Challenging Entrepreneurship Research

The growth of entrepreneurship research has been accompanied by an increased convergence and institutionalization of the field. In many ways this is of course positive, but it also represents how the field has become "mainstream" with the concomitant risk that individual scholars become embedded in a culture and incentive system that emphasizes and rewards incremental research questions, while reducing the incentives for scholars to conduct challenging research.

This book challenges this status quo from accepted theories, methodologies and paradigmatic assumptions, to the relevance (or lack of) for contemporary practice and the impact of key journals on scholars' directions in entrepreneurship research.

An invited selection of the younger generation of scholars within the field of entrepreneurship research adopt a critical and constructive posture on what has been achieved in entrepreneurship research, the main assumptions which underly it, but also open-up new paths for creative entrepreneurship research in the future. This is a must-read for all scholars, educators and advanced students in entrepreneurship research.

Hans Landström holds the Chair in Entrepreneurship at Lund University, Sweden. He is co-founder of two large research centers at Lund University: Center for Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economy (CIRCLE) which is a research center on innovation research, and Sten K. Johnson Centre for Entrepreneurship (SKJCE) focusing on entrepreneurship research and education. His research interests include entrepreneurial finance, venture capital and business angels, entrepreneurial education, and the history of entrepreneurship as a research field. Author of 15 books and edited books, and his articles have been published in journals such as Research Policy, Journal of Business Venturing, Small Business Economics, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, and Journal of Small Business Management.

Annaleena Parhankangas is Assistant Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago, USA. During the past years, she also held positions at New Jersey Institute of Technology and Helsinki University of Technology. Her research focuses on the interaction dynamics between entrepreneurs and their key resource holders, such as investors and alliance partners. She serves on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Perspectives, Journal of Business Venturing, Venture Capital: Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance and International Journal of Technoentrepreneurship. Her research has been published in Journal of Business Venturing, Research Policy, Organizational Studies, Small Business Economics, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development and Business Strategy and Environment.

Alain Fayolle is a Professor of entrepreneurship, the Founder and Director of The Entrepreneurship Research Centre at EM Lyon Business School, France. His research interests cover a range of topics in the field of entrepreneurship. He has been (or still is) acting as an expert for different governments and international institutions (OECD, EC, UNIDO). Alain published thirty books and over 150 articles in leading international and French-speaking journals. Among his editorial positions, he is notably an Associate Editor of JSBM and an Editor of two leading French-speaking journals. In 2013, Alain Fayolle got the 2013 European Entrepreneurship Education Award and has been elected officer of the Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division (a five year commitment culminating with position as Chair of Division in 2016). In 2015, he has been awarded Wilford L. White Fellow by ICSB.

Philippe Riot began his career as a Professor of Philosophy. He worked several years in Paris Sorbonne's History of Sciences Institute, Director Georges Canguilhem, where he specialized in epistemology and on a critical approach of the modern concept of science. He worked several years in Michel Foucault's seminar at the French "Collège de France", where he was involved in the research linked to the preparation of Michel Foucault's book Surveiller et Punir (Discipline and Punish) and Moi, Pierre Rivière... He joined EM LYON Business School in 1995 where he became a fulltime professor of Strategy and Organization. He was also a part time visiting Professor at Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey. His research focuses on strategy and finance, strategy and digital innovation, innovation in life sciences and health systems. Today, he is the Head of the Strategy, Organizations and Entrepreneurship Department of EMLYON.