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International Conference on

Entrepreneurship, Family Firms and Economic Development

Krakow, Poland (CUE campus)

APRIL 27-28, 2012

Organizers:

_ Cracow University of Economics (CUE) - Krakow - Poland

_ Università Politecnica delle Marche – Faculty of Economics "Giorgio Fuà" – Ancona - Italy

_ ECSB – European Council for Small Business

_ ICSB – International Council for Small Business

Conference Rationale:

Entrepreneurship is a necessary condition for economic growth and development. Modern states

converge in treating entrepreneurship as a key economic resource. But entrepreneurship is

especially important in the period of structural change and changing global division of labor.

As different parts of the world are experiencing dramatic changes from economic fluctuations,

government revolutions, technological innovations, and generational transitions, what is the new

role of SMEs and Family Firms in sustaining entrepreneurship and economic development?

Family firms are an economic phenomenon persisting along time and across regions. Their growth is

essential to the increase of economic productivity and an overall economic improvement. Their

sustainability is crucial as well, as long-lasting family businesses are a key component of long term

development of local economies. Enterprises often start from an entrepreneurial idea of an

individual, but then continue as family businesses. Hence, the conference links these two issues.

The organizers have designed the conference as a meeting point to discuss past, present and future

tendencies with regard to entrepreneurship and family firms and their impact on economic

development. It welcomes authors who link SMEs research with family firm and entrepreneurship

researches.

Conference Topics:

• The concept and determinants of entrepreneurship in modern economies;

• The relations between entrepreneurship and family firms;

• The advantages and disadvantages of family as a vehicle for firms' creation;

• The barriers to the growth of family firms;

• The similarities and differences between family firms and SMEs;

• Comparative advantages and disadvantages of family firms;

• The impact of family firms on local development

• The spatial dimension of entrepreneurship;

• Sustainability issues in family firms;

• International migration and family firms;

• Governance challenges of family firms;

• Family business groups: emergence and prospects;

• Various research approaches to study family firms' growth and development;

· The Impact of the Business Environment on the Family Firms;

• Public policy and the growth of family firms.

Fee:

The conference fee amounts to Euro 180. The fee is discounted for participants from Central Eastern

Europe and developing countries to Euro 80 and to euro 50 for PhD students The fee includes

membership to ECSB and ICSB (please visit the ECSB and ICSB websites to find the list of benefits for

members). The participants have to cover accommodation and travel expenses on their own.

Important Dates:

_ Abstracts of up to 4000 signs accepted by 31 January 2012.

_ Paper selection notification by February 15, 2011.

_ Deadline for Full Papers: March 15, 2012.

Post-Conference Publication:

Best papers will be invited to submit to JSBM - Journal of Small Business Management special issue

on family firms edited by Alan Carsrud and Marco Cucculelli. We also offer the opportunity to publish

selected papers in an edited book and in a special issue of EM – Journal of Applied Economics.

Contact: Prof. Aleksander Surdej Aleksander.Surdej@uek.krakow.pl

Conference Website: http://www.familybusiness.org.pl/

CFP: http://www.familybusiness.org.pl/call_for_papers.pdf