MAIN THEME AND CONFERENCE TOPICS

This scientific conference will create a forum for appraising the profusion of perspectives, practices and theories that are central to entrepreneurial endeavours. To this end, papers are welcome on topics that demonstrate or critically appraise this profusion. This could be in terms of disciplinary areas, the intersection of entrepreneurship with other domains to create new sub fields of inquiry, or specific theoretical perspectives, streams of research and appraisals of methodological approaches utilised within entrepreneurship research. In addition, the conference sessions will debate the particular theoretical constructs, themes, concepts and philosophies that have distinguished this field of research thus far with a view to identifying questions or issues that remain unanswered. In particular, papers are invited that address time-relative or context-specific understandings of entrepreneurship as well as frameworks that take account of the future-oriented projections that influence entrepreneurial decision-making in the present. In so doing, the conference will continue to acknowledge the various European, American, Asian or African traditions of research in entrepreneurship. Furthermore, theoretical approaches, philosophies and research methodologies that address the multiple causal factors or inter-related levels of analysis (i.e. individual-opportunity, action-interaction level, firm, market or institutional level) are invited. Moreover, attention to issues of duality and the inter-relatedness of entrepreneurial endeavours with environmental, systemic, structural, institutional or material/socio-cultural contexts are encouraged. Especially welcome are non-traditional methodologies and analytical tools that are time, temporality, process or context-sensitive. Also of interest are critical evaluations of effective policy or support infrastructures for entrepreneurship in different contexts.

Potential topics to include:
 

  • Critical studies, theories and methodologies that contextualise entrepreneurial endeavours
  • Theoretical or methodological appraisals of streams of research (including intersecting domains) that identify gaps or unanswered questions
  • Time-relative analyses of entrepreneurial practices
  • The role, meaning and application of critical theories and non-traditional methodologies
  • Artifact-making and entrepreneurship
  • Opportunity development and the emergence of business ideas
  • Strategic entrepreneurship and growth issues of entrepreneurial companies
  • International entrepreneurship and the cross fertilisation of entrepreneurial ideas across national borders
  • The interface of small business management and entrepreneurship
  • Entrepreneurial endeavours in family or household contexts
  • Gendered relations and entrepreneurship
  • Social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility
  • Ethnicity and entrepreneurial behaviour (including cross border migration and transnational entrepreneurship)
  • Business tranfer
  • Technological entrepreneurship (biotech; ICT)
  • Entrepreneurial finance and venture capital
  • Entrepreneurship: ownership, governance and legal forms
  • Corporate entrepreneurship and venturing
  • Critical evaluations of policy support contexts and landscapes for entrepreneurship
     
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