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Call for Papers
6th Annual  
Mason Entrepreneurship Research Conference (MERC 2010):
Friday, March 26th 2010
Time: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM (followed by a Reception)
Location: George Mason University, Fairfax Campus, VA 22030

Our Mission:
• To build a community of researchers committed to furthering entrepreneurial studies and developing scholarly networks for research.  
• To encourage researchers from cross-disciplinary fields to initiate collaborative research projects and explore new trends, opportunities, and challenges in entrepreneurship related fields of study.

Attendees: Our conference is open to researchers interested in the field of entrepreneurship from any discipline.  Hence researchers from all academic disciplines are invited to participate in this annual event. In the past researchers from business, public policy, engineering, economics, geography, health sciences, sociology and political sciences have presented in this conference.

Presentation Tracks: We seek fully developed research papers as well as research papers in the early stages of development.

Submission Guidelines:

If you would like to present a paper, please submit an electronic version of your paper to
Nacef Mouri, MERC 2010 Joint Program Coordinator (nmouri@gmu.edu)

Submission Deadline: March 5th 2010

Topics: Your research can be related to any dimension of Entrepreneurship such as regional development and role of government, risk taking, engineering and innovation, autonomy and leadership, raising finance for new ventures. Examples of such academic work include creativity and innovation, new product or process development, examining the opportunities to change an industry, a community or our society through entrepreneurial activities, role of information technology in entrepreneurship, role of VCs and Angel investors.  

The conference planning committee is seeking a wide-range of conference presentations representing an eclectic mix of research from diverse levels of research analysis, multiple research approaches and multiple disciplines (e.g. business management, economics, engineering, finance, marketing, fine arts, health services, history of Entrepreneurship, organization theory, performing arts, political science, psychology, public policy, and sociology to name a few).  

Registration Fees:
• Academic community and others: $100.00 ($75.00 if registered before March 12, 2010).
• Students: $75.00 (Discounted registration $50.00 if registered prior to March 12, 2010).
• Registration includes: Breakfast, coffee breaks, lunch and closing reception.
• Registration website will be operational by February 15, 2010: http://somweb.gmu.edu/MERC/

Keynote Speaker: Saras D. Sarasvathy

Saras D. Sarasvathy is a member of the Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Ethics area and teaches courses in entrepreneurship and ethics in Darden’s MBA programat University of Virginia. In 2007, Saras was named one of the top 18 entrepreneurship professors by Fortune Small Business Magazine. A leading scholar on the cognitive basis for high-performance entrepreneurship, Saras serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Business Venturing as well as advisor to entrepreneurship education and doctoral programs in Europe and Asia. Her scholarly work has won several awards including the 2001 William H. Newman Award from the Academy of Management, the 2009 Gerald E. Hills Best Paper Award from the ÂÜÀòÉç¹ÙÍø, and her book Effectuation: Elements of Entrepreneurial Expertise (book overview) was nominated for the 2009 Terry Book Award by the Academy of Management.

Conference Organizers:

Zoltan Acs, MERC 2010 Joint Program Coordinator (zacs@gmu.edu)
Nacef Mouri, MERC 2010 Joint Program Coordinator (nmouri@gmu.edu)
Mahesh P. Joshi, Chief Organizer, MERC 2010 (mpjoshi@gmu.edu)