ANNOUNCE: NFIB Dissertation Award Nominations

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

The National Federation of Independent (NFIB) Doctoral Dissertation
Award in Entrepreneurship and Independent Business is one of the
Entrepreneurship Division's two doctoral dissertation awards.  The NFIB
Award was established through the original sponsorship of
Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, and the continuing sponsorship of
the National Federation of Independent Business Foundation.  Its purpose
is to recognize and honor outstanding doctoral research in the areas of
Entrepreneurship & Independent Business.  The principal focus of the
NFIB Award is on research that deals with entrepreneurs, and potential
entrepreneurs, with the founding, management, growth and development of
independent new ventures, with small business,  family business, and
minority business, and/or with the support systems (other than venture
capital) that help facilitate the development of such business.
Specifically excluded from the NFIB Award are dissertations dealing
primarily with high-potential ventures. 

Two criteria will be used to evaluate all the NFIB Award Entries.  They
are:  (1) The degree to which the Entry fits the specific Focus of the
NFIB Award described above; and the (2) The Overall Quality of the Entry
with respect to Its Literature Survey, Model Development, Hypothesis
Generation, Research Design, Sample and/or Site Selection, Data
Gathering Methods, Variable Definition and Measurement, Data Analysis
Methods, Findings and Conclusions, Limitations, and Implications for
both Theory and Research in Entrepreneurship and Independent Business. 

[Note:  Unlike the Heizer Award, NFIB Award Winners Need Not Have well
developed Implications for Practitioners - provided, of course, that
they fit the other specifications of the NFIB Award described above.] 

The 2009 NFIB Dissertation Award is open to dissertations completed in
2008.  One electronic copy (MS Word only) of a 1 page [single spaced in
> 10-12 point font with 1 inch margins top, bottom, and sides] Abstract
and a 20-page [single spaced in > 10-12 point font with 1 inch margins
top, bottom, and sides] Summary of each dissertation should be sent, no
later than 5:00p.m. Eastern Daylight Time March 15, 2009 to the Chair
Elect of the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management
(Eileen Fischer, efischer at schulich.yorku.ca).  Finalists for the NFIB
Award will be notified by mid-April, 2009, and to remain in the
competition, will be required to send a Full Electronic Copy (MS-Word
only) of their completed dissertation to Prof. Fischer no later than
5:00p.m. US Central Daylight Time April 30, 2009.    The winner of the
NFIB Award will be required to send one copy of their dissertation to
the NFIB Foundation and one copy to Dr. Charles W. Hofer (c/o Coles
College of Business, Burruss 312, Kennesaw State University, 1000
Chastain Road, Kennesaw, GA 30144). 

The Award itself will consist of a cash prize and an Award plaque
commemorating the winner's outstanding research effort.