José Ernesto Amorós

Ten Years of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: Accomplishments and Prospects

In its first ten years, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) has had three main aims: to measure differences in the level of entrepreneurial activity between countries, to uncover factors determining national levels of entrepreneurial activity and to identify policies that would stimulate entrepreneurship. This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical contributions by the GEM consortium ten years after the presentation of its first Global Report in 1999. The evolution of GEM measures of entrepreneurship is tracked, and the quantity and quality of peer-reviewed scholarship based on GEM data and models are assessed. Prospects and recommendations for the future are noted, as GEM continues to expand and scholars outside the consortium increasingly employ GEM data in their work.

Networks, Entrepreneurial Orientation and Internationalization Scope: Evidence from Chilean Small and Medium Enterprises

During the last 20 years, the literature on internationalized small firms discussed at length the speed of internationalization, illustrating the importance of born globals. The geographic scope of small firm internationalization and its implications for international business and entrepreneurship theories has however been overlooked, especially with regard to firms based in atin merica. This study expands the research agenda on the effects of networks and entrepreneurship orientation for the internationalization strategy of small firms by examining their effects on internationalization scope. It uses survey data from small firms based in hile. The findings suggest that the greater the number of networks utilized, the more entrepreneurs are likely to target markets based in diverse regions of the world. The study has managerial and policy implications, suggesting that nurturing diverse international networks can help entrepreneurs reach a broader number of markets.

Formal and Informal Equity Funding in Chile

This paper explores the state of formal and informal equity sources currently available for financing entrepreneurial activity in Chile. By integrating theoretical perspectives regarding formal and informal equity funding and information gathered from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) surveys, the paper argues that despite the favorable environment existing in Chile for equity investment, these markets are still incipient and strongly dependent on public policies. In this respect it is proposed that public intervention to address equity gaps in Chile should also adopt a demand-side perspective, aimed at improving the quality of investment opportunities, and should incorporate a geographical dimension, considering the particularities and financial needs of non-metropolitan regions.

Financing entrepreneurial activity in Chile: scale and scope of public support programs

This paper overviews the sources currently financing entrepreneurship in Chile, with special emphasis on public instruments, and uses the information gathered by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Chile between 2003 and 2006 to test the hypothesis that, despite public efforts, there is still a finance gap, and that this may significantly influence domestic economic performance in the long term. After a thorough bibliographic review regarding financial alternatives in Chile and a descriptive analysis of GEM data, results show that while there is sufficient available public funding in Chile, it is not being channeled to a sufficiently wide range of entrepreneurs. Some of the factors that reduce the impact of Chilean public financing policies and that require further research include the lack of competitive high-tech clusters within the country; the lack of attention given to informal investment and to the training of entrepreneurs; and the existence of centrally designed programs that do not take into account the geographical organization of capital markets and the spatial differences and gaps in private financing.

INTRODUCTION: THE STARTUP PROCESS

Entrepreneurship is considered to be an important mechanism for economic development through employment, innovation and welfare effects. The papers in this special issue are from the 3rd Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Research Conference held in Washington D.C. in 2007. The introduction has three objectives. First, to discuss the importance of the three stages of economic development, the factor-driven stage, the efficiency-driven stage and the innovation-driven stage. Second, to examine the empirical evidence on the relationship between stages of economic development and entrepreneurship. Third, to present a summary of the papers.

The development of business angel networks in Latin American countries: the case of Chile

This article analyses the recent development of business angel networks (BANs) in Chile, in order to understand the limitations of the current public policies to encourage informal venture capital and especially the BANs. We describe the evolution of this policy and apply a semi-structured interview to managers of Chilean BANs. The poor results in total investments in the case of Chilean BANs allow us to understand how government programmes exclusively oriented towards the supply of the informal venture capital market are insufficient to promote the dynamism of this industry. It is necessary to implement articulated programmes both from the supply and demand side, accompanied by the continuous evaluation of their results.

Entrepreneurship in regions: differentiated impacts of the socio cultural and gender types

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the differentiated impact of factors that influence the propensity to entrepreneur in a sample of people in Chile. A distinction is made between individuals that live in primary cities and secondary cities. The differentiating factors are socio‐cultural aspects (reference models – positive examples of entrepreneurs – and perception of social fear of failure) and the gender of the individual. Design/methodology/approach For the research data from the survey used in Chile by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for the years 2010 and 2011 were used. A logit model was used to determine the differentiated impact of the analysed factors and interactions were done using the method proposed by Corneliâen and Sonderhof (2009). Findings These showed that the fact that an individual lives in a secondary city decreases his entrepreneurship probability. The positive impact that the reference models have is weaker in women. Contrary to what was expected, the negative impact...

Determinantes en la Estrategia de Internacionalización para las Pymes: el Caso de Chile

The rapid internationalization of business can be a very important factor in their development, so that they can then become established companies that create more jobs and develop innovation. Through the observation of a group of Chilean SMEs, this paper aims to verify compliance with the accelerated internationalization theory developed by Oviatt and McDougall (1994) for Chile. Analyzing a sample of 112 SMEs it could be shown that in the case of Chile, there are factors proposed in the literature, such as support networks, the size of the company and the technological level of the industry, that not necessarily accelerate the internationalization strategy. Moreover, the impact of psychic distance and previous experience are be factors to accelerate the search for international markets. From these results, it is suggested that policy makers should focus more on strengthening the human capital of individual entrepreneurs, instead of institutional aspects.

Informal investors in Chile: an exploratory study from a gender perspective

Informal investment represents one of the main sources to finance early-stage new ventures. Despite the progressive participation of women in informal investment, little is known about the characteristics of female informal investors, especially in developing countries. This study examines the gender differences of a sample of 613 informal investors in Chile. To this end we used the database from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Chile 2007--2008 and applied tests of differences in proportions and means for independent samples. The results show that there are significant gender differences in some socio-demographic variables, like education and work status, and also in the perception of good opportunities and the fear to failure. Additionally, women invest smaller amounts and expect lower returns than men do. Finally, women invest more than men in close family. Policy implications of these results are discussed.

Entrepreneurship and Socioeconomic Indicators in Latin America

This article examines the relationship between entrepreneurial activity and a set of economic variables including gross domestic product, economic growth, unemployment, informality, corruption perceptions, macroeconomic stability, and labor regulations. We use panel data from nine Latin American countries covered by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor from 2000 to 2010. We focus on necessity-based entrepreneurship, as the rates of this type of activity are relatively high in Latin America. The results show that economic growth is positively related to opportunity-based entrepreneurship. Other factors such as inflation, informality, and transparency (versus corruption) are positively associated with higher rates of necessity-based entrepreneurship. Lines of future research and policy implications are discussed.RESUMEN:Este trabajo analiza la relación entre la actividad emprendedora y un conjunto de variables económicas como el producto interno bruto (PIB), crecimiento económico, desempleo, informalidad, percepción de corrupción, estabilidad macroeconómica y regulación laboral. Utilizamos datos de panel de nuevo países latinoamericanos cubiertos por el Global Entrepreneurship Monitor entre 2000 y 2010. Nos centramos en el emprendimiento por necesidad ya que las tasas de este tipo de actividad son relativamente altas en América Latina. Los resultados indican que el crecimiento económica esta positivamente relacionado con el emprendimiento por necesidad. Otros factores como la inflación, informalidad y transparencia (en oposición a la corrupción) se asocian positivamente con tasas más altas de la iniciativa empresarial basada en la necesidad. Se discuten líneas de investigación futuras e implicaciones de política.