CFP: McGill Conference on International Entrepreneurship 2007

[entrepreneurship-phd at lists.uni-due.de]

CALL FOR PAPERS - THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY McGILL CONFERENCE ON
INTERNATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Sponsored by the UCLA Anderson School of Management's
Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and CIBER
September 27-30, 2007
Deadline for Proposal and Abstract Submission:  May 1, 2007
Deadline for Submission of Completed Papers for Presentation:  August 1,
2007

The global business environment is changing dramatically. Traditionally,
competition in international markets was the realm of large companies,
while smaller businesses remained local or regional in scope. The
removal of government-imposed barriers that segregated domestic and
international markets, technological advances in manufacturing,
transportation and telecommunications, allow the smaller firms to easily
access customers, suppliers and collaborators, around the world.
Entrepreneurial enterprises - both large and small, domestically and
internationally - are increasingly fuelling economic growth and
innovation. These trends are transforming management strategies, public
policies, and the daily lives of people around the world. They present
both opportunities and formidable new challenges to firms competing in
the global arena.

One consequence of the breakdown of the lines of demarcation, which
formerly segregated the disparate fields of entrepreneurship and
international business, is the emergence of a new academic discipline -
international entrepreneurship (IE). The emergence of IE as an
identifiable academic field positioned at the intersection of the
international business and entrepreneurship disciplines dates back
approximately a decade, with two significant events. One was the
publication in the Journal of International Business Studies of Oviatt &
McDougall's seminal 1994 article, "Toward a Theory of International New
Ventures." The other was the convening in September 1998 of the first
McGill Conference on International Entrepreneurship, which for the first
time brought together leading academics to begin bridging academic
research in what had traditionally been distinct and disparate fields.
Since then, the integration of international business research and
entrepreneurship research has gained significant momentum: nine McGill
Conferences on International Entrepreneurship have been held; a host of
articles, edited books and special journal issues have appeared; and a
dedicated journal, the Journal of International Entrepreneurship, and a
book Series, the McGill international Entrepreneurship Series, have been
launched.

This special tenth anniversary IE conference is designed to bring
together leading-edge views of academic scholars and insightful
practitioners from the fields of international business and small
business/entrepreneurship, among others, in order to examine the
influential force(s), consequent changes and the dominant pattern(s) of
emerging developments which will shape international entrepreneurship
over the next decade. Elements include:

(a) Research-Intensive Workshop:  An intensive, two-and-a-half day
Research Workshop focusing on the changes and the challenges facing
smaller firms in the global competitive arena. Objectives include: (1)
providing a unique opportunity for scholars to discuss path-breaking
concepts, theories and frameworks in plenary and competitive paper
sessions and workshops, in order to facilitate the development of new
research initiatives with a potential for contributing to the
advancement of the field of IE, and (2) preparing the collective output
of the workshop for publication as integrated collections in leading
journals and edited books. Therefore, only unpublished completed or
nearly-completed papers are invited for presentation and feedback from
other scholars and invited practitioners. 

(b) Business Conference:  An open session for discussion of key ideas
and insights with members of the business community. The focus will be
on a better understanding of actual issues facing entrepreneurial firms
in their quest for growth and internationalization. Executives from
internationalizing firms will be invited to share their insights on
related themes and interact with scholars.

(c) Ph.D./Research-Methodology Consortium: Tailored to the research
needs of doctoral candidates and new researchers in IE.

PUBLICATIONS:  Leading-edge contributions from the previous conferences
have appeared in prestigious journals and edited books. This conference
will follow the same practice. In addition to the Conference
Proceedings, intensive effort will be focussed on publishing the papers
of the 2007 Conference in cohesive sets of articles in edited volumes
and special issues of journals and book volumes with high impact. For a
selected list of publications of past conference papers see
http://www.mcgill.ca/mie. 

TOPICAL THEMES: Any empirical and theoretical research papers or
work-in-progress related to IE are welcomed. An illustrative list
includes, but is not limited to, the following themes:
* Applications of analytical frameworks and measurements that capture
the presence, evolution and distinctive capabilities of
internationally-oriented small firms. 
* Contributions to methodology for research on smaller firms in the
international marketplace.
* Influential factors and corresponding patterns of internationalization
in small, entrepreneurial firms.
* Cross-national comparisons of internationally-oriented entrepreneurs
and entrepreneurial firms. 
* Identification and analysis of the motivations and challenges that
energize entrepreneurs in the globalizing market place.
* Impact of e-commerce-centric activities on internationalizing SMEs.
* Impact of learning and knowledge acquisition on internationalization
of smaller firms.
* International and national policy imperatives relating to the
cross-border activities of small firms.
* Role of regional industrial clusters in internationalization of small
domestic firms. 
* Role and impact of international alliances, mergers and networks on
internationalization of SMEs.
* Strategy for development of key-capabilities and enhanced
competitiveness of internationalizing firms.
* Microfinance and the Bottom of the Pyramid entrepreneurship

SUBMISSION INFORMATION:
* Submission deadline for initial proposals /abstracts: May 1, 2007.
Please send us completed papers, working papers, or a detailed three (3)
page synopses by e-mail as Word attachments to
IEConf.2007 at anderson.ucla.edu. Please include full contact information
for main contact author(s), and indicate whether your anticipated
contribution will be a completed paper, or a work in progress.
* Notification of acceptance will be communicated to main contact
author(s) by June 15, 2007.
* In case of difficulty with electronic transmissions, hard copies may
be mailed  to:

Professor Robert S. Spich, Conference Chairman
UCLA Anderson School of Management
110 Westwood Plaza, Suite B307
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1481
Tel: (310) 825-8054; Fax: (310) 825-8098

The conference series website is at http://www.mcgill.ca/mie/2007. For
further information, feel free to contact Prof. Hamid Etemad at
hamid.etemad at mcgill.ca  or Prof. Robert Spich at
IEConf.2007 at anderson.ucla.edu.