The start of the 21st century has seen an explosion of online media, with creative content becoming a driving force for competitiveness. As twin engines of the digital economy, much has been said about both creativity and entrepreneurship but less about their relationship. Entrepreneurial Creativity in a Virtual World provides a synthesis in order to develop a conceptual framework for these phenomena. Using real world case studies, Denise Tsang highlights the economic significance of digital media production in the video game, television and magazine sectors. She illustrates the key issues involved, such as intellectual content creation, coordinating commercial, artistic and technical resources, outsourcing of core creative inputs and engaging with the user community. The end result is a book that builds on existing literature to provide a new framework for entrepreneurial creativity. This book will be useful for students and researchers interested in the theory and evidence behind creativity and entrepreneurship. Consultants and policymakers in creative industries in the UK will find this to be an essential read.

Why companies need to move away from a "product first" orientation to pursuing innovation based on customer need. In the past, companies found success with a product-first orientation; they made a thing that did a thing. TheInversion Factor explains why the companies of today and tomorrow will have to abandon the product-first orientation. Rather than asking "How do the products we make meet customer needs?" companies should ask "How can technology help us reimagine and fill a need?" Zipcar, for example, instead of developing another vehicle for moving people from point A to point B, reimagined how people interacted with vehicles. Zipcar inverted the traditional car company mission. The authors explain how the introduction of "smart" objects connected by the Internet of Things signals fundamental changes for business. The IoT, where real and digital coexist, is powering new ways to meet human needs. Companies that know this include giants like Amazon, Airbnb, Uber, Google, Tesla, and Apple, as well as less famous companies like Tile, Visenti, and Augury. The Inversion Factor offers a roadmap for businesses that want to follow in their footsteps. The authors chart the evolution of three IoTs-the Internet of Things (devices connected to the Internet), the Intelligence of Things (devices that host software applications), and the Innovation of Things (devices that become experiences). Finally, they offer a blueprint for businesses making the transition to inversion and interviews with leaders of major companies and game-changing startups.

Innovation Spaces in Asia provides insight into how and why Asia is poised to impact global innovation. Asia is undergoing rapid developments in markets, sources of technology and user preferences. This book provides an empirical understanding and initial conceptualization of these dynamic processes, including the role of multinational enterprises, entrepreneurship and public policy. The accomplished contributors explore case studies of entrepreneurs and large companies in Asia in order to discuss the ways in which customers, institutions and firms, both domestic and foreign, are interacting to affect global processes of innovation and production. Innovation spaces are analyzed within Asian countries and firms, from Asia to the world, and from the world to Asian countries. Students and researchers pursuing innovation, international business and entrepreneurship will find this to be a useful read. This book will also be of interest to innovation managers and public policy practitioners looking for a thorough guide on the topic.

With contributions from authors around the globe, Research Handbook of Entrepreneurial Exit explores this most important phenomenon in the entrepreneurial journey. The authors present a comprehensive review of the current issues in entrepreneurial exits, and provide theoretical and methodological insights for future research. Combining historical perspectives with contemporary thinking, this Handbook examines the following topics: - Gender and Exit - Retirement - Psychological Barriers - Emotional Aspects - Venture Capital Funding - Firm Relocation - Exit from Social Ventures Researchers and habitual entrepreneurs will find the data and case studies included useful, whilst educators can find the answers to `why' and `how' entrepreneurs exit their venture.

The role of business in developing innovative responses to complex social and environmental problems is becoming increasingly urgent as a subject of study. A more proactive role for business is especially pertinent in Sub-Saharan Africa which, although plagued by conflict and poverty, shows signs of a brighter future as the world's second fastest-growing region. Yet there is very little research on this subject in Africa. This book seeks to contribute to the growing body of scholarly work on social and environmental innovation with the two-fold aim of studying the role of business in creating such innovation and focusing on the African context. The chapters and case studies within this book address the role of entrepreneurs, large companies, cross-sector collaboration initiatives, and academia and teachers in social and environmental innovation. Cutting across these sections are four themes: social innovation as a process and outcome; mapping and scaling up innovation; the tension between social purpose and profit generation; and socio-economic and institutional context.

There are many factors involved in becoming an effective entrepreneur. The process of recognizing opportunities and nurturing new ventures must take into account both internal decision-making practice and external environmental influence. Developing, Shaping and Growing Entrepreneurship considers the role played by education, research, context and strategy in helping to grow entrepreneurial projects from the initial seed of an idea through to the fruition of success. This book is a wide-ranging examination of the influences on entrepreneurial activity that also asks new questions of entrepreneurship and opens new avenues of research. As such, it will become essential reading for academic researchers and entrepreneurial practitioners alike.

In the Information Age, historically marginalized groups and developing nations continue to strive for socio-economic empowerment within the global community. Their ultimate success largely depends upon their ability to develop, protect, and exploit their greatest natural resource: intellectual property. Through an exploration of the techniques used in social entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Entrepreneurship and Social Justice provides a framework by which historically marginalized communities and developing nations can cooperate with the developed world to establish a socially cohesive global intellectual property order. The knowledgeable contributors discuss, in four parts, topics surrounding entrepreneurship and empowerment, education and advocacy, engagement and activism and, finally, commencement. Experts in the field, scholars, law professors and students of intellectual property, human rights and international trade and development will find this book to be both thought-provoking and a valuable resource.

This business book is great for leaders, middle managers and entrepreneurs interested in the following categories:

• Small Business
• Entrepreneurship
• Marketing
• Strategy
• Branding
• Customer Experience

Make it easy for customers to choose you; whatever your business, product or service.

With customers now subconsciously weighing up their massively expanded options in terms of purchase friction (how easy it is to spend) and shopping reward (the extras inherent to the buying experience); your job is to make it easy for them to choose you

When is high friction bad? Friction includes frustrations like putting a coin in a supermarket trolley lock, too many clicks, and hidden frictions from awkward presentation, process and offer. Reward includes quality of business support, amazing retail environments, even emotional issues such as trust and belonging.

When is high friction good? What value do different customers place on friction and reward across different buying scenarios? How can I benchmark against competitors? And, where are the big opportunities and where should we focus effort and resource? How do I market improved experiences to win customers?

Friction Reward teaches you how to understand, measure and improve every single possible customer interaction by applying techniques outlined in the book to your customer experiences and organisations.

Readers will:

• Create easier, faster and improved customer experiences by reducing friction and increasing reward.
• Discover how reducing friction attracts new customers, increases spend from existing ones and gives you a competitive advantage.
• Understand how the world's leading retailers, B2B sellers and public service providers are winning using these insights.
• Learn how to apply practical tools and technologies to their own customer and user scenarios both online and in the physical world.

Businesses often find themselves trapped in a competitive dogfight, scratching and clawing for market share with products consumers view as largely undifferentiated. Conventional wisdom suggests that dogfights are to be expected as marketplaces mature, giving rise to the notion that there are "bad" industries where it is unlikely that any company can succeed. But there are notable exceptions in which enlightened executives have changed the rules to grasp the holy grail of business: long-term profitable growth. Rather than joining the dogfights raging within their industry, companies such as Apple, FedEx, and Starbucks have chosen to become metaphorical cats, continuously renewing their distinctive strategies to compete on their own terms. In If You're in a Dogfight, Become a Cat, Leonard Sherman draws on four decades of experience in management consulting, venture capital, and teaching business strategy at Columbia Business School to share practical advice on two of the most vexing issues facing business executives: why is it so hard to achieve long-term profitable growth, and what can companies do to break away from the pack? Sherman takes the reader on a provocative journey through the building blocks of business strategy by challenging conventional wisdom on a number of questions that will redefine management best practices: * What should be the overarching purpose of your business?* Do you really know what your strategy is?* Is there such a thing as a bad industry?* Where do great ideas come from and how do I find them?* What makes products meaningfully different?* What makes and breaks great brands?* How and when should I disrupt my own company?* What are the imperatives to achieving long-term profitable growth? Filled with dozens of illustrative examples of inspiring successes and dispiriting falls from grace, this book provides deep insights on how to become the cat in a dogfight, whether you are a CEO, mid-level manager, aspiring business school student, or curious observer interested in achieving sustained profitable growth.

Allying and expanding the diverse fields of entrepreneurship and sustainable development research is a modern day imperative. The Handbook of Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development Research cuts through the different approaches and perspectives of the two fields to point the way ahead for research on sustainable entrepreneurship, outlining the motivation, intentions and impact of ecopreneurs in a local, national and global context. This Handbook paints an illuminating picture of the historic and current understanding of the bond between entrepreneurship and sustainable development. The authors explore the basic contradictions between the two fields and outline the transformative role entrepreneurship can play in achieving sustainable development. 45 expert researchers and their research communities from 16 countries across Europe, Africa, Australia and North America provide original and informative contributions on a variety of issues, from women's empowerment to climate change and organic farmers to ecotourism. With current and authorative contributions spanning the globe, this Handbook will inspire researchers, teachers and policy-makers to compose their own understanding and contribution on the fast expanding field of entrepreneurship and sustainable development.

How would you like to get business startup advice straight from the man who co-founded Global Entrepreneurship Week and StartUp America? Well now you can. Carl Schramm, the man described by The Economist as 'The Evangelist of Entrepreneurship', has written a myth-busting guide packed with tools and techniques to help you get your big idea off the ground. Carl believes that entrepreneurship has been completely misrepresented by the media, business books, university programmes and MBA courses. He believes that the perception of what it takes to start a business no longer matches the reality - which is bad news for everyone because it stops great ideas coming to life. Burn the Business Plan punctures the myth of the cool, tech-savvy 20-something entrepreneur with nothing to lose and venture capital to burn, showing that most people who start businesses are juggling careers and mortgages just like you. Burn the Business Plan is written to encourage you to get started. It demystifies the entrepreneurial process portrayed on television shows like Dragon's Den. It doesn't rely on largely irrelevant stories of overvalued tech startups, nor does it build on the largely mistaken narrative of a linear path from cold start to great success that is the essence of business planning, as taught in universities. This is the guide to starting and running a business that will actually work for the rest of us. Burn the Business Plan is for regular people who just want practical, real-world advice on how to start and run a successful business. It shows you how to avoid the common mistakes and what you need to do to put your enterprise on track for success.

Entrepreneurial cognition research is at a crossroads, where static views give way to dynamic approaches. This Handbook draws on a variety of perspectives from experts in the field of entrepreneurial cognition to highlight the key elements in a socially-situated view, where cognition is action-oriented, embodied, socially-situated, and distributed. It provides readers with some of the most up-to-date approaches to entrepreneurial cognition research and is designed to be an invaluable and timesaving companion for entrepreneurial cognition researchers. With insights from leading entrepreneurial cognition researchers the Handbook offers a comprehensive literature review of the field. Readers seeking to better understand and participate in some of the most up-to-date approaches to entrepreneurial cognition research will find this Handbook to be especially helpful in their research. Established scholars who are new to the research area will also be interested in this book. University libraries with research-focused business schools will also benefit from this Handbook.

Within an entrepreneurial context, what a person thinks and feels and how they behave are hugely consequential. Entrepreneurs often work in scenarios of considerable time pressure, task complexity, uncertainty and high performance variance. This fascinating volume explores the unique psychological qualities of individuals directly involved in the entrepreneurial process. The book explores major themes in entrepreneurial psychology, including acting entrepreneurially, identifying opportunity, making decisions, choosing and managing an entrepreneurial career, adapting and persisting, and recovering from entrepreneurial failure. The selected essays highlight Dean A. Shepherd's unique perspective on important issues in entrepreneurship, and offer insightful recommendations for future study. Scholars and students of entrepreneurship and business and management, particularly those with an interest in entrepreneurial thought and decision-making, will find this book an invaluable resource.

If you long to maximize your unique abilities and aptitudes, if you strive to combine personal fulfillment with professional satisfaction, if you dream of creating exceptional goods and offering transformative services for others, then you are ready to SOAR.

Many of us aren't designed for the nine-to-five grind that stifles our souls and flattens the tires of where we hoped to go with our lives. Others have settled for what they had to become due to massive responsibility. Both sit on the runway of opportunity with the engine of passion stalled, watching others escalate into the orbit of their dreams and build legacy for their children.

In SOAR! TAKING YOUR ENTREPRENEURIAL PASSION TO THE NEXT LEVEL, T.D. Jakes-iconic communicator, entertainment impresario, and master entrepreneur-reveals how to transform the latent dreams within each of us into the reality of our unique contribution to the world. Blending the practical business acumen of a successful, global CEO with the dynamic inspiration of a life coach, SOAR! provides the tools needed to ignite our imaginations into action. Bridging both the corporate and non- profit worlds, SOAR! challenges us to embrace our divine purpose as we align our character and creativity with our careers. SOAR! is the perfect flight plan for launching the entrepreneurial drive inside each of us. So buckle your seatbelts and prepare for lift off-you have been cleared to fly beyond your fears, to absolutely SOAR!

In this riveting book, Wall Street Journal reporter Robert Frank explores the lives and lifestyles of a new breed of millionaires and billionaires - many of them self-made and from blue-collar backgrounds - and how this new gilded age is affecting wider society. Profiles of 'instapreneurs', dot-com billionaires, and eccentrics from the lower and upper reaches of Richistan take us into the rarified world of people like Ed Bazinet, who became a multi-millionaire by selling miniature ceramic villages, and Tim Blixseth, who earned billions by trading remote stretches of timberland. The influence wielded by the newly wealthy goes far beyond their earning power, and Frank also explores the lifestyles developing around them (butler schools and a new type of service employee, self-help groups for people worth $10 million or more) as well as where their money is going (the commodification of the art world, the rise of 'market-driven' philanthropy). As wealth creation becomes more and more globalised, Richistan looks behind the glitz to find the real story of new money and its impact on the world.

Women's Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century: An International Multi-level Research Analysis is the fourth in the series of books produced in partnership with the Diana International Research Network. The volume takes a multi-dimensional approach to the central theme of gender and entrepreneurship today and in the future. The book takes a holistic approach to exploring, via empirical and theoretical lenses, why women's involvement in venture creation matters. It offers a contemporary and diverse range of topics, written by leading scholars, that builds on a tradition of previous Diana volumes. The chapters span a wide range of countries, methodologies, and levels of analysis, all designed to contribute to advancing understanding of women and their engagement with entrepreneurial endeavours. With its broad span of geographic relevance and research driven by empirical data, this book will prove an essential guide for academics, students and researchers in the field, as well as policymakers and practitioners.

A sizable gap exists between the growing demand for entrepreneurship education and our understanding of how best to approach the teaching and learning of entrepreneurship. Based on papers, presentations and workshops that have appeared at the annual United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) Conference over the past thirty years, this book offers cutting edge perspectives from expert educators and thought leaders on best practices in teaching entrepreneurship, building curricula and developing educational programs. The book is organized into three sections. The first, a set of research papers exploring a range of important issues in entrepreneurship education, provides a comprehensive outline of the field. This is followed by an overview of award-winning model academic programs in entrepreneurship at five different universities and a collection of real-world examples of teaching innovations, unique approaches to experiential learning and high-impact community engagement initiatives. This detailed and thorough synthesis of leading perspectives on entrepreneurship education will appeal to faculty and administrators in business schools, universities, technical schools and other institutions that include entrepreneurship courses in their curriculum.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Ninja Future is an essential read for businesses and individuals striving to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving world: Gary Shapiro, the president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, casts his eye toward the future, charting how the innovative technologies of today will transform not only the way business is done but society itself During his more than three decades at the head of the Consumer Technology Association, Gary Shapiro has witnessed, and been a part of, one of the most extraordinary periods of technological change in human history. Today's world is almost unrecognizable from that of just a decade or two before: in just a few short years, the internet has already transformed how we access information, purchase goods, get from place to place, and do our jobs. And even greater changes are on the horizon. In Ninja Future, Shapiro explains the evolving technological landscape, breakthroughs underway now and those we can only envision. New innovations such as self-driving vehicles, blockchain, 5G, the Internet of Things, and countless others will forever change the economy as we know it. Shapiro uses case studies to identify companies and countries addressing today's challenges particularly well-and relates lessons from those that have stumbled. Drawing on the insights he has gleaned as a martial arts black belt, he shows how businesses can move to succeed in today's turbulent environment by adopting the mindset of "ninjas"-adapting to technological change to capitalize on opportunities at lightning speed.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. Renowned entrepreneurship scholar Robert D. Hisrich provides insights into the venture creation process, as well as the entrepreneur as a person. He outlines the characteristics, motivations and decision making processes of the entrepreneur in different settings (including businesses, government organizations and non-profits/social enterprises) to provide a comprehensive understanding of the individual who creates a new venture. Key features include: * Insights into how creativity and innovation provide a base for developing an idea * A history of the development of entrepreneurship and the changing nature of the entrepreneur * A focus on important aspects of a business plan * Unique perspectives from corporate executives, entrepreneurs and small business managers * Ideas on building a lasting company and/or ending the venture. Offering a concise, accessible and timely introduction to entrepreneurship, this thoughtful book will prove a valuable supplement to advanced students as well as practitioners of entrepreneurship and anyone interested in the field.

In this innovative book, Laura E. Huggins finds path breaking entrepreneurial solutions to difficult environmental challenges in some of the world's poorest areas. The approaches entrepreneurs are taking to these challenges involve establishing property rights and encouraging market exchange. From beehives to barbed wire, these tools are creating positive incentives and promoting both economic development and environmental improvements. The case studies are from the developing world and reveal where the biggest victories for less poverty and more conservation can be won. The pursuit begins by learning from local people solving local problems. Environmental Entrepreneurship encourages a broad audience to consider secure property rights and free markets as key ingredients to moving out of poverty and improving environmental quality at the same time. It will appeal to academics and students of environmental studies, environmental economics, environmental policy, as well as international development and business. Entrepreneurs and environmental groups such as The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and The World Resources Institute will also find a wealth of invaluable information in this book.

From one of Washington's most influential voices on economic policy, a lively and original argument that reducing inequality is not just fair but also key to delivering broadly shared economic growth and stability. Do we have to choose between equality and prosperity? Many think that reducing economic inequality would require such heavy-handed interference with market forces that it would stifle economic growth. Heather Boushey, one of Washington's most influential economic voices, insists nothing could be further from the truth. Presenting cutting-edge economics with journalistic verve, she shows how rising inequality has become a drag on growth and an impediment to a competitive United States marketplace for employers and employees alike. Boushey argues that inequality undermines growth in three ways. It obstructs the supply of talent, ideas, and capital as wealthy families monopolize the best educational, social, and economic opportunities. It also subverts private competition and public investment. Powerful corporations muscle competitors out of business, in the process costing consumers, suppressing wages, and hobbling innovation, while governments underfund key public goods that make the American Dream possible, from schools to transportation infrastructure to information and communication technology networks. Finally, it distorts consumer demand as stagnant wages and meager workplace benefits rob ordinary people of buying power and pushes the economy toward financial instability. Boushey makes this case with a clear, accessible tour of the best of contemporary economic research, while also injecting a passion for her subject gained through years of research into the economics of work-life conflict and policy work in the trenches of federal government. Unbound exposes deep problems in the U.S. economy, but its conclusion is optimistic. We can preserve the best of our nation's economic and political traditions, and improve on them, by pursuing policies that reduce inequality-and by doing so, boost broadly shared economic growth.

Competition to publish in the top journals is fierce. This book provides entrepreneurship researchers with relevant material and insights to support them in their efforts to publish their research in the most prestigious entrepreneurship outlets. This essential guide to publishing in entrepreneurship brings together a wealth of contributors, all of whom have published in the leading entrepreneurship journals. Based on their experiences as researchers and editors, they bring useful hands-on advice and insight into the research publication process. Both fledgling and experienced entrepreneurship faculty members will find this an essential resource as they strive towards publication in A-ranked entrepreneurship or management journals.

This insightful volume presents a collection of innovative works by two of the leading researchers of firm growth. The studies extend previous research by providing stronger theoretical underpinnings and using longitudinal databases that can separate in time the firms' growth from its presumed causes. They also break new ground by examining different modes of growth, such as sales growth vs. employment growth, and organic growth vs. acquisition-based expansion. Further, the studies investigate the drivers of firm growth and take a critical look at the effects, such as under what circumstances high growth is associated with high profitability. The issue of how firm growth is achieved and managed, and what consequences it has for different stakeholders is both theoretically interesting and practically important. The book will strongly appeal to academics of entrepreneurship, small business management and strategy.