Abstract
PurposeEntrepreneurial ecosystems provide the context for start-ups to access resources. The authors investigate the reliance of start-ups on their entrepreneurial ecosystem and the driving factors behind the proportion of local actors (belonging to their entrepreneurial ecosystem) within their overall set of relationships (their business ecosystem). Recognizing the limited relational capacity of firms, the authors focus on three differentiating firm characteristics: size, age and innovation of firms.Design/methodology/approachThe authors developed a sample of 163 start-ups located in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Toulouse, France. The authors investigated the characteristics of their relationship sets using regression analysis.FindingsThe results confirm that age is inversely related to the proportion of a start-up's relationships located in its entrepreneurial ecosystem. More surprisingly, for older start-ups, the authors also highlight the presence of a moderating effect of the start-up's size on the relationship between its degree of innovation and the proportion of its relationships in its entrepreneurial ecosystem: Larger and more innovative start-ups appear to rely more on their local entrepreneurial ecosystem.Originality/valueThis research increases the understanding of the characteristics driving the interactions of start-ups with their entrepreneurial ecosystems by adopting a relational capacity approach. The authors introduce digital methods as an innovative approach for uncovering firms' ecosystems. Finally, from a practical point of view, the research should provide public authorities seeking to promote the link between local resources and the development of innovative start-ups in their regions with interesting insights.
Highlights
The importance of territory, or location, for the competitiveness of entrepreneurial firms has long been acknowledged (Audretsch, 2015; Iacobucci and Perugini, 2021)
Following Isenberg’s (2011) broad proposition in terms of the type of actors composing the entrepreneurial ecosystem, we considered all relationships highlighted by start-ups as effective, while some may be more important than others
In this study, we adopted a relational capacity approach to understand the networking of start-ups inside and outside their entrepreneurial ecosystem
Summary
The importance of territory, or location, for the competitiveness of entrepreneurial firms has long been acknowledged (Audretsch, 2015; Iacobucci and Perugini, 2021). Entrepreneurial ecosystems represent territories that include institutions that foster the emergence and support of new businesses, bring together individuals with innovation capacity and promote entrepreneurship (Audretsch et al, 2021; Brown and Mason, 2017; Isenberg, 2011; Kansheba and Wald, 2020; Spigel, 2017; Spigel and Harrison, 2018; Voelker, 2012). This concept has proven its relevance in studying start-ups but marked differences exist between various entrepreneurial ecosystems (Autio et al, 2018; Cohen, 2006; Wickham, 2004). The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
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