"‘Philosophy is inescapable’. This is the powerful mantra and call to action of this authoritative and informative collection of essays. Acting upon the conviction that empirical scrutiny only takes us so far in understanding the full nature of entrepreneurship, this text provides a set of thoughtful, and refreshing commentaries on the different ways in which philosophical assumptions shape entrepreneurship research. Entrepreneurship scholarship will be richer for the reading of it." Denise Elaine Fletcher, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg. "This book offers the reader a variety of philosophical ideas and approaches to spur reflection on taken for granted assumptions about what entrepreneurship is and the ways entrepreneurship scholars understand this phenomenon. The chapters in this book go beyond critiquing current ideas and perspectives, rather, the book opens up important lines of inquiry in such topic areas as: uncertainty, the imagination, social construction, critical realism, and the nature of failure. I expect that many of the insights from this book will provide directions for major avenues of entrepreneurship scholarship over the next decade. Scholars who want clues about the future direction of the entrepreneurship field would be wise to explore this book." William B. Gartner, Bertarelli Foundation Distinguished Professor of Family Entrepreneurship, Babson College, USA

The Handbook of Tourism Entrepreneurship outlines the foundations of success in the tourism sector, examining the ways in which small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) can become economic engines for tourism destinations by boosting regional growth and prosperity.

As the breadth and empirical diversity of entrepreneurship research have increased rapidly during the last decade, the quest to find a "one-size-fits-all" general theory of entrepreneurship has given way to a growing appreciation for the importance of contexts. This promises to improve both the practical relevance and the theoretical rigor of research in this field. Entrepreneurship means different things to different people at different times and in different places and both its causes and its consequences likewise vary. For example, for some people entrepreneurship can be a glorious path to emancipation, while for others it can represent the yoke tethering them to the burdens of overwork and drudgery. For some communities it can drive renaissance and vibrancy while for others it allows only bare survival. In this book, we assess and attempt to push forward contemporary conceptualizations of contexts that matter for entrepreneurship, pointing in particular to opportunities generating new insights by attending to contexts in novel or underexplored ways. This book shows that the ongoing contextualization of entrepreneurship research should not simply generate a proliferation of unique theories – one for every context – but can instead result in better theory construction, testing and understanding of boundary conditions, thereby leading us to richer and more profound understanding of entrepreneurship across its many forms. Contextualizing Entrepreneurship Theory will critically review the current debate and existing literature on contexts and entrepreneurship and use this to synthesize new theoretical and methodological frameworks that point to important directions for future research.

THEORY AND EXPLANATION IN GEOGRAPHY “With this book Henry Yeung puts Geography back into the driver’s seat of new theory development. Foregrounding mid-range theories and mechanism-based explanations, he offers a pragmatic approach that has the capacity to shape the wider social sciences for years to come. The timing of this intervention is pitch-perfect, as scholars search for ways to understand and intervene in an increasingly distrustful and polarized world.” —KATHARYNE MITCHELL, Distinguished Professor, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA “Critical human geography possesses a distinctive theory culture—pluralist, creative, distributed, restless, contested—prone to “turning,” wary of orthodoxies and fixed positions. In this original and provocative contribution, the leading economic geographer Henry Yeung steps out beyond his home turf to engage styles and practices of theorizing across this diverse field, carving out a new remit and rubric for middle-range theorizing.” —JAMIE PECK, Canadian Research Chair and Distinguished University Scholar, University of British Columbia, Canada Grounded in a generous reading of a multitude of critical approaches in human geography and their diverse conceptions of theory, Theory and Explanation in Geography draws upon cutting-edge debates on the mechanism-based approach to theory and explanation in analytical sociology, political science, and the philosophy of social sciences to inform current and future geographical thinking on theory. This consolidated conceptual work represents an extension and much further development of the author’s well-cited works on relational geography, critical realism and causal explanation, process-based methodology, globalization and the theory of global production networks, and “theorizing back” and situated knowledges that were published in leading journals in Geography. The work has several chapters that identify new directions for Geography’s current and future engagement with the wider social sciences and relevant research agendas in geographical thought. Its main chapters provide the necessary conceptual toolkits for mobilizing such an expanding research program in the 2020s and beyond. Compared to typical texts on geographical thought, this book is less retrospective and historical and more prospective in nature. Detailing why and how mid-range explanatory theories can be better developed through causal mechanisms and relational thinking that have been revitalized in the social sciences, Theory and Explanation in Geography is an essential read for academics, geographers, and scholars seeking unique perspective on an important facet of the field.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of technology start-up arenas in Nairobi and examines their global place. These start-ups are popularly perceived as representing future prosperity that is incorporated in the present. The author examines how developing country arenas lay bare the power asymmetries and taken-for-granted assumptions that determine which technoscientific imaginaries become globalized and universal, and are supported by legitimizing narratives, logics and institutions. A framing of ‘catch-up’ or ‘leapfrogging’ for technoscientific development that is based on capitalist modernity is regarded as incontrovertible—so much so that alternative values and approaches to technology production are rarely contemplated. This book documents how actors in Nairobi’s startup arena relate to these imaginaries and the affects, enactments and places that they produce.

In response to the increasing move by scholars to reference other fields of knowledge in the advancement of entrepreneurship studies, this book offers an interdisciplinary approach to the study of entrepreneurship. The author investigates five main issues about entrepreneurial processes:the origin of entrepreneurship, the purpose to achieve, the way decisions are made, the creation of entrepreneurial networks and ecosystems. Respectively, these issues are analysed from new perspectives related to other disciplines, such as mythology, philosophy, mathematics, chemistry, and biology. In this way, the book investigates pervading questions about entrepreneurial processes that are still unsolved. By adopting this novel interdisciplinary approach, the book opens up new avenues of research in entrepreneurship studies.

As of early 2022, seven of the ten largest firms in the world by market capitalization had been funded through various types of entrepreneurial finance. This handbook provides an up-to-date survey of what we know about this significant phenomenon in all its forms, and where our knowledge about it needs to head from here. The handbook embraces a wide range of established and emerging academic and practitioner voices across the globe to explore the theoretical and practical flux and tension in the field. Until recently, most studies have taken a supply side perspective, focusing on the perspective of those who provide funding to new ventures. This book takes a different, demand side perspective, beginning with the entrepreneur and gradually broadening our view to include close by and then more distant funding sources. Following this approach, it is organized into four parts detailing the individual level (founders’ resources, bricolage and bootstrapping, effectuation and portfolio entrepreneurship); the inner circle (informal financing, business groups, incubators and accelerators); the wider world (formal debt, microfinance, venture capital, corporate venture capital, business angels, government funding and family offices); and emerging perspectives (non-Western perspectives, gender, indigenous perspectives, post-conflict and disaster zones and ethics). The introduction considers the general state of the field, while the conclusion takes on additional topics relevant to entrepreneurial finance, such as decentralized finance, big data, behavioral economics, financial innovation and COVID-19, as well as possible ways in which entrepreneurial finance can have a greater impact on other disciplines. This handbook will be a core reference work for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers seeking an up-to-date academic survey of entrepreneurial finance. It can also be used as a primary text in Ph.D. seminars in entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial finance, and finance. Instructors in Master’s level courses in entrepreneurial finance and venture capital will also find the book of benefit.