Small Business Economics最新文献

Using a novel large database of Italian micro-entrepreneurs, we investigate how different sources of external business advice affect access to alternative finance. We distinguish three categories of external business advice: professional financial, professional non-financial, and non-professional. We also test whether financial knowledge of micro-entrepreneurs enhances their advice seeking for financial decision-making. We find that the use of alternative financial instruments increases when external business advisors are used, but some are more useful than others. Only professional financial advice is shown to increase the probability of accessing alternative finance by micro-enterprises, while non-professional and professional non-financial advice does not have the same effect. We also find that being more financially literate increases the probability that micro-entrepreneurs seek advice from highly professional sources, i.e., objective financial knowledge helps shape the quality of financial advice requested.

The high degree of asymmetric information in initial coin offerings (ICOs) increases the probability of moral hazard, adverse selection, and outright fraud. Token governance mechanisms may help mitigate such investment risks. Using novel data on token retention in the primary market and resale restrictions in the secondary market, we estimate the impact of these governance mechanisms on the fundraising success and post-funding performance of ICOs. First, we estimate the valuation elasticity of token retention, indicating that 10% fewer tokens sold increases the ICO funding amount by 3.2%. Second, restricting ICO investors’ ability to resell tokens in the secondary market has a detrimental impact on the 12-month buy-and-hold abnormal return. We also discuss contingency effects of the specific implementations of these governance signals and show that the effects are moderated by the quality of the venture’s human capital.

In the digital era, organizations strategically adopt digital transformation to thrive and prosper. In particular, they allocate substantial resources to cultivate digital orientation. However, limited research has explored how digital orientation impacts the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Our study sheds light on this relationship, examining it through the lens of a resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capability (DC) perspective. We empirically quantify digital orientation and its subdimensions using textual data extracted from SME websites. Our findings unveil a U-shaped relationship: while high performance is observable at both extremes of the spectrum, an initial increase in digital orientation is associated with performance setbacks until a specific threshold of digital orientation is reached, after which performance once again begins to improve. As a result, SMEs should consider a strategic allocation of resources while pursuing digital orientation to build capabilities during their digital transformation journey.

Most scholarly work has focused on the positive effects of digitalisation in Sub-Saharan Africa without accounting for the associated risks and mitigation measures at the firm level. Using the 2016 Enterprise ICT Survey of Kenya which provides a rich source of information on the use of ICT among firms, we examine the effect of cybersecurity breach on labour productivity and show how this effect is moderated by cyber risk mitigation capabilities at the firm level. We find that cybersecurity breach reduces labour productivity at the firm level. We also find that upskilling mitigates the negative effect of cybersecurity breach on labour productivity especially for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. The results further suggest that while Information Technology Policy and Information Technology Security capabilities can enable firms to improve labour productivity, these measures are not sufficient to offset the adverse effect of cybersecurity breach on labour productivity. Together the results imply that upskilling is an effective cyber risk mitigation measure against cybersecurity breaches at the firm level and therefore should be an integral part of the overarching IT governance strategy of firms.

The creation and scaling of startups are inherently linked to risk-taking, with various types of owners handling these risks differently. This paper investigates the influence of an active venture capital (VC) market on startups’ decisions regarding research and scaling. It outlines conditions under which VC-backed startups prefer riskier, yet potentially more rewarding strategies compared to independent startups. VC firms, by means of temporary ownership and compensation structures, introduce “exit costs” that make high-risk strategies more attractive to VC-backed startups. Moreover, an active VC market prompts startups to undertake higher initial risks, as VC firms provide support for pivoting after setbacks. Additionally, the presence of VC intensifies research risk among established firms, as their research initiatives are strategic complements to the risk choices of startups.

Entrepreneurs worldwide often face obstacles in financing their businesses, hindering their ability to grow. Government procurement offers an opportunity to access lucrative contracts and benefit from a procurement auditing process that could enhance access to finance. Likewise, externally audited financial statements can enhance credibility and lessen financing hurdles. We examine whether government procurement contracts and external audit certifications jointly influence financing access and whether ownership, size, and firm age matter. We find that access to finance is more likely to be an obstacle to the operations of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with government procurement contracts than those without such contracts, regardless of whether they seek external audit certification. Additionally, the effect of external audit certification on the likelihood of access to finance being an obstacle to SME operations reduces sharply with foreign ownership, size, and age for SMEs involved in government procurement. We also find that the impact of government procurement contracts reverses for SMEs in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Our findings have policy implications, especially with the growing implementation of affirmative action programs to promote the involvement of SMEs in government procurement.

Over the past fifteen years, the startup accelerator sector has emerged as a vital component in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, offering structured support to novice entrepreneurs. This study explores the impact of mentorship within accelerators, shedding light on the critical role mentors play in the success of early-stage entrepreneurs. Utilizing comprehensive data from 779 graduates of Israeli accelerators, we investigate six dimensions where accelerators enhance entrepreneurial success: entrepreneurial human capital, network expansion, fundraising skills, legitimacy, psychological development, and operational progress of the venture. We hypothesize that mentorship amplifies accelerators’ impact across these dimensions. Our findings confirm that founders who engage with personal mentors during accelerators, rather than solely relying on ad-hoc experts, and those with more intensive mentorship experience significantly greater progress across all six dimensions. These findings hold when accounting for background variables. These insights enrich the study of accelerators, emphasizing the value of personal mentorship in enhancing the positive effects of accelerators

Equity crowdfunding (ECF) allows amateur investors to fund startups and small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). Unlike initial public offerings, ECF requires minimal disclosures, fast-tracking equity raising. ECF's popularity has surged, yet little is known about how assurance services might impact investor decisions. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, we examine how independent assurance, pitch characteristics, and investor regulatory focus influence investment decisions in ECF. Our results support our hypotheses that audits of historical financial information increase ECF investors’ likelihood to invest. Further, interactions between the audit, investors’ regulatory focus, and the regulatory focus of the ECF pitch increase investment such that the presence of an audit increases investment for prevention-focused individuals, and especially the audit is most likely to increase investment for prevention-focused investors when the SME’s pitch is also prevention-focused. Overall, we contribute to literature by exploring the influence of assurance in a new context of ECF, shedding light on previously unexplored aspects of investor decision-making.

Scholars tend to evaluate the effects of cultural factors on social entrepreneurial activity based on either cultural values or cultural practices. However, societal inconsistencies between values and practices have the potential to create uncertainty in expected entrepreneurial behaviors. In this paper, we operationalize cultural dissonance as the gap between cultural values and cultural practices and draw on role congruity theory to theorize and test how cultural dissonance influences engagement in social entrepreneurship. Using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness, and the World Bank datasets (N = 23,828), we show that cultural dissonance can either impede or encourage social entrepreneurial activity and that female entrepreneurs are less sensitive to these effects than male entrepreneurs.

This study builds on the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship to examine the factors that influence the decision of latent entrepreneurs to move from opportunity recognition to opportunity exploitation and emergent entrepreneurship. Using data on independent inventors from 1975 to 2010, we examine how social, geographic, and industry knowledge spillovers influence the likelihood of technological entrepreneurship. We find that social and geographic knowledge spillovers promote independent inventors’ transition to entrepreneurship, while industry knowledge spillovers may result in deterrents that inhibit their hazard of forming a new venture.