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Entrepreneurship, small business and economic growth

Roy Thurik (Professor of Economics at the Centre for Advanced Small Business Economics, Faculty of Economics, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
Sander Wennekers (EIM Small Business Research and Consultancy, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands.)

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development

ISSN: 1462-6004

Article publication date: 1 March 2004

25072

Abstract

Looks at the relationship between small business and entrepreneurship and also the differences between the two. Stresses that both are important separately and, in addition, notes where they overlap. Posits that in the early part of the last century small businesses were both vehicles for entrepreneurship and sources of employment and income but, although still important in the post‐war years, large firms made great inroads in the 1960s and 1970s. Concludes that government’s central role in entrepreneurialism for the economy is, by its very nature, enabling. Furthermore, entrepreneurship is acknowledged as a driver for economic growth, competitiveness and job creation.

Keywords

Citation

Thurik, R. and Wennekers, S. (2004), "Entrepreneurship, small business and economic growth", Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 140-149. https://doi.org/10.1108/14626000410519173

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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