Abstract

Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine whether new rural ventures represent effective rural entrepreneurship or are just entrepreneurial ventures located in rural settings. Design\methodology\approach Data were collected from a direct questionnaire involving 408 new ventures headquartered in Portuguese business incubators and science parks, of which 142 are located in rural areas. To analyse data, the authors performed a preliminary and exploratory statistical analysis. Findings The authors demonstrate that only a small percentage of ventures operating in rural areas constitute examples of effective rural entrepreneurship, with the bulk of them being just enterprises located in rural settings. Rural new ventures tend to be small (in terms of employees and turnover), rely mainly on the internal market and lag behind other new ventures (located in both rural and urban municipalities) in terms of performance. Research limitations/implications The study only includes new knowledge-intensive ventures, that is, those headquartered in business incubators and science parks. Therefore, it cannot be generalised to other new ventures located in rural settings. Originality/value The extant literature on entrepreneurship has neglected the empirical implications of mixing, confounding and/or merging the concepts of rural entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship activities in rural areas. In this study, the authors discuss and analyse the empirical boundaries of such concepts and uncover the magnitude of pure rural entrepreneurship.

Abstract

Abstract
Despite connections and common traits between geopolitics and international business based on geography and location, literature on this matter is somewhat scarce. This chapter aims to contribute to this literature gap. Using the Russian Federation as a case study and by framing its geopolitical situation, it seeks to answer the following question: What is the importance of geopolitical factors in international location decisions? Applying a hybrid methodology which combines qualitative and quantitative analyses, the chapter concludes though Russia has an innately favorable geopolitical situation, its full potential is not being exploited, remaining latent and underutilized. Additionally, the pragmatic standing of Russia's foreign policy, the permanence of some structures recalling the USSR and the persistence of corruption, and an unsteady business environment place constraints on improving the open market and raises obstacles to FDI.

Abstract
With the rapid growth in the use of digital platforms for the dissemination and expansion of a company’s business reach, it is vitally important that startup firms are firmly aware of the options when deciding whether to adopt a particular technology because they often have low resource availability, which reduces their margin for error. In order to help these companies to adopt Digital Marketing in a more secure way by knowing the most relevant factors that they can find as concerns the adoption of technologies, this study will analyze the factors that influence the adoption of technology, identifying them initially through the systematic literature review of similar scientific works. © Springer International Publishing AG 2018.

Abstract
The top management view of organizations tends not to reach consensus on the prioritization of investments in Information Systems, particularly when they must prioritize their impact on overall performance and budget constraints. This paper presents the results of applying CRUDi Framework to a bank. This allows to obtain new indicators to support the decision and alignment of investment priorities in the processes that support the business strategy. The Framework introduces a new method and tools that allow us to gauge the relative importance of Information Systems to the organizations’ businesses. © 2018, Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature.