This paper focus on entrepreneurs who are permanently facing exchange processes in the interplay with investors, sellers, and buyers, as well as needing to trust others and reciprocate with their network. The authors base their analysis on the German Socio-Economic Panel and recently introduced questions about trust, positive reciprocity, and negative reciprocity to examine the extent that these variables influence the entrepreneurial decision processes. More specifically, they analyze whether i) the willingness to trust other people influences the probability of starting a business; ii) trust, positive reciprocity, and negative reciprocity influence the exit probability of entrepreneurs; and iii) willingness to trust and to act reciprocally influences the probability of being an entrepreneur versus an employee or a manager. Our findings reveal that, in particular, trust impacts entrepreneurial development. Interestingly, entrepreneurs are more trustful than employees, but much less trustful than managers.

Gilles Campagnolo & and Christel Vivel, Power and Entrepreneurship in German Political Economy: The Cases of Werner Sombart and Friedrich Von Wieser(ICER, Working Paper No. 11/2011), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=1868951.

Abstract (adapted from authors): The authors examine texts by Werner Sombart and Friedrich von Wieser on entrepreneurship and the capitalist economy using an interdisciplinary approach focused on economics but also dealing with economic sociology and political philosophy. The authors believe that both authors have been largely neglected, thus overlooking the main source of the theory of the entrepreneur in debates held in German language and between Germany and Austria around the 1900s. Without excluding earlier major references (such as Jean-Baptiste Say, the first French economist at the Collège de France,) the authors demonstrate that for both our authors the entrepreneur is the keystone of a renewed understanding of capitalism and the modern economy of their times. They stressed the origins, functions and roles of the entrepreneur and showed that there cannot exist only a single entrepreneurial form but there must necessarily be several ones, depending on the context. Two lessons can be drawn from their texts: 1. The entrepreneur’s action needs to be reinstalled in the social, economic and institutional context; 2. The results of the actions of entrepreneurs are inherently difficult to predict because the action responds to institutional changes and is the outcome of such changes.

Karen A. Campbell, IP Protection Games: Does Technology Type Matter For Entrepreneurial Behavior? (2011), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=1784863.

Abstract: This paper builds on an analytical tool for studying entrepreneurship in a new classical general equilibrium framework. The entrepreneurial economy model takes the consumer-producer economy model and makes explicit the role of the entrepreneur. This paper uses it to study entrepreneurial behavior when assumptions regarding contract enforcement and intellectual property rights can be violated. An extended form game involving an entrepreneur and a trading partner is presented. Results show that different subgame perfect equilibria arise depending on whether the venture idea (innovation) is production specific or a general purpose technology. Furthermore, depending on the type of technology, different mechanisms for intellectual property (IP) protection are desirable, in terms of total social utility. This has implications for the way IP laws are crafted and why (one-size-fits-all) patent laws have come under fire. The results give some foundation for the intuition on both sides of the patent law debates. It makes precise when stronger IP protections may be needed to help entrepreneurs and trading partners out of a prisoner’s type dilemma versus when these laws may not be necessary.

Melissa Cardon et al., Exploring the Heart: Entrepreneurial Emotion is a Hot Topic, 36 Entrepren. Theory & Prac. 1 (2012), also available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=1987978.

Abstract (adapted from authors): Entrepreneurial emotion refers to the affect, emotions, moods, and/or feelings - of individuals or a collective - that are antecedent to, concurrent with, and/or a consequence of, the entrepreneurial process, meaning the recognition/creation, evaluation, reformulation, and/or the exploitation of a possible opportunity. In this paper, the authors explore this working definition of entrepreneurial emotion, what it means, and some important advances the field has made in this area of research. They also highlight fundamental avenues for future research that are sorely in need of study. Finally, the authors introduce the seven papers in the special issue on the Heart of Entrepreneurship and how they move the conversation on entrepreneurial emotion forward.

Joanne G. Carman & Rebecca Nesbit, Founding New Nonprofit Organizations: Syndrome or Symptom? 42 Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Q. 603 (2013).

Abstract (adapted from authors): In this study, the authors explore how the dynamics associated with the founding of new nonprofit organizations, the characteristics of the founders, and the developmental life cycles of nonprofit organizations contribute to the seemingly fragmented landscape of the nonprofit sector. Based on data collected from interviews with 31 nonprofit organizations, the authors find that new nonprofits are being created by passionate, entrepreneurial individuals who hope to make a difference in the community. Although these organizations are typically small, with few staff members and small budgets, the extent to which they rely on volunteers and are connected to the broader community varies considerably. Moreover, many founders had little experience volunteering or working in the sector. The findings from this study have important implications for the professional development of nonprofit staff, leaders, and volunteers, and they shed new light on how researchers think about and describe the founders of nonprofit organizations.

M. Carree & I. Verheul, What Makes Entrepreneurs Happy? Determinants of Satisfaction Among Founders, 13 J. Happiness Stud. 371 (2012).

Abstract (from authors): This study empirically investigates factors influencing satisfaction levels of founders of new ventures, using a representative sample of 1,107 Dutch founders. The authors relate entrepreneurial satisfaction (with income, psychological burden and leisure time) to firm performance, motivation and human capital. Founders with high levels of specific human capital are more satisfied with income than those with high levels of general human capital. Intrinsic motivation and that of combining responsibilities lowers stress and leads to more satisfaction with leisure time. Women are more satisfied with their income than men, even though they have a lower average monthly turnover.

Alan Carsrud & Malin Brannback, Entrepreneurial Motivations: What Do We Still Need to Know? 49 J. Small Bus. 9 (2011).

Abstract (from author): This paper attempts to renew interest in a line of research that largely has been ignored for two decades but which is critical to the study of entrepreneurial cognitions, intentions, and their conversion into entrepreneurial behaviors. That area is entrepreneurial motivation. This is not a comprehensive review of all areas of motivation research but rather a challenge a reinvigorate research efforts on an important aspect of the entrepreneurial process that has been examined only at the margins so far. It is an attempt to show how one very important topic, “entrepreneurial motivation,” still needs more study if we are to address the question of “have we learned anything at all about entrepreneurs?

Gavin Cassar, The Roles of Industry and Startup Experience on Entrepreneur Forecast Performance at New Business Entry (2010), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=1730318.

Abstract: Most new businesses fail to meet the performance expectations of the entrepreneurs who create them. Using the Kauffman Firm Survey, I investigate the role of industry and startup experience on the expectation bias and accuracy of 2,304 entrepreneurs who have started new businesses. The empirical results show that only industry experience is associated with less bias and greater accuracy in entrepreneur expectations. Further, the benefit of industry experience on entrepreneurial expectations is greater in high-technology industries. These findings are robust to survivorship bias, location, and industry fixed effects. The findings are consistent with knowledge of the setting informing decision making, especially in highly uncertain environments.

Chenoy Ceil, Does India Need More Entrepreneurs or Managers (2011),available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1884770.

Abstract (adapted from author): India, a culturally-diverse country with several different ethnicities, has an enormous population base that consists of different people with innovative thinking and wide intellectual skills. India's growth rate has already reached the 8 percent mark and with time one can only hope that it touches the double digit figure. Entrepreneurs are the need of the hour as they can bring along widespread changes in the industry and create job opportunities for the masses. Entrepreneurial skills need to be nurtured in India as they can be the baton holder for India's development. Managers too have to play their role in India's development but they can never supersede the role of an entrepreneur. Each year, there are thousands of managers graduating from B-schools. But hardly anyone of them has the risk taking skills that is required for delving into sole business enterprises. Managers are required to manage a business entity and that is all they are capable of. However, an entrepreneur has the managerial skills as well as the innovative and risk taking skills instilled within him. In the present world, India definitely needs more entrepreneurs to capture the rising possibilities of business development in India. Promoting Entrepreneurship means encouraging people to be self-reliant in taking economic decisions and creating wealth and employment. Managers do play their role in any economy and every business concern but India at its present juncture definitely needs more entrepreneurs than managers.

Bhaskar Chakravorti, Finding Competitive Advantage in Adversity, 88(11) Harvard Business Review 102 (2010).

Abstract (from author): How do some entrepreneurs, corporate innovators, and investors turn adverse conditions to competitive advantage? Chakravorti, of McKinsey and Harvard Business School, has identified four areas that the most successful of these people consistently explore. 1. Entrepreneurs reroute resources that become redundant to meet new needs, as Jonathan Bush did at Athena Health. The company is now a leader in internet-based revenue-cycle management tools. 2. They round up unusual suspects and break industry orthodoxy, as Iqbal Quadir did with Grameenphone in Bangladesh. 3. They find small solutions to big problems, as Trey Moore and Cameron Powell did with their Air-Strip OB smartphone app for mobile physicians who needed a major advance in wireless health care. 4. They focus on platform, not just product. That's how Fred Khosravi and Amar Sawhney broadened the field of surgical applications for Incept's hydrogel technology. The entrepreneurs who survive in the "new normal" will be those who find counterintuitive solutions to the bottlenecks, constraints, and other difficulties that adversity engenders. Call them the "new abnormals."

Liqiang Chen, IT Entrepreneurial Intention Among College Students: An Empirical Study, 24 J. Info. Sys. Educ. 233 (2013).

Abstract (by author): IT (Information Technology) entrepreneurs have been contributing greatly to economic growth and job creation. Despite its importance, IT entrepreneurship remains understudied in business research. Particularly, the study of IT entrepreneurial behavior has been ignored in both Information Systems (IS) and entrepreneurship disciplines. Utilizing the social cognitive career theory (SCCT), this study, for the first, time investigates empirically IT entrepreneurial behavior among college students. The results indicate that students’ IT entrepreneurial intention is determined directly by their expected outcomes, social influence, and self-efficacy. The study concludes with recommendations for IS education in business schools.

Alexander Yulievich Chepurenko et al., Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity: An Explanatory Model for Cross-Country Comparisons (Higher School Of Economics, Working Paper No. WP1/2011/04, 2012), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=2001334.

Abstract (from authors): The paper argues that when developing an explanatory model of the early-stage entrepreneurial activity level (measured by total index of early entrepreneurial activity - TEA) one should consider the ‘path dependency’ of the ‘institutional matrix’ of different societies. Otherwise one could wonder why some theoretical models of TEA determining factors, as provided by a lot of studies, are not statistically significant for younger market systems and entrepreneurship in transitional economies. However, comparing Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data with the scope of official statistics provides a deeper insight into adults’ intrinsic incentives to become entrepreneurial. A statistical analysis of national TEA levels does not support the thesis that TEA levels, and structure, change under economic slowdown. Therefore, it seems logical to suggest that to interpret the TEA level it is important to examine some fundamental specific of different types of national markets rather than just the actual economic situation itself. When testing this hypothesis, the authors compared the characteristics of GEM countries with stable, high or low TEA levels. A Fisher’s linear discriminant analysis (FLDA) is used to examine whether different groups of countries can be distinguished by linear combinations of predictor variables and to determine which variables are responsible for this separation. The FLDA model explains the parabolic form of the relation between the level of economic development and TEA. A database of independent variables includes some different quantitative, ordinal and nominal variables determining the context of the national capital accumulation history. Using FLDA, the authors argue, one might foresee future tendencies of TEA - not only for GEM participating countries.

Pawan Chugan, Aspiring to Go Global: Unitech Engineers (2012), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=2041176.

Abstract (from author): Unitech Engineers, a manufacturer of high tensile fasteners, was established by the Modi brothers – one a commerce graduate and the other a technocrat with engineering and managerial degrees. From a small workshop, the company gradually crossed many hurdles, and by investing in technological upgradation and quality assurance systems, it grew to become one of the leading manufacturers of fasteners. With a fairly secured position in the domestic market and infusion of new blood in the management team, the company was now inspired from its success and was aspiring to expand its horizons beyond India. Ms Kruti Modi, the younger generation of the family, after doing a careful international market research decided that Unitech Engineers should now start exporting. Based on the primary research for international market selection Ms Modi had zeroed in on South Africa to begin overseas operations. The question, however, now aroused as how to approach the South African market and select a suitable and effective market entry strategy for a sustainable and scalable overseas business? The primary objective of the case is to make management graduates understand the natural progression of a first generation entrepreneurial venture. They can also understand various hurdles a company passes through and the kind of decisions one has to make. Students will appreciate that investments in technology and quality systems are a must if a company has to progress over a certain level and then aspire to go global. The issues involved in this case are about the vision of an entrepreneur, various stages through which a new business moves, investment options available to an entrepreneur and his ability to foresee the change in the market dynamics, his investment decisions (capacity expansion, technological upgradation, takeovers, etc.), and strategies to sustain and expand the business. With the inspirations from the success in the domestic market, the firm was now determined to go global over a period of time. Further, case highlights the need for international market research one has to do in order to select a country for export and underscores the market selection procedure for overseas marketing. The factors one needs to consider and how they are different from doing business domestically are discussed for determining suitable marketing strategies.

Anne Chwolka & Matthias G. Raith, The Value of Business Planning Before Start-Up — A Decision-Theoretical Perspective, 27 J. Bus. Venturing 385 (2012).

Abstract (from journal): In this paper the authors analyze business planning from the perspective of the nascent entrepreneur. They measure its value for the entrepreneur at the point where he must decide whether or not to plan, and contrast the results with empirical studies that compare firms' performance after market entry. Within a formal decision-theoretical framework the authors show that the value of planning is driven by the possibility of evaluating alternative actions and being able to improve strategies. Before market entry, the main purpose of evaluation is to pursue good and terminate bad business ideas. The authors show how the value of planning is determined by the venture under consideration and how it depends on the quality of planning. Our theoretical model yields several behavioral and statistical implications that we compare with empirical observations found in the literature. In particular, the authors show how our model of rational decision making can be used to explain important hypotheses and contradictory observations that have fueled the debate on business planning.

Jean Clarke, Revitalizing Entrepreneurship: How Visual Symbols Are Used in Entrepreneurial Performances, 48 J. Mgmt. Stud. 365 (2011), also available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=1895195.

Abstract (from author): To gain and sustain support for novel ventures, entrepreneurs must use symbolic means to signal to resource providers that their venture is feasible and legitimate. Previous research has generally focused on how entrepreneurs use language to symbolically represent their ventures as compatible with more widely established sets of activities. This paper suggests that entrepreneurs' use of visual symbols also plays a direct role in achieving support for a venture. Based upon a visual ethnographic study of three entrepreneurs, this paper demonstrates how entrepreneurs use visual symbols to: present an appropriate scene to stakeholders; create professional identity and emphasize control; and regulate emotions. The types of visual symbols used by the entrepreneurs are: setting, props, dress, and expressiveness. Overall, the results suggest that more experienced entrepreneurs are more effective at using a wider range of visual symbols during interactions.

James G. Combs et al., Franchising Research: Major Milestones, New Directions, and its Future within Entrepreneurship, 35 Entrepreneurship: Theory & Prac. 413 (2011).

Abstract: For decades, most franchising research leveraged one of three theoretical milestones--resource scarcity, agency theory, and plural form symbiosis--to answer questions about why, where, and how often firms use franchising. Today's franchising researchers are leveraging new theories, investigating under-examined aspects of franchising, and exploring contextual factors that shape its use. The articles in the special issue continue these "New Directions in Franchising Research." This introduction describes the three milestones that form the theoretical foundation for today's new directions, summarizes the special issue articles and their implications, and explains why entrepreneurship researchers are well-positioned to advance knowledge about franchising.

Silvio Contessi, Francesca De Nicola & Li Li,  International Trade, Female Labor, and Entrepreneurship in MENA Countries (FRB of St. Louis Working Paper, No. 2012-053C, 2012),available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2171931.

 

Abstract (by authors): Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries stand out in international comparisons of de jure obstacles to female employment and entrepreneurship. These obstacles manifest themselves in low rates of female labor participation, entrepreneurship, and ownership. Recent research suggests a connection between international trade and female labor participation. In this article, the authors focus on the relationship between international trade and gender in the MENA countries. They first analyze female labor as a production factor and then focus on female entrepreneurship and firm ownership. The authors use country- and industry-level data to identify countries and industries characterized by a comparative advantage in female labor. They find evidence suggesting a strong link between a country’s specialization and its measures of female labor participation consistent with theories of brain-based technological bias and factor endowments trade theories. Using firm-level data, the authors then study whether trade empowers female entrepreneurs in country/industry pairs that exhibit comparative advantage. They conclude that the evidence supports the view that exposure to trade disproportionately affects firms in country/industry pairs with a comparative advantage in female labor — both in terms of female employment and female entrepreneurship and ownership — for the MENA countries and the period they study.

Abstract (from publisher): This paper is the first to endogenize both risk-free interest and wage rates in a tractable occupational choice model. Individuals who differ in terms of entrepreneurial ability and wealth choose between entrepreneurship and wage-earning, and the wealth classes form endogenously. Because of the general equilibrium repercussions of policies, whether to tax or subsidize entrepreneurs depends crucially on the shape of the wealth distribution. In particular, a tax on entrepreneurs used to subsidize workers can sometimes increase the average quality of entrepreneurs. Unlike the previous studies, in all of which the risk-free interest rate is exogenous, the policy works by affecting the loan supply to the banks via swapping some low-ability upper-middle-class entrepreneurs with an equal number of high- and low-ability poor-class workers.

Utilizing thematic analysis, it describes and evaluates what and how(techniques, styles of learning) participants transfer and what actions they take to improve the business and develop their people. This paper illustrates the complex mechanisms involved in this process and concludes that action learning is a method of facilitating entrepreneurial learning which is able to help address some of the problems of engagement, relevance and value that have been highlighted previously. This paper concludes that the efficacy of an entrepreneurial learning intervention in SMEs may depend on the effectiveness of learning transfer.

 

 Abstract (adapted from authors): This paper studies some of the dynamics that are introduced by a startup accelerator program in a competitive market for venture financing. This includes inefficiencies that may arise when the accelerator sets an equity fee, chooses a class size, and shares information with investors, as well as efficiencies in terms of granting entrepreneurs better access to investors. The authors find that the accelerator chooses a class size that is too small relative to the social optimum, but this inefficiency is diminished when the accelerator hires entrepreneurs-in-residence or provides improved access to investors. When the accelerator can strategically decide what type of venture information to release to investors, the study shows that in order to facilitate the financing of additional program participants, it may choose to transmit only positive information. Finally, the authors show that when entrepreneurs perceive obtaining external funding as their main objective, an inefficient accelerator may operate in equilibrium, reducing social welfare. 

Abstract (adapted from authors): In recent years the topic of entrepreneurship has become a major focus in the social sciences, with renewed interest in the links between personality and entrepreneurship. Taking a socioecological perspective to psychology, which emphasizes the role of social habitats and their interactions with mind and behavior, this paper investigates regional variation in and correlates of an entrepreneurship-prone Big Five profile. Specifically, the authors analyzed personality data collected from over half a million U.S. residents (N = 619,397) as well as public archival data on state-level entrepreneurial activity (i.e., business-creation and self-employment rates). Results revealed that an entrepreneurship-prone personality profile is regionally clustered. This geographical distribution corresponds to the pattern that can be observed when mapping entrepreneurial activity across the United States. Indeed, the state-level correlation (N = 51) between an entrepreneurial personality structure and entrepreneurial activity was positive in direction, substantial in magnitude, and robust even when controlling for regional economic prosperity. These correlations persisted at the level of U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (N = 15) and were replicated in independent German (N = 19,842; 14 regions) and British (N = 15,617; 12 regions) samples. In contrast to these profile-based analyses, an analysis linking the individual Big Five dimensions to regional measures of entrepreneurial activity did not yield consistent findings. Discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for interdisciplinary theory development and practical applications.

 Abstract (by author): While we know much about general entrepreneurship and the entrepreneur, there is little knowledge about and valid evidence for successful entrepreneurship. Against the backdrop of a critical reading of the entrepreneurship literature, this paper explores the role of market-oriented business development as a key capability for successful entrepreneurship as well as how this capability may be acquired. The central argument is that the business developer is an integrating generalist that assures sustained lateral and vertical organizational coordination of the multiple skills needed for continuous development and implementation of growth opportunities. Propositions and implications are discussed.

Jesper B. Sørensen & Amanda J. Sharkey, Entrepreneurship as a Mobility Process, 79 Am. Soc. Rev. 328 (2014).

Abstract (adapted from authors): The authors advance a theory of how organizational characteristics, in particular the structure of opportunity within organizations, shape the decision to become an entrepreneur. Established organizations play an important yet understudied role in the entrepreneurial process, because they shape the environment within which individuals may choose to enter self-employment. Yet, despite the fact that sociologists have long recognized that inequality within organizations plays an important role in career attainment and mobility, they lack an understanding of how it shapes the pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities. The authors develop a formal model in which entrepreneurial choice is driven by differences in the arrival rate of various types of advancement opportunities. Entrepreneurship then arises as a result of matching processes between workers and employers, as well as the features of opportunity structures in paid employment. Analyses using Danish census data provide support for empirical implications derived from the model.

Bryan T. Stinchfield, Reed Nelson & Matthew S. Wood, Learning from Levi‐Strauss' Legacy: Art, Craft, Engineering, Bricolage, and Brokerage in Entrepreneurship, 37 Entrepren. Theory & Prac. 889 (2013), available athttp://ssrn.com/abstract=2290082.

Abstract (adapted from authors): Given the increasing attention to traditionally less “rational” entrepreneurial behaviors, such as bricolage, the authors used grounded theory techniques to study 23 diverse entrepreneurs. From this, they developed a five‐category typology of entrepreneurial behavior that includes art, craft, engineering, bricolage, and brokerage. Themes such as self‐perceived identity, organization of space, integration of materials, sense of personal limits, and responsiveness to changing market conditions were observed along categorical lines. The paper discusses the significance of the typology and each category's associations with venture longevity and financial performance for practitioners and for the study of entrepreneurship.