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This article attempts to understand the developments in policy making and financing for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) of Bangladesh and Pakistan. From 1947–1971, Bangladesh was a part of Pakistan, as East Pakistan, while the remaining current Pakistan, is referred as West Pakistan. However, in 1971 a political turmoil resulted in a separation of two parts into two different nations. Since then, both have taken different routes to develop their economies along with heavy reliance on SMEs. This paper explores the key differences in financing and policy for SMEs in Bangladesh and Pakistan with a comparative study based on literature, empirical case studies and analysis of government policies and regulations, trying to identify some main takeaways from Bangladesh and Pakistan’s market for entrepreneurs, investors and policy makers.

Since the 1990s, interest in the role of small and microenterprises (SMMEs) in economic development has garnered considerable attention throughout academic and practioner circles. Widely known for their potential to help stimulate economic growth and as a potential avenue for poverty alleviation, the purpose and promise of small businesses have been widely publicized. However, to date, little research exists that adequately documents the specific capital needs of very small businesses (those with less than 20 employees) and microenterprises (those with less than 5 employees) and their owners at specific points in a business's development and growth. Using data from the 1992 Characteristics of Business Owners Survey, the 2002 Survey of Business Owners and the 2003 Survey of Small Business Finances, we analyze the different types of firms in the United States, the amount of capital used by firms of different size and the sources of capital used by firms of different sizes to assess how capital needs and sources differ for those businesses with less than 20 employees. Paying particular attention to businesses owned by women and minorities, we argue that the path of SMMEs differs substantially from the typical path of larger small businesses. In addition, we highlight the implications of our findings and provide our policy recommendations to address them.

Although informal entrepreneurship has attracted attention from entrepreneurship scholars, it remains under-theorized. This systematic review critically analyses, evaluates and integrates data on informal entrepreneurship gathered from studies published in eight (8) leading entrepreneurship journals. Although this form of entrepreneurship is practiced across the globe, it is generally perceived as an activity occurring in the peripheries of mainstream economics and inferior to formal entrepreneurship. This review develops essential knowledge for entrepreneurship research by theorizing informal entrepreneurship as a potent process in business formation and it establishes a future research agenda.

The emergence of open innovation theory and practice, alongside the evolution to a quadruple helix system of innovation, has led to a need for universities to rethink their models of engagement with industry and wider society. One important element in this system is the entrepreneurial academics; however, there is a lack of research considering the motivations of entrepreneurial academics, who differ from academic entrepreneurs, to engage in knowledge transfer in line with open innovation policy. This research offers practical insights on whether new models of engagement, increasingly offered by universities, really address the policy drivers for open innovation. Furthermore, this research explores whether these activities might motivate entrepreneurial academics to participate. Preliminary findings identify that many supposedly new collaboration activities do not really motivate entrepreneurial academics. This may have important implications on the ability of universities to become truly open and to encourage their academics to become engaged in collaboration and impact.

Digital transformation has led to several improvements in performance and efficiency, but its impact on growth patterns needs to be clarified. Two schools of thought dominate the literature on digital growth strategies. One stream advocates that digital firms should focus only on scaling their core position, while the other contends that firms should envelop into multiple complimentary markets. This seeming “paradox” in the strategic management literature, between advocates of a focus and a diversification growth strategy, shows a need for critical review and clarification of this literature. This paper synthesizes both views and argues that the distinct growth strategies are contextual and that a new catalyst, the relative level of digital transformation of firms in each market, influences their optimal strategy. A new conceptual model illustrates how digital firms may move between different strategies depending on their perceived market opportunities, competitive advantages, and the relative level of digital transformation of their competitors. Hereby, this paper contributes to a better understanding of the growth strategies of digital businesses.

The emergence of open innovation theory and practice, alongside the evolution to a quadruple helix system of innovation, has led to a need for universities to rethink their models of engagement with industry and wider society. One important element in this system is the entrepreneurial academics; however, there is a lack of research considering the motivations of entrepreneurial academics, who differ from academic entrepreneurs, to engage in knowledge transfer in line with open innovation policy. This research offers practical insights on whether new models of engagement, increasingly offered by universities, really address the policy drivers for open innovation. Furthermore, this research explores whether these activities might motivate entrepreneurial academics to participate. Preliminary findings identify that many supposedly new collaboration activities do not really motivate entrepreneurial academics. This may have important implications on the ability of universities to become truly open and to encourage their academics to become engaged in collaboration and impact.

The purpose of the chapter is to study the types of challenges business-to-business (B2B) companies face when innovating new business through big data. We draw together literature on open innovation, new business creation and big data, and present a study based on 20 qualitative interviews from six case companies each at different stages of big data utilization. Four categories of key challenges are identified: (1) data, (2) data processing, (3) operational management, and (4) business development and strategy challenges.

Our results underscore the importance of understanding the data utilization level and needs from a company’s and their customers’ perspective, both now and in the future. In addition, forming a data business strategy can be valuable when creating new business through the use of big data. Our results highlight the importance of data ownership, solving data ownership and privacy issues, as well as achieving data-related know-how combined with business and customer understanding. The chapter presents practical examples from the case company interviews.