Fostering entrepreneurship and economic growth: Pathways to economic resilience in Kosovo

This study examines economic resilience in the new born state of Kosovo. Resilience is an emerging concept, which has been employed to examine economic performance and responsiveness to exogenous shocks. Drawing on interviews with stakeholders in Kosovo, this paper contributes to the emergent literature on economic resilience by examining how policy seeks to improve resilience through entrepreneurial activity. The paper finds that entrepreneurship in Kosovo is integral to promoting the diversification and capacity building, by developing institutional arrangements to harness productive entrepreneurship and reduce informal economic activity. The paper concludes that restructuring in a post-war context is extremely challenging and requires long-term joined-up approaches, before drawing a series of recommendations concerning the wider policy implications of the study

Pan-European entrepreneurial summer academies with impact: The case of STARTIFY7

© 2017 by Emerald Publishing Limited.Entrepreneurship is viewed as essential to the future prosperity of Europe and creating societies that are socially and economically inclusive. The information communication technology (ICT) sector has been identified as an area of great entrepreneurial potential for Europe and yet the continent struggles to create global leaders in the digital startup space. In response to this challenge, the European Commission launched its Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan to stimulate and support young people to become entrepreneurs and exploit the potential of ICT, in terms developing new digital products and services. This chapter reports on a project to develop and deliver a series of pan-European summer academies for entrepreneurship training funded by Horizon 2020. The chapter details the process of developing the academies and offer reflections on the impacts of the project

Entrepreneurship and local economic resilience: the impact of institutional hysteresis in peripheral places

This article examines how the legacies of the past in peripheral post-industrial places serve to shape current and future entrepreneurial activity, and with it local economic resilience. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with key regional stakeholders, the article reveals how peripheral post-industrial places are constrained by their histories. This is found to be manifest in different ways, such as low aspirations, generational unemployment and a loss of identity which are in turn compounded by negative perceptions of place and opportunity. These issues culminate in institutional hysteresis at the local level and constrain entrepreneurial ambition. The article argues that the rigidity and reproduction of informal institutions continues to stymie economic resilience and growth. We conclude by reflecting on the implications for entrepreneurship in peripheral post-industrial places as well as with recommendations for policy

Artificial intelligence in the legal sector: pressures and challenges of transformation

Recent technological developments in automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) promise to disrupt the very foundations of how legal work is practised and delivered. Yet how they challenge current business models, where they encounter resistance, and how the benefits of AI can be realised remain unexplored. Drawing on interviews with professionals in the UK legal services sector, the paper highlights how technological and market pressures combine to challenge the business models of legal services firms. However, the findings reveal important cultural and structural challenges that hamper transformation. The paper extends the debate on technological disruption in legal services through a focus on business model innovation as a tool that can support firms in the sector to reimagine legal service provision

The “additional costs” of being peripheral: developing a contextual understanding of micro-business growth constraints

Purpose Despite their economic significance, empirical evidence on the growth constraints facing micro-businesses as an important subset of small and medium enterprises remains scarce. At the same time, little consideration has hitherto been given to the context in which entrepreneurial activity occurs. The purpose of this paper is to develop an empirically informed contextual understanding of micro-business growth, beyond firm-level constraints. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on 50 in-depth interviews with stakeholders and micro-business owner–manager entrepreneurs (OMEs henceforth) in a peripheral post-industrial place (PPIP henceforth). Findings The paper shows that, beyond firm-level constraints generated by their OME-centric nature, there are “additional costs” for micro-businesses operating in PPIPs, specifically limited access to higher-skilled labour, a more challenging, “closed” business environment and negative outward perceptions stemming from place stigmatisation. All of these “additional costs” can serve to stymie OMEs' growth ambition. Research limitations/implications The paper is based on a limited number of interviews conducted in one region in England. However, the contextualisation of the findings through a focus on PPIPs provides valuable insights and enables analytical generalisation. Originality/value The article develops a context-sensitive model of micro-business growth constraints, one that goes beyond the constraints inherent in the nature of micro-businesses and is sensitive to their local (socio-institutional) operating context. The implications serve to advance both how enterprise in the periphery is theorised and how it is addressed by policymakers and business intermediaries to support the growth of micro-businesses

Localism is an illusion (of power) : the multi-scalar challenge of UK enterprise policy-making

This paper explores to what extent the new localism has effectively empowered local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) and local communities to deliver localized, place-based enterprise policy at the subnational level. It identifies externally imposed constraints on local enterprise policy-making that have seen this reoriented towards the support of high-growth potential businesses. However, the scope and focus of enterprise policy at the LEP level contrast with heterogeneous local realities and needs, highlighting a pronounced rhetoric–reality gap. With little evidence of local knowledge transcending policy boundaries, the paper reveals that the current arrangements constrain local agency and reduce the effectiveness of enterprise policy-making at the local level. It concludes that the power to develop localized, place-based enterprise policy exists only in rhetoric

Intersections of gender, ethnicity, place and innovation : mapping the diversity of women–led SMEs in the UK

This article advances knowledge on the diversity and heterogeneity of women-led small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom by analysing how gender intersects with ethnicity and place to influence their engagement in innovation. We adopt an intersectional perspective, and base our analyses on the Longitudinal Small Business Survey (LSBS) data of 29,257 SMEs over the period 2015–2018. Our findings suggest that despite their limited number, as well as firm size and industry sector constraints, women-led SMEs are actively engaged in innovation activities. In addition, our results on the effects of intersecting categories of gender, ethnicity and place on innovation, further emphasise the heterogeneity of women-led SMEs, both with regard to their likelihood to engage in innovation, as well as the place where innovation is most likely to occur. Implications for policy and practice are highlighted

How do regulations affect SMEs? A review of the qualitative evidence and a research agenda

The effects of regulations on SMEs have garnered significant political attention internationally yet, in the academic literature, these effects remain contested. This article presents findings from a systematic literature review of qualitative evidence on the effects of regulation on SMEs. We set out the strengths of qualitative approaches in relation to other, more dominant and influential quantitative approaches. We conduct a thematic synthesis of the qualitative research to develop a conceptual framework that provides a processual, embedded understanding of the effects of regulations on SMEs. The conceptual framework highlights four key, interconnected processes: identification-interpretation; strategisation; negotiation; adaptation. This conceptual framework generates insights into dynamic and potentially indirect effects of regulations in relation to a complex array of influences external to and within the business. On the basis of these insights we propose a new research agenda

Entrepreneurial ecosystems in Poland: Panacea, paper tiger or Pandora’s box

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the role of public policy in the formation of entrepreneurial ecosystems in Poland. The paper assumes a qualitative approach to researching and analysing how public policy enables and constrains the formation of entrepreneurial ecosystems. The authors conducted a series of focus groups with regional and national policy makers, enterprises and intermediaries in three Polish voivodeships (regions) - Małopolska, Mazowieckie, Pomorskie. The paper finds that applying the entrepreneurial ecosystems approach is a challenging prospect for public policy characterised by a theory-practice gap. Despite the attraction of entrepreneurial ecosystems as a heuristic to foster entrepreneurial activity, the cases highlight the complexity of implementing the framework conditions in practice. As the Polish case demonstrates, there are aspects of entrepreneurial ecosystems that are beyond the immediate scope of public policy. The results challenge the view that the entrepreneurial ecosystems framework represents a readily implementable public policy solution to stimulate entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial growth. Insights are drawn from three regions, although by their nature these are predominantly city-centric, highlighting the bounded geography of entrepreneurial ecosystems. This paper poses new questions regarding the capacity of public policy to establish and extend entrepreneurial ecosystems. While public policy can shape the framework and system conditions, the paper argues that these interventions are often based on superficial or incomplete interpretations of the entrepreneurial ecosystems literature and tend to ignore or underestimate informal institutions that can undermine these efforts. As such, by viewing the ecosystems approach as a panacea for growth policy makers risk opening Pandora’s box