Entrepreneurial Personality and Small Business Management offers a comprehensive analysis with theoretical and empirical grounding for understanding how entrepreneurial personality shapes small business outcomes. It explores why entrepreneurs act differently when facing similar situations and why some are more successful than others. Simona Leonelli and Francesca Masciarelli provide detailed quantitative and qualitative analyses based on original datasets, identifying the main personality traits of an entrepreneur. They particularly focus on how entrepreneurial narcissism affects small businesses and influences habitual entrepreneurship. Chapters draw on research techniques from a wide variety of disciplines including strategic management, entrepreneurial finance and innovation studies to reveal the importance and role of personality traits in shaping firm outcomes. This book represents an important step towards the development of a more complete understanding of the entrepreneur's role in a small firm. It will be a valuable resource for scholars and researchers interested in entrepreneurial behavior and SMEs, in particular how personality affects business outcomes. The focus on how personal characteristics, traits and qualities can lead to success will also be of interest to entrepreneurs and business advisors.

Cultural proximity consists in shared language, codes ,and norms of communication and exchange between actors. It is generally considered important for organizations, enhancing communication and facilitation interaction between actors. In such situation, diversity is often seen as a source of richness and originality. However, high levels of proximity might create some risk, leading to lock-in and inertia, with a negative impact on the innovativeness of the organization. While the role of cultural proximity is subject to much debate within organizations studies, a comprehensive understanding of cultural proximity remains elusive. This book explores the organizational implications of the concept of cultural proximity, delving into the managerial challenges posed by diversities and similarities in culture within a business environment using different levels of analysis. The key messages of the present book, grounded on original empirical evidence, can be summarized as follows: cultural proximity is a key factor for managing innovation in present times; innovation requires a deliberate orchestration of the dichotomy between cultural proximity/cultural diversity; there are specific circumstances where proximity can be beneficial for managers and entrepreneurs. The book will be of value to researchers, academics, managers, and students in the fields of management science, human resource management, innovation studies, and organizational studies.

Cultural proximity consists in shared language, codes ,and norms of communication and exchange between actors. It is generally considered important for organizations, enhancing communication and facilitation interaction between actors. In such situation, diversity is often seen as a source of richness and originality. However, high levels of proximity might create some risk, leading to lock-in and inertia, with a negative impact on the innovativeness of the organization. While the role of cultural proximity is subject to much debate within organizations studies, a comprehensive understanding of cultural proximity remains elusive. This book explores the organizational implications of the concept of cultural proximity, delving into the managerial challenges posed by diversities and similarities in culture within a business environment using different levels of analysis. The key messages of the present book, grounded on original empirical evidence, can be summarized as follows: cultural proximity is a key factor for managing innovation in present times; innovation requires a deliberate orchestration of the dichotomy between cultural proximity/cultural diversity; there are specific circumstances where proximity can be beneficial for managers and entrepreneurs. The book will be of value to researchers, academics, managers, and students in the fields of management science, human resource management, innovation studies, and organizational studies.

This groundbreaking book explores whether, how and why firms may generate value from social assets. Based on original empirical evidence, this is the first book that systematically integrates different approaches to social capital and develops a new and more comprehensive framework that relates social capital to various firm s strategies. The author delves deeply into the nature, dimensions and dynamics of social capital deploying research and analytical techniques from a wide variety of disciplines including, the theory of the firm, entrepreneurship, regional studies, strategic management, international business and innovation studies. Francesca Masciarelli provides insights into a new multilevel configuration of social capital and supports this with an abundance of empirical evidence. Making a step towards the development of a more comprehensive theory of social capital this book will prove essential for graduate students and scholars in business strategy, the social sciences, technology strategy, industrial organization, political science, economics of innovation, economics of technological change, internationalization and regional studies. Practitioners, leading consultancies, business advisers and policymakers operating in the field of business strategy and management of innovation will also find plenty of stimulating information in this valuable study. Contents: Foreword by Helena Yli-Renko 1. Introduction and Overview Part I: The Strategic Value of Geographically Bound Social Capital 2. The Regional Determinants of Firms Innovation: The Role of Social Capital and Regional Creativity 3. The Impact of Social Capital on Firm Bank Relationships Part II: The Strategic Value of Individual Social Capital 4. Turning Public into Private: How Geographically Bound Social Capital Amplifies Entrepreneurs Network for Innovation 5. International Social Capital and the Offshoring of Intangibles 6. The Role of Social and Human Capital in the Succession Process in Family Firms 7. Conclusions References Index

Sustainable Entrepreneurship: How entrepreneurs create value from sustainable opportunities presents new frameworks to illustrate how entrepreneurs create value from sustainable opportunities and producing benefits for their business, society, and the environment. Employing research and analytical techniques from a wide variety of disciplines, including strategic management, regional studies, and innovation studies, Sustainable Entrepreneurship contributes to existing literature on this subject by delving deeply into the nature of sustainable entrepreneurial opportunities through the analysis of how contemporary wealth creators capitalize on those openings. Francesca Masciarelli and Simona Leonelli argue that entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in resolving ecological challenges through the creation of products, services and production methods that are simultaneously environmentally friendly and competitive on the market. This rigorous work offers unique new insights and represents a step towards the development of a more comprehensive analysis of sustainable entrepreneurship. By drawing on diverse perspectives, it demonstrates that the entrepreneur should consider the main sources of entrepreneurial opportunities and scrutinize the strategies and the local conditions that enable firms to create value.