Entrepreneurial Policies and Strategies: The Innovator's Choice (Hardcover-2024)

About the Book: While there is a considerable body of literature on both entrepreneurship and achievement motivation, there are still many unanswered questions concerning both these phenomena and the psychological traits and motivations of high achievers. This fresh and unusual study of the phenomenon of entrepreneurship focusing on the innovators’ heuristics is based on first-hand observation, interviews, published case studies and an exhaustive literature survey. It provides a novel theoretical perspective on the strategies and policy orientations of new ventures, using an innovative research method which is an easy-to-use but scientifically rigorous version of the case survey method, synthesising the benefits of qualitative and quantitative data.

Ingeniously building on the theory of heuristic (right brain) decision-making propounded by Herbert Simon, Henry Mintzberg and others to explain managerial effectiveness, Mathew Manimala explores the phenomenon of entrepreneurial heuristics (rules of thumb), and provides illuminating insights into what pioneering-innovative (PI) entrepreneurs do while establishing and operating their enterprises. Among the topics discussed are the relevance and significance of studying new venture policies; the relative efficiency of the paradigms of strategic choice and environmental determinism to explain the phenomenon of innovative entrepreneurship; heuristics used by high and low PI groups; entrepreneurial orientations and their explanatory and discriminatory powers; and entrepreneurial subtypes. A great strength of the book is the contrast it provides between the modus operandi of innovative as opposed to ‘ordinary’ entrepreneurs. It thus shifts the focus from ‘what entrepreneurs are’ to ‘what entrepreneurs do’.

With its fresh insights into entrepreneurship behaviour and providing an alternative theoretical model, this book will interest academics, practitioners and policy makers in the fields of entrepreneurship, economic development, management of innovation, industrial psychology, human resource development and organisational research methods.

About the Author: Mathew J. Manimala (MBA, Cochin; MBSc., Manchester; and Fellow IIMA) has had an illustrious academic career spanning over three decades. His last position was as the Director of Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (XIME), Bangalore. Prior to joining XIME in July 2015, he was Professor of Organization Behaviour and Chairperson of OB-HRM area at IIMB, where he has also served as the Jamuna Raghavan Chair Professor of Entrepreneurship and as the Chairperson of N. S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL). His earlier academic positions were at the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI)―he was a Senior Faculty and Chairperson of the HRM area―and Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT). He is a recipient of the Heizer Award of the Academy of Management for Outstanding Research in the field of new enterprise development as well as of research fellowships from the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) and the Shastri Indo- Canadian Institute (SICI). He has carried out several research projects with the support of national and international agencies, such as the National Petroleum Management Programme (NPMP), the National Foundation for Corporate Governance (NFCG), the Conference Board of Canada, the European Commission, International Finance Corporation and Fondazione Cariplo (Italy), and was the leader of the India team (for two years) of the multi-country research project, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). He has published over 50 research papers, mostly in refereed international journals, and about 10 books (through reputed international publishers) in the areas of entrepreneurship and organizational behaviour. He is a member of the editorial board of a few journals and the Editor of South Asian Journal of Management (SAJM).