Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Local Development: Frontiers in European Entrepreneurship Research

Citation

Ratten, V. (2008), "Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Local Development: Frontiers in European Entrepreneurship Research", Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 275-276. https://doi.org/10.1108/17506200810897240

This edited book focuses on entrepreneurship occurring in Europe and how entrepreneurship has affects Europe's competitiveness and local development. There are 11 chapters included in the book with each chapter by different international scholars. The foreword of the book is by David Smallbone who highlights how the book contains papers from the Research in Entrepreneurship (RENT) conference held in Naples in 2005. There is an introduction chapter by the editors that discusses the emergence of the RENT conference. Also included is a very interesting discussion on the history of entrepreneurship research with a good section on famous entrepreneurship researchers such as Joseph Alois Schumpeter, David McClelland and David Birch. The role of entrepreneurial action in embedded local networks is stated and the chapter finishes with a statement on the organization of the book. Each chapter of the book finishes with a reference list, which is much easier for readers than having the reference list at the end of the book. The structure of the book is well‐thought out with the first chapter examining venture capital financing then Chapters 2‐9 focusing on entrepreneurship at a country level. The last five chapters in the book are on gender and control systems in entrepreneurial firms. All of the chapters are well written and structured.

The first chapter by Fabio Bertoni, Massimo G. Colombo and Luca Grilli is on new technology‐based firms (NTBFs). Based on a sample of Italian NTBFs, the authors describe determinants of access to venture capital funding. Stijn Bruyneel, Martin Carree and Ludo Peeters write a very interesting Chapter 2 on unemployment in a model of entrepreneurship in Belgium. Using empirical evidence from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor the authors describe how the results relates to the theory on entrepreneurs. The third chapter interestingly discusses whether the perception of entry barriers by small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises affect real entry in The Netherlands. Table 3.1 depicts barriers to entry stated in the literature.

Chapter 4 is useful as it describes entrepreneurial traits through a sample of Austrian students. The topic of entrepreneurial traits is continued in Chapter 5 that discusses the influence of career experience and career motives on entrepreneurial decision making. The authors use a sample of new independent firms in Sweden to examine decision making styles. The sixth chapter uses a longitudinal study to examine start‐ups in The Netherlands. Table 6.1 depicts the number of start‐ups, number of firms and the start‐up percentage rate for 1994‐2004. This chapter and most of the other chapters in the book contain quantitative data.

The seventh chapter by Siri Terjesen and Colm O'Gorman states very important statistics about new venture financing. They state that in the USA there are 10.6 million female‐owned companies. The authors focus on Ireland as it has an under representation of female entrepreneurs but seems to be rich in opportunities for entrepreneurs. The eighth chapter examines the importance of knowledge management in Dutch technology‐based firms. The ninth chapter examines refugee entrepreneurship in Belgium. The authors state that there are a number of differences between refugees and immigrants in starting up a business. These differences include social networks and labour rates.

The tenth chapter examines the role of gender in a transition context. The chapter is very interesting as it focuses on transition economies such as Russia, Ukraine and Hungary. The 11th chapter which is the last chapter in the book examines the impact of venture capitalists service. Although the book does not include a conclusion chapter, the last chapter incorporates a number of issues that have been discussed in the previous chapters. Overall, the book includes a number of very interesting and well‐written chapters on various entrepreneurship issues in Europe. The book is a great addition to the European entrepreneurship field and more generally the international entrepreneurship area.