What conditions favor high‐potential entrepreneurship? Unpacking the nexus between the industrial structure and startup typologies

Summary

This paper investigates how certain aspects of regional industrial structure favor or hinder the success of different types of startups. It distinguishes three types of startups: innovative startups have the capacity to introduce new business models, products, and forms of organization, high-growth startups outperform their competition, and pioneers are first movers which realize industrial niches. It finds that a greater degree of relationship between regional industries favors overall entrepreneurship and innovative startups but hinders high-growth startups, while higher complexity of the regional economy favors overall entrepreneurship but hinders high-growth startups. The paper also uses industrial theory to propose explanations for these results.