Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Exploiting Entrepreneurial Opportunities: The Impact of Entrepreneurship on Growth

  • Published:
Small Business Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Knowledge is recognized as an important ingredient for economic growth in addition to physical capital and labor. While transforming knowledge into products and processes it is exploited commercially. Nevertheless, the existing knowledge stock and the absorptive capacity of actors like employees at firms and researchers at universities and research institutions are conditional for the ability to produce, identify, and exploit knowledge. Since incumbent firms do not exploit new knowledge to the full extent, realized entrepreneurial opportunities may arise. This paper tests the hypothesis whether or not entrepreneurship is an important vehicle for knowledge flows and economic growth. The empirical results indicate that an increase in innovative start-up activity is more effective than an increase in general entrepreneurship for economic growth.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acs, Z. J., D. B. Audretsch, P. Braunerhjelm and B. Carlsson, 2005, The Knowledge Filter and Entrepreneurship in Endogenous Growth, Jena, Germany: Papers on Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, No. 08, Max Planck Institute of Economics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Acs, Z. J. and L. Plummer, 2005, Penetrating the ‚knowledge filter’ in regional economies, The Annals of Regional Science 39(3), 439–456.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agarwal, R., R. Echambadi, A. M. Franco and MB Sarkar, 2004, Knowledge Transfer through Inheritance: Spin-out Generation, Development and Survival, Academy of Management Journal 47(4), 501–522.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Almus, M., D. Engel and S. Prantl, 2002, ‚Die Mannheimer Gründungspanels des Zentrums für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung GmbH (ZEW)’, in M. Fritsch and M. Grotz (eds.), Das Gründungsgeschehen in Deutschland, Darstellung und Vergleich der Datenquellen, Heidelberg: Physica, pp. 79–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anselin, L., A. Varga and Z.J. Acs, 1997, Local geographic spillovers between university research and high technology innovations, Journal of Urban Economics 42(3), 422–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anselin, L., A. Varga and Z.J. Acs, 2000, Geographic and Sectoral Characteristics of Academic Knowledge Externalities, Papers in Regional Science 79(4), 435–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arundel, A., and A. Geuna, 2004, ‚Proximity and the Use of Public Science by Innovative European Firms’, Economics of Innovation and New Technology 13(6), 559–580.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Audretsch, D. B., 1995, Innovation and Industry Evolution, Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Audretsch, D. B. and M. P. Feldman, 1996, R&D Spillovers and the Geography of Innovation, American Economic Review 86(3), 630–640.

    Google Scholar 

  • Audretsch, D. B., and M. Keilbach, 2004a, Entrepreneurship Capital and Economic Performance, Regional Studies 38(8), 949–960.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Audretsch, D. B., M. Keilbach, 2004b, Entrepreneurship and Regional Growth: An Evolutionary Interpretation, Journal of Evolutionary Economics 14(5) 605–616.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Audretsch, D. B., M. C. Keilbach and E. E. Lehmann, 2006, Entrepreneurship and Growth, New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Audretsch, D. B., and E. E. Lehmann, 2005. Mansfield’s Missing Link: The Impact of Knowledge Spillovers on Firm Growth. Journal of Technology Transfer 30, 207–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Audretsch, D. B., E. E. Lehmann and S. Warning, 2004, University Spillovers: Does the Kind of Science Matter?, Industry and Innovation 11(3), 193–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumol W. J., 2004, Entrepreneurial enterprises, large established firms and other components of the free-market growth machine, Small Business Economics 23(1), 9–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumol, W. J., J. C. Panzar and R. D. Willig, 1988, Contestable Markets and the Theory of Industry Structure, revised edition, San Diego: Harcourt Brace.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christensen, C. M., 1993, The Rigid Disk Drive Industry: A History of Commercial and Technological Turbulence, Business History Review 67(4), 531–588.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, W.M., and D. A. Levinthal, 1989, Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R&D, Economic Journal 99(397), 569–596.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, W.M., and D. A. Levinthal, 1990, Absorptive Capacity: A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation, Administrative Science Quarterly 35(1), 128–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davidsson, P., 2005, ‚Nascent Entrepreneurship: Empirical Studies and Developments’, Foundation and Trends in Entrepreneurship 2(1).

  • Franco, A. M., and D. Filson, 2000, Knowledge Diffusion Through Employee Mobility, Iowa City: Working Paper, University of Iowa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritsch, M., 2004, Entrepreneurship, Entry and Performance of New Businesses Compared in Two Growth Regimes: East and West Germany, Journal of Evolutionary Economics 14(5),525–542.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fritsch, M., and U. Brixy, 2004, The Establishment File of the German Social Insurance Statistics, Journal of Applied Social Science Studies 124(1), 183–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritsch, M., 2004, Entrepreneurship, Entry and Performance of New Businesses Compared in Two Growth Regimes: East and West Germany, Journal of Evolutionary Economics 14(5),525–542.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geroski, P., 1995, ‚What do we know about entry?’ International Journal of Industrial Organization 13(4), 421–440.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorman, M.E., 2002, Types of Knowledge and Their Roles in Technology Transfer, Journal of Technology Transfer 27(3), 219–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hippel, von E., 1987, Cooperation between Rivals: Informal Know-How Trading, Research Policy 16(6), 291–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaffe, B. Adam, M. Trajtenberg and R. Henderson, 1993, Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations, Quarterly Journal of Economics 108(3), 577–598.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klepper, S., 2001, Employee Startups in High-tech Industries, Industrial and Corporate Change 10(3), 639–674.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klepper, S., and S. Sleeper, 2005, ‚Entry by Spinoffs’, Management Science 51(8), 1291–1306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kronthaler, F., 2005, Economic Capability of East German Regions: Results of a Cluster Analysis, Regional Studies 39(6), 739–750.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. E., 1988, On the Mechanism of Economic Development, Journal of Monetary Economics 22(1), 3–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maskell, P. and A. Malmberg, 1999, Localised Learning and Industrial Competitiveness, Cambridge Journal of Economics 23(2), 167–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mueller, P., 2006, ‚Exploring the Knowledge Filter: How Entrepreneurship and University-Industry Relations Drive Economic Growth’, Research Policy 35(10), 1499–1508.

  • Parker, S., 2004, The Economics of Self-employment and Entrepreneurship, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Plummer, L. A., 2005, ‚Localized Knowledge Spillovers and New Venture Creation’, in Shaker A. Zahra,G. C. Brush and P. Davidsson, et al (eds.), Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research 2005, Babson Park, MA: Babson College, pp. 148–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pavitt, K. L. R., 2001, Public Policies to Support Basic Research: What Can the Rest of the World Learn form US Theory and Practice? (and What they Should Learn), Industrial and Corporate Change 10(2), 761–779.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romer, P. M., 1986, Increasing Returns and Long-Run Growth, Journal of Political Economy 94(5), 1002–1037.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter J. A., 1911, Die Theorie wirtschaftlicher Entwicklung, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, English edition: The Theory of Economic Development (1934). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Senker, J., 1995, Tacit Knowledge and Models of Innovation, Industrial and Corporate Change 2(2), 425–447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zucker, L. G., M. R. Darby and M. B. Brewer, 1998, Intellectual Human Capital and the Birth of U.S. Biotechnology Enterprises, American Economic Review 88(1), 290–306.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Kahlaische Str. 10, 07745, Jena, Germany

    Pamela Mueller

Authors
  1. Pamela Mueller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pamela Mueller.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mueller, P. Exploiting Entrepreneurial Opportunities: The Impact of Entrepreneurship on Growth. Small Bus Econ 28, 355–362 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-006-9035-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-006-9035-9

Keywords

JEL Classifications

Search

Navigation