CFP: Cooperation and Trust in the Context of SMEs (IJEI)

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

CALL FOR PAPERS - The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and
Innovation
Special Issue: 'Cooperation and Trust in the Context of SMEs'
Guest Editors: Dr. Rainer Harms and Dr. Matthias Fink

Cooperative strategies are at the same time a great opportunity and a
serious threat to the firm. This is especially true for small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As they manoeuvre with relatively small
war chests in the rough waters of competition, cooperative strategies
are of vital importance for small business units. By pooling critical
resources such as know-how or production capacities, partners may come
up with unique combinations that generate competitive advantages or
allow them to overcome the liability of smallness which otherwise
restricts competing with larger enterprises. However, the commitment to
such an arrangement entails specific investments and therefore bears a
degree of risk. The key to success is efficient and effective
coordination of the partners' behaviour within the scope of the
cooperative agreement. How can SMEs identify the right cooperative
strategy? How can they set up successful cooperative relationships? How
do they choose the right partners and make sure those partners act in
the agreed way? What is the role of trust? How are the costs and the
benefits of cooperation to be distributed between the partners? How can
cooperative relationships be evaluated?

The special issue will contribute to a better understanding of the
definition, prerequisites, functioning and effects of cooperative
strategies and trust in the context of relationships among SMEs.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

* definition of cooperative strategies for SMEs;
* designing cooperative relationships for SMEs;
* evolution and termination of cooperative relationships;
* market, trust and hierarchy in cooperative relationships;
* coordination mechanisms in cooperative relationships and SME
performance;
* matching partners for SMEs' cooperation relationships;
* cooperative internationalization of SMEs;
* cooperative R&D of SMEs;
* evaluation tools for cooperative relationships among SMEs;
* social embeddedness and cooperative relationships of SMEs;
* SME networks and rural development;
* SME clusters and economic development.

We encourage researchers to present their ideas and concepts in the form
of purely theoretical or theory-driven empirical work. Both qualitative
and quantitative approaches are welcome, as is innovative conceptual
work that challenges dominant ideas.

Deadline for submissions: 30 November 2008.

Papers should be sent electronically before the above date to the guest
editors (details below). Manuscripts should include the title of the
special issue both in the subject line of the e-mail and at the top of
the title page and should be presented in accordance with the journal
submission requirements, which can be found at www.ippublishing.com.
They should not exceed 8,000 words, and shorter papers (5,000-7,000
words) will be preferred. All papers will be subject to double blind
peer review, following the journal's standard procedure.

For further information and/or expressions of interest, contact:
Matthias Fink, Department of Small Business Management and
Entrepreneurship, Vienna University of Economics and Business
Administration, Augasse 2-6, 1090 Vienna, Austria, tel: +43 (0)1313366
4483, e-mail: matthias.fink at wu-wien.ac.at; or Rainer Harms, Department
of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship, Klagenfurt University,
Austria, tel: +43 (0)463 2700 4052, email: rainer.harms at uni-klu.ac.at.

More info at
http://www.ecsb.org/doc/Call%20for%20Papers%20The%20International%20Jour
nal%20of%20Entrepreneurship%20and%20Innovation.pdf