Esteban Lafuente

Do different institutional frameworks condition the influence of local fear of failure and entrepreneurial examples over entrepreneurial activity

This paper analyses how different institutional frameworks condition the influence of selected social traits: the social stigma to entrepreneurial failure and the presence of entrepreneurial role models, over entrepreneurial activity levels in a rural area with strong industrial and entrepreneurial history versus those that are not necessarily characterized by such a tradition. To attain this objective we undertake a rare events logit model using a robust Spanish dataset from 2003. The main contribution of the study indicates that there is a significant difference between entrepreneurial activity levels in rural Catalonia as compared to rural areas in the rest of Spain. This difference is in large part explained by the distinct impact of the observed social traits, where the presence of entrepreneurial role models is a prominent explanatory factor favouring entrepreneurial activity in rural (Catalonia) areas with strong industrial tradition. The findings of the paper back the growing call for territorial specificity in the formulation and application of entrepreneurship support measures, distinguishing between rural and urban areas. Hence, and in accordance with the new rural paradigm, entrepreneurship promotion should take a more holistic character and become an integral part of any rural development plan. The papers results imply that fostering business creation in rural areas is more often than not a generational process, where the search for short-term benefits can result in the mistaken impression that in rural areas entrepreneurship support policy does not work.

Regional differences in the influence of role-models: comparing the entrepreneurial process of rural Catalonia

Lafuente E., Vaillant Y. and Rialp J. (2007) Regional differences in the influence of role models: comparing the entrepreneurial process of rural Catalonia, Regional Studies 41, 779–795. The paper examines the impact of entrepreneurial role models on the entrepreneurial process in rural areas with a strong entrepreneurial history versus those not necessarily characterized by such a tradition. To attain this objective, a socio-cultural institutional approach to entrepreneurship is adopted. A Rare Events logit model using a robust Spanish data set from 2003 is carried out. The main contribution of the study indicates that the difference between entrepreneurial activity levels in rural Spain is in large part explained by the presence of entrepreneurial role models favouring entrepreneurial activity in rural Catalonia, an area with a strong entrepreneurial tradition. Lafuente E., Vaillant Y. et Rialp J. (2007) Les écarts régionaux quant à linfluence des Modèles: une comparaison de lesprit dentreprise dans la Catalogne, Regional Studies 41, 779–795. Cet article cherche à examiner limpact des Modèles entrepreneuriaux sur le processus entrepreneurial dans les zones rurales dotées dune histoire entrepreneuriale longue par rapport à celles qui nont pas une telle vocation. Pour aborder cette question, on emploie une façon institutionnelle, socioculturelle. On réalise un modèle logit Rare Events (événements exceptionnels) en se servant dun ensemble de données espagnoles solide qui date de 2003. Il savère principalement que les écarts régionaux en Espagne pour ce qui est de lesprit dentreprise sexpliquent dans une large mesure par la présence des Modèles entrepreneuriaux qui favorisent les activités entrepreneuriales dans la Catalogne rurale, une région dont lhistoire entrepreneuriale est longue. Esprit dentreprise ruralu2003Facteurs institutionnels informelsu2003Modèle Lafuente E., Vaillant Y. und Rialp J. (2007) Regionale Unterschiede beim Einfluss von Vorbildern: ein Vergleich des Unternehmensprozesses im ländlichen Katalonien, Regional Studies 41, 779–795. In diesem Aufsatz untersuchen wir die Auswirkung unternehmerischer Vorbilder auf den unternehmerischen Prozess in ländlichen Gebieten mit ausgeprägter Unternehmensgeschichte im Vergleich zu Gebieten, die sich nicht unbedingt durch eine solche Tradition auszeichnen. Zu diesem Zweck betrachten wir das Unternehmertum aus einer soziokulturellen und institutionellen Perspektive. Aus einem robusten spanischen Datensatz von 2003 entwickeln wir ein Rare-Events-Logit-Modell. Der Hauptteil dieser Studie weist darauf hin, dass die Unterschiede hinsichtlich des Ausmaßes der unternehmerischen Aktivität im ländlichen Spanien sich zum großen Teil durch das Vorhandensein unternehmerischer Vorbilder im ländlichen Katalonien (einer Region mit ausgeprägter unternehmerischer Tradition) erklären lässt, die sich fördernd auf das Unternehmertum auswirken. Ländliches Unternehmertumu2003Informelle institutionelle Faktorenu2003Vorbild Lafuente E., Vaillant Y. y Rialp J. (2007) Impacto diferencial de los ‘role models’ en distintos ámbitos regionales: El Proceso Emprendedor en zonas rurales de Cataluña, Regional Studies 41, 779–795. El documento examina el impacto que tiene la presencia de recientes y exitosos emprendedores (role model) sobre el proceso emprendedor en áreas rurales con una fuerte tradición emprendedora respecto de aquellas áreas rurales que no muestran dicha característica. Para alcanzar este objetivo se adopta un enfoque institucional y socio cultural hacia la creación de empresas, y se utiliza un modelo logit ajustado para eventos extraños sobre una base de datos española para el año 2003. La principal contribución del trabajo indica que la diferencia entre los niveles de actividad emprendedora en la España rural es en gran medida explicada por la presencia de modelos emprendedores que favorecen la actividad emprendedora en áreas rurales como Cataluña, una región que cuenta con una alta tradición emprendedora. Proceso emprendedor en zonas ruralesu2003Instituciones informalesu2003‘Role model’

The pursuit of knowledge transfer activities: An efficiency analysis of Spanish universities ☆

This paper assesses university efficiency from a multidimensional perspective. First, an efficiency measure that incorporates knowledge transfer outputs in the objective function is proposed. Second, a cluster analysis complements the efficiency model giving a more comprehensive image of university’s performance. The empirical application considers the Spanish higher education system during 2006-2009. Results point to the presence of heterogeneous orientations among Spanish universities and nthat they integrate knowledge transfer in their operations at different intensities. The findings give evidence that university’s efficiency and their involvement in knowledge transfer is conditioned by regional factors related to technological development and entrepreneurial culture. Results give ammunition to the argument that effective support policies should have the capacity to be customized to fit the profile of the targeted universities and regions.

Location Decisions of Technology-Based Entrepreneurs: Why Some Catalan KISAs Choose to Be Rural?

Entrepreneurship has currently become an important element of economic, employment and innovation policy. In this context, the promotion of technology-based firms has become the norm, even in rural areas. Thus, the study presented in this paper analyses the variables that influence the choice of location made by rural and urban Knowledge Intensive Service Activity firms (KISA, hereafter), taking as reference three of the most common theoretical frameworks used to analyse location decision-making: neoclassical, institutional, and behavioural. The results of the quantitative study allows for important policy making recommendations, but also offers significant contributions for entrepreneurship and regional development researchers, as well as practical insights for entrepreneurs.

Monitoring Bank Performance in the Presence of Risk

This paper proposes a managerial control tool that integrates risk in efficiency measures. Building on existing efficiency specifications, our proposal reflects the real banking technology and accurately models the relationship between desirable and undesirable outputs. Specifically, the undesirable output is defined as non-performing loans to capture credit risk, and is linked only to the relevant dimension of the output set. We empirically illustrate how our efficiency measure functions for managerial control purposes. The application considers a unique dataset of Costa Rican banks during 1998-2012. Results’ implications are mostly discussed at bank-level, and their interpretations are enhanced by using accounting ratios. We also show the usefulness of our tool for corporate governance by examining performance changes around executive turnover. Our findings confirm that appointing CEOs from outside the bank is associated with significantly higher performance ex post executive turnover, thus suggesting the potential benefits of new organisational practices.

Iso‐9000 Certification and Ownership Structure: Effects Upon Firm Performance

ISO certification has become a pervasive mechanism adopted by firms to improve their operational performance. In this paper, we examine the operational and organizational factors that increase the likelihood of adopting ISO certification and the impact that ISO certification and ownership structure have upon firm performance. Using a sample of 163 Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 1996–2000 we perform a rare events logit model and a regression analysis. Our findings show that firms producing intermediate goods that have implemented just-in-time practices are more likely to adopt ISO certification. Furthermore, we report a strong influence of the ownership structure upon ISO adoption policy, especially when a multinational firm is the largest shareholder. Empirical evidence supports that ISO certification and ownership structure positively impact firm performance. However, our results indicate that the positive impact of ISO certification on performance diminishes in firms where ownership is highly concentrated.

Human capital and growth in Romanian small firms

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to examine the impact that certain human capital variables have over employment growth of small firms in Romania.Design/methodology/approach – The human capital components considered in this paper are education, previous work experience, employment motivations, the presence of entrepreneurial teams, and the presence of family members in the firm. To attain the objective of the paper we carry out a regression analysis using a rich data set of 635 Romanian firms for the year 2006.Findings – Consistent with different employment growth measures, the empirical findings indicate that human capital matters for explaining small firms employment growth. Previous work experience, the presence of entrepreneurial teams and the proportion of family members working in the business appear as determinant components. In addition, the results indicate that an active involvement of the entrepreneur in managerial tasks increases the intensity with which the entrepreneur makes use of ...

Initiating nascent entrepreneurial activities: the relative role of perceived and actual entrepreneurial ability

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct effect of two individual-level resources, one subjective and the other objective, and their interaction in influencing the business entry decision. By distinguishing perceived ability from actual ability and using theoretical underpinnings from the human capital theory and self-efficacy theory, the proposed hypotheses are tested on a data set comprising respondents from the adult population. Design/methodology/approach – Using 20,046 observations from the adult population survey (APS) collected according to the global entrepreneurship monitor (GEM) methodology, a logistic regression analysis controlling for robust interaction term is used to determine the direct and interaction effect of perceived entrepreneurial ability and actual ability in influencing the decision to initiate nascent entrepreneurial activities. Findings – The results reveal that perceived entrepreneurial ability has a distinct positive influence on the decision to initiate en...

Age driven influence of role‐models on entrepreneurship in a transition economy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the differential impact of entrepreneurial role models over entrepreneurial activities at different stages of an individuals life cycle in Romania.Design/methodology/approach – To attain this objective, the paper adopts a socio‐institutional approach to entrepreneurship. The authors carry out a rare‐events logit model using a robust Romanian dataset from 2006 comprising 1,449 individuals.Findings – The results indicate that the effect of entrepreneurial role models on entrepreneurial activities differs across age groups. The results indicate that for older individuals the positive effect of role models over entrepreneurship is diluted. In contrast, younger individuals, who have been mainly exposed to a market‐based economy, have a more positive societal valuation of entrepreneurial examples, which increases the positive effect that the knowledge of an entrepreneur has on their attitudes towards entrepreneurial activities.Originality/value – The main contr...

From export entry to de-internationalisation through entrepreneurial attributes

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine export behaviour from a broad perspective considering the influence of entrepreneurial attributes on export entry, export sustainability and de-internationalisation in Romanian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach – Based on theoretical underpinnings from the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm and the Institutional Economics (IE) framework, the proposed hypotheses are tested with a rich survey data set of 319 Romanian SMEs. The data are analysed by means of a multinomial logit regression. Findings – The study reveals that exporting is not a single event and that variables commonly used to study export propensity linked to the entrepreneurial attributes have a differential influence over the export decisions. More concretely, export entry is positively impacted by the presence of management studies and an entrepreneurial team while sustainment in the international arena is strongly and positively influenced by decision-...