2012 - Entrepreneurship, Family Firms and Economic Development

Organizers:
? Cracow University of Economics (CUE)
? Università Politecnica delle Marche (UPM)
? ECSB ? European Council for Small Business
? ICSB ? International Council for Small Business

Conference rational:
Entrepreneurship is a necessary condition for economic growth and development. Modern states converge in treating entrepreneurship as a key economic resource. But entrepreneurship is especially important in the period of structural change and changing global division of labour.
As different parts of the world are experiencing dramatic changes from economic fluctuations, government revolutions, technological innovations, and generational transitions, what is the new role of SMEs and Family Firms in sustaining entrepreneurship and economic development?
Family firms are an economic phenomenon persisting along time and across regions. Their growth is essential to the increase of economic productivity and an overall economic improvement. Enterprises often start from an entrepreneurial idea of an individual, but then continue as family businesses. Hence, the conference links these two issues.
The organizers have designed the conference as a meeting point to discuss past, present and future tendencies with regard to entrepreneurship and family firms and their impact on economic development. It welcomes authors who link SMEs research with family firm and entrepreneurship researches.

Conference Topics:
? The concept and determinants of entrepreneurship in modern economies;
? The relations between entrepreneurship and family firms;
? The advantages and disadvantages of family as a vehicle for firms’ creation;
? The barriers to the growth of family firms;
? The similarities and differences between family firms and SMEs;
? Comparative advantages and disadvantages of family firms;
? The impact of family firms on local development
? The spatial dimension of entrepreneurship;
? International migration and family firms;
? Governance challenges of family firms;
? Family business groups: emergence and prospects;
? Various research approaches to study family firms’ growth and development;
? The Impact of the Business Environment on the Family Firms;
? Public policy and the growth of family firms.

Fee:
The conference fee amounts to 180 Euro (100 Euro for participants coming from a list of countries eligible for reduced fee according to ECSB rules). The conference fee includes membership to ECSB and ICSB. The participants are to cover accommodation and travel expenses on their own.

Call for Papers:
-Abstracts of up to 4000 signs accepted by 30 November 2011.
-Paper selection notification by December 20, 2011.
-Deadline for Full Papers: March 15, 2012

Post-conference publication:
Best papers will be invited to submit to JSBM special issue on family firms.
We also offer to the willing an opportunity to publish selected papers in an edited book volume (and in online English language journal (EM ? Journal of Applied Economics) indexed in Repec).

Contact:
Prof. Aleksander Surdej
e-mail: Aleksander.Surdej-AT-uek.krakow.pl
Cracow University of Economics
27 Rakowicka Street, 31-510 Krakow, Poland
Fax: +48 12 293 5042, +48 12 293 5049
Ph.: +48 12 293 7457, +48 12 293 5327

Prof. Marco Cucculelli
e-mail: m.cucculelli-AT-univpm.it
Università Politecnica delle Marche
Piazzale Martelli, 8 60100 Ancona ? Italy
Fax: +39 071 2207199 - Ph.: +39 071 2207162