Entrepreneurial ecosystems and regional persistence of high growth firms: A ‘broken clock’ critique

Alex Coad () and Stjepan Srhoj

Research Policy, 2023, vol. 52, issue 6

Abstract: The Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (EE) approach makes specific predictions regarding how EE inputs are converted into high-growth firms (HGFs) as an output. A simulation model draws out our hypothesis of regional persistence in HGF shares. Based on intuitions that EEs are persistent, we investigate whether regional HGF shares are persistent, using census data for 2 European countries taken separately (Croatia for 2004–2019, and Slovenia for 2007–2019). Overall, there is no clear persistence in regional HGF shares – regions with large HGF shares in one period are not necessarily likely to have large HGF shares in the following period. This is a puzzle for EE theory. In fact, there seems to be more persistence in industry-level HGF shares than for regional HGF shares. We formulate a ‘broken clock’ critique – just as a broken clock is correct twice a day, EE recommendations may sometimes be correct, but are fundamentally flawed as long as time-changing outputs (HGF shares) are predicted using time-invariant variables (such as local universities, institutions, investments in R&D and infrastructure).

Keywords: High-growth firms; Persistence; Regional persistence; Entrepreneurial ecosystems; Clusters; Sectoral Systems of Innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004873332300046X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Regional Persistence of High Growth Firms: A 'Broken Clock' Critique (2021)
Working Paper: Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Regional Persistence of High Growth Firms: A 'Broken Clock' Critique (2021)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:52:y:2023:i:6:s004873332300046x

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2023.104762

Access Statistics for this article

Research Policy is currently edited by M. Bell, B. Martin, W.E. Steinmueller, A. Arora, M. Callon, M. Kenney, S. Kuhlmann, Keun Lee and F. Murray

More articles in Research Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().