nep-ent New Economics Papers
on Entrepreneurship
Issue of 2011‒04‒09
nine papers chosen by
Marcus Dejardin
Notre-Dame de la Paix University

  1. With a Little Help from My (Random) Friends: Success and Failure in Post-Business School Entrepreneurship By Josh Lerner; Ulrike Malmendier
  2. Resource benefits and learning costs in strategic alliances By David H. Hsu; Simon Wakeman
  3. Known Knowns and Known Unknowns of Immigrant Self-employment. Selected issues By Joanna Nestorowicz
  4. Does Banking Competition Alleviate or Worsen Credit Constraints Faced by Small and Medium Enterprises? Evidence from China By Chong, T.T.L.; Lu, L.; Ongena, S.
  5. Effects of CEOs' Characteristics on Internationalization of Small and Medium Enterprises in Japan By TODO Yasuyuki; SATO Hitoshi
  6. Compensation Structure and the Creation of Exploratory Knowledge in Technology Firms By Cui, Victor; Ding, Waverly W.; Yanadori, Yoshio
  7. Determinants of Entrepreneurship: Are Women Different? By Fernanda Llussa
  8. Do universities affect firms’ location decisions? Evidence from Spain By Néstor Duch-Brown; Javier García-Estévez
  9. The Effects of Endogenous Firm Exit on Business Cycle Dynamics and Optimal Fiscal Policy By Vilmi, Lauri

  1. By: Josh Lerner; Ulrike Malmendier
    Abstract: To what extent do peers affect our occupational choices? This question has been of particular interest in the context of entrepreneurship and policies to create a favorable environment for entry. Such influences, however, are hard to identify empirically. We exploit the assignment of students into business school sections that have varying numbers of classmates with prior entrepreneurial experience. We find that the presence of entrepreneurial peers strongly predicts subsequent entrepreneurship rates of students without an entrepreneurial background, but in a more complex way than the literature has previously suggested: A higher share of entrepreneurial peers leads to lower rather than higher subsequent rates of entrepreneurship. However, the decrease in entrepreneurship is entirely driven by a significant reduction in unsuccessful entrepreneurial ventures. The effect on the rate of successful post-MBA entrepreneurs, instead, is insignificantly positive. In addition, sections with few prior entrepreneurs have a considerably higher variance in their rates of unsuccessful entrepreneurs. The results are consistent with intra-section learning, where the close ties between section-mates lead to insights about the merits of business plans.
    JEL: G24 I23 J24
    Date: 2011–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16918&r=ent
  2. By: David H. Hsu (The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania); Simon Wakeman (ESMT European School of Management and Technology)
    Abstract: Due to resource constraints, startup innovators often struggle to assemble complementary assets for successful product commercialization. Alliances are an important avenue for startups to access resources and learn commercialization skills. However, an alliance structure that enables startup learning imposes costs on the alliance partner. Moreover, alliance partner quality is likely co-determined with complementary-asset learning potential in shaping alliance product performance. Using data from biotechnology alliances, we separately estimate the importance of partner quality and learning effects in explaining the drug approval hazard. We find that higher quality partners have a positive impact on product development success while alliance structures enabling startup downstream commercialization capability development have a negative effect. Innovators with cumulated learning experience are more likely to self-commercialize in future product development.
    Keywords: entrepreneurship, strategic alliances, learning, alliance structure, complementary assets
    Date: 2011–03–29
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esm:wpaper:esmt-11-02&r=ent
  3. By: Joanna Nestorowicz (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw; Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw)
    Abstract: The paper presents a review of selected definitional issues, theoretical concepts and most recent empirical evidence related to the phenomenon of immigrant self-employment. Based on the appraisal of gathered material it also points to possible areas of development of future research in the field.
    Keywords: migration, self-employment, ethnic entrepreneurship, middleman minority, ethnic enclave, literature review, state of the art
    JEL: B2 F22 J6
    Date: 2011
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2011-07&r=ent
  4. By: Chong, T.T.L.; Lu, L.; Ongena, S. (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research)
    Abstract: Banking competition may enhance or hinder the financing of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Using a survey on the financing of China’s SMEs combined with detailed bank branch information, we investigate how concentration in the local banking market affects the availability of credit. It is found that lower market concentration alleviates financing constraints. The un-concentrated presence of joint stock banks has a larger effect on alleviating credit constraints, while the presence of state-owned banks has a smaller effect, than the presence of city commercial banks.
    Keywords: Banking Competition;SMEs Financing;Credit Constraints.
    JEL: D41 D43 G21
    Date: 2011
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:2011006&r=ent
  5. By: TODO Yasuyuki; SATO Hitoshi
    Abstract: Recent heterogeneous-firm models of international trade suggest that productivity determines whether firms engage in export and foreign direct investment. However in practice, m Abstract any productive firms are not internationalized, whereas many unproductive firms are. This situation suggests that factors other than productivity influence internationalization. This study examines a set of potential factors -personal characteristics of the chief executive officer (CEO)- using a unique panel dataset for Japanese small and medium enterprises (SMEs). We find that SMEs are more likely to be internationalized when the CEO is more risk-tolerant, forward-looking, and internationally experienced. These factors show significant statistical relationships with SMEs' decisions to internationalize, perhaps suggesting why productive firms might not internationalize. In addition, we find that productivity has no significant relationship with the decision of exiting international markets probably because initial costs of internationalization become sunk, whereas SMEs with internationally experienced CEOs show strongly less likelihood of exit. These empirical results are consistent with theoretical predictions of our model that incorporates the uncertainty of foreign markets into the trade theory with firm heterogeneity.
    Date: 2011–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:11026&r=ent
  6. By: Cui, Victor; Ding, Waverly W.; Yanadori, Yoshio
    Abstract: Given the importance of exploration in a firm’s overall innovation program, scholars have sought to understand organizational factors that give rise to exploration-oriented innovations. We propose theory and empirical evidence that relates firms’ use of financial incentives to their exploratory innovation performance. We expect that a larger proportion of long-term incentives in R&D employee compensation should be positively associated with the creation of exploratory innovation in a firm. In addition, we propose that a higher level of horizontal pay dispersion is negatively associated with the creation of exploratory innovation. We examine innovations reflected in the patents of a unique six-year, unbalanced panel dataset of 94 high-technology firms in the U.S. Empirical results confirm that firms with high level of horizontal pay dispersion have less exploratory patent innovations. However, surprisingly, firms that pay their R&D employees a higher proportion of long-term financial incentives in total compensation have lower level of exploratory innovation. This implies the possibility that popular longterm incentive plans in high-technology sectors (e.g., stock option plans) have failed to achieve their intended goals in practice. We discuss factors that might moderate the negative impact of long-term incentives on exploratory innovation.
    Keywords: Organizational Behavior and Theory
    Date: 2011–03–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:indrel:1913225&r=ent
  7. By: Fernanda Llussa
    Abstract: In this paper we investigate, for the first time, how individual determinants of entrepreneurship - such as age, income, education, work status, skills, access to networks and fear of failure - differ between males and females. We conduct our exercise using individual data provided by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), available for 46 countries, between 2001 and 2004. The literature on entrepreneurship has uncovered differences in the rate of entrepreneurship between men and women, with women generally displaying lower entrepreneurial activity than men. This is important since, as we show, entrepreneurial activity is positively related across countries with the female to male entrepreneurial ratio. We examine total entrepreneurship rates, as well as entrepreneurship driven by opportunity and by need. We find that indeed entrepreneurial activity rates are lower for females across all but one of the countries in the sample. Looking at categorical groups – by age interval, education, work status, etc. – we find that female entrepreneurial rates are significantly lower than for males. For the first time we test for differences in the characteristics of female and male entrepreneurs and find that female entrepreneurs are slightly older, more frequently at home or not working, lower income and lower educated, and less access to business networks than their male counterparts. AS to the determinants of entrepreneurial rates themselves, the main differences across genders are the lower impact of secondary education and the larger impact of skills and fear of failure in female entrepreneurial rates relative to males. Results for entrepreneurship by opportunity and by necessity confirm the larger importance of specific skills for women creating new businesses,. Our results suggest that facilitating access to business networks and specific business skills are the most powerful instruments to increase the rates of female entrepreneurship. JEL codes:
    Date: 2011
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:unlfep:wp555&r=ent
  8. By: Néstor Duch-Brown (University of Barcelona & IEB); Javier García-Estévez (University of Barcelona & IEB)
    Abstract: Human capital, scientific research, and technology are the three chief mechanisms promoting knowledge spillovers from universities to firms. Based on a study of the impact of Spain’s 1983 University Reform Act (LRU), which opened the door to the foundation of new universities and faculties, this paper examines whether university (or faculty) location affects the creation of new firms within a given province. We conclude that the foundation of science and social science faculties has had a marked impact on the creation of firms.
    Keywords: universities, firm location, spillovers, poisson regression
    JEL: I23 O31 R12 R39 C23
    Date: 2011
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2011/4/doc2011-7&r=ent
  9. By: Vilmi, Lauri (Department of Economics)
    Abstract: We explore the implications of endogenous firm entry and exit for business cycle dynamics and optimal fiscal policy. We first show that when the firm exit rate is endogenous, negative technology shocks lead to reductions in the number of firms. Technology shocks therefore have additional effects on household welfare relative to an economy with only endogenous entry. Second, endogenous firm exit creates a new channel for monetary policy when debt contracts are written in nominal terms, as monetary shocks affect the rate of firm defaults. Monetary shocks therefore have real effects also when prices and wages are flexible. Third, we show that endogenous firm exit creates a new role for fiscal policy to increase efficiency and welfare by subsidizing firms and decreasing the number of defaults. Finally, we demonstrate that endogenous firm exit implies that non-persistent shocks to technology and money supply have persistent effects on labor productivity. This has implications for the estimated persistence of technology shocks.
    Keywords: firm defaults; money supply shock; labor productivity
    JEL: E32 E52
    Date: 2011–02–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:rbnkwp:0250&r=ent

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