Looking inside the spiky bits : a critical review and conceptualisation of entrepreneurial ecosystems

The authors wish to thank the Organisational for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for funding their original research on entrepreneurial ecosystems.The concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems has quickly established itself as one of the latest ‘fads’ in entrepreneurship research. At face value, this kind of systemic approach to entrepreneurship offers a new and distinctive path for scholars and policy makers to help understand and foster growth-oriented entrepreneurship. However, its lack of specification and conceptual limitations has undoubtedly hindered our understanding of these complex organisms. Indeed, the rapid adoption of the concept has tended to overlook the heterogeneous nature of ecosystems. This paper provides a critical review and conceptualisation of the ecosystems concept: it unpacks the dynamics of the concept; outlines its theoretical limitations; measurement approaches and use in policy-making. It sets out a preliminary taxonomy of different archetypal ecosystems. The paper concludes that entrepreneurial ecosystems are a highly variegated, multi-actor and multi-scalar phenomenon, requiring bespoke policy interventions.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Knowledge Base, Exporting Activities, Innovation Openness and Innovation Performance: A SEM Approach Towards a Unifying Framework

In this paper we demonstrate the complexity that regulates the innovation-exports nexus. In particular we argue that innovation and exports should be treated as latent variables in order to account for as many facets possible thus, accounting for multifaceted heterogeneity. In this context, the role of innovation openness ought to be highlighted within a unified framework, as it is considered an additional activity of firms' knowledge creation strategy. In this line, innovation and exporting orientation are ruled by the firms' strategic mix comprised of internal knowledge creation processes and the diversity of innovation openness. Theoretical and empirical links between these major components are identified and measured employing a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach on a sample of Greek R&D-active manufacturing firms. Empirical findings corroborate the complexity of relationships and indicate that the firms' knowledge base and open innovation strategy regulate via complementary and substitution relationships firms' innovation and export performance

Subsidiary roles as determinants of subsidiary technology sourcing: empirical evidence from China

Emerging economies have become new destinations for knowledge sourcing, forcing Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) to reconfigure their global innovation strategies and structure. While foreign subsidiaries located in emerging economies were conventionally viewed as having market or efficiency seeking roles, they have started to evolve towards knowledge-seeking roles. We argue that the conventional wisdom shall be reassessed considering this recent shift. We empirically investigate 129 manufacturing MNE subsidiaries of Fortune 500 companies in China, in terms of their roles and sources of technology. Our results indicate that market and knowledge seeking subsidiaries located in China tend to have a positive impact on the generation of new knowledge, either through locally established MNE R&D laboratories or through collaborations with local firms and scientific institutions

Export status and SME productivity: Learning-to-export versus learning-by-exporting

We examine the strategic (pre-) exporting choices of UK micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and their links to productivity. This involves considering not only exporters and non-exporters, but also an intermediate category of export-capable firms. Such categorisations help to identify learning effects occurring in the pre- and post-export phases. Indeed, we find evidence of both learning-to-export and learning-by-exporting effects among SMEs, and that firms consciously select their export status based on current productivity performance. Innovation plays a key role, and its effect does not occur exclusively in the transition to exporting, but also in building up export capability. Product and process innovation have different effects on export capability and exporting, respectively. The effect of product innovation on productivity is negative at least in the short-term. Growth ambition and planned future innovation are key determinants of both export capability and exporting