There have been major changes in entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship research, and the importance of entrepreneurship to the economy since the first state-of-the-art in entrepreneurship research book was published in 1982. In response to the changing world economy and research needs, this, the fifth state-of-the-art book and the first international book explores several new areas. In addition, it includes carryover research topics addressed in the earlier volumes that are still in need of additional research to advance our understanding. © Blackwell Publisher Ltd 2000. All rights reserved.