One of the emerging areas of research in the field of entrepreneurship is `Habitual Entrepreneurship'. Habitual Entrepreneurship focuses on how individuals leverage their prior business ownership experience to start subsequent entrepreneurial ventures. Although the concept of `Habitual Entrepreneurship' is two decades old, researchers worldwide have shown renewed interest in the recent times to build theoretical models and to find empirical evidence on those factors that differentiate habitual entrepreneurs from novice entrepreneurs. The current issue of this journal contributes to `Habitual Entrepreneurship' knowledge base through the paper authored by Jari Huovinen and Hannu Littunen.

The first article, "Habitual Entrepreneurship: Situational Factors at Different Start-Ups", by Jari Huovinen and Hannu Littunen is an empirical analysis of the differences between serial, portfolio and first-time entrepreneurs in the areas of achievement motivation, growth intention, and situational factors that go behind firm start-ups. This study was conducted among 205 entrepreneurs in Northern Savo in Eastern Finland. This study contributes to our understanding of the personal and situational factors that influence the start-up of both the original firm as well as the following firms by habitual entrepreneurs.

The second article, "Entrepreneurship and Development of Small-Scale Industries in Iran: Strategic Management Tools and Business Performance Assessment", by Manjappa D Hosamane and Younos Vakil Alroaia examines the relationship between the development of Iranian small-scale industries and entrepreneurial performance. Development of small-scale industries was measured in terms of sales volume, employment growth, and age of industry and entrepreneurial performance was measured in five decision areas—Quality of products, Industrial cost, Logistic support, ISO, and Management effectiveness. Results of this empirical study have large implications for government policy makers who strive to ensure sustained growth of small-scale industries.

The third article, "Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Small-Scale Business: Application, Concepts and Cases", by Viju Mathew builds a theoretical framework of sustainable entrepreneurship with a supportive case analysis. The author has chosen ASB Company, a small-scale business unit which specializes in drinking water processing and supplying in the Sultanate of Oman to analyze the characteristic features of sustainable entrepreneurship. The case analysis brings out the importance of achieving three goals of sustainable entrepreneurship—a) Profitability, b) Value creation for internal and external customers and c) Concern for social environment.

Finally, a case study is presented on the Indian retail firm, Subhiksha, titled "India's Subhiksha—Aping Wal-Mart's EDLP Strategy?", by Sheeja S. When the expertise in running retail chain of firms was scarce in India, Subhiksha's phenomenal growth in the past decade provides valuable insights into the study of entrepreneurship.

- S Senthil Kumar
Consulting Editor