Developments in the global economy have drastically transformed traditional businesses and trading systems. New communications and computing technology have not only opened global trade but have also provided customers with more choices and transparent supply alternatives. As such, modern firms are forced to adapt effective strategies that allow them to stay competitive in a global economy. Entrepreneurial Orientation and Opportunities for Global Economic Growth provides innovative insights into the present-day trends and applications of entrepreneurship and innovation in relation to different countries’ economic and social development. The content within this publication encompasses topics including female entrepreneurship, internationalization, and social development. It is a vital reference source for policymakers, economists, academicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, business students, managers, and stakeholders seeking coverage on topics centered on adopting and implementing entrepreneurship in a modern setting.

Over the past century, an extensive literature has developed, exploring the impact of entrepreneurship on economic performance. The active participation of entrepreneurs in virtually all aspects of business and economic activity has obliged policy makers within the global economy to consider entrepreneurship as a determining variable in any political force, not only for bodies and groups created specifically to this end, but also for any decision-making body. To this end, specific actions promoting entrepreneurship have already been established around the world. However, the particular dynamics of entrepreneurship by women present unique opportunities and challenges. The women’s perspective has often been overlooked in research, practice, and policymaking, and yet yields rich insights and implications. This volume features research from an international array of authors, global data, and in-depth analysis of women’s entrepreneurial activity in Europe, Latin America, the United States, and Canada, to shed light on the positive impact of women’s entrepreneurship on economic growth and development. The first part covers a broad range of concepts relating to the history and context of the female economic perspective. The second part focuses on performance and success factors, with respect to such issues as innovation, social needs, and entrepreneurial orientation. The third part addresses issues of financing, including discussion of access to capital, microcredit, and entrepreneurial behavior. The fourth part considers additional topics, such as work-family balance and access to education. Together, the chapters offer new perspectives on the unique characteristics of women entrepreneurs and their contributions to economic development in theory, practice, and policymaking.

Over the past century, an extensive literature has developed, exploring the impact of entrepreneurship on economic performance. The active participation of entrepreneurs in virtually all aspects of business and economic activity has obliged policy makers within the global economy to consider entrepreneurship as a determining variable in any political force, not only for bodies and groups created specifically to this end, but also for any decision-making body. To this end, specific actions promoting entrepreneurship have already been established around the world. However, the particular dynamics of entrepreneurship by women present unique opportunities and challenges. The women’s perspective has often been overlooked in research, practice, and policymaking, and yet yields rich insights and implications. This volume features research from an international array of authors, global data, and in-depth analysis of women’s entrepreneurial activity in Europe, Latin America, the United States, and Canada, to shed light on the positive impact of women’s entrepreneurship on economic growth and development. The first part covers a broad range of concepts relating to the history and context of the female economic perspective. The second part focuses on performance and success factors, with respect to such issues as innovation, social needs, and entrepreneurial orientation. The third part addresses issues of financing, including discussion of access to capital, microcredit, and entrepreneurial behavior. The fourth part considers additional topics, such as work-family balance and access to education. Together, the chapters offer new perspectives on the unique characteristics of women entrepreneurs and their contributions to economic development in theory, practice, and policymaking.

In a world defined by increasing uncertainty and complexity, understanding the concept of Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) is of critical importance. This volume convenes some of the world’s leading experts on EO to provide readers with an overview of the current state of EO research and set a compelling agenda for its future.

This book looks at entrepreneurship and innovation as ways out of the economic crisis in Europe and other regions, and examines the main theoretical issues and practices related to this analysis. The volume addresses such questions as: From an institutional perspective, how do economic crisis conditions affect different types of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship? Is it useful for public policymakers and entrepreneurs to understand the basic characteristics of entrepreneurial activity, relations between the institutional environment and entrepreneurship and among entrepreneurship, innovation and social change? Featuring case studies from several industries and countries, and a variety of methodological, theoretical, and empirical approaches, the authors build a compelling narrative on the dynamics of entrepreneurship and innovation as drivers of economic growth and organizational renewal. They demonstrate that the strategic and operational relationships that entrepreneurship creates within and outside the enterprise are a fundamental route for leading and mobilizing economic and social resources that permit innovation at the organizational level and in relationships with suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders - in turn, enabling technological innovation, creating new revenue streams through new productive activities and new demand, and ultimately facilitating emergence from economic crisis. The authors consider social, gender, and generational aspects of entrepreneurship, as well as the institutional conditions necessary to promote entrepreneurial activity.

Since the 2008 economic crisis, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have faced serious financial problems and have been looking to financial institutions and governments for solutions and new proposals to address these issues. This book examines the new challenge in which firms receive sustainable funding that is in alignment with the company’s spending capacity. The purpose of this book is to examine the main theoretical issues and practices regarding entrepreneurship and finance and their impact on performance, innovation and economic growth. It analyzes the fundamental aspects of entrepreneurship and studies ways in which financial institutions can better fulfill their primary function of feeding capital to businesses and the economy as a whole. Entrepreneurship and finance are fundamental to achieving success in economic and social activities. SMEs’ existence and development depend on the initiatives of entrepreneurship and access to resources, especially those of a financial nature. During the recent economic crisis, several new financing instruments have appeared, especially with structures designed for helping SMEs make their way out of the recession. This book explores some of these tools in various global economies, such as France and Spain, providing an international, multidimensional perspective.

Miguel-Ángel Galindo Martín, Joaquín Guzman Cuevas and Domingo Ribeiro Soriano University of Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, Spain University of Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain The economic growth and the progress of the nations have been two issues that have worried to the economists during centuries. The classical eco- mics books have developed different theories and considered several f- tors that could explain those processes. Unfortunately, a single answer has not been obtained and nowadays economists try also to achieve a response to the mechanism of economic growth. Economic growth has been considered as one of the most relevant e- nomic policy. As it is well known, the validity of an economic policy is measured in terms of economic growth rate. It is supposed that those countries that obtain a higher economic growth rate are designing more efficient economic policies than those that show lower rates. The main corollary to this hypothesis is that the developing countries must follow and copy the economic policies designed by the developed countries.

The Changing Global Economy and its Impact on International Entrepreneurshipaddresses different changes and challenges that small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) face in an economy where they need to compete at home and cannot refrain from participating in international markets. Contributors examine diverse SMEs that have succeeded in the face of adversity. They offer a combination of practical strategies and efficient tactics, grounded in solid theory and research, for firms in different competitive industries. This volume presents a collection of 12 carefully selected chapters that highlight challenging real-world cases to illustrate a variety of difficult problems. Hamid Etemad presents an analytical framework with three levels of analysis - entrepreneurial level, firm level, and institutional level - to document comprehensive, realistic and experientially-based entrepreneurial initiatives, potent firm and public policy strategies and informative and applicable results. The interactive structural design of this book offers progressively higher levels of analysis and incisive lessons, which make it perfect for academics interested in the rich range of theories, methodologies and topics surrounding SMEs' internationalization processes. Its analysis will also inform management and effective policy formulation for entrepreneurs, managers, and policymakers. Contributors:J. Almarri, S. Aureli, L. Battaglia, E. Cedrola, M. Del Baldo, S. Denicolai, N. Dominguez, H. Etemad, B. Hagen, E.J.B. Jørgensen, K. Juusola, D. Kabbara, S. Kock, H. Le Nguyen, J.I.G. Meewella, M. Migliaccio, A.G. Quaranta, E. Rasmussen, F. Rivetti, V. Stanisauskaite, I. Wictor, A. Zucchella

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2010 in the subject Business economics - Economic and Social History, grade: A, University of Brighton (School of Service Management), course: International Management, language: English, abstract: This paper aims to explore the cultural aspects of the nations Germany and Japan, and their effect as a macro-level facilitator of entrepreneurial orientation [EO] considering the dimensions developed by Hofstede (1991) and Trompenaars (1994). Therefore, the author firstly addresses the universal influence of culture on entrepreneurship by reviewing a range of existing literature. Secondly, the current state of entrepreneurial activities within the two countries is summarized before they are analyzed within the context created by the cultural dimensions. The research paper concludes with a discussion on the implications for EO encouragement in the named countries.

øIn the geography of the global economy, there are known Šhot spots� where new technologies germinate at an astounding rate and pools of capital, expertise and talent foster the development of new industries and new ways of doing business. These cluste