Stefania Zerbinati

Entrepreneurship in the public sector: a framework of analysis in European local governments

In this paper we explore the potential role of entrepreneurship in public sector organizations. At first, we present a review of the entrepreneurship theme in the political science and public management research streams, comparing these ideas with the mainstream business literature on entrepreneurship. Thereafter, we illustrate empirically how Stevensons classical framework of entrepreneurship can be applied in a European local government context to explain the recent initiatives to compete for and utilize European Union structural funds. The empirical basis of the study is comprised of ten in-depth case studies of local government organizations, five in the UK and five in Italy. Finally, we propose five distinct types of entrepreneurial agents in the public sector: professional politician; spin-off creator; business entrepreneur in politics; career-driven public officer; and politically ambitious public officer.

Europeanization and EU funding in Italy and England. A comparative local perspective

An increasing amount of attention has been devoted to understanding the process of Europeanization, although little has been done to identify its implications for local government. Since local government organizations have been increasingly involved in EU funding, this provides an interesting setting for an analysis of Europeanization. This article describes the EU funding process in a series of ten in-depth case studies of European local governments (five in England and five in Italy). It identifies changes within local government, which emerge from the EU funding competition. It then shows how the above changes represent part of a phenomenon of Europeanization. The main research proposition derived from the inductive empirical research is that the EU funding process is a driving force of Europeanization. The study contributes to the Europeanization literature by focusing on the local government level. It also provides some understanding of Italian local government, which represents an under-researched subject.

Multi-level Governance and EU Structural Funds: An Entrepreneurial Local Government Perspective

Abstract This article explores some of the underlying forces that provoke local governments to participate in multi-level governance through the creation of networks at the local as well as European level. We focus on the European funding process within local governments to identify some differences in the process between the Italian and the English local government authorities. Subsequently we observe that entrepreneurship theory could assist in untangling and explaining this phenomenon; therefore we explore the EU funding process from an entrepreneurship angle.

Entrepreneurial Social Responsibility: Scoping the Territory

In this paper we scope the relationship between entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Both entrepreneurship and CSR have attracted increased interest in the early 21st century and been positioned as offering solutions to economic, social and environmental challenges. Previous attempts to determine causal influence between the two concepts have been inconclusive. We clarify the difficult to define concepts of entrepreneurship and CSR by focusing on entrepreneurial process and positive social change in particular. We identify three distinct approaches to this relationship: ‘mainstream’, ‘counter-cultural/critical’ and ‘reformist’ and locate our contribution in relation to these streams of ideas. Building on the CSR definition of Aguilera et al. (2007), we define Entrepreneurial Social Responsibility (‘ESR’) as the dynamic consideration of, and response to, issues beyond the narrow economic, technical and legal requirements of the firm to accomplish social and environmental benefits along with traditional economic gains. We argue that the territory of ESR can best be explored through the use of a multi-level analysis approach to researching the entrepreneurial process. ESR is important both conceptually and in policy terms and is an advancement because it occupies an intellectual space neither fully revealed nor addressed in existing CSR or entrepreneurship research. In moving towards a response to the research question: In what circumstances is positive social contribution an outcome of the entrepreneurial process?, we present conceptual model of ESR which can accommodate a multi-level perspective. We enhance the CSR field by integrating a dynamic approach into the concept, and augment the entrepreneurship field by opening up to more systematic study, the social and environmental qualities of a social phenomenon that is often interpreted within an exclusively economic and instrumental frame of reference.

Nurture or nature? The growth paradox of research-based spin-offs

This study explores the effect of institutional origin (‘nurture’) and economic context (‘nature’) on the financial resource endowment and subsequent early employment growth of research-based spin-offs (RBSOs). The nurture dimensions capture the relationship between the parent research institution and the RBSO during the start-up phase: the type of incubation model, the formal vs informal transfer of technology and the extent of inventors’ involvement with the firm. The nature dimensions include the technology domain in which the RBSO operates and the complexity of the sales process. Using a unique dataset of RBSOs in Flanders (N=85, representing 75% of the population), our analysis shows that the financial resource endowment, is predicted by both institutional origin (nurture) dimensions and economic context ones (nature). Initial capital in turn, is a key driver of subsequent employment growth of RBSOs.