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on Entrepreneurship |
| By: | Honjo, Yuji; Kato, Masatoshi; Okamuro, Hiroyuki |
| Abstract: | This paper explores research and development (R&D) financing of start-up firms. Using a sample from an original survey conducted in 2008, we identify whether initial funds and founder-specific characteristics relate to R&D investment of start-up firms in Japan. It is found that internal finance is positively associated with R&D investment. It is also found that founders with higher educational background, prior innovation output and academic affiliation tend to raise more funds for R&D. On the other hand, we provide evidence that the effects of founders' human capital are mediated by investment opportunities, which would indicate that R&D investment of start-up firms depends heavily on investment opportunities. |
| Keywords: | Founder, Human capital, Internal finance, R&D, Start-up |
| JEL: | G30 M13 O32 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hitcei:2009-15&r=ent |
| By: | Braunerhjelm, Pontus (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Considerable advances, even breakthroughs, have been made during the last decades in our understanding of the relationship between knowledge and growth on one hand, and entrepreneurship and growth on the other. Similarly, more profound insights have also been gained as to how entrepreneurship, innovation and knowledge are interrelated. Yet, a comprehensive understanding is still lacking concerning the interface of all of those variables: knowledge, innovation, entrepreneurship and growth. The link between the micro-economic origin of growth and the macro-economic outcome is still too rudimentary modeled to grasp the full width of these complex and intersecting forces. The main objective of this paper is hence to shed light on recent advances in our understanding of the forces that underpin the creation of knowledge, its diffusion and commercialization through innovation, and the role of the entrepreneur in the growth process. The policy implications of recent research findings conclude this survey. Particularly important policy implications refer to the design of regulation influencing knowledge production, ownership, entry barriers, labor mobility and (inefficient) financial markets. They all have implication for the efficient diffusion of knowledge through entry. Knowledge creation has to be matched by incentives that induce mechanisms to convert knowledge into societal and useful needs. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurs; knowledge; innovation; growth; policy |
| JEL: | O31 |
| Date: | 2010–04–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0224&r=ent |
| By: | Nyström, Kristina (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the interrelationship between business regulations and entrepreneurial activities. Most empirical studies find that business regulations have a negative effect on the amount of entrepreneurial activities in an economy. In addition, we argue that the regulatory quality and amount of business regulation may also be influenced by the amount of entrepreneurial activities in the society since policymakers and bureaucrats tend to respond to changing conditions in the society. In the empirical part of the paper, data for 23 OECD countries for the period 1972-2002 in order to elaborate on the interrelationship between entrepreneurship and the quality of business regulations. The empirical findings indicate that there is a positive relationship between entrepreneurship, and the quality of business regulations. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship; red tape; business regulation |
| JEL: | L51 |
| Date: | 2010–04–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0225&r=ent |
| By: | Sarah Kösters (Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Department of Economics, Graduate College "The Economics of Innovative Change"); Martin Obschonka (Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Department of Developmental Psychology) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates economic and subjective effects of public business assistance delivered to nascent entrepreneurs in Germany. Employing cluster analysis, we explore the actual scope and intensity of business assistance used. Then we analyze predictors of take-up and perceived usefulness taking into account the different patterns of utilized assistance. Finally, we assess economic effects by studying subsequent business performance employing propensity score matching. We cannot reveal that business assistance translates into better start-up performance. However, we find that a lack of personal entrepreneurial resources predicts take-up of business assistance in general as well as perceived usefulness of comprehensive business assistance. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, business assistance, policy evaluation, entrepreneurial resources, big five |
| JEL: | O38 L26 H59 |
| Date: | 2010–04–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2010-025&r=ent |
| By: | Liliana Doganova (Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation, Mines ParisTech) |
| Abstract: | Clarifies the potentials of the notion of exploration for the analysis of the uncertain and collective nature of entrepreneurship, and provides detailed examination of a case study on a French academic spin-off. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, exploration, opportunity recognition, partnerships |
| JEL: | L14 L24 L26 M13 O32 Z13 |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:emn:wpaper:017&r=ent |
| By: | Peter Thompson (Department of Economics, Florida International University); Jing Chen (Department of Economics, Florida International University) |
| Abstract: | Most existing models of employee spinoffs assume they are driven by a desire to implement new ideas. However, history is replete with examples of spinoffs that were launched to continue with old ideas that their parents were in the process of abandoning. We develop a model of technology choice in which spinoffs may form to implement new or old technologies. A team of managers engaged in production using technology x, is considering switching to technology y. The value of y is not known and disagreements may emerge among team members. Managers who develop sufficiently strong disagreements with their colleagues choose to form new companies to implement their preferred strategy. Two distinct classes of spinoffs arise. A type 1 spinoff forms when an employee comes to believe it is worth adopting y but the firm does not. A type 2 spinoff arises when an employee sufficiently disagrees with the firm’s decision to adopt y that he is willing to invest in order to continue with x. We explore the implications of the model for the comparative dynamics of spinoff formation, and the performance of firms. |
| Keywords: | Spinoffs, learning, disagreement, choice of technology. |
| JEL: | L2 D70 D83 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fiu:wpaper:1001&r=ent |
| By: | Robert DeYoung; W. Scott Frame; Dennis Glennon; Peter Nigro |
| Abstract: | This paper provides empirical confirmation for Petersen and Rajan's (2002) widely accepted conjecture that information technology was the primary driver of the observed increase in small business borrower-lender distances in the United States in recent years. Using a different data source for small business loans, we show that annual increases in borrower-lender distances were slow and steady prior to 1993 (the end point in Petersen and Rajan's data) but accelerated rapidly after that. Importantly, we are able to assign at least half of this acceleration to the adoption of credit scoring technologies by the lending banks. Our tests also reveal strong statistical associations between lending distances and borrower characteristics, lender characteristics, market conditions, regulatory constraints, moral hazard incentives, and principal-agent incentives. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedawp:2010-07&r=ent |
| By: | Andersson, Martin (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Johansson, Börje (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a framework to appreciate the observed heterogeneity of firm size distributions and the entry and exit of products and firms associated with it. It is based on a model where new products are introduced by innovating firms in a quasi-temporal setting of monopolistic competition. The rate at which a firm innovates, according to a firm-specific Poisson process, is assumed to be influenced by the firm’s past experience and cumulated knowledge assets. The model assigns a fundamental role to entrepreneurship of existing and potential firms. The empirical analysis is based on detailed firm-level export data, which describes firm size in terms of products and markets, and firm dynamics in terms of changes in the supply pattern (varieties and markets) of existing firms in combination with entry/exit of firms. The empirical results are consistent with the model. First, the modeled innovation process imply a persistent distribution of heterogeneous firms. Second, the invariant size distribution of firms is associated with significant micro-dynamics, where firms continuously add and subtract varieties from their product mix, and new firms may enter while some exit. Third, an econometric analysis where firms’ introduction of new varieties is explained by firm attributes provides support for the assumption of a firm-specific and state-dependent stochastic innovation process. |
| Keywords: | innovation; firm heterogeneity; size distribution; entry; exit; dynamics; |
| JEL: | F12 L11 L26 O31 |
| Date: | 2010–02–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0211&r=ent |
| By: | V. COLLEWAERT; S. MANIGART; |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how angel investors’ human capital affects the valuation of their portfolio companies at initial investment, based on the pre-money valuation of 59 investments in young Belgian companies. We show that entrepreneurs are able to negotiate higher valuations with angel investors who have a business degree, more entrepreneurial experience or previous professional law experience. As such, this result is in contrast with the behavior of venture capital investors. Angel investors with financial experience, however, value their investments lower: their financial background leads them to stress the financial side of the deal more. |
| Keywords: | risk capital, business angels, angel investors, human capital, valuation |
| JEL: | G24 M13 L26 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:09/624&r=ent |
| By: | Athreye, Suma (UNU-MERIT, and Brunel University) |
| Abstract: | It is commonly believed that the business environment in developing countries does not allow productive technology-based entrepreneurship to flourish. In this paper, we draw on the experience of Indian software firms where entrepreneurial growth has belied these predictions. This paper argues that the business models chosen by Indian firms were those that best aligned the country's abundant labour resources and advantages to global demand. Many potentially higher value added opportunities struggled to attain success, but the qualitative value of experimental failures and the capability gaps they exposed was invaluable for collective managerial learning in the industry. Second, the paper also shows that the presence of growth opportunities and the success of firms stimulated institutional evolution to promote entrepreneurial growth. Last we show that the distinctive aggregate contribution of entrepreneurial firms was that they outperformed business houses and multinational subsidiaries in their more productive use of available capital resources whilst achieving similar levels of growth in output and employment. This paper draws upon an earlier shorter paper co-authored with Mike Hobday and titled 'Overcoming Development Adversity: How Entrepreneurs Led Software Development in India'. |
| Keywords: | technology entrepreneurship, institutions and economic development, Indian software, intellectual property rights |
| JEL: | L26 L86 O10 O34 I28 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2010008&r=ent |
| By: | Joanna Tyrowicz (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw; National Bank of Poland; Rimini Center for Economic Analysis); Joanna Nestorowicz (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw) |
| Abstract: | Studies of self-employment determinants in developed market economies comprise the effects of business cycle, changing social structures or legal framework, industrial organization regulations and government policies. This paper contributes to the literature by analysing the cyclical patterns of self-employment determinants taking into account both the trends associated with the transition and the variability induced by economic and labour market fluctuations. We construct a consistent panel of entrepreneurship choice models based on consecutive quarterly labour force surveys for Poland - a country with nearly highest self-employment rates in CEECs and the EU - across the time span 1995q1-2008q4 and trace changes in the marginal effects estimators. We find that the notion of self-employment as survival strategy emphasised previously in the literature exhibits stronger in the periods of the labour market contraction. We also demonstrate that young university graduates prefer wage employment to entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | self-employment, transition, cyclicality, selection models |
| JEL: | L26 J24 P51 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2010-02&r=ent |
| By: | Frank Neffke; Martin Henning |
| Abstract: | This article studies path dependent regional structural change using a quantitative framework. Based on an inter-relatedness indicator, the degree to which local skill-bases exist and force local economies onto a path-dependent development trajectory is studied. The main question is into which local industries new plants enter, while distinguishing between the plants of entrepreneurs and firms. Using a dataset on Swedish individuals and municipalities, it is found that entrepreneurs tend to reinforce established local industrial specializations, whereas new plants of already existing firms do less so. Moreover, outside actors deepen local economy's core specialization more than do local actors. |
| Keywords: | structural change, economic geography, path dependence, entrepreneurship, skill-relatedness, human capital |
| JEL: | R11 O18 J62 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1005&r=ent |
| By: | Alex Coad; Werner Hölzl (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | Recent research has led to the empirical regularity that firm growth rate distributions are heavy tailed. This finding implies that a few firms experience spectacular growth rates and decline, but that most firms have marginal growth rates. The literature on high-growth firms shows that high-growth firms are the central drivers of job creation in the economy but are neither clustered in high technology sectors nor are necessarily young and small. The evidence on the determinants of firm growth confirms that firm growth is difficult to predict. The finding that firm growth is well approximated by a random process does not only reflect the heterogeneity at the firm level but is also associated with the low persistence of growth rates over time. |
| Keywords: | firm growth |
| Date: | 2010–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2010:i:361&r=ent |
| By: | Zeqiri, Izet |
| Abstract: | This work provides a useful emphasis on the interactions between entrepreneurship and strategic management. The causes of individual entrepreneurial action and strategic management process constitute the primary interest of the researcher. Both the individual entrepreneur and the environment as it relates to the motives of individual entrepreneurial behavior are considered. Strategic management is the process of assessing the corporation and its environment in order to meet the long-term objectives of the organization. It refers to the series of decisions taken by management to determine the long-term objectives of the organization and the means to achieve these objectives. Once a mission has been established, strategies are developed to pursue it. An organization must develop a form of strategic management to control these strategies. Through strategic management, an organization can handle its mission while at the same time assessing the relationship of the organization to its environment. The convergence of entrepreneurship and strategic management is being driven partly by time and responsiveness – speed of innovation and actions taken in the marketplace. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; management; organization; strategy; strategic management; strategic management process; entrepreneurial behavior. |
| JEL: | M0 M1 M12 M13 |
| Date: | 2010–03–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:21943&r=ent |
| By: | Bala Subrahmanya, M. H. (Indian Institute of Science); Mathirajan, M. (Anna University); Krishnaswamy, K. N. (Indian Institute of Science) |
| Abstract: | This paper probes the drivers, dimensions, achievements, and outcomes of technological innovations carried out by SMEs in the auto components, electronics, and machine tool sectors of Bangalore in India. Further, it ascertains the growth rates of innovative SMEs vis-a-vis noninnovative SMEs in terms of sales turnover, employment, and investment. Thereafter, it probes the relationship between innovation and growth of SMEs by (i) estimating a correlation between innovation sales and sales growth, (ii) calculating innovation sales for high, medium, and low growth innovative SMEs and doing a one-way ANOVA, and (iii) ascertaining the influence of innovation sales, along with investment growth and employment growth on gross value-added growth by means of multiple regression analysis. The paper brings out substantial evidence to argue that innovations of SMEs contributed to their growth. |
| Keywords: | technological innovations, sales growth, auto components, electronics, machine tools, Bangalore |
| JEL: | L25 L26 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2010007&r=ent |
| By: | John Strauss; Dong Liu; Edward Y. Qian; Mehdi Majbouri; Minggao Shen; Qi Sun; Qianfan Ying; Yi Zhu |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study to help shed light on the entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs and enterprise growth in Wenzhou. The study is done by relying on a probabilistic firm survey that we carried out in Wenzhou in early 2006 for three industries: shoes, eyeglasses and general equipment. Not a field-based formal survey, but also informal questions which helps us to enrich the story. The survey was focused on getting detailed firm histories to learn about how the firms started and grew. The study was done by focusing on the origins of the firms, including prior firms that may have been antecedents. Information was collected on whom the founders were, how many, their relationships with each other, and their background in terms of experience and other human capital. Detailed information was collected on how they financed their start, and how they financed their expansion. Detailed information on the sources of technology into the firms, particularly whether it was Chinese or imported and whether the firms were getting technical instructions from foreign firms they may have been exporting to. Detailed information on markets, especially how markets and how export markets were found. Information was also collected about explicit assistance that came from governments, local and/or central. Workers at each firm: managers, skilled workers such as designers, and production workers were interviewed. |
| Keywords: | industrialization, workers, technology, firms, local resources, pro-capitalist, infrastructure,industrialization, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs, growth, Wenzhou, china, firm survey, survey, china, |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2468&r=ent |
| By: | T. VANACKER; S. MANIGART; M. MEULEMAN; L. SELS; |
| Abstract: | While bootstrap strategies are widely used in entrepreneurial ventures, both scholars and practitioners have presented conflicting views on the relation between these strategies and venture development. This paper empirically investigates the impact of bootstrap strategies used at startup on venture development. For this purpose, we use a longitudinal database comprising data from both questionnaires and financial accounts of 214 new ventures. Findings demonstrate that the impact of bootstrap strategies on venture growth is either non-existent or positive. Specifically, new ventures that use more owner funds, employ more interim personnel, incite customers to pay more quickly and apply for more subsidy programs all exhibit higher growth over time. Moreover, ventures that use the buildings of others create more value compared to ventures that own their buildings, without demonstrating differences in growth. Finally, ventures that use more finance from family and friends do not exhibit differences in growth, but they create consistently less value over time. We discuss the managerial and policy implications of these results and suggest avenues for future research. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurial finance; bootstrap strategies; startups; venture development; growth |
| Date: | 2010–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:10/637&r=ent |
| By: | Alex Coad |
| Abstract: | While several plots of the aggregate age distribution suggest that firm age is exponentially distributed, we find some departures from the exponential benchmark. At the lower tail, we find that very young establishments are more numerous than expected, but they face high exit hazards. At the upper tail, the oldest firms are older than the exponential would have predicted. Furthermore, the age distribution of international airline companies displays multimodality. Although we focused on departures from the exponential, we found that the exponential was a useful reference point and endorse it as an appropriate benchmark for future work on industrial structure. |
| Keywords: | Age distribution, Exponential distribution, Firm size distribution, Survival Length 16 pages |
| JEL: | L20 L25 L11 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:evopap:2009-23&r=ent |
| By: | Carliss Y. Baldwin (Harvard Business School, Finance Unit) |
| Abstract: | This paper describes how entrepreneurial firms can use superior architectural knowledge of a technical system to gain strategic advantage. The strategy involves, first, identifying "bottlenecks" in the existing system, and then creating a new architecture that isolates the bottlenecks in modules. An entrepreneurial firm with limited financial resources can then focus on supplying superior bottleneck components, and while outsourcing non-bottleneck components. I show that a firm pursuing this strategy will have a higher return on invested capital (ROIC) than competitors with a less modular design. Over time, the focal firm can drive the ROIC of competitors below their cost of capital, causing them to shrink and possibly exit the market. The strategy was used by Sun Microsystems in the 1980s and Dell Computer in the 1990s. |
| Keywords: | architecture, innovation, knowledge, modularity, dynamics, competition, industry evolution |
| JEL: | D23 L22 L23 M11 O31 O34 P13 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:10-063&r=ent |
| By: | Raquel Ortega-Argilés (JRC-IPTS); Peter Voigt (JRC-IPTS) |
| Abstract: | This report discusses business R&D in SMEs in the light of a systematic review of publicly available information on industrial R&D, its common trends and related emerging issues. A number of factors towards better understanding of SME trajectories, specifics in terms of their R&D activities, and the attendant main challenges of SMEs are thus examined along their main boundaries. Company size, the life cycle stage of individual firms, the lack of entrepreneurial spirit in the EU, the lack of access to finance in Europe compared to the US, limited capabilities of SMEs, internationalisation/globalisation effects, intellectual property rights, and the effect of administrative burdens are considered in particular. In general, achieving a suitable support mix for business R&D in SMEs and embedding it in local, regional, national and European research and innovation systems remains an open but crucial question on the way towards achieving the Lisbon objectives. |
| Keywords: | business R&D, SMEs |
| JEL: | O33 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:20097&r=ent |
| By: | Christina Guenther |
| Abstract: | The question of whether and when to enter a newly emerging product market has been the focus of practitioners as well as researchers. This paper contributes to the literature by investigating the order of entry as well as pre-entry experiences with a population-based approach for the radically new product market of multifunctional machine tools for the case of Germany between 1949 and 2002. Estimation results show, that later entrants outperform pioneers. Moreover, it turns out that industry and technology specific capabilities do not increase survival chances. But when decomposing the known positive age effect on survival, we see that particularly dynamic capabilities, i.e. the competence to integrate additional business activities into the current product portfolio, significantly lower the risk of failure in the new product market. |
| Keywords: | Length 20 pages |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:evopap:2009-22&r=ent |
| By: | Emanuel Shachmurove (Independent); Yochanan Shachmurove (Department of Economics,The City College of the City University of New York) |
| Abstract: | What are the effects of macroeconomic variables on venture-backed capital investment in environmentally friendly industries in the United States? What is the significance of location in determining both the number of deals and amount of investment by venture capital in the Clean-tech industry? The Clean-tech sector encompasses those firms that actively incorporate environmental concerns into their products and services. The sector contains environmentally progressive companies from many different traditional, functionality-based industries such as software, energy, telecommunications, etc. This paper ascertains the effects of macroeconomic variables and the location on venture-capital backed investment in the Clean-tech industry in the United States. |
| Keywords: | Venture Capital; Clean-Technology Industry; Economic Geography; Location; Environmental Economics; Industrial Sector |
| JEL: | C12 D81 D92 E22 G12 G24 G3 M13 M21 O16 O3 |
| Date: | 2010–04–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pen:papers:10-013&r=ent |
| By: | N. MORAY; R. STEVENS; |
| Abstract: | There is an increasing consensus among academics that the common denominator of ‘social entrepreneurs’ is their adherence to a ‘dominant social mission’. The extent to which social entrepreneurs actually adhere to socially oriented goals and values is largely taken for granted and treated as a black box. Building on established theoretical constructs, this paper develops a number of measures that can potentially contribute to our understanding of how ‘social’ social entrepreneurs really are. More specifically, we empirically test four potential measures of “social proclivity” in a well defined sample of social ventures, performing confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (N~270). CFA points to high reliability and validity for the measures of each of the four constructs and supports the existence of a higher order construct “social proclivity”. Further, results show that social entrepreneurs display strong social as well as economic motives, providing an empirical base for actually capturing the dual-bottom line that characterises these enterprises. |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:09/622&r=ent |
| By: | Jun Nakabayashi |
| Abstract: | As part of public procurement, many governments adopt small business programs to provide contract opportunities for businesses often with preferences for firms operated by members of groups designated as disadvantaged. The redistribution arising from such programs, however, can introduce significant added costs to government procurement budgets. In this paper, the extent to which small business set-asides increase government procurement costs is examined. The estimates employ data on Japanese public construction projects, where approximately half of the procurement budget is set aside for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Applying a positive relationship between profitability and firm size obtained by the non-parametric estimation of asymmetric first-price auctions with affiliated private values, a counterfactual simulation is undertaken to demonstrate that approximately 40 percent of SMEs would exit the procurement market if set-asides were to be removed. Surprisingly, the resulting lack of competition would increase government procurement costs more than it would offset the production cost inefficiency. |
| Keywords: | procurement auctions, small business set-asides, structural estimation of auctions |
| JEL: | D44 H23 H57 L74 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hst:ghsdps:gd09-126&r=ent |