Michael Wyrwich

Der Begriff Entrepreneurship steht für unternehmerische Initiative, Kreativität, Innovation und das Eingehen ökonomischer Wagnisse. Er bezeichnet diejenigen Formen von Unternehmertum, die eine zentrale Triebkraft für wirtschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Entwicklung darstellen. Dabei ist der Fokus auf Unternehmensgründungen und junge Unternehmen gerichtet. Das Buch behandelt die Bestimmungsgründe von Entrepreneurship und zeigt seine Bedeutung für Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft auf. Es werden typische Probleme und Entwicklungsverläufe junger Unternehmen aufgezeigt und wirtschaftspolitische Handlungsoptionen diskutiert. In der 4. Auflage hat das Autorenteam alle Kapitel aktualisiert und eine Reihe von inhaltlichen Erweiterungen vorgenommen.

Entrepreneurship in the Long-Run: Empirical Evidence and Historical Mechanisms reviews the available evidence on the historical roots of entrepreneurship and its relationship with economic performance across regions, which is defined as subnational geographic entities. Given the tremendous differences in the level and the type of entrepreneurship between regions, the authors focus on the regional level and demonstrate how historical factors can determine entrepreneurial activity in a region and may predetermine future development paths. In addition, the monograph looks at the ability of a regional economy to cope with external challenges. The main explanation for such long-term effects and for the persistence of the level of regional entrepreneurship over long periods are historically rooted regional cultures that change only very slowly. Generally, historical roots provide a key explanation for the development of regions along long-term trajectories that are characterized by a co-evolution of entrepreneurship, knowledge, and informal institutions. This means that regions can have persistently low or persistently high levels of entrepreneurship depending on whether historical factors shaped entrepreneurship positively or negatively. Following a brief introduction, the monograph starts with a brief overview of data availability and measurement (Section 2), summarizing the available empirical evidence on long-term trends in regional entrepreneurship in Section 3. Section 4 discusses potential explanations for these findings. Section 5 is devoted to the effects of persistent regional entrepreneurship on economic development. Based on these findings the authors discuss theory development in Section 6 and derive policy implications in Section 7. Section 8 reviews empirical challenges and describes the main avenues for further research. Section 9 provides the authors’ conclusions.

This book offers a dynamic perspective on regional entrepreneurship, knowledge, innovation and economic growth, with a particular focus on the role that history and culture play. The authors provide comprehensive empirical analyses offering unique insights into the spatial patterns of long-term differences of regional self-employment, new business formation, cultures of entrepreneurship, innovation activities, and development. Policy implications from the analyses and a discussion of important avenues for future research complete this unique book combining history, culture, and entrepreneurship. This is a superb book with an original, historical take on entrepreneurship and regional development. It is a landmark study on Germany showing that regional levels of entrepreneurship are persistent and resilient, despite many disruptive shocks. Ron Boschma, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, and Stavanger University, NorwayThis book presents the distilled wisdom of two leading authorities on the link between entrepreneurship and economic prosperity at a regional level. Although its prime empirical focus is on Germany there are clear lessons for scholars and policy-makers in all high-income countries. David J Storey, University of Sussex, UK

This book offers a dynamic perspective on regional entrepreneurship, knowledge, innovation and economic growth, with a particular focus on the role that history and culture play. The authors provide comprehensive empirical analyses offering unique insights into the spatial patterns of long-term differences of regional self-employment, new business formation, cultures of entrepreneurship, innovation activities, and development. Policy implications from the analyses and a discussion of important avenues for future research complete this unique book combining history, culture, and entrepreneurship. This is a superb book with an original, historical take on entrepreneurship and regional development. It is a landmark study on Germany showing that regional levels of entrepreneurship are persistent and resilient, despite many disruptive shocks. Ron Boschma, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, and Stavanger University, NorwayThis book presents the distilled wisdom of two leading authorities on the link between entrepreneurship and economic prosperity at a regional level. Although its prime empirical focus is on Germany there are clear lessons for scholars and policy-makers in all high-income countries. David J Storey, University of Sussex, UK