Entrepreneurship and Innovation Today

18th Annual IntEnt conference; July 17th – 20th Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA

Join us this coming year for the 18th Annual IntEnt conference to hear, learn, and exchange ideas and perspectives on the latest trends and innovations from leaders like yourself in the field of entrepreneurship education and training.  Be involved by submitting your own that may focus on a variety of entrepreneurship education topics, including:

• The impact and effect of entrepreneurship programmes
• Theoretical and methodological approaches in education and entrepreneurship training
• The role of education in the venture creation process
• Innovative ways of transferring education and training facilities
• Innovative ways of teaching entrepreneurship inside and outside our classrooms
• The role of government and the private sector in fostering education/training
• The didactic benefits of business simulations, role playing, case studies

* Submissions on related topics will also be considered.

Authors who want to present their papers at the conference should electronically submit a three-page abstract by March 15th 2008 to Dr. Jill Kickul, Richard A. Forsythe Chair in Entrepreneurship, Miami University, [email protected]

A "FGF-Best-Paper-Award" (1,000 EURO) will be granted for the best research paper presented by scholars at the conference.  The award is sponsored by the Foerderkreis Gruendungs-Forschung, Bonn, Germany.

Finally, hear from our Keynote Speakers:

• Donald F. Kuratko - Indiana University
• Shaker Zahra - University of Minnesota
• Stan Mandel - Wake Forest University
• Allan Gibb - Durham University, UK.
• Alain Fayolle - EM Lyon, France

Additional information including registration and cost is available on our website

IntEnt Conference: July 17th – 20th Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA Marcum Conference Center

Jill Kickul, Ph.D. Forsythe Chair in Entrepreneurship Miami Institute for Entrepreneurship Farmer School of Business Miami University, 222 Upham Oxford, OH 45056

(T)          513-529-9918       Email: [email protected]

McGill-Cornell Conference on Institutions and Entrepreneurship June 24-26, 2008; Montreal, Canada

McGill-Cornell Conference on Institutions and Entrepreneurship June 24-26, 2008.  Montreal, Canada

This second annual conference is intended to further the institutional approach to entrepreneurial studies.  An institutional approach to entrepreneurship shifts attention away from the personal traits and backgrounds of individual entrepreneurs, and towards how institutions shape entrepreneurial opportunities and actions; how entrepreneurs navigate their cognitive, normative, and regulatory environments; and how actors modify and build institutions to support new types of organizations.

Sessions will be organized around these broad themes:

• the creation of new institutional structures to facilitate the development of new kinds of organizations;
• the use of symbols to legitimate novel organizations;
• the role of norms, values, and traditions in facilitating (or impeding) entrepreneurship;
• deinstitutionalization of an established practice as a form of entrepreneurial opportunity;
• the creation of standards and conventions to support new types of economic activities;
• the role of social movements in disrupting and constructing institutions and new kinds organizations;
• the effect of state institutions on entrepreneurial processes and outcomes.

Our desire is for this conference to be highly interactive, so we are limiting participation to a small number of (approx.  25 or so) paper presentations.  To promote interaction between senior and junior scholars, half of these slots will be reserved for papers submitted by more junior scholars.  Papers will be accepted based on a competitive submission process.  A small number of leading scholars will facilitate the paper sessions; these include W. Richard Scott, Howard Aldrich, and Pamela Tolbert, among others.

The conference is sponsored by the McGill Centre for Strategy Studies in Organization, and Entrepreneurship @ Cornell.  We will cover onsite accommodations for 2 nights for presenters (one room per accepted paper).  A select group of papers will be invited for publication in a special issue of Research in the Sociology of Work focused on the topic of institutions and entrepreneurship.

Please send a full paper to Hermann Juergens ([email protected]) by February 29th, 2008.  In a covering email, please indicate which theme from those above best describes your paper.  Decisions will be made by March 31st, 2008.

We look forward to seeing you in Montreal!

Robert J. David Wesley D. Sine Desautels Faculty of Management J. Thomas Clarke Professor of Entrepreneurship McGill University Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University

MaRS CIBC Presents Entrepreneurship 101-Negotiations

MaRS CIBC Presents Entrepreneurship 101 Next Lecture Series - THURSDAY Dec 6th, 2007 at 5:30pm-MaRS in Toronto

Topic: Negotiations

Negotiations Thursday, December 6 at 5:30 in the MaRS Auditorium Speaker: Michael Erdle from Deeth Williams Wall

As our most recent speaker, Dr. Michael May, pointed out in his lecture last Wednesday, negotiating skills are key to an entrepreneur - whether it is negotiating with a partner, an investor, a landlord or a customer.  This week's lecture, entitled "Negotiations" focuses on exactly that topic.

Michael Erdle, from the law firm Deeth, Williams, Wall will be our speaker.  Michael specializes in negotiations, mediation and conflict resolution and will discuss negotiating styles, strategies and expectations.

For more information see here

In our Leadership course as part of the Certificate Program in Innovation and Entrepreurship at U of T SCS (The Entrepreneurial Leader SCS 1948) in January 2008, we look at 5 leadership styles (conflict handling modes) and explore when & in what common situations to use each one (Competing, Collaborating, Compromising, Avoiding, Accommodating)  see here

Our Guest Speaker/Lectuer  is Heather Reisman, CEO Indigo Books

What if this was your last fare well lecture?

What if? excercises and Provocations ( or P.O = provocative operations ala Edward de Bono) are usefull techniques for getting people thinking differently. I use them in my Idea Lab class regularly.

Most university lectures that you go to are unexceptional. But, what if university professors were asked to imagine their farewell "last lecture?"  What matters most in life and what would they tell their students?

According to a recent Wall street Journal story:

"This is a common title for talks on college campuses today.  Schools such as Stanford and the University of Alabama have mounted "Last Lecture Series," in which top professors are asked to think deeply about what matters to them and to give hypothetical final talks.  For the audience, the question to be mulled is this: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance?

It can be an intriguing hour, watching healthy professors consider their demise and ruminate over subjects dear to them.  At the University of Northern Iowa, instructor Penny O'Connor recently titled her lecture "Get Over Yourself."  At Cornell, Ellis Hanson, who teaches a course titled "Desire," spoke about sex and technology.

At Carnegie Mellon, however, Dr. Pausch's speech was more than just an academic exercise.  The 46-year-old father of three has pancreatic cancer and expects to live for just a few months.  His lecture, using images on a giant screen, turned out to be a rollicking and riveting journey through the lessons of his life."

[...]  ....Flashing his rejection letters on the screen, he talked about setbacks in his career, repeating: "Brick walls are there for a reason.  They let us prove how badly we want things."  He encouraged us to be patient with others.  "Wait long enough, and people will surprise and impress you."

[...].....While displaying photos of his bosses and students over the years, he said that helping others fulfill their dreams is even more fun than achieving your own.  He talked of requiring his students to create videogames without sex and violence.  "You'd be surprised how many 19-year-old boys run out of ideas when you take those possibilities away," he said, but they all rose to the challenge."

Read the full moving story at http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119024238402033039.html

InnoWest 2007

I'm speaking at this conference in Calgary this week--Walter Derzko

November 14 Carriage House Inn, Calgary

InnoWest 2007 is in itself A PROCESS OF INNOVATION

LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER - SIGN UP NOW!

and how you can be Innovative, and take home innovation tools as well as an action plan for innovation.

We are putting it on the line and doing something different for you.  This is a proactive event - we are doing something that hasn't been done before.  Put yourself on the innovation map of western Canada.

InnoWest 2007 is sharing a way for you to start encompassing innovation in all areas of your life and work!

InnoWest 2007 is about YOU making a difference as well as listening to how someone else is doing it successfully!  Taking this back to your company or organization and making a difference!

What is it FOR YOU?

Is it an innovation program you want to get in the schools?  Is it a change in the way your company does business?  Is it to be more creative in your work?

If you would be like to be part of taking action, doing the things where you say -

'if only I could do that', or 'if only someone would do that', or wonder in what way you can make a difference in an area of innovation that you are passionate about - come and START MAKING THAT DIFFERENCE .

It is in the sharing of ourselves that seeds get planted, it is in sharing our actions that those seeds grow.

Join us and PLANT YOUR SEEDS OF INNOVATION and commit to an action plan for their growth.

Program outline: http://www.thecis.ca/index.php?catID=42&itemID=69

If you have questions or to register and be invoiced, contact [email protected]

Entrepreneurship 101 @ MaRS "Introduction to Technology Commercialization"

On the blog:

- Presentation slides: "Introduction to Technology Commercialization"

- Post questions for Tony or Tom Corr about the lecture or the course

- Watch the webcast archive

- The Entrepreneurship 101 Facebook Group is growing - don't forget to sign up!

- Answer the question of the week: how do you fairly split of the proceeds of an invention between the researchers and their institution?

http://blog.marsdd.com/2007/11/09/you-or-your-institution-who-owns-your-work/

Free Access to 460 Sage online journals till Nov 30th

From Sage publications:

SAGE are pleased to announce FREE ONLINE ACCESS until the end of November across ALL of it’s 460 online journals.

To register for this free access, please click here to be taken to the quick registration page.

We hope you enjoy this free access, please feel free to forward this to colleagues who you think may also benefit from this trial.

Kind regards,

Dave Phillips, Senior Journals Marketing Manager,SAGE Journals

Impact Leadership Conference

Today's youth are bringing new perspectives and approaches to business that will improve Canada's competitiveness in the global economy.  Influential business leaders and entrepreneurs are getting a first-hand glimpse at some of Canada's future leaders at this year's Impact Leadership Conference presented by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC).  Impact will be hosting 500 student leaders and young entrepreneurs from over 70 high schools, colleges and universities from across Canada in Toronto on November 9th and 10th.

"Today's businesses compete in an increasingly complex environment, where many of the challenges of the global marketplace, including technological advances, emerging economies, and access to skilled labour, can also represent significant opportunities," says Michel Bergeron, Vice-President Corporate Relations of BDC.  "Supporting Impact is a natural fit for BDC.  Encouraging entrepreneurship to youth early will lead to a more knowledge-based and innovation-driven environment in Canada".

Internationally renowned entrepreneurs, such as Michael Lee- Chin, Chairman of Portland Holdings and recent $30 million donor to the Royal Ontario Museum, will be sharing their time, experiences and advice with this esteemed group of student leaders.  Today's youth acknowledge their responsibility to give back and are starting early.  The event is supporting Free The Children through a charity auction and social entrepreneurship will be the theme of Nobel Peace Prize nominee and Free The Children founder Craig Kielburger's talk.

"We are pleased to partner with BDC to host this year's conference, where student leaders and young entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to network, learn and share ideas on how to better position themselves and their ventures to succeed in the future", says Kunal Gupta, Founder and Chair of the Impact Entrepreneurship Group.  "The conference is one of many programs run by Impact, which has grown into one of Canada's largest student entrepreneurship organizations in a few short years".

BDC is the Title Partner for the event.  The conference is also being supported by: the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, Deloitte, the Government of Ontario, IBM, Infusion Development, MasterCard, the Ontario Centres of Excellence, Research In Motion and the University of Waterloo.

see speakers list http://www.impact.org/speakers.php

About the Impact Entrepreneurship Group

Impact is a non-profit, student-run organization dedicated to encouraging an entrepreneurial spirit amongst youth in Canada and becoming a starting point for youth interested in learning about entrepreneurship.  More information is available online, www.impact.org

Source: Newswire Services

CfP Transnational Entrepreneurship and Global Reach’

The Centre for the study of nascent entrepreneurship and the eXploitation of technology (NeXt) at Wilfrid Laurier University, invites you to submit a paper for a Conference in Waterloo, Ontario Canada, to be held April 30-May 1, 2008.  Expenses for travel (economy-excursion class round trip) and accommodation may be partially covered for speakers and discussants.  Papers presented at the conference will be considered for a special issue in ET&P, edited by Israel Droi, Benson Honig, and Mike Wright, entitled ‘Transnational Entrepreneurship and Global Reach’ to be published Sept. 2009.

What Future for Globalization?

Keynote Speaker: Ivan Light (UCLA)

Theme 1: Transnational Entrepreneurship

The concept of transnational entrepreneurship (TE) as a distinct attribute of globalization has drawn considerable attention in social science disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, economics, economic geography, and regional planning.  Transnational entrepreneurs are individuals that migrate from one country to another, concurrently maintaining business-related linkages with their countries of origin and currently adopted countries and communities.  By traveling both physically and virtually, transnational entrepreneurs engage simultaneously in two or more socially embedded environments, allowing them to maintain critical global relations that enhance their ability to creatively and efficiently maximize their resource base.  TE’s promote international trade by taking advantage of globalization and the entrepreneurs’ cosmopolitan way of life, enabling a more timely acquisition of resources required for operating cross-national businesses.

The growing impact of transnational entrepreneurship can be mainly attributed to the changing nature of international migration and diasporas, and to the complex nature of international business activities.  Understanding how transnational entrepreneurs translate, innovate, and modify structures, simultaneously operating in two distinctive cultural paradigms, remains a challenge for the field of entrepreneurship.  We seek discussion regarding how transnational entrepreneurs balance the tensions between home and host country, and the demands related to social objectives over economic ones.  Thus, both agency and practice appear to be particularly important when examining the process of seeking and exploiting business opportunities within dual social structures.  We welcome a variety of topics and perspectives.  General subjects of interests include (but are certainly not limited to) the following:

A. Conceptual and definitional issues

* Demarcation of the empirical scope and analytical boundaries of transnational entrepreneurship (TE) research.

* Addressing the epistemological challenges reflected in TE multiple relationships and different cultural and institutional environments.

* Integrating micro-meso and macro- levels of analysis in TE research.

* Reviewing analytical frameworks (e.g practice, institutional, ecological , network, social capital or resource base) which assist in understanding the dynamic nature of TE as it flows through the intersection of individual and collective meanings, perceptions, experiences and practices.

B. Transnational entrepreneurship processes and dynamics

* What are the different strategies of action that transnational entrepreneurs undertake?

* In what ways might the varied institutional setting at either home or destination influence the prospects of success for transnational entrepreneurs, and why?

* What are the cultural frames of reference, symbolic orders and schemas of meaning that transnational entrepreneurs consider when operating in dual settings?

* What kinds of businesses opportunities are most amenable for transnational entrepreneurship, and what are the best ways of exploiting them?

* Why do transnational entrepreneurs fail?

* How does the legal and regulatory regime impact transnational entrepreneurs?

* What is the role of social and industry networks for transnational entrepreneurship, and how and why are they formed and structured ?

* What is the life-cycle of the transnational enterprise and how is it structured?

* What are the political forces behind the ability to secure resources and to compete in dual environments?

* How do transnational entrepreneurs generate legitimacy from their dual environments?

* How do transnational entrepreneurs used social capital and knowledge for the purpose of setting and operating a business?

All abstracts must be received no later than 31st Jan 2008.

Abstracts for papers should be e-mailed to Benson Honig, Director of NeXt at [email protected].

Conference drafts must be available by April 11th in order that they may be posted on the NeXt website).

EXPENSES: Expenses for travel (economy-excursion class round trip) and accommodation may be partially covered for speakers and discussants.

Benson Honig Ph.D. Betty and Peter Sims Professor of Entrepreneurship, Director, NeXt Wilfrid Laurier School of Business and Economics Waterloo Ontario Canada N2L3C5 Tel: 519-884-0710 ext.2909 fax: 519-884-0201 Cell: 905-518-1716 email: [email protected]

Academic Journal Quality Guide

Academic Journal Quality Guide

I often get questions from students and entrepreneurs: Which academic business journals should I read if I want to do scanning or if I want to explore an issue in more detail?

The Association of Business School has put out a ranking of Business Journals which gives you a comparative ranking of the best vs the also-rans.

See http://www.the-abs.org.uk/files//ABS%20Academic%20Journal%20Quality%20Guide%20(alphabetical%20order).pdf