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To explore the potential of conversations with an authentic audience through blogging for enriching in young writers the understanding of the communicative function of writing, specifically language and vocabulary use.

We situate our work in the language acquisition model of language learning, in which learners develop linguistic competence in the process of speaking and using language (Krashen, 1988; Tomasello, 2005). We also believe that language learning benefits from formal instruction (Krashen, 1988). As such, in our work, we likened engaging in blogging to learning a language (here, more broadly conceived as learning to write) through both natural communication (acquisition) and prescription (instruction), and we looked at these forms of learning in our study.

We were interested in the communicative function of language learning (Halliday, 1973; 1975; Penrod, 2005) among young blog writers, because we see language learning as socially constructed through interaction with other speakers of a language (Tomasello, 2005; Vygotsky, 1978).

The readers and commenters in this study supported young writers in their language study by modeling good writing and effective language use in their communication with these writers. Young writers also benefited from direct instruction through interactions with adults beyond classroom teachers, in our case some of the readers and commenters.

Blogging can extend conversations to audiences far beyond the classroom and make writing a more authentic endeavor for young writers. Teachers should take advantage of such a powerful tool in their writing classrooms to support their students’ language study and vocabulary development.

We examined the relationship between employee equity compensation, incentive compensation, and firm growth using a sample of 480 privately held firms from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s database of Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year (EOY) winners. Using frameworks from agency and motivation theories, we argued that larger percentages of both equity- and incentivebased compensation allocated to top managers and employees would be associated with firm growth. After controlling for firm and industry effects, the results of the study showed that while the firms in the sample preferred providing incentive compensation, providing equity compensation for employees was a positively significant predictor of firm growth over a three-year period. These findings suggest that prescriptions for growth in larger firms developed from agency theory also may be applicable to entrepreneurial firms, and founder/CEOs seeking to grow their firms should consider using equity compensation to motivate their current employees and to attract new ones.

This study tests the “Resource Balance Proposition” that is developed from the Resource-Based View (RBV) of strategy. While recent research using RBV to study new ventures has focused primarily on the identification and acquisition of resources (Alvarez & Busenitz, 2001; Lichtenstein & Brush, 2001), this investigation examines the deployment of given resources in the pursuit of growth. It argues that the effective management of the resource base is at least as important to long-term survival as securing that base in the first place. Further, it assumes that firm growth is a desirable goal (especially for young firms) but posits that growth is not without cost and highly accelerated growth is particularly costly. Therefore, the hypotheses presented in this paper propose that there is a growth trajectory that optimizes profits and net worth by striking a balance between the resource deployments necessary to fuel growth and those needed to meet current obligations. The findings from this study confirm that both too little and too much growth have detrimental effects on firm vitality. More specifically, the data show a curvilinear relationship between the absolute rate of firm growth and the levels of both profits and net worth. This finding provides significant support for the Resource Balance Proposition, which states that the allocation of firm resources must be properly balanced between current resource positions and future resource positions to maximize wealth creation.

In this paper, we reflect on the origins and development of our theory of cultural entrepreneurship. We highlight the serendipity that was part of its genesis, and note how our arguments and thinking evolved over time with the literature. We conclude by suggesting some fruitful lines of scholarly focus moving forward, and emphasize the importance of context and cultural process in understanding our own ideational development as well as those of all entrepreneurs – whether they are involved in creating a high tech venture, solving a social problem, transforming a corporation or public agency, or contributing to some other socio-economic process.

Despite the proliferation of free trade agreements (FTAs) internationally, the limited research available on the subject indicates that few SMEs consider the existence of these agreements as a reason to engage in international markets or expand their existing international engagement. The purpose of this paper is to identify and augment SME international marketing models building on Merrilees and Tiessen's (1999) work; and to explain how these marketing models condition the reaction of small firm exporters to FTAs.

This study comprised in-depth interviews with 51 SME exporters in New Zealand. Participants were selected purposefully and were interviewed in a face-to-face, semi-structured format.

Five international marketing strategies were identified drawing on prior models of international marketing: sales-driven, relationship-driven, international boutique, arbitrager and market seeder. These models are characterised by different relationships to markets and to buyers served, and by the extent of customisation in the export offering. By using these models the authors analyse why SMEs have yet to significantly capitalise on the opportunities provided by New Zealand's recent wave of trade agreements.

This study acknowledges the diversity of international marketing strategies between seemingly similar firms by recognising that approaches generally viewed as unlikely to bring success in international markets can work when applied in a particular way and in a particular context. As such the results may offer a useful starting point for the customisation of policy advice on exporting in terms of the context in which SMEs operate.

As well as advancing theoretical perspectives on SME international marketing strategies, the findings are presented as a contribution to the as yet limited evaluation of how SMEs in New Zealand have responded to the emerging opportunities created by FTAs. The interest in filling this gap is part of a growing recognition that factors related to the firm's trading environment have been largely neglected in policy considerations.

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.