Emerging economies are characterized by an increasing market orientation and an expanding economic foundation. The success of many of these economies is such that they are rapidly becoming major economic forces in the world. Entrepreneurship plays a key role in this economic development. Yet to date, little is known about entrepreneurship in emerging economies. This introductory article to the special issue on entrepreneurship in emerging economies examines the literature that exists to date in this important domain. It then reviews the research that was generated as part of this special issue on this topic. The article concludes with a discussion of the critical future research needs in this area.

Dominant logic is the manner in which firms conceptualize and make critical resourceallocation decisions, and over time develop mental maps, business models, and processes that become organizational recipes. This study compares and contrasts the dominant logic of Polish entrepreneurial firms. We find evidence that a dominant logic characterized by external orientation, proactiveness, and simplicity of routines significantly influences the performance of entrepreneurial firms in this emerging economy. These dominant logic characteristics of high performers serve as a key intangible resource in transition economies that are characterized by the absence of strong institutions and resource constraints. Future research in this critical domain should include how dominant logic needs in transition economies evolve over time as the institutional environment matures and market mechanisms become more solidified.

In the last two decades, research in human resource management has increasingly focused on the strategic linkage between the activities of the human resource function and the business goals of enterprises. Most of the theoretical and empirical work in this area has focused on the US context. This paper extends this research to a non-US business environment. Speci cally, we examine data from 303 state-owned, domestic private and foreign-owned Polish rms to test how strategic and environmental variables are related to the adoption of human resource innovations. This analysis suggests that business strategies, local labour markets and the presence of foreign competition are related to the complexity and extensiveness of rm-level human resource practices.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore what decision-making logic (effectual or causal) is dominant in the new venture internationalisation process and what influences its changes over time. To this end, we present a case study of a Polish international new venture (INV) operating in the audiobook industry. The study's findings reveal that decision-making logic at the early stage of company growth and internationalisation cannot be assigned to one type of logic, but rather may shift from effectuation to causation and vice versa. Moreover, we argue that INVs may apply two logics simultaneously, depending on the characteristics of the problem space.

PROFESSOR LARS KOLVEREID IS WITH the Bodo Graduate School of Business, Bodo, Norway, and Krzysztof Obloj is with the School of Management, University of Warsaw, Poland. The main aim of this research was to investigate similarities and differences between entrepreneurs and their businesses in an emerging market economy represented by Poland, and in mature, developed economies, portrayed by Great Britain and Norway. Because Polish entrepreneurs are new entrants in the developing market economy, the authors did not have a body of theories, or models or even empirical research that could be used to develop hypotheses or research questions. Therefore, the study is primarily of an exploratory character and focused on four questions: 1) How supportive and resourceful are the environments of entrepreneurs in these countries; 2) To what extent are policy and support services available to new businesses; 3) What are the reasons leading to new firm formation; 4) What attitudes to entrepreneurship do the owners of new ventures have? The results indicate that Polish entrepreneurs, in spite of different backgrounds and starting conditions, are surprisingly similar to those in developed countries, face similar problems and resource constraints.