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WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
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Dedicated to Jake Theodore Dana
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World Encyclopedia of
Entrepreneurship
Second Edition
Edited by
Léo-Paul Dana
Professor, Dalhousie University, Canada and Montpellier Business School,
France
Cheltenham, UK • Northampton, MA, USA
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© Léo-Paul Dana 2021
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording, or
otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Published by
Edward Elgar Publishing Limited
The Lypiatts
15 Lansdown Road
Cheltenham
Glos GL50 2JA
UK
Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.
William Pratt House
9 Dewey Court
Northampton
Massachusetts 01060
USA
A catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020950876
This book is available electronically in the
Business subject collection
http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781839104145
ISBN 978 1 83910 413 8 (cased)
ISBN 978 1 83910 414 5 (eBook)
02
Typeset by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire
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Contents
xi
xvii
xix
xxiii
List of contributors
Foreword by A. Roy Thurik
Foreword by Hans Landström
Preface
1
Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs
Tenghao Zhang, Pi-Shen Seet, Janice Redmond, Jalleh Sharafizad and
Wee-Liang Tan
1
2
Compensatory entrepreneurship
Benson Honig
22
3
Coopetition as an entrepreneurial strategy: focus on the wine sector
James M. Crick and David Crick
26
4
Corporate entrepreneurship
Donald F. Kuratko, Michael H. Morris and Jeffrey G. Covin
40
5
Corporate entrepreneurship: new insights
Olga Belousova, Aard Groen and Norris Krueger
49
6
Corporate venturing
Garima Jha and Robert D. Hisrich
57
7
Cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship education
Dianne H.B. Welsh
69
8
Defining the entrepreneur
Louis Jacques Filion
72
9
Digital entrepreneurship
Kerstin Wagner and Oliver Som
84
10
Digital platforms
Donato Cutolo and Jan Vang
93
11
Disabled entrepreneurs
Wilson Ng
105
12
Early foreign market entries of new technology-based firms
Regis Coeurderoy and Gordon Murray
112
13
Economics and entrepreneurship
William J. Baumol
118
14
Employee start-ups
Andreas Koch
127
v
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15
Entrepreneurial exporters
Martin Hannibal and Tage Koed Madsen
130
16
Entrepreneurial hubris
Vita Akstinaite and Eugene Sadler-Smith
139
17
Entrepreneurial learning
Jennifer R. Carter, Claire Leitch and Valerie Stead
145
18
Entrepreneurial networks
Howard E. Aldrich, Martin Ruef and Steven Lippmann
151
19
Entrepreneurial sense-making, sense-breaking and sense-demanding
Gabi A. Kaffka and Norris Krueger
160
20
Entrepreneurs in the fashion industry
Michelle Brandstrup
165
21
Entrepreneurs versus entrepreneurial
Karen Williams-Middleton, Martin Lackéus and Mats Lundqvist
177
22
Entrepreneurship and blockchains
Galia Kondova
184
23
Entrepreneurship as a competence
Margherita Bacigalupo
186
24
Entrepreneurship in biotechnology
Călin Gurău
190
25
Entrepreneurship in the ethnic ownership economy
Ivan H. Light
195
26
Entrepreneurship in the printing sector
Naomi J. Dana
205
27
Entrepreneurship policy
David B. Audretsch
213
28
Environment for entrepreneurship
Jean-Jacques Obrecht
224
29
Ethics and entrepreneurship
Alan E. Singer
242
30
Ethnic minority entrepreneurship
Léo-Paul Dana and Michael H. Morris
251
31
Evolution of entrepreneurship and its role in stewardship-based economics
Raymond W.Y. Kao, Rowland R. Kao and Kenneth R. Kao
260
32
Exit
Karl Wennberg
274
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Contents vii
33
Export support services for SME internationalization
Nathalie Belhoste, Rachel Bocquet and Véronique Favre-Bonté
282
34
Family business
Frederik J. Riar and Franz W. Kellermanns
289
35
Financial issues of entrepreneurship
Jean-Michel Sahut and Eric Braune
295
36
George Eastman: pioneer of industrial R&D
Léo-Paul Dana
305
37
Global entrepreneurship and transnationalism
Ivan H. Light
310
38
Growth
James Bort, Wei Yu and Johan Wiklund
323
39
Historical context of entrepreneurship
Mark Casson
335
40
Howard Hughes
Teresa E. Dana
351
41
The Hudson’s Bay Company
Lynn Ferguson
358
42
Humane entrepreneurship
Roberto Parente
367
43
Incubators and support systems for business creation: the French model
Luc Duquenne
376
44
Incubators: how they adapt to a changing world
Amandine Maus and Sylvie Sammut
392
45
Indigenous entrepreneurship as a function of cultural perceptions of
opportunity
Léo-Paul Dana and Robert Brent Anderson
46
Innovation systems and entrepreneurship research
Jan Vang, Heidi Wiig and Léo-Paul Dana
411
47
Innovative behavior
Yang Song
426
48
Intermediated internationalization theory
Zoltan J. Acs and Siri Terjesen
430
49
International entrepreneurship
Benjamin M. Oviatt, Vladislav R. Maksimov and Patricia P. McDougall
437
50
Internationalization support ecosystems
Alexis Catanzaro and Karim Messeghem
443
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51
Involuntary entrepreneurship
Teemu Kautonen, Simon Down, Friederike Welter, Kai Althoff,
Jenni Palmroos, Susanne Kolb and Pekka Vainio
452
52
Islamic entrepreneurship
Veland Ramadani
457
53
Learning business planning
Paula Kyrö and M. Niemi
471
54
Mature-age entrepreneurship
Paull C. Weber and Michael T. Schaper
473
55
Mental health in entrepreneurship
Isabella Hatak
477
56
Open innovation and entrepreneurship
Anja Leckel
483
57
Opportunities approach to international entrepreneurship
Joe Schembri and Pavlos Dimitratos
492
58
Organizational processes as foundations of dynamic capabilities
Shaker A. Zahra
511
59
Pastoralism as a form of entrepreneurship among Negev Bedouin
A. Allan Degen
514
60
Poverty and entrepreneurship in developed economies
Michael H. Morris
523
61
Religion as an explanatory variable for entrepreneurship
Léo-Paul Dana
535
62
Research methodology in entrepreneurship
Edward Groenland
553
63
Rural entrepreneurship
Gerard McElwee and Andrew Atherton
563
64
Schumpeter, creative destruction and entrepreneurship
Dieter Bögenhold
571
65
Science parks
Paul Westhead
582
66
Small island entrepreneurship
Godfrey Baldacchino
590
67
Social entrepreneurship
Sarah C. Carraher, Shawn M. Carraher and Dianne H.B. Welsh
597
68
Sports and entrepreneurship
Ben Hattink and Jennifer Wichers
599
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Contents
ix
69
Sustainable entrepreneurship
Steffen Farny and Julia Binder
605
70
Teams
Leon Schjoedt, Sascha Kraus and Cyrine Ben-Hafaïedh
612
71
Transnational entrepreneurship
Israel Drori, Benson Honig and Mike Wright
619
72
Trust and entrepreneurship
Friederike Welter
623
73
Uncertainty in innovation
Raphael H Cohen
629
74
University spin-offs
Liudvika Leišytė
637
75
Venture capital
Jeffrey M. Pollack and Thomas H. Hawver
642
76
Walt Disney
Léo-Paul Dana
645
Index
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Contributors
Zoltan J. Acs, George Mason University, USA
Vita Akstinaite, Murdoch University, Australia
Howard E. Aldrich, University of North Carolina, USA
Kai Althoff, formerly at University of Siegen, Germany
Robert Brent Anderson, University of Regina, Canada
Andrew Atherton, University of Lincoln, UK
David B. Audretsch, Indiana University, USA
Margherita Bacigalupo, European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Spain
Godfrey Baldacchino, University of Malta, Malta
William J. Baumol, New York University and Princeton University, USA (deceased)
Nathalie Belhoste, Grenoble Ecole de Management, France
Olga Belousova, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Cyrine Ben-Hafaïedh, IESEG School of Management, France
Julia Binder, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
Rachel Bocquet, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, France
Dieter Bögenhold, Alpen-Adria University Klagenfurt, Austria
James Bort, Syracuse University, USA
Michelle Brandstrup, Design School Kolding, Denmark
Eric Braune, INSEEC-U SBE Lyon, France
Sarah C. Carraher, University of South Alabama, USA
Shawn M. Carraher, University of Texas at Dallas, USA
Jennifer R. Carter, Lancaster University, UK
Mark Casson, University of Reading, UK
Alexis Catanzaro, Université Jean Monnet, France
Regis Coeurderoy, ESCP, France
Raphael H Cohen, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Jeffrey G. Covin, Indiana University, USA
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David Crick, University of Ottawa, Canada
James M. Crick, Loughborough University, UK
Donato Cutolo, Università di Bologna, Italy
Léo-Paul Dana, Dalhousie University, Canada and Montpellier Business School, France
Naomi J. Dana, St. Andrew’s College, New Zealand
Teresa E. Dana, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
A. Allan Degen, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Pavlos Dimitratos, University of Glasgow, UK
Simon Down, University of Birmingham, UK
Israel Drori, VU, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Luc Duquenne, I2ER, France
Steffen Farny, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany
Véronique Favre-Bonté, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, France
Lynn Ferguson, Canada
Louis Jacques Filion, HEC Montréal, Canada
Aard Groen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Edward Groenland, Nyenrode Business University, The Netherlands
Călin Gurău, Montpellier Business School, France
Martin Hannibal, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Isabella Hatak, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
Ben Hattink, Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen and University of
Groningen, The Netherlands
Thomas H. Hawver, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA
Robert D. Hisrich, Kent State University, USA
Benson Honig, McMaster University, Canada
Garima Jha, Kent State University, USA
Gabi A. Kaffka, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Kenneth R. Kao, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
Raymond W.Y. Kao, Ryerson University, Canada (deceased)
Rowland R. Kao, University of Edinburgh, UK
Teemu Kautonen, Aalto University, Finland and Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile
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Contributors xiii
Franz W. Kellermanns, UNCC, USA and WHU, Germany
Andreas Koch, Institute for Applied Economic Research, Germany
Susanne Kolb, formerly at University of Siegen, Germany
Galia Kondova, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Switzerland
Sascha Kraus, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy
Norris Krueger, Entrepreneurship Northwest, USA
Donald F. Kuratko, Indiana University, USA
Paula Kyrö, Helsinki School of Economics, Finland
Martin Lackéus, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Anja Leckel, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Liudvika Leišytė, TU Dortmund, Germany
Claire Leitch, Lancaster University, UK
Ivan H. Light, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Steven Lippmann, Miami University, USA
Mats Lundqvist, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Tage Koed Madsen, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Vladislav R. Maksimov, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA
Amandine Maus, Aix-Marseille Université, France
Patricia P. McDougall, Indiana University, USA
Gerard McElwee, independent consultant, UK
Karim Messeghem, Université de Montpellier, France
Michael H. Morris, University of Notre Dame, USA
Gordon Murray, University of Exeter, UK
Wilson Ng, Regent’s University, UK
M. Niemi, University of Tampere, Finland
Jean-Jacques Obrecht, Université de Strasbourg, France
Benjamin M. Oviatt, Georgia State University, USA
Jenni Palmroos, University of Vaasa, Finland
Roberto Parente, University of Salerno, Italy
Jeffrey M. Pollack, North Carolina State University, USA
Veland Ramadani, South East European University, North Macedonia
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Janice Redmond, Edith Cowan University, Australia
Frederik J. Riar, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
Martin Ruef, Duke University, USA
Eugene Sadler-Smith, University of Surrey, UK
Jean-Michel Sahut, IDRAC Business School, France
Sylvie Sammut, Université de Montpellier, France
Michael T. Schaper, Curtin University, Australia
Joe Schembri, University of Malta and TradeMalta, Malta
Leon Schjoedt, Babson College, USA
Pi-Shen Seet, Edith Cowan University, Australia
Jalleh Sharafizad, Edith Cowan University, Australia
Alan E. Singer, Appalachian State University, USA
Oliver Som, MCI Innsbruck, Austria
Yang Song, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel and Economics School of Jilin
University, Changchun, China
Valerie Stead, Lancaster University, UK
Wee-Liang Tan, SMU, Singapore
Siri Terjesen, Florida Atlantic University, USA and Norwegian School of Economics,
Norway
Pekka Vainio, University of Vaasa, Finland
Jan Vang, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Kerstin Wagner, FHGR, Switzerland
Paull C. Weber, Curtin University, Australia
Dianne H.B. Welsh, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, USA
Friederike Welter, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn and University of
Siegen, Germany
Karl Wennberg, Linköping University, Sweden
Paul Westhead, Durham University, UK and Nord University, Norway
Jennifer Wichers, Judo Your Business and Hanze University of Applied Sciences
Groningen, The Netherlands
Heidi Wiig, BI – Norwegian Business School, Norway
Johan Wiklund, Syracuse University, USA
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Contributors
xv
Karen Williams-Middleton, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Mike Wright, Imperial College Business School, UK (deceased)
Wei Yu, NUS, Singapore
Shaker A. Zahra, University of Minnesota, USA
Tenghao Zhang, Edith Cowan University, Australia
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Foreword
The arch-fathers of the social sciences saw entrepreneurship as an essential part of their
views of how economic life functions – and then, amazingly, the entrepreneurship view
disappeared for more than a century from scholarly texts. The world was simply too busy
inventing large business to pay attention to entrepreneurship. There were notable exceptions including Knight (1921) and Schumpeter (1934); yet, it took the information and
telecommunication technology (ICT) revolution and the fall of the Berlin Wall in the late
1980s to bring scholars and politicians alike to the realization that entrepreneurship not
just matters, but is crucial.
At the 1983 annual Babson meeting, Hoy and Carland differentiated between entrepreneurs and small-business owners; Carland et al. (1984) elaborated on this. Yet, throughout
the 1980s and 1990s, the word ‘entrepreneurship’ was frequently interchanged with ‘small
business’. The focus was on the role that small businesses played in a world dominated by
their large counterparts. The more research was devoted to this role the more it was shown
that small businesses did not just play a role complementing that of large businesses but
that their role was fundamental, such as for innovation and employment. Wennekers and
Thurik (1999) noted that the 1980s and 1990s saw a re-evaluation of the role of small
firms and a renewed attention to entrepreneurship. Given that Schumpeterian (1934)
innovators were relatively few, Dana wrote, ‘The flagships of entrepreneurship are small
and medium enterprises’ (1999: 25).
By the turn of the millennium, focus shifted from small businesses to start-ups and
new ventures. Their potential to produce and nurture creativity, experimentation and
learning was immense. However, what is a small new business without the persona causa
– the entrepreneur? Again, the focus shifted from the business to the person. Then it
appeared as though academia had invented the field of entrepreneurship. The field had
long been there, but under different denominators. There is no better way to show the
pervasiveness and the richness of the field of entrepreneurship as by this Encyclopedia.
It shows two things simultaneously. Its pervasiveness: there is no subfield in the social
sciences where the entrepreneurship view is absent. It is often central – without it there
are gaps in scientific modeling and thinking – and dynamic – it is often both a cause and
a consequence of other major phenomena. It is rich in that the entrepreneurship perspective contributes to theory development in subfields. At the beginning of the twenty-first
century, entrepreneurship scholars used social sciences to explain the entrepreneurship
view. More recently, social sciences use entrepreneurship to further develop their own
subfields.
I can think of no better illustration for both developments (the change from the
business perspective to the person perspective and the change from the entrepreneur as
the starting point to the subfields of the social sciences as the starting point) than this
Encyclopedia. If ever the phrase ‘essential reading’ is applicable, it is concerning Léo-Paul
Dana’s Encyclopedia. It is easy to predict that scores of young researchers will read this
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second edition practically cover to cover to find their way in the fascinating terrain of
entrepreneurship research.
Professor A. Roy Thurik
Erasmus School of Economics in Rotterdam, The Netherlands
and Montpellier Business School, France
REFERENCES
Carland, J.W., F. Hoy, W.R. Boulton and J.A.C. Carland (1984), ‘Differentiating entrepreneurs from small business owners: a conceptualization’, Academy of Management Review, 9 (2), 354–9.
Dana, L.-P. (1999), Entrepreneurship in Pacific Asia: Past, Present & Future, Singapore, London and Hong
Kong: World Scientific.
Knight, F.H. (1921), Risk, Uncertainty and Profit, Boston, MA and New York: Houghton Mifflin; Chicago, IL:
University of Chicago Press.
Schumpeter, J.A. (1934), The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest,
and the Business Cycle, trans. R. Opie, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wennekers, S. and R. Thurik (1999), ‘Linking entrepreneurship and economic growth’, Small Business
Economics, 13, 27–55.
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Foreword
Science is based on the assumption that knowledge is essentially cumulative, that is, new
research is built on earlier knowledge (Kuhn, 1970). In all research fields, it is essential to
obtain an up-to-date understanding of the accumulated knowledge, making it important
to stop now and then to synthesize the knowledge within the field. This is particularly
important in rapidly growing research fields, such as entrepreneurship.
Over the past five decades, entrepreneurship as a scientific field has grown significantly –
from a small emerging ‘venture’ in the 1970s to a global industry today, with thousands
of scholars around the world who consider themselves entrepreneurship researchers
and teachers (Landström, 2020). The field continues to grow. An extensive number of
individuals are attracted by entrepreneurship: for example, Master’s students taking their
degree in entrepreneurship, PhD students conducting their studies on different entrepreneurship issues and, not least, a large number of scholars from other fields who migrate
into this field. Some characteristics can be identified in the growth of entrepreneurship
as a scientific field that have important consequences for knowledge accumulation – in
terms of an extensive diversity and changeability of the field.
Entrepreneurship can be characterized as a diversified field of research and there are
several reasons for this:
●
●
The eclectic nature of the field makes it possible to include a large number of
societal phenomena and incorporate concepts and theories from many different
fields in the social sciences. Over the years, the number of prefixes and suffixes in
entrepreneurship has increased, for example, social entrepreneurship, sustainable
entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education. The fragmentation of the field
has created almost autonomous groups of scholars – or ‘tribes’ – who focus their
attention on different topics within entrepreneurship and research using different
methodological and paradigmatic approaches (Gartner et al., 2006; Landström and
Harirchi, 2018).
In addition, we have witnessed a significant globalization of entrepreneurship
research. Scholars from around the world make contributions to entrepreneurship research by establishing a strong presence in international journals and at
different meeting places. We can identify an increased international isomorphism
(Aldrich, 2000), where knowledge, research themes and methods become similar
across regions. However, having said that, we can assume that entrepreneurship is
characterized by a strong ‘contextual heterogeneity’ (Welter, 2011), where entrepreneurship research reflects the contextual differences in entrepreneurial activities in
different regions and countries, but also differences in research traditions in various
countries.
Entrepreneurship is also characterized as a changeable field of research (Landström
et al., 2012) in which old topics fade quickly and new ones constantly emerge. The past
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decade has shown significant changes in society, such as new forms of communication
(for example, Facebook), customization (for example, three-dimensional printing), online
platforms (for example, crowdfunding) and new currencies (for example, Bitcoin and
other cryptocurrencies), but also an increased interest in social and sustainable aspects of
entrepreneurship – changes that will significantly influence entrepreneurial activities in
society. Entrepreneurship scholars have not been slow in keeping up with these changes
in society, which have also attracted the interest of scholars in other fields, for example,
information systems, geography and finance. As a consequence, entrepreneurship as a
scientific field is now characterized by an interesting balance between ‘continuation’ of
already existing research themes and knowledge platforms and ‘novelty’ in identification
of new research opportunities based on the changes in society.
In this type of fast-growing, diversified and changeable field, there is always a risk that
knowledge accumulation will be lost – new studies tend to rely more on the latest article
than the accumulated knowledge within the field. However, I argue, in line with Wiklund
(1998), that as in successful ventures in general, where favourable business opportunities
tend to combine opportunity focus with resource orientation, it is not sufficient to identify
new research opportunities unless they are securely rooted in previous knowledge. In this
context, the second edition of the World Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurship is extremely
important for the building of knowledge within the field that creates the basis for future
research opportunities.
The Encyclopedia illuminates the diversity of the field – it includes the large variety of
topics and concepts that are central to the field as well as its international character, with
contributions by scholars from around the world covering topics that attract scholars in
different parts of the world. This second edition of the Encyclopedia mirrors the balance
between the ‘continuation’ of existing, well-developed issues in entrepreneurship research
and ‘novelty’ research issues in entrepreneurship. The changes in entrepreneurship that
we have witnessed over the past decade become obvious – the number of chapters has
increased from 55 in the first edition to 76 in the second – and in this respect the book
elaborates on a large number of new aspects of entrepreneurship.
I am honoured to provide this Foreword. In the second edition of the World
Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurship, Léo-Paul Dana has managed to gather a large number
of the leading entrepreneurship research scholars in the world and synthesized their
knowledge in an impressive work. As the book ensures a stronger knowledge accumulation within the field, it is not only important for all scholars already working within the
field, but especially for new entrants who are attracted by entrepreneurship. I sincerely
hope that the Encyclopedia receives the attention it deserves and impacts on our thinking
about entrepreneurship.
Professor Hans Landström
Sten K. Johnson Centre for Entrepreneurship
Lund University, Sweden
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Foreword xxi
REFERENCES
Aldrich, H.E. (2000), ‘Learning together: national differences in entrepreneurship research’, in D.L. Sexton and
H. Landström (eds), The Blackwell Handbook of Entrepreneurship, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, pp. 5–25.
Gartner, W.B., P. Davidsson and S.A. Zahra (2006), ‘Are you talking to me? The nature of community in entrepreneurship scholars’, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 30 (3), 321–31.
Kuhn, T. (1970), The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Landström, H. (2020), ‘The evolution of entrepreneurship as a scholarly field’, Foundations and Trends in
Entrepreneurship, 16 (2), 3–155.
Landström, H. and G. Harirchi (2018), ‘The social structure of entrepreneurship as a scientific field’, Research
Policy, 47 (3), 650–62.
Landström, H., G. Harirchi and F. Åström (2012), ‘Entrepreneurship: exploring the knowledge base’, Research
Policy, 41 (7), 1154–81.
Welter, F. (2011), ‘Contextualizing entrepreneurship. Conceptual challenges and way forward’, Entrepreneurship
Theory and Practice, 33 (1), 165–84.
Wiklund, J. (1998), ‘Small firm growth and performance: entrepreneurship and beyond’, PhD thesis, Jönköping
International Business School, Jönköping.
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Preface
People develop preferences for different pastimes. When I was in grade school, I began
reading encyclopedias for fun. I still do. Figure 0.1 shows an 1898 publication that I was
recently reading – cover to cover.
Figure 0.1
Pears’ Shilling Cyclopædia; photographed by the author
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Not surprisingly, I was elated when Edward Elgar Publishing’s commissioning
editor Francine O’Sullivan invited me to assemble the first World Encyclopedia of
Entrepreneurship. I was delighted with the popularity of that volume and again thrilled
when approached to compile a second edition with new topics that have recently gained
importance in our changing world. Thank you Francine!
Baumol (1968: 64) described the entrepreneur as ‘one of the most intriguing and one of
the most elusive characters in the cast that constitutes the subject of economic analysis’.
That was published the year that Babson College offered the first undergraduate entrepreneurship concentration. By 1970, just over a dozen schools in the United States offered
courses in entrepreneurship; in 1975, the number was 104 (Katz, 2003).
This volume is the second edition of a project launched in 2005, reflecting that entrepreneurship is no longer at the margins but, instead, is a legitimate field of research. What
has not changed is that the entrepreneur is still intriguing and elusive.
I would like to thank friends and colleagues for their input making this a richer volume
than the first edition; this includes contributors and the many who reviewed entries and
provided constructive suggestions.
As Vernon Howard told us, ‘Always walk through life as if you have something new to
learn and you will’. Now let your fingers walk through these pages and enjoy a wonderful
learning experience.
Léo-Paul Dana
Halifax, Canada
REFERENCES
Baumol, W.J. (1968), ‘Entrepreneurship in economic theory’, American Economic Review, 58 (2), 64–71.
Katz, J.A. (2003), ‘The chronology and intellectual trajectory of American entrepreneurship education’, Journal
of Business Venturing, 18 (2), 283–300.
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1.
Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs
Tenghao Zhang, Pi-Shen Seet, Janice Redmond,
Jalleh Sharafizad and Wee-Liang Tan
Until the mid-twentieth century, Southeast Asia and North America were the predominant destinations for Chinese emigrants. Amid the Voyage to Nanyang exodus,
the California Gold Rush and the Transcontinental Railroad construction, millions of
Chinese migrants, overwhelmingly from Guangdong and Fujian provinces in southern
China, ventured to Southeast Asia and North America for better opportunities (Godley,
2002).
When these early Chinese immigrants first arrived in the host countries, they were in
effect sojourners aiming to remit sums of money to their families in China (Dana, 2014:
259). They also intended to return to China in their old age to enjoy the fruits of their
‘arduous labours in exile’ (Willmott, 1966: 254). For example, Loewen (1971: 27) argues
that the early Chinese people in Mississippi were not true immigrants, but were sojourners
and planning to return to China when ‘their task was accomplished’. These Chinese
immigrants were faced with different levels of hostility from local residents, who saw them
as greedy individuals, exploiting their advantageous economic position (for example,
Chinese in Thailand; Coughlin, 1960). Members of the Chinese community often were
excluded from many formal occupations, which led them to focus on the trade and commerce sectors and act as intermediaries between customers and producers. For example,
Willmott’s (1966) study found that 84 per cent of Chinese immigrants in Cambodia were
engaged in the commercial sector, which is significantly higher than the Cambodian
average of 6.5 per cent. Appleton (1960) found that in the Philippines, ethnic Chinese
held 23 per cent of the total commercial investment and nearly 30 per cent of the total
investment in retail and import–export trade, despite only making up 1 to 2 per cent of
the national population. Loewen (1971) found that 97 per cent of the Chinese immigrants
in Mississippi, USA, were operating grocery stores.
These Chinese immigrants were distanced from the host country owing to their
sojourner orientation and they experienced discrimination from within the host society.
However, they managed to maintain and even raise their economic position in society
owing to their entrepreneurial ventures. Consequently, they developed a strong sense of
in-group solidarity or ethnic identity to distinguish themselves from the host country
nationals (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990). As a result, they were ‘essential outsiders’ within
the host societies (Chirot and Reid, 1997; Nyíri, 2011).
This distinct ‘essential outsiders’ status was invoked by Blalock (1967) and Bonacich
(1973) in the development of the concept of the ‘middleman minority’, in which they used
Chinese immigrants in Southeast Asia and North America as a common prototypical
example of a middleman minority group. A number of subsequent middleman minority
studies also cited the colonial and early post-colonial Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs as
examples (for example, Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Cobas, 1987; Nyíri, 2007).
1
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Although the definitions are not identical in these studies, a middleman minority
generally refers to a minority population which has taken on a specific economic sector,
in particular trade and commerce, and plays the role of middleman, linking producers
and customers (Bonacich, 1973). These minority groups often face discrimination and
even persecution from the locals (Grosfeld et al., 2020), which can lead to an ambivalent
attitude towards the host society and in-group solidarity (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990).
They usually do not hold an extreme subordinate status (O’Brien and Fugita, 1982) in
the host society, despite discrimination. They begin as sojourners and many of them
originally do not intend to, or have not decided to, settle down permanently in the host
country and therefore seek occupations with a higher preference for liquidity (Aldrich
and Waldinger, 1990; Cherry, 1990). The original term ‘middleman minority’ does not
encompass only entrepreneurs but can also refer to an entire entrepreneurial-orientated
ethnic group. However, more recent immigrant entrepreneurship studies have applied the
term exclusively to immigrant entrepreneurs (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Nyíri, 2011;
Waldinger, 1986).
The middleman minority theory is not without its critics. Some scholars have questioned
its limitations in the modern immigration context. Aldrich and Waldinger (1990), for
example, argue that the sojourner orientation did not contribute to the performance of the
ventures and they proposed the term ‘pseudo-middleman minorities’ to distinguish contemporary ethnic groups that specialize in trade and commerce (in the 1990s context) from
the classic middleman of earlier periods. Other scholars, nevertheless, continue to adopt the
original term as they see the generalizability of the theory as well as its extension into more
modern contexts (for example, Grosfeld et al., 2020; Masry-Herzalla and Razin, 2014).
Half a century has passed since the inception of the middleman minority theory, and
notable changes have taken place in the demographic structure of Chinese immigrants and
their destinations. For example, unlike the earlier periods of Cantonese- and Fujianesedominated emigration, more recent Chinese emigrants hail from various parts of China,
and there is considerable cultural heterogeneity between different sub-groups of Chinese
immigrants (Guo and DeVoretz, 2006). The newer Chinese immigrants are also organized
differently from their predecessors, whose organizations were mainly based on locality
and kinship (Liu, 2014). As regards immigrant entrepreneurship, the distinct middleman
role that Chinese immigrants used to play in Southeast Asia and North America during
earlier periods has been less frequently discussed in studies of contemporary Chinese
immigrant entrepreneurs (for example, Kim, 2001; Nyíri, 2011). Unlike the early Chinese
emigrants, the destinations for contemporary Chinese emigrants are also diversified
across all six continents (Li and Li, 2013).
This raises the question, with the passage of time: is the term ‘middleman minorities’
still applicable or valid to describe modern-day Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs? This
chapter is therefore concerned with the following two research questions:
1.
2.
Do contemporary Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs still play the middleman role in
host countries?
Are there any new features of contemporary Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs?
It would not be possible to explore all the host countries or regions in one study. This
chapter therefore chooses to focus on the Asia-Pacific region as it has long been a popular
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destination for Chinese migrants owing to its geographical proximity and historical
and cultural linkages with China. It is also a beneficial geographical area for conducting research on migrants owing to its cultural, ethnic, economic and political diversity
(Castles and Miller, 2009). Therefore, such research with a focus on the Asia-Pacific
region has the potential to be extrapolated to other host regions of the world.
The delimitation of the research subject ‘contemporary Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs’ in this chapter is twofold. First, we primarily focus on the post-reform period
(1978 to the present) first-generation immigrants from mainland China. Although there
are other sizable Chinese diasporas in the Asia-Pacific, including those from Chinese
populations in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia, these groups exhibit very
diverse cultural and social-economic profiles when compared with those from mainland
China (Collins, 2002). Therefore, we treat these groups separately, with a focus on recent
emigrants from mainland China. The reason for selecting 1978 as the starting point of
the contemporary era is that this was the year when China started its economic reform
and relaxed its strict controls on her people’s geographical mobility. In the three decades
from 1949 to 1978, there were almost no emigrants from mainland China. Therefore, the
contemporary Chinese immigrants and their predecessors represent two distinct groups.
Second, this study adopts Brockhaus’s (1980: 510) well-established definition of an entrepreneur, who is ‘a major owner and manager of a business venture who is not employed
elsewhere’. Hence, business owners, whether they are self-employed or employers, or joint
venture partners, are all included.
The primary methodology employed in this study is archival research, and we also
present several examples and case studies that were observed from our own field research.
The remainder of this chapter proceeds as follows. We begin with a section to summarize
the demographic profile of contemporary Chinese immigrants in the Asia-Pacific region.
Then, we classify these immigrants employing a typology of immigrant entrepreneurs
we have developed. The subsequent two sections focus on entrepreneurs who fall into
the middleman minorities category and those who do not and who fall into other new
categories. Conclusions are drawn in the final section.
DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF CONTEMPORARY CHINESE
IMMIGRANTS IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC
Since its economy began opening up in 1978, China gradually relaxed its control over its
citizens’ internal and international movements, and a vast number of mainland Chinese
migrants started to relocate to different parts of the world (Wong, 1998). The United
Nations (2019) reported that, by 2019, 10.7 million international migrants were born
in mainland China, making it the third largest migrant-sending country in the world.
Moreover, in the first two decades of the twenty-first century, China contributed over 7.4
million immigrants to the world, significantly ahead of any other country. The pace of
movement accelerated with almost 70 per cent of the total mainland Chinese emigrants
relocating from China during the past two decades.
Table 1.1 provides a summary of Chinese immigrants’ demographic profile in major
destination countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Despite varying statistical methods and data available in different countries, we can
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More than 764 000 Chinese nationals and an
estimated 1 million ethnic Chinese (2018). Most
arrived since the 1980s
Over 1 million Chinese nationals, about two-thirds
were Korean-Chinese (2017). Most arrived since
the two countries established formal diplomatic
relations in 1992
Between 700 000 and 800 000 of newly arrived
immigrants came from mainland China (2016).
Most arrived since the two countries established
formal diplomatic relations in 1990
More than 526 000 were born in mainland China
(2018). Most arrived since the 1980s. Over 1.2
million residents of Chinese ancestry
About 133 000 were born in mainland China
(2018). Most have arrived since the 1980s. Over
231 000 residents of Chinese ancestry
Some 250 000 Chinese nationals (2018). Most
arrived since the 2000s
Japan
Note:
Chinese nationals refer to citizens of mainland China.
Cambodia
New Zealand
Australia
Singapore
South Korea
Description
Cited in Ang (2018)
Second largest group of foreign-born
immigrants
Cambodia Interior Ministry,
reported in DW News (2019)
Statistics New Zealand (2019)
Australian Bureau of
Statistics (2018)
Song (2017)
Largest group of foreign residents
(50.6%)
Largest ethnic group of nonEuropean descents and third largest
group of foreign-born immigrants
Largest Asian ethnic group and
second largest group of foreign-born
immigrants
Largest group of foreign residents
(over 60%)
Japanese Bureau of Statistics
(2019)
Data source
Largest group of foreign residents
(28.5%)
Demographic significance
Overview of Chinese immigrants in major destination countries of the Asia-Pacific region
Country
Table 1.1
Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs
5
roughly estimate that, there are at least 4 million mainland China-born immigrants, of
whom most arrived in their host countries after the 1978 Chinese economic reform, currently living in the Asia-Pacific region, accounting for over two-fifths of all China-born
immigrants globally. This estimation does not include the millions of Southeast Asians of
Chinese descent, nor the sizable number of Chinese migrants from Taiwan, Hong Kong
and Macau. Nor does it consider the descendants of first-generation mainland China
immigrants. Although the data shows that there is a heterogeneous group of Chinese who
are migrants in the Asia-Pacific region but who were not born in mainland China, our
chapter focuses on the most recent wave of Chinese migration since 1978.
A TYPOLOGY OF IMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEURS
Since middleman minorities mainly refer to minority groups of those who are concentrated in trade and commerce sectors, it does not encompass all types of immigrant entrepreneurs. For instance, an immigrant high-technology firm owner, would not normally
fall within the scope of middleman minorities. Therefore, in order to proceed with our
study, we developed a typology of immigrant entrepreneurs, based on theory, to explain
the development of the phenomenon in recent times.
In Figure 1.1, two dimensions of the coordinate plane are taken from the two distinct
characteristics developed from the middleman minority literature (Aldrich and Waldinger,
1990; Bonacich, 1973; Portes and Zhou, 1992; Waldinger, 1986), namely:
1.
Local–global dimension. Middleman minority immigrant entrepreneurs are normally
clustered in the ethnic economy and prefer to do business locally, especially with their
immigrant community. This means that they do not usually interact with the wider
community and are not much involved in globalization opportunities;
Innovator
Neomiddleman
minorities
Global
innovators
Middleman
minorities
Transnational
traders
Trader
Local
Figure 1.1
Global
A typology of immigrant entrepreneurs
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2.
Trader–innovator dimension. Middleman minority immigrant entrepreneurs are
also mainly found in the trade and commerce sectors as trader-merchants. Following
Kirzner (1973), they are in effect intermediaries and do not rely extensively on technology or business model innovation.
The x-axis in the typology model represents for the local–global dimension, while
the y-axis denotes the trader–innovator dimension. Figure 1.1 shows four typologies of
Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs:
●
●
●
●
Middleman minorities. The middleman minority perspective of Chinese immigrant
entrepreneurs is represented by the first quadrant of a coordinate plane which sets
a typical middleman minority entrepreneur operating in the trading and commerce
sector within a localized ethnic enclave. However, there are other, more nuanced
profiles of middleman minorities that are discussed subsequently in further detail.
Neo-middleman minorities. These immigrant entrepreneurs are still confined
within the ethnic economy but are more innovative in adopting new business models
and new technology. For instance, this may be a developer of a smartphone-based
food delivery application (app) created for Chinese restaurants in an overseas
Chinatown locality.
Transnational traders. These immigrant entrepreneurs regularly engage in cross-border trade activities and rely on them as their primary livelihood (Portes et al., 2002).
They are transnational entrepreneurs but still confined to traditional business models
with limited innovation. An example of this type of entrepreneur is a Chinese merchant who imports consumer goods from China and distributes them to local enterprises and stores. This category also includes immigrant entrepreneurs who conduct
their transnational business with their main market in mainland China but have
decided to migrate for non-entrepreneurial reasons (for example, better schooling
and opportunities for children). They may also have homes in various host countries.
Global innovators. These immigrant entrepreneurs differ from transnational
entrepreneurs in that they are extensively engaged in innovation-orientated global
businesses. For instance, this could be a Chinese immigrant who starts and grows
a high-technology innovative venture that operates in different parts of the world.
CONTEMPORARY MIDDLEMAN MINORITIES: ARE THEY
LIKE THEIR PREDECESSORS?
It is important in the study of immigrant entrepreneurs to also consider their cultural
background. Despite being significantly different from the Chinese migrant entrepreneurs
to Southeast Asia and North America in earlier periods, who were portrayed as typically
middleman minorities, contemporary Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs still share the
same ethnic identity and similar cultural practices with their predecessors. Although currently they may be diverging along different paths, it is unlikely that the entire group will
jump into a whole new world in just a few decades. Therefore, we reason that there is still
a large segment of contemporary Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs who can fall into the
middleman minority category. This is illustrated next.
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Being in the Middle: Middle-Class Traders
There is a remarkable convergence between Chinese Confucianism and ancient Greek
philosophy. When Confucius proposed the ethics of ‘Being in the middle’ (‘中庸之道’)
in the fifth century BC, Aristotle echoed this with the philosophy of the golden mean a
century later. In Chinese societies, being in the middle is a long-held tradition that translates to thinking and social interaction (Hwang, 2001; Shen, 2013). The Chinese believe
that ‘the shot hits the bird that pokes its head out’,1 which means that they do not like to
stand out against the majority, nor are they willing to sink to the bottom of the economic
ladder as pariahs. They would prefer to maintain their petit-bourgeois status (Waldinger,
1986) and place themselves in the middle of social stratification.
This type of middle mentality in Chinese culture resonates with the portrait of a typical
middleman minority. According to Bonacich (1973), the middle position of middleman
minorities takes two forms: first, they are mainly in middleman occupations, notably in
trade and commerce sectors and, secondly, they occupy an intermediate position in host
societies’ social strata.
Chinese immigrants have had a long history of entrepreneurship (Ahlstrom et al., 2004;
Mackie, 1992). As a minority ethnic group, Chinese immigrants are usually confronted with
cultural and language barriers when they are seeking job opportunities in host countries’
labour markets. However, the relative disadvantages experienced by Chinese immigrants
in the host society does not result in a high unemployment rate among them (Fullin and
Reyneri, 2011). Instead, in order to circumvent employment or underemployment and to
stick with their being-in-the-middle mentality, many of them turn to self-employment or
start their own business as an alternative to wage labour (Beaujot et al., 1994), and this
can result in a higher probability of entrepreneurial engagement. For example, Collins
(2002) reports that China-born Australian entrepreneurs, whether male or female, have a
significantly higher entrepreneurship rate than native-born Australians. In Mandalay, the
second largest city of Myanmar, the Associated Press in 2018 reported that 60 per cent of
Mandalay’s economy was created by Chinese entrepreneurs, with most of them arriving
from southern China in recent decades.
Middleman minorities not only have a high entrepreneurial engagement rate, but are
also clustered in industries with high liquidity, and are normally absent from more fixed
investments, such as industrial and agriculture sectors, or more upmarket industries, such
as high-technology and professional sectors (Bonacich, 1973; Weber, 1993; Willmott,
1966). Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs are usually pushed rather than pulled into
entrepreneurship as they are often excluded from their host countries’ labour market.
Consequently, it is often difficult for them to move up the industrial value chain and to
go beyond being in the middle. Therefore, they have largely remained in the trade and
commerce industries. For example, Selvarajah et al. (2012) surveyed 132 first-generation
Chinese entrepreneurs in Australia, among whom only 23 entrepreneurs were in professional sectors, while more than half (67) were in restaurant and retail sectors. Cain and
Spoonley (2013) note that there is considerable occupation mobility towards self-employment and small business sectors among China-born immigrants in New Zealand.
The large numbers of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in the trade and commerce
industries may be explained more by their culture. In the Chinese culture, guanxi
(interpersonal relationship) is the fundamental dynamic of social networks, and this is
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deeply rooted in Chinese social and cultural values (Farh et al., 1998; Park and Luo, 2001).
Those typical middleman industries, such as catering and retail sectors, rely heavily on the
entrepreneurs’ intra-group connections, which are Chinese immigrants’ strengths owing
to the salient role of guanxi in their entrepreneurial activities (Luo, 2007).
In contrast, industries such as manufacturing require entrepreneurs to have strong outgroup connections and local familiarity, which in turn are difficult to build quickly among
newcomers in host countries and even more so among those who do not share many
similarities of the host countries’ culture. For example, it is hard for an owner of a manufacturing plant with a minority background to only engage with his or her own ethnic
community, because of the need for a whole production line engagement and coordination between multiple parties. Hence, Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs are more prone
to be excluded from these industries. Cain and Spoonley (2013) conducted interviews
in New Zealand with immigrant entrepreneurs from five countries, and they found that
among the mainland China-born entrepreneurs they interviewed, all of them had at least
one mainland Chinese supplier and some of them dealt exclusively with Chinese-speaking
suppliers. Unsurprisingly, most of them were in service and retail sectors.
One change in recent years is that while Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs were middlemen minorities largely because of their place in the value chain, currently the middlemen
characteristic is more nuanced, with many of them also belonging to the middle class.
While pre-mid-twentieth-century Chinese emigration waves were dominated by poorly
educated and low-skilled labourers who had moved out from mainland China, contemporary Chinese immigrants come from relatively different class and economic backgrounds.
Over the past four decades, and particularly since the 1990s, overseas students, professionals and business migration applicants make up the major part of Chinese immigration
flow to other countries. Research has found that the more highly educated segments of
the population in China are five times more likely to emigrate than the average Chinese
person, while in Europe the corresponding comparison rate is only 1.3 (Xiang, 2016).
Overseas Chinese students comprise a significant percentage of Chinese immigrants
(Tharenou and Seet, 2014). China is currently the world’s largest source country of international students, with more than 5.85 million students from mainland China having
studied overseas from 1978 to 2018 (Ministry of Education of China, 2019) and from
2013 onwards, about two-thirds of Chinese overseas students obtain employment and
immigrant visas in host counties upon completion of their studies (Zhou and Liu, 2016).
Most of these Chinese students come from middle- and upper-class families. Business
migrations are another important source of Chinese immigrants. For instance, during
the first two decades of the twenty-first century, four-fifths of business immigration to
Australia originated from China (Colic-Peisker and Deng, 2019). After overseas Chinese
students have completed their studies, or as a condition of their business migration visas,
many will consider setting up entrepreneurial ventures in their host countries.
Essential Outsiders: Embedded in the Enclave
Middleman minorities are notable for keeping themselves apart from host societies. As
Bonacich (1973) noticed, group solidarity is often the result of hostility and discrimination from the host society (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990). Therefore, although middleman
minorities may do well in gaining economic status, their integration into the host country
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often lags behind. Chirot and Reid (1997) describe the Chinese in Southeast Asia and
the Jews in Central Europe as ‘essential outsiders’ to reflect the juxtaposition of their
economic position and the host country’s exclusion against them.
Bonacich (1973) argues that discrimination against middleman minorities is caused
by their middleman positions where they generate disproportionate profits as a result
of information asymmetry between producers and customers. This is exacerbated by the
middleman minorities’ antagonism against the majority group (Bonacich, 1972), and
their low social assimilation. With the advance of globalization and the information revolution, it is no longer as easy to take advantage of information asymmetry as a minority
intermediary, especially in advanced economies. However, discrimination and hostility
against immigrants from mainland China is still apparent in many Asia-Pacific countries
(for example, Fitzgerald, 2007; Seol and Skrentny, 2009). Even in Singapore and Hong
Kong, where the ethnic Chinese predominate the population, discrimination against
newly arrived Chinese immigrants is also common (for example, Ang, 2018; Ng et al.,
2015). Meanwhile, with the fast-growing number of new Chinese immigrants in many
Southeast Asia countries, there is also rising controversy and anti-Chinese sentiment in
this region (for example, Pheakdey, 2012).
As a consequence of discrimination, middleman minorities develop strong community
or ethnic solidarity over time in order to resist assimilation, and this is typically evident in
a number of characteristics, such as residential self-segregation, preference of endogamy,
persistence with their heritage, language and culture (Bonacich, 1973).
For middlemen immigrant entrepreneurs, a distinctive characteristic is that they are
inextricably intertwined with their ethnic enclave economy. We argue that the connotation
of enclave economy is twofold. First, it refers to middleman entrepreneurs being geographically concentrated in ethnic enclaves. Second, it suggests that they are heavily reliant
on ethnic networks in doing business and they target co-ethnic customers as their niche
market. In the typology model (Figure 1.1), we use the term ‘local’ to indicate middleman
immigrant entrepreneurs’ scope of business, in that they predominantly focus on their
ethnic economy, take advantage of their ethnic networks in doing business and do not
usually interact nor get involved with the wider community and transnational businesses.
That is, they are embedded in the host society’s enclave economy (Kloosterman and Rath,
2001; Kloosterman et al., 1999).
Among Chinese immigrants who are middleman entrepreneurs, their geographical
preference is to be in a Chinatown of their host countries. This is a typical type of ethnic
enclave (Zhou, 2010), where a compact homogenous Chinese settlement with a core of
Chinese businesses (Chen, 2018) can be seen in many countries and cities where Chinese
immigrants are clustered. As in the past, there still appears to be considerable numbers
of newly arrived Chinese immigrants, especially merchants, hawkers and investors, found
mainly in Chinatowns, who use it as an initial launch pad to safely set up and expand
their ethnic-based business. For example, Hurstville is a suburb situated within Sydney’s
metropolitan area with a significant number of Chinese immigrants and is considered to
be Sydney’s contemporary Chinese ethnoburb (Wang et al., 2018). In 2016, 49.4 per cent
of the residents in Hurstville were of Chinese descent while over 40 per cent were born
in China, and this has increased by about 10 per cent over the past decade (Australian
Bureau of Statistics, 2016). Hundreds of Chinese-related businesses, including Chinese
restaurants, Chinese grocery stores, immigration and education consulting firms, and
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Chinese language schools are clustered around the centre blocks of Hurstville, among
which many are run by newly arrived mainland Chinese immigrants. This example is
contrary to some studies which claim new immigrants no longer linger in ethnic enclaves
(for example, Chen, 2018).
Ethnic networks, which generate a powerful bounded solidarity (Portes and Landolt,
2000) are central to Chinese middleman entrepreneurs. Guanxi is crucial in determining
Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs’ industrial choices but, more importantly, within the
ethnic community, guanxi is of paramount importance to the way Chinese entrepreneurs
do business. For example, many Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs secure personal loans
from private lenders via their ethnic networks in order to start a business, a mechanism
similar to the concept of the credit slip as delineated in Coleman’s (1988) social capital
theory. Private lending is prevalent among overseas Chinese entrepreneurs as it is often
hard to obtain loans from banks in host countries. Another example is that among the
over 1 million Chinese immigrants in Japan, people from the Chinese Fujian province
comprised a significant portion and many Chinese restaurants and grocery stores
in Japan are operated by Fujianese immigrants. However, most of them do not have
Japanese citizenship and many are undocumented immigrants (for example, Liu-Farrer,
2010). Hence, it is extremely difficult for them to borrow money from Japanese banks or
use other regular channels. However, Fujianese immigrants are arguably one of the most
kinship-orientated groups among the Chinese sub-groups (Brandtstädter and Santos,
2008). There are various Fujian hometown- and clan-based associations across Japan,
many of which can act as an intermediary for Fujianese immigrants to access private
lending and, in some cases, Fujian triad gangs charge exorbitant rates for these private
loans (United Nations, 2002). As regards clans, see the entry by David Leong, in Dana
(2011).
Middleman entrepreneurs also prefer to hire employees of the same ethnicity or origin
to lower costs, as the host society’s labour market may be segmented by ethnicity and
immigrant employers (Bonacich, 1972, 1973). Consistently, many Chinese immigrant
entrepreneurs also have a very pronounced preference for hiring co-ethnic employees.
For example, in Japan, over half of the Kenshuusei (研修生 in Japanese), that is, foreign
labours who entered Japan via a skills trainee programme, are Chinese nationals. In
spite of its ‘skills’ title, this was a loophole for Japanese employers to recruit low-skilled
and low-paid foreign labour (for example, Bélanger et al., 2011). Thousands of Chinese
Kenshuusei ended up in Chinese restaurants or firms and factories owned by Chinese
entrepreneurs. These Chinese employers preferred to hire Chinese employees partially
because they wanted to reduce business costs, but also because these employers themselves
were not fully integrated into Japanese society, therefore, hiring a co-ethnic employee
would decrease coordination costs in doing business (Den Butter et al., 2007).
Similarly, in Australia, in most Chinese restaurants or grocery stores in Sydney,
Melbourne or Brisbane, employees are usually Chinese nationals on working-holiday
visas, Chinese students, or the business owner’s relatives; you are less likely to see a
non-Chinese native Australian working in these businesses. In New Zealand, Cain and
Spoonley’s (2013) study reports that, Chinese business owners prefer to hire co-ethnic
bilingual speakers as an important strategy to overcome their own difficulties in English
language proficiency.
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‘Falling Leaves Return to Their Roots’: A Sentiment-Based Sojourner Orientation
The sojourner orientation is central to Bonacich’s (1973) middleman minorities theory.
Some scholars even refer to her theory as the sojourner theory. The sojourner orientation has been subjected to criticism as some scholars suggest that in the contemporary
context, immigrant entrepreneurs are less likely to be sojourners and sojourner orientation did not contribute to business performance (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Waldinger,
1986). Bonacich (1973) has argued that the sojourner orientation does not necessarily
mean an imminent return by the immigrant to his or her home country. Although many
immigrants wish to return to their home country, they believe they may not do as well
in their homeland owing to various factors, such as reverse culture shock, lack of social
networks or other political and economic reasons (Ho et al., 2018). Accordingly, they
may relinquish the dream of becoming a ‘glory returnee’,2 and instead settle down while
deeply burying inside the desire to return home. Bonacich (1973: 593) illustrated this by
using the example of Jews and argued that the Chinese immigrants desire to return may
appear to be symbolic as can be seen in the way Jews pray for ‘Next Year in Jerusalem’ to
keep their attachment to their ancestral land.
Traditional Chinese culture advocates ‘Falling leaves return to their roots’(落葉
歸根) (Mah, 1999), which signifies no matter how successful a person is in a foreign land
or anywhere other than their hometown, he or she is a sojourner anyhow, and ought
to return to their homeland when they are old. Furthermore, ‘To die in a foreign land’
(客死他鄉) is a major taboo in traditional Chinese custom. For example, Tan Kah Kee,
a prominent China-born entrepreneur, migrated to Singapore at the age of 16 during the
Voyage to Nanyang exodus and established extensive businesses in Southeast Asia, but
returned to the then deprived and turbulent China in his old age during the 1950s, partly
because of his homesickness and the belief in return to roots.
However, in more recent times, return to roots does not mean that Chinese immigrants must permanently return to China. Instead, it is now perceived as more of an
attachment to their origin that will shape and strengthen a person’s sojourner mindset
and make it more difficult for the individual to integrate into the host country. While the
notion of a sojourner mindset originated from earlier Chinese immigrants, it has been
passed on to the recent Chinese immigrants and is reflected in many aspects of their life
and language. For example, despite having lived in Southeast Asia for centuries, many
ethnic Chinese still call the region Nanyang, which literately means south of the ocean.
Similarly, some Chinese immigrants in Japan still refer to the country as Dongyang, a
century-old alias of Japan among Chinese communities which translates to east of the
ocean.
In Chinese, huaqiao refers to expatriates who are Chinese nationals, in contrast to huayi,
which refers to people of Chinese descent but who are not Chinese citizens. However,
many Chinese immigrants still call themselves huaqiao instead of huayi, despite having
lived in the host country for decades and renounced their Chinese citizenship (Seet, 2007).
In various Chinese business associations across different host countries, the leader of an
association is usually colloquially referred to as qiaoling, which translates to the leader
of huaqiao, or expatriates’ leader, irrespective of their nationality. This Sino-centric
viewpoint and the attachment to the homeland is deep rooted, constantly sculpting the
Chinese immigrants’ sojourner mindset and strengthening their ethnic identity, which
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makes them more likely sojourners than many other immigrant groups. For example, a
Chinese gift shop owner in Australia when interviewed said:
In some major cities in Australia where Chinese immigrants are clustered, there are many gift
and souvenir shops named ‘XX huiguo gift (or souvenir) shop’ run by recent Chinese immigrants,
and they usually have the shop’s Chinese name printed on an eye-catching plaque hung in front
of the store. Huiguo (回國) in Chinese means ‘go back to home country’. For many people, it is
difficult to apprehend [sic] that except Chinese international students and tourists, most Chinese
residents here should already call Australia home, and they are the most regular customers of
these shops. Meanwhile, some non-Chinese customers will also occasionally go to these shops.
So, this raises the question in their minds, why would the owners give such a controversial and
bizarre shop name? We have brought this question to a Chinese shop owner in Perth, Western
Australia, and she answered us that most first-generation Chinese immigrants that she has met,
whether Australian citizens or not, all used to calling ‘go to China’ as huiguo, and so does she.
Furthermore, many Australian-born second-generation immigrants also use this phrase because
they learnt it from their parents. Hence, she named her shop after this common verbal phrase so
that many customers will have intimate feelings/associations with the name and derive business
for her.
IDENTIFYING NEW TYPOLOGIES: WHO ARE THEY?
The previous section discussed the traditional type of middleman entrepreneurs among
contemporary Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in the Asia-Pacific region. As illustrated in Figure 1.1, we argue that there are three major new types of Chinese immigrant
entrepreneurs that have emerged in the contemporary era, with distinct features of business model, technology adoption, target market and business scope, when compared
with traditional middleman immigrant entrepreneurs. In this section, we illustrate this
phenomenon with examples and case studies.
Neo-Middleman Minorities
Following from Aldrich and Waldinger (1990) who employed the term ‘pseudomiddleman minorities’ to distinguish the new middleman traders from the earlier
middleman traders, we propose the term ‘neo-middleman minorities’ to describe those
immigrant entrepreneurs who are still confined within their ethnic economy, but are
more innovative in adopting new business models and new technology. The following
are two examples.
Daigou shoppers
Daigou, literally meaning buying on behalf of in Chinese, is a new type of e-commerce
channel that has emerged in the past decade both in mainland China and many overseas
Chinese communities (Xie, 2018). Daigou is a novel direct-to-consumer or daigou-toconsumer (D2C) business model and its core mechanism is to take advantage of resource
asymmetry. Some products may be expensive and hard to find in China while being
cheaper and easily accessed in another country, for example, cosmetic products in South
Korea and nutraceuticals in Australia. Other products, though, may be scarce or expensive
in other counties while cheaper and easier to find in China, for example, numerous madein-China consumer products.
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Daigou shoppers are professional shoppers, who can be individuals or even entrepreneurs that set up a daigou service company. They buy products on behalf of consumers
both in the home and host countries. Most daigou shoppers conduct their business via
Chinese online business platforms, such as alibaba.com or WeChat. Some even run their
own websites, such as daigousales.com. In New Zealand, for example, there were reportedly an estimated 350 Chinese daigou entity stores in 2017 (McDougall, 2017). If a customer in China wants to buy New Zealand infant formula, which is scarce but popular
in China, he or she can directly place an order with a daigou agency in Auckland, which
is normally established by an immigrant Chinese entrepreneur. The agency’s manager
dispatches employees to purchase the infant formula from pharmacies in the city and
deliver the product back to China via a Chinese-operated express delivery company, which
usually is at a much lower cost than a New Zealander-run courier company. Meanwhile, if
a Chinese immigrant in Auckland wants to buy some made-in-China consumer products,
some daigou agencies can also provide daigou services by contacting their suppliers in
China provided the business is lucrative.
Although daigou shoppers are engaged in cross-border business, their business is almost
exclusively focused on Chinese customers and they deal largely with other Chinese-run
firms in the supply chain. Therefore, the daigou business is still embedded in the enclave
economy. Given the large numbers of mainland Chinese migrants in many Asia-Pacific
economies, some of these entrepreneurial ventures have experienced significant growth.
For example, in 2017, daigou retailer AuMake International was able to list on the
Australian Stock Exchange (Reuters, 2017).
Meanwhile, the emerging daigou industry is sometimes considered by the host
country as well as the Chinese authority as a grey market (Zheng, 2017), with some even
involved in illegal activities, such as circumventing tariffs (Xie, 2018). Daigou shoppers
are perceived as opportunistic traders by some locals (Marano, 2018), hence, similar to
traditional middleman entrepreneurs, they are also likely to be discriminated against or
resented by the host society.
EASI delivery
Founded by Chinese-Australian entrepreneur and innovator Shen Jie in 2014 in Melbourne,
EASI has quickly become a popular Asian food delivery app in Australia. As of 2018,
it boasted 200 000 downloads and delivers food from over 20 000 partnered restaurants
across all the Australian major cities. EASI is a smartphone-based app that operates similarly to Uber Eats (they were founded in the same year). The app is highly user-friendly
and both the English and Chinese language systems of the app are professionally elaborated (as is a recently added Japanese version).
While being a novel and highly innovative entrepreneurial venture, ESAI, similar
to daigou shoppers, is still confined within the ethnic economy. Its partnered restaurants are mainly Asian restaurants and particularly Chinese restaurants, and its target
market also predominantly caters to ethnically Chinese customers. Owing to most of
the EASI couriers delivering food by bicycle, their delivery services are mainly limited
to Chinatowns and their peripheral suburbs. EASI’s pronounced ethnic market preference can be seen in their distinctive delivery bicycles or couriers’ yellow vest uniforms;
all of them have noticeable Chinese characters. An EASI delivery bicycle in Sydney’s
Chinatown has Chinese characters on it which translate to ‘Sydney food delivery’. This
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form of ethnic economy orientation is extremely rare among other ethnic businesses in
most host countries.
Transnational Traders
Transnational traders are entrepreneurs who still are confined in traditional business
models, but unlike the traditional middleman entrepreneurs, their businesses extend over
the enclave economy and reach out to the wider cross-border community. We demonstrate
this with two cases.
Chinese investors in Cambodia
Since the 2000s, there has been an influx of a large number of Chinese businesspersons and foreign direct investment (FDI) into Cambodia (Nyíri, 2012; O’Neill, 2014),
especially in the past few years when the two counties decided to strengthen cooperation under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In 2018, there were reportedly some
250 000 Chinese nationals living in Cambodia (DW News, 2019), and many them were
operating businesses. Sihanoukville, a Cambodian port city, attracted large numbers of
Chinese immigrants as it was declared a tax-free economic zone under an agreement
between China and Cambodia. Online gambling was legalized in the city and thousands
of Chinese immigrants invested in the lucrative peripheral industries such as hotels, restaurants, tourism and tourism-related manufacturing (Guardian, 2018).
Cambodia is designated a least developed country (LDC) by the United Nations as its
domestic consumption remains at a low level and it lacks a complete supply chain to sustain
many industries. Therefore, as transnational traders, these Chinese investors are heavily
dependent on China as their major source of labour, consumer products and capital. They
fly frequently between the two countries and, to them, Cambodia is more of a marketplace
than a host country, although many of them have been living there for almost two decades.
Another reason they are transnational traders rather than traditional or neo-middleman
entrepreneurs is owing to their range of customers. Although many of their customers are
Chinese visitors or tourists from China, they also have a considerable number of customers from other Asian and Western countries, as well as local Cambodians. Therefore, these
businesses cannot be defined as an enclave economy (Citrinot, 2019).
A Chinese business migrant family in Australia
In the past few decades, many advanced economies, such as Australia, New Zealand and
Singapore, have introduced various business and investment migration programmes to
attract wealthy and entrepreneurial migrants. These business migration programmes,
generally require applicants to have had a successful entrepreneurial record in their home
country. The applicants also have to establish one or more businesses in the host country
in order to meet the visa requirements (Hoang, 2015). Consequently, many of these business migrants are engaged in cross-border businesses as they have business connections
in both home and host countries.
A number of studies apply the concept of dual embeddedness to delineate these transnational Chinese entrepreneurs, and argue that they are dually embedded in their host and
home countries, hence, they maintain strong business and social links with both countries
(Colic-Peisker and Deng, 2019; Dimitratos et al., 2016; Ren and Liu, 2015).
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We interviewed a Chinese business migrant in Western Australia in 2019. The participant
and his wife own a 20-employee import–export company in an eastern China city in the
Yangtze Delta region. A few years ago, the couple applied for an Australian business innovation and investment visa (188A), which targets small to medium-sized enterprise (SME)
owners. In order to meet the visa requirements and thereby obtain permanent resident
(PR) status, they set up a small business, hired two employees and bought an apartment in
Australia. However, since the couple were unfamiliar with the local environment and they
had not established wide networks in such a short period of time, their Australian business
underperformed, and struggled to reach the threshold required for their PR application.
Therefore, they did not suspend their business in China because they were relying heavily
on its profits. As a compromise, while sending their daughter to a local Australian school,
the participant and his wife take turns to reside in Australia and China for six months at a
time so that they can manage both businesses.
Global Innovators
Immigrant entrepreneurs who are global innovators are usually innovation orientated and
draw on new technology and new business models to drive business growth as they take
advantage of globalization to participate in cross-border business activities. Traditionally,
Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in the Asia-Pacific region have not been widely considered
innovation driven, as high-technology Chinese immigrants overwhelmingly opt to operate
from the United States in preference over other countries (for example, Hart and Acs, 2011;
Saxenian, 2002). However, the landscape has changed rapidly in the past two decades. This
is largely owing to China’s rapid economic development and its ambitious plans to transform itself from the world’s manufacturing hub to an intelligence-driven powerhouse, as
envisioned in its ambitious ‘Made in China 2025’ plan. As a consequence, in recent years,
there has emerged a burgeoning group of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs who are global
innovators in the region (Tharenou and Seet, 2014). We present the following two cases.
Group case: Internet-based Chinese innovation going abroad
In the early 2000s, the Internet model in China was mostly based on imitations from the
United States. However, during the last decade, Internet-based innovation in China has
not only caught up with many advanced economies but, in some cases, overtaken them.
In areas like mobile payment, artificial intelligence, social media innovation, China is
already recognized by some experts as a ‘global leader in technology’ (Waugh, 2018). This
dramatic technology revolution not only spread domestically, but also spawned a growing
number of Chinese entrepreneurs extending their business abroad, penetrating the global
market as global innovators.
For example, Panda Credit is a big-data-based financial services provider which predominantly focuses on the Southeast Asian and Indian market. Founded by a female
overseas returnee entrepreneur Ye Wenjun in 2017, it soon reached 5 million users in less
than three years. Similarly, TikTok, a video-sharing social-networking service launched
by a young Chinese technician and entrepreneur Zhang Yiming in 2016, has become one
of the most downloaded apps globally (Kumar and Prabha, 2019). In order to develop
more customer-orientated business strategies, various offices and branches have been
established by TikTok in Japan, Singapore, Australia and many other countries. Didi,
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an app-based ride-hailing company, founded in 2012, is currently administrated by chief
executive officer (CEO) Liu Qing, a female overseas returnee and a Harvard graduate.
Didi is considered a major global competitor of Uber, but it provides a wider range of
services and a more customer-orientated business model (Liu and Kim, 2018). This helped
Didi to successfully out-compete and eventually acquire Uber China in 2016. Since 2015,
Didi has initiated its globalization strategy and it is now operating in several Asia-Pacific
countries, such as Japan and Australia.
Shi Zhengrong
Shi Zhengrong, a Chinese-Australian entrepreneur and scientist, represents a typical
Chinese immigrant global innovator. Shi obtained his doctorate in renewable energy
engineering from the University of New South Wales in the early 1990s, and then worked
as a researcher and set up a few high-technology businesses in Australia. Shi returned to
China in the early 2000s after he acquired Australian citizenship, and later set up a solar
power company – Suntech Power. Headquartered in China, Suntech also had businesses
and representative offices in Australia and several other countries in the world. Suntech
was the first Chinese private high-technology company to be listed on the New York Stock
Exchange (Seet, 2010). Shi was also named China’s richest man in 2006 and the company
was ranked among the top three in the world’s photovoltaics industry in 2013.
Suntech filed for bankruptcy in 2013 owing to the company’s financial crisis. However,
Shi’s innovation and entrepreneurship journey did not stop there. In 2019, it is reported
that Shi returned to Australia, dubbed as the ‘Sun King’ and unveiled Australia’s largest
lightweight solar set-up (Coote, 2019).
One characteristic of the founders of these global businesses is that they are global
talents that live, study and work in many countries (Ho et al., 2016). They capitalize on
the developments of increasing global mobility, self-initiated expatriation and ‘boundaryless’ careers (Arthur and Rousseau, 1996; Cerdin and Selmer, 2014), especially in the
context of international talent flow (Carr et al., 2005). For example, Ye Wenjun, studied in
Dublin, Ireland and London, UK, before returning to China to work and establish Panda
Credit in Beijing. She has been based in Southeast Asia since 2017 to focus on growing
her market there. Similarly, Shi Zhengrong moved back to China after he had secured
Australian citizenship to start Suntech Power. However, with the change in economic
conditions, he has returned to Australia to pursue new opportunities.
CONCLUSION
The middleman minority theory forms an important body of scholarship in immigrant
entrepreneurship research. Originating in the context of colonial and early post-colonial
societies, a typical middleman was profiled as an immigrant of ethnic minority background who occupies an intermediary occupation, most likely a small business owner
in trade and commerce sectors. Despite being discriminated against by the locals, he or
she does not hold an extreme subordinate economic status and is often better off than
an average native. He or she retains strong ethnic and cultural identity and prefers to do
business with his or her own immigrant community. Most importantly, he or she holds an
ambivalent attitude towards the host country and acts as a sojourner struggling to decide
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whether to settle down permanently or to someday return to his or her home country
(Blalock, 1967; Bonacich, 1973).
Framed within the context of the contemporary era, we evaluated new (1978 to the
present) immigrant entrepreneurs from mainland China in the Asia-Pacific region against
the portrait of classic middleman minorities as their predecessors. Based on two dimensions of local–global and trader–innovator, we identified another three emerging types of
Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in addition to middleman minorities: neo-middleman
minorities, transnational traders and global innovators.
We conducted a review of the recent literature on contemporary Chinese immigrants
by using archival research which was supplemented with cases drawn from secondary data
and from our own field studies.
We find that in general, the majority of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs are still
middleman minorities since they are mainly in trading, catering and retail industries, they
are not fully integrated into the host country and they prefer to do business with their
own Chinese community and hire Chinese employees. However, unlike their predecessors,
newer Chinese immigrant middlemen entrepreneurs are more likely to be considered as
middle class in host countries owing to their financial resources and educational levels.
They are sojourner orientated, with many of them being more sentiment based towards
China rather than anticipating an imminent or actual return to China.
Meanwhile, we also find evidence for three new types of contemporary Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs. For each group, we illustrate with a group case and an individual
case. From the cases, we notice that, while still in relatively small proportions, many of
the Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs are gradually moving out of their enclave economies, moving up the value chain, and a few of them are becoming global innovators.
Furthermore, we can see that female Chinese high-technology entrepreneurs are showing
a noticeable presence in globalization and technology innovation, which are the major
drivers that are propelling the transformation of contemporary Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs. We thus expect increasingly more immigrant entrepreneurs to break through the
enclave economy and diverge into different entrepreneurial paths in the coming future.
This study also faces some limitations that are likely to guide further research. First,
there are some competing theories which may assist the understanding of our analysis.
For example, the extension of the dual-embeddedness theory, namely, the mixed embeddedness theory was not used or discussed in detail but may have scope for better understanding the growing phenomenon of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs who are global
innovators (Ho et al., 2018). Second, this chapter focuses exclusively on the Asia-Pacific
region, and we cannot generalize our findings to other contexts but this can be achieved
through further research in other major host regions for mainland Chinese immigrant
entrepreneurs (North America, Europe and certain parts of Africa).
NOTES
1. The sentence is a literal translation of the Chinese proverb ‘槍打出頭鳥’.
2. The term ‘glory returnee’ is derived from the Chinese idiom ‘榮歸故里’, which means when a person
succeeds in a host place or country, then he or she returns homeland with glory and respect from people of
the homeland.
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2.
Compensatory entrepreneurship
Benson Honig
Entrepreneurship has become a nearly universal synonym for proactive development and
initiative worldwide, it generates considerable interest, thousands of professors teaching
tens of thousands of classes worldwide, and generates a wealth of research (Aldrich, 2012)
of which this encyclopedia is emblematic. For example, all the chapters are fundamentally
encouraging and supportive of continuing and expanding entrepreneurship promotion
and all its associated activities. Social media and entertainment are saturated with success
stories of unicorns, that is, anomalies that fail to reflect the actual entrepreneurial environment (Aldrich and Ruef, 2018). However, from a purely social science perspective, no
intervention is without weaknesses, and there are unanticipated consequences of nearly
every attempt to advance one group over another (Doane, 2013; Koopmans, 2003; Levy,
2010). The discussion of entrepreneurial failure seems to have been swept under the proverbial rug, as we enthusiastically march on to promote solutions to problems often only
poorly understood, such as inequality, lack of mobility and weak economic development.
The field’s enthusiasm is effusive, as the noted scholar Don Kuratko (2005: 578) enthusiastically reports: ‘The revolution has begun in an economic sense, and the entrepreneurial
perspective is the dominant force!’
Perhaps the most ubiquitous factor promoting entrepreneurship is the education
sector, where interventions occur throughout the world, from kindergarten through postgraduate training and on to faculty and research scholars. Yet, despite the enthusiasm for
training and preparing individuals, entrepreneurship support is a poorly understood and
weakly researched domain. A recent systematic review reported that:
Despite considerable enthusiasm in the public policy sphere, our review clearly demonstrates
that research in the field provides only limited and highly idiosyncratic findings designed to help
general and technology-based entrepreneurs to effectively succeed. Studies rarely utilize control
populations and are based on weak theoretical backgrounds. They fail to incorporate state of
the art methods and are typically cross sectional or of a case study nature. (Ratinho et al., 2020)
The history of science has numerous dead ends, including fields as diverse as phrenology, eugenics, planetary epicycles and Lamarckism. What makes science evolve is both
replication (poorly practiced in entrepreneurship research) and objective measurements
and controls. Unfortunately, the field of entrepreneurship support is very weak regarding
these important scientific foundational premises.
Scholars of entrepreneurship, including the authors in this encyclopedia, have all to
gain by the near universal link between entrepreneurship as an effective solution to solve
public problems, including poverty, inequality, immigration integration and inefficient
government services. However, as a field of study, there are severe limitations to what
is in effect a phenomenological arena of study lacking a clear theoretical or definitional
framework; what Sorenson and Stuart (2008) assert is a ‘field of dreams’.
Unfortunately, only a very limited amount of research has examined entrepreneurship
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failure, particularly as it relates to social and governmental policy. Instead, we are inundated with Shark Tank and Dragon’s Den television entertainment, which is frequently
replicated in a local context as communities and universities attach themselves to the
importance of developing entrepreneurial incubators, local competitions and elevator
pitch contests with prizes and media attention. This enthusiasm has diffused widely into
the research literature as well (Clark, 2008; Davis et al., 2017; Maxwell and Lévesque,
2014; Pollack et al., 2012; Smith and Viceisza, 2018). However, despite a few exceptions
(Olaison and Sørensen, 2014; Shepherd, 2004), the subject of entrepreneurial failure has
been largely overlooked.
Thus, while entrepreneurship is celebrated and revered worldwide, only limited study
has occurred regarding what negative consequences can arise from promoting this sociopolitical agenda at the expense of others. Media celebrates the rare cases of unicorns,
which are businesses that reflect extremely rare examples that are highly successful but
very difficult to predict, observe or learn from (Aldrich and Ruef, 2018). The new gig
economy is celebrated as future opportunity (Smith and Viceisza, 2018), although for
most participants it leaves much to be desired (Petriglieri et al., 2019). It is as though we
promote lotteries to address economic and socio-political problems by celebrating the
very few winners, and encouraging others to purchase their own tickets.
COMPENSATORY ENTREPRENEURSHIP: A NEW
PERSPECTIVE
In two recent articles (Honig, 2017, 2018), I introduced a new term, ‘compensatory
entrepreneurship’. I define compensatory entrepreneurship as ‘the political endorsement
of entrepreneurial promotion activities, including training, incubation, and media dissemination, for the primary objective of maintaining political and/or economic control of
one population over another’ (Honig, 2017: 457). As we observe growing global inequality
(Piketty, 2017), compensatory entrepreneurship continues to gain a greater share of attention on the political stage. It is particularly vibrant where existing elites are unwilling to
consider reorganizing access to positions of power through meritocracies or education,
and favor instead the selling of dreams of success to the masses of disenfranchised. Given
current demographics and economic inequalities, these somewhat cynical offerings are
likely to prosper worldwide. Instead of offering valuable access to knowledge and highproductivity employment, leaders and governments will continue to find it expedient to
offer entrepreneurship training in reply to those seeking entry into positions of authority
and power.
Examples abound. I observed a systematically run program in a South African township, poor shantytowns left over from the apartheid era. It is in these shantytowns
(or adjacent to them) that scholars from the university engage in short 3- to 4-day training
programs, ostensibly to promote the development of cooperatives and entrepreneurial
activity in the shantytowns. Lacking basic infrastructure, such as water and electricity,
groups of university faculty train hundreds of desperate young and unemployed persons
on the nuances of opening a cooperative or an entrepreneurial venture. There is no real
opportunity available, the participants are not prepared and have little or no capital or
knowledge, and the most effective assistance I observed during these sessions was the
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provision of a free lunch each day, which was enthusiastically consumed. I was told that
the mayor organized and paid for this program in order to support both the political
promises made (jobs for everyone) and the political advantages of running a neoliberaloriented program – whether or not it provided any results.
Other examples include my observations at entrepreneurship education in a number
of African countries. Students are typically taught in very large classes, often over 100
students. They are taught about entrepreneurship, not how to do entrepreneurship, and
are given examinations based on detailed minutia that evaluates their ability to memorize
trivial information rather than engaging in entrepreneurial activities. When interviewed
after they graduate, unemployed students frequently indicate that they are waiting for
a government job, despite leveraging their time with various entrepreneurial business
activities. Their reason is that culturally, a government job is high status and guaranteed
employment, whereas entrepreneurial endeavors embody risk. As a consequence, few university graduates are willing to indicate that they hope to be entrepreneurs as this would
amount to a social failure on their part.
What is necessary to avoid the diffusion of compensatory entrepreneurship worldwide?
Most importantly, we need to focus on careful and effective entrepreneurship education
evaluation. We should be measuring the impact of our programs longitudinally, many
years after they take place, to discern what works and what does not. This would require
careful studies with control groups and effective monitoring of outcomes, such as startups, jobs created, firm growth and satisfaction of the entrepreneur. Unfortunately, many
studies lack rigorous measures (Martin et al., 2013). Programs or research activities that
incorporate the heterogeneity we now recognize as a normative component of entrepreneurship are rare (Honig and Martin, 2014; Zeng and Honig, 2016).
ENTREPRENEURSHIP, INEQUALITY AND THE SEARCH FOR
HOPE
The notion of compensatory entrepreneurship represents a serious legitimacy challenge
to the field of entrepreneurship. If professionals and advocates use public resources
to promote particular activities, we have a responsibility to ensure that money is well
invested. Supporting an ‘entrepreneurship solves all problems’ bubble risks marginalizing
the field when, eventually, policymakers and citizens realize we have not delivered on the
promised goods. Rising inequality is likely to make access to effective entrepreneurship
even more important, but success is determined as much by the institutional environment
as by any support or training provided. Entrepreneurship educators should make a more
systematic effort to examine issues related to failure, and introduce the subject of failure
widely through our curriculum. Holding the carrot of unicorn status is both unreasonable and unprofessional. Scholars should begin the process of identifying how and when
they are participating in valid programs with positive outcomes, versus programs that sell
hope to desperate people but yield little more than a free lunch or two. As bottom-of-thepyramid social entrepreneurship continues to gain a greater foothold, we require a more
accurate and honest assessment of our entrepreneurship promotion activities. The alternative is that we entrepreneurship scholars will be added to the dustbins of phrenologists,
eugenicists and Lamarckists of earlier eras.
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REFERENCES
Aldrich, H. and M. Ruef (2018), ‘Unicorns, gazelles, and other distractions on the way to understanding real
entrepreneurship in the United States’, Academy of Management Perspectives, 32 (4), 458–72.
Aldrich, H.E. (2012), ‘The emergence of entrepreneurship as an academic field: A personal essay on institutional
entrepreneurship’, Research Policy, 41 (7), 1240–48.
Clark, C. (2008), ‘The impact of entrepreneurs’ oral “pitch” presentation skills on business angels’ initial
screening investment decisions’, Venture Capital, 10 (3), 257–79.
Davis, B.C., K.M. Hmieleski, J.W. Webb and J.E. Coombs (2017), ‘Funders’ positive affective reactions to
entrepreneurs’ crowdfunding pitches: the influence of perceived product creativity and entrepreneurial
passion’, Journal of Business Venturing, 32 (1), 90–106.
Doane, D. (2013), ‘Good intentions–bad outcomes? The broken promise of CSR reporting’, in A. Henriques
and J. Richardson (eds), The Triple Bottom Line, London: Routledge, pp. 103–10.
Honig, B. (2017), ‘Compensatory entrepreneurship: avoiding the pitfalls of global isomorphic entrepreneurship
research and activities’, Iberoamerican Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 6 (3), 452–65.
Honig, B. (2018), ‘Entrepreneurship as a political tool: the implications of compensatory entrepreneurship’, in
C. Mathers and E. Ligouri (eds), Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy, 3rd edn, Cheltenham,
UK and Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, pp. 203–17.
Honig, B. and B. Martin (2014), ‘Entrepreneurship education’, in A. Fayolle (ed.), Handbook of Research on
Entrepreneurship, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, pp. 127–46.
Koopmans, R. (2003), ‘Good intentions sometimes make bad policy: a comparison of Dutch and German
integration policies’, in R. Cuperus, K.A. Duffek and J. Kandel (eds), The Challenge of Diversity: European
Social Democracy Facing Migration, Integration, and Multiculturalism, Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, pp. 163–8.
Kuratko, D.F. (2005), ‘The emergence of entrepreneurship education: development, trends, and challenges’,
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29 (5), 577–98.
Levy, S. (2010), Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes: Social Policy, Informality, and Economic Growth in Mexico,
Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Martin, B.C., J.J. McNally and M.J. Kay (2013), ‘Examining the formation of human capital in entrepreneurship:
a meta-analysis of entrepreneurship education outcomes’, Journal of Business Venturing, 28 (2), 211–24.
Maxwell, A.L. and M. Lévesque (2014), ‘Trustworthiness: a critical ingredient for entrepreneurs seeking
investors’, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 38 (5), 1057–80.
Olaison, L. and B.M. Sørensen (2014), ‘The abject of entrepreneurship: failure, fiasco, fraud’, International
Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 20 (2), 193–211.
Petriglieri, G., S.J. Ashford and A. Wrzesniewski (2019), ‘Agony and ecstasy in the gig economy: cultivating
holding environments for precarious and personalized work identities’, Administrative Science Quarterly,
64 (1), 124–70.
Piketty, T. (2017), Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Pollack, J.M., M.W. Rutherford and B.G. Nagy (2012), ‘Preparedness and cognitive legitimacy as antecedents
of new venture funding in televised business pitches’, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 36 (5), 915–39.
Ratinho, T., A. Amezcua, B. Honig and Z. Zeng (2020), ‘Supporting entrepreneurs: a systematic review of literature and an agenda for research’, Technological Forecasting and Technical Change, 154 (C), doi:10.1016/j.
techfore.2020.119956.
Shepherd, D.A. (2004), ‘Educating entrepreneurship students about emotion and learning from failure’,
Academy of Management Learning & Education, 3 (3), 274–87.
Smith, B. and A. Viceisza (2018), ‘Bite me! ABC’s Shark Tank as a path to entrepreneurship’, Small Business
Economics, 50 (3), 463–79.
Sorenson, O. and T.E. Stuart (2008), ‘12 Entrepreneurship: a field of dreams?’, Academy of Management Annals,
2 (1), 517–43.
Zeng, Z. and B. Honig (2016), ‘How should entrepreneurship be taught to students with diverse experience?
A set of conceptual models of entrepreneurship education’, in J. Katz and A. Corbett (eds), Advances in
Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth, Bingley: Emerald, pp. 237–82.
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3.
Coopetition as an entrepreneurial strategy: focus
on the wine sector
James M. Crick and David Crick
Coopetition is a fundamental entrepreneurial marketing strategy (Bouncken and Kraus,
2013; Bengtsson and Johansson, 2014; Granata et al., 2018; Crick, 2020a; Crick and
Crick, 2020). It is the interplay between cooperation and competition, whereby competing firms share resources (for example, equipment and hardware) and capabilities (such
as knowledge and experience) for mutually beneficial outcomes (Ritala and HurmelinnaLaukkanen, 2013; Bengtsson and Raza-Ullah, 2016; Hannah and Eisenhardt, 2018).
Since coopetition strategies are intended to provide companies with new resources, capabilities and opportunities that would not exist under individualistic business models, it is
not surprising that an existing body of research surrounds the link between coopetition
and company performance (Ang, 2008; Ritala, 2012; Gnyawali and Charleton, 2018;
Crick, 2019a). A common theme throughout the broader cross-disciplinary literature is
that higher-levels of coopetition lead to increased company performance (Bengtsson and
Kock, 2014; Shu et al., 2017; Hoffmann et al., 2018; Crick et al., 2020a).
Coopetition has been examined in various empirical contexts; for example, automotive
manufacturers (Akpinar and Vincze, 2016), high-technology firms (Gnyawali and Park,
2011), airline carriers (Czakon and Dana, 2013), tourism service providers (Czakon and
Czernek, 2016), agricultural markets (Felzensztein and Deans, 2013), craft breweries
(Mathias et al., 2018) and sporting organisations (Crick and Crick, 2016a). However,
entrepreneurs owning wine-producing businesses within various countries have been active
in implementing coopetition strategies. Specifically, various countries’ wine sectors host
high degrees of cooperativeness and competitiveness – ideal forces (industry dynamics)
for studying coopetition (see, for example, Telfer, 2001; Dana and Winstone, 2008; Dana
et al., 2013; Crick, 2018a; Felzensztein et al., 2019; Granata et al., 2019). Consequently, the
purpose of this chapter is to highlight the benefits and drawbacks of coopetition strategies by utilising published work from the global wine industry. This is important, so that
scholarly and practical recommendations can follow regarding the effective implementation of coopetition strategies by owner-managers in competitive business environments.
In addition, this investigation emphasises certain under-researched issues that academics
can pursue to strengthen the existing body of knowledge.1
Importantly, this entry draws upon the wine industry as an empirical context used
to explore coopetition, but conceptualisations to apply to other contextual settings.
According to Jones and Rowley (2011), context is important in entrepreneurial marketing
research, whereby, to advance theoretical knowledge, academics must study constructs
or topics in relevant environments (such as industries or countries) that build upon or
challenge earlier work. In this chapter, the global wine industry features as an empirical
context that can enhance scholars’ current understanding of the facets, antecedents and
consequences of the coopetition construct. To achieve the purpose of this chapter, the
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remaining sections are as follows. First, some key definitions and schools of thought
pertaining to coopetition are examined. Second, the nature of the link between coopetition and company performance is conceptualised. Third, the extant literature examining coopetition in a wine-industry context is explored. Fourth, some future research
directions are outlined. Fifth, the chapter is concluded, together with some practitioner
implications.
KEY DEFINITIONS AND SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
The coopetition construct originated from the business-to-business marketing literature
in the 1990s. During this time, there were two schools of thought pertaining to how
companies collaborate with their competitors. On the one hand, Brandenburger and
Nalebuff (1996) argued that coopetition is an organisation-wide mind-set pertaining to
managers and functional-level employees believing that company performance is maximised through working with industry rivals for mutually beneficial outcomes. On the other
hand, Bengtsson and Kock (1999) investigated coopetition as a set of firm-level behaviours surrounding managers and function-level members of staff collaborating with their
competitors via resource and capability-sharing activities. Over time, the behavioural view
of coopetition has been the more popular school of thought. That is, scholars who have
strengthened the coopetition literature have typically leaned towards conceptualising,
operationalising and empirically evaluating coopetition as a set of firm-level behaviours
(see Luo et al., 2007; Rusko, 2011; Dana et al., 2013; Czakon and Czernek, 2016; Hannah
and Eisenhardt, 2018; Crick et al., 2020a). Hereafter in this chapter, coopetition is examined as an entrepreneurial marketing strategy, in which the behavioural lens is considered.
The organisation-wide mind-set view of the coopetition construct is accounted for as a
potential future research direction.
Under a behavioural view, Bengtsson and Kock (2000: 411) defined coopetition as
‘a dynamic and paradoxical relationship, which arises when two companies cooperate
in some areas (such as strategic alliances), but simultaneously compete in other areas’.
While this definition was a good start at formally conceptualising how coopetition might
occur, it contained the major flaw of being restricted to simultaneous collaboration and
competition between two organisations. That is, there might be circumstances where more
than two rival firms share resources and capabilities, and not least in a business cluster (see
Luo et al., 2007; Dana and Winstone, 2008; Ritala and Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, 2013;
Bengtsson and Johansson, 2014; Crick, 2018a; Felzensztein et al., 2019). Therefore, in
their later work, Bengtsson and Kock (2014: 180) re-defined coopetition as ‘a paradoxical
relationship between two or more actors, regardless of whether they are in horizontal or
vertical relationships, simultaneously involved in cooperative and competitive interactions’. The latter definition not only provided scope for coopetition strategies to apply to
multiple rival organisations, but also, indicated that coopetition could exist in vertical or
horizontal channels. In this chapter, horizontal coopetition strategies are the core focus,
rather than vertical forms of coopetition, in terms of supply chain networks.
There have been several special issues dedicated to the interplay between cooperation and competition (see Bengtsson and Kock, 2014; Hoffmann et al., 2018). For
example, Bengtsson and Kock (2014) guest edited a special issue of Industrial Marketing
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Management which covered several issues surrounding the benefits and drawbacks of
coopetition strategies. As mentioned previously, Bengtsson and Kock (2014) re-defined
the coopetition construct to apply to multiple rival entities, as well as covering vertical
and horizontal forms of these activities (building upon Bengtsson and Kock, 2000).
Furthermore, this special issue covered some of the dark sides of coopetition strategies,
such as the potential for inter-firm tensions (for example, conflict, power imbalances and
opportunistic behaviours) when the coopetition paradox is unhinged (Park et al., 2014;
Raza-Ullah et al., 2014; Tidstrom, 2014).
More recently, the Strategic Management Journal published a special issue on coopetition (guest edited by Hoffmann et al. in 2018). These articles unpacked the complexities of the relationship between coopetition and company performance, including the
advantages and disadvantages of collaborating with competitors (Arslan, 2018; Cui et al.,
2018; Hannah and Eisenhardt, 2018; Mathias et al., 2018). In summary, although coopetition strategies are widely studied throughout the existing body of cross-disciplinary
knowledge, there are research gaps that academics are continuing to investigate. The link
between coopetition and company performance follows in the next section.
COOPETITION AND COMPANY PERFORMANCE
Following an earlier point, the relationship between coopetition and company performance has been recognised in previous research (Ang, 2008; Bengtsson and Kock, 2014;
Shu et al., 2017; Hoffmann et al., 2018; Crick et al., 2020a). Upon closer inspection,
this link has been evaluated in several capacities, that is, in linear, non-linear (inverted
U-shaped) and moderating effects (see Luo et al., 2007; Ritala, 2012; Crick, 2019a).
Regarding the linear association between coopetition and company performance, some
scholars have suggested that by collaborating with competitors, firms can obtain new
resources, capabilities and opportunities that would not exist under individualistic business models (where coopetition does not exist) (Bengtsson and Kock, 1999; Ritala,
2012; Bengtsson and Johansson, 2014; Bengtsson and Raza-Ullah, 2016; Hannah and
Eisenhardt, 2018; Crick et al., 2020c). That is, these findings suggest that higher-levels of
coopetition lead to improved company performance. While this may be true, an alternative point of view signifies that coopetition is not always a performance-driving entrepreneurial marketing strategy. Specifically, some academics have indicated that there is a
diminishing-returns effect when firms share resources and capabilities with industry rivals
(see Luo et al., 2007; Ang, 2008; Hoffmann et al., 2018; Crick, 2019b).
For example,
cooperation with competitors needs to be carefully considered and judiciously executed because
an over-reliance on highly-intensive competitor alliances may be just as harmful as under-using
such alliances. Excessive cooperation may lead to free-riding and opportunistic exploitation, a
potential loss of proprietary, technological, and marketing capabilities, and a possible dulling of
a firm’s incentives to stay customer-focused. (Luo et al., 2007: 81)
With ‘too little’ coopetition, organisations might struggle to survive within their markets,
as they are unlikely to possess enough resources and capabilities needed to satisfy their
customers’ wants and needs (Rusko, 2011; Bouncken and Kraus, 2013; Bengtsson and
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Raza-Ullah, 2016; Crick, 2018a; Gnyawali and Charleton, 2018). However, although
cooperating with competitors may lead to improved company performance, these outcomes are unlikely to be unlimited. With ‘too much’ coopetition, businesses might experience certain negative consequences: for example, lost intellectual property, inter-firm
tensions (such as conflict, power imbalances, and opportunistic behaviours) and diluted
competitive advantages (Luo et al., 2007; Ang, 2008; Ritala and Hurmelinna-Laukkanen,
2013; Raza-Ullah et al., 2014; Tidstrom, 2014; Bouncken et al., 2018; Cui et al., 2018).
Thus, firms have the difficult task of engaging in an optimal level of coopetition to avoid
these harmful effects on their performance (see Crick, 2020a).
An emerging body of knowledge pertains to the moderators that might affect the relationship between coopetition and company performance (Park et al., 2014; Bengtsson et
al., 2016; Crick, 2019a). Hoffmann et al. (2018) argued that this link is highly likely to be
affected by contingencies that might help or hinder the performance outcomes of these
strategies. For instance, the competitive business environment has been evaluated as a
moderator that can affect the coopetition–company performance relationship in different
capacities (Ang, 2008; Ritala, 2012; Shu et al., 2017). One viewpoint is that the competitive business environment can create more opportunities for organisations to engage in
performance-driving forms of coopetition, since they can be selective as to which rivals
they share resources and capabilities with, in relation to complementary product-markets
(Felzensztein and Deans, 2013; Felzensztein et al., 2018; Crick, 2019b). Another argument
is that the competitive business environment can enhance the dark sides of collaborating with competitors owing to the risk to inter-firm tensions, lost intellectual property
and diluted competitive advantages (Luo et al., 2007; Crick and Crick, 2020). In this
current entry it is appreciated that the coopetition–company performance relationship
is complex, with scope for linear, non-linear (inverted U-shaped) and moderating effects.
Nonetheless, later sections of this chapter revisit the moderating role of the competitive
business environment in greater depth. Coopetition in a wine-industry context is discussed in the next section.
COOPETITION IN THE WINE INDUSTRY
Coopetition has been explored in a range of industry settings within numerous countries
(Gnyawali and Park, 2011; Crick and Crick, 2016a; Czakon and Dana, 2013; Czakon and
Czernek, 2016; Felzensztein and Deans, 2013; Akpinar and Vincze, 2016; Mathias et al.,
2018; Kraus et al., 2019). When studying coopetition, it is important to select a sector (or
sectors) that hosts a high degree of cooperativeness and competitiveness (Bengtsson and
Johansson, 2014; Bengtsson and Raza-Ullah, 2016; Hannah and Eisenhardt, 2018). The
reason for this is that coopetition is the interplay between cooperation and competition,
and to fully understand the coopetition construct (as well as its antecedents and consequences), scholars must conduct research in an industry that is highly cooperative and
highly competitive (Bengtsson and Kock, 2000; Rusko, 2011; Bouncken and Kraus, 2013;
Felzensztein et al., 2014; Geldes et al., 2017; Granata et al., 2019). According to Crick
(2018b), wine-producing countries across the world are suitable for studying coopetition, since these markets manage competitive rivalry alongside cooperative behaviours.
Clusters have been studied in various industry contexts.2 Regarding cooperativeness,
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vineyards and wineries have been found to actively share equipment and experience with
rivals within their own clusters (and between wine regions) for mutually beneficial outcomes (see Dana and Winstone, 2008; Dana et al., 2013; Granata et al., 2018; Felzensztein
et al., 2019; Crick et al., 2020c).
However, irrespective of the extent to which vineyards and wineries collaborate with
their industry counterparts, the firms involved are still competitors. That is, the global
wine industry is very competitive, in the extent to which organisations compete for the
same domestic and international product-markets (Felzensztein et al., 2014; Crick, 2015;
Crick et al., 2020a). Consequently, in any sector, but with the wine industry being a prime
example, even in the most cooperative forms of coopetition, there will always be a degree
of rivalry involved (Bengtsson and Kock, 1999; Luo et al., 2007; Ritala, 2012; Arslan,
2018; Bouncken et al., 2018; Crick, 2019a). The following ten studies provide some strong
theoretical and practical contributions to the entrepreneurship (and entrepreneurial marketing) literature. Their connection is that they have explored coopetition strategies using
empirical data from a wine industry context (in various countries).
First, Telfer (2001) undertook a qualitative investigation of coopetition in the Niagara
wine region of Canada. The findings revealed that coopetition can occur informally or
formally, in which vineyards and wineries can establish contractual strategic alliances or
cooperate in ways that are not legally binding, such as sharing resources and capabilities.
Telfer (2001) suggested that coopetition might lead to regional growth, such as promoting wine tourism to local visitors and tourists from further afield. However, Telfer (2001)
focused on formal types of coopetition (for example, strategic alliances), and how they
benefit the companies involved.
Second, Dana and Winstone (2008) examined coopetition strategies within the
Waipara wine region in the South Island of New Zealand. They emphasised that coopetition is vital for enhancing the national-level and international-level reputation of relatively
boutique wine regions. Dana and Winstone (2008) suggested that coopetition strategies
allow vineyards and wineries to access new resources and capabilities to produce highquality wine, as well as ways to assist them to enter new and existing export markets. In
turn, coopetition can help vineyards and wineries to increase their performance, especially
their sales in international product-markets.
Third, continuing with work conducted in the Waipara wine region, Dana et al. (2013)
found that coopetition can evolve owing to a range of cluster-level and industry-level
factors. For example, as the New Zealand wine industry expands its relationships with
stakeholders (such as universities, regional institutions and marketing boards), individual
vineyards and wineries might be motivated to collaborate with their competitors to capitalise on opportunities pertaining to the growth of the sector. Also, Dana et al. (2013)
suggested that coopetition can help vineyards and wineries to improve their performance,
but these outcomes are potentially influenced by the growth of the sector, suggesting that
particular environmental-level conditions can positively impact the coopetition–company
performance link. Recent work has addressed Dana et al.’s (2013) assertions by examining how the competitive business environment might moderate the coopetition–company
performance relationship (see Park et al., 2014; Shu et al., 2017; Hoffmann et al., 2018;
Crick and Crick, 2020).
Fourth, Felzensztein et al. (2014) examined the dynamics of coopetition strategies in
four wine-producing countries in the Southern Hemisphere, namely, Argentina, Australia,
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New Zealand and Chile. They found that coopetition is a beneficial entrepreneurial marketing strategy, in relation to the likely positive association with company performance in
export markets. That is, if vineyards and wineries were to compete under an individualistic
business model, their brand equity and export sales might be low since it is difficult for
such entities to successfully perform in an international arena. Felzensztein et al. (2014)
indicated that coopetition allows vineyards and wineries to pool resources and capabilities (such as cash, equipment, hardware, production facilities, knowledge and experience)
to create value for customers in export markets, but also lowers their operating costs in
these arenas. Felzensztein et al. (2014) highlighted that while coopetition strategies are
best implemented when the organisations involved are prepared to be cooperative, there
will always be a rivalry element to these activities, encouraging the businesses involved to
exercise caution. Nonetheless, Felzensztein et al.’s (2014) study contributed to a growing
body of knowledge surrounding the positive relationship that exists between coopetition
and company performance (see also, Bengtsson and Kock, 2000; Rusko, 2011; Ritala,
2012; Bouncken and Kraus, 2013; Crick, 2018a). They also extended the relatively limited
volume of research associated with coopetition strategies for internationalised firms (see
also, Dana and Winstone, 2008; Granata et al., 2018; Felzensztein et al., 2019; Crick and
Crick, 2020). This was an important issue, since implementation of coopetition strategies
might take place differently in international product-markets compared with domestic
arenas (Etemad et al., 2001; Luo, 2005; Luo and Tung, 2007). That is, international competitive business environments are affected by volatile dynamics, such as varied customers’
wants and needs, complex supply chains, new technologies and different national-level
cultures3 (Dana, 2001; Acs et al., 2003; Wright and Dana, 2003; Young et al., 2003; Ratten
et al., 2007; Dana and Wright, 2009; Dana et al., 2009; Etemad et al., 2010; Crick and
Crick, 2014; Ratten and Dana, 2015; Saridakis et al., 2019; Dabic et al., 2020).
Fifth, Granata et al. (2018) examined coopetition strategies in the Pic Saint Loup
region of France. They found that coopetition is a prominent entrepreneurial marketing
strategy adopted by micro-firms, in which these entities have formal arrangements when
collaborating with industry rivals. However, to separate the potential paradoxical forces of
cooperativeness and competitiveness, very small vineyards and wineries require assistance
from an industry-level governing body. Hence, Granata et al. (2018) recommended that
regional-level and national-level policies should be used to help organisations to manage
coopetition strategies, as well as to distinguish between how these businesses cooperate
vis-à-vis compete. Granata et al.’s (2018) study supplemented other (including recent)
work related to the management of coopetition strategies to reduce the damage from
poorly organising the paradoxical forces of cooperativeness and competitiveness (see Luo
et al., 2007; Ang, 2008; Raza-Ullah et al., 2014; Tidstrom, 2014; Czakon and Czernek,
2016; Cui et al., 2018).
Sixth, Crick (2018a) used multi-source qualitative data from vineyards and wineries in
New Zealand to evaluate a conceptual framework pertaining to the facets, antecedents and
consequences of coopetition. Crick (2018a) found that coopetition-orientated behaviours
are driven by an organisation-wide coopetition-orientated mind-set and firms having
access to their competitors’ resources and capabilities. Specifically, coopetition strategies
cannot occur if the rival entities involved do not believe in the performance-enhancing
value of collaborating with competing businesses. In addition, coopetition requires companies being able to borrow their rivals’ assets for mutually beneficial outcomes, such
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as higher levels of financial performance, regional growth and customer satisfaction.
Crick’s (2018a) study is among the limited number of studies to develop a conceptual
framework depicting the dimensions, drivers and outcomes of the coopetition construct
(see Gnyawali and Park, 2011; Gnyawali and Charleton, 2018; Hoffmann et al., 2018).
Seventh, Felzensztein et al. (2019) explored small firm internationalisation using qualitative data from wine producers in Argentina, Chile and New Zealand. The key findings
revealed that firm size and firm age are not key drivers of an ability to export wine, but
an existence of an independent industry-level governing body can enhance their internationalisation capabilities. This can be achieved through facilitating coopetition strategies
and networks between vineyards and wineries within particular wine clusters, as well as
between regions. Thus, although Felzensztein et al.’s (2019) study indirectly investigated
coopetition strategies, it contributed to the scarce, but growing, work on the interplay
between cooperation and competition in an international arena (for example, Luo, 2005;
Luo and Tung, 2007; Dana and Winstone, 2008; Granata et al., 2018; Crick and Crick,
2020).
Eighth, Crick et al. (2020a) utilised qualitative data from the New Zealand wine industry to examine the potential dark sides of coopetition strategies. They found that coopetition is a multi-level construct, in which a strategy-as-practice perspective helped to explain
how managers engage in a different form of coopetition compared with functional-level
employees. While managers might perceive that they manage the interplay between
cooperation and competition in an effective manner (balancing the paradoxical forces
of cooperativeness and competitiveness), functional-level employees might distort this
natural balance by behaving in a rivalrous capacity. Crick et al.’s (2020a) study contributed
to an emerging strand of knowledge concerning the multiple-levels of the coopetition
construct and how they help or hinder company performance (see Raza-Ullah et al., 2014;
Bengtsson and Raza-Ullah, 2016). Similarly, Crick et al. (2020a) extended the growing
body of literature linked to the dark side of coopetition (see Tidstrom, 2014; Czakon and
Czernek, 2016; Bouncken et al., 2018; Cui et al., 2018).
Ninth, Crick (2020a) examined other aspects of the dark sides of coopetition strategies using survey data from the New Zealand wine industry. Although earlier work has
found that coopetition positively affects various assessments of company performance,
such as sales, profitability and customer satisfaction (Luo et al., 2007; Ritala, 2012;
Bouncken and Kraus, 2013; Bengtsson and Kock, 2014; Hannah and Eisenhardt, 2018),
limited research surrounds the potential for a non-linear (inverted U-shaped) relationship
(Luo et al., 2007; Ang, 2008; Crick, 2019b). Crick (2020a) conceptualised and tested the
relationship between coopetition and three measures of company performance, namely,
customer satisfaction performance, market performance and financial performance. This
was important because entrepreneurs measure their success vis-à-vis failure in various
ways (Dana, 1995; Hills et al., 2008; Dana et al., 2014; O’Cass and Morrish, 2016; Crick,
2018c; Crick and Crick, 2018b; Crick et al., 2018). That is, some entrepreneurs are growth
orientated and seek to turn high profits, whereas, other owner-managers are lifestyle
orientated and compete to yield a particular work–life balance (Crick and Crick, 2016d;
Crick et al., 2016; Crick, 2020c). Previous research has found that vineyard and winery
owner-managers can be growth orientated or lifestyle orientated (see Crick and Crick,
2015). In all three instances, Crick (2020a) found non-linear (inverted U-shaped) effects,
suggesting that too little and too much coopetition is harmful for company performance,
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whereby, vineyards and wineries must engage in an optimal-level of coopetition to maximise their performance and to mitigate the negative effects that collaborating with competing businesses might entail. While this might be difficult to implement in practice, Crick’s
(2020a) study (extending those of Luo et al., 2007; Ang, 2008; Crick, 2019b) uncovered
new evidence about what performance outcomes different coopetition strategies are most
likely to positively and negatively affect.
Tenth, Crick and Crick (2020) used a mixed methods research design to evaluate the
nature of the relationship between coopetition and market performance. Using survey
and follow-up interview data from New Zealand vineyards and wineries, they found
that coopetition activities have a non-linear (inverted U-shaped) link with market performance. More interestingly, they hypothesised that competitive intensity is likely to
positively moderate this association, as higher levels of industry rivals can facilitate more
effective (performance-driving) forms of coopetition, so that businesses can be more
selective in their choice of coopetition partners, relating to complementary productmarkets (Felzensztein and Deans, 2013; Felzensztein et al., 2018; Crick, 2019b). Yet,
their results suggested that competitive intensity negatively moderates the non-linear
(inverted U-shaped) relationship between coopetition activities and market performance
(Luo et al., 2007; Park et al., 2014). Their follow-up qualitative evidence indicated that
competitive rivalry can distort the delicate balance between the paradoxical forces of
cooperativeness and competitiveness, and yield dark sides, such as inter-firm tensions,
lost intellectual property and diluted competitive advantages (Ritala and HurmelinnaLaukkanen, 2013; Tidstrom, 2014; Bouncken et al., 2018). Thus, Crick and Crick (2020)
found that there is a complex link between coopetition and company performance (building upon Luo et al., 2007; Ang, 2008; Shu et al., 2017; Hoffmann et al., 2018). In addition,
they addressed implementation issues regarding the paradoxical forces of cooperativeness
and competitiveness, namely, to avoid particular harmful effects on firms’ performance
(extending Tidstrom, 2014; Czakon and Czernek, 2016; Bouncken et al., 2018; Cui et al.,
2018; Granata et al., 2018; Gnyawali and Charleton, 2018). Suggested directions for future
research follow in the next section.
DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
While coopetition strategies have been widely studied throughout the broader entrepreneurial marketing literature (Bengtsson and Kock, 2000; Luo, 2005; Dana and Winstone,
2008; Rusko, 2011; Ritala, 2012; Bouncken and Kraus, 2013; Bengtsson et al., 2016;
Mathias et al., 2018; Granata et al., 2019), there are some major gaps that offer directions
for future research. First, most coopetition-based research has examined the dimensions
and consequences of these strategies, with only a handful of studies focusing on the
drivers of coopetition (see Bengtsson and Kock, 1999; Dana et al., 2013; Crick, 2018a;
Granata et al., 2018; Felzensztein et al., 2019). Future research should investigate the
factors that motivate entrepreneurs to collaborate with their competitors, as well as the
resources and capabilities that facilitate these strategies. For instance, scholars could focus
on the nature and shape of the relationship between a coopetition-orientated mind-set
and coopetition-orientated behaviours (building upon Brandenburger and Nalebuff,
1996; Gnyawali and Park, 2011; Gnyawali and Charleton, 2018; Crick and Crick, 2019).
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Second, an emerging body of knowledge pertains to the complexities of the coopetition–
company performance relationship, such as the potential for non-linear (inverted
U-shaped) and moderating effects, together with simple linear associations (see Luo et al.,
2007; Ang, 2008; Ritala and Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, 2013; Crick, 2019a; Crick et al.,
2020a). Therefore, in future research, academics are encouraged to explore the underlying
mechanisms of the relationship between coopetition and company performance, including
the potential for dark-side practices. This could involve moderators that might explain the
variance of the potential non-linear (inverted U-shaped) effect (extending Luo et al., 2007;
Ang, 2008; Crick and Crick, 2020). Furthermore, future research could evaluate whether
there are any mediating factors in the coopetition–company performance relationship
(also responding to Hoffmann et al., 2018). As an illustration, it might be that while there
is a direct link between collaborating with competitors and company performance (as per
Bengtsson and Kock, 1999; Gnyawali and Park, 2011; Ritala, 2012; Bouncken and Kraus,
2013; Granata et al., 2018; Kraus et al., 2019), there are intermediating variables at play.
For example, without effective management of inter-firm relationships, coopetition might
yield tensions (such as conflict, power imbalances and opportunistic behaviours), which
in turn, negatively impact company performance (extending Raza-Ullah et al., 2014;
Tidstrom, 2014; Czakon and Czernek, 2016; Bouncken et al., 2018). These issues, together
with other mediators, offer future research opportunities.
Third, a large proportion of the extant literature has concentrated on coopetition
in domestic settings, whereby firms collaborate with their competitors within the same
country (Rusko, 2011; Bengtsson and Johansson, 2014; Bengtsson et al., 2016; Czakon
and Czernek, 2016). In contrast, research pertaining to coopetition in an international
arena remains relatively under-researched (see Dana and Winstone, 2008; Shu et al., 2017;
Granata et al., 2018; Felzensztein et al., 2019; Crick and Crick, 2020). Should scholars
pursue this strand of literature, they ought to focus on how coopetition is implemented
differently by firms competing in domestic arenas vis-à-vis international product-markets.
Similarly, future research should consider the antecedents and consequences of international-level coopetition, as they might differ in comparison to the strategies in domestic
settings.
Fourth, theory needs to underpin any conceptualisations of the dimensions, drivers
and outcomes of coopetition strategies (Bengtsson and Kock, 2014; Bengtsson and
Raza-Ullah, 2016; Hoffmann et al., 2018). Popular theoretical lenses for investigating
coopetition include resource-based theory, the relational view and stakeholder theory, as
they help to explain the cooperative and competitive aspects of these strategies (Akpinar
and Vincze, 2016; Gnyawali and Charleton, 2018; Hannah and Eisenhardt, 2018; Crick,
2019a; Crick et al., 2020a). Utilisation of a variety of theoretical lenses offer opportunities in future research.
Fifth, many coopetition studies have been conceptual or qualitative (see Bengtsson
and Kock, 2000; Luo, 2005; Rusko, 2011; Bengtsson and Raza-Ullah, 2016; Crick and
Crick, 2016a; Hoffmann et al., 2018; Crick et al., 2020a), for which very few quantitative investigations exist (see Luo et al., 2007; Ang, 2008; Bouncken and Kraus, 2013;
Crick and Crick, 2019; Crick, 2020a). Some measures of coopetition have been flawed,
such as being uni-dimensional and employing single-item proxies (as per Ritala, 2012;
Bouncken et al., 2018; Cui et al., 2018). Thus, future research should establish stronger
measures of the coopetition construct. A strong methodology is needed to advance these
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aspects of the broader entrepreneurial marketing literature, including suitable checks for
credible research methods (Dana and Dana, 2005). Considering the appropriateness of
the global wine industry for studying coopetition (Telfer, 2001; Dana et al., 2013; Crick,
2015; Felzensztein et al., 2019; Granata et al., 2019), these under-researched areas could
be explored in this empirical context. Conclusions and practitioner implications follow
in the next section.
CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTITIONER IMPLICATIONS
Our objective was to highlight the benefits and drawbacks of coopetition strategies by utilising published work from the global wine industry. This purpose was achieved through
reviewing earlier work pertaining to the facets, antecedents and consequences of the
coopetition construct. Then, drawing upon several articles that have examined coopetition strategies in particular wine-producing countries, this entry uncovered widely studied
and under-researched issues that yield the following conclusions and practitioner implications. Importantly, although the global wine industry is a suitable empirical context for
studying coopetition, it is merely one sector that has been employed to advance scholarly
knowledge. However, the conceptualisations and empirical assertions related to vineyards
and wineries, in this chapter, are likely to be transferrable to other industries that manage
the paradoxical forces of cooperativeness and competitiveness.
First, we conclude that while coopetition strategies might yield higher levels of
company performance, this link is more likely to be complex, in which it is probably nonlinear (inverted U-shaped). Therefore, entrepreneurs should be careful not to engage in
too little or too much coopetition, as there can be harmful effects on their performance.
Second, we also conclude that the coopetition–company performance association is
likely to be affected by moderating factors, such as the competitive business environment.
Consequently, entrepreneurs must appreciate the competitive dynamics within their
markets, as these forces could help or hinder the performance outcomes of coopetition
strategies. Third, we finally conclude that there are various under-researched areas pertaining to coopetition. These include the antecedents of these strategies, the complexities of the link with company performance (the underlying mechanisms), coopetition in
an international arena, particular theoretical lenses that can be applied to the interplay
between cooperation and competition, and the measurement of the coopetition construct. Together, these gaps within the existing body of knowledge provide an interesting
set of future research directions that can benefit academics and practitioners.
NOTES
1. Since coopetition emerged from the business-to-business marketing literature (Brandenburger and Nalebuff,
1996; Bengtsson and Kock, 1999) and extended to other cross-disciplinary domains, positioning of this
entry features at the marketing/entrepreneurship interface (also known as entrepreneurial marketing).
Entrepreneurial marketing refers to the innovative, proactive and risk-taking behaviours that firms use to
create value for their customers (Morris et al., 2002; Hills et al., 2008; Shi and Dana, 2013; Crick and Crick,
2016b; O’Cass and Morrish, 2016; Sadiku-Dushi et al., 2019; Crick, 2020b; Crick et al., 2020b). Coopetition
has been related to the marketing/entrepreneurship interface in earlier work (see Crick and Crick, 2016a;
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Crick, 2018a), meaning that the entrepreneurial marketing perspective was an appropriate lens. Henceforth,
key literature was retrieved primarily from marketing and entrepreneurship journals (but also alongside
other management disciplines) to contribute to the entrepreneurial marketing literature.
2. Examples of how firms operate within their clusters have been explored in particular capacities that include
ethnic enclaves (Chaudhry and Crick, 2004; Crick et al., 2016), wine regions (Felzensztein et al., 2018; Crick
et al., 2020c) and the tourism sector (Crick, 2011).
3. Importantly, firms can internationalise in different capacities, such as exporting (including via intermediaries)
vis-à-vis foreign subsidiaries (Katsikeas et al., 1997; Crick, 2007; Crick and Crick, 2018a; Chaudhry et al.,
2019). Indeed, there are different support processes and mechanisms to assist internationalising firms
(Crick, 1992; Spence and Crick, 2001; Crick and Crick, 2016c).
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Crick, J.M. (2015), ‘Bridging the gap between threshold and dynamic capabilities: a qualitative study of the collaboration strategies of New Zealand wineries’, MBS thesis, Massey University, New Zealand.
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Crick, J.M. (2018b), ‘Studying coopetition in a wine industry context: directions for future research’,
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Crick, J.M. (2018c), ‘The antecedents and consequences of a customer value-oriented dominant logic: a dynamic
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Crick, J.M. (2019a), ‘Moderators affecting the relationship between coopetition and company performance’,
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Crick, J.M. and D. Crick (2019), ‘Developing and validating a multi-dimensional measure of coopetition’,
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Crick, J.M. and D. Crick (2020), ‘The yin and yang nature of coopetition activities: non-linear effects and
the moderating role of competitive intensity for internationalised firms’, International Marketing Review
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Crick, J.M., D. Crick and S. Chaudhry (2020a), ‘The dark-side of coopetition: it’s not what you say, but the way
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Crick, J.M., D. Crick and S. Chaudhry (2020b), ‘Entrepreneurial marketing decision-making in rapidly internationalising and de-internationalising start-up firms’, Journal of Business Research (forthcoming).
Crick, J.M., D. Crick and N. Tebbett (2020c), ‘Competitor orientation and value co-creation in sustaining rural
New Zealand wine producers’, Journal of Rural Studies (forthcoming).
Cui, V., H. Yang and I. Vertinsky (2018), ‘Attacking your partners: strategic alliances and competition between
partners in product-markets’, Strategic Management Journal, 39 (12), 3116–39.
Czakon, W. and K. Czernek (2016), ‘The role of trust-building mechanisms in entering into network coopetition:
the case of tourism networks in Poland’, Industrial Marketing Management, 57 (1), 64–74.
Czakon, W. and L.-P. Dana (2013), ‘Coopetition at work: how firms shaped the airline industry’, Journal of
Social Management, 11 (2), 32–61.
Dabic, M., J. Maley, L.-P. Dana, I. Novak, M.M. Pellegrini and A. Caputo (2020), ‘Pathways of SME internationalization: a bibliometric and systematic review’, Small Business Economics, 55 (1), 705–25.
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Dana, L.-P. (2001), ‘Networks, internationalization & policy’, Small Business Economics, 16 (2), 57–62.
Dana, L.-P. and T.E. Dana (2005), ‘Expanding the scope of methodologies used in entrepreneurship research’,
International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2 (1), 79–88.
Dana, L.-P. and K.E. Winstone (2008), ‘Wine cluster formation in New Zealand: operation, evolution and
impact’, International Journal of Food Science and Technology, 43 (12), 2177–90.
Dana, L.-P. and R.W. Wright (2009), ‘International entrepreneurship: research priorities for the future’,
International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 3 (1), 90–134.
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Dana, L.-P., J. Granata, F. Lasch and A. Carnaby (2013), ‘The evolution of co-opetition in the Waipara wine
cluster of New Zealand’, Wine Economics and Policy, 2 (1), 42–9.
Dana, L.-P., C. Gurau and F. Lasch (2014), ‘Entrepreneurship, tourism and regional development: a tale of two
villages’, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 26 (3–4), 357–74.
Dana, L.-P., R.T. Hamilton and K. Wick (2009), ‘Internationalisation of SMEs: European comparative studies’,
Journal of International Entrepreneurship, 7 (2), 79–87.
Etemad, H., I. Wilkinson and L.-P. Dana (2010), ‘Internetization as the necessary condition for internationalization in the newly emerging economy’, Journal of International Entrepreneurship, 8 (4), 319–42.
Etemad, H., R.W. Wright and L.-P. Dana (2001), ‘Symbiotic international business networks: collaboration
between small and large firms’, Thunderbird International Business Review, 43 (4), 481–99.
Felzensztein, C. and K.R. Deans (2013), ‘Marketing practices in wine clusters: insights from Chile’, Journal of
Business & Industrial Marketing, 28 (4), 357–67.
Felzensztein, C., K.R. Deans and L.-P. Dana (2019), ‘Small firms in regional clusters: local networks
and internationalization in the Southern Hemisphere’, Journal of Small Business Management, 57 (2),
496–516.
Felzensztein, C., E. Gimmon and K.R. Deans (2018), ‘Coopetition in regional clusters: keep calm and expect
unexpected changes’, Industrial Marketing Management, 69 (1), 116–24.
Felzensztein, C., C. Stringer, M. Benson-Rea and S. Freeman (2014), ‘International marketing strategies in
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for technological and non-technological innovations: a study of an agribusiness cluster’, Journal of Business
& Industrial Marketing, 32 (1), 167–78.
Gnyawali, D.R. and T.R. Charleton (2018), ‘Nuances in the interplay of competition and cooperation: towards
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Gnyawali, D.R. and B.J.R. Park (2011), ‘Coopetition between giants: collaboration with competitors for technological innovation’, Research Policy, 40 (5), 650–63.
Granata, J., M. Geraudel and S. D’Armagnac (2019), ‘When entrepreneurs instigate institutional change
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Granata, J., F. Lasch, F. Le Roy and L.-P. Dana (2018), ‘How do micro-firms manage coopetition? A study of
the wine sector in France’, International Small Business Journal, 36 (3), 331–55.
Hannah, D.P. and K.M. Eisenhardt (2018), ‘How firms navigate cooperation and competition in nascent ecosystems’, Strategic Management Journal, 39 (12), 3163–92.
Hills, G.E., C.M. Hultman and M.P. Miles (2008), ‘The evolution and development of entrepreneurial marketing’, Journal of Small Business Management, 46 (1), 99–112.
Hoffmann, W., D. Lavie, J.J. Reuer and A. Shiplov (2018), ‘The interplay of competition and cooperation’,
Strategic Management Journal, 39 (12), 3033–52.
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Kraus, S., P. Kilmas, J. Gast and T. Stephan (2019), ‘Sleeping with competitors: forms, antecedents and outcomes of coopetition of small and medium-sized craft beer breweries’, International Journal of Entrepreneurial
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Luo, X., A. Rindfleisch and D.K. Tse (2007), ‘Working with rivals: the impact of competitor alliances on financial performance’, Journal of Marketing Research, 44 (1), 73–83.
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studies’, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 4 (3), 361–79.
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performance’, British Journal of Management, 23 (3), 307–24.
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4.
Corporate entrepreneurship
Donald F. Kuratko, Michael H. Morris and
Jeffrey G. Covin
Large firms, especially those in maturing industries, must continually restructure and reinvent themselves, learning to become more innovative, if they hope to sustain themselves
for the future (Kuratko et al., 2019). As innovation has emerged as a key contributor to
sustainable advantage, corporate entrepreneurship (CE) is being embraced by executives
as a focal point for organizational success (Ireland et al., 2009). Firms that are more
entrepreneurial (that is, more adaptable, flexible, aggressive and innovative) are better
positioned to not only respond to a dynamic, threatening and complex external environment, but create change in that environment. They do not take the external environment
as a given, instead defining themselves as agents of change, leading customers instead of
following them, creating new markets and rewriting the rules of the competitive game.
However, despite the espoused and observed positive effects of CE, theoretical and
empirical knowledge about the domain of CE and the entrepreneurial behavior on which
it is based are key areas warranting greater attention (Hornsby et al., 2002; Dess et al.,
2003; Hornsby et al., 2009). A fundamental ambiguity exists in the literature concerning
what it means to have CE as a corporate strategy (Meyer and Heppard, 2000). Further,
much is unknown about how CE is enacted in organizational settings.
UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPT OF CE
The concept of CE has evolved over the past 45 years. Research in the 1970s focused on
venture teams and how the concept of entrepreneurship could be applied inside existing organizations (Hill and Hlavacek, 1972; Peterson and Berger, 1972; Hanan, 1976).
In the 1980s, researchers conceptualized CE as innovative behaviors involving organizational sanctions and resource commitments for the purpose of developing types of
value-creating innovations, and as a process of organizational renewal (Alterowitz, 1988;
Burgelman, 1983a, 1983b; Pinchott, 1985; Kanter, 1985; Schollhammer, 1982; Sathe,
1989; Sykes and Block, 1989). By the 1990s researchers had adjusted their focus to reenergizing and enhancing the firm’s ability to develop skills through which innovations
could be created (Jennings and Young, 1990; Merrifield, 1993; Zahra, 1991; Birkinshaw,
1997; Borch et al., 1999; Barringer and Bluedorn, 1999).
More comprehensive approaches also began to take shape during the 1990s, such as
the distinction drawn by Guth and Ginsberg (1990) between new-venture creation within
existing organizations and the transformation of ongoing organizations. Zahra (1991: 261)
observed that CE can include ‘formal or informal activities aimed at creating new businesses
in established companies through product and process innovations and market developments. These activities may take place at the corporate, division (business), functional or
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project levels, with the unifying objective of improving a company’s competitive position
and financial performance’. A synthesis emerged by the end of the decade, approaching
CE as ‘the process whereby an individual or a group of individuals, in association with an
existing organization, create a new organization or instigate renewal or innovation within
that organization’ (Sharma and Chrisman, 1999: 18).
Based on these definitional perspectives, it becomes important to distinguish the
various forms taken by CE within an organization. Four key concepts come into play:
corporate venturing, strategic renewal, entrepreneurial orientation, and CE strategy.
Corporate venturing is concerned with creation of a new venture, which occurs through
two main activities. With internal corporate venturing, new businesses are created and
owned by the corporation, and typically reside within the current corporate structure
(Covin et al., 2015). External corporate venturing involves new businesses that are created
outside the corporation and subsequently invested in or acquired by the corporation
(Keil, 2004; Schildt et al., 2005; Markham et al., 2005). Miles and Covin (2002) reported
that firms pursue corporate venturing in order to: (1) build an innovative capability as
the basis for making the overall firm more entrepreneurial and accepting of change, (2)
appropriate greater value from current organizational competencies or expand the firm’s
scope of operations and knowledge into areas of possible strategic importance, and/or
(3) generate quick financial returns.
Strategic-entrepreneurship approaches refer to a broad array of significant entrepreneurial activities or innovations that are adopted in the firm’s pursuit of competitive
advantage which usually do not result in new businesses for the corporation. Strategic
entrepreneurship can take one of five forms: strategic renewal (adoption of a new strategy), sustained regeneration (introduction of a new product into an existing category),
domain redefinition (reconfiguration of existing product or market categories), organizational rejuvenation (internally focused innovation for strategy improvement) and business
model reconstruction (redesign of existing business model) (Covin and Miles, 1999; Hitt
et al., 2001; Ireland et al., 2003; Ireland and Webb, 2007; Ketchen et al., 2007). Here, innovations are occurring with the firm’s strategy, product offerings, served markets, internal
organization (that is, structure, processes and capabilities) or business model (Kuratko
and Audretsch, 2009). There are two possible reference points that can be considered
when a firm exhibits strategic entrepreneurship: (1) how much the firm is transforming
itself relative to where it was before and (2) how much the firm is transforming itself
relative to industry conventions or standards.
The concept of a firm’s overall entrepreneurial orientation (EO) was initially proposed
by Miller (1983) and further developed by Covin and Slevin (1989, 1991). The behavioral
proclivities of firms are said to range from more conservative to more entrepreneurial,
with the entrepreneurial end of the spectrum evidenced by innovativeness (introduction of
new products, processes and business models), proactiveness (an action orientation that
preempts competitors) and risk-taking (a willingness to contribute resources to projects
with uncertain outcomes). Sustaining entrepreneurial behaviors is a necessary condition.
Covin and Slevin (1991: 8) explain that ‘organizations with an entrepreneurial posture
are those in which particular behavioral patterns are recurring’. A considerable volume
of research has examined the performance implications of EO (for example, Lumpkin
et al., 2009; Rauch et al., 2009). While there have been some disagreements regarding the
underlying dimensionality of EO (for example, Lumpkin and Dess, 1996), as noted in
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two recent meta-analyses, the Miller/Covin and Slevin conceptualization is the dominant
perspective of EO in the relevant literature (Rosenbusch et al., 2013).
Morris et al. (2011) took the EO concept a step further by distinguishing the degree
and frequency of entrepreneurial behavior in firms. The degree of entrepreneurial action
refers to the extent to which the initiatives pursued by the firm are incrementally innovative, risky and proactive, or represent bold advances. The frequency of entrepreneurial
actions refers to the number of initiatives pursued by an organization over a given period
of time. It may vary from those companies that produce a steady stream of new products,
services or processes, to other companies that rarely introduce something new. By considering both degree and frequency we can assess the entrepreneurial intensity of a company.
Morris et al. (2011) have created a two-dimensional matrix (entrepreneurial grid) with the
frequency (number of entrepreneurial events) on the vertical axis, and the degree (extent
of innovativeness, risk and proactiveness) on the horizontal axis. The firm’s entrepreneurial intensity provides some measure of an organization’s entrepreneurial activity at
any given time that could then form the basis for what constitutes a CE strategy.
Specifically defined, a CE strategy is ‘a vision-directed, organization-wide reliance on
entrepreneurial behavior that purposefully and continuously rejuvenates the organization
and shapes the scope of its operations through the recognition and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunity’ (Ireland et al., 2009: 21). From a strategic standpoint, CE requires
considerable time and investment, and there must be continual reinforcement. By their
nature, organizations impose constraints on entrepreneurial behavior. To be sustainable,
the entrepreneurial spirit must be integrated into the mission, goals, strategies, structure,
processes and values of the organization. Leadership must adopt an opportunity-driven
mindset, where actions are never constrained by resources currently controlled (Morris
et al., 2011).
AN ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE FOR CORPORATE
ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY
The internal work environment determines the perceived costs and benefits associated
with taking personal risks and whether the ambiguity and stress that entrepreneurial
behavior can create is acceptable. The challenge is to develop an ‘innovation friendly’
internal environment. Toward this end, a considerable amount of CE research has
explored the antecedents of entrepreneurial behavior. Aspects of the firm’s structure,
planning and control systems, human resource management practices, and culture have
been investigated (Ireland et al., 2006a, 2006b; Hornsby et al., 2002; Hornsby et al., 2009;
Morris and Jones, 1993). In a comprehensive study, Kuratko et al. (1990) stress the importance top management support, reward and resource availability, and organizational
structures and boundaries.
Hornsby et al. (2002) have introduced the corporate entrepreneurship assessment
instrument (CEAI) as an instrument for analyzing employee perceptions of an organizational climate conducive to entrepreneurial activity. Their results supported five stable
antecedents of entrepreneurial behavior: (1) management support (willingness of senior
managers to facilitate and promote entrepreneurial behavior, champion innovative ideas
and provide resources people require to behave entrepreneurially), (2) work discretion/
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autonomy (managerial commitment to tolerate failure, provide decision-making latitude and freedom from excessive oversight, and delegate authority and responsibility
to middle- and lower-level managers), (3) rewards/reinforcement (developing and using
systems that reinforce entrepreneurial behavior, highlight achievements and encourage
pursuit of challenging work), (4) time availability (ensuring that individuals and groups
have the time needed to pursue innovations and their jobs are structured in ways that
support efforts to achieve short- and long-term organizational goals), and (5) organizational boundaries (precise explanations of outcomes expected from organizational work
and development of mechanisms for evaluating, selecting and using innovations). For the
full instrument see Kuratko et al. (2014).
IDENTIFYING MANAGERIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Managers at all organizational levels have critical strategic roles to fulfill as part of a CE
strategy (Ireland et al., 2002). Senior-level managers are responsible for the articulation
of an entrepreneurial strategic vision and the emergence of an organizational climate
conducive to entrepreneurial activity. Burgelman (1984) contends they are responsible
for retroactively rationalizing particular new businesses into the firm’s portfolio and its
approach to strategy based on their evaluations of those businesses’ prospects as desirable,
value-creating components of the firm. Further, they must structure the organization in
ways that accommodate and reinforce the business ventures embraced. Separately, Ling et
al. (2008) demonstrate that chief executive officers (CEOs) must shape top management
teams around behavioral integration of entrepreneurship, encouragement of risk-taking
propensity, decentralization of responsibilities and longer-term compensation. Covin and
Slevin (2002) conclude that effective strategic leaders are those who (1) nourish an entrepreneurial capability, (2) protect innovations that threaten the current business model,
(3) make opportunities make sense for the organization, (4) question the dominant logic,
(5) revisit the deceptively simple questions and (6) link entrepreneurship and strategic
management.
Middle-level managers are the hub through which most organizational knowledge
flows (Floyd and Wooldridge, 1992; King et al., 2001). To interact effectively with firstlevel managers, middle-level managers must possess the technical competence required
to understand the firm’s core competencies. Simultaneously, in interacting with seniorlevel executives, they must understand the firm’s strategic intent and goals. Through
these interactions, those operating in the middle of an organization’s structure influence and shape their firms’ entrepreneurial strategies. Kuratko et al. (2005) argue that
middle-level managers’ work as change agents and promoters of innovation is facilitated
by their position in the organization hierarchy. They contend these managers evaluate
entrepreneurial initiatives emerging from lower organizational levels and endorse some
of these to top management. They also endorse the top-level initiatives and sell their
value-creating potential to the primary implementers – first-level managers. In addition,
middle-level managers are molding the entrepreneurial opportunity into an opportunity
that makes sense for the organization. They champion and guide the initiatives to assure
that those originating at lower-organizational levels are not abandoned once their continued development requires higher-level support. They are instrumental in identifying
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and deploying necessary resources to convert entrepreneurial initiatives into a business
reality as these initiatives evolve in scope, content and focus (McGrath and MacMillan,
1995). This includes redirecting resources away from existing operations and deploying
them in entrepreneurial initiatives appearing to have greater strategic value for the firm
(Burgelman, 1984).
First-level managers have roles in initiating and experimenting with new ideas. They
adjust these innovative concepts in response to anticipated and unplanned entrepreneurial
challenges. In addition, they play a conforming role in adapting new initiatives to reflect
operating policies, procedures and norms of the organization.
Hornsby et al. (2009) found the relationship between perceived internal antecedents and corporate entrepreneurial actions (measured by the number of new ideas
implemented) differed depending on managerial level. Specifically, the relationship
between managerial support and entrepreneurial action was more positive for seniorand middle-level managers than it was for first-level managers, as was the relationship
between work discretion and entrepreneurial action. While the few studies that have
explored management levels have tended to emphasize the role of first-level managers
in a bottom-up process of CE, the Hornsby et al. (2009) study provides support for the
notion that senior managers have greater structural ability to take advantage of organizational conditions and thus implement more entrepreneurial ideas than do first-level
managers. Finally, Brundin et al. (2008) provide evidence that employee willingness to
act entrepreneurially increased when managers displayed confidence and satisfaction
about an entrepreneurial project, and decreased when managers displayed frustration,
worry or bewilderment.
IMPLEMENTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE CORPORATE
SETTING
Five major elements must be addressed if CE is to become a reality in organizations.
These include:
1.
2.
Clearly delineating what the organization is looking for. Any discussion of CE must
first clarify what employees are being asked to do. When it comes to innovation, we
can distinguish types and trajectories. The basic types of innovation include product/
service innovation – changes to the products or services being sold – and process
innovation – changes to the operational processes or ways of doing things. The basic
trajectory for innovation may be discontinuous, dynamically continuous, continuous
(incremental) or imitation. Another distinction examines how disruptive the innovation is in transforming business practice and rewriting the rules of an industry.
Companies may have different expectations for types and trajectories of innovations
being sought at different levels and within different divisions, functional areas or
departments of the firm.
Creating the culture. In addition to ensuring coordination across levels of management, for CE to run deep within organizations it must be embedded in the company
culture (Hornsby et al., 2009). Important aspects of this include developing a language and integrating symbols of entrepreneurship, identification of entrepreneurial
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3.
4.
5.
role models, dissemination of company myths and stories tied to entrepreneurial
actions, and establishment of customs that celebrate successes and failures by individuals and teams. It is a culture that reinforces values tied to opportunity alertness,
challenging the status quo, proactiveness, tenacity, bootstrapping, calculated risktaking, guerrilla behavior, embracing change and tolerance of failure.
Effective use of operating controls. Without proper operating control mechanisms,
corporate entrepreneurial activity may ‘tend to generate an incoherent mass of
interesting but unrelated opportunities that may have profit potential, but that don’t
move [those] firms toward a desirable future’ (Getz and Tuttle, 2001: 277). Therefore,
successful CE activity is contingent upon a firm’s ability to align innovative initiatives
with control processes that balance formality and discretion (Morris et al., 2006). In
a study of 177 firms operating in a wide variety of industries, Goodale et al. (2011)
found the effects of management support, work discretion/autonomy, rewards/reinforcements, time availability and organizational boundaries on innovation performance was moderated by one or more control variables. These findings are consistent
with control systems having simultaneous loose (slack, discretion or flexibility) and
tight (systematic, exacting or accountable) properties.
Proper employee training and preparation. Those within established companies are
often ill-prepared to engage in entrepreneurial activity. Management must nurture
and develop the entrepreneurial potential of employees. Arguably, the most critical
element in this regard is the development of an entrepreneurial mindset (for example,
McGrath and Macmillan, 2000; Ireland et al., 2003) in a manner that reflects the
corporate context (for example, the employee is not acting independently, while the
organization is assuming the risks, owns the innovation, and imposes constraints
and limits on individual behavior). It is also important that training programs focus
on development of particular entrepreneurial competencies, such as opportunity
recognition and assessment, risk mitigation and resource leveraging. This training
can be augmented by company mentoring programs, apprenticeships, internships, job
shadowing and related initiatives where employees participate in or observe innovation projects as they unfold.
Managing expectations and outcomes. Entrepreneurial initiatives within companies
are messy, chaotic and unpredictable, and emerge in a non-linear manner. They demonstrate failure rates of approximately 50 percent (Castellion and Markham, 2013).
These characteristics will also vary based on the types and trajectories of innovation. Therefore, it is important that organizations manage expectations surround CE
activity and set realistic timetables and targets for success. It is about recognizing that
innovation will typically disturb the status quo and failure will be more frequent, and
hence creating a greater organizational tolerance, but also devoting more attention to
how outcomes are approached. Management must consider the impact of unexpected
outcomes on employees involved with a particular innovative project, subsequent
entrepreneurial behaviors of other employees, selection and management of future
projects, and how much the organization learns. Beyond the need to eliminate any
negative stigma associated with product failure, particularly as it relates to career
advancement of those involved with a project, it is important to honor failures and
their rich contributions to improving the company.
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CONCLUSION: GAPS IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF CE
Four decades after the concept of CE was first introduced, many vexing questions concerning CE remain unanswered, and its potential within most organizations is not being
realized. Corporate entrepreneurship is acknowledged as a core contributor to the ability
of companies to compete effectively in the dynamic environments of the twenty-first
century. It is a process that takes many forms, broadly categorized into corporate venturing and strategic renewal. Yet, these forms are not well understood, particularly the managerial approaches and organizational architectures that are most conducive to facilitating
a given form of CE. We know that large, established companies, in the natural way they
tend to evolve, develop numerous obstacles and sources of resistance to entrepreneurship.
As a consequence, these companies may be able to periodically undertake innovations,
but struggle to sustain entrepreneurial activity on an ongoing basis. To this end, an array
of external and internal antecedents to entrepreneurial activity have been identified by
scholars, and we have discussed some of the more important of these. However, we have
only begun to understand the dynamics of how these antecedents operate, and how forces
that work against entrepreneurial behavior can be overcome without compromising
organizational viability. That is, sustainable entrepreneurship requires that firms learn
to simultaneously exploit existing products, markets and business models while, at the
same time, creating a future where many existing approaches become obsolete. Moreover,
exploitation and exploration must be accomplished under conditions and rules that are
constantly changing.
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5.
Corporate entrepreneurship: new insights
Olga Belousova, Aard Groen and Norris Krueger
Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) is commonly understood as a process that allows established companies to extend and reorient profiles of their activities, entering new markets
and creating new businesses. One of the most seminal definitions of CE describes it as a
process whereby an individual or a group of individuals, in association with an existing
organization, create a new organization or instigate renewal or innovation within that
organization (Sharma and Chrisman, 1999).
The CE process is believed to possess the following specific properties. First, CE
is based on new resource combinations and extension of the existing competencies
(Birkinshaw, 1997; Burgelman, 1983a; Covin and Miles, 1999). Second, it often requires a
departure from the existing practices and the ability of a firm to acquire innovative skills
and capabilities (Birkinshaw, 1997; Burgelman, 1983a; Covin and Slevin, 1991; Floyd and
Wooldridge, 1999; Hornsby et al., 2002). Finally, while Vesper (1984), Carrier (1996) and
Birkinshaw (1997) draw our attention to the role of employee’s initiative, Pinchot (1985)
further introduces the notion of responsibility, and Chung and Gibbons (1997) suggest
that CE activity is a collective action. Hence, the main characteristics of the process of
CE are the use of internal resources (slack, saved or generated), enlargement of the competencies base of the company into new business areas, acquisition of new knowledge and
skills to enter these areas, and the initiative of employees (individually or in group) who
take responsibility for the project.
More than 30 years of research have proved that CE is important for firms’ vitality (Dess
et al., 2003) and the benefits associated with CE can be significant: it may allow organic
growth and constant learning (Biggadike, 1979), or stimulate continuous innovation
(Dougherty and Hardy, 1996; Tidd et al., 2005) thus leading to portfolio/risk diversification (Birkinshaw and Hill, 2003). Eventually, it may improve organizational performance
and/or enhance its strategic value (Bierwerth et al., 2015; Birkinshaw and Hill, 2003;
Hornsby et al., 2002; Ireland et al., 2006). Moreover, the need to obtain and develop
entrepreneurial skills in addition to the skills of maintaining the existing businesses was
stressed in the numerous works on ambidextrous organizations (for example, O’Reilly III
and Tushman, 2008; Tushman and O’Reilly III, 1996). These studies suggest that firms
may not only want to, but need to, set up and stimulate CE initiatives.
Hence, the understanding of CE as a valid and effective area of research has real and
tangible benefits for scholarly pursuit, as this work will have significant impact on an
important organizational strategy (Kuratko, 2010). However, important ambiguities exist
regarding the meaning of the construct: what does it mean to have a CE strategy and to
practice CE? We argue that to resolve them, it is necessary to determine the type and
status of CE in the organization. The topic has been plagued by inconsistent definitions
and operationalizations as it embraces a variety of overlapping concepts. Let us take a
look.
49
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Corporate entrepreneurship
Innovative
Purposeful
Innovation
Corporate renewal
Internal
corporate venturing
Business model
Product/service
Process
Figure 5.1
External
corporate venturing
Reorganization
Types of CE
DIFFERENT TYPES OF CE
Corporate entrepreneurship is a very broad concept including various processes and
activities (see Figure 5.1). Hence, a first question in many discussions is, what exactly does
belong within the definition of CE? Very broadly, CE can rely on two main mechanisms
that determine its scope and the process of how it unfolds. The first mechanism comprises
purposefully rejuvenating or redefining organizations, markets and industries to create
or sustain a position of competitive superiority. This stream includes CE activities such
as renewal of the company or its business model and external corporate venturing. The
second is rejuvenating and redefining organizations based on innovation as the premier
mechanism. It includes developing new product lines for the company, new production
processes and new structurally separated lines of business through internal corporate
venturing.
More specifically, different types of CE activities can be described as follows.
1.
2.
Innovation is creating and introducing new products, production processes and
organizational systems (Zahra and Covin, 1995), as well as services and administrative techniques, often with an emphasis on the development of technology (Antoncic
and Hisrich, 2001). It is important to stress the radical nature of the innovation. Thus,
if a company is active in plastics and develops a new type of polymer, this should not
be considered as CE. Instead, to be considered entrepreneurial, this company could
develop a new product out of this polymer, hence entering a new market (product
rather than raw material) and developing new competencies in production, assembly
and marketing.
Corporate-venturing activities refer to the creation of new business activities (new
product lines and new markets) within firms using new structures, resources and
opportunities that fall outside the purview of a company’s base businesses (Verbeke
et al., 2007). More precisely, corporate venturing (CV) deals with the creation of
formally autonomous or semi-autonomous business units or incubators or corporate
start-ups (Antoncic and Hisrich, 2001). The focus of venture strategy can take two
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3.
principal orientations: internal and external (Williams and Lee, 2009). Internally
orientated CV is formed around existing organizational structures and resources.
Externally orientated CV occurs where the focus for investment and return is outside
the firm’s existing asset base. This includes modes such as mergers, acquisitions, joint
ventures and alliances, corporate venture capital and disposals (Maula et al., 2009).
Corporate renewal (CR) has many facets, including the redefinition of the business
concept (for example, a print newspaper decides to enter the online space), reorganization (a company sells one part of its business to reinvest and reinforce another) and
the introduction of system-wide changes for innovation (for example, creating a new
venture development, NVD, department) (Zahra, 1993). Corporate entrepreneurship
thus leads to a major, complex and urgent change of the organization (Stopford and
Baden-Fuller, 1994; Volberda et al., 2001). Corporate renewal processes mainly focus
on corporate change rather than individual behaviors aimed at developing new products, processes and businesses for the established firm. Furthermore, they mostly occur
following the purposeful decisions of management. An exception to this is could be a
change in a business model induced by an innovation developed within the company.
Hence, there are different ways to be an entrepreneurial organization, and there are
different types of CE activities an organization could engage in. How to engage in them
is another heavily debated aspect of CE.
FOCUSED VERSUS DISPERSED CE STATUS
The status of the CE activity within the organization is also an issue resulting in much
debate: should CE be enclosed in a specialized department or should entrepreneurial
initiatives be allowed throughout the organization (Gibson and Birkinshaw, 2004; Heller,
1999)? Being an activity that goes beyond the mainstream business and traditional job
descriptions, CE is often approached as informal or even illegal (consider, for example,
bootlegging, skunk-working, bending the rules and ‘it is better to ask for forgiveness than
permission’ principles) (Marvel et al., 2007; Pinchot, 1985). However, some believe that
CE processes can be induced by higher management and aligned with formal procedures
established within the organization (Birkinshaw, 2003; Schollhammer, 1982). Some scholars suggest that we embrace CE as a combination of both formal and informal activities
(Zahra, 1991). The following distinction between dispersed and focused CE configurations may be relevant to this discussion.
The focused approach works on the premise that entrepreneurship and management
are fundamentally different processes that require different modes of organization to
occur effectively. This is typified by an NVD, whose mandate is to identify and nurture
new business opportunities for the firm, typically characterized by a semi-autonomous
entity with little formal structure, integration across traditional functional areas, availability of patient money, and management support for risk-taking and creativity (Birkinshaw,
1997). The mandate of an NVD is fundamentally broader and more ambiguous than
that of a research and development (R&D) group, where the set of tasks and responsibilities can be narrowly defined (Birkinshaw, 1997). The focused approach to CE also
assumes a relative structural autonomy of the process. As a consequence of the structural
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detachment, higher visibility and specified mandates from the management, the process
of new venture development in a focused setting may appear to be overly prescribed and
structured, with a higher level of corporate control (Miles and Covin, 2002). Also, being
structurally detached from the everyday life challenges and opportunities of the business
may result in a strategic drift of the NVD department from the innovation needs of the
parent company (Heller, 1999).
The dispersed approach to CE rests on the premise that ‘every individual in the company
has the capacity for both managerial and entrepreneurial behavior more or less simultaneously’ (Birkinshaw, 1997: 209, original emphasis). Dispersed CE therefore assumes a
latent dual role for every employee, consisting of (1) the management of ongoing activities and (2) the identification and pursuit of new opportunities. The advantage of this
approach over the focused approach is that a greater diversity of opportunities will be
sensed because the entrepreneurial capability is dispersed throughout the organization,
rather than restricted to an NVD (Belousova and Gailly, 2013; Williams and Lee, 2011).
The major disadvantage of this approach is that managerial responsibilities typically drive
out less clearly defined entrepreneurial responsibilities and have more immediate rewards.
Hence, the dispersed approach is potentially more promising in relation to quantity and
richness (diversity) of the ideas for new businesses, but it is also riskier than the focused
setting. Unless it is well managed, the dispersed approach can inhibit entrepreneurship
(Birkinshaw, 1997; Elfring, 2005).
COMPASS MODEL FOR UNDERSTANDING CE
Based on the previous discussion, we argue that type (innovation, CV or CR) and status
(focused or dispersed) of CE should be aligned with different strategies and arrangements of organizational systems that a company may employ to support the process and
employees adequately. Consider Figure 5.2. The type and status of CE are at the core
of the organizational vision for CE, and align with top-management beliefs and behaviors regarding entrepreneurship (firm level entrepreneurial posture), its organizational
arrangements for CE, expected process models of how CE projects unfold over time, and
employee motivations, behaviors and mindsets that trigger and fuel these CE projects.
Top-management beliefs and behaviors regarding the supported form and configuration for entrepreneurship will be reflected in the firm level entrepreneurial posture, more
commonly known as entrepreneurial orientation (EO) (Covin and Slevin, 1989; Lumpkin
and Dess, 1996; Miller, 1983; Wales, 2016). Lumpkin and Dess (1996) argued that two
firms may be equally entrepreneurial despite having different profiles for dimensions of
their EO: while one firm will be stronger on the dimensions of innovativeness and proactiveness, another may employ a more risk-taking and competitively aggressive strategy.
Wales et al. (2011) argued that, within an organization, EO may vary across different
managerial levels and different departments or business units. This can also be explained
by the different possibilities of these departments to engage in CE; organically through
innovation or internal CV, or through acquisitions and joint ventures, and their different
personnel arrangements and motivation systems put in place to stimulate their respective
CE activities.
Similar argument can be made for the organizational systems. A great deal of work
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1) Innovativeness
2) Risk-taking
3) Proactiveness
4) Competitive aggressiveness
5) Autonomy
2. Top
management
1) Idea discovery
2) Idea development
3) Promoting, championing
4) Production and bringing to
the market
Figure 5.2
3.
Organizational
mechanisms
1.
Corporate
entrepreneurship
1) Management support
2) Administrative systems
3) Resources
4) Rewards and reinforcements
5) Work discretion
4.
Employees
Type, status
5.
Process
Entrepreneurial mindset
1) Willingness, intentions
2) Cognition
3) Skills
at individual and team levels
Compass model for CE
regarding factors stimulating CE has been undertaken by Hornsby and colleagues
(Hornsby et al., 1993, 2002, 2008, 2013), who have identified a number of factors that
stimulate employees to suggest and implement new business ideas for their organizations.
However, it is easy to imagine that innovation, CV and CR activities require different
managerial support, rewards, work design and scope of allocated resources. Furthermore,
design of these organizational arrangements will also determine whether all employees of
the organization are expected to be entrepreneurial, or only some of them.
Since there is a reciprocal connection between cognition, environment and behavior of
individual and teams of employees in CE (Blanka, 2019; Krueger, 2007; Shepherd and
Krueger, 2002; Wakkee et al., 2010), whether initiative for CE is expected from a specialized core crew of an NVD department or from any employee throughout the organization
would require different approaches to recruitment and development of employee human
capital, such as employee competences (Hayton and Kelley, 2006). That is, the entrepreneurial potential of a firm, requires potential entrepreneurs (Krueger and Brazeal,
1994). The entrepreneurial mindset – willingness, cognition and skills (Hattenberg et al.,
in press) – of managers and employees is critical for successful CE outcomes (Belousova
and Gailly, 2013; Belousova et al., in press; Shepherd and Krueger, 2002; Shepherd et al.,
2010). Hence, the nature of the internal setup for CE will deeply influence employee
intentions, mindset and behavior for CE (Mustafa et al., 2018), but employee mindset
and behaviors will also influence the organization they are embedded in (Belousova and
Gailly, 2012; Shepherd et al., 2010). Hence, the entrepreneurial mindset and entrepreneurial skills are essential for success.
Finally, these different setups for CE will be reflected in the process of bringing an idea
to the market: informal assembly of a project by employees dispersed throughout the
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organization (Belousova and Gailly, 2013) will differ greatly from a focused and formalized process of internal (Burgelman, 1983b; Miles and Covin, 2002) or external (Schildt
et al., 2005) CV. Whether the employee activity is taking place within a specialized structure or in a normal organizational environment will also require various championing
strategies and behaviors from the employees who decide to engage in CE (Day, 1994;
Howell and Higgins, 1990; Markham and Griffin, 1998).
Hence, although CE is (only) one of the scholarly communities within the broader
field of entrepreneurship (Schildt et al., 2006), it still is diverse and requires further contextualization (Zahra, 2007) of both building theory and practice. We hope that with this
compass model we can guide emerging scholars in their understanding of the knowledge
body that has been built in the past three decades, and that we help promote relevant and
constructive dialogue to advance the field of CE.
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6.
Corporate venturing
Garima Jha and Robert D. Hisrich
Starting and operating a new business even under a corporate umbrella includes considerable risks and effort to overcome the inertia of creating something new of value to the
organization as well as to the market and the individuals. In creating and growing a new
corporate venture the corporate entrepreneur assumes the responsibility and risks for its
development and survival.
The term ‘entrepreneurship’ means different things to different individuals. Here are
several questions that are often asked: who is an entrepreneur? What is an entrepreneur?
What is corporate entrepreneurship? What are corporate and social entrepreneurship?
What is the entrepreneurial process? These frequently asked questions reflect the increased
national and international interest in entrepreneurship by individuals, businesses, people,
academics, students and government officials.
The challenge facing organizations today is recognizing the creativity and innovative
capability of their internal members and allowing these individuals to have the ability to
utilize their potential. Corporate entrepreneurship, sometimes referred to as intrapreneurship, or corporate venturing or organizational entrepreneurship, is the process by
which individuals in organizations pursue opportunities independent of the resources
they currently control; this usually involves doing new things and departing from the
customary to pursue opportunities. The spirit of entrepreneurship within an existing
organization results in the creation of a new organization, or in the development of
innovation within that organization. Corporate entrepreneurship requires engendering
entrepreneurial behaviors within an established organization. This enables individuals
to use creative processes for applying and inventing technologies as well as new ways of
doing things.
A broad definition of corporate entrepreneurship was proposed by Ginsberg and Guth
(1990: 5–6) who stressed that corporate entrepreneurship encompasses two major phenomena: new venture creation within existing organizations and the transformation of
organizations through strategic renewal. This renewal involves either formal or informal
activities aimed at creating new businesses or processes in established companies at the
corporate, division (business), functional or project level. The ultimate aim of the renewal
is to improve the company’s competitive position and financial performance. Renewal is
achieved through the redefinition of an organization’s mission by the creative redeployment of resources, leading to new combinations of products and technologies.
A FRAMEWORK FOR CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Like many entrepreneurs who find it difficult to manage and expand the venture created,
many managers find it difficult to allow employees to innovate and engage in venturing
activities. In order to develop and grow the organization, managers need to be more
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Environment
Competitive
Technological
Social
Political
Organization
conduct/form
Organization
performance
Characteristics
Strategy
Effectiveness
Values/benefits
Structure
Efficiency
Behavior
Process
Stakeholder
satisfaction
Core values/
beliefs
Innovation/venturing within
established
corporations
Figure 6.1
Strategic
leaders
Corporate
entrepreneurship
Strategic
renewal of
established
corporations
Framework of corporate entrepreneurship
entrepreneurial by building and developing an organization that encourages corporate
entrepreneurial behavior and rewards employees for taking creative risks.
Ginsberg and Guth (1990) have discussed a model to fit corporate entrepreneurship
into strategic management (Figure 6.1). They present the various factors influencing corporate entrepreneurship and how the process of corporate entrepreneurship affects the
performance of the firm (Ginsberg and Guth, 1990: 7).
Never before has there been such a need for corporate entrepreneurship as organizations face increased, almost hyper, competition from globalization and rapid technology. Since customers now have access to most product and service substitutes, a firm’s
competition can be anywhere in the world. There is a pressing need for organizations
to stay competitive by becoming more innovative and engaging in more corporateventuring activities. Leading international corporate entrepreneurship companies
include 3M, Lucent Technologies, Nokia, Siemens, Nixdorf, DuPont and Apple
Computers.
ASPECTS OF CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
While the specific aspects of corporate entrepreneurship vary from organization to
organization, four common aspects are indicated in this formula:
L 5 I 1 O 1 Cr 1 Ch
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where L 5 level of entrepreneurship, I 5 innovation, O 5 ownership, Cr 5 creativity and
Ch 5 change. Each of these four aspects – innovation, ownership, creativity and change
– are discussed in turn.
Innovation
While innovation is highly valued and a central aspect of most organizations, few
organizations are satisfied with the return on their spending. According to a survey on
corporate innovation by the Boston Consulting Group, which drew responses from about
3000 global executives, innovation is at or near the top of the company’s agenda, with
43 percent of the respondents considering it one of their three most important strategic
priorities and 23 percent considering it their top priority. Despite its priority, satisfaction
with the return on innovation spending continues to decrease.
Ownership
Ownership is also an important aspect of corporate entrepreneurship reflecting the
overall organizational environment or culture. Ownership refers to owning and feeling
responsible for your job and having the desire to perform the job in the most efficient and
effective manner possible; indicated in individuals being keen to go to work.
The overall characteristics of a good corporate entrepreneurial environment encourages ownership. First, since research and development is a key source for successful ideas,
the firm needs to operate on the cutting edge of the industry’s technology. New ideas
need to be encouraged and supported, and not always required to have a rapid return on
investment and a high sales volume.
Second, trial-and-error experimentation needs to be encouraged. Successful new
products or services rarely just appear fully developed; instead they evolve, requiring
time, effort, company support and money. It took time and some product failures before
the first marketable computer appeared. A company wanting to establish a corporate
entrepreneurial spirit has to establish an environment that allows mistakes and failures in
developing new and innovative products or services. These failures need to be viewed as
an indirect investment for creating the successful innovative products.
Third, the organization needs to make sure there are no initial opportunity parameters
inhibiting creativity in the new product development process employed. Frequently in an
organization, territories are protected, frustrating attempts by potential corporate entrepreneurs to establish new ventures. In one Fortune 500 company, an attempt to establish
a corporate entrepreneurial environment eventually failed when the potential corporate
entrepreneurs were informed that a proposed new product and venture was not possible
because it was in the domain of another division.
Fourth, the resources of the firm need to be available and accessible, supporting the corporate entrepreneurship process. As one corporate entrepreneur stated, ‘if my company
really wants me to take the time, effort and career risks to establish a new venture, then it
needs to put resources on the line’ (Bhide, 1996). Often, insufficient funds are allocated
not in creating something new but in solving problems that have an immediate effect on
the bottom line. Some companies, for example, Xerox, 3M, Apple and Intel, have recognized this problem and established separate venture capital areas for funding new internal
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as well as external ventures. In addition to encouraging teamwork, a long-time horizon
for evaluating the success of the overall program as well as the success of each individual
venture needs to be established. This patient attitude is similar to the investment–return
expectation of venture capitalists and others when they invest in an entrepreneurial effort.
The fifth characteristic establishes a volunteer (not forced) process and an appropriate
reward system. The corporate entrepreneur needs to be appropriately rewarded for all the
energy, effort and risk taking expended in the creation of the new venture.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the corporate entrepreneurial activity must
be wholeheartedly supported and embraced by members of top management, by their
physical presence and by their making sure that the personnel and financial resources are
available. Sponsors and champions need to exist throughout the organization. Without
top management support, a successful environment cannot be created.
Creativity and Creative Problem-solving
The third aspect of successful corporate entrepreneurship is creativity. Creativity – the
ability to bring into being from your imagination something unique and original – is very
important and yet often lacking in many organizations. Unfortunately, creativity tends
to decline with age, education, lack of use and bureaucracy. Creativity generally declines
in stages, beginning when a person starts school. It continues to deteriorate through the
teens and to progressively decrease through ages 30, 40, and 50. Also, the latent creative
potential of an employee can be stifled by perceptual, cultural, emotional and organizational factors. Creativity generally can be unlocked, and creative ideas and innovations
generated by using creative problem-solving techniques.
Change
In order for corporate entrepreneurship to thrive in an organization, the final C of the
formula, change, needs to be continuously allowed and encouraged. Organizational
change should ideally be allowed and encouraged. Organizational change is often the
result of an accumulation of smaller steps (changes) taken over time. Adam Smith (1759:
88–9), in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, referred to this as gradual greatness. People
tend to be more accepting of change if they can see the steps and experience them slowly.
New technologies, strategies, structures and/or rapid business expansion originate from
smaller experimental steps and reflects the transference of knowledge and continual practice in the organization.
The idea that change in an organization should occur incrementally and collectively
rather than suddenly suggests that an entrepreneurial organization should be continually
experimenting and modifying around the edges of its core business. Change, discovery and
renewal are fundamental aspects of this type of organization. As this becomes more apparent, managers are encouraged to develop creative, individualistic approaches and unexpected solutions to problems. This leads to charismatic individual leadership and inventive,
creative decision making. It might be necessary, in order to start this process, to let go some
of the existing managers who neither possess the skills nor want to develop them.
It is important for changes to occur and be implemented to first establish a sense
of urgency and form a strong guiding coalition. Since an organization is focused on
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short-term results without establishing the need for change owing to the external environment and competitive landscape, the appropriate timeframe will not be established.
Also, if a group is not established that has enough power and credibility, nothing will be
implemented.
The group needs to establish a vision and strategic plan and communicate this throughout the organization by every means possible. Following the identification and selection
of a champion, limit the obstacles, establish the appropriate new system and reward all
creative thinking. The next step is to ensure to the extent possible that the first initiatives
are successful with visible performance improvements. This will make failures easier to
handle when they occur, which they will. It is easier to be successful at smaller rather than
larger changes. Eventually, the new changes need to be consolidated; producing still more
changes and allowing the change approach and change attitude to be institutionalized in
the organization.
SELECTING A CORPORATE ENTREPRENEUR AND A TEAM
The single most important factor in the success of a corporate entrepreneurial activity
is having a leader and a team with the ability and passion to transform ideas into reality.
While selecting and retaining the right talent can be difficult, with the right incentives
this can be accomplished. Jack Welch, former chief executive officer (CEO) of General
Electric (GE), spent the final years of his tenure developing policies and practices that
would enable GE to recruit, select and retain entrepreneurial individuals and develop
the entrepreneurial potential needed among existing employees. Since usually no single
individual possesses the wide variety of skills necessary to develop a corporate venture,
the composition of the right team is needed. At Xerox New Enterprises, a division that
commercializes novel technologies, the lead corporate entrepreneur of each new company
is almost always recruited externally. The role of the corporate entrepreneur needs to be
diverse. He or she must identify entrepreneurial opportunities and transform them into
action. Corporate entrepreneurs need to constantly seek new venture opportunities. The
corporate entrepreneur can monitor change and compete in a dynamic environment by
using a corporate management checklist for evaluating the potential of creating a successful new corporate venture within the existing organization (see Table 6.1).
MODELS OF CORPORATE VENTURING
Corporate venturing is one strategy for improving corporate performance. Internal
corporate venturing occurs when the new process or new business is created within
the company’s organizational domain. External corporate venturing involves strategic
investments outside the company’s organizational domain. Joint corporate venturing is a
form of external corporate venturing that involves a co-investment with another parent
organization to create a new organization, with both parent organizations continuing to
exist.
There are five general business models of corporate venturing.
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1.
Assess the feasibility and viability of technological development
and achieving the specified goals and objectives.
Evaluate the technological viability in relation to the following
criteria:
Technological viability
1. Evaluate the potential of a viable and credible market
opportunity.
2. Assess the market approach including strategies for managing:
● customers
● suppliers
● competitors
● other external factors.
3. Evaluate the ability to create a successful business, while at the
same time protecting the parent organization.
Evaluate the market viability in relation to the following criteria:
Market viability
1. Has a business plan been developed?
2. Is the business idea or concept feasible?
3. Have financial statements and projections been prepared and
discussed with the financial manager?
4. Are there adequate financial resources available?
5. Is the time required to reach positive cash flow realistic?
6. Are the required human resources with the necessary skills and
abilities available?
7. Do the financial needs for the new venture match the capacity
of the existing organization?
Evaluate the venture potential in relation to the following criteria:
Inadequate
Inadequate
No
Similar to
competitors
Similar to
competitors
Better than
competitors
Better than
competitors
Uncertain
Excellent
Excellent
Uncertain
Uncertain
Yes
Corporate checklist for evaluating the potential of creating a successful corporate entrepreneurial activity within the
existing organization
Evaluation criteria
Table 6.1
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3.
2.
1.
Evaluate the adequacy of the organization’s budget in the context
of the potential new venture.
Evaluate the possibility of raising additional funds to carry out
the project, as well as the potential sources of funding available
for the new venture.
Evaluate the adequacy of the facilities required in relation to the
availability of space for the new venture.
Evaluate resources in relation to the following criteria:
Resources
1. Is there at least one member of the venture management team
qualified to lead the team to undertake the necessary work?
2. Is there an appropriate management team to undertake the work
that has to be done?
3. Is there an opportunity to bring in additional management either
from the parent organization or outside directors?
4. Is there an appropriate group of professionals in the existing
organization or outside advisors?
5. Does the venture management team have the ability and expertise
to leverage scarce resources?
Evaluate the venture management potential in relation to the
following criteria:
Venture management criteria
2. Compare the proposed development program with existing
technologies (or with possible competing and future
technologies).
3. Evaluate the organization’s existing technological achievements.
Inadequate
No
Similar to
competitors
Better than
competitors
Uncertain
Excellent
Uncertain
Yes
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(continued)
Evaluate the proposed commercialization schedule
in relation to:
a. R&D
b. Proprietary protection
c. Human resources
d. Marketing
e. Manufacturing
f. Potential regulatory requirements.
2. Assess the organization’s ability to successfully compete in the
market.
3. Assess the organization’s channels of distribution.
4. Assess the organization’s customer service philosophy.
5. Assess the organization’s capabilities in terms of:
● financial control
● management
● strategic planning
6. Assess the feasibility of the organization’s
commercialization.
1.
Evaluate the commercialization in relation to the following criteria:
Commercialization
Table 6.1
Inadequate
Similar to
competitors
Better than
competitors
Excellent
Uncertain
Corporate venturing
65
Model 1
Model 1, according to Andrew Campbell, highlights four different types of corporate
entrepreneurial business ventures: (1) ecosystem venturing; (2) innovation venturing; (3)
harvest venturing; and (4) private equity venturing (Campbell et al., 2003). Ecosystem
venturing refers to promoting the vivacity of the business network (customers, suppliers,
distributors and franchisees). Ecosystem venturing supports entrepreneurs in the specific
business community through venture capital to improve the prospects of existing businesses (Park and Campbell, 2005: 10–32). Value is created through minority stakes in the
invested firms.
The second type of venturing, innovation venturing, is the implementation of venture
capital methods into existing functions, such as research and development (R&D). This
model is used to help stimulate activity by rewarding people based on the value created
within an existing function.
The third type of business model is harvest venturing. This model seeks to generate cash
from excess corporate resources through licensing or the sale of assets. New businesses
often are created to fully utilize the excess resources.
Corporate private equity venturing, the fourth type, relates to company units that function as independent private equity groups to obtain financial returns.
Model 2
This model identifies five types of linkages between corporate venturing and business
strategy to explain how companies are venturing in ways to strategically benefit the
existing company: (1) corporate venturing and business strategy are poorly linked or
unrelated; (2) business strategy drives corporate venturing; (3) corporate venturing drives
business strategy; (4) corporate venturing and business strategy are interdependent; and
(5) corporate venturing as the business strategy (Covin and Miles, 2007). Corporate venturing can be internal corporate venturing whereby a new business is created within the
domain of the existing company. A second type is external corporate venturing where
the company is involved in creating a new business or growing a business outside the
parent company’s domain. Joint corporate venturing is the third category and refers to
an external corporate venturing established by the existing business and another parent
organization.
Model 3
Garud and Van de Ven’s (1992) model for internal corporate venturing is trial-and-error
learning. This model is based on the observation that the internal corporate entrepreneurial process is filled with uncertainty and ambiguity. Uncertainty is defined as the
incomplete information of the underlying relationship between means and ends. The
assumption is that corporate entrepreneurs will continue with the plan when the associated outcomes are positive, and when the outcomes are negative they will stop or change
their course of action. This model argues that when the level of ambiguity is high and
excess resources are available, corporate entrepreneurs are more likely to persist with a
course of action despite negative consequences.
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Innovative companies are less likely to penalize entrepreneurs in the early stages of the
development process. It is more beneficial for the company to provide support through
a trial-and-error process whereby the entrepreneur makes decisions based on what he or
she believes will yield successful outcomes. Alternatively, ambiguity implies incomplete
information about which outcomes to pursue. When ambiguity comes into play and
excess resources are available, entrepreneurs are likely to continue with a course of action
despite facing negative outcomes.
Model 4
Since a company’s foundation is its current business activities, corporate venturing is the
introduction of a business model that is new to the company (Buckland, 2003). In the
company’s operating core, where profits are generated in existing business activities, there
is a lower risk. In the business extension for growth, there is low to medium risk. Here, the
company introduces new products or moves into new markets. Core ventures for renewal
involve existing business activities, but the risk increases slightly from low to medium. As
newness increases, so does the risk; therefore, the non-core venturing quadrant carries
the most risk.
Based on the strategic pair analysis, the business activity and the business model, businesses should maintain core-venturing capabilities as a defense against disruptive change.
Instead of non-core ventures, it is important and practical for companies to focus on
corporate venturing inside the existing business structure.
Model 5
Robert A. Burgelman (1983) lays out a process model for internal corporate venturing in
large diversified firms. In the process model for internal corporate venturing, there are
three main elements: (1) definition and impetus; (2) strategic and structural context; and
(3) managerial activities. As the core processes of internal corporate venturing, definition and impetus are the first step in the model process. The definition process includes
the conceptualization and pre-venture stages of the development process. Moreover, the
model involves expressing the technical and economic qualities of an internal corporate
venturing project so that a project develops into an embryonic business organization.
The linking processes are important in demonstrating that the newly developed concept
is coupled to a market need. Product championing takes the linking process further and
pushes it to the impetus process. Support within the organization is then obtained through
the impetus process because market interest is created, and resources are mobilized. In the
impetus process, a project transforms from a venture idea into its own business. Strategic
forcing is the commercialization of the new product, which needs to be combined with
efforts from strategic building. In this way, both a broader strategy and the implementation of the strategy are developed for the new business.
The second element of the internal corporate venturing process encompasses strategic context and structural context. Strategic context determination is the political
process whereby managers of the corporate entrepreneurial business persuade corporate managers to alter the existing concept of strategy to include the new venture. The
goal is to gain support from upper corporate management by showing them how the
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corporate entrepreneurial activity fits into the current strategy and has strategic benefits.
Delineation is also an important factor that helps outline the new arenas into which the
business development will lead the existing company. Structural context refers to the
internal selection environment whereby corporate managers exert control over the internal
corporate venturing process.
The third element of the internal corporate venturing process addresses the vital role
middle-level management plays. The process is a bottom-up approach, and managers
must foster support and secure resources for new venturing strategically. Management
championing the new corporate entrepreneurial activity must be adept at linking the new
business venture with the corporate strategy.
BENEFITS OF A CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
PROGRAM
The benefits of establishing and implementing a corporate venturing program are discussed in relation to benefits to the company and benefits to the employees. The principal
benefits of corporate venturing to the company are indicated below. One of the most
important benefits is the increase in morale through the establishment of a new corporate
culture. Employees will ‘own their jobs’ and want to make their positions operate in the
best possible, most efficient ways. The new culture will make it fun for employees to come
to work.
Benefits of corporate venturing to the company:
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
establishing a new culture, better morale;
reduction in employee turnover;
motivated workforce;
new business concepts;
new ways of doing things;
more flexible organizational structure;
organizational learning; and
positive impact on revenues and profits.
FUTURE PROSPECTS
To close with more on the entrepreneurial–intrapreneurial balance, Govindarajan
et al. (2019) offer three business reasons why large corporations will become increasingly important to innovation in the future. First, large corporations have competitive
advantages owing to brand recognition and staying power, whereas startups increasingly
encounter rivals owing to shorter product-development cycles and an abundance of
financing. That is, owning to their newness, startups do not enjoy the same entrenchment
as large corporations and can more easily be disrupted. Second, large corporations are
more openly embracing innovation and nimbleness to stay competitive. Finally, a great
deal of innovation in recent years has involved innovative business models, which play to
large corporations’ strengths better than innovative product technologies. Also, corporate
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entrepreneurship is the most important way to keep these corporations going in the long
run.
REFERENCES
Bhide, A. (1996), ‘The questions every entrepreneur must answer’, Harvard Business Review, 74 (6), 120–30.
Buckland, W. (2003), ‘Defining what corporate venturing actually is and what firms should do about it’,
Strategic Direction, 19 (9), 2–4.
Burgelman, R.A. (193), ‘A process model of internal corporate venturing in the diversified major firm’,
Administrative Quarterly, 28 (2), 223–44.
Campbell, A., J. Bradshaw, A. Morrison and R. van Basten Batenburg (2003), ‘The future of corporate venturing’, MIT Sloan Management Review, 45 (1), 30–37.
Covin, J.G. and M.P. Miles (2007), ‘Strategic use of corporate venturing’, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice,
31 (2), 183–207.
Garud, R. and A.H. van de Ven (1992), ‘An empirical evaluation of the internal corporate venturing process’,
Strategic Management Journal, 13 (Summer) special issue, 93–109.
Ginsberg, A. and W. Guth (1990), ‘Guest editors’ introduction: corporate entrepreneurship’, Strategic
Management Journal, 11 (Summer), 5–15.
Govindarajan, V., B. Lev, A. Srivastava and L. Enache (2019), ‘The gap between large and small companies is
growing. Why?’, Harvard Business Review, 16 August, accessed 11 October 2020 at https://hbr.org/2019/08/
the-gap-between-large-and-small-companies-is-growing-why.
Park, R. and A. Campbell (2005), The Growth Gamble, London: Nicholas Brealey International.
Smith, A. (1759), The Theory of Moral Sentiments, London: Printed for A. Millar, and A. Kincaid and J. Bell.
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7.
Cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship education
Dianne H.B. Welsh
Since the dawn of the millennium, cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship education has taken
hold in primarily US universities, colleges and even in two-year community colleges. It has
evolved from being solely in business schools (Dana, 1992, 1993; Gorman et al., 1997).
There are also a few examples of universities globally that have adopted this model. Crossdisciplinary entrepreneurship education, for the purposes of our study, refers to courses
outside the discipline of entrepreneurship, almost solely located in business schools that
have two or more learning objectives (goals) in entrepreneurship together with disciplinespecific learning objectives which are carried through in the assignments and exercises in
the class and then measured (Welsh, 2014). Entrepreneurship is woven or blended in the
subject and applied for better understanding and application to the discipline (Welsh,
2014). The role of faculty buy-in and participation cannot be over-emphasized when
it comes to the success of cross-disciplinary programs (Schneider, 2015). Hynes (1996)
developed an early model to integrate entrepreneurship education across campus, focusing on process based on the needs of different groups of students. Engineering has been
the predominant discipline in which entrepreneurship has been integrated and achieved
early on, but now entrepreneurship education has been integrated in all disciplines, from
the arts to the sciences.
Experiential education is a popular component of entrepreneurship curricula and is
included as a vital component of cross-campus entrepreneurship programs. Internships
often are included as either required or elective courses in entrepreneurship programs
and may be in multiple departments across campus. Internships give students one-onone experience in entrepreneurial businesses, start-ups, and often include a modeling or
shadowing component with an entrepreneur. Internships add experience to the résumé
of students before graduating. Internships provide a reality check for students. Giacomin
et al. (2016: 938), in a study comparing optimism and overconfidence in students from the
US, Spain and India, concluded that ‘students may be unaware of the reality of being an
entrepreneur, such as long hours, heavy work load, stress, financial risks, less job security,
few benefits, greater vulnerability to market shifts and microeconomic downturns, challenges in balancing work and family, and . . . failure’.
Despite cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship’s growing popularity and reach, there has
been little measurement of its effectiveness, with the exception of Canziani and Welsh
(2019). Many scholars see research on entrepreneurship education as a whole as still in its
infancy stages (Brazeal and Herbert, 1999; Gorman et al., 1997; Graevenitz et al., 2010;
Souitaris et al., 2007) and theory is sorely needed (Fayolle, 2013; Fiet, 2012). Evidence
is mixed as to whether entrepreneurship education increases the motivation to engage in
entrepreneurial activities. Some studies show a positive effect (for example, Fenton and
Barry, 2014; Iglesias-Sánchez et al., 2016; Lee et al., 2005; Peterman and Kennedy, 2003;
Souitaris et al., 2007; Zhang et al., 2013), while other researchers contend that the results
are not conclusive and additional research is needed (Joensuu et al., 2015; Krueger and
69
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Brazeal, 1994; Matlay, 2006) and still others found results that are contradictory (Colette
and Treanor, 2012; Farhangmehr and Goncalves, 2016; Fayolle, 2013). A recent study
looked at the cognitive development of college students enrolled in entrepreneurship
education classes (Tullar and Welsh, 2020, in press) and the impact, if any, on motivation,
although scholars have long called for these studies (Krueger, 2007; Krueger and Day,
2010; Krueger et al., 2000).
REFERENCES
Brazeal, D.V. and T.T. Herbert (1999), ‘The genesis of entrepreneurship’, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice,
23 (3), 29–45.
Canziani, B.F. and D.H.B. Welsh (2019), ‘How entrepreneurship influences other disciplines: an examination
of learning goals’, International Journal of Management Education, in press, doi:10.1016/j.ijme.2019.01.003.
Colette, H. and L. Treanor (2012), ‘Exploring entrepreneurship education within veterinary medicine: can it be
taught?’, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 19 (3), 484–99.
Dana, L.P. (1992), ‘Entrepreneurial education in Europe’, Journal of Education for Business, 68 (2), 74–8.
Dana, L.P. (1993) ‘An international survey of entrepreneurship education’, Journal of Enterprising Culture,
1 (1), 67–92.
Farhangmehr, M. and P. Goncalves (2016), ‘Predicting entrepreneurial motivation among university students’,
Education + Training, 58 (7–8), 861–81.
Fayolle, A. (2013), ‘Personal views on the future of entrepreneurship education’, Entrepreneurship & Regional
Development. An International Journal, 25 (7–8), 692–701.
Fenton, M. and A. Barry (2014), ‘Breathing space – graduate entrepreneurs’ perspectives of entrepreneurship
education in higher education’, Education + Training, 56 (8–9), 733–44.
Fiet, J.O. (2012), ‘The theoretical side of teaching entrepreneurship’, Journal of Business Venturing, 16 (1), 1–24.
Giacomin, O., F. Janssen and R.S. Shinnar (2016), ‘Student entrepreneurial optimism and overconfidence across
cultures’, International Small Business Journal, 34 (7), 925–47.
Gorman, G., D. Hanlon and W. King (1997), ‘Some research perspectives on entrepreneurship education,
enterprise education and education for small business management: a ten-year literature review’, International
Small Business Journal, 15 (3), 56–77.
Graevenitz, G.D., D. Harhoff and R. Weber (2010), ‘The effects of entrepreneurship education’, Journal of
Economic Behavior and Organization, 76 (1), 90–112.
Hynes, B. (1996), ‘Entrepreneurship education and training-introducing entrepreneurship into non-business
disciplines’, Journal of European Industrial Training, 20 (8), 10–17.
Iglesias-Sánchez, P.P., J.M. Carmen, P.V. Antonio and K. Husam (2016), ‘Impact of entrepreneurship programs
on university students’, Education + Training, 58 (2), 209–28.
Joensuu., S., E. Varamäki and A. Viljamaa (2015), ‘Beyond intentions – what makes a student start a firm?’,
Education + Training, 57 (8–9), 853–73.
Krueger, N.F. (2007), ‘What lies beneath? The experiential essence of entrepreneurial thinking’, Entrepreneurship
Theory and Practice, 31 (1), 123–38.
Krueger, N.F. and D.V. Brazeal (1994), ‘Entrepreneurial potential and potential entrepreneurs’, Entrepreneurship
Theory and Practice, 18 (3) 91–104.
Krueger, N.F. and M. Day (2010), ‘Looking forward, looking backward: from entrepreneurial cognition to
neuroentrepreneurship’, in Z.J. Acs and D.B. Audretsch (eds), Handbook of Entrepreneurship Research,
New York: Springer, pp. 321–57.
Krueger N.F., M. Reilly and A.L. Carsrud (2000), ‘Competing models of entrepreneurial intentions’, Journal
of Business Venturing, 15 (5/6), 411–532.
Lee, S.M., D. Chang and S.B. Lim (2005), ‘Impact of entrepreneurship education: a comparative study of the
U. S. and Korea’, International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 1 (1), 27–43.
Matlay, H. (2006), ‘Researching entrepreneurship and education: Part 2: what is entrepreneurship education,
and does it matter?’, Education + Training, 48 (8–9), 704–18.
Peterman, N. and J. Kennedy (2003), ‘Enterprise education: influencing students’ perceptions of entrepreneurship’, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 28 (2), 129–44.
Schneider, M. (2015), ‘Kauffman campuses initiative: a study that explores the phenomenon of cross-campus
entrepreneurship’, PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
Souitaris, V., S. Zerbinati and A. Al-Laham (2007), ‘Do entrepreneurship programs raise entrepreneurial
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intention of science and engineering students? The effect of learning, inspiration and resources’, Journal of
Business Venturing, 22 (4), 566–91.
Tullar, W. and D.H.B. Welsh (2019), ‘Reality check: changes in business students’ psychological resources as they
move toward graduation’, International Entrepreneurship and Small Business, in press.
Welsh, D.H.B. (2014), Creative Cross-Disciplinary Entrepreneurship: A Practical Guide for a Campus-Wide
Program, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Zhang, Y., G. Duysters and M. Cloodt (2013), ‘The role of entrepreneurship education as a predictor of
university students’ entrepreneurial intention’, International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 9 (1),
1–19.
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8.
Defining the entrepreneur
Louis Jacques Filion
INTRODUCTION
This chapter reflects on the notion of defining the entrepreneur. After presenting some
background information on the various meanings associated with the term ‘entrepreneur’, we introduce the three main pioneers who dealt with this subject: Cantillon, Say
and Schumpeter. Fifteen of the most frequently mentioned elements from definitions
found in the literature were retained, along with 12 of the activities that best characterize
what entrepreneurs do. Six main components are proposed for inclusion in a definition
of the entrepreneur: (1) innovation, (2) opportunity recognition, (3) risk management,
(4) action, (5) use of resources and (6) added value. Some sample definitions are proposed, and the conclusion suggests that there are different levels of innovation and of
entrepreneurial expression.
What is an entrepreneur? What characterizes entrepreneurs and distinguishes them
from other organizational and social actors? How can the entrepreneur be defined?
These are typical questions that most new entrepreneurship researchers ask, and to
which a variety of answers can be found in the literature. As for why there is such a broad
range of perspectives, the answer is far from simple.
First, the range of entrepreneurial roles is increasing steadily, and now includes
venture creators, technopreneurs, intrapreneurs, extrapreneurs, social entrepreneurs, the
self-employed and many others. In this chapter, the term ‘entrepreneur’ is used to refer
to all these entrepreneurial actors.
Observation reveals that entrepreneurship is a complex phenomenon involving a set of
activities with technical, human, managerial and entrepreneurial characteristics, the performance of which requires a diverse set of skills. Generally, entrepreneurial actors play
additional roles (mainly managerial) when they carry their entrepreneurial activities, and
this, too, must be taken into account. Clearly, the range of roles begs the question as to
what constitutes the common core activities for all these actors and what sets the entrepreneurial aspect of their activities apart from the other aspects.
Given the many different categories and types of entrepreneurs, it is reasonable to
wonder whether there can possibly be elements that are common to them all. Why
are there so many definitions of the entrepreneur? In fact, there are several reasons,
including the range of disciplines, research fields and paradigms through which actors
and situations can be studied. The humanities differ from physics and the other ‘hard’
sciences, in that specialists can study and define phenomena from widely different
standpoints.
In our own graduate research courses in entrepreneurship, we discuss and define the
entrepreneur using several different analysis grids, including that devised by Burrell and
Morgan (1979), based on two vectors: subjectivist-objectivist and radical-regulation. The
grid can be used to classify the humanities literature into four categories:
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1.
2.
3.
4.
73
Functionalist: objective view of reality and a regulatory view of society.
Interpretativist: subjective view of reality and a regulatory view of society.
Radical structuralist: objective view of reality and focus on radical change.
Radical humanist: subjective view of reality and focus on radical change (Burrell
and Morgan, 1979; Howorth et al., 2005).
Definitions of the entrepreneur will obviously differ according to the authors’ paradigms. Other entrepreneurship researchers have also proposed the Burrell and Morgan
grid as a means of understanding the different standpoints for definitions of the term
entrepreneur (Howorth et al., 2005). There are many reasons for the broad range of
perspectives, but one in particular stands out, namely, the prism through which the
author of the definition observes and understands reality. This is the first element that
should be considered in any definition. Morgan (1997) also suggested nine metaphors
for looking at organizational life. They also offer rich perspectives for examining
entrepreneurship.
Researchers have always been interested in defining the entrepreneur, but the literature on the subject was most abundant in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. This was the time
when growing numbers of researchers from a host of different disciplines, including
many emerging disciplines in the humanities and administrative sciences, began to take
an interest in entrepreneurs: Kilby (1971); Wortman (1987); Low and MacMillan (1988);
Bygrave (1989; 1993); Gartner (1990); Cunningham and Lischeron (1991); Reynold
(1991); Bull and Willard (1993); Brazeal and Herbert (1999) and Sharma and Chrisman
(1999). Even after the 1990s the subject remained a real concern for researchers:
Davidsson et al. (2001); Busenitz et al. (2003); Sarasvathy (2004); Gartner et al. (2006);
Grégoire et al. (2006); and Ireland and Webb (2007).
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN AND MEANING OF THE
TERM ‘ENTREPRENEUR’
The term ‘entrepreneur’ is a French word derived from the verb ‘entreprendre’, which
means to do or to undertake. It can be divided into two parts, ‘entre’, meaning ‘between’,
and ‘preneur’ meaning ‘taker’. Literally, then, an entre-preneur is a ‘between-taker’, or
‘go-between’.
The term ‘entrepreneur’ first appeared in the literature in 1253, when it was used in
different forms (for example, ‘empreneur’). It appears to have taken on its present, definitive spelling in 1433 (Rey, 1994: 700). We know it was used commonly in the 1500s and
1600s. For example, Champlain, speaking of his first voyage to explore the St Lawrence
River in 1603, wrote that he had been invited to make the trip ‘to see the country and
what entrepreneurs would do there’ (Champlain, 1632, in Giguère, 1973, vol. 2: 702, free
translation from the French).
Hélène Vérin (1982) wrote a doctoral thesis in literature in which she discusses the
shades of meaning of the terms ‘entrepreneur’ and ‘enterprise’ through history. She notes
that the ancestor of the term ‘enterprise’ – ‘emprise’ (from the Latin imprisia) – referred
to something bold, firm and daring (Vérin, 1982: 31–3). She also examined variations
in meaning over the centuries, and especially between the thirteenth and eighteenth
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centuries. The current meaning that also refers to an enterprise leader first appeared in
the early nineteenth century (Rey, 1994: 700).
THREE PIONEERS IN THE FIELD OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Three authors in particular were among the first to reflect extensively on what entrepreneurs do. The concept of entrepreneur can be understood more easily through the
writings of these main pioneers.
Richard Cantillon
The first, Cantillon, was what we would now call a venture capitalist looking for investment opportunities with better than average yields. His perspective as an investor meant
that the element of risk was a core aspect of how he viewed entrepreneurial projects and
defined what he considered to be an entrepreneur (Cantillon, 1755). As Schumpeter
pointed out: ‘Cantillon had a clear conception of the function of the entrepreneur . . .
This, of course, is scholastic doctrine. But nobody before Cantillon had formulated it
so fully. And it may be due to him that French economists . . . never lost sight of the
entrepreneurial function and its central importance’ (1954: 222). Cantillon described the
entrepreneur as a person who purchases a raw material at a known price in order to sell
it at an unknown price (Cantillon, 1755). In Cantillon’s definition, an entrepreneur’s
role lies between that of two or more other actors. He or she is an intermediary (or gobetween) who instigates a transformation.
Jean-Baptiste Say
After Cantillon, the author who had the greatest impact on the field of entrepreneurship
as it is today was Jean-Baptiste Say, nearly a century later. Say was himself an entrepreneur, and came from an entrepreneurial family. He was also a prolific writer, and wrote
from the standpoint of someone preparing others to become entrepreneurs and hoping to
convince them of the importance of entrepreneurs in economic development. He identified the element of innovation as being most characteristic of the entrepreneur; in other
words, he regarded entrepreneurs as being people who could do new things, people who
could do more with less, and people who would obtain more by doing something in a new
or different way (Say, 1815; 1996). Therefore, Say saw the entrepreneur as an economic
actor whose activities generated an added value. In his monumental work on the history
of economics, Schumpeter pointed out that Say was the first to draw a clear distinction
between the role of the entrepreneur and the role of the capitalist (Schumpeter, 1954: 555).
Joseph Alois Schumpeter
Joseph Alois Schumpeter is the author to whom the association between entrepreneurs
and innovation is most often attributed by experts. In fact, as Schumpeter himself pointed
out, he simply took over the definition presented by Jean-Baptiste Say (Schumpeter,
1954). He went further, however, postulating that ‘the essence of entrepreneurship lies in
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the perception and exploitation of new opportunities’ (Schumpeter, 1928). When he went
into politics in an Austrian-Hungarian empire that needed to become more dynamic,
Schumpeter identified entrepreneurs as being the people most needed to revitalize the
economy and the organizations. Writing one century after Say, his thinking appears to
be more complex and more complete. He associated innovation by entrepreneurs with
five elements:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The introduction of a new good.
The introduction of a new method of production.
The opening of a new market.
The conquest of a new source of supply of raw material.
The carrying out of the new organization of any industry (Schumpeter, 1934: 66).
It is interesting to note that none of the combinations proposed by Schumpeter to define
innovation included new venture creation as such. In his writings, Schumpeter often
mentioned the concept of creative destruction to refer to the contribution of innovation
by entrepreneurs (Schumpeter, 1954). It is to remember that he used the term entrepreneur to refer, to what we now call intrapreneurs as well, since the term was not coined
during Schumpeter’s lifetime.
Clearly, then, the standpoint from which an author approaches the concept of entrepreneurship influences the key elements he or she will use to define that concept. The
humanities involve a certain amount of subjectivity, in that there is not necessarily a
clear-cut answer to a question as is the case in the hard sciences. Definitions depend on
the original standpoint – often the disciplinary field – that determines the prism through
which human beings see and understand reality, and express their subjectivity.
An interesting element to consider here is the database on which the three pioneers,
Richard Cantillon, Jean-Baptiste Say and Joseph Alois Schumpeter, based their reflections on entrepreneurs, their characteristics and their roles. Today, many authors and
publications ascribe a great deal of importance to the samples used, in order to classify
the research as being reliable and valid, and therefore in compliance with scientific criteria. However, the three pioneers in the field of entrepreneurship were not researchers as
we understand the term today. Their point of reference, far from being a ‘representative
sample’, was in fact composed simply of people they knew who had played entrepreneurial roles. In the case of Say and Schumpeter, these were more socially oriented roles
that they wished to develop.
THE MOST COMMON ELEMENTS USED IN DEFINITIONS OF
THE ENTREPRENEUR
There are many ways to define an entrepreneur. For most people, an entrepreneur is a
person who owns and leads a business. However, specialists increasingly use a larger
number of elements in their definitions of and references to entrepreneurs (Julien, 1998).
Ultimately, virtually every author has a different definition of the term, depending on
the specific entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial category studied. We have identified 15 elements (Table 8.1) mentioned most frequently in the definitions from the entrepreneurship
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Table 8.1
The elements mentioned most frequently in definitions of the term
‘entrepreneur’
Elements defining the entrepreneur
Authors
1.
Innovation
2.
Risk
3.
4.
Coordination of resources for
production; organizing factor of
production or of the management
of resources
Value creation
Schumpeter (1947); Cochran (1968); Drucker (1985);
Julien (1989; 1998)
Cantillon (1755); Knight (1921); Palmer (1971);
Reuters Ltd (1982); Rosenberg (1983)
Ely and Hess (1893); Cole (1942; and in Aitken 1965);
Belshaw (1955); Chandler (1962); Leibenstein (1968);
Wilken (1979); Pearce (1981); Casson (1982)
5.
6.
7.
8.
Projective and visionary thinking
Focus on action
Leadership
Dynamo of the economic system
9.
Venture creation
10.
Opportunity recognition
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Creativity
Anxiety
Control
Introduction of change
Rebellion/delinquency
Say (1815; 1996); Bruyat and Julien (2001); Fayolle
(2008)
Longenecker and Schoen (1975); Filion (1991; 2004)
Baty (1981)
Hornaday and Aboud (1971)
Weber (1947); Baumol (1968); Storey (1982); Moffat
(1983)
Collins et al. (1964); Smith (1967); Collins and Moore
(1970); Brereton (1974); Komives (1974); Mancuso
(1979); Schwartz (1982); Carland et al. (1984); Vesper
(1990)
Smith (1967); Meredith et al. (1982); Kirzner (1983);
Stevenson and Gumpert (1985); Timmons (1989);
Dana (1995); Shane and Venkataraman (2000);
Bygrave and Zacharakis (2004); Timmons and Spinelli
(2004)
Zaleznik and Kets de Vries (1976); Pinchot (1985)
Lynn (1969); Kets de Vries (1977; 1985)
McClelland (1961)
Mintzberg (1973); Shapero (1975)
Hagen (1960)
literature that we believe are most relevant (Filion, 1987; 1988). Many authors include
different elements in their definitions, or present different definitions during their careers.
In such cases we have selected the concept the author in question appears to regard as
being most important. We chose a selection of authors dealing with the subject over the
centuries, and especially over recent decades because the use of the recent literature alone
does not provide a true overview of the different perspectives from which the subject
was examined in the shaping of what is in the process of becoming the field of study of
entrepreneurship.
Table 8.1 does not present the shades of meaning that authors included in their definitions of the entrepreneur. For instance, Dana (1995) found that people of unlike cultural
origins relate to opportunity in different ways, and argued that entrepreneurship should
therefore not be viewed simply as a function of opportunity recognition, but rather as a
function of cultural perceptions of opportunity.
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TOWARDS A DEFINITION OF THE ENTREPRENEUR
To define what entrepreneurs are, we can first look at what they do – that is, at their activity systems. We have observed entrepreneurs repeatedly, in the course of many research
projects, and one aspect that stands out is their ability to act independently. Therefore,
we can say that one of the primary characteristics of an entrepreneur is the ability to
conceive and implement an activity system. In other words, entrepreneurs are people
who are able to translate thoughts into action; they are dreamers and thinkers who do.
Our observations have also shown that entrepreneurs are people who engage in activities they themselves have designed. But not just any activity – these are activities that
were defined as a result of recognizing an entrepreneurial opportunity (Table 8.2). In
many cases, the opportunity involved doing something differently and therefore adding
value to what existed previously. Generally speaking, entrepreneurs initiate, implement
and develop their projects trying to use a limited number of resources in order to generate surpluses and profits which can then be reinvested to achieve further development.
Their motivation is to innovate or introduce something new while minimizing the risk.
We will not comment in detail on every element of Table 8.2. What we will say,
however, is that it is not possible to define the entrepreneur based solely on the
Table 8.2
Activities and characteristics often attributed to entrepreneurs
Activities
Characteristics
1.
Learning
2.
Choosing a sector
3.
4.
5.
Identifying a niche
Recognizing and developing an
entrepreneurial opportunity
Visualizing projectively
6.
Managing risk
7.
8.
Designing (products, services,
organizations)
Committing to action
Experience of a sector; memorized information; use of
feedback
Interest; motivation; assessment of potential added value
for the future
Care; analytical capacities; precision; target
Originality; differentiation; creativity; intuition;
initiative; culture that values innovation
Ability to dream realistically; conceptual skills; systemic
thinking; anticipation; foresight; ability to set goals and
objectives; visioning
Thriftiness; security; conservatism; moderate risktaker; ability to tolerate uncertainty and ambiguity;
independence
Imagination; problem-solving skills
9.
10.
Using resources
Building relations systems
11.
Managing – sales; negotiations;
people – and delegating
Developing
12.
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Self-confidence related to clearly defined identity;
long-term commitment; hard worker; energy; result
orientation; decision-making; passion; locus-of-control;
determination; perseverance; tenacity
Resourcefulness; coordination; control
Networking skills; flexibility; empathy; listening and
communication skills; use of mentors; vision
Versatility; adaptability; capacity to design tasks; ability
to trust
Leadership; seeks challenges
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Opportunity
recognition
Innovation
Risk
Use of
resources
ACTION
Added
value
Figure 8.1
Main elements used to define the term ‘entrepreneur’
characteristics of people who play entrepreneurial roles. Characteristics can be used to
refine and clarify certain aspects of a definition, but cannot be regarded as constituting its
core. Table 8.2 presents the activities mentioned most frequently in the entrepreneurship
literature, which we felt were most relevant in achieving a definition (left-hand column).
However, it is important to establish the relative importance of each activity.
It can be useful to consider activities when defining a research subject or structuring
a research project. Activities are easily identifiable and can be delimited. Some can even
be measured. Nevertheless, care is needed when observing the activities of entrepreneurs,
because many are management activities that complement or add to entrepreneurial
activities, rather than purely entrepreneurial activities as such. This is the case, for
example, of the management activities listed under point 11 of Table 8.2.
It is our contention that there are levels in entrepreneurial expression, meaning that
the elements used to define the entrepreneur can be ranked in importance. A distinction
must be drawn between ‘essential’ elements, that is, those that entrepreneurs perform
when doing what they do as entrepreneurs, and other elements that, although partly
explaining the entrepreneur’s success, are more managerial in nature. For a definition of
the entrepreneur, we therefore suggest focusing on the ‘essential’ entrepreneurial act, in
the sense of that which constitutes the essence of the entrepreneur’s activity, that is, the
act of recognizing and developing entrepreneurial opportunities. The definition should
also include at least the six components set out in Figure 8.1.
Therefore, a definition of entrepreneurs should include at least these six elements: an
entrepreneur is an actor who innovates by recognizing opportunities; he or she makes
moderately risky decisions that lead into actions requiring the efficient use of resources
and contributing an added value.
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BOX 8.1 SOME SHORT DEFINITIONS OF THE ENTREPRENEUR
An entrepreneur is an actor:
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
who learns continually in order to recognize opportunities with potential for innovation;
who makes innovations that add value;
who is able to recognize opportunities for development;
who conceives and implements visions with elements of differentiation;
who is able to conceive an organizational project or enterprise based on the recognition and
development of a risky opportunity with potential for innovation;
who takes moderate risks in order to innovate;
who is innovative and able to take action by exploiting an opportunity to develop a product
or service;
who uses resources economically in order to design innovative products or services with a
competitive edge based on differentiation;
who is focused on the recognition of risky opportunities with a potential for innovation in
order to fulfil a social or market need;
who is imaginative and able to move away from the beaten track by carrying out innovative
activities with added value.
In our view, however, there is no single, absolute definition of what an entrepreneur
is and does, just like there is no ‘one best way’ (Taylor, 1947). Everything depends on
the standpoint or perspective of the person creating the definition, and the aspects and
elements on which that person decides to focus in his or her research. Some definitions
of entrepreneurs can be very short; examples would include: ‘Entrepreneurs are dreamers
who do’ or ‘Entrepreneurs are doers who get results’. Box 8.1 suggests some simple
definitions of the entrepreneur.
All these definitions present at least one aspect of what an entrepreneur is and does.
The next step is to devise a definition that reflects the six main elements and additional
dimensions of the entrepreneur’s activity system. Box 8.2 lists some more complete suggested definitions of what an entrepreneur is and does.
Entrepreneurship is the field that studies entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial actors and
entrepreneurial environments.
CONCLUSION
We share the opinion of Mark Casson, who wrote that ‘The most difficult part of
studying entrepreneurship is to define who and what an entrepreneur is’ (Casson, 1982:
1). There are many dimensions that can be considered in a definition of what an entrepreneur is, based on what entrepreneurs do. An important dimension to remember is
that there are different levels of entrepreneurial expression. Ultimately, each discipline
could have its own definition of the entrepreneur. However, every definition must reflect
the contingency elements on which it is based. Questions concerning the definition of
the entrepreneur will continue as long as researchers devise new disciplinary sets and
metaphors to explore the different facets of human behaviour. Fully integrated, more
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BOX 8.2
SAMPLE DEFINITIONS
An entrepreneur is:
●
●
●
●
An imaginative actor who recognizes entrepreneurial opportunities, makes moderately risky
decisions with a view to innovating, and takes action by using resources to implement a
differentiated vision that contributes an added value.
An intuitive, resourceful, tenacious actor who is able to recognize and develop risky
opportunities with potential for innovation, and who adds value to what already exists by
setting up activities that involve a scarce use of resources.
A results-oriented designer of innovations who is able to develop risky opportunities,
who learns to be creative and resourceful, takes action by making practical use of limited
resources and a network of contacts, and who is able to structure organizational activities
to form a client satisfaction system that contributes an added value.
A results-oriented actor who maintains a high level of sensitivity in order to recognize and
develop entrepreneurial opportunities. This actor makes moderately risky decisions and
is discerning in the use of resources. As long as this actor continues to take action by
designing and implementing value-added innovations, he or she will continue to play an
entrepreneurial role that contributes development.
complete definitions of the entrepreneur will become possible once a science of action has
been developed. Even then, it may well be that entrepreneurs will continue to be misunderstood not only by others, but by themselves as well.
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Digital entrepreneurship
Kerstin Wagner and Oliver Som
The long tradition of entrepreneurship research has mainly focused on ‘how, by whom
and with what consequences opportunities to produce future goods and services are
discovered, evaluated and exploited’ (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000: 218). In addition
to the ongoing digital transformation of economies driven by the diffusion of digital
technologies, a multitude of new entrepreneurial opportunities is emerging. Owing to
new requirements for work in a digital economy, work values have evolved to constitute a greater appreciation of teamwork and connectedness. This entails new cognitive
(for example, knowledge of digital technologies, and digital literacy) and behavioural
capabilities of working in and with digital platforms (for example, co-creation, information seeking and sharing, tackling problems and seeing new opportunities, and
managing virtual teams). Furthermore, accessibility to social capital (such as networks,
business partners and mentors) and to formal and informal networks, the exploitation
novel funding opportunities (for example, crowdfunding) and the unlocking of tacit
knowledge (for example, online technical assistance, technical databases, and communities of users and experts) are gaining increasing relevance (Smith et al., 2017; Li et al.,
2018).
General management literature reveals findings on how digitalization affects the
demand for new workplace skills (Sousa and Rocha, 2019) and competencies (Lobo and
Whyte, 2017). However, little is known about how the characteristic context of digital
transformation influences the nature of entrepreneurship.
The field of research in digital entrepreneurship is still fuzzy and relatively unexplored.
Nambisan (2017) has presented one of the most important and differentiated conceptual
approaches to digital entrepreneurship to date. Based on two main implications of digital
technologies, less bounded entrepreneurial processes and outcomes and fewer predefined
loci of entrepreneurial agency, he advances a future research agenda on entrepreneurship that calls for the explicit theorizing of concepts related to digital technologies.
However, his argumentation remains on the descriptive level and thereby misses the
opportunity to synthesize its findings into a typology of different phenotypes of digital
entrepreneurship.
We contribute to advance Nambisan’s conceptual considerations by presenting a taxonomy of how entrepreneurs take advantage and exploit digital technologies for value
creation. This taxonomy aims to show how entrepreneurs partly to fully integrate or
utilize digital technologies and thus, depending on the stage of technological integration,
influence how other entrepreneurs use digital technologies. The goal pursued with the taxonomy is to better structure the empirical heterogeneity of entrepreneurship in the digital
age, thereby providing a more systematic starting point for identifying future demands for
progressing theory and empirical analysis in entrepreneurship research.
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THREE LEVELS OF BECOMING DIGITAL
To develop the perspectives on digital entrepreneurship, it is necessary to distinguish
between the three different dimensions of digital proposed by Savić (2019) and Unruh and
Kiron (2017): (1) digitization, (2) digitalization, and (3) digital transformation.
First, the digitization perspective describes the conversion of previously analogue
information, processes and activities into their digital version. This first occurred with
sectors such as publishing, music and finance, mostly because their products were just
information to begin with. Hence, the information which historically had been captured
in a physical analogue format was migrated to digital. However, digitization is not solely
about the conversion of information. It also includes the conversion from manual business
and manufacturing processes into digital mediated processes and workflows, such as using
digitally programmed automation technologies. Examples include the use of e-commerce
tools or computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) linkages in production. The overall goal of digitization is to achieve higher effectiveness and
efficiency of business activities owing to the use of digital technologies by converting
previously analogue/physical documents and processes into their digital counterparts.
Secondly, the level of digitalization shifts the focus from single information or single
processes to the entire process of value creation and the business model. While in the case
of digitization the underlying business model remains unaffected, digitalization means
that value proposition no longer solely depends on the physical product characteristics.
Digitalization of business processes offers a completely new type of customer value based
on data and information processing provided by individually configurable software applications. The physical product thus remains as the carrier of the user interface to the software application(s). Several examples for these cyber-physical systems can be found in the
field of the Internet of things (IoT), where physical products (for example, cameras and
smart speakers) serve as an interface to access a larger virtual network. In consequence,
the digitalization of products and value renders existing business models and industry
incumbents obsolete. The proud legacy assets of former market giants can quickly turn
into core rigidities (Leonhard-Barton, 1992).
As societies and economies evolve, by people integrating new technologies into their
lives, the third level of digital transformation describes the process of restructuring the
economy on a large scale and reshaping the behaviour, habits, value orientation, beliefs
and preferences of society. Examples of similar revolutionizing transformations in
history are the steam engine, electricity, the telephone and the automobile. Every one of
these technologies has altered the way in which people produce, consume and structure
their lives, resulting in institutional and social change. Comparably to these historical
breakthrough technologies, research assumes that digital technologies will continue
transforming our societies holistically from communication to work, and perhaps even the
human genome by entirely reconfiguring social behaviour and information processing. A
major characteristic of the digital transformation is the importance of network effects
by quickly assembling a high number of users or members to unfold the exponentially
growing, real-time exchange of knowledge and data. These digital ecosystems drive the
emergence and diffusion of new forms of value creation and social interaction. To achieve
and profit from these digital ecosystems, firms aim for digital leadership, that is, to be
involved in establishing the new standards and governance instead of being driven by it.
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These three dimensions differentiate between three different quality levels of ‘digital’.
Hence, they provide a solid basis from which to discuss the empirical phenomenon of digital
entrepreneurship on each of these levels in this chapter. Subsequently, these qualitative
dimensions of digital serve as a basis for distilling conceptual stereotypes of digital entrepreneurship comprehending new types of activities, routines, beliefs, goals and interaction.
A TAXONOMY OF DIGITAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Entrepreneurs starting a business frequently use digital technologies as an advantage for
their internal and external operations, aiming to create better or even new ways of capturing value. The taxonomy presented in this chapter shows different ways and options by
which digital technologies are likely to shape entrepreneurial activities for value creation.
It incorporates considerations by Nambisan (2017), who distinguishes between three
distinct types of digital elements created by entrepreneurs, and we extend this according
to our understanding of digital entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurs Using Digital Technologies/Digital Support
First, entrepreneurs can exploit digital technologies by making use of digital technologies that support or even leverage their core business activities (Beier and Wagner, 2016).
Examples of the integration of specific technologies are project management software
or e-commerce functionalities. Examples of external applications are, for instance, social
media and crowdfunding platforms. These technologies enable entrepreneurs to increase
the effectiveness and the efficiency of their core and supporting processes. The purposes
for why digital technologies are used are different:
●
●
●
●
●
●
sourcing innovation and improving the ideation process through crowdsourcing
platforms;
obtaining access to finance via crowdfunding platforms;
prototyping and testing new products via social media or crowdfunding platforms;
reaching new markets via social media platforms;
selling products directly via online shop; and
building customer relationships via social media platforms.
While entrepreneurs can extend the boundaries by these activities beyond their traditional
networks, peer groups, supporters and customers, the scope remains narrow. Digital technologies in this case are configured to support or improve existing core business processes
instead of to transform them.
Entrepreneurs Creating Single Digital Products and Service
Second, growing number of independent entrepreneurs recognize a large variety of opportunities in different industries. They create and offer websites, applications (apps) or custom
software in relation to digital products and services that can be either stand-alone software
or hardware, or even be a part of a digital platform or a larger digital ecosystem. Most of
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these digital products and services run on smartphones or other personal information
technology (IT) devices. Usually, they offer one or more specific functionalities and values
to their end users, such as smartphone apps, databased services, three-dimensional (3D)
animation, or computer games. Entrepreneurial agency and purpose of these products
and services are mostly predefined, and the boundaries of entrepreneurial activities are
static with a predefined product and outcome, and open depending on the data interfaces
(application programmer interfaces, API) and open-source activities.
Entrepreneurs Creating Digital Platforms
Third, entrepreneurs create a technology, product or service that operates as a digital platform. A platform is an intermediary and facilitates transactions between different types of
individuals and organizations that would otherwise have difficulty finding each other. The
platform consists of an operating system, data, networks, infrastructure and a user base.
Creators of digital platforms not only develop new digital technologies, they even more
frequently compose an architecture and governance structure that ultimately influences
the way their customers – often other entrepreneurs – make use of their platform (Beier
and Wagner, 2017). Prominent examples are Uber, AirBnB, eBay, Amazon Marketplace,
but also crowdfunding platforms (for example, Kickstarter) or any other platform that
brings together demand and supply sides for a specific purpose (for example, Tinder).
These two-sided or multi-sided platforms offer their services on a national, international
or global level (Rochet and Tirole, 2003). Digital platforms have the potential to disrupt
other traditional models since they are substituting existing services from the outside (for
example, banking, transport, hotel and travel industries).
Digital platforms take advantage of the scalability software engines may offer and the
potential reachability to millions of potential users (Evans et al., 2006). Scalability goes
hand in hand with the presence of direct and indirect network effects. Users attract more
users, and even more users from one side attract more users from the other side of a platform and that dynamic triggers a self-reinforcing cycle of growth (Evans and Gawer, 2016).
Entrepreneurs Building Digital Ecosystems
Fourth, entrepreneurs build digital innovation platforms that not only match supply and
demand sides but also enable innovation activity and new value creation on their platform.
These platforms consist of technological building blocks. The building blocks are used as
a foundation on top of which many entrepreneurs and innovators (loosely organized) can
develop complementary products or services (Evans and Gawer, 2016). They open their
infrastructure to third-party applications. Contributions can come from anywhere in the
world, and together they form a digital ecosystem around the platform. A dynamic digital
ecosystem is an interrelated network of organizations, people and/or entities that interact
and collaborate for value co-creation.
A prominent example is iPhone which may host hundreds of applications on their iOS
operation system. Entrepreneurs or innovators develop these applications and use Apple
technology for distribution purposes. Apple makes their technology available through
their APIs. The same applies to Google’s Android platform. These digital ecosystems are
reshaping the global landscape. Being a platform leader of an innovation ecosystem also
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entails being responsible for the governance of a whole ecosystem of partners and peer
groups. Their actions strongly influence technology affordance of their users and customers, platform governance and architecture of participation on the platform, but also in the
whole digital ecosystem (Gawer and Cusumano, 2014; Nambisan, 2017).
A TAXONOMY OF DIGITAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP BASED ON
ENTREPRENEURIAL AGENCY AND BOUNDARIES
Departing from the two major lines of reasoning on digital entrepreneurship outlined
in the seminal contribution by Nambisan (2017), the four types of digital activities and
phenotypes of digital entrepreneurship can be synthesized into the taxonomy visualization in Figure 9.1.
ENTREPRENEURIAL BOUNDARIES
The dimension ‘Boundaries’ in Figure 9.1 refers to the reasoning that most traditional
models in entrepreneurship research assume relatively stable and fixed boundaries of
entrepreneurial outcomes. This includes a well-defined range of business opportunities
Undefined
Cas
cad
eo
fg
o
ce
an
rn
e
v
Entrepreneurs
in digital
ecosystems
Agency/goals
Entrepreneurs
in digital
platforms
Entrepreneurs
as developers of
digital products
& services
Entrepreneurs
using digital
technologies
Defined
Static/narrow
Source:
Boundaries
Fluid/broad
Authors’ illustration.
Figure 9.1
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and fixed or discrete sets of possible product or service outcomes. With the increasing
integration of digital technologies, however, these boundaries are continuously becoming
more open and fluid because the scope, features and value of product or service offerings
continue to evolve even after the idea has evolved and been implemented.
New management approaches such as the ‘Lean Start Up’ method (Ries, 2011) or the
focus on the development of new business models (instead of predefined business plans)
has led to a more open approaches of creating a new product or service (Maurya, 2012).
New core functionalities of a digital product are tested as a minimum viable product on
the market and early feedback from users are integrated in the further product development. Most digital product designs remain somewhat incomplete and in a state of flux
where both the scale and scope of the innovation can change (Lyytinen et al., 2016).
Opportunity creation is emergent (social interactions between actors are included), thus
making the ideation process iterative and changing.
The way new digital platforms – both transaction and innovation platforms – and
complete new digital ecosystems are created allows experimentation, modification and
changing the focus of the product, service or technology (pivoting). Digital platform
entrepreneurs can recombine elements and continuously assemble, extend and redistribute functionalities over time (Yoo et al., 2010; Zittrain, 2006).
ENTREPRENEURIAL AGENCY
The second dimension in Figure 9.1, ‘Agency/goals’, addresses the variety of actors
involved in the entrepreneurial process. Traditional entrepreneurship research has focused
on the role of a predefined founder (or team) who drives the entrepreneurial idea to
implementation in the market (Nambisan, 2017). With the use of digital technologies,
entrepreneurial agency has become more open and more distributed, with a dynamic and
unexpected collection of actors engaging in entrepreneurial initiatives.
In contrast to the traditional supply chain, digital entrepreneurs acting within a digital
ecosystem do not know in advance who or where the external entrepreneurs or innovators might be or come from. These external entrepreneurs or innovators seek and find the
platform and, depending on the degree of openness and the architecture of participation,
this will encourage complementary innovation within the digital ecosystem. Actors opt in
and out based on their individual goals and motivations (Nambisan, 2017).
CASCADE OF GOVERNANCE
Every platform ecosystem needs governance. Those entrepreneurs creating and running
an innovation platform have to take responsibility and show leadership. They decide who
has access to the platform, how the resource contribution and the benefits of the platform
are distributed between the ecosystem members, and how conflicts between them can be
resolved in instances of diverging goals and interests. They need to create policies while
also ensuring participation, value creation and high-quality participation on the platform
(Evans and Gawer, 2016). Being a platform leader of an innovation ecosystem influences
the technology affordance, the platform governance and the architecture of participation
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on their platform and within the whole digital ecosystem. For instance, when Android
adds new capabilities into its operating platform, it produces ‘ripple effects’ (Nambisan,
2017: 1034) which lead to the transformation and/or development of radically new opportunities of entrepreneurial activities. As a consequence, these dynamics are also likely to
extend the boundaries of the associated opportunity and actor space in turn.
Entrepreneurial-activities based digital technologies can leverage completely new
ecosystems, paving the way for future entrepreneurial activities by setting the agenda in
relation to basic mechanism, scope of possible functionalities or digital services for doing
business (for example, PayPal). In contrast, traditional types of analogue entrepreneurship are based on a well-defined agenda and boundaries which, in most cases, are directly
linked to the physical product (for example, product-related services such as maintenance)
or variations of service delivery (for example, standardized versus customized).
FIVE THESES ABOUT FUTURE RESEARCH ON DIGITAL
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
There are many research topics and gaps for future research on digital entrepreneurship.
The following highlights five aspects of a future research agenda where theoretical enrichment and methodological progress is required to advance the understanding of digital
entrepreneurship.
First, the development of technology trajectories predominantly builds on a technology perspective. This is in line with a discussion of the downsides of this narrow view
exclusively on technology. The use and diffusion of digital technologies by entrepreneurs,
however, stand in strong relationships to specific social-psychological dispositions of
the entrepreneur. An entrepreneur with a high-risk propensity might be more likely to
develop a digital platform financed via business angels and venture capital. In contrast,
the shoe designer with a solid business case relies on the technology of an online shop
and sells shoes directly online. Finally, the app developer always sees himself or herself
as a problem solver and usually develops customized software solutions and consultancy
services tailored to the specific needs of his or her customers.
Second, personal characteristics are antecedents why entrepreneurs choose specific
levels of digital activity. Future research should focus on the question of whether and
how the diffusion of digital technologies across different types of digital entrepreneurship
affects and shapes individual characteristics of entrepreneurs (commitment, determination and perseverance, risk-taking and risk-seeking, drive to achieve and grow, opportunity and goal orientation, and persistent problem solving).
Third, digital technologies are likely to affect both the boundaries (scope) and the nature
of agency of entrepreneurial activities. A question arising for further research would be
how these changes in the nature of entrepreneurial activities correlate with reconfigurations of individual dispositions and mind-sets of entrepreneurs (Frederick et al., 2007).
For instance, in settings where both boundaries and agency are fluid and undefined, calculated risk-taking is hardly possible owing to exponentially higher complexity. How do
entrepreneurs deal with these ill-defined situations in terms of decision-making?
Fourth, Nambisan (2017) argues that new forms of digital entrepreneurship constitute
themselves by the categories of ‘boundaries’ and ‘agency/goals’, the building blocks of the
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taxonomy suggested in this chapter. However, the transition from static to fluid boundaries or predefined to undefined agencies and goals is not yet measurable. Hardly anything
is known about how entrepreneurs move along these axes and how they manifest in their
appearance. This calls for the development of novel measurement approaches to assess
different levels of boundaries, agencies and governance.
Fifth, and finally, some types of digital entrepreneurship extend the traditional scope
and borders of activities and goals. A question that needs to be addressed for further
research is whether these dynamics result in broader settings of entrepreneurial groups or
communities (Oh and Reeves, 2014) and/or increased opportunities for minority entrepreneurship (Gupta et al., 2014).
REFERENCES
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Beier, M. and K. Wagner (2017), ‘What determines the growth expectations of early-stage entrepreneurs?
Evidence from crowdfunding’, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 31 (1), 12–31.
Evans, D.S., A. Hagiu and R. Schmalensee (2006), Invisible Engines: How Software Platforms Drive Innovation
and Transform Industries, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Evans, P.C. and A. Gawer (2016), ‘The rise of the platform enterprise: a global survey’, The Center for Global
Enterprise, New York.
Frederick, H.F., D.F. Kuratko and R.M. Hodgetts (2007), Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process and Practice, South
Melbourne: Nelson.
Gawer, A. and M. Cusumano (2014), ‘Industry platforms and ecosystem innovation’, Journal of Product
Innovation Management, 31 (3), 417–33.
Gupta, V.K., A. Banu Goktan and G. Gunay (2014), ‘Gender differences in evaluation of new business
opportunity: a stereotype threat perspective’, Journal of Business Venturing, 29 (2), 273–88, doi:10.1016/j.
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Li, L., F. Su, W. Zhang and J.-Y. Mao. (2018), ‘Digital transformation by SME entrepreneurs: a capability perspective’, Information Systems Journal, 28 (6), 1129–57.
Lobo, S. and J. Whyte (2017), ‘Aligning and Reconciling: building project capabilities for digital delivery’,
Research Policy, 46 (1), 93–107.
Lyytinen, K., Y. Yoo and R.J. Boland (2016), ‘Digital product innovation within four classes of innovation
networks’, Information Systems Journal, 26 (1), 47–75, doi:10.1111/isj.12093.
Maurya, A. (2012), Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works, Boston, MA: O’Reilly and
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Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 41 (6), 1029–55.
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on Educational Communications and Technology, 4th edn, New York: Springer, pp. 819–28.
Ries, E. (2011), The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically
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Rochet, J.-C. and J. Tirole (2003), ‘Platform competition in two-sided markets’, Journal of the European
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10. Digital platforms
Donato Cutolo and Jan Vang
Digital platforms have changed the conditions influencing entrepreneurship across the
globe. Research has shown that context is critical in understanding how these platforms
impact entrepreneurial endeavors. This chapter illustrates how context is critical in
understanding and analyzing how digital platforms influence entrepreneurial opportunities. It suggests that digital platforms represent a new type of intersection between
the global and the local, where global forces promote conditions of dependent entrepreneurship. In contrast, local forces shape entrepreneurs’ agency in relation to the global
processes. We suggest that, to ensure fair competition and just working conditions for
platform entrepreneurs and employees within the industry, there is a need for policies
not being steered by techno-skeptical or techno-optimistic frameworks but by a balanced approach.
Since Joseph Schumpeter at least, it has been recognized that entrepreneurs discover
and create opportunities and build new independent firms (Alvarez and Barney, 2007;
Audretsch, 2007). More recently, scholars such as Brynjolffson and McAfee (2016) have
hailed entrepreneurship as a vital response to the increasing concerns about digitization’s
impact on entrepreneurship and the future of work. The impact of digital platforms on
entrepreneurship has emerged simultaneously with a recognition of the importance of
context in generic entrepreneurship research. Researching context in relation to digital
platforms provides a particular challenge to researchers owing to their simultaneous
global and localized nature; the interplay between the global and the local is more complex
than in most other industries given the high digital interconnectivity and limited footlessness for many types of transactions and activities. A request on, for example, Innocentive,
the world’s leading problem-solving digital platform, can be promoted to potential
problem-solvers across the globe at the same time.
Digital platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Apple, Instagram and YouTube make
it easier than ever for entrepreneurs to build a business and generate income. To illustrate their strength, the revenue generated by applications (apps) on Google and Apple,
together, is projected to reach $188.9 billion by 2020. Data show that more than a million
US-based small and medium-sized businesses operate on Amazon marketplace, generating hundreds of thousands of jobs across the US (Amazon, 2019). According to Etsy, in
2008, its sellers had an economic impact of $5.37 billion, with more than 1.52 million jobs
created in the US economy (Etsy and GfK, 2019). These numbers reflect a combination of
entrepreneurship by choice (for example, pursuing super-normal rents) and entrepreneurship by force (for example, precarious working conditions). Those with opportunities to
generate new platform ideas that are economically sustainable can generate superior rents,
while those working as entrepreneurs on the platforms are often exposed to hard competition and meagre returns on their investments. Moreover, many of the contributors
to the platforms are not even receiving any compensation. LinkedIn, for example, have a
considerable number of voluntary contributors not receiving payment for their uploads.
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The economic centrality of platforms heralds a new reality for entrepreneurs. Launching
a business on a digital platform is not just about access to commercial opportunities that
would not otherwise be available, but embodies new and concrete forms of entrepreneurship. Extant literature has produced significant insights into how platforms’ technological
dimensions operate to redefine entrepreneurial opportunities, processes and outcomes
(Nambisa, 2017; Nambisan et al., 2019; Von Briel et al., 2018). Moreover, as many scholars argue, platforms represent a novel and different context for entrepreneurial activities
(Eckhardt et al., 2018; McIntyre and Srinivasan, 2017). However, the context is also highly
diverse across activities. Local commercial digital platforms in developing countries differ
significantly from hobby gaming digital platforms originated in developed countries; thus,
there is a need to unpack the importance of context.
While recognizing the tremendous new business opportunities created by online platforms, scholars have identified several threats that directly stem from platforms (Cutolo
and Kenney, 2020; Nambisan and Baron, 2019; Wang and Miller, 2020; Wen and Zhu,
2019), but these findings have not incorporated a theoretical perspective of context. Our
objective is, therefore, to elucidate and discuss the features of platform entrepreneurship
and the role of context.
The chapter is organized as follows. The first section introduces the importance of the
context in entrepreneurial research and discusses the peculiar nature of digital platforms
as a new context for entrepreneurship. The following section focuses on the new actors
involved, where actors are understood as embedded in a dual context, being the local and
global. The third section looks into how this focus on digital platforms as a new context
carries important policy implications. Finally, we emphasize areas for future research
concerned with the role of context in digital platform research.
A NEW CONTEXT FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The Importance of the Context in Entrepreneurship
Not long ago, financial capital and ownership were central tenants of entrepreneurship.
In his day, Henry Ford gained an economy of scale through ownership and centralized
control, but currently, even Ford has decentralized operations into a multi-polar structure; the factory where 100 000 employees produced 1200 cars a day, dropped to 3000
employees making 800 cars a day, and this brings us to a new paradigm (Wright and
Dana, 2003 [2007]). Iron ore no longer enters a plant at one end, and automobiles drive
out the other.
At a time when the psychology of entrepreneurs was being investigated and ethnocentric generalizations were made from Western samples, going against the accepted view,
Dana (1995 [2002], 1996) noted that the opportunity for entrepreneurship was influenced
by context and it was wrong to assume that an opportunity for one person was necessarily an opportunity for another. These studies pioneered the concept that context had
an impact on shaping entrepreneurship as Dana demonstrated that the perception of
entrepreneurial opportunities is influenced by factors such as cultural capital that may
discourage (Light and Dana, 2013) or facilitate the emergence of entrepreneurship (Dana
et al., 2020).
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Similarly, digital platforms facilitate and simultaneously shape the emergence of novel
entrepreneurial opportunities. When conceptualizing the emergence of entrepreneurial
opportunity, it is important to consider the role of contextual elements or enablers, such
as ‘single, distinct, external circumstances, which – by affecting supply, demand, costs,
prices or payoff structures – can play an essential role in eliciting and/or enabling a
variety of venture development attempts’ (Davidsson, 2015: 684). Although contextual
elements operate at the environmental level and can be actor-independent, particular
actors often influence or even have a central role as external enablers (Davidsson, 2015).
By orchestrating entire ecosystems of value creation and exchange (Nambisan, 2017) and
by providing resources for various stages of the entrepreneurial process (von Briel et al.,
2018), digital platforms are not only external enablers but also open new spaces where
entrepreneurs can create new firms.1 They, as a matter of fact, become a new context for
entrepreneurial activity.
Analyzing the context in which entrepreneurship takes place is of the utmost importance in the advancement of entrepreneurial research (Welter, 2011), since the character
of entrepreneurship, as well as the actions and the outcomes of any entrepreneurial
effort, depending on the rules, threats and opportunities deriving from the context (Autio
et al., 2014). Although there is a tendency to treat contextual features as error variance
(Bamberger, 2008) or control variables (Zahra et al., 2014), a deep understanding of
entrepreneurial context serves multiple purposes from a theoretical standpoint. A deep
understanding of context enables us to delineate the phenomena and the relationships
under study (Bamberger, 2008) and the nature and sources of risks and uncertainty that
may influence the behaviors of the entrepreneurs (Nambisan and Baron, 2019).
In addition to market rules, which are a common factor regulating economic
dynamics, new and established business must face multiple forces that arise from the
context of their activities (Zahra et al., 2014). This covers, for instance, the presence
of local venture capital, legal structures (e.g. non-complete agreements (Marx et al.,
2015)). These and other factors set the boundaries for entrepreneurs’ actions and can
facilitate, hinder or have contradictory impacts on entrepreneurial success. The critical
role that context plays in explaining entrepreneurial actions and outcomes is gaining
momentum in the literature but, thus far, limited attention has been devoted to how the
context of digital platforms shape entrepreneurial opportunities, actions and outcomes
(Nambisan, 2017).
The dearth of research on how digital platforms influence the nature of entrepreneurship is even more problematic considering that practically a significant part of current
entrepreneurship is predicated upon being in a platform ecosystem. For example, the
sale of consumer goods has been transformed by Amazon. Amazon and other digital
platforms are where consumers learn about and search for goods. The growing centrality
of platforms is evidenced by the need for even the most powerful established brands to
establish a presence on Amazon: Nike and Apple had resisted selling through Amazon in
part out of fear of undercutting their existing vendors, but in 2018, they capitulated and
began selling on Amazon.
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The Multifaceted Nature of the Context
There is a broad consensus about manifold facets of context (Autio et al., 2014; Welter,
2011; Zahra et al., 2014). Context is both an enabling and constraining factor in understanding digital entrepreneurship. However, as documented by the entrepreneurship ecosystems literature, the context has to be enacted to be transformed from being a passive
site to becoming a valuable resource. This transformation process depends on entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial activities; therefore there is a need to link actors and context
better than has previously been achieved in the literature. That is, to fully appreciate the
impact of the platform economy on entrepreneurship, it is crucial to explore how the
context can be conceptualized and operationalized within the digital economy.
Technological Dimension of Digital Platforms: Beyond Spatial and Social Context
Entrepreneurship research recently has started to acknowledge the central role that the
digital nature of platforms play in shaping the context for entrepreneurs (Nambisan,
2017; Nambisan et al., 2018, 2019; Sussan and Acs, 2017).
The spatial dimension of the context refers to the geographical environment, the
physical setting or location where entrepreneurial actions take place (Zahra and Wright,
2011). The relevance of spatial mechanisms in fostering and regulating entrepreneurial
and innovation activities has a long research tradition in economic geography (Kenney,
1999). Spatial proximity fuels new-firm creation and growth as it enables the generation
of positive externalities, such as access to knowledge and social capital, and economies of
scale and scope (Delgado et al., 2010). For example, location represents an essential asset
in the process of international expansion by new ventures, since clusters of new firms
offer several tangible and intangible resources that can be leveraged to internationalize
operations (Fernhaber et al., 2014). The reason is that the spatial dimension of the context
‘serves as a proxy for several important variables that determine the vigor of entrepreneurial activities’ (Zahra et al., 2014: 488).
The integration of existing frameworks and theories from digital technology literature
with existing concepts in entrepreneurship illustrates that, within the context of digital
platforms, the spatial boundaries of entrepreneurial actions and outcomes have been
drastically redefined (Nambisan, 2017; Nambisan et al., 2019). Online platforms are
built upon a set of digital technology tools and systems, a digital infrastructure (Tilson
et al., 2010) that allows entrepreneurs to access many of the benefits that originate from
spatial proximity without requiring the creation of physical clusters. As a consequence,
geographical location changes importance since digital platforms are specifically designed
to connect previously unconnected and dispersed entities (Brunn et al., 2002; Henten
and Windekilde, 2016). For example, crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and
Indiegogo enable entrepreneurial ventures to interact with potential customers and
attract financial resources on a global scale. However, this does not imply that space is
unimportant because, for example, crowdfunding is known to be discriminative against
entrepreneurs from developing countries.
That is, the digital nature of online platforms contributes to making the spatial
boundaries of entrepreneurial processes and outcomes more fluid, with significant
consequences also for the interaction among the actors involved (Nambisan, 2017). The
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spatial dimension of the context place entrepreneurs in a social network of actors that
influences the likelihood of entrepreneurial emergence and success (Autio et al., 2014).
The interactions and exchanges between groups of heterogeneous actors are a rich source
of knowledge, resources and access to markets (and actors’ actions are influenced by the
spatial context they are embedded in). Consequently, these spatially embedded yet spatially dynamic networks represent a vital factor for the creation, growth and success of
new ventures. In this regard, the social and spatial dimension of the context is ultimately
intertwined in exerting a substantial influence over individual agency and entrepreneurial
outcomes (Zahra et al., 2014).
Platforms such as Amazon, Alibaba, Etsy or eBay drastically reduced the costs of
economic interactions with investors, partners, suppliers and customers distributed
worldwide, supporting entrepreneurial growth and expansion. Initially, digital platforms
deploy several technological tools to favor the interaction between the members of their
networks. For instance, in platform markets, algorithmic and recommendation systems
operate to reduce discovery and transaction costs, and reputation and review systems are
essential features of many digital platforms because they function as mechanisms to foster
trust (Jøsang et al., 2007; Luca and Zervas, 2016; Tadelis, 2016). As a direct consequence
of the latter aspect, entrepreneurs can more easily (and at lower cost) benefit from market
information about the value of their business proposition, and identify the most promising opportunities (Eckhardt et al., 2018).
Also, digital platforms support and promote the development of digital spaces where
entrepreneurs can easily communicate and interact with one another. These online communities generate fruitful exchanges that ultimately influence the emergence and the
success of entrepreneurial opportunities. For example, Kuhn and Galloway (2015) offer
insights on how digital communities of peer entrepreneurs become a useful source of
support and strategic advice.
The technological dimension of digital platforms goes beyond the influence of spatial
and social context as it creates increasing opportunities for a more distributed entrepreneurial agency (Nambisan, 2017). Digital platforms allow a set of otherwise disconnected
actors to participate in a shared creation of value, directly contributing with resources,
feedback, social and human capital.
Digital Platform Strategies: In Between Market and Institutional Context
In shifting the focus on the context, great attention has been devoted to market factors
that affect entrepreneurial actions, processes and outcomes. Market or industry life cycle
has been shown to exert significant influence on the emergence of entrepreneurial activities, with entrepreneurial entry mostly concentrated in the early stage of an industry life
cycle and entrepreneurial innovations encountered during later phases (Autio et al., 2014).
Together with the industry life cycle, other market dynamics have been called into question; for instance, the level of competition in the market (Welter, 2011).
Competitive and evolutionary dynamics in digital platform markets are unique in
being intrinsically tied to the strategic decisions of the platform firms (Cennamo, 2019;
Cusumano et al., 2019). In the early stage of their life cycle, owing to the fierce competition between platforms that typically follows the emergence of a new opportunity,
platforms need to attract entrepreneurs in the attempt to gain market traction. As a
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consequence, several boundary resources are provided to support entrepreneurs in starting, managing and scaling their businesses, such as application programming interfaces,
software development kits, payment, logistic systems and, even, mentoring initiatives,
which dramatically ease market entry and growth (Ghazawneh and Henfridsson, 2013).
Resources acquisition is a critical challenge for all new ventures, since nascent entrepreneurs typically require a variety of resources and competencies to overcome the liability of
newness (Stinchcombe, 1965), in relation to which, inter-platform competitive dynamics
open novel opportunities for entrepreneurs by lowering entry barriers.
When a platform market matures owing to network effects and winner-take-most
dynamics (Cennamo and Santalo, 2013; Gawer and Cusumano, 2014), the strategies of
the platform firms change and, with them, the contextual dynamics that entrepreneurs
face. For example, although positioning themselves as direct competitors to the entrepreneurs that populate their market may hinder the long-term equilibrium of a platform ecosystem, in the quest for profit maximization platform owners may seek to capture more
value at the expense of the ecosystem’s actors. To illustrate, Zhu and Liu (2018) found
Amazon entry patterns into market segments created by independent entrepreneurs in the
Amazon marketplace are the result of pure competitive actions aimed solely at increasing
the platform’s profit by appropriating the most successful space in its marketplace. That is,
running a business on a platform entails the implicit acceptance of the rules and general
value proposition set by the platform owner (Nambisan and Baron, 2013).
Digital platforms’ strategy is a novel dimension of the context that lies in between
markets and institution. This is because digital platforms act as private regulators of their
markets, setting the rules for engagement and the terms of participation for all the actors
involved. The institutional context refers to the role that formal and informal institutions
play by setting the ‘rules of the game’ (Welter, 2011: 172). Regulation changes represents
a decisive factor for the emergence and occurrence of new business opportunities (Autio
et al., 2014; Shane, 2003). For instance, the Bayh–Dole Act of 1980 in the US has been a
fundamental initiative to stimulate academic engagement with the commercialization of
their research (Grimaldi et al., 2011).
Regulation of digital market spaces is a priority for the platform to protect both customers and entrepreneurs from fraudulent and opportunistic behaviors (Evans, 2012). As
a direct consequence, running a business on a platform entails the implicit acceptance of
the rules and general value proposition set by the platform owner (Nambisan and Baron,
2013). That is, platforms are masters of life and death within the market since they own
the digital spaces and they can change the terms of participation, raising fees or altering
the earning structure, and their powers extend to excluding entrepreneurs from the market
at any moment (Cutolo and Kenney, 2020).
NEW ACTORS: DESCRIBING PLATFORM ENTREPRENEURS
Platform-based entrepreneurs may deviate from the stereotypical Silicon Valley highgrowth startups and often take a more mundane form (for example, entrepreneurs by
force) (Barley et al., 2017). These enterprises have great variety: opening a knitwear shop
on Etsy, or eBay, creating a YouTube channel, writing apps, creating a reselling business
on Amazon and starting a business based on Google advertisement referrals are only a
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Table 10.1
99
Platforms and their sizes
Platform
Number of entrepreneurs
Source and year
Apple iOS/App Store
Amazon*
eBay
20 million developers
2.5 million merchants
25 million sellers
Taobab
YouTube
8 million merchants
31 million channels
Twitch
180 000 streamers generating
revenues
2.1 million merchants
800 000 of businesses
25 million business profiles
TechCrunch, 2018
Marketplacepulse, 2019
https://www.oberlo.com/blog/ebaystatistics#:~:text=That%20makes%20
seven%20million%20US,eBay%20
sellers%20around%20the%20globe
Alibaba, 2019
https://www.tubics.com/blog/
number-of-youtube-channels/
TechCrunch, 2018
Etsy
Shopify
Instagram
Etsy, 2019
Shopify, 2019
Instagram, 2019
few of the types of businesses that can be established on a digital platform (Haefliger
et al., 2010; Kuhn and Galloway, 2015).
This enormous population of entrepreneurs is largely unstudied as scholars have
focused on the platforms. This omission is notable considering the sheer number of these
entrepreneurs. See Table 10.1 for the number of entrepreneurs operating on the major
platforms.
The preponderance of existing research on entrepreneurship focuses on extraordinary firms that are described as gazelles and unicorns, instead of studying the far more
common, ordinary entrepreneurs (Aldrich and Ruef, 2018). The dearth of research on
entrepreneurs on digital platforms is even more problematic considering that participation in a platform’s ecosystem has become vital for businesses’ existence and growth
(Kenney and Zysman, 2016; Parker et al., 2016).
Digital platforms have been theorized around a normative axis concerned with whether
digital platforms are inherently harmful for mundane entrepreneurs or entail new job
opportunities. The literature has incorporated context in that a new digital platform
economy has emerged but has not incorporated context as a spatial dimension. That is, it
has not looked at how the local and national context impacts the mundane entrepreneurs’
opportunities. It is implicitly assumed that opportunities are equal, independent of the
context. Entrepreneurs in Myanmar and Uganda are thereby subsumed to the same logic
as are entrepreneurs located in Milan or Paris.
Often overlooked in the literature are the people with conventional jobs within the
platform economy, that is, non-entrepreneurs. What is still not researched, for example, is
the working conditions of employees of the large platforms in general, and in particular
in developing countries, or of those working for subcontractors to the large platforms.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that they experience terrible working conditions and pronounced effects of their work. They undertake routine work under conditions of limited
resources (especially time), limited autonomy and support, and limited knowledge of the
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impact of their activities on the users (for example, use-value). Moreover, the work they
do is, under some circumstances, having a significantly negative impact on their mental
well-being. This is most articulated among workers censoring uploads where they have to
deal with, for example, child pornography. The Washington Times (2019) summarizes it
this way (in the context of Filipino workers):
[W]orkers in offices around Manila evaluate images, videos and posts from all over the world.
The work places enormous burdens on them to understand foreign cultures and to moderate
content in up to 10 languages that they don’t speak, while making several hundred decisions a day
about what can remain online. In interviews with The Washington Post, 14 current and former
moderators in Manila described a workplace where nightmares, paranoia and obsessive ruminations were common consequences of the job. Several described seeing colleagues suffer mental
breakdowns at their desks. One of them said he attempted suicide as a result of the trauma.
This suggests that they face degrading working conditions. However, as research in conventional manufacturing has shown, companies facing the same conditions as suppliers
have been able to offer significantly different working conditions to their employees.
Locke, for example, studied similar suppliers to Nike from Mexico. He found that the
suppliers varied dramatically in their job design. There is thus a need to be cautious about
generalizing from one geographical context to the next.
POLICY AND CONTEXT
Aligned with the contextual perspective is the need to develop new policy tools and instruments incorporating a nuanced understanding of how context operates and how the global
and local unfolds differently in different contexts. Policy discourses have tended to be either
techno-optimistic or techno-skeptical. The purpose of incorporating context is to indicate
how context encapsulates both idiosyncratic (local) and universal (global) dynamics and
that actors located in a different context will both experience the opportunities differently
and have access to different resources. The starting point for policy development is, therefore, to place context at the core of the analysis and policy formulations.
The universalizing dimensions of the platform are captured well by Cutolo and Kenney
(2020), who suggest that entrepreneurs are best conceptualized as being embedded in a
system that creates space mainly for dependent entrepreneurship. Their model thus suggests that policies need to be developed to address the dependency of entrepreneurs. The
policies can entail legal as well as non-legal dimensions. The legal dimensions are typically
related to conditions of competition to ensure that market positions are not exploited
while the non-legal policies entail policies for creating niches where local experiments can
be cultivated without being exposed to destructive selection mechanisms; that is, selection
mechanisms based on the power and positions of the platform incumbents.
Moreover, policies are needed to destabilize the industries where the platforms dominate. Public initiatives can support the development of new business models and promote
collaboration with new smaller platforms guaranteeing that value is not disproportionally
captured by large established platforms.
Also, it is necessary to ensure that promising networks are brought together with
the aim of co-developing activities that increase their bargaining power with the large
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101
platforms. This may include a commitment from governments concerning their purchasing policies. It may be naive to assume that public procurement can eradicate all issues
related to poor working conditions among employees affiliated directly or indirectly with
the platforms. However, public procurement should make it mandatory that working conditions are respected and enforced among their suppliers. This could create some changes
in the industries.
Finally, in the context of developing countries, experiences from, for example, China,
show that building local platforms can be achieved successfully, but this requires policy
measures suspending the traditional market dynamics (however, this is sensitive because
it can also be abused and lead to political censoring, control, and so on).
These ideas are indicative only and are put forward to illustrate the intersections in need
of contextual analysis.
CONCLUSIONS
The growing centrality of platforms for entrepreneurship is evidenced by the need for
even the most powerful established brands to be present on Amazon: Nike and Apple had
resisted selling through Amazon in part out of fear of undercutting their existing vendors,
but in 2018 they capitulated and began selling on Amazon (Galloway, 2018; Kelley, 2018).
We have discussed how digital platforms have become a new context in which entrepreneurship takes place and have become critical in influencing the process and outcomes of
entrepreneurial actions.
We have shown that the contextual perspective sheds new light on a significant research
gap and provides an essential alternative to the dominant policy discourses.
Inspired by the work of Cutolo and Kenney (2020) we suggest the dependency propensities of the current platform economy can be used as a platform for developing policies,
but also that this perspective can benefit from incorporating insights concerning context.
The chapter, however, does not assume quick-fix policies.
Finally, we argued for paying more attention to the role of non-entrepreneurs, who
often face poor working conditions in the platform economy. Platform entrepreneurship
should satisfy customers, owners and employees, not just the two first two of these.
Future research should elaborate on how the dependency perspective can better be
incorporated with the contextual perspective and engage in empirical studies of how universalizing or globalizing mechanisms interact with local(izing) mechanisms in different
places. There is a need to be open to understanding the motivational issues of many new
platform contributors, such as YouTubers or lane builders to computer games, as this
makes possible new insights concerning working conditions, network building and how
different actors in different contexts deal with the dependency challenge.
NOTE
1. Joseph Schumpeter first theorized that new technologies or other market changes could open new economics spaces to be occupied by entrepreneurs who construct new business models capable of exploiting the
opportunities.
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11. Disabled entrepreneurs
Wilson Ng
At a time when datasets typically reflected characteristics of able, white, male entrepreneurs, Dana (1995 [2002]) observed that the identification of opportunities for entrepreneurship was a function of context and he explained occupational clustering accordingly.
That study showed that Alaska Natives had a strikingly different approach to entrepreneurship than did mainstream Americans.
Along similar lines, there has been little research on how extreme challenges may have
initiated or produced successful ventures. Extreme challenges include sociocultural and
economic barriers arising from life-changing physical and mental disabilities1 (Miller and
Le Breton-Miller, 2017). Apart from a few studies on entrepreneurs with paraplegia, sight
loss and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), there has been little research on
severely disabled entrepreneurs who appear to have overcome their challenges in creating
successful ventures. What may be learned from these entrepreneurs and their ventures?
Moreover, researchers in and beyond entrepreneurship have voiced the need to explore
the social and organizational impact of visible (physical) disabilities and invisible (mental
health) conditions (see, for example, Santuzzi et al., 2014). This is because of the rising
costs of workplace inefficiencies from employees who pick up impairments, commonly
mental conditions such as depression. The negative effects of mental conditions are magnified in a typically high-pressure workplace culture that compels employees to keep their
disabilities hidden from employers in order to avoid demotion, or worse (Jack, 2019).
For the study of entrepreneurship, this social tendency to disregard people with disabilities has contributed to the paucity of knowledge about the millions of disabled people
worldwide who create ventures, often out of necessity (Jones and Latreille, 2011; Block et
al., 2015). Relatedly, we also know little about the possible contribution to enterprise of
people with positive, entrepreneurial traits (Wiklund et al., 2017) and adaptive skills (Ng
and Arndt, 2019) who are labelled, pejoratively, as ‘disabled’.2
There are several guiding perspectives on the phenomenon of venture creation among
disabled entrepreneurs. A major perspective that is based on employment studies of disability is the social model of disability. This model adopts a social constructivist view of the
nature of disabled enterprise. In this view, disability is a socially constructed phenomenon
founded on ableist (able-bodied) perceptions of impaired people’s disabilities (Williams
and Patterson, 2019). Deviating from normative behavior can then produce oppressive
consequences, including emotional trauma from social exclusion, which the social model
has made explicit in lived accounts of these experiences (French, 1998; French and Swain,
2006).
A principal implication of the social model is that knowledge about disabled entrepreneurs is viewed in terms of their environmental, structural and social-attitudinal barriers
(cf. French, 2001, 2003). As these barriers impede their ordinary activities, where possible
they should be designed out of, or removed from, structures (cf. French and Swain, 1997).
Knowledge about all disabled people is sourced primarily from their presentations of
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their own experiences (Oliver et al., 2012). First-hand narratives of typical barriers in the
lives of impaired people have therefore underpinned the social model’s influence on disability research and practice (Williams and Mavin, 2012). The model, however, has been
criticized for its non-disabled ontology that reflects ‘normative expectation[s] of western,
white, middle-class, non-disabled, hetero-sexual male[s]’ (Williams and Mavin, 2012: 164).
Relatedly, the challenge-based view (Miller and Le Breton-Miller, 2017) may also
be criticized for assuming that its socially constructed ontology is a workable setting
for the activities of disabled entrepreneurs. The challenge-based view suggests that
disabled entrepreneurs may develop a propensity for envisaging adaptive requirements
of their particular challenges. These challenges can be physical, social and/or cognitive.
Challenged entrepreneurs draw on their challenges as resources in shaping adaptive
requirements. These requirements, such as, for example, ‘the need to do things differently’
(Miller and Le Breton-Miller, 2017: 9, original emphasis), then motivate the development
of outcomes that meet particular requirements, such as where creativity satisfies the need
to do things differently.
To date, few studies in any field have drawn on the social model of disability. However,
recent studies in entrepreneurship have begun to explore the activities of disabled entrepreneurs in liberal sociocultural (western) environments with a socially constructed basis
of ableism as a given social context in which the sampled entrepreneurs live and work.
These entrepreneurs in the USA and the European Union are either visibly disabled,
namely, visually or otherwise physically impaired (Ng, 2018, 2020; Ng and Arndt, 2019),
or invisibly impaired with mental conditions such as ADHD (Wiklund et al., 2016, 2017,
2018; Lerner et al., 2019). In these western contexts, research has drawn on the adaptive
mechanisms of the challenge-based model of entrepreneurship (Ng and Arndt, 2019;
Ng, 2020) and the person-fit environment literature to explore how particular personality
traits (Wiklund et al., 2017) and personal challenges (Ng and Arndt, 2019) of disabled
entrepreneurs may relate to entrepreneurial intention and positive outcomes of entrepreneurial activities.
A number of insights have been produced by this research. For example, the most striking finding of Ng and Arndt’s (2019) research on visually impaired (blind) entrepreneurs
was that their venture creation process was not driven by a self-employment motive.
Instead, the persistent way in which the sampled entrepreneurs sought opportunities out
of the ordinary requirements of a sighted world exposed a determination to produce
impactful ideas that attained clearly defined goals, consequent upon their blindness
(Table 11.1).
The debilitating nature of the entrepreneurs’ condition was drawn upon as a motivating
resource for venture creation. Visual impairment then became a basis for generating new
opportunities, and the desire of blind entrepreneurs for creating impactful ventures drove
the identification of simple ideas that would connect mainly with large western businesses.
Their entrepreneurial motivation seemed to originate from, and draw on, the suddenness of the disabilities that spurred the entrepreneurs to create ventures, for example, the
paraplegia of one of the entrepreneurs (who was also blind) and the late-onset blindness
of another entrepreneur. The latter’s declaration that she ‘never needed eyes to see’ then
became a powerful mantra for engaging with disabled people who also possess often overlooked attributes, for example, to see in ways that sighted people cannot.
By contrast, the paraplegic entrepreneur in Ng and Arndt (2019) pursued physical
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Source:
Paraplegic: Financially
driven outlook
Blind: Social-welfaredriven outlook
Paraplegic and blind:
Desire to interact
with public audiences
sympathetic to
disability
Paraplegic: Urge to
reverse paralysis.
Refusal to accept
immobility and change
of lifestyle following
paraplegia
Blind: Sense of liberation
from constraints as
employee
Paraplegic: Personal
sense of disability from
paralysis. Urge to cure
paralysis, but not sight
loss
Blind: Self-driven
pressure to achieve
social goals following
sight loss
Drawn from Ng and Arndt (2019).
PHYSICAL AND
EMOTIONAL
Paraplegic: Loss of mobility
from paraplegia and
consequent trauma. Personal
sense of ‘disability’
Blind: Sense of exhilaration and
anxiety from life-changing
sight loss
ECONOMIC
Paraplegic entrepreneur: Limited
career prospects
Blind entrepreneur: Enforced
change of career
SOCIOCULTURAL
Paraplegic and blind: New social
perception of ‘disability’
following UK Equality Act
(2010)
COGNITIVE
Paraplegic: Nagging sense of
physical inadequacy following
paraplegia
Blind: Sudden sight loss enabled
entrepreneurial development
Possible drivers of
venture creation
Paraplegic
Commercial fund-raising
events for research to cure
paralysis from paraplegia
Development of exoskeleton
bodysuit to enable
temporary (paralyzed)
limb movement
Stem cell research to reverse
paraplegia
Cross-disciplinary medical
and psychology research
of adaptive sensory
capabilities of physically
impaired people
Paid motivational and
problem-solving talks to
business organizations
Blind
Business sponsorship to
increase employment
across industries of
physically impaired
workers with generic and
special skills
Social fund-raising for
skills development among
physically impaired people
Research and dissemination
of capabilities of visually
impaired employees for
organizations
Scientific research on
problem-solving
capabilities of employees
with different physical and
mental impairments
Public motivation and
educational talks
New-venture opportunities (not related exclusively to
any specific challenges)
Possible process of opportunity formation among disabled entrepreneurs
Personal challenges
Table 11.1
‘I never needed eyes to see’ (Blind):
Ability to assess and accept high-risk
activities despite sight loss (adventure
lifestyle – paraplegic entrepreneur),
and because of sight loss (new public
candor, following her sight loss, to
speak to an international audience on
behalf of disabled people unfettered
by social expectations of her limited
capabilities as a sight-impaired
individual – blind entrepreneur)
Outcomes driven – more materialistic
attitude (focused on financial goals
because of passion to cure his
paraplegia – paraplegic)
Process driven – less materialistic attitude
(focused on social welfare goals
because of poor employment
opportunities for disabled – blind)
Passion for continuing venture creation.
Adapted employment skills from longterm sight loss (paraplegic)
High self-belief in own skills and
capabilities (blind)
Empathetic relationship with nondisabled audiences to leverage social
perception of disability for profit
(paraplegic) and social welfare (blind)
Commercial exploitation of nondisability views of blindness by
developing blind skills for the nondisabled (paraplegic)
Ability to build distinctive public identity
by leveraging social trends for equality
and diversity (blind)
Special attributes of paraplegic and blind
entrepreneurs’ ventures
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adventures that defied his early sight loss, and his most ambitious ventures were motivated
by the physical burden of paralyzed limbs. While his blindness was incurable, his paraplegia from an accident that resulted from his blindness was more likely to secure a treatment
for recovery during his lifetime. Thus, following his paraplegia, this entrepreneur focused
his energies on finding a cure for paralysis that he viewed as a temporary constraint on
his adventure lifestyle. Notably, this entrepreneur found motivation for venture creation
only when he experienced physical impairments that compelled a change of lifestyle. Yet
there was a notable difference in the connection between their respective impairment(s)
and entrepreneurial activity: Whereas the paraplegic entrepreneur did not accept the permanence of the paraplegia and sought to reverse it, the sight loss of the blind entrepreneur
inspired them to pursue radically new activities. It seemed therefore to follow that were
the paraplegic entrepreneur to successfully reverse his paraplegia, then his entrepreneurial
passion would decline. For the blind entrepreneur however, her blindness liberated a new,
passionate social calling on behalf of the world’s disabled. Here, potentially, it also seemed
to follow that scholars and managers in and beyond entrepreneurship have more to learn
from the foresight of the blind entrepreneur than the personal interests of the paraplegic
entrepreneur, which focused merely on repairing their paraplegia. That foresight potentially links creative outcomes of opportunity formation, for example, in the identification
of little-known networks and skills of disabled people (Miller and Le Breton-Miller, 2017:
9; Table 11.1, col. 4) that may be drawn on, by employing organizations, as capabilities.
Findings from Ng (2018) and Ng and Arndt (2019) have a number of theoretical
implications, principally for the challenge-based view. This view represents a major stride
toward classifying different challenges, while bringing together several hitherto unconnected research streams. Chiefly, the respective conditions of the sampled entrepreneurs
inspired expansive entrepreneurial endeavor that paid little attention to social norms of
disabled people, such as their traditional employment in low-paid, menial work. Instead,
this research on disabled entrepreneurs yielded insights on processes of opportunity formation based on the adapted skills of the two entrepreneurs in exploiting, as opposed to
passively reacting to, their personal challenges (Table 11.1, cols 1 and 2). The subsequent,
market-orientated ventures of the sampled entrepreneurs suggest that their activities can
throw light on processes in which valuable goods and services are produced for targeted
end-users, specifically for physically challenged people who entrepreneurship scholars
know little about, but also for non-disabled entrepreneurs who typically face challenges.
The suggestion here is how different drivers for a severely challenged form of entrepreneurship may produce different types of ventures with personal goals that satisfy the
sponsoring entrepreneur (Table 11.1, cols 2 and 3). Accordingly, by understanding and
enabling drivers of venture creation, it may prove possible for disabled and non-disabled
entrepreneurs to develop suitable attributes for producing successful outcomes of forprofit and social ventures.
As regards opportunity formation, the challenges faced by the entrepreneurs in Ng and
Arndt (2019) proved to be a vital resource that they returned to for venture funding and
networks, initially in launching their ventures and then in sustaining their public impact.
This insight offers a fresh perspective of the social model that locates the source of disability in public perceptions. The suggestion here is that the popular, punitive weakness
of disability in a non-disabled world became a lucrative source for the access to funding
and networks that were critical for the disabled entrepreneurs’ venture success.
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The nascent studies of physically and mentally disabled entrepreneurs also have
implications in practice in the ways that the entrepreneurs leveraged their physical and
mental conditions to discover and/or exploit novel opportunities. For example, the
necessity-based literature has contributed to understanding the empowerment of disabled people. This empowerment may be experienced where disabled people in impoverished settlements develop entrepreneurial skills as a means of addressing their multiple
challenges. Community leaders then empower the entrepreneurs by portraying their
skills as a special endeavor (Lorenzo et al., 2007). In contrast, a recent, large-scale study
of entrepreneurs with ADHD has demonstrated a strong positive correlation between
the clinical condition of ADHD and entrepreneurial intention and action. This finding
suggests that entrepreneurs with ADHD are more likely to choose business venturing,
rather than doing so out of necessity, and to self-select entrepreneurial activities (Lerner
et al., 2019). Consequently, it may be possible to identify and develop suitable skills to
capture high-potential opportunities for venture creation, regardless of the severity of
any challenges (Miller and Le Breton-Miller, 2017). This is owing to physically impaired
people having acquired, through daily experience, a close understanding of the nondisabled world in which they must live. The opposite is not the case, unless able-bodied
people develop late-onset impairments. Hence the persistence of a socially constructed,
bourgeois view of disability. In this view, since the socially constructed view reflects
psychological and emotional beliefs (Williams and Mavin, 2012), it may be possible for
most, if not all, disabled people to develop special attributes in venture creation and
development.
FURTHER RESEARCH
The pioneering studies on physically and mentally disabled entrepreneurs suggest opportunities for further research of venture creation and development in a number of areas
in new-venture creation and development. For example, following Ng and Arndt (2019),
further research may: (1) shed light on generic processes of skills adaptation and development; (2) illuminate possible origins and sources of entrepreneurial motivation; (3) help
to empower disadvantaged people; (4) offer new areas of study in entrepreneurial education; and (5) provide examples of how effective strategies are created, without disabled
entrepreneurship serving merely as an example of social diversity and tolerance. Disabled
entrepreneurship may involve an identifiable, homogenous process of skills adaptation
and development. Ng and Arndt (2019) and Wiklund et al.’s work (2017, 2018) have suggested how this process can shed light on possible ways in which game-changing ideas
among disabled entrepreneurs may be systematically created (Ng and Arndt, 2019) and
related with entrepreneurial success (Wiklund et al., 2017). To achieve this goal, process
studies of disabled entrepreneurship may be conducted by exploring possible drivers
and adapted skills of opportunity-driven behavior among disabled entrepreneurs. Those
drivers and skills can then be drawn on in developing special attributes, perhaps most
influentially in the empathetic relationship between disabled entrepreneurs and their
non-disabled audiences that enabled the entrepreneurs to leverage their challenges for personal goals. Here, research may be conducted to compare the behavior of entrepreneurs
with congenital impairments and those with late-onset impairments. This work could
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expose the important issue of the relationship between impairments and entrepreneurial
endeavor, and ultimately of success.
Learning of the ways that sudden sight loss may motivate a change in priorities resonates with a number of fields including entrepreneurship education. Here, knowledge of
potentially different approaches to new-venture creation among disabled entrepreneurs
may run deep among entrepreneurship students who are trained to develop and launch
innovative ventures (Kuratko, 2005). Entrepreneurship scholars now know that entrepreneurship education can have a significant, measurable impact in creating more and better
entrepreneurs (Martin et al., 2013). Accordingly, the innovativeness and motivation of
disabled entrepreneurs in Ng and Arndt (2019) may form an important part, for example,
of a psychology-driven framework of attributes that can predict future success in newventure creation (Kickul and Gundry, 2002). Processes in which blind entrepreneurs build
entrepreneurial skills, such as in creative thinking and use of technology (Kuratko, 2005),
as tools in a sighted world could therefore become core components of entrepreneurship
education.
A further important field of research in disabled enterprise is in the relationship
between behavioral traits of invisible disabilities and entrepreneurial activities. In the
current climate of growing business concern over the costs of invisible disabilities,
research is needed in exploring how employees with normally invisible disabilities such
as ADHD and Asperger’s Syndrome may in fact draw positively from their impairments
for their own as well as for their employers’ benefit. For example, Wiklund et al. (2017)
suggest that future research might examine how individuals with ADHD gather resources
and organize teams when starting ventures. As venture founders with ADHD symptoms
tend to move quickly to gather financial and human resources, this may prove to be
advantageous in securing funding without delay for venture creation, and in capturing the
attention of venture capitalists in a crowded field of new-venture proposals.
NOTES
1. We refer to disability and disabled entrepreneurs in this chapter purely as a shorthand. The accurate term for
disability is impairment, either physical or mental. This is because most disabled people are not incapable of
work, as the term ‘disability’ suggests. Disabled-impaired entrepreneurs may possess important advantages
in new-venture creation based on personality traits and/or adaptive capabilities that are particularly suited
for successful enterprise activities, as outlined in this chapter.
2. ‘Disability’ is an English word that is unique among most, if not all, languages in being pejorative. To call
someone disabled can therefore be extremely insulting. It follows that ‘disability’ carries a wholly negative
meaning.
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Business and Management, vol. 4, London: Routledge, pp. 255–75.
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(eds) Disabling Barriers – Enabling Environments, London: Sage, pp. 17–25.
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French, S. (1998), ‘Surviving the institution: working as a visually disabled lecturer in higher education’, in
D. Malina and S. Maslin-Prothero (eds), Surviving the Academy. Feminist Perspectives, London: Falmer,
pp. 31–41.
French, S. (2001), Disabled People and Employment. A Study of the Working Lives of Visually Impaired
Physiotherapists, Aldershot: Ashgate.
French, S. and J. Swain (1997), From a Different Viewpoint: The Lives and Experiences of Visually Impaired
People, London: Jessica Kingsley and the Royal National Institute for the Blind.
French, S. and J. Swain (2006), ‘Telling stories for a politics of hope’, Disability & Society, 21 (5), 383–96.
Jack, A. (2019), ‘Survey data highlight need for health interventions’, Financial Times, 21 November, accessed
16 September 2020 at https://www.ft.com/content/5eea0cdc-d940-11e9-9c26-419d783e10e8.
Jones, M. and P. Latreille (2011), ‘Disability and self-employment: evidence from the UK’, Applied Economics,
43 (27), 4161–78.
Kickul, J. and L. Gundry (2002), ‘Prospecting for strategic advantage: the proactive entrepreneurial personality
and small firm innovation’, Journal of Small Business Management, 40 (2), 85–97.
Kuratko, D. (2005), ‘The emergence of entrepreneurship education: development, trends, and challenges’,
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29 (5), 577–97.
Lerner, D., I. Verheul and R. Thurik (2019), ‘Entrepreneurship and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a
large-scale study involving the clinical condition of ADHD’, Small Business Economics, 53 (2), 381–92.
Lorenzo, T., L. Van Niekerk and P. Mdlokolo (2007), ‘Economic empowerment and black disabled entrepreneurs: negotiating partnerships in Cape Town, South Africa’, Disability and Rehabilitation, 29 (5), 429–36.
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meta-analysis of entrepreneurship education outcomes’, Journal of Business Venturing, 28 (2), 221–4.
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Ng, W. (2020), ‘“I never needed eyes to see.” Lessons from visually-impaired founders of new ventures’, in
S. Yousafzai, W. Ng, T. Coogan and S. Sheikh (eds), Exploring the Intersectionality between Disability and
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12. Early foreign market entries of new
technology-based firms
Regis Coeurderoy and Gordon Murray
Studies devoted to the international activities of high-technology start-ups have become
of increasing importance for academic researchers (Bollinger et al., 1983; McDougall
et al., 1994; Storey and Tether, 1998; Burgel and Murray, 2000; McDougall and Oviatt,
2000; Zahra et al., 2000; Cavusgil and Knight, 2015; Terjesen et al., 2016). For those
firms internationalizing rapidly in their early years, or even at the time of their formation,
that is, born global firms, key strategic issues regarding internationalization choices have
necessarily to be addressed rapidly (Oviatt and McDougall, 1995; Madsen and Servais,
1997; Burgel et al., 2004; Verbeke and Ciravegna, 2018). These young firms face several
forms of resource constraint; they commonly lack money (tangible assets) and experience
(tacit assets). Accordingly, the act of internationalization, while a potentially valuable
economic opportunity, may also increase the vulnerability of the young firm to additional
competitive threats. To add a further challenge, such an internationalizing firm must also
put aside or revise behavioral rules and heuristics learned from competing successfully in
its domestic market. It now must identify and adapt to the different rules of the game that
pertain in foreign markets (North, 1990).
This adaptation to changing international environments raises a unique challenge to new
ventures. As explained by Oviatt and McDougall (1994), the development of these firms
cannot follow the sequential and linear, step-by-step process described by the stage theory
derived from traditional industries (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977, 1990, 2009). International
new ventures frequently do not wait for the accumulation of internal resources. They have
limited market knowledge and time to go to market, and must operate in highly volatile
environments which may well limit learning opportunities (Oviatt and McDougall, 1994).
KEY STRATEGIC CHALLENGES FOR INTERNATIONALIZING
NEW TECHNOLOGY-BASED FIRMS
In the specific case of new technology-based firms (NTBFs), key strategic issues regarding internationalization choices have often to be faced very early in the firm’s life cycle
(Oviatt and McDougall, 1995; Madsen and Servais, 1997; Zahra et al., 2000; Knight
and Cavusgil, 2004; Hashai, 2011; Jones et al., 2011). There are a range of competing
arguments explaining why NTBFs seek to internationalize so quickly (Hennart, 2014;
Zhou and Wu, 2014). It has been suggested that this phenomenon may be a result of
insufficient, aggregate home demand for highly specialized, that is, niche products and
services (Madsen and Servais, 1997); or conversely that overseas sales are the individual
firm’s response to excessive domestic competition (Shrader, 2001). These arguments are
in effect a description of defensive actions by firms pushed out or beyond home markets.
112
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A more optimistic interpretation is that internationalization is a proactive response to
additional sale opportunities for a product or service enjoying a competitive advantage
beyond domestic borders (Hymer, 1976). Regardless of the strategic logic of internationalization, in contrast to firms in traditional industries (Root, 1987), NTBFs frequently
have to assume very quickly the complex risks of technology transfers when entering into
unknown or quasi-unknown foreign countries.
The impact of host-country features on the costs of international technology transfers
has been studied in a long tradition in international business research (Stopford and Wells,
1972; Buckley and Casson, 1976; Rugman, 1981; Hennart, 1982; Dunning and Lundan,
2008) and has enabled the specific features of international transactions to be identified and modeled. Extant theory enables a distinction to be made between two kinds of
hazards and their related costs. First, the transaction costs of contractual hazards relate
to the specific features of the technology transferred (Henisz, 2000). Authors have identified several sources of hazards: opportunistic behavior as a result of asset specificity
(Gatignon and Anderson, 1988; Oxley, 1997); appropriability or technological leakage
(Davidson and McFetridge, 1985; Oxley, 1999); and free riding on brand name and reputation (Anderson and Coughlan, 1987; Delios and Beamish, 1999). The second hazard is
institutional and derives from the specific features of the countries entered. Three main
sources of institutional hazards are generally identified (Henisz, 2003): the regulatory
framework (La Porta et al., 1999; Oxley, 1999); the political risk (Henisz, 2000); and the
role of culture (Steensma et al., 2000; Hofstede, 2001).
These hazards have both absolute and relative dimensions. In absolute terms, a new
institutional environment can generate hazards when the public decision-makers of the
host country fail to create the conditions for political and social stability suitable for the successful development of new business (Henisz, 2000; Shrader et al., 2000). In relative terms, a
new institutional environment can still produce hazards for a firm if it has widely different
practices from those operating in the exporting firm’s domestic environment. The greater
the disparity between the institutional environments of the home market and the host- or
target-country market, the greater the potential risks. In managerial studies of internationalization, this gap or disparity has commonly been conceived and analyzed in the more
social or anthropological concepts of cultural distance (Kogut and Singh, 1988; Shane,
1994; Hofstede, 2001), psychic distance (Benito and Gripsrud, 1992; O’Grady and Lane,
1996), regulatory differences (Coeurderoy and Murray, 2014) or institutional distance
(Kostova, 1999; Xu and Shenkar, 2002). These concepts are widely used in international
business research and are considered to be important drivers of actions and performance.
Host countries’ specificities represent a large part of the ‘liability of foreigness’ (Zaheer,
1995) that new ventures experience at the beginning of the internationalization process.
Equibus paribus, every company will incur substantial additional transaction costs when
setting up international operations. For example, on entering a new country market, the
as yet inexperienced firm will likely discover that it is harder (1) to find good and reliable
local sales agents – an increase in search costs; (2) to negotiate (or perhaps even recognize)
favorable contractual arrangements – an increase in ex ante negotiation cost; or (3) to
monitor effectively the concluded deal – an increase in ex post compliance and enforcement costs (Teece, 1986).
Yet, these problems may be further exacerbated in the specific case of NTBFs embarking on the internationalization process.1 The transfer of novel technologies raises
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potential problems of appropriation (Autio et al., 2000; Zahra et al., 2000). The complexity and intangibility of this technological component of the product or service by its very
ambiguity exacerbates the contractual hazard for NTBFs (Knight and Cavusgil, 2004).
Since these contractual hazards are specific to the imitability of the technology being
transferred, the start-up has little choice other than to accept, and attempt to mitigate,
the increase risks of international trading.
CHOICES OF ENTRY AS RESPONSES BY NEW TECHNOLOGYBASED FIRMS
Given that transaction costs are endemic to the process and cannot be completely
removed, the firm’s flexibility is reduced to determining the level of costs that it can bear.
By determining the location of the first foreign entry, the firm is in effect choosing the
level of institutional hazards it is prepared or able to assume. Following a transaction-cost
reasoning (Williamson, 1985; Martin and Salomon, 2003), we suggest the cost minimization principle as a rule for decision making. For the young firm, the market acceptance of
their new technology-enabled products will be the first and biggest commercial challenge.
Accordingly, it will strive to avoid any additional costs and uncertainties in the choice of
internationalization path. Consequently, the role of the institutional environment in the
choice criteria of the NTBFs is one important means by which the hazards and thus costs
of new country markets are made manageable. This specific appraisal of institutional
environments in the determination of the ordering of foreign market entry furthers our
overall understanding of market entry behaviors.
The specific role of institutional environments on location decisions thus needs to be
differentiated from established internationalization arguments based on profit-seeking,
entry-mode choices or stages of development arguments. The traditional profit maximization logic of internationalization supported by imperfect competition models (Hymer,
1976) treats the transaction as part of a set of credits and debits. A firm may be prepared
to accept higher transaction costs in a new country if greater profits can be secured.
Trade-offs between risks and rewards face all firms, but this type of approach implies that
transaction costs are merely another set of operating costs to accommodate in the computation of overall costs. We suggest that the true import of transaction costs is overlooked.
The main problem is not that the firm’s total costs are increased but that the possibility
of firm failure is made materially higher by the circumstances that generate these new
costs (Hennart, 1986). It is not just risk that has increased but also the overall uncertainty
facing the young and still vulnerable firm. In the case of a rapidly growing and internationalizing NTBF, failure to develop a new market can have a considerably greater impact
than economic losses alone. The reputation of the firm including its products or services,
and the integrity and ownership of intellectual assets as its critical source of competitive
advantage may well be prejudiced with severe ramifications for the firm’s future value.
The technical and commercial credibility of NTBFs with little track record is extremely
fragile. Hence, the survival of internationalizing NTBFs significantly depends upon their
capability to develop absorptive capability (Coeurderoy et al., 2012).
It could also be argued that impact of institutional hazards are better managed by
NTBFs through their choice of entry mode rather than location. Here, the minimization
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of transaction costs is interpreted as a governance issue (Martin and Salomon, 2003). The
importance of mode may be correct but this can only be appraised once the location choice
is made (Teece, 1986). At this later stage, the level of institutional hazards is no longer a
decision variable but is a given. The firm has now to craft the most efficient entry mode
into the selected foreign market from the choices available (Williamson, 1985). Questions
of location and governance can be treated independently of each other. In a conceptual
paper on the impacts of knowledge transfer capacity on foreign entry modes, Martin and
Salomon (2003: 369) explain that ‘while examining location factors is certainly relevant,
particularly in studies with multiple host countries, such country effects do not change our
predictions’. However, the inverse of this argument may also be employed and tested, that
is, while examining entry modes is certainly relevant, particularly in studies with multiple
entry modes, these governance effects do not change (location) predictions. Thus, the
question becomes the direction of causation of the identified factors.
Based upon recent theoretical advances in the institutional analysis of countries (North,
1990; La Porta et al., 1999; Henisz, 2000), Coeurderoy and Murray (2014) explore how
differences of institutional environments across countries impact on the location choices
of NTBFs embarking on the internationalization process. They confirm that institutional
environment generating appropriability risks for start-ups will be entered later owing to
excessive transaction costs in the early stage. By ordering choices in this way, management
mainly seeks to reduce risks from regulatory sources, and the associated transaction and
time costs (Anderson and Gatignon, 1986). In relation to country of origin, the research
shows that German and UK start-ups, formed prior to 2000, and studied in the sample,
may consequently harbor very different attitudes as to the risk characteristics of a third
country based on distance with its culture, and polity and legal systems. We can therefore
infer that the risks and uncertainties that are endemic to the young firm are reflected in the
risk-reducing heuristics that their managers employ, as evidenced by different orderings
of first market entries between German and UK NTBFs.
CONCLUSION
We can aver that an understanding of the early foreign market entries by NTBFs is not
exclusively an argument about firm-specific cultural or psychic-distance parameters
(Oviatt and McDougall, 1994). Some important decision variables are exogenously determined, for example, the level of political risk in the target country (Leonidou and Samiee,
2012). Thus, opportunities to minimize the total costs of internationalization are complex
and more heterogeneous than merely the search for cultural similarity. Transaction-cost
reasoning is complementary rather than contradictory to the stage model, albeit based on
different intellectual logic (Delios and Henisz, 2003). It is cost driven (on a minimization
basis) and not knowledge driven.
NOTE
1. This is complement to Storey and Tether’s (1998) argument that NTBFs are a special case worthy of government assistance when considering the peculiar information asymmetry barriers to the formation.
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Business Activities, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 226–60.
Coeurderoy, R., M. Cowling, G. Licht and G. Murray (2012), ‘Young firm internationalization and survival:
empirical tests on a panel of “adolescent” new technology-based firms in Germany and the UK’, International
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13. Economics and entrepreneurship
William J. Baumol
Economists first began writing on the subject of entrepreneurship in the eighteenth
century. The entrepreneur is most often defined to be an individual who founds and
organizes a new business firm, though both narrower and broader interpretations have
been employed, with significant implications (see below). The term is often ascribed to
the Anglo-Irish writer, Richard Cantillon (1730), though any contemporary copy of his
book, which was written in English, has survived only in French translation that he may
or may not have carried out himself. The manuscript was lost in the fire set by a servant
who first robbed and murdered the author. Before that, and for a considerable time after
his death, the terms in usage in the English literature were ‘adventurer’ (as in merchant
adventurer) or ‘undertaker’ (a direct translation of the French term or its German
counterpart: unternehmer).
The place of this topic in the economic literature is curious. There is widespread
acknowledgement of its importance, notably for economic growth, accompanied by
its virtual absence from the writings of most economists for more than half a century.
Many textbooks write of four ‘factors of production’: labour, land, capital and entrepreneurship, and provide at least one chapter for each of the first three, while the fourth,
often acknowledged as the leader of the activities of the others, is confined to a few brief
remarks or even nothing beyond its initial listing. This has begun to change. There is
now a rich empirical literature on topics such as the personal characteristics of the entrepreneurs, their activities, their financial needs, their psychological propensities and their
earnings. However, they are still all but absent from formal theory, for reasons that will
be discussed presently, along with a description of some recent theoretical excursions at
the microeconomic level.
1
A BIT OF CLASSIFICATION
Before delving into the literature it is useful to point out several lines along which entrepreneurship can be studied. First, there is diversity in the connotation that is assigned
to the term. From its beginnings in the work of Richard Cantillon, many of the writings
referred to anyone who organized and launched a firm as an entrepreneur. This individual’s task was to bring together the requisite quantities and qualities of land, labour
and capital, to assign a role to each of them and ensure that it was carried out efficiently.
This entrepreneur, then, was captain of the ship. But the firm organized in the process
could well be just another one of the thousands that had been founded earlier, offering
the same products as its predecessors and providing those outputs in the traditional way.
Such a replicative entrepreneur clearly plays a significant role in the economy, as creator
of many of the enterprises that underlie its activities. Entrepreneurship of this sort is
important also as an attractive route for exit from poverty, because when unemployment
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is rife the only way to acquire an income may be as the founder of a tiny enterprise, for
example, as no more than an itinerant peddler, with no employees. And the number of
such firms in which the entrepreneur hires no one is impressive. ‘Census Bureau figures
indicate that there are over 18 million nonemployer firms in the United States – roughly
three times the number of employer firms’ (National Research Council, Committee on
National Statistics, 2007: 78). But the data suggest that there is little correlation between
the number of such replicative firms and the rate of growth of the economy. Indeed, it
is plausible that a relatively stagnant economy will drive more people into this sort of
occupation, and the data seem to support this hypothesis.
Growth, rather, is to be expected from the other type of entrepreneur, the innovative
entrepreneur, whose firms are characterized by the supply of new products, the employment of new production methods, the discovery and exploitation of promising new
market opportunities and the creation of novel forms of organization. This is the type
of entrepreneur upon whom J.-B Say (1819) focused his discussion and who was the
central character in the writings of Joseph Schumpeter. There seems to be little evidence
indicating their number, but it seems clear that this number is far smaller than that of
the replicative entrepreneurs. Moreover, as will be discussed presently, there seems to be
little statistical evidence indicating the magnitude of the contribution of the innovative
entrepreneurs to the growth of their economy, though there is a good deal of historical
evidence suggesting strongly that this contribution is substantial and may well be critical.
Besides distinguishing between replicative and innovative entrepreneurs, the literature differentiates ‘innovation’ from invention. The former term is used to represent the
entire process from the emergence of a novelty (invention) to its improvement to a state
sufficient to make it marketable, its introduction into the producing firm and its entry
into the marketplace. Though the inventor may or not be an entrepreneur, the innovation process generally requires entrepreneurial activity to bring the novelty out from the
drawing boards and into the workings of the economy.
The literature also proceeds in two directions in its position on the risk entailed in
entrepreneurship. Both Cantillon and Frank Knight (1921) took the position that a
primary role of the entrepreneur is that of risk-bearer or, even more extreme, of uncertainty, defined as subjection to prospects so unpredictable that they even preclude any
evaluation in terms of probabilities. In contrast, Schumpeter (1911) held the position
that the entrepreneurs, in their role as entrepreneurs, undertake no risk at all, because
they work with other people’s money – that of the investing capitalists. It will be argued
below that neither of these positions is quite right, and that while, in reality, entrepreneurs are subject to risks that are far from negligible, there is a great deal more to their
activity than risk-bearing alone.
2
SOME EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF THE
ENTREPRENEUR
As noted, there is now a profusion of careful and illuminating empirical investigations
of entrepreneurship, much of it contributed by sociologists and psychologists as well as
economists. Here only the work of the last of these will be considered. The writings on
several significant topics will be discussed.
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Specialization of Small Entrepreneurial Firms in the Innovation Process
Albeit unsystematic, there is an abundance of suggestive evidence indicating that there
is a division of labour between small and large enterprises, with the former responsible
for a disproportionate share of the revolutionary breakthroughs, such as the electric
light, the aeroplane, the internal combustion engine, while the giant corporations
(which account for the bulk of private research and development expenditure) focus
on cumulative incremental improvements, such as are entailed in the evolution of the
Wright brothers’ flying machine to the Boeing 777. Research and development (R&D)
in the large business enterprise tends characteristically to be bureaucratically organized, with management deciding the R&D budget, staffing and even the projects to
which the R&D division should be devoting its efforts. The inherent conservatism of
the process naturally leads to the expectation that these firms will tend to specialize
in the incremental improvements and tend to avoid the risks of the unknown that the
revolutionary breakthrough entails. The latter, rather, is left most often to small or
newly founded enterprises, guided by their enterprising creators. The US Small Business
Administration has prepared a chart listing breakthrough innovations of the twentieth century for which small firms are responsible and its menu of inventions literally
spans the range from A to Z, from the aeroplane to the zipper. This remarkable list
includes a strikingly substantial share of the technical breakthroughs of the twentieth
century. For example, it lists FM radio, the helicopter, the personal computer, and the
pacemaker, among a host of others, many of enormous significance for our economy
(US Small Business Administration, 1995). A more recent study, also sponsored by the
US Small Business Administration (2003), provides systematic evidence with similar
implications.1 Perhaps most notably, the study finds that ‘a small firm patent is more
likely than a large firm patent to be among the top 1 percent of most frequently cited
patents’. Among other conclusions, in the words of its authors, this study also reports
that ‘Small firms represent one-third of the most prolific patenting companies that have
15 or more U.S. patents . . . Small patenting firms are roughly 13 times more innovative
per employee than large patenting firms’ (ibid.: 2).
This leads to the conjecture that most of the revolutionary new ideas of the past two
centuries have been, and are likely to continue to be, provided more heavily by independent innovative entrepreneurs who operate small business enterprises. These small entrepreneurial firms appear to have come close to monopolizing the portion of R&D activity
that is engaged in the search for revolutionary breakthroughs.
Earnings
It is clear that the most successful and most noted of entrepreneurs are rewarded handsomely. Indeed, this group includes the world’s wealthiest person. But, on average, the
compensation of this activity is remarkably low. Freeman (1978) and Benz and Frey
(2004) show that the average earnings of self-employed individuals are significantly
lower than those of employees with similar qualifications, and the same is presumably
true, in particular, of the self-employed innovative entrepreneurs. There are at least
two studies that support this hypothesis for innovative entrepreneurs. Thomas Astebro
(2003) reports on the basis of a sample of 1091 inventions that:
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The average IRR [internal rate of return] on a portfolio investment in these inventions is 11.4
percent. This is higher than the risk-free rate but lower than the long-run return on high-risk
securities and the long-run return on early-stage venture capital funds . . . the distribution of
return is skew; only between 7–9 percent reach the market. Of the 75 inventions that did, six
received returns above 1400 percent, 60 percent obtained negative returns and the median was
negative. (Astebro, 2003: 226)
Perhaps even more striking is the recent work of Nordhaus (2004), whose calculations
show how little of the efficiency rent goes to the innovator:
Using data from the U.S. non-farm business section, I estimate that innovators are able to
capture about 2.2 percent of the total surplus from innovation. This number results from a
low rate of initial appropriability (estimated to be around 7 percent) along with a high rate of
depreciation of Schumpeterian profits (judged to be around 20 percent per year) . . . the rate
of profit on the replacement cost of capital over the 1948–2001 period is estimated to be 0.19
percent per year. (Nordhaus, 2004: 34)
Attitudes toward Risk
There are a number of studies investigating whether entrepreneurs tend to be more
willing than the general population to undertake risks. Parker (2006) provides an admirable summary of the findings from which the following is excerpted:
The available evidence certainly supports the notion that entrepreneurs are unrealistically optimistic. 68% of respondents to Cooper et al.’s (1988) survey of American entrepreneurs thought
the odds of their business succeeding were better than for others in the same sector while only
5% thought that they were worse . . . Arabsheibani et al (2000) compare expectations of future
prosperity with actual outcomes using British panel data, and find that while employees and
self-employed Britons both held systematically over-optimistic expectations about future
incomes, the self-employed are consistently and substantially the most over-optimistic.
. . . optimism . . . is the enemy of the rational [input] buyer . . . optimistic entrepreneurs will
drive out realistic entrepreneurs from product markets [by bidding input prices to excessive
levels]. Realists would make positive profits in the absence of the over-optimists, but may
be unable to do so when optimists are present because optimists produce excess output that
reduces prices below the break even price in the industry.
On the other hand, optimism can convey some advantages. [for example] Bernardo and
Welch (2001) claim that over-optimistic entrepreneurs are less likely to imitate their peers and
are more likely to explore their environment. This generates valuable informational benefits to
the entrepreneurial group, enabling it to thrive in spite of the costs incurred by the particular
group members who obtained the information. (See Parker, 2006: 3–7 for the full discussion.)
In short, there is an abundance of evidence that entrepreneurs, as a group are characterized by a markedly excessive view of their prospects. This may help to account for their
willingness to enter an occupation whose earnings prospects are significantly lower than
what they could have earned by accepting a position in an established firm. But it also
helps to explain their relative propensity to undertake innovations that are radical breakthroughs. For that reason, society may be heavily indebted to this group. For they seem
to be the contributors, on a disproportionate scale, of the effective adoption of those
breakthrough inventions that arguably underlie the unprecedented growth rates of per
capita gross domestic product (GDP) in the world’s most successful economies of recent
centuries.
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Education and Innovative Entrepreneurship
It is again convenient to return to Parker (2006) for a clear summary of the current state
of the discussion of the education of entrepreneurs. As a group, are they highly educated
or is the opposite true?
It is commonly observed that some of the most successful entrepreneurs have relatively low levels of education. For example, Bill Gates and Michael Dell dropped out
of Harvard and the University of Texas respectively, while Richard Branson dropped
out of school. Bhide (2000) claims that informal skills, especially the ability to satisfy
customers’ fuzzy wants, is more important for promoting entrepreneurial success than
human capital. Pursuing this theme, Orzach and Tauman (2005) suggest that gifted
entrepreneurs may optimally acquire less education than wage and salary workers if this
conveys a signal of strength about their own innate abilities in entrepreneurship. Thus
if ability in entrepreneurship matters more for business success than formal education
does, financiers will reward the more able by offering them favourable credit contracts;
other individuals will not find it in their interests to emulate the gifted individuals
because with their lower entrepreneurial abilities they benefit more by taking more
schooling. The prediction that entrepreneurs are on average more educated than employees also accords with recent evidence from several countries, including the USA (Flota
and Mora, 2001; Lofstrom, 2002), Great Britain (Cowling et al., 2004; Henley, 2004), the
Netherlands (Bosma et al., 2004) and Sweden (Davidsson and Honig, 2003). When using
years of schooling as a measure of education, Garcia-Mainar and Montuenga-Gomez
(2005) report a higher return to education in paid employment than in self-employment.
This finding has not been observed in other countries, however. For example, Van der
Sluis et al. (2004) apply instrumental variable (IV) methods to US National Longitudinal
Survey of Youth (NLSY) data and estimate a higher rate of return to education for
entrepreneurs (14 per cent) than for employees (10 per cent) (see Parker, 2006: 14–17).
The data assembled in a recent study of a large sample of noted inventors and entrepreneurs, by Baumol et al. (2009), as compiled from a substantial set of published lists,
indicate that inventors are better educated than entrepreneurs in terms of the share
who earned a college degree. The differential holds in all three time periods into which
the data were divided, before 1800, 1800–1899, and 1900–1985. But the results indicate that, in the USA at least, both inventors and entrepreneurs are better educated
than the set of all adults. The difference is particularly striking for those with a college
degree, and the difference widens over time. In 1950, only 7 per cent of the US adult
population had graduated from college, compared with 67 per cent of US inventors born
between 1900 and 1910 and 44 per cent of US entrepreneurs. According to our data,
100 per cent of US inventors and 75 per cent of US entrepreneurs born between 1951
and 1985 graduated from college, compared with 25 per cent of the corresponding US
population.
The educational attainment of inventors and entrepreneurs can also be compared with
that of R&D personnel generally, using data from the National Science Foundation’s
Science and Engineering Indicators (National Science Board, 2006), and the US Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS). The NSF data describe individuals who report R&D as a
major work activity. Of this group, 59 per cent hold a bachelor’s degree as their highest
degree, with 28 per cent holding master’s degrees, 4 per cent holding professional degrees
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and 9 per cent holding doctorates. The results indicate that inventors are far more likely
to have an advanced degree than the average person working in R&D, but that entrepreneurs have similar levels of education to R&D workers.
Disappearance of the Entrepreneur from Modern Mainstream Economics
Societies with a record of non-military invention that is respectable or even extraordinary have repeatedly failed to put those inventions to substantial use. This is strikingly
true of ancient Rome, with its working steam engine created by Heron of Alexandria,
of medieval China with its innovative printing press, great ships, its clocks, its umbrella
and its spinning wheel, as well as the Soviet Union with the many contributions of its
well-educated scientists and engineers. It is at least plausible that a significant part of the
explanation was the absence of a cadre of innovative entrepreneurs who could improve
their status in society by promotion of such useful products. And with the absence of
such entrepreneurs the growth of these societies was severely handicapped.
Given the acknowledged importance of the entrepreneur’s role, it might be expected
that modern theoretical investigation would have produced an extensive entrepreneurship analysis. Instead, the entrepreneurs virtually vanished from mainstream theory and,
along with that, they were virtually banished from the textbooks. This is probably not
the result of a distaste for the subject or scepticism about its significance, but a consequence of the absence of an obvious way to capture entrepreneurial activity in the way
the literature has produced its analyses of land, labour and capital. There are at least
two reasons for this. First, the most advanced and powerful microeconomic models
predominately are designed to study timeless static equilibria. But, for the entrepreneur,
the intertemporal transition process is the heart of the story. Schumpeter (1911) shows
the entrepreneur as destroyer of equilibria by constant innovation, while Israel Kirzner
(1979) tells how the alert entrepreneur seeks out the arbitrage opportunities presented by
disequilibria, thereby moving the economy back toward equilibrium. Such a relentless
attack upon both equilibria and disequilibria does not fit a stationary model from which
firm creation and invention are excluded.
The second reason for the entrepreneur’s disappearance from mainstream theory is
the indispensably essential attribute of an invention: it necessarily is something that
was never available before. It follows that invention must be the ultimate heterogeneous product. This impedes the optimality analysis that underlies most microeconomic
theory. An optimality calculation entails at least an implicit comparison among the
available choices for the decision at issue, while the innovating entrepreneurs normally
deal with no set of well-defined substitutes among which they may choose on the basis of
their attributes that are quantifiable and comparable. In contrast, standard firm theory
analyses well-defined choices of management among comparable options in fully operational enterprises where the entrepreneur has already completed his job and left to create
other firms.
Thus, neoclassical theory is justified in excluding the entrepreneurs, because it deals
with subjects for which they are irrelevant. That does not mean that no theory of entrepreneurship is needed, or that such a theory is lacking, but it means that a theory of
entrepreneurship must be sought elsewhere than in static mainstream microeconomics,
and that is what Schumpeter succeeded in doing.
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Schumpeter’s Model and Beyond: Supply and Earnings of Entrepreneurial Activity
The basic Schumpeterian model (1911) asserts that the successful innovative entrepreneur’s reward is profit that temporarily exceeds what is obtainable under a regime of
perfect competition. This attracts rivals, who seek to share those profits by imitating the
innovation, and thereby erode its super-competitive earnings. To prevent termination of
these rewards, the entrepreneur can never desist from further innovation and cannot rest
on his laurels.
In this way, the Schumpeterian analysis shows how the entrepreneur is driven to work
without let-up in promotion of economic growth. Thus, it clearly reveals the tight association between innovative entrepreneurship and growth.
This work should also serve as the foundation for further theoretical analysis, and
there are, indeed, some beginnings of efforts in that direction, a good deal of it the work
of the present author (see, for example Baumol, 2002). The first of these deviations
stems from the empirical work that finds the rewards of entrepreneurs as a group to fall
short of the earnings of employees with similar education and experience. In standard
economic terms this means that the average entrepreneur receives negative economic
profits, that is, she loses out by earning less than she could by accepting employment in
an established enterprise. This is in conflict with Schumpeter’s premise that the innovative entrepreneur earns positive monopoly profits soon after the initial introduction of an
invention, profits that are gradually driven down to the competitive level, thus yielding a
surplus over the entire life cycle of the product. But if entry into the innovation process is
unrestricted, and if over-optimism leads entrepreneurs to embark on enterprises that are
not really promising, then standard theory of entry into markets and its effects on prices
easily enables us to understand why in reality the innovative entrepreneurs’ average economic profits are negative.
But can we say more about the resulting prices and earnings, as imposed by market
forces? The answer is that this can easily be done, using the standard model of the
determination of discriminatory prices, that is, prices for identical products that differ
from one customer to another, or even from one sale to another (Baumol, 2007). A
moment’s thought indicates that this is exactly what happens in Schumpeter’s story
but in which the prices differ not between customers but between time periods. That is,
there is intertemporal price discrimination. Moreover, the formulas that determine the
discriminatory prices in the two cases are identical. So, if we are informed about costs,
supply and demand, we can determine exactly what those prices will be because the
competition of rival entrepreneurs will drive those prices down to the sub-competitive
level that is just sufficient to induce entry. For if prices were any higher than this, more
entry would be induced and the expanded production would force those prices down,
while the reverse would occur if prices were below those levels. Thus, the standard
and well-explored microanalysis of discriminatory prices enables us to determine to
exactly what levels the prices and rewards of the entrepreneur’s products will be driven
by competitive market forces, depending on the state of competition and the resulting
demand elasticities in the different pertinent periods. So a micro-theoretic model of the
entrepreneur can now be claimed to exist, on a par with the theories of land, labour
and capital.
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Social Institutions and Allocation of Entrepreneurial Activity
The rest of the story contains material on the supply and allocation of entrepreneurship
among its available uses, and the key role here is played by evolving institutions. This
part of the story is of critical importance for growth and the general welfare, because
both of these depend on the activities upon which entrepreneurs choose to focus. For
example, do they choose to promote a new source of energy or, instead, a new type of
military equipment?
In the economic growth literature, it has often been asserted that an expanded supply
of entrepreneurs effectively stimulates growth, while shrinkage in the supply undermines
it. But an explanation of the entrepreneurs’ appearance and disappearance is shrouded
in mystery, with hints about cultural developments and vague psychological and sociological changes. The historical evidence suggests a more mundane explanation – that
entrepreneurs are always present but, as institutions and the associated structure of
rewards in the economy change, entrepreneurs switch their activities, moving where
pay-offs become more attractive. In doing so, they move in and out of the activities
usually recognized as entrepreneurial, exchanging them for other activities that also
require enterprising talent but are often distant from production of goods and services.
The generals of ancient Rome, the Mandarins of the Tang, Sung, and Ming Chinese
empires, the captains of late medieval private and mercenary armies, the rent-seeking
contemporary lawyers, and the Mafia dons – all are clearly enterprising and often successful. And when institutions have changed so as to modify profoundly the relative
payoffs offered by the different enterprising activities, the supply of entrepreneurs shifts
accordingly. We may divide entrepreneurs into two categories, the productive and
the unproductive, with the latter, in turn, divided into subgroups such as rent-seeking
entrepreneurs and destructive entrepreneurs, including the organizers of private armies
or criminal groups. Once there is a pertinent change in the institutions that govern the
relative rewards, the entrepreneurs will shift their activities between productive and
unproductive occupations, so the set of productive entrepreneurs will appear to expand
or contract autonomously. For example, when institutional change prevents the formation of private armies, entrepreneurs are forced to look elsewhere to realize their
financial ambitions. If, simultaneously, rules against confiscation of private property
and for patent protection of inventions are adopted, entrepreneurial talent will shift into
productive, innovative directions.
NOTE
1. Quoting the press release describing the study, ‘A total of 1,071 firms with 15 or more patents issued
between 1996 and 2000 were examined. A total of 193,976 patents were analyzed. CHI [the firm that carried
out the study] created a data-base of these firms and their patents. This list excluded foreign-owned
firms, universities, government laboratories and nonprofit institutions’ (US Small Business Administration,
2003: 2). This report examines technical change through patenting and it defines small firms as ‘businesses
with fewer than 500 employees’.
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REFERENCES
Arabsheibani, G., D. De Meza, J. Maloney and B. Pearson (2000), ‘And a vision appeared unto them of a great
profit: evidence of self-deception among the self-employed’, Economics Letters, 67, 35–41.
Astebro, T. (2003), ‘The return to independent invention: evidence of unrealistic optimism, risk seeking or
skewness loving’, Economic Journal, 113, 226–38.
Baumol, W.J. (2002), The Free-Market Innovation Machine: Analyzing the Growth Miracle of Capitalism,
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Baumol, W.J. (2007), ‘Entrepreneurship and innovation: the (micro) theory of price and profit’, paper presented at the American Economic Association annual conference 2008, available at: http://www.aeaweb.org/
annual_mtg_papers/2008/2008_345.pdf.
Baumol, W.J., M. Schilling and E. Wolff (2009), ‘The superstar inventors and entrepreneurs: how were they
educated?’, Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 18 (3), 711–28.
Benz, M. and B. Frey, (2004), ‘Being independent raises happiness at work’, Swedish Economic Policy Review,
11, 95–134.
Bernardo, A.E. and I. Welch (2001), ‘On the evolution of overconfidence and entrepreneurs’, Journal of
Economics & Management Strategy, 10, 301–30.
Bhide, A.V. (2000), The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bosma, N., M. van Praag, R. Thurik and G. de Wit (2004), ‘The value of human and social capital investments
for the business performance of startups’, Small Business Economics, 23, 227–36.
Cantillon, R. (1730), Essai Sur la Nature de Commerce en Général, trans. H. Higgs, London: Macmillan, 1931
edn.
Cooper, A.C., C.Y. Woo and W.C. Dunkelberg (1988), ‘Entrepreneurs perceived chances for success’, Journal
of Business Venturing, 3, 97–108.
Cowling, M., P. Mitchell and M. Taylor (2004), ‘Job creators’, Manchester School, 72, 601–17.
Davidsson, P. and B. Honig (2003), ‘The role of social and human capital among nascent entrepreneurs’, Journal
of Business Venturing, 18, 301–33.
Flota, C. and M.T. Mora (2001), ‘The earnings of self-employed Mexican-Americans along the US–Mexico
border’, Annals of Regional Science, 35, 483–99.
Freeman, R. (1978), ‘Job satisfaction as an economic variable’, American Economic Review, 68, 135–41.
Garcia-Mainar, I. and V.M. Montuenga-Gomez (2005), ‘Education returns of wage earners and self-employed
workers: Portugal vs. Spain’, Economics of Education Review, 24, 161–70.
Henley, A. (2004), ‘Self-employment status: the role of state dependence and initial circumstances’, Small
Business Economics, 22, 67–82.
Kirzner, I. (1979), Perception, Opportunity and Profit, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Knight, F. (1921), Risk, Uncertainty and Profit, Boston, MA and New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Lofstrom, M. (2002), ‘Labour market assimilation and the self-employment decision of immigrant entrepreneurs’, Journal of Population Economics, 15, 83–114.
National Research Council, Committee on National Statistics (2007), Understanding Business Dynamics: An
Integrated Data System for America’s Future, Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
National Science Board (2006), Science and Engineering Indicators 2006, 2 vols, Arlington, VA: National
Science Foundation (volume 1, NSB 06-01; volume 2, NSB 06-01A).
Nordhaus, W.D. (2004), ‘Schumpeterian profits in the American economy: theory and measurement’, National
Bureau of Economics Research Working Paper No. 10433.
Orzach, R. and Y. Tauman (2005), ‘Strategic dropouts’, Games & Economic Behaviour, 50, 79–88.
Parker, S.C. (2006), ‘New agendas in the economics of entrepreneurship: optimism, education, wealth
and entrepreneurship’, paper presented at the American Economic Association Special Session on
Entrepreneurship, Boston, MA, 8 January.
Say, J.-B. (1819), Traite d’économie politique, 4th edn, trans. C. Prinsep, Boston, MA: Wells and Lilly, 1821
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Schumpeter, J. (1911), The Theory of Economic Development, trans. R. Opie, Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1934 edn.
US Small Business Administration (1995), The State of Small Business: A Report of the President, 1994,
Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
US Small Business Administration (2003), Small Serial Innovators: The Small Firm Contribution to Technical
Change, CHI Research Inc. for SBA Office of Advocacy, 27 February, Contract no. SBAHQ-01-C-0149.
Van der Sluis, J., M. van Praag and A. van Witteloostuijn (2004), ‘Comparing the returns to education for
entrepreneurs and employees’, mimeo, University of Amsterdam.
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14. Employee start-ups
Andreas Koch
Generally, an employee start-up is defined as a new firm founded by an individual which
has been employed by another private firm within the same industry prior to the foundation. With respect to the terminology, there has been some fuzziness in the past years
which mainly results from the usage of the term ‘spin-off’.1 In some contexts, this term is
used synonymously to what we call an ‘employee start-up’ (for example, by Erikson and
Kuhn, 2006; Klepper, 2001). However, this can be misleading and provoke misunderstandings, as the term ‘spin-off’ is also used in management, financial and jurisprudential research. In these contexts, the term does not refer to (independent) start-ups, but
mostly to divestments (corporate venturing) as a strategy of existing firms, which remain
under the control of the divesting firm (also called ‘corporate spin-offs’, for example
Cusatis et al., 1994; Parhankangas, 1999; Schnee et al., 1998). Some authors also have
used the term ‘spin-out’ (Agarwal et al., 2004; Koster, 2006; for an overview and discussions of terminology see, for example, Parhankangas and Arenius, 2003; Koster, 2006;
Tübke et al., 2004). Due to this ambiguous use of the term ‘spin-off’, more authors have
recently begun to use the term ‘employee start-ups’ (for example Franco, 2005; Klepper,
2001; Shah et al., 2006), which I would strongly endorse in order to avoid further
misunderstanding.
To get back to the subject, an employee start-up combines the transfer of an individual
with the transfer of some kind of industry-specific knowledge, experience – or, in some
cases, even existing products, services or technologies – from an existing firm to a new
firm (see Figure 14.1).
This implies that routines are embodied in the individual moving from dependent
employment to self-employment which may have an impact on the structure and the
dynamics of the start-ups. This transfer of routines, sometimes also described as ‘heritage’ or in so-called ‘parenting models’ (Agarwal et al., 2004; Dahl and Reichstein,
2006; Klepper, 2001; Portugal Ferreira et al., 2006) is a central element and motivation
for research on employee start-ups, as it is of crucial interest how existing knowledge
and experience can be employed for further development of new competences and
Incumbent firm
Start-up
Employee
+
Idea/Technology/
Product
Figure 14.1
Transfer
Basic elements of employee start-ups
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innovations. In an evolutionary view, the existing structure (knowledge, products, firms,
and so on) forms the base for what can be developed in the future. Research on employee
start-ups can be a very promising field in order to further understand the mechanisms of
evolutionary technological and economic change.
NOTE
1. The term ‘spin-offs’ originated in the USA in the 1940s when it was increasingly recognized that –
particularly in large-scale governmental research programmes (for example, space technology, defence
industry) – there were a series of by-products that had the potential to be exploited for themselves (for
example, Danilov, 1969; Olken, 1966). These by-products or unintended inventions were frequently
exploited in new firms founded by former employees of the research programmes or bigger firms
(famous examples for spin-offs are TEFLON®, a material first explored in space technology, or, on the
firm side, the German SAP GmbH, founded by IBM employees, or several spin-offs from Fairchild
Semiconductors, also referred to as ‘Fairchildren’ (Martin, 1984). Further examples can be found in
Klepper (2001) or Hellmann (2004).
REFERENCES
Agarwal, Rajshree, Raj Echambadi, April M. Franco and M.B. Sarkar (2004), ‘Knowledge transfer through
congenital learning. Spin-out generation, development and survival’, Academy of Management Journal, 47
(4), 501–22.
Cusatis, Patrick J., James A. Miles and J. Randall Woolridge (1994), ‘Some new evidence that corporate spinoffs create value’, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 7 (1), 100–107.
Dahl, Michael S. and Toke Reichstein (2006), ‘Heritage and survival of spin-offs: quality of parents and
parent-tenure of founders’, paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta,
12–16 August.
Danilov, Victor J. (1969), ‘The spin-off-phenomenon’, Industrial Research, 11 (5), 54–8.
Eriksson, Tor and Johan M. Kuhn (2006), ‘Firm spin-offs in Denmark 1981–2000 – patterns of entry and exit’,
International Journal of Industrial Organization, 24, 1021–40.
Franco, April M. (2005), ‘Employee entrepreneurship: recent research and future directions’, in Sharon A.
Alvarez, Rajshree Agarwal and Olav Sorenson (eds), Handbook of Entrepreneurship, Vol. 1: Interdisciplinary
Perspectives, International Handbook Series on Entrepreneurship, New York: Springer, pp. 81–
96.
Hellmann, Thomas (2004), ‘When do employees become entrepreneurs?’, working paper 1770, Stanford
Graduate School of Business.
Klepper, Steven (2001), ‘Employee startups in high-tech industries’, Industrial and Corporate Change, 10 (3),
639–74.
Koster, Sierdjan (2006), ‘Whose child? How existing firms foster new firm formation: individual start-ups,
spinouts and spin-offs’, dissertation, Groningen University.
Martin, Michael J.C. (1984), Managing Technological Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Reston, VA: Reston
Publishing.
Olken, Hyman (1966), ‘Spin-offs, a business pay-off’, California Management Review, 9 (2), 17–24.
Parhankangas, Annaleena (1999), Disintegration of Technological Competencies: An Empirical Study of
Divestments through Spin-off Arrangements, Acta Polytecnica Scandinavica. Mathematics, Computing and
Management in Engineering Series 99, Espoo: Finnish Academy of Technology.
Parhankangas, Annaleena and Pia Arenius (2003), ‘From a corporate venture to an independent company: a
base for a taxonomy for corporate spin-off firms’, Research Policy, 32 (3), 463–81.
Portugal Ferreira, Manuel, Ana T. Tavares, William Hesterly and Sungu Armagan (2006), ‘Network and firm
antecedents of spin-offs: motherhooding spin-offs’, FEP working papers no. 201, February, University of
Porto.
Schnee, Edward J., Lee G. Knight and Ray A. Knight (1998), ‘Corporate spin-offs’, Journal of Accountancy,
185 (6), 47–54.
Shah, Sonali K., Rajshree Agarwal and David B. Audretsch (2006), ‘The knowledge context & the
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entrepreneurial process: academic, user & employee entrepreneurship’, University of Illinois working paper
no. 06-0118, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign.
Tübke, Alexander, Pablo Á. de Toledo Saavedra and José-Luis Galán Gonzalez (2004), ‘Towards a first spinoff typology and a new concept for corporate spin-off research’, International Journal of Technology Transfer
and Commercialisation, 3 (3), 263–90.
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15. Entrepreneurial exporters
Martin Hannibal and Tage Koed Madsen
The literatures on entrepreneurship and international business used to be separate fields
and their respective researchers had little, if any, contact (Dana et al., 1999a). Together
with the increasing globalization of markets and societies, however, a joint field on
international entrepreneurship started to grow during the 1990s (Dana et al., 1999b).
Researchers looking at the internationalization of firms used to find that firms would
typically grow internationally in a slow and incremental manner, mainly by exporting their
products to neighbouring countries (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977), but they now find that
an increasing number of new firms initiate international activities (at first often through
exporting) very early on after inception. Similarly, entrepreneurship researchers found
that an increasing number of entrepreneurs have an international outlook.
Dating back to seminal articles by Oviatt and McDougall (1994), Knight and Cavusgil
(1996) and Madsen and Servais (1997), scholars have tried to understand the phenomenon of these international new ventures/born globals (INVs/BGs). Many scholars have
examined whether these firms have specific founder characteristics, for example, whether
they have a global mindset through education or experience working in foreign cultures.
For instance, Acedo and Jones (2007) linked the notion of human capital to the ability
of founders to identify opportunities in foreign markets, and thereby improve the performance of INVs, while Sharma and Blomstermo (2003) demonstrate how acquiring access
to embedded network resources may enhance INV value creation on foreign markets.
Another stream of literature looks at how founders may be able to leverage the knowledge
and resources from contacts in prior work settings to speed up internationalization (for
example, Young et al., 2003). Other scholars have placed emphasis on changing market
conditions and industry structure which are conducive to spurring internationalization.
These areas of focus are demonstrated in an early review by Rialp et al. (2005) as well as
in later reviews by Keupp and Gassmann (2009) and Cesinger et al. (2012).
The study of early and rapidly internationalizing ventures is a subset of research in
international entrepreneurship (IE) which has been defined as ‘a combination of innovative, proactive, and risk-seeking behavior that crosses national borders and is intended to
create value in organizations’ (McDougall and Oviatt, 2000: 903). As demonstrated in
thorough reviews of empirical findings (for example, Aspelund et al., 2007; Cesinger et al.,
2012; Keupp and Gassmann, 2009; Rialp et al., 2005), it is emphasized that comparisons
across studies are extremely difficult because definitions of the phenomenon of early
and rapidly internationalizing firms are very different (see Madsen, 2013 for a thorough
discussion).
Most INVs initiate their international activities by exporting their products and services. Balabanis and Katsikea (2003) label the most successful among these INVs as
entrepreneurial exporters, defined as firms that are characterized by higher innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking in comparison with similar start-ups. A large-scale
study among more than 1000 Danish manufacturing firms reports the same finding, that
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the founders of INVs exhibit much higher market aggressiveness, risk-taking and innovativeness than other exporters and particularly locally orientated firms (Madsen and
Rasmussen, 2005). This chapter discusses entrepreneurial exporters in more depth and
provides a case study that illustrates their decision-making process and strategies.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
During past decades researchers presented evidence of a variety of drivers to, and the
associated timing of, internationalization (for example, Kuivalainen et al., 2012) and provided strong evidence of the importance of managers and entrepreneurs and their roles
as catalysts for internationalization. Ciravegna et al. (2019) suggest a typology of exporters/international firms involving a distinction between entrepreneurial, serendipitous
and strategic internationalization to describe three specific types of internationalization.
Serendipitous exporters exhibit behaviour which is similar to the traditional stages models
of international development (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977). Many are reactive and spread
into international markets in an unstructured manner. Development in market conditions
has made it more difficult to pursue this type of internationalization. Entrepreneurial
and strategic typologies both respond more favourably to current market conditions;
the former by having founders and managers with international attitudes, vision, aggressiveness, innovativeness and commitment to exploring and exploiting opportunities in
foreign markets, often in neighbouring countries. The latter are characterized by strategic
objectives and conscious planning of international activities which may unfold in more
distant country markets.
Balabanis and Katsikea (2003) find that an entrepreneurial stance does have a positive
impact on the export performance of firms. Several arguments for this association may
be emphasized, many of them pertaining to external market conditions. Some of these
conditions have pushed exporters into a more entrepreneurial mode of operation, others
have pulled entrepreneurs into international markets. One pull effect is the increased
globalization of commerce and innovations in information and communication technologies, which has provided many opportunities as well as challenges to early internationalizing and exporting firms (Haar and Ortiz-Buonafina, 2002). In this context it has been
indicated that entrepreneurship has become the key to (re-)vitalizing economic growth
through job creation and so on. In addition, seminal researchers (McDougall and Oviatt,
2000) have argued that the complex nature of the globalizing markets has necessitated,
and thus pushed, early internationalizing firms to adopt an entrepreneurial stance (Covin
and Slevin, 1989) to survive in the often hostile, dynamic and diverse market context. The
concept of an entrepreneurial position reflects management’s risk-taking with regard to
strategic action and investment decisions (Mostafa et al., 2005). Accordingly, the concept
is associated with the organization’s propensity and frequency to innovate to achieve
technological leadership (Balabanis and Katsikea, 2003). This involves market-driving
behaviour to differentiate the firm from export competitors by proactive and aggressive
introduction of innovative products or services (Boso et al., 2012) while calculating the
risk in relation to obstacles such as liabilities of foreignness and outsidership.
The extent to which an organization adopts an entrepreneurial stance is affected by
both internal and external factors. The market often influences a firm’s strategy and how
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it relates to competitors. The main external factor affecting the entrepreneurial position
involves the level of hostility, dynamism and diversity of the market environment (Dess
and Beard, 1984). In the literature, hostile environments are defined as markets with
intense competition and precarious industry settings (Covin and Slevin, 1989). Dynamic
market environments describe a fast and frequently changing context as a consequence
of technological progresses, industrial developments and so on. The literature indicates
that heterogenic market environment characterized by cultural and economic dissimilarity as well as physical distance of the export markets will influence the extent to which
managers adopt an entrepreneurial stance. Research thus indicates that the more market
environments are characterized by high levels of hostility, dynamism and heterogeneity the greater the extent to which managers of an internationalizing firm/exporter will
adopt an entrepreneurial stance and act like an entrepreneurial exporter (Balabanis and
Katsikea, 2003).
The internal antecedents to the entrepreneurial stance of exporting firms include the
attitude of the entrepreneur/founder as well as the firm’s immediate size, its organization
structure and age. Entrepreneurial attitude may have the consequence that exporting
becomes an entrepreneurial act defined as ‘the process by which individuals either on
their own or inside organizations pursue export market opportunities without regard
to the resources which they currently control or environmental disincentives which they
face’ (Mostafa et al., 2005: 292). Literature posits the entrepreneur (manager) as the key
actor for the development of firms, their trajectory and capabilities (Helfat et al., 2007).
This research emphasizes that to understand firm dynamics, research needs to include the
individuals driving it, what they do and how they do it (Felin and Foss, 2005; Hannibal,
2017; Sarasvathy, 2004). It is not only the resources and the partner constellations that
matter. Continuing these thoughts (Andersson and Florén, 2011) finds that managers
in small internationalizing firms hold capabilities distinguishing them from managers in
other firms. This difference is supported by other authors providing strong indications
that the behaviour of managers in small internationalizing firms are a great deal more
proactive in relation to their international activities (Evers et al., 2012; Hannibal, 2017).
Research indicates that as firms grow, they have a propensity to become less entrepreneurial. Larger organizations need more formal systems to coordinate, whereby new
ideas need to go through more layers of administration to get approval. Accordingly,
inherently larger organizations provide fewer incentives to managers to remain entrepreneurial. However, although large firms are less likely to provide the proactive, responsive
and risk-taking atmosphere, it has been argued that larger organizations have more
resources to pour into innovative activities, which is an important component in accumulating more skills and resources required for the entrepreneurial stance (Balabanis and
Katsikea, 2003). They become strategic internationalizers (Ciravegna et al., 2019). Given
this, literature suggests that size of firm is indeed related to the extent to which it will
adopt an entrepreneurial posture but there is a lack of agreement as to the direction of
this relationship. A firm’s history and age is another internal factor which provides the
basis for development of routines and values which will act as guides for the current as
well as future orientations (Helfat et al., 2007). Newer firms will not be constrained by
well-established norms and path dependencies. This will provide more freedom to taking
risk and making decisions. Accordingly, there is a consensus in the literature that ageing
firms will exhibit a decreasing entrepreneurial stance as they continue down the proven
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strategic paths. As shown by Bell et al. (2001), however, an old firm may be acquired by
an entrepreneurial owner and thus become a born-global firm through a revitalization of
the business model. The firm’s organizational structure also impacts the entrepreneurial
stance. The literature describes organizational structure through horizontal, vertical and
spatial differentiation, and posits that informal and open communication coupled with
participative decision-making has a positive impact on the firm’s entrepreneurial stance
(Balabanis and Katsikea, 2003) that will be the base of entrepreneurial export activities.
Entrepreneurial exporters may develop for many external and internal reasons. Their
entrepreneurial activity may relate to different aspects of successful leadership and management: the creation of unique customer value, the identification of a viable business
model, the decision-making related to basic market strategy, and the implementation of
such a strategy. In any case, Balabanis and Katsikea (2003) conclude that being entrepreneurial is very important for exporters and international firms. They also write: ‘Thus,
the adoption of an entrepreneurial posture is something that profit-maximising firms
have to consider and pursue actively for their export operations regardless the conditions
of their markets’ (Balabanis and Katsikea, 2003: 246). We end this chapter by presenting
a case study of a very successful, entrepreneurial exporter as an illustration of how an
entrepreneurial stance impacts on various aspects of decision-making and implementation of strategic decisions.
AN ILLUSTRATIVE CASE: UNIVERSAL ROBOTS
Universal Robots (UR)1 became a world leader in the collaborative robot market in only
a few years. This position was obtained entirely through exporting. The illustrative case
is based on archival material as well as interviews with the pre-2015 top management of
UR. Three founders of UR, Esben Østergaard, Kasper Støy and Kristian Kassow, met at
the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) in Odense. Together, they researched specific
requirements for robots in the food industry, and through the close interaction with the
industry, they identified a unique business opportunity: potential demand for a small,
flexible and inexpensive industrial robot. The robot industry was at that time dominated
by large and inflexible robots that were too expensive for small and medium-sized enterprises. They founded UR in 2005.
The Entrepreneurial Creation of Unique Customer Value
The UR robot arm consists of six rotary joints, where each joint increases the degree
of movement. It is a force-limited robot, that is, it has built-in force torque sensors and
is programmed automatically to stop operation when it detects abnormal impact. This
design makes it a collaborative robot (cobot) that can be installed and work side by side
with humans without being fenced. It represents a radical innovation on the robotics
market, developed in close interaction with initial customers. In many ways, the collaborative UR robot revolutionized the market of industrial robots, and currently UR has a
global market share of more than 50 per cent in the very fast growing cobot segment of
the robotics market.
Esben Østergaard explains that the competitive advantage of UR rests on three pillars.
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First, the flexible and inexpensive robot arm that can be easily moved to solve different
tasks in the production hall. The founders identified this as a strong opportunity compared with the large, expensive and inflexible robots being available at the time. Also, the
UR robot can be installed without any fence around it, which was unheard of at the time
it was created. As a consequence, the robot/cobot can be working right next to a human
being. Second, it is effortless to program the robot, which can be undertaken by employees
at the floor level. In contrast, existing robots could only be programmed by specialists.
Universal Robots’s unique knowledge of how to integrate electronic, mechanical and
software elements form the foundation for these two advantages, and their position as a
market leader enables UR to purchase all modules at comparatively low costs. Third, the
very detailed insight UR has into customer needs and wants so that an UR robot arm can
deliver customer value for individual customers in many industries. It is very difficult to
imitate UR’s knowledge of how the robot arm can be adapted to the needs of individual
firms and production processes, how it can be programmed and thus converted into alternative processes by those who work in the production, and how it can easily be moved
around in the production hall. In the early years of the firm’s life the entrepreneurial
stance was clearly dominating.
The Entrepreneurial Development of a Focused Business Model and Strategy
When the development of the cobot arm was complete, the firm’s financial resources
were exhausted. Despite all the entrepreneurial efforts, a ready-to-market product had not
been developed fast enough. In 2008, the firm struggled to survive, and the Danish State
Investment Fund (Vækstfonden) joined the company through an investment. According
to Esben Østergaard, this capital injection saved UR from bankruptcy, but it also came
with demands for a more strategic approach to developing the business further. As part
of the investment agreement, the Danish State Investment Fund insisted on appointing a
chief executive officer (CEO) with more business experience than the three founders. They
chose Enrico Krog Iversen, who had previously been the CEO of a medium-sized firm
in a completely different industry. He also became a co-investor in UR. Clas Nylandsted
Andersen, a very experienced business leader, acted as the chairman of the board.
A UR robot arm is assembled from almost 1000 components. In the early days of the
company, the founders had the ambition to develop and manufacture critical components,
such as, for example, the gears, in-house. Krog Iversen disagreed with this strategic direction. He argued that this would put limits on the scalability and growth-potential of UR.
Instead, he proposed to outsource production of all components as well as marketing and
distribution through partnerships with key suppliers and independent distributors. This
strategy would imply that UR developed and assembled the collaborative robot arm and
nothing else. All components were to be sourced from suppliers, and a network of independent system integrators/distributors would then take responsibility to contact individual customers and develop a total system for them, including the sourcing of end-effectors
from other suppliers and the final installation of the system. Clas Nylandsted Andersen saw
opportunities in both strategies, but Krog Iversen’s strategic direction was chosen. In a way,
the strategic approach became more dominating, which was necessary owing to the very
dynamic market conditions.
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The Implementation and Fine-Tuning of Exports and Internationalization
When Krog Iversen became the CEO in 2008, no sales had been realized, but he
immediately started canvassing to capture customer and partners. He remembers how he
carried this out in a very entrepreneurial trial-and-error manner: ‘The first two years I
always had a robot in the luggage room of my car so that I could make a demo wherever
I was.’
He was canvassing and looking for business opportunities not only with end-customers
but also with possible distributors. He would offer them one-year contracts and then rely
on their sales efforts based on the assumption that the good distributors would achieve
high sales and stay as distributors, whereas those that were not so good could be dropped.
This entrepreneurial effectuation approach led to changing around 30 per cent of the distributors every year in the beginning. However, as Krog Iversen states, this entrepreneurial
approach was necessary: ‘Being a new company like UR, it is not a question of being able
to find the optimal portfolio of distributors right away. It is a question of loving those you
can get rather than getting those that you love.’ Later, the identification of and collaboration with distributors became much more structured.
In 2008, the first UR cobots were sold through distributors in Denmark and Germany
and, by 2010, UR had expanded their business to all of Europe. Between 2011 and 2015,
the company established four sales subsidiaries in New York, USA, Shanghai, China,
Barcelona, Spain, and Singapore to oversee foreign operations, while also expanding
their distributor network in South America and Oceania. UR started to win prices and
became very visible at trade fairs. Universal Robots became the world market leader for
collaborative robots, and statistics from 2015 put UR’s global market share at 71 per
cent.
The management’s assessment of the business strategy would prove to be successful,
as UR’s annual turnover would increase manifold in the coming years from only a few
million Danish krone (DKK) in 2008 to over 403 million DKK in 2015. Observing the
success of UR, multiple competitors soon arrived, not least competitors from China. This
put pressure on UR, as expressed by Clas Nylandsted Andersen: ‘We felt being under
immense time pressure. Because of the expected competition, we had to develop a strategy
so that we were able to enter the world market very quickly through distributors. Speed
was essential, it was a question of being the first mover.’
The importance of detailed knowledge about how to create value for end-customers
in different industries is a crucial part of UR’s competitive advantage. The strategic decision to use distributors in the downstream relationships required decisions about how to
maintain and further develop this knowledge. Even after the strategic decision to limit
UR to become a developer and assembler of robot arms, a close connection to distributors and end-customers remained very important. Therefore, UR still engages heavily
in building downstream relationships. Østergaard says: ‘When the distributors installed
the first robot arms, we joined them and visited the customers. In that way, I got a lot of
insight into their way of thinking as well as the challenges. I think that those insights have
made UR such great success.’ Later, UR established a competence centre with several
application teams who regularly follow downstream activities in order to stay competitive
in relation to delivering customer value in different industries.
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Acquisition by a US Multinational Company
By 2015, UR was an established success, a worldwide leader in the extremely fast-growing
market for collaborative robots. However, to scale up further, the firm needed additional
financial and managerial resources as well as more efficient channels to customers around
the world in an increasingly hostile market environment. Recently, several challenges have
emerged to emphasize the importance of securing additional resources. First, one of the
owners, the Danish Investment Foundation (Vækstfonden), which had invested in the firm
in the early days, had clearly expressed a preference for an exit. Second, despite the position as market leader, the company’s competitors, especially in Asia, were either attempting to copy UR’s robotic arm or to develop competing products. China represents a vast
market, but also a considerable challenge. The Made-In-China 2025 was being decided
according to which China aims to be a leading country in manufacturing of collaborative
robots. Therefore, the task of the owners and the top management team of UR was to find
a multinational company that through acquisition could provide the necessary conditions
for the company’s future growth. Several firms interested in acquiring UR approached
them, and they decided to implement a structured process to evaluate interested buyers
in order to decide how to secure the future success of UR best. In 2015 US multinational,
Teradyne, acquired UR for US$285 million plus a further earn-out of US$65 million if
specific financial targets were met in the following years. Teradyne was positioned as a
leading supplier of automatic test equipment. The acquisition of UR was the first step in
the continuation of a strategic decision from Teradyne to establish a new position in the
growing segment of industrial automation and especially collaborative robots with UR
as the headquarters.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Balabanis and Katsikea (2003) conclude that any internationalizing firm should adopt an
entrepreneurial posture and thus become entrepreneurial exporters since this will increase
the firm’s profitability. Dynamic, diverse and hostile markets foster more entrepreneurial
exporters, as illustrated by the UR case. The entrepreneurial stance may encompass not
only the market entry phase, but also permeate the product development phase and the
decision-making concerning the firm’s business model. As demonstrated, UR shows clear
signs of an entrepreneurial stance in acting both proactively, taking on risk and having
high levels of innovativeness to fit the category of a true entrepreneurial exporter. It
remains to be seen if the buyout and subsequent influence on the internal factors in UR,
such as change of size, structure and the evident ageing of the organization, will impact
UR to decrease the manager’s entrepreneurial stance to the extent that we will see a more
strategic approach to UR’s internationalization.
This relates to some fundamental questions: can a firm remain an entrepreneurial
exporter? Is it necessary to remain an entrepreneurial exporter? The literature is not conclusive concerning these questions. Balabanis and Katsikea (2003) do not discuss the issue,
and elsewhere it is indicated ‘that while entrepreneurial exporters outperform conservative
exporters in turbulent environments, the reverse is true in benign environments’ (Boso
et al., 2012: 668). So, future research should enlighten us and attempt to address questions,
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including the best timing of a shift in the approach to internationalization activities from
entrepreneurial to more strategic, as mentioned by Ciravegna et al. (2019).
NOTE
1. For more information, please refer to a teaching case about Universal Robots prepared by Kristina Vaarst
Andersen, Tage Koed Madsen and Erik Stavnsager Rasmussen in 2019 (available upon request).
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Aspelund, A., T. Koed Madsen and Ø. Moen (2007), ‘A review of the foundation, international marketing strategies, and performance of international new ventures’, European Journal of Marketing, 41 (11–12), 1423–48.
Balabanis, G.I. and E.S. Katsikea (2003), ‘Being an entrepreneurial exporter: does it pay?’, International Business
Review, 12 (2), 233–52.
Bell, J., R. McNaughton and S. Young (2001), ‘“Born-again global” firms: an extension to the “born global”
phenomenon’, Journal of International Management, 7 (3), 173–89.
Boso, N., J.W. Cadogan and V.M. Story (2012), ‘Complementary effect of entrepreneurial and market orientations on export new product success under differing levels of competitive intensity and financial capital’,
International Business Review, 21 (4), 667–81.
Cesinger, B., M. Fink, T.K. Madsen and S. Kraus (2012), ‘Rapidly internationalizing ventures: how definitions
can bridge the gap across contexts’, Management Decision, 50 (10), 1816–42.
Ciravegna, L., S. Kundu, O. Kuivalainen and L. Lopez (2019), ‘The timing of internationalization – drivers and
outcomes’, Journal of Business Research, 105 (December), 322–32.
Covin, J.G. and D.P. Slevin (1989), ‘Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments’,
Strategic Management Journal, 10 (1), 75–87.
Dana, L.-P., H.E. Etemad and R.W. Wright (1999a), ‘The impact of globalization on SMEs’, Global Focus, 11
(4), 93–106.
Dana, L.-P., H.E. Etemad and R.W. Wright (1999b), ‘Theoretical foundations of international entrepreneurship’, in R.W. Wright (ed.), International Entrepreneurship: Globalization of Emerging Businesses, Stanford,
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Trade Journal, 16 (1), 33–71.
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16. Entrepreneurial hubris
Vita Akstinaite and Eugene Sadler-Smith
INTRODUCTION
Hubris is an extreme manifestation of confidence and ambition that is characterized
by preoccupations with success, feelings of excessive pride and self-importance, arrogance, contempt for advice and criticism, and an imperviousness to learning. It belongs
to the same nomological net as overconfidence and hyper core self-evaluation (Haynes
et al., 2015) but is distinct from narcissism (Asad and Sadler-Smith, 2020). The origins
of hubris research in business and management can be traced back to the foundational
work in behavioural finance in the ‘hubris hypothesis’ of mergers and acquisitions
(Roll, 1986) which explained the negative consequences of chief executive officer (CEO)
overconfidence. Hubris research has branched out subsequently into areas that include
strategic management (for example, Hiller and Hambrick, 2005), leadership (for example,
Akstinaite et al., 2019) and entrepreneurship (for example, Hayward et al., 2010).
Research suggests that hubris is far from uncommon in entrepreneurs (Haynes et al.,
2015) and in this chapter we examine the characteristics, causes and consequences, both
positive and negative, of entrepreneurial hubris.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL HUBRIS
Examples of entrepreneurial hubris abound in both the business-venturing and corporate
entrepreneurship literatures. For example, in the corporate world, business leaders such
as Steve Jobs of Apple, Larry Page of Google and Carly Fiorina at Hewlett Packard,
embodied strong entrepreneurial orientations and gravitated towards bold, and sometimes extreme, strategic choices through their innovativeness, proactiveness and risktaking behaviours. However, the downside of their entrepreneurialism was that they
inclined towards overconfidence, over-ambition, unpredictability and, even, recklessness
(Chatterjee and Hambrick, 2007; Wales et al., 2013).
Hubris is typically associated with destructive leadership and unintended negative consequences (Sadler-Smith, 2019). In the business-venturing arena in the UK, it is estimated
that more than half of new businesses fail to survive for longer than five years. The picture
is little different in the USA (Headd, 2003). For example, in Cooper et al.’s (1988) study of
3000 entrepreneurs in which respondents were asked to rate their chances of success, 81
per cent of business venturers saw their odds of success as seven out of 10 or better, and
a third saw their odds of success of 10 out of 10. Hence there is ample empirical evidence
to suggest that business venturers categorize opportunities overly positively to the extent
that they display behaviours bordering on the euphoric at the start-up of a firm and show
clear manifestations of a warped perception of risk (Vecchio, 2003).
In entrepreneurship hubris manifests in particular as: (1) errors of judgement of the
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resources needed for success; (2) severe over-estimation of the entrepreneur’s own business
venturing, leadership and managerial abilities; (3) hiring of employees with lower levels of
requisite human capital for the venture; (4) underestimations of the need for social capital
to support venture viability, survival and growth; (5) distortions of entrepreneur’s perception of reality thereby impeding proper assessment of the resources needed at critical
stages in the business growth cycle (Haynes et al., 2015: 486). Based on the above, entrepreneurial hubris is defined as exaggerated self-confidence, ambition and pride, contempt
for advice and criticism from others, and an imperviousness to learning, which is fuelled
by prior business-venturing successes and results in flawed decision-making that invites
unintended negative consequences in the form of venture failure.
CAUSES OF ENTREPRENEURIAL HUBRIS
Entrepreneurs must take significant risks to be successful and therefore must have high
levels of confidence in the decisions they take. Building on earlier work in strategic management research, Hayward et al. (2006) developed a ‘hubris theory of entrepreneurship’
which models both how overconfident entrepreneurs are more likely to initiate business
ventures and how these ventures are more likely to fail. Hayward et al.’s theory seeks to
answer the question of why entrepreneurs start their ventures in the first place when the
objective chances of success are so discouraging (Haynes et al., 2015).
Overconfident entrepreneurs often not only ignore base rates, but also choose to
(1) overlook the failure rate of competitors who have sought similar opportunities
in the past, and (2) underestimate the strength of competitors for focal opportunities
(Hayward et al. 2006). They do so in the firm belief that with their abilities and talents,
perhaps with assistance of a ‘lucky hunch’ (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000: 220), they
will beat the odds. This overconfidence stems from three sources: (1) overconfidence in
knowledge of the domain; (2) overconfidence in prediction of outcomes; and (3) overconfidence in their personal abilities (Hayward et al., 2006). A surfeit of confidence can
lead business venturers to categorize business situations over-positively and as a result
they are inclined to overestimate the probability of their judgement being right and their
venturing decisions turning out well, but they consequently underestimate the chances
of being wrong and things turning out badly (Hmieleski and Baron, 2008; Palich and
Bagby, 1995).
Moreover, hubristic entrepreneurs’ experiences and prior successes in previous ventures
only makes them more likely to be confident of success in focal ventures irrespective of
whether or not the focal venture relies on relevant experience and expertise gained in prior
ventures. These hubristic entrepreneurs assume that their entrepreneurial abilities are
domain general (Hayward et al., 2006) rather than, and contrary to theories of expertise,
domain specific (Kahneman and Klein, 2009).
As regards entrepreneurial abilities and outcomes, Townsend et al. (2010) distinguish
between expectations of abilities versus expectations of outcomes. Their study of startups in the USA suggested that entrepreneurs’ beliefs in their abilities were a stronger
driver of business-venturing behaviours than their beliefs about the outcome. This suggests that entrepreneurial hubris (for example, as elevated self-evaluation) can lead business venturers to trust their abilities first and assume that successful outcomes will follow.
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The cognitive biases that are associated with entrepreneurial hubris result in systematic
errors of judgement and stem from illusions of control and the use of limited information
(Hmieleski and Baron, 2008).
Internationalization can also compound the hazards of entrepreneurial hubris. Moving
into the international environment is often complex, ambiguous and uncertain, and may
pose a significant risk of overreach for hubristic entrepreneurs. The move into international markets has been described as presenting a liminal transition (laying ‘betwixt
and between’), and the ambiguous and transitory nature of this transitional zone has the
potential to increase the odds for fatal missteps (for example, entering a high-cost market
without sufficient resources) so that misjudgements threaten the survival of international
new ventures (Prashantham and Floyd, 2019).
Narcissism and gender may also play a role. When entrepreneurs have narcissistic tendencies (for example, need for control, desire for approval or propensity for action) and
associated difficulties in regulating self-esteem, they may be predisposed to overconfident
and overambitious (that is, hubristic) business-venturing decisions (Kets de Vries, 1996).
Regarding gender, more males are inclined to become entrepreneurs than females, and
men tend to be more confident in their ability to perform at high levels in the tasks of
entrepreneurship (Hmieleski and Baron, 2008). In addition, research outside the entrepreneurial domain has studied the effects of hormones on the decision-making behaviours
of traders and has found that higher levels of testosterone are associated with irrational
exuberance and recklessness (Coates, 2012).
Finally, context can also be an important factor that affects the ways in which hubris
manifests in entrepreneurship. Hubris can manifest through different mechanisms in
different entrepreneurial settings. For example, Haynes et al. (2015) propose that: (1)
in young start-ups entrepreneurial hubris gives rise to underestimations of human and
social capital necessary for venture success; (2) in family firms excessive pursuit of socioemotional wealth by a hubristic leader causes overestimation of available social and
human capital necessary for success; and (3) in corporate ventures the discretion to engage
in risky decision-making by hubristic executives brings about the misuse and erosion of
social capital necessary for success.
CONSEQUENCES
The Bright Side (Positive Consequences) of Entrepreneurial Hubris
Hubris, as often is the case with extreme behavioural conditions, has a dark and a bright
side. A small amount of hubris helps individuals to be bold, to strive for more and, ultimately, to dare to set up entrepreneurial ventures, even after experiencing failure. A high
level of confidence is beneficial in persuading others to be enthusiastic about and join a
business-venturing project, and confidence inspires, motivates and assures employees and
other stakeholders (Busenitz and Barney, 1997).
In addition, hubristic entrepreneurial leaders encourage creativity and entrepreneurship owing to their excessive risk-taking and confidence in their most radical ideas
(Zeitoun et al., 2019). Steve Jobs is an example of a hubristic leader who was arrogant,
and sometimes undermining, but who created a number of radically innovative products.
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To be part of such breakthroughs might be an intrinsically motivating experience for followers of hubristic leaders (Zeitoun et al., 2019).
It is long established that efficacy beliefs influence how individuals ‘feel, think, motivate
themselves and behave’ (Bandura, 1993: 118). Hubris has a direct link with self-efficacy,
which is often extremely high in hubristic individuals (cf. hyper core self-evaluation,
Hiller and Hambrick, 2005). Favourable efficacy beliefs have positive effects, and it is
well known that individuals high in self-efficacy set challenging goals which they persistently strive towards even when the odds are stacked against them, moreover they recover
quickly from failure, even under adverse conditions (Bandura, 1993). Entrepreneurs have
to be able to, of necessity, work towards challenging goals, be comfortable with risk and
persist against the odds, and be resolute in the face of failure.
Entrepreneurial self-efficacy is the degree to which an entrepreneur perceives himself
or herself as having the ability to successfully perform the various roles and tasks of
entrepreneurship, including intentions to start a new business and the related tasks of
marketing, innovation management and financial control (Hmieleski and Baron, 2008).
High entrepreneurial self-efficacy is associated with a variety of positive effects, including
business performance outcomes and work satisfaction (Baum and Locke, 2004; Bradley
and Roberts, 2004).
The ‘Dark Side’ (Negative Consequences) of Entrepreneurial Hubris
As to the dark side of entrepreneurial hubris, Miller in his book The Icarus Paradox
argued that the entrepreneurial personality may in some respects be Janus-like in that
positive attributes (for example, energy, confidence, ambition, need for achievement
and independence) can morph into negative attributes (for example, aggressiveness,
ruthlessness, immodesty, irresponsibility and recklessness) (Miller, 1992). This general
phenomenon has been labelled a strengths-into-weaknesses paradox (Sadler-Smith, 2019)
and displays a classic inverted U-shaped pattern (DeNisi, 2015) with optimum levels of
outcome related to the tipping point between too much or too little of a required attribute
(cf. Yerkes Dodson law; Yerkes and Dodson, 1908). For example, Steve Jobs’s confidence,
power, and authority in difficult situations was likely to be inspiring to his followers.
However, the same traits made him difficult to deal with and work for. One reason for
this is because hubristic confidence and risk-taking makes hubristic leaders ignore the
needs of others (Akstinaite et al., 2019). For instance, Steve Jobs is notoriously known
for publicly denouncing and yelling at his employees. Being led by such hubristic leaders
is likely to be a stressful work experience for followers.
Also, excessive confidence in their own abilities is a strong driving force and hence
a significant hazard in business start-ups, which can cause individuals to proceed and
persist with concomitant escalations of commitment in spite of the odds being stacked
against them. This, in turn, might affect not only the leader, but also the business venture
and people who work for it, leading to impaired decision-making and flawed leadership
behaviours. For example, it might lead entrepreneurs to make miscalculated resourceallocation decisions that ultimately deplete the venture’s chances of success and increase
the likelihood of venture failure (Hayward et al., 2006). In addition, unrealistic optimism
fuelled by hubris could cause entrepreneurs to take extreme risks and have a narrow and
single-minded focus on business (Nicholson, 1998). Owing to this, entrepreneurial leader
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hubris often causes a decrease in human and social capital for the venture, which, in turn,
has a negative effect on the success of the newly established entrepreneurial venture.
CONCLUSIONS
Analysing hubris in the entrepreneurial context is particularly interesting as business decisions and actions are being taken in a public space where the outcomes of these decisions,
such as failed start-ups, can be observed and analysed by others. In most cases, an individual’s entrepreneurial actions stem from the behaviours that have proved to be useful in the
past (that is, taking huge financial risks). As a consequence, as the entrepreneur relies on
these behaviours to achieve prospective business successes, these behaviours become more
reinforced over time. Future research should explore ways to identify early warning signals,
such as linguistic makers, of entrepreneurial hubris and extend existing work on analysis
and identification of hubris to the entrepreneurship domain (Akstinaite et al., 2019).
Inevitably, the overuse of a particular strength can cause it to become a weakness. If
overused, entrepreneurial ambitiousness and self-confidence can lead to self-absorption
and unwillingness to accept mistakes made; a strong and independent personality can
turn into an aloof and unapproachable character; traits of expressiveness and extraversion can lead to attention seeking. For this reason it is important to identify and understand the tipping point from which an entrepreneurial strengths, such as confidence and
risk-taking, become hubristic weaknesses, such as overconfidence, recklessness and other
dysfunctional behaviours.
The competitive world of entrepreneurship in the twenty-first century seems to call for
people who exhibit behavioural traits that can also be attributed to hubris. Perhaps, as has
been suggested in previous research, a degree of hubris is inevitable and even necessary
in order to become a successful and well-known entrepreneur. This, therefore, raises the
question as to whether a particular amount of hubris is required for successful entrepreneurship and what is the tipping point after which it becomes damaging? It seems that
the general rule of law applies to hubris in entrepreneurial context: some traits that lead
people to become entrepreneurs, might become maladaptive when taken to extremes.
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17. Entrepreneurial learning
Jennifer R. Carter, Claire Leitch and Valerie Stead
Over the past decade, entrepreneurship has seen an increase in the scholarly interest of
entrepreneurial learning (Jones et al., 2014; Soetanto, 2017; Wang and Chugh, 2014),
transforming it from one of the most neglected areas (Harrison and Leitch, 2005) to
an accepted and integral aspect of entrepreneurship (McKeown, 2015; Tseng, 2013).
Entrepreneurial learning is characterised by definitional inconsistency (Soetanto, 2017)
as its theorisation is drawn from a range of disciplinary backgrounds with different
philosophical underpinnings. This has led to diverse and fragmented understandings
(Wang and Chugh, 2014). Based on a consideration of the multiple definitions and understanding of entrepreneurial learning that have been advanced already, entrepreneurial
learning is defined here as the creation, acquisition and/or development of the skills,
knowledge and abilities necessary for entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurial activity
refers to the exploitation of opportunities by entrepreneurial individuals or teams in the
creation and development of business ventures.
Entrepreneurial learning has been shown to have a positive effect on the success and
achievement of entrepreneurs and their businesses (Keith et al., 2016; Rae and Carswell,
2001; Soetanto, 2017; Wing Yan Man, 2012). Owing to the chaotic and unpredictable
context of entrepreneurship (Holcomb et al., 2009), entrepreneurs need to be flexible and
adaptable (Lans et al., 2008). Businesses face external pressures – for example, uncertainty
(Bergh et al., 2011), rapid change (Holcomb et al., 2009; van Gelderen et al., 2005), technological development, increased customer demands and growing competition (Keith et
al., 2016) – as well as internal challenges – for example, liabilities of newness, smallness
and inexperience (Dada and Fogg, 2016). Therefore, entrepreneurial learning is important
in enabling entrepreneurs to handle and overcome the ambiguous and ever-evolving issues
they face, and is imperative for business survival and growth.
This chapter reviews understandings of entrepreneurial learning by considering how
entrepreneurs learn and what entrepreneurs learn. By drawing together current understandings, this review argues for a holistic approach which more fully captures the nature
of entrepreneurial learning. Integrating understandings allows reflection of the complexity,
multiplicity and dynamic nature of entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurial practice.
HOW ENTREPRENEURS LEARN
Understandings of entrepreneurial learning tend to be underpinned by experiential
learning theory (Zheng et al., 2017), which assumes that learning is a result of engaging
in and reflecting on practice. Entrepreneurs are often characterised as action orientated
(Agbim et al., 2013; Cope, 2005; Morris et al., 2012; Pittaway et al., 2015), that is, they
are better suited to learning through experience in a way that is active and practice based
(Cope, 2011; Corbett, 2005; Deakins and Freel, 1998; Jones et al., 2014; Pittaway et al.,
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2015; Politis, 2005; Rae and Carswell, 2001; Wing Yan Man, 2012; Zhang and Hamilton,
2009). Furthermore, entrepreneurial learning is largely viewed as informal (Brett et al.,
2012; Coetzer et al., 2017; Keith et al., 2016) and incidental, occurring through everyday
practice (Cope and Watts, 2000). The experiential nature of entrepreneurial learning is
broadly categorised in three ways: practice experiential, cognitive experiential and social
experiential (Zheng et al., 2017).
Practice-experiential approaches focus on how action and practice contribute to an
entrepreneur’s learning. These are closely aligned with traditional experiential learning
theories, such as Kolb (1984), where reflection is a core learning mechanism to make
sense of experience (Löbler, 2006; Wing Yan Man, 2012) and to transform experience
into knowledge (Politis, 2005). Examples include Cope’s (2005) and Deakins and Wyper’s
(2010) research of critical incidents. Cope’s (2005) study observed how entrepreneurs
learn through critical, non-routine and often unexpected events that force them to question their assumptions and reflect on their situation. Deakins and Wyper (2010) propose a
four-stage cycle to show how reflective learning from critical events enables entrepreneurs
to engage in deeper, higher-level learning: (1) trigger event, (2) reflection and assimilation, (3) review of entrepreneurial strategies and resources, and (4) implementation and
observation. Through this learning, entrepreneurs are better able to adapt and develop
on a strategic level.
Cognitive-experiential approaches are an evolution of experiential learning theory and
differ by focusing upon how experiences change an entrepreneur’s individual mental models.
They consider the ways in which an entrepreneur cognitively processes an experience for
the purpose of learning. One example of a cognitive-experiential approach is Minniti and
Bygrave’s (2001) algorithm of action choice, which considers how knowledge and experience influence entrepreneurial choice, with successful actions being repeated and unsuccessful actions rejected. Another is Petkova’s (2009) error-based learning model, which places
emphasis on the role of cognitive functions in the detection and correction of errors.
Social-experiential approaches shift attention from the individual, highlighting that
learning is a social and interactive process, involving multiple actors (Wing Yan Man,
2012). Learning in this way is a process of co-participation (Taylor and Thorpe, 2004),
demonstrated through Zhang and Hamilton’s (2009) research of formalised peer networks. Their process model of learning in peer networks shows how entrepreneurs learn
by sharing experiences and problems, and then engaging in reflection to question their
understanding and behaviours. Another example of a social-experiential approach is
St-Jean and Audet’s (2012) research on mentoring. Their research showed that a more
bespoke and personalised approach, such as entrepreneurs working with mentors who
have had similar experiences to them, leads to an enhanced learning experience, including
the acquisition of business management skills.
While most research fits within one of these categories, there are studies that span
two or three experiential learning approaches. These studies integrate learning mechanisms from the different experiential approaches, indicating the value of a more holistic
view of learning. The studies that span multiple categories also draw attention to how
entrepreneurial learning is both formal (facilitated as part of an official and structured
programme), and informal (learner directed, and occurring in everyday situations with
little structure).
An example of formal entrepreneurial learning that spans more than one experiential
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learning category is action learning. Research on action learning in the entrepreneurial
learning context focuses on learning as a social and iterative process of action, reflection
and dialogue (Ram and Trehan, 2010; Revans, 2011; Stead, 2014). Involving engagement
both in practice and with others within a formally structured process, action learning can
be characterised as both practice experiential and social experiential. This demonstrates
a shift away from the individualised practice-experiential approaches, while still maintaining a focus on practical experience.
An example of informal entrepreneurial learning that spans more than one experiential learning category is the concept of learning sequences (Bingham and Davis, 2012).
Learning sequences draw attention to the order in which informal learning processes
occur (Bingham and Davis, 2012). These processes are either direct, involving active
engagement in first-hand experience, or indirect, which involve learning from the experiences of others. This research shows that indirect learning processes, such as observation,
can be used as a precursor to direct learning experiences (Hoover et al., 2012), such as
trial and error, experimentation or improvisation, in a sequence termed seeding (Bingham
and Davis, 2012). Alternatively, direct learning experiences can be used in a sequence with
other direct learning experiences, which is termed soloing (Bingham and Davis, 2012).
Direct learning processes are related to cognitive-experiential and practice-experiential
approaches with an emphasis on the individual and making sense of his or her own experiences. Indirect processes, are connected to social-experiential approaches as emphasis is
on the role of other people and learning vicariously from the experiences of others. This
highlights an integration between the three experiential learning categories of entrepreneurial learning.
Viewing learning in this way, where multiple experiential approaches come together,
shifts from a view of entrepreneurial learning as tied to discrete types that work in isolation to a more dynamic, complex understanding where different forms of learning
combine. This perspective better reflects entrepreneurial practice and portrays a richer
overall learning experience. By combining the different forms of learning, entrepreneurs
can draw from a wider range of experiences, making them better prepared to meet the
challenges they face in running and growing their businesses.
WHAT ENTREPRENEURS LEARN
Entrepreneurial learning has a variety of outcomes that contribute to entrepreneurial
competency, knowledge and success. The outcomes are typically divided into three categories: cognitive (Cope, 2005; Lefebvre et al., 2015; St-Jean et al., 2018), affective (Lefebvre
et al., 2015; St-Jean et al., 2018) and relational (Cope, 2005). Cognitive outcomes are those
which influence thinking and acting, such as gaining knowledge of business strategies
(Lefebvre et al., 2015), clarifying business vision (St-Jean et al., 2018) and understanding
internal business needs (Cope, 2005). Affective outcomes are those that have an impact
on feelings, with examples such as reduced feelings of isolation (Lefebvre et al., 2015;
St-Jean et al., 2018) and increased confidence (Lefebvre et al., 2015). Relational outcomes
refer to those that have an effect on personal and professional relationships, for example,
entrepreneurs developing competencies to manage internal and external relationships
(Cope, 2005).
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An important outcome of entrepreneurial learning is shaping an entrepreneur’s identity
and, thus, that of their business. The entrepreneurial identity literature draws attention to
how entrepreneurs find it difficult to separate themselves from their businesses (Navis and
Glynn, 2011). Identity is multi-level (Leitch and Harrison, 2016; Navis and Glynn, 2011),
encompassing ‘the founder (individual level), the proposed new venture (organizational
level), and the focal institutional sector (market level)’ (Navis and Glynn, 2011: 481).
The venture can be thought of as an extension of the entrepreneur, showing he or she is
interwoven in the entrepreneurial identity. For the entrepreneur, this close integration with
his or her business is compounded by a great sense of responsibility and a high level of
risk and pressure (Bell et al., 2018). Examining the outcomes of entrepreneurial learning
also demonstrates the interwoven relationship between the entrepreneur and his or her
business. Learning has an effect at multiple levels; (1) the entrepreneur personally; (2) the
venture strategically; and (3) the venture operationally. Although entrepreneurial learning
outcomes may typically have one level of direct impact, they can also indirectly have an
impact simultaneously on other levels. For example, the cognitive outcomes of gaining
knowledge of business strategies can have a direct impact at the strategic level. It will also
affect the entrepreneur on the personal level by adding to their stocks of knowledge and
potentially changing their thought processes and mental models.
Viewing learning outcomes as intertwined between the personal and the organisational
levels is important for understanding entrepreneurial learning, since it demonstrates its
complexity, and highlights the interconnectivity between the entrepreneur and his or
her venture. Significantly, learning contributes to identity development as it impacts the
entrepreneur personally. In turn, identity influences how entrepreneurs engage in practice through their actions and behaviours, their decision-making and, consequently, their
learning. This demonstrates how entrepreneurial learning is an iterative, continual and
dynamic process.
CONCLUSION
Reviewing the literature reveals the complexity and multiplicity of entrepreneurial learning. It illustrates that entrepreneurs learn in multiple connected learning processes that
include a variety of types of learning. Thus, the processes by which entrepreneurs learn
cannot be considered in isolation from one another, and understanding entrepreneurial
learning more comprehensively requires an integrated approach. This review also shows
that the outcomes of learning are complex as they are intertwined between the entrepreneur and their venture, with implications for both. In doing so, the review reinforces how
identity and learning are interconnected in the entrepreneurial context.
A holistic approach, examining how and what entrepreneurs learn, may therefore
better capture the complex, continual and dynamic nature of entrepreneurial learning.
This enables a shift in focus from static and individual understandings that are bound by
particular categories, to more social, integrative and fluid approaches that reflect more
clearly entrepreneurial context and practice. Not only is this significant for theoretical
developments and generating a fuller picture of entrepreneurial learning, it is also valuable for practice. Specifically, it can inform and enhance entrepreneurial education and
formal entrepreneurial learning programmes in both content and design. For example,
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educators could facilitate peer discussions in which challenging questions are asked that
require the entrepreneurs to think and reflect. Alternatively, educators could arrange for
guest speakers to share their experiences, and then facilitate individual reflection activities
for the entrepreneurs to learn from both their own direct experiences and the experiences
of the guest speaker. An important aspect in both of these examples is for the facilitator/educator to make explicit the forms of learning engaged in by participants, and so
connect the different ways by which the entrepreneurs can learn. By making explicit the
connections between different forms of learning, programmes can help entrepreneurs to
gain insight into how they can learn from both their own experiences and the experiences
of others. An increased awareness can provide entrepreneurs with new learning tools for
their development and for overcoming problems they face in their everyday practice.
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18. Entrepreneurial networks
Howard E. Aldrich, Martin Ruef and Steven Lippmann
Social networks play a significant role in many facets of organizational emergence.
Indeed, the larger network structure in which entrepreneurs are embedded constitutes a
sizeable portion of their opportunity structure. Entrepreneurs’ personal networks – the
set of persons to whom they are directly linked – affect their access to social, emotional
and material support. It is commonly accepted that many efforts to initiate new startups
are heavily reliant on networks and teams, rather than being based on true, solo entrepreneurs. For instance, more than half of American entrepreneurs share ownership with
others in their business startups. Fully 95 percent of the individuals who are trying to
start a business either have involved others to help in some significant capacity or intend
to do so soon (Ruef, 2010).
Network analysts distinguish between two complementary dimensions of someone’s
social relations: (1) their diversity or heterogeneity, and (2) their affective or emotional
strength. The usefulness of any relationship is context dependent. In the context of
entrepreneurial networks, people need access to information and other resources. Thus,
multiple diverse contacts are important, no matter what their strength. Regardless of
their personal networking abilities, entrepreneurs who occupy impoverished social locations may find themselves cut off from valuable knowledge and critical resources. We first
explain why diversity in social relations may convey advantages to entrepreneurs, and then
consider the contribution of relational strength to entrepreneurial action.
THE IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSITY
Diversity in network ties is crucial for entrepreneurs because diversity increases access to a
wider circle of information about potential markets, new business locations, innovations,
sources of capital, and potential investors. By diversity we mean ties to persons of differing social locations and characteristics, along a variety of dimensions: gender, age, occupation, industry, ethnicity and so on. Diversity depends on the range of sectors through
which an entrepreneur moves. Ties can be bridges between sectors where an entrepreneur
currently has no direct ties (Granovetter, 1973). Social ties that connect entrepreneurs to
novel resources or information contribute to network diversity. Diversity also depends on
the number of structural holes in an entrepreneur’s network. Structural holes exist when
persons to whom entrepreneurs are linked are not themselves connected to one another
(Burt, 1992). For example, an entrepreneur may have direct ties to a banker in the financial sector and an accountant in the professional services sector, neither of whom knows
the other.
A network made up of homogenous ties may be of limited value to an entrepreneur.
In homogeneous networks, information known to one person is rapidly diffused to
others and interpreted in similar ways. Two forces promote homogeneity in personal
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networks. First, people tend to associate with others who have similar social characteristics (McPherson et al., 2001), a process termed homophily. Second, people tend toward
emotional and personal balance across their social relationships (Rawlings and Friedkin,
2017). For example, an entrepreneur’s strong friendship with someone increases the
likelihood of that person becoming friendly with other persons strongly linked to the
entrepreneur. Thus, if an entrepreneur has a lawyer as a close friend, and that lawyer has
a bank loan officer as close friend, then the entrepreneur is also likely to become friendly
with the loan officer.
As ties to the same types of people accumulate, the marginal value of each successive
tie drops. Ties to more than one person with similar characteristics or in similar social
locations are redundant and thus of questionable value in providing additional information. An entrepreneur gains little additional information from talking to more than one
person, if all of them are in nearly identical social locations or share many characteristics
in common. For this reason, Burt (1992) argued when it comes to the flow of information, the strength of ties is less important than whether they are non-redundant with other
ties. For example, using a sample of Chinese entrepreneurs, Burt (2019a, 2019b) found
that those with relatively open networks achieved higher performance than those with
relatively closed networks.
THE IMPORTANCE OF TIE STRENGTH
The types of relationships that make up a person’s total set of relationships can be classified according to the strength of the relationship: strong, weak and indeterminate or
fluctuating (dealing with complete strangers). A network’s level of diversity depends, in
part, upon the mix of strong and weak ties. Models of entrepreneurship and business
life cycles emphasize the context-dependent nature of the three types of relation. For
entrepreneurs seeking to mobilize resources in the initial stages of business development,
strong and weak ties may be more important than contacts with strangers. Later, when
a newly founded organization has achieved some stability, arm’s-length transactions and
contacts with strangers assume more importance.
The most reliable relationships in a personal network are strong ties, which are usually
of long duration. People rely on strong ties for advice, assistance and support in all areas
of their lives, such as asking for help in dealing with an ethical dilemma at work or asking
someone to watch their children at short notice. They are long-term, two-way relationships, not governed by short-term calculations of self-interest. Many contain an implicit
principle of reciprocal obligations. Consequently, strong ties are typically more reliable
than other ties and involve a strong degree of trust and emotional closeness (Granovetter,
1993). Individuals tend to make heavy investments in this type of relationship, requiring frequent direct contacts with the other person. However, a large-scale project using
multiple datasets from a diverse set of nations suggested that indirect ties involving long
path distances could still support strong relationships between people (Park et al., 2018).
Owing to the effort involved in creating and sustaining a strong tie, scholars have estimated that most people only have a few strong ties in their personal networks, though
there has been a great deal of debate about potential declines in core discussion networks
(McPherson et al., 2006; Fischer, 2009). Researchers have found that the exact number of
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strong ties reported is sensitive to how people are asked to think about their relationships
(Bearman and Parigi, 2004). In research on entrepreneurial networks, investigators typically find that most business owners report three to 10 strong ties, for example, Aldrich
et al. (1989). Results from studies inside organizations have produced similar figures
(Hmieleski et al., 2015). Attempting to manage large numbers of ties may produce role
strain, though gains from extensive ties with others may outweigh the costs. A business
owner’s strong tie network usually consists of a majority of close business associates, a
few friends and one or two family members (Elfring and Hulsink, 2007). For example, a
sample of Swedish family businesses found that the children of entrepreneurs were the
most prevalent form of familial relationship within these firms between 2002 and 2012
(Adjei et al., 2019), embedding the firm within strong tie relationships.
Strong ties provide a sheltered sector within which entrepreneurs can avoid the opportunism and uncertainty otherwise possible in market-mediated transactions. In social
situations where people expect to deal with each other over an extended period, strong
ties yield three benefits: trust, predictability and voice. Trust tells founders whom they can
count on in demanding situations, and it substantially enhances predictability in relations.
Predictability refers to how the other party will behave if situations change. Finally, using
voice in a relationship means the persons involved will make their complaints known and
negotiate over them, instead of silently sneaking away. Taken together, these characteristics of strong ties allow entrepreneurs to think through ideas, express concerns and regrets,
and plan with others over longer periods of time. Long-term relationships enhance these
benefits, increasing the likelihood of further interaction. Increased frequency of contact,
in turn, carries many benefits. Through frequent contacts, strong bonds develop, tacit
knowledge is transferred and each party develops more informal control over the other
(Llerena and Ozman, 2013).
Strong ties with family members often do not translate into financial support from
them. Nationally representative data as well as community studies show that, with the
possible exception of spouses, only founders from a handful of ethnic minority groups
can count on much financial support from family members (Ruef, 2010). Family members,
as strong ties, provide emotional support for entrepreneurs, but often they are not able to
supply capital. Indeed, too great a reliance on family members may put entrepreneurs at
a disadvantage (Renzulli, 1998). A panel study in the Research Triangle Area of North
Carolina found that the greater the proportion of kin members in an entrepreneur’s business discussion network, the lower the odds of that person starting a business (Renzulli
et al., 2000).
Institutional and organizational contexts may also affect the salience of family ties.
In Turkey, larger families are more beneficial to female entrepreneurs, as they are in a
better position to pass along financial and social capital (Cetindamar et al., 2012). In late
imperial Russia (1869–1913), Hillmann and Aven (2011) found that strong ties were more
beneficial for small firms in local markets, as they helped to foster positive reputations.
However, for larger firms targeting national markets, a more diverse mix of weak ties led
to better performance. In 2004, the Swedish government abolished inheritance and gift
tax, making it easier to pass businesses on to the next generation, thus indirectly enhancing the strength of intergenerational ties (Adjei et al., 2019).
Whereas strong ties are based on trust, weak ties are superficial or casual and normally
involve little emotional investment. Weak-tie relationships are typically of shorter duration
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and involve lower frequency of contact. They are also less reliable and more uncertain
than strong ties, and often fade into dormancy, although they can be revived when assistance is required. They can be thought of as arm’s-length relationships, involving persons
whose handshake we seek but whose full support we cannot count on. Entrepreneurs’ sets
of weak ties are less likely to be homogeneous than their sets of strong ties.
Individuals have more weak ties than strong ties. Examples of weak ties include relationships with customers or clients who are known on a first-name basis but with whom
interactions are still business-like. In contrast to strong ties, weak ties are more likely to be
characterized by opportunism, uncertainty and exit. Opportunism is potentially present
in typical market-like transactions that are driven by self-interest and involve little or no
room for trust. Uncertainty in a tie stems from difficulty in predicting a partner’s actions.
Exit is often the route taken by people faced with opportunism and uncertainty. Going
elsewhere to complete a transaction involving a weak tie is easier than struggling in negotiations for a better deal (Hirschman, 1970). However, conditions of high transactionspecific investments inhibit exit.
A third type of network relationship can better be described as contacts rather than
ties. These types of network relations are created for pragmatic purposes with strangers or
individuals with whom entrepreneurs have no prior relations. Contacts with strangers are
typically fleeting in duration and require little or no emotional involvement. An example
of a contact with a stranger would be buying a piece of equipment from a person who
advertised in a trade publication.
The Association between Diversity and Tie Strength
In contrast to strong ties, people are less concerned with balance in their large circle of
weak ties. The persons with whom we have weak ties, such as casual acquaintances, are
less likely to know each other than are those with whom we have strong ties, such as
close friends. Heterogeneity is both more likely and more tolerated among our weak ties.
Contacts with casual acquaintances that are different from the entrepreneur can be links
to diverse others, each of whom has a close circle of persons unknown to the entrepreneur.
If these strangers have information or resources of value, then entrepreneurs can gain
access to them indirectly through the diversity of their weak ties. They could also accomplish the same goal by diversifying their strong ties, but that requires very intense and
often unsettling maneuvering (Burt, 1992). We would thus expect successful entrepreneurs to emerge from positions that are connected to diverse information sources, as well
as from positions benefiting from a reliable set of strong ties. Indeed, Ruef (2002) found
that network diversity – a mix of strong ties, weak ties and contacts – tended to promote
innovation in a sample of entrepreneurs who had graduated from a US business school.
SOCIAL NETWORKS AND GENDER
The historical under-representation of women in ownership is clearly linked to their exclusion from men’s business discussion networks (Carter, 1994). If women do not occupy key
posts in banks, investment firms and other financially significant positions, then the odds
of men encountering them in daily business relationships are reduced. In the Panel Study
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of Entrepreneurial Dynamics II (PSED II) sample, women were only about 60 percent as
likely as men to be entrepreneurs (Ruef, 2010). Founding rates for women-owned businesses in Western Europe are also substantially lower than the rates for those that are men
owned. In 2012, about 29 percent of entrepreneurs in Europe were women, varying from
a low of about 20 percent in Ireland to about 38 percent in Portugal.
Men’s inclusion of mostly other men in their networks reflects the societal distribution of power and ownership positions, as well as the tendency of men to choose others
like themselves (Kanter, 1977). For example, research in the 1980s and 1990s in the US,
Canada, Italy, Northern Ireland, Japan, Sweden and Norway found that male business owners seldom had women in their strong tie circles (Aldrich et al., 1989; Aldrich
and Sakano, 1998), with spouses constituting one notable exception (Ruef et al., 2003).
Moreover, when women co-found businesses with their husbands, they have a lower likelihood of occupying a leadership position in the venture, as gendered roles and expectations spill over from family life into startup team dynamics (Yang and Aldrich, 2014).
In the past, a lower labor force participation rate, combined with occupational sex
segregation, kept women out of many high-paying jobs (Rosenfeld, 1992). As employment opportunities improved, women have founded businesses at a far higher rate than
in earlier generations, raising the likelihood that men’s business discussion networks will
change. Businesses that were majority owned by women grew from less than 5 percent
in 1970 to almost 39 percent by 2012 (Danti, 2014). If firms owned equally by men and
women are included, the percentage jumped to about 45 percent in 2012. The growth of
voluntary associations dedicated to business networking among women has also substantially raised the visibility of women owners in the business community (Davis et al., 2006).
SOCIAL NETWORKS AND ETHNICITY
Rates of entrepreneurship vary substantially across ethnic groups, as members of dissimilar demographic groups occupy vastly different structural positions, including their social
network context (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Ram et al., 2017). A group’s representation among entrepreneurs may be highly dependent upon the era in which they emigrate
to a host society and on the reception they receive. For example, in the late nineteenthand early twentieth-century US, some socially marginal ethnic or religious groups, such
as Japanese or Jewish immigrants, represented a far greater proportion of the entrepreneurial population than of the general population. These groups immigrated during eras
when economic opportunities were expanding, but found their paths blocked in nearly
all directions except for small-business ownership. Those barriers may also be reflected
in the link between human capital and immigrant entrepreneurship. Asian immigrants
to the US in the 1970s and 1980s experienced a positive relationship between education
and self-employment, but that relationship became negative for Asian immigrants after
1990, when they faced fewer disadvantages in the mainstream labor market (Min and
Kim, 2018).
Ethnic solidarity and networking capacity have facilitated business ownership for many
immigrant groups (Light, 2005). Groups have benefited from a strong internal market for
finding business opportunities and raising capital. For example, in Zimmer and Aldrich’s
(1987) study of businesses in three English cities, only about half of the owners relied
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upon formal channels for information about the site they eventually chose for their business. Regarding capital, Asians drew on family and friends to a far greater extent than
whites in raising funds for their business. With multiple sources of capital available, Asians
appeared less isolated in their social networks than whites.
Given trends in globalization, immigrant social networks now develop transnationally,
as well as locally. Transnational entrepreneurs are individuals who often travel abroad for
their enterprises and believe that the success of those enterprises depends on regular ties
with foreign countries (Drori et al., 2009). In their study of transnational entrepreneurs
in Italy, Brzozowski et al. (2017) found that immigrants in Italy with stronger ties to
co-ethnics were more likely to be entrepreneurs. In addition, those with stronger ties to
their home country were more persistent in their efforts. In their comparative analysis of
immigrant groups in the US, Zhou and Liu (2015) argued that rapid growth in Chinese
immigration to the US promoted deeper localization among immigrants and created
more opportunities for Chinese entrepreneurs compared with other Asian immigrant
groups.
In contrast to many immigrant groups, African Americans in the US have faced
more systematic barriers to business ownership, including severe residential segregation
(Romero and Valdez, 2016). African Americans are not themselves a traditional immigrant
group, given the conditions under which they were brought to the US. However, the great
northward migration of African Americans, starting at the end of World War I, created
conditions at their destinations that resembled those of European and Asian groups. Even
after African-American owners established a foothold in some economic niches, many
thriving business networks were disrupted and ultimately broken up by foreign immigration and white hostility. For example, attacks by white mobs and law enforcement officials
destroyed the black business districts of Wilmington, North Carolina in 1898 and Tulsa,
Oklahoma in 1921. Since then, African-American owners have made some gains, but their
self-employment levels are still below those for many groups that have immigrated to the
US since the 1960s (Lofstrom and Bates, 2013).
COMMUNITY SOCIAL CAPITAL
Most research on social capital considers the benefits that accrue to individual entrepreneurs by analyzing how individuals and teams benefit from the people with whom they
have social ties. However, a growing body of research considers social capital at the community level. These studies focus on the overall level of social cohesion and integration in
various social and geographic groups, and consider how connections between members
affect social outcomes. Connections between members serve two purposes: bonding, or a
strengthening of trust between people with similar social characteristics, and bridging, or
creating relationships and trust between people from different groups (Ruef and Kwon,
2016). Social capital at the community level can lead to a variety of positive outcomes,
including better health, lower crime, collective action and economic development (Kwon
and Adler, 2014).
One important source of this economic development is entrepreneurship. High levels
of social capital, which are facilitated by social or generalized trust, help entrepreneurs in
two ways (Kwon et al., 2013). The first is by facilitating the free flow of information and
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resources among individuals without direct social ties. The second is through fostering
reputation and legitimacy in new organizations (Aldrich and Fiol, 1994). Social capital
can also reduce the level of risk, which makes financing easier for entrepreneurs. For
example, Samila and Sorenson (2017) found that communities with higher levels of racial
integration generated more novel ideas and inventions and, as a consequence, attracted
more venture capital dollars.
Community-level social capital is an important part of ‘entrepreneurial ecosystems’,
the social, cultural, institutional and economic features of local environments that foster
entrepreneurship (Pitelis, 2012). The presence of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists,
mentors and a deep pool of talented labor characterizes entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Dense social networks facilitate the flow of these people and resources to create regions
vibrant with entrepreneurship (Lippmann and Aldrich, 2016). Several comparative case
studies have revealed how networks play an important part in entrepreneurial outcomes
at the regional level, including Saxenian’s (1994) study of innovation in Silicon Valley and
the Route 128 corridor near Boston, and Spigel’s (2017) analysis of Waterloo, Ontario
and Calgary, Alberta.
Social networks affect organizational emergence by structuring the context in which
entrepreneurs must act. Disadvantaged network circumstances limit entrepreneurial possibilities for many people. Entrepreneurs who occupy advantageous social locations have
access to emerging opportunities and critical resources, whereas those in impoverished
locations must rely far more on their personal networking abilities. Regardless of their
structural positions, the use of brokers and other networking strategies enables some
founders to increase their access to resources and opportunities. Initial access only allows
entrepreneurs to begin the founding process, however. They must also obtain knowledge
and find ways to turn it into a promising venture.
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Aldrich, H.E., P.R. Reese and P. Dubini (1989), ‘Women on the verge of a breakthrough: networking among
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Management Review, 19 (4), 645–70.
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Bearman, P. and P. Parigi (2004), ‘Cloning headless frogs and other important matters: conversation topics and
network structure’, Social Forces, 83 (2), 535–57.
Brzozowski, J., M. Cucculelli and A. Surdej (2017), ‘The determinants of transnational entrepreneurship and
transnational ties’ dynamics among immigrant entrepreneurs in ICT sector in Italy’, International Migration,
55 (3), 105–25.
Burt, R.S. (1992), Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press.
Burt, R.S. (2019a), ‘Network disadvantaged entrepreneurs: density, hierarchy, and success in China and the
West.’ Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 43 (1), 19–50.
Burt, R.S. (2019b), ‘The Networks and success of female entrepreneurs in China.’ Social Networks, 58 (July),
37–49.
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Carter, N.M. (1994), ‘Reducing barriers between genders: differences in new firm start-ups’, paper presented at
the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management Dallas, TX, 14–17 August.
Cetindamar, D., V.K. Gupta, E.E. Karadeniz and N. Egrican (2012), ‘What the numbers tell: the impact
of human, family and financial capital on women and men’s entry into entrepreneurship in Turkey’,
Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 24 (1–2), 29–51.
Danti, A. (2014), Statistical Data on Women Entrepreneurs in Europe, Brussels: European Commission.
Davis, A.E., L.A. Renzulli and H.E. Aldrich (2006), ‘Mixing or matching? The influence of voluntary associations on the occupational diversity and density of small business owners’ networks’, Work and Occupations,
33 (1), 42–72.
Drori, I., B. Honig and M. Wright (2009), ‘Transnational entrepreneurship: an emergent field of study’,
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33 (5), 1001–22.
Elfring, T. and W. Hulsink (2007), ‘Networking by entrepreneurs: patterns of tie-formation in emerging organizations’, Organization Studies, 28 (12), 1849–72.
Fischer, C.S. (2009), ‘The 2004 GSS finding of shrunken social networks: an artifact?’, American Sociological
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Granovetter, M. (1993), ‘The Nature of Economic Relationships’, in R. Swedberg (ed.), Explorations in
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Granovetter, M.S. (1973), ‘The strength of weak ties’, American Journal of Sociology, 78 (6), 1360–80.
Hillmann, H. and B. L. Aven (2011), ‘Fragmented networks and entrepreneurship in late imperial Russia’,
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Hirschman, A.O. (1970), Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States,
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Hmieleski, K.M., J.C. Carr and R.A. Baron (2015), ‘Integrating discovery and creation perspectives of entrepreneurial action: the relative roles of founding CEO human capital, social capital, and psychological capital
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Kanter, R.M. (1977), Men and Women of the Corporation, New York: Basic Books.
Kwon, S.-W. and P.S. Adler (2014), ‘Social capital: maturation of a field of research’, Academy of Management
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Kwon, S.-W., C. Heflin and M. Ruef (2013), ‘Community social capital and entrepreneurship’, American
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Light, I. (2005), ‘The ethnic economy’, in N.J. Smelser and R. Swedberg (eds), Handbook of Economic Sociology,
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, pp. 650–77.
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19. Entrepreneurial sense-making, sense-breaking and
sense-demanding
Gabi A. Kaffka and Norris Krueger
Cognitive differences at the individual level may determine how entrepreneurs execute
entrepreneurial tasks (Forbes, 2005). Extant studies have focused mainly on the consequences of entrepreneurs possessing and leveraging particular cognitive abilities
(Grégoire et al., 2011). Meanwhile, the mere performance of entrepreneurial action has
an effect on an entrepreneur’s cognition, whether it be decision-making under uncertainty, pattern recognition or prototype building (Baron and Ensley, 2006; McMullen and
Shepherd, 2006; McKelvie et al., 2011), drawing attention to the cause of entrepreneurial
cognitive development. This cause versus consequence focus is described as an enduring
conundrum within the entrepreneurial cognition literature (Grégoire et al., 2011). To
address this conundrum researchers have called for more attention to be paid to dynamic
processes related to entrepreneurial cognition (Mitchell et al., 2011), such as the role of
third parties as these affect the development of entrepreneurial cognition (Ozgen and
Baron, 2007).
SOCIALLY SITUATED COGNITION AND SENSE-MAKING
Recognizant of the role of the social context in entrepreneurial cognition, Mitchell et al.
(2011) conceptualized entrepreneurial cognition as socially situated. Socially situated
cognition (SSC) sees cognition as action-orientated, embodied, situated and distributed.
Socially situated cognition emphasizes the distributed nature of cognitive development,
namely, other actors as sources of information and knowledge who can be leveraged in
respect of that (Haynie et al., 2010; Dew et al., 2015).
The enactive perspective in cognitive science states that cognition is grounded in the
sense-making of actors (Thompson, 2007; Thompson and Stapleton, 2009). The distributed nature of cognitive development is characteristic of what Weick (1995) described as
the sense-making perspective of human (inter)action. Sense-making organizes the flux of
impressions and perceptions from sensory input. Sense-making assumes the existence of
a socially constructed reality while recognizing individual interpretative processes (Maitlis
and Christianson, 2014). Similarly to SSC, ‘[s]ensemaking is about the interplay of action
and interpretation . . . When action is the central focus, interpretation . . . is the central
phenomenon’ (Weick et al., 2005: 409). In the sense-making perspective, interpretation
involves noticing, bracketing and labelling of specific sensory input (Weick, 1995).
The sense-making perspective as well as SSC share a concern for the interactive nature
of entrepreneurial cognition; for example, the enactment of reality and the embedding of
concepts in dominant stories of the organization recognized by internal or external stakeholders. Both perspectives assume that cognition is not developed in isolation but through
160
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the interaction of the entrepreneurs with (market) actors, as illustrated, for example, by
Ozgen and Baron (2007) and Lim et al. (2013).
THE ROLE OF SENSE-MAKING PROCESSES IN FEEDBACK
LOOPS
Third parties are important to entrepreneurial activities because they provide knowledge
that is relevant to business opportunity development. To obtain this knowledge, entrepreneurs engage in feedback loops with relevant stakeholders, for example, investors,
informal network or first customers (Santos and Eisenhardt, 2005; Ozgen and Baron,
2007; Zott and Huy, 2007; Cornelissen and Clarke, 2010; Clarke and Cornelissen, 2011).
The sense-making perspective offers a valuable conceptualization of entrepreneurial
cognitive development, particularly through the analysis of feedback loops that entrepreneurs engage in with third parties. Three elements help explain mechanisms by which feedback loops affect entrepreneurial sense-making and ultimately cognitive development:
sense-giving, sense-demanding and sense-breaking. We address each element in turn.
Sense-giving
Sense-giving has been a broadly recognized and researched concept in organizational and
entrepreneurship studies (Hill and Levenhagen, 1995; Weick, 2005; Cornelissen et al.,
2012).
[It] consists of acts by which individuals attempt to alter and influence the way others think and
act; . . . frame and disseminate visions and beliefs to others so as to increase their understanding
and support; may include offering descriptions and explanations, providing signals, constructing
credible and consistent narratives, and projecting images through stories, slogans, metaphors,
and artifacts, (Vlaar et al., 2008: 240)
and meetings to explain key initiatives and hypothetical scenario presentations (Vlaar
et al., 2008).
Sense-giving is associated with communicating that representation of reality to others
in order to gain their support (Hill and Levenhagen, 1995). The concept of sense-giving
is associated with an individual’s reaction to broken-down logics in a social context and
with ways of fixing those breakdowns. However, it does not offer explanations as to how
that breaking down occurs initially.
Sense-breaking
Sense-breaking involves the creation of a meaning void that must be filled (Pratt, 2000). It
is a process in which someone’s understanding is disrupted by contradictory evidence or
values provided by others in the process of sense-making (Pratt, 2000; Vlaar et al., 2008).
Sense-breaking, according to Vlaar et al. (2008: 241) is a process ‘used to question existing
understandings of others’ and involves ‘the reframing of previously held conceptions and
redirecting . . . attention and search for solutions’.
Sense-breaking pertains to negative or critical feedback from other parties about the
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entrepreneurial idea. This feedback is geared towards change or improvement of that
idea. In this way, sense-breaking facilitates the adding of new or different dots when
‘connecting the dots’ (Baron, 2004; Baron and Ensley, 2006) for the realization of a viable
business opportunity.
Sense-demanding
Sense-demanding involves efforts by individuals to acquire and process information, in
order to establish a manageable level of uncertainty (Vlaar et al., 2008). This is particularly relevant in the context of entrepreneurial action characterized by uncertainty about
the outcomes of that particular action. To reduce uncertainty and improve the quality of
information upon which they base their decisions, individuals seek as much relevant information as possible. Sense-demanding pertains to asking questions, performing inquiries
and cross-checking their own perceptions and interpretations with other individuals, for
example, participants of other organizations (Vlaar et al., 2008).
FEEDBACK LOOPS AS SOCIALLY SITUATED MECHANISMS
Acts of sense-giving, sense-breaking and sense-demanding contribute to the process of
sense-making. All three elements involve intersubjective, empirically distinctive phenomena that feedback loops consist of. It is well known that various stakeholders affect entrepreneurial cognitive development, such as investors, informal networks or first customers
(Ozgen and Baron, 2007; Clarke and Cornelissen, 2014). All these parties are potential
targets of sense-demanding or sources of sense-breaking and sense-giving. For example,
the development of what is called entrepreneurial meta-cognition (Haynie et al., 2010) or
deeper beliefs (Krueger, 2007) is shown to be positively affected by sense-breaking acts
during opportunity development (Kaffka and Krueger, 2018; Kaffka et al., 2020).
The importance of feedback engagement in entrepreneurial cognitive development is
underlined by recent educational models for entrepreneurship education which emphasize
the importance of learning by doing or experiential learning. Experiential learning typically entails engagement in feedback loops as that type of learning requires interaction
with others; whether with team members, (potential) customers or other stakeholders.
Nabi et al. (2017) found that programmes stimulating experiential learning appear to have
a higher chance of leading to the realization of new ventures. Nabi et al.’s (2017) finding
fits with the role we propose SSC mechanisms play in feedback loops – namely, stimulating the development entrepreneurial cognition – and ultimately in the inclination to realize
a new venture. The concept of socially situated mechanisms facilitates the analysis of how
feedback loops affect entrepreneurial cognitive development as part of experiential learning in entrepreneurship education.
The three sense-making elements of sense-giving, sense-breaking and sense-demanding
help us understand how and why feedback from third parties affects entrepreneurial cognition. They represent socially situated mechanisms that enable (room for novel) sensemaking processes when entrepreneurs engage in feedback activities, and thus ultimately
shape entrepreneurial cognition. The concept of SSC mechanisms thus offers a tool
for more fine-grained analysis of third-party involvement in entrepreneurial cognitive
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development. Practically, a better understanding of how feedback loops stimulate entrepreneurial cognitive development helps to increase the effectiveness of entrepreneurship
education or training.
CONCLUSION
The concept of socially situated cognition draws on the premise that third-party interaction shapes entrepreneurial cognition. We employ the sense-making perspective to
present three distinct SSC mechanisms that affect entrepreneurial cognitive development
in feedback loops. Finally, we propose that these mechanisms help explain how and why
entrepreneurial cognitive development is affected by third-party involvement.
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20. Entrepreneurs in the fashion industry
Michelle Brandstrup
With a constantly changing industry, throughout history the role of the fashion entrepreneur has changed as well. The role of the fashion designer as we know it today was
only introduced in the late nineteenth century. Before that, people in this position were
known as dressmakers or tailors, and they would design the garments, construct the patterns, make prototypes and then sew the final garments together. Fashion at this time was
mainly dictated by the aristocracy. Models were more standardized, but the choice of
fabrics was of great importance, so the textiles were often the main priority in the design
effort (Palmer, 2010). In the late nineteenth century, the dressmaker evolved to become
a fashion designer, similar to an artist, who then took the position of dictating fashion,
instead of it being dictated by the aristocracy. In the late twentieth century, greater importance was given to the consumer, and a fast response to consumer needs was economically
very profitable. Also, in the twenty-first century, sustainability and social responsibility
have been two important focus points, and consumers now have ethical demands, not
known previously in the industry. For this reason, consumers currently have a greater
voice with which to influence fashion. With a constantly changing world, you could argue
that a successful fashion entrepreneur is one who can respond to the changing demands
of the world, and understand the time he or she is part of.
CHARLES WORTH’S INTEGRATION OF TEXTILE SALES AND
DRESSMAKING
Charles Worth (1825–1895) has often been referred to as the ‘father of haute couture’
(Chantal, 2017; De Marly, 1990). Although he was not the first fashion designer, he has
become the image of an industry change, in which the role of a dressmaker evolved from
being a craftsperson who produced garments, to more of an artist with a creative imagination. Being a male, he also challenged the field of dressmaking which, at the time, was
generally a female’s domain (De Marly, 1990).
Charles Worth was born in Lincolnshire, England. In 1836, his father, William Worth,
went bankrupt and left the family. Mrs Worth sent her 11-year-old son Charles to work
at a printer’s shop (De Marly, 1990). Already Worth had a dream to become a couturier,
but his mother did not think of that as an appropriate profession for a man. However,
she agreed to send Worth to London, where at the age of 12 he would start working for
the department store Swan & Edgar selling textiles. After his training, he moved to the
exclusive silk mercers Lewis & Allenby, at the age of 19. At this time, London was at the
forefront of menswear and tailoring, with Savile Row being the centre of this (Breward,
2010), but when it came to dressmaking and womenswear, Worth realized Paris was the
place to be (De Marly, 1990). He moved to Paris at the age of 20, and eventually, with a
good reference from Lewis & Allenby, he started working for silk mercers Gagelin, where
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he would stay for the next 11 years. Here they were using live girls to model shawls, mantles
and cloaks in front of customers. Worth realized that the dresses the models were wearing
took too much attention from the garments they were trying to sell, and therefore he
started to produce more simple dresses for the models. Costumers then started to show
interest in his elegant, simple and well-fitted designs. He therefore went to the owners,
and eventually convinced them to open a dressmaking department he would manage (De
Marly, 1990).
Usually, at that time, a textile mercer would be one place, and the dressmaker another.
It was innovative that both services could be offered at the same place. Together with
Worth’s design and great fit, this concept became very successful. However Worth’s work
at Gagelin was never recognized as much as he might have wished, even though Gagelin
had won international prizes for his designs and the department was economically profitable. It is most likely that what made him start his own couture house was the lack of recognition for his work at Gagelin. In 1858 he and Otto Bobergh opened their own couture
house, Worth et Bobergh (De Marly, 1990).
For his creations, throughout his career, he took much inspiration from paintings in
art museums. He was very concerned with women’s comfort and mobility. Since it was
the time of the crinoline, he noticed how women had trouble sitting down, and accessing
their children. He therefore introduced the flat fronted crinoline, which was flat in front,
so women better could access things with their hands. During this period, women began
to express a need for more practical clothes for walking and sports, and Worth provided
that. He raised the hemline, which had been ground length for 30 years, and in 1868 he
introduced a skirt without crinoline, so then the silhouette would be in line with the body’s
natural shape (De Marly, 1990).
What really made Worth stand out was his ability to attract important clients from the
nobility across Europe (Coleman, 2010; De Marly, 1990). It was his wife Marie Worth’s
suggestion that he should show his portfolio to Princess Pauline von Metternich, who
ordered two gowns, one of which she wore for the Salle des Maréchaux state ball at the
Palais des Tuilleries, which then got the attention of Empress Eugénie (Mendes and De
La Haye, 2014). The empress became a regular client, and continued to be so throughout
the Second Empire (Coleman, 2010). Getting his designs into the circles of the imperial
court, Worth did not need to advertise much; he received publicity from the aristocracy
and the social press (De Marly, 1990).
Whereas most dressmakers would often go to their clients for orders and fittings,
Worth’s customers would come to him. He thought of himself as an artist, and in 1892
he started to dress like one, and wore a velvet beret, which was very common for artists
at that time. He saw the act of sewing labels in his designs as that of an artist signing his
name on his artwork, although he was not the first couturier to do so (De Marly, 1990).
Women knew that he would have the answers how to dress them well, better than they
could alone. They did not just come to him to have a dress made, but also for a consultation. The role of today’s designer was beginning to develop. Worth’s son, Jean-Phillippe,
described his father as: ‘a potentate, adored by his family and his employees, and his
slightest word heeded by all women, from queens to commoners’ (De Marly, 1990: 187).
With live models and his unique combination of selling material and having a dress
made at the same address, he laid the foundations for how most fashion houses would be
run for years to come, and to some extent still are today. Also, in 1868, he founded the
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federation Chambre Syndicale de la Confection et de la Couture Pour Dames et Fillettes
with the purpose of protecting designs from being copied. The federation has evolved over
time, and today promotes French fashion (Palmer, 2010).
After Worth’s death in 1895, the couture house remained owned and operated by his
family for three more generations (De Marly, 1990).
CHANEL AND DIVERSIFICATION BEYOND CLOTHES
Born in Saumur, in the Loire Valley, it has been said about Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel
(1883–1971), that she was a great fashion designer, but also a great business woman
(Bond, 1994). Money was not her primary motivation for choosing entrepreneurship as
a career; rather her goal was to achieve economic independence (De La Haye and Tobin,
1994).
When her father felt incapable of raising five children on his own after his wife’s death,
he sent 12-year-old Coco and her sisters to an orphanage. In her early years she wanted
to sing on stage, rather than to become a couturière. She got a job as a poseuse at the
café La Rotonde where, despite her weak voice, her performance of the song ‘Qui qu’a
vu Coco’, became a popular routine, and it is believed that this is how she acquired her
nickname Coco (Madsen, 1990). Here, she met the wealthy textile heir, Etienne Balsam,
who became her lover, and she eventually moved in with him. Later (circa 1908–09), she
borrowed his apartment in Paris and set up her business as a milliner (De La Haye and
Tobin, 1994). Their relationship came to an end when she met Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel, with
whom she moved in, and from then on he financed her. Capel also financed her shop at
21 rue Cambon, which she opened in 1910. Her business became a success, and in 1913
she achieved financial independence. There was another dressmaker in the house at 21 rue
Cambon, and therefore at first she was not allowed to sell clothing. In 1913 she opened a
shop in a popular holiday seaside town, Deauville (De La Haye and Tobin, 1994).
In contrast to many businesses that were challenged during World War I, Chanel
managed to understand and accommodate women’s changing needs for clothing. With her
jersey suits and original designs, she combined practical wear with elegance, and during the
1920s she made an important contribution to the garçonne look, which was a reaction to a
time of corsets and crinolines. She was very concerned with comfort and ease of movement
in clothing, in the material as well as the shape (De La Haye and Tobin, 1994).
At the end of World War I, Chanel observed how American soldiers would buy French
perfumes as gifts. While at the same time being sad to have missed the business, it also
inspired her; in 1921, Chanel innovated by diversification as she launched a perfume with
her name, Chanel No. 5 (Mazzeo, 2010).
Coco Chanel was not the first couturière to launch a perfume, but was the first to
have her own name on the bottle (Canadeo, 1992). Other than the important sales it gave
Chanel, the perfume also resulted in an iconic status, making the name Chanel famous
around the world (Mazzeo, 2010).
In close collaboration with Chanel herself, Chanel No. 5 was developed by the perfumer, Ernest Beaux. The use of natural flavours such as jasmine and rose, among others,
together with the newly discovered synthetic molecules, aldehydes, which had an effect of
intensifying and lifting the flavour, is part of what make the scent of Chanel No. 5 special.
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She wanted the perfume to represent the style of the house of Chanel in a scent, and the
name was inspired by her lucky number (Mazzeo, 2010).
Although originally sold only from her shop in Paris, with the word spreading mouth
to mouth, the perfume quickly became a success. She saw the potential for greater success,
and in 1924 sold the licence rights of Chanel No. 5 to Pierre and Paul Wertheimer, owners
of the fragrance company Bourjois (Mazzeo, 2010). That firm would then be in charge
of manufacturing, distribution and promotion, and Chanel would receive 10 percent of
the profits, while the production and marketing would be off her mind. However she
was later unsatisfied with their management of the perfume, and claimed that her name
was the reason for its success. For many years she fought for getting back the rights, and
at one point she even tried to damage its reputation. Fearing that, and a lawsuit, which
might also could draw attention to Chanel’s affair with a Nazi lover and affect sales,
Bourjois agreed to renegotiate the contract. Over time, perfume sales contributed greatly
to Chanel’s wealth (Mazzeo, 2010).
Sales numbers reveal it was a product which managed to keep its popularity and adapt
from time to time. For example, during the Depression Chanel No. 5 was sold in tiny bottles,
so that these were affordable. Despite the possibility of losing its exclusive status, it was
sold through the army during World War II, and it became a symbol of a surviving luxury
(Mazzeo, 2010). Making good profits, while at the same time keeping a product’s exclusivity,
is a difficult, well-known balance for luxury fashion brands, and Chanel No. 5, has through
its lifetime faced those issues. When Andy Warhol made his silk screen prints, in the 1980s,
of mass culture icons, it was a comment that Chanel No. 5 had become too common.
However, Warhol also helped Chanel No. 5 achieve its iconic status (Mazzeo, 2010).
In the 1950s Marilyn Monroe’s response, when asked what she would wear to bed,
was ‘Nothing but a few drops of Chanel No. 5’ (Mazzeo, 2010: 190), which made its
popularity continue. In the 1970s marketing designer, Jean Helleu, wanted to renew its
association with glamour and Hollywood movies. His advertisements also took the bottle’s iconic silhouette as a focus point, to reinforce Chanel No. 5’s iconic status (Mazzeo,
2010). Although facing challenging, as well as successful, times through its long life span
of almost 100 years, the popularity of Chanel No. 5 still continues, and has played a huge
part in making the name of Chanel world famous.
CHRISTIAN DIOR INTRODUCING THE ‘NEW LOOK’ IN 1947
Christian Dior (1905–1957), captivated the world of fashion in 1947 with his first collection for Christian Dior Limited. Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief, Carmel Snow, described
it as the ‘New Look’, and the style of the 1947 collection rapidly became known by that
name. With help from others, Dior managed to use his successful beginning to build a
successful company, and he played an important part in rebuilding Paris’s reputation as
a centre of fashion after World War II (Pocha, 2008).
Dior was born in 1905 in Granville, Normandy (Genty, 1994). He grew up in a wealthy
family, and shared his mother’s interest in flowers and gardens. As a child he was described
as a dreamer, lively and affectionate, with a great imagination (Pocha, 2008). He showed
an early interest in art, and he wanted to enrol at the Académie des beaux arts in Paris.
However this was not what his parents had in mind for their son, and to please them he
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enrolled at the faculty of political science. Coming to Paris, in a time of cubism and surrealism, only sparked his interest in art and, in 1927, with his parents’ approval, he opened
a gallery with Jacques Bonjean, although his mother did not allow him to use the Dior
name, so the gallery was called Galerie Jacques Bonjean (Pocha, 2008).
In 1931 his father went bankrupt, and this resulted in financial hard times for Dior in
the years to come. A poor, unhealthy life in Paris might have caused his tuberculosis in
1934, and he took a year to recover. However he returned to Paris with new energy, where
he worked as a fashion illustrator for a period and then, in 1938, he began working for
Robert Piquet, as a modéliste (Pocha, 2008).
Later Dior was offered a job by the couturier, Lucien Lelong. It was here he met Pierre
Balmain, who eventually inspired Dior to start his own brand (Pocha, 2008; Pujalet-Plaà,
2010). It has been suggested that Dior’s motivation for starting on his own was to gain
creative freedom (Pocha, 2008).
In 1946, the entrepreneur, Marcel Boussac, invested 6 million francs in Dior to set up
his couture house. Dior’s father, however, was not pleased as, having lost the family business in 1931, he preferred his son to have a stable job (Pocha, 2008).
Dior’s first collection, in 1947, referred to as the ‘New Look’, became a huge success.
It introduced a feminine style, with a voluminous use of fabric. Emphasizing the curves
of the female body, it had references to clothes dating from before wartime. Not only was
Carmel Snow impressed with the collection, but it received broad publicity throughout
the world of fashion, and it has been suggested that this 1947 collection regained Paris
its position as an international fashion centre (Somerville et al., 2017). Dior himself said:
‘The New Look was a success only because it reflected the mood of the time – a mood that
sought refuge from the mechanical and impersonal in a return to tradition and enduring
values’ (Somerville et al., 2017: 8).
Little more than a week after the show, the financial goals for the whole year had been
achieved (Somerville et al., 2017), and the company grew rapidly after that. In 1947 its
turnover was 1.2 million francs, the equivalent of US$800 000 now. It reached a turnover
of 3.6 million francs in 1948 and 12.7 million francs in 1949 (Pocha, 2008). Owing to his
popularity in the USA, Dior entered the American market and opened a store in New
York in 1948, selling ready-to-wear clothes (Pocha, 2008). He expanded later to other
countries, such as England, Australia, Mexico and Chile. From 1949 several licensing
agreements were made over a number of years for hosiery manufacture, perfume, ties,
furs and so on, which grew the Dior name as well as making profits. In 1955 the company
employed 1000 people, and was responsible for 50 percent of France’s exports of couture
(Pujalet-Plaà, 2010).
RALPH LAUREN GOES BEYOND MERCHANDISE AND SELLS
A LIFESTYLE
Ralph Lauren (1939–) is known as the fashion designer selling a lifestyle, not just clothing and fashion. His brand grew from designing men’s ties, into menswear, womenswear,
children’s wear, perfume, cosmetics and home decor, among others (Canadeo, 1992).
Ralph was born in the Bronx, New York, into a Jewish family of Russian immigrants and the family often struggled financially in his childhood. He spent much of his
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childhood playing sports, which most likely had an influence later on his design DNA,
although it was not always his dream to become a fashion designer. When he graduated
from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1957, he wrote: ‘Millionaire’ as his ambition for the
future in the yearbook (Canadeo, 1992; Weatherly, 2009).
After high school he enrolled at the City College of New York to study business, but
the pressure of also working part-time to pay for the tuition made him leave after just
two years. In 1964 he got a job at the Boston tie company, A. Rivetz & Company. He
had observed the trend of wide ties in Europe, and was eager to design new ties for the
company. At this time not much effort was put into the design of ties since most manufacturers would choose from a limited selection of already designed fabrics from fabric
houses. However, he convinced Rivetz to design a few, but they were not a success, and
Ralph realized it was time for him to move on (Canadeo, 1992).
In 1967 Ralph met Ned Brower, president of the tie company, Beau Brummel. Brower
was thrilled with Ralph’s ideas, and made Ralph head of a new division to design, manufacture and sell his ties. The ties became successful, but Brower did not always agree on
Ralph’s way of handling the business, and Ralph later left Brummel and took the trademark Polo Fashions with him. Later, together with the men’s suit maker, Norman Hilton,
he expanded into menswear. His first menswear collection for Polo Fashions was in 1969,
and in 1970 he won the Coty award for best menswear designer. His first womenswear
collection was introduced in 1971, and was very much inspired by his approach to designing menswear. Ralph believed that women wanted to wear tailored menswear, which was
fitted to the female body (Canadeo, 1992).
Ralph gave much importance to how he would sell his clothes, and how he kept its
exclusive status. He claimed he was selling an entire image, and therefore convinced
Bloomingdale’s to display his products together, like a shop within the shop. ‘I’m promoting a level of taste, a total feeling’ (Canadeo, 1992: 20) he said to the Daily News Record.
In his advertisements he presented a way of life (McDowell, 2003), which often had an
upper-class feel to it. He compared his advertisements with movies people could relate
to, and made people dream. He would often use a backdrop of American landscapes or
the English countryside (Lauren, 2007). He understood the importance of brand identification, the importance of what surrounds the product, as much as the product itself.
Photographer Bruce Weber helped him achieve this (Gross, 2010).
With the fast growing success, and the struggle to meet demand, Ralph realized he needed
somebody to take care of the business side of the company, and formed a partnership with
Peter Strom in 1984, selling him 10 percent of the business. As did several other designers
at the time, Ralph realized the profitable advantages of licensing agreements. Soon the
name Ralph Lauren could be found on perfume, children’s wear and, in 1983, home interior
design. Ralph was one of the first major fashion designers to enter the branch of home decor
(Canadeo, 1992) and it supported his vision of offering a whole lifestyle to his customers.
BENETTON CHALLENGED FASHION ADVERTISING
Luciano Benetton (1935–) and his sister Giuliana Benetton, established Benetton together
in 1965. They started selling sweaters, and owing to its success, later the two other siblings,
Gilberto Benetton and Carlo Benetton, joined (Ganesan, 2002). Benetton innovated a
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dyeing technique, where instead of dyeing the raw fabric, garments would be dyed after
being made. By delaying the dyeing process until later in the production, Benetton was able
to better match consumer demand and save on resources (Sugden, 2012).
In 1982 Luciano hired photographer Oliviero Toscani, and together they developed a
new strategy for advertising. Instead of displaying a fictional world, which fashion advertising had been known for until then, they wanted to picture a reality (Favero, 2006). In
the first advertisements, Toscani focused on promoting the Benetton story of its diverse
colours. Children with different skin colours, wearing a wide selection of Benetton colours,
were gathered on a white background to intensify the colours and the text said: ‘All the
colours of the world’ (Sugden, 2012). Later this slogan was replaced with: ‘United Colors
of Benetton’, which became part of the logo in 1989 (Favero, 2006). Several advertisements
would from then on concentrate on race and equality issues, and from 1989 Benetton
products were often left out of the image (Sugden, 2012). An advertisement of a black
women, breastfeeding a white baby was criticized for referencing a time when black women
were breastfeeding white women’s babies (Ganesan, 2002). Toscani and Luciano wanted
to stimulate thinking with their images, encourage discussions about social problems, and
communicate values of peace and equality. Owing to the controversial topics they adopted,
they would receive various responses. Some advertisements were banned, and some media
refused to publish them, but the more they were banned, the more free publicity they got
(Ganesan, 2002). Topics including religion, politics, environmental disasters and the AIDS
crisis were visualized in the advertisements, without any text, just with the logo of Benetton
(Ganesan, 2002). Despite all the attention these advertisements gave to Benetton, retailers
accused Benetton of confusing customers about what they were actually selling, and it
affected sales negatively in the 1990s (Favero, 2006). However, at the same time Benetton
was also challenged by competition from The Gap and ZARA (Favero, 2006). It has been
suggested that Toscani crossed the line in 2000, with a campaign of images of prisoners
sentenced to death (Ganesan, 2002). Surveys made after this campaign suggested that previously loyal customers had left. In 2001 Benetton could count 7000 stores in 140 countries
(Ganesan, 2002). Toscani left Benetton in 2002 (Favero, 2006).
H&M AND ZARA; AFFORDABLE FASHION AND FAST
RESPONSE TO CONSUMER NEEDS
Through the twentieth century, industrialized systems in the fashion industry have evolved
and optimized for faster production and distribution, which has enabled fashion brands
to react faster to consumer needs (Mo, 2015). The growth of fast-fashion retailer brands,
such as Benetton, The Gap, H&M and ZARA, has made it possible for consumers to
access fashionable garments at affordable prices. Making fashionable clothing accessible
at low prices, and encouraging a rapid change of trends, has resulted in large profits for
these companies.
Erling Persson opened the store Hennes, in Sweden in 1947, and when he merged with
Mauritz Widfross, in 1968, they became Hennes and Mauritz. They soon expanded into
Denmark, Norway, and then England in 1976 (Pahl and Mohring, 2008). Their aim was
to offer the consumer quality, in the latest international fashion, at the best price possible
(Pahl and Mohring, 2008).
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In 1975, clothing manufacturer, Armancio Ortega Gaona, opened his first store,
ZARA, to sell his clothes, because a customer had let him down. Soon ZARA expanded
into Portugal, and later the rest of Europe. In 2007 they could count 1361 stores in 68
countries. Similar to H&M, its aim was to offer quality products in the latest fashion at
an affordable price (Lopez and Fan, 2009). ZARA is currently part of the fashion group,
Inditex (Escalona Orcao and Pérez, 2014).
Although the two companies have similar goals, they are differentiated by how they are
run. H&M outsources its production, which give it the ability to push prices down, and
also gives it a more flexible economy. ZARA owns many of its production facilities, which
gives it more control, flexibility in production and a faster response. To react rapidly to
changes in demand, ZARA is in constant contact with its stores (Escalona Orcao and
Pérez, 2014). It takes ZARA only 15 days, from the design of a new product until its
arrival in the store (Pahl and Mohring, 2008). ‘You need to have 5 fingers touching the
factory, and five touching the consumer’, Armancio said about ZARA’s strategy, thus
taking control over the value chain (Lopez and Fan, 2009: 11).
Both companies own most of their stores. They also make large investments in
information technology (IT), to connect all parts of the value chain. To create a strong
brand-image, H&M also invests largely in advertising, and have been collaborating with
high-profile designers such as Karl Lagerfeld and Stella McCartney. ZARA spends very
little on advertising, using mostly its stores and shop windows to promote itself (Pahl and
Mohring, 2008).
TOWARDS THE FUTURE
The fashion industry currently is the second most harmful industry to the environment
(Khandual and Pradhan, 2019), mainly because of its high use of energy, chemicals, water
and other natural resources. Also, production is very human labour intensive and there
have been several cases of abuse and bad working conditions for workers (Jestratijevic and
Rudd, 2018). With consumers increasing awareness of the issues, great attention has been
paid to sustainability and social responsibility in the industry, and several companies are
redefining their business models (Khandual and Pradhan, 2019).
A number of major fashion brands, including fast-fashion brands, have taken several
sustainable initiatives. Among these brands are Inditex Group, which has reduced its use
of chemicals, creating collections made only from certified organic cotton. Similar moves,
of using natural organic materials and recycling, have been made by H&M (Arrigo, 2015),
which also aims ‘to use its size and influence to bring about better conditions for people
and to minimize environmental impact throughout the value chain’ (Arrigo, 2015: 17).
However, fast-fashion brands have been criticized for mainly concentrating on sustainable
subjects, such as fibre types, recycling and supply-chain management (Fletcher, 2014), while
frequently offering new collections at low prices, which still encourage a high consumption.
As a response to fast-fashion, there has been a rise of slow-fashion brands in the industry (Khandual and Pradhan, 2019). The term slow-fashion refers to the speed in the way
we consume (Fletcher, 2010). The term can also refer to brands, which generally have a
sustainable approach in their business. Slow-fashion brands tend to encourage a slower
pace in the change of trends, better longevity and better quality of products (Jestratijevic
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and Rudd, 2018). An example of this is the Danish clothing brand, Jan Machenhauer,
where materials are selected for becoming more beautiful with wear. Avoiding trends,
garments are created in aesthetics designed to last, and developed at a slower pace, in
opposition to the general seasonal approach common in the industry (www.janmachenhauer.com, accessed 15 January 2020). Another Danish clothing brand, ee12, aims also
to design in a durable aesthetic and quality, and here clothes are made to order. Sample
garments are exhibited in their showroom, and manufacturing of garments only begins
when the order has been placed and pre-paid (www.ee12.dk, accessed 15 January 2020).
The Swedish clothing brand Atacac has developed a price model inspired by that which
airline companies use for flight tickets. Before the garment is made, it starts at the lowest
price, and thereafter goes higher and higher. This approach reduces overproduction and
stock-keeping (www.atacac.com, accessed 15 January 2020).
With the demand from the consumer for ethically produced products, and a suffering
environment, a sustainable innovative mindset is crucial for current fashion entrepreneurs,
and most probably will be in the future.
WOMEN’S FASHION; BORROWING FROM THE BOYS
Looking through the history of womenswear fashion entrepreneurs, each of them had
their unique way of approaching the female body. Charles Worth wanted to give women
more comfort and mobility (De Marly, 1990). Similarly, the aims of Chanel, who boosted
the garçonne look, were a linear style, and she took inspiration from the straight shape of
menswear (De La Haye and Tobin, 1994). Dior however, wanted to emphasize the curvy
lines of the female body, with his ‘New Look’, in 1947 (Cawthorne, 1996). Ralph Lauren,
who had started as a menswear designer, believed women wanted to wear tailored menswear, adjusted to the female body, and this often became his approach when designing
womenswear (Canadeo, 1992).
The fashion historian, Anne Hollander, also addresses how womenswear has been
borrowing elements from menswear through time. She argues that in the late twentieth
century, womenswear had fully adopted the menswear spectrum, although altered to fit
the female body (Hollander, 1994). During World War I, women would often wear masculinized uniforms, which began to affect their daily wear as well. Women entering the work
force, and beginning to play sports, which used to be a male domain, also made the female
wardrobe adapt elements from the more practical male wardrobe (Hollander, 1994). The
idea of women in menswear has for centuries also occasionally had sexual connotations.
In the fourteenth century, men’s clothing began to be more tight-fitted and, for example,
trousers, where the two legs are separated, were considered vulgar on women, until they
were also adopted in the female wardrobe (Hollander, 1994).
With the rise of different feminist movements of today, as for example the #metoo movement, comes also a question of how women of today should dress. Feminist movements
and events, such as Slutwalk in Toronto 2011, encouraged women to wear what they want
to wear, even if its sexually provocative (Darmon, 2014). Since 2010, published research
about sexual objectification has widely increased, while the topic has also been discussed
in the media (Lennon and Johnson, 2014). When the trend forecaster, Lidewij Edelkoort,
presented the trends for spring/summer 2019, she said: ‘Now we have to rediscover what
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the status quo of the women is, how we define ourselves in the future as well as how we
will dress in the future’ (Hendriksz, 2017).
As a professional fashion designer myself, I gave my contribution to this question with
my MA graduation collection in 2019. Inspired by the Japanese design tradition, which
made me experiment with alternative ways to integrate body and sexuality, I gave my contribution and ideas on how women can dress in more body-covering and loose-fit clothing
while still expressing their sexuality and appearing attractive. Instead of drawing attention
to the actual body, I worked in a shape language with references to the female body and
incorporated elements such as movement, transparency and layer-on-layer techniques,
both in print and in shape, in order to arouse curiosity in the viewer about the body that
is hidden underneath the clothes. Figure 20.1 shows a selection of garments developed
for this collection.
Figure 20.1
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Design: Michelle Brandstrup, from her MA graduation collection ‘The
Female Shape?’, Design School Kolding; photograph by Jonas Raaby
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CONCLUSION
In the introduction it was suggested that a successful fashion entrepreneur is someone
who can respond to the changing demands of the world, and understand the time he or
she is part of.
To sum up the fashion entrepreneurs included in this chapter, Charles Worth integrated
textile sales and dressmaking, and played an important part evolving the dressmaker to an
artistic position. Chanel responded to women’s needs during World War I, and expanded
her fashion company into the branch of fragrance. After World War II, Dior understood
what women had been longing for, and with his ‘New Look’ he presented something which
offered a new hope for the future. Ralph Lauren managed to go beyond a brand of merchandise, and offered a lifestyle to his costumers, which he visualized in promotion and
advertisements. Benetton challenged fashion advertising, and built a strong recognizable
trademark and image. H&M and ZARA know how to respond quickly to new trends and
keep prices affordable. Slow-fashion brands such as Jan Machenhauer, ee12 and Atacac
know how to respond to the ethical demands of today’s consumer.
With a changing world, time and industry, these are examples of entrepreneurs and
companies, from different times in history, who understood the time they were part of,
had innovative ideas as to how they could respond to needs and demands, and saw opportunities for growth.
REFERENCES
Arrigo, E. (2015), ‘Corporate sustainability in fashion and luxury companies’, Symphonya. Emerging Issues in
Management, (4), 9–23.
Bond, D. (1994), Great Business Stories: Coco Chanel and Chanel, Watford: Exley.
Breward, C. (2010), ‘Savile Row’, in V. Steele (ed.), The Berg Companion to Fashion, New York: Berg, pp. 617–18.
Canadeo, A. (1992), Ralph Lauren: Master of Fashion, Ada, OK: Garrett Educational.
Cawthorne, N. (1996), The New Look: The Dior Revolution, London: Hamlyn.
Chantal, T.-T. (2017), The House of Worth 1858–1954, London: Thames & Hudson.
Coleman, E.A. (2010), ‘Worth, Charles Frederick’, in V. Steele (ed.), The Berg Companion to Fashion, New
York: Berg, pp. 737–40.
Darmon, K. (2014), ‘Framing SlutWalk London: how does the privilege of feminist activism in social media
travel into the mass media?’, Feminist Media Studies, London: Routledge.
De Marly, D. (1990) Worth: Father of Haute Couture, New York: Holmes & Meier.
De La Haye, A. and S. Tobin (1994), Chanel: The Couturière at Work, London: Victoria and Albert Museum,
Escalona O., A. Isabel and D. Ramos Pérez (2014), ‘Global production chains in the fast fashion sector, transports and logistics: the case of the Spanish retailer Inditex’, Investigaciones Geográficas, Bulletin No. 85,
Instituto de Geografía, UNAM, Mexico City: pp. 113–27.
Favero, G. (2006), ‘Benetton: identifying an image, imagining an identity’, Working Paper No. 06/WP/2006,
Department of Economics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice.
Fletcher, K. (2010), ‘Slow fashion: an invitation for systems change’ Fashion Practice, 2 (2), pp. 259–66, doi:10
.2752/175693810X12774625387594.
Fletcher, K. (2014), ‘Design for sustainability in fashion and textiles’, in S. Black, A. de la Haye, R. Root,
A. Rocamora and H. Thomas (eds), Handbook of Fashion Studies, London and New York: Bloomsbury
Academic, pp. 562–79.
Ganesan, S. (2002), ‘Benetton group: unconventional advertising’, Global CEO, November, 53–9.
Genty, M. (1994), ‘The House of Christian Dior: couture and elegance’, in M. Potter (ed.), Christian Dior: The
Magic of Fashion, Sydney: Powerhouse, pp. 13–25.
Gross, M. (2010), ‘Lauren, Ralph’, in V. Steele (ed.), The Berg Companion to Fashion, New York: Berg,
pp. 219–23.
Hendriksz, V. (2017), ‘Lidewij Edelkoort: “Goddesses will be the female archetypes in fashion”’, accessed 20
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January 2020 at https://fashionunited.com/news/fashion/lidewij-edelkoort-goddesses-will-be-the-female-arch
etypes-in-fashion/2017120818695.
Hollander, A. (1994), Sex and Suits: The Evolution of Modern Dress, New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Jestratijevic, I. and N.A Rudd (2018), ‘Six forms of sustainable fashion’, Latest Trends in Textile & Fashion
Designing, 2 (4), doi:10.32474/LTTFD.2018.02.000145.
Khandual, A. and S. Pradhan (2019), ‘Fashion brands and consumers approach towards sustainable fashion’,
in S. Muthu (ed.) Fast Fashion, Fashion Brands and Sustainable Consumption, Singapore: Springer, pp. 37–54.
Lauren, R. (2007), Ralph Lauren, New York: Rizzoli International.
Lennon, S.J. and K.K.P. Johnson (2015), ‘The role of dress in sexual objectification’, Bibliographical Guides,
London: Bloomsbury Academic, doi:10.5040/9781474280655-BIBART15001.
Lopez, C. and Y. Fan (2009), ‘Internationalization of the Spanish fashion brand Zara’, Journal of Fashion
Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 13 (2), 279–96, doi:10.1108/13612020910957770.
Madsen, A. (1990), Coco Chanel: A Biography, London: Bloomsbury.
Mazzeo, T.J. (2010), The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The Intimate History of the World’s Most Famous Perfume,
New York: HarperCollins.
McDowell, C. (2003), Ralph Lauren: The Man, the Vision, the Style, New York: Rizzoli International.
Mendes, V.D. and A. De La Haye (2014), The House of Worth: Portrait of an Archive, London: V&A Publishing.
Mo, Z. (2015), ‘Internationalization process of fast fashion retailers: evidence of H&M and Zara’, International
Journal of Business and Management, 10 (3), 217–36.
Pahl, N. and W. Mohring (2008), Successful Business Models in the Fashion Retail Industry. Strategic Audit of
H&M Compared to ZARA, Norderstedt, Germany: GRIN Verlag GmbH.
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392–96.
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Pujalet-Plaà, E. (2010), ‘Dior, Christian’, in V. Steele (ed.), The Berg Companion to Fashion, New York: Berg,
pp. 219–23.
Somerville, K., L. Kamitsis and D. Whitfield (2017), The House of Dior: Seventy Years of House Couture,
Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria.
Sugden, K. (2012), ‘Benetton backlash: does controversy sell sweaters?’, Advertising & Society Review, 13 (1),
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Weatherly, M. (2009), Business Leaders: Ralph Lauren, Greensboro, NC: Morgan Reynolds.
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21. Entrepreneurs versus entrepreneurial
Karen Williams-Middleton, Martin Lackéus and
Mats Lundqvist
Not long ago, entrepreneurship was considered something exotic only achieved by a precious few. Currently, entrepreneurship is basically everywhere, leaving people to figure
out what entrepreneurship implies in their contexts. Many feel alienated by stereotyped
definitions that do not match their lived experience, as ‘entrepreneur’ and ‘entrepreneurship’ struggle to be separated from their narrow origins. Popular press and economic
theory have made both terms inseparable from the creation of new economically successful firms. From desired outcome it follows that entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship are
thus exclusively about having an identity and displaying behaviors that help reach this
goal. Stereotyping then occurs in three ways: (1) through stipulating a certain outcome
(successful firm) in a certain (economic) context; (2) by specifying certain behaviors,
such as staying in control and appropriating, to achieve this outcome; and (3) by imposing an identity and mindset suitable for being this firm-creating and firm-controlling
entrepreneur.
If entrepreneurship and entrepreneur is all about creating economically successful new
business, what about the entrepreneurial? A Google search of ‘entrepreneurial’ gives the
impression that this adjective is mainly about existing in a way that results in the creation of a successful firm. However, along with this interpretation, there are also broader
understandings, indicating a wider conceptualization including being innovative, creative, resourceful and adaptable, and embedded in different contexts other than in new
firms. However, the broadening of entrepreneurship has also been met with critique that
entrepreneurship then risks being diluted into meaning almost anything for anyone.
Therefore, as society evolves into appreciating entrepreneurship well beyond creating
new companies, so also does our need for a more appropriate language. This chapter aims
to pave the way for a more emancipated understanding of entrepreneurial by analyzing
current understandings from an interpretivist perspective, breaking away from narrow
and stereotyped conceptions of entrepreneurship.
THE STEREOTYPICAL MYTH OF THE ENTREPRENEUR
The self-made man, a myth which purveys in the American culture, was made popular
in particular by the work of Horatio Alger Jr. Research on the personality and characteristics of the entrepreneur followed but was soon termed the search for the heffalump,
with arguments for and against a type pervading different streams of literature in the field
of entrepreneurship. The stereotypical heroic entrepreneur is portrayed as white, male,
middle-aged and often western, and the language and narrative associated with the role
of entrepreneur is masculine. Using the stereotypical heroic entrepreneur has made the,
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‘under the radar until successful’ figure recognizable and intriguing through television
programs, such as Shark Tank and Dragons Den, but also potentially off-putting and even
hated. Significant literature has illustrated the disconnection many nascent entrepreneurs
feel relative to these stereotypes when in a process of becoming. Despite research developments and evidence to the contrary, the myth of the heroic entrepreneur prevails, and
reifies various gendered and ethnocentric biases, probably because it helps to personify
an otherwise complex concept of entrepreneurship.
The most comprehensive attempts to broaden entrepreneurship have taken place in the
field of entrepreneurship education. Allan Gibb argued for educational innovation emphasizing a broader approach termed ‘enterprise education’. Enterprise education was claimed
to have been liberated from a limiting business context, deemed to be the main problem
behind numerous failed attempts to mainstream entrepreneurship in education (Gibb,
2002). Entrepreneurial individuals creating value in all walks of life have inspired many other
key contributions, primarily in Europe and Australia. Many US-based contributions instead
maintain a narrower business-orientated focus on venture creation as the key defining characteristic of entrepreneurship in education. One argument put forward is that this focus
must remain in order for the field not to be diluted into progressive education in general.
Another attempt to broaden entrepreneurship stems from policy. The European
Commission presented a framework for entrepreneurial competencies in 2016. It was
claimed to build ‘upon a broad definition of entrepreneurship that hinges on the creation of cultural, social or economic value’, and its purpose was to achieve a better bridging between education and work life (Bacigalupo et al., 2016: 6). This recent European
development can be traced to streams of more societally orientated entrepreneurship. For
instance, social entrepreneurs target real social problems using and adapting traditional
business venturing tools, while community and civic entrepreneurs engage in networking
to rejuvenate the local or regional economy. A mainland-European public entrepreneur
engages in societally useful cultural or ecological activities, placing minor or no interest in
economic motives. Except for the more Anglo-American social entrepreneur, these societally orientated sub-streams of entrepreneurship actually do not have a venture focus.
Interpretivism has been offered as a perspective that potentially can avoid a dominant
understanding of entrepreneurship where an outcome – a new economic venture – reinforces stereotyping. Interpretivism accepts that there is some objective reality out there.
However, the only way we can gain knowledge about this reality (epistemology) is through
experience or imagination. As a consequence, ‘the source of entrepreneurship has to be
in individuals rather than in abstract markets’ and can stem from ‘intentionality rather
than causality, of “becoming” rather than “being,” and relationships and interactions
rather than social entities’ (Packard, 2017: 535–6). The main intention proposed for being
entrepreneurial, then, is the pursuit of new value, which can be achieved in ways other
than only through new firms. However, arguably, being entrepreneurial can include more
than pursuing new value.
A CONTEXT FOR BECOMING ENTREPRENEURIAL
Becoming entrepreneurial, as in any practice, requires skill development and personalized adaptation. Entrepreneurship education has aimed to build connection to practice
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through, for example, bringing entrepreneurs into the classroom. However, this does not
transfer skill; instead it relates the stories of the entrepreneurial journey, often rationality constructed through hindsight. Artisans and other skilled workers learn through
apprenticeship, where the master trains the student in the skill of the discipline, while at
the same time the student can design his or her own specific style. This type of situated,
socialized learning is recognized in family-based entrepreneurship, where each generation learns from the previous generation, but has not necessarily been translated into the
educational domain.
For more than 20 years, a small group of researchers and educational practitioners
at Chalmers University of Technology has been developing and delivering a distinct
action-based pedagogy where innovation and entrepreneurship is experienced hands
on by students. This context for becoming entrepreneurial is named a venture creation
program (VCP), defined as education where the process of creating a real-life venture,
with the intention to incorporate it if successful, is the core learning vessel. The VCP
set-up requires an integrated incubator that works in synergy with the program, but with
a business prioritization and mandate. This deliberate high-tension approach implies that
educational and commercial goals are made to coexist, despite substantial potential for
conflict of interest. Entrepreneurship is learned in-vivo, as potential entrepreneurs and
potential innovations are recruited, examined, matched, supported and developed.
The context has launched more than 80 technology-based startups stemming from
early-stage invention disclosures. Seventy-five percent of these startups are still operational. However, while fast-growing technology startups are easy to measure and appreciate in numbers and economic contribution, they are a mere by-product of the school. At
the end of the process, students have received training in being entrepreneurial, including
taking ownership through shares in the newly formed business, if viable and if it is the
ambition of the student. Instead of the ventures, the emphasized output is entrepreneurial individuals prepared for sustainable business development. These individuals are
uniquely trained to act entrepreneurially, regardless of organizational format. Thus, the
most important contributions are instead the following: (1) over 800 students developing
an entrepreneurial mindset that stays with them for their entire career trajectory; and (2)
the increase in humanity’s understanding of how these identity-shaping processes can be
orchestrated through action-based education.
Universities in Sweden, Norway, the US, Japan and Thailand have visited Chalmers
to study and subsequently emulate this educational design, translating key principles to
their own environments. A global network of like-minded scholars from 20 universities
has been established around these activities. More importantly, the Chalmers researchers
have distilled an innovative pedagogical approach for how to enable individuals to become
entrepreneurial. A value creation pedagogy approach has been adopted by educators from
primary through to tertiary education, enabling institutions to take action. Students learn
through applying their knowledge in attempts to create value for external stakeholders, a
process which develops becoming entrepreneurial, while applicable to a broad spectrum
of subject areas. Requiring students to start a new venture is no longer the only way to successfully establish entrepreneurial competencies. However, the deep learning that comes
from a venture-creation approach is recognized as developing entrepreneurial competence
leading to sustainable and scalable value creation.
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AN ORGANIZING FRAMEWORK FOR BECOMING
ENTREPRENEURIAL
In order to better explain what becoming entrepreneurial can imply, and how education
can enable this, a simple organizing framework with four cornerstones is presented. The
four cornerstones of the framework are (1) agency, (2) novelty, (3) value for others and (4)
learning; see Figure 21.1. Agency is triggered through emotional ownership as students
act together with their peers and invention provider in an emerging new venture team.
The task – to develop an early-stage technology venture in which they might become
co-founders and owners – is deeply personal and emotional. This staged situation elicits
strong agency in the commitment and dedication necessary to persevere through the deeply
emotional roller-coaster of an entrepreneurial journey. Novelty is introduced through
research-based intellectual assets, typically taken from university and corporate research
settings. This contributes with a high level of potential novelty to the world, making the
students’ search for and claiming of novelty, key components of the experience. The entrepreneurial process requires students to create direct and indirect value for others. Value
could be created for their team partners, for people at the incubator, for potential customers, for potential financiers, for advisors and for many other key stakeholders. Education
facilitates learning; that is, experiential learning through iterative stages of creating a
new venture situated in an authentic community of practice. The process is embedded in
socially situated, high-stakes based contexts that increase emotional exposure, reflection
and personalized learning. Each step taken generates powerful feedback, requiring students to constantly learn in order for the invention to survive and develop.
Answering the complex question of how education enables individuals to become
entrepreneurial, requires a clear understanding of what it means to be entrepreneurial.
• Envisioning and exploring something new or different
• Claiming and defending newness to/for others
• Organizing and pioneering for the new ‘thing’ to be created
NOVELTY
LEARNING
• Analyzing and planning for value
creation as a way to learn cognitively
• Experimenting with value creation to
learn experientially and emotionally
• Revising and persisting after reflection
on if, how, and why value was created
VALUE FOR OTHERS
• Discussing and communicating
value with others
• Creating value for and with others
• Feeling empathy with others, their
needs and their feedback
AGENCY
• Dedication about an issue, on a personal level
• Courage to own an issue despite uncertainty and risk
• Action-taking again and again
Figure 21.1 Organizing framework for what it means to become entrepreneurial
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The adjective entrepreneurial is broadly applied in entrepreneurship literature, and what
is intended by this descriptive term spans venture creation, value creation, opportunity
recognition and so on (see, for example, Lundqvist et al., 2019). Becoming entrepreneurial
puts personal development in focus. Thus, the framework takes an individual-based
perspective. However, this is not in terms of a stereotyped role of a heroic entrepreneur.
Instead, emphasis is on four concepts that each represent one key entry point that a
person can take in his or her attempts to be and become entrepreneurial. Being entrepreneurial then is defined here as taking emotional action (agency) to create something new
(novelty), imagined to be of significant value for others (value for others) and developed
through learning by trial and error (learning); see Figure 21.1. Becoming entrepreneurial
requires utilizing all four concepts, though not necessarily simultaneously. At any time,
each concept can be addressed independently or in combination with one or more of the
other concepts. Across the entrepreneurial journey, however, all four concepts are critical.
If only one of the concepts is omitted, then the individual will not become entrepreneurial.
Agency
The agency concept illustrates the need for students to relate any entrepreneurial experience specifically to their own unique personal situation and motives. Students are required
to ask themselves deeply personal ‘why’ questions around their own purpose and ability
to be and become entrepreneurial. They are expected to articulate their deeply rooted
personal reasoning and their own dominant logic for being entrepreneurial. They are also
required to describe how they legitimize their entrepreneurial action towards external
stakeholders, representing a crucial expansion of the traditional teacher–student relationship axis.
Leveraging emotional exposure is another agency-related aspect of a VCP. Emotional
events such as teamwork, external stakeholder interaction and uncertainty management
have been shown to make people more entrepreneurial in powerful ways. These emotionally charged events can also generate significant pressure and stress. Agency also relates to
emotional ownership of an idea or other type of intellectual asset. Strong personal agency
can be developed around others’ nascent ideas and intellectual contributions, applying a
surrogacy approach, and ideas can be continually shaped and re-shaped by all key stakeholders involved, building a team-based agency. The ‘why’ question, the emotional events
and the surrogacy mechanism all illustrate crucial and more generic agency-related facets
of being and becoming entrepreneurial. Knowing why you want to be entrepreneurial is
a key aspect of becoming entrepreneurial. Learning to self-manage the emotional rollercoaster of an entrepreneurial journey is another crucial aspect of becoming entrepreneurial. Finally, awareness and ability in building team agency around an initial idea is a
third necessary aspect.
Novelty
A VCP promotes the responsible utilization and commercialization of universitybased research ideas, stemming from intellectual property of its professors, employees,
researchers and students. The context can also act as a catalyst for industrial and private
individual innovation, illustrating the increasing importance of institutional connection
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and collaboration with external stakeholders in transforming value to society. Handovers
through the entrepreneurial ecosystem are designed to provide the most effective and efficient pathway for transfer of ideas to the public/private arena, where their value (societal,
commercial, and so on) can be realized. Through VCPs, not only are innovations with
established novelty transferred and developed, but potential innovations can be accelerated through students taking on a surrogacy role and being trained to iteratively evaluate
the feasibility of the ideas to hand. Students taking on a surrogacy role helps universities
and incubators to increase the amount of technologies bridging the Valley of Death.
Value for Others
Education utilizing venture creation as the learning vessel naturally involves additional
stakeholders. These actors provide feedback on what is perceived as valuable and thus
directly or indirectly evaluate the entrepreneurial competence of the students. Utilizing
the expertise of a community of others can give students access to particular expertise.
For example, users or potential customers provide effective feedback and assessment of
value, whereas regulatory agencies or intellectual property professionals are sought for
assessment of novelty. Naturally, educators are utilized to assess learning, in particular
relative to institutional requirements, but other stakeholders in the experiential environment, such as peers and incubation coaches and practitioners, also play important roles
in assessing learning, as students become entrepreneurial.
Learning
Many understandings of nascent entrepreneurship rest upon the notion that entrepreneurial intent predicts becoming entrepreneurial. With this understanding, education
focuses on raising intention through learning about entrepreneurship in a classroom or
short-term exercises. Venture creation programs emphasize becoming entrepreneurial
through interacting with value creation processes and developing role expectations in a
team-based environment, rather than developing increased intentionality. Embeddedness
allows the student to become aware of, react to or even create the many contextual
contingencies that shape their own entrepreneurial-ness. The student translates specific
opportunity assessment into more personal decisions addressing the merit and challenges
‘for me’. This translation of generic to personalized learning is critical, as it links the
knowledge gained to the level of individual, which is paramount if the individual is to
take entrepreneurial action. This process of becoming entrepreneurial unfolds iteratively
as the individual takes action within an environment prepared to observe and feed back
from multiple perspectives, upon which the student can reflect and adapt towards his or
her self-image of being entrepreneurial.
Iteration, repeatedly going back to similar contexts or known principles but with new
eyes, has been argued as important when dealing with uncertainty. In the process of creating value for other humans, multiple (iterative) attempts are often necessary to connect
with those perceiving the value of what is generated. The length of time spent becomes
an important variable. It is unrealistic to expect transformative treatment effects upon
one interaction. Education through venture creation generates multiple stimulators of
learning, and learning outcomes emerge from real experiences encountered in the context
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of the entrepreneurial process pursued. This can cause questions in determining which
activities should take precedence, which, while challenging, is critical to becoming entrepreneurial, as it requires individuals to develop personalized decision-making criteria for
operating in uncertainty.
CONCLUSION
Classrooms are not particularly designed to embody inconsistency and uncertainty.
Education which uses the context of venture creation to create these conditions can
provide learning through embeddedness in entrepreneurial experience. This, in turn,
facilitates transformation of ideas into value (for self and others), developed through
interactions with stakeholders, in both a sustainable and responsible manner. Offering
understandings and tools for becoming entrepreneurial emancipates beyond a narrow
view of entrepreneurship. A framework which focuses on value creation and is societal
(social, ecological and economic value creation in all kind of contexts) is broadly applicable while at the same time distilling key cornerstones that anchor personalized development for becoming entrepreneurial. However, it is important to recognize that this type
of learning is not exclusive to students starting a new venture. Students often comment
on how they are continuously confronted with experiences counter to their assumptions
or expectations of what it means to be entrepreneurial. To enable students becoming
entrepreneurial, educators need to provide students with guiding principles they can apply
outside the classroom, when seeking and evaluating opportunity and making decisions
under conditions of uncertainty.
REFERENCES
Bacigalupo, M., P. Kampylis, E. McCallum and Y. Punie (2016), ‘Promoting the entrepreneurship competence
of young adults in Europe: towards a self-assessment tool’, Proceedings of ICERI2016 Conference, 14th–16th
November 2016, Seville: IATED, doi:10.21125/iceri.2016.1150.
Gibb, A.A. (2002), ‘In pursuit of a new “enterprise” and “entrepreneurship” paradigm for learning: creative
destruction, new values, new ways of doing things and new combinations of knowledge’, International Journal
of Management Reviews, 4 (3), 233–69.
Lundqvist, M., M. Lackéus and K. Williams Middleton (2019), ‘Emancipating the “Who am I?” question in
entrepreneurship’, paper presented at the ECSB Entrepreneurship Education (3E) Conference, Gothenburg,
9–10 May.
Packard, M.D. (2017), ‘Where did interpretivism go in the theory of entrepreneurship?’, Journal of Business
Venturing, 32 (5), 536–49.
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22. Entrepreneurship and blockchains
Galia Kondova
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND THE PLATFORM BUSINESS
MODEL
Entrepreneurship is an economic driver around the world. It is usually associated with the
business of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). These SMEs are companies founded
originally to meet needs on a local market. They typically exhibit a linear growth path
(Aulet, 2013).
Aulet (2013) identifies a riskier and more ambitious form of entrepreneurship in the
face of innovation-driven enterprise (IDE). Innovation-driven enterprise companies aim
to operate regionally or even globally (Aulet, 2013). They typically focus on creating
wealth instead of on local growth and keeping control of their business.
Successful IDEs usually follow a platform business model that is conducive to the establishment of digital platforms and ecosystems. The platform business model is based on the
concept of linking two parties with each other in order to enable the exchange of goods
and services of all kinds (Parker et al., 2016). The power of platforms is associated with
the phenomenon of network effects. While traditional businesses grow linear by simple
addition, platform models connect one user with numerous other users, thus achieving
scalability effects and facilitating a geometrical business growth (Cusumano et al., 2019).
Metcalfe (2013) provided an analogy of the positive platform network effects with the
telephone network. The telephone platform network exhibits quadratic growth rather
than linear growth.
BLOCKCHAINS AND THE PLATFORM BUSINESS MODEL
The peer-to-peer decentralized nature of blockchain seems to provide the perfect infrastructure for the implementation of the platform business model. Blockchain is a decentralized and distributed network. The network is operated by a multitude of servers,
referred to as nodes. Since this network is decentralized, a special consensus mechanism
is required to ensure the authenticity, as well as the integrity, of the data (He et al., 2016).
The practical application of blockchain was introduced by a self-published paper of an
author called Satoshi Nakamoto in October 2008 (Nakamoto, 2008). Nakamoto (2008)
published a protocol for a purely peer-to-peer electronic cash system called Bitcoin.
According to the paper, the idea of Bitcoin was to create ‘an electronic payment system
based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact
directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party’ (Nakamoto, 2008: 1).
The analogy to the telephone network is obvious in the case of blockchain as well. This
time, however, the network effects are much more difficult to be estimated. These are
expected to be enormous though.
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Major advantages and disadvantages of blockchain
Major advantages of blockchain
Major disadvantages of blockchain
Data integrity
Enhanced security
Transparency
Decentralization
Peer-to-peer transactions
Lack of standardization
Challenges with scaling and interoperability
High energy consumption
The risk of money laundering and cybercrime
Uncertainties about data privacy protection
Some scholars even argue that blockchain could pave the way to entirely new business
models based on virtual organizations such as decentralized autonomous organizations
(DAOs) and automatic business transactions facilitated by devices in the Internet of
things (IoTs) (Beck et al., 2016; Kondova and Barba, 2019).
Some of the major advantages and disadvantages of blockchain technology are outlined in Table 22.1 based on the findings of Zbinden and Kondova (2019) and Kondova
and Erbguth (2020).
Moreover, McKinsey (2018) assessed the strategic business value of blockchain in a
detailed report. The report comes up with the following three conclusions, namely, that
‘blockchain does not need to be a disintermediator to generate value’, ‘in the short term,
blockchain’s strategic value is mainly in cost reduction’ and ‘feasibility at scale is likely to
be three to five years away’ (McKinsey, 2018: 5).
Thus, it is the near future to show whether the platform infrastructure provided by
blockchain would enable sustainable platform business models with positive network
effects and unprecedented business growth.
REFERENCES
Aulet, B. (2013), Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Beck, R., J. Stenum Czepluch, N. Lollike and S. Malone (2016), ‘Blockchain – the gateway to trust-free cryptographic transactions’, Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth European Conference on Information Systems
(ECIS), Berlin: Springer.
Cusumano, M.A., A. Gawer and D.B. Yoffie (2019), The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital
Competition, Innovation, and Power, New York: HarperCollins.
He, D., K. Habermeier, R. Leckow and C. Verdugo (2016), ‘Virtual currencies and beyond: initial considerations’, IMF Staff Discussion Notes, 16 (3), 1.
Kondova, G. and R. Barba (2019), ‘Governance of decentralized autonomous organizations’, Journal of
Modern Accounting and Auditing, 15 (8), 406–11.
Kondova, G. and J. Erbguth (2020), ‘Self-sovereign identity on public blockchains and the GDPR’, Proceedings of
ACM SAC Conference, Brno, Czech Republic, March 30–April 3, 2020 (SAC’20), doi:10.1145/3341105.3374066.
McKinsey (2018), ‘The strategic business value of the blockchain market’, report, accessed 20 May 2020 at
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/blockchain-beyond-the-hypewhat-is-the-strategic-business-value.
Metcalfe, B. (2013), ‘Metcalfe’s law after 40 years of ethernet’, Computer, 46 (12), 26–31.
Nakamoto, S. (2008), ‘Bitcoin: a peer-to-peer electronic cash system’, accessed 20 May 2020 at https://bitcoin.
org/bitcoin.pdf.
Parker, G., M. Van Alstyne and S.P. Choudary (2016), Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are
Transforming the Economy and How to Make Them Work for You, New York: W.W. Norton.
Zbinden, F. and G. Kondova (2019), ‘Economic development in Mexico and the role of blockchain’, Advances
in Economics and Business, 7 (1), 55–64.
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23. Entrepreneurship as a competence
Margherita Bacigalupo
‘Entrepreneurship is when you act upon opportunities and ideas and transform them
into value for others. The value that is generated can be commercial, cultural or social’
(Vestergaard et al., 2012: 11). This definition of entrepreneurship as capacity to act has
been taken up by the European Commission in its effort to define entrepreneurship as
a broad competence that can be learnt through formal education, as well as through
non-formal and informal learning pathways (Bacigalupo et al., 2016). The definition
adopted by the European Commission implies that entrepreneurship is both a solo and
a collective competence, which requires a cluster of capabilities that are useful in life and
can be transferred from one domain to another, and that all citizens should be afforded
the possibility to develop. Entrepreneurship as a competence, thus, is not limited to
new venture creation but, more broadly, entails the capacity to act entrepreneurially at
work and in society, to create any type of value. What entrepreneurship competence is
composed of, however, depends very much on the perspective adopted (Komarkova et
al., 2015).
A focus on effective performance within an occupation and professional development,
led Cheetham and Chivers (1996, 1998) to identify four interrelated clusters of competences, namely: (1) cognitive competences, referring to the possession of the appropriate
work-related knowledge and the ability to put it to effective use at work; (2) functional
competences, referring to a standardised description of the tasks that a job holder should
be able to perform and demonstrate through the achievement of observable outcomes;
(3) personal and ethical competencies, referring to the characteristics of the learners
leading to effective performance (psychological traits, observable behaviours and personal
drives), combined with the possession of an appropriate set of values and the capacity to
use them in decision-making in work-related situations; and (4) meta-competencies, that
is, higher-order abilities, which include being able to learn, adapt, anticipate and create,
but also communication, self-development, creativity, analysis, problem-solving, mental
agility and reflection.
A focus on the characteristics demonstrated by successful entrepreneurs, however,
led Mitchelmore and Rowley (2010, 2013) to differentiate among: (1) conceptual and
relationship competencies, including interpersonal skills, oral communication skills,
relationship-building, networking, integrity, self-confidence, motivating self, political
competence, being active, desire to succeed and perseverance; (2) business and management competencies, including budgeting skills, business operational skills, developing
management systems, formulating and implementing strategies for exploiting opportunities, business plan preparation and writing, development of operational systems, planning
business activities and managing finance; (3) entrepreneurial competencies, that is, idea
generation, innovation skills, visioning, envisioning opportunities, product innovation,
creativity, willingness to take risks, scan environments for opportunities and risk-taking;
(4) human relations competencies, including employee development, managing employee
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performance, human relations management skills, employee relations, hiring skills, leadership skills, motivating others, management style and management skills.
When the focus is placed on competence, a set of knowledge, skills and attitudes that
can be taught and learnt, again the taxonomy is different. The taxonomy developed by the
Danish Foundation for Entrepreneurship (Rasmussen et al., 2015), for instance, identifies
four competence areas: (1) action, defined as the competences to launch initiatives and
develop them by working with others through collaboration, networking and partnerships. It comprises the capacity to analyse and manage finances, resources and risks, communicate purposefully and organise, and set goals for and lead activities. (2) Creativity,
understood as the capacity to spot and generate opportunities for creating value and the
capacity to generate ideas for the purpose, through divergent and abductive thinking, by
combining knowledge from different fields in novel ways. Creativity entails the capacity
to create and revise your personal conceptions, and to experiment and improvise to solve
problems and challenges. (3) Outward orientation is conceived as the capacity to observe,
analyse and construct a social, cultural and economic context as an arena for valuecreating activities and actions. Outward orientation places a strong emphasis on building
an understanding of the world at local and at global levels, including a critical outlook at
global opportunities and challenges. (4) Personal attitude, deals with students’ personal
and inter-subjective resourcefulness in the face of tasks, challenges, difficulties and setbacks. It entails the ability to initiate acts of change, work persistently, accept and learn
from others’ and your own mistakes and to make ethical assessments and reflections. It is
a belief in having the capacity to transform the world through action and value creation,
thereby realising dreams and plans, while learning by doing it.
Although the three conceptualisations have elements in common, they show how
researchers from different fields (professional development and productivity, economic
growth and innovation, or education and training), holding different learners in mind (the
job holder, the entrepreneur or the student), emphasise different facets of entrepreneurship as a competence. These differences have deep implications for how entrepreneurship
is taught (Dana, 1987). Lackeus (2015) has analysed such implications focusing on the
different emphasis on theory over practice, on the pedagogical approaches chosen as
well as the main focus of entrepreneurial education. Whereas Cheetham and Chivers’s
(1996, 1998) understanding of entrepreneurship as a professional skill leads to a focus
on teaching for entrepreneurship, Mitchelmore and Rowley’s framework calls for teaching about entrepreneurship, the Danish conceptualisation pivots on teaching through
entrepreneurship.
When defining entrepreneurship as a key competence for lifelong learning, however,
the perspective has to be broad and comprehensive, flexible and multipurpose to encompass personal development and venture creation. A broad definition of entrepreneurship
puts equal emphasis on transversal skills and attitudes, such as perseverance or sense of
initiative, and on those capacities traditionally associated with business, such as financial
literacy or market analysis.
With this aim, the European Commission has embarked on the development of the
Entrepreneurship Competence Framework, known as the EntreComp (Bacigalupo et al.,
2016), which has validated through iterative cycles of consensus-building activities with a
broad variety of stakeholders. The EntreComp unfolds the definition of entrepreneurship
into three areas, ideas and opportunities, resources, and into action. Each area contains five
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competences, which together make up the 15 competences that individuals (or teams) use
to action opportunities and ideas. Beneath each of the 15 competences are a number of
different threads that describe what the particular competence means in practical terms.
Further, the EntreComp puts forward a progression model that unfolds each thread
into eight levels of proficiency, stating 442 learning outcomes. Learning progresses
along a number of dimensions, such as: progressive autonomy of the learner, increasing
complexity of the value-creation setting and uncertainty linked to the process, growing
degree of novelty in the idea to be developed, and progression from directed learning to
self-regulated learning. Learning outcome statements are not specific enough to be used
as a rubric; nevertheless they can inspire entrepreneurial learning interventions within
and outside the world of formal education, considering the development of a learner
over time, the different starting points of learners in any given time or the setting up of
an entrepreneurship education journey.
EntreComp creates a shared understanding of the knowledge, skills and attitudes that
makes being entrepreneurial as a habit of mind, and can be applied to any situation:
from school curriculum, to value creation in the workplace, from community initiatives
to scaling up a business. These skills can not only be applied in any context, but can
also be acquired across a variety of learning settings, not just in business schools but
also in civil society, within existing organisations, in compulsory education or in youth
initiatives.
Broadening the notion of entrepreneurship as a competence for lifelong learning
(European Parliament and the Council, 2006), offers an inclusive definition of what it
takes to become entrepreneurial. Such a comprehensive definition, not only fits different learning needs but, most importantly, it creates a common language across stages of
education, bridges formal, non-formal and informal learning settings, and connects the
world of education and the world of work.
REFERENCES
Bacigalupo, M., P. Kampylis, Y. Punie and G. Van den Brande (2016), EntreComp: The Entrepreneurship
Competence Framework, Luxembourg: Publication Office of the European Union.
Cheetham, G. and G. Chivers (1996), ‘Towards a holistic model of professional competence’, Journal of
European Industrial Training, 20 (5), 20–30.
Cheetham, G. and G. Chivers (1998), ‘The reflective (and competent) practitioner: a model of professional
competence which seeks to harmonise the reflective practitioner and competence-based approaches’, Journal
of European Industrial Training, 22 (7), 267–76.
Dana, L.P. (1987), ‘Towards a skills model for entrepreneurs’, Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 5
(1), 27–31.
European Parliament and the Council (2006), ‘Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 18 December 2006 on key competences for lifelong learning’, Official Journal of the European
Union, L394/310.
Komarkova, I., D. Gagliardi, J. Conrads and A. Collado (2015), Entrepreneurship Competence: An Overview of
Existing Concepts, Policies and Initiatives. Final Report, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European
Union.
Lackeus, M. (2015), ‘Entrepreneurship in education. What, why, when, how’, Entrepreneurship360 Background
Paper, accessed 16 September 2019 at http://www.oecd.org/cfe/leed/BGP_Entrepreneurship-in-Education.
pdf.
Mitchelmore, S. and J. Rowley (2010), ‘Entrepreneurial competencies: a literature review and development
agenda’, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 16 (2), 92–111.
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Mitchelmore, S. and J. Rowley (2013), ‘Entrepreneurial competencies of women entrepreneurs pursuing business
growth’, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 20 (1), 125–42.
Rasmussen, A., K. Moberg and C. Resbech (2015) A Taxonomy of Entrepreneurship Education: Perspectives on
Goals, Teaching and Evaluation, Odense: Danish Foundation for Entrepreneurship.
Vestergaard, L., K. Moberg and C. Jørgensen (2012), Impact of Entrepreneurship Education in Denmark – 2011,
Odense: Danish Foundation for Entrepreneurship – Young Enterprise.
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24. Entrepreneurship in biotechnology
Călin Gurău
INTRODUCTION
Biotechnology represents the industrial use of biological organisms and processes to manufacture medical, agricultural and consumer products (Oakey et al. 1990). Biotechnology
applications include, among others, bulk and specialty chemicals, healthcare, food and
drink products, waste or pollution treatment, and agriculture (Sager 2001). Based on these
descriptions, we can characterize biotechnology entrepreneurship as the motivation, skills
and actions required to successfully identify and exploit market opportunities regarding
the use, manufacturing and consumption of products and services derived from the use
of biological organisms and processes.
To understand the specificities of entrepreneurship in biotechnology, we discuss in
the following sections, the various paths of biotechnology entrepreneurship, the opportunities and challenges of biotechnology entrepreneurship, and finally, the relationship
between entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship in this specific sector.
PATHS TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Biopharmaceutical enterprises represent classical examples of knowledge-based organizations (Cohen and Munshi 2017) that integrate multiple professional cultures. In most cases
a successful biotechnology venture is the result of the collaboration between scientists and
business experts (Mehta 2004), who use their complementary competencies to develop an
organization based on a dynamic entrepreneurial culture (Arantes-Oliveira 2007).
Usually, the scientists involved in bio-entrepreneurship have a strong academic background, since the science behind biotechnology products and processes requires expert
knowledge, acquired through learning, experimentation and research. Often, as a result
of their research activities, these scientists identify a promising idea or process that has
a good potential to be developed and commercialized as a product or service. In this
moment, the scientist often considers the advantages and the challenges to start an entrepreneurial venture, alone, or together with some colleagues or members of his or her
research team (Gurău et al. 2012).
However, although the scientist has the necessary knowledge to understand and
develop the biological processes that represent the basis of an attracted commercial offer,
he or she may have difficulty in understanding the structure of the market, the complexity
of the value-added chain required to develop the future product or service, and accessing
the financial, material and human resources required to develop and manage a functional enterprise. These skills and knowledge are usually brought to the biotechnology
venture by one or more business experts, who complement the scientific knowledge of the
researcher(s) with market and management experience and vision. Ideally, this start-up
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team will then pass through several successive phases, which according to Mehta (2004),
include: (1) opportunity recognition; (2) ensuring the intellectual property rights for the
innovative idea, discovery or process which represents the scientific basis for developing
a final product or service which represents the main market offer of the biotechnology
venture; (3) funding and building the team and the company; (4) developing and using
the technology for product research and development; (5) survive by obtaining additional
funding, selling assets (for example, intellectual property licensing) or spinning-out applications; and (6) achieving the final product or service and launching it on the market.
SECTORIAL OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
Among other necessary skills, a biotechnology entrepreneur should also be a good risk
manager (Shimasaki 2014), as the challenges that need to be overcome during the phases
of company and/or product or service development are multiple, difficult and often
unpredictable. However, as biotechnology products and processes can be developed and
commercialized to answer different needs in different economic sectors, it is important
to discuss the opportunities and challenges of developing and managing a biotechnology
venture in various activity sectors.
The best-known area of biotechnology applications is healthcare. Healthcare biotechnology ventures attempt to develop therapeutic drugs or procedures which target human
or animal diseases. Healthcare biotechnology products include biopharmaceuticals and
diagnostic kits. Biopharmaceuticals are drugs and drug therapies produced through the
use and transformation of living cells that treat, control and cure conditions such as
AIDS, heart disease and various forms of cancer. Diagnostic products enable earlier and
more effective identification of many illnesses and conditions.
The dedicated healthcare biotechnology ventures start from selected active molecules
to develop therapeutic drugs. However, given the direct interaction of the drug with
the human or animal organism, the research and development (R&D) process for these
products is long, complex, risky, unpredictable and resource-demanding, including three
main phases: (1) discovery, (2) development and testing, and (3) manufacturing and commercialization (Evans and Varayia 2003). Research and development projects (across all
therapeutic areas) take 14 years on average to come to market (Paul et al. 2010), with
median costs estimated at $350 million, and with 95 percent of the experimental medicines
failing to demonstrate effectiveness and safety (Herper 2013). It is a turbulent, highly
competitive environment, in which the first company launching an effective product often
becomes a successful market leader.
Most biotechnology ventures deploy their activities on the first two stages of the
product development process (Saviotti 1998), using the well-developed infrastructure for
product commercialization, controlled and managed by specialized traditional organizations (pharmacies, retail stores, hospitals and national health agencies). Even the first two
phases often prove to be too complex and resource-demanding for independent biotechnology firms, that are ultimately forced to focus on a specific value-added activity – representing the area of their main expertise, and develop collaborations or alliances with
other biotechnology or pharmaceutical organizations.
There are also biopharmaceutical products for which the R&D process is simpler
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and less expensive: such as diagnostic kits or vaccines. However, the need for supporting services, reagents and laboratory instruments has fueled the development of many
specialized providers of laboratory equipment, reagents or services for dedicated biopharmaceutical companies.
Another set of biotechnology products and activities is related to agriculture and food
processing. Some of these are used for a very long time, being incorporated in traditional
genetic selection (for example, the gradual amelioration of animal species through selective breeding) or food production methods (for example, the fermentation of cheese or the
production of wine). Others are based on the new knowledge and techniques of genetic
engineering and involve the modification of living organisms to promote specific traits,
such as resistance to drought or to pests, or longer shelf-life for genetically modified fruits
and vegetables.
The new genetic techniques usually are applied on a large scale by multinational corporations, such as Monsanto, which have the necessary resources and infrastructure to conduct
expensive R&D projects, and then to successfully launch and commercialize on the market
the resulting products. Often, the discoveries made by small biotechnology ventures are
either bought or incorporated through inter-organizational alliances into the value-added
processes controlled by large corporations; but in a few cases, small biotechnology firms
can maintain their independence by becoming leaders in a specific market niche.
Modern agriculture and food biotechnology are highly controversial activities that
create consumer resistance and prompt government actions, such as moratoriums on the
research and production of genetically modified organisms (for example, the moratorium
on genetically modified products, imposed by the European Union, and effective between
June 1999 and August 2003).
Finally, a third economic area using biotechnology products and procedures is the
bioremediation and rehabilitation of polluted sites. The size of service providers varies in
this market, but biotechnology small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have a good
chance to thrive by developing proprietary technology and specializing in specific types
of sites or events (for example, the bioremediation or rehabilitation of mining areas, and
land, river or marine pollution).
ENTREPRENEURSHIP VERSUS INTRAPRENEURSHIP
Considering the multitude of organizational actors that are active in the sectors applying
biotechnology processes, it is important to consider the relationship between entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial activities. Entrepreneurship represents the initiative of an
independent entrepreneur or entrepreneurial team which develops a new venture based
on an innovative idea and a perceived market opportunity. ‘[I]ntrapreneurship refers to
a system that allows an employee to act like an entrepreneur within a company or other
organization. Intrapreneurs are self-motivated, proactive, and action-oriented people
who take the initiative to pursue an innovative product or service’ (Kenton 2019).
Considering the high risk and resource requirements of many biotechnology activities,
the value-added chain of activities is often highly fragmented, the dedicated biotechnology SMEs focusing mainly on the innovative research activities or applying a niche leader
strategy, while large companies attempt to acquire or develop alliances with these highly
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dynamic firms. This situation is easily recognizable in the pharmaceutical sector, in which
a handful of large multinational corporations control the market, although they need the
help of small innovative biotechnology firms to boost the number of identified creative
ideas and, ultimately, of final therapeutic products effectively launched on the market. ‘In
recent years declining productivity has become a concern for pharmaceutical companies.
R&D returns declined to 2 percent in 2018, down from 10 percent in 2010, with figures
showing a steady decline’ (Pategou 2019).
To address this problem, large pharmaceutical companies have two options: to acquire
and integrate innovative biotechnology firms in their corporate structure, or to develop
partnerships with biotechnology SMEs. Both strategies offer advantages and disadvantages. The structural integration of the innovative unit into the hierarchical system of a
large corporation may significantly alter the traditional work practices of the biotechnology, imposing more rigid routines and controls which can significantly reduce the motivation, creativity and productivity of innovative researchers (Schweitzer 2005).
The other strategic option is to develop strategic alliances and partnerships between
large corporations and innovative biotechnology firms, based on their natural complementarity of resources and skills. This approach matches the specific research capabilities of
the biotechnology firm – characterized by a high level of creativity and innovation which
is particularly effective for the discovery of a therapeutic product, with the high level of
resources and management expertise of the large organization – which can successfully
manage the development and commercialization part of an innovative project. However,
small firms should be careful in engaging in this type of collaboration, as the disparity
between the resources and power of the two organizations can induce forms of indirect
control that can affect the independence and the innovativeness of the biotechnology firm.
An interesting proof that high-technology innovativeness requires a specific work
environment is the situation in which a researcher from a team of researchers, initially
employed by a large pharmaceutical or biotechnology corporation, leaves the firm to
create a spin-off organization with a smaller and less formal hierarchical structure, in
order to pursue the development of highly innovative projects.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Given the specificity of biotechnology activities, organizations and market, biotechnology entrepreneurship requires a series of essential capabilities that go beyond the capacity of a person to identify and exploit a market opportunity. These capabilities include:
scientific knowledge and research expertise, identification and access to resources, risk
management, market positioning, and, last but not least, the need to implement alliances
and partnerships with other organizations while maintaining as much as possible the
organizational independence and innovativeness of the firm.
REFERENCES
Arantes-Oliveira, N. (2007), ‘A case study on obstacles to the growth of biotechnology’, Technological
Forecasting & Social Change, 74, 61–74.
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Cohen, S.K. and N.V. Munshi (2017), ‘Innovation search dynamics in new domains: an exploratory study of
academic founders’ search for funding in the biotechnology industry’, Technological Forecasting & Social
Change, 120 (July), 130–43.
Evans, A.G. and N.P. Varayia (2003), ‘Anne Evans: assessment of a biotechnology market opportunity’,
Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 28 (1), 87–106.
Gurău, C., L.-P. Dana and F. Lasch, (2012), ‘Academic entrepreneurship in UK biotechnology firms: alternative
models and the associated performance’, Journal of Enterprising Communities, 6 (2), 154–68.
Herper, M. (2013), ‘The cost of creating a new drug now $5 billion, pushing Big Pharma to change’, Forbes, 11
August, accessed 23 April 2019 at https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2013/08/11/how-thestagger
ing-cost-of-inventing-new-drugs-is-shaping-the-future-of-medicine.
Kenton, W. (2019), ‘What is intrapreneurship?’, Investopedia, 20 September, accessed 23 November 2019 at
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/intrapreneurship.asp.
Mehta, S. (2004), ‘Paths to entrepreneurship in the life sciences’, Bioentrepreneur, 26 October, doi:10.1038/
bioent831.
Oakey, R., W. Faulkner, S. Cooper and V. Walsh (1990), New Firms in the Biotechnology Industry, London:
Pinter.
Pategou, J. (2019), ‘The marriage of big pharma and biotech’, Drug Discovery & Development, 19 March,
accessed 23 April 2019 at https://www.drugdiscoverytrends.com/the-marriage-of-big-pharma-and-biotech/.
Paul, S.M., D.S. Mytelka, C.T. Dunwiddie, C.C. Persinger, B.H. Munos, S.R. Lindborg and A.L. Schacht (2010),
‘How to improve R&D productivity: The pharmaceutical industry’s grand challenge’, Nature Reviews Drug
Discovery, 9 (3), 203–14.
Sager, B. (2001), ‘Scenarios on the future of biotechnology’, Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 68 (2),
109–29.
Saviotti, P.P. (1998), ‘Industrial structure and the dynamics of knowledge generation in biotechnology’, in
J. Senker (ed.), Biotechnology and Competitive Advantage, Cheltenham, UK and Lyme, NH, USA: Edward
Elgar, pp. 19–43.
Schweitzer, L. (2005), ‘Organizational integration of acquired biotechnology companies into pharmaceutical
companies: the need for a hybrid approach’, Academy of Management Journal, 48 (6), 1051–74.
Shimasaki, C. (2014), ‘What is biotechnology entrepreneurship?’, in C. Shimasaki (ed.), Biotechnology
Entrepreneurship Starting, Managing, and Leading Biotech Companies, Boston, MA: Elsevier, pp. 45–56.
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25. Entrepreneurship in the ethnic ownership economy
Ivan H. Light
The ethnic ownership economy encompasses self-employed people, their unpaid family
workers, and their co-ethnic employees. The ethnic ownership economy has three
sectors: formal, informal and illegal. Access to these sectors importantly depends upon
prior access to four capital resources: financial capital, social capital, human capital and
cultural capital. In turn, young people obtain access to these economic resources through
the class system and/or through the ethnic/religious groups to which they belong. The
resources obtained influence the extent to which young people enter the formal, informal
or informal sector of their group’s ethnic ownership economy. Middleman minorities
are well endowed in these resources so their self-employment rates are recurrently high.
Although descended from middleman minority theory, which Max Weber (1981: ch.
16C) initiated, the ethnic economy literature now more broadly addresses the economic
independence of immigrants and ethnic minorities in general, not just of middleman
minorities. This expansion releases the ethnic economy from narrow focus upon historical trading minorities, and opens a discussion of the entire range of immigrant and
ethnic minority self-help and self-defense through business ownership. Business ownership represents a ubiquitous self-defense of immigrants and ethnic minorities, but especially of any who confront disadvantage in labor markets. Business ownership permits
immigrants and ethnic minorities to reduce their employment disadvantage, renegotiating their participation in the general labor market from a position of greater strength.
Unable to find work in the general labor market, or unwilling to accept the work that
the general labor market offers, or just reluctant to mix with foreigners, immigrants and
ethnic minorities have the option of self-employment in the ethnic economy of their
group or of working for a co-ethnic. Although ethnic and immigrant groups differ in
how well and how much they avail themselves of independent business, none ever lacks
an ethnic economy.
Light and Karageorgis (1994: 648) defined an ethnic economy as, ‘the ethnic selfemployed and employers, their unpaid family workers, and their co-ethnic employees’.
Somewhat later, this definition of ethnic economy became the ethnic ownership economy,
now only a co-equal component of an ethnic economy, not the whole of it. As currently
understood, an ethnic economy consists of two sectors: the ethnic-controlled economy
and the ethnic ownership economy (Light, 2005; Light and Gold, 2000).1 An ethnic
ownership economy is still defined by business ownership. As before, an ethnic ownership economy still includes the self-employed, their unpaid family workers and co-ethnic
employees. In contrast, an ethnic-controlled economy requires ethnic control, not ownership, and addresses employees who collectively influence hiring and wages in their workplaces. Such employees may control a business without actually owning it. This chapter
is not about the ethnic-controlled economy. Rather, it explores how members of ethnic
minorities become entrepreneurs in the ethnic ownership economy of their group.
Ethnic ownership economies have three sectors: formal, informal and illegal
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Table 25.1
Ethnic ownership economy and sectors
Ethnic ownership economy
Sector
Formal
Informal
Illegal
1
2
3
Examples
1 Owners of dry-cleaning retail store, their unpaid family workers, and their co-ethnic
employees
2 Owners of unlicensed garment factory, their unpaid family workers, and their co-ethnic
employees
3 Owners of illegal lottery, their unpaid family workers, and their co-ethnic employees
Source:
Light (2005: 652).
(Table 25.1). The formal sector consists of ethnic or immigrant-owned firms that pay
taxes and are enumerated by public authorities. If co-ethnics own these firms, then both
the owners and their co-ethnic employees work in the formal sector of the ethnic ownership economy. The ethnic ownership economy’s informal sector contains ethnic minority
or immigrant-owned firms that, producing legal commodities, produce them without
paying taxes and/or obtaining requisite licenses. The size of the ethnic economy’s informal sector is hard to measure so research studies often ignore it. If the existence of informal sectors is not recognized, awareness will be restricted to the formal sector, resulting
in underestimation of the extent of ethnic minority or immigrant self-employment. The
illegal sector of an ethnic ownership economy consists of co-ethnic-owned firms that
produce illegal goods and services such as narcotic drugs, prostitution and gambling.
The illegal sector does not include predatory crimes that yield victims rather than customers. The illegal sector is usually relegated to criminologists as if the pariah sector
existed in shameful isolation. This treatment obscures the organic relationship of the
illegal sector to the other two sectors of the ethnic ownership economy. The result is
underestimation of immigrant and ethnic minority employment and economic influence,
and mystification of the movements of personnel and capital between and among the
sectors (Nee et al., 1994).
Whether employees or owners, all co-ethnics working in any ethnic ownership sector
belong to the ethnic economy of their group. The size of ethnic economies varies historically and among ethno-cultural groups (Fairlie and Meyer, 1996; Li, 2001). Sometimes
most co-ethnics find employment in the ethnic ownership economy; sometimes, few
do. Sometimes ethnic minorities and immigrants congregate most heavily in the formal
sector, sometimes in the informal and sometimes in the illegal. Mapping the absolute
and relative size and distribution of ethnic ownership sectors is of great importance to
understanding the economic prospects of immigrants and ethnic minorities as well as to
making intelligent policy choices. As matters stand, however, only the ethnic ownership
economies of the formal sector can be estimated from official data sources. Ethnic ownership economies in the informal sector and the illegal sector are inaccessible from official
sources, and must be estimated from social science research (Fairlie, 1999). Accordingly,
just improving and debating the adequacy of size estimates is a continuing methodological concern of research in this area.
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As one result, researchers have developed quantitative methods that permit them to
estimate the size of ethnic ownership economies from public data sources. These methodologies permit analysts to estimate the size and sectoral distribution of ethnic ownership
economies of a multiplicity of ethno-racial groups in multiple locations whereas previous
methodology relied upon case studies of one group in a single location. Estimates indicate that ethnic ownership economies are surprisingly large. Light and Gold (2000: 34)
found that just the formal sector’s ethnic ownership economies contained 11 per cent of
the labor force of all foreign born persons in 1990. They estimated that 10 per cent of the
average American ethnic group’s workers found employment in the informal sector of
the ethnic ownership economy; using somewhat different definitions. Of course, constituent groups had higher and lower ethnic ownership economies than the statistical average.
Among Hispanics, the percentage was 9.9 per cent; among African Americans, 5.6 per
cent; Asians, 19.2 per cent and Koreans more than 50 per cent. Specific groups fall above
and below this average, which also varies from city to city and country to country. In
the most comprehensive and serious effort to measure informal sector self-employment
using a case study, Tienda and Raijman (2000) found that 38 per cent of Mexican immigrant households in Chicago worked in the informal economy. Adding the informal and
formal sectors, Light and Gold (2000: 52) estimated that about 20 per cent of the average
ethno-racial group works in ethnic ownership economies.
SINGLE AND DOUBLE DISADVANTAGE
Immigrant and ethnic minority workers often turn to self-employment because of
disadvantage in the labor force. Unable to find a job, they start their own business.
Disadvantage increases self-employment in the informal and illegal as well as in the
formal sector of the ethnic ownership economy. Racial, ethnic and religious discrimination are major causes of disadvantage, but lack of language skill and unaccredited human
capital are also important. Disadvantage is not a simple or unitary concept. Current
thinking distinguishes labor market disadvantage from resource disadvantage. Labor
market disadvantage occurs when workers cannot obtain wage or salary employment
that reaches the prevailing market return on their productivity (Light and Rosenstein,
1995: 153–5). The most extreme labor market disadvantage is long-term unemployment,
which one expects to last forever. In such a case, all earnings prospects depend on selfemployment. Groups experience resource disadvantage when, as a result of some current
or past historical experience, such as slavery or peonage, members enter the labor market
with fewer resources than others. Resources include all attributes that improve the productivity of employees, notably human capital, but also social capital, cultural capital
and financial capital (Jenssen, 2001; Morris, 2001). Even if resource-disadvantaged
employees earn the expected wage, fully equivalent to what equivalently disadvantaged
non-co-ethnics earn, their wages will be low because resource-disadvantaged workers
exhibit low productivity. Less productive workers receive lower pay than more productive workers. In this case, they experience only one disadvantage, resource disadvantage.
They are singly disadvantaged.
However, when labor force disadvantage and resource disadvantage combine, those
subjected to discrimination in the labor market are low-productivity employees as
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well. Because subject to discrimination and being less productive, the doubly disadvantaged typically lack the human, cultural, social and financial capital that support
self-employment in the formal sector. As a result, their multiple disadvantages impel the
doubly disadvantaged into the ethnic economy’s informal or illegal sectors. These sectors
do not require the same abundance or type of resources, as does the formal sector. On
the other hand, when immigrants or ethnic minorities have strong resources of human,
social, cultural and financial capital, and when they suffer only discrimination in the
labor force, the disadvantaged have resources that empower their self-employment in
the formal sector. Subjected to disadvantage in the labor force, they turn easily to selfemployment in the formal sector, thus tending to mitigate or even overcome their earnings disadvantage in the labor market.
This resource constraint version of disadvantage theory explains puzzling anomalies
that arise from the highly unequal rates of self-employment among immigrants and
ethnic minorities. The basic conundrum has been to explain unequal rates and unequal
sectoral distribution of self-employment among disadvantaged groups. Why do some
preponderate in the formal sector whereas others preponderate in the informal or illegal
sectors? Resource constraint theory proposes that doubly disadvantaged groups usually
have the expected motive to undertake self-employment in the formal sector, but they
lack appropriate capital resources. They want to start their own business, but they do
not know how, and would lack the other resources even if they did know how. As a
result, the self-employment of the doubly disadvantaged develops in the informal sector
or in the illegal sector rather than in the formal sector. The formal sector requires the
most resources of the kind the doubly disadvantaged least command. Conversely, welleducated and affluent groups have the capital resources to undertake self-employment in
the formal sector when they face disadvantage in the labor market.
By treating the formal, the informal, and the illegal sectors as organic parts of the
same ethnic ownership economy, the ethnic economy literature exposes movements of
personnel and money among the sectors. These movements signal changes in the social
location of ethnic groups. When successful in the informal sector, immigrant and ethnic
minority firms and their owners may migrate into the formal sector. In these cases,
business owners who were initially doubly disadvantaged, and who went to work in
the informal sector, overcome their initial disadvantage. By working in the informal
sector, the doubly disadvantaged acquired new capital resources that fueled their transition from informal to formal sector business ownership and from social marginality to
respectability. The same progression can take initially disadvantaged immigrants and
ethnic minorities out of illegal business into the legal sectors. The transition of American
Chinatowns from sordid vice districts in the nineteenth century to tourist attractions in
the twentieth century reflects this kind of transition. So does the Cinderella story of racketeer capital invested in Las Vegas thanks to which a generation of Jewish and Italian
American gangsters became respectable business owners.
Of course, if the frequency of life history transitions from informal sector to formal
sector or from illegal sector to formal sector were much higher than it is, the frequent
transitions would wipe out any association between ethno-racial origins and the preponderant sector of entrepreneurship. Starting in the informal sector or in the illegal sector
would not reduce anyone’s likelihood of winding up in the formal sector. Conversely,
entrepreneurs who started in the formal sector, like Donald Trump, would frequently
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wind up as lunch-stand operators. In fact, these inter-sectoral transitions are infrequent.
The advantaged hang on to their advantages, and the disadvantaged hang onto their
disadvantages. Among the disadvantaged, those doubly disadvantaged preponderantly
occupy the informal and illegal sector while those only labor market disadvantaged
occupy the formal sector. This association shows that double disadvantage is only infrequently overcome by entrepreneurial success. That said, when disadvantage is overcome,
and graduation to the formal sector is achieved on a wholesale basis, then an ethnic group
has improved its social position.
FOUR CAPITAL RESOURCES
The ethnic economy literature has clarified and classified the resources people actually use
to start and operate business firms as well as the social sources of these resources (Morris,
2001). Current thinking identifies four resources that emanate from two locations in the
social order. The four resources are all different forms of capital, which is defined narrowly
as any resource hoard that facilitates entrepreneurship (Johannisson, 2000; Sequeira and
Rasheed, 2004). Obviously, financial capital accomplishes this goal, and, in the past,
financial capital was regarded as the key resource. Currently, researchers add three other
forms of capital to this list while retaining financial capital. The other three are human
capital, social capital and cultural capital. Human capital refers to skills acquired in
classrooms and on the job. Since the acquisition of these skills requires that their owner
invest time and money in learning them, the ownership of hard skills represents an investment in personal productivity. Students invest in the expectation of long-run gain. For
example, a four-year college degree now costs more than $100 000, but the college graduate has skills that render him or her more productive and, therefore, able to command a
higher salary. Since the self-employed as a group have more years of education than do
wage and salary workers as a group, human capital appears empirically to contribute to
self-employment.
Social capital means access to formal and informal social networks that facilitate and
support entrepreneurship (Rušinović, 2006: ch. 4). Weak and strong social ties to others
constitute these networks. The strength or weakness of a social tie depends upon its
intensity and duration. Networks are a scarce resource that requires effort to build and
maintain. Participants must invest time, energy and money in building and maintaining their social network. That done, their social network yields vocationally relevant
information and help. Strong social ties yield help; weak social ties yield information
so both strong and weak ties are desirable components of entrepreneurial networks.
Help means loans of money and equipment, referrals, preferential buying, selling, and
servicing, memberships and the like. Information includes technical assistance, timely
advice, market tips, gossip, news, email and so forth. Entrepreneurs’ networks work best
when social relationships are reciprocal. Reciprocal relationships are those in which the
firm expectation exists that a favor done will be reciprocated. Reciprocal relationships require trust. For example, if Joe has a computer and Ann has a truck, Joe can borrow
Ann’s truck today because Ann believes that when she needs a computer later, Joe
will return her favor. Ann exhibits a trust-based expectation of reciprocity that,
when present, enables both Joe and Ann to avoid having to buy or rent infrequently used
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capital equipment. Lacking comparable reciprocity, Joe’s and Ann’s competitors must
rent computers and trucks, and the rental cost will increase the price of their commodity.
Similarly, social capital can be embodied or hidden in other forms of capital.
Cultural capital is the fourth form of entrepreneurial capital (Light, 2004). Cultural
capital refers to aptitudes, interests, beliefs, habits, lifestyles and customs that facilitate
entrepreneurship. Much cultural capital is inherited or passed down in the course of
primary socialization to adulthood; some is acquired. Max Weber’s (1958) celebrated
theory of the Protestant work ethic exemplifies and illustrates cultural capital. As is very
well known, Weber taught that the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century
encouraged traditional European peasants to save their money and work harder than
their parents had been accustomed to doing. Early modern Protestants valued hard work,
punctuality, thrift and temperance a lot more than Catholics. These traits still support
entrepreneurship, and all such vocationally relevant character traits (as well as social
institutions such as the family) are still cultural in origin whether they emanate from
Protestantism or from some other ethno-religious tradition. For reasons like this, cultural
capital supports the entrepreneurship of those who have the most and the right kind.
SOURCES OF ENTREPRENEURIAL CAPITAL
Where do entrepreneurs acquire capital resources? The ethnic economy literature does
not investigate individual differences in personality as a source of motives or capabilities. This is a valid inquiry, but the ethnic economy literature does not undertake this line
of inquiry. The ethnic economy literature is agnostic about individual differences, and
cannot, in most cases, explain why of two members of the same ethno-religious or ethnocultural group, one becomes an entrepreneur and the other does not. This incapacity arises
from the structure of explanation that the ethnic economy literature deploys. Capabilities
are traced to group memberships. Individuals who are members of the same group are
presumed to have the same capabilities. If, having the same capabilities, they diverge in
their behavior, then something other than shared capabilities must explain the divergence.
Fully assimilated members of a society’s dominant ethnic group are just as ethnic as
immigrants. To be ethnic is just to have a culture. But, the ethnic economy cannot offer an
ethnic reason why some Germans in Germany become entrepreneurs and others do not,
or why some Malays in Malaysia become entrepreneurs and others do not. Class must be
the source of that internal explanation. However, when comparing Germans and Malays
in Portugal, the ethnic economy approach may find ethno-cultural differences that would
explain why one group has a higher self-employment rate than another.
Eschewing explanation of individual difference, the ethnic economy literature proceeds like an actuary, predicting rates of self-employment among groups with different
amounts and different kinds of capital resources. To this end, the ethnic economy literature distinguishes ethnic resources and class resources depending upon a resource’s
provenance. Class resources derive from an entrepreneur’s placement within the class
structure of society. Resources possessed thanks to one’s class placement are one’s class
resources. Generally speaking, the class system of society bestows more entrepreneurial
capital upon rich people than upon poor people so the rich are expected to exhibit higher
rates of formal sector self-employment. Rich people inherit wealth and influential social
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networks. They can afford expensive educations. They are likely to have entrepreneur
parents or relatives, who teach them the entrepreneurial way of thinking and acting. In
sum, rich people have superior access to financial capital, human capital, social capital
and cultural capital that supports their entrepreneurship. For example, Donald Trump’s
father was a construction entrepreneur who took his adolescent son to job sites and
introduced him to real estate promoters. Donald Trump later attended Wharton School
of Finance. As a young man, Donald Trump inherited $5 million that staked his initial
ventures in real estate development. In contrast, back in east Los Angeles, Antonio
Lopez had only five years of schooling in Guadalajara, started work at 11, knew only
working-class people like his parents, and inherited only a guitar from his father. Is it any
wonder that Trump became the real estate mega-tycoon and Lopez the owner of a taco
stand, rather than the reverse?
However, the contribution of the class system to entrepreneurial resources, while still
true, is old knowledge. There is no need to belabor this well understood point. The ethnic
economy literature builds on this received wisdom, but adds new. The ethnic economy
literature has contributed awareness that a second major source of entrepreneurial
resources exists. This source is the ethno-cultural and the ethno-religious group structure
of societies. Quite independent of the class system, ethno-cultural and ethno-religious
groups may confer financial capital, human capital, social capital and cultural capital
upon members who are not rich. For example, poor people can borrow financial capital
from kin and friends if they have a large extended family that consists of people who
normatively endorse lending money to family members. The Amish, the Chinese and
the Hindustanis have both extended families and the belief that one should lend money
to extended kin. Therefore, poor entrepreneurs who are Amish, Chinese or Hindustani
have superior chances to borrow start-up capital thanks to their ethno-cultural provenance. In contrast, white Americans have a hyper-nuclear family system that strips
away the extended kin who might otherwise be available to lend them start-up money.
Moreover, white Americans generally believe that it is inadvisable to lend money to kin.
‘Don’t mix family and business’ is their cultural belief. Again, Asians, Latin Americans
and Africans utilize rotating savings and credit associations to support saving and
lending. These informal institutions make capital available to people on the strength of
their social standing in a large community. Even poor communities utilize these informal
financial institutions. However, white Americans have no such informal institutions
in their cultural repertoire. White Americans have neither rotating savings and credit
associations nor extended kin from whom to borrow. If banks refuse loans, and they are
not rich, then white Americans have no alternative source of loan capital, as do Amish,
Chinese and Hindustanis.
Comparable cases can be made for the contribution of the ethno-religious and ethnocultural structure of society to the availability of social capital, cultural capital and,
even, human capital. Ethnic groups that value human capital a lot will invest heavily in
it even when the expected money rewards are low. They thus endow their young adults
with productive skills than enable their entrepreneurship. The economic development
of South Korea in the late twentieth century benefited immensely from the vast respect
of the Korean people for education, and their willingness to acquire it even when the
expected return was lower than the cost. Conversely, of course, the Amish reject education beyond the eighth grade so Amish youth fail to acquire the schoolroom’s human
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capital even when the market economy generously rewards human capital. In both these
cases, group-level attitudes toward education affect human capital acquisition net of that
capital’s expected money return. These attitudes are cultural in origin. In this manner,
ethnic cultures and class cultures become alternative sources from which entrepreneurs
may derive vocationally relevant human capital. Everyone participates simultaneously
in a class culture and an ethnic culture. Fully assimilated members of the ethnic majority also have an ethnic culture in which they participate and from which they derive such
capital resources as their group membership affords them.
Country clubs, luxury resorts, and college fraternities are sources of class-derived
social capital, but Methodists, vegetarians, housewives and farmers also have social
capital. The social networks of humble persons will not include as many powerful or
rich people as do the social networks of the rich and wellborn. As a result, the humble
people cannot obtain equivalent help and information from their social networks as do
the rich and wellborn from theirs. However, for all that, the humble people still have
access to social networks through which help and information may flow in abundance.
If so, well-connected people of modest class origins can still have access to social capital
that supports a modest entrepreneurship. Antonio Lopez drew on his social network of
Guadalajara paisanos to obtain help and information that enabled him to open a taco
stand in Los Angeles. The example illustrates the availability of entrepreneurial social
capital to many more people than only those who are rich and wellborn (Halpern, 2005:
48).
Social capital is the telephone connection that permits people to communicate; but
cultural capital is what they say once connected. Since adults who understand business
rise to the top of the class system, the cultural capital of the rich and wellborn accurately
refracts the values, attitudes, practices and habits that enabled entrepreneurship in the
older generation. Just being born into this class conveys its entrepreneurship-supporting
cultural capital. That birthright advantage increases the likelihood that the children
of the rich and wellborn will become important formal sector entrepreneurs. But this
conclusion cannot be the whole truth. If entrepreneurship were just for the rich, why
do some non-rich people own taco stands and dry cleaning establishments? Evidently,
the rich and wellborn do not monopolize what Nobel Prize winner Edmund S. Phelps
(2007) called, ‘entrepreneurial culture’. Stigmatized middleman minorities also transmit
an entrepreneurship-supporting cultural capital, handing it along to their young people.
This cultural capital enables middleman minorities (such as Armenians in the Levant,
Jews in Europe, the overseas Chinese) to generate more entrepreneurs than do other
ethno-religious or ethno-cultural groups. Sometimes ethnic or religious groups acquire
the cultural capital that supports entrepreneurship. The Quakers of England accomplished this acquisition in the eighteenth century, and the Gurage of Ethiopia in the
twentieth (Nida, 2006). Ethnic cultures may contain or replicate the entrepreneurshipsupporting cultural capital of the rich and wellborn. When they do, people of modest
class background have access to some or all the cultural capital of entrepreneurship even
though they are neither rich nor wellborn.
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CONCLUSION
Ethnic minorities and immigrant groups often face disadvantage in the labor market.
Ethnic ownership economies are a basic and ubiquitous source of economic self-defense
in this situation. All ethnic and immigrant minorities control and transmit social capital,
financial capital, human capital and cultural capital that supports the entrepreneurship of
their youth. Some have more than others, but all have some. Therefore, young people
of modest class background and outsider ethnic status may acquire the basic resources
of entrepreneurship thanks to their ethnic or religious affiliation in addition to whatever
their class background provided, if anything. Just looking at classic middleman minorities, we see that rich Jews, Armenians and Chinese derive resources of entrepreneurship
from their class background as well as from their ethnic background. Because they are
rich, they have class resources; because they are Jewish, Armenian or Chinese, they have
ethnic resources of entrepreneurship in abundance. However, poor Jews, Armenians
or Chinese still acquire cultural capital of entrepreneurship from their ethnic culture.
Even without supporting class resources, this cultural capital increases the likelihood
that poor Jews, poor Armenians or poor Chinese will become self-employed. When they
do, they strengthen the ethnic ownership economy of their group and therewith that
group’s ability to defend itself against disadvantage in the labor force. It is no wonder
then that middleman minorities like these demonstrate high rates of self-employment
in the formal sector. Conversely, if we consider ethnic groups that are not middleman
minorities, which encompasses most of humanity, their children acquire entrepreneurship
that supports entrepreneurship in the formal sector principally when born into the rich
class. Children of the working class do not obtain entrepreneurship-supporting capitals
from either their class culture or from their ethnic culture; hence, their access to formal
sector self-employment is less likely. They may achieve access only into informal sector
self-employment for this reason because the informal sector requires lesser resources of
entrants.
On the other hand, wayward youth, with no chance for legitimate business ownership, may have access to a cultural capital that supports entrepreneurship in the illegal
sector of their group’s ethnic ownership economy. They have the wisdom of the street,
not the wisdom of the business school. For this reason, the working-class youth are
better endowed with the requisite capital for self-employment in the illegal sector than
are MBAs. This conclusion need not mean that some steal and others earn an honest
living. Playing The Godfather, Marlon Brando remarked that one could steal more with
a briefcase than with a machine gun. Prisons are the entrepreneurship academies of the
lower working class. When the working-class youth succeed in illegal enterprise, they or
their descendants can relocate the business into the formal sector, which upgrades their
own status but also the average status of the members of their ethnic group.
NOTE
1. One must differentiate an ethnic ownership economy from an ethnic enclave economy. The terms are not
synonyms although they are often carelessly treated as if they were. An ethnic enclave economy is an ethnic
ownership economy that is geographically clustered around a high-density residential core. Ethnic enclave
economies are a special case of an ethnic ownership economy.
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26. Entrepreneurship in the printing sector
Naomi J. Dana
Invented in China (Carter 1925), printing is the method of producing an impression of
something (from type, for instance) onto a suitable material, such as paper. This has been
among the most important innovations in the progress of humankind, as it accelerated
the spread of information and knowledge.
During the late fourteenth century, the first European woodblock printing methods
were carried out. This was made by carving the complete page onto a block of wood
and printing from it. The method was document-specific, as letters could not be reused
elsewhere; furthermore, it was labour-intensive and time-consuming. Therefore, it was
generally limited to reproducing pictures rather than text.
Although Chinese Alchemist Bi Sheng had experimented with movable type as early
as 1041 (Gunaratne 2001), it was four centuries later that German goldsmith Johann
Gutenberg became the first person to print a book from movable type. This innovation
created unprecedented efficiency since movable type (see Figure 26.1) involves letters made
Figure 26.1
Movable type; photograph by Léo-Paul Dana
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of metal (originally copper and tin), that can be rearranged for printing different books.
Also, Gutenberg adapted the wine press for printing. The first book printed with movable
type and a wooden printing press is the Vulgate bible – commonly known as ‘the 42-line
Bible’ – the most valuable volume ever printed. Printing enabled mass production of books.
Gutenberg later became blind and his innovation was most appreciated after his death.
A teacher, entrepreneur and printer, in the late fifteenth century, Italian Aldus Manutius
founded his printing enterprise in Italy. He adopted narrow font styles since these enabled
him to fit more words on a page, and this saved money on both ink and paper. Among
his innovations was the introduction of the italic type style. The success of his books
prompted other printers to imitate him; this resulted in the acceptance of both the italic
and roman styles as standard throughout Europe. See also Davies (1995).
In 1717, Boston-born James Franklin returned home from England with a press and
letters to set up a printing office in Boston, Massachusetts (Franklin 1916). In 1724, his
brother Benjamin Franklin – who considered himself an Englishman most of his life –
travelled from Philadelphia to England and, employed in printing shops there, acquired
skills that he would soon introduce to America. In 1726, he returned home thanks to
money lent to him by Thomas Denham, for whom he worked before being employed by
Samuel Keimer who was given a contract to print currency with America’s only copper
press. This involved skills that nobody in America held, other than Benjamin Franklin.
In 1729, Benjamin and his business partner Hugh Meredith purchased the Pennsylvania
Gazette from Samuel; this newspaper was unique in that it was published twice weekly,
and contained not only news, but also essays contributed by readers; many of the essays
were written by Benjamin under pen-names.
Applying the principle that oil and water do not mix, in 1796, the invention of a new
printing process – lithography – by Prague-born German Alois Senefelder, was an important innovation. In 1798, another development, by Nicolas Louis Robert, was the invention of a mechanical method of manufacturing paper.
In 1800, Lord Stanhope of England designed a cast-iron version of Gutenberg’s
wooden press. Figure 26.2 features a metal press – an Albion table model hand-lever type
manufactured in 1863, by Hopkinson & Cope.
In 1810, Koenig’s powered press increased speed of printing from 300 to 1100 pages per
hour. In 1856, the rotary press was invented by American William Bullock, which made
it possible to print 48 000 pages per hour.
THE NEW WORLD
Known as the father of the platen press, in 1851, New Yorker George Phineas Gordon
received a patent for an invention that was one of the first American contributions to
printing technology; he produced the first practical platen press, using a heavy pressure
plate. In 1881, Cleveland entrepreneurs Harrison T. Chandler and William H. Price
established the firm Chandler & Price and purchased Gordon’s patent and produced the
Chandler & Price Gordon platen press. Figure 26.3 features their pilot platen press.
Printing and publishing became widespread. Entrepreneur William Southam began
delivering newspapers when he was 12 years old, and at 33 bought a newspaper venture
with a partner. In 1871 he incorporated Southam Limited, a firm that eventually grew
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Figure 26.2
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Albion; photograph by Léo-Paul Dana
to publish periodicals as well as 17 daily newspapers and 56 community newspapers.
Figure 26.4 features the Southam building, in Montreal.
Typesetting continued by hand until 1886, when America’s Ottmar Mergenthaler revolutionised this process with a hot metal typesetting system that could cast a complete line
of metal type, instead of individual characters as had been the case with monotype typesetting. Although his invention was trademarked as the Linotype, the Intertype Company
produced a rival machine (Figure 26.5) in the UK, with identical principles.
GERMAN TECHNOLOGY
Among the most successful platen presses was the Heidelberg press, manufactured in
Germany. Figure 26.6 features a Heidelberg platen from the 1920s. During the inter-war
years, Germany remained a leader in printing technology. Among platen press models,
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Figure 26.3
Platen press; photograph by Léo-Paul Dana
the Windmill was first produced in 1924 and almost 200 000 were produced by the time
production ended in 1985.
As a result of World War II reparation agreements, the Allies received printing technology from the Germans. Figure 26.7 is a post-war Printomatic stop cylinder press, manufactured in the UK from a 1934 German design.
POST-WAR INNOVATIONS
In 1952, German Dr Rudolph Hell invented the Klischograph (see Figure 26.8). This revolutionised the printing of photographs in newspapers by photo-electronically scanning the
original picture by means of an electrical current that controlled a stylus that engraved a
half-tone illustration, using a technique that represents an image by dots of different sizes
with different spacing.
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Figure 26.4
The Southam Printing Company, Montreal; photograph by Léo-Paul Dana
Figure 26.5
Post-war typecasting machine; photograph by Léo-Paul Dana
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Figure 26.6
Heidelberg platen; photograph by Léo-Paul Dana
Figure 26.7
Printomatic; photograph by Léo-Paul Dana
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Figure 26.8
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Klischograph; photograph by Léo-Paul Dana
In 1961, the Heidelberg K model cylinder press (Figure 26.9) was introduced. The innovation replaced a platen by a plate cylinder that allowed significant increases in quality
and speed. By 1973, 25 000 of these were being used across 130 countries. Production
continued until 1986.
In 1969, United Technologies Corporation was awarded a patent for laser printing, an
electrostatic digital printing process. This technique allows computer printers to quickly
reproduce letters, figures and images with high accuracy.
In 1974, David E. H. Jones laid out the concept of three-dimensional (3D) printing. In
1983, American Chuck Hull, inventor of stereolithography, made a 3D printer, launching
what Berman (2012) called a new industrial revolution.
Early in the new millennium, Cornell University began to develop machines that could
print food. Since then, scientists have been designing prosthetic limbs and body parts to
be built by means of 3D printing (Ten Kate et al. 2017).
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Figure 26.9
Heidelberg K model offset press; photograph by Léo-Paul Dana
REFERENCES
Berman, B. (2012), ‘3-D printing: the new industrial revolution’, Business Horizons, 55 (2), 155–62.
Carter, T.F. (1925), The Invention of Printing in China and Its Spread Westward, New York: Columbia University
Press.
Davies, M. (1995), Aldus Manutius, Printer and Publisher of Renaissance Venice, London: British Library.
Franklin, B. (1916), Franklin’s Biography, New York: Henry Holt.
Gunaratne, S.A (2001), ‘Paper, printing and the printing press: a horizontally integrative macrohistory analysis’,
Gazette, 63 (6), 459–79.
Ten Kate, J., G. Smit and P. Breedveld (2017), ‘3D-printed upper limb prostheses: a review’, Disability and
Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 12 (3), 300–314, doi:10.1080/17483107.2016.1253117.
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27. Entrepreneurship policy
David B. Audretsch
1
INTRODUCTION
A generation of management and economics scholars such as Chandler (1977; 1990)
concluded that there was little room for entrepreneurship in the context of starting a new
firm, to generate efficiency and ultimately business and managerial success. Schumpeter
(1942: 132) similarly concluded that, due to scale economies in the production of new
economic knowledge, large corporations would not only have the innovative advantage
over small and new enterprises, but that ultimately the economic landscape would consist
only of giant corporations: ‘Innovation itself is being reduced to routine. Technological
progress is increasingly becoming the business of teams of trained specialists who turn
out what is required and make it work in predictable ways.’
Accordingly, a generation of scholars suggested that public policy should focus exclusively on the large corporation. For example, Galbraith (1979: 93–4) argued that entrepreneurship was disappearing in the contemporary economy, where the great entrepreneurs
of the Industrial Revolution were replaced by the hierarchical large corporation: ‘The
great entrepreneur must, in fact, be compared in life with the male Alpis mellifera. He
accomplishes his act of conception at the price of his own extinction.’ Thus, according
to Galbraith (1979: 61), the entrepreneur ‘is a diminishing figure in the planning system.
Apart from access to capital, his principal qualifications were imagination, capacity for
decision and courage in risking money, including, not infrequently, his own. None of
these qualifications is especially important for organizing intelligence or effective in competing with it.’
By contrast, it was argued that public policy needed to focus on the large corporation.
According to Schumpeter (1942: 106): ‘What we have got to accept is that (the largescale establishment or unit of control) has come to be the most powerful engine of . . .
progress and in particular of the long-run expansion of output not only in spite of, but to
a considerable extent through, this strategy which looks so restrictive.’ Galbraith (1958
[1976]: 86–7) echoed this view:
There is no more pleasant fiction than that technical change is the product of the matchless
ingenuity of the small man forced by competition to employ his wits to better his neighbor.
Unhappily, it is a fiction. Technical development has long since become the preserve of the
scientist and engineer. Most of the cheap and simple inventions have, to put in bluntly and
unpersuasively, been made.
However, as entrepreneurship has become recognized as an engine of economic growth,
employment creation and competitiveness in global markets (Audretsch et al. 2006),
public policy has shifted its priorty to promote entrepreneurship. For example, Romano
Prodi (2002: 1), who at the time served as President of the European Commission, proclaimed that the promotion of entrepreneurship was a central cornerstone of European
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economic growth policy: ‘Our lacunae in the field of entrepreneurship needs to be taken
seriously because there is mounting evidence that the key to economic growth and productivity improvements lies in the entrepreneurial capacity of an economy.’ With the
2000 Lisbon Proclamation, the European Council made a commitment to becoming not
just the leader in knowledge but also the entrepreneurship leader in the world in order to
ensure prosperity and a high standard of living throughout the continent.
Europe was not alone in focusing on entrepreneurship as a key factor generating economic growth. From the other side of the Atlantic, Mowery (2005: 1) observes:
During the 1990s, the era of the ‘New Economy,’ numerous observers (including some who less
than 10 years earlier had written off the U.S. economy as doomed to economic decline in the
face of competition from such economic powerhouses as Japan) hailed the resurgent economy
in the United States as an illustration of the power of high-technology entrepreneurship. The
new firms that a decade earlier had been criticized by such authorities as the MIT Commission
on Industrial Productivity (Dertouzos et al., 1989) for their failure to sustain competition
against large non-U.S. firms were seen as important sources of economic dynamism and
employment growth. Indeed, the transformation in U.S. economic performance between the
1980s and 1990s is only slightly less remarkable than the failure of most experts in academia,
government, and industry, to predict it.
The purpose of this chapter is to explain the emergence of entrepreneurship, not as
a business strategy, but rather as a bona fide strategy and priority of public policy. The
following section explains the emergence of a mandate for entrepreneurship policy.
The economic rationale providing an intellectual and theoretical basis for public policy
intervention to promote entrepreneurship is explained in the third section. The fourth
section explains what exactly constitutes entrepreneurship policy, the instruments used
to implement entrepreneurship policy, and the locus of entrepreneurship policy. Finally,
conclusions and a summary are provided. In particular, just as entrepreneurship has
become a bona fide area for the management of business, it has also emerged as a bona
fide strategy for public policy.
2
THE MANDATE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP POLICY
Between the 1950s and 1980s public policy to promote economic growth, employment
and international competitiveness focused largely on promoting the factor of physical
capital, which placed large corporations in manufacturing industries at the focal point of
policy. This policy approach, which Audretsch and Thurik (2001) and Audretsch (2007a;
2007b) term the managed economy, reflected the insights generated by the Nobel Prizewinning Solow model, which linked economic growth and productivity explicitly to the
factor of physical capital.
Globalization has shifted the comparative advantage of Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries away from physical capital towards
knowledge capital. The endogenous growth theory (Romer, 1986) provided an intellectual framework which correspondingly shifted the focus of public policy towards
instruments which would promote investments in knowledge, such as research and development (R&D), patents, human capital and universities.
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Even as the comparative advantage in (physical) capital in OECD countries was
beginning to fade, scholars and policy-makers began to recognize the primacy of a very
different factor of production – knowledge capital, which is based not just on technological and scientific knowledge, but also in a broader sense of ideas, creativity, originality
and novelty. The recognition by Romer (1986) and Lucas (1993), among others, that
knowledge was not only endogenous, but that it also spilled over for commercialization by firms and individuals other than the firm or university actually creating that
knowledge in the first place, shifted the policy debate and focus away from instruments
inducing investments in physical capital, towards instruments generating knowledge and
ideas, such as university research, education and training, R&D and patents.
Thus, even as the OECD countries began losing the comparative advantage in
physical capital, they seemed to be at least as well poised to thrive with a knowledgebased economy. In particularly, the Nordic countries, but also Northern Europe more
generally, ranked among the world’s leaders in terms of the most common measures
of knowledge. Thus, the inability of countries which were knowledge leaders, such as
Sweden, to prosper in the global economy was so striking that it was referred to as the
Swedish Paradox. However, it was not just Sweden that exhibited surprising low growth
rates and rising unemployment, while at the same time having high rates of investment in
research, human capital and culture. The European Union adapted the label to describe
what it termed the European Paradox. While the prescriptions of investments in knowledge generated economic models of scholars, the experience of Sweden, and much of
Europe, was suggesting that the links between knowledge and growth are, in fact, more
nuanced and complicated.
The conditions inherent in knowledge – high uncertainty, asymmetries and transactions cost – can result in decision-making hierarchies in companies reaching the decision not to pursue and try to commercialize new ideas that individual economic agents,
or groups or teams of economic agents think are potentially valuable and should be
pursued. The characteristics of knowledge distinguishing it from information, a high
degree of uncertainty combined with non-trivial asymmetries, combined with a broad
spectrum of institutions, rules and regulations impose what Audretsch and Keilbach
(2007), Audretsch et al. (2006) and Braunerhjelm et al. (2010) term the knowledge filter.
The knowledge filter is the gap between knowledge that has a potential commercial value
and knowledge that is actually commercialized. The greater is the knowledge filter, the
more pronounced is the gap between new knowledge and commercialized knowledge.
It is the knowledge filter that impedes investments in knowledge from spilling over for
commercialization that leads to the so-called Swedish Paradox and European Paradox.
Europe was not alone in having investments in knowledge choked off from generating
economic growth by the knowledge filter.
Confronted with what is termed the knowledge filter impeding the spillover of
knowledge from the firm or organization where it was originally generated, for commercialization by third-party firms, public policy instruments to promote investment in
knowledge, such as human capital, R&D, and university research may not adequately
generate economic growth. One interpretation of the European Paradox, where such
investments in new knowledge have certainly been substantial and sustained, but vigorous growth and reduction of unemployment have remained elusive, is that the presence
of such an imposing knowledge filter chokes off the commercialization of those new
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knowledge investments, resulting in diminished innovative activity and, ultimately, stagnant growth.
By choking off the spillover and commercialization of knowledge and new ideas,
the knowledge filter at the same time presents opportunities for individuals, or teams
of individuals, that might place a high valuation on the potential of that knowledge,
to become entrepreneurs. If someone is not able to pursue and implement their vision
within the context of an incumbent firm or organization, in order to appropriate the
value of her knowledge and ideas, they would need to start a new firm, that is, become
an entrepreneur.
The start-up of a new firm reflects knowledge spillover entrepreneurship because the
ideas serving as the basis for the start-up were obtained, typically for little or no cost,
from a different, incumbent firm or organization. Thus, knowledge spillover entrepreneurship serves as a conduit for the spillover new ideas generated by an incumbent
organization but left uncommercialized.
The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship (Braunerhjelm et al., 2010;
Audretsch, 1995; Audretsch and Keilbach, 2007; Audretsch et al., 2006), suggests
that contexts which are rich in knowledge will tend to generate more entrepreneurial
opportunities. By contrast, those contexts that have less knowledge will generate fewer
entrepreneurial opportunities. A consequence of globalization, which has shifted the
comparative advantage of developed countries from physical capital to knowledge
capital, is that entrepreneurial opportunities become more pervasive (Audretsch, 2007a).
From the end of the Second World War into the 1980s, public policy to promote
economic growth, employment and competitiveness focused extensively on an approach
to foster investments in physical capital and nurturing institutions that facilitated the
most effective development and utilization of the labor force deployed to work with that
capital. Small business was seen as generally being peripheral to even detracting from the
efficient organization of capital in large corporations.
As globalization shifted the comparative advantage in the OECD countries towards
knowledge, ideas and creativity, the policy emphasis accordingly shifted towards promoting investments in knowledge, such as research and development, universities,
human capital and education. Little emphasis was placed on small and medium-sized
enterprises, since research and development, along with patenting and investments in
human capital were generally perceived to lie in the domain of large corporations.
However, along with the recognition that entrepreneurship provides a crucial role by
providing a conduit for knowledge spillovers, has come the emergence of a new policy
approach – entrepreneurship policy. The focus of entrepreneurship policy is to encourage and promote not just investments in knowledge, but also their commercialization
through the start-up of a new firm. Thus, the focus is on policies that enable people,
particularly in knowledge-based and creative industries, to start new business and to
facilitate the growth of such new ventures.
Recent literature has identified the emergence of a new public policy approach
(Audretsch, 2007a; 2007b), with a focus on generating entrepreneurship capital, or the
capacity of an economy to generate entrepreneurial activity. Investments in knowledge
and ideas may not automatically spill over for commercialization, which would trigger
innovation and growth. Rather, as is explained above, the knowledge filter impedes the
spillover and commercialization of knowledge. By commercializing ideas and knowledge
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that might otherwise not have been commercialized, the start-up of a new firm serves as
an important conduit for the spillover of knowledge. Thus, in an effort to appropriate
the returns in terms of economic growth, employment, and international competitiveness from costly investments in knowledge, such as public research, education, and
universities, a mandate for public policy and institutions to shift away from the managed
economy towards an entrepreneurial society has emerged in the OECD countries
(Audretsch, 2007a; 2007b).
3
THE ECONOMIC RATIONALE UNDERLYING POLICY
INTERVENTION FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Besides a mandate for entrepreneurship policy, there is also an economic rationale for
public policy intervention to create an entrepreneurial economy. Linking entrepreneurship to economic growth is not an automatic justification for public policy intervention.
In fact, Bresnahan and Gambardella (2004: 5) argue that the emergence of the most
prominent contemporary region, Silicon Valley, that has set the standard for an entrepreneurial economy rich in entrepreneurship capital, did not result from public policy
intervention: ‘Our overall research design took seriously the proposition government
policy leading and directing cluster formation might be an important part of the cluster
formation story . . . we ultimately reject that proposition.’
Rather, for an economic rationale to justify public policy intervention, a reason must
exist why the good or service in question, in this case entrepreneurship, will not be
adequately provided by the private market. The economic rationale for public policy
intervention to support entrepreneurship is based on market failure. There are four types
of market failure – network externalities, knowledge externalities, failure externalities
and demonstration externalities – providing an economic rationale for policy intervention. Entrepreneurial activity will tend to be suppressed as a result of these four types of
market failure (Audretsch and Keilbach, 2007).
Network Externalities
When the value of an individual’s or firm’s capabilities and knowledge is conditional
upon complementary firms and individuals, network externalities exist. Such network
externalities frequently have a strong spatial component. In this case geographic proximity will facilitate accessing these complementary inputs. Thus, the value of an entrepreneurial firm and individual will be greater in the (local) presence of other entrepreneurial
firms and individuals. The value of any individual’s or firm’s capabilities is therefore
conditional upon the existence of partners in a network. Regions with an entrepreneurial
cluster will tend to be more attractive to firms and knowledge workers. By contrast,
regions with a paucity of entrepreneurship and knowledge will be less attractive to firms
and workers.
Thus, this source of market failure involves the geographic context which provides
the (potential) platform for interactions and networks. Contexts, or regions, that do not
enjoy a rich density of entrepreneurial networks will be burdened with more significant
barriers to entrepreneurship, because the expected value of any recognized opportunity
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will be correspondingly lower in the absence of such networks, resulting in a lower propensity for economic agents to make the decision to become an entrepreneur.
Knowledge Externalities
The high propensity for knowledge to be associated with externalities is the second
source of market failure. As Arrow (1962) suggested and Audretsch and Feldman (1996)
show, knowledge generates externalities and can spill over for commercialization and
innovation by third-party firms and individuals. However, as Audretsch and Feldman
(1996) suggest, close geographic proximity to knowledge sources will facilitate the spillover of knowledge.
Audretsch and Feldman (1996) and Audretsch et al. (2006) provide compelling empirical evidence that knowledge spillover entrepreneurship has a strong propensity to spatially
cluster within close geographic proximity to knowledge sources. Similarly, Gilbert et al.
(2008) provide empirical evidence that those entrepreneurial start-ups locating within a
geographic cluster exhibit a superior performance vis-à-vis their counterparts that do not
locate within a geographic cluster. Thus, location can influence the access of entrepreneurial start-ups to external knowledge spillovers. Public policy can compensate for the
lack of an entrepreneurial cluster in a particular region by trying to facilitate an environment that is favorable to the formation of entrepreneurial clusters.
Failure Externalities
The third source of market failure emanates from the positive economic value created
by entrepreneurial firms that fail. Entrepreneurial firms have a significantly greater propensity to failure within a few years subsequent to start-up (Caves, 1998). The failure
rate for start-ups is even greater for knowledge-based and high-technology entrepreneurship. The higher failure rate of entrepreneurship in general and knowledge-based
and high-technology entrepreneurship in particular is attributable to a greater degree
of uncertainty. Entrepreneurial failure may generate significant positive value for other,
third-party firms and entrepreneurs that can use these ideas.
Valuation of a potential new enterprise by private financiers does not include failure
externalities. A private investor can only appropriate her investment if the entrepreneurial venture succeeds. The external value created by a failed firm for use by other
third-party firms is not considered or valued by private investors. In the event of entrepreneurial failure, the private investor will not appropriate anything from the original
investment, regardless of how great the externalities are.
However, from the perspective of public policy, which firm actually succeeds and subsequently generates growth and employment for the region is of less concern than that
it is generated at all. After all, the public policy goal is typically growth for the overall
region but not necessarily for any particular enterprise.
Demonstration Externalities
The fourth source of market failure is the demonstration effect associated with entrepreneurial activity. The demonstration effect refers to the learning undertaken by (potential)
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entrepreneurs and firms about the viability of entrepreneurship from observing incidents
of entrepreneurial activity. The decision to commercialize ideas and enter into entrepreneurship can be influenced by observing the outcomes and consequences when others
enter into entrepreneurship. The demonstration effect may be especially valuable for a
region burdened with an impoverished amount of entrepreneurship capital.
As a result of the market failures inherent in the externalities involved in knowledge spillover entrepreneurship – which stem from networks, knowledge, failure and
demonstration – a gap is created in the valuation of potential entrepreneurial activities
between private parties and the local public policy-makers. Thus, the constraints for
obtaining early stage finance for entrepreneurial start-ups and nascent entrepreneurs
tend to be even greater outside of a successful entrepreneurial cluster than within an
entrepreneurial cluster.
The four sources of market failure associated with entrepreneurship contribute to
significant barriers to entrepreneurship at least in some contexts. The economic rationale
for entrepreneurship policy is to mitigate these four sources of market failure. The role
that entrepreneurship plays in permeating the knowledge filter and serving as a conduit
of knowledge spillovers, combined with the strong propensity for those knowledge spillovers to be geographically bounded and remain localized, suggests a key role for public
policy to promote entrepreneurship. By compensating for market failure, public policy
can create a virtuous entrepreneurial circle, where entrepreneurs become networked and
linked to each other, and provide strong role models of knowledge spillover entrepreneurship for other individuals to emulate.
4
INSTRUMENTS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP POLICY
With both a mandate and rationale for undertaking entrepreneurship policy, two important issues remain. The first revolves around what exactly constitutes entrepreneurship
policy and a bona fide entrepreneurship policy instrument. The second involves the
mechanisms and policy channels for implementing entrepreneurship policy.
A broad spectrum of diverse policy approaches to promote entrepreneurship exist
across countries and context. Still an important feature distinguishing entrepreneurship
policy from more traditional approaches towards business characteristic of the managed
economy (Audretsch and Thurik, 2001) is a shift away from the focus on the traditional
triad of policy instruments essentially constraining the freedom of firms to contract –
regulation, competition policy or antitrust in the USA and public ownership of business.
Instead, as a result of globalization, a new policy approach has emerged with a
focus on enabling the creation and commercialization of knowledge. Along with this
shift in policy approach has emerged a distinction between entrepreneurship policy
from the traditional small business policies. This distinction involves reconsidering the role of small and new firms. In the managed economy public policy generally
took the stance of trying to preserve small businesses that were widely perceived to be
burdened with an inherent cost disadvantage due to operating at a suboptimal scale
of output. Thus, small business policy was essentially preservationist in the managed
economy.
For example, in light of the fact that small firms constituted an ever-decreasing share
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of the US economy during the first half of the twentieth century, Congress passed the
Small Business Act of 1953, which established the US Small Business Administration
(SBA), with an explicit mandate to ‘aid, counsel, assist and protect . . . the interests of
small business concerns’. The agency was directed to help small businesses obtain government contracts and loans, along with management and technical assistance. The Act
tried to protect small firms from exposure to a hostile economic environment, to at least
mitigate the continued disappearance of small business and to preserve the role of small
business in the US economy.
By contrast, entrepreneurship public policy views new ventures as serving as a conduit
for knowledge spillovers and thus serving as an engine of growth, employment generation and competitiveness in global markets. The focus of entrepreneurship is on the
promotion of facilitating entrepreneurs to start new firms and on new and small firms
involved in the commercialization of knowledge, or knowledge-based entrepreneurship.
Small business policy typically refers to policies implemented by governmental agencies charged with the mandate to promote small business. The actual definition of a small
business varies considerably across countries, ranging from enterprises with fewer than
500 employees in the USA and Canada, to fewer than 250 employees in the European
Union, to 50 employees in many developing countries.
Small business policy typically takes the existing enterprises within the appropriate
size class as exogenous, or given, and then develops instruments to promote the continued viability of those enterprises. Thus, small business policy is almost exclusively
targeted on the existing stock of enterprises and virtually all of the instruments included
in the policy portfolio are designed to promote the viability of these small businesses.
By contrast, entrepreneurship policy has a much broader focus. The definition, introduced by Stevenson and Lundström (2005: 19) for OECD countries, is ‘Entrepreneurship
policy consists of measures taken to stimulate more entrepreneurial behaviour in a region
or country . . . We define entrepreneurship policy as those measures intended to directly
influence the level of entrepreneurial vitality in a country or a region.’
There are at least two important ways that distinguish entrepreneurship policy from
small business policy (Stevenson and Lundström, 2005). The first is the breadth of policy
orientation and instruments. While small business policy focuses on the existing stock of
small firms, entrepreneurship policy is more encompassing because it includes potential
entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship policy also has greater sensitivity to contextual conditions and framework that shape the decision-making process of entrepreneurs and
potential entrepreneurs.
While small business policy is primarily concerned with one organizational level, the
enterprise, entrepreneurship policy encompasses multiple levels of organization and
analysis. These range from the individual to the enterprise level and focus on clusters
or networks. The various perspectives might involve an industry or sectoral dimension,
or a spatial dimension, such as a district, city, region or even an entire country. Just as
each of these levels is an important target for policy, the interactions and linkages across
these disparate levels are also important. In this sense, entrepreneurship policy tends to
be more holistic than small business policy.
The second way of distinguishing entrepreneurship policy from traditional small business policy is that virtually every country has a governmental agency charged with promoting the viability of the small business sector. These ministries and agencies have by
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now developed a large arsenal of policy instruments to promote small business. However,
no agencies exist to promote entrepreneurship. Part of the challenge of implementing
entrepreneurship policy is this lack of agency-level institution. Rather, aspects relevant
to entrepreneurship policy can be found across a broad spectrum of ministries, ranging
from education to trade and immigration. Thus, while small businesses have agencies
and ministries to protect their issues, no analogous agency exists for entrepreneurs.
Not only is entrepreneurship policy implemented by different ministries or agencies than those implementing either the traditional policy instruments constraining the
freedom of firms to contract or those implementing traditional small business policy, but
it involves a very different and distinct set of policy instruments.
Stevenson and Lundström (2005) meticulously classified the broad and diverse range
of instruments which are being used around the globe to promote entrepreneurship.
Examples of the emerging entrepreneurship policy abound. Still, the point to be emphasized here is not so much the efficacy of the policy, but rather the clearly stated goal – to
promote the spillover of knowledge from universities for commercialization that will
foster innovation and ultimately economic growth.
Not only are the instruments of entrepreneurship policy decidedly distinct from those
traditionally used towards business and small business in particular, but the locus of
such enabling policies is also different. The instruments constraining the freedom of
firms to contract – antitrust, regulation and public ownership – were generally controlled and administered at the national level. By contrast, the instruments of entrepreneurship policy are generally applied at decentralized levels: state, city and local
government.
As Stevenson and Lundström (2005) point out, entrepreneurship policy uses a wide
variety of instruments ranging from changing regulation to taxes, immigration, education, as well as more direct instruments such as the provision of finance or training. If
entrepreneurship policy can be viewed as the purposeful attempt to create an entrepreneurial society, entire institutions that were the cornerstone of the managed economy are
being challenged and reconfigured in favor of the entrepreneurial society.
5
CONCLUSIONS
This chapter has explained and documented that entrepreneurship is not just central as
a topic for the management of private business but also for public policy. As knowledge
has become important and the era of the managed economy has receded, shifting to an
entrepreneurial society has become a priority for public policy. Entrepreneurship policy
is less about creating and promoting any particular type of individual, firm or industry
but rather more about creating a society where entrepreneurship serves as the driving
force for growth, employment creation and competitiveness in global markets.
An important qualification, however, is that by itself, public policy will never
succeed or guarantee the creation of an entrepreneurial society. As Gordon Moore,
who is ‘widely regarded as one of Silicon Valley’s founding fathers’ (Bresnahan and
Gambardella, 2004: 7) and Kevin Davis warn, the policy rush to generate an entrepreneurial society is fraught with dangers and ambiguities: ‘The potential disaster lies in
the fact that these static, descriptive efforts culminate in policy recommendations and
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analytical tomes that resemble recipes or magic potions such as combine liberal amounts
of technology, entrepreneurs, capital, and sunshine; add one university; stir vigorously’
(Moore and Davis, 2004: 9).
Entrepreneurship policy has emerged as a bona fide priority and strategy for public
policy because it can provide a missing link to economic growth. Investments in new
knowledge, such as R&D, universities and human capital may be necessary but not
sufficient for generating economic growth. Rather, mechanisms may also be needed to
generate the highest return possible to society, in terms of growth, jobs and international
competitiveness, from the investments made to create that knowledge in the first place.
Entrepreneurship can make a crucial contribution to economic growth by facilitating the
spillover and commercialization of ideas and knowledge that otherwise might never have
been transformed into innovative activity. Public policy has accordingly begun to place
a priority on not just investments in knowledge, but also in creating entrepreneurship
capital, to try to ensure that those costly investments in new knowledge actually result in
what society desires – growth and jobs in a globalized economy.
REFERENCES
Arrow, K. (1962), ‘Economic welfare and the allocation of resources for invention’, in Richard R. Nelson (ed.),
The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, pp. 609–26.
Audretsch, David (1995), Innovation and Industry Evolution, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Audretsch, David and M.P. Feldman (1996), ‘R&D spillovers and the geography of innovation and production’,
American Economic Review, 86, 630–40.
Audretsch, David and R. Thurik (2001), ‘What’s new about the new economy? Sources of growth in the managed
and entrepreneurial economies’, Industrial and Corporate Change, 19, 795–821.
Audretsch, David B. (2007a), The Entrepreneurial Society, New York: Oxford University Press.
Audretsch, David B. (2007b,) ‘Entrepreneurship capital and economic growth’, Oxford Review of Economic
Policy, 23, 63–78.
Audretsch, David B. and Max Keilbach (2007), ‘The theory of knowledge spillover entrepreneurship’, Journal
of Management Studies, 44 (7), 1242–54.
Audretsch, David B., Max Keilbach and Erik Lehmann (2006), Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth, New
York: Oxford University Press.
Braunerhjelm, P., Z.J. Acs, D.B. Audretsch and B. Carlsson (2010), ‘The missing link: knowledge diffusion
and entrepreneurship in endogenous growth’, Small Business Economics: An Entrepreneurship Journal, 34
(2), February, 105–25.
Bresnahan, T. and A. Gambardella (2004), Building High-Tech Clusters: Silicon Valley and Beyond,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Caves, R. (1998), ‘Industrial organization and new findings on the turnover and mobility of firms’, Journal of
Economic Literature, 36, 1947–82.
Chandler, A. (1977), The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business, Cambridge: Belknap
Press.
Chandler, A. (1990), Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism, Cambridge: Harvard University
Press.
Dertouzos, M., R. Lester and R. Solow (1989), Made in America: Regaining the Productive Edge, Cambridge:
MIT Press.
Galbraith, John Kenneth (1958), The Affluent Society, 3rd edn 1976, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Galbraith, John Kenneth (1979), The New Industrial State, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. (First published
1967.)
Gilbert, Brett A., Patricia P. McDougall and David B. Audretsch (2008), ‘Clusters, knowledge spillovers and
new venture performance: an empirical examination’, Journal of Business Venturing, 23 (4), 405–22.
Lucas, Robert (1993), ‘Making a miracle’, Econometrica, 61, 251–72.
Moore, Gordon and S.E. Davis (2004), ‘Learning the Silicon Valley way’, in Building High-Tech Clusters.
Silicon Valley and Beyond, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 7–39.
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Mowery, D. (2005), ‘The Bayh-Dole Act and high-technology entrepreneurship in U.S. universities: chicken,
egg, or something else?’, paper presented at the Eller Centre Conference on ‘Entrepreneurship Education
and Technology Transfer’, University of Arizona, 21–22 January.
Prodi, Romano (2002), ‘For a new European entrepreneurship’, public speech, Instituto de Empresa, Madrid.
Romer, P. (1986), ‘Increasing returns and long-run growth’, Journal of Political Economy, 94, 1002–37.
Schumpeter, Joseph A. (1942), Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, New York: Harper.
Stevenson, L. and A. Lundström (2005), Entrepreneurship Policy. Theory and Practice, International Studies in
Entrepreneurship Series, vol. 9, New York: Springer.
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28. Environment for entrepreneurship
Jean-Jacques Obrecht
In mainstream thinking on entrepreneurship, the entrepreneur is the central figure. He
is seen to be involved in a process of searching for new opportunities and creating new
organizations. As a driving force of competition, he takes risks and strives for profits.
His behaviour lies on pursuing self-interest and his environment is confined to markets.
In a sociological perspective of entrepreneurship as a whole, this way of understanding
entrepreneurship belongs to ‘the supply-side perspective which focuses on the availability of suitable individuals to occupy entrepreneurial roles’, whereas the demand-side
would focus on ‘the number and nature of the entrepreneurial roles that need to be filled’
(Thornton, 1999). Since differences in entrepreneurial role patterns are linked to differences in entrepreneurial environments, the latter perspective requires enhanced attention
as to the context in which entrepreneurship occurs.
1
PRELIMINARIES ON CONTEXTUALIZATION
In a world where, despite the globalization of markets, diversity as regards people and
institutions combines with inequality as regards economic development levels, the
examination of what contextualization means in the field of research on entrepreneurship is all the more necessary, unless we assimilate the entrepreneur to a ‘rational fool’
which is equivalent, according to Amartya Sen, to the state of a ‘social moron’ (Sen,
1977). Indeed, the understanding of the entrepreneurial environment requires appropriate analytical tools. These are to be looked for outside prevailing literature on entrepreneurship which, as recalled above, draws up a single role model grounded on Western
utilitarianism and which, therefore, might not be endowed with worldwide applicability. The case of entrepreneurship as a remedy against poverty in particular is one of the
biggest challenges of our times but development policies which would promote such
entrepreneurialism regardless of the context are liable to produce ‘islets of wealth in an
ocean of misery’.
The consideration of contextual factors influencing entrepreneurial action has
without doubt been given a large space in the last 40 years. The influence of culture
on local business climate and thereby on business creation was one of the topics which
researchers in small business economics examined throughout (Johannisson, 1984).
Much work has been based on Gert Hofstede’s celebrated model which emphasizes the
importance of cultural values such as individualism and collectivism, the former giving
individuals the necessary freedom for entrepreneurial action as opposed to the latter. But
this dichotomized view has been blended by many findings pointing to the fact that these
cultural characteristics may coexist in the same country (Morris et al., 1993); moreover,
other findings refer to entrepreneurial activities as being influenced by both (Tiessen,
1997). The notion of a ‘symbiotic relationship between entrepreneurship and culture’
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(Morrison, 2000), while emphasizing the fact that entrepreneurs’ behaviour is deep
rooted in local cultures and traditions, refers also to the influence the entrepreneur may
have on the evolution of local usual practices because the entrepreneurial process is not
entirely confined within cultural norms. Through the concept of ‘innovative milieu’, the
focus was put on the influence of technology on local development (Maillat and Kebir,
1999). The notion of ‘entrepreneurial milieu’ widened the space of influence to the whole
range of factors depending on the location of the entrepreneur and his business, positive
collective attitudes towards entrepreneurship being seen as the most significant (Gasse,
2003). The part of local institutions in the development of an ‘entrepreneurial culture’
has been given due consideration too; in the French literature on this topic, the word
‘territory’ soon came into use to point out a regional area as a socially organized structure hosting the promotion of the small business sector (Marchesnay and Fourcade,
1996).
While recognizing the importance of contextual factors, entrepreneurship provided
a relevant and exciting setting to explore the issue of networks, along the lines of social
networks analysis developed in sociology. In the 1980s, Howard Aldrich and Catherine
Zimmer took a critical position on traditional approaches. They focused on ‘entrepreneurship as embedded in a social context, channelled and facilitated or constrained
and inhibited by people’s positions in social networks’ (Aldrich and Zimmer, 1986). In
current literature on entrepreneurship and small business, the network metaphor was
used by a number of researchers following the pioneering work of Bengt Johannisson
to develop comprehensive models of how the entrepreneur operates the environment
through his personal network. ‘The personal network of the entrepreneur not only is
an instrument by which he acquires environmental resources but also an instrument by
which he performs his organizing mission’ (Johannisson, 1987). More recently, while
noticing that the conceptualization of ‘embeddedness’ and its operationalization remain
underdeveloped, he outlined an enlarged network framework, focusing on small firms
where ‘the point of departure is individual exchange relationships as personal ties concerning economic and social concerns’. He distinguishes three layers of embeddedness.
‘First-order embeddedness concerns the localized business networks created by combining these dyadic relations. Second-order embeddedness is achieved when considering
also the memberships of business persons in economic and social local institutions while
third-order embeddedness concerns the special cases where these institutions bridge gaps
between firms’ (Johannisson, 2002). In newer research on small business creation, the
quality of the ‘local relational environment’, as a bearing of social capital, has been put
forward as a crucial success factor of start-ups (Plociniczak, 2002).
From a perspective of ‘true’ contextualization, apparently singular forms of entrepreneurship have been explored. In-depth understanding of indigenous entrepreneurship
is shown to require a careful analysis of the entrepreneurial environment because the
characterization of entrepreneurial action and goal attainment and the nature of goals
are contingent also on the social and cultural context and on people’s history (Peredo
et al., 2004). Ethnic entrepreneurship which concerns immigrant individuals striving
for a better life through small business creation, is also approached in terms of ‘social
embeddedness of the entrepreneurial venture’ (Levy-Tadjine and Paturel, 2006) or in
terms of ‘discrimination’ and ‘marginalization’ that are obviously connected with social
structures (Ramangalahy et al., 2002). On the subject of indigenous entrepreneurship,
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‘community-based enterprise’ is a good case as this form of entrepreneurship often
emerges in regional areas or localities threatened by poverty. It is defined as ‘a community acting corporately as both entrepreneur and enterprise in pursuit of the common
good’ (Peredo, 2003; 2006). In contexts where the recovery of a region is at stake, local
development agencies or the people of a local parish and so on may take initiatives like
searching for new opportunities or implementing networks that facilitate access to information and provide every kind of support to small businesses operating in that region.
Obviously these ‘collective practices of opportunities identification’ which substitute
for the firm’s defaulting occur in particular contexts (Tremblay and Carrier, 2006).
Because of the common interests at issue, they might be considered as a form of ‘community entrepreneurship’. It is also admitted that contextual fragilities lie at the root of
social entrepreneurship: not surprisingly, the increasing volume of literature on social
entrepreneurs, that is, individuals who are offering their time and energy to address any
social or economic problem of a group or community, expresses by itself the increasing
number of fragile contexts. Last but not least, one may find in the prolific literature on
female entrepreneurship arguments which link the entrepreneurial significance of gender
to the cultural and social context, including the case of indigenous or ethnic women’s
entrepreneurship.
These studies which have in common that they stress the significance of the entrepreneurial environment, give clear indication of the complexity of the entrepreneurial roles
worldwide which are not reducible to a single model. Based on his work in international
entrepreneurship, Dana suggests that the causal variable behind enterprise is not an
opportunity, but rather one’s cultural perception of opportunity (Dana, 1995). Many
findings show that the same statement could be applied to risk perception. Above all,
evidence has been provided that ‘serving local community needs’ as the main goal of
business strategies or ‘seeing communal values and the notion of the common good as
essential elements in venture creation’ makes alternative forms of entrepreneurship, in
many settings, the culturally appropriate response to the problems it is meant to address,
that is, most of the times problems related to poverty (Curry, 2005; Peredo, 2003). These
are only very few of a number of findings which show the variety of the entrepreneurial
roles as they crop up in different contexts.
The entrepreneurial environment consequently emerges as a possible field of research
of its own. The next section, supported by a selective survey of literature, brings together
the constituents of a possible conceptual framework for a comprehensive understanding.
By way of a short-cut view, some of the constituents may be in the following proposition:
embedding structures generate social capital as an indispensable resource for action;
owing to local social capital, the entrepreneurial environment is moulded by a set of
proximity dynamics.
2
EMBEDDING STRUCTURES AND SOCIAL CAPITAL
The most relevant theoretical advances likely to support the elaboration of a conceptual
framework come from the critical positions some outstanding sociologists have taken
towards the methodological individualism of neoclassical economic theory. Whereas
the concept of ‘embeddedness’ was forged by Karl Polanyi and used from a historical
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perspective as an argument against the ‘market ideologists’ (Polanyi, 1944), it made
Mark Granovetter the most quoted scholar in respect of the idea that economic action is
embedded in actual social relations rather in abstract markets. In Granovetter’s words,
‘actors do not behave or decide as atoms outside a social context, nor do they adhere
slavishly to a script written for them by the particular intersection of social categories
that they happen to occupy. Their attempts to purposive action are instead embedded
in concrete, ongoing systems of social relations’ (Granovetter, 1985). Throughout a vast
literature, the embeddedness perspective has proven to be the unavoidable starting point
of any endeavour to work out a contextualized approach of entrepreneurship.
Embedding via Embeddedness
Granovetter’s specific contribution lies in the concept of ‘structural embeddedness’
which refers to ‘the structure of the overall network of relations’. As a higher level of
embeddedness it includes the lower level of ‘relational embeddedness’. Whereas the
former refers to the network structure of relationships between numbers of actors, the
latter describes the dyadic relations between individuals with reference to the quality
level of such personal links (Granovetter, 1990). The characterization of the entrepreneurial environment therefore has to address the social network structures that are
embedding the entrepreneur’s action.
In the abundant literature that Granovetter’s conceptualization has given birth to,
many other kinds of embeddedness have been added over time. Among the most familiar types are those identified by Sharon Zukin and Paul DiMaggio. Besides structural
embeddedness, three other types approximating well-established, other conceptualizations are distinguished: cognitive, cultural and political (Zukin and Dimaggio, 1990).
Indeed, ‘cognitive embeddedness’ refers to ‘the ways in which the structured regularities of mental processes limit the exercise of economic reasoning’. This notion points at
the actors’ limited ability to make use of the sort of rationality required by neoclassical
economics and meets the well-known bounded rationality approach of Herbert Simon.
‘Cultural embeddedness’ refers to ‘the role of shared collective understandings in shaping
economic strategies and goals’ and conveys a sociological perspective that goes back to
Max Weber. By ‘political embeddedness’ is meant ‘the manner in which economic institutions and decisions are shaped by a struggle for power that involves economic actors
and non market institutions’. This has been discussed by numerous scholars, among
others by Amitai Etzioni who, in particular, argues for the need to balance freedom with
morality, and community with autonomy.
In view of the rehabilitation of ‘embeddedness paradigm’s’ original meaning and a
clear articulation of its essentially social dimension with other spatiality related dimensions, German geographer Martin Hess proposed an interesting view on the fundamental
categories of embeddedness (Hess, 2004). ‘Societal embeddedness’ considers ‘the societal
i.e. cultural, political etc. background or genetic code, influencing and shaping the action
of individuals and collective actors within their respective societies and outside it’. It
also ‘reflects the business systems idea of an institutional and regulatory framework that
affects and in part determinates an actor’s behaviour’. As a distinct concept, ‘network
embeddedness’ refers to ‘the network of actors a person or organization is involved in’.
It may be described as a relational aspect, the relationships of an individual or a firm
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with other actors, and as a structural aspect including both business agents and nonbusiness agents, for example, government and non-government agents. Spatiality is not
a precondition for network embeddedness which is the result of a dynamic embedding
and disembedding process within or across spatial configurations. ‘Territorial embeddedness’ considers ‘the extent to which an actor is anchored in particular territories or
places. Economic actors become embedded in the sense that they absorb, and in some
cases become constrained by, the economic activities and social dynamics that already
exist in those places.’
From this reconceptualization of embeddedness one may also extrapolate a hierarchical vision of embedding structures. Territorial structures embody the spatially
bounded receptacle of located activities. Network structures are organized relationships which get settled within the territorial structures and beyond. Societal structures,
on account of their fluidity, permeate through every other structure. This pattern of
embedding structures could show up as a useful first approximation of the entrepreneurial environment.
Network Ties: Strong versus Weak
Within the inferences one may draw from the distinction between high and low density
networks, Mark Granovetter initiated a stimulating proposition concerning ‘the strength
of weak ties’ (Granovetter, 1973). He argued that in social structures where networks
with strong ties are prevalent, ‘cliques’ are liable to take form. Without weak ties between
the high density networks, these structures are exposed to overall fragmentation. ‘Social
systems lacking in weak ties will be fragmented and incoherent. New ideas will spread
slowly, scientific endeavours will be handicapped, and subgroups separated by race, ethnicity, geography or other characteristics will have difficulty reaching a modus vivendi.’
The function of weak ties is thus to set a ‘bridge’ between more or less knitted networks.
The ‘cohesive power of weak ties’ idea has been explored in Granovetter’s work in conjunction with some crucial issues such as poverty.
The heavy concentration of social energy in strong ties, he says, has the impact of fragmenting communities of the poor into encapsulated networks with poor connections between
these units; individuals so encapsulated may then lose some of the advantages associated with
the outreach of weak ties. This may be one more reason why poverty is self-perpetuating.
(Granovetter, 1983)
The last statement together with the main argument might have some interest in connection with the viability of entrepreneurship as a means to overcome poverty in underdeveloped countries.
As an established paradigm in network research, Granovetter’s weak ties hypothesis
has been widely drawn on within the entrepreneurship literature and linked to network
structures. Taking the entrepreneur’s point of view, it was necessary to get a better
understanding about the strong versus weak ties’ respective utility and about their
mechanisms of utilization in networking. Despite non-convergent empirical findings, the
argument is now that the effectiveness of networks depends upon the presence of both
strong and weak ties since they are equally likely to provide various resources, depending
on the form of the ties and on the context.
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Network Structure of Social Capital
In that abundant literature, the lasting work of Ronald Burt has become an inevitable
reference. His structural approach leading to the concept of ‘structural holes’ (Burt,
1982; 1992) and his recent contributions on the ‘network structure of social capital’
(Burt, 2000; 2001), provide a valuable theoretical coherent background to our search
for a conceptual framework of the entrepreneurial environment. The ‘holes in social
structure’ resulting from ‘weaker connections between groups’ ‘create a competitive
advantage for an individual whose relationships span the holes’. This is due to the fact
that ‘structural holes separate nonredundant sources of information’, that is, on either
side of a structural hole different flows of information are circulating. ‘Structural holes
are thus an opportunity to broker the flow of information between people, and control
the projects that bring together people from opposite sides of the hole.’ The information
and control benefits obtained by an individual across structural holes are the constituents of social capital.
Now, there are other authoritative approaches of social capital as those pioneered by
Pierre Bourdieu (1980; 1986), James Coleman (1988; 1990), Robert Putnam (1993; 2000)
and Nan Lin (1999; 2001). In Lin’s views, social capital as a resource is prominent: it
can be defined as ‘resources embedded in a social structure which are accessed and/or
mobilized in purposive actions’. These resources may be existing or be latent. Bourdieu
also defines social capital as ‘the aggregate of the actual or potential resources that are
linked to a possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships
of mutual acquaintance and recognition’. According to the French sociologist’s ideological position however, these ‘assets in networks’ together with the other forms of capital
serve mainly as a leverage that individuals who are supposed to be only motivated by
pursuing self interest, manipulate in order to gain dominating positions.
Coleman sets a link between social capital as a collective asset and purposive individual actions. It is ‘some aspect of a social structure . . . facilitating certain actions of
individuals who are within the structure. Social capital is productive, making possible
the achievements of certain ends’. In Coleman’s views as well as in Lin’s, however, social
capital needs to be activated to be effective. Over and above this, he emphasizes the case
of closed networks with strong internal connections: they create normative sanctioning
mechanisms and, consequently, higher levels of trust, that is, possible sanctions make it
less risky for individuals in the network to trust one another.
Along the same lines, Putnam maintains the focus on action leveraged by social
structure. Social capital, he says, ‘refers to features of social organisation, such as trust,
norms and networks that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating coordinated
action’. Social capital gets its utmost significance as ‘bridging capital’ which refers to
the value assigned to social networks between socially heterogeneous groups whereas
‘bonding capital’ refers to that of homogeneous groups of people; the latter may turn in
forms of networks harmful to society. Thus, according to Coleman and Putnam, social
capital as a distinct resource stands out as a possible leverage for collective action.
Owing to the contributions of these scholars, Ronald Burt presented an integrative
view of social capital as a set of structural holes and network closure. The latter takes
up Coleman’s argument: networks with closure or dense networks are favourable for
direct access to information and have, in particular, the trust advantage. Taking the two
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network mechanisms into account, Burt suggests that ‘while brokerage across structural
holes is the source of added value, closure can be critical to realizing the value buried in
the structural holes’.
While gaining popularity is a rather ‘elusive concept’ (Fukuyama, 2000), social capital
has also been identified by the World Bank as a crucial issue for overcoming poverty
worldwide. In one of many reports, it is argued that ‘social cohesion is critical for societies to prosper economically and for development to be sustainable’ and that public
policy should therefore promote ‘cross-cutting ties among social groups’ (Narayan,
1999). Within the perspective set by Robert Putnam, experts of the World Bank resumed
the ‘bonding’ and ‘bridging’ concepts and added the notion of ‘linking’. Bridging capital
refers to ties that cut across different communities, groups or individuals, whereas linking
capital refers to vertical connections that span differences in power and/or status. They
also insist on the fact that bonding capital which refers to horizontal tight knit ties may
be exclusionary and may stand in the way of cooperation and trust at the societal level.
3
LOCALNESS AND PROXIMITY DYNAMICS
The ‘effectiveness’ and ‘responsiveness’ of social capital, to use Robert Putnam’s words,
come to the fore in local environments. Social capital is a latent resource for action. To be
effective, it has to be activated so that some density within social relationships is needed:
proximity contributes to the development of strong ties by favouring face-to-face relations between actors. But, drawing on the preceding conceptualizations, one may assume
that the strength of localness is not only determined by the density of interactions within
the frontiers of a local environment. Since in the literature on entrepreneurship localness
happens to be seen as a possible source of competitive advantage in the global economy
and, moreover, in the literature on economic development as a requisite for sustainability, it makes sense to elaborate upon localness as a relevant and significant dimension of
the entrepreneurial environment.
On that score, the theoretical corpus related to the ‘economics of proximity’ appears
to be a rich vein where useful concepts could be dug out. At the crossroads of spatial and
industrial economics, this new field of research has been growing since the beginning of
the 1990s, first in France and later internationally. For scholars of economic geography
and regional science the matter was to get a better understanding of the role of space in
the coordination of economic activities. Coordination therefore is analysed by considering ‘situated agents’, meaning agents as they are located in a geographical space but
also how they are embedded in a local system of relations conditioning their economic
activities. As yet, proximity economics has enriched the traditional analysis of clusters
by providing different proximity typologies and suggesting different measurement tools.
In newer work on industrial districts, technology districts, local productive systems and
so on, the role of proximity as a matter of competitive advantage has been discussed by
some researchers. In a quite different domain, other scholars have tried to find new solutions for environmental issues where antagonistic interests often prevail, with the help of
proximity analysis.
The interesting point in proximity economics is to suggest that localness is not just a
question of spatial distance and that proximity is a multidimensional concept bringing
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new inputs into the discussion of local development issues. As pointed out by the French
sociologist Michel Grossetti, ‘economic activities are not necessarily always and equally
dependant on social networks’ (2006). The process of embedding occurs through personal relations and, since these are mainly local, goes his argument, this process explains
by itself the whole range of proximity effects.
Anyway, in view of a contextualized approach of entrepreneurship, one could expect
from proximity economics some support to enter localness into the entrepreneurial
environment on a new footing.
Proximity Typologies
The rudimental distinction between ‘geographic proximity’ and ‘organized proximity’
(Torre and Zuindeau, 2009) may be the first entry. The geographical distance between
individuals or organizations is, of course, the most appropriate and tractable indicator to
catch on the concept of geographic proximity. But other indicators may be relevant too,
such as access times depending on the state of infrastructures. Geographical proximity
finally proceeds from ‘the opinion the agents may have on the nature of the geographic
distance’ which separates them. Organized proximity deals with relationships and refers
to ‘the capacity of an organisation to make its members interact’. Any organization is in
a position to facilitate interactions between its members and, a priori, makes them easier
than those with outsiders. On the one hand, there is the adherence logic at work: individuals come close because they are interacting and because their interactions are facilitated by explicit or tacit behavioural rules or routines they follow. On the other hand,
members of an organization may share a similar system of representations or beliefs and
knowledge as well. The functioning of this social tie is mainly tacit and answers a similarity logic. The point is that such organized proximity is not necessarily correlated with
geographic proximity and that it may evolve its own, given time.
A more detailed typology has been provided by Ron Boschma in analysing the role
of proximity in the process of interactive learning and innovation. His main argument
is that ‘the importance of geographical proximity cannot be assessed in isolation, but
should always be examined in relation to other dimensions of proximity that may
provide alternative solutions to the problem of coordination’ (Boschma, 2005). For
that purpose he suggests a rather comprehensive typology distinguishing five proximity
dimensions: cognitive, organizational, social, institutional and geographical proximities.
‘Cognitive proximity’ means that agents who share the same knowledge base and
expertise may learn from each other. The question at stake is not only the access to
information in terms of rapidity and efficiency but also, and above all, the extension
of cognitive possibilities. The focus is on the cognitive capabilities of individuals and
organizations and their development, rather than on the intrinsic nature of knowledge
such as tacit and codified knowledge. However, for several scholars, cognitive proximity
has a more extensive meaning such as to refer to the relationship of people that belong to
a community of practice and therefore communicate efficiently (Torre and Rallet, 2005).
‘Organizational proximity’ matters because it facilitates the exchange of knowledge.
It refers to the fact that learning by interaction depends on the capacity to coordinate
through organizational arrangements, the flows of knowledge coming from a variety of
actors within and between organizations. Organizational proximity finally is contingent
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on the level of autonomy and the degree of control that can be exerted in those organizational arrangements.
‘Social proximity’, following Granovetter’s initial concept of embeddedness, refers
to the interpersonal links between individuals in so far as they are socially embedded
and thereby involving trust based on friendship, kinship and experience. Social proximity does not exclude situations where individuals are sharing values, such as ethnic or
religious values but those characteristics of cultural proximity are more significant at
the macro level of society. In Boschma’s typology, those values are part of institutional
proximity
‘Institutional proximity’ indeed resumes an earlier distinction made by André Torre
and Jean-Pierre Gilly and refers to the fact that individuals and organizations, first, share
the same space of representations and beliefs, as already mentioned above, and, second,
face the same incentives and constraints due to their institutional environment made of
laws, formal and informal rules, cultural habits, language, and so on (Torre and Gilly,
2000), that is, the ‘invisible institutions’ (North, 1990). It meets also the concept of ‘institutional thickness’ which puts emphasis on the role of strong combinations of regional
cultures and institutions as positive factors underlying local development (Amin and
Thrift, 1993).
‘Geographical proximity’, as a consequence of being superseded by alternative
proximities, refers only to the spatial distance between agents so that its analytical relevance depends upon its coupling with the other forms of proximity. According to Ron
Boschma, ‘geographical proximity per se is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition
for learning to take place’ but it may ‘facilitate inter-organisational learning’.
The effects of proximity, however, are not univocal. ‘Not only too little’, asserts
Boschma, ‘but also too much proximity may be detrimental to interactive learning
and innovation.’ Too little cognitive proximity, for instance, decreases the capacity of
an agent to identify, interpret and exploit the knowledge possessed by another agent,
whereas too much proximity of this kind may result in ‘cognitive lock-in’. Too little
organizational proximity goes along with a lack of control increasing the risk of opportunism; too much entails the risk of being locked in a specific exchange relation leading
to a lack of flexibility. But there are mechanisms which may enhance control, solving the
problem of too little proximity, while they prevent locking-in through greater autonomy,
solving the problem of too much proximity.
The differentiated pattern of proximities also has been given attention by a group of
French economists whose purpose was to explain the success versus the decline of clusters (Vicente et al., 2007). Assuming that interactions between agents are always sequential, the concept of mimetic behaviours or interactions which has been the subject of a
growing literature in economics, helps to ‘understand how firms converge more or less
rapidly in their decision to locate close to each other (geographical proximity) and how
this convergence process gives rise to other forms of proximity’. The main point is that
‘according to the mimetic process of co-location, the nature of socio-economic proximities can be very different and has a strong influence on the stability and the performance
of clusters’.
In everyday situations, of course, the different aspects of proximity are linked together
in a dynamic process like that of ‘localized learning’ (Malmberg and Maskell, 2006). The
concept of ‘interactive learning as a localized process’ outlines how
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local conditions and spatial proximity between actors enable the formation of distinctive cognitive repertoires and influence the generation and selection of skills, processes and products
within a field of knowledge or activity. Localized learning helps explain why there is regional
economic specialization, why similar and related firms tend to co-locate to form clusters, why
both these phenomena reproduce over time.
The relevance of the different types of proximity has been discussed and there is still
much more empirical investigating to do. This is especially important given that increasing globalization puts the significance of geographical proximity into question. So the
issue is to find out which kind of proximity or which arrangement of different proximities
can make up for the diminishing leverage of geographical proximity. This leads to the
questioning of what may be called the ‘strength of localness’.
Strength of Localness
Whenever it comes to local aspects of the entrepreneurial environment, the characterization of localness has to take into consideration the variety of ways proximity permeates
this environment: one may postulate that the strength of localness a priori is related to
proximity’s variety and is contingent on an appropriate set of proximities. Arguments
can easily be found in the extensive literature on small businesses’ internationalization
and sustainable local development, to take only a few but relevant topics that form a
striking part of the globalization debate.
In the literature on small businesses’ internationalization, the well-documented vulnerability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as regards their position in the global
economy, makes a good case for the local network structures as a substitute resource (for
example, Julien, 1994). It is argued that fragility which accompanies small size can be
offset by a supportive environment provided by networks as ‘organized systems of relationships’ (Szarka, 1990). Evidence has shown that, instead of ‘going it alone’, SMEs may
go abroad by joining local business networks, especially in many countries where local
governmental agencies and/or local development bodies themselves play an increasing
role in resilient environments. By helping to establish contacts, promoting know-how
transfers, setting up reputation mechanisms that prevent opportunistic behaviour, and
providing inputs like education or technology transfer services to network firms, these
local organizations develop strong ties with the small firms’ local network. The ‘glocal’
market strategy which has been defined as ‘combining global business operations with
small firm local cooperation’ (Johannisson, 1994) became a loop-hole for small business
owner-managers’ survival and a favourite research field for academe.
The local network argument also got much support from the ‘resource-based view of
the firm’ (Wernerfelt, 1984) which was successfully taken over in the literature on strategic management in different ways (for example, Barney, 1991; Hamel and Prahalad, 1990;
Brouthers et al., 2008). As regards the internationalization issue, the sustainability of a
competitive advantage on international markets was said to require resources endowed
with the quality of being unique assets. Resources of that kind may precisely come from
local network structures. This has been highlighted by researchers interested in the case
of ‘international-at-founding’ which refers to the situation of a business organization
that, from inception, seeks to derive ‘significant competitive advantage from the use of
resources and the sale of outputs in multiple countries’ (Oviatt and McDougall, 1994).
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Technology-based ‘born globals’ have particular stakes in local networking. Far from
substituting international for local networks, technology-intensive firms which have
achieved high levels of internationalization in fact also exhibit above-average levels
of local networking with respect to research collaboration and intra-industry links.
Internationalization therefore appears to be grounded or embedded in successful local
networking and research and technology collaboration (Keeble et al., 1998). In the more
common case of ‘international-by-stage’, SMEs are pursuing internationalization only
after a steady development on domestic markets and then internationalizing their activities through a series of progressive stages (Cavusgil, 1984; Johanson and Vahlne, 1977).
The market-oriented niche strategies which usually are within the reach of SMEs may
then be strengthened by resource-based strategies engaging the local network structures
in which they are embedded.
The ‘glocalized’ process of SMEs’ internationalization is still stirring up much
attention from many researchers involved in the ‘small business cause’. Some of them
recommend that SMEs’ strategies abroad be strongly supported by an ‘increasing territorialization of export strategies’ based on ‘nearness proximity’ (Torres, 2002). This
means a stronger articulation between small business strategies and local development
choices made by the local administrative bodies: ‘glocalisation displays a dialectical relation between International Management of Enterprises, especially small sized business,
and International Management of Territories’. From the perspective of the knowledgedriven global economy, others would insist in particular upon the ‘localized learning’
argument (Malmberg and Maskell, 2006). The ‘challenge is to uphold a viable environment for localized learning . . . Successful globalization means strengthening rather
than weakening the conditions for localized learning’. This requires ‘the development
of distinct and valuable localized capabilities that promote and guide learning processes
into particular trajectories’. These capabilities originate within the local social and institutional set-up. Localized learning supported by localized capabilities thereby sets localness at the foreground in a domain where, a priori, there are no boundaries: knowledge
is supposed to be volatile. All together these views, it seems, consider local structures and
processes as critical contributors to localness’ strength on their own.
It should be noticed however that such an account of spatial relationships hardly
conceals an ‘overterritorialized concept of embeddedness’ in the words of Martin Hess,
which we have previously referred to. His revisiting of the seminal work of Karl Polanyi
and Mark Granovetter, led him to critically engage with views, like those expressed in
‘most work in economic geography . . . proposing local networks and localized social
relationships as the spatial logic of embeddedness’ (Hess, 2004). The SMEs’ glocal case
indeed seems to exclude ‘societal embeddedness’ as a possible contributor to the strength
of localness. In the terminology of social capital theory, bridging capital apparently is a
non-important matter. Now the success potential of local business networks is by some
means or other correlated not only with the entrepreneurial culture inside a territory,
but also with the acceptance level of entrepreneurship by society as a whole. The latter
is shaped by common history and common aspirations, for instance, as regards the
contribution of entrepreneurship to common wealth in a market economy. The current
discussions on the social responsibility of entrepreneurs and on the ethical dimension
of entrepreneurship are good examples of this issue. As such sorts of concerns are kept
outside local business strategies and local social relationships, this situation of ‘network
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closure’ – due to defaulting extra-local linkages of a crucial kind – would limit the
strength of localness to the detriment of the small business sector in the global economy.
In the face of globalization, the strength of a local network structure finally may depend
over time on the societal values of the whole set of actors playing their respective roles in
a territorial network that would be involved in the process of internationalization.
In the debate on sustainable local development, localness is, of course, considered the
true base for overall sustainable development. Sustainability in the practices of local
development appeared to be a concern before the famous Brundtland Report, Our
Common Future, of 1987 (United Nations World Commission on Environment and
Development, 1987). This was due to a greater sensitivity to non-market issues of economic development together with a greater awareness of the fact that they can best be
dealt with at the local level. New ways of thinking about economic development, new
values, new expectations and new norms are spreading now. On that score the analysis
of the entrepreneurial environment should give greatest attention to sustainable local
development as a possible leverage of evolving societal values.
In a theoretical perspective, any emphasis on the importance of localness leads to
views that are opposite to macroeconomic theory which for a long time has disdained
localness as a ‘no-man’s land’. Stressing localness means that it is the specific local characteristics that give the impetus or set the brakes on development. Most of the theoretical
work on sustainable local development assumes that the development a territory may
bring depends on the way it shapes its functioning and organizing, that is, its institutional
settings. Such a view could easily be theorized by integrating the previous conceptualizations of social capital and proximity into a comprehensive framework such as the one
elaborated by French economist Valérie Angeon and others (Angeon and Callois, 2005;
Angeon et al., 2006). They endeavour to show how articulation between social capital
and proximity dynamics is fundamental to a proper understanding of the social determinants of territorial sustainable development dynamics. In short, ‘social capital, to be
activated in an efficient way, needs a supportive environment through specific dynamic
relationships. It rests on some density of ties, which supposes that the actors are embedded, in a certain way, in proximity relations’. The territorial social capital which is
involved in this process is an endogenous set of mental representations, values related to
trust and norms that are linked to certain forms of proximity like ‘organized proximity’
and ‘institutional proximity’. Although it can best be activated in a territorial context,
extra-local linkages are supposed to prevent lock-in situations. The latter condition obviously addresses the ‘bridging capital’ argument or, to put it in another way, the ‘not too
much, not too little proximity’ reasoning. The strength of localness seems to be grounded
on a mix of ‘societal embeddedness’ and ‘territorial embeddedness’.
In older theoretical work on community development such as that elaborated by Ken
Wilkinson, the focus had been put in particular on the interaction process of individuals, groups and organizations. The community is seen as a dynamic interaction field: it
emerges from the normal flow of interactions among actors in a locality. The interests that
actors have determine in part the course of the community’s social process. The shared
interest in the welfare of their locality differentiates the community field from other local
interaction: ‘locality orientation is the hallmark of community action’ (Wilkinson, 1991).
In that ‘community interaction field theory’ which is supposed to apply especially to
rural communities, focus is then put on the fact that the organization of the community’s
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action, that is, linking and coordinating local resources for the benefit of the community,
does not occur spontaneously. Community capacity building and community leadership are therefore critical questions. Any community development programme, for
instance by promoting entrepreneurship through educational programmes, has to give
careful attention to these constraints (Korsching and Allen, 2004). This emphasis on the
organizational aspects of community development obviously brings it near to the newer
approach of sustainable local development, as mentioned before.
Localness, however, is also a controversial subject that different ideologies related
to economic development issues have seized upon for a long time. It is worthwhile to
remind ourselves of the main points of these ideologies on account of the various ways
localness may be perceived and used. In the past there have been many pleadings, in particular within the cooperative movement, in favour of a social economy that meets the
needs and aspirations of people and a society that enables the human being to strengthen
its individual and collective identity to counteract the pervasive process of what we call
today globalization. The enterprises that make up this sector – cooperatives, mutual
societies, associations as well as informal organizations – have proven their efficiency
throughout history in Europe, Africa, India and Latin America. They are still considered
‘the best means for sustainable local development’ (Draperi, 2005). Localness via these
collective forms of locality-based enterprises comes forth as bred in the nature of things
regarding the functioning of social economy.
Localness more recently has been ascribed to critical qualities through the ‘glocal
vision’ of economic development. Whereas at a first stage the debate on sustainable
development put the focus on the global level, the think tanks on ‘glocalization’ now
recommend a greater balance between local and global dimensions in the evolution of
world’s affairs (CERFE, 2003). To put it more precisely, the goal is
both to establish a link between the benefits of the global dimension – in terms of technology,
information and economics – and local realities, while, at the same time, establishing a bottom-up system for the governance of globalization, based on a greater equality in the distribution of the planet’s resources and on an authentic social and cultural rebirth of disadvantaged
populations.
Local realities are recognized on the account of the importance of cultural diversity and
on the vigorous entrepreneurial spirit of local actors. Localness in that vision is conceived
of as a means to give the best chances of success to the Western development pattern.
As a radical criticism of the neoliberal model of globalization, a ‘post-development’
approach has gained ground since the last decade, where ‘localism’ has been given the
force of a general unquestionable principle. It strongly emphasizes the ‘necessity to
revive the local land’ in view of ‘getting out of development and economy and fighting
against globalisation. What is at stake is to avoid the “glocal” argument being used as an
alibi for pursuing the wasting of the social tissue’ (Latouche, 2004). This implies ‘building down our mindset in the realm of economics’ and to rethink the issue in terms of
‘sustainable decrease’. In this perspective, localness is valued for itself as a necessary and
sufficient condition of sustainability at the societal level and for everyday living.
From a policy perspective, the significance of localness and the various ways it is
claimed in economic development issues is best documented in numerous reports on
‘community development’ which have been released since the 1970s. In these documents,
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community is usually understood in geographical terms but it may also refer to common
cultural heritage, language, language and beliefs or shared interests. In short, a threefold
challenge local grassroots practices have to face should be noted: it involves capacity
building, organizing collective action, and good governance.
The capacity-building challenge has to do with the variety of tangible and intangible
resources that have to be mobilized within a territory and which altogether determine
its potential for change. It also includes all that is brought to bear on a process to make
it successful, such as commitment, motivation and leadership. Capacity building thus
depends on dynamic processes involving individual and collective actors pursuing a
common goal.
The organization of collective action relies either on a contractual process through
which partners commit themselves to consulting, coordination and cooperation and/or
on a participatory planning process which creates a long-term framework for decisionmaking and action. The organizational effectiveness of collective action also depends on
maintaining momentum in such key areas like leadership and partnership.
The governance challenge addresses the question of how possible diverging interests
may be harmonized with a view to realizing a common project. Divergences could
bear on the individual interests within the private sector or be entailed by the differences between market economy and social economy. The challenge concerning the
latter issue is all the more significant as ‘social entrepreneurship’ is considered by an
increasing number of leading personalities such as Muhammad Yunus, the advocate of
micro-finance and Nobel Prize winner, as a robust basis for sustainable development.
Institutions empowered to grant participatory processes of decision and action and to
secure transparency that everyone may benefit from are generally seen as the best way
to tide over the difficulties rooted in the everyday situations of contradictory interests.
Again localness, by the mere fact of proximity dynamics, is supposed to ensure the best
context for coming through with each of the challenges local development practices have
to meet. But the defenders of local sustainable development should also care about the
strength of localness which not only depends on the ‘institutional thickness’ of a community, but also on institutional bridging: the latter may provide external resources of
any kind and information on alternative ways of organizing or participating which might
have been experienced elsewhere.
As an overall statement, one may say that localness of social capital makes every possible environment unique since there are no grounds for proximity dynamics to evolve
the same way or in the same direction. The local environment’s uniqueness is enhanced
by the variety of possible ‘externalities’ influencing its strength. By way of comparison,
localness appears as a prism, with several parallel sides refracting and splitting each one
of the colours coming from its environment. The analysis of the entrepreneurial environment has to cope with this prismatic appearance of social capital and has to render an
account of the whole spectrum of resources and values it conveys.
4
CONCLUDING REMARKS
There stands out a clear parallel between development theory and entrepreneurship
theory. While for a long time the tendency to conceive of development as being essentially
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a homogenous mechanical process prevailed, the contingent nature of development and
a possible range of development alternatives are increasingly being acknowledged. The
English version of the social regulation theory as elaborated by Paul Hirst and Jonathan
Zeitlin is one of the new approaches that places much more emphasis on human agency
and recognizes the contingency of development. Within this theoretical framework,
the global economy is analysed ‘in terms of a series of modes of development based on
combination of the currently ascendant regime of accumulation and a variety of modes
of social regulation’ (Hirst and Zeitlin, 1991). The regime of accumulation determines
the overall possibilities for the global economy in terms of production and consumption
levels whereas a mode of social regulation is ‘a complex of institutions and norms which
secure, at least for a certain period, the adjustment of individual agents and social groups
to the overarching principle of the accumulation regime’. As emphasized in the French
approach to the theory of social regulation, rules are liable to a continuous renewing
through a process of negotiation that grounds social relationship (Reynaud, 1997); rules
resulting from social interactions allow for communication, exchange, collaboration,
contract and, even, conflict mechanisms.
The theoretical approach of entrepreneurship is evolving in a similar manner,
although with some appreciable delay. Most of the literature on entrepreneurship keeps
up with entrepreneurialism, that is, the ethnocentric Western approach which sticks to
searching for the ‘essence of entrepreneurship’. The recognition of alternative forms of
entrepreneurship, however, makes its way through specialized research on topics such as
indigenous entrepreneurship, community-based entrepreneurship and so on, as recalled
above. The conception of entrepreneurship as a ‘rhizome’ should show the way forward.
Based on this metaphor, Chris Steyaert suggests.
to keep entrepreneurship as what it is: a fertile middle space, a little chaotic and unfocused
arena, a heterotopic space for varied thinking, a space that can connect to many forms of
theoretical thinking and where many thinkers can connect to, a true inter-discipline. In this
spirit, this would require us, secondly, to alter our way of thinking of science into a so-called
rhizomatic one. (Steyaert, 2005)
The demand-side approach of entrepreneurship without doubt takes up this spirit.
It highlights the distinct yet intertwining features of the entrepreneurial environments
whose understanding needs connections with other fields of theoretical thinking, as we
have indicated. Also it makes clear that there is no single role set to be played by entrepreneurs in the global economy. Entrepreneurship as leverage for wealth in developed
countries and entrepreneurship as a remedy against poverty in developing countries do
not occur on the same stage: researchers have to give the utmost attention to the differences regarding social capital as they originate from the societal, network and territorial
embedding structures because the relevance of a unique entrepreneurial role pattern is at
stake. In addition, on account of the uniqueness of local environments resulting from the
proximity dynamics, researchers should contemplate a widely differentiated role pattern
as a new reasonable working hypothesis for studying entrepreneurs and their environment. Logically, and considering especially the sustainable local development issue, this
leads to a questioning of the entrepreneurial capabilities that are needed in such a unique
environment: societal capabilities would not be the least important when compared with
personal and organizational capabilities (Obrecht, 2004). Finally, there are, of course,
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methodological questions to be settled about the most appropriate ways for studying the
entrepreneurial environment and/or meeting the capability approach: not surprisingly
there is increasing evidence about the resourcefulness of qualitative research as has been
clearly indicated by a number of experts (for example, Dana and Dana, 2005).
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29. Ethics and entrepreneurship
Alan E. Singer
1
INTRODUCTION
According to Sen (1997), the economic way of thinking downplays the role of ethics.
Since most theories of entrepreneurship have adopted that ‘way’, a contribution from
ethics might be of substance. There is considerable consensus amongst contemporary
philosophers that the economic way is a story or a narrative that mainly tells, in this
context, how an entrepreneurial society based on trade is ethically superior to a totalitarian hierarchy, or a society at war, or overrun by crime (compare Baumol, Chapter 13, this
volume). The ethics story plainly overlaps with this, but it mainly tells how a caring and
just society that upholds rights and humane ideals is even better. Simply put, the former
is somewhat dismal while the latter is idealistic.
There is also a (meta)-story in which ethics is ultimately captured or eventually
revealed by economic theory. This tells us for example that (i) illegal entrepreneurship is
often unethical, although in some cases it can have an economic coordinating or liberating
function, but also that (ii) ethics is already built into the activities of productive entrepreneurs. In addition, many of the latter individuals believe that they are already ‘acting
ethically’ (doing good) simply by being entrepreneurial: crafting a synthesis, mobilizing resources and innovatively engaging stakeholders (for example, Brenkert, 2002;
Christensen, 2008). Entrepreneurs are thus seen as role models demonstrating self-help,
often providing an exit from poverty for themselves and their families or communities, in
a world of undistributed riches. They are not ethically required to do any more. To the
extent that society as a whole might be ‘heavily indebted’ to entrepreneurs collectively
(compare Chapter 13, this volume), this viewpoint seems justified.
2
DUALISM
In accordance with the notion of creative-destruction, it is extremely common for any
given entrepreneurial act to be perceived and narrated in diametrically opposing ways.
Descriptions of entrepreneurial activity as productive versus destructive are a matter
of strong contention. For example, many appreciate that entrepreneurs (in general)
serve society and add to the common good because, or to the extent that, they create
jobs, satisfy demand, create and share knowledge, facilitate cultural renewal, restore
the environment, design ecologies, pay taxes, lobby to update outmoded laws, stabilize
governments, act as role models, keep the dream alive, demonstrate mastery, encourage
value-expression, engage in philanthropy, and so on.
Others, or the same persons at different times, conclude precisely the opposite.
Entrepreneurs damage society and detract from the common good, because they (correspondingly and variously) create sweatshops, decrease local affordability, conceal
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or monopolize knowledge, destroy ancient cultures, damage the environment, destroy
ecologies, avoid and evade tax, lobby at other’s expense, support corrupt or oppressive
regimes, frustrate others with unrealistic goals, create slaves, colonise the mind, cynically
service an image, and so on.
There is an extensive multidisciplinary literature that elaborates these two contrasting stories, thereby richly informing the ethics–entrepreneurship relationship. It can
be helpful to organize this material within a framework of dualism. Such a ‘dualism’
is comprised of several bi-polar components, such as shareholder versus stakeholder
models of management (or variants of capitalism), exploitative versus compensatory
responses to market failures, right versus left political leanings, ethics now versus later
(that is, timing), to mention a few. These ‘components’ each then inform a collection of
topical themes within entrepreneurship and ethics, such as poverty, environment, property rights, corruption, relations between businesses, governments and non-government
organizations (NGOs), and so on. There are also several spanning themes in the dualism
framework, each of which inform both ‘poles’ of the bi-polar components. These include
intentionality, character, imagination and societal macro-trends. The remainder of this
chapter briefly discusses a selection of the components and themes.
3
COMPONENTS
The set of human values can be (roughly) partitioned, with one sub-set (that is, one side
of the dualism) associated with efficiency, craftsmanship and free exchange; the other
‘side’ with justice, care, avoidance of harm and protection of rights. Productive for-profit
entrepreneurship plainly expresses the former sub-set, while social and eco-preneurship,
by definition, give priority to the latter (for example, care, stewardship, restoration).
On the same side as the efficiency-related ‘values’ one finds the economic principle of
utility maximization (exchange) and normative ethical egoism. On the other side, one
finds utilitarianism (which resembles the multi-stakeholder model of strategic management) and deontological ethics. The title ‘Kantian entrepreneur’ plainly belongs to the
authentically caring social or humanistic eco-entrepreneur, but not to the entrepreneurial designer of a corporate empire that is ‘oligarchic, elitist non-democratic and exclusive’
(Neilsen, 2002: 233). Some other complex moral and political theories span the dualism
(see below). Contractarianism, for example, has agreements amongst free self-interested
individuals at its core, which places it on the ‘exchange and efficiency’ side of the dualism;
but there is also an emphasis on justice and the avoidance of some types of harm.
3.1
Stakeholders
A dialectical tension between a stakeholder model and shareholder model of enterprise
has been widely recognized in the general literatures of strategy (for example, De Wit
and Meyer, 2005) and in business ethics. Freeman (1999: 234) described the term ‘stakeholder’ as an ‘obvious literary device, meant to call into question the (typical) emphasis
on stockholders’. The answer to that question then seems to depend on time and place.
For example, Jawahar and McLaughlin (2001) noted that most start-up entrepreneurs are
concerned only with stockholders, creditors and customers; but this often changes later
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on, as other stakeholders are engaged. This dovetails with ‘rags to riches’ stories that begin
with an exit from poverty and end with Carnegie-style altruistic philanthropy.
This shareholder versus stakeholder component of the dualism plays out somewhat differently under the several regional variants of capitalism. Investor-capitalism
(Anglo-US) and crony-capitalism (almost everywhere) invite a lot of Freeman-type
‘questioning’; although as Hendry (2001) noted, in these regions, the issue seems broadly
settled in favour of shareholders. In continental Europe and Japan (and in US managerial capitalism up to about 1980) a somewhat different balance has perhaps been struck.
3.2
Market Failures
Entrepreneurial strategies for profit involve the deliberate exploitation (taking advantage) of several known limitations (imperfections, failures) of market-based systems.
These limitations forge a gap between capitalist enterprise and overall conditions of
human well-being. In this context, Sheperd and Levesque (2002: 152) commented that
the entrepreneurial-process ‘can be used to exploit stakeholders, for the personal gain of
the entrepreneur’. Accordingly, Prakash Sethi (2003) prescribed that institutions should
‘hold companies accountable’ for a more equitable distribution of above-normal profits
that were obtained by the ‘exploitation of market power’. Heath (2006: 551) then claimed
that ‘the exploitation of one or another form of market imperfection’ is what ‘upsets
people’ and ‘gives profit-seeking a bad name’.
Ethics in general emphasizes doing the right thing in the first place, rather than being
held accountable for what is wrong. Accordingly, it tells how entrepreneurs might (i)
voluntarily refrain from exploitation by exercising self-restraint or self-regulation, or (ii)
proactively compensate for and mitigate the effects of others’ exploitative behaviour (for
example, Singer, 2007a, 2007b). In practice, this type of ethical-strategy requires partnerships with suitably reformed institutions (see below) as well as a clear explanation to
stakeholders.
4
TOPICAL THEMES
The topical themes associated with ethical entrepreneurship include poverty, property
and corruption. Each can be informed by the above bi-polar components, but also by
the various spanning-themes within the dualism framework (compare section 5 in this
chapter).
4.1
Poverty
While entrepreneurship sometimes functions as an exit route from poverty, the larger
ethical issue concerns the prospects for the alleviation of global poverty through capitalist
enterprise. A mainstream view sees that for-profit enterprises create wealth, but they do not
have an interest in re-distribution, other than through the capital markets to other business
enterprises. Prahalad and Hammond (2002) have narrated the story of a benevolent global
capitalism-as-usual, in which bottom-of-pyramid (poverty) markets are duly financed with
micro credit and ‘served’ with consumer goods; where women are honoured and where
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high-technology infrastructures spread rapidly through less developed countries (LDCs)
due to the deliberate strategies of for-profit enterprise.
According to its critics, this story leaves out the many people in poverty who cannot
self-sustain or, more pertinently, are effectively prevented by others from doing so.
Bhensadia and Dana (2004), for example, saw ‘a real danger’ that the rural poor (in
India) would be ‘left out’. More generally it is apparent that entrepreneurs can destroy
value for the local poor. This is exemplified by food exports from regions in famine.
Accordingly, there are many (for example, Freeman, 1998) who believe that for-profit
enterprise alone is not a complete solution to poverty. It is also necessary to have changes
in peoples’ attitude, agenda, mindset or political philosophy. This implies that entrepreneurs themselves ought to have dual or mixed motives, including the direct and deliberate reduction of poverty. This alternative ‘story’ of deliberate targeted assistance aligns
closely with almost all ancient theological texts that tell of ways of routinely and quietly
helping the unproductive poor, while remaining productive oneself.
4.2
Property
Baumol (Chapter 13, this volume) notes that entrepreneurial talent can be shifted away
from war and crime by having ‘rules against confiscation of private property and for
patent protection’. The idea is that intellectual property laws help would-be warriors,
criminals and the once-poor, to capture revenue, appropriate profit and secure a return
on investment, through legitimate non-violent enterprise.
A more distinctively ethical account begins at the other end. It is first asked (rhetorically and idealistically) how social and environmental values can be ‘taken care of
through the institutions of property and consumption’ (Freeman and Venkataraman,
2003: 3) commenting on (Derry, 2002). Then, with a good definition of property as ‘the
relationship between people with respect to things’ (Munzer, 1990) it becomes obvious
that the contemporary capitalist laws on property are placing power-relations (that is,
market power and political capital) far ahead of ‘relations’ of care, social justice and
humane ideals.
Strong intellectual property rights (IPR) regimes in particular (patents and digital copyrights) are often seen as highly unjust and uncaring (for example, Collier, 2000). They
arguably also create an inefficient tragedy of the anti-commons (Heller and Eisenberg,
1998). There is a serious concern that patents make poverty worse to the extent that they
are discriminatory, favour corporate interests over citizen–user-consumers and directly
reduce specific freedoms and capabilities. Indeed, patent protection of pharmaceuticals
has been a distal cause of millions of deaths. Patents also treat human-designed lifeforms as legal property, thereby violating several widely held ethical principles, including
some pertaining to slavery.
Accordingly, ethical entrepreneurs would be cautious about the implementation
of their property rights in general, but especially their own dependence upon IPR.
Authentic eco-preneurs, social-entrepreneurs and craft-based innovators have already
subordinated profit (that is, the accumulation of property rights by shareholders) to
more idealistic motives. They might attempt to overcome the tradeoffs involved in IPRdependency by adopting IPR-free strategies, such as hypercompetitive cannibalization, or
revenue-capturing from auxiliary market offerings.
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4.3
Codes and Corruption
In the international context, entrepreneurs frequently encounter implicit requests for
facilitating-payments and bribes (for example, Transparency International, 2009). Laws,
guidelines and codes of ethics that proscribe this (and other aspects of entrepreneurial
conduct) are often viewed with cynicism and frustration. There is a widespread sense
that they are impractical and that in any case, the language of ‘ethics’ is deployed only by
power elites (for example, in codes of conduct) who are themselves profoundly corrupt.
Put differently, ‘ethics is for the weak’, as Nietzsche explained.
Accordingly, in cases where codes are in place ‘knowing when to break the rules
appropriately may be a sign of real respect and understanding of them’ (Molyneaux,
2003: 142). This is the type of knowledge that can help the entrepreneur in practice and
that can sometimes be provided by moral theory. The Principle of Double Effect, for
example, implies that a facilitating payment for an otherwise normal deal (like unloading
fruit from a dock) might be excusable, provided that (i) the deal depends on it, (ii) there
is no expectation of subsequent violations of human rights or pollution danger, and (iii)
the entrepreneur is providing routine and continuing support for other institutions and
NGOs that battle against corruption (Roy and Singer, 2006).
4.4
Partnerships
Many for-profit entrepreneurs routinely lobby for policies that are expected to benefit the
enterprise even though they might detract from the common good (for example, Smith,
1776; Brooke-Hamilton and Hock, 1997; Oberman, 2004). Some go further by promulgating a self-serving ideology, thereby shifting the attitudes of citizens and electorates
towards favouring such activities and neglecting humane ideals. Ethical entrepreneurs, in
contrast, would (and do) attempt to shift public attitudes in the opposite direction. They
look for good-faith institutional partners in this mission. They do not just comply or wait
for ‘a pertinent change in the institutions’ (Baumol, Chapter 13, this volume) but they
choose instead to be proactive in this ethical-political arena.
5
SPANNING THEMES
Various spanning themes further inform both ‘poles’ of various components of the
ethics–entrepreneurship dualism framework. Some examples are: intention, character,
imagination, trends and synthesis, as follow.
5.1
Intention
The efficiency motives and the justice motives of an ethical entrepreneur are both subject
to the classical constraints associated with free will. The problem of free will versus
determinism (or deliberate versus emergent strategy) is theological and secular, social
and economic. Many theological texts contain warnings to the effect, ‘make your plans,
they will fail’, and most for-profit entrepreneurs do just that. In the Western secular tradition, Kant emphasized only the quality of intentions. To be ethical, these must involve
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genuine goodwill. Whether or not a project succeeds is then of less moral significance.
In practical enterprise, however, this Kantian emphasis is typically reversed. Only good
outcomes count in the public mind and in the bank. The individual entrepreneur then
becomes a celebrity or an (accidental) hero, despite (or perhaps because of) the substantial amount of luck (and malfeasance) that might have been be involved.
5.2
Character and Wisdom
Virtue ethics is sometimes regarded as the most important ethical theory of business
and management (for example, Solomon, 1992). It spans the dualism because excellent
craftsmanship and efficiency, as well as an attitude of caring and a practical commitment
to humane ideals, are all marks of good character. By implication, any ethical entrepreneur would nurture and display all of these traits.
Virtue ethics also consider (along with philosophical pragmatism and practical
wisdom) that the choice of the right course of entrepreneurial action ‘cannot be reduced
to the application of a universal rule or principle’ (Dunham et al., 2008: 10). Doubt is
thus cast upon the value of seeking ‘a few good moral principles’ or codes to guide the
entrepreneur (compare Soule, 2002). The virtuous or wise or ethical entrepreneur is variously seen (for example, Dunham et al., 2008; Singer and Doktor, 2008; Zeleny, 2005) to
be one who (i) has a detailed understanding of all the relevant circumstances, (ii) selects
and explicates good purposes, (iii) remains mindful of the personal and enterprise lifecycles, and (iv) prioritizes activities accordingly. (Pragmatists might then be quick to point
out that such habits are also the proper mark of a good strategist.)
5.3
Synthesis and Imagination
Synthesis per se is a rather obvious dualism-spanning theme (for example DeWit and
Meyer, 2005). Many definitions of entrepreneurship refer to a ‘synthesis’ of economic
opportunity, or to an economic imagination (for example, Earl, 1983; Sarasvathy, 2002).
Competitive advantage can then be described with reference to a synthesis of various
strategy components, such as shareholder and stakeholder, compliance and choice, and
so on. At the same time, philosophers (for example, Werhane, 1999) have prescribed the
exercise of moral imagination or ethical imagination in business and social life; that is,
the crafting of a more inclusive plan or narrative: one that exposes and overcomes false
choices between ‘poles’ like efficiency and justice (for example, Kuttner, 1984).
It is perhaps worth mentioning at this point that the ‘dualism’ framework is itself a candidate for a new synthesis. The relationship between entrepreneurship and ethics has also
been described as a correspondence (that is, of similar ideas, not opposites). The correspondence thesis (for example, Logsdon and Wood, 2002; Singer, 1994) claims that many
of the categories of meaning deployed in the discourse of strategy and enterprise are also
ethical categories (for example, strategic responsiveness to local market tastes is also a
form of caring, or ethics). The dualism framework, in contrast, re-cast categories as opposites. Thus we have a ‘dualism of (dualism versus correspondence)’ that can be further
expanded recursively, whereupon it becomes evocative of Bateson’s theory of ecology,
or ecological understanding (compare Singer, 2002). This, in turn, constitutes the deepstructure of ‘living enterprise’ and eco-preneurship (for example, Hawken, 1993).
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5.4
Moral Progress
Ever since the idea of dialectics was first articulated (by Plato, 428–348 bc) it has been
associated with progress, but especially in the sciences of life and mind. Accordingly, this
brief account concludes with a consideration of trends. One can quickly find reports that
associate reductions in poverty (in various locations) with periods of enterprising economic activity. This is often taken to mean that enterprise alleviates poverty in general.
However, one can also find reports to the contrary, implying that something different
or extra is needed. Similar levels of ambiguity surround the related issue of the empirical link between corporate social performance and financial performance (compare
Margolis and Walsh, 2003).
Looking forward, yet another significant ambiguity appears. Pessimists perceive a
moral regression in society as a whole, while optimists envision gradual moral progress.
Few of the latter attribute this progress to the spread of for-profit enterprise (as distinct
from social and eco-entrepreneurship, or alternative political arrangements). On this
point, Godlovitch (1999: 219) has pointed out that for-profit enterprise culminates in an
infinity of material goods and information; but this is not a human condition that we can
seriously recognize as ideal. Accordingly, he wrote, we only make moral progress to the
extent that something else (ethical enterprise perhaps?) is chosen as our ‘most important
progressive venture’ (ibid.).
6
CLASSIFICATION
It is impossible to identify any fully representative set of contributions to ‘entrepreneurship and ethics’. However, the organizing framework outlined in this chapter (common
themes, bi-polar components, spanning themes) enables the classification of relevant
contributions according to the following types:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
7
Capturing: ethical entrepreneurial behaviours are explained purely in terms of
rational utility maximization, as in game theory.
Separating: concepts from within one side of the dualism are linked together. For
example, efficiency is used to justify and explain the for-profit goals of an enterprise.
Spanning: one or more ‘spanning themes’ are explored. For example, the character
and wisdom of entrepreneurs is considered, in relation to their social and economic
concerns.
Synthesising: synergies or complementarities are discussed, involving both poles of
selected bi-polar component(s). For example, win–win strategies are described.
Re-casting: a claim is made that some component of the framework has superior
explanatory power. For example, market failures explain more than value conflicts.
CONCLUSION
The dualism framework and classification might facilitate further inquiry into ethics
and entrepreneurship. The many sceptics who continue to believe that such inquiry is
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not needed, or that the role of ethics should be ‘downplayed’ in business practice, might
be impressed by a turn-of-the-century survey (mentioned in Kapustkina et al., 2008)
in which it was found that only 8 per cent of secondary school students (in a region of
Russia, in 1999) regarded ‘honest labour’ to be a suitable way to gain economic wealth.
Fifty-nine per cent responded that ‘more suitable ways’ included organized crime, while
81 per cent mentioned power.
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30. Ethnic minority entrepreneurship
Léo-Paul Dana and Michael H. Morris
Entrepreneurship and immigration represent two of the most significant global trends in
these early years of the twenty-first century. Both are occurring at historically unprecedented levels throughout the world. Dana (2007b) made it clear that these are not unrelated trends. Research over the past 40 years has demonstrated that immigrants often
create new ventures at a higher per capita rate than populations in general. Yet, current
knowledge of the ways in which immigrants and other minorities create ventures, the
types of ventures they create and the outcomes of those ventures remains limited. As
such, it becomes less clear how much we can generalize about immigrant or minority
group entrepreneurship.
Indeed there are important differences among immigrant groups. The Government
of Canada found that per 1000 Filipino workers in Canada, 18 were self-employed; the
same reported that per 1000 Greek workers in Canada, 124 were self-employed (Dana,
1991). How can such differences be explained?
Other differences are also apparent across immigrant groups. For instance, while
immigrant entrepreneurs are often characterized as having been forced into entrepreneurship because of limited opportunities within a host country, research studies (see
Dana, 2007b) have demonstrated that a wide range of motives drive their behaviour.
Furthermore, countries differ significantly in the extent to which they actively encourage entrepreneurial behaviour among new arrivals. Similarly, while one might conclude
that immigrants only create lifestyle or ‘mom and pop’ type ventures concentrated in the
retail sector, research suggests that significant diversity exists in the types of ventures that
are being created.
This chapter is a synthesis of the 48 perspectives on immigrant and minority entrepreneurship provided in Dana (2007b). As a kind of meta-analysis, we have attempted
to capture the dominant themes, major arguments and key findings put forward by the
outstanding collection of contributors. It is our contention that some important generalizations may be possible based on the patterns that emerge in this chapter. Toward
this end, we have formulated an integrative model of factors that explains the emergence
of an immigrant or ethnic venture. Implications are drawn from the model for theory
building, entrepreneurial practice and public policy. A set of priorities are proposed for
future research.
DEVELOPING A MODEL OF IMMIGRANT AND ETHNIC
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The 48 perspectives provided in Dana (2007b), when considered collectively, suggest
there may be a common set of key variables that explain immigrant entrepreneurship.
That is, there may be common aspects to the immigrant experience that override ethnic
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and cultural differences. Figure 30.1 illustrates our attempt to capture these key variables. It focuses on six key variables, each of which is summarized below.
1
The Immigrant
Entrepreneurship does not happen without entrepreneurs. While the literature has
historically focused on the traits of these individuals, and more recently there has been
considerable attention devoted to their cognitive styles, or how they think, the research in
this volume has tended to emphasize the relevance of other considerations.
Especially important in this vein are motives, values and skills. Motivation to create a
venture can generally be categorized into ‘push’ versus ‘pull’ factors. Entrepreneurs are
pushed into entrepreneurship when they have limited access to meaningful employment
opportunities within existing companies. The obstacles can range from overt labour
market discrimination and communication barriers to skill shortcomings. The need to
make a living and support one’s family, absent opportunities with existing organizations,
pushes the individual towards entrepreneurship. Similarly, having technical skills, but an
inability to sell these in the labour market, pushes one to create a venture. Alternatively,
recognition of opportunity and the desire to achieve a vision can pull an individual
towards the entrepreneurial path. While it is generally assumed that immigrants are
more pushed than pulled, we find ample evidence of immigrants driven by motives to
build growth-oriented ventures and to create wealth.
Values play a role as well, especially when the immigrant has a value-set that is
strongly tied to his or her ethnic background. Strong identification with one’s ethnicity
can lead to a preference to create ventures tied to the ethnic network or enclave, but also
to a motivation to serve the ethnic community. Such values will often be manifested in
the business practices of the entrepreneur, including employment practices, incurrence
of debt and approach to customer service. Yet, there is also evidence that ethnic entrepreneurs share universal values that are unrelated to their ethnicity. Examples of such
universal values include individualism, achievement, competitiveness, risk-taking and a
strong work ethic. The very act of emigrating may be reflective of some of these so-called
entrepreneurial values.
Also relevant in this realm is the relative size of what we might call the ‘ethnic gap’, or
the extent of difference between the norms, values, customs, symbols and language of the
host and home countries. Where this gap is larger, the immigrant is driven towards the
ethnic network or enclave and towards entrepreneurship. Finally, while the role of other
demographics are clear, these chapters do suggest that age and gender also represent
significant considerations in the tendency to create ventures in new environments, and in
the types of ventures created.
2
Host Country Factors
While a wide range of country factors affect levels of entrepreneurship in general
(for example, taxes, mandated social benefits provided by companies, regulation), our
interest is in the environmental elements that most influence immigrant entrepreneurship. Based on the range of work submitted to this volume, the role of the informal
economy within the larger economy of the host country appears to be an especially
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Figure 30.1
Commonality of
business interests
with ethnic
network interests
and resource
Learning/
knowledge
acquisition
• Type of venture
• Dependence on ethnic enclave
• Relative focus on the business
versus the ethnic group
The immigrant
venture
Ethnic
network/enclave
• Access to international ethnic network
• Homogeneity of ethnic group
• Cost of membership in network/enclave
• Reciprocity and trust
• Diversity of business types
• Extensiveness of network
• Crowding within enclave
• Infrastructure
• Resources/cultural capital
Immigrant venture flowchart
• Values
• Motives
• Ethnic gap (home versus new country)
• Age and gender
• Communication and networking skills
• Technical skills
• Linkage to ethnic businesses back home
The immigrant
Host country factors
• Role of informal economy in larger economy
• Host country entrepreneurial culture
• Cultural heterogeneity
• Historical role of immigration
• Support programmes for entrepreneurs
• Welfare/social benefit system
• Permeability of markets
• Regulatory constraints
Co-ethnic
dependence
over time
• Outcomes for immigrant
– assimilation
– income and wealth
– upward social mobility
• Venture outcomes
• Societal outcomes
• Upward social mobility
• Assimilation
Outcomes
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salient consideration. The presence of a large population of unregistered businesses says
something not only about limited opportunities within the ‘legitimate’ business sector,
but also implies a culture of creating ventures to address needs, and a willingness of the
government to look the other way.
Countries also differ in terms of their overall entrepreneurial orientation, where the
basic cultural values and norms of society are more consistent with individual initiative,
personal responsibility, wealth creation, reward for hard work, competitiveness and
innovation. Not only does immigrant entrepreneurship flourish in such environments,
but these countries often have a history of high rates of immigration, with immigrants
making major contributions to economic development. Similarly, such countries will
tend to demonstrate great cultural heterogeneity. And, while cultural heterogeneity is
consistent with higher levels of entrepreneurial activity, the tendency for immigrants to
cluster both geographically and around certain industries appears to occur regardless of
this heterogeneity. Hence, in both homogeneous and heterogeneous countries, the ethnic
network plays a significant role in immigrant entrepreneurship.
The entrepreneurial friendliness of a country will also be reflected in some other variables emphasized in the preceding chapters. Immigrant entrepreneurship is facilitated
where markets are more permeable, regulatory constraints are limited, and specific
support programmes exist not only for entrepreneurs, but for immigrant entrepreneurs.
Ironically, immigrant entrepreneurship is also facilitated by a limited welfare or social
benefit system in the host country. Generous social welfare may be more of a conduit
either for unemployment or entry into the traditional labour market, as opposed to the
creation of one’s own venture.
3
The Venture
The evidence here suggests that a large majority of immigrant and ethnic ventures are
either retail or service businesses, or related to a skill or trade the immigrant brings from
their home country. Most are in low entry barrier industries, where differentiation of the
business is difficult and competition is often price based. The ethnic network or enclave
can serve to offset these severe market challenges, in effect creating a workable competitive space for the entrepreneur.
Yet, as noted above, there is considerable diversity in the types of ventures created
by immigrant and ethnic entrepreneurs. However, dependence on the ethnic enclave
may well limit growth and constrain innovation within the venture. This is not to say
that there are not sizeable ventures that develop based on the ethnic enclave, but these
appear to be the exception. In fact, a perusal of the many case examples provided within
the pages of this book find few highly innovative ventures that compete on the basis of
continuous new product or service development. There are also few examples of hightechnology or technology-based ventures.
4
Ethnic Networks and Enclaves
A unique aspect of immigrant and minority entrepreneurship is the frequent presence
of an ethnic network or enclave as a facilitator of new venture creation. In some contexts, entire sub-economies have been created that involve a given immigrant or ethnic
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group controlling all stages of the value chain. In other instances, the ethnic network is
a source of resources and legitimization. In still other cases, the network extends to the
immigrant’s home country and/or is connected to a global diaspora. By viewing these
ethnic networks and enclaves through the lens of different countries and ethnicities,
we are better able to appreciate how they affect and interact with immigrant or ethnic
entrepreneurs.
The critical importance of ethnic networks in affecting immigrant entrepreneurship
is strongly supported in country after country. They are an invaluable source of a wide
range of resources (money, suppliers, employees, customers, distributors) and generate
what has been termed ‘cultural capital’. Just as vital is the role of the network or enclave
as a source of information and knowledge. They provide legitimacy and infrastructure,
as well as the aforementioned competitive space within which the entrepreneur can
survive in the early stages of the venture. And they can frequently provide connections
to a larger international network.
Yet, ethnic networks differ based on some key characteristics. The relative homogeneity of the ethnic individuals within the network is a case in point. This homogeneity may
contribute to levels of reciprocity and trust within the network or enclave. The greater
the reciprocity and trust, the more engrained within the network a venture is likely to
become over time. Another relevant characteristic is the extensiveness of the network.
Extensiveness refers not simply to geographic scope, but to the diversity of the industries
and business types represented within the network or enclave, the stages of the value
chain within industries that are represented, the reach of the network or enclave into the
non-profit and government sectors, and the related political activism of the network or
enclave. Homogeneity, trust and extensiveness might also be expected to affect the cost
of membership within the network or enclave, including resources (money, time, goods
and services) that must be reinvested by the entrepreneur in the network over time. A
related variable concerns the degree of ‘crowding’ within the network or enclave, particularly among ventures providing the same basic goods or services. Crowding undermines
the relative returns to the entrepreneur from depending upon the network or enclave,
and limits growth prospects. Yet, it can be an important incentive for ultimately lessening the venture’s dependency on the ethnic network or enclave.
5
Co-ethnic Dependence over Time: Two Intervening Variables
The growth path followed by immigrant or ethnic ventures has not received sufficient
attention from researchers. For instance, richer insights are needed regarding crossnational differences in the survival and growth rates between ventures started by immigrants or ethnic minorities and those in the mainstream economy, and the underlying
reasons contributing to such differences. Further, we need to better understand the
extent to which ethnicity affects strategic intent.
Again, the ethnic network plays a role. The studies here suggest that ethnic networks
facilitate venture start-up and short-term growth, and may reduce failure rates, but
might also either limit or have no effect on longer-term growth. Hence, dependency on
the ethnic network, and the extent to which the entrepreneur views the venture as existing
to serve the ethnic group, or views the ethnic group as a means of serving the venture,
impact the firm’s growth path.
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Based on the work presented by the researchers in this volume, two key variables
appear to impact the venture’s co-dependence on the ethnic network or enclave, and the
venture’s ultimate growth path. The first concerns the amount of learning and knowledge
acquisition that occurs over time. The more learning that is achieved by the entrepreneur
and those working within his or her venture, the more growth occurs, while dependency
on the ethnic network lessens. The network is initially the most critical source of information. The question is how much the entrepreneur identifies and utilizes new information sources over time, and how much he or she learns from ongoing experimentation
with new products, markets, and internal business processes.
The second variable impacting the venture’s growth path concerns the extent to which
the core interests and needs of the venture coincide with the interests and resources of
the ethnic network. Over time, commonalities in interests, needs and resources can often
wane, especially as the ethnic network or enclave becomes more crowded. Emerging
competitive practices within the industry can force the entrepreneur to develop new
competencies in areas where the ethnic network has less to offer. The development of
these competencies can, in turn, lead the entrepreneur to become less dependent on the
ethnic enclave and to grow more aggressively. The dynamism of the ethnic network
itself becomes an important consideration. More dynamic networks or enclaves can be
expected to continually develop new capabilities and assets, fostered in part by the addition to the network of new but diverse immigrant or ethnic ventures. Less dynamic and
more conservative networks will only limit the potential of the venture, and give rise to
the entrepreneur diversifying away from co-ethnic dependency.
6
Outcomes
The immigrant and ethnic venture experience produces outcomes at three distinct but
related levels. The first of these is for the immigrant or ethnic minority entrepreneur
and his or her extended family. At this level, the most apparent outcome is income substitution and wealth generation. Yet, given the preponderance of survival and lifestyle
ventures being created, wealth generation may be limited. Further, the considerable
needs of the family combined with the need to invest in the ethnic community, may well
constrain the amount of reinvestment into the business. Less clear is the extent to which
these ventures represent stepping stones to employment in established companies within
the mainstream economy. The opposite may often be the case, in that by focusing on the
needs of the venture, the entrepreneur does not develop skills and experiences that are
in demand within the labour market. The venture serves other purposes as well. One of
these is upward social mobility for the entrepreneur, but even more so for the children
of the entrepreneur.
An interesting issue concerns the impact of venture creation on the amount and rate of
assimilation by the entrepreneur of the culture and norms of the host country. Ventures
operating in relatively narrow niches and less dynamic markets may actually hinder
the assimilation process. Heavy dependence on the ethnic network can also slow the
assimilation process. A slow rate of assimilation can, in turn, limit the growth rate and
directional path of the venture. This brings us to venture outcomes.
The financial performance of these ventures over time (that is, sales growth, profit
growth, growth in numbers of non-family employees) would seem to be directly
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associated with the variables outlined in the model. Hence, ventures will perform better
based on the motives and skills of the entrepreneur, the entrepreneurial friendliness of
the host country, the type of venture created, the resources, extensiveness, crowdedness
and dynamism of the ethnic network or enclave, the amount of learning by the entrepreneur over time, commonality of the business interests and needs with the interests and
resources of the ethnic network, and co-ethnic dependence over time.
Finally, the perspectives provided in Dana (2007b) suggest that immigrant ventures
can produce significant societal outcomes. National economic growth and vitality are
chief among these outcomes. However, there is evidence to suggest that these ventures
also contribute to a number of other quality-of-life dimensions. As these ventures are
frequently started in poorer or more economically challenged neighbourhoods, they
provide a source of neighbourhood stability. Further, by providing for the economic
welfare of the immigrant’s extended family, entrepreneurial ventures may serve as a
deterrent to criminal and gang activity. In addition to any taxes paid, immigrant entrepreneurs frequently contribute in meaningful ways both to their communities and their
ethnic networks. And, in the final analysis, these ventures add to the social, cultural and
commercial fabric of society by adding diversity to communities, while also introducing
new products and new business practices.
IMPLICATIONS
Six decades ago, Cochran (1960) focused on the role of cultural factors in economic
growth. In 2000, the Human Genome Project claimed that race did not exist. Today, scientific teams study the genetic traits of ethnic groups. Are behaviour and ethnicity linked
and if so, how and why, and does it matter?
The 49 chapters of Dana (2007b) all report on ethnic minorities and their respective
entrepreneurial activities. As explained by Morris, ‘An ethnic group is a distinct category
of the population in a larger society whose culture is usually different from its own. The
members of such a group are, or feel themselves, or are thought to be, bound together
by common ties of race or nationality or culture’ (1968: 167). Yet, ‘Ethnic groups only
persist as significant units if they imply marked difference in behaviour, i.e., persisting
cultural difference’ (Barth, 1969: 15–16). In some cases, ethnic groups integrate into host
societies, into which they have immigrated; in most cases they do not.
Where groups with unlike spheres of values coexist, the result is a pluralistic society.
Barth (1963; 1966; 1967a; 1967b; 1981) is one who has placed great emphasis on the existence of different spheres of values. Central to his discussion is the notion of the entrepreneur as an essential broker, mediating boundary transfers in this situation of contacts
between cultures. By being active in the transformation of a community, entrepreneurs
are social agents of change.
The nature pluralism in a host society affects ethnic minority entrepreneurship. It is,
therefore, useful to distinguish among (1) melting pot pluralism; (2) structural pluralism;
and (3) fragmented pluralism:
1.
When people, from different cultures, share activities in a secular mainstream arena,
the expression of cultural differences tends to be limited to private life. Often,
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employment is shared in a common sphere of life, while cuisine, customs, languages
and religion are a domestic concern. This form of socio-economic pluralism is
referred to as melting pot pluralism, and this is descriptive of the situation in the
USA. Immigrant entrepreneurs thrive in such as scenario.
In contrast, structural pluralism involves a society with different cultures that do
not share a secular mainstream arena. In such a case, there is minimal interaction
across cultures. Rather, each ethnic group has its distinct institutions, and members
of a given community have a lifestyle that is incompatible with that of people from
other backgrounds. This type of pluralism is prevalent in the Muslim areas of China
(Dana, 2007a) and in the Central Asian republics (Dana, 2002), where entrepreneurs
often cater primarily (or only) to members of their own ethnic group.
Fragmented pluralism is an unstable state of socio-economic pluralism from which
a society can shift toward ‘ethnic cleansing’. With fragmented pluralism, distinct
societies are loosely held together by a weak political unit, such as was the case with
Yugoslav federalism (Dana, 2005), and each ethnic group lives a separate life. In this
context, there is minimal interaction between competing ethnic groups.
Gurău et al. (2020) address the variety of theoretical interpretations of ethnic minority
entrepreneurship and provide a model of immigrant entrepreneurs along with a typology.
TOWARDS FUTURE RESEARCH
Future research topics might include: the impact of the motives for migrating; host
country factors such as the nature of pluralism; economic sectors of immigrant ventures; causal factors in patterns of growth among ethnic entrepreneurs; enclaves; and
co-ethnic dependence over time. Also, more research would be welcome on the topic of
ethnic networks, as pioneered by Aldrich and Zimmer (1986); on middlemen minorities,
as pioneered by Bonacich (1973); and on social capital as discussed by Bates (1994). To
what extent do immigrant entrepreneurs employ people from other ethnic communities?
When do they cater to mainstream society? What might be the optimal strategy? Dabić
et al. (2020) propose a research agenda.
REFERENCES
Aldrich, H.E. and C. Zimmer (1986), ‘Entrepreneurship through social networks’, in D.L. Sexton and R.W.
Smilor (eds), The Art and Science of Entrepreneurship, Chicago, IL: Upstart, pp. 3–20.
Barth, F. (ed.) (1963), The Role of the Entrepreneur in Social Change in Northern Norway, Bergen: Norwegian
Universities’ Press.
Barth, F. (1966), Models of Social Organization, London: Royal Anthropological Institute.
Barth, F. (1967a), ‘Economic spheres in Darfur’, in Raymond Firth (ed.), Themes in Economic Anthropology,
London: Tavistock, pp. 149–74.
Barth, F. (1967b), ‘On the study of social change’, American Anthropologist, 69 (6), 661–9.
Barth, F. (1969), ‘Introduction’, in Fredrik Barth (ed.), Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Organisation of
Cultural Difference, Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, pp. 9–38.
Barth, F. (1981), Process and Form in Social Life, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Bates, T. (1994), ‘Social resources generated by group support networks may not be beneficial to Asian
immigrant-owned small businesses’, Social Forces, 72 (3), 671–89.
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Bonacich, E. (1973), ‘A theory of middleman minorities’, American Sociological Review, 38 (5), 583–94.
Cochran, T.C. (1960), ‘Cultural factors in economic growth’, The Journal of Economic History, 20 (4),
515–30.
Dabić, M., B. Vlačić, J. Paul, L.-P. Dana, S. Sahasranaman and B. Glinka (2020), ‘Immigrant entrepreneurship:
a review and research agenda’, Journal of Business Research, 113, 25–38.
Dana, L.P. (1991), ‘Bring in more entrepreneurs’, Policy Options, 12 (9), 18–19.
Dana, L.P. (2002), When Economies Change Paths: Models of Transition in China, the Central Asian Republics,
Myanmar, and the Nations of Former Indochine Française, Singapore, London and Hong Kong: World
Scientific.
Dana, L.P. (2005), When Economies Change Hands: A Survey of Entrepreneurship in the Emerging Markets of
Europe from the Balkans to the Baltic States, Binghamton: Haworth Press.
Dana, L.P (2007a) Asian Models of Entrepreneurship – From the Indian Union and the Kingdom of Nepal to the
Japanese Archipelago: Context, Policy and Practice, Singapore and London: World Scientific.
Dana, L.P. (2007b), Handbook of Research on Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship: A Co-evolutionary View on
Resource Management, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar.
Gurău, C., L.-P. Dana and I.H. Light (2020), ‘Overcoming the liability of foreignness: a typology and model of
immigrant entrepreneurs’, European Management Review, doi:10.1111.emre.12392.
Morris, H.S (1968), ‘Ethnic groups’, in David L. Sills (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences,
London and New York: Macmillan, vol. 5, pp. 167–72.
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31. Evolution of entrepreneurship and its role in
stewardship-based economics*
Raymond W.Y. Kao, Rowland R. Kao and Kenneth R. Kao
It has been exactly 30 years since the Ecologist began campaigning first at the self-destruction
of mankind. Much has been achieved since, much remains to be done.
(Fred Pearce, ‘The spirit of the age’, Ecologist, July/August 2000)
Now, not 30 but 50 years on, some of the issues raised by the Ecologist and many others
are just reaching the critical mass of public opinion for action to be taken about them,
with much more as yet largely ignored. World Bank statistics on global poverty alone tell
us how much work remains to be done. The unfortunate realities that face us now, as we
move forward through the twenty-first century, should make us wonder: how is it possible
that we have done so little to ease the too legitimate concerns over the potential for the
self-destruction of mankind?
At the point of updating this chapter, the COVID-19 pandemic is in full force and will
be remembered as a turning point in human history. The spread of the virus has been
exacerbated by unprecedented levels of human movement around the world. Throughout
this global crisis, entrepreneurism has taken a role front and centre – with all levels
of enterprise from the small home-based businesses making face masks and personal
protective gear, to large corporations, such as GM, manufacturing desperately needed
ventilators used to keep the most seriously affected patients alive to recover from this
deadly disease – seen increasingly as addressing these issues, and stewardship accountability applied to entrepreneurial undertaking. Governments worldwide have also stepped
up financial support for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to develop innovative ways to combat this deadly disease, lighting a fire under the entrepreneurial spirit.
The lightning fast speed afforded by the Internet and social media, as well products of
entrepreneurial innovation, have served to feed the entrepreneurial fever, demonstrating
its importance to human survival. Also, quieter streets, cleaner air and wildlife returning to places they had not been seen for years, have reminded us of things that we had
thought we had lost, or taken for granted. It has thus, at least temporarily, reminded
people of our stewardship role, and caused people all around the world to reassess their
values.
It could be argued that, at the heart of our fight against COVID-19, is a battle between
economics and the health of human people. The current American president, Donald
Trump, argues for re-opening the economy, which has been closed to stop the spread of
the virus. While others do not share President Trump’s penchant for favouring illusory
cures for COVID-19, the concerns about the world economy are real, as are concerns
about the impact on health and society. Do we accept that people must die, sometimes in
great distress and pain because of this pandemic, so that economies can be restarted and
to prevent the loss of even more years of life owing to other causes? The danger brought
about by the control policies themselves is real. Yet, while many have died, most people
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around the world are as healthy as they were before the pandemic, and ready to work.
Thus the potential for productivity remains almost exactly the same as it was before the
pandemic. What has changed is that the system of distribution is damaged. The fundamentals of economics are the same, no matter what the system or underlying philosophy
involved: production (or the making of new or required combinations), exchange (the
equal trading of value), redistribution (the accrual or loss of value by individuals or other
economic entities) and consumption. Any attempt to coordinate all this should be viewed
as unrealistic.
Any human system requires human decision, and therefore at least some human
freedom. Humans are not ants or bees, and our behaviour is driven by need, wants and
desires, sometimes for more and more without any feeling of the need for a margin – that
is, greed. Despite the negative connotations of greed in respect of needs and wants, it is a
perhaps unfortunate reality that there is a co-dependency among the three; they all function in the marketplace to push human beings to create and innovate, resulting in a great
deal of the progress that has been made to date. Personal desire and the push for more
also affect the system of distribution. Thus, any economic system must reconcile the two
aspects of the individual and the common good. Here, we argue that entrepreneurship is
the key to reconciling this contrast but, to be sustainable, it must be an entrepreneurship
that recognizes the concept of the residual.
It has been recognized now for many decades that entrepreneurship is at the heart of
human activity. Questioning whether there are any boundaries as to what entrepreneurship encompasses, however, could be seen as a matter of ethical and moral debate. Over
25 years ago, at the 1995 Entrepreneurship Conference held in Shanghai and jointly run
by China’s Fu-Dan University and Nanyang Technological University of Singapore,
the senior author delivered an opening address in which he noted that entrepreneurship
should be identified as a creative and innovative human activity that benefits both selfinterest and the common good. A young attendee commented:
In your address, you said that people in the drug-trafficking business are not entrepreneurs, but
I think you are wrong. Drug trafficking is a business, and traffickers are just as much entrepreneurs as any other venture founders. They created the business, making money for themselves,
and provide jobs for others. Why don’t you consider them to be entrepreneurs?
The senior author responded: ‘Well, I don’t know about China, but in Singapore, a drug
trafficker, if caught and found guilty as charged can be sentenced to death by hanging.’
Definitions are, therefore, very important. In this case, the difference in definition
between what is considered to be an entrepreneur (in the questioner’s mind) and what is
considered a criminal (in Singaporean legislation) is literally the difference between life
and death. Definitions are there to serve as a guide, in a learning environment, helping
to communicate knowledge among those concerned. It is broadly agreed that laws are
created on the basis of justice to govern the limits of human behaviour and business
conducted. However, the law does not define justice. To enforce and interpret justice in
the law is the task of a person (usually a judge), or a group of persons, such as a jury.
Similarly, a definition is created with a specific purpose in mind and is intended to be
used in practice. To uphold the intentions that lie behind a definition remains a human
problem, for individuals to decide.
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1.
WHO IS AN ENTREPRENEUR?
It is slightly fanciful to say that the dinosaurs became extinct because they failed to be sufficiently entrepreneurial and adapt to a changing environment, but it is no less true that, in
the absence of entrepreneurial spirit, we would either be extinct ourselves or remain in a
less innovative and creative society, as hunter-gatherers, just like our prehistoric ancestors.
They certainly had no automobiles, computers, Internet, advanced medicine, cosmetic
surgery or personal jets. These luxuries are the results of the entrepreneurial spirit in
society and can also be the reward of entrepreneurial action on the part of the individual.
It is equally true that not all those who achieve these things are entrepreneurs.
We are reminded of a now old-fashioned term, the ‘American dream’. Once upon a
time the American dream referred to the right of every individual, by virtue of their
own talents, ambitions and hard work, to succeed. That is, America’s pride was to be an
entrepreneurial society. Unfortunately, now the fruits of that dream are viewed by too
many to be the dream itself – a lottery winner, for example, is viewed by many as living
the American dream. Worse still, individuals can cheat and lie, manipulate the system,
perhaps even commit heinous and harmful offences to get what they want, in the name of
the American dream. In the current world of well-to-do countries, the desire for greater
wealth is the main driver of many people’s actions, and perhaps this is how entrepreneurship was spurred. If so, the original meaning of the term has been lost – what is left is
only a caricature of the original.
Cantillon’s definition (see also Table 31.1) purported that the enterprise under a selfemployed individual has dual status: the enterprise is both an economic entity and a social
entity. As an economic entity, the self-employed individual has the proprietary right to
make decisions in allocating the uncertain returns for himself or herself. As a social entity,
he or she is accountable as a steward for resources to see that all resource-providers receive
a fair share of return for their contribution, including the restoration of what was taken
from nature and a fair share of the fruits of their labour.
Entrepreneurial Attributes
The attribute of uncertainty signifies risk-taking. Cantillon’s four elements suggest that
although an entrepreneur is a person, this person is at the centre of entrepreneurship
knowledge. This definition, though almost 300 years old, generally fits in well with the
production functions of economic analysis that typically include:
●
●
●
factor of distribution – income or profit;
factor of exchange – income can only be generated from an exchange system under
the market economy; and
factors of production – the process of innovation and creation.
While an entrepreneur is generally perceived to be a risk-taker, this is only one attribute. Attempts to encompass the defining attributes of an entrepreneur are many (for
example, Table 31.2). However, these definitions are problematic; for example, there are
questions about the relationship between an entrepreneur and their firm. In a firm, there
can be others who have similar attributes to those of the owner/entrepreneur, with every
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263
Definitions of an entrepreneur
Richard Cantillon
1710
A self-employed person with uncertain returns
Abbe Nicollas
1767
Jean-Baptiste Say
Joseph Schumpeter
Frank Knight
1801/1810
1910
1921
Edith Penrose
1959
J.E. Stepanek
D.C. McCelland
Robert E. Budner
Orvis F. Collins
W.D. Litzinger
1960
1961
1962
1964
1965
J.B. Rotter
Israel Kirzner
J.A. Timmons
1976
1979
1985
A leader of men, a manager of resources, an innovator of
ideas, including new scientific ideas, and a risk-taker
A coordinator of production with management talent
A creative innovator
A manager responsible for direction and control, who
bears uncertainty
A person with managerial capabilities separate from
entrepreneurial capabilities, and able to identify
opportunities and develop small enterprises
A moderate risk-taker
A person with a high need for achievement
A person who has a high tolerance for ambiguity
A person with a high need for autonomy
Low need for support and conformity, leadership,
decisiveness, determination, perseverance and integrity
Internal locus of control
An arbitrageur
‘A’-type behaviour pattern
Source:
Kao et al. (2010).
management level having at least one decision-maker who makes at least some proprietary
or stewardship decisions. They, like the owner/entrepreneur, need to possess the ability to
exercise characteristics, such as confidence, creativity and innovative ability, to assure a
firm’s success. There are many known attributes of successful entrepreneurs. Hornaday’s
and Gibb’s works are used here to highlight the essentials (Table 31.2).
The Entrepreneur, Income or Profit Distribution and the Concept of Residual
Must all profit go to the proprietary decision-maker (owner) or is profit viewed as a residual for redistribution to all those who have made a contribution? A number of issues must
be considered. Wages to workers must be paid first before income – since the entrepreneur
is self-employed, he or she would be the decision-maker to allocate resources (including
human resources) according to their desires including, in particular, earned uncertain
returns or profit which include appropriate remuneration to workers in the enterprise,
traditionally providing a clear distinction between the entrepreneur and the non-entrepreneur. However, in accordance with Cantillon’s definition, it is the matter of making proprietary decisions (traditionally ownership decision) that counts. This definition suggests
that a self-employed person is the only entrepreneur, and that the distribution of uncertain
income or profit is entirely at the discretion of the self-employed entrepreneur. However,
this also raises a question: if an individual displays many or all of the attributes used to
define an entrepreneur, but does not have decision-making powers over the distribution
of uncertain income, does that mean that this person is not an entrepreneur? If that is so,
then the attempts to define entrepreneur attributes are meaningless, since they are wholly
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Table 31.2
A comparison of identified entrepreneur attributes between the works of
Hornaday and Gibb
Hornaday
Gibb
Self-confidence
Perseverance, determination
Energy, diligence
Resourcefulness
Ability to take risks
Need to achieve
Creativity
Initiative
Flexibility
Independence
Foresight
Dynamic leadership
Ability to get along with people and take criticism
Profit orientation
Perceptiveness
Optimism
Creativity
Initiative
High achievement
Risk-taking (moderate)
Leadership
Autonomy and independence
Analytical ability
Hard work
Good communication skills
Source:
Kao (1989: 7).
dependent on a single (external) factor. On a broader scale, this issue is how socialism or
communism takes the route to challenge the entrepreneur’s decision.
An approach to resolve decision-making conflict on profit distribution is to evolve to
the concept of residual. To adopt the residual concept for business is not a complicated
process. But to do so, profit must be reinterpreted in which the costs of Cantillon’s social
entity are discounted from it, leaving the uncertain returns as the residual. For reporting
and tax purposes, calculation of accounting income could be reformulated using the following guidelines.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Recognize residual and use it in financial reporting for shareholders and recognize
stakeholders’ right to a share of residual with full disclosure.
Establish residual to replace formally used the term of retained earnings.
Full disclosure in respect of how unallocated residual was established.
Unallocated residual is ultimately derived after deducting income tax.
The concept of residual has been adopted indirectly by many nations via taxation
to account for excessive climate-damaging fossil fuel emissions. The recognition that
climate stewardship as part of the social entity, could be incentivized by its integration into the income accounting spreadsheet. In this instance, a company that reduces
its carbon footprint can lower its taxes, thus leaving a larger residual. The definition
of an entrepreneur, therefore, might include incorporating residual in their business
activities.
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265
ENTREPRENEURSHIP, ENTERPRISING CULTURE AND
THE EVOLUTION OF ENTREPRENEURIAL THOUGHT
Like the awareness and definition of the entrepreneur, the knowledge-based discipline
of entrepreneurship could be said to have started with Cantillon in 1710. Cantillon was
followed by a number of writers who established new criteria forming the basis of new
definitions of the discipline, though all these remain widely quoted (Table 31.3).
Cantillon’s early, narrow definition based on a self-employed person with uncertain
income, was considerably broadened by increasingly generic terms of reference. Menger
(1871, cited in Kao 1995a: 72) defined entrepreneurship as involving: obtaining information, calculation, an act of will, and supervision. Schumpeter’s (1934) definition some 40
years later was in many ways the key to the modern concept and can be paraphrased as the
making of different combinations and something that everyone participates in sometimes,
but never all the time. This was followed by Timmons narrowing the definition to actions
involving searching and seizing business opportunities. At the same time, a few others
seemed focused on pushing entrepreneurship development including business development, enterprise development and growth.
Entrepreneurship is an all-encompassing term covering all human creative and innovative endeavours, not just in profit-making commercial undertakings and not-for-profit
organizations, but also any individual who has the urge to do something new and something different, first as motivation for self-interest, then as part of a group as whatever
he or she does must be of benefit to others as well. This progression from individual to
the group can been seen in the evolution of entrepreneurial thought as seen by the senior
author over the past half century. In the 1960s, the emphasis was on independent business,
and few people could even pronounce or spell entrepreneurship. In the 1970s and 1980s,
we saw the development of entrepreneurship as an academic discipline, with new chairs at
universities and PhDs being offered. Finally, in the twenty-first century, the environment,
poverty, health care and the drain of resources have become ever more urgent issues.
The search for the meaning of entrepreneurship extends beyond its limited scope of
small business commercial undertakings for the pursuit of profit-making. Kathleen R.
Allen (1989: 4) had the following description:
Table 31.3
Summary of entrepreneurship definitions
Contributor
Period
Contribution
Carl Menger
1871
Joseph Schumpeter
1910
Harvey Leibenstein
1970
Israel Kirzner
W. Ed McMillan and
Wayne A. Long
Howard H. Stevenson
1975
1990
Entrepreneurship involves obtaining information,
calculation, an act of will and supervision
Entrepreneurship is the finding and promoting of a new
combination of productive factors
Entrepreneurship is the reduction of organizational
inefficiency and the reversal of organizational entropy
The identification of market arbitrage opportunities
Entrepreneurship is the building of growth organization
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1992
Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity beyond the
resources currently under your control
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Entrepreneurship is a mindset or a way of thinking that is opportunity focused, innovative,
and growth oriented. Although entrepreneurship is most commonly thought of in conjunction
with starting a business, the entrepreneurial mindset can be found within a large corporation, in
socially responsible non-profit organizations, and anywhere individuals and teams are desiring
to differentiate themselves from the crowd and apply their passion and drive to executing business opportunities.
It is certainly a notable effort to extend entrepreneurship from the narrowly confined
meaning of just small business, to include all business undertakings, large or small. It
should also be recognized, however, that entrepreneurs (creative and innovative individuals) exist in other organizations, such as not-for-profit organizations, governments, and
so on. As a consequence, the definition of entrepreneurship needs to be welded together
from the following three components:
1.
2.
3.
Wealth-creating and value-adding processes.
Actions involved in wealth-creating and adding value to the process through venture
formation and/or initiation of entrepreneurial endeavours.
Wealth for the individual and value for society.
The definition emphasizes the importance of creating wealth and adding value. Also,
it includes all such activities, and therefore departs from Cantillon’s self-employed individual. When the Journal of Enterprising Culture had its inaugural issue (in 1993), the
editorial board decided to place the definition on the inside front cover, with a refinement
to include who is an entrepreneur in a two-part definition, as follows: ‘To summarise,
entrepreneurship is “The process of doing something new and something different for the
purpose of creating wealth for the individual and adding value to society. An Entrepreneur
is a person who undertakes a wealth-creating and value-adding process, through incubating ideas, assembling resources and making things happen”’ (original emphasis).
This broadening of the definition has led to a natural extension to consider not just
entrepreneurship as a function of some individuals, but as a property of a collective and
the identification of an enterprising culture. Enterprise or enterprising culture needs to be
recognized in any organization, in order to sustain development and growth. For a healthy
enterprise culture, any organization is built on the academic discipline of research and
learning. A.A. Gibb (1987) provided some useful guides for enterprise culture development, based on the cultivation of strong entrepreneur attributes within every individual
in the organization (Figure 31.1).
These definitions led to a further refinement in the author’s later work to replace ‘adding
value to society’ with ‘the common good’. This same definition led to the development of
the doctrine of entrepreneurism.
3.
ENTREPRENEURISM
The entire discipline of entrepreneurship is based on the human need to create and innovate, a need that is best fostered in an environment where these attributes are valued more
than, for example, the need to avoid failure. In this view, entrepreneurship, creation and
innovation efforts under a market system are the pillars that make everything possible
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Ample opportunities for
familiarization with small
business tasks especially
during youth
Abundant positive role
images of successful
independent business
Enterprise
culture
Opportunities to practice
entrepreneurial attributes
reinforced by society
culture during formative
years
Network of independent
business/family contacts and
acquaintances reinforcing
familiarity and providing
market entry opportunities
Provision formally and/or
informally of knowledge
and insight into the process
of independent business
management
Source:
Gibb (1987: 14).
Figure 31.1
Enterprise culture
in the market economy. Entrepreneurship is a wonderful human endeavour; however,
too many definitions dwell on profit-making. The desire to create and innovate is in all
individuals, and is independent of market objectives. The efforts of these individuals in a
fundamental sense contribute to the common good, to make life better for future generations. Profit is only a very small part of this, and unfortunately reflects the human craving
for money with no regard for the common good. As in the Chinese saying that one rat
dropping will spoil a pot of delicious soup, emphasis on the accumulation of wealth spoils
the definition of entrepreneurship.
Creation and innovation does not necessarily require the desire to accumulate wealth.
This can be witnessed currently by the numerous stories of how businesses, which have
been closed owing to public health lockdown to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus,
are reformulating their industry to generate personal protective equipment to help the
workers who care for those stricken with the potentially deadly virus. Alternatively, in less
challenging times, should the corporate raider who liquidates the assets of companies, and
dips into employees’ pension funds to accumulate personal sums of money, be considered
an entrepreneur? Is Don Corleone in The Godfather a portrayal of an entrepreneur? Or
are they representations of the old Chinese saying?
Entrepreneurism is an ideology proposed as a sensible alternative to capitalism, on
the one hand, and socialism, on the other, and being based on the common good. It is
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not just about making money, nor is it merely about starting up a venture or owning a
small business – it is a way of life, applicable to all human economic activities. Living on
a planet with finite resources, humanity is sustainable only if there is constant pursuit of
innovation and creativity, not just for personal gain but also for the common good. It is
also a philosophy, as it is based on the statement: ‘To create and innovate is not a matter
of choice, but necessity.’
The definition of entrepreneurship must include the common good. Without this qualification, drug traffickers could easily justify their harmful trade by stating that they are
job providers. How does this compare with the Chinese soup analogy?
The notion of the common good can be seen in the following three sources:
1.
2.
3.
From the Second Vatican Council (1961, para. 65): ‘Factors that contribute to the
common good and the overall conditions of life in society that allow the different
groups and their members to be active in their own perfection more fully and more
easily.’
From Wikipedia: ‘The Common Good is a term that can refer to several different
concepts. In the popular meaning, [it] describes a specific “good” that is shared
and beneficial for all (or most) members of a given community. This is also how the
common good is broadly defined in philosophy, ethics, and political science’ (accessed
15 October 2020 at https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Common_Good).
From the Government of Ontario, Canada website (accessed 15 October 2020 at
https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/56537/ontario-joins-forces-with-the-private-sectorto-fight-covid-19): ‘Ontario together: help fight coronavirus, offers emergency products and innovative solutions or volunteer to support our response to COVID-19.’
In this case the common good is seen as the only way to find a solution for common
benefit.
The ancient Chinese scholar, Moen-Tzu, tells us that humans can be born good or bad.
Those with a good nature will do good for others, while the bad will take advantage of
others. We are influenced by the examples of others, and can learn or be taught to be either
good or bad. Those who were born bad and those characterized as bad through influence
by others, can be taught and/or learn to be good.
A meaningful definition will serve as a guide for action, but action is still in the hands
of people. For example, job creation is one of many benefits to society resulting from the
initiation of a new venture. It is hardly a benefit to society, however, to allow criminal
activity aimed at making profit at the cost of human misery, to claim they are providing
jobs. The idea of constructive destruction has been used by manufacturers of products
that maximize the short term with a built-in obsolescence strategy that causes resource
drain, creation of undue waste and contamination of the environment. Unfortunately, of
late, this concept has been the norm, with big-box retailers and worldwide online ordering and delivery, placing the most useless trinkets literally at the fingertips of anyone with
a smartphone. These are just a few negative repercussions that result when corporations
have abused a sound concept for their own benefit, with no long-term vision for the
common good.
Reassessing the meaning of profit, it is more appropriate to advocate the use of residual
to reduce harmful social injustice, avoiding unnecessary human conflict, still within the
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market system, to formulate an affordable means that will ease human conflict. A definition of entrepreneurism is therefore created on the premise that humans are driven by two
fundamental desires: the desire to own and the desire to create. Ownership is not just the
titular holding of property – physical, intellectual or otherwise – but the right to make
decisions. That is, the right to free choice: the desire to create and the desire to take that
which is there, and to alter its form to suit our purposes, bringing into being something
that did not exist before. However, it must be fully recognized that there is a world of difference between ownership and stewardship. Entrepreneurism is all about making human
proprietary decisions: exercising ownership rights on the one hand, and assuring stewardship responsibilities, on the other.
Entrepreneurism is an ideology in which an individual is a creative and innovative
agent with the desire for ownership and the right to make proprietary decisions, and the
common good to guide action. As a body of knowledge, it presupposes the involvement
of three independent yet interrelated entities: the state, business entity and individuals.
1.
2.
3.
The state: entrepreneurial government. Under entrepreneurism, the state is the
infrastructure consisting of individuals committed to serving people for the common
good that will facilitate their realization of economic freedom, their right to acquire
ownership to harvest their labour, and their right and obligations to protect the
environment.
The individual: entrepreneurial person. The individual is the centre of the economy,
and as a stakeholder in any undertaking is responsible to himself or herself. The individual views entrepreneurship and working as an entrepreneur as a way of life.
The business entity: entrepreneurial entity and entity entrepreneurial managers.
Entrepreneurship is a process of doing something new (creative) and doing something
different (innovative) for the purpose of creating wealth for the individual and adding
value to society. Through entrepreneurship, the doctrine of entrepreneurism reigns over all
economic endeavours. The entrepreneurial approach is applicable to business management
in general, including the creation of new ventures, managing one’s own business, business
with family members, government and public institutions, charitable and not-or-profit
organizations as well as professionals and professional organizations. The entrepreneurial
approach to corporate management is an integral part of entrepreneurial contemplation.
In addition to the instinctive entrepreneurial contemplation in individuals, government,
organizations business and others, entrepreneurism also puts forward the examination of
accounting practice in matters of profit determination and cost recognition leading to
the consideration of adopting residual for measurement and as a basis for redistribution.
Human effort, in particular the redistribution of the fruits of labour, helps to relieve the
tragedy of global poverty and environmental damage, and the renew depleted resources
where possible.
4.
STEWARDSHIP-BASED ECONOMICS
Both capitalism and communism have their roots in Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into
the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). Capitalism can be viewed as a
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generalization of Schumpeter’s notion of constructive destruction, in that it emphasizes
private property ownership without consideration for the common good. The pursuit of
capital accumulation leads to aggregation beyond personal consumption requirements,
exploitation of labour and exhaustion of non-renewable resources. The reliance on a
market system to make adjustments itself would require waiting until there is a sub-system
to make the ‘invisible hand’ to see human misery and desperate pleas to prevent environmental damage and the drain of resources. While innovation and creativity prompt new
discoveries, better use of resources and the ability to harvest more for those who create
and innovate, to advocate that profit goes only to those who create business and anticipate
uncertain returns without taking into consideration the common good, would clearly
push many people into the dark corner of poverty and lead our world towards disaster.
While a capitalist society may stimulate the individual’s desire for more (greed), the issue
of unfair distribution of resources (wealth) would inevitably lead to rebellion and, in this,
communism is a natural outgrowth from capitalism.
Communism may have attracted many individuals concerned over the problem of
distribution, but it provides no clear incentive for the individual to create and innovate
for their own personal benefit. Any system under the fair distribution scheme is less than
effective and does not stimulate an individual’s interest for the common good.
Ownership-based economics has led to the rapid development and apparent universal
success of the market economy. It is a system built on the deception of unlimited resource
availability and ill-defined profit, and is misled by the idea that an invisible hand alone
can be an equitable system of distribution. While creating wealth for the few, it induces
individuals and societies to continually grab for more. The undisciplined craving for more
for the advantaged few, fuelled through the market system, creates poverty, damages environmental and human health, and drains limited resources which are not just for us but
for the future as well. As long as our economy’s functionality is based on ownership, we
will hardly see the end of these. It is neither feasible nor advisable to abolish the market
system, however, we must realize that the ownership idea may be legal, but it has deceptively led us into a vicious circle of addiction out of which we may be unable to emerge.
While entrepreneurism serves as a guide based on creative and innovative nature, the
real issue of ownership challenge is that it fundamentally is little more than a struggle
for owning. Indeed, the origin of human conflict throughout history is rooted in greed
and forceful acquisition of ownership. In recent years, economic expansion has seen its
share of unfairly acquired ownership over resources by the fabrication of information to
commit criminal activities ranging from cheating innocent investors in the market system
to inflicting civil war on a foreign country.
Although Smith’s (1776) idea of wealth in the market system was to create wealth for
me and for you as well, the unfortunate reality in today’s market economy is quite different
from that which Smith had in mind. This is what the market economy is – all justice is based
on the matter of competition, based on the decision made by invisible hands. To some
people this ownership-based system is the only system for our ever-expanding economy.
Therefore, we would have to accept that poverty is common, natural and inevitable, if:
1.
2.
3.
Greed is the sole motivation to be rich.
The rich and powerful prefer to make the rich richer.
The political policy favours the rich.
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There is no single sub-system within the market system to help ease the pressure on
poverty. Government policy and religious and charitable organizations are all helpful,
with significant effort to ease the pain. Bear in mind, both rich and poor are relative, and
the only absolute is greed, an irrational desire for more. The fundamental problem is that
while greed dictates that the sky’s the limit, we have no idea what that limit is.
The depletion of non-renewable resources and erosion of environmental health available to current generations will mean there will be less for our descendants. Unless the
creative and innovative efforts can restore what was once there for the future, we will have
to expect that humans landing on Mars will be our only salvation; but how will this help
to relieve the pressure on poverty, resources drain and environmental disaster?
Stewardship-based economics recognizes the importance of the market system. It is
irreplaceable, but we cannot take advantage of the system merely to satisfy an individual’s
wants and greed at the expense of others’ labour, limited resources and the freely provided
living environment. We must realize that we are a part of the Earth, but we do not own
it. We must exercise our right to make proprietary decisions, but we must also assume
stewardship responsibility. While proprietary decision-making might give us a twofold
approach to easing the pressure on both the human race and the opportunity to allocate
resources for self-interest, it is necessary to accept the responsibility to ensure all decisions
made are also for the common good. Stewardship economics acts as a signpost towards
balancing the short-term need for survival with the long-term need for sustainable growth,
and serves as a philosophical beacon that will guide individuals, particularly business
leaders, toward actions in the interest of humanity.
As stewardship-based economics was developed from earlier work on entrepreneurship
and entrepreneurism (Figure 31.2), it places a great deal of emphasis on acting now to
be responsible stewards for making resources allocation decisions, as well as the need for
education to consider a few key areas:
●
●
●
●
We have only one Earth, and everything on it is meant for everyone. Some are strong,
others may be weak, but everyone is entitled to their share of what Earth has to offer.
The number of countries with their diversity of people, culture and background
makes it difficult to generalize. Nonetheless, it is clear that no individual can live
alone, and no one should take resources ruthlessly just for their personal use. The
sharing of resources should be a way of life.
Resources are finite. The challenge lies not in deciding who should or should not
have them, but in finding more sustainable and renewable resources through creation and innovation.
As stewards, everyone has the right to make proprietary decisions while in control
of the resources. Stewardship responsibility must, however, be exercised during
decision-making, and there must be accountability for the consequences of actions
taken based on any decision.
While entrepreneurship appeals to the individual’s desire for advancement of personal
wealth, it also includes consideration of the common good to allow entrepreneurial activities to work for both the individual now as well as for the future for humanity.
The common-good idea could not fulfil its required action, unless every individual
appreciates the reality of living and acting on the basis of stewardship responsibility and
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Entrepreneurship: doing
something new and something
different for self-interest and
common good.
Entrepreneurism is all about making
human proprietary decisions.
Exercising ownership rights on the one
hand, and assuring stewardship
responsibilities on the other.
Stewardship-based economics: responsible stewardship for
making resources allocation decisions, and educating others
to act and think likewise. A broad knowledge-based
discipline to overcome difficulties experienced by human
beings through our past, of poverty, human conflicts,
environmental damage and resources depletion.
Figure 31.2
Evolution: from entrepreneurship to stewardship-based economics
accountability, recognizing that we may be a part of the Earth, but we do not own it.
It is on this that the shift from ownership-based economics and the early conception of
entrepreneurship to stewardship-based economics and entrepreneurism is founded.
NOTE
*
After more than four decades of service to the discipline of entrepreneurship, Professor Raymond Kao
passed away peacefully on 26 April 2019. This piece has been updated with some of his additional thoughts
from an unfinished manuscript, contextualized to the present day by the other two authors.
REFERENCES
Allen, K.R. (1989), Launching New Ventures, 4th edn, Boston, MA and New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Gibb, A.A. (1987), ‘Enterprise culture, the meaning and implications for education and training’, Journal of
European Industrial Training, 11 (2), 14.
Kao, R.W.Y. (1989), Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development, Toronto: Holt, Rinehart and Winston of
Canada.
Kao, R.W.Y. (1995a), Entrepreneurship: A Wealth-Creation and Value Adding Process, Singapore: Prentice Hall
Asia.
Kao, R.W.Y. (1995b), ‘Entrepreneurship definitions’, in Entrepreneurship, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Simon &
Schuster.
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Kao, R.W.Y., R.R. Kao and K.R. Kao (2010), ‘From Entrepreneurship to Stewardship-Based Economics’, in
R.W.Y. Kao (ed.), Sustainable Economy Corporate, Social and Environmental Responsibility, Singapore: World
Scientific, pp. 291–310.
Pearce, F. (2000), ‘The spirit of the age’, Ecologist, 30 (July/August).
Schumpeter, J.A. (1934), The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest,
and the Business Cycle, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Second Vatican Council (1961), Mater et magistra, encyclical of Pope John XXIII on Christianity and Social
Progress, 15 May.
Smith, A. (1776), An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, London: W. Strahan and
T. Cadell.
Timmons, J.A. (1990), New Venture Creation: Entrepreneurship in the 1990s, 3rd revd edn, Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin
Professional.
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32. Exit
Karl Wennberg*
Much research has been devoted to look for characteristics that drive individuals
towards engaging in entrepreneurship. Less attention has been given to the question of
what makes people persist in or exit from entrepreneurship. However, recent years have
seen an increasing focus on entrepreneurial exit in a number of specialized workshops
and conferences, new research projects, and special issues in international journals. This
chapter provides a stocktake on past exits, outlining the progress that research has made,
together with some key problems in defining and investigating entrepreneurial exit.
Conceptually, the chapter focuses on the level of analysis and different definitions of exit.
Empirically, the chapter describes the streams of research suggesting that exit is either
determined by the environment or the entrepreneur, together with a stream of research
that emphasizes the connection between entry and exit as path-dependent processes. The
chapter concludes by highlighting a number of unsolved issues and interesting pathways
for future research on entrepreneurial exit.
Entrepreneurial exit is a multifaceted and multi-level phenomenon. It concerns both
exit of entrepreneurial firms from the marketplace and exit of self-employed individuals from their entrepreneurial activities on the labor market. Empirical studies of these
topics hold that entrepreneurs and new firms will be less likely to exit as they persist over
time. Yet, few of these studies acknowledge that exit is multifaceted in that there are different types of entrepreneurial exit, such as liquidation, bankruptcy or sell-off of a firm.
For example, closure rates are likely to be lower as firms’ age and improve their performance, whereas sell-off rates increase with age but are less likely to be related to the firm’s
performance (Mitchell, 1994).
In studies of organizations and strategy, entrepreneurial exit has often been equated
‘failure’ as a fundamental performance measure of new organizations. Yet, recent
studies show clear indications that exit from entrepreneurship is theoretically distinct
from failure. Bates (2005) and Headd (2003) investigated the US Census Bureau’s 1996
survey ‘Characteristics of Business Owners’ (CBO) which is based on a large representative sample of US businesses founded between 1989 and 1992. They found that about
one-third of the discontinued business owners characterized their firms as successful at
closure. Ucbasaran et al. (2005) surveyed a representative sample of 767 entrepreneurs in
Great Britain and found that among the entrepreneurs that had closed down a business,
more than a third considered their last business to be ‘a success’. These studies indicate
that, at least in the eyes of entrepreneurs, exit and failure are two distinct concepts. How,
then, can we define the concept of entrepreneurial exit?
In order to define a phenomenon with clarity and precision, one needs to satisfy four
conditions (Chopra, 2005). First, a clearly defined object must be present on which the
phenomenon acts. Second, the boundaries of the phenomenon must be distinct; moreover, the gradations of boundaries must be apparent. Third, forces associated with the
phenomenon – that affects or are affected by it – must be clear. Fourth, knowledge of the
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process by which the phenomenon unfolds must be clear. Looking at the accumulated
knowledge on entrepreneurial exit on these dimensions, it becomes obvious that exit as
a phenomenon needs better clarity and precision. The literature has made significant
progress on the third and, to some extent, the fourth elements, identifying predictors and
consequences of exit. Yet, knowledge of exit processes as they unfold are still few (an
excellent exception is Burgelman, 1994). Research has also made little progress on the
first and second elements. Although having looked at individual, firm and populations
as the objects on which the phenomenon acts, research has failed to distinguish between
the role of individual-level, firm-level and population-level elements of the exit decision.
For example, if individual characteristics are ignored in a firm-level study, for very small
firms the firm-level factors will often be highly correlated with the (unmeasured) actions
and characteristics taken by entrepreneurs. A more important problem is that the conceptual boundaries of exit have not been clearly defined and discussed. This has hampered theoretical progress since much of the empirical efforts do not distinguish between
exit, failure and closure. Before outlining the available evidence on exit, it is therefore
necessary to discuss some conceptual and definitional issues of entrepreneurial exit.
LEVEL OF ANALYSIS AND MEASUREMENT OF EXIT
A key feature of entrepreneurship research is the intersection of individuals and organizations. Entrepreneurship is generally conceptualized as individuals pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities, often by the creation of new organizations. For new ventures,
the firm may even be considered as ‘an extension’ of the founder (Chandler and Hanks,
1994). Yet, a problem in entrepreneurship research has been the lack of distinction
between entrepreneurial failure and exit, that is, the difference between attempting to
keep a business open but failing to do so, and the deliberate closure or successful sale
of a business. Furthermore, exit operates on several levels of analysis: for example, the
entrepreneur may exit (for instance, by selling and leaving the business) while the firm
persists, signifying exit at the individual but not the firm level; or the entrepreneur may
close the business but continue being an entrepreneur by starting a new business, that is
through serial entrepreneurship.
A fundamental reason for the lack of research on entrepreneurial exit is probably
that it is very difficult to measure in precise ways. Since the probability of exit is highest
in the very early period of a new firm or the career of a self-employed person, studying
entrepreneurial exit necessitates access to unbiased data-tracking firms or individuals
from the very onset of their entrepreneurial activities. In the empirical literature on exit,
it is apparent that exit rates vary greatly between different studies. One explanation
is the fact that very small firms (Mata and Portugal, 1994) and very early attempts at
self-employment (Arum and Muller, 2004) have much higher exit rates compared with
larger firm or individuals which are more established in self-employment. It is therefore
likely that some of the differences in exit rates are due to differences in measurement.
Specifically, studies using register databases seem to exhibit higher exit rates than studies
relying on survey data (see, for example, Aviad and Vertinsky, 2006, in Canada; Delmar
et al., 2006, in Sweden; or Mata and Portugal, 1994, in Portugal). This indicates that
many studies might be affected by reporting bias. Evans and Leighton (1989) noted that
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annual survey data as in their own study tends to under-report very short spells in selfemployment. There are thus reasons to believe that the true exit rates, both of the firm
level and on the individual level, might be much higher than the survey-based research
has shown.
It should also be noted that predictors of exit often seem to differ between selfemployed men and women (Arum and Muller, 2004), and between larger firms started
and managed by men and women entrepreneurs (Kalleberg and Leicht, 1991). Since selfemployed men, or firms started and managed by men, almost always make up a majority
of the samples used in studies of entrepreneurial exit, analyses of pooled data with only
an indicator variable for sex are therefore likely to be conflated by statistical associations
evident only for men. Furthermore, empirical studies that have distinguished between
exit by men and women entrepreneurs often find many fewer statistical relationships
between theoretical variables and exit among women entrepreneurs, leading to poor
explanatory power in these models. These facts have three important conclusions for
research on entrepreneurial exit: (1) The theoretical predictors known to affect exit are
based on samples dominated by men. Hence, we do not know if these theories matter
for women entrepreneurs. (2) In order not to confuse statistical relationships, studies of
entrepreneurial exit need to conduct separate analyses for men and for women. (3) the
low explanatory powers of models of women’s exit pattern indicate that current theoretical models are not good at explaining women entrepreneurs’ exit, and that much more
research on this specific issue is needed.
ENTRY AND EXIT AS PATH-DEPENDENT PROCESSES
Many studies have found that initial conditions at the time of entrepreneurial entry
are vital in shaping entrepreneurial exit. For an individual entrepreneur, the personal
reasons and factors associated with entry into entrepreneurship are also often associated
with both if and how the person eventually chooses to leave entrepreneurship (Taylor,
1999). For a new firm, the very factors present at the time of founding can influence the
firm in long-lasting ways, regardless of whether the environmental conditions at time of
founding subsequently change (Delmar et al., 2006). These firm-level factors can essentially be grouped into two different categories. The first category consists of resources
at the time of founding, such as capital assets and entrepreneurial team members/
employees. The second category consists of explicit goals and strategies for organizing
and growing the firm. These two categories have been found to be the strongest types of
predictors of exit. Studies of entrepreneurial exit have found that low probability of exit
is strongly associated with a stronger resource base, both for the individual entrepreneur in terms of human capital and knowledge (Brüderl et al., 1992) and for the firm in
terms of capital assets (Bates, 1990), product offerings (Kalleberg and Leicht, 1991) and
number of employees (Delmar et al., 2006). Low exit rates are also associated with firms’
growth strategies (Brüderl et al., 1992) and entrepreneurs’ setting of specific goals with
their ventures (Delmar and Shane, 2003; Kalleberg and Leicht, 1991). Goals and motivation at the time of founding affects both the likelihood of exit and how the exit process
will evolve. That is, not all entrepreneurs have a clear goal of what they want to achieve
with their venture. Some want to exploit a valuable invention or discovery. Some want
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freedom to decide how and when they work (Carter et al., 2003). These differences will
affect how entrepreneurs consider the possibility of exit as well as the relative attractiveness of different exit paths.
In this way, the progress of new firms and self-employed entrepreneurs follow a pathdependent process where initial conditions generally shape the paths by which firms and
entrepreneurs subsequently evolve. Firm-level exit processes are path-dependent both in
terms of initial goals and resource committed to the venture, as well as environmental
conditions at the time of founding (Delmar et al., 2006). Individuals’ self-employment is
also path-dependent in that their process is shaped by the conditions by which the individual engages in entrepreneurship. For example, the exit rate for entrepreneurs who enter
self-employment from unemployed or on a part-time basis is much higher than those that
enter from employment (Taylor, 1999; Wennberg et al., 2006). In empirical research, it
might be difficult to untangle the effect of such initial factors and how they interact with
the entrepreneur or the entrepreneurial team. For example, firms started at times of economic prosperity, such as during the dot-com boom, often have more ambitious goals
and are more likely to attract resources to their venture. Also on the individual level, the
entrepreneurs’ resources and knowledge are closely intertwined. Human capital factors
have been found to be a strong predictor of both start-up capital and business survival,
indicating that failure to control for entrepreneurs’ human capital characteristics might
lead research to overestimate the importance of capital (Bates, 1990).
IS EXIT DETERMINED BY THE ENVIRONMENT OR THE
ENTREPRENEUR?
Various streams of literature have referred to individual-level, firm-level and populationlevel elements of the exit decision. In empirical studies, there are two predominant levels
of analysis: the entrepreneur may exit while the firm persists, signifying exit at the individual but not the firm level; or the entrepreneur may close the firm but continue being
an entrepreneur by starting a new firm. Yet, despite the preconception that ‘new firms
more often fail’ in the organizational literature, new firms are not more likely to fail in
unchartered markets than established firms engaging in this market. A study by Mitchell
(1994) investigated 141 new entrepreneurial firms and 274 diversifying entrants in seven
US medical product markets. He found that the new firms were no more likely than
diversifying entrants to exit, but that they were less likely to sell their firm, ceteris paribus.
This indication that entrepreneurs are less likely to sell their firm than diversifying
entrants is interesting in that it suggests that entrepreneurs are attached to their ventures
in excess of the economic value that can be earned from divesting them. Conversely, it is
therefore also very likely that less profitable firms can subsist for many years, or as in van
Witteloostuijn’s model of organizational decline, ‘Inefficient firms might outlast efficient
rivals’ (van Witteloostuijn, 1998: 501).
The issue of ‘environment versus organizational factors’ in entrepreneurial exit was
investigated by Everett and Watson’s (1998) study of 5196 Australian retail and service
start-ups between 1960 and 1999. They found that environmental economic factors were
associated with between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of small business exits, depending on which definition of exit is used. Excluding exit due to bankruptcy, which was
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negatively related to macroeconomic conditions, exit rates defined as (1) sell-off, (2)
closure, (3) ‘disbanding to prevent further losses’ or (4) failure ‘to make a go of it’, were
found to be positively associated with macroeconomic conditions. Everett and Watson
interpreted this as a strengthening economy may trigger voluntary exits since entrepreneurship seeks to maximize the returns available to them on both their financial and
human capital.
Perhaps the most conclusive evidence to date was provided by Gimeno et al. (1997)
who followed 1547 US firms associated with the National Federation of Independent
Businesses over the course of two to five years. They found that the exit of entrepreneurial
firms was affected not only by individual-specific, firm-specific and environmental factors
that simultaneously affected entrepreneurial income, but also by factors that did not
affect income. They explained their findings by formulating a threshold model of entrepreneurial continuation, where a firm is terminated due to lack of performance below a
critical level. This level, or threshold, is shaped by individuals’ perceived value of economic and psychic returns associated with entrepreneurship. A key finding of the study
was that exit is underspecificated as a dependent variable, that is, that there are several
different types of exit decisions that might involve different theoretical explanations.
ARE THERE DIFFERENT TYPES OF EXIT?
The above studies provide some indications that delineating between different types of
entrepreneurial exit could be an important area for future research. The dominating
focus on ‘survival’ in the perspective on entrepreneurial exit inspired by organization
theory reflects the implicit or explicit view that firms are frequently seen in the light of
‘going concern’ – that is, entities that try to prolong their existence. For incumbent firms
with a multitude of stakeholders, such as large joint-stock corporations, this might not
be an unreasonable assumption. Yet, for new independent firms run by one or a few
entrepreneurs, the destiny of a firm is intimately linked to that of its owner(s). Headd
(2003) investigated perceptual measures of success among the 12 185 firms in the 1996
‘Characteristics of Business Owners’ survey, a representative sample of all US firms
started between 1989 and 1992. He found that after four years in business, half of all
businesses had exited, however one-third of all exiting entrepreneurs considered their
firm to be ‘successful’. Headd also found that factors characterizing exiting firms such
as lack of initial resources, started by a young entrepreneur, and so on, did not differ
between what the entrepreneurs themselves perceived as ‘successful’ or ‘unsuccessful’
exits. A conclusion of the study was that searching for factors associated with firm exit
is less meaningful since such a high proportion of exiting entrepreneurs seem to consider
this a satisfactory outcome.1 Another conclusion was that entrepreneurs’ goals and time
horizons at the onset of their firms are likely to diverge: some may want a lifestyle business, some are trying to build a high-growth firm that they can divest of in a few years, yet
some others seek to avoid unemployment, and so on. This interpretation receives support
from DeTienne and Cardon’s (2006) study of exit strategies among 189 entrepreneurs in
the US electrical measurement and surgical medical instruments industries. They found
that older entrepreneurs were more likely and entrepreneurs with medical training were
less likely to have an exit strategy, and that common human capital variables such as
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age, education and experience were related to which specific exit strategy (family succession, sale to individual, employee buy-out, initial public offering, liquidation) that
the entrepreneurs envisioned. Another study by Wennberg et al. (2007) followed 1735
Swedish firms started in 1994 for nine years, finding that similar human capital variables
were also associated with the eventual exit outcome (that is, sell-off, closure due to good
performance, or closure due to poor performance).
DO EXIT RATES CHANGE OVER TIME?
The previously mentioned difficulties in measuring entrepreneurship from the time it is
initiated, taken together with the studies suggesting there are types of exit that are systematically different, indicates two problems in summarizing and aligning the available
evidence on entrepreneurial exit: if there is variation in the dependent variable that is
not taken into account, and difficulties in measurement issues will cause most studies to
sample on the dependent variable (that is, exclude most of the smallest/newest firms and
self-employment attempts), it is not strange that prior research has been unable to align
the various common predictors of exit into an overarching theoretical framework.
Some research has found a trend in that individuals’ exit rates seem to have increased
during the past few decades. Meager and Bates (2004) found that over half of the 9356
persons they studied in the first to ninth waves of the British Household Panel Study
had exited within three years, while Taylor (1999) used retrospective accounts from the
same data and found that only one-third of the 769 persons that entered self-employment
between 1979 and 1991 had exited within three years. Also, the patterns for men’s exit
seem to diverge greatly from those of women. In almost all studies, exit rates are significantly higher for women. This is a further indication that more research is needed on the
exit processes of women entrepreneurs.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER EXIT?
Entrepreneurship research has been discussing the importance of moving from solely
discussing firm-level outcomes towards looking also at individual-level and societal-level
outcomes (Venkataraman, 1997). Yet, to date there is a dearth of studies of societallevel outcomes of entrepreneurial exit. An important exception is Aviad and Vertinsky’s
(2006) investigation of manufacturing plants in 3908 local Canadian areas from 1983
to 1998. They found that the exit of older firms increases the entry rates of new firms,
and that on average, new entrants were more productive. Also many questions related to
individual-level outcome of exits remain to be answered. For example, Wennberg and
Wiklund (2006) found in their study of 25 529 Swedish knowledge-intensive firms that 78
per cent of firms that were sold performed above the population average. They termed
these seemingly successful sell-offs ‘exit by success’. In the literature to date, there are still
no investigations of the firm founders of such firms post sell-off. How is the financial net
worth of these individuals compared with before they started their firms? And in subjective terms, do these individuals evaluate their sold firm as ‘personal success’ or ‘personal
failure’ (Bates, 2005), and what are the factors associated with such evaluations?
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NOTES
*
I am grateful for comments from Miguel Amaral, Anders Landberg, and participants at the 2007 EM Lyon
advanced entrepreneurship scholars retreat. All errors are mine alone.
1. An important objection to this interpretation would be that a large share of the successful exits might be
due to entrepreneurs’ post-exit rationalization of what were in fact unwanted outcomes.
REFERENCES
Arum, R. and W. Muller (2004), The Re-Emergence of Self-Employment: A Comparative Study of SelfEmployment Dynamics and Social Inequality, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Aviad, P.E. and I. Vertinsky (2006), ‘Firm failures as a determinant of new entry: is there evidence of local
creative destruction?’, unpublished manuscript, Vancouver: University of British Columbia.
Bates, T. (1990), ‘Entrepreneur human capital and small business longevity’, The Review of Economics and
Statistics, 72 (4), 551–9.
Bates, T. (2005), ‘Analysis of young, small firms that have closed: delineating successful from unsuccessful
closures’, Journal of Business Venturing, 20 (3), 343–58.
Brüderl, J., P. Preisendörfer and R. Ziegler (1992), ‘Survival chances of newly founded business organizations’,
American Sociological Review, 57 (2), 227–42.
Burgelman, R. (1994), ‘Fading memories: a process theory of strategic business exit in dynamic environments’,
Administrative Science Quarterly, 39, 24–56.
Carter, N.M., W.B. Gartner, K.G. Shaver and E.J. Gatewood (2003), ‘The career reasons of nascent entrepreneurs’, Journal of Business Venturing, 18 (1), 13–39.
Chandler, G.N. and S.H. Hanks (1994), ‘Market attractiveness, resource-based capabilities, venture strategies,
and venture performance’, Journal of Business Venturing, 9, 331–49.
Chopra, A. (2005), ‘Survival’, paper presented at the Academy of Management Conference, Hawaii, 5–10
August.
Delmar, F. and S. Shane (2003), ‘Does business planning facilitate the development of new ventures?’,
Strategic Management Journal, 24, 1165–85.
Delmar, F., K. Hellerstedt and K. Wennberg (2006), ‘The evolution of firms created by the science and technology labor force in Sweden 1990–2000’, in J. Ulhöi and P.R. Christensen (eds), Managing Complexity and
Change in SMEs: Frontiers in European Research, Cheltenham, UK and Nothampton, MA, USA: Edward
Elgar, pp. 69–102.
DeTienne, D. and M. Cardon (2006), ‘Entrepreneurial exit strategies: the impact of general and specific human
capital’, paper presented at the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Bloomington,
Indiana, 8–10 June.
Evans, D.S. and L.S. Leighton (1989), ‘Some empirical aspects of entrepreneurship’, The American Economic
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Everett, J. and J. Watson, (1998), ‘Small business failures and external risk factors’, Small Business Economics,
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Gimeno, J., T.B. Folta, A.C. Cooper and C.Y. Woo (1997), ‘Survival of the fittest? Entrepreneurial human
capital and the persistence of underperforming firms’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 42 (4), 750–83.
Headd, B. (2003), ‘Redefining business success: distinguishing between closure and failure’, Small Business
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Kalleberg, A.L. and K.T. Leicht (1991), ‘Gender and organizational performance: Determinants of small business survival and success’, Academy of Management Journal, 34 (1), 136–61.
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33. Export support services for SME
internationalization
Nathalie Belhoste, Rachel Bocquet and
Véronique Favre-Bonté
Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) are key to the competiveness of advanced
industrialized countries. Their growth is driven by many factors, among which internationalization plays a significant role (Dana et al., 1999; Etemad et al., 2001; Wright et al.,
2015). International business and management studies frequently investigate SMEs’ internationalization (Dominguez and Mayrhofer, 2017; Johanson and Vahlne, 2009; Johanson
and Wiedersheim-Paul, 1975; Vahlne and Johanson, 2013), a complicated process that
demands significant resources, especially if the goal is to reach distant markets (Ojala,
2009; Zhang et al., 2016). Among these resources, those from public or private support
services (that is, specialized organizations or actors that help companies expand internationally by providing advice, contacts, training or support) have received increasing
attention in the literature. However, results are still contradictory or contrasted; some
consider that their efficiency on the internationalization performance is real (Brouthers
and Wilkinson, 2006; Gençtürk and Kotabe, 2001; Leonidou et al., 2011; Sousa and
Bradley, 2009) while others show that their effect remains limited (Francis and CollinsDodd, 2004; Ramsden and Bennet, 2005) or that exporting can be successful without
assistance (Dana et al., 2008).
To clarify how public and private support services might encourage internationalization
efforts by SMEs, we propose that specifying the type and stages of SMEs’ internationalization processes might be insightful. We thus consider that the way SMEs use support
services regarding their specific processes (determined by their type and stage) is of
utmost importance because it adds a complementary perspective to the debate regarding
the efficiency of these services: this efficiency is not only intrinsic to the support service
itself but might be enhanced if it is developed or used in conjunction with the process
undertaken by the SME.
SMES’ INTERNATIONALIZATION SUPPORT SERVICES: WHAT
WE KNOW SO FAR
We define internationalization support services as specialized organizations or actors that
help companies expand internationally by providing advice, contacts, training or support
(De Holanda Schmidt and Ferreira Da Silva, 2012; Freixanet, 2012). They may be organized
by the State (for example, national export promotion programs or assistance, or chambers
of commerce services) or by private actors, and their focus moves beyond solely export
services to include overall internationalization processes. Many SMEs rely on these actors to
facilitate or perform their sales, logistics, marketing and service activities (Balabanis, 2000;
282
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Peng and Ilinitch, 1998) because the support service providers have superior local market
knowledge or connections with relevant intermediaries. While the usefulness of export
promotion programs or export performance assistance has been widely debated (for an
updated review, see Coudounaris, 2018), the results remain contradictory or contrasted.
Moreover, the question of the use of these services during the internationalization process
is still an issue.
The Usefulness and the Use of Internationalization Support Services
On a general basis, studies focus more often on the frequency of use than on the use itself
(Ayob and Freixanet, 2014). To describe how firms use these programs, most studies
address the degree of adaptation to the firm’s needs (Crick, 1997; Naidu and Rao, 1993)
or specific firm characteristics, such as its international experience (from non-exporter to
advanced exporter) or size (Buckley, 1983; Freixanet, 2012). For example, Buckley (1983)
and Sbrana and Tangheroni (1991) show that SMEs use support services less than larger
firms do. However, given their budget constraints, they are more dependent than large
firms on the information generated by business associations (Gashi et al., 2013). Kedia
and Chhokar (1986) and Ahmed et al. (2002) assert that more experienced companies are
more likely to be clients of international support service providers. Koksal (2009) combines these aspects to argue that larger, more experienced companies are more familiar
with the various support services available from public authorities, so they can better
understand and rely on the assistance options that suit their needs.
Experience abroad and the stage of export development also might determine the link
between support service use and export performance, though prior research offers some
conflicting results. Denis and Depelteau (1985) and Seringhaus (1987) indicate that for
the most internationally experienced companies, export services mostly support their
pre-export activities. Crick (1997) instead finds that the most experienced firms are more
aware of these programs, so they use them more. In general, firms with different degrees
of internationalization expertise probably have different needs (Diamantopoulos et al.,
1993; Spence, 2003). Singer and Czinkota (1994) use export stage as an antecedent to
understand the relationship between service use and export outcomes. According to
their findings, the type of service or product sold and the company’s experience abroad
do not strongly influence its use of support services, whereas management commitment
does. Czinkota (1996) also shows that firms have a greater need of export training services in their early export phase, while they need more support for sales logistics when
they gain experience and reach a high advanced export level. Costa et al. (2017) explain
that most industrial business associations (such as chambers of commerce) seem to
provide continuous support for the international operations of SMEs, not only during
the initial stages. Freixanet (2012) instead shows that the level of knowledge and uses
of various programs vary with the type of assistance offered and the firm’s international experience; a proposed segmentation defines the firm’s level of internationalization involvement and skills using criteria such as export volume, size of the export
department, creation of permanent establishments abroad and creation of production
subsidiaries.
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Type and Variety of Internationalization Support Services
Few of these studies take an in-depth look at the nature of the assistance though, or if they
do, they focus on only one type. For example, Seringhaus (1987) describes trade missions
that support foreign market entry. Observing the specific role of chambers of commerce,
Leonidou and Theodosiou (2004) show that they provide first-hand information but that
this information is not regarded as useful for firms. When gathering information for internationalization, Leonidou and Katsikeas (1997) observed that companies relied more on
their personal network than on this institutional network. Crick (1997) details the type of
assistance requested, such as the need for information or financial support, and Freixanet
(2012) uses precise criteria to identify the nature of assistance programs and proposes
measuring performance according to firms’ international experience. Furthermore, we
note that most internationalization support services and programs are developed by state
agencies, but not exclusively. Studying the direct and indirect effects (via geographic scope)
of public support on the export intensity of European SMEs, Ciszewska-Mlinaric (2018)
shows that only financial support (versus non-financial support) is positively, directly and
indirectly associated with their export intensity. Beyond public actors, private companies
have gradually emerged as important actors, though extant research mostly ignores their
role. Among the few studies that analyse the impact of private-sector involvement in international trade policy (Singh, 1983), Bartoli et al. (2014) identify an important influence
of banks in supporting export efforts by SMEs. Finally, most studies involve traditional
exporters that take a gradual internationalization approach. Catanzaro et al. (2015) offer
some conceptual insights, but they focus on the effectiveness of international assistance
programs for specific stages of traditional internationalization processes.
This literature review thus reveals two key gaps. First, most studies center specifically on
the decision to start exporting. When studies expand to include support services applied
to different stages, the results are still contradictory. Also, with the notable exception of
Freixanet (2012), descriptions of internationalization stages tend to be limited, such as
describing pre-export and export stages. Even Freixanet’s (2012) classification does not
address how each stage of the process aligns with support service uses, despite evidence
that SMEs’ needs shift with their growth and progress (skills and resources). Second,
research focuses predominantly on the role of national export programs. We lack clear
distinctions among the types of support provided and about the role of private support
services.
THE USE OF SUPPORT SERVICES BY SMES DURING THEIR
INTERNATIONALIZATION PROCESS: WHAT WE NEED TO
KNOW
In his seminal work, Freixanet (2012) called for longitudinal analyses that could confirm
the causal effects of export programs. In line with this suggestion, Belhoste et al. (2019)
analyse SMEs’ choice to use (or not) internationalization assistance supports during the
entire internationalization process. In line with Hilmersson et al. (2017) and Efrat and
Shoham (2012), they define SME internationalization process according to two main
dimensions: (1) time to internationalization (that is, the time that has elapsed from a firm’s
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inception to its first sales abroad) and (2) the stage of their internationalization process
(that is, early stage and later stage international operations). These temporal aspects of
internationalization are used to discriminate between the type of SME process of internationalization (gradual or rapid) and the stage (entry or intensification). Based on a qualitative study of 32 French SMEs that have all reached Asian markets, either gradually (19
referred to as traditional SMEs) or rapidly (13 referred to as international new ventures,
INVs), they identify different configurations of the use of internationalization support
services by SMEs, challenging some previous assumptions and the conventional ways of
studying export services designed to support SMEs.
Type of Support Services and Time to Internationalization
The results from this study show that support services help traditional SMEs to build
knowledge, extend networks, reduce psychic distance (Johanson and Vahlne, 1990; Ojala,
2009) with Asia and, therefore, support gradual international involvement (Johanson and
Vahlne, 1990). This contrasts with INVs that use fewer support services given their lack of
resources. Traditional SMEs also look for specific private support services and are ready
to pay more than INVs and rely less on funding – a specificity of public support services.
We also observe high levels of disappointment from traditional SMEs regarding public
support services while INVs found some value in those services. This study also constitutes
an attempt to resolve some conflicting results in the literature. Ahmed et al. (2002), Crick
(1997) and Kedia and Chhokar (1986) argue that most experienced companies are more
likely to use international support structures. The findings indicate, contrary to Crick
(1997), that the use of internationalization assistance services declines as the firm gains
experience abroad if it is a traditional SME, but the same finding does not hold for INVs.
Type of Support Services and Stage of Internationalization
Previous literature had partially identified that the export phase (early export stage to
more advanced stage) could impact the use of support services. Czinkota (1996) and Crick
(1997) showed that firms have a greater need of export training services in their early
export phase and that the type of support may vary. Belhoste et al. (2019) go one step
further and complement Czinkota (1996) and Crick (1997)’s results showing that SMEs
have a greater need for export training services in their early export phase but only if they
are in a gradual process of internationalization. In contrast, most INVs realize they need
help after their first steps locally. Furthermore, as the use of internationalization assistance services varies with experience, the content of this support also differs. Singer and
Czinkota (1994) hypothesize that services providing objective knowledge (for example,
workshops and advice) are more useful during pre-export activities, whereas experiential knowledge services (for example, trade shows abroad) are more useful at advanced
stages. Belhoste et al. (2019) does not find such a clear distinction; rather, the use of these
services varies with the time to internationalize and stage of internationalization. Their
findings also reveal distinct, but complementary, uses of private and public support services. Consistent with Zahra and George (2002), they show that INVs seek tips and free
services, given the scarcity of financial and human resources, but only during the intensification stage. The use of private support actors is less important during this stage, unless
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traditional SMEs seek them after being disappointed by public services. Since traditional
SMEs know what services are available, they pursue an optimal mix of private and public
services, next to their business networks.
CONCLUSION
We think that this chapter provides a better understanding of the efficiency of support
services in two different ways: first, in better distinguishing the type of help and support
services actors used; and second, in measuring the efficiency regarding the internationalization process and stage rather than solely considering the export intensity as a dependent variable. Efficiency, in order to be evaluated, needs to consider not only the service
by itself but also the type of firm that uses it according to its internationalization stage
and process. We are convinced that this combination could help deepen the debate on
efficiency of export support services whether they are public of private.
These findings have several important managerial implications. In particular, support
services (public or private) can use them to target their offer more precisely, according to
the different types of SMEs they encounter and their internationalization process stages.
Furthermore, SMEs can clarify their needs, according to their current stage in their internationalization process. In turn, they can determine which tailor-made proposals offered
by private and public actors are most applicable to their internationalization efforts. It
also paves the way for several research perspectives. Extensions to distinct geographic
contexts might reveal whether the SME’s home country affects its use of support services;
we anticipate that the economic, institutional and cultural characteristics of the home
country likely influence how public and private support services develop their offers.
Other factors of heterogeneity among the SMEs (Ingley et al., 2017) could be observed
in order to study the use of support services by SMEs for their internationalization.
In particular, since networks are particularly important in the decision to enter a new
market (Castellaci, 2014), future research could investigate their (differentiated) role in
the internationalization processes of SMEs in relation to support services. Finally, in
line with Catanzaro et al. (2015), we call for more studies that investigate the impact of
support services on SMEs’ performance, according to whether their internationalization
process is gradual or rapid.
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Czinkota, M.R. (1996), ‘Why national export promotions?’, International Trade Forum, (2), 10–13.
Dana, L.P., T. Chan and D. Chia (2008), ‘Micro-enterprise internationalization without support’, Entrepreneurship
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Efrat, K. and A. Shoham (2012), ‘Born global firms: the differences between their short- and long-term performance drivers’, Journal of World Business, 47 (4), 675–85.
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34. Family business
Frederik J. Riar and Franz W. Kellermanns
Family firms are essential to both emerging and advanced economies. Nearly 90 percent
of all firms worldwide are family firms (Aldrich and Cliff, 2003); they outnumber nonfamily firms in terms of their contribution to global economic activity and employment
(De Massis et al., 2015; Gedajlovic et al., 2012). Although many family firms are small,
a sizable number are represented among medium and large corporations (La Porta et al.,
1999), such as ALDI Group, BMW, Cargill and Walmart.
Owing to the high relevance of family firms for the worldwide economy, scholars have
recognized family business as a research field (Debicki et al., 2009). The theory of family
firm conferences (see Chrisman et al., 2003; Chua et al., 2003), the highly visible publications on family business (for example, Schulze et al., 2001, 2003), and the establishment
of family-firm specific conferences (for example, the International Family Enterprise
Research Academy, IFERA, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC)
have helped to start and fuel the growth of the field.
Researchers have investigated many questions in this area, such as: how do family firms
evolve? How and why do family firms differ in their behavior compared to non-family
firms? What processes in family firms are affected by the idiosyncrasies that originate
from family involvement? Indeed, both entrepreneurship and general management
journals are now considered important outlets (Chrisman et al., 2008), among them
Family Business Review, Journal of Family Business Strategy, Entrepreneurship Theory
and Practice, the Journal of Management, the Academy of Management Journal and the
Academy of Management Review. Recent research suggests that the contributions from
the family-firm literature are central to questions in the wider fields of management and
the organizational sciences (for example, Gedajlovic et al., 2012).
DEFINING FAMILY BUSINESS
The definition of a family firm has never been fully settled, partly owing to the underlying heterogeneity of family firms. Not surprisingly, the literature provides a number of
definitions of a family firm (for instance, Chua et al., 1999; Westhead and Howorth,
2007). Chua et al. (1999: 25), for example, define a family firm as ‘a business governed
and/or managed with the intention to shape and pursue the vision of the business held
by a dominant coalition controlled by members of the same family or a small number
of families in a manner that is potentially sustainable across generations of the family or
families’. According to this definition, family involvement in ownership, management,
and succession are conditions that must apply (although not necessarily jointly) to distinguish a family firm from a non-family firm.
Defining a family business is further complicated by how it originates. Do firms tend
to be born as family businesses or can non-family firms be made into family businesses
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(Chua et al., 2004)? Both development patterns have important implications. On one side,
a family business may be created through the organization of resources and capabilities
of family members at its inception (for example, Sirmon and Hitt, 2003). On the other,
a firm may start with no family involvement at all, often termed a lone-founder firm in
the literature (for example, Miller et al., 2011). These firms may evolve into true family
firms later, often after family members of the founder become involved in ownership and
management. However, the initial intention of the founder is often not considered in this
debate. Thus, some lone-founder firms are born as family firms, while others develop into
family firms later, and yet others remain non-family businesses. Although the literature
is ambivalent, empirical results seem to favor family firms being born over being made.
Specifically, Chua et al. (2004) found that most firms were started as family firms with a
high degree of family involvement and an expectation of transgenerational succession,
while only a small fraction of family firms were started as non-family firms that gradually
evolved into family firms. The authors found that, over time, family involvement tends to
decline (Chua et al., 2004). This suggests that not only the ability of the family to influence the firm, but also the willingness to do so, should be an important part of defining
family firms by behavior (Chrisman et al., 2015a; Chua et al., 1999).
FAMILY BUSINESS BEHAVIOR
In addition to the questions of how family businesses are defined and how they evolve,
scholars have devoted significant attention to comparing family firms with non-family
firms, specifically, the drivers that distinguish between the two and that lead to heterogeneity of firm behavior (for example, Chrisman et al., 2009, 2015a; Gedajlovic et al., 2012).
Chrisman et al. (2015a), for example, present a framework of how family involvement
influences innovation management based on ability (discretion to act) and willingness
(disposition to act), and show that rational models of firm behavior do not always apply
to family firms. They suggest that although family firms have a superior ability to innovate
when compared with non-family firms (see also, Duran et al., 2016), family firms often
engage in idiosyncratic strategies, which lower their willingness to pursue technological
innovation (Chrisman et al., 2015a).
These important insights to firm behavior often assume a particular homogeneity of
both family and non-family firms. This mere assumption and basic distinction between
family and non-family firms, however, is insufficient for some research questions. Since
firms in general and family firms in particular can be very different (Chua et al., 2012;
Neubaum et al., 2019; Westhead et al., 2002), scholars have begun to study the heterogeneity of family firms by examining, for example, how family involvement affects aspects
such as internationalization, proactive stakeholder engagement, professionalization or
procedural justice climate (Arregle et al., 2012; Barnett et al., 2012; Cennamo et al., 2012;
Kellermanns et al., 2012; Verbeke and Kano, 2012).
In addition to investigating individual family-firm specific variables, recent family business scholars have applied new methodical approaches, such as latent profile analysis, to
generate theoretically meaningful profiles of family firms (Stanley et al., 2017, 2019).
Instead of focusing on individual variables, multiple variables are investigated together to
generate profiles and insights from regression analysis. For example, Stanley et al. (2019),
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having established multiple profiles of family firms, provide insight on how firms differ
in entrepreneurial orientation and performance. In particular, they found that tempered
family firms (that is, family firms with a board of directors, a family chief executive officer
and at least 50 percent family ownership) showed levels of entrepreneurial orientation and
firm performance different from other established firm types (for example, family firms
labeled strong family influence firms or dynasties). Taken together, the extant family business literature affirms the notion that family firms are not only unlike non-family firms
but also differ significantly from each other.
FAMILY BUSINESS GOALS
Family firm heterogeneity is often driven by diverging strategic orientations (Chua et al.,
2012; García-Álvarez and López-Sintas, 2001; Sirmon and Hitt, 2003), which are motivated by family firms’ unique idiosyncratic goals (Chrisman et al., 2015b; Kotlar and De
Massis, 2013). Williams et al. (2018) classify family business goal research as antecedents
(for example, family presence or founder influence), characteristics (for example, number
of goals or heterogeneity), related outcomes (for example, relationship related or governance related), moderators (for example, founder centrality or succession) and feedback
loops (for example, conflict or reputation).
The plethora of goals affect the type of utilities pursued by family firms. Recent
research suggests that family firms are frequently managed to maximize not financial
but non-financial goals, which are often associated with socio-emotional wealth (SEW)
(Berrone et al., 2012; Debicki et al., 2016; Gomez-Mejia et al., 2011; Gómez-Mejía et al.,
2007; Schulze and Kellermanns, 2015), that is, non-financial benefits that an owning
family derives from a business to satisfy affective needs, such as living out ownership
identity, exerting influence and control, and building or perpetuating a family dynasty
(Gómez-Mejía et al., 2007). Prior research on SEW in the family business field suggests
that the stronger the role of the family in the business, the greater the pursuit of SEW
(Gomez-Mejia et al., 2011; Gómez-Mejía et al., 2007). Yet, pursuit of the various dimensions of SEW is not uniform (Randolph et al., 2019) and varies by the underlying goal
structure of the family, specific characteristics of the family firm, and interactions among
family members (Berrone et al., 2012; Debicki et al., 2016; Jiang et al., 2018; Randolph et
al., 2019). A better understanding of the psychological micro-foundations of family firms
is warranted (Jiang et al., 2018).
CONCLUSION
Our brief overview of family business includes a discussion of definitions of family firms
as well as a description of family-firm behavior and goals. While early research has characterized family firms as a uniform block, our overview emphasizes that family firms are
now recognized as heterogeneous in the literature. This underlying heterogeneity offers
multifarious opportunities for future research.
For example, relationship conflict and its negative implications have been stressed both
in the more practitioner-orientated literature (for example, Gordon and Nicholson, 2008)
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and in more academic-orientated research (for example, Kellermanns and Eddleston,
2004). Yet, differences in the occurrence, frequency, and strength of both positive and
negative forms of conflict are probably driven by a plethora of family-related variables.
The number of family members and their kinship relationships, as well as their relationship quality, are likely to affect the complexity of the conflict. In addition, family-firm
specific variables, such as family ownership distribution, family involvement in the business, and succession planning, may affect conflict and suggest that heterogeneity is a key
aspect not yet fully captured in the literature.
More specifically, the heterogeneity of the family itself is important and can influence
decision-making processes. While the notion of the importance of the family in family
firms is not new (Aldrich and Cliff, 2003; Morris and Kellermanns, 2013), the role of the
family often plays the part of an unobserved variable in the literature. For example, while
succession is a dominant theme in family-firm research (De Massis et al., 2008), little is
known of how kinship relationships play out during the succession process (for an exception, see Haberman and Danes, 2007). Focusing on kinship research and evolutionary
psychology (Yu et al., 2020) or social psychology (Jiang et al., 2018) provides useful ways
to capture family-firm heterogeneity.
Finally, not all family firms are embedded in the same institutional environments. While
the literature assumes that certain aspects of family firms are universal (that is, the pursuit
of idiosyncratic behavior driven by family-specific elements), the why and how may differ
dramatically according to the environment and culture to which the firm is exposed. For
example, some researchers have focused on the uniqueness of family businesses in Asia
(Eddleston et al., 2019), while others have examined family firms in Africa (Khavul et al.,
2009), where kinship ties work in a unique way (Khayesi et al., 2014).
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nonfamily firms’, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33 (3), 739–60.
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in family firm innovation’, Journal of Product Innovation Management, 32 (3), 310–18.
Chrisman, J.J., J.H. Chua, F.W. Kellermanns, C.F. Matherne III and B.J. Debicki (2008), ‘Management journals
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Chrisman, J.J., H. Fang, J. Kotlar and A. De Massis (2015b), ‘A note on family influence and the adoption of
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Chua, J.H., J.J. Chrisman and L.P. Steier (2003), ‘Extending the theoretical horizons of family business research’,
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Chua, J.H., J.J. Chrisman, L.P. Steier and S.B. Rau (2012), ‘Sources of heterogeneity in family firms: an introduction’, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 36 (6), 1103–13.
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De Massis, A., A. Di Minin and F. Frattini (2015), ‘Family-driven innovation: resolving the paradox in family
firms’, California Management Review, 58 (1), 5–19.
Debicki, B.J., F.W. Kellermanns, J.J. Chrisman, A.W. Pearson and B.A. Spencer (2016), ‘Development of a
socioemotional wealth importance (SEWi) scale for family firm research’, Journal of Family Business Strategy,
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Debicki, B.J., C.F. Matherne, F.W. Kellermanns and J.J. Chrisman (2009), ‘Family business research in the new
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Duran, P., N. Kammerlander, M. van Essen and T. Zellweger (2016), ‘Doing more with less: Innovation input
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García-Álvarez, E. and J. López-Sintas (2001), ‘A taxonomy of founders based on values: the root of family
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Gedajlovic, E., M. Carney, J.J. Chrisman and F.W. Kellermanns (2012), ‘The adolescence of family firm
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Gomez-Mejia, L.R., C. Cruz, P. Berrone and J. De Castro (2011), ‘The bind that ties: socioemotional wealth
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35. Financial issues of entrepreneurship
Jean-Michel Sahut and Eric Braune
Entrepreneurial companies are characterized by strong, even hyper, growth in
their sales and/or assets. For many researchers, the strong growth of start-ups is linked
to the characteristics of the company, its resources and its governance structure.
Companies have only limited resources at the time of their creation. To grow, they
consume many resources, both financial and cognitive. Their growth thus depends
on their ability to mobilize numerous stakeholders who distribute these resources,
but who in return modify the governance structure of the company (Dowling et al.,
2019).
Therefore, entrepreneurs face specific financial problems compared with other
businesses. These are the issues addressed in this chapter. They have given rise to
a considerable amount of research on entrepreneurial finance at the intersections
between several disciplines including finance, but also entrepreneurship and even
innovation.
These issues are explored in two parts: start-up financing cycles and the challenges
inherent to entrepreneurial financing.
1.
START-UP FINANCING CYCLES
Start-ups usually consume more cash than they generate owing to their investments
(particularly in technology and marketing) and working capital requirements greatly
exceeding net cash flows (income minus out-of-pocket expenses) from operations. Thus,
their lack of financial resources can lead growing start-ups to default and then to file for
bankruptcy.
Financial difficulties for start-ups also stem from:
●
●
●
their intangibility. Their most valuable assets are usually intangibles (patents,
trademarks and other intellectual property rights) which are inherently difficult to
finance with credit;
the nature of their growth. This is generally based on innovative products or services
which are very promising but for which the market is uncertain. This increases both
the risk of bankruptcy and the potential gain if successful; and
their team. Start-ups must attract, motivate, compensate and retain highly qualified technical and entrepreneurial talent in ways which minimize the impact on the
company’s current cash flows, which are often severely limited.
More specifically, the financial requirements of start-ups evolve mainly according to their
stage of development. As young companies increase their turnover, investments must be
increased and the uncertainties in their target market must decrease.
295
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Revenue
Equity crowdfunding & crowdlending
Accelerators
VCs, acquisitions/mergers &
strategic alliances
Angels, FFF
Later stage
Seed capital
Co-founders
Secondary offerings
Early stage
Public market
Mezzanine
3rd
Break even
IPO
2nd
1st
Valley of death
Time
Note: Horizontal axis is the time or age of the start-up; vertical axis is the revenue of the start-up; bold
curve = evolution of start-up revenues; 1st = first stage of financing; 2nd = second stage of financing, 3rd =
third stage of financing, mezzanine = at this stage, firms can access to mezzanine financing. At the first stage,
the new firm seeks out seed capital and funding from family, friends and fools (FFF), angel investors and
accelerators. Then, if the firm can survive through the ‘valley of death’ – the period when the firm is trying to
develop on a ‘shoestring’ budget – the firm can raise capital from diverse sources, including venture capitalists
(VCs).
Source:
Accessed 18 April 2020 at https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Venture_capital.
Figure 35.1
Start-up financing cycle
Actors financing the start-up will therefore intervene according to their assessment of
three fundamental parameters of the start-up: its stage of development (level of turnover
or assets), the volume of capital requested and the perceived risk.
The financing of start-ups has transformed over the past decade to become more
complex owing to the arrival of new players, Figure 35.1 provides an overview of these
players according to their revenue and time.
There are many possible sources to finance a start-up:
●
●
●
●
●
self-financing (provided by the founders);
subsidies (provided by governments or non-governmental organizations);
working capital (provided by suppliers and customers);
credit (provided by banks and other investors); and
increase in capital (provided by friends, business angels, venture capitalists and
other investors).
Only equity financing (via capital increases) is accessible in the early stages of development because creditors need the company to have already been active for a few years to
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assess its risk and then to lend money. However, with the development of crowdlending,
entrepreneurs can have access to credit at earlier stages of development in which banks
will not intervene.
Aside from the founders of the start-up, the various stakeholders who may participate
in increasing the capital (equity) of the start-up in its different stages of development are
●
●
●
●
●
●
family, friends and fools (FFF): those close to the entrepreneur (family, friends
and acquaintances) can be a source of possible financing at the time of creation.
Usually, these people invest for friendly or personal reasons, and they generally
remain passive vis-à-vis the management of the start-up they have helped to create;
crowd (by crowdfunding): a new kind of participative financing. Through a platform, an intermediary presents different projects in order to solicit funding from
Internet users;
business angels: including private individuals who decide to invest part of their
financial wealth in innovative companies. Passionate about the entrepreneurial
adventure, they are generally former entrepreneurs themselves (or even serial
entrepreneurs);
venture capital (including seed funds and government venture capital funds): a
type of financing provided by companies or funds to small, early-stage, emerging
companies;
private equity: an alternative investment type and consists of capital that is not
listed on a public exchange;
initial public offering (IPO, including individual and institutional investors): the
first sale of stock issued by a company in order to be exchanged later, on a stock
market.
Segmentation of the different financing actors listed in Figure 35.1 tends to evolve
with the impulse of new players, different forms of crowdfunding, the shift of certain
traditional players towards seed capital (risk capital interventions in seed capital) and the
development of co-investment between different types of players (Drover et al., 2017;
Sahut et al., 2020).
This evolution makes it easier for the entrepreneur to access various sources of financing from the start. By restoring power to the entrepreneur vis-à-vis capital providers, the
entrepreneur can thus develop a real financing strategy and trajectory (Bellavitis et al.,
2017), by decompartmentalizing the types of resources provided and negotiating financing agreements which are more advantageous for them (in the shareholders’ pact, for
example).
Governance, the purpose of which is to govern the entrepreneur’s conduct by regulating interactions with the various providers of resources (Cumming et al., 2020) therefore becomes an increasingly crucial issue in both the financing of start-ups and their
success.
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2.
ENTREPRENEURIAL FUNDING CHALLENGES
Informational and Cognitive Problems Linked to Financing Decisions Made by Innovative
Start-ups
Financing decisions ideally should be based on perfect information from managerentrepreneurs. While problems of agency are often mentioned when the business environment is static, environmental uncertainty leads to an increase in information problems
faced by fund investors and entrepreneurs alike. We must therefore try to analyse all
problems relating to financing entrepreneurial projects in a climate marked by radical
uncertainty.
It is widely accepted that manager-entrepreneurs have an informational advantage in
external capital markets. According to agency theory (Jensen and Meckling, 1976), this
informational asymmetry can lead managers to make non-optimal decisions from the
perspective of funders. Innovative projects in particular, in the context of business creation, can, by the intangible nature of the assets they generate and on which they are based,
give rise to different forms of manipulation by entrepreneurs, and can generate residual
losses for investors.
Aboody and Lev (2000) note that executives of companies engaged in research and
development activities earn three to four times more from buying or selling shares in their
companies than do executives of other companies. It seems, therefore, that the managers
of research and development intensive enterprises are taking advantage of the informational advantage they have to make the most of the financial valuation of the companies
they run.
For example, the Myers and Majluf (1984) model shows that the announcement of
financing of a new project through the issuance of shares reveals a type of company
whose assets are of low value and overvalued by the market. The issuance of shares then
allows the executive to retain a disproportionate share of the operating flows generated
by the new project at the expense of new shareholders. Aboody and Lev (2000) propose
that investors favour financing projects which have the shortest recovery times. O’Sullivan
(1998) argues that the objective of financial markets has never been to finance innovation
or entrepreneurship, but instead to provide liquidity to capital providers or to transform
initially illiquid investments into negotiable property rights on the financial markets.
The possibilities for activating research and development expenditures are highly regulated by accounting standards, including IAS 38. However, this strict boundary does not
necessarily meet the conservative objective of those who drafted the standard. Indeed,
Lev (2001) points out that the manager can aggressively decide to spend all research and
development expenses on charges. On the one hand, this decision will not be sanctioned
by investors who are not sensitive to the exceptional losses recorded by the company. On
the other, if the research and development project is successful, the company will be able
to count on net depreciation revenue streams and in this way display an illusorily inflated
profitability ratio over a period of several years.
This mechanism may seem interesting to manager-entrepreneurs who are both concerned with masking the research and development effort of the company they are managing while demonstrating their ability to generate a high rate of return on investment.
It is also consistent with the findings underpinning Daniel and Titman’s (2006) model.
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They found that the income of past intangibles is positively and strongly correlated with
the issuance of shares, and strongly and negatively correlated with the company’s future
revenues. Investors’ expectations are therefore skewed owing to the concealment of the
origin of the income they see.
The vagueness of traditional assessment models also contributes to the choice of
funding for projects with a rapid recovery time. Sahut and Mnejja (2009) highlight the
vagueness surrounding profitability estimates of innovative projects and start-ups. This
difficulty, aside from any agency problems, generates a cognitive cost associated with the
exchange of information between the entrepreneur and potential investors in the project,
and this cost is borne in full by the company. Empirically, Lev et al. (2005) show that
companies with high growth rates in research and development expenditure and relatively
low revenue growth – typically intangible, asset-intensive start-ups – are systematically
undervalued by investors. As a consequence, projects may be excluded because of the
cognitive costs associated with information exchange between project proponents and
their financers. This brings into question the traditional framework and the usual nature
of information exchanges between business leaders and investors.
The Capital Structure of Innovative Start-ups and Financing of Research and
Development Expenses: Debt versus Cash Flow
According to agency theory, the presence of a large volume of debt in the liabilities of the
company can encourage shareholders to opt for high-risk investment projects with high
hopes for income. If successful, shareholders will withhold most of the revenue from the
project; if the project fails, the bankers will bear the bulk of the cost. Contractual arrangements protect bankers from this risk and the industries where the risk of asset substitution
is greatest must have the highest debt financing costs. As a result, innovative start-ups
should have a particularly high cost of capital. Opler and Titman (1994) and Shi (2003) identify the different costs associated with financing innovative companies through debt. Shi
(2003) notes that the increase in research and development spending is associated with an
increase in the financial cost of debt. The author also points out that debt remains a means
of financing widely used by innovative companies. Opler and Titman (1994) argue that
highly indebted companies which invest in research and development are those which will
lose the most market share in the event of a slowdown in economic activity. In this situation,
banks seek to recover their debt by cutting investments, which is particularly detrimental to
start-ups engaged in highly innovative markets. The results recorded by Opler and Titman
(1994) therefore validate the hypothesis that creditors lack knowledge about investment
opportunities. A study of relational banking financing in Japan arguably demonstrates that
banks do not have a sufficient time horizon nor the expertise necessary to assess the quality
of the links between the business model of the company and its financing strategy as soon
as the environment becomes complex.
Analysing the sources of financing for US companies during the 1951–96 period, Fama
and French (1999) highlight the predominant role of self-financing in company investment strategies. While the issuance of shares only financed 7.9 per cent of investments
and long-term debts financed little more than 17 per cent of these, the revenues generated
by the company cover 69.5 per cent of the financing needs of the investment. This leads
to a general acceptance of the manager’s authority in investment decisions: they enjoy an
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informational advantage over shareholders and concentrate most of the resources needed
on financing their investment choices.
Companies’ preference for financing investments through cash flow raises the problem
of the financial constraint on investment decisions. Manager-entrepreneurs identify
investment opportunities and forgo incurring expenses owing to insufficient current availability or the uncertainty weighing on its future cash flow.
In summary, if the solution of financing investments by cash flow predominates, this
method of financing generates different types of problems which concern:
●
●
●
centralization of information and decisions made by the manager;
concentration of financial management resources; and
limited investment financing capacity.
Expanding the Concept of Financing: Property Rights versus Rights of Control and
Access
The new forms of production organization are now characterized by a dispersion
of knowledge which is accompanied by a movement to specialize company expertise
(Minkler, 1993). For example, Lewis (1995) argues that goods and services purchased
by an industrial company account for between 50 per cent and 70 per cent of the value
created. However, if the organization of production is based on shared knowledge, the
products exchanged between sellers and buyers possess qualities that are difficult to
measure. As a consequence, these transactions cannot easily be organized through a
market relationship. It is therefore not surprising that pragmatic collaborations (Helper et
al., 2000) have replaced the old types of alliances. As argued by Helper et al. (2000), these
new forms of collaboration are characterized by a common desire to improve the property
being traded without this work being accompanied by a clear division of property rights
and control over goods and services generated in this way. The acquiring company retains
the right to source from other suppliers, and its partner can freely redeploy the proceeds
of collaboration from other purchasers. These flexible collaborations appear to be well
adapted to the organization of production in markets characterized by rapid technological change.
On the one hand, they allow buyers to quickly change partners and thus take advantage
of the innovations proposed by innovative start-ups without delay. For example, Gilson
et al. (2009) report that inter-company collaborations to develop new products do not necessarily come with a requirement to supply the partner. Analysing the contract between
Warner-Lambert and Ligand Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology laboratory, Gilson et al.
(2009) note that Warner-Lambert provides the bulk of research and development funding
for Ligand Pharmaceuticals, while ensuring that the former can terminate the relationship at any time. Expenses already incurred would then be deemed unrecoverable costs. In
this case, Warner-Lambert must waive ownership rights over the results already achieved
by terminating the collaboration and Ligand is then free to continue research with the
partner of its choice. The contract also provides that Ligand will receive compensation
based on the salary of the researchers involved in the project as well as a fee for the
research undertaken if Warner Lambert decides to withdraw from the project.
On the other hand, the terms of Ligand’s withdrawal are not envisaged in the contract,
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which seems to indicate that this collaboration is not accompanied by any opportunity
costs for Ligand. This seems to validate the access logic described by Rajan and Zingales
(1998). According to these authors, companies that possess a scarce resource and control
their partners’ access to this resource can encourage them to specialize in ways that are
favourable to them. In this context, the control rights exercised over access are sufficient
for the partners to specialize, and there is therefore no need to resort to integrating the
latter into the company. Thus, for Rajan and Zingales (1998) the exercise of control
rights over access to a resource can replace property rights over assets, and this enables
the company holding a scarce resource to multiply its collaborations with other entities,
including start-ups whose research and development it can finance in full or in part. The
disconnection of control rights and property rights leads to a division of roles between
companies. Innovative start-ups are tasked with exploring the possibilities offered by different fields of knowledge, while established companies build system products which can
incorporate these different fields (Chesbrough and Rosenbloom, 2002).
Venture Capital
Brown et al. (2009) attribute 75 per cent of the technology boom of the 1990s to the
massive growth in financing of innovative start-ups during this period. Kortum and
Lerner (2000) suggest that venture capital, although on average less than 3 per cent of a
company’s research and development spending during the period 1983–92, was nevertheless responsible for 10 per cent of the American industrial innovations of that decade. In
order to describe venture capitalists, we must differentiate fund managers, termed general
partners, from investors or sponsors, known as limited partners. The former raise funds
from the latter, make investment decisions and sit on the board of innovative start-ups.
The remuneration of general partners consists of fees and a percentage, usually 20 per
cent, of the gains from the sale of the fund’s ownership rights to financed companies
(Gompers and Lerner, 1999). Venture capitalists may be confused with general partners,
but most of the former delegate management of their investment and are content to
have a passive role in controlling the return rate of their investment. Limited partners
do not intervene in the management of companies financed by the fund. Furthermore,
some companies, such as Apple, directly finance innovative start-ups. Others, such as
Dell, have set up subsidiaries dedicated to corporate venturing investments or intervene
through funds issued by independent financial companies dedicated to corporate venturing (Dushnitsky, 2006). In all cases, corporate venturing investments cannot exceed the
available funding of the companies in question.
The first work of venture capital companies therefore involves selecting projects, and
each of these can be assessed against the information available to the venture capitalist
about the companies’ internal research and development. Furthermore, Manigart et al.
(2000) note that Anglo-Saxon and continental European countries do not use the same
assessment tools and do not give equal importance to the different criteria always present
at the time of selection. Consequently, US companies, whose activity is more business
orientated and less solely financial, tend to favour two criteria. The first is the entrepreneur’s résumé. They must have previously demonstrated their ability to carry out innovative projects and at this stage, this dimension is considered discriminating by investors.
Moreover, when the marketing phase of the innovative product commences, the head of
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the company can be replaced by a different profile and it is therefore not necessary for the
project to be initiated by a manager (Kaplan et al., 2009). The second criterion relates to
the overall coherence of the project, although solely accounting aspects are background
considerations. As Chesbrough and Rosenbloom (2002) note, the business plan can be
developed as innovation takes shape, and the example of Xerox’s invention of the photocopier demonstrates that the inadequacy of the business plan cannot be sufficient to
invalidate a project. Therefore, the credibility of the project and the quality of the research
previously carried out by the contractor are the two key factors that can favourably guide
the decisions made by investors. The second work of venture capital companies relates to
project financing conditions. These have two characteristics: the sequencing and syndication of investments, the interests of are mentioned next (Rédis and Sahut, 2013).
Venture capital financing is sequential, that is, additional funds are made available to
the contractor based on the status of the project. Funders can also stop investing if the
project or contractor do not keep their promises. Sequencing of the investment is part of
an innovative four-step management plan for the start-up, having an average duration of
six years (Kaplan and Schoar, 2005). It appears that the role of venture capitalists, regardless of the nature of the venture capital, far exceeds the functions traditionally assigned to
a company’s financial partners. In addition to the usual control activities, organizational,
legal, technical and commercial expertise are also available, and these are all sources of
added value for the company. Furthermore, sequencing funding enables dynamic risk
management. Start-up companies receive fewer resources, are refinanced more frequently
than expansion companies and their financing is conditional to a higher internal return
rate than traditional companies (Gompers and Lerner, 1999).
Moreover, the study undertaken by Sorenson and Toby (2001) concerning the conditions of funding for 7590 start-ups reveals that more than two-thirds of this funding was
syndicated. This means that different venture capitalists simultaneously or successively
invested in the same innovative project. In addition, when the analysis focuses on corporate venture capital strategies, this ratio increases further, to almost 90 per cent (Basu et
al., 2011). Syndication of venture capital investments has several advantages. First, compared with traditional financing, this mechanism makes it possible to invest in a larger
number of projects and therefore constitutes a means of risk diversification (Abel and
Nisar, 2007). Furthermore, Brander et al. (2002) argue that co-financing practices enable
investors with limited resources to participate in more projects and thus improve their
information and knowledge on innovative projects. Finally, research into co-financing
makes it possible to multiply opinions on the project at hand before committing funds.
Convertible bonds are by far the preferred financing instrument for venture capital
companies. The study conducted by Kaplan and Stromberg (2000) shows that convertible
bonds were used in 189 of the 200 funding sequences they analysed. Convertible bonds
have a unique feature which makes them particularly attractive in financing risky projects;
they enable investors to change the nature of the debt they hold in the company according to the state of the project completed. Thus, if the project succeeds, the venture capital
companies are the residual creditors of the company. In any other outcomes, the convertible bond is comparable to a company debt. Therefore, the use of this financial instrument
allows risk to be transferred to the entrepreneur when things go wrong and changes the
rights of investors to cash flow as the project is developed (Schmidt, 2003). Furthermore,
Hellmann (2006) states that venture capital companies generally employ a particular
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type of convertible bond, termed a preferred convertible equity bond, which allocates
decision-making rights to investors prior to conversion of the stock into shares, and it
is accompanied by a right to an additional dividend. According to Hellmann (2006) this
leads the investors to prefer an exit by acquisition of the company, even if this appears less
favourable to the entrepreneur. The acquisition value must reflect the expected future revenues of the company. However, in the event of a sale, the preferential convertible equity
bonds held by the investors are not converted into common shares. The financers therefore capture a significant portion of the proceeds of the sale at the expense of the entrepreneur, who is not paid to the extent of the effort he or she has provided. Kaplan et al.
(2009) argue that capital companies rely more on ‘the horse’ than ‘the jockey’, and note
that the common thread of the project does not evolve significantly between the different
investment sequences. Kaplan et al. (2009) note that the replacement of the entrepreneur
is positively related to the development of alienated assets, such as patents. Investors will
not hesitate to part with the initiator of the project as soon as the human capital held by
the project no longer represents a critical resource for the company. Focusing on sharing
the value created, Kaplan et al. (2009) measure the evolution of the median share of
property rights held by the initiator of the project. However, this decreased from 31.7 per
cent during the construction phase of the business plan to 12.5 per cent shortly before the
company’s initial public offering. A year later, the initiator of the project will only own 3.2
per cent of the company he or she helped to create.
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