nep-ent New Economics Papers
on Entrepreneurship
Issue of 2006‒11‒04
five papers chosen by
Marcus Dejardin
Facultes Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix

  1. Skill vs. Luck in Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital: Evidence from Serial Entrepreneurs By Paul Gompers; Anna Kovner; Josh Lerner; David Scharfstein
  2. Innovate or Die? A critical review of the literature on innovation and performance By Stefano Brusoni; Elena Cefis; Luigi Orsenigo
  3. The Keins Database on Academic Inventors: Methodology and Contents By Francesco Lissoni; Bulat Sanditov; Gianluca Tarasconi
  4. Productivity in Estonian enterprises: the role of innovation and competition By Priit Vahter
  5. US Banking Deregulation, Small Businesses and Interstate Insurance of Personal Income By Demyanyk, Yuliya; Ostergaard, Charlotte; Sorensen, Bent E

  1. By: Paul Gompers; Anna Kovner; Josh Lerner; David Scharfstein
    Abstract: This paper argues that a large component of success in entrepreneurship and venture capital can be attributed to skill. We show that entrepreneurs with a track record of success are more likely to succeed than first time entrepreneurs and those who have previously failed. Funding by more experienced venture capital firms enhances the chance of success, but only for entrepreneurs without a successful track record. Similarly, more experienced venture capitalists are able to identify and invest in first time entrepreneurs who are more likely to become serial entrepreneurs. Investments by venture capitalists in successful serial entrepreneurs generate higher returns for their venture capital investors. This finding provides further support for the role of skill in both entrepreneurship and venture capital.
    JEL: G24
    Date: 2006–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12592&r=ent
  2. By: Stefano Brusoni (CESPRI-CRORA, Bocconi University and Silvio Tronchetti-Provera Foundation, Milano,Italy.); Elena Cefis (Utrecht School of Economics, Utrecht University and Bergamo University); Luigi Orsenigo (University of Brescia and CESPRI, Bocconi University, Italy)
    Abstract: The idea that innovation leads to positive economic performance has become a sort of truism in recent years. However, empirical evidence showing that innovating organizations and countries outperform non-innovating ones remains scant and scattered. In many ways, the jury is still out. First of all, there is still little agreement about what ‘performance’ means. The range of indicators adopted in the literature varies widely: financial performance, market shares, new products introduced into the market, patents, GDP growth, and so on. Second, the time lag between innovative efforts and performance is often so large, and so industry specific, that it remains just very hard to produce reliable estimates. Third, it is still unclear at what level of analysis one should go looking for positive economic performance. Studies exist that look at the relationship between performance and innovation at the level of design teams, projects, firms, networks, industries, and countries. This paper aims at critically reviewing the wide, yet remarkably scattered literature that aims at measuring and explaining the relationship between innovation and performance. It builds upon an extensive review of contributions in economics, management and organisation sciences to identify trends and results that are consistent and robust. In a nutshell, this paper argues that country- and sectoral-level approaches which emphasize the role that knowledge, spillovers and human capital play in fostering economic growth trough innovation need to consider the fundamental role played by competition among heterogeneous organisations in igniting the growth process. In this respect, micro-and firm-level studies can provide useful insights about how competition fosters learning, innovation and ultimately growth.
    Keywords: Innovation, Growth, Knowledge, Performance, Competition.
    JEL: O14 O33 O40
    Date: 2006–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cri:cespri:wp179&r=ent
  3. By: Francesco Lissoni (University of Brescia and CESPRI-Bocconi University,Italy.); Bulat Sanditov (CESPRI-Bocconi University, Italy and MERIT-Maastricht University, The Netherlands.); Gianluca Tarasconi (CESPRI-Bocconi University, Milan, Italy.)
    Abstract: The paper describes the methodogy used to build a database on academic inventors from France, Italy, and Sweden (1978-2004), which was delivered to the European Commission as part of the KEINS project (Knowledge-Based Entrepreneurship: Innovation, Networks and Systems), and will provide the basis for future publications. It provides an overview of the database contents, as well as information on access rules and on related datasets by CESPRI-Università Bocconi. The database is the result of joint efforts by CESPRI-Università Bocconi (Milan, IT), BETA – Universitè “Louis Pasteur” (Strasbourg, FR), IMIT-Chalmers University (Gotheborg, SE), Umea Universitet (SE), and Università degli studi di Brescia (IT).
    Keywords: University patents, European universities, Patent database.
    JEL: C81 I23 O34
    Date: 2006–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cri:cespri:wp181&r=ent
  4. By: Priit Vahter
    Abstract: This paper provides some stylised facts about differences in labour productivity and total factor productivity (TFP) in Estonian firms and about the role of selected determinants of productivity differences. Enterprise level panel data of the whole population of Estonian firms from years 1995-2002 is used. It appears that the variation of productivity indicators in Estonia is much greater than in Western Europe. Although there is a lot of entry and exit of firms, there is not much movement within the productivity distribution of surviving .rms. It is found that both innovation and less concentrated market structure seem to be positively related to higher productivity of firms
    Keywords: productivity, competition, innovation, market structure
    JEL: G3 L2 O31 O4
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eea:boewps:wp2006-07&r=ent
  5. By: Demyanyk, Yuliya; Ostergaard, Charlotte; Sorensen, Bent E
    Abstract: We estimate the effects of deregulation of U.S. banking restrictions on the amount of interstate personal income insurance during the period 1970--2001. Interstate income insurance occurs when personal income reacts less than one-to-one to state-specific shocks to output. We find that income insurance improved after banking deregulation, and that this effect is larger in states where small businesses are more important. We further show that the impact of deregulation is stronger for proprietors' income than other components of personal income. Our explanation of this result centers on the role of banks as a prime source of small business finance and on the close intertwining of the personal and business finances of small business owners. Our analysis casts light on the real effects of bank deregulation, on the risk sharing function of banks, and on the integration of bank markets.
    Keywords: financial deregulation; integration of bank markets; interstate risk sharing; small business finance
    JEL: G21 G28
    Date: 2006–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5863&r=ent

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