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The link between social interaction and entrepreneurial activity has attracted considerable attention in the entrepreneurship literature. In this study, we focus on individual cultural values, shaped by interactions in the social space, as they relate to opportunity evaluation, a cornerstone of the entrepreneurial process. We test our predictions in India, a non-Western society that has sustained one of the highest rates of entrepreneurial activity in the world. Our findings suggest that value orientation of high power distance is negatively associated with opportunity evaluation whereas uncertainty avoidance, collectivism, and femininity are positively associated with opportunity evaluation.

Studies of entrepreneurial orientation tend to merge its three components‐proactiveness, risk-taking, and innovativeness‐into a monolithic construct and analyze its relationship with firm outcomes at one point in time. This has resulted in knowledge voids related to the relative importance of the different components, their specific effect on value created by the firm, and their evolution over time. The present study links each component of entrepreneurial orientation to economic value creation using a longitudinal dataset. Results provide support for hypothesized relationships. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

Despite the increasing popularity of entrepreneurship among students in colleges and university, there is a surprising scarcity of theoretical or empirical research on this topic. In this article, we define the concept of student entrepreneurship, delineate its domain, and demarcate its boundaries. We propose a preliminary typology of student entrepreneurship rooted in the works of three leading economists from the Austrian School of Economics: Joseph Schumpeter, Israel Kirzner, and Ludwig Lachmann. We also identify and discuss important challenges associated with the practice of student entrepreneurship. The article concludes by advancing a future research agenda for the study of student entrepreneurship.

Acting entrepreneurially in nascent industries is a complex endeavor characterized by uncertainty and ambiguity. Nevertheless, entirely new industries do emerge, often as a direct result of entrepreneurial behavior. We extend and apply discovery and creation approaches to study entrepreneurial behavior during industry emergence by means of qualitative analysis of a film about the personal computer (PC) industry℉s formative years. We find that discovery and creation behavior are fundamentally interrelated and share a common element: bricolage. Moreover, ideological activism is a major component of entrepreneurial behavior in a new industry℉s formative years during both creation and discovery processes. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

In the capricious span of this current millennium, there is a deafening roar in the demand for modernization in the sector of robotics and technology to perform tasks in an intelligent manner. Thus to replenish such necessities, the innovations and inventions of researchers came forward as blessings on human civilization due to their sheer ingenuity and relentless and arduous efforts with each nanosecond passed from now onwards. With the same sublime goal, same resilient endeavor, same aggressive demeanor, the paper on obstacle avoiding robots comes forward. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

It exhibits how to control a differential drive robot wirelessly by analog thumb joystick module with added obstacle avoidance protection. The variations made by the user in the control of analog thumb joystick module are fed as input to the Atmega 16 microcontroller board which further transfers it wirelessly to the robot through the radio frequency (RF) transmitting module. The Arduino mega microcontroller equipped to the robot cross-checks the instructions gained through the RF receiving module and provides power accordingly to the geared motors through the motor driver board for movement along with scanning the environment to avoid obstacles present thereby.

The improvisation of RF technology in controlling the obstacle avoiding robot has enhanced its application and reliability by leaps and bounds reducing the anxiety and tension of the human controller.

With more advanced algorithm and genuine deployment sensors, the idea behind this research work can be used in humanoid robots which can help immensely in going to the extremely dangerous terrains, war zones and also in human rescue operations.

The purpose of this paper is to determine both analytically and numerically the kink solutions to a new one-dimensional, viscoelastic generalization of Burgers’ equation, which includes a non-linear constitutive law, and the number of kinks as functions of the non-linearity and relaxation parameters.

An analytical procedure and two explicit finite difference methods based on first-order accurate approximations to the first-order derivatives are used to determine the single- and double-kink solutions.

It is shown that only two parameters characterize the solution and that the existence of a shock wave requires that the (semi-positive) relaxation parameter be less than unity and the non-linearity parameter be less than two. It is also shown that negative values of the non-linearity parameter result in kinks with a single inflection point and strain and dissipation rates with a single relative minimum and a single, relative maximum, respectively. For non-linearity parameters between one and two, it is shown that the kink has three inflection points that merge into a single one as this parameter approaches one and that the strain and dissipation rates exhibit relative maxima and minima whose magnitudes decrease and increase as the relaxation and nonlinearity coefficients, respectively, are increased. It is also shown that the viscoelastic generalization of the Burgers equation presented here is related to an ϕ⁸−scalar field.

A new, one-dimensional, viscoelastic generalization of Burgers’ equation, which includes a non-linear constitutive law and relaxation is proposed, and its kink solutions are determined both analytically and numerically. The equation and its solutions are connected with scalar field theories and may be used to both studies the effects of the non-linearity and relaxation and assess the accuracy of numerical methods for first-order, non-linear partial differential equations.

Indian banking industry is one the biggest players in the country’s service sector, with public sector banks (PSBs) occupying the major share. The purpose of this paper is to develop a model linking job characteristics (JC) and work engagement, moderated by perceived organizational and supervisor support as contextual variables.

Data on 214 employees from 15 PSBs were used to examine this model. Analysis of data has established the moderating role of support at work in the relationship between JC and work engagement.

Findings suggest that employees who have a positive perception of organizational and supervisor support are more likely to respond positively to JC and therefore would have a higher propensity to engage with their jobs. In addition to enriched jobs, the wider organizational climate characterized by support from supervisors and organization as a whole is critical to establish a positive environment, which would lead to greater work engagement.

The moderating role of support at workplace on JC and work engagement has been researched very rarely in literature. This study, hence, aims at investigating whether interaction between JC and perceived organizational and supervisor support influences work engagement of employees working in Indian PSBs.

This paper aims to examine the traditional business communities and family businesses of India, their emergence and sustained growth.

The authors analyze the role of business communities in family businesses of India and identify business communities that have still sustained and marked a global presence.

Business communities such as Marwaris have the knack for business activities and are leaders of family businesses in India today, who have sustained their past success and continue to create new histories. Other traditional business communities such as Parsis, Sindhis, Chettiars and Gujarati banias have not been able to sustain much. Possible reasons were switching to white-collar jobs, taking up diplomacy and other professions, inter caste marriages, international migration in search of business and Indian government policies.

This study provides a useful source of information for academics, policy-makers and economists.

Traditional business communities populate the list of family businesses that have marked their global presence. This paper identifies various factors that are responsible for the growth and sustainability of these business communities.

The study clarifies the role of business communities in domestic economic development.

The paper explored traditional business communities of India and assessed their role in family businesses of India that currently mark a global presence.

Hurricane Katrina remains the “most destructive disaster in U.S. history” (Farber & Chen, 2006). The purpose of this article is to examine the public procurement practices followed by local government officials in and around New Orleans within the context of Hurricane Katrina, and define impacts of disaster on procurement processes. Original and primary data drawn from interviews with officials working in and with public procurement are used to examine the role of institutional culture and practices which encourage or constrain active, responsible behavior. We find that this behavior influences the quality, including the transparency and fairness, of purchasing responses.