Chapter 4: Opportunities: Nurturing creativity and innovation

Love, J. H. and Roper, S. (2015) ‘SME innovation, exporting and growth: a review of existing evidence’. International Small Business Journal, 33, 1: 28–48.

This article summarises and synthesises the evidence on SME innovation, exporting and growth, paying particular attention to ecosystem enablers and for the interplay between innovation and exporting in SME growth.

Martin, L. and Wilson, N. (2014) ‘Opportunity, discovery and creativity: a critical realist perspective’. International Small Business Journal, 34, 3: 261–75.

This article draws on the philosophy of critical realism to reflect upon issues concerning discovery processes and opportunity development. It concludes with conceptual and practical comment on the importance of ontological theorising for entrepreneurship.

Wynarczyk, P., Piperopoulos, P., and McAdam, M. (2013) ‘Open innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises: an overview’. International Small Business Journal, 31, 3: 240–55.

This article considers open innovation model and reviews a special issue, which offers a critical contribution to this gap with four articles that explore differing aspects of open innovation within smaller firms.

Zhan, S., Uy, M.A., and Hong, Y. (2020) ‘Missing the Forest for the Trees: Prior Entrepreneurial Experience, Role Identity, and Entrepreneurial Creativity’. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. September 2020.

This article explores how prior entrepreneurial experience could manifest differentially across contexts and identifies an advantage in avoiding being overly “captivated” by a situationally salient role identity.