Announcement

The European Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ECSB) is a non-profit organization whose main objective is to advance the understanding of entrepreneurship and to improve the competitiveness of SMEs in Europe. ECSB facilitates the creation and distribution of new knowledge through research, education and the open exchange of ideas between professions and across national and cultural boarders. ECSB provides its members access to high-quality conferences, such as the RENT conference, in order to facilitate and enhance the exchange of knowledge within the ECSB membership.
For more information about ECSB, please visit: www.ecsb.org.

The main theme for the 24th Annual RENT conference is:

"The Entrepreneurial Process in a Changing Economy"

The 24th RENT conference aims to discuss issues related to the entrepreneurial process. How do entrepreneurs discover or create new opportunities in a time of (or beyond) crises, and which business models and innovation methods are used to exploit these opportunities. Which are the challenges entrepreneurs face with regards to leadership, social issues and attracting capital? Both theoretical and empirical research papers can be submitted, but the organizers specifically welcome studies that emphasize longitudinal research issues. Besides the conference theme, researchers and practitioners will have the opportunity to share their ideas on general topics from entrepreneurship, focusing on a great variety of interesting questions and current issues that are pertinent to the different tracks.

Submissions of any aspect of entrepreneurship and small business development are welcome, but preferably concerning the following topics:

1. Entrepreneurship and Opportunity Discovery/Creation
2. Idea Generation and Creativity
3. Leadership, HRM and Organizational Innovation
4. Business Models, Growth Models and Strategies
5. International Entrepreneurship
6. Innovation and Technological Entrepreneurship
7. Academic Entrepreneurship and Spin-offs
8. Entrepreneurial and SME Networks and Alliances
9. Marketing Challenges in New Ventures and SMEs
10. Entrepreneurial Finance and Venture Capital
11. Accounting and Corporate Finance in SMEs
12. Corporate Governance in Entrepreneurial Companies and SMEs
13. Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth
14. Knowledge-Based Entrepreneurship and Learning
15. Social and Sustainable Entrepreneurship
16. Corporate Entrepreneurship
17. Entrepreneurial Culture and History
18. Entrepreneurship Education
19. Family Firms
20. Female or Minority Entrepreneurship
21. New Ventures, Support Infrastructure and Regulations
22. Methodological Challenges and Research Methods in Entrepreneurship Research

The keynote speaker will be :

Mike Wright
(Nottingham University Business School, Center for Management Buy-Out-Research, U.K.)

“The entrepreneurial process in a changing economy:
new entrepreneurs, new modes, new contexts, new research challenges"

Best Paper Wins Trip to USASBE Conference in North Carolina

November 17, 2010

Chairpersons :

Associate Professor Dr. Helle Neergaard (Aarhus School of Business, Denmark)
Professor Dr. Friederike Welter (Jönköping University, Sweden)

The seminar is organized with a morning and an afternoon session. The morning session is a round table plenary session discussing common challenges and the afternoon session discusses individual student proposals in 4-5 tracks based on the proposals received from the doctoral students. Senior academics experienced in the specific topic addressed will discuss each proposal.
Doctoral candidates interested in attending and presenting their research proposal (not the result of completed research) should send a two page abstract including information on when they commenced their Ph.D. study and when they expect to complete. The abstract should be organized according to the following guidelines: it should explain the topicality of the research, the theoretical background, stating research question(s) and theory questions, as well as the proposed methodology and expected contribution to the field.

The abstract should be sent to
Dr. Helle Neergaard (hen@asb.dk)
no later than
July 1st, 2010 (deadline has been extended !!)

Participants in the doctoral consortium are the finalists in the ECSB Doctoral Competition for a place on USASBE’s doctoral consortium in North Carolina in January 2010. The award is worth €1,000 and is based on the best doctoral thesis proposal submitted to the RENT doctoral consortium.

The number of participants is limited to 20 students so early application is encouraged. Students will be notified of acceptance of their proposal no later than 15 July 2010. Immediately following receipt of acceptance, students are required to register formally for the Conference.

No fee is charged for participation in the Doctoral Seminar. However, participation in the RENT Conference is compulsory. Please note though, that students need not present a paper at the Conference itself to participate, although this is encouraged. Upon acceptance to the Doctoral Seminar students qualify for a significant reduction of the official conference fee, sponsored by EIASM and ACCA. The fee also includes one year’s full membership of ECSB. PLEASE NOTE - Doctoral students from Eastern European countries are eligible for a travel grant.

Invitation
ECSB COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH ROUNDTABLE at
RENT XXIV
Building post-doc networking in entrepreneurship and small business management research

Organised by
Associate Professor Luca Iandoli (University of Naples Federico II, Italy)
Prof. Dr. Friederike Welter (Jönköping University, Sweden)

Have you recently finished your PhD Thesis in entrepreneurship and the small business field and are now wondering what’s coming next? Do you want to learn more about publishing your research? Do you need advice on your latest research proposal or an article you are working on? Do you want to set up (international) research collaborations, and are looking for collaborators?

ECSB is offering a workshop for post doc researchers who have finished their PhD within the past 5 years. This year’s workshop will focus on paper writing and reviewing; and we will invite editors of peer-reviewed journals to discuss your paper drafts and to let you know about the challenges in publishing research. You also will meet other post doc researchers with similar interests and can find out about possibilities for research collaborations.

Researchers interested in participating should apply to Friederike Welter (wefr@ihh.hj.se) no later than
June 1, 2010

The application should include a one-page CV and a short abstract of the paper draft you plan to submit (please note that we do not accept articles already under review for a journal!). Also send us questions, issues and topics you would like to have addressed during the workshop. The number of participants is limited to 12 researchers so we encourage early submission. You will be notified of acceptance within two weeks after submission closes.

No fee is charged for participation in this workshop. However, participation in the RENT Conference is compulsory. The fee for the RENT also includes one year’s membership of ECSB. For more information regarding the RENT conference see www.ecsb.org

Thomas M. Cooney (Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland)
Hans Landstrom (University of Lund, Sweden)
Eddy Laveren (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
Antti Paasio (Turku School of Economics, Finland)
Mario Raffa (Università Degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy)
Roy Thurik – Chairperson (Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
Friederike Welter (Jönköping International Business School, Sweden)

17th November 2010

ENTREPRENEURSHIP POLICY WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF A GLOBALIZED FINANCIAL CRISIS

The 24th RENT Conference will provide a forum for discussing some of the latest research evidence with respect to entrepreneurship policy within the context of a globalized financial crisis. By focusing on entrepreneurship policy within the context of a globalized financial crisis, the forum will provide an opportunity to discuss the effects of the worldwide financial crisis and will consider the policies required for overcoming it through economic growth and employment. Policy responses have thusfar primarily tended to focus on the effects of financial and commercial contagion among the stock markets and related institutions, with less attention being paid to preparing entrepreneurial firms with the capability for developing resilient strategies based on innovation and diversification. Representatives from the European Commission, National and Regional Governments, Banking and Financial institutions, entrepreneurs and researchers will join in this one day forum to address these critical issues with a view to articulating the varied entrepreneurship policies required in different parts of Europe. More details about the program and how to register will be made available by the end of June.

Saturday November 20th – 9.30-17.00

Keynote Speaker :

Saras Sarasvathy
( Darden School of Business at University of Virginia, U.S.A.)

Rinke Zonneveld
(Director of the Directorate general for entrepreneurship and innovation from the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands)

This year an entrepreneurship day will be added to the RENT conference in order to stimulate interactions between entrepreneurship researchers, entrepreneurship students and entrepreneurs/ SME-owners. In the morning, a plenary session will be organized with several key note speakers. In the afternoon, practical workshops, case discussions and company visits will be offered. More details about the program and how to register will be made available by the end of June.

• Researchers, educators and practitioners in entrepreneurship from all over the world, who want to present their researches and discuss their findings with other experts
• Representatives of governmental organisations, business and trade associations concerned with the promotion of entrepreneurship
• Senior officials in entrepreneur development, economic policy-making and administration
• Suppliers of education and training services
• All those interested in entrepreneurship

Following the tradition, there will be an Award for the best paper presented by a Junior Researcher.
(details will follow)

	For payment received BEFORE 10 October 2010	For payment received AFTER 10 October 2010
The Participation Fee is	525 EUR	585 EUR

This fee includes automatically the 2010-2011 ECSB membership of 85 EUR. As member of ECSB, you are automatically a member of ICSB, you receive the quarterly Journal of Small Business Management, you have access to the ECSB website (including the complete ECSB membership directory), you are also entitled to receive the ICSB Bulletin and discount rates for other conferences (including the ICSB World Conference).

The special price of EUR 410 is offered to the people coming from Central and Eastern Europe.

As usual, the fee includes participation to the conference (and eventually the Doctoral seminar), documents, lunches, morning and afternoon refreshments, the welcome reception and the Conference dinner.

Cancellations made before October 20, 2010 will be reimbursed minus 20 % of the total fee.
No reimbursement will be possible after that date.

Payments should be made by :

* Payment will be transferred to the bank account holder: EIASM / bank account nr.: 424-5533281-33 (IBAN: BE79 4245 5332 8133) with the KBC bank, Arenberg Horta, Arenbergstraat 11, Brussels, Belgium, BIC/SWIFT-address: KREDBEBB. In case of bank charges, they should be paid by the payor
Please do not forget to clearly mention RENT 2010 + the NAME of the participant and the invoice number on the payment order.

or by

* Credit card: Visa or Eurocard/Mastercard/Access. In this case, you are requested to provide us with the entire credit card number + the expiration date of the card .

REGISTRATION :

Ms. Graziella Michelante - EIASM Conference Manager
EIASM - PLACE DE BROUCKÈRE-PLEIN - 31 - 1000 BRUSSELS - BELGIUM
Tel: +32 2 226 66 62 - Fax: 32 2 5121929
Email: michelante@eiasm.be

The local organizers have established a list with hotels in the city centre for your convenience. Moreover, a sufficient number of rooms have been blocked at reduced rates for participants of the RENT conference (see promotion codes indicated below), so you can conveniently book a room online.

Please click HERE to download the list list of hotels and full descriptions.
Please make sure to reserve a hotel room before October 1st, 2010, as after that date the availability of rooms cannot be guaranteed.

Maastricht can easily be reached by air, train, and car.

Please click HERE to have more information that will help you finalize your travel plans. Should you wish further advise or need more detailed information, do not hesitate to contact us via e-mail at: Rent2010-sbe@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Location :
Maastricht University School of Business and Economics
Tongersestraat 53
6211 LM Maastricht
The Netherlands

From the north (Eindhoven/ Amsterdam/Aachen):
Follow highway A2 until it turns into a main transit route at the traffic lights at the city limits of Maastricht. You will pass 6 traffic lights. After the sixth one, take the exit indicating: "centrum/N278". Eventually you will cross a bridge (Kennedy Bridge) and there is another traffic light nearby the police station (streetname: Prins Bisschopsingel). Finally you will reach a roundabout, which is where you go right. After about 150 meters you will find the University of Maastricht on your right-hand side.
You will find the main entrance to the school's premises at the end of the building. Walk through the large gate and go right, down the stairs. The glass doors you see constitute the main entrance.
Parking is difficult in the vicinity of the building. There are a number of paid parking places on the Tongersestraat.

From the south (Liege, Belgium):
Take A2 from Liege into Maastricht and take the second turn off the highway to the right (exit Centrum / N 278, direction Tongeren) and follow the signs to Centrum. Cross the Kennedybrug (Kennedybridge) and follow the street (Prins Bisschopsingel) until you reach a large roundabout (Tongerseplein roundabout, which is where you go right. After about 150 meters you will find the University of Maastricht on your right-hand side. You will find the main entrance to the school’s premises at the end of the building. Walk through the large gate and go right, down the stairs. The glass doors you see constitute the main entrance. The receptionist can assist you in finding the person you need to see.
Parking is difficult in the vicinity of the building. There are a number of paid parking places on the Tongersestraat (€ 1.60 per hour) or the underground parking garage at the "Vrijthof".

From Maastricht Central Station by Public Transport:
The easiest way to reach the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics is by public transport. Take the train to Maastricht Central Station (CS). From there you can take bus numbers 3, 4, 9 and 12 (at night time or very early in the morning take bus numbers 21, 28, 29 and 32).
You can tell the bus driver that you need to get off the bus at bus stop "Tongersestraat"; he will warn you at the appropriate time. The bus stop is across the street from the main entrance to the School.

Maastricht is the Netherlands’ southernmost city, with a charming, international character. Positioned at the crossroads of European cultures, languages and trade routes, Maastricht has a long and exciting history. It is the oldest city in the Netherlands, founded in 50BC. Romanesque churches and stately patrician houses are made for aimless strolling or cycling: the Stokstraat and Jeker districts are the most picturesque. The conference location is only at walking distance from the historical city centre.

The city's least expected claim to fame is that it saw the real-life d'Artagnan swash his last buckle. In 1673, aged 62, the fourth musketeer was killed while leading an attack on the city walls. Those fascinated by fortifications can trace the history of the city's defences, from the 13th-century Helpoort to the underground shelters used in the Second World War, on a fortification walk, brochure available at the tourist office of Maastricht (www.vvv-maastricht.eu).
The Vrijthof is dominated by the terracotta-red tower of the Gothic St Janskerk, the main Protestant church in a predominantly Catholic city. Seventy metres high, it offers splendid views of the city, the surrounding countryside and - a novelty in The Netherlands - hills. Next door is the rival religion's most significant shrine, St Servaasbasiliek, an elegant blend of rugged Romanesque and graceful Gothic. Admission to the blissfully light, white interior costs 3,50 Euro, and is worth every penny: the treasury houses the earthly remains of St Servatius, first bishop of the Low Countries until his death in AD384, as well as a host of golden reliquaries and sacred objects.

Click HERE for more information.