nep-ent New Economics Papers
on Entrepreneurship
Issue of 2006‒03‒05
six papers chosen by
Marcus Dejardin
Facultes Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix

  1. Start-up entry strategies: Employer vs. Nonemployer firms By Michele Moretto; Gianpaolo Rossini
  2. Patience Capital, Occupational Choice, and the Spirit of Capitalism* By Matthias Doepke; Fabizio Zilibotti
  3. The 'sponge' organisation: A creativity-based reflection on the innovative and sustainable firm By Rodriguez, Miguel A.; Ponti, Franc; Ayuso, Silvia
  4. The Dynamics of Firms' Entry and Diversification: A Bayesian Panel Probit Approach. A Cross-country analysis By Gianni Amisano; Maria Letizia Giorgetti
  5. Bribes, taxes and regulations: Business constraints for micro enterprises in Tanzania By Odd-Helge Fjeldstad; Ivar Kolstad; Knut Nygaard
  6. The Structure and Evolution of Industrial Clusters: Transactions, Technology and Knowledge Spillovers By Simona Iammarino; Philip McCann

  1. By: Michele Moretto; Gianpaolo Rossini
    Abstract: From 1997 to 2001 we observe in the Usa a faster growth in the number of Nonemploye firms (NF) vis à vis Employer firms (EF). The diverse speed of net entry may be due to particular internal organisation of the two types of firms and the effect that this has on the reactions to market uncertainty. However, the set of internal organizations of firms is larger than that made up simply by EFs and NFs, in particular among newborn firms, since we observe corporate start-ups with employees, firms owned and managed by their founders who are simultaneously the employees and, finally, non corporate enterprises. The second class of firms mostly belongs to the category of NFs, according to US nomenclature, while non corporate firms may belong to either category. Our curiosity is attracted by different entry patterns of NFs and EFs and our aim is to interpret them. According to recent literature, firms carry out an irreversible investment, such as entry, only if market prices are strictly larger than average total costs (Marshallian point). However, the trigger price that makes firms become active is affected by institutional rules, the existence of profit sharing, efficiency wages, exit options - i.e. partial reversibility - financial constraints. Then, the internal organization of a newborn firm may make the difference. In a continuous time stochastic environment, where firms bear a sunk cost, we model entry as a growth option. On the trace of distinct objective functions we show that NFs and EFs have specific entry patterns in terms of output price and/or size. Why? Simply because they react in diverse fashions to market price volatility. In this sense we are able to show that, in most cases, the NF is locally less risky. This makes the NF better suited to enter under conditions of higher volatility. This exactly corresponds to what happened during the years between 1997-2001.
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubs:wpaper:ubs0409&r=ent
  2. By: Matthias Doepke (UCLA and CEPR); Fabizio Zilibotti (IIES Stockholm and CEPR)
    Date: 2006–02–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cla:uclawp:848&r=ent
  3. By: Rodriguez, Miguel A. (IESE Business School); Ponti, Franc (EADA); Ayuso, Silvia (IESE Business School)
    Abstract: Nowadays, many companies striving for sustainability have developed new and effective communication channels with their stakeholders and, at the same time, successful innovation strategies. However, stakeholder engagement and innovation tend to be managed as parallel rather than interconnected activities within companies, and any link between them seems to be informal and tacit. The aim of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of how companies' relationship with the environment can be harnessed for sustainable innovation. Given the scant experience of companies linking stakeholder dialogue and sustainable innovation, we decided to adopt an original and innovative research method based on gathering a group of managers from different companies and stimulating their imagination using creativity techniques. In this paper, we first describe the creative research method we used to explore how businesses can integrate stakeholder insights into the process of organisational innovation. Then we present the result of our research experiment: the model of the "sponge" organisation. Based on the experience and intuitively stimulated ideas of the project participants, we propose a definition -a list of values and principles, and important "hard" and "soft" attributes- of the ideal enterprise, i.e., one that uses its relationship with the environment as an essential innovation factor. Finally, we discuss the implications of this business concept and compare it with existing management literature.
    Keywords: sustainable development; stakeholders; environment; innovation; creativity;
    Date: 2006–01–24
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:iesewp:d-0616&r=ent
  4. By: Gianni Amisano; Maria Letizia Giorgetti
    Abstract: In this paper we analyze entry dynamics in new submarkets of pharmaceutical companies. In particular we study entry decisions at time t in a new submarket, conditioned on the entrance in a new submarket at time t-1. This model allows us to connect with the flourishing literature about the prominent role of submarkets, (Klepper and Thompson, 2002, Mitchell, 2000 and Sutton,1998) in explaining diversification and entry choices. Our analysis is based on a Bayesian approach which allows us to properly account for heterogeneity among firms. We try to manage the inclusion among regressors of non strictly exogenous variables, which can be correlated with unobserved heterogeneity,(Honoré and Kyriazidou, 2000, Honoré and Lewbel, 2002, Arellano and Carrasco,2003, Wooldridge, 2003).
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubs:wpaper:ubs0408&r=ent
  5. By: Odd-Helge Fjeldstad; Ivar Kolstad; Knut Nygaard
    Abstract: This paper analyses the business environment for micro enterprises in Tanzania based on survey data. The primary objective of the study is to identify major constraints facing the firms' business operations. Taxation, corruption, and regulations in the form of licences and permits, are found to be the most important constraints on business operations. Reported constraints vary according to firm characteristics such as age, location, education and gender of the owner. Contrary to previous studies and current policies, financial constraints and property rights are not perceived as important constraints.
    Keywords: Small enterprise Business constriants Taxation Corruption Tanzania
    Date: 2006
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chm:wpaper:wp2006-2&r=ent
  6. By: Simona Iammarino (SPRU, University of Sussex); Philip McCann (University of Reading)
    Abstract: In this paper we investigate the relationship between location patterns, innovation processes and industrial clusters. In order to do this we extend a transactions costs-based classification of industrial clusters into a knowledge-based taxonomy of clusters, along the lines suggested by a critical revision of the main assumptions underlying most of the existing literature on spatially defined clusters. Our arguments show that the transactions costs approach and the innovation and technological change framework are broadly consistent, and that real insights into the microfoundations, nature, and evolution of clusters can be provided by these classification systems.
    Keywords: industrial clusters, firm location, innovation processes, cluster classification
    JEL: O31 O33 R3 D8
    Date: 2006–02–27
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sru:ssewps:138&r=ent

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