The lineages of the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach

Abstract

In its most abstract sense, an ecosystem is a biotic community, encompassing its physical environment, and all the interactions possible in the complex of living and nonliving components. Economics has always been about systems that explain differential output and outcomes. However, economics has generally ignored the role of entrepreneurship in economic systems, just as entrepreneurship studies have largely overlooked the role of systems in explaining the prevalence and performance of entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurial ecosystem approach has the promise to correct these shortcomings. Its two dominant lineages are the regional development literature and the strategy literature. Both lineages share common roots in ecological systems thinking, providing fresh insights into the interdependence of actors in a particular community to create new value. But studies of both regional development and strategic management have largely ignored the role of entrepreneurs in new value creation. In this paper, we will outline contributions to the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach and conclude with a promising new line of research to our understanding of the emergence, growth, and context of start-ups that have achieved great impact by developing new platforms.

Entrepreneurial ecosystems: economic, technological, and societal impacts

“…More recent analyses include Nelson and Winter (1982). Since then, the concentration of activities within regional boundaries has fascinated scholars like Porter (1990) among others, and has stimulated considerable subsequent academic research (Acs et al 2016, 2017a, b). …”

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

“…Contemporary meso-competitiveness policies (as opposed to general macro-level policies) appear to aim at innovative firms or sectors and specific regions. At the level of sustainable development, the meso-level concerns networks between symbiotic firms and business ecosystems (Acs et al, 2017). More generally, the meso-level of a socio-economic system studies the dynamic interactions between firms (micro-level) and macro factors that host their actions.…”

Entrepreneurship and the city

“…A prime example of productive collaborations or partnerships is the "triple helix" model for innovation, in which research facilities (such as universities), large firms, and the local state align toward creating business opportunities, particularly out of technological externalities (see Chinta & Sussan, 2018;Leydesdorff & Etzkowitz, 1998;Saxenian, 1996). Besides the triple helix, a more general concept for such kind of capital-based partnerships are "ecosystems" ( Acs, Stam, Audretsch, & O'Connor, 2017;Jacobides, Cennamo, & Gawer, 2018), and also, there are project "ecologies" (Grabher, 2004;Grabher & Ibert, 2011). Regardless of the term used to define these productive collaborative contexts, all of them allude to institutional platforms for leveraging enterprise creation.…”

“…The creative city thesis proposes local, and city governments should coordinate for such collaborative contexts to materialize (see Acs et al, 2017;Florida, 2003Florida, , 2005. Here, a city's industrial intangible infrastructure, more specifically its industrial specialization and diversification trajectories and know-how, provides the basis for the recombination of built assets in the city.…”