This article focuses on institutional obstacles to entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs carry out a highly complicated composite act. They need intelligence to collect and digest information about business opportunities. They need foresight about the possibilities new technologies and other developments create. They need judgement and leadership skills to found a company and guide its growth. They need communication skills to enthuse financiers to back their vision. The number of active entrepreneurs therefore depends on how many individuals possess these skills. But skills are not endowments. Individuals decide to develop those skills that advance their well being and to forgo developing those that do not. The prospects of a career as an entrepreneur depend on the economic environment, which can be facilitative or detrimental. A multitude of factors determine this environment: rules and regulations, the quality of government, the availability of education, and the ambient culture.

International audienceEntry timing benefits and costs typically vary with firms' capabilities. In this study, we empirically examine the entry timing implications of firms' intrinsic speed capabilities, which refer to the ability to execute investment projects faster than competitors. We hypothesize that firms with intrinsic speed capabilities face low preemption risks and, thus, can afford to wait longer for uncertainty resolution before deciding to enter new markets. This hypothesis is more applicable when investment is associated with higher levels of commitment and, thus, greater option value of waiting. A direct implication is that late entrants with intrinsic speed capabilities should have greater expected post-entry performance. We find support for these hypotheses in the Atlantic Basin liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry from 1996 to 2007

Slow investments cause substantial revenue losses, yet acceleration increases costs. This tradeoff implies that an optimal investment speed usually exists; it is faster the higher a firm's intrinsic speed capability. We hypothesize that it is a firm's intrinsic speed capability, rather than its speed relative to industry competitors per se, that boosts firm value. Using data on oil and gas facilities (1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005), we find that intrinsic speed capabilities augment firm value in a varied way: their value is larger with better corporate governance, lower cost of capital, and higher ability to draw value from R&D investment. Our work elevates the discussion of speed from a project-level consideration to a firm-level competitive advantage issue and raises the need to further explore its strategic value.

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