Léo-Paul Dana

Veland Ramadani

Aidin Salamzadeh

Ramo Palalic

In handicrafts and artisanal products, industry has witnessed both a technological shift and a renewed interest among customers, especially after the challenges and limitations of mass production became evident under the COVID-19 pandemic. This book portrays the worldwide development of this trend, the nature of entrepreneurship in these industries, and the unique challenges and opportunities that entrepreneurs face. The book shows how these businesses are gaining a resurgence due to customers preferring ethical, regional, and climate-friendly options to fulfill their needs. The chapters focus on artisan entrepreneurs' contribution to society by not only creating businesses, but also in terms of tourism development. The book reiterates that artisan entrepreneurs enable crucial cultural connections with tradition due to their affinity to a region, city, village, or community. Small business and entrepreneurship researchers as well as policymakers in the cultural sector would benefit from this book.

Past, Present, and Future

Artisan and Handicraft Entrepreneurs

Purpose - Startups play a significant role in improving societies. This paper concentrates on the concept of “startups” and attempts to present a more comprehensive view of this phenomenon. Also, the focus of this paper is on investigating enterprising communities and startup ecosystem in Iran.Design/methodology/approach - The existing literature is carefully reviewed, definition and views are explored, and the story of this phenomenon is told from the formation to the exit stage. The author elaborates the existing stages and challenges of startups in Iran. To do so, 65 tech startup founders are interviewed. Semi-structured interviews (SI) were based on previous studies mentioning the lifecycle of the startups, and were fully recorded. Moreover, secondary sources of data (SS) were used to support the findings.Findings - The paper classifies the extant theories of startups in two levels, i.e. macro level, and micro and meso level. Also, it defines some steps for the formation of startups, and studies the Iranian startup ecosystem. Last but not least, the paper contributes to the startup ecosystem of Iran which is changing disruptively, especially in the last couple of years.Research limitations/implications - Findings of this research shed light on the existing ecosystem of startups in Iran, which is rarely studied in previous research. Lack of enough evidence in the existing literature of startup ecosystem in Iran was the most significant limitation of the research which increased the need for more investigation and elaboration.Originality/value - The paper contributes to understanding of startup ecosystem in Iran, and the challenges.

Aidin Salamzadeh

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