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National systems of entrepreneurship

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Abstract

Research on entrepreneurship is mainly focused on the individual, and research on innovation has been mainly focused on institutions even though we know that both agency and context matter. To better integrate the two approaches, Acs et al. (Research Policy 43:476–494, 2014. doi:10.1016/j.respol.2013.08.016) introduced the national systems of entrepreneurship (NSE) as a framework for a resource allocation system driven by individual-level opportunity pursuit through the creation of new ventures and its outcomes regulated by country-specific institutional characteristics. This paper draws on the NSE framework, sets it in a larger context, examines the logic of the approach and introduces the special issue by summarizing the papers.

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Notes

  1. It is important to understand how national systems of entrepreneurship (NSE) fit in the broader ecosystem literature, as well as trying to understand exactly what the concept means. The concept of NSE (Acs et al. 2014, 479) introduced entrepreneurship into Nelson’s national systems of innovation (NSI). The concept of NSE is new and this special issue will explore its applications to the broader subject. However, Acs et al. (2014) use the concept of NSE interchangeable with the concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems (Autio and Levie 2015, p. 1). Both NSE and entrepreneurial ecosystems are about institutions, agency and place, and the policy issue emerges as to the “strategic management of place” (Audretsch 2015) or what Acs et al. (2014) call the system. What is the strategic management of place if not the management of entrepreneurial ecosystems? Small business economics has another special issue forthcoming (Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, edited by O’connor, Stam, Acs & Audretsch) that will further explore this topic.

  2. Acs, Audretsch, Brauenhelm and Carlsson in 2004–2005 produce a set of working papers published by CEPR, the Royal Institute of Technology and the Max Planck Institute of Economics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA

    Zoltán J. Acs

  2. School of Public and Environmental Analysis, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1315 E. Tenth St., Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    David B. Audretsch

  3. Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Augsburg, Universitätsstr. 16, 86159, Augsburg, Germany

    Erik E. Lehmann

  4. Centre for European Economic Research Mannheim, L 7, 1, 68161, Mannheim, Germany

    Georg Licht

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  1. Zoltán J. Acs
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  2. David B. Audretsch
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  3. Erik E. Lehmann
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  4. Georg Licht
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Correspondence to Erik E. Lehmann.

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Acs, Z.J., Audretsch, D.B., Lehmann, E.E. et al. National systems of entrepreneurship. Small Bus Econ 46, 527–535 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-016-9705-1

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