Book review by William H. A. Johnson.
Casson, Mark et al., eds. The Oxford Handbook of Entrepreneurship, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 978019928898

Johnson, William H. A.

English

Sacred Heart University: DigitalCommons@SHU

New England Journal ofEntrepreneurshipVolume 11 | Number 2 Article 102008The Oxford Handbook of EntrepreneurshipWilliam H. A. JohnsonBentley College, WJohnson@bentley.eduFollow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/nejePart of the Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations CommonsThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Jack Welch College of Business at DigitalCommons@SHU. It has been accepted forinclusion in New England Journal of Entrepreneurship by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@SHU. For more information, please contactferribyp@sacredheart.edu, lysobeyb@sacredheart.edu.Recommended CitationJohnson, William H. A. (2008) "The Oxford Handbook of Entrepreneurship," New England Journal of Entrepreneurship: Vol. 11 : No. 2 ,Article 10.Available at: https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/neje/vol11/iss2/10Mark Casson, Bernard Yeung, Anuradha Basu, and NigelWadeson, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Entrepreneur-ship, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2006. 790pages, $155.Abook that takes “stock of what has been achieved” inthe past 20 years of academic research on entrepre-neurship would be expected to be somewhat of aheavy tome. To that extent, the newly published handbookfrom Oxford University Press weighs in just shy of 800 pages.However, the book’s 27 chapters are at times delightful toread, though at other times a little hard going.This is proba-bly due to the enormous coverage of the book as a whole.While many of the chapters discuss entrepreneurship via thelenses of economic theory and research, others utilize theo-ries and research from psychology, sociology, and manage-ment.The editors state in their introductory section on theobjectives of the book that it is meant to be “an authoritativesurvey of recent academic research into entrepreneurship”that should aid in the needs of PhD candidates studying thetopic. Indeed, the book satisfies many of its objectives as asurvey of background literature on entrepreneurship cover-ing the areas of industrial economics, business strategy, orga-nizational behavior, finance, venture capital, and business his-tory. Studying entrepreneurship requires a transdisciplinaryapproach due to the transdisciplinary nature of the concept.As such, the book does a great job in covering the many top-ics and issues that intersect in the practice of entrepreneur-ial behavior.Broken into seven sections or parts, the book begins byexploring the various economic theories of entrepreneur-ship.This covers, of course, the fact that static classical eco-nomic theory neglected the impact and, indeed, the impor-tance of entrepreneurial activity in driving the economy.Neoclassical treatments that eventually led to incorporatingentrepreneurship into economic theory, such as those linkedto Marshall and Schumpeter, are explored. The first sectionalso covers the history of entrepreneurship studies with aninteresting chapter on the historical biographies of entrepre-neurs by T.A. B. Corley. He argues that only recently has rigorbeen incorporated into case studies of entrepreneurs despitethe opportunity of studying successful and colorful entrepre-neurs using the historical case study method.The second section focuses on the topic of small firmsoften seen as the structure for most entrepreneurial activity.This covers the dynamics of small firm growth as well as theissues within family-run firms that make up a majority of thecompanies in the world.The following section covers innova-tion, a major topic of entrepreneurial studies, and the review-er’s area of research. In a chapter by Walter Kuemmerle, weare reminded, in contrast to the previous section, of theimportance of large firms to innovative activities as perSchumpeter’s 1942 assertion in Capitalism, Socialism, andDemocracy. Whether large firms can withstand many of thebarriers and limitations to radical innovation is discussed.Thenotion of radical and disruptive innovation is continued inanother chapter in the section by Luca Berchicci andChristopher Tucci. They demonstrate that ClaytonChristensen’s findings (described in his book,The Innovator’sDilemma) that (large?) incumbents were often at an innova-tion disadvantage may not always have been the case.Theydo this using empirical data from the very same industryChristensen studied, the disk drive industry, demonstratingthat taking a different perspective on the same issue cansometimes lead to dissimilar results and interpretations.The fourth section focuses on issues of finance for theentrepreneur, in particular those associated with venture cap-ital (VC). Finance majors will find the two chapters in thissection of most interest.The first chapter by Robert Cressy isparticularly good at describing the definitions and issues ofVC for different entrepreneurs. The next chapter by GaryDushnitsky utilizes extensive panel data to discuss corporateVC that takes place within the confines of the corporateorganization.The rest of the book starts to move away from the eco-nomic theoretical framework,which litters the writing of thefirst 400 pages or so, toward theories from psychology, soci-ology, and management.The fifth section has three chaptersthat cover issues of self-employment and management buy-outs.The notion of whether self-employment and entrepre-neurship are the same is covered. A chapter by DenizBook ReviewThe Oxford Handbook of EntrepreneurshipWilliam H.A. JohnsonBOOK REVIEW: THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP 691Johnson: The Oxford Handbook of EntrepreneurshipPublished by DigitalCommons@SHU, 2008Ucbasaran, Paul Westhead, and Mike Wright examines the“habitual entrepreneur,” an individual who has “successfullyowned several businesses”to illustrate the human capital andbehavioral differences as well as performance differencesbetween habitual and novice entrepreneurs.Section six consists of six chapters that revolve aroundthe factors of social and cultural aspects of entrepreneurship.Here the student of sociology and network theory will learnall about the social dimensions of entrepreneurship. Moredefined topics that relate to the social aspects of entrepre-neurship are covered in an interesting chapter examining theissues of ethnic minority entrepreneurship by AnuradhaBasu, which ties in well with the following chapter byAndrew Godley that covers the migration of entrepreneurs.A short chapter on women entrepreneurs by Candida G.Brush is testimony to the dearth of research in this areadespite the fact that women are making up a larger and larg-er proportion of entrepreneurs.The nature of enterprise cul-ture, particularly within the modern UK is covered in the lastchapter of the section.Section seven, the final part of the book, explores the spa-tial and international dimensions of entrepreneurship. Thefirst chapter of the section by Philip McCann looks at thephenomenon of clustering utilizing a transaction costapproach. It breaks industrial clusters into three types: pureagglomeration, the industrial complex, and the social net-work.The next chapter by Peter J. Buckley looks at interna-tional expansion of small and medium enterprises to coverthe new phenomena of “born global” firms and the distinc-tive “e-commerce”firms.The final chapter of the book is a sur-vey of entrepreneurship in transition economies such as theformer Eastern European bloc countries and the challengesand opportunities of entrepreneurial activity across theglobe.This is an interesting read about the barriers to entre-preneurship and differences in organizations and institutionsthat exist across different cultures and countries of theworld.As might be expected with this type of survey handbook,only some of the chapters describe original empiricalresearch, with most being extensive literature reviews of thesubject focus for that chapter. But these reviews are largelywell written and most chapters offer good advice as to wherefuture research should be directed, making it mandatoryreading for those interested in advancing the research frontin entrepreneurship.Overall, my opinion is that the book largely succeeds withits major objective. It would make a vital reference book forany PhD student working on the transdisciplinary topicsrelated to entrepreneurship. After reading the entire book,any student will be nicely informed of the extant literatureon these topics and equipped with the ability to view wheregaps in our knowledge exist for embarking on futureresearch. For the enlightened executive or MBA student, thebook also provides a reference for what is known aboutentrepreneurs, their practice, and the effects thereof on theeconomy.Thus, as a reference book on entrepreneurship thatis eminently readable, I recommend it.70 NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF ENTREPRENEURSHIPAbout the AuthorWILLIAM H. A. JOHNSON (WJohnson@bentley.edu) is an assistant professor of strategic innovation and tech-nology at Bentley College. His research examines technological entrepreneurship and effective managementin new product development and R&D projects. He has published in International Journal of TechnologyManagement, Journal of International Management, Journal of Intellectual Capital, and other innovation-based journals.2New England Journal of Entrepreneurship, Vol. 11 [2008], No. 2, Art. 10https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/neje/vol11/iss2/10

The Oxford Handbook of Entrepreneurship

https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1086&amp;context=neje

The Oxford Handbook of Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Sacred Heart University: DigitalCommons@SHU