Mind the Systemic Gap(s): Service Ecosystems for Early-Stage Entrepreneurs in the East Zone of São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

Design supports entrepreneurial activity through new products, services and business designs, linking users, organizations and ecosystems. In this paper we explore services that support early-stage entrepreneurship. Fostering entrepreneurship is seen to create employment and economic wellbeing, especially in low resource environments. While service design practice has reached maturity, it is unable on its own to fully address the complexity in these services. In this paper, we suggest that complementary systemic level approaches are needed to build up coherent service ecosystems through an investigation of the perceptions of early-stage entrepreneurs regarding their service ecosystem in the resource-scarce East Zone (EZ) of São Paulo, Brazil. We found there were fundamental gaps in public policies, mentoring, access to capital and business networks, together with relatively underdeveloped skills and abilities in accessing markets. We contribute to modelling service ecosystems, identifying systemic gaps and defining a high-level agenda for service design to support early-stage entrepreneurship.