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Given the critical mass of literature on entrepreneurial risk-taking, the purpose of this paper is to assess the contribution to the knowledge so far by exploring important themes in the literature on entrepreneurial risk-taking.

The review is organized around four themes: nature of entrepreneurial risk-taking; antecedents of entrepreneurial risk-taking; context of entrepreneurial risk-taking; and outcomes of entrepreneurial risk-taking. The author critically evaluates the literature on each theme and presents the pointers for future research.

Literature does provide a holistic view encapsulating different dimensions of entrepreneurial risk-taking, but it has produced largely inconsistent findings in terms of risk and gender, risk propensity of entrepreneurs in comparison to non-entrepreneurs and the outcomes of entrepreneurial risk-taking. Organizational antecedents, non-financial measures and ethical- and health-related consequences of entrepreneurial risk are underexplored. Inconclusive literature also implies that the risk may not be a distinguishing or important factor for undertaking an entrepreneurial endeavor. Therefore, it is pertinent to explore the critical factors entrepreneurs consider (or not consider) while marshalling their resources to embark on an entrepreneurial journey. This posits the need to explore an entrepreneur’s informal approach toward risk-taking.

Suggested pointers of future research will potentially enhance the theoretical understanding of entrepreneurial risk-taking.

This chapter introduces the two main topics of ‘entrepreneurial policing’ and ‘criminal entrepreneurship’ and begins in Section 1.1 by considering the concept and scope of entrepreneurial policing around which this monograph is organised. Its definition and ontological development are considered. Thereafter, the author briefly discuss what entrepreneurship is (and is not) and set out examples of entrepreneurship of interest to policing, including – ‘Corporate’ and ‘Team’ Entrepreneurship, ‘Intrapreneurship’, ‘Social Entrepreneurship and Animateurship’, ‘Civic Entrepreneurship’, and ‘Public Service Entrepreneurship’. The author then discusses why entrepreneurship is of critical importance to the police service and discuss worked examples. Having developed a basic understanding of the power and utility of entrepreneurship, then in more detail what the term entrepreneurial policing means and how it evolved in practice and in the academic literature are considered. In Section 1.2, the foundations of entrepreneurial policing considering its ontological and epistemological development from ‘New Public Management’ to ‘New Entrepreneurialism’ and also the influence of the merging literatures of ‘Criminal Entrepreneurship’ and ‘Entrepreneurial Leadership’ are critically examined. In Section 1.3, our consideration to include a more nuanced understanding of the what is referred to as the ‘Entrepreneurship–Policing Nexus’ including consideration of the influence of dyslexia on policing and crime and the power of the ‘Entrepreneurial’ and ‘Gangster’ dreams on entrepreneurial motivation and propensity are expanded. In Section 1.4, an attempt is made to identify who the stakeholders of this new policing philosophy are? Finally, in Section 1.5, the chapter takeaway points which both articulates and confirms the inherent importance of entrepreneurship in policing and criminal contexts are discussed and detailed.

In the past decade, the concept and theory of “Entrepreneurial Policing” has emerged in academic and policing circles, particularly in a UK context. The purpose of this paper is to collect salient articles from extant but diverse literatures such as policing and criminology to synthesise a literature on it, focussing upon conceptual, theoretical and practical elements.

The approach is based on synthesising a literature using an in-depth review methodology and on analysing it to develop new insights into theoretical elements.

The findings are that the literature base is diverse and comes from a variety of policing, criminology, entrepreneurship, management, leadership and policy journals. There is a protean literature but at present little conceptual or theoretical clarity.

There is a need for further empirical research in the form of qualitative face-to-face interviews to be conducted to develop typologies, taxonomies and topographies of entrepreneurial policing (EP). Developing illustrative case studies and teaching cases will educate new generations of police officers into the power and potential of EP as a change agent. This necessitates a change of policing structures, philosophies, processes and practices. From such theoretical groundwork, it is possible at a universal theory of what constitutes EP can be developed and tested. There is a need for commissioned research into the potentially revolutionary phenomenon; a text book and for training courses and seminars on the topic.

There are a number of practical implications for policing and policy practitioners and for its application in the future. From a policing perspective, an increased awareness of EP and criminal entrepreneurship can have positive outcomes in terms of new policing structures, philosophies, methodologies, practices and processes. From a criminal perspective, it heralds a better understanding of entrepreneurial crime, entrepreneurial criminals and organised crime groups. This could result in entrepreneurship educational programmes for police officers, senior officers and other law enforcement personnel and entrepreneurship awareness training for prisoners and ex-offenders and new avenues for utilising entrepreneurship as a diversion out of crime.

There are also a number of social implications including the need for policy makers and politicians to be aware of the policing–entrepreneurship nexus and to award financial grants to encourage enterprising behaviour across the criminal justice system; encourage entrepreneurs to give back to their local communities; and increase the number of social enterprises in under-privileged communities.

This review is the first of its kind to deal specifically with EP and its evolution.

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to study how dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation (competitive aggressiveness, proactiveness and risk taking) affect international performance in competitive and technology-intensive international environments.

Methodology/approach – To address the research questions, structural equation modelling is applied to Finnish survey data (N=271).

Findings – Our findings reveal that the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation are differentially related to international performance, and that their effect is contingent on moderating variables.

Research limitations – One limitation is the use of cross-sectional data as it limits the possibility of drawing strong conclusions from the development of the relationships between the different constructs. Also the fact that the study was conducted in a single-country setting is a limitation.

Practical implications – Results indicate that entrepreneurial behaviour is of importance for international business managers. However, results imply that prior to striving for proactive behaviour, competitive aggressiveness and venturesome risk taking managers should study their international market environments carefully and truly understand the nature of these turbulent markets, as in many occasions strong emphasis on entrepreneurial behaviour did not contribute positively to the international performance indicators, such as increasing sales and profits.

Originality/value of the chapter – Present study extends the works of Zahra and Garvis (2000), Lumpkin and Dess (2001) and Wiklund and Shepherd (2005), for example, by (a) applying entrepreneurial orientation on international business, (b) examining the effects of different dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation on a firm's international performance and (c) extending the research of the role of moderating effects on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the risk decision making of entrepreneurial team, deconstruct the intermediate process mechanism of cognitive adaptability in promoting risk decision making and reveal the role of opportunity identification and entrepreneurial efficacy in the decision-making process, which clarifies how cognitive adaptability affects decision-making speed and effect.

This study establishes a relationship model among entrepreneurial team’s cognitive adaptability, opportunity identification, entrepreneurial efficacy and risk decision making, and selects 316 entrepreneurial teams to empirically study the relationship among core variables using Bootstrap analysis and Johnson–Neyman technology.

Cognitive adaptability though has no direct impact on risk decision-making speed, whereas it directly affects risk decision-making effect; opportunity identification has a full mediating effect between cognitive adaptability and decision-making speed, and a partial mediating effect between cognitive adaptability and decision-making effect; entrepreneurial efficacy plays a moderating role between opportunity identification and decision-making speed, and a same role between opportunity identification and decision-making effect.

First, in setting the research model, the study does not take other moderators into consideration, which might be improved. Second, the study ignores the origin and formation of entrepreneurial team’s cognitive adaptability, the predisposing factors of which might be discussed in the future research.

The practical implication of this paper is to guide the entrepreneurial team to turn their focus on the impact of highly implicit cognitive adaptability on decision making, which might be divided into two aspects: the first is to enhance the cognitive adaptability of the entrepreneurial team, cultivate team members’ self-examination awareness and self-monitoring habits. The second is to strengthen team’s psychological capital and value the cultivation of entrepreneurial efficacy.

This paper breaks through the team process and structure perspectives, explores the driving mechanism of entrepreneurial team risk decision making from team cognition perspective, and deconstructs the logical framework of cognitive adaptability’s influence on risk decision making. This paper applies Johnson–Neyman technology to quantify the mediating effect entrepreneurial efficacy exerts on cognitive adaptability and decision-making speed, as well as on cognitive adaptability and decision-making effect.

The purpose of this paper is to examine under-researched psychological and environmental factors related to entrepreneurial motivation and intention. This helps us to explore the links between risk perception (risk as opportunity and risk as threat), economic context (in a recession), entrepreneurial motivation (personal attitudes and perceived behavioral control) and intention for new venture creation.

A sample of 619 individuals from two European countries, Spain and Great Britain, is studied. A range of control variables have been considered, including demographics, human/social capital and country effects. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the relationships among the model constructs.

The structural model broadly holds and adequately fits the data. Entrepreneurial risk perception is strongly linked with entrepreneurial motivation. Entrepreneurial motivation, in turn, is strongly linked with entrepreneurial intention. It suggests, therefore, an indirect effect of risk perception on intentions. Economic context is also linked with risk perception and entrepreneurial intentions.

Results from this exploratory study suggest a role of risk perception in establishing the entrepreneurial intention of individuals. Therefore, greater attention should be paid to this element in entrepreneurship education programs. Similarly, perceptions about the economic (recessionary) environment and its relationship with risk perception also have to be taken into account, with the purpose of letting students understand the possibilities that are present in a recessionary situation.

This is the first time that perceptions about risk and the economic context are tested within the theory of planned behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a reliable and valid understanding of entrepreneurship and examine the relationships between small and medium‐sized Chinese manufacturing enterprises, the intensity of their entrepreneurial orientation and the degree of their internationalization. In addition, it examines whether entrepreneurial orientation would affect enterprises' internationalization strategies and their success.

The seven‐step procedure for scale development is used and survey data have been utilized to conduct statistical analysis.

The paper finds that entrepreneurial orientation is positively related to the degree of internationalization, particularly amongst the small and medium‐sized Chinese manufacturing enterprises. The international experiences of enterprises have significant importance and positively affect the degree of their internationalization. In addition, the degree of their success depends greatly on their attitudes towards risk taking, their ability to diversify internationally and successfully compete with those already established in the market.

A lot of studies have been conducted on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial orientation. However, few people have ever studied the relation between the degree of entrepreneurial orientation and internationalization. Empirical studies on the correlations between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance are not abundant in China. Furthermore, very few researches on the correlations between entrepreneurial orientation and internationalization have been conducted. The research presented in this paper is intended to bridge this gap. Through empirical analyses of their relationships, this paper shows how entrepreneurial strategies can stimulate competitive advantages and drive forward the international developments of the Chinese enterprises, particularly the small and medium‐sized.

The purpose of this paper is to utilise Vilfredo Pareto ' s Machiavellian-realist social theory to provide a distinctive realist philosophical understanding of entrepreneurial risk-taking. By doing so, this paper seeks to stimulate debate and encourage future empirical testing that has the potential to present a richer understanding of entrepreneurial risk-taking.

To establish that a realist perspective can help theorise entrepreneurship, the authors look through a modern day risk and uncertainty optic at the hidden mechanisms within the social world where enterprises operate. Looking from this unique standpoint, where the long established social theory is reinvigorated by contemporary risk philosophy within a shared realist paradigm, human nature equips entrepreneurs with certain “animal spirits” to muddle blindly and instinctually through their risk environments.

The paper argues that this combined perspective unlocks a much richer understanding of entrepreneurial risk-taking, in particular, by capturing more of its behavioural reality and despite our strong emphasis on the inaccessibility and hiddenness of the risk environment to the entrepreneur, by exploring the entrepreneur-risk environment fit in ecological terms.

The paper’s unique blend of the classical Italian social theory with the contemporary risk theory offers a novel ecological view of the entrepreneur’s blind (mal) adaptation to their risk environment.

This study aims to use the Timmons model to identify the pattern of entrepreneurial activity at micro‐level in China.

The paper employs a self‐administered questionnaire survey approach, involving a sample of MBA students and general public in China.

The analysis suggests that personality characteristics, cultural environment and economic environment are external factors influencing new venture creation.

The findings of this study suggest that supportive cultural environment and economic environment is more important for MBA entrepreneurs than for general public to encourage the former to start new businesses as they bear higher entrepreneurial opportunity cost.

The paper extends the macro approach of the GEM China Report to examine entrepreneurial activity in China at micro‐level.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the impact of culture (using individualism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance) on entrepreneurial risk taking behavior which leads to the opportunity exploitation decision. Moreover, it also uses risk taking behavior of entrepreneurial as the mediation variable between culture and opportunity exploitations decisions.

The study took place in Tanzania, which is allocated in East Africa and is one of under researched countries. In total, 140 entrepreneurs who own venture of 5-99 employees were able to be interviewed using a survey questionnaire. In this study, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the direct and indirect relationship of culture in entrepreneurial opportunity exploitation decisions.

After hypothesis testing, the empirical results showed that Tanzania’s culture has an impact on entrepreneurial risk taking behavior, which influences entrepreneurial opportunity exploitation decision. It also showed culture through individualism and uncertainty avoidance measurements affect entrepreneurial opportunity exploitation decisions. The empirical results on power distance were insignificant.

This study is a wake-up call to policy makers and formal institutions such as government authorities, education institutions and religion institutions. Thus, culture has an ability to influence the behavior of entrepreneurs and so the performance of ventures if it is consistent and well structured. Therefore it should be not taken for granted. Data for our study are based on only two cities and therefore the results should not be generalized as the whole country’s inference. Generalizability is questioned because the data are from only two cities in Tanzania and therefore future research should include more cities to be able to validate the generalizability.

This study is a wake-up call to policymakers and formal institutions such as government authorities, education institutions and religion institutions. Thus culture has an ability to influence the behavior of entrepreneurs and so the performance of ventures if it is consistent and well structured. Therefore it should be not taken for granted. Data for our study are based on only two cities and therefore the results should not be generalized as the whole country’s inference.

In the country which has well-structured culture, influence the behavior of entrepreneurs to exploit opportunities.

This is the first empirical study to use SEM for exploring the culture of individualism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance impact on entrepreneurial opportunity exploitation in Tanzania.