Abstract
This paper aims to empirically identify the characteristics and governance types of regional entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) associated with productive high-growth entrepreneurship (PHGE). We developed a unique database comprised of public statistics on high-growth enterprises and regional EEs in Poland over the course of 2011–2018. The Hierarchical Clustering on Principal Components and a taxonomic analysis were used to identify how different types of EE governance relate to varying levels of high-growth enterprises’ performance. We have identified and described the relationships between PHGE and diverse clusters of EE governance and evolution stages toward developed structures. Two clusters proved similarly effective in generating PHGE and they represent alternative EE governance solutions as well as the most advanced evolutionary phases. The proposed conceptualizations of productive high-growth entrepreneurship and EE governance types advance the understanding and measurement of these phenomena. The profiling and configurational approach adopted in this research reflects the heterogeneity of EE governance types and outcomes and can be further replicated in other research settings.
References
Achtenhagen L., Naldi L., Melin L. (2010) Business growth-do practitioners and scholars really talk about the same thing?. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 34(2), 289-316.
Acs Z., Parsons S., Tracy S. (2008) High-impact firms: Gazelles revisited, Paris: OECD.
Acs Z., Stam E., Audretsch D., O'Connor A. (2017) The lineages of the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach. Small Business Economics, 49(1), 1-10.
Alhusen H., Bennat T. (2021) Combinatorial innovation modes in SMEs: Mechanisms integrating STI processes into DUI mode learning and the role of regional innovation policy. European Planning Studies, 29(4), 779-805.
Arauzo-Carod J., Segarra-Blasco A., Teruel M. (2018) The role of science and technology parks as firm growth boosters: An empirical analysis in Catalonia. Regional Studies, 52(5), 645-658.
Asheim B. (2019) Smart specialisation, innovation policy and regional innovation systems: What about new path development in less innovative regions?. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 32(1), 8-25.
Audretsch D., Coad A., Segarra A. (2014) Firm growth and innovation. Small Business Economics, 43(4), 743-749.
Auerswald P., Dani L. (2021) The adaptive life cycle of entrepreneurial ecosystems: The biotechnology cluster. Small Business Economics, 49(1), 97-117.
Baumol W. (1996) Entrepreneurship: Productive, unproductive, and destructive. Journal of Business Venturing, 11(1), 3-22.
Bhawe N., Zahra S. (2021) Inducing heterogeneity in local entrepreneurial ecosystems: The role of MNEs. Small Business Economics, 52(2), 437-454.
Birch D., Haggerty A., Parsons W. (1995) Who's creating Jobs?, Cambridge: MA: Cognetics.
Bolek M. (2018) Determinants of the growth of enterprises on the capital market, Lodz: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego (in Polish).
Broome T., Moore W., Alleyne P. (2018) Financing constraints and the R&D decision in the Caribbean. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 30(9-10), 964-986.
Brown R., Mason C. (2017) Looking inside the spiky bits: A critical review and conceptualisation of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Small Business Economics, 49(1), 11-30.
Brown R., Mawson S. (2015) The geography of job creation in high growth firms: The implications of ‘growing abroad'. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 34(2), 207-227.
Brown R., Mawson S. (2019) Entrepreneurial ecosystems and public policy in action: a critique of the latest industrial policy blockbuster. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 12(3), 347-368.
Brown R., Mawson S., Mason C. (2017) Myth-busting and entrepreneurship policy: The case of high growth firms. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 29(5-6), 414-443.
Bruns K., Bosma N., Sanders N., Schramm M. (2017) Searching for the existence of entrepreneurial ecosystems: A regional cross-section growth regression approach. Small Business Economics, 49(1), 31-54.
Capozza C., Salomone S., Somma E. (2018) Local industrial structure, agglomeration economies and the creation of innovative start-ups: Evidence from the Italian case. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 30(7-8), 749-775.
Chandler G., McKelvie A., Davidsson P. (2009) Asset specificity and behavioral uncertainty as moderators of the sales growth - Employment growth relationship in emerging ventures. Journal of Business Venturing, 24(4), 373-387.
Cho D.S., Ryan P., Buciuni G. (2021) Evolutionary entrepreneurial ecosystems: A research pathway. Small Business Economics, 1-19.
Coad A. (2009) The growth of firms: A survey of theories and empirical evidence, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Coad A., Grassano N. (2019) Firm growth and R&D investment: SVAR evidence from the world's top R&D investors. Industry and Innovation, 26(5), 508-533.
Coad A., Grassano N., Hall B., Vezzani A., Moncada-Paternò-Castello P. (2019) Innovation and industrial dynamics. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 50, 126-131.
Coad A., Segarra-Blasco A., Teruel M. (2020) A bit of basic, a bit of applied? R&D strategies and firm performance. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 1-26.
Colombelli A., Paolucci E., Ughetto E. (2021) Hierarchical and relational governance and the life cycle of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Small Business Economics, 52(2), 505-521.
Colombo M., Dagnino G., Lehmann E., Salmador M. (2021) The governance of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Small Business Economics, 52(2), 419-428.
Corrente S., Greco S., Nicotra M., Romano M., Schillaci C. (2018) Evaluating and comparing entrepreneurial ecosystems using SMAA and SMAA-S. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 44(2), 485-519.
Davidsson P., Steffens P., Fitzsimmons J. (2021) Growing profitable or growing from profits: Putting the horse in front of the cart?. Journal of Business Venturing, 24(4), 388-406.
Dominiak P., Wasilczuk J., Starnawska M. (2016) Unproductive entrepreneurship in the light of institutional economics. Analysis of the phenomenon in Poland, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN (in Polish).
European Commission (2020) User guide to the SME definition, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
Felzensztein C., Ciravegna L., Robson P., Amorós J. (2015) Networks, Entrepreneurial Orientation, and Internationalization Scope: Evidence from Chilean Small and Medium Enterprises. Journal of Small Business Management, 53, 145-160.
Foray D. (2014) Smart specialisation: Opportunities and challenges for regional innovation policy, New York: Routledge.
Gancarczyk M. (2019) The Performance of High-Growers and Regional Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: A Research Framework. Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, 7(3), 99-123.
Garnsey E., Stam E., Heffernan P. (2006) New firm growth: Exploring processes and paths. Industry and Innovation, 13(1), 1-20.
Gereffi G., Humphrey J., Sturgeon T. (2005) The governance of global value chains. Review of International Political Economy, 12(1), 78-104.
Gorynia M., Nowak J., Howak J., Wolniak R. (2021) Motives and modes of FDI in Poland: An exploratory qualitative study. Journal for East European Management Studies, 132-151.
Grillitsch M., Nilsson M. (2017) Knowledge externalities and firm heterogeneity: Effects on high and low growth firms. Papers in Regional Science, 98(1), 93-114.
Guerrieri P. (2004) Industrial districts' evolution and technological regimes: Italy and Taiwan. Technovation, 24(11), 899-914.
Hassink R., Isaksen A., Trippl M. (2019) Towards a comprehensive understanding of new regional industrial path development. Regional Studies, 53(11), 1636-1645.
Herrmann A. (2019) A plea for varieties of entrepreneurship. Small Business Economics, 52(2), 331-343.
Humphrey J., Ding K., Fujita M., Hioki S., Kimura K. (2021) Platforms, innovation and capability development in the Chinese domestic market. The European Journal of Development Research, 30(3), 408-423.
Isaksen A., Karlsen J. (2012) Combined and complex mode of innovation in regional cluster development: Analysis of the light-weight material cluster in Raufoss, Norway. In: Interactive Learning for Innovation (eds. B.T. Asheim, M.D. Parrilli), London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 115-136. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230362420_6
Isenberg D. (2021) How to start an entrepreneurial revolution. Harvard Business Review, 88(6), 40-50.
Isenberg D., Brown R. (2014) For a booming economy, bet on high-growth firms, not small nusinesses. Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project. Harvard Business Review, 03.02.2014 https://hbr.org/2014/02/for-a-booming-economy-beton-high-growth-firms-not-small-businesses, дата обращения 01.07.2021.
Jensen M.B., Johnson B., Lorenz E., Lundvall B.Å. (2007) Forms of knowledge and modes of innovation. Research Policy, 5(36), 680-693.
Jolliffe I. (2002) Principal Component Analysis, Heidelberg, Dordrecht, London, New York: Springer.
Klepper S. (2007) Disagreements, Spinoffs, and the Evolution of Detroit as the Capital of the U.S. Automobile Industry. Management Science, 53(4), 616-631.
Lehmann E., Schenkenhofer J., Wirsching K. (2018) Hidden champions and unicorns: A question of the context of human capital investment. Small Business Economics, 52(2), 359-374.
Lema R., Rabellotti R., Sampath P. (2018) Innovation trajectories in developing countries: Co-evolution of Global Value Chains and innovation systems. The European Journal of Development Research, 30(3), 345-363.
Lisowska R. (2015) External Determinants of the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises - Empirical Analysis. Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, 11(4), 115-138.
Litzel N. (2016) Does embeddedness in clusters enhance firm survival and growth? An establishment-level analysis using CORIS data. Regional Studies, 51(4), 563-574.
Mack E., Mayer H. (2016) The evolutionary dynamics of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Urban Studies, 53(10), 2118-2133.
Malizia E., Motoyama Y. (2018) Vibrant Centers as Locations for High-Growth Firms: An Analysis of Thirty U.S. Metropolitan Areas. The Professional Geographer, 71(1), 15-28.
Markusen A. (1996) Sticky places in slippery space: A typology of industrial districts. Economic Geography, 72(3), 293-313.
Marris R. (2021) The Economic Theory of Managerial Capitalism, London: Macmillan.
Mason C., Brown R. (2014) Entrepreneurial ecosystems and growth-oriented entrepreneurship, Paris: OECD.
Mogos S., Davis A., Baptista R. (2015) Defining high growth firms: Sustainable growth, volatility, and survival, Rome: DRUID 15.
OECD (2007) Manual on business demography statistics, Paris: OECD.
OECD (2015) Frascati Manual. Guidelines for Collecting and Reporting Data on Research, Paris: OECD.
OECD (2021) High-growth enterprises: What governments can do to make a difference, Paris: OECD.
OECD, Eurostat (2018) Oslo Manual 2018: Guidelines for Collecting, Reporting and Using Data on Innovation (4th Edition), Paris: OECD, Eurostat.
Oliveira B., Fortunato A. (2015) Firm growth and liquidity constraints: A dynamic analysis. Small Business Economics, 27(2-3), 139-156.
Pathak S., Laplume A., Xavier-Oliveira E. (2015) Inbound foreign direct investment and domestic entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 27(6), 334-356.
Pisoni A., Fratocchi L., Onetti A. (2013) Subsidiary autonomy in transition economies: Italian SMEs in Central and Eastern European countries. Journal of East European Management Studies, 18(3), 336-370.
Przybylska K. (2018) Born Global: The New Generation of Small Businesses, Krakow: Fundacja Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Krakowie (in Polish).
Sanguansat P. (2012) Principal component analysis, InTech Open. 10.5772/2340. https://www.intechopen.com/books/1917, дата обращения 19.11.2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5772/2340.https
Shepherd D., Wiklund J. (2009) Are We Comparing Apples With Apples or Apples With Oranges? Appropriateness of Knowledge Accumulation Across Growth Studies. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33(1), 105-123.
Stam E. (2015) Entrepreneurial ecosystems and regional policy: a sympathetic critique. European Planning Studies, 23(9), 1759-1769.
Tingvall P., Videnord J. (2018) Regional differences in effects of publicly sponsored R&D grants on SME performance. Small Business Economics, 54(4), 951-969.
Torres P., Godinho P. (2021) Levels of necessity of entrepreneurial ecosystems elements. Small Business Economics, 1-17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-021-00515-3
Wach K. (2012) Europeanization of small and medium-sized enterprises: Development through internationalization, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN (in Polish).
Welter F., Baker T., Wirsching K. (2019) Three waves and counting: The rising tide of contextualization in entrepreneurship research. Small Business Economics, 52(2), 319-330.
Williamson O.E. (2005) The economics of governance. American Economic Review, 95(2), 1-18.
Wurth B., Stam E., Spigel B. (2021) Toward an entrepreneurial ecosystem research program. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice (forthcoming). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1042258721998948
Zbierowski P. (2012) Positive orientation of a high-performance organization. Warszawa: Wolters Kluwer (in Polish).

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.