The purpose of the International Handbook of Entrepreneurship is to bring together leading scholars from each of these disciplines to provide an overview of what the issues are for entrepreneurship when viewed through the lens provided by the academic disciplines as well as a synthesis about what has been learned and what questions should be high on the agenda for future research. Taken together, this Handbook will provide a roadmap to an emerging complex but intriguing field of entrepreneurship. INDICE Preface. List of Contributors. The International Award for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research; A. Lundstrom. Part I: Introduction to Entrepreneurship. 1. Editors' Introduction; Z.J. Acs, D.B. Audretsch. 2. Entrepreneurship: The Past, the Present, the Future; A. Cooper. Part II: The Entrepreneurial Process. 3. Risk and Uncertainty; S. Gifford. 4. Innovation and Technological Change; Z.J. Acs, D.B. Audretsch. 5. Market Processes and Entrepreneurial Studies; R. Koppl, M. Minniti. Part III: Opportunity and the Nature of Exploitation. 6. The Cognitive Psychology of Entrepreneurship; N.F. Krueger Jr. 7. Three Views of Entrepreneurial Opportunity; S.D. Sarasvathy, N. Dew, S. Ramakrishna Velamuri, S. Venkataraman. 8. The Individual-Opportunity Nexus; S. Shane, J. Eckhardt. Part IV: The Emergence of New Ventures. 9. Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Firm Organizing Processes; W.B. Gartner, N.M. Carter. 10. Entrepreneurship, Business Culture and the Theory of the Firm; M. Casson. 11. Resources and Hierarchies: Intersections between Entrepreneurship and Business Strategy; S.A. Alvarez. Part V: Financing the New Venture. 12. Equity Financing; P. Gompers, J. Lerner. 13. Small Business and Debt Finance; A.N. Berger, G.F. Udell. Part VI: The Social Context. 14. The Social Psychology of Entrepreneurial Behaviour; K.G. Shaver. 15. Entrepreneurship as Social Construction: A Multi-level Evolutionary Approach; H.E. Aldrich, M. Martinez. 16. Entrepreneurship, Networks and Geographi