Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

In today's rapidly changing business landscape, entrepreneurship is growing and actively promoted by policy makers. Several reports explore the influence of entrepreneurship on the economy and put some emphasis on its positive influence GDP per capita, unemployment and exports. However, entrepreneurship does not go per se and it is now broadly admitted that the decision of the entrepreneur is narrowly connected with its environment, the so-called entrepreneurial ecosystem. This book show why policymakers, entrepreneurship supporters, and entrepreneurs themselves should keep in mind the locally structured nature of entrepreneurial networks. Even if the notion of Entrepreneurial Ecosystem has become quite popular, among the international organization, development agencies and public administrations, this concept is often considered as a new one having its origins in very recent publications. This books aims at showing that entrepreneurial ecosystems have their roots in the history of economic thought and that scholars have long been conscious of their importance. Instead of insisting upon the diversity of agents involved in these organizations, it also put some emphasis on the importance of the linkages and sharing between them and suggests some orientations in view of a performing evaluation system.

In today's rapidly changing business landscape, entrepreneurship is growing and actively promoted by policy makers. Several reports explore the influence of entrepreneurship on the economy and put some emphasis on its positive influence GDP per capita, unemployment and exports. However, entrepreneurship does not go per se and it is now broadly admitted that the decision of the entrepreneur is narrowly connected with its environment, the so-called entrepreneurial ecosystem. This book show why policymakers, entrepreneurship supporters, and entrepreneurs themselves should keep in mind the locally structured nature of entrepreneurial networks.Even if the notion of Entrepreneurial Ecosystem has become quite popular, among the international organization, development agencies and public administrations, this concept is often considered as a new one having its origins in very recent publications. This books aims at showing that entrepreneurial ecosystems have their roots in the history of economic thought and that scholars have long been conscious of their importance. Instead of insisting upon the diversity of agents involved in these organizations, it also put some emphasis on the importance of the linkages and sharing between them and suggests some orientations in view of a performing evaluation system.

Preface viiIntroduction ixChapter 1. Reputed Authors in the Field of Territorial Economics 11.1. The founding fathers of territorial economics 21.1.1. The disappearance of the concept of territory 21.1.2. The precursors to territorial thinking; distance and organization of economic activity 81.1.3. The founders of economic analysis from the territory to growth poles 121.1.4. Marshall: agglomeration effects, industrial atmosphere and industrial districts, fundamental elements of an economic interpretation of the territory 131.1.5. Hotelling's law and straight-line competition 161.1.6. Perroux's growth poles 181.2. Contemporary theories 221.2.1. The Italian district 231.2.2. The innovative milieu of the groupe de recherche europeén sur les milieux innovateurs (GREMI) 251.2.3. The regulatory approach 271.2.4. Theory of transaction costs devised by the University of California 291.2.5. Krugman and the New Economic Geography 311.2.6. Clusters and areas of expertise at the heart of global competition 331.2.7. The theory of spatial proximity or the actor strategy 351.2.8. From the territory to the city - what are the new economic challenges? 38Chapter 2. The Key Concepts of Territorial Analysis: from the Actors to the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem 432.1. The actors and components within the entrepreneurial ecosystem 472.2. The operation of the entrepreneurial ecosytem 572.3. Strategies and public policies favoring entrepreneurial ecosystems 652.3.1. Definite risks of business creation 652.3.2. A wide range of state assistance 67Chapter 3. From Implementation to Evaluations: Trajectories and Coordination 733.1. Territorial performance: from statistical correlations to complex causal mechanisms 753.1.1. Density effects of economic activities upon the performance of employment areas 763.1.2. Regional territorial performance: from technology grants to socio-economic links 793.2. The diversity of local productive ecosystems illustrated by case studies 853.2.1. Converting territories in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais: the case of Valenciennes 853.3. From policies to evaluation tools 1033.3.1. General principles 1033.3.2. In favor of a systems-based evaluation perspective 105Conclusion 109Bibliography 113Index 123