This collection presents selected papers from the Fourth Annual Global Conference on Entrepreneurial Research, held in 1994 at INSEAD, France.

Introduction. Papers: 1. Strong ties, weak ties and strangers: Do women owners differ from men in their use of networking to obtain assistance? Howard A. Aldrich and Amanda Elam Brickman 2. The determinants of optimal marketing expenditures: An application of option theory Saugata Bannerjee, William Bygrave and Benoit Leleux 3. Unfinished business: Obstacles to entrepreneurship in the reform of state-owned enterprises in China and Vietnam Max Boisot 4. Creating value on the balance sheet: Capital structures of new businesses Richard N. Cardozo, Paul Severn, Anne Sickles and Alexander Ardishvili 5. Coping with industry transformation: The case of the Italian tannery industry Paola Dubini and Umberto Lago 6. Extraordinary feats of entrepreneurial enterprise: strategies for rapid, sustained growth Thomas D. Kraemer and S. Venkataraman 7. Team processes and progress in innovation: The role of job satisfaction at project level Atul A. Nerkar, Rita Gunther McGrath and Ian C. MacMillan 8. Regional business creation and push factors: The case of Quebec Gilles Roy, Jean-Marie Toulouse and Luc Vallee 9. An investigation of conflict in the Franchisee-Franchisor relationship: Findings of the pilot study Steven Spinelli and Sue Birley Abstracts: 1. Measuring entrepreneurship over time William B. Gartner and Scott A. Shane 2. Need and issues on venture business support in Japan Shuichi Matsuda and Itaru Shirakura 3. Risk perceptions of entrepreneurs: upsides, downsides and variability of perceptions John W. Mullins and David Forlani