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What Determines the Growth Ambition of Dutch Early-Stage Entrepreneurs?

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  • Ingrid Verheul
  • Linda van Mil

Abstract

This paper investigates the determinants of the ambition to grow among Dutch early-stage entrepreneurs (nascents and young business owners). We use Adult Population Survey data of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) for the Netherlands. Merging cross-sectional data of the years 2002 to 2007, we arrive at a sample of 409 nascents and 336 young business owners. Growth ambition is measured by asking the respondent which statement fits him or her best: (1) I want my company to be as large as possible, or (2) I want a size I can manage myself or with a few key employees. We find that nascent entrepreneurs and young business owners are equally likely to strive after business growth. For nascent entrepreneurs we find that fear of failure and entrepreneurial self-efficacy are important factors explaining growth ambition. Starting a business because of perceiving and exploiting a business opportunity (as opposed to starting a business out of necessity) is an important driver of growth ambition for both nascents and young business owners, although it is more important for nascents.

Suggested Citation

  • Ingrid Verheul & Linda van Mil, 2008. "What Determines the Growth Ambition of Dutch Early-Stage Entrepreneurs?," Scales Research Reports H200811, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:eim:papers:h200811
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    Cited by:

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    2. HERMANS, Julie & VANDERSTRAETEN, Johanna & DEJARDIN, Marcus & RAMDANI, Dendi & STAM, Erik & VAN WITTELOOSTUIJN, Arjen, 2012. "Ambitious entrepreneurship: Antecedents and consequences," Working Papers 2012023, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    3. Backman, Mikaela & Karlsson, Charlie, 2013. "Exploration of Wisdom Ages: Firm survival," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 339, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    4. Pete, Stefan & Nagy, Agnes & Matis, Dumitru & Gyorfy, Lehel Zoltan & Benyovszki, Annamaria & Petru, Tunde Petra, 2011. "Early-stage entrepreneurial aspirations in efficiency-driven economies," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(2), pages 5-18, June.
    5. Colin Mason & Ross Brown, 2013. "Creating good public policy to support high-growth firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 211-225, February.
    6. Ozcam, Ahmet & Karadeniz, Esra, 2012. "The Determinants of the Growth Expectations of Turkish Entrepreneurs in the Way up the Entrepreneural Ladder Using Ordinal Logistic Model (OLM)," MPRA Paper 49908, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Ross Brown & Colin Mason, 2012. "Raising the batting average: Re-orientating regional industrial policy to generate more high growth firms," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 27(1), pages 33-49, February.

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