Excerpt
It is nearly a public knowledge that entrepreneurship is s a potent vehicle for creating value-adding activities, locally and internationally, which create employment, growth, taxes and incremental wealth (Koellinger and Thurik
2012; Van Praag and Versloot). Many mission-oriented governments (Mazzucato
2013), ranging from local to national in emerging regions to highly advanced, have enacted policies (Brander et al.
2015) encourage further local entrepreneurship. The general expectation is that such polices stimulate entrepreneurship of various forms, and they will bear fruits soon to help resolve many socio-economic problems (Baughn and Neupert (
2003); but not all entrepreneurial initiatives are equally productive or efficiently run. Theoretically, given conducive conditions, those aspirational government policies, and their corresponding stimulative incentives, hold the potential of bearing bumper crops and delivering results, some of which reach much beyond expectations; but a few do not (Baughn and Neupert
2003), and at times their enterprise will have to migrate to more conducive regions with more appealing environmental conditions to survive and grow. Consider, for example, that very few regions, such the California’s region located between San Francisco and San Jose cities (popularly known as the Silicon Valley), New York City, amongst a few other regions in the United States, or Untied Kingdom, and Germany, among others, have attracted, and still do attract, high number of entrepreneurial start-ups with high growth aspirations and potentials that they do mostly attain, while others have relocated elsewhere in need of higher support. The theoretical question is: what accounts for some entrepreneurial start-ups accomplishing and sustaining their high growth rates; while others do not. Are they due to the initial entrepreneurial orientations (EO) (Covin and Lumpkin
2011), and entrepreneurial intentions (EI) (Moriano et al.
2012) or other factors that would influence or intervene over time? The Route 128 areas of Boston, Massachusetts, was highly attractive to high-technology start-up from late 1970s to early 2000; but the high rates have not kept-up with other areas. It appears that some emerging environmental and institutional conditions have turned, and become comparative dis-incentives, if not barriers, leading to lower start-ups and even their migration to other regions (Moriano et al.
2012). Migrants would generally look for gaining faster and higher competitive advantage for higher growth earlier. Porter (
1990) pointed to conducive factors at the national level with positive impact on firms and on start-ups in nationally competitive regions (Porter
1990). In contrast, Florida (
2004) pointed to creative class, including entrepreneurs, would be attracted to locations with high amenities complementing relatively competitive resources. Although the definitive answers are not yet clear, a few factors have already emerged, including: i) Location (e.g., Attractive location with high amenities, rich socio-cultural resources, and attractive living conditions), ii) Strong support systems (e.g., Rich entrepreneurial eco-systems (Etzkowitz et al.
2000) offering the required support, including human resources), iii) Presence of high financial incentive (e.g., Low to now taxes for start-ups), iv) Conducive legal and institutional frameworks, and v) Some industrial specialization (e.g., industrial clusters and supper clusters) and vi) Certain institutional structures capable of assisting and expediting start-ups’ growth and ensuring their survival.
1 Growth-oriented entrepreneurship at the basic levels may involve creating embryonic firms that lack much of invested heritage (Etemad
2018) in terms of past experience, R&D investments, proven business model and established track records (e.g., recognized brand(s) brand equity, etc.), necessary resources, and
collaborative network of suppliers and buyers, among other requisites of growth, beyond self-employment. Stated differently, embryonic start-ups are like newly-born children, who need a high extent of
substantive parental care, investment and support before reaching independence and success; the good intentions alone, even financial incentives to assist parental supports may not suffice (Bird
2015, Boso et al.
2017, Liñan and Fayolle
2015). …
