This informative set analyzes the dynamics involved with creating, growing, and managing small businesses amid different geographic, institutional, and political environments.
This two-volume work explores the behavior and decision making of small companies; their business strategies for launch, growth, and survival; and their contribution to the larger global economy. Utilizing information and data gleaned from proven entrepreneurs and small business operations, this reference provides insight into the political, environmental, and competitive forces that support and impede small business ownership, and offers strategies for navigating them.
Written by leading researchers from around the world, the set presents a broad view of the small business sector, focusing on conception, ownership, financing, and growth strategies. A look at external factors features the impact of political and environmental influences; extant regulations affecting small firms; and programs for promoting this sector. The first volume takes a micro view of the small business phenomenon, profiling the owner and the skills necessary to be successful. The second volume utilizes a macro approach, focusing on the operational concerns of and the environment factors bearing upon small businesses.

Scott L. Newbert, PhD, is associate professor of management, Harry Halloran Emerging Scholar in Social Entrepreneurship, and Anne Quinn Welsh Faculty Fellow in Honors at Villanova University.

Preface
Introduction
Scott L. Newbert
1.Small Businesses' Share of Employment: Charting the Course over the Last Three Decades
Brian Headd
2.The Motivations Underlying Small Business Formation: An Overview and Empirical Examination of Self-Efficacy and Commitment
Narda R. Quigley, Scott L. Newbert, and Kevin D. Clark
3.The Irrational Benefits of Small Business Ownership: Constructing Economic Well-Being in Business-Owning Households
Sara Carter, Gry Agnete Alsos, and Elisabet Ljunggren
4.Effectual Decision Making: Applications for Small Business
Gaylen N. Chandler
5.Women- and Ethnic Minority-Owned Businesses: An Overview of Current Research and Future Trends
Susan Marlow and Maura McAdam
6.The A-GES Framework: Understanding the Family Business Difference
Justin B. Craig and Ken Moores
7.Institutional Influences on Entrepreneurial Orientation in Small Businesses: A Nine-Country Investigation of Political and Economic Risk
Brian S. Anderson, Patrick M. Kreiser, and K. Mark Weaver
8.Opportunity Unchained: Seeking Success
Charles H. Matthews, Mark T. Schenkel, and Mariah C. Yates
9.Entrepreneurial Storytelling: An Institutional Tale
Lianne M. Lefsrud and P. Devereaux Jennings
10.Personal Networks and Networking Behavior of Small Business Owner-Managers: How to Make Networks Work for You
Erno T. Tornikoski, Alexandra Gerbasi, and Greg Molecke
11.Thinking like MacGyver: Substituting Resourcefulness for Resources in Small Businesses
Craig E. Armstrong
12.Market Entry Timing Decisions: A Formal Modeling Perspective
Moren Lévesque
About the Editor and Contributors
Index