by Peter Klein
Along with Steve Bradley, Phil Kim, Jeff McMullen, and Karl Wennberg I am editing a special issue of the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal on "Policy for Innovative Entrepreneurship." We are looking for papers using different approaches, and from a variety of academic disciplines, exploring policies and institutions that promote or retard innovative entrepreneurial activity. From the call:
Innovative entrepreneurship may be distinguished from other forms of entrepreneurship by an em-phasis on novel products, services, production methods, or business models. Such innovation should increase the likelihood of firm growth, wealth creation, and the addition of value-added jobs which are crucial for economic development (Acs et al., 2016; Audretsch, 2007; Baumol, 2010; Carree & Thurik, 2003; OECD, 2010). Public agencies and institutions seeking to improve economic growth should consider incentives and rewards that encourage innovative entrepreneurship as well as con-ventional entrepreneurial activities that produce economic and societal benefits, at the local, national, regional, and international levels.
One approach to facilitating innovative entrepreneurship is to establish and protect institutions that establish the “rules of the game.” Efficient institutions provide economic freedom to current market participants and ensure new and small firms also have opportunities to compete in the market (Baumol, 1990; North, 1990; McMullen, Bagby, & Palich, 2008). Policies that address market and structural issues (e.g. external benefits and costs, high transaction costs, public infrastructure) could reduce barriers to new venture formation. Second, policy efforts to incentivize innovation may include organizational sponsorship and human capital development of preferred activities (Amezcua et al., 2013) through tax incentives, business incubators (Amezcua et al., 2013; Kolympiris, & Klein, 2017), science parks (Hobbs et al., 2017), and technology commercialization (Seigel & Wright, 2017). Some national policies go further in the sponsorship of capital market institutions, venture capital, and stock markets (Columbo et al., 2015; Munari & Toschi, 2015).
Empirical research has focused mainly on the evaluation of specific interventions for innovative en-trepreneurship, finding examples of both effective and ineffective policies (Autio, & Rannikko, 2016; Cantner, & Kösters, 2012; Jourdan & Kivleniece, 2017. However, we lack a more general assessment of policy design for such efforts. Public investments in research, business development, or infrastructure, for example, are typically justified with arguments that the social benefits exceed the private benefits, such that a market economy will not do enough of these things (Bradley & Klein, 2016; Holtz-Eakin, 2000). But the exact theoretical mechanisms, and a precise estimate of the effects and their magnitudes, remain elusive.
As you can see from this excerpt, contributions from members of the SIOE community are most welcome!
The SEJ is one of the top three specialized entrepreneurship journals with an impact factor of 3.488. It is in the FT50 list of top business journals and is classified as a 4 on the ABS ranking (for those who care about such things).
The call for papers is here and can also be found on the SEJ website. The submission deadline is 1 June 2019. Email me if you have any questions.