nep-ent New Economics Papers
on Entrepreneurship
Issue of 2008‒01‒19
seven papers chosen by
Marcus Dejardin
Notre-Dame de la Paix University

  1. Exploration and Exploitation - The Role of Entrepreneurship and R+D in the Process of Innovation By Max Keilbach; Mark Sanders
  2. Problemistic Search and International Entrepreneurship By Wennberg, Karl; Holmquist, Carin
  3. The entrepreneurial decision-making : a complex choice where taste, risk, endowments, necessity, opportunity, personals traits and behaviour matter By Jean Bonnet (CREM-CNRS-University of Caen); Thomas Brau (CREM-CNRS-University of Caen); Pascal Cussy (CREM-CNRS-University of Caen)Stéphane Auray (GREMARS - University of Lille 3)
  4. Knowledge combinations and the survival of financial services ventures By Wennberg, Karl
  5. The Persistence of Self-Employment Across Borders: New Evidence on Legal Immigrants to the United States By Randall Kekoa Quinones Akee; David A. Jaeger; Konstantinos Tatsiramos
  6. Innovations from SMEs or Large Firms? Sector Structure and Dynamics By Wilfred Dolfsma; Gerben van der Panne
  7. How Firm Organizations Adapt to Secure a Sustained Knowledge Transfer By U. Witt; C. Zellner

  1. By: Max Keilbach (Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena); Mark Sanders (Utrecht School of Economics)
    Abstract: We formulate a model that explicitly separates two functions in the innovation process: The introduction of new goods and the quality improvement of existing goods. While the latter is performed by the corporate R+D sector, the first is performed by entrepreneurs. We show that in a three sector economy, which also includes a producing sector, there exists a stable non trivial allocation of labor to production, innovation and entrepreneurship. We compute the steady state allocation of labor to production, R+D and Entrepreneurship. We show that the innovation rate decreases if one of the innovative sectors does not exist.
    Keywords: Innovation, Variety Expansion, Quality Ladders, Entrepreneurship, R+D Sector.
    JEL: O31 O41
    Date: 2007–12–20
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-108&r=ent
  2. By: Wennberg, Karl (Dept. of Business Administration, Stockholm School of Economics); Holmquist, Carin (Dept. of Business Administration, Stockholm School of Economics)
    Abstract: This paper explains the internationalization process of small firms using the theory of performance relative to aspiration levels. The study complements prior theory by explaining why and how small firms are triggered to engage in internationalization despite not reaching maturity in their home market. We outline a model where firms’ internationalization is triggered by problemistic search, following periods of below-aspiration performance. The model is tested on 860 Swedish firms followed during an economic downturn. Results indicate that internationalization activities follow a boundedly rational process characterized by search behavior which is triggered by performance feedback. The study complements prior theories of internationalization and offers a first empirical demonstration of the viability of aspiration-level performance theory in international entrepreneurship research.
    Keywords: Entrepreneurship; International Entry; Behavioral Theory of the Firm
    Date: 2007–07–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhb:hastba:2008_002&r=ent
  3. By: Jean Bonnet (CREM-CNRS-University of Caen); Thomas Brau (CREM-CNRS-University of Caen); Pascal Cussy (CREM-CNRS-University of Caen)Stéphane Auray (GREMARS - University of Lille 3)
    Date: 2008
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tut:cremwp:200801&r=ent
  4. By: Wennberg, Karl (Dept. of Business Administration, Stockholm School of Economics)
    Abstract: This paper investigates the role of knowledge in the evolution of new financial services ventures in Sweden between 1990 and 2002. Drawing upon economic theories of human capital and spin-out entrepreneurship, we investigate if knowledge from prior employment in the financial and technological industries facilitates the survival of new entrepreneurial firms. Based on a database tracking the evolution of 1,077 financial services ventures, we find that firms with more extensive knowledge from the financial services and high-tech sectors have higher chances of survival than firms with more narrow knowledge bases. Our findings offer contributions to the emerging literature on spin-out entrepreneurship and to research on entrepreneurship in services.
    Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Spin-out; spin-off; Knowledge; Financial services; Survival analysis
    Date: 2008–01–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhb:hastba:2008_001&r=ent
  5. By: Randall Kekoa Quinones Akee (IZA); David A. Jaeger (College of William and Mary, University of Bonn, and IZA); Konstantinos Tatsiramos (IZA)
    Abstract: Using recently-available data from the New Immigrant Survey, we find that previous self-employment experience in an immigrant’s country of origin is an important determinant of their self-employment status in the U.S., increasing the probability of being self-employed by about 7 percent. Our results improve on the previous literature by measuring home-country self-employment directly rather than relying on proxy measures. We find little evidence to suggest that home-country selfemployment has a significant effect on U.S. wages in either paid employment or self employment.
    Keywords: Self-employment, entrepreneurship, New Immigrant Survey
    JEL: J61 J21
    Date: 2007–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:0717&r=ent
  6. By: Wilfred Dolfsma; Gerben van der Panne
    Abstract: In this paper we investigate which elements in both an industry’s structure and in an industry’s dynamics affect innovativeness. We use the most appropriate measure for innovativeness –new product announcements- to find specifically that dominance of large firms consistently affect industry innovativeness negatively. Other industry structure characteristics are surprisingly consistent across different model specifications. Our findings for indicators of industry dynamics are noteworthy for instance as they contrast with the ILC predication that firm entry will boost innovativeness.
    Keywords: Innovation, small vs large firms, industry structure, industry dynamics, Industry Life Cycle
    JEL: L1 O1 O3
    Date: 2007–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:0730&r=ent
  7. By: U. Witt; C. Zellner
    Abstract: New knowledge with potential commercial value is created, replicated, and transferred in a distributed manner. The highly systemic nature of knowledge production and the need for any knowledge to be individually acquired and expressed in order to produce an effect, jointly constrain the dynamics of knowledge commercialization. This paper analyzes the nature of these constraints from an individualistic perspective, focusing particularly on the often neglected entrepreneurial aspects of the knowledge transfer. It explains how the constraints are overcome by organizational adaptations inside firms so that a sustained knowledge transfer into the commercial sphere of the innovation system can be secured.
    Keywords: Length 18 pages
    JEL: D23 D83 J24 M13 M51 O31 O40
    Date: 2007–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:evopap:2007-19&r=ent

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