Measuring entrepreneurship across countries
Claude Marcotte, Concordia University
The comparative analysis of entrepreneurial activity across countries is a complex, under-studied, and yet important research area. The complexity of this topic lies in the fact that the dimensions and levels of entrepreneurial activity must be defined and measured in such a way as to make them comparable across various national contexts. As is the case for other organizational concepts, the difficulties inherent in the comparative analysis of entrepreneurship may be compounded by important national differences in forms and expressions of entrepreneurial activity , which makes the issue of selection and comparability of measurements a critical one.
So far, the definitions and measurements in entrepreneurship research have rarely integrated the multifaceted and contextual aspects of the field. In the area of comparative entrepreneurship, the focus has been almost exclusively on individual-level indicators of entrepreneurial activity, and most studies have used the country rankings of nascent entrepreneurship and small business ownership.
The conceptual foundations of the choice of entrepreneurship indicators have to be further examined and more thoroughly developed. Besides the more factual and statistical indicators of business creation, other less tangible dimensions of entrepreneurship, such as innovation, have formed the core of the most influential theories of entrepreneurship. The relative neglect of these dimensions constitutes one of the numerous paradoxes in the area of comparative international entrepreneurship .
The first objective of the presentation is to briefly examine the existing entrepreneurship indexes. The second objective is to discuss how innovation could be integrated into a multilevel and multidimensional approach to comparative entrepreneurship.
About the speaker
Claude Marcotte is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Concordia University, Montreal, and his current research interests lie in the international and comparative aspects of entrepreneurship and innovation. He has published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, Revue Internationale PME, the Journal of Technology Transfer, the International Journal of Intercultural Relations, and the International Small Business Journal. He has presented numerous papers at conferences in Canada and abroad. Professor Marcotte has been very active in the development of courses in Entrepreneurship at Concordia University. During his sabbatical leave (2010-2011), Dr. Marcotte plans to continue to work on the issue of comparative international entrepreneurship and economic growth by establishing further contacts in European and American research institutes.
Venue: UNU-MERIT Conference Room
Date: 25 November 2010
Time: 12:30 - 13:30 CEST