Abstract: Many regional governments in developed countries design programs to improve the competitiveness of local firms. In this paper, we evaluate the effectiveness of public programs whose aim is to enhance the performance of firms located in Catalonia (Spain). We compare the performance of...

The theme of global rebalancing in economic power is now central to international economic analysis, and the issue of the presence and clout of multinational companies from emerging markets has gained importance, in part because of highly publicised cases of acquisitions of (or attempts at...

The competitiveness of enterprises depends both on environmental characteristic favouring innovation and on the availability of funding for R&D activities; while the former can and should be developed by local and central authorities and agencies, the latter depends on the ability of the single...

Existing studies of entrepreneurship focus on entrepreneurs whose individual contribution to wealth creation is typically trivial: self-employed persons. This paper investigates entrepreneurs whose individual contribution to wealth creation is enormous: billionaires. We explore the relationship...

The successful foundation of entrepreneurial firms comprises a multitude of complementary human tasks. Within entrepreneurial teams, the effect of founders' human capital on firm success hinges on the information structure that prevails when nascent entrepreneurs are matched in partnerships....

We address the key question of the efficacy of R&D policy measures in support of hightech start-ups. Distinguishing between subsidies awarded on a competitive basis and those assigned through an automatic procedure, we show that the former type led to a positive total factor productivity...

While most entrepreneurs around the globe acknowledge that they began their businesses either as a hobby or a secondary source of income, the mushrooming of SMEs in Zimbabwe has been prompted by unprecedented company closures which saw many workers losing their jobs. SMEs occupy a central...

Since the 1970s there has been an explosion of regulatory efforts that have arisen, both within and beyond law, the object of which is to manage MNEs. The MNE itself has also exploded as body on which law can be imposed. It very much retains its identity as an object ("the enterprise") of...

This article elaborates a dynamic rationale of industrial policy, focusing on how to strengthen the socio-economic system's ability to evolve, i.e. how to achieve high real income together with qualitative change. It highlights that the ubiquitous rationalities of failure, be it of markets,...