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The purpose of this paper is to explore the complexity of developing into an international institution from the perspective of higher education leaders through the case study of one institution engaged in institutional transformation.

This study employs the qualitative approach and involves in-depth interviews with key institutional managers.

Findings suggest internationalization is a dynamic change process that goes beyond the rational and predictive elements of internationalization and cannot be confined to the rational planning and grand plans solely at institutional level. Reciprocal influence of different levels of analysis – institution, society and the nation – needs to be acknowledged and internationalization efforts need to go beyond the confines of the institution and extend into the society and the nation as a whole.

Internationalization of higher education has been widely examined, but the reciprocal influence of different levels of analysis on the internationalization efforts of higher education institutions is thin to which this paper contributes.

The chapter reflects on research that rethinks classic concerns of comparative and international education – the relationships between education and work and the role of education in development. The promises of knowledge-led economic growth have instead yielded increased inequality, poverty, environmental degradation and a decline in the quality of life for the majority, whether in advanced economies of the North, or least developed economies of the South. For education and training systems, the ability to understand these complex social, economic and technological challenges, interpret implications and integrate new practices in response, becomes critical. We reflect on the use of an innovation systems approach in the South, over time, to investigate the ways in which higher education responds to and interacts with, demand for skills from the economy. By highlighting the role of university actors and their interaction in networks, comparative and international researchers can move beyond dominant human capital accounts that focus only on the responsibility of higher education to become more responsive to firms, or on individuals to prepare themselves to be more employable, in a mechanistic reactive manner. This is a promising new emphasis for comparative research.

This chapter provides a critical assessment of an article on higher education and economic development, by analyzing the ways the authors reflect on the importance of building technological capabilities. The need to demonstrate the use of evolutionary economics and innovation systems approach in demonstrating higher education contribution to economic growth motivated the article. The critique begins by examining the dominant theories and reflective pieces used by scholars to explain higher education’s contribution to economic development, and then situate the evolutionary economics and innovation systems approach used in the article in this discourse. This critical assessment also delves into how the article approaches the subject matter of higher education; and, the methods used to gather evidence for the case of higher education in South Africa. The chapter then condenses popular views on the role of higher education in economic development and assesses whether “building technological capabilities” is one such view or it is an emerging role. In conclusion, the chapter synthesizes the various sections in the article and isolates the key issues that underpin each of the sections and how each issue is manifested in the higher education sector. The conclusion unloads the overall construction of the article to succinctly knit the bigger argument advanced by the article and provide reasons for the viewpoints supported by this assessment.

The purpose of this paper is to explore mindfulness as a cognitive construct that affects the identification and processing of information during market analysis leading to opportunity evaluation.

This paper draws from theory on entrepreneurial cognition and introduces the concept of mindfulness in market analysis to better understand the entrepreneurial mindset at the opportunity evaluation stage of the value-creation process.

Based on a review of the literature on entrepreneurial cognition and mindfulness at the marketing/entrepreneurship interface, a detailed description of the concept of mindful market analysis is presented. In addition, propositions are developed regarding the moderating effects of mindful market analysis on the relationships between various personal and psychological factors and information processing outcomes related to opportunity evaluation.

Much research exists regarding idea creation, entrepreneurial action, opportunity discovery and recognition and entrepreneurial traits. Taking a different approach, this research focuses on opportunity evaluation and the role of market analysis at this stage of the entrepreneurial process. Overall, these contributions help to fulfill the call for more research on the intrapersonal cognitive processes of entrepreneurs and their role in opportunity evaluation.

How do organizations respond to negative feedback regarding their innovation activities? In this chapter, the authors reconcile contradictory predictions stemming from behavioral learning and from the escalation of commitment (EoC) perspectives regarding persistence under negative performance feedback. The authors core argument suggests that the seemingly contradictory psychological processes indicated by these two perspectives occur simultaneously in decision makers but that the design of organizational roles and reward systems affects their prevalence in decision-making tasks. Specifically, the authors argue that for decision makers responsible for an individual project, responses given to negative performance feedback regarding a project are dominated by self-justification and loss-avoidance mechanisms predicted by the EoC literature, while for decision makers responsible for a portfolio of projects, responses to negative performance regarding a project are dominated by an under-sampling of poorly performing alternatives that behavioral learning theory predicts. In addition to assigning decision-making authority to different organizational roles, organizational designers shape the strength of these mechanisms through the design of reward systems and specifically by setting more or less ambiguous goals, aspiration levels, time horizons of incentives provided, and levels of failure tolerance.

This chapter examines the relationship between team routines and temporal entrainment. While the process of entrainment generally reinforces the routines that teams follow temporal entrainment also creates opportunities for externally focused teams to change their routines. Entrainment creates team rhythms that include pauses in activity that can act as triggers to change. These pauses alone are not enough to impel teams to change; managers must also employ temporal design to make use of these opportunities for change. Both the rhythms of temporal entrainment and the pauses that accompany them are part of a team’s task environment. By uncovering key rhythms, as well as by managing the pauses, managers can both reinforce desired routines and change problematic ones.

Decision making for acceptance of an R&D project occurs under uncertainty and may involve predominantly quantitative analyses, such as net‐present value, predominantly intuitive analyses, such as real options logic, or some combination thereof. This paper attempts to bring together two concepts of decision theory, i.e. heuristics and framing, and real options logic into one integrated view relative to R&D project valuation. It is believed that the integration of theory helps explain expected and unexpected decisions resulting from the R&D project valuation process.

It is proposed here that, under a typical R&D project review, aspects of two theoretical concepts integrate to aid project valuation and decision making. The aim of this paper is to develop a research framework leading to advancement in the understanding of the relationship of heuristic principles from decision theory and the valuation methodology of real options logic. Findings – As a conceptual paper, propositions and a research model representing the conceptual framework are presented.

Stemming from the propositions and research model, it is believed that the degree of influence that heuristics potentially exhibit on real options logic can be successfully measured. Confirming the degree of influence is a matter for future empirical research.

The originality of this paper is to develop a research framework leading to advancement in the understanding of the relationship of heuristic principles from decision theory and the valuation methodology of real options logic. In this framework, heuristics has been positioned as a moderator affecting project valuation derived by real options logic.