While much has been written about the U.S. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program from both an institutional and a policy perspective, there remains a conspicuous void of general information about firms and research projects that are funded through the program. Providing a multi-dimensional picture of such firms and their projects, this incisive book is designed to help the reader understand in more depth the social benefits associated with the SBIR program. Albert N. Link and Martijn van Hasselt discuss the U.S. SBIR program from an institutional, empirical, and policy perspective, examining the policy transfer of the program to other countries, the transfer of technical knowledge through patents and scientific publications, and the technology transfer of commercialised research outputs. Exploring new program and project relationships, the book could serve as a springboard for future in-depth analyses about the SBIR program and its impact on economic and social matters. Forward-thinking in approach, Small Firms and U.S. Technology Policy provides a roadmap for future academic and policy research into the SBIR program, making it a valuable read for scholars and students of business and management studies. U.S. and international policymakers and business owners will also benefit from its discerning look into the SBIR program.

This book offers cutting-edge insights into the changing landscape of entrepreneurial finance, as digital technologies play an increasingly dynamic role in the world economy. Assessing the rapid development of innovative technologies in entrepreneurial ecosystems, it contributes to a wider discussion on the role that technology plays in facilitating and commercializing ideas in the context of global finance. Chapters offer a systemic, comparative analysis of the interplay between financial activities and digital technologies, reflecting on the acceleration of the development of innovative technologies and alternative financing. The book includes thoughtful discussions of women entrepreneurs, crowdfunding, business angels and big data, connecting these topics to wider discussions of technology-based entrepreneurship. Offering interdisciplinary insights from a variety of entrepreneurial contexts, including startups, universities, corporations, and the public sector, contributors demonstrate the role of digital technologies in facilitating entrepreneurial ecosystems. Bringing together state-of-the-art qualitative and quantitative research on entrepreneurial ecosystems, this book offers crucial insights for academics and researchers of entrepreneurial finance looking for a better understanding of the contemporary role of digital technologies in alternative financing. Policymakers and practitioners will also benefit from the managerial implications of real-world scenarios analyzed by contributors.

Organizations are in a race to become a digital enterprise. For those leading their company’s tech-driven change, this guide will help you along the way.

Every business makes plans for updating products, technologies, and processes. However, that is simply not enough for a twenty-first century company. While the pressure is intense, you can create a clear path forward using guidance from this book.

In Driving Digital, business technology executive Isaac Sacolick shares the lessons he’s learned over the years as he has successfully spearheaded multiple transformations and helped shape digital-business best practices. You no longer have to blindly trek through the mine field of their company’s digital transformation.

In this thoroughly researched one-stop manual, Sacolick teaches you how to:

• Formulate a digital strategy
• Transform business and IT practices
• Align development and operations
• Drive culture change
• Bolster digital talent
• Capture and track ROI
• Develop innovative digital practices
• Pilot emerging technologies

A clear and lively account of the machinery, innovation and personalities that have shaped the industry that provides the all-essential daily bread. Indispensible for anyone with an interest in industrial history. There is a wealth of literature on the traditional flour milling industry, much of it concerned with the charms of rural settings and ancient crafts, whereas the history of the dramatic changes in milling methods from the 1870s onwards has been somewhat neglected. Written by Glyn Jones, engineer and lecturer in technology, `The Millers' sets out to redress the balance and tells the story of the transformation of the flour milling industry by men of vision with enterprise and engineering skill, from the first experiments with roller mills before 1880 to the sleek, automated flour mills operating at the end of the twentieth century. It is a story of technological endeavour and industrial success. The innovations were revolutionary, with roller mills, purifiers and a variety of sifting and sorting machines replacing millstones and crude sieving equipment. Change was propelled by an increasing demand for white bread, and whiter flour could be produced by roller milling of hard foreign wheats, whereas traditional millstone methods were not suitable for the production of large quantities of branless flour. Henry Simon, who became the pioneering leader of the new field of milling engineering, installed his first roller plant in Manchester in 1878; by 1887 mills on the Simon system could produce enough flour to meet the requirements of 11 million people. The mass production of flour for our daily bread began in earnest. From 1904, the most forceful innovator among British millers was Joseph Rank, who commissioned Henry Simon Ltd to supply new plants at the main ports of Hull, London, Cardiff and Liverpool. The roles played by the other leading millers, many of which are still household names, are also included in this account. Despite the hugely impressive and far-reaching technological advances made by British millers and milling engineers, they have not received the credit they deserve. In truth, they replaced the traditional, basic form of the industry rapidly and effectively, and their inventions transformed milling in Britain and further afield. `The Millers' describes, in a clear and lively way, not only the changes in machinery and processing and the effects on the traditional industry, but the personalities who shaped the trade and the companies they ran, and the myths and legends which have surrounded them. Modern mills, rooted in British innovation and enterprise, are impressive in appearance and striking inside, with machinery that looks smart and is automatically controlled, processing wheat for a range of attractive foods and for the still essential daily bread.

The international cast of authors in this important book explore how internationalizing small and medium sized enterprises (iSMEs) face major crises, such as COVID-19, and have managed them to reach a stable and desired state post-crisis. Chapter orientations vary from theoretical to empirical. Each focuses on issues related to a major crisis, and present already-deployed success strategies in 14 different country environments. The rich diversity of chapters offers a highly significant and timely contribution to the field. This book consists of five parts. An introduction to the volume and an extensive literature review open the book and are followed in Part II by general, yet critical, topics such as firm capabilities, resources and orientations, which collectively influence how smaller firms perceive emerging, approaching or unfolding crises in their environments and how the national public policy as well as the evolution of the crisis affects them. Part III extends this discussion to look at digitization and 'servitization' for higher customer and market-orientation, supply chains and overall governance. Specific research-based examples of potent strategies by four internationalized SMEs in different industries and country environments fill out Part IV and the final part offers a view beyond the current crisis. Scholars and students in entrepreneurship, international business and other related areas will find this very timely volume illuminating.

The Handbook of Research on Artificial Intelligence, Innovation and Entrepreneurship focuses on theories, policies, practices, and politics of technology innovation and entrepreneurship based on Artificial Intelligence (AI). It examines when, where, how, and why AI triggers, catalyzes, and accelerates the development, exploration, exploitation, and invention feeding into entrepreneurial actions that result in innovation success. Individual chapters explore the factors that shape and drive innovation and entrepreneurship, including modalities (such as the Internet of Things (IoT)), challenges (such as privacy and safety concerns), and opportunities (such as augmenting the efficacy frontier of technological solutions enabled by AI). This Handbook provides comprehensive coverage of AI, technology, and innovation and entrepreneurship for academics, policy makers, practitioners, and students.

The scope and depth of family business research have been quickly expanding in the last two decades. The editors and contributors to this book present eight recent studies examining the impact of external or internal family conditions on the innovation, growth, and succession of family firms in Asia. By examining the influence of families on firm behaviors and decisions, researchers have been pushing the boundaries of this field. As researchers develop a better understanding of how families influence their businesses, the family conditions, including the properties and dynamics of families, have been found to play significant roles in the business decisions. In addition, globalization as a pressing issue has brought new opportunities and challenges to families and their businesses. This volume comprises diverse topics, including less commonly examined issues such as kinship, immigrant family enterprises, and family asset management. This book is a rich resource for researchers, students, and family business consultants.

Entrepreneurs are the core and essence of any economy. Without entrepreneurs, there would be no business; without business, there would be no government, as there would be nobody to pay taxes to finance it. What distinguishes entrepreneurs from the masses, and even from innovative individuals, is that they act on opportunities and create something new, thereby driving economic evolution. Entrepreneurship – a South African perspective is a guide to becoming a successful entrepreneur. It describes and illustrates new business creation within a South African context: the start-up process, the growth stages and the challenges in the maturity phase of the business.

In this fifth edition, all the chapters have been revised substantially and special attention has been given to South African and other case studies relevant to the context of Africa. More emphasis is placed on the post-modern trends of the business world, such as the prominent role of technology and the social impact of businesses.

Contents include the following:

• The nature and development of entrepreneurship and the entrepreneur
• Creativity, innovation and the window of opportunity
• Developing the business plan
• Start-up and resources for entrepreneurs
• Fair trade, competition and consumer protection
• Legislation and regulations affecting entrepreneurs
• Financing, growth and buyout of a business
• The Fourth Industrial Revolution, technology and e-commerce opportunities
• Family businesses, franchising and corporate entrepreneurship in South Africa

Entrepreneurship is aimed at students at all higher education institutions in South Africa, as well as entrepreneurs, managers, management consultants and trainees, developers and presenters of in-house business courses.

This Research Handbook provides a solid foundation for exploring the vibrant field of strategic entrepreneurship, with an examination of important topics from theoretical, psychological and economic perspectives. Analysing new directions for future research, this Research Handbook spans the comprehensiveness of the field and offers insights into specific topic areas within strategic entrepreneurship including historical cognition, ethnomethodology and the strategic entrepreneurial mind. With contributions from scholars across diverse backgrounds, the Research Handbook not only critically analyses existing research at the intersection of strategy and entrepreneurship, but also identifies new avenues for future inquiry. The editors provide useful guidance for travelling new paths within the domain of strategic entrepreneurship research, and across other disciplines, based upon distinct theoretical foundations. PhD students, scholars, and researchers alike who want to investigate further into strategic entrepreneurship in depth as well as uncharted territories, will find this Research Handbook a valuable resource.

This book presents a unique collection of case studies from across the globe to create a comprehensive understanding of how family firms can respond to future disruptions. Each case contains learning notes with objectives, discussion questions and suggested readings to facilitate learner understanding and engagement with the topic. Cases on topics such as global succession and governance practices will aid strategic decision-making capabilities in family businesses and will also benefit practitioners in these areas. Diverse in terms of generational involvement, demographic groups, cultural aspects, institutional settings and industries, the cases range from founder-led SMEs to multi-generational family conglomerates in 18 countries spanning over four continents. In addition to identifying successful practices, this book offers unconventional wisdom on the impact of family feuds, sudden death, divorce and multiple marriages on family businesses. It concludes by exposing new understandings on succession and the unique role played by rising-generation leaders in this disruptive era. Informed by the common research paradigm of the Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practice (STEP) Project Global Consortium, this book will provide a practical learning experience for advanced students and scholars of family business, family entrepreneurship, and strategic management studies.

Just how should we teach entrepreneurship? This important book provides many of the answers to this challenging question. In developing the first signature pedagogy for entrepreneurship education, Colin Jones unites the contexts of enterprise and education at the intersection of scholarship, transformational learning and student engagement. Good teaching for entrepreneurship is shown to emerge both from the educator and the students' interest. For the educator, a process of scholarly leading is required to support student interest - from the alternate perspective, students require a willingness to welcome uncertainty and challenge the existing boundaries to effectively develop a capacity for self-negotiated action. A key guide for all entrepreneurship lecturers and tutors, written for all teaching contexts, this book will challenge you to teach 'who you are', as well as what you know.

What is it about the top tech product companies such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Netflix and Tesla that enables their record of consistent innovation? Most people think it's because these companies are somehow able to find and attract a level of talent that makes this innovation possible. But the real advantage these companies have is not so much who they hire, but rather how they enable their people to work together to solve hard problems and create extraordinary products. As legendary Silicon Valley coach--and coach to the founders of several of today's leading tech companies--Bill Campbell said, "Leadership is about recognizing that there's a greatness in everyone, and your job is to create an environment where that greatness can emerge." The goal of EMPOWERED is to provide you, as a leader of product management, product design, or engineering, with everything you'll need to create just such an environment. As partners at The Silicon Valley Product Group, Marty Cagan and Chris Jones have long worked to reveal the best practices of the most consistently innovative companies in the world. A natural companion to the bestseller INSPIRED, EMPOWERED tackles head-on the reason why most companies fail to truly leverage the potential of their people to innovate: product leadership. The book covers: what it means to be an empowered product team, and how this is different from the "feature teams" used by most companies to build technology products recruiting and coaching the members of product teams, first to competence, and then to reach their potential creating an inspiring product vision along with an insights-driven product strategy translating that strategy into action by empowering teams with specific objectives--problems to solve--rather than features to build redefining the relationship of the product teams to the rest of the company detailing the changes necessary to effectively and successfully transform your organization to truly empowered product teams EMPOWERED puts decades of lessons learned from the best leaders of the top technology companies in your hand as a guide. It shows you how to become the leader your team and company needs to not only survive but thrive.

This timely book takes both a practical and academic perspective of innovation in sport management, exploring the role of entrepreneurship in sport. With its interdisciplinary approach, it provides a holistic overview of the ways in which sport is both innovative and entrepreneurial. Expert contributors examine how technological advances, scientific approaches, digitalization and tournament design shape, or are shaped by, entrepreneurial ventures in sport management. Chapters also discuss the implications of the coronavirus pandemic for the sports industry, analysing how sport entities and managers have had to be innovative in order to adapt to the new market and unpredictable societal conditions created by the pandemic. The book reflects on the importance of innovation for sport management, highlighting the need for futuristic thinking as sports organisations try to develop better practices. Offering practical examples of entrepreneurship in sport, this book will be a useful resource for scholars and students of sports, sport management and management education. It will also be beneficial for sports practitioners and managers focusing on organisational innovation and how to navigate crises.

Building on the success of the first volume of Teaching Entrepreneurship, this second volume features new teaching exercises that are adaptable and can be used to teach online, face to face or in a hybrid environment. In addition, it expands on the five practices of entrepreneurship education: the practice of play, the practice of empathy, the practice of creation, the practice of experimentation, and the practice of reflection. This portfolio of practices leads to a holistic teaching approach designed to help students think and act more entrepreneurially under various degrees of uncertainty and across contexts. Here in Volume Two the editors and contributors demonstrate how the five practices are a framework for course development to help students make progress toward a more entrepreneurial way of thinking and develop the ability to find and create new opportunities with the courage to act on them. Educators trying to build entrepreneurship into their curriculum, from within and outside the business school, will find Teaching Entrepreneurship, Volume Two invaluable in developing experiential learning experiences.

Ethnography is at the heart of what researchers in management and organization studies do. This crucial book offers a robust and original overview of ''doing'' organizational ethnography, guiding readers through the essential qualitative methods for the study of organizations. Preparing students to enter the field with a confident outlook and a toolkit of skills, chapters present a series of action-learning projects to arm readers with practical exercises that will hone the abilities of the organizational ethnographer. Expert contributors offer crucial outlines into a variety of essential skills, including shadowing, autoethnography, interviews, media analysis and storytelling. The book concludes with a chapter by a doctoral student, providing unique insights into the development of the ethnographic understanding of organizational realities. Featuring useful exercises and an accessible style, this book is critical reading for PhD and Masters students in business administration and organizational theory, as well as social science students undertaking qualitative methodology programmes. It will also be useful for students on MBA courses in need of a humanistic approach to organizations.

This timely book comprises detailed personal narratives of entrepreneurs who have worked towards peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It begins by offering an innovative framework of analysis based on scientific knowledge about social entrepreneurs, defining 'peace entrepreneurship' and mapping its unique characteristics. It also explains the narrative methodology used, and provides a short history of the conflict in the region. The book focuses on 11 life stories of Israeli and Palestinian entrepreneurs who have strived for peace through social ventures. Chapters discuss the various forms of social activism that peace entrepreneurs have pursued, the challenges that they have faced and the motivations behind their ventures. The editors conclude by considering the similarities and differences across the stories, offering insights into what drives people to act as peace entrepreneurs and what sustains their activities in the face of ongoing conflict. Documenting rousing and inspirational life narratives, this book is crucial for scholars and researchers of social entrepreneurship who are searching for new avenues of inquiry into ventures in a conflict context. It will also provide motivational reading for other practitioners of peace entrepreneurship, as well as policymakers working with social entrepreneurs in conflict zones.

This book is about innovation ecosystems, Clusters of Innovation (COI) and the Global Networks of Clusters of Innovation (GNCOI) they naturally form. What is innovation and why is it important to us? Innovation is nothing less than the ability for constructive response and adaptation to change. The cause and catalyst for that change is frequently identified as technology and its unceasing pressure to improve on existing solutions and address unmet needs. The last decade has painfully demonstrated that exogenous environmental shocks are also sources of change that call for innovative responses, ranging from the obvious challenges such as global warming and Covid-19 to the more subtle social and political perturbations of our time. Entrepreneurs, in collaboration with venture investors and major corporations can create a flywheel of constructive engagement, a cluster of Innovation, that helps build the resiliency of our communities to adsorb and rebound from these shocks. The process is enhanced when actively supported by government, universities, and other elements of the ecosystem. This book provides the tools for understanding this value creation process and the means to enhance it, in both emerging and mature innovation ecosystems. This book provides a framework for understanding innovation in mature and emerging innovation ecosystems to a wide swath of professionals and academics, from senior executives of major corporations, government leaders, public policy makers, and consultants, to academics, researchers, and educators.

This timely and incisive Handbook provides critical contemporary insights into the theory and practice of entrepreneurship and marketing in the twenty-first century. Bringing together rich and varied contributions from prominent international researchers, it offers a reflective synthesis of scholarship at the interface between marketing and entrepreneurship. Emphasising the need for contextual analysis of marketing and entrepreneurial practices, this Handbook explores the effectiveness of a variety of behaviours, supporting its insights with relevant theory. Chapters cover areas such as innovation, strategy and networking for SMEs, social media and crowdfunding, and entrepreneurial marketing in the arts, including a focus on the growing phenomenon of cultural entrepreneurship. Scholars and postgraduate students in entrepreneurship and marketing, and particularly those working on the intersections between them, will find this Handbook an invaluable read. Its examination of the efficacy of various practices will also be of great interest to marketing professionals and entrepreneurs themselves. Contributors include: C. Ball, A. Bayraktar, S. Brown, D. Cummins, J.H. Deacon, N. Dennis, E. Erdogan, I. Fillis, J.B. Ford, I.S. Fraser, P.J. Fraser, L. Frondigoun, E. Gallagher, A. Gilmore, V. Gustafsson, B. Hynes, B. Jones, R. Jones, M. Kelly, F. Kerrigan, A. Kincaid, T.A. Kirchner, O.F. Lee, K. Lehman, E. Lloyd-Parkes, S. Loane, M. Macaulay, S. Mawson, M.P. Miles, S. Mirvahedi, S.C. Morrish, T. Morrow, S. Mottner, E.L. Ngan, K. Nightingale, R. Noorda, A. Patterson, C. Preece, E. Ramsey, R. Rentschler, E. Ritch, V.L. Rodner, J.E. Schroeder, Z. Sethna, R. Shannon, A.M.J. Smith, R. Smith, M. Suoranta, N. Telford, P. Tjabbes, C. Uslay

Bringing together scholars from around the world, this book provides extensive coverage of the academic literature and research on women's entrepreneurship policy. Featuring contributions from members of the Global Women's Entrepreneurship Policy Research Network, the book explores and critiques contemporary policy instruments while also pointing toward potential policy solutions. Chapters aim to deepen understanding of women's entrepreneurship policy and raise awareness among policy makers, programme managers and academics of the dangers associated with gender-blind entrepreneurship policies. The book concludes that 'one size fits all' policies that ignore the gender dimension do not support women entrepreneurs effectively. Research-based and international in approach, Women's Entrepreneurship Policy will be a useful guide for academics and advanced students in the areas of entrepreneurship, gender and management, diversity and management, and international business. It will also be beneficial for policy makers and those involved in designing and delivering women's entrepreneurship programmes.

What does it mean to be an entrepreneurial scholar? Dimo Dimov draws on an eclectic range of philosophical ideas to investigate the study of entrepreneurs and makes the case for entrepreneurial scholarship to become more holistic, dynamic, and future oriented. This thought-provoking book argues that entrepreneurs seek to put knowledge in the service of the future, whereas scholars seek to put the future in the service of knowledge. Engaging with this tension, Dimov explores the relationship between the study of entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurs who are studied. Creating a framework for entrepreneurial scholarship, this concise book highlights four distinct styles and approaches to the field: theoretical, integrative, craft and clinical. He invites reflection on the role and place of entrepreneurs in modern society, and puts the case that the entrepreneurial scholar should embrace interdisciplinarity as a way of engaging with entrepreneurship as a holistic experience, and draw on design science as a way of improving the art and skills of entrepreneurship. This innovative book will be a stimulating read for academics and students of entrepreneurship, and its accessible format will also appeal to reflective practitioners.

'Hearing grasshoppers jump' - or keeping one's ear so close to the ground that one can detect the slightest movement - is one of the nuggets of practical wisdom that have guided Raymond Ackerman throughout his life and career. As this lively and immensely readable story makes clear, he is a man of enormous energy and passion, often in the public spotlight, always on the move, yet at the same time a private, reflective person, who has kept a detailed daily diary for most of his life and who takes the time to listen, to keep his ear to the ground and so seize the opportunities when they present themselves. And what opportunities they have been.

Raymond Ackerman, South Africa's most successful retailer, was born with retailing in his blood. His father, Gus, built up the Ackermans chain into a household name with great flair and determination. Raymond Ackerman himself made his mark early as the innovative head of the Checkers food chain, until that fateful day in 1966 when he was summarily dismissed by the old-guard management - a dismissal that has been described as 'the single greatest error in South African business'. It was also the beginning of Raymond Ackerman's greatest triumph, for that push led to the growth of the national Pick 'n Pay chain and to a story of phenomenal success.

This book is a personal account of a man whose private passions and values have animated a company and whose life has been so much more than mere business. Not everyone may agree with some of his stands or positions but no one can fail to appreciate the frankness and liveliness of his down-to-earth story or fail to be won over by his passionate, positive engagement with his country and with life

Student-run ventures, actual businesses that students enroll in as a course and run themselves, are changing the ways in which students learn by offering valuable hands-on experience. Many universities around the US have some form of student-run venture operating on campus, but how learning is reinforced and integrated into the classroom varies widely, as does the meaningfulness of the overall student experience. Most universities operate these ventures as one-offs, disconnected from formal academic instruction and as a side project that never gets full faculty or student attention. This book examines six exemplar student-run ventures in depth. These ventures span disciplines from all across campus (arts, humanities, technology) and have known track-records of success, not only from a revenue perspective, but also in terms of pedagogy and learning. Readers learn the inner workings of all six student-run venture courses first-hand from the faculty teaching the course and from students who have taken the course. For instructors looking to start a student-run venture on their campus this book is a must-have roadmap that is sure to help them sidestep obstacles and to accelerate success. The insights contained here show you how you can enhance student engagement and learning by incorporating elements of 21st century entrepreneurship education into the classroom.