Innovation in Schumpeterian-type firms: Knowledge collaboration or knowledge spillover?

This study focuses on the impact of knowledge collaboration and knowledge spillovers on the innovative performance of Schumpeterian-type firms. Building on the innovation and entrepreneurship literatures, it first examines the innovation strategies used by highly-innovative firms, which can involve knowledge spillovers, knowledge collaborations or both. Secondly, it demonstrates how and why the relationship between knowledge flows and innovative performance changes with geographical proximity between knowledge-source and knowledge-recipient firms and across industries. External collaboration may bestow a significant advantage for innovation, such as helping to leverage the lack of knowledge and technology and teaching skills, but at a cost – the involuntary knowledge outflows to external partners. The results have relevant implications for the academic community, national and European policy-makers, and managers in highly-innovative firms who may want to rethink their innovation strategy

E-Leadership in small and medium-sized enterprises in the developing world

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the economies of many developing countries. A critical challenge faced by SME leaders, as digitization continues, is how to adopt digital technologies to create value and enable faster product commercialization. There is a paucity of empirical research examining how e-leadership in SMEs drives technology and new product commercialization processes in the developing world. In this study, we have broadened the notion of what constitutes e-leadership, from the perspective of how advanced information technologies affect the leadership dynamic and the appropriation of advanced information technologies. Although there have been several studies on leading technologies in developed countries, we focus on developing an e-leadership framework for SMEs in developing economies. Using this framework and five selection criteria, we conducted 11 interviews with a sample of successful SMEs selected from a pool of 2,240 firms in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. We conclude by highlighting the five key findings of this study, which explain how SMEs can develop effective e-leadership to foster commercialization and improve firm performance

What drives ICT clustering in European Cities?

ICT clusters have attracted much attention because of their rapid growth and their value for other economic activities. Using a nested multi-level model, we examine how conditions at the country level and at the city level affect ICT clustering activity in 227 cities across 22 European countries. We test for the influence of three country regulations (starting a business, registering property, enforcing contracts) and two city conditions (proximity to university, network density) on ICT clustering. We consider heterogeneity within the sector and study two types of ICT activities: ICT product firms and ICT content firms. Our results indicate that country conditions and city conditions each have idiosyncratic implications for ICT clustering, and further, that these can vary by activities in ICT products or ICT content manufacturing

Dynamic capabilities for firm performance under the information technology governance framework

This study investigates the role of dynamic capabilities in the Information Technology (IT) governance view framework, and explores the relationship between three IT governance domains (Strategy, Management and Operations) and firm performance. It employs a mixed-methods approach with 42 interviews and survey from 134 successful European SMEs in the multi-country setting of Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Spain and the UK. Our findings demonstrate that various IT governance mechanisms function as dynamic capabilities and are directly associated with firm performance. The impact of each mechanism is different. This study contributes to the field of IT Governance Framework in management and the results may be generalizable to wider economies and different organization types

Expanding entrepreneurship education ecosystems

Purpose The creation of start-ups using knowledge provided by universities has been identified as an important source of knowledge spillover and regional economic development. Entrepreneurship ecosystems in education have become the most important and efficient mechanism of business community engagement and knowledge transfer within university-industry-government framework creating value to society and regional economy. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This study undertakes in-depth synthesis of eclectic literature on entrepreneurship ecosystems and knowledge spillover of entrepreneurship, examining the critical success factors and enablers of entrepreneurship ecosystems in education. Findings This study proposes entrepreneurship education ecosystems as an alternative unit of analysis when it comes to considering the role of university-industry-government collaboration in knowledge commercialization. The authors recommend key entrepreneurship education ecosystem enablers for knowledge commercialization and engagement with entrepreneurial communities. Originality/value The authors propose a framework for the creation of an entrepreneurship education ecosystem as a unit of analysis when considering the role of university-industry-government collaboration. It requires different approaches to teaching, research and business outreach, some of which have not yet been discovered or yet need to be created

Creativity, entrepreneurship and economic development: city-level evidence on creativity spillover of entrepreneurship

We examine the black box of creativity, entrepreneurship and economic development by asking about the mechanisms through which creativity can influence economic development in cities. We propose that, like the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship, creativity spillovers occur and can be slowed by a creativity filter. We examine how creativity and entrepreneurship, and creativity and a melting pot environment, interact to influence urban economic development. Using data on 187 cities in 15 European countries for the period 1999–2009, we advance the extant literature by providing evidence on the existence and dynamics of a creativity filter

Entrepreneurial dynamics and higher education institutions in the post-communist world

This study draws on the institutional and regional entrepreneurship literature to develop a conceptual framework that analyses the impact of higher education institutions on entrepreneurial dynamics. It is used to examine the cities of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) during the period 1995–2008. Extending the multi-pillar institutional concept, it is found that higher education institutions play a prominent role in fostering entrepreneurial dynamics in CIS cities through multiple channels, including human capital development, cultivating a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship, affecting the perceptions of the knowledge and skills needed to start up a successful business, and knowledge spillovers

Female ownership, firm age and firm growth: a study of South Asian firms

This study investigates the role of female ownership, and its moderating role in shaping the effect of firm age and access to finance on firm growth. We use a sample of 7203 firms in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan and a mixed effects model, where both firm and regional characteristics are included. First, we test how women’s ownership affects two measures of firm growth (employment growth and Birch Index). Second, we investigate how women’s ownership influences the relationship between firm age and access to finance for firm growth. Our results indicate that gender is an important determinant of firm growth, but this is closely tied to firm age, access to finance, and varies with region and country. We conduct a robustness check using firm productivity instead of growth and we find largely opposite results for productivity compared to employment growth ownership. We also identify questions that emerge from our findings for managers and policy makers interested in women-owned firms

Entrepreneurial ecosystems in cities: establishing the framework conditions

This study focuses on regional entrepreneurial ecosystems and offers a complex model of start-ups, Regional Entrepreneurship and Development Index (REDI) and six domains of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (culture, formal institutions, infrastructure and amenities, IT, Melting Pot and demand). Altogether they capture the contextual features of socioeconomic, institutional and information environment in cities. To explain variations in entrepreneurship in a cross-section of 70 European cities, we utilize exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling for regional systems of entrepreneurship using individual perception surveys by Eurostat and the REDI. This study supports policymakers and scholars in development of new policies conducive to regional systems of innovation and entrepreneurship and serves as a basis for future research on urban entrepreneurial ecosystems

Success factors of initial coin offerings

This study furthers recent research on Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) in understanding the set of characteristics that drive ICO performance and reduce information asymmetry. Using data on 166 ICOs and more than 300,000 contribution addresses that sent funds to ICOs in Bitcoins or in Ether between 2013 and 2017, we examined the effect of ICO characteristics on ICO performance. We found that three boundary conditions predict ICO fundraising amount, number of investors, hard cap achievement and token ranking. These are registering ICO and publishing project’s code on GitHub, obtaining VC or Business angel financing before the campaign or during presale, and finally, publishing the whitepaper before the campaign’s start. Other factors such as serial investors, presale of tokens, bonus sales and funders' ownership share explain ICO performance. We offer implications for ICO investors and policymakers