Entrepreneurship and Regional Clusters

ROCHA, H.

Entrepreneurship and Regional Develpment

Edward Elgar Publishing

Lugar: Glos; Año: 2010; p. 514 - 551

Este capítulo es la re-edición del artículo con referato homónimo, el cual cuenta con 111 citaciones y es publicado en este llibro junto con artículos de académicos internacionales referentes en sus respectivos temas. ABSTRACT. Defining entrepreneurship as the creation ofnew organisations, this paper explores, from a literature reviewstandpoint, the moderating effect of clusters on the impact ofentrepreneurship on development. To identify potential causesof this moderating effect, the paper focuses on three differentimpacts: entrepreneurship on development, clusters on development,and clusters on entrepreneurship. The findings of thepaper are threefold. First, entrepreneurship is positively associatedwith economic growth. Given the importance of entrepreneurshipin changing the economic and social structure ofthe economy, more research on the impact of entrepreneurshipon development ? i.e. focus on capabilities rather than onoutput ? is needed. Second, it is difficult to reach empiricalgeneralisations on the impact of clusters on developmentand entrepreneurship given conceptual and methodologicalconstraints. Both positive results and caveats are found at differentlevels of analysis and at different stages of developmentof a cluster. Finally, given the previous finding, it is difficultto generalise on the impact of clusters on the associationbetween entrepreneurship and development. Consensus on andvalidity between conceptual and operational definitions ofclusters; consideration of context as well as process and, therefore,quantitative and qualitative methods; and differentiationbetween levels of analysis controlling for cluster stage andstrength are the main criteria for future studies to consider todisentangle the impact of clusters on entrepreneurship, developmentand the association between entrepreneurship anddevelopment.