The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

This paper examines the three concepts of learning, knowledge and innovation in the context of the triple relationship of government, industry and higher education, with particular reference to the UK. The authors argue that a consideration of the three concepts enables a proper understanding of entrepreneurship and its role in sustaining competitiveness for the wider economy and value in society. They conclude that entrepreneurship not only provides the spur for economic development but also shows the route forward to managing personal and organizational development in the new economy. It is through entrepreneurship, the authors suggest, that the fundamental requirements of learning, knowledge management and innovation can be effectively addressed.

This article analyses organizational dynamics as the set of factors that allow an organization to evolve, survive and compete in a global competitive environment. This learning process is interpreted along three dimensions: knowledge management, change management and innovation management, and is contextualized within the current framework of the knowledge society of the information age. Entrepreneurship is interpreted as a positive and necessary attitude for innovative managers who wish to direct effective organizations. The information age and the knowledge society paradigm demand a holistic and systemic approach that is, in itself, the justification for the broad perspective taken in this article. The author also briefly reviews learning theories and management models that focus on the learning organization paradigm – that of knowledge management.

Globalization, deregulation and new information and communication technologies (ICT) are having enormous effects on all types of business. Indeed, ICT are now adding two new sources of entrepreneurial business alongside start-ups and management buy-ins and buy-outs — rejuvenated established firms and downsized, out-sourced former larger businesses. Schumpeter's five key areas of innovation (drivers of competitive advantage and entrepreneurial strategy) have taken on a new resonance as ICT have added others such as supply chain management, market information, financing and distribution. Outsourcing and ICT have made economies of scale quicker and easier to achieve for SMEs, but deeper and more extensive knowledge is required of the capabilities of ICT and of potential partners. Economies of scope also require increased knowledge of internal organizational capabilities and of potential external partners. Various studies in the UK highlight the increased importance to entrepreneurial small firms of ICT-supported networking with other firms and of the organizational knowledge that lies behind successful strategies in these areas. Thus, the ability of individual owners and managers to learn and the capacity for organizational learning within an SME become crucial determinants of success in the new knowledge economy. This paper is based on an intensive study of organizational learning among the smaller members of the UK's Institute of Directors (IoD). It identifies different levels of organizational learning and the characteristics of SMEs at different levels, with particular attention to differences in business strategies. The findings of the IoD study are augmented by findings from the independent non-profit Small Business Research Trust (SBRT). SBRT has collaborated with the Open University Business School in studies on the determinants of management development in SMEs and has longitudinal data for analysing whether there is a connection between growth-oriented, innovative, entrepreneurial SMEs and their propensity to network, to use ICT and to support learning in their organizations. Exploring the linkages between organizational learning and SME behaviour, strategy and performance, the paper concludes with a typology of SME strategies related to organizational learning and suggestions for future research in this area.

Organizational learning has come to be seen as a critical feature of a firm's success. The concept captures the sense of a firm being involved in a process of continuous adaptation to a changing environment and drawing on organizational knowledge and competencies that can be brought to bear on any particular circumstance. Successful firms are good ‘learners’. Acquisition of new knowledge and competencies is especially important in high-technology companies. This paper asks what have been the main firm-specific knowledge and competencies of pharmaceutical start-up companies, and considers how the start-up companies have enlarged their knowledge and competencies through intra-firm and interfirm learning in a national business environment. The empirical issues are addressed in the context of four small innovative drug discovery companies in the Turku area of Finland. These are highly focused, specialized R&D companies that have been established as spin-off companies from larger firms or universities. They also saw the founding of a new cooperative pharmaceutical network as an essential response to the apparent resource gap.

Intellectual entrepreneurship is an emerging phenomenon in Latvia. Intellectuals engaged in business usually succeed regardless of the sphere or product they are dealing with. If the environment changes they can adapt to it; they can see opportunities where others do not, and they can create extraordinary ventures in an ordinary environment. Therefore, the author argues that intellectual entrepreneurship has its place in Latvia, that research is needed on ways to create a climate for it, and that methods to encourage it should be developed.

This paper reports on the first stage of a two-year study exploring the learning experiences of the founders of four independently owned and growth-oriented businesses in the cultural media industry. The ventures include independent radio, marketing and design consultancy, Internet business development and cultural media retailing. The cultural media industry is a distinctive sector of growing economic importance, but the development of businesses within it and the acquisition of business and entrepreneurial skills by their founders are not well researched. Even the founders of successful businesses may not necessarily consider themselves to be entrepreneurs, as distinct from media practitioners, and the application of orthodox business and entrepreneurial theories developed in other sectors cannot be assumed to be valid in creative and media enterprises. This study adopts a social constructionist stance in seeking to develop new understanding of the emergence of learning as social practice, which may be shared through narrative accounts and interpreted as discourse. The four owners of media businesses are being followed through an in-depth longitudinal research study as they develop their business ventures and confront new challenges of managing growth and organizational change. Each is engaging in the research process by narrating and updating with the researcher an account of his or her learning experience in starting and managing the business. Their accounts form jointly authored, negotiated narratives that illustrate the development of entrepreneurial ways of working and the application of sense-making to produce ‘practical theories’ of action. The paper presents reflections on the research process after one year by selecting significant themes from the narrative accounts and relating these to theoretical and practical considerations of entrepreneurial identity and learning. To do this, it employs the literary medium of a short story in the ‘ethnographic fiction science’ genre, drawing on authentic speech material gathered during the research process. It explores the themes of identity in personal and social emergence, the negotiated enterprise, and the role of contextual learning in shaping practical theories of action.

‘Internet Review’ identifies relevant and useful Internet-based information sources and reviews Websites related to entrepreneurship and innovation. This issue's article reviews interesting Websites on family business. The greatest part of the wealth of the UK and the USA lies with manager-owned or family-controlled businesses. Family businesses comprise over 75% of all businesses in the UK and 80–90% of those in North America. Chinese family businesses also play a major role in the economic development of China and South-east Asia.