CFP: Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in China (MOR)

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

Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in China
Special Issue of Management and Organization Review#
Deadline: 1 June 2008

Entrepreneurship research considers the interactions between
individuals, processes, and institutions in the emergence of new
organizations, and organizational forms that engender wealth creation.
The combination of creativity and innovation embedded in the
entrepreneurial process is fundamental to the discovery and
establishment of new ways to organize production processes and to
introduce new institutional forms. Creativity is broadly defined as the
cognitive process by which individuals discover new patterns in familiar
ideas, routines, and mental models. Innovation is broadly defined as the
organizational process by which ideas are turned into economically
valuable products and services. Given the largely entrepreneurship
driven growth experienced by the Chinese private sector (about 1/3 of
the economy), this special issue offers the opportunity for a concerted
look at entrepreneurship in China.

Papers that explore the relationship between creativity and innovation
in entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial firms, and their strategies are
welcome. The extant research on entrepreneurship in emerging regions has
examined the impact of institutional changes on levels of new venture
activity and economic welfare. Others have examined the social and
economic network dimensions of entrepreneurship. In China, it is
virtually impossible to discuss economic activity without explicit
reference to the role of government. For example, the government has
determined that innovation is critical for the next stage of its
economic development plan. Innovation and creativity are seen as the
tools for the creation of new firms, and the revitalization of state
owned enterprises. In this special issue, studies that explore the
promotion of competition and economic development should focus on the
impact on the individual and firm levels of analyses. Hence, such
questions as, 'Would government programs to encourage innovation be
detrimental to radical innovation but a positive impact on incremental
innovation?', 'What are the pre-founding conditions for the emergence of
entrepreneurial activity in rural areas?', and 'In the absence of a
robust venture capital industry, what forms does risk capital take in
China, and how do these impact innovation and the emergence of high
growth potential firms?' can significantly add to our understanding of
the general models.

Entrepreneurs frequently have to make high-stake decisions, which are
those that involve substantial risk and have long-term consequences for
the well-being of others. Studies looking at such decisions often take
descriptive approaches. Here, models are aimed at describing and
predicting decision makers' behaviors and are rooted in psychology and
organizational sociology. For example, in emerging economies, the choice
between self-employment and employment is often mediated by the
attractiveness of the underground economy. Therefore, studies attempting
to answer questions related to the institutional drivers of rewards from
productive innovation through the protection of commercial freedom and
property rights should focus on the impact of such factors on
entrepreneurs, nascent firms, and entrepreneurial networks. For
instance, essential local inputs are vulnerable to monopolization and
foreclosure in an evolving institutional regime. Hence, papers that look
at the individual and organizational drivers that divert entrepreneurial
talent toward non-welfare increasing activities fall into this domain.
Such questions as, 'When and how would one expect guanxi to have a
negative impact on creativity and innovation?', and 'What role does
Confucian philosophy play in the mitigation of risk in highly innovative
ventures?' are particularly interesting.

Given the adolescence of the research on entrepreneurship in China,
in-depth clinical studies that describe a phenomenon, resulting in
general theoretical models, are strongly encouraged. For example, in an
era of global competition, location should no longer be a source of
competitive advantage. But in practice, location remains central to
competitive success. Today's economic map of the world is characterized
by clusters: geographically linked industries and institutions that
enjoy a competitive advantage in a particular field. Most of the
frameworks describing clusters derive from work done in developed
economies. Indeed, the extant research on China's emerging high
technology sector relies on such models. Yet, the rural economy in China
is still a significant part of the economic landscape. There has been
little attempt to document the incidence, nature, and evolution of the
entrepreneurial economy in the rural economy. Such questions as 'What is
the impact of technology such as mobile communications on new venture
creation in rural areas?', 'How are labor-intensive production models
exploited for the creation of new ventures?' and 'What is the process of
opportunity identification in the rural areas?' can add significantly to
our grasp of extant theory.

In sum, inductive and deductive forms of investigation are welcome, but
we strongly suggest that papers focus on topics that can be natural
references for future researchers. The focus of the theorizing should
start with analysis and synthesis but move on to new conceptualizations
of the chosen topic. Therefore, inductive theory papers should aim at
paradigmatic, rather than micro-theory explanations. Empirical
approaches especially suited to entrepreneurship research such as
extended clinical studies, critical event studies, panel data regression
techniques, verbal data collection protocols, and so forth, are
particularly sought after in this special issue. Recursive models rather
than linear models tend to have more explanatory power; therefore
empirical studies that employ multi-levels, multi-theories, and
multi-constructs are favored.
 
When submitting to the special issue, please follow standard MOR
submission guidelines, which can be viewed at:
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/submit.asp?ref=1740-8776&site=1

Please address your paper to the lead guest editor, Phil Phan
(pphan at rpi.edu), and copy to iacmr.mor at asu.edu. Identify your paper as a
submission to the special issue on Creativity, Innovation and
Entrepreneurship in China. Papers will be double-blind peer reviewed and
acceptance decisions will be based on the standards described in the MOR
mission statement.
 
Contact Info:
Phillip Phan
phone: +1-518-276-2319
email address: pphan at rpi.edu
- Address -
The Lally School of Management & Technology @ RPI
110 8th St
Troy, NY 12180
United States

More info at
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/submit.asp?ref=1740-8776&site=1