PATTERNS OF PROMISING ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY IN EUROPEAN REGIONS (original) (raw)
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2011
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European Planning Studies, 2013
Regional policies across Europe aim at stimulating regional development in non-core regions through fostering entrepreneurship. However, the policies applied in non-core regions and the concepts of entrepreneurship these policies are based on differ. Therefore, the goal of this review is to identify different understandings of entrepreneurship and their role for regional development processes in European non-core regions. To this end, empirical studies investigating entrepreneurship in European non-core regions from 1999 to 2011 were analysed. The results of the analysis are presented along three drivers and outcomes of entrepreneurship identified inductively from the literature: innovation, social capital and institutional change. We made out seven different types of entrepreneurship in European non-core regions. These seven types of entrepreneurship comprise particular mechanisms through which they stimulate regional development. Further research should study the interplay between these different mechanisms of regional development in non-core regions which may induce a more territorial approach to understand entrepreneurship in non-core regions across Europe.
a Department of Working life and innovation, university of agder, grimstad, norway; b the mohn Centre for innovation and regional Development, Western norway university of applied sciences, Bergen, norway ABSTRACT Research in economic geography has paid increasing attention to regional innovation systems (RISs) as a potential vehicle for growth and development. Yet despite an increasing amount of research studying RISs in particular and economic regions in general, we have limited knowledge about their influence on entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. We respond to this knowledge gap and study if entrepreneurs' localization in thick vs. thin RISs affects their innovativeness and growth ambitions. Thick RISs are predominately urbanized spaces that include organizations of higher-level education, R&D intensive milieus, and an ample industry sector, while thin RISs to a lesser degree encompass these features. Empirically, we analyse 870-917 entrepreneurial firms in Agder of Southern Norway. Based on trade and labour markets, as defined by the EU's classification of local administrative units (LAU1), we identify two thick and six thin RISs in Agder. Econometric analyses show that entrepreneurs located in thick RISs are more innovative than entrepreneurs located in thin RISs, but there are no significant differences concerning entrepreneurs' growth ambitions. In light of our findings, we discuss the potential agency role played by entrepreneurial firms at a micro level on path dependent features of RISs at a macro level.
Regional Trajectories of Entrepreneurship and Growth
From Industrial Organization to Entrepreneurship, 2019
The development of regions is considerably shaped by their history. We review research that finds significant persistence of regional levels of entrepreneurship over longer periods of time. It is argued that the long term persistence of regional entrepreneurship indicates the presence and effect of a culture of entrepreneurship that is conducive to new business formation and regional growth. Hence, regional development is characterized by long term trajectories of entrepreneurship. We derive a number of policy implications and propose avenues for further research. The Important Role of Entrepreneurship for Innovation and Growth The effect of entrepreneurship on innovation and growth is a key topic on David Audretsch's research agenda. In our contribution to this Festschrift for David we reflect on our related work on regional trajectories of entrepreneurship, knowledge, and growth (Fritsch and Wyrwich 2019). Specifically, this includes the roles of history and culture in regional development. We review empirical work that shows the long-lasting effects of historical levels of self-employment and innovation on new business formation, innovation, and growth many decades later. It is argued that historical developments can cultivate certain cultural traits and personal attitudes in the local population that shape developments today. In what follows we first review the empirical evidence on persistence of regional levels of entrepreneurship and growth (section "The Long-Term Persistence of Regional Levels of Entrepreneurship"). We then show how historical levels of
Entrepreneurial attitude and economic growth: A cross-section of 54 regions
The Annals of Regional Science, 2004
Literature stresses factors like entrepreneurial ability, regional innovative potential, and entrepreneurial human capital in explaining the economic success of regions. Using a unique dataset on norms and values in 54 European regions, we distinguish values that characterise self-employed, which enables us to construct a regional aggregate that reflects the average score on entrepreneurial attitude. We show that regions differ in entrepreneurial attitude, and that a high score on entrepreneurial characteristics is correlated with a high rate of regional economic growth. In this way we empirically establish the link between culture and economy at the regional level.
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2012
Innovation and entrepreneurship are key factors in current regional development initiatives, derived from the concepts of new economic growth theory. The aim of this paper is to combine an assessment of innovative and entrepreneurial performance with the spatial distribution and functional linkages of certain types of economic clusters. The hypothesis is that clustered regions with high entrepreneurial and innovative performance have higher growth than noninnovative/entrepreneurial regions or regions with a more scattered economic structure. The clustering and in some cases even the polarization of economic activities in metropolitan regions can lead to excess growth, and contribute to a process of convergence between nations, but will also turn regional economic divergence back on the national economic development agenda. The purpose of this paper is to provide in deep information on these processes in an international and perspective based on European empirical evidence. The first part of the paper addresses the development and growth issue in a theoretical development policy perspective. The impact of innovation (measured by innovation scoreboard data) and entrepreneurship (GEM data etc.) on regional growth is estimated individual and combined as well as dummies for various levels of industrial clustering and agglomeration etc. are introduced. Within these groups we study the process of convergence by use of the traditional measures of convergence. The findings are compared with traditional geographical convergence results, enabling an analysis based both on traditional geographical adjacent regions, often characterized by a common institutional framework, and regions characterized by common features in economic performance terms. Based on the empirical results and the findings of the literature survey in the first part of the paper the final section provides an assessment of the overall trends in economic convergence and disparities and the drivers behind this process.