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Article
Publication date: 1 August 2002

Sevasti Kessapidou and Nikos C. Varsakelis

This paper explores the impact of national culture on the performance of the foreign affiliates in Greece, a country which belongs to the economic periphery of the European Union…

11610

Abstract

This paper explores the impact of national culture on the performance of the foreign affiliates in Greece, a country which belongs to the economic periphery of the European Union. Greece is characterised by low internationalisation and competitiveness, and has been clustered by Hofstede in the Mediterranean culture managing directorial model. This paper, using a sample of 478 firms, examines the extent to which the national culture factor has affected the performance of foreign affiliates in Greece. It verifies the first hypothesis that the higher the national culture distance between the country of origin of the foreign firm from Greece the better the performance of the Greek affiliate. The findings also support the second hypothesis that the higher the score on the individualism dimension of the foreign firm the higher the performance of its affiliate in a collectivistic society.

Details

European Business Review, vol. 14 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0955-534X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 August 2012

Iraklis Goniadis and Nikos C. Varsakelis

What are the conditions that influence the decision of a patentee to start a new venture? Does the possession of a patent make the individual more likely to engage in the…

1159

Abstract

Purpose

What are the conditions that influence the decision of a patentee to start a new venture? Does the possession of a patent make the individual more likely to engage in the entrepreneurial process? Does the possibility of a provisional monopoly limit the danger and the uncertainty in the decision‐making for commercial exploitation of an idea? Literature has given some light on the decision of individual patentees to establish a new venture but either these studies examine a specific group of patentees or cover national patentees’ population without distinguishing between individual and firm patentees. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to literature which aims at the detection of factors affecting the decision of individual patentees to start a new business using data from a national survey on the population of individual patentees in a less technologically developed country.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses the responses of 434 individuals‐inventors, residents of Greece, from a broader survey conducted by the Greek Organization for Industrial Property in March 2007. Applying the collected data into a logit model, the paper addresses the questions raised in the literature about the source of knowledge, opportunities perception, and the past business experience on the decision of a patentee to start a new business venture.

Findings

The findings of the paper show that financial restraints strongly affect the decision of a patentee to start‐up a new venture. The collaboration with a higher education and research institution does not lead to an invention‐patent with technological opportunity content and this reflects the particularities of Greek academia while the opposite is the perception for the knowledge coming from market (incumbent firms). Finally, the new entrepreneur is more likely to decide to start a new venture in order to exploit commercially its patent rather than the patentee with past entrepreneurial experience. This finding contradicts the previous findings for the US and the authors believe that it may be a consequence of the Greek commercial and financial law and national culture idiosyncrasies.

Originality/value

The originality of the paper is due to the fact that for first time data from a survey of the patentees population is used. In addition, this is the first, to the authors’ knowledge, study for a less technologically advanced country. The findings of this paper have significant policy implications since it provides useful inputs for the design of the entrepreneurship policy.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 18 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 November 2017

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.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 24 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

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