Transition economies, such as the countries in Southeast Europe, face an expeditious institutional transition from a centrally planned to a market economy. The state withdraws from its monitoring function, which results in institutional voids that affect the economy in general and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in specific. With a qualitative case study approach Tine Schrammel develops a scheme to detect institutional voids as one source of competitive disadvantages of SMEs in transition economies. In a second step she demonstrates that specific cluster services bridge institutional voids and improve the competitive position of SMEs in environments of institutional voids. The findings add to the understanding of institutional voids and to the role of clusters in transition economies.

Addressing the role of regional clusters in the context of ongoing globalization, this timely book investigates the two seemingly competing trends of globalization and localization from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. International case studies offer pioneering insights into the internationalization process of regional clusters and the effect of this on regional as well as firm performance.

This book features contributions by international scholars who have worked to establish a theory- and empirics-based discussion on disadvantaged minorities and long-term economic development. Depending on their socio-demographic characteristics, minorities have long lived under the shadow of the groups, categories, or communities they presumably belong to. Despite the obstacles they have to face, they manage to demonstrate that, above all, they are entrepreneurs capable to start, run, and successfully complete their venture. Their motivations are often assimilated by the research community into “necessity entrepreneurship.” In addition to the external barriers they face, they have to overcome endogenous cognitive factors that hinder their entrepreneurial intention: anxiety before the future, the anguish of death, generativity, health condition as perceived by others, subjective age, and the cultural gap as viewed by natives, among others. The book integrates a diversity of challenges and disadvantages faced by entrepreneurs, allowing the reader to have a renewed understanding of entrepreneurial behavior. On the theoretical level, the chapters emphasize the need for integrating entrepreneurship theory with multidisciplinary approaches, such as the Theory of Cumulative Disadvantage/Advantage (CDA), cultural and geographical theories, and psychological theories. On the practical level, this book would raise the awareness of policy makers, mainly governmental and nongovernmental organizations concerning the disadvantages, and helping them adjust their actions either for local or international programs. Chapter "Intersectionality and Minority Entrepreneurship: At the Crossroad of Vulnerability and Power" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Two of the most important developments of this new century are the emergence of cloud computing and big data. However, the uncertainties surrounding the failure of cloud service providers to clearly assert ownership rights over data and databases during cloud computing transactions and big data services have been perceived as imposing legal risks and transaction costs. This lack of clear ownership rights is also seen as slowing down the capacity of the Internet market to thrive. Click-through agreements drafted on a take-it-or-leave-it basis govern the current state of the art, and they do not allow much room for negotiation. The novel contribution of this book proffers a new contractual model advocating the extension of the negotiation capabilities of cloud customers, thus enabling an automated and machine-readable framework, orchestrated by a cloud broker. Cloud computing and big data are constantly evolving and transforming into new paradigms where cloud brokers are predicted to play a vital role as innovation intermediaries adding extra value to the entire life cycle. This evolution will alleviate the legal uncertainties in society by means of embedding legal requirements in the user interface and related computer systems or its code. This book situates the theories of law and economics and behavioral law and economics in the context of cloud computing and takes database rights and ownership rights of data as prime examples to represent the problem of collecting, outsourcing, and sharing data and databases on a global scale. It does this by highlighting the legal constraints concerning ownership rights of data and databases and proposes finding a solution outside the boundaries and limitations of the law. By allowing cloud brokers to establish themselves in the market as entities coordinating and actively engaging in the negotiation of service-level agreements (SLAs), individual customers as well as small and medium-sized enterprises could efficiently and effortlessly choose a cloud provider that best suits their needs. This approach, which the author calls “plan-like architectures,” endeavors to create a more trustworthy cloud computing environment and to yield radical new results for the development of the cloud computing and big data markets.

Are there any countries now days that do not use products and parts made in Asia? In this sense Asia is a production base that supports the world economy. The entry of multinational corporations into Asian countries has been carried out from early on. But, it was the collapse of the socialist planned economy that clinched the expansion of MNEs into Asia. The collapse of the socialist planned economy was accompanied by the introduction of the market economy in the countries with the socialist planned economy. The ideology of neo-liberalism, with emphasis on the market economy, became the principle for the reconstruction of these countries. Against the backdrop of this global standard, the activities of MNEs in Asian countries have advanced. Accompanying this, the construction of an economic structure based on the MNEs has progressed there. This is the emergence of so-called Asian capitalism. However, the spread of COVID-19 and its countermeasures appear to be transforming this global order. As is well known, the spread of COVID-19 and its countermeasures are suppressing international human exchanges and logistics advanced by globalization and promoting the restructuring of local economies. In this context, the way of business activities in Asian countries probably defines the future world order. Based on this awareness of the issues, this book deals with various problems of the economy and business management, especially human resources, in Asian countries.

This book focuses on the Base of the Pyramid (BOP) in Latin America and examines the role of the markets in serving low-income populations as consumers, distributors, and entrepreneurs. Deep inequalities, violence, and urbanisation characterise the region. Despite the reduction of poverty observed during the first two decades of the 21st century, Latin America is the most unequal region in the world. Outside active war zones, the region has the highest homicide rate in the world and violence and inequality are both deeply intertwined. Markets have a crucial role to play in closing this gap and offering job and income opportunities, especially to unemployed youth, paving the way for safer, more peaceful, and sustainable development. The book also offers a theoretical reflection on the role that community enterprises who manage common-pool resources can play in serving markets and creating income opportunities for the rural poor. The book is recommended for managers, policy makers, students, and scholars interested in Base of the Pyramid markets and their potential to lift people out of poverty and to promote a more equal society.