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The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that invention can be taught to business students who do not have the prior technical knowledge that is assumed to be a requirement for this kind of activity.

This paper contains reflections on the results of introducing a specific course in inventing based on the insights of leading figures in the economics heterodoxy, who reject key tenets of the standard‐economics approach that treats invention as exogenous.

The result of this experiment suggests that teaching invention to business students is possible based on such foundations, as measured by the number of patent application made and granted.

Since there is no widely accepted theory to explain invention, there is no control for this experiment. This theoretical limitation should not detract, however, from the evidence presented here that there is something of practical use in the heterodox tradition that is being overlooked in enterprise and business education.

This paper provides one model for teaching an important aspect of enterprising behaviour and also has practical outcomes in terms of the invented items themselves. In addition, it serves to demystify an aspect of business activity that is often left unexplored in business studies curricula.

The paper is innovative at a conceptual and a practical level in providing both a foundation for the study of invention based on economic theory, and advice on how this can be taught to achieve practical and independently validated outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to shift the idea of competitive strategy from the for-profit to the non-profit context and to explain how social enterprises (SEs) get advantages over competitors within and outside the social sector.

Based upon a sample of 63 SEs located in Greece, the exploratory research employs factor analysis to answer which strategic options they have to compete. Subsequent analysis of variance and correlation analysis were performed to answer if competitive strategic options relate to impact SEs generate.

The empirical findings identify and empirically validate a variety of strategic options based on four pure (low cost, low cost sustainability, low cost focus and differentiation focus) and one hybrid (efficient differentiation) types of competitive advantage. Additional evidence shows that hybrid compared to pure strategic options link more influentially to impact in terms of positive environmental, social and economic contributions.

Apart from providing some explanations of how mission-driven businesses compete, it helps widening the debate of pure vs hybrid strategies beyond the commercial sector. Contrary to what the authors already know, the evidence presented here shows that strategic purity and hybridization co-exist in the social sector.

This is the first study with empirical evidence on competitive strategies from businesses in the third sector emphasizing how SEs ensure competitive advantage along with impact potential. Consequently, the authors respond to recent calls for more survey-based, quantitative evidence in the social entrepreneurship field.

Despite the growing numbers of internationally active nonprofit organizations (NPOs), research on various facets of NPOs’ internationalization has been limited. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of target-country related factors on international market selection of NPOs.

Analysis is based on a logistic regression procedure using a self-compiled data set of 2,440 observations of de-facto entry or non-entry occurrences made by 19 large development-focused NPOs.

The study reveals that NPOs select target markets that are less developed, characterized by greater risk profiles, where other NPOs tend to cluster, and those that are preferred by their home-country governments. Moreover, findings suggest that with respect to institutional strength, NPOs balance mission to help strengthen institutions where needed, and avoidance of environments with extremely dysfunctional institutions, hence opting to operate in environments with medium levels of institutional strength.

The study only looked at external environmental factors, it must be acknowledged that a more complete understanding of NPO market selection decisions must also include variables internal to the organization. Further the study is based on a sample of NPOs dealing with poverty alleviation, which limits the generalization. Finally, the use of data from secondary sources creates its own limitations.

This study represents one of the few cross country studies done on the area, thus contributing for the development of the field.

This paper aims to provide insights into how organizational performance in a prior period may influence the nature of control subsequently used by senior not-for-profit (NFP) managers.

This investigation is based on data collected from semi-structured interviews of CEOs and senior executives in 32 Australian NFPs.

Although performance has a considerable influence on the subsequent use of control, the findings point to a broad conceptualisation of performance as it is perceived to apply within a NFP context. Moreover, the roles of formal management control systems and informal control are quite distinct, with the latter predominating in responding to prior performance.

Despite recognition in the management accounting literature of the likely influence of organizational performance in previous periods on control, empirical studies investigating organizational performance as an antecedent to the use of control have been surprisingly limited. The current study directly responds to this gap in our knowledge, and also, to prior calls for the need for more management control research into the NFP sector. This contribution is important in view of the considerable economic and social impact of this sector in most Western economies, coupled with the increasing recognition of the importance of both performance and control within this sector.

Nonprofit organizations rely on earned income, government funding, charitable donations and investment income to support numerous programs and services for the public good. During times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, some nonprofits become even more critical to provide for those in need, but the funding streams to support activities may be even more stressed. The purpose of this article is to understand how COVID-19 might affect the financial stability of nonprofits in the US.

The article reviews historical financing patterns for US nonprofits and then uses reports and secondary data to understand how COVID-19 might change nonprofit financing in the US.

Earned revenues, the largest source of revenues for nonprofits historically, are down significantly as venues remain closed or at reduced capacity. Federal government grants and contracts have not been aimed specifically at the nonprofit sector and state and local budgets are stressed, suggesting government funding may be at risk. Charitable contributions from large foundations, corporations, and individual givers have increased, with some added flexibility, but this may not be a viable source for many smaller or community-based organizations. Nonprofit leaders may need to find new ways to collaborate to overcome the pandemic and researchers should seek to understand the impacts on different types of nonprofits and their revenues.

The value of this article lies in understanding COVID-19's early financial impacts on nonprofits to suggest research and operating paths for academics and practitioners.

This paper attempts to provide insights into the functioning of innovative companies in times of the global financial crisis. In doing so, the following study investigates whether innovations protected companies from the adverse effects of the global recession. On this occasion, the paper analyzes the economic performance of innovative industries in Poland, highlighting institutional and systemic barriers that curb their development. The main purpose of this paper is to clarify whether targeting innovative companies for equity investments proved beneficial during the global financial crisis.

This paper employs the mean return per unit of risk (MRPUR) analysis in order to investigate international portfolio diversification opportunities delivered by targeting innovative companies for equity investments in times of the global financial crisis. The paper also uses interviews and questionnaires to broaden the knowledge about issues related to the functioning of innovative companies. This is motivated by the fact that the research remains under-researched by the reviewed studies.

The paper links innovations in business strategy and production to the ability of companies to resist the global financial crisis. This paper argues that innovative approach to business strategies proved far more profitable for companies than relying on novelties in production. Furthermore, the paper provides strong evidence that innovative companies could contribute to mitigation of the global economic downturn by stimulating the sustainable economic growth in Poland. As far as the main purpose of this paper is concerned, the current study delivers useful and informative insights into the international portfolio diversification processes that assume targeting innovative investees.

This paper delivers practical implications for innovative companies, market regulators, policymakers and international investors.

The current paper addresses the absence of the academic literature devoted to the analysis of financial performance of the Polish investee companies representing innovative industries. In doing so, this paper advises on changes in regulations that would facilitate further development of innovative companies. Moreover, the paper paints the picture of the investment environment prevailing in the Central European emerging stock market of Poland. Hereto, delivering general insights into the functioning and regulatory framework of the Polish stock market proves useful in assessing the economic and financial development of Poland.

Studies on personal characteristics that influence managers' performance in their jobs and their ability to innovate focus mainly on for-profit organizations. We argue that non-profit organizations (NPOs) differ substantially from for-profit organizations in their organizational set-up and processes, so the skills they demand from their managers and employees also differ. We undertake this research to explore the personal factors that could be particularly relevant to managers' performance and innovativeness in the non-profit sector.

We conduct a qualitative, model-building study to derive the personal factors that influence managers' intention to perform and to innovate and their behavior in that regard. The base of our analysis is 15 interviews with knowledgeable informants who either work in NPOs, provide services to them or perform research about them.

We derive 14 personal factors that can be aggregated into four categories—experience, virtues and vices, interpersonal skills and management skills—each of which affect NPO managers' individual performance and/or individual innovativeness.

This study adds to existing research on Ajzen's (1985) Theory of Planned Behavior by extending it to the nonprofit context, so it contributes to the literature on individuals' behavioral intentions.