As essential components of globalization, the study of practices and processes of space formation promotes a nuanced understanding of globalization. How do people create spaces for social action under the global condition, especially since the nineteenth century, when global interconnectedness increased rapidly? We explore the problem through specific case studies. Anthropologists, historians, geographers, sociologists, global studies scholars, and cultural studies scholars examine the agency of, e.g., members and staff of African regional organizations, Indian migrant workers, female GDR activists, Soviet planning experts, or US novelists. By studying elites as well as middle-class and micro-entrepreneurs – i.e. more and less influential actors – we encourage reflection on the relationship between power and space and examine how spatial entrepreneurs attempt to influence the shaping of space and their spatial literacy. The analysis aims at a better understanding of the different globalization projects, their crisis-like clashes, and the resulting conflictual development of spatial orders.

In this book, locational preferences of firms in The Netherlands and Germany are studied from a behavioural point of view. Stated preferences of entrepreneurs in each country are examined, using various types of statistical analysis. The influence of both firm and place characteristics is analysed. Special attention is given to the relation between distance and rating. Other topics mentioned are changes in the rating patterns in time, the relation of locational preferences with other types of spatial preferences and with locational behaviour. The results of the analyses may be regarded as relevant to behavioural theory as well as to the practice of government policies.

In the past few years, a considerable number of immigrants have established their own businesses. In doing so, they have contributed in many ways to the economic development of American and European metropolitan areas. Some businesses have been incorporated into the mainstream, while others have stayed on the economic fringes and got engaged in the informal economy. The starting point of this book is that a proper understanding of these businesses is served by focusing on the embeddedness of immigrant businesses in their economic, politico-institutional and social environments from a multi-disciplinary perspective rather than confining the attention to ethnic-cultural or economic sociological aspects only.

Space flight used to be something that only governments participated in, often in conjunction with military defense. However, today space is a new, wide-open frontier for entrepreneurs and corporations to develop and implement new kinds of space travel and habitats. What was once done just for exploration and advancing science is now a competition for companies such as SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, who seek to develop products that not only bring humans into space and allow them to live there, but also generate profits for the entrepreneurs who create them. These articles explore this phenomenon, including its advances and setbacks.

Why do conflict-generated diasporas mobilize in contentious and non-contentious ways or use mixed strategies? This book develops a theory of socio-spatial positionality and its implications for the individual agency of diaspora entrepreneurs. A novel typology features four types of diaspora entrepreneurs—Broker, Local, Distant, and Reserved—depending on the relative strength of their socio-spatial linkages to host-land, original homeland, and other global locations. A two-level typological theory captures nine causal pathways unravelling how diaspora entrepreneurs operate in transnational social fields and interact with host-land foreign policies, homeland governments, parties, non-state actors, critical events, and limited global influences. Non-contention often occurs when diaspora entrepreneurs act autonomously and when host-state foreign policies converge with their goals. Dual-pronged contention is common under the influence of homeland governments, non-state actors, and political parties. The most contention occurs in response to violent events in the original homeland or adjacent to it fragile states. The book is informed by 300 interviews among the Albanian, Armenian, and Palestinian diasporas connected to de facto states, Kosovo, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Palestine respectively. Interviews were conducted in the UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Brussels in Belgium, as well as Kosovo and Armenia in the European neighbourhood.

Entrepreneurship has seen an influx of industry-leading women. With this shift, women are now impacting a mainly male-dominated field and face ongoing challenges within this domain. Examining the Role of Women Entrepreneurs in Emerging Economies is a critical scholarly resource that examines the influence and impact of women entrepreneurs in emerging economies. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as women empowerment, financial management strategies, and discriminatory practices, this book is a vital resource for business managers, organizational leaders, professionals, and researchers seeking current research on women-related issues in different types of work communities and environments.

Whilst women-owned businesses have a significant positive impact on poverty reduction and social exclusion, we know far too little about women’s entrepreneurship in an emerging economy context. This handbook aims to fill that void by giving voice to women entrepreneurs who are far too often overlooked or even invisible. The chapters offer varied perspectives on the challenges that women entrepreneurs in emerging markets experience, foremost among these the lack of resources, education, and access to finance, as well as gender-related inequalities, and the impact of social expectations. The handbook portrays how, despite these challenges, women use creative and work-around strategies to access resources, build networks and grow their businesses. De Gruyter Handbook of Women Entrepreneurs in Emerging Economies brings together contributions from leading experts in the field and is a must-read for academic scholars and postgraduate students interested in gender and entrepreneurship diversity.

How has Berlin’s urban landscape changed in its remarkable transformation from divided city to creative capital? Despite the monumental heritage and grand development projects, Berlin still conjures up images of urban fragmentation and vacant inner-city land. The book reveals the changing nature and complex politics of this open space. A rephotographing of sites between 2001 and 2016 shows how no man’s land has made way for new apartments and underground hangouts have changed into commercial hubs, but it also transports us to remaining pockets of urban wilderness and unexpected freedom right next to the city’s most iconic squares. The accompanying essays by noted urban thinkers explore this little-known but vital reserve—forcing us to reflect on our unrelenting efforts to chart the future of the city at large.

Significant advances in communication and computing technology have ignited a new wave of innovation in the U.S., especially in the areas of wireless communications, biotechnology, clean technology and alternative energy. Led by passionate entrepreneurs, businesses are creating products and services that will change every facet of the way we live. This book features interviews with a dozen experts who provide valuable insight into the process of creating value with emerging technologies. Entrepreneurs and Innovation features successful entrepreneurs who relate their own experiences, and it also includes experts in intellectual property law, technology commercialization and venture capital. The introduction explores the ubiquity of technology in a world that produces more transistors than grains of rice and explains how inexpensive computing power has formed a platform that encourages innovation across a broad spectrum.

This book identifies Friederike Welter’s key contribution to entrepreneurship research over recent decades, and shows how her work is contextualised in time and place. The book gives a differentiated understanding of entrepreneurship and contexts, celebrating diversity as well as complexity.