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Examining the Connections within the Startup Ecosystem: A Case Study of St. Louis

Author

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  • Motoyama Yasuyuki

    (Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Kansas City, MO 64110-2046, USA)

  • Knowlton Karren

    (The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA)

Abstract

We critically examine how an entrepreneurial ecosystem is structured using an exploratory and bottom-up approach. Past studies in this area have discussed the presence of elements in the system or captured the ecosystem as holistically as possible by extending to social, cultural, and institutional dimension. However, we find that such aggregated conceptualizations gave limited understanding to how different elements are connected and constitute the system. Here, we apply a social network approach by analyzing the connections of the ecosystem at multiple layers: (1) among entrepreneurs, (2) among support organizations, and (3) between and among entrepreneurs and key support organizations. Through a series of interviews with entrepreneurs and support organizations in St. Louis, we find that the ways in which support organizations in this region interacted with each other and with entrepreneurs, including explicit cross-organizational collaboration and strategic structuring of resources, significantly impacted the way that entrepreneurs interacted with one another and with organizations, thus deepening our understanding of these connections and identifying intervening points within the ecosystem.

Suggested Citation

  • Motoyama Yasuyuki & Knowlton Karren, 2017. "Examining the Connections within the Startup Ecosystem: A Case Study of St. Louis," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-32, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:erjour:v:7:y:2017:i:1:p:32:n:3
    DOI: 10.1515/erj-2016-0011
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Xiangfei Yuan & Haijing Hao & Chenghua Guan & Alex Pentland, 2021. "What are the key components of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in a developing economy? A longitudinal empirical study on technology business incubators in China," Papers 2103.08131, arXiv.org.
    2. Franco-Leal Noelia & Camelo-Ordaz Carmen & Fernandez-Alles Mariluz & Sousa-Ginel Elena, 2020. "The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: Actors and Performance in Different Stages of Evolution of Academic Spinoffs," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 10(2), pages 1-20, April.

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