New venture internationalisation and the cluster life cycle: insights from Ireland’s indigenous software industry

The internationalization of new and small firms has been a long-standing concern of researchers in international business (Coviello and McAuley, 1999; Ruzzier et al., 2006). This topic has been re-invigorated over the last decade by the burgeoning literature on so-called ‘born globals’ (BG) or ‘international new ventures’ (INV) – businesses that confound the expectations of traditional theory by being active internationally at, or soon after, inception (Aspelund et al., 2007; Bell, 1995; Rialp et al., 2005). Until quite recently, this literature had not really considered how the home regional environment of a new venture might influence its internationalization behaviour. However, a handful of recent studies have shown that being founded in a geographic industry ‘cluster’ can positively influence the likelihood of a new venture internationalizing (e.g., Fernhaber et al., 2008; Libaers and Meyer, 2011). This chapter seeks to build on these recent contributions by further probing the relationship between clusters and new venture internationalization. Specifically, taking inspiration from recent work in the thematic research stream on clusters (which spans the fields of economic geography, regional studies and industrial dynamics), the chapter explores how the emergence and internationalization of new ventures might be affected by the ‘cluster life cycle’ context within which they are founded. This issue is examined through a revelatory longitudinal case study of Ireland’s indigenous software cluster. The study investigates the origins and internationalization behaviour of ‘leading’ Irish software ventures but, in contrast to many existing studies, it seeks to understand these firms within the context of the Irish software cluster’s emergence and evolution through a number of ‘life-cycle’ stages

Employment Generation and Poverty Alleviation through SME Cluster Development in Bangladesh

SME Cluster Development could be an emerging force of entrepreneurship development, employment generation and poverty alleviation for any least developed country like Bangladesh. SMEs located at different clusters of Bangladesh are contributing in generating employment and income for the workers and producing import substitute product simultaneously. Realizing the full potential of SME cluster development in Bangladesh, it is important for all stakeholders to sit together and find out a concrete solution for the identified challenges of SME clusters. Recommended action plan could be catalyst to enhance productivity, increase efficiency, quality, acceptability, market linkage of SME products of Bangladesh. The action plan is designed with Short term (up to 3 year), Mid-term (3-5 years) and Long term (5 and more) recommendations for fostering cluster development of SME in Bangladesh with a vision of employment generation and poverty alleviation. 

Local Industrial Structures and Female Entrepreneurship in India

We analyze the spatial determinants of female entrepreneurship in India in the manufacturing and services sectors. We focus on the presence of incumbent female-owned businesses and their role in promoting higher subsequent female entrepreneurship relative to male entrepreneurship. We find evidence of agglomeration economies in both sectors, where higher female ownership among incumbent businesses within a district-industry predicts a greater share of subsequent entrepreneurs will be female. Moreover, higher female ownership of local businesses in related industries (e.g., those sharing similar labor needs, industries related via input-output markets) predict greater relative female entry rates even after controlling for the focal district-industry’s conditions. The core patterns hold when using local industrial conditions in 1994 to instrument for incumbent conditions in 2000-2005. The results highlight that the traits of business owners in incumbent industrial structures influence the types of entrepreneurs supported.

Effects of Financial Education and Financial Literacy on Creative Entrepreneurship: A Worldwide Research

The limited attention given to financial education in the development of student competencies can undermine the decision making of individuals in their adulthood. This circumstance has been widely studied in the literature, where the effect of financial literacy on creative entrepreneurship is influenced. The objective of this study is to analyze global research trends on the effect of financial education and financial literacy with the creativity of individual entrepreneurship. For this, a bibliometric analysis was carried out on 665 documents related to the subject of study during 1990–2018 period. The results show the most influential journals, authors, institutions, countries, and areas of knowledge on this scientific research. This work detects the main trends and patterns to offer a vision of the relationship between financial education and creative entrepreneurship. It should be noted that this research area has become a relevant field of study in education, finance, business, and management issues

Global Innovation Policy Index

Ranks fifty-five nations' strategies to boost innovation capacity: policies on trade, scientific research, information and communications technologies, tax, intellectual property, domestic competition, government procurement, and high-skill immigration

Spatial organization of production in India: contesting themes and conflicting evidence

The emergence of space as a determinant in the functional relations linked to production and growth is a recent development in theories of industrial organization. This paper primarily reviews the contesting themes in explaining changes in relative importance of space. In reference to industrial clusters in India, the paper argues that it is the heterogeneity of the industrial organizations that captures ‘space’ as an analytical category and broad generalizations often do not address the spatial dimensions. Neither also is it true, at least for developing countries such as India, that small enterprise clusters always reflect the post-Fordist dimension of change in the production organization. In the context of global production chain, this paper further argues that participation in such value chains might lead to contradictory outcomes in production organization giving rise to increased rift between the ‘global’ and the ‘local’.endogenous growth, region, technology, fragmentation, footloose industry

Types of Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth

In this paper, we empirically investigate the effect of entrepreneurship on economic growth at the country level. We use data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, which provides comparative data on entrepreneurship from a wide range of countries. An important element of this paper is that we compare the effects of entrepreneurial activity on economic growth in high income, transition and low income countries. This dataset also enables us to make a distinction between the effects of entrepreneurship in general and growth-oriented entrepreneurship in particular. We present empirical tests of the impact of entrepreneurial activity on GDP growth over a four year period for a sample of 36 countries. Our empirical analyses suggest that entrepreneurship does not have an effect on economic growth in low income countries, in contrast to transition and high income countries where especially growth-oriented entrepreneurship seems to contribute strongly to macroeconomic growthentrepreneurship, growth-oriented entrepreneurship, economic growth

Proximities and innovation : evidence from the Indian IT industry in Bangalore

Much has been written on the success of the Indian software industry, enumerating systemic factors like first-class higher education and research institutions, both public and private; low labour costs, stimulating (state) policies etc. However, although most studies analyzing the 'Indian' software industry cover essentially the South (and West) Indian clusters, this issue has not been tackled explicitly. This paper supplements the economic geography explanations mentioned above with the additional factor social capital, which is not only important within the region, but also in transnational (ethnic) networks linking Indian software clusters with the Silicon Valley. In other words, spatial proximity is complemented with cultural proximity, thereby, extending the system of innovation. The main hypothesis is that some Indian regions are more apt to economic development and innovation due to their higher affinity to education and learning, as well as, their more general openness, which has been a main finding of my interviews. In addition, the transnational networks of Silicon Valley Indians seem to be dominated by South Indians, thus, corroborating the regional clustering of the Indian software industry. JEL Classifications: O30, R12, Z13, L8

Social Enterprises in Asia: An Introductory Guide

Over the decades, social enterprises (SEs) have gained increased recognition for their ability to bring about fair and equitable social transformations. Their unique models provide an additional mode of engagement for individuals and institutions interested in addressing social issues.Social enterprises (SEs) take the form of a non-profit or for-profit and vary in size and structure but what unites all SEs is their business approach to social change. Instead of maximizing profits, SEs apply market practices to maximizing impact and strive to optimize finances in support of their social or environmental missions. SEs form an integral role in a larger social innovation sector -- they act as on-the-ground implementers of social solutions.Early social entrepreneurs in Asia tended to be foreigners or returning patriates, but homegrown Asian social entrepreneurs are now more common. Some of the world's largest and most well known SEs, like Grameen Bank and BRAC Enterprises, got their start in Asia.It is difficult to state the number of SEs there are in Asia since SEs are so diverse in their nature and scope of activities. Because of the relatively recent introduction of the term, many organizations may not even self-identify as a social enterprise even though they function as one.As Asia continues to undergo drastic social, demographic, and economic changes, SEs can play a role to ensure that future Asian growth is inclusive and sustainable. SEs reach underserved communities, linking them to products and services that enhance their quality of life and income generation ability. However, a number of issues must be addressed before SEs can become a part of mainstream Asian economies and societies