Business ecosystems policy in Stra.Tech.Man terms: The case of the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace region

Abstract

In the current state of globalizati on's restructuring, numerous studies are examining policies to strengthen local entrepreneurship and producti ve systems, in terms of clusters and ecosystems. In this arti cle, we apply and extend the Stra.Tech. Man approach to entrepreneurial dynamics as an alternati ve base of arti culati ng a business ecosystems development policy. By studying the case of the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace region, one of the less developed regions in Greece, we fi nd that there are possibiliti es for using the Stra.Tech.Man approach to imprint, record and, by extension, give the possibility of strengthening the strategic, technological, and managerial capacity of the "cells" of specifi c business ecosystems. In this context, the aim of this study is to outline a new possible directi on for policy planning and implementati on, in order to expand the local business ecosystems' innovati ve and competi ti ve competence, especially in the context of a less developed region, by the usage of the ILDI (Insti tutes of Local Development and Innovati on) mechanism. In this directi on, we present an "introductory" and qualitati ve fi eld research we carried out in the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, on a sample of SMEs, in diagnosti c terms of Stra.Tech.Man physiology.

Policies to Foster Entrepreneurship: Elements from the European Experience in the Integrated Micro-Meso-Macro Analytical Perspective

“…At this point, a significant shortcoming comes to the fore: the lack of policies that could directly enhance the strategic, technological, and managerial potential of firms and their capabilities of innovative synthesis and overall change management (Stra.Tech. Man approach), especially in less developed regions and business ecosystems (Vlados & Chatzinikolaou, 2019;Vlados & Katimertzopoulos, 2018).…”

“…This micro-level of the firm extends to the meso-level that includes sectoral, local, and regional dynamics. These dynamics unfold today, in the phase of globalization, at the level of local agglomerations of firms and developmental niches of firms (clusters and business ecosystems: Lazzeretti, Sedita, & Caloffi, 2014;Moore, 1997;Vlados & Chatzinikolaou, 2019). Besides, the Local Development and Innovation Institutes (ILDI) that, according to Vlados (2016), the Greek regions can establish them fulfill this role of enhancing micro-meso dynamics.…”

Macro, Meso, and Micro Policies for Strengthening Entrepreneurship: Towards an Integrated Competitiveness Policy

“…These economic and social dimensions stem from the co-evolution of the internal and external environment at all possible micro-meso-macro levels (Gandellini et al, 2012;Vlados & Chatzinikolaou, 2019b). This -Stra.Tech.Man physiology‖ constitutes the -DNA‖ of the socio-economic organization as it enables it to survive and reproduce its innovative capacity (Vlados & Chatzinikolaou, 2019a). In a -biological-type‖ view of socioeconomic development (Thomas, 1991;Witt, 2006), the -physiology‖ of the firm means that there are always specific strategic, technological, and managerial boundaries, beyond which there can be no -stretch‖ (Hamel & Prahalad, 1993) at present.…”

Growth Poles and Clusters: Are There Useful Analytical Complementarities?

“…To this end, the operationalization of the Stra.Tech.Man approach can highlight new interventional bottom-up policies of local development. More specifically, Vlados and Chatzinikolaou (2019a) proved recently that the performance of the firms in terms of Stra.Tech.Man analysis reflects the developmental level of a less developed business ecosystem; this finding leads to a new business ecosystem policy that can foster local development by focusing on the firm-side innovation.…”