Knowledge frontiers and boundaries in entrepreneurship research

While the disruptive potential of knowledge has been receiving growing attention in small business economics and entrepreneurship research and application over the last decade, its boundaries and frontiers, including technological, spatial, institutional, cognitive, and cultural has not been fully explored. Here we present some reflections and a collection of papers on the role of knowledge investment across different cultural, institutional, geographical, and industrial contexts for this emerging area in entrepreneurship and management research. While being careful of the swift changes in knowledge creation, dissemination, and testing in a digital age, geography of knowledge diffusion, knowledge embeddedness into industries and places, skills, and strategies continue to change the way firms assimilate, absorb, create, and transfer knowledge. In this special issue, we extend our knowledge boundaries through knowledge collaboration theory, resource theory, open innovation theory, knowledge and creativity spillover of entrepreneurship theory, economic geography, and creative class and institutional theories. We give researchers and practitioners future directions for a very relevant and fast-growing area of entrepreneurship and small business research

Une question de fétichisme - Déjeuner en fourrure (1934) de Meret Oppenheim (1913-1985) : un hommage surréaliste à Léopold von Sacher-Masoch

Plusieurs śuvres de Meret Oppenheim documentent sa fascination pour des objets fétichisés - ŕ l’origine d’objets commodes, transformés vis-ŕ-vis des différents matériaux, en particulier la fourrure. Déjeuner en fourrure (1936), mais également Fur gloves with wooden fingers (1936) ou Squirrel (1964) - tous ces objets sont exemplaires de son approche artistique-fétichiste. Déjeuner en fourrure est un ensemble de vaisselle - une tasse, une assiette et une cuiller -, que l’artiste suisse recouvre entičrement de fourrure de gazelle. Elle détourne la tasse, commode, et ses accessoires de leur fonction habituelle pour proposer de nouvelles relations. La tasse, l’assiette et la cuiller sont parfaitement identifiables par leur forme mais le seul fait de les recouvrir par un matériau qui paraît si étrange, leur ôte toute fonctionnalité. Elle souligne le contraste entre l’archétype et sa version poétique. Oppenheim nie toute signification autre que ce contraste textuel, toute interprétation érotique de l’objet. Explique-t-elle que le célčbre nom de Déjeuner en fourrure qui associe pour toujours la tasse, au Déjeuner sur l’herbe d’Édouard Manet, puis ŕ la Venus ŕ la fourrure de Léopold von Sacher-Masoch - deux śuvres fortement érotiques -, n’était pas de son invention, mais celle d’André Breton, chef de file du groupe surréaliste. Cependant, męme si Oppenheim persiste n’avoir pas eu pour visée une telle interprétation érotique de son objet, on ne peut pas nier sa fascination pour la fourrure fétichiste, ni s’empęcher de penser ŕ une lecture sensuelle de Déjeuner en fourrure. La civilisation ordonnée, représentée par le matériel original de l’objet, la tasse en porcelaine, est envahie par le primitif, le sauvage, symbolisé par la fourrure. La substance męme, évoque donc l’exotisme et l’animalité, et de par lŕ, l’appétit sexuel de chacun. Ŕ travers le Déjeuner en fourrure, exemplaire de l’approche fétichiste d’André Breton et les surréalistes, mais aussi de Meret Oppenheim, nous proposons une étude détaillée de l’application artistique des théories sur le fétichisme avancé par Léopold von Sacher-Masoch

Knowledge management and entrepreneurship

While research on knowledge management in entrepreneurial organizations has been the subject of much scholarly attention, it has mostly been considered independently rather than in institutional, geographical or industrial contexts. The purpose of this special issue is to integrate the role of context with knowledge management research, and to discuss the subsequent implications for entrepreneurship. This paper draws on the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship, open innovation theory and the institutional perspective to knowledge management in entrepreneurial organizations, It does so in order to measure returns to investment in knowledge and knowledge spillovers across various industries and levels of economic activity (individual, firm, industry, university, region). Future research suggestions from the papers included in the special journal issue are also discussed and explained

Bioökonomie

Zusammenfassung: Der Buchbeitrag befasst sich mit der Geschichte des Begriffs „Bioökonomie“. Er geht auf die verschiedenen Deutungsmöglichkeiten desselben ein, beschäftigt sich dann aber im Wesentlichen mit Bioökonomiestrategien und geplanten Handlungen, die darauf abzielen, fossile Rohstoffe durch bio-basierte zu ersetzen beziehungsweise durch die Nutzung letzterer, Effizienz in Produktion und Konsum steigern zu können. Der Beitrag zeigt, dass die Bioökonomie eine mit zahlreichen Politikfeldern verschränkte politische Strategie ist, die jedoch nicht eindeutig definiert ist und deren Ziele umstritten sind. Der Unterschied im Verständnis von Bioökonomie wird an den nationalen Konzepten Finnlands, Schwedens und Deutschlands erläutert. Deutlich wird ferner, dass besonders in Bezug auf die Nutzung global verfügbarer Rohstoffe Zielkonflikte bestehen. Diskutiert wird auch, inwieweit Bioökonomiestrategien nachhaltig sind oder asymmetrische Beziehungen reproduzieren. Dabei werden Themen wie Landknappheit und -konflikte sowie sozioökonomische Auswirkungen auf verschiedene Bevölkerungsgruppen beziehungsweise Regionen behandelt. Abschließend umreißen wir offene Forschungsfragen

Contextualizing the bioeconomy in an unequal world: biomass sourcing and global socio-ecological inequalities

What is the bioeconomy and how does the bioeconomy relate to socio-ecological inequalities? With a focus on biomass sourcing, production and bioenergy, this chapter aims to answer these two questions with the whole book in mind. First, we introduce the conceptual, geographical and methodological focus of the volume. Drawing on political ecology and world systems theory, we develop an analytical lens for the study of global socio-ecological inequalities. Against this background, we sketch out the main findings of the contributions, which focus on conceptual questions, bioeconomy policies and agendas in different countries, as well as the reconfigurations and continuities of socio-ecological inequalities in and beyond the agrarian sector from the local to the global level. The contributions offer insights into different countries in South America, Southeast Asia and Europe as well as into the interrelations between different countries and regions. Finally, the outlook identifies and discusses four areas of further research

The Moderniſa Project: Orthographic Modernization of Spanish Golden Age Dramas with Language Models

The increasing application of computational methods to the literature of the Spanish Golden Age has revealed the necessity of automating the modernization of its texts to facilitate seamless comparison and analysis. This study pioneers the employment of Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques for the transformation of Spanish Golden Age texts (circa 1590-1680) into modern, normalized Spanish (RAE 2010). The research employs the transformer architecture to train and evaluate models using a corpus of Golden Age dramas. The models show promise in handling tricky typographical marks and context-sensitive words, but also struggle with proper nouns and orthographic variations. Evaluated using different metrics common in the specialized literature, the tool demonstrates potential as a valuable resource for historians, philologists, and digital humanists. Limitations include the specificity of the training corpus and observed inconsistencies in punctuation and spelling even in modernized texts. This research offers a novel, scalable solution to the manual modernization of Golden Age Spanish literature, enabling further computational studies in the field

Siponimod Inhibits the Formation of Meningeal Ectopic Lymphoid Tissue in Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis

Background and ObjectivesTo investigate whether the formation or retention of meningeal ectopic lymphoid tissue (mELT) can be inhibited by the sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 1,5 modulator siponimod (BAF312) in a murine model of multiple sclerosis (MS).MethodsA murine spontaneous chronic experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model, featuring meningeal inflammatory infiltrates resembling those in MS, was used. To prevent or treat EAE, siponimod was administered daily starting either before EAE onset or at peak of disease. The extent and cellular composition of mELT, the spinal cord parenchyma, and the spleen was assessed by histology and immunohistochemistry.ResultsSiponimod, when applied before disease onset, ameliorated EAE. This effect was also present, although less prominent, when treatment started at peak of disease. Treatment with siponimod resulted in a strong reduction of the extent of mELT in both treatment paradigms. Both B and T cells were diminished in the meningeal compartment.DiscussionBeneficial effects on the disease course correlated with a reduction in mELT, suggesting that inhibition of mELT may be an additional mechanism of action of siponimod in the treatment of EAE. Further studies are needed to establish causality and confirm this observation in MS