WRITING GEM
REPORTS
GEM Video Training Series
Alicia Coduras
GEM National Experts Survey Coordinator
GEM Data Team Member
The main purposes of participating in the GEM Project are:
• To collaborate in the building of international indicators on
entrepreneurial activity to analyze the role of it versus the economic
and social development
• To provide data for the Global Report
• To get national information on entrepreneurial activity
• To get information to write a national, regional or city report
• To communicate and diffuse all this information to influence
institutions and help fostering the entrepreneurial spirit and activity in
all participating territories
That is why the writing of a GEM Report is so important
The factors that determinate the GEM report writing are:
• Available resources for the edition: this determinates the length, type
and number of books
• The size of the team, the time available for members to do this task,
the organization and similar
• The experience of the writers and their knowledge about GEM
variables and the possibilities they offer
• The support of the host institution and also of external institutions
• The audience to which authors are going to address the Report
Starting from a point where all these issues have been decided,
begins the task of writing and editing the report
An outline must be developed, and it is recommended to take a look
on examples of previous National GEM Reports to get ideas and
select materials
It is also very important to read and understand the GEM documents
about the variables of all files: APS, NES and secondary variables to
well know the data, the parts of the population to which they relate and
all the details they are able to bring
Structure of the Report
• Letter(s) of introduction
• Introduction to the GEM Project including the theoretical model and
the entrepreneurial process diagram
• Executive summary with the main issues and describing the
features of the national entrepreneurial results and environment for
entrepreneurship
• The scope of the entrepreneurial process
• Motivation: necessity versus opportunity
• The profile of the persons involved in each part or the
entrepreneurial process
Structure of the Report (cont.)
• The characteristics of the activities involved in the nascent, new and
established stages
• The financing of the entrepreneurial process
• The perceptual, and attitudes features of the involved and not
involved population
• The institutional framework for entrepreneurship
• Other special chapters: entrepreneurship and gender, special topic
of the year, regional comparisons….
• Conclusions and recommendations
• Methodology and disclaimers
• Bibliography and references
Letter(s) of Introduction
• It is recommended to open the GEM Report with a letter written by:
o Main Sponsor(s)
o The GEM national Director
o A relevant personality
• An introductory letter uses to describe the importance of the project
for the territory, the usefulness, the objectives, the audience that can
take profit on the information that GEM offers, the motivation to give
support to this observatory, etc.
Introduction to the Project and Theoretical
Model
• The introduction must introduce the GEM project to readers
• There are many examples on how to write this part, and it is
recommended de carefully reading of recent Global Reports
• Some critical points that must be developed here are:
-What is GEM
-Mission, objectives, main issues
-Description of the entrepreneurial process from the GEM point of view
-GEM theoretical model
-Sources of information
-Main global results of the project
Executive Summary
• It is written when the report is finished and all the analysis made
• It presents a quick overview of the results of the observatory the
current year
• The purpose of this summary is to allow readers make an idea of
the report contents
• The summary describes and outlines briefly the main results of each
part of the report
THE SCOPE OF THE ENTREPRENEURIAL PROCESS
DISCENT, EXIT_RS,
EXIT_CTD, EXIT_ENT
Can be described thanks to the following
variables included in GEM SPSS files
Exited/abandoned
Last 12 months
Early Stage Entrepreneurial Activity
Potential e-ship
Nascent e-ship
New baby e-ship
Intention
0-3 months
3 - 42 months
1,34%
established
businessess
> 42 months
TEAYYSTA
6,7%
FUTSU
P
2,2%
2,1%
7,7%
ESTBBUS
O
TEA = 4,3%
TEAYY
% over population
aged 18-64
Motivation: Necessity versus Opportunity
TEA11MOP
TEA11FOP
TEA11MNE
TEA11FNE
TEA11OPP
TEA11NEC
TEA11OTH
TEA11MOT
TEA11MIX
SU_11WHY
BB_11WHY
TEA11WHY
EB_11WHY
SU_OPTYP
BB_OPTYP
TEAOPTYP
EB_OPTYP
SU_MOTIV
BB_MOTIV
TEAMOTIV
EB_MOTIV
SUBOPP11
SUBNEC11
Involved in TEA, opportunity, male
Involved in TEA, opportunity, female
Involved in TEA, necessity, male
Involved in TEA, necessity, female
Involved in Opportunity early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity
Involved in Necessity early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity
Involved in Entrepreneurial Activity, cannot code motive
TEA: opportunity, necessity or other motive
Mix of opportunity and necessity (items 3+4 in q2h and q3g)
Motive for nascent entrepreneurs
Motive for baby business owners-managers
Motive for people involved in TEA
Motive for established business owners-managers
SU: Opportunity type, 4 categories
BB: Opportunity type, 4 categories
TEA: Opportunity type, 4 categories
BB: Opportunity type, 4 categories
SU: motive for nascent entrepreneurs, combination of q2g and 2gi
BB: motive for baby business owners, combination of q2g and 2gi
TEA: motive for people involved in TEA, combination of q2g and 2gi
EB: motive for established business owners, combination of q2g and 2gi
Nascent entrepreneur, opportunity
Nascent entrepreneur, necessity
Main motivation to start
up over TEA = 100%
Opportunity
73%
To get independence
43,3%
Increase
income
35,0%
Necessity
25,4%
Mantain
income
16,5%
Other
5,2%
Other
1,7%
Profiles
• It is possible to make average profiles for people involved in each
part of the entrepreneurial process:
o Potential entrepreneurs
o Nascent
o Baby
o Established
o Exited
• Gender, age group, work status, education, income thirds, house
size…
• Select people of each stage and work with variables: gender, age,
gemwork, gemeduc, gemhhinc, hhsize,
Characteristics of the Activities
Sector, innovation, competitiveness, use of recent technologies,
technological level, internationalization, employment….
For nascent: select TEAYYSTA = 1for baby select = 2
Main, target variables:
TEASIC4C: TEA, FIRM TYPE,4 CATEG ISIC[R3,90]
TEACUST: TEA: How many (potential) customers consider product
new/unfamiliar?
TEACOMP: TEA: How many businesses offer the same products?
TEATECH: TEA: Were the technologies or procedures available more than a
year ago?
TEAYYMEM: TEAyy: Market Expansion Mode
TEAEXP4C: TEA: export intensity, 4 categories
TEAHITEC: TEA: Technology level of the sector
TEAOWNER: TEA: number of owners
TEAYYJNW: TEA: current number of jobs, 4 categories
TEAYYJ5Y: TEA: expected number of jobs, 4 categories
TEAJOBGP: TEA: Expected job growth (percentage) in 5 years
Characteristics of the Activities
For established: select ESTBBUSO = 1
Main, target variables:
EB_SIC4C = EB: FIRM TYPE,4 CATEG ISIC[R3,90]
EB_CUST = EB: many (potential) customers consider product
new/unfamiliar?
EB_COMP = EB: How many businesses offer the same products?
EB_TECH = EB: Were the technologies or procedures available more than a
year ago?
EB_MEM = Expansion Mode, owner-manager of established business
EB_EXP4C = EB: export intensity, 4 categories
EB_HITEC = EB: Technology level of the sector
EB_OWNER = EB: number of owners
EB_yyJNW = EB: current number of jobs, 4 categories
EB_yyJ5Y = EB: expected number of jobs, 4 categories
EB_JOBGP = EB: Expected job growth (percentage) in 5 years
Financing
Informal investment and business angel
Variables:
Busang= Q4A. Have you, in the past three years, personally provided
funds for a new business started by someone else, excluding any
purchases of stocks or mutual funds?
Bafund= Q4B. Approximately how much, in total, have you personally
provided to these business start-ups in the past three years, not
counting any investments in publicly traded stocks or mutual funds?
Barel= Q4C. What was your relationship with the person that received
your most recent personal investment?
barel_oth= Q4C. Other type of relationship with the person that
received your most recent personal investment?
The perceptual, and attitudes features of the
involved and not involved population
knowent
opport
suskill
fearfail
equalinc
nbgoodc
nbstatus
nbmedia
Qi1. Do you know someone personally who started a business in the past 2 years?
Qi2. In the next six months, will there be good opportunities for starting a business
in the area where you live?
Qi3. Do you have the knowledge, skill and experience required to start a new
business?
Qi4. Would fear of failure would prevent you from starting a business?
Qi5. In my country, most people would prefer that everyone had a similar standard of
living.
Qi6. In my country, most people consider starting a new business a desirable career
choice.
Qi7. In my country, those successful at starting a new business have a high level of
status and respect.
Qi8. In my country, you will often see stories in the public media about successful
new businesses.
The institutional framework for
entrepreneurship
Use the NES data to design a diagnostic on the state of institutions
and framework conditions for entrepreneurs
There is a wide range of available information:
• Individual level
• Aggregated level
• Opened responses on constraints, supports and recommendations