Policy drivers of international entrepreneurship in Europe

The diversity of countries and cultures in Europe necessitates an international outlook for most businesses. This paper examines the internationalisation of business in Europe through a literature review on international entrepreneurship theory. The role of the individual business owner and of business and interorganisational activity in facilitating the internationalisation of businesses in Europe is discussed by utilising the theoretical framework of international entrepreneurship and by putting forward three main propositions. The main aim and intent of this paper is to understand how the policies of individual governments and institutions such as the European Union help businesses in Europe to internationalise, with particular emphasis on businesses in the Baltic region. The paper discusses policy implications and suggestions for future research, which highlight the importance for firms in Europe of focussing on international markets.<br /

The Impact of Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda

Using a teaching model framework, we systematically review empirical evidence on the impact of entrepreneurship education (EE) in higher education on a range of entrepreneurial outcomes, analyzing 159 published articles from 2004 to 2016. The teaching model framework allows us for the first time to start rigorously examining relationships between pedagogical methods and specific outcomes. Reconfirming past reviews and meta-analyses, we find that EE impact research still predominantly focuses on short-term and subjective outcome measures and tends to severely underdescribe the actual pedagogies being tested. Moreover, we use our review to provide an up-to-date and empirically rooted call for less obvious, yet greatly promising, new or underemphasized directions for future research on the impact of university-based entrepreneurship education. This includes, for example, the use of novel impact indicators related to emotion and mind-set, focus on the impact indicators related to the intention-to-behavior transition, and exploring the reasons for some contradictory findings in impact studies including person-, context-, and pedagogical model-specific moderator

The general theory of culture, entrepreneurship, innovation, and quality-of-life: Comparing nurturing versus thwarting enterprise start-ups in BRIC, Denmark, Germany, and the United States

This study examines influences on quality-of-life of national cultures as complex wholes and entrepreneurship activities in Brazil, Russia, India, China, Germany, and the United States (the six focal nations) plus Denmark (a small-size, economically-developed, nation). The study tests McClelland's (1961) and more recent scholars' proposition that some cultural configurations nurture entrepreneur startups while other cultures are biased toward thwarting startups. The study applies complexity theory to develop and empirically test a general theory of cultures', entrepreneurship's, and innovation's impact on quality-of-life across nations. Because culture represents a complex whole of attitudes, beliefs, values, and behavior, the study applies a set-theoretic approach to theory development and testing of alternative cultural configurations. Each of 28 economical developed and developing nations is scored for the level of the national cultures for each of six focal countries. The study selected for the study enables multi-way comparisons of culture-entrepreneurship-innovation-QOL among large- and small-size developing and developed nations. The findings graphically present the complex national cultural configuration (x-axis) with entrepreneur nurture/thwart (y-axis) of the 28 nations compared to the six focal nations. The findings also include recognizing national cultures (e.g., Switzerland, USA) nurturing entrepreneurial behavior versus other national cultures (e.g., Brazil and India) thwarting entrepreneurial behavior. The study concludes with a call to recognize the implicit shift in culturally implicit thinking and behavior necessary for advancing national platforms designed to successfully nurture entrepreneurship. Entrepreneur strategy implications include the observation that actions nurturing firm start-ups by nations low in entrepreneurship will unlikely to be successful without reducing such nations' high levels of corruption

The complexity turn in cultures' consequences on entrepreneurship, innovation, and quality-of-life

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017. All rights reserved. This study examines influences on quality-of-life of national cultures as complex wholes and entrepreneurship activities in Brazil, Russia, India, China, Germany, and the United States. The study tests McClelland's (1961) and more recent scholars' proposition that some cultural recipes nurture entrepreneur startups while other cultures are biased toward thwarting startups. The study applies complexity theory to construct and empirically test a general theory of cultures', entrepreneurship's, and innovation's impact on quality-of-life across nations. Because culture represents a complex whole of attitudes, beliefs, values, and behavior, the study applies a set-theoretic approach to theory construction and testing of alternative cultural recipes. Each of 28 nations is scored for the level of the national cultures for each of six focal countries. The findings include presenting the complex X (national cultural recipe) with Y (entrepreneur nurture/thwart) plots of the 28 nations for the six focal nations. The findings include recognizing national cultures (Switzerland, USA) nurturing entrepreneurial behavior versus other national cultures thwarting (Brazil and India) entrepreneurial behavior. The study concludes with a call to recognize the implicit shift in cultural implicit thinking and behavior necessary for advancing national platforms of actions to nurture entrepreneurship successfully. Entrepreneur strategy implications follow from the findings including the observation that actions nurturing firm start-ups by nations low in entrepreneurship will unlikely to be successful without reducing such nations' high levels of corruption

Environmental conditions and entrepreneurial activity: A regional comparison in Spain

Purpose: The main objective of this paper is to analyse the influence of environmental factors on entrepreneurship at the Spanish regional level, using institutional economics as the theoretical framework for the research. Additionally, this work aims to emphasize how environmental conditions have different effects according to the gender of entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach: Regional panel data (19 Spanish regions and the 2006-2009 period) from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), specifically from the Spanish National Expert Survey (NES) for environmental conditions and the GEM Adult Population Survey (APS) for entrepreneurial activity were analysed within a fixed effects model with panel corrected standard errors. Findings: The main findings of the study indicate that both informal (cultural and social norms, perception of opportunities to start-up and entrepreneur social image) and formal factors (intellectual property rights) influence entrepreneurship, but the informal are more determinant than the formal. Concerning the gender issues, informal and formal institutions are also determinant, but female entrepreneurship is significantly associated with the women's support to start-up, whereas primary and higher education are associated only with male entrepreneurial activity. Research limitations/implications: The results of the research should be interpreted carefully, because the availability of data constrained the analysis to a time period that is not reflective of the economic cycle; on the contrary, the data correspond to a period of recession, and thus the results cannot be generalized. Also, the study could extend the analysed period and compare the obtained results with international data, considering the global number of participant countries in the GEM Project. Originality/value: The study provides a methodology to analyse the environmental factors for new firm creation at a regional level, combining GEM data and institutional economics. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

What drives university engineering students to become entrepreneurs? Finding different recipes using a configuration approach

This research aims to investigate how combinations of factors lead to the entrepreneurial intention and propensity of engineering university students. The study proposes the application of a configuration approach (Qualitative Comparative Analysis) with a sample of 10,008 engineering students from 43 universities in 10 European countries. The findings show that entrepreneurial intention and propensity do not depend only on a single driver but on the interplay of multiple factors. The intensity of entrepreneurship education is a necessary but not sufficient condition. Different recipes brought to light in the analysis belong to similar socioeconomic contexts

The regional application of the global entrepreneurship and development index (GEDI): the case of Spain

Ács Z. J., Szerb L., Ortega-Argilés R., Aidis R. and Coduras A. The regional application of the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI): the case of Spain, Regional Studies. This paper constructs a regional application of the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI) that captures the contextual features of entrepreneurship across regions. Using institutional data and survey data, weaknesses in the incentive structure that affect regional development can be identified. The entrepreneurial disparities among regions are analysed at the country and regional levels using a penalty for bottleneck methodology. The methodology allows public policy action to be coordinated at both national and regional levels. It is found that GEDI provides a valuable tool for understanding regional differences across Spanish regions. Ács Z. J., Szerb L., Ortega-Argilés R., Aidis R. and Coduras A. GEDIGEDIpenalty for bottleneckGEDI Ács Z. J., Szerb L., Ortega-Argilés R., Aidis R. et Coduras A. L'application régionale de l'indice GEDI: étude de cas de l'Espagne, Regional Studies. Cet article cherche à construire une application régionale de l'indice GEDI (Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index) qui saisit les caractéristiques contextuelles de l'esprit d'entreprise à travers les régions. À partir des données institutionnelles et des sondages, il est à noter les faiblesses de la structure des incitations qui risquent d'influer sur l'aménagement du territoire. Employant la méthodologie appellée la pénalité pour goulot d’étranglement (penalty for bottleneck ; PFB), on analyse l’écart entrepreneurial entre les régions sur le plan national et à l’échelon régional. Cette méthodologie permet la coordination des mesures prises à l'initiative des pouvoirs publics à la fois sur le plan national et à l’échelon régional. Il s'avère que l'indice GEDI fournit un outil inestimable pour comprendre les différences régionales à travers les régions espagnoles. Ács Z. J., Szerb L., Ortega-Argilés R., Aidis R. und Coduras A. Die regionale Anwendung des Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI): der Fall Spanien, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag entwickeln wir eine regionale Anwendung des Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI) zur Erfassung der kontextuellen Merkmale des Unternehmertums in verschiedenen Regionen. Anhand von institutionellen und Erhebungsdaten lassen sich Schwächen in der Anreizstruktur identifizieren, die sich auf die Regionalentwicklung auswirken. Die Disparitäten des Unternehmertums in verschiedenen Regionen werden auf Landes- und Regionalebene unter Verwendung eines Korrekturabschlags für die Flaschenhals-Methode analysiert. Diese Methode ermöglicht die Koordination von Maßnahmen der öffentlichen Politik auf nationaler und regionaler Ebene. Es zeigt sich, dass der GEDI ein nützliches Instrument zum Verständnis der Unterschiede zwischen verschiedenen spanischen Regionen darstellt. Ács Z. J., Szerb L., Ortega-Argilés R., Aidis R. y Coduras A. Aplicación regional del Índice Global de Emprendimiento y Desarrollo (GEDI): el caso de España, Regional Studies. En este artículo desarrollamos una aplicación regional del Índice Global de Emprendimiento y Desarrollo (GEDI) que capta las características contextuales del interés empresarial en todas las regiones. A partir de datos institucionales y de estudios, podemos identificar las deficiencias en la estructura de incentivos que afectan al desarrollo regional. Analizamos las desigualdades empresariales entre las regiones de ámbito nacional y regional mediante un criterio de sanciones para la metodología del embotellamiento. Con esta metodología se pueden coordinar las medidas políticas de ámbito público tanto a nivel nacional como regional. Observamos que el GEDI es una herramienta valiosa para comprender las diferencias regionales en España