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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to draw on emerging ideas related to the concept of entrepreneurial leadership which emphasises a \"distributed\" model synonymous with terms which indicate that authority is decentralised (\"shared\", \"team\", \"democratic\", \"representative\" and \"dispersed\"). Design/methodology/approach - A model of authentic entrepreneurial leadership was developed based on a review of the literature. Eight small manufacturing companies were selected to empirically examine, via interviews, the extent to which authentic entrepreneurial leadership was adopted by owner-managers. Findings - Interviews with owner-managers indicated that they did in fact rely on an approach to leadership which emphasised the role of employees as genuine stakeholders in the business. This finding can be related to the concept of what Dovey and Fenech, describe as \"enterprise logic\" which the authors link to the emergence of knowledge-based capitalism. Owner-managers were keen to involve their employees in development of the businesses through the development of new products and new services. Practical implications - This study confirms earlier work which points out the importance of entrepreneurs adopting an authentic approach to leadership. Authentic leadership means that employees are encouraged to develop their individual strengths and owner-managers adopt an ethical approach to their dealings with all stakeholders. Originality/value - The paper develops a model of entrepreneurial leadership which sets out the links to organizational innovation. The empirical study provides clear evidence of links between this approach to management and higher levels of innovation within small firms. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

A considerable amount of research into how organizations absorb new knowledge was prompted by the work of Cohen and Levinthal. In a recent literature review Zahra and George identify two distinct elements of absorptive capacity (potential and realized). This article contributes to the study of managerial agency in the absorption of new knowledge and skills. Zahra and George’s model is extended to incorporate key roles associated with knowledge transfer, including gatekeepers, boundary spanners and change agents. Empirical data are drawn from a longitudinal study of a mature manufacturing firm based in North Wales. Change was initiated by the owner in response to the loss of the company’s major customer—the Ministry of Defence. The main change agent was a recently recruited middle manager who used his mass production experience to improve managerial communications and introduce more efficient working practices to the shopfloor.

Purpose – While there is a large volume of entrepreneurial social capital research, the philosophical assumptions have received limited attention. The purpose of this paper is to review and classify entrepreneurial social capital studies according to the following approaches – objectivist (positivist-realist, structuralist) and subjectivist (social constructionist). There is a neglect of structure and agency, and the authors encourage a critical realist approach that permits an understanding of observable network structure, constraint-order and human agency as a dynamic system. Design/methodology/approach – The ontological and epistemological assumptions, and associated strengths and weaknesses of objectivist (positivist-realist, structuralist) and subjectivist (social constructionist) entrepreneurial social capital studies are discussed. The case for a more progressive critical realist approach is developed. Findings – The authors demonstrate that objectivist (positivist-realist, structuralist) research with findings bereft of situated meaning and agency dominates. The emergence of subjectivist research – narratively examining different network situations from the perspective of those embedded in networks – is an emerging and competing approach. This dualism is unlikely to comprehensively understand the complex system-level properties of social capital. Future research should adopt critical realism and fuse: objective data to demonstrate the material aspects of network structures and what structural social capital exists in particular settings; and subjective data that enhances an understanding of situated meaning, agency and intention in a network. Originality/value – This paper contributes a review of entrepreneurial social capital research and philosophical foundations. The development of a critical realist approach to understanding social capital gestation permits a system-level analysis of network structure influencing conduct, and agency.

PurposeThis article examines the influence of Daoist nothingness on leadership in growing Chinese small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Daoism is based on a “letting-go” approach through maintaining inherent openness, which challenges goal-oriented and hierarchical approaches typical of Western and Confucian leadership theories. This facilitates the cross-fertilization of ideas related to the effective management of smaller firms.Design/methodology/approachThis study focuses on SME leaders in a group of 12 growing SMEs in the Shanghai logistics industry in China. Narrative and semi-structured interviews explored emerging aspects beyond the established model of leadership associated with reputation-building. This led to in-depth, thick descriptions, broadening our understanding of leadership and reputation-building.FindingsSME leaders follow nothingness by continuously adopting a letting-go approach which spontaneously fosters reputation-building. By maintaining inherent openness, nothingness functions as an enabling principle that mobilizes multi-beings leading to reputation-building in unintended ways.Research limitations/implicationsA greater plurality of empirical and methodological contexts in Western and non-Western countries helps to understand the dynamics and intersection of Daoist nothingness, leadership and reputation-building.Practical implicationsSME leaders recounted how they discursively practised nothingness for extended periods in their everyday practice. The study shows the significance of nothingness for SME leaders who aspire to grow their businesses by reputation-building among salient stakeholders.Social implicationsDaoist nothingness provides insights into the distinctive approach of Chinese SME leaders and their relationships with local and distant stakeholders. By engaging in active non-action they relax pre-determined intentions and immerse themselves in the process of leading, where the connections between goals and processes are automatically animated. Such an approach differs from the top-down and goal-oriented approach to leadership adopted in many Western SMEs.Originality/valueThis paper makes two theoretical contributions. First, it indicates the powerful influence of Daoist nothingness on leadership by drawing on the broader context of entrepreneurship in Chinese SMEs. Secondly, it enriches existing concepts such as reputation by endowment and reputation borrowing by demonstrating how Daoist nothingness silently fosters both local reputation and generalized reputation.

Purpose - To investigate the role played by corporate entrepreneurs in the strategic renewal of mature manufacturing companies. Design/methodology/approach - A case study approach is adopted as a means of identifying links between corporate entrepreneurship and social capital. Data are drawn from a three-year study which incorporates formal and informal interviews with 15 members of a pseudonymous company management team. Findings - The study extends understanding of limits between corporate entrepreneurship and social capital in three ways: corporate entrepreneurs (CEs) can exploit \"structural holes\" for the benefit of the organisation rather than for career advancement; newcomers are more effective than insiders in overcoming the relational inertia caused by lack of external links; the bridging actions of CEs are important for linking internal activities as well as for accessing external knowledge. Originality/value - The case is used, in combination with earlier contributions to the literature, as a basis for reconceptualizing the process of corporate entrepreneurship. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

This book provides a detailed, multi-disciplinary analysis of innovation networks in a variety of organisational settings. All the contributors are employed at Aston Business School, which is one of the UK's foremost institutions in terms of both teaching and research. The book illustrates the way in which innovation networks are formed and sustained in a variety of organisational settings: the public sector, public-private collaboration, national policy level, inter-organisational credit links, as well as the more traditional focus on manufacturing firms. The strength of the network approach is that it encourages detailed analyses of the dyadic links which must be mobilised in the innovation process. At the same time, networks provide a framework for exploring the multiple sources and pluralistic patterns of communication typical of innovatory activity. Therefore, in contrast to much of the innovation network research undertaken in recent years, the focus of this book is as much on notions of \"network as method\" as on \"network as phenomenon\".

Purpose - The paper seeks to draw on the work of Engeström to set out an activity theory framework for the analysis of entrepreneurs engaged in the creation of new business ventures (NBVs). Adopting an activity-based approach involves analysing the actions of individual and groups that are mediated through a range of devices, including language and physical artefacts.Design methodology approach - The empirical data are based on a small sample of \"scholars\" taking part in a UK government-sponsored initiative to promote enterprise: the New Entrepreneur Scholarship (NES). The data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews with the entrepreneurs. NVivo software was then used to systemise the data according to the six dimensions of the activity theory triangle.Findings - The cases illustrate the contradictions and tensions that confront nascent entrepreneurs as they consider the horizon of possibilities associated with their business idea. The paper demonstrates that the new business actually emerges from a contested set of relationships within which the entrepreneur plays a critical, creative, but far from solitary, role.Research limitations implications - The use of activity theory helps provide a better understanding of how entrepreneurs engaged in relatively mundane business start-ups actually identify and develop \"new\" opportunities. This is in contrast to many studies of entrepreneurial activity which focus on \"high-tech\" or fast-growing firms.Originality value - This is an exploratory study which utilises the activity theory framework to understand the difficulties and rewards for individuals with limited human and social capital to create successful new firms.