This book makes original contributions to the literature on clusters, human capital, and regional development by focusing on the link between entrepreneurship and economic growth, aiming for a better understanding of the dynamics of growth determined by the entrepreneur's action in the regional space. The focus is therefore on critical reflection and rethinking the articulation between three levels of analysis of economic systems, namely entrepreneurship, human capital and regional development, which have not so far been perfectly articulated in the literature of reference on endogenous growth. Although there has been significant research so far into the success and failure of clusters, the implications of these multiple research efforts fail to provide political decision-makers and company managers with critical information about which mechanisms lie behind cluster success and also about how clusters survive and prosper. The innovative approaches presented in this book on entrepreneurship, human capital mobility and regional development have considerable potential to create new and original implications for decision-makers and managers. In terms of value added, this book contributes to the literature by seeking answers to the following questions: (i) Is the growth and success of clusters over time due to concentration and transmission of business competences through spin-offs located in a given regional space? (ii) Does increased density of job options outside the workplace contribute to increased mobility of human capital between firms located within clusters, and so improve coordination in the local labor market? (iii) Do spin-offs benefit from hiring workers from successful incumbents, inasmuch as those workers are expected to perform better than other workers from different origins? Integrating theoretical frameworks, empirical research, and regional case studies (from Portugal, Spain, Norway and Turkey), the editors and contributors demonstrate that the regional dynamics of industry growth are strongly influenced by the mobility of employees towards new firms.

Cross-cultural knowledge management, an elusive yet consequential phenomenon, is becoming an increasingly essential factor in organizational practice and policy in the era of globalization. In order to overcome culturally shaped blind spots in conducting research in different settings, this volume highlights how the structuring of roles, interests, and power among different organizational elements, such as teams, departments, and management hierarchies (each comprised of members from different intellectual and professional backgrounds), generates various paradoxes and tensions that bring into play a set of dynamics that have an impact on learning processes. In this context, such questions often arise: How is knowledge shared in the multicultural organization? What problems and issues emerge? How do different mentalities affect people's responses to new knowledge and new ideas? How can knowledge-sharing processes be improved? Under which conditions do ideas generated by units or groups of different cultural traditions have a chance of being heard and implemented? Such questions translate into an investigation of potential managerial dilemmas that occur when different but equally valid choices create tensions in decision making. The authors draw from experiences working with a wide variety of organizations, and insights from such fields as sociology and psychology, to shed new light on the dynamics of knowledge management in the multicultural enterprise. In so doing, they help to identify both obstacles to successful communication and opportunities to inspire creativity and foster collaboration. The authors note that in order to enable organizations to transfer knowledge effectively, mechanisms for dispute settlement, mediation of cultural conflict, and enforcing agreements need to be in place.

Among the most vexing challenges for entrepreneurs is how to avail themselves of the necessary services--intellectual venture capital--without burning through their seed money at a rate that makes further borrowing prohibitively expensive. Traditionally, professional firms have charged entrepreneurs a fee for their services, based on billable hours and effort. Yet in the past decade, an alternative model has emerged that obviates the entrepreneurs' conundrum while still satisfying the needs of the service provider. The alternative is an equity-for-services arrangement, whereby professionals are rewarded for their work with a stake in the new venture, to be redeemed at a later date at an initial public offering (IPO), for example, or when a trust fund matures. Both parties can benefit under such an arrangement. The entrepreneur benefits by being able to afford patent attorneys, public relations consultants, recruiting firms, and all the other knowledge providers crucial to the success of a new venture, and the intellectual venture capitalists have an incentive to work toward the long-term success of the startup. This book outlines the potential risks and rewards of equity compensation, enabling both service providers and entrepreneurs to make informed decisions.

Corporate innovation and entrepreneurship are more important than ever to create and sustain growth opportunities. This book deals with the challenge of how to speed up innovation and entrepreneurial initiatives to sustain corporate growth, by focusing on developing the necessary leadership competencies.

Conceptualized and put into practice by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Dr. Muhammad Yunus, social businesses work to address social ills such as poverty, lack of health care, gaps in education and environmental challenges. This book explores the ideation, practice and evaluation of the concept of social business. Not just theoretical foundations but several case studies of social businesses around the world and state-of-the-art assessment of the issues that arise in the planning, marketing and evaluation of social businesses, are featured in this book.

This cutting-edge collection of articles, presented by the California Institute for Social Business (CISB) in collaboration with Professor Yunus, is one of the first comprehensive collections of theory and research on the emerging field of social business. The diverse group of authors come from around the world and from various disciplinary backgrounds, representing the leading academic experts on social business phenomena.

This guide for aspiring entrepreneurs provides expert advice on every aspect of launching a new business. It is designed to be of particular value for academics wishing to exploit the commercial value of a new technology or business solution. Inspiring and readable, it shows how to evaluate the strength of a business idea, how to protect inventions, reviews legal steps and responsibilities, shows how to position products in the market, how to create a business plan and raise initial capital. Case studies, exercises and tips demystify the process of starting a business, build confidence and greatly increase the chances of success.

This book explores the relationship between entrepreneurship and doing good.As research into entrepreneurship has evolved, so has the business environment and the society in which entrepreneurs work. Now more than ever, entrepreneurs are found to reflect on personal commitment, ethical issues and more recently, the influence they could have on society. In short they have embraced the concept of 'the good entrepreneur.' Over time many different strands of 'good' entrepreneurship have emerged; from social, green and sustainable entrepreneurship to ecopreneurship and so forth. Indeed some strands of research have merged while others have registered a lack of field research and analysis. In this book the author argues that this excessive fragmentation has created the need for a reflection on the role of niches in entrepreneurship. Providing analysis from multiple perspectives, the author provides an overview of the relationship between entrepreneurship and doing good as well as an exploration of the drivers that promote research in this field and an outline of research dynamics. Contributing to the current debate around the field of entrepreneurship and its ability to drive responsible and sustainable business practices, this book presents a comprehensive guide for students (graduate, master and PhD), academics and institutions and offers the reader an enhanced understanding of the evolution and research challenges within 'good entrepreneurship.'

This book focuses on the specific traits and nature of entrepreneurial human capital and the extent to which it can be stimulated by entrepreneurship education - especially when these activities combine collaborative practices and innovation. It includes a comprehensive collection of articles on how entrepreneurship education can be structured, providing theoretical reflections as well as empirical evidence. As such it contributes to the ongoing debate on the teachability of entrepreneurial skills and the role of innovation and collaboration in the design of educational programs that aim to spread entrepreneurial human capital.

This unique edited collection explores the ways in which entrepreneurship acts to shape self-identity for Indian women and validate their identities in a patriarchal society. Differing from existing literature which focuses on the antecedents of entrepreneurship for women and their performing outcomes, Indian Women as Entrepreneurs questions whether entrepreneurship is simply about exploiting a business opportunity for profitability. Asserting that both work and societal environments have an impact on an entrepreneur's self-identity, this book demonstrates ways in which self-concept influences the entrepreneur's relationship with their work in terms of motivation, effort and performance. Building on Unveiling Women's Leadership, this book provides an original and important contribution to the literature on entrepreneurial Indian women.

The Complete Library of Entrepreneurial Wisdom covers business basics, including how to and how not to start your business; marketing; marketing design, which is a topic rarely covered; writing, which covers technical, practical, as well as, marketing aspects to writing; and life reflections, such as planning for emergencies and disasters-both natural and man-made. With over 150, power-packed, articles to choose from, the busy entrepreneur has at their fingertips, bite-sized training lessons to help them on their success journey. There is so much information packed into this book that it could well be the only book on core business issues that you will ever need.

This book explores new perspectives on how to improve the chances of success regarding capacity building in developing and emerging countries. Drawing on lessons learned in the course of six decades of capacity building research and practice, it identifies the required conditions for the success of capacity building efforts, and suggests that a radical change in mindset has become a critical aspect in developing countries. In addition, the book discusses capacity building in connection with entrepreneurship (especially female entrepreneurship), transnational diaspora remittances, and combating corruption, which it considers to be essential drivers of sustainable development in developing and emerging countries. The book's contributing authors represent the leading minds in capacity building research and practice, and include researchers from prestigious universities in North America, Europe and Africa, as well as international development experts from institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, African Development Bank, and African Capacity Building Foundation. All authors have considerable expertise regarding capacity building issues, and represent 26 emerging and developing countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Caribbean Islands, North America and Europe.

A spirit of entrepreneurship encompassed the conception and birth of this volume because it addresses a new, and critically important, subject area. The marketing discipline has until recently largely ignored entrepreneurship and new ventures. The growing entrepreneurship field has also devoted little attention to marketing. This is the first scholarly book to discuss and conceptualize the interface between marketing and entrepreneurship and to provide numerous research opportunities on truly important issues. At a time when the marketing discipline is increasingly criticized for too little attention to important topics, this book offers a path for the researcher who wants to make a major impact. This is a pioneering book and it is hoped that it will one day be viewed as a classic contribution to marketing and to entrepreneurship thought. Although there is considerable new knowledge in this volume, the primary focus is on questions, issues and variables that should stimulate added creativity. For the scholar, the sifting and sorting will be fruitful. The contents of this volume will be of value to the reader in search of ideas, concepts and research directions pertaining to marketing in new and/or growing ventures. The authors are leading scholars in the marketing and management disciplines.

The book begins with a rich collection of five articles on the nature of entrepreneurship and its relationship to marketing. This may be the single best array of definitional perspectives ever written, in part because leading contributors to the debate have returned to the task. The second section focuses on market opportunity, but rather than only looking at market analysis and idea screening, there is also ground breaking work regarding entrepreneurial opportunity identification and opportunity recognition. Marketing strategy and each of the marketing mix areas are addressed in separate chapters with particular attention to the uniquenesses of marketing in new enterprises as compared to mature, larger firms. The final section of the book may be the most intriguing, with attention to entrepreneurship in international markets and lesser developed countries, as well as the role of new and smaller enterprises in job generation. The audiences for this book include marketing, management and entrepreneurship professors, PhD candidates, public policy makers, intellectually curious business owners and others.

This book represents a comprehensive state-of-the-art picture of entrepreneurship and small business management issues in the Balkans region. It provides major theoretical and empirical evidence that offers a brighter view of these fields and aims to open up opportunities for greater dialogue in public policy. The readers would be able to enhance their knowledge on small businesses and innovation issues in the Balkans. An outcome of a long lasting endeavour, this book includes contributions of highly reputed authors and experts from the Balkans' countries. Features forewords by two well-known personalities of this field, Leo Paul Dana and Alain Fayolle.

In recent years, social innovation has experienced a steep career. Numerous national governments and large organisations like the OECD, the European Commission and UNESCO have adopted the term. Social innovation basically means that people adopt new social practices in order to meet social needs in a different or more effective way. Prominent examples of the past are the Red Cross and the social welfare state or, at present, the internet 2.0 transforming our communication and cooperation schemes, requiring new management concepts, even empowering social revolutions. The traditional concept of innovation as successful new technological products needs fundamental rethinking in a society marked by knowledge and services, leading to a new and enriched paradigm of innovation. There is multiple evidence that social innovation will become of growing importance not only concerning social integration, equal opportunities and dealing with the greenhouse effects but also with regard to preserving and expanding the innovative capacity of companies and societies. While political authorities stress the social facets of social innovation, this book also encompasses its societal and systemic dimensions, collecting the scientific expertise of renowned experts and scholars from all over the world. Based on the contributions of the first world-wide science convention on social innovation from September 2011 in Vienna, the book provides an overview of scientific approaches to this still relatively new field. Forewords by Agnes HUBERT (Member of theBureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA) of the European Commission) and Antonella Noya (Senior Policy Analyst at OECD, manager of the OECD LEED Forum on Social Innovations)

Miguel-Angel Galindo Martin, Joaquin Guzman Cuevas and Domingo Ribeiro Soriano University of Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, Spain University of Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain The economic growth and the progress of the nations have been two issues that have worried to the economists during centuries. The classical eco- mics books have developed different theories and considered several f- tors that could explain those processes. Unfortunately, a single answer has not been obtained and nowadays economists try also to achieve a response to the mechanism of economic growth. Economic growth has been considered as one of the most relevant e- nomic policy. As it is well known, the validity of an economic policy is measured in terms of economic growth rate. It is supposed that those countries that obtain a higher economic growth rate are designing more efficient economic policies than those that show lower rates. The main corollary to this hypothesis is that the developing countries must follow and copy the economic policies designed by the developed countries."

Interest in and attention to entrepreneurship has exploded in recent years. Nevertheless, much of the research and scholarship in entrepreneurship has remained elusive to academics, policymakers and other researchers, in large part because the field is informed by a broad spectrum of disciplines, including management, finance, economics, policy, sociology, and psychology, often pursued in isolation from each other. Since its original publication in 2003, the Handbook of Entrepreneurship Research has served as the definitive resource in the field, bringing together contributions from leading scholars in these disciplines to present a holistic, multi-dimensional approach. This new edition, fully revised and updated, and including several new chapters, covers all of the primary topics in entrepreneurship, including entrepreneurial behavior, risk and opportunity recognition, equity financing, business culture and strategy, innovation, and the impact of entrepreneurship on economic growth and development. Featuring an integrative introduction, extensive literature reviews and reference lists, the Handbook will continue to serve as a roadmap to the rapidly evolving and dynamic field of entrepreneurship.

An exploration of the interplay between social responsibility, entrepreneurship and the common good. A plethora of books deal with corporate social responsibility alone, social entrepreneurship alone or to a lessen extent with the concept of common good. However no other book has developed an interdisciplinary reflection to analyze the dynamics between these three concepts. Authors from all around the world have contributed to this analysis which is organized in four sections: business and the common good; educating responsible entrepreneurs; corporate social responsibility (CSR) challenges and the common good; and CSR and entrepreneurship in emerging economies.