Nick Williams

Entrepreneurship and regional competitiveness: The role and progression of policy

Regions have gained a position at the forefront of the economic development policy agenda. However, the regional approach to economic strategy remains contested. This paper tests the extent to which regional policy in less competitive regions is accounting for issues relating to entrepreneurship and enterprise development as a tool for improving regional competitiveness. It does so by examining policies undertaken by the UK Labour government 1997–2010, drawing on interviews with policy makers and an analysis of relevant policy documents. This paper finds that entrepreneurship policy at the regional level is multidimensional, with policies broadly ranging from those that are either economically or socially driven. Although there is a considerable policy activity in these areas across less competitive regions, enterprise policy making remains relatively undifferentiated across the regions. There are a number of evolutions in regional policy occurring, especially a shift from policies relating to the facilitation of clusters to those focused on developing regional innovation ecosystems. It is found that regional policy makers are under pressure to measure short-term outputs at the expense of long-term nurturing. The paper also finds that there is a tension between using enterprise policy as a tool for improving regional competitiveness or for addressing economic and social disadvantage.

Institutional asymmetry: How formal and informal institutions affect entrepreneurship in Bulgaria

This article critically analyses how the institutional environment influences the development of entrepreneurship in Bulgaria. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Bulgarian entrepreneurs an ‘institutional asymmetry’ between formal and informal institutions is identified which hampers the development of economically and socially productive entrepreneurship. Despite reforms to formal institutions in Bulgaria, the asymmetry persists as a result of informal institutions which serve to hamper entrepreneurship. In order to reduce this asymmetry, there is a need to develop and align formal and informal institutions, while recognising that such institutional reforms are, by their nature, long-term and may potentially be undermined by entrepreneurs engaging in informal and corrupt activities.

Economic resilience and entrepreneurship: lessons from the Sheffield City Region

This article examines the relationship between economic resilience and entrepreneurship in city regions. Resilience is an emerging concept which has been employed to examine economic performance and responsiveness to exogenous shocks such as financial crisis and recession. Drawing on a literature review of academic articles in this emerging field and interviews with policy-makers in the Sheffield City Region of England, the article examines how entrepreneurship is central to sustain a dynamic economy and demonstrates that it is being fore-fronted in policy debates as a key aspect in creating more resilient economies. The article finds that entrepreneurship is integral to promoting the diversification and capacity building of regional economies, traits which are characteristic of (more) resilient economies. We advance the emerging literature through the development of a conceptual framework to highlight the links between economic resilience and entrepreneurship. In doing so, the article argues that entrepreneurship is critical to the restructuring and adaptation of local (city region) economies and draws out a series of recommendations concerning the wider policy implications of the study.

Enterprise and Public Policy: A Review of Labour Government Intervention in the United Kingdom

Despite the rapid growth of the small and medium-sized enterprise sector since the 1970s, rates of entrepreneurial activity in the UK remain moderate by international standards. Since its arrival in 1997 the Labour government in the UK has taken steps to tackle barriers to entrepreneurship by addressing economic, political, legal, and cultural issues. Through a review of key literature and policy documents, we seek to shed light on how the Labour government has shaped its entrepreneurship and enterprise-development policy agenda. It is found that, although there has been limited improvement in closing the enterprise gap, the Labour government does appear to have put in place a number of measures that are aimed at harnessing the long-term drivers of future enterprise, particularly catalysing the required cultural changes through the education system. It is suggested that enterprise policy making is diverse and has shifted away from small-business policy into a broader interpretation of entrepreneurship, although there inevitably continues to be significant overlap across the two areas. Furthermore, it is argued that enterprise initiatives are leading to the government taking quite radical routes in shaping its policies, becoming a bigger risk taker, and operating in a quasiprivate sector role. It is concluded that the increasing sophistication and specificity of policy instruments means that further research is required to understand how policies interact with each other.

Tackling barriers to entrepreneurship in a deprived urban neighbourhood

Harnessing entrepreneurship in deprived urban neighbourhoods (DUNs) is a key aspect of enterprise development policy. The aim of this article is to explore the barriers to entrepreneurship in DUNs, and how policy can help tackle these barriers. To do this, it reports the results of a face-to-face survey with 459 respondents and a further 18 in-depth follow-up interviews with those identifying themselves as entrepreneurs or potential entrepreneurs in the Leeds Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI) area. This provides evidence that individuals living in these DUNs face both direct barriers to engaging in entrepreneurial endeavour, such as lack of self-belief and confidence, and lack of affordable workspace, as well as indirect barriers such as perceptions of place, fear of crime and financial lending hurdles. The article concludes by arguing for a holistic policy approach towards harnessing entrepreneurship in DUNs that tackles not only the direct but also the indirect barriers to entrepreneurship.

Economic resilience and entrepreneurship: A case study of the Thessaloniki City Region

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between economic resilience and entrepreneurship in City Regions. ‘Resilience’ is an emerging concept, which has been employed to examine economic performance and responsiveness to exogenous shocks, such as financial crisis and recession. Drawing on interviews with key stakeholders in the Thessaloniki City Region, Greece, this article contributes to the emergent literature by examining the link between economic resilience and entrepreneurship. The article finds that entrepreneurship is integral to promoting the diversification and capacity building of city region economies, with the external shock of the Eurozone crisis and austerity challenging areas such as the Thessaloniki City Region to rethink their economic structure. The article concludes that entrepreneurship is critical to restructuring and adaption of city region economies before drawing a series of recommendations concerning the wider policy implications of the study.

Evaluating the socio-spatial contingency of entrepreneurial motivations: A case study of English deprived urban neighbourhoods

When examining the motivations of entrepreneurs, it has become commonplace to represent them dichotomously as either necessity- or opportunity-driven. In recent years, an emergent literature has criticized this simplistic necessity/opportunity dichotomy by revealing not only how both necessity and opportunity are often co-present in entrepreneurs’ motives but also how their complex motives can shift over time. This paper furthers this emergent literature by unravelling how entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs’ motives are directly influenced by the socio-spatial context in which operate. To evaluate the socio-spatial contingency of entrepreneurial motivations, a case study is here reported of the drivers underpinning entrepreneurial endeavour in English deprived urban neighbourhoods (DUNs). The results of a face-to-face interviews with 459 participants followed up by a further 18 in-depth interviews, this study reveals that entrepreneurs’ motives in DUNs are complex, combining necessity and opportunity drivers, with the balance shifting over time in direct response to the changing fortunes of, and possibilities in, the locality in which they work and live, which has directly impacts on their perceptions of what is possible and feasible. This paper concludes by calling for greater recognition of the socio-spatial contingency of motivations followed by the implications for both theory and policy.

The impact of institutional change on entrepreneurship in a crisis-hit economy: the case of Greece

This paper examines how changes to the institutional environment in a crisis-hit economy impact on entrepreneurial activity. Through a case study of Greece, the paper demonstrates how the institutional environment has changed in light of the crisis and the resultant response of entrepreneurs to these changes. Drawing on in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs, the findings suggest that changes to institutions have served to limit entrepreneurial activity rather than enhance it, and that this has worsened in the midst of the crisis. We argue that this will detrimentally impact Greeces ability to navigate out of the crisis and regain competitiveness in the longer term. The paper concludes by offering a number of theoretical and policy implications which are focused on improving institutional environments so that entrepreneurship can play an appropriate role in recovering from economic crises.

Between petty corruption and criminal extortion: How entrepreneurs in Bulgaria and Romania operate within a devil’s circle

This article examines the impact of corruption on entrepreneurship in transition economies. Utilising in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs in Sofia, Bulgaria, and Bucharest, Romania, the article finds that despite economic reforms, corruption occupies a pervasive space which impacts entrepreneurial strategy. In both countries, entrepreneurs operate within a ‘devil’s circle’, in which they are unable to operate entirely independent of corruption. This is caused by a combination of weak formal institutions and a weak entrepreneurial culture leading to entrepreneurs either seeking to avoid the attention of government officials by hiding some or all of their activities with little prospect of sanction, limiting their growth aspirations, or engaging in corruption as a way of furthering their activities. The research contributes to understandings of corruption and its impact on entrepreneur strategies to avoid, minimise or benefit from it.

Supporting entrepreneurship in deprived communities: a vision too far?

Purpose – Government intervention has increasingly identified deprived communities as a key focus for enterprise support. The purpose of this paper is to examine attitudes and perceptions to enterprise support in a deprived community in the UK city of Leeds.Design/methodology/approach – A survey of 142 entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs, and 18 follow‐up in‐depth interviews with entrepreneurs, were conducted with people living in the study area. The survey examined the entrepreneurial activity of members of the community, and usage of enterprise support.Findings – The paper finds that certain forms of enterprise support in deprived communities may actually discourage entrepreneurship. Also, where entrepreneurial ventures are supported they tend to operate in activities relating to generic trades with low entry barriers, with many enterprises having little actual or perceived requirement for external support, with it being likely that these would have been established with or without support.Researc...