Summary

The contributors to this original volume of theoretically grounded case studies of the entrepreneurial phenomenon look at the process of entrepreneurship in the emerging regions of India, China, Ireland, Eastern Europe, North and South America, and North and South-East Asia.

The book's organization is designed to take the reader from a general framework for understanding the relationship between economic development and entrepreneurship to more specific examples of how entrepreneurs and their firms respond to the opportunity and threats that are dynamically evolving in such places. The case studies provide scholars with the opportunity to develop theoretically grounded research questions that will advance the field beyond what we already know from previous work in the contexts of the US and developed economies. The book represents the first serious attempt to suggest new theoretical frameworks for understanding the emergence of entrepreneurship in regions that do not have all of the classical prerequisites (such as financial and human capital, favorable geography, institutional infrastructures, and so on) predicted in extant development models.

This book takes an important step forward in our knowledge of entrepreneurship and will be of great interest to scholars and graduate students in business, economic development, and regional studies; policymakers in economic development, technology transfer, and financial markets; and journalists following business and development issues in emerging regions.