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on Small Business Management |
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Issue of 2010‒12‒23
fourteen papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | H. Wolf; Claus Michelsen; Michael Schwartz |
| Abstract: | Knowledge of factors that determine the transition from nascent entrepreneurship into real entrepreneurship is of major importance for policies aiming to effectively stimulate start-ups. Whereas scholars concentrated on person-specific factors to explain transition probabilities, environmental characteristics have been fairly neglected. Given that entrepreneurship is a strongly localized phenomenon, this paper argues that regional entrepreneurial opportunities are a driving force behind the transition from nascent entrepreneurship to new venture creation. Based on unique data on 103 nascent entrepreneurs in the German biotechnology industry, we empirically assess the importance of regional entrepreneurial opportunities on transition probabilities. Further, we introduce a new approach to measure nascent entrepreneurship by capturing individuals that actively participate in start-up competitions and have won at least one competition. Controlling for technology and individual characteristics, we find strong support for our hypotheses relating to the significant impact of general regional opportunities, specific regional opportunities and the entrepreneurial environment for the probability of transition from award-winning nascent entrepreneurs to real start-ups. |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iwh:dispap:25-10&r=sbm |
| By: | Elsa Morais Sarmento (Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, da Inovação e do Desenvolvimento; Departamento de Economia, Gestão e Engenharia Industrial, Universidade de Aveiro.); Alcina Nunes (Departamento de Economia e Gestão, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança) |
| Abstract: | This study approaches the survival ability of firms in the North region of Portugal from 1985 to 2007, allowing regional and national comparisons through the application of non-parametric and semi-parametric methods. This analysis is based on the creation of a specific entrepreneurship database, based on Quadros de Pessoal, where the methodology of Eurostat/OECD´s “Manual of Business Demography Statistics” was applied to. In the North, firms close earlier on during their infancy as their median duration is below the median duration of firms located in the rest of the country. The high turbulence of firm turnover is pointed out as a fundamental determinant of the survival probabilities of firms in this region. |
| Keywords: | Empreendedorismo, Dinâmica Empresarial, Sobrevivência, Análise Regional. |
| JEL: | C14 C41 L25 L26 R11 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mde:wpaper:0028&r=sbm |
| By: | Koshy, Perumal |
| Abstract: | Following paper presents the case of Business Incubators (BIs) as future educational and learning centres. It explores the question of how feasible and relevant is this concept andt how they can be designed to deliver educational & training programmes that meet the requirement of knowledge economy by suitably preparing youth to face the challenges of the global market. Business Incubators are businesses aiming at nurturing and establishing other businesses. They are considered to be an excellent tool for Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) development. Targeted assistance at small entrepreneurs & start-up businesses- help them grow and graduate to mature enterprises. According to ILO estimates 300 million jobs have to be created world over in the next 5 years. As many as 45 million young people enter the job market annually, at a global level. There are three different kinds of BIs and they are public, private, and university based BIs and are commonly classified by ownership. In the IT-led global knowledge village, there are seamless potentials for study, earning a degree and education outside of the college campuses. Virtual campuses are the reality today. What are needed then would be centres for imparting practical lessons on commercialising the knowledge, innovative ideas, and technical skills. Also it is important to impart real training in starting, managing, making profit and pursuing the growth of enterprises & ventures that a youth entrepreneur could launch. In the knowledge economy, BIs can be real learning centres. Also, technological and academic oriented knowledge & literacy is not the only skill required for attaining success, set-up a business or getting a well-paying job in the new knowledge based global economy. But what is required are a set of skills called 21st century skills, which can be well delivered through BIs, when they are turned as educational centres. The paper also presents a BI model, which has an objective of building businesses with a strategic orientation towards environment and sustainable development. The BI design presented is called as Eco-Enterprise Village. |
| Keywords: | Business Incubators; Micro; Small and Medium Enterprises; Information & Communication Technology; Education and Training; Eco Enterprise Incubator |
| JEL: | N8 O10 M13 A10 M21 J23 |
| Date: | 2010–11–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:27311&r=sbm |
| By: | Gilliane LEFEBVRE (Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense); Blandine LAPERCHE (labrii, ULCO) |
| Abstract: | Quelle est la place et le rôle joué par les petites entreprises dans la constitution du capital-savoir des groupes, c'est-à-dire l’ensemble des informations et connaissances qu’ils mobilisent pour innover ? Quelles formes prend la collaboration entre groupes industriels et petites entreprises innovantes ? Dans cet article, les auteures étudient ces questions sur la base d’une revue de la littérature et des résultats d’une enquête menée au cours de l’année 2009 et 2010 sur le capital-savoir des groupes industriels (Langlet et al., 2010). Elles étudient la constitution collaborative du capital-savoir ainsi que les formes et objectifs de la collaboration selon le type de partenaire associé au groupe industriel (recherche académique, clients et fournisseurs, concurrents et petites entreprises). Elles mettent l’accent sur les formes de collaborations actuelles entre petites entreprises innovantes et groupes industriels et montrent que cette coopération prend largement appui en France sur les dispositifs publics d’incitation à la création de réseaux d’innovation. What is the place and the role played by small businesses in the constitution of the knowledge capital of industrial groups, that is to say the set of information and knowledge that they gather to innovate? What form does the cooperation between industrial groups and small innovative companies take? In this article, the authors study these issues on the basis of review of literature and on the results of a survey conducted during 2009 and 2010 on the knowledge-capital of industrial groups (Langlet et al., 2010). They study the open strategy developed by industrial groups to develop their knowledge-capital and the forms and objectives of the collaboration according to the partner associated to the industrial group (academic research, customers and suppliers, competitors and small businesses). They focus on current forms of collaboration between small innovative companies and industrial groups and show that such cooperation is widely supported in France on the public provision of incentives for the creation of innovation networks. |
| Keywords: | small businesses - industrial groups - innovation - groupes industriels - petites entreprises |
| JEL: | M21 M51 |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rii:riidoc:232&r=sbm |
| By: | Giulia De Masi (Ocean Engineering Department (ENI)); Giorgia Giovannetti (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche); Giorgio Ricchiuti (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, using the database ICE-Reprint, the network of Italian firms investing abroad is studied. This analysis focuses on some manufacturing sectors, highlighting the linkages among firms and detecting the key nodes of the system (both in terms of firms and countries of destination). Moreover, through the examination of affiliates' economic activity, different policies of internationalization among leaders emerge. |
| Keywords: | FDI, Economics Networks, Projected network |
| JEL: | F2 L1 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2010_17.rdf&r=sbm |
| By: | Brück, Tilman (DIW Berlin); Llussá, Fernanda (Universidade Nova de Lisboa); Tavares, José (Universidade Nova de Lisboa) |
| Abstract: | We provide, for the first time, comparative evidence of the impact of various types of extreme events – natural disasters, terrorism, and violent conflicts – on the perceptions of entrepreneurs concerning some key entrepreneurial issues – such as fear of failure in starting a business venture, whether individuals expect that good opportunities are likely to emerge in the next six months, and the expected level of competition stemming from creating new ventures. The occurrence of extreme events is likely to be exogenous to the perceptions affecting it so that we can identify a causal link from events to entrepreneurs and their perceptions. Using individual-level data from 43 countries from the period 2002 to 2005, we find that neither indicator of the intensity of extreme events has a significant impact on entrepreneurial activity, when country characteristics are not controlled for. Once invariant country characteristics are taken into account, we find that Terrorist Attacks have a positive and significant impact on business creation, Natural Disasters have a positive and negative impact on entrepreneurial activity, and Violent Conflict has no significant effect. These results are consistent with differential impacts of extreme events on perception variables such as Fear of Failure, Expected Business Opportunities, and Expected Level of Competition. Our results suggest that extreme events, while costly at the aggregate level, may induce a positive response in terms of entrepreneurial activity in specific circumstances. There is hence scope for entrepreneurs, and policies supporting them, to create growth from the ruins of extreme events. |
| Keywords: | natural disaster, terrorism, violent conflict, entrepreneur |
| JEL: | F0 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5351&r=sbm |
| By: | Elsa Morais Sarmento (Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, da Inovação e do Desenvolvimento; Departamento de Economia, Gestão e Engenharia Industrial, Universidade de Aveiro.); Alcina Nunes (Departamento de Economia e Gestão, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança) |
| Abstract: | Portugal has some of the highest business entry rates when compared to other countries, according to Eurostat, Statistics Portugal and the OECD Entrepreneurship Indicators Programme. We look at business creation in Portugal, from 2000 to 2007, by approaching two other complementary data sources, the World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey, based on official Portuguese business register’s and the universe of active employer enterprises, obtained by applying to the dataset Quadros de Pessoal, the methodology and definitions of the Eurostat/OECD´s “Manual on Business Demography Statistics”. This allows us to address entrepreneurship indicators comparability issues and exploit complementarities to support entrepreneurship patterns and trends previously identified by other national and international sources. We highlight the importance of considering information other than business registries, in particular when calculating business entry rates. Datasets where economically active units can be identified provide a better proxy for the true level of business creation and activity in Portugal. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, Business registries, Business Creation, Portugal, World Bank. |
| JEL: | M13 M21 L26 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mde:wpaper:0029&r=sbm |
| By: | Fallahi, Firouz; Sakineh, Sojoodi; Mehin Aslaninia, Nasim |
| Abstract: | In an era of globalized competition, productivity has become a crucial factor determining profitability, competitiveness and the growth of a firm. High productivity means lower per unit cost and, therefore, ability of the firm to match prices on the global markets. Because of that, there has been an increasing interest recently in the literature on factors affecting productivity. This paper investigates the determinants of labor productivity at the firm level in the Iran’s manufacturing sector. The analysis is based on descriptive statistics and cross sectional regression models on a sample of 12299 Industrial firms. The results show that labor productivity is positively related to wage, fixed capital per employee, export orientation, R&D activity and Education of labor force. |
| Keywords: | Labor productivity; Industrial firms; Education; Training; Export; R&D |
| JEL: | J24 J2 |
| Date: | 2010–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:27447&r=sbm |
| By: | Marco Caliendo; Frank Fossen; Alexander Kritikos |
| Abstract: | Experimental evidence reveals that there is a strong willingness to trust and to act in both positively and negatively reciprocal ways. So far it is rarely analyzed whether these variables of social cognition influence everyday decision making behavior. We focus on entrepreneurs who are permanently facing exchange processes in the interplay with investors, sellers, and buyers, as well as needing to trust others and reciprocate with their network. We base our analysis on the German Socio-Economic Panel and recently introduced questions about trust, positive reciprocity, and negative reciprocity to examine the extent that these variables influence the entrepreneurial decision processes. More specifically, we analyze whether i) the willingness to trust other people influences the probability of starting a business; ii) trust, positive reciprocity, and negative reciprocity influence the exit probability of entrepreneurs; and iii) willingness to trust and to act reciprocally influences the probability of being an entrepreneur versus an employee or a manager. Our findings reveal that, in particular, trust impacts entrepreneurial development. Interestingly, entrepreneurs are more trustful than employees, but much less trustful than managers. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, trust, reciprocity |
| JEL: | D81 J23 M13 L26 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1085&r=sbm |
| By: | Anaïs Hamelin (LaRGE Research Center, Université de Strasbourg) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a theoretical model predicting the difference in investment policy between entrepreneurs and family founders based on the firm ownership flexibility. Moreover, this paper provides evidence on the fact that small business with less flexible ownership structure does not exploit all their growth potential. |
| Keywords: | Small business, Growth, Ownership structure, Investment, Risk, Performance. |
| JEL: | G31 G32 L26 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lar:wpaper:2010-17&r=sbm |
| By: | Chaminade, Cristina (CIRCLE, Lund University); Zabala, Jon Mikel (CIRCLE, Lund University); Treccani, Adele (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Sweden is considered to be one of the most advanced countries in terms of innovation worldwide. Sweden always ranks high in all international reports on Science and Technology indicators such as the ones regularly published by the OECD or Eurostat. As many small countries, the Sweden economy has a strong international orientation and this is also reflected in the national innovation system. The NIS is dominated by internationally oriented industrial firms and universities. Furthermore, since 1988, the country has experienced a growing trend of mergers and acquisitions of technology intensive firms by foreign companies (Vinnova, 2006) whose presence, particularly in certain industries, is very noticeable. The aim of this paper is to explore the links between the NIS in Sweden and the participation of Swedish firms and Swedish universities in Global Innovation Networks. More specifically, it attempts to answer the following questions: a) To what extent are Swedish actors participating in GINs? b) To what extent is the Swedish NIS attracting GINs? c) What is the role of the Swedish NIS in supporting the participation of Swedish Universities and Swedish firms in GINs? d) What is the role of the Swedish NIS in attracting actors in GINs into Sweden?. The paper is based on secondary sources and has a rather descriptive nature. In its current form (June 2010) is a report submitted to the EU Commission as part of the deliverables of the INGINEUS project |
| Keywords: | globalization; innovations systems; Sweden |
| JEL: | O30 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2010_009&r=sbm |
| By: | Wennberg, Karl (The Ratio Institute and Stockholm School of Economics); Wiklund, Johan (Whitman School of Management and Jönköping International Business School, Sweden); Wright, Mike (Centre for Management Buy-out Research, Nottingham University Business School and University of Ghent) |
| Abstract: | While much prior research has focused upon how the Technology Transfer Offices and other contextual characteristics shape the level of university spin-offs (USO), there is little research on entrepreneurial potential among individual academics, and to the best of our knowledge, no comparative studies with other types of spin-offs exist to date. In this paper we suggest that knowledge transfer from academic research may flow indirectly to entrepreneurship by individuals with a university education background who become involved in new venture creation by means of corporate spin-offs (CSO) after gaining industrial experience, rather than leaving university employment to found a new venture as an academic spinoff. In fact, the commercial knowledge gained by industry experience is potentially more valuable for entrepreneurial performance compared to the academic knowledge gained by additional research experience at a university. This leads us to posit that not only will the average performance of CSOs be higher than comparable USOs, but the gains from founder’s prior experiences will also be higher among CSOs. We investigate these propositions in a comparative study tracking the complete population of USOs and CSOs among the Swedish knowledge-intensive sectors between 1994 and 2002. |
| Keywords: | Spill-Overs |
| JEL: | L53 M13 O32 O34 |
| Date: | 2010–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0160&r=sbm |
| By: | Abraham Garcia (JRC-IPTS); Dominique Foray (EPFL / CDM-MTEI-CEMI) |
| Abstract: | The effect of a firm's size is analysed in relation with the probability of applying for a patent. We worked on the identification of a firm's minimum size, a threshold needed to formally protect an innovation by legal means. Below this minimum size the costs associated with protection are so high that firms prefer informal protection of their innovations. The literature concludes that as size increases so does the propensity to patent. This research finds similar results for pool regressions. In an attempt to understand the relationship between size and patent activity better, the population of firms is divided into two groups. On a first stage a firm was considered small if it had below 250 employees and large if it had more; a moving threshold was applied on a second stage. The results show that for some economies the minimum threshold needed for filing a patent is well below 250 employees. |
| Keywords: | SME, patents, IPRs |
| JEL: | C01 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:201009&r=sbm |
| By: | Koshy, Perumal |
| Abstract: | Present paper looks at how Rural Business Incubators (RBIs) & Enterprise Resource Centers (ERCs) together with Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) can contribute to inclusive growth. India’s informal sector has a very powerful presence of brilliant entrepreneurs, who can potentially contribute to India’s fight against poverty and have the potential for much more employment & income generation, if appropriate institutional mechanisms are created to provide needed & timely assistance. Here comes the role of RBIs & ERCs and MFIs. Approximately 93 percent of the enterprises are in the informal sector in India. Together with Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), informal sector contributes close to 60 percent to GDP and 40 percent or more to export trade. They create 95 percent of non-farm jobs. Informal enterprises are set-up by owners to alleviate their poverty condition. They could be termed as poverty alleviating enterprises (PAEs). Micro finance institutions need to reach out to such PAEs and empower them. Through the institutional mechanism called RBIs & ERCs, micro financiers can reach out to PAEs. Empowering PAEs and enabling their growth is indeed a challenging task. An institutional mechanism like RBI & ERC is a probable solution to poverty and unemployment. If an incubator & ERC can come up in each of the 6000 block panchayats, that would enable the creation of new enterprises in the formal sector as well as can contribute to empower PAEs in their growth & expansion. This would help create new jobs and alleviate poverty and generate employment. The paper ends with a model RBI & ERC. with a detailed description of service mix that can be delivered through this institutional mechanism. |
| Keywords: | Micro; Small and Medium Enterprises(MSMEs); Rural Business Incubutors; Poverty Alleviation; Employment Generation; Rural Transformation; Information Needs of MSMEs |
| JEL: | R58 N25 E26 |
| Date: | 2010–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:27381&r=sbm |