Balanced Skills and the City: An Analysis of the Relationship between Entrepreneurial Skill Balance, Thickness and Innovation

Elisabeth Sattler-Bublitz, Michael Fritsch () and Michael Wyrwich

No 2013-010, Jena Economics Research Papers from Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena

Abstract: Being a "jack-of-all-trades" increases the probability of running an entrepreneurial venture successfully; but what happens to "jack-of-few-trades" who lack sufficient skills? This paper investigates a possible compensation mechanism between balanced skills and cities, and how this compensatory measure relates to performance. Specifically, we test and find support for the idea put forward by Helsley and Strange (2011) that high market thickness, such as that found in cities, can compensate for a lack of entrepreneurial skill balance. The results indicate that entrepreneurs with low skill balance benefit more from locating in cities than their counterparts with high skill balance. Innovative firms do not differ from other businesses in this respect.

Keywords: Agglomeration; Entrepreneurship; Balanced Skills; Thick Markets; Urban Diversity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 L26 O31 R1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-02-26
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-ent, nep-geo, nep-hrm, nep-sbm and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Balanced Skills and the City: An Analysis of the Relationship between Entrepreneurial Skill Balance, Thickness, and Innovation (2015)
Journal Article: Balanced Skills and the City: An Analysis of the Relationship between Entrepreneurial Skill Balance, Thickness, and Innovation (2015)
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