Climbing up the regional intellectual capital tree: an EU entrepreneurial ecosystem analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mihaela Mikic ◽  
Tin Horvatinovic ◽  
Ivana Kovac

PurposeThis study responds to calls by researchers to examine the relation between innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems more closely, and also to further broaden our understanding of regional intellectual capital formation.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional analysis was conducted on NUTS 2 regions of the selected EU countries. In the empirical part of the research, multiple linear regression approaches were carried out using secondary data.FindingsIn sampled regions, the entrepreneurial ecosystem positively affects levels of high growth firms and levels of regional innovation capital.Practical implicationsResults lend further support to policymakers to develop and implement a regional-specific policy for fostering entrepreneurial ecosystems. However, given the multiple output nature of entrepreneurial ecosystems, this issue becomes more complicated than ever before.Originality/valueThis study builds upon previous research and complements it by widening the range of effects that the entrepreneurial ecosystem has. In doing so, this study is the first to examine the concurrent effects of these ecosystems on levels of high growth firms and innovation capital while using a regional innovation capital outlook.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yama Temouri ◽  
Vijay Pereira ◽  
Glenn W. Muschert ◽  
Vikash Ramiah ◽  
Michael Babula

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the role of intellectual capital and knowledge management in the entrepreneurial success of firms through a research model which is subsequently tested empirically.Design/methodology/approachThe paper utilises the knowledge-based perspective to formulate three sets of hypotheses which the authors subsequently test in the empirical analysis on data derived from the Orbis database, which includes over 1-million data points from approximately 240,000 firms across 174 geographic subdivisions of economic regions in 14 European countries, from 2010 to 2013. The analysis utilises probit model regressions on the likelihood of becoming a high-growth firms (HGF), in the presence of a number of control factors including firm age, firm size, tangible assets, foreign ownership, competitiveness (via Herfindahl index), return on assets, industry sector and country location.FindingsFindings from our analysis suggest that investments in intangible assets and generating patents from research and development (R&D) efforts is positively related to the likelihood of becoming a HGF. In addition, cluster membership seems to be a positive influence on becoming a HGF, however the moderating impact of intangible investments and patents is less clear in clusters.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors highlight the mixed effects from cluster membership and the beneficial impact from intellectual capital and knowledge management in achieving high growth firm status.Originality/valueThe authors derive and test our research model, which outlines the interrelationship of the various factors leading to firms becoming high-growth firms. The results suggest that there may be further fruitful ground for future investigation in the intersections of knowledge management and intellectual capital concepts within entrepreneurial contexts.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-383
Author(s):  
Kevin Walsh

Purpose Entrepreneurial ecosystems offer an approach to analyse the evolution and resilience of a region by placing the emphasis on the interactions that occur between entrepreneurs and the supporting regional resources. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the transformation of a region with high-growth firms to identify the coordinating structures that evolve in response to entrepreneurial recycling of resources. Design/methodology/approach This study uses network analysis to explore the scaling capability network of leaders in Dublin’s high-growth IT firms over a 15-year period. Findings After a gestation period of 10 years, leaders displayed prior experience from an initial entrant. Towards the end of the study period, numerous well-connected internet firms arose providing a structure resilient to exogenous and endogenous shocks. Research limitations/implications The findings suggest that the region’s structure changed from a satellite platform to a “hub and spoke” type district, and is showing signs of becoming a Marshallian type district, although the analysis is limited to regional knowledge capital through leadership mobility and does not consider the financial, social or institutional capital described in the entrepreneurial ecosystems literature. Practical implications Policy that aims to create regional resilience but minimise the scope of intervention needed can encourage the introduction of an anchor firm to a region and can complement this initiative with regional capability accumulation through labour policies that encourage resource recycling and minimise human capital leakage. Originality/value This contributes to an understanding of how entrepreneurial ecosystems evolve and the structure of the supporting resources that lead to increased regional resilience.


Author(s):  
Erik Stam ◽  
Andrew van de Ven

Abstract There is a growing interest in ecosystems as an approach for understanding the context of entrepreneurship at the macro level of an organizational community. It consists of all the interdependent actors and factors that enable and constrain entrepreneurship within a particular territory. Although growing in popularity, the entrepreneurial ecosystem concept remains loosely defined and measured. This paper shows the value of taking a systems view of the context of entrepreneurship: understanding entrepreneurial economies from a systems perspective. We use a systems framework for studying entrepreneurial ecosystems, develop a measurement instrument of its elements, and use this to compose an entrepreneurial ecosystem index to examine the quality of entrepreneurial ecosystems in the Netherlands. We find that the prevalence of high-growth firms in a region is strongly related to the quality of its entrepreneurial ecosystem. Strong interrelationships among the ecosystem elements reveal their interdependence and need for a systems perspective.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 408-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zimu Xu ◽  
Stephen Dobson

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate challenges of building entrepreneurial ecosystems in peripheral places. The entrepreneurial ecosystem concept is developing a rising popularity among both academics and policymakers in recent years where much of the attention has been put in major urban cities. However, on the way to achieve balanced growth and equity, peripheral places should not be neglected. Thus, this paper links literature on ecosystem with peripheral region studies in creating a conceptual framework of developing entrepreneurial ecosystems in peripheral places. Design/methodology/approach The paper first reviews literature on entrepreneurial ecosystems and challenges that peripheral places facing in particular. Then, taking into consideration of literature from both fields, a conceptual framework is developed. In order to better illustrate the framework, a case study on Guildford’s digital gaming industry is reviewed based on secondary data. Findings Though facing various challenges such as smallness, remoteness and lack of resources, peripheral places can take advantage of the digital technology and build an entrepreneurial ecosystem of its own kind through holistic collaborative approach to tackle issues around finance, talents, socio-culture environment, infrastructure, markets and policy. Originality/value The paper is among the first to focus on developing a holistic conceptual framework in building entrepreneurial ecosystems in peripheral areas. It can lead to a range of further research topics and contribute to develop viable practices particularly for policymakers.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Domingos Santos

Purpose The purpose of this paper is three-fold. The first objective is to contextualize and clarify the concepts of regional innovation systems and entrepreneurship, addressing their differences and complementarities and suggesting an analytical filter to enhance their understanding. The second aim is to question and analyse the challenges this renewed approach brings to the domain of territorial policy, namely, the role it may bring to local and regional development strategies, opening up the way for a set of public policy interventions on the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation promotion. Finally, the paper presents and analyses the example of Coimbra, a medium-sized city in Portugal, underlining both the role of academia and the Instituto Pedro Nunes-Incubator have had on these domains. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a case study approach, with an in-depth descriptive and exploratory analysis of the Coimbra entrepreneurial ecosystem. Findings The paper acknowledged the role entrepreneurial stakeholders have on the fertilization of the innovation and entrepreneurial Coimbra ecosystem. The Instituto Pedro Nunes-Incubator, with a new generation of startups, mostly born on its infrastructure as university spin-offs, gradually introduced a more business-oriented perspective on the local innovation system which, alongside the creation of a thicker networking and more profound cooperation culture, with the growing involvement of other local stakeholders such as science parks (Coimbra iParque), has had a decisive role on upgrading urban competitiveness. These new knowledge-based startups also have important spill-over effects that are beneficial to the growth of other firms in the same locality. There is evidence that they also provide an important Schumpeterian stimulus within economies by increasing competition, promoting innovation and augmenting the efficient allocation of resources within economies. Besides the more traditional transactional forms of support (tax incentives, grants, etc.), there is now the recognition that relational forms of support such as network building, developing connections between entrepreneurial actors, institutional alignment of priorities, fostering peer-based interactions have been strategic to improve both the efficiency and the effectiveness of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Research limitations/implications There is, thus, a need for more profound theorization and empirical research that can produce additional comprehension into this domain of the cause-effect relationships between entrepreneurship, innovation and local and regional dynamics. Some authors suggest, in particular, that the existing work on entrepreneurial ecosystems within popular business literature and academic research still has a deficit of a solid theoretical foundation, making the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach somehow both ambiguous and immature concept and, thus, reducing its generalizability and policy applicability. Research that evaluates the relationship between entrepreneurial performance and the level of government participation as part of governance systems will also be of great significance over the near future as it will help researchers and policymakers to realize better where the different stakeholders can enhance entrepreneurship and where their intervention will possibly diminish positive outcomes. Practical implications The main practical implications of this paper are associated with the need that urban and regional policymakers to formulate more business-led strategies to promote territorial innovation and entrepreneurship. The paper also offers conceptual tools that point out the need that innovation stakeholders, namely, universities, incubators and firms, have to assume more protagonism in promoting competitiveness and sustainability. Social implications The entrepreneurial ecosystem approach constitutes both a theoretical and analytical useful tool to define competitive strategies for urban and regional economies. Urban and regional-innovation ecosystem construction is a representative method of realizing territorial development and competition enhancement, through sustainable job and wealth creation. Originality/value This paper analysis summarizes and integrates the increasing and scattered literature of both the regional innovation systems and of the entrepreneurial ecosystems and delivers new insights for the future development of this field, namely, in terms of renewal of policy formulation and implementation. The singularity of the case study is associated with the fact that Coimbra entrepreneurial ecosystem is still largely embryonic, having its roots on a paradigm strategic shift the University adopted towards a more proactive role in terms of city aand regional development.


Author(s):  
Sachin A Meshram ◽  
A. M. Rawani

Entrepreneurial ecosystems are a strategy that is designed to nurture economic development by promoting entrepreneurship, small business growth, and innovation. Ecosystems represent a new direction for entrepreneurship research that simultaneously increases knowledge of the complex contextual environments surrounding the entrepreneurship process, while at the same time providing useful contributions to policy debates around the role of high-growth entrepreneurship as a driver of regional economic development. This article reviews the concept evolution; different definitions and factors of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Additionally, it provides approaches of past contributions about entrepreneurial ecosystem. This article contributes to knowledge generation and provides further research directions. This study is an attempt to cover the different articles that exist on the entrepreneurial ecosystems.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 935-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neha Smriti ◽  
Niladri Das

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of intellectual capital (IC) on financial performance (FP) for Indian companies listed on the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Overall Share Price Index (COSPI). Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses were developed according to theories and literature review. Secondary data were collected from Indian companies listed on the COSPI between 2001 and 2016, and the value-added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) of Pulic (2000) was used to measure IC and its components. A dynamic system generalized method of moments (SGMM) estimator was employed to identify the variables that significantly contribute to firm performance. Findings Indian listed firms appear to be performing well and efficiently utilizing their IC. Overall, human capital had a major impact on firm productivity during the study period. Furthermore, the empirical analysis showed that structural capital efficiency and capital employed efficiency were equally important contributors to firm’s sales growth and market value. The growing importance of the contribution of IC to value creation was consistently reflected in the FP of these Indian companies. Practical implications This study has robust theoretical grounds and employs a validated methodology. The present study extends knowledge of IC among academicians and managers and highlights its contribution to value creation. The findings may help stakeholders and policymakers in developing countries properly reallocate intellectual resources. Originality/value This study is the first study to evaluate IC and its relationship with traditional measures of firm performance among Indian listed firms using dynamic SGMM and VAIC models.


2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-111
Author(s):  
Guilherme Fowler A. Monteiro

Purpose This paper aims to conduct an extensive review and advances a framework for the literature of high-growth firms (HGFs) and scale-ups. Design/methodology/approach This paper takes the form of a literature review. Findings The author makes three specific contributions. First, he presents a broad review of high growth in firms, shedding light on the different levels of analysis. Second, he advances a characterization of scale-up companies to enable a better basis for discussion. Finally, he identifies gaps in the existing literature and suggest paths for future research. Originality/value The interest in HGFs and those referred to as scale-ups has increased considerably in recent years. Despite this trend, existing studies still have conceptual divergences and a gap separating theoretical inputs from the actual experiences of entrepreneurs.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khushdeep Dharni ◽  
Saddam Jameel

PurposeThis study highlights the trends of qualitative intellectual capital disclosures and patent statistics in the Indian manufacturing context by considering the numerous patent applications, patent grants, forward citations and backward citations. Furthermore, the study investigates the relation among qualitative disclosures, patent statistics and firm performance.Design/methodology/approachAll manufacturing companies of CNX 500 Index of National Stock Exchange of India Limited are considered. Based on data availability, 243 manufacturing firms spanning across seven major manufacturing sectors are included. Secondary data were obtained from the annual report of companies and patent databases from 2004 to 2005 to 2013–2014, generating a sample of 2,430 firm years. Content analysis and citation analysis are used for collecting the relevant data.FindingsOverall, the study results indicated increasing trends for all types of intellectual capital disclosures. Similar trends are observed for patent applications and patent grants, indicating a surge in patenting activities across the manufacturing sector. However, increasing trends in patenting activities are not reflected for forward and backward citations. In addition, significant differences in means and trend coefficients for qualitative disclosures and patent statistics indicated industry specificity within the Indian manufacturing sector. Furthermore, industry specificity is observed when translating intellectual capital to firm performance. The measure of firm performance, that is, Tobin's Q, is having a significant positive association with qualitative disclosures and patent statistics.Research limitations/implicationsAs the study is based on secondary data, its accuracy is limited by the accuracy of the data sources such as the annual reports of companies and patent databases.Practical implicationsThe study findings imply that policymakers should devise and execute sector-specific policy interventions. Moreover, managers and policymakers should emphasize the qualitative aspect of patenting activities.Originality/valueThe study is an original work that highlights the trends in qualitative disclosures in the Indian manufacturing context. The value relevance of intellectual capital and patent statistics has been established.


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