This paper focuses on certain drivers of SME sales growth related to knowledge and innovation. Building on the dynamic capabilities literature, we test whether two organizational capabilities (external sourcing and employee involvement in renewal activities) predict sales growth, and if so,...

Start-up size is a key strategic decision for entrepreneurs. Should entrepreneurs start up close to minimum efficient scale or should they take less risks and start-up on a smaller scale? Previously, this strategic decision appeared to be one of simply making a choice between a higher...

Many regional development policy initiatives assume that entrepreneurial activities promote economic growth. Empirical research has presented rationale for this argument showing that small firms create proportionally more new jobs than large ones. However, little research has been performed on...

The data set COMPENDIA contains harmonized data on the number of business owners and the size of the labour force for 23 OECD countries over the period 1972-2000, as well as the quotient of these two variables which is called the business ownership rate of a country. Business ownership rates...

Policy in developed countries is often based on the assumption that higher business ownership rates induce economic value. However, not everyone can be a business owner and many labour market participants would contribute more to economic value creation as an employee than a business owner. The...

This paper deals with explaining the sizable differences in the rate of self-employment (business ownership) across 15 European countries in the period 1978-2000, within a framework of occupational choice, focusing on the influence of dissatisfaction and of per capita income. Using two different...

Administrative burdens are known to be a major business constraint for incumbent SMEs in modern economies. Far less is known about the influence of these burdens on the startup of new firms. The current paper examines to what extent perceived administrative complexity related to starting a new...

We investigate the impact of entrepreneurial diversity on national economic growth. More specifically, using data for 36 countries participating in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, we investigate whether the impact of entrepreneurial activity is different for different sociodemographic...

This is an updated version of Research Report H200503

This paper investigates the dynamic interrelationship between self-employment and unemployment rates. On the one hand, unemployment rates may stimulate start-up activity of self-employed. On the other hand, higher rates of self-employment may indicate increased entrepreneurial activity reducing...