A framework for entrepreneurship within an ecology of practices

The aim of this chapter is to understand the development of entrepreneurial practices in Arab countries through an ecosystemic lens. To this end, the systemic principles of life defined by Fritjof Capra serve as our starting point. We argue that entrepreneurship is a practice that takes place within a given ecological niche. This niche can be understood as a relational space between entrepreneurs, stakeholders and a variety of practices that are typically initiated by startups. The relationships between entrepreneurial practices and their environment in many ways resemble the relationships that we can observe in the natural realm between living organisms and their ecosystems. These interactions are explored in detail throughout the chapter. Furthermore, by applying the concept of ecology of practices (Kemmis et al, 2014), we establish that there are connections between practices in particular regions which have ecological relationships to one another. We use as an illustrative case the Arab region, given our previous research on mapping innovation and entrepreneurship in this region. In Arab countries - as in every other geographical context - this niche is formed, enabled and constrained in different and particular ways through the operation of internal and external conditioning factors and the interrelations between the different actors involved. We examine how different practices can co-exist in the Arab region, while applying nine ecological principles to practices of entrepreneurship.