Abstract
Efforts to develop entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) have proliferated in recent years, marking it out as the latest industrial policy ‘blockbuster’. This paper reports the findings from a comprehensive empirical analysis of policy approaches deployed under this conceptual umbrella, enabling us to posit a basic typology of different EE policy frameworks. The findings suggest the concept is fraught with conceptual ambiguity and is predominantly (and rather crudely) used to promote ‘more’ entrepreneurship. The research suggests the concept is a “messy metaphor” open to wide-ranging misinterpretation and misuse by policy makers. Eradicating network failures, avoiding crude policy isomorphism and tailoring bespoke interventions are suggested policy recommendations.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | rsz011 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society |
| Volume | Advance articles |
| Early online date | 31 Aug 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 31 Aug 2019 |
Keywords
- Entrepreneurship
- Entrepreneurial ecosystems
- Metaphors
- Public policy
Access to Document
- Brown_2019_CJRES_Entrepreneurial_AAM
Copyright © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved. This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the author created accepted manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsz011