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This paper explores how two understudied characteristics of a firm's product portfolio, namely, aging of products and (non)innovativeness of products, affect firm survival. The influence of these product portfolio characteristics on organizational mortality can be observed both at the firm and at the industry levels. Paradoxically, the portfolio's influence at the firm and at the industry levels may go in opposite directions. Specifically, I predict that portfolios with aging products make their firms weaker competitors and survivors. However by weakening these firms, “aging” portfolios reduce competitive pressures at the industry level and, therefore, improve firm survival indirectly by changing industry vital rates. In contrast, firms with innovative product portfolios should be stronger survivors. At the same time, they are likely to intensify competition in the industry and, as a result, diminish survival chances of all firms, including those with innovative products. The analyses of all firms’ product portfolios in the worldwide optical disk drive industry, 1983–1999, support these predictions.

The world is changing very rapidly with events that alter the landscape for students during a time when entrepreneurs are needed more than ever. This chapter explores trends in entrepreneurship research that are focused in areas of the entrepreneurial mindset, alleviation of poverty through entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, portfolio thinking about entrepreneurial venture types, the crucial nature of racial diversity, and the drive of women entrepreneurs. It also examines COVID-19’s disparate impact on smaller ventures and Black entrepreneurs, while highlighting its impact on spurring entrepreneurial innovations causing an entrepreneurial explosion. Most importantly, this chapter focuses on how the emerging research trends amidst the COVID-19 pandemic have prompted entrepreneurship educators to enact educational innovations. The chapter includes tools and tips to integrate into the changing nature of university programs and entrepreneurship curriculums facing a dynamic future.

The purpose of this study is to examine how business group (BG) affiliation influences the export propensity of new ventures (NVs). To help address the inconsistency of past research on the value of BG affiliation for firms seeking to expand their business abroad, the authors provide a contingency perspective by exploring how organizational characteristics and BG characteristics condition the value of BG affiliation. The authors analyze the impact of BG affiliation on the export propensity of NVs, including the factors that condition this impact, by using a sample of 2,874 European NVs. The primary contribution of this study is to determine the impact of BG affiliation on the export propensity of NVs, including the moderating effects of firm size on the BG affiliation–export propensity relationship. The findings show that the export propensity of NVs affiliated with BGs is significantly higher than for stand-alone NVs. However, the findings demonstrate that the impact of BG affiliation on export propensity depends on the network characteristics of the BG in terms of the geographical dispersion of network ties. Consequently, the findings suggest that BG affiliation provides advantages for NV exporting only if it provides access to international inter-firm networks thus acting as a compensatory mechanism for liability of outsidership and liability of newness in foreign markets. In such cases, BG affiliation is a major resource capital that equipoises the somewhat limited financial resource provision for NV internationalization.

There is progress in entrepreneurship research. Important works in entrepreneurship increasingly appear in highly respected, mainstream journals (see Busenitz et al., 2003; Davidsson, Low & Wright, 2001). There is conceptual development that attracts attention (e.g. Shane & Venkataraman, 2000) and handbooks are compiled, providing the field with more of a common body of knowledge (Acs & Audretsch, 2003a; Shane, 2000a; Westhead & Wright, 2000). Further, there is evidence of methodological improvements (Chandler & Lyon, 2001) and accumulation of meaningful findings on various levels of analysis (Davidsson & Wiklund, 2001). Moreover, due to time lags in publication the reported improvements are likely to be underestimated. This author’s experience as organizer, reviewer and participant in core entrepreneurship conferences on both sides of the Atlantic (e.g. Babson; RENT) suggests that much of the lower end of the quality distribution has either disappeared from the submissions or is screened out in the review process. Much more than used to be the case a few years back we find among the presented papers research that is truly theory-driven; research on the earliest stages of business development, and research that employs methods suitable for causal inference, i.e. experiments and longitudinal designs.

This chapter analyzes markets with an “infinite variety” of goods, such as large parts of the service economy and creative industries such as the book, film, and music market. I argue that the infinite variety of supply that characterizes such markets does not lead to discoordination, because of the emergence of cognitive institutions in the form of market categories, reference points such as exemplary goods, and instruments of interpretation which facilitate the (quality) coordination process. These cognitive institutions function as an extended mind of market participants and enable what is termed interpretative rationality, as distinct from calculative rationality. This interpretative rationality consists of the ability to recognize relevant differences and similarities between goods. These cognitive institutions, like the price system, are an emergent order which can be analyzed through the lens of Austrian economics. This chapter further demonstrates the potential convergence between particular strands of economic sociology and Austrian economics.

The chapter aims to enhance the understanding of the development of Kirzner’s theory of entrepreneurship. To do so, elements in Kirzner’s works published up until 1973 that enclose the central points of this theory are studied. The chapter has four sections, in addition to the introduction and conclusion, that highlight the arguments that relate to Kirzner’s theory of entrepreneurship: (i) before the publication of his 1967 paper that presents the entrepreneurial function in the market process (1960–1967); between the 1967 paper and the publication of his most important book, Competition and Entrepreneurship, in 1973 (1967–1973); (iii) in Kirzner’s latest version of entrepreneurship theory as presented in his 1973 book; and (iv) the evolution of Kirzner’s thinking. The evolution of the author’s thinking regarding equilibrium and the entrepreneur is highlighted by presenting the different stages of his theory of entrepreneurship between 1960 and 1973.

Prior research underscores the critical role of prestigious underwriters in shaping the success of the initial public offering (IPO) process, particularly for young firms that do not have much of a track record. Recent scholarly work has shown that the likelihood of a start-up securing a lead prestigious underwriter is influenced by its ability to provide important signals of organizational legitimacy, as conveyed in the employment experiences of the firm's top management team. Building further on theories of organizational attention and decision making, this chapter seeks to examine whether lead prestigious underwriters also consider different types of signals of organizational legitimacy that might be suggested by the existence of ties between young firms and corporate venture capital (CVC) investors.Analysis of 1830 IPOs during 1990–1999 indicates that having a tie to CVC investor provides added legitimacy value over that provided by independent venture capital investors alone. Further analysis of 315 IPOs affiliated with CVC investors suggests that prestigious underwriters pay attention primarily to endorsement-rather than resource-related signals of legitimacy when it comes to CVC ties, and that they pay more attention to investment screening prominence than to business management prominence when it comes to endorsement legitimacy. We also found that prestigious underwriters pay more attention to signals of IPO legitimacy provided by CVC investment in IPO markets that are hot than those that are cold. Our findings provide important theoretical extensions to the study of the certification value of interorganizational affiliations and its impact on IPO success.

Fewer than half of UK start-up businesses survive beyond five years (ONS, 2020). The Scottish Small Business Survey of 2019 found competition in the market and uncertainty as to how to face it were considered the most significant barrier to success by almost half of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) (Scottish Government, 2020). This chapter considers how four Scottish breweries have formulated start-up strategies to respond to competition in an ever-increasingly crowded marketplace in order to maximise their likelihood of survival. The findings from each of these case studies are presented in an accessible format, and indicate that a variety of approaches to the development of the businesses can be adopted, albeit planned approaches dominate. Drawing on real life experiences of four successful businesses, the practical choices they took provide guidance and inspiration for other aspiring craft beer entrepreneurs in selecting an appropriate approach to and content of their founding strategy.

While China is currently moving toward the full development of its own financial derivatives markets, to date, China's experience with these has been a negative one. This paper examines the importance to China of developing a fully integrated financial derivatives market from both the economic and financial market perspectives. It examines the best way forward for derivative trading, both market based and over-the-counter, and the types of products best suited to both, given the current state of the Chinese financial markets. Consideration is given to market structure, regulation, trading and settlement systems and international cooperation.