6 August 2014

Call for papers: "Innovation and Entrepreneurship as Drivers of Competitiveness and Growth"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Work Innovation.

It is widely recognised that innovation and entrepreneurship are key drivers of productivity and economic growth (OECD, 2009; Bibbee, 2012). Boosting innovation is becoming even more important now for firms to be able to remain competitive against global competitors. The development of strategies to foster entrepreneurship to revamp traditional firms or to foster the creation of start-ups has been of high importance in developed and developing economies (Isenberg 2010).

However, innovation and entrepreneurship do not happen in isolation; a set of agents in the [eco] system of innovation needs to be present, and the development of specific roles also needs to take place (Lundvall 1992; Nelson 1993; Edquist 1997; Isenberg 2010). Thus, as Bibbee (2012) states, innovation is most likely to flourish under sound structural conditions that can foster innovation, such as entrepreneurial firms; strong education systems for the formation of human resources; a set of policies that promote and support the innovation process in firms, promote and support entrepreneurship, and encourage linkages between academia and industry; strong financial systems; and developed IPR regimes.

Developed and developing economies face different challenges when fostering innovation and entrepreneurship at the firm level and within the [eco] system. Identifying the main determinants of business innovation and its effect on innovation output and productivity remains of significant importance, and has been of great interest in the last decades, as innovation can play an important role in fostering firms’ competitiveness. Understanding the key components to ignite venture creation has also been recognised as highly important to promoting economic growth.

The relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship has met with challenges as the innovation approach (Schumpeter, 1934) competes with opportunity alertness (Kirzner, 1973; Shane and Venkataraman, 2000). Moreover, there have been contradictory results between developing and developed countries with respect to the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship (Acs, Desai, Stenholm and Wuebker, 2014; Marcotte, 2014). More exploration in this area has been called for.

Government policies play an important role in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship at the business and systemic level. Thus, looking with special attention at the effect of government policies on innovation and entrepreneurship remains of critical importance to ensuring that government subsidies are actually solving the main challenges.

A broader challenge for fostering innovation and entrepreneurship must recognise the importance of a greater globalised economy; interactions for innovation are not constrained by regional boundaries. Thus, remaining of key importance is a broader discussion on how to engage in open innovation networks, or new forms of collaboration taking advantage of new information and communication technologies, especially for new ventures.

The aim of this special issue is to contribute to and stimulate discussion on the determinants of innovation and entrepreneurship at a business and the [eco] system level, and the contribution of entrepreneurship and innovation to enhanced productivity and economic growth. We are especially interested in identifying new collaboration schemes where different agents such as government, higher education institutions, private organisations, NGOs and individuals engage to foster entrepreneurship and innovation. Collaborations and new ventures can build on novel technologies, methodologies and business models. Equally important is to contribute to the identification and discussion of strategies to overcome barriers for innovation behaviour and entrepreneurship.

This special issue accepts original work from multidisciplinary perspectives that share new approaches, theoretical groundings, empirical findings and new methodologies of the topics described above. We welcome the submission of papers that focus on the analysis of innovation and entrepreneurship in developed and developing countries, preferably from comparative, cross-learning perspectives.
The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the 44th Annual Atlantic Schools of Business Conference 2014, but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

References
Acs, Zoltan J., Desai, S., Stenholm, P., and Wuebker, R. (2014). Institutional Drivers of Informal Entrepreneurship (June 13) Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2449963 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2449963
Bibbee (2012) Unleashing business innovation in Canada, OECD, Paris
Edquist, C., Ed. (1997). Systems of Innovation Approaches - Their Emergence and Characteristics. Systems of Innovation: Growth, Competitiveness and Employment. UK, Edward Elgar.
Isenberg, D. (2010). How to start an entrepreneurial revolution. Harvard Business Review: 41-50.
Kirzner, I.M. (1973). Competition and Entrepreneurship, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
Lundvall, B.-Å. (1992). National systems of innovation: toward a theory of innovation and interactive learning. London; New York, Pinter Publishers.
Marcotte, C. (2014). Entrepreneurship and innovation in emerging economies. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research 20(1): 42-65.
Nelson, R. R., Ed. (1993). National Innovation System. New York, Oxford University Press. OECD (2014) Prospectives on Global Development, OECD, Paris
OECD (2009) Making innovation strategy succeed in a globalised world, OECD, Paris
Schumpeter, J.A. (1934). The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Shane, S. and Venkataraman, S.(2000). The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research, Academy of Management Review, 25(1): 217-226.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Determinants and effects of innovation at firm level
  • Cultivating an environment for innovation
  • New business models underpinning entrepreneurship and innovation
  • Innovation management and the complexity of the innovation process
  • Challenges and barriers to innovation
  • Entrepreneurship and technology innovation
  • Relationships between entrepreneurship and innovation
  • Innovative financial mechanisms for start-ups or technology-based firms
  • Open innovation and new collaboration models
  • Impacts of innovation on society
  • Entrepreneurship and social innovation
  • Innovative ways to provide goods and services to low-income markets
  • Cases of entrepreneurship and innovation
  • Innovative policy approaches to promote innovation and entrepreneurship

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 1 February, 2015

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