Veranstaltungsprogramm der VHB Jahrestagung

This research note critically extends Audretsch and Moog’s (2022) work on the relationship between democracy and entrepreneurship. While Audretsch and Moog present a positive relationship between democracy and entrepreneurship, we find that key measures of entrepreneurship are frequently negatively, not positively, associated with democracy and its various determinants. However, we do find some evidence to support Audretsch and Moog’s theorizing that democracy is learned in start-ups and small businesses, by showing that entrepreneurs in advanced economies are more democratic in their attitudes or behaviors than their employee counterparts. But the evidence on whether the transition from regular employment to entrepreneurship increases political engagement and democratic orientation remains inconclusive.

Despite the many measures to foster innovative entrepreneurship, the impact and synergistic effects of entrepreneurship policies remain vague. This paper provides new insights through the lens of complementarity theory, linking institutional policy design and underlying policy elements to performance effects. Evaluating two German policy initiatives, our results suggest that intended complementary effects cannot always be realized. Our findings give impetus to more nuanced policy approaches that better consider the specific policy target and context. In particular, context-specific policy instruments must consider the specific policy context including the resources and factors at the regional level.

When, how, and to what extent can people living at $2 per day appropriate economic value to experience wealth and growth? To investigate how value creation and appropriation are determined in Bottom-of-the-Pyramid (BoP) markets, we propose to use coalitional game theory. Based on the case of a growing venture in rural Kenya, we analyze three market structures as coalitional games – before, during, and after the venture enters the BoP market. We employ the solution concept of the core, for which we develop a new specification of competitive intensity. We use the core to formally characterize the often as exploitative criticized nature of BoP markets, in which consumers cannot appropriate any value. This allows us to show how market entry of a socially motivated but profit-oriented entrepreneur can transform an exploitative consumer market into a participative one, where all stakeholders receive a positive share of the created value. The core reveals how participation of households depends sensitively on the market-clearing business-to-customer (B2C) strategy of the market entrant, which lowers profits for incumbent firms. By widening the entrepreneurial scope to business-to-business (B2B) value creation, we then show how incumbent firms’ profits can be raised even within a participative market. Thus, by pursuing both a B2C and a B2B strategy, the BoP entrant can increase total created value and the appropriated values of all stakeholders in the market. The extent to which market participants can appropriate value thereby crucially depends on the market strategy of the BoP entrant.