This paper investigates the impact of different types of successful start-up exits on the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs). With a panel data analysis covering 45 European cities over 20 years, the study examines how acquisitions and IPOs influence subsequent individual investment activity and new venture creation. The results reveal that acquisitions significantly and positively influence

Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) are regarded as ideal breeding ground for knowledge-intensive entrepreneurs (KIEs). Yet, as EEs are mostly considered isolated from each other and their connectedness is neglected, there is a lack of research on their capacity to attract KIEs rather than to locally nurturing them. Inadequate data has been a major obstacle to this line of work as well. Aiming to address

Incumbent large businesses play a crucial role in fostering resilient entrepreneurial ecosystems. However, many regions lack the presence of such firms. Early research suggests that an entrepreneurial ecosystem can compensate for this absence through positive spillovers from foreign direct investment. While the role of multinational enterprises in entrepreneurial ecosystems remains underexplored, our

Abstract This paper contributes to a better understanding of how place matters for the development of nascent Information and Communication Technology (ICT) entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs). This qualitative study adopts a lens of neo-institutional theory, looking at EEs as organisational fields, and focuses on two comparative cases in Japan—Osaka-Kyoto and Fukuoka, which are developing “in the shadow”

Sustainable entrepreneurs introduce new sustainable technologies and business models to the market. They thereby can help with tackling grand environmental challenges. Regional governments are increasingly implementing policies to develop a supportive ecosystem for sustainable entrepreneurship in their region. For these policies to be effective, policy makers need to understand which regional factors

Shortages of skilled labor present a critical challenge for economies worldwide. We surveyed over 1100 SME managers in Germany, revealing that most expect skill shortages to worsen and adversely affect their operations. Providing expert forecasts on future shortages to a randomly chosen subgroup of respondents barely affects the expected impacts of skill shortages on their firm, planned mitigation

Building on disadvantage theory and the capabilities framework, the research explores how two critical aspects of the poverty experience, experienced scarcity, and a limited opportunity horizon, can result in the creation of ventures that struggle to achieve marketplace success, which in turn detracts from the entrepreneur’s perceived well-being. These business struggles are traced to a commodity trap

Attention is now increasingly being drawn to the interconnectedness of different entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs). Consequently, from a theoretical viewpoint EEs are increasingly being viewed from a multi-scaler rather than a mono-scaler perspective. This paper examines the spatial financial interlinkages between places and different forms and stages of entrepreneurial finance. Using a unique real-time

To stimulate entrepreneurship, many universities have established academic makerspaces. So far, we know little about this phenomenon. Specifically, we lack insights into the entrepreneurial motivations of academic makers and the types of opportunities they find appealing. Drawing on a conjoint experiment and a survey of 144 academic makers, we analyze their entrepreneurial motivations and identify

While research and development (R&D) spillovers have long been a central argument for the public support of private R&D activities, less is known about the existence and magnitude of innovation policy-induced spillovers. This paper presents a quasi-experimental analysis of the spillover effects of Eurostars R&D subsidies granted to small- and medium-sized firms (SMEs) from 2008 to 2019. We measure

This study examines the interconnectedness of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) through a comprehensive geospatial network analysis of global investment flows. Addressing the critical need to explore EEs beyond their local boundaries, we investigate how EEs interact across regional, national, and international levels. Utilizing data from Crunchbase, which details 556,612 investment interactions among

National venture capitalist (VC) ecosystems are not isolated from each other, and foreign VC species may cross borders when pursuing valuable investment opportunities. The present research demonstrates that VC investments inside or outside VCs’ domestic ecosystems play a significant role in the target ventures’ valuation. VCs trade off familiarity of their domestic ecosystem for valuation. Our results

Entrepreneurial ecosystem measures should combine archival civic and self-reported entrepreneur data. This combination helps to overcome the limitations of aggregated archival data that affect our collective capacity to derive actionable insights for research and policy. Previous measurement approaches lack consistency with entrepreneurial ecosystem theory because they do not capture data at a sufficiently

We adopt a pluralistic view of productive entrepreneurship to examine how various elements of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) affect both performance-based (high-growth entrepreneurship) and non-performance-based (proprietorship rate and new venture creation) outcomes. Our theoretical framework is guided by the recently developed three-step configurational approach, and our analysis employs fuzzy-set

Entrepreneurial support organizations can play an important role in nascent entrepreneurial ecosystems by enabling productive and sustainable entrepreneurship. However, in such ecosystems, entrepreneurial support organizations may struggle to access the resources they need to activate their support. Drawing upon inductive qualitative research with 31 entrepreneurial support organizations and 40 interviews

This paper explores the geography of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) and provides a typology of how EEs are connected trans-locally. Although the literature has mainly focused on the place-specificities of EEs, there is limited research on the trans-local connections established by entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs) that foster exogenous dynamics. Exploiting a longitudinal dataset of European

Both urban and rural firm entry rates have declined over the last three decades, and the urban–rural gap in firm entry rates has increased. We investigate which local market factors are associated with the divergence between 1993 and 2019. Our model includes local measures of firm agglomeration, population agglomeration, human capital, consumption demand, government fiscal policies, and natural amenities

The entrepreneurial ecosystem concept has gained significant traction in both academic and policy discussions. However, the internal mechanisms and interrelations within and between entrepreneurial ecosystems are not fully understood: entrepreneurial ecosystem black boxes need to be opened. To advance the field, this special issue identifies key research themes essential to developing a rigorous and

The quality of entrepreneurial ecosystems not only enables local startups, but also affects the attraction and supply of non-local founders. We conceptualize entrepreneurial ecosystems as open systems with inflows and outflows of entrepreneurial talent. Beyond individual agency, these talent flows are driven by the quality of the origin and destination entrepreneurial ecosystems. We use network analysis

Whilst the literature on entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) predominantly concentrates on endogenously developed systems of entrepreneurial actors, this paper investigates the atypical emergence of EEs initiated by inward foreign direct investment (FDI). In these more deviant cases, international connectivity and public policy initiative are rooted in the ecosystem from the outset, but their interdependence

We investigate the international network activity of entrepreneurial firms and its implications for the territorial boundaries of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Integrating the idea that territory and networks are distinct structures that can overlap with prior work suggesting that interorganizational networks formed by entrepreneurial firms pursuing opportunities transcend geographic boundaries, we focus

Public procurement can be defined as the process by which public contracting authorities purchase goods, services, and works from private suppliers, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The access of SMEs to public contracts is one of the objectives of public procurement policies, as they suffer from complex procedures and high transaction costs. At the same time, public procurement is increasingly

We examine immigrant self-employment in Sweden during the turbulent decade 2011–2021. This is done for different cohorts of immigrants from Africa and Asia and for unincorporated and incorporated firms. Immigrants have lower business earnings and higher exit rates from self-employment than natives, which is in line with previous research. The period in which the immigrants arrived in Sweden and the

Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) literature has typically focused on the internal dynamics between actors and factors within specific territories, ignoring potential exogenous linkages. This paper examines the potential interconnections between EEs using corporate accelerators (CAs) as focus. CAs are prominent actors connecting startups to large firms, investors, universities, and governments in regional

Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (EEs) are embedded in a global network of resource exchange relationships. To explain how EEs develop, one must consider the dynamics of resource exchanges. To do this, we combine a social capital perspective with the concept of strategic action fields in an abductive study of six cases of EEs. We find three dynamics of resource exchange, each drawing on a specific type of

While there is ample evidence on the role of education and employment in entrepreneurship more generally, we know less about how the accumulation of specific educational paths and work experience before or during university education contributes to entrepreneurship. Using unique data from two combined surveys linking information on the population of University of Toronto graduates, we provide an analysis

Although the concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE) is inherently spatial, the actual spatiality of these productive structures has been largely assumed rather than defined based on its formative processes. The oversimplification of the spatiality of EE seems to be a function of empirical reliance on available data, a situation that has generated broadly accepted definitions that delineate EE as

Recent research has focused on the employee’s perspective in experiencing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies. The purpose of this work is to empirically investigate the drivers of employees’ long-lasting working relationships when CSR strategies are in place. A sample of 441 employees across 21 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) spanning various industries in Italy is surveyed

Trade credit is a relevant channel through which institutional development affects the real economy. When contract enforcement is weak and trust is low, firms engage in opportunistic behavior that is likely to disproportionally penalize small firms, characterized by weak bargaining power with respect to their larger customers or suppliers. This mechanism is particularly relevant during periods of sharp

There is increasing interest in the impact of advanced digital technologies on SMEs, but the determinants of their adoption and their association with multiple innovation outcomes remain unexplored. Based on the Flash Eurobarometer 486, this paper analyses how the adoption of artificial intelligence and robots is related to European SMEs carrying out product, process, organizational and marketing innovations

Eco-innovations integrate complex and diverse knowledge sources. For this reason, firms engage in worldwide collaborations that promote learning from different partners that, in turn, promote environmental innovations. This study analyzes how the learning experience of previous collaborations at the national and international levels impacts the likelihood of eco-innovation development by small- and

This paper analyzes bank financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in an unprecedented context marked by the convergence of the unique challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis and unconventional monetary policy (UMP). It takes a comprehensive approach by conducting both cross-country and single-country analyses to provide a nuanced understanding and broad insights into SME finance in times

This paper investigates the role of business group affiliation for small businesses before and during the COVID-19 crisis. Business group affiliation provides access to key strategic resources, which are arguably useful during external shocks, especially for small businesses. However, which resources matter in a crisis depends on public policy responses. Moreover, having access to resources is not

This study explores the effect of bailout capital and digital diversification by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on their propensity to survive during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a random sampling of 5469 SMEs from 16 European countries, collected by the World Bank Enterprise Survey in May 2020, January 2021, and May 2021, we conduct a two-stage estimation to examine factors that

Whether slack resources inhibit or facilitate SMEs to introduce strategic changes is an unresolved question. We investigate how different bundles of financial and human resource (HR) slack relate to strategic changes, and how this relation is influenced by the presence of family majority ownership. We survey 654 private Belgian SMEs and find, in line with the slack-as-resources for change perspective

This study examines how venture capital (VC) firms have modified their short-term investment practices in response to the COVID-19 crisis. We categorise VCs’ investment practices according to their level of visibility to external parties and hypothesise that unobservable investment practices are more likely modified than observable ones, since VC firms must comply with the objectives stated in their

This study investigates the resilience of 13,786 UK entrepreneurial firms that received equity financing before COVID-19, with 653 becoming insolvent and 6254 securing guaranteed loans during the pandemic. Utilising the resource-based view (RBV) and signalling theories, we hypothesise that equity-backed firms have sufficient resources to withstand crises, varying by investor type and involvement. We

Most entrepreneurial ecosystem research has focused on the actors and interactions within a focal (often regional) entrepreneurial ecosystem. This entails the often-implicit assumption that entrepreneurs mainly interact with actors within their own entrepreneurial ecosystem. We argue that this assumption limits entrepreneurial ecosystem research and address this limitation by exploring the research

Recent global crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, severe supply chain disruptions, and ongoing geopolitical tensions, have profoundly reshaped the entrepreneurial and financial landscapes. This Special Issue of the Small Business Economics Journal explores these transformations. Key insights include the impact of unconventional monetary policy on SME financing, the success factors of bailout programs

Smaller businesses are notably sensitive to fluctuations in their external operating environment. Characterized as a “liability of volatility,” this inherent susceptibility can result in a lack of adequate resources, including financial reserves, to withstand unforeseen challenges. However, small businesses possess the capability to respond with greater flexibility, as their leaders make resource allocation

It is well established that founder gender affects starting and managing new ventures, but its impact on firm exits is less understood. Following an in-depth exploration of the gendered experience of entrepreneurship through the lenses of liberal feminist and social feminist theories, this study argues that female entrepreneurs are less likely to achieve positive exits through mergers and acquisitions

We study the conditions under which founders’ pre-entry experience in the industry affects the prospects of new ventures mobilizing financial resources. Drawing on signaling theory, we theorize that the signal value of pre-entry experience is contingent on the extent to which new ventures leverage such experience as well as the environmental context in which they operate. Specifically, we argue that

Entrepreneur coaching is pervasive across startup ecosystems, yet the question remains as to whether the coach-entrepreneur match links to action and venture performance. Our study integrates coaching and entrepreneurial learning research to advance a theoretical logic of knowledge-based situations (between the coach and the entrepreneur) that convert to entrepreneur customer involvement. Drawing on

The neo-Schumpeterian growth models, which appeared in the early 1990s, have ostensibly reintroduced the entrepreneur into mainstream growth theory. However, we show that by ignoring genuine uncertainty and by assuming that profits follow an objectively true and ex ante known probability distribution, the entrepreneur is made redundant. Thus, the theory fails to exhaustively explain innovation, the

To achieve market and technology leadership, innovation is essential for niche market leaders. While research suggests that regions benefit economically from a high concentration of niche market leaders, it is still unclear which role locating close to one another plays for their innovation performance. Therefore, we contribute to existing literature that studies external factors of firm-level innovation

This study analyzes the dynamics of financing constraints under changing economic conditions and the role of firm size in this context. Using administrative data from Germany, we quantify financing constraints expressed as the probability that a firm encounters excess demand or excess supply. On average, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are indeed more likely than larger firms to face excess

University spin-offs (USOs) often face difficulties obtaining bank loans due to the perceived riskiness of their technologies. This study investigates the role of venture capitalists (VCs) and university ownership in facilitating bank debt for USOs, focusing on their impact on access to long-term financing. Using a fixed-effect panel data model on 1594 Italian USOs between 2012 and 2022, the findings

We highlight the importance of considering diversity in individuals’ value priorities and their career and venture types to explain different dimensions of eudaimonic well-being. Analyzing European Social Survey data, we find that individuals who value openness to change are more likely to become entrepreneurs than employees, regardless of the sector in which they operate. In contrast, those who value

The replication crisis has cast social science’s epistemological foundations into question. So far, entrepreneurship scholars have responded by advocating more transparency in data collection and analysis, better empirical methods, and larger and more representative data. Here, we explore the possibility that the problem may be innate to empiricism itself within the social sciences, generally, and

As firms face the dual challenges of digitalization and net zero innovation to combat climate change, understanding how these twin transitions relate is crucial. This study examines potential synergies or trade-offs between digital technologies and net zero innovations in UK SMEs. By integrating the Resource-Based View (RBV) and the Attention-Based View (ABV), we explore how categories of digital adopters

A growing body of literature explores whether and why female and male entrepreneurs differ in their access to equity financing. This trend has led to an increasing fragmentation of the research field, as many studies analyze various mechanisms and focus on a certain form of equity financing. To advance research on gender differences in equity financing, it is necessary to identify patterns and inconsistent

The paper examines the impact of venture capital (VC) financing on the growth of cleantech companies, using newly available data and a more comprehensive perspective on the sector. The analysis is conducted on a sample of 24,538 European cleantech companies identified using machine learning techniques, 401 of which received a first VC investment between 1988 and 2023. To adequately control for selection

As occurs in new venture creation, founders’ biases may also play a role in the context of entrepreneurial exit. This conceptual paper presents a framework about how founders’ hubris affects exit strategies. Our framework points out three key aspects. First, hubris bias influences entrepreneurs’ intentions, and the performance threshold is linked to business exit. Second, when the firm shows performance

This paper examines how the ethnic composition of SMEs’ business teams, also in conjunction with their strategic behaviour (including digitalisation, innovation and exporting), affect their employment growth. The study conceptualises different forms and aspects of social capital to develop the theoretical framework and hypotheses. We utilise the UK Office for National Statistics’ Longitudinal Small

Credit supply to small businesses may ease financial frictions, helping them grow faster and re-optimize the factor inputs for production, particularly when lumpy and/or long-term investment is required. We study how government loan programs address these two issues by combining the loan-level data with firms’ financial statements. We find that, with additional credit supplied by government, (i) small

Over the last two decades, there has been a significant surge in the self-employment rate among Hispanics, especially among Hispanic immigrants. However, the reasons behind this increase remain underexplored. This paper addresses this gap by examining the role of undocumented immigrants, a substantial part of the Hispanic immigrant population, by discerning immigrants’ legal status in the Current Population

Sustainability practices have a positive effect on the financial performance of SMEs. We extract ESG-related information for a sample of Spanish SMEs over the period 2012–2022 using tools provided by the Internet Archive to estimate a staggered difference-in-differences model of how the release of new ESG-related information impacts the financial performance of SMEs. ESG-related information can be

This paper extends discussion of parental influence on adolescent’s occupational intentions by including parents’ socioeconomic status and by arguing that entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) as instrumental to both entrepreneurial intention and employment intention. The adolescents’ social milieu is proxied by their parents’ occupational type and formal education and income levels, which adds their

This paper examines how pro-market reforms affect entrepreneurial innovation through the lens of the dynamic institution-based view of the firm. We propose that the speed at which changes occur has a positive influence on entrepreneurial innovation. Additionally, we hypothesize that, in highly uncertain environments, entrepreneurs with higher levels of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and those who have

This paper evaluates the effects of the More Productive Brazil Program (BMP) which provided subsidized on-site management consultancies about lean manufacturing techniques to 3000 establishments between 2016 and 2018. The BMP was restricted to four manufacturing sectors but included large, medium, and small-sized establishments. We apply two-way fixed effects regressions and event study specifications