|
on Entrepreneurship |
|
Issue of 2007‒01‒14
fifteen papers chosen by Marcus Dejardin Facultes Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix |
| By: | Maria I. Marshall; Ananya Samal (Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Purdue University) |
| Abstract: | Entrepreneurship is a crucial ingredient of economic growth and job creation. Small business start-ups are currently of great interest to many state and local governments including Indiana. With the growing need to stimulate small business development, it is necessary to understand the obstacles faced by entrepreneurs as they attempt to start a business. The results have implications for small business development and university related centers and how they design programs to effectively meet the needs of entrepreneurs participating in small business start-ups. More explicitly, the results show that targeting educational programs by socio-economic and demographic segments would have lead to a better chance of programming success |
| Keywords: | Human capital, financial capital, entrepreneurship, firm birth, rural |
| JEL: | J24 M13 M20 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pae:wpaper:06-13&r=ent |
| By: | whitney Oliver Peake; Maria I. Marshall (Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Purdue University) |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurs, firm birth, start-ups |
| JEL: | J24 M13 M20 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pae:wpaper:06-14&r=ent |
| By: | Ruta Aidis (School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College Londony) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the key issues surrounding entrepreneurship development in transition countries focusing on six main themes. Though it can be argued that the transition countries started from more or less the same point when they embarked on their transitional path, in this paper, we indicate a number of the differences in initial conditions which further influenced SME development. By surveying the existing literature on SME development, this paper illustrates that as the transition process progresses, entrepreneurship development in transition countries is a story of increasing divergence. The transitional context provides unique opportunities for entrepreneurship activities to develop. However, at the same time this environment presents unique challenges for entrepreneurial development especially knowledge-based entrepreneurship as the free-market system matures within a context with low levels of SMEs and inherited negative views towards entrepreneurship. |
| Date: | 2005–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:see:wpaper:61&r=ent |
| By: | Anne Otto |
| Abstract: | New firms play an important role for the emergence and development of clusters. In recent years only a few studies have analyzed the (inter)relationship between entrepreneurship and clusters, but most of them have not taken into account the different development-stages of clusters. In accordance with the concept of industry life cycles the evolution of clusters can be seen as a series of several phases. In the first phase new firms build the critical mass for the emergence of a cluster. A growing cluster is characterized by an increase in employment due to the growth of existing firms and a rising number of new firms. In a self-sustaining cluster the number of start-ups corresponds with the number of closures. In contrast, clusters while declining experience a decrease in the number of new firms. The objective of this paper is to analyze the direct effects of new firms on the evolution of clusters. In the first part of my paper I will give an insight into different theoretical frameworks which discuss the role of entrepreneurship for the evolution of clusters. The second part of the paper shows the results of an empirical analysis about the relevance of newly founded firms for the economic development of clusters considering their different development stages. The ‘Establishment File’ of the German Social Insurance Statistics is used as data source for the number of firm foundings and closures and for the survival rates of young firms in Germany. This data source provides longitudinal data about the number of employees in firms. Thus, it is possible to study the employment growth of new firms. This paper compares entrepreneurial activity of industry clusters over the period 1983/84 to 2001/02. Firstly, intra-industry comparisons are performed for several regional clusters of the media, machinery, automotive and textile industry in West Germany as examples of different stages. In a second step, I contrast the aggregate results for the different industries. Finally I analyze the employment effects of start-up cohorts on the evolution of regional clusters in Germany. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p275&r=ent |
| By: | Amanda Mackloet; Veronique A.J.M. Schutjens; Piet Korteweg |
| Abstract: | Entrepreneurship is crucial to a vital and thriving economy, even on the neighbourhood level. This fits into current urban planning policy in the Netherlands, which aims at combining housing and economic functions within neighborhoods. Since an increasing number of entrepreneurs start from home, this calls for insight in the combination of work and home. However, there is limited knowledge about the specific role of the dwelling in the decision to start a firm from home and to stay put. This explorative paper focuses on the use of the dwelling as location of a firm, both in the start-up phase and beyond in the firm life course, and its explanations. Our research questions are: what determines the decision to start a firm within the dwelling of the entrepreneur and its duration in time, and how does this relate to the propensity and decision to move? In our empirical analyses a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods is used. We analyzed data from 130 questionnaires send out in April 2005 to young entrepreneurs who owned a firm in two Dutch urban neighborhoods. These questionnaires were followed by in-depth interviews with 10 entrepreneurs. We have found that most home based businesses did start from home and are strongly tied to the dwelling - and therefore the neighbourhood. Both firms with past growth in number of personnel and firms with growth aspirations do want to move relatively often. With respect to firm relocation and the personal propensity to move, housing characteristics as adapted dwellings, and owner-occupied, single family and large houses are important. With respect to future home-based business, to most firms breaking the work-home combination is not a realistic option. Household characteristics and more specifically the care of small children keeps entrepreneurs home-based. Also entrepreneurs who work almost full-time are relatively strong attached to their home, which may point to an explicit -and maybe also longlasting- choice for home-basedness. Economic policy should therefore foster start-ups within urban neighbourhoods, as many of them seem to be firmly anchored locally by attachment to their home. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p694&r=ent |
| By: | George Korres; Christos Kitsos; Stamatina Hadjidena |
| Abstract: | The importance of entrepreneurship for economic growth has been emphasised by economic literature. The recent debate on the determinants of output growth has concentrated mainly on the role of knowledge, typically produced by a specific sector of the economy, and furthermore in the role of entrepreneurship and the implications on economic growth. Much of the recent work on economic growth can be viewed as refining the basic economic insights of classical economists. The statistical analysis is therefore very important. Nowadays there are well-organized databases, and the researcher can easily decide about the sample, rather than some years ago. Research and Development, technical change and entrepreneurship are directly related with industrial infrastructure, productivity effects and regional development. Entrepreneurship aims to reinforce the competitiveness, and to succeed the modernisation process and the convergence between firms and industries in the member states, adopting statistical techniques, using the appropriate software. This paper attempts to examine the role of entrepreneurship, and those of innovation activities (technical change, research and development and diffusion of technology) and the effects of output growth, using both a theoretical and empirical approach in a Greek case study. In particular, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the framework, the obstacles, the determinant factors using the appropriate statistical techniques and furthermore the role of female entrepreneurship in the Greek firms. It also attempts to examine the role of female entrepreneurship on innovation activities and the effects on sustainable development and in the implications on growth, economic integration, regional development and social change. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p29&r=ent |
| By: | Dafna Schwartz; Raphael Bar-El |
| Abstract: | Venture Investments in Israel – a Regional Perspective This paper analyzes the geographic distribution of venture investments in start-ups in Israel, using data for the period of 1995-2004. The findings show that their location behavior differs from that of high-tech activities: they show a pattern of "dispersed concentration" (as compared with a pattern of "concentrated concentration" of high-tech activity), with high levels of concentration in focal places, but at a commuting distance from the main metropolis. This is explained by the fact that venture investors also play the role of entrepreneurs and managers. The comparison between different types of venture investors shows that local venture capital funds lead to the heaviest concentration in the metropolis, in comparison with foreign venture investors. This heavy concentration of venture investments implies increasing regional gaps, with a minimal participation of peripheral regions, even those that enjoy some high-tech activity. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p868&r=ent |
| By: | Vesa Kanniainen |
| Abstract: | The report surveys the incentive effects of taxes on capital and entrepreneurial income in light of the research in the field. The cash flow tax, the ACE tax and the tax on distributed profits of mature firms are known to be neutral with respect to the investment decisions. It is not widely understood that they are not neutral with respect to the entry decisions of start-up firms. The idea of creating tax incentives represents a departure from the neutrality principle. The entrepreneurial risk does not as such justify an investment incentive but an asymmetric tax treatment of it does. The Nordic dual income tax encourages the start-up investment of an entrepreneur who is expecting relatively high profitability. However, when setting the share of entrepreneurial income to be taxed as capital income, the failure risk matters. The empirical studies on the relation between the income tax rates and entrepreneurship point – due to the tax avoidance motive – to a positive relationship, though only at high tax rates. When judging the tax incentives on R&D spending, the strategic behavior between firms becomes relevant to be analyzed. Underinvestment or overinvestment are both potential outcomes. The entry barriers reduce in principle the validity of a tax policy based on the idea of tax neutrality. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, taxation, tax incentives |
| JEL: | H25 |
| Date: | 2006–12–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:1058&r=ent |
| By: | Sierdjan Koster |
| Abstract: | Spin-offs are considered successful founding efforts. The combination of relevant industry specific knowledge and direct support from a parent company make these firms stand out from the rest. Spin-offs are usually defined on the basis of the previous employment positions of the entrepreneurs. This method disregards the process of resource transfer that theoretically explains the differences in performance with other foundings. This paper offers an empirical analysis based on the actual resource transfer from parent firm to founding. Using the ERC dataset, entrepreneurial skills are used to explain the successful conclusion of the founding process. Having skills related to production seems to be beneficial, especially when the founding effort also receives support from the parent company. Receiving support as such does not render any positive results. Next to the effect of production skills, industry experience adds to the explanation of successful founding. It is probable that skills related to market knowledge, being part of a network, and reputation enhance chances of pre-entry survival as well. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p745&r=ent |
| By: | Irene Daskalopoulou; Anastasia Petrou |
| Abstract: | Research findings indicate that the successful performance of small businesses is an important determinant of regional development. Successful business performance is affected by a number of firm-specific factors including human and social capital. Although, small and medium firms comprise the vast majority of the tourism production system, research on small business performance in tourism is rather limited. Drawing on recent advances and empirical evidence from enterpreneurship and small business literature we control first, for the role of human and social capital and second, for the role of owners'/managers' perceptions of place attractiveness over small business performance. We hypothesise that such perceptions should have specific effects on tourism business performance. Analysis is based on cross-sectional data gathered from face-to-face interviews with small tourism businesses owners/managers in Patras, Greece. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p399&r=ent |
| By: | SHIFERAW, A. |
| Keywords: | manufacturing; business economics; econometric analysis; Ethiopia; |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iss:wpaper:425&r=ent |
| By: | Danny Soetanto; Marina van Geenhuizen |
| Abstract: | University spin-offs (USOs), as a type of entrepreneurial firms, face the challenge of obtaining sufficient resources to realize perceived business opportunities. USOs are vulnerable to many obstacles in this endeavor, particularly obstacles related to a lack of entrepreneurial knowledge (skills). Support such as office facilities, loan, and business coaching provided by incubator organizations, may help USOs to overcome obstacles. On the other hand, USOs may also overcome the lack of resources by participating in networks of supportive relationships. Social networking by USOs, including its spatial dimension, is not well understood. For instance, it is still not known how universities as a main source of knowledge contribute to the knowledge needs of nearby USOs; similarly, the spatial layout of knowledge relations of USOs has remained virtually unknown. This paper attempts to fill this knowledge gap. Our conceptual model of early growth of USOs, in terms of knowledge needs and fulfilment, is based on resource-based theory and social network theory. In this paper, we assume that USOs’ embeddedness in a network of ties is an important source of variation in the acquisition of knowledge resources. We argue that, aside from support from incubation organizations, USOs that maintain networks rich in bridging or boundary-spanning ties with knowledge institutions/actors are better-off compared with USOs that don’t employ such ties. We focus on the role of local institutions, particularly the university, as a source of knowledge. Our assumptions are tested on the basis of a sample of academic spin-offs of TU Delft, the Netherlands. The results from regression modeling are expected to support the embeddedness hypothesis and to produce new insights about the link between USOs’ social networks, the acquisition of knowledge and survival and growth. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p467&r=ent |
| By: | Zoltan Bajmocy |
| Abstract: | The idea of setting up university business incubators (UBIs) has recently gained attention in the less favoured regions of the new entrants of the European Union. But the foreign best practices almost always derive from highly developed regions, which makes them difficult to adapt. In the lagging behind regions universities are unable to accomplish such a project without local government support and EU subsidies. Thus university business incubation can and must be interpreted as a local economic development tool. The main objective of present paper is to answer the question whether a UBI programme can be successful in a less favoured region of a transition country or not, and which are the main peculiarities that have to be considered when adapting the patterns of more developed regions. Raising the question is underlain by the observation that the international literature of business incubation pays little attention to the problem of the necessity and feasibility of incubation. First we review the most important findings of literature on UBI’s contribution to the enhancement of local university-industry relations with a special emphasis on the service providing function and the spin-off process. Second we interpret the results of an empirical analysis carried out in the Szeged sub-region, Hungary. We examined the expectations of local SMEs towards university-related incubation on a sample of 170. We supplemented this by analysing the entrepreneurial motivations of the students and, as a new feature, PhD students of the University of Szeged on samples of 286 and 134. Moreover we examined the sparse process of spin-off formation with interviews. The attitudes of local SMEs towards incubation are rather heterogeneous but some characteristic patterns can be identified. The analysis of students and PhD students and the interviews reinforced the hypothesis that incubation can only be the second step in enhancing the local knowledge commercialization, a well-developed pre-incubation strategy must be implemented prior to that. In the concluding part on the basis of the literature review and the empirical analysis we point out the factors which are necessary to consider in our opinion when planning and managing a UBI project in a less favoured region. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p190&r=ent |
| By: | Carolin Häussler (Institute for Innovation Research, Technology Management, and Entrepreneurship, Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich. haeussler@bwl.uni-muenchen.de); Hans-Martin Zademach (Institute of Economic Geography, Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich. zademach@bwl.uni-muenchen.de.) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the evolution of biotechnology clusters in Germany between 1996 and 2003, paying particular attention to their respective composition in terms of venture capital, basic science institutions and biotechnology firms. Drawing upon the significance of co-location of “money and ideas”, the literature stressing the importance of a cluster’s openness and external linkages, and the path dependency debate, the paper aims to analyse how certain cluster characteristics correspond with its overall performance. After identifying different cluster types, we investigate their internal and external interconnectivity in comparative manner and draw on changes in cluster composition. Our results indicate that the structure, i.e. to which group the cluster belongs, and the openness towards external knowledge flows deliver merely unsystematic indications with regard to a cluster’s overall success. Its ability to change composition towards a more balanced ratio of science and capital over time, on the other hand, turns out as a key explanatory factor. Hence, the dynamic perspective proves effective illuminating cluster growth and performance, where our explorative findings provide a promising avenue for further evolutionary research. |
| Keywords: | Cluster evolution, dynamic perspective, basic science, venture capital, biotechnology, Germany |
| JEL: | O18 O32 L22 |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trf:wpaper:188&r=ent |
| By: | Natarajan Balasubramanian; Marvin Lieberman |
| Abstract: | This paper characterizes inter-industry heterogeneity in rates of learning-by-doing and examines how industry learning rates are connected with firm performance. Using data from the Census Bureau and Compustat, we measure the industry learning rate as the coefficient on cumulative output in a production function. We find that learning rates vary considerably among industries and are higher in industries with greater R&D, advertising, and capital intensity. More importantly, we find that higher rates of learning are associated with wider dispersion of Tobin’s q and profitability among firms in the industry. Together, these findings suggest that learning intensity represents an important characteristic of the industry environment. |
| Keywords: | Learning, Firm Heterogeneity, RBV, Productivity |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:06-29&r=ent |