Spatial heterogeneity,industry heterogeneity,and entrepreneurship

The prevalence of entrepreneurship varies not only across regions but also among industries. Using a unique panel dataset of 60 two-digit industries across 64 provinces from 2000 to 2010 in Vietnam, we investigate the importance of spatial and sectoral heterogeneity in an analysis of the determinants of entrepreneurship and empirically explore the interaction effect of geographic conditions and industry dynamism. Overall, our results confirm the significance of industry structural variables and their joint effect with geographic conditions in fostering new firm formation. Particularly, (i) growth-driven entries are generally higher in provinces that offer higher salaries; (ii) technology-intensive industries within regions that have strong knowledge spillover effects are appealing to new entries. Others noteworthy findings include: (i) ‘necessity entrepreneurship’ is prevalent in Vietnam, but limited to extractive and service industries that are typically labor intensive; (ii) firms tend to concentrate more in agglomerated locations. This effect, however, evaporates for high-tech industries; and (iii) industry profitability and niche dynamism all play a crucial role in stimulating new start-ups. We apply the system generalized method of moments to obtain empirical evidence in the study.     

Business cycle,industrial composition,or regional advantage? A decomposition analysis of new firm formation in the United States

This paper presents a shift-share decomposition analysis of new firm formation at the three-digit NAICS level in the United States from 1998 to 2003, attributing overall new firm creation, in construction, manufacturing, and service sectors respectively, to three distinct sources, i.e., business cycle, industrial composition, and regional advantage. This research is critical not only because, from a methodological perspective, this is one of the first applications of the shift-share analysis in firm formation and entrepreneurship studies. This research is also significant because it empirically identifies the portion of new start-ups that results exclusively from regional factors, enables researchers and policy makers to uncover the nuanced relations between firm births and regional characteristics, job creation, and economic development, and therefore facilitates effective public policies to promote new businesses and achieve economic success.     

Understanding regional variation in entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial attitude in Europe

Differences in entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial attitude are substantial and persistent across nations and regions. However, studies on entrepreneurship that encompass regions and countries at the same time are lacking. This paper explains both national and regional differences in entrepreneurial attitude and activity for 127 regions in 17 European countries, based on Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data. We reveal the importance of institutional factors and economic and demographic attributes to variations in regional entrepreneurial attitude and activity. Our findings point at the relevance of distinguishing between components of entrepreneurial attitudes, i.e. fear of failure in starting business, perceptions on start-up opportunities and self-assessment of personal capabilities to start a firm. We find different determinants of these components, suggesting that they reflect different aspects of entrepreneurial attitude. In explaining regional prevalence rates of phases in entrepreneurial activity (nascent, baby business, established business) we find significant contributions of entrepreneurial attitude components. Urban regions and regions with high levels of nearby start-up examples show relatively high rates of early-stage entrepreneurship. A large number of start-up procedures does not discourage early-stage entrepreneurship.     

Proximity to knowledge sources and the location of knowledge-based start-ups

We use detailed longitudinal data on firms, human capital and universities to study the impact of geographical proximity to knowledge sources and local absorptive capacity on the regional location of knowledge-based start-ups. Using municipalities as the regional unit of analysis, we examine the influence of the regional distribution of universities, yearly numbers of students and graduates, and workforce education on new start-up numbers. We estimate models of regional entry using zero inflated negative binomial regression. We find that local access to knowledge and human capital significantly influences entry by knowledge-based firms into regions, after controlling for other regional-level variables.     

Innovation through new blood

We model the influence of employee mobility on the transmission of knowledge between firms, assuming human capital to be an important influence on service innovation and firm productivity. To this end, we follow individual workers as they move from firm to firm, controlling for knowledge characteristics (‘absorptive capacity’) of the firm and for regional effects (agglomeration and urbanization). We measure the amount and variety of such flows, and we find statistically significant results; yet the impact of new employees on innovation and productivity seems to come more from the diversity of source firms than from the number of new employees, and effects differ markedly between small and larger firms.     

An industry disaggregated analysis of the determinants of regional entry and exit

Empirical research by, among others, Armington and Acs (Reg Stud 36:33–45, 2002) show that regional determinants of new firm formation differ between industries. This paper reinvestigates the regional determinants of entry and exit considering these findings using panel data methods at three different levels of aggregation. Agglomeration, in terms of localisation economies, is unequivocally found to be positive for regional new firm formation, but does not necessarily prevent firms from exiting. The results also show that industry structure is a more important explanatory variable for differences between entry and exit rates across regions than regional factors.     

The elusive effects of workplace diversity on innovation

We investigate econometrically whether cultural diversity at the workplace boosts innovation. Our longitudinal linked employer‐employee data combines two innovation surveys, with Dutch administrative, tax and regional data. We analyse the determinants of a firm's product and process innovations with respect to the firm's internal resources, employee composition and regional agglomeration externalities. We reconfirm the findings of several other recent studies showing a positive partial correlation between innovation and cultural diversity in pooled cross‐sectional data; in some cases even when accounting for reverse causation. However, no statistically significant traces of benefit for innovation from cultural diversity remain after introducing firm fixed effects.     

Agglomeration economies, inventors and entrepreneurs as engines of European regional economic development

In economic agglomeration studies, the distinction of various externalities circumstances related to knowledge spillovers remains largely unclear. This paper introduces human capital, innovation and several types of entrepreneurship as potential drivers of regional economic performance with an impact of agglomeration economies. We use measures of specific types of entrepreneurship, discerned at the individual level, as well as human capital and invention through patenting activity for the period 2001–2006. The empirical application on 111 regions across 14 European countries investigates their relation with observed regional productivity rates in 2006. Our main findings indicate that (i) human capital, patenting activity and entrepreneurship are all linked to regional performance, more so in regions containing large as well as medium-sized cities; (ii) they act as complements rather than substitutes, facilitating productivity differently; and (iii) accounting for patenting activity and entrepreneurship captures agglomeration externalities effects previously subscribed only to the density of resources of regional performance. The particular role of regions with medium-sized cities next to regions with large cities complies with observed growth trends as well as recently proposed place-based development approaches that assume that interactions between institutions and geography are critical for regional economic performance.     

Neighbourhood related diversity,human capital and firm innovation

In this paper the importance of neighbourhood related diversity and firm human capital for firms' propensity to innovate is tested. Neighbourhood diversity is treated as a source of localized knowledge spillovers, that is, Jacobs' externalities, where diversity is measured in terms of industries and employee education. The results show that firms in metropolitan regions benefit from related industry diversity while service sector firms in rural regions are more innovative in neighbourhoods with more related diversity in education. Firm characteristics such as education and skills among the employees provide to be strong determinants of firm innovativeness, especially for firms outside metropolitan regions.     

Start-ups and firm in-migration: evidence from the Swedish wholesale industry

We use a data set covering 13,471 Swedish limited liability firms in the Swedish wholesale industries during 2000–2004 to ascertain the determinants of new start-ups and of in-migration of firms. Access to a large harbor, international airport or large railroad classification yard in the municipality nearly triples the number of start-ups and increases the expected number of in-migrating firms with 53 %. The presence of a university, many educated workers and low local taxes are also associated with more start-ups and firm in-migration.     

Specialization and diversity as drivers of economic growth: Evidence from High‐Tech industries

This paper contributes to the literature of regional economics by concerning the linkages between regional industrial structure and economic growth. In order to shed light on this debatable issue, we study the role of the high technology sector, especially its industrial structure in regional economic growth. Using data from the Finnish regions during 1994 to 2008, we find diminishing marginal returns to high technology diversity with respect to regional growth, once we control for other determinants of growth. Through this paper we hope to give our contribution to one of the central themes of current EU regional policy discussion, namely smart specialization.     

Determinants of new firm success

The differences between new firms, even the differences present right at the start, may affect their life course and success over time. This article addresses the determinants of success of Dutch start-ups from a longitudinal perspective. After an overview of the literature on both the definition of success and the success factors of new firms we test how new firm characteristics relate to firm growth in number of employees using a panel of nearly 2,000 firms. In addition to a large firm size right from the start, good preparation, having a business partner, and some years in salaried employment also enhance firm growth. Based on these success determinants we construct a typology of starters that may be used to predict future growth chances. Received 25 February 1999 / Accepted 10 December 1999     

Volatility in European regions

This paper examines the growth rate volatility of European regions’ per capita GDP from 1992 to 2008. We measure the regional volatility using a new methodology based on Markov matrices, and investigate its main determinants. Volatility displays a geographical pattern and a significant spatial dependence. Output composition appears one of the main drivers of volatility; among the other determinants we find a negative impact of the size of regional economies and of labour market flexibility, and a positive impact of sectoral concentration, financialization of the economy, and, occasionally, of participation in EMU.     

Agglomeration, (un)‐related variety and new firm survival in China: Do local subsidies matter?

We study empirically the effects of five different dimensions of agglomeration – specialization, diversity, related variety, unrelated variety, and city size – on the survival chances of new entrepreneurial firms in China. Consideration is further given to studying the mediating effects of local subsidies on new firm survival given different existing local industrial structures in those regions. In support of the ‘regional branching’ hypothesis, we find that increasing local related variety has a stronger positive effect on new firm survival than other types of agglomeration. We also find that receiving comparatively fewer subsidies motivates firms to seek out and benefit from local existing economies, which in turn, positively influence their chances of survival. By contrast, agglomerated firms that receive relatively more subsidies tend to be more likely to face financial distress leading to eventual market exit. The findings thus reveal that both the intensity and the location of state support matters in terms of optimizing positive agglomeration effects on firms' post‐entry performance and survival.     

Impact of macro-structural reforms on the productivity growth of regions: Distance to the frontier matters

Using a panel of 265 regions from 24 OECD countries from 1997 to 2007, we explore the impact of nation-wide macroeconomic and structural policies on the productivity growth of subnational regions. We find that average relationships between nation-wide policies and regional productivity growth can hide strong differentiated effects according to the distance to the frontier: relaxing employment protection legislation on temporary contracts, lowering barriers to trade and investment and increasing trade openness enhances productivity growth in lagging regions, whereas reducing barriers to entrepreneurship or higher levels of government debt has a positive effect on regions closer to the productivity frontier.     

Agglomeration effects and the location of FDI: evidence from French first-time movers

This paper analyses the location choice determinants of French first-time investments in Europe, North America and North Africa. Firm locations are examined on two geographical scales, the national and regional level. The final sample comprises 307 location choices in 27 countries and across 45 regions. Both, location- and firm-specific variables are used for analyzing investment strategies. The results show that higher market demand and cultural proximity to France increase the likelihood of a particular location to be chosen, whereas higher labour cost and a larger distance between a foreign location and the headquarters deter FDI investments. Manufacturing and older companies are more likely to establish their first subsidiary in Eastern Europe. Furthermore, this study examines the extent to which French investors choose foreign locations that already host a significant number of French firms. The results obtained from regressions with various absolute and relative agglomeration measures suggest that French investors are rather attracted by firm cluster in general, or by the unobserved factors that led to the agglomeration in the first place, than by any nation-specific firm cluster.     

DIVERSITY,ENTREPRENEURSHIP, AND THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT

ABSTRACT: In recent years, the field of regional economic analysis has focused on the social and cultural environment of a place to explain variations in innovation activity, entrepreneurial dynamics, and economic growth. Prominent among these studies is Richard Florida's creative class theory. He argues that urban economies grow because they are tolerant, diverse, and open to creativity, which in turn attracts certain groups of people, the so‐called creative class. Lee, Florida, and Acs expand the theory into the realm of entrepreneurship. They argue that new firm formation is positively associated with a creative and diverse social environment. In other words, those regions that are alluring to creative talent, open to newcomers, and tolerant of those who are different, will also have more people taking the risk of founding a firm, leading to increased economic growth. The creative class theories, however, contrast with explanations that consider structural factors such as access to financial resources and markets, among others, as important markers of entrepreneurial success. In this article, we are interested in examining the ways in which a region's creative milieu and its opportunity structures may help or hinder different kinds of entrepreneurs, in particular nontraditional entrepreneurs. We examine the effect of regional opportunity structures and creative milieu on women, Black, and Hispanic business ownership for the 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the United States in 2002. We find that opportunity structures, whether opportunity or barrier, better explain the dynamics for these entrepreneurs. They benefit from a regional environment that builds human capital and skill base, enables access to a variety of financial resources, and facilitates market access. Given the growth of women and minority businesses and their potential effect on regions, policymakers are well advised to tailor their policies to these groups.     

Entrepreneurship capital and regional growth

This paper introduces the concept of entrepreneurship capital and links it to the economic performance of regions. We give a definition of entrepreneurship capital and suggest different measures of this variable. Economic performance of regions is measured by the stock and the growth rate of regions, labor productivity. We find that entrepreneurship capital is stronger in urban areas and spatially correlated. Using regressions of production functions and growth equations, we find evidence that entrepreneurship capital has a positive and large impact on region's labor productivity. However for growth, this result holds only for risk-oriented measures of entrepreneurship capital and for densely populated regions. We derive policy implications from these findings.     

R&;D accessibility and regional export diversity

This paper examines the influences of accessibility to R&D on the export diversity in Swedish regions. A theoretical model with fixed R&D cost predicts that spatial knowledge spillovers generate external economies of scale in R&D activities. These external effects are presumed to increase regions’ innovative capacity. Moreover, the model implies that the effects of R&D on regional export performance are reflected by the size of the export base rather than by the export volumes. The empirical analysis focuses on three different indicators of export diversity: the number of exported goods, the number of exporting firms and the number of export destinations. The hypothesis that regional accessibility to R&D facilities in the private business sector, on the one hand, and university research departments on the other hand, increases the export diversity in regions is tested in a spatial cross-regressive model. Since knowledge cannot be regarded as a spatially trapped resource the empirical analysis includes two measures of R&D accessibility: intra-regional and inter-regional. The empirical results indicate that the three indicators of regional export diversity are positively affected by the intra-regional accessibility to company R&D in commodity groups that have a relatively high R&D-intensity in production. Inter-regional accessibility to company R&D has significant positive impacts on the number of export goods and the number of export destinations also in less R&D-intensive industries. In the case of university R&D, the empirical results are weaker, in particular in the case of intra-regional accessibility. Yet, the inter-regional accessibility to university R&D has a significant positive impact on the number of export goods and the number of export destinations in the majority of commodity groups.     

Spatial agglomeration and productivity in Italy: A panel smooth transition regression approach

The paper analyses the nonlinearities in the impact of localization, diversity, urbanization and competition on firm‐level total factor productivity (TFP), using a large sample of Italian firms from 1999 to 2007. We adopt a panel smooth transition regression model, so that the TFP elasticities are free to vary smoothly across two or more extreme values. Results show that localization economies and Jacobian externalities materialize only for values of, respectively, intra‐industry agglomeration and extra‐sectoral diversity above a certain threshold. Local competition exerts a positive effect on productivity, even though the marginal impact shrinks at high levels of competition. We find instead no evidence of diseconomies of agglomeration.