The world is witnessing profound change. The economic and geopolitical dominance of the West is being increasingly challenged by the rapid emergence of several developing countries, most conspicuously Brazil, Russia, India and China. The West is also struggling with a financial crisis and the near impotence of traditional policy tools to rekindle growth. How should firms respond? How must International Business scholars change their thinking to both reflect and explain these epochal changes? What advice can they give hard-pressed governments? This volume contains papers which grapple with this challenging agenda. They consider three key themes: How can better understanding of institutions and culture help give analytical grip? How do and should firms adjust their strategies to cope with processes which operate at a range of spatial scales from the very local to the global? How best do firms place themselves both in physical location and within often complex global networks?

The fields of Economic Geography and International Business share an interest in the same phenomena, whilst each provides both a differing perspective and different research methods in attempting to understand those phenomena. The Routledge Companion to the Geography of International Business explores the nature and scope of inter-disciplinary work between Economic Geography and International Business in explaining the central issues in the international economy. Contributions written by leading specialists in each field (including some chapters written by inter-disciplinary teams) focus on the nature of multinational firms and their strategies, where they choose to locate their activities, how they create and manage international networks and the key relationships between multinationals and the places where they place their operations. Topics covered include the internationalisation of service industries, the influence of location on the competitiveness of firms and the economic dynamism of regions and where economic activity takes place and how knowledge, goods and services flow between locations. The book examines the areas for fruitful inter-disciplinary work between International Business and Economic Geography and sets out a road map for future joint research, and is an essential resource for students and practitioners of International Business and Economic Development.

"The New Technology-Based Firms in the New Millenium" series provides up to date research on a variety of aspects of High Technology Small Firm formation and growth (HTSFs) from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives and from national contexts throughout the world. This edited book series reflects on and shapes currently popular national government policies insofar as they relate to HTSFs. It is the only international publication specifically dealing with HTSF formation and growth and it uniquely provides an uninterrupted record of research in this area since 1993. This latest volume is a collection of the best papers presented at the HTSF Conference held in the United Kingdom at Manchester Business School in June 2007. Three major themes have emerged. Six particularly strong chapters of this volume are devoted to the critical problems of HTSF financing, comprising two contributions from the United Kingdom and individual chapters from Sweden, the Irish Republic, Italy, and Belgium. A further four papers are concerned with aspects of strategic development in HTSFs, and a final group of three papers deal with HTSF marketing problems, often in a 'born global' strategic context.

The research and policy evaluations presented in these papers represent a uniquely valuable evolving record of policy and research on high technology small firms through many changes in economic conditions and government policy approaches over more the a decade and a half. Specific issues in the book series cover many of the key industrial development policies adopted by developed, and developing, national governments since the early 1990's including, for example, writings on policy and practice concerning science parks, incubators, academic enterprise, industrial networking and the role of clusters in nurturing high technology small firms formation and growth. In particular, the on-going problem of early stage high technology funding has been a theme of constant concern since 1993, and because it remains resistant to amelioration, will endure into the future. Both the conference and the ensuing book series represent a pre-eminent vehicle for all the major international researchers concerned with high technology small firms to present their work to each other and the wider public.

This volume is contemporary in focus, and explores key issues in current debates concerning international trade policy. The contributors are leading economists and political economists from Britain, Europe, the United States and Japan.

Series Information:
Routledge Studies in the Modern World Economy

The latest edition of this international edited book series, based on the formation and growth problems of High Technology Small Firms (HTSF), contains the best papers presented at the 2011 and 2013 conferences, both held at Manchester Business School. This volume remains true to the initial mission of the HTSF Conference, established in 1993, to advance our knowledge of high-technology entrepreneurship and to advocate the need for more and better designed policy to promote such entrepreneurship. The need is as great as ever it was, not least given the continued economic stagnation of the European economy in the wake of the Financial Crisis and the Euro crisis. These papers address key themes relating to improving our understanding of the processes involved in high-technology entrepreneurship and of the design of effective policy to promote this research. The first two groups of papers examine the start-up and commercialization processes and the internationalization processes, which are often important for new high-technology businesses. Other papers examine topics like entrepreneurship clusters, inter-firm collaboration, and growth strategy for high-technology small firms.

This volume is the latest edition of an international edited book series based on the formation and growth problems of High Technology Small Firms (HTSFs) begun in 1993. This body of work is unique, and maps the evolution of research in this area through almost two decades of academic research and government policy towards a sector that is the key to future prosperity of developed and developing notational economies throughout the world.

This volume is the latest edition of an international edited book series based on the formation and growth problems of High Technology Small Firms (HTSFs) begun in 1993. This body of work is unique, and maps the evolution of research in this area through almost two decades of academic research and government policy towards a sector that is the key to future prosperity of developed and developing notational economies throughout the world. In this the latest Volume, there is one major and two subsidiary themes that have emerged from the best papers to be presented at the HTSF Conference held at the University of Twente at Enshede in May 2008. Following a contextual introduction by the editors, seven of the chapter are concerned with the key issue of strategy, which is always a key concern for HTSFs as they seek to find the best way to getting their products to the market. Indeed, a further two papers are concerned with the requirements of international marketing, while a final three papers deal with aspects of education for HTSF founders.

Presents papers which grapple with some of the most important developments and challenges in International Business, both for the firms who must fashion strategy within a rapidly changing world economic order and researchers who seek to explain the nature of these shifts and how firms respond.

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Ward et al., examine the question of whether providing work experience within courses of study in higher education affects entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviour, important given government imperatives to foster entrepreneurship through the education system. They consider two dimensions: self-efficacy, which broadly relates to confidence in ability; and, entrepreneurial intent which relates to positive attitudes towards engaging in risk taking or firm start-up. Their sample is of 158 undergraduates who engaged in a summer work placement linked to their study. Their key finding is that positive effects on self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intent depends on the nature of the experience, being fostered by performing well in the face of difficulty and the closeness of the placement activity to their studies. Such experience appears more common when undertaking a placement in a small firm. Van der Sijde et al., consider the extent to which University start ups which are global as opposed to being domestically focussed differ in the extent of their business networks, using a sample comprising five technology-based firms of each type. They establish that global start-ups do have more extensive networks in terms of number of actors and global actors in the network at start-up, although their networks do not expand thereafter significantly more than domestic start-ups. They also have significantly more sources of capital.

The fields of Economic Geography and International Business share an interest in the same phenomena, whilst each provides both a differing perspective and different research methods in attempting to understand those phenomena. The Routledge Companion to the Geography of International Business explores the nature and scope of inter-disciplinary work between Economic Geography and International Business in explaining the central issues in the international economy. Contributions written by leading specialists in each field (including some chapters written by inter-disciplinary teams) focus on the nature of multinational firms and their strategies, where they choose to locate their activities, how they create and manage international networks and the key relationships between multinationals and the places where they place their operations. Topics covered include the internationalisation of service industries, the influence of location on the competitiveness of firms and the economic dynamism of regions and where economic activity takes place and how knowledge, goods and services flow between locations. The book examines the areas for fruitful inter-disciplinary work between International Business and Economic Geography and sets out a road map for future joint research, and is an essential resource for students and practitioners of International Business and Economic Development.

In the beauty and violence of backwoods Tennessee, Chance of Rain is a story of vengeance and the struggle for goodness. With the murder of a young Wildlife Officer, Chance of Rain follows two veteran game wardens, both bound for retribution. One, the Chief Wildlife Officer for the state, Ethan Stewart, demotes himself and transfers into the murdered officer's vacant position. The second, the wildlife officer from the adjoining county, is an ex-Navy SEAL named W.B. Langford, who has a more direct plan of action. And when these two forces combine, backwoods law enforcement takes on new dimensions. From poachers, to drug smugglers and the Russian Mafia attempting to capture the Kentucky Lake paddlefish caviar industry, Ethan and W.B. follow the truth wherever it leads, and in the process, establish relationships that bond them like family to something much larger.