Yancy Vaillant

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.

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.

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...

Location decisions of new ‘Knowledge Intensive Service Activity’ firms: the rural–urban divide

This paper analyses the variables that influence the decision to locate knowledge-intensive service activity firms (KISA firms, hereafter) in a rural or an urban area in Spain. The results indicate that the location decision of entrepreneurs choosing to start their KISA firms in a rural area is mainly driven by personal and location-related motivations, whereas the local economic framework is the main motivation of those entrepreneurs who have chosen an urban location for their KISA firms. This allows for important policy-making recommendations, but it also offers significant contributions for entrepreneurship and regional development researchers.

Research commercialisation via spin-off: the case of a non-elite university

Recent trends in technology transfer show an intensification of spin-off creation as a modality of university research commercialisation. In this paper, we analyse the evolution, objectives, resources and activities of a specialised unit – Technological Trampoline (TT) – in charge of new venture creation at the University of Girona (Catalonia-Spain). Our main objective is to identify the predominant strategy of spinning-off new ventures among the typologies of incubation strategies found by Clarysse et al. (2005) in European research institutions. The results show that the predominant typology at the University of Girona is the supportive model, although elements of the three typologies were identified. These results have a series of implications and recommendations at both university and TT level.

Human capital and the decision to exploit innovative opportunity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and interaction effect of individuals’ human capital input and human capital output in the form of entrepreneurial self-confidence on the decision to exploit innovative opportunities. Design/methodology/approach – Using a strategic entrepreneurship perspective, the authors suggest that when individuals with high human capital decide to exploit opportunities they do so by thinking and acting strategically. Strategic action(s) involves pursuing competitive advantages that enable a new venture to get a foothold in the market. The authors argue that such competitive advantages arise from the exploitation of innovative opportunities and individuals with high human capital are more likely to exploit innovative opportunities when they develop entrepreneurial self-confidence. The empirical analysis is based on a random sample of individuals from the adult population who are in the process of creating a new venture. Findings – The results suggest that al...

Mutual Effects Between Innovation Commitment and Exports: Evidence from the Owner-Manager in Colombia

Latin America and the Caribbean is recognized as a region of entrepreneurs, as evidenced by the high amount of ventures per capita; however, just a few number of companies export and most of them show a weak growth and little innovation. Using information from the GEM database – Colombia 2010 and 2011, this study investigates the mutual effects between the owner-manager’s commitment to innovation and the export behavior of companies. Logistic and Ordinal regression models are used to test the proposed hypotheses in this study. The main findings of this study suggest that the owner-manager’s commitment to innovation is an important booster for exports, as well as for increasing sales abroad. Furthermore, the results suggest that the export propensity, in turn, increases the likelihood of involvement of owner-managers to innovate in Colombia.

Rural Technology-Based Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship is now an important element of economic growth and prosperity for many regions of the world. Entrepreneurial activity has positive repercussions on employment generation (Storey 1982, 1988, 1994; Birley 1985; Kirchhoff and Phillips 1988, 1992; White and Reynolds 1996) and on economic growth (Kent 1982; Sexton 1986; Dubini 1989; Storey 1994; Wennekers and Thurik 1999). But according to a US National Commission on Entrepreneurship report (NCOE 2001) the most important contribution of entrepreneurship at the local level is “innovation.” Entrepreneurship and innovation, combined, have four principal benefits (NCOE 2001, p. 1): Improved quality of life Creation of new jobs Improved economic competitiveness Creation of economic growth and new wealth

Product-service innovation and performance: unveiling the complexities

The purpose of this paper is to unveil the existing complexities in the relationship between Product-Service Innovation (PSI) –or servitization– and firm performance that arise from the mismatch between theoretical predictions and empirical evidence. Whilst theoretical work suggests that there are a number of advantages for implementing PSI, quantitative firmlevel evidence is not conclusive about the positive effects of this type of innovation on firm performance. By reviewing the relevant publications dealing with the PSI-performance relationship, their methodological approach, the novel constructs validated, and the role of mediators/moderators found in the servitization literature, we argue that further contextualization is needed to solve this puzzle. Additionally, this work systematically organises the different methods and variables used to assess the PSI-performance link, guiding scholars on the choice between different methods and measures. This work enumerates various streams of future research to discover unexplored fields to better ground this relationship, including the development of solid configurational theories, appropriate fit between theory and measurement techniques, and new sampling strategies for performing longitudinal studies.