Democracy is increasingly viewed as a core institutional condition for entrepreneurship, yet evidence remains mixed on what types of entrepreneurial activity it shapes and how. This study develops and tests a differentiated framework linking improvements in electoral democracy to two outcomes: total early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) and high-tech entrepreneurship activity. Using data on 81 developing and developed countries over 2000–2022 we extend the democracy–entrepreneurship literature by moving from the general question of whether democracy fosters entrepreneurship to whether it is TEA or high-tech entrepreneurship which democracy affects. We also argue that democracy shapes entrepreneurship activity through institutional mechanisms of property-rights protection and government size. Our findings demonstrate that linear improvements in democracy are not directly associated with TEA and high-tech entrepreneurship. Property rights are positively associated with high-tech entrepreneurship, but that they do not moderate the democracy–high-tech entrepreneurship relationship.

Knowledge collaboration is recognized as a major source of innovation and competitive advantage for firms, especially for mall-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Drawing on the open innovation and management literatures and using micro-level data from the U.K. most innovative firms, we demonstrate that innovation output is conditional on knowledge homophily collaboration and partner location. We also find that SMEs benefit to a greater extent from knowledge collaboration with external partners than large firms. Collaboration with customers and suppliers is more beneficial than collaborations with universities or government for SMEs. We develop implications for scholars, entrepreneurs and managers in innovative firms.

Spillovers constitute the fundamental rationale for public investment in innovation. Unfortunately, it is difficult to directly measure and evaluate spillovers, so we can determine how to most effectively target public investment in innovation in the private sector. This study provides new empirical evidence on spillovers, simultaneously examining the role of geography, internationalization and collaborative R&D. Collaborative R&D is an important mechanism for the transmission of such spillovers. Based on comprehensive longitudinal firm-level UK data, including detailed information on different types of collaborative R&D, we find that access to public finance is a key determinant of a firm's ability to innovate and generate sales. Another key finding is that a firm's returns to international collaborative R&D are conditional on its productivity and access to public funding. It also appears that high-productivity firms benefit more from public funding than low-productivity firms, in terms of stimulating innovation. Should they secure public funding, firms also benefit more from regional and international collaboration than they do without such funding. In general, our findings are consistent with the view that the social returns to public investment in private sector R&D are high.

Extant research has established that firms engage in R&D collaboration and access knowledge spillovers to enhance their innovativeness. We aim to take this conversation in a new direction by seeking to answer the question, ‘How does engagement in R&D collaboration with suppliers, customers, and competitors, both domestically and internationally, as well as access to knowledge spillovers from universities and other open sources, influence a firm's innovation?’ This is the primary goal of our study. The study develops a knowledge‐based view on knowledge collaboration and spillovers, explaining how a firm's decision to collaborate, as opposed to accessing knowledge spillovers, shapes its innovation outputs and propensity to innovate. The theoretical utility of this framework lies in elucidating how the distinct types of knowledge (basic or applied) transferred to a firm when accessing external knowledge create different mechanisms that influence innovation output. By analyzing data on knowledge spillovers and R&D collaboration from the innovation survey of firms in the United Kingdom over the period 2002–2014, we demonstrate that in most instances of knowledge combinations, the cost effect of knowledge sourcing exceeds the complementary effect of knowledge, leading to a firm's choice between R&D collaboration and spillovers. The study contributes to the innovation and R&D management literatures by explaining why this pattern emerges and demonstrating that these relationships are contingent upon the degree of collaboration and the level of knowledge spillovers.

In accordance with the theoretical underpinning that subjective well-being (SWB) is influenced by a multifaceted array of contextual determinants, this study aims to dissect these intricate connections. Utilizing national business system (NBS) framework and implementing fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), we scrutinize the collective impact of entrepreneurial endeavors, institutional structures, and income equality on SWB. Through this analysis, we aimed to uncover the equifinal ways in which these elements synergistically contribute to SWB. To be more precise, our study seeks to explore how environmental conditions harness the advantages of both social and commercial entrepreneurial initiatives to alleviate the negative impacts of income inequality, thereby fostering SWB. In line with this perspective, the overarching finding of our study underscores the significance of institutional coherence in fostering the ability of entrepreneurial activities to generate SWB.

As digitalization continues to reshape industries and markets, digital transformation and creation of a 'digital safety net' has emerged as a prominent mechanism for entrepreneurial resilience. Digitally advanced entrepreneurs harness technology and innovative business models and adopt agile strategies to grow, while digitally-uncertain entrepreneurs struggle to maintain their business models and customers. Digital transformation has been pivotal during the COVID-19 pandemic and enabled greater diversification, enhanced adaptability, improved access to global markets, and novel forms of knowledge collaboration, altogether increasing firms' ability to survive and grow. Understanding the mechanisms and implications of the relationship between digital technologies and entrepreneurial resilience is essential for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to develop rapid policy responses.

PurposeThe study examines how the interactions among three prominent institutional logics-state, market and religion-fundamentally shape the patterns of individuals' engagement in social entrepreneurship (SE).Design/methodology/approachThe study develops a configurational theoretical framework and uses fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to test the hypotheses by gathering data on social ventures from 35 countries from the World Values Survey and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.FindingsThe results show that the prevalence of social entrepreneurial ventures is enabled by different combinations of logics of action, governance mechanisms, strength of religious beliefs and religious pluralism.Originality/valueThis research reveals that the relationship between institutional logic profiles and SE is contingent on the coherence between different institutional logics.

In agriculture innovation is the main driver of productivity growth. Innovative technologies and methods have to help increase firms’ productivity in a sustainable way. Technology diffusion is important as developing new technologies for sustainable production processes. Current innovations can lead to define the composition of foods with impoverishment or enrichment of nutritional and sensory characteristics. New technologies play a central role in adapting agricultural practices to environmental change. New agricultural practices help to preserve environmental integrity. Competition for an alternative use of natural resources is increasing and agricultural practices and technologies will have to adapt to climate change and more extreme weather-related conditions. This multifunctional approach needs to be directed towards increasing knowledge about the relationship between microstructure, process, product characteristics and technological innovation to protect the quality and origin of products. Innovations are not enough if they are not accompanied by a regulatory environment conducive to business development. Think first of all about the issues of security, rationalization of controls and the embargo of bureaucracy. But also, to the sustainability of food production and the need for common rules on supply conditions in crucial international commodity markets for the development of certain products.

•Large firms and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) benefit from knowledge collaboration with external partners, with the returns to collaboration are higher for SMEs.•The type of collaboration partner and their geographical proximity predict innovation performance in SMEs.•Knowledge collaboration with suppliers and customers domestically and internationally facilitates innovation in SMEs.•Knowledge collaboration with universities domestically increases innovation in SMEs.•Knowledge collaboration with competitors internationally is conducive for increases innovation in SMEs.

Existing research highlights resource management as a complicated and multifaceted system comprising interdependent components, rather than a collection of independent factors. Nonetheless, the precise influence of resource management approaches on value generation and overall prosperity in new business endeavors, especially within diverse contextual environments, remains unclear. To address this gap, our study adopts a neo-configurational approach to explore how entrepreneurial resource management components (e.g., structuring, bundling, and leveraging) relate to achieving success in start-ups. We also examine the contextual influence of environmental dynamism and munificence on the effectiveness of these resource management strategies. By analyzing a comprehensive sample of over 500 US-based ventures, we develop a theoretical framework that encompasses four distinct resource management strategies. This framework provides insights into the attainment of success across diverse environments, characterized by varying levels of dynamism and munificence. Our study contributes to extant literature by emphasizing that the achievement of a competitive advantage in entrepreneurial firms is contingent upon the alignment of internal resource management strategies with external factors, specifically dynamism and munificence.

A robust literature has provided compelling evidence showing how open innovation impacts incumbent firms. However, only a paucity of research has linked open innovation strategies to different types of innovation in startups. This paper fills this gap in the literature by focusing on if, how and why open innovation enhances innovative activity in newly created firms. In particular, the paper examines how the role of both the specific external partner as well as the geographical location of partner matters in how product and process innovation is shaped in startups. The empirical evidence garnered in this paper suggest that not only do startups benefit from open innovation, but also the extent of product innovation and the propensity to innovate new processes in startups are significantly affected by specific external partner and its geographical location. The positive impact of open innovation reflects the heterogeneous effects of knowledge embedded in different partner types and the role that technological, institutional, and competitive arrangements play domestically and internationally in startup innovation. This study provides new light on how and why open innovation benefits not just incumbents but also startups as well.

Class hegemony and resource dependence are the traditional perspectives used to explain interlocking directorate formation in publicly listed corporations. A subset of these corporations, family firms, are different because their governance involves non-economic interests. There are few empirical validations of these perspectives for family firms. Through a 16 semi-annual period longitudinal comparison of non-financial family and non-family Italian firms, we show that the traditional perspectives partially explain board formation in family businesses while other considerations such as family ties provide a more complete picture. Over the same period, we find that family and non-family firm interlocks evolve differently, suggesting refinements on theories of board interlocks for family firms.

A robust literature has provided compelling evidence showing how digital transformation impacts entrepreneurship activity. However, only a paucity of research has linked adoption of new technologies to innovation, value creation, knowledge transfer and performance across different stages of the entrepreneurial growth continuum. This special issue fills this gap in the literature by focusing on if, how and why adoption of digital technologies and embeddedness in the digital entrepreneurial ecosystem enhances innovative activity and firm performance during the early and later stages of market entry. In particular, this special issue examines how digital transformation facilitates entrepreneurial, innovation, and social outputs along the entrepreneurial journey as well as why and how digital technologies may facilitate the interaction between economic agents and re-combination of internal resources and capabilities with those available externally. In doing so, this special issue unpacks a nuanced relationship between the diversity of new technologies and knowledge, their suitability and applicability for entrepreneurship and at different growth stages. This study offers policy implications and future research roadmap.

Firm formation based on new technology became a systematic process with the invention of venture capital. In the chapter we shall outline the development of a university-based start-up strategy for regional development in response, prior to the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 that legitmized this strategy and prepared the way for its spread to a broader range of academic institutions. Rather than taking the U.S. Act or its analogues in other countries, as the inception of the processs of university soruced economic development, we view it as its culmination.

Drawing from perspectives on institutional hierarchy (Williamson) and social embeddedness (Granovetter), we examine the role of embeddedness, formal institutions and governance in shaping latent and emergent entrepreneurship. We examine the role of heterogeneous institutional conditions - corruption, social relationships, property rights and government size - matter across 66 countries between 2005 and 2015. Our findings demonstrate that heterogeneity of institutional conditions and heterogeneity of entrepreneurship outcome are important and not monolithic. Notably, we find that while corruption impedes both latent and emergent entrepreneurship, this effect lasts almost three times as long for latent entrepreneurship. We also find that entrepreneurs in countries with more corrupt contexts have lower aspirations to start and own a business.

Whereas the contributions of entrepreneurial activities to regional development and economic growth are undisputed, the underlying mechanisms to promote innovative entrepreneurship and implement effective entrepreneurship policy instruments are still not well understood. Typically, local and national governments stimulate total entrepreneurial activity, almost neglecting latent and emergent entrepreneurship. However, both types of entrepreneurship constitute the starting point for later-stage entrepreneurial activities, as they delineate the transition from intended towards realized entrepreneurship, i.e. market commercialization. This special issue tries to broaden the theoretical foundations and empirical evidence of emergent and latent entrepreneurship by considering the driving and hindering factors for latent and emergent entrepreneurs as well as the impact of regional entrepreneurship and innovation systems. We thereby focus on the essential role of contexts (institutional, cognitive, technological, and social) that decisively affect and shape entrepreneurial activities and outcomes. We conclude with fruitful future avenues of research that appraise the context and the heterogeneity of latent and emergent entrepreneurship, supporting the design of more effective policies devoted to various types of entrepreneurs.

Global Crisis improves the level of uncertainty and makes it difficult for firms to assign an expected value to various outcomes. The inertia inherent in decision-making under uncertainty within incumbent organizations reflects what has been termed as the knowledge filter. Given the central role of university in the triple helix model and its relevance for knowledge spillover entrepreneurship this chapter focus on how this role is evolved and changed in US during the time and why it is so relevant in time of crisis.

is book o ers cutting-edge insights into the changing landscape of entrepreneurial nance, as digital technologies play an increasingly dynamic role in the world economy. Assessing the rapid development of innovative technologies in entrepreneurial ecosystems, it contributes to a wider discussion on the role that technology plays in facilitating and commercializing ideas in the context of global nance.

According to Johns Hopkins University, by December 2020, more than 78 million SARS-COV-2 (Covid-19) cases have been reported with more than 1.7 million deaths, out of which more than 300 thousand were in the U.S. alone. No country on earth has been untouched by the preemptive creation of a global recession to combat a global disease. Covid-19 has disrupted supply chains, consumption patterns, and business models in a multitude of industries which include a large share of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs account for the largest share of employment in market-based economies so any discussion of the economic impact of Covid-19 is incomplete without the SME sector. The purpose of this paper is to explore a systems perspective of the Covid-19 pandemic using the absorptive capacity construct.

Innovative entrepreneurship is one of the key drivers of economic development particularly for less developed economies where the economic growth is at the forefront of policymakers’ agenda. Yet, the research on how various factors at different levels interact and bring about innovative entrepreneurship in emerging and developing countries remains relatively scarce. We address this issue by developing a multilevel framework that explains how entrepreneurial competencies attenuate the negative impact of innovation barriers. Our analysis on a sample of individuals from 24 economies, 17 developing and 7 emerging countries, reveals that entrepreneurial competencies become more instrumental for innovative entrepreneurship when general, supply-side, and demand-side innovation barriers are higher. The findings offer unique insights to policymakers particularly in developing countries interested in promoting innovative entrepreneurship and to entrepreneurs and investors seeking to establish and support innovative ventures.