nep-ent New Economics Papers
on Entrepreneurship
Issue of 2012‒07‒14
seven papers chosen by
Marcus Dejardin
Notre-Dame de la Paix University

  1. The Long Persistence of Regional Entrepreneurship Culture: Germany 1925-2005 By Michael Fritsch; Michael Wyrwich
  2. How Immigration May Affect U.S. Native Entrepreneurship: Theoretical Building Blocks and Preliminary Results By Duleep, Harriet; Jaeger, David A.; Regets, Mark
  3. Bankruptcy Law, Debt Portfolios, and Entrepreneurship By Mankart, Jochen; Rodano, Giacomo
  4. Constraints to the Growth of Small Firms in Northern Myanmar By Bah, El-hadj M.; Cooper, Geoff
  5. Financial constraints and relationship lending in the growth of italian SMEs By Cinquegrana, Giuseppe; Donati, Cristiana; Sarno, Domenico
  6. Family Firm Internationalization: Influence of Familiness on the Spanish Firm Export Activity By Fernando Merino, Joaquín Monreal-Pérez, Gregorio Sánchez-Marín
  7. Comment peut-on voir le monde depuis son appartement ? Un cadre d'analyse liant structure de propriété, comportements stratégiques, orientations temporelles du dirigeant et de la Moyenne Entreprise. By Ludvig Levasseur

  1. By: Michael Fritsch (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena); Michael Wyrwich (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena)
    Abstract: We investigate the persistence of levels of self-employment and new business formation in different time periods and under different framework conditions. The analysis shows that high levels of regional self-employment and new business formation tend to be persistent for periods as long as 80 years and that such an entrepreneurial culture can even survive abrupt and drastic changes in the politic-economic environment. We thus conclude that regional entrepreneurship cultures do exist and that they have long-lasting effects.
    Keywords: Entrepreneurship, self-employment, new business formation, persistence, culture
    JEL: L26 R11 O11
    Date: 2012–07–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2012-036&r=ent
  2. By: Duleep, Harriet (College of William and Mary); Jaeger, David A. (CUNY Graduate Center); Regets, Mark (National Science Foundation)
    Abstract: This paper describes the theoretical underpinnings and provides empirical evidence for a model that predicts a positive impact of immigration on entrepreneurial activity. Immigrants, we hypothesize, facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship by being willing and able to invest in new skills. At the heart of this theoretical prediction is the observation that human capital not immediately valued in the U.S. labor market is useful for learning new skills. Because immigrants face a lower opportunity cost of investing in new skills or methods, this "transfer" of source-specific skills to the U.S. may lead immigrants to be more flexible in their human capital investments than observationally equivalent natives. Areas with large numbers of immigrants (even if they are not self-employed) may prove to be areas in which entrepreneurship and innovation are easier to accomplish. Our theory offers a unique perspective on the contributions of immigrants to economic development beyond traditional perspectives that focus on low-cost immigrant labor or immigrant entrepreneurship.
    Keywords: immigration, innovation, entrepreneurship, human capital investment, skill transferability, opportunity cost, learning transferability
    JEL: J15 J24 J39 J61 L26
    Date: 2012–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6677&r=ent
  3. By: Mankart, Jochen; Rodano, Giacomo
    Abstract: Every year 400,000 entrepreneurs fail and 60,000 file for personal bankruptcy. The option to declare bankruptcy provides entrepreneurs with insurance against the financial consequences of business failures. However, it comes at the cost of worsened credit market conditions. In this paper, we construct a quantitative general equilibrium model of entrepreneurship to show that the presence of secured credit in addition to unsecured credit substantially alters the trade-off between insurance and credit conditions. A lenient bankruptcy law always worsens credit conditions, in particular for poor entrepreneurs. If secured credit is not available, their credit conditions are so bad that many prefer to become workers. In that case, we show that the optimal bankruptcy law is very harsh because the benefits from better credit conditions dominate the worsened insurance. However, if secured credit is available, entrepreneurs who might be rationed out of the unsecured credit market can still obtain secured credit. Therefore, they can run larger firms, which makes entrepreneurship more attractive. Since the presence of secured credit lowers the cost of a generous bankruptcy law, we find that the optimal law is lenient in this case: moving to the optimal bankruptcy law would increase entrepreneurship by more than four per cent.
    Keywords: Debt portfolio, Bankruptcy, Occupational Choice
    JEL: M13 K10 O41 E20
    Date: 2012–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:econwp:2012:16&r=ent
  4. By: Bah, El-hadj M.; Cooper, Geoff
    Abstract: This paper uses survey data collected from Kalaymyo, a small urban city in North West Myanmar, to characterize firms and analyze the constraints limiting their growth. The level of firm ownership is very high but most firms are small, informal, operated out of the home, earning low income and with no employees. The most binding constraints are related to financing constraints, especially lack of access to informal credit. This is followed by the high degree of competition as the majority of firms are small retailers selling non-differentiated goods. This lack of credit combined with an apparent aversion to debt, limits the ability of entrepreneurs to take advantage of the high returns available on investment. We find that firms that made a capital investment over the last three years are significantly more profitable than those that did not.
    Keywords: rural investment climate; enterprize development; poverty reduction; Myanmar
    JEL: O53 O10 L20
    Date: 2012–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39819&r=ent
  5. By: Cinquegrana, Giuseppe; Donati, Cristiana; Sarno, Domenico
    Abstract: Our study confirms that the financial constraints to SME’s growth tend to appear as an excess of sensibility of the investment expenditures on firm’s cash flow. Through the application of dynamic panel data techniques to an extended version of Eulero’s investment equation of a sample of Italian SMEs, the analysis shows that the growth of the subsample of the small firms in backward regions of Italy is more constrained by inside finance than that of firms in more developed regions. This is because the typical information opacity of SMEs is worsened here by the unsatisfactory development of financial markets. Moreover, our analysis ascertains that the small firms can significantly relax the constraints if they are able to establish a close relationship with the banks making easier the access of bank to firm’s information.
    Keywords: firm growth; financial constraints; relationship lending
    JEL: G31 E22 G32
    Date: 2012–07–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39825&r=ent
  6. By: Fernando Merino, Joaquín Monreal-Pérez, Gregorio Sánchez-Marín
    Abstract: This paper studies the determinants of the export activity of family SMEs, disentangling the three main dimensions that comprise the concept of familiness: power, experience, and culture. The results, using the F-PEC scale over a sample of 500 Spanish SMEs, show that this approach identifies the determinants that explain the export activity of family SMEs better than a simple dichotomous approach. Specifically, we find that the expertise transmitted from different generations and the family culture orientation to the firm positively affect the international activities of family SMEs; however, the composition of the firm control–management does not have any significant influence on internationalization
    Keywords: Family SMEs, export activity, Familiness, Spanish firms, F-PEC scale
    JEL: D22 M16
    Date: 2012–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1770&r=ent
  7. By: Ludvig Levasseur (MRM - Montpellier Recherche en Management - Université Montpellier II - Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc : EA4557 - Université Montpellier I - Université Paul Valéry - Montpellier III - Groupe sup de Co Montpellier)
    Abstract: Une démarche abductive et des données qualitatives ont d'abord permis de créer un cadre d'analyse intégrant structure de propriété, comportements stratégiques et orientations temporelles (du dirigeant et de la Moyenne Entreprise) puis de mettre en évidence le conflit entre les différentes orientations temporelles du dirigeant. Plusieurs recherches montrent les dimensions du cadre comme l'indépendance formelle de la propriété actuelle ou la considération insuffisante apportée par l'analyse stratégique aux implications individuelles et collectives du temps. Or, le niveau moyen de développement de la ME peut ici permettre de combler ce vide théorique. Il convient donc de savoir comment la structure de propriété influence les comportements stratégiques et les orientations temporelles du dirigeant et de la ME. Cette question renvoie alors le dirigeant au conflit entre un futur de court terme ou proxémique (l'appartement) et un futur de long terme ou lointain (le monde). Les résultats des quatre études de cas montrent le rôle de certaines variables (Conseil d'Administration, synergies, paramètres familiaux et personnels lors de la transmission, incertitude, importance du rapport à l'investissement et aux personnes) sur l'anticipation, l'innovation, la formalisation, l'orientation temporelle du dirigeant, l'orientation temporelle stratégique de l'organisation, la finance et la gestion des ressources humaines. Ils montrent également que, étant forcé de se projeter dans l'avenir et de faire face à un quotidien incertain, le dirigeant se résigne face à la vie, ce qui rend difficile toute stratégie de long terme. Enfin, des conseils ont été prodigués et des pistes de recherches futures ont été évoquées.
    Keywords: PME ; entreprises familiales ; propriété ; stratégie ; temps
    Date: 2012–06–28
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00713402&r=ent

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