Editorial

Citation

Marlow, S. (2005), "Editorial", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 11 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijebr.2005.16011daa.001

Editorial

I would like to begin this editorial by thanking the guest editors for their work on the recent issue on women in self employment; the papers were fascinating and made a useful addition to this area of contemporary interest and debate. Regarding the forthcoming issues, again we are able to publish an eclectic range of papers which focus broadly on the issues of entrepreneurship and innovation. Hence, in issue 3 we commence with a paper which considers the impact of recession on a specific small firm sector, that of the Turkish shotgun industry. Kocak and Edwards find that inter-firm co-operation in this volatile industry is of some importance and present evidence which indicates that firms which co-operate and network were more durable than their counterparts who did not. In his theoretically focused paper, Pittaway takes a conceptual stance by analysing philosophies underpinning economic approaches to the study of entrepreneurship. It is often commented that we lack a clear definition of entrepreneurial behaviour and/or the entrepreneurial firm; this paper makes a critical contribution to this debate by exploring what are often, “taken for granted” assumptions surrounding key research concepts. Finally, in this edition, Altinay and Roper examine the entrepreneurial role of organisational members internationalising a franchise system. Franchising has a growing role in the global economy hence, the manner in which these businesses are marketed and sold is very important. This paper presents evidence from the hotel industry which suggest that local development directors have a key role in the internationalisation process.

In issue 4, we include papers which consider aspects of entrepreneurship and self employment within the UK, the USA, Europe and Australia to offer a truly international analysis of enterprising behaviour. Commencing with Williams, this paper explores the contribution of undeclared self employment; while acknowledged as an area for concern for government given the tax and regulation issues of such work, it is recognised that such activity is a thriving sector. Williams however, finds that the majority of undeclared self employment is undertaken by those who offer a good service and do not perceive their work as fraudulent or threatening. It is suggested that further, sympathetic initiatives are needed to legitimise such work. With a rather different focus, the paper by Suarez-Ortega and Álamo-Vera examines export behaviour and export development in the Spanish wine industry. It is recognised that if a firm is to successfully enter the export market, certain managerial competencies must be present to support this activity with the authors finding that different factors influence export involvement and export development. This study is particularly important as little research has been undertaken on export propensity within Spain yet, the wine industry makes a substantial contribution to this activity. Moving on to Australia, Rothengatter’s paper has a two-fold purpose; to explore tax non-compliance among ethnic entrepreneurs in Australia and to consider the contribution of network analysis to the study of tax compliance regulation. The study draws together issues of multi-culturalism, enterprising behaviour and tax compliance issues in a novel and interesting fashion. Finally, we have a Research Commentary from Schwartz, Teach and Birch in the USA. This paper focuses on opportunity recognition; an area of considerable interest in entrepreneurial studies. Using a comparative study of new technology and non-technology firms, the research takes a longitudinal assessment of opportunity recognition and product development finding that the form changes over time but the latter remains more stable which might be deemed surprising in entrepreneurial firms. Once again, within two issues of this journal, a range of papers are presented which cover many issues of considerable interest to the academic, practitioner and policy maker.

Sue Marlow