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1 – 10 of over 15000Ioannis E. Nikolaou, Konstantinos P. Tsagarakis and Kyriaki Tasopoulou
The purpose of this paper is to address two research questions: which are the key factors that stimulate entrepreneurs to invest in ecopreneurship, and how ecopreneurhsip…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address two research questions: which are the key factors that stimulate entrepreneurs to invest in ecopreneurship, and how ecopreneurhsip contributes to environmental sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
To answer these questions, a framework has been developed to identify the incentives that lead entrepreneurs to invest in firms in the ecopreneurship through institutional and resource-based thinking.
Findings
From a survey of 91 Greek firms from the green service sector, it is shown that some specific institutional and resource-based view factors play a critical role in green entrepreneurs’ decisions, as well as some certain environmental practices that are frequently used by entrepreneurs to address environmental issues.
Research limitations/implications
First, the answer of the second research question through data collected by a questionnaire survey may be faced with skepticism by some authors, as it could be seen that entrepreneurs and managers of firms could have overstated their company's environmental activities. Second, although the sample selection of 91 firms is a representative sample (response rate 12.35 percent) of the total population of Greek green firms (761) and equal to other relative studies, a higher number of firms and a wider variety of green entrepreneurship ventures is necessary in future research.
Practical implications
The findings are useful for scholars, practitioners and policy makers since it provide information regarding the behavior of green entrepreneurs.
Originality/value
The paper analyze the types of green entrepreneurs in relation to the different features and strategies which are emerged from two theories, such as institutional and resource-based theory.
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Gabriel Gomes da Cunha and Paulo Arvate
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of government-led programs on the engagement of individuals in entrepreneurship.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of government-led programs on the engagement of individuals in entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors worked with government-led programs of 16 European countries between 2003 and 2014 and were able to benefit from the 2008 natural experiment (i.e. the global financial crisis) to produce a robust investigation using a regression kink design (RKD).
Findings
The work shows that government-led programs that are designed to include monitoring schemes can significantly increase individuals' engagement in opportunity-driven entrepreneurship. The authors found that monitoring schemes do not have the same relevance for necessity-driven entrepreneurship. Therefore, the authors believe the difference occurs because monitoring design avoids problems related to moral hazard and adverse selection when it comes to individuals choosing whether to participate (or not) in government-led programs.
Originality/value
While it is important for governments to provide an enabling environment for entrepreneurship, this study showed that not all types of public program have positive results. In fact, it has been demonstrated that poorly-designed programs can actually decrease the likelihood of individuals engaging in entrepreneurial activities. The efficiency of programs is substantially improved, however, when they are designed to include monitoring schemes.
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David S. Lucas, Caleb S. Fuller, Ennio E. Piano and Christopher J. Coyne
The purpose of this paper is to present and compare alternative theoretical frameworks for understanding entrepreneurship policy: targeted interventions to increase venture…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present and compare alternative theoretical frameworks for understanding entrepreneurship policy: targeted interventions to increase venture creation and/or performance. The authors contrast the Standard view of the state as a coherent entity willing and able to rectify market failures with an Individualistic view that treats policymakers as self-interested individuals with limited knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw on the perspective of “politics as exchange” to provide a taxonomy of assumptions about knowledge and incentives of both entrepreneurship policymakers and market participants. The authors position extant literature in relation to this taxonomy, and assess the implications of alternative assumptions.
Findings
The rationale for entrepreneurship policy intervention is strong under the Standard view but becomes considerably more tenuous in the Individualistic view. The authors raise several conceptual challenges to the Standard view, highlighting inconsistencies between this view and the fundamental elements of the entrepreneurial market process such as uncertainty, dispersed knowledge and self-interest.
Research limitations/implications
Entrepreneurship policy research is often applied; hence, the theoretical rationale for intervention can be overlooked. The authors make the implicit assumptions of these rationales explicit, showing how the adoption of “realistic” assumptions offers a robust toolkit to evaluate entrepreneurship policy.
Practical implications
While the authors agree with entrepreneurship policy interventionists that an “entrepreneurial society” is conducive to economic development, this framework suggests that targeted efforts to promote entrepreneurship may be inconsistent with that goal.
Originality/value
The Individualistic view draws on the rich traditions of public choice and the entrepreneurial market process to highlight the intended and unintended consequences of entrepreneurship policy.
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Meg Patrick Tuszynski and Dean Stansel
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between state economic development incentives programs and entrepreneurial activity.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between state economic development incentives programs and entrepreneurial activity.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use panel data and a fixed-effects model to examine the determinants of five measures of entrepreneurial activity. To measure state economic development incentives programs, they use a new and substantially improved data set from Bartik (2017). They also include a measure for economic freedom, the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of North America index.
Findings
The authors find a robustly negative relationship between development incentives and patent activity. They find some evidence that incentives are negatively associated with small business establishments (<10 employees) as a percentage of total establishments but positively associated with the large business establishment (>500 employees) share. They also find evidence of a positive relationship between economic freedom and both patent activity and net business formation.
Research limitations/implications
The results imply that economic development incentive programs are unlikely to increase entrepreneurial activity and may decrease it. They also imply increased economic freedom (lower taxes, lower spending, and lower governmental restrictions on labor markets) may increase entrepreneurial activity.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this paper provides the first examination of the relationship between development incentives and entrepreneurial activity that utilizes Bartik (2017), a new vastly improved data set of state economic development incentive programs. The paper also contributes to the literature on the relationship between economic freedom and entrepreneurial activity.
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Nadia A. Abdelmegeed Abdelwahed, Mohammed A. Al Doghan, Ummi Naiemah Saraih and Bahadur Ali Soomro
Entrepreneurship is one of the pillars of economic development and helps to green the economy. This study investigates the factors that affect green entrepreneurship (GE) in…
Abstract
Purpose
Entrepreneurship is one of the pillars of economic development and helps to green the economy. This study investigates the factors that affect green entrepreneurship (GE) in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Saudi Arabia.
Design/methodology/approach
Using quantitative modes, this study's findings are based on 334 valid cases from Saudi Arabian SME employees.
Findings
Using path analysis, this study’s findings reveal that green entrepreneurial skills (GES), green opportunities (GOs), entrepreneurial motivation (EM), green incentives (GIs), availability of capital (AoC) and green entrepreneurial self-efficacy (GESE) have positive and significant effects on GE. Moreover, GESE mediates GE's relationships with GES, GOs, EM, GIs and AoC.
Practical implications
This study's findings support the development of green business practices in terms of green business planning, training and skills. The research provides opportunities for green businesses. Policymakers and SME authorities would benefit from this study's findings in producing green goods and services.
Originality/value
This study empirically confirms the role of various factors such as GESE and GE among Saudi Arabian SMEs.
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Concepción Román, Emilio Congregado and José María Millán
Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to shed new light on the effects of labor market institutions and the economic conditions on self-employment composition that may help the…
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to shed new light on the effects of labor market institutions and the economic conditions on self-employment composition that may help the development of a comprehensive strategy to promote job creation and sustained economic growth in the post-2009 era.
Methodology/approach – Using microdata from the European Community Household Panel for the EU-15, we analyze the effects of employment protection legislation, start-up incentives, and economic conditions on transitions from unemployment and paid employment to self-employment, as well as on self-employment survival, with a special focus on the differentiated effect of these variables on different types of self-employment.
Findings – The empirical results suggest that the coexistence of recession periods, start-up incentives, and strict employment protection may be distorting the occupational choice against true entrepreneurs and favor less entrepreneurial forms of self-employment – such as last resort or dependent. Therefore, the differentiated effect of the regulatory environment and the economic conditions over different forms of self-employment – that contribute to job creation, growth and innovation processes in a different manner – may help explaining the different incidence in terms of employment of the economic crisis across countries.
Social implications – During deep recessions, stringent labor regulations might prompt that public expenditure designed to move the unemployed back to employment favors atypical forms of employment outside the scope of labor laws, deteriorating employment rights, and the social protection of workers. As a consequence, the interaction of different LMI and the business cycle should be considered when defining the regulatory environment.
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Nils Stieglitz and Nicolai J. Foss
Entrepreneurs in a competitive economy face three fundamental problems. They need to search for and discover a business opportunity (Kirzner, 1973), evaluate it (Knight, 1921)…
Abstract
Entrepreneurs in a competitive economy face three fundamental problems. They need to search for and discover a business opportunity (Kirzner, 1973), evaluate it (Knight, 1921), and then seize the opportunity to reap entrepreneurial profits (Schumpeter, 1911) (Langlois, 2007). The problem that we address is how the ability to exploit business opportunities is influenced by entrepreneurial search and the economic organization of entrepreneurship (Arrow, 1962; Lippman & Rumelt, 2003b; Aghion et al., 2005; Foss, Foss, & Klein, 2007). In many cases, the discovery for a new business opportunity needs to be motivated by expected gains, since the search and evaluation of business opportunities is a costly, resource-consuming process (Denrell, Fang, & Winter, 2003; Nickerson & Zenger, 2004; Foss & Klein, 2005; Teece, 2007; Foss & Foss, 2008).1 We show the critical role of expectations for understanding of the economic organization of entrepreneurship, and argue that transaction cost economics, with its insistence on bounded rationality, but farsighted contracting offers useful insights and presents rich opportunities for further theoretical and empirical research (cf. also Furubotn, 2002).
About 10 years ago the Singapore Government realized that entrepreneurial spirit was lacking in its general population. These conclusions were confirmed by an empirical survey…
Abstract
About 10 years ago the Singapore Government realized that entrepreneurial spirit was lacking in its general population. These conclusions were confirmed by an empirical survey, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), an annual assessment of the national level of entrepreneurial activity. The paternalistic and authoritative approach of the government contributed to the general population’s averseness to participating in riskoriented ventures.
Removing impediments to entrepreneurship is a key challenge for the government and the business sector if the island republic is to maintain its national competitiveness. This article explores the various initiatives taken by the government to stimulate risk-taking and attempts to ascertain if the various measures can be used as key factors to strengthen the inherent cultural values that stimulate the entrepreneurial spirit.The observations can serve as a useful tool for academics and managers in recognizing the cultural traits that influence and help foster entrepreneurial tendencies.
Christopher J. Coyne, Courtney Michaluk and Rachel Reese
US military contracting has been plagued by systematic corruption, fraud, and waste during both times of peace and war. These outcomes result from the inherent features of the US…
Abstract
Purpose
US military contracting has been plagued by systematic corruption, fraud, and waste during both times of peace and war. These outcomes result from the inherent features of the US military sector which incentivize unproductive entrepreneurship. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the insights of Baumol (1990) as their base theoretical framework, the authors explore how the industrial organization of the US military sector creates incentives for unproductive entrepreneurship. Evidence from US government reports regarding US efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq is provided to illustrate the central claims.
Findings
The military sector is characterized by an entangled network of government bureaus and private firms whose existence is dependent on continued government spending. These realities, coupled with a dysfunctional procurement processes, reward unproductive behaviors during peacetime. During wartime these incentives are intensified, as significant emergency resources are injected into an already defective contracting system. The recent experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq illustrate these dynamics.
Originality/value
The authors make three main contributions. First, contrary to common treatments by economists, much military spending fails to meet the definition of a public good. Second, waste, fraud, and abuse in military contracting is a result of rules and the incentives those rules create. Third, the only way to change the situation is to change the overarching rules governing the people operating in the military sector.
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Eva Zikou, Nikos Varsakelis and Aikaterini K. Sarri
The decision to engage in entrepreneurial activities is grounded in personal characteristics (motivation) and external environmental factors. One of the main external factors…
Abstract
Purpose
The decision to engage in entrepreneurial activities is grounded in personal characteristics (motivation) and external environmental factors. One of the main external factors might be the structure of the regional economic activity. Does a high share of the public sector affect positively regional entrepreneurship or vice versa? Does the diversity in regional economic activity is conducive for entrepreneurial development or the regional comparative advantage as expressed by spatial economies of scale offering more entrepreneurial opportunities? Even though economic analysis has extensively examined the impact of the public sector size on the overall national economic activity (the crowding out effect), this impact has not been into scrutiny at regional level on microeconomic issues, such as the decision to engage in entrepreneurial activities. The authors further investigate the relation between diversity and entrepreneurship at regional level. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses data for 264 NUTS II EU regions. The time span of the data set is 1999-2008. The paper applies panel data analysis to explain the cross-time cross-section variation of the dependent variable: the self-employment share in total employment at regional level. In order to measure the existence of crowding out from public sector to regional entrepreneurship, the authors use the share of regional public sector gross value added over total regional gross value added. The diversity of the regional economic activity is measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Concentration Index across sectors.
Findings
The findings of the paper show that there is a negative correlation between public sector share and regional entrepreneurship. Hence, as at national level, the increase in the role of the public sector in the regional economic system crowds out regional entrepreneurship. The second finding indicates that the impact of the diversity of the regional economic activity on regional entrepreneurship is inconclusive.
Originality/value
The originality of this paper is due to the fact that the role of the public sector on regional economic phenomena, such as entrepreneurship, is examined for the first time. Also, the investigation of the relationship between diversity (vs localization economies) and entrepreneurship is performed using data for the full sample of regions of the European Union. The findings of the paper have significant policy implications since they provide useful inputs for the design of the regional development policy. The reduction of the public sector at regional level may contribute in entrepreneurial development and finally in regional economic growth and prosperity. Besides, the regional industrial policy should focus on the exploitation of the spatially constraint economies of scope in the framework of the Triple Helix model.
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