Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets: Contextual Intelligence for the Study of Two Thirds of the World’s Population

Abstract

In this paper, I review the concept of “institutional voids” that provides a way to understand the structure of emerging markets. These voids impede would-be buyers from getting together with would-be sellers, and hence compromise the functioning of markets. Entrepreneurs must respond to these voids. Their endeavors, however, are also the means through which the voids are progressively removed. I review my work on the contours of such entrepreneurship in many emerging markets, with the greatest research emphasis on China and India. I conclude with a focus on attempts to circumvent a particularly insidious class of institutional voids, those that prevent the marginalized two-thirds of the world’s population from participating in the economic mainstream. Cumulatively, my work calls for our profession to think more creatively and eclectically about our research and teaching in a way that displays greater contextual intelligence toward ubiquitous and socially costly voids.

Citation

Khanna, T. (2014), "Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets: Contextual Intelligence for the Study of Two Thirds of the World’s Population", Multidisciplinary Insights from New AIB Fellows (Research in Global Strategic Management, Vol. 16), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 221-238. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1064-485720140000016009