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Despite its relative newness, entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) have attracted much attention from research and policy but they are recognized to be largely untheorized. It is claimed that one aspect which distinguishes the EE perspective from other perspectives related to business environments is its systemic approach; however, much of the systemic approach still needs to be investigated. The aim of this paper is therefore to investigate how the systemic and complex approach of EEs can be theoretically strengthened. We do this by investigating what values complex adaptive system theory holds for advancing the EE perspective. We highlight four propositions which are of particular importance for strengthening the systemic approach of EE: spatial and component boundaries of the system; self-governance; the relational dimension between system components and the system; and the evolution of the system. We propose that boundaries should be seen as a natural part of the system, that a complex system is too complex to capture all components and all interactions, and that studying only individual activities will not enable us to fully understand the system's behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An emphasis on making markets work for the poor has thrust companies into the role of ‘development agents’ – organisations that consciously seek to deliver outcomes that contribute to international development goals. This paper examines what business as a development agent means in terms of the promise, the conceptualisation and the developmental outcomes of several initiatives engaged in ‘bottom billion capitalism’. It argues that, while these initiatives are hailed as a solution for poverty, the benefits of such engagement must be weighed against other factors, including exclusion, the emphasis on capital assets and the reinterpretation of positive outcomes. The paper presents an alternative model of business as a development agent that better meets the criteria for a genuine development actor. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper offers a critique of the increasingly prevalent argument that the late twentieth century saw a ‘financialisation’ of capitalism anchored in the USA, the UK, and other leading Western economies. The objective of the paper is not to claim that there has been no such structural mutation, but that the studies which allegedly demonstrate this mutation are compromised by the anaemic geographies that structure and animate them. Such studies, the paper argues, fetishise the national scale and, in doing so, offer a restricted and potentially misleading reading of trends such as, most notably, historic growth in the share of corporate profits accruing to ‘finance’ within individual countries. Examining empirical data for the UK, but explicitly incorporating the international perspective typically missing from existing studies of financialisation, the paper points to the vital role of international expansion by UK financial institutions in growing the financial sector's share of profits. Whether so-called ‘financialisation’ has also contributed to this growth remains, the paper submits, open to question. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines entrepreneurship education in the light of debates about the future of the business school, the nature of the MBA, with which management education is generally synonymous, and the links that need to be created between teaching and research. There is increasing focus on the general utility of entrepreneurial skills and aptitudes (i.e. creativity, independent thinking, opportunity recognition and exploitation, etc.), and it is our contention that entrepreneurship education offers an innovative new paradigm for business school education that answers some of the challenges that are currently levelled against the MBA. Given the breadth of relevance in terms of the issues around Entrepreneurship Education and future pedagogical development in Business Schools, this paper is also well placed as a vehicle to introduce the rest of the coverage in this special issue of TASM. This paper therefore also summarises the papers presented in terms of their contribution to our understanding of the role of entrepreneurship and innovation in higher education. All suggest the need for the broadening of human and social capital, while some propose a fundamental shift in the delivery of professional education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurial learning has emerged as an important yet insufficiently understood area of enquiry. This paper develops new understanding in this area from a social constructionist perspective by using narratives elicited from technology-based entrepreneurs to explore their learning experiences and behaviours. The unit of analysis is the emergent entrepreneur in the technology-based enterprise. The paper develops a framework for analysing entrepreneurial learning through in-depth analysis of entrepreneurial experiences by using discourse analysis based on a social learning perspective. This conceptual framework includes three major themes of personal and social emergence, contextual learning and the negotiated enterprise, and 11 related sub-themes. These demonstrate connections between the emergence of entrepreneurial identity, learning as a social and contextual process, opportunity recognition, and venture formation as a negotiated activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ideas originating from the pioneering work of Thorstein Veblen provide the theoretical backbone of this paper. His work emerged and acquired a position of prominence more or less at the same time with the publication of seminal contributions by Schumpeter, Knight and Hayek in the field of entrepreneurial studies. However, Veblen failed to influence the evolution of ideas in the emerging field of study. In fact, this is the first systematic attempt in deploying the conceptual 'tools' developed by Veblen in entrepreneurship research. More specifically, this paper sets out to provide an alternative conceptualisation of the entrepreneur that does not simply relax but breaks away from the restrictive assumptions that constrained the development of the field in economics. In doing so, particular emphasis is placed upon the interface between agency and context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the requirements for starting a firm is an idea that can be developed into a business opportunity. This paper focuses on the early development of a firm's business idea and the factors that affect this process. The assumption is that the founders of the firm have a core importance in the formulation of the first draft of the idea, but that the continued development and polishing that turns the idea into a business opportunity occurs in interaction with a number of actors in the market such as clients, financiers, suppliers, and other collaboration partners. Five wholly newly started knowledge-intensive firms—A-TV, A-Tech, S-Tire, M-Qon and M-Point, all of whom are spin-offs from Linköping University or from firms—are analysed. The results of the study agree with previous research on business opportunities and ideas and the link to the skills base of the founders, environmental effects, and changes in the idea over time. Practical and theoretical implications of new venture idea development and entrepreneurship training are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detailed analyses of environmental policies and their implications for the ecological sustainability of capitalism are missing from the eco-Marxist literature. Moreover, environmental policies have been often dismissed by several eco-Marxists on the ground that they are shaped on capital's terms. It is the objective of this paper to theorize the shaping of environmental regulation from a value-theoretic and class struggle perspective. It is argued that the negative economic impacts of pollution and resource depletion, captured by prices and rents, instigate various class and environmental conflicts and struggles which reshape the interchange between capitalism and nature. The state as a social site becomes an arena of these struggles. The state is called upon by the many different competing agents to mediate their access to nature. Evidence from many concrete cases shows that environmental policies and adjustments have been the outcome of this complex social interaction. However, the emerging ecological restructuring of capitalism can not guarantee its ecological sustainability. In particular, it gives rise to new problems and contradictions rendering ecological sustainability of capitalism uncertain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines research papers about mass media and entrepreneurship. Exploration of the theoretical deficit in media management; Impact of liberalization on media management; Analysis of the industry by corporate executives.