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The promotion of research-based entrepreneurship is considered a crucial task for universities and policymakers in many Western countries. Research has shown that the university environment plays a decisive role in the spin-off activities of researchers. Although the number of science-based spin-offs has increased in recent years, women are still an exception when it comes to developing spin-off ventures. In turn, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the university environment that supports entrepreneurship from a gender perspective.

Based on the theoretical framework of the “Entrepreneurial University,” this contribution examines the formal and informal conditions for academic entrepreneurship using the example of Swiss universities of applied sciences (UAS). Based on a cross-sectional dataset of 1,551 researchers from various disciplines who were surveyed in 2019, linear regressions and logistic regression models were used to test gender-specific differences in the perception of organizational conditions concerning the entrepreneurial exploitation of research.

The results demonstrated significant differences in the perception of formal and informal conditions in higher education. First, they show gender differences in the perception of informal entrepreneurial support in universities; in particular, female researchers received less informal support for spin-off projects. For example, women hardly viewed commercial use of research and development knowledge as a career option and considered the existence of entrepreneurial role models at universities to be low. Second, further analyses highlighted that also formal support offerings were less known among female researchers.

The study highlights organizational barriers for female researchers regarding the development of spin-off creation at UAS, including the different formal and informal conditions for female academics in comparison to their male counterparts.

The purpose of this research is to empirically examine the impact of selecting entrepreneurial framework conditions on the success of entrepreneurs in a conflict zone. The study was conducted in Kashmir, which is a fitting conflict context. The study undertaken responds to the call by multiple authors to substantiate the entrepreneurship literature with empirical evidence from conflict-affected areas. The authors argue that better entrepreneurial framework conditions will enhance entrepreneurial success in conflict zones. This research work is important because it will add to our understanding of the influences of the entrepreneurial ecosystem on entrepreneurs who pursue an entrepreneurial career in conflict zones. This research will add to the existing body of knowledge, which seemingly lacks evidence from conflict zones. Furthermore, this research is important in the Kashmir context because this research will provide insights to stakeholders such as entrepreneurs, government agencies, entrepreneurship development agencies and NGOs, etc.

The authors surveyed 400 entrepreneurs in the manufacturing, services and retail sectors in Kashmir through a questionnaire. The self-reported responses were used for assessment of entrepreneurial framework conditions and financial and non-financial performance. The data were analysed through the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the hypothesised relationships. The results were considerable.

The authors found that most Kashmiri entrepreneurs do not find the entrepreneurial framework conditions supportive of their business. Upon testing the hypothesis, they found a significant and positive impact of entrepreneurial finance, government policies and cultural and social norms on entrepreneurial success. The common belief that ease in market dynamics would positively impact success was negated in this case. They found a significant and negative impact of market dynamics on success. Furthermore, the physical, commercial and professional infrastructure and services showed insignificant results.

This research provides insights about the requirements of entrepreneurial framework conditions in a conflict zone for achieving successful results. The current study acknowledges the call of researchers to carry out quantitative studies in conflict zones.

The findings of this research might prove to be beneficial to the entrepreneurs, policymakers, government agencies and other stakeholders. If taken into consideration while formulating the policies in favour of entrepreneurs in a conflict zone, the findings of this research are an added resource. The current research might be valuable to the Government of Kashmir in recognising the perception of entrepreneurs towards the initiatives or the policies drafted in the past.

As per the knowledge of researchers, no such study has been conducted in Kashmir vis-a-vis the variables studied. The study is original in terms of analysing the impact of the environment on the success of entrepreneurs in a conflict zone in Kashmir.

This paper aims to deal with different experts’ perceptions of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) from central to non-central regions to evaluate if there was any evolution (or involution), comparing the results with those of a previous similar study on Chile from 2013, and it follows to replicate and improve our knowledge of the entrepreneurial opportunities.

One of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor surveys, the National Experts’ Survey, was applied to a sample of N = 1,555 key informants in Chile at 11 regions. The author used non-parametric statistics to compare the differences between centrally and non-centrally located experts.

The results indicate an evolution of the Chilean entrepreneurial ecosystem in an effort to homologate the entrepreneurial opportunities at non-central regions since the last study published in 2013. The financial support and physical infrastructure conditions were perceived to be more favorable in central regions, whereas the general government policies and entrepreneurial education at primary and secondary levels were perceived to be more favorable in non-central regions.

This research aims to contribute to filling the gap from the regional EEs’ perspective in emerging economies by comparing the results of the study on Chile with data from the previous government (2007–2009) providing an updated study of it (2015–2018) using the entrepreneurial framework conditions. It is relevant because the government established the “StartUp Chile” program that positioned the country as an innovation hub in Latin America since 2010.

This chapter examines experts’ perceptions of the conditions of their entrepreneurial ecosystems to analyse women’s disadvantages, identify which conditions can improve in comparison to men in Latin America, and if the level of development of their country affects the support women entrepreneurs have. The study is based on regional data collected in Chile and Mexico with one of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor surveys between 2015 and 2018. With a total sample of N = 2,230 male and female experts, the author uses principal component analysis and non-parametric statistics to compare means between genders and also women in different countries. First, male and female experts’ perceptions are compared at the macrolevel and then total women as a subsample are compared between the women experts’ perceptions by country at the mesolevel. At the macrolevel, the results show a clear perceived disadvantage for women entrepreneurs in all conditions except internal market dynamics. At the mesolevel, the findings show that support for women entrepreneurs is better in most conditions for Mexico, which is a less developed country, in comparison to Chile for this case. This chapter goes from studying the general to the particular issues causing gender gaps in entrepreneurial ecosystems in developing Latin American countries. The dataset used represents the biggest data-gathering project in the field of entrepreneurship for the region.

The entrepreneurial ecosystem approach tries to understand the mechanisms underlying new business creation and helps develop tools, governmental policies and support systems that enhance the outcomes of entrepreneurship activities. To ensure a better understanding of those mechanisms, this study aims to contrast regional policies in emerging economies that are designed to foster local new business creation and development.

One of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s surveys, the National Experts’ Survey, was applied to a sample of N = 675 key informants in Mexico at ten entities, seven of whom were categorized as non-centrally located. The authors used non-parametric statistics to compare the differences between centrally and non-centrally located experts.

The main results indicate that non-centrally located experts perceive their regions to be in a worse position than centrally located experts in terms of government policies regulation, post-school education and commercial and physical infrastructure, but surprisingly in a better position regarding financial access, general government policy, government programs, primary and secondary education, R&D transfer, market dynamism and openness and cultural and social norms.

These findings have policy implications for all levels of government in Mexico, which must prioritize the homologation of opportunities for people in both large and small cities.

The replication of a Chilean study contributes to the empirical literature of regional entrepreneurial ecosystems in emerging economies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine entrepreneurial leadership and to determine the entrepreneurial leadership skills which are important for success in a developing economy environment. Specifically, the focus of this research was on entrepreneurial leadership within the retail pharmacy sector in Nigeria.

This study was guided by an interpretivist-constructionist perspective. By adopting a qualitative approach, the lived experiences of the retail pharmacy entrepreneurs could be understood. In total, 51 semi-structured interviews were the mode of data collection, and data were triangulated via three sources: entrepreneurs, employees, and literature.

From the study results, a vivid picture of entrepreneurial leadership was formed, which in turn provides the basis for an empirical skill-based model of this phenomenon in a developing economy. This study identifies four distinct entrepreneurial leadership skill categories. These include technical/business skills, interpersonal skills, conceptual skills, and entrepreneurial skills. The findings of this study also show the factors and conditions necessary for entrepreneurial leadership in a developing economy.

The findings of this study have implications in theory and practice. Its results provide an empirical, skill-based framework on entrepreneurial leadership in a developing economy, a subject area for which there exists a lack of background literature. In practice, the findings of this study serve as a useful reference for practitioners and policy makers of the skills and other factors required for people to succeed as entrepreneurial leaders.

The main objective of this paper is to analyse the influence of environmental factors on entrepreneurship at the Spanish regional level, using institutional economics as the theoretical framework for the research. Additionally, this work aims to emphasize how environmental conditions have different effects according to the gender of entrepreneurs.

Regional panel data (19 Spanish regions and the 2006‐2009 period) from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), specifically from the Spanish National Expert Survey (NES) for environmental conditions and the GEM Adult Population Survey (APS) for entrepreneurial activity were analysed within a fixed effects model with panel corrected standard errors.

The main findings of the study indicate that both informal (cultural and social norms, perception of opportunities to start‐up and entrepreneur social image) and formal factors (intellectual property rights) influence entrepreneurship, but the informal are more determinant than the formal. Concerning the gender issues, informal and formal institutions are also determinant, but female entrepreneurship is significantly associated with the women's support to start‐up, whereas primary and higher education are associated only with male entrepreneurial activity.

The results of the research should be interpreted carefully, because the availability of data constrained the analysis to a time period that is not reflective of the economic cycle; on the contrary, the data correspond to a period of recession, and thus the results cannot be generalized. Also, the study could extend the analysed period and compare the obtained results with international data, considering the global number of participant countries in the GEM Project.

The study provides a methodology to analyse the environmental factors for new firm creation at a regional level, combining GEM data and institutional economics.

This study aims to integrate the resource-based view (RBV) with other theories that consider external factors necessary to respond successfully to dynamic and uncertain entrepreneurial business conditions.

The paper introduces an multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach, utilizing the axial-distance-based aggregated measurement (ADAM) method with weights determined by the preference selection index (PSI) method, to rank eight European countries based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data. Additionally, the paper extends the existing entrepreneurial ecosystem taxonomy (EET), offering an additional classification.

The performed analysis emphasizes the importance and necessity of involving different dimensions of EE in assessing the countries' entrepreneurship performance, which facilitates creating adequate policy measures.

The crucial limitations are assessments based only on the GEM data from a particular period, possibly leading to a certain bias. Future research should involve data from various resources to increase the results' reliability.

The ranking results and country classification obtained using the ADAM-based approach and two distinct taxonomies served as the basis for formulating tailored policy recommendations, aiming to formulate tailored policy implications for increasing the number of new entrepreneurs and improving innovativeness, sustainability and internationalization of existing entrepreneurs for each group of countries.

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) – Malopolska, Mazowieckie and 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.