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on Entrepreneurship |
| By: | Juan A. Sanchis Llopis (ERI-CES and Department of Applied Economics II, University of Valencia. Facultad de Economía. Avenida dels Tarongers s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain.); José María Millán (Department of Economics, University of Huelva. Facultad de Ciencias Empresariales. Plaza de la Merced 11, 21071 Huelva, Spain.); Rui Baptista (Brunel Business School, Brunel University London. Kingston Lane, Uxbridge UB8 2XX, United Kingdom; and CEG-IST, University of Lisbon, Portugal.); Andrew Burke (Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin. College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.); Simon C. Parker (Ivey Business School, Western University. 1255 Western Road, London, ON N6G 0N1, Canada.); Roy Thurik (Erasmus School of Economic, Erasmus University Rotterdam. P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, Netherlands; and Montpellier BusinessSchool, France.) |
| Abstract: | This article introduces the special issue on Entrepreneurship and the Business Cycle, comprising articles presented at the workshop Good Times Bad Times: Entrepreneurship and the Cycle, held at the University of Valencia in November 2011. The workshop was organized to share insights about the under-researched issue of the interplay between entrepreneurship and cyclical dimensions of entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship cycle, business cycle, business density, unemployment, job creation |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eec:wpaper:1503&r=ent |
| By: | Fafchamps, Marcel; Woodruff, Christopher |
| Abstract: | We conduct a business plan competition to test whether survey instruments or panel judges are able to identify the fastest growing firms. Participants submitted six- to eight-page business plans and defended them before a three- or four-judge panel. We surveyed applicants shortly after they applied, and one and two years after the competition. We use follow-up surveys to construct measures of enterprise growth potential. We find that a measure of ability correlates strongly with future growth, but that panel scores add to predictive power even after controlling for ability and other survey variables. The survey questions have more power to explain the variance in growth. Participants presenting before the panel were given a chance to win customized management training. Fourteen months after the training, we find no positive effect of the training on growth of the business. |
| Keywords: | business plan competitions; firm growth; high growth entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | J24 L26 O1 |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10597&r=ent |
| By: | Boschma, Ron (CIRCLE, Lund University and Regional research centre Utrecht (URU), Utrecht University) |
| Abstract: | Klepper’s theory of industry clustering based on organizational reproduction and inheritance through spinoffs challenged the Marshallian view on industry clustering. The paper provides an assessment of Klepper’s theoretical and empirical work on industry clustering. We explore how ‘new’ his spinoff theory on industry clustering was, and we investigate the impact of Klepper’s theory on the economic geography community. Klepper’s work has inspired especially recent literature on regional branching that argues that new industries grow out of and recombine capabilities from local related industries. Finally, the paper discusses what questions on industry location are still left open or in need of more evidence in the context of Klepper’s theory. |
| Keywords: | Klepper; spinoff dynamics; agglomeration economies; Marshall; industry cluster; evolutionary economic geography |
| JEL: | B15 B52 O18 R11 |
| Date: | 2015–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2015_018&r=ent |
| By: | Braunerhjelm, Pontus (Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum, Department of Industrial Economics and Management, Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS) & Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)); Desai, Sameeksha (Indiana University); Eklund, Johan E. (Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum and Jönköping International Business School) |
| Abstract: | Entrepreneurship can have important positive effects linked to job creation, wealth and income generation, innovation and industry competitiveness. Scholars and policy-makers around the world have turned to the regulatory environment as a mechanism through which entrepreneurship can be encouraged, grown and its economic benefits harnessed. The effect of regulatory conditions on entrepreneurship however is not well understood, and can be nuanced given the wide range of regulatory tools and possible areas of impact. This paper serves as the introduction to a special issue, which seeks to shed some light on the relationship between regulation, firm dynamics and entrepreneurship. We identify some foundational considerations relevant to this relationship and discuss key questions, followed by a brief overview of each of the papers contained in the special issue. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship; regulation; firm; entry |
| JEL: | K20 L30 L51 M13 |
| Date: | 2015–05–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0405&r=ent |
| By: | Gicheva, Dora (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics); Link, Albert (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The role of gender in entrepreneurship has been thoroughly investigated. However, less is known about gender differences in access to private investment when attempting to develop a new technology. In this paper we use data collected by the National Research Council of the National Academies to estimate differences between the probability that a female-owned firm and a male-owned firm, both conducting research funded by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, will receive private investment funding to help to commercialize the funded technology. We find that female-owned firms are disadvantaged in their access to private investment, especially in the West and Northeast regions of the United States. |
| Keywords: | private investments; entrepreneurship; gender; technology; innovation |
| JEL: | L26 O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2015–05–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:uncgec:2015_005&r=ent |
| By: | G. Dosi; M. Grazzi; D. Moschella |
| Abstract: | In this work we analyze the relationship between the patterns of firm diversification, if any, across product lines and across bodies of innovative knowledge, proxied by the patent classes where the firm is present. Putting it more emphatically we investigate the relationship between "what a firm does" and "what a firm knows". Using a newly developed dataset matching information on patents and products at the firm level, we provide evidence concerning firms' technological and product scope, their relationships, the size-scaling and coherence properties of diversification itself. Our analysis shows that typically firms are much more diversified in terms of products than in terms of technologies, with their main products more related to the exploitation of their innovative knowledge. The scaling properties show that the number of products and technologies increase log-linearly with firm size. And the directions of diversification themselves display coherence between neighboring activities also at relatively high degrees of diversification. These findings are well in tune with a capability-based theory of the firm. |
| JEL: | C81 D22 L20 L25 O31 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp1004&r=ent |
| By: | Tavassoli, Sam (CIRCLE, Lund University and Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona); Karlsson, Charlie (Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona; Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS), KTH, Stockholm and Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the persistency in innovation behavior of firms. Using five waves of the Community Innovation Survey in Sweden, we have traced the innovative behavior of firms over a ten-year period, i.e. between 2002 and 2012. We distinguish between four types of innovations: process, product, marketing, and organizational innovations. First, using Transition Probability Matrix, we found evidence of (unconditional) state dependence in all types of innovation, with product innovators having the strongest persistent behavior. Second, using a dynamic probit model, we found evidence of “true” state dependency among all types of innovations, except marketing innovators. Once again, the strongest persistency was found for product innovators. |
| Keywords: | Persistence; innovation; product innovations; process innovations; market innovations; organizational innovations; state dependence; heterogeneity; firms; Community Innovation Survey |
| JEL: | D22 L20 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2015–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2015_019&r=ent |
| By: | Mieczyslaw Adamowicz (Pope John Paul II State School of Higher Education in Biala Podlaska); Aldona Machla (Warsaw University of Life Sciences) |
| Abstract: | Subjects of research are small and medium enterprises in local scales of Pultusk town and community and policy of local authorities related to SME sector. The main task of research is an avaluation, in random sample of enterpreneurs, of the SME support system and instruments used by local authorities. Results of empirical survey were suttled in subject literature analysis and presented by comparing to the national charakteristics of MSE sector and its structure in Poland, and linking these to general suport policy by central and lokal governments. |
| Keywords: | Small and Medium Enterprises Sector, support policy for SME, Pultusk town and community, development factors and barriers for SME |
| JEL: | A11 |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pes:wpaper:2015:no124&r=ent |
| By: | Letizia Montinari; Massimo Riccaboni; Stefano Schiavo |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the literature explaining firm-level heterogenenity in the extensive margin of trade, defined as the number of products exported by each firm. We develop a dynamic model where firms must invest in RD to maintain and increase their portfolio of goods: the process of product innovation by incumbent firms is such that the probability to capture new products is a function of the number of varieties already exported. Varieties can also be produced from scratch by new entrepreneurs. The entry/exit dynamics of varieties, together with population growth that characterize the economy, gives rise to a distribution for the number of products exported by each firm with a heavy right tail, which is consistent with the data. This markedly heterogeneous behavior in export markets occur even if we do not assume any heterogeneity in productivity to start with. On the other hand, we assume that differences in export sales across products originate from the demand- side of the model, in the form of a product-specific preference attribute. Finally, a simple extension of the model allows us to derive some interesting insights on the behavior of multi-products firms: sales of different products across destinations are not uncorrelated, but show a rather strict hierarchy. |
| Keywords: | international trade, extensive margin, innovation, preferential attachment, multi-product firms |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trn:utwpem:2015/04&r=ent |
| By: | Rikard H. Eriksson; Emelie Hane-Weijman |
| Abstract: | By means of Swedish longitudinal micro-data, the aim of this paper is to analyse how regional economies respond to crises. This is made possible by linking gross employment flows to the notion of regional resilience. Our findings indicate that despite a steady national employment growth, only the three metropolitan regions show higher employment figures than before the recession of 1990. Further, we can show evidence of high levels of job creation and destruction in both declining and expanding regions and sectors, and that the creation of jobs is mainly attributable to employment growth in incumbent firms while job destruction is primarily due to exits and micro-plants. Although the geography of resistance to crises and the ability of adaptability in the aftermath vary, our findings suggest that cohesive (i.e., with many skill-related industries) and diverse (i.e., with a high degree of unrelated variety) regions are more resilient over time. We also find that resistance to future shocks (e.g., the 2008 recession) is highly dependent on the resistance to previous crises. In all, this suggests that the long-term evolution of regional economies also influences their future resilience. |
| Keywords: | regional economic evolution, job creation, job destruction, crises, regional resilience |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1511&r=ent |
| By: | Jonathan Borggren; Rikard H. Eriksson; Urban Lindgren |
| Abstract: | Following the impact on regional renewal and employment ascribed to rapidly growing firms (high-impact firms, HIFs), this paper argues that little is still known in economic geography and business studies today regarding the mechanisms influencing growth of such firms and, hence, the potential impact on regional employment. The aim of this paper is thus to explore how the qualitative content of skills (i.e. the degree of similarity, relatedness and unrelatedness) recruited to a firm during a period of fast growth influences its future success. Our findings, based on a sample of 1,589 HIFs in the Swedish economy, suggest that it is not only the number of people employed that matters in aiding the understanding of the future destiny of the firms –"but also, more importantly, it is the scope of the skills recruited and their proximity to related industries. |
| Keywords: | high-impact firms, skills, relatedness, labor flows |
| JEL: | L25 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1512&r=ent |
| By: | Carroll, James (Central Bank of Ireland); McCann, Fergal (Central Bank of Ireland); O'Toole, Conor (Central Bank of Ireland) |
| Abstract: | This Letter describes the use of personal guarantees (PGs) in Irish SME bank lending. To date, domestic or international evidence on this topic has been extremely sparse. Using data from the Red C / Department of Finance SME Credit Demand Survey, we show that one third of successful finance applications in Ireland from September 2012 to 2014 have a PG attached, with the most recent data suggesting that this rate was decreasing in 2014. Consistent with banks using PGs as a deterrent to default for borrowers perceived to be riskier, we find that PG usage is higher for new loans to smaller firms (in terms of both employment and turnover), younger firms, innovative firms, non-exporting firms and firms that made a loss in the previous six months. PGs are more prevalent among higher-value loans, suggesting PGs may also be used to reduce potential Loss Given Default. We also find that firms in the construction and wholesale/retail sector are most likely to have a PG attached to new lending. Finally, we find strong evidence that PGs are used in tandem with other forms of tangible business collateral such as land, buildings, machinery and other assets. |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbi:ecolet:06/el/15&r=ent |
| By: | Siim Rahu |
| Abstract: | Export growth requires not only entry into new markets, but also the survival of trade flows. This paper analyses the role of initial product export share and product differentiation in Estonian manufacturing export survival. For this purpose, detailed firm-product-destination level export data is used from 1995–2011. The data show that adding and dropping new products is rife, about half of the firms change their export portfolio annually, but the average export flow duration remains modest at two years and the median even less. The Cox proportional hazards model reveals in various settings that survival is better if the initial export share is larger and exports are more differentiated. Previous experience with foreign markets and different products has a positive impact on survival. Policies aimed at increasing knowledge about foreign markets are supporting export success. |
| Keywords: | export survival, product level, Estonian manufacturing, Cox model |
| JEL: | F12 F14 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtk:febawb:97&r=ent |
| By: | Olaf Gaus (Faculty of Economics and Management, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg) |
| Abstract: | Der Ansatz eines Storied Business im Wertschöpfungsprozess von Unternehmen zielt auf die Bedeutung Neuer Medien für die Erschließung neuer und zusätzlicher Produkt-, Service- und Kundenmärkte ab. Besonders für ‚Kleine und Mittlere Unternehmen’ (KMU) ist es wichtig, ihre Kunden über solche Medien anzusprechen, die auf der Basis des Internets keine Reichweitenrestriktion haben, damit Produkt- oder Service-Innovationen gezielt und weltweit an ausgewählte Kunden adressiert werden können. Da sich die Kunden selbst hinsichtlich ihrer Interessen und ihres Verhaltens zu New Customers wandeln, indem sie ihre bisherige Rolle als typische Kaufkunden zu interaktiven Kunden entwickelt haben, hat sich ihr Informationsbedarf von der angebotenen Unternehmensleistung auf das Unternehmen selbst erweitert. Um solche interaktiven Ansprüche von Kunden proaktiv und entrepreneurisch zu nutzen, schafft das Format eines Storied Business eine Gelegenheit, Botschaften zu kommunizieren, die dem Bedürfnis von Kunden entgegenkommen, die sich neben Produkten und Dienstleistungen zunehmend auch für die Geschäftsmodelle von Unternehmen interessieren und als Customer Investors ein weiteres Rollenprofil einnehmen. Die Interessen dieser New Customers reichen von der Beteiligung an Produkt- oder Prozessoptimierungen bis hin zu unternehmerischen Investitionsformen. Indem sich aber Kunden an der Wertsteigerung von Unternehmen beteiligen, wächst die Anforderung an die Unternehmen, den damit einhergehenden Kommunikationsanspruch unter dem Gesichtspunkt erfolgreicher Wertschöpfung strategisch zu bewältigen. Wie dieses aus der Sicht von KMU gestaltet werden kann, wird mit dem Prozess einer Interactive Acceleration zum Innovieren von Geschäftsmodellen und Unternehmensstrategien beschrieben, woraus sich strategisch steuerbare Geschäftsmodellinnovationen ableiten lassen. |
| Keywords: | Storied Business, New Customer, Geschäftsmodellinnovation, Storytelling |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mag:wpaper:150008&r=ent |