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The tangled historical roots of entrepreneurial growth aspirations

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  • Decker, Stephanie
  • Estrin, Saul
  • Mickiewicz, Tomasz

Abstract

Research Summary: We consider what configurations of historical and geographic dimensions influence entrepreneurial growth aspirations (EGA). Our theoretical framework combines geography (coastal location, resource dependence), long-term colonial history (ethnic heterogeneity, legal origins), and postcolonial history (low levels of conflict and population displacement; not having “bad neighbors”). We employ abductive reasoning to link the social science and historical literatures via analytically structured histories of Ghana, Nigeria, and Angola. Next, we undertake a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis on sub-Saharan Africa countries to investigate which particular configurations of these dimensions are important for EGA. We demonstrate the importance of configurations over individual variables and add context-bound dimensions to the study of entrepreneurship in developing countries, through historical analysis. Managerial Summary: Our analysis may offer entrepreneurs a template for identifying potential opportunities and threats in order to calibrate their strategies for scaling up their venture in sub-Saharan Africa. We argue that environments rich in entrepreneurial growth opportunities are associated with configurations where negative aspects are more than compensated by positive ones. For Botswana, the low levels of internal conflict compensate for unfavorable location. For Angola, the positive impact of coastal location and relatively low ethnic heterogeneity counterbalance the negative effect of resource rents. Resource-driven economies are more entrepreneurial: better economic opportunities can sometimes result from having extractive industries. For African entrepreneurs it is not only relevant what happens in their own countries, as their opportunities are directly affected by economic or political turmoil in neighboring countries.

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  • Decker, Stephanie & Estrin, Saul & Mickiewicz, Tomasz, 2020. "The tangled historical roots of entrepreneurial growth aspirations," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102989, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:102989
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/102989/
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    3. Tchapo Gbandi & Mawuli K. Couchoro & Mawulolo J. Agossou, 2021. "From the top to the bottom: The global environment and microfinance institution (MFI) performance in the West African Economic and Monetary Union countries," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(7), pages 1087-1111, October.
    4. Gyensare, Michael Asiedu & Miri, Domnan & Zahoor, Nadia & Alajaty, Mahmoud, 2024. "Aspiring to go abroad: How and when international entrepreneurial aspiration fuel emerging markets entrepreneurial ventures’ internationalisation speed," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(2).
    5. Mircea Epure & Victor Martin-Sanchez & Sebastian Aparicio & David Urbano, 2023. "Human Capital, Institutions, and Ambitious Entrepreneurship during Good Times and Two Crises," Working Papers 1414, Barcelona School of Economics.
    6. Kleinhempel, Johannes & Estrin, Saul, 2024. "Realizing expectations?," MPRA Paper 120863, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Debmalya Mukherjee & Saumyaranjan Sahoo & Satish Kumar, 2023. "Two Decades of International Business and International Management Scholarship on Africa: A Review and Future Directions," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 63(6), pages 863-909, December.
    8. Hua, Wei & Mitchell, Ronald K. & Mitchell, Benjamin T. & Mitchell, J. Robert & Israelsen, Trevor L., 2022. "Momentum for entrepreneurial internationalization: Friction at the interface between international and domestic institutions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(6).
    9. Jiawen Chen & Linlin Liu, 2023. "A historical perspective on informal institutional and international entrepreneurship," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    10. Churchill, Sefa Awaworyi & Chang, Simon & Smyth, Russell & Trinh, Trong-Anh, 2024. "The Long Run Gender Origins of Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Australia's Convict History," IZA Discussion Papers 17170, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Jason Lortie & Kevin C. Cox & Curtis Sproul, 2021. "Toward a theory of entrepreneurial differentiation: how entrepreneurial firms compete," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 1291-1312, September.
    12. Decker, Stephanie, 2022. "Introducing the eventful temporality of historical research into international business," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(6).
    13. Lucas, David S., 2024. "The effect of regime change on entrepreneurship: A real options approach with evidence from US gubernatorial elections," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(4).
    14. Alona Martiarena & Jonathan Levie & Susan Marlow & Mark Hart & Karen Bonner, 2023. "A ‘deviant men’ theory of business expectations in nascent entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 909-930, October.
    15. Alisa Sydow & Benedetto Lorenzo Cannatelli & Alessandro Giudici & Mario Molteni, 2022. "Entrepreneurial Workaround Practices in Severe Institutional Voids: Evidence From Kenya," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(2), pages 331-367, March.
    16. Subramanian, Annapoornima M. & Nishant, Rohit & Van De Vrande, Vareska & Hang, Chang Chieh, 2022. "Technology transfer from public research institutes to SMEs: A configurational approach to studying reverse knowledge flow benefits," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).

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    Keywords

    Africa; entrepreneurship; global enterprise monitor; history; qualitative comparative analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General

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