The Unicorn Phenomenon: An Embeddedness-Based View of Influencing Factors

Hammoda Basel () and Küttim Merle ()
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Hammoda Basel: Department of Business Administration, Tallinn University of Technology Akadeemia tee 3 Tallinn 12618, Estonia
Küttim Merle: Department of Business Administration, Tallinn University of Technology Akadeemia tee 3 Tallinn 12618, Estonia

TalTech Journal of European Studies, 2024, vol. 14, issue 2, 274-305

Abstract: Unicorns are a special breed of an entrepreneurial phenomenon that is gaining increased attention from theoretical and practical perspectives. This emerging niche, however, lacks structurization and sufficient investigation of the development of a unicorn firm. The article aims to investigate the factors influencing the emergence and growth of unicorns, using embeddedness as a theoretical framework. It follows a systematic review of empirical articles investigating the unicorn phenomenon based on a search in Scopus and Web of Science databases. A total of 17 articles were qualified and reviewed in depth for descriptive information and the factors impacting unicorns. The findings confirm that the unicorn phenomenon is a new entrant in entrepreneurship research, with the first study published in 2017. Most of the empirical work relied on secondary data to analyze this phenomenon, with a split of geographical focus between the leading countries (US and China) and the developing ones. The identified influencing factors were analyzed and organized into three levels: context, firm, and individual. They highlight the necessary elements in an entrepreneurship ecosystem, a company’s business and operating models, and the characteristics of founders and unicorns’ leaders for supporting the development of a potential unicorn. This study extends the concept of embeddedness to this special breed of companies and provides insights for ambitious entrepreneurs who want to grow their companies to a unicorn status and to policymakers on providing an enabling environment to attract startups and promote entrepreneurship.

Keywords: embeddedness; entrepreneurship; entrepreneurship ecosystem; systematic literature review; unicorns (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:bjeust:v:14:y:2024:i:2:p:274-305:n:1013

DOI: 10.2478/bjes-2024-0026

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