Academic Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economy Context

Entrepreneurship fosters economic development of a country. This appears more crucial and absolute necessity in emerging country context. The efforts have been laid for entrepreneurship development with the collaboration of academic institutions and industries. These collaborations try to transform academic based research into commercialized products to develop a knowledge based society. Government has also initiated numerous projects to support this effort. This chapter presents an overview of the whole scenario along with its challenges, prospects and future development in emerging country context. The theme has been elaborated with a case study on IIT Kharagpur, India.

Critical Review of Entrepreneurship in Oman

Entrepreneurship has assumed super importance for accelerating economic growth both in developed and developing countries. It promotes capital formation and creates wealth in country. It is hope and dreams of millions of individuals around the world. It reduces unemployment and poverty and it is a pathway to prosper. The word entrepreneur is of French origin and literally means the person that takes between – the middlemen; in a more free translation, the individual who pursues a commercial activity. In spite of various studies, defining entrepreneurship is still a major dispute among researchers and the word entrepreneur still has no common meaning among the academic community. So, espousing a very broad definition for entrepreneurship that incorporates business owners and self-employed individuals and adopting a grounded theory approach with in depth literature review of published documents and data, the core of this chapter is to review critically entrepreneurship in the Middle East with specific focus on Oman.

Empowerment Against All Odds

The number of women-owned businesses worldwide has increased significantly, a development that extends to other parts of the world, such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This region's cultural and socioeconomic idiosyncrasies offer unique perspectives on women entrepreneurship. This article provides a critical overview over the situation of female entrepreneurship in the region, which takes into consideration challenges and opportunities on the level of the individual entrepreneurs, as well as on the macro environmental level. We finally discuss constructive solutions in order to increase the number of women business founders.

Impact of Information Technologies, Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation on the Organizational Performance

Information Technology (IT) capabilities play a fundamental role on process innovation and organizational performance. Likewise, corporate entrepreneurship (CE) plays a vital role in the improvement of performance, as the employees' profile is determinant for the success of these organizations. Previous literature relating to IT and CE reveals how little attention has been paid to relationship between these constructs, and what exists is only partial. This research conceptualizes the relationship between IT capabilities, CE, and innovation on the organizational performance. It is intended as a contribution to the ongoing conceptual development of this area and provides initial guidance for future empirical evidence. Thus, the authors advance a synthesized conceptual model in order to evaluate the influence of IT capabilities (IT flexibility, IT integration and IT alignment) to the CE process, through innovation on the organizational performance. The authors create an initial construction of the scenery grounded in past literature, which is refined and reinforced into a conceptual model advancing in theoretical development in the field. Some future research and implications are discussed.

Entrepreneurship and Family Business Phenomenon

Few authors have referred to the existing relationship between the topics of entrepreneurship and family business, but the number is in crescendo. In this work, we will make a description of each type of entrepreneurship offered by the literature, and select seven characteristics that most of them share. These characteristics are contrasted with every type of entrepreneurship and with the family business actors. At last, we will propose a study model, share some conclusions and recommendations for owner families.

The Lebanese Way

Within this diverse and often unstable environment, the social phenomenon of entrepreneurship has emerged. Although this concept is found in many segments of society and individuals, it is often linked to the small business venture, and this environment is where our research will take place. Defining the term presents some challenges because it is more of an activity encompassing a wide range of character traits and skills than just a static concept. Additionally, the Lebanese context may share in the collective nature of a definition, but will also offer unique displays of entrepreneurship that may differ from other societies.

Academic Entrepreneurship as a Catalyst for Quality Higher Education

Higher Education in the post globalization knowledge economy is beset with a host of problems pertaining to quality. Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) are in a dire need of strengthening individual and institutional effectiveness in imparting higher education that meets the global quality requirements. In keeping with the current scenario of Higher Education, it is essential to understand the bi-focal role of Academic Entrepreneurship and Academic Leadership in enhancing the quality of Higher Education. The purpose of this chapter is to understand the symbiotic relation between the two and their role in enhancing the quality of higher education. It also attempts to propose an integrated framework of the Indian Higher Education System's entrepreneurial and leadership system and finally it attempts to devise or suggest strategies to be adopted by both in synchrony to act as catalysts' for Quality Higher Education.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

For countries like Portugal, with limited prospects in terms of employment, one of the solutions involves emigration and the desire of part of the Portuguese people to establish enterprises in other countries, England being one of the most favoured. Taking into account these premises, and in the scope of a broader research on the Portuguese Emigrant Entrepreneurship in Andorra, London, Nice and Monaco, we carried out a questionnaire to 51 Portuguese entrepreneurs living in London, within several economic sectors, between 2013 and 2014. Our main goals were to know the profile of Portuguese immigrant entrepreneurs in London, the reasons for their emigration, the need or opportunity for entrepreneurship, the types and areas of activity of their businesses, the obstacles they had to deal with and the possibility for them to return to Portugal. The novelty of our research lies in the study of the ethnic and economic emigration of Portuguese emigrants in London, a study that was under-researched and under-analysed to this date.

Entrepreneurship Policies for Knowledge Economies

Excellence in the economy of the firm has, at all times, aroused curiosity and has been a most hunted area of dialogue for entrepreneurs. The diligent fostering of a candid habit of mind even in trifles is a matter of high moment both to character and opinions. This realism speaks of human behaviour that is only accountable for the betterment of the entrepreneurship. Therefore every entrepreneur looks for the available and favourable choices which do not generate adverse effects. Excellence in economy of the enterprise is only attainable in the course of good knowledge management practices. The purpose of this chapter is to understand how the economy of the enterprise could be fruitfully improved through entrepreneurship approach and establish its implementation. The chapter reports that right tools to information gathering, right interpretation to knowledge and appropriate entrepreneurship action are the essential dimensions for building economy of the enterprise.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Latin American Family Firms

This chapter examines the role of entrepreneurship and innovation in the development of family businesses in Latin America. The socio-economic dynamics of such region is an interesting field for research, mainly because: it is a major manufacturing hub with growing importance in retail; it experienced a huge economical shift in the last ten years causing the growth of the middle class (an increase of 50 million people); family firms in the region are the main driver of growth and employment. The authors focused the analysis on Mexico due to its singular characteristics, making it a representative example of the region. Based on secondary sources, a characterization of the entrepreneurship and innovation in family owned and managed firms in the region is reviewed. Moreover, based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor database, the authors present some recent data related with entrepreneurship levels in the region and its impact in terms of innovation. Finally, public policy implications are provided in order to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation in family businesses.