Welcome to the seventh issue of ICFAI Journal of Entrepreneurship Development.  As always, an attempt has been made to select contemporary articles from various authors to present a new knowledge base being created in this field.

The first article is on Rural BPO, based on practical study done during the Summer Internship Program by an ICFAI student under faculty guidance. They present a case for BPO activity being a viable opportunity for the ‘tier 2’ cities in India. The article identifies some of the low-end BPO activities that can be successfully carried on, even at village level and highlights the efforts of some organizations in this area.  Needless to say, such activities will bring about a much-needed balance in the country’s otherwise unilateral development.    

The second article “Rural Entrepreneurs in Russia and the Ukraine: Origins, Motivations and Institutional change”, furthers our understanding of rural entrepreneurship concept in a developing, post-socialist country. The paper is based on extensive field study in a number of villages selected for their diversity, and complemented with analysis of published secondary data with the objective of exploring the origin and motivation of rural entrepreneurs.

The third article is on The Impact of the Entrepreneur’s Personality on the Strategy-Formation and Planning Process in SMEs. Most earlier articles have identified and discussed the entrepreneurial-traits in detail but few have attempted to link these different traits to the effect it has on the entrepreneur’s decision making, thus shaping the strategy of the start-up.  To keep it simple, the author has chosen to study two main types of entrepreneurs - the pragmatic and the charismatic, and how they differ in their strategic choices.  The interesting outcome of the study is that the charismatic entrepreneurs are forced to change their interactive style to a more rational and planned approach to the strategizing process as they grow.  In contract, the pragmatic entrepreneur is less likely to encounter the crisis of leadership, autonomy, control and/or red tape.

The fourth article “Evolution, Adaptation and Entrepreneurial Learning in the Emerging Nordic Wireless Internet Industry”, is a paper based on empirical study of 139 unlisted start-up companies in Sweden and Finland in the then emerging area of wireless internet, to better understand how the individuals and groups learn, adapt and evolve through strategic experimentation in an innovative entrepreneurial context.

The last article is not about starting out but growing the start-up.  “How About Expanding the Business? Analyzing Entrepreneurs’ Attitudes Towards Growth” is the first cut result of an ongoing research on small business growth in Finland.  The basic objective of this paper is to analyze the perceptions and beliefs of entrepreneurs about growth at a society level, company level and individual level, but their findings are likely to have a country bias due to the very nature of issues analyzed.  The authors find that the entrepreneur’s motivation to grow is most strongly related to the company level issues.

All our other regular features include a book review, case study, research summary, news related to entrepreneurship, quotations and quiz.  I solicit feedback and suggestions from our readers regarding the journal’s content including the regular features.